Acolyte of the Pleasure Goddess Ch. 01

"I think that you're capable of great things, Delyssa, but will you accomplish them if we leave you to your own devices? Or will you just stay where you are comfortable, in your cella, performing the rites of renewal but always staying yourself the same?"

Delyssa could feel herself starting to cry, and immediately got angry at herself for it. There were too many different emotions warring inside her. She felt insulted that the priestesses thought she was becoming lazy in her duties when that wasn't true at all, but she also felt a twist of pride that their interest was because they saw potential in her. She was scared of the idea of leaving the temple -- her home for nearly all her life (and certainly all of the life that she cared to remember) -- and Gra'tan, the only city she'd ever known, to go out with a band of mercenaries. But then, the worst feeling was that she knew that Mother Corporeal was right. If left by herself, she would fall into a routine of pleasure, never aspiring to be more than the acolyte she already was. And that recognition stung the most.

Mother Corporeal brought her into a hug, pressing Delyssa into her shoulder. The High Priestess wrapped her arms around the acolyte, uncaring of the slick sweat on her back or the sopping mixture of fluids on Delyssa's face and chest that now stained the front of Mother Corporeal's robe.

"It was unfair of me to surprise you like this, I think," Mother Corporeal said softly over the top of Delyssa's head. "I thought Jahroud would relax you, but I was mistaken. You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Delyssa. Shevlana wouldn't have it any other way."

Delyssa raised her head and pulled out of the hug. "No, I'll... I'd like to think about it, High Priestess," she sniffed.

Mother Corporeal beamed. "That's all that we ask. We know you're a strong woman, Delyssa, you just need the chance to prove it to yourself. Why don't you go take a bath and mull things over, and if you find that you like the idea, head down to the mausoleum and talk to Brother Kruit -- he was once quite the adventurer in his day, and maybe hearing him talk about it could help your decision."

Delyssa drew the backs of her hands over her eyes, wiping away both the tears and Jahroud's drying cum that still hung over her brows. "The bath sounds nice," she said, though she pointedly didn't agree to visiting Kruit in the crypt. The priest himself was one of the few clergy in the temple with whom Delyssa was barely familiar, and throughout all her days at the Temple of Shevlana, she had made an effort to spend as little time in the mausoleum as possible.

Mother Superior apparently noticed the omission. "Go to the baths, Delyssa," she said, not unkindly. "And I'm going to let Kruit know to expect you afterwards. Whether you talk to him about adventuring is up to you, but in any case I'm sure he'll appreciate the conversation. Now out, both of you. I'm sure Jahroud has something else to do as well."

Jahroud placed a large, soft hand on Delyssa's bare shoulder and gently tugged her towards the door. They both bowed to the High Priestess and turned towards the door.

"Oh, and remember you two, and this is important," said Mother Corporeal, prompting the two acolytes to stop in their tracks and look back at her.

"Yes?" said Delyssa.

Mother Corporeal tapped the statue of Saint Zenzeret on her desk. "Remember to drink lots of water," she said.

With the door closed behind them, the two acolytes descended the spiral staircase down the minaret, this time with Delyssa in front. After a few turns around the central column, Jahroud broke the silence. "I think you should do it, Del. Go on with the Campaigners."

She glanced back at him. "Do you really think so?"

"I do. All that stuff Mother Corporeal said about you is true. You're talented -- talented in a lot of ways," he huffed, and Delyssa smiled, still somewhat stained with his cum. "But you've been on renewal rites for a long time now. If you really put an effort into your studies and incantations, you could be in the next circle with me. I think this will give you some practical experience that'll put you ahead to where you belong."

"Hm. And you wouldn't miss me, Jahroud? I could be off for months on an adventure," she teased.

"Are you kidding? Getting you out of the temple is the only way I can get any attention on me," Jahroud said, using Delyssa's same tone.

"Very funny." They were approaching the landing of the minaret, and already Delyssa could smell the heavy incense that filled the air of the main chamber. "I'm going to take Mother Corporeal's advice and head to the baths," she said. "Are you going to join me?"

Jahroud shook his head. "I'd love to, but no thanks. I've got some chores that need finally doing, but you might find me there later. Besides, I need to talk to Brother Caimian about those strings of beads Corporeal mentioned," he said with a grin, and ducked out of the doorway. He left Delyssa standing there, naked and messy, watching him go.

