The Ascension

11: Alien world

 Gods mixed with humans freely on the planet of Seltiabah. Or at least, one was now- leaving the ship out in orbit, Artemis had teleported down to the surface of the planet- most of which seemed, at least to Aster, to be one large city.

"My home." Artemis said, gesturing to the sky with a smile. "And my planet."

Aster tried to judge his expression. "You mean something by separating those two, don't you?"

"Precisely. I grew up here. But I also rule here."

"Like a king?"

Artemis looked humorlessly at Aster. "Like a god. Obviously."

Aster wasn't sure how that worked. Unlike Ikina, Artemis lacked a divine air about him. The idea of him being worshipped was about as silly as the idea of a publicly inebriated buffoon being an emperor.

"I don't doubt that you have power." Aster said carefully. "But somehow I can't imagine you being a proper divine."

Artemis did not seem tested when he replied a moment later. "I was born here. So I'm not a true god in that way. But I have since taken over the role of god, and the generations that now inhabit the planet recognize me as such."

"But this is an artificial planet, right? Didn't another god already rule it?"

"Yes. Until I usurped them."

"Can you kill a god?"

"Some." Artemis said, and then he laughed softly. "Not Ioro. I hope you weren't thinking of trying to harm him."

Aster was actually mortified at the implication that she might want to hurt Ikina. She didn't like Ikina greatly, to tell the truth, but they seemed to at least be a force of lawful good in the universe.

"Does this city have a name?" Aster changed the subject. She was uneasy, anyways, with talking so openly about these matters in public.

"Metropolis city." Artemis said. "Unfortunately, it was called that before I came to power. There was nothing I could do to stop it from acquiring such a bland name."

It was not a bland city, however. Electricity was everywhere. Signs were everywhere. Artemis' notes on how to read his language had not had any time to sink in, so walking through streets lined in it was akin to the feeling of drowning in culture. Who were these people? What was their language? These were things Aster would never have the basis of experience to understand- or even a reference to guess off of. Artemis, who ought to have been her guide, only looked at the city with smug power. He was not about to teach her its ways.

"So why did you take me here?" Aster's voice was not one to falter. Mostly, it just came off as calculated.

"To remind you of what I'm trying to turn you into."

"Do you want me to usurp Ikina?" Another worrying thought. Artemis did seem quite subversive to his once-teacher...

"No. You can't. But perhaps you will try to find a way to do the work I give you if I show you the rewards you may receive. This city here. I own it. And I know how meaningless that seems- because is is meaningless. I can't walk into any shop and have anything handed to me for free. But I can destroy it. And I want you to think of what that's like, the power of destruction, because you'll never quite understand it until you have it."

"You want to give me my own planet then?" The idea of any sort of power was unknowable to Aster.

"That is what Ioro wishes. He tested me the same, and I chose this planet. He hopes you'll make one for yourself, from scratch, and nurture it carefully. I want the same. But I want you to go a little more in depth about this science of life- genetics are what Ioro fears nonsensically."

Aster was quiet for a few moments, not meeting Artemis' gaze. She watched someone with bright green hair buy a bulk box of lipstick. Then she spoke in a quiet voice. "Well. I'm not very good at computers, so I'd like to just do what Ikina wants instead."

Artemis sighed, leaned his head back and seemed to roll his eye as he did so. "Look. I know you're frustrated with not understanding high end technology. I recognize your disadvantage. But you can't mope around because of it. If you force yourself to listen to me drone on enough, you'll figure it out, I promise."

"I mean, it's not like I ever wanted to do this all that much. And you said Ikina would be angry if they knew I was learning this stuff, right? So I want to stop doing it. Let's just do the planet-nurturing activities instead."

Artemis was insistent. That was clear simply from his body language. He had to be around seven feet tall, and he leaned over Aster to put a supportive hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. I know someone who will make this easier for you."

"I don't care about this." Aster tried her best to add an edge to her tone.

"You'll like her. She's young too."

The discussion was promptly ended the moment Aster realized Artemis had no intention of ever giving up. He wanted to teach her. He really, really wanted to. There was almost something worrying about his insistence- was something more sinister behind it? Was he preparing her for something?

She tried to keep her thoughts clear as Artemis ran through a very brief tour of Seltibah and Metropolis City. They were both big. People had ridiculous hair colors here and were intimidatingly tall.

When Artemis had killed the last god, he had burned all images of her. He had yet to explain beyond that.

Artemis was worshipped as an icon of a man here with a half machine face. He showed Aster a few icons of himself, and his holy icon looked almost identical to his actual form. So much so that Aster worried someone might recognize him.

But no one ever did. Many people had machines ingrained into their skin here- Artemis had his face repaired due to injury, he revealed, but it was quite common for people to add machinery for aesthetic or practical uses as well. Some people bought ports for their skin, such as on the wrist, and then were able to interchange various machines whenever they wanted. It was not a rich man's folly- it was a common reality.

It was really weird. Hair coloring was only just vogue in Baased, and Aster did have stark red hair- but the idea of a baby being born with pink hair was just silly. Here, it was mediocre. She had to wonder if the average Seltian would marvel at her world at all.

Her world. That brought up another question. "Who names planets?"

"Gods. Scientists. Depends."

"What about my planet?"

"I'm not one hundred percent sure. I think Ioro calls it 'Daliis'. Mostly he just says 'my planet' so I'm not too sure."

'Dailiis' was not a name that made any sense to Aster. It'd be a bit of a stretch to try and pull an 'Ae' sound from the 'ai'- after all, when being used to refer to the sky god, the 'ae' was supposed to go at the end of the name. It was gibberish- but it was her planet.

Artemis bought Aster lunch at a shop so bustling with oddities that she had no way to discern if it was high or low class. It was unknown, and uncategorizable. The meal she had there was high in salt, soft, and stung her lips. It was also hard to place.

"We can head back to the ship now. I'll call the girl up right away so you two can begin immediately." Artemis said when she was almost done eating.

"You don't have to call her 'the girl'. Being cryptic benefits no one but yourself."

"Yes. That is why I do it. But the girl in question is named Eii, and she's a trans-dimensional omnipotent being who I promise can create life out thin air. I hate her."

Aster had a lot of questions. She began with one: "What?"

"I don't really know. It's never been very clear to me what she is, just that Ioro implies to me. She helped him design a lot of things on your planet. The duality of your gods was all her work. No one is really sure where she came from, but I think she's from another realm of existence entirely- I may sound mad now, but judge only when you meet her."

"...So there's different dimensions as well as different planets?"

"I don't actually know. I've always just assumed... ask her when you meet her. She's as fond of me as Ioro is."