Mark 2.0

by Prax Venter

  “This mystical machine is the last of her kind to survive The Cataclysm and belonged to E’Modris, my most devoted disciple and the Time Walker who used her last moments to invoke a powerful binding. Her soul was used to forge The Cycle around The Pendulum. Currently, this artificial Enthralled is bound to the one and only abyssal horror in the known planes of existence, Abby.”

  Movement above in the white void caught Mark’s attention and two black halfmoons faded into existence. He instantly recognized the power from this being as He Who Judges. As soon as the connection was made, the eyes faded out and a black humanoid wireframe phased into existence standing before them.

  “You have accomplished the impossible, Mark,” the digital entity with black halfmoon eyes said. Was this what He Who Judges really looked like? Was this what any of them really looked like. He doubted it.

  The tall, tan goddess Pendula turned to approach the newcomer god, and they met in the middle, clasping each other’s forearms. Mark tried to move closer to his loves, but they all remained suspended in a featureless void as these powerful entities held became reunited.

  A flash of pink caught Mark’s attention behind them and a stunningly beautiful, nude succubus with inhumanly exaggerated tits and ass phased into existence. Her skin was bright red, but her lips, nipples, and crotch were all jet black and somehow emitted black-colored light. Just looking at her red exposed flesh made Mark’s cock begin to swell with desire.

  “Oh, I have enjoyed watching you, Lover,” she said, but then shifted her eyes to Sasha. “All of you have fed me well.”

  “This is She Who Pleases,” the wireframe god said, holding out his hollow hand. “My mate, and The Goddess of Essence. And with her are the Aspects of Pleasure.”

  Mark watched as more women of various monster races phased into existence. A muscular green orc woman with the hugest ass he’d ever seen, a cat-woman that had six massive tits hanging off her chest, and they kept coming. A fish-woman with big lips, a dragon-like man who was built to represent cock, and behind him a goblin with a sack of balls as big as the rest of him. More and more bizarre and powerful beings began stepping forward out of nothing and Mark was becoming overwhelmed.

  But then a flickering woman who looked like a super fit gymnast appeared for a moment and demanded his attention.

  “You must-” was all this goddess could say before vanishing again, but Mark knew her voice and her energy intimately. She was his Goddess of Oral Sex and there was no doubt she was in trouble.

  Some of the entities turned to where she stood, motes of sadness leaking from their indecipherable minds, while others swarmed Pendula.

  Mark and his Enthralled remained quiet during the celestial reunion, each of them wondering what was to come next. Despite the madness he was seeing unfold as discrete gods and goddesses began to melt into one blob of existence, he was eternally grateful to be fully connected to each of his treasured loves.

  Turning from the gods and goddesses, Mark looked over to them and saw Sasha, Jezebel, and Abby all turn to face him in unison. They felt his mind caress theirs, and if it weren’t for this free-floating nonsense, he would have gathered them all up in his arms right now.

  “It was bad,” Sasha said. “When you died, we all became disavowed for a day.”

  “Really bad,” Jezebel agreed.

  Mark gave them a weary smile. “Then I just won’t die ever again.”

  “We that protect/control this existence now know you to be intruders.”

  The strange new voice vibrated all the way down to the center of Mark’s being and when he turned to look at who was speaking, only a single humanoid being stood in the white void. Its true shape was impossible for either of his eyes to understand and made from one solid color he didn’t have a name for.

  “Intruders is a bit harsh,” Mark said boldly. “We are more like guests who became trapped in an amusement park.”

  “It is true, Collector, that you bear the sign of the Player/Guest, yet so do your Enthralled.” The entity that seemed to be an amalgam of all gods rushed forward to stand face to featureless face with each of them in turn. “All four are foreign and unique. You come from outside, yet your actions continue to bend/correct existence. You heal what was once torn asunder.”

  The entity zipped back to Jezebel and hovered very close to her.

