Spiteful Healer

Chapter 105: Aphrodite's Love

Aegis, Lina, Pyri, Rakkan and Darkshot found themselves staring through the archway that sat between the streets of Kordas’ temple district, and the Temple of Aphrodite. A thin red curtain that was split in the middle stood draped over the archway to act as a door, with tiny golden tassels hanging off the bottom, but Aegis had pulled the curtain to the side so that the party of 5 could see the temple beyond. Directly ahead of them was a beautiful garden path surrounded by lush green bushes that had been elegantly trimmed and pruned into humanoid figures, with colorful flowers blooming at all of the right spots to accentuate their forms.

A few meters ahead, the path split and encircled a beautiful female and male humanoid statue, the two were completely nude and leaning their backs against one another with their fingers interlocked. Neither were particularly muscular or chiseled, simply the natural human form, and the artistic nature of the statues made so that the profanity filter didn’t attempt to blur any parts of them.

The players and NPCs, on the other hand, were a different story. Clothing seemed to be optional in this temple, and the profanity filter was working overtime to keep Aegis’ stream PG13 as Aegis got embarrassed just looking into the temple garden, feeling the need to quickly redirect his gaze to his feet.

“So, Aegis.” Pyri said with a judgemental tone. “Please explain to me why it is you brought us here?” She looked at him with extreme skepticism.

“This place is awesome.” Darkshot said with his jaw agape. Lina’s eyes were wide with shock, while Rakkan looked away anxiously.

“I do hope your profanity filters are on, boys.” Pyri warned both Rakkan and Darkshot.

“Yes m’am.” Rakkan confirmed with a modest nod. "Uh... Aegis... if you're going in there, it's better if I wait outside. If my parents catch me going into a place like that, they'll ban me from using the Simbox." Rakkan said hesitantly.

"Okay... no problem, you can wait out here." Aegis nodded to towards him understandingly.

“Don't worry about me though. My filter is totally on." Darkshot pretended to mess around with his interface as if he was confirming the filter was on, but in actuality he was turning it off. "Yeah. It’s on.” Darkshot replied as he watched a topless elven priestess NPC walk across the garden ahead of them, and didn’t take his eyes off her.

“Is it now?” Pyri squinted at Darkshot, taking the heat off Aegis for a moment.

“I need to get favor with three deities so I can learn their skills. One of the skills I’ve decided to learn is from Aphrodite… so, I figured we could get a quest or something and gain favor like that.” Aegis shrugged innocently.

“Oh, what skill? Aura of Beauty?” Lina asked excitedly.

“Yeah… Sapphire used it on me back in Arallia and it seemed really strong. Stamina’s always an issue for me, and you guys, so I thought it’d be good to have for the group.”

“It is awesome! It’s really good for Shadow Dancers, and tank classes.” Lina cheered excitedly.

“Alright, but, don’t gawk at the ladies, it’s ve…” Pyri’s voice trailed off as a large muscular, fully nude, human male NPC walked across the garden path in front of them, and Pyri’s jaw dropped as her eyes followed him. Aegis turned and saw her do this.

“Hang on, is your profanity filter turned on?” Aegis asked with inquisitive eyes.

“I’m an adult. I can handle having it turned off. Come on, let’s go.” Pyri put her hands on her waist and began strutting forward through the temple garden towards the large building beyond it, the others apprehensively following behind save for Rakkan who remained on the street happily. The temple building itself had a wide set of 5 steps leading up to a large landing out front of the temple doors. On the landing stood tall decorative pillars that towered up several meters to an overhang, with an abundance of grape vines wrapping around them all the way to the top. To the left and right of the main walkway on the landing were two separate pools of clear water, with small staircases leading into the pools.

Without looking directly towards the pools, through the corner of his eyes Aegis could tell that they were full with nude, or nearly nude players and NPCs. He could hear them giggling and flirting with each other, feeding each other grapes or playfully splashing one another. Despite his best efforts to not look, though, just as they were walking by the pools to enter the temple proper, a tall elven female player with long wet blonde hair stepped out of the pool and walked in front of them. She wasn’t nude, she was wearing a bikini that had been crafted with no regard to the fantasy setting the game was set in, but it was still very, very eye catching to Darkshot and Aegis. They followed her with their eyes as she walked behind them and down the stairs into the garden.

