As Rachel took the surprisingly small golden ring that her divine patron had just given her the young woman's eyes glazed over. Antonio, ever-observant, noticed this and smiled as his perpetual mind-reading picked up the faint memories that were stirred by this handy, divine piece of jewelry. 

Antonio silently allowed Rachel's memories to fill his mind's eye as well. As the two of them began to witness one of Rachel's earliest memories, Antonio felt reminded of a minor fact about why he had chosen her specifically; a long time ago Rachel had been one of the young divinity's first celebrity crushes.

A young girl held the hand of a much older woman, her stepmother, as the pair explored an outdoor market that was located in a small town in central Argentina. The young girl could have been no older than five, and her eyes eagerly flitted from tented stall to tented stall. Until earlier that day the young girl had never been to an outdoor marketplace and so the energetic child was overjoyed at the moment, her mind soaking in every single strange new sight with a level of joy and passion that only a child could routinely demonstrate.

The child's stepmother, on the other hand, was a calm presence who politely greeted almost everyone who made eye contact with her. The black-haired foreigner was an immigrant from up north who was still recovering from a car crash that had occurred months ago and thus lacked the same incredible energy as her stepdaughter. Nevertheless, the woman seemed to be in remarkably good spirits and brought a smile to the dozens of people who had come to the outdoor marketplace. 

The young girl continued her rather cute display of awe as the pair explored the marketplace. There was a grin on her face that was a mixture of childish joy and awed wonder as she laid her young eyes on all sorts of items that the town's assorted artists had put together. She saw everything from brilliantly colored and decorated blankets to ceramics of all sorts. Nevertheless, her observant stepmother noticed something; the child's gaze always lingered a bit longer on something that wasn't for sale. 

Even as a child, Rachel Montenegro was fascinated by a specific type of art. She wasn't interested in painting, drawing, or even dancing. As it turned out, the young actress quickly found her first love in a most unusual form; she was fascinated by fashion. Rachel's eyes were seemingly inexplicably drawn to the dresses and shirts worn by the various vendors who staffed the marketplace. She gazed openly at them, having a childish innocence and being totally oblivious to the fact that many would have found someone staring openly at their clothing to be more than a bit rude.

The minor manifestation of Antonio Lopez that currently stood beside Rachel smiled as he witnessed the flashback that was at the forefront of the actress's thoughts. Even though he was nothing more than a minor materialization of one of Antonio's astral selves, he possessed the full and undiluted might of the living divinity, as well as the full measure of the god's memories. 

In a moment that would have surprised, and perhaps inspired a very small amount of envy in both of his brides had they been here to observe this, Antonio himself began to reminisce. And as he did he began to smile ever so slightly.

A young child, who at the time was eight years old, sat in front of a television. He annoyedly turned up the volume of the television to drown out a sound that he found rather unpleasant. The sound that the clever youth was trying to drown out was the annoyingly loud sounds of an elderly couple, his, at the time anyway, foster parents, kissing a bit too energetically. 

The child who was seated in front of a television was a dark-haired and slim boy who was focused firmly on the television. At the moment, if one didn't know better, they'd think that to him what was on the television was the most important thing in the world. And what was on the television was rather odd. 

The thing that the boy was focused on was a television show named "Rose And The Magic Stones". At the moment, the titular character was on-screen and staring down an oversized and eldritchly transformed hound. The only sounds coming out of the television were the ambient noises of the scene's location, an empty classroom in the middle of an abandoned school, a deliberate choice by the television studio who localized the show for American, English-speaking audiences, to help amp up the tension. 

Rose was played by none other than a sixteen-year-old Rachel Montenegro, and Rachel's performance as the young superheroine would eventually become known as her breakout performance. "Rose" silently rose her hand to her watch and performed a series of intricate hand signs over the item's bezel. As soon as she finished this choreographed ritual she began to glow. This act caused the hell hound glaring at her to roar and leap into action, but it was too late to stop her from commencing her magical-girl-esque transformation. 

The near-silence of the scene was ended as upbeat, child-friendly music began to play, and as the screen suddenly began to emanate bright blue light. The screen filled with a bright blue light so that the studio in charge of the show didn't have to pay for any more expensive sort of effects to animate the transformation of Rachel's character from her alter-ego to her superheroine true identity. 

Young Antonio Lopez was positively engrossed by this, and as the blue light began to fade and reveal the aftermath of Rose's transformation the little lad visibly cheered. When the blue light faded away, Rose stood unharmed by the hell hound's initial leaping attack and had gone from wearing a mundane outfit to wearing the highly stylized clothing of her superheroine alter-ego. She smiled confidently at the hell-hound and prepared to utter the sort of quippy one-liner that television executives thought children would enjoy. 

On the very same day that Antonio watched Rose do battle with a hell hound, Rachel herself spent the day with a fashion designer. And both of these individuals had no idea just how long it'd take for them to achieve their dreams.

