Eros’ Extended Family

Pan almost died underwater. If what he was currently experiencing was one last dream of fantasy, then it was pretty entertaining. If it was fake, then he had nothing to lose.

If it was real, then his life was about to change forever. But first, he needed to win the successor contest.

He nodded to the talking frog, finally having wrapped his head around the situation. "I agree. Please begin."

Jewel hopped down from the leaf pedestal and said, "Excellent! Let's proceed. Currently, we are on a lower slope of Mount Filo, which has four rungs. You must pass three of them successfully to get to the top. The fourth rung is the summit, where you can meet your divine parents." 

Pan nodded.

"Let me open a portal to the first rung," Jewel said.

The talking frog croaked in a musical rhythm. Water from the pond rose and formed a large, swirling circle in front of them. "Follow me!" he instructed before hopping into the magic ring. He did not come out the other way but vanished.

Pan took gradual and careful steps toward the portal. The circle of water sprayed mist on his face, and he smiled, admiring the magic. 

"Come on, kid!" Jewel's groggy voice came from the other side. "I don't have all the time in the world!"

"Coming!" Pan walked in and suddenly found himself in an entirely different scenery. The portal closed and fell in a splash behind him. 

The boy surveyed his surroundings. They had arrived on another ledge higher up on the mountain. It was a small garden, flush with lawn grass and bounded by a colorful flower patch. Pan was inclined again to ask Jewel if they were in paradise.

In front of them were six other youngsters standing in an open circle. One place was empty. They were all dressed in swimsuits. 

Pete realized all of them were contenders for Eros' heirdom. He wondered if all of them had fallen into a lake as he did. Each had a tiny animal attending to them, just like Jewel led him.

"What took you so long?" A talking hedgehog chuffed at Jewel. "All other liaisons arrived with their candidates half an hour back!"

"Apologies, Mr. Felix," Jewel croaked. "My candidate took his time leaving his world behind."

"Fine. Complete the circle quickly. The orientation will commence."

Pan and Jewel took their respective places.

"Greetings. Humans and their liaisons," the hedgehog began. "I am Felix, the managing liaison of this project. My job is to oversee the filtering of candidates, only one of whom shall ultimately become Eros' successor. I will ensure that proper protocol is followed and tests are conducted with fairness and justice. Am I to assume that all liaisons have already tutored their candidates about their situations?" 

The creatures nodded at Felix.

"Perfect! We shall begin the tests right after we finish the introductions. I request all liaisons and their candidates to say something about themselves. To boot, I have already spoken, and now my candidate will speak for herself."

Pan turned his gaze to the girl in front of Felix. She was a gobsmacking beauty. 

"Hello, everyone," the girl said, blossoming flowers in Pan's heart. "I am Penelope. I am eighteen years old and honored to be here."

The girl was an absolute bombshell. She had ash-blonde hair tied up in a neat pony. Pan ogled her body without fear of consequence. 

If he had to make a caption for her, it would be 'Teenage Baywatch'. Ripe, full breasts, toned hips, and athletic legs filled her orange full-body swimsuit. Pan wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and tried to focus on what she was saying.

"-was raised in the City of Sequester. I aspire to become the successor of Eros and bring love and affection to every person on earth. Thus, I intend to end all wars."

The others gave her an ovation, and Pan joined in. Sequester city was one of the five global powerhouses of the world, just like Cloyster.

"By the way, you can call me Penny," she finished with a warm smile. 

Pan was utterly bowled over by her beauty. But then he reminded himself that she was his sister or something. He needed some clarification from Jewel regarding that.

"Next!" Felix called out.

A ferret raised its head and spoke up. "Hello, dearies. I am Sebastian, and it is my greatest pleasure to announce my candidate, Corvus."

A pale, slender kid stepped forward in the circle. He was dressed in a raven-black swimsuit. A curtain hairstyle covered the right eye and half of his face. 

"Hey, peeps! I am Corvus. My friends call me Cory…."

While the boy droned on about his motivations, Pan's eyes returned to Penny. 'What a babe!' he thought. 'I can't believe she is my sister.'

"--People should fuck whoever they want to. Whenever they want to. I don't care," Cory concluded. "I am only here because I hate my parents."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a minute after he ended his awkward speech. 

"Amateur," Jewel whispered to Pan. "This kid thinks that Eros' responsibilities are only concerned with fornication. Clearly, the boy has not been tutored well." The talking ferret, Sebastian, looked embarrassed.

