"Lord, what would you have me do?" The woman asked, leaving both of us speechless. As she kneeled to bring her height below my chin.
Divine level summons were incredibly rare, as the name suggests they literally had to be called from the domain of gods, but they had to agree and they were in no way obligated to the summoner. A human, even someone like me could not break that threshold, the summon had to do it and it is entirely accepted that if they don't like your attitude or the reason they were called, they would leave or kill the summoner themself.
"Did she just call you lord? Maybe she was speaking about Ev-"
"I was not, the youngest of the gods is not who I serve." The interruption was enough to put us on edge, any sign of disrespect from the summon meant they were not far from violence and I moved between them. "My lord, I would not harm an ally o-"
"She is not my "ally" she is my fiancé. I will not risk a stray summon bringing her harm." My words seemed to deeply hurt the unfathomable being before us, then her sword arm moved and I acted. "Glyph of final judgement." The change was instantaneous, the power not as overwhelming as before, still damaging, but being healed in equal measure.
That was not much relief though, this was a higher-human form divine summon, a deva no less. There are several ranks of this summoning, apparition, phantasm, beast, humanoid, deva and concept. This is only the second time I have even known of a summon above beast, the other was summoned by a world defending itself against me and arrived as the concept of justice. I only survived that experience because of my station, justice ends in judgement, the concept of justice simply killed the entire world in an instant leaving me alone in a barren wasteland.
The idea of a deva calling me lord, it was unthinkable, as much as the idea of me beating it in my weakened state. We had just watched her break through the veil of transcendence with nothing but brute force, Sil and I combined at full power couldn't do that. This being would cut me down with the effort it took her to exist, absolutely none.
"Forgive me my Lady, had I known you held the Lord's heart I would never have interrupted you." Her sword came to rest by her own throat. "Give the order sire." She had lowered herself, now unwilling to stand at the height of Eve, which was next to impossible.
"That won't be necessary, if you truly mean no harm to her, then please rise. Debase yourself for no one." I released the glyph and slumped a bit, though the deva steadied me instinctively. "Why do you call me lord? I hold no place in divinity anymore. Pretty sure you outranked me even when I did. Oh, and call me Adam please, knowing people will be calling me sire soon is making me nauseous as is."
"Forgive me, Lo- Adam. If you truly believe that, then I cannot say, but the fact I felt your will echo through the domain of black, I doubt it will be much longer. In the meantime, how will I serve?" I was so grateful to still be alive, I didn't even question it, I simply stepped back beside Eve and answered the question.
"Eve and I will be leaving this place for the night, there is one who has declared war on me however, if I knew where she hid I'd send you now and end this, but since I don't, I need you to defend the land and residents within these walls, but not a foot beyond. Punish those who bring unnecessary suffering as well…" I turned to leave, with the demeanour of a general who had given his standing orders and was moving out, then turned back. "Oh and when a man called Halsan arrives, make sure he lives, good chance his heart might burst, oh and I have a thick skin, don't punish anyone just for speaking ill of me."
I felt like a parent rattling off a list of "one last thing-s" before leaving their child home alone for the first time, but if I gave an entity such as her too much slack, she could've reduced the land to dust in a blink.
The last thing we heard, before sprinting toward the gate was a stressed man ranting "Where is he!? What did he d… D-d-d-deva!?" Of course he knew what she was, everyone knew what they were. There isn't a non-vulgar way to say this that does it justice, they were on everyone's list titled "Things you don't fuck with".
A deva was an aspect of a concept, more accurately, a concept restrained by a physical form, that was the only difference, the reach of her arm, that didn't make much of a difference since she had legs to walk with though, not to mention the eight wings she could use to fly with.
For the first time, I felt deep guilt for my reckless decision, I didn't even understand how I reached that being, then to have her act like my personal bodyguard? Nuh uh, no way, the story of angels is always bloody for a reason, they are the soldiers of the gods, used to settle their differences and refined since before the mortal realm was created. In fact the first dispute they were used to settle was whether or not it should be created.
