Chapter 12

When Zoe woke up the following day, she was alone. Not unlike the previous day, really, but something felt different. She couldn’t have told what, but there was an absence, something that couldn’t have been felt before, but now was glaringly obvious. Even as she stirred, still in her bed, stretching her small body, she felt as if she was missing a tooth. She didn’t know how to feel about it. Was it normal? Or was it the result of Laurene Beckworth doing something to her body, again?

Speaking of which, she felt hungry. A normal hungry, as far as she could tell. She woke up slowly, admitting silently to herself that not having to go to work was enjoyable. She could perhaps find a way to spend the day here, inside of her little home. But first, she had to get out of bed and do something about her morning routine. She walked lazily to the toilets, and then the bathroom. And she stopped when she saw the words seemingly placed into her mirror.

Zoe. I and the other Godlings have to leave this Universe entirely for a certain period of time, that you’ll notice.

We will be back as soon as possible, but I can’t tell you when. I know you survived for years without me, but I’m worried sick about your wellbeing.

I wish I had been there with you, but please, go through the door I added to your home. What’s beyond is the safest place I can think about for you while I’m absent. 

I love you. Be safe. I’ll make up for my absence, I swear.

Zoe blinked, reading the whole message again. The Godlings were absent. The world was back to what it had been before them, for whoever knew how long. Did the changes they had made lasted or not? Probably, she decided, or there would have already been chaos in the streets. The young woman fidgeted, looking again at the words in her mirror. Did she want to go through that door? Not really. But she discovered the idea of being alone, without Laurene, in the wide world made her more afraid.

“I guess I’ll be going through it then…” she sighed. “But first, breakfast!”

Zoe went to her fridge, picked up fresh milk, a few dried fruits and cereals. She didn’t feel like cooking too much so early in the morning. As she chewed her food down, she wondered what she could expect in Laurene’s home. It had to be chock full of impossible things, she decided. If none were dangerous, as the Godling said, it’d be a pleasant surprise, but she wasn’t sure that Laurene’s aloofness about Humans allowed her to really know what was dangerous for them.

“Well, it’s not as if she was here to discuss about it with her”, Zoe mused, as she finished her food. “And it’s not as if it’d be that immense in there, anyway, so if I don’t like what I see in the first room, I’ll just be back. In and out in a minute.”

* * *

As soon as she had opened the second door, Zoe understood that she had been deadly wrong about the size of the place the Godling called home. And her ability to be back. The door leading to her own home was gone. When she had opened, she had seen this simple corridor, barely ten meters long - impossible considering the structure of the building where her apartment was, of course but almost normal. And a second door at the end of it.

Now, the corridor stretched to an impossible length behind her, and the door was absent. She dimly wondered if it’d return if she walked back, but she didn’t want to risk being stuck in that liminal space of a sort. So she had opened the second door, and a whole new world had been revealed. She knew it was another world, and not some place on Earth, because the sun was a pleasant green tinge, and there were two suns in here, one purple, the other a deep blue shade.

“Where the hell am I now…” she sighed to herself, even as she took the first steps in what seemed to be a strange mix between a well-tended garden and a jungle, filled with strange creatures of vibrant colors. “Oh, hello there!”

A beasty of a sort, a mix between some lizard, a chicken and a parrot, as its garish red and green feathers seemed to indicate, looked at her, curious. It wasn’t that massive but it had razor sharp talons, Zoe realized and pointy teeth. She felt a little worried - what if it was a predator and it considered her a new strange kind of prey? Before she could continue to think about it, the creature fled, with many other flapping out of the trees, as the world shook, a tremor so terrible it sent Zoe sprawling on the ground, shaking it.

When it stopped, the tiny woman looked up and her mind froze. There was a female here. A beautiful female, with long blonde hair and tanned skin, as far as she could tell. But some part of her body, like her right shoulder, her forearms and hands, and other various patches on her naked form seemed to be formed of stars and nebulae, which were swirling and pulsating slowly. Her massive breasts seemed to contain millions of stars. Oh, and she was several kilometers tall. And looking straight at Zoe.

“MOM?” she boomed, surprised splaying on her face. “MOM, IT’S YOU!”

