#cinner

She gasped, feeling herself being ripped between what felt like two different places. She was distantly aware of Arin and Dan’s voice calling out to her as she rushed forward, breaking through into a dark room.

She was..floating, a blindingly white light engulfing her like some avenging angel. Ultima looked down and saw, to her shock, First.

But this was not the First that she had normally recognized. Firsts’ pale skin had been replaced by much healthier flesh, his burn marks completely gone. Now his skin was smooth and new, like he’d never been injured. His head sported a thick head of black hair, as dark as the deepest corners of the universe.

As she watched, First shifted his body, and Ultima saw a young woman in his arms, cradled against his chest. It then became clear to her that some soft of sex had just taken place, and that First was responsible.

Ultima searched the area for more clues as to where she was, and saw that there was nothing of note anywhere in sight, save for First and the woman lying on an altar.

Then the altar cracked open, revealing a portal into another...place? Either way, First moved to carry the young woman into the portal.

Ultima summoned up her strength, shouting out at First. “First! Unhand her!”

But the two of them disappeared into the altar, and Ultima’s vision shrank down into a small speck. The world sucked away from her, and she was thrown back into her own world.

---

Ultima gasped, bolting awake. Arin stared down at her, breathing a sigh of relief. “Oh good. You’re awake.”

“How long was I out?” She asked, rubbing her head as she sat up.

“Five hours. Precisely.” Arin looked down at his communicator.

“Well, thanks. Is...the Starbomb ready?” She asked.

“Ready when you are. Just...a few housekeeping things left to do.” Arin replied.

---

The Bombers were all assembled outside the Starbomb, moving their things into their old ship.

Ultima sighed heavily as she stepped out, overlooking the skyline of the kingdom of Raptilia. In the four years since they first arrived on the planet, the surface of it had drastically changed.

It was Ultima’s idea. After rebuilding the palace with her powers, she got to work, using the memories of the Raptilians that had returned to the planet to bring back the old structures of Raptilia.

Now, the city and the surrounding kingdoms had been restored to their former glory, and the Raptilians prospered.

“We’re ready to go!” Arin called from within the ship.

Ultima turned back to him, nodding as she walked back into the Starbomb.

---

Leigh looked around at the inside of the Starbomb, eye wide with childlike fascination. “You live here?” He asked Ultima, looking over at her.

She chuckled, crossing her arms. “Yeah. We all do. It’s tight living sometimes, but it’s more cosy than claustrophobic.”

Leigh smiled, biting his lip. “Right. So, uh, where am I gonna sleep?” He asked.

“I’m sure we can find a room for you. If not, there are some nice couches on the viewdeck.” She replied, walking toward the ShipGarden with him.

Leigh giggled, walking on with her. He bit his lip, looking down as he thought over something. “Can I ask you something?”

Ultima stopped, facing Leigh. “Yeah. What is it?”

He blinked, looking down shyly. “Those...memories that you gave me. The ones of you and Dan doing that...stuff together.”

“Go on. What about it?”

Leigh squirmed, blushing slightly. “I-I feel weird whenever I think about it. It’s like...I feel all warm. And my stomach starts doing flips and I just….”

“You feel like there’s a ball of fire moving from your stomach to your crotch?” She asked.

Leigh nodded. “It’s just...I don’t know what to do when I feel like that.”

Ultim sighed, chuckling. “There’s a pretty simple solution to that, but I’ll have to ease you into it.”

---

“You want to show Leigh what?” Dan asked in bewilderment.

“There’s no harm in showing him porn! We’ll just, make sure he gets enough water to stay hydrated, and that he takes breaks.” Ultima replied.

“I mean…” Dan sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I guess I can see that reasoning. But he gets his own laptop, or tablet, or whatever to use.”

Ultima smiled happily, walking away to talk to Leigh.

---

Leigh turned the medium sized device in his hands, biting his lips. “This is for me?”

Ultima nodded. Dan looked away uncomfortably, crossing his arms. “Do I have to be here for this?” He asked Ultima.

“Yes. I won’t show him how to-never mind.” She turned back to Leigh. “Go ahead, turn it on.” Ultima took Dan’s hand, leaving the room quickly.

