Chapter 7: Great Awakening
GOD
As I have said, different realities have different rules, and different timelines for events. The Tyrant took power at the year 2000, having been voted in as a sort of great racial unifier. He instead allowed crime to rise, and even stirred up racial tensions. A series of planes hit the Twin Towers in September 11 of 2001, but unlike some other versions of this event, there w any planes stopped, so one hit the Pentagon and another hit the White House. By amazing coincidence, the president in question (the Tyrant) happened to be away from the White House playing golf at the time. Nor was any Homeland Security department set up in response to this. Even though this department was mainly for show, what actually happened here was far worse. Complete surrender. The country became Islam, and all women were ordered to wear masks. However, what the leader of a country wants to do and what its people are willing to accept are totally different. Publicly, the Tyrant said it was not necessary for women to wear anything that men do not also wear, cashing in on the appearance of feminism and equality. Privately, he signed several laws to expand Medicare, forcing the average citizen to buy government insurance or pay a fine, and expanding the control of medicine over the average citizen's daily life. Then in 2005, there was a novel Rhinovirus (basically a cold, though never addressed in layman's terms) that supposedly developed in an open market in China. Despite coming out in 2005, this was named ROVER-04, or as most people called it Death Dog. The name was a pun on the fact that the number "four" in Chinese sounded like "death" and Rover was a common name for dogs. Although this was a cold, people were not advised to respond to it like a cold, so no chicken soup or rest or glasses of water were recommended for the public, but instead they were told to wear masks. Clearly, this was not the Tyrant imposing power on the entire world by forcing them to accept Islamic law, expanded from just women to non-Muslim men as well. In fact, if it wasn't obvious, ROVER-04 made special exceptions for Muslim men, saying they had a religious dress code. Yet no such exception was made for Amish men and women, nor for Jewish men and women. Any casual observation made it clear that the Tyrant basically bought out the World Health Organization and the CDC, in favor of forcing hijab on the entire non-Muslim world. And the requirement to pay for medical insurance was likewise a jizyah, a tax on non-believers, as religions with a cost-sharing system (like Muslims) were immune to this requirement.
GEMINI
The told us that we would have to only stay indoors for two weeks. I knew somehow that this was a lie. Two weeks turned into more than two years in some places. But more importantly, in addition to being told I couldn't go anywhere without a mask, there were suddenly also rules against crossdressing. Hell, there were rules about everything, and they were typically arbitrary and contradictory. No going to church, because bread and wine spread contagion, even though bread was selling just fine in grocery stores, and alcohol was known for centuries as an antimicrobial, to say nothing of the fact that liquor stores stayed open while churches stayed closed. Some excuse was given about how alcohol content must be a certain % in order to kill the virus, but a weaker percent was not only ineffective but would mysteriously make it worse. No standing within 13 feet of another person. No shopping indoors without a mask. All of these rules were spread online under the hashtag #BeSafe and I sometimes wondered if there weren't a nemesis going by that exact name. But because I couldn't trace these rules to a single person, it was difficult to do anything about it.
As for crossdressing, it wasn't an official rule, but all of these vaccine IDs had to match with the identity officially given as part of the birth certificate prior to any legal changes. While the president publicly made statements that seemed supportive of trans people, this new rule privately made it so that any person who hadn't had a surgery was now told they had to conform to standards of dress. This was all so the facial identification software would work properly, they said, even though it had been years since I had presented as male, except for the occasional play date with Nerissa, Summer, and Emily. With Summer gone, much of the driving force behind this was also gone. I worshiped as female, and I had worked as female. I even went out to movies or shopping that way.
Until about a year before all this went down, I worked at a library together with a girl who sometimes called herself Bookworm. She was technically neither a hero nor a nemesis, but rather a person whose powers were very much not in control. When she was happy, the things she read created localized positive events. For example, if one of the characters in a book she read got a birthday present, she also would. However, when she was in a bad mood, her powers worked in a much less localized fashion. Her worst mood caused the Nothing from The Neverending Story to affect an entire continent. It took a great deal of counseling to get Australia back, to the point where some people even denied it existed. Superheroes wanted to stop her, but since she wasn't a true nemesis, their hands were tied. I tried to be her friend, and keep her happy, but around this time, she had read in the paper about ROVER-04, and then her family got sick. I'm sure it had nothing to do with her powers. Well, maybe a little. She was a lot of work, and right then, she basically cut ties with me for awhile.
