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Children of the Light Ch. 01

By: magmaman



D'aath looked up at the rather frail beast standing there. The creature had appeared suddenly through a passage between some nearby plant life and caught it during the transform.

D'aath had never been caught completely surprised in it's entire existence. At countless worlds, after countless transforms, this was new.

The thoughts of the Father, and the power of the pod did a lot to assure it remained secure.

In the pod, the only requirement to not be cast into the All was the light, and a trace of mass.

The pod stored the energy of Suns.

Secure in that monstrous power, with the dreams sustained, the Father's comfort was always there.

What was now abnormal was the odd nothingness in it's mind.

The brief instant of confusion during the initial moments of transform was that point of most danger to one of the Children.  It was impossible to control anything until completion.

Following the transform, it normally quickly sensed much of the nearby world as it was, fed by those calming thoughts of the Father. 

The pod was the key, it held that power of Suns.

But now there was no Father in it's mind, only this strange nothingness. 

Then the being was suddenly there.

The life form did not crouch, tense, or prepare to spring, instead it simply held motionless.

Lack of motion should be an attempt to hide for protection, blend in with all that surrouned, yet the gaudy stripes of coloring in what appeared to be a wrapping around the beast's body contrasted completely with the back ground?

That did not make sense, why freeze to hide when colored for display?

The orifice in it's cranium was open, but it was a suggestion of surprise, interest, rather than any threat. 

After now countless visits to strange worlds, D'aath had learned the norms of species body language. From the tinest being to the largest and most dangerous, nearly all offered suggestions of their thoughts by reaction.

The steady slight motion of the creature's upper body told it...him?...that this beast drew nutrient, sustenance from the atmosphere.

It was at that moment that D'aath felt the transform complete. 

+++

As always, he became a carrier of the seed of a dominant creature of this world. 

Then inside, the fierce need for atmosphere, D'aath felt that. He allowed the body he now was to relax, it began to absorb. Soon there was a steady flow, it contained moisture, atoms.

Such an odd sensation, requiring no thought of effort once begun. None of the Children of the Light had any need for atmosphere unless in the form of a creature of some visited world.

The blur of confusion passed. He now also sensed the nagging need for additional nutrient. 

The trace of matter carried with the pod held all the nutrient his normal body form required, combined with the light.

Now, in the form of a being of this world, other requirements for sustenance became a pressing need.

D'aath checked the range to the creature, it was sufficient that if defensive motion was required, there was enough. 

Once the transform was complete, D'aath inspected himself quickly, while maintaining his attention to the creature.  

It still had not moved. 

He realized now that this creature was obviously one of the dominants of this world, as he could visualize that his own form was similar to the being that had appeared. 

Similar yet vastly different, D'aath visually inspected the beast closely.

The creature must be female. 

He knew that he should have already been aware of what the creature was?

D'aath was aware of the mistake, he had allowed the pod to run far too low on energy.

That understanding came as a shock, never before had D'aath been completely on it's own.

Such a odd being this body he had become was? Pitifully soft, no protection of any kind?

There was the feeling of warmth from this planet's tiny Sun on bare skin, D'aath felt grateful for that. It was weak, but enough to maintain the soul.

Soft and no armor of any kind, and he knew he was a carrier of the seed, he could sense that. He could always sense that, in literally thousands of transforms in it's brief lifespan, it was always to male.

The lack of armor meant perhaps, just perhaps he had found what the long search had sought? 

No armor meant there was no danger, a lack of need for protection.

D'aath moved the long upper appendages, they reacted readily to the thought of motion, but slowly, so terribly slow?

No armored hide, no claws for defense, no sharp fangs for war? Combined with only the ability for slow and ponderous mothion?

This species must be peaceful then, if so, perhaps they were the ones who could join with the Children of the Light and assist in control of the All.

D'aath felt a sudden pleasant burst of sensation at that thought.

So few Children remained, the need was pressing.

The creature was upright, that alone was odd. The evolutionary requirement for elevation suggested either available nutrition was also elevated, or danger could be close by.

But that also meant it was very slow, another key. Being slow meant it had no need for speed for protection?

The visual was conflicting with his experience of other life forms.

D'aath was now confused, that was another odd sensation.

No Father. That meant disaster, D'aath became aware that he was on his own, at least until the pod could restore. Without that power, he could not sense the Father.

There was only one thing to do, and that would be to continue to seek, discover. Perhaps if promising, pass the DNA.

It was the way.

Of course D'aath knew he must be male to bear the genes to seed quickly, as female there would be all of the trappings of fertilization, nurturing, then separation, as male he could spread genes rapidly and far more diverse.

D'aath's only goal was to find a species, the ones with potential that could join with the Children of the Light. Sharing in knowledge, they could together learn the secrets of the haze surrounding the universe.

It was the way of the people, the duty they had taken as their own. 

He looked again carefully at the being, it still simply paused as if surprised to see him.

For the first time in D'aath's entire existence, he had no real idea of what to do next.

+++

BEFORE

{This world the Children had visited before, and D'aath had a fascination with it. Such a tiny little planet so vastly away from nearly all others, yet every visit the self aware were there in monstrous numbers.

Resource, always in short supply nearly everywhere in the universe was abundant here, life overwhelmed the senses. 

The blending of the atoms that created water, balanced precariously in the only form where it could flow readily?

In vast amounts? This was the most rare of all worlds visited, no other visited planet had held flowing water in such volumes. Rather they were solid matter, frozen, or simply a gaseous ball.

Life was also everywhere on other worlds, but nearly always completely engrossed in basic survival. Very few lifeforms had any other function.

This world also retained a unique atmosphere that created oxidation, the combination meant life in forms more vast than any other ever visited.

The tiny planet held a fascination, it was balanced precariously between the bitterness of the universe and the hellish energy of it's tiny Sun.

It's rotation allowed for continuous bathing in energy, the constant change of it's angularity created a world that was unique. There was even a moon, it's gravity causing an ebb and flow of the precariously balanced liquid water, nutrition then abundant at the shorelines.

More creatures, vast numbers and shapes, sizes in nearly unbelievable volumes lived in those seas.

+++

[[In the beginning everything was a turmoil of nothingness. Order came eventually to the birth world. 

With one smaller Sun close, the giant one far, mass formed to a tedious balance. 

The giant Sun lay far from the closer smaller one. They blended into one periodically in the birth planet's sky, the larger one peering out creating seasons before retreating out of sight again.

There were no self aware to witness that beginning, it only was.

D'aath had not been witness to that solar system's final blending with the All, the first world had passed eons before as the gravitational mass of the twin Suns joined. That blast of energy consumed the home planet, nothing remained as before.

The visual of that was placed into it's mind by the Father.

On that one single first tiny little speck of mass, bathed by the power of the twin Suns, the accident of life occurred. Lacking an atmosphere of any real consequence, the main source of energy was light, and the basic nutrients of the tiny planet itself. 

That world, once settled into a near perfect lock with it's Suns, had a thin band that was safe from the utter cold of the dark, and the all consuming heat of it's Suns.

That thin band moved continuously as the birth world rotated ponderously, with close to imperceptible motion.

In that thin band, life began.

The Children of the light could not at first withstand the cold, and could not bathe directly in the light. 

Trapped, unable to traverse since all were embedded in the rock, evolution brought the ability to move as the planet's slow rotation forced the blessing of motion. 

To survive, motion was an evolutionary requirement, the side of the slowly rotating planet facing the dark was in constant progression towards the light.

To not move was to blend into the All.

At first the motion was slow, the feeding tendrils reaching into the planet's mass to draw nutrients.

Ponderously slow, the bitter cold side of the planet approached the Children, their deep tendrils reached further, then drew their accident of life further towards the light.

Life that was aware without fail contained that urge to survive, first the Children evolved motion, then understanding, thought.

With thought came awareness of self, with time came the ability to control the need for new rooting, until finally the Children needed only to stop periodically and send down tendrils to feed.

Motion granted freedom, evolution's end result was only the requirement of light to survive, plus each of the Children carried a small bit of mass for nutrition. That bit of mass contained huge energy, and any mass would of course serve.

Life. While it is an accident with odds beyond imagination, the seeds are constantly sown to even the most inhospitable planets, ready for those keys that start it all off.

Everything in the Universe came from the same beginning, thus everything was a source of nutrient for some type of life.

Life began everywhere, evolving over time. Yet time is simply a perception of what the self aware are at any given now, thus it did not matter how long it was before life began. 

With there being no ending to the perception of now, life formed nearly everywhere in the universe, as more worlds and Suns began and spread across the vastness of nothing.

The Children were well aware that the universe, though vast, was only one of countless others on and on into infinity. 

The Father was the one that found the key to renewal, the way to survive in only the light, no illnesses, no ending with a blending into the All.

With that knowledge there was never again a natural separation of one of the Children. 

Except for D'aath.

D'aath was the very last of the Children of the Light.]]

+++

[[[The Children were the very first in all of the universe to be aware of self, and through completely impossible luck survived, learned.

They evolved as other worlds gained life, then those worlds passed to rejoin the universe, the All, and begin again.

