I gaze curiously at the servitors. I estimate that there must be at least a thousand of them, and very possibly many, many more, all in sort of stasis or suspended animation. They are all rigid but solidly built and many are holding weapons of some sort.
I gaze at the armaments the creatures possess and I can feel the part of my mind naturally attuned to the various sorts of omegatech I’ve already encountered gaining more knowledge. This ability is remarkably handy since I was never much of a science-fiction man back on Earth.
The servitors are wielding various omegatech weapons. Some wield melee weapons such as powerful-looking hammers and others hold potent-looking guns. A few located near the middle of the mass of servitors wield devices that resemble guns but are very decidedly not weapons and I slyly grin when I realize what they are.
“Hey Delphi, you mentioned replicators earlier? You might want to look at the servitors way over there.” I inform my servant, before gesturing towards a handful of servitors hidden away near the middle of the group in front of us. She does as I advise and she lets out a loud, triumphant laugh when she sees the devices the servitors are holding.
“Replicators! Those are the BEST.” She says gleefully, as she dashes towards one of the servitors wielding the gun-like devices. She quickly stands in front of the tall servitor but does not attempt to take the device or touch the hulking figure holding it.
“Replicators allow for those who wield them, who can operate them, to nearly effortlessly replicate all sorts of simple stuff. Nothing with a brain or consciousness, or any sort of omegatech, but that’s still a lot of stuff. Things up to the size of a tent can be replicated instantly, and anything bigger requires more time but I know that some Omega Lords were working on schematics for bigger, more advanced versions of replicators that could replicate way more advanced stuff.” Delphi explains, mostly to Star, a bright smile on her face as she talks.
“This isn’t my favorite omegatech but this is incredible stuff. A LOT of problems can be solved with a replicator.” Delphi proclaims as she studies the devices.
“Five of them are in working order. Just amazing.” She mutters, before beginning to get lost in thought.
“Omegatech is… something else.” Star says as she admires the finely sculpted forms of the servitors. I walk up behind her and wordlessly watch her for a few moments before speaking up.
“You’re also an artificial intelligence, and you are not Omegatech… Would you mind telling me about the technology of Etherscape?” I ask, causing her to turn and grin at me.
“Sure! Ethertech is leaps and bounds beyond that of the mundane world you hail from. Things like teleporters, flying vehicles, spaceships, and laser weapons are all hilariously commonplace.” She begins, her smile never faltering.
“Numerous hegemonies either specialize in ethertech or have exceptional scientists as a pure coincidence in their ranks. The tel’Mehts are a family of ethermech engineers who construct stunningly powerful mechs and power armor for ethermancers that can change battlefields when piloted by potent duos of ethermancers and manamutants… Or a single nova.” Star tells me, with a cute smile.
“The tel’Vephs are a family who rule over the most scientifically advanced territory in Etherscape. They are a very generalized family rather than specializing in any specific subset of ether-based sciences or ethertech. They are also notoriously neutral, though their princess is one of the women the most interested in the prospect of marrying the crown prince.” Star says, idly.
“As a general rule, the two most impactful types of ethertech are ethermechs and spaceships powered by ether. Ether spaceships are especially infamous throughout the multiverse for their devastating power, though obviously without a manamutant they are only useful for so long outside of Etherscape itself.” Star tells me as she continues to gaze at the servitors.
“Some ether sciences are noteworthy as well. More than a few hegemonies study how ether affects biology, and are responsible for doing away with the myths that I mentioned earlier.” Star explains softly.
“The most prominent biologists and geneticists in Etherscape are the tel’Othes. They helped design the first manamutants and your ancestor the first Nova! Nowadays they don’t focus all that much on precise upgrades to ethermancers or the creation of new types of ethermancy but rather on pushing genetics and genetic enhancements to their limits broadly.” Star says smiling as she thinks about the hegemony.
