Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 398

Chapter 398 – Wedding, Part 2

 Maranda looked out at the crowd, and then at the two of us. “The Bonding of two partners in sacred ceremony is an ancient rite, held in one form or another across all faiths. In ancient times, it was a pledge between two people, or two families, to share in the prosperous times, and support each other through harsh times. Through feast and famine, peace and war, they would act as two halves of a whole, and be stronger for it.

“Over time, society changed, as civilizations grew and industry arose. One partner would go and work in the fields, or the factories, or the mines. Later, they might go to work in office buildings. The other partner stayed behind, and managed the home, ensuring that food was cooked, the children cared for, and all those little things that made a house a home.”

Zannah spoke next. “Unfortunately, these roles became entrenched, became expected, became transactional. It was no longer a partnership of equals, making both stronger together. It was a Master and Slave, in all but name, a bond propped up by weak men and women who desired some measure of control and certainty in a world that they could not control, and was increasingly uncertain. What should have been a raft keeping them afloat became an anchor, dragging them to the depths.

“That was the thinking of the World That Was, the world before the System. The old ways, the old roles, are no longer entrenched. Power is there for anyone to take, if they are willing to work for it, allowing anyone to control their own fate, their own destiny. And though the world is as uncertain now as it has ever been, the fact remains that there is more we can do, as partners together, than we could ever have done before.”

Maranda took up the recital once more. “In this new world, the world where the System makes magic real and travel between the stars possible, we must forge new bonds. Sometimes, those bonds will be ones of Dominance and Submission. Sometimes, they will be bonds between groups of bonded. And sometimes, like today, they will be true bonds of equals.

“It is the corrupted thinking of the World That Was that roles must be assigned by your sex, rather than by where your talents and desires lie, or that one must repress and deny who you are and what you want to be because of a prudish morality only designed to enforce power and control based on your sex. In this new world, we must put aside those corrupt and base ideas, and move into the new reality with our eyes open.

“That corrupted thinking was not the work of the Divine, for without the System the Divine could not speak to us. That thinking was the work of mortal men and women, who sought power and control dressed as faith. But now, we have the Divine walk amongst us, and we see that things we once thought true are patently false. Yet, this is not a bad thing, for it gives us a clean break, a chance to pivot from what we knew to what is true without losing face or self-condemnation. We were blind, and wandering in the dark. The only crime in that would be that if, once able to see, we shut our eyes again because what we saw made us uncomfortable.”

Now, Zannah spoke again. “And so, we now turn to our two partners who would be bonded as equals before the eyes of mortals and immortals alike. We shall ask questions of each of them in turn, not to show preference or position, but because these questions are too important for the replies to be mixed. Thus, I start with Lord Kuronoth. Do you, before all the assembled mortals and immortals alike, pledge to hold your Bondmate, Lady Athena, as your Equal, partners in pleasure and pain, in feast and in famine, in peace and in war?”

In a clear voice, I answered. “I do.”

“Do you pledge to share your lands and domains with her, and to treat those in her service as though they were your own?”

“I do.”

“Do you pledge to hold no secrets from her, and to always communicate openly and honestly with her, so that the Bond forged here never fails?”

“I do.”

“And do you pledge to take her allies as your own, and hold her enemies as yours, so that you stand united as one?”

“I do.”

Zannah nodded, and then Maranda began asking Athena the same questions, and getting the same responses. This part of the ceremony wasn’t exactly big on creative responses or levity. It was supposed to be serious, and symbolic, especially since it was two deities involved.

The vows done, Zanna sheathed her sword, and instead picked up one of the three items laid upon the altar, a silver dagger. Maranda picked up the second of the three items, a golden chalice filled with wine. Together, they said, “Rise, now, and step back to face your partner.”

We rose, and took a step back from the altar, before turning to face each other. Athena was less nervous, now. The familiarity of ceremony, even one unlike her own traditions, helped settle her nerves, it seemed. But there was no time for deep contemplation. Zannah stepped around the altar, and presented the dagger to Athena. She would be the leader on this next part of the ceremony.

Athena took the dagger, and drew it across her hand. She handed the dagger to me, as Maranda brought forth the chalice. As her blood dripped into the chalice and joined with the wine, I copied her action, cutting my hand and then letting my blood drip into the chalice.

Zanna took the dagger, and placed it on the altar. She picked up a long piece of simple cloth. With it, she bound my wound, and Athena’s, and bound our hands clasped together. As she did so, Maranda’s words echoed through the temple. “Blood is the firmest of bonds. Blood shared. Blood spilt. Both can bind two souls together. Now, drink from the chalice, with your shared blood, and complete your Bond.”

