"Can you explain to me how we got to this?" I asked, pointing to the village sprawling beneath the temple.
"What is there to explain?" she laughed. "Don't you see? Don't you like my lovely empire? Yes, it's quite flawed, but it's the best these inferior beings can manage. Give them time… perhaps one day they will achieve something truly worthy of us."
"Since when…?" I murmured, looking at her with a mix of anguish and intrigue.
Elise had gone through many stages, many personality shifts. But this… this wasn't an evolution of anything prior. It felt different. Strange. Even the way she spoke wasn't hers.
"Hmmm…" she mused aloud. "I simply arrived one day, and those insignificant creatures recognized my greatness from the very first moment they saw me. I helped them with a few of their problems, out of pure generosity… and by the time I realized it, they were already worshiping me as their savior. As it should be."
"You arrived, were kind, and now you're their goddess?" I asked with clear doubt. "I feel like you skipped a few steps to get to… all this."
Beside me, Hannah remained silent, observing everything. This was far beyond her capabilities. Elise's aura was overwhelming, much stronger than before, making her feel small. Furthermore… since Elise was my woman, this was essentially a couple's quarrel, and she clearly didn't feel comfortable interjecting without cause.
I, on the other hand… was more annoyed than usual.
Elise had shown radical attitudes in the past, but something about this occasion caused a profound discomfort. Like a warning. Something screaming that this wasn't right.
"Why are you so angry?" she asked with a smile. "All of this is for us. Look." She extended a wing toward the world below. "Everyone serving us, as they should. Ready to fulfill our orders and adore us as is proper."
"Since when do you want to be adored?" I retorted. "You never liked civilization. You preferred getting lost in the woods over living in a structure like this."
"I think I've changed…" she replied calmly. "Before, I didn't see my place in all of this. But now I know. It is to be the supreme ruler of these savages. Humanity, on its own, is doomed to its end. Only with my guidance can they subsist."
"Do you hear yourself?" I asked, looking at her with incredulity.
"And what's wrong with that?" she smiled. "You, my little husband, are the same. Together we shall rule over everyone."
She rose from the throne and began walking toward me with a slow, seductive movement.
"We are superior to them. Beings they will never understand with their mortal minds."
I growled under my breath when she rubbed her forehead against mine in an affectionate gesture… but something didn't fit. It wasn't the usual way Elise expressed that lustful affection. It felt different. More human… and, at the same time, more foreign.
"Besides," she continued, "it was this greatness that made me realize that getting angry at you for having fun with other mares was childish."
She laughed mockingly at herself.
"We are superior beings. Toying with mortal flesh is insignificant. Therefore… be free. Do as you wish. In fact, to apologize, I already prepared a gift. I gathered the most beautiful human females I could find…" She looked at one of the servants. "Bring forth my husband's slaves."
"You prepared slaves for me?" I asked, even more confused.
For her to do something like that was completely unthinkable. If not for the aura she emanated, I would have seriously doubted it was Elise at all.
"Yes. For you to delight in them. Play as much as you like." She then turned her gaze toward Hannah, who shuddered under the pressure. "Play with all those other women too… I don't car—"
She stopped abruptly.
She frowned, observing Hannah intently.
"Wait… why do you feel this way?" Her tone shifted, and her expression hardened. "Are you trying to compete with me?!... Ungrateful bitch. I allowed you to be my husband's sex toy and you…"
"Elise!" I intervened immediately, placing my hands on her to restrain her.
I could feel it: she was one second away from attacking Hannah.
"Hmmm…" she snorted upon seeing me so serious.
She pulled away without another word and returned to her throne, sitting with apparent calm… though the atmosphere was already completely poisoned.
It seemed that, despite how much she had changed, her respect and love for me still persisted, fighting to prevail over those overflowing emotions that now seemed to dominate her.
"Elise…" I said carefully. "Don't you think this 'supreme ruler' attitude is… odd? Exaggerated. Very unlike you." I tried to reason with her, to make her see that this change wasn't natural. Perhaps then I'd get answers.
"Before, I was just an inexperienced youth," she replied. "But now I understand how things are. Why are you the one who doesn't see it? All of this is for us. We will rule and mold this world in our image and likeness."
She spread her wings with pride.
"I am Elise, the great goddess and ruler. Giver of life, savior, creator of stars… the sun of the dawn…" As she spoke, her mane transformed into golden fire, illuminating the place with an almost solar radiance.
"The sun of the dawn? Ruling goddess?" I laughed, incredulous. "Do you think you're Celestia now?"
Besides sounding more unbalanced than usual, there was something almost absurd in her exaggeration… even comical, if it weren't so unsettling.
"Do NOT compare me to her!"
Her mane burned brighter and her eyes turned red. Her voice rose with such violence that the servants fanning her began to bleed from their eyes and noses instantly.
"She is nothing! I am superior! She is nothing compared to me. I am a true god… the only god. Creator and destroyer of all that exists." It was evident: there was envy. Jealousy. A sickly need for validation. "I am better than her… and you are going to find out."
