The earth shook thunderously. Mae’s steps ripped everything out of their foundations on her path. Houses and other buildings were flattened as if made of dust or literally blown away by the colossal winds generated by her steps, trees and other flora never offered any resistance, while the unlucky few who decided to escape from the city on this particular direction were never offered any mercy.
Mae didn’t care. And that’s what baffled Mase the most. It was so unlike Mae, she would never harm a soul, or so he thought, which apparently wasn’t true. She darted towards Aria with such ferocious determination that he thought this was an entirely different person in those brief few moments.
Mase didn’t know what to expect when she would reached Aria. Would she be able to injure her? Even kill her? He half expected both of their bodies to simply explode for some reason. It was a scene that was very difficult to comprehend, the human brain was not made to handle such a large scale conflict of divine forces.
But instead, Mase watched as Aria expertly drew her body to the right at exactly the moment Mae reached her with her fist, and with her left hand she grabbed Mae’s left arm while anchoring her left foot on the ground just in front of Mae. The young giantess looked plainly startled as Aria moved her right hand on her back, and tripped her forcefully against her leg towards the city behind Aria.
Mase had seen Aria having her way with the city from his vantage point, the sheer violence she would cause in simple ways was astonishing, and excited him a lot, much to his shame. But that was nothing compared to what Mae’s body did to the poor city of Talmin. Her body hit the ground with such primal force that absolutely nothing survived the devastation. She fell at the edge of where Aria emerged earlier and her body simply slid from the momentum it had carried towards the center, bulldozing and pulverizing everything in its path, leaving a barren stretch of compressed land behind it.
“Holy fuck!” Was all Mase could say to the scene that had just unfolded.
Smoke and dust rose from the destruction, covering Mae’s laying body for a few moments, hiding her from Mase’s vantage point. Above it all, he could see Aria, he could see her expression. It was a mix of pride and confidence but mostly bewilderment. He could read it plainly in her face: What the fuck is she thinking?
At that moment, the dust moved, gliding along the curves of Mae’s rising body and dissipating rapidly. Mase could see her reach for her face, wiping the blood from her nose. That fall must have certainly hurt, but she still looked determined to end this. He looked down at her dirt covered body, he couldn’t see a single scratch though, still making it difficult for Mase to comprehend how they could be so durable. Then he noticed some movement on her left breast.
Mase squinted, attempting to see more clearly. Is that... no way. It was a real person, clinging her left nipple. “Holy crap!” he thought aloud. Somebody actually survived all that violence, just to find himself on such a pitiful situation. Immediately after he made out the tiny human form on her nipple, Mae brushed him away just like that, probably without even noticing while she attempted to brush the dust from her body.
Mase gasped, trying to understand what had happened. The tiny human, which Mase couldn’t make out as a Man or Woman, survived all the destruction when Mae’s body hit the city, and managed to hold onto her nipple, just to be treated like a speck of dirt and consequently brushed away as one. It was so depressing to see another human being treated this way, yet to Mase it was very arousing at the same time, making him hate himself even more. And worst of all, because of this unaware action on Mae’s part, he started feeling something for her, the tiniest bit of attraction.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me!” He said for the second time today while raising his head towards the sky. “Why!” He screamed.
“You really think you have a chance?” Mase suddenly lowered his head as he heard Aria’s booming voice. “Stop being so foolish, girl.”
“You must be defeated. You must be eradicated, destroyed.” he heard Mae say. “For the good of humanity.”
Aria raised an eyebrow. “Really? You are that naive?” She giggled. “But you know what? I can actually be merciful.” She said with an arrogant smirk. “If you bow down, and kiss my feet, that is.”
“Never.” Mae replied.
“I figured.” Aria’s expression grew more serious. “But actually, I really could use someone of your... talents. And we can leave the kissing of my feet out too!”
Mae didn’t reply and just darted forward again, surprising Aria yet again.
