I’m fascinated by lies.
I’m told that, when a Goddess is formed, her first thought is one of constancy. Some believers say that it’s the thought that comes first. A desire. A hope. A wish that births us. Or, in my case, just a pure, raw interest. Some people say it’s the body of the Goddess that comes first, and the thought is merely a reaction to the external stimuli of the world the Goddess perceives around her. She takes it in with her first vision and belches out what She must be. She states Her place in the domain of mortals and immortals
All I can say is, when I was born, I knew my dominion was that of deception.
Deception. Lies. Manipulation. Subterfuge. Schadenfreude. Misleading. Obfuscation – the whole arsenal of tools we have at our disposal to push and pull people around us. Every lie: a lever. One that, when pulled, can move entire worlds.
As I broke through the void of infinitude, seeking the light that had opened up before me, I felt my mind reach out with excitement. That feeling behind my thoughts was what I held onto as I arrived in heaven.
But still, I was formless. A mere collection of energy, flailing around amidst the clouds. I was raw material. Unfiltered strength. Potential.
And then something inside me compelled me to chain myself to something more concrete. Freedom, it seems, just didn’t agree with me.
GODDESS, LVL I
[CHOOSE A MASK]
‘Mask’. That was perfect. An ideal deception. I only learned afterwards that it was something we all got to choose. In the beginning, I assumed it was an option just for me.
Now, what to choose?
Any recommendations?
A GODDESS must choose a Mask that suits her nature. Once selected, a Mask can be altered according to a GODDESS’ worshipper count.
Worshippers required for Mask alteration: 500
500? Just to change one’s body? That was a lot. But it was also my first lesson in how power works in this place: A Goddess does not derive her strength from her Mask. A Mask is just as it sounds: a façade. An instrument. It cannot directly maim or bless. It can only Influence. And through such influence, gather Worshippers.
It is through our Worshippers that we affect the world. Alone, we can achieve nothing.
So, the decision as to which Mask I should bind myself too seemed like such an important one. And yet, I mused on the strange necessity that it fit my ‘nature’.
How does one choose a Mask if one’s nature is deception itself?
I shrug my shoulders. Any Mask will do.
MASK CHOICE: RANDOM
ARE YOU SURE?
YES/NO
Why not? I’m sure I can work with what I’m given.
WORSHIPPER CAPTURE IS VITAL FOR A NEW GODDESS
MASK CHOICE WILL IMPACT WORSHIPPER INTEREST DIRECTLY
I smile as I see these cute little blue boxes now. It’s like a Guardian Angel’s voice watching over a newborn. Some say it’s the voice of Anuzik herself, firstborn of the Goddesses. Others say they represent nothing more than our collective desire to be seen. To be heard. They are our experiences and our choices all rolled into one ever expanding set of rectangles.
But when I first came into this world, I admit that I was cocky. I was brash. I didn’t know what I needed to know, or what I could have learned if I’d just asked.
I’m the Goddess of Deception. Deceivers don’t ask for aid. They take it. They claim it. And with it, they conquer.
So, brimming with irrational, undeserved pride, I blundered forth and spoke my first words:
“I promise you, oh omnipresent authority figure: I can work with what you give me. And if I can’t, well, you have permission to reincarnate me as a Goddess of truth and see if I fare any better.”
Silence. Tough crowd, obviously.
Then:
MANY GODDESSES HAVE COME BEFORE YOU BELIEVING IN THEIR IMMEDIATE APPEAL.
THEY HAVE ALL FALLEN
“I intend to be the exception to the rule.”
More silence, followed this time, I thought, by something that almost sounded like laughter.
AS YOU WISH
Then my vision clouded. My mind blanked. And from the formless depths of non-being potential, I emerged:
[MASK CONSTRUCTION: 25%]
[HARNESSING ENERGY]
Power began to flow through me. Power that I think I always possessed. I just didn’t know it.
[ENERGY HARNESSED]
[MASK CONSTRUCTION: 35%]
[MAPPING VIBES]
[AQUIRING FORMAL PROPERTIES]
[GENERATING THEME: OCEAN]
Ocean, huh? my increasingly smug mind considered. Images of calm waves followed by crashing, cracking tempests filled my head in the next instance, and I reflected that the bipolar nature of the sea was something I could get behind for sure. The more I searched for knowledge of the sea within my mind – the more I became certain of it. I saw humans playing, laughing, tumbling together in lovemaking, and at the same time saw them making wars with great naval vessels, hunting sea creatures and feasting on their innards for food. These beings – these humans – this was the first time I learned their names, and saw the duality that dominated everything they defined or touched. The sea was no different.
