Peaceful. Again.
I perceive no threats. Alone in the dark. I can't trust this. The orca came out of nowhere. I didn't notice it until it swallowed the Elder.
I feel pain radiating through my core. The psychic shockwave produced by the Elder's demise is something I won't forget—that morbid sound, raw, vibrating agony as he was crushed and undone between those titanic jaws. Mist in a physical form, an existence that shouldn't have been possible to bite like that. But the Void Orca didn't care about what is possible. Possible doesn't matter in this place.
There are things bigger than the Orca, maybe I shouldn't call it like the Terran predator. The thought of the immense beast brings back a memory of a Presence, an aura that is everywhere which my Perception chooses to ignore for the sake of my own sanity, and I shiver. I open a portal, in a rush to leave before my thoughts, my very awareness of it, draws its attention upon me.
I land heavily on the marble floor of the Vault.
The portal lingers above me. It should have snapped shut the moment I crossed the threshold, but it hangs there, threatening.
Why is it taking so long to close? Beyond it the darkness moves, alive. What is that?
"Vance! Vance!"
Lilith's voice drags my attention back to the reality of the Vault. My eyes snap from the portal to her, then immediately back to the rift. I release a sigh of relief, as if I just escaped something... vast.
"You're back," Lilith breathes with eyes searching my face. "The Mist... the pressure on the mountain... it just vanished. The women woke up from my spell, they broke it, but they're fine now. Aria is okay, too. What did you do?"
"The Elder is dea—is no more..." I reply, cleaning my mind of any thoughts of the Vastness. I focus on her body, beauty, and the primal needs of a male for a female. It works. The darkness recedes, replaced by the heat of the present.
"We could find a secluded place to appease your urges..." she comments, her voice dropping to a low, velvet hum. "Though if you want to do it right here... I have no problem with that."
I smirk. Succubus, delightful creature.
"Have you forgotten what I am?" I ask her, my gaze hardening. "Aren't you afraid of becoming just an empty shell, a tool of mine?"
"Would you do that to me?" she counters.
Silence drops between us. I look past her. The other women are watching me, their faces pale and haunted. Aria, too, exhausted, the silver of her hair bleeding into the marble like an oil slick, a brand that won't wash away. They look okay, and that's a relief. I look back at Lilith. Would I do that to her?
"No," I reply.
Lilith smiles, triumphant.
"Then I don't care where you come from. What matters is what you are," she states, stepping closer until I can feel the warmth radiating from her skin. "You are the male I want."
"Nngh!"
A moan drags my attention. Two women are entangled on the floor, rubbing against each other in a desperate scene. What in the actual hell? The others are beginning to crawl toward one another; one is approaching Aria with a glazed, hungry expression.
"Look at that... they want to have fun," Lilith coos.
"Stop them," I order.
Lilith snaps her fingers. The frantic energy is replaced by a heavy slumber.
"What was that, Lilith?"
"Uhm... I don't know..." she replies, her playful mask slipping.
These women were exposed to the Elder, programmed to become vessels for his seed. A normal woman would never agree to that because he was a monster, and the process was against everything they considered sacred. A woman only gives herself to a man she loves, a man she admires, someone who can protect her and her offspring. The Elder could never do that. He kept them hypnotized so they would be compliant, bypassing their protests and their resistance.
"How?" I mutter.
"How what?"
"How do you control a man? How do you make him do whatever you want?"
"I make myself the one thing he needs to survive," she replies, smirking. "The one thing he will die without."
She pauses, her eyes widening. "Oh! The Elder did that to Aria!"
"To all these women," I correct. "Do you think there's a way to help them?"
"Uhm... with time? Maybe."
"What if we erase their memories?" I ask.
"They will still feel the need," she replies, serious. "Because it has become a part of them. That need will eventually break the spell, and they will remember."
I sigh again.
"Keep them sleeping. I'll be back later."
"Where are you going?" Lilith tilts her head.
"To reclaim my reward," I reply.
The streets are beautiful. The pavement is well-laid, the city plan clean and designed for a life that was meant to be good. As I walk, I see the effort carved into every building, the deliberate style, the careful decoration. Some houses are unfinished; I can see where a middle-class family was building their future a little at a time, while the poor could only rent and dream of a place to call their own.
It saddens me that nobody will remember these people. I sigh, looking up at the moon, the silent witness to what I am doing, and what I must do.
"Would you remember them?" I ask.
No response. The moon is just a cold object in the heavens, indifferent to the tragedy below.
I keep walking. As I pass, the bodies fall like discarded ornaments, and then they become golden essence that I absorb. There is no motion, no spark of intelligence, nothing left. I take no pleasure in turning them into pure essence, but at least they won't remain here to become a macabre display for whoever eventually stumbles upon this place.
