Persephone gently pushed Hades away and stepped back, his hands reluctantly sliding from her flesh. She turned and walked toward the gate behind her. Still on his knees, he stared enthralled at the coxinant twists of her retreating buttocks. His callipygian captor paused and looked back at him and gave one word. "Follow."

Hades scrambled to his feet and was fast on her heels, even as she retreated into a long, unlit tunnel. He followed her into darkness so thick he couldn't see his own hands, but he was not afraid. Persephone clearly knew these caves well, and he faithfully followed the clear tinkling sound of the pair of bells tied to her thigh.

Hades had lost track of time before they emerged into a larger chamber, an amphitheater centered around a raised dias covered in fabric and pillows, lit by the embers of several ornate braziers. The room could have accommodated hundreds, but there were only six figures lounging near the middle altar. Each had a unique style of dress, the way their hair was adorned, the shades of their skin and shapes of their figure, but each was unmistakably Ephaemeryl, like Persephone. Wide-eyed and slack-jawed, his eyes darted from one to another; he never would have believed that he could experience the emotions provoked in him by Persephone ever again, and here he was feeling them anew, each one of the captors bringing about a different, intense feeling throbbing from his heart to odd corners of his body. Everyone was watching Hades, some of them stone-faced, most of them smirking in amusement, chatting with each other in the strange tongue of the Ephaemeryl, their soft, lilting falsetto reverberating through the chamber, shaking the foundations of Hades' mind. They were observing him as if he were some fascinating oddity.

One of the women, short and stocky with milky skin and gold hair, stood up and addressed Persephone in their inscrutable language. They chatted back and forth, and Hades could only assume that this person was doubtful about something... maybe him? Was his quality in question?

The shorter one shrugged and said something that sounded like a question. Persephone turned to look at Hades.

"Hades." At the sound of his name, Hades' hungry, wandering eyes locked into Persephone's gaze. "Kneel."

Sparks sprinkled down from the nearby braziers, his knees hit the ground so hard. A wave of airy laughter swept over the audience, and the short gold-haired creature waved her hand, saying something that sounded appeased.

Hades was nervous- he still wasn't sure what to expect, but kept rapt attention to his mistress. The toned, muscular lines of her bronzed body led his gaze up to the padded altar, where she turned around and sat on its edge.

"Hades," she trilled, brushing a long curtain of wavy brown hair behind her shoulder, crossing her legs, completely unabashed by her own nakedness, "Do you know why we take tribute? Why prisoners are sent from the nation of Myieaoul every year?"

Hades tried to clear his mind enough to reach into memory. "Uhmm... the condition of peace, to punish our nation for attempting to invade the Ephaemeryl in our arrogance for-"

"No." Persephone leaned forward, the strange, soft lobes swelling from her pectoral muscles swaying beneath her shoulders as she stared into Hades. "The Myieaoul have been our allies for generations. The Ephaemeryl are deeply indebted to your nation for their service, and vice versa. Tribute is one reason why our alliance has been so mutually beneficial; leaders of one nation groomed at the mercy of another. You were not brought, Hades, as a sacrifice. You offered yourself to torture and death willingly, which means you have earned a rank most of your kind will never know. It is my responsibility- our responsibility," she gestured around the room, "to teach you... shape you... guide you into being a servant worthy of holding thousands of lives at your mercy."

Hades was dumbfounded and agog. His whole universe had been shaken, and he struggled to clutch all the fragments. Persephone smiled, edging up onto the altar until she was reclining onto a pile of cushions. "The first step to teaching, however, is to learn what kind of student you are.

Most humans can handle adversity, but a true test of virtue is to give someone power. So, Hades... Show me what you would do with power." She leaned back until she was limp against the fabric, spread out across the altar. "I grant you complete power over me. I order you to do whatever you want to me."

Hades couldn't breathe. The whispered chatter among the audience, the entire chamber, nothing existed except for that altar, and the goddess' prone form in the fires' glow. He leaned forward until he was on all fours, and began to crawl. He made it to the base of the dias, and climbed on top- the textiles were soft, amazingly fine, and of no interest to him as he crouched at the feet of his mistress, who looked down on him without judgement. His sturdy, well-muscled frame trembling with weakness, his eyes darted across every inch of Persephone.

Immovable humility made a compromise with eager obedience; Grasping her left ankle with one hand, he cradled her foot in the other, raising it gently as he bent down to plant a firm kiss in the delicate arch of her foot.

An impressed murmur rose from the audience. Persephone smiled. "Good. Keep going."

Hades' mind was swimming, and he struggled to control his motions. His hands moved further and further up her leg, kissing, licking, giving the gentlest, most respectful bite now and again. Halfway up, he pushed and pulled to raise and straighten her knee, puffing a hot breath onto her skin as he passionately kissed the back of her knee- Ephaemeryl physiology was a mystery to him, but he was well-versed in anatomy and the pleasures of the peripheral nervous system, and knew how to put his knowledge to use. Dragging his fingertips up along her inner thigh, he kissed closer and closer to her sex. His hand slid underneath, his palm gliding along her smooth buttocks and up the small of her back. His vision dimmed into splashes of color as he brushed his lips to her vulva.

He kissed it, again and again, before probing with his tongue- an opening? It goes deeper? He probed, turning and twisting as he tried to map this strange territory. Persephone was breathing hard and heavy, and the crowd was commenting in their strange language, but Hades paid no mind; he was lost and gone in a faraway place. He curled both his arms around both her thighs, his fingertips tousling her mons pubis. He closed his eyes and grinned, dragging his face back and forth against her crotch, bathing in her fleecy pubic fur like they were summer sunrays.

"Good," Persephone panted, "That's good, Hades..."

Hades pushed his hands against the cushions, lifting himself just enough to resume kissing. His eyes rolled lazily over the script stained into Persephone's abdomen- he had first read it but twenty minutes ago, and it was already a fond, cherished memory. The privilege of being able to immerse himself so completely in such nostalgia was an ecstasy that he relished with each letter he traced with his tongue, each syllable he punctuated with a kiss.

The tip of his nose reached the cleavage between Persephone's breasts. Hades took a deep breath, sliding both his hands up under her shoulders. Letting out a long, deep, hot sigh, he sank down into her body, pressing the full length of his trunk against her, gripping her shoulders as he pulled himself up, his head sliding neatly between her breasts.

Persephone glanced around- most of the audience were nodding in approval, the rest were staring in admiration and envy. She smiled, pleased at their success so far. "That's very good, Hades. Don't worry, you can do anything you want, anything at all-"

"-Snnkkkxxzzz..." The rumble of a deep snore reverberated through the chamber. Persephone stared disbelievingly at the limp body pressing her into the pillows, a wide grin on the face tucked snugly into her cleavage. The audience could not contain their delighted laughter, which was not enough to break his slumber.

"I don't believe it," Persephone pouted with a smile, running her fingers through his wild, blonde hair as he nuzzled deeper into her. "Ah, poor thing. You've had a long day, yes? Rest now. We'll have time tomorrow."