Chapter 20: A Glorious Beginning

Time: October 22, 8236 1:27 PM

I jogged the short distance from my office complex to my residential suite, shielding myself along the way from a horizontal rain driven by a fierce west wind. The sky to the northwest was definitely turning brighter though. I decided to start believing the forecast for bright sunshine at Karbala's airport by 4 PM. The delayed flights from the capital would almost certainly be able to land then.

Abigail met me as I walked through the door, giving me a very friendly hug even before I had time to take off my coat.

We kissed for a long moment, Abigail's foot reaching back and kicking the door closed behind us. "You're back early!" she said smiling. Another kiss. "Welcome home, oh glorious one!" she whispered as she licked my ear.

"You're that confident, huh?" I whispered back, continuing the hug and not wanting to let her go. I started massaging the muscles in the small of her back and the top of her butt.

"No, absolute certainty," Abby replied, pressing her hips into mine. "Hmmm... That feels nice."

I thought for a moment. The general announcement wasn't scheduled for release until 5 PM, an hour before evening Prayers. I glanced at my coat. I was still wearing the four-color square of a CL-23, purple and yellow on the bottom and green and blue on top. "So how do you know?" I asked.

"I went back to working the remote archives after lunch."

"Ah. The seventh millennium?"

"Yeah, the mysterious death of Abdul Badi, Servant of the Incomparable. Just before one o'clock, the dropdown menu suddenly started showing I had access to Level-III restricted material." Another lick on my ear. "The new data proved the following Cunif Califar had nothing to do with his predecessor's death. Hah!"

I chuckled, both from being tickled on my ear and by what Abigail was saying. I completed her thought. "But we have to remember that it was the historical staff of Abdul Samad, Servant of the Eternal, who did all that writing."

Abigail chuckled back in reply. "Anyway Ilias, third-level access, Ruling Royal level! Congratulations, oh glorious one!" Another lick on my ear.

"Yeah. I think I'll miss being called gallant. Gallant sounds inspiring. Glorious sounds so," I hesitated for a moment. "Pretentious?"

Abby laughed. "Well, we'll just have to endure it the best we can." More licks on my ear, and after a minute of kissing a teasing head, plunging into the tight space between our hips, tracing the outline of my body below my waist. "So when does the rest of the world find out?"

"This evening, a rare planet-wide holocast during evening Prayers." My hips were urging me to thrust against the hand that was doing such provocative things with my groin. "Jibran himself is flying in for the ceremony."

Thumb and forefinger, probing me, finding the deep base of my penis where it joins with my sac. Abby distracted me with a question. "They don't want to do this at Bandar Arenas?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. No, I guess not. This'll be the first coronation to Ruling Royalty outside of the capital since the third millennium. At least, that's what Jibran said." I panted as I felt Abby begin to work me into an erection from the base of my cock.

Abby was in a playful teasing mood. She kept our conversation going. "Ah, so Jibran is another historian. Perhaps I should begin to like him." Her fingers began to walk up the length of my cock, and my cock in response was urging me to pay attention to what was going on down there. "Still, I'm surprised he's coming."

I blinked my eyes, trying to follow the conversation in spite of the pleasure at my groin. "Huh? Oh! Yeah, Jibran. Well, he has his own political agenda of course, but on balance he has been fair to me. And I'm returning the favor."

The firm grip on my penis stopped for a moment. "Oh? What do you mean?"

The lack of stimulation gave me a moment to catch a deep breath. "As a CL-24, I'm now entitled to be Domine of a township cathedral. Jibran asked me if I would accept Karbala from him and I agreed. It's not just my coronation. We're also doing a Domine transfer ceremony tonight."

"Ah, let me guess. Jibran has his sights set on Aleppo?"

I laughed. "But of course!"

There are about thirty-five more townships than Ruling Royals in the world, so not all townships have a Domine, a Ruling Overseer. Bandar Arenas has the Cunif Califar as its Domine, and the rest of the 120 towns fight for the honor of being selected by the other Ruling Royals. Once selected, the town is theirs until they either die or advance to the next Citizen's Level. In the latter case, the Ruling Royal has the option of switching to one of remaining unselected towns.

