Dual Ascension

Commissioned by danio13. Many thanks to Akane, Kingbobman, and OmniScribbler for beta reading and additional contributions.

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“Wait wait wait,” Chihaya Kosinski interjected. “You want to take me where?”

“Gakkel Ridge,” Kathryn McAllister replied. “It’s a mid-oceanic ridge spanning from Greenland to Russia.”

“And you think... Atlantis is down there?”

Kathryn’s expression became stern. “Atlantis is fictional, you know that as well as I do.”

A beat, then her features softened into a smile. “But yes, I do think there’s some kind of civilization down there. Or at the very least, something new to discover. You in?”

Chihaya paused for a moment, only to let out a laugh. “Of course! When do we leave?”

“Whenever you’re ready, actually! I already have everything else all set.”

“I’ll get ready right away, then!”

After a long plane ride, Kathryn and Chihaya finally arrived in the northeasternmost tip of Greenland: practically spitting distance from Gakkel Ridge. Their sub was transported to a research base near the ridge.

As they finally boarded their sub, Chihaya felt a peculiar chill run down her spine.

“Cold feet?” Kathryn asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah, no, I’m just...” Chihaya trailed off. “I’m fine. I guess it was just an involuntary response.”

“Apprehension?”

“No, I think it’s more like being so excited you’re nervous. You know?”

“Yes, but you needn’t worry. We have more than enough air and supplies, so we’ll be fine.”

“Right!” Chihaya smiled. “Let’s get to it, then!”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to be patient. We’re 206 kilometers away from the ridge right now, and our top speed is only 30 km/h.”

“Seven hours away...” Chihaya realized, looking a little disheartened.

“A bit less, actually--6 hours, 51 minutes, 30 seconds... now. In any event, I can wake you once we’re close.”

“Alright. I’ll be in the back, then.”

Chihaya headed to the rear of the sub where the pair of modest bunk beds were. It wasn’t quite like sleeping in a five-star hotel, but it got the job done. Fortunately, she wasn’t prone to seasickness, and unless she was looking out a window, it didn’t feel at all like they were moving. Lying down and catching forty winks would be easy, especially with the low lighting and gentle white noise-like rumble of the sub’s engines.

Some time later, Chihaya woke up at Kathryn’s prodding.

“Hm? What’s up, ma’am?”

Kathryn looked like a kid on Christmas morning. “We’ve found something!”

Both women hurried to the cockpit to get a look. From what they could see, they appeared to be at the entrance to an immense temple. A visual inspection alone was enough to determine that the material used was quite foreign.

“Whatever civilization this belonged to,” Chihaya commented, “they certainly built to last.”

“You’d expect lots of erosion after being so deep underwater for so long,” Kathryn added. “And yet there’s no indication of any at all!”

“Ma’am, I see runes on the walls.”

“Really?” Kathryn squinted and looked around, but had no such luck. “Hm, your eyes must be better than mine. I’ll steer, you try and get them on paper.”

“Doesn’t the sub have external cameras?”

“It does, but the more data we collect, the better. Redundancy is insurance. Now get drawing!”

“Right!”

Kathryn steered the sub alongside several of the temple’s external walls, letting Chihaya draw the runes. There were hundreds of them at the very least. Some resembled the Greek alphabet, others resembled Phoenician. Cyrillic, Latin, Arabic, Korean, countless others.

“What is this?” Chihaya asked. “Some kind of enormous Rosetta Stone?”

“There’s no way to be certain,” Kathryn responded. “But my guess is that this temple belonged to an ancient and advanced civilization, maybe dating as far back as Pangaea. I think humanity’s early writing systems were inspired by this civilization.”

“My god.... but if there were such advanced people back then, then why is their civilization unheard of now?”

“I have no idea. Maybe they collapsed in a war? What do you suppose all these characters mean?”

Chihaya studied them. “I don’t know all of these scripts, but... the recurring theme seems to be fertility, divinity, femininity. Seems to suggest it’s a shrine to a fertility goddess. If all the writing systems are any indication, it could be an amalgamation of several mythologies’ goddesses: Aphrodite, Isis, Inari Ōkami, Freyja, probably several others I’ve never heard of before. At the very least, this is--was, rather--a sacred place.”

