Inferno Ascended

Before descending from the carriage, he heard singing and joyous music. Glax knew he was a few miles from the capital. He got off into an amphitheater on top of a hill, looking in all directions.

The amphitheater circled a temple and a therm. He felt the warmth from the baths, the vapors mixed with colored smoke.

"Oh shit, what did I get myself into…" he grumbled as he saw people dancing like they were at a rave. Some were dressed in short white tunics, but others were completely naked.

There was a large nude statue of the same goddess as before, but she was in a sexual position this time. Making love with her, a male body whose severed head showed he was one of the banished gods. 

Its graphic obscenity bothered Glax a little, who did not share the same cultural memories as the Stygians. The statue under a fountain of… milk? That suggestively ran down the marble.

There was the usual 'barbecue', which Glax noticed was shared by the acolytes and ample amounts of cereal and other foods. He did not doubt that many people there were drugged, considering the way they acted. 

Glax felt a strange sense of déjà vu for the first time in his life here in Stygia.

The Valosian was taken near the altar, which faced a more imposing statue of Cybele. The High Priestess sat by the side of this statue and was surrounded by other women. Around a circle with many torches, he saw some Lotus Eaters, sitting on the ground and looking completely ecstatic.

In the center of the circle, in front of the altar, a woman whose face was covered with a fringed ornament was dancing wildly.

From time to time another woman beat a drum and shouted a strange word, which was greeted with a noise. Glax deduced they were doing divination through the dancing movements of that believer.

When he thought he had seen enough of that, the dancing woman ran through the crowd and came back carrying a man by the hand.

His intuition told him what was going to happen, and he was right.

The woman knelt in front of the man on all fours and swayed obscenely. The man was rubbing himself behind her, with his fingers inside her and masturbating himself furiously.

After a brief time, two priestesses came to jerk off the volunteer and collected his semen in a cup thrown into the milk fountain bathing the loving gods.

Glax wanted the galeon badly but wondered if he would have to take part in an orgy. He looked up at the priestess, who was stoic on her throne.

A second part of the service took place when a group of girls with veils that completely covered them were blessed by the priestess and sprinkled with … milk. 

He knew they were girls and girls because he could at least see their arms and feet. They were then collected in a tent with sheer veils where only women entered. Their silhouettes could be seen, but not who they were and what they were doing.

It seemed the High Priestess was waiting for a certain moment, which finally arrived when an assistant whispered in her ear. The High Priestess then signaled to fetch Glax to the center of the circle.

He took a deep breath, swearing to himself that he wouldn't let that crazy woman mentally dominate him one more time.

She came to him, feline steps, holding a red cup.

"Relax. You said you would even go to hell for what you want… But tonight, you will experience paradise at the hands of Cybele Rhea."

"I expected something a lot more… formal."

"Are you talking about the first part of the rites? Don't overlook the sacred aspect of carnal union for which we are all born. When the body no longer has desires and fears, the mind has no obstacles. And that's why the Pharysians developed mind control. Because we know the pleasures of fear and death and the sacredness of sex."

"Didn't you reverse something there?" He spoke into her ear as the drumming was too loud. She just smiled condescendingly and offered the cup to him.

"What is it?"

"Blood."

He stared at her in disbelief. 

"You can turn your back on Cybele Rhea and me now, Glax. And you'll never get what you want. Will you only do what is convenient for you? Or what is needed? Do you think all that galeon will be given to a spoiled weakling?`` She spoke very slowly.

"No fucking way I'm going to drink this, High Priestess. Your belief is your belief. If the goddess wants to talk to me, she knows where to find me. I don't know much about the Cybele Rhea cult, but you're the one who's making it a fight of wills."

As Priestess Demetria's mouth tightened in a rictus of hatred, a long roar from the bowels of the earth was heard.

The music stopped immediately, and Glax had a bad feeling about it.

"Listen! The goddess is coming!" she screamed.

'Is this literal?' he wondered, as everyone conscious enough dropped to the ground on their knees.

Glax looked at the priestess, who was still standing.

"Are you not Cybele Rhea's most loyal servant?" he looked at the ground, making a sign.

The woman's eyes sparkled. "CORIBANTS! A question was asked. Shall the treasures of the mountains be given to the son of Chronos?"

Glax blinked, but the total change in Demetria's face caught his attention. She crouched down with her legs apart as if giving birth and cupped her breasts as if they were too heavy.

"AHHHH! CAUTION! A SON OF CHRONOS?!" She screamed in a hideous voice. "He who didn't come from my womb is crazy like his father. Don't listen to him, damn you. Damn!"

Glax placed his hand on her gladius, considering how to react. The insane woman screamed so loud it would wake even the God of Sleep. The acolytes began to clap their hands on the ground in a kind of collective delirium.

"SHUT UP, BITCH!"

A voice as loud as that of the High Priestess, but much younger, cut through the trance. Glax turned, recognizing that voice, but not the accent.

It was his sister, at the door of the tent of virgins.

'dafuq!' He unsheathed his sword. What was that crazy woman doing there?

But her sister grabbed a flowered stick that was decorating the entrance to the tent, and came like a lioness to Demetria. The High Priestess had risen, her eyes bulging. And when Lais got close, the older woman raised her hand in a gesture of authority.

Glax saw she was trying to dominate her sister's mind… Was it really her little sister?

"HOW DARES YOU, YOU INSOLENT AND PERVERTED HUMAN?! Enough of your insanity. THOUSAND TIMES CURSED BITCH. THIEF! HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME DOWN?!" The goddess, using the young virgin as her communication channel, began beating the priestess with the stick, ignoring the witch's attempt to subdue her.

"OHHH! You are a scam! Arrest her!" Demetria tried to grab the girl's hair, and Glax felt she should interfere. Whoever was the reason there. 

At that moment, the ground shook and crumbled under his feet.

Glax grabbed his sister and activated his gift of time bending to make the best use of it. He just didn't count that there was nowhere to run. 

The whole hill was crumbling!

As people screamed, cried, clung where they could, the temple and the ground at their feet simply cracked and swallowed everything. Glax leaped from side to side, carrying Lais over one shoulder. But there was no solid ground. And when Glax hesitated just once, they too were engulfed in darkness.

::::::::::::

All the dust made it difficult to breathe, but Glax couldn't imagine that's what happened to people in the ground. They were in a hole, but it was a place big enough to stand upright. The landslide brought them to a cave, apparently.

Glax looked around. His sister was clinging to him like a tick, trembling.

"Are you okay?"

It took her a while to decide that she was. Glax felt a dislocated shoulder and only minor injuries.

"What happened?" she asked. Glax soon deduced that she didn't remember speaking for the Goddess.

"What were you doing here?" he didn't answer right away.

"Do not fight with me. A girl from the palace invited me. She said the priestesses had some good remedies for... colic. She said it was free too."

"Um, I can't believe it. You of all people! Accepting to know a new religion almost got you dead!"

"Don't scold me now! They gave me medicine, but I saw nothing after that. Was it an earthquake? Ah, duh! Nevermind. Get us out of here now, big bro."

"Glad to hear your rude common sense again." He thanked her, relieved to discover it was the Lais he knew.

He only saw a faint source of light on one side, and cautiously moved in that direction, taking his sister by the wrist.

Glax arrived at a larger cave, where a spring bubbled with a pleasant sound. That didn't make any sense. Where were they, really?

"Thank you for being my voice, virgin." The voice he'd heard earlier resonated through the cave.

They looked at the steamy pond.