A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Silence reigned in the room as Nora's followers stared at him with wide eyes. Some grasped the covenant symbol hanging from their necks. Slowly, Erik panned a curious gaze over their heads.

His stance was relaxed, his hands rested in the large pockets of his pants, and the only thing covering his upper body was a bracelet around his wrist, the proof of Naeku's love. The symbols of his wives were also clearly visible above his heart.

Then, as if a spell was broken, they all suddenly sank down to one knee and bowed their heads. With one voice they spoke: "We greet the Wolf-Sire, First of His Line, Flame of Honour, the Silver Hammer, Harbinger of Submission, Sire of the Strong, Paragon of Battle."

Erik raised an eyebrow at their greeting and glanced at Nora. His blond servant smiled proudly at her follower's reaction, chest puffed out. Erik rolled his eyes at her, but then looked back out over the people treating him like he was divine with a thoughtful frown.

He wondered what he thought of them. Did he think they were weak for treating him, a powerful but certainly not divine werewolf, as something more than he was? Did he appreciate their devotion? How did this gel with his belief in the predator and prey analogy? Where did his followers land on the scales?

As he thought, the room waited patiently. The cult members, for that is what they are, kept their heads bowed, Anne and Nora waited proudly, the bound people in back had nowhere to go, and Enkai was too shocked to do anything, his gaze focused on a single man in front of the group.

'Let's find out a little more,' he eventually decided, and raised one of his hands. "Rise," he commanded, as an irresistible flow of aetherium pushed the cultists back on their feet.

They all looked at him with awe, causing Erik to smirk inwardly. What he did was impossible for a Runebound, but merely somewhat challenging for an Arcanist. It was obvious how little experience these Enkarians had with Arcanists of his power.

"Hehe," Elora suddenly chuckled in his mind. "Isn't the fact you are literally the only Runebound/Arcanist hybrid in existence worthy of a little worship?"

Erik grinned lustfully. "I'll remember that next time we're in a bedroom together…"

"Promises, promises~~" Elora purred enticingly.

Neither mentioned the fact that Erik's 'hybrid' status depended inextricably on his bond with Elora. Not because they deliberately tried to avoid it, but because their bond had long since become a part of them. Talking about a world without that bond would be like talking about a world where they lost one of their arms.

Could it happen? Sure, but why bother even mentioning it?

Yet, it was true that Erik's current situation couldn't simply be recreated by any old fairy bonding with a Runebound. After all, Runebound and Arcanists don't possess affinities in the same way—Runebound having runes, and Arcanists glyphs. Erik's glyphs came from the bloodlines he'd merged with.

Regardless, Erik knew that most of what made him special came from Elora and Audumla. All he did wa—

"Stop that," Elora snarled, fury in her voice. She could feel his emotions and guess his thoughts. "All the gifts in the world would change nothing for 99.99% of the weak, lazy idiots that fill our universe. You make it work, through hard work, perseverance, and talent. Don't you dare belittle yourself! That's not the man I love!"

Erik blinked. He didn't like to think about it much, but the many gifts that culminated into his current being were the only chink in his usual confidence. He just didn't expect to get a lecture about that right here and now.

"You're right, my love," he chuckled softly. "It won't happen again."

"Good," she snorted, and fell quiet again.

The chink wouldn't be so easily fixed, of course, but a few words of encouragement from his beloved patched it up for a while.

With that settled, Erik finally focused back on his cultists. His conversation with Elora took a mere few seconds, so nothing much had changed.

"I want to thank you all for making sure the ceremony yesterday went off without a hitch," he told the awe-stricken people in front of him, his voice deep and reverberating. "Although Naeku and my other wives are currently busy with other things, their sentiments are the same."

His followers glanced excitedly between each other, until one man stepped forward. Proudly, he thumped his chest and bowed his head. "It was our pleasure, Wolf-Sire! The fact any dared to try and act against our saviour is a disgrace to our great kingdom!"

Erik looked this man up and down, and nodded appreciatively. The man's stance was deferential, but not overly so. It felt more like a warrior greeting his superior than a worshipper meeting his god. He liked that. If this religion Nora had created was filled with sycophants, he would have shuttered the whole thing right then and there.

"Well, you have my thanks regardless," Erik chuckled before raising an eyebrow. He asked a question that send a shockwave of shock through the room. "Tell me, do you think I am a god?"

His expression showed nothing of his thoughts. Behind this man, many other cultists held their breath, their eyes widening. Beside Erik, Nora narrowed her eyes. The entire room's focused quickly switched from Erik to this man as they all awaited his response.

The man didn't lift his head. If he was nervous about answering, he didn't show it, but he did think about it for a moment.

Eventually, he spoke, his head still bowed. "I think… that it doesn't matter," he said with an impressive amount of confidence. "Not only are you extremely powerful, you have knowledge that we don't, and can wield the powers of Arcanists and Runebound at the same time. Qualifications like that are worthy of our reverence and obedience, no matter your divinity."

Not everyone was happy with his answer. Some of his fellows looked at him accusingly, while Nora looked downright angry.

Erik, however, simply nodded. "I see," he muttered thoughtfully. "But you've chosen to join a group intended on worshipping me like one, so the idea probably isn't impossible to you, correct?"

"Nothing is impossible," the man readily answered, his head still bowed, fist still pressed against his chest. "If nothing else, the awakening certainly proved that. However, while powerful, you don't appear to have the true, reality-bending powers that most would associate with gods."

"Right," Erik nodded again. "So, that would suggest I am just a powerful mortal, a very weak god, or perhaps a god who took mortal form and gave up some of his powers."

The man nodded, but said nothing else.

"Okay," Erik continued, a small, curious smirk appearing on his lips. "So, let me ask you, if a more powerful god came along, would you serve them instead?"