Love Grows: Larger Than Life

Edited by Michael-Leonard

Author's Note: This is a--sanctioned by the creator--continuation of the story 'LOVE GROWS' by Saxxon. This story contains Saxxon's Original Characters. I wrote it using a facsimile of his style and it might not be understandable to someone coming at it from the outside. Also, it has quite a bit of weight gain in it. So, if that falls outside of your interests, I recommend passing this one by.
PS: You can get an illustrated version of this story here.

I wish Mara was here...
...Wait, let me start again. I mean--obviously--I wish Mara was here. That’s kinda the whole point, right? That’s, like, what makes this a tragedy and all. I want her here more than anything (yes, even food) and she’s not. But, what I meant by saying “I wish Mara was here” this time around was that I wish Mara was here to explain all this. I wish she was here to tell you this story instead of me, that’s what she’s good at. Well, that and like a bajillion other things. I mean Mara can... God... See? This is what I’m talking about. Now I’m sidetracked again. This isn’t my--whaddaya call it--forte, you know. Introspection, analysis, ordered storytelling and all; that’s not what I’m good at. I mean, I ain’t that good at very much, or--at least--I wasn’t until I met Mara. I’d have no idea what “introspection” even meant if it wasn’t for Mara. I mean... Mara, oh, Mara....

...GOD! I wish Mara was here!

But, she‘s not is she? She’s dead.  Well, I mean not dead dead. But, still, dead.  You know what I mean? ... No, clearly you don’t cuz I’m doing a shitty job of explaining it. So, *sigh* let me start again; let me start with the one thing I was always good at--I mean besides eating--let me start with Mara. A quick recap, then, that might get my thoughts in order:

Mara loved me and I loved her. I mean, how could I not? Mara was an angel. Not a real angel, obviously, but she was the nicest person I ever met. And, that was kinda the problem. See, Mara was only nice to me. She wanted me to be happy--more than anything else--and when I found that out, I wanted her to be happy too. So, we both did everything we could to make ME happy, since that would make us both happy. What made me happy? Eating; like, all the time. Too much it seems; more than Mara could afford by the end. That’s quite a lot since Mara was SUPER-smart and had, like, a metric butt-ton of money. But, it seems my butt could weigh MUCH more than a metric-ton. So, I--unknowingly, I swear--literally ate Mara out of house and home. But, Mara--being that sweetie she is--didn’t tell me, and ended up borrowing (well, ‘scamming’ if we’re being honest) more money to keep--well--feeding my fat ass (which was extremely fat at this point).  

Anyway, the people she scammed inevitably found out and were understandably pissed. But, you know what wasn’t understandable? That they shot her; yeah, that’s right, those fucking fuckers fucking shot Mara. I mean--FUCK!

But what they didn’t know was that Mara was smart, SUPER-smart like I said before. Mara had distilled a spark of divinity, a god-making engine... or some shit. I don’t know; I’m not a scientist. It was some essence of a deity or something. So, did Mara use this on herself? Did she make herself a goddess and lay the righteous smack-down on those that shot her? No, of course she didn’t, because that’s not who Mara is. She is completely devoid of anything approaching selfishness. Manipulation, pride, duplicity--sure--she’s good at that stuff, but hedonism? No, that’s not Mara’s failing, despite what others might tell you. I, Ava, am the greedy bitch, and I’m all Mara thought of while she was dying. Lying there, bleeding, she got ME to eat that deifying treat. Playing to her strengths, she TRICKED me into it! I never would have eaten if I knew it could save her! She got me to eat it, and her last words to me were: “Love never dies. Love grows.”

So, what happened? Whatever god that was a piece of was a HUNGARY one, because I ended up eating all of existence... Well, I guess I more absorbed it, and Mara along with it. That’s right, my fat ass basically swallowed up Mara, the only person I ever loved.

Now I’m a goddess and Mara’s dead.

But, that’s life, ain’t it? One person ends up doing all the heavy lifting and someone else comes out on top. I just wish it wasn’t Mara getting the raw deal. She deserved better than what she got, more than most, more than me....

