I found myself in an all too familiar scene: one where I was surrounded by women. A few moments after Rayne spoke to Thevah, Mynassa, and rather indirectly to Mirella, the three of them surrounded me and began to study me, muttering their observations to each other like old friends.
While they studied me I studied them in turn. Utilizing my combined powers over knowledge, souls, divinity, and power, I was able to psychically learn everything there was to learn about them with but a glance. All it took was less than a second of looking upon them for their every thought, every secret, every memory, and every emotion, to be fully known to me. I knew their every desire, every second of their centuries-long lives, and the knowledge made me feel powerful. Not even Mynassa's, herself an ascendant being, thoughts, and memories were safe from the potent visual mind and soul reading abilities I possessed.
As they observed and studied me I quietly chuckled and allowed just a fragment of my true power to radiate out of me, which immediately pacified my surroundings and helped the women who had gathered around me relax and settle down as they felt the potency of raw, deific happiness nestle into their souls.
"I think that's enough of that." I began, speaking unusually brusquely for just a moment to regain control of the situation I found myself in. They all smiled awkwardly, embarrassedly at me, and took a few steps back to give me some breathing room. I chuckled, appreciatively, and began to speak once more.
"Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Raul Medrano, emperor of the Raulian Empire. Rayne told me of the tragedy that happened here and so I decided to come and rebuild Etherscape. I was told of the glories of the tel'Nora hegemony and of Mirella's plight by Rayne and so I decided to begin here. I have defeated and indeed tamed Noshtex and Renora, adding the two of them to my empire, as well as their holdings in the Nine Circles and throughout the multiverse." I explained, confidently and succinctly.
One of the greatest aspects of being a divine being was access to domains. Domains were aspects of reality that gods could control, manipulate, and otherwise affect at will. Two of the domains I could influence were those of faith and knowledge, which governed things like belief, holy and unholy things, fate, wisdom, and truth and falsehoods.
I took a nanosecond to focus on the very concepts of faith and knowledge themselves and bend specific portions of it to my will as I prepared myself to continue speaking. As I spoke I utilized my power over belief and knowledge which was easy enough for me to do thanks to my power over the domain of faith and the domain of knowledge to make the women listening to me believe anything that I could say.
"The alliance that destroyed Etherscape and is pillaging what remains of the once-great empire is made up of villains, scoundrels, and opportunists who saw a chance to grow fat with wealth, power, and souls. I seek to destroy that alliance, turn its members into my servants, and reunify Etherscape. I know the two of you were influential members of the old emperor's court in the days before its destruction. And Thevah, you did a wonderful job safeguarding the old harem. I wish for all three of you to join me." I revealed, speaking powerfully of the past, and the future.
"Neither Rayne nor I can rebuild Etherscape alone. And Rayne does not wish to rule. But you see... I do. I am an ambitious emperor who seeks to unite all of existence and create one single empire that rules all that is, was, or will be. Join me so that we can hold those responsible for the destruction of Etherscape and for the deaths of trillions, including your family members, worshipers, and fellow thronemaidens accountable. Join me, not just to retake what is yours but for justice!" I uttered, my words tugging on the heartstrings of the three powerful and talented women in front of me.
As I spoke I also made use of a litany of my powers. I silently manipulated their feelings of pride, wrath, lust, love, and I used the true, siren-like power of my voice, as well as things such as my pheromones to sharpen the potency of my words. I didn't feel comfortable compelling love by utilizing my true beauty, but that didn't mean I couldn't make use of my other powers. And even then I didn't utilize any of my abilities that were on par with mind-control, such as my ultra-powerful "Hypnosis" ability which had become supercharged when I gained the powers that Il'Noth'Rey had had during his life, which was strong enough to force any lesser being to obey any of my commands, no matter how complex.
I was a cosmic entity of love, happiness, and desire. If I wanted to do so I could do a truly incredible number of things, even bending ascendants to my will with ease, as I had done to Renora and Noshtex. And now, as Il'Noth'Rey's nearly fully realized reincarnation I was also a cosmic entity of power, minds, and reality-altering might. Minds could be bent to my will, or I could fully and utterly empower them, creating entities of immense psionic power. My awareness of myself and my potential filled me with ideas and exciting experiments to conduct in the days to come, more than a few of which I fully intended to conduct.
The women who listened to me gazed at me and I sensed their estimation of me rising with every word I uttered. Their hearts burned for justice, for accountability, and my words spoke to the parts of them that were still grieving, still processing the scope of the destruction the alliance had caused. Fortunately for me, I hadn't just come here armed with words, I had the ability to fix things.
I took a step backward and manipulated light around me, manipulating it enough to create real-time holographic projections of different cities and worlds throughout the Staneeth Expanse. The women, including Rayne and Calantha, began to gaze at the projections, stunned by the display I was putting on for them.
The projections displayed the real devastation done by Renora and Noshtex's forces, it was a devastation that I had not particularly seen in person thanks to the desires of the two ascendant overlords I had defeated and subjugated to keep much of the infrastructure of this place's major cities intact. The countryside, less populated areas, and even smaller cities were almost completely annihilated, to the point that debris and corpses were often readily visible.
I tore my gaze away from the detritus and gazed at the three women who I had rescued, before utilizing my vast mental power to reach out across the cosmos and call three specific companions of mine to my side: the three "Superior genies" I had turned into my allies weeks ago: Hypatia, Grace, and Artemisia. The three of them responded to my call within moments, the three truly stunning women appearing behind me and gazing at the newest women to be close to joining my empire. I smiled at the three, especially the visibly pregnant Grace, who smiled serenely back at me, overjoyed to be called to my side.