---

Later that night, Leigh lay in bed, revisiting the memories that Ultima had given him. He squirmed uncomfortably, and sighed, turning to lay on his side. He spied the device on his nightstand with one eye, and reached out to grab it.

Leigh sat up against the headboard of his bed, turning the device on. He searched for the words in his mind, trying to find the right ones that would lead him to the results he wanted to see.

He tapped at the screen to enter the four letter word he had found in the annals of Dan’s memories. It led him to a rather salacious website of Xenophilia videos, the videos categorized by species of alien alphabetically.

He scrolled through pictures of various species of aliens in various compromising positions, feeling his face heat up as the blush crawled up his cheeks.

The whole world froze when he saw a picture of a blue skinned alien. With trembling hands, Leigh tapped on the name under the picture: Cinner.

Leigh immediately recognized the alien in the picture: it was the blue alien that he’d seen in the timelines Ultima had shown him, the blue skinned being he was sketching, the one he kept dreaming about.

He stood up, staring at Ultima in anger, ready to strike her down. But he felt his veins thrumming with power, his old, husk of a heart, a strange warmth radiating through him. He was suddenly aware of another reality, a wellspring of power emerge and pulsating through the layers of this reality from another. He stopped, wallowing in this energy, and he knew that a greater source of power was awaiting him.

“This isn’t over, Last Daughter. I will know you yet.” He disappeared, retreating back into his lair, a point that exists at the apex of existence.

He strode to the scrying pool, staring into it. “What is this power? Why-”

“You know what it is, First.” The blue goddess spoke into his mind, the blue crackling sparkles of energy moving around him.

He turned from his scrying bowl, turning to see the ghostly form of the blue goddess of creation crackled into existence. “Why now?” He asked.

“Because there are times when a goddess must intervene in the course of the universe.” She pointed at First. “You have been touched by the last daughter, you have been touched by her powers. You have some of the energy on you.”

First looked down at his hands, shocked that the burns there had healed over, the skin smooth and pale as it had been when he first emerged. “What is this?” He asked.

“You are regaining your strength. But she is too strong for you to approach, her mind too powerful, too cosmic. By the time you regain your original form, she will have absorbed all of the goddesses.” The blue goddess hummed, staring at her hands.

“I must heal. I want that energy that I felt.” He began.

“Of course. You have the strength to cross over into the universe where this energy resides, but you must hurry.” Blue continued.

First concentrated, his skin glowing with black light, his veins pulsating black. He gasped, throwing his arms up, pulling them apart as he peeled the layers of time and space apart, gazing into another universe.

He stepped through the portal, staring in awe and confusion at the source of the energy that he had been feeling. “This is where the energy was coming from?” He asked, staring at the source in confusion.

“This human is far stronger than you think.” Blue spoke through the shrinking portal at First. “You owe your existence to her. We all do.”

First stared at the young woman sitting before him. He knew she couldn’t see him, but he could see her. And he could feel her. He observed the long brown hair she had, skin paler still in the glow coming from her computer screen, the images she was staring at reflected on her glasses.

He felt nearly overwhelmed at the waves of energ flowing off of her. “How is she so powerful? Who is she?” He asked the blue goddess as he watched the portal closing.

“She is a young human woman, living in the year of 2016 on Earth.” First stared at the young woman’s face, trying to decipher her role in his future.

“What is her name?”

The blue goddess spoke the woman’s name, and First turned to the hman woman again, smiling as her turned the name over in his mind. He said her name aloud, and at the moment, the same name was spoken simultaneously in two different timelines.

In one, First spoke the woman’s name as he stared at her

In the other, Leigh gasped her name aloud as he woke up.

“Katelyn.” First grinned

---

“Keightlin!” Leigh gasped.

He scrambled out of bed, grabbing his sketchbook. He slammed it down onto the bedside table, frantically flipping to the half completed portrait of the strange blue alien he’d drawn. He tried to control his shaking hands as he filled in the gaps of her portrait, eyes and glasses filling out, a somewhat secretive smirk playing on her lips.

Once he finished the portrait, Leigh wrote her name on the corner of the page, next to his own name. “Keightlin.” He whispered. “Who are you?” He asked, sighing heavily. He shook his head, sighing as he closed the sketchbook, standing up to take a walk.