She didn't know where she was, she was both enormous and tiny as she cradled the ball against her abdomen, holding it safe and secure against her, within and outside of her as she floated in the void.
She was that blackness, and yet she was inside the blackness, and as she looked down, she found herself to be entirely black with no hint of form except for a pale blue outline that gave her a shape.
She smiled slightly with her non-mouth as she recalled that place and now, she knew it. She had not been trapped inside the blade as everyone suspected, but she had become nothing and everything, she had gone to the place where her worlds would exist, and it was that place in which she had found Uzo.
Looking down at the little ball, she stroked her fingers over it and watched as the clouds shifted and moved under her touch, and as she looked closer, the ball seemed to grow. Or perhaps she had shrunk? She didn't know, but she watched with fascination as strange creatures moved over the surface of her world, little pinpoint blips of life in the oceans, and on the land.
Was the human world a ball like this? She didn't know, but it was fascinating to find out. She had assumed it was a flat circle, but now she suspected it might be a ball, a sphere.
Drawing the ball away from herself, she held it in her hands, and she searched the surface, turning it slowly as she decided where she was going to put them, and she found a spot.
Close to the ocean without being too close, that would allow them to fish. Fertile soil for plants, and animals for them to hunt.
Wood for building houses, stone for later on when they needed it, and a stream for fresh water. It was perfect, but it would take them time to find everything and so she focused her attention on a small forest that would work better, her thoughts populating the little river with fast breeding fish, and the forest with bushes for food.
Balancing the world on four of her fingertips, she blew gently on it and smiled as the trees began to move under a gentle breeze.
Reaching out with her mind, she sent a million tendrils of herself out for them, for the ones who would occupy her little globe of life. She grinned as they began to appear, popping into existence and frozen in place as they found themselves snatched out of one world and placed in another.
Lastly, she plucked the Goddess up and even as she placed the beauty, Etani followed after her.
The sun was warm, and she closed her eyes as she inhaled the fresh air, voices ruining her moment as she took in her world, her creation.
Turning to Hecate who stood frozen behind her, she smiled at the terrified looking woman.
"Welcome to your punishment Hecate," she said.
Hecate's eyes widened even as Etani's pale hand reached to cup her jaw.
"May you live for an eternity and watch as your precious witches lose their magic and become human once more. May they populate this world in an unending line of love and beauty, but you will never change, you will never end, and you will never know peace. You will forever live knowing that it was you who took their magic."
The blessing and curse hit the woman like a shock of static and Etani withdrew her hand, seeing the terror in the woman. She didn't know if the blessing would work, but Hecate believed it would, and that was enough for her.
"Goodbye my love," she whispered, and her body vanished into mist as she withdrew from the world and left them to their fate.
Looking up at the ball that was the human world and Faerie, she studied the tiny thread that was magic stretching out from between the two worlds and she grinned, her fingers reaching out for it. She felt the pulse of magic spreading between them, connecting them as one.
It was interesting, and she wondered if she would be able to feed magic into Faerie from other worlds if she created them, but she would have to test that another day.
Laughing, she snapped the link, and it flowed back into Faerie, severing the magic to her new world.
Looking up, she saw the little lightning bug fluttering down for her, her Versalis come to rescue her again, and she reached up, her fingers brushing it, and a blinding white light filled the darkness.
***
Her eyes snapped open, and she sat up, gasping for air as her lungs seemed to not want to be working properly. Finally, they swelled, and she flopped back onto the hard table and squinted up at the ceiling.
A face popped into her vision, and she looked up at the pale fear of Versalis, peering down at her with wide eyes.
"Do you think you'll have to pass on this control to another one day, or are you going to be immortal now?" she asked him, and his laugh was loud as he yanked her off the table and into a crushing hug.
She hugged him back tightly, and he was so deliciously warm she didn't want to let him go, to the point where she wrapped her legs around him and simply clung to him, even when his arms left her and he stood looking down at her, his arms held out.
"I'm your new growth," she said, and he snorted, kissing the top of her head hard.
When she refused to let go, he instead wriggled around until she was clinging to his back, instead of his front and she plopped her chin down on his shoulder, content to be with him again and not have him hating her.
He hitched her up slightly and started towards the door, heading out into the stairwell and back up into the castle.
"How long this time?" she asked, nuzzling her cheek into his ear.
"You were both gone for a few days, but Daemon came back two days ago. I could feel you this time, like you were all around me and when I called to you, I knew you were occupied with something, so I waited and kept trying."
"I took the witches and severed their connection to Faerie."
He staggered to a stop and tilted his head, trying to look at her and she took advantage, licking his cheek to make him jerk.
