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Weldir wondered what he could say to assuage her worries, but he had little idea. He wanted to be honest, as he had no reason to lie, but he truly had no idea what would happen.

I didn’t even know if I would be able to bond with her. That, too, had been an experiment.

Eating her living soul could have killed her. Since she’d been dying already, he hadn’t felt the need to explain that detail, but it had been a worry for him. Weldir had been uncertain, but he was thankful that his assumption had been correct.

He could bond with a living being.

I assume my offspring will take on the form of a deity. They could then have any humanoid form, but he was unsure what kind. His mother appeared Elvish other than the gold of her hair, her magical markings, and her constant tears.

His fathers – plural, as it could have been any god – were all humanoid in some form. However, one had the lower half of a bear, his top half was an Elf, and he had antlers. Another looked like a being made up entirely of flora. Another had been made of water, another of lava.

Each male was an attentive partner to the Gilded Maiden, and all of them were her lovers during his conception. Any one of them could have been his paternal father.

And Weldir was nothing like any of them, including his mother.

He only assumed he would make something humanoid in some way due to the evidence of his ancestry. Perhaps they would even look human considering their potential mother was a mortal being given the abilities of...

What is she now?

Weldir’s gaze drifted down her spectral form. She wasn’t a Ghost, but she wasn’t truly alive anymore, either.

His form wavered with unease. What if she is intangible on Earth? Then again, he didn’t care if she didn’t have a physical body, so long as she was able to collect souls and give birth. And considering part of her soul was still intact, he saw no reason why it shouldn’t be possible.

“If we are unable to produce offspring, your task will only be to collect souls.”

She tilted her head at that. “You don’t plan to get rid of me if I can’t?”

“No. I still need a servant, and someone who can freely roam Earth.”

He didn’t care what form they took for that role.

He just couldn’t leave his mists without fully consuming a soul until it was entirely destroyed, borrowing its immense power for a few fleeting moments.

He’d rather not do that, as each time swept him into a slumber afterwards that he struggled to push back.

A deep sleep to conserve energy and slowly replenish it.

“But I have free will? I can go wherever I like, do whatever I like, so long as I collect souls?”

“Precisely.”

Her expression mildly softened with relief. “A-and I can use your power however I like?”

He gave a hum of thought. “Yes, and no. I ask that you use it sparingly. If you drain me too deeply, I will sleep to recover what has been lost, and in that time, I will be unreachable. If you die, you will return to me – that I have already discovered. I can also feel that I can call you to my realm. I give you my apology that I did not do so sooner to spare you of pain.”

Once he came back to his realm after watching her end as she’d originally asked of him, he’d been able to sense he could have brought her along with him. He could have prevented her from needing to wriggle her way off the cliff’s edge to have a much less frightening death than being eaten.

He felt rather bad about that, but there was nothing he could do to change it now.

I know I can send her back to Earth in the same way I can go there – via his mist in the Veil.

“What I mean is,” she started, tipping her head down while looking at him through her long, curling lashes, “you don’t care how I use it?”

“No. I don’t care what you do with it, so long as you don’t deplete me of it entirely. Your tasks are designed to empower me.” He lightened his tone and gave it mirth as he said, “Work hard enough, and you can have more. If you have a physical form–”

“What do you mean, if I have a physical form?”

This was the first time he’d ever had someone speak over the top of him, and his form wavered in disapproval. His mist spread out only to shut in tight around him, rumbling with what he could only consider a growl.

“Currently you are intangible, we will see if that changes when you go to Earth.”

“I’m intangible?” She lifted her arms to inspect them, frowning at the solidness of her form. Then, as if noticing something new, she brought the back of her wrist closer to her face. “Oh wow. I’m a little see-through. Are you saying I’m similar to a Ghost?”

“Yes. Currently you are intangible and untouchable to the physical world. Much like all the spectral beings in my world, I house your soul.”

She patted at her breasts, searching for the flame currently floating beside him.

“But what if I want to be solid?” she asked, before her features fell. “How am I to help people if I can’t touch anything?”

It sounded as though she wished to use his power to make herself some kind of saviour. He found that commendable, although utterly pointless to the grand scheme of his desires. But if it made her compliant, he didn’t care what she did.

If she wished to make herself some kind of hero to her fellow humans, then so be it.

“Like I was saying before you interrupted me,” he stated with stern depth, “if you have a physical form, you should be able to collect materials with which I can make you magical items. If so, this will allow us to give you power that isn’t borrowed from me.