The role of Domine varies greatly by the Ruling Royal's temperament. If he wishes, he can live there and be a god within his city. The power is effectively absolute so long as it doesn't make waves at the capital. But becoming a demigod is definitely not the path of advancement. In practice, all Domines live at the capital and treat their sponsored town and cathedral as both an opulent vacation home and as an economic bargaining chip.

Most Ruling Royals ignore the traditional role of Domine entirely and allow the town's Holy Upper Commanders to assume full responsibility for the actual daily governance of the town. Frequently the more mundane civil affairs of resource management are delegated to the Upper Commanders of the township's home Guild.

Miyaz, a powerful CL-28, had died in September, creating an opening in the Supreme Executive Ruling Council and also releasing Aleppo from his patronage. By offering to take Karbala from Jibran now, I was freeing Jibran to jump ahead of any possible Ruling Royal promotions next Judgment and seize the opportunity for the key hub township of the North.

It was a huge favor for me to grant, but it would have created a lot of Ruling Royal resentment if I as a lowly CL-24 tried to grab the prize of Aleppo for myself. So instead I bought myself into Jibran's alliance with the trade. It is a powerful faction, with four members on the Supreme Executive Council. The transfer tonight was thus a good deal for us both.

But Abby wasn't thinking politics right now. Her hand returned to caress me below my waist, probing the outline of my body, soft fingers turning to tug, pulling up and down. The outline of my body began to change. My eager wife was offering to play, pressing her breasts against me and suggesting she would be VERY disappointed if I declined. But why would I ever want to do that? With one arm supporting her back and a hand firmly cupping her shapely butt cheek, my other arm swept her off her feet at the back of her knees, and I carried smiling Abby off to bed.

I lay sated in her arms a half hour later, enjoying the warmth of her nakedness, her hand drawing lazy circles on my chest.

"I don't suppose you could get back early tonight..." she whispered. She leaned over and gave my nipple a small lick.

I shook my head. "No. The Glorious One must rise to meet his public. I doubt I'll be back until well after midnight."

Abigail giggled. "Oh, I think I can get the Glorious One to rise sooner than that..." A minute of playful testing went by. "Ilias! Are you intentionally trying to stay soft?"

"Yes."

"Hah! Well, it's not working very well, is it?"

I sighed playfully. "No, I guess not."

"I challenge you to try softer!" Abby laughed at her own play on words, in not challenging me to try harder. Then her hand descended to the base of my semi-inflated cock and she began to pump me. I tried to think dull thoughts, count backwards by seventeen from the current year, but it was a losing battle. Abby pulled the foreskin back on my cock and popped me into her mouth, actively suckling my penis head with her lips and tongue while pumping the blood up from the base with her strong fingers. Saliva began to dribble down the length my cock from her mouth, and she turned her base pumping into a slick jerk off. The sexuality was direct and intense. I whimpered at the totally impossible task of resisting a full erection. "I surrender," I whispered.

"Good! So it's time for me to declare victory! I now claim my prize!" Abigail rose up and straddled me, holding my hips fixed with her knees while she angled my erection towards her feminine opening, one filled with delightful moisture and silky softness. She rubbed my penis head through the folds of her labia, long lubricated slides, back and forth, from anus to her thick bush of pubic fur. Soon my erection was rock-like and pulsing. I started to groan in frustration with my desire for her.

One quick squat down, thrusting her pelvis down upon me, and I was buried deep within her womanhood. She worked me energetically, long pulling strokes up, and then tensing her abdominals as she pushed my erection back down into her, forcing me to work for quick penetrations or else risk having my cock bent out of shape. My universe was filled with thoughts of her femininity and the heat of my desire for her. I stared at her nakedness, mesmerized by the sight of her bouncing breasts and rotating hips as she rode me. Abby was panting from her efforts, her face flush and sweaty, her eyes glassy and filled with sexual expression.