Tau wondered as he ever did, how it was he had become so favoured. That this woman: royalty of the highest order, a deity even, had chosen him over all others to share her bed.. and her secrets. There she lay. Serene and unaware of his inner thoughts, breathing softly, with her bare arms entwined in his. It was for all the world as though he was protecting her from harm. The reality was far, far different. It was all too easy to forget that this gently slumbering form was the greatest weapon the world had ever seen, and a slave. But, to him, she was much more than that.

He tenderly curled a lock of dark copper hair around his fingers, carefully moving it away from her face and smoothing it down with the rest of the shining cascade. She stirred as his lips pressed against her cheek. Then again to accept him as Tau lay back beside her, his body forming to hers, enveloping each other in a warm embrace. Tau’s sigh echoed oddly. He never had managed to get used to this room. Though it wasn't really a room so much as a huge pillared hall: one large enough to fit his.. godly lover in her true form. Even the fabrics they reposed upon were vast and course. A discomfort more than made up for by the presence of his Goddess.

He smiled to himself. The things they had done in this room... No doubt the Emperor would be furious if he knew. That his consort chose to lay with another rather than he.

But then the Emperor had no idea she could do this, to walk in human form, one with the mortals. Perhaps she knew not to trust him after all, to keep the full scope of her strength concealed. For, to him, she was the colossus, the monster, his weapon. He never saw this side of her. Human, vulnerable. If you'd care to believe it.

Tau mused on the Emperor. What would he do if he found them? Kill her? Or try at least. Almost certainly kill him? Would the Goddess choose her lover or her lord? Would she be the one to..

He'd seen it. Many a time. A word from the Emperor and his consort would crush them, tear them apart, devour them. Hard to believe this slumbering angel was the scourge of their world. Savage. Cruel.

His own.

The illusion was shattered when she received a summons. A thrumming note that grated on his nerves. Tau skittered back as she responded unconsciously, her body slowly expanding before she was even awake, gradually filling the oversized chamber with impossible, living, breathing flesh. He pressed his back to the wall, her eyes snapping open to reveal patterned orbs of emerald, narrowed in fury at the indignity. And he felt a rush of pity for the poor soul that would face his queen this night.

…………….

A vast metropolis, tense as the sun went down. It's light lending a pale pink blush to the glass windows of glittering skyscrapers. The only bright things in a darkening sky being a few straggly clouds, shining like neon with the last of the sunlight. A smattering of boats, heavily laden with people, cut a foaming path through the harbour waters. The passengers preferring to take their chances fleeing the city even though it was explicitly forbidden. City lights flickered on, and the air of nervous, expectant tension grew to feverish levels. But the horizons were clear. There was no word, nothing but an ominous silence.

They were late.

On the west side of the city the buildings had been swept away. A great flat plateau surrounded by an apocalyptic level of destruction: rubble and rusty flattened vehicles, skyscrapers toppled and fallen, or sporting great gaping wounds that dangled twisted metal and cables. A flush of greenery had started to reclaim it, mosses and scrubby plants hanging from the unlikeliest of places with tufty yellow grasses filling vast cracks in the ancient tarmac. Here and there a young tree threw out branches clad in fresh green.

Around this plaza, the scene of some ancient disaster, navy clad people were ranged. These were the honour guard of the Emperor, standing stiffly to attention as they had been for hours, waiting and waiting. The endless silence worse than anything. Or so they thought.

There was a shout from the rear of the guard and they turned as one. Far away, looking small on the horizon and striding casually in their direction, there was a figure. A collective shiver ran through the assembled guards, a hustle of activity as people hurried to their allotted spaces, all movement becoming stilled until there was naught but a deathly hush.

And in that silence, there was a rhythmic sound.. thud…… thud…… thud…...
A series of faint vibrations growing gradually stronger. Even without the sight of her strolling casually along the sandy beach, dabbing bare toes in the surf and glaring at the city with a grin, every person knew what the sound meant. It was hardwired into their brains, their every sense of survival. That they were coming.

Except, this time it was only her. The feminine figure towered to an impossible height, hundreds of feet tall, beyond all scope for compare. Her hair hung in long wavy lines down her back, threaded with gold. More gold and silver glittered at her throat and arms: fine decorative filigrees that clung to her skin and accented every curve. She wore a long thin dress, black and clinging, plunging at the neckline to reveal an ample cleavage and parting at her thighs to give tantalising glimpses of long, lithe legs as she strode purposefully towards her destination.

Even at a regular size, she would have been breathtaking, but as she was...she was a beautiful and terrifying goddess. And the way her eyes narrowed at the world around her showed that she didn't think much of it.

At the outskirts of the city she turned, heading towards the plaza and growing more and more massive to the guards there, shivering in fear as the violent tremors worsened. Bits of sand kicked from her toes as she pressed them down with a heavy thump that sank into the torn asphalt. Her hands moved to her hips and lips pursed in anger. Then she lifted her finger to point out the rapidly departing boats and demanded an answer as to why they had been allowed to leave.

And this was the Empress…

She cocked her head down at the tiny shape of the man who answered. A figure clothed in bright orange, standing atop a crude plinth that bridged two fallen buildings.  His voice cracked and stammered as he bumbled excuses to the Empress towering over him, filled with cool rage. She turned her head away from the tiny trembling man, fixing her glare on the slow moving vessels. They were oblivious of her hungry gaze, the yearning in her body that would be so terrible for the passengers if she gave into it for even a moment. And she could recapture them so easily.
“Be silent, fool,” she growled with her eyes still on the ships, and his stammering ceased “Now bring them back.”

Her eyes were darkened, her teeth gritted in silent fury as she watched, immobile, her body drawing every eye even as she stood. She showed no emotion when the guards sent out their own vessels and hovering drones to order the ships to turn and return to harbour. Most complied, perhaps hoping to wriggle out of reprisals, but one continued on its way, preferring the slim hope of escape to facing an angry giantess. One without a scrap of mercy.
“Kill them.” she growled, still motionless. Unmoved even when the shock wave fanned her long hair and the orange flames of the explosion rose into the air.

Her eyes were still focused on the returning vessels when a voice behind her made her turn, the speaker stuttering from his little platform, asking what the millions of inhabitants in the city were already thinking.
“Your highness? Majesty? Please, where is the Emperor… the honour guard? We, we have the tribute-”
The Empress turned sharply and he caught a soft scent of some exotic perfume she wore. A rich, sweet, flowery aroma that lingered in the folds of that gigantic gown. The fabric shifted, toned thighs turning her body and stepping up close so she could stare down at him. Fury burned in her eyes, betraying her action before she moved. The man leapt back when her hands slammed against his platform, fingers curving over it to twist the thick metal struts like they were made of soft toffee. 

