In Chaos' Wake: Fucking Gods (Patreon)

In the unknowable, endless dark, trumpets played, keeping the Sleeping Chaos in its eternal slumber. The Elder God slept, its mind still, as it had for countless eternities. Then, something happened.

It was but a moment, so slight that were the chorus any less dedicated they would have faltered, but The Daemon Sultan in its slumber stirred. It did not rouse, nor was it truly at risk of waking, but in that moment, a small, near infinitesimal number of things changed.

These changes stretched throughout time and space, opening opportunities for those with the wherewithal to take advantage of them. But even for those of the primordial chaos, great and mighty they might be, the window was fleeting. By the time this window of opportunity closed, only three managed to make use of it.

One, the child of Shub-Niggurath and Nyarlathotep, given the opportunity to grow away from its siblings in a new realm. One, once the servant of an almighty deity before leaving their service. One, the primordial spirit of an extinct creature, refusing to fade quietly into the mists of time.

The realm they found themselves in was similar, in almost every respect, to the countless worlds throughout creation populated by the naked ape that called itself "humanity". But The Cold One's shifting had resulted in minute changes, stretching the fabric of space-time to result in slightly altered history and rules of "reality".

The inhabitants of this reality were fortunate. The changes were stretched out throughout the expanse of time, not the instant the changes were made. To them, no matter how great or small, no matter how mighty or insignificant, things had always been this way.

Bodies were sturdier, more resilient, but only in a few key ways. Society viewed certain acts differently. And what was two became three.

~•~•~

Greed Ring. STAMP. Pride Ring. STAMP. Pride Ring. STAMP. Sloth Ring. STAMP. Sloth Ring. STAMP. Greed Ring. STAMP. Lust Ring. STAMP. Wrath Ring. STAMP. Envy Ring. STAMP. Gluttony Ring. STAMP.

Every day, since I was created one hundred years ago, it was the same bureaucratic horseshit day in and day out. Satan’s wrinkled ball sack, I’m a succubus, I shouldn’t be stamping paperwork! I should be up there on Earth making mortals find love and lust, whether with me or each other!

“Paperwork for the new arrivals,” Arvak, the bloated, overweight imp that was officially my assistant, warbled as he dumped a stack of papers twice his height on the blank spot on my desk that I’d just cleared of paperwork!

“Fuck this shit, I’m out,” I snapped as I pushed my chair away from my desk and stood up.

“If you leave they’ll decommission you, and I don’t want to have to deal with a newly made demon they’d make to replace you.”

“I’m taking my lunch!”

“See you in fifteen minutes.”

I flipped him off as I walked out of our shared office the size of a closet. I’d admit, Arvak was more tolerable than most demons, but that was a very low bar. I considered finding an incubus or hellhound for a quickie, but I did need to eat some…

“ARVAK!”

“Wasn’t me!”

“Then I suppose someone else ate my sabbath killer burger I brought for lunch!”

“That was yours?”

“We’re the only two demons that use that fridge, who else would have brought it?!”

“You sound tense, have you been relaxing?”

If I were human, I’d probably have to worry about a dental bill from how hard my teeth were grinding together. I said Arvak was more tolerable than most demons. And that was true. That didn’t mean I liked the inflated shitball.

Turning on my heel, I stormed out of the building. As enjoyable as popping the little sack of pus like an overinflated zit would be, then I’d have to take care of all of the paperwork until the higher ups got off their dildos long enough to make a replacement.

Such was life in Hell. Even for a succubus instead of an earthborne soul. Shit job, shit company, shit hours, shit apartment, shit everything. If you were lucky one of the Borne Demons took an interest in you, otherwise you'd be stuck in the same position you were fabricated for for Eternity. Me, I'm not lucky.

Looking out over the Dis skyline, I gave a sigh. I, a demon meant for tempting mortals into sin, had all of Eternity to look forward to stamping papers. All because the higher ups can't be bothered to make some new designs to reflect the changing times. The succubus template was the newest model of demon, and it was designed more than two thousand years ago, when there were a mere fraction of humans as there are now.

I was about to head back in, my boss would take even a minute tardiness out of my back (literally), when I saw something. Just below the balcony, there was a strange… thing that shimmered like oil on water. It was just floating there, and it was clearly some sort of rift, but it didn't feel like Heaven, Hell, or Earth.

