Love Is War?
For ordinary humans, intercourse typically ended once climax and ejaculation had run their course.
No matter how tireless a man might be, without specialized training two or three rounds was the absolute limit.
The lovemaking of gods, however, was something else entirely.
They possessed stamina and strength that no mortal could hope to match. A single coupling was never enough to satisfy either partner.
Sunya shifted their positions, lifting Inanna and settling her astride his thighs. He kissed her again, crushing her against him as he claimed her body once more. Inanna rolled her hips in answer, soft and fluid. Blood, love juices, and seed spilled from where they were joined, soaking the cloth beneath them.
The goddess had already healed every tear left by the rupture of her maidenhead. Now she simply savored the fullness of Sunya’s flesh buried deep inside her, drinking in the sensation with pure delight. The way he stretched and filled her brought a sweet, heavy satisfaction.
Sunya felt it just as keenly. The elastic folds of her passage clenched around the shaft of his cock from every side—pure paradise. It felt as though she meant to wring him dry to the very root.
“Hah… haah… haaang♡ This time… nngh♡ Thrust into me. Deep! Get me pregnant.”
“Yes. I will. Hahh! I’ll fill you with my seed until there’s no doubt—Inanna… I’ll make you pregnant.”
Even Sunya, swept up in the heat of the moment, let crude words tumble from his lips. He washed them away a moment later by claiming her mouth again, tongues sliding together. They kissed countless times throughout what followed—more often than they spent apart. Their joining was even more relentless. From the middle onward he would draw back only a little; at the very least a third of his length, glans included, never left the heat of Inanna’s body.
Only after they had both reached climax eight full times did they finally stop.
Exhausted, Sunya and Inanna collapsed where they were. Inanna slumped forward across Sunya’s chest as he fell onto his back. His cock had softened, yet it remained buried inside her. It was simply too large; even flaccid it would not slip free unless deliberately withdrawn. Thick ropes of seed still leaked from the seal of their bodies.
“Haa… haa… haa…”
Their breathing came harsh and ragged. Both of them lingered in the afterglow, slowly tasting the lingering traces of ecstasy. For a long while neither moved from that position.
“…You’re not going to leave, are you?”
Only after a considerable time had passed did Inanna ask the question, anxiety threading through her voice.
Sunya did not answer at once. He was not avoiding the question, either. Even after the love they had just shared, a restless unease began to swell inside her—until at last he spoke.
“There is not much I can offer you, my goddess. No jewels or gold, nor grain or meat to fill your belly. I cannot promise you a life of ease and wealth. But…”
He paused, then continued.
“Even so… will you become the companion of my soul?”
Was the tremor in his voice merely her imagination?
Sunya met Inanna’s gaze fully. She had always thought his eyes beautiful. Within them stretched a vast sky, an infinity that seemed ready to pull her in if she stared too long. Yet Inanna read the fear nestled inside that endless blue. Sunya, just like her, was terrified that the other might leave.
In that instant she understood: this was love. She could feel that Sunya loved her.
“…It’s all right.”
Inanna pressed her lips to his with a soft smack.
“You fill my heart.”
She needed no treasures, no splendid clothes, no fine food. As long as he was with her, it was enough.
And so the two of them spent their first night together—lying in the same bed, simply feeling each other’s presence…
Meanwhile, while Sunya and Inanna made love below, Enki and Ninhursag were holding a far more serious conversation in the palace of the heavens.
“Why bring up Marduk all of a sudden?”
Ninhursag stopped rocking her chair.
“You said you wanted the point, didn’t you?”
“I’m really not in the mood for games right now.”
“Fine, fine—just put your hands down.”
Enki snapped his fingers. A chair materialized in front of Ninhursag. He sat facing her and began to recount everything he had seen.
“Inanna’s been unusually quiet lately, hasn’t she?”
“Probably planning some spectacular disaster for later.”
“No. She’s fallen in love.”
“Love? That girl?”
Ninhursag’s interest sharpened at once. Love stories were always entertaining. The idea that their little troublemaker had actually fallen for someone was fascinating—and she could not help being curious. Who had stolen the child’s heart? How had he won her over? What was their relationship now?
“The problem is the object of that love.”
“What kind of problem? Is he a eunuch? Or just a human?”
A difference in status, a minor issue of lifespan—hardly something that warranted this level of gravity. And what did any of it have to do with Marduk? Confusion flickered across Ninhursag’s face.
“If it were only that, I wouldn’t even bother mentioning it.”
Snap. Enki flicked his fingers again. A wine cup and bottle appeared in midair. He poured himself a drink and downed it roughly, as though the words to come could not be spoken sober.
“Stop dragging it out and just say it. What is it?”
Ninhursag prodded him.
“The one Inanna loves doesn’t seem to be a being of this world.”
“What are you talking about? Some underworld monster or a dead soul?”
“No. Further out than that. Literally outside Kienkingir—an existence from beyond the walls of the world.”
Ninhursag’s eyes went round as saucers.
“Not a being of Kienkingir?”
The possibility that other worlds existed beyond their own had been whispered among the gods since ancient times. There had never been a way to confirm it, and even if such places existed they had seemed irrelevant, so no one had paid much attention. Now, perhaps, the gods’ laziness and complacency were about to exact their price.
“Exactly. And he’s strong. Strong enough to subdue that little brat without breaking a sweat when she throws a tantrum.”
“…That really is a serious problem.”
Regardless of her immaturity, Inanna was one of the most powerful among the Anunnaki. The spear she wielded could level any mountain; her flames, if one exaggerated only a little, could swallow the world itself. In pure strength, the gods who could stand equal to her could be counted on three fingers. And yet this outsider had casually overpowered the goddess of war. Just how powerful was he?
“On the surface his nature seems gentle enough. As I said, the reason the brat has been so well-behaved lately is largely because of him.”
“But you never know what’s underneath. Just like you.”
“Hey! My inside and outside are exactly the same. My heart is as clear as water!”
“As fickle as water, maybe. Fitting for the divinity you hold.”
Ninhursag suddenly snatched the wine bottle from Enki’s hand and drank straight from the neck, no cup required.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m frustrated too, so I’m drinking. Got a problem?”
“Well, I just…”
When Ninhursag glared, Enki shrank back. He was not normally a timid god, yet in front of her he always seemed to weaken.
“Anyway, what you’re saying is this, right? That we might need Marduk to handle an outsider like that. That we may have to release my poor son—sealed away almost as soon as he was born—from his prison.”
“…He wasn’t born all that recently. By human reckoning it’s been a little over a hundred years. And he’s my son as well as yours.”
“How proud you must be—the heartless father who sealed his own child because he was too strong and too wild. Truly something to boast about!”
“You agreed to the sealing too, Ninhursag!”
“…You’re right. I did. I was a terrible bitch myself.”
She had barely started drinking, yet Ninhursag already looked thoroughly intoxicated.
“How am I supposed to look that child in the eye… that poor child…”
Tears were welling now. Enki rose, approached her, and rested a hand on her knee.
“I feel the same. I know how shameless this is. But we are the chief gods. Our duty is to preserve and protect not only the Anunnaki but the whole of Kienkingir.”
Ninhursag had no reply this time.
“I don’t mean we have to break Marduk’s seal right this moment. Just that we should prepare for the worst. Consider the possibility.”
“But…”
“If anything goes wrong, I’ll take full responsibility.”
“How exactly?”
“Have you forgotten? I’m Enki, god of wisdom—the problem-solver of all creation!”
He thumped his chest with both fists. The sight was so ridiculous that Ninhursag finally burst out laughing.