The Leader

[enthalpy]

The place is the Earth, the time is the future. Following a series of catastrophic wars, humanity is back on its feet again. The concept of a 'nation state' is no more, as it was that ideology that lead to its ruin. Now, groups of humans live in tribes and clans in a territory. Each territory is ruled by a 'leader'. The leader is chosen either by lineage, intelligence, physical strength or a combination of these factors. Gender has no relevance, and the leader can be challenged at any time. In the Omega clan, John rules his people with an iron fist. He is the embodiment of the alpha male : tall, handsome, masculine, brave, chiseled features, muscular, intimidating, and an expert at instilling fear and spotting weakness in his opponents. To date, he has left a bloody trail of dead challengers behind him. At the end of a typical challenge, his opponent's dead body is always hung from a tree, serving as sustenance for the local vultures. In fact, one can usually tell the beginning of the end of John's opponent by the vultures circling above.

There is also an unwritten rule that the leader of a tribe can also be challenged by the leader of another tribe. It happens to be an unwritten rule because to date, all the tribes have been so preoccupied with infighting that they haven't had the time or opportunity to fight the other tribes. The leaders seldom worry about this unwritten rule, but deep in the back of their minds, they know that sooner or later, they will have to contend with an outsider.

With John being such an awesome specimen, he eventually ran out of opponents. This lead to a lack of infighting, which in turn lead to the accelerated growth of his clan and territory. Eventually, his territory encroached on that of a neighboring clan.

Because human civilization had had to start all over again, tribes often knew very little about their neighbors. This lack of information could work in different ways. If the leader of a tribe was expansionist, chances were he would issue a challenge to his neighboring rival to expand his territory. Conversely, if the leader was not expansionist, he would try to maintain the status quo.

And now, as the leader of his people John had a decision to make : was he going to issue a challenge to the leader of the other tribe, or would he extend an olive branch of peace to his new neighbor ?

Given John's nature, he always believed that the best defense was a good offense. He was however far from reckless, and he knew that he needed information regarding his new neighbors before he could make an informed decision. Thus he sent his best scout to gather information about the new neighbors. The scout put on his camouflage and carefully entered the territory of the new clan. What he saw truly surprised him. These new neighbors were much more advanced than they were, both technologically and socially. Although their society was not as advanced as the old Earth, it was probably the most civilized place on the new Earth. The biggest shock was still awaiting the scout however. The scout had been so overwhelmed by his new surroundings, that he never noticed the two tall and large women that were now standing behind him. In fact they had been standing there for the past minute observing him, when they finally realized that he was a spy. By the time the spy had become aware of their presence, it was too late. Each of the two large women was now firmly holding onto one of his hands, and dragging him away to be presented to their leader. The spy tried his best to get free, but the two large women didn't even seem to notice his struggles. They casually conversed with one another about his potential fate, totally ignoring his protests and struggles the entire time.

The spy soon found himself in the presence of the tallest and most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Seated on what seemed like a high throne, she looked magnificent. About half of her dark brown hair had been made up into a bun, and the other half spilled down around her face, shoulders and back in tresses like a waterfall. Her appearance was an exotic one, a testament to her European, Asian and African genetic cocktail. Her face was truly feminine and delicate, accentuated by her purplish eyes that were hypnotic and mesmerizing. Her honey colored skin had turned bronze from the intense sun. She was wearing a magnificent gold necklace around her long and graceful neck, which lead to delicate shoulders, and the most properly proportioned pair of large breasts that were anatomically possible. Her silk blouse ended above her navel, decorated by a purple diamond. Her shoulders tapered down to her proportionally narrow waist, which further flared out to her hips and full buttocks. Her short skirt revealed long grace legs, with calves and thighs that seemed to be carved out of ivory, yet maintaining a feminine glow. In short, she seemed like one of those ancient greek statues that had come to life.