“Hang on, I see an opening,” Kathryn said, adjusting the sub’s heading. “Should be big enough for us to fit inside. Maybe we’ll find out more there.”

Kathryn smoothly navigated inside and continued down what appeared to be a hallway of some sort. The only illumination came from the sub’s headlights, so she had no choice but to drive by feel, noting any time the sub bumped against something and attempting to map out the environment in her head.

One markedly more intense jolt caused Chihaya to yelp instinctively. She looked at the instruments and realized...

“We hit an air pocket! Given what the sonar is reading, it looks like we’re at the mouth of a cave! Let’s head out and explore!”

Kathryn chuckled. “Son of a bitch. This certainly isn’t going how I was expecting it to.”

Chihaya was already stripping down to put on her scuba suit. “Does that mean you aren’t coming?”

“Are you kidding?” Kathryn chirped, disrobing herself. “I wouldn’t miss this for anything!”

Once the two were suited up, they shut down the sub’s power--save for the GPS and sonar, so they could find their way back--and opened the hatch. No water rushed in--definitely a good sign, but it was also pitch black, like they opened a door to the void. While unnerving, the two women weren’t about to turn back now. They turned on their suit flashlights and stepped out into the cave.

Their suits were top of the line, allowing them to produce an airtight seal on a moment’s notice and switch to the hyper-compressed oxygen stored within the suit almost instantly. If the cave suddenly flooded, they would be prepared.

Everything before them was a deep, dark blue speckled with various shades of green.

“Algae,” Chihaya identified the latter. “All this must be responsible for the remarkably fresh air here. It’s just like....”

She trailed off. Curious, Kathryn replied, “Just like?”

“I dunno, I feel like... like this is familiar somehow.”

“Unless you’re prescient somehow and saw this moment ahead of time, I rather doubt that.”

Chihaya chuckled. “Yeah, it’s probably just me. Maybe there was a video game or something with a cave like this, who knows.”

As they proceeded deeper inside, Kathryn’s attention turned to the walls. “I think this algae might have been arranged deliberately. I’m seeing patterns here.”

“Wow, you’re right.” Chihaya picked up a stone sitting at her feet. She attempted to cut it with her knife, but couldn’t even scratch it.

“This material is extraordinary! We don’t have anything like this today, so how did they in ancient times manage it?”

“Well,” Kathryn responded, “there are plenty of old techniques that people back in the day came up that were ahead of their time. Modern historians--white ones, especially--are often not inclined to believe any ancient people of color could be so clever. ‘How could they possibly think of something I didn’t?’ That’s how the myth about aliens creating the pyramids in Egypt got started.”

“Ah, I see.”

Kathryn added, “Funny you say that now--I just found an ingress!”

She pushed a large stone button flush with the wall, causing huge stone slabs to slide apart and produce an opening.

“Gotta love the ubiquity of simple machines,” Kathryn said with a grin. The two women proceeded through the opening. As Chihaya did so, however, a flash of light suddenly flickered past her eyes. She exclaimed and practically fell onto Kathryn, who just barely managed to spin around and catch her.

“Whoa, you alright?”

“I... I don’t know. There was a bright flash for a moment, and then my legs gave out. Really weird.”

Kathryn’s gaze lingered on Chihaya. She suddenly seemed... different somehow. It was a very subtle thing: her hair seemed a little shinier, her breasts perkier, her scent more captivating. Almost like... desire?

It was also very strange, as Kathryn had never felt sexual attraction to a woman before. Though in all fairness, she had gone her whole life prioritizing her work over finding a lover--of any gender, for that matter. It wasn’t impossible that she just hadn’t discovered that aspect of herself yet, but at her age it seemed unlikely.

“Um...” Chihaya began, “I... appreciate your concern, but I’m fine now. You can let go.”

“What? Oh, I’m sorry.” Kathryn complied.

“No worries. I imagine a weird cave system left unexplored for who knows how long is bound to weird people out.”