Whatever it was, I wanted no part of - “Your lunch is over.”

Arvak's voice behind me made me jump up out of my skin, and my foot caught the edge of the balcony. Thrown off balance, I fell off the edge, right into the rift that was under it.

“FUCK YOU ARVAK!” I shouted as I fell through the rift. Snapping open my wings, I hissed as the muscles in my back protested at the sudden exercise of holding my weight. Being a desk jockey didn’t exactly leave much time to stretch my wings, but they did the job of catching the air and letting me turn my plummet into a controlled… glide… wha…

It was Hell, I’d recognize the smell of burning oil and pumice in the air anywhere. But it was… empty. Those two words didn’t belong together, Hell was crowded, but from where I was gliding, I couldn’t see a single structure, demon, or human soul. But I recognized the mountain range in the distance, the one that held Tartarus. By the outline of the mountains on the horizon, I should be in the middle of Dis.

The ground was approaching, I needed to get my feet down so I could land. I could do this, I’d done it a bunch, just not in… spitting out the volcanic ash that came with my crash landing, I remembered why it had been nearly ninety years since I last had a decent landing. Okay, so no Dis where there should be, no big deal. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for why the capitol of Hell, including Satan’s Palace, wasn’t where it should be.

Yeah, I got nothing. Should I check Earth? But the last time I even considered going to Earth I got a very harsh reminder about why a Soul Sorter didn’t get to leave Dis. Thank fuck demons could regrow limbs, otherwise I’d be out a tail and a wing. But, if there’s no Dis to leave… if there’s no sign of there even being Satan… there’s no one who can stop me…

My cheeks began to hurt from the grin I was surely sprouting, but this was too good an opportunity to miss. I’d never actually opened a Gate, but how hard could it be? Just reach out for the highest concentration of souls and pull the barrier aside. In hindsight, it was obvious what would happen, but I had no way of being prepared for it. The sheer, unrelenting deluge of souls, finally given a place to go burst through my Gate like a dam filled to bursting.

An untold billion number of souls passed through me, each one leaving behind a tiny piece of their nature. That tiny piece was consumed by my infernal core. In the span of a few seconds, my core consumed its own weight in spiritual power a thousandfold, ten thousandfold, hundred… the Gate slammed shut, cutting off the flow of souls.

I don’t know how long I remained there, eyes wide, jaw dropped and drooling, thighs slick with my cream. My body shifting, altering, mutating to accommodate the sheer deluge of power that had been dumped into me. A minute, an hour, a day? Who could tell. But eventually, I came to my senses, kneeling in a pool of sexual juices.

Looking down, my eyes took in my changed form as I stood. I… had a chest now. I went from a Pedo Bait Model succubus, intended to tempt upper class creeps into ‘adopting’ homeless girls to groom, to being bigger than a Tit-Zilla Model. Lilith’s dimpled ass crack, each one was bigger than my head was before I got upgraded! A look behind me showed that my ass was similarly inflated. I went from being flat as a college textbook to being like a porn star.

My tits and ass weren’t the only things that had changed. Just above my still leaking pussy was a thick, hard, throbbing demoncock. While the fact that I’m a succubus meant that wasn’t a completely foreign concept, normally I have to focus in order to bring it out. Instead it was out and ready to go. Also larger. Much larger. No seriously, I couldn’t understate how much bigger it was. Before it was porno big, now the tip was brushing against the underside of my tits.

Huh…

That’s got the potential to cause some problems, but a touch of succubus magic before fucking the bitches would make it safe. Shrugging it off, I took stock of my less physical changes. A short inspection made my eyes shoot open. I… I was now the Ruler of Hell. I was linked to Hell, in a way that couldn’t truly be explained in words. But that meant… I couldn’t leave. Not entirely. I could divide myself, make an avatar that could roam the Earth.

A grin stretched across my face. In one fell swoop, I went from being powerless and chained to a desk, to being the Empress of Hell and the ability to roam far and wide. At the same time!

“I really should thank you, Arvak,” I mused, as I set about creating demons from the matter of Hell. Before I got too sidetracked with the prospect of an avatar, I really needed to get the infrastructure set up.

