Momentum
#12 of The Prisoner
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WARNING - This chapter contains references to sex and homosexuality. Any who would be insulted or disgusted by this, or any children under 18 years of age (or 21 in certain areas) should NOT read this story, and by reading past this point, you affirm that you are legally mature and able to handle the subjects mentioned above. Also, the writer is not responsible for any problems which arise by not complying with this warning. Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoy.
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Chapter 12 - Momentum
The bright morning light streams in through a window I find myself ill able to place at first. Rolling to one side, and trying to use a blanket to block out the offending light, I let out a jaw-popping yawn. A thought pops into my head briefly, something about a dream, perhaps a wet-dream even. It's been years since I've had one of those. But why else would I have envisioned Hret the way I did?
No, I think to myself. That was too real. Hret and I definitely connected last night. I don't know how, or why, but I could truly feel him as I was taking care of things. But why would I even think about him in that way, at that time? Despite that we've perhaps become a bit more capable of standing one another, in no way am I interested in him in a sexual sense. And I didn't think he saw me that way either.
Did I make it all up in my head? I was so tired last night that I suppose I could've imagined it. Whatever the case, it won't do to dwell on it so early in the morning. I need some food before I can think properly, and before that, I need to use the bathroom.
Getting up out of bed, I put on Ken's robe, walking with a decidedly brisk pace to the bathroom, in the middle of the hallway. As I approach it, however, I notice the light on, a shadow shifting about against the opened door. The shape of a tail immediately tags the shadow's owner as Hret. I approach the doorway slowly, peeking inside.
There stands the Lorae, naked as he always is, rubbing at his face, as though he'd just seen something beyond his own understanding. A few more times, he rubs his eyes, then speaks, barely loud enough for me to hear. "Can't believe I thought of him last night."
That statement sparks my curiosity. If he thought of me also... but that 'him' could refer to anyone, I can't jump to conclusions. Before I get very far in any line of reasoning, I hear a startled gasp, then the door-handle thudding against the rubber stopper placed on the wall, for obvious reasons. Hret stands there in the door for only a moment, then breathes a sigh of relief.
"Don't sneak up on me like that, Xavier." His eyes shift about sheepishly, and he slowly walks forward, suddenly appearing unsure of himself. "Uh, how long were you standing there?" He asks, as though my answer would change the course of his future.
Shaking my head a bit, I answer, "Only a couple seconds, why?"
His stance instantly becomes more relaxed. And he shows a smile, however faint, for the first time that morning. "Nothing, was just talking to myself." He moves to slip past me, but I move forward, grasping his arm to stop him.
As he turns back to look at me, his eyes seem troubled, and realization starts to slip into place. "Hret, who were you thinking about last night?" He immediately looks away again, trying feebly to shrug out of my grip, but I don't let up. "Please tell me. I... I heard you last night, and I know you heard me. Something happened..."
He again tries to shrug from my grasp, pushing my hand from his arm when he's unsuccessful. "Nothing happened. It was a dream, that's all."
As he walks away, I remember something from my time spent in the magical forest. Steeling my resolve, I speak to him. "When I was with Crvesh, he told me something." Mentioning the late Lorae Prince halts Hret in his tracks. At least I know he's listening. "One night, I had a dream. It was frightening, and vivid. It foretold his death. When I told him I'd had a dream, a nightmare... he told me that when people in his village dream, it always means something."
Approaching him again, I place my hand on his arm, more reassuringly than restrictively. "Hret, if you'd had a dream, you'd think more of it than that. Something happened to me last night too. I don't know what to make of it. I'm going to use the bathroom, then head downstairs. It smells like Ken's been cooking again. After breakfast, we'll... try and sort this out." I leave him with that statement, hoping he'll be more open to discussion.
Once finished with the bathroom, down the stairs I go, walking in to see Hret discussing something with Ken. As usual, once Ken starts in on his question and answer sessions, they tend to run on forever. Hret became a victim without even knowing it.
