Super
Victoria Rigel – The “Chosen”
With a shimmer of purple energy Tori appeared in a back alley on Pyraxi Prima. She had never visited this world before, much like every other world she had stepped onto over the last few weeks. It didn’t surprise her that this world was also host to beings similar to her; the universe was designed in Her image after all. Though so far, she only encountered people with bright peach through to dark brown skin, all various hues of red. Her light blue skin on the other hand stuck out like a sore thumb. The skin tone of her people was seemingly rare in the universe, but the hustle and bustle of the busy daylit streets still provided a decent amount of cover for the young girl. After locating a suitable looking tavern, the athletic girl snuck past the main reception and headed upstairs to find an empty room; the closed doors were of little concern as she simply teleported through these minor barriers. Opening her backpack, she pulled out a large folder and tossed it onto the bed before undressing for a shower. The modern facilities were as good as her home world’s, and after the last two worlds had yet to discover indoor plumbing, this was a welcome relief.
As the warm water cascaded down over her soft blue skin she reflected on her plans; recently her world had been graced by the forces of heaven and hell. At that point Tori had never witnessed the presence of the Goddess, but ancient myths of the past, that had been turned into comics foretold Her return, ready to set the world right. Only few still believed these childish stories as true but really nobody expected Her to be pursued by the devil when she actually returned. The blonde demon in her green dress cruelly snuffed out life as she was crawling after the weakened form of the white-robed Goddess; it was disheartening to watch her lose more and more of her lead as she was carefully stepping around buildings that the devil would demolish moments later regardless. Though there was nothing Tori could do to interfere, as much as she wanted to fight for the good in the world. She, like so many others, was trying to flee the city via the large suspension bridge that crossed the Yorinya River. But once the Goddess changed course, sprinting through the river, panic broke out. After getting out of her car to run across the gridlocked bridge, Tori only remembers getting bounced high into the air after the devil knocked the Goddess into the bridge somehow.
Once she regained her consciousness, she wasn’t quite sure where she had landed, but her legs seemed to be stuck in some soft crevice, with a striped sky above her and the wrecked asphalt of the bridge deathly far below her.
She had accidentally been pinched in the hollow of the knee between Architect Theia’s thighs, but in the little girl’s mind the Goddess had rescued her.
In her disorientation she wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but she distinctly remembers the Goddess speaking down to her, “… accept this gift.”, she said. Tori didn’t know what that meant, but once her world began burning in a bright purple, with streaks of coloured light ensnaring her strained body, she quickly realised that she was being blessed by Her. It was pleasant at first, but quickly started to burn like ice-cold fire on her skin. Desperately she clawed at her prison, trying to escape the pain, but just then, with a pop, she was flailing through a dark void, with countless colours rushing past her, before she landed in a grassy field on an alien world. After that it took a few days more to get to grips with what happened. She was on a completely different planet, filled with weird bulky people that only reached up to her hips. Still, they too believed in the Goddess. Then it took a few days more to realise she had been gifted with superpowers; she could now grasp reality and compress things to a miniscule size; or reach through paths in the sky to pull herself to different worlds. Though so far, she hadn’t found her way back home yet. And while she couldn’t remember exactly what was said, Tori was certain that she had been gifted with these abilities to rescue the Goddess from the devil. She was to be Her secret weapon and her life would never be the same again anyway.
Jumping onto the bed still damp from her shower, Tori unfolded the large folder she had pulled out of her backpack earlier. Page after page of three-inch tall people unrolled across her bed; all glued down in her ‘Album’ with name tags underneath. “Hello again. New World, you all know what that means.” After standing the screen of trapped life up along the foot of her bed, she flopped down onto her stomach and rested her chin in her palms, looking over the rows of people; one man and one woman from each world she visited. “How is my collection today? I am still sorry about the living arrangements, but I still need you all.” Another one of her inherited powers was to touch what she could only describe as the souls of these people. It pained her to pull at them, but she found it was the only thing that made her powers work again after she had drained them too much. “One day, I’ll figure out how to teleport without harming you poor folks, and we can start a lovely little community.”, she sympathised as she felt her power levels refill. Though the cries of her collection were tugging at her heartstrings as she drew energy from them all. “The more of you I collect, the less I need from each of you. Please don’t make this any harder on me than it already is.” It bothered her greatly that she was abusing people to fuel her quest. It had taken a lot of reasoning for her to come to terms with the requirements of taking ‘prisoners.’
