Finally! Just one more night, and I'd be in. One more night, after months of tests, tasks, and humiliations. But it was worth it to be a member of the Society.

 

There was only ever an opening when someone was ousted (which to my knowledge, had never happened before) or died. One member had recently succumbed to injuries from a car accident, which had left their spot open.

 

I had beat out dozens of other applicants and was finally invited to become an initiate.

 

And tonight was my initiation ceremony.

 

I sat on a chair in the centre of a circle made up of the other eleven members of the Society. The chair rotated slowly, I wasn't sure how, but I made eye contact with each member in turn as they passed through my field of vision.

 

The group completed the traditional chants, and I made the traditional agreements. It was almost like a baptism, only not religious.

 

Finally, at long last, we were on the last step. The chair stopped rotating and the Grand Marshall approached me.

 

"And with this final step, you shall become one of us. Once we begin, there is no going back. We will not pay any heed to any protests you may have, and you may not know beforehand what is going to happen. Do you agree?"

 

I nodded my head apprehensively. I was scared this part might be painful or something, but the Society was powerful and I was committed to becoming one of them.

 

The Grand Marshall held out their hand and another member (I wouldn't be allowed to learn their identities until after initiation) placed something that looked like a helmet in it.

 

"Now, you may not speak for the remainder of the evening."

 

I nodded again.

 

I felt the helmet being placed on my head. It covered my eyes and ears. Maybe it was some kind of sorting hat shtick to determine my robe colour or something?

 

Then, I noticed sights and sounds were starting to make themselves known and increase in intensity. I started to hear... voices. I recognized the Grand Marshall's voice and realized that it was the voices of all eleven other members layered on top of each other. With so many layers, I couldn't make out what any individual voice was saying. I also noticed colours starting to swirl in my line of vision, almost pulsing with the voices. I started to feel extremely relaxed, as if I was tucked into bed with several weighted blankets. It felt incredible, just by itself.

 

The touches began when I slumped over in my chair, too relaxed to stay fully upright.

 

Lightly at first, gentle touches trailed down my body. My hair, my neck, my arms, my legs, my chest, too many hands to keep track of gently stroked any part of my body they could reach with a downward motion, pulling my mind down with it.

 

The touches became more forceful, more insistent. Between the voices, the colours, and the touches, it was absolute bliss. It was worth the months of toil, of competition. Of true, dedicated, hard work. Even if it was all just for this moment, rather than a lifetime membership in the Society, it would have been worth it. The pleasure started to rise through my body, and it felt incredible.

 

I let out a soft moan as I vaguely registered the presence of drool down my face and chest.

 

I whimpered as the touches momentarily stopped and was barely even aware enough to notice my clothes being cut off with several pairs of scissors.

 

My ears full of eleven layered voices, my eyes full of pulsating patterns, the touches of 22 hands began anew.