{"sf1_id":220152,"sf2_id":"ynZG7lP1","title":"Storm","author":"Judah Vishas","words":3871,"posted_at":"2011-02-07T02:21:00.000Z","tags":["Cougar","Feline","Gay","Lion","M/M","No-Yiff"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/220152-storm","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/ynZG7lP1","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/b3/c9/b3c9e2b5-be6b-45cf-84c0-2642ddf20a38","description":"","content":"An unnatural wind tore through the clouds around the cliff where they stood. The elder feline clapped  \nhis paws.  \n  \n\"Impressive, Molan.\" He said, turning to his pupil. \"However, you've still barely scratched the surface.\"  \nBa'al stepped to the edge. In one fluid motion, he swung his arms out, then drew his paws inward to  \nhis belly, then up to his chest, inhaling deeply before thrusting them sharply outward. A gust of  \nfreezing wind ripped through the sky, but this one was massive, cutting a great path several meters  \nlong in the clouds surrounding them. The cougar turned to face Molan. \"Keep practicing. The village  \nmade a good choice in giving you to me for training.\" He said, patting the young lion on the back before  \nleaving the ledge.  \n  \nAs the elder storm god collapsed into the ragged chair in his hovel on the cliff, Molan continued  \npracticing as he'd been told. His first few attempts got him just little breezes and it frustrated him. The  \nfeline copied Ba'al's movements sharply and soon regretted it as the resulting blast of wind lifted and  \ncarried him off the cliff.\n\n\u0026nbsp; \"MASTER!\" Molan screamed. Ba'al shook his head. There was a flash and he was at the edge. He set  \nhis sight on the falling feline and pointed sharply at him. As Molan fell toward the forest below, he was  \nsuddenly surrounded in a sphere of light. Ba'al pointed upward, guiding the sphere back to the cliff.  \nWhen the younger feline was safe, the sphere dissipated, leaving him on his paws and knees,  \npractically kissing the ground.  \n  \n\"And _that_ is ball lightning.\" Ba'al said. \"Perhaps we should call it a day.\" The feline continued,  \ngrabbing a scrap of cloth and began twisting it from the ends.  \nMolan opened his mouth to protest, then thought better of it. He _had_ nearly died just then. \"I  \nguess you're right. Tomorrow's a big day.\"  \n  \n\"Oh is it?\" Ba'al asked, sliding large black beads and shells and such onto either end.  \n  \n\"Yes. Tomorrow is my coming of age.\" Molan replied, getting up off the ground and walking over to  \nBa'al. \"I'm finally turning eighteen and what exactly are you doing?\"  \n  \nThe cougar chuckled and pointed below Molan's waist. Much to the lion's chagrin, the wind that took  \nhim from the ledge also stripped him of his loincloth. He quickly turned away from Ba'al, covering  \nhimself. The cougar just laughed and stepped up behind him, tying the new loincloth around the lion's  \nwaist for him.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"Perils of being a storm god.\" He said. \"It's happened to me before.\" Ba'al held his arms around the  \nmortified lion. \"You're going to make a great successor, you know.\" He murmured into Molan's ear.  \nThe cougar could tell that his student was more concerned with how stupid he'd looked flying off the  \ncliff than being exposed to his master.  \n  \nMolan sighed. \"I'll be the best I can, but this is hard.\" The lion turned around in Ba'al's arms and  \nreturned his embrace. \"If I'm your successor, what will happen to you?\"  \n  \nThe cougar chuckled and patted Molan on the head. \"Do not worry about that. It is just in case  \nanything should ever happen to me.\"  \n  \n\"Well, what happened to _your_ master?\"  \n  \nBa'al shook his head. \"I would rather not say.\" The cougar said, releasing the lion. \"It is in the past and  \nshould stay there. Should it happen to me, you should leave me in the past as well.\" Ba'al said, falling  \nback onto his ragged throne. \"It is getting late. You should be going. I would not want you to run into  \nCa'ahri out there.\" The storm god chuckled darkly.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Ba'al was the only one who would speak so boldly of Ca'ahri. Ca'ahri was the night itself. In darkness,  \nhe was everywhere at once, keeping a watchful eye on Firemouth Village in the forest, but there was  \na price. For each year of protection, Ca'ahri demanded a new consort - a virgin from the village.  \nStepping outside the village at night would draw his eye and roaming the forest too long would draw  \nhim closer. There had been several disappearances of young males and females attributed to Ca'ahri's  \nlust. The only thing the night god wanted was sex, so the question was why they never made it back.  \nThe lion nodded and picked up his quiver and bow from beside Ba'al's throne. As he made his way to  \nthe winding stone path down from the Throne of Storms, the cougar's voice stopped him. \"Study well.  \nTomorrow you will have to jump down. Goodbye.\"  \n  \nMolan smirked. \"Goodbye, master.\" the lion said back. He whirled around on one foot, shifting the  \nwind around his body and lifting himself slightly off the ground. The feline ran down the winding path  \nback to Firemouth.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; That night, Molan lay in his bed - the pelts of several animals he'd killed spread over a patch of soft dirt  \n- idly twisting the beads on the loincloth his master had made for him. Tomorrow was supposed to be  \nan exciting day, but he couldn't shake the meaning of his coming of age. Unlike most of the other  \nteenagers of his village, he'd kept his paws and other appendages to himself, making him one of three  \nvirgins that Ca'ahri could demand. It also didn't help that his birthday fell on the first of the year, within  \nthat week was when the night god chose his new consort. Suddenly he regretted not taking one of  \nmany offers he'd gotten from the other young feline's in the village.  \n  \nHe couldn't be chosen, though. Molan was to be the next storm god. No one else in the village had the  \npower he possessed and they could not risk Ba'al's successor. He was fairly safe though. The other  \ntwo virgins were cousins.  \n  \nWith nothing more than the worry keeping him awake, the lion slowly drifted off to sleep, listening to  \nthe sparse few villagers still awake outside his hut. As he slept, he began to toss and turn, seemingly  \nunable to get comfortable. The lion grumbled in his sleep, adjusting the pelts beneath him to no avail.  \nAs he tossed, he felt a warm breeze surround him, shielding him from the cold, as he'd not slain  \nenough beasts to make himself a blanket.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; The lion didn't question it - not even as it seemed to lift him from his bed of fur - too happy to finally  \nbe comfortable. As he was lowered, his upper body seemed to stay elevated. A dull flash told why, as  \nBa'al appeared. The cougar sat with his back against the wall, holding the lion in his arms as he slept.  \nEven from the Throne of Storms, he could feel how bothered Molan was. To be honest, so was he. It  \nwas unlikely that the village would let Ca'ahri take the lion, even if it meant they wouldn't be  \nprotected for the year. There had to be a successor to the storm god.  \n  \nBut what if they did? Ba'al shook his head. It was a ridiculous notion. If this village gave his student  \naway, he'd rip them apart. It'd only be fair. Molan was all he had, even though not even the lion knew  \nit. If they let the night god take him, he'd take everything they had. Ba'al would set a cataclysmic storm  \nupon them and erase Firemouth from the face of the earth.  \n  \nThe cougar shook the thought from his mind. As he grew more upset, his anger at the thought began  \nto manifest itself as strong bursts of wind all around him that lifted the little things in the hut. Molan  \nstirred in his arms. Ba'al gently lifted the lion a little more, resting Molan's back on his chest as he ran  \nhis fingers through the lion's black mane.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Sometimes he wondered if the lion really slept so soundly that he never knew his master slipped into  \nhis hut and held him every night. It was symbiotic, really. The lion never slept well until Ba'al started  \ncoming to him at night (unbeknownst to Molan) and the cougar got to be close to Molan all the time. It  \nmeant he had to stay up all night to leave before the younger feline awakened and sleep til noon, but  \nit was worth it. Ba'al rested his head on Molan's, breathing him in. Spending so much time with him at  \nthe Throne, the lion had adopted the cougar's own scent, but there was also the somewhat unfamiliar  \nsmell of the forest around them.  \n  \nWith his heightened sense of time, Ba'al could feel dawn approaching too fast. He kissed the lion's  \nhead and sighed. He could also fell the day he'd have to stop this approaching. One day, Molan would  \nfind someone to make a family with. When he had someone to hold, the storm god would have to  \nkeep the distance he found himself unable to keep now.  \n  \n_He is young._ Ba'al thought. _You have no right to keep him from someone his from his own  \ndecade at least._ For a moment, vanity slipped into his mind. Despite being in his late forties, the  \ncougar looked to be only thirty-four at most. He shook his head. Molan still deserved the chance to  \nfind a mate of his own. He couldn't take the lion as his consort, no matter how much he wanted him.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Saddened by the fact, the storm god felt a tear roll down his cheek. It wasn't dawn, but that definitely  \nmeant it was time to go. With his emotions tied to his power, the sky would weep with him. Molan  \nwould have to tough out the remaining couple hours on his own. Ba'al carefully slipped out from under  \nthe lion and gently put his head down on the pelts beneath him. He pressed his lips to Molan's  \nforehead and in another dull flash, he was gone.  \n  \nBack up at the Throne of Storms, Ba'al stood at the edge of the cliff as the rain fell. He closed his eyes  \nand lifted his head, letting the rain soak through his fur. He held out his arms, clearing a circle in the sky  \ndirectly above Firemouth before falling to his knees. The village did not need to feel his misery.  \n  \n  \n  \n\"Master... _Master?_\"  \n  \nBa'al felt someone shake him. The storm god awakened to find he'd fallen asleep at the edge of the  \nThrone. He looked around and saw that Molan was the one who'd awakened him.  \n  \n\"Young one? Should you not be in the village for your ceremony?\" Ba'al asked, standing from the cliff.  \nThere was a flash and he was sprawled out on his ragged throne once more, sitting with one leg  \nhanding over the arm of the chair. It didn't bother him at all that his loincloth was not long enough for  \nthat, exposing his sheath and sack.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Molan wasn't perturbed either. This was common practice for the cougar. The lion shook his head.  \n\"I've been alone since my parents died.\" Molan said. \"It's been eight years now. If I'm not a man now,  \nI never will be. The elder saw it the same way and excused me from the ritual.\" The lion shrugged and  \nreached into the ragged sack slung over his shoulder, pulling out an apple and taking a bite before  \noffering it to Ba'al. \"I'd rather be up here practicing anyway.\"  \n  \nThe storm god accepted Molan's offer, taking a bite of the fruit before returning it to him. \"That is no  \nway to spend such a special day.\" The lion opened his mouth to protest, but Ba'al held up a paw to  \nsilence him. \"I will not train you today. How about we go for a walk?\" the cougar suggested.  \n  \nMolan shrugged. \"I came up here to spend my birthday with you, so it doesn't matter what we do.\"  \nThe cougar quickly gripped himself inside. Molan, like him, had no one in his life. Ba'al had to be the  \nclosest thing he had to a friend, so it was obvious he'd want to spend the day with him. There was no  \ndeeper reason. Settling himself down, the storm god nodded and stood from his throne and  \nstretched.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"Let us get going then.\" Ba'al said, stepping to the path down the pillar.  \n  \n  \n  \nThe pair walked the forest floor, leaving twin trails of pawprints behind them in the cool dirt. Ba'al  \nwatched the lion make a game of dodging the patches of sunlight that made it through the canopy  \nabove them.  \n  \n\"Master, how old are you?\" Molan asked, returning to the cougar's side.  \n  \n_Too old for you_ was the immediate thought that came to him. \"Forty-eight.\" Ba'al said. He  \nglanced to the lion beside him. \"You look surprised.\"  \n  \n\"I kind of am.\" Molan replied. \"You don't look it, and I was expecting you to be older, like in the  \nhundreds.\"  \n  \nBa'al chuckled and shook his head. \"My master, Ekaitz, was like that. He was over six hundred and only  \nlooked about fifty.\"  \n  \n\"Wow, will I live to be that old?\"  \n  \nThe cougar nodded, stroking the fur on his chin. \"We live forever, but how we look depends on how  \nwe feel.\" Right now, he could fell himself aging. Being here - walking through the woods with Molan -  \nslowed it, but it didn't make him happy enough to stave it off completely.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"So if I stay happy, I won't age?\" Molan laughed. \"I'll be eighteen forever.\"  \n  \n\"Do not get too excited, young one.\" Ba'al said with a smirk. \"Not until you are a god.\"  \n  \n\"Oh, come on, master.\" The lion said. He hopped in front of the cougar and walked backward as he  \nspoke. \"I can make rain and wind, spin tornadoes and clear the sky. What else do I have to do to  \nbecome a god?! ACK!