The People now did not die, and could not, unless by error once transformed. They lived by light and a touch of mass from any source, as long as there were traces, the soul was sustained.

The final end result of evolution, they became beings that needed nothing else to live, fully self aware.

Immortal, invulnerable, and all powerful, encased for travel within the pods created by the Father.

While investigating a world for self aware, the Children used local molecules to become a dominant life form, such a simple and easy thing to do.

Some self aware did think of them as Gods.

With the ability to control mass in a simple way using thought and the monstrous energy of the pods, the people felt a duty to search, the Children felt a duty to control that which they could.

It was the way. D'aath was the very last, blessed with all of the power that the Father had remaining to reproduce. The most powerful of all of the Children, that power then amplified by many orders of magnitude by the pod meant it was the last great hope.

He could not completely understand, but the Father was somehow getting old, thus all hope was now with D'aath. 

The concept of age was one of the few things there was no understanding of, as an immortal no such thing could exist.

Yet it seemed it did?

And D'aath was flawed. 

D'aath was completely aware of time.]]]

+++

At first the Children allowed life discovered to continue, even flawed. But each self aware discovered, then taught and carefully attended had failed. 

Blessed with the DNA of the Children, that created the ability in a species to learn quickly. 

Yet nurtured with hope, all had ended the same. 

As eons passed, and the number of Children dropped due to incidents during transform, logic suggested the process be accelerated.

With failure after failure, the Children began to make the choices. Life forms doomed to destroy themselves were simply ended quickly. Any life that was obviously doomed to failure served no purpose, it became a duty of the Children of the Light to eliminate, allow it all to begin again.

Allow hope.

All it took to cause a planet to be renewed for another try was the permission of the Father. Thought was not restricted by the laws of the universe, the Father's were always there, absorbed and relayed by the pod.

The Father never failed to grant permission.

+++

Once before D'aath allowed the pod to weaken too far, and was chastised gently by the Father as it made it's way to the nearest Sun to bask.

D'aath was most vulnerable when the energy of the pod was allowed to run low. Without enough energy stored, he could meet a self aware during or after transform unprepared. 

With the eagerness of youth, D'aath once again made that mistake.

This time there was no Father at all in D'aath's mind. 

It was odd sensation of being free, even excited when finding himself suddenly on his own, no Father in his thoughts. That feeling was also mixed with another strange sensation, but D'aath was young and very self assured.

He glanced once again at the creature standing there, it simply stood and watched. It still made no move to attack.

Only rarely in the visits to hundreds of thousands of worlds was there an incident, and those times he had barely avoided becoming one with the All.

D'aath felt some strange kind of pleasure in thinking of that. It created a feeling in him that he could not quite fathom.

He did not completely understand that it was fear.

+++

Sensation. Hunger, thirst. Below, something solid, the drawing of a weak gravitational field. More sensations, then the shock of temperature as a sudden discomfort. 

There was never any feeling of anything like that during the drifting, weightless with barely a trace of actual mass.

The pod faded, becoming one with the surrounding light, appearing as only a shimmer, nearly hidden within the weak rays of the Sun.

D'aath could feel that also, the pod began to bask, renew in the frail light.

He felt the awareness, but it was different. The pod was absorbing, but struggling to do so.

Always before, the thoughts of the Father stepped in, took control. There now was no Father, an odd feeling.

The sensation, that wonderful sensation of freedom. The thrill? It coursed through the body he now became.

D'aath tried to use his perceptions to sense this world as it was, but all felt clouded and dull. 

The creature suddenly turned and withdrew into the nearby plant life.

D'aath looked around, it took a few moments for him to focus. Then he glanced again at himself, the being he had become. 

He was not particularly impressed.

There were two upper appendages, and two lower. He wriggled the appendages protruding, they seemed to be functional. He noticed the cleverness of the digits, the ability to grasp. That was interesting, digits like that were typically capped by sharp weapons in many species. The outer hide was thin and soft, there was no armor or protection of any kind.

This world was far cooler than the last time he had been here, many millions of it's years before. He remembered it very well, it had teemed with life.

That visit had been carnage, it was not a pleasant place.

D'aath had ended it quickly.

+++

Another time long before, this planet was covered with some kind of oily blob, D'aath knew that the beings thought but all they did was lie there and absorb their surroundings. The thoughts were very weak and hard to fathom. They had motion, so slow as to be nearly imperceptible.

The thoughts he got from them were only regarding feeding, there was nothing else at all.

For a brief period that gave D'aath hope, it's own species had no carrier of seeds, no female to receive, they just were.  They mated by blending of the soul, then a separation. 

Perhaps this beginning life form was similar? 

D'aath had even attempted to blend with one of them, allowing itself to be drawn partially into the being.

Mating was often done by the Children once transformed, in an effort to speed the evolution of the dominant species.

That was only the first of the few times D'aath had felt pain, the being did not wish to mate and instead had began to absorb him. 

Nearly too late he had realized each larger did not actually mate. Rather, by absorbing the smaller oily trails of tiny blobs were left behind as a by product of the feeding.

With a shock D'aath had understood that these beings fed on each other. That was the first time he became aware that not all was known by the Father.

Not completely understanding, D'aath had barely escaped the grasp of the blob.  Very nearly he had become a part of the All. 

He was very young at that time, less than 100 million of this planet's rotations around it's Sun, but he did learn from that. When working on a planet and becoming one with them, he was vulnerable to that world.

Those were not a type of being that could join the people, and share in the joys of the light.

Not if they could feed upon the self aware.

Feeding upon the self aware was the most taboo of all of the restrictions the Children of the Light had.

After only a few hundred Earth years, D'aath had given up and gotten permission from the Father.

It was not the first time D'aath had ended a world.

But it was the worst one.

It was only when the fires began that D'aath felt the thoughts. No longer dull, those thoughts were like screams in the mind, it had bothered him for a brief period.

It had bothered him enough that the Father had sent him on a very long slow drift to a different very large emerging world, deeply in dreams.

The dreams did their job, the sensation of sorrow was no longer with D'aath upon arrival.

There he found beings that were gentle. They had powerful legs and could transport themselves swiftly as ground beings even in the tug of the planet's massive gravitational forces. 

D'aath helped them along, gave them knowledge, lived as one with them.

They fed on small plants and worms, their sharp beaks constantly picking at bits here and there.


Children of the Light Ch. 01



He had mated with some of them, the result of each hatch were young that knew.

The females of D'aath's spawn formed small rings of dry plants to hold their young once they developed enough to escape their protective covering. 

The males lay around and basked, waiting for nutrients to be provided, and then bred with the females.

The males did sometimes assist in improving the nests, because the more young they had, the more nutrients the females gathered.

This increased their numbers, no longer were the soft eggs left on their own, completely vulnerable.

Each female now spent most of her time pecking and eating the large worms that came to take the young. In each circle of dry plants, a few would manage to survive, there were a lot of the worms. Every beginning of each light cycle the worms left, and came again at each closing of the light cycle.

In full dark the females rested, the worms did not.

The males then gathered near the nests, spending the dark period biting at the worms at random, getting many of them.

The worms were not aware of self, they simply moved and fed, making no attempt to even avoid the sharp beaks of the creatures.

D'aath sat and pecked at the worms with all the rest, finding them not unpleasant. Yet poor in nutrient, it took a lot of them to sustain.

As the survivors evolved, they gained more knowledge, some of things D'aath did not even need to teach. They began to harvest and store the more nutritious plants.

With the increases in nutrients, the creatures gained in size, D'aath kept increasing his own to avoid being pushed aside by the more aggressive males.

Defeating them was always easy, but size gave them pause and avoided most conflict. 

He felt pleased, this species was doing rather well.

They began to build, their circles were moved to points of safety where the worms could not reach easily.

The discovery of artificial light allowed far more of the worms to be stopped before they could reach the eggs.

Very soon they were building and placing false nests, the worms that came to those died quickly when they fed on what appeared to be the eggs.

Since the worms were not self aware, D'aath did not interfere with that.

With the worms all gone, the creatures claimed their world, now masters of all. 

Very few became very many.

With knowledge came desire, desire became greed, then competition began. The very best sites for nests were soon taken by those who led.

After they eliminated the worms, that required them to seek other sources of sustenance. 

At first it was plant matter, fixed in place and not aware of self. The beings actually began to grow crops.

Their discovery of an even better source of nutrient was a shock to D'aath, when they began to feed on other species after bathing them with fire. 

Those were also not yet aware of self, so D'aath allowed that also.

But that soon caused a concern, some claimed far more than required to sustain, others felt the pain of shortage.

To maintain power and control required force by those who led. Those who claimed to lead began to eliminate those who dared to challenge.

The end result was the same as it always was, so the Father gave the permission. 

That race of beings very nearly beat D'aath to it, they were already sending the flames of Atoms at each other when the Comets struck.

+++

Once again D'aath took the lengthy drift back to the tiny little planet that was it's favored one. On arrival the pod was fully charged, which turned out to be a good thing.

That time when sensation was barely beginning D'aath saw the monstrous creature. More than 20 times his size, it's fangs had snapped shut where he had been an instant before. It had clipped his side, that was the second time D'aath felt pain and he did not like that one bit. Only the armor of the body he inhabited saved him, the huge teeth had glanced off rather than sank in.