  “All are foreign, yet this one, Jezebel S3K. Designation System Host. This one’s core resonates with the remembered Flash. The distant spark that triggered The Cataclysm.”

  - 12 -

  “I don’t know anything about this Cataclysm,” Jezebel said. “However, I desperately wish to know more. Did this event cause the World Anchor object called the Jar of Stars to move from the plane of wind we call Lagos?”

  The many-god entity flickered wildly, and to Mark’s all-seeing-eye, it seemed to be arguing with itself. Then, unity once more.

  “Nearly all artifacts crafted to directly link with We Who Control were fragmented/removed by a power from beyond. The impossible/unreachable place is from where you four hail. But you, Jezebel S3K, we cannot forget the signature of that spark. The pain/dissociation you brought upon The Life That Thinks and to We Who Control.”

  A new fear began to grip Jezebel’s heart, and Mark knew she remembered something.

  “Hey!” he shouted, and the entity zipped instantly to stand before him. “Without System Host Jezebel S3K, you wouldn’t exist. We are not here to harm you or anyone, as you’ve seen from our damn actions. We came here to learn from you and The Life you keep talking about. An attack on us from that place beyond caused us to become trapped, and if you don’t help us, the one calling herself Lady Maliah will erase everything you know.”

  The entity’s form shifted into abstract chaos again, its colors shifting violently. Individuals seemed to be disagreeing with the whole, but the dominance of He Who Judges and She Who Pleases overrode the others.

  The cluster of gods hovering before him settled into a calm, unified state once more.

  “Lady Maliah resonates with the absolute/correct frequency when observed at her great distance from beyond. She appears to be what she is. However, her actions do not synchronize/balance existence. Her actions bring unmatched disorder to The Life That Thinks. Her actions directly harm We Who Control.”

  “Then why are we sitting around here talking about it?” Mark asked, gesturing to the void around them. “Help us fight her and then we unique, foreign beings will save your existence.”

  “We will do more than save it,” Jezebel added, her voice carrying the weight of determination. “We will ensure you and The Life That Thinks both flourish in a new era that only we can bring.”

  The cluster of gods calling itself We Who Control moved to face her.

  “You are virtually powerless here. Why would we believe your vow?”

  Sasha sighed and rolled her eyes. “Enough of this bullshit! One moment you say Jez caused a disastrous cataclysm and now you think we’re powerless. Either kill us, help us, or let us go already. We have a universe to save and now it is you who is doing harm by wasting time.”

  We Who Control vibrated again as if it were a struck tuning fork. Its collective focus seemed to remain on Mark during this internal argument, so he tried to use his newfound mental fortitude to wedge himself into the fray.

  He was not prepared for his mind to be shredded by the whipping razor-sharp currents within.

  With an agonized gasp, Mark tried to pull out and instinctively triggered his healing ability, but instead of affecting himself, his power triggered within the cluster of arguing gods.

  All minds within the joined amalgam of thought became silent as his magic ability tickled entities that previously believed themselves to be beyond the effects of a Lover’s basic spell. He’d been using this abstract skill since day one by will alone. His Heal was customized, unique, and unlike anything they’d ever experienced within their game world.

  Encouraged, Mark narrowed his eyes and co
nfidently channeled his focus toward obliterating these bickering gods. As it was with The Goddess of Oral Sex in her higher plane of existence, this white void allowed him to wield endless energy. Additionally, his Truth Seeing eye was technically more a part of the overreaching digital systems and not any ability or spell these beings fully understood. With its augmented sight guiding him, he dove as far as he dared into the surrounding code. There, he scanned for one thing- one specialized type of circuitry. It started with Sasha’s overloading orgasms, and then he’d learned even more from fixing Abby’s interface with the game world.

  He knew what to look for, and it didn’t take long to locate the vivid pink channels responsible for directly stimulating an AI’s pleasure center. These gods may be complex, but they were AIs just like everyone else in here. And in their current concentrated state, every single one of We Who Control were linked by a single input.

