KingDead the Wolf God “…and I was wondering if you’d be willing to try some of these experiments out… on me? I’ve just hit such a plateau lately; no number of workouts or supplements seem to help. A boost from some of your size tech would help out a ton with my patrols. So what do you say…?” KingDead asked the mirror as earnestly as he could, pretending that the cut-out face of Alkali he’d taped in place there was the real person. Preparation was key in all heroic work, whether patrolling or asking a friend for a little help. The hero wolf puffed out his chest, acting as confident as he could to make up for any lingering nerves. It was stressful to admit to needing help, but lately with all of the super-powered monsters, KaiJune kaiju, and Doc. Omega getting into crime sprees… KD felt stretched a little thin. That’s where Alkali could come in. His lab was well known for size experimentation, especially with the number of times he’d seen those experiments go wrong in spectacular fashion. The hero strolled into the gym locker room, changing out of workout attire and into his red and green patterned costume for afternoon patrols. It would be easiest to stop by Al’s lab as part of the patrol, he thought. Placing the domino mask in place, King strolled out of the gym and began growing with each step. Better to make a show of strength and get to the lab at larger sizes; it would be quicker. KingDead mentally patted himself on the back. Asking Alkali for help seemed like a great idea. A totally trustworthy meerkat. What could go wrong? --- “MUAHAHAHAHA!” Alkali laughed, filling his lab with maniacal echoes. “All this new technology… Yeeesss, this will make for an excellent experiment. Soon my growth science will reach even greater heights!” The meerkat scientist rubbed his hands together as he scanned the ill-gotten goods. When GroLabs found an old, abandoned lab on the market they bought it ostensibly to capitalize on the valuable real estate in that area. Behind the scenes Alkali knew he’d only bought the lab because of its true identity: a secret HQ for the nefarious raccoonish villain, Doctor Omega. That was just the beginning of the meerkat’s schemes. He had already decided how best to put all this dangerous size tech to use. GroLabs’ own technology had reached a ceiling for enhancing the super wolf’s power. So, what better way to make a hero bigger than using even MORE tech? More tech was always the right answer. More size rays, more growth potions, more strength-enhancing nanites, more more more! Sometimes even Alkali was impressed by his own genius. There was one small problem. None of Doctor Omega’s old technology came with manuals or instructions. Nary even a safety label. That was probably because everything here was custom made for the doc. That fiend would know exactly how his weaponry and experiments work, from firsthand experience. Alkali frowned as he surveyed the ill-obtained technology, then shrugged. If there was no instruction manual, he’d have to reverse engineer everything by himself. That would be easier with a test subject but Bomba was nowhere to be seen. The lab rat was probably busy with plotting of his own. He began the long, grueling process of prying open each ray gun with the end of a flathead screwdriver and wiring it meticulously into an array. It was boring and time consuming… but within the hour every single size ray had been wired together into a single gun. Some of the rays sparked when wired in parallel like this, but Al didn’t pay it any attention. He was pretty certain nothing to do with Doctor Omega was safe anyway so there was no such thing as doing this safely. Health, Safety, and Environment departments throughout the country already blacklisted GroLabs so there was no one to even ask about safety. “Now what am I gonna say when KD gets here…” Alkali mumbled as he fussed over cable organization. “Eh, maybe… Something something, exposition, new size ray technology! Time to integrate it into my design for an even more powerful size ray. Hold on tight, super dork! MUAHAHA! …yeah that’s a good starting place. A little corny for a villain, but-” “What’s a good starting place?” King asked as he pushed the front door open. The heavy metallic door slammed into a lab table placed next to the doorway but KD barely noticed. He was too busy approaching his little buddy for a proper hello. “ACK, KD! What are you doing here? Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?” Al yelped, turning around to aim his size ray reflexively. “Knocking takes the fun out of surprise visits!” KingDead picked the meerkat up with two beefy arms, holding him close in a bear hug. Al was practically lost amongst the grey fur and tree-trunk thick biceps, only a hat and his tail peeking out of the super wolf’s affections. KD continued, “Oh, you’re fine, don’t give me the silent treatment. I didn’t mean to scare you. Just wanted to check in while on patrol. Make sure you aren’t up to anything devious.” When Alkali didn’t answer right away, the superhero realized he’d held Al too tightly. The scientist couldn’t even open his mouth from between his pecs. KD blushed and set Al down, adjusting the kat’s glasses and hat to look less like he’d been hit by a truck. With an indignant huff Alkali