The Creators Ch. 07

JULIA

"...that's it, now work the—oh look, she's awake."

Lucilla's giggle touched my ears, opening my eyes to slits, revealing dawn beams that created an orange aura about my daughter. She lay between my spread legs; green eyes stared adoringly from beneath scarlet eyebrows, grinning red lips creasing her apple cheeks, hovering just above my morning glory.

"Aunt Lucilla is teaching me how to use my mouth," Diamond grinned, her tongue sliding along the bottom of my shaft. I groaned sleepily, wiping the exhaustion from eyes and smiling down at my daughter. Her grin opened wide, and she took an ambitious amount of me into her mouth. Her eyes enlarged, filled with tears, and then she pulled away, coughing and sputtering, her cheeks as flushed with embarrassment as they were with discomfort. Lucilla laughed endearingly, tousling Diamonds hair playfully as my daughter hacked the last of her failed attempt all over my crotch.

"Watch and learn, Sparkles," Lucilla said sultrily, easing herself beside my daughter, making me spread my legs wide to accommodate both women in the space between. Lucilla curled her finger around my cock, smirked at me as she brought the tip to her pink lips, and took every inch of me in one gurgling motion. Diamond's eyes went wide as she watched her adoptive aunt make my cock disappear. My head fell back against the pillow, a surrendered groan slipped from my lips, and I silently thanked the Holy Mother for slutty royalty.

"How did you do that?" Diamond whispered, her voice touched with awe, her eyes wide with it.

"I just relaxed my throat, and took it in," Lucilla explained, guiding my daughter back to my crotch, glancing up at me with a smirk in her eyes. "All it takes is practice, and we have all morning to teach you."

I laced my fingers behind my head and sighed as teacher taught student; giggles, gags and gurgles emulating from marred lips, both pink and red stringing with my precum. After ten minutes of tearful trials, my daughter's green eyes sparkled proudly up at me, her consuming lips kissing my base. She grinned as best as she could around my throbbing meat, and I moaned weakly, thrusted my hips, and arch my back. Thank you, Passion, I thought to the void as our daughter swallowed every drop of my orgasm. Thank the Holy Mother for you.

I stepped from my room and into the commons area, skin still steaming slightly from the cold shower I had made comfortably warm. Across the commons, the wall where my lightning had struck was black with fractal patterns. I didn't know how I was going to explain that to Arby, but I figured a generous amount of Lucilla's gold would satisfy his questions. I was considered a god by some, but it often seemed that no power was greater than being rich. The old dwarf wasn't behind the bar when I looked, but the sound of chopping wood alerted me to his location outside. I adjusted my blouse, pushing my breasts together to ease the apology, and stepped outside.

Nate's lean muscular back flexed as he split the final log upon the stump. He groaned, stretched broadly, and wiped the sweat from his brow. The door shut behind me, and Nate turned around. He met my narrowed eyes with a scowl, hacked phlegm, and spat it into the dirt. I felt the heat playing gleefully just beneath my flesh, burning behind my eyes, cajoling me to just... kill the little turd. My years spent in the convent served me well when fury threatened to overtake rationality, and I took three calming breaths through my nose.

"Good morning, Nate," I said. He snorted his derision, and my fingers curled into fists. Easy, Julia. Find peace in the Mother, find forgiveness within her mercy.

"Diamond told me what happened last night," I continued, keeping my voice level. He snorted again, this time adding a sneer to his response. Careful Julia, careful. Just because you're a killer now, doesn't mean you need to roast everyone you don't like.

Nate turned around, his expression telling me he didn't think I was worth the time of day. He took a deep pull from his water skin, rolled his head about his shoulders, then stepped atop the chopping stump, dropped his pants, and took a piss. I got his message loud and clear, but I couldn't help but turn his insult into an opportunity. I strolled over to him, smiling companionably as he frowned over his shoulder. I stood beside him, whipped out my cock, and pissed into his growing puddle. I whistled a whimsical tune as I heard his stream dribble out, then nonchalantly glanced to my side, and gave his manhood a headshaking smirk. My eyes rolled to his, and I saw the sweet combination of disgust, confusion and intimidation contort his face.

"I guess we can't all be blessed," I smiled, wagging my tool teasingly, "but don't feel too bad; I'm sure it's just cold this morning. Here, let me help you out."