This is what I hope for, that you will have a physical form. ”

“But Ghosts can’t turn solid, can they? What am I then?” Her big, curious eyes then turned large as her lips parted. “Wait! Am I dead ?”

“Yes, and no.” When she gave him a glower, another chuckle slipped from his consciousness. “From what I can tell, you are like me. Alive but dead. Here nor there. Something but nothing. You are on the cusp of both, a limbo of life and death. A... Phantom. ”

Yes, that’s what he would call her abilities. She was a human turned Phantom.

He thought it was fitting.

Her eyes slitted in his direction. “Did you just make that word up?”

“Absolutely.” His humour-filled tone left no room for her to argue with him or make a statement regarding it.

He was a god; he could make up shit if he wanted to.

“Okay, whatever,” she grumbled, lifting a hand to shove it through her long, floating locks of hair. “Is there anything else I should know? Any other rules or restrictions?”

For a short moment, silence befell them as he thought. He truly didn’t need anything else from her.

Except one thing. “You are not to fornicate with your own kind. I am unsure how that will affect my own offspring.”

He didn’t wish for her to make mortal servants by accident via any potential left behind. Although he knew he had essence that could create life, if there was a residual matter left behind by living beings, it could have an impact on what they created.

Her knees knocked together when she snapped her thighs closed tightly. “Excuse me? A-are you insinuating that I would... betray you? I would never do such a thing!”

“Betray?” His mist spread out in confusion. “Why would this be betrayal of any kind? I wouldn’t care if it didn’t have a potential to impact one of your reasons for becoming my mate. If we are unable to produce offspring, then I won’t care if you do.”

She opened her mouth to say something but promptly shut it. Then she looked down, but he didn’t miss the way liquid built in the waterline of her eyes. She bit her bottom lip and said nothing as she looked down at her lap.

“I have upset you. How?”

“Where I’m from, most humans are monogamous. I just thought... I don’t know. I thought you’d care more. Wouldn’t that be lonely for you?”

“No. Polyamory is normal for me. I don’t know who my paternal father is, only that I have many in spirit.

There is harmony and unity, which is all that matters, each person having a task to perform to satisfy my mother.

She gifts them much affection in return.

They also had other females they could attend to. ”

Well, much of that was true... before his birthing.

His birthing had a great impact on the rest of the Elvish deities. Perhaps one day he could share those intricate details with her, so she understood better. Now was not the time.

“I still won’t,” she grumbled. “So, that’s not something you will ever have to worry about. I always planned to devote myself to my husband fully.”

So long as she doesn’t affect our offspring, then I have nothing to worry about. But he could see arguing with her on the matter was pointless, as he really, truly, wouldn’t have cared if she had many lovers.

Oh well, her sentiment was cute and much needed in the successful production of his servants.

“There is little else for us to discuss,” Weldir stated, unfurling his mist and releasing his seated position. “We will begin your duties now.”

The female shuffled away from him, and off the little podium of mana he’d given her. She squealed when she fell and then began to float away.

“W-wait! I’m not ready! I don’t want to make any babies yet!” she shouted, her arms cartwheeling as she tried to right herself. “Oh gosh. What’s happening?”

He followed her so they could remain facing each other, then gave her another podium to support her. Although they were in another direction now, there was no up or down, no left or right in his realm. In the scheme of things, they could be upside down and neither one of them would know it.

Once she was on the solid surface, her fingers curled around its invisible edges with the back of her knuckles straining as if worried she would begin floating and spin off again.

“Although you promised that you would complete your task without hesitancy,” he started, annoyed that she’d rejected it straight away, “I’m also not ready.

There is much for us to discover first. The unity of our bond is more important.

We must learn of your new abilities together, and then we can try. ”

“So I’ll have time?” she asked, her lips trembling like they didn’t know what expression they wanted to pull into.

“I know I said I would, but I just met you and I’m really nervous.

I hadn’t expected to be married and making kids right after.

.. dying. I just need a little time to adjust to everything. ”

“You will have time.”

How much, he was uncertain.

The trembling in her lips ceased when she bit down on the bottom one. “C-can I go back to my home?”

He didn’t have the heart to tell her that her home would no longer exist to her once her tasks began. “Temporarily, while we learn what you can do through me. I also promised you may seek revenge, if you so choose it.”

He needed to know the extent of what she could do while wielding his magic, his power. That would allow him to understand how much he could rely on her as a physical extension of himself on Earth. If she could do more than collect souls, then she would be an invaluable tool for him.

He needed to learn the depth of their bond, and what it meant for him to have a female of his own.

A little human, who was a rather pretty thing, and trapped in his hold.