The Harem Tales Vol 01 Ch 15

Punishments and Rewards

The goddess suddenly tilted her head, chuckling out loud. "Oh come in already..."

Before Zalen had time to ask who she was referring to there were footsteps from the doorway.

He gasped as he recognized the arrivals - three Veiled Ones, and all three wearing the queen veil revealing them to be members of the Veiled Council.

The first woman Zalen recognized as D'Sheyn, the one he had talked with when he first approached the Veiled Ones. She was of average height with a rather well-endowed chest that her veils were more accentuating than covering, but her most noticeable feature was still her short hair which had been dyed light blue.

The woman standing next to her had adorned her hair with flowers. But whereas D'Sheyn was more on the busty side, most of the second woman's curves were in her lower body.

The third woman was one of tallest women he had seen in this country with thighs that just kept going. Her hair was dark, nearly black.

The three women curtsied, removing the veils covering their faces as they sat down.

"Long have we waited for your return, o Vivariel. For life and pleasure."

The naked goddess tilted her head, raising her hand slightly towards the women.

"D'Sheyn. Essiel. Imeiran. Waited, you say? Your memories tell me you pretty much gave up generations ago. Only after this man here found and returned the stolen Rose Cube did you do something - and even then you just waited for them to do all the work."

The leader of the three women frowned at the accusation.

"But he's just a man, we couldn't have trusted him to help if he knew everything!"

Vivariel sighed and shook her head.

The naked goddess raised her hands and slapped them together, the air in the middle of the chamber suddenly warping to form a mirror-like surface. For a moment a multitude of sounds came through the strange portal and faint outlines of veiled women, apparently from different locations.

"I am now free," the voice of the goddess intoned. "Vivariel, the Rose of Desire has been reborn."

There was a shocked silence and then a sudden shuffling as the outlines seemed to quickly kneel or sit down.

"For life and pleasure," each voice mumbled.

"You may have once been Veils of Vivariel but as you hid under the name of the Sisterhood, the sisterhood also slowly took over what the veils stood for. Because of that, I will not accept the Sisterhood as my servants."

"What?"

Ignoring the sudden outburst of the older Veiled One the goddess continued.

"Instead everyone, both women and men are free to join the Veils of Vivariel."

"WHAT?"

This time the same outburst could be heard from the portal as well and from many voices.

"For now my Heart Veils shall be Amaryan, the woman whose body allowed me to return to this world. And Zalen who was the real reason I was finally released." Vivariel glanced at Zalen who only managed to look shocked before continuing in a lower voice: "And who is the only mortal to have ever made me come..." Then she raised her voice again.

"I will call for you when it is time. For life and pleasure."

"Me?"

Zalen's weak question seemed to go unnoticed but a soft voice suddenly replied inside his head:

"You became mine the moment you called me your goddess during the ritual."

Outwardly Vivariel however just ignored him and did a slight wave of her hand that caused the portal to waver. The faint outlines vanished and in their place formed four doors.

"Council, come to me."

After a moment the doors opened one by one, and from each of them entered another veiled woman, one of them a short and very cute redhead.

They took one look at Vivariel, then noticed the nervous expressions of the already present council members and hurried to join them on the floor.

"For life and pleasure," the women intoned as Vivariel slowly walked closer to them.

"I've truly been away for too long. It's hardly a surprise that Black Claw's servants would try to turn women into nothing but slaves, denying them of any sexual pleasure, but neither should sex be used as a leash to control men!

And although you have also done a lot of good, you have clearly preferred playing political power games instead of living up to my ideals."

The goddess stepped in front of one of the women. She had shoulder length hair, the tips dyed blue. Otherwise she reminded Zalen of one the Amazons, perhaps because of her broad shoulders.

"Do you wish to follow me, Shareel?"

"Of course, oh Rose of Desire."

"Then you are free to become an initiate. You have been the voice of reason in the council and have done your best to get the others to find the right path. You have not always succeeded but that is not your fault."

