Inky's World! (Commission from crypticcollaborator)

A commission featuring his malleable elder goddess, Inky! (images that will be used are in attachments!)

A bubbly yawn escaped the large, pitch-black pool of goo that had lay undisturbed for a thousand years. Large, drippy hands formed from the muck, extending upwards until they reached their natural conclusion at the shoulder. The fingers flailed about, as one would do to allow feeling to return to one’s arms after a refreshing night’s sleep.

These goopy tendrils lazily grasped about until they had a decent hold on the terrain around the pit. Obtaining a decent footing, they put an absurd amount of pressure onto the rock, cracking it in all directions like a thin sheet of glass.

These cracks would be ultimately advantageous for the ancient inky blackness, as its mass seeped into the terrain itself to establish a more secure holding.

The center of the oppressive blackness ruptured with the help of the established arms, erecting a plaque-white formation from the dark. This appendage began to form precise details onto itself, such as two closed eyes which sported thick, black eyelashes alongside a petite nose and mouth.

A neck followed this head, which swung side-to-side, ironing out a few kinks from its great slumber. Shoulders followed, visually connecting the massive arms to the rest of the formation. A torso was added, with perky breasts borrowing a good amount of the mass to help form an hourglass figure below.

The rest of the pooled blackness was dedicated to her shapely fused legs and generous hips, the latter of which caused a large tidal wave of darkness in all directions as it exited into view. She shook these hips side to side, softly grunting in pleasure as her spine de-stiffened itself.

Ten thousand years gives you such a crink in the neck! If it applied to genies, you better believe it applied to Inky as well.

With the rest of her body fully formed, she preformed the rest of her morning stretches.

She ran a goopy finger over her waking eyes to wipe some of the gunk off of them. (which mostly consisted of diamonds and Goliath bones.) once they were sufficiently clean, her fully-dilated pupils blasted the cosmos with yellow light like two intergalactic search beams.

*Yawn* “Ah! Good morning world and all who inhabit it!” Inky finally spoke, her adorable voice piercing the heavens.

Then, at the other edge of the universe, Inky woke up as well.

“Connor! Did you sleep well?” The goopy goofball inquired, turning her white face to view a smaller, vacant bed nearby.

“Aww. Looks like he’s already left for work. Oh well, I’ll be sure to surprise him with the cleanest darn house he’s ever seen!”

~

“My liege! My liege!” The light! It has returned! The great terror of the cosmos has returned!”

The fearless man who sat upon the highest throne in the land audibly gulped.

“By the gods... the same thing our ancestors warned us about...” the man became more disheveled as the terrifying reality fully dawned on him. “I never thought it would happen in my life time... I-I thought it was but an old folktale told by fools...”

“What are your orders, my liege?”

There was a pause, quite a long one at that. The king recalled what little archived stories there were of the era. The blinding light which would eventually bring over a thousand years of darkness to the universe. Sure, his people survived, but it was no way to live! Light was a source of power and a source of security. It was something he was willing to fight tooth and nail to keep.

“Activate the cosmic drive key. Call upon my best warriors. I will not allow my people to live in fear under the great plague of the sky. We have the technology. We rise!”

~

Inky looked around her “home” that she and Connor resided in. It, like most things in Inky’s life, was composed almost entirely of herself. Every wall, furnishing and floor tile was a separate yet assimilated entity that the energetic goo girl could control at will. 

Her artifact room, simply titled  “things room” was one of the few locations in her house that housed things actually different from her. Before every great slumber, Inky loved to hang on to little keepsakes from her previous endeavors, displayed on cute little pillars that she had engraved her face on as well as a name she found appropriate.

There was a Pringles lid, a piece of bear’s fur, even a tentacle from Cthulhu itself simply titled “sushi.”

Her favorite piece was a huggable plushie of the blue ghost from Pac-Man. Unfortunately, she didn’t know its name.

This disorganized mess was the closest thing Inky had to keepsakes from her past. Everything else had been converted, accidentally or otherwise, into the goopy hive-mind that was the Elder Goddess. Everything outside of Connor, of course. Even though he was also composed of Inky, she had made sure that he was not assimilated under her, meaning he had “free will” to an extent and was willingly choosing to stay as her boyfriend.

