Maybe the one




There was no doubt now. Watching from across the void the Council of Twelve
decided that such a drastic error by their agent had to be rectified. The
question that plagued them was how. Looking upon Susan's abuse of the ring
several of the old sages began to sweat with fear,

"If we don't do something soon it will be too late."

"She already knows how to draw on the power, by the time we send our people
she my realise her potential."

There was a chorus of shouts as the council lost decorum for the first time in
its history.

"I knew it was too soon."

"Shut up, Ein. There is only one hope. Another ring-bearer must be found."

"But that's impossible."

"You know as well as I do that nothings impossible for a ring-bearer. And I
just happen to know how to contact one."

Returning to her old house Susan found Mark right where she'd left him.
Moulding herself into a breathtaking shape as he watched her muscles
streamline themselves, she released him from the steel.

"You can go now Mark. This isn't my house anymore. There's a few dead people
about and they'll only start to stink soon. I don't want you anymore, Mark,
but I'll call in from time to time. Now, why don't you run along and tell your
mommy what I did?

"What happened to you?"

"This thingy," she told him, tapping a finger on the odd coloured ring. "It's
just ridiculous the shit I can do now, you two-timing fool. You have no idea
how good it is to be me."

"You're a monster. Don't you have any humanity! You ripped her arms off."

She smiled at him. "I was angry, Mark, and Im getting angry right now. Why
don't you leave before I start tearing your arms off? Now I think about, maybe
I should..."

Mark looked at the woman who had shared his bed for the last few years, and
saw a very different person. The power of her body was clear, and he had seen
it used. He bolted out the door and made his way toward the street so fast he
tripped over his own feet twice.

"Now to get rid of the evidence," Susan mused, having decided to tear down her
house. The rent here was just unbelievable, and the reluctance of the landlord
to keep up maintenance had seen many uncomfortable days. Letting the pent-up
anger of three years out she started smashing her way through walls. The old
hardwood panels splintered like rotten balsa beneath her potent blows,
bringing a smile to her face. Looking over her old things, she realised that
she didn't want any of it. Only the best for Susan from now on. Getting her
legs involved the demolition was accelerated as each impact of her foot
crumbled walls to sawdust.

Jumping up, Susan launched into and through the ceiling, her head poking
through the tiles before gravity brought her back down. With dexterity Olympic
gymnasts only dream about, Susan leapt through the interior of the house doing
somersaults and back flips. Landing the middle of the husk, she stamped her
foot to shake the ground with force enough to tumble the unsupported outer
walls. The remained of the roof came down on her, but she just crossed her
arms and jumped up through it all.

Standing on top of the pile, she spotted a petrol tanker going up the highway,
and got an idea.

Another two hours and Henry would finally get to unload. He'd been doing this
for so many years now they were starting to call Gramps...which soon became
Grumps when he told them exactly how he felt. They were trying to show him
respect, which was fine with Henry, but letting him know he was old was no way
to do that.

As he turned a bend in the road the truck shuddered. Henry kept firm control
the wheel. Then there was a rending sound, and Henry noticed movement in his
mirror. He couldn't investigate further because the truck suddenly lurched to
the right, then to the left, then the back jumped up and Henry found himself
using everything he had to regain control. Thanks to his experience he stopped
the cab and started his heart up again. Looking over his shoulder he saw that
his trailer had come off.

Jumping out, with shaking hands Henry examined the damage. Somehow the trailer
had been torn away, but it was like nothing he'd seen before. Henry couldn't
work out how it could possibly happen. The next thing on his mind was finding
the trailer, but Charlie wouldn't see it again until he got home and watched
the news.

Dragging the trailer along behind her, Susan was a little annoyed that the
tyres wouldn't turn. When she'd broken the brake cable they'd locked up
instead of letting off. It hardly slowed her down though, and she was still
able to hold it up with one hand and pull it along without straining herself
at all. Arriving at the tumbled ruin of her house, she manoeuvred the trailer
into the centre of it and pushed her fingers into the bottom of the tank.
Tearing the hole wider she got the petrol gushing before she realised that she
had no lighter.