batted the wolf’s paws away. He was very capable of setting his hat atop his head without help, thank you very much. “Well, there’s nothing devious going on here as you can see.” King had already moved on to exploring the lab though, strolling right over the half-pint meerkat. Al hated when he did that… even if the view looking up wasn’t all that bad. “Then what’s that in your hands?” the wolf asked, pointing to the zapper with an unwieldy number of sparking wires fed into its grip. “NOTHING. I MEAN, NOTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT.” KD chuckled, a deep rumbling in his chest. “Give it up Al, you can’t outsmart Justice! I can see your evil, supervillain weapon in-hand with my super-vision.” “Aha, you have a good eye! This…” Alkali said, gesturing with his free hand to the handheld ray. “…is your DOOM, GOODY GOODY WOLF!” “Awroo?” he said, cocking his head to the side. Doom? Goody goody? That didn’t sound like his friend Alkali at all. Just what could the meerkat be planning? With a cough to clear his throat, Alkali started monologuing in earnest. “This past week I spent my time coming up with a brand-new plan to take control of the city: new size ray technology! With this power at my disposal none will be able to stop me from-” “Didn’t you try that plan last time too?” KD asked, arms crossed. “In fact, that’s ALWAYS your plan. Growing or shrinking someone.” Alkali stumbled over his words, before catching himself. “That isn’t always my plan, I get more creative than that-” “Where did you get all those extra growth rays anyway?” the wolf asked. “What? Uh. That isn’t important, don’t worry about it. Ahem… I’ve integrated it into my design for an even more powerful size ray. And with this you will be powerless against my size science-” “Wouldn’t that just make me more powerful? Are you sure this is a good plan, lil kat?” KD said, reaching down to rustle the top of Alkali’s head and knocking his hat off in the process. “Dude, no, stop interrupting me. I’m monologuing and you need to take me seriously,” Alkali said, his groove thoroughly thrown off. “Where was I? Oh whatever, better skip right to the end. Hold on tight, super dork! MUAHAHAHAHA!” The mad scientist pointed the barrel of the ray at the big ‘K’ symbol on KingDead’s spandex outfit and pulled the trigger. Then, nothing. The meerkat scowled and hit the grip against his free palm as if it were a skipping CD player. But still there was no growth beam to be seen. That wouldn’t do at all; he’d spent practically minutes developing this plan! It had to work. While the kat fiddled with knobs on the ray and reset the wiring, KingDead’s tail wagged expectantly. It wasn’t exactly what he planned, but the result was going to be the same. With Al’s help he’d get the power boost needed to properly keep the world safe and protected. KD squinted at the technology, recognizing the dozens of rays connected to the one in Al’s hand just as a building charge of electricity appeared at the end of the barrel. “Waaaait a minute. I’ve seen those before. That’s from Doctor Omega-” The superhero’s musing was interrupted by a blinding flash of green light. Less of a laser, more of an explosion. The whole building was filled in an instant with smoke and neon-green lasers firing out of the windows the likes of which could put rave lighting to shame. KD felt like he’d been hit by a truck, tossed backward into a wall flying straight through it Kool-Aid Man style. That was stronger than he’d expected. He landed with a ‘thump’ on the sidewalk. It wasn’t the worst lump he’d been given as a superhero, but ooowww that stung. KD sat up and rubbed his back, then down to the tender sore-spot on his rump. Anything that was enough to send him soaring was a force to be reckoned with- wait, was Alkali okay? The superwolf pulled himself to his feet, brushing debris away from his shoulders and head. Dust tickled at his nose, along with the smell of burning ozone and fur. All personal injury forgotten he rushed back to the laboratory to assess the damage. “Al? Alkali, are you okay in here?” KD asked, stepping through the cracked doorway and waving away smoke. The lab looked empty to him, with any remnants of science equipment and experiments turned to rubble in the corners of the room. Piles of gadgets, wires, gears, and leaking potion bottles as tall as a person. Everything was incorrectly sized, either too small or too large. And most of the rubble still had faint signs of charring across the various metallic and plastic surfaces. None of it looked meerkat-shaped though. With a shrug, KD turned on his heel to leave. If he couldn’t find the kat he was pretty sure Bomba would handle it. The lab rat was always around to clean up after Alkali’s messes. Down on the floor, a speck of meerkat waved his hands frantically above his head. The looming wolf paw obviously didn’t register anything though, lacking a set of ears. “Hey, woah hang on. Watch your step there! I’M DOWN HERE KI-” a near-microscopic Alkali cried. Followed immediately by a tiny ‘squeak’ between wolf toes as KD continued walking out. He subconsciously ducked under the doorway to leave, not noticing how his physique had slightly bulked up nor noticing the additional several feet on his height. --- KingDead whistled as he patrolled down the street, paws leaving small cracks. So far nothing bad was happening today. Not so much as a cat stuck up a tree to rescue. Maybe this would be a quiet day now that Alkali’s plans were foiled before even getting off the ground. His whistling did nothing to calm the residents of the city as he thudded through. In fact, most people were distracted by the view of an expanding wolf touring the neighborhood. KD seemed uninterested, but the people below took notice right away as his uniform stretched and strained. 