"Eww," he growled, wiping his cheek on his sleeve.
"I'll explain to everyone," she said, and he nodded, heading off once more.
He shoved the door open, and the room turned, her eyes narrowing as she saw how many of the people in the room were Gods who had been involved in binding her.
It took them a second to take in the form that was her clinging to Versalis before they moved, and even as Kai tried to pry her off the vampire king, she refused to budge.
"Come here…" he demanded in frustration, and she looked up at him, considering him before she switched males and she was suddenly clinging to Kai, who clung back to her just as hard. His hands found her thighs, and he hitched her up into a better spot and then wrapped his arms around her like a vice, dropping down right there so that she was in his lap.
"Cat?" she demanded, and he nodded to Bast. Cat was watching her smugly as the Goddess rubbed between his ears. She glared at him, wanting him badly, but he wasn't about to move.
"What happened?" a voice growled, and she looked up at the stranger. He looked remarkably like Sobek, though he wasn't wearing a crocodile on his head, instead he wore a crown that had two golden plumes, and her eyes widened as she realised who he was.
Amun was one of the more powerful Gods, akin to that of Zeus and some of the others. But why he was in her room glaring down at her was a very valid question.
Kai's arms tightened protectively on her, his glare on the ancient God.
"What did you do, girl?"
Looking up at Kai, then at Amun, she sighed and kissed Kai hard on the cheek before she wriggled herself free of him, him quickly standing to loom over her protectively as she walked forward and Amun stepped back, opening her up to the others.
The room was tense, but their need to know more outweighed their fear of her.
Her eyes flicked over the faces of Hades, Sobek, Bast, Poseidon, Hel, Thor and Loki, Anubis, Mara, and a few others she didn't know the names of including a woman with four arms and a kind smile, all staring back at her with hostility, curiosity, or fear.
Looking around the room at a burning glare on her, she found Daemon, and her stomach clenched as she met his eyes. Reaching for him, he was relieved as he moved forward, his arms going around her middle and his lips pressed to the side of her head. Kai growled softly at the invasion, but Daemon ignored him.
"Hecate decided that she wanted a world of her own for her and her witches," she started, looking up at Daemon whose burning golden eyes met hers.
"The choice was either we would create one together, or Etani would be raped by various different creatures until they got what they wanted," Daemon said, his fingers finding her hair and drawing her head against his chest.
There was silence in the room for several long moments, and she listened to his pounding heart.
Kai's arms tightened around her and she lifted her head to look up at Daemon.
"It takes two days for a world to be born," she said, letting them come to their own conclusions on what had happened between her and the demon. "When it was time, I had to pull it free of the net that you put around my magic. I couldn't get it out of me."
Daemon sucked in a breath and Sobek growled softly, the two exchanging a glance as she drew back from the demon and closer to Kai.
"I managed to rip it free, and then I was in that place I went to when Alez stabbed me, I made sure it was okay, and then I brought the witches over, Hecate and… then I severed the connection to Faerie," she didn't bring up Uzo, afraid for him if they knew.
Turning away from the group, she looked up at Kai and his eyes were glistening, but he drew her away from the group and she looked to Uzo and then to Dirdos who had been lurking in the corner, his eyes thoughtful on her.
"You did what?" Amun bellowed, but she ignored him, Uzo stepping between the furious God and her.
"Etani, you severed Hecate from Faerie?" Bast asked as she stood from her spot beside the four-armed woman, Cat in her arms.
Looking at the Goddess, she shrugged. "She wanted her own world with her witches, she got it. She didn't specify that it should be a world with magic."
"How could you do that?" Poseidon demanded.
She turned slowly, his eyes going wide at her fury. "If you threaten me, I will defend myself. She was more than willing to let any number of men assault me in order to get what she wanted. She wanted to be free of this world with her witches, they are there, and they will thrive there."
Hades began to laugh gently, and as their eyes turned to him, he was grinning at her.
"Let no man say she is not the Goddess of destruction," he said, and Anubis snorted, turning away to look out onto the balcony.
Her eyes turned on Loki who was grinning at her and shrugged his amusement. She had known that bastard had been messing with her when he said she was the Goddess of love.
"What is it, Loki?" she demanded.
He had begun to giggle manically, but she felt he was finally ready to give her a straight answer.
"Etani, the warrior Goddess of death, rebirth, destruction, creation, beauty and carnal desires," he said gleefully.
She glared at him, taking Kai by the hand and stalking from the room with the men in her life following after her, Hades joining in with Loki's laugh.
"Men…" she growled, ignoring the fact that every man around her was smirking at the joke.