I curiously focus on her and when I turn my attention to her fully I sense her thoughts as audible and otherwise perceivable to me as my own. She is thinking about a woman named “Echnedai”, who is the crown princess of the hegemony she mentioned. The woman in her mind’s eye is an incredibly lovely, blue-haired figure with wings for arms and the lower body of a serpent.
I allow her to idly study the servitors as I do the same thing. The creatures are human in shape, but they are something well beyond humans in terms of their physiques and their builds, with some standing as tall as eight and a half feet in height.
“What powerful-looking creatures…” I softly mutter as I glance at them. I know precisely how to awaken them, all it takes is for me to tell them to wake up thanks to the sparks inside of me, but for now, I don’t move to wake them up.
The silence becomes comfortable enough to not be worth intruding on and in almost no time at all we begin to edge closer and closer to an hour. And to the minute the thronemaidens will be arriving. I glance back in the direction of the room my companions and I came from, and I watch as the machine I first stepped out of begins to glow.
“Okay…” I mutter, as I turn back towards the servitors. I command them to awaken, and when I do I watch their eyes snap open and they all simultaneously fall to their knees in front of me. I smile and command the creatures to rise and follow me, even as my two servants watch me curiously. I turn to them and beam them with a big smile.
“I’m BOTH the emperor-to-be and an Omega Lord. I am powerful beyond the context I exist in as a Nova and I think I should take full advantage of that. I ought to make an impression on the thronemaidens if I can, right?” I ask and they both laugh at my remarks even as they get ready to accompany me.
I turn and begin to walk back toward the chamber where I first entered the city, followed by both the oracles and the servitors. The oracles quickly dart forward until they are right behind me, while the servitors move in unison behind me. The machine in the distance begins to glow brighter and brighter, and I smile as I hear it beginning to come to life.
By the time my servants and I have crossed the distance that separates us from the machine, I can sense the thing activating. From a visual standpoint, it’s less impressive than I’d have thought, as the thing is simply glowing, but it is impressively loud and my keen senses notice the thing’s curious magitech making it temporarily grow bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
I can hear the soft footsteps of seven people as they move about inside the machine. None of them utter a single word but I can hear their heartbeats, and from that, I can tell none of them are fans of being in the cramped teleporter.
One of the walls of the teleporter falls away and reveals a bevy of beauties trapped within the temporarily expanded confines of the machine, all of whom are wearing armor covering their necks, arms, and lower legs and nothing else allowing me to see their curvy forms. They are all glancing at each other, and exchanging looks so they don’t see me immediately. I also notice that none of them are breathing, something so slight that there is no chance I’d have noticed it before I was brought here.
“They aren’t naked? How come when I was pulled here I was naked and they aren’t?” I ask, turning to Delphi who laughs quietly.
“The veil. It prevented anything mundane from crossing over with you, which was all of your stuff. They were in one of the imperial palaces, not a veiled location so their gear wasn’t affected.” Delphi replies causing me to roll my eyes in annoyance. I turn back to the thronemaidens and put on the same friendly smile I put on whenever I am about to meet with a potential client back on Earth.
“Hello! My name is Ignacio, though I suppose it’s possible you know that already. I have been told that I’m Etherscape’s heir.” I say, causing the women to turn and look at me. They also look past me and notice the obvious army I have directly behind me.
“I am also an Omega Lord and I believe that we have much to discuss.” I exclaim, with an almost sheepish grin on my face.
----------------------------------------
Five of the seven women are strikingly different physically speaking. Two of them are twins and thus obviously physically similar, but the remaining five are all striking examples of their species: in all but one case human.
The twins are imposing but beautiful warrior women with muscular physiques, wonderfully feminine if predatory faces, and appealing curves. Their hair differs but so startingly so that even Ignacio, hardly a man who keeps up with fashion trends, realizes that the twins must dye their hair. One has blonde hair and the other is a brunette. They both remind Ignacio of amazons from Earth’s mythologies and for the first time, he wonders what sort of creatures must dwell beyond the veil that covers Earth.