Once the pressure of divine energy was pushing against her chest from within, she got up and dug through her backpack again. Those of her tributes that had already come to terms with their situation found the purple spandex suit she was pulling out silly; she was a self-proclaimed superhero. But in her mind, she wanted to be like the Goddess, as she was shown in the comics she enjoyed so much. Plus, she felt it was only right to have a secret identity, even if she never stayed in one place for long. Fully dressed, and after climbing through the hotel room window, she knelt on the ledge and observed the long street below, looking for her next beacons. Her power worked in strange ways, and it had taken her a great deal of time and experimentation to figure out some these quirks. Paths that had been trodden on by the Goddess in the past could be passed through more easily and required less energy to traverse. But oddly enough most of them were not bound by a place, but by people. Looking along thin strands of purple light – only visible when she really focussed on them – she could look at the genetic heritage of a person, to find people that had been visited by the Goddess in the past. And then, reaching through them, she could pull herself to the other side with ease. “There,” she whispered to herself, “the Royal Tailors.” Focusing on the small section of the interior visible through the front window she flashed her eyes a light violet and vanished from the window ledge.
Olivia - Customer Assistant - Royal Tailors
The sharply dressed blonde woman turned in surprise as a subtle purple glimmer caught her attention from the front of the store. “Uh, hello?”, she stammered as she approached the clothing rack near the display windows. She jumped back in shock as a young woman bounced up to her feet from behind it, “Hiya! Sorry for the sudden drop-in. I didn’t mean to scare you!” The newcomer sauntered over to the door and flicked the lock across while she carried on chatting, “I’m Galaxy Girl! Here to ask how your kids are doing!” The little woman in her purple bodysuit spoke with such unwavering confidence, that Olivia didn’t even question her strange behaviour and appearance. It took the shop assistant a few seconds to mentally catch up with the conversation; but her professional training quickly kicked in again, “Apologies Ma’am, I am Olivia. Welcome to the Royal Tailors, serving the royal family for generations. And no, I do not have children. Still, how can I be of service?” The girl’s menacing stare after locking the door was discomforting, but the heroic stride she now put on as she stalked towards the back room was even more bewildering. Add that to her seemingly not even acknowledging the question.
After a quick peak through the door to the back room she turned around again. “We are alone in here, right?” Olivia gave her a nervous nod, while slowly backing away towards the front door. Noticing the unease the little girl quickly paced over to her and tried to be as reassuring as she could, “I’m sorry, where are my manners? I should explain myself. I felt a powerful presence here, and I was drawn to it. I don’t suppose you’ve ever had any strange guests around?”
Olivia’s stomach knotted as she realised this surreal girl knew more than she should and the light flare in her eyes was enough to convince her that she was the real deal. “Are you... Her?” She immediately dropped to her knees, assuming that this should be the natural reaction, but the young girl just stared back in confusion, “What do you mean? I am Galaxy Girl. Have you actually heard of me?” Pushing herself back to her feet she looked closer at the girl, the genuine look on her face throwing her initial thoughts into doubt. Shaking her head, Olivia went back to address the previous question, “Sorry, I haven’t heard of you. But yes, we did have some … peculiar guests. Centuries ago, we were actually visited by the Goddess herself. I was wondering if you were Her, but I see now I may have jumped to a few conclusions.”
Galaxy Girl’s face lit up at the revelation, “Oh really? The Goddess was here? In this store?! I expected something, but not the jackpot of connections!”, she almost screamed out into the empty store. “Okay! Liv! You don’t mind me calling you Liv, right?”, without waiting for an answer she carried on, “You can help me by telling me everything! Please, you have to!” The shop attendant couldn’t see any harm in sharing some old store folklore. “Well, the story goes that hundreds of years ago the Goddess Herself came into the store and requested a custom pair of boots.” Olivia gestured towards a display cabinet, that according to the nameplate underneath contained the ‘Titanium Heels’. Olivia looked up at the cruel looking boots in the display case as she recounted the story, “The Goddess requested those, inscribed with the word ‘Goodbye’ on the sole, along with a little heart symbol. It must have been a cruel joke.”
Shaking her head a little, she returned her gaze to the strange woman in her store, “Anyway, the only thing is She never came back to collect them. We have store camera footage of the whole event, although nobody really believed us when we claimed it was Her. It’s mostly just seen as a crazy myth now.” Tilting her head slightly, the young ‘super heroine’ interrupted, “But you don’t?” Her eyes were shimmering with a light purple gleam as she spoke. “No, my family has worked here for generations; the sister of my great-great-grandfather was in the store on that day. He spent a lot of time looking for her, after she disappeared with the Goddess.” “How do you know that she was with the Goddess?”, the younger girl asked, pushing for a complete retelling. “Well, the video also shows a young woman named Cassandra Moldova. She was a local girl taken as tribute by the Goddess. People never returned once chosen as tribute, so her being there with the other woman should be proof enough of divine intervention.” Galaxy Girl was nodding eagerly, seemingly content with her explanation. “Anyway, afterwards the muted video just shows Cassandra and the Goddess leaving the store, shortly followed by my great-great-aunt, Alyssa. We haven’t seen any of them here again ever since.”