"So you said last night that your whole race lives in a magically created dimension? Absolutely fascinating! Does it need maintaining?" Ken asks, rather excitedly, I've noticed. I'm sure he's wanted to question one of the Lorae ever since he discovered they exist.
Hret answers as best he can. "Well, no, not that I know of. No one does anything to keep it around, it's just always been there."
Ken doesn't seem satisfied with that answer, though. "Well, there must at least be legends about how your home came to be. Anything at all?"
And Hret takes this response in stride. "Well, there's an old faerie tale about how our home came into existence. No one knows if it's true or not, but supposedly, when there were many more of us in existence, there was a great battle, between Humans and Lorae. Our ancestors could see the war ending poorly for them, so they all got together and decided on a course of action. In order to preserve our race, thousands of our kind banded together for one purpose: to create a magical world, where the survivors of our kind could retreat to, and live apart from the humans."
Ken continues flipping flap-jacks on his skillet, moving seamlessly to flipping sausage slices. "So, a great many of your kind gave their lives, so a few might survive?"
Hret only nods, glancing over at me with a wary gaze in his eyes, as I take a seat next to him. "Well, so the story goes. There's... maybe five-hundred of us living there now. Maybe less."
At this, Ken seems mildly alarmed, almost missing his rhythm with the sausages. Almost. "Only five-hundred? Just how many went into that side-dimension of yours?"
Hret shrugs, not really understanding his alarm. "Only about fifty or so. We're doing quite well anymore, all things considered."
The notion calms Ken a bit, though as he loads up two of his serving plates with his prepared meal, he still has a few more questions. "Wait, I thought you Lorae fled to your separate world a long time ago? How have fifty members of a species in a flourishing ecological habitat only gained tenfold of their population in so long?"
Chuckling lowly, Hret explains, "Well, we aren't rabbits, as you humans would say. There's a fair portion of our population whom have chosen a same-sex partner, and no offspring will come from that. And even of the families consisting of two opposite-sex partners, there doesn't tend to be more than one or two offspring per pair. There may be some exceptions, but at the same time, so many families have no offspring at all that it balances out. Every generation, we would only tend to gain about one percent on our population, all deaths and births considered."
Ken sets the serving plates on the table in front of us, flap-jacks, sausage links, and bacon strips. As I start to transfer some of this delicious meal to my plate, our host speaks up again, on his way to fetch milk and orange juice from his refrigerator. "I suppose that's not so hard to understand." Once three glasses, a gallon of milk, and a liter of orange juice sit on the table, Ken himself sits down, letting the two of us take what we will before getting some for himself. In the meantime, he asks, "So, what are your plans? I assume you don't want to just sit around here and relax for the rest of your lives, as much as I'd love the company."
After drizzling a little syrup on my flap-jacks, I reply to Ken, "Well, we need to figure out what's been going on out here lately. I'll use your computer for a little information gathering."
Ken seems satisfied with that. Once both Hret and I have our plates ready, Ken gets himself a serving, and we all take our time eating. Ken keeps throwing questions at Hret, whom, to his credit, doesn't seem the slightest bit annoyed with the arrangement. His ears start to twitch after a while, which I believe may be a sign of annoyance in them. Ken, of course, doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary. By the end, Hret's told him all about his family, about the tragedy in the experimental settlement, and a bit more about his magic. That last bit took quite a bit of prodding by my friend.
With breakfast over, Ken takes our plates, and goes about washing them. "I'm gonna use your computer, Ken." I say, not really expecting anything but an affirmative, which he gives me. Beckoning for Hret to follow, I make my way out of the kitchen, and down the hall, to Ken's computer room. It isn't much, really. He mostly uses it to play games, I've noticed. Still, for checking news headlines, it'll do.
But before that, there are things that Hret and I need to discuss. Once in the room, I pull one of the wooden chairs over close to the wheeled computer chair, and motion toward it. "C'mon, we've gotta talk this out."
He looks at me in confusion for a moment, then the realization sets in. He grumbles a bit, but sits down as I asked. Fiddling with my hands for a few moments, I finally begin. "So, whatever happened to me happened to you too, right?"
"I think." He replies. "Not sure what happened to you."
