The Dream of Potion Pete
There is a truth of the world. At some point, all things will end. This truth is unknown to most, but to the vast majority that do know, they accept it. Potion Pete is aware of this truth. Unlike some others, however, he is aware of another truth. The fact that, once this world ends, another will begin. He also knows that it is possible to survive the end of this world, via mastery of an ability known to very few beings. He has one simple desire. To save as many people as possible from the end.
Potion Pete, despite his... shortcomings, is not a fool. Of course, "fool" in this case merely means "someone without a plan." His plan is difficult.
First, he strives to impose mastery of Dream onto another. He has already achieved some sort of mastery over Dream, not enough to survive the end all on his own, however. He will create a Homonculi of his own blood and magic to achieve this mastery for him, through evolutionary trial and error. He would then graft this mindless Homonculus onto himself, in order to take its power. This Homonculus' biological functions would then replace part of his own, like transplanting an organ. His mind would remain, but his body would become something more. In other words, he would put the brain in the robot. If this could happen to him, then it could happen to anybody.
Second, he would strive to usurp the power of Sish. Specifically, the power of time. Through control of time, he would travel to the moment before each individual being would die, and give impose upon them mastery of Dream. This would be via the same process he would give mastery of Dream to himself; an organ transplant of a Homonculus who had achieved enough raw power of Dream to survive the end, with it's power inherited by the recipent. With infinite speed, he would have infinite time to grow a Homonculus for each person, perfectly crafted to be compatible with them. He may need infinite time to craft a Homonculus suited for only himself, so usurping Sish may end up being the first step of his plan.
Third, he would make peace with the gods. To Pete, they are beings with feelings, just like him. However true this idea actually is, he will take parts of the gods, break them if they don't play nice, and create a Homonculus that would effect them like it would mortals. If impossible, he will leave the gods to be destroyed by silence, but not before attempting to fulfill their desires, and lessen the pain of a fleeting existence however he could. This will also be extended to anyone who is somehow unable of mastery of Dream, even via the Homonculus plan.
Fourth, he will meet Mana-Yood-Sushai and the Dreamers, and then act accordingly to their actions. If they want war, he will give them war. If they want peace, he will leave them to peace. If they merely wish to observe what he will do next, he will let them observe. After this, he will abandon humanity. In his eyes, he has done enough. If they wish to destroy themselves with infighting, if they even can, it is not his problem. There are no longer any outside factors affecting their choice to exist or not exist. He will establish a world for himself and his friends, where they will do whatever it is they wish to do. Relax, probably. If any of the denizens of this new world wish to wage war with him in some later point in whatever time they follow, he will return war against them.
Potion Pete has a unique world view, due to this plan. "No matter how many people die, I will eventually save them, so it's not an issue. If I was wrong, it's not like I will be able to feel bad about it when I die. I'll just return to silence anyway, right?" Right or not, this makes him a danger to others. Although, he won't go out of his way to kill people. In fact, he'll go out of the way to save others he believes to be in danger, as why suffer now? May as well not suffer at all. However, he is the type to make preemptive strikes against those he believes could make his plans difficult. He also isn't exactly a mourner, shrugging off a death as "I'll just save them later, no biggie." He, above all, prioritizes his plan, and spends as much time as possible achieving it. If he has to choose between a good friend and an ancient text tangentially relating to usurping the power of a god, he will choose the text unless the friend surving until later is the better reward.
Currently, in order to further his plan, Potion Pete is living in the sewers of a large city named Neptdes, which rests on an island west of the main continent.
Potion Pete mulled over the creation of his next Homonculus. They came and went, as he would leave them in abandoned bases and caves all over the world, as staying in one place is counterintuitive to his goals and keeping a small army with him is... noticable. He grabbed a couple of dead rats, sewer trash, and the remains of a large sewer lizard, and pondered. He was in Neptdes to see a renegade Golem maker, and see if he could learn any ideas from him. He needed a new Homonculus as the sewers he was told to meet the renegade in were filled with vicious monsters due to poor extermination work by the city of Neptdes. The monsters proved to be as difficult to get rid off as their hated continued existence implied, and they tore apart the Homonculi Pete brought to protect himself with.
Pete looked at the materials he had on hand... and decided to think of something else. Homonculi did not serve him well when he entered the sewers. He needed to try a new approach. He grabbed stones, bones, cloth, and worked on a new Golem. He also remembered seeing undigested trinkets in the guts of a few sewer lizards he rummaged through, and took those as well. He sat in a part of the sewer that was relatively undisturbed, and got to work.
One of the trinkets he found was an enchanted magic battery. Its intended use was to supply extra Mana to a mage. Its intended user was either eaten, or at least no longer in possesion of the battery. Several hours after finding the battery, he had implanted it in a stone Golem the size of a human leg, and had achieved a pseudo-crossbow. The Golem would send out streams of fire magic, and he would aim it. He named it Golemspurt. He had another Golem he created with a trinket implanted that would alert it upon detecting harmful enemies. It was quite simple, in an irregular shape, close to a ball, and with stubby legs. He named it Stubby. Ambush attacks were how his Homonculi were destroyed, and now he had a defense against it.
