Deicide the God Eater
The Nineteenth Chapter

Another like you had come looking forGod once. He strode across the plains ina single pace. He ate the mountains onthe horizon. – Villagerof Fiaba.

Deicide wassitting on the fountain outside of the female Risk Eater complex. He was waiting for Rodela, while he and the Abyssshared a large plate lunch. He wassurrounded by a few members of his entourage and a few civilians making crossconversation with Deicide in between. Every now and then he would mumble something with a mouthful of rice andsteak, but he was not particularly interested. He was more worried with what Rodela had to tell him. She had started her billet as a Risk Eatersecurity specialist in the Districts and he could tell she was disappointedwith the work. Not only would an officerhave to accustom themselves to the outlandish violence, but the pointless politicalstruggles between the delegates and city officials. He was also sure she would have questionsconcerning Fawn’s whereabouts; the two women had spent considerable timetogether and Deicide felt he could hardly blame Rodela for bonding with her.

“Hey BabySis, what happened to that girl you was datin’?” Hash said.

Baby Sisterscrunched her brow. “Which one?” shesaid.

“Ugh, thesilver headed one, infantry,” Hash said.

“Hmph?” BabySister said.

Hash suckedin a short breath. “The one with theteeth going everywhere,” Hash said.

“Yeah,yeah. I had to let her go. It was like making out with a bag of brokenglass,” Baby Sister said. “Hey, nobodyever complains about your mouth? Grandpops?”

Deicidesnapped out of his trance. “What?”Deicide said.

“Your oldladies don’t nag you about your fangs?” Baby Sister said.

“Well, allof mine are straight,” Deicide said, allowing the Abyss to pick meat frombetween his teeth.

“You know theycan fix that shit right?” Hash said.

“Yeah, ifyou’re a civilian. Otherwise they pull‘em all out and start over. Shit takeslike two years. I can’t be dating somechick with no teeth,” Baby Sister said.

Hash glancedat Deicide quickly. “Lady Nott didn’thave any teeth. No disrespect, Grandpops,”Hash said.

Deicide waveda hand lazily. “It’s fine,” Deicidesaid.

Baby Sisterbumped Deicide and pointed up to the tier that held Rodela’s apartment. Deicide felt self-conscious when he saw shewas wearing a flowery blouse and skirt. He was wearing one of his working uniforms, Deicide tried to think if heeven had anything in his wardrobe that was not a uniform, a suit, or exercisegear. As he stood, the Abyss snatchedthe empty plate from him and absorbed it into her folds, picking away theerrant grains of rice surrounding his mouth with her tendrils. Deicide walked over to meet her, trying towave away his entourage.

“What’s thedeal?” Baby Sister said. Hashimmediately took the hint and strolled off.

“We havesome matters to discuss,” Deicide said.

Baby Sisterstood as tall as her tiny frame would allow her. “I am an excellent conversationalist,” BabySister said.

“Lot ofsyllables for you,” Deicide said, rustling her hair.

“Motherfucker,”Baby Sister said, giving Deicide a push, before walking away. Rodela stopped in front of him, holding a smallpurse just below her waist.

“Don’t youhave any normal people clothes?” Rodela said.

“I’mflattered that you believe me and normal people have anything in common,”Deicide said. “You look nice by the way.”

“Thanks. So what are we gonna do?” Rodela said.

“You wantsome ice cream?” Deicide said. Rodelastopped walking.

“I’m not ingrade school,” Rodela said.

“No,no. I just had lunch, some dessert wouldbe nice,” Deicide said.

“Alright,” Rodelasaid. They strolled leisurely throughthe more scenic decks in the commercial plaza, a mall that never stoppedgrowing. Each section possessed adifferent theme, presently they were on an ocean themed deck. Underneath their feet and above their heads seacreatures swam in an azure fluid that Deicide knew could not be purewater. Deicide had his hands in hispockets, gazing at the life that was swimming around him, secretly dreadingwhat Rodela had to say.

“The babiesare so cute,” Rodela said. “But they don’tlook much like Lady Nott.”

Deicide wassurprised, he expected Rodela to be questioning her standing, now that membersof his official bloodline had been named.

“Ugh,yes. So what is it?” Deicide said, stopping at a bench. The two sat and Rodela waited for a person topass before she spoke. Deicide tried tolean back to appear relaxed, he placed his arm across the top of the bench.

“What’d youdo to Fawna?” Rodela said.

“I allowedher to leave,” Deicide said. “Have you heard different?”

“Plenty,”Rodela said. “Baby Sis says she’s still in your estate.”

Deiciderolled his eyes. “And when did you start listening to Baby Sis?”

