Darkseid breathed in the air heavy with the scent of incense, a mixture of overworldly flowers and something sweet. A scent combination from New Genesis. Plants, especially those with flowers, were a rarity on Apokolips, as there was only one place on the whole planet with them – the Gardens of the Hope, where the Oracle resided.
He was in the personal chambers of Dreamer, his future wife and queen consort. Darkseid stood near the broad window ornated with Apokoliptian runic symbols; the planet's burning horizon stretched beyond the window in the stone walls of the palace.
The heat from the world's core and the countless lava pools and rivers radiated through the walls, a reminder that they lived upon a volatile furnace. A bloody crimson twilight colored the planet's surface, including the floor of Dreamer's private chamber.
Behind him, in the middle of a silk whirlwind of garments, Dreamer was lying on her bed.
She was his bride, his guarantee of an alliance with New Genesis. Radiant in her beauty, she would become a crown jewel of New Genesis in the original timeline. The strongest female representative of their warriors.
He never thought that the noble New Genesian like herself would take on the Apokoliptian life as well as she did. She was quite distraught and shaken during their trip from New Genesis to Apokolips. But strangely enough, she has been in good spirits lately. That left him squarely confused. What caused the change in her?
A new golden circlet laid upon her brow, marking her as his consort. But there was no romance in his gift, only calculated politics. To him she was a guarantee of a union forged from alliance.
Two symbols on the sides of the circlet were a mirror of Darkseid's feelings. One was his own symbol of omega. He claimed it as his own after becoming master of the Omega Realm. The second symbol was that of New Genesis, a crimson fiery ball with golden rays coming out of it, representing a star.
He couldn't fathom what Dreamer had been feeling. She was practically sold to him, promised as part of the fragile peace between two Empires. Yet, what might have been duty, and a sad fate had transformed into something else entirely. With a smile on her face, the New Genesian girl was looking at him… almost sensually.
Looking at her, he noticed something. Her eyes were previously blue, shining as bright as the most beautiful sapphires, but now one of them was a green emerald. Heterochromia wouldn't suddenly develop out of nowhere.
But he knew what had been at play here. He recognized that shade of green in her eyes. Delirium.
"My liege, you are too restless," Dreamer said to him, her voice carrying a mix of command and seduction that did not quite feel her own. "Even now, when you have me."
Darkseid turned to face her, his expression as stoic as ever. He mustered his facial expressions from a young age, something that he prided himself on. Now he needed to get information from Dreamer without tipping her off that she knew about her intervention.
"Restless is my second nature."
He replied seriously and curt, although that was expected of him. She could only laugh hearing such corny response from him.
Her laugh was too low. Low in pitch, it was as if brittle glass was cracking under pressure of a boot. She sounded like the evilest of demons speaking directly from the Hell dimension. Delirium probably didn't know that her influence made such changes to her voice. Or she didn't care.
Dreamer moved closer to the edge of the huge bed, her hands reached up, brushing across his chestplate. She traced the silver Omega symbol that the chestplate was adorned with.
He looked at her closely. This was the first time he had looked at his prized bride that intently.
She was beautiful, that much was undeniable, and the influence of Delirium was a concerning sign that needed further investigation. But she was not the reason his heart was clenched; with every beat, his whole being thundered with a new rage of love and lust.
That reason stood on the other side of the room, closer to the doorway, practically cutting off his route of escape. Suli.
The love that he had felt for this woman roared like an inferno, his every breath only fueled the fires, making them bigger and stronger. He knew her just for a month, but his meta knowledge had shown her long before.
Darkseid knew, that if he would let this fiery storm of emotion live and thrive, soon he would find the influence of his emotions too much to resist. They would overtake his whole being, and he didn't know when he would be allowed to have his rationality back.
Hogyoku that he had summoned from another world, was fulfilling his deepest wishes into life. The strongest one of them was the desire for love. Thus, his love for Sulli grew exponentially.
He needed to do something to quell his passion; otherwise, all his plans would crumble beneath him like a tower that failed on its base.
