He started feeling the distant earth-shaking sensations, the screaming, the pain. But somehow, he was oblivious to what it all meant. The threads of consciousness that dangled above his shapeless form urged him to reach out and grasp them, but he felt the darkness that laid beneath push him like winds of a hurricane into a void too peaceful to resist.

And then Raymar felt the coldness that swept through his mind, tearing him apart, sending uncontrollable shivers all over his awakening body, washing away his numbness. But somehow, it was the roaring, blinding, terrifying thunder that finally spurred him to reach out for the surface of consciousness.

When he opened his eyes, it was as if a flurry of powerful emotions that up until that point were frozen in time, were suddenly set free simultaneously, wreaking havoc in his mind. He rose up in shock, screaming at the top of his lungs from pain, fear and confusion. Images of war, terror and despair filled his mind. But no, it was not war, he remembered, as his mind raced to catch up and sort out the chaos that raged inside his head. No, it was her.

He blinked rapidly, finally starting to see what was actually in front of him. He noticed the rain, the thunder, the massively damaged cityscape around him. And then he remembered to stop screaming as his lungs burned for air, feeling the pounding of his heart. Confusion finally made way for clearness as he started to remember where he was and what had happened.

He tried to move, but that’s when the pain hit him, especially on his shoulder. He grunted, reaching with the other arm. Dislocated, he thought. Then he felt around, moving his legs, his torso. Almost every inch of his body ached, a lot of broken ribs, but his legs weren’t and he didn’t feel any dangerous concussion on his head. He had been lucky.

His body was also shivering from the cold rain, he needed to get out of the open. He rose on his feet, and started slowly limping towards the nearest building. The surrounding area was worse than a warzone. Everything had been thrown around, cars, trucks and busses smashed into walls and turned upside down, shards of shattered glass everywhere and all the buildings had cracks all over, spouting massive holes where windows and doors used to be.

Worst of all were the bodies, there were bodies everywhere. Some appeared to have fatal injuries, some just awkwardly bent limbs, and others were torn apart beyond recognition. None moved. He felt like throwing up, but there was nothing to throw up in the first place, noticing the hunger too.

He entered one of the nearby buildings, holding his arm carefully. He was going to need help with it, but first he needed to rest and get dry, wait for the rain to pass. He found a very comfortable leathered chair in the midst of the chaotic sprawl of furniture in the building’s hall, resting and waiting for the rain to pass.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he noticed that the rain had stopped. He was lost in his thoughts, still unable to believe how the world around him had fallen so quickly and dramatically to pieces, especially the way it did. He tried to move her out of his thoughts, but he was only greeted with distant screams and sobs, crumbling sounds of battered buildings giving way, and the the frightening silence in between that was too strange for a city like this one. But somehow, he also felt relief. He hadn’t heard or felt one sign of her, which was a good sign he supposed.

He got up, carefully holding his shoulder, and moved outside. He emerged into the avenue at the end of which the KC building had stood. It’s ruins now stretched across the road, blocking one end entirely. He turned his head and looked down towards the west and the surreal landscape that stretched all the way down the avenue. Her ‘run’ had caused such massive tremors and shockwaves that some towers had simply collapsed, others had shattered in many spots but still stood, and a few had buckled, bent awkwardly but still standing. One even had toppled, its fall only to be blocked by another bigger, sturdier one, still managing to hold on.

And the sun was setting, its rays turning the sky into an orange-tinted red and slowly shaping the skyline into ghastly silhouettes, giving Raymar that strange, eerie feeling of the apocalypse, foretold in so many religious texts depicted in so many ways through movies and books, having arrived. He sat on one of the crumbled blocks of the KC buildings, avoiding the metal spikes of torn rebar and other protruding pieces that littered its ruins, contemplating his next move. What should he do now? Where could he go? Why was this happening? How could someone possibly be so fantastically huge without breaking the laws of physics? Why did he feel this strange feeling of attraction towards her?

He became lost in his thoughts, again, before he heard a noise of someone moving to his side. He stood up, alarmed, looking at the direction from where the sounds came and spotted a figure moving through the top of the ruins.

“Hey! Who are you?” he called towards the figure.

The figure stopped, turning towards Raymar. “Oh, hi there!” a female voice answered.

