A Gift of The Goddess Ch. 02

Max and Kristina accompany us to the area where my Lady did what she does best, ...observe, assess and calculate.

She strolled into the forest on the roadside and stopped to look at plants growing incongruously. She picked the flower and tasted the petals a moment before spitting out the plant matter.

"Do you see it?" She asked

"I'm not a big picture tactical guy like you girls," Max replied.

"This is an opiate used in more questionable houses of ill repute to lower the inhibitions of workers and clients." Kristina explained, "In higher doses, it is also occasionally used by wannabe berserkers."

"It's presence here is no accident." Dawn replied.

"Oh yes it is!" Kristina chuckled.

"Well yes that part was surely accidental."

"What are you guys talking about?" Max asked on my behalf.

"Carts full of plants are passing by, as they rounded the corner they're jostled and some plants or seeds flew out of the cart to land here."

"Opiates!" I snapped.

"Bradley's shipping his product via back roads." Max said thoughtfully.

"The demons were testing their portal and troops against what they assumed was a soft target which it might have been but for the trade route that seemed overly busy given its remote location."

"But then you started to look into his business my lady."

"Only because you seemed so upset by the suggestion that he was engaged in trafficking."

Kristina laughed, "Bradley has a quiet deal with the village headman. He gets money and Bradley pretends to bring him up during fancy parties."

"How do you know?" Max asked.

"The headman has a son that gets very chatty when he's trying to avoid choking on girl-cock."

"Oh the old post coitus confession, I love those," Max chuckled, "you know Matthew mentioned his wife kept messing around with the headman even though he sucks in bed."

The woman likely enjoyed the fringe benefits of a poorly endowed man who nevertheless seeks to impress you," Dawn replied thoughtfully, "doubtlessly he boasted to her of his influence at court."

I wanted to help

"Perhaps if he's plied with the same promises of favor and influence he'll tell us where and when the next shipment is due." I suggested.

"That's inspired thinking by my brave man." Dawn replied, looking at me with pride.

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Max watched Chris and Dawn and realized why their relationship seemed so familiar. Cathy had a friend with a dog. She loved that dog, took it everywhere she used to say that dog was the perfect male companion. If the rumors of what they were doing when alone together were true. Major was indeed a perfect companion in a way no man could ever match, not the least of reasons being -- dogs can't gossip. Dawn obviously saw Chris in a similar way, as a pet, a thing that loved unconditionally and would still love her even if she abused him. Max looked at Christian with magical eyes and saw he possessed a reincarnated body and his skills and abilities looked familiar too.

Of course in the game the character constantly flirted or rudely taunted his foes whereas this guy seemed kind to a fault and completely devoted to his Princess. If Christian ever had misgivings or doubts about anything, there was his Radiant Dawn encouraging and comforting him. Christian saw Dawn as she desired to be seen. Was there any better validation for a psychopathic narcissist than someone who saw the lie and defended it as truth?

"Perhaps someone who's self delusion led to his own death can sympathize with someone who so desperately wants to be the hero she needs that he'll blind himself to the monster she could easily become if he wasn't around."

"Who are you and what have you done with my Femdom Bitch Goddess?"

"HE validates her narcissism SHE validates his heroic aspirations ..."

"-Mutual self-interest at its most basic." Max recited.

"And a hint at how you gain HER trust and HIS friendship."

Max focused on the conversation happening in the real world right in front of him.

"My Lady and I should return to the Imperial Capital so we can track Bradley better from there." Chris said.

"You know what Chris?" Max replied, "While he wasn't aware of it, Bradley's been responsible for two separate attempts on MY life,"

"What are you proposing?" Chris asked him.

"I'd like to play a role in whatever you and the Radiant Princess decide to do when you catch up with him," Max replied.

"I'll be confronting him and punishing him and whoever he's allied with for their treachery against My Lady."

"Then a couple strong arms at your side could be useful," Max explained.

"You could live with me in the capital, I could move you into my mother's mansion!"

"Are you sure living with your mother and her...companions wouldn't be disruptive?" Dawn asked.

"What do you mean?"

"How would you feel about cosplaying as a Victorian maid?"

"Are you shitting me? There's Victorian Era maid's here?"

"Technically they're young men crossdressing but yes they have maid's, or at least they do now," Chris explained, "I've even turned mom's gardening parties into a kind of maid cafe. They're pretty fetishized but that kinda makes it better."

"Wait, your house is full of young crossdressing femboy maids?" Max asked softly, "and you want me to join them?"

"You might periodically be asked to attend to my mother's friends -- they seem to enjoy her ... unique taste in household staff." Christian replied innocently.

"So I spend all day as a femboy death mage cleric and now I'm playing a femboy maid."

"In Victorian attire, I thought it a nice touch and the look has caught on."

"Quit digging Dude, you've hit pay dirt," Max chuckled, "You know what, let's do this!"

