The Creators Ch. 13

Jade cocked her head; her hand inched toward her katana. "It is a woman, and she does not want to be seen. She shrouds herself in blackness."

"What are you...?" I started, and then paused. There was a figure out there. She appeared as a black dot against the blazing sun, barely visible within the ripples of heat and distance. Then, she was gone.

Jade drew her katana, and it sang from her scabbard with a metallic twang. All at once, the surrounding Breytans ceased what they were doing and drew with their leader. They looked to where she was looking, and stood statue-still before the violet glow of the setting sun.

I felt wetness between my legs. For a second, I thought I'd pissed myself, but when I looked down, I realized I was sitting in a puddle of water. My canteen was still full, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so how... I looked out upon the great glassy plane of shale. The tide had swelled past the waterline, past the melted remnants of the docks, and past the beachhead. An inch of water blanketed the plateau, a perfect sheen of glossy liquid that didn't bear even a single ripple. I saw little fish swimming in the clear water, then pink jellyfish floating listlessly by as the tide swelled another inch. A confused turtle tried to swim in the shallow sea, but only managed to buoyantly scrape himself against the smooth rock beneath. I marveled at the sea life around me, then felt a cold chill crawl up my spine. I'd heard of a phenomenon like this before. Where were we? Where was the tideline? Impossible to tell upon the newly-formed glasslands. We were in it. We were miles in it.

"Tsunami!" I screamed.

"No," Jade whispered, narrowing her eyes against the glaring sunset. A hulking figure floated towards us. At first, I thought it was a ship. It was only when its silhouette clarified before the blaze of the red sun that I realized it was a blue whale. It groaned lowly as it slid by us, then settled in the hollow of a building's foundation. The water should've been moving at hundreds of feet per second to carry such a creature, but the tide only swelled gently before me, moving so slowly that its momentum could barely be discerned in the trailing ripples that surrounded my cross-legged form.

"What the hell..."

The womanly figure appeared on the horizon again. She danced across the surface of the water as though it were a floor. She pirouetted like a ballerina, skipped like a schoolgirl, and waltzed by herself all the way. I could hear her giggles now. I could see her antlers.

"Diamond?" I whispered disbelievingly under my breath.

The silhouette stopped, and cocked her head. Slowly, the black figure turned toward me. A shudder ran through me. The figure stood still for an agonizing moment, then leapt in the air, spun, and dove head-first into the water she'd been standing on. She was gone. She was right in front of me. For the briefest of moments, I only saw Diamond. I only saw her red hair, her sparkling freckles, her olive skin and her green irises. In that brief moment, I felt the swelling of great relief that she had survived. Then I noticed that her sclera were the color of coal, and that they were filled with nothing but gleeful hate.

"Peek-a-boo!" Diamond giggled, and the ocean erupted. Geysers fountained from the calm sea, sucking the water around into immense columns that stretched to the sky. The columns collapsed upon themselves in a great splash, then formed immense images of sea life. Horrific images. A dolphin was bitten in half by a shark, and the front half swam frantically away as its entrails floated behind it. A squid snatched the shark and ripped great chunks from the still-living creature with its alien beak, then a leviathan dragged the squid into the depths below. The leviathan consumed the squid through its tentacular mouth, then a massive set of jaws closed around it, and all the water sculptures descended back into the calm reflecting pool that had become the glasslands.

"I've seen such wonderful things in my journey beneath the waves," Diamond pontificated. "I've seen beasts so rare that they have yet to be named. I've gone to the depths of the seafloor where all the creatures are blind and twisted into horrors by the darkness. Their teeth are jagged like razors, their features are deformed, and they feast upon the corpses of the whales, dolphins and mermaids who float down there." Diamond grinned at me. "It is the destiny of all things, Justina. In the end, we are all consumed by darkness."

"D-D-D-Diamond?!"

"That's my name!" Diamond giggled, and winked conspiratorially at me. "Because you and I are friends, you can call me that. But you," she turned to the gawking Jade Tao, "you will call me by a different name."

Jade Tao just blinked with her mouth open.

"What's the matter, High Guard," Diamond giggled, "cat got your tongue? What does that expression even mean, anyway? Why would a cat have anyone's tongue? Justina, you know these things."

"I... uh... I don't know," I said numbly.

"Idioms are idiotic. Idiotic idioms are idiosyncratically idiomatic," Diamond giggled. "That means stupid people in isolated groups make up their own stupid little phrases. That's why you don't know where that phrase comes from, Justina; because no one does! Some hillbilly said it one time, and it caught on for some reason. Well, not 'some reason;' it caught on because it's fun to say! Cat got your tongue?" Diamond pointed at one stunned valkyrie, then shifted to another. "Cat got your tongue?" She tittered girlishly, then pointed to another Breytan. "Cat got your tongue?"