“Ahem.” Pyri cleared her throat loudly when she saw them staring, causing them to stop doing it. Aegis felt bad for doing it right away and looked at Lina, who was staring back at him for a brief moment, but broke eye contact with red cheeks immediately. “Teenage boys.” Pyri rolled her eyes as she mumbled this loudly. The inside of the temple wasn’t much better, in fact it was significantly worse. They stepped through an open doorway to enter the main foyer. It was fully furnished with luxurious red cushions, blankets, carpets and decorative tapestries, most of which were framed or outlined in yellows and golds. Aegis could tell it wasn’t real gold, but instead wood, fabric, and stone that had been dyed or painted to look golden. There were couches, chairs, stools, beds and benches spread about for seating purposes, like the temple was one giant lounge.

"Aphrodite Temples are like the erotic roleplay hubs of this game, you know that, right?" Darkshot whispered to Aegis.

"No, obviously I didn't. You could've warned me." Aegis angrily whispered back to him.

"And miss this? Hell no." Darkshot snickered back. Players and NPCs in here, too, were clearly not a fan of clothing, and everyone looked like super models. A result of careful character creation, no doubt, but Aegis felt way out of place as he and his party members walked through wearing full leather armor and weapons on their back. They continued walking to nearly the back of the room where several doors stood before them, and Aegis had no idea where to go, so he started looking around for a Priest or Priestess NPC. He spotted a few, but all of the female priestess NPCs were topless, and he couldn’t look at them straight despite their chests being blurred into plain skin-colored blobs by the profanity filter, so he singled out the nearest male priest NPC and flagged him down.

“Excuse me, sir,” Aegis said politely. [Priest Dureth(Elite) - 30] was carrying a tray with wine glasses, had no hair anywhere on his body and perfect muscles, wearing nothing but a pair of dark red, tight fitting leather underwear. Aegis made a great effort to not look down as he spoke to him, and Dureth stopped what he was doing to turn to Aegis. The moment Dureth saw who had called out to him, he gave Aegis a look of disgust.

“Yes?” Dureth asked, clearly forcing himself to be polite as he eyed Aegis' attire up and down.

“I’m looking for the High Priest of Aphrodite, are they available?”

“Hm. She’s that way.” He pointed down a hallway apprehensively. Aegis bowed and thanked him before following his directions, doing his best to keep his eyes to himself, and the others followed. They went through a door that led down a long hall with a large mural on the left wall of naked humanoid figures in questionable poses. Aegis did his best to just not look at it.

“Aegis, why the hell’d you go with Eirene?” Darkshot asked once they saw that there were no other players or NPCs around them in the hall.

“Is this really why Aphrodite clerics are so common?” Pyri asked curiously.

“Well… I think it’s mainly for their supporting buffs… and the quests are usually pretty easy…” Lina replied shyly.

“Sorry, guys. I didn’t know it would be like this. I met Sapphire, she’s an Aphrodite cleric, and she wears plenty of clothes.” Aegis explained with an awkward shrug.

“Do you even know what the Goddess Aphrodite represents?” Pyri asked him.

“It said beauty and love in the game description, you know… Eirene is peace and love, so I thought it’d be similar. There’s such a difference between beauty and peace?” Aegis said defensively, as if his assumption was reasonable.

“My sweet naive young boy.” Pyri shook her head to herself.

“Hey Aegis, I changed my mind on what I want you to build for me in Rene. Instead of a Tower, I want an Aphrodite Temple.” Darkshot said shamelessly. They approached the end of the hallway now with a set of double doors before them and a buff male elf NPC wearing a loincloth stood guard and watched them approach.

“Yes?” He asked them as they got close enough.

“We’re here to see the High Priestess of Aphrodite?” Aegis asked politely.

“The High Priestess is in the middle of praying to our goddess right now, please wait quietly and I’ll let you know when she is done.” The guard gave a light bow. Aegis nodded back to the others and gave a shrug.

“So what, we just wait?” Darkshot asked quietly.

“I guess.” Aegis shrugged. “I really don’t want to have to leave and come back later.” He added. They went quiet and looked around for a bit, avoiding looking at the mural on the left wall as much as they could. Lina started fiddling with the hilts of her daggers, while Pyri kept glancing at the elf NPC's ab muscles, and then pretending like she hadn’t done it. Regardless, it went quiet, and due to that, they could hear sounds coming from the other side of the door. Distant female moaning, muffled by the door, came from behind the guard who simply ignored the sounds. It didn’t take more than hearing a few of them for all four of them to figure out what the sounds were.

“Just how exactly do they pray in this temple?” Pyri sighed.

