Van read the book handed to him by Ren as he walked the busy streets of his castle town. Learning a few interesting things he really wanted to try out. “Hmm… alright… let’s try this…” With some concentration, Van used his connection with his soul realm to change the perception of his eyes, allowing him to see what was actually the truth all along.

“Woah…” Van thought as he saw what his soul realm actually looked like for the first time. It was far different than he was expecting. For one, everything seemed see-through except for those who had actual tangible bodies. Looking around, he saw that his soul realm was actually made up of a bunch of spiritual power, and only about ten percent of it had any real form.

“It’s like an illusory world…” looking around in awe. A fairy passed by and he saw her body, but also as an orb of light. As time went on and he watched her, he saw her interact with others, and when she laughed with her friends, she produced some motes of sparkles that his soul realm absorbed.

“So emotions have an effect on how much spiritual energy is produced… interesting…” looking at the fairy for a few moments longer before moving. He then saw an insect-kin flying about, with a strange thread attached to her, it traveled all the way to Lyn’s tree. Every so often, a pulse of energy would flow from her down the line and then flow back into her. She seemed completely unaware of this though.

“Is that the connection she has to Lyn?” He then looked down at himself and saw many threads as well. But most of them seemed to flow through him and not actually come from him. Following their source, it led back to his castle. “That makes sense I suppose… the core of my soul is there…” He then followed the threads to Lyn, Anna, Luna, and even to the islands that have yet to merge with his own.

“Hmm… I wonder…” Van thought, then reached out for Luna’s thread. He knew it was hers because all those he soul bonded with had thicker and more energetic threads, and it just felt like her. But when he reached out for it, his hand simply phased right through it, surprising him.

He tried again, thinking he simply missed it. But again it phased right through the thread. He then changed tack. Focusing, he used what control over his spiritual energy he had and tried again, this time it seemed to work, and almost immediately he felt the connection. It then dawned on him that he didn’t need to do this, as he felt Luna in the back of his mind, he could always sense and know and sometimes feel her, so trying so hard to do what he already could was a bit redundant, so he stopped.

But at least he had a better understanding of things. “So these threads are the spiritual representation of my connection with those I’ve bonded with or formed a blood bond with. I wonder…” looking at one of the insect-kin he knew to be Lyn’s he concentrated on her.

Soon, he felt her like he did Luna, right now she was in a council with her trusted advisers and of course everyone else, such as Amie and Xenith. Gloria was staying behind at Zartashia’s place to help organize things and show camaraderie during these trying times.

Concentrating, he focused on past Lyn, and down the line, then further down, and then even further down, going through each individual down the chain until it finally found the insect-kin flying in front of him looking at some groceries.

His eyes widened as it felt like he was seeing her in third person, and he felt her, her feelings, her emotions… right now she was feeling hungry, but in the back of her mind, she was worried about what the future might entail. Worried about family and friends, and the work she had to do once her day off was over. She was feeling a little lost because of how much everything changed, and couldn’t help the feeling that she was being… watched…

Van cut the connection… he felt more than knew, that if he wanted to, he could speak into her mind, so long as she was in his soul realm… “what a weird feeling… I should be careful of how I use it…”

He then went back to reading the book, finding a bench somewhere, and sitting down to do so in comfort. As he did so, a few fairies and insect-kin seemed to take notice of him, talking about him and wondering if he was that prostitute from the brothel out on a stroll. He did his best to ignore them, not faulting them on their confusion since technically he and his mirror self looked eerily similar.

“Hmm? Wait… I know this part…” Van thought as he continued reading. It was an explanation of how he could influence his soul realm directly. He knew about it because he used it to help grow the trees in Lyn’s forest faster. Wondering if he still could do it, he focused on the bench he was sitting down on and tried to change it into something more comfortable.

And with some success, cushions formed on the bench and it took on a similar feel of the armchair he slept in at Zartashia’s place. But now because of that, even more eyes were on him, and he decided to quickly change it back and move somewhere else.

Moving down the street, he became somewhat lost until he saw the brothel where his double was. Using the opportunity, he linked with his double to check up on how he was doing. And then promptly wished he didn’t as he was in the middle of skewering a fairy begging him to go harder.

The mirror him though, noticed his presence, and gave a simple rundown of everything that has happened so far and to not worry about him as he was a bit too busy at the moment.

Van nodded his head, though his double could not see, and promptly decided to move somewhere else. Now though, he was wondering how things at the large temple were going and how Anna was doing. Making his way there, he was surprised to see a few more fairies and insect-kin also here. Though they looked more like tourists than actual pilgrims or anyone looking to be converted.

