★Memorable Author: [El_Roy_1999] And Tomorrow...The World! •22pp•

[El_Roy_1999]

She looked at her arm. She slowly realized she was missing a hand and it wouldn't come back. The wound had closed already and the fleshy cap that covered the stump looked as if it had always been there. There was no phantom pain, but still, she couldn't help looking at it. Then she finally understood what was going on. Her arm muscles were growing visibly. The effect was small, but there was something going on. She looked at her remaining hand and saw the same thing happening. She stood up. Her clothes were in shreds, her body was covered in bruises, but she could see them heal as she watched. Gladys stood in the snow, the cold seeping into her skin. She had lost one of her boots in the avalanche. She looked up the cliff-side and was amazed they had survived this. Any other person would have died instantly.
Above her, there was a crack and the tree broke down. Ruth crashed into the snow and stood up slowly. Her body was in an equally bad condition, pieces of rubble and wood buried into her bulging muscles. Gladys noticed that the skin was healing too, pushing out the clumps and dropping them in the snow. Below the skin, her muscles were swelling too and at a faster rate. Gladys took a step back. She felt all the little hairs on her body stand on end. It wasn't just the cold and the pain, it was sheer panic.
Ruth looked at her. Her face was a mass of bruises, her eyes were bizarrely open and she was completely fascinated by the rapid transformation her body was going through.
She said:
"What the hell?" Ruth stared at her foe and asked: "Did anybody ever tell you this could happen?"
"No ... They didn't tell me much. I volunteered without knowing much about it."
"That was pretty stupid."
"I was desperate. Your people were attacking us!"
"Can we leave that alone for a moment? I'm transforming. Look at me!"
Indeed, her muscles were rapidly growing. While Gladys was progressing slower and the growth seemed to taper off already, Ruth's seemed to accelerate. There was a look of panic in her staring eyes.
"Is that going to stop?"
"I don't know. I have no idea what they did to me and even less what your scientists did with all this."
"Shit. I mean ... It's really strange. I'm getting huge."
The growth spread to her chest and back. Watching her leave human limits behind was a sight to behold. It was grotesque and shocking, but Gladys couldn't help staring. Somehow, Ruth seemed to become even more monstrous. Her body was filling with muscle, her silhouette was becoming ever more inhuman. She grunted and growled:
"It feels ... good. I'm so strong. I'm beyond anything human. I'm a goddess. A goddess of power!"
Gladys retreated. This wasn't looking good. Ruth's mind seemed to fail. The giantess dropped on all fours as her back appeared to spread like wings. She screamed in triumph and turned to Gladys:
"You're so small now. It's almost funny."
The young woman stared at the behemoth above her and tried to steady her voice:
"Don't kill me!"
"Why should I? You're weak, you're completely below me. Does you kill a bug for fun?" The enormous woman laughed. "No, my little woman, I am beyond you. I am beyond this weak humanity. Why should I care? Your struggle is futile."
She bent down to Gladys, her face framed by inhuman muscles:
"Listen, my little one. Go to your fellow humans and tell them this: This mountain is mine. They will leave it and they will follow my orders when I tell them to. If they enter this land without my permission, I will destroy them."
"They will come and fight you."
"I'll see them try. And you know what I am capable of. You may go. You are my prophet."
Gladys let out a breath of relief. She was painfully aware that Ruth would have ground her into dust.
As she stumbled away, Ruth called out to her:
"If you find my too guardians and they are still alive, you may give them to me. If not, bury them well."

[El_Roy_1999]

What remains to be said?
The world has changed. Blood has been spilled. After the evacuation of the Master's main base, there came a long period of debate. Somehow, the balance of power had been upset. The rules the world had followed over thousands of years found themselves upturned. As could be expected, the abrupt changes had little impact at first. The paint was scratched, but the structures below were left untouched. And yet, slowly, the new world seeped into the tiny cracks the Master had left. Thinking machines appeared in factories and households. The world sped up, people changed their outlook as the new way of life dawned.