And she leant down until her beautiful face was only ten feet in front of his body, her hair fluttering forwards so he was surrounded by a mass of copper. Her breath washed over his body, hot and humid. Her voice enough for him to clap his hands over his ears, though she only spoke in a low voice.
“The Emperor? He's not coming. It's just you and me. Won't that be nice?”
“T-this is m-most irregular-”
“Are you questioning me?”
“No! N-no! It's just we don't know what we've d-done. . The t-tribute…”
“The rules pertaining to the tribute have changed. This time I come and I take it all. Whatever and whoever I want to do whatever I want with. And what I want is your whole fucking city and every last one of you little pricks in it.”
“No… please… if we could just speak to the Emperor. .”
“He's not interested in your pleas. Who do you think sent me? He's not going to save you this time. You pushed your luck and now you have to deal with me. I'm going to wipe this place of the map and there's nothing any of you can do to stop me..”

She flashed him white teeth when he began to wail, rising to screams as she tore that platform to doll rags, burying him, squeals and all, amongst rubble and dust of his own platform. Unconcerned, the Empress merely straightened her dress, dusting away some of the debris that dared to defile it. The nearest guards fled, not from her soles, but from the boulders of broken concrete that slammed into the ground around them. She gathered the glossy fabric, lifting it a little to stride through the mess and step up to the lit pathway that marked the city limits for the tiny people. The line she agreed not to cross as long as the mite sized inhabitants of the world obeyed their least whim.

Her hair fluttered again when she turned to gaze at the vessels brought to dock to face her justice, shining as it draped gracefully over one shoulder. She didn't care for them, she had more than enough toys for now. And command rang out a second time.
“Kill them.” There was hesitation from her guards, hesitation that seemed to infuriate her fragile temper and her voice snapped harshly “All of them. Do it. NOW.” They rushed to obey, but she didn't bother to stop and watch, instead turning her gaze back to the swarming streets only a few feet from the tip of her toes. The Empress smiled savagely and, as the orange flames billowed out once more from the ships at her back, she lifted her foot over the barrier and stepped into the city.

…………….

In the absence of his queen, summoned as she was to attend whatever whim of her Lord this time, Tau made his way through halls and passages deliberately too narrow to allow her through. But both of them had explored them, and all corners of their palace and grounds while her lord had slept. Here he kept the paintings and murals as tribute to his reign. Images that pasted her as the mindless monster and he as the gleaming God. He shuddered as he remembered the anger on her face when she first saw them.

For it had been a full hundred and fifty years since the two had appeared and set about conquering the world: The Emperor riding at the shoulder of the Empress: his ultimate superweapon. Generations had been born, lived and died under their thumb, under his rule.  And every picture here depicted some conquest or some grim defeat of the world that preceded them. Had it really been so long? They both appeared ageless. Flawless and untouched by time. Yet none were alive to remember how the world had been before.

Tau stiffened and kept his head up, ignoring two whispering maids that passed him, off on some errand or another. It didn't matter, his uniform gave him a free pass over most of their domain.

Ah. The last picture: the oldest and truest. The Empress striding through the flames of destruction, her body lit a lurid orange and red, and there, barely visible, the most minute figure reposing against her neck. How many times had she told him she wished it was he?

There were a thousand theories that told of who they were, where they were from, how they came to be. Nobody ever knew for sure and she certainly weren't telling, even if she knew. No one even knew their names. Only their titles. The Emperor and the Empress… the new Gods of the new world.

They had taken this vast sprawling city as a capital. The giantess levelled entire city blocks filled with people, flattening a vast area ringed with debris and here, the Emperor ordered the construction of this palace. It had taken years to create: a vast pillared structure large enough to house the mighty goddess. Tau had to admit it was beyond impressive. The throne room opened up below him. His place a balcony far above the room. It was immense, larger than any cathedral, but there was no throne. Instead, one end featured a raised dias, covered in ornate layers of rich fabrics to make a comfortable platform for the rulers to gaze down upon the ruled.

The balcony looked down upon this impossible room. The Emperor stood here sometimes, perhaps even the same place Tau now waited, to watch as Tau now watched his pet toying with her tidbits.

But for now the Emperor occupied the dias. An impossibly tall, muscular man, clad only only in a simple black tunic edged in gold,that barely concealed his powerful frame. And he smiled as he sat there, passing judgement over the mortals he ruled with a colossal iron fist.

But despite his imposing stature, it was his queen who drew the most attention. Tau gazed down upon her with awe. The Empress lay sprawled behind him, her immense body filling the room from wall to wall, her eyes glittering as he questioned trembling prisoners or met with his servants. She paid them little attention. There was only one part of an interrogation she was truly interested in.

For they were not of one mind these two. The Emperor was cold, cruel and savage: a selfish power hungry brute of a man.

But as for the Empress….

…………….

The first step into the city was already catastrophic. People screamed and tried to run, but they couldn't move fast enough to get away from the shadow of her bare foot. Cars and buses folded like tin foil, collapsing over their occupants until they oozed in deep red pools from the twisted metal. And next the people. Many screamed in the last few seconds of their lives, shrieking in agony and their bodies split and crunched, sunk into a vast depression with thicks gore filling the cracks in the streets. The Empress smiled at the sensation, bits of bodies fluttering down, or sticking to her sole when she lifted it again. And every step was the same… hoards of people buried and murdered and every tiny scream only making her smile wider.

Flexing her fingers, she thrust her arms to the sides. Glass rained down from them while she dragged hands and fingers through the buildings as she strode through the streets. She tore through walls like thin crackers, filling the air with the crumbling of stone, the tinkling of glass and screams of terror. Her eyes were fixed on one structure, a tall glass one which showed her reflection in the rippled glass, growing bigger and bigger with each step.

She was only a few strides away when another speaker addressed her, his voice cracking and broken from the rooftop.
“Goddess, Majesty, please stop.. we have everything you asked for…”
Her glare silenced him and he met her eyes for the briefest moment before shuddering and turning his head. And now he found himself on eye level with her magnificent breasts, and hard nipples that showed clearly through the thin material, either one large and hard enough to break his body if she chose. And she hissed between her teeth, taking a deep breath and pulling that fabric tight over her chest and when she spoke her voice was filled with wrath.
“You dare to look at me? You worm? You insect! You dare to tell me when I should be sated? You damn fool. And now you can die…”

He felt the rush of air, saw the way the shadow fell over him and even felt that tiniest moment of agony when she smashed his body with her fist, pulping him and slamming through rows of floors. Hundreds more died in her execution of one person, the building gutted and broken with the descent of her hand. Broken furniture hung from the ruins. The Empress turned with an angry growl, looking down with distaste, snapping down at the injured below.
“Anyone else?” and her hand swing. The building seemed to explode from the impact, lifting from its foundation, debris rippling from the epicentre of the blow as the whole thing came down like a card house. Entire rows if buildings were obliterated, buried and broken as it came down and was hidden by a rush of grey dust.