“This is so inappropriate.” Aegis shook his head to himself embarrassed.

“Yeah, and you brought your wife and mom along.” Darkshot chuckled.

“Should I mute the stream? I feel like I should mute it. I’m muting it.” Aegis anxiously ran through his interface, desperate for something to do. He couldn’t dare look any of his party members in the eyes. Of all the planning and preparation he had done in regards to which deity skills he wanted to go for, he hadn’t once imagined the other deities would be so vastly different from Eirene. He’d managed to mute the stream before the moaning reached its climax, and then went silent. Once he'd confirmed it was over, he unmuted it.

“Sounded like she had a good prayer.” Pyri commented with a look of disbelief.

“The High Priestess is ready to see you now.” The guard bowed politely and stepped aside, motioning them to the door. The others looked at Aegis expectantly, but he was hesitant in opening the door. Eventually he built up the courage, opened it and stepped through.

They were now in the ‘prayer’ room of Aphrodite’s temple, which looked nothing more than a glorified royal bedroom. A big red beautiful carpet with gold and blue accents laid across the floor, and directly ahead of them sat a gigantic round bed with red and gold covers and elegantly carved wooden bed posts. The headboard of the bed was made of stone, and it merged into the wall behind it. It was carved into the shape of the Goddess Aphrodite leaning forward over the top of the bed with her hands clasped in front of her chest.

On various tapestries hanging along the walls of the circular room were the symbol of Aphrodite, a circle with a flower inside it made up of small pointed oval petals.

As they stepped into the room, three male characters pushed past them with towels wrapped around their waists. A Satyr, an Orc, and a gnome. All three of them were not NPCs, they were Aphrodite Cleric players, and they gave proud knowing nods to Aegis as they walked past him. Beyond them, sitting upright on the bed with her knees bent forward in an L shape, was the [High Priestess of Aphrodite, Sashana(Elite) - 30]. Aegis recognized her right away, she was one of Leonard’s wives.

Pyri’s eyes followed the three male players as they left, looking in disbelief at what she was witnessing.

“Games are a lot different than they used to be…” Pyri whispered with wide eyes.

“Oh, Aegis!” Sashana waved to him. “I’ve heard so much about you from Captain Leonard. I don’t believe we’ve been properly acquainted!” She smiled excitedly as she stood up, and Aegis had to look away, but once he did, she reacted. “Oh, right, Leonard told me that you were the shy type.” She said as she adjusted her equipment so that she was wearing a thin, beautiful red dress that hung from a band that wrapped around the back of her neck. It was backless, but loose rather than form fitting, causing it to shift its shape as she walked, but it ended at her waist and her leg movements caused it to climb each time she took a step. Aegis didn’t try to see if she had equipped anything underneath it, and kept his eyes up to match hers. She had mesmerizing yellow eyes with wavy dark black hair down to her shoulders, and the lightest touch of makeup on her face to accentuate her beauty.

“So,” As she got close, she stopped walking and looked over the four of them. “How may I help a follower of Eirene?” She asked politely.

“Well, I was hoping to gain favor with the goddess Aphrodite. Eirene wants me to learn the ways of other gods and goddesses.” Aegis explained.

“I see.” She smiled. “The Goddess Aphrodite has a great appreciation for all things that represent beauty, and love. She is not so demanding… if you were to present yourself, or your companions to her, in their most beautiful form..." She ran her fingertips along Aegis' shoulder and down his arms. "Or perform an act of deep and passionate love, she would happily grant you her favor.” Sashana explained. “I could help you, if you’d like.” She winked. Lina looked like she was about to act, but Pyri moved first.

“There will be no performances of passionate love, thanks.” Pyri grabbed Sashana’s finger and moved it away from Aegis.

“I understand. Some are too shy to share their love with the goddess.” Sashana smiled suggestively at Pyri.

“What?” Pyri snapped back in disbelief. “No, he’s my son.” She explained.

“Ah, yes… a mothers love is a complicated, forbidden love.” Sashana winked at her.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Pyri shouted.

“Oh my god this was such a huge mistake.” Aegis shook his head to himself in pure embarrassment.

“Yeah you really messed up this one.” Darkshot chuckled as he saw Pyri getting ready to Cinderbolt Sashana. Lina had taken to pretending she didn’t exist. Aegis was disappointed to see that his viewership had doubled from 30 000 to 60 000 since he’d entered the temple.