Rodelashrugged. “It’s not that hard to believe,”she said. “Have you stopped liking pretty girls?”

“I would liketo think those closest to me knew me better than that?” Deicide said.

“So you’resaying it’s never happened before?” Rodela said.

“I’ve alwaysrequired a willing participant,” Deicide said. “Is this all you wanted to discuss?”

“No,” Rodelasaid. “Being a Risk Eater’s not what Ithought it’d be.”

“I told youit would be brutal,” Deicide said.

“That’s notwhat I mean,” Rodela said. “I know whatthe Risk Eaters really protect. I knowwhere the people go. And I know you setit up so the inevitable will always happen.” Their eyes met and Deicide fought hard to not look away.

“But I don’tknow why?” Rodela said. Deicide clampedhis jaws together tightly, wanting to phrase his answer just right, he was surethat a lie would only cause her to withdraw from him completely. He reflected a moment on how much she lookedlike her mother, tiny nose and soft, full cheeks; it was a face that said: I trust you.

Deiciderose. “I have to show you something,”Deicide said.

Deicide saidnothing as they made their way toward the center of the ship. Through the Abyss he could feel that Rodelawas growing increasingly uncomfortable with his silence and the increasedsecurity checkpoints. None of the menguarding the stations possessed name tags; their eyes were mustard yellow,seemingly dead to any stimulus, even their passing registered no response. Yet if any unauthorized personal proceededafter the warnings they received, they would be hacked into a chunkypaste. As they reached the final door atthe end of this long passageway, Deicide motioned for Rodela to enter first.

They bothentered a space that seemed to stretch into eternity, rows and rows of fluidfilled tanks; each one was occupied by a rapidly growing humanoidcreature. These were the husks thatsupplemented the size of Deicide’s great array. Loaded with battle data and a careful assortment of memories, thecreatures could be used to flood a planet, conquering massive areas within afew hours. Every few moments a creaturewould be ejected through a port in the bottom of the tank to be filed in aholding gel elsewhere in the facility. Rodela put her hand on the glass of one of the tanks and peered inside.

“I’ve neverseen a husk without his faceplate. They alllook so sad,” Rodela said.

“How arethey supposed to look?” Deicide said. “Theybring misery to the world.”

“Creepy,” Rodelasaid.

They steppedon a moving walkway and slid along to the heart of this massive space. At its center, there were large machine armsdabbing each of the tanks, beginning their vestige intake cycle. Deicide very rarely visited this place, healways marveled at the efficiency and engineering of the husk chamber. They were carried further until they entereda separate chamber, much smaller than this one. The lighting changed from a bright sterile white to a hazy peach. The air in the lobby was filled with such athick and sweet scent, that many had trouble breathing at first. Deicide noticed that Rodela adjusted to thechange easily.

“Where arewe?” Rodela said.

“The Carnicaare housed here,” Deicide said, approaching the desk. Behind the reception desk was a nurse dressedin orange scrubs, a color that was not used on the medical decks. She smiled wide when she saw Deicideapproach.

“LordDeicide,” she said politely. “And this is?”

“Sgt. Adarga,Rodela EG-5-6H22V7-093711528-A” Deicide said.

“Here weare. Just follow me; we have to get you twosuited,” she said.

“You know myeater ID number?” Rodela said.

“Sure. Every person in my entourage,” Deicide said.

Rodela narrowedher eyes. “I don’t even know my own byheart,” she said.

“How about someaccountability shipmate?” Deicide said.

“Don’t youshipmate me. Nobody knows their IDnumber,” Rodela said.

They werehanded loose fitting suits to keep their germs to themselves. With some slight annoyance Deicide thrust hislegs, umbilicals and the Abyss into the suit and activated the filteringsystem. They were led into the innerchamber of the facility, where the strange heavy smell grew stronger. After a set of air locks and a DECON checkpoint they entered an atrium with several passageways leading toapartments. Deicide headed down thecenter hall and pressed a pink button next to the door. A chime sounded and then the door slid open amoment later. Before the pair was anapartment decorated in soft pastels, silk ruffles and alien flora. Deicide put his arm around Rodela, even thoughsome of the effect was lost because of the bulky suits.

Deicide feltRodela’s body tense up when they turned the corner, in front of them was one ofthe Carnica surrogates, the breeders of Deicide’s children. Her back was turned to them, exposing herlarge useless wings; hundreds of umbilical cables ran out of her back and intothe organic cloth in the ceiling. Herpeach colored hair spilled over her shoulders and down to the backs of herknees. Deicide waited patiently, notwanting to upset the hive-minded creatures. Rodela continued to push against Deicide, if he were not in her way shewould have fled from the room.