She quickly hopped between a few chunks of concrete, emerging from the shadows and landed on the tarmac with what sounded like bare feet to Raymar. He then got a good look at her, noting the slightly oversized coat she was wearing that reached to her knees, it clearly wasn’t hers.

Raymar broke into a wide smile. “Another survivor!” He said, feeling a massive sense of relief. “You’re the first I’ve met after I’ve woken up!”

“Oh,” she said, giggling. “I wouldn’t exactly say a survivor.”

As she approached Raymar, the rays of the quickly setting sun lit her face, causing a few breathless moments for him. God, she was beautiful! He thought, swearing that he knew her somehow, but couldn’t quite place it.

She simply smiled, still approaching while she put her hands on her coat’s pockets.

“Oh, look!” she suddenly stopped, drawing something out her right pocket. “Cigarettes! Great, I could definitely use one.” She then proceeded to take one out and light it with a match she got from the same pocket. “You want one too?”

“Ehm.. no, thanks?” Raymar said, slightly confused by her light-hearted nature.

She simply shrugged, and sat down on one of the nearby boulders, crossing her legs, dragging deeply from her cigarette and then exhaling the swirl of smoke from her nose.

“This is a very beautiful sunset you got here, Raymar.” she said, admiring the sight.

“What?” Raymar frowned. “Do I know you? How do you know my name?”

“Oh you probably know me pretty well I would say.” She said, smiling, turning to look at him, inspecting him thoroughly . “It’s just that your mind is searching for my face in the wrong places inside your brain.”

“What?” Raymar was completely confused now.

She sighed, still smiling, taking another drag out of her cigarette. “Do you need help with that?” she said, looking at his shoulder.

“I doubt you could help me with this.” Raymar was quite a few inches taller than her and very well built. You needed a lot of force to help him place his dislocated shoulder back.

“Let’s give it a try anyway.” She stood up, flicking her half-smoked cigarette away after a final drag, and approached Raymar. He just stood there, not knowing what to make of it so he just let her. She placed a hand under his arm and another one on the side. They shared an awkward moment, at least for Raymar as she locked her eyes on his, hoping she didn’t notice him blushing.

Then he felt massive pain, and screamed at the top of his lungs. Next thing he knew, he found himself laid down on the ground, breathing heavily, but the pain was suddenly gone. She stood at his side, arms crossed, looking down at him.

“Try moving it.” she said.

Raymar did, and it worked perfectly.

“Thank you.” he said as he sat up and moved his arm around. “I didn’t expect you to know how to place a dislocated shoulder back.”

“People don’t expect a lot of things from my harmless looking frame.”

“I guess.” he said, looking up at her. “But what did you mean earlier, when you said I probably knew you?”

“I said so because you do. It’s just that the scale might be tipping you off.”

“The scale?” Raymar frowned. “What do you mean by s-”

At that instant he understood. The scale, her scale. His mind finally placed her face, and it filled him with the most intense feeling of fear and dread he had ever felt. He lurched backwards in a sudden motion, struggling to stand up, trying to grab onto something to help him do so.

“No, no, no!” he blabbed, his eyes firmly fixed on her while he still pushed backwards. “You can’t be!”

She laughed. “I love it when people finally get it.”

Raymar hit something hard on his back, growing still. He tried to calm himself, to remain composed, but it was terribly difficult. “But… No! You can’t!”

“Why not?”

“Because you can’t be her!”

“Oh but I can. I am.”

And Raymar knew it too, he just didn’t want to accept it at that moment. He was still sane enough to understand that he was suddenly dealing with a being whose nature was beyond his comprehension, there was no doubt about it in his mind.

He stood up, pressing his body against the broken section of a wall behind him, standing completely still while he tried to grasp the situation he found himself in. He saw her regarding him, her confident stare with a hint of arrogance behind her eyes penetrating his very soul.

“Why?” He finally said.

“Because your time has come.”

“For what?”

“For your world to finally join a family.”

Raymar frowned, contemplating. A family? What did she mean by that? His eyes grew distant, remembering the artifact they found in the neighbouring planet, intertwining the confusing history of the origins of the human species in the world, and her appearance. They somehow connected, but he just didn’t know how. What had a family have anything to do with the destruction she had caused?

She stepped forward, slowly approaching him again.

