Earth, Sun, and Moon Saga Ch. 10

"Oh, you have no idea." She gently kissed the back of his neck, sending a shudder down his spine. "Shame though. You seem to be handling death well. Perhaps you don't require me."

"Maybe," Edward admitted, turning toward the dark-skinned goddess. "But maybe I should comfort you?"

"Ooo, how confident you are, Ed-Edward! Tell me, are all men from the land of Wales so daring?"

He kissed her instead of answering.

She tasted like honey and salt water and when she slid her tongue into his mouth, dancing it off his, he grew harder still.

He kissed her neck, long and slender, stopping only at the gold choker.

When they separated, she took his hand and pulled him deeper into the pool, under the first set of falls, and into a hidden shelf of rock behind them. The waterfall formed a curtain around them and the flat stone shelf, barely out of the water, was nicely private.

He sat on the shelf, cock out proudly, his legs still in the water, as Qebhet pushed them apart and slid between them. She stuck out her tongue at him, and he saw it was long and forked at the end. She waved it at him briefly before wrapping it around his shaft. It was long enough that it wrapped twice around before she opened her mouth and engulfed him.

"Ugh," was all Edward could get out as she took him.

He was much changed inside Sekhet-Aaru. His few missing teeth were back and strong. Scars on his arms and torso, prizes from a life of hardship, had vanished. His cock too was better; bigger and harder than it ever was in life. He felt his full potential here as if he hadn't grown up half-starved, weakened by malnutrition and various diseases.

The goddess' mouth felt incredible. Her tongue worked his shaft like a tiny fist, jerking him while her lips milked him.

She unraveled her tongue and then used it to fondle his testicles while she swallowed him to the hilt.

"Oh, gods," he cried out, his orgasm bubbling under the surface. It threatened to be unleashed in a torrent and Edward tried in vain to stop it, knowing that when it came it would drain him completely.

His balls tightened under her tongue's ministrations and he couldn't help but grab fistfuls of her hair, not to force her further down but to keep himself upright. The orgasm that struck was so intense that it could only be due to the supernatural effects of this place. He came in a flood, a deluge, with pleasure so profound that his mind went completely blank.

Qebhet, for her part, drank him as if through a straw. He wasn't sure how much he came but she swallowed it all with barely a sound.

"You taste delicious, Ed-Edward. Oh, how I've missed ministering to the newly arrived."

"I didn't know I could feel such pleasure."

"Oh, we're not finished." She moved to climb on his lap, straddling him on the stone shelf.

Edward almost protested. His refractory period was usually longer than five seconds but, when he looked down, he saw he was still erect and his desire still intact.

Kneeling on either side of his thighs, she spread her vulva apart with two fingers, revealing the bright pink of her opening, in marked contrast to the rest of her.

"I want to feel you. I want you to put your seed in me, man of Wales."

"I cannot say no to that, madam goddess." He gripped her hips and lowered her onto his shaft. She was so wet it was like sliding into warm oil.

"Oh, yes, my lover," Qebhet cooed. She raised her hips and sank down again with another melodic sigh of pleasure. "Your eel is wonderful. Very filling."

Edward grunted when he felt her insides grip him bizarrely. It was as if he passed through another opening. He felt a tiny mouth licking his head and sucking at the tip of his cock. With each thrust down, he felt that little mouth become more and more bold until he felt something long and prehensile slip down his urethra.

"Oh, hells," he said, gasping. He stopped moving, wary of the new sensation. It felt like a tiny tongue that began messaging him from the inside while he was fucking the goddess. The sensory overload was total as he felt the tongue slide further and further down his shaft as if it were a hummingbird's coxing nectar from a deep flower.

The goddess raised her hips, pulling away from him and then gently sat back down, allowing him to get used to the alien sensation.

Qebhet thrust her chest at him, pulling his head to her bosom, and he sucked on her chocolate nipples.

"How is this even possible?" he managed to ask.

The goddess smiled simply. "Best you've ever had, lover? Worship your goddess like a good little mortal and she will reward you."

"I'm not sure I'm worthy."

"Aww, of course you are! That's why you're here."

With his cock being worked on from both the inside and outside, Edward's next orgasm edged closer and closer. He had a moment of panic at the thought of orgasming while that prehensile tongue messaged his urethra, imagining a champagne bottle with a cork stuck in it, but the pleasure coursing through him didn't allow him to dwell on it.