Finally eluding the beast, D'aath took stock of himself. Two lower appendages, limber with powerful muscle, two upper short ones, just three sharp claws on each and no way to really grasp and hold anything except for long sharp sticks. 

It fed on plants and sometimes those deceased that were no longer self aware, and it was very fast.

The reason became clear quickly.

It didn't take very much of that, by the third time one of the huge things tried to grab him, he had had quite enough. He did not even bother to investigate further at the camps the beings like he had become lived.

Not after he found a pack of them swiftly dissecting one of the larger beings that was obviously self aware. They had struck it down with long sharpened sticks, and had stone blades they were using to slice it apart.

They also had a huge fire, and many of them were covered in bright coloring as they danced and chanted, insane from over use of a mind altering plant fermentation.

The Father once again gave D'aath permission. 

This time it sent a thirty earth mile wide chunk of solid rock into one of the Oceans, and another one onto the land on the other side of the planet just to make sure. 

D'aath had carefully checked each rock for life, and found it on both but it was not yet self aware.

There was another very long time drifting, with brief stops at worlds with beings engulfed in flame, beings wafting in gaseous atmospheres, creatures little more than a portion of the soil of their world.

It was a very long time before D'aath returned to the favored world.

+++

It was pleased when it returned to the tiny Earth world again, after a quick visit on it's way to a strange planet. 

One of the common worlds that was in full lockstep with it's Sun, the life there was barely into the beginning stages. It was simply cells floating in bubbling water so D'aath moved on, content to be returning to the only planet that now held it's fascination.

There were furry little beings everywhere when it arrived and transformed at the Earth world millions of it's cycles later. 

They bustled around finding seeds and grains, living in peace. The shock of sensation that time was severe, everywhere D'aath looked there was frozen water.

D'aath did not stay very long, even the claws on his four tiny little feet hurt him. Spending long periods rolled into balls with all the other furry beings far beneath the ground was not pleasant. That was interrupted only by brief periods of foraging for the seeds falling from the plants that grew very quickly when the planet had warm periods.

It was a miserable yet peaceful existence, short days spent dashing around gathering mouthfuls of the bitter seeds and storing them for the long periods rolled into tight balls for warmth.

The only respite was when they pretend mated, that was odd as the females mated regularly even though they were not in their fertile period.

That appeared to be indiscriminate, and nearly constant, and the males made great effort to place their seeds inside the female bodies.

The beings also urinated on the ground and lay in it to salvage every trace of heat.

D'aath was glad to get out of there that time, after placing the genes into several of the females. That had been an involved process, he was forced to strut and carry on with a completely silly ritual before any of them would stand to mate.

Rather than simply spray the sperm over a bed of eggs like so many species did, these creatures joined momentarily and the seed was spewed into the female's body.

To D'aath, that was completely distasteful.

But he knew their spawn would be larger and stronger, and soon know of fire. The young would carry his own genes.

Once again in the pod where it felt little, it absorbed the weak light from the planet's Sun, then began the drift there. There would be a stop of a long period in the sun's center to fully power the pod, then on to another emerging world.

D'aath knew it would be many millions of this little planet's years again before it would return.

Perhaps, just perhaps those peaceful little furry creatures would evolve into a species that could share the blessings of the light. 

After so many visits, D'aath knew the tiny little planet held huge potential. It's Sun was barely one third of the way consumed, plenty of time for the creatures to evolve and learn.

Perhaps finally some species to share the Universe with? Perhaps then offer them the blessings of the light?

+++

NOW

The creature that startled him turned and dashed into the nearby brush. D'aath felt better about that, she did not attack.

Now he stood there, looking down at the being he had emerged as. It was really a strange thing, right where the lower appendages joined was a worthless mass of fur. Why, D'aath had no real idea, and protruding from the mass was a much shorter appendage than the other four the body had. 

That he had seen before but always encased, never just there. He understood that it must be for mating, but how? It was just there, exposed.

D'aath felt a flash of hope, with the mating portions of the body completely exposed and vulnerable, this race must then be peaceful?

He began to walk, the lower appendages on this life form were well designed for that. Feeling the pressing need of nutrient, he looked around. 

Each time on a new world he always had to find some kind of sustenance because unless he was in the wisp that formed his normal self he could not feed completely on the light. The Sun shone faintly on his naked skin, it did offer energy but barely.

He spotted a plant with plump looking fruits. It was preparing to reproduce. Reaching out, he touched one, expecting to get a protest for doing that but there was none.

That being had life, he could sense it but it was not aware of self. D'aath feasted, feeling the flood of energy pour through his being. Then he spotted a furry creature with large appendages for receiving sound. He grasped it, it was fast but nowhere near as fast as he was, even in his weakened state. 

It turned and tried to strike so he released it.

That creature was aware of self, so he let it be.

His mind was fuzzy, it was hard to concentrate. It struck him again that something was terribly wrong.

He had grasped the small being, curious. 

He should have already known what it was.

There were far too many things he did not know.

He again thought to the Father, it would know what to do. That was when he realized again, there was no Father in his mind. 

Something scratched his arm, only the 3rd time in his existence he had felt pain. Glancing over he saw that a small branch with claws had scraped across him. Looking down, there was a droplet of internal fluid? 

The branch was armed with claws, yet it was not aware of self. That was strange also. Why would it bear claws for struggle if it was not self aware?

His mind felt quiet, what was happening? This was wrong, he felt his own thoughts clearly in what seemed to be the upper portion of the body he was in. But he sensed he could not perceive quickly, everything in his mind came to him in what was like a ponderously slow motion.

D'aath understood his mistake. He had stranded himself, far down on energy, and he was now vulnerable.

"Oh, my God!" He heard the sound behind himself. He turned and saw the creature again standing there.

D'aath had heard sound many times before, from beasts and even from beings that had language. But he nearly always knew well ahead of the sounds what the thoughts were. 

The sound came as a complete surprise. The being had gotten far too close this time without him knowing.

Looking closely, the tall creature stood there again, one paw to what obviously was it's nutrient intake. Two very large blueish orbs were pointed directly at him. He could sense that it used vision, the same as D'aath knew he was now doing. It had a large mass of flame colored fur above it's visual system.

"Why are you naked?" It said. Now he understood that it appeared to be frightened, the language of it's body was tense.

Fear meant danger, D'aath knew that very well.

"What?" D'aath felt come from his upper body. 

He reached up and touched himself there.

Something stuck out in the center of what he knew was the cranium that controlled this being, then he felt downwards to his mouth. Feeling upwards to the orbs, he now knew why everything seemed to be up high on this being he now was.

The center of self awareness was up high, that meant there really must be danger that elevation could warn of since he had found nutrients low down within easy reach. 

D'aath quickly looked around, but saw nothing else.

Looking again at the creature, it had the paints of war on it's upper body. Each of the visual orbs was encircled with darkness, there was a splash of reddish color on each side. Even it's nutrient intake orifice was blazed with a bright coloring.

D'aath knew very well what that meant, having been chased by so many other species. He knew the decorations of conflict when he saw them.

In conflicts many species wore colors to reflect their anger. He even remembered the shock of discovering on other planets that some fed on their own when painted for combat. 

He had gotten the permission very quickly for those worlds.

"What?" He repeated.

"Why are you naked, dude? And why are you sticking your fingers in your mouth?" The female asked again.

"I don't know. Something is wrong."

"No shit! I have never seen a man like this, just standing there with it all hanging out in plain sight! You better put some clothes on."

The female then made an odd sound, and appeared to be demonstrating humor.

D'aath looked more closely at this being, it was soft looking and rounded. He knew it was a female of the same species he now was, he could see quite clearly that there were what appeared to be feeding glands.

And only two? That meant a usual litter of young was likely very limited. Limited young would mean this species would be very few.

Those glands were very high, not down on the middle, efficiently close to the abdomen where source of nutrient would be, like most species. 

She had an upper and lower small body covering, it was an unnatural color. Looking at her lower body he could not tell if she had an appendage there like he did or not.

If so, then it was tiny, perhaps encased? That was clear, there was no sign of it since the covering there was very small.

It struck him that the painting was perhaps not for war but mating? 

Although if she was in mating ritual, why was she not completely uncovered? It could not be for warmth, there was not enough of it.

It was a colorful looking skin covering, that appeared to be to demonstrate the shape of the being rather than hide or warm anything. Even the fur on her cranium was unnaturally colored, like a decoration. 

That nearly matched her long red claws which seemed to be weapons.

Her skin also was covered by darker spots, especially the upper portion above the covering.

D'aath realized it had to be mating colors, she must be in ritual, so many species did that. 

Yet normally it was the male rather than the female that was bright and colorful?

D'aath was also well aware that on so many worlds the female either ate the male after breeding, or saved it for food for their young.

D'aath was wary of this creature, if she was in mating colors then she could be dangerous. On so many worlds, the female of the dominant species was by far the most deadly.

Those long red claws looked to be very wicked, the soft flesh of his current form could not withstand an attack by them.

D'aath checked his own claws, they were short, useless. 

This meant the females of this species were the warriors?