The basic setup would be as I was familiar with. Rings governed by a specific sin, Princes that ruled over each Ring, nobles under Princes, overlords under nobles. The key difference: the possibility for advancement. If you could cultivate enough power and cunning, you could rise up the ranks. But to prevent anyone from getting ideas, I placed a hard limit on how powerful any demon or soul could become. I went from being a weak cog to being a goddess, there was no way I was risking going back to what I was.

The framework of my Hell set up, I could now focus on creating an avatar and sending them to Earth. I’d make it physically similar to my current form, but human sized. Wings, black as my heart and covered in feathers that could be soft as a cloud or hard as adamantine, ooh I wonder what it would be like to masturbate with one… no, focus.

Wiping away the drool from the corner of my mouth, I made the finishing touches to my Avatar. Then, opening a Gate, I picked up the limp body and tossed it through, my consciousness splitting as a small fragment went with the Avatar.

~•~•~

I didn’t have a name. I’d just been born/hatched/spawned when the Mighty One stirred. Parent, not one that birthed/secreted/expelled me, sent me through the opening caused by Mighty One’s shifting. I was, at most, a tiny fragment of what I could be, scarcely large enough to retain my own consciousness. Even as small as I was, I barely fit through the opening.

I was surprised when I made it through the passage, this realm lacked the presence of the Mighty One, Parent, Parent, or any like them. Had something severed this section of Creation from its Creators? How? What could have done that?

Crashing into the ground, reshaping the land around me from the impact, was barely worth a notice as I pondered these mysteries. Indeed, I paid it little attention, my primary focus on determining what my purpose would be. Much as I wanted to see my family, this presented an unprecedented opportunity: a world upon which to feed and grow without competing with my countless siblings for resources.

Settling into my damp crater, I reached out for the thoughts of nearby wildlife. I’d need some form of sustenance, and the minds of the lesser creatures would suffice for the moment. To my surprise, there were the minds of some moderately aware lesser creatures. Not particularly intelligent, but far more so than the rest of the local wildlife. Even better, they started bringing me food themselves! This was fantastic, they did all the work, while I could sleep and get fat off the food they brought me.

So, that’s exactly what I did. I napped, ate the food the lesser creatures brought, occasionally giving them a small pat for their efforts. It was important to reward pets when they do well, it encourages them. I lost track of how long I’d slept off and on for, it wasn’t important.

At some point the lesser creatures began engaging in mating practices, which to my surprise at the time resulted in my personal power growing. After a few times, I reached out with my form to see if participating would increase the amount my power would grow. I soon found that of the lesser creatures, the ones with two openings in the lower portion of their body provided a substantial boost, the ones with both openings and a small, miniscule tentacle provided about half that, while those with one opening and a tentacle weren’t worth the effort that went into probing them.

So I stopped bothering with the one opening, one tentacle creatures. Whenever the lesser creatures did their strange group mating behavior that somehow increased my power, I played with the two opening creatures. Then, one of the two openers did something that surprised me.

By making a lot of complicated symbols to say “r͎͛͡e͙ͧ͡p̶̨͍̰̌̍ļ̎̈́̃͏͓̝̰̀ą̵̱̩̲̮̾̿̃̉̕͡c̷̫̠̤͓̖̈̓̇̀̚͟͟͡ĕ̸̶̸̡̬͖̹̤̙́͋͌ͣ̕ ̍̽͊́͊͢҉̶̧͖̰̱͎̮͇͜͝f̷̵̲̟͕̗̺̐͂̌̍͆̅́͢͜͠ͅư̧̢̨͓͖̬̯͚͍͍̍ͪ̋̒ͫ͛͢͟͡c̡̎ͧ͊̿ͤͪ͟͠͝͠͞͏͖̹̩͔̲̭ͅk̷̸̡̢̛̮̥̳̭̹̻̖͍̓ͮ̃̏ͮ̔͟͜͝ş̵̵̵̛͎̟͎̯̩̭̪̫̐̈́ͧͭ̑̀̚͘͜t̂͗̿͂̆͏͏͕̖͕̤͈͈̬̗͘͢͞͠͞͞i̸̴̧̡̳̬͔̰̰̲͈͖̒̋̓ͯ̃͝͠͡͠ç̵̨̛̹͔̬̲̙̼̫̈́̌͐̚͢͢͜͡͝ͅͅk̵̨̡̨̻͇͍̮̖͉̝̞̒ͪͩ͒̔́͜͡͡ ̸̨̛̲̹̤͕̯̰͙ͬ̋ͣ́̉̀́̕͟͠ͅw̧̡̡̡̛̖̬̯̖̰͔̟̑͛ͬ͗̅͗́̕͢ͅi͊̓̎̊ͯ̚҉̴̵́͢͝͝҉̠̦̺̺̪̬̞ͅtͬͧ̔ͣ̓̓͏̵̶̕͢͏͏̹̱̭͖̣̪̺h̸̴̸̨̢̛͖̭̮͈̺̻̪̓ͦ̉͗ͩͩ̕ ̸͂̌̏͌̋͒͢͏̨̬̭̥̲͔͈̕͡f̴̧̊ͭͤ̍͌͏̧̡͙͎̺̜̦̭͜u̷͆͆̃̈́ͤ҉̷͇̞̮̹̤́͘n̢̢ͬ͒̓̓͝͠҉̙̠͔̹ͅč̊̔̅͞҉̸̻͕̲͇͠l̵̡̛̬̤̭̒͆ͬa̡̜̻ͩͯ́m̡͙̈,” a one opener became a two opener.

