Deviant Empire

Day three. Or was it two? An estimate requested for when they would arrive put them five days and 15 hours from arrival. Will had been on this ship for close to two days and his life was already changed. It was about to change further.

Breakfast was seized at a much more appropriate time, though the time of day was merely a suggestion. Eggs prepared in a sausage omelet with some melted cheese in there gave him a hearty start in the day, some fruit juice to keep the freshness coming... and a tense waiting for his comfort worker to leave with the promise to return only later in the day. Will had to hold himself from making her promise to fully do so and not return. The man felt like he was doing something he was not supposed to... then again he was doing something that was pretty out there.

Yesterday he met a god, one which was far more human than he expected. The choice he was requested to make weighed on him like a millstone. He had not fully made it yet, instead hoping there could be adjustments. Today he would signal his decision. After waiting a while to make sure Missy did not return with some other reason, he would speak out the name to have the man show up.

James faded into existence a good few feet before Will who was sitting on his couch, still trying his best to calm himself and failing horribly. And the man, dressed just as before in his long coat... could tell.

"I know I'm what I am, but you gotta relax a bit, dude." would be said just as he showed up. "Been watching you pacing for a half fucking hour."

"You've asked me to decide the fate of my planet... so... yeah, I'm nervous. Anyhow... I.... came to a decision."

"All business. No. How about you chill first? Coffee? A joint? A nice girl to take the edge off?"

"No offense, but... I don't know if I can be calm around you. It's just... you know."

The god would give a sigh before stepping over to an armchair to sit down, taking one more drag from his cigarette before dismissing it.

"Far easier than you think. Look, I know you probably think anyone so famous or big is something you can't measure up to and any damn mistake might cost you dearly, but... relax. Come on. I'm not gonna hear what you decided until you look like you've got a clear head. How about a talk so we come to some understanding? I'm not as great as you might believe. Okay, maybe a bit... just... in my experience, even people up high are still people like you and no more impressive I've worked customer fucking service to bloody CEO's. Do you have any idea how incredibly stupid they can be?."

William considered the proposition, also his many questions he still had. He let out a breath as he fixed the man with a look... before trying to take his measure as a person.

"How do you do it? I mean... people who would have this much power usually turn bad. You seem to have a lot more than any person I could imagine and yet..."

"...I'm not an asshole? Yeah, can see where you're coming from. I've seen plenty get too dug up in their cause or their desires... you can say that I'm certainly indulging in something with the whole sex empire part, but... I guess it's just how I am. The only time I would use power is when needed. Always been like this. Never got into office politics, never used my position for unduly gain, just... liked to do my job. And now I can actually enjoy what I make through my job. And can't be fired as easily."

"I'd say you can't be fired at all." Will said with a chuckle. Okay, he was relaxing a bit.

"Eh... not true. My power does depend on people believing in me. It got bigger as the believers increased in number."

"Wouldn't that make you want to increase their number at any cost and just... Not take any disbelief?" That was an easy conclusion to go to.

"Yes... some would see that as an option. Not me. I just... don't. Okay, at the start there was an active conversion going, mostly when it was in the minority, but now... I found that just leaving people be can give the best results. But... if there are people somewhere who don't want me... I tend to not intervene in any way. Just... let them see how the world is without me."

"Wouldn't the whole... going to Earth to fuck them up break that?"

"It's a preference, not some ironclad rule of mine. The only big one is that one of numbers deciding power. But all the other rules are my own. Even then, I have few rules I impose on myself. Still won't stop me from breaking them if the need is big enough."

Far less oversight than most people have, and yet this man seemed to make rules for himself when no one else would. A previous offer was considered.

"I could use some coffee. Uh... you want me to make some?"

"Hey, I offered. I should be the one making it. So, want me to make it with powers or go use the kitchen?"

That certainly struck Will in an unexpected place. This was not how he expected to have to behave with someone like this. The prospect of having this man make him coffee the traditional way was... something he had to see.

