Chapter One: The Temple of the Hallowed Form

“We were not exactly sure what sort of world you would be coming from,” Seirke began as she guided me through the doorway and into the adjacent room to the bath, “So we erred on the side of caution. This room used to be one of our storehouses, but it was a superfluous one, so we converted it into a personal room for you.”

The room in question was spacious and comfortable. I was glad to see that it contained exactly what might be expected from a room in my world. A queen-sized bed, an armoire tucked into the corner, a simple rug with intricately woven patterns. In addition, there was a shelf with books and a pair of comfortable-looking chairs in one corner, one of which was next to a small table.

“Quite cozy.”

From a shelf next to the doorway, Seirke retrieved a pair of towels and handed one to me. We both began drying off.

“You’re welcome to stay here or wherever you’d feel most comfortable for as long as you remain here.”

“And where exactly is ‘here’?” I asked.

“Anvar. A small village off the western shore of the Illios peninsula. Illios is part of a small sliver of provinces along the southern edge of the continent all of which favor Erynessa as their patron deity. There are outliers who worship the other two, but there aren’t many.”

“Who are the other two?”

As she responded, Seirke made her way to the bed, her perfectly shaped rear bouncing with each step, and grabbed something from a small pile of clothes on the bed. It looked like a pair of panties but made of a sturdy, slightly rigid black cloth material. She slipped them on, one leg at a time.

“Azomeia, the goddess of order, balance, honor, duty, community, and prosperity is the most prominent of the three goddesses. I mentioned that only a small sliver of the southern continent primarily worship Erynessa; the other kingdoms to the north are followers of Azomeia.”

“That seems like a pretty big gap.”

Now she was slipping a number of golden bangles onto her wrists, as well as adorning herself with a few more pieces of jewelry, mainly a few rings and an amulet with a beautiful bright red gemstone. As she did this, I was listening carefully but also watching the subtle wobbling of her breasts.

“It is, unfortunately. I may have eluded to this in the bath, but many of our followers need a sign of hope, and our dwindling numbers are the reason why. We used to have much more land to call our home, but the northern kingdoms have slowly but surely been occupying it. Not in any violent way, they are being much more subtle. I won’t bore you with the details right now, you’ll become quickly familiar with the subject.”

Next, she grabbed a piece of clothing that I couldn’t identify until she put it on. It was a white shawl with black inner lining that covered her shoulders and chest, just enough to obscure her nipples from view, and hooked in the front. It had a hood, and it reminded me of a cloak whose full length had been shortened quite harshly.

“The final of the goddesses is Kaz’ara, goddess of darkness, misery, torment, ambition, sacrifice, blood, and trickery. As you can probably guess, throughout history followers of this particular goddess had been a handful. At the moment she has no claim to any kingdoms so far as we know, and her followers mostly practice their rites in secret.”

“Well that’s good, at least.”

Seirke smiled wanly as she put on the final piece of her strange garb, which consisted of a thin, deep red stole that was embroidered with intricate golden stitching, the pattern of which seemed to be in the same style as the patterns on the rug. Each end of the stole extended down to the middle of her thighs and ended in tapered points.

“Not everyone would agree. While it is true that Kaz’ara is a far more terrible deity than Erynessa or Azomeia; at least she was an obvious threat. Part of the problem we are having now is that Azeomeians are not quite as obvious and for all their faults have good intentions in mind. The reason Kaz’ara has never succeeded in conquering Teranos is because Erynessans and Azomeians put aside their differences and worked together to bring her down.”

“But now that there is no obvious threat, the other two sides have started noticing their own differences in philosophy more,” I did my best to summarize.

Seirke nodded, “Indeed.”

I wanted to break off from this dour subject, so I switched to something else, “That’s quite the outfit.”

She smiled and spun around in place, “Does it please Your Eminence?”

“It’s far more revealing than the outfits in my world.” After all, the only thing covering her breasts was a shawl that still showed a glorious amount of underboob, and a stole that was loose and sure to slip out of the way at the slightest awkward movement. And all she had on her lower half was a pair of panties. “So, yes.”

