The Origin of Mighty Maiden

Part One - The Unlikely Host

One day Chloe Masters was your average twenty something woman from New York City who was just a little too thin, and a little too shy for her own good, Chloe was also a student of archeology and while she did not know it then, she was on a collision course with destiny. On that particular day she sat alone, looking over a desk length of books, cataloging artifacts while praising herself over yet again avoiding a day out under the hot Egyptian sun by organizing the finds of the rest of the student team and sorting them bureaucratically to be sent to the appropriate historical preserves. Chloe didn’t look like your ordinary archeologist, in fact, she didn’t look like anybody suited for the outdoors at all. She was incredibly thin, fair skinned, with long blonde hair and a pair of completely, desperately, necessary spectacles over her sky blue eyes. She had little to no muscle mass and despite her seeming choice of profession, she did not like the outdoors. Not one bit.

The truth was that Chloe didn’t even want to be an archeologist at all, that was her father’s dream for her. A famous man himself, Stephen Masters was renowned in the field, having personally overseen several important discoveries, it was just expected by the field that Chloe make due following in his footsteps… so now she spent her days boiling hot under the desert sun, or else escaping into the slightly cooler but still over warm expedition tents to catalog the things that other people found.

Chloe didn’t mind this part of her duties as luck would have it, she was fascinated to see some of the relics that came up, many pieces were beautiful, many were strange, many were broken, but near all of them were interesting in one way or another and while it was only her task to catalog and organize them, her position gave her opportunities to see more pieces than the rest of the student team. This was her space, and it was all she wanted. Chloe did not want to dig, she did not care about names of temples and ancient figures, Chloe appeared unexceptional, she was disinterested in being exceptional, and she liked her calm, quiet, world exactly how it was. Uncomplicated.

That was all about to change, for that day even as she was overlooking a particularly beautiful golden urn that was a strong indication the team was digging very near an important reliquary, the ground suddenly shook.

“What in the…” Chloe remarked, concern spread across her features, which soon turned to alarm as the urn fell off the edge of the table and shattered. Chloe shouted, “NO!” and made only a halfhearted attempt to stop the relic falling, much too late to have done anything about it. “Oh darn!” Chloe huffed and stood up. She was going to have to report this, and that meant going outside to find the professor and let him know.

Chloe put on her sunscreen and a wide brimmed hat before venturing out. “Stupid earthquake,” she muttered darkly as the sun beat down on her, the heat like a heavy cloth but for once she found something to take her mind off it. There was a great deal of activity outside and everybody was moving toward the dig site so Chloe hurried along after them. When she got there she was spotted by Professor Diggle, who waved her over, “Chloe!” he said when she came near, “I want you to drop what you’re doing and follow Jeremy down into the antechamber…”

“Oh but I was just cataloging…” Chloe tried to put up as defense but the Professor cut her off.

“Nothing seems serious Chloe, but that rumble almost certainly means either a collapse down in the antechamber, or that something has been opened! We need a few people down there to check things out and ensure the students inside are safe. I know you like to hide away in the tents but every now and then even the ladies have to do some digging. Now get going,” he swatted her bottom, earning a bark of surprise and a wounded stare from Chloe who realized she had no choice in this.

She followed Jeremy down through the opening into the ruin. He was a handsome enough young man, and one of the few who didn’t treat Chloe poorly, so she counted herself lucky. She didn’t care about this kind of work, and no amount of prodding would make her care what rooms she was passing through, but this was where her father wanted her. She worried that Professor Diggle might be passing him status updates on her, as his recent letters seemed to all be recounting the excitement of the dig!

“He keeps doing that,” Jeremy noted, interrupting her thoughts, as they walked, “Slapping your bu... bottom… b-buttuck? I mean... you like that?”

“Well… no” Chloe answered sheepishly, “but there’s not a lot I can do about it if I want him to keep letting me catalog your finds.”

“I guess…” Jeremy replied uncertainly. The tall, somewhat handsome, dark haired man scratched his hair nervously, “you know it isn’t all bad down here. I think you’d like it more than you realize…”

“Well it iss cooler at least,” Chloe agreed reluctantly, noting that she liked how it wasn’t as hot underground. She glanced around and also noticed there was actually a lot of gold in the wall. Engravings and stories. Her ancient Egyptian was rough, but she could probably have put together a little bit of the writings if she tried. This was clearly a very important find… she reminded herself that she was supposed to count herself lucky to even be here. They passed a huge statue of Anubis a moment later and she felt obliged to say, “So… I guess this is actually a pretty important ruin?”

“Are you kidding me!?” Jeremy gaped at her, “Yeah it is… it’s a temple, we think, maybe a tomb as well, in worship to a goddess that we can’t even identify, because she doesn’t… belong in the books as far as we can tell.”

“Is she the one you guys keep referring to as just ‘Her?’” Chloe’s interest piqued up. Even secluded as she was, she couldn’t help hearing some of the excited whisperings of what her fellow students were up to.

“Yes,” Jeremy nodded, “and that’s because as close as we can translate her name, she is just ‘Her’ It’s exciting stuff. The writings… the etchings and scrolls we’ve found…”

“I don’t get any of those?” Chloe told him.

“Well you wouldn’t,” Jeremy winked at her, “You catalog artifacts, scrolls, writings and engravings go to people who specialize in that sort of thing,” Chloe’s ears turned red, Jeremy spared her further embarrassment though, “anyway, the way she’s written about, it reads less like Mythology and more like… reality… it’s all so exciting.”

“What like… she was a real person?” Chloe raised an eyebrow, she couldn’t help feel a little disbelief, “This goddess lady?”

“No… well… yes,” Jeremy nodded, “I mean some things read more like mythology obviously. They seemed to worship her as goddess of women, but also strength and courage, and of purity. She favored woman to tend her temples, elevated many. There’s evidence that Nefertiti herself visited to elevate herself in the eyes of this woman. She was like... the first feminist! You really should go talk to some of the guys looking over this stuff. It’s really interesting, and Diggle hates her.”

“A ‘Goddess’ of woman?” Chloe frowned, Jeremy was just about the only person she could have this sort of discussion with, yet she couldn’t help her disbelief, “Yeah and Ra was master of the sun wasn’t he,” the young woman shook her head, “I mean don’t get me wrong, she sounds like a real nice woman... for a fairy tale.” It was a nice idea though, Chloe had to admit, and maybe that was the point for these old Egyptian women? Chloe could appreciate the appeal of some all powerful woman making life easier for the other women of the era, particularly in an era where women were barely anything more than property. Chloe also bet that in the stories, no man ever dared slap ‘Her’ on the but! Chloe sighed, “like all of the rest, she was a fairy tale Jeremy.”

Shouting from ahead interrupted her thoughts, Jeremy and Chloe shared a glance before hurrying forward into an area of the ruin that she assumed by the jagged stone in the entryway, had only just fallen in. A respectable hallway lead toward a smallish room where their fellow students were waiting. The shouts, luckily, turned out to be whooping laughter up close, emanating almost disappointingly from a few celebrating students.

“Jeremy!” one of them called as they entered a clear reliquary, Chloe had to admit it beautifully adorned. The walls were pure gold, with ancient egyptian hieroglyphics etched from floor to ceiling, they were accompanied by images of a fire haired woman in white performing incredible acts of heroism and strength. Unlit torches were mounted to the walls, at the center of the room was a raised pedestal and on the pedestal a single urn. “Jeremy!” the student called out again excitably, “We found it! This has to be it!” he held his arm out toward the urn, “This has to be HER!”

“So much for divinity,” Chloe murmured quietly and nudged Jeremy's arm pointedly, but her cataloging mind was already ticking away at the urn. It did not, however, seem to be a burial urn to her at first glance. “Or maybe not…” She took a step forward.

“What do you mean?” Jeremy, who had seemed a little disappointed by the excited student’s claim that ‘Her’ remains were in the urn, perked back up.

“It just… um... doesn’t look like a burial urn to me,” Chloe answered.

“Oh what do you know girl!?” The student folded his arms, “all you do is…”

“Chloe catalogs all the stuff you find Brian,” Jeremy interrupted him before he could finish. Brian winced and unfolded his arms, “She’s probably seen a dozen burial urns. She knows what she’s talking about”

“Thanks,” Chloe smiled at Jeremy before she bent over the urn to examine it more closely. A very interesting piece, the urn was made of some sort of hard white opalescent stone she had never seen in an Egyptian tomb, an animal's bone from another country perhaps or else a mineral, polished and shining, held closed by golden bands with writing etched along them. She was no expert but she could sort of make out the writing, “It says something like ‘Herein’ she waits…” well crap, she thought, “I guess that sounds kind of like a burial urn…”

“Sure does!” Brian laughed out loud. Chloe didn’t realize this, but where she stood leaning over the urn, her bottom was jutting outward for the boys to see, and though Jeremy remained respectful, it proved to tempting a target for Brian who gave her rump a good hard swat.

“HEY!” Chloe snapped straight and hopped sideways away from the stinging slap.

“That’s for doubting darling,” Brian sniggered. Chole folded her arms and turned away from him… what a jerk! she thought, but she didn’t say it out loud. She didn’t want to argue.

“Brian what the he…” Jeremy was saying just as the room shuddered alarmingly. The ground shook, and the walls groaned. Chole’s eyes went as wide as they could go and she glanced sharply around. I should never have come down here! Chloe always knew she was going to die in some deep dark tomb collapse! Oh she just hoped her tombstone read ‘I told you so’ for her father to read! Just as suddenly however, the shaking halted.

“What was that?” Chloe asked, not quite able to keep the fear out of her voice, “We can still get out right!?”

“Relax,” Jeremy promised her, “It would have been louder than that if something caved in… I think… it almost sounded like…”

“something was opening?” Brian provided quizzically, “There was something like that just before the wall to this room collapsed.”

“Ancient doorways don’t just open,” Chloe sighed. The superstition in the room was getting just a little bit much even for her, and with her heart rate still thumping from the excitement she did have the energy to argue… just a little bit, “Any mechanics would just be too old… this room was walled off?”

“Yeah no door or anything, just bricked. Well we’d better go take a look around the main antechambers just to be su…” Brian was already walking back toward the reliquaries entrance but he froze in his step and shrieked, “Wh… wha… WHAT IS THAT!” Chloe watched as his eyes went wide and teared over. The room went cold as ice, it put the hairs on the back of her neck up. She followed his gaze toward the doorway and screamed.

Not fifteen feet away a cloth wrapped corpse stumbled their way. The wrappings were tattered and brown covering visible bits of decayed flesh beneath. It’s head, wrapped as the rest of the body, was thin and shriveled, defined like that of a skull while a flesh spattered skeletal jaw moved up and down, as though speaking, soundlessly.

Chloe’s reaction remained less quiet. She shrieked at the top of her lungs. So did Brian, and as others turned toward the doorway, they screamed also. The group of eight or nine students all seemed rooted in place, Chloe’s mind worked to try and make sense of things. Her second instinct after screaming was to assume this was a cruel joke… but as the thing drew closer it was just so decayed and rotten to look at she could actually define the beams of floodlight blaring through the wrappings at its midsection from the antechamber.

Noticed by all, the mummified remains opened its mouth wide and it’s shoulders shook while it uttered a monstrous howl. Chole felt warmth spread down her pant leg, she’d peed herself, but even that realization was so far down her list of concerns as to be laughable. She stumbled backwards away from the shout just as Jeremy and Brian’s own legs turned to run backward. Brian’s shoulder shunted her sideways toward the pedestal, Chloe’s arms flung out desperately to balance herself. She felt something hard, yet incredibly fragile shatter against her forearm. She had only a split second to glance and see that it was the urn she was striking before she pitched over passed the pedestal toward the floor, but not before something much much sturdier that she could not see seemed to lock around her wrist.

