In This Chapter: The Sentinel rests for a while, manipulating the galaxy at her leisure before she departs to an advanced earth-like planet where she meets a young alien woman struggling with a difficult personal issue.

              I spent the next few thousand years traveling from planet to planet.  There aren’t as many habitable worlds as you might think, so things became boring from time to time.  Laying on a planet, growing myself big enough as if it were my bed, my body flattening the surface as the warm cores heated my back through the caved-in crusts.  I destroyed stars as if turning out a light, I made some bigger, some smaller, I made a black hole here, a black hole there, watching from another planet as it swallowed stars, streaking across the sky like a galactic art project.  Painting the universe with destruction, I guided asteroids into planets just to feel the warmth of the explosion, I would pluck planets out of their orbit and snack on them like jawbreakers just to see what they would taste like, surprisingly, some tasted better than others, but rather chalky with a warm and tasteless gooey filling. 

              Sometimes I did find myself on a planet with life, but the aliens were so different, weird creatures, unexplainable sometimes, red beating eyes, exposed organs, dozens of legs, incapable of advanced or complex thought.  I left those mostly alone, they wouldn’t know any better myself from an inanimate object anyway. Some planets were nothing but dense water, being able to float on the surface even without my abilities, some had thick forests with sentient vines that grew constantly.   I had a favorite for a little while, one world had an endless beach with the most perfect waves, volcanoes erupting constantly around, the ash from the smoke mixing with the purple sky had a beautiful haze, the black sand was so soft on my soles as the gentle waves crashed in front of me, I spent a lot of time there, calling it my home, perfecting my abilities, studying the galaxy, making maps and charts, planning, meditating, connecting with myself.  I had a small cabin there with nice furniture, a hammock between two trees, it was the life I supposed I always dreamt of when I was much much younger. I slept for hundreds of years at a time, subjecting myself to endless dreams only my subconscious could create.  Time became irrelevant to me, I simply just continued with whatever I wanted to do not knowing how far I was into my journey. 

              I thought about the cruel things that I’ve done, the helpful things that I’ve done.  I did enjoy having fun at the expense of others’ deaths, it was difficult to not enjoy it actually, the helpful things were okay too, just not as fulfilling.  I kept my armor and robes from the Atlantean planet, I had them hanging up in my cabin like a trophy and memento, but I was comfortable enough in my exposed form while I floated through space or relaxed on the hammock. 

              It was finally time to set out though in search of sentience, humanoids, things like me, the old me, I needed to see reactions, to see emotions, to see fear and death that meant something.  I needed to see civilizations rise and fall from my actions, I felt that I was born for this.  So, I left, remembering the charts I made, mapping out the galaxy, I went from planet to planet for years, finding nothing, until eventually I found myself on the surface of a lush green planet, a dark grey ocean at my back, a beach at my feet, mountains in the distance, a hefty wind from the ocean, catching my attention, I turned towards the waves, noticing something in the sky, it had 6 white cloudy tails coming out from its back high in the sky, I waved my hand, as I caught it in my grip, I saw the object start to descend faster and faster towards me, sloping, the object getting bigger by the second as it hummed and whirred, at first low, then loudly, a huge metallic tube with wings on its side, jets under the wings, a plane, of course, I thought.  A few hundred feet long as it hissed before hitting the waves in front of me, dooming any passengers on board, I caught it, caressing it into a slow and gentle movement towards me before I let it go to my side, softly crashing into the sand with a thud as it kicked up all the sand around it.

              The doors flew off of the cockpit, slides came down along with hundreds of people, looking normal enough to me until they got closer, approaching me, I was still nude, my feet firmly in the shallow golden sand.  It was like a second earth, but the plane looked so advanced, so futuristic, then I saw the faces of the people, similar to humans, their ears pointed though, their noses a little more flattened towards their faces, and their eyes bent slightly more upward at the corners, but everything else was the same.  The two captains approached me, confused beyond belief, bright blue uniforms and white hoods, the crowds behind them, looking around stunned. “What is this, who are you? Why do you look so strange?” they said, the first words to me from their species. 