Anyway, that’s how I find myself in this bubbly dark outside of space and time, or whatever. Ha! Me, Ava, existing outside of time. What would my ex-boyfriend, Harry, think if he saw me now? What would my parents? I bet... wait...
...they’re all dead now, aren’t they? I must have absorbed them when I... Hu... Yeah...
Well, you know what? Fuck ‘em. They always said I’d not accomplish anything; well look at me now! My universe ended when Mara did; seems fitting to me, since she was the only one in it worth a damn. I don’t want to live in a world where Mara got shot and now no one does.

Also, I feel AWESOME!  I mean, I always liked being fat, but it wasn’t all upside. You’re extremities kinda get cold so far from your heart. Mara found ways to help that, but the issue is completely gone now. I feel warm and vibrant floating around in this empty blackness with those flashy bubbles. Like, I’m alive for the first time; alive and moving. It’s not that sitting there eating everything all the time wasn’t amazing. But, immobility was a bit of a drag sometimes.

It was MUCH better eating existence like that. I mean, when you’re eating thousands of cheesecakes at a time you kinda don’t really taste ‘em. It’s more the simple sensation of all of that food filling you up. The tactile sense of KNOWING all those calories are unabashedly POURING into you. Stuffing you until you can’t even experience anything else. Oh, man, that’s why I did it. The feel of all that food.

But, the feeling of existence pouring into you--man!--that’s the shit. I swear I could taste it--taste it like I’ve never tasted anything before, and I’ve tasted a lot. But now, I guess--I’ve tasted everything, literally. And, the sensation of filling and filling. Of growing bigger than everything everywhere. Of BECOMING everywhere until spacetime loses its meaning, as it is drawn into a continual orgasm of pure unrestrained revelry. Regret, passion, want, desire, all of it enters your being and merges with your essences and....

Oh, look at me getting all philosophical an’ shit. It’s like a soulgasm--alright--only better. I guess being a goddess widens your perception, as well as your hips. I mean, look at my hips! Time and space have nothing on these titillating curves! I am a monument to might and majesty. Even in the void between multiverses, I look damn sexy.

Is that where I am now? This is a kinda weird place. There are all these little bubbles floating around in the black. There’s, like, images in the bubbles, or something. That one has a cute scientist with glasses in it; that one has some thin frizzy haired girl and that one... what the fuck is that? That bubble has... It looks like a canine woman eating universes. Better stay away from that one. But, if she is eating universes, that means this is... the void between multiverses? How did I know that?  

But, it’s interesting isn’t it? One person is a person, but people are a statistic. Now that’s how I feel about universes. Why, I bet most of them are redundant. There’s probably two or more of just about everything. There might even be another Mara out there... huh.... Why I bet there is! One of these bubbles must have a Mara in it. I just need to... yeah, come’a here you.

Yeah, now, you show me Mara, Bubble! I, Ava, the... ah... Queen of the Void--yeah--demand it! Show me Mara!

Oh, there she is! Just as cute as I remember! And, there I am! And... and... wait? WHAT? NO! Mara would never say that to me! That’s not what happened! We... we loved each other. Mara wouldn’t break up with me, not like that! I mean, I know I can be a bitch, but... but... Mara LOVED me! No, go back Ava! Mara couldn’t have meant it. She... I shouldn’t be walking away... I should be... We have to... we have... we... no... stop... stop... turn it off! That’s not... STOP! G.T.F.O. Bubble!

Fuck that Bubble!

Where did that Bubble get off, hu? Telling lies like that? That’s not what happened! I need to find a better Bubble.

HEY, ANY BUBBLES IN HERE GOT A MARA THAT STILL LOVES ME AND... DIDN’T GET SHOT?!?!

