She was whirling through space, reveling in her god given freedom. Yuno, silent for once, though she could still feel her on her shoulder, an unwelcome weight. A strength filled her, refreshing, the charge of more power coursing through her as she was whisked through the space between space. Was this where power came from? Were all gods charged by this between space miasma, transposed on top of their own reality? And she was the only one with direct access! How powerful she would be. And she had no need to fear anything ever again. No teeth would pierce her skin, no claws rake her back.

Her eyelid slid back into its epimysium, tucked away for her next usage of it. It was remarkable how visceral the visions were, not just ocular, but she could feel the sensation of it flush through her, fainter, perhaps, but still discernible. 

She would have to come up with an excuse to use their jumps more frequently, to build up her power stores. Would Yuno have access to their power too? It sent a ripple of anxiety through her, thinking of her daughter and her longing for death, with their power coursing through her own veins. Bad enough the child had the same moribund eyelids. But enough, no more dwelling on it. Soon enough, the child would be gone, and the power would be hers alone. She sighed, wistful.

Finding an excuse for more jumps was difficult. She had to acquiesce to her daughter’s preference for lucerne, which she didn’t particularly like, but wasn’t the most terrible thing to ingest. Pop! Pop! Pop! The vacuum closed behind them with every jump, the air forced to back out to accommodate their arrival in a new space. She was growing fond of the loud sound, a tribute to her abilities. And each time a little more power strengthened her. She would be a powerhouse among gods, no god would be her equal. And then the memories of her weakness would fade away to nothing, as if they had never existed at all. 

They weren’t all bad memories, not really. Of being a part of Tva’s flock, his teachings of harmony with the wolves. His protection from the other predators. No bear would cross his territory, and the rabbits were wholly his. They had braided lupus in his hair, frollicked under his feet. Had celebrated him. 

But with perspective she could see it was all a lie. They had been nothing to him after all. He had abandoned them to the wolves in the end, he had let his favored children pick them off. Despite the acolytes’ past as rabbits, after their transformation they had led to them being entirely wolf, with all the instincts that came with that heritage. And they had not hesitated, when Tva had set them free. 

Perhaps she should find the remnants of her people. After Yuno was gone, of course. It wouldn’t do for them to have a second god, to lose their faith in the divine by watching a god die. But they were scattered people, and reassembling them would be a mighty undertaking. One that shouldn’t be difficult for a being with her abilities. She would appear to them from nothingness like a guardian, offering them new patronage, from their own kind, not some ravenous wolf. They would be fearful, at first, but she would persist.

Would she see it? This beautiful future, would it come to be? There was only one way to find out. She closed her eyes, eyelids flickering out once more, willing them to take her further into the future, scrying onto the back of her eyes for some time beyond when she lost her daughter. It was difficult to control, but the more of her ichor blood she fed to the eye, pushed through her wavering veins, the more minute control she could have. Each fraction of control an uphill fight. 

And then she was there, in the future. Some sort of whirling pinwheel, a seething mass of rabbit flesh surged, round and round. In its center she cackled. She had collected her people, captured their worship in some mighty future goal. In the future she could feel it, a power far beyond what she now had, seeping into her bloodstream, filling her swelling veins as her future devotees bucked and bustled around her, their paths blurring together. She laughed again, this future self. The euphoria of it filled her, a buzzing delight in the present. ‘What is it mother?’ Yuno asked, chewing that disgusting lucerne. She couldn’t wait any longer, she thought erratically, losing her grip on when and where she was, she could no longer hold in her feelings. ‘I see,’ she laughed, her self-control slipping, ‘I see the future and you are not there!’