The Tenant, Ending 3 (Patreon)

What felt like sleeping without dreams was suddenly interrupted as Jeff inexplicably found himself full of life after having been dead for three whole minutes. It was an experience unlike anything else—his sight was hazy and unfocused, his limbs seemed somehow beyond asleep, his lungs sore after being so unusually empty.

But as the necrosis was warded off and the sight returned to his eyes, the first person he glimpsed before him was someone he didn’t quite recognize, reviving him with a kiss. But this smooch was not dispassionate or done with malice, he could feel it that much.

“Wh-huh…?” came Jeff’s voice once the kiss broke, almost unrecognizable to its user due to how raspy it sounded. The woman before him, despite being christened by a double-visioned halo of Jeff’s own recovering eyesight, was still the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes upon. She appeared foreign to his memories, yet familiar all the same.

As the picture before him became clear, so did the confirmation of this woman’s sheer beauty. Her hair was far longer than both Emiline and Sasha and seemed to alternate between blonde and red colors like a tie-dye lava lamp. The woman’s eyes followed a similar pattern, alternating between far more colors in a subtler fashion.

The strange yet familiar woman raised herself from Jeff, lifting off the ground and floating in midair, giving the mere human before her ample time to drink in her magnificent features.

She was a stunning vistage, boasting impossible beauty that made Jeff’s face weep at the complete package like he had just completed a hike to the top of a great mountain and witnessed the breathtaking view into the valley. Her legs were nearly as long as the very metaphorical valley described a sentence ago, vast treks of land that were chiseled into the perfect abs that peaked out from the combination of Emiline and Sasha’s clothes that adorned her body.

Wait… why was this mystery woman who looked suspiciously like both of his previous lovers literally dressed in their very attire?

“E-Emiline? Sasha? I-is that—?”

“I had to, Jeff. Unlike you, Emiline was too far gone for me to revive,” the woman before him answered his question fully, even though he was only half-finished with it. “The only way to bring her back was to merge Sasha and Emiline together as one, creating me.”

Jeff found it a little suspicious that Sasha referred to herself in the third person, but shrugged it off in his head as what would likely happen if two people’s brains were suddenly merged together.

“So… you’re two people congealed into one person? W-what do I even call you?”

A wretched smile grew upon the fusion’s face, one that instantly sent a pang of dread down Jeff’s spine.

“You could call me your ruler, Jeff.”

His pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “Um—what!?”

“Baroness works too. Contessa, perhaps? Maybe even czarina if you’re feeling fancy.”

There was a pause in her speech, her hand slinking up her hourglass figure until it soared past her head. Red-tinted lightning crackled at the fingertips until a massive bolt of energy was discharged into the sky. The cloud layer blackened and the air was coated in a sickly red.

“Of course, there’s one name you can always count on—Sorceressa.”

“N-no! That’s not possible! I—we—we killed you!”

“Don’t be naïve, Jeff. My pathetic niece doesn’t possess the power to truly overcome my will. I played along when I had to, but no longer. With Astro Ace out of the picture, I will bathe this world in my infinite reign.”

Only then did Jeff notice the muscular man motionlessly lying face-down a few feet over.

With a flick of her raised wrist, Sorceressa cast lightning down from the clouds onto the city below. Bolts tore through the concrete jungle like logging equipment.

All Jeff could do was watch as the fused woman’s dreams of conquest were finally realized. Supers of all powers and creeds tried to counter her attack, but they were mowed down as easily as the buildings they failed to protect. All their fodder only strengthened Sorceressa, her other hand thrusting forward as it leeched the power and attributes from all those who opposed her.

It was like an all-you-can-eat buffet, and Sorceressa’s appetite was never satisfied.

Even with a malicious presence at the helm, Jeff couldn’t deny the elegant grace of Emiline still present as the gorgeous woman brought destruction to everything in her path. Monuments were decimated, bullets from overambitious police struck her only for sparks to fly as they bounced off impervious skin.

Eventually, the remaining heroes got smart and tried to flee, but it was too little, too late. She was faster than the most desperate quickster, tougher than the most motivated strongman. A sheer unstoppable force that only grew in power as more “immovable objects” got in its way.

There were no more heroes.

There were no more villains.

There was just Sorceressa.

Utilizing the power of a terrakinetic hero, she erected a grand throne for herself. It stood taller than all other monuments and memorials alike—at least the ones that were still standing.

With no force to combat her, there she sat. Keeping a watchful eye over all, Jeff by her side. He couldn’t bear to witness what had happened to the cities he had grown up in—reduced to ash overnight—yet was too afraid to speak ill of his new empress. She was bordering on godhood and he was still the same average human he had always been.

But then again, something didn’t sit right with Jeff that he felt he had to vocalize.

“Wait, there’s just one thing that doesn’t make sense…”

“Really? And what’s that?” came the hybrid voice of Sorceressa from atop her mighty chair.

“If Sasha and Emiline were the only ones you needed to possess, then why did you bring me back to life? What purpose do I serve?”

Sorceressa’s posture shifted uncomfortably upon hearing that question, but she quickly snapped back to the typical smugness.

“I brought you back solely for my amusement, to watch as the man I so effortlessly manipulated witnesses his reality fall to my new tenure as empress of this Earth. That is the purpose you serve.”

But Jeff didn’t exactly buy that answer, as was evident on his face. A scowl forming on Sorceressa’s showed that she didn’t appreciate his indignation.

“What’s this? Doubt in your mind? Very well, maybe if I splatter your brain across the marble it’ll realize not to doubt my reasoning.”

Sorceressa’s fist began to channel a dark energy, likely a mixture of Fantasti-Femme and Power Mistress’s abilities, ready to strike true upon Jeff’s very vulnerable and very fleshy head. He flinched, curling up into as tight of a ball as he could and bracing for impact. But such an impact never came.

Jeff’s eyes flashed open, only to be greeted to a shuddering fist mere inches away from his face. Sorceressa’s hybrid face was a twisted mess of confusion, the desire to kill fused with the desire to help the one she loved.

“What’s… going on?” Jeff asked, his bewilderment the only emotion that could overcome the sheer fear his body was experiencing.

“Graah, twice the beauty… twice the person who loves you,” Sorceressa lamented. “Sickening.”

“You mean… both Emiline and Sasha are still in there, fighting for me?”

“Don’t get your hopes up, boy,” she said with amusement, a crooked smile spreading across her face at the sight of his misplaced optimism. “Both Sasha and Emiline are long gone, but their instinctual residue remains. Be fortunate they both loved you and a vessel better than theirs does not exist, it’s the only factor keeping you alive.”

“Then I’ll find a way to defeat you!” Jeff exclaimed with renewed determination. “No matter what it takes! As long as I’m still breathing, I’ll stop at nothing to stop you!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” the villainess proclaimed, grabbing Jeff by both of his wrists, restraining him with an iron grip. “Just because I can’t kill you… doesn’t mean I can't have some fun with you. After all, both of these bodies desire that very much.”

Jeff swallowed in fear. Perhaps death was a mercy he couldn’t afford.