I pause at this. It's not too difficult to understand why he was so embarrassed this morning. Now that I'm going to have to explain what happened to me, I just can't bring myself to say it. How is it normal to think of Hret, the one who murdered Crvesh, in that way? Then again, I suppose Crvesh and I falling in love isn't all that normal either.
Finally, Hret takes care of the responsibility for me. "Fine, alright? I thought about you while I was masturbating last night."
At this, though, I shake my head. "No, not just that. We didn't just think of one another..." I realize a moment too late that I'd just admitted to thinking of him. No going back now, I suppose. After a moment's surprised pause, I continue. "At least, I know I didn't just think of you. I FELT you there with me. It felt like, everything you could feel, I could feel too. Was I just imagining it?"
My unsure look brings a quick answer from him, thankfully. "No, you didn't just imagine that. I just... don't see how it's possible. I wasn't using any magic, and I doubt you were either. I don't even know how magic could do that..."
Nodding to him, I continue his thought. "Right, I don't know either. And I haven't felt anything like that since last night. Do you think it was the excitement that brought it on?"
Now I think I see him blush. It seems odd, almost. "I don't think I want to know, honestly." He sits up a bit straighter, and looking down, I can see why. He's gotten a bit hard, probably from remembering yesterday, his sheath filling out between his furry thighs. I try not to let him know that I saw, but when I glance up at his eyes again, they've lowered down to my groin as well. I feel the reason, without looking. Seems I'm making quite a tent out of Ken's robe at the moment.
Even after spending a little time amongst the Lorae and their nudism, I haven't gotten over my embarrassment yet. So I cross my legs before continuing, and it helps return Hret's attention to my face instead of my crotch. "Well, what about the story of the brothers. You said they could tell what the other was feeling even hundreds of miles apart. Do you think that could be happening to us?"
Hret's ears perk up, and he looks at me with a sudden realization. "I didn't think of that before... but now that you mention it, it doesn't sound too far-fetched. But I wonder why it only happened when..." As he starts that last sentence, one of his hands slips down between his legs, his eyes following the motion. He gives his sheath a nice squeeze in his grip, and immediately glances up at me, having seen my hips jump up. I felt it too, the warmth of his paw, the endorphin rush.
I look up at him, smiling a little, "I guess that proves we didn't imagine it. I still don't understand why we don't feel anything else, though. It makes me think the brothers only shared their connection through sex, and that doesn't seem right."
Getting a laugh out of Hret makes me feel privileged, enough that I forget about my erection long enough to uncross my legs. Hret doesn't seem to have any problems with it, anyway. "Well, I don't think it's like that either. But I think it would make sense if it worked like the magic. You know how the magic we can create through touch is weak, because of how distant we've been? What if the same is true of the bond between us?"
Nodding, I lean forward a bit in the seat, thinking a bit. It makes sense. Though it doesn't make me feel any better. It's going to be much more difficult to bring out any kind of bond between Hret and I, than it was to bring out the bond Crvesh and I shared. "Well, even if we consider that true... how can we bring out that bond?"
Hret's hand lowers to his crotch again, without much warning, and the shock of pleasure makes me jump a bit. Enough so that the robe falls away from my lap, exposing the excitement I've been hiding to the Lorae's watchful eyes. "I think I know of one way." He says, grinning as he strokes the length up and down.
Unable to resist the sensations, I grasp at my own hard shaft, stroking the length of it up and down. Seeing him shiver in delight as the sensations become mirrored in him brings a grin to my face. Maybe heightening the bond between us won't be so difficult after all.
Slowly, the wet sounds of two hands tugging at their owner's thick shafts fills the room, the scent of arousal, of male musk, and of thick pre-cum being taken in with every breath. This feels right, like the bond from last night, but not more than it either. There's still far too much missing from it. Rising from my chair, I move over to sit astride his thighs, my eyes catching his for a moment, a grin tugging at my lips.
