Chapter 3: Awaken

My true form stirred. A momentous occasion for my most powerful servants and all others in my realm. I could sense the awe in them, yet despite it they continued to work diligently.

Such loyalty.

My eyelids shot open first. I gazed down on them all. My servants were diverse to say the least. Eldritch, lesser ‘gods’. Some looked indistinguishable to humans and others were incomprehensible to those mortal primates. They varied considerably in the maximum size they could reach, but the ones before me were not much bigger than the meals they offered my way.

While I had rested, they moved universes towards my lips, pushing them through the slight part so that I could easily and idly swallow the treats down. They were in the process of ushering a few more bubble-like universes into my mouth when my amethyst gaze fell upon them. Very diligent indeed, but that would not be enough for me. Not now. They knew it too. They could hear my stomach grumble. It shock the fabric of my realm.

I opened wide. Inhaled. Swallowed. I knew their thoughts. They considered it an honor to be fully returned to me however long or brief. They were in bliss. The quintillions of mortals in the offerings they brought me thought otherwise.

No matter.

That was nothing to me. Not even a mouthful. At my true scale universes were as grains of rice.

Though fully awake, I hadn’t even begun to really move. I had no throne or bed to rest on. Instead, I sat upright. Legs crossed with one another. Bare soles up. Lotus position.

It was time to stretch. My legs untangled and unbent. My arms reached up. Fingers curled. Toes too before I lifted them up. As I did so, I bellowed out a sigh which echoed beyond the glowing bounds of realm.

“Aaaah~”

I let my arms hand lose to my side a moment. Each fair-skinned limb of mine extended trillions of light years in length. My true form was the same as my preferred form of avatar. I had the same short, black hair. Short natural nails. Naked. Human in shape and at a glance. Body lithe. Svelte. Skin free of marks. Divine.

Yet, I was massive. Not too many rivaled my height of about 10 teraparsecs. Over 30 trillion light years in length. It could take light about 400 billion years to travel from the bottom of my big toe to the top. That is, if I didn’t use my vast powers to tweak the surrounding laws of physics to my liking, as I almost always did.

I was vast. The undisputed ruler of my territory. My realm.

After smacking my lips, I spoke out. My voice reached ears and minds of all who existed in the space I ruled. Of course, those within my form heard too. My body was really something of a more personal realm.

“More.”, I said.

With that I simply held out my arms, arced my head back, and absorbed all within my domain.

For most, it was a re-absorption. I already owned their souls of my servants, my past meals. I simply let them exist outside my form. Yet I could call them back at any moment. Like tugging on a leash, though I knew most didn’t see it like that.

Yet universes could blip in and out of existence even in my realm. I permitted as much. Why would I turn away free energy? More souls? More power? More size? More food?

It was these spontaneous bubbles of cosmos that my servants fetched for me and fed me as I slumbered. Awake, that was not needed. I had godlike power over my realm. These universes were in it, and so even though they they weren’t absorbed and claimed in a more strict sense, that soon changed. At a thought. That was all it took for me to tug every universe and faithful servant against my naked body.

My hunger was such that I couldn’t wait. I opened my mouth not to take them in, but to let out a pleased little coo. All I brought to me, all in my realm, fell against my skin. No matter the point of contact, I took them into my body seamlessly. I absorbed it all that way.

I felt a tiny bit more satisfied, briefly. That alone was worth the effort. Alas, reabsorbing beings whose souls and energy I already claimed didn’t satiate much. There were plenty of novel universes yet unharvested by my followers, but many others weren’t. They were universes I had taken into myself, but reformed in my realm so as to watch them flourish and evolve. To serve as playgrounds for smaller avatars of mine or especially loyal servants. Toys.

Since I had eaten them once, they never left me in a sense. That which was reclaimed was scarcely anything at all compared to what of them was within me. Though the sextillions of new souls from the newly consumed universes were welcomed into my churning innards, it was not enough.

I was starving. Famished. Not literally of course. I didn’t need to eat to persist in the strictest since of the word, unlike most mortals. Yet, I still felt hunger. The desire to eat. More than that, I had a desire to do more than stretch. I wanted to grow. I wanted more.

And awake, alert, hungry, my digestive processes were faster and more active. I hadn’t even a brief period of satiation. I wanted more. I wouldn’t find it within my realm. I needed to leave for a bit.

I felt my hunger again rising again. I prepared and when my stomach next gurgled, I decided to let the roar of it echo past my realm and across the omniverse where all dwelled in. I spoke shortly after, willing my voice to do the same.

“I hunger.”

This was quite the flex of power for ostensible vanity. Yet, it served a purpose. It signaled to others of my level of being that I was feeding, and to respect that so as to avoid any quarrels. It was something of an unwritten courtesy between us more advanced and utterly gargantuan divine beings.

As I fed, I would continue letting my stomach gurgles thunder out far as they could. The volume wouldn’t change much, but the distance would be much vaster than otherwise. Across the omniverse. In this way, I could let all know I was still feeding till, at some point, the grumbles of my taut tummy would end.

All this had yet another effect. As the shake of my hunger rattled the ears of those in the void, it’d warn others. It’d warn the guppies to stay clear as a shark stirred.

Now, those within loose universes wouldn’t be able to do much if they were even aware what was going on. Yet, lesser gods, the wise ones, would perhaps try and hide. Others would maybe try to get a head start on running if they recognized my voice.

All the better. It’d make for a more thrilling hunt of sorts. If I really wanted to seek them out, those acts wouldn’t save them. They could however bargain with a being like me to seek shelter in a proper, expansive realm. That carried it’s own risks. Different ones.

After my proclamation, I moved towards the edge of my realm.