\" He barely had time to finish his tirade before a root from a nearby tree tripped  \nhim.  \n  \nBa'al held his paw up high and the sky above them darkened, then suddenly brightened as several  \nbolts of lightning struck in the clouds. A golden bolt streaked down from the electrical storm above and  \nstruck the cougar's paw, not fazing him at all. He didn't even flinch.  \n  \n\"Survive that and I will recognize you as a god.\" He said, smirking at the awestruck lion once more.  \n\"Lightning is the most difficult and dangerous element you must command. Show me mastery of it and  \nyour training is complete.\" He cleared the storm from the sky and offered the lion his paw, pulling him  \nup off the ground.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"That'll take forever.\" The lion said as Ba'al dusted him off.  \n  \n\"Bah, nonsense. You're a quick study.\" Ba'al replied. \"Let us go for a swim. There is a pond up ahead.\"  \nMolan shook his head. \"The sun will set soon.\" He said, looking around. The lion was worried. Ba'al  \ndespised the grip of fear Ca'ahri had on the people here.  \n  \n\"Then how about I take you back to Firemouth?\"  \n  \n\"If it's alright with you, could I camp at the Throne?\" the lion asked, rubbing the back of his head. \"I  \nknow I don't need to be afraid of Ca'ahri, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm not safe unless I am up  \nthere.\"  \n  \nBa'al chuckled and nodded. \"I suppose it is not a problem. The Throne will be your home one day, why  \nnot?\"  \n  \nThe lion shook his head. \"The Throne is yours. I can't take your home.\"  \n  \n\"When I leave this life, I mean.\"  \n  \nMolan disagreed again. \"Don't say that. If gods are immortal, then you'll live forever. You can't leave  \nme alone here, I'll mess up!\"  \n  \nThe cougar shook his head, patting Molan's mane. \"You were born for this. I would not leave my  \nthrone in the care of anyone else.\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; The lion's blue eyes flashed, angry now. \"Master, I will not let you leave me alone here. I don't care  \nwhat it takes, if feeling good keeps a god young and alive, I'll do whatever it takes to keep you happy.\"  \nThe sky above them darkened again and the wind whipped around where they stood. If this kept up,  \nthe lion's emotions would cause a tornado. He reached out and took one of Ba'al's paws. \"I don't get  \nalong with anyone in Firemouth. I hardly even know the names of the others.\" He looked up to the  \ncougar. \"You're the only person I know, and if you died I would really be alone.\"  \n  \nBa'al smiled serenely at the quivering lion, pulling him into a one-armed embrace. \"Calm down, young  \none. Forget I even brought it up.\" He said, taking control of the storm Molan's irritation had started.  \nBa'al called down the imminent tornado, letting it touch the ground long enough to swallow them up  \nbefore returning to the sky.  \n  \nThe storm deposited them back at the Throne and dissipated. Ba'al looked to the lion clinging to him,  \nwatching him step back and try to cover drying his eyes with scratching his forehead.  \n\"Sorry about that, master.\" Molan said, turning away from the cougar and stepping to the edge of the  \ncliff.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; Ba'al stepped up behind him and put his arms around the lion again. \"It is alright. I appreciate your  \nconcern for me.\"  \n  \n\"I don't want to be alone...\" Molan said, staring blankly out into the sky. Ba'al couldn't see it, but his  \neyes were now white instead of blue and his pupils were gone.  \nThe storm god could feel the lion quivering again. The air around him was cold. Ba'al held him closer.  \n  \n\"Calm down.\" He commanded. The cougar's voice wasn't loud, but it was firm enough to get the  \nmessage across, and not a moment too soon. It had begun to snow on the two of them. Molan took a  \ndeep breath. \"You must get a handle on your emotions. Do you see what happens?\" the cougar asked,  \nbrushing snowflakes out of the lion's mane.  \n  \nMolan sighed. \"I'm sorry, master.\" He said, putting is paws on top of the cougar's. \"I'll try not to think  \nabout it anymore.  \n  \n\"It is alright.\" Ba'al said. He kissed the lion on the top of his head and let go of him. When Molan turned  \naround not five seconds later(having waited for his eyes to change back), he'd set up a pile of wood to  \nburn. The lion had turned around just in time to see Ba'al call down a bolt of lightning to start the fire.