"The best rulers are reluctant and I couldn't think of a better fit. You chose well."
Inga ran across the sprawling throne room and jumped into my arms. She pelted my face and head with uncountable kisses. "Stupid good for nothing Earthborn, do you know the fear you put into my heart?"
She slapped me in the face and kissed me, and slapped me in the face again and continued kissing me.
While we were already soulbound, there was an official coronation and it was the best week of my life.
And although it had only been like twenty minutes since I actually put my full dive gear on, time was ticking. Time was always ticking. But as far as my love knew, I would only be gone for moments at a time, which was good.
She knew I was involved with the gods, and I couldn't convince her the AI weren't gods. In a way, they sort of were. She knew I had to visit other realms and knowing that I would have experiences with other women, it was god's will and it was more social currency for her. Sex was status in the world of the Fae, and what higher status was there than her soulbound lover traveling other worlds and spreading the ways of the Fae? The important thing was I was eternally hers.
When I disconnected, I laid very still for a moment, almost afraid to take my full dive gear off. Was in in a bodybag or in a cooler ready to be sliced open by a coroner? I was breathing, that was a good sign. I slowly reached up and touched my face. I felt the familiar slip woven with millions of transistors and pulled it off my face . . .
. . . and she was right. It had only been about twenty minutes. I must have experienced at least twenty years in Wonderland, so the compression was about a year a minute? That was wild to think about, I lived a quarter of a lifetime and all the experiences were forever ingrained in my mind and I would only grow more powerful as my experiences accumulated.
What would I be in twenty years of time in my world? A wizard?
A time wizard?
I laughed at the thought then started my routine, before opening up a private tunnel with Ada, The Goddess with the Cheshire Cat Smile.
Void.Net: Wonderland Page 12