“I meant no offense. I suppose if you are not willing to perform displays of love, you could simply show yourselves to her in your most beautiful forms. She is always watching, looking at the world to find beauty.” Sashana said as she moved to the side and motioned to a circular flower pattern, the symbol of Aphrodite, that was woven into the center of the carpet that covered the floor of the room. The circle was positioned directly in front of the eyeline of the statue of Aphrodite that towered over the bed. As Sashana did this motion, Aegis got a quest prompt.

Quest[Repeatable]: Present a representation of beauty, or perform an act of love within the prayer room of the Temple of Aphrodite in Kordas.

Objective: 0/1 Aphrodite Pleased

Quest Giver: High Priestess of Aphrodite, Sashana

Reward: Favor with Aphrodite (Amount varies)

Difficulty: Easy

Restrictions: Limited to Divine classes

“She gave me a quest for it.” Aegis turned to inform the others. “It’s repeatable, so, I just need to show enough beautiful things to her until I get 2500 favor.” Aegis explained, and they all nodded.

“Do you have anything that’s beautiful?” Darkshot asked him. Aegis responded by going into his inventory and searching.

“Not really… maybe the shield?” Aegis shrugged as he unequipped his shield and held it out. The rest of them looked at him apprehensively, so he stepped forward, placed the shield down on the symbol on the carpet, then took a step back as Sashana watched.

“Beautiful craftsmanship… but…” Sashana began,

You gain 10 Favor with Aphrodite.

“She much prefers the beauty of the flesh.” Sashana finished. Aegis let out an elongated, knowing sigh as he picked up the shield and waved the notification away.

“It only got me 10. I think it’s gotta be a person. Does anyone have any outfits? Dresses or something?” Aegis asked as he turned to them hopeful. They all looked back at him with head shakes. “I could probably carve a beautiful statue, or a couple, that’d do the trick… I really don’t want to have to come back here though.” Aegis said uncomfortably.

“Oh to hell with it, it’s not like it’s my real body anyway.” Pyri sighed in annoyance. “All of you, turn around. I’ll present myself to her.”

“What? No, that’s gross.” Aegis protested

“Excuse me?” Pyri rose her voice towards Aegis.

“I mean, I don’t mean you are gross, just, you know what I meant.” Aegis shouted flustered.

“Do you want your damn quest done or not?” She snapped back, annoyed. Aegis hesitated, then turned to Darkshot.

“If you look, I’m going to corpse camp you for the rest of the summer.” Aegis glared at him, and he nodded and faced towards the door. “That goes for you too, Shinji and Hae-won. Cameras face this way.” He pointed again. He knew that Shinji would listen, he was more concerned about Darkshot who he’d theorized had his profanity filter turned off based on how he’d been ogling the priestesses.

It went awkward for a few moments as Aegis heard behind him as Pyri walked barefoot across the carpet to the spot under the statue.

“Mmm. very beautiful. It’s as if every inch of your body was carefully crafted by Aphrodite herself. I wouldn’t mind exploring it.” Sashana said seductively.

You gain 1000 Favor with Aphrodite.

“It worked, I got 1000 favor. You can put your armor back on.” Aegis said without turning around.

“Hang on, only 1000?” Pyri protested to Sashana.

“If it were up to me, I would have given you 10 000, but Aphrodite is the judge here.” Sashana explained. Pyri let out a huff.

“Ok, you’re fine, I’m wearing armor again.” Pyri announced, causing Aegis to let out a sigh of relief.

“So… I need 1500 more.”

“Don’t worry. I got this.” Darkshot slapped his hand to Aegis’ chest. “And don’t worry about not looking, I’ve got nothing to hide.” He said as he started unequipping his armor.

“Are you-” Aegis couldn’t believe how shameless he was, until he’d remembered how proud Darkshot had been of his character’s appearance. Pyri walked to stand beside Lina who both looked towards the wall with Aegis, who had accidentally watched him nearly fully undress but turned around at the last second as Darkshot presented himself fully nude to to the goddess Aphrodite.

You gain 250 Favor with Aphrodite.

“How much is it, how much did I get? I bet it was a lot, right?” Darkshot asked Aegis excitedly.

“250.” Aegis replied.

“Hah, suck it.” Pyri replied proudly.

“Seriously? Is she blind? Does she not see these abs?” Darkshot complained to Sashana.

“She sees all.” Sashana smiled at him.

“Ah whatever.” Darkshot replied dismissively as he re-equipped his armor.

“So you still need 1250?” Pyri asked.