Qebhet threw her head back and laughed in pleasure as she rode him. "Yes! Yes, my lover! You wonderful man! Fuck me! Fuck your goddess!"

It was obvious when the goddess came because two things happened in quick succession: First, her pussy tightened around his cock like a vice, and second, that tongue shot down the entire length of his shaft, seemingly to his testicles, sending a bolt of lightning up his spine in response.

In this way, his second orgasm was forcibly ripped from him.

And then it didn't stop.

His mouth fell open in a silent scream as he squeezed Qebhet so hard he would have hurt a mortal woman. Wave after wave of pleasure hit him and he was unable to control or direct it.

His fear that his orgasm would be blocked was for naught as he looked down and saw streams of his seed spill out from Qebhet's opening, splashing across his lap and mixing with the water around them.

The second mouth, inside her, continued to suck at the tip of his cock while the tongue retracted, intent on absorbing as much of his seed as possible.

Qebhet rolled her hips as he collapsed backward. She ran her hands up her own body, a dreamy expression on her face. "That was wonderful, lover."

Edward could only whimper as an aftershock rocked him.

Qebhet slid off him and into the water, floating there while Edward tried in vain to recover.

The only sounds were the falls enveloping them in a wall of churning water.

"I'm afraid I haven't been as forthcoming as I meant to, Ed-Edward of Wales," she said after several minutes. "I was at cross purposes."

"What do you mean?" Edward croaked.

"I was sent here to fetch you for another. But I had to see what all the fuss was about first."

Edward, barely able to think, sat up. "Who sent you?"

"Bastet. She wants to meet you."

***

They traveled together and several days passed.

First, through the winding tributary rivers then through stands of cypress. In the strange way time moved here, the sun rose and set, and sometimes it felt like years and sometimes only hours.

They would stop frequently and make love and Edward enjoyed carnal pleasures that he could scarcely have imagined with a goddess who seemed delighted to just be desired again.

But his dissatisfaction grew.

First, as a small seed of loss for what he'd missed in his life, blossoming into mourning and then despair for her. Soon, despite having a literal goddess at his side, Gwen was all he could think about. He had died young, after all, and much of his life had been in front of him.

"Tell me, lover, what is on your mind?" It was days, maybe months later and Qebhet was sunning herself on the shore. The lower half of her body was coiled under in her snake-form and she lay arms out as if reclining in a chair.

"Nothing," Edward lied. "It's daft."

"Thinking about resurrecting?"

"How did you know?"

"Because most do." She didn't seem upset or even bothered. She barely glanced at him, preferring to stay facing the sun. "Given enough time, almost everyone chooses rebirth."

"Sailing down the river?"

"It's simple enough. A conversation and a short journey and your soul will be born anew."

"And then what?"

"Even us gods don't rightly know all the details." Qebhet uncoiled herself partially, stretching out the tip of her tail. "You're born to a new body, usually in a new land. There you live and die. The gods of that land, and your relationship to them, determine your afterlife. The great cycle of the soul continues."

Edward thought for a moment. "And if you're an atheist? What happens then?"

"What's an atheist?"

"Someone who doesn't believe in gods."

Qebhet laughed. "Oh, darling, everyone has a god they worship. Even if they say they don't. Maybe especially then. Because everyone has things and ideals they value. It can be quite terrible if you don't know your god or gods though. You could be giving yourself over to something horrible and not know it."

"Gods are what then? An idea?"

Qebhet splashed water at him. "Now you're getting it."

"But you're real. At least here. You're not an idea."

"And why not? Ideas are powerful things. Humans invent whole worlds inside themselves. I was born because death is frightening and my people desired someone to be there to greet them on the other side. Originally, I was a serpent goddess of the upper Nile but I was merged with new infusions of belief."

"So people thought you up and you just . . . were?"

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"So what am I then? Am I just a memory?"

"In a sense, yes. You're a soul. A mote of the pure divine with the experiences of a life, suspended in a collective dream."

"So this isn't real," Edward said, motioning to the river valley around them.

Qebhet threw a small stone at him, hitting him in the head.

"Bullocks! What in hell was that for?"

"Hurts, yes?"