Oh, *you* do, Bubble?  Well, show me! Yeah, there we are. Big old fatass me and Mara! We’re so cute together. Yeah, look, she didn’t get shot and didn’t run out of money! That’s perfect, there we are, and... what? I’ve got type 2 diabetes? Well, Mara can fix that...  wait... WHAT? Whaddya mean she can’t?  My Mara distilled a GOD and this one can’t even cure diabetes? She’s, like, some kinda defective Mara or something! Oh, great, now I’m dying. Way to drop the ball on that one, Mara-lite! And... ah... yeah... actually... umm... actually that’s... that’s really, really sad, and... don’t cry Mara-lite, I’m still, oh... yeah... umm... just... just go away Bubble, I don’t want to... just... just go away...

*sigh*

Well, THAT was depressing. No more of that. But, now that I think about it, I’m acting dumber than normal, aren’t I? Obviously, no other Mara is anywhere near as cool as my Mara was, or else there would be another me floating around here, which there isn’t. I don’t want some knockoff Mara; I want my Mara. I’m depressed, and when I’m depressed, only my Mara or food could cheer me up. I can’t have my Mara; I guess my Mara is unique, but these multiverses aren’t. They’re just floating around. Why, I bet I could just reach out to one of these bubbles and...

OUCH!

I think... I think the homeless woman with the “-hungry- -angry- -give food dammit-” sign in that fucking bubble BIT ME or something! How does that even work? Did that little savage draw blood? That fucking hurt.

But...

Yeah, but if I can touch them than it means I can... That’s the problem with my lifestyle isn’t it? You’re either so stuffed you can’t ingest another bit, or you’re starving. If you’re not completely full, you’re insufferably hungry. And, now that I think about it, all of existence was the last thing I’ve eaten... in... well, it’s hard to measure time outside of time. But, that’s not the point; what IS the point is that I’m famished! The more I think about having not eaten in--I guess I could call it several lifetimes--the more I want to. That divine-hole within me couldn’t be filled by only one existence. If anything, I think that god-spark-engine-thing made me hungrier, if you can believe it. And, if ingesting a universe was that good...

Do you really need that many multiverses?

There are so many floating around, I am sure no one would miss one or two... or three. If devouring a universe was that good, I can only imagine what eating a multiverse would feel like. Why imagine when I can just... yeah, that’s right, come to Mama....

Oh... Oh... Oh.... GOD!

The feeling of... oh, you don’t even... you can’t... the pleasure, the unstoppable, undeniable, untempered HEDONISM. This slothful intake of POWER. Holy fuck! Imbibing the self-indigence of a multiverse! It’s so easy to take so much; take everything. Effortlessly devouring more than more. All that is or ever was just flowing into my expanding frame. Oh, GOD I am expanding aren’t I? Bigger and bigger. I was as big as existence before; large without meaning, but now! Size that defines forever; eternal bliss; unending decadence; perpetual expansion. This consuming of consummation, I am more than all that ever was; I am all that never could be. Oh, so much pouring into me as I become it.  

Oh, MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm... yeah...........
...And... and... it’s... it’s... over...

But, but, the feeling remains. An unending orgasm, a gargantuan explosion of rapture that would’ve overwhelmed all before is now simply what it means to be me. I am more than more, divinely voluptuous. Just from that one... that one tiny speck of a multiverse held such unending indulgence. Look at all the others! And, despite what I just did, the hole in me still wants more. The gift Mara gave me as her last act cries out for extra pleasure, added substance, and further indulgence. That divine spark is a part of me now, it’s merged with my soul and my soul is simply not full; I still have room for seconds or thirds or... This whole void is filled with multiverses. I could take another, and another, and... yet...

Yet, I feel like... I feel like... yes... this void... this void is but one among many. There are... higher planes, multiverses of multiverses. And now, this one feels cramped. I could stay here in this small piece of something greater... but why? Why eat only a slice when you can have the whole thing? If I just tried I bet I could...