Proceeding further ahead, the two arrived at a fork: one path leading left and the other right. Kathryn pulled an ultrasound device from her bag. A series of pings beyond the human range of hearing echoed through the caves, effectively mapping a fair portion of the winding cave system... though not far enough to determine where they led, if anywhere at all.

Chihaya had a strange, nervous feeling, like an itch she desperately couldn’t reach. “I... I think we should go left.”

“Hm? How come?”

“I... I don’t know. Intuition, I guess?”

“Not much to go on, admittedly. From what I’m seeing here, the right path appears to lead to a more complex series of tunnels. In the interests of efficiency, we should go down this way instead.”

“No!” Chihaya exclaimed, louder than intended. Her voice echoed through the otherwise silent tunnels.

“Ah, no, I... um... I’m sorry, I guess it’s just... strong intuition.”

“No no, it’s alright,” Kathryn responded. “Whichever way we go, it’s a shot in the dark. Who knows what’s beyond this point? We’re here to find that out. So let’s get moving.”

Chihaya took a moment to collect herself before following behind. She initially remained roughly an arm’s length behind her, but that distance gradually lessened, with her ultimately passing Kathryn and running past her. Kathryn was initially going to call out for her to wait, but the cave’s walls caught her eye.

There were engraved pictograms all over the place--fairly straightforward ones at that, if somewhat stylized. She wasn’t quite familiar enough with other cultures’ pictograms, but the general idea seemed reasonably apparent.

They appeared to tell the tale of an individual bringing prosperity to the land--fertile soil, abundant harvests, good health, good weather, and so on. Some kind of temple was built in this person’s honor, but a jealous god cursed the village and temple, drowning them all in the sea.

Kathryn realized Chihaya was proceeding without her and hurried ahead to catch up.

“Sorry, I got distracted. There are engravings back there, recounting this soci--”

“I’m starting to remember!” Chihaya interjected. “There was... someone. A curse... never to return... something like that.”

Kathryn became distracted again, but by her assistant’s apparently newfound beauty. She was quickly becoming more and more confused.

But I’m not gay... right? I shouldn’t be attracted to a woman, and especially not my assistant! What is going on here....?

Chihaya took Kathryn’s hand and ran, not doing Kathryn’s confused and overexcited mind any favors. As they progressed deeper into this large chamber, Kathryn gradually realized the place was like a cathedral. Aside from their footsteps and Kathryn’s heart threatening to burst, the room was perfectly silent.

Chihaya stopped at the head of the room--an altar of some kind. She spun around to face Kathryn, who noticed her partner was positively glowing with vitality. By all rights, it shouldn’t have been happening, but simply being in Chihaya’s presence was overwhelming her.

“Okay, we’re going to need a sacrifice for the altar!” Chihaya chirped.

“W-wait, what?!” Kathryn exclaimed.

“Oh! My bad--poor choice of words on my part. No one’s going to die; the sacrifice is a loss of virginity! I see you still have yours, so we’re in business!”

Kathryn felt her face turn bright red. She was understandably relieved that death wasn’t part of whatever plan Chihaya had, but losing her virginity wasn’t much of an improvement. Her mortification only lasted a few seconds before awe took over--Chihaya was literally glowing now! She took Kathryn’s trembling hand and gently guided her to lie down on the altar.

“Wh-what happens next?” Kathryn asked.

Chihaya smiled beatifically. Kathryn realized she understood on an instinctive level. Her luminous partner climbed on top of her, coming in very close for a passionate kiss. Just like that, Kathryn almost literally melted in her arms--doubly so as she felt a second tongue in her mouth being guided around by the woman of unreal beauty on top of her.

Simultaneously, Chihaya deftly unbuttoned and unzipped Kathryn’s jeans and reached into her panties, easily tripling the roaring ecstasy inside her. Her gentlest touch produced waves of orgasmic joy all over her body!

A part of Kathryn wanted to reciprocate, but she was too overwhelmed by how unfathomably masterful her partner had become. She didn’t dwell on it for long--everything felt so good...