One of the remaining women is a petite redhead with green eyes, and as Ignacio looks at her his heartbeat quickens. She is stunning, like something a god would handcraft and bestow with life, and she has slim curves, being noticeably less stacked than her peers but her body still exhilarates and excites the man standing before her.
Another of the thronemaidens is a slender but gracefully tall raven-haired woman. She has perceptive eyes and she studies the strange prince, even as she inhales his pheromones. Her exposed body grows visibly aroused as she inhales the minuscule amounts of ether the emperor-to-be unconsciously radiates.
One of the remaining thronemaidens is a tall woman who has resplendent brown hair. She gazes at the prince and has a stoic look on her face, curious to watch what happens next.
The final two thronemaidens both have white hair, though their hair is styled differently and the two maidens look nothing alike. One of them, however, also has milk-colored eyes and pointy ears which the prince visibly reacts to when he spots them, which he couldn’t do before when she was facing away from him thanks to the length of her hair. He mouths the words “An elf” in response to her appearance. She smiles at him when he says this and nods.
The last thronemaiden also has white hair, though hers is not snow-white like the elf’s, and is instead the same color as the elf’s eyes. She gazes at the prince with an openly lustful smile on her face, and when the prince looks at her he senses the dizzying rush of emotions she is feeling.
He is not used to this, not comfortable with it, back on Earth his life was boring and mundane and as a natural consequence of that he himself was boring and mundane, and now he is thrust into fantasy and sci-fi politics and he is attempting to be more than he is. To see someone be openly so much, emotionally, is confusing and intimidating to him.
That said, before the eyes of the thronemaidens the emperor is also changing. The man’s appearance on Earth was that of a boring-looking but kind-eyed salaryman who was obviously Hispanic with the soft brown skin many Americans expect Hispanic men to have. Here, at the End of Time, the man has subtly been becoming taller, fractionally, with every passing minute. But now that the thronemaidens have arrived something came with them: ether.
As manamutants, the thronemaidens are natural vessels for ether both generating and storing the substance within themselves. Unbeknownst to anyone here, when they are at maximum capacity all manamutants naturally exude subatomic amounts of ether, and the emperor is unconsciously, unknowingly, absorbing even those truly minuscule amounts of ether in addition to the ether he is slowly producing with every passing second. This causes the man to subtly transform even as he studies the women before him.
Ignacio becomes taller before their very eyes, so slowly that only Velvet, the milk-haired thronemaiden, consciously notices. She also studies his muscles, which are themselves slowly expanding. Even his face is subtly morphing, slowly becoming more and more handsome in an archetypically masculine way. His face is becoming sharper, and every part of him is growing with every passing second.
The first of the thronemaidens to meaningfully move is the stunningly lovely redheaded woman.
----------------------------------------
“Your majesty, it is an honor and a pleasure to finally meet you.” The redhead tells me. I can hear the sincerity in her words and even her voice is incredibly beautiful. At the same time, I feel an already prominent part of me grow more prominent and I will myself to ignore it. The thronemaidens do not, and each gives me an approving look.
“My name is Sif, Sif Zaminold. I am your first thronemaiden, the leader of the thronemaidens, and until you arrived I have served the people of Etherscape as the head of the imperial faction of Etherscape’s government in addition to my duties as a thronemaiden.” The redhead, Sif, says. I smile at her and nod brightly. I approach her, taking my first steps since I spoke to the maidens.
I turn inward as I approach the maiden. Right now I am tasked with making a good first impression and doing so means embracing what I am being asked to become: an emperor. I mentally picture all of the earthly emperors I know of and I imagine what they might say as I close the distance between the maiden and myself.
“Sif, from what I understand you have done an amazing job. I am moved by your loyalty to the imperial crown and the empire.” I tell her, honestly.
“I have no… accurate idea of the challenges you overcame to get here, but I am grateful that you did. Your loyalty, that of all of you,” I say, turning to the rest of the thronemaidens and smiling. “Has changed history. You’ve… found me. And that feels weird to say, but I’ve been told enough about Etherscape and the universe to know that what you’ve done is something incredibly difficult. I can only hope that I can rise to the occasion and be the emperor you deserve.” I remark, which makes all of the maidens beam at me in approval.