“I’m sorryAnt. I had to put my face on,” she said. Her eyes were large and dark, the makeup shewas using made them appear larger. Whenshe talked her black tongue slipped out of her tiny mouth.

“Youshouldn’t have bothered for me,” Deicide said.

As shelunged forward her antennas probed against his face. “Well, you never visit,” she said. “And you’re the only man that’s allowed downhere.” She was wearing a sheer carnationnegligee that nearly matched her skin, through the thin material several of herbreasts were visible, as well as her pregnant belly, holding members of thenext generation of Deicide’s family. Thebee-like Carnica quickly noticed that Deicide was staring at her abdomen. She motioned for both of them to come closeras she began to rub her stomach, causing it to glow and becometransparent. There were five childreninside her belly, where they would remain for centuries until the nextgeneration was needed.

TheCarnica’s large eyes narrowed. “So youwere explaining?” the Carnica said.

The thicknessof the suit could not mask Deicide’s fidgeting. “It’s an awful lot of trouble to get here,” Deicide said. “Schedules andsuch.”

“Really? The Captain of the ship can’t be where hewishes?” she said.

“Of courseyou realize it’s more difficult than that,” Deicide said.

“I suppose,”she said, lowering her eyelids.

The Carnicaexcreted a peach mist from the pores in her neck. Instinctively Deicide backed away, eventhough there was little he could do to avoid the pheromones, as the microbeswere small enough to leak through the suit. Even if he breathed only through his umbilicals, the chemical would seepinto his skin. He glanced at Rodela,still fawning over the unborn in the Carnica’s abdomen. His mind became muddled with thoughts oflust, the Carnica surrogate no longer appeared to him as an insect hybrid, buta goddess of fertility and desire. TheCarnica’s pupils dilated and the lights on her antennas grew bright. He could hear her vaginal walls relax as theouter folds swelled and secreted fluids to allow easier entry. Rodela snapped her head back at Deicide whenshe noticed the puddle of pink fluid amassing between the woman’s legs.

“Shit. Shit. Hey she needs help. Nurse?” Rodelasaid.

Deicidegrabbed Rodela by the shoulders. “Stop. That’s not what’shappening,” he said.

Rodelapointed to the puddle. “But. Look at that. Do you see that? Her water broke,” Rodela said, pausing when she saw thelook on Deicide’s face. “What’s wrongwith you?”

“I’m fine,” Deicidesaid.

Rodelaclamped both sides of the man’s head. “Are you drunk?” Rodela said.

Deicidebegan to speak as if his tongue was glued to his teeth. “She’s ovulating,” Deicide said.

Rodelacurled her lips inside her mouth and looked back to the Carnica. The surrogate never took her eyes away fromDeicide. Rodela buried her shoulder intoDeicide’s chest and pushed him from the room. Once they were back into the atrium Deicide shook himself out of thestupor and marched for the airlock. Whenthey had removed the suits and were moving to another side of the buildingRodela turned to Deicide.

“Was I bornhere?” Rodela said. Deicide slowed to a stop and tightened hislips.

“No. Your birth was natural,” Deicide said. He had a hard time meeting her eyes.

“Did…did youlove my mom?” Rodela said.

“I cared forher. But like Nott she treated our relationshipas a science experiment,” Deicide said.

“That’s notthe way she described it,” Rodela said.

“I’m surethat’s how she wanted it to be, but Nott only allowed it because ofdesperation. She didn’t want our race todie out completely,” Deicide said. He beganto explain to Rodela how he and Nott were the last of their people. His wife’s goal was to restart the Abstrusianrace using human variables, since they were similar in genetic structure, butthey had been unable to create a full Abstrusian child to begin theprogram. The alternative was to draweggs from female candidates and use Deicide’s sperm to inseminate them, leavingthe next generation half Abstrusian. From there Deicide could only assume that Nott had a plan to avoid theirdescendants being bred into genetic abominations.

“You stillhaven’t told me about the Districts,” Rodela said. “Why keep them in such away?”

“Rodela,what exactly do I owe those people?” Deicide said. “Without me they would die anyway.”

“But thisgame,” Rodela said.

“The way itworks is that the worst and the useless are singled out. Greed and selfishness are the reigns I use todirect them,” Deicide said. “And therebels are no better than I am. I’m sureyou see it every day.”

Rodela lether head fall into his chest. “Yeah,”Rodela said.

“Come. There’s more,” Deicide said.

