Daphne explored around the volcano as little wisps of colorful fire came up to her and started dancing around her. She giggled and held one when she felt its heat, but instead of burning her, the flame just started jumping around her.
"I am very high maintenance, you know?" she heard Aaric's voice. He was leaning on the wall with a smirk and crossed arms.
Daphne's face lit up with a smile and she approached him with her arms behind her back.
"I have very rich parents," she said with a smirk.
"I can be a drama king sometimes," Aaric said with a grin.
"Not as much as me," Daphne said, rolling her eyes.
"I can be very clingy as well," Aaric said as Daphne stood in front of him.
Daphne replied by hugging him by the neck and kissing him passionately. Aaric wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her as well.
They parted after some time, looking into each other's eyes.
Aaric made a serious expression. "There is one last thing," he said, and Daphne just hugged him tightly.
Aaric then told her about the possibility of him and his family leaving for another world.
Daphne listened patiently. "Will we be able to visit here?" she asked, and he nodded.
Daphne smiled and stole little kisses from him. "Then I can follow you to hell and back," she said.
Aaric looked at her and cupped her cheek. "I will do all I can to make you happy," he said.
Daphne just hugged him. "You already have," she said with a satisfied smile.
Aaric and Daphne returned from the volcano and met up with Luna, who was waiting for them. Luna smiled widely when she saw them.
"Velka told me she had something exciting to show to us." Luna said when they reached her.
Aaric raised an eyebrow and looked at the sphere. "Let's go see what it is then," he said and picked Daphne up, while Luna's six wings unfolded and she flew with them to the sphere.
There, they were welcomed by even more little spiders running around, repairing and tinkering with the sphere.
Luna and Daphne found them cute and gave them treats and pets for their hard work, which they accepted happily.
Velka approached them after a little bit. "I have something great to show you. Come, I will show you," she said in her usual excitement and started explaining the new changes she had made to the sphere while they walked.
The three smiled kindly and followed her patiently. They then entered a giant opening in the sphere that had some stairs leading to a massive room.
"Last time I told you there was an AI here, right?" she asked Aaric, who nodded.
Daphne seemed confused about what an AI was, and Aaric explained it to her.
"We were calibrating ways for a complete dimensional isolation of the island, and it has some ideas," Velka said excitedly.
Threads of light started converging in an area and formed geometric lattices that pulsed in rhythm with calculations and codes running through them like glowing veins.
"Hello, my lord. I am grateful I could finally meet you," came a mechanical, emotionless voice from the holographic image.
Aaric nodded. "Thank you for your hard work," he said, and the image pulsed as if in acknowledgment.
"How long have you been here? And who formed this sphere?" Aaric asked the AI.
"I have been here for 1,487 years, and there is no civilization that made this sphere," the AI spoke, then pulsed with light.
"I found it improbable that such technology, including me, would just spontaneously appear. This is why for all this time I believed… imagined an advanced species that may have given birth to all this." Aaric raised an eyebrow as he heard the AI's words.
"And about a year ago, a seed formed in the well of the sphere. The well has merged with your island's well, as the sphere and the island are one now." The AI seemed to have picked up a babbling habit from Velka.
"I assimilated the seed within me, and that is when I knew the nature of my existence and the sphere." Aaric nodded at those words.
'The fuck can a demigod A.I. do, though?' Aaric thought, looking at the light structure.
"Tell them about the idea you had come up with," Velka said excitedly.
"Yes… well, we need some divine energy, and I can channel it into isolating our lands into a dimensional pocket and turn it into a solar system," the AI spoke in its mechanical voice.
"Yes, the gods here have the ability to create universes in the walking-reality as well," Aaric said and nodded.
"I have some gods I know. I will ask them for help," Aaric said and nodded at the AI.
"Please, wait some time before that, my lord. Until this island expands enough to gain enough matter to form a planet," the AI spoke, and Aaric shrugged.
"You both are doing good work. Thank you," Aaric thanked Velka and the AI.
Velka squealed and jumped in happiness at the compliment, while the image of the AI just pulsed before fading away.
"How did you get those wings?" Daphne asked Luna as they sat by the fire in their house by the shore.
"Damn," Daphne muttered in admiration after she heard Luna's story.
Aaric grinned. "Do you want such wings as well?" he asked her, and she shrugged.
Aaric laughed and put an arm around her waist. "Don't act this way; you won't fool me," he whispered to her, making her blush.
"I don't want you to do it for me," Daphne said, and Aaric nodded.
Aaric understood she did not just want him to ask the gods to do the same for her. She just wanted him to help her get some opportunities, and she would prove herself worthy.
Aaric smiled at Luna and Daphne as they rested themselves on him and got into a comfortable position.
A/n: Power stones and reviews please guys... i'm sure you want Simon and Edwina to live long and happy lives... character development can be tricky sometimes. One wrong move and Aaric turns into an Emo harem protag.