Without another word, he draws me close with his left arm, the right hand, the one he'd been stroking with, takes both of our lengths into its grip, and starts to work them up and down. Feeling him physically, this way, forces the bond between us to grow stronger. The line between his being and mine starts to fade away, our pleasures melding into one powerful one. I groan out in ecstacy, having to remember to keep it down, so as not to alarm Ken.
As the heat of his body grows, so does my desire to be near it, my hands sifting through his chest fur, up to his shoulders, holding on as his cock and mine rub together slickly. I can almost feel my groin giving way, but somehow, something holds me back. I get the distinct notion that it's Hret, somehow connecting with me enough to hold back my orgasm, as he attempts to hold back his own.
After a time, I start to become desperate for the release his hand just isn't bringing. Without any hesitation, I lean forward, and kiss him. The position of our lips is awkward at first, but soon, he's getting into it too, our lips rubbing against each others', tongues sliding forward to meet. At the juncture of those two flavor receptors, my climax finally goes off.
Not without Hret, of course. Both of us erupt at once, the hot seed splashing up onto his chest and mine for a few long seconds, then the flow subsides, and both of us relax. With his hand covered in our collective cum, Hret brings it up to his mouth and licks it clean. He does the same to the spattered white on his chest, wiping it away with his hand, then licking the hand clean. I look down at my own chest, a bit apprehensive about doing the same.
Hret notices this, of course. "Here, let me." He says, and leans in, lapping repeatedly directly at my skin. I chuckle softly, squirming once in a while, as it tickles slightly, but staying relatively still while he cleans me.
Once all of that warm liquid rests in his stomach, I draw up from his lap, blushing somewhat. "Heh, well, I suppose I could get used to doing that, if that's what it takes to bring out this power in us." Moving back over into my seat, I turn to the computer, finally, and get ready to start searching. "Alright, let's see..."
Before I can get even another word out, the door bursts open, Ken standing there and huffing for breath. "Both of you get out here, now. There's a news report you need to see." Thankfully, he doesn't seem to notice Hret's cock still jutting out from his groin.
Ken dashes back out of the room, apparently in a hurry to get back to the television. I stand up and pull the robe around myself a bit better, hoping to cover up my flagging erection just a bit, while Hret just gets up and goes, his shaft seeming to slip back into its sheath with little trouble as he goes ahead of me. I kind of envy him for that.
Back in the living room area, Hret and Ken are already watching the report. The news crew has set up in front of someone's house, where they're interviewing someone whom, I suppose, lives there. Hret seems to be in a bit of shock, and looking at the television again, I can see why.
That face is one I recognize. It's one of the hunters from when we first arrived back here in reality. Not just one of them, the one that had been in the lead. He's talking about how he saw one of those 'wolf-men' in the forest where he was out hunting. Ken just turns off the television after a bit, with a flick of the remote, tossing it to one corner of the couch. "That man's house is less than five miles from here. Xavier, Hret, you can't stay here anymore. They'll find you."
I look at him incredulously, stepping around in front of the couch to talk to him. My erection's long gone now. "What do you mean, Ken? Why would the government go to all the trouble to send out an investigation squad to this little town? It's just one guy saying that he saw Hret, and out in the country like this, where UFO sightings are a commonplace thing, I'd have thought a news story like that would be viewed more as something out of a tabloid."
Ken shakes his head, standing up to meet my eyes. "Xavier, before you came in, they interviewed another man who was part of the hunting party. He says their whole group just up and passed out, without reason. And the news reporter said the other men corroborated his story. If the government even has the slightest knowledge about the kinds of magic the Lorae can do, which they haven't released to the general public if they do, then how are they going to take a fantastical story like that? Especially when they're desperate to get their test subject back?"
Dread plays across Hret's face as he stares at the window. Looking out the same way he is, a similar expression plays across mine. At least twenty soldiers, fully armed, march toward the estate. It's as if they knew we were here the whole time. Ken, being the last to catch on, finally glances out the window, standing up with a resounding "Holy shit!" He grabs both of us by the arms, dragging us toward the back door before we can protest, though he stops as the windows facing the back show a similar situation. "Great, they've got us surrounded in here. If either of you two has any kind of plan, I'd love to know."
