Niobe and Felix glided over the topmost foliage of the trees, chasing their game. They were riding their bridled pegasi, hunting a herd of white-boars. Niobe’s pegasus was a Double-striped black, while Felix’s was a Brown-white. Roughly twelve miles outside the Ascendancy walls, it was a bold venture into the outlands, even for game hunters.
“Cura, take me!” Niobe screamed in joy over the deafening beating of wings.
“Let us go hunting together in the evening- just the two of us,” she had suggested that morning. “It will be better than a party hunt with a prime watching over us at all times.” Hunting parties, traditionally, comprised eight princeps, two priors, and one prime.
As agreed in the morning, the couple had escaped on their pegasi for the outdoor amusement. It takes a half-hour to fly from the citadel on Mt. Radomir down to the postern Ascendancy walls surrounding Theikos. That evening, they had flown on for another half hour over the woods to the grassy woodland patch, where the white-boars thrived. The creature’s meat, when cooked with veal stock and red wine, made a delectable feast.
At the least, Niobe wanted to hunt. A white-light orb raced ahead of them, lighting the terrain. The two hunters loosened arrows whenever a boar appeared through the foliage. However, Felix had agreed to accompany her on the wanton quest, because he hoped they would finally have sex. They had been steady for some time now. Meanwhile, they had followed all the rules of courtship. According to the appendices of the Bibliotheca, they could engage in consensual intercourse as long as it did not end in impregnation. His Providence, the God-King, Marcus Petromax, had prohibited child-bearing. Violators could have their divinity stripped.
The hunters had already brought down four boars (the most that two full-grown pegasi can carry). Still, Niobe wanted to press on until they slaughtered the entire herd.
“Niobe, my love!!” beseeched Felix. “I think we have braved far enough! We should turn back and claim our game! Our pegasi will tire and collapse if we do not let them rest!”
“You are a divine being, Felix!” she answered. “Learn to act like one!” Then, and playfully, she let go of the harness from her pegasus. She whooped into the wilderness, spreading both her arms wide. Felix looked at the goddess longingly under the starlight. She was a sight for sore eyes- cheerful and beautiful, her golden hair bouncing on the wind behind her. Her chiton tunic pressed against her and rode up her radiant thighs. He could just keep watching her, and they could keep flying forever.
The Double-striped black hit a high protruding branch and veered dangerously to the right, crashing into Felix’s Brown-white. Both creatures nose-dived into the forest.
The accident made a racket, two flying beasts with wingspans over forty feet plummeting from the skies into the wild. Branches splintered, cracked, and snapped as they tumbled towards the ground. Finally, the drop ended, the forest parted, and the hunters found themselves tossed into a clearing, along with their pegasi.
Felix opened his eyes and, for the first time, observed how bright the stars were that night. The Sagittarius constellation embellished the southern sky- a centaur pulling a bow. In the Bibliotheca, the blessed philosopher Appolodorus rejected constellations as gods. Seek not the vaunted verse of the cycle, he wrote, but look within, and you will find all the world is in the image of Aion and Sol. Felix had read the book from cover to cover while preparing to take part in the Labours. What would the progenitor of the gods think of this misadventure?
He saw Niobe lying flat on her back as well, unhurt. The fall was treacherous and would kill a mortal. But they were god and goddess. Felix was a princep, the lowest in the hierarchy of divine beings living on Mt. Radomir. Niobe was a position higher- a prior. Regardless, they had divine protection granted by titans and were immune to injury. If you run a sharp blade against a princep’s arm, the blade would lose its edge. Only those weapons imbued with stronger divinity, or corruption, could remotely scratch a divine being. And therefore, even after suffering a deathly drop from the sky, the two were unscathed. Even their clothes seemed as good as new.
The Double-striped black tried to get on its hooves and instead keeled over on the forelegs. The fall had shattered its ribs. The right wing was missing, separated during the fall. A fifteen-foot-long bough of a pine tree had fallen over its hind. Niobe got to her feet and approached her pegasus. Effortlessly, she lifted the heavy branch one-handed and hurled it into the distance. The creature neighed in mortal pain.
The pegasus is a majestic beast, a sable ride befitting the gods. But there it was, suffering like any other inferior creature.
Mortals, Niobe thought, rolling her eyes.
“Stiletto,” she chanted, and a dagger appeared in her hand. She pulled the creature’s head back and cut a fissure from end to end. Blood gushed out like a stream, forming a shallow pool on the grass.
It was better to put the beast out of its misery than leave it dying. Otherwise, there were vile entities in the dark who would feast on it while it was alive. A dead pegasus wasn’t a palpable loss for them. There were plenty of pegasi on Mt. Radomir, both tamed and wild. The citadel stable alone had over two hundred of the creatures.
Felix’s ride, tangled in the branches, broke loose soon. It hobbled to the dead pegasus and prodded the body with its muzzle, hoping to revive it.
Somehow, the episode of slaughter made Felix bolder than he had ever felt before.
“Niobe of House Elektra, let me make love to you,” he demanded.
The goddess turned to look at him and then at the dagger, blood dripping onto her elbows. She threw the weapon into the air, making it vanish into thin air. She got down on all fours and approached him, giggling childishly.
The spectacle had triggered something in her as well.
“Oh Felix,” she called out and mounted him. Her partner gave her thighs a reassuring squeeze. Niobe unfastened her belt and removed her tunic, exposing her body. A belly chain was the only accessory that remained on her skin.
Niobe was citadel-born, citadel-bred, and had pure divine blood within her. In his mortal life, Felix had worked as a peculiar for a patrician familia in Modo- the innermost city surrounding Mt. Radomir. The Labors, an annual tournament hosted by the Ascendancy, grants divinity to one or more citizens from the three crescent cities. It evaluates aspirants over their wisdom, their athletic prowess, their mastery over elementals, and peculiar abilities. Felix was one of the four champions from last year. Inducted into House Anaximander, he had been granted divinity through consecration and given quarters and equal privileges in the citadel.
Niobe had never seen him as a peculiar. She had her eyes on him during the tournament. At its conclusion, when they elevated him as a god, she had proposed to him. Again, the overture was according to the laws of courtship. The goddess was wild and adventurous. She was everything that Felix ever wanted.
He pulled her by the chin towards him, and they locked lips. They had kissed before, sometimes on the turrets and battlements of the citadel or in their private quarters. One time, they escaped to the plebe city Pago and pleasured each other on a plebe’s terrace. But tonight is special, Felix told himself.
“Why else do you think I invited you to come with me?” she asked, kissing the nape of his neck. “It is favorable time we took a step further, my adorable new god.”
“Viola,” Niobe said aloud.
Soft music started playing in their ears. Strings of the violin and peals of the lute mingled to build a sensual ambiance. The goddess started swaying to the music.
Felix took his time admiring her. The starlight was strong enough to see the flush on her body. The forest was humid, and a layer of moisture hung onto them. Niobe’s skin glistened like honeydew; her lustrous golden hair had a life of its own. The goddess’ naked body was taut, like a metal figurine, but she moved like a young feline. Felix raised his hands and felt her breasts; he cupped and caressed them. They felt supple and warm as if a fire burned in her bosom. Niobe shivered and giggled some more. Her left hand slipped under his tunic and rooted around. Finally, she found what she was looking for and stroked it slowly. Felix closed his eyes and ran his hands down to her slender waist and ample buttocks. One perk of being divine was that the body never faltered. Felix of House Anaximander and Niobe of House Elektra. Two divine beings set to begin their sexual congress. With the forest full of life as the witness.