The Ascension

9: Holy practice

 After Aster nonchalantly accepted her eventual godhood, Ikina left and Artemis became enthralled in something on a small device in front of him. After a few moments of standing there, Aster asked what was supposed to happen now.

Artemis suggested she go to bed. She was tired enough to agree, though somewhat let down nothing of further excitement was to happen, and allowed one of the creatures to guide her to a bedroom. Then she fell asleep.

The next morning- or, next wake, as her room had no windows and she wasn't sure how time worked in space anyways- she got up and found new clothes had been placed by her bedside.

They were definitely the sort of future wear Aster had been expecting, but she was not pleased with their overall fit. Instead of pants she had some sort of thick, fleece-lined stockings, and she had a long shirt instead of a dress. Still, she had never been the type to fuss over clothes, and accepted she probably needed to look like she fit in.

Of course, that would be impossible, as there didn't seem to be a single human aboard the ship. She stepped into the hall with the intention of exploration, and all she found was a great many creatures. She gave a half wave to the first few she met, and said hello, but they did not show any sign of response.

The ship seemed fairly long, and there were no maps to be found. While the idea of aliens had sustained itself in Renen culture, there were few people who had spent time documenting these laughable accusations, so Aster had no basis of knowledge to work off of when confronted with what was definitely a spaceship. In space! With... dog aliens.

She tried to take note of everything she saw, but after twenty minutes of wandering, she seemed to have seen it all. The halls were bright, narrow, and grey. The aliens all looked fairly similar, with only slight changed in coloring. There were few rooms she could enter, and the ones she could were mostly metal boxes with a couple beds in them. Once or twice, she found a small medical room.

Eventually she realized she had turned enough corners to end up where she had begun, gave up on her exploration, and sought out Artemis.

He was sitting in the bridge- she didn't know why that word came to mind, but it seemed to fit- on the same chair as before, sitting in the same way. It was like he hadn't moved all night.

"How long does it take to become a god?" Aster asked him.

"Any amount of time. Could be a day if you're desperate to rush. Ioro is the one this benefits, and I doubt he isn't capable of seeing every 'change' godhood brings you no matter what arrangement of time it takes."

"I'm not interested in a day." Aster said. She had just been curious. "Though. Do you know? You called me Laila's niece last night, which isn't... really possible, is it?"

"I was being facetious, yes." Artemis said. Aster breathed a sigh of relief. "But according to Ikina, you used to call her your aunt. So I had imagined that would not be something you'd need to turn to me for, answers-wise. I do not know it."

Aster narrowed her eyes and thought. Repressed memories- well, they had never been that. Illogical memories. Daydreams that had mixed together with reality. And she did not remember calling Laila an aunt, but she did remember having an aunt. An aunt who was Laila, the great god of the land?

That... was worrying.

"I guess." Aster stuck to saying. She blinked a few times, listening to the humming of the bridge's machines. "How does one become a god?"

"Well, anyway one likes." Artemis said with a teasing tone.

"Are there... textbooks... involved?" Aster was really not sure where this conversation was going.