Bethany and Stacy were on the edge of the clearing in the dungeon, far enough away that they were reasonably sure that Eli couldn’t hear them.

  “Well?” Bethany said, “are you going to join us? It’s all in or nothing girl, we need an answer before he goes for this realm creature bond. My gut is telling me that being connected to him before it happens will be the only chance you're going to get.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that and I tried to picture what my life would be on either side of this choice. If I don't join him, I’ll have to go to a different safe zone anyways since I won’t be welcome in my old one. I could find a team and keep working on my magic and grow. But I also feel that this would have its limit and it wouldn’t be long before I hit it and stagnate. But I could find regular friends and even a husband to make a family with. A normal, regular, life.”

  Stacy paused with a serious look on her face and continued. “I don’t think that's what I want. I want all the wonders of this new world in all their shapes, colors, and sizes. However, I don’t want to be some low level assistant not getting to go on all the adventures and actually be part of the wonders. I am willing to give my life to him forever, BUT… only if I am his apprentice and I will do whatever it takes to be that.” Bethany was looking at her with a very stern and serious look. “Yes,” Stacy said, “I’ll give 50 years, hell I’ll give 200 years if that's what it takes.”

  Bethany thought for a moment, copying Eli’s chin tapping. “Ok, before we bring this to him I need to see if you understand what you want. Say you are out in the world with him and he goes through something like he did here? Something emotionally heavy or traumatic and he needs to be comforted to ease his suffering and self-doubt. Do you hold him? Sleep with him? What do you do? He may be near all powerful but his mind was that of a normal human six months ago just like ours was. It’s important to him and all of us that follow him to keep his humanity, which means we need to do whatever he needs for him so he can maintain it.”

  “I am prepared to do what it is that he needs. I may not love him like you do, but like I said, I am willing to give him my life to hold.” Stacy said with as much determination as she had ever heard herself speak with, confirming to herself that she meant it.

  “Yet.” Bethany said. “You don’t love him yet. Once you see him for who he is and feel his soul caressing your soul, it will only be a matter of time.”

  “I don’t like relationships like that, where the other person has all the power, but I have no idea what the future will bring so I won’t deny that it's possible.” Stacy replied.

  They walked back to Eli who was sitting cross-legged on the ground with a very peaceful look on his face. They waited for him to acknowledge them, not wanting to interrupt his focus. It only took him a few minutes.

  “So you’ve come to a decision then, let’s hear your pitch.” he said with all the arrogance that comes from having all the power in the conversation and basically in all other areas as well.

  “So you know I want to join you, but I won’t just be another follower, I want to be your apprentice.” Stacy said.

  “She is offering you 200 years minimum.” Bethany said.

  Eli glared at Bethany, “You stay out of this, Stacy will manage on her own or not at all.” The serious and almost angry look made Bethany take a step back and lower her head. She knew he wasn’t mad, he was just trying to take a more official tone with his discussion with Stacy to show her he was taking her seriously. It was his way of acknowledging the gravity of her giving so much of her life to him.

  He looked back at Stacy, “That is what you want, This will be a commitment on my end as well, why do I want you?”

  Stacy paused and thought about it then just panicked a bit and started rambling things off. “I learn fast, I take instructions well and never have to be told twice. I am passionate about magic and will work hard to learn it all. I’ll carry your things, I'll carry out your orders, and I’ll die before I let you down.” She said all that in one breath and then stopped a bit embarrassed about how she had just kind of blurted things out.

  “I’ll give you one more chance to answer. Don’t tell me why others would want you, tell me why I would want you next to me at all times for 200 years.”

  This time Stacy felt that a pause was good, showing she was seriously considering it. She absentmindedly tapped her chin mirroring both Bethany and Eli’s habit of doing that while in thought. She didn’t know the answer he was looking for so she just went with her gut feeling from their previous conversations. “You want to talk with me.” She steadily gained confidence in what she was saying as she went. “We both think about the world from a 30,000 foot perspective and I can give insight when you need it.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Eli smiled and stood, “I have one condition, I am going to rename you. This will be permanent for as long as you serve me, even changing your system status screen. Do you agree?” He held his arms out wide as if waiting for a hug.