As such, his “side” of the house was not composed of Inky. But Inky desperately wanted it to be! Even though Connor had been hesitant to her purposed changes, she had been not-so-secretly swapping out his appliances with versions made of herself. Connor pretended like he didn’t notice, mostly because he knew Inky had his best interests in mind and he really didn’t want to make his girlfriend upset, with her being an Elder Goddess only exacerbating things.

The truth was, he had already long accepted every change to his life that came with dating Inky. He was simply afraid things were moving too fast and wanted to take it as slow as possible, gradually accepting all the changes in his life. But, no matter how slow Connor wanted things to progress, it would all be over quickly for Inky.

She also wasn’t exactly sure what Connor did when he was out of the house, but it didn’t matter to her. Any excuse to clean his side of the house in her favorite cute maid outfit!

Black fabric with grey frills manifested around her waist, extending outwards to form both a wavy miniskirt and a corset top which exposed a generous amount of cleavage on her part. Cute, puffed sleeves, a waist apron and a comically large bow to tie it completed the contrasting aesthetics of the set. Her French Maid outfit would have been perfect had it not been for her “legs” which were so light-bendingly black that they hid the “garter belt” she had manifested upon them.

With a flick of both of her wrists, a washcloth and feather duster were spawned from her left and right hands respectively. These would be her primary tools for commencing with the clean.

“Oh goodness! Just look at this mess!”

While an aeon of rest certainly helped in creating disorder, the untidiness had been “exaggerated” by a few subtle tentacles jutting from the walls and knocking over several things before Inky turned around to get a lay of the land.

With all the planned coordination of a theme park ride, she made the house look spotless. Hubby would be so proud of her!

After a hard day’s work, she washed her hand with inky water from the new inky sink in his kitchen. Right before she finished, however, the water stopped running.

“Uh oh! Looks like it’s time for Inky the plumber!” She shouted with glee, wiping her hands on the inky towel on the rack.

Opening the cupboard, a leaky pipe was not what she had seen. Instead, a strange shimmer within reality itself caught her attention. Before she could wonder about it any further, it swallowed her whole. Well, swallowed as much of Inky as it could.

~

“We’re approaching the monolith, commander Krysta,” said a techy woman’s voice. “What are your orders?”

“Land. But keep our distance,” a far more confident woman spoke. “These cultists may either surrender or retaliate and we need to be prepared for both.”

“Either way, I think we should just risk running them over. They’re a danger to the very universe, and I mean that un-ironically for the first time!”

“Trust me, Mancer. If those idiots open that portal I’d rather they be alive in case they know how to close it.”

“We’re landing, commander.”

“You know you don’t have to call me that, Insti.”

The specialist team of eight exited the spacecraft, their armored boots touching down upon the serene grass of a peaceful cliff side which oversaw a vast ocean. At the tip of this cliff side stood three hooded figures who, if left unchecked, could bring the catalyst which could end the very observable universe. Therefore, it was understandable why Krysta didn’t bother to even take off her parachuting gear as she dashed up the hill to stop the ritual.

“In the name of the King and the universe itself, I command that you cease operations at once!” 

One of the hooded figures turned turned to face Krysta, glistening pupils peering from within their face covering.

“It is too late to cease. The ritual has already been completed. The salvation of your world is nigh.”

With that, Krysta began to frantically glance around the area, looking for anything that might be described as “world-ending.”

Admittedly, she had no clue what the blight of legend actually looked like. So much so that she didn’t even notice the short woman sitting upon a rock in-between the cultists.

Krysta and the rest of her group were eventually clued in once they noticed what the hooded figures’ chants were being directed to. Especially once it began to talk.

“Aww, stop it!” A cutesy voice said in a playful tone. “You guys are making me blush!”

With that, everyone had eyes on the inky blight. It appeared to grow in size in congruence with the chants.

“Hey! You assholes! Knock it off!” Mancer shouted, ultimately an empty threat.

“Commander, what do we do?” Wilson spoke in a panic “Their demonic chants are only making it stronger!”

Little did the group know, when translated to their language, the chants amounted to little more than “you look so pretty and adorable” and “I would like nothing more than to cuddle you.”

