Supreme Spouse System.

Chapter 572: scene

Alexander floated beside me as I walked through the art-adorned halls of my palace, the god of fire and goddess of water clinging to his back like little monkeys. They had found him the moment we returned to my palace, having been doing something in my garden, and immediately latched onto him with happy cries. I could see the urge to chatter at him tugging at the two gods, but they respectfully remained quiet, letting Alexander and I finish our conversation.

"Are you sure about what you must do next, Father?" Alexander asked.

"Yes." I said. "I must enter deep seclusion. Divine incarnations will be out and about as long as possible, but the Lunar Star must be created. They will likely be forced to disappear after a few thousand years once the power amassed becomes too great, and my full attention required. Much of their time, I suspect, will be spent creating more suns in the Physical Realm or guiding other gods on how to do so."

"I see..." he trailed off, the two little gods on his back listening intently. I smiled at the couple – funny how two seemingly opposite beings found love in one another. "We will take care of the Realms while you are away. Do not fear."

"I trust you all, even if I won’t truly be ’away.’" I told him with a smile, then grew more serious. "The Shadow will make its move while I am secluded. Be careful with it. Sorry to jump right back into meditations right after I just came out, but...well. It must be done. Too much is driving me back into my meditations – I must see what my visions held, I must empower myself further..."

"I know. The Enemy will not gain a single foothold in the Four Realms if I have anything to say about it." Alexander rumbled firmly. I smiled at him, but did not correct him on his use of the word "enemy." Part of me still struggled to believe the Shadow was an ’enemy’ in the truest sense of the word; whose only goal was our total annihilation. Something about it felt...different. It surely had ill intentions, however there was something strange about what I could feel from said intentions. More than that, from its connection to me. Something I needed to clarify. Something tied to fate, and the word ’Shadow.’

Either way, though, it was causing problems and had to be stopped. Understanding its motives was important, but so was putting a stop to it.

"I believe you," I told him instead of voicing my doubts. "Now! Did your spirit friend find Gilles for me?" I’d asked him to find Gilles for me just before we returned to the palace together, and he’d promptly send one of the few spirits that hung around him running off in search of the shadow god.

"Yes. He and Randus should be waiting for you in your meditation chambers." Alexander said. "Will you be wanting me to soothe the stress fractures in the Realms, while you are busy?"

"That would be a great help," I said, nodding. It was Alexander who was being stunted the most by the Four Realm’s lack of size. He needed more room to swim. "As I have said, it won’t be for a while yet that those fractures start to really cause problems, but as the saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now. I will plant the seeds of expansion now, so that when the Lunar Star is born the Realms will be more ready for the next stage. Until then I will mitigate things by creating more suns in the Physical Realm, and promoting the growth of the primordial chaos." I said.

"Then you had best get to it. Enjoy your nap, Father," he said with a knowing smile. I slapped his side playfully, both knowing that my ’naps’ were anything but, and he promptly raced off, back to his own ’secret projects.’ The god of fire and goddess of water waved happily as they were carted off by Alexander, a gesture which I returned. Only when they were gone did I frown and speed up my pace to the meditation chamber, not quite willing to teleport as of yet.

I had only told part of the truth to Alexander. In fact, none of my children, save Randus, were aware that one of the reasons I was going into secluded mediation was to force the Shadow’s hand. If anything had been revealed to me as of late, it was that the creation of the Lunar Star was a key event in the Shadow’s plans; the moment I created it, I would ’win.’ It would take me another nine thousand or so years to amass the amount of power necessary, assuming I did little more than focus on just that. And while that might seem like a long time, the Four Realms was already millions of years old.

Nine thousand years wasn’t much in comparison. The Shadow wasn’t ready for all-out war, which meant it would be forced to attack at a suboptimal time, and I was done playing games. It was time for the Shadow to step into the light and let me see it, whether it liked it or not.

"Let’s get to it, then," I muttered as the doors to my meditation chamber came into view. The great, grey stone doors were plain, lacking any adornment, and as they swung open they revealed a room that was much the same. Gilles stood within, the pale god of darkness and shadows studying where I sat, the grey stone transformed into a brilliant, shining shade of blue. "Gilles." I said, startling the young man.

He jumped and leapt away from the dais as if he had been doing something wrong.

"I will keep watch. No one will disturb you." He said, and promptly marched out of the room, the doors slamming shut behind him.