Akkad Burns

An Ardat-Lili! Amare tried to rise but her limbs failed her and she collapsed to the floor instead. Why did she not see this sooner? She had known unconsciously, it was why she had found herself reading about them. Even now, as she was dying, Silili's presence was affecting her. What horrors was this creature planning?

Silili seemed to sense this as she sat beside Amare's collapsed body, "Oh I intend to bring all manner of horrors upon this city, and every one of them will love it. But do you want to know the truth that scares even me? Lillake does not care about any of it, these plans are all my own. She only cares that I whore myself unendingly, that I have men inside me more often than not. Even now, speaking to you is a torment for me. An Ardat-Lili should be fucking, not playing at intrigue."

Silili sighed, "I have been thinking why this is, what purpose it serves and I have a theory. I thought my body absorbed semen to sustain its unnatural vigor. But do you know what? I think in actuality Lillake receives seed through me and sustains me herself in payment. What she is using that seed for, well, I guess that requires little explanation."

Amare made gurgling noises as her lungs ceased to work. Silili continued on, "A scary thought, but a delightful one also. That blend of excitement and trepidation is what makes being a whore of Lillake so thrilling. I am the truest harlot of all you see. I work not for coin but cum, a much more honest currency if you ask me. Men fuck me and I take their seed as payment." Spreading herself, Silili gently took hold of Amare's head and turned her dying gaze between her legs, "Look Amare, I want you to see the vulva of a true whore before you die, to see what you could have been."

With fading vision, Amare did so, the sight was beautiful to her. Indeed it always had been her preference. Moments before her last breath escaped she felt herself orgasm painfully.

Silili rose and wasted her time on Amare no longer. She may become high priestess but she was Ardat-Lili first and foremost. If her goddess wants semen she shall give it to her.

Silili went to join Ninsar.

High Priestess

"No you fool, bigger, it needs to be bigger." I shouted as I strode through the temple, examining the work being done. As high priestess, I had called for a complete overhaul of the place. One of the first things I demanded was the removal of all the statues of Inanna, to be replaced with statues of strange and lewd creatures, creatures similar to those from my vision in that cave. I pointed at the statues' sculpted erections, "I want my whores to go weak at the knees every time they see them, to know they'll feel it when they impale themselves upon them. How are those meant to inspire them to harlotry? Begin again."

The sculptors would have grumbled were they not so entranced by me, they begged forgiveness and promised to begin at once. "And shape the pillars into phalluses too, make it clear what my mindless whores are really worshipping here." As I walked away Aya caught up with me, I kissed her, setting her wet with need again, "Oh Aya, have you heard the news? The city of Uruk has employed my latest rule."

Aya, aroused from being so near me, beamed, "Which one?"

"The holy coin." It had been one of my first changes. No longer were the priestesses measured by the wealth brought in but by the amount of devotees they had climaxed. As such they were no longer to accept any more than a single coin for their services, each coin representing a devotee tended to. I then had extended it further, at least once in their lifetime all the women in the city had to sell themselves thus, accepting whomever presented them with payment first. The temple at Uruk had followed suit. They thought it the will of Inanna, but I could feel Lillake's grip growing tighter.

"I must say there is something thrilling about selling oneself so cheaply. I am not surprised." Aya kissed her again, then her expression darkened, "I am afraid I have come to sour your good mood. One of the priestesses have become pregnant. She says she would rather die than get rid of it."

This dampened my spirits indeed. For some reason since becoming Ardat-Lili the sight of children was abhorrent to me. At first I thought it an emotion instilled in me as a means to prevent me becoming pregnant.. But I was certain now an Ardat-Lili is always barren, I no longer menstruated and thrived solely on harlotry. As an avatar of my goddess, I was in tune with her whims and emotions. As such I can only presume Lillake detests children for some reason and it echoes in me as a result. Why I could not exactly say. "That rule has not changed Aya. No devotee should have to worry a child will be presented to them later. See she is made an example of. Keep the temple open all night too, there shall be no rest tonight, clearly my priestesses need reminding of who they are and what they are for."

Aya nodded, "I shall have the pyre prepared."

******

"Have you no dignity!" the ensi Lugal stormed as I entered, "Must you traipse around naked always?"