The water suddenly swelled in front of the woman, took the shape of a housecat, then leapt from the glassy surface, forced its paw into the woman's mouth, and tore her tongue out. The woman pitched forward with a shriek, and Diamond giggled and clapped.

"There!" she proclaimed happily. "Now there's a meaningful origin for this idiom!"

The de-tongued Breytan warrior leapt to her feet, screamed, and charged Diamond. Diamond casually dipped her hand into the water, and pulled out a katana made of the sea. She struck a fighter's pose, waited for the enraged samurai, then swung her blade with lightning speed. Diamond was a great swordswoman, but she was no valkyrie. The samurai sliced through the water-sword, danced into Diamond's guard, and swung backhanded to deliver the killing blow. But her sword had no blade. The metal had been shorn cleanly off from where Diamond had parried the blow. Diamond giggled at the stunned woman, then nonchalantly passed her aquatic blade through the woman as easily as if she were slicing through air. The woman's top slid from her bottom along an even diagonal cut, and she splashed into the water in two clean portions, her eyes blinking stupidly.

"Wow, look at that," Diamond mused with her childlike curiosity. "I just killed someone! Justina, did you see that?"

"Yes," I mumbled.

"What was her name, Jade?" Diamond asked.

"Maya Sung."

"Maya Sung," Diamond muttered. "Remember her name, everybody. Maya Sung, the first person to ever be killed by the Water Changer."

"Water Changer?" I asked dumbly.

"I know, I know; it's not great. The name is a placeholder for now, but I can't think of anything better. It's a darn shame, because once the name gets out, there's no going back." Diamond's face lit up. "Brainstorming session, guys! Raise your hand if you think you have a better name than the Water Changer."

Nobody raised their hands.

"Come on, guys," Diamond whined. "How often do you get a chance to name a new god?"

Again, nobody raised their hands.

Diamond put her fists on her hips, and pouted her lip with a huff. "Come now, class. If no one wants to volunteer, then I'll have to call on someone."

Still nothing.

Diamond sighed, and shook her head in a grandiose show of disappointment. "First day of school; always the same. Alright, let's see who's time it is to shine..." she narrowed her impish eyes, licked her lips, and scanned the rows of frozen samurai. "...you in the back trying to hide behind the girl in front of you. Yeah, you," Diamond giggled as the woman paled. "What do you think I should call myself?"

The woman open and closed her lips, then swallowed. With a very small voice, she whimpered, "Water Former?"

"There's already the Earth Former, silly!" Diamond giggled, and the kneeling woman was divided right up the middle so that she split from crotch to head in two increments. Diamond turned to Jade. "What was her name, High Guard?"

"Lu Ta—"

"Nobody cares!" Diamond laughed. "Who remembers the second person killed by a god? Anyway, does anyone have an idea for my name that's not totally terrible?"

Katsumi raised her hand, and Diamond grinned and pointed to her. "Water Shaper?" she suggested.

Diamond tapped her lips contemplatively. "Hmm... former, shaper; kind of the same thing, isn't it?"

"Clay is formed. A blade is shaped. That is the difference, Your Holiness," Katsumi said.

Diamond broke into a wide smile. "Your Holiness. You just called me 'Your Holiness!' D'aw, you got me feeling all gooey inside." She actually blushed. "You get a pass on the bad name. Any other ideas?"

"Water Bender!" a woman in the front yelled. She was suddenly upended and tossed on her belly, and there she remained. Though she fought, struggled, flapped, kicked and pushed, she could not lift her face out of the shallow water. It was as though the liquid gripped her face and held it in place, and all her Breytan sisters watched in horror as she drowned. It took a long time. She splashed and thrashed loudly, but nobody helped her, least of all me. I was forming a nice warm spot in the water between my legs as I watched Diamond stand there with a raging erection between hers. Her black and green eyes danced with a terrible excitement, reflecting the image of the flapping samurai slowly dying in two-inches of water. Finally, after several minutes, the woman went mercifully still.

Diamond looked out at the group. "Anyone else?"

Jade Tao raised her hand, but Diamond shook her head. "Sorry, High Guard, but you don't get to choose."

"And why not?"

"And why not, Your Holiness," Diamond corrected with a dangerous giggle. "And the reason you don't get to choose, is because if you choose wrong, then I'm going to have to drown you in front of everyone, and you belong to Mommy."

