The passage of time soothes the surprise

Aires sighed quietly and slumped slightly on his throne. In the three months since Sierra's...startling arrival, there had been so much to do to properly establish Othrys that he felt as if he'd barely had time to rest. The numerous girls that formed his harem had helped, but so much required his attention, or Aphrodite's in a pinch. But with his queen gradually feeling more strain from being pregnant with his daughter, he felt obliged to do all he could to ensure she could relax as she pleased. Sierra had proven extremely helpful to that end, staffing the entire Citadel entirely on her own and managing all the mundane tasks as needed. With her as the entirety of his general staff and Evelyn putting her prior experience to use as his secretary, things largely moved smoothly. At least he had the small joy of Evelith being a shapeshifter to get him from day to day. She would often change her body to keep things fresh and enticing for him.

That didn't help the work itself be more interesting, but it was a reward unto itself as he helped his vision become reality. One particularly interesting task was designating districts for Infected of differing inclinations, making sure the individual needs would be aptly met. The largest was the most work, as it was the one that would be set apart for the Pures seeking to make Othrys their home. There was a surprising number looking to move in immediately, though how many of those would want to remain as they were remained to be seen. Coupled with those departing to indulge their viral instincts to spread, there was plenty of space in the differing city districts. Thanks to his own power and the influence of his harem over each of their particular brand of Infected, he was also able to corral them all with relative efficiency.

Some were easier than others. Fantastical creatures of all varieties were given a home in the thick forest that seemed to plant itself in the north-west part of the city. Centaurs, elves, dryads, goblins, and dozens of others made their homes among the trees. A large lake for merfolk and other aquatically inclined was conveniently already there, though Aires did make sure it crossed the boundary between the Fantasy and Pure districts. People could either be careful or accept the consequences of crossing the border.

Similarly, the more animalistic types, from people with subtle animal features to the more fully anthropomorphized, found a place between the forest and Zoe's large drider nest. On the other side was a darker part of the city colonized by demons, monsters, and the more fully corrupted. The east-most district found itself filled with those of classically Olympic body types, standing tall with rippling muscle and strength. Many of the men there were particularly endowed as well, which the hucows just to the south would undoubtedly appreciate if they ever tired of their bulls.

The southern quarter of the city was where Aires had initially gone to capture the female soldiers of Olympus and also where they had ended up once they were reduced to horny bimbos. Unsurprisingly, they took up residence there, making some Himbos to keep them filled, along with Heather and her entourage of futanari. The two groups had separate districts, but after a while the number of bimbos growing dicks necessitated merging part of them into a territory for that union.

Closer to the Citadel were slightly more business focused areas. A massive arena promising to offer all manner of physical outlets for those who would undoubtedly need them. An enforcement district to manage the occupants of the city, particularly those that didn't have a superconscious whispering to them, and to house a **** against external threats. An industry and export area, mainly at Owen's insistence; he promised he'd make good use of it. A corner of it was already taken over by a certain enterprising and constructive bee girl, but the rest was for him to use. Finally was the district Grace had requisitioned for her Order and its priestesses, along with the more generally angelically inclined of the Infected.

Grace had been busy with other things as well, such as constructing the massive and luminous cathedral she had long envisioned. The structure was singular and towering with its single enormous steeple rising over everything else in the city save for the home of the gods it was built to worship. Aires hadn't had the opportunity to give it the examination it deserved, but Grace promised he would enjoy the visit whenever he made it. The fanatical glint in her eye when she had promised that concerned him a little, but not enough to keep him from imagining the things her priestesses would do when confronted with their Titan.

Three other notable buildings had been constructed in the city as well. Othrys Academy was a large facility built in the middle of the Pure district and it would accomplish a couple ends. First, to give extra encouragement for Pure people to move to Othrys and show that the old world wasn't being thrown out in its entirety. Learning was important no matter what. Anyone of any age could receive an education there.

The second was to deal with the inevitable results of people fucking for days on end: children. Aires had already observed in a corner of his mind that anyone underage wasn't affected by the Contagion. Owen said it was something due to cellular age and hormone production, but the end result was that no one under the age of about 18 was affected. That held true for those born of Contagion-infected parents as well. While some possessed inhuman features, like pointed elven ears or dog tails, they were normal children with normal needs for all other intents and purposes. Some of the new parents were fine with that, tending to their new children with as much love as any normal family, just with more sex going on out of the baby's sight. Others had no interest in or weren't capable of taking care of their kids, and so they were sent to the Academy to live and grow until they were of age, at which point Owen hypothesized that either the latent Contagion in their biology would activate and they would become like their parents or it wouldn't and they would have the chance to choose their fate.

