A Scarlet Shade

Since its incorporation into the Second Omnyverse, the World of Apoclypha had yet to see another incident of intrusion. The other Omnys knew better than to impose themselves onto Domina’s personal space. Even Opal and RoseGold, if they had to talk to her, would confront her on the neutral ground of Fulcrum, the Second Omnyverse’s own Fundament dimension. Megan, of course, still came and went as she pleased, but her Splinter-sister had made a point to give her more space since they’d made the move here.

So when another Omny did decide to finally breach her World’s walls, she was instantly alerted to their coming before they’d even crossed the threshold.

Domina had just entered her throne room, teleporting herself straight onto the tangled, shivering mass of broken-yet-still-living mortal bodies she used as her royal chair. The twisted mass let out a creaking chorus of screams as her body made contact, electrifying their frayed nerves with an intense undulation of horrid pain and inhuman pleasures. Before she could get into the moment, however, her attention snapped towards one corner of the room. A few moments later, the shadows of the corner began to boil. From the oily darkness, a scraggily-haired young woman dressed in a tattered black teddy emerged into the World.

Domina frowned deeply, and leaned to the side a bit, resting her chin on her hand as she leaned on her elbow. She felt annoyance as Illia shuffled towards her, the young Omny’s meek bearing undermining her spooky aesthetic. Beneath her, the shivering mass of flesh felt a searing lance of hellfire-heat jam right into the pain centers of their brains.

Illia swallowed nervously before the redheaded tyrant. Domina gave her a moment, but had little patience for the young Omnys nervousness. “What do you want, little wraith?”

Illia tried to screw up her courage and stand tall, but only partly succeeded. She bowed instead. “Lady Domina, I entreat your wisdom.”

Domina stood and stepped closer, and she could sense Illia force herself not to shrink back. “And what, pray tell, do you wish to learn?”

Illia took a breath, and peered into the taller Omnys’ eyes. “I seek to relearn the pleasures of pain.”

Domina cocked an eyebrow at her. “Oh? I thought that was already your purview.”

Illia looked to the side, and spoke softly. “I… feel myself… losing my edge… I find myself… wanting… to cut deeper than I have been, of late. I think I have… lost sight of myself, just a bit.” She raised her head and peered again into Domina’s cold gaze. “I could use a… mentor. Of all of them… I believe you to be the most esteemed, for what I seek.”

Domina loomed over the meek girl. “I’m not looking for a protégé. And you didn’t take to my games before, if you recall.”

“I was still… unsure…” Illia whispered. “I embraced the horror to vent my own terror. But the others were still so kind. Osha… Whitney… even Cyl…” Domina blanched, but let her keep talking. “It’s been… nice. To remember… or to know for the first time… what real affection is…” She swallowed nervously. “But the part of me that wants to hurt… won’t go away… I still…” She held up a hand, and the impression of blood flickered over her flesh. “I still lose myself in the savagery when I… play… but it feels… off-kilter…” She tilted her gaze slowly upward, like a unworthy follower braving the judgement of a dubious God. “Among them… only a few understand… but you, most of all…”

Domina leaned down over the girl and cupped her cheek, her smile anything but kind. Then her hand grew into a monstrous claw, to encompass Illia’s head like a fragile egg. She pulled her up off her feet, and squeezed. A mortal’s head would have pulverized. Illia grit her teeth and shivered, and her body rippled as spidery features flickered across her being. She tried to force them down, but before such a powerful Omny, Illia’s anxiety threatened to overtake her control.

“You want to scuttle in my shadow that badly, little bug?”

“I beg… only another chance… to dance in the crimson fields… to embrace… the side of me… that can’t stop cutting…”

Domina smirked. “I sense the urges in you now, but once satiated, I don’t imagine you’ll be in it for the long term.” She squeezed harder, and Illia shuddered; in pain or in rapture, even she wasn’t sure.

“Your forgiveness, Dark Lady… I cannot promise to be your eternal squire…”

Domina sighed, and let Illia go, her hand returning to normal. The dark girl collapsed onto the floor, and stayed there, head bowed low. “So, you would like to indulge in the occasional dalliance is all. Pop over for a sleep over now and then, then skitter off at your leisure.”

