All characters involved in sexual acts are above the age of 18. Though the events of the story take place far in the future, the story has been narrated in past-tense as the records of this story have been sent through a time machine to the present era (this is the author looking for an explanation just for the heck of it). Multiple allusions to mythological beings are made in the coming content and future chapters, and it may be convenient to have basic knowledge about the Greek, Roman, Japanese, Norse and Hindu gods and goddesses, as well as beings of different species such as elves, werebeasts, dragons, mermen, fairies and other such fantasy creatures.
Please don't hesitate to give me your feedback! I'm returning to story-writing after a long time, and I think my skills may have gotten rusty, so please bear with me. :)
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Notes for the chapter: The sexual content in this chapter is very limited, and it might prove to be very boring, but this chapter is essentially setting the plot for the rest of the story.
Chapter One. Stars Align...and Fall on Me
Aria crouched behind the crumbling stone pillar, watching and waiting. Ahead of her lay the object of her consternation - the Temple of Olympus, sacred to the Olympian gods back in their day. This was where their children, both mortal and immortal, would come to acknowledge their parents.
Of course...all of this was thousands of years ago. As the Greek civilization and hence the Romans faded away, so did the influence of Olympus. In the current world, there was no space for belief in religion and mythology. Everything had become so technologically advanced - and yet, there was a place like this in a dense forest, untouched by growing sentient influence.
This was the land of Pangea, which was inhabited by a wondrous variety of living beings. The entire continent was divided into zones based on their inhabitants, and all these zones had relations which were peaceful enough, at their weakest.
Aria was an elf, from the kingdom of Alfenheim. As one of the higher born, she had discovered her power to manipulate one of the many elements of the world at an early age - namely, the power of sound. It was from there that her name arose.
She peeked out from behind the pillar, watching the two women at the gates of the Temple. Despite the distance, she could make out that one of them - a slim, silver-haired lady - was a valkyrie, from the small wings that sprouted out behind her ears. The other one appeared to be a fox nymph - determinable from the little fox ears that sprouted from within her masses of brown hair, but made even more obvious from the fox tail that hung out of her orange priestess robes.
They entered the Temple and Aria followed them slowly into the stone tunnel that the gates opened to, trying not to alert them to her presence. She had been on stakeout here for almost three days now - after all, in a world which had no place for religion, what were two beings doing near such an important temple in such a desolate place?
The marble temple was dark inside, and Aria was grateful, for the shadows would keep her concealed. The fox priestess had lit a little lamp whose radiance was barely enough to illuminate the path ahead of them, and Aria stayed far enough that the light would not reach her. She was barefoot, and her footsteps barely made a sound as she stalked the intruders.
"We must hurry," the fox nymph said, sounding very agitated. "They will be waiting for us. The hour of the ritual approaches, and we cannot miss it. Too much has gone into preparing for it."
"Yes, but surely you can't run in those ridiculous robes of yours!" the valkyrie snapped back. "You might just trip over yoursef and fall face-flat on that lamp."
"Well, it's nice to see you have so much confidence in my running capabilities," the fox nymph grumbled, but they did speed up a little, and Aria had to increase her pace to keep up with them.
After what seemed like ages, the dark tunnel suddenly opened up into a massive stone cavern. "Here it is," the fox nymph said, setting down her lamp and blowing it out. "the first checkpoint, anyway. We must cross the River of Theia and cleanse ourselves before we can continue."
"And how do we do that?" the valkyrie asked while Aria crept to the side, taking care to stay in the darkness. A sparkling blue river almost as wide as the entire floor of the cavern gurgled from one end to another and leaving just two metres of standing space on either side, separating them from the next tunnel and spreading light.
"We must undress and offer our clothes to the goddess before walking through the waters," the fox nymph replied, pointing at an altar to her right. It was a wide stone platform, at the back of which stood a masterfully painted statue of the sky Titan Theia, three metres tall and proud. The Titaness was completely nude, except for a sky-blue scarf that fluttered from her neck and a similarly colored g-string that was partially pulled down her slightly spread legs. She looked almost alive, with vibrant blue eyes that seemed to reflect the sky, perfect pink lips, radiant fair skin, a perfectly round and rather large pair of breasts, and labia that were engorged and red, almost crimson with arousal.
Aria blushed as she observed the statue. She wouldn't admit it openly, but she'd always been attracted to females. It was considered improper by her family, so she tried as hard as she could to keep it a secret.
She silently pulled out a notepad and pencil from the satchel on her belt and began to sketch an image of the statue. The sounds of the pencil on the paper were masked by the flowing river. She was an excellent artist, and could recreate almost anything with a sketching tool and a surface. The colors, she decided, she would fill in later when she was done with her investigation.
In the meantime, her targets had stripped down to nothing and placed their clothes (neatly folded, of course - you wouldn't want to make a goddess have to straighten them out) on the altar, at the statue's feet. They stepped into the knee-deep water, seeming to have no inhibitions about entering the next chamber naked, and crossed the river into the next tunnel.
Aria quickly jumped to her feet, returning the notepad to its original position. Most art was done digitally, but she still preferred the old ways. Her hand went to the first button of her emerald tunic - then she hesitated.
That she would have to cross the river naked, there was no doubt. She would not leave her belt and satchel behind, and neither her weapons, but it was clear that Theia guarded the river and would not take kindly to anybody who decided to walk across it clothed.
Blushing profusely, she undid her tunic and took off her belt, unzipping her shorts. She proceeded to undo the clasp of her pink bra and to take off her bikini, which was imprinted with little sketches of cartoon characters. One of her favorites.
