For several moments, the room was silent. Then, Ryan found his voice.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" He held up his hands. "Back the hell up, Father. Kacy Raxvar? Daughter of Henry Raxvar, owner of Raxvar Corporation? Please tell me you are joking!"

"I am not," his father told him. "Henry approached us when you were little. Some of the healing mages who looked at you about your sight were Raxvar mages, including Henry himself."

"This doesn't make any sense!" Ryan exclaimed. "Raxvar has both sent an assassin after me and is attempting to bring my servant to them! They can't want us to marry!"

"I'm sure," his father told him. "That in the run of time you played out where I knew about the assassin, I had already investigated this. If I did not tell you anything, then Henry himself was not behind the attempt."

"This doesn't make any sense," Ryan muttered, then sensed someone approaching. "Is that Kacy?"

"The woman approaching us?" His father asked, and Ryan nodded. "Yes, that is her. How far can you 'see' with the senses?"

"It depends," Ryan answered. "A single element? Around three hundred yards or so. With all six elements? Around five feet."

Most of the credit on his single-element range came from training all six elements, as every time he fully recovered from overworking that, he found that his range for all had increased.

"I see," his father said. "That seems like a rather useful spell, though I'm not sure if it's one which can be learned easily. You already perceive the world differently from us."

"Maybe," Ryan shrugged as there was a knock on the door.

A moment later, the door opened, and in walked the young woman he had sensed approaching them. He felt surprise in her mind when she saw him, and she moved to sit on the armchair to the right of the couch he was seated on.

"Hello, Kacy," Ryan said.

"Hello, Ryan," she responded, and he noticed a slight wariness to her voice. "Hello, Samuel."

"Hello, Kacy," Ryan's father responded. "Ryan is finding it difficult to believe that you are to marry him."

"It's purely political," Kacy said, and Ryan realized that she was eyeing Tyler, if he judged her eyes through his sense of water correctly. "Though I do have to say he's not as ugly as I'd expected him to be."

"You're right," Ryan grinned. "Tyler took all the ugly from me."

Ryan's father snorted as Kacy's mind filled with confusion, and Ryan himself chuckled.

"If only you could see your expression right now," he said. "It's quite amusing."

"As if you could know that," his father chuckled. "Kacy, would you mind explaining to Ryan why your father wishes to join with the Novar Family, despite us having hostilities for so long? I know some of it, but not the full details."

"Sure," she responded, and Ryan felt her gaze upon him. "Before she died, the Silver Oracle came to Raxvar Corporation's board of executives. She gave them a prophecy."

"The Raxvar Prophecy," Ryan nodded. "Everyone knows about it, even if we don't know what it is."

"We've done a good job at keeping it a secret," Kacy told him. "But the Raxvar Prophecy was quite major. According to the Silver Oracle, the blind heir will rule the world."

Ryan started as his father's mind filled with confusion. The man hadn't known all of the details, he said, and it seemed that his own ancestor's words about Ryan were not made clear to him.

"My father," Kacy continued. "Told your father that with the coming of the Fourth Age of Magic, it would be impossible to stop the Families from taking over the world if the prophecy were true, and he would rather not have Raxvar Corporation destroyed for opposing them.

"It wasn't until you were little," she said. "And he had personally examined you that my father realized the Silver Oracle was talking about you. Initially, they'd thought she had meant someone blind in the mind, not the eyes."

"He didn't tell me," Ryan's father said. "That the prophecy said he'd rule the world."

"You didn't know that?" Ryan asked. "I've known for awhile I was destined to rule the world."

He felt the incredulous stare of his father's and chuckled.

"I've talked with Colin and Emily," Ryan said. "They told me."

"The first Novar and Veloas?" Kacy asked, and Ryan could feel the shock in her mind just as strongly as he could hear it in her voice. "The children of the first Gray Mage?"

"The first?" Ryan's father asked.

"Yeah," Ryan said. "There were actually three of them. The first one is the one who caused the influx of magic to the world, while the second and third were actually the ones who healed the world from that."

"Strange," Kacy said. "I thought only a handful of people knew about that, all in Raxvar Corporation."

"I did just say I've talked with the children of one of them," Ryan said. "They told me what happened, including that the Great Collapse actually lasted around twenty years. They also told me that I'm destined to rule the world with my harem of five hundred hot women."

Tyler groaned beside Ryan, who chuckled as his servant let his head drop into the palm of his right hand.

"It's okay," Ryan put a hand on Tyler's back. "There will always be room in my castle for my best friend. The harem will sleep elsewhere."

"I know you well enough," Tyler said. "To know that you won't be having a harem, Ry-sir."

"You're right," Ryan said. "Five hundred women sounds like a lot to juggle. If I only slept with one each day, it would take me more than a year to sleep with all of them. Then there's the fact that they'd probably war over each other for my affection, start killing each other, and so on. You're right, a harem isn't a good idea. I'll just take on a god as my wife."