The Empress merely turned from the carnage like it was nothing, brushing rubble from her clothes and eyeing up her target. Cruel amusement was written all over her face as she continued her deadly walk to her destination. The building shook on its foundations and the tiny citizens flooded from the lobby doors, trying to escape the death approaching them. The Empress let them go, merely kicking her lips at the sight of them running. Let them run. For with her plans for the city they'd all perish anyway. Rules or no rules. It had been too long. Too fucking long.

When she reached the skyscraper she pressed herself right against it, caressing it lovingly, whispering to the people inside with a tenderness. The Empress turned once more to address the city at large, drumming gigantic fingers over the glass on the far side.
“This is how we deal with rebels.. and now all of you will pay for it..” the walls yielded under her thrusting hands, the shining threads in her hair catching the light as it flew. The Empress tore into the very heart of the building, ripping it apart, scything through it with ease and smashing it over the city. Hundreds of people were crushed under questing fingers, buried in rubble or tossed into the air, and she tore it down her eyes closed in as though seeking something.

And it seemed she found it. A triumphant cry and she held aloft a miniscule figure, wailing in terror as she closed her eyes and crushed him to a bloody pulp. The Empress drew a long breath, her smile wider than ever as she felt the death of this one. Though she'd killed so many. The first this day to die directly at her hand.
“I have you all now..” she purred “but I'm going to destroy it all anyway…”  She thrust out her arm and sent the building crashing to the ground. The first rebel. And now the first stronghold. It really was too easy.

Initially she ignored the mobs at her feet, they were little more than a squashy distraction from her prize. But still, their shrieks amused her, and her grin was broad enough to show her appreciation every time she took a step and flattened countless worthless lives. They folded in on themselves, bones snapping and piercing soft flesh, guts blurting out from skin and leaving nothing but sodden rags of clothing and pulped flesh dotting the perfect imprints of her feet in the asphalt. The Empress turned, lifting a bare foot and curling her toes over the roof of a low building, her eyes narrowed with glee as she turned back to admire the destructive path she had left already: the rows of sunken prints dotted with red pulp, gutted buildings, flattened cars and black smoke rising into the air.

The Empress gritted her teeth and pushed her foot down through the building, caving in floors and burying the puny inhabitants under her. She purred softly in delight, in arousal. All the death and carnage was turning her on more than ever and she knew she'd have to do something about it soon. For now though, she was content with blood.

Her next target was a sleek white line of train cars, driving along an elevated track, the low sun glinting off the windows. She caught it deftly and the terrified passengers found their progress suddenly halted, flying from the seats and corridors to slam violently at one end. The dizzying ride didn't stop, and they were tossed like sweets in a jar, the forces making them sick with fear as the cars were lifted and swung back and forth. The Empress spun on her heels,  the black fabric swirling around her magnificent body as she pondered the fate of this tempting toy, smiling in through the windows at the tiny battered people. Her people, her toys. All of them helpless before her.

The Empress ran her fingers over the cars, feeling the ridges around doors and windows, the way the weight shifted when she tapped it against one thigh. Then she settled on a middle car, her eyes gleaming suddenly when her fingers curled around it and she squeezed it hard enough to buckle the metal frame, a deep primal growl in her throat at the lifting screams. It was easy, too easy, a little more force and she'd crush dozens of people to death. But instead she lifted the carriage to her face, the other cars swinging wild at the sides, and peered in at the terror rising within.  And there in the middle of the throng of people was an outline dressed in white.  One person foolish enough to trust her. One of her creations.. the delightful rebels who made this all possible. She fixed him with her gaze, making sure he knew she was looking at him, that her remark was for him and him alone, as she swung a hand to encompass the city skyline. Her voice a soft whisper as she pressed her lips against the carriage
“I thank you all for this…” and then she bit.

Her white teeth pierced the metal shell like it was thin toffee, the passengers screaming as the walls first lifted, then split asunder. They scurried to the sides, a few unfortunates lifted on the teeth and shrieking when they met, severing and crushing them at the same time and spraying the interior with blood. The windows turned red, those that hadn't shattered at least. And after she worked the car round her teeth, ensuring she pinned every last tiny subject, merely for the misfortune of being on the same train as her victim. She held the string of intact carriages to one side, dangling them hundreds of feet over the streets, swinging them slowly back and forth. She lifted them to her eyes, assessing them disdainfully and curling her lip into a sneer
“I have no use for you.” she told them, swinging it one last time before she released it from her fingers.

It fell like a furled ribbon, clipping one rooftop with a crash and spinning over itself, shattering the streets and rolling over the fleeing people on the ground. The empress didn't even look at what she had done, she merely strode through as though it wasn't even there, pressing bare toes over the crumpled metal and sliding through her eyes firmly on the next temptation.

…………….

Not two days before this scene, when the Empress had been roused from her repose, forced to abandon her lover to oversee yet another interrogation, even Tau avoided her. She never liked being summoned so, and wasn't one to be subtle in her anger. Taking her place in the hall, her eyes briefly found those of her lord, that same fury blazing apparent in her face. He met it with a cool, unfathomable look as ever, only the curl to his lip betraying his humour at her annoyance. The silence was a tense one. Fire meeting ice. Every person in the hall waiting for the inevitable clash that would doom them all. It never came. The Empress backed down and turned away to take her position. She never saw him let out the most miniscule sigh of relief.

But Tau did.

Uniformed enforcers dared to interrupt by dragging a diminutive, grey clad figure over the smoothly tiled floor. The Empress merely sighed, uninterested, first flicking her eyes to her watching lover, then turning to the waves breaking silently over the beach and the distant shadowy outline of skyscrapers hugging the coastline.

She took a deep breath and shut her eyes, counting slowly to ten before risking a glance again. The Emperor was speaking in a low, cool voice, questioning the prisoner but getting little response from the trembling, yet apparently stubborn, man. The Empress growled her frustration, eager to try the resolve of the man against her tender charms. But no. She would,  as always, wait until commanded.

It was times like this that she wished fervently for the old times. She remembered the first conquests fondly: cities and nations she'd razed to the ground before the people finally got the idea and surrendered. The world bowing to their least whim.

Oh, Some had resisted still, for a while at least. But she had enjoyed that too. Navies obliterated, armies and nations wiped out. After a year of bloody armageddon they lost a lot of taste for the fight. The last pockets of resistance were stamped out. The world was theirs!

And it was boring.

The Empress didn't want to lay and be quiet, watching the judging of these little insects. She wanted to conquer and to kill them. And now she had to sit and behave herself, leering over the shoulder of the Emperor like some damn trophy, fawning over him like a dog. While they passed unencumbered through her halls, past her. It was like an insult, the mice tap dancing across the floor right under the nose of the cat.

