New Valis

Charlotte Valis Stories

Chapter 12: Personal Touch

Kate Tomes: Tribute Chamber Priestess

Her desk was covered in queues of tiny people, neatly organised in sections. Kate was responsible for overseeing the arrival of the monthly tributes from each of the Goddesses worlds. Her doll-sized disciples wandered around her desk answering questions from the Acolytes who were at the ends of each queue, taking names, assigning numbers and reporting the count. Kate spent most of her time checking the final counts against the expected tributes, issuing warnings to those who fell short. 

It had been a quiet day, only four planets were offering tributes, Each one offering the Goddess 10,000 new lives to be sorted and dispersed across the temple. The notification popped up on her screen. The Goddess had requested tributes to be diverted to the kitchen in preparation for guests. Kate pressed the red warning button as she spoke softly over the slow bureaucracy spread across her desk. 

    "Goddess requesting full resource divergence to section three, Dani can you please attend me for new orders."

The Acolytes and Disciples quickly started to move around, adjusting the various exits from the tribute desk to send the new arrivals to Section Three, the Kitchens. Danielle, her head Disciple hopped up from the desk onto a raised platform, climbing up to stand eye level with Kate. The Priestess smiled at her old friend as she whispered towards her.

    "The Goddess wants 100,000 tributes for the kitchen. We are only expecting 40,000. I need you to take Feena and collect some of the debts owed from the other worlds."

Dani bowed as she nodded her acceptance, seemingly overjoyed at the task as she almost danced down from the platform. 

Charlotte Valis, Universal Goddess

The new priestess was grovelling for forgiveness on the floor before the Goddess. Charlotte was only half paying attention as she plucked the appendages from a small man between her fingers, watching him beg and cry as she slowly moved from limb to limb. After a few moments, she slowly twisted his mortified head free of his torso and discarded the pieces to the floor with a brush of her hands. The Goddess reached for another tribute when the grovelling woman said something that drew her focus.

    "...They were able to escape divine seals, It's as if they had magical assistance..."

The Goddess perked up as her fingers drew another squirming figure from the jar beside her. If someone was helping her tributes escape then maybe it was something she should look into. Leaning down, she lifted the grovelling priestesses head to look up at her, smiling lightly she balanced the man she had picked up on the woman's forehead and spoke to her. 

    "I'll have a look into your escaping tributes, for your sake there had better be something to find. Now don't move."

She said sweetly as she leaned back in her chair and lifted her barefoot up slowly. Placing her foot on the young priestesses face, the Goddess pinned the man against the priestesses forehead with her toes. She savoured his struggles, letting the priestess fully appreciate her sole before slowly twisting, grinding the man into a gooey mess on the woman's face. Then she vanished, leaving the Priestess to wipe herself off.

Zarya Justine, Disciple of Lyssa

The group of terrified people behind her followed closely as she led them down the dark, twisting corridors. This would be the tenth group she had rescued this week, unwilling sacrifices being kept as a tribute for the Goddess. The passage opened up in a large open area in the gardens of the Planetary Temple. Her homeworld had been conquered only a few years ago by the cruel Goddess Valis, and she had sacrificed everything, even her soul to be able to fight back against the oppressive priestess who brutally ruled over them.

The group approached the high temple walls, built the scale of the 100ft bitch that lived here. Once outside the temple wasn't guarded, who would dare challenge a Priestess of the Goddess? This made the trip from here out a relatively safe one. As the group reached the base of the massive stone wall, Zarya turned and hopped up onto a raised boulder to address the group. Thirty pairs of eyes looked back as she spoke with a commanding tone. 

    "Once I open the path through the wall, You will be on your own, disperse back into the population and tell no-one what happened here. I can only keep helping people if I am allowed to work in secret. Enjoy the rest of your lives!"

The group started to talk amongst itself as Zarya turned back to the wall and placed both of her hands on the firm stone. She muttered a prayer to Lyssa, the Goddess of Death and felt her blessing pass through her as the stone shifted and split, creating a path through. Holding her focus, she glanced at the group and nodded towards the newly formed crack. The group wasted no time in fleeing through the thick wall and back out into the wider world. Once they had passed through Zarya released the wall and it reformed into its solid-state. Falling into an exhausted slump, she smiled to herself, another group free. A slow clap came from behind, followed by a soft voice.

    "Very well done, Can you teach me how to do that?"

Turning her head slowly she saw a woman approaching from where the group had been standing, her long purple hair flowing in the breeze as her dark jeans and shirt made her stand out from the pastel colours of the temple garden. Shaking her head, she hopped down from the rock she had used for height and walked towards the woman.

    "I'm afraid not. You should have taken the chance to escape while it was open. It takes it out of me. I'll need to recover before I can get you out."

The woman smiled at her as she looked her up and down. Zarya felt a knot in her stomach as she traded scrutinising looks with the woman. The ground vibrated slightly as the temple door swung open, the massive brunette standing on the threshold with her hands on her hips, her gaze sweeping the gardens. Zarya dived behind a bush line and gestured for the purple-haired newcomer to join her. The woman watched before slowly crouching down behind the bush. The Priestess started to prowl above them as if hunting for something. The woman sidled over to Zarya and whispered.

    "What happens if she finds us do you think?"

She said seemingly unconcerned with the gravity of the situation as the large Priestess roamed the far side of the garden. Zarya turned to watch the large woman as she used her incredible height to check behind all of the bush lines. Turning back, she replied, trying to keep her voice calm.

    "I doubt we'd be so fortunate as to be locked up as tributes again. I think she'd try and kill us outright. Follow me. I can hide us from her sight."