For Gladys, the changes meant a surprising pause.
Somehow, she had lost her perspective. She had no intention of returning to the armed forces and neither did Grant. Instead, the pair decided to take a good look at this world. There was much to see. When the Colonel and his wife received letters from Japan, Iran, Zanzibar and even a lone Antarctic station, they knew they had to ready a wedding.
There was a lot of grumbling. Relatives refused to turn up upon seeing a photo of the groom (or the bride for that matter), and yet, in the end, it was a nice celebration. There was a moment of confusion when Gladys had to wear her wedding ring on her right hand, but other than that, it went well. Lilian was there too. She looked positively outrageous in her bridesmaid's dress, all powerful and strong. She eclipsed most men, though not Gladys, who was inhumanly huge. She was on eye level with her husband, but there was a lot of joking about who'd carry who over the doorstep.
Still, the whole wedding was enjoyable.
Gladys had half expected the Captain to turn up at some point, but he had disappeared as the base was destroyed. The actual reason for the explosion was unknown, but it had definitely crippled the Master's operation. For now, there was peace, even if it was mostly the absence of war. She chased the thoughts from her mind and kissed Grant. A love for a new world, maybe ...

[El_Roy_1999]

In the endless snowfields of the Himalaya, a figure wrapped in skins and coats advanced. The wind blew hard, the cold gnawed at its skin and bones. The dark shades of its spectacles were whipped again and again by gusts of wind and sprays of snow.
At last, a massive structure appeared out of the white daze. The ruins of the monastery clung perilously to the rock face. The figure lifted the shades and looked at the gigantic structure. Suddenly, there was a roar above. The woman steeled herself against the growing panic.
Then, with an incredible bound, a gigantic creature dropped down in front of her. She was clad in leather and furs, her body enormous and laden with muscles. Next to her, two lesser, but still gigantic warrior-women descended. The bigger one looked down on her and declared:
"This is a holy mountain. You cannot be here. Leave now, or die at my hands."
The woman fell to her knees, sinking into the snow.
"Please, hear me out, Mistress! I seek the wisdom of the Closed Hand! Teach me and I shall serve you forever."
Ruth grinned. Another sad, pathetic pretender. None of them had yet lasted through her training. Well, maybe that one would at least provide her with some distraction.
"You will certainly die here. But if you seek death, I'll enjoy leading you there."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. I am Death to all."
She jumped up and ascended the mountain at breakneck speed. Hilde and Little Phoenix looked at their new victim and grinned wickedly. A new toy for them to play with.
The candidate stared at them, but she gritted her teeth and followed them. This is were revenge could be found and she would have it.
The cold enveloped her as she began to climb.

The Closed Hand had found a new recruit.

[El_Roy_1999]

So, yeah, that's it.
84,000 words. If it were a paperback book, it'd be 330 pages long or something.

And yet, it's finished.
Thank you, dear readers, for following this for three years and many interruptions. I hope you enjoyed it and I'm really looking forward to writing the next story. I might take a short break before that, though.
Anyway, I'm done and it feels good.

[chilipalmer99]

El Roy, thank you so much for staying with it and creating this wonderful piece of fiction. Your alternative world was believable, and the characters and motivations of those characters had real depth and dimension. I truly applaud your efforts and am grateful you shared them with us.

Now, rest up, and get to work on the next one!

CP

[JerusalemTulip]

Thank you for continuing this story for so long.  It was enjoyable reading.  A lot of stories here feature terrific muscle description, but you're also great at detailing action, environment, intrigue and all those other things that most people don't attempt.  I guess the number of reader comments thinned out a lot over time, and I'm glad that you kept writing and sharing, even when we gave you little indication that it was being read.  You are awesome!

[El_Roy_1999]

I can only blush and say thank you for all those nice compliments.

[jcboyd]

Phenomenal.  What makes this exceptional is that it is fiction and narrative first, with the elements of what drives this forum as a compliment to that story.  Exceedingly well done.

 

[El_Roy_1999]

Thank you for the compliment!