Eli let Aria go and sat back down on the edge of the bed, she just stood there staring at him and with their height difference they were on the same level, eye to eye. “You need to tell me about this oath magic.” Aria was almost shaking. She was in such a panic. “I will not harm you, I just need to know the truth, from what little I know this is very dangerous magic.”

  Aria cleared her throat and braced herself visibly before responding. “I made a joke when I first met Jasmine’s people, they wouldn’t let me see her because they thought I might be dangerous. I raised my right hand and said something like ‘I swear this oath on my deity, that I will not harm Jasmine.’ I don’t remember the exact words.” There was a deep sadness in her voice now, as if she had resigned herself to death or worse. “Then a system window showed up saying that I had made an oath to you, it specifically said Ash, the demi-god of ruin, and that the punishment for breaking it meant that I forfeit my soul to you.” She lowered her head waiting for the killing blow.

  Eli silently got up and picked Aria up into a hug holding her off the ground. “I told you I will not harm you. I release you from any oaths you have made in my name.” Eli just held her, this was not romantic like that of a lover, or even parental like that of a father. He covered her whole body in his soul and sent warm pleasant and soothing feelings into her, they were silent for several minutes like this until he stopped and softly put her down. “Now, I just need you to make an oath to me directly, then you will not share any information about oath magic with anyone without my permission.”

  Aria still felt tingly from her religious experience, but she did as he said and made the oath. The bands that wrapped around her hand were thick and actually made her hand feel heavier, her best guess was that making an oath directly with your deity was more meaningful than just invoking his name. “May I ask a favor?” Aria asked without thinking, it was like a different part of her brain was in control.

  “You can ask, but this isn’t the time for my answer.” Eli said he felt like he nailed that response. Trying to act like a religious figurehead was exhausting and he just wanted to spend time with Bethany and maybe get to know more people from his continent despite the fact that Winston had all of them afraid except Jasmine. The problem was that he couldn’t figure out how to maintain his powerful and mysterious front while also getting to know others.

  “Can I join you, like officially. I want to be connected to you like Alora and Bethany are.”

  “Do you remember what I said to you when we last met before the conference? How were you supposed to figure out who the new you was? Are you saying you have already figured that out?”

  Her whole body language and posture changed, “You made Aria from my ashes, There is only a small fragment left of Gwen. Consider it my dying wish that you let her join you, she won’t do well on her own.”

  “We will take her in.” Eli said with a single tear falling down his scarred cheek. It hurt him that he was responsible for what happened to Gwen, his punishment had essentially been severe torture that for her lasted for more than four times the life she had lived up till that point. The damage he caused was an accident but he was still responsible and the least he could do was to give her a family.

  She nodded and her expression and posture changed back to the usual mania that was Aria. “What just happened?”

  “I heard the final words of Gwen, She asked me to take care of you. How do you feel about that?”

  “I don’t want special treatment, she knows you felt guilty about… what you did.” Aria paused and looked Eli in the eyes with fierce determination. “I want to follow you, but only if I can be of use. Do not let me join unless you plan to use me!” She was fully resolute and lucid, more than any other time that Eli had seen her.

  “I promise you I will have work for you.” She nodded her head and began to cry, but before she could start sobbing like she wanted to, Eli put his hands on either side of her head and started reaching to connect with her. But there was a problem, there already was a connection between them except it was one way. She was pulling power from him but he had no control over it so it was wild and untamed power that should have killed Aria but the cracks in her soul from her ordeal were actually saving her. His magic and will was drawn in and her soul corrupted it to try and use it then it leaked out. That explained why her magic always felt off to him.

  Eli gathered his will and forced the connection into submission, changing it into one that was a bit different than all the others he had. It was stronger than Tara and Stevens, but weaker than Bethany and Alora. The strangest part was that it came with a kind of telepathy, and then it clicked for him, a rank below Bethany called worshiper. The telepathy must be some kind of prayer ability which made Eli sick to his stomach, the religious connotations of him being a transcendent being were piling up and he needed to face that part of him. Running from it was not going to work for him much longer and it was time he embraced it, but he was going to do it his way, with the most drama possible.

  Liasandra, Bethany, and Jasmine left the side room and went to their assigned seats in the voting room. All three were deep in thought and not paying attention to what was going on around them, Jasmine had to decide if Eli was worth the risk to meet and possibly become one of his mistresses. Liasandra had a hard choice between her plans for her people and having a real relationship with her son and Bethany was daydreaming about eating grapes with Eli naked on a beach. She was probably the only person at the entire conference that didn’t have a single worry on her mind. Half the room was freaking out by the vagueness of the next options and the other half was trying to figure out if going against Ash was wise.

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  Alora joined Bethany but could see she was in full day-dream mode and decided not to interrupt her since the last time she did it ended badly. She decided to do some day-dreaming of her own and tried to imagine her life in fifty years, when she would be free of her apprenticeship and be so powerful that she would be able to rival Eli. Then she thought of all the tough decisions and difficult trials that Eli has to deal with and how its hard for him to get close to anyone because they can’t understand what he goes through. But if she could rival his power, then she would be able to relate to him and it would ease his burden as well as give her the romantic individual relationship that she wanted.