And with that, my stream of piss turned into a torrent of molten flame, igniting the ground before us. Nate stumbled backward, falling off the stump and onto his ass, horror the only expression on his face now. I gave him a look of innocent confusion, and turned around as if to ask what was wrong, my stream of infernal urine rotating with me, nearing Nate's splayed body. He screamed, scrambled to his feet as best he could with his pants around his ankles, and hopped back to Towerhead, his bare (and admittedly well-shaped) ass jiggling behind him. I watched him go as my stream sputtered out, leaving blackened earth that smelled strongly of ammonia. I stepped away from my steaming waste, and took a deep breath of the dewy dawn air.

Across vast billowing golden fields, the violet light of dawn silhouetted the spires in the distance. Drastin stood in defiance of the rising sun, sprawling from horizon to horizon, its highways reaching outward like perpendicular arteries over the rural planes that fed it. Endless caravans traversed these arteries, bringing the lifeblood of wares and riches to the greatest metropolis in the world. Somewhere in that pulsing mass of sin and life, the Life Giver was unknowingly waiting for me. Somewhere in the canyons of those man-made mountains, was destiny.

"Good Mother, it smells like piss out here!" Arby exclaimed as he stepped beside me. I squawked and jumped, my heart thundering in my chest, the fire stoking beneath my flesh.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" I yelled.

"Oh, I'm sorry Miss Jules, I didn't mean to startle ya," he chuckled, pulling out a pipe. "I was just nursing a hangover and looking for my wayward employee. You haven't seen Nate around here, have ya?"

"No," I lied, catching my breath.

"I could've sworn I heard him chopping firewood," Arby frowned, looking at the stack of singed logs by the tree stump. I swallowed and played with my fingers, not at all enjoying the silence between us.

"I'm sorry about your wall," I said quietly. "I was drunk and careless with a candle, and well... we'll pay for the damages plus some, I can promise you that."

"I suspect Lucy will," Arby nodded, bringing the pipe to his mouth. I sighed, relieved that he didn't question me further. Instead, he patted his pockets, turning this way and that, searching his clothing for something.

"You're not a smoker, are ya, Miss Jules?" Arby asked. I shook my head, and he frowned, searching his pockets with a bit more fervency, almost a panic. He suddenly stopped, relaxing as though he'd found his tinder. He brought his empty fist to his pipe, struck his thumb into the air, and from its tip, a blue flame ignited. My jaw slackened, my heart jumped to my throat, and my hair stood on end. Arby smiled at me from green eyes, no longer centered in white, but rimmed entirely with orange, reflecting the sapphire embers of his lit pipe.

"W-w-w-w-what..." was all I managed to stammer, suddenly aware that I was burning my clothes off, my flesh alight with panic.

"Oh, I'm truly flattered at the offer," Arby laughed at my nakedness, undeterred by my fire, "but I try not to sleep with my descendants; though it appears that only makes one of us."

"W-w-w-what?!" I gasped, stepping backward, smoke rising from the ashes beneath my feet. "Arbitrus Gen?!"

"Arby will do fine for ya, Julia Gendian," the ancient Heat Bringer smiled, walking toward me. "Arbitrus seems too formal, especially for family."

I stood with mouth agape, processing the new information in a sluggish, panicked mind. Arbitrus stared expectantly back, seeming to enjoy my reaction immensely.

"Are you a Sentient?" My voice barely gaining purchase in my throat. Arbitrus laughed and gestured to his clothing and the pipe in his hand, making me feel slightly stupid, but putting me slightly at ease.

"How then?" I asked.

"Well," Arbitrus said, easing himself onto a boulder, "there's another like me that I think you might've met. Redhead? Sparkling skin? Purple and gold eyes? Pair of antlers? Looks a lot like Diamond?"

"Passion," I muttered.

"Ray Dawnbark's sister, Silvia, if I remember correctly." Arbitrus nodded, "She was a nymph matriarch, a caretaker of the woodlands, attuned to nature in ways most couldn't imagine. Ray needed a lifeforce to preserve Arbortus, and Silvia was more than happy to live in a fucking tree for eternity, so he tethered her to the great forest he'd built. I'm a fiery guy with an explosive personality, so naturally, Furok tethered me to the sun. That means I go rather comatose when the sun sets, but you need something big for tethering to work, I guess."

"Why?" I asked, the flame dimming from my flesh as the shock dwindled.

"The hell if I know," Arbitrus shrugged. "Furok said something about the cosmic energy of creation, how making new life is in line with the universe's natural entropy, but prolonging it indefinitely goes against the foundation of—"

"I mean why were you preserved?" I interrupted.

