R'sath, Tower of Starlight - Part 9 - Revelations

Avery stood by the window, arms crossed as she looked down onto the Capitol. Her tail flicked back and forth, the movements not quite sharp enough to suggest anger or annoyance, but not soft enough to be happy or satisfied. Contemplative, maybe. Concerned.

Hardly surprising, given that Ahsch had just spilled virtually everything. Reincarnating, his Boons, weird magical Magnitude, Ariin's similarly weird situation, his experiences with Kirasiel, meeting Phashak, the bond with Kirasiel - all of it. The month-and-change of time he had spent in his new wife's general vicinity had convinced him that Lord Odestag was a good person. Someone he could trust. And he didn't like the idea of keeping things hidden from her in the first place, pushing his girls to convince him to bring her in on everything. His **** had come from the fear that she would react poorly, given the number and significance of the things he had been hiding from her.

But she was taking it all rather well. Well enough that she had only asked the occasional clarifying question, even when disbelief had been clear in her expression. But the details and the lack of tangled-up stories that came with lies of this magnitude seemed to have convinced her. Still, she stood, not quite brooding, at the window, drink left at the endtable by her chair, while Ahsch cradled his drink as he sat in his chair, watching his wife.

"You understand this is... difficult to believe."

"You're taking it better than I would have, had I not lived the past eighteen years."

Avery snorted. "I guess my only real question is, 'What do you intend to do?'"

"I... we already talked about this, didn't we? Given that Phashak made the bond, I'm intending to help Kirasiel..."

"No," Avery interrupted, a small laugh in her voice. She quickly sobered into a chilling seriousness. "I mean long-term. You just told me you have the potential for... well, limitless power. Immortality of a sort. The ability to make Thralls of people - though rather free-minded Thralls, at that. It's all a lot of power for one person to have. So I'm asking you what you intend to do with that potential. Become a god? Take over the world? Enslave as many women as you can?"

Ahsch didn't rush to reassure his wife. He'd learned she didn't like empty platitudes. After a few moments of consideration, he slowly said, "Yes to the first. No on the second and third. I... well, given that a significant portion of my power can come from worship, I'll probably end up making a religion of sorts - a cult, I suppose - but I've always aimed to do right if I went down that path. Divine power is all well and good, but I don't want to be an absentee god, taking power and leaving my followers to rot when I got what I needed from them. I want to be someone - something - worth worshiping.

"As for Dominant's Tithe... I mean, I could try and trick people into making a vow of obedience, but I don't want that. And after Phashak's meddling, I don't think it would go too well for me afterwards. And since Phashak did explicitly meddle with it, I doubt she would approve if I didn't take any new Thralls - I have seventeen 'slots' open right now - but I think she wouldn't begrudge me... tact and caution in how I went about it."

"You almost sound like you have buyer's remorse," Lord Odestag said.

"Kind of?" Ahsch reached back and combed through his hair, rubbing a feather. "I mean... on the one hand, I chose Euphoria - out of all the worlds I could go to - because I _could _settle down for a quiet life. Getting involved in massive wars or inter-dimensional conflicts... I didn't want that. But then I also went and picked a bunch of insane Boons..." He shook his head. "I think I got lured in by the appeal of that level of power, but also wanted the option to live a quiet, safe life. And I've been figuring out that I can't really have both."

"So you're choosing the path that gives you power?"

"I'm choosing the path to do the most good I can with the gifts I've been given. The gifts I chose. What's the point of all that power if I just sit aside and don't do anything with it?"

"And our marriage was...?"

"What I said when you first asked me that question," this time, Ahsch did jump to reassure his wife. It was the truth, after all. "I didn't - and honestly, still don't really - know you; I couldn't _want _to marry you. But I didn't hate you upon our first meeting, and our marriage will help me to do... whatever it is I need to do to help Kirasiel. So if you have concerns about... well, all of this. All of me... I can agree to not... I guess, to not use anything our marriage provides me for my long-term plans." He let out a small laugh. "Hell, if you really want, I can try and wait until... I guess until you've... well..." He coughed. "I can wait until a time when I can step away from House Odestag, not involve you or any children you may have, to start working on my 'ascension,' I guess. Give you the peace of mind that if I do end up becoming bad, at least you didn't have a hand in it."

Avery nodded once. Then it was quiet for several minutes. Ahsch stared past his wife at the night sky, reconsidering everything that had happened since he - since Mitchel Cohen - had died. Had he made the right choices? Was he making the right choice?

"When it became clear to me that what you were saying was true, I considered if I should kill you," Avery quietly stated. Ahsch's blood froze. "But you'd just reincarnate elsewhere, and dropping something like you on another world wouldn't exactly solve any problems if you decided to go bad - which you'd be more inclined to if I murdered you." She finally turned around, her uncanny blue eyes pinning the hrafthi to his seat. "Then I considered trying some elaborate trap. Time freezing magic is a thing, for example. Or some form of cursed immortality that prevented your reincarnation. But no trap is perfect, nothing would last forever. And whenever it failed, we'd be right back where we are.

"So I really hope that your current hopes and plans aren't for nothing. Because if, at the end of my life, or in whatever afterlife may exist, I find out that I had the chance to stop - or at least, delay - the creation of a monster, and I not only didn't do that, but supported my husband in his endeavors and helped to create that monster... I'll be very cross with you, Ahsch Odestag."

The Dominant Mage let out a long, relieved sigh. Then he put aside his drink, stood, slowly walked over to his wife, and took her hands. "Lord Odestag. My wife." He met her eyes. "Avery... I swear to you, I will do my utmost to do right by you, House Odestag, and everyone in all the worlds I can do right by. And if you do end up finding out that I have become a monster... I hope, pray, and beg you to stop me."

The royal met her husband's gaze, staring intently back into his eyes. Then she nodded, a small smile playing at her lips. "I can agree to that."

Smiling, Ahsch raised one of her hands to his lips, and gently kissed the back of her knuckles. Avery giggled, rolling her eyes and freeing her hand. "So... Ahsch, God of... what, exactly? Harems?"

The hrafthi snorted. "I honestly don't know at this point. The 'System Description' says that my worshipers will assign me my divine domains, but I do vaguely recall Office Lady saying that I'd have some influence over it, or something. Maybe something sex-related, given all my 'weirdness' when it comes to magic - at least, the Innate stuff."

Avery gave him a challenging look. "If you aim to be a god of sex, you still have some work to do, mister."

Ahsch grinned back. "I'm willing to put in the work. You offering lessons?"