Hret speaks up before I can, nodding to me, "If we create a shelter, like we did in the woods, it should let us hide from them." I offer up my arm, and Hret starts to concentrate. His concentration gets more intense, but I can't sense that he's accomplishing anything.
Finally, I shake him out of his meditation, staring at him quizzically. "C'mon, Hret, this isn't the time to joke around." Instead of waiting for him to start again, I focus on creating the shelter instead. But nothing appears. "Wha..."
"Something's very wrong..." Hret begins. "We should be able to do this; we did it before, in the forest, there's no reason for it to be beyond our reach now." A moment's focus has Hret creating a small sphere of rock, letting it fall onto the hardwood floor and roll away like a marble. "This doesn't make sense. Magic like that works here, but... not the kind we need." He starts pacing back and forth slowly, mumbling to himself, probably trying to scour over the various things he's learned about magic in the time since he started studying it. Unfortunately, we don't have the time to wait for him.
"Listen, Hret, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but if we don't get out of here now, we'll be caught!" My words draw the Lorae from his thoughts, and he nods to me.
With the two of us back on track, Ken looks around, trying to think of something. "There's only a few windows on the ground floor that open wide enough for any of us to fit through, and the only doors are in front and in the back. This doesn't look good, you two."
There's a knocking on the front door. We don't need to guess who it is. The three of us make for the stairs, getting half-way up them just as the door gets broken down. As I glance back, I can see the glint of a pistol being removed from its holster. A laser sight focuses on Hret's back for a split second, before honing in on the back of my friend, Ken. "No! Ken, watch-"
I never get to finish my warning. The searing light of the laser pistol pierces through my friend's back, clear on through his chest, followed a misty spattering of blood, some of which stains Hret's fur. Bile rises in my throat, and I can barely contain my anger. Hret feels the same way. Somehow, I can tell. He and Ken formed a friendly sort of bond during the time we stayed here, and the pure hatred I can feel from him seems like it could melt iron.
Last night was only the beginning of our connection, this afternoon cementing the bond in our minds. Now, I can feel the true connection spreading through me. I can feel everything he feels. I know everything he knows, think everything he thinks. We are one mind, one spirit, directing two vessels. Both of our eyes have faded, the irises lost from view as a glow from within seeps forth, bright white light from mine, and the deepest pitch black from Hret's. Yet, we see everything. The house, the soldiers outside, the one inside, aiming his pistol at both of us, even ourselves, from an odd third person perspective.
Despite this odd perspective, my body still moves without much trouble, completely under my control. Hret isn't far behind, following after me with a low growl, which my human throat does its best to mimic. As the guard asks us for the third or so time to stay where we are, a focused blast of heat erupts from beneath him. In an instant, he's incinerated. Nothing but dust left. As we are now, there's no need to even be in contact with one another. We seem to command the elements, as though each of us are incarnations of nature.
Once one has been dealt with, the other fifty or so aren't so big a deal. All at once, any number of strange natural phenomena occur. A few soldiers are lucky, being incinerated within seconds by the same kind of heat the first one felt. Some other lucky ones are killed by the earth yawning wide beneath them, then crushing back closed, entombing their bodies before they can so much as blink. Still more are pushed down onto the ground with such force that their ribs are crushed into their lungs and heart. Even this death is fast compared to the ones enclosed in a sphere of water. They're left to drown, without much thought. Still more are afflicted with the same thing as befell the hunters in the forest, their lungs deprived of the oxygen in the air, they slowly suffocate until they, too, die off.
But the worst, by far, would be those killed by my power, those killed by light. Their legs are swallowed into the earth, up to the knee, and light as strong as the sun surrounds them fully. Blindness is instantaneous, which is, perhaps, a relief for them, because their suffering comes in the form of the light burning their bodies just as the fire had, only monotonously slower. Each layer of skin burns away, the light searing deeper until the soldier finally passes out from the pain.