I knew when I was shown to his private quarters rather than his throne room that it would be bad. With Amare passed away the ensi had not forgotten me and had eagerly pulled the strings to proclaim me the new high priestess. Considering the influence I had gained it was not a difficult task. I soon earned his ire, however, when I refused to attend his bedchambers.

They allowed only Aya to join me. I left the other two who accompanied me to playfully entice the guards. I had no doubt they would soon be in the barracks entertaining them. I gave my practiced melodious laughed, "Dignity? No none." I folded my arms, letting them press my breasts together and thrust out a hip.

It had the desired effect, the ensi looked over me hungrily, then went red and pointed at my chest, "Is that a man's seed? You dare come to me sullied so?"

I looked down, sure enough there were white drops there. On the journey to the palace there had been little discussion with Aya, considering how the man I snatched had me by the hair and was busy thrusting his member down my throat. I thought I had swallowed it all, but it seemed some had escaped. Unthinkingly I scooped it off with my middle and index fingers and put it in my mouth. I could not help but moan as it touched my tongue, since my transformation the taste of semen was delightful to me. I felt my thighs grow damp with my arousal.

The ensi's own advisor was present, regarding me with horror, "She's mad."

But Lugal watched me as if transfixed, taking in as much of me as he could, "You need not be a nu-gig anymore." He said uncertainly.

His advisor broke in again, "The people are talking. They say you whore yourself like a lowly kar-kid and that you surround yourself with such." He glared at Aya accusingly, who simply grinned back, "You must behave like the representative of the goddess you now are, not some dreg. If not, well..."

The whole time he spoke I looked only to Lugal, who looked back to me, captivated. I shrugged, time to explain why I had been rejecting his advances, "You may do so, but I would advise against it. The hieros gamos is but two turns of the moon away is it not? The people are starving, dying. The canals are running dry. The farmers refuse to work the lands and the merchants refuse to travel here for fear of the Gutian hordes. You need the gods' favour again. Unlike my predecessor, I shall not disappoint at the appointed time."

Lugal twitched at that and flushed. He obviously still felt the sting for not being able to perform as the god Dumuzi last time. The advisor was furious, "And you think the great ensi threshing a common kar-kid will earn their favour?"

"Yes." I replied calmly, sensing my beloved Lillake taking the reins in my mind and advising me, "If you do as I say."

"What?" Lugal asked before his advisor could retort.

"Simple really, from now until the appointed day you must not indulge in your lusts, be it your hand or harlot. Let your frustration and need build. By the time my legs open to you you will be so mad with lust that you will be threshing me before the priests can give their incantations. Indeed, you will do me so thoroughly the people will be unable to deny that the god is in you that day. After such a performance how can the god's not give you their favour? The rumours will be dispelled once and for all and the famine will end."

Lugal winced, "That is a long wait."

"And pointless." The advisor added, "It takes place in the ziggurat, how would the people know?"

"They will know because it will not take place in the ziggurat, but on it. You must set it up to accommodate us as such. The people shall gather and witness the event."

"You want me to perform in front of the common people, like a kar-kid?" Lugal breathed.

"No, like a deity." I corrected, "The choice is yours, naturally. But if you want a successful ritual, this is what you must do."

The advisor made to speak again, but Lugal waved him to silence. He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath, "Whatever it takes to end this decline. It is going to be a frustrating wait."

Feeling victorious I spread my arms, inviting him to admire me once more, "But a worthwhile one no?"

Silencing his advisor's protests the ensi decided, "Very well, I shall try this. If it fails however, and the people witness me unable to complete the ritual, I shall be sure to have the blame put on you and have you publicly tortured to death."

His threat had no effect on me. Lust and death were ever entwined; I would be called to serve Lillake and the Lilu eternally sooner or later. Instead I bowed and feigned gratitude that he show such trust, promising myself all the while that they would all pay for chaining me so. Once we returned to the litter I drew intimately close to Aya,I would see this stinking prison they call a city turned to ashes and be free of them once and for all.

Hieros Gamos

"This is a bad idea." Kur bemoaned as they marched toward the city.

Karmu shrugged, "Too late now. Besides, I have utter confidence in Silili."

