After a massage that lasted about half an hour, I politely exited the spa area of the beachside palace and found myself wandering through its elegant halls alone. As I did, I pondered on the nature of the stranger changes that I personally had undergone in the days since my humble beginnings. 

My mind raced as I thought back to the day that I defeated Gorgomuth. On that day I never imagined the tremendous surge in power I'd receive as a result of my actions. I gained power over the sin of wrath, and the ability to use the same powers as a minor divinity of destruction, which I have yet to test out but I know that when I go to the Starmazon Armada that will be changing. 

"And I gained... other powers." I muttered, to no one, as I gazed at my hand and allowed it to shift. Before my eyes began to vibrate and then patches of sleek, black panther fur began to sprout from my hand, before I gained paws and thick, silver claws. I smiled as I admired the panther claw. 

Some of my newest mates were a few nature and moon goddesses who blessed me and bestowed upon me the powers of a divine-were, a true god-king of beasts. At the moment my were-form was that of a panther so when I shifted fully I became a massive cat-man. So far I had been hesitant to really embrace the peculiar powers of a divine-were, but I had to admit they were very interesting. Even as I thought about them, I heard a subtle shift in the air around me and smiled when a form began to materialize in front of me. 

A rather shapely figure materialized right in front of me and I smiled as I waited for her to fully appear. The figure was named Luna, and she was a moon goddess who had joined the pantheon and was the primary figure responsible for arranging for me to become a divine-were. When her soft face began to form, I stepped forward, wrapped my arms around her, and kissed her gently. As I did she moaned into my mouth and pressed her body against me. 

"Hello my sun." She whispered, breaking the kiss for a moment before returning her lips to mine. She was a shapely woman with silver hair and white eyes, wearing a dress adorned with decorative moon and star drawings. She was the single strongest moon goddess in my pantheon at the moment, and one of the strongest deities I had met so far. 

"Hello." I whispered back with a smile when we actually stopped kissing. I gazed into her eyes and felt her blush. She placed her head on my chest and wrapped her arms around me when she finished materialized. 

"I don't like the others..." She told me, sounding a bit annoyed. I gently chuckled, my voice rumbling out of me and causing her to sigh pleasantly. 

"I know. I don't understand it, but I know." I told her before her eyes turned fully black for a moment.

"They... don't understand me. Or the dark." She uttered, her voice lowering as she spoke. I sighed and grabbed her hand carefully, causing her to relax and for her eyes to return to the way they once were. 

"It's okay, I'm here." I whispered, calming her back down. Of all of the new women who had joined me over the last few months, she was perhaps the least social and so far only appeared in front of me whenever I was alone. Rayne had revealed that Luna had appeared to her once, but solely for the sake of gaining her approval before approaching me. Luna was so shy and introverted that she hadn't even appeared before me until after the first time I had fully shifted into a wereform.

"Yes, but for how long will you be here?" She asked me, her white hair contrasting with my dark skin as she rested her head on my chest. I began to gently run my human hand through her hair and smiled. 

"We've had this discussion before Luna. I am an emperor. A sultan. And more than that I am an anael. I have a responsibility." I told her, as I stroked her hair. 

"You are more than that! You are mine. Why not come home with me? Where we'd be safe..." She asked, panic and fear in her voice. I fell silent as I continued to stroke her hair. 

"I will not be idle. I am... the god-king of beasts. I have a responsibility to act. To protect life. To balance nature and civilization." I explained, after a minute of silently holding the beautiful moon-goddess. She sighed and glared up at me. 

"Look I know that your last mate died. I understand that. But I am not him. I am not the... Endymion." I reminded her, softly. As soon as I said that her eyes softened and she sighed.

"You... aren't. I know that. I... I just worry that what happened to him could happen to you." She told me, seemingly put at ease by my words. 

We gazed into each other's eyes for a few minutes before opting to head to a bedroom to relax.

For the next week I would train, be empowered by the continual acquisition of essence, and utilize my connection to my followers such as the pixies of the Sapphire Court to spread my reach to the furthest and most remote corners of my territory. As the seventh day of time in the beachside palace came to an end, we were all pleasantly surprised to see a gigantic dreadnaught come into view in the air above the beachside palace. 

The enormous ship was kilometers long and made from some sort of red metal I had never seen before. The ship was vast enough to block the sun. It was powered by the energy I produced as a result of my "Erotech" power, as was the overwhelming majority of the technology that my allies and servants used. At the moment the person piloting it was Rayne, who was located on the central bridge of the ship and waiting for us. 

At the moment the people with me happened to be Zaria, Fara, Aster, Alpha, and Lilith, who were some of the primary people I had wanted to come with me on this journey. I gazed at us and teleported us into the central bridge of the enormous space-faring vessel with ease.

The six of us instantaneously found ourselves standing at the end of a vast, white room filled with robots that tended to the ship, and of course with Rayne herself seated behind a vast desk filled with all manner of futuristic buttons and levers. She was dressed in a pilot's suit and was smiling as she watched over the ship. 

Everyone gathered around me gazed at the sleek, clean command deck of the ship in awe. I listened to their muttered praise and smiled. 

"This is amazing... This ship eclipses even the technology I knew of back home." She muttered as she studied the robots working on the command deck. 

"So... You weren't the one responsible for this ship?" Fara asked as the redheaded beauty gazed at the sight around her. I chuckled in response to her question, and the one to answer it wasn't Alpha but Rayne herself.