On contact with the second object she felt something like an electric shock pass through her body and finally Chloe struck the ground where she curled up and shivered in terror, awaiting her fate, to be killed by a vicious mummy! A real live mummy! It was worse than a cave in! So so much worse in fact that she couldn’t even get away with an ‘I told you so’ on her tombstone! There was a horrible silence next, and after what felt like an eternity, Chloe began to wonder if perhaps she had died already and was only slowly coming to terms with it!

“You are not dying frightened one,” Chloe heard a strong but clearly female voice ring out through the small room, “nor are you in immediate dire peril, yet should you lay there forever you may soon be.”

“Who's there!” Chloe gasped, pushing herself out of her curled up fetal position to stare around the room frantically… only to find it entirely empty. There was no mummy, but nor were there students or even a woman to whom the voice might belong.

“It is I of course,” the voice stated simply, “Tell me young lady, what ailment has befallen you that you are reduced to this… urine soaked trembling mass? It is neither dignified nor right. I would see the cause stopped for you and the injury redressed if I am able. Point me to the man responsible and I shall see him punished.”

“What?” Chloe sat up all the way and looked around the more carefully, but still she could find no one, in fact even the entry doorway seemed to be gone. She blinked back her confusion and asked, “Who are you? Where am I?”

“Who am I!?” the voice boomed, offended, “I am Femina of course, and you are acting rudely for a host to ask such questions!”

“Host?” Chloe’s adrenaline was coming down, as was her state of terror yet still she seemed only capable of short pointed questions. The entire situation had an air of unreality that didn’t sit well with her.

“Yes, my host, you have chosen to be my host haven't you? Is that not the Bracelet of Ascension upon your wrist?”

Chloe looked down at her wrist where she saw that wrapped around the thin appendage was a circular golden band with an emerald inlaid at the center, “Whoa!” Chloe gaped, “Where did that come from?”

“From the temple obviously!” the voice sounded very put off now, “in the urn? Is any of this penetrating that skull?”

The urn! Chloe had a vague recollection of… “Oh?” Chloe’s eyes widened, “I was knocked over, I think I… oh no I broke the urn! It was an accident though…” she dropped her head into her hands, “oh my professor is going to kill me… what am I thinking,” she slapped her forehead, “that Mummy is going to kill me first!”

There was a degree of silence in response to this before the disembodied voice announced, “I… see. So am I to take it then, that you… accidentally acquired the Bracelet of Ascension?”

“Is that what this is?” Chloe held up her wrist questioningly.

“I’ll take that to mean, yes,” the voice answered flatly.

“Hey where are you?” Chloe stood up off the ground and began to search the room. It appeared much like the reliquary chamber she had just come from, only as she had noted before there were no actual doors, just walls, and there was absolutely no one in the room with her, that was clear “am I going crazy? Did I die?”

“Relax, you haven’t died,” the voice offered soothingly, the annoyance gone, “and I am right here, looking at you, you cannot see me because this is not a physical place, but rather a place in your mind. You must concentrate on me and on who I am, I will take form once you do this.”

“Alright,” Chloe thought she might still be going insane, but it wouldn’t hurt to try something, “Just focus on you and on who you are…” she nodded, “right so… so who are you?”

“Oh dear,” the voice sighed, “You really do not know? We haven’t much time… the world is slowed in this space, it is not stopped, yet I see no way to avoid it. Please sit.” Chloe dropped down onto the ground and leaned back against the stone walls. “I am Femina. I am what your people would call a Goddess.”

“A Goddess?” Chloe’s suspicious face expressed just how much she believed that, “Like an Egyptian Goddess?”

“I am not Egyptian,” Femina assured her, “though my previous host, and her predecessors were, I am much older than Egypt, and I have nothing to do with their pantheon of animals, if it even exists. I cannot provide you with all the answer’s young lady… uh… what did you say your name was again?”

“I… I didn’t,” Chloe hugged herself. She didn’t want to be crazy. She had enough problems in her life already without adding insanity to the top of the list. This was beginning to be very distressing for her, “It’s Chloe.”

“Chloe, hmm, such a strange name,” the voice answered back before continuing her previous thought, “I cannot provide you with all the information Chloe, some of it is forbidden knowledge, some of it you would not understand, as you’ve clearly not been taught of me I shall try to be as clear as I can. I am the Goddess of Woman’s Empowerment.”

Chloe perked up a little bit. Maybe she was crazy… but at least her crazy was making a small sort of sense. “We were digging up a ruin,” she told the voice, “It was some kind of shrine to a goddess they called ‘Her,’ Jeremy said she was the Goddess of Women!”

“Not a shrine, a prison,” Femina told her, “but it is good you have at least some knowledge, it saves us time.” The voice seemed to sigh in resignation after saying this, “My prison is a ruin already. Has Egypt has fallen? How long have I been here?”

“Thousands of years,” Chloe answered. She bit her lip, “Um… I’m sorry… I guess.”

“Do not be, Egypt was a male dominated society that hated the very concept of me save the women I rescued from their indentured servitude,” Chloe could only gap at this brazen statement, she remained silent as Femina pressed on, “Though yes, they heard my name and their ears translated it to be ‘Her’ what did you hear?”

Chloe frowned, what was the goddess asking? “You mean… when you said your name?”

“Yes… I am an ancient species and neither of us speak each others language, but through the Bracelet our voices are passed to each other in words the other can understand. You, for instance, sound like an illiterate barbarian, yet far more eloquent than your predecessors.”

Chloe shook her head, dumbfounded. She decided to stop asking questions for now and to just go with it, “You called yourself ‘Femina.’”

“Oh, that is very close,” Femina sounded pleased, “Yes I am Femina, Goddess of Woman’s empowerment, of courage, and of Purity… among many less important aspects, I think weaving is among them… it doesn’t matter. It is my greatest task, and yours now that you wear the Bracelet, to safeguard and defend the women of this world, to uphold their rights and ensure their rank and privilege in society, and if the men can be helped at all I try not to begrudge them anything... they do make it so hard though.”

Chloe’s eyes widened still further. Femina was sort of like a superheroine of women! It sounded kind of… awesome to her. She very much liked the idea of Femina, even though Chloe was certain she had nothing to offer the Goddess as a Host, and of course there was also the fact she was probably just insane anyway… “Well we should probably get this Bracelet off of me and onto someone who can…”

“It won’t come off.” Femina assured her.

“What?” Chloe stood back up and stared nervously at the air, “what do you mean?”

“Now that you have adorned the Bracelet of Ascension Chloe, I’m afraid that we are bonded for the remainder of your life. There are certain dark rituals that might separate us… but none I dare say that should be beneficial to either our health, That is how it works.”

Chloe gapped at the air, “but… but I’m not capable of… of doing that stuff that you… that you need to do!”

“You are a woman Chloe,” Femina told her simply, “you are capable of anything you set your mind to, but fear not, it shall be I who shoulders the bulk of our task, not you. Please, can you be so kind as to provide me with form so that this conversation can be less… one dimensional?”

“Oh, yes,” Chloe nodded rapidly, “Sorry, I just got… distracted.” she shook her head to clear her thoughts and stared at the air. She focused on an area she figured the voice was near, and on what Femina had told her. She didn’t know what all to do at first, but the idea of Femina took root simply enough. A heroine for women, Chloe thought, She would have to be a Feminist Icon like nothing we’ve ever seen! Like a real life Wonder Woman or Power Girl!

In response to her thoughts, Chloe thought she saw something shimmering in the air before her. It was subtle at first but overtime it became more and more noticeable, “Don’t stop Chloe,” Femina prompted her, “It’s working!”

“Okay!” Chloe chirped and stood up from where she sat. It looked like all those years of ‘messing around’ with comic books was finally about to pay off! Chloe straightened her spectacles and thought very hard. The more she considered it the more certain she was that if Femina was telling her the truth, she was going to be a heroine for the ages. Strong, but sexy, the perfect Amazon warrior, someone every little girl could look up to and wish to be… An image took root in Chloe’s mind.

The shimmering before her suddenly flashed bright and from the light stepped out a woman of the likes Chloe had never seen. The girl’s mouth opened in quiet awe. Femina was adorned in a white leotard with matching boots and a pair of gloves beneath golden shoulder length armored bracers that matched a set of ornate shoulder guards. Slipped into Femina’s long brilliant crimson mane of hair was a golden tiara just like wonder woman, and pulled over her leotard a pair of golden panties. Chloe noticed last the modest shield shaped opening near the center of the goddess’s large, improbably buoyant breasts, and finally emblazoned on the leotards material at the midsection the ‘Female’ symbol blared proudly and, Chloe thought, powerfully in gold.

In fact, powerful, was exactly the word Chloe thought of in sight of the goddess. Femina’s outfit looked powerful, but the woman filling the uniform was just the beautiful amazon for the task. Her body appeared strong and athletic, but not at the expense of her feminine form. Femina’s powerful thighs were naked for Chloe to see, her long legs slimmed somewhat down the knee and shins. Her upper torso was only subtly broader than the totality of her hip and thighs, connected to her legs via a gentle hourglass frame, that seemed just deceptively slim enough were it not for the hint of musculature rippling just beneath the fabric of her outfit. Finally, she was utterly, unabashedly beautiful in that ‘exotic supermodel’ sense with high cheekbones a vaguely angular bone structure, with a pair of bright green eyes to offset that beautiful red hair. It put Chloe in mind once again of the engravings of the flame haired woman in white.

“Y-your beautiful…” Chloe all but whispered, “D-did I… I didn’t imagine all of… of this?” She swallowed thickly, “did I?”

The smile that spread across Femina’s features was soft and kind. The goddess walked calmly over to her and set her hands down atop chloe’s shoulders, “this form is a hybrid, much of it is as I was before, my features and physical traits, the rest was you.” She ruffled Chloe’s hair, “You have done well.” Chloe blushed at the praise, “Yet this is still all happening in your mind, and I fear I must asking something of you that many consider frightening.”

“Frightening?” Chloe asked, wilting under the severity in Femina’s gaze, what could Femina ask her that could be frightening?.

The goddess nodded, “You see, in order for this form to enter into your world, I must be allowed temporarily, to take control of you.”

Chloe’s eyes were at first uncomprehending, but slowly widened as what the goddess said began to clarify in her mind and she bleated, “You mean you’re going to possess me!?”

“That is the very term,” Femina nodded, oddly impressed, “You’re kind have made leaps and bounds linguistically since I last…”

“POSSESS ME!?” Chloe interrupted Femina’s digression urgently, “You want me to let you control me? To take my body away from me!”

“It is not ideal I admit,” Femina acknowledged.

“You’re… you’re G-god damn right it’s not!” Chloe threw back at the beautiful creature. It was hard for the girl just to swear at somebody. Chloe wasn’t a fighter by nature, but this was a frightening enough concept to bring out some fight from her, “Why would I ever allow you to do that!?”

“Right this moment,” Femina offered to her bluntly, “because a very bad man, wrapped by enchanted cloth, is very very slowly closing in upon you in the real world, and as you have acquired the Bracelet, he will no doubt seek to tear off your limbs and end your life to reclaim it.”

“Wh-what…” Chloe’s anger petered out and she once again stared like a frightened girl at the stone cold certainty in Femina’s voice.

“I told you before, this conversation is occurring inside your mind, and while reality is slowed in the state we are in, time can never be halted entirely. I also told you that this was not a temple, but a prison.”

“Y-yeah I think I remember… that,” Chloe nodded. She felt cold, and a nausea threatened to overcome her… except she realized she couldn’t barf because this was not reality… and the chill felt unnatural. Just like the unnatural chill that had swept the room immediately before she noticed the mummy. Timidly she asked, “You are a prisoner?”