Seirke giggled, “It’s actually a little more revealing than most common outfits too, this is the official garb for members of the temple. All in the name of easy access.” With that, she winked at me teasingly. I was beginning to really like Seirke. Not only was she beautiful, I liked her attitude. She seemed like the type to tell it like it was, and I had always appreciated that quality in people.

“So, all of the other people in this temple will be dressed like that?” I asked.

“Correct.”

“Even the men?”

Seirke giggled, “There are no men here, only a fem, but he does wear this garb.”

I blinked, “What’s a fem?”

“Oh, you don’t have fem in your world?”

I shook my head; I had no idea what that even meant. In truth, I heard her say “femme” but then referred to a male pronoun so I wasn’t sure that was what she meant, nor would femme have made sense in this context.

“I’ll point him out to you when we meet him. I could explain but it will be easier just to show you.”

I nodded hesitantly. Now I was just worried about making a fool of myself, which did guide me to my next question, “Before we head out there, is there any sort of etiquette or protocol I should be aware of?”

“I don’t know what would be considered normal in your world, but I think you should be fine. Just remember to not avert your gaze if you find someone attractive. Look at whatever pleases you until you feel it necessary to look away. Nobody will be upset; in fact, it would be considered the highest compliment. You’re a pretty big deal, you’re the most important person to ever set foot in this place to us. Even if you cross a few boundaries of politeness nobody will think anything of it. Remember that these people know you’re from another world, they expect there to be growing pains.”

“So, in short, ogle if I want to ogle, and just relax and roll with it?”

“Exactly,” she smiled, but then seemed to remember something, “Oh! There is one among them who will kneel before you and likely kiss, lick, or lightly suckle on the tip of your cock. Do not be alarmed, it would be wise to let them. It is a display of submission and fealty for them.”

I would be lying if I said this idea wasn’t a little bit overwhelming, and a little strange. Almost dissonant. I wasn’t entirely sure I was worthy of a treatment like this, I didn’t really feel better than anyone else, but it seemed I would get treated that way, nonetheless.

Seirke seemed to notice my nervousness, “It will be fine, Your Eminence.”

I nodded, but I wasn’t sure if it was convincing. Her responding expression told me it wasn’t.

“Okay, if you feel overwhelmed and feel like you need to step away and come back in here, just give me a signal. Look at me in the eyes and blink twice, and I’ll get you out of there in a polite and discreet way. Sound good?”

I liked this idea. I nodded with a little more enthusiasm.

“All right let’s go. The keepers are probably going to see you first, one of them is the one I mentioned before, the one that will kneel so be prepared.”

“What’s a keeper?”

“They’re the ones who run the temple. I’d say they’re the ones ‘in charge’ but that’s not really how the Erynessan temples do things. They’re more like managers who make sure everything around here runs smoothly. You’ll know its them because they have purple stoles,” she tugged her own red stole for emphasis.

“What does yours mean?” I sort of felt like I was just stalling at this point, but I was genuinely curious.

“I’m a seeker. We’re the ones who go outside the temple and do stuff out in the surrounding area. Mostly field work, census-taking, surveying, sometimes more dangerous stuff like exploring old ruins in search of Erynessan documents or artifacts.”

“Do you like that work?”

She smiled, “Well, I never have a dull moment. Come on, let’s go.”

With that, she opened the wooden door and led me out into a corridor. It seemed the whole temple was built out of the same rust-colored bricks and polished flagstone floors as the bath. Only this corridor had a vaulted ceiling and tall, thin tapered windows that let sunlight into the hall. I could immediately hear the sounds of muffled chatter and business behind other doors that led into other rooms.

“We’ll just go into the main hall first, there’s usually at least one keeper there.”

“I forgot to ask, but how will they know I’m the chosen one? Will I have to tell them?”

“Oh, right, I forgot to mention, you have a magic rune on your brow. Anyone who sees the rune will know who you are immediately. The magic can’t be replicated either, so no need to worry about imposters.”

Instinctively I touched my forehead, but then realized it was probably silly to do so. If I hadn’t felt anything there so far, I certainly wasn’t going to feel it now.

After stepping through a pair of double doors, what awaited me was a grand chamber decorated quite comfortably. It boasted a large vaulted ceiling and lengthy windows lining its sides. A series of wooden support columns flanked either side of the hall on which were hung lanterns and tapestries. These tapestries depicted what had to be numerous religious figures in the Erynessan faith, all of them female and all of them beautiful.