"This ship is actually mine. My... Personal vehicle. Welcome to the Empresses' Dreadnaught!" She declared, her voice easily filling the vast distance between her and us. That wasn't due to any particular technology, she was just projecting her voice. 

"This ship is the one artifact that I took with me when I left Etherscape. It's an ancient and extremely powerful bit of omegatech that we acquired generations ago and then refashioned and modified to make a symbol of the royalty of Etherscape. In the ancient past this was once called a 'Palanquin', but now it is more commonly known as 'The Empresses' Dreadnaught'. It was also inhabited by these servitor robots you all see here." She explained as we began to walk towards her. 

"Omegatech?" Zaria asked, her voice effortlessly reaching Rayne thanks to the power of her divinity and intentions. Rayne smiled as she turned to face us. 

"Omegatech! The ancient technology created by the powerful and now extinct omegalords, a group of kings and queens who mastered time travel, and other strange magic, and led a civilization at the end of time. They were defeated by an ancient alliance of powerful beings who traveled forward in time to find and exterminate them. Once they were defeated their technology was taken and hurled throughout the omniverse." Rayne explained, eager to show off her historical knowledge. 

"This particular artifact was hurled into the territory controlled by a hegemony known for its ships and military, which will likely be the very first hegemony we head into, once we've recruited Stella." Rayne added, smiling as we continued to make our way to the sleek desk where she was working. As we did that, I reached across space and grabbed the various individuals we were bringing with us on this journey, including Piper, Cassandra, various other brides of mine, and a large contingent of bodyguards for all of us. They were suddenly teleported into the dreadnaught, and as they appeared they looked around in shock. 

I turned and faced them with a smile before beginning to speak. 

"Welcome to the Empresses' Dreadnaught! Our new home, for the time being." I explained, with a smirk visible on my face. I proceeded to fill them in on our mission, and chuckled as I heard both excited gasps and annoyed groans. As I spoke to them, we all felt a slight shift as the vessel we were on began to move. We could see out a vast window in front of us with ease and we watched as we began to take off towards outer space. 

The flight to outer space only took a few moments. The vessel the group of adventurers, gods, goddesses, and nobility was on happened to be extremely fast. Once in outer space, the primary deity on the ship smiled and allowed a pair of vast, ethereal wings to reveal themselves to the rest of the people on the ship. 

The deity's wings were enormous things that jutted from his back and almost kept them from seeing the view of outer space now that the vessel was free of the planet's gravity. Without a single word the deity flexed his wings and they began to glow, radiating unfiltered stellar might as befit a god of light. Rayne smiled as she studied the wings of the potent being, her eyes filled with love for him and admiration for his terrifying, yet beautiful power. 

"Tell me when you're ready Raul!" Rayne shouted, an eager smile on her face as she oriented the ship until it was facing the vast star that the planet she had just left was orbiting. Raul wordlessly allowed himself to continue to absorb energy for a matter of moments until he nodded at Rayne. When he did his wings flapped downward and made contact with the ship. Rayne cheered and the ship rocketed towards the star that sat at the center of the local solar system. 

Aside from Raul, Zaria, and Rayne, everyone onboard the ship instinctively tensed when the ship closed in on the star that had once been a looming object in the distance but that they were now hurtling towards. That said, destruction wasn't what awaited them. When they made contact with the star, space and time around them began to warp and distort for a few moments while Raul's powers safely encircled them. 

For a few moments they had a chance to watch as they flew into the "surface" of a sun. They were able to see all of the beautiful, fiery colors of a sun as the ship they were on was transported through space. Orange, red, yellow light, and light that was in colors that had no true names, surrounded the spaceship and should have plummed it yet did nothing. The people in the ship were kept safe by the power of the god they had all become followers of, who was gently touching the ground at his feet as he smiled and took in the scene before him.

A few moments after they collided with the sun of the solar system they had ruled, they abruptly found themselves outside of any stars, and off in the distance, a fair astronomical distance, they could see a staggering number of gigantic spaceships gently floating, each humming with life and power. As they did, Zaria, Fara, and Aster all smiled and lept off of the ground, flying towards the massive windows that allowed them to see outside of the ship. The three of them gazed longingly at the ships in the distance, and their minds were filled with thoughts of home. 

Raul himself gently lifted his hand off of the floor and flew to where two of his wives floated. When he did he smiled as he gazed at the vast fleet of starmazon-filled spaceships. 

"At last... The fleet of the starmazons." He uttered, as he took in the sight of their gigantic fleet. Beside him, Fara and Zaria, two of the first women to join his harem, sighed wistfully as they gazed at the place they had called home for a long time. 

"Home..." They simultaneously muttered, their voices filled with a longing for their home. Aster smiled along with them, but he was the first one to regain his senses as well. He turned to Rayne and began to speak.

"Rayne! We need to hail them, otherwise, if they detect us they will attack. Can you send them a message and inform them that the inheritors of the O'Zeal clan have returned?" He asked, urgently. She looked up at him and nodded, even as her fingers began to pull levers and type on keyboards. She was a speed-oriented being, and that allowed her to effortlessly fulfill Aster's request. He watched her react to his question and visibly relaxed when she finished. 

Off in the distance one of the ships began to turn in the direction of the dreadnaught. Raul noticed this and chuckled, the sound alerting the others to some sort of change, even as the dreadnaught's alarms and sensors went off once to alert them to the reality that something was coming. 

The empire, its emperor, and his harem, had reached their point of no return. As the people aboard the ship watched, they readied themselves for what was to come.