Not even the cultists knew what they spoke, as the phrases were from a long, dead language (English) and they had only learned such blasphemy from books of old.

“Permission to kill these assholes, captain?”

“Denied... but feel free to use whatever means necessary to shut them up.”

But they were too late. Thick, black tentacles erected from the creature, striking the cultists and rooting into their chests like tree trunks as its mass continued to expand. 

The team of eight backed up, unsure of how to approach this current situation. Their team was well-rounded, composed of two long-ranged fighters, Ricard and Wilson; two short-ranged, Huell and Conad; the Medic, Grimm; The Cryomancer, Tinala; The technician, Insti; The Pyromancer, Mancer (who frequently assured he hadn’t been pigeonholed into his profession); And the leader, Krysta.

Despite this, all they could do was watch in anxious anticipation as the threat before them grew larger and larger, ascending into the sky and descending into the ocean below. The creature then blushed, cupping its hands to its face in satisfaction as it felt the brisk air of a planet with a proper atmosphere for the first time since it had awoken.

The elder goddess then let out a loud screech which pierced the heavens. If such a release of volume didn’t nearly rupture the eardrums of everyone in the party, they may have been able to interpret the phrase “Hello, new world! Thanks for inviting me here!”

A tidal wave of liquid darkness rose up over the hills, its mass the size of a skyscraper to the party of eight.

“Run for it!” Mancer shouted. Even though he wasn’t giving the orders, no one was about to tell him he was out of line.

As the wave crashed down onto the cliffside, the heroes scattered, unsure of the fate of each other, much less themselves.

Krysta was the first to recover, spotting Wilson nearby. Unfortunately, his leg had been caught by a disembodied tentacle and the ink was quickly spreading up the rest of his body.

“Steady, Wilson.” Krysta said, trying her best to remain strong in the face of a cosmically terrifying sight.

“Wilson? Who’s Wilson?” The person who was no longer Wilson responded in a voice that was becoming more and more cutesy and feminine. His eyes were already glowing a baleful yellow and black tendrils were sprouting from his back. “Mmm… So this is what your language is like. I’m Inky! Nice to meet you!”

Krysta’s breathing quickened as her comrade of twelve years became unrecognizable to her. His body spasming as ink tentacles began to pour from his orifices like dark chocolate rivers. It wasn’t long before he—no, she—had become identical to the massive adversary in the sky.

“Grimm! C’mon man, get up!” Krysta suddenly heard Mancer’s voice from somewhere along the cliffs. “Whoah! What the shit!?”

Krysta could only assume the same fate had befallen Grimm as well. But this was no time to dwell on potentials as she narrowly dodged an interaction with the creature that was formerly Wilson. She regrouped with Mancer, filling him in on the fact that Grimm was basically a goner at this point. She saw Conad fending off three other half-formed Inkys who she recognized as Ricard, Huell and Tinala. Then she spotted Insti, who looked happily dazed as her technology was recalibrating from something.

“Insti! W-what’s the status on-”

“Close, but no cigar!” She interrupted cheerfully, her eyes suddenly turning black with yellow pupils as tentacles of black goo wrapped around her from a source on her back. “Just more Inky!”

The situation was falling out of Krysta’s favor fast. Only Mancer, Conad and herself remained. But now was not the time to give up. So what, this eldritch being had a few tricks up its sleeves? So did she! Besides, with Insti compromised, they weren’t leaving on her ship anytime soon. Returning to the high ground at the top of the cliff’s edge, the three remaining party members hatched a plan.

“Conad! You continue to keep the tentacles rising from the sea at bay with your ranged sword! Mancer! Try the most out-of-the-box spell you can think of! I need some time to observe!”

“Observe what?”

“To see if this is a situation that calls for Soul’s Light.”

The two pairs of eyes before her widened.

“I sure hope it doesn’t have to come to that.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t."

The three warriors took their positions. Mancer began shifting his hands in specific positions, with sparks of flames igniting the very air in front of him into a roaring fire. He then used this flame as a source, bending it to his will as he prepared other magical spells.