Not that she didn't get perks, of course. Servants who went missing, and were never heard of again. Their families mourned them silently, never saying a word nor raising a complaint. And as for the Emperor: either he didn't care or didn't notice. Maybe both. There were plenty of toys. And there were other treats. Perhaps a birthday, or just when he felt her losing control, enough to placate her lusts for a little while at least. Of course they were criminals for the most part. Thieves and rapists all, or sometimes just people who'd pissed him off. Nobody ever said he was nice.

Just nicer than her.

Usually anyway.

There'd been some the night before. A little steel “box” filled with terrified tiny morsels. It was rare she had them in privacy, and had indulged her lover with a taste of her play. A smile flicked across her face. That had been fun. But it wasn't enough anymore. She wanted cities… towns… airports… docks…. millions and millions of people at her mercy. Not just some treats to hold her awhile. Her fingers curled, clenching round the opulent fabrics she lay over, tugging the heavy brocade into vast folds and wrinkles. Her eyes glinted down at the tiny figures on the floor, as though seeing them for the first time. The hunger was all to evident in her.

She wanted everything.

The man moved suddenly, drawing her attention as he knelt, not to the Emperor, but to her. His words rang out in the hall. Words that drew a warm flush of pleasure to her cheek and an angry hiss from her lord…

“My goddess.”

…………….

An elegant pair of towering spires, joined by rows of glass bridges, all the windows ranged with tiny faces. The twin skyscrapers dominated the skyline, thin strips of copper and gold underlining each row of windows, making it glitter in the low sun. The Ignis Building held some strange fascination for her, strange for the citizens at least. The Empress knew exactly what the pull was: it was the only thing on the city she was explicitly forbidden to touch.

The people here were much more brazen in watching, thinking themselves safe from her wrath. It had always been so before. The Empress planted her hands on her hips, standing up straight by the structure as though measuring herself against it. Their confidence faltered, tiny people backed away from her awesome visage, holding their breath in fear. Her eyes moved along the ranks, jealousy stirring in her gut as she picked out each terrified pair of eyes.

She wondered who they were, and what special hold they had over her lord. Why they had been spared the scourge on the rest of their world. Then she sighed, seeming to deflate and her tense body stepped around the building, making it vibrate with the heaviness of her tread. Inside the people breathed a sigh of relief. The way she had looked at them, that look of hunger. Not one of the chosen few had tasted the fear that afflicted the rest of humanity.

The Empress froze, her bare toes hovering over the swarms of panicking humanity and one hand braced on the rooftop of a neighbouring structure. She drummed her fingers over it in deep thought. Her head turned slowly and her fierce gaze was drawn back to the Ignis.

The low sun made the facade glow a dusky orange on one side, making it look like a fire crowning the towering spires. The Empress’ reflection, capped in the same brightness and rippled by the rows of windows, smirked back at her, the mirror image seemingly calling her back to the forbidden structure. Almost entranced, she took a step back, caressing the smooth walls and pressing her cheek against it. And she went still, listening to the faint cries coming from within.

…………….

At such a brazen act of defiance, the Emperor had risen, full of wrath. Yet another fanatic who had devoted themselves to her. He wasn't the first, but damn him, he would be the last. His queen had stilled, awaiting the inevitable word, her hands tugging at the rich fabrics and teeth gritted in anticipation. That drew a smile back to that cruel face. He lifted a hand, and called her forth.
“Bring him, pet.”

When she moved it was as though the whole room reformed around her. The ground shuddered, the air shifted. It was like a rising mountain given life. The enforcers, previously so cool and collected, scattered back leaving the grey man alone. He stumbled, tried to drag himself to his feet and fell back again, finally laying prostrate before her. Her shadow covered him, then her hand. It came down to cage his minute body, sweeping him up and high into the air, almost blacking out with the G forces. There was a crunch, his ribs cracking.

The Empress shifted and rose, padding softly up behind the Emperor, bowing her head in supplication. He took the hint, smiling at the sight of this gigantic fiend asking permission for this morsel. He nodded and she purred in reply, tracing the squirming body up under her clothes and pinching him over one hard nipple. The Emperor watched with an imperious smile at the display, turning his head to growl “get out!” at the shocked enforcers.

They didn't need telling twice.

Later that tiny man was introduced to the silky wet heat inside her sex, and that's where he met his end. The last thing he ever saw were the titanic fingers of the Empress as she broke his body to bits, the booming moans of her cruel lust ringing in his ears.

The Emperor had watched the execution eagerly as he always did, a secretive smile on his face, musing on his queen. She had been such an innocent girl, frightened and desperate, imbibed with a power that scared her: exactly what he had needed. And she'd turned out better than he'd dreamed. Now, she was a monster pure and simple, an absolute demon in disguise. He had managed to erase every last scrap of pity from her gigantic black heart. And best of all.. she was his, completely and utterly. His most prized of servants.

There was a shriek from her captive, and a horrific snapping sound. Gods, she had a hunger for this stuff. She even terrified him sometimes. He couldn't help but be thankful she remembered nothing of her breaking, or her conditioning. And he dread to think what would happen if she ever did.

For there had been something magnificent about seeing such power contained. Her gigantic body bound with heavy cabling. Confining her. Controlling her. She was stubborn, but the years had broken her:  years confined in darkness and hunger. Only he granted her brief moments of light. She never knew it was he that had imprisoned her in the first place. It was almost too easy to mould her tortured thoughts, convince her of the evil that owned him, to finally solidify in her that she needed him for her very existence. That this which had made her into a monster would consume her mind without all he provided her.

It was a lie. In truth he had merely wanted her as a mighty slave to do his bidding. And since they had been unable to duplicate or isolate her ability, it had to be her. In time she forgot her name. Her God giving her a new one, one to mark her as his loving, doting goddess. Months became years. Years turned into decades.

Until finally she was his. Body and soul.

Her lust for power and vengeance had grown, consuming all else, and matched only by his own. His desires akin to hers. It didn't take much to secure her servitude in exchange for her freedom. Even after all this time he shuddered. Her revenge on the military who kept her down had been breathtaking, terrible and magnificent. She was utterly unstoppable. He shivered inwardly again. If she ever so much as guessed as much….

…………….

“Empress….”
She turned slowly, her expression becoming cold as her eyes fixed upon the sleek lines of a hovering craft, one of the navy uniformed guards addressing her.
“You shouldn't be doing that miss” he spoke with complete confidence, as though she were just another citizen caught in some minor misdeed. Her eyes widened momentarily in surprise at his apparent fearlessness. But, of course, the guards were a strange lot, fanatics the lot of them and they'd always enjoyed a certain impunity. Then her face changed. It gave away her anger: it was the wrong way to address someone with her arrogance.