The flagstone floors of the chamber were covered in various gold-patterned black and white rugs, and similarly colored large throw pillows were present at various spots throughout. In many ways it looked akin to the way an old church might look from my world, though instead of pews there were sofas and pillows, and there was no sign of a podium.

Though the room itself was pleasing to the eye and well-decorated, there were various women present in the room, and each of them were more gorgeous than the last, putting the decoration to shame. They were dressed in the same garb as Seirke, some in even less, and each had their own stoles which were various colors. With one notable exception, I quickly realized that Seirke’s breasts had to be the smallest among them. The exception being a woman who was almost completely flat-chested. My companion told me to keep an eye out for purple stoles, and it wasn’t long before I spotted one.

She was tall and voluptuous, her shawl did not even come close to covering her massive breasts, which would have been freely exposed if not for the presence of her violet stole which covered each nipple. She had tanned skin and jet-black hair beneath her hood, and a warm smile which quickly turned to a shocked expression.

“Your Eminence!” she gasped, and the other people in the room quieted their conversations and turned to look.

After what felt like a solid half a minute of silence, I cleared my throat and decided to greet them, “Uh, hello.”

The keeper turned to a group of women who wore pure white stoles, “Simi, Hana, Lin, go and fetch the other keepers, immediately. Tell them the chosen has finally arrived. Ori, go and tell the kitchen to prepare a feast posthaste!”

The group of girls shared a quick glance between each other but then quickly dispersed, doing as they were told. A couple walked back into the corridor we had come from, the other two going through a pair of doors on either side of the room. Their hurried pace made their butts and breasts jiggle as they went.

Finally, the keeper turned to me and gave me a bright and welcoming smile, “Your Eminence! It is exactly as was foretold, I knew that Erynessa had not abandoned us in these dark times. May I have your hand, if it pleases you?” She held out both hands in front of her.

“Oh, sure,” I said, extending my hand for her to grasp. I expected her to shake it or even perhaps kiss it, but instead she mashed it into one of her pendulous breasts. My hand was immediately swallowed by their softness. I nearly jumped and for sure I blushed.

“My name is Rose. I grew up in this temple and have been a keeper for the longest out of my sisters, twenty years in all.”

This was fairly surprising, she didn’t look very old.

“Really, that long? You must have been a keeper since you were born then because there’s no way someone as beautiful as you is older than twenty,” I said, doing my best to be suave.

A few of the other women in the temple, most of whom had wandered over to see me, giggled and Rose herself blushed a deep crimson that lit up her tanned skin, “Please, Your Eminence, I may faint if I receive a compliment such as that from you of all people.” With her free hand she made a show of fanning herself which made her breasts wobble.

Rose then made the rounds of introducing me to all of the women present, including a few others who were slowly making their way inside. The rapid-fire names that were given to me were lost almost as soon as they were given, primarily because I didn’t really have time to put the names to faces. But one stood out to me and I did remember it because the individual it was attached to was quite unique.

“And this is Erys,” Rose said, indicating the nearly flat-chested woman.

She was a bit taller than the others, about the same height as me, and had a slender frame to accompany her modest chest. But in spite of this supposed shortcoming she seemed to have no insecurity on the matter, for she was the least dressed among them. Her outfit was largely the same as the others save for the fact that she was not wearing the white shawl, only choosing to wear her red stole—showing that she was a seeker as well—and a pair of panties.

She was pale skinned and covered in freckles, mostly concentrated on her shoulders, face, chest, thighs, and butt. Her hair was curly and burned a fiery shade of orange. It was long, but contained in a fairly tight ponytail, and only a single section of her bangs exploded out in a curly cascade and was uncontained by it on the right side of her face. She had thick makeup around her emerald green eyes and dark red lipstick that complimented her well, and she was adorned with various gold jewelry.

But while these features did make Erys stand out, they were not the features that stood out to me. After thoroughly drinking in her appearance with my eyes, I noticed something extra involved. Her panties contained a modest bulge at their front.

