The Goddess of Death and Her Empress

"You seem appalled." Lena said and yawned delicately.

"We never expected this." Mileta said quietly. Lena grinned.

"I bet you didn't. However, you fail to understand the true natures of the Others." Lena turned to her left chair. "Nadya, lift your breast high." Nadya blushed brightly.

"Empress, so bad." Nadya lifted her large left breast higher, and Lena bent down. She enveloped a large portion of flesh in her mouth and slowly bit through her flesh. Nadya moaned softly, and closed her eyes.

"You always make it feel so good, Empress." Nadya said with a murmur at the end.

"Heal, Nadya. Show her how life is in Haven." The ones there watched as her wound closed, and disappeared in less than ten seconds. Lena smiled at their surprise.

"In Haven," Valina said with a grin. "The Others heal and regenerate as soon as they wish to. There is no death, unless we commit the crime of forcing our sisters. The goddess, and our nature, is pleasure from pain, and pain from pleasure, a perfect mix of both."

"Every Elorshin becomes a Shadow." Lena said. "The Shadows watch over Haven, and enforce the will of the goddess. They are entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring the Others do not disobey that one law. Since pain and pleasure are the same, and the nature of the Others can be quite savage and lustful, Kyrie has made sure that everyone is free to enjoy life. The exception is forced to be the food against their will."

"Has that happened?" Mileta asked.

"Recently." Lena said. "My precious servants, Nuri and Nadya, were demoralized by a group of Others. Because they were submissive in nature, and insecure within themselves, they never asked for help." Lena sighed. "It caused all kinds of problems." She moved to the right and rubbed her cheek on Nuri's face. "My girls were innocent, and felt bad about their bodies. They didn't realize how wonderful they are, so they were subdued by words alone. As soon as they said no, the Shadows moved in and freed them." Her eyes flashed and a glimmer of anger roared to life in her eyes.

"I executed over a dozen of them myself. From now on, there is an additional law within Haven. No one is allowed to become a perpetual meal for their sisters. That is not the nature of the Others. Mutual affection. Mutual lust and savage hunger. My girls are submissive." She said as she calmed herself and lightly petted the ones who held her in their arms. "But they are also quite dominant when their lusts are aroused." Lena rolled her eyes.

"I've totally gotten off topic." She grinned. "I can't help it. My girls are just so precious to me. My Shadows, my pillows, and my servants who care for me are all assigned by the goddess." Lena yawned delicately again.

"Empress, you need some rest. Let Valina help them to understand sacred flesh from the standpoint of someone from Haven." Nuri said gently, and kissed Lena's shoulder. Lena smiled and leaned against her a bit.

"Okay." She said in a small voice. "I am really tired." Nuri and Nadya carried her away, while the Elorshin looked on.

"She's still so young." Mileta said softly.

"Yes, she is, but not at the same time. She is an enigma that even the goddess does not fully understand. She has the power of the goddess, but is still mortal." Valina sighed. "It may be difficult for the Elorshin to adapt, but it is necessary. Offerings won't be every day, or even every week."

"But to eat our dead?" She frowned.

"Not your dead. Sacred flesh. Remember, Vila was consecrated by the oil, seared clean of her sins by the sword, and your affection for her. If she had the cleansings performed on her, she would be taken to the kitchen. Cleansings are rituals that are similar, but no injuries occur." Valina sighed.

"I had mine every month before I was Offered. My sisters ate my flesh when I died too." The Empress didn't realize that sacred flesh was once a practice within the temple, but had been abandoned a few decades before the temple's worship ground to a halt.

"The flesh is prepared, and each portion treated with reverence. It is a gift of our goddess too." Valina giggled a bit. "The Empress is so naughty too. She suggested that the goddess bless the tribe member with a pregnancy if she is the one who consumes her sister's breast." Mileta looked at her in surprise.

"Such a thing is possible?" Yantha, another elder asked.

"The goddess assigns the breeders to the Elorshin. How difficult is it to guarantee a pregnancy to the one who eats sacred flesh?" Valina said. Yantha looked at her fellow elders quietly.

"This is a lot to take in, Shadow Valina. Please forgive us as we have never been showed this side of the Others, or the goddess." Mileta said. "But this is normal in Haven?"

"Stronger sexual lusts are normal. Eating each other for fun, or just taking a bite is normal as pain is pleasure, a gift from the goddess. The sacred flesh is normal for the temple. Births do not occur in Haven. That is something that only happens to mortals, as they need to produce the next generation." Valina smiled.

"In Haven, you do not age, nor do you die."

* * *

"You overwhelmed them, Empress." Nuri said as she moved in as close as she could.

"Necessity." Lena said softly. "The temple has been without worshipers for too long." She yawned and closed her eyes. "My Kyrie sustains the life of her Others, and she does so while enduring her hunger for companionship. She watches over Imera, the Others, and the mortal realm to make sure things continue properly."

"You love her." Nadya said from her other side.

"Yes. Not as I love my servants, or my pillows." She grinned, but her mirth faded. "She is my Other. My Kyrie. She holds Haven in her palm, but who backs her up? Who watches over her when she's lonely? Who shares in her lusts and her hungers? Who soothes her ragged soul that uses pain to incite lusts, so that she doesn't have to feel the emptiness?" Both Nuri and Nadya grew quiet.

"I am her Other, and she is my Kyrie." Her eyes glowed brightly before she closed them. "I can not wait until it's my turn to be devoured by her."