Together, we took the chalice from Maranda, and drank. First Athena, and then me. A warm feeling flowed through me, that was not from the wine. It was the bond, symbols becoming reality.

System Notice

Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and War, and Kuronoth, God of Pleasure, Domination, and Dungeons, have joined together in a marriage Bond of Equals. Holy sites of both deities are open to followers of either faith, and an attack on one faith is an attack on both. Further, priests and holy warriors of one faith may call upon spells and boons of the other faith as though it were their own. All who are Anathema to one are Anathema to both, and treated accordingly.

The System Notice made it nice and official, though the fact that the three items used in the ceremony were glowing slightly also was a bit of a clue. A glance told me that the System had already turned the blade, chalice, and cloth into Divine Artifacts. Touching the blood of gods in a deliberate ceremony in front of gods and mortals alike had a tendency to do things like that. Actually, just by attending this ceremony, I expected everyone here would have some interesting new options available to them when they next advanced in Tier.

Maranda smiled as she stored the dagger and chalice away, before taking the time to unbind our hands. Obviously, the superficial wound from the dagger had already healed, but she did due diligence by checking all the same. When she stepped back, Zannah spoke again.

“Now is the time for the Bonded to consummate their Bond for all to see. Come, Bonded, and join together so that all may witness the truth of your vows.”

I’ll admit that coming up with a religion from scratch had been an interesting experience. Once I’d decided I wanted to try for godhood, making something for my followers to believe in was an important step, since I didn’t want to get dragged around by mortal fanaticism, like what Saint Pete and the others had to deal with when they woke up. I did not want to get warped like Pofmis the Chainbreaker had been, which meant that I needed to control the narrative of my faith. And that meant actually designing it, from the ground up.

Of course, I had ‘borrowed’ from other religions. Well, more like I copy/pasted and mix-and-matched from faiths all over the place. Not just real-world faiths, but also taking elements from faiths in science fiction and fantasy, adjusting things until the whole thing sounded coherent, and had the proper imagery of something that people might want to follow.

Part of that had been designing marriage ceremonies, like this one. I’d wanted something that had the solemnity and ceremony that people would expect from a marriage ceremony, but also had elements that would make a marriage in my church stand out from one in other churches. Each element, from the vows, to the imagery, to the symbolic union of blood, to everyone being naked except for the cloak they wore, all of it had been taken and adapted from different faiths, making something my own, but familiar enough that it wouldn’t seem artificial or fake.

This included the bit about consummating the marriage before witnesses. That was not a common practice, but not an unheard of one. More importantly, since my faith was primarily held by adventurers and others who came in contact with my dungeon, or dungeons that had incorporated some of my teachings, modesty wasn’t really a thing they considered much, any more.

Athena was not exactly a prude, but she was famously ‘inexperienced’, at least when it came to enjoying pleasures with others. Thankfully, my [Carnal Arts] skill gave me the proper techniques to loosen her up. The goddess gasped as my lips closed upon her breast, and I used my hands to guide her onto her back on the altar.

I lifted one of Athena’s legs, turning her slightly so that those in the audience had a proper view as one hand stroked her folds, pleased to find that they were already slick with anticipation, and my mouth moved from one breast to the other, causing the goddess to squirm underneath me. But as fun as it would have been to turn this experience into a display that would draw all the onlookers into an orgy, that could wait for the reception, or at least the afterparty. For now, my focus was on ensuring that the goddess was ready for me.

My eyes met hers as I moved into position. There was desire there, but still hesitation. I raised an eyebrow, questioningly. Athena took a breath, and then nodded, once. I sealed her lips with my own before she could rethink her decision, my tongue playfully twining with hers. And then, I pushed, entering territory where no man or god had been before.

I gave Athena a moment to adjust to my presence, holding her close as I did so. When I felt the initial tension fade slightly, I began the work in earnest, using everything that [Seduction] and [Carnal Arts] could give me to make Athena’s toes curl. We started out in that quasi-missionary position, but, by the end, Athena was bent over the altar as I filled her from behind, finishing deep inside her.

Zannah was there with a cloth to clean me off as I pulled out, and Maranda smiled as she came to help guide Athena to her feet, also helping to tidy her up a bit. My Hand then turned her smile on the both of us, and said, “Congratulations, Bonded, on forging this partnership. May it be fruitful in all ways, and may you never forget to maintain the communication that is at the heart of it.”

Zannah turned to the audience, and said, “This concludes the ceremony. The Bonded will be hosting a reception at the Mediterranean Adventurers Guild building here in Athens, and I am told that while Aphrodite herself made the preparations, the dress code, at least to start, is normal wear. All of you here are invited, though the reception will have more than just those here attending.”