In any case, it was two years of not having a decent conversation with her, and being stuck in my room because I refused to wear a mask, I had basically detransitioned, and a scruffy beard had come in where before I was clean shaven including my arms, underarms, and legs (I didn't really get chest hair), and I was back to wearing boys clothes. In fact, I didn't even take pride in boy's clothes, instead wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, not really showering, and you get the general idea. I was a walking pile of woe, and completely codependent on Mom. I literally hated myself every waking moment. One day, Mom explained the difference between interdependence, independence, and codependence. She said, "Look, I can't bear to see you like this. I cook all your meals, I wash your clothes, not that you change them much any more! You aren't happy! I wasn't upset when you wanted to be a girl full-time, but this is stepping backwards! You aren't able to see your friends anymore." I looked at her, frightened, "Are you kicking me out?!? While all this is going on?" She shook her head, "No I'm not, but something has to change. Look, I know in the 60s and 70s onward, there was all this talk about strong independent women. I didn't buy it for a second, though I did get a job like other women. These women, they push potential partners away! They wind up alone, and often divorce men that are perfectly fine. It's all about pride and making sure they are strong enough. Today, these women are exactly like you, sans beard, hoodie and all. We are human beings! We need other people, and we need our own goals and dreams! If I worked, and had no customers, I would be out of work. It's only when we do what we need to but admit we need help that things in this crazy world work." She sat down after giving this speech. I respected my mom, she managed to work for herself and could largely ignore these rules because she ran a private company. She was also able to obtain suppliers for everything she needed, so she never had to deal with these stupid government mandates from the Deep State. Emily could also produce her own food, even though it took energy to make energy for her body. But I felt sad for everyone who didn't have that luxury.
Then suddenly something snapped. I had enough of these rules. I hadn't exactly been perfectly obedient, but I had stayed away from big cities where they expected everyone to mask up. All of a sudden, something that Nerissa had said years ago struck home.
So like, I don't think dog should have leashes, Nerissa had said, I'm serious! Look, dogs are fifth class citizens. They can't enter most public buildings without some stupid excuse like that they're therapy dogs. And I suspect the people who made the rules about dogs not entering buildings also made up the idea of therapy dogs, to exempt themselves from the rules. Then you can't let them walk where they want, and if you think they're too noisy or might hurt people or just don't like them, you muzzle them. They're basically slaves!
In that moment, the truth of everything dawned on me. First, the truth that I was being lied to and enslaved. But gradually, I also realized that much of what I had also learned in school was similarly an attempt to lie to me and keep me in chains. Not everything, but enough that I was forced to reconsider my education. For instance, I was told the Earth was round, but that couldn't be. I considered the results of such teaching. Climate hysteria, trust in globalism, and trust in global organizations like NASA, WHO, and the World Bank. It was almost like each of these groups wanted to teach me that all the world could be gathered into a tight ball, rather than being a space that stretches outward. Worse, I found that I couldn't explain gravity in any meaningful way. How could water be forced toward the center of a spinning object, while bees, birds, and jumbo jets were able to fly as though nothing was holding them down? If gravity only exerted force on lightweight objects, then what about the jumbo jet? And if the reverse was true, then these puny animals should be crushed under the weight of the heavens. It took me several years to figure out acceptable answers to these questions, but in the mean time, I had a pretty good answer to this ROVER-04 disease. Some people said it originated in a market, others said it originated in a lab. But when I went to Florida, and saw plenty of people on the beach, yet not getting sick, I had my answer. It didn't exist. I screamed, "That can't be true! What have I been doing all these years?!?"
