Through the portal to Atla Eden.

“The portal is ready when you are, Ren,” Joy said from beside me.

It was the dawn of the next day, we had spent all night cuddling and “massaging” one another until sleep inevitably took us. I had briefly wondered what dreaming would be like in this new world, but was slightly disappointed to find that I hadn’t had one. At least, not one that I could remember. Somehow, the normalcy of that fact only cemented the idea of this new world, Atla Fantasia, was my reality now; even my subconscious seemed to be on board.

Now we were standing inside another one of those circles of marble columns, overrun by vines. But instead of a fountain, at the center of this one was a large marble ring with various runes chiseled into it.

“How do we activate it?” I asked.

Joy looked at me, “Only a priestess of Syradis can do it, but that describes you pretty comfortably. It’s the same idea as yesterday with the Sanctuary. Just try to command it, it will obey.”

I frowned a little doubtfully, but then concentrated and tried to put myself in the same mindset as the prior day. Once again, I felt pleasure surge through my body, but I let it run its course. I felt an erection tenting my dress but tried to ignore it. I felt the presence of the portal within my mind, it had a will of its own, albeit mechanical and binary. “Open” and “close” were all it knew and all it understood, so I focused all of my determination on the option I needed.

Open, the word rang through my mind, and I could tell that the portal heard it.

Open, the portal agreed.

Suddenly, a flash of light came from the center of the ring, and a crackling noise erupted like a thunderbolt. In the span of a split second, the runes had begun to glow a neon red, and the center of the ring looked like the surface of a shimmering pool of crimson liquid.

Speaking of liquid, I glanced down to find that I had thankfully not ejaculated this time, it seemed activating this thing was a much less complicated use of magic, either that or I was already getting used to it.

As we came closer, I could see that the ring showed a scene that was altogether different from our current location. It looked like a busy, bustling street. There was even a few common folk gawking at the portal much like I was right now. It was a real-life portal, cool.

Well, time to get this adventure started in earnest. I nodded to Joy, took a deep breath, and got ready to cross the threshold. As I approached, I felt my hair stand on end, as though the air around me was statically charged. I was prepared for an extremely strange feeling once I stepped through, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought; it just felt like passing through an impossibly thin curtain of water.

And then I was on the other side. The gawking townsfolk were now gawking at Joy and me, muttering amongst themselves. They looked wary at first, but when they noticed the various heart-shaped accessories I was wearing, they seemed to relax a little.

In the meantime, I was doing some gawking of my own, looking around at the place we ended up in and smiling at the scene. It was a cute town with little white buildings that had timber frames and red-tiled roofs.

The streets were paved with stone bricks, and it seemed we were in the very heart of a marketplace. There were stalls with a plentiful rainbow of delicious-looking fruits, succulent-looking meats, fluffy and wonderful-smelling bread, and a whole variety of different villagers perusing under the morning sun.

By now, most of the townsfolk had stopped staring at us and continued with their daily routines.

“Here we are, the Eden,” Joy announced. “You should close the portal, Your Radiance.”

“Oh, right,” I said, but felt my cheeks redden. I glanced down at my nethers and then panned my view across the moderate crowd. It was one thing risking a sudden ejaculation when Joy was the only witness, another thing entirely to do so in such a public place.

Joy leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “It’s all right, Your Radiance, if anyone even thinks anything rude I’ll beat them to a pulp.”

I shuffled nervously in place and nodded. I still had stage-fright, but I did feel a little better about it now. Once again, I put myself into that strange, dream-like trance and found the robotic consciousness of the portal.

Close, I commanded the portal.

Close, it agreed.

With a flash of red light, the crimson pool inside the marble ring vanished completely, and the runes lining the structure no longer had their neon red glow.

I wasn’t so lucky this time in the arousal department, though. The familiar electric feeling surged through my body, and I looked over at Joy with a panicked and **** expression.

Without a word, she surprised me by kneeling down on the ground in front of me. I had an idea of what she was about to do, but it was so fast and I was so lost in the throes of pleasure that I couldn’t meaningfully object. She didn’t even bother pushing aside the strip of cloth that hung in front of my length. She just wrapped her lips around my tip, keeping the silken cloth there as a thin barrier separating my penis from the inside of her mouth.