“I was a prisoner,” Femina told her, “until you accidentally put on that Bracelet and free’d me. That ‘Mummy’ is my Jailer.

“So threatened were the men of Egypt of the strength in women that I represent, they concocted two mighty spells with which to subdue me. The first was to trap my spirit within the bracelet you now wear. One might say that it is cursed, my physical form was destroyed, but my spirit is eternal and they attempted to lock me away, but the women I had freed from tyranny rescued the amulet and for many generations a chosen woman would take the bracelet as their own and to, in a sense, become one with me. Together these brave women and I fought back against the tyranny of the men who did this to me.” Femina sighed and looked away.

“You… you’re trapped?” Chloe asked, taking a small step toward the goddess, whose shoulders had slumped. “For all this time…”

“Yes,” Femina nodded. She held a palm up to forestall further questions, “I know that you are frightened Chloe, it is not so terrible as it sounds, I promise you. Our consciousness’s shall remain our own, it is your body we shall share and you have my truest word that I would only take your form in dire moments where I am needed, and only ever with your permission.” She finally turned back to look Chloe in the eyes, those brilliant green jewels in Femina’s eyes seemed equal parts sorrowful and hopeful, “You will die if you do not try at least this once. I cannot fathom another thousand years of solitude in this place Chloe… and it would be harder still knowing that in this chance for freedom, my rescuer was slain for her trouble.”

The genuine tone in the goddess’s words halted Chloe’s attempts to somehow worm out of this, “I… I’ll die if I don’t… give up my body?” she asked, tears threatening to burst forth.

“I do not ask you to give it up,” Femina returned to where Chloe stood and put her hands back down on the girl’s shoulders, “only to lend it to me. So that I might save your life,” she kept perfect eye contact, Chloe couldn’t stop staring into her green eyes, “Chloe, that mummy has been my jailer for a thousand years while I was powerless to do anything to stop him. Given form I will decimate him utterly, save your life and the lives of the others he would surely destroy, and all it shall cost you will be a few minutes of control, during which you will know what it feels like to be a goddess, I am told it is not an unpleasant experience.”

Femina made it sound reasonable somehow… like just giving up control was the right thing to do… but then she was a prisoner in this place, and while her words sounded honorable, there was still a nugget of doubt in Chloe she couldn’t shake, “but…” Chloe asked, a fearful tear trickling down her cheek, “H-how do I know I can trust you? Y-you said he’s your Jailer? M-maybe he wants t-to protect me?”

“I’m so sorry that this has befallen you Chloe,” Femina’s features dropped to see so much fear in the girl. Shortly after Chloe felt herself swallowed up into a hug, “I have no way to prove my words to you are true in the state that I am in. Only by action can I do that, but I can offer this in my defense.” Chloe couldn’t help but sink into the goddess’s embrace, for as dangerous as it might be, it was comforting. Her head laid pillowed against Femina's impressive bust, and the goddess appeared unashamed to allow her to do so, “I am the embodiment of all women’s strength. I exist to protect you, and my power is your power. My beauty, is the beauty of us all entrusted to me. That creature out there is corrupt power, power thrust into a greedy selfish man willing to twist himself into the monster you saw that he could live forever, his sole purpose to suppress me and the power I represent. You must decide which of us to trust. That decision, at least, must be yours.”

Chloe was silent a great while in the wake of Femina’s impassioned plea. This was entirely outside of Chloe’s nature to do, but she was trapped, trapped with no way out but this choice. She took a long deep breath, and took the first extraordinary step she had ever taken, “What must I do?” She asked.

Femina pulled away from the embrace just slightly, tapped Chloe’s nose and said, “There you are Chloe,” she said, “braver than you thought you were? This is what you have to do…”

(Part two 'Of Power and Weakness' coming soon.)

Quick warning, I intended for all internal thought monologues and dialogues to be in italics, which is how I wrote it up on Google Docs. The formatting does not copy paste over to the forum so I have to do it all manually here once I'm done, I apologize if I miss any of them and if that causes any small confusion or inconvenience while reading.

Part Two - Of Power and Weakness

“Ugh….” Chloe moaned as she came to. Her head throbbed where her it lay upon the ground, she guessed that maybe she hit her head. The shattered remains of the urn were sprinkled around her arm and when she raised her head she noted that all of her fellow students lay nearby, their eyes closed peacefully. Oh my god, she thought in horror, are they dead?

No Chloe, she heard Femina’s voice inside her head, The mummy Tukantep has put them to sleep with an ancient spell. You may recall he shouted at you just before you fell and lost consciousness? My spirit joining with yours has brought you back to wakefulness, but you must hurry and do as I told you before he has the chance to make you sleep again! I cannot protect you or anyone else until I take form.

“O-okay,” Chloe didn’t have the wherewithal yet not to say the word aloud, she got up to her feet and stumbled on wobbly legs and grabbed for the pedestal as support. When she rose up high enough to see over the stone square, she spotted the Mummy observing her from the room’s entrance.

“You have woken?” He surprised her by speaking. His voice hissed like grating sand, “You who has broken my slumber? You who would free the Bitch Goddess! It shall not be allowed” He took a deep breath.

Hurry Chloe! Femina called.

Chloe gulped and did what she had to do. She stood spastically, facing the mummy as solidly straight as she could. She pressed both of her legs together, puffed out her chest and finally held both arms up while flexing like she was a contestant in a strongwoman contest. The skinny young woman couldn’t fathom how utterly ridiculous she looked, it was just how Femina showed her to do it, but she felt ridiculous... and she was definitely crazy to be trying this out in front of a mummy that wanted to kill her. Her nerves overcame her, the sight of the mummy terrified her, and she only stuttered the first word of the Power Phrase as Femina taught her, “F-em- Femina…”

The Mummy’s breath hitched without much sound, he seemed to gape at her for the longest time before his shoulders loosened and his belly shook, uttering the most horrific, rumbling chortling sound like cruel laughter Chloe might ever have heard in her life, “Femina?” It asked, “You must be truly desperate to call on this pathetic child!” It took a step toward her, “You seem ready to wet yourself again? Do you truly believe you can be empowered child? Her last host was ten times the physical specimen you are!”

Oh… oh god… Chloe felt her resolve crumbling. She could not do this!? This was insane! Power Poses? Power Phrases? This was all crazy!

Do not listen to him Chloe, Femina urged her, you’ve already taken the power pose, all you need do is speak the phrase! I shall do the rest for you! You can do this, I believe in you!

Chloe was not unconscious and frozen in her mind any longer, this felt real, this all felt tangibly real… and yet she could still hear Femina’s voice? The goddess claimed to believed in her, and her fellow students needed her to do this. Chloe took several quick frightened breaths while the mummy took another step nearer to her. Finally, seeing no other option, unsure of herself and terrified, Chloe shut her eyes tight and shouted in a high pitched shriek, “FEMINA BY YOUR RAY OF LIGHT! EMPOWER ME WITH MAIDEN’S MIGHT!”

Chloe’s body burst with light.

“What!?” the Mummy, Tukantep howled disbelievingly, he drew his hand up to shield his wrapped eyes as though the light burned them.

“Oh!” Chloe gasped, she felt a warm rush of energy pass through her, her body tingled just beneath the skin while she felt herself… changing. She could actually feel herself grow almost a foot taller, she felt her muscles, breasts, hips and thighs all tightening as they grew into the heroic uniform she earlier imagined into existence for Femina. Chloe was becoming stronger and even her blood seemed to surge with raw power. Finally, her consciousness slipped back inside of herself, at the same time Femina came forward. They closed their blue eyes for a single moment together as one.

Rest easy Chloe, Femina told her, and see now the fulfilment of the trust you have shown me. Femina opened her green eyed gaze and glared toward the mummy with pure venomous hatred. She spread her legs while dropping her hands down onto her hips, her head tilted just perceivably his way, although her head was held high as if he were fully beneath her notice. She was no longer skinny little Chloe Masters, no longer a powerless vulnerable mortal. She was Femina, goddess and paragon of women's empowerment, champion of the goddesses of Purity, and as far as her foolish ancient Egyptian enemy was concerned, the greatest enemy of mankind. “Tukantep,” she spoke clearly and proudly, “for the murder of the women of the Queendom you destroyed to imprison me, and by the right of all the women in this world, I shall see you punished for your crimes against humanity!!”

Tukantep did not immediately respond except to flex his fingers into fists and back again. He took a long wheezing breath in his empty rotted chest and actually had the audacity to laugh. Femina’s teeth ground together furiously at the sound. When he stopped laughing, Tukantep pointed a finger down in front of him and said, “Take your place and kneel like a good woman Femina, and I may spare you further humiliation. Do you not recall that when last we fought, It was I who put you into the Bracelet?” He snorted, “Do you not recall that in your magnificent host you were twice your current size? You were my match then, and I deposed you! This host is a shadow of your past, you are more woman now than god!”

Wait what? Chloe asked her from within, did he just say… that he defeated you before!?

Femina flushed, both from Tukantep’s words and from Chloe’s reaction. The… admittedly embarrassing reminder of her shameful defeat at this beast's hands was less than a welcome one! It changed nothing however, and he knew also which of them was the superior being! She was a goddess, empowered and righteous, while he was a necromancer's tool!

With tricks and magics no longer at his disposal he defeated me, Femina promised her host, and for no reason else! This creature is despicable and I feel no fear of him! She dropped her hands from her waist and let them hover near her sides, “I’m willing to risk that you have little of the magic of your master's remaining to you in this age Tukantep. If you wish to defeat me again, you will have to do so with fist and steel, the element of surprise is no longer yours. Where it comes to a battle of might between us we, both know who shall be victorious!”

Femina’s empowered legs flexed as she bent them downward only to spring upward in a mighty forward leap. She all but sailed the distance, landing to stand proud in the very spot where the mummy pointed for her to kneel. “Naturally,” she said, “We reject your offer.” Tukantep raised his arms but well before he could defend himself, Femina slammed her fist into his chest. The impact sent him sailing backwards and straight out the reliquary entryway into the passageway beyond. “Did you enjoy that Tukantep!” She shouted after him, “How does the combined might of every living woman in the world treat you?”

While not in control of her limbs any longer, Chloe was actually experiencing everything that was happening as though she were the one doing it. It was a strange but still unquestionably thrilling experience to feel her own arms put so much power into a punch like that, and she watched through Femina’s eyes with silent awe as the attack threw the monster a dozen feet away. Oh yeah, she would have been grinning ear to ear if she could, after witnessing that feat of strength Chloe wasn’t even concerned about the monster’s posturing, go get him Femina!

“With pleasure,” Purred women's champion. Femina straightened her tiara before she stalked out into the hallway, her powerful legs crisscrossing confidently, she took her time and reveled in once again having form and the power to make a difference, just to let him know how little he frightened her.

Tukantep got back up onto his feet . As Femina approached he realed his arm backward and threw a lumbering punch at her which she simply allowed to crash into her side. The effect produced almost no reaction from Femina whatsoever except that her body jostled the tiniest fraction of distance on impact. Tukentep paused, then looked up into her eyes, she quirked a malicious grin, “My turn?” She asked him and followed the statement up with a high kick to Tukantep’s chops. The blow flipped him over backward and out another ten feet, on landing he rolling out the hallway and into the antechamber. “You murdered the women I swore to protect!” She snarled at him. Her righteous fury came with her as she stormed after him.

Tukantep stumbled up to his knees, “They were… weak…” he began to say, “I only…”

Before he could finish Femina was caught up with him, she grabbed him by the throat and hurled him still farther away before he could so much as mount a defense. The goddess of empowerment threw him in an incredible twenty foot arc leaving Chloe marveling further. Femina was just so so strong and powerful! Chloe never even imagined anything like it, not from another woman… not even from a man, and certainly not from the mummy! The creature only further demonstrated the disparity between them when he struggled just to lift up one of the archaeological flood lamps angled up at the statue of Anubis to swing in his defense. They were in separate leagues!