#

The Temple of Shevlana was primarily rectangular, jutting up high among the other god's sanctums along Gra'tan's Street of Souls. Like the rest of them, there was more to the Temple grounds than the central building itself. Besides the four minarets that towered over temple's corners, there was also an entire abbey complex and monastery that housed the priestesses and the dozens of acolytes and aspirants. The squat dormitory sat at the other end of a large, lush garden from the main temple building; here, fruit grew on tended trees, and tall palm trees cast shade over the rectangular baths and long pools that were filled with hot water from beneath the ground. When it rained, which was rare in Gra'tan, the garden would flood, up to the ankles of all the acolytes and priestesses who would abandon their chores and dance in the downpour.

Now, however, there were few others besides Delyssa, sinking into the pool. Just the typical random array of those who found a window between their other duties to relax in the baths. Delyssa sighed, torn between the pleasant sensation of the pool and the stress of considering the offer that Mother Corporeal gave her. She had already cleaned herself up in a basin next to the pools that was provided for such things, and was now trying to enjoy the cool lapping at her breasts as she lowered even further down. She brought her nose beneath the surface and exhaled, blowing bubbles in front of her.

It wasn't that Delyssa had any particular dislike of adventurers. Many a time, they had come to the temple looking for holy healing magic for some wound or curse they suffered in their journey, and Delyssa, like most of the initiates, enjoyed hearing their fantastic stories -- oftentimes obviously embellished -- that recounted how they became injured by some horrible beast or dark wizard. But the life of an adventurer was almost as far from Delyssa's temple life as she could imagine. No guidance from the priestesses, none of her initiate brothers and sisters to keep her company -- no baths in the garden pools. Not to mention the monsters and curses and danger.

And it would bring her out of Gra'tan. That was the thing. Delyssa had lived in the city for her whole life. First as an orphan, running in a gang to scrap with other children over food and shelter from the sun. Those were dark times that Delyssa tried to forget, but even though it had been many years since she was brought into the cloistered chambers of Shevlana's embrace, she could still recall the run from the market down Ricket Alley and up the steps to the butcher's yard where the high towers of the temples along the Street of Souls were no more than stone spindles framed against the sky, barely visible beyond the rooftops. All her life was contained within the city: the good and the bad. If she left to quest with the Campaigner's Guild, what would she find out there? Delyssa could think of no answer, and that was what scared her.

"You're beginning to prune in there," a woman's voice spoke from behind her. Delyssa glanced up above her and saw a nude, brown-skinned woman with long, wavy hair. Her skin had a sheen of sweat upon it, and she still smelled of the heavy, heady incense used in the temple's cloister. Tilting her head back to look at her, Delyssa's gaze traveled upwards, up along the toned calves that stood apart, the round thighs they led to, and the glimpse of pink folds of labia beneath black pubic hair where the two legs met. Beyond that were full breasts and dark nipples that were hard from the garden's chill atmosphere compared to the hot temple. At the top was a warm, round face that peered back down at Delyssa with a toothy smile.

"Priestess Allarane!" Delyssa rose out of the water and took the priestess' hand, helping her down into the bath, where they both sank down next to one another. Allarane was one of the ordained priestesses that guided the initiates through their lessons.

"I hope I'm not intruding upon your thoughts," said Allarane, leaning back into the water, her long hair spreading out in a halo around her head.

"No, the opposite," Delyssa said. "I'm caught up in my own head and I think I need someone to save me."

"Oh, dear. What's the matter?" Allarane had closed her eyes and was floating gently away from Delyssa, though the acolyte knew the priestess was listening.

"Mother Corporeal wants me to attend to some campaigners from the Guild who've petitioned the temple for a healer," said Delyssa. The panic she felt earlier at the thought of being sent away still lingered within her, but as she watched Allarane drift peacefully in the still waters of the pool, it felt farther away, less present.

"Ah," said the priestess. "Well, it's a responsibility, no doubt. But I think you can manage it and it's a good thing to go out and see the world."

"I haven't said yes yet. I'm not sure if I want to go."

Allarane opened one eye and looked at her. "Why not? Worried about leaving the temple?"