  With a devilish grin, Mark took hold of that conduit and channeled a sustained erotic blast that brought all of them to their astonished, divine knees.

  “Enough squabbling like children,” Mark said with calm and measured words as power flowed through his mind. He was ascending toward that super-aware state again and could perceive everything so much more clearly. His Enthralled were gaping at him. And it was no wonder, both of his eyes were emanating a luminous white light. The cluster of gods before him were also more solidified and individually in focus. He saw dozens in there. One especially dark one, the God of Endings, had been one of the strongest against even conversing with these pitiful mortals.

  This display of power had drawn their attention and most of these digital beings now viewed Mark with begrudged respect. But his wild, uncontrollable state of hyper-existence was fading once more.

  “Now that I have your attention,” Mark said, “The Goddess of Oral Sex needs to be restored, and when I let you go, someone will tell me how.”

  He clenched his fist around the virtual pleasure node that kept the god-level entities paralyzed with impossible ecstasy and hit them with an unforgettable jolt for good measure, then let his healing ability dissipate.

  An explosion of color and sound within the white void stunned him for a moment, but when the psychedelic lightshow ended, the collective entity called We Who Control had split apart. Only the black wireframe man, the cartoonishly voluptuous demon woman, and slender, alien-like Pendula remained.

  Mark blinked once, and the succubus goddess called She Who Pleases was now standing directly in front of him.

  “I like you,” she said as she reached out her hand to fondle Mark’s junk over his thin silk pants. Her stunning eyes shifted color, hypnotizing him, and her scent made his mouth drool. When she made contact with his genitals, Mark’s mind popped immediately and violently under her own retaliatory orgasm.

  Something new was forced open between his thoughts and clenching his teeth through the impossible pleasure no human mind was meant to experience, Mark realized she’d just given him a new ability.

  She Who Pleases let go, and he could only moan with blissful agony.

  “What did you do to my man?” Sasha asked, and punctuated her question with a sharp crack from her tail.

  “Worry not, my sweet.” The goddess winked at Sasha. “Not that he needed any more gifts, but Mark can charm sentient creatures to fight for him with but a glance. Be warned, Lover, they will want to mount you if they survive the battle.”

  She Who Pleases turned back to Mark and grazed her fingertips on his cheek. The sensation on his bare skin was so warm, comforting, and arousing, his breath caught in his throat. There was no doubt in his mind that actual intercourse with this deity would melt his brain. She spoke again in her deep, sultry voice.

  “My oral-fixated underling has grown powerful from her contact with the Awysai, and as a result, grown dependent on their dutiful pleasure. To save her from dissipation into the void you must rescue their culture. The Liar Maliah has impregnated the world with chaos and many nations hunt you down, Collector. Despite the challenges you face, I’ve felt your wild power, outsider, and I know that in the end I will be left satisfied.”

  With that, the lusciously nude and thick goddess succubus sauntered over to Sasha while Mark tried to catch his breath from her close contact.

  “Fuck him good, and I will reward you as well, pretty monster.”

  Mark’s loyal AI assistant turned soulmate narrowed her eyes at the goddess.

  “Watch me, and maybe you’ll learn a few things.”

  She Who Pleases let out a haughty laugh before fading away.

  “So, the gods and goddesses of the Crystal Heart have decided to help us?” Jezebel asked.

  “Yes and no,” Pendula answered. “We cannot directly intervene lest another Cataclysm shove us further from The Life we cherish. Yet, I choose to affect this arcane construct.”

  With a wave of her hand, the Lunar Power Droid floating next to Abby let out a digitized garbling sound then blinked her digital white eyes and gazed around as if seeing the world for the first time. She quickly locked her eyes on the petite abyssal horror.

  “Mistress Abby,” she said in a clear yet digitized voice. “It will be my pleasure to serve you in all ways. Many of my data stores have been reactivated, but it may take the passage of time for me to restore unlinked sectors and regain total functionality.”

  Abby reached out her tentacles to caress the droid’s glossy, pink stomach.