"Well... why not go and make some the usual way?"

A sideways nod from the man before he stood up and started walking towards the kitchen.

"Good option. I was told I make good coffee. Give me ten minutes."

Will could not let him go and not see this. He followed James in to see him just... casually taking out a couple of mugs, the needed kettle of increased size to hold both, measuring out water with the mugs he took... and then portioning out coffee grounds and sugar.

"I like mine a lot sweeter, but I guess today we'll even it out. Unless I should use two of these, but.... Nah." He also enjoyed it stronger, but he went easier on the coffee today. Just... normally setting it out to make coffee the much more traditional way, no expresso machine. The act was far more humanizing than Will expected.

"You know... it's... pretty hard to imagine how you were... before this."

"I like to think I changed a lot. But not too much. Still remember how it was like. Mostly because I keep coming down like this. The human body can remember. The thing up there does not. But, don't think too highly. I went to work, had a nice place with a not too great view, enjoyed fine ramen and the occasional fast food. God damn, even now I remember how much one place lost my respect after they gave me ramen with bloody pasta noodles. Those things broke apart when I grabbed them with the chopsticks. Or the few times this one place fucked up my food and forgot to bloody cook chicken. Made me sick three times and put an actual complaint with the delivery company."

A chuckle from the boy. That was... certainly a lived in experience he could relate to.

"You.... you said you left Earth five years ago. Got anyone left there?"

"Plenty of family. Dad, sister, uncles, aunts, cousins, even nephews... well, I think some would call those cousins as well... the kids of my cousins. Sister seems to be still not moving on the family line, but at least she got married. Still, I consider the family I had here to be... well... more pleasant."

"The children you had?" Will was curious of his other family as well, but those... well, if they were really the children of God they might as well be legends.

"And mother and sister... but the children were good as well. Grew up nicely, went on to do things big and small, good and bad. Still got some around who can claim me as an ancestor."

The boy was split on which to ask about, so he asked about both.

"Wait... you had family here? How? And wouldn't those children and their descendants be practically holy to this place? I mean... they know you are real and could trace them back."

"Oh, they can trace them, but after the first few generations showed not much of grand interest, being of my line was no longer considered to be in any way important. And the family here... well... simple, but complicated. Technically they were not my family... they made it up."

"Uh... so they adopted you? And... made up the part about being your family?"

"More. Mom was actually quite powerful in psychic abilities... yeah, that was a thing back then when they could piggyback on some adjacent powers... today, not anymore. She basically brainwashed all of us to believe I was in the family all along in this fine story. We still knew it was fake, but it made things feel really good."

The pot started to boil, so the man cut the heat off and strained out the coffee into the mugs, adding cold milk in there to dampen the heat and soften the taste. Grounds were filtered out and one steaming mug was offered to Will to carefully walk back to the couch as this other man took his back to the armchair. And it was certainly good coffee... strong, tasteful and well done. Felt like the machine tried too hard.

A few sips taken before Will continued.

"I imagined you'd tell me some great creation myth, but... you're not one to do any..."

"Bullshit? Yeah. We here value truth because I value it. Truth comes out on top no matter how you try to hide it. No matter how many stories one makes up, truth awaits you at the end with its homework done while the other guy has to just keep making stories to maintain the other stories. I admit everything as it happened. No shame about it. That's how it happened."

Will gave another chuckle.

"So.. was it true you fell down after you brought the people to the planet?"

"Yep. Was about to get into a speech and just... passed out. Slept for DAYS. Exhaustion. Well, I did just throw two hundred people forward in time for like... fuck knows how long. I didn't pay attention. Probably some millions of years."

Again that story. The man was curious on how exactly things happened. There were some gaps in the story. And so he asked the Outsider to give the story exactly as it happened.