Duality and deception go hand in hand.
[MASK CONSTRUCTION: 50%]
[AQUIRING FORMAL PROPERTIES]
[CONCEPTUALISING PHYSICAL MASK MANIFESTATION]
[PHYSCIAL SIGNIFIERS: DOLPHIN]
Dolphin? I pondered, using this time to scan for traces of this being in the human world below.
Majestic images of cone-snouted creatures glistening against the oceans fill my vision. They’re beautiful, slender, and majestic. A little too on the pure side but, meh, I could probably make it work.
[NON-BESTIALITY DEPENDENCEY SELECTED]
[FORM HYBRIDIZATION NECESARRY]
[ADMINISTERING HYBRIDIZATION…]
[HYBRIDIZATION COMPLETE]
[HYBRID CHOICE: GIRL (YOUNG)]
[AGE SPECIFICATION: NON-SPECIFIC. GENERALLY CHILD-LIKE BUT WITH A SENSE OF CONTEXTUALISED MATURITY THAT SOMETIMES COMES OUT, PROVIDING FOR PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY IN FACE OF PEDO-BAIT ACCUSATIONS]
[MASK CONSTRUCTION: 85%]
Holy crap that’s a lot of loaded qualifiers! I’m not reading all that – even if it is presented in a cute little blue box. What I’m taking away from it is this: I’m a dolphin-girl hybrid. Interesting. As I peruse the world of humanity, I see that young women are generally seen as pillars of innocence and purity. Mixed with the majesty of the dolphin, how the hell can I not get these ‘worshippers’ that I need?
[FINALIZING MASK CREATION]
[BREAST SIZE: FLAT]
[NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: FLAT IS JUSTICE ‘JOKE’]
[DOMAIN GENERATION…DONE!]
[MASK CREATION…DONE!]
I feel something shift in my being. Spears of light shoot from my form, and my energized existence begins to dissolve to a mere twinkle above my heart: my first organ. The others come next. My lungs confer me breath. My eyes give me a sight more confined, so I can actually see the puffy clouds and the other Goddesses who have gathered to greet me: wolf-girls, shark-girls, panther-girls – there’s even one that’s a toaster.
They clap their paws/hands/feelers maniacally, their voice ringing out a ‘Welcome, Sister!” as I flit from one to another, feeling my new limbs start to form – grey blobs stretching into thin, frail arms, legs, all ending in a flappy tail that slaps me in the chest.
That is, what serves as my chest. I barely feel a thing.
And before I can even get accustomed to my form, skittering around on my girl-legs, I am whisked away to a cloud-padded chamber filled with water, thrown inside, and, gargling for breath, I swim to the surface.
“I…wha -?”
[DOMINION SELECTED: WATER-REALM]
[LOADING SOI…35%...60%...]
“S…O…?”
STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS. MOST DETITIES REFER TO IT AS THEIR ‘STREAM’ FOR SHORTHAND.
A drilling, stabbing pain enters my mind. I start hearing voices echoing all around my chamber. My grey hands fly to the soft pads of my ears, my gills widen, and I let out a piercing cry.
“What…what are these voices?!”
YOUR POTENTIAL FIRST WORSHIPPERS, NEWBORN. DEBUT STREAM BEGINNING IN 1 MINUTE
“W-wait!” I cry out, trying to swim away from the pain, and then realizing that the voices were confined to the inside of my skull. “I don’t know what to do yet!”
GOOD LUCK, NEWBORN
DEBUT STREAM IN 40 SECONDS
And so it was that I was born, granted my ‘Mask’ and thrown into the deep end, pardon the pun. I had thought myself more than capable of securing the worship I knew I needed. I had wanted nothing more than to erase the smug laughter of that obnoxious ‘voice’ that had been my first and only contact in this new world.
[DEBUT STREAM IN 20 SECONDS]
As I flailed about in the waters that were apparently mine, hearing nothing but a cacophony of what sounded like mindless apes in the depths of my mind, I realized that my true trial had only now begun.
[DEBUT STREAM IN 5…4…3…2]
I closed my eyes, gulped, and turned towards the slowly opening clouds before me.
[1]
[LIVE NOW]