“I’m just visiting, I was hoping you could point me to the closest city?” I asked politely. 

“The one we were heading to before something pulled us down, it’s an anomaly we didn’t die” one of them said.

“We fought the controls, but it was like something took them over, we said even said our goodbyes…” the other said. 

“How far away is the city?” I asked.

“We were 30 miles out” one said confused.  

“And what direction would that be?” I asked.  One of them pointed over my shoulder as I smiled.  I turned my heels in the sand and started walking down the beach in the direction they showed me.

“Hey, wait, what happened?”  they asked. I ignored them.

“How are we going to get back?!” the other yelled. 

“I’d start walking” I replied. 

              I enjoyed my stroll through the forest, admiring the strange woodland creatures, small mammals alike to some species from Earth, but not quite.  Walking down a dirt path towards an empty grey road, I could see towering skyscrapers in the distance, a huge bridge over a wide river.  Cars speeding past me, futuristic, aerodynamic, nothing like what we had on Earth.  A few nice people stopped for me, offering me a ride, maybe it was because I was nude, but their faces looked disturbed when they saw my human face, I could see the judgment in their eyes, I was fine with it. The soles of my feet blackened from the dirt and the tar as I crossed the bridge a few hours later, approaching downtown. 

Millions of people lived here, bigger than any city I had ever seen, flying objects all around, massive thousand foot tall buildings, huge groups of people everywhere, beautiful parks, lights in every section, hundreds of flying vehicles.  I was still getting strange looks, some horrified looks, some looks of confusion and some of arousal.  I picked up on the style that most of these beautiful alien women were wearing.  Skin-tight body suits showing the tops of their cleavage, exposed shoulders and arms apart from a few straps across their biceps, high heel black and white boots, white belts, white jewelry on their wrists and neck, and a white cape covered with artistic red patterns and shapes.  Their skin was a lot more pale than a normal human, everyone appeared healthy and fit, the men were well built and attractive, good genes maybe, eugenics even, the war that I witnessed as a kid had plenty of that.  Everyone seemed happy and free, the hum of electricity and strange music in the streets.  I covered myself in their female’s clothes, the smooth material hugging my skin, comfortable, my new high heeled boots clacking against the street as I wandered around without direction. 

              I had planned for a long time what I would do with a new civilization, so many twisting thoughts, so many deaths I could cause, not knowing how far this civilization even spread across the planet, billions of lives worth of potential, but that all changed when I entered the lobby of a massive skyscraper.  I saw a young alien woman, crying, alone on a strange hovering bench, the lobby in all white, transparent screens projecting colored images, glass elevators shooting up multiple floors like it was nothing.  I sat next to her, and stared at her from the side, peeking over her shoulder as she turned away from me in embarrassment. She continued to sob heavily into the palms of her pale hands.  I was curious enough, maybe my thousands of years away from any type of interaction prompted me to.  “Tell me what’s wrong” I said gently. Her sniffling and tears muffled into her hands, her lips curled into a frown as she lifted her head, strange blue tears rolling down her cheek, kind of beautiful I thought. 

“I… I….” she tried to speak between sobs and uncontrollable convulsions from her throat and chest.  Everyone else in the lobby ignoring her, going about their business, maybe emotions were handled differently on this planet, I questioned myself. 

“It’s okay, trust me, everything will be just fine for you” I said kindly.  She continued to sniffle as she closed her mouth, her eyes still watering with those dark blue tears.  After a few minutes she composed herself, I watched patiently as she tried to smile towards me.  Eventually, after a few heavy sighs from her, she looked at me.

“You look… different” she said.

“Because I’m not from here” I said. She nodded her head up and down, her eye still wincing, they were reddened and a little swollen. 