10 feet tall became 12, letting the second-floor offices look the wolf directly in his eyes and doubling the number of onlookers. A tearing SHRIIIP noise filled the air and forced King to stop immediately in his tracks. With a reddening face, he looked down to check for ‘costume malfunctions’. The whole front of his spandex suit ripped down the middle creating a deep v-neck cut. Onlookers gasped, parents covered their children’s eyes, at least one fur pulled out a camera. “H-Hah, apologies citizens! Just a friendly superwolf being a great influence on the kids. Uhh, please excuse me. Brush your teeth, go to sleep early, uh… look over there,” the wolf yelled, one arm covering his chest and the other pointing down an alley. The superwolf beat a hasty, embarrassed retreat down the street. There were more awkward places his suit could have ripped, but even revealing his pecs was not a family friendly look. KD resolved to do some extra charity outreach this week, something to undo this PR mistake. So distracted was King that he didn’t realize as the rest of his outfit morphed fluidly from spandex into flowing robes. Its fabric retained the green and red coloring of his costume, but with the cut of a toga. Suddenly it didn’t feel so unnatural for part of his chest to be showing. If anything the nice breeze over his fur felt much preferable. In the wake of his passing, a strange phenomenon of growth followed. It wasn’t clear that those affected were even aware it happened. Blessings of mass were gifted to the watchers, a foot here, a hundred pounds there… an increasing number of wolves in the population as transformations spread after KD. The superwolf hardly noticed when the world subtly shifted size. At first it was just streets widening to make space for the wolf’s paws. The world was going to adjust to having such a large deity taking up residence on the planet. An entire lane of traffic dedicated to KD’s pathway filled the middle of the city roads, stretching the city out for miles around. But once it started there, the rest of the ground taken up by the city needed to expand as well in a chain reaction. A hazy shimmering filled the air all over Earth like a mirage in the desert, until with a snap it solidified. Reality changing on this scale should have triggered alarms somewhere, foreshadowing conflicts amongst world powers for the increased land mass, or at least a government assuring citizens to remain calm. But to the world’s surprise nothing really happened. It felt normal, a typical Monday on a much larger planet. --- KD cocked his head to the side as he looked at his house. Something seemed… different about it. He squinted at it, but that ‘something’ didn’t want to register as a thought in his head. He could vaguely remember an unassuming 2 story house that he used to hide his alternate identity. Being a superhero was still part of his identity, but the memory was hazy. Like something seen through the bottom of a glass bottle, distorted and opaque. Was that right? Because what he saw at the moment made more sense; how would he ever fit in a tiny house? The temple was built specially to accommodate his size, obviously. Reinforced concrete with tons of steel was the only option in those early years of worship, after he outgrew wood and metal houses. All the other materials ended up dented or stomped flat with enough time. KD pulled his sandals off at the door, letting a trio of barely knee-height wolves carry the oversized shoes to storage. The instinct to let his worshippers handle tasks like this was foreign, unlike his usual desire to help others. Saving and protecting was at the heart of KD’s urges to be a superhero. But it didn’t feel unpleasant anymore; years of being treated well felt more natural with each passing second of unaware reality shifting. “Maybe it’s time for a workout, see how much weight I can handle these days. That growth ray explosion might have given me some extra juice,” he yawned, stretching both arms overhead in a drawn-out groggy sigh. Without realizing the change took place he wandered through the kitchen to sit at a weight bench that seconds ago hadn’t existed. Picking up a set of dumbbells for curls he began counting out his reps. One, two, three. Huh. These weights weren’t anything special. But he was certain that it was a challenge to do arm day a few workouts ago. KD squinted at the side of the dumbbell to read how heavy the weights were, just in case he’d picked up the wrong set. 50 lbs. This was definitely the correct weight. Rather than think too deeply, King shrugged and resumed his repetitions. He slowly got into the usual lifting routine again, zoning out to focus only on the workout. Sweat dripped from his brow and