I fully knew and recognised the fear Halsan must have been feeling, a healthy man's heart was liable to stop, my asking her to make sure he lived, then follow any order he gave providing it did not exceed the town walls, was not a joke, I fully expected the shock to kill him and I knew he would need to cover some points I missed.
As we sprinted through the gate, my head pounded under the mental assault of the deva's voice in my head, bringing me to my knees and causing me to skid since I hadn't lost momentum.
"Lo- Adam, this human is truly angry with you. It's like those small dogs you once watched with fascination as they yapped at you. Is that why he must live?"
I burst into laughter in defiance of the pain. I was curious how she knew about that, but I remembered looking down on these little dogs barking at me as I made my way to my next target.
There I was getting ready to glass as far as their eyes could see and whilst others flashed curious glances my way, those little things were yapping at me like the only things determined to stop me.
I looked at them for a long time, at least it felt long. 'Do you know what I'm about to do? Do you even think you can stop me? No, you don't, but that isn't stopping you from trying, is it? If humans were more like you, well, they might have lived longer. Take care little pups.' At the end of my thought I leaned over the waist high fence to pet them, one nipped my finger and the owner ran over to apologise.
"Think nothing of it. A drop of blood is a small price to pay for invading their home." I chuckled as I continued on my way.
It wasn't a revelation as such, more akin to a vivid nostalgia, now that she had mentioned it I couldn't deny the similarities between the way Halsan often acted and those pups. If I ever confirmed he was that dog reincarnated, I would praise him for finally managing to yap me into submission.
"Whats going on? One minute you look hurt, the next you're laughing like a madman." Eve huffed, desperate to get out of range of the inevitable lectures.
"Inside joke, we don't need to worry about Halsan for now, but you know what? I think our Leeson might finally find a girl he likes." Eve looked at me like an imbecile but was satisfied knowing our lecture had been belayed.
With our path clear, we skipped off in the direction of the mine, with just enough urgency to ensure we would make it there not long after dawn.
When night descended I used magic to create a shelter, placed a glyph of warning, then cooked us dinner.
"You know we can't avoid the subject forever, that deva knew you, knows you." Eve finally said as I threw the wooden bowls into the fire pit.
I let out a sigh and shrugged. "I know, but honestly what concerns me more was when she said "domain of black". I have heard beasts call their place of origin "the white" before, but never that." I answered, throwing my head back into my cradled hands as I slipped into thought.
"That concerns you more than a Deva of all things calling you lord and bowing to you like a loyal soldier?" Eve asked, genuinely curious as to how that wasn't the most important thing.
"The divine realm doesn't change. If there is a new domain over there, yes, it is far more significant than some quirky Deva. Though the fact she called Ever the youngest of the gods is surprising, I don't understand why her divinity was accepted since she was created by humans." I conjured a bed and picked Eve up to carry her over.
She wanted to act embarrassed, but she seemed to understand I was just too deep in thought to really acknowledge what I was doing, so she just wrapped her arms around my neck and let it happen. Only getting fidgety when I laid on the bed with her on my lap.
"Maybe this domain of black was formed by gods who agreed with me when I said they should be taking a more proactive approach with the mortal realm." I theorised, airing my thoughts as I was unaware of Eve's growing squirminess.
"Maybe… But more importantly, can you stop, stroking my thigh like that." Her face was red again, her breathing heavier than usual. I quickly raised my hand to remove it from her, but she grabbed my wrist and brought it up to her face.
She shifted her position as she held my hand in that position then kissed me again. "You're a very cruel man Adam… could you wait until we marry to start teasing me like this. I'm just glad I'm not part of the theocracy anymore or I'd have to confess this to someone."
"Sorry, you can confess to me if it helps."
"Absolutely not, I'll be making you take responsibility for all of it in due time, but please, if you have a spell to calm me. Then please use it." She kept kissing me after she made the request, right until I cast the spell as requested.
