Goddess Chronicles Ch 03

Cathy's heart that had been racing moments before once again shuttered to a stop. Virgins? Was that what this was all about? Her round cheeks tinged scarlet at the memory of an early conversation with Stacy.

The girl had stopped by her dorm room late on Friday night. She wondered why Cathy was not out on a date or clubbing with the other girls on her floor. In her rambling excuses, she had revealed to the other girl her virgin state. Her embarrassment had been mollified a bit when the girl merely laughed and replied, "It was good enough for Elizabeth the first."

She turned her head to look at the young woman she had reluctantly begun to think of as her friend. The matching pink on Stacy's cheeks confirmed her worst fear. Her eyes clouded over a bit with tears as her worst fears were confirmed. She should have learned from high school.

"Please, it's not like you think. This is an honor. Please. Please..."

Cathy felt herself drawn through the crowd toward that dais. She should pull free. She should turn and run from this place. Before things got worse. Before...

Somehow she stood with a dozen other young women at the foot of the platform. Before her loomed the Goddess. Or at least the older woman in the stunning costume. Once more, she willed her body to move. To turn and flee.

"Daughters of the light, I ask you now: are you pure in body? Are you untouched? Are you indeed a virgin?"

The quiet words of the woman thundered in her head. Half a dozen of the young women took a step back into the anonymity of the crowd. Cathy felt as if this was some horrible imitation of those misogynistic beauty pageants. So, she was a semi-finalist. What was next? How much worse could this possibly get?

As if Fate felt it necessary to confirm her worst fears, hands from somewhere reached forth to unfasten the clasp at her shoulder. The folds of the sheet that encased her upper body fell about her waist. Her breasts were exposed for all to see. Close to two hundred people. But all Cathy could do was stare into the calming brown depths of the woman's compassionate gaze.

"My daughters, the Goddess, herself, has brought you here tonight. She has preserved you. Kept you pure for this moment. She calls you her own."

The woman stepped from the stage and walked among them, pausing to meet the gaze of each young woman. "Though only one of you will take my place as the new incarnation of the Goddess on this earth, each of you will be blessed. She has marked each of you for greatness. The Communion will, from this day forward, take a special interest in your lives. Will pave the way for you."

What happened next was beyond all of Cathy's imaginings. The woman began at the far end of the line. She stopped before each young woman. She gazed deeply into her eyes, some secretive smile creased her face, deepening those intricate lines around her mouth.

Then she reached out her hand and cupped the girl's right breast in her hand. Her thumb brushed against the nipple. Each young woman seemed to shutter at the touch. Most inhaled deeply. Some sighed. Others gasp.

Then the woman stood before her. Once more, Cathy found herself lost in the calm and peace of those warm brown eyes. Even before the woman touched her, she felt an awareness thrum through her body. She inhaled. Perhaps she even gasped.

But when that hand cupped her right breast, nothing had ever prepared Cathy for this moment. Those high school textbooks needed to be rewritten. She almost collapsed. If mysterious, strong arms had not caught her, she would have. As the first orgasm of her life raked through her from toes to the crown of her head. It was as if she could feel the very light of it burst forth like some Medieval halo surrounding the Virgin Mary.

That secretive smile broadened as the woman lightly brushed her finger over the taut bud of Cathy's nipple. She soared to the heavens. She floated among the stars. Time stood still, yet accelerated like sub-atomic particles in a Supercollider.

Still, the woman moved on. Cathy practically cried out in grief at the abandonment. Only those firm arms wrapped about her shoulders kept her standing. She found the strength somehow to turn her head. Her eyes stared up into the bovine gaze of the Minotaur. Even up this close, she would swear that the head and shoulder were those of a bull, though she knew that was not possible. Still, nothing about this night made sense. All of this defied reality.

She forced her gaze away from the black depths that held something beyond words. Her eyes sought the comforting familiarity of the older woman, who now stood before the last girl in the line. The dark-haired beauty looked boldly at the woman. Her smile was confident, almost as knowing as the other woman's.

But this time, the older woman did not grasp the girl's right breast. Instead, she reached for the left one. Her fingers seemed to squeeze the firm flesh. The girl cried out. Whether it was pain or pleasure, it was loud. Her body shook. She threw her arms up as she moaned. Her hips thrust boldly forward at the woman.

Once more, the older woman smiled and stepped back, taking her place on the dais. "The Goddess has spoken. She has chosen her embodiment."

She nodded to the Minotaur, "Bring the girl forth."

Cathy felt lifted into those strong arms. For a moment, she worried that he would fall under the strain of her excess weight. But he merely shifted and stepped up to stand next to the other woman.