  Stacy was taken-a-back by this condition, but if she was going to be all in, she wasn’t going to hesitate at something like a name change. She nodded and took a step closer to him, preparing for her old self to die and a new life to begin. Eli put his hands on her cheeks and took a half step closer to her.

  “I, Demi-God of Ruin, accept you as my apprentice.” He said out loud, but the words were just for show, the real work was happening in her soul where he opened a connection to her. He was not going to give her a connection like the others, where it was a two way street. Bethany and Tara's connection to him worked to influence him in subtle ways, parts of their personality leaking into his own. An apprentice shouldn’t have that ability so he blocked it off. The apprentice/master function in the system worked like his other connections but was usually used for craftsmen. So Eli brought his will to bear on it and made a slight adjustment as it was forming so that it would better suit their purpose.

  “Stacy is your old life, you will now open your soul to me through our connection and I will rename you.” Stacy took a deep breath and slowly let it out, she didn’t know how to open her soul so she just went to the place in her mind where she felt her new connection and mentally opened a door. Eli’s presence immediately filled her soul so much it felt like she would burst, which she actually did for a moment, leveling her soul to three in one go. It was painful beyond what she thought pain could be, but his presence in her soul made it fade quickly. She was amazed at how comforting and invigorating it was to have him inside her soul like this, especially since she was expecting for it to feel like being violated from inside her brain or something.

  Then the real pain started as he used his access to her soul to force her body upgrade as well. This took several minutes and enough focus that Eli was starting to sweat. He held her by the head and picked her up off the ground, then starting at her feet, she started to dissolve and reform. The process took more than 20 minutes, but to her it felt like the pain went on for years. The part that shocked Bethany was when her head dissolved and was reforming, Stacy’s body didn’t fall to the ground, but instead Eli’s soul reached out through his hands and held her up by her soul until the process was done. She was barely conscious but he could feel that her soul was relaxed and still accepted that he was there.

  The last thing was to change her name, this had to be done by changing the bit in her soul where her self image or identity was. It didn’t take long to find it, since he had found it on himself, he was still deciding if he would change his own name or not in this way. He wiped her former name from it, which made him pause because her full name was Stacy Thomson, which he thought sounded familiar for some reason. Then he put in her new name and pulled her in for a hug, which she returned so tightly and immediately that she didn’t even notice that she was naked since all her clothes and armor had fallen off when her body was dissolving.

  “So, what's the new name?” Bethany asked. Stacy looked over at her and Bethany’s jaw dropped, “Oh shit girl, you are smokin hot now!” She looked down at herself, checking out all her curves and firmness. She pulled out a similar sword that Eli used when checking his face and saw her own.

  “Damn I am, aren't I.” She had been five-nine with a pretty face and slim figure, brown hair and green eyes. She had been pretty before, that's how she got into movies, but the new her was something else. Now she was five-eleven, her tan was gone, she had straight black hair down past her shoulders and purple eyes that looked like they would glow at night. Her body was fit and strong, but all womanly curves with proportions she had dreamed about as an actor but she never had the genes for.

  “The suspense is killing me girl.” Bethany said.

  “I am Alora Ashen, Initiate Apprentice to the Demi-God of Ruin.”

  “Damn that's a good name. Welcome to the family Alora.”

  “I have one more thing to do, and I want to give this to you too Bethany.” Eli said and put his hands on Alora’s face with his thumbs on her eyes. His hands were just for show, again he was altering her soul, but this time not changing anything, he was adding something. He shared the trauma with her that he had gone through in the last part of the dungeon. Her eyelashes were gone and thin black lines traced around her eyelids. Then he drug his thumbs down her cheeks as the black lines that he had from his eyes to his jaw appeared on her cheeks as well.

  “I wanted you to see your new face before I marked it, I am sorry if you don’t like it but it's important to me that you have the markings since you were here with me.” Eli kissed Alora’s forehead then walked to Bethany and did the same. Bethany had tears rolling down her face and embraced him tightly. It took some time and some more hugs from both women, but experiencing this together was an important bonding moment for each of them.

  “How much time do we have left before the dungeon kicks us out?” Eli asked.

  “Two, maybe three hours.” Bethany answered.

  “Well I feel like hell and everything is raw, but we don’t have time to screw around so I’m going to get this realm creature bond thing over with.” He then opened the system window that had the question ‘yes/no’ on it and chose yes before anything else crazy happened.