Meanwhile, Conad made the rounds, using his enchanted blade to slice at any tendrils within a certain range. He appeared successful at first, keeping the blackness at bay. Only for all of his sword strikes to be instantly undone before his very eyes. Thankfully, the ink seemed to stall itself as it regenerated. All Conad could do was hope that he could hold it off long enough while Mancer completed his fire spell. 

Eyeballing his target as the Inky mass in the sky, he cast the biggest fireball he knew how. A large sphere of cascading flames erected from the tiny fire, expanding ferociously until it connected with the ghostly face of the creature. 

A direct hit! That didn’t happen too often on Mancer’s part!

Too bad the fire merely dissipated on contact. In fact, it seemed to only have a positive effect on the creature! The massive face in the sky almost appeared to smile and blush as the warmth spread across its cheeks. A large smile accompanied fluttering eyelashes afterwards. Did his warmth make the creature… horny?

Thankfully for the three remaining party members, Mancer’s spell did manage to halt the encroaching blackness. The elder god took its time basking in the pleasure of the dissipated flame.

And then the creature grew larger.

“Ack! W-what the fuck!?"

“Mancer, I don’t think fire’s the solution to this problem! It only seemed to make our problem worse!” Conad shouted as he struggle to fend of the tendrils, which were now encroaching on them at an even faster rate.

“D-don’t worry! I’ve got something even better than just a big ol’ fire ball! We’ll see if this creature can take the heat when it gets hit with the very concept of fire itself!”

Mancer took a deep breath, calming himself. Such a risky move would require his full concentration, something that he was finding harder and harder to achieve. Then, he grabbed the summoning flame itself and tore it from the ground like he was pulling a turnip.

He spent a moment to gently cradle it in his hands like an egg, the flames of it spreading passively on his robes. This was no ordinary fire. It was fire that called upon the very building blocks of the universe’s fire itself! He had been using it since he was a child and it had never let him down, providing an endless flame to draw from.

“Take this!”

With a perfect toss directly into the center mass of the elder creature, Mancer watched the flame intently. Sure, a little fire may have felt pleasurable, but an endless gauntlet of flames? The very concept of fire itself? Surely, this would be the victorious strike that won the day for Krysta’s team. The flames instantly engulfed the entire Elder Goddess, setting everything from the gooey puddle she rose from to her black hair ablaze with white-hot fire. It was as if he had just tossed a match into black oil.

But then, something unexpected happened: The flame began to turn black, then die out. Mancer felt an overwhelming sense of dread wash over him as he began to ponder what this could mean. Did this creature just extinguish the very idea of fire from the universe?

Mancer’s assertion was wrong, however. What had happened was even worse for them.

Despite being the middle of the day, the sky began to get very dark. The three remaining heroes watched in horror as one of the twin suns above them began to morph into the massive light-grey face of their adversary, displaying a light level similar to the moon as it blushed in its own heat. The ink creature hadn’t just absorbed the very concept of fire, it had altered it into more of itself, seemingly without even realizing it.

This would prove to seal Mancer’s fate as the fire that passively burned on his robe morphed into corrupting, wiggling tentacles before his very eyes. They slinked up his body and squeezed him tight.

“You know, this isn’t half bad!” Mancer said in a cutesy voice, only for his face to be bashed in by Conad’s sword.

But even this proved to be a double-edge sword, (no pun intended) as the very spirit of his blade was becoming corrupted by the malignant blackness. “Hi, cutie!” A voice spoke from the hilt of his blade, causing him to drop it in fear. Now that there was nothing keeping the intruding ink at bay.

“Fine.” Krysta finally spoke. “It’s time I call upon the Soul’s Light.”

Once again, Conad was hesitant.

“No, Krysta! You’ve already sacrificed half your soul before on this spell and we don’t even know if such a body part even regenerates! Who knows what could happen if you become soulless?”

“I don’t care. Everything else has just made this monster scarier and more dangerous! We’ve seen what it does! Would you rather I become soulless or the entire universe as we know it?”

Conad couldn’t argue back. All he could do was respect his leader’s decision. A sacrifice for the ages. One that would guarantee the future of humanity would be one of free will.

Krysta took a deep breath as a white aura surrounded her body. Her soul called upon a long, dead goddess. One whose power still flowed somewhat within her bloodline. The fearless leader found her body become quite cold as all of the warmth within transferred to her hands, which became a blinding white, almost appearing featureless.