"Her Holiness is alive?!"

"Obviously, you silly-goose! Now, who's got an idea?"

Nobody dared raise their hands. Diamond scanned her captive audience with a broad grin, and then her black eyes fell on me. I peed a little more.

"You're always full of ideas, Justina," Diamond said, stepping toward me. "What do you think my name should be?" She stopped in front of me, then crouched until our gazes were level. Hers was leering and sardonic, and mine was quivering and terrified. She touched my chin with her outstretched hand, and slid her delicate little fingers along my jaw. It was an intimate touch, a sensual touch, and I could not stop myself from shuddering with the pleasure of it. "What would you call me, Justina?" Diamond mused teasingly. "Aqua Factorem? Or perhaps, Oceanum Transfigurator? I'm like a new species of insect you get to name and put in one of your journals."

"What happened to you?" I hissed.

She caressed my cheek with her thumb, and tittered like I'd told her a joke. "I guess I found religion. Gosh, you're pretty where you're scared."

"Corruption has you."

Her smile became secret. "No, Justina. I have her."

"Where's Angela?"

She cocked her head, and shrugged. "Dead as a doornail, undoubtedly. This body was stuck in Brandon's tree with no one inside of it, which means she probably found a new one." Diamond winked at me. "I guess that means her lovey-dovey-bruvey made her something nice before they were cooked like bacon. Isn't that sweet? Now, please tell me what you think my name should be."

"Water Dancer," I whispered, not knowing where the idea had come from, only blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

Diamond inclined her head, and her secret smile spread into a radiant beam upon her beautiful face. "Water Dancer. It's perfect! Yay!" She leapt to her feet and began applauding manically. "Everyone get up and give Justina Autumnsong a round of applause! Get up!" she screamed, and all the Breytans leapt to their feet, and began applauding me furiously. "Clap your hands, clap your hands, make sound with your hands!" Diamond chanted rhythmically, dancing through the ranks of valkyries as she clapped, her erection wobbling between her slender olive thighs. "Clap your hands, clap your hands, make sound with your hands! Clap your hands, clap your hands, make sound with your hands!"

She paused behind one terrified valkyrie, and observed the poor teenage girl as she fervently applauded me. Diamond's smile disappeared, then became a frown. "Everyone shut up!" she screamed. "I said SHUT THE HECK UP!"

The Breytans went deathly silent.

Diamond put her hand on the girl's shoulder. Even from here, I could see her quivering. "What's your name?" Diamond asked her.

"Aiko," she whimpered.

"Everyone give Aiko a round of applause!" Diamond shouted, and everyone manically applauded the terrified valkyrie. "Shut up!" Diamond screamed, and they all stopped at once—all except one valkyrie who clapped a half a second too slow. Diamond stared at the offender. There was a pregnant pause where no sound was made, then Diamond turned away from the fortunate valkyrie, and rested her eyes on the unfortunate Aiko Satori.

"Aiko," Diamond said softly, "I think you have a really nice butt. What do you say to that?"

"Thank you, Your Holiness," she whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"I can see how juicy it is even under your robes," Diamond muttered, leering at the woman. "I think it might be the best butt of all the Breytans. Why aren't you the High Guard?"

"High Guard Tao is an exceptional leader, the best fighter amongst us, an honorable woman of—"

"None of that matters," Diamond interrupted. "All that matters to me, is if you have a plump rump. And you've got the plumpest one, Aiko. Why don't you show all your friends how nice your butt is?"

Aiko swallowed, then nodded. She turned around so that she was facing away from us. Diamond tittered, took Aiko by the hips, and guided her to bend over. Then Diamond lifted her robes, exposing Aiko's juicy tan globes.

"Show them everything, Aiko," Diamond commanded softly.

Aiko nodded somberly, grabbed her cheeks, and peeled them apart, revealing the dark center of her coiled anus, and the vivid pink of her little cloven pussy. Aiko whimpered.

"What's the matter?" Diamond asked.

"I am humiliated and terrified, Your Holiness," Aiko answered, tears streaming freely down her face.

"Then you know what it felt like to be those whores you chained to the floor and whipped," Diamond answered. "Don't you think you should be punished for that?"

"I only followed the will of my god."

"Oh, so that absolves you of everything then?" Diamond giggled. "Are you just a little sheep following the shepherd? No... no, you're a fat little piggy! Do you want to be my piggy, Aiko?"

"No, Your Holiness," Aiko wept.