But he also realized he was larger and far stronger. If she attempted to make a kill, he could simply elude her.

She stepped closer, D'aath stepped back, nervous.

"Do you need to mate? Or are you going to try and eat me?" He asked.

She came to a stop, looked at him and threw her head back and roared, again in what seemed to be humor. 

It did not sound like a cry of war.

"Honey, I don't even know you, there is no way in hell I am going to blow you!"

D'aath just looked at her, confused.

"I only wish for a peace from you. I have no ill will." He said.

She blinked, then laughed again.

"A piece, huh? Wow, you must be on some good shit! Come on honey, I have a spare T-shirt in my bag. I think it might be barely long enough to cover that little thing up." She grinned, looking down at his appendage.

D'aath had drawn that appendage back when he was close to the plant with claws to avoid them, sensing the nerve endings there meant vulnerability.  

He was now sure that extra "thing" she called it between his legs was for mating. He had seen that before also. It was odd that it stayed exposed though, since it was so vulnerable.

Most species that did not split simply had the male spray it's seeds over their eggs before covering them up...?

And then killed the male for food for their young.

He desperately wanted to be in thought with the Father, it would know what to do. He felt helpless, not being able to understand clearly what this female was thinking.

The sounds she formed somehow did not match the sight of her, it was all confusing.

"Hey, come on guy. If you stay like that the cops will toss your ass in jail. Relax, I don't bite. I think you are just all fucked up on something, you don't look like a pervert since you aren't jacking off." Her orifice curled upwards as she glanced down again.

She kept doing that, it appeared to amuse her.

That sounded reassuring even though he did not know what some of it meant. Perhaps she wasn't one that killed the male after all?  Even if she did, she would not make the attempt until bred and he could somehow sense that she was not with young.

He followed along as she pushed through the brush, keeping a safe distance.

The trail opened into a clearing, the female went directly to a container and removed what he took to be a body covering from it's shape. He saw that it had what was probably a symbol of one of their Gods on it, the God was riding in a ground vehicle. That he could see, so this species knew of the wheel.

So many species worshiped strange things, that was something common D'aath had witnessed many times.

The symbol was certainly a strange being to worship, it had long furry arms, huge eyes and more fur on it's cranium that went every which way.

The covering was also confusing, did the female wish for him to join her in war? It could not be for mating, covering the body during mating made no sense.

"Here, put this on. I swiped it from my brother to use as a cover, he is almost as big as you." She nearly got too close, but he kept stepping back, finally she tossed the garment to him.

D'aath was still concerned about those long red claws. She had not retracted them and he knew very well that meant she was ready even if her actions did not seem to be very threatening.

"I'm Kathy." She said, stepping over and hopping onto the upper edge of some kind of platform. D'aath gauged the distance, thinking she might be trying for elevation to leap at him.

Then he saw the much lighter flesh that became exposed on her feeding glands. She must wear this covering a lot since sunlight had darkened her exposed flesh.

"Well?" She said.

"Yes, I am well." He figured out the garment and quickly jerked it on. It felt a little snug. It took nearly no thought at all to make it larger so it fit better. 

The Sun was shining brightly, it was helping him. A trace of energy came from the pod that now followed closely, nearly unseen as it blended into the rays of sunlight.

D'aath saw the female glance over towards where the pod was, it did create waves in the light but he was sure she could not actually visualize it.




Children of the Light Ch. 01



She tipped her head and gave him a strange look. He realized that the female was demonstrating body language. That was good, he found that to be far easier than language. Normally he could simply know through the Father what any creature was thinking but right at the moment he had no clue.

She seemed to be confused. He looked at her, then glanced around to check for other danger. 

Water was flowing nearby, that was good because he knew he would need some liquid soon to keep this body provided until he could figure out what to do.

"That helps but not much, your pecker is still hanging out. Man, for such a big guy you sure don't have...?" She giggled, looking down at him.

"Sorry, dude. Size don't matter." She looked away, demonstrating discomfort.

Apparently she wanted him to cover the appendage, so he tugged at the bottom of the T-shirt but it would not quite reach. With another thought, it lengthened slightly. 

She didn't appear to notice that.

"I'm Kathy, do you have a name?" She asked.

"D'aath." He told her.

"What?"

"D'aath."

"Death?" She suddenly became tense.

"No. D'aath."

"Du....ath?"

"Yes."

"That's not a name, what is it really?" She said.

"I do not know what you mean, I am the Father's spawn and it chose."

"Your Father's...spawn?" Again she tipped her head with a confused look.

They looked at each other, D'aath had now decided that she did not intend to attack.

"You aren't from around here, are you? Where are you from?" She asked finally, after studying him closely.

"No." D'aath was not sure what she meant, he had no concept of here, just like he had no concept of there. He was from..everywhere.

"No, what?" She asked.

"I am not..from here."

"Well, where then?" D'aath felt a fleeting vision of her stomping her foot but that faded almost instantly. 

The pod was gaining more traces of energy.

He waved his arm in a circle.

"OK. Let's try this. Where do you live?"

He waved his arm in another circle.

"What the fuck are you, guy? Some kind of alien or something?" She said.

"Yes."

Kathy just stared at him.

"I almost believe that, the way you are acting. Fuck it, I am going to call you Davey, OK? Now lets go find you some pants."

D'aath got a flash in his mind of her handing him some cloth, then again that faded. The afternoon Sun was shining very brightly, thankfully his pod was gaining even more traces of power.

Energy was beginning to flow, although very weak.

Normally by now the pod would have gained enough that D'aath could reach out to the nearby world and know, but something was not right.

He knew it would take many Sun cycles now before he was going anywhere, and even then he would be lucky to manage barely a trickle of light speed.

At the current level, he knew it would barely be enough to escape this tiny planet's pitiful gravity, if at all. He also knew it would require him to be aware, and he hated that. 

Traveling vast distance while aware was a terrible thing.

Still, he could go directly into the Sun and soak if he could just get moving. But this planet was rotating, he now knew he was going to have to suffer a dark period. Already the surrounding plants were casting long shadows.

Soon it would be darkness.

Dark periods were the most dangerous of all.

With the pod drained, he had little protection of any kind. He knew he could move some mass, and he knew the pod would stay close by, but that was about it.

It might even require a period of dormancy if he could not find enough energy.

"Hey! Knock knock! Are you in there?" He realized she was suddenly right there, within easy range. He tensed up but she didn't do anything except look at him.

"Yes, of course I am in here." He told her.

"Jesus!" She muttered.

"What? No, I am D'aath." This female had very poor memory retention, he could sense that.

Kathy stared at him for a moment.

"Just wait right here, OK?" She turned and pushed out through the brush, not waiting for an answer.

D'aath thought of moving on, but decided to wait. He took the time to inspect his surroundings. It was a small grassy clearing, surrounded by brush and large towering plants.

He spotted another bush that was reproducing, made his way over and picked some, carefully avoiding it's claws. There was no reaction but then he did not expect there to be.

He had eaten quite a few of them when she came back.

"Here you go!" She said, tossing some cloth at him. D'aath was in the process of pulling the shorts on after a few seconds of figuring them out when he felt another flash of vision.

She was uncomfortable but didn't want to leave him.

"Go ahead. I mean no harm for you." He told her.

"Go ahead, what?" She again cocked her head to that odd angle.

"Go ahead and expel your fluid wastes." He told her.

"What? You want me to..are you crazy?"

"You need to. You are not comfortable, so go ahead." He said.

"How did you..? Good God, you really are something else, aren't you?"

"I do not know what you mean?"

"Christ. The best looking dude I run into all fucking day and he has a screw loose." She muttered to herself.

"With a fucking two inch dick on top of it, good grief." She added almost to herself.

D'aath just stared at her, not understanding.

But he was getting tiny bits of knowledge from her, then he felt others not far away.

"Your tribe is nearby?" He asked.

"Tribe? My...what? You mean the other kids? They are over getting a bonfire ready for the beach party tonight." She again had that odd tip of her head.

D'aath didn't answer, he went over to the bushes and began to feed. The plants reproductions had nutrients but it took a lot of those to fill his needs.

"Man, you sure do like those fucking berries, don't you? Wait here, OK? And don't look!" She went into the bushes. 

D'aath knew she was eliminating, he felt that in his thoughts. He concentrated on that for an instant, then he realized how this species mated. 

The eggs were carried inside the body. She was days away from being fertile. As her fingers reached down to press the last moisture away from her body, D'aath sensed the shape of her organs.

That same distasteful method, so inefficient and time consuming. The seeds needed to be placed inside the female.

The female reached down and grasped a plant leaf, dabbed at herself, D'aath saw that clearly in his mind.

Kathy was back in minutes.

"Come on!" She reached out for his hand, he felt she wanted him to grasp it so he allowed that cautiously.

The moment his hand touched hers, the thoughts cleared. He had no need to fear her, he knew that now.

The threat appeared to have passed, now she was thinking about mating, but something was not right, she was not ready to breed?

Yet she still wished to mate? That made no sense at all. Then D'aath remembered the world with the fuzzy little creatures that pretend bred constantly.

Perhaps that was it?