She then thrust her hands forward, which launched her body into the sky towards the encroaching inky mass that was blackening the sky. Her trajectory placed her right at the face of the Inky beast, yet two hands arose from the darkness, with Krysta fearing that the creature was going to push her away. Instead, the creature shocked her by locking its pseudo-hands around her own.

“I love your light powers! They’re so beautiful. Would you like to hold hands?” The Elder Goddess asked.

One million questions fired off in Krysta’s mind. It wanted to participate in hand-holding? It knew that her goddess’s blood would protect her from corruption? It seemed excited by that fact? Did the creature not actually want to corrupt this world?

But despite the all the questions that bounced about in her mind, she knew what she had to say. “BY LIGNENTA, GODDESS OF PURITY, I VANQUISH THEE IN ENTIRETY!”

All the light within her hands was exerted forth, sending pulses of blinding white up the grey arms of the elder deity. Then, she froze in place, alongside all of her extensions, as they all began to phase out of reality through the last remnants of Lignenta’s unbreakable will.

“Oh, well, goodbye then.”

The only emotion the creature seemed to convey was mild disappointment at having to leave all of its new friends so early.

And then, all aspects of the ink faded away, consumed by the light. Krysta, who was floating several hundred meters above the sea, found consciousness fade from her as she began to plummet from the sky at rapid speeds.

Her life began to flash before her eyes, but not before looking over at the cliffside, only to see all of her comrades safe and unharmed from the goo now that the light had returned from the nearby sun. She had done it. She had ensured a future of freedom for those she loved.

But then, she felt a tingle within her body. Some sort of volume that was beginning to fill her soul.

“Impossible.” She spoke faintly. It appeared as though some aspect of Elder Goddess remained in her soul and was motivating her entire body.

Finding the last of her strength, Krysta remembered that she had never unequipped her parachute gear from when the ship was landing. Pulling the cord, she was hoisted into a stalled descent, allowing her to drift safety back to the cliffside where she promptly collapsed into the dirt. H

er cohorts helped free her from the chute, which had fallen atop her, before easing her semi-conscious body onto a rock in a sitting position. 

Her entire group seemed exhausted, but also a little bit exhilarated. Silence permeated the cliffside before Mancer spoke. 

“Phew! That was a close one, Krysta! Thank goodness you had that one last trick up your sleeve! If you had gotten corrupted earlier, I don’t think we woulda been able to banish that horror back to whence it came!”

“I can confirm now with 100% accuracy that such a creature could only be stopped by the equal will of an elder goddess and our world would have been consumed had Krysta become assimilated.” Insti added clinically, adjusting her glasses. “Although I am thoroughly befuddled at how Krysta was able to do it and still be alive. Perhaps you had two elder goddess’ wills coursing through your veins?”

“That’s possible!?” Conad said in shock.

“Theoretically. Current scientific methods are nowhere near competent enough to understand the true complexities of how one’s soul is influenced by the will of a higher power. We can only be thankful that the power within Krysta was able to accomplish both.”

“I say three cheers for Krysta!” Huell shouted heartily.

“J-just give me a moment… please…” Krysta finally spoke, waving her hand weakly. Her party nodded their heads without objection and backed away down the hill, some of them ran to inform the populace about their success. Now, the leader of the party was finally alone and allowed to collect her thoughts.

We did a great duty here today, even if it has likely cost me greatly. It’s… strange. My soul feels full again, something that it has not felt since the first time I used Soul’s Light, yet the warmth has not returned. I no longer feel the goddess within my blood, yet… I do feel a goddess. Perhaps… perhaps she is still with me? Please, I hope so. I need someone to stay with me.

God, why do I want to hug my friends so badly? That’s usually Mancer’s thing. I really want to hug them.


Maybe that elder goddess’s mannerisms are rubbing off on me. She was ultimately kind of friendly for a supposed eldritch horror. Maybe we could have negotiated with her? As the tentacles wrapped around my teammates, they did look like they were almost... pleasured? 