The next day, I made a decision. I wouldn't abide by the no-crossdressing rules. I wouldn't abide by the 13 ft rule. I wouldn't wear a mask. That morning, I took a shower, used some floral soap to scrub my body down and smell sweet, shampooed and conditioned my hair, built a lather and shaved myself from face to feet, even plucking my eyebrows a bit. I didn't use as many feminine products as an actual girl, but I did my best to prep my body and look beautiful. Even though I wanted no part in masks, I was nervous about this facial recognition thing they supposedly had. So if I was told that crossdressing foils such a thing, I thought I should screw with this system as much as possible. So I pulled out a dark brown wig that I sometimes went to go clubbing, and shoved my wavy blonde hair under a wig. I colored my mostly blond eyebrows with some temporary dye, then I got dressed. Normally, I put on A or B cup breast forms, depending on the cut of the outfit. But I also had a body suit for occasions like this, which not only gave me a D cup but also nice hips and ass. The trouble was, it made me look a dress size bigger. Even so, it was totally worth it. I put on a cheap pair of lingerie, then slipped on a sensible pair of red shoes, orange stockings, a red skirt, an orange sweater, and a pair of glasses for decoration. Jinkies! Mom looked me over, "There's my daughter! You look good, sweetie! Although I wish you didn't feel like you had to disguise yourself. You know what I always say..." Yes I knew. She always told me that whether I wanted to be a boy or a girl, unless I was out clubbing and goofing around, I should strive to be as authentic in my look as possible, because how you dress should make you happy, not make you feel like you're tricking people. I felt slightly ashamed, but less than before I dressed up.
I went out, and as I defied the rules, little by little they began to loosen. Likewise, little by little, I stopped disguising myself so much, and just wore what I normally wore. First, word came out that the Bacon Lettuce Mushroom group (so named because they routinely ate a BLM, prior to violence; though I think their real name was something else) was protesting and gathering without abiding any of these rules. Then, accounts began to surface that maybe this thing was some sort of manufactured biological weapon, or something. Then some churches stopped following the rules, noticing that liquor stores and bars didn't have to obey them.
It was like I was protected by some sort of power. And then I realized. There was a reason why I was able to survive the hero classes. My power had been there all along! I had the power of truth to dismiss falsehood, because I was Unmasked. True, part of me was not strictly true. I was not born female. But I didn't claim to be a woman, just someone who liked to dress as one. And the more I claimed truth to power, the stronger my immunity to superpowers was becoming. I soon could see a silver Aura surrounding me, nullifying lies and false powers. And that is when I understood that this "disease" was really the powers of a nemesis. The nature of #BeSafe, as far as I understood was a sort of hive mind ability that turned fears into reality. Like me, its power strengthened, although in this case, it grew as more people concerned themselves with safety. Unfortunately, I would have to put defeating this nemesis on hold, as I couldn't locate the source of this power. I only managed to slow the spread of such fear.
And so, I focused on learning to master my own powers. Unlike most superheroes, my street clothes were my superhero costume, so I just put on makeup, curled my hair a bit, put on a bra and panties, kept my legs well-shaved, and then put on a cute white peplum tunic and some shorts, and headed out to train. I had heard of the growth of one nemesis in particular during all of this, the one they called Fundamentalist. He stood on the street telling people that these were end times. It was time to do something about all this fear. I was near the Dock Street Market, and I noticed a bunch of people following me who still hadn't gotten the memo about this so-called disease. They were masked up, they looked like they wanted to hurt me, or at the very least were curious about why I thought the rules didn't apply to me. I briefly considered telling them what I knew, but then I saw the man. He wasn't masked either, but he had a very distinct costume, almost like a Puritan from like the 16th century. I suppose I looked weird to him, every bit like a teenage or young adult girl, but having a voice that didn't bother to hide otherwise.
I heard him giving a sermon. "...And the number of Mark of the Beast is 666. You will know the Antichrist because he forces you to take the Mark. I hope you people notice, the word 'mark' is only one letter different from 'mask.' You are being transformed slowly into servants of Evil. Next, they will vaccinate you and then you will get a microchip in your brain. When you are totally transformed, you will try to destroy Christian people and a third of the world will be destroyed when the Earth rots, a third of the world will be martyred because they refuse the Mark, and a third of the world will be cast into a lake of fire for taking the Mark, and another third..." I interrupted him, "Uhhhh, I'm sorry, but that's more than 100%. I think there's something wrong with your math."