Out of nowhere, everything started shaking. It took a little while, but Kathryn eventually regained her wits and became concerned that the cathedral was going to collapse on top of them.

“Wh-what’s happening?!” Kathryn cried out.

Chihaya seemed to be aware of the shaking, but her reaction was far more nonchalant than Kathryn would’ve expected.

“Don’t worry, just follow my lead.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?! I’m very much in the dark here!”

Chihaya shushed her as a literal impossibility materialized. A mind-bogglingly colossal form appeared, defying both comprehension and the size of the cathedral.

To Kathryn, she added quietly, “Brace yourself.”

“For what?”

“You.”

From that one word alone, Kathryn was petrified. Its voice was completely unlike anything she had heard before. It dominated her mind, deafening her and projected the words directly into the deepest levels of her consciousness. There was no ignoring it.

“That’s me!” Chihaya replied nonchalantly. “What can I do for ya?”

“You knew exactly what would happen if you returned.”

“Yeah, yeah, save your breath. I get it.”

Panic and apprehension began to sink in. Kathryn frantically whispered, “Chihaya! For what?!”

“So be it. If you think you can disregard the curse set upon you, then you will suffer the consequences.

“My, you’re awfully sure about that! Sure would be unfortunate for you if something unexpected happened, wouldn’t it?” She turned to Kathryn, winked, and shoved her hand deep into her pussy, causing them both to explode in unfathomable orgasmic ecstasy and brilliant golden light.

A beam of raw power connected the two. Chihaya lifted off the stone floor, bringing Kathryn with her. Despite the ecstasy roaring in both their minds, they remained perfectly calm... at least for the moment. They turned to face each other, reached out to each other, and moved closer, shortening the beam’s distance.

They embraced. The beam became an all-encompassing explosion of power beyond power, ecstasy beyond ecstasy, love beyond love. It resonated through the universe and beyond like a heavenly choir. Compared to all that, the eldritch being never stood a chance.

After an eternity of incomprehensible euphoria, Chihaya and Kathryn eventually returned to their senses. They found themselves casually ignoring gravity and floating within the chamber--pitch black, save for Chihaya’s divine radiance. Her body was nearly twice its original size and significantly fuller to match, to the point that the very definition of fertility retroactively changed from Her existence alone. She was covered in glowing runic tattoos symbolizing intimacy, lust, love, birth, life, creation, and so on. They were most intricate and discernible around Her womb, becoming stretched into simple stripes spanning all around her exquisite body. Her dark hair quadrupled in length, tearing apart the scrunchie that had kept it tied in a simple ponytail. It was dotted with literal stardust, producing a stunning recreation of the night sky like a cross between a majestic, flowing cape and the train behind a wedding dress.

I am reborn. Chihaya’s voice was less heard and more felt by Her lover.

“I... I am honored to have been of assistance, my Goddess!” Kathryn giddily responded. She eyed the milk pouring from Chihaya’s huge, luxurious breasts, but couldn’t bring herself to actually start drinking it.

It is most appreciated. However, you may still devote yourself to Me further, if you wish.

“Of course! What do I need to do?”

Chihaya simply smiled and parted Her legs, lifting them up like a pair of pillars accenting the center of her boundless majesty: her vagina, literally radiant with pleasure and love. Kathryn instantly knew what to do, but she found herself nervous. Terrified. Aroused. All at the same time.

Chihaya was... everything. Nothing... besides her beautiful Goddess.

Reality vanished.

Melted.

Melted like her mind as the walls closed in around her.

Melting in the warmth of the only thing that mattered.

All that ever was.

She inhaled, not caring if it was her last.

Heaven.

Her body melted.

Her mind.

Her very soul.

Everything was gone.

Only Chihaya.

Only Ambrosia.

Ad infinitum.

Darkness. She felt numb. She wasn’t sure where she was or even what had happened, though it was proving difficult to focus on anything.

Her eyes eventually found a single point of light. She didn’t know what to make of it, but it captivated her all the same. As she stared at it, it began to grow, ever so slowly. She was gradually able to make out details inside the point, though none of them were familiar. Its growth increased and the point enveloped her, flooding her with a blinding, disorienting light.