Rachel's eyes remained unfocused for several seconds as she reminisced on some of her earliest memories. Eventually, though she looked up at me and smiled. The look on her face was one of serene, life-altering joy. 

"Allow me." I told her, gently, as I utilized telekinesis, softly, on her hand and dexterously slipped the golden ring onto it. The instant that the ring was around her finger her hair began to gently sway as if a supernatural wind were blowing around her. I chuckled and looked at her, before beginning to speak again. 

"You know... When I was younger I had a crush on you." I confessed, a soft smile on my face. She looked at me and chuckled softly. The sound was nice. 

"Really? A... god, had a crush on me? Now that's a compliment..." She uttered, pleasantly amazed by that revelation. I paused and considered her words for a second, before audibly and briefly laughing. When I was done I looked away from her. 

"To be fair, I had no idea I was anything but a passably smart foster kid until yesterday. All of this is... new to me." I revealed, my voice barely a whisper. As I said "All of this" I gestured to the frozen world around the two of us.

"Do... Do you mind telling me what you did?" She dared to ask, revealing a sort of inquisitive courage that could have gotten her in trouble had I been a more wrathful kind of god. Fortunately for her, I was the sort of god who did not punish curiosity. I nodded at her and began to speak again. 

"I used a power of mine to freeze time throughout this universe." I told her, freely sharing that bit of cryptic information. To demonstrate the power I materialized a coffee cup in my hand, effortlessly creating one with an application of a Grand Adonis power that allowed me to create things from nothing. The coffee cup had a zinger on it saying "World's Number One God", which admittedly felt a bit tongue in cheek but I liked the idea of showing off a bit of a sense of humor in moments like this.  

The thing was in my hand and I moved it around a bit to show off that it was currently immune to my temporal shenanigans. That said, once Rachel had seen it moving around a bit, I flicked my hand upward and let go of the cup. Rachel flinched, expecting the thing to come down once I had thrown it in the air, and when it simply began to hang in the air the instant I let go of it her eyes widened. 

"Whoa!" She gasped, happily. She approached the thing and studied it with a curious gaze, and even dared to poke it. Nothing happened to the floating mug, and I allowed myself to watch her as she focused on the cup. 

"Only I can fully reactivate or release people or things from being time-stopped. And by default the second I let go of something it freezes. That said..." I revealed to her, before gesturing to the coffee cup and with a simple flick of my wrist destroyed the coffee cup. My power washed over the cup and undid its existence as easily as a human might step on an ant and end its life. 

"That's... amazing." Rachel uttered, a delighted smile on her face as she studied the now empty air where the cup had once floated. Reading her mind revealed something to me. Every act of mine further reinforced her convictions that she was right to believe in and worship me. And in fairness... Even when I was younger, had a god frozen time, appeared before me, and been as straight with me as I was being with her, I'd like to believe that I'd believe their claims. What I was doing was pretty damn compelling after all.

If I wanted to be worshiped, and I did, I needed to be willing to actually put in the work needed to earn the admiration and respect of those who I wanted as my worshipers. Heck, even the simplest and most efficient routes of utilizing my powers to forcibly secure the worship of the omniverse would still be me putting in the work to immorally but efficiently secure the obedience of existence. Regardless of the paths that I chose to achieve my goals, I wouldn't achieve them by being lazy and waiting for things to happen. Instead, I'd go out and earn the privileges and positions that I felt I deserved. Acquiring Rachel's worship, and her service, was just one example of that.

And yet, Rachel was not the only person who was acquiring one of my gifts. Nor was she the most important person being given a gift of mine.

In the depths of the royal palace of Avalon, one of the two grand faerie realms that neighbored Earth, a young prince was accompanied by the same mysterious entity who had just given a human actress a unique and powerful artifact. The companions of the strange entity were two women of unearthly, impossible beauty. 

One of the women had soft, faerie-like features of her own. She seemed to passively exude a gentle aura of soft light that felt soft on one's skin, and her light features hinted at her divine heritage. That said, had someone been lucky enough to get a chance to lose themselves in her gentle gaze they'd eventually see strange darkness swimming in the heart of her eyes. Titania possessed the fierce strength and bloodlust her husband and god had given her, and a power fitting that otherworldly darkness. 

Rebeza on the other hand was a whole different type of beauty. As befit her status as a "Dark Bride" of her soon-to-be husband, she was a sultry beauty. She had a sort of wildness in her gaze that hinted that nights with her would be hedonistic and sinful, and her resting face was a smug smile that hinted that she felt superior to most other lifeforms. Nevertheless, her unshakable confidence was part of her allure. 

The man they identified as either their husband or their husband-to-be, was a powerful-looking divinity. He had the statuesque and perfected form of a physically ideal Hispanic man, with dark skin, visible muscles, a rugged physique, and dark eyes filled with both the capability for violence and strong, primal urges. 