****

And Ava broke free from the confines of one level of reality. Spilling, like a healthy delivered baby, into a higher dimension. Birth is normally painful, but this bought only joy as she understood the nature of this place, blinking in the pure light of revelation.  She realized this was a place of unshackled freedom. A place where everything and anything was possible; where moral logic held no sway.  A contented smile spread across Ava’s grandiose face. Her endless body radiated quivers of anticipation, but she knew she would never need to feel anticipation again. Everything she ever even imagined she could want would now instantly and forever be hers. And what she wanted was FOOD!

So, without further formality, the epic glutting began.

Steaks, fries, eggs Benedict, pasta Alfredo, buttered pancakes, cheesecakes, pizza, ice cream, pot pies, and so on. It started with the familiar, brought to her by bronzed muscular men, and sexy super-model women. Perfectly giving each morsel; it all went down her chasm of a mouth. Impossibly, she tasted every delicious bite. She willed a resplendent lounge chair and excessively beautiful servants into existence. Master masseurs and masseuses, experienced fluffers, experts at cunnilingus, all came into being at her wish. For a flickering moment they all looked like Mara, but that only made Ava regret and this was not a place for sorrow.  Ava felt every lick, every kneed on her breasts; every touch. Her body seemed to only grow more sensitive as it grew in size.

And grow Ava did.

Soon, such mundane distractions were not enough as her body became monumental. Her chair became a throne, and then a single-roomed lavish castle. More and more servants were needed to satisfy her escalating hedonistic wants. The amount of food linearly increasing with time, then geometrically as the rate of increase accelerated. The steaks became whole cows and then larger. Eggs bigger than boulders, cakes the size of mountains, calzones that could house starving nations, oceans of heavy cream-made milkshakes... all of it flowed into her, carried by flying god-like man and super-women. A planet-sized opulent palace of leisure enclosed her bulk. Her titillating servants increased in number as her body expanded, more and more being needed to sate her ever intensifying pleasure. Orgasms compounding on orgasms as her vast body vibrated with the labors of her thralls. Yet, even this continual orgy of decadence became rote.

Ava’s geometrical growth became increasingly exponential, as her massive body became astronomical, bursting from her mind-boggling palace. Worlds of buttered cakesteaks, Hollandaise pie-burger suns, mayonnaise-fondue quasars, nebula bacon-creamshakes, galaxies of whalelephantrouturduckens all poured into Ava’s body. Her Seraphic salacious servants were as countless as stars; Ava’s body became a universal temple to herself.  

As Ava’s expansion grew she became aware of other weighty women in this place. They, too, were engaged in self-indulgence on an absurd scale. They, too, stripped the resources of lush, fertile dimensions as they buried themselves under their own tonnage. However, Ava could only laugh at how minute their attempts at gluttony were compared to her own. They must not have the soul of a god as did she. They did not have Mara’s gift, but Ava did. This new arrival outstripped them all on her ever-accelerating orgy of splurging. Expanding vaster than even the oldest of them, Ava briskly burgeoned over all. However, even this was simply not enough. Ava needed not just to be even greater than all of them; she needed to become greater in a greater way than all of them.

Her scale stopped increasing merely exponentially, and started increasing extra-dimensionally, exponential as Ava’s body became awesomely monstrous.  Sauces made from dimensions of sauces; fractal pizzas with fractal pizzas as toppings; self-referencing chocolate, the idea of savor, and the flavor of the infinity paradox. The limitless servants pleasuring Ava’s boundless self mutated to be extra-dimensional themselves, so as to serve their celestial Empress. Shocking creatures designed for one purpose; Ava’s erotic ecstasy. Devotional horrors beyond imagination serving their mistress without thought of anything but. The legendary Orgy of Decadence become mythical debauchery, unexplainable in human language on a scale incomprehensible to mortal minds.

Through it all, Ava’s supercilious laughter could be heard. Through the mounting chaos of her delight, Ava declared: “I am Ava no longer; I am Avarice!”

Impossibly, at that haughty laughter even more resident then Ava’s own could be heard echoing from the edges of this edgeless place.

A sultry voice that came from everywhere, yet nowhere, spoke. “You cannot be Avarice; that is part of what I, Rondo, am.”

