Collide Gamer

Waking up to an alarm was an odd experience. It was his second night in his separate bedroom and he had not gotten used to it. The absence of sweet smells and warm bodies was a factor he disliked. The blaring of the clock was annoying. ‘That is the point,’ the Gamer thought and rolled over to hit the off switch.

Once the alarm stopped pestering him, he channelled his discipline into sitting upright. Waking up was harder, pun intended, when there were no gorgeous women to coax him into reality. There was a minor benefit to sleeping in his own room in having control over the thermostat. At least he wasn’t sweaty when he stretched.

Morning stiffness went away. John rolled his shoulders and grabbed the bottle of water he had kept by the bedside. A quick gulp washed the taste of the night out of his mouth.

Though John wasn’t enjoying the absence of stimuli, he was enjoying that he was doing something he wasn’t enjoying. Power made it so easy for him to get slotted into rhythms of his comfort. ‘By the end of this, I will have the proper appreciation for waking up to getting my dick sucked every day,’ he thought, then chuckled at the truth and crudeness of those words.

There were things to be said in favour of having a little bit of silence in the morning. At his core, John was still an introvert. He had grown an appreciation for the showmanship of running a state and he did like the authority. Still, ultimately, if he thought he could get away with not making any public appearances, he would have sat his ass down. Every speech he had ever held could have been a run in whatever roguelike he was playing that month.

‘God, I miss MMOs,’ John thought. He hadn’t checked out World of Warcraft since he had gotten his powers. There just wasn’t the time in the day to give that the proper time. Not that he was in any hurry to hop into Battle for Azeroth. ‘Feels like I jumped off WoW on a high note with Legion… Plus Jane would probably insist we play FF14 instead, if I ever got back into that genre.’

Teeth were brushed, a shower taken, clothes put on, and then John had a bit to himself. By his estimation, even without direct sapphic engagements, their migration from bed to shower to breakfast table would be going on for another 30 minutes or so.

So far, the abstinence was easier on him than he would have thought. Sure, there were some unpleasant aspects to it, but they were currently buried under other emotions. His soul resonated with the truth of the morning: this was the first day in his wedding week.

‘It’s finally happening!’ John shifted his weight back and forth. It had been such a short time with Rave and yet so long. Over two years they had been together. So much had happened during that time. The only regret John had when it came to this wedding was the lack of a honeymoon to follow it. They just did not have the space to take a dedicated vacation.

The recent failure was easily forgotten when he had this week to look forward to. Callous as that was to think, Yoshua’s fate was out of John’s hand so there was no point in worrying about it. There would always be someone out there he could have saved had he worked more.

‘Around now should be good.’ John got up and walked to the next door over, leaving his plain, temporary bedroom behind. Upon arrival in his actual quarters, he was immediately hit by a wave of the most arousing scent known to man. Healthy, clean women smelled good baseline, that was just a factor of biology. Adding to that natural allure the choice of soaps and multiplying the resulting fragrance by more than two dozen sources was just unfair.

John could swear he could actually smell the breeding fever in the air. Having spent the night in another room only made this scent that much stronger. What he usually was steeped in now hit his olfactory sense with fresh power. His skin flushed, pleasant prickling running up and down his arms, all before he had even crossed the threshold.

“”Good morning, Master!”” the entirety of the maid cadre greeted him.

Ehtra must have returned overnight, assuming her customary position in the line-up. She stood on the far left of the chain of eight servants. Her position was mirrored by Momo, putting the two winged maids at the edges. One step in from both sides were Fianna, on the left, and Claire, on the right, smiling in their diligent ways that hid their veneration of him behind a thin veneer of grace. The two shorties of the maids, Delicia and Nahoa, framed in the false twins at the centre.

It was a wonderful arrangement, as symmetrical as they could be in all their differences. Lowered heads slowly rose. “If you need us, we are at your disposal,” Aclysia promised. “Otherwise, breakfast is ready and waiting for you, Master.”

“I’m holding on for now,” John said with a smirk. “I’ll take the breakfast.”

The maids parted, letting him step through before following him to the table. The entirety of his harem was gathered at the table, all of them dressed up. They had the decency not to make this any harder on his senses than it already was.

The taste of bacon overwrote the need to breed for now. “7 days… 7 fucking days…” Eliana muttered elsewhere on the table. She was poking her scrambled eggs listlessly, a rare display of the pretty little psycho not stuffing her face as fast as she could. Her eyes snapped to John. “Fuuuuuuuck…”

“Can’t wait for it, huh?” John asked.

“I can. Barely. Fuckity fuck fuck… Damian will have such a great fucking jawline!”

John tried not to think about what his children would look like. He would jump from mixing his and her features together, then jump to appreciating how beautiful his women were, then get horny all over again. Instead, he chewed the salty bacon. “So, since you two are back,” he changed the topic, “have Max and his harem also arrived?”

“Affirmative,” Ehtra stated.