This crazed annihilation lasts nearly thirty minutes, though none but those killed by light live much longer than ten or so. Once the last soldier's mind shuts down forever, our wits slowly return to us. Our minds separate, our souls parting, to return to each of our flesh and bone vessels. And it isn't like we return to our bodies wondering what just happened, staring down the stairs at the charred remains of the soldier that shot Ken, and wondering in our minds 'what could possibly have caused that?'
No, we remember every detail. The rage that filled us did not cloud our minds, only connect them. I know I'd gladly gone along with the path of destruction. It seemed right at the time. But now, all I want to do is vomit. I nearly do, holding back the notion with all my power. All of this, Ken's death, this connection with Hret, spawned by hatred, all the soldiers killed by that hatred, it all comes at me at once. And hard.
My knees nearly buckle and give out beneath me. Hret barely manages to grab me before I plummet down the stairs, carrying me up them, and down the hallway, away from the grim scene that played out just half an hour ago. He brings me to a room, the room I stayed in last night, in fact, setting me down on the bed, and kneeling in front of me. Tears pour from my eyes, so much so that I can't see very well, a watery squiggle in front of me assumed to be Hret. The rest, I don't even care about.
"Ken... Ken..." I repeat over and over, while Hret tries futilely to wipe the tears from my face. Finally, he gives up, getting up to sit on the bed next to me, drawing me up onto his lap, and holding me while I cry into his chest fur. Slowly, though I can still feel myself sobbing, still feel the words leaving my mouth, all sound fades away. Everything fades away, the bed beneath us, the sunlight filtering in through the window, then the window itself, and the rest of the room, leaving both of us floating, it would seem.
I look up, no longer crying, at Hret, staring at his face with a look of confusion. His hand touches to my shoulder, and calms me. "Xavier, this is your subconscious."
My eyes gain a notion of understanding, and I calm a bit. "I see, we're bonded again?"
A nod from Hret's head answers my question, and I look about at the vast, grey nothingness around us, before looking back at him. "What happened to us back there?"
Hret draws me near, and I accept the embrace, leaning on him, even though weight is non-existent here. "It was our anger, I think. Maybe any strong emotion can cause the same thing. Here we are now, like this. Maybe our grief is what's causing it now."
A thought crosses my mind. "Or maybe that anger was like a breakthrough. Maybe we needed that to join together like this, to bond completely. But... why Ken..."
A finger touches to my lips, and I stop speaking. I don't really want to continue anyway. "Xavier, we can't bring him back. I know he meant a lot to you. Believe me when I say that. But... we have to think about what to do. The army won't let up with just this."
Shaking my head, I look up at him. "Of course, you're right. After we bury Ken, we'll find a place to hide away for a few days. Maybe by then, they'll consider us escaped, and move on." Closing my eyes again, I open them to find myself in the room I used last night. Rubbing my eyes, I stand up, and Hret's hand carefully stroking over my shoulder as we walk back out into the hall.
Burying Ken is probably the most difficult experience I've yet had, very much on par with losing Crvesh. One could say that the harshness of that first experience helped to prepare me for this, but... I don't think anything can prepare someone to lose a long-time friend. Hret and I created a little private burial, out by Ken's personal garden, creating a small headstone to mark his place. After saying a few prayers for him, I stand up, and nod to Hret.
I've obviously got something more than just Ken on my mind, and Hret notices without too much trouble. "What's the matter?" He asks directly.
I answer as plainly as I can. "Remember back at the house, when we tried to create that little hiding place?" He nods, then realization shines in his eyes.
He seems rather relaxed, despite this information, so I let him take over. "No, I think I know what the problem was. You see, I'd forgotten that we weren't exactly close to the earth when we tried to make that little hideaway. We have to be in contact with natural soil in order to create something like that. I'd remembered a little after we took off up the stairs, but by that time, it wasn't really going to help us." He takes my hand, and opens up a small hiding place without any trouble. "Hmm, seems we're getting a bit closer. Things like this are becoming rather easy."
Hret motions for me to enter, and I force myself to smile for him, though I can't manage to make it anything but half-hearted. Happiness isn't an emotion I'm ready to feel just yet.
copyright 2006 - Neiko Mitaki
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