He glared at me, "This harlot presumes to tell me my business. I praise that you have not taken the Mark, from what I see, but your outfit is unbecoming of a lady. All who are adulterers and prostitutes will likewise face hellfire!" He pointed his finger at me, and flames burned most of my clothes. I stood with just a bra, panties, and makeup. The flames had not hurt me, but they exposed what I really was. My breast forms hung obviously and I had the slightest bulge in my panties. He gasped, partly because I had been convincing enough that it wasn't obvious until now. He quoted, "'A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.' You are no harlot! You are among those depraved faggots! It is said of you, 'Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.'"
I paused, turning to the crowd, "Someone give me something to wear, please?" A lady asked my size and I told her that I was a 6. I had gained some weight from all this time indoors, but I had done some walking. She went to a nearby store, and quickly paid for a cheap stretchy grey dress. It was a bit more modest that what I had been wearing, but still cute and stylish. I had no shoes, but that didn't matter as much. Besides, I was a size 10 for shoes, which was a bit harder.
Among the crowd was a woman named Darsha Klotho. For months she had been reporting crappy news about this disease, and she used her powers to Snapshot me while I waited for new clothing. I read in the next day's paper nothing about me fighting a nemesis and everything about me being a pervert who didn't obey the modesty laws and even was found in underwear. Needless to say, it was a rough week until I managed to clear my reputation.
But for now, I managed to set the story straight. "Yes, I am aware of that passage. But the next line? 'And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.' We are given grace to live our lives by the death of Christ. As for this mark you speak of, Romans tells us, 'For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.' How then can a simple mark void the promise God himself makes with us when he offers grace on the cross? I mean, this is the same God whose Son forgave those who wanted to kill him on the cross. Nothing about the Revelation is in line with the Bible! It was false doctrine to start with! It was written by a Judaizer named Cerinthus, not John. In fact John says that God sent his Son to save the world, not condemn it, so nothing written here can be right."
At this, he became enraged, "All those who oppose God in the last days will be tossed into a lake of fire!" Fundamentalist's powers were over the four elements, though he primarily had mastery over water (he did a lot of baptisms) and fire (he did a lot of... well, you get the idea). Here, though, he tried to use a combination of earth and fire to turn the ground beneath my feet into lava. My body glowed brightly with silver light before I fell into the pool.
Moments later, I climbed out the top of the pit. This time, not even my dress had been burned. I rushed forward, and gave him a punch on the cheek, "We are not to be destroyed by fire! For it is also said, 'Test my people, as you would test metal, and find out what they are like.' The way metal is tested is not like an exam, where you pass or fail. Rather, the dross is removed, so the pure metal can be seen. You also are worthy to God, but you need to stop making people frightened!" On each bolded word, I punctuated what I was saying with a punch. I followed my initial right jab with a left punch to his chest, then a roundhouse to his chin. He screamed, "Why won't you die?!?" Then he followed it up with the brightest and most intense flames he could manage. They were so intense in fact that the people nearby had to back away for fear that they would ignite just from being close to me. I didn't even raise my hand to block this time. I simply responded, "When Daniel's friends were thrown into the fiery furnace, were they able to survive because they were allied with Satan?" He stopped all flames at this, "No, it was God's protection. My power comes from my belief. Nobody can survive my power if God's truth is not in him. Very well." He sat down. I had the floor, so I made the most of it, "Hear me, people! I am Unmasked. I will not ask you this day to remove your masks. Nor will I ask you to wear them. You have seen what I look like under these clothes. Everyone is entitled to fashion, and everyone who says otherwise is a liar. What will you do? It is up to you." Of that crowd, about a third kept their masks on regardless of my words. Another third would later decide to remove it, but for now, they wanted to act like they were more virtuous than other people. Another third removed it immediately. And the other third... oh wait, nevermind.