It was told without any grandstanding... how he was just playing a game in his old apartment for a while until he somehow got into some mental communication with his soon to be mother, noticing that the people in the game were not acting like simple pawns, but real people. Mostly he was freaked out at the time, not knowing what the balls was happening... At one point he was dragged into the game for a couple of days, relishing the work he had done for them, even back then being determined to give them the best experience he could. He fell in love at literally first sight with his soon to be sister, wanted to be in that world as much as he could and one day finally found a means to do it.

The means was actually presented... a grand ritual in the game for him to be dragged in. The procedure was fully successful, even as he doubted his sanity at each and every point. In the real world, the man faded out of existence, his PC exploded, making his apartment catch fire. Some assumed the man ran away and set the thing up as some cover, but since every damn investigation showed that there was no way for him to have left that room, they assumed his body was destroyed or something. His family buried an empty casket and his landlord cried since insurance refused to pay out.

After he shifted into this other world, the man had to quickly get them out of an increasingly unpleasant position as the base his followers had was facing the most horrible assault possible, skipping everything forward so they can begin again in a world without any signs of sentient life. And from there, the Empire would begin... but the years he lived there would barely see the expansion of the people upon that world, the real unification happening after he died.

"You said..." Will started after the story was concluded. "That you shifted into this world... like... teleporting?"

"No. The Empire is in another reality of its own, like... Earth did not exist here until I brought it."

That made him draw a blank. Will had no idea what the man meant.

"Wait, so... how.... I don't even know where to start with that. What do you mean?"

"Parallel reality. And I brought Earth in here a while ago. Technically it's not the real Earth. I had to cheat a bit because someone's being an asshole." The blank look on Will's face made him elaborate. "Let's just say that this is not the first time I brought people over to enjoy the Empire. But every fucking damn time they just get dragged back wherever they came from. I figured out why when one such visitor had no such problem. So, in order to do this... I made a copy of Earth and put it in this world."

"A copy?" The act was no longer surprising, but the meaning of it was going beyond the man. "So... there's like... the real world out there where nothing changed?"

"Yeah, 'cause someone does not want people interfering with his grand project. So there's a real world where a real Will is just continuing to live his boring life. Still, don't worry about stuff like that. This here is all real."

This was a bit troubling, but the advice was sound. No need to worry about what is happening to someone he can't even interact with. A shame that there are some out there that cannot fully enjoy this, but... he was given the opportunity.

Through all of this, Will was starting to see the man with some much better eyes, mostly because he seemed more and more relatable and... understandable. He was once a man and still remembered how to be one, still bearing patience and humanity, and so many other things he could relate to. A human who was a god. But it was not how one might imagine one, this man being quite callous about ending people. Could Will let that weigh on him?

"Hey, regarding... the third option. Can't you just.... Expose people, put them in jail, you know... the more merciful thing?"

A shake of the head was given.

"I'd love to, but... some of these people have dodged prison for years, got in and out with no concern or if they would get there it would just be a luxury suite while they lose no momentum. Plus, prisons are doing a terrible job. But, there is another purpose to this."

"You want to scare them. Hard." Will summed up.

"I want to horrify them. I want those people to understand that their time of fun is over. That something is out there and pissed at them and nothing they have will protect them. No doubt they will try to squirm... threaten innocents, threaten my family, threaten the very structure of society. But I know what I'm doing and what it's gonna do. I know I'm gonna plunge Earth into such chaos that it might take a while to recover. But they need it. A nice purge."

"If I would choose that... could I see.... What's the starting point? I mean... you said it's gonna be everyone that scores badly enough. I wanna see who it is before we commit. Some people... they just got forced into it. Life ain't easy."

A nod from the man.

"Yeah. And I'm taking that into consideration. But... that would mean starting work on that idea. Maybe we can adjust, but if you're going for it... that's gonna be your choice."

It was a heavy choice. You can't just casually doom who knows how many people to death. Some deserve it without question, while others... might not. If he could at least adjust his threshold for it, William considered he might feel a bit easier.