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Talona's Tale

There's a place you go whenever you sleep and dream. It is a place apart from the waking world. Some say it's the realm of The Gods, mostly the Gods themselves, to be honest, we're ALL kinds of full-of-shit that way.

Gods like to think that mortal beings are insignificant, that mortals need us far more than we need them. Ironically being a Goddess who embodies mankind's complex relationships with the natural world and its most basic dangers, you come to understand the truth is considerably more nuanced.

I appear out of the ether, Loviatar reclines on a long couch. Her traditional white gown has been exchanged for one looking more provocative. Beside her is a stack of books.

"Sorry I fucked your boytoy." I say which even to my ears sounds very insincere.

"I knew you'd find your way here once I saw you take his semen." Loviatar chuckled.

We are standing in a brightly lit glass enclosed area where a vast expanse filled with shimmering water bubbles invitingly.

"What is this place Loviatar?" I ask, "it looks like a public bathhouse but larger."

"It's the mental construct that frames Max's mana pool. They call this an Olympic Sized Swimming Pool where he comes from."

"This is his mana pool? It's huge!"

"Oh this is his secondary needs pool. The lower level passive spell work draws on this; he even maintains the connection with the divine, ...between us, with this."

"But connection to the divine requires enormous power. How could he maintain a mana pool as large as this and still work the kind of magic that I witnessed?"

"Oh this isn't his entire pool, this is just for parlor tricks like identifying people and objects, creating lube, thanks for putting that idea in his head by the way and sustaining his stamina during sexual encounters," Loviatar explains, "It also powers my link to the mortal plain. I suspect that he's unaware that the fact he can see and speak to me as frequently as he does is because of the wellspring of power he keeps here."

"If this is just your personal power source how does he perform magic?"

Loviatar gestures out the glass enclosure, "THAT'S his mana pool out there," she answers.

I press my face against the glass and I see a vast and seemingly endless ocean. Mountainous glaciers and jagged icebergs rising from the infinite waters are the only thing that dot the endless depths that stretch infinitely across the visible horizon and vanish into the distance.

"How could any one person possibly contain so much power?"

"That's one of several things I'll ask my older sibling when I catch up with her." Loviatar grumbled.

"Mystria? She's a Primal Goddess of Life and reincarnation."

"Amongst other things, she's also the reason why he's here though why she gave him to me is a mystery. She hasn't spoken to me and apparently that's an arrangement she's keen to continue."

Loviatar holds out a tall glass and shakes it at me, "Be a dear and freshen that up for me!" The Goddess asks.

I'm a little too shocked at the implications of what Loviatar has told me to indulge our admittedly petty rivalry. I dip the glass into the bubbling water and while it's warm at the touch, the contents of the glass immediately become ice cold. I hand Loviatar the glass and she sips at the contents approvingly.

"I have no idea what this Long Island place is or why they make their iced tea taste like sweet liquor but I wholeheartedly approve."

"His mana tastes like liquor?" I ask in disbelief.

"His mana tastes like anything HE can possibly imagine and he has a very healthy imagination."

"You're feeding off him, ...drawing upon his strength to increase your own."

"The other thing I'm curious about is why he doesn't seem to notice," Loviatar hissed, "odd as this is to say but I'm a God, a celestial being with the potential for 'unfathomable and limitless powers' yet I can feed off him till I'm full to bursting and he barely notices and that's before we discuss the pain and agony he sends my way; both his own and whatever he draws out of others."

"Has it always been this big?" I ask.

"Like all mages," Loviatar explained, " he meditates to improve his mana pool and manipulation. He's gotten to the point he instinctually does it while he sleeps."

The Maiden of Suffering gestured towards a large ceramic shell a third the size of the so-called swimming pool.

"His mana pool used to be that large tub now it looks like this," Loviatar hissed, "his mana pool, including the one out there, has been growing exponentially and extremely fast."

I run my hands across the smooth surface of the tub. It has metal fixtures that look like jets.

"It's called a Jacuzzi bathtub where he comes from and it was extremely comfortable," Loviatar laughs.

"What's the point of such frivolous indulgence?"

"I went through his mind, apparently this is what goddesses in his realm deserve, ...at least to his mind anyway."

"And it's always looked like this?"

"I used to have just that tub and shower and it was always large but after he multi-classed I came back and the place looked like this."

"I'm using this!" I announce, I'm not even trying to hide my jealousy.

"I know how your poisonous mind works Talona so yes you can drop by and use it and the pool."

"That's uncharacteristically generous of you, why?" I ask thoughtfully, "He has you worried!"

Loviatar gestures and pictures fill the air. It's the world as her powerful servant perceives it. I examine each picture and it doesn't take long to see it. Several human opponents have a very familiar tattoo.

"Has he noticed?"

"He's too busy fighting and fucking though I suspect his companions have seen it."

I see several pictures of the boy's futanari amazon friends looking critically at their fallen foes.

"Baal," the Maiden of Pain hissed, "the God of murder and violence."