All three of them were unified in their desires. Though they each had very different approaches, all three figures wanted to expand the "Antonite" faction, the still unofficial name for the collective of individuals who worshiped and followed Antonio, as well as those loyal to him such as the leadership of the young man's thirty-six megaworlds, and the creatures inside of the Black Artifact.

For now, Antonio was choosing to engage in subtle diplomacy and influencing. It was anyone's guess how long he'd stick to this particular route, but it was difficult to deny that he was gifted at it. 

The prince was eating out of the palm of Antonio's potent hand. And the young godling intended to solidify that with what he did next. Without uttering a single word he rose his hand and cast a spell. The spell he cast was one that created objects out of the raw, ambient magical energy that existed in an untouched state throughout existence. Normally this spell would have been nearly impossible to cast, due to its complexity and cost, but neither of those things were an obstacle for someone who possessed the "Metamagnus" power of a living god. 

The ambient magical energy that suffused the very air of Avalon shuddered and vibrated as it was touched by the almighty power of Antonio's magic. Prince Hawthorne watched in awe as the air around the god began to tremble, and distorted around the group of movers and shakers. The air began to thicken and be further touched by Antonio's considerable arcane expertise. 

The air would put on a show for several moments before bending to the will of the divinity, and becoming an ornate necklace. The necklace was a dark blue piece of jewelry that radiated a strange sort of otherworldly power. The prince's eyes widened as the ornate accessory formed in front of him, and Antonio began to speak as the thing floated from over his hand to in front of the prince. 

"This is a token of my desire to be friends." Antonio stated, his voice dripping with confidence. The prince reached out and touched the necklace, and as he did he felt his mind be subtly but permanently be tethered to the divinity who had created the artifact in the first place. 

"This stylish necklace will tether us together, and could allow us to support each other by exchanging magic, casting spells on each other, and even contact each other if one of us is in another pleniverse." The inheritor, a proud being, mightily proclaimed. This necklace had the same effect that Rachel's ring had, and when the prince greedily grabbed it and placed it on his neck, it made his hair begin to blow in a breeze just like Rachel's ring had. Antonio smiled at the excitable actions of the prince, and he knew that his mission here had been a success. 

That said, his mission wasn't quite over.

As the prince put on the necklace I gave him, I activated one of my stranger, and more potential-filled powers; "Anomaly". This markedly powerful ability allowed me to bestow impossible, in the sense that they defied science, properties on people, creatures, or objects, and even transform and redefine concepts. This vastly mighty ability was the secret lynchpin to my ultimate reason for visiting Rachel, and for meeting Prince Hawthorne. 

I targeted both of the items I crafted, the ring and the necklace alike, and gave them a series of special anomalous properties. As I targeted both of the objects, my mind's eye filled with an image of a pair of tables. These two tables were attuned to the items I was targeting and they asked me to fill them with anomalous properties to give to my handcrafted artifacts. 

I did that with a smile since my purpose here was to select the very first heralds of my faith. I had selected the prince and Rachel to become the first voices of my faction in their lands, Rachel was to be my herald in Latin America and the United States, and Hawthorne was to be my herald in Avalon. 

I gave both artifacts, unique and mighty items that would I knew would empower my servants, a litany of anomalous properties. The ring was given properties like invulnerability, the ability to shield its wearer from harm, and the power to fill its wearer with knowledge regarding fashion. The necklace was some similarities, such as invulnerability, the ability to shield its wearer from harm, and powers related to instilling submission in those who were below the prince in social standing, as well as instilling in him a vast amount of energy, ambition, and powers related to leadership.

With the ring Rachel was destined to become a famous fashion designer, and with the necklace I had assured Avalon that they'd gain a hard-working prince. Both were also inevitably going to proudly and fervently declare their faith in me, and evangelize to those who'd listen. Even now I was feeling the power of their faith in me seeping into me. Hawthrone didn't even worship me, but the impact of me giving him a gift was enough that he was loyal to me, and in time I'd see to it that his loyalty became pious devotion.

In the wake of the successful completion of my missions, I promptly allowed time to resume. And I also did something very important; I split my primary body in two, creating one body that would go with Titania back home, and created another body that would do something that kind for Rebeza; go to her sanctum, her own personal plane. 

Mere minutes after the completion of my missions one of me was with Titania, relaxing at home, and another of me was stepping through a portal into the eerie, supernatural lair of the mightiest of my companions; the mythic archangel of corruption, Rebeza. The very home where the lazy hedonist kept her harem, a number of beautiful and corrupted angels and demons who she had seduced into betraying their comrades and serving her as fervently as they once served their creators and overlords. 

I was heading into the black pit of lazy lust, the home of my fiance. And a small part of me was aroused, curious, and eager to reward the woman for the help she had been so far. After all, if it wasn't for her I'd have never become the Grand Adonis.