The elevator opens, in front of me stands two Maidens. Their skirts cropped short, and they both spoke at the same time.
"Welcome MS. Maya, We will take you to your father."
Simultaneously, their hands closed around mine, leading me through the once-golden hall now bathed in dim light and echoing with the aftermath of the explosion.
As we navigated the trembling ground, we finally reached the throne room where my father was seated on his throne, he was engrossed in directing troops by the means of a tablet. His gaze lifted to meet mine, registering my unexpected presence.
"Maya, you're safe. We can finally leave this planet," he exclaimed looking at me with a serious expression.
"Father, what's going on? Why is the cloud kingdom attacking us?" I asked my father
"I- don't know…" We then heard a feminine voice from the right dark corner of the room,
"You know what you did."
The woman steps out of the shadows, revealing that she is a cloud general with the mask she wore, with a silver and gold symbol engraved on to it. My father calls for the golems to protect the throne room but, no response, the general speaks. "Ha-ha I already dealt with those sad, weak, things."
She immediately rushes over to my position and jumps in the air coming down with a kick, I managed to block it. Despite the woman's skinny physique, her kick had a ton of weight bruising my arms. The woman jumped back as flying swords shot toward her, but when she jumped back, I noticed three floating orbs around me.
The orbs then ignited, *SPRING… THOOM!* exploding, sending me flying towards the wall breaking it. Laying in the ruble, I try to get back up, but I lose consciousness. My father gets up from his throne with more flying swords and spears floating around him. He levitates into the air with his arms crossed and says "אני הולך להרוג אותך" (I'm going to kill you,)
Waking up I found myself in a white room, naked, with nothing but a blanket. "How I get here?" I questioned.
For the next week or two I'm served the same white rice and water.
Out in the universe, people don't really need to eat unless you are away from your home world, so I found it kind of odd that they were serving food. At some point, I tried using my powers, but they wouldn't activate.
One day, a young girl was thrown into my jail cell.
"Now you stay in there you little bitch." The guard's voice shoots through the cold steel walls as he roughly shoves the young girl into my cell.
Her hair is a striking shade of dark purple, cropped close to her head, contrasting vividly against her deep complexion. Strange black ooze swirls and shifts on her skin, its movements unpredictable and even unsettling. The door closes on her. It then returns to a blank white wall. Like it was before. "Hey, I'm Maya. Wanna help me get out of here." I asked while lightly grabbing her shoulder. The black ooze on her body then turns into a giant fist, sending me flying the opposite direction.
"God damn." I exclaimed while lying on the wall that I was punched to. The young girl then rushes towards me.
"I am so sorry." she panicked while helping me up.
"It's alright, I didn't mean to startle ya." I said taking her hand
"Again sorry," the young girl continued to apologize
"It's ok, what's your name?" I asked while walking to my bed to sit.
"Griffin,"
"Nice to meet you, Griffin. I'm Maya, Maya Dreamer. Let's be friends" I said with a smile "sure" Griffin says smiling revealing a gap in between her front teeth.
"So how did you end up here?" I asked Griffin curiously.
"I don't know," Griffin responded, sitting down next to me.
"You really don't know?" I asked, trying to find something to get us out of here.
Griffin spoke, "I remember being in a hydro chamber in a lab, but that's it."
"Damn, I guess we're stuck until someone comes to save us." I said disappointingly, "Well anything you like to do, to pass the time?" I asked,
"Have thought you about power play" Griffin suggests,
"What's that?" I asked,
"It's a power strengthening technique that a lot of kids use in schools on the heavy military planets. You focus your energy into your hands and try to make different shapes under universal gravity."
"What's universal gravity?" I asked,
"It's the thing that won't let you use your power in this room. It's an energy that's been floating around the universe since the beginning. It has a property that suppresses the energy that flows through your body and into the planet's core. That's why they supply food," Griffin answered.
She then puts her hand out in front of her creating a small ball of purple lighting. She puts it into the palm of her hand. It then turns into the black ooze that's around her body; the ooze transforms into a silver statue of me.
"Wow, that's cool," I say as I study the statue.
"Now you try it"
Griffins suggests. I put my hands out, creating a small blue bolt of lightning
"That's right now. Condense it into a liquid." Griffin says excitedly. I put my right hand on top of the blue lighting ball, and my left hand under.