"Thank you," Shareel mumbled, looking relieved as the goddess stepped in front of the woman Zalen had originally asked helped from.

"Do you wish to follow me, D'Sheyn?"

"Of course."

Vivariel paused, looking at the row of women in front of her.

"Back when Zalen came to you asking for your help in order to track down the ancient treasure you well knew was me, you demanded a payment of services from him equal to the time he would need in his quest."

"Yes."

"He then went as far as to spontaneously donate the Sheikh's palace to the Sisterhood and you still would have asked him to pay for your help? Just what kind of a payment were you after?"

D'sheyn's eyes flickered towards Zalen and she suddenly blushed.

"In other words you were so afraid of being turned down by him that you were willing to misuse your position."

Vivariel paused again, touching the woman's shoulder.

"This will be your punishment. For the next month you are to accompany Zalen. You will become his personal maid, following his each command, both mundane and sexual. Only then can you become an initiate. Do you accept this?"

D'Sheyn had made a little strangled sound upon hearing the word maid but to Zalen's surprise the woman nodded.

"But I -" Zalen began, only to be silenced by an unseen finger touching his lips.

"Oh shush," Vivariel's voice spoke in his mind. "I know what I'm doing. She really wants you and this is the best way to cure her."

"You mean she's like Leilah?"

"Exactly."

Vivariel had stepped in front of the next person, a woman with really long hair who was wearing a lot more veils as the others.

"Do you wish to follow me, Mayz?"

"So I do."

'Then you must first find your true self again. You have hidden behind the veils too well, so that the only thing left is fake masks covering more masks.'

Vivariel snapped her fingers and the veils Mayz had worn suddenly fell to the chamber door, causing the woman to give a little squeak. Then the air around the woman wavered and she momentarily looked clothed but the illusion quickly vanished, leaving her naked again.

"Your punishment shall be this. For the next month you will be naked. No veils. The spell around you will make you appear clothed to everyone else when you are outside and will keep you warm but anyone touching you will feel your skin. Do you accept this?"

The woman stared at her bare body for a moment but then she squared her shoulders and nodded.

Vivariel continued, giving out punishments for the ex council members.

Essiel, the one with the very curvy butt, would have to learn to relinquish control by living blindfolded for a month, each other Veil having the freedom to caress her.

Imeiran, the really tall beauty, would have to relearn the pleasures and variety of sex. Each night she would act as an invisible voyeur for a different couple.

And so on, with the redhead Mimin and the demurely smiling Sheryn getting slightly simpler tasks to fulfill before being accepted as initiates.

"Oh Rose of Desire, may I ask one question?"

The question came with a very soft and melodious voice after the last punishment had been set. The goddess turned to look at Sheryn. "Go on."

"The Veils of Vivariel have been recreated, but are you also retaining the original rituals?"

Vivariel nodded. "For most of them, yes."

"Isn't Kiss of the Rose one of the originals? And..."

She bit off the rest of the question, turning to look at Zalen for some reason.

"Yes. And yes, that includes him."

Zalen realized the council members had also turned to stare at Zalen with unreadable expressions.

"...Umm, is this something I should know about?'

His question prompted a sudden giggle from Mirada as she hopped next to Zalen and leaned closer.

"Oo, I know this one! Kiss of the Rose is the Veils' initiation ritual where a woman wishing to join the Veils spends a night with one of the Veils, kinda like getting an initial taste of the sexual skills she will later learn herself. And since the member list currently includes just you and Amaryan and she may right now be off the list, that pretty much means you'll be a busy man, o husband of mine!"

Zalen turned to look at Vivariel who smiled in reply.

"I must soon rest to regain my strength but before I leave Amaryan's body, there is still one more thing to do."

Vivariel stepped down again, a dazzling smile on her lips.

"You have all performed a great service and freed me from my mystical prison and for that you all have my gratitude. Some of you have deserved even more than that."