Edward rubbed the spot and winced. "Aye."

"But how is that if this isn't real, as you say?"

"Point taken but I still don't right understand. What you're saying . . . It means that every religion is true."

"That depends on what you mean by true."

"That all the gods and heavens and hells are real. Just because folk believe in them."

Qebhet smiled widely. "That is always the part that you humans can't wrap your heads around. The idea that other faiths could be real is too much for you. My father believes, like Osirus and Horus did, that there are whole pantheons of gods out there. And afterlives like this one. Or not like this one at all."

Edward scoffed. "So I could resurrect but I wouldn't be me again, would I?"

"Your soul would still be you. But you'd likely be born in a different land. Again, not even we know all the details."

Edward considered these revelations about the universe. Maybe they'd been all wrong to stop Anubis from trying to save himself.

For all her wisdom and worldliness, Gwen could be rather insular, content to work her garden and brew her tinctures. Her life was largely a refuge from the wider world with its dizzying pace of change. When the vampire Lenore had arrived asking for help, he'd advised against it, not trusting her. But Gwen and the vampire went back hundreds of years and his council was ignored.

"What does Bastet want with me?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough."

***

It was a city unlike anything Edward had ever seen.

In his world, cities had been cramped, dirty places where filth and disease ran rampant. Coal smoke from chimneys clogged the air and manure from both humans and animals ran through the streets.

The Golden City, as Qebhet called it, was entirely different.

Bone-white buildings nestled against broad boulevards lined with shade-giving trees. Temples of limestone and marble rose into the sky and golden statues decorated expansive gardens where old souls went about the business of the afterlife.

The dwellings themselves were a maze of open doors, windows, and ladders to where Edward couldn't tell where one home began and another ended. Flat roofs and terraces were teeming with people laughing and talking and even in various states of coitus.

Edward spied a bare-chested man humping a young woman from behind, with her body draped over the lip of a second-story terrace, breasts bouncing wildly under the sheer linen of her dress.

"This way, man of Wales," Qebhet prodded, moving him along.

They made their way through what appeared to be a street festival. There were singers and musicians playing songs as if from a fairytale. Painted dancers did somersaults through the crowd and both men, women, and at least one ox were decorated with red paint and great flower wreaths. In about thirty seconds Edward saw more nude people in one place than he had in his entire life.

The crowd parted before Qebhet but a naked woman with tan skin and an impossibly sensual figure darted out and crowned Edward with one of the flower wreaths before disappearing again.

Deeper within the city, the crowds thinned until it appeared the city was abandoned.

They reached a walled garden. Golden statues of animal-headed gods guarded the entrance and when Qebhet opened the heavy wooden doors, Edward's jaw fell open.

There were dozens of people inside the garden and all of them were engaged in sex in one form or another.

Edward didn't think he was a prude but the sheer amount of sex before him was jarring. Mostly, men and women formed groups of every size and shape imaginable. Men engaged with multiple women, single women serviced several men, but mostly, they formed chains about a half-dozen long with their participants sucking or fucking or licking the next link. All were tangled in the throws of passion.

At the center of the garden, sitting on a throne of black wood and pillows, was the goddess.

Unlike Anubis—an animal head on an otherwise human body—the goddess before him was all animal. She took the form of a great lioness, stretched out in the sun, lazily observing the orgy around her.

"Greetings, my queen," Qebhet said, kneeling before her.

Edward followed suit, dropping to one knee. "It's an honor to meet you, Queen Bastet."

The lioness regarded Edward silently for a moment, before breaking out in a very human chuckle.

"Wait. Is this the soul my stepdaughter wanted to see? How quaint!"

Qebhet turned to Edward. "This is Hathor, goddess of love and the wife of Ra. Bastet is his daughter."

"Goddess of love," Hathor echoed with a snort. "The Greek pharaohs, so bottomless their appetite for lust, designated me a goddess of sex." Hathor transformed before them—it seemed gods didn't much like staying in one shape—and soon took the form of a beautiful woman. "Look at me," she continued, motioning to her sheer linen dress that left little to the imagination. "All whored up. I used to be the fertility goddess once upon a dynasty. I was usually pregnant, you know. Then that bitch Isis became the mother goddess and I got stuck with the lusty rabble."