“Where are you from?” she asked.

“From very far away…” I said, I reached forward, placing my hand on the side of her pale arm, feeling the cool skin-tight white strap as opposed to my black strap, the material shiny and smooth on her.  I closed my eyes, feeling her heartbeat, strange to me, it beat rapidly three times between each re-activation, I breathed out slowly, feeling her mind calm. I could see the tension in her posture melt away as she sighed with relief. 

“How did you…” she spoke softly.

“Tell me what’s wrong” I said with a smile, retracting my arm, crossing my leg over another, the skintight material stretching at my crotch as I dangled my new boot over the other. 

“My companion… he doesn’t treat me very well” she started to speak.

“Companion?” I asked.

“Yes, our lifelong mating partner, assigned to us when we reach 20 cycles” she said.

“A cycle?” I asked

“A revolution of our planet around the binary stars… wow you really are from very far away” she said. 

“I see… please continue” I insisted.

“I cannot bear life, so he takes his frustrations out on me, violently” she spoke, I felt an ancient fire in my stomach begin to kindle when I heard that.  “The empire has been assigning companions to each other for hundreds of cycles in order to perfect our species’ genetic makeup, I am a one in a billion outlier, unable to bare offspring, a medical and scientific anomaly” she said.

“What does he do?” I asked.

“Since the empire severely condemns leaving a companion… he’s stuck with me, we try and try for new life and have been for 2 cycles, but I can’t do it, the doctors are baffled by my condition, so he overpowers me, hits me, I… deserve it, my body is broken, it’ll be okay, he will be fine one day” she said.

“No, you absolutely don’t, you don’t deserve that.  There can’t be anything farther from the truth, in fact, your body is not and has never been broken” I said. Her eyes looking towards the floor towards her feet.  Her words resonated within me, digging up such an ancient pain I hadn’t felt in thousands of years, no matter my blessed eternal youth, my tremendous universe altering powers, I could still feel the pain like a tiny scratching deep within my mind.  She looked in my eyes, I knew that she could feel like I knew what I was talking about. She nodded her head in agreement.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“A collective of habitats, including mine, I stepped downstairs to get away from him, our neighbors must be so used to it by now…” she said.

“So… he’s still upstairs?” I asked.

“Yes, that walking curse is still up there” she said, a little anger in her voice this time. 

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Azera” she said with a small smile, her pale cheeks still a dark pink from the stress of crying. “What’s yours?” she politely asked. 

“I don’t have one anymore” I stated, the young alien looking confused.

“Then what shall I call you, how can I thank you for listening to me and offering such kindness when none of my fellow dwellers will?”  she asked.

“I suppose you can address me as goddess” I said.

“Goddess? That’s a strange word” she said.

“Are your people familiar with religion?” I asked.

“I’m not sure what that means” she said.  Pausing for a moment as she looked at me, smiling again as she leaned towards me, “Thank you, goddess, you were the light I needed today” she said. 

“Azera, would you mind showing me to your home, I think I might be able to help you more than you think” I said.

“Sure, but… what are we going to do about… him?”  she sheepishly asked.

“Just leave that to me” I said. 

              I followed closely behind Azera as the people in the lobby looked at us with intense judgement, conversing along the way as our boots clacked against the black and silver panels.  I asked her numerous questions about her species and planet, their governments, their goals, their meaning of life, riding the translucent elevator up a hundred floors.  Their planet was relatively peaceful, fighting miniscule rebellions here and there from smaller outcast colonies, their empire spreading across most of the Earth-sized planet, ruled by a senate of pre-determined officials with superior genetics engineered from hundreds of years of scientific perfection, no religions, believing more in the progression of life, there was wealth disparity, genetic prejudice, opportunity, sadness, success, failure, life and death, living 40 years longer than an average human would, yet, their bodies aged less and remained younger until they expired, appearing only middle age at the end of their lives rather than withered as a human would. 