A lesser creature… changed another… using a minor amount of my energy. I hadn’t realized I could do that. A quick check, and the former one opener wasn’t quite as potent as a natural two opener, but I could easily see what went wrong. The first one that I changed I made sure to change right.

After a long time, I noticed something strange. The lesser creatures had some new diseases, which I made sure to get rid of whenever they came for their mating rituals, but there were fewer of the lesser creatures coming each mating season. By the end, instead of the litter-worth numbers there were in earlier mating seasons, there were maybe ten, all of them two openers. Two openers that didn’t have the tentacle. It was the first time I could think of that there weren’t any tentacles on the lesser creatures. The previous mating season didn’t have any one openers but there were some tentacled two openers.

Oddly, they weren’t doing the usual pre-mating ritual behaviors. They brought a hollow log, put it into my mass, climbed into the hollow part, and used sticks to proceed further away from where my edge was. I didn’t know what they were thinking, was this some new mating ritual?

All of the two openers ate something, and settled into the hollow. Curious, I waited to see what they were going to do. And continued to wait. Huh, I was waiting a lot longer than the mating season usually lasted. Finally, I looked up over the edge of the log. Where’d the lesser creatures go? And where’d this goop come from? Had the lesser creatures conjoined and fallen asleep?

I reached in to poke at the lesser creatures. They didn’t wake, so I poked again. I was getting annoyed, so I turned the log over so they’d have to wake up and speak to me. They spilled out, along with some hard parts. Before I could get mad at them, I felt something new.

A part of me I didn’t know I had suddenly had the lesser creatures. Not their fleshy parts, I’d just eaten those. But their not-fleshy parts. I hadn’t realized the lesser creatures had them. Well, if they were part of me, I should make sure they enjoyed themselves. That taken care of, I settled down into my cave-crevice and took a nap. I’d been awake for a while, I was sleepy.

The next time I woke up, it was to a lesser creature trying to pinch me. I was grumpy, having been enjoying my sleep, so I shooed it off. I was still in the process of waking up when the lesser creature returned with another, who made a lot of mouth noises without talking. I watched them, curious, until they left.

As I was just finishing waking up, more lesser creatures came down. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of them, they were similar but didn’t look quite like the earlier lesser creatures. The first ones were a pair of two openers, one with the tentacle. They began the mating ritual, so I decided to participate like I used to. For some reason they stopped mating, at least at first. They got into it really quickly, but when they seemed to be finished I set them down, like I did with the earlier lesser creatures.

Not too much later they came back, with a few more. So the whole mating ritual thing started all over again. For some reason, none of the one openers came. I didn’t mind, it was one less thing I had to do, but it was something I noticed.

I let things continue like this for a bit. I didn’t have anything else I needed to do, and helping with the mating ritual was so easy I could do it while half asleep. I was getting ready to settle down for another nap when I felt something that shocked me out of my half-asleep state.

Were those… no, no they weren’t any of my siblings… or parents… I’d never felt anything quite like them before. One… one felt spicy, the other felt… old? Not as old as the Mighty One, Parent, or Parent, but certainly older than anything else I’d felt. This… I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with this. I’d never had to compete for anything before, how did I do it? What were the two Others after?