Edward wasn't sure what to say to that so he stayed silent.

Hathor stood up from her throne of pillows and sauntered over to him. "You seem like a handsome little soul, if I must say so." She ran a finger over his shoulder, as if afraid to touch him. "Pray tell, what does my trifling step-daughter want with you?"

"I'm afraid I don't rightly know, Your Majesty."

Near them, a woman let out an overwrought orgasmic scream. Hathor pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

"Nefertiti, can't you see I'm with guests? Can you cease your caterwauling for a few spare minutes?"

The woman, Nefertiti, looked over with a dreamy expression on her face. She was currently riding a man while another took her from behind. Their cocks pistoned out of her in a rhythm that was causing her to orgasm continuously.

"Sorry, my queen!" she said, sheepishly. She attempted to silence herself, managing to squeak through her pleasure instead of outright screaming.

"Anyway," Hathor continued, "where were we?"

"My queen," Qebhet said, "Bastet requested to speak to the newly arrived."

Hathor huffed, looking Edward up and down. "She can wait. I'd like to have some fun with him first."

Before Hathor could continue, a sharp voice cut through the garden.

"Unhand him, crone!"

Edward turned to see another goddess stomping over to them.

This was Bastet.

Her human face was pinched in a scowl and her black feline ears were pressed flat on either side of her head. She wore a long white dress decorated with topaz and emeralds seemingly sewn into the linen.

Hathor huffed but turned away from Edward. "Just having a bit of fun."

Bastet glared at the other goddess before turning to Edward. "One orgasm from her and you'd never escape this garden."

"Pish posh," Hathor said, sauntering back to her throne. "Can't blame a lady for trying."

Bastet took Edward by the hand, leading him away from the orgy.

"We have a lot to talk about," Bastet said. "Follow me."

She led Qebhet and Edward to another part of the garden. It was quieter here and the few souls present seemed to prefer napping under shady trees than participating in the orgy.

Bastet sat on a stone bench and motioned for Edward to sit next to her. "I must apologize for my mother-in-law. She's rather wanton."

"That seems to be a common trait amongst you goddesses, is it not?" He looked over at Qebhet as he said this and she blew him a kiss in response.

"There is indeed significant overlap in our roles, but we remain separate. At least now anyways."

"Qebhet here told me you're the goddess of life, yes?"

Her pupils were slitted like those of a feline and her irises were a dazzling gold. A black and gold striped diadem was draped over her head, resting on her shoulders. Her two triangular ears pointed out from the top and Edward watched them tilt toward him as she spoke. "I have many roles. The home, family, fertility, even sex at times. But my primary role is a protector."

"And what do you protect?"

"That's the heart of the whole matter, isn't it? What is there to protect? What mother keeps a shrine to me to ask for help when their child is sick? What girl prays to me for guidance when she has missed her menses? I am unmoored. And have been for a long time."

"And what do you want of me?"

Bastet's black tail, concealed by her dress, poked out and was curling and uncurling lazily.

"I have a proposal for you." The goddess looked around the garden conspiratorially. "I know you arrived here after stopping my Anubis from bringing me forth. I also understand that you were a sorcerer during your life and used your magic to best him. That you were granted access to Sekhet-Aaru means that your intentions were pure and your soul clean. I would like to offer you a chance at resurrection."

"Being reborn? Different land? Different body? Qebhet told me."

Bastet shook her head gently. "Normally, when a soul is reborn they have nary a glimmer of what their past lives were. They start anew, with only the faintest echo of the lessons of their past life reverberating through them. What I'm offering you is a chance to be you again. All of you. Memories intact."

"You can do that?"

Bastet smiled widely at that. "I have my ways."

"And my magic?"

"You'd retain your abilities. With our guidance, perhaps you could grow even stronger."

The possibilities hit Edward squarely in the chest. His mistress, his love, was an immortal druidess who had already lived for almost two thousand years. If he was reborn . . . if he could find her again . . .

"And what would you want from me in exchange?"

Bastet looked out into the garden. "This place is dying. I'm sure you've noticed. How many people have you seen? A few hundred in the city? There used to be millions. Almost all have left. We gods grow weaker. It's a slow death and some of us would rather pretend it's not happening at all. Others, like my dear Anubis or Qebhet here, want to do something about it.