The beat of her heart had picked up speed, her internal pressures had escalated, he could feel that easily since she had her hand in his.

He also sensed she was not completely content about something? 

With a brief concentration, D'aath managed to blend with her thoughts. 

He understood she was not pleased with the size of his mating appendage? Perhaps for proper breeding she required it longer?

But why? D'aath had already sensed that most of her nerve endings were on the outside, just like the body he now was.

Suddenly she stopped.

"What? Did you say something?" She asked him, looking at him with a strange expression.

"No." D'aath realized she had sensed his invasion of her thoughts, that was a surprise.

No other species had ever reacted to that.

Then he put that out of his mind as he tried to avoid the sharp clawed plants as they passed.

In the clearing he saw several males and females piling up undergrowth. The Sun was still shining and he was absorbing more and more of what was going on so he sensed what they were gathering.

None of it had life.

D'aath watched as one male used a tool to create fire, but it flared up and then went out. A second attempt resulted in the same.

D'aath wanted the flames, he felt desperate for them, that would help him gain energy far more quickly.

When the male reached down once again to create fire, D'aath used a trace of the pod's energy to bring the dry plants up in temperature, the flames suddenly leaped high and the male jumped back.

"Wow!" He exclaimed.

"Hey, did one of you motherfuckers dump some gas on this?" He sounded upset.

No one answered, they all just looked at the flames in what seemed to be surprise.

"Fucking assholes!" The man exclaimed.

D'aath moved closer to the pleasure of the flames, feeling the energy flow into him.

The pod also drew in energy, it shimmered slightly, became almost visible, then returned to what were just waves of heat.

"What's that?" One large male looked behind D'aath.

"What's what?" A different female asked.

"I thought I saw something?" The male now had that same confused body language the Kathy female kept demonstrating.

D'aath realized the male had gotten a glimpse of the pod as it had drained nearly completely and could sustain only barely. He realized he was going to have to quit drawing on it or it would become visible and he had no idea what would happen if it ever drained to zero energy.

The male walked over to where the pod was, waved his hands but of course he could touch nothing since the pod contained almost no mass.

D'aath watched as the male walked back to the fire, looked at it closely, then glanced back towards the pod. It was there, but not really visible. Then he just shrugged and walked away.

D'aath forced his mind to become aware only of his surroundings. His body needed sunlight, or fire, something. There was no choice but to conserve.

The flames were certainly helping though.

D'aath turned his attention to the other beings, he was still aware that some of them might mean danger.

All of the females appeared to be in mating ritual, the males also. He sensed the interest of the females and the distrust from the males when they saw him, using their body language to read them.

Kathy began to name all of them. D'aath instantly got a feeling that one she called by the name of Mark did not like him being there.

"This is Davey, I found him out in the woods." She let out another sound of humor.

D'aath felt a sudden flash of anger from the one large male, he looked carefully at that one. The male looked right back, appearing to draw himself up to demonstrate size.

D'aath responded with a demonstration of his own size. He had seen that many times as a male made war over a female, often a demonstration could avoid conflict.

"Hey, we didn't invite this guy." Mark protested.

"Shut up, Mark. I invited him." Kathy told him.

Mark glared but went back to the piling of the deceased plants.

"That male wishes to mate with you." D'aath told Kathy.

"Not bloody fucking likely!" She broke out laughing.

"He will make war to claim you." D'aath told her.

The female again looked at him with that strange tip of her head.

The rest of what he now knew were humans showed no concern, just the one large male kept sending anger his way. D'aath realized he would need to watch that one closely.

Then he could no longer feel the thoughts, the Sun was sliding behind the horizon. It caused a sensation of wanting to find a secure place, where he could go dormant during the dark period to conserve.

D'aath moved closer to the flames, they felt good.

"Careful, Davey. That fire is hot, you might get burned." Kathy told him when he stood at the very edge of the flames.

D'aath moved back, sensing her concern. He did not want to, but understood.

As he watched, the mating dances began. This species demonstrated much like many others D'aath had witnessed, waving their appendages and bouncing up and down. A small machine was emitting sounds, it was a very loud chant.

That was also strange, these beings used machines for their mating rituals, rather than their own calls like most did?

Soon one of the females began to show acceptance as the upper bright decoration was cast aside. The other males all now let out loud sounds as the female leaned backwards and shook her upper torso.

That was interesting, the large masses of flesh swung back and forth furiously. There was a darker area on each gland, D'aath understood that was for nutrients for her young. That was very strange, he reached up and felt the glands his body had, they seemed similar.

Did the males also feed the young? D'aath sensed that they perhaps could, that was odd.

The female's dance and exposure appeared to be a demonstration of willingness as one male grasped her. The other males yelled even more as the male began to nurse.

That appeared odd also, if she had young then why was she feeding the male? It appeared to excite the other males, they all acted like they wished to feed also.

Unsure if this might mean battle over the female, D'aath quietly moved quietly back towards the shadows, even though the light from the burning was giving him traces of much needed energy.

Then as the mating rituals went on, the beings began to pair off more and more.

"There you are! Why are you hiding back here in the bushes?" He heard the female named Kathy say. He saw she had not yet cast aside her coverings? 

D'aath was having a struggle understanding all that was happening.

She carried two containers of liquid, and handed him one. He studied it for a moment, it had a seal to keep the liquid inside. He had no idea at all of what to do with it.

"Give me that!" She took it and with a twist it was open. 

Handing it back, she watched as D'aath tried to sense it. He felt no sense of the liquid being self aware although it did have life. When Kathy tipped hers to drink, he then did the same.

The liquid was actually rather good so he drank the rest of it to quench his thirst. He was thinking this was such a poor method of sustenance, yet from the appearance of the others it was a continual requirement. 

Liquid was flowing in a nearby stream in what seemed to be adequate amounts, why package it?

Once again she was far too close, easily within range but now he decided that the colors and decorations were all for the mating ritual and she was not likely to be a threat.

She reached out and put her hand on his chest, gave him a gentle push. D'aath stepped backwards and she pushed gently again. Her feeding orifice curled upwards.

D'aath felt his back touch a large plant.

Then she reached behind herself and in one quick motion removed the upper decoration. That was interesting, it appeared her body was well designed for feeding her young. This was another thing he had witnessed in other species, although this was so different in that the feeding glands were very high.

Perhaps she expected him to feed?

Just as he was inspecting her in the dim light, trying to assure himself of her intentions, he felt something, barely.

There was a motion of the air moving so he leaned aside. The large male named Mark had approached closely and appeared to be in anger, having cast a blow.

The male turned and again lashed out but D'aath simply moved slightly. He had no desire to hurt any of this species, and certainly wished no combat.

"Mark! You knock your shit off!" Kathy yelled at him.

"What are you doing out here with this mother fucker?" Mark yelled, casting another ineffectual blow at D'aath.

"We were just talking, I brought him a beer. You leave Davey alone!" She said loudly. Her voice was now very high, agitated.

"Why do you have your fucking tits out, then?" Mark yelled, his sound also rising in pitch.

"It's none of your fucking business, you asshole!" Then she launched herself at Mark, the claws on both of her appendages still fully unsheathed. 

The male blocked her with one hand, then drew back to strike at her.

D'aath moved instantly and lifted her, turned and placed her on the ground behind himself as the male's large paw slipped by where she had just been. 

Mark was again preparing to swing, D'aath reached out and trapped the paw he had wadded up to lash out with. When Mark struck out with the other, D'aath grasped that one also.

That took energy and D'aath did not have very much left although this male seemed to be extremely weak. He lifted the man and carried him to a large plant, pressed him against the base of it. The being was extremely slow and surprisingly not very strong, even in D'aath's own weakened state he could easily defeat this male.

"Let go of me, asshole." Mark yelled.

"I do not wish to send you to the All, you must stop." He told the agitated male calmly. Mark struggled furiously but had no chance to get free. D'aath increased the pressure until he saw he had created pain. Then Mark relaxed, giving up.

"OK, OK! Let go of me!" He protested.

Releasing him and stepping back out of range, D'aath watched as the male stared at him, rubbing his appendages.

"Fuck it!" He muttered, then turned and walked away.

"Man, you sure handled that prick!" Kathy said behind him.

D'aath did not quite understand that, but then she dropped to her knees before him, reached out and tugged the lower garment down.

That part D'aath understood perfectly. It was very interesting, he had not expected mating to be this way. She was using the same orifice she utilized for sustenance. 

But she was having a struggle, using just her lips and it kept slipping out of her mouth.

Somehow he understood that she wished it was larger plus the appendage required being more firm, so he allowed that.

Kathy came to a stop in surprise, holding D'aath's member with one hand, staring at it.

"Oh my God! I never saw one come up like this before! It was so little and now it's..?" Kathy muttered, then she began to act far more eager as she opened her mouth wide to slide over it.

He watched in fascination as she performed her ritual. She kept mumbling something about this not being possible.

D'aath thought this was really a very odd way to mate, obviously it was for the pleasure sensations. He stood there in fascination as she tried to get all of it into her mouth, not quite succeeding.

That was actually quite amusing.

Then he began to feel a powerful sensation, it was something he had never known.

