Chapter 1772 – Ceremony of One Tribe
“I, Emrik Telford, speak for the electorate of Fusion. The people’s uncertainty towards you is fresh and thus the franchise that would be extended to others will be denied to you. You place yourself in our care, make yourself subject to our expectations, and we offer this in the understanding that you will not be slaves. In Fusion, there will never be slaves. The people of this Federation offer you a future with us, should you prove yourself of stock capable of achieving it.”
“I understand the expectations that the people of Fusion place on us. We shall not be found taking from your coffers without return nor shall we disrupt the peace of your great Federation.”
“Then climb and let us be hosts no longer,” Emrik declared and stepped aside, letting Nahua ascend further.
On the final third, so close that John could see her facial features without supernatural sight now, Nahua stopped once again. The final person standing on the stairs was Rave. The feline Lightbearer was not illuminated by any light but her own, radiating a technicolour shimmer like an angelic aura. She wore casual clothes, a crop top and yoga pants, showing herself as the person she always was.
“You have something to tell the people, before you have anything to ask of me,” the first of John’s harem stated.
Nahua nodded and turned around. “I spoke in haste, this morning,” she told them all. “Ignorant of the customs of this new land, I insisted on a binding that has greater connotations in this land and to the man of my choosing specifically. At this time, we cannot wed, and that I must make clear.” Disappointed murmurs went through the crowd. Before greater upset could be spawned by that denial, Nahua turned back around. “If this clarification pleases you, may I ask what oath you require?”
“I, Jane ‘Rave’ Hollmey, speak for the harem of the President of Fusion, and if you want to be one of us, then you have to know your place. You will be no better than any of us and no lesser. We want you to be yourself and for you to get along with us. If you can bend where you need to bend and break with what traditions you need to break with, then I can accept you as part of John’s harem.”
“I now understand the importance of communication in love, not just war. I will not disappoint by overstepping again and I shall serve as I desire.”
“Then climb and let us be hosts no longer,” Rave declared and stepped aside, letting Nahua ascend further – after squeezing her butt as she passed by. “Get used to it,” she purred underneath the voice-boosting enchantments.
As Nahua ascended the final segment of steps, John raised his voice, “I, John Newman, speak for the Federation as a whole. As president, I lead the armed forces and the executive of the land. I led the force against Macuilcozcacuauhtli and I am your host. The soil under your feet I conquered from the Lorylim and the city you see my elementals raised from the ground.”
Undine’s voice in the background rose to its highest volume for a short-lived moment, as Nathalia and Nightingale stepped out of the shadows of the room located atop the temple. A snap of her finger had the goddess of volcanoes ignite nearby coal braziers. Nightingale weaved the night into a patchy curtain, to assure the light spread in ways most impressive.
“You promised your wish to find redemption, your desire for peace and equality, and your personal willingness to bow to our traditions where it is required.” He took a short pause, to let Nahua take the final few steps to arrive in front of him. “Would you allow me to swear oaths to your people as well?”
“I would be greatly honoured,” the demigoddess spoke softly.
“Then I shall swear to you and yours that you will not be on your own. Like a family, I will ensure you are given what you need to get on your feet and, like a family, I will demand you stand on your own and with me when you can. Wed we will not be today…” John brushed with the back of his curled fingers over the side of Nahua’s face. “…but I wish to make you my woman.”
“Then let us be family, your tribe and mine,” Nahua declared.
“Then let Fusion be host no longer,” John agreed and undid the cord of his robe. The silk swiftly glided from his shoulder, revealing him to be as naked as she was. His toned body, marked in a variety of scars, had been oiled. Glistening skin caught the light of the flames.
Together, the two of them moved to the altar. There, Aclysia appeared from the curtain of night. In her hands, she held a stone bowl filled with only a little bit of water. Nathalia reached over it, fine ash raining from her closed fist. Nightingale conjured her Moon Lavender in a gesture of her wings. Rave had climbed the stairs and now lent her hands, crushing the fragrant leaves in her fist and dropping them into the bowl as well. When water was no longer even hinted at under the black and purple dust, the first maid pushed the bowl forwards.
The music stopped.
Nahua and John each sank their right hand into the bowl. Together, they swirled the mixture until the dust became a sticky pulp. John moved first, as was his right as the stronger of the two parties. “I accept your people into mine.” He touched the side of her face with his paint-coated palm, leaving a clear mark. “I claim your heart as mine.” He pressed a second mark on top of her left breast.
“I accept you into my people.” Nahua touched the side of his face, leaving a mark of her own hand. “I claim a piece of your heart.” She pressed a second mark on top of the left side of his chest.
“”With that, we become family and our people one,”” they spoke in unison, moving their eyes from each other and to the crowd below.
“You are hosted as guests no longer, you have arrived in your home long unknown,” John stated.
“We have arrived in our home long unknown and we shall carry our burden,” Nahua added, then fell to her knees. “My tribe is your tribe, until the day that we are cut from this body. President of Fusion, we are your people now.”