Zoe’s mind went blank. Who was it, that this impossible being called mom? Not here, certainly? And yet, when the colossus squatted and extended a hand so massive it could have carved a whole neighborhood, it became clear she was focusing on her, really. She let out a garbled scream and tried to get up and dash away. It was absolutely futile of course and she was sent back to the ground when immense fingers went into the soil and lifted it of the ground with ease.

“MOM! DON’T RUN, PLEASE, IT COULD BE DANGEROUS FOR YOU!” the gigantic being chided her, and all Zoe could do was laugh hysterically as she took in the worries of that strange creature.

“SISTER? WHO ARE YOU SPEAKING TO?” boomed a second, masculine, voice. 

Zoe rasped when she saw more of those entities approaching. Three more, two males and one female. They all shared the same celestial physical attributes as the one holding a whole plot of land in her hand, but there were discrete differences. The closest one, the male who had spoken, was sporting shorter hair, and of a brownish shade that she recognized as her own. Her mind reeled, but she couldn’t deny what she was starting to suspect.

“Uh… She’s talking to me?” she managed to say, and immediately three new sets of eyes so large she could have swam in them with ease focused on her.

“MOM?” three voices boomed in unison, before they broke into joyous laughter as they hugged each other with the one holding Zoe, who was very careful to keep her hand steady. “THE CREATOR FINALLY ALLOWED YOU IN? WHERE IS SHE, MOM?” asked the male.

“The Creator? Uh… You…uh.. do you mean, Laurene?” Zoe asked, almost certain it was the case, but she couldn’t really be sure, everything seemed absolutely ludicrous and confusing here - how could the Godling believe she was safe here, with giants of that sort who could have trampled her to death without even noticing.

“OH… WE DON’T REALLY KNOW HER NAME. THE ONE THAT MADE US AND THIS PLACE, WHERE WE CAN EXIST WHILE ALSO BEING SIMPLE GALAXIES IN YOUR UNIVERSE. ISN’T THAT RIGHT, BROTHERS, SISTER?” the one holding Ashley said.

The other three agreed, their deep voices booming even as they hummed in acquiescence. It allowed Zoe some time to try and collect herself and her thoughts. Laurene had made… what? Giant humanoid galaxies that also doubled as normal galaxies in the rest of the Universe - and she had shoved them here, in some place that was apparently not the Universe she knew off and called it their home? It was really starting to be a lot to take in and she frowned as the first signs of an upcoming headache appeared.

“Hum… Why do you, uh… call me Mom?” she finally managed to ask them, earning puzzled looks from the four of them, as they exchanged confused glances.

“BECAUSE YOU ARE, MOM” said the second male, with blond hair and eyes that looked suspiciously like black holes. “WE WERE MADE FROM THE CREATOR’S LOVE FOR YOU, AND FRAGMENTS OF YOUR OWN EMOTIONS WHEN YOU MET HER. SHE TOLD US THAT SHE COULDN’T DISCARD THOSE AND WHEN ENOUGH OF THEM HAD ACCUMULATED, SHE CREATED FOUR NEW GALAXIES IN YOUR UNIVERSE. AND US WITH THEM.”

“WE ARE NOT SEPARATE FROM THEM, BROTHER” chided the second female. “WE ARE THOSE GALAXIES, ONLY EXISTING IN TWO PLACES AND TWO STAGES AT ONCE.”

Zoe’s head spinned, as the four of them started to discuss the nature of their existence. She didn’t even try to follow up with their argument, letting the booming voices wash over her, closing her eyes and massaging her temples. That whole situation was pure insanity. She could have avoided it if she had simply stayed at home. She could have been watching Netflix, browsing the Internet. But no, she was in the palm of a giantess several kilometers tall, with a whole plot of jungle, because she had done what the Godling wanted.

“What are you names?” she suddenly asked, stopping the four of them as they looked at her, stunned again, and perhaps a little bit bashful.

“WE DON’T HAVE ANY,” the one holding her admitted, shifting uncomfortably.