“They’re staying in the shelter you put at the lake,” Metra added. “Having a quick rest from the jetlag, getting themselves presentable, the usual.”

John nodded. “Do you have my updated schedule?” he asked his secretary.

“Do I have his updated schedule, the untrusting creature asks me,” Ehtra muttered in feigned offence. “Of course I have your updated schedule, it’s my job.”

“Then fill me in,” John said. For once, because of the shifting nature of what was happening, he was actually out of the loop on what exactly he was supposed to attend to today.

“Frankly put, you will spend the entire day at the Harbour, receiving your guests of honour,” Ehtra reported. “Others are awaiting the reception to open, but we’ve made it clear that Maximillian gets to land first, as he is the best man.”

“Lots of handshaking, then… Who has announced themselves for the first day?” the Gamer asked.

“Past Maximillian we have primarily ordered them by arrival, as to not display any favouritism. The guests of honour you will greet today are: Maximillian, the Illuminati leadership, Romulus and Remus – who have arrived together -, Lydia, Magnus and Lu Zhi.”

“I am yet to arrive,” the Heavenly Jade Empress added jokingly. The public was unaware of her stay and not receiving the second most powerful human in the world with a bit of bells and whistles would have been suspicious. “I also received a message by Vinh.”

“Did you now?” the Gamer asked.

“She contacted me via Discord,” Lu Zhi revealed and waved her phone around.

John snorted in amusement. “Sometimes the fact that we live in a world where Chinese empresses can make diplomacy via the internet catches me off guard. Did she hack into your systems somehow?”

“No, that was an old contact we exchanged when she was an ankle biter. Thought I could at least use her to trial run some non-scroll communications.” The imperial tomboy shrugged and put the phone down. Whatever the message read as, she did not feel the need to look at it to recite its contents. “Simply put: she’s asking if she can attend the wedding as well. She promises not to start a fight while she’s here.”

“I’d be fine with it,” Rave pre-empted that question. “We talked about it earlier. It’s between you politicians to work out whether it’s a smart move or not.”

“Wouldn’t letting her attend legitimize her status?” the Gamer asked.

“She’s the Vermillion Phoenix’s chosen, her legitimacy is already beyond reproach,” the Heavenly Jade Empress answered. “We see in her attendance a chance to converse before the inevitable battle. We would appreciate it if you agreed.”

John was under no illusion that this event wouldn’t allow many a political machination to spawn. One did not invite most of the leadership of the known Abyss into one place and expected them all to chat about the weather. Plus, he had deliberately designed the event so he honoured a lot of people by allowing their attendance but keeping the actual wedding restricted to those he wanted there.

“Very well, she gets to attend as a category 2 guest,” John said.

“So, no special reception for the phoenix creature.” Ehtra marked something on her tablet. “Very well.”

___________________________________________________________________________

Two hours later, when the winter sun had risen above the horizon and painted the world in the bright colours of life, John stood at the Harbour.

Arrival by ship was the auspicious way for the rulers of the world to travel and certainly the flashiest way for them to arrive. There was a slight problem with this matter, however: the Guild Hall was currently landlocked. Therefore, it had been made the common procedure to have the guests of honour take the stream up to the harbour in special barges.

Other important guests would be ferried in less impressive vessels while all others, those only invited for the weekend, would simply arrive whenever they felt like.

A massive crowd had gathered in the Guild Hall. John had encouraged Awakened to attend the event, for them to see the old powers they were dealing with in person. He hoped that would add some additional humility to their ongoing integration.

They were at the northern of the four main piers of the commercial Harbour of the Guild Hall. It was exclusively reserved for the guests of honour, while the others were delegated to the pier south of there. It gave the VIPs their own stretch of road to be marvelled at before they were all funnelled together into the Palace to have their rooms assigned.

Maximillian and Irielz drifted into view. The royal couple was alone on the barge. Alice and the gemini elemental under Maximillian’s contract had chosen not to appear openly. That was hardly surprising. Alice had always been an eccentric one and Laralia, like most elementals, just did not care about being famous.

Maximillian wore a slim-fit suit. It was of a blue-tinged black, a regular colour for a suit of that quality. A red half-cape was attached via an ornate bronze disk to this right shoulder, fluttering impressively in the winds of the elementals that circled overhead. He wore a white shirt with no tie. His hair had been grown out just enough to be stylishly pulled back and held by a minimal amount of gel. It was a modest get-up for him.

Irielz was a stunning figure. The succubus hid her wings for convenience purposes, but the rest of her demonic origin was on clear display. Swung, goat-like horns of polished black extended from her obsidian hair of equal lustre. The wavy tresses cascaded down her back and to her ample cleavage. John did not stare, but a man could not help but appreciate that deep insight into such ample breasts. Her dress was an azure piece of beauty, tight in all the right places while retaining a dignified air. Though she was not showing her pregnancy yet, John did note that she skipped out on the decorative corset that often went with these kinds of dresses. A silver tiara sparkled between her horns.