“Your majesty…” One of the maidens, the white-haired human, whispers in awe. She looks at me openly and lustfully and whenever I look at her I quickly look away. For some reason when I look at her I feel my heart hammer in my chest. I hate to seem shy, as I’m actually not, but if I look at her too much I might get inappropriate ideas and right now while I’m trying to get my bearings is not the time for me to fuck up. The next person to speak up does not directly address me, and instead turns her attention to Delphi.
“Excuse me, Steward. Do you know of a more appropriate place than this for us to converse?” She asks. The speaker is the thronemaiden with brown, resplendent hair. She has a firm, authoritative voice, and she is gazing directly, though not hostilely, at Delphi. Delphi turns and looks at her with a neutral gaze.
“There is actually a palace not far from here,” Delphi offers, before turning to me and smiling. “Palatial homes are common throughout the city. Every Omega Lord had some sort of prominent estate situated somewhere in the city, which itself is the size of a galactic supercluster thanks to powerful magic used by the Omega Lords.” She explains.
“If you weren’t an Omega Lord I’d advise against exploring the city. Some traps are still active, but none will activate so long as you wouldn’t want them to. The city is eager to accept a new lord, as Omegatech, even the weakest of it, is adaptive and can assess situations. You are an Omega Lord, one already known to the city. It will eagerly accept your presence, especially since it’s been a VERY long time since the Omega Lords fell.” Delphi tells me.
“Would you like for us to continue this conversation over there? We can simply use the teleporter.” Delphi offers, continuing to look at me and defer to my ideas. I chuckle and nod at her, and she glances at the device in the middle of the room.
When she turns back to me she tells me to enter the machine, and I do as she says, but not before the white-haired human thronemaiden steps behind me and into the machine with me. I am surprised by her as the door shuts and I feel the machine immediately come to life and move us to another part of the city.
The door immediately opens and we find ourselves in a corner of an elegant living room, one larger than any I’ve ever seen. It is the size of a hotel lobby and the furniture in it is elegant and still in good shape. The thronemaiden and I step out of the machine and into the room and we glance at each other and smile.
“I’m Velvet. It’s… very nice to meet you, your majesty.” The thronemaiden tells me, practically purring as she speaks. I wordlessly admire her body, before I whisper that it’s nice to meet her too.
Velvet is rather petite, smaller than Sif, but is also curvier than the redhead is. She has piercings that keep her nipples fully erect, and I have to work to not glance at them. If I do I fear that I might make an untoward move, and I still don’t know what is and isn’t acceptable when it comes to Etherscapian culture. I know they are more liberated than Earth is, but I don’t have enough information to be able to act on that bit of trivia from an informed place.
Thankfully the doors of the teleporter quickly open and the remaining thronemaidens, the oracles, and a trio of servitors step through it and into the room. The woman who spoke earlier speaks as soon as she sees Velvet and I and gets to glance at the room.
“Ah, this is a fitting place for a conversation about politics, succession, and the future.” She says, an eager smile spreading across her pretty, but stoic face. The others fully agree and in a matter of moments my companions and I are seated on various opulent coaches tastefully arranged in a small circle by my servitors. Sif is quick to offer introductions now, saying that the woman who just spoke is named “Chyliss”, the raven-haired beauty is named “Thevah”, the blonde twin is named “Belah” and her sister is named “Binah”, the elf is named “Shelanvaranda”, and I explain that Velvet introduced herself to me already, which gets smiles from Sif and Velvet herself.
“Okay, your majesty… I know you must have a thousand questions, and I do not know where to begin, or even what you know. Please do your loyal subjects a favor and inform us of what you’ve already been told.” Sif says, eager to know what I already know and to piece together where her knowledge would be helpful. I chuckle and take a beat to organize my thoughts to make things easier on myself here.