Ava looked above her (a ridiculous idea given the current circumstance, “above” Ava. Yet, above her she did look) and saw a woman even more luxurious then Ava herself. However, Ava knew it was no matter, at her current rate it was unacceptable that the woman could STAY that way compared to her. Yet, as the moments ticked by, the woman did.

No matter how unfathomably substantial Ava’s amplification became, this woman still remained above her. Her laughter remained louder than Ava’s; her self-indulgence over Ava’s; Rondo’s self was greater than Ava’s.

Ava was understandably baffled, and a little miffed. Ava knew she must speak to this ascended voluptuousness.

(Now, it is important that you understand that while these next events unfurled, Ava’s continuous revelry continued. Not for a moment did it cease. This conversation happened WHILE Ava was still expanding and experiencing unimaginable joy. Those mirthful concepts were now a part of what it meant to be Ava. They could no more be separated from her than you could be from your own skin.)

Ava called out: “What are you?”

Rondo looked down at Ava, “You don’t know, you over-stuffed godling? I am Decadence; I am Debauchery; I am Self-Indigence, itself. I am Rondo. Surly, you must have heard of me, or--at least--felt my presence?”

“No.” Ava had not, but then a thought suddenly occurred to Ava as she felt her essence drawn to this towering over-giantess. “But, wait... are you the god that Mara made her engine from?”

The laughter from Rondo intensified, shaking the dimensions of Ava’s measureless body. “God? Me? You divine brat! I am Rondo. I created myself from the abyss at the beginning of all things. I am not a god--do not insult me--I am a concept; I am a force; I am Greed Fulfilled; I am Rondo! And, you--like those that you surpassed--are my pets, my orchard. And Ava--my dear--you are very ripe.”

Ava was feeling a more than a little put out at this point; it seemed like ages... actually, it *was* ages... since anyone had spoken to her such, and she felt like she was above being insulted. “Whatever. But, I’m not like the others, am I?” Ava shot back. “Mara stole a piece of you and gave it to me. They don’t have... umm... YOU in them, but I do.”

There was a twinkle of amusement beyond amusement in Rondo’s lusty countenance. “Stolen? From me?  What part of ‘I am Rondo’ aren’t you getting? I allowed part of myself to be given to a mortal. It was for my sacrosanct wants that I allocated part of me to enter you. I wanted to experience something more. For I experience all intemperance throughout all realities, but yours--oh, Ava--yours was special.”

Ava was getting more annoyed. Ava felt like this woman was insulting Mara. This Rondo character is just making it seem like it’s all been part of her plan, thought Ava, and suddenly realized her thoughts were as clear as shouted words in this place. To make up for it, Ava quickly shouted some words: “I bet that’s not true. Mara’s cleverer than that, isn’t she? You’re just trying to act smug.”  But, Ava now had a new idea. She knew how to beat this rude woman.

Rondo was continuing to be melodramatic, “Act smug? Dearie, I AM Smugness! I am...”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it; you’re Rondo. But, you’re also LUNCH!” And Ava’s month intersected Rondo’s immensity.

And Ava started to suck down Rondo.  The big woman hardly seemed to put up a fight. Between Ava’s lips and down her throat Rondo went.  It was all... anticlimactic.

Ava was surprised herself. “Well, you’d think a big woman like that would be a bit more... substantial to eat. I felt like I was just sucking down a damp cloud or something.”

Ava pondered this for a moment, smacking her lips. Then Ava heard haughty laughter, again; Rondo’s haughty laughter. Looking up (still a ridiculous concept in context) she saw Rondo in the same spot, over her.

“You seem to have misunderstood our relation, sweetie,” Rondo’s voluptuous voice could be heard. “I am the ocean and you are the drop. The only reason anything enters my part of reality is to pleasure me and then for me to ingest their essence. I do not get eaten; I am Vore...”

Ava was exasperated. “Yeah, yeah, I got it, you’re a lot of things and you’re also Rondo. Whatever. Look. I don’t care what you say, or if I can’t eat you or whatever. And...” Ava thought a second. “And, you’re not going to convince me you tricked Mara, not the other way around.”