"That's part of it," Delyssa admitted. "I guess I'm just used to how things are here. I know that the rest of the world isn't like how it is within the Temple -- I know it isn't as... pleasant. I don't know if I can manage how rough the Campaigners will be."

"That seems to me to be a good reason for why you should go, Delyssa," Allarane said. "Shevlana teaches us that life has joy and pleasure, but sometimes the world needs reminding of that. That's why we share those things with those who ask gracefully. Saint Artelia, being a medic to adventurers is neither joyous nor particularly pleasurable -- Goddess knows, I would characterize it as bloody thankless -- but healing others so that they might live and find later happiness is itself a sacred duty, Delyssa."

Delyssa slid along the side of the pool until she was near Allarane's head. "Were you ever a healer for the Campaigner's Guild, priestess?"

"For the Guild? No. But I was a healer for a freelance group, probably about, oh, twelve years ago, when I was just a little older than you are now. They were named the Band of the Sycamore Brand. There was an insufferable wizard in the Band who didn't much care for me, but it wasn't all bad. There were a pair or warriors in the group, rough brigands from the mountains. They were a man and a woman, with two lovely cocks between them. They took a fancy to me and we staggered off the path to find a place in the brush for them to take me, but we stumbled right into a mess of gnolls fresh off the hunt. We were all skyclad at the time, but of course those two warriors never went anywhere without their swords, and I had some wards at my disposal. I hardly remember the fight itself, but I can still recall the way their erections flopped this way and that as we scuffled in the moonlight. We fought off those beastmen and then took to rutting like animals ourselves. Now that I think about it, there were some fine days indeed in those times."

The priestess spoke with a clear voice, though her eyes were closed once again and she only had the barest of smiles on her lips as she floated past Delyssa in the pool. It was clear she was enjoying her memories, and Delyssa couldn't help but imagine the woman before her being mounted in the moonlight by two swarthy warriors. The cries of rapture that the acolyte conjured in her mind were enough to cause a rush of warm sensation in her own crotch, that creeping ache of arousal that asked her to caress her clitoris as she sat in the bath. That question became as a demand as Delyssa noticed with a small gasp that Allarane's own hand had ventured between the priestess' thighs, her fingers buried down to the knuckle in her folds. Watching the priestess idly penetrate herself with small splashes, Delyssa began to rub herself, easing her legs apart slightly beneath the surface of the water.

Allarane spoke again in a clear tone that betrayed none of what her hands were doing. "That wizard, though... Arcanists in general are suspicious of priests, but she spent the whole quest demanding that the group exchange me for another cleric of a different faith, though her pleas fell on deaf ears, I'm afraid. The group was fairly impressed by my skills, both in the healing arts and otherwise. Still, she eventually came around."

"What made her--" Delyssa's voice caught in her throat as pleasure rolled upwards. She blushed, coughed, and continued. "What made her change her mind?"

All of Allarane that remained above water was her round face and the rounder crests of her breasts, each dark nipple jutting firmly upwards. Delyssa glanced south and saw that the priestess' middle and ring fingers were deep within her, down to the knuckle. Still, there was no waver in Allarane's voice as she replied.

"Oh, a mixture of persistence, prayer, and a minor miracle. Shevlana guides us to love others as we love ourselves, and that path did not lead me astray. We never coupled, that wizard and I, but we came to see eye to eye, and by the time we parted ways, we were on good terms. You'll never find a more diverse, strange group of folk than adventurers, Delyssa, and that alone makes their company worthwhile."

Delyssa thought on that as she trailed her finger around her clit. In her work as an acolyte, she met many worshipers as they came to (and within) the temple, but her contact with the faithful of other gods, or the irreligious was very limited -- even more, Shevlana was, she knew, only worshiped in the wider region around Gra'tan, and almost exclusively by humans. If any of the other peoples of the world prayed to Shevlana, they almost never entered the temple to do so. Would it be such a bad thing to meet some of those people, even if it meant leaving the safety of the temple?

There was a small splash of water and suddenly the tall priestess was standing over Delyssa, her dark body eclipsing the afternoon sun in the sky behind her. Allarane's middle two fingers were still inside her, and her juices were falling out of her, coating her hand and thighs.