She jumped on me, knocking me to the ground and destroying my clothes with her magic, slightly injuring me in the process.
"You are going to satisfy me properly... I am your goddess and it is your duty to fulfill your obligations; I will make sure to remind you. You are nothing but my husband, and your body belongs to me." She looked at me with a smile that mixed arrogance, wrath, and lust. "I will show you that there is no other mare but me; from now on, you will only exist to make me happy."
Seeing her like that, completely out of her mind, with such contradictory expressions superimposed… my mind finally clicked.
"Elise…" I asked with absolute seriousness. "Did you absorb faith?"
"You're going to be my perfect husband," she ignored me. "Always for me."
Then she looked at Hannah and, with a gesture, pulled her violently toward us. Her body was immobilized, forced to kneel.
"Look," she said cruelly. "Observe something you will never have. You could have been a toy… but you tried to defy me. Now you will be nothing."
"Elise!" I yelled, cupping her face to force her to look at me. "Listen to me! Did you absorb faith?"
"And what does that matter?" she laughed lustfully. "You're going to be mine. And if you don't want an active role… there are always other options."
I felt some of Elise's energy divert toward her lower half, and an unsettling sense of déjà vu ran through my body. It was impossible not to remember that moment with Tonks' horse penis, but this looked much worse. I couldn't risk wasting more time, so I decided to play my strongest cards.
"Because I wouldn't be fucking you!" I replied harshly. "Do you really think, after everything we've been through, I would deny you my penis? Answer me! Did you absorb faith?"
"Yes. So what?" she admitted arrogantly. "Now I am stronger than ever. Look at everything I've done."
A glow ran across her horn and space rippled. The vision expanded: the entire city was enveloped in a gigantic energy field that nurtured plants, regulated the climate, altered time, and somehow influenced even the lives and destinies of its inhabitants.
"I can do this… and soon much more," she continued. "The nearby cities also adore me as their goddess. We are reaching further every day. My plan was to expand, let the world know its true goddess… and then come looking for you. Together. Ruling over the mortals… for eternity."
"Elise…" I said with growing concern. "How did you absorb so much faith in such a short time? This shouldn't be this fast. You can't have been here even a full year… how are you this powerful?"
"Why do you care so much?" she replied, annoyed.
"Because that isn't you," I said bluntly. "I want my Elise. Not something pretending to be her."
"I am me!" she snapped with fury.
"Then tell me," I insisted. "How did you absorb faith?"
She hesitated for a moment as if having an internal conflict.
"I don't know…" she finally admitted. "I saved some people, showed my abilities… and they started bringing me offerings. At some point, I felt a power in me that recovered the energy I spent when I woke you up. I absorbed a little by accident… and it felt good."
"That doesn't explain everything," I said. "You couldn't have become their goddess that fast."
"I did it in many places," she continued, with discomfort. "In each one, they called me something different. The more power I showed, the more everything intensified. They modified murals, symbols… and other things from their other gods, changing them to my image and…"
"Elise!" I interrupted her, realizing what was happening, or at least suspecting it. "They didn't abandon their gods for you. They believed you were some of their original gods and mistook you for them. You've been absorbing faith directed at other gods," I continued. "Not you. That's why you aren't yourself right now. You are Elise… plus the belief of all those gods. That's why you have contradictory emotions, impulses that don't fit you. This isn't just Elise."
"That's not true," she denied, resting a hoof on my chest. "The faith of insignificant creatures couldn't change me. I am the great Elise… and I will prove it to you." She seemed angry, worried, and many other discordant emotions.
"Think about it," I stopped her. "Since when do you have servants? Since when would you get sex slaves for me? Since when do you care about a golden palace full of riches, when you never cared about money?"
"Those are trifles," she replied, though with a slight tremor. "Everyone changes. I learned a lot."
"Elise," I said with calculated calm. "You said you could relegate me to a passive role. Were you thinking of using me as if you were the stallion and I the female?" Her pressure on my chest weakened. "Do you really think you would do something like that? Since when would that even be comparable to having me inside you? Could it be that among that faith was that of some lustful male god?"
Her eyes wavered.
"Tell me," I continued. "Do you really think that impulse is yours… or someone else's?"
"I…" she murmured.
"Elise, I love you," I said firmly. "But the real you. If I slept with you now, it wouldn't be with you… it would be with a foreign, distorted divinity… perhaps even a human one."
"No… no… no…" she backed away, trembling. "No. No. NO!"
She screamed with fury, stomping hard. A burst of magic exploded to one side, destroying part of the temple and several servants who were there.
I stood up and pulled clothes from my [Inventory]. Then I helped Hannah up, now that Elise's power was fluctuating violently. She was breathless; the magical pressure had immobilized her with such force that her state was a confused mix of exhaustion, fear, and embarrassment at seeing me naked and nearly raped.
"Are you okay?" she asked me, glancing sideways at Elise, who was screaming and insulting the air… and herself.
"I think… she had a sort of revelation," I replied in a low voice. "She's letting it all out."
I took her by the arm.
"Don't leave my side," I added, but then I thought better of it. "But don't get too close either… just in case."