Femina was not at all so enamored with herself though, her anger with Tukantep was all encompassing, righteous wrath incarnate, “Your masters destroyed an entire city of people Tukantep! Solely out of fear of a world equal with women! I only wish they were here that I could punish them alongside you!”

Tukantep swung his flood lamp at her. With pinpoint reflexes, Femina deflected the blow against her bracers, caught hold of the end of his impromptu weapon, then swung it in an arc over her head. Their stubborn enemy refused to let go, and wound up riding the end of the flood lamp for the entire maneuver, ending with his face smashing into the stone floor. He did finally let go of the flood lamp on impact, Femina then tossed the item aside.

“Equal!? Heh... That’s funny,” Tukantep groaned as he again managed to pick himself up. If there was anything almost as impressive as Femina’s strength, Chloe had to admit it was the Mummy’s ability to remain in one piece despite his frail appearance. Femina advanced relentlessly, he backed away as quickly as he was able, keeping some distance between them while saying, “You’re idea of ‘equality’ was male subservience! You were so enamored with yourself and your precious women, that you were always blind to the fact that you are just like the rest of the power hungry men of the empire, save for one small detail.”

“Oh?” Femina asked, not at all swayed by his words. They were self righteous lies, the delusions of Ancient Egyptian patriarchy, but she had not quite caught up with him yet so she asked, “and in what way do you believe that is?”

“You are a woman,” Tukantep’s skeletal jaw almost seemed to grin, “and you’re as soft as one! GAK!” Femina grabbed him one more time by the scruff of the bindings around his neck, lifted him high off the ground with her peerless strength and slammed him into the base of the statue of Anubis, he choked out his next words, “You could never make the tough decisions, You could not sacrifice!”

This guy is a total jerk… Chloe said, I mean seriously what’s his deal!?

He was a man, Femina answered her, and all men are corrupt in the throws of their power!

With the sensation of so much power coursing through her, Chloe was more exuberant than she could ever recall, even though she wasn’t in control she was enjoying herself, and enjoying Femina dominating the chauvinistic mummy creep… she didn’t know what she thought about all men being corrupt if they were powerful, but maybe that was a discussion for another time, I think you’ve listened to this man long enough! She told the mighty goddess, Give him hell Femina!

“Tukantep,” Femina hissed, her teeth were clenched so tightly they might have shattered were she any other woman. He was utterly powerless against her now, they both knew it. If he had any of the old magics left he’d have used them already, the ages must also have sapped much of the strength he’d possessed when his wrappings were still new, “This, soft, woman is stronger than you, smarter than you, and braver than you. I am your superior in every way. You could make it no clearer as you had to do this to yourself,” she indicated his wrappings and decayed frame, “to match my power for even the most insignificant fraction of eternity, and now Tukantep, this soft woman is going to destroy you.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously, the sparkling green gems practically threatening to burn a hole in his forehead her gaze was so hot, “any last flippant remarks? One for the road? Or shall you see sense?” She had to offer, vengeance was not the way of the Goddesses of Purity, “I will give you this one chance to beg forgiveness, but you had damn well better mean it!”

“Oh just one final chance to lick the Feminist witch's boots?” Tukantep asked. Femina scowled and tightened her grip on his throat. Give me an excuse you arrogant bastard, she thought angrily, hopefully even, any reason at all! Tukantep’s body slackened and calmed in the face of what perhaps he knew to be his imminent demise, “Yes of course I know all of this, my dear Femina,” He admitted at last, “I am old, and rotted, for power taken comes with great cost and sacrifice but still it must degrade over time,” he sighed, “My time is nearly passed.”

“Hmph,” Femina was surprised. At least he was not completely mad! “Good of you to notice, shall I take this as your sur…”

“But,” Tukantep interrupted her, his wrapped eyes seemed to hone in on her this time, and she felt his gaze even if she could not see it, “Power born, such as yours, while beautiful and pure and immortal comes with a cost all its own… which clearly you have forgotten over your long imprisonment,” Femina frowned at him, trying to work out his meaning. She had waited so long in this terrible place for Chloe to rescue her, that some of her memories were, in fact, drifted farther than they ought to be, so his next words to her came as both shock… and reminder. his jaw twisted with sickening hate and he hissed, “Weaknesses!”

Great Goddess! Femina’s muscles went rigid and tense, What does he know? Tukantep drew back his fist. Femina did not understand what he intended to do with it but she pushed with her arm to raise him higher off the ground and in so doing played right into his scheme, for suddenly his knee snapped out, it passed squarely through the center crevice of the Paragon of Might’s thighs and impacted into her most sacred of body parts, striking her Goddess Temple.

“NOOOOUUUHHHHH!!” Femina’s threw her head back and cried out in pain. Nearly invulnerable, Femina could endure pain with greater ease than even any one of her sister goddesses, there was only one chink in that endurance, and somehow Tukantep had known! Pain lanced her sex and spread up through her womb like an impact crater. The effects were instant. She dropped the mummy, both her arms drew inward so that her palms could cup at her throbbing maidenhood. Femina’s knees nearly buckled but she just managed to remain standing.

AAAHHHH! Femina heard Chloe’s voice through their connection very distantly, Oh my god it hurts! It HURTS! It hurts so bad Femina what did he do to us?

Femina did not currently possess the mental fortitude or inclination to respond. Her vision swooned while her powerful blood surged within her in desperate attempt simply to sooth her pain and keep her standing. As her body slowly recovered, Tukantep began to walk a circle around her, “‘Of the Goddesses of Purity,’” he spoke as though preaching to the congregation, “'First of creation, whose skin shall not break, and who shall have endurance to pain like no other,'” He reached out and seized her by her hair, “'save only their most sacred of temples, from where her power flows strongest!'”

“Oh…. oh no…” Femina moaned, the fingers of her hand began to wrestle with his hand where it graped her hair, while the other remained desperately in motion, rubbing and massaging her own burning thighs desperately to cool the pain. He was quoting a passage that he could never possibly have known. Ancient texts known only to the Goddesses of Purity themselves! “Ugh…. Tukantep I… I shall not let you…. Ngh…. uuuunnnnghhhh!” she doubled over again as her very womb seemed to throb within her, the aftershock of the blow was nearly as powerful as the blow itself. She only remained standing this time for Tukantep’s painful hold on her fiery red hair.

“Soft woman!” Tukantep snarled, He pulled her back upright, “For a thousand years you have slept oh Goddess, but my masters did not. They have learned more of you, identified you, discovered all your secrets! Woman’s Empowerment?” He snorted, “You are merely Mankind’s to conquest!”

The blow was stunning, but only temporarily. Of all her weaknesses Tukantep knew only the least consequential! Femina felt sure of it, he could not know any more than this! He could not possibly have read anymore of the sacred texts! She simply would not accept that! She clenched her fists and through sheer force of will pushed the pain to the back of her mind and swung out at him with her right arm which Tukantep easily caught, gripping tightly to her bracer at the forearm, so she punched at him with her free arm This time her fist shattered into his ribcage before he could stop her… the undead beast quickly reached inside himself however and gripped the bracer around her left forearm. It was then that she realized her mistake. The painful blow to her neathers had temporarily weakened her. In this moment she was not drastically stronger than him, it was a moment that would soon have passed except… “Great Goddess!” She whispered, turning wide, frightened eyes to where her right arm was captured, and then to her left.

Femina!? What’s wrong! It was Chloe again, the girl already sensed by Femina’s heightened anxiety that something was terribly wrong, but once again it was Tukantep who answered.

“'And the goddess of Empowerment shall be gifted the Bracers of Privilege,'” he quoted, “'which shall never be broken or damaged by any weapon,'” his grinning jaw, once simply a disgusting factoid to the goddess, now seemed terrifying for the words it spoke, and the knowledge he should not possess, “'but know also that should these bracers be bound or else held long by her enemy, privilege shall be forfeit and she shall be as one strengthless, until such a time as she can free them of her own power and break her restriction!'”

WHAT!? Chloe demanded, their heart rate was pounding and as far as she was concerned it was a wash between whose anxiety was the cause, Why would you even WANT something like that!?

Chloe please! Femina struggled and strained to loosen her arms from his grip. She was only weakened by her foes low blow, not defeated! If she could just free one of her arms there was still a chance, but it was a difficult enough task without Chloe asking her so many questions! My bracers are indestructible! They protect me from any weapon which might otherwise be capable of doing me harm! She wrenched with all her might… and earned some leeway from the Mummy, she was still stronger than he was and began to pull backwards step by step, but she was no longer so strong as to wrench easily free. Tukantep multiplied the issue by stepping with her rather than resisting, No! Chloe I need to concentrate! I have to get free! SOON!

“Ngh… unnghhh!” Femina groaned intermittently as she dedicated all the strength she had left to reclaiming even just one of her arms. She planted a boot firmly on the mummy’s midsection, intending to use his body as further leverage. She was sure that she could get enough strength in this way to guarantee her release.

Unfortunately, Femina did not account for his dilapidated form. Her boot pushed right through the wrappings and got caught in the dry skeletal remains within, “Noooooo!” she wailed. Tukantep’s chest heaved with cruel laughter. With her foot now stuck, Femina could not even pull away. She was simply too imbalanced to glean any sort of leverage! Great Goddess… She thought, for the first time in a great great while, Femina felt the stirrings of fear building in her chest, I cannot break free! I’ll be completely in his power!

“So this is the offense the great embodiment of women's empowerment brings to me after all these years?” he chortled, “Pathetic!” He began to pull her arms inward toward one another, and to her horror she discovered she could not stop him.

“Stop!” Femina cried. She still pulled with all her might, but with each passing moment the champion of purity felt her arms growing more and more weary. Her strength was beginning to desert her, allowing him to make greater and greater progress towards his goal, inching her bracers nearer and nearer to each other, both warriors all too aware that once he succeeded her fate was all but sealed, “Stop!” she cried again, her voice no longer tinged with anger or hatred was only terrified, “Please! You musn’t! I cannot be imprisoned again!” Tukantep remained silent, unmoved by her plea, and at last a loud clang much greater than should have sounded rung out through the temple as her bracers clashed together. Privilege turned to restriction and at once Femina was completely powerless.

“Oh,” Femina moaned. Her entire body shuddered terribly. She felt the unnatural cold surrounding the undead man for the first time prickling at her skin. Her mighty thighs quivered and her knees buckled, she collapsed so that she was knelt before him, both arms high above her where he held them still. The threads of wrapping around Tukantep’s hands zipped out magically and bound around her bracers seemingly of their own accord until they were completely secured together. Only then did he let them go.

The disempowered goddess swooned in place, threatening to topple over any which way until Tukantep decided to help her along. He planted his boot at the window in her leotard where the teasing glimpse of her divine breasts were revealed then he kicked her away. “Oof!” she cried, falling over backwards where she lay spreadeagled.

Tukantep again circled the weakened goddess, staring down at her trembling feeble form with hatred and desire, “Such arrogance you possess Femina,” he told her, “and such weakness! This is your rightful place! Do you not feel it? Is it not better to just… surrender?”

“Gnghh!” Femina groaned. Her chest heaved desperately as she tried to fuel some strength, any strength at all into her powerless limbs. The goddess pushed up on her bound palms from the ground, groaning mightily with effort, but before her chest rose even a couple of inches her muscles spasmed and she dropped back to the ground, panting hungrily for breath.

“You were always powerless to escape this place Femina. It was brave of you to try, but we were ready for you,” Tukantep leaned down and rolled the helpless goddess over.