"And where he goes inevitably Bane the Lord of Darkness will be found creeping around in the shadows pretending to be some kind of puppeteer to make himself feel important."

"Strong words from him, ...how did he refer to you again? Oh yes! His Queen Consort."

Normally such teasing would send Loviatar into fits of jealous and narcissistic rage. Instead she's coldly calculating, I'd never say so but she's somewhat intimidating like this.

"It's amusing, you've fucked both Bane and Max behind my back but I only really care about Max because I wasn't able to watch and enjoy it in real time."

"Charitable of you to call Bane wriggling around on top of you while thinking of his own pleasure -- fucking," I sneer.

I'm not being catty, there's Gods and Higher Beings with reputations to honestly match their body counts, carnally speaking of course, divine power doesn't always lend itself to being a compassionate and caring lover. Indeed one annoying trait common to those with good alignments is a better than average chance of getting fucked by someone who actually cares about someone else's orgasms. Yet another reason why mortals, especially ones like Max, are considerably more important than we divine beings like to admit.

"I admit that the pleasure of cuckolding you with the boy was considerably greater than anything Bane and I did together," I reply, "I doubt Bane would lower himself to taking it in the ass like Max did."

"Please, Bane was usually too busy boasting of his genius to use his mouth for anything remotely useful." Loviatar mocks.

"You want me to believe they're back and planning something?"

"War is coming and Baal and Bane will probably jockey for positions, spend as much time fighting each other as they would fighting alongside each other, and will doubtlessly make a move to secure their positions in the coming infernal order. The problem is Baal does not allow threats to his power and once Baal learns that Max is here and what he's capable of he'll absolutely see Max and by extension me as a threat to be dealt with and he has only one way to deal with things he considers threatening."

"And Bane?"

"Bane's godly pride won't let him acknowledge anyone as a legitimate threat nevermind a human, it would be too humiliating." Loviatar sneered, "he's also too proud to bend the knee -- especially to me."

"You're scheming, this is a new and not an unpleasant change."

"You approve?"

"Ideas are the ultimate slow poison. Who better to appreciate your new outlook than the Maiden of Poisons."

"Trying to kill me would be an admission of weakness so I suspect Bane will try to kill Max."

"And make it look as circumstantial as possible," I reply thoughtfully, "And you clearly don't see that as a problem,"

Loviatar laughed as she gestured, "Max could use the power in this swimming pool to annihilate a God if he were so inclined, and he basically just uses it to give himself the stamina to fuck. The icebergs and glaciers are the spells that he knows and comfortably uses; necromancy and bardic magic -- Hell, I've even seen icebergs rising up that are clearly indicative of spells powered by your magic. How he learned from you I'll never know."

Now I'm the one acting out of character, I know why Max knows my spells, he watched me cast them. From that one simple demonstration he'd learned the basics. I glance outside, as Loviatar says a trio of icy hills coloured purple rise above the fathomless depths. If the other icebergs and glaciers who's towering peaks practically touch the sky are anything to judge by, within days they'll tower equally high and be joined by even more.

"How powerful do you think he can become?" I whisper.

"That sea out there represents his true untapped potential."

"You're implying he has the potential to be a what? ...A Higher Being? Demigod? Or something more?"

"Right now he's a child at play, ignoring the toy for the package the toy comes in," Loviatar laughed, "If you were Baal would you believe that someone with that much untapped, raw power was no threat to you regardless of who promised you otherwise?"

"What are you going to do then?"

"Max has committed himself to helping his new friend, the femboy sword princess. To that end, I suspect they'll eventually decide to put The Radiant Dawn on the Imperial Throne."

"Princess Dawn? She's pleasant enough but hardly the type I'd think would merit attention from the Maiden of Suffering?" I examine Loviatar, "what game are you playing."

"Dawn is a worshipper, a secret one but still... She has an older sibling, Lawrence who is a devotee of Bane I suspect once he's aware his sister conspires to steal his pathway to the Golden Throne -- human nature will take its course."

Loviatar hands me one of the books next to her. They're filed with ink drawn images of men and women frolicking in erotic pleasure. I'm familiar with mental constructs enough to realize these 'books' are Max's memories. Humans are ridiculously unaware of just how much they actually remember. I realize that the books all have a theme, female dominance, crossdressing, shemales and futanari.

"Max and Christian are two incredibly powerful people who worship power, ... feminine power

You're seriously thinking of opposing the Dark Gods because of the sexual fetishes of two overpowered cum hungry crossdressing femboys?"

"Originally I just wanted some fun then I realized a little femdom empire was within my grasp," Loviatar hissed, "now I'm starting to think I absolutely could think bigger, much bigger."

"You know The rest of the Dark Pantheon will come for us."

"Us?"

"I've been kissing the feet of Baal and others for centuries. Maybe it's time THEY kissed MY ass!"

Loviatar laughed, "Mutual self-interest at its most basic."

I smile a little too wildly, "I get something and you get something." I reply, "how shall we begin?"

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