He exited his hideaway and walked along the sewer walls, in the direction of the water flowing next to him. It didn't take long before the poorly made Golem next to him emitted a blue light, the alert function working as intended. He pointed Golemspurt at the water flowing next to him, and waited to see movement. The only movement he saw was Stubby turning upwards. Pete turned himself, and saw a Neptdes Sewerfang, the name for the large sewer lizards that had become so common, ready to pounce. He fired a stream of fire at its direction, and the beast backed away, scared of the flames. As the flames died, Pete saw that the lizard was no longer there. Stubby's light remained.
Stubby turned to face across the water, and pointed one of his stubby little legs. Pete realized this was going to be a long day as he spread more flames over the area, seeing flickering, hungry, lizard eyes fading back into the darkness. Stubby's light remained.
Pete had to reload Golemspurt, so he did it via the mechanism of shaking it a lot. As the idiot continually shook his flamethrower, he noticed the disappearance of Stubby's light. This was due to the disappearance of Stubby.
"STUBBY!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!"
Pete dove into the water in order to search for the light, too stupid to realize that Stubby may have been grabbed by a Neptdes Sewerfang on the dryer parts of the sewer, but smart enough to realize that without Stubby he will probably die. He had an ace up his sleeve, however. The battery powering Golemspurt had a second function: also producing ice magic. He let loose a burst of frozen energy, and suddenly he, and several sewer lizards, were frozen in the ice.
Pete was able to produce some heat from Golemspurt, and had defrosted part of himself in the ice cube. He saw Stubby, a couple rats, and eight Neptdes Sewerfangs. He slowly defrosted more of the ice cube, and just before he pulled out Stubby, realized he didn't need to travel on the dryer parts anymore. He could just freeze the water and himself, make a tunnel, and repeat the process! He grabbed Stubby, and set a course for the meeting place in the center of the sewers.
Several hours and many grueling hours of shaking and freezing, Potion Pete had finally made it to the slightly lit area where he would meet the renegade Golem creator.
There was no one there.
Stubby's light went off, and the Golem looked to the ceiling. There was a Giant Neptdes Sewerwebber, the most fearsome of all denizens of Neptdes' sewers. Pete utilized Golemspurt, and fiercely sprayed flames at the beast. These did not last long, however, because Pete had worn down the battery powering Golemspurt over the ten hours he was freezing and thawing himself.
Pete had to face the facts. There was no reason to be in the sewers, because his contact was eaten by a spider. There was a good chance the spider would eat him, so he had to get out of there. There was a also a good chance of getting eaten by Neptdes Sewerfangs, as those he had frozen were most definitely thawed by now, and being frozen probably didn't kill them. Pete looked at Stubby, and realized what must be done. He stood right on top of Stubby, and snapped his fingers.
Stubby had one last function, and Pete would utilize it. Holes opened in Stubby's little legs, and small flames started to come out of them. Pete took a deep breath, and stared up at the Giant Neptdes Sewerwebber. He focused on amplifying the truth of defense, and then changed his focus to the ceiling above the spider. There was a dream held by Potion Pete, one he one day wanted to realize, but didn't have the time for. On a whim, he would sometimes include ways to achieve this dream in his Golems, in hope that one day he would stumble upon a relevation that would make his dream possible. This dream?
Be the first man to set foot on the Moon.
Stubby's flames were orange, but then they turned blue. The spider grew even closer to Pete, interested by the flames, and now interested by Stubby. Stubby and Pete hovered a small amount off the ground. Then, they grew faster. And faster. Small straps on Stubby's head wrapped around Pete to keep him in place. As Pete approaced the spider, Stubby stuck out a horn-like spike, that reached around and extended past Pete. The Neptdes Sewerwebber was pierced through, reduced to guts that fell all around the center of the sewers. Pete had a few thoughts on the situation.
"I killed the spider afterall... well, no turning back now!"
Pete braced for impact as his face barreled through several meters of stone.
Neptdes was a calm city, other than the raging beasts within its catacombs. The market in the center was rather calm, as people would rather forget their problems then face them head on. In fact, there was rumors that a deadly spider lived directly beneath the market.
A rumble was heard by the merchants and buyers in the market place, and they feared the worst. The spider was real, of course, and they knew it would one day get hungry enough to emerge through the ground and attempt to eat the populace. The city guards had not been able to put down the spider, no matter how many times they attempted to do so. One denizen of the city had even learned the forbidden arts of Golem making, and had contacted another Golem maker to teach him how to destroy the spider. He had not emerged from the sewer, and the people knew it would not take roughly fifthteen hours to go through the sewer and back, and therefore, he was killed.
The people braced for the horrifying sight of a murderous spider emerging from the ground, but were instead met with the sight of a blue blur emerging, and a scream.
"AIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeee..."
The blue streak zoomed into the sky, and started heading towards the east. The people, startled and confused, looked down the hole the blue being emerged, and were met with the sight of a piece of a spider leg just at the exit of the blue enigma.
From that day on, that day in Neptdes was known as the "Festival of the Spider's Death", where they would celebrate the magical hero that saved them from the tyranny of the Neptdes Sewerwebber.
Pete landed in the middle of a forest somewhere. He got back to his quest for knowledge.