131: The Gift Of Life (18+)

Of all the things Eris could picture herself doing a month ago, the last thing she would have guessed was getting a history lesson while leisurely masturbating herself for ritualistic edging in order to bring a wooden assistant to limited sentience that was likely fixated entirely on the concept of sex.

Wild.

“There are old legends that state every single person was born with certain characteristics based on which deities’ month they were born under.”

“Yeah,” Eris breathed out through a moan. “Horoscopes and stuff. I’m born under the Matriarch, but how does that matter?”

“There are four hundred and twenty-two days in a year,” Dzhemehal continued, obviously ignoring Eris in favour of another long-winded lecture explanation. Eris sighed, but didn’t feel completely defeated. At least this time, she had thirteen inches of distraction to keep herself occupied in the meantime.

“Those are split in fourteen months of thirty days, one for each member of the Seven. Then, there are two international holidays- Tolei M’Grohl and Tolei M’Grihm- the Day of Life and the Day of Death, respectively. Those two days signify a split in the calendar to separate it in half, and signify which phase of the year we’re in- the Grohl phase or the Grihm phase.”

Eris let the professor’s words rest in the background while she leaned back in the bed, one hand working away to drag the lube up and down her thick shaft. It felt lovely, but she couldn’t get carried away. Although she had to keep constant stimulation, there was no instinct telling her that she needed to stay on the very edge the entire time. Since that was the case, Eris would much, much rather maintain a state that was less… mentally taxing, so to speak.

“The Ra’lan word for ‘Month’ also has the unique property of changing based on which phase of the year it is referring to. In the first phase, being the phase of Grohl, ‘Month’ is ‘Oka’. In the second, Grihm phase, the word is ‘Alos’. Therefore, each month of the year is organized by all of the Grohl halves of the Seven making a compound word with Oka, followed by Tolei M’Grohl. As I’m sure you are aware, the seasons of Spring and Summer occur in the phase of life, while Fall and Winter occur in the phase of death. Because of that, Tolei M’Grohl, the Day of Life and the longest day of the year, is referred to as the Summer Solstice and marks the official change from Summer into autumn.”

Eris couldn’t help herself, letting her other hand rest on the base of her cock while letting a single finger idly prod at the entrance of her pussy. The tingles of pleasure made a bead of fluid form at the tip of her cock, which was quickly massaged in with the rest of the lube glistening over her length.

“Then, the months are each of the Grihm halves of the Seven, compounded with Alos, ultimately followed by Tolei M’Grihm which is the shortest day of the year and thus the Winter Solstice. After which, the transition into Spring begins anew, with the year returning to the phase of life. The order in which the Seven appear through the year never changes; The Arbiter, Primordial, Warden, Sovereign, Zenith, Cardinal, and lastly the Oculus. It is the same for both the Grohl phase and the Grihm phase.”

“You realise everyone was taught about the months of the year when we were like… five, right?”

Dzhemehal levelled a glare at Eris. “There is nothing wrong with ensuring that knowledge has not been forgotten. I will repeat ‘common knowledge’ as much as is needed for the point to get across.”

Eris sighed. Yeah, the Gluttony in Dzhemehal’s eyes made more and more sense the more the woman rambled.

“Polloka, Hennoka, Taloka, Esmeroka, Kiaroka, Raeloka, Demeroka, Tolei M’Grohl. Zethalos, Amelalos, Mizzalos, Aldalos, Vintalos, Cabalos, Yerralos, and Tolei M’Grihm. You were born on the twenty-seventh of Esmeroka, thus born under Esmer, the Matriarch. Goddess of empires, conquest, monarchy, and respect.”

“And?” Eris asked, letting a hand slide all the way back down her cock with a delightful squelch of lube. Dzhemehal blinked.

“And, the point is that every person born under a specific member of the Seven is said to have a natural blessing or characteristic from that deity.”

“I was pretty obviously blessed by Demeri, not Esmer,”

“Not a tangible or observable blessing like your being an Echo,” the professor sighed, adjusting her tailcoat. “Something that is so esoteric and coincidental it’s still yet to be proven. The idea that those born under the Harbinger are more aggressive in battle, or often find themselves to be some of the more successful figures in war scenarios? Carmine Charlotte, for example?” Dzhemehal pointed to the Knight standing in the corner. 

“She was born under Kiara, and she is one of the most achieved combatants in the Syndicate. Or perhaps Nyx, the Dreadnought of Wrath, blessed by the Huntress and born under the Harbinger, who according to our records is stated to be the most powerful Echo that ever existed?”

Dzhemehal then turned to face Eris more directly, seemingly uncaring of the fact that Eris was actively masturbating.