Ethier way, when he entered, he saw the priestess Anna giving a sermon about equality and order and how Van saw all those under him as equals, preaching the faith as it were and what few tenets they had so far. Much to the embarrassment of Van, he decided to wait and watched until she was finished to see what all this was about and to hear what was spoken of him.

By the time she was finished, he was surprised to see how many people seemed inclined to listen and who were genuinely praying to the symbol of his power. “Perhaps during these times, a message of order and equality for all species falls on more ears than in times of peace?” noticing a fairy and a wasp-kin praying together. “Perhaps they also just want an excuse to stop hating and killing each other? Or perhaps it’s something else…”

Van wasn’t entirely sure… but now that Anna was done, he walked around the edges of the temple to the other side in the hopes of talking to her for a bit. Making sure to use his connection to tell her ahead of time that he was coming and did not want to make a scene. Anna mentally confirmed she got the message, and excused herself, moving towards a door that led to the back of the temple, with a feeling that he should follow.

Doing his best not to get caught in the eyes of any of the faithful praying, he snuck through the door left open for him and closed it behind. “That was an interesting sermon there, Anna. I feel very flattered… and embarrassed… I think you might have gone a little too far…” Van admonished.

Anna smiled, her priestess clothes swaying with her walk until she was hugging him. “I didn’t say anything that was untrue though…” she snuggled against him and sighed in contentment, missing being together with him. “I’ve been so busy, that me and my other me’s didn’t have the chance to be with you… sorry, we couldn’t be of more help… I missed you…”

“Don’t say that,” Van replied, hugging her back. “You are always doing everything you can to help me… and I missed you too…”

They then parted, looking each in the eyes, and then came together for a soft gentle kiss.

--- sex scene ---

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--- end of sex scene ---

“Phew… sorry about that… it’s just been so long since we did it that I kinda lost control over myself for a second there…” Van said, somewhat apologetically.

“Mmm… don’t say that…” Anna said, still on her back, and just enjoying the afterglow. “Trust me… I enjoyed every second of it…”

“Im… sure you did…” Van said, now somewhat embarrassed now that he calmed down and was able to think straight again.

“Hey Van…” Anna said, looking up at him.

“Yes Anna?”

“Next time do me in my priest clothes…”

“...okay…” Was all Van could reply, with a slight blush on his face and now the idea of doing Anna in her priest clothes stuck in his head.

Slowly, Anna got up and started walking around, taking a nearby pitcher and glass, drinking down some nice clear water. She turned to him with a smile, noticing his curious gaze. “Sometimes my throat gets a little sore after all the sermons I give,” she explained. “Though after what you did to me, I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that for a while…” giving him a wink.

“Umm… ya…” Van said, a little embarrassed, he then started to put on his clothes, using a cleaning cantrip spell first before doing so. Anna for her part seemed more than content to wear what Van put on her for a little while longer, and simply enjoyed watching him put his pants and shirt back on.

“So…” she finally said, after he was finished. “Why did you decide to visit? I know it wasn’t just because you wanted to check up on me.”

Van felt a little bad about that, but by the look on Anna’s face, she didn’t seem to care at all about the reason why he came or not. So he decided to just tell her the truth.

“I’ve been reading a book about how to use my soul realm more effectively, and after a while, I kinda just wanted to check up on you and ask you how this whole… religion thing… was going…” He replied.

Anna chuckled. “Well… the whole religion thing… is actually going very well, you have quite a few more followers than last time.” looking rather proud of that.

“Which is why I came...” Van said. “I was wondering if I needed to make any new tenets, or choose any new domains, or you know… whatever else I have to do to help you… I also wanted to check out the threads that connected me to my… followers… and see if they are any different than the threads that connected you to me.”

“Threads?” Anna asked, tilting her head. “Ah… I think I know what you're talking about…” she said with a nod. “Sorry… at the moment we are still too small for you to take any course of action.” looking at him sadly. “We are growing fast though!” now smiling widely, as if that was some sort of consolation prize.

“Well… that’s good I guess,” Van said, still unsure of what to make of all the religion stuff.

“Oh! I know! Why don’t you stay around and I’ll show you a few things and maybe together we can figure out your thread stuff!” Anna smiled hopefully.

“Umm…” Van thought about it. “You know what? Sure… why not.” shrugging his shoulders. Feeling like it wouldn’t be a bad thing to know more about ‘his’ religion.

“Great! I’ll show you around!” taking him by the arm. Not even bothering to clean up or put on her clothes.

Van did his best to ignore that, chalking it up to a woman's peculiarity, and was just thankful it was her clean side. “Well… I might as well…” He said as he was dragged along.