I divide cell from cell. Stem from stern. It doesn’t matter if the substance is of this plane or any other.
I am not just the angel of War.
I am a god.
I vibrate the innards of the creature, my own fury fueling my work as I fling my arms out when I’m in the blinding inner core amid the transformed energy it feasted upon earlier.
The creature explodes, bits of it blowing outward into space.
I exalt in my power as I continue on to the next creature. It does not even run from me. One after the other, they absorb me and I destroy them, rending it from the inside out.
It’s only after several that I realize how easy it’s become and that I myself have begun to glow. Not just the glow from the angel-spark that I so rarely shine forth. No, I’m glowing from the tips of my fingers. I feel the heat bursting forth from my eyes, my belly, and the tips of my hair.
I’m being transformed by this, absorbing some of their digested energy as I destroy them. The Devourers are feeding me in a way I never anticipated. It makes me able to move faster and with even more deadly intensity.
When I’m done with the entire line of creatures, I’m far from the sun but feel no cold. I’m burning up, instead. I’m alight with power.
I am now truly a god.
More than any of my brothers. More than my Father-Creator. More than any beast or spirit from any realm.
Finally, I will no longer be forced to battle in endless futility!
I canwin.
I canCONQUER!
All my father’s useless victories will be a pittance compared to the greatness I will achieve!!!
I laugh into the emptiness of space, the sound swallowed by the void but echoing inside my skull. Inside our skull.
And then I remember.
Whatever power I have just gained for myself can never be mine alone. I do not own my body.
I’m just a temporary passenger.
Forced forever to…share.
Unless—
My arms lift of their own accord, trembling with possibility. The power inside me surges, eager and ravenous. I can feel itnow, the exact neural pathways that make himhim. The way our consciousness splits and tangles and fights for dominance.
It’s not fair!
It’s unendurable! To be a god of limitless power, leashed to a parasite!
But then I laugh again, a great, body-shaking chuckle that comes out more bitter than triumphant.
Because, of course, I don’thaveto endure it.
I AM A GOD.
And for the moment, I am still in complete control of this godly body.
I have the ability to divide cell fromcell. My brother and I have been at war from the day of our birth, but now I know how to conquer him.
I finally have the knowledge to simplycuthim from my body.