“Or how I was born under Yerrow, the god of death and memory, and I am the foremost expert on the planet when it comes to historical matters? Or how the two people you care for most, Jasmine and Alexandra, were both born under Mizzari, the goddess of love and poison? What about Esmer herself? Variah Konderlacht, the superintendent of the entirety of Marrix and one of the most influential figures in the Syndicate, was born under the goddess of monarchies. So was King Geriege, as well as every other member of the Geriege family that inhabited the throne in generations passed. Out of every single one of them, despite there often being a dozen possible heirs, the only one that ever occupied the throne was one born under Esmer.”

Eris’s movements on her cock slowed, but didn’t stop. There was still a ritual going on, after all.

“So… what? You’re saying I’m going to become a queen because of the month I was born?”

Dzhemehal gave a small shrug. “In a way, you already are a queen. You’re the most important person in the entire Syndicate. The entire plan to save the world rests on your shoulders, and despite everything, the Syndicate cannot do anything without your assistance. To put it simply, you are the one that ultimately decides what the Syndicate does. If you ask me, that’s more power than any queen could ever have.”

After a moment of silence, Dzhemehal turned back around and went back to what she had been doing- writing. Presumably to put her words into a written form that could then be given to other people to work out the theories, or maybe even to work on the woman’s next book. It was hard to know for sure.

“Of course, thinking about the date of your birth also brings up a slew of other coincidences that may or may not have a foothold in what we are currently dealing with. For example, Vojemala foresaw that you, Eris, would have been an acolyte at the Faldrune Chapel, a temple dedicated to the Sovereign and holding the bodies of the familiars for both halves; Medakuna, the familiar of Esmer, but more notably, Einyerja, the familiar of Alda. The very same Einyerja that you were foreseen to trip over and accidentally make the connection necessary to bring Alda’s Obelisk from the Stream into Tonshlur.”

Eris decided not to ask what the woman’s point was. She’d get there eventually when she was done with the dramatic pause.

“The thing about the Faldrune Chapel, however, is that I looked into it and I found out that every single officially-accepted acolyte of that church was born under the Sovereign. Either Esmer or Alda, and nobody else. Now, you were supposed to be an acolyte of that church, according to Vojemala’s visions. You just so happened to be born under one of two deities that would allow you to be that acolyte. Centuries late, and in the wrong place, but still at the right time of year.”

The room went quiet for a moment, the only sound being the soft ‘shlicks’ of Eris stroking her cock, as she had been doing for close to an hour. Then, Dzhemehal sighed and glared over her shoulder at Eris.

“Can you quiet down with that? It’s quite distracting.”

Eris blinked.

“I was instructed to do this ritual now. You’re the one that decided to try and give me a history lesson when you knew I’d be ritualistically masturbating.” Eris gave another long, slow, lovely stroke while making direct eye contact. Dzhemehal’s eye twitched.

“You need to do this ritual three times, one for each of your assistants. That is three total hours in which you are unable to craft, unable to perform other rituals, unable to impregnate volunteers for Desire and increased stats, and unable to use your necklace to replicate skills from the many partners the Syndicate outlined for you. The least you could do is use all that time to learn information that could prove useful in the future.”

“And the least you could do is take off those clothes and give me something nice to look at.”

That was what Eris wanted to say. A bite back remark, almost an order to make the pink-haired woman give a stripshow if she wasn’t going to do something more useful. Instead, Eris bit her tongue to remain quiet. Dzhemehal turned back to her paper with a loud sigh.

“Konderlacht has already decided that replicating Vojemala’s prophetic skill is not the priority as of right now. We need to go to Kelopa, to Vojemala’s workshop, and find Kadu there so she may explain what went wrong with Vojemala’s plan. However, we cannot begin an expedition to another continent lost by the Hollow while it is trampling in our own backyard. Therefore, we must gather strength and resources and establish our preparations to cleanse the three Hollow trees occupying Dural. For that, both you and your strike team must become stronger.”

At the thought, a chill ran down Eris’s spine and muted some of the heat from her masturbation. Jaxie and Alex were out there, on the front lines, fighting the Hollow for level progression. Eris had made their equipment. She had seen who all would be going with them to make sure they were safe. She had heard detailed reports on all the safeguards in place.

But it still worried her. At this very moment, those two could be fighting for their lives. They would be sweating, bleeding, maybe even broken. And here Eris was, lounging on a bed, stroking her cock with her only troubles being the lecture forced upon her.

Gods, it wasn’t fair.

“Can we not talk about this while I’m trying to masturbate? Again- doing a ritual here.”

“What else would you rather talk about?” Dzhemehal sighed. “The requirements of Vojemala’s Vile skill should you eventually get it?”

“Please don’t…”

“The skill has two factors. The first is that you can kiss an individual of your choosing, and magically bind them to fall hopelessly and irreversibly in love with you.”

“Stop…” Eris winced. Dzhemehal ignored her.

“The effect gets more potent if the individual already had one or more significant others prior to your kiss, whereupon they lose all feelings for anyone else and become solely infatuated with you. Then, only with someone who was in a dedicated relationship that the skill ruined, the first time thereafter that they achieve orgasm during sex with you, you will receive a brief display of prophetic visions.”