"Next!" Felix announced. A rattlesnake slithered forward, and Pan almost gave out a gasp. 

"Hellosss. I am Fluffy. Plsss welcome my very talented candidate… Hisssss…”

Pan raised his eyes to the human behind the snake. She was a petite girl who looked almost like a doll. Not taller than five foot two, she was in ponytails and wore a pink suit. Pan thought he had seen her somewhere before.

"Hiiiii!" the girl chirped. "I am Jacqueline. You can call me Jackie! I come from Esther city. I want to become Eros's successor, smite everyone with love and kisses, and fill all hearts with stars and flowers." She made a victory sign for everyone.

The audience applauded. Jackie was charming indeed. She could be a singing idol, perhaps. Pan found her very adorable. He could hold her and never let her go. 

'I mean, in a brotherly manner,' the boy corrected his thoughts. 'Oh wait! She is Jackie Jade, the singing idol from Esther city!'

"Next!"

A tall, muscular guy walked forward and identified himself as Blazelander, or as he preferred to be called, Blaze. He was a hyper-masculine young man with light stubble on his face. His huge biceps strained his green swimsuit to its limit. A six-pack of abs and powerful lats showed through his clothes. 

Blaze's thighs were like stone pillars. His liaison was a bull terrier who identified himself as Brine.

"My dream is that only fit and healthy people can have sex," Blaze announced. "Uglies, fatsos, and weaklings banging each other are despicable to look at." 

His gaze fell on Pan. "Weaklings like him will be prohibited from sex. What is he doing here, anyway? This contest is for becoming the God of Desire, not Slumdog Millionaire." 

Everyone but Pan laughed at the joke. Most likely, he was the only poor kid among the candidates. It was bullying for him all over again. 

'I can never win until I stand for myself,' the boy determined. 

"I feel we should prohibit meatheads from trying to multiply themselves," he quipped at the beefy guy.

"What did you say to me, squirt?!" Blaze fired back.

"Candidates are requested not to talk or refer to each other unless it is a task in the contest," Felix announced.

"Alright," Blaze said, flexing his muscles and stepping back. But his eyes never left Pan.

Next came a bespectacled boy in a white swimsuit. His liaison was a parrot named Coco.

"Please welcome Zeitgeist or Zete," the bird squawked. Zete pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and nodded at everyone else. He was of medium height and had a polished look about him. The boy had a smart device in his hand. 

"The world population is currently around 8 billion," he began. "My calculations are that at least 25 percent of human adults are desperate virgins and never even come close to getting laid. My efforts as the successor of Eros would be to bring them into the fold. Then I will spread the formula to the rest of the universe."

There was no applause except from Pan. Someone coughed. 

"Nerd," Blaze chipped in.

"Bully," Pan said under his breath.

It was time for the last candidate. A possum skittered forward. It had a ribbon around its neck. "Hello, dearies. I am Cosmo. My candidate is Iverette. You can call her Ivy," she said.

The girl stepped forward. Her swimsuit was so tight and translucent that Pan could clearly make out her nipples. She had a deep cameltoe. The guys watched her with gaping mouths. 

'She's sexy and slutty,' Pan thought in wonder. 'Thanks, father. Good job!' 

"I love having sex," Ivy began. "And I also want the universe to be crazy about it." She arched her body and made poses, and twirled seductively. Pan almost got a nosebleed. 

"If any of you are interested, let me know," Ivy added. "We can arrange an orgy right here, right now."

"Ahem," Felix interrupted the girl. "There will be no physical contact between candidates unless specified in the tasks. Do anything untoward, and we shall exercise our authority as liaisons to chuck you out of Erode."

The candidates nodded, and the talking animals made sounds of comprehension.

"Aren't we brothers and sisters, anyway?" Pan blurted out. "Anything physical between us would amount to incest, right?"

Everyone else went silent. Felix glared at Pan for a moment.

"Technically, you are step-brothers and step-sisters," he explained. "For example, Pan, your mother is Goddess Karina. Zete, your mother is Goddess Athena. All seven of you have been conceived from seven different divine wombs. But you are offspring from the same father, King Eros the Conqueror."

Pete gulped and eyed the girls. His gaze flew from the bombshell to Penny to the doll Jackie to the slut Ivy. If they were his step-sisters, then… 

His mind was suddenly filled with the most perverted thoughts possible. The coming of another nosebleed was inevitable. Was it the result of coming of age that Jewel had warned him about?

"Now that introductions are complete, it's time to begin the first contest," Felix declared. "Get ready, candidates!"