He did understand that muscular contractions created pleasures, but this was far beyond anything he had ever felt.

Instead of a nearly instant expelling of the seeds, this was a time consuming ritual. It was so interesting that he held back, enjoying her efforts.

Kathy was now grunting and moaning. Sensing that she wanted to be touched, D'aath reached down with both hands to hold her face. He saw her eyes swing up to look at him, they were glazed. Then he felt her body shudder in contractions, he understood that she really liked what she was doing.

As the form he inhabited finally went into spasms, it took nearly all of his remaining energy. 

D'aath felt his mind go blank.

+++

"Are you OK Davey?" The female was saying. D'aath realized he had lost awareness, his energy was so far down that he knew he was very close to reverting to his natural state.

"Light. I need the light. The combustion, there is light there." He managed, his mind swimming.

"Light? Why? Oh, I get it! You like to look, huh?" Then she tipped her head back and laughed.

"Come on." She tugged at him, he managed to get to his feet. Kathy reached down and pulled up his lower covering. Looking around, she found her own upper covering and slipped it on.

"Damn, you are still hard as a fucking rock!" She exclaimed, looking at the bulge he made in the shorts.




Children of the Light Ch. 01



"Do you wish it that way?" D'aath asked her, following along as she led him down the trail.

"Yea, of course, but? Damn, you are something else!"

D'aath allowed the appendage to relax. Then sensing she liked it larger, he left it the same size. 

Kathy glanced down at the bulge with another strange expression but she didn't say anything.

At the bonfire, there was no one around. D'aath felt a tiny trace of energy from the low flames, he used that to increase them at his approach, then stepped fully into the flames.

"Oh, my God no! Get out of there!" She suddenly shrieked. Desperate for renewal, D'aath ignored her.

The energy from the flames poured through him, in a few seconds he could again think. The light clothing he had placed on himself flared up. He allowed his normal form to emerge, combining the energy from the flames with the remaining power of the pod. The flames leaped high, he stood there and basked, his natural form flowing with the energy from the plants being consumed.

Then the huge flames began to die down as D'aath absorbed all of the energy into his being.

He knew he had become one with the flames, she could not see him now as anything but light. The entire remaining fire was being drawn into him.

Kathy was jumping up and down screaming as D'aath had stood there calmly appearing to be fully engulfed.

"What in the fuck is going on?" Someone appeared from a nearby temporary hut. He came to a stop, staring at D'aath, glowing now from the energy pouring into him. It was not powerful, not like the energy of a Sun, but it was enough that he knew he could soon function.

"What the hell?" The male yelled, the light now a streaming cone of blue so bright he was forced to shield his eyes. Very quickly several others came out, all of them staring as D'aath stood in the flames, accepting.

Finally he had gained enough to feel better even though he was still very low, so he stepped naked out of the fire in human form, leaving it a mass of dying embers. 

He could have used another hour or so but he could sense the total upset of the creatures, besides the fuel source was becoming exhausted.

All of them were now in fear, and fear was the most dangerous emotion of all.

"Fucker ain't even burned!" One of them said.

"Must be one of those East Indian guys that fire walk." Another one said.

"No way, that's a fucking alien, kill the thing!" A third male shouted out.

"I am only renewing." D'aath sent the thought but he quickly saw none of them understood so he repeated it aloud.

No one answered.

Looking around, he saw Kathy was still standing there. 

Her eyes were huge.

"What in the fuck are you?" She asked when he stepped to her side. She was in awe, but she was not in concern of him.

"I am of the light." He told her. He was keeping his attention on the others that had now gathered on the other side of the fire. They were engaged in a serious loud discussion and kept looking his way. Several of them had picked up long pieces of plant life.

He could sense them gathering courage, they were wishing to attack. Naked and without enough power to control all of them, D'aath felt that surge of sensation again.

He still did not quite understand fear.

"I think we better get out of here." Kathy said, picking up on that herself. She took his hand and they started down a path. A couple of the males started towards them, then all of them joined in.

D'aath knew he had enough energy to handle some of them easily yet he had no wish to do harm.

They began to run. 

"Hey, hold up there." One of them called out.

"He's got Kathy!" Another one of them screamed.

They didn't stop, Kathy picked up speed so D'aath easily matched her pace.

"Get in!" Kathy ordered, opening what appeared to be a ground vehicle. He did, she started it and with a roar they were going down a wide passage.

His pod! D'aath was afraid there was not enough energy for it to follow, and the little he had gained was fading quickly. Darkness loomed ahead, parted only by the faint lights of the vehicle.

He felt the loss of contact with the pod, and the moment of confusion.

The ground vehicle was making a very loud high pitched sound. 

For a moment, D'aath felt himself losing control, he was beginning a weak attempt at transform.

Then he felt the upset, Kathy began to struggle with the machine. He saw the large plant, knew there was going to be an impact he could not control. His mental calculation of the mass and likely impact assured him the female could not survive becoming part of the All.

D'aath used a huge portion of the last of his energy to partially encase Kathy in a barrier, then tried to shift his own form to a lack of mass.

Slowed because of the expenditure of energy to protect the female, D'aath did not quite succeed in protecting himself.

His awareness ceased.

+++

Energy. It began to flow through D'aath, he saw the Sun was now up. Looking around, he realized he lay on some kind of a padding, there was a thin soft feeling material gathered completely over him. Reaching down, he saw it was a large piece of covering, perhaps intended to keep off moisture?

Next he knew pain. It was a lot of pain, and it seemed to come from everywhere. He got up, the ground beneath him felt wrong, looking down he saw it was some kind of artificial material. There was a large square lens with cloth hanging before it, he pressed the cloth aside and felt the pain ease as the Sun's rays bathed him.

Glancing down again, his body was still bare.

In the corner was a fireplace, flames flared high in it. D'aath walked over and leaned forward into them. The opening was too small, so D'aath compacted his body size into a ball and slid completely into the fireplace.

A vision of earlier crept into his mind, then he felt flooded with knowledge. The ground vehicle, something had happened. He had a vague awareness of the large plant they were headed for and tried to stop the machine but he was far too weak. 

Instead he had tried to protect the female, then himself.

There was a shattering of the lens he was seeing through, and nothing.

Behind him there was a sudden intake of air, then a voice.

"Where in the hell did he go?"

D'aath slid out of the flames, allowed his form to restore. Kathy saw that, her mouth hung open.

"You aren't dead?" Kathy blurted out. Her eyes were huge, having seen him again right in the fire.

"No, I have life." He answered, leaning back towards the flames and looking at her.

"I was hoping the fire might...I wasn't sure, but after what you did down at the beach? What in the fuck are you? And don't let the guys see you do that."  She glanced at the fire, then back at him.

She stood now in the doorway, she sounded like she was very close to being in survival, even flight mode. 

"Do not fear me, I have no harm for you."

"Yea, I know. But Jesus Christ you are weird. What the fuck are you really? How in the hell do you do that shit?"

The Sunlight bathed his back, the flames his front, energy was building although he was still only a tiny fraction of feeling normal.

"I am of the light, I come to see, find out about this world." He answered her.

"No shit, when you did that...whatever the fuck you did, it scared me so much I lost control of the fucking car!"

"What? What did I do?"

"You turned into a..I don't know what that was, it was like a gob of light, or you caught fire, right in my fucking car! That scared the piss out of me, I hit a damned tree. I thought I had killed you...whatever the fuck you are."

"My energy failed me, I could not hold the now."

"The now? What the fuck is the now? And what are we going to do about my Mustang?" She sounded angry now.

D'aath did not understand that.

"Christ. I could touch you but I could barely see you, then you were you again and acted fucking dead! You were on fire when I dragged you out, but it didn't burn me? It was almost like pulling on air? Then you...God. You really are an alien, aren't you?" The anger faded and became mild fright again.

D'aath started to answer her but he sensed the pod, it had followed once the sunlight touched it. It's closer proximity helped him, he felt more energy flood in. 

He cast a thought to it and it settled in a sunny spot in the yard, basking.

His mind went back, the ground vehicle had struck the large plant. It was not self aware thus could not defend. She was sliding the machine, when he tried to take control that overwhelmed his power, so instead he encased her in a lessor pod of her own.

For a few moments he had drifted into his normal being and that had scared her so badly she had never regained control and had crashed.

He remembered her screaming as she tugged furiously at his body, then as he faded to his normal self gravity had nearly no effect. She had removed him anyway, and lay him on the ground as he barely managed to change back.

D'aath remembered the very high pitched nonsensical sounds she had made.

There was a blur and the last of his energy went to placing the human body he had transformed into in a suspended state to wait. No breath, no heartbeat, and covered with the body's fluids, she had thought she had caused his life to cease.

It was the very first time D'aath had ever done that, he had no awareness that he even could. 

Now the thoughts from Kathy blended into his own, she had been terrified, fully into flight mode yet she had acted anyway. Then somehow she had obtained help and they had moved his body to this place.

D'aath felt the memories of the night before.

"We have to bury him tomorrow." A deeper voice had said.

"Kathy was drinking, if the cops find out she will be in deep shit!" Another voice said.

"The car! What are we going to do about the fucking car?" The deep voice had cried out.