"Yep, that's right" Griffin edges me on, the lighting sparks but it starts to feel tiring, and the lighting goes out.
"Damn, you almost had it," Griffin says disappointingly
"I tried, I guess," I said, feeling extremely fatigued
"Well, I'm sure you will get it next time, Maya. How about we get some sleep? I'm sure you're tired?" Griffin suggested
"Yeah." getting under the white sheet laying down Griffin turns off the light by pressing a green button on the wall and gets under the sheet next to me.
For the next couple of months Griffin has been teaching me how to grow my power. Once a small flicker of lighting is now a tiny little star that lights up the room at night.
"Nice Maya, at this rate you will be strong enough to get us out of here." Griffin praises me
"Thanks, but I don't have as much control as you do, Griffin. By the way, why does that stuff move around your body?" I asked,
"Well, it is just the nature of my passive ability," Griffin says, (Passive abilities are gained at birth depending on your race or ethnicity.)
"That's strange, what race of human are you?" I asked
"I don't know, can we change the subject."
Griffin responded, looking a bit uncomfortable. I guess she doesn't like talking about her race. I quickly changed the subject.
"What are your plans when you get out of here?" I asked, Griffin paused thinking to herself, she looked up at me as she responded.
"I wanna make a family."
"Really? That's it?" I asked
"Yeah, as long as I can remember, I've been alone. How about you, Mai? What's your plan?"
"Hmm, maybe head home and try to rebuild my empire."
I responded "Wait, don't tell me your princess Maya" Griffin asked, "yep in the flesh,"
I said while sitting down with my arms crossed and a smug look on my face. Griffin sat in front of me with her legs crossed. "Wow you're like the fifth strongest person on the planet, how'd you end up here?"
Griffin asked, "Long story short my empire was destroyed by the cloud kingdom."
"Damn, sorry for bringing up something painful," Griffin apologized.
"It's fine, you did nothing wrong."
Later that night I dreamed of Meggy. Meggy stood on a hill with one arm. She looked pale as a ghost. Her voice was bitter with regret.
"Why didn't you return the feelings I had for you? Maya, I loved you. I died for you!"
"I-I love you too. I didn't want this to happen!"
As I say those words, the ground cracks beneath me. Meggy looks down at me and jumps down from the hill, and I drop to my knees
"I'm sorry…" I said as she walked closer to me. She crouched down in front of me, she grabbed my face with her hand and kisses me for what felt like a minute, Meggy then grabs me by my shirt collar aggressively,
"If you really had loved me, you would have saved me…"
Meggy says with tears in her eyes, in guilt I sob, "I'm sorry…!"
"Sorry not enough." Meggy's anger then turns into sorrow as she throws me into one of the cracks in the ground and I fall into the abyss… Tears slipped silently down my cheeks as I lay in the dark room.
Griffin noticing the tears embraced me, comforting me through the night then, a sudden jolt shattered the stillness. Alarms blared into the night, ripping through the quiet night. Griffin's eyes snapped open, her body tensing instinctively as she scanned the room for any sign of danger.
"What's going on? Why is the room flashing red?" Griffin asked herself.
She shakes my body attempting to wake me up to no avail. She then hears a loud crashing sound as a large cavity appears in the wall from the right side of the room, opposite from where me and Griffin were sleeping. Two women appeared with large wings with halos over their heads. A delicate golden tiara adorned her brow, catching the light and casting a soft halo around her head. Her flawless complexion radiated a pearlescent glow, accentuating her petite nose and modestly proportioned bosom, she was no other than Nike goddess of victory. And then there was Isis, the god of the moon she wore a tank top and some hot pants along with the most famous brand shoes call star brand, she has huge breast and butt her skin was a gold light skin she had curly hair and gold eyes, and a visible birthmark on the inside of her thigh.
"We are here looking for a woman called Maya. Do you know of her small child?"
Nike asked Griffin "what's it to ya?" Said Griffin while hiding my body underneath the sheets
"We have special business with her."
"What kind of business?"
"We don't have time for your bullshit. Do you know or not?" Isis yells at Griffin. I wake up to the sound of Isis's voice.