“Yeah…” Aegis looked uncomfortable. “I guess I gotta do it, at the very least.” He shrugged reluctantly. “Everyone, eyes back there. Shinji, camera on the roof. If I find clips of any of us online, I’m canceling the contract with the network.” Aegis threatened towards his livestream icon that now sat at 62 000 viewers.

Once he was sure no one was looking but Sashana, he took off his leather armor, shoes, and pants, so that he just had underwear on. He quickly looked down to see that the profanity filter was hiding anything inappropriate, and once he’d confirmed it, he removed his underwear and stood nude like a Ken doll in the prayer room.

“Wait…” Sashana stopped him before he’d stepped forward to present himself. “You and that young lady share matching rings. Aphrodite will only allow you present something to her once, including yourself. Perhaps you would like to present you and your wife to her together? A display of not just beauty, but love as well.” Sashana suggested. Aegis froze in place at this suggestion.

Standing naked beside Lina’s character was what was being suggested. He knew he had to think of the problem before him logically, but the idea of seeing Lina’s character naked overrode all of his logical thinking. He quickly had images flashing in his head of her leather armor always tightly wrapped around her body - he’d never seen her characters skin outside of her hands and face, never even thought about it. Why did he care so much? It was just an in-game character, it wasn’t like it was their actual bodies, he thought.

“Okay…” Lina said hesitantly, without Aegis having had time to think of a proper response. Darkshot and Pyri remained dead silent as Aegis looked straight ahead towards the statue of Aphrodite ahead of him. He could hear the sound of Lina’s armor unequipping and her bare feet walking towards him across the carpet from behind.

“Take her hand, and step forward to the goddess.” Sashana smiled excitedly at them.

“I won’t look.” Aegis replied nervously as he held his right hand out back behind himself. He felt Lina’s fingers interlocking with his, but he kept his word and only looked straight ahead.

“Okay…” She replied shyly.

“Calm down, it’s just your in-game characters.” Pyri sighed anxiously. Lina and Aegis both stepped forward onto the symbol of Aphrodite on the floor. Their faces flushed red with embarrassment, but something about holding each others hands and doing it together rather than alone made it more bearable for Aegis. The two made sure to look away from one another, not even up at the statue but rather opposing walls of the room as Sashana watched them excitedly.

You gain 3000 Favor with Aphrodite.

“So young, so pure, so beautiful. Aphrodite is pleased.” Sashana smiled.

“I got 3000!” Aegis said excitedly - the excitement from the notification overtook him for a moment, and without thinking he turned to say this to Lina, and she looked back to meet his eyes. The two quickly both looked away just as fast as they’d looked at each other, releasing their hands. “S-sorry.” He said as they both quickly re-equipped their clothing and armor.

“Wait, so you guys coulda just done that from the start?” Darkshot asked, turning to look at them once they were fully clothed again.

“We done here, then, right?” Pyri said urgently. “We can go?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think we’re done.” Aegis said as he turned to Sashana. “Sashana, as I am walking the path of the stars, and have gained favor with Aphrodite, do you think you could teach me some of Aphrodite’s divine magic?” Aegis asked, and Sashana nodded, holding her hands out to Aegis.

“Place your hands in mine.” She instructed him, and Aegis complied. She closed her eyes for a moment, going deep in thought. “Yes, I see your light is in tune with the stars. You are able to receive a gift from Aphrodite. Which of her light magic would you like to receive?” Sashana asked after opening her eyes.

“Please teach me the Aura of Beauty.” Aegis said confidently.

“Are you sure?” Sashana confirmed, and Aegis nodded.

Skill Learned: Aura of Beauty(Path of the Stars)

Aura of Beauty(Path of the Stars) - Level 1 (Intermediate)

Required Deity: Aphrodite

An aura emanating out of the caster surrounding them with the light and beauty of Aphrodite and increasing the stamina regeneration for all those affected, to enable them to perform strenuous activities, longer. Radius, effectiveness and mana cost increases with level.

Effect: 1 Stamina/5s [+0.1 per level]

Cast Time: Instant

Cost: 2 mana/5s (+0.5mp per level)

Range: 1m (+0.05m per level)

“Got it, we’re done, we can leave.” Aegis announced to everyone. “Thank you for everything, Sashana.” Aegis bowed politely to her.

“Let’s get out of here then.” Darkshot said as he made for the door.

“Good idea.” Pyri said.

“And let’s never talk about this quest ever again.” Aegis added as the four made their way out of the temple together.