Projects

The next few days were actually rather quiet, much to Ahsch's relief. After confirming the link between Byrdrek and Fauna's treasonous activities and the Irztonites, there wasn't much for the Dominant Mage or his allies to do on that front, unless needed by the inquisitors. With the disgrace of the Irztonites, the Orrorists had backed well off from antagonizing the Order of Enochiel. Ariin and Elui had things well in-hand at the Temple, though he was resigned to eventually make an appearance there once again - after all, they could only keep his reincarnation a secret for so long, and it would make good 'promotional' material for the Order anyways. Preparation had to be done prior to any formal engagement to Kirasiel, though the High House Royal did visit with some regularity to both discuss details and receive orders from her new Master. And ever since the orgy, the angels were all caught-up on the Innate Magic they were lacking, and Ahsch and learned the remaining two from Avery after one not-very-long-for-them session.

All of which meant that Ahsch had nothing pressing upon his attention aside from personal projects, including the much-grown goal of 'getting stronger.' And the number of avenues through which he could do so was somewhat exhausting to consider. Further development of his spells, rote training, expanding the Order, tackling either taking on more Thralls or meddling with Transformative Trinket. He was sure he could think of even more choices, but just taking the ones off the top of his head was plenty. And that wasn't even considering unrelated topics. His duties as a royal, for example.

Or how to approach Tyri and Paelu's families, and how to repay the debt he felt towards the two fallen troops. Something he was still turning over in his mind, though he tried to watch himself and avoid falling into that brooding depression that his wife had forced him out of only a few nights earlier. Consulting his divine intuition didn't help much - as far as that was concerned, there wasn't much in the way of a debt, as they died under the orders of their superiors engaging in duties that they were already sworn to - they did not, necessarily, die for him, and that was a significant distinction. One that Ahsch had chosen to ignore, though he had yet to determine what, if anything, he could properly do about the debt he felt he owed. But it was something he forced himself not to ruminate on. He kept it in the back of his mind, always something to consider, but not taking up the bulk of his attention. Instead, he devoted himself to his new, broader projects.

The first was to at the very least consider potential candidates for Thralls. All told, he had only about one quarter of his limit, with Mahat, Ariin, Kirasiel, Dorin, and Elui. That left fourteen more positions left, soon fifteen if his estimations of his Magnitude weren't off (and he actually trained some). The question was, who belonged in those positions, and what role would they play? Kakais had suggested a personal bodyguard force, or servants; his recent examination of Transformative Trinket suggested a third option, or rather, sub-option, though he was... leery of the idea. At least, of the most effective version of the idea, to take literal children who would be most affected by the Trinkets, empower them, and Enthrall them.

He was already feeling rather upset about having fucked his sister when they were young. And while Transformative Trinket itself wasn't innately sexual, ensuring their loyalty through Dominant's Tithe was. And even if 'age of consent' wasn't a concept on Euphoria - at least, not in the way it was back on Earth - Ahsch didn't want to deal with all that shit. Which left a fairly narrow window of 'acceptable' targets in the late teens range; some quiet inquiries that did nothing to avoid the attention of the one he really wish wasn't being a shoulder devil (Mahat) had turned up some research that, on Euphoria at least, magical talents didn't 'stabilize' until the early 20s usually. In the end, as long as those talents weren't already stabilized, and the general disposition of the intended user of the Trinket was agreeable, there wasn't inherently an issue as long as they were 18.

Elui and Naemui are both your age, Master.

Ahsch glared at the far wall of his office. Which part of my recent rant about 'shoulder devil-ing' did you not understand?

Mahat giggled. _The part where there's even the slightest chance of me actually stopping._

Ahsch rolled his eyes as he refocused on the matter at hand. In the end, the intended 'targets' - he shuddered at the connotations of the word - were moot unless and until he could figure out a non-soul-eating way of benefiting from the arrangement past 'having a more powerful ally.' It would have to affect the soul, as that's where the bond was tied (and therefore how he could 'eat' the soul of a deceased Trinket-user) so the question was what would he possibly want with a soul postmortem that wasn't completely evil? Hells, what did he want with souls period? The only thing he really knew about them was that they went to Kakais and...

He paused. He had been a soul once before he'd met Kakais - at the reincarnation office place thingy. And since Rwnil had bound his soul back to a very specific place...

Ahsch fought down the excitement that rose. He wasn't sure if that was strictly possible in the first place - Rwnil was one thing, and he already had reincarnative abilities, but messing around with souls in death sounded like a good way to annoy Kakais or - potentially - the... gods? from the office. Though the bond that the Trinket formed might well be enough for them to ignore it. But that aside, with his infinite potential for growth, the number of souls he could potentially bind to Trinkets was also potentially limitless, which wasn't exactly ideal. An option, sure, but not strictly what he wanted.

Though binding those he loved most - Ariin and Avery, at the very least - to come back to him was... certainly an option. One that might need some finagling where it came to his wife, but his sister was still 'pre-stabilization,' as far as he was aware, so it was possible...