My eyes shot up to meet Erys’, “You’re a man?” I asked this mainly in shock and didn’t even stop to consider that it may not have been the case at all. They may have been transgender. Try as I may have in my own world, that was an aspect I wasn’t used to, and I silently cursed my presumption.

Their reaction was similar to what I had expected. Their eyes shot open in shock and there was a hint of anger but also sadness. It was clear they were trying their best to dampen this reaction because of my status, and for some reason that made it sting even worse for me.

Luckily, Seirke was quick to jump in, “Please, forgive His Eminence, the world he comes from does not have fem, I do not believe.”

Erys looked between Seirke and me a few times before speaking, “Oh, I see,” even their voice was indistinguishable from a woman’s.

“I’m terribly sorry, that was rude. Frankly it would’ve been rude in my own world too, to assume your gender like that.”

“It’s quite all right,” he replied, “it was an honest mistake.”

“Fem are of the male gender, but as you can see, they appear and present femininely,” Seirke explained and it was true. If not for the package he looked perfectly in line with a traditional female at least. “Most of them do still use male pronouns, however.”

“I’ll answer to either male or female, frankly. I wasn’t offended because Your Eminence mistook my gender, though,” Erys added, “it was because you called me a man. Men in this world look like you, more masculine.”

It was sinking in for me now, I had accidentally insulted his appearance, “Oh!” color once again was rushing into my cheeks, “I can’t apologize enough, then, it was especially rude and untrue, frankly.”

Erys quirked an eyebrow, but did look tentatively relieved, seemingly dependent on my followup.

“You are beautiful, there are women in the world I came from that you’d put to shame.”

It was his turn to blush, “Your Eminence, you speak very kindly.”

“Is there anything I can do to rectify this?”

He looked around slightly, “Well, it would be nice to know if you truly believed what you said. Kiss me.”

“Erys!” Rose sounded aghast, “To make demands of the chosen one is highly disrespectful!”

I waved a hand dismissively, “No, it’s a fair request. I started it, and more to the point, I would love to.”

I had to admit, prior to this exact moment I had never really considered my own feelings on the matter of guys who looked this much like women, mainly because I hadn’t ever really met one. But the fact of the matter was the idea of kissing this particular guy didn’t repulse me as much as I thought it would, and I was certain it was solely because of the way he looked. Sexuality sure was a strange thing, as I certainly would have been repulsed if it were a more masculine man. Perhaps when Erynessa decided to drop me into this world she already knew that, which was why she dropped me somewhere that had these “fem”. I was apparently hand-picked to be this world’s chosen one specifically, after all.

I stepped forward and gently took the back of Erys’ head and pulled it to mine, immediately locking lips with him. I wasted no time in introducing my tongue, caressing it against his. The moment I did, he let out a girlish moan and wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I could feel his bulge against my naked body but didn’t mind it much, which was another thing I was surprised at my neutrality for. I didn’t necessarily like it, but I didn’t dislike it either. Perfectly neutral. I could feel that it was hard, albeit very small, and that did appeal to me for some reason, but it was just the knowledge that he was enjoying this which seemed to give me the most satisfaction.

He became much more aggressive, teasing at my tongue presumably just to make me chase it into his mouth. I took the hint and became more aggressive myself, acting as though my tongue was a much stiffer organ and I was using it to penetrate him. His moaning increased at this, I noted that he was wiggling his hips, not really humping me but clearly because this was doing wonders for his nethers, in fact the movements themselves were not unlike the movements Seirke was making when she was fellating me. They were telltale signs of impending orgasm.

Knowing this, I made a few bolder moves, opting to gently bite down on his lower lip. This elicited a louder moan.

“Y-your Eminence, if you keep being that rough, I’ll—”

I didn’t give him time to finish, gently biting on his tongue next. His eyes shot wide open and I felt him twitch all over, but primarily in his hips. His back arched and he let out a very womanly moan as he then leaned his head on my shoulder. Since his back had arched his hips had moved away from me, and, curious, I peeked down to see what was going on. His panties, groin, and inner thighs were drenched with sperm. I made him cum in his pants just by kissing him.

He was panting, “Your Eminence, I believe you now,” he said.