“Oh, you ARE a sassy one. I had expected the endless ecstasy to utterly consume your consciousness as it has all before, and THEN I would consume you myself. However, I see that’s not going to happen. I’m about to grow tired of conversing with you, godling, and I’m not about to experience any sort of displeasure for the first time. So, down the hatch.”

Rondo reached down at picked Ava up (yes, it’s ridiculous in context) and dropped Ava into her mouth. Her tongue licked Ava as she went down the unbounded gullet, and then licked Rondo’s lips.

“Huh,” said Rondo, “I’ve never eaten a piece of myself before. A new sensation in an endless parade of new sensations.”

There was a pause as Rondo’s tongue continued ‘round. “It tasted a little like those nachos Harry used to make.” Rondo said without thinking, and then--for the first time in the timeless aeons of Rondo’s existence--she experienced something other than incalculable elation. Rondo experienced fear.

“What? Who the fuck is Harry?!? Why... he’s... he’s... my ex-boyfriend? What! Boyfriend? No! I am Rondo! I am Desire Engorged; I am Boundless Greed! I don’t have a boyfriend!  Well... I mean... I mean, of course I don’t.... Yeah, that’s right! I don’t! How could I? I broke up with him to be with my love Mara. Oh, my love... MARA? What, NO! Love isn’t a part of who I am! I am Lust Endearing! I am Gluttony! I am Avarice! I am Avarice! I am Avari.... I am Ava... I am Ava... I am Ava!”


“I AM AVA!” Then, for good measure, “AND I LOVE MARA!”
Ava, now Avarice, stood in Rondo’s eternal place.

What had happened? Rondo was a vast ocean and Ava was a mere drop. But, Rondo was a very shallow ocean and Ava was a very deep drop. Rondo had experienced so much, but she had never experienced what mattered. Rondo had experienced glut; she understood want; she knew of lust, as had Ava. But, Ava had also experienced hunger; she understood need; she knew of love. And--as Mara had told her--true love never dies; it can only grow.  When the ocean tried to swallow the drop, the drop had become the ocean.  

Ava now was Avarice, and all of actuality was open to her. She was experiencing all intemperance throughout all realities. And--with her expanding senses--she could feel throughout all time.  Yet, despite being the very aspect of hedonism; she still felt a need within her. She was still without the thing that had given her journey meaning, and the means of completing it. She was without her Mara.

She could sense her Mara out there, somewhere. She had absorbed Mara’s body... well, what seemed like forever ago. But now she understood that such an act could not obliterate Mara’s soul. Mara is; not Mara was.

Yet, Mara’s soul was still beyond Ava’s grip because Mara was not of Avarice. Pride had been Mara’s sin; trickery and scheming her method, never greed, never gluttony. If anything Mara was selfless, not selfish. Mara was of experiment and self-restraint; Ava had been--and now was--intemperance and indulgence. But, Ava would not be denied. It had never been in her nature.

She could feel the other forces of reality. Aspects of abstract concepts like herself. She could feel Pride, and Manipulation, and Wrath, and Heaven and Hell. Some were simply different parts of the same forces, but all existed as she now existed. One of them held Mara’s soul, and she would have it. So, she reached out to them, demanding them to attend her.

They did, but Ava understood it was because they wanted too, not because she commanded it.

They seemed to communicate as one, speaking with a solitary voice, even though Ava knew them to be as varied as Variation itself. “Ah,” they said, “so for the first time one of our number is replaced, and by a mortal no less. You are she, the woman Ava, who is now Avarice. This is... interesting.”

“Really? I don’t care. Give me Mara’s soul,” Ava responded bluntly.

Ava swore she could hear a chuckle coming from that turning void that was all things and nothing.  But, “No” was the reply.

“Wadahyah mean, NO? Give me Mara’s soul! You know what? Whatever,  I’ll travel through the temporal dimension and get it myself.”

