The Rite 1

I was naked when the priests came for me. I heard them before I saw them. Soft footsteps and scuffing noises filled the doorway behind me as the last of the bathwater dried from my skin. I turned to look at them while their eyes adjusted to the dim light.

Two men and a woman entered. A pair of young acolytes accompanied them. The acolytes kept their eyes lowered. It would not do for them to boldly look at one of the gods' chosen avatars. The priests approached with a humility reserved for only the most sacred of ceremonies. The high priest briefly inspected me and nodded, apparently satisfied that I had been properly fed and washed after today's grueling trials. The fact that I'd made it through the trials without a single scratch or bruise was something that had not gone unnoticed.

The high priest gestured to the acolytes who hurried over with a wooden chest between them. The acolytes set the chest off to the side and opened it reverently, revealing the gods' vestments and several small clay pots. Tendrils of smoke danced up from the small altar where the youngest priest knelt to light some incense. The priestess removed the clay pots and began mixing some of their contents. Finally, the high priest broke the long silence.

"The gods have chosen you as their male avatar. You have shown yourself worthy - swift of foot, skilled with spear and sword, and strong of heart. You honor yourself and your clan," he proclaimed.

He stepped aside to let the priestess approach with the charcoal-colored paint prepared with ingredients from the clay pots. Both the high priest and the young priest began chanting, their voices low and gravely. The priestess began her work, carefully marking my body with the same whorls and patterns that adorned our most ancient shrines. The chanting changed to a slightly faster tempo when she finished painting and the acolytes brought forward the vestments. My pulse matched the new chant and I briefly wondered if every male avatar felt this way.

I let the acolytes wrap a length of brightly dyed cloth around my waist. A leather pteruges followed, fastened just below the cloth so that a glimpse of brilliant reds and yellows peaked out above the belt and from between the dangling straps. A heavy bronze torque replaced my own. One acolyte bent to put gilded leather sandals on my feet while the other wove beads into my shoulder-length hair. I would have expected the finery to make my sun-stained skin, muscled body, and calloused hands and feet seem uncivilized, but it did not seem to have that effect. Rather, it made me look like the earthly embodiment of a god - exactly as the priests claimed I was.

The sun must have set sometime between the last trial and my bath because it was dark outside by the time they finished. The high priestess held a pungent tea to my lips and wordlessly urged me to quaff it. The high priest then placed a circlet on my head and led me outside as soon as the tea began to take effect. We stepped out into the night, surrounded by a crowd that parted to show us the path.

Drums echoed in the hills, growing louder and more powerful as we drew near the Grove and Ring. We entered a clearing marked by a steep hill and I felt a thrill at the sight of it. A path wound around the side of the hill, taking us to the Ring at the top. Stones stood in a perfect circle, lit by starlight and torchlight. Figures were interspersed among the stones - elders, lesser priests, acolytes, and as many villagers as could find a place to stand. Most would have come from far away, which was confirmed when I realized I did not recognize many of their faces.

I certainly didn't recognize... her.

The goddesses' avatar stood alone in the center. Waiting.

I entered the Ring and again felt my heart match the beat of the drums around the edges. Incense wafted across the space, draping the goddesses' avatar in tendrils of smoke and temptation. Her vestments matched mine and her small, firm breasts rose and fell with her breaths. She watched me cross the grassy space to meet her - watching as the she-wolf does when deciding whether she approves of her mate.

By the time I reached her, I realized how tall she was. I had always loomed over others - even dwarfing some with my muscled frame - but she was taller than many men. Power radiated from her lithe body, and her eyes held the strength of a thousand men. Her limbs were lean and proportionate - the kind of look one might find in a young warrior. Despite all that, her body retained the soft, feminine curves and skin of a young woman.

"You are my god," she said, and something otherworldly echoed in her voice.

A voice that seemed not my own issued from my throat. "You are my goddess."

The crowd on the edges of the Ring faded from concern as my focus narrowed entirely on her. The incense and tea and concentration of power within the Ring seemed to work in concert to heighten my senses. I could smell the oils she'd been anointed with, and the musky scent of arousal underneath it all. I saw the way her pupils dilated as her eyes stroked my body, taking in the sight of her god. The lingering taste of tea filled my mouth when I met her lips and tongue with my own. I could hear her blood pounding when I pressed my body against hers, letting her feel the warmth of me against her bare torso.

My need was obvious. The bulge between my legs became more pronounced as my cock grew thick and hard. My goddess felt it. Wanted it. She sighed and offered her neck and breasts to my hungry lips. My broad hands drifted over her torso. She gasped and pressed into me when my teeth grazed her nipple. It wasn't enough. I wanted more.