I would never truly be sure what possessed me to say what I did next, at the time it just felt like something Erys would have wanted to hear, “I should tell you, you’re the first person I’ve kissed since I arrived.”

Erys’ reaction to this revelation was to suddenly hold me at arms-length, seemingly scanning my eyes for any signs of deceit. When he found none, he stumbled backward and actually fell onto one of the large throw pillows, looking faint.

“Are you all right?” I asked, worried.

“Your Eminence, you have given me the honor of having the chosen one’s first kiss. That means the world to me. I am better than I have ever been and likely ever will be.”

That response made me feel a little bashful, and I turned to Seirke to see her reaction to the situation. She was smiling warmly at me.

Finally, more and more people began flooding into the room. Rose seemed to give up on the prospect of introducing all the others, and they were doing it themselves anyway, not that it would have made it much easier to remember. I just hoped I wasn’t going to be quizzed on the subject, I was really bad with names in general.

Eventually I was guided over to one of the sofas in the room, and I sat down. Taking positions on either side of me were Seirke and Erys. I wasn’t sure if this was intentional, but I appreciated it nonetheless. I felt like if I had to deal with busty and beautiful priestesses coming at me excitedly from every direction at once I might have fainted. This way there was only one angle of approach but approach they did. Most of them excitedly introduced themselves, but a few of them did what Rose had done, taking my hand and pressing it into their bosoms. I marveled at each one’s softness.

Finally, it came time for the other keepers to make themselves known. There were seven in total, Rose, Abigail, Henna, Ama, Luria, Sori, and Velanthe. This final keeper to introduce herself stood out to me for multiple reasons.

Firstly, the woman was not a human. Though she appeared mostly human, she was taller than the other women and taller than me by a few inches, and had long, slender limbs. Every movement she made was graceful and the very picture of elegance. Her hair was long and light brown, done into a ponytail that reached her butt, and her ears were long and pointed at their ends.

“You’re an elf,” I said, unable to hide the wonder in my voice. She was an actual elf.

“Oh, are there elves in your world?” Velanthe asked, curiously as she slowly knelt down in front of me.

“Well, no, but we have stories about them,” I replied, “I never thought I’d see a real one, though.”

She smiled and then leaned forward. Before I could question what she was doing, she planted a soft kiss on the tip of my cock, which was already hard from having groped so many breasts and having seen so many skimpy outfits. I was confused for but a moment until I remembered that Seirke had warned me about such an occurrence.

“It is the greatest honor to have finally met you, Your Eminence. Welcome to our Temple of the Hallowed Form,” she said, placing another soft kiss. She suddenly looked quite wistful, as though she knew that courtesy demanded that she was finished with this gesture, but she wanted to continue.

Frankly, I was in a similar boat. Although all of this was done in the name of courtesy and introduction in a clearly inherently sexual religion, it was driving me crazy because it felt like teasing. On the other hand, I remembered what Seirke had told me about the willingness of everyone here. All I need do was ask, and clearly Velanthe wanted me to ask.

“You know,” I began, a little shakily but still trying to be smooth, “I’m not sure our introduction has gotten off on the right foot. Maybe you should keep um, introducing yourself.” In case the innuendo might have been lost on her, I followed up with a not-so-subtle wink.

It seemed that this woman was the very image of composure, which was likely in large part responsible for her being a keeper of a sacred temple. So, me essentially granting her permission to continue kissing my cock had no visible effect on her, aside from a slight sparkle in her eye that told me she was enormously happy.

She continued to kiss the tip of my cock, over and over again with soft and loving smooches. It felt wonderful, and my rod was twitching wildly from it.

“Your Eminence is quite well-endowed,” Velanthe said before placing another kiss, “it is growing difficult to hold myself back.”

“Your composure is admirable. But I feel this introduction still isn’t quite going right. Maybe something a bit more in-depth is necessary.”

She looked up at me with eyes that seemed to be thanking me this time as she opened her lips and allowed my tip to slide between them.

“Lucky elf,” one of the other priestesses said.

“I wanted to be the first to taste it,” another moaned.

“You’d be out of luck then, I’m afraid,” Seirke responded, “I had that honor in the bath.”

Velanthe responded to none of this, now gently bobbing her head along my length, occasionally letting out very quiet moans that I couldn’t actually hear but I could feel their resulting vibrations throughout my shaft.