created small puddles on the marble floor. Then small lakes as KD’s growth accelerated unconsciously. The muscles under his toga bulked up during each lift. Moving from curls, to chest presses, to tricep exercises moved the focus of his unconscious expansion between muscle groups but did nothing to stop his overall ascension to well over 100 feet tall. Setting aside the 500 lbs. weight (was it always 500? Probably, he thought) King picked a towel up to clean himself. He tossed the rag into a woven basket easily the size of a mansion. A team of forklift drivers would struggle to get that cleaned in an industrial washing machine later today. Oh well. He’d help them out after a jog to get some cardio and a city patrol in. That way he could kill two birds with one stone by patrolling during his normal workout routine. --- As much as KingDead thought things were ordinary, the rest of the world was still struggling to accommodate a skyscraper sized wolf doing routine jogs around the planet’s circumference. Yes, crime had plummeted now that the superwolf had truly gone global but… there were other issues to work out. For all the problems wolf god KingDead had solved, he’d created some growing problems of other sorts. The increasing size of pawprints left in the surface of the planet was at first a cataclysmic change, drawing condemnation from world leaders as they struggled to deal with the loss of farmland and unintentionally smothered people in the craters. Oddly though, that concern faded as the space between cities increased even further. No one could quite explain how it worked, nor explain the way that travel times hadn’t impacted shipping, food storage, work commutes. Scientists were baffled by the sudden realization that not just geography but astronomy would need to be revised. Then they were baffled twice over when any book they opened already featured updated maps and star systems. Oh well, better to not think about it. This was probably the doing of their all-powerful and benevolent wolfgod, so it must’ve changed for a good reason. And weren’t there flourishing forests and lakes growing in the craters after it was all said and done? It wasn’t bad if you looked at it from that direction. History books altered as the minutes and days passed. No one realized as the changes occurring to reality were literally written out of history. To the canine inhabitants of the increasingly large, wolf-centric planet, there was nothing amiss about moon-based religions or a wolfgod living on planet. This was the way things had always been. --- “We need to be the pantheon to strike first!” The open walled temple of the Bird Pantheon was loud, and populated by wildly colored avians of all shapes and sizes. Each bird had their own unique call, crying out if they agreed or disagreed in a cacophony of squawks, caws, chirps. At the center of the temple three Gods met to discuss their next move against a newly formed wolf God. Discussions were not going well. “No, he is a fellow God, and our rules dictate the procedures for interacting with newly ascended godlings. A battle between Gods will create chaos for the mortals-” The red feathered cardinal slammed his fist on a marble podium, unwilling to listen. “That was before he trampled my temple under a single toe. I doubt he even noticed it while jogging through my domain. We must fight!” “You always think we should fight.” An eagle, the leader of their pantheon and far more cautious, furrowed his brow in deep thought. “What of the other pantheons? This would take cooperation from multiple pantheons. Or at least a ceasefire treaty; striking first is a fool’s gambit, leaving our own domain unprotected.” “And I say we can’t allow the other pantheons to gain the upper hand by recruiting a new power, so we should strike FIRST. My worshippers demand it for retribution!” The cardinal was a god of war and combat, so it only made sense that his first reaction was ‘fight’ rather than ‘flight’. “Your worshippers were spared, correct? That doesn’t sound like the work of an evil godling,” a vulture goddess sitting nearby mused. She pecked at a plate of carrion placed ceremonially on her podium, watching the cardinal’s expression turn from angry to sheepish. The cardinal grumbled, “Spared, and immediately converted by this upstart godling. It’s like the step didn’t even leave a miles wide crater at all. Just… disappeared and took all of my mortals with him. I’m running on worship fumes. Who the nine Hells is this wolf anyway?” Thoom The marble ceiling of the bird pantheon’s temple shuddered, dust knocked free to slowly drift on the air currents. All talking ceased while the gods waited to see what caused the quaking. Shortly after the first step the cardinal was the first to speak. “And what in the nine Hells was that?” THOOM The eagle, cardinal, and vulture Gods all felt their temples snuffed out in an instant, trampled under someone’s crater-creating paws. The three looked between each other to share a wordless moment of understanding. For their domains to be invaded so easily, and simultaneously, would take an immense amount of size and power. More than any of them had faced before. There was no time to waste. All three of them donned their battle armor in a flash of light and