              Azera was a beauty as well.  Tall and slender, wavy black hair resting at her shoulders, the bangs of her hair coming to a point above her eyebrows, a deep violet eye color, something I had never seen before, a little smaller than average chest, but the skintight white clothing hugging around an envious butt, plump pale-pink lips, white jewelry pierced into her tall pointed ears, she had her fingernails to a sharp point, a little over the tips of her skin, the nails painted a deep midnight blue.  I followed her to the door, sliding open automatically as a small red orb scanned her, walking inside to the most futuristic furniture and decorations I had ever seen.  The home was huge, windows looking out on the entire metropolis form a thousand feet up, multiple rooms, what I assumed was a kitchen, transparent screens all over.  “This is amazing” I remarked to be polite, I did find myself curious how such an advanced planet developed that type of technology.

“Thank you, I worked very hard for this, only 22 cycles in age, I couldn’t be prouder of myself despite everything else holding me back” she said, her boots clacking against the smooth floor as she stepped down a few floating stairs.  She waved me over to a couch, my body sinking in perfectly and comfortably.

“Azera!  What is this?!”  A voice came from behind, there he was, messy black hair, and wiry eyes, he was well built, tall, angry looking.  He dropped a vial of a bright red liquid solution, the vial pinging against the ground.

“Were you… injecting?” Azera said.

“That is none of your concern! You shouldn’t have come back so soon!” he yelled.  I watched in silence, like I did as a girl with my mother.  He stepped closer to Azera as she hunched over in fear. 

“No, wait!” Azera pleaded as he swung his fist.  Raising my hand from the couch as I enveloped his body within my own gravity field, his body completely frozen in place, unable to move from the tight invisible grip I had around him.  Azera expected to be hit, bent over, protecting her head when she slowly opened her eyes, standing to her full height, looking at her companion confused. 

“Was this… you?” she asked me, looking over towards me, I nodded my head. 

“What would you like to do with him?” I asked, she didn’t respond, instead slapping him across the face as hard as she could, unable to speak himself, but a whimper coming from his throat.  Then she slapped him on the other side, then again, then again, his face swelling up red.  She screamed in anger, hitting him over and over, kicking at his legs with the heel of her boots, hitting him in the arms and the chest for minutes as she tired herself out.  We could both hear him trying to wheeze from his pain, but it was muffled under my grip.  “Should I let him go now?” I asked. She gritted her teeth and nodded, I released him, crashing to the floor in a thud as he began screaming in pain, his lips bleeding, his nose bleeding, admiring the fact that their blood was such a darker crimson than humans. 

“You can’t hurt me anymore… you don’t make me feel small anymore” she confidently said, standing over his body, looking down at him writhe.

“I hope you rot in an abyss, you broken, childless curse” he said, coughing.  Azera grew angry, I could see her spirit seething internally at his words, her fists balled up in rage. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he knows how small he really is…” I said.  Squeezing my fingers to my palm, I latched onto his essence, pulling tighter downward, feeling my breathing slow down as he began to shrink on the floor, shrinking smaller and smaller in front of Azera’s boots.  Azera smiling, leaning over, her arms crossed as she watched him dwindle down, his screams becoming higher pitched.  I released my grip when I thought Azera would be satisfied with his new shrunken form, watching on in pleasure from the couch as she smiled down at him.  Maybe 2 inches to her now, barely the height of the heel of her boot.  “Would you like him smaller?” I asked, seeing the little alien motionless on the floor.

“No… no! this is perfect, goddess, I had no idea this was… possible” she said, crouching down over him, the white clothing stretching over her tall legs, she bent her hand towards him as he tried to smack it away.  “Oh look, doesn’t feel good, now huh?” she said as she shoved a finger in his face, throwing him to the ground hard. 

“Anything is possible with a friend like me” I said with a smile. 