With her mind balanced she slid down to rest her head on my chest and frowned. "Sorry, did I upset you?" I asked, feeling guilty that I had done something to make her act that way so soon after the incident that morning.
"No, it's nothing, just noticed something but don't worry just hold me until I fall asleep. I shook my head, then repositioned her so she wouldn't ruin her back again before fulfilling her request.
The next morning we rose before the sun, but when I opened my eyes she was already awake with her head pressed against my chest and concentrating so hard she looked like a safe-cracker.
"Why do I feel like our married life is going to be interesting, dear?" Her face lit up briefly, then as she looked up at me and our eyes met her face suddenly scrunched into a frown.
Trying to hide the sudden flare of disappointment, she sat up and slapped my stomach softly twice. "I'm sure it will be. We should get moving, I'm sure Askel is missing you and we didn't make up properly last time."
As we approached the mining camp, we were breathtaken, "camp" no longer doing the place justice, as the plans I drew up for the area had entered the implementation phase. Several temporary structures were visible beyond a waist height marker fence. The area off to one side had been made into a marked grave yard and as a symbol of learning from past mistakes the site was now guarded by a special contingent of guards who bore the crest of Kriel to mark them as his selected students.
"Teacher, Lady Evelith, we've been expecting you. The site manager instructed us to guide you to the main building on your arrival." One guard said as we approached.
"Why do I get the feeling our trip here was only a surprise to us?" I muttered to Eve, before addressing the man. "Please, call me Adam, my name is now common knowledge."
"With all due respect sir, we call you that because you taught us so much not because your memory is worse than my dad's" I then made the situation awkward by hugging the man.
"Please, don't ever stop talking to me like that, no matter what happens. Ahem! Anyway, take us where we need to go." I finished as I released the very unsettled guard.
When we arrived, the guard made an unusual expression then left with the words "I'll go get the other one." then left, promptly.
"Greetings! We have been expecting you, I was eager to know what you think of our camp. I'm sure you will be happy to know that progress is going well with an emergency evacuation tunnel being dug out from a hidden chamber in the mine as per your instructions." The manager was clearly proud of himself and for good reason. The progress they had made was coming along much better than I had predicted in my plans.
Before I could answer him however, the sound of small footsteps running up to the door, which suddenly swung open, derailed the conversation.
I was then tackled to the ground by a small girl hard enough to have the wind knocked out of me. As I wheezed and tried to get my breath back she spoke and made it go from difficult to impossible
"PAPA CAME TO SEE ME!"
The words made my brain stop functioning and put me into a catatonic state, until the manager spoke up. "Askel, you can't just tackle him like that." Not that it helped me recover, but it put Eve into a similar state, making her just walk to the closest chair and sit down without a word.
The development was more than we could handle.
Our brains went into overload and even as the manager tried to usher the delicate young frame of the once massive snake away so I could get up, neither Eve nor I made any effort to speak or move and then she started sobbing as she scrunched my shirt in her hands.
"Papa? Did I hurt you? Papa? Eve, papa isn't moving." When I heard her say those words it reminded me of the moment my mother died and my condition changed immediately.
Instinctively, I did what I wished someone had done for me back then, I wrapped my arms around her and assured her everything was ok.
Eve began to sob as well, clearly affected by the pain the memory of that moment brought me as vague as it was in my mind the heartache was burnt into my existence. She joined the hug and I comforted both of them on the floor until they had calmed down.
"Apologies for the drama." I said as I picked up the young girl dressed in rags. "I guess this explains the parcel we have." I withdrew it from the storage space and handed it to Eve. I then erected a blackout barrier so she could dress her properly.
Listening to Eve trying to dress her whilst the girl hissed at her, as if trying to prove her identity was amusing.
Eventually Eve stepped out and gestured for me to move over next to the manager, then revealed herself.