"Let's take the truck, drag it back and hide it in the garage until we figure out what to do."

"She says he is an alien, that he ain't human?"

"I told her not to smoke that shit, they must have laced it with something." One male said as they left.

"We have to wait, if they check her now it's a man slaughter rap at least!"

After that, the very last twinkling of energy faded and D'aath knew of nothing.

+++

Kathy stared at him. He looked her over, she now had on a body covering that were all bland colors, she had obviously come out of her mating ritual. D'aath could be sure of nothing, the Father was not in his mind and he was still only barely gathering the thoughts from the self aware that were close by.

Then D'aath saw the marks on her face, there was a large unnatural swelling on one side and she seemed to be feeling pain in many places. In the brief instant before impact he had not fully protected her with the pod, he could see that.

With a simple thought, he restored her body to health, removing the beginnings of a Kidney stone while he was at it. There were also a few cells that were not reacting normally so he repaired those.

She didn't appear to even notice it.

"Why don't you put some pants on?" Her voice interjected. D'aath looked around, spotted a garment but it appeared to be designed as a wrapping?

"No, not those towels, they are all bloody. I will get you some from Jerry." She turned and left the room. She was back in seconds, a large male right behind her.

"I didn't believe you, he really ain't dead." The male stared at D'aath. 

"Last night he was all ripped to shit and now there ain't a fucking mark?"

"No. I told you, he isn't human, he is something fucking else but he doesn't seem dangerous." Kathy said.

"He must have just not been that bad, I guess you cleaned him up? And hey, What happened to you?" The one called Jerry asked Kathy, giving her an odd look.

"What?" Kathy stepped over and looked at herself in a mirror. Her mouth hung open, she just stared.

The marks were all gone.

"I don't hurt anywhere, Davey fixed me somehow." She exclaimed in awe.

"Kath, you need to stay off that damn dope, it must have been laced with something. You probably just missed his pulse is all." The male said.

"Maybe. This is fucking crazy. But at least he isn't dead now." She said.

"Thank God. Last thing we want to do is deal with cops." The male said, he sounded relieved.

Then he looked down.

"Hell, Sis, look at the cock on this guy!" He snorted.

"Yea, I know." She gave a little tittering sound like she was amused.

"He is going to give me a fucking complex." The one called Jerry laughed, then he turned and left the room. Kathy watched as D'aath put on the coverings, the upper portion was far too snug.

He adjusted that with his mind, then pulled it on.

"How did you do that?" She asked, wide eyed.

"I just changed the atoms." He answered, sensing now what she meant before she gave it sound.

"Wish you could do that to my fucking Mustang." She muttered.

D'aath sensed that she meant the ground vehicle.

"I can, of course."

"You can?"

"Yes."

"No shit?"

"I do not need to defecate."

"What? Fuck me, you are something else." She laughed.

"But you are not in mating ritual?" D'aath was confused at her conflicting terms, they did not fit her thoughts.

"What? Davey, you are the strangest guy I ever ran into. But I guess you ain't a guy, not really. Oh, the hell with it. Let's get something to eat."

"I could use sustenance and fluid." D'aath told her. She just looked at him, her head did that odd tip again.

"Jerry, I am telling you, this guy ain't human!" She told the male when they walked in.

Jerry just shook his head and mumbled something underneath his breath about her having some loose screws.

+++

Something on a heating unit was making noise as they entered the room, a different male was standing there creating what D'aath became aware was a meal.

"Hey, bud. Yer the dead guy, huh?" The male said with a grin. Then he laughed.

"This is Davey and that's Henry, he lives with us." Kathy said.

"I will be back in a minute, I need to go check on something." She said.

D'aath started to answer the man that he was not with the All but then decided to not voice anything. The male set some food before him, it appeared odd so D'aath picked it up and inspected it. It was not self aware, so he slid it into his mouth. It was delicious and filled with energy.

"Damn good Bacon, huh?" Henry said, heading back to the heating unit. D'aath responded by eating a second piece.

He looked around for Kathy but she had left the room. He felt for her and realized she was outside in a building looking at the ground vehicle. 

She was crying.

That made no sense, why would she express sorrow over an object, something that was not self aware?

D'aath stood up and went through the passageway, found her and the male she called Jerry studying the machine.

"She sure fucked it up, good thing the air bag went off or she would be dead. How in the fuck did you not get killed is beyond me." He told D'aath.

The entire forward section of the machine was folded back to the front lens, the lens was completely shattered.

"Davey here says he can fix it." She laughed.

"No way in hell, the fucking engine is knocked back two feet." Jerry said.

"Place it in the light." D'aath said.

"What?"

"We must place it in the light." He repeated.

"I will have to go get the tractor to drag it." Jerry said.

"I will move it."

"How? The fucking front wheels are damn near flat on the ground."

D'aath thought to the pod, it appeared next to them as a shimmer, then vanished.

"What the fuck is that?" Jerry yelled, his voice a squeak. The one called Henry stood frozen, his eyes wide.

"Just let Davey do his thing, he can do some neat shit." Kathy said, her eyes large also.

D'aath concentrated for a second, the machine lifted off the ground and floated out the garage doors which appeared to open by themselves.

"Holy Jesus Christ!" Jerry muttered.

D'aath walked outside into the full morning sunlight. Holding up his arms, he let the waves of energy pour over him.

The two men and Kathy just stood there staring.

D'aath drew on the pod, it was still weak but it was enough.

The front end of the damaged machine shimmered for a moment and then was back where it was before, the lens appeared to flow, in a couple of seconds it looked like it was untouched.

D'aath sensed delight in Kathy, then she was thinking she wanted it to shine so he shined it and removed ever single particle that was not a piece of it. Then he inspected it internally, found a bearing in the power system that was worn and restored that, and added the braking system back to new. At the same time he thought of the plant she had struck and restored the fibers back to normal.

"OH!" Kathy muttered, her hand to her mouth.

"I think this dude is going to come in pretty fucking handy around here!" Jerry managed. Then he laughed nervously. Henry just appeared frightened.

D'aath knew he had drawn every single bit of energy that the pod had gained, and now he felt exhausted himself so he sat down on the ground.

"What's the matter with him?" Jerry asked, he also had a frightened look on his face at what he had just witnessed.

"Energy." D'aath managed.

"Let's get him inside." Jerry said.

"No. Sunlight. I need the light." 

D'aath felt Kathy sense what he needed, she came over and tugged off his upper garment. That helped, so she reached down and started to pull off his lower garment.

"Now what in the fuck are you doing?" Jerry asked her as she struggled with the clothing.

"This guy is an alien and he needs the sunlight, I get it now." She told him flatly, finally getting the pants off and standing up.

"You just want to look at his dick again." Jerry laughed.

"Shut the fuck up, asshole." She told him.

The two men turned and walked towards the dwelling, talking to each other and glancing back several times.

D'aath sensed that they were going to retrieve some kind of weapons, it was clear they were concerned with him.

D'aath began to feel strength again, barely. He wanted to get into the pod and drift to the Sun to restore but it was still very much depleted.

He had again used nearly all of it's stores plus his own doing the simple act of repairing the ground vehicle, so it was doubtful that the pod could even escape this tiny world's grasp.

Kathy sat on the ground beside him as he basked, leaning back fully nude. With each passing minute he felt himself getting stronger but he knew there was no way he could ever get to full power this way.

But he was beginning to get the thoughts of those around himself much more strongly again. There appeared to be no end to things drawing him down, he would never get off this world at this rate.

"How much sunlight do you need?" She asked him.

"A lot, this is very weak." He answered.

"Is there a way to get more?"

"Yes, I can travel there." He told her.

"Where?"

"To this world's Sun."

"You want to go to the fucking Sun? How do you do that?" She asked.

"In the pod."

"The pod? That is that thing over there we can't quite see?"

"Yes." D'aath made the pod appear for a few seconds, then returned it to basking. It took quite a bit of effort, that was odd.

"Wow, it looks like a great big egg. It looks like it's on fire, how come it's not hot?" She asked.

He didn't answer, he was feeling much better now but still amazingly weak.

Then he felt her eyes studying him. For some reason she wanted to know what his appendage looked like enlarged. 

D'aath sensed that her heart rate was elevated again.

"Are you needing to mate?" He asked her.

"What? No! I was just...Hey, that deal last night, I was just drunk and.." Her face flamed.

"To see is part of your ritual?" He asked.

"Ritual? You mean sex, don't you? No, it's guys that always want to look at women."




Children of the Light Ch. 01



"You are not being truthful." He told her.

"Yea, I guess I ain't." She made a soft sound of humor.

"So? Which one do you come from?" She asked, finally, after a long moment of silence.

"Which one?"

"Yea, which planet? You are from another planet, aren't you?"

"No. I am from the light." He told her.

"How can that be?"

"It just is."

"Wow." Then she fell silent for a long time. She appeared to be thinking.

"I'm not afraid of you, you know." She said.

"I know."

"Are you going to...you know, leave later?"

"Yes."

"How long will you be around?"

"Until I know if your race can join with us."

"Your People? Where are they?" She was confused again.

"Out there, searching."

"Searching? For what?"

