Throughout the remainder of their evening in the world of Thalmyra, Fleur found it impossible to pull herself away from Aaric.
She clung to him as they explored the vast, shimmering oceans of the planet, her touch constant and affectionate. Aaric did not complain as he enjoyed the proximity, treating her as if she were the only person in the universe during their long date.
Aaric chuckled when a sudden ticklish sensation flared at his neck. Fleur was nibbling on his ear while she clung to his back as he moved through the water.
He checked the time and decided they should return to their own world, but first he teleported them into the divine realm of Thalmyra to bid her farewell.
"My Lord and my Lady. I hope you have had a fulfilling visit," Thalmyra said.
The goddess spoke the moment they appeared. Moon, the phoenix, stood beside her, observing the two. Fleur jolted at the sound of the melodious, echoing voice and looked ahead to see the massive whale staring back at them.
"I think fulfilling is the word for it. Your world and your people are even more beautiful than the last time we saw them," Aaric answered.
Fleur climbed down from his back with a red face. She stood at his side, but she reached behind him to pinch his backside as hard as she could for teleporting her in front of the goddess without any warning.
"Thank you, My Lord. It is the blessing of you and my ladies that has made this possible," Thalmyra replied.
"W-well, it was nice to spend time here," Fleur said in a small voice.
Her cheeks were bright red as she increased the force of her pinch to its maximum. They bid a final farewell to Thalmyra and teleported back to the room of Aaric while Moon returned to the family home of Fleur.
Aaric spent several minutes dodging her playful attempts to bite and pinch him in retaliation. Finally, he caught her and threw her onto the bed, pinning her hands above her head.
"You know I can start biting too," he said mischievously.
He leaned down and began to nibble on her neck while she pouted beneath him.
"L-leave me alone," Fleur said.
Her squirming and the soft moans escaping her lips told a very different story. Aaric leaned back and looked into her eyes with a teasing smile and a raised eyebrow.
"Should I?" he asked.
Fleur responded with a nod, but she immediately contradicted herself by wrapping her legs around his back to pull him closer.
Aaric smirked and leaned down again. The soft moans of a Veela filled the room for hours. Luna and Daphne joined them an hour later, and the three distinct feminine moans echoed through the room until midnight.
Eventually, the group drifted off. This time, Luna and Aaric opted not to go to the Dreamlands. Instead, they spent their night in the realm of dreams itself, drifting through the subconscious dreams of mortals and gods alike.
They soared through bizarre dreams and vivid nightmares together. Luna moved in her six winged form until she spotted a shining white portal calling to her as if it were waiting to be found. She took Aaric's and gestured toward the shimmering vortex. He nodded and followed her lead as they moved into the light.
This was not a standard dream. It was an echo in the Dreaming. This phenomenon was essentially the preserved memory of a god that had experienced a great impact on reality.
When such a god died, their most powerful memories were sometimes preserved within the fabric of the Dreaming.
As they entered the echo, they witnessed the formation of an entire universe. They saw the expansion of a dense, extremely hot mass. There was no explosion, only a sudden release of heat and energy as free protons and electrons began to swirl.
Aaric held Luna from behind as they watched the universe expand into a white hot fog. Over thousands of years, the environment cooled, allowing electrons and protons to combine into hydrogen. The fog became transparent.
Although the processes in front of them took hundreds of thousands of years, they observed them at a rapid pace.
They watched the cosmic dark age before gravity pulled matter into dense regions, forming the very first stars. Those stars ended in massive supernovae that enriched space with the metals essential for the formation of planets.
Luna and Aaric admired the view in each other's arms. They observed the formation of billions of stars that grouped into the first galaxies.
These galaxies merged and evolved, forming the first quasars. After billions of years of prelude, protoplanetary disks formed real planets that revolved around stars, ready to nurture life.
On one of these planets, a divine source formed spontaneously. It shimmered with power and gave birth to the first god.
"There were no worshipers to form this god," Luna commented with a tilt of her head.
"This universe must have been formed by a god of the Dreamlands. They must have caused this," Aaric answered.
He traced slow circles on her belly with his fingers as they watched.
The god was a completely white figure with two hands and two legs like a human, but it possessed no other features. He had no name, for there was no one else to call him by one.
The nameless god began to seed life on the world where he was born. He took the earth and water to form rocks and trees.
He created a god of rocks, a god of trees, a god of shrubs, and a god of rivers from his own essence. He filled them with his love and gave them a home in his realm.
He had made his kin and he loved them, yet he was still alone. The god of rocks simply stood there and weathered the rain. The god of rivers flowed and cooled him on hot days, but they could not talk.
The god of trees gave him shade and fruit, but he remained silent. In his infinite loneliness, the nameless god spent a thousand years looking at the sun and searching for answers.
Then, like the rays of the sun, he scattered himself into the world he had created. His open palm formed a haven for the gods he had loved and named. His closed fist formed a realm of fire and punishment, hell.
His legs formed the twin energies of the world that would later give rise to spirits and demons based on the ideas of mortals.
The god of trees wept because he felt responsible for the death of the nameless god. His tears birthed his own children who were short with nut brown skin, large ears, and glowing golden eyes.
They called themselves those who sing the song of earth, though they were later known as the Children of the Forest.
The god of rocks wept and considered himself responsible. His tears birthed his children, Large and strong and sturdy.
They called themselves the rockborn, later known as the giants.
The god of rivers wept, and his tears birthed the beings of the water. These came in all shapes and sizes but lacked high intelligence, and they were later called fishes.
The world developed and prospered until it was eventually invaded by other gods. The god of fire arrived, with him the seven gods, the goddess of poisonous tears, the dead god of the sea, and the gods of dragons.
They could not sway the Children or the giants to their worship, so they created their own children.
They made humans and they made the Deep Ones. With these new races came war, death, and blood.
The invading gods built their castle in the haven and chained the old gods in the north, ruling through betrayal and killing.