Remembering how heavily Mark's friends had smoked cigarettes, she turned her
attention to the cars parked in her driveway. Though she was careful, Susan's
finger still distorted the door dramatically as opened. Right there on the
dash was the lighter she need to finish the task at hand. Wandering over to
the pile of rubble she picked up a magazine. Planning to light it and throw it
on from a safe distance, Susan flicked the lighter under a corner of the
glossy paper.

She had been standing way too close, the fumes of the spilt fuel all around
her. The spark from the lighter set off a spectacular explosion that shattered
windows up and down the street and started her bonfire with a bigger bang than
she had planned. The force of the blast washed over her, followed by the
intense heat. Thinking for a moment she was in danger, Susan moved to get out
of the fire. But there was no pain...no searing of her flesh. In fact, it felt
good. The flames licked her, turning her clothes into black ruins but leaving
her flesh unmarked. She moved into the heart of it all and stood in the flame
that looked the hottest, the dancing fire unable to singe her hair. Opening
her eyes when she heard approaching sirens, Susan walked from the intense heat
and realised she was naked. She started to jog leisurely toward the nearest
clothes store.

Ignoring the stares of everyone she passed, she entered a shop and sought out
an outfit. Picking the clothes off the racks and dressing herself, she drew
the attention of the sales assistant.

"Can I help you?"

"No thanks, I found what I want." Susan ripped off the tags and gave them to
the inquisitive lady. She went toward the door, completely ignoring the woman
who grabbed her arm and almost fell over trying to stop her.

"Where are you going? Stop!"

"Get off you silly bitch," Susan ordered, crushing the woman's shoulder and
sending her flying into a wall in a single motion. Walking straight through
the glass beside the door, Susan wandered onto the road and hailed a taxi.

"Take me somewhere they sell good furniture."

Unknown to Susan, the message of the Twelve had been received. If not for the
message Tyrin would not have known how to use a black hole. As Susan stepped
onto the curb beside a classy uptown furniture retailer, another ring-bearer
came blasting through a black-hole in the depths of space. The powerful man
swept his mind across the universe and found Susan in an instant. Though the
message had asked him to contact the Council of the Twelve, he felt no need.
There was no reward they could offer, no help that he needed. For he knew
exactly what was going on. Tyrin had waited for a chance like this for
centuries...to become even more powerful.

Tyrin knew that if he could get hold of a second ring, he would become so
powerful that he could wrest a third from another. And after that, his power
would grow exponentially as he roamed through the endlessness of all
dimensions gathering all the rings until he could melt them down to make a
helmet. The helmet would give him the power to take on the creator and win,
and then he would control everything that lived. He would be everything.

The Earth filled his vision. A fitting place for the birth of a god, he mused
as pondered the path he took. He could sense the ring, and soon he would have
it and become unstoppable.

Susan was amazed at the variety of furniture available here. Antique stuff
filled one corner, modern artsy-fartsy bullshit another. She was pondering
which shade of leather for her lounge suit when something made the ground
shake.

Looking outside, her enhanced eyes instantly saw the ring. The man wearing it
was inconsequential for the first few seconds, as though the strange metal
hovered in a cloud. Fear struck her as she realised her ring was not the only
one.

"Come out!"

The wave of force that Tyrin sent into the store shattered every window and
drove people and furniture into the back wall. Susan stood alone in the
cleared store, and sent her mind to attack his.

"No you don't!"

He was blocking her. This guy knew what he was doing, she realised. She had to
think fast.

Tyrin did know what he was doing, and Susan had very little time to think. He
grasped her with his mind, and tried to crush her. But Susan was invulnerable,
and there was nothing he could do to kill her. So he had to do something else.
Flying up, he took her with him.

Susan looked at him with wide as eyes as her captor flew along. How could he
do that? "Maybe I can fly..." she mused, but before she considered how it was
possible she found herself released from his mental grip. Without support she
plummeted toward the suburbs, and crashed though the road. The impact knocked
her out cold.

Tyrin took her to an island far away from her home, and there he tried fulfil
his destiny.

"For someone who could be so powerful, you're awfully weak," he told her,
attempting to pry the ring from her finger. He tried for a few minutes, at the
last so roughly that she woke up.

"Hey!"

"Give me that ring."