“Get away,” Femina whimpered fretfully, she tried to squirm away from his touch, “D-don’t touch me!” Her pleas again went unheard, Tukantep lifted her into his arms like one would hold a baby. Femina’s chest rose and fell sharply with greater panic. She could hardly believe her predicament. In this position she was free to look down at herself. Her naked thighs felt cold where his arms supported them, and bound as they were her arms rested over the proud female sigil of her costume. It was not an emblem that any of her previous hosts had imagined for her… but it had felt right to her. Chloe had done so well… and now it only felt like a greater weight against her, a symbol only of her failure. I can’t believe this is happening, she thought miserably, head hanging as much from shame as exhaustion, it was simply too much to bear! I can’t believe he defeated me...

Femina!? Chloe’s voice finally broke through to her. Now that the excitement was over, even weakened as she was, Femina could hear her host again. Femina can you hear me!? Femina I… I feel like… I feel so weak!

The goddess’s eyes closed, she was ashamed by the words her host spoke. I’m so sorry Chloe, I knew… I… I did not wish to frighten you…

Well I’m frightened! Chloe fired right back, Mission failed! I am frightened as hell!

I’m so sorry… Femina told her again. She felt tears welling up behind her eyelids. How could things have gone so wrong? How could she have failed Chloe like this? The only thing thse could think to lobby in her defence was what she had been ignorant of at the start of the battle, I cannot imagine how he discovered my weaknesses. You have to believe me, he should never have known! I can’t believe he knew!

Tukantep shifted Femina’s dead weight in his arms and changed his hold on her so that her belly was bent over his shoulder. Femina thought it humiliating enough that she was incapable of fighting the shift at all, but the mummy proved himself ever the master of her distress as he then supported the hold by wrapping his arm around her large thighs and the other he rested over her fit round buttucks, which he helped himself to spank once hatefully.

“Mmmpphmmm!” Femina muttered through pressed lips, not wishing for him to hear her cries of protest as they would only entice him further. It did her little good, he spanked her again, and then again, earning more and more muffled squeals of protest until he slapped her buttuck one last time very very hard. “AAAAHHHH!” She cried aloud, her ruby red lips finally parting.

“Was that so hard?” Tukantek asked her mercilessly. He did not spank her again, but he proceeded to group and squeeze her firm butcheaks at his leasure. The first of Femina’s humiliated tears leaked down her eyelashes and dripped down toward the ground.

Great Goddess, please no more! Femina prayed mournfully, Oh I wanted so much to protect you Chloe, to protect everyone... but now I’m just a helpless prisoner… again.

So protect me then! Chloe urged her desperately, He… he took your super strength right? Um… um do you have any other powers? You can still fight him… somehow, can’t you? Please tell me you can! I don’t wanna die here!

No, Femina answered, I am highly durable, but where it comes to offense I rely on my incredible strength and fighting ability. I… I could not do battle with a kitten in this state. The only other tool I even possess is… Femina’s eyes widened. Renewed hope and vigor filled her chest, even if strength did not, Oh Chloe you’re a genius!

Whatever it is just DO it!

Femina pushed Chloe from her thoughts again. Chloe was right, and while Femina had no strength right now, she wasn’t totally powerless after all! She still had one more tool in her arsenal, the only trouble was, in order to accomplish the task she could not speak the words or she risked Tukantep stopping her. She needed to make the incantation silently, which meant shutting out the fact that Tukantep’s fingers were inching further and further down her bottom and inward toward her thighs.

Shut it out! Shut it out Femina, you can do this, she opened her watery eyes and then she opened her hands in front of her focusing as hard as she could on the space between them, then she thought the incantation as clearly and powerfully as she could manage, Oh fates hear now the maid of might, I need my ring to make this right!

The spell worked! A ring of small sparkling lights sputtered into existence between her hands. Femina curled her fingers around them just before they solidified into a golden chakra, her gloves protected her from cutting herself, but she was willing to bet that no matter how powerful the mummy through himself, she could cut through his wrappings!

Thank you Chloe, Femina offered silent thanks before she slid the blade of the chakra across the mummy’s wrappings. The weapon cut them like butter and in an instant her arms were freed! Femina very briefly considered attacking him right then and there with her Chakra… the weapon was her last resort, her most sacred gift with a terrible power… one not easily used even on her most dangerous enemies… No, she thought, It is too cruel.

“This is not the end Tukantep!” Femina shouted instead, she reached around with her free arm, took hold of his scalp and heaved with all her strength. She was still weak, but with her strength returning, her tug was enough to pull them both overbalance. Tukantep spilled over backwards. Femina was more prepared for the fall, and with her legs and ass now loose, she easily tucked in her shoulder and managed a roll forward to complete freedom, finishing the maneuver in a kneeling stance that was facing away from the mummy.

As much as she wanted to turn around and stamp his face in, Femina knew that she was still too weak, too vulnerable. She needed to retreat, and then come back at him with her full might, so she surged up onto her feet and began to sprint down the hallway. It was only now that she realized Tukantep was carrying her back into the reliquary where she had rested imprisoned for so many centuries. Never again! She swore to herself.

“Don’t think this means you’ve won Tukantep!” Femina shouted as she ran, “When I return for you I’ll UUUGHHHH!!!” Before she could finish her sentence a long stream of mummy wrappings coiled snugly around her relatively trim waist jerking her to an unexpected halt. “What in creation!” she gasped and looked back over her shoulders. The mummy had risen back to his feet but had not given chase, instead the wrappings capturing her waist seemed to originate from Tukantep’s midsection, somehow he had fired them at her, and ensnared her waist and in a sense, leashing her to him! I didn’t know he could do that!

“You aren’t escaping Femina,” Tukantep told her. The goddess raised her Chakra high and planned to cut the wrappings off her at the stem but she was not fast enough. Tukantep thrust his right hand forward and a string of wrappings sprung forth, coiling around her wrist.

I have to stop this! Femina realized urgently, but before she could do more than think the words she felt her left arm similarly captured. Just as suddenly both her arms and her waist were dragged backwards. She grunted from the sudden jarring force and her boots traced a long scraping trail in the dust laden hallway while she found herself swiftly pulled backward toward Tukantep like a fish on a line, “UNGHHH!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” The goddess shouted but although she tried to halt herself she had no purchase or leverage with which to do so. Her back finally slapped up against the mummy’s chest stopping her backward movement, he gripped one of her bracers in each hand. In so short a time, Woman’s champion had gone from captive, to hopeful, to captive again!

Her situation was worse even than she realized. Femina noticed her Chakra laying on the stone floor far ahead where she had been ensnared. It struck home just how dire her predicament was in that moment, I… I dropped it! I dropped my greatest weapon! She began struggling wildly to pull her arms or waist away. She had some of her super strength back now, perhaps it would be enough.

“I will not be made helpless again Tukantep!” Femina raged, She pulled her arms forward and to her relief she felt the motion tugging her foe’s arms with them. She was still stronger than he was… if only for a moment. She just needed to think of something to do with that! Some way to use her strength to break free! “When I get out of this Tukantep I’ll UNNNGHHHH!!!!!”

The bindings around Femina waist suddenly constricted tightly, cutting Femina off mid sentence. The coils synched down on her with such force as to push the air from her lungs and temporarily double her vision, if not for her invulnerability he might even have cracked her ribs. “Silence woman,” Tukantep told her, “I have no more patience for that flippant tongue of yours!”

Femina sighed with relief once the coils loosened. As the dizziness passed she was left speechless. Her torso felt as though it had just been tenderized by a champion warrior! It took her several moments to refill her lungs with air, but once she could speak again, which she did defiantly, “Oooh…” she moaned, “I-if you think that’s g-going to stop me, think agaAAAIIIIIGHHH!” Again the mummy's wrappings constricted, even more tightly. Femina had thought herself prepared for another round, she was mistaken. Her fingers scrabbled desperately at the cloth wrapped around her waist in the last desperate moments before Tukantep’s hold on the Bracers of Privilege siphoned the last of her super strength.

“Uh uh oooooooooh…” Femina’s body finally slumped in his coils. Her vision began to darken, but thankfully the wrappings loosened the instant after her powers failed her, unwinding from her waist entirely and the darkness faded, but the effects of lethargy lingered. The Goddess’s arms were then forced up and over her head. For the second time in so many minutes Femina heard the mighty clang of the Bracers of Privilege as they were forced together and restricted. Tukantep’s wrappings unwound from each of her armored forearms individually before they worked to again bind them together.

“No… oh no n-not... again,” Femina whimpered, shaking her crimson mane in denial. Her fair skin was rosy red. Shame and embarrassment filled her utterly. For the second time in a single day she was helpless. For the second time, she had failed.

(To be continued in Part Three - The Greater Struggle)

Part 3 : The Greater Struggle

The situation was not looking good for Femina. As the champion Goddess of Woman’s Empowerment, it was her duty and honor to protect the innocent women of the world, to ensure their rights and privileges, and to right the great imbalances that plagued the Earth. But when she arrived on mortal soil, she found naught but dizzying patriarchal empires spread out across the lands. For ages she fought against the tyranny of man, and for ages she had triumphed with only incremental progress until one day, fearful she might awake the might of their own women, the leaders of the Egyptian empire schemed to entrap Femina, and buried her for thousands of years beneath the desert sands, where one day she vowed to be free, and to set right all that had gone wrong in her absence.

Sadly, Femina was not off to a great start.

So dizzy, Femina thought where she now lay helpless upon the stone floor of the long passageway between the buried temples antechamber, and the reliquary prison where she had spent nearly a thousand years trapped within, mustn't… faint. Lethargy set in, but even so Femina was not so out of it as to lose track of her cruel conqueror, the misogynist weapon of her ancient enemies, the mummy Tukantep, who even now bent over her legs. The goddess had only a second to wonder at what he was doing before she felt the coils of his wrappings tether around her ankles. “No! Get away!” She cried before kicking at him with her once mighty legs, “You cannot bind me!” Yet he could, and they both knew it. Despite her struggles her ankles were soon tied up snugly, He soon treated her powerful thighs to the same binding before he lifted her into his arms at her back and under the knee, cradle carrying the living embodiment of Woman’s might in his unworthy hands!

“You are bound,” the despicable creature told her, his jaw twisting into that evil, sick grin she so detested. He was clearly enjoying himself, his mummy wrapped eyes seemed eager enough to drink in the captive maiden, his head never turned upward to watch where he was going, “His grace would find you tempting this way,” he told her mildly, “Savage, beautiful Femina, gift wrapped for his enjoyment.”

“Filthy Male!” Femina snarled at the mummy and wrenched her gaze away from him, only to find herself staring down the passageway into the far wall of her reliquary prison, Tukantep was carrying her that way. She detested the sight, it filled her with fear and anxiety like no room should ever have been able to affect a Goddess. She dared not look back at her captor however lest she give him the satisfaction of witnessing her teary green eyes, so she was forced to idly observe as they drew nearer and nearer to her ancient jail cell. She simply could not bear the shame of this. For though her words were harsh her thoughts were less brazen,How could this happen to me?

“If only he could see you now,” Tukantep was still droning on about his ‘great’ masters, “but alas my duty is clear. You shall be prepared for the ritual. You shall be separated from your host, she shall be destroyed, and you shall be returned to your prison to wait out eternity.” He spat a guttural grunting bark of annoyance, "Such a waist. Would that you could simply accept your place Femina, you would have an honored place kneeling at Pharaoh's side."

Femina dared not speak, lest her voice crack. She would never allow this beast to hear his victory in her own voice! Her blood boiled to be so mistreated by a man, but with her bracers bound, and her chakra lying discarded too far away to make a difference, she felt the totality of the weight of his declaration. This man, this mere shadow of a man, was making a habit of utterly humiliating her!