"If she really is an ardat-lili she's as likely to destroy us as well as the city." Kur fretted, "Those creatures ran on lust not logic."

Karmu did not reply, just kept his eyes on the city ahead, wondering what was going on within.

******

"Help me. I cannot take anymore, yet I cannot stop." She was young, only a nu-gig for a year perhaps, and already suffering from being in my presence for too long.

It was something that became evident when I was trapped in the temple for longer periods, having to fulfil my role as high priestess. If women or men stayed near me for an extended period of time they would become insanely sex-crazed to the point of fatality. Even though they gained little pleasure from the act anymore they were driven to copulate unendingly. I could only assume their bodies were trying to become like me whilst their minds fought against it, either way they lacked the necessary flame of potential to do so. This was particularly bad for the nu-gigs who rarely lacked for clients thanks to my aura drawing more people. A handful had already expired.

I hissed and clasped her face in one hand, drawing my own close. They were fools to think they would gain sympathy from me, much less help. To us Ardat-Lili those nu-gigs were lesser things, failures who were unable to appreciate what we ourselves delighted in. Or perhaps a part of us envied them, able to take the onslaught of amorous Lilu we could not be broken like they could. It was an extreme we were not sure we would ever get to experience. "What is the purpose of a nu-gig or even a kar-kid?"

Tears sprang in her eyes, whether from my anger or from my touch making her more desperate I knew not. It was Aya, ever at my side, who answered, "To satisfy their client."

"Indeed." I did not break my gaze from the nu-gig trembling in my unnaturally strong grasp, "You cannot stop because you should not stop. You must thresh and thresh and thresh until you break, what better way to serve your 'goddess' than to harlot yourself to death in her name?" My words, though vicious and mocking, were carefully chosen. Combined with my presence they worked to stoke her further despite being raw from her already considerable efforts. It amused me to see the priestesses turn this way, as it did no doubt my goddess, let them choke and burn on their own suppressed lusts.

The city would do the same soon enough.

It was time for the Hieros Gamos.

I released the nu-gig and Aya hurried her back into the procession. A train of them were to accompany the procession, myself and four of my sisters at the head of it. Normally the king would lead a procession to the temple where the high priestess would open the doors to him and invite him in for the ritual. But after much argument I had convinced them to reverse it, I was to go to him. This was vital to my designs for I needed the city to have eyes upon me. I idly wondered how Eulli was doing out there before her audience of thousands.

It is time.

Excitement builds in me. This is it, what I had been planning for nearly a year was coming to fruition. I turn to face the priestesses gathered behind me, those from my original coven are closest, my most loyal devotees to the harlot goddess. I regard them all, naked and hungry for what is to come. Over the months they had become utterly broken by being near me for so long, their minds consumed with lust and primal need. "You are not going out there to be fucked." I begin, regarding them all disdainfully, "You are going out there to be murdered. You are going out there to surrender yourselves as sacrifices. Every time a phallus violates you, you are being murdered, every time you orgasm you die. Today, my whores, you will be murdered over and over. You will choke on phalluses, be impaled upon them endlessly and drown in an ocean of semen. You will be used over and over until you think your bodies are at their limit, then you shall be used beyond your limit. Let not a single one of your holes be unfilled this day." I could sense their minds, drowning in lust, being spurred by my words. Yes, murder us, they scream, violate us, use us, abuse us.

I can only shake my head at the gasps of eager desperation my words bring. Their minds are broken because none of them are worthy of my goddess. Not one of them had comprehended the deeper meaning of my words, they had no doubt taken it all literally. Of all these wretches is there not one that holds the potential to become like me?

I see Kilili, regarding me. She is silent and sombre, yet her moist thighs betray her own excitement. The look in her eyes show utter comprehension. Yes, there is indeed one that holds the potential. She just has to survive today.

With a curt nod Aya bid the servants open the great temple doors. A blast of hot air, stinking of mortals, blew in. The cheers of countless witnesses deafened us. Many would have quailed at the expectations of so many, but I grew only excited at what was to come. One of the nu-gigs holding a drum began the slow beat and we moved forward, stepping in time to its slow rhythm. The ensi's army held the audience back, giving us a clear route to the palace. I had argued for it to take place there on the grounds of its balcony being perfect for all to see the ritual. It had been reconstructed specially into a dais for this day. Purposely we all slowly made our way there, basking in the cheers of the crowd.