When the scout had finally absorbed the magnificence in front of him, she stood up to her full height of seven feet and approached him. Her four inch high heels clicked solidly on the floor, sending a shiver down his spine each time. He had to crane his head upwards and backwards to make eye contact with her, now that she stood 7' 7" tall in her heels and bun. The magnificent woman spent the next minute looming down at him, saying nothing. The scout found himself shivering uncontrollably. Finally, he couldn't stand the silence. With a quivering and shivering voice he went on to explain who he was, and why he had been sent there. Without uttering a single word, the leader went to an adjoining room. Returning with a pink envelope, he handed it to the the scout. Then she went back to her high throne and sat down. Needing no further instructions, the spy bolted out of the building, and ran as fast as he could back to his own camp. He spent the next half hour explaining everything to his leader. Finally he handed the envelope to the leader. The leader opened the envelope, finding a single pink page inside. Unfolding the paper, he was astonished to find the following word inscribed on it in blood : "COME !"

For the first time in his life, John was at a loss. He wasn't sure what to do. After some brainstorming, he realized that his choices were limited. If he launched an attack without provocation, he would seem cowardly, unchivalrous, or lacking in judgement. If he reciprocated by asking her to 'come', he would seem lacking in originality. Ultimately, he decided that if his present image was to be maintained among his people, he would have to go to her, and eventually become victorious, whatever 'victorious' meant, given the set of circumstances.

Now that he decided he was going to her, the next choice was as to how. Would he be going alone, or with a group of his men ? Should he wear his battle gear and go mounted on his black horse, or not ? And finally, and most important of all, what would he do once he got there and actually met her ? One thing that had been bothering him since the outset was going to be their height differential. With him standing at an even 6 feet tall, she was going to be at least 12 inches taller than him, if not taller, based on the shoes she would chose, and how she would do her hair.

He summoned his advisors, and they spent the next several hours thinking. Finally, it was decided that John would go with 10 of his most trusted men. They also concluded that he should not go in military gear or mounted, for that could be seen as a potential provocation, or sign of an impending invasion. Instead, it was decided that he and his men should dress as smartly as possible. With regards to the height differential, the advisors noted that ultimately what mattered most was that John and his men were all still at least six feet tall, and that they had the gender advantage, which would more than compensate for any height difference. With regards to what would they do once they got there, it was decided that it would be best to act as polite and chivalrous as possible, for this was not a declaration of war, nor a confrontational setting.

And so, the day after John had received his instructions, he and ten of his most able and trusted men made the short journey to their new neighbors. As soon as they had arrived, they were received by a delegation of women. John and his men failed to notice that there were exactly 10 women waiting for them. This was because these were the 10 most beautiful women they had ever laid eyes on, in addition to being the tallest. In appearance and height, they were very similar to their leader, except that their tallest one was still an inch short of 7 feet tall.

And so, in a moment the men found themselves facing the leader of the women, who was seated regally on her high throne. John instantly made eye contact with her, and she appeared exactly as the spy had described her. He needed more than a moment to fully take in the vision in front of his eyes. As his mind was still busy processing all the information it was being bombarded with, she had risen to her full height, stepped off of her throne and walked right up to him. By the time John realized this, he was eye level with the cusp of her magnificent breasts. Once again John was overwhelmed by her presence and needed a moment to regain his senses. He could feel the warmth of her body, and smell her intoxicating perfume at the same time. Once he had regained his bearings, he found himself looking upwards and upwards past her magnificent breasts, long graceful neck, and angelic face, into her hypnotic and mesmerizing purple eyes. She was even more magnificent than the scout had described. Once again, he found himself lost and disoriented. This time he was lost in her eyes. She instantly realized this and used it to her full advantage. She continued to look into his eyes with her piercing ones for the next few minutes, keeping silent the entire time. Soon John forgot where he was, and almost who he was. By the time he was back on Earth, he found himself hand in hand with her as she led him to a series of mirrors that had been set up side by side. His rough and masculine hand had disappeared in her larger and softer feminine one, and by the time he realized what was going on, he found himself standing side by side with her, and hand in hand, staring at their reflections in the mirror. He also realized that the other ten men were in exactly the same predicament. Now all the men could do was to stare at their respective reflections. John found himself side by side with her, his head at the same level as her gravity defying breasts. He followed her magnificent form all the way up her body, and realized that she was wearing the exact same ensemble as his spy had described the day before.