Regardless, it didn't answer the root question. Sighing, Ahsch queried his divine intuition, considering debts between someone he empowered to serve him and what might be owed. He was mildly surprised to 'figure out' that most people would be indebted to him for becoming so empowered, especially if they were already Fated to lack any significant mystical power. Giving them such power cost more than simple service, it seemed, since it completely broke the normal bounds of how magic worked - it was very much a 'thing gods and usually only gods could do,' and therefore incurred a heavy debt.

Ahsch thought about that for a while, analyzing the divine angle. He'd already resigned himself to needing to be somewhat more... 'efficient' about his dealings as a god, as unbalancing Fate wasn't something he was particularly interested in. So perhaps... He focused on his intuition again. What about a... 'soul plane' that functioned as an afterlife, where the souls of those so bound by the Trinkets were required to work off their debt, even after death? The estimation of 'would need roughly a few thousand years of service' was... far more than Ahsch expected, but it opened exciting possibilities. That just left actually making the soul plane and creating the binding link between any Trinkets he made and that 'afterlife.'

Though even before that, there was the question of the exact makeup of the Trinkets - how much of his Magnitude to put into it - and the actual role of the wielders. Considering he was starting to look further towards quantity than his initial 'all the quality' assumption, even just a single 'point' of Magnitude would likely suffice. It would spark the Trinket-users' growth and that, in and of itself, would put them ahead of most others. And as far as the role they would play...

Unbidden, flashes of fantasies he'd had before danced through his mind, of jewelry-and-gauze covered women serving and attending him, but now with the idea that they were also powerful magic users. Ariin's words to Naemui from months ago, about creating a cadre of women to serve his every whim, floated through his mind like the tempting song of a siren.

Ahsch shook his head. It did not dislodge the ideas. The allure of a harem of beautiful, submissive, worshipful, yet powerful women...

He had to take a few deep breaths to get his heart rate back into sane territory. And to strike the tent in his pants. I almost wish Kirasiel was here, he mused as he forced his thoughts onto a different path.

Working backwards, he considered the next option for gaining power. Expanding the Order of Enochiel - and critically, gaining more worshipers - would gain him raw power in the form of greater Magnitude. There were softer elements of power, such as the authority that came with a larger, more powerful organization, but the key element for him personally was the mystical power. As things were, with the Irztonites and the Orrorists backing off, and the newfound friendship with that Children of Kakais and the Bikullanians, and the growing support of the Order of Utsus, things were looking pretty good. Add in the 'remarkable and clearly divine return of the Prophet of Enochiel,' and Ahsch was already leery of pushing his luck, so he tabled any ideas about expanding the influence of the Order.

Which left the development of his own spells and simple training. The former took time, though he already had a slew of ideas. Though now that he was properly becoming a god, he considered focusing on his own domains, rather than more generic concepts. Though first, he reviewed the spells he already had and considered how he should be using them. The only changes he found he really should make was to activate Divine Nadir, one of Avery's Innate Magics. He wasn't sure how much it would help him, but passively absorbing divine energy was only a good thing as far as he could tell. Though he'd have to figure out if it cultivated on its own or if he'd have to actually work towards that, but for the time being, simply absorbing any stray energy would be good enough.

So, with a long-winded sigh, he pulled up a sheet of paper and prepared a quill. Heart Pierce and Spirit String were both innately bond-related. Implant Lust - which he realized he had never used, not even once - was obviously sexual. Dollify could be interpreted as relating to bodies. Ditto Spine Growth, Spine Hardening, and Shapeshifting from Mahat, and Unholy Form from Avery. Sexual Amplification, Edge of Glory, and Arsenal of Ecstasy all were sexual to some extent or another. Interplaying those would continue to produce spells that related to three of his four domains.

But the only one he didn't truly have much magic related to was dominance. Arguments could be made for Dreamweave, or Float, or possibly even Protected Power or Mystic Domain, but none of those truly ran with the idea of 'dominance' like something as blatantly sexual as Sexual Amplification did 'sex.'

Though the question there was what he could possibly work towards with dominance. Dreamweave gave him control - and therefore, dominion - over dreams; Float let him turn off a fundamental force of nature, which was fairly dominating; Protected Power declared dominance over his own magic and refused to fully bend the knee to outside obstruction; and Mystic Domain had it in the name itself, but also created a Ley Spring that produced Mana that closely aligned with his own, as well as bonds to things inside it, though weak ones.

Something in the thought process there made him stop and puzzle through it. Things seemed like they were on the verge of fitting together like puzzle pieces. Domains and realms and bonds and...

Ahsch froze for a long moment. Hadn't he just been thinking about creating a 'soul plane,' an afterlife, a 'divine realm' for the souls of those he bonded through the Trinkets to reside in? Perhaps some combination of concepts from magic he already possessed would allow him to accomplish that? The soul-affecting aspect of Heart Pierce, the creation of (unconscious) worlds from (Day)Dreamweave, the declaration of 'this is mine' that Mystic Domain seemed to lean towards, perhaps even the tethering that Spirit String provided.

Rather than a list, Ahsch found himself writing down concepts for a spell far more massive than he had ever attempted before. Eventually though, Mahat managed to drag him away from his scribbling.