They disembarked to aerial displays of elemental magic, led by Salamander and Sylph. A chorus of Undine’s voices announced the royal pair. “King Maximillian Franz the Fourth von Habsburg of Austria, gravity king, Elector of Austria, arch-duke of Vienna, prince-regent of Greater Hungary, duke of Ulm, servant of Emperor of Kings, and his wife Irielz, queen of Austria and arch-duchess of Vienna!”

The people muttered and cheered. Maximillian had fans inside Fusion, for several reasons. His prolonged vacation in the country had given connections, he was the known best friend of the popular ruler, and he had married a demoness from these lands.

Even with all of the splendour unfolding around them, the military parades and orchestral music, Maximillian and Irielz were spending most of their time gazing at one another. The notably shorter succubus held her husband’s arm, smiling as her yellow eyes met his brown ones. Love was always quite beautiful to behold.

[Irielz and Maximillian AI: https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/039ff727b3e2.png ]

It was only when they reached him and Rave that the duo really seemed to take in their surroundings.

“You decided to sport a beard for this one?” John asked and gave his buddy a firm hug. Rave did the same with Irielz, then they did a quick shuffle to make sure everyone who had arrived hugged everyone who greeted them. It was easy today, since it was just him, Rave and Aclysia there.

“I told him I want him to grow one,” Irielz said. “Makes him look fatherlier.”

“It’s not much of a beard yet,” the gravity king said and rubbed the stubbles. They were dense and uniform, so they looked good even this short.

“I still like it,” his wife assured and rose to her toes in search of a kiss. Dutifully, Maximillian provided.

“Ya ain’t getting one,” Rave stated.

“I would be interested in at least trying at some point…” John carefully suggested. He had been using shampoo that prevented hair growth since he had gotten rid of his body hair in the very early days of his Abyssal stay. “I haven’t seen what my beard would look like…”

“And ya won’t,” Rave insisted, to everyone’s amusement.

John could not argue with his betrothed, especially not while she was wearing one of her gorgeous soundwave dresses. The layered article of clothing was of a deep purple make, the waveforms stitched onto it in white and silver thread. It looked like it belonged in a fantasy setting, so it was perfect for a cat girl empress.

Aclysia matched the splendour, having exchanged her maid uniform for a deep purple dress with white and silver trims that evoked images of her typical colour coordination while elevating her from servant to lady. The blue chest jewel sparkled in the early winter sun, integrated into the collar of the modest dress as if it was a part of an elaborate necklace.

“You lost your tan since I last saw you,” Irielz said to Rave, while they walked down the street. A car waited for them in the distance. “Most of it, anyway.”

“Yeah, I usually let it go over the winter. John likes it.”

“You look good in all tones, so the variation is welcome.”

Rave gave her fiancé a happy shoulder bump. “Also, I think I’ll look better in the dress when I’m on the paler side.”

John had no such conviction. He liked both the contrast of brown flesh to the pure white dress and the resonating purity of pale by pale. Whatever Rave chose for herself, though, he was happy to be the benefactor of.

They reached the car and all went into it together. “Let me guess, you will drive with us to the Palace and then teleport straight back to the pier?” Maximillian asked.

“That’s the procedure,” John confirmed.

They both let out a theatrical sigh at the ‘burden’ of showmanship. “You are finally getting married,” Maximillian said. “Feels overdue for you two. You are the power couple to end all power couples, except for me and my Irielz, of course.”

“Of course,” John drawled sarcastically. The argument which one of them was the better power couple did not need to be had. It was him and Rave, no contest, but Maximillian could hold onto his delusions.

“This is probably going to kickstart a whole chain of marriages, isn’t it, buddy?” the gravity king asked.

“It’s a topic we honestly haven’t worked out in the harem that well yet,” John answered. “Because the marriages are ultimately a formality to our lifestyle… and we can’t keep taking time off. It’s difficult.”

“I believe that.” Maximillian’s eyes wandered to Aclysia. “I would guess you’re next, any plans for it?”

“It will happen in due time,” Aclysia responded with an elegant smile on her lips.

“I hope that’s not too soon. All of my respect, John, but I don’t know if I can attend all 30 of your weddings.”

“Well, luckily for you, there’s a lot of my haremettes that already said they don’t want any official ceremony. Eliana, for example.”

“Makes sense. That girl would sooner jump into lava than swear an oath to some divine authority.”

“Indeed.”

Their drive ended at the foot of the Palace. From there, John walked with his first guests to the front door of the immense structure, where Beatrice took over. “We’ll see you later?” Maximillian asked.

“Honestly unlikely,” the Gamer confessed. “I’ll be busy with meet and greets all day, then I have to hold a speech at the end of the day. I’ll probably just crash into bed from social exhaustion at the end.”

“Fair’s fair,” Maximillian said. “Breakfast, then?”

“Breakfast,” John confirmed.

They parted ways, one being guided to his apartment for the next week, the other looping back to the piers.