“I am eternally thankful, my entire life turning around in such a short amount of time… I couldn’t possible feel more free right now, I couldn’t feel more powerful” she said, poking at the little man below her thighs and in between her feet. 

“Step on him, you’ll feel the true power you have over him” I said. She looked at me confused, thinking about it, the little man struggling to get up, starting to run away from her down the empty flat surface. 

“Wont that kill him?” she asked.

“Most appropriately, yes” I said.  Azera looked at me, then at the tiny man running from her, she stood up, and slowly walked behind her companion, placing one boot in front of the other gently, the vibrations sending him tumbling to the ground at her toes before she slammed her boot on the other side of him.  She stood over him, hands on her hips, looking down with disdain, the tiny man petrified as she raised her black boot over him, a tiny scream coming from him as she slowly lowered her sole overtop him, pressing on him harder, feeling the man begin to audibly crunch bit by bit, a gush of a deep crimson blood spurting out in front of her toes as she grinded her boot into the floor, twisting his body into the treads. Azera stepped back, I could hear her triple heart beat faster and faster, looking down at the mangled mess on the floor, a puddle of dark blood and broken body parts that weren’t stuck on her boot.  “How did that feel?” I asked.

“Exhilarating… I… can’t describe this feeling… it’s…” Azera said, looking around the room, towards me, trying to find the words, she lifted her boot at the side, seeing little drops of blood drip from the side of her boot to the floor, a mashed up figure embedded between the gaps of her boot’s sole. 

“That’s alright, raw power will make you speechless at first” I calmly said.

“What if I get caught, punishments are so severe here!” she yelled, scared, frantic with emotion. 

“Trust me, you won’t get caught” I said.

“I trust you, more than most people… which is strange, yet… it feels right in my mind” she said, calming a bit.

“Good.  Now, how would you like to feel more of that raw power?” I asked.

“I… I’m not sure… I feel like there’s some kind of catch, like you might ask something of me” she hesitated, rightly so, I thought, it’s not often a strange otherworldly deity shows up to change a woman’s life, of course there would be some hesitation.   

“No catches… I just feel a connection with you, deeper than you might realize” I said. 

“What if… I can’t handle it?” Azera said.

“I’ll be there to help guide you through it, you deserve better than these people, I can help you get that” I said.

“Okay, goddess, lets change my life” she said with a smile.

“Excellent, answer this one question” I said.

“Anything” she replied.

“How do you feel about the people of this city?” I asked.

“You mean the people who never cared about me, watched silently as I was broken and defeated from genetics and the stain on my boot? They can all rot in an abyss” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. 

“Perfect…” I said. Teleporting both of us to the closest hill outside of the city limits, seeing the bustling metropolis at a great distance, the huge bridge connecting the main road into the mass of buildings and millions of people. 

“What happened?!” she exclaimed.

“I wouldn’t look down right away” I said.

“What? Why?” she said. 

We started to grow, focusing my energy on the both of us, our boots digging into the soft ground as we shot up 600 feet.  The city in the distance looking significantly smaller to us.  Azera looked down immediately at her boots crashing through a grouping of trees in front of her, bending them over like tiny toothpicks.  She began to wobble backwards, stumbling on her back heel digging into a cliffside as the rocks tumbled on her calf.  I reached out and grabbed her arm to keep her from falling down. 

“Told you not to look down right away” I said with a giggle.

“Everything looks so small now… this is incredible, goddess” she said, standing at my side as she caught her balance. 

“Do you like what you see?” I asked.

“I do, I feel like I’m trembling, this is so beautiful from up here, I feel so big, like everything looks like a toy to me” she said, excitement in her voice.  “An hour ago, I was hopelessly crying, cursing my future, scared for my life… then you showed up, I don’t know what to say…” she said, almost tearing up again. 

“Come on, let me show you how to have some fun with your newfound size” I said.  Azera following me close behind as we stomped through the dense forest, trees exploding under our boots as we made our way to the massive bridge over the river connecting to the city…