The cloth was far too thin to catch any of my sperm, however, which began shooting through the fabric and into her mouth. She didn’t seem to mind, though, she began swallowing each mouthful dutifully and lovingly, the latter of which was evident in the look she was giving me while she swallowed everything that emerged from within.

As per usual, my ejaculation lasted for quite some time, and partway through, my senses began bubbling back to the surface of my mind. I was in public. There were people watching. But before I could panic about this fact, a sound erupted around me that knocked me into another state of shock.

Applause. The townsfolk around me were clapping, cheering, and whistling in approval.

“Glory to the Priestess!” one of them shouted and then a few others in the crowd repeated the call. This reaction did something to me. A warmth surged up within me, like the crowd’s affirmations and cheers were pushing me up into the air and letting me soar into the clouds. I wanted this. I needed this.

I was still embarrassed, but the shame of doing something so intimate in front of so many people was fading.

Once my climax had finished, Joy stood up, licking her lips. “Thank you for your gracious blessing, Your Radiance,” she said.

“Thank you for receiving it,” I said, bashfully shifting my weight between my legs.

“Glory to the Priestess! Blessings be upon us!” someone in the crowd called and once again, it was repeated by several others. Then a wave of cheers erupted yet again. It was in this moment that I noticed the distinctly feminine quality to the voices in the crowd. Only then did I realize everyone in the crowd was female.

Suddenly, the sound of a brass horn erupted in the back of the crowd, and it quickly quieted everyone present. The sea of townsfolk parted to reveal a well-dressed noblewoman accompanied by a shorter girl who held a small trumpet at her side.

“What is this commotion?” the noblewoman asked, “I heard the cheering from a block away.” She stepped forward, saw me, saw Joy, gave both our outfits cursory looks, then returned her gaze to me wide-eyed. “My goodness, are you a Harem Priestess?”

I hesitated, but only because I was stunned by the noblewoman’s beauty. Also, it was kind of my first real moment truly adopting my new role in conversation, it was a little like roleplaying for the first time.

Luckily, Joy stepped forward and answered on my behalf. “Aye, this is Ren of Roell, Harem Priestess chosen by Syradis. And I am Lady Joy of Riverhold, honor-bound protector of Her Radiance, and the first of her holy harem.”

“My goodness!” the noblewoman exclaimed, reaching up and fixing her copper hair which was woven into an intricately ornamented top-bun, then reaching down to adjust her corseted dress seemingly to make her cleavage stand out more prominently. “I am honored to meet you, Your Radiance. I was not expecting your visit, please feel free to make yourselves at home here.”

“N-nice to meet you,” I said, finally getting over my nervousness. “What shall we call you?”

“Oh! Goodness, where are my manners?” the noblewoman laughed. It was comforting to see that she was seemingly just as nervous as me. “I am Rivis Antilly Penwood, Duchess of Edenvale—the southern lands of Atla Eden.” Quite the pedigree, it seemed. “This is my paige, Luna Gwenright.”

The servant gave a curtsy. “An honor to meet you, Your Radiance.” Luna was dressed a bit less femininely than the duchess in a pair of tight leggings, embroidered maroon tunic, and a feather cap; but I found her just as attractive as her mistress.

“I must apologize for my lack of preparedness,” the Duchess Penwood said. “Had I known you would be arriving I would have provided a grand celebration and feast in your honor.”

“That wouldn’t be necessary,” Joy waved a hand, dismissively. “We don’t anticipate staying very long, in any case.”

“Ah, of course, you have an official duty to perform! How could I forget?” the Duchess laughed, nervously and snapped her fingers in the general direction of her paige.

Without even a heartbeat of delay, Luna whipped a folding fan out of her pocket, opened it, and began vigorously fanning her mistress. I found this little interaction between them oddly cute.

“Well, is there anything at all I can do for you in the meantime?” the Duchess asked.

“Your hospitality will be more than enough,” Joy smiled. “If you’ll just direct us to the local temple of Syradis, we will be able to tend to ourselves.”

A nervous look suddenly crossed the Duchess’ face, and Luna began to fan her more rapidly, but it was quickly replaced by a warm smile. “O-of course! I have some important business to attend to, naturally, but I would be happy to lend you Luna as a guide.”

