6 Perpetual Static
John laid in bed. Mary sat beside him, ruffling his hair.
"You can't stay here forever," she chided him.
"At some point, you have to work. If you stop, you will regret all the opportunities you lost."
"I know, Mary. I don't FEEL like doing anything, though. Sleep is all I want to do. Working is too hard."
John's eyes remained defiantly shut. Mary laughed.
"I trust you, John. Take as long as you need."
Mary lightly pinched his nose and slowly left.
John watched as she turned around and closed the door behind her.
John woke up to Mary. Too many Marys. An unhealthy, delusional amount of Marys.
From every inch on the ceiling to the converging corners, it was all Mary.
Mary linked arms with other Marys from one side to the other. Blooming flowers had her face on them. The trees showed Mary slipping out, like a graceful dryad. Mary was mothering Nature.
Canvases still stood with portraits of Mary. They began pure and unadulterated but later became more and more perverted. His last one showed Mary entangled in vines with her womanly features pushed up to the viewer's eyes. One vine covered her mouth, like a coy muzzle.
John stared at the scene for a moment.
"What was I on?"
John looked at one canvas where he stood upright and aloof while holding a chain connected to a slave collar on a dirtied and mostly unclothed Mary.
"This is insane?! I swear I wasn't this obsessed..." he said to himself.
John realized if he continued this, his mind would fall into madness! His sole purpose would change to being an artist to capture Mary's essence until it bastardized into unrecognizable forms of expression.
John shivered in fear at what work his depressed self could do and the implications it held.
"I need to get out of here!"
John flew away but hesitated at his doorstep. He finally chose to take his Mary doll with him so he didn't feel lonely or the need to make anything else. His other creations already scared him enough.
"I'm a shell of my former self. Where's the Pimp in me?" John said to himself.
His body was thin and starved. He probably barely ate if at all during his crazed fit of inspiration. A stick could probably shatter his bones into dust.
In mid-flight, John got an alert from the unusually silent Heavenly System.
"Congratulations, John! You gained enough recognition to become Derob's legitimate God! You have the following set..."
A list popped up, almost all of the entries being empty. Still, most were grey, signifying restricted access. At the top, the preset Book of Faith was "The Pimp Life of John."
"So that's where it went..." John muttered.
"System, can I take the book back? I want to see my book again."
"Confirming request... granted! Your BoF is in transit. Please wait."
John smiled weakly. "I swear I'm going to live a fulfilling life!"
Meanwhile...
On Derob...
Francis of the Fifth heaved heavily. He vomited a mouthful of blood. His previous strength was gone, as he used all his faith and mana. Francis now looked like a handsome yet ordinary man.
All around him, destruction stretched for miles. Splotches of corruption filled the air and earth, alongside Francis's purity. Only the small platform he stood on was left.
Bro Sir's reptilian body sat hunched over. The last punch Francis threw caved in his skull. The fight was over... but at what cost?
Francis fell down, powerlessly, but Pink Man caught him. He was grunting something intelligible again.
Francis felt a foreboding presence— a power stronger than anything he ever imagined. His God was nothing compared to this. At last, Francis could hear Pink Man.
"ThE DaRk LoRd!! He iS cOmInG! Francis! Francis!"
But it was too late. The Dark Lord Chen Chen arrived.
A physical aura of corruption shrouded his body like a skintight suit. His eyes shifted constantly, as if it absorbed existence itself to understand. The Popette Pauline IV stood behind him, tied up in chains of darkness and unable to speak.
"You were stronger than expected, Papa Frank. Still, you are too weak."
Chen Chen spoke an alien tongue but his intent was forced into the mind of his listeners. Chen Chen slowly applauded, like everything was a theatrical performance. Chen Chen bent his knees and crouched down. In a puff of smoke, Chen Chen appeared before Francis and Chen Chen lightly slapped his cheeks.
"FrAnKKK!!!" Pink Man bellowed. He punched at Chen Chen but immediately became frozen in place. Francis fell to the floor.
"I'm talking to Papa Frank. Your turn is next, Pink Man."
"Hey, f*ck you, man!" Pink Man spat at Chen Chen.
Francis stared angrily at Chen Chen from the ground.
"From now on, you two will bring me sacrifices. We will go to a higher Realm where there are more heterochromia. You will get me these," Chen Chen said, his voice pressuring Francis and Pink Man like an elephant on a baby.
"What if I say no?" Francis gasped.
"Then I will violate her before your eyes," Chen Chen pointed at Pauline IV. The shadows disappeared from her mouth.
"Oh, Dark Lord Chen Chen! Take your long, black c*ck and r*pe me a new hole! Fill my p*ssy and let me have your children! Dark Lord Chen Chen, please..." the woman rambling manically. Her eyes shined a depraved desire to be used by Chen Chen.
"Kill me already! It doesn't matter anymore! Just kill me! End my suffering!" Francis yelled.
"Become my servant, Papa Frank. You won't suffer if you serve me!" Chen Chen boomed.
Francis cried hopelessly as Pauline IV spoke obscenities. Pink Man kept screaming.
"F*ck you man, and your mama, and your mama's mama, and your mama's mama's mama, and your..."
"Enough!" Chen Chen screamed. Pink Man and Pauline IV shut up.
"Decide, Francis..."
A brief moment of silence passed.
Then, a beam of light shot from the skies.
It coiled around a book in the scraps of Francis's robes. Slowly, it rose higher and higher.
"What's this!?" Chen Chen wailed. Chen Chen shot tendrils of putridity to grab the book but the light kept pulling the book. Instead, the light intensified and split off towards Chen Chen.
It slammed into Chen Chen with a thunderclap, burning deeply into his darkness. Chen Chen hideously screamed like metal scraped on glass.
Chen Chen grabbed Francis and Pink Man, infusing them with slave brands while breaking through cracks in the all damage of Realm C-Section L0Z3R's walls of existence. Their destination was unknown.
Soon, only Pauline IV was left. Yet, she too was targeted by the light and purified into energy, like the rest of the corruption in the area.
The last thing Francis saw was the wasteland covered in light. He croaked a promise in the deepest part of his heart.
"I swear I will become God!"