"Is that Isis I hear?" I said while still being half asleep "There's the bitch"
Isis said while pointing towards my directions. "Oh, it is Lyssis," I said, while frowning at her. Isis flinched towards me like she was about to attack me, but she stopped herself.
"You know what, I'm better than this," Isis said while walking back through the cavity in the wall.
"Yeah, you better walk away, you big titie cow," I yelled with a sly smile on my face. "You little-" Nike cut in with her arms crossed.
"Isis, this is not what we came here to do. You signed up for arc angel program, right MS Dreamer"
"Yep," I responded as I lifted my body up and was now sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Well, you're not a part of it anymore."
"What, why!?"
"You have been chosen for the goddess ritual."
"Goddess wha-? "
"You've become a candidate to become God of this realm. You have to challenge the three thrones of the gods."
After God created the universe and killed Adam, Spirit and God vanished, as the warriors of black came into being and created the God ritual. Allowing hand picked candidates to hold the thrones of lament, Spirit and God, until their eventual return to the universe.
the current holders are Dierdre (The Cube) the current supreme and Lucifer of destruction and Faith of clarity and creation.
"Wait, who chose me to do this?"
"The warriors of black the guardians that watch over the realm."
"Do I have a choice in this matter?"
"No" Isis comes behind Nike with a black box in her hands. "Open it"
The box has the eye of God on it. It's a diamond shape with a vertical line in the center, representing an eye. The eye is gold-plated. I hesitantly open the box to find a black steel ring.
"What's this?" I asked,
"It's your initiation into the ritual. Just put it on."
Griffin cuts in. "How do we know we can trust you?"
"It's alright Griffin they are telling the truth"
I respond as I slip the ring through my middle finger at the same time flicking off Isis, Isis frowns at. The ring glows and tightens around my finger.
"Alright, the job's done. Let's head out Isis"
Nike says before leaving through the ceiling along with Isis, "Well that's one way to get out of here, do you agree griffin"
"Yep, but how do we get past the guards?"
"Fusion," I suggested boldly
"Yeah, you're out of mind."
"Come on, it will be fun"
"Yeah, you know only married couples do this, right? Not that I mind being married by you, bu-"
"No one has to know." I put out my hand for her to take as I stand up.
"Fine, you crazy woman"
Griffin takes my hand. The moons shine through the hole in the ceiling.
Fusion is a practice equivalent to sex. That's why warriors typically don't do it, even at the brink of death. Me and Griffin embraced each other, letting out a blue aura in the room. I rub the back of Griffin's hair, realizing how soft it is.
"You, ready?" Griffin asked, with her head pressed against my chest.
"Yeah, I'm ready"
The dark substance surrounding her dissipated, revealing her figure as the room's walls crumbled. Empowered by the destruction, my hair transformed into a deep black hue mirroring the expanse of the universe. My skin darkened to a shade darker than the night sky, while my eyes shimmered with a white light. Specks of freckles on my face and body emitted a star-like glow. A crystal at the tip of my tail radiated a brilliant blue light before a dazzling fusion between myself and Griffin transpired.
In this merged form, we towered at seven feet tall, our complexion luminous with freckles on our faces and limbs. Our ebony hair glistened with golden reflections under any light. Possessing four arms each, our eyes unveiled mesmerizing rainbow irises marked with cross-shaped pupils. To clothe ourselves, we repurposed the sheet's cover into an elegant white dress.
Bellatrix
"So, what do we call ourselves? hmm… Bellatrix, yeah, that would be great! Now then let's get out of here."
The light alerted every guard to my cell block. I flew in the air a rainbow halo hovered above our head. I flew west for two hours and crash-landed in a forest. Too tired, I fell asleep on the ground without making a shelter.
Voices awoke us.
"Master, master wake up"
I woke up to find two women, one a half succubus and half elemental.
Elemental is a race that can only use magic from water, fire, and earth. She also has vitiligo. Her hairstyle features two puff balls, and she wears a white T-shirt with "I love you" printed in black. She completes her outfit with blue jeans and sports shoes.
The other girl is a Calist, a race that naturally uses Telekinesis. She wears a long cloth tied with gold belts down the center of her body and carries an Ankh staff. Her traditional Egyptian-inspired bob haircut frames her pure white skin. Although she has no feet or hands, she can still move around with ease on stubs.