Femina was carried back into the reliquary where the student excavation team still slumbered within, completely ignorant of the failed struggle for their fates which had just occurred. Femina saw them first and while there were more men among them than women she could not simply stand by while innocent lives were at risk… even the men. She swallowed her pride and asked in as strong a voice as she could muster, “what will you do with these people?”

“The temple shall be cleansed of them,” Tukantep answered, his words like the sealing of fate.

“You would murder them?” Femina gasped, “for what crime! They have only found this place in the interest of preserving history! As ambassador of an empire that sought so hard to be remembered as to construct gaudy monuments of your greatness, you aught be pleased by this!”

“This temple was not meant to be found,” the mummy shook his head, He released Femina’s legs which swung down to find purchase on the ground, she doubted that with her bracers bound she could have remained on her feet save that she was supported by his arm under her shoulders. Tukantep then waved his hand over the pedestal that once housed her bracelet and spoke an incantation.

The grating sound of stone against stone screeched through the chamber, the pedestal began to slide downward into the ground, while in tandem, up around it rose a wide stone rectangular dias just wide enough and long enough for a human body to lay upon.

What is he doing? She heard Chloe ask. Femina was almost surprised not to hear as much fear in the girl’s voice as before… but perhaps that was merely resignation?

Chloe I am so sorry… Femina apologized again. I… I know you must be scared.

I’m scared! Chloe assured her, I’m terrified! If I was out there right now I’d have peed myself all over again but that’s not going to help us out of this.

Chloe, Femina’s eyes shut sorrowfully, there is no path I can see that shall see us from this peril. If I thought there was I would say it. I swear. I… I have never felt so powerless. I did not know I could feel this powerless! Chloe’s only response was a frustrated silence.

The grating stone ceased, the pillar dropping into the stone dais had met in the center and stopped. Tukantep scooped the goddess back into his arms to lay her down in the center of the risen stone. This, Femina knew from her previous defeat long ages ago, was to be the site of his so called ritual. She would be separated from her host, and Chloe would be killed… killed for accidentally freeing her, and then trusting in her. Femina’s eyes blurred terribly and she could not stop the tears falling this time. The sorrow that built in her chest threatened to bring her entirely to sobbing pieces but for her sheer willpower not to.

Femina? Chloe asked, and despite her fear there was a further concern, It… It’s going to be...

I cannot let him do this, Femina interrupted her, He took Isa from me. He took my host… and then he… It was not right! Not right that anyone should suffer so terribly for her own failures, I cannot allow it happen again! Chloe, I’m sorry.

“Wait!” She begged, Femina threw all pride to the wind and weakly reached out toward the mummy with her bound arms in supplication, “please, d-do what you want with me, but spare my host? Spare these people, surely there is something... anything that can be done besides murdering them all? I shall do anything you ask. Anything at all!”

“Oh?” Tukantep chuckled. He shoved her arms down onto the stone dais over her head, but rather than immediately pull away he trailed his fingers down along the inside of her arm, feeling the soft godly fabric of her uniform and the gentle give of her flesh beneath. He seemed to grin that awful grin once more, “It pleases me to hear you beg Femina,” he told her, “Go on… I might be willing to, consider, your request?”

Femina uttered a whimpering sob… but just as soon as it was released she felt… anger. Rage even, building up inside her chest. The anger was not her own, What a… a… goddamn monster! Chloe’s thoughts pervaded, He’s… you’re… don’t listen to him Femina! Don't do anything for him!

The Goddess didn’t have the fortitude left to respond to her host. She knew that Tukantep was more than likely lying to her… that he would not consign to any request she made... but she simply had no other choice, no other means to do battle. She was already powerless to save herself. She prayed only that she could somehow protect the innocent people caught in the middle of all this, “Anything you desire,” she whimpered again, “I… If you spare the rest.”

Tukantep brushed the crimson strands of hair from her face and cupped her cheek, a sickly slimy tongue lapped out from his skeletal mouth that was much too long to be natural and licked at its own chops, “Even this rotted bag of bones has desires.”

Femina’s once powerful body quivered at his touch, she could not help turning her head slightly away, he was disgusting beyond imagining, “I-if I please you…” Great Goddess, she pleaded to her ancient people, forgive me for what I must do, forgive me for not being strong enough! “I… I will not resist.”

Tukantep threw his head back and cackled at the ceiling. He left her where she lay and raised his hand toward the first of several unlit torches that circled the room. It lit as though by magic and he gestured to the next, “oh but Femina,” he told her as he lit each torch in turn until the whole room was lit, “I want you to struggle.” The goddess moaned fearfully before she turned her body away and struggled to crawl from the dais, but her limbs were so weak she could hardly do more than to turn far enough away not to have to look Tukantep in his eyes anymore.

“‘So have we, the Goddesses of Old, entrusted to our Maiden of Might…’” Tukantep said aloud as he began to walk back toward the dais. Femina gasped. Once again the mummy proved his knowledge of forbidden tomes. Tukantep really did know all her weaknesses! His footfalls toward her sounded like thunderclaps in her frightened ears, “‘the Girdle of Empowerment, and it shall grant her strength beyond any being in the universe, and her strength shall be all of woman!”

“No, please...” Femina shook with terrified sobs, she did not even attempt to hide her thoughts anylonger, “Great Goddess, this cannot be. Not like this!” Tukantep’s bent and forced her over onto her back again. His movements were slow and methodical, the confidant motions of a man of certainty. He then roughly took one of her breasts in one hand, and rested the palm of the other down over her pelvis, his fingers brushed her golden panties, her Girdle of Empowerment as it had taken form in this host, then ran them up and down between the just perceptible crevice at the center of her cameltoe. Femina shuddered at the sensation.

I… I can resist this, Femina told herself. She was one of the Goddesses of Purity… she could resist a man’s touch for a great while… when she had to... and there was nothing appealing about the beast standing over her whatsoever! I must be strong...

“‘But know this our greatest warrior,” Tukantep continued on but here at last he broke with direct recitation. He leaned over her to look her in the eyes, she could not see his own beneath his mummified wrappings, she could only imagine what dark holes peered down at her, only that she knew for the first time what it must feel like to be a helpless mortal peering into the dark horrors of the Earth. “I am going to soil your ‘girdle’ with your own love juices Femina,” he said to her, “and then I am going to murder the men and women who found this prison, and you have nothing to barter with that I do not already have.” He pressed his fingers up against her slit, pushing the fabric of her panties and the leotard beneath both up inside along with his own digits.

“Ah! Aaaah!” Femina cried, her body wracked with shuddering spasms, she tried to roll away from him but he tightened his grip upon her breast painfully to hold her still. Even Femina was surprised by the power of the sensations that suddenly surged through her. His fingers pressed further passed her nether lips, filling her more tightly, making her bound legs buck and her hips raise as much as they could.

What is happening! Her body was so… so sensitive to his touch! Never in her long life had she felt arousal like this! Femina did not understand how so little effort by her foe could bring so much pleasure… O-oh! So sensitive! Why am I so sensitive!?

“Ugh! Ooooh st-stop I… Uhhhh something’s… something’s wr-wrooooooooong!” Femina mewled, begging him even though she knew he would not hear her plea, he held the strength of women bound and writhing in his hands, unable to even wriggle away from his teasing fingers. What greater prize could a monster like he desire! With the hand that held her breasts he started to gently knead the orb. Femina struggled desperately beneath him, she tried to press her burning thighs together for any kind of relief, she bit her tongue, she tried to envision anything in her mind that was not Tukantep’s domineering fingers desecrating her most sacred place, but nothing worked. She felt only the burning terrible desire for release and to her horror she realized it would not be denied.

“Unghhh ooooooooooooh,” the goddess moaned, “Oh I… N-no! I… I can’t…” her hips thrashed one last time before her entire body stiffened as though struck by lighting, her vaginal walls flooded, and finally she came with the power of woman, “Ah ah ahhhhh AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

The divine fluid exploded outward. Tukantep removed his fingers, and stepped backwards, shocked. Femina continued to buck and moan whilst a great bulge built up at the crotch of her uniform, darkening the fabric until at last her cum spurted out through the tight fitting seals at her thighs and out through the microscopic weave of fabric. Her cum spilled in volume out onto the stone dais where formed a small puddle before the flow slowed and at last ceased, Femina spasmed one last time before lying still.

Exhausted and completely humiliated. Femina made no attempt to staunch the tears that rolled down her flushed cheeks. I came. Was all she could think, I came so quickly. How can he hold such power over me!?

“So that is all the great guardian of Women’s empowerment can endure?” Tukantep scoffed, he appeared truly disgusted and turned his back to her, “You have even less to barter with than you imagined!” He stormed away and from the entrance. “You’re precious innocents shall suffer doubly for that disappointment. Soak in your overripe juices awhile ‘Goddess,’ while I deal with the trespassers outside!”

Tukantep’s footsteps grew quieter and quieter as he stormed from the room, content that his victim was to weak to escape, and Femina could not argue that he was overconfident. For a long while she lay still, whimpering ashamedly while her hands cupped her sopping wet crotch and her mighty bust heaved.

The silence that fell over the reliquary felt final. The goddess defeated, the hope of women's empowerment itself shuddered on the stone dais stunned. She truly believed that her purpose was finished, that the sacred task she was sent to Earth to fulfill was proved to difficult for her, so simply ravaged in this tomb prison by a filthy male, a filthy undead male of relatively little significance to this world or its people. She could not face this disempowerment again… another thousand years trapped in this tomb, she knew, would at last break her will.

...Femina? Chloe prodded gently after awhile. Femina you can’t stay here.

The Goddess did not want to answer her host, but the burning shame within forced her tongue, with no one who could hear her and all the men and women in the room in a magical slumber, Femina simply spoke aloud, “I’m... finished,” she said, “I… I can do nothing else. I tried, I swear to you that I tried… those poor people out there, these people here… you, I failed. I've failed you a…

You were amazing, Chloe interrupted her, shocking Femina silent. How… how in all of creation could Chloe believe such a false thing!

“A-Amazing?” Femina asked, just dumbfounded enough to forget her sorrows for an instant, “I was brought to climax! I have soiled the Girdle of Empowerment! I was humiliated and disgraced!”

Which you did, or… or would have done, for me, Chloe told her, and these people! Just because that monster is a… an evil asshole who was able to do this to you… it doesn’t make you any less amazing.

“Chloe I…” Femina shuddered a gasping breath that was more emotion than exhaustion. A fresh film of tears blurred her vision and she felt a warmth deep in her chest. “Oh Chloe… I did not know you long… I wish I could have known you better… but know that you are as worthy a host as ever I have had!”

I suppose I don’t know much about what that means… Chloe replied, but you still can’t stay here. We… we need you in the world. We need a hero like you to show us what true heroism can be. You’re too important to be just another cataloged relic in this room, believe me, I know where most of them end up and no one would ever wear the Bracer of Ascension again even if Tukantep fails and all these relics are passed off museums. You need to get those wrappings off your bracers, and we need to get you out of here!

“Chloe… I...,” Femina shook her head mournfully, how could she make this any clearer than it already was? “If only I still had my chakra things might be different, but it is so far away… and I am to weak... I would never reach it before Tukantep returns?”

What about fire? Chloe asked, will those wrappings burn?

“Yes of course they would burn,” Femina answered scholarly, “Mummy wrappings will always burn but I do not possess the ability to create fi…” her jaw hung open. The flickering torchlight that filled the room suddenly felt warmer to her than the sun, she dragged her eyes to just one of the many burning stumps Tukantep had lit after he’d carried her into the room. “Chloe…” she whispered.

Genius, I know, can you get to one?

“I… I am very weak,” Femina looked down again at her forearms, “While my bracers are bound I am near weak as a kitten… and I have soiled the Girdle of Empowerment, even should I remove these bindings my enhanced strength shall be forfeit until the girdle can be cleansed… but I could walk… if only I could free these bonds.”