"Grace, Artemisia, and Hypatia, please say hello to Thevah, Mynassa, and Mirella." I uttered, and the sound of my voice drew the attention of my newest allies. They slowly tore their tear-filled gazes away from the projections in front of them to turn and look at the three genies I had called to my side. The six women were quiet for a moment before they politely introduced themselves to each other, and then they turned to me and looked at me, quizzically.
"I am showing you all the tragedy that befell the Staneeth Expanse for a reason. It is not solely to tug at your heartstrings. Grace..." I uttered before I walked over to the pregnant woman and grabbed her hand. Her face flushed and I heard her heart rate quicken.
"Grace, I wish for the damage done to the Staneeth Expanse to be undone." I explained, causing all six of the women to gasp, even as Grace's eyes changed and became purely white orbs. The projection began to change as potent, amber-colored wish-magic began to cover everything that had been hurt by Renora's and Noshtex's forces over the last few months. The room I was in fell deathly silent as we watched the projections begin to change, as Grace's potent, reality-bending wish magic began to fix the devastation we had previously seen. I smiled and began to speak to my allies and followers, even as I activated "Giver of life" once more.
"I do not just speak ambitiously. In my empire... Even death itself is but a choice. I am so powerful, so attuned to life, that if it is my will there are few things I cannot do." I uttered, dramatically, as the same projections began to reveal those who had perished at the hands of the colonizing forces coming back to life, their living forms spontaneously appearing in the restored and remade bodies. Everyone in the room, Rayne and Calantha included, walked up to the projections and watched as I undid the unbelievable destruction caused by the alliance, months ago.
All over the Staneeth Expanse buildings were repaired and remade by the potent wish magic of the emperor's concubine. Her reality-altering and restorative magic washed over entire planets and solar systems, rebuilding what was destroyed by the previously malicious ascendants who now served the very figure responsible for rebuilding the expanse.
Raul's own powers touched the entire region as well, healing and even resurrecting those who had been hurt or even slain in the wake of the vicious invasion. His life-restoring power healed indiscriminately, touching, repairing, and empowering souls, corpses, and the still-living victims of the ascendant alliance. And those who felt his healing touch were filled with an awareness of him, his power, his intentions, and his historic victory over their oppressors, causing entire towns, cities, and even entire planets to cry out in exaltation.
Parents were reunited with children, lovers were able to embrace once more, and siblings were able to see each other again, and they all joyously, worshipfully, praised the one they correctly recognized as their savior. Raul himself distantly felt their devotion surge into him as massive tidal floods of power infusing his cells and filling him with supernatural, unending vigor. The psychic power of their devotion was so overwhelming and emotional that it emotionally affected even those who merely saw the displays of devotion, submission, and joy.
The three women he sought to recruit, Mirella, Mynassa, and Thevah fell to their knees in front of him, recognizing the true might that the overlord possessed, as well as being overjoyed at their rescue and the possibility that he was slowly making them truly believe in; that one-day Etherscape may well be remade and restored to its former glory. And it was at that moment that the room was filled with a bright light and the noise of a teleporter being used to deliver something somewhere. From within that bright light a muscular silhouette appeared and began to approach Raul, his allies, servants, and new friends.
The silhouette was blinding to everyone but Calantha, Raul, and Mynassa. The three of them gazed at the figure in the light, but of them only Raul recognized the broad-chested individual as Wayne tel'Nora, the father of Mirella tel'Nora, and the closest thing the tel'Nora hegemony had to a "King". A second later a much smaller, decidedly female silhouette appeared behind Wayne, one which both Raul and Mynassa recognized as Noelle tel'Knox, a cousin of Aerji, the "princess" of the infamous tel'Knox hegemony.
Both the light and the noise of the teleportation device used by the two nobles began to fade, right as Wayne barreled forward and pulled Mirella into a bear-hug. Noelle stepped forward and curtsied before Emperor Raul, allowing him to examine the beauty and see that, very unusually among all of the women he had met to date, she was fully bald and had dark blue skin. That was the mark of an extremely interesting mutation Noelle possessed, that Raul gained an immediate awareness of and fascination with, but that wasn't the focus of this particular moment.
"Hello Emperor Raul. I am Noelle tel'Knox, a cousin and servant to my hegemony's princess." She stated, introducing herself to the emperor who had just fulfilled his end of a very important deal that Rayne struck with Aerji, one that earned him the support of the tel'Knox hegemony and the tel'Nora hegemony.
He gazed at Noelle for a moment longer, just long enough to hear Wayne release his daughter and fall to his knees as well, before urging Mirella to fall back to her knees in front of the man who was mighty enough to singlehandedly rescue her and Mynassa from two potent ascendants. When his gaze fell upon Wayne, the man began to excitedly and profusely thank the emperor, before Raul softly urged the man to relax and told the crowd of beings that this was not the appropriate venue for a conversation like this.
Raul gently rose one of his hands and teleported the group, including the ascendants who were further away, into the throne room of one of his many palaces in the depths of the Hacivat galaxy. Wayne happened to blink while this was occurring, and when he opened his eyes he was surprised to see himself and his daughter still on their knees in front of an ornate throne room, where Raul himself was seated on a gleaming throne and gazing down at the reunited pair.