"Looks like the master's been getting freaky," the elemental said chuckling.
"You have no right to judge." The Calist said while pressing her staff against the ground. I I rubbed our eyes so I could get a clear view of the faces,
"Who are you?"
I asked, still half asleep. "I'm Heba, a pleasure to meet you master and this is Hamartia" the Calist answered while bowing.
"I can introduce myself, thank you."
Hamartia said while standing off to the side, "Why are you calling me master?" I said while getting off the ground and dusting myself off.
"Since you were chosen for the ritual, we've been assigned to help you on your journey, to become god," Hamartia said.
"Oh, ok did you have a choice? You don't look too happy to be here."
"Yeah, we did, I just don't like Heba"
"What I do to you!" Hebe asked
"Called me a hoe"
"Well, that's because you are one"
"Fucking racist, I'm only half succubus, you half toothpick bitch"
"You take that back, you dumb ass."
"Make me."
Hamartia raises her right hand at Heba as a giant stone pillar about five feet in length is conjured above herself, as a purple magic circle appears underneath her feet glowing. She aimed the pillar at Heba as its shape transformed into a rook off a chessboard. "Hey, how about we calm down?" I cut in before anything got violent. By this point me and griffin tried to un-fuse, but we couldn't. Hamartia dropped the pillar, its fragments returning to the earth. "You know what? You're not even worth the trouble." Exclaimed Hamartia, Hebe looked over at Hamartia with a smug look. "That's what I thought," Heba whispered under her breath. Hamartia walks over towards us.
"So, what do I call you, master?" I smiled at her maturity, at how she showed restraint despite being insulted. "You can call me Bellatrix at the moment. Nice to meet you, Hamartia." We shook Hamartia's hand, and then I looked over at Heba. "Wait, I just realized, you're Egyptian. Which faction are you from?"
"The sky serpents, I serve under Queen Patra" Heba responds, looking down at the ground. "Wow, I've never met another Egyptian from another faction before. We gotta talk later." Hamartia cuts in "I'm sorry to interrupt but what's the plan Bellatrix."
"We need to get to the cloud kingdom" I responded, fixing our gaze towards the sky.
"What for?"
"To kill the cloud queen." And with that, we sat off on our journey. We walked through the forest called "Den" as confirmed by Heba. We walked north for about an hour, until we came upon a small settlement.
"Look, they got a ship," Hamartia pointed out as a spaceship flew over our heads. "Good eye. Let's see if we can buy some tickets," Heba suggested. "Let's not get hasty, the cloud kingdom might be patrolling the area." I warned, "I suppose you're right; we're going to need a disguise for you." Heba Agreed while pointing her staff towards the sky. The once silver staff turns gold. She walks over toward us, and our skin turns peach at the touch of her staff, "Now, that should be good for now. Let's head into town." Heba says while replanting her staff into the ground.
As we stroll through to town, we notice how rich it is despite its size, we would even say beautiful. The air was fresh, and the restaurants themselves made us fight the urge to go in and grab a bite. I noticed Hamartia with stars in her eyes drooling at a cafe called "utopia caffeine"
"Hey, Hamartia, you got money?" I asked,
"Yeah"
"Then go enjoy yourself, We and Heba will come to find you later after we buy some tickets,"
"Thank you mast- I mean Bellatrix,"
"You're very welcome, Hamartia."
Hamartia walked off. Me and Heba continued toward a bank to withdraw some money. The bank was small, but its structure was rich with gold and diamonds. It had diamond pillars and a gold floor. Inside stood a work desk with a woman sitting behind it. To our right there was an A.T.I.G.M, a machine that allowed us to collect money that's not supervised by big-time nations. We walked over to the machine and collected our money onto a card. "Hmm, this is going surprisingly well," Heba comments "Yeah, too well. Let's stay cautious. We don't want to let our guard down."
Soon after collecting the money, we left the bank and walked for a mile down a dirt trail. A little outside of town toward the airship flight zone, it was a nice nature walk.
"So do you come from New-Asia?" I asked as we were walking, "Yeah I was born there but then I kind of died and joined the ark angel program." Heba responded, while looking at a morpho didius butterfly fluttering next to her.
"I see. So how long are you gonna be working until you're free?"
"I plan to work for the rest of existence."
"Why?"