"Are you near to finishing, Delyssa?" the priestess said, and there was finally a tremor to her voice. A moment earlier and Delyssa's masturbation had just been idle pleasuring, but now, staring up at the woman in front of her, she felt a pang of holy desire. With one hand still clasped to her sex, palm rolling against her clitoris, the acolyte rose and joined Allarane, who pulled her closer with a warm hand wrapped around her hips.

The priestess gently eased one of her long legs in between Delyssa's thighs and pulled the acolyte into a tight embrace. Delyssa moved her hand from her groin and began to grind against the priestess' leg; feeling the pressure mount inside her, she threw her hands around Allarane's neck and buried her face in the woman's chest. She felt Allarane's soft breast beneath her cheek, the nipple stiff against the top of her neck. Delyssa bucked her hips, groaning in pleasure as she rubbed up and down the priestess' thigh.

Allarane worked herself, her middle two fingers a furious piston into her sex, her juices splashing outward onto Delyssa's left leg and into the pool beneath her. The wet, fleshy slap of her hand against her vulva increased in tempo, and the priestess leaned close to the acolyte.

"I'm close, Delyssa," Allarane sighed. "I'm so close." Delyssa increased the pace of her grind along Allarane's thigh. On instinct, she bent down and took the woman's nipple into her mouth, gently tugging at it with her teeth. Allarane cried out, and the tremors from her orgasm shook out from her groin and up her spine, her head lolling back in ecstasy. Her leg shook against Delyssa's gyrating hips, and it finally pushed the acolyte over the edge. She clutched at Allarane in a tight embrace and came, her vagina pulsing as she dragged along the priestess' now-slick thigh. She cried out softly, her face still pressed against the woman's breasts, the nipple teasing edge of her lips.

The two servants of Shevlana stood intertwined together, both basking in the afterglow of their climaxes. One of Allarane's hands trailed up and down the small of Delyssa's back, and she shivered at the gentle touch. Eventually, Delyssa forced herself to pull away from the embrace, and she held Allarane at arm's length by the hips while the priestess herself dropped her hands to cup Delyssa's round bottom.

"Thanks for sharing your love with me," Delyssa said, smiling up at her. Allarane laughed and returned the smile. "And thank you for sharing yours with me." They unclasped from one another, and they both sat side by side on the edge of the pool. The priestess shook water and other fluids from her hands and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Are you done with your duties for the day, initiate?" Allarane asked.

"My official duties, yes," Delyssa said, "though Mother Corporeal asked that I go speak to Brother Kruit in the Mausoleum, since he used to be an adventurer and all that... Though I suppose that since you've convinced me to agree to the task, I don't have to go," she couldn't help but sound hopeful, the instinct to stay in the warm baths in the sun instead of seeing the crypt-keeper in the cold tombs was overpowering.

"Oh, I've convinced you, have I?" Allarane's smile was mirthful but kind. "Were my words convincing, or was it the sex?"

Delyssa blushed. "I think I just needed a little prodding is all."

"I don't remember doing much prodding. I'll have to make that up to you at some point," Allarane said, "after you go speak to Brother Kruit like Mother Corporeal asked."

The priestess hoisted herself out of the bath and began dressing herself in the simple robes that she had discarded before entering. "You'd best find something to wear, my child. It won't do to catch a chill in the crypt before setting out. It would make a poor first impression."

Delyssa accepted the hand that the priestess proffered her and clambered out of the pool. It was still mid-afternoon and the sun was warm against her skin, but the water that dripped off her left shivers in its absence.

"Very well," she said, staving off a grimace. "I'll stop by the dormitory and get my robe. Is there anything in particular I should ask Brother Kruit about his time as an adventurer, or should I just let him ramble along on his own like men his age are wont to do?"

That earned a disapproving glance from Allarane. "Now, Delyssa, that's no way of speaking of your elders. Brother Kruit does us all a great service by tending to the tombs, and before that he spent a lifetime helping save lives across many different lands. He was more than just a campaigner seeking the next pile of treasure at the bottom of a mine. There are whole towns that still stand because of him and the companies he's ventured with. He was a full hero in his time, and its by his graciousness that he still does anything more than enjoy the temple's Simple Pleasures,"