I needed more information, I needed to avoid notice. It took me a moment to hit upon an idea. I wasn’t entirely sure I could do it, but I took part of my mass and scrunched it down, squeezing it into the shape of one of the lesser creatures. One of the tentacled two openers. Avatar made, I severed my physical connection with it and put it in front of one of the mating pairs of lesser creatures. With that done, I pinched off a segment of my mind and dropped it into the body.

Ooh, oooohh, this was fun. Being smaller and just a part of me gave me such a different perspective. Oh, the mating pair had stopped. And now they were prostrating.

“Oh Great Nubb-Iathl’tep, you bless us lowly mortals with the presence of your avatar. How may we mere mortals serve your will?” one asked.

Huh, so the mouth noises the lesser creatures had made in the past were attempts at communicating? I didn’t know that. Interesting. Well they are lesser creatures so I guess it makes sense that their means of communication would be so limited. Well, anyway, I need you to look for any sign of new major powerful entities. I just sensed them showing up, and they really freaked me out and why aren’t you doing any oh, right.

“I̵̞ͣ ͔ͪ͠w̷͈̰ͭͮ́ą̘̝̆̃͝ň̡̃͏̵̬̖͉t̵͗͆҉̬̞̜̕ ̵̤̺̮̌̽͡͡ý̷̷̢̼̲̜̾o̊ͣ͢҉̶̲̤̭ụ̵̭̰̈͊͘͜ ̛̤̙ͥ̏͞t̸̡͚̪́̃o̭ͥ͜… ahem… I want you to find out everything you can about the two new presences that just arrived. One will be older than anything else around here, even older than me. The other will,” I paused to take another feel of the thing I was feeling, “be quite prolific in matchmaking.”

~•~•~

It had been countless aeons since the last of my mortal kin died. Since I went from the mightiest of the Spirit Kingdom to an ancient reminder of a world that no longer exists. We were the first true kings, our sail backed precursors merely hinting at the strength in our bodies, the power in our souls, the bite of our fangs.

But, despite the kings I was the spiritual embodiment of dying, I refused to fade away. I watched as countless other beasts rose up to take the place of those before them. I studied their forms, their gifts, their discoveries. I had no plan, no goal, beyond a stubborn refusal to simply fade like dust in the wind.

For the majority of my existence, I watched as the descendants of the lizards I'd preyed upon grew a myriad of mighty and wondrous forms. Then, came their end. In a way I could never have imagined. I'd seen lineages die from competing rivals, the world itself changing more than they could handle, hunted to oblivion, or changing until they were unrecognizable. But never had I seen something like what killed off the lizard kings.

The winter that followed lasted for generations. The lizard kings died, the masters of the sky fell, the ocean emperors perished. All that remained were those too small to be more than a snack. For a brief time, I wondered if they too would perish, but they held on.

Then, as had happened time and again, they spread, they multiplied, they changed. At first, it seemed that the reptiles and the beaked descendants of the lizard kings would again rule the world. But, the small, furry descendants of my cousins began to overthrow those that had forced them to hide and scurry in the shadows.

I watched with interest as they took on a new array of features. Some developed fangs even longer than my own, some turned their noses into manipulators. But it was a group of tree dwellers that next gained my attention.

At first I paid them little mind, their tricks with hitting rocks together interesting but it was hardly the first time a beast used tools. But then something strange happened. Their spirit, the embodiment of all they were, was… fading. Yet they were still alive.

It took time, countless of their generations, for their spirit to completely fade. But eventually, for the first time, there was a creature in the physical realm without a counterpart in the spiritual.

I admit, it scared me. Had the creatures discovered a way to kill spirits? I couldn't risk it, my connection to the physical was weaker and more tenuous than that of other spirits. If they could consume their own spirit then I had little chance. Much like their ancestors in the shadows of the lizard kings, I hid.

It was only then that I realized. The vanished spirit wasn't the result of something that they did, but a gift from the spirit itself. Without a spirit of their own, they gained a level of awareness unlike any that had walked the physical realm. Their minds, instead of forming a piece of their spirit grew.