“Your world, Raymar, ” she said, “passed a test. In just a thousand years, you developed from a hunter-gatherer society to a space-faring one. Much faster than any other human civilization. That’s why I will permit your world to join my commonwealth.”

“What? I… I don’t understand!” He said, his eyes fixating on her feet. She noticed, stopping momentarily. “The are other human civilizations? Other human worlds?”

“Many more than you can imagine.”

“But, why?” he said, still looking at her feet. Flashes of terror, unparalleled destruction and death on an unseen scale raged across his mind. He dropped on his hands and knees, the urge to vomit plaguing him again even though there still wasn’t anything to throw up. Those terrible feet that wreaked so much havoc were now just in front of him, looking just like the feet of any normal woman. Puny, harmless, beautiful but unimpressive. And the last thing so many people saw before they perished underneath them like simple ants.

“Why did you kill so many?” He continued. “Why did you enjoy it? Who are you?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” Who do you think I am?”

Raymar looked up, regarding her face. He sighed, then leaned backwards, sitting against the wall behind him again. Who was she indeed? He still didn’t have an answer, but he knew one thing.

“Not god.”

She chuckled. “But isn’t the display of power enough?” she said, holding her arms stretched wide, pointing out the obvious destruction around them. “Or is it because you didn’t expect god to be a simple woman?”

“It is because you killed so many so playfully beneath your feet. Because you enjoyed it.”

She laughed now. “Oh Ramyar, I did so much more than that.” She said while her arms fell back, one even gliding between the gap of her legs in a subtle stroking motion, covered by her awkward looking coat.

Raymar’s eyes widened as he grew horrified. He turned his head away, closing his eyes. She must have done a lot more terrible things after he had passed out. And in some way, he was glad he did, he might not have been able to witness that.

“You don’t make sense.” He said. “None of this makes sense!” He screamed.

“Of course.” She said. “That’s why I’m here.” She moved to a nearby chunk of concrete and sat down again, enjoying the last rays of the setting sun.

“You see, “ she continued, “ I’ve studied you. Selected you personally. Yes, I’m not god, you are smart and reasonable enough to see that. Most people would accept the idea of me being god in a single heartbeat after I’ve scared the living shit out of them. But you don’t, which is one of the reasons why I picked you out.”

Raymar turned back at her. “For what?”

“To lead this world.” She said. “To steer it into it’s new future. You are also a natural leader, Raymar. Someone who I think I can trust to supervise this world for me, to rule it.”

Raymar was beginning to think he was truly going mad. And started laughing like a mad man would.

“Of course!” He said. “That’s why you came here, playing stand-castles with the city here, snuffing people out as if they were insects.”

She said nothing, but simply smirked. The next thing Raymar knew was that after a brief tingling sensation everywhere on his body, he found himself in a completely different environment. The destroyed cityscape was gone, replaced by a dark, hollow room. He spun around, shocked momentarily. She was still there, as real as his senses could make her out to be. And he noticed something on the corner of his eye.

As he turned, he gaped at the beautiful sight. He recognized his planet immediately, the shapes of the continents, the blue tint of the oceans, and his home, slowly being consumed by the darkness of nighttime. He stood up, approaching what looked like a transparent window that separated him from the vacuum of space.

“As I’ve said earlier, “ she said, approaching Raymar and standing at his side, “there are many more worlds out there populated by humans. Most are on their primitive phase of development, still hunting wild animals with sticks. They will eventually develop organized societies, many already have, but most take too long or never succeed in triggering the industrial revolution. And even when that does happen, many have the tendency to try and wipe themselves out through nuclear wars.

“But your world has gone through every phase almost effortlessly, which is why I will allow you to ascend as a world into the small community of worlds that I allow to become spacefaring ones. You will be given a specific purpose, to develop new technologies, train people, build infrastructure and work with the other worlds whose entire purpose is to serve me and help me achieve a goal that I’ve set to accomplish thousands of years ago.”

Raymar turned towards her, trying to process all this new information. “And that goal would be?”

Her expression grew dark at that moment. “Revenge. To defeat an enemy. An enemy far more terrible that I could ever be.”

Raymar didn’t press it any further, her expression scared him, and he had too many other questions he needed answers to first. But something she said lingered in his mind, bothering him.