John nodded solemnly and turned to the people. “And for this day… let us celebrate!” His tone had suddenly shifted to happiness. The lights went out all around just as quickly, leaving the crowd below in confused gasps. When it all flipped on again, the surrounding buildings had opened, revealing dozens of stands manned by Fusion’s supply officers. Meat and vegetables were thrown on ready grills, spreading the smell of food all around.
The ceremony was over, a fact that settled in soon. There was a wave of celebratory shouts, while Moira and Emrik descended the stairs. John and his women, meanwhile, stepped into the veil of night and went down the back of the pyramid. “Should we not join them?” Nahua asked, confused by this move.
“Later, maybe,” John told her.
“First, we got a private ceremony we gotta go through,” Rave told the demigoddess.
Having not been informed about this part of it all, Nahua did not know what was going on until she was led into a palace at the foot of the building. It was somewhat of a replica of the building they had occupied in the inner realm.
Inside the throne room of that chamber, the rest of John’s harem awaited. All were there, even Lydia and Lu Zhi, the latter of which Nahua stared at with open befuddlement. “You are empress of another empire, are you not?”
“Welcome to the final secret of the harem.” The imperial tomboy closed one eye and smirked playfully. “I’m sure we’ll get along splendidly.”
Before Nahua could ask any further questions, Rave shoved her into the great pile of pillows that covered the floor. Landing on her back, the axolotl woman could only watch while the maids brought a number of bowls filled with bodypaint out from their inventories.
“Tiger got to lay his claim on you,” Rave purred and covered her palm in pink, “now it’s time all of us get to.”
“That is brilliant!” Nahua exclaimed and spread her arms wide. “Go on, girlies, I’m your art piece!”
Rave placed her palm on the right side of the demigoddess’ lower abdomen. Aclysia, swiftly, mirrored the touch on the left side in white. Nathalia cupped a handful of Nahua’s derriere. Eliana grabbed a thigh and squished, to compare to her own. Gnome gave a gentle pat on the shoulder, leaving notably less paint. Salamander delivered a strong smack to the back, which Sylph swiftly mirrored with her smaller hand. Momo placed her mark underneath that of Gnome. Lydia chose the other shoulder. At that point, Nahua took off the tribal necklace she still wore, entrusting it with Rave who placed it in her inventory.
Nia touched the left side of the axolotl woman, painting her faintly visible ribs with gold. Siena’s dark print was left on the woman’s right breast. Metra placed her mark just above, near the collarbone. Scarlett left a crimson touch on Nahua’s throat. Beatrice added a second to the side of it, Lorelei a third to the other, creating a ring of hands around the woman’s neck.
Lee was another one to grab Nahua’s thigh. Nightingale gently left a mark of her foot on the sternum. Delicia joined her hand to the canvas of the back. Claire left her hand near that of Aclysia on Nahua’s hips. Hailey left her mark on the swing from Nahua’s shoulder to her neck. Lu Zhi placed her jade touch above John’s initial mark on the left breast. Lastly, Ehtra put her mark in brownish white on the midriff of the woman.
It all happened swiftly, the coordination between members of the harem as impressive as ever. Made hot by the presence of the volcano goddess and fire elemental, the air aided in the rapid drying of the many markings. The many prints overlapped, the body of the short woman too small a canvas for this many hands. It only made it more attractive. Underneath all the imprints, the natural body markings of the demigoddess still peeked through.
The outstretched digits of Aclysia and Rave’s marks framed between thumb and index finger a space above her womb. That was John’s to fill and he did so in the only proper way. Kneeling down next to the painted, tribal woman, who panted with clear arousal, he ran his hands through her white hair. He held her firm and strong and gazed into her eyes, waiting until the last of the women around had stripped down to be as nude as they were. Then and only then did he claim the lips of the demigoddess in a kiss once denied.
She moaned in lust twice needed, then in pleasure thrice deserved. Magic flowed where they met. It flowed through the hands that held her. It flowed through their mashing lips and swirling tongues. It flowed through the skin of his chest, where she squeezed his muscles greedily. It flowed and she moaned as it all coalesced in two places: in the gap left above her womb and as a ring-like tattoo around the Gamer’s left index finger.
“I love you,” the Gamer whispered.
“I am honoured, my lord,” she whispered back, suddenly sounding so very shy. A sassy little smile took that out of her tone quickly. “Although you prefer Master, do you not?”
“I very much do.” John could barely hold on any longer. It was long overdue that the pleasures of the flesh were made hers in full. “I have only one question, Nahua: do you wish to experience the sensitivity of a normal woman first, or do you want to greedily jump into debauchery?”
“I am no normal woman – give me all that you think I deserve,” Nahua responded.
John stood up. Towering above her, cock hard, he opened her Stat sheet and distributed the points she had unlocked since the defeat of the god of gluttony. Barely, he managed to keep himself from going completely overboard. He ‘only’ raised the Libido to be on par with Aclysia.
“Serve,” he ordered her.