Diamond considered the bent over woman for a long time, then sighed. "You're a virgin, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Diamond harrumphed frustratedly. "Mommy told me that I couldn't besmirch any of the virgins. She said she had a holy purpose for the pure of flesh, whatever the heck that means." Diamond scanned the flock of supplicant valkyries, then her eyes rested upon a woman in her mid-thirties. Diamond didn't know the names of any of the women, but she identified Aiko's mother without even looking twice. Her grin broadened.

"Diamond, stop!" I yelled. I didn't realize I'd done it until it was too late, and I was standing before the warrior women with my fists balled at my sides.

Diamond's black eyes slid lazily to me, and her grin turned dangerous. "By all means, Justina, do whatever you can to stop me."

"This isn't you!"

She cocked her head. "You don't even know me. We met once, shared a brief conversation, then we were in your bed and... poof, I was gone." Diamond giggled. "All you have is an idea of me."

"I stayed with you."

Her smile cracked a little. "I walked alone. Through hell and madness, I walked alone."

"What happened to you in Corruption's realm?" I hissed. "Tell me, please!"

She slid her head from this side, to that, seeming to consider me. "I don't know, and it's too late. The very ground we walk upon is a graveyard of millions."

"You didn't do this!"

"But I will, Justina. I'll do far worse." Diamond redirected her attention to Aiko's prostrating mother. She looked from the poor woman, then down to her crotch, and she frowned at her deflated penis. "Darn it, Justina, you killed my boner!" she exclaimed, then grinned up at me. "You are the worst succubus in the world!"

"Then let her go," came a voice I never thought I'd hear ever again. All heads turned around to see Mom standing fifty paces behind the valkyries. Her ribs were showing, she was missing a hand, and she looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep in days, but she was blessedly—impossibly—alive!

"Oh my god!" I screamed, and raced toward her.

"Stay back, Sweetie," Mom said sternly, holding out her good hand toward me and stepping purposefully toward Diamond. I stopped where I was, and looked back at the Water Dancer. Diamond was puzzling over the two of us, her evil black eyes flitting from Mom, to me. She sank into the water, then resurfaced between us a second later, and pondered my mother with a clinical eye.

"Do you know what I want to do right now?" Diamond asked Mom.

"I'm not a great guesser."

"I want to rip those horns off your head and jam them into your eyes."

Mom just smiled. "An interesting kink. Don't think I've had a client with those tastes before."

"I really just want to hear the scream Justina makes when she sees me do it."

"Corruption fetishizes the pain of her host."

"What do you know of my pain?"

"Nothing," Mom said, stepping cautiously toward her, "and neither do you; not anymore. It won't hurt you to let me and Justina go."

"But it'll be very boring, and you two are so much fun!" Diamond giggled.

"I won't be very fun if you kill me."

"Oh, I'm not going to kill you, silly-billy!" Diamond exclaimed. "I'm just going to blind you!"

"That doesn't sound like a lot of fun for me," Mom smiled easily, and continued her steady course toward Diamond.

Diamond just shrugged. "Playing games is fun, but losing them isn't. We lost the game we played, Tera, but now we play a different one."

"It feels kind of like the old game if you ask me."

"No, no, no," Diamond grinned, "this game is much easier to understand. It's Mommy and me versus everyone else."

"And you just do whatever mommy says?" Mom sneered. "Time to pop out of the womb, Sparkles; or is someone going to have to cut you out again?"

I was fairly certain that Diamond was going to eviscerate my mother for that, but Diamond just giggled. "Oh, you are going to be so much fun!" And with that, she reached out to her side, and shot a spear of water through the head of a great invisible bear that had been less than a foot from biting her head off. Ursa toppled with a groan as Mom leapt at the Water Dancer, her one hand now holding a knife high overhead. Diamond caught Mom by the wrist, wrapped her arm around Mom's waist, and pulled her into a deep kiss.

Diamond's black eyes glowed. Acrid wisps filtered from her body, coalesced into the air, then shot into my mother. The streams entered her through the vagina, anus, nostrils, ears and eyeballs, and as Diamond rotated her mouth about my mother's, I saw a thick gout of black flowing between their lips. In my numb horror, the scientist in me wondered idly why Corruption's infection was so much more powerful than before, but I cared very little for the question. Mom wilted into Diamond with a low groan, and Diamond gracefully dipped her, lengthening their exchange until Mom's veins were deep obsidian. When Diamond let Mom go in the water, Mom was crying tears of black from her onyx eyes, only the pink irises showing from their depths. She let out a smoky breath, then eased herself into a languid sprawl upon the water-sheened glass.