“I mean no… disrespect… we don’t suffer ennui, but… being that part of me can become… overwhelming... if indulged for too long…”

Domina gazed down at her, one hand on her hip, one briefly touching her chin in thought. Emotions conflicted. She’d gone so long hating being around the others, disdaining their presence, some days barely even able to tolerate her own Splinter. And yet, she found herself pausing, looking at the girl who, she was almost afraid to admit, had a little something in her that Domina could empathize with. She supposed Illia, of all the New Ascended, was the least annoying.

Perhaps she had softened, just a bit, finally accepting that even she needed the occasional lover among her fellow Omnys. As if to prove that very point, the thought did not immediately send her fuming, as it no doubt would have not so long ago.

“I know what you mean,” she admitted, managing not to grit her teeth as she said it.

Illia slowly tilted her gaze upwards again, looking for all the world like a trembling mouse in a corner. Domina rolled her eyes. “Oh, get on your feet. You are an Omny, not some sniveling mortal. If you have the audacity to entreat me, at least have spine enough to stand while doing it.”

Illia swallowed nervously, but got to her feet, slowly standing rather than simply shifting herself instantly. Even standing tall, forcing her head high and shoulders back, it was clear she was straining not to hug herself. Whisps of shadow flickered around her body, but she made herself resist the temptation to hide within them.

Domina nodded. “I tried to embrace being Domina whole-heartedly. But I found after a while, putting up the persona at all times, lead to a sense of… exhaustion. Purely mental, but I realized after a time that I needed to periodically cool off. Being Domina is intoxicating, to the point of madness. And I’m sure you’re aware of how that madness went in timelines past.”

Illia nodded. The Progenitors didn’t like to speak too much of their past lives, at least not outside their own company. But such lives could not be forgotten, despite their initial attempt to try.

Domina continued. “So, I returned to being Megan from time to time. But while she was good for a break, I didn’t like being her for too long, either. Too many of her own regrets and resentments. Eventually, I realized I could better balance myself by being both at once, and Splintered her off from me. It’s worked well, so far. I am me, and she is she, without the pressure to flip back and forth.”

Illia contemplated her words. “Mmm. I fear I’ve not such a sense of dual-identity as to wish to attempt a Split.”

Domina shrugged. “My point being that there are solutions. We don’t have to be one thing all the time. Even Cyl divides her time between here, and the realms of the Beyond. You can be sweet one week, and bitter the next.” She leaned forward again. “You can be Whitney’s pampered pet for a few days, then dance on your mortal lovers’ still-feeling corpses for a few more, then return.”

Illia frowned in thought. “I know I can balance that, but… I feel… lately… like…” She let out a breath. “Whitney has been good to me. She has. I’ve learned… tenderness… from her. And controlled roughness. And Osha… we’ve not spoken much, but… I’ve learned just from watching her… what it means to laugh…”

Domina rolled her eyes again, but didn’t interrupt.

“And yet… indulging in such sweetness… I feel… a dullness, settling inside me. The edge of a blade I used to keep keen has… rounded off, some. The cut isn’t as clean. And I feel that… little ache… that sweet women cannot whet…” She looked Domina in the eye once more. “I think, for all I am grateful to finally know warm love… that cold lust still needs tending… I cannot forsake that from which I was carved…”

Domina pursed her lips, giving her a flat look. “Your metaphors need work.” She sighed and crossed her arms, looking off to the side, gazing across the whole of her World as she mused this over. Her attention settled on a battle between some demons and a savage tribe of surviving humans, watching them rip each other apart. She smiled. “But believe me, if anyone of us understands, it’s me.” She turned back to Illia, and smiled coldly at her. “Very well, little bug. I shall help sharpen those fangs. That doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice the warm bed, or forget a tender touch. But it does mean, while you are here in my World, while you are under my wing, you will devote yourself to your blade.”

Illia trembled, but smiled. “Th-thank you, Mistress.”

Domina raised a hand. “Goddess.”

“Thank you, my Goddess.” She bowed. “I will… repay you… however you wish…”

Domina scoffed. “Never throw all your chips into the bargain, girl. ‘However I wish’, would see you buried alive, forever, in the soil of my World, forced to watch all the torment, but never participate, from now until I finally tire of Apocalypha and dissolve it.”

Illia stood tall and frowned, a worried expression on her face. Then she gasped as Domina snapped forward, her fingers extending into long black spines, and buried them in the smaller girl’s chest. Illia cried out as pain she hadn’t experienced since becoming an Omny lanced through her. She clutched at Domina’s arm, but found she couldn’t escape her grasp. Even pushing with her power, attempting to phase or teleport away, to dissolve into shadow, none of it worked; Domina had her form completely locked. Illia was truly helpless to stop the all-powerful dominant from spearing her very soul with agony. She could only twitch and gasp in the redhead’s piercing grasp.