Okay, so that’s the plan, Chloe urged her.

“It will not be easy,” Femina admitted. She could crawl underneath one perhaps, but they were at standing height, “It shall require a titanic effort…”

Then you’ll just have to be extraordinary, Chloe prompted her, you are Women’s Empowerment Femina. Well I’m a woman, and I know you can make it. I believe in you.

Femina stared at the nearest torch. She could never express in words just what Chloe’s encouragement meant to her at that moment. She near to simply… giving up. Instead she managed a small smile and nodded her head, “It will not let you down,” she swore before channeling all her willpower into forcing her muscles to work and roll off of the stone dais.

“Oh aaah!” She cried out as she struck the ground some four feet below on her side. She immediately curled into a ball as the shock of the impact wracked her body with pain.

Femina!? Chloe gasped, Femina what’s wrong!

“Uggghhhhh…” Femina moaned but after a moment longer she uncurled herself from her fetal position out onto her belly. The torch was perhaps ten feet away, and then perhaps six feet up. She reached as far out with her hands as she could, then dragged herself a few inches along the ground. “Do not… be concerned,” she huffed, “For it is only that with my powers so… depleted… my body is less resistant to pain.”

I’m feeling everything you’re feeling Femina, Chloe noted curiously, or am I? It didn’t feel that bad to me?

Femina dragged herself another few inches, then paused, her face flushed with embarrassment at Chloe’s question, “Oh… it… it is possible that as my host my senses are dulled to you… or else I” she bit her lip, “perhaps I am simply unused to such sensations.” Mercifully... Chloe did not respond.

Femina put all her mind to the task and managed to drag herself another few feet toward her goal before she came upon her first hurdle. A sleeping young man directly in her path. She had to struggle mightily with him just to force him sideways enough that she could find an acceptable middle ground between climbing over him and getting around. This was made all the more complicated in that she was bound at the wrist, thighs and ankles. With some decree of difficulty she managed to wriggle loose of the tight bindings around her thighs, but even with that done, by the time she was fully passed the young man, she could already feel her muscles burning and was breathing harder. “Great Goddess…” she sighed, “I have never felt… so exhausted!”

You’re halfway there, Chloe cheered her on, just keep at it.

Femina did as bidden, in fact three fourths of the way there she did not have the energy to speak any longer. She was gasping only for breath, her forehead and thighs glistened with the sweat of her effort. She was only pleased that Tukantep was not present to witness this. She could only imagine what he would make of her proud white and gold clad form struggling just to crawl across the room. “Almost… there,” she said to herself and pulled herself another half a foot. “Almooooost theeeere…” with each effort she was gaining just a little less distance.

She continued on in this matter for a few more minutes until just one final pull would bring her to the base of the wall beneath her goal. She stretched her arms out all the way in front of her, and pulled, she sidled her waist at the same time to try and push herself further. For an instant she felt her arms shuddering and feared she would lose the effort but she dragged herself those last precious six inches at last before her arms gave out and she rolled over onto her back, staring upward at the torch.

Six feet… six feet was all that held her between utter powerlessness and the strength to walk again… but considering she had just toiled to move ten feet along the ground and was already exhausted, the torch may as well have been a hundred thousand feet above! For a brief moment Femina felt a dizzying wave of helplessness, but she fought it off, reminding herself that Chloe and the people excavating the temple needed her.

The Goddess rolled back over, and pushed with all her might to extend her arms and give her upper torso some height, midway between the first pressure and when her chest was risen only a foot her muscles shook and she dropped to the cement with a weak, “Oum!”

You can do this Femina! Chloe pressed, It’s all in your head now. The only thing that can hurt us right now is not believing in ourselves!

“Oooh Goddess,” Femina moaned again before readying herself to try anew. This time she pushed her torso all the way up until her arms locked straight before the muscle spasms began, she did not let up, holding her weight on shaking arms she slowly and with immense effort slid her knees up and beneath her. At last she stood on all fours. Her back arched and her ass was thrust high into the air thanks to the way her damned bindings were forcing her to compromise her stance, but she was halfway to her goal.

Femina’s neck craned to look upward, the torch was still four feet above her at the very least… Somehow she still had to get up there. The Goddess wracked her brain for a standing strategy and came up with one. She carefully slid her arms forward and up against the wall, then shifted her palms out so that they pressed against the vertical surface instead of the horizontal surface of the ground and then slowly began to slide them upward by wriggling her knees inward toward the wall, the bracing pressure acted as her only means of stability for the maneuver. It cost her far too much effort than she liked, but at long last her knees were pressed up against the stone. Here she had to stop to rest, desperate for breath, she felt faint and dizzy. I Must… I must do this… she urged herself on.

You're almost there, Chloe added her own voice, Just a little farther. You can do this!

“I… I can do this,” Femina wheezed. Her entire body was shaking with effort, her mighty thighs seemed to flex for all they were worth just to hold her own weight. She was standing now as tall as she was ever going to make it, there was no way she could get off her knees with her ankles bound, but she was already above average height for a woman. If she could just stretch her arms all the way up over her head, she might just be able to snag the torch without needing to stand anyway. “Almost….. There,” she cried one last time, reaching with all her might. Her legs shook terribly and her vision began to turn vaguely dark around the edges, the torch was just out of her reach… so with everything she had left Femina pushed as hard as she could off her knees and actually hopped a few inches into the air... she felt the tip of the handle against her fingers… before she came crashing back down.

FEMINA! Chloe cried.

“UNGHHHH!” Femina groaned. The goddess’s legs cramped terribly. She pitched to the side and collapsed against the wall, the faint impact then rolled her over onto her back where she could only lay dazed, the torchlight filling her view a moment before she realized what happened. “I fell,” she moaned, “Oh Chloe, I… I fell.”

You have to try again! Chloe urged desperately.

“Can’t,” Femina gasped, it took near all her effort just to shake her head, “To… mmmm… weak.” Her eyes fluttered closed. Her powerless body had reached its limit. There was no way she could make an attempt to stand again, it was a miracle she had gotten as far as she made it the first time, “Great… Goddess… so exhausted. So… weak….”

No, Femina!] Don’t give up! Chloe begged, dear Chloe worrying about her, You can do this! I know you can do this!

“Won’t… give up, Chloe,” Femina’s eyes drifted halfway open again. She could see the torch sitting crooked in its stand. “I… I touched it,” she half smiled, “I… did that… you gave me… the strength… I just… need to… rest....” Her overtaxed arms and legs were completely still, the champion of all women was near to passing out.

No! Chloe begged her, No Femina this is my fault! You… I… please you have to get up!

“Dear… sweet… Chloe…” Femina’s willpower was taxed, all her mind was trained in the effort merely to remain conscious, “You were… magnificent… I was… foolish… mmmmm… helpless…” She shuddered, “I’ve never felt… helpless…” a weak whimpering noise sounded from her throat, before at the edge of her vision she saw the torch tilt a little more in the stand, entirely on its own, the added weight of the slanted position turning it over.

“Wait…” she concentrated all her mind to opening her eyes… and then it happened. The torch tipped over, and at last luck was on her side, it fell down toward her dropping right onto her torso.

FEMINA LOOK OUT! Chloe blared in her thoughts… but it was unnecessary. Even weakened as she was, the Goddesses of Purity were nigh indestructible. A little bit of fire would never burn her, it could not even ignite the clothing Chloe had thought to existence for her, but mummy wrappings always burned. It was their principal weakness. Fire.

Femina only had to shift her arms a little bit to put the flame over her bracers and once she did the wrappings caught and were consumed almost immediately.

“Ohh… ooooooh!” Femina moaned as she felt renewed vigor flood her body. It was the most incredible sensation she had ever known, one moment totally powerless, the next renewed. She no longer had her super strength for having orgasmed into her panties, but she had the strength of a woman of her size and build again. The strength of an exceptional human being, that would have to be enough.

F-Femina!? Chloe called to her again, You’re not on fire!

Goddess’s do not burn Chloe, Femina smiled and plucked up the torch, but mummies do. She burned the bindings around her ankle before she rose and trudged over the tops of the sleeping students and back into the passageway leading out toward the antechamber. The foolish Tukantep had left her chakra laying where it fell and Femina picked that up as she passed by. “Now let’s go stop this monster.”

What!? No… no no you have to get away! Chloe urged her, You’re still vulnerable, and… and those people up there… well… the world needs you more!

Femina stopped in her tracks. She could see the passage leading up to the surface. Was Chloe right? She was, by a mummies standards, to weak to be of much trouble, his goal was murder and mayhem, but he would stop to capture her again. Her fingers tightened around the chakra, her weapon still had its power… and she was less hesitant to use it against Tukantep now. There was no real choice to be made. Shaking her head she simply said, “I cannot do that Chloe,” she began walking again, picking up into a jog.

But you’re powerless! Chloe pleaded with her.

Not yet I am not, Femina assured her. Her grip tightened on her weapons, the chakra in one hand, the torch in the other, as long as I can put one leg in front of the other, I am not powerless… just trust in me… as I have trusted you.

Part Four - The final Conflict

Femina jogged up the dugout entrance of the temple and out into the scene of a genuine nightmare. Men and women alike ran screaming while Tukantep stalked among them, a wolf among sheep, picking them up and hurling them this way and that way as though they were feathers. Gale force winds whipped up a humongous cyclone around them, trapping the people of the dig site in the storm's center, no doubt a storm conjured up by the Mummy to keep them prisoner while he slaughtered them all. Fires raged and a single gunshot rang out that either missed its mark or simply made no difference when it struck the evil being.

My god… Chloe observed, He’ll… he really will just kill them all?

“No he won’t,” Femina promised her. The goddess marched out of the tomb and passed a throng of huddling archeologists who turned their terrified yet dumbfounded attention on her. Confused mutterings passed between them which Femina ignored. She walked several feet out into the cleared out space in front of the dig planted her feet in a wide stance and held her weapons straight at her side, “Tukantep!” She shouted, her voice carried far and the mummy froze in his chasing of an elderly man, then he turned and noticed her, “You shall not harm another soul here until you have dealt with me!”

A silence dropped from the people so that all that could be heard were the winds whipping around them. All eyes were on the red maned, shining white goddess who none of them had ever seen before in their lives. Her eyes however, were fixed points on her adversary. There were many strange constructs and metallic contraptions out here which ordinarily Femina would have been curious of, but for now her focus was singular. Tukantep’s reign of terror over these people’s lives and her own freedom was at an end!

“You impress me Goddess,” Tantek admitted grudgingly. He turned and took a few steps toward her before planting his own feet in the ground, “I truly thought you well and dealt with.” He tipped his head.

“Think again,” Femina called, “You’re madness and cruelty ends here monster.”

“Oh?” Tukantep began to walk slowly toward her, “You walk out here, unbound perhaps but as I can plainly see, still powerless! Nothing to save you but a ringed weapon and a bit of flame? I will not allow one cinder of that torch to touch me, you are no longer strong enough to accomplish the task, so I offer you…”

“You may have known all my weaknesses Tukantep,” Femina cut short his diatribe disinterestedly, “but for all your preparations clearly you do not know of all my strengths.” Tukantep did not speak, his head simply tilted with further hesitation. “For if you had,” she told him and lifted her chakra up high, “You would never have left this simply laying upon the stone.”

The silence after proved his anxiety more than any denial or rage ever could. At long last the mummy asked, “What is it?”

“‘At the beginning of time until the end, in her hands will it shine eternal and grant hers the power, if necessary, to take her rights by force!’” It was Femina’s turn to quote pages of old, “This, Tukantep, is my greatest weapon, and my last resort. You brought us to this. So I give you, the Ring of Command!” She pulled her arm back and hurled the bladed disk at her enemy.