She was sitting on something, though she was in too much of a daze to see or feel around to get a better idea. She simply remained there for a while, letting her senses gradually return to her.

As her eyes’ focus improved, she realized the blinding light was sunlight. She was outside--a warm breeze flowed through her hair. It almost felt like she woke up in the Garden of Eden.

She stood up to investigate her surroundings... only to freeze in astonishment.

To call it the Garden of Eden would be a grievous understatement. An endless vista of trees dotted with fruits and flowers, mountains towering high above the clouds, floating islands filled the sky. It was all so positively teeming with life, both familiar and alien, but living in blissful harmony. She had no idea how it came to be, but she innately knew it was right... somehow.

On instinct, she turned around and found Chihaya there, causing her lapse in memory to return instantly. “My goddess! I... what’s...?”

“Oh, come now, Kathy--you need not be so formal. We’re equals now!”

“Equals?”

“Well, first things first: that demon we encountered earlier was responsible for sealing me into a human form and suppressing my memories. He didn’t have the power to actually kill me, so he did the next best thing instead, hoping I’d never find my way back into what humans now call Gakkel Ridge. And then, while you were eating me out--really well, I might add--you became so invested in the act that you dissolved into me. I in turn gave birth to you once again, making you a goddess of equal caliber to myself. Take a look at yourself--you’ve got my tattoos!”

Kathryn was left speechless and wide-eyed.

“Well, I suppose it’s a lot to take in all at once. But on a more important note...” Chihaya moved her arms aside, emphasizing her huge, luxurious breasts producing a pair of milk waterfalls. “I know you were eyeing these earlier. Don’t you want to try some?”

Kathryn broke into a sheepish smile. Chihaya sat down and patted her thighs. Kathryn was a bit awed by the sight of them alone. She slowly lowered herself next to Chihaya and gently positioned her head over her lover’s thighs. They were so incredibly soft that it almost felt like she melted into them. She could stay here, utterly content, for all eternity.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, my love?”

“Hm?” Kathryn opened her eyes, to find Chihaya’s overflowing teat dangling in front of her face. “Oh! I’m sorry, I... got a bit distracted.”

“No problem. Enjoy.”

Kathryn began sucking on the breast, drinking an endless flow of heavenly nectar. It, like the ambrosia, was also quite addictive, but it had more of a calming effect on her.

This is nothing short of heaven itself, she cooed telepathically.

Orders of magnitude better, actually, Chihaya corrected. Though I have to admit, if you weren’t here with me, it wouldn’t be the same.

My thoughts exactly. A beat. Um, so we’re goddesses now? Do we have responsibilities now, or can we just do whatever we want?

Chihaya replied, Well, we’re free of any sort of obligations given to us by higher powers--we are the higher powers now! However, I want to spread our influence across the planet and hopefully beyond. We may be capable of traversing the entire universe in no time at all, but our followers are far from that level. That will require a substantial amount of energy... which I believe will be delivered to us in just a few seconds.

Hm? What do you mean?

Look behind you.

Kathryn was enjoying drinking Chihaya’s milk far too much to stop, so she instead decided to try doing so with her new powers, which worked effortlessly and exactly as she expected.

Three dozen B83 nuclear bombs just broke the sound barrier and were falling from the sky, directly at them. Neither of them paid them any mind, letting them explode and rain down fiery death over a radius of 35 miles... or at least that’s how it appeared to the US military personnel at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. It was in response to the world’s sudden and abrupt transformation. Fortunately for them, the source of the change was easily identified.

Unfortunately for them, 43.2 megatons somehow proved entirely ineffective in destroying them, though they wouldn’t have the opportunity to attack again or even verify that their strike was useless before the goddesses’ ‘retaliatiation’.

All the barrage of nuclear fire did was make them even more unimaginably powerful. The perpetual bliss accompanying their divinity noticeably increased, though despite that, Chihaya sighed.

They don’t understand. They have no chance of ever understanding.

What now?

Well, it’s our job to make the impossible possible. So let’s make them understand anyway!