Victoria Rigel - Galaxy Girl
Standing in front of the display case for the Titanium Heels, Tori looked over her shoulder towards Olivia, offering her a sympathetic smile, “That’s a wonderfully tragic story, but that puts you in an unfortunate position.” Moving over to the store blinds she deftly dropped them all, dimming the light and blocking out prying eyes. “You see, I am looking for an audience with the Goddess. I feared it might take me ages to randomly find my way to her, but you have such a strong connection to her…” Tori let her eyes flash violet, illuminating the entire room, “You are unwittingly offering me a genetic shortcut. Through you I might be able to walk the same path your ancestors took.”
The fear growing across the attendant’s face only pushed more guilt into Victoria as she extended her hand towards her prey, who immediately broke out in a panic and ran towards the door. “Please, don’t fight me on this; It will be painless if you let it happen. I promise.” Offering calming words made Tori feel a little better about what she was about to do to the poor woman. “Your life will change a bit, but you will only be bound to me for a while. Please, just let it happen. I just need you for a short time and afterwards I will give you a normal life again.”
The fleeing shop assistant found the door to the shop drawing even further into the distance while her size gradually diminished, centimetre by centimetre. The process was slow and as she dwindled Tori only felt more pity as her screams turned to cries and then eventually to whimpers. Eventually the tiny woman slowly came to a halt to turn back and face Tori’s now towering form behind her. Crouching down she extended her hand next to the kneeling sobbing woman, “Please, get on. I don’t want to harm you, I just... need you... for a time.” Though when the small woman didn’t move, Tori sighed and simply plucked her off the ground between her fingers. Turning around the purple-clad woman vanished from the shop and appeared a few seconds later in her stolen hotel room.
“Okay, collection; meet Olivia. She will be joining us from now on. Please be nice to her.” The large brunette girl carefully undressed her latest victim and applied the glue strip along her back, “I’m sorry; this won’t be comfortable. But it’s just for now, … until I’ve found a better way to carry you all!” Using her two middle fingers, she carefully pressed the woman into the next available slot in her large binder.
Next, she quickly flopped onto her bed again, holding her collection out in front of her. “Okay, this will be just a small drain to check our options. Please don’t scream.” The screams resumed the second Tori began to syphon energy from her victims. This time however, she didn’t even notice as the universe opened before her. “Holy shit, Olivia! Your Ancestors have travelled all over the universe; I can feel them making paths even now.” She quickly leapt back to her feet and readied herself for a jump. “This is it! I know how to find her! The one who made me!” Wasting no time in rolling up her collection she shoved the binder into her backpack and swung it onto her back. Victoria vanished into a purple shimmer.
As she appeared in a long dark corridor, nothing made any sense; this was the centre point for the spatial tunnels her latest catch had provided but walking around the vast emptiness something felt wrong. Spying light towards the end of the enormous expansive corridor she quickly teleported toward it; a horrifying vision greeted her, long walls of cages patrolled by huge winged women, screams of torture and suffering echoed from every direction as she crept into the nightmarish space. “Time for the tournament!”, a loud voice proclaimed across the expanse, “Bring snacks, ones that will fight back preferably.”
As the obnoxiously loud voice grew louder behind her, Tori turned her head back and upwards, allowing her to stare at a colossal woman wearing a loose fitting, revealing black robe stepping towards her from the other end of the corridor. Her thundering steps produced the noise of loudly cracking stone as her sandals touched the ground. Tori was stunned in fear as this titan came to a sudden stop and stared squarely at her. “Well, well, well, who have we got here? Food or fun?” The danger was evident as her eyes went black, the sense of dread overwhelmed Tori as she screamed for her power and vanished in a puff of purple energy.
As she landed back in her borrowed room on Pyraxi Prima, Tori collapsed, writhing in horror and dread that had just consumed her, “What the fuck was that?!” she muttered to herself as she rolled onto the bed. “She wasn’t the Goddess I was looking for..." And that woman seemed worse than the devil she had gotten to know at home. Maybe she was the greater evil instigating other titans to pursue the true Goddess.” Wild speculative thoughts were rushing through her head as she curled up into a ball.
After what felt like hours she managed to compose herself again, allowing her to reason with the situation. The … monster mentioned a tournament. If she was the greater evil, then that might mean her blonde devil might bring the Goddess to this event … maybe it’d be a public show of defeat and humiliation. … And as scary as the thought was, if she could find a way to this tournament, she could probably also find her Goddess. But besides the name, she had nothing to go with … she would have to look and ask around on many different worlds. Tori crawled out of bed and dug out her collection folder, unrolling it across the bed once more. “I am truly sorry; I desperately need to recharge. There have been some setbacks.” The piercing screams of her captives broke her down into tears as she performed what was required.