"Well," Arbitrus grunted, easing himself onto a boulder, "that's a bit of a story, if you'll indulge an old man."

Arbitrus motioned for me to sit, and I cautiously let my flame die, and perched beside him on the boulder.

"Did you know that the ancients only recognized two Creators?" Arbitrus prompted, his colloquial accent conspicuously gone. "It wasn't until Hektin discovered that heat, iron and coal make steel, that the Heat Bringer was included with the others. Even then, Hektin's great achievement, the steel city of Hektinar, was mostly the doing of the Earth Former of his time, Gratora; Hektin simply melted rocks for her. The Heat Bringer's true legacy is not what is left behind, but what is no longer there. Do you know what the ancients call the Heat Bringer?"

"The Destroyer," I whispered. Arbitrus nodded.

"The melting of Hektinar," I said quietly, "it wasn't in retaliation for Drokin's Pass, was it? The timeline doesn't make sense. Furok died before Droktin's Pass was opened."

"No, it was not. Droktin's Pass was the retaliation."

"Why did you do it?"

"The orc empire had been blessed with four of the past six Creators; Furok, Droktin, Gratora and Hektin. It had become too powerful, too influential, and the center of its power was Hektinar. The steel city housed a famous university—the greatest in the world—and the minds there had unearthed secrets—lies—that no man was ever supposed to know. They would've used that weapon, Julia, for the godless academics had gone mad in their lust for knowledge, and no longer cared if that knowledge was true. It was power, and they thought such power was greater than that of you or I, greater than that of even God herself! The Maternal Path no longer guided the orc nation, and so I..." Arbitrus snapped his fingers and a spark popped from his thumb and forefinger, "...made the correction. We are nature's correction, Julia. Unbridled creation leads inexorably to unbridled destruction, so a caretaker is needed to keep creation in check, like a cleaning forest fire that burns away the old canopy to make room for new growth."

"But you helped make Droktinar; you were a true Creator once!" I hissed. I'd read this man's journal, believed him to be righteous and true, believed his path to be one worthy of following. Arbitrus Gen was one of history's great men, one of history's great lies, one of history's great monsters, and my ancestor. My blood.

"Droktin made Droktinar," Arbitrus shrugged, "it was his life's work, but I never lit the furnace, and I never planned to."

"But I will," I hissed, "I'll make the fucking correction."

"And I can't stop you," Arbitrus smiled, "you're the Heat Bringer now, Julia. I can do little more than light my pipe and start my stove."

"You didn't answer my question," I said through gritted teeth, "why did Furok preserve you?"

"I told you that unbridled creation leads to unbridled destruction," Arbitrus said, annoyingly taking his time to get to the answers I wanted, "and there is no greater destruction than unbridled life. Furok tried to preserve his brother's life, but Furok could not tether him. Halok's life had been that of a warrior, its purpose to bring death to others, and the Life Giver could not tether life to death."

Arbitrus stopped and scratched his chin, seeming to ponder the distant skyline.

"Furok didn't speak to me for decades after Hektinar. It was only toward the end of his life, when he realized he could not salvage what he'd done to Halok, that he came to me. He wanted to destroy what he'd created before it could turn Sentient, and since I was the Destroyer, it appeared I was just the man for the job. Furok believed that if he tethered me, created a hybrid of ethereal and physical out of me, that I could venture to the astral plane, and kill Halok where he slumbered."

"Why didn't it work?"

"The tethering allowed me to traverse the astral plane, but it stripped me of my powers. Whatever blessing gave me my Creator abilities was replaced with the rope that gave me eternal life. I could find Halok, but I could do nothing to him. After Furok passed away, Halok's spirit degraded to Wrath."

"Then Droktin started the war," I said. Arbitrus nodded gravely.

"Without Furok to dissuade him, or me to fight him, Droktin had free-reign to exact his revenge for Hektinar. The Gratoran Wall was opened, and Wrath infected the hordes that charged through it, driving them insane with battle rage, making them fight even after they'd been dismembered and disemboweled. Millions of dead because of unbridled creation, because of unchecked life. Do you still think me the monster, dearest descendent?"

"Of course," I hissed, "the war would never have happened if you hadn't melted Hektinar!"

"Yes, it would have," Arbitrus countered, "maybe a hundred years later, maybe a thousand, but it would have happened. The orc empire was too powerful to be limited by its borders, and it would have spread across the world with no one strong enough to stop it. You will have to develop the foresight to make these decisions, Julia. They are hard, sometimes they are cruel, but I see in you, the same—"

"We are nothing alike!" I snapped, flames playing beneath my flesh. "We share blood, and that is it!"