Her body had stilled, the city seemingly falling silent, as though waiting with bated breath for the inevitable response. She drew out the tension, glaring daggers at the diminutive figure who dared address her so crassly. Even he paled under her gaze, suddenly seeming to realise his folly, his frailty.
“I'm sorry,” she growled in a low, dangerous voice “at what point did you gain authority to order me?” her eyes narrowed, her tone becoming softer, a cruel hiss of a whisper that made the hairs rise on the neck of every person who heard it.
“If you say one damn word about the Emperor, just one fucking word. He might be in charge of you insects, but…” the Empress lifted a single finger and pressed it against the forbidden glass. The tip whitened with the pressure, then burst through the outer walls and with a painstakingly slow movement. She dragged it down through the floors one by one, sprinkling rubble down the sides “...he's not in charge of me.”

She finished with a violent jerk, thrusting her hand deep into the building and curling her fingers over the squashy parcels within. She dragged them out, despite their screams and protests, bringing them up to her face. They cowered under her glare: there was not one scrap of empathy for them in her eye and every one felt the terrifying chill in their spine.
“I don't see that these are any more significant than the rest of you..” Her thumb moved, hovering over the pile of living people, curving over and plunging into the mass. She was rewarded with a shriek, the flutter of tiny hands beating at the thumb, a wet snap and a spurt of wetness. Her thumb lifted, the tip dripping red over the rest, and she stared down at it.

“You certainly die as easily..” she closed her fist around them, preparing to crush the whole crowd to death when she heard a click to her side. That damn guard had armed the weapons on his craft, aimed directly at her as he demanded yet again that she cease.
“Make me.” she growled and she brought her fist down over the craft, smashing it from the air and sending the wreck hurtling to the ground. With a smile hovering on her lips she tightened her fist over the flaming mess, raining the bloody remains of crushed people insolently over it.

She stared at it for a long moment, the heat fanning her hair and the glow from the fire illuminating her expression, marred with uncertainty for the first time. This was her first open act of defiance, no accident nor snaffling away toys, no plot. She had explicitly made her statement to the world, and to him. She was his no longer.

And if that was the case….

The Empress turned to the building with murder in her eyes, betraying her true intent. She ran her fingers along the delicate glass bridges, caressing them with colossal fingers, the fragile construction shaking with her touch and sending the people scattering.
“That's right.. run.” she snarled in fury, wrapping the top one in her hand “Your protection is no longer in effect. Die nicely for me, filth.” the Empress gripped it tightly and pulled. Cracks coiled over the glass surface, marring it, and then the bridge was ripped clear. Glass sprayed from it and tumbled down, dark specks flailed as they lost grip and fell, their last word a scream before they struck the distant ground.

The bridge itself, not made to take such stresses, shattered in her fist, so when the Empress released it, it was little more than bodies and debris. She cast it aside with indifference, paying no attention to the fall of the ruin, nor the faint cries that grew silent when the owners struck the ground.

The Empress stood panting over what she had done, her eyes flashing down at the glass strewn over the streets.
“Fuck hunting rebels.” she muttered to herself. There was a marked change in her behaviour. She had oozed confidence before, her colossal body radiating a fierce, barely restrained, wall of savage lust. Suddenly that last hint of restraint was broken down, her expression was terrible to behold. There was nothing she cared for, nothing she'd pause before destroying. The whole world was her sandbox and its inhabitants, her toys.

She stood straight by the twin buildings, stretching to her full indomitable size. Her eyes flashed with defiance and she braced her hands against the scarred structure, making it tremble on its foundations. She heard more craft buzz her, more voices demanding she stop or passing on messages from the Emperor. She smiled over her shoulder, lifting both arms into her hair as she arched her body against one tower. Her leg hooked it, the fabric shimmering in the light as it parted around her thigh. Her arms wrapped it and she kissed the facade, embracing the structure like a lover. Her breasts pressed into the walls sending plumes of debris down as she slowly crushed the building against herself.

The air was suddenly full of noise and fire, the men firing at her. Her clothing fluttering and burning, skin tingling with the warm air that did.. nothing. They couldn't hurt her, couldn't take her down and as her flowing dress combusted around her body, the goddess appeared to be aflame. Her body awash in corscating orange, the building shattering from deflected hits and shock waves. The Empress stood at the centre of hell and laughed.

…………….

Her plotting had been ten years in the making. Ten years of scheming and sneaking. The people were reluctant, more than reluctant. One hundred and fifty years was not enough to erase the horrors she had inflicted on the people. But there are always those willing to betray, whether out of fear, love, hate, hope or some misguided idea of wiping out the cruel overlord. But she had sought them out and sown the seeds of dissent through the tiny inhabitants of the world.

Tau, of course, was the chief arbiter of her plans

“Empress?”
The tentative voice interrupted her thoughts. It was never the same talking to her like this. She was far more cruel, feral even. Sometimes even he doubted whether it was an act or genuine contempt. But it didn't matter. As long as the Emperor believed it.

Completely unashamed, she sprawled out over her private quarters, wearing nothing but fine bands of gold. Her whole colossal form was dotted with people, slaves given the punishment, or dubious honour, of cleaning her bare skin.

The Empress stretched one limb lazily, pinning one hapless individual beneath her toes, gripping and curling them over the frantic body, owning his every motion while she addressed her lover.

“Speak.” The bluntness was a deep echoing purr, throwing echoes around the room as the black clad figure crept nervously into the light. She didn't turn her head, she merely crossed one leg over the other, gripping the minute slave in curled toes, smirking at his struggling as he dangled over the air.
“It's all in place my Empress. The rebels are set to start their attack as you commanded-” He,  hesitated, distracted by the progress of the man clutched helpless in her toes, begging and pleading for a scrap of pity
“We await only your word..”

The Empress gave no sign she had heard, silently supervising the progress of two slaves climbing her breast, hosing down her bare skin, scrubbing it lightly, removing every speck of dirt from her. A jet of icy water hit her sole and she gasped, her toes pinning that culprit convulsively. He, at first, remained silent. Every slave knew she savoured their yells and suppressed them in the hope she would bore of tormenting them. It never worked, she always managed to get them to cry for her.

He did so now, the grip of her toes powerful enough to crack his ribs, sending a surge of pain through his miniscule little body. She held him in place, her gaze furious.
“That was cold..” she growled, transferring his body to the ground, pressing him over the surface and adding more weight. Her calf muscles tensed, his wails grew in pitch, his face purpling, then with an awful noise, he crunched and went still. His remains oozing guilty lines over the floor.

The silence was absolute, the Empress dragging his remains back and forth over the once spotless floor.
“You missed a bit,” her voice came back low and deadly “now clean it up.”
Tiny people rushed to obey her, scrubbing and massaging her skin, delicately clearing away the redness from the sole without tickling her. Only then did she deign to answer the nervous Tau.
“Do it.”

