I walked all the way to my house lost in thought. I couldn’t come to any conclusions, but I had a long list of questions. I made my way up to the second floor, noticing that Ravina was curiously absent. Walking into my office, I wasn’t surprised to see Ta sitting right where I left her. I paused as the tickle in my mind became an itch. I had expected to find her here like this. I filed the fact away for later thought.

“Greetings lady Ta.”

“Greetings Michael, Arienach. Have you given our offers any thought?”

I laughed. “I have thought of little else. There will be a meeting in a week to talk to the various races.”

I watched as she tensed, then relaxed. The reaction was interesting, to say the least. “That… that will be acceptable. The other matters?”

“My priority is my people, Ta. I will not consider my position until I know my people have been taken care of.”

Her eyes flickered. I found myself studying her reactions, but strangely it seemed as if I expected them. “That will be acceptable.”

I smiled, knowing this would probably be the game breaker. Maybe literally. “I do have a question, however, what can you tell me about the starship that is under my caldera?”

She stopped. It was weird, like she was turned off. Then she disappeared.

Arienach chuckled. “I assume that is the human stratagem called tact?”

“No, that was more along the lines of blind-siding. I was more interested in a reaction, than an answer. But, if they want our cooperation, they will have to answer.”

“This is your strategy?”

“As such. I have a feeling that I may know what we are dealing with here, at least as far as our little god Ta is concerned.”

“And? What would that have to do with the situation?”

“Maybe nothing. But a perverse part of me wants to know. I think our dear little Ta is an avatar.”

“What will that do for us?”

“I am not sure. Maybe nothing. It does raise the question of why they would use an avatar to approach us.”

I could feel the mental shrug in my mind. “Maybe that is all they could do?”

“Which begs the question, just what could limit a god?”

The meeting went as well as could be expected. The nobles were to go back to their respective people and relate what they had learned. The dragons were subdued, but strangely, the people made more of an issue over harming them than the possibility of facing an endless life. It was touching at the same time as it was slightly disturbing. I tried to keep myself neutral as it really wasn’t my decision to make. I thought of Ta and what I had learned and wondered at what this would mean going into the future. The dragons were more uneasy about having the races deal with what immortality actually meant. All seen the opportunity of expansion, however.

I started surveying other worlds to find primary candidates for the upcoming moves. I was working towards worlds where our presence would make a minimal impact. Civilizations that were already established were taboo this first run. Later, I would look into bringing them in intact with minimal to no presence there. I did not want a conquest.

Ta hadn’t returned a month later when the representatives came back to report the decision of their populations. It was unanimous. Seems we were to be the immortal hub of an empire. The reason they gave when I asked? They didn’t wish us to suffer. They didn’t want creatures who had terrorized their lands for untold centuries to suffer… the thought boggled my mind. The meeting took place at the map room. It was then that I showed them what we had to look forward to. I did a mental picture of the galactic plane, taken from a ninety degree offset. I couldn’t zoom since it wasn’t true sight, but I was able to show where we were. I also highlighted the next few planets of interest along with the basic makeup. Once the shock wore off on the scale of what we were dealing with, they became excited about the prospect of exploring the planets. If the immortality went through, then we had the rest of time to do this. Ta still not returning was bothering me, though.

I was lost in thought as I walked back to my house. The game was the key to all of this. The thing which came to mind was if there was a game, then who was the players? Were we? Something didn’t make sense. As I walked to the door, it opened. My mind blanked. Haladoria was standing there.

“Greetings lord dragon.”

“Michael.” I said more by reflex than thought.

She laughed and flew into my arms.

“What?” Not the most brilliant line of inquiry, but it was all I could think of.

“I asked them to come back. They caught my soul and asked me after they talked to you.”

Strangely, Arienach was crying in my mind. “I don’t know what to say.”

She hugged me. “Say I love you, silly dragon.”

I laughed. “I love you silly dragon.”

She smacked my shoulder.

“How about I missed you desperately.” I whispered as I kissed the top of her head.

“That’s better.” She said as she snuggled in.

I know not how long I just stood there holding her. I refused to think on what this meant, or just why it had happened.

“I know about the meeting. You worried about the people too much. Most of the races are long lived. Elves can live almost ten or twelve centuries. The dwarves are almost as long lived. The only ones who we are going to really have to worry about are the humans. But the rest of us can help them” She said with a slight smile.

“Oh, why is that?”

“They barely live a century.” She said with another light squeeze.

Alarm bells went off. “Wait. You lasted another century before you…”

“Died? Yes, why?”

“The humans we met were at the very least in their mid to late twenties, some were older. If they would be…”

Her eyes widened. “They should all be dead.” She whispered.

“You should not have been the first. We have been played.”

“Those bastards planned this!” Arienach was enraged.

I suddenly felt a tingle. “Come on, I would have a talk with our… benefactors.”

We walked up the stairs and into the office. Ta was sitting pretty much in the same spot she had disappeared from. She looked fearful and had a shield up. The first thought I had was what would a god need with a shield?

“Why?” I asked as I walked through the door behind Haladoria.

“Because we need you.” She said with obvious fear.

“What is this about, and don’t give me that shit about the galaxy.”

“It is about the galaxy. That is all I can say.”

“Then tell me. What is the game?”

Her avatar turned white. “I cannot say.”

“Then why should I trust you?”

“You already know too much. You can do what we cannot, Michael. We need you.”

I thought about it for a while, just staring at her. She was trembling. I sighed. “Okay. This is about the game and that ship. I have one question and you had better not lie to me. What will this do to my people?”

“Your people will not be harmed beyond the normal hazards of exploration. We have put in a reincarnation clause as well. If you take the ascension, you will be directly able to intervene. You will be a god living amongst the people.”

“Will they know?”

“Not unless you tell them. I think they will figure it out, but at your level, you were almost a god anyway.”

“Know that I will not let this matter drop. I would know what this is about.”

“We cannot tell you.”

“Why”

“We cannot tell you.”

I sighed. Part of me wanted to hit something… maybe a planet.

“What of this godhood you wish to give me?”

I watched her shudder. “You will be much as you are now, but have all of the powers of the gods.”

Something about the way she said that… then it hit me. “All of the powers of the gods?”

“Yes.”

Each god had their specialty. Death, love, life, growth…

“Oh my god.” I whispered. “You are desperate.”

She almost whimpered. “Yes.”