I lowered us to the soft grass. She locked her legs around my waist. We rocked against each other and I let out a strangled noise when she cupped me through the rough fabric. I pulled back and slid my hands along her thighs, pushing up her skirt and baring her to me. I stared for a heartbeat before I lowered myself to taste her.

I began at her inner thigh, licking the wetness that had seeped from her and down her leg. Lips worked against warm flesh as I worked my way to the dark curls at her center. I breathed deeply and my nose and mouth were filled with the smell and taste of her cunt.

Fingers twisted in my hair, encouraging me. I ran my tongue along her folds and wrapped my lips around the nub of flesh peeking out from under its hood. There was no need to look up and see whether her pleasure was reflected in her face. I knew it was. Her wetness painted my cheeks and my jaw. It was as if we had done this countless times since the stars first lit the sky.

The goddess - my goddess - writhed under my mouth and I clasped my hands on her hips to hold her down. Her gasps became moans that carried out across the ceremonial circle. Her thighs quivered, then clamped on my head. I felt her body tense and her shoulders lifted off the ground as her mouth dropped open in a silent shout.

I let my face rest against her while her breathing returned to normal. I became painfully aware of my own need then. I lifted myself off of her and she quickly freed me of my pteruges and cloth. My engorged length bobbed in the night air. She let her fingers trace the veins before quickly going to her hands and knees in front of me. I was moving before she threw her inviting glance over her shoulder.

Her soaked pussy welcomed my cock with a warm squeeze. I groaned and pushed into her, quickly working up into a rut. There was no finesse now. The god inside me had waited too long for this. There was nothing except his raw want and need, and her eagerness to be filled by my thick cock. We were two deities fucking out in the open as if it were the first day of creation.

I looked down to see myself sliding in and out of her. Her pussy lips gripped me each time I pulled out and welcomed me home each time I thrust in. My hips slapped into her ass, flesh against flesh. I pulled her hard against me so I could fondle her breasts and clit while I fucked her from behind. My teeth found her shoulder and she cried out, bucking back into me. Sweat ran down my body in rivulets as I furiously pounded my goddess.

I came with a violent shout, spilling my seed deep inside her. Her pussy clenched around me, as if the pulsing of my cock was the last thing she needed to come again. I felt her milk me and I eagerly emptied into her.

My heart began to slow and I withdrew. I watched my softening cock slip from her and stroked her backside. The sight of her glistening cunt greeted me like a prize. I stroked her thighs, back, and sides. I let my forehead rest against her spine.

The goddess suddenly whirled on me and pushed me onto my back. For a moment, all I could see were the stars in the sky above. Then she was there, kissing me as deeply as if it were the first time all over again. She draped herself over me, letting me feel her breasts and hair caress my chest. She carefully took me in her hand. That now-familiar rush of power arced between us and I felt myself grow hard again with her coaxing.

Power coursed through her and into me, and back into her and into me over and over again. The gods weren't done with us yet. They were eager to experience more gratification with our mortal bodies, coupling with the eagerness of young, reunited lovers.

She lowered herself onto me and braced herself against my chest. Her hips rocked as she rode me. This was no longer fucking. This was lovemaking. The urgency of our first coupling had passed. I marveled at the image above me. Somehow, she seemed even more beautiful than before. Her dark, curly hair fell over her shoulders like a cloak. Warmth radiated from her brown eyes even with only starlight and torchlight holding back complete darkness. A bead of sweat raced between her breasts and down her stomach. Her breasts bounced slightly with each rise and fall of her hips while her strong legs hugged my torso. I looked down and stared at our joined bodies. She rode my cock, finding pleasure in my pulsing girth and muscled body beneath her.

I sat up to take a hardened nipple in my mouth. My hands found their way to her ass and swollen clit. A voice - an ancient voice - echoed in my head even though no words left her mouth.

"Yes. More, love. So thick. You make me feel so full. Yes. Almost."

She came with my cock buried to the hilt and my thumb on her clit. Svelte thighs quivered against me. Her mouth opened in that same silent cry as her body stiffened and bowed above me. Warm walls spasmed around my cock, encouraging me to follow suit. I held her against me while she rode out the last waves of her orgasm, then began to thrust up into her. It wasn't long before I joined her. Two thrusts. Three thrusts. Four -

I buried my face in her neck and muffled my groans in her hair. My seed mingled with what I'd left inside her earlier, filling her until it began to leak out between us.

We remained joined even as I felt the presence of the gods lift from us. I could tell she felt their loss, too, and seemed determined to cling to the experience as long as possible. I wanted to stay there even as I became aware of the crowd at the edge of the Ring.

Eventually, someone - the priestess, I think - draped a blanket over us and the crowd began to disperse. The high priest crouched down next to us and gave my head an approving pat. "You did well. We'll talk in the morning," he said. Then, he turned and left us alone in the Grove and Ring.