She expected the visitor to leave, but instead he lingered, his voice more than a little nervous
“My Goddess… are you not concerned for spies?” The figure flinched visibly under her gaze,unable to suppress the shiver of fear that filled every fibre of his being. There was such cold ponderous power in her lightest motion, how could anyone even feel more than fear and reverence for her? He waited, expecting a snarl, or worse, for speaking out of turn, but she swept her gaze back to the people on her bare skin
“I'll take care of it.” She smirked “Now go… and tell the guards to seal the doors on the way out. I need to deal with the witnesses.”

He scurried from the room, the gigantic doors closing with a snap behind him. The sound of screams following him down the hall as his goddess made true on her promise. Slaughtering every slave to the very last. Somehow.. though he'd never admit it. It thrilled him. Here was one who offered him her love.. a murderer through and through.

…………….

Miles away from the scenes at the Ignis, at a vast towering citadel, the Emperor was having his security forces make short work of another stronghold. The rebels had infiltrated the highest orders of their dystopian society, and now they were being ruthlessly eradicated. And not just the rebels: every last council member, every worker, down to the most minor of servants. Far more methodical, the Emperor simply ordered them all put to death. Them and every last member of their families for daring to gainsay him.

The Emperor was smiling, gazing down at what he had done with relish. And it was then that he noticed the sheepish guards trying to catch his attention. How they even dared approach after witnessing what he had just done…

Then he saw the projected scenes they were showing him and his face flushed in anger.
“That bitch.” he growled, turning his body and striding furiously in her direction.
“Stop her!” he commanded, the message relayed to all the military in the area. They wouldn't stop her, he knew, but perhaps distract her long enough.

It would take him over an hour to get there, he knew already it would be too late to do anything, but, by God, he'd make her pay dearly for her defiance.

His car bounced over the rocky ground, speeding along as fast as it could go. In the back seat, growling in anger, the Emperor sat on opulent seats. He was trying to remain cool and unruffled, but the cracks were showing through his usually impenetrable mask. The men around him uneasy, wondering if the rumours were true, that he had lost control of his…. pet. Under his command she was bad enough, but loose? There was no power on all the earth that could stop her doing exactly as she wanted with them all.

A thud, the ground shook violently and the distant noise of artillery carried along on the wind, the unmistakable sound of gigantic laughter. His guards cast uneasy glances at the Emperor, trying to read him in some way, to see what fate was in store for them, and for her. Not one of them could suppress a shudder at the glee in her voice, they all knew that such happiness could only be at the expense of some poor souls.

When the Emperor caught sight of her it was far worse than he could have ever imagined. She glowed amidst the attack of his forces, her colossal body replacing one of the Ignis buildings on the skyline. The absent structure was in ruins, battered and broken. For the first time a flash of fear crossed his face. His hands balled into shaking fists as he gaped. If she so much as caught a whiff of what he had hidden there, then there would be nothing to keep her from her vengeance.

The Emperor banged on the glass separating him from the driver, the material vibrating with the force and he growled deeply, a threat in every word, demanding they move faster.

…………….

It was a delight, letting them attack her, their mighty weapons caressing her skin. Her clothing fell in fiery rags, glowing orange beads lining each fluttering scrap. They blackened the city below her, igniting trees and burning people. Thick smoke rising on the breeze and carrying up the stink of it. The air was fouled by fires, ash spinning on the air currents as the Empress swung an arm in a lazy arc through it. The black
smoke whirled through the air in its wake, pattering against the grimy glass of the remaining building.

Lifting waves of heat made the image waver, the scene filled with a fug of fumes and scalding choking air. The visibility was terrible, an unnatural stuffy darkness falling over the streets. The vessels firing at her lost in a black fog, which put them at a terrible disadvantage. Faint lights marked their ships in the acrid smoke, tracing their movements. The giantess swiped one from the air with a laugh, her hand slamming into the hulk and sending it into a deadly spin, clipping one structure with an explosion of debris and plunging down into packed streets, leaving a long churned up groove.

Laughter cut through the other sounds, booming through the city, momentarily drowning out all other sound. Her hand swept clear of the suffocating smoke, a second ship firing desperately at her hand as she clutched it, striding clear of the black swirling clouds with a savage smile. Only a few scraps of charred fabric hung from her body, hiding very little of her gigantic form.  Charcoal stained her skin, and the Empress lifted the ship to her face, smiling at the horrified pilots and parting her lips to rasp a tongue along the fragile shell. A trail of saliva followed the immense tongue when she finished her lick with a flourish, her free hand reaching for the ship, preparing to prise it open like a cockle.

Then she froze.

A small sound seemed to cut through all the others. A sound she was attuned to more than any other. A low, dangerous voice calling to her. In an instant, the terrifying visage changed: her face showed anger, defiance, shame and.. fear? Her confident bearing seemed to switch to something more akin to a child caught in the middle of doing something they know full well is wrong.

The Empress turned slowly, still clutching the vessel in one hand, tightening her grip possessively, dimpling the sides. The pilots yelled when they saw the metal shell bending inwards, preparing to have their lives ended by the crushing metal. It never came, the Empress was distracted by that voice. That one voice she couldn't defy. The streets had fallen silent on one side, a procession of people and vehicles moving towards her. She straightened up, full of furious defiance towards the Emperor who dared to come interrupt her fun. And for the first time the Emperor shivered inwardly at the sight of her. Not once before had she looked down at him with such venom.

Even he couldn't keep the vibrato from his voice, the hesitation picked up by the giantess towering over them. Her eyes were narrowed to suspicious slits. What was he hiding from her? It was a tense moment, seemingly frozen in time and yet again the Empress buckled first, her gaze turning elsewhere and her body seemingly sinking down in supplication. She almost seemed to shrink, her air of cruel confidence evaporating as she took a step back and averted her eyes, looking more like a naughty child than the savage being she was.

When he demanded she move, she moved, to kneel, she knelt, only the slight tightening of her lips betraying the fury within. The Empress bowed her head in deference, holding out a vast hand for him. He ignored the bloodstains marring  her smooth skin, clambering in an undignified way over the cliff of her hand. He felt the blood racing under his feet, the heat of her living body rising from the lined plain. Despite her obvious anger, the Emperor extruded an air of quiet confidence, running his hands over her skin and addressing his enthralled Goddess in a voice dropping with honey

“Home, my pet.” She rose in silence, bits of rags hanging from bare skin and fluttering, fanned on the rising heat from the fires. She turned, hesitating to cast a longing look at the remaining structure, a faint grin promising them that she would be back to finish their “date.”  But the Emperor demanded her attention once more and she turned away with a frustrated sigh, her eyes blazing with anger at the figure no bigger than her fingernail. 