Tyler and Ryan's father sighed, and Ryan sensed Kacy realizing just what kind of man she was 'going' to marry. He had no intention of actually marrying her. He might impregnate her, create more Blessed Ones as he planned on doing with Kayla, but he was a god. Mortal lives would be fleeting things to him. Why marry someone he could outlive?

"Okay," Kacy said. "As I was saying, my father believes in the prophecy – the Silver Oracle had never been wrong before, so it's unlikely she was wrong with this. If Raxvar is not allied with the Families when the Third Age of Magic comes to an end and your reign begins, it will be forced into war with the Families as the Families begin to take over the world under you. Joining into the Families is the only logical choice if we wish to preserve it."

"Then why the assassin?" Ryan asked. "Or the person who wishes to take Tyler into the Guild?"

He sensed the confusion in her mind at that news.

"Or the people here, working with Raxvar."

Surprise filled her mind, the kind which told Ryan she was unaware of that issue as well.

"That's not authorized," she told him. "I've been dealing with the Guild's inner dealings since I was eleven. If any of that was authorized – and it would need to go through the executives and my father to be – I'd know about it. My father is a firm believer of the Silver Oracle's prophecy, which explicitly states there is no way to stop your reign from occurring – that death itself will not prevent it, as strange as that sounds."

It would sound strange, Ryan knew. After all, ordinary people like her and her family would not know that Ryan was a god, and that as long as he was on Earth, death would only mean resetting back to a certain point in time.

"Any attempt on my life," Ryan told her. "Is bound to fail. I am far more knowledgeable and talented than I have let on. Even Father and Tyler do not know the full extent of my abilities. If you stay here long enough, however, you will hear whispers of a certain event. An event where I killed a monster in the Heisar without any sight to go by, my spell directly inside of the beast rather than projected from me. That is only a small bit of what I can really do."

He felt Kacy's mix of emotions as she tried to figure out if he was exaggerating or serious, and Ryan let the moments pass. His father and servant waited as well, both seeming to wish to see her reaction by what he could tell of their minds.

"I see," Kacy finally said. "I can contact Father and have him investigate the events, if you give me more information."

"I can do that," Ryan smiled. "So even though we aren't supposed to marry until summer, you came here to sleep with me?"

"As little as I wanted to," she sighed. "Father told me that yours had contacted him saying that you seemed to be quite horny and wanting to sleep with someone. I only agreed to the marriage because it meant protecting the Guild."

"Even if joining the Novars might destroy the Guild?"

"From the inside?" She asked, and he nodded. "There's always that possibility. We'll likely lose a few branches, but the executives and my father are on-board with the move, so the majority of the Guild will go with it."

"Okay," Ryan said. "Father, how come you never told me you were planning on having me marry someone? Especially as it being the heiress of the most powerful Guild could cause issues for our Family?"

"The Veloas," his father said. "Are already aware of this. At least, those who matter. We might lose a few branches from this, a few allies, but we are gaining far more. A necessary sacrifice. As for you marrying her, it was not just a political move, but a move to find someone whom you might actually find pleasure with. Finding someone who would marry you is not an easy thing, Ryan. You are aware just how much many want to see us end because of your blindness. By refusing to grant you a possibility of an heir, they hope to close that door."

"While Raxvar Corporation," Ryan said. "Knows that I will rule the world, no matter what they do."

"Exactly," Kacy said. "And we'd rather preserve ourselves, even if it means lowering ourselves to marrying into a Family."

"What would you have done," Ryan said. "Had I refuse to marry her, Father?"

"First," his father responded. "I would ask you why."

"Because Kayla Veloas," Ryan said. "Is a chronomancer, like me. I wanna make a powerful little chrono-baby."

"Please don't ever say that again!" His father's exasperation was clear in both voice and mind as his servant groaned and Kacy's mind filled with confusion. "I know you already told me about her, Ryan, but you are aware that you just told Kacy both about her and you?"

"Yes," Ryan said. "If she's to sleep with me, she should at least know that I can play with time. So let's say that, in my final run of events, I refuse to marry her. What will you do?"

"Final run of events?" Kacy asked.

"Novars are talking, hush."

"Be nice," his father said as Ryan sensed agitation in Kacy's mind. "I would say that I would marry her in your place if you refused to marry her. I want you to be happy and would never force you into a marriage you didn't want. I'd expected you to be happy marrying her due to her both being powerful and coming from a powerful family, even if not a Family."

"Except that you can't marry her in my place," Ryan stuck his tongue out.

"Correct," his father said. "Since you're going to prevent your mother's death. That means I will be a different person in your final run than I am now, Ryan. I cannot say how things will turn out differently. No one can, no matter how many times you play out events. A single change can completely alter everything."

"Saving your mother?" Kacy asked. "Time travel doesn't affect the past, anyone who travels to the past plays out incidents that have already occurred. This is a fact known to anyone who has researched time magics."