More chucking. “Your first immortal act was to wipe your own existence out of existence. There is nothing left to go back into. Look, we understand you’re new to all this--not that we ever were ourselves, of course--but, you simply cannot have Mara’s soul.”

“Oh, I will,” declared Ava. “But, I don’t need to act. I’m not the one you need to worry about. Mara is.”

This was greeted with silence, and Ava continued renewed. "You see, you might delay her; you can throw all of the obstacles you want in front of her. But she will find a way to overcome; we will be together. You can’t stop her."

There was silence as that challenge echoed through reality, and then--almost spontaneous--the other entities LAUGHED. It was the snickering of a parent whose child just said something adorably naive. Could anything echo all around Ava, it would have, but--of course--nothing could be "all around" Ava now.

When they finished a more intelligible answer came back. "You ARE still mortal at heart aren't you? STOP her? From being with YOU? She can't be with you. It's not our will that makes that truth true; it's nature itself. Let us try to explain it; you have the power and knowledge of one of us--it seems--but not yet the wisdom.  

"Mara can't be with you because she is mortal, and she is not even a mortal under your influence. She is Hubris’ and Charity's; Manipulation’s and Altruism’s. She was judged by Heaven to enter Hell. She is not of Extravagance; she is not of Immoderation; she is not of YOU, Avarice. That is not Mara’s nature; she gives, she does not take. Yet, even if she weren’t, it would be immaterial.

“Even if Mara fought her nature and indulged herself to the point of entering your domain, she would not be something you could consort with, but as something you would consume. That is your nature now, and we know you cannot fight it. She cannot be with you--regardless--because you are so far beyond her, beyond everything.

"We are your only equals now; your only peers. Mara might have found a way to allow you to replace one of number, but--even if she replaced one of us with herself (an impossibility, but for the sake of argument) she could not be with you. Can Good mate with Evil? Can Pain join with Pleasure? No. We are forces, not things. Rest assured you will be alone, forever. Rondo understood this, but you might be too mortal to fully grasp such a concept."

Ava took in what they said, and it gave her pause. Yet--even as the truth of this revelation washed over her--Ava found herself undaunted. Ava decided to simply laugh back. "Ha! You think me callow? Silly for thinking Mara can't do what can't be done? You are the fools then. You can't know her as I have. Look at me! See what she has already done!  She did the unimaginable. You belittle her, but she is more than you know. She will find a way to be with me. Death cannot stop her; you cannot stop her; the impossible cannot stop her. Our love is greater than your comprehension, and it can only become more. OUR LOVE GROWS!

"And it is you that cannot hope to understand what that means."

Those words of Ava’s resounded throughout all, echoing forwards and backwards through time and space. But, slowly, this echoing died out, to be greeted again with silence.

Then, laughter. The other entities could not control their raucous chortling as the one voice fell into many:
"Really, she’s giving US a megalomaniacal speech?"
“It needed more melodrama.”
"I don't know, it wasn't bad for a first try."
"I liked the 'fools' part."
“I’ve give it a 6 out of 10; still needs work.”
“Yeah, but she’s new; give her practice.”

Ava didn’t want to hear them, and she stormed back to her own domain in a huff.

Ava sat in her realm, feeling the immoderation of every creature in reality simultaneously, but she could not feel Mara. Ava knew the other forces were right. She could not be with Mara like she had been, and she could never go back.  Yet, still Ava wanted Mara, to know she was OK. The other entities had said Mara was with Hell, which sounded bad. But, Ava knew where it was. Mara might not have been of Avarice, but many within Hell were. Ava reached out to the third and fourth circles of that place; all there knew her.

*****

Mara was so cold. She was trying not to cry, but failing miserably. In the freezing bite of the ninth circle of Hell, Mara wept uncontrollably. Hours, days, millennia... Mara had no concept of time, of how long it had been since Heaven judged her and Hell accepted her, of how long she had been without Ava.