The battered city, bruised and broken, pouring smoke and flames like blood from a wound, could at last breathe a sigh of relief. The goddess departing through a haze of heat, sparing them her wrath for now at least. A silence fell through the rubble strewn streets. An eerie shellshocked silence.. numb and oppressive as though they couldn't believe what had happened. People roamed the streets, calling out for missing friends or family. Many of them were never found.

There was a subtle change in the air, like a thread of certainty flapping loose, something somehow wrong with what they had seen. And the rumours spread that their Overlord was losing control of his queen.

…………….

The view from Ignis Two was far more impressive since the Empress had been. The city was in chaos, riven streets and decrowned skyscrapers coiling back smoke that smothered the sky. Tau shivered. Three days since the earth rocked from the thunder of her tread and fires still burned. The sight of his colossal lover etched still in his mind's eye. He had never before witnessed her fury so close. Magnificent. Terrifying. And soon, he too would share it.

Tau’s black eyes roved across to the room. In pride of place were a collection of phials, shining like polished rubies in the light. Samples of her blood taken from her. She had given them willingly. Some taken whilst “human” others whilst colossal, and others whist slowly changing her size: something she had never granted the Emperor. This, he believed, was the key to isolating her ability. And he was close. So close he was willing to risk his life and sanity to try it and join his Goddess as her eternal lover.

Snap. The door closed, breaking him from his triumphant musing, and Tau turned to meet the callous gaze of the Emperor. He was alone. Unusual. No guards or assistants. He fixed dark eyes on his rival with a knowing smile. In this room he was an even more terrifying figure of a man, monstrous even. Inhuman. His head rose higher than the doorframe, his body, while proportionate just seemed to be built on a scale one step up from a regular human.

That was it wasn't it? He too had experimented with his Goddess’ blood. Tried to duplicate her ability. Apparently with limited success. Suddenly Tau knew why he was here.

Stripped of his work, the Emperor left Tau unharmed, locking him in the room. The lure of the Ignis would draw her back, as sure as anything. Let her lover truly see the monster she really was.

…………….

She couldn't believe she was expected to go back to this. After the first true show of power in a hundred years. Back to this dull existence. Her slaves and tidbits enjoyed greater savagery from her than ever before. Or perhaps enjoyed is not the most accurate of terms. Nonetheless she took out her frustration on them, rending their worthless lives for her own sick satisfaction.

The Emperor saw, but feigned indifference, hiding the uncertainty in his black heart. Her demolition of the Ignis building had set their research back years. Many of his best scientists were dead. And by the look on her face, the sullen passive resistance, her fury.. he didn't think he had years anymore. Fitting perhaps, that her own lover had provided him with the answer.

It took several months, so conditioned she had been to fear and trust him. But she pondered long and hard over why she had been unpunished over her transgression. Doubt entered her mind, strong unwavering doubt,  until she finally gleaned the unshakeable truth. It wasn't that he had not punished her. It was that he could not.

It was an immense feeling of liberation. As though suddenly she had been gifted all the power in the world. And she had. She always had. It had only been hidden from her. She felt revulsion at being so deceived. That bastard had built an Empire off her back. She was going to tear it back down.

But first.. Her thoughts turned to the Ignis building. First she was going to find out what that son of a bitch was up to there. And then he could watch his empire burn.

However.. it was already too late

…………….

Finally, after all the years of waiting, they perfected the technology he stole to transform him into a God. His first dose had only granted him long life, but not one tithe of the power of his queen. Now, with her gone rogue, it was more urgent than ever. Unchecked, the Empress would be true to her nature, to rend and kill until… what? Even he didn't know.

The scientists that had fled the rampage of the Empress now shuddered, realising they had now created a second monster to terrorise an already subdued world. The giant turned his hands assessing his size, then smiled at them with a cruel glint in his eye.
“I thank you for this.” He boomed, his foot coming down atop the men. Then he attacked the building itself, crushing rending and destroying, tearing down the delicate spires and twisting the fragile vehicles in his vast fingers. He wanted to ensure not one of them escaped. They would never create another to challenge his rule.

But it was a crumbling pressure on his crotch that drew the biggest grin. The mammoth bulge of hardening flesh had bumped up against a rooftop, obliterating the exits and trapping crowds of tiny people there. He couldn't help himself, his hand strayed down, tugging himself free from the loose folds of fabric, his fingers wrapping his manhood and stroking it tenderly above them all. They squealed and panicked, they were so tiny, so pathetic and he ached to feel them against himself. He felt the same savage burning hunger  as his partner, that telling need to destroy.

His thumb dabbled over his slit, spreading glistening precum over the tip, moving his fingers to squeeze out a drop of cloudy liquid, and growling in thunderous appreciation when it dropped and spattered over the thronging crowds. He angled himself lower, brushing their bodies with his shaft, making them tickle him as they tried to push against him and stave of the crushing weight of his cock. It felt good and the Emperor smiled in approval,
“You should be honoured..” he growled dangerously, his voice filled with deep unmistakable lust “you're all going to die for the pleasure of your God….” and he thrust down.

It was an incredible sensation. Hundreds of tiny bodies yielded to the immense weight of his cock, squirming briefly as they were pinned, then bulging and bursting, spraying guts and gore and making a wonderful slick that coated him in red. He threw back his head, his hardness piercing the roof, cracking and breaking it apart, spilling more thrashing toys over himself. He longed to grasp himself, to crush them all over his throbbing length in his fist, to force them to feel his overwhelming hunger. The Emperor shut his eyes, his hips moving with a slow chaotic grind, moving his immense cock through some of the upper floors, gasping at the feather touch of people crushed and smeared, or hooked and dragged in bloody lines until they finally broke.

But they were far too puny for him, and long before he had reached the penultimate conclusion of his play, the people were nothing but pulp, their building gutted rubble, and he stood gazing down with disappointment at the mess. He stroked himself one last time, then kicked through the remaining towers, crushing them to the ground with awesome finality.

The Emperor was panting, gazing down at what he had done with savage glee. So that was how it felt, why she enjoyed it so. His lips curled in a wan smile, the titan turning on his heel and marching towards the city. He ordered the power cut, ordered vessels to illuminate the “goddess” with spotlights so he could see her. But he would remain unseen. His hand stroked his manhood, a growl in his throat as he thought of all the ways he would make the bitch pay.

…………….

From the serene expression, none could guess that the slumbering female form was the apocalypse incarnate. Her breast rising and falling lightly, limbs curled lazily over the rolling plains of grass. Such a peaceful scene.. this slumbering siren, birds singing as they alighted over her form, perhaps perceiving her as part of the landscape rather than the genocidal fiend she was. Her limbs twitched, her dreams filled with fire and blood, a cruel smile blooming on her lips.

