The Rules

Ishtar turned to Theo and the girls, smiling outwardly - but behind the smile, she was calculating. She had a lot of monologuing to do, to cover the basic rules, the point systems, and nature of the game, and it was important that everyone understood it. Getting interrupted by angry shouts, violent reactions, and whatever drama they had going on - it might distract from the rules, and generally make everything a bit of a mess.

On the other hand, long recitations of rules were boring to the viewers, and, quite frankly, boring to her. More than that, though, this was Harem Hotel - the resistance and the pushback from the contestants was important to the nature of the show, and the independent choices of the contestants was paramount.

“So, as I told each of you, this show is Harem Hotel, the sexiest reality TV in the multiverse. The premise is quite simple: You six girls are competing to become the queen of Theo’s harem, through weekly challenges, sexual activity, and submission to your new master. These activities earn you Victory Points - or VP for short - and the first to 100 VP wins. In addition to her role as Queen of the Harem, the winner further receives one wish, granted by me.”

As she spoke, Ishtar slowly undid the spell, giving everyone back control of their voice and body. She did it slowly, carefully, so they wouldn’t notice until they tried speaking by reflex.

“Now, in addition to VP -”

“Wait,” Chloe said. She was still blushing from the near-nakedness of her costume, not to mention her admission during her “introduction,” but she was sitting up straight and paying attention to the gold-crowned goddess before her.

“When you say ‘wish’, what do you mean? We can just ask for anything and we’ll get it?”

“That’s right!,” Ishtar replied, smiling brightly. “Anything at all - or nearly anything, at least. Resurrection of the dead, endless wealth, answers to any questions you might wish, magical power, and so on and so forth are all within my grasp. There are a few restrictions, however. You cannot leave the harem, cause anyone else to leave the harem, and any wishes that would change or revert anything that has happened during the show are subject to my veto.”

The girls chewed on that for a moment, and Ishtar let them - give them a chance to see the upsides, to imagine themselves winning and getting their heart’s desire. Let them find a self-serving reason to win, to submit to their new Master. She saw Miriam and Nina glance at Theo. What would they give up for wealth? For fame? For power?

“Now, as I was saying, in addition to VP, there are also Bonus Points. Bonus Points can be spent on several things. They can be used to buy things in the store, upgrade your transformations, buy boons with magical effects - or curses to help you get an edge over your competition.” Her eyes ran over the girls, and her smile changed into a smirk, a challenge. “Not that any of you would do that to your friends, would you?”

“Curses? Upgrade our transformations? What are you talking about? what ‘transformations’?”

This time, it was Anna who spoke up. The fiery redhead stared straight at Ishtar, anger plain on her face.

“Well, my impatient little beauty, I was just getting to that! Each week, each of you will be given a magical transformation, decided by viewer vote,” said Ishtar, speaking lightly, a twinkle in her eyes. “These can be nearly anything, but all are designed to make you better sluts for your new Master. They might transform everything you wear into appropriate clothes for your role, make you enjoy discipline, give you enough tits to serv-”

“Fuck you!,” Anna responded suddenly, cutting the goddess off mid-sentence. “Why the fuck would you do this? Bring us here, put us on this ridiculous show, ‘transform’ us or whatever the FUCK you’re on about!”

Ishtar smiled, sweetly, at Anna.

“Oh, darling, it’s just showbiz. That’s really all there is to it. But maybe you’re just worried about what we’ll do to your pretty little body, hm? Or maybe you’re just acting out to hide how excited you are to be able to get-”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!”

This time it was Theo who spoke, standing, his closed fists by his side. “How dare you?! Not just **** my friends, but berating them and belittling them, and for what?”

He was quaking, shaking with rage as his tirade built steam, but Ishtar was still looking at Anna, ignoring his rant. The other girls looked nervously between the two, between Theo and this imposing goddess before them, and Jessica spoke up, her voice measured, but fearful. “Theo, I don't…”

If Theo heard her, he did not respond.

“For nothing! Weren’t you supposed to be a goddess? Then why are you acting like such a petty little bitch?”

At this, Ishtar finally turned to him, and everyone fell suddenly quiet. Her face showed little more than disapproval, barely even a scowl, but that was enough. As her flashing eyes fell on Theo, he saw in their depths a fury and a fire which put him in mind of burning cities, of the screams and cries of innocents burned on the pyre, of bloody swords against a burning sky.

“I am a goddess Theo. Before your oldest ancestors dragged themselves from the mud, I had built palaces in the vaults of heaven. When humanity first made bricks from clay, they gave thanks to me and my siblings. The great cities of my enemies fell to sword and flame and axe. Heroes and monsters greater than any who yet live in your pathetic civilization vied for my love and were broken by my affection.”