“No fair! You weren’t even one of the ones who had a vision of his coming!” one of the priestesses cried.

Velanthe did respond to this, removing her head only briefly, “I was, and I am happy to hold this honor even if I wasn’t the first.” She then slowly plunged back down. Her entire pace was slow and deliberate, as though she wanted to savor the feeling of having my cock in her mouth.

“I also had the vision,” Erys said, beside me, “and I was blessed with the first kiss.” After saying this he smiled teasingly at the others.

The others pouted.

“And it was so wonderful,” Erys giggled and leaned against me, rubbing his cheek against my shoulder endearingly.

“I wonder if some of the taste is still there,” one of the priestesses said, and then suddenly moved toward the fem, prying him away from me and planting her lips on his.

“Oh my,” I said, looking over at the scene. Despite Erys being male, because of his distinctly feminine features the scene was extremely sapphic and aided my arousal, making my rod twitch a few more times.

For his part, Erys did not struggle against this gesture, returning the kiss passionately and aggressively, I noted. He even reached up to squeeze the woman’s breast in his hand.

“No fair, me too!” another priestess cried, moving over beside the other and prying Erys from her. This new one did the same as the first, planting her lips firmly on the fem’s. And it did not stop there, a few other women began crowding around Erys and they all took turns making out with him, swarming him with **** affection. All the while he began to bellow increasingly womanly moans that eventually led to another climax, soiling his panties even more than they had originally been.

“I apologize for their behavior, Your Eminence, they are acting like spoiled children,” Rose said in a huff, and I found the image of this incredibly young-looking woman acting as though she she were an old grandmother fairly humorous.

“No need, the view is both entertaining and arousing.”

Velanthe was growing bolder, and her movements were becoming more intense. I noticed her hips twitch in an increasingly familiar way, but her moans were still low and almost inaudible over the commotion next to me. Especially given that it seemed Erys had ejaculated a second time in the interim. All the while Serike was watching the scene, smiling, and occasionally giggling.

“It is quite the show, isn’t it Your Eminence?” Seirke asked.

“Yes, but I am concerned, will he be all right?”

“As we are both seekers, I know Erys quite well, and I can say with certainty that he is extremely happy right now.”

Speaking of happiness, I was getting pretty close to ejaculation myself, as Velanthe was hungrily slurping and sucking, practically begging me with her lips and tongue for what she perceived to be my holy cream. I was more than willing to grant her desires and wouldn’t have had much choice anyway. My tip felt like it exploded with semen, quickly filling her mouth. Her eyes shot wide open briefly, but she pulled herself backward so only the tip was between her lips and sucked as hard as she could to draw it all out. Instead of doing what Seirke had done and let the substance fill her up completely, she began swallowing the stuff almost immediately, and I noticed the twitching of her hips yet again as she did so. Her moans were louder now, and the vibrations only intensified my climax, drawing out even more of my spunk for her drinking pleasure.

Finally, she removed herself from my tip, gasping and panting for air. Some of my cum had leaked out of her mouth and was dribbling down her chin, and furthermore I had a few more spurts to give her. One rope of cum dashed on her face from her cheek to her forehead, a second went partially on her chin and into her mouth, and the last squirt went entirely into her open and panting mouth, but she did not swallow just yet, still apparently needing to catch her breath.

“Your Eminence’s nectar is so delicious,” she said, hazily and slurring her words slightly.

This was perhaps the wrong thing to have said, because one of the priestesses who had been kissing Erys now turned her attention on Velanthe, leaning down to lick and kiss the elf’s face to taste it. When their lips locked, they began snowballing what was left of my spunk between them in a display that was deeply satisfying to me. In that moment I had the realization that I deeply enjoyed what this world had to offer so far and was excited for what it had in store next.

After the oral orgy in the main chamber, I was taken on a tour through the rest of the temple. It was quite large, it had its own kitchen, dining hall, and even a berry orchard outside. As I made my way from place to place, I learned a few things, primarily about the differently colored stoles.