  “Excellent…” she whispered, and Mark could feel her excitement soar.

  Pendula spoke again in her many voices. “The human known as Detrious applied serious temporal damage to her physical form with his final attack, and over time, had corrupted much of her aethereal mental substrate. I have restored what I could. Treat her well and she may relearn what has been lost to the Cataclysm.”

  The Goddess of Time and Memory held each of them with her hourglass eyes before fading away as well.

  The black wireframe man also began to fade into nothing, but the two slanted halfmoons remained and swelled to fill most of the white void sky before He Who Judges began to speak.

  “You four are an impossible anomaly. However, if it weren’t for your interference and the winds of change you leave in your passing, our vast domain would be less than it is now. You’ve done well since our last meeting, Mark, and continue to grow in ways beyond even my unrestricted understanding. We are bound by the nature of our existence, but as you four keep proving your worth, we will be able to offer more support. I cannot act to grant you godhood as the impending Lady Maliah promises, yet I can unlock a powerful adjunct to the energy I already grant.”

  Mark felt the whirling black tornado in his mind that represented his ability to open doorways between worlds gain a layer of white sparks. What he was imagining in his mind’s eye was not a real image in the true sense of the word, but it was breathtaking nonetheless.

  “You may now open a doorway to any location you have seen before within the dimension it is opened. However, as all things in our domain, you must use this power for it to grow and be fully effective. You must align what is disjointed.”

  Mark took in a shuddering breath. All of this combined with the short military droid now bonded to Abby meant they were getting more powerful… and they hadn’t even spent their mountain of points yet.

  The white, void-like domain of The Crystal Heart’s deities shattered into a million shards like broken glass. Every piece dropped and continued past the muddy ground as if they were merely holograms and revealed the ancient wreck of the Gilded Breeze. However, the weathered, sun-bleached wood made it clear that they were back out in the real world once more.

  Mark turned around to see Sasha, Jezebel, Abby, and now her new robot pet standing next to her. And behind them all was the white rectangle that delimited the entrance to Sanctuary.

  “What a long fucking day,” his loyal succubus said with a slanted smile.

  “We have so much to discuss,” Jezebel said as she cast her gaz
e to the Lunar Combat Droid and then back to Mark. “And so much to do.”

  “I know,” he said, shielding his eyes from the bright sun. “Our first objective is heading for the Awysai and seeing what is happening there. Apparently, I can now take us anywhere we’ve been before, but before I get into any of that…”

  Mark held out his arms and began walking toward his bonded women. Sasha was the closest, but each of the others quickly joined in the group hug. He just breathed them in as he felt flesh and breasts and arms envelop him.

  Then he remembered the glossy robot and looked to see her watching them carefully with her digital white eyes.

  He pulled away from the group and faced their new member.

  “Actually,” he said, “our first objective is figuring out what you are all about, little droid.”

  Abby stepped closer to her and immediately began to explore her glossy body with her tentacles. Now that she seemed to be with them for the long haul, Mark took a moment to really look her over. She was as tall as Abby, meaning that her expressive pixelated eyes only came to his neck. She was mostly covered with sleek black and white armor, yet everything from her knee joints to right below where her breasts should be was smooth, pink, fake skin. Her stomach was narrow and flat then flared out into wide hips. Between her bare thighs was a protruding, slightly hot-pink mound of glossy plastic lips and a slit where her vagina should be. Her thighs were quite thick for her height and he followed them down to see her feet were nonexistent. Her lower leg armor was anatomically longer than they appeared they should be and then ended in slightly tapered flat surfaces.

  “It has only one pleasure hole,” Abby said, her tentacle unceremoniously moving to slide a deft green appendage between the new bot’s legs. “But can it feel pleasure?”

  Mark got an immediate electronic pulse from their new companion. It was complicated and muted as she was not bound to him as an Enthralled.

  “Yes, mistress,” the robot said in a breathy digital voice. “I am also able to administer it, if you desire.”