"I think we're more alike than that," Arbitrus smiled sadly.

"You're a psychopath, a murderer, a—"

"I wonder what Passion would have to say about that," Arbitrus grinned, "or maybe your parents?"

Flame leaped from my flesh, burning exhilarating energy from every nerve, my eyes blinded with red rage, my head pulsing with murder. The boulder beneath me grew soft, the rock turning molten, running from its crystalline form and hissing in the grass. Arbitrus just stared back, his grin broadening to a manic curl, his orange eyes shining, reflecting my image.

"I remember that feeling," he said in hushed voice, almost reverently, "the energy surging through me, the flame raging from my flesh, scorching the world in searing sheets of heat. I miss it; killing like that... it makes you feel like a god."

"Yes," I whispered, my breath barely coming from me. I saw the manic sparkle in Arbitrus's eyes, and I saw the same gleam in my own reflected from his sclera. He understood me, understood me completely.

"But once the pleasures of death have left you, and the flame has dwindled, there's a void, isn't there?" Arbitrus asked. "A hole that can never be filled. The weak soul mistakes the hole for a rise, and digs deeper, thinking they're climbing a mountain, but digging, and digging until their entire being is not but the vacancy they've made of it. That was me, once. I thought I was strong because I could kill, and only through the Holy Mother did I realize what a weak man I'd become. You are not weak, Julia; you know the price of murder."

"Could I even kill you?" I asked, flames beginning the quell.

"Only you can, as Passion well-knew. It was why she wanted you, why she loved you. You are the Destroyer, Julia; the killer of all things. It wasn't your fire in her woods, nor your fire on her flesh that killed Passion. It was your fire in her astral mind."

"How do you know about her... about what I did to her?"

"I am tethered, as she was," Arbitrus explained. "I can travel the realms of the astral plane. Though I dare not walk through the gates of Sentients, there are hundreds of others like me, like Passion. However, there is only one like your daughter."

"What?!" the flame on my flesh died, skin growing suddenly cold.

"Passion passed her astral realm to her daughter before she died, and because Diamond is of your blood, the realm was preserved from your flame. Only Diamond is untethered, so the extent of her abilities is unknown. Passion is dead as dead can be, but some piece of her still lives," Arbitrus dared a hand on my shoulder. "I hope there is comfort in that."

"A little, maybe." I muttered at the ground. The songbirds were chirping noisily now, singing the praises of the sun as it revealed itself, casting rays across the golden fields, creating auras of dawn about the towers in the distance.

"I never wanted you to know me," Arbitrus said, breaking the silence. "I never wanted you to be burdened with my existence. I wanted you to forge your own path, to make your own mistakes, to celebrate your own triumphs. I fear that your knowledge of me might create a... crutch that hampers your development. You may think that this meeting was by design, but it was by chance. Through the part of Diamond that resides in the astral plane, I saw you coming from Arbortus, but I did not put myself in your way. I'm not here for you."

"Then why did you reveal yourself to me?" I asked. "Why not just continue to play the fool, like yesterday?"

"Because I know you're looking for the Life Giver," Arbitrus said, "and he is why I am here."

"The Life Giver is here?!" I practically yelled.

"He was. He's gone to Drastin now with Tera."

"The Sorenson boy? He's the Life Giver? Why didn't you save him?!"

"Succubi have no power over Creators, so Brandon went on his own accord. I thought about going after just to keep tabs on him, until I realized who Tera worked for. Then, I didn't dare."

"Night Eyes? The gangster? Who cares about her?"

"The gangster," Arbitrus scoffed. "Night Eyes is like a demented toddler who thinks the world is her toy, and she does with it as she pleases. Her brand of evil, and the power with which she enacts it, are not natural."

Arbitrus reached into the large pocket of his overalls, and produced a copy of the magazine Lucilla had shown me yesterday. He tossed it on my lap, and I turned the page to the article about Astrid, featuring a sneering portrait of Night Eyes in the corner. An odd prickling crawled slowly up my spine as I ran my hand over the nymph's picture, Does she look vaguely familiar?

"Eighteen years ago, I saw something that terrified me." Arbitrus said, his voice wavering, "I walked to the ethereal gates of the most ancient one, and found that her realm was empty. She had awoken from her slumber, and escaped the astral plane."