They enteredan elevator that took them down hundreds of decks. When it stopped the lights dimmed until theyfinally went out, leaving them with only the minor illumination from Deicide’santennas. The red glow would allowDeicide with enough light to see, but Rodela would be completely blind toanything except his face and perhaps the eyes of the Abyss. Her ocular implants were created forprotection and extended range, but not for the minimalist lighting conditionsthey stepped into. Deicide felt her grabhis arm as he pushed on, but he knew it was not because of the darkness, shehad nothing to fear from the dark that surrounded them.

“Where arewe?” Rodela said. Her voice soundedmuffled even though they were entering one of the largest spaces onboard.

“The Well ofThelema,” Deicide said.

They hadstopped at a railing that surrounded the circular platform they were standing on. Just beneath them was a slow, churning blackocean, voices of laughter, anger and sorrow drifted up the folds, and oncethese sounds met the ear they sounded like the unintelligible chatter of amassive audience. Deicide climbed on topof the railing and plopped down, swinging his feet over the side and gazing atthe endless black before him. He hadalways been told that vestige material was dead, that any reaction thatappeared as sentience was a delusion; a ridiculous urge people had to anthropomorphizeobjects. Deicide could not accept this,for even though most people saw the Abyss as an oily black blob, he knew hisenemies had seen different. They hadheard her voices, seen the millions of eyes and her gaping maw, an entrance toa godless space.

“Wake up,” Deicidesaid.

Immediatelythe weight and power of this ooze was felt, it seemed to give a bluish glowthat lit the entire space. The voicesincreased in volume, some of them seemed to be angry. They shouted curses and hexes, but none ofthem addressed the man by his birth name, only God Eater. The angry voices were defiant, but somehowknew they had been conquered. Deicidetook a deep breath before shouting down the dissenters.

“Enough, youare beaten,” Deicide said. “Bring meEkvidi Adarga.”

After amoment a pillar rose out in front of them. Deicide nodded and then jerked his head at it, causing the Abyss to leapto it in a giant arc. When she returnedshe dropped a ball of ooze no bigger than a baseball in Deicide’s lap. He peered at it for a few seconds, turning itover in his hands before he passed it to Rodela. She was hesitant to touch it.

“It’s just amyth, it doesn’t cause cancer. Comehere,” Deicide said. “Turn around.”

He steppedback onto the platform and lifted the back of her shirt. At the bottom of her spine blade was herumbilical plug, beneath it was the fill symbol. With one of his sharp fingers he punctured the seal, and pressed theglob of vestige material on top of it. Her forehead was scrunched up with worry and her eyes were full ofdoubt. Deicide’s expression did notchange the entire time.

“So I won’tget sick?” Rodela said.

“Vestigedoesn’t make US sick,” Deicide said.

Finallysuction was heard at the base of her spine. The vestige had converted the inert material in the small bladder backinto live vestige. Rodela straightenedher posture and began to shake. Deicidehad let go of her back and had a hand on her face, his eyes never left hers. He watched as her grip on the railingloosened.

“You’refine,” Deicide said.

Rodelagasped. “I can hear Mom,” Rodela said.

“Most of itsjust echoes,” Deicide said. “You’re notreally hearing her. Just feeling. She’s there though.”

FromRodela’s collar a gray gel peeked out and then slid back to her umbilical plug. Rodela’s hand crept to the hilt of her spineblade and hovered just above it. Deicidenodded as she gripped it firmly. As shewithdrew the weapon from her spine track, gone was the initial electriccrackle, replaced by tortured screams. Rodela’s gaze shot back to Deicide.

“I hear morepeople,” Rodela said.

“You’re mydaughter, they will serve you,” Deicide said. “You will move along my interests while I’m gone. The other children will listen to you.” Rodela looked as though she wanted to speakand then she closed her lips tight.

“Before webreech through the wall, someone will have to take a look,” Deicide said.

“It has tobe you?” Rodela said.

“A Skidwon’t hold up against the forces keeping us out,” Deicide said.

“It has tobe dangerous or you wouldn’t be showing me this,” Rodela said, sheathing herSpine Blade.

“Not yet,anyway. I didn’t want you to miss out onyour share,” Deicide said. “The Vestigeis the only wealth you should respect. From now on anything you want is yours to take.”

Deicide watchedher nod without any expression. He hopedshe would accept his gift as it would be the only thing that would save her ifthe rebels ever discovered how to mass produce negation shells. She gave him a little smile and hugged hisarm as they stepped back into the elevator. Deicide released a sigh and leaned against the elevator wall. Out of his hundreds of thousands of childrenand grandchildren alive at the moment, he enjoyed his time with Rodela themost.