Instead of an entire species being represented by one spirit, each and every one of them had their own. It was… an incredible gamble, as before they could develop their own spirits, the entire species was defenseless. Had any realized what would happen, not reached the same faulty conclusion I had, they surely would have been wiped out. By the time we realized the truth, it was too late. Far too late.

In the blink of an eye, especially for one as old as I am, these hairless primates went from clinging on in the savannah to covering nearly every scrap of land under the sky. They were… amazing.

The denizens of the spiritual watched in wonder and curiosity as these marvelous apes developed ever more complex and powerful tools. How they learned to utilize wood and stone to strike far beyond the length of their bodies. How they made fire serve them.

It was Wolf who first made the decision to align with them. Not entirely, but a number of wolves began to serve the hairless apes. Before long, the serving wolves had changed so much that Wolf split into two spirits: Wolf and Dog.

Wolf was the first, but not the last. More and more spirits began to follow their example. Aurochs, Goat, Boar, Cat, one by one, more chose to serve. Then I was surprised yet again.

The… humans; they managed to speak to spirits. Never had anything from the physical realm communicated with the spiritual. In the span of a thousand years, everything changed. Humans made offerings, which made the spirit stronger. I was already weakened by clinging on countless ages without a tether to the physical, but now, with the other residents of the spiritual realm growing stronger, my weakness was all the more apparent.

I tried to form a bond with humans, to form a new tether, but I failed. Humans interacted with the spirits based on the animals that resided in the physical, and my kin were naught but dust and sand. In time, though it burned at my pride, I gave up. In spite of everything that humans had done that I'd never imagined, I couldn't so much as get one to hear me. Even after they discovered the bones of my kin, preserved in stone, they couldn't perceive me.

I was contemplating letting myself fade, to finally end my shell of an existence. Despite observing and learning every trick that humans had learned and developed from working with spirits, it seemed that there was no hope for my kind to rise again. I'd seen spirits and humans copulate to form creatures that had the bodies of the spirit and the soul of humanity, but if no human could perceive me, then I couldn't utilize that.

But then something strange occurred, something unlike the strange things humans had done. I didn't give it any consideration, I simply leapt into the opening that had appeared. The opening that very nearly closed on my tail.

I found myself on Earth, but… not. The spiritual realm was nearly empty, but what was there was… crystalline. Ephemeral, crystalline spires. As I cautiously approached them, I realized that some spires were dark, some seemed withered, some were smaller versions of others, it was a veritable forest of crystal structures.

It was then that I noticed. Each and every one of them was tethered to a human. Their minds were… simple, and yet the ones that were brightly lit were functioning at speeds I could scarcely comprehend. Each doing something to the physical realm, guided by the human they were attached to.

It was interesting, and as I watched, one spire, dark upon my arrival, lit up. The human it was tethered to… a female, young. The spire took control over the simple creatures surrounding the girl, and I had an epiphany.

I had noticed that as the spire was igniting, it was vulnerable. Dark and the spires were covered in barbs, ignited and they might notice me before I could pounce. I needed to find one on the verge of ignition, after the barbs were pulled in but before it could react to defend itself.

There, a short distance away. A smaller spire, linked to another one. Moving with the swiftness of the predatory king I was, I raced through the spiritual realm to the spire, just as its crystalline barbs retracted. Drawing upon the energies around me, I infused my jaws with power far beyond what they already possessed, my first bite splitting the spire in two. Teeth and fangs snapped shut, crystal shattered, and power was devoured.

Now, for the first time, I had a connection to a human. Peering through the veil, I quickly processed what the human’s surroundings and circumstances were. An adolescent female, just scarcely old enough to bear kits, her sire under attack by another human wearing armor. The sire was losing. I’d watched other spirits communicating with humans enough, as well as granting a vast assortment of powers, that reaching the female’s mind was a simple matter.

Do you want to save your father? I sent to her, making her start. I can save him, I can give you power beyond reckoning. In return, you will aid in helping my kind repopulate. Do we have an accord?

She was quiet, and I was worried that in my eagerness for a means of influencing the physical I’d pushed too strongly. Then, the armored human stabbed the sire with a metal spear, sending miniature lightning through him.

“Just save my daddy.”

With her acceptance, I felt the bond settle. So much was now available to me, more power than I’d had since the lizard kings roamed the land, with countless ways to use it I’d never considered when I had the power. But first, I needed to uphold my end of the bargain.