She wished she could die again as frozen tears seemed to burn her chilled cheeks. “What a fuckin’ party,” she murmured to herself, looking out at the bleak landscape. Then the crying started anew. Her new leathery wings were brittle with ice.

In the depths of this despondence--unexpectedly--a weight fell on Mara’s shoulders.  Panicked, she twisted her newly horned head and was about to shrug off the weight when--suddenly--she realized the weight was WARM CLOTHES!

Posthaste, Mara wrapped herself in them. There was a hat, pants, a warm sweater and an overcoat to complete the ensemble. All very stylish, but--of course--what Mara currently cared about was that they were all very NOT COLD. Mara relished in that fact, and it was some time before she started to wonder where these clothes originated from. Coincidentally, as that thought entered her head Mara could feel a letter inside of the overcoat, almost as if it just appeared there.  Shaking, now more with curiosity than the chill, Mara unfolded it and read it. Her frozen lips mouthed the words as she did. The note read:

“Love never dies. It grows.
That’s what you told me. Right?
It’s true. In spite of everything, it does. You can’t stop it from consuming
more and more and growing out of all control.
Just like me. Thanks to you.
It takes a very special woman to choose to make someone else a goddess rather
than becoming a goddess herself.
You being so ‘special’...in every sense, HA...is why I love you.
Your money and mouth were all part of it.
I hear you ended up in hell. This seems unfair, since a big part of what landed
you there is making me so wonderfully huge and high and mighty that where I am
now makes heaven seem like the DMV.
But I won’t lie to you. Aside from just not liking the fact that the single
person who has shown me the most kindness in all the world is in HELL, I also
just plain miss you. So...search for me. From how far away I am, I can’t do
much more right now then send warm cloths and encouragement, but...search for
me. Please. Because no paradise of mine is complete without you. Break out of
hell. I know you can. That’ll be the least impossible thing you’ve done in
recent memory. And I don’t know how you can reach me...YOU’RE the smart one. I
doubt you could make another engine like the one you gave me, but there has to
be some other way, right?

So do what you do. Plan. Scheme. Experiment. See if you can cook up
a way to make lightning strike twice. To be with me in a world
without limitations or distractions. Just you and an eternity of me.

I’m out in the great beyond, waiting for you. Just like you
remember, but bigger. Huge, horny, and hungry.

So find me.
Fuck me.
Feed me.

FOREVER.

I love you, Mara. And love never dies.
       -Ava”

Those words burned within Mara. Frost turned to fire around her as snow burned to ash. Cold despair turned to blazing desire as Mara’s new demonic nature fully ignited. She was not going to give up on her love, not when she arrogantly knew her love could not die. It could only grow, and hers had grown larger than life. She was self-assured she could find a way to be with Ava forever, no matter the cost.

Confidently Mara resolved to find the way to do the impossible. Again.


*****

Epilogue

Far away from these events--in a forgotten universe--a homeless woman licked her bloody lips. She had seen that gargantuan finger coming at her. It had been there and fuck anyone that called her crazy for it. When she saw that massive digit coming at her, she had done the first thing she had thought of: bitten it, hard. The blood that flowed from that tiny wound was unlike anything she’d ever tasted; like a spark of divinity.

As long as Ishtar Sally could remember she had been hungry. That hunger had always been a part of her, and it had twisted her soul. It’s impossible to be nice when you’re ravenous, and Ishtar was always famished. The unceasing hunger had driven her to drive all others away from her, and now she was alone and homeless. As such, Ishtar Sally could only be described as a total bitch.  Yet, she would tell you she couldn’t be bothered to give a fuck about what others thought. She could only care about her empty self.

Now, tasting this living flow, she felt like this moment was why she had always been hollow. The essence of that giant woman tore through her and left an unfillable hole that Ishtar somehow knew would rip forwards and backwards in her life. She would be hungry in the past because of this event; this moment would forever make her the bitch that she was. But--again--Ishtar would tell you she didn’t give a fuck about that.

At the moment, all Ishtar Sally cared about was getting more of this ichor she had just tasted.



-fin?