"Alright. Let's start with the judging. I want to be able to say where we start. Like... the score beneath which all get the sentence. Let's focus on guys who have no way back or... no concerns."

James gave him a smile. Was he... proud? Or just eager to engage in his bloodlust?

"Then let it be done. This is gonna take a while. Hopefully done by the time someone does something unpleasant." Another drag from his cigarette. "Gonna let you know when that is. Now... you have any further questions?" Said as he drained his mug of the remaining coffee to lay it down.

Will did not expect the man to keep talking after this. He felt like James had nothing more to do with him... and he'd return to his usual business, ready to forget about the man. Staying was surprising.

"Uh... well, like a million questions. Or just.... Words. Did you... suggest this whole trip?"

"I might have had something to do with it. But it was just one option the overseer chose. We did talk about it. I do enjoy people coming over to see my work."

"Well, thanks... I guess. Beats being back home for a bit. You know... the more I'm around, the more I'm considering the possibility of staying... somewhere to the side and not doing much. Feels like the place is much more pleasant than Earth. But I heard we can't stay."

"You are most welcome. And while you can't... officially migrate." A wide smile. "There is a way. My people love defiance. There will be a way when you get planetside. But if you want to stay, you should get used to all the sex. Hey... it's not just degeneracy. You could learn something. Maybe go and try out the fun section of the ship."

"Huh.... and.... Missy did mention that. How is it like there?"

"You'll see more sex than you saw so far, and see some things you did not consider doable. Honestly, I can't give you a proper description. You have to go there yourself."

And so... there came some conviction.

"Fine... I will." If only to feel like he was proving himself to this god. "And... you want to just... hang for a bit? Sounds like you're a bit lonely up there."

The man formed a difficult expression before giving a nod.

"I've had far too much time before talking with someone to not default to praising me. And I've got a fuck ton of recommendations on what this place has."

Will would have to take literal notes. It was clear that James had been holding back, if only to have some veneer of professionalism, but with that out of the way he could go crazy. Despite his desires, the man had good taste and good intentions, praising the many things his people did. Movies, series, cartoons, games... porn... a heck ton of porn. Will was starting to get a taste for these weird kinks, if only because he was seeing them with new eyes. And the empire approached them with a very different mindset.

It was incredibly odd to watch porn with a guy who was practically Superman compared to the earthling, but the movies had more plot than expected, Will enjoying one movie which was about a guy who was a newcomer in such a casual sex society. Yeah, he could feel for that, even if the setting was far more restrained in scope, just describing some isolated town that did it rather than a bloody interstellar empire. And it was amazing to have a guy slow down time to the point he could binge watch several series in one afternoon.

Several hours would pass until Missy might consider coming back, at which point James knew to vanish before the time was done, leaving him with a nice cover story for his new desires. Will felt like he was really bonding with the man, or at least making a friend. It was.... Surprisingly easy to consider himself a friend of the deity.

*

Despite the weight of the interaction, the boy felt invigorated by his meeting with James. It was hard to explain... but despite the weight of his choice, still gently dragging on him, but no longer as heavy... he felt... GREAT.

Missy noticed it and commented on his smile as they enjoyed lunch out by the street vendors, both enjoying a sinfully good shawarma that was made by one of those short stacked green women. If he had gone to the engineering section, Will would have seen more of them, but occasionally one could find them in other jobs.

The Gull were the last of the empire races to be discovered, refugees from their own planet after an unspeakable horror came over them. An exclusively female race of heavy worlders, strong, short and in varying shades of green, they had a surprising potency in engineering, construction and any job that included caring for people. Unlike the Tan who could only breed with their own, the Gull could breed with ANYONE. Will theorized they might have been in the service of some other race which they left behind, perhaps their male analogues who had none of the pleasant qualities. He was also curious how they might feel for sexy purposes.