The other two buildings were created as addendums to the Citadel itself. The first was an embassy, simple and self explanatory in function. Aires didn't know how often he would have occupants, other than the one persistent envoy from the Alien asshole, but he figured it better to be prepared if any other Alphas appeared he wanted to ally with. And the last was a laboratory for the resident science maniac to do whatever he wanted with, despite Aires' significant hesitations to provide him with it.

Unsurprisingly unhelpful with organization, Owen had instead continued to work on refining his Contagion-conferring products. Overcoming the generally short shelf-life of the Contagion in infected fluids was a task he took to with relish. His mad brilliance was brought to bear and he came up with two valuable assets to the new city.

First, a form of pasteurization that completely eliminated the infectious components of hucow milk. A simple meeting with a distributor or two that had some prior experience with the substance and a taste test of the neutralized milk for a few others ensured sellers were clamoring for as much of the incredibly delicious liquid as they could get. With Othrys as the only reliable source of the product, they had what monetary income they needed. The fact that Infected didn't strictly have any needs other than a good fuck decidedly helped to that end.

Second was what Owen called Viral Vials, little bottles containing a refined amount of liquid designed to confer a certain type of transformation on the drinker, for those who didn't want to risk the infection roulette. His initial experiments resulted in some simple versions: Bust Berry gave bigger tits, Cherry Pop increased dick size, and R-ass-berry induce butt growth, with the promise of more specific types on the way. Holy Honeysuckle, Muscle Melon, Devilish Durian, Coco-nut Milk, Bimb-Orange, Dick Girl Daikon, and Elven Elderberry were all promised to be in the works, with yet more on the way. The naming had all been the mad scientist's ideas, another thing he had taken to with gusto.

In fact, the only part Aires had any influence on was the inclusion of a warning reading, 'THIS PRODUCT CONFERS THE CONTAGION IN MEASURED DOSES TO INDUCE CHANGES OF A SPECIFIC THEME, END RESULTS WILL VARY. TAKING MORE THAN ONE DOSE OR MIXING FLAVORS MAY RESULT IN UNEXPECTED PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ALTERATIONS.' It was one Owen had been perfectly content to leave out until the Titan insisted otherwise. Though he could deal with a few complaints about people unknowingly transforming themselves into ****, depraved versions of themselves, better to take a little action ahead of time to save the headache later. This way when people inevitably fucked up and took multiple or combined bottles, he could say they were warned, dismiss them, and enjoy the results. Not to mention the inevitable copycats that made the same or similar things to much more disastrous ends.

Of course, having a product to produce now meant that workers were required to help make it. Parts of that were easy. Need milk? Get a few hucows and bulls, show the more intelligent ones how to operate the pumps, and leave them to it. Need to make sure that milk was properly treated and relatively safe for Pure human consumption? Better to have someone who wasn't mindlessly trying to guzzle down that milk to do that part. Not to mention the Vials alone required a more delicate touch to manufacture. And with prolonged exposure to Infected areas, much less the Infected themselves, having a corruptive influence on Pures, a recourse was needed.

To that end, Aires, Owen, and an unwilling Naomi had devised a magical counter to the Contagion: a thin, magically-empowered and placed tattoo around a person's forearm that could ward off low levels of the Contagion and would allow them to safely leave the Pure District without risk of accidental infection. Of course, it wasn't foolproof; direct contact with Infected fluids could overcome the enchantment, but for background levels it was enough. And luckily it didn't take too many tries to get right. Besides, the guy and girl that transformed as a result of failed versions of the tattoo were clearly better off. That ass and those pecs spoke for themselves.

Experiments aside, the ward worked and Othrys had a sane workforce. It might be a struggle to keep them that way with how seductive the Contagion was, but it was better than nothing. Working in conjunction with the magically enforced ban on spreading the Contagion in the Pure district, those who wanted to make a life in Othrys and remain Pure would be able to. With the Rose Wall open at any number of points and being patrolled by Aphrodite's dryads, not to mention the Wall itself, those who wanted to get into the city could as long as they didn't mean any harm. Those that did were swiftly caught and detained in the Citadel dungeon until they could be judged and dealt with. Owen usually took care of the latter of those; his experiments always seemed to need more test subjects.