"We seek a race that is pure, to join with us in the light." He said.

"Pure? Good luck with that around here!" She laughed.

Getting up, she held out her hand.

"Wait a minute, at least put some pants on."

"Why?" He asked.

"We don't let anyone but our boyfriends or girlfriends see us. Well. Most of the time anyway." She giggled at that.

"I do not understand." D'aath knew he could sense why if he wanted to, but he wanted to save the energy and he was finding conversing by sound with her enjoyable.

"Sex is..well, it's fun but when people hook up it is supposed to be for life." She told him.

"Hook up?"

"Yea. You know, when they get married, have sex and babies and a house with a white fence and all of that shit."

D'aath did not completely understand that either.

"You mean humans mate with everyone until they find the one, then mate for life?"

"Now that is funny! Not exactly, well, maybe sort of?" Her eyes got a wistful look.

"Anyway, thank you for saving me last night, I don't know how you did that." Kathy said. She was now sitting so close they were nearly touching.

"I was weakened, I am sorry I could not keep you from pain."

"That was really something, it scared me so bad but I had to get you out of the car. Then you looked dead, I never saw anything like that before."

D'aath did not respond, the Sun was getting higher and he could feel more and more energy flow into him.

They sat like that for over an hour.

"I'm getting sunburned, let's go inside." Kathy finally asked him. D'aath really didn't want to, but he got up.

"I know you don't want to but we do need to get some pants or something on you, OK?" She told him, almost reading his mind.

"OK." D'aath replied.

She dug around in a drawer, found some underwear and handed it to him. She watched with interest as he pulled them on.

"How come your..your cock changes size so much?" She asked.

"I just change the molecules."

"Oh." She blinked, then grinned.

D'aath went and sat on the porch in the Sun.

The two males came out and got into a pickup and left. Both carried what D'aath knew were firearms, a simple thought explained their function.

They glanced his direction, laughed but said nothing. The one on the passenger side was still looking back as they drove out of sight.

+++

D'aath let himself slip into an unaware state, it was as close to sleep as the Children ever did, unless deep in dreams while traveling.

It was a period of renewal, and something he needed desperately. It was completely different than when deep in the dreams, while traveling as hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of Earth years passed.

The Sun going down brought D'aath back aware. He was outside, lying on some soft plant life. He sensed the female was inside.

He got up and went inside the dwelling.

"I built a big fire in the other room, I know it's hot out but don't you need...?" Kathy told him.

"Yes, I have a need." D'aath went into the room, stood and basked. 

He now had more energy up than he had managed since the transform, but still the thoughts of the Father would not come.

+++

The two men returned not long after the dark period began. D'aath sensed them coming, they had some large blocks of deceased plant life in the rear of their machine. Their thoughts were on hiding that for some reason D'aath did not completely understand.

"Where's the outer space guy?" Jerry asked as he walked into the dwelling.

"He is in the bedroom, why?" Kathy asked.

"I was thinking maybe we could get him to help us unload, since he can move shit by himself. Hey, how come it's so fucking hot in here?"

"Davey needs the flames, it's like it feeds him or something." Kathy said.

"No shit? I still don't believe this, what in the fuck is that guy?"

"He is..he says he is from sunlight."

"Sunlight? That don't make no sense. Fuck it's hot in here! I'm going to go help Henry, did you make some food?"

"Yea, hold your horses! I will set the table."

Jerry went outside, D'aath followed the male with his thoughts.

The man was thinking of ways to control D'aath, that was clear. He walked out into the main section where Kathy was doing something with containers on the heating unit.

"You are up, I see?"

D'aath did not respond, his attention was on the two males. They had some kind of coiled binding, and carried the weapons from earlier.

The entry way burst open and the one called Henry pointed his weapon at D'aath. Jerry was right behind him, carrying the long and flexible bindings.

"Freeze, mother fucker!" Henry yelled.

"Henry! No! You leave Davey alone, he isn't going to hurt you." Kathy shouted.

"That tool is of no value." D'aath told the man.

"Yea? Do what we say or we will shoot your ass."

"What do you wish from me?" D'aath asked.

"We are going to put you out in the barn until we figure all this shit out. You are too fucking dangerous and you might fuck up the whole operation." D'aath could sense the man was agitated.

"I wish you no harm, I will leave here now." D'aath told him.

"You ain't going nowhere!"

D'aath started towards them to pass. The man cocked the weapon. D'aath looked down at it and continued.

"God dammit!" The man pulled the trigger.

D'aath picked the slow moving projectile out of the air, looked at it. It was such an odd and cumbersome method of attack, but an attack on the self aware was taboo.

With a thought from D'aath, the weapon slipped into it's base particles. With another thought, D'aath sent the firearm and the one the Jerry male carried into the All.

Since D'aath's energy levels were still very depleted, a large portion of the Henry male's appendage went with the inefficient little weapon he tried to use.

The male's screams were quite loud. D'aath looked at him with interest, somewhat surprised at the sound.

"What the fuck? What did you do to Henry?" Jerry managed, shaking his own hands oddly.

"It is taboo to cease a self aware without the Father's permission." D'aath told him.

The Henry male was now emitting tiny sounds, D'aath saw the visual orifices were dripping with internal fluids. The remaining portion of his appendage was not leaking though, D'aath had seen to that since it was a requirement for life.

D'aath headed for the pod, he had much to do. He could see that, already the interactions with this species were not appearing very promising.

"Davey, what did you DO? You come back here and fix Henry's hand!" Kathy was yelling.

"I cannot. It is with the All." D'aath told her.

The All of course was the final renewal, once reverted completely to the basic particles there was no way to restore.

The Children of the Light could end matter, change and move matter, they could even change life by seeding it, but could not begin it. If they could, they would already have done so eons before.

+++

D'aath entered the pod, directed it to move to this world's Sun.

Nothing happened.

D'aath tried again, the result was the same. The Kathy female came out and looked around, D'aath knew she could not visualize him while he was in the pod.

She walked directly to where the pod was, waved her hands through it.

"I know you are in there!" She yelled.

As D'aath stepped out, the pod hovered for a moment completely visible, then began to fade. There was a large mass of tiny twinkling lights, those scattered into the atmosphere, then faded.

D'aath watched that with interest.

"What just happened?" Kathy asked.

"The pod has joined the All." D'aath told her simply.

"What? You mean...it's...gone?"

D'aath cast a thought to the Father. There was no response.

That was the moment he knew, the moment he finally understood.

The Father was with the All, and now D'aath knew what happened when his pod was drawn down too far on energy for too long.

That really didn't upset him too much, all it meant was that things would now be different.

Casting a thought towards the dwelling, the two males were busy inside, piling heavy objects up against the doorway.

D'aath looked at the Kathy female.

"I must go, I must see about this world." He told her.

It was the way, D'aath knew nothing else.

"I'm going with you." She said after a moment's hesitation.

"Why?" D'aath asked her.

"Why not? Come on, let's take my car." She reached out and took his hand.

D'aath went with her, he had no reason not to. On the way to her ground vehicle, she stopped at the truck and grabbed several bricks of the deceased plant life.

At the vehicle, she tossed those into the rear compartment.

"We can sell those, get us some cash. Now let's get out of here before Jerry and Henry come out. I can't believe the dumb fuck tried to shoot you!"

A short time later, Kathy turned onto a wide straight pathway, increased the speed of the power plant to a steady hum.

"There is a camp ground about 50 miles up the road, we can stay there tonight. I will build you a nice fire, OK?" She told him.

"That will be good." D'aath answered.

He could sense that Kathy was now in the beginning stages of fertility. She had no fear of him, instead a pressing need.

It was all interesting, plus her mind was a whirlwind of planning.

"I got an idea. I bet we can find some dude that will swap a baggie for some gas, then it's just 400 miles to Vegas, baby!" She giggled to herself.

"Vegas, baby?" D'aath asked.

"Yea. You can play cards, right?"

"Cards?"  D'aath got a vision of some kind of game, but could see no purpose.

"Well, you can still do shit, right? Even without your pod thing?"

"Yes." D'aath looked at Kathy, she seemed to be exhuberent for some reason.

He also sensed clearly that she wished to mate.

That was interesting, D'aath was looking forward to experiencing it. Somehow the idea did not seem so distasteful at all.

"Like maybe any kind of machine? Make it do what you want to, say...a slot machine?"

"Yes, of course." With a thought, he increased the speed of the powerplant to demonstrate. The rear tires screamed as the vehicle shot forward.

"Hey!  Stop that, just let me drive, OK?  We don't need any tickets." Kathy laughed.

D'aath relaxed, then allowed himself to slip into a resting state.

"Vegas, baby!" She repeated, in a sing song manner.

He had already sensed what she had in mind, although he wasn't yet too sure of why.

Meanwhile, he could learn about this world, this species. It was the way, D'aath knew nothing else.

Already, of what he had witnessed, these were not the ones to be blessed. But since there was no thoughts from the Father, D'aath felt it was best to just go on.

How he could offer them the blessing of the light even if they met the goals, D'aath was not sure.

There was no Father in his mind?

The only thing he did know was that it was the way.

No need to hurry, there was all the time in the universe.