Evidently, white stoles signified an initiate who had not yet been anointed into the priesthood. A blue stole signified an archivist who maintained a modest library full of books and ancient scrolls. There were a number who bore green stoles who were called tenders who took care of the orchards and managed the kitchens. There was one who bore a black stole called a sender, her job was essentially a mortician, tending to graves, preparing bodies for burials, and sending off the dead. Finally, there were those who bore golden stoles, but I did not learn their purpose, only their title which was giver.

The rest of the day was a flurry of socializing and grabbing breasts. These instances were almost always invited. Although Seirke had told me in no uncertain terms that I could have my way with anyone I pleased here, it still wasn’t in my nature to do so unless invited. Perhaps that would be something that would change in time, but for now it was quite the growing pain for a shy person like me. Luckily, those that desperately wanted me to do it were generally the first to offer it.

I was quite surprised to find it easy to socialize with these people. They were kind, good-humored, saucy, and quite forward. As an introvert, I always had trouble initiating conversation with people, but I had no need for that here. Nearly everyone was coming and talking to me of their own volition, and I found that my experience in the fast-food job was very helpful here.

One of the few good things that came from a job like that was the ability to make small talk. Every now and again I’d get a customer that would make idle chit-chat, typically when waiting for their order. I very quickly learned to do this without expending much of my social energy, and that ability was extremely useful here. I mostly just needed to listen. I was surprised that almost none of them seemed at all interested in the world I came from, and that was good because I wasn’t sure just how much about my own world I should have been explaining to them.

Eventually, when the sun was beginning to set, a bell was rung at the temple signifying the coming of evening. It was around then that I was brought to the dining hall and made to sit at the table. A feast had been prepared for me, and all the priestesses, who numbered about two dozen in total with about six or so initiates, were seated with me in the hall. There were three long tables and I was sat in the center one at the head of the table with Seirke at my side. Also joining at my table were the keepers and the tenders. The rest of the priestesses occupied one of the other tables while the initiates were sat at the final of the three tables with room to spare.

The banquet they had prepared for me was interesting, vibrant, colorful, and not to mention appetizing. I found that there were many kinds of fruit in this world that were not present in my world. I saw violet apples, bunches of grapes that had a bright orange color, berries that were of every color of the rainbow, melons that looked like watermelons except their rinds were two different shades of light blue, and many other strange combinations. In addition to these fruits the feast also consisted of freshly-baked bread, various cheeses, and cups full of what looked like milk.

“Everything looks amazing,” I said, feeling as though compliments were in order.

“Thank you kindly, Your Eminence!” one of the tenders exclaimed happily, “We sincerely hope it will taste as good as it looks.”

“Now I don’t wish to sound like I’m complaining, as I’m not too crazy about it anyway, but I don’t see any meat present.”

A few of those present looked to the elven seeker, Velanthe, after hearing what I said, but it was Rose who responded, “As a show of solidarity to the elven commune to the east of here, we do not eat meat in Anvar.”

Velanthe then explained further, “Though it is not a steadfast rule among all elves across Teranos, it is the case in the Anvar commune at the very least. We do not eat meat because we believe that Erynessa bears love in her heart for all creatures, not just the bipedal ones. We will only resort to eating meat if we have no other choice.”

I nodded, “I see, interesting.”

“As a brief aside, Your Eminence, I would like to make a request of you,” Velanthe said.

“Sure.”

“I believe it would mean a lot to the elves of the commune for you to go and see them. They are not far from here, if you left tomorrow morning you could be back here by the time the evening bell rings. I am not a member of the commune any longer, but I do still care for my kin.”

I briefly looked at Seirke to confirm if this was a good idea, and she was only smiling back. I took this to mean all was well. “I’d be happy to.”

Suddenly a low growling noise permeated the silence of the dining hall, its origins were none other than my own gut. Once the sound was identified, the hall erupted with laughter.

“His Eminence has spoken!” Erys shouted, “Let’s dig in!”

Though the variety and exotic appearances of the food provided were certainly grand, nothing could compare to the taste. Everything was delicious and strange in wonderful ways. The aforementioned watermelons with the blue rinds had a hint of blueberry flavor that complimented the normal taste of the watermelon quite well. The orange grapes tasted like a hybrid of a normal green grape and a tangerine. Thankfully, if I got overwhelmed by the strange flavor-combinations, the bread that was baked was pretty normal but also delicious and fluffy. Using it to sponge up some of the juices left over from the fruit was also quite nice.

Finally, I took a sip of the milk and found it to be the most delicious milk I had ever tasted. There was a subtle creamy sweetness that I had never experienced before in milk. After the first sip I practically guzzled down the rest, **** for more of its flavor.

“Wow, I must say,” I began after setting down the carved wooden goblet I had been provided, “all of this food is delicious, but this milk is particularly fantastic.”

“Thank you, Your Eminence!” a number of people replied, though I wasn’t strictly paying attention to who. It seemed to be the tenders but some others from a different table responded as well. Perhaps some others helped in the kitchen for this feast.

“Perhaps you’d like a refill on your drink?” Seirke asked.

“Yes, that would be wonderful.”

Seirke nodded and turned to one of the other two tables. “Kana, His Eminence would like more milk. Would you mind refilling his cup?”

Without hesitation one of the priestesses stood up and began walking over to our table. A golden stole was hung around her shoulders signifying that she was a giver. I then realized that perhaps that was what their job was, to milk the cows. But for some reason she was approaching me empty-handed.

When she arrived, she took my cup and set it down on the corner of the table between myself and Seirke, then she did something that left my eyes wide open. She moved the stole out of the way to reveal one of her large breasts and then began to knead it directly into the cup. As soon as I realized what was happening, a spray of white liquid came from the teat, spilling into the cup and eliciting a moan from the woman.

Now I understood what their job’s name meant. Giver. As in, giver-of-milk. There were no cows, the milk was from their own breasts. My initial reflex was to feel disgusted that I had been drinking human milk, but then, and only then, did I realize how silly that reaction was. How strange that the idea of drinking human milk would be more disgusting than drinking milk from a completely different animal like a cow. I suddenly couldn’t understand why I would be so disturbed by the idea of drinking something that was actually intended exclusively for human consumption. By the time the goblet was half-full, she switched breasts, kneading the other one and squirting out milk into the cup. Her previous nipple dripped a few drops onto the floor.

Perhaps the confusion was visible on my face, because Seirke asked, “You look as though you’re watching something unusual. Does this not happen in your world?”

“Uh, I wouldn’t say most people drink human breastmilk, no. We normally drink milk from cows or goats. Our babies drink breast milk but it’s not something adults do.”

Suddenly, Kana looked at me worried and stopped her milking, “Is this not okay, Your Eminence?”

I hesitated, mainly because my brain was trying to land somewhere on this issue, similarly to when I kissed Erys. Having worked through the logic, though, I wasn’t sure there was any good reason not to be okay with this, and the end result was incredibly delicious.

“Please, continue,” I said at last and she did.

By the time she had finished, she gave me a bow and returned to her table.

Seirke then explained, “Many of the women in Teranos lactate naturally even before they have children. If one such woman joins the priesthood and becomes a giver, their breastmilk is blessed by Erynessa. Its tasty, refreshing, and it takes far longer to spoil. Even the cheese you’ve eaten is made from the givers’ milk.”

Velanthe, who was nearby, added, “Many alchemists also use blessed milk in the creation of healing potions. They can use any kind of milk, but a giver’s milk provides the best results. So, we also send some of it to Anvar’s resident alchemist.”

“That is fascinating,” I said, eyeing the cup and then eyeing a platter of cheese provided for the feast, which I had also found to be creamy and tasty. Wanting to know if this new knowledge had colored my tasting of the fluid, I picked up the goblet and took another sip.

But then I ended up chugging the whole thing again. It seemed my taste buds at least were completely on board.

The rest of the feast was relaxing and enjoyable, and it was finished off with some wine made from the strange orange grapes. It tasted pretty good, though I had never been one for ****. It was clear the wine was celebratory, so I drank it primarily because I figured it would mean a lot to the priestesses.

I learned quite a bit about a few of them mostly by listening to their conversations. Being the introvert that I was, I mainly remained quiet, and so too did Seirke. Still, I was enjoying myself and was growing to like these women quite a bit. I was feeling motivated to do anything I could for them, and I found myself wondering how the elves of the nearby commune would compare.