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"How do you do things so quickly.\" The lion asked, coming to sit next to the fire.  \nBa'al chuckled. \"Quickness is a trait of lightning.\" The cougar flickered, then he was next to Molan,  \nleaving a golden arc of lightning behind him that disappeared a split second later. Molan rested his  \nhead on Ba'al's shoulder and the cougar patted the lion's mane.  \n  \n\"Tell me something funny, master.\" Molan said, leaning into the elder feline.  \n  \nThe storm god chuckled. \"I defied Ekaitz once and he struck me with lightning.\"  \n  \nMolan cocked an eyebrow at him. \"That's not funny.\"  \n  \n\"Ah, you didn't let me finish.\" The cougar said. \"He did it from behind, while I was facing him. \"  \n  \nThe lion put his paw to his mouth and snickered. \"Your master struck you on the ass with a lightning  \nbolt? No way!\"  \n  \nBa'al smirked and leaned away from the lion, lifting the back of his loincloth to reveal a circular patch  \non his right cheek were no fur would grow.  \n  \nMolan gasped and laughed, reaching out and prodding at the patch of skin. \"That had to hurt! You  \nwouldn't do that to _me_, would you?!\" the lion asked.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; The cougar shook his head. \"I would not, but I did deserve it. I was a very bratty student.\" Ba'al  \nchuckled. \"Ekaitz said his only wish was that I'd get a successor just like me back then. Too bad he  \ndidn't get his wish.\" He said, putting his arm around the lion and drawing him close. \"I got a much  \nbetter one.\"  \n  \nThe remainder of the day went on quickly. Molan told Ba'al what he knew was happening in  \nFiremouth. The cougar didn't speak much, far more content to listen to the lion. That was another  \nthing he'd miss when the time came and Molan chose a mate. Once the lion began working on a  \nfamily, he wouldn't have time to come up here every day like now. Ba'al pushed the thought away.  \nHe'd enjoy it now while he could.  \n  \nAfter the sun set, the cougar gathered the tattered old jade and amethyst blankets covering his ragged throne  \nand piled them near the dying fire. Ba'al returned to his throne while Molan got comfortable.  \n\"I've been thinking about what you said down there.\" The cougar said. \"I agree, you're just about  \nready to be a god. Sleep well. We'll start on lightning tomorrow.\"  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"Thank you, master.\" The lion yawned.  \n  \nHe fell asleep quickly, and as Ba'al knew he would, started to toss and turn. The cougar gave Molan a  \nfew minutes to be sure that he was deep enough asleep that he could lie next to him unnoticed. As he  \nhad the night before - every night before - he put his arms around the sleeping lion. Immediately,  \nMolan calmed. The cougar couldn't help but wonder what Molan dreamed about that made him stir so  \nviolently in his sleep.  \n  \nThen the sun rose, Ba'al pretended to sleep sprawled out on his throne. With his eyes barely open, he  \nwatched the lion wake up and stretch. The lion stepped to the edge and undid his loincloth, letting it  \nfall to the ground. What was he up to? The cougar definitely wanted to get his arms around him now.  \nMolan held out his arms. Clouds gathered above the lion and immediately began pouring rain on him.  \nThe clever lion was showering. Once he was done, he spun a tornado from the clouds to dry himself.  \nWhen the lion turned around, Ba'al closed his eyes to avoid an inexplicable tent in his loincloth. With  \nhis eyes closed, he didn't see it coming when Molan threw the blankets he'd slept on over him.  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; \"There you go.\" The lion whispered. \"I'll be back later.\"  \n  \nBa'al heard the wind pick up around him as the lion spun another small twister to carry himself down  \nthe path from the Throne.  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n--That Day--  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n\"Molan, I must speak with you.\" The village elder said from behind the scrap of cloth serving as a door  \nto the lion's hut.  \n  \n\"Come in.\" he said, sitting up on his pelt bed as the black wolf slipped through the door. \"What's the  \nmatter, Alekona?\" Molan asked, noting the serious expression on his face.  \n  \nAlekona shook his head. \"I have bad news.\" He said. \"The night god, Ca'ahri has come to me. He has  \nchosen a consort.\"  \n  \nThe lion felt his heart do a jackknife into his stomach. He didn't hear the canine's words, as his ears  \nbegan to ring loudly. Alekona would not have come to him if his assