“Yes. No… Yes? Yes.”

That’s what she’d said when I asked her. Whether she actually wanted to be with me, I mean.

And I don’t know how to process it, or even how to interpret it.

I’m pretty sure that for at least some part of our thousand-plus-year relationship, she’s rationally wanted to be literally anywhere else.

And yet she’s stayed with me, entirely because she can’t resist her obsession.

Her obsession with me.

I sigh again.

At least she’s sitting next to me now, peacefully, without a storm of brightly colored fire and pain.

I’d coated her throne with a thin layer of the same glasslike compressed ash I’d constructed the rest of the hall from so that she could use it. After all, I’d taken the time to design it just for her…

It’d be a shame not to put it to use. And since I’d already done the work of tastefully aging the metal… I may as well perform that final touch.

It doesn’t look any worse for it either, although it does shine just a touch more than the others now. Maybe that’s appropriate considering she’s my elder by far, even with a thousand and a half or whatever years under my proverbial belt.

I’d never really thought about our age difference much. Huh. Not that it matters, really.

What does age even mean to a god?

…

Now that I think of it, the only god I’ve even bothered to ask anything about age was Sekhmet… I wonder what she’s doing now.

…

…

No, I’m not going to bother her. I briefly considered it, but…

Well.

I’m already enjoying the quiet time in the void with my wife, drifting in what was probably the cradle of my birth. Even if I wasn’t sentient then, something about it feels innately welcoming.

Even if I can feel it desperately trying to pull me viscerally apart when I’m in it.

But that doesn’t matter.

And despite my conflict, this is still peaceful.

It still feels like home, with her, despite everything.

Maybe that’s the power of familiarity and the passage of time.

…

…

…

I don’t even know how much time has passed now. Vivi hasn’t come to give a report, although it’s distinctly possible she’s not sure if this place is even safe for denizens of the real without me explicitly leading them in myself. The centipede knight has definitely seen me take others outside the real for travel… although I suppose hesitation would be warranted considering how many have simply ceased to be when sucked through a rift just like this one.

…

I wonder if I could create entire dungeons in a space like this. A simple word and the silica barriers are permanently impenetrable at a cost of only a pittance of my divinity… I just don’t know for sure if this is actually considered part of my plane or truly outside it.

Most likely outside it, to be fair. I’ll have to experiment later.

My queen, I feel my ancient knight intone from the once audience chamber and now entryway…

Go ahead, Vivi.

My reply seems to have made her feel a bit more confident, and she promptly continues. You have petitioners.

Here? I thought I made it clear the best way to reach me was to clear a dungeon… So I repeat the thought to my knight.

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They have… special circumstances, my queen. You will understand when you see them.

I sigh. Well, send them in then.

A short moment later, I hear the clatter and shouting of suddenly confused humans.

Oh.

Right.

I never did put in any method for them to move on their own without aerial mobility Skills…

Or spells…

Oh screw it.

I spawn one of my kin and possess it, promptly drifting it through the glasslike wall…

Where it promptly disintegrates. Well, now I know, I guess.

Fine.

I form a second from my outstretched hand and send it rapidly down the hallway to stop before the… humans…

…

Now I see what Vivi meant. I know them.

Yes, I know them rather well.

I will permit you entry. For now.

And with one more word, I gift them the temporary ability to move in the weightless space by simple will before recalling and reabsorbing the squirming wraith I’d spawned.

…

…

They’re not moving.

And I can smell their fear… delicious, delicious fear.

You are keeping me waiting. DO. NOT. KEEP. ME. WAITING, I echo threateningly across their minds.

Ah, yes, they’re finally moving… and crashing into the walls. I sigh again.

They have no idea how to use their wills to move.

Well, whatever. I guess I may as well enjoy the show for now… I’ve certainly enjoyed their other assorted bumbling in the past.

Fools, all of them – although not remotely to the same extent as the ‘True Hero’ himself.

After a surprisingly long amount of time, they seem to have figured it out…

Or at least one of them has, as an eldra finally enters my chamber dragging her two companions – one by an arm and the other by the leg.

And I smile. “Hello, mortals.”

***

After a comedy of stammering all while spinning in slow circles, I performatively hold out my hand and release a dozen feelers from tiny rifts around the room, using them right my guests. Well, right enough anyway considering how disoriented they continue to look.

“Wh-where are we?” their leader stammers.

I shrug lightly. “My throne room. You should tell me what you want; you don’t want to keep a god waiting, do you Callian?”

The mortal blinks. “Y-you know my name. Why do you-”

“Because of Ravona. Do you think I ignore those who show the pinnacle of devotion? Of course I know who you are. You, and Rosalie, and Frederick, and what you’ve done in my dungeons.”

Ah, and now they’re all dumbstruck.

“You… you really think… wait.” I rub my forehead. “Is it a common thing for mortals to think the gods don’t watch them? What do you think we do all the time?”

“I… don’t know,” their paladin finally replies. “I… thought we were too insignificant to notice. All of us.”

“Noooope. Being immortal is boring, but you? You tiny ants are constantly in motion, learning things, inventing things, always changing. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, and sometimes just… into something different. But let’s move back to the main topic. Why exactly are you here? I assume Vivianne sent you here despite my laws because of your connection to my esteemed hierophant.”

“H-hierophant!?” Callian gasps despite himself before suddenly blanching at his outburst.

I simply blink at him, offering an impatient half-smile.

“A-ah! It’s, uh. It’s actually regarding her… R-Ravona, I mean!”

I gesture for him to continue, and he finally does. He never acts this terrified of my alter-ego…

Although I can feel he actually is.

“W-would…”

“Would?” I ask.

“Would y-you please make her stop following us!?” he finally blurts.

…

I blink in surprise.

…

…

They… they came all the way to a goddess’ seat of power, into the face of obvious death… the literal den of the demon empress…

Just to ask for one devout to stop following them…?

…

…

…

“No.”

All three of them visibly resist sighs.

“…But you can ask her yourself. Unlike some of my brothers and sisters, I typically don’t force my will on my subjects. It’s why the towns and cities of my realm flourish, and why adventurers like yourselves are allowed access nearly anywhere with impunity. It’s not that I don’t care, you see… rather, I may care too much about them. What is the point of just pushing around pieces on a board when the pieces will move themselves in unpredictable, interesting ways? And I find you all interesting in your foolishness. So unless you can convince my hierophant otherwise, she will likely continue to follow you as she pleases. I’d recommend you get used to it.”

My wife offers a chuff of consensus at my side.

…Which seems to be the first time my mortal party notice her presence, leading them to sneak glances…

I exhale through my nose. I’ll admit I’m starting to lose my patience, but that’s fine. They’ve always had some infuriating behaviors I’ve offset with their more interesting ones.

“My first wife, Artemis. Yes, that Artemis,” I say while gesturing respectfully to my side. “You happened to arrive while she was visiting. A peaceful and generally agreeable visit at that, which you have interrupted. NOW, if there was nothing else…”

They glance at each other, obviously trying desperately to communicate… something, nonverbally…

And after a moment of them sweating but not replying I simply say, “Goodbye, then. Have fun with Ravona – she has fun with you.”

Then I take hold of the three of them with my feelers still in the room, dispel their aerial control, and send them drifting slowly back toward the entryway of my private realm.

After I’ve felt their wills leave my pocket in the void, I turn to my wife – my fae wife.

And, feeling my thoughts, she shrinks back… if only a little.

“It’s fine,” I say dismissively. “I’m still getting used to it. Even if you didn’t choose me in the beginning, I hope you at least do now. Or want to, anyway. But enough of that… I don’t really want to think about it right now. So… what did you think of our first audience here? In this space outside the real?”

She gives me a thoughtful look for a moment.

“Common,” she finally responds. “Fear.”

I chuckle before drifting into full, rolling laughter.

Because of course I do.

In any form…

They’ve always been afraid of me.

So, so afraid of me.

AND SO THEY SHOULD BE.

I.

AM.

TERRIFYING.