“What happens to the world that don’t make it?”

Her lips grew into a smile. “I reset them.” she said. “I wipe everything they ever knew, throw them back to the stone age and let them try again.”

Raymar shivered at the thought of her unleashing her powers on a puny bronze-age civilization. But the way she talked scared and awed him even more. If he understood correctly, she must be several thousands of years old.

“But, who are you?”

She turned towards him too, her eyes locking on his yet again. “I am your mother. Your creator. Your god. I may not be the monotheistic god that spawns in the religions of so many civilizations including yours, but surely you are smart enough to see that I’m divine.”

“But, “ Raymar said reluctantly, “why did you have to destroy New Island like that?”

She chuckled. And the scenery shifted again, back to where they were originally. The sun had set, but it’s afterglow still bathed the city enough with light for them to see each other.

“Because I can.” she said. “Because, as you’ve noted, I enjoy it.”

Something snapped inside Raymar. She didn’t have the right to end so many lives, especially not for her pleasure. A sudden never before felt rage consumed him, causing him to lose control. He formed fists on his and lunged himself at her.

She simply shook her head, smiling softly. Raymar never reached her as he felt a powerful blow of an unseen force strike him, lunging him backwards through the air, slamming his body on the wall behind him. He didn’t fall down afterwards, he was glued to it, the invisible force still pushing him against the wall. She approached him, slowly.

“Don’t disappoint me Raymar.” she said calmly. “I understand your frustration, it’s natural. I don’t want to get angry if you try to rebel and let my rage consume your entire world. I did it because I want this place to serve as a reminder of what could happen if you ever disobey me, if you show the slightest hint of resistance. Your world has a purpose now, and I will never ever do this again to you if you continue to fulfill that purpose. Tomorrow, the whole world will understand what I’m capable of and the destiny that I’ve given you.”

The force that kept pushing against Raymar suddenly lifted, leaving him with a heavy breath. Then it was replaced with the most terrible pain Raymar had ever felt, a pain that consumed his entire body, sucking him inwards from all sides. He thought he was about to die before the pain suddenly lifted, fading away as fast as it came.

He looked around, the scenery having shifted again. Then he felt movement, massive movement, he looked up, seeing her huge form looming above him in the dim light, as expected. She had grown again, but then he noted the cityscape, and how strange it looked. It took him only a few moments to realize that she hadn’t grown, but that he had shrunk. Another one of her abilities. She moved to straddle him, offering a view into the dark abyss between her legs, bending slightly so he could see her face.

“But remember this, Raymar.” she said with her now booming voice, her expression growing into that dark, terror-inducing sight that was immensely amplified by her size. “I may not be omnipotent nor omniscient, but I could still snuff your entire world out in a matter of seconds. You are so powerless against me that I could use entire armies to satisfy my sexual desires. Millions have already perished in the depths of my cunt, fed my hunger, smeared against my breasts or other parts of my body simply because I enjoy it. Do not make the mistake of disappointing me and consequently your entire world suffer because of it. It will be something you will have to make your people understand and accept just as you will have to do so yourself.”

Raymar stood still, stunned and scared to death, unable to say anything. Then he felt the familiar pain that preceded his shrinking return, causing him to scream again with every little strength he had left. But this time, the pressure grew outwards, threatening to explode his body. It again faded as quickly as it came, and he found himself back to his normal size, almost breathless.

“Stand up.” she commanded. He did so without hesitation. “Now, do you understand?”

He would have rather die then and there. But he nodded. He could never let himself become the reason of an entire world’s genocide.

“Good.” she said, her expression breaking into a wide cheerful smile. “Now, let’s walk around a bit, see if there are interesting places we could visit in this city. Surely many must have survived, I want to see what they make of this. My servants will take care of the world until the morning before we announce the fate of this world and yourself as the leader.”

She started walking down the broken avenue, darkness having finally consumed the city. There were spots of fires he could see in the distance, people must have resorted to simple means of survival by now. He simply couldn’t believe she was this lustful, destructive goddess. He shook his head, still believing he had gone mad. But it all felt too real for him. Walking down the road, he remembered one last thing he wanted to ask her for the night.

“What is your name, by the way?”

“Ah, yes, my name.” She said, turning towards him. “I’m Aria.”