Domina grinned wickedly. “When you are in my World, you are my Plaything. I can do to you whatever I wish, whenever I wish. Fight me if you like; I am confident in my abilities. The Five aren’t the only ones who have been training.” She pulled Illia close, and the smaller girl gasped and shuddered as Domina’s very breath was like acid on her flesh. “Some day, that rainbow haired bitch is going to be mewing for her life at my feet. And Cyl will be a bloody smear on my fist again.” She laughed and winked. “Gotta keep those haughty bitches on their toes, hmm?”

“Ugh… yes… I’ll be… your toy…” breathed Illia. “It is… fair…”

Domina smirked. “Screw fair, it is simply correct, in the context of my World.” Suddenly, her hand returned to normal again, the spines retracting out of Illia’s chest, dropping the girl to the floor once more. As Illia tried to gasp for breath, Domina slammed her foot down on Illia’s chest, cracking the floor beneath them as she blasted the air from Illia’s lungs and crushed in her ribcage. Illia didn’t need to breath, of course, but she could not stop Domina from inflicting mortal pain upon her.

Domina sneered down at her. “I’m going to do things to you that would make your mortal victims consider your attentions a vacation.”

Illia grit her teeth and clutched at Domina’s leg. Is this what she really wanted? A chance to indulge in the most sadistic of actions, at the cost of being a beaten doll once more? Domina was a Progenitor, her power honed far moreso than her own. She was beneath the redhead, in every sense. She had no right to challenge the overwhelming dominant. And yet, did she really wish to return to the days of a being a helpless sheath of meat for monsters to brutalize at their leisure?

Yes, she appreciated the irony. But this was not why she had come here.

“I came… to learn from you… Domina… but if this is… the only lesson… perhaps I was… mistaken…”

“Prove to me you’re worth acknowledging the existence of then,” growled Domina.

And with that, Illia spat in the redhead’s face. The spittle immediately morphed into a swarm of scorpions that tried to tear the dominant’s face off. She just smirked as their attempts were ineffective, despite Illia concentrating all her power into their actions. At best, one of the scorpions was able to wedge a claw under one of the redhead’s eyelids and tug on it a bit.

Domina simply blinked, and the scorpions were vaporized, Illia gasping as the energy feedback struck her like a runaway truck. Domina laughed. “Points for trying,” she said. Then she pulled away, releasing Illia from her hold.

Illia took a moment to snap her bones back into place, and catch her breath. Then, rather than standing, shadows boiled up around her, her body melting into them. The shadow morphed into an upright position before pulling away, revealing Illia standing tall again.

“So, do you intend to simply beat on me like a drum?” she said, her tone not so supplicating.

“Just seeing if you actually had it in you to bite back,” said Domina. “If you accept this arrangement, I’ll have some fun with you from time to time. But I know you were hoping to have some fun yourself.” She gestured to the side, indicating her World. “I’ll ask you not be too disruptive to my set up, but for now, you may scout across my World. Find a few mortals. Play with them at your leisure. You needn’t restrain yourself with them at all. Show me the results. We’ll take it from there, whether I decide to show you more.”

Illia bowed once more. “Thank you, Goddess.”

“Just go before I change my mind,” said Domina.

“Yes, Goddess.” Shadows bubbled up around her. “One last thing…”

Domina frowned. “What?”

“It would be remiss of me not to invite you to observe my World as well. I know it is… paltry, compared to yours. And I would also ask you not disrupt my World’s paradigms either. But… if you wished to… try another flavor of terror…”

Domina smirked. “I won’t be your Plaything in your World.”

“I would expect not,” said Illia. “Nor would I presume to try.”

“Good. Perhaps I will play a monster for a session in your little playpen. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” She made a wave with her hand. “Go. Shoo. Have fun.”

“Yes, Goddess.” And with that, she vanished into her shadows.

Domina sighed, watching the little Omnys’ essence flicker across her World. First, she actually took a lover from among her fellow Progenitors. Now, she was potentially taking in a sidekick. She was getting soft in her old age.

And as soon as Shady showed up to say that very phrase to mock her, she was going to punch her straight into the Beyond. And the bitch would still just laugh it off, no doubt.

END