As she spoke, a change seemed to come over the world. The sun grew dimmer, though the sky remained cloudless. In the distance, the girls saw a great shadow rise, beyond the pyramid, a mighty storm racing towards them. Hows could be heard from the desert, far below, howls of wolves and jackals, and with them came the howls of other things, loud and shrill, unlike any animal, but utterly inhuman.

“You do not need to like me. You do not even need to obey me - fight! struggle against my will, if you wish. But I am a goddess, and you will address me with respect. Are we clear, Theo?”

Theo stared at her, frozen, as her eyes bored into his, and the moment seemed to stretch on forever. Finally, reluctantly, he nodded, his mouth too dry to speak.

“Excellent!” replied Ishtar with a smile, and with that, the world changed back. The sun shone just as brightly as it ever had, the faint echoes of the howls faded away, and if the storm had ever been real, it was gone.

“Now, where was I?” she asked, theatrically tilting her head and looking up and away, a moment of performative thoughtfulness. “Oh right, Transformations! As I was saying, each week after the weekly challenge, you’ll each receive a transformation designed to turn you into the perfect little sluts and whores for your master. Each of you will have three available transformations to choose from, based on your life and personality, and the viewers will vote for each of you. However, I have a veto available, to be used if i think it’s in service of the game.”

The girls shuddered at this. What would Ishtar think was in the service of the game? Nina, in particular, was stricken. She stared at the impossibly beautiful host in front of her. “Based on your personality”? What did that mean? She had worked so hard to become who she was, but there were… many parts of her that she preferred to keep hidden. She had divided her life into Work and Play, and the thought of someone forcing her play on her, making her secret little pleasures into a permanent, unchanging part of her, visible to everyone, it -

Well, it should chill her to her core, but what she really felt was a very familiar warmth, and she struggled a little not to squirm.

“Now, there are a few things…” Ishtar said, walking slightly away from the girls. Why did this stupid show have so many rules?

“First is Mastery Points, or MP. These are like VP, but for Theo. He earns them by fucking you girls silly, putting you under with hypnosis, punishing you when you're bad, and generally acting like you're his slaves to enjoy. He can use these to veto your transformations, sometimes even without a replacement - and best of all, he can save you from Elimination!”

“E…elimination?” Joanna asked, her eyes wide, transfixed by the beautiful goddess.

“Of course, a show like this has to have some stakes! It's nothing you need to worry about yet, but if you fall behind and fail to make enough victory points… well, then there's a nasty transformation coming, and we'll get a new girl in. But don't worry, we'll go over all of that before it becomes relevant, it's nothing to worry about for now. ”

There was a glint in her eyes as she spoke, a dangerous, hungry look hidden behind her dazzling showgirl smile.

The smile made Theo shudder, but he was thinking, too. With these “mastery points” he could save his girlfriend and his friends from the worst of this show. He would have a chance to improve things - but to do it, he had to become the man Ishtar wanted him to be. He had to treat these girls like his slaves. Fuck them, hypnotise them, punish them - it was a cunning game. It would be so easy to justify nearly anything to himself with this. He thought of Joanna in her collar, kneeling, wide-eyed, and willing. She would love it. He thought of Nina, more than a year ago, tied up in his bed, begging for more, more, more. Would it be so bad if he gave her everything she had been begging for? She'd thank him. And if he could help the others… wouldn't it be a good thing? And there were the others too. He didn't want to punish Chloe or Jessica or Miriam, but… - if it saved them? If a spanking Chloe's beautiful ass saved her from having her body and mind transformed, wasn't it the right thing to do? He shuddered again, and it had nothing to do with Ishtar's smile.

“Lastly, there's the schedule. Each week, each of you will have one night with your master. On this night, you must stay in the Master Suite and sleep in his bed, but that is all. Other than that, you can do whatever you wish during the week - the entire hotel is yours. Lastly, the 7th day is the day of competition! This is when you compete against your harem sisters for VP, get new transformations, and when we run the popularity poll, the source of your BP. “

She gave each girl a look, slowly moving her eyes across them. Jessica starred back in wonder, Chloe shrank back in her seat, Miriam flinched, Nina looked defiant, Nina shuddered, and Joanna - well, Joanna was looking at Theo. No matter.

“Well, that was a lot of rules to explain, but it's finally time to get on to the fun part! That's right, before we get to the tour of your new homes, it's time for the first round of transformations!“