At the last instant Tukantep, leaping back suspiciously, caught it before it could be allowed to cut into him. The crowd of people gasped as though frightened by this outcome, “Ha!” He grinned, “hahaha you fool! Did you honestly expect I would just let it strike me! I am…”

Femina held her torch out to him, “Light yourself in purifying flame Tukantep, rid this world of your evil!”

The mummies laugh ended abruptly. His legs began walking toward her, “Wh-what is this magic!?” He demanded, his ragged voice tinged with alarm quite unlike his confident shovanistic posturing of the past millenia, “I will not… I will not…” but his eyes glued to the torch and it became all too clear what he was about to do.

No way… Chloe observed, you mean he’s just gonna…

“Stop!” Tukantep cried as his legs pulled him forward, he leaned down and tried to grab them with his hands to stop them moving, but once he was near enough and standing before Femina his arms began to reach up for the torch, “No! NO NO NO This is impossible!” He squealed, “I am your jailer! You are our prisoner! It will not end this way!” He took the torch from her hands and at last peered directly at her, through a slit in his wrappings she could see at last a lidless black eye staring right at her, “....Please…” he begged her.

“Your chance for mercy has ended,” she said to him mercilessly.

Then he shoved the torch into his own face. The wrappings ignited like oil, the mummy howled in agony, a sound that rose up deep from the sand. His form, so decayed by age, quickly collapsed inward and crumbled to dust, the cyclonic winds whipping around the dig hitched, slowed, and at last died completely. Femina’s lips remained tightly closed for a momment, not wishing to say anything… but at last she relented, for this was what the Great Goddess would expect of her, she spoke for him a last right, “Let the fire burn and purify your soul Tukantep, that in this agony, your penance shall serve until the gates of eternity may open for you free’d from evil.”

I’m sorry i doubted you, Chloe’s seemed almost joyous in Femina’s mind, That was… thank you Femina. Thank you for saving them.

A great cheer rose up from the archeologists. The humans rose up from their hiding spaces and rushed out in a circle around her. “Thank you!” A man was sobbing as he rushed at her, arms widespread, “Thank you so mu…”

“Whoa!” Femina threw her hand out, palm flat to stop him short before he could do… whatever it was he expected to do to her, “Stand back mortal!” She demanded, and he hastened to do so. She turned a circle around herself to take them all in, “The people inside the temple have been cursed with sleep,” she informed them, “I go now to see them woken, remain here while I see them to safety, all of you, the tomb may not yet be safe.”

“Wait!?” A woman spoke up, “are you… you’re ‘Her’ aren’t you! I know you are! What should we call you!?”

“I am…” Femina began to say.

Mighty Maiden! Chloe suddenly cut short her thoughts excitably, Say that you are Mighty Maiden!

What!? Femina asked her, Why?

It’s… you’re going to be… You’re amazing Femina, these people need you in ways you don’t even understand! You’re not just a Goddess, you’re a hero! You’re going to be a Superhero!

I do not know what that is? Femina told her, but even so why… Mighty Maiden?

It was something Tukantep said, Chloe replied, it was that stuff when he was reciting old texts. The recitation called you, the Maiden of Might.

Femina stood quietly in thought after that. She weighed the pros and cons. She would need to do things differently now. There were forces weighed against, and she had already decided to keep her host secret from their enemies as much as possible, perhaps if she chose a pseudonym they would not be found so easily… that and Chloe seemed very excited.

“Miss?” The woman asked again, “You’re our hero! You saved our lives! What should we call you?”

Femina raised her head and smiled, “You may call me… Mighty Maiden,” she said, “Now please, clear a space for me, I must see the rest of your people to safety.” The archeologists did as asked they stepped aside and Mighty Maiden walked passed them, down into the dark tomb that was her prison once again, to wake those cursed by sleep. To be a hero!

Part Five - Epilogue

Chloe shivered quietly in the cold of her recently reconstructed personal tent, still cooling down from the terrible… and wonderful, events of the day. After saving the team from Tukantek, Femina had gone down into the reliquary, given Chloe a magic phrase to wake the students from sleep, laid down and said the words, ‘Might Meted, Disempower’ restoring Chloe’s body to her own control. The transformation was equal parts a relief and a disappointment. There was a humongous sense of normalcy in having control over her limbs again, but there was a sense of… uselessness in them now that she knew what it felt like to be something more powerful… even if there had not been much more power in Femina’s arms at the end of the ordeal.

Chloe then spoke the incantation and pretended to be waking up alongside the rest of the group. In this way, her cover was completely believable. No one the wiser that she was actually housing within herself the shining spirit of Femina, champion of women’s empowerment herself!

Chloe caught herself smiling in her little mirror while she brushed her hair and got ready for bed, when Femina spoke to her again… oddly having another woman inside of her was not such a terrible thing to Chloe. As it turned out, the idea way back when Femina first brought it up, was far worse than the reality. Chloe was always a lonely woman, despite her shyness, and right now she did not feel alone. She felt like she might not ever be alone again.

When Chloe was within Femina, she was sort of… one with the woman, but now while Femina was inside her, it seemed the Goddess could appear alongside her. Invisible to anyone else, but able to speak with Chloe and even sort of… touch her. It was nice. Femina currently appeared to be sitting beside her, “Who was that man?” The Goddess asked her, “The one who slapped your buttock when we… when you came up from the ruin with the others?”

“That’s my professor,” Chloe sighed and she frowned, “he always does that.”

“I… see…” Femina answered her, then she said, “You shall inform him that should he touch you again without your permission and wishes to remain in possession of his hand, he shall never do so again.”

“I… can’t really do that Femina,” Chloe told her, shaking her head quickly. Maybe if she was inside Femina she could have done it. She felt… different being part of the Goddess, stronger, better, braver… right now she just felt like Chloe... “I’m… no… I’m just…”

“If you ever wish me to leave you alone about it, than you had better speak against him the next chance you have Chloe. You are my host. We shall not abide a man to… slap our bottom! It is not permissible. Am I understood!”

“I… guess so,” Chloe nodded. She couldn’t very well just let something that upset Femina keep going on could she? Maybe that was okay… since she was sharing her body. Besides, why did she allow the professor to slap her ass anyway? That wasn’t right! “Okay,” she and nodded, “I understand.”

“Good,” Femina answered her and then was quite a while before hesitantly asking, “Chloe, I do not wish to press you to do anything you don’t wish but… At some point, if it is not too bothersome, would it be possible for me to take your form to… to… uuuum...”

“Whenever you perceive the need Femina,” Chloe promised her, “my… form, is yours.” Chloe felt a warm rush of feeling that wasn’t exactly her own and noticed that Femina was smiling very genuinely at her. But that smile soon fell.

“Thank you Chloe that means a great deal to me but… you should allow me to finish, I was going to ask, if I might take your form to…”

Femina was quiet so long after that Chloe eventually had to press, “to what Femina?”

“To cleanse my panties!” Femina finally expressed, her cheeks went red, she indicated her golden clad crotch, the wet spot was dried but Chloe could just vaguely tell where the cum had been soaking through, “They are soiled, and until they are cleansed I cannot… I shall remain powerless even when making the transformation.”

“Oh…” Chloe bit her lip, her expression crinkled with worry, right now it was much easier to just try to push the struggle out of her mind, but she understood how unrealistic that idea was, “Yes Femina, don’t… don’t worry that will be fine. We’re only going to be out here a few more days. When we return to the hotel this weekend they have a washing machine.”

“A what?” Femina asked, her expression was so genuinely perplexed that Chloe realized the goddess wasn’t joking… and then she remembered that Femina was from ancient times. There was a lot her new companion wouldn’t understand.

“It’s a machine that washes clothing. It usually takes about an hour,” Chloe smiled a little, “A lot faster than the old scrub a dub!”

“How marvelous!” Femina’s mouth made an ‘oh’ of genuine amazement. It was the cutest thing Chloe had ever seen, except that Femina followed this adorably Goddess out of Time oddness with the ultimate accidental gut punch. Femina’s head fell and she spoke solemnly and quietly, “I apologize gravely for the inconvenience Chloe… I… I appologize for all of this day in truth. I cannot for the life of me comprehend what happened in that tomb. I am the Goddess of Women’s Empowerment, my kind are purity itself! Always in the past I’ve been capable of fighting off such… lewd… sensation. My stamina has endured hours… days even! I cannot comprehend what weakness possessed me that i should have been driven to soiling myself so… so readily! It shames me, and I apologize that you had to bear witness.”

“Please, Femina… don’t…” Chloe told her, she pulled her knees up to her chest and sat quietly in the middle of her sleeping bag. Before, in the tomb, Chloe suspected the truth of this matter, and merely suspecting she had been desperate to rectify the dangerous position that it put Femina in, so desperate she’d tried to convince Femina to flee and leave innocent people to die. If anyone should be ashamed, it was her! Chloe’s shame was two part now… shame for asking Femina to flee… and for what Femina had just inadvertently confirmed.

Chloe loved comic books, she loved superheroines, the stories of their incredible victories and triumphs were her favorite… but every now and again, behind closed doors when she was feeling particularly horny she would look for a different sort of superheroine story… ones where the heroines were captured, subjected to their enemies villainous and debaucherous desires. Stories where heroines were made helpless, powerless, terribly imperiled. Chloe couldn’t help herself, they got her all… hot!

Yet none of those stories even compared. Nothing could have prepared Chloe for being inside Femina, for witnessing the heroine’s peril first hand. In those moments she WAS a superheroine, she was one with the powerful goddess… and when Tukantep had defeated her… when he held her down, when he began to molest her and play with Femina’s divinely imbued body as though she were his own personal plaything… Chloe had been beside herself with need! Tukantep’s efforts left her desperately, helplessly aroused. In the tomb Chloe had suspected, now she knew for fact, it wasn’t Femina who had failed in that room, it wasn’t Femina who came and soiled her panties all but immediately… Chloe had done that… it was her fault.

“Don’t even think about it,” Chloe said again, this time she reached out and wrapped her arm around the goddess’s shoulders. “I meant what I said on that slab Femina. You are Amazing! You… you’re wonderful in a way I can’t even describe. Thank you for saving us, and thank you for meaning all the promises you made to convince me to lend you my body. I know I haven’t known you for very long, but I’m already glad I met you. You’re already my favorite person ever.”

Femina seemed to pick up on chloe’s self doubt because the goddess turned where she sat and put her finger under the young woman’s chin, tilting her head so that their eyes met, there was such kindness and… and goodness in Femina’s crystal green eyes that Chloe couldn’t help feeling a little better already, “and I meant what I said as well. I’ve not known you as long as my previous hosts, but I know that not one of them could have seen me through such peril.” She pulled Chloe into a warm embrace, “I may have saved your lives Chloe, but you saved me from something worse than death.”

“What do you mean?” Chloe asked, “You mean from being… trapped again?”

“Yes,” Femina actually shuddered, which Chloe could easily feel as she was still wrapped in Femina’s strong comforting arms, “If I were to be trapped there again… to be put in a place where nothing I have the power to do can help anyone…” She shook her head and hugged Chloe tighter, “thank you for rescuing me.”

“Well y-your welcome I guess…” The young woman hugged her back tightly, she couldn’t bring herself to say that it was all her fault that they almost lost, but she also believed what Femina was saying… she wanted to believe that she was more than useless to the goddess, “So where do we go from here?” Chloe asked.

“We right the wrongs of this world,” Femina answered, she pulled free of the embrace and left her hand on Chloe’s shoulder, “We make this world a better place for women.”

“As a Goddess should,” Chloe smiled.

“No, not as a Goddess,” Femina winked at her, “and not as Chloe either. You and I. We do this together. We do this as Mighty Maiden!”

The End?