  Breaking both women out of their musings on Eli, was Eli arriving in the room with Aria just behind him. Bethany knew something was different though, Eli’s posture was straighter and his walk was almost a strut. He appeared in the room like everyone and everything was there for him and because of him. Others had noticed the change as well and had stopped talking and watched him like he was a wild animal that might pounce at any moment. Eli sat on his throne, really feeling how it felt to him and looking at everyone else and how they looked at it. He was not as assured as before now that other people were watching but he was going to embrace this part of himself even if he came out looking more like Dark-Wing Duck instead of Batman.

  After the near silence lasted for about a minute, Figula walked out from behind the order continent’s table and stood in front of Eli. He glanced up at Bethany who nodded at him and stood between them removing her black spear from her inventory and slamming the butt of it into the floor hard enough to crack it. Figula only showed surprise for a second, but recovered and seemingly quickly reformed her approach taking a moment before she started speaking.

  “Lady Bethany, I wish to inquire what Ash’s relationship is with….” Figula stopped when she could see Bethany's grip tighten and her stance change from passive to aggressive. “Forgive me, what is divineness Ash’s relationship with the two women from the middle continent?”

  “Why? Were you hoping for some alone time with him yourself?” Bethany joked.

  “I only wish to ensure that everyone in your harem is there by choice.” Figula said with venom in her voice. She was rather genuinely concerned for the women or she just didn’t like Ash.

  “How do you plan on proving that? This seems like a flimsy attempt at attacking his character publicly. You better have something convincing, the Demi-God in front of you didn’t get his title for no reason.” Bethany said she was getting aggressive feelings from her connection to Eli so she was pushing. This is the first time he ever displayed anything even close to an emotion resembling bloodthirst.

  “I don’t believe I need to prove anything, but it wouldn’t hurt for you to explain yourself to the group. We are here to cooperate after all.” Figula said she was unable to hide the smugness in her voice. Bethany was sure this wasn’t her endgame but it was a big step in that direction, it still wasn’t clear what she was after though and the way she was playing it it could go in any direction.

  Bethany got another push of aggression from her connection to Eli so she pushed again. “What is it that you think we owe you or anyone else in this room? Or is this some kind of threat, do what you say or you’ll get all of these people to die trying to face down the only Demi-God on the planet?”

  Figula’s predatory smile was so unexpected that Bethany almost took a step backwards. “No threat,” Figula said as she turned to address the room instead of Bethany. “But it is nice to know that you and your people are so quick to handle confrontation with violence. It’s almost like you have something to hide.” She started walking back to her seat clearly ready to end the conversation there.

  Eli stood as soon as she sat down, “I do have many things to hide, but one of them I will share with you since I am so very proud of her. Aria, join me up here please.” Aria was a little shocked but she didn’t waste time joining him in the center of the room. “Please display your new title to the room.” Eli said.

  “Aria, Song of Serenity, First Worshipper of Ash, Demi-God of Ruin.”

  The title shocked the room but no one more than Bethany, she had suspected that he would take the risk in bringing this small crazy woman on board. Then she looked closer at her and noticed that signs of mania were gone from her eyes and she now had an expression of calm serenity. It was the most peaceful Bethany had even seen anyone look in her life. She started to notice more details like her body was different, still skinny but with more firm muscle and her breasts and cheeks were more full and rounded. She had gone through body and soul upgrades and whatever was causing her to be a little crazy was gone.

  Before Bethany could say or do anything Alora walked over and hugged her, “Welcome to our family Aria, we are sisters now.”

  Aria smiled and returned the hug, “Thank you Alora.” Her voice was now soft and calm, like something that would make you fall asleep.

  “I want to publicly announce her joining us, she is a most welcome addition to my guild. We are called Singularity and our symbol is the markings on my face that Bethany and Alora share. Aria, would you like me to mark you now or do it in private later?”

  “Now is good,” She said with the smallest hint of excitement in her voice. Bethany was shocked that she felt a bit of that excitement as well, there was something with her voice that was affecting her.

  Eli put his hands on either side of her face with his thumbs on her eyes, “Aria my dear, this is not going to be easy.” He was speaking with her softly, but everyone in the room could hear him clearly. “These marks on my face are the result of trauma marking my soul and I need to share that trauma with you to give you the marks.”

  Aria took a deep breath, “I am ready.”

  He extended his soul into hers and essentially copied and pasted a small portion of his scarred soul. She started crying tears of acid that were giving her marks identical to Eli’s. The whole thing took less than a minute but Aria kept crying a sorrowful and soulful cry. The room was silent with several people having teared up just listening to her. Eli bent down and helped her up and she jumped into his arms to hug him.

  “That was awful, I’m so sorry that happened to you.” Aria said and kissed him on the cheek before he let her down.