That wouldn’t do it. She may well not understand how those beings related to her, but Zoe wouldn’t accept that those intelligent beings, whether they were really her “children” in any way, shape or form, would be lacking a name. It just felt inadequate and she refused to let them suffer like that. She paused only long enough to wonder if it’d make Laurene unhappy, but she decided that it wouldn’t - the Godling passed her everything, anyway, so she’d better use it to make other people happier.

“Avgí, Mesiméri, Soúroupo, Nýchta. That means Dawn, Noon, Twilight and Night in modern Greek. Those are your names, now. You,’ she pointed as the one holding her, “you’re Avgí. You, she said the male who hadn’t black holes for eyes, “are Mesiméri. You” she added to the second female, “are Soúroupo and finally, you’re Nýchta” she said the last male.

She expected a shrug, or some sort of passive acceptance, something those beings that surpassed her in all possible ways would take a gnat like her giving them names. She was minuscule compared to them, microscopic! Sure, Laurene had been way taller than them twice already, but it didn’t mean that they were less impressive because of it. If nothing else, them not being the Godling made them properly terrifying.

Instead, tears formed in their eyes and they cooed at her, each of them approaching, their massive, athletic bodies, closing all around her as she was brought higher, closer to their mouths who seemed ready to cover her - and the whole jungle held aloft with her, with kisses. She was a little frightened, but she managed to hold her ground, as much as a microscopic being sitting in dirt could stand it, that is.

“WE LOVE THOSE” whispered Avgí, the other three nodding in agreement. “THANK YOU MOM. HOW CAN WE REPAY YOU FOR THIS?”

Repaying her? That seemed absolutely ludicrous. There was nothing those beings could do, at their scale, that she could have, to behind with. They didn’t even wear clothes, their nakedness seemingly unimportant for them. Zoe dimly wondered if she should ask them to find her a way back home, but she doubted they could - as formidable as they were, they probably hadn’t the abilities of their Creator to simply do as they willed. So she asked them the next best thing.

“I think I’m stuck here until Laurene, your Creator, comes back so… if you could tell me what’s dangerous for me here, I’d be happy of you, uh… kept an eye on me? While I explore around? It’d help me feel… safer?”

“I’M SORRY, MOM,” rumbled Nýchta, his black hole’s eyes frowning. “WHAT DOES DANGEROUS MEAN?”

Zoe opened her mouth and then closed it again. Of course. As far as she could tell - as far as she hoped, to be honest - those beings were the tallest and most powerful of this place. Pocket dimension? Limited Universe? World in a closet? She couldn’t really tell and she decided to not care about it for now. She’d better ask Laurene when she’d be back, she decided. In any case, she had to try to explain to them what the concept of danger was.

“I… I mean, things or… or places which could… hurt me. Make me, uh… bleed or even kill me. Cease to be, in a way? I… I’m sorry, I’m not really sure how to… uh… how to explain it… I… I hope I’m not confusing you, uh… children?”

“THERE IS NO SUCH PLACE OR THING HERE THAT COULD… HARM YOU, MOM” finally replied Soúroupo, once the silence had stretched long enough that Zoe had started to cringe, afraid that calling them children had been a mistake. “ALL THAT EXISTS HERE EXISTS TO LOVE AND PROTECT YOU, TO FILL YOUR TIME WITH BLISS AND JOY. SUCH IS THE DECREE OF THE CREATOR AND SO IT IS.”

Zoe’s words left her. She couldn’t even begin to fathom how to deal with that notion. A whole place, separated from Earth in a way that wouldn’t be possible to explain by any scientific knowledge available on her homeworld. And nothing here could harm her? Somehow, this defied logic even more than anything else today. She shook her head, trying to not look too worried for her children. Her impossible, galaxies made humanoids mage giants, children. Laurene was truly crazy, by Human standards…

“Okay… Uh… Do you think you could still drop me back on the ground and keep an eye on me? I… Uh.. I’d like to explore a tad more around here, if it’s okay with you?”

She had barely finished talking that she was brought back to the ground, Avgí gently putting back the whole plot of jungle where she had torn it out of the ground. As soon as she did, Zoe saw avian creatures and other animals she had no name for rushing back into their trees. Looking around, it almost looked as if the ground had never been lifted upward. Looking up she saw her four children beaming loving smiles at her.

“Well… time to see what’s here, I guess,” she muttered to herself.