The two women exchanged looks as Zarya raised her hand over her head and mumbled a prayer to Lyssa, as the Goddesses name crossed her lips the woman next to her burst into a curse.

    "Fucking bitch whore, I knew it!"

Zarya panicked to hush her companion as the Priestesses gaze fixed on them and she turned to approach. 

    "Quiet, I need to focus right now!" 

The woman's eyes were blazing with purple energy as she glared back at her, Zarya lost her words as she backed away from the purple-haired woman who was slowly standing with a sneer on her lips. The Priestesses shadow loomed over them as she appeared in the sky above. Zarya glanced skyward to see the priestess nod her head, take a deep bow and walk away. 

    "Who...who are you?"

Zarya said, fearing she already knew the answer as she felt her link to Goddess Lyssa snap, the sudden emptiness within her brought her to her knees. 

    "So that little death floozy thinks she can mess around in my universe does she!" 

The woman was radiating power as Zarya crawled backwards. Fear was starting to overtake her as the woman stepped slowly forward, her hand lifting as she grinned. The shot of energy was excruciating as her body seized up, locking in place as the woman advanced on her. The woman, The Goddess, let her fingers dance in the air as Zarya's body moved like a puppet in the air. Charlotte spoke with a bitter tone as she manipulated her body, standing her, lifting her hand's palm side up before her.

    "All those you helped escape are tainted with her power. I can sense them now, I know. You're going to send them all to her and many more...Then you will serve me for the rest of eternity, along with any others like you that I find. I will be looking now."

Zarya felt like she needed to pee, but her body wasn't her own, the fear in her mind; however was very much hers. The Goddess stepped before her and held her hands over Zarya's open palms. She felt the light dusting of sand-grains against her skin as the Goddess fixed eyes with hers. 

The Goddesses hand retreated, and Zarya could see the hundreds of people she had helped escape scurrying around on her skin, the tiny little lives staring around in terrified confusion. Charlotte smirked as she reached forward and took hold of Zarya's left finger. Slowly she bent it over, letting it rest in her palm. Zarya felt in impossible detail the bones breaking of the two people that had been caught under her finger. The screams burst through her mind as if they had been standing next to her, their terrified pleas for mercy as clear as if she had been with them. Charlotte spoke softly as she tilted Zarya's palm down, letting the small people roll together where the next fingers would land. 

    "You were the saviour to these people. Now you get to experience the bliss of true power as you give these souls to your former owner..."

Zarya felt her next finger fold-over, guided by the divine's firm grip, the cacophony of screams and the immersive experience of crushing bodies made her tear up as she wished she could tremble, she wished she could run. She had been given powers to reduce the amount of death this cruel woman was inflicting on her universe. Instead, she was being forced to become part of it. The Goddess slowly worked through all of her fingers until both of her hands were fists. The amount of death and pleas for mercy echoed through Zarya's mind as she tried to cry. The goddess took Zarya's fists into her hands and squeezed them, ending the final few survivors as she leaned in to whisper in her ear.

    "You're going to be hyper-sensitive, every sound, feeling, taste and smell will be the most powerful thing you could experience...you're also going to be indestructible. So no matter how much you suffer, It will never end. "

The words came as she heard dying gasps of the last man in a fist. Zarya mentally begged Lyssa for aid as the wicked Goddess tormented her. The world shifted as the Goddess grabbed her throat, the full grip turning into two fingers as Zarya watched Charlotte's face explode to the size of a building before her. 

Charlotte Valis, Universal Goddess

Roughly shoving the four-inch woman into her pocket, the Goddess sighed as she grew herself to walk into the temple. Her planetary priestess sat on the temple throne, giving orders to some of the small disciples. The Goddess entered; the whole room turned to face her and fell to their knees. Sighing, she spoke towards the priestess.

    "I've fixed your escaping tribute problem, double offerings from this world for three months for my time...and reach out to the other temples, I want to know if anything like this ever happens again, immediately."

The Priestess nodded her approval in silence as the Goddess swept her gaze around the assorted servants, checking for anyone she could step on for any reason. They weren't offering her up an easy excuse, so she just selected a random man from the edge of the room. Placing her booted foot on him and pinning him down. 

    "Beg for your life."

She declared as the man whimpered idle nothings into her thick sole. She shook her head in disappointment as if there were something he could have said to save himself from this. Her boot applied a slight amount of pressure, and the man crunched. The Goddess smiled and vanished.

Entering the Kitchen, Charlotte was greeted with the sweet herbal and honey smells she loved from Emma's cooking. Her chef dropped to her knees as she entered, and Charlotte gestured for her to continue cooking as she hopped up and sat on the counter. 

    "I don't reward you for the wonderful work you do, especially with these little delicacies."

The Goddess complemented as she fished a chocolate flake mortal from the dish on the counter. The snack dissolving into an explosion of flavour on her tongue. Her Chef nodded her approval as she flicked a group of small men around the frying pan. Charlotte reached into her pocket and pulled out Zarya.

    "This is for you Em. She's an invincible little slut that I have condemned to an eternity of suffering. Try getting off with her. She's going to squirm and scream far more than any of those mortals you've been experimenting with."

Emma blushed as she pressed her skillet down on the men in the pan, drawing a scream from them to cover her embarrassment. Turning to the Goddess, she took the four-inch woman and inspected her. 

    "Thank you, Goddess. I will be sure to punish her at least twice a day."

Charlotte smiled as she offered the tiny Zarya a friendly wave before hopping down from the counter, snagging the bowl of snacks and striding from the kitchen,