"The same could happen to any society..." I mutter.
It is true. Societies think they need a strong army, the heights of science and art. But they forget that the ground can simply split in two and swallow everything in an instant, leaving no trace behind.
I keep walking. I am emptying the city of what were once its joyful citizens. A tragedy. I try to tell myself that I am giving them a final use, that their sacrifice isn't entirely in vain, but the thought is hollow.
I sigh. I don't want to remember them. Their faces, empty masks, strangers I never had the chance to know. What they were is completely gone, and what's left is a horrible nightmare for the memory of a being no less horrible than the one who broke them.
I stand at the top of the church, looking out over the hushed, empty city. I have no hope for it. I open another portal and cross back to the Vault, back to Lilith, to decide the fate of the survivors. My best bet, "mercy", is to erase their minds and leave them to wake in their own city.
"You're back." Lilith greets me with a smile. She is pure passion and instinct, but her genuine happiness lights up my mood.
I pull her into my arms and hold her there. She is surprised by the display; her instincts flare for a second, demanding freedom, until she realizes this is what she wanted. She leans into me, softening.
"What's wrong?" she whispers.
I don't answer. I am just a man holding something beautiful, knowing that one day, it too might slip through my fingers. My eyes shift, finding the numbers of my progression. The Predator awakens.
[Level 5: 99%]
The number hangs there, a joke. An entire city of essence, and I am still at the threshold. I look past Lilith at the sleeping women, and I know what I have to do.
"Look at them," I whisper. "Broken and used. I wonder if their men fought for them to the death, or if they never had the opportunity. I won't leave them like this."
"They are not your business," Lilith replies, devoid of empathy. "They are weak."
"Indeed," I muse. "What if I devoured them?"
I let the question hang in the air, a cold, invisible blade. I wait for the demoness to say no. I wait for her to stop me, to provide a moral anchor I can't find in myself. But she is a demoness, after all. She simply tilts her head with indifference.
"Devour them," she finally says. "If that's what you want. You can have anything you want."
She smiles like a loyal hound to her master. It is a beautiful, terrifying sight. I raise my hand. It is so easy to end a life, and so difficult to make one bloom.
With a single, sweeping gesture of my Will, their lives are extinguished. They go out like candles in a storm. Within seconds, the only evidence they ever existed are the discarded clothes on the marble floor. Their essence is mine.
I look at Aria. I know she wouldn't approve of this, but she is asleep, and when she wakes, she will believe the story I tell her. She has to.
"Fascinating," Lilith whispers. "It is the first time I have seen you do this."
I ignore her. My eyes go to the numbers of my progression.
[Level 5: 99.9%]
Rage flares in my chest, a brutal fire that wants to consume everything, only to instantly freeze. My eyes dart to the sleeping Aria. I do the numbers in my head. With her essence, I could reach Level 6. I would reach the ultimate expression of my power.
No! No, it's Aria!
I push the thought away, a cold shiver running down my spine.
"Not enough..." I growl.
The hunger in my head is screaming, demanding I finish the ascension. Lilith steps back, for the first time, she looks at me with true, unadulterated fear.
"No... I'll find prey in the Void," I force the words out.
Lilith's eyes widen. "You thought of eating Aria, too?" she mutters. I don't answer. "But it's Aria. You wouldn't... not after all the effort it took to get her back."
I remain silent. She's right. Then why am I even considering it? I check my internal status, searching for the glitch in my soul. I find it.
[Alert: You have survived the presence of a Primordial. Recovering.] [Violence: 97 / 100] [Reason: 0 (+39) / 100] [Clarity: 199 / 1000] Warning: Clarity's protection is currently preventing total ego-death. Progress will normalize as Reason restores.
The truth is laid bare. My Reason is at zero. The "Clarity" is the only thing keeping me from becoming a mindless beast. I am trapped in the body of a 99.9% complete predator, and the control is slipping through my fingers.
"Lilith..." I call. She is tense. "I need you to make me sleep. One week, one month, it matters not. Just make me sleep."
"What?"
"Do it." I order.
"Alright," she replies, her expression becoming unnervingly serious. Her power begins to invade my senses, a thick, narcotic fog. The predator senses the change, and wants to fight it.
"Don't offer resistance!" she cries out.
"Do better!" I roar back, fighting the urge to hit her.
"It's okay... You're too tired... I'll watch your sleep... I am your woman... Yours..." her voice is sweetness and calm. The rage fades. This is my woman. I can sleep on her lap. The peaceful and endless darkness takes me.
"Mine..." I mutter. A happy giggling is the last I hear.