Chapter 10: Travel

The system Clover warped to was known as the “Thumnih System” after the dominant and sole sentient species that lived there.

Clover changed her body on the way over. Her skin was still green, and her hair still bright red and rife with flowers. Her petal side-coverings, however, were gone. Gods didn’t need to cover themselves, she reasoned. She also reformed her legs and feet. She didn’t need root herself in planets anymore, though vines grew from and coiled about her limbs as before.

Wings still fluttered on her back, only more splendid than ever. To emphasize her self-proclaimed divinity, they morphed from the wings of a fae to the great spanning wings of an angel. The ‘feathers’ were petals: white and red like iris and begonias. She adored the design so much she duplicated it with another smaller set sprouting just below the main. That made four wings in total.

Lastly, she grew. Compared to her, the populated worlds that littered this star system were the size of tennis balls at most, and marbles at the least. The closest one, several thousands miles in front of her, was as a particularly ripe plum in scale.

She perceived the aliens on the world, smaller than dust to her, finer than any photograph.

“Oh wow, such square eyes. You walk on two legs too. How quaint. I wonder how you taste~” she said, making them hear and understand her words. She spoke in the void of space and in their minds.

She reached out a finger to touch at the world, and in that moment a swarm of grey spots warped in. Mortal eyes wouldn’t be able to discern them, but she could. They were spaceships, each with a single pilot. Together, the fleet spanned twice the height of the planet vertically.

“Hmm? And what might you little things be.” she boomed.

The grey shifted, becoming a rainbow of lights. It was like those ‘LEDs’ she learned of on that second Earth. They made an image with the lights: a picture of two abstract beings fighting with a red-X blinking over it, on and off.

She chuckled. “Oh how cute. You don’t want to fight? Neither do I. Just stay still then, and I’ll welcome you to an eternity within your god, hmm~”

She reached out towards the swarm and pinched up a few hundred ships. As a few souls flew into her celestial body, they flashed images again. These were more specific. They showed giant fingers and their planet--with a red-X blinking over it. Next, they showed their fleet, her finger and, of course, a red-X blinking over it.

Some of the Thumnih souls reached their new unresting place within her form, and she learnt all the history they had, the tech they owned and their culture. All these ships were auto-piloted save their weapons systems. By Thumnih law, they needed a living operator to decide to fire every shot. They were a very peaceful and pacifistic sort.

Clover giggled. “Oh my, you’re so cute, all of you. To think you can tell a god what to do: the god, rather.”

She opened her mouth and out-flew a vine. It tangled around thousands of ships and brought them into her gob. She swallowed. By now it was clear she was hostile, and they all opened fire.

“Such advanced weaponry. You’d be able to level an Earth in minutes. Alas, it’s mere tickles to me. Let me show you the merest glimpse of my capabilities.”

Clover floated upwards so that the taut expanse of her abs was level with the world and its stalwart defenders. Her wings fluttered softly all the while: not they needed to, but the rhythmic motion pleased her and she loved how divine it made her look.

Her voice continued invading their minds. “At a glance, you may think I’m a just some nature god. Spreading blooms and green. But all flesh is my domain: all reality and unreality will be soon enough.”

The great green expanse of flesh quivered. From the bottom of her chest line to the crest of her waistline grew a slit. Her flesh began to part with a horrid squelching noise. It was no wound, but a maw wide large enough to swallow countless worlds whole. Moon-sized teeth spiraled down and in towards the maw’s end: a great dim light of umbra and sanguine shades. Between the teeth, vines stirred.

“Gaze upon your god and rejoice at the honor of feeding her~”

The vines lashed out. Their speed was unmatched. She knew the ships could warp across the star system in an instant, but they wouldn’t. To do so would leave that planet defenseless. It was defenseless, of course, but they figured they could distract her and hope for a miracle. But, miracles came from gods like her, and she didn’t seem willing to share any.

Ships fired at vines the size of countries to no avail. The appendages slammed into the swarm and impaled ships with the minute bristles on their sides. There were also thinner ones: thin as the ships themselves. These wrapped around the space vessels personally.

Throngs of the appendages brought back their bounties. The ships were hurtled deep into Clover’s body at speeds they couldn’t escape. Many vessels burst against those teeth, but others made it deeper past the view of the strange light. Even if their short-range jump drives were intact, they’d discover Clover’s dark arts warped the space they were in. All paths lead deeper into her form. The entrance of the chest-maw was an event horizon.

Eventually, she started to ‘suck’ with this maw as though inhaling. A great roar bellowed out form it, and whatever was left of the fleet slipped right in.

The vines outstretched to wiggle in the void. She flew closer to the planet.

“There, now it’s your turn~”

A single vine stretched out across that world’s equator. It was only as thin as an island, but the size belied its strength. She tugged the planet of billions into the fanged orifice, then sealed her chest back up. Soon as the world disappeared into that dim light at the maw’s end, she felt all those alien souls flood into her.

“Welcome~” she spoke as their amber encasement began.

“An alien civilization. Such wonders exited only in human imagination till now. Now, all of you will exist within me: forever~”

She turned around to the rest of the planets. With the barest flex of her power she was upon one. Her normal mouth opened wide, and her tongue curled the marble-scale treat into her gob. It didn’t survive the trip to her stomach. Her throat-teeth ripped the tiny thing up to its core.

Only two planets left, she didn’t want to waste much time. Another flex of her power and they warped in front of her. Why should she move to them, after all?

Billions of Thumnihs looked up to those green eyes that filled their skies. The abyssal black of her pupils gazed back.

“There’s something I want to see, but it requires I leave for another universe. One of your planets will be transformed by me to become an obedient minion! You’ll travel this universe, spreading my blessing across the stars to reap souls on my behalf. Why don’t you two go to war to see who gets the honor?”

She waited a bit. If either planet wanted to, they could wipe out the other in minutes. They had tons of weapons which they never used save to blow up asteroids and the like.

“Ah, you won’t do it will you? Too peaceful. I cannot be defied though. You will fight. I’ll make you want to. Your will is not your own: it’s mine.”

She snapped her fingers and bewitched the two planets. Planet A’s people now hated planet B’s with all their might. The contrariwise was also true.

The two worlds immediately readied their weapons against each other. Planet B was faster to strike, but A dedicated more of their resources towards interception, and they hit B with an asteroid cracking armament which tore the planet asunder. Blue lights flew to Clover as the red-orange core of the world froze in the dark of space.

“Good!” Clover said. “Time to be blessed~”

A vine on her wrist twitched and lashed at the victorious planet. It burrowed to the world’s core and pumped it full of her sap. The aliens sunk into its surface, which sprouted plants and tufts and vines and all sorts of things. Their flesh melded into this planet and when Clover withdrew her vine the world morphed into a living abomination, planetary in scale. Around the equator it tore open halfway to make a fanged maw leading to the molten core at its center.

“One more touch~”

Clover tapped at the planet’s north pole and a ring of country-sized flowers sprouted on it: a cute garland.

“Perfect! Now enjoy this boon of mine while you can. I’ll be back to collect this universe shortly.”

It nodded obediently: an entire planet, nodding. She loved the sight. Soon after it vibrated to the nearest inhabited star system. There, it spread moon-sized pollen and pappi and all sorts of things. It latched onto worlds and bit down. All these things infected other worlds to make them like it: a living garden of death subservient to Clover’s will.

The thought had her smile. She scanned the catalog of universes. She wanted one where humans truly excelled and explored the stars. She found a few such universes, but one stood out above the rest as an older universe. There, humans advanced over millions of years. There, humans reached their peak.

She opened a rift to go there at once.