This time the goddess didn’t try to avoid her charge, she simply stood there, relaxed, and let Mae’s fist punch her hard in the face. Mase eyes widened, surprised at Mae’s apparent success. He could even see it on Mae’s face, the confusion and amazement at the easiness of her strike, and then... pain. Mase couldn’t see it from his vantage point at first, but then Mae moved backwards, and he saw Aria’s right hand on her throat, pushing her backwards forcefully.
Mase shivered when he saw the look on Aria’s face. He never saw her that dark look on her, never that serious. Suddenly, Aria pushed with such a force that amazed him, throwing Mae backwards, making her tumble into the city yet again, and causing even more devastation.
Aria, moved her hand to her face, checking on where Mae’s punch landed, grunting. Mae didn’t leave a single mark on her, and somehow Mase wasn’t surprised at all.
“You really are a blunt one, aren’t you.” she said. “But as I said, I could use your talents, and I’m giving you one more chance to do so willingly.”
Mae said nothing, reeling from her second humiliation today. She slowly stood up, and Mase could clearly see her determination waning. But she still didn’t look like giving up.
“I’d rather die, than serve you, monster.”
Aria simply rolled her eyes. “Yes, you actually are that naive.”
And Mae charged, for the third time today, and this time, she screamed fiercely.
Aria sighed. “As you wish.”
Mase saw her raise her right arm, holding it outstretched at Mae’s direction. He was confused, it didn’t look like some kind of reasonable defence pose or something similar, it just looked weird. What came next frightened Mase to his very core.
---
“Concentrate!” The instructor said. “You need to concentrate, to feel it deep within you, to tap that power and use it at your will!”
Feuna tried, but the small ball of metal didn’t move. “I can’t!” She screamed, then dropped to her knees, sighing. “I simply can’t.”
The instructor looked down at her, disapprovingly. “Stand up and try again.” She commanded.
“Please!” Feuna begged. “I’ve tried the whole day, I can’t, it isn’t true!”
The instructor said nothing at first, and then approached her, leaning down and looking directly into Feuna’s tearful eyes. “Watch.” she said simply. Without even looking at the small metal ball a few yards away, the female instructor stretched her hand towards it, and the ball suddenly flew away, moving through the air magically, and landing on the ground several tens of yards away.
Feuna’s gasped, eyes widening. “I... “ she was lost for words.
“Now stand up and do it.” the instructor commanded. Feuna nodded, and stood up, taking one of the balls from a basket nearby and throwing it on the ground in front of her. She breathed in, concentrating.
“For Mana.” she mumbled to herself, and closed her eyes. The hot atmosphere of the desert world in which she stood now faded away, slowly being replaced by the room in which she lost her sister to the goddess.
Tears welled up again on her eyes as painful emotions emerged from some deep corner of her mind. She remembered all the gruesome and torturous things the goddess did to them, the hunger, the pain, the humiliating experience of drinking her piss with desperation. The people trapped with her, dying in the most horrible acts she had ever witnessed. And most of all, her sister Mana dying like an ant because of the goddess’s carelessness. And then she remembered the anger, the inexplicable force that drove her, the release when she seemingly stopped the goddess’s foot from crashing down on her and her sisters corpse all by herself.
Feuna opened her eyes, screaming, and the ball of metal moved. It moved so fast that the air screeched and when the ball hit the small dune some distance away, it buried itself feet deep, turning the outside of the hole into melting glass.
The instructor looked astonished, and somewhat fearful. She turned at Feuna, who too looked amazed at what she had just done.
“You have potential, child. A lot of potential.” the instructor said. “Your power is raw, unpolished, but by the time I’m finished with you, you will be one of the best Kinetiks.”
“Best what?” Feuna didn’t understand.
“Kinetiks. That’s what we call people who have the power of moving objects at their will.” The instructor clarified. “Once you reach your potential, you will become one of the goddess’s best soldiers, I’ll promise you that.”