“That would be greatly appreciated,” I said. I took note of the Duchess’ reaction, but decided against bringing it up for the time being. It didn’t seem like a wise idea to accost her in a public place like this.

“Very good, Luna, please meet me back at the manor when you’ve finished.”

“With haste, my lady,” Luna said, then she looked at the Duchess with hopeful eyes. “Would your grace gift me with a parting kiss?”

My heart melted instantaneously, especially since Luna had appeared very stoic and proper until this moment.

The Duchess glanced at us, seemingly to gage our reactions. I must have visibly emoted my reaction to the request, because she relaxed greatly when she saw mine. “Of course,” Duchess Penwood said, leaned in, and gently pressed her lips against Luna’s.

The spent a remarkably long time exchanging a tender and restrained—yet deeply passionate—kiss. I was happy to watch this exchange, not just because it was hot, but also because on the surface I realized I liked these two as a couple. The idea that they might be in a relationship as master and servant was very appealing to me. But watching it made me feel the urge to express my own feelings, so I silently grabbed Joy’s hand and she squeezed it.

When I glanced at her reaction, it was much different than I imagined mine to be. She was grinning, open-mouthed, and drooling a little while panting like a lecher. I couldn’t help but giggle a little at how goofy it looked. A proper pervert to the end, it seemed.

When it came time for the kiss to end, the Duchess, now blushing and even panting a little, said, “Very well, hurry back when you’re finished, Luna. I’ll have some… urgent matters to discuss with you.”

“Yes, your grace,” Luna curtsied, and the Duchess turned and walked away after giving her own parting curtsy to us. Afterward, Luna began walking in another direction, gesturing for us to follow. As we walked, she said, “I apologize for the improper display of affection.”

If that was improper, then what Joy and I just did in the plaza was downright morally reprehensible.

Joy replied, “There’s no need to apologize for performing such a sacred act in the eyes of Syradis.” It was a good thing I hadn’t voiced my own thoughts on the matter; Joy’s point was much better, even if I had the sneaking suspicion that she was only justifying the fact that she enjoyed the blatantly romantic display.

“Ah, of course,” Luna nodded. After a few moments, we had entered a long alleyway that was largely empty. Luna frowned and said, “As it is your destination, I feel inclined to warn you about our temple to Syradis.”

“Warn us?” I asked. “Is something wrong with it?”

“Not with the temple per se,” Luna wiped sweat off her brow with her sleeve. “It’s just that it’s currently… understaffed.”

Joy turned to her, “Understaffed? Did something happen?” Seemingly as a reflex, Joy placed a hand on the hilt of her mace.

“Well, that’s the thing, we aren’t sure. The temple is quite small and it was only ever managed by a single priestess and her daughter. However, the priestess has recently gone missing, leaving her daughter, who is but an initiate, alone to attend to the temple.”

Joy and I shared a look, “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Joy asked. She looked upset.

Luna dipped her head in shame, “Saying so in the middle of the central market might cause a panic. The townsfolk don’t know, we were hoping we could investigate the matter swiftly and discretely. With all that has been happening lately, we didn’t want to rob the people of hope.”

“This is an outrage,” Joy said, practically fuming. “All priestesses of The Divine Heart are like sisters to us.”

Luna’s head was hung in shame at these comments. I placed a hand on Joy’s shoulder, intending to calm her. “Is there anything we can do to help?” I asked.

“If you would help us investigate the matter, the Duchess and I would be indebted to you. Sister Ophelia is well-loved by the community, so even just knowing that she is safe would be enough.”

“What have you found out so far?” Joy asked, her anger subsiding a little.

“Not enough, I’m afraid. She only went missing two days ago, and according to her daughter, she entered the forest to the east of the town, just behind the temple.”

“Have you not sent guards to go find her?”

“We have, but they’ve turned up nothing. It’s too large of an area to canvas, and we don’t have enough guards to do a proper search. We need something to narrow down the location, or at least a general direction to focus on.”

I rubbed my chin, thoughtfully. “We’ll do everything we can,” I assured the paige.

“Indeed, we shall begin as soon as possible once we get ourselves situated in the temple,” Joy agreed.

The rest of the walk was mostly silent, and I looked up into the sky. The plot was thickening, and I was growing curious.

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