The Dreamer's gaze moved following his own. Her lips curved into a knowing smile. The touch of the endless goddess of madness flickers like a spark in her expression.
"She belongs here, too, doesn't she? With us."
He just stood there, silenced by his own emotions. Inside of him, two thoughts were battling. His rationality was slowly losing to the relentless fury of his emotions.
His pride demanded to refuse the temptations, even if the temptation was the love of his life. He felt trapped. Like a wounded beast with its back to a wall, seemingly, there was nothing left for him to resist with.
"You love her," his bride said, dreamily. The distortion of her voice had subsided.
Darkseid looked back at her. To his surprise, he had found her two eyes back to their original blue colour. She continued speaking, now with her own voice, as if no one had influenced her before.
"And I… I would see what that love is. Delirium told me that it will make us stronger, unbreakable. And it would bring peace to this universe."
"She had told you?"
Delirium was not just controlling her; she was talking with Dreamer! For how long? How did he miss the signs?
Of course he would miss the signs, he paid no attention to the woman, running away under every pretense he could find.
He had dived right into battle, slaving away training with Furies. Something that had always calmed his own madness, but it hadn't worked this time. Not to the same degree as it always did.
He then acquired a new weapon, and after creating it trained with it even harder. The strengthening of his own soul with the acquisition of a new power source didn't help quelching his lust either. But that didn't make sense. After all it was a weapon of his soul, he had expanded the potential of his soul. It should have weakened the inferno of emotions inside of him, but it didn't…
The power of the Endless Delirium was too much.
"Wow, sister, you are involved in this too?! What a welcome surprise." A third voice had pierced the awkward atmosphere of the room.
Darkseid turned his head to look at the person speaking, the voice was new, he didn't recognize it. Someone was speaking through Sulli this time. A deep and sultry voice hinted at someone. Someone who had called Delirium their sister. Mentally shifting through all the names of the Endless he had found the answer immediately. Desire?
For a better part of the next minute Darkseid was stuck looking between the two females present in the chambers. His bride, whose will was no longer entirely her own, and Sulli, the woman who had his heart in her palms without even realizing that. But the one who had been controlling her, Desire, probably did know of his emotions. After all, it was their domain.
As a New God, he had never thought himself to be involved in the politics of beings of higher power. With his position also came knowledge of how this universe worked and was created. Powers on the level of the endless were not easy to trifle with.
The air in the room felt heavier than any battlefield he had ever walked in his entire life. And yet, he realised the truth: there was only one thing those two Endless had wanted. Not his Empire, not his power, nor his status. They wanted him.
Dreamer's eyes changed their colour once again.
"Brother? Why are you here?" The distortion in her voice came back.
"No-no, I'm your sister right now" Sulli walked closer to the two of them, her hips were waving from side to side. She cupped Delirium's chin with two of her long fingers, the red polish of her fingernails almost puncturing the skin of Delirium's face. Turning Dreamer's face from one side to another, Desire looked over the body that her little sister had chosen.
"I see", Desire of the Endless said with a wide smile. "You are having some fun here too, little sister".
Her fingers slowly came down to the neck, scratching the skin; a thin red line stretched from the chin right to the chest of Delirium.
"Such a beautiful agent you have here", her fingers continued their way down, now closing on the area where the heart of Delirium was racing and beating wildly. With a quiet squishy sound, Desire punctured the skin right above the heart; her little sister whimpered from the piercing pain.
"OH", the smile on the face of Desire stretched to its limits. Now it was a full-blown snarl of a predator that had cornered its prey. "She is one of his as well. What a sweet, sweet gift for me you have here, sister".
"No. She is mine. You won't touch her!"
Dreamer threw her sister's hands away and rose from the bed.
The two endless now stood chin to chin. One with a predatory smile, the other with a desperate aggressiveness.
Darkseid was out of his depth. Endless were beings of immense power, ones that shaped the universe to some degree. They were almost at the very top of the power ladder, very few were above them.
But the most dangerous thing was that they were holding his women hostage. And that thought bubbled inside of him with a newfound rage. They were his. No one plays games with what was his own. NO ONE.