The pace was slow purposely. As always myself, my sisters and even the nu-gigs in my procession were unclothed, the concept of wearing clothing now unthinkable to us. I wanted the crowds to see us so, to desire us, imagine doing things to us. I felt my lust grow as I saw the hundreds of eyes roaming me. I could tell the sight us together were already taking an effect. So potent were their gazes I could almost see their depraved fantasies already, how the women wanted to be like us and the men in us. My body burned unbearably with the need to be used by them.

I cast Eulli a brief smile as we passed her beautifully constructed podium. I had arranged it so that she could sing her 'Eleven Verses to Lillake' this day, to further excite the crowds. I caught some of the tenth verse as I passed her then, the words stirring me yet more. The songs of Inanna were sometimes explicit, but Eulli's hymns were outright debased. Had anyone else sung them they would have been dragged off and killed, but Eulli's wonderful voice combined with her abilities as one of us meant she held her audience spell-bound. None even questioned that she sang to Lillake rather than Inanna. They all watched her, enraptured, drinking in her naked splendour. I grudgingly tore my gaze from her and kept on.

As we drew near the dais where I was to be ritually threshed the nu-gigs and even my own sisters were beginning to suffer. The nu-gigs were busy waging a war against their own bodies, trying to temper the lusts that slowly consumed them. It must have been worse for my sisters, they no doubt sensed all the erect phalluses out there, demanding to be in them. I cast a glance back and saw how they twitched vaguely, trying to restrain from casting themselves into the crowds. At least I had the ritual to look forward to, they would have to wait at the base until it was done.

They held themselves in check admirably. The procession halted at the base of the dais but the drum continued, I left them and made my way up the dais. There a gaggle of priests and the ensi Lugal awaited me. The ensi clearly followed my instructions, for it was more than the heat that caused him to sweat. His eyes took me in hungrily, desperately. I sensed my goddess in my mind and envisioned her smile at what she saw. I called to her, willing her to invoke herself in me fully for this ritual. I kept calling to her in my mind as I lay back on the altar and opened my legs to Lugal, who was swift to remove his own garments, revealing his appealing erection.

What followed should have been a lengthy ritual. I would sing as the incarnation of Inanna and the ensi as the incarnation of the god Dumuzi. But as the priests began their own chant, I sensed Lillake in my mind rising from her throne and taking over me. It was unpleasant, like dying perhaps, but I knew better than to fight against it despite my urge to do so. I felt my spirit become wrenched and put to one side as Lillake took over.

I never expected her to deign my body with her presence so fully. I thought I would be lost in the inferno that is her, a spark in the bonfire of her being. I thought I knew what it was to be so filled with lust but compared to Hers I was no better than the nu-gigs. It was wondrous!

I had been prepared to follow on hollowly with the hymns and verses. But I felt my mouth and voice rise involuntarily with Lillake's words, my voice filled with a sovereignty I never knew I had, "Your sister prostitutes herself to my children beautifully Lugal-Melem, just as she did to you. Do me like the cheapest Kar-Kid and I will see you get to use her again eternally."

I did not understand the words my mouth had said but it affected Lugal. Something snapped in him, he turned from desperate to beastly in an instant. With a bestial howl he threw himself on me and began threshing me savagely. In the corner of my mind I still occupied I gasped with pleasure, but Lillake simply laughed, goading him to thrust harder and faster. The priests tried to stop him but none dared touch or manhandle the ensi, their cries fell on deaf ears.

I, on the other hand, heard the cheers of the crowd. They did not realise this was not how it was supposed to go, to them this was the hieros gamos being successfully played out. More than that, though, Lugal and I were to be the spark to the kindling that is the people. Eulli's hymns, the sight of the naked and crazed nu-gigs, the aphrodisiac that is an Ardat-Lili's very presence combined with seeing their ensi hammering into me so mercilessly was all helping to open the things they kept locked in their minds. The darkest parts of them would rise to the surface this day and play out in celebration and honour of Lillake.