"Maybe," Ryan said. "They aren't researching the right time magics. I have a spell which allows me to reset to a previous point in time. My soul and magic are moved back to that point, and everything which occurred after it is erased. The point I reset to becomes the present, rather than being the past. This is the time magic used to actually change the past."

"Are you sure you should have told her?" His father asked.

"Why not?" Ryan asked. "I can just place a geas on her to prevent her from revealing it to anyone. I'm sure you've already scanned her mind to make sure everything's clean."

His father sighed, and Ryan gave a small smile at that.

"So, Kacy," Ryan said. "Want to head to my room? I'm sure you're glad I'm at least not ugly, even if my servant is more attractive than me."

He sensed the blood rushing to her cheeks as his servant became uncomfortable, his father amused, and his supposed future wife embarrassed.

"Don't worry," Ryan stood. "I'm used to women thinking he's more attractive than me. It's annoying, but it's apparently a fact of life."

Ryan sensed her apprehension, then the decision to sleep with him then. She stood, and Ryan bid his father a good evening, then left with Kacy.

"It bothers you, doesn't it?" He asked as they walked towards his room, her arm linked in his. "Being betrothed to a blind man?"

"A little," she admitted. "I'm more annoyed by being married into a Family. That time spell… is that really something you can do?"

"Yes," he answered. "And I've already placed a geas in your mind."

"You did?" She asked, and he could sense her confusion. "When?"

"The moment our hands touched," he answered. "I'm quite adept at mind magics when there's physical contact involved."

"If you're only going to reset time," she said. "Then this is just to get you off, isn't it?"

"It is," he answered, and felt her start too pull away. He kept a firm grip on her arm. "Even knowing this is going to never happen again, Kacy, do you really want to stop? Enjoy the time you have right now. Treat it as if this is the actual line of events. I know you have a hard time comprehending it, after all."

She sighed as she stopped attempting to pull him away.

"Besides," he said. "Who knows? Maybe I'll take you on as a wife in my final run. How you are now could affect that, and since I'm ruling the world in the future, well, I can have as many wives as I want, can't I?"

"I don't think I like you," she told him, and he sensed the complete honesty in that statement.

"You don't have to like me," he said as they reached his room. "You just have to not displease me."

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"You heard me," he said as they entered his room. "In the final run of things, I will put together all knowledge I have. Whether Raxvar Corporation exists or not when I take over the world currently hinges on several things. Why someone wants to kill me, why someone wants to steal my servant, why someone is stealing my slaves, and how its heir acts. Our relationship is not of lovers, Kacy. It's to help determine Raxvar's state in my final run. If I decide its heir is someone I cannot get along with or that the company is better off destroyed, it will not exist after I take over the world."

"You can't-"

"I can do whatever I want," he told her. "Your family decided to get into bed with a Family, Kacy. We aren't heroes. We'd be more of villains or anti-heroes. So keep that in mind."

Ryan walked towards his bed, undressing as he went.

"Trust me," Ryan told her. "You might be resistant to sleeping with me, but we don't have to treat each other as lovers."

"So I'm just your bitch, then?" She asked.

"No," he smiled, turning to face her after stripping off his underwear, leaving him naked. "I always make sure that the person I'm sleeping with gets off as well. If you were my bitch, I wouldn't do that. You are a person, after all."

She folded her arms across her chest, and he could feel her annoyance.

"You're an asshole," she told him as he sat on his bed, letting her see him in all his naked glory. "You are really threatening Raxvar Corporation over if I sleep with you or not? I'd rather die than sleep with someone like that."

"No," he grinned. "Actually, whether or not Raxvar Corporation is destroyed depends on the other answers: why I'm targeted for assassination, why Tyler is targeted for conversion, and why they are having the Novarax stage an attack. Honestly, I couldn't actually care less about whether or not you slept with me, Kacy. I've never forced someone to before, and I'm not going to start now."

"But you-"

"You're a Raxvar!" He laughed as he stood again. "I couldn't resist screwing with you. If you don't want to sleep with me, don't sleep with me. Oh, but could you put my clothes in the hamper? It's in the closet. I'm actually going to go to the bathroom. If you'd rather sleep with Tyler, go ahead and return to them and tell Father and Tyler that."

"What?" She asked in confusion.

"If only you could sense the mixture of emotions in your mind right now," Ryan chuckled as he walked towards the bathroom. "You'd probably be as amused as me. I'm a Family Heir, Kacy, not a rapist. Forcing you to sleep with me so I don't destroy your company is essentially raping you."

He stopped at the door to the bathroom, then turned to face her.

"This is where someone would probably say 'sorry'," he told her. "But I'm not, really. Do you know how difficult it is to enjoy myself here? There's not as many staff members to screw with, and then I have to deal with the annoying Novarax. I couldn't resist this."

"You have a twisted sense of humor," she told him, anger clear in her voice as he sensed her heating up.

"Maybe," he shrugged. "Anyway, I really have to pee."

Ryan hurried into his bathroom.