"I was not the best person in life. I was selfish. I should be in hell right now."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. May I ask why."
"Don't feel sorry. I'm just a healer looking for redemption that will never come. About a thousand years ago, maybe more, I served the first Pharaoh. Ra. Back when earth was still livable. We starved the planet's core, collecting its energy and not giving it back. We were foolish, blinded by greed. One day a woman the spitting image of you now that I think about it, warned us what would happen if we sucked the planet's core dry… We should have listened. During the start of the great war, we needed the earth's core energy to combat the darkness. That's when the core reached its breaking point. In its desperate attempt to preserve energy, it took it back by force. Any energy user would drop dead at random turning into ashes. And so, we had to evacuate the planet to the far corners of the universe, also the reason our Empire is so split up. Since then, earth's core has completely shut down. The people who still live there are oblivious to who they are." Heba, silently after telling her story, looked up at the trees.
"You know, we all make mistakes, back during the great war I murdered Mael… The true angel. Everyone praised me for it. But it felt wrong. Sometimes I try to justify it by saying. I had to save the universe.
But I still took the life of a great man. Following my mother's orders like her little puppet. but I'm trying to be better and move forward so I can be the warrior everyone needs me to be. I guess what I'm basically trying to say is that. We all make mistakes but as long as we keep moving forward, we can learn from our mistakes. We can't fix the past, but we can help others not to repeat the mistakes we have made."
"It seems you're much wiser beyond your years,"
"I get that sometimes but I'm still a kid, figuring out this world."
After a couple more ships passed by, we saw a metal fence. Following it a little more we made it, But. As we arrived, the last airship had left, leaving us disappointed. We spoke to the airline manager who was sitting in a concrete box near the entrance. And scheduled a ship for tomorrow morning. Now, we'd have to spend extra money on an inn for the night. As we rushed back to the bank area. We saw Hamartia huddled on the marble steps leading to the entrance of the bank. Her sobs echoing through the empty foyer. Without hesitation. I rushed towards her, instinctively reaching out my hand to offer comfort.
"What's wrong?" I ask while rubbing her back
"It's nothing. I'm just being a crybaby *sniffle* it's nothing, so how about the ship? Did y'all book us a flight"
"Yeah, for tomorrow. And I guess Heba went to book us an inn."
Hamartia stands up, also helping me up.
"Well, shall we go, master?"
Hamartia says, smiling and wiping the remaining tears from her face.
"Yeah." We caught up to Hebe. She was in an inn that was across the street from us; she had bought us a one bedroom-living quarter.
"Why only one bedroom?" I asked
"That's all they had. It turns out that this town is pretty popular and owned by the Cloud Kingdom. Looks like we made the right call on the disguise."
Hebe walked to the room using a card that she got from the front desk to open the door. The room was small, only consisting of a couch and a bed along with a TV on the floor and opposite from us was a patio.
"Rock, paper, scissors!"
We all said at the same time, but Hamartia and I lost, so we had to get the couch. I'm not sure why we both picked scissors knowing Hebe can only pick rock. Later that evening, we ordered food and watched TV.
"Anker's cove has been destroyed by the cloud kingdom. An estimated six-hundred-million people are dead and millions missing, including the Pharaoh. His daughter is wanted with a reward of ten trillion credits. What will come nex-" I turned off the TV. "How about we go to sleep?" I suggested "Yeah I was getting tired too." Hamartia yawned. We all went to bed. "Goodnight," we all said while closing our eyes.
I dream of my people crying out to me. "AVENGE US." They yearned clawing at me as I stood on a mountain of bodies. Illuminated by a single moon in the black sky. In front of me stands a hooded cloaked man. He looks at me and takes off his hood revealing a skull with a star illuminating his right eye. His boney hand points at me and speaks. "Don't be a martyr young dreamer. Do it for you…" He warned.
Later into the night, a man walks into the inn. "Seen a girl with freckles come in here,"
The clerk responds, "Due to our privacy policy, we cannot give that type of information, especially to a bounty hunter."
"I don't believe I was asking" The man lifts his giant cannon toward the clerk and charges it up.
"No, what? I'm not paid enough for this. Room number one, the first room in the main hall" The man walks outside our door.
"Hey someone at the door." Hamartia noticing a shadow at the foot of our door…