Vivariel's voice suddenly continued in his head. "In your case I'm not even going to ask what you wish for. Because there is something you will definitely need as my Heart Veil. From now on you shall be adorably clueless no more. Look at a woman and you will always know just how sexually attracted she is to you."

Zalen's eyes went wide. That was... an amazing boon! "Thank you," he mumbled and realized he could hear a few others doing the same. And wait, was Rasan now a bit taller than before?

"As for your request, Talyar," Vivariel suddenly spoke out loud, "I will fulfill it if you join the Veils. But first you must wait three days while I recover."

Vivariel closed her eyes. "Now I must rest. Thank you everyone once more."

With that the Goddess shimmered - and suddenly there was again just Amaryan, looking only like herself. She stumbled a little, blinking a few times.

"Well, that was... quite the experience."

After a moment she sat down on the edge of the altar and turned to face Zalen.

"I'll also need to apologize on my own behalf. Even if I was following the Council's orders I was still keeping too many secrets from you. But if we are to lead the Veils we need to actually work together. So..." Amaryan paused, raising her fingertips against Zalen's chest. "I promise to be completely open with you from now on."

As she lowered her hand Zalen nodded.

"Apology accepted. And I promise the same."

"Thank you."

Zalen smiled. Amaryan already felt like a changed woman. But having a goddess inside you probably was reason enough for that.

A moment later he stood up and stretched, groaning as his body finally seemed to register having laid on a stone altar.

"We should probably get going now though. After all this I just want to sleep in a normal bed one more."

"That won't be a problem," Essiel suddenly announced. She had already donned a blindfold someone had provided but she still turned to face Zalen. "There is a House of Veils in Domarrak with a Warp room. We can use a Travel spell to jump there right now." She suddenly paused. "Umm. What about the - umm, ex-Veils who are staying there? Should we tell them to leave?"

Amaryan shook her head. "No. They may need to join the Veils again but they can stay in the House while waiting for the initiation." She turned her head. "Yes, Shareel?"

The tall woman had walked to them and had been standing right next to Amaryan and Zalen.

"I humbly ask to join the Veils of Vivariel," she replied with a curtsy.

Amaryan smiled. "You are more than welcome, Shareel. Who would you like to receive the Kiss from tonight?"

Shareel paused, then looked at Zalen. He could suddenly sense a sudden gush of desire within her. "I would choose him."

Hmm, this sudden sensation must have been how Vivariel's reward manifested.

"Very well -"

"Ooohhh no!"

Amaryan's reply was suddenly cut off by Sumi who had marched forward and stopped between them.

"If you want to get in bed with our husband then you are free to do so. But if you want to do it tonight then you will have to share him with me! After everything I've seen today I'm still hornier than a South Seas barmaid!"

Shareel chuckled. "Oh, I don't mind sharing him. The ritual doesn't really say there can't be several at once receiving the kiss."

"Does that also mean you wish to become a Veil," Amaryan asked.

"Well, she certainly seems like my kind of a goddess," Sumi replied. "So yes. I humbly ask to join the Veils of Vivariel. And choose him."

"Very well. Then - huh?"

Amaryan's puzzled frown was caused by the fact that Mirada was now also standing in front of her. "I also wish to join the Veils of Vivariel and would like to choose him."

"Well. Ok, I guess. If he thinks he can do it I mean."

Zalen's jaw had already hit the floor.

"Umm, if you truly wish to do that then I will need one night of proper sleep first! Is tomorrow morning acceptable?"

Amaryan laughed. "He's probably right. The ritual was a bit... exhausting. So we will get you three ready and you can go wake him up in the morning."

Zalen could only laugh weakly at the whole situation. What had originally supposed to have been just a short trip to return an artifact and perhaps find an old treasure had somehow led to him becoming the head of a harem and the Heart Veil of a goddess of sex.

And somehow he had the feeling that this whole adventure had only just begun.