In the palace of the Sovereign's ruler, the High Priestess, Ayesha, had a worried expression on her face, biting her lower lip as she looked at the scene in front of her. As the High Priestess, her garbs used to be made of pure gold that blended with her skin tone, but her current outfit had a significant tonal change from before. Instead of the crown that generally covered both her hair and the sides of her face completely, she had a simpler tiara of gold that allowed her hair to flow freely along her shoulders down to the middle of her back. The black choker over her golden skin shone especially brightly, featuring a horizontal gold streak and a gold gem at its center. Below that, she had a skin-tight black one-piece tube top that went from just above her chest down to the middle of her thighs, fully revealing her arms and shoulders along with a modest cleavage, and accentuating her legs with black stilettos on them. Less queen, she currently looked more like a stripper with a tiara on her head, but that was by design. Unless she was giving somebody an audience, that was the state of dress of the High Priestess of the Sovereign. Or Queenie, as Alex liked to call her.
Adam Warlock was lying horizontally in a medical pod that had its top open, with Ayesha's palm pressed on his forehead. She could feel multiple black tendrils extending out from her palm and into his head. Unlike a few weeks ago, he no longer looked anywhere close to the dried-up husk that he had been when he'd had his vitality sucked away when forcefully overusing the Soul Stone to beat Jane.
[Last chance, Queenie. We could turn him into Adele Warlock, and she could eventually become ten times the person that he currently is.]
"God's sake, Master, no!" Ayesha said, rolling her eyes as her current address for Alex naturally flowed out of her mouth. "I will not be able to accept forcefully changing the gender of my son without his consent."
[I'm kidding. We're almost done. There's no need to be worried any longer.]
She nodded wordlessly, her fingers slightly tightening over Adam's forehead. Anxiously looking at her son's peaceful face, she felt the tendrils extending out of her palm stirring and saw his eyes shoot wide open, startling her as he took a loud breath and sat up, making her step back with a slight wobble—she wasn't completely used to the heels yet. Though the wobble reminded her of something else.
"Master, my clothes!" She whispered in a panic. "I can't let my son see me in this state."
[Don't worry, he will understand. You have now found a master whom you actually enjoy serving. He will understand, don't worry.]
"W-what?" She trembled. "Not like this…"
[You're my good Queenie, right? A little embarrassment every once in a while that puts you in your place is also important.]
She bit her lower lip hesitantly and ultimately lowered her head, looking at the skin-tight dress that hugged her skin to the extent that the outline of her breasts and even her naval was perfectly visible through it.
Adam sat up and looked around with a slightly confused expression, and Ayesha's embarrassment faded away for a moment as she looked at her son, who no longer seemed to have the dumb look that he used to.
"Adam," she said with a whisper, slowly approaching her son. "How do you feel?" Her tone had both anticipation and fear mixed in, unsure if Adam was truly healed or not.
"Mother," the man turned his head and looked at his mother. "I feel good…" He furrowed his brow. "Your clothing? Why do you wear that?"
"It's…fine," she shook her head as her cheeks turned a darker shade of gold. "Forget about that. Do you feel weak anywhere? Any pains?"
"No, none of that," he shook his head. "You taught me to take pride in gold, Mother, so why? Why do you wear black?"
[Tell him the truth. I have no intention of collaring him like I did with you, but he is a useful tool. Unless absolutely necessary, I do not plan to appear on more than one battlefield at once.]
"It's…" Ayesha hesitated. "It is the will of my master."
"Master?" Adam frowned. "What do you mean by master? Has the creator decided to take a more hands-on role with the Sovereign?"
"The creator… he has abandoned us, my son," she said with a weak sigh. "The High Evolutionary has declared war against the Sovereign. The one who healed you is my master."
Adam fell silent for a few seconds. "I don't understand, Mother. Without the creator, why would you willingly subordinate yourself to someone else?"
"Why else?" She smiled sadly. "For you, my son. Do you have the memory of what happened before you fell unconscious?"
"That stone…I went too far and brought myself to the brink of death."
"To heal you required nothing short of a miracle, son," she said. "Do not worry about me. But you are needed on the battlefield."
"Against the creator himself?" Adam said with some apprehension. "Can we win? I suggest that you move to a secure planet as soon as possible."
"We can win, son," she said. "You don't need to worry about me. My master will protect me. Spend some time relaxing and go through the information about our current situation. I will call a meeting of the higher-ups to discuss our future plans in two hours. I want you to be there as well."
Adam Warlock nodded with a serious expression as Ayesha retreated and left him alone. She quickly went through a common area and into a corridor before entering her private quarters.
The moment the door closed behind her, she immediately clutched her chest and leaned against it, taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart.
"To think you made me show this side of myself to my son…" She mumbled, sliding down and sitting on the floor. She pulled her legs close and wrapped her arms around them. "He's smarter now."
[Of course, any stagnation in his mental development due to his premature release has been fixed. He just needs a few hours to acclimate himself.]
"Thank you, Master," she said. "From the bottom of my heart. It's difficult to say that I didn't have any reservations, but now that he is healed… I am truly grateful to you and am willing to give you everything I have."
[Everything you have already belongs to me, Queenie. Stand up, I will be training your throat for the next two hours.]
She sighed and nodded, "Yes, Master."
Standing up, she approached the massive window wall that overlooked her capital. Gold was the theme as far as the eye could see: buildings, vehicles, citizens, everything and everyone. Beyond gold, there were barely any other colors to speak of. Not a single hint of green was seen anywhere on the horizon. It wasn't that there weren't any trees, but they were in specialized biomes that were spread across the capital. After all, as creatures modeled after humans, the sovereign still required oxygen to survive and had all the same organs.
Ayesha stood before her window and paused, processing a view that she had never truly become desensitized to.
[Not here, Queenie. You know where I want you.]
"I understand, Master," she nodded with a blush on her face as her head stayed down. She slowly made her way to a circular outline and stood in the center. Moments later, the outline on the floor glowed, and a faint force field shimmered into existence around her. She stayed upright with her hands on her sides as the floor stirred and started rising. A circular opening also appeared in the ceiling as she rose up, eventually disappearing behind the ceiling as the circular opening closed, leaving a faint depression on the floor from the location where the platform had risen up.
The elevator continued moving higher for a few seconds as Ayesha took a deep breath and closed her eyes. They opened again when she felt the elevator stop completely. The area she had appeared in was small, barely five square meters in its entirety, but what was special about it was that the entire room was covered in a dome of glass. No matter which direction Ayesha turned, she would only see the different parts of the capital. This was the highest point of the palace, a spire at the top enveloped by a glass dome that gave a bird's-eye view of the capital. A place only accessible by the highest authority of the Sovereign.
The original purpose was merely to serve as a place for the ruler to see what they had achieved, to take a moment of respite to truly admire and take pride in what they had done. This was Ayesha's favorite spot for as long as she could remember, having always taken the time to come here every single day, even if it was for a few minutes.
Of course, the moment Alex found out about it, he had immediately fallen in love with this spot and decided to make something similar on every single one of Gaia's planets when he finally established the Apex Empire. But for now, this spot had been repurposed for a different purpose.
***
If you like the story, follow it and leave a review and whatever else, it motivates me a lot. I try not to leave any mistakes in the chapters, but if you find something glaring, let me know, and I'll try to fix it.
If you want to support me, check out my Patréon. I post advanced chapters there and do weekly polls to decide the stories that I will be posting for the week. No pressure though, I'm eventually going to post my content publicly regardless.
www.patrèon.com/addyctive
(Replace the è with e)