Never! Feuna almost said, but she composed herself. If she would ever avenge her sister, this wasn’t the moment. Someday, she thought, I will kill her, I promise you that, sister!.
---
Mase could feel it for a few brief moments. An intense feeling of being sucked from the inside, even though he was fine. He felt the air around him stir, whirled towards the battling goddesses, or towards Aria to be more precise.
Far on the horizon, Mase watched Mae’s relentless charge towards Aria, feeling the shaking sensations all the way to his platform. He felt a deep disturbing sensation, something didn’t feel right to him, if anything of this made sense anyway.
Then, just as Mae reached Aria, she slowed down unnaturally. Mase held his breath, watching as the air between Aria’s outstretched arm and Mae’s inexplicably slowing momentum visibly compressed and then shattered the whole ground beneath, blowing the dust away immediately.
Then Mae’s body simply ground to a halt, mid-air, and in that blink of an eye, Mase could see the alarming expression or Mae’s face, watching Aria as she smiled with the corner of her lips, and then pushed with an invisible force. Mae’s body started moving backwards, levitating and rapidly gaining pace.
“What...” was all she could manage to say before Mae was forcefully flung into the air.
Mase was still holding his breath, watching the incomprehensible scene unfolding, the gigantic body seemingly floating in the air, and rapidly falling in the midst of the devastated city.
It hit with such an obliterating force that the earth itself shattered everywhere around Talmin, destroying every part of the city that was still intact and putting everything that had happened to Tarthaghast to shame. A massive pillar of dust rose, covering the whole area and moving towards Mase alarmingly.
Thankfully it didn’t engulf Mase’s platform, he was still too far away, but he needed to wait a few minutes before the dust settled, revealing the completely devastated area around where Mae’s body lay on the ground. She seemed unresponsive, not moving at all. Mase suddenly regretted ever coming to this planet, regretted ever knowing Mae, or even joining the rebellion.
“What have I done...” he said to himself. “How could I ever believe we had a chance against her, against this force of nature.” He started crying. “Please, let her be alive!” He screamed.
He looked at Aria, plainly standing there, regarding her emotionally blank expression. Mase felt angry, furious at how she simply toyed with them. It is all a game to her, he thought. Our rebellion is just something with which she can amuse herself with, nothing more. He lowered his head defeatingly, the sudden revelation numbing his entire body.
Then he heard and felt footsteps, and looked up to see Aria approach Mae’s body. She reached Mae’s laying form quickly and just stood on above her, arms folded, regarding it with a curious expression.
“I told you.” She said. “I hope you understand the hopelessness of your situation now.”
Mase suddenly saw Mae’s head turn just a bit, looking at Aria. Mase thought she tried to say something, but she just coughed. He didn’t understand what the implications would be when such a massive body fell on the ground so forcefully, but he was glad Mae was still alive, feeling a terrible burden lifted from him.
“Never!” Mae finally spoke.
“You idiot!” Mase screamed. “Give up you foolish, stubborn, naive idiot! Give up before she truly kills you!” But he knew she could never hear him.
Aria on the other hand just smiled. “It’s a shame, really.” she said. “There aren’t many size-shifters around. But I guess I have to force you to it.”
There was a brief moment of silence, and then Mase heard Mae laugh loudly.
“What the fuck!?” Mase grew confused, and Aria too frowned.
“You know nothing, Ariadne Cooper.” Mae said.
“What!?” Mase grew even more confused. But then he saw the shocking expression on Aria’s face.
“What did you just say?” She demanded furiously.
“And you call me naive.” Mae said while continuing to laugh.
Aria suddenly reached for her, but she never had a chance as Mae’s body suddenly turned incredibly luminous, blinding the whole area in a stream of white light, making even Aria cover her face. When the light was gone, so was Mae.
“What the fuck is going on!?” Mase said, watching fearfully as fury engulfed Aria.