The sun set, the air cooling, the change finally rousing the goddess who had slept half a day away. She stretched stiff limbs, muscles the size of ships powering trailing arms and legs larger than skyscrapers. The air filled with the cracking and splintering of trees, her lumbering form clearing tracts with ease, the ground warping under the weight bearing down upon her bare feet. Then she rose, a living monument to power beyond compare, gleaming eyes turning a pitiless gaze to the offending cityscape.

The Empress, her gigantic form filled with wrath, was unaware of the new threat her old consort posed, and she would have thought it a lie even if a lowly civilian had defied their master to warn a woman who wished them nothing but ill. But she cared only about one thing: the second Ignis tower. It was a symbol of his rule, his control over her and these vermin  that scurried around before her. A forbidden fruit hung before a Goddess who had everything. Yet still longed for more. And wanting to know what he had hidden from her was no small temptation on top.

Her entrance this time, the second time, was different to the first. She didn't toy or tease. She simply marched in a vengeful rage, a chaotic passage, straight to the lonely building, standing like a marker for the grave of the other she had already shattered, she had come you claim the second half of her prize.

Of course he, and she nigh spat at the thought of him now, would have removed anything of value. This structure was less than useless. Suddenly, confronted with her folly, she realised how much of a fool she had been. She wasn't here for information, she was here to destroy. The anger on her face seemed to dissolve, replaced by something much more serene, as though that crystal thought had freed her from all that pain and anger. She stood quietly, her gaze taking in the last few people who had foolishly remained within, running, frightened. And it wasn't really their fault, they were tools as much as she. For the briefest flicker, she felt compassion for her prey, their panic, the suffering. She no longer needed to be a destroyer. Unfortunately for them, she wanted to be. And she pulled back her arm and punched.

She put a lot into that impact: the ultimate paroxysm against one hundred and fifty years of servitude, of being naught but a tool, a slave even. One hundred and fifty years of suppressed rage, resentment, even love, exploding out of her. Just as the building exploded out around her curled fist. Her expression of all that frustration translating into a brown grey bloom, twirling debris arcing down, trailing dusty plumes like dirty comets before they too impacted, creating their own miniature cataclysms around them. Miniscule bodies twirled through the spray like rag dolls, sent effortlessly to their deaths by the expression of her wrath.

The Empress forced her hand up into the very guts of the lonely building, relishing the snapping and buckling, a vibration shuddering up and down through intact floors. Her face neared the glass, and there, on eye level, was a single minuscule figure, banging silently on the transparent surface to catch her eye. They shared an intimate moment, the Goddess one side, tiny mortal on the other, gazing up into the pitiless whorled orbs of oblivion. It took her a second to recognise him, but she did. Tau. Her lover, companion. One who adored her. Awaiting her tender mercy.. for her to grant him life.

Here was her chance to show them she was more than she had been made. More than a killer. More than vengeance. A pang of regret surprised her, the colossal fingers stilled in their murderous invasion of the building, considering the future of this faithful one. Her sigh fogged the glass, hiding him behind an opaque frosted wall of condensation, rapidly fading to reveal him once more.

The Empress shook her head in denial, and she saw the hope fade in his form. He was one of them, nothing more, hardly worth the notice of a being like herself.
“Goodbye Tau” she crooned, not without sadness before turning away from him, back to the wound she made, clawing her fingers through floors that ripped like paper, tearing through the very guts of the building and bringing her hand to her side to glare down at the cupped debris in her palm. It represented all the ambition of the Emperor. Her consort, her lover, her master….. her betrayer..

The immense hand shook with suppressed rage, fingers larger than trees closing in around the sifting detritus, her hand swinging back to smash into the building a second time, her scream of rage bursting the windows.
“You bastard!” She raged, dragging the hand back out, throwing aside debris and writhing bodies. Then she hit the building again and again, puncturing each impact with a roaring curse
“You lying, cheating filth! You took everything from me, used me, owned me!”
Dust and debris filled the space around her, blurring her outline, but the relentless pounding of her fists over the doomed structure filled the city.

She watched her ally vanish as the upper floors collapsed, toppling down like falling cards, snatched apart, torn asunder to roar down over the streets below. There was a ringing silence where she simply gaped at what she had done,the dust slowly settling around her, her numb fingers releasing the last spills of debris to cascade down her endless form.

The Empress wasn't interested in anything around her, so intent was she on the destruction of this building, the shattered thing bearing the brunt of her rage. Booms and creaking groans a company in the thundering crescendo of her attack. But what she did notice, was the power cutting in the city. All the little lights blinking off, the city becoming a black velvet wall around her, only the fires marking anything in a world made suddenly invisible.

She blinked in the palpable darkness, trying to pierce it, her eyes not yet adjusted to it. And then she heard the sound of aircraft. A disembodied noise circling, but she could not place it. It seemed to throb and echo on all sides. She spun on her heel, fists balled, teeth bared as though waiting to attack. It came in the form of light. The beams cut across her face, blinding her all over again, making her body glow like a mighty flame in an endless night. One hand rubbed her tortured eyes and she blinked, growling fiercely in all directions hunting for her aggressor.

“Is this it, Emperor?” She raged into the darkness, knowing her words would get back to him. “Your great plan? You cannot stop me. You know you can't. You can only enrage me. And I'll hurt you… I'm going to destroy everything you made.. everything... you bastard!”

…………….

And then something hit her. It was a staggering blow, one that struck her face and sent her reeling, clutching at it with a hint of uncertainty. It hurt. It should not hurt. And out of the dark, a soft yet irresistible voice growled
“Lights” The city flickered back into being, as though it itself responded to his words, the scant illumination revealing something that took her breath away. The Emperor stood before her, gigantic and gloriously naked, arms spread as though to embrace her. He wore an evil smirk on his face.
“Nothing to say, my Queen?” The giant took a step towards her. And now it was his feet crumpling vehicles, sinking into the tarmac atop the scurrying mites caught between two uncaring titans. “No quip, no comeback?” he took another step, his breath on her face, one hand moving to her throat
“I'm going to hurt you, Empress.. hurt you until you get on your knees and beg forgiveness.” Her face had drained of colour, shock and fear overwhelming her demeanour. And the Emperor lifted her face to his, teeth showing in a wrathful smile “And then I'll hurt you again…”

The smile that flickered across her lips gave him a hint of uncertainty. Her hair was a tangled mass to frame her reddened face. Red with both rage and where he had struck her.
“So you say, my lord,” her voice was amused, yet callous. There was no hint of the demure woman that had served. He had no hold of her now, and she, therefore, had reason to hide the true scope of her ability. She chuckled deeply when his face turned ashen, showing true fear for the first time when he felt her body shift and swell beneath him. Her arms gripped him in the parody of an embrace, locking his numb lips into the most fleeting of kisses.

Her laughter boomed more than ever. The people screamed, and her voice cut above in a growl that shook the earth:
“But I think it will be I that will hurt you…”


……...end?