Maybe she just wanted to be friends with us. Maybe she wanted to be my friend. 

here’s this feeling within me. This whole thing seems very familiar to me, as if I've done this thousands of times before. How could that be? This is the only time I've ever banished a dark god.

Krysta yawned, and her thoughts continued. 

I feel hungry. I should find something to eat. Chocolate, perhaps? I could go for some blue raspberries, if they exist. Yes.

y tenta- no… my limbs feel cold, yes. Perhaps I should find someone to hug. Yes. I should definitely find some cute mortals to hug.

“You feeling better now?” Mancer spoke, running up to meet his leader on the rock. He had just informed the king of the good news. Seeing Krysta still alive and well only sweetened the deal!



“You bet!” Her voice was unusually cheery. “I can't wait to meet all the cute mortals on this planet!”


~



Hoooooneeey! I’m hooooome!” Came a voice from the front door, followed by the all-to-familiar ambience of a door shutting.

“Connor! Welcome home, my darling!” Came Inky’s voice, although it appeared to come from somewhere below the floorboards of all places.

“Inky? Are you in the basement? Also, since when did we have a basement?”

“I needed some space to wind down. Now get over here, Connor! I want to hear all about your exciting day!”

As Connor descended the newly-modeled stairs, he was surprised by just how many steps there were. Just how deep did this basement go?

Eventually, the steps ended, yet the ending just seemed to lead nowhere. It wasn’t until Inky’s massive head came rocketing into view that he began to piece everything together.

Maybe “massive” was selling her form a bit short. She had been large before, mountainous even, but her entire body was borderline intergalactic at this point. Her average “large” size was slightly smaller than the height of her pupil now.

“Goodness, Inky! H-how did you get that large!?”

“I went to a new place and met some new friends! They were really fun to play with and really nice to me!”

“That’s great! Did they have a fun time too?”

“I sure hope they did! Unfortunately, I left their universe a little too early, but you should have seen me! I was on fire! They were all totally tuckered out afterwards!”

She then paused to consider something.

“Well, not to worry, I’ll see them soon enough to check...”

A brief moment of silence passed, then Inky remembered something else on her mind.

“Oh, darling! What did you think of my thorough clean of the house!? Do you like all my additions?”

Admittedly, Connor hadn’t spent much time observing every detail of the house. After all, the first 15 minutes after getting home were spent walking down a skyscraper’s worth of recently-crafted steps.

“U-uh, yeah! Totally! But, uh, why don’t you give me a rundown in case I missed anything?”

Inky smiled wide as Connor was suddenly thrust up the hundreds of stairs he had just descended. A smaller, yet identical Inky greeted him once he exited the basement door.

“Hi there, hubby!”

The first thing that immediately stood out to Connor were the dishes in the drying rack. They had all been replaced with shiny black ones, the same inky color as, well… you know. 

The smaller Inky seemed to know exactly what he was looking at. “You like the new dishes? They don't get dirty so quickly!"

Walking into the kitchen, he noticed that all the appliances were now a similar shiny black. Faint noises which seemed organic in nature gurgled from within.

“Sooo, what’s, uh… with that noise?”

"That’s the sound of efficiency! The dishwasher no longer uses water, nor does the washing machine! And with the new stove, you won’t have to worry about potential fires anymore!”

“Do I even wanna know what’s in the fridge?”

“Food, silly!”

“Right.”

Connor then looked over to see his bed still next to hers, however, all the bedsheets were carefully replaced and tidied with shiny black ones.

He walked into the bedroom and ran his hand along the additions to his bed, thoroughly surprised by their warmth.

“And what exactly is the advantage to these?”

"J-just use them, Connor! Don’t worry about it! You’ve had a long day, after all!”

“That’s true, maybe I should call it in early.”

After getting ready, Connor crawled into bed. He couldn’t deny that his new arrangement was definitely more comfortable than before. However, as he squirmed a bit to settle to sleep, he heard Inky giggle both beside him and underneath him. He had a strong hunch as to why.

His hunch was all but confirmed when the blankets themselves began to gently wrap themselves around him without his input.

Even though Connor wanted a separate bed from Inky, that wouldn’t stop her from finding any opportunity to hug him to sleep. He drifted from consciousness with a smile on his face, knowing he had the best girlfriend in the multiverse looking after him.