The small albino form of Askel stepped out in a beautiful white dress that had a white and pale gold scale pattern and shoes that seemed to be made of actual snake skin with the same pattern.
"Papa… My scales are much softer." She said as we all clapped to make her feel more comfortable.
I then walked over and picked her up before sitting down with her on my lap. Her serpentine instincts drove her to wrap herself around me as much as possible, which made it far more complicated since I had to unwrap every limb so I didn't hurt her when I sat down.
"First of all… Why papa? I'm not your dad, we just have a contract." I tried to argue, but was met with strong resistance immediately.
"Nuh uh! You are Papa, when you changed me the contract broke, then I just knew you as Papa."
I looked at Eve who gave me a look to say "Nope… I'll defer this one to you." Then sighed as I thought about it, she clearly couldn't stay here, regardless of anything, she was a child and clearly thinking on the same level as Fala. Taking species naivety into account was practically an afterthought.
"Fine, but if I'm Papa then Eve is Mama and you have to treat her like it, ok?" Eve turned bright red as I spoke, but I admit I was shocked at how quickly Askel threw herself at the woman that she was hissing at just a moment ago.
"Mama, I'll be a good girl, promise." Her words made Eve sob again, of course they did. She had been told that she would never have children and reminded of that fact just recently, now she was a "Mama" to a girl of a similar age to Fala.
"Thank you Askel, but are you sure? I don't mind if you don't. You don't like me as much as Papa do you?" Eve replied, wounded by her own words.
"I love Mama, she made the bad ouchies go away, but you yelled at Papa and never said sorry. Oh! Thank you for healing the ouchies, I couldn't speak then." She grinned with her thanks, but then got confused when Eve started crying again.
I suddenly realised that her intelligence may be on par with Fala but her emotional development is stunted, as a serpent she wouldn't have had higher emotions so it made sense for her to be a bit lacking in that department, which made me even more grateful to have Eve to help since I was just as stunted, if not more so.
"Well as much as I can't wait to go introduce you to your cousin, I have to ask, did you keep a snake form or do you only have this body?" I asked, a bit concerned about her adaptability. She clearly had no concept of her own strength and was still a bit clumsy in her human form when serpent mannerisms displayed.
"I can change…" she stopped and sulked for a moment, making Eve glare at me like she had been a mother for more than two minutes. "It's just, Papa made me too big and fluffy."
The description only led to more uncertainty and in the end we had to walk out of the settlement for a demonstration.
When she finally transformed, we watched as her legs melded together and lengthened a hundred-fold her arms split into four then grew into great feathered wings coated in golden feathers.
Her hair turned into a maned crest and her skin turned into a pattern that was similar to her dress but with scales of pale gold and platinum.
The sight of her made me fall back and she flew down to check on me, then transformed back into her human form. "Papa, was it bad?"
"Don't scare the girl, what is it Adam?"
"I turned her into a divine beast, a humanoid one no less… First the deva, now this, what the hell is happening?" I said before pulling the girl into a hug. "You did nothing wrong, little one. But Askel definitely doesn't suit someone as beautiful as you. Why don't we give you one just as pretty as you… How about Quatal? Halfway between cute and coatl." I chuckled.
"What do you think Mama?" she asked, taking the decision very seriously.
"I think Daddy should have named you something so pretty to begin with." Eve said, as she stooped down to nuzzle the daughter she never expected to have, especially so soon.
"Then me too! I am Quatal! You can call me Askel when I'm in trouble."
"Please don't plan to be in trouble from the start, I won't be able to let you play with Fala after work."
"Fine, but can we eat, your food is always yummier."
With that I fell back again, pulled Eve down next to us and held my unplanned, unexpected, but welcome nonetheless, family.
"I wish my parents could see this, it took a thousand lifetimes but they finally got a grandchild. Shame I committed genocide before I committed to a relationship."
"Adam, I love you, but you're ruining the moment." Eve said before kissing me.