"What! No! Stop. How can she be the incarnation? I am the embodiment!" cried the beauteous dark-haired girl.

The older woman turned to the girl. Cathy lifted her head at the commotion. The cold, icy glare that the woman turned upon the girl was in stark contrast to those warm, tender brown gazes she had given her. "You are a liar. A fake. And an abomination. Do you not think that the Goddess knows?"

The younger woman took a step back; for a moment, she seemed to tremble. Then as if considering something, she raised her head and met the woman's stare boldly. "I am she. Test me."

"Do you think this some game? One of your plays to be enacted upon the world stage?" The older woman shook her head and turned her back, "You are not even a virgin. Get you gone from this place."

"No! I won't go. That crown is mine. I want it," screamed the girl.

The woman turned back to face her; her smile glowed as she met the bold look. "And that is why you are not worthy. The Goddess chooses the humble among us. Only a pure vessel can she fill without cracking it. You are not such an instrument, daughter of darkness."

She turned to a band of young men that Cathy had not noticed at the far side of the stage. Each was dressed in Minotaur masks. Unlike the man who held her, these were apparent costumes. Expensive masks, good ones, but costumes nonetheless.

"Take her away," the woman commanded.

They bowed at the waist, "Yes, Isis," said one that seemed to tower a couple of inches over his brethren. His chest was slightly broader. Four of the men surrounded the girl before she could turn and flee.

"Take this," the woman commanded the girl as she held out a golden chalice.

The girl shook her head as two of the guardsmen grasped her upper arms between them. "No, so you can poison me, you evil charlatan," the girl screeched.

The older woman shook her head and smiled, "You demanded a test." She raised the cup to her own lips and drank deeply of whatever was in it. Then she held it back out to the girl. "For the pure, this brings power and the blessings of the Goddess. It amplifies her gifts to a woman. Sensuality. Fertility. Understanding. And love."

She drew the cup back just a bit. "But to the impure, it visits her curses. It closes her womb. It dries up the flow of her Yin. She will never achieve fulfillment again. Do you understand what I am saying, daughter?"

She stared deeper into the girl's dark eyes, "If you drink this potion, that which has blessed me for thirty years. That will bless this girl for thirty more. It will curse you. You will never again be able to orgasm. You will never bear children. You will live in want rather than abundance."

The girl seemed to collapse against her guards as the woman held out the cup once more, "Drink if you will. But in full knowledge of that which you trespass."

The girl took the cup; she brought it halfway to her lips, then once more met the woman's eyes. She would have tossed the container and its contents on her if the most substantial guard had not clasped her hand and stayed the action.

"Take her."

He nodded and bowed as the men dragged the girl away, kicking and screaming.

"She's a fake. All of this is just some act. You're all fools."

As the young men escorted the girl from the room that had rung with silence, it began to buzz like a beehive that had been stirred. For long moments that seemed like an eternity, the hum rose louder and louder. Cathy shivered in the Minotaur's arms as the energy darkened, threatening to overcome her.

The woman stepped forward and raised her hand. Cathy noticed the wrinkling about the woman's knuckles as her voice rang out, reverberating off the walls. "Go! All of you who doubt the Goddess. Leave now. Lest the same Fate befalls you. GO!" She shouted as she turned her back to them all.

The woman approached Cathy and the Minotaur. Her smile was oddly comforting as she gently brushed aside a strand of hair that had fallen across her face. "Relax, my child. You are safe now. In the Mother's arms, the bosom of the Goddess."

Cathy frowned, she still was not sure what to make of this night. Her logical mind rebelled at the references to some mystical goddess, her power, and magic. This gathering smacked of a secret society from one of those popular books. Her brain screamed at her to fight her way free of the strong arms which embraced her, this odd group of people and their beliefs in the occult, and especially this entrancing woman who seemed to have bewitched her.

What was even stranger was that as much as her mind screamed for her to flee, her heart and soul felt like it had found a home for the first time. A 'forever home' as the social workers called them. Something that she had never known. Except at this moment. In the arms of this man-beast and the warm, compassionate eyes of this woman, who was of an age to be her mother.

Not even being surrounded by hundreds of people seemed to dampen the feeling. Though, looking out at the crowd, it had thinned. The woman's words seemed to have worked some magic. Of the couple hundred individuals that had filled the space to overflowing, only a few dozen remained.

As if sensing her thoughts, or perhaps noticing where her eyes had fallen, the woman smiled as she turned. "Ah, so, only the true believers remain. Good. Now, we can proceed without their taint."