flew out of the temple to begin a defensive assault. There was no sun in the sky to be seen; it had been eclipsed by an enormous wolf. KingDead’s paw loomed far above head, trapping birds, clouds, and airplanes alike beneath the shadow of his sole. At first they tried to attack the wolf, except he was completely unaware of them. Even worse, when Eagle zoomed upward to attack it was as if each claw only tickled the wolf. Once the good boy’s paw stepped down, it acted as a power vacuum, pulling away their strength without even noticing them. It didn’t help that the birds were barely toe-sized to KingDead. The power drain must have already started, subconsciously over the decades, pulling power and influence away from their domains and into a more canine shape. They expended the rest of their fleeting power trying to hold him back. Cardinal and vulture pushing against soft, supple soles in a futile attempt to stop the inevitable reshaping of the cosmos by a wolfgod. At the end, all three avian gods turned into humble, normal citizens of his existence. Each of them looked at the others, the same way they’d done moments ago as gods of their domain. This time though it was only shock on their faces. To have been so easily defeated, and all their power drained… the world stood no chance against this enormous Good Boy. Billions of miles away, and countless miles up in the sky, KingDead paused on his jog and checked the underside of his paws. “Oh. Looks like some debris got caught…” he mumbled, before wiping the remnants of the avian temple off on Mount Everest. --- More-powerful pantheons were basically action figures in size to him, and made for neat collectibles. One-of-a-kind gods and goddesses that could fill his shelves and bookcases! Each new one captured made the growing superwolf’s tail wag harder. Their powers were neutralized by his overwhelming good boyness, and picked up unknowingly beneath his paws. The pantheons that did get noticed were actively recruited into being his retainers, turned into wolves themselves. Not that those gods and goddesses would remember their prior lives; now that they were mortal, the previous gods considered themselves blessed to be in service of such a good boy. The planet grew bigger and bigger, turning into a throneworld for the new god. A literal throne appeared atop the planet, unimaginably large planet with a proper wolf throne atop. KingDead sat down and propped his paws up onto a star, allowing the warmth of the tiny speck to fill his soles with massaging heat. The solar system was soon too small, the galaxy soon too small even faster after that. Eventually the universe submits in size as the multiverse beckons to KingDead as its new one above all. Good, caring, and dedicated to making reality bigger and better. The universe is barely able to contain that much power as the divine wolf surges and continues to ascend, the swirling mass of reality becoming part of his being. Every moon in the universe, all of them across all planets, acting as tiny sources of power. They became embedded within his fur and muscle, necklaces, rings, anklets, and bracelets all fueling the unending growth. Worshippers cover his body as their planets are lost on him, the warmth and power of their god protecting them as he howls and spreads further still. The next closest universe soon becoming part of his living mass as the waves of energy raced ahead of him, breaking out into the infinite dimensions of the multiverse. KingDead started a massive reaction of prayer, the added belief making his power increase quicker. Universes that he’d never visited before felt the effect of his growth, histories of civilizations instantly changed to worshipping the new Wolfgod above all in the multiverse. His loins ached with need from prayers of ‘divine seed,’ taking over for pantheons of fertility and harvest. They weighed his already-heavy balls and his cock throbbing with urges that only a god would feel. Entire pantheons of belief find themselves overwhelmed by the hero-turned-god and are drained of their power as it adds to his own. It was so overwhelming that it seemed to happen in an instant, everywhere all at once, without even a moment of KingDead’s conscious thought. His home planet safely nestled in between his pecs, KingDead flexed his chest to bump the Earth back and forth between the masses of muscle. It was completely safe now, along with the rest of the multiverse under his domain. Wolf avatars of KingDead filled Alkali’s day, helping his tiny 'kat friend. They were the looming protectors, street crossing guards, gym spotters, and occasionally the blind date. It was a strange sensation to be the only one still with memory of KingDead’s past. Even stranger to get used to being surrounded by many copies of the same huge, well-built canines. But it was pretty hot as well. He couldn’t reverse the changes even if he wanted to… so why not enjoy it? The main lesson the meerkat learned from all this was that he wasn’t cut out for the supervillain life. Maybe some rethinking of plans was in order. Al only got squashed underpaw sometimes by those caring oafs. That hadn’t changed at all since before the accident though. Some things would never change, even after literally ascending to godhood.