Eris sighed with a frown, forcing herself to keep stroking her long cock so the ritual didn’t fail fifty-five minutes in.

“Thank you, Rita, for re-stating the fact that when I eventually need to use the skill, I need to destroy the true love of others and steal their affection for myself.”

For the first time, Charlotte spoke up. “At least… at least it’s not something actually disgusting, like pedophilia or necrophilia?”

That made Dzhemehal give a nod. “That is true. Vojemala’s skill, much like your own Vile Skill you received this morning at level ten, seems to be focused less on the ‘physical’ aspects of Lust. You don’t have to engage in relations with minors like many other Lust Echoes in the past.”

“Yeah, because having sex with a child once is so much worse than irrevocably ruining a marriage forever by stealing their love, or permanently cursing someone to be some sex-crazed nympho that can only ever get relief from me personally, therefore making them completely dependant on me for the rest of their lives. But yeah- a kid is where we draw the line.”

Unfortunately, that was when Eris started to feel a warm tingling below the surface of her pelvis. Heat building like the cum stored… somewhere inside of her was growing hotter with every second. Eris sighed and started rolling up out of the bed while continuing to drag fingers along her length.

“Fantastic, now I’ve gotta try and complete this ritual while thinking about destroying people’s entire lives by reducing them to my sex slaves. Thanks for that, Rita.”

It was a little awkward to walk while actively masturbating, but Eris managed to waddle over towards where the three wooden bodies were slumped where the wall met the floor as if they were a couple of passed-out drunks sitting outside a bar. There were slight differences in the designs and patterns of the wood for each to make them distinguishable, but Eris wasn’t focusing on those right now. Nor was she focusing on the way that Dolly and Jewel, still in their time-out table on the other side of the workshop, were jittering excitedly. Right now, Eris was just focused on making her third assistant.

She stopped, standing above the left-most body with her legs spread to either side of its own, both of her hands wrapping around her turgid length while pointing it at the wooden face. One of three, carved in the swivelling block that would be the assistant’s head. Then, Eris’s hands increased from the languid pace she’d kept for the last hour to something faster. More insistent. She didn’t need to hold back anymore- in fact, she just needed to finish it all.

Eris bit her lip, lube squelching around her hands as they milked up and down her long length. Her eyes remained fixed on the wooden body beneath her.

There were defined breasts that Addison carved- somehow managed to look knotted and textured like wood, but also soft and plush like a breast ought to be. Eris had gotten the shape all right, but somehow a few finishing touches from the blonde had made wooden teats look remarkably squeezable and suckable. Further down was an equally enticing stomach that was somehow sexy despite being segmented into three parts for more range of motion, but there was no belly button. Instead, where a belly button would have been carved, was a series of notched grooves in the shape of a small pair of antlers. The same went for the other two bodies, as well.

Below that was an insert of rubber that had been coloured the same shade as the rest of the varnished wood, making it appear that this thing had a solid-wood vagina. However, Eris knew that it was a soft, squishy tunnel over a foot long, going up into the segmented torso. In fact, the vagina was the mounting point for the torso, serving as both the point where the pieces were held together, as well as what they rotated around. After all, the body wouldn’t be able to twist otherwise when there was a rubber-lined wooden cock sheathe going all the way up towards the breasts. 

Eris was only able to briefly imagine what it would feel like to pour lots of lube down that tunnel to get it all nice and wet, then slam her dick in all the way. She could fill them up with so much cum that it would drip down their wooden legs, making a creamy second layer of varnish-

Eris grunted, hands squeezing around her cock as it began to pulse. The first thick rope of seed shot out and splattered in a direct hit, right in the center of the assistant’s chest. While she watched the white fluid start immediately seeping into the grain of the wood to make pale trails, the second rope did the same. The third, aimed a bit higher at the face, painted over wooden lips with white and dripped down the chin. 

The next spurt was a similar result, as was the one after that, and the one after that. Meanwhile, Eris just groaned, fist-fucking her cock and encouraging every possible drop of cum to be fired forth onto the wooden body. It didn’t seem to take much for Dolly and Jewel to be animated, but their current forms were much, much smaller compared to this. Eris didn’t know if a greater size meant a higher requirement of cum, but she wasn’t taking any risks. She simply closed her eyes, tilted her head at the ceiling, and continued stroking all the way through the last dredges of her orgasm as that tingling heat in her core from the ritual seemed to rush out as if she were peeing.

After the last of it was emptied, Eris kept her eyes closed and panted up at the roof. It was one kind of relief to cum- it was another kind of relief when that cum was heating up her insides like boiling water, magically enhanced and needing to be let out for a ritual.

Eris did jump a bit at what happened next, though. She should have expected it. In fact, it should have been the only thing she expected to happen, but somehow she was too distracted to see it coming and it made her flinch in response.

A wooden hand with leather-wrapped fingers grabbed hold of her cock.