"Bullshit, bucko. You've already got one, so you don't..."

He dropped her and stepped away. Susan looked up at him, noting that his feet
only had four toes and skin was an odd colour.

"You will give me that ring. It will be mine."

"Who are you?"

"I am from a place you will never see, girl. Tell me something, does your
species understand pain?"

He held his hand out, and a beam of light shot forth. As it engulfed Susan,
every nerve in body activated and she felt more pain than a normal person
could handle. For the first moment she was sure that she would die, but as the
seconds dragged on she discovered the biggest drawback of being immortal and
started screaming. Tyrin lowered his hand and smiled.

"Take off the ring, and then you can die."

He began, showing no sign of relenting. Susan realised with horror that his
offer sounded tempting to her, but clenched the scream and turned her mind to
finding a way out of this.

"You will live as long as that ring stays on your finger! Don't suffer longer
than you have to!"

His words didn't reach her. Susan was thinking of a million things at once to
drive the pain from her consciousness. She looked at him, her eyes widened by
pain she tried so hard not feel, and realised he was just another man. A very
evil man with only eight toes, he was male. Susan suddenly realised how to
handle this, and drew on the ring once more.

Shaking his head, Tyrin started to talk in pleading tones to her.

"I hate to do this, I really do. When I have that ring, the whole universe
will benefit."

As he spoke, Susan could see her plan was going to work. The alien had small
equipment, but she knew an erection when she caused one. Increasing the flow
of energy into her body, she continued to the greatest sexual magnetism Tyrin
had ever experienced. He had never seen another ring-bearer before in his long
life, he did know that the power could be used in the way that Susan applied
it. Just as she had no idea to do the things he was doing. He operated on a
high-level, but Susan aimed right at his primal urges and took away his
ability to think rationally. A scent reached his nostrils that he had never
breathed before, and his mind wandered. But he kept the beam on her.

The scent grew stronger until Tyrin could hardly breath, never had a woman
aroused him so much. The sensations only amplified as time progressed, and his
hand lowered to his crotch.

Released from the pain, Susan allowed her mind to fully awaken again.

"Look at you," she purred, her body having recovered instantly from his
assault. "Come on," she bit her lip. "Let's do it!"

It was the worst line she'd ever used, but it worked marvellously on the
strange man. Susan was relieved as he dove on her and began a furious
love-making that almost hurt. She tentatively reached out with her mind, and
discovered his was in total disarray. He was fully focused on her body, and
that allowed her into his mind. He was a fountain of knowledge, but Susan
didn't know enough to gain everything from him.

"You're so strong," she whispered, unsure if he knew what she was up to or
not. She went on regardless, gaining his knowledge on flight before looking
for way to kill him. But he was like her, and that meant she had to get his
ring off.

"Stop!" she ordered, pushing him away and closing her legs.

"But..."

"How can I love a man I don't trust?"

She was still in his head, and certain now that he was unaware of it.

He tried to rape her, but found it impossible to open her legs. "Let me have
you!"

"Prove I can trust you! Take off the ring."

She felt his mind returning, and struggled to keep him confused. She bombarded
him with images of his fingers on the ring, the metal band sliding over the
knuckles and before the befuddled wanna-be god realised he was committing
suicide he had fallen for her simple ploy.

Snatching the ring away from him, she stepped back to watch as he became a
normal being again after centuries of bearing the awesome power to control a
universe. He retained the physical powers he had infused into his body, but
his mind was now completely defenceless to her ensuing assault.

The pain on his face was added reward as Susan ruthlessly tore knowledge from
him. She learned only small amount of what she could before he died.

"You deserved greater pain," she told him, regretting that she had ended his
life so quickly. "But thanks for the info."

Her short time of freedom was spent answering the obvious questions. She
learned of the twelve councillors who had wanted her killed...and of the black
holes that allowed passage to other universes. Just as important, she learned
how to project energy in waves. Not only could she use this knowledge to fly,
but she could do things like what he did to her. Only, she wasn't sure what
kind of energy he had been using. She didn't, however, know to look any deeper
to discover his darker motivations.

Smiling, Susan hovered into the air and stretched. Examining the ring that
Tyrin had worn, she slipped it on her finger.