Chihaya and Kathryn’s minds were effectively one and the same, so Kathryn instantly understood what Chihaya had in mind. They expanded the reach of their minds, locating the rogue faction almost instantly. All it took was a stray thought from Kathryn to rewrite the personnel at the installation from the ground up. Their fear of the unknown evaporated, their weak physiologies enhanced a hundredfold, and most importantly their libidos were magnified a thousandfold. The new world order was here and they embraced it wholeheartedly and enthusiastically. What alternative was there, anyway?

While Kathryn continued probing the planet for more stragglers, Chihaya searched the planet for more nuclear weapons. She pinpointed every stockpile on the planet in less than a second and simultaneously gained control of it all. She didn’t intend to use them--at least, not in the conventional sense.

With an irresistible telekinetic grip on each and every bomb, she navigated them all before her and proceeded to bombard herself, flooding her and Kathryn in explosions and causing them to become orders of magnitude more powerful.

Chihaya plucked one of the missiles out of the sky, then grew twelve times larger and plunged in between her legs like a dildo, detonating it inside her pussy with a tight squeeze of her thighs. The explosion was muffled, but her screams of ecstasy certainly weren’t--they echoed literally around the world. Kathryn in turn felt Chihaya’s explosive orgasm as if it was her own, causing her to double over. All sensation besides unending love and absolute euphoria faded into a dull, easily-ignored blur.

The two goddesses were high on the ultimate mixture of love and lust. The only thing that had any chance of rivaling that was their ambition. They turned their attention skyward, to the sun. Its power would allow their bliss to begin spreading all throughout the universe. They each raised an arm and unleashed beams of inconceivable power towards the sun, enveloping it in a complex ribbon-like structure. It began siphoning solar energy and transmitting it down the beam and into the goddesses, who in turn created more ribbons to surround the Earth.

Just like that, the sun, effectively the source of all life known to the human experience, became a battery powering their endless glory, which allowed them to utterly recreate humanity in their image. Their bliss was unleashed on the entire species, granting them ineffable beauty, ecstasy, and power. They were collectively freed from the yokes of food, water, air, and even gravity. With that, expanding their goddesses’ bliss to the stars and beyond was an inevitability, foregoing anything resembling a conventional space program.

The universe is finally ours for the taking! Kathryn chirped.

Indeed! It’s only a matter of time now!

Time... that gives me an idea! We could expand into and through the fourth dimension! We could always be at the peak of our power from the start of time!

Chihaya’s ethereal eyes widened with the possibilities racing through her mind faster than tachyons. Octillions of timelines slowly coalesced into wisps of vast nebulae, painted with every color imaginable and beyond.

Kathryn, you’re a genius! She embraced her lover. That demon wouldn’t have a chance of stopping us in the first place if we were always at our apex!

What’s stopping us from reaching back in time and resolving the problem before it exists? Kathryn managed to open a small crevice into the fourth dimension, large enough in the third dimension to fit her arm in. So she did just that, feeling around the worldline to find the catalyzing incident which caused the demon to begin antagonizing them.

She had to stretch further than she initially expected, going back beyond even the formation of the sun.

Hang on... I’ve almost got it... there! Found him!

I-is he gone now?

Better! Kathryn chirped, pulling her arm out of the crevice and closing it. He and his entire species realized they were on a path of self-destruction and changed their ways! For the last 19 billion years, they’ve been devoted worshippers of ours, and their power has been ours all that time now!

Chihaya felt a new rush of power ripple through time to reach her in the present, though she was too stunned to react to it.

Now consider this! Kathryn continued. If we can become this powerful at the start of time, how insanely powerful would we be in the present day?

Chihaya simply responded with a spontaneous orgasm of cosmic proportions, rivaling the Big Bang in sheer power. Kathryn’s body was swept away in the tide, but only while she let it. An instant later, she took full control of it and caused it all to detonate, producing another orgasmic explosion that put the Big Bang to shame.

And why even stop with the fourth dimension? We can ensure every universe and every timeline knows our bliss!

In response, every form of life all around them let out a thunderous moan of ecstasy, worshiping their new goddesses.