The Titan slumped further on his throne, glad the work was done but not relishing the thought of it. He just hoped it would get better with time. The main amount of work in setting up a city had to be front-loaded, right? "It'd fucking better be," he mumbled to himself, resisting the urge to slump a third time. Too much more and he'd just be laying down, and that didn't seem very kingly.

"Myaster?" He turned his head and saw Vivian standing in one of the doorways that led into the throne room. The ever increasing size of her pregnant belly was always eye catching, though he wasn't sure if he was looking forward to when her kittens were running around the Citadel, probably causing all manner of mischief. Fortunately, he had a bit before he truly ended up a father...

"Yeah, Vivian?"

"A's giving birth."

...or not.

As luck would have it, when your wife was a queen, goddess, Infected, Divine, shapeshifting, magical, sex creature, at least one aspect of that list made giving birth a whole lot easier. He had burst into into their bedroom near the top of the Citadel prepared for something a lot worse than Aphrodite laying back on the bed with an uncomfortable expression and breathing somewhat heavily. It was a sight that didn't match up with his nebulous and rather terrifying of what childbirth was like.

"Oh, good, you're here. Come here and hold my hand, this is really uncomfortable," Aphrodite said, holding out her sweat-slicked palm to him. Entirely out of his element and not ashamed to admit it, Aires sat down next to his wife's head and let her tightly hold his hand, his larger fingers easily covering hers.

"Does it hurt?" was all he could think to say. Aphrodite gave him a look from the corner of her eye and winced again.

"Not quite. I wouldn't say it's fun, but no way nearly as bad as it could be. I had a friend get pregnant young; she said delivery was the worst thing she's ever experienced. This isn't nearly that bad, just really unpleasant. But I can feel her, our daughter. We won't be here for hours, thank goodness."

They weren't. 40 minutes and one obviously pained push later, the king and queen of the new world were looking down on their newborn daughter sleeping soundly against her mother's breast. It didn't feel real to either of them and time passed with just the three of them in the bed in silence.

"When we got paired up for that chemistry class, I didn't think I was going to end up having your baby," Julie eventually said, stroking the warm, pudgy little cheek of the princess in her arms. "Turns out you're quite the charmer, Aiden."

"Like you didn't do your best to seduce me as soon as we met in that field," he retorted, looking down at them both.

"Hmm, maybe I did. In which case, it totally worked."

"Yeah, yeah."

"What do you want to name her?"

"Well, if we want to live up to our namesakes, Eris. Mythological child of Ares and Aphrodite, goddess of love." Julia's barely stifled laughter sounded through the bedchamber, held back just enough to avoid waking the baby. She looked up at Aiden with mirth in her eyes.

"You're thinking of Eros, male god of love. Eris was the goddess of discord and strife, not to mention not related to Aphrodite or Ares in any way."

"Well...hey, they sound similar enough. And maybe Eris is more fitting. With your genetics in her, she's bound to be beyond beautiful. Boys will be clamoring over each other just to talk to her. She's going to be the subject of a thousand crushes and broken hearts." Julie opened her mouth to answer, but the little girl in her arms burbled a little and opened her tiny eyes, revealing purple...orange...aquamarine...pink eyes rapidly shifting through the color spectrum before settling on the last and looking up expectantly.

"Seems she's got a bit of chaos in her too," Julie said quietly, pulling the baby to a dripping nipple and letting her suckle.

"With us as her parents, I'd be more surprised if she didn't have some kind of magical powers."

"That's true. Okay then, Eris. Princess Eris of Othrys," the queen said and the king agreed, the final member of their little royal family present to help them make a new future for the world.

Thanks all for reading, adding a little note here since this chapter gives a pretty broad scope for potential ideas and fun, some of which I will be writing. Feel free to utilize any of the ideas presented in this chapter as inspiration for whatever you might want to write, that's half the reason I put this together. If you've got questions to ask, put them here or in the Discord, server link found at the beginning of the story. As a general FYI, I am looking towards doing a likely decently large section with our new princess once she grows up a bit which should also show how society looks 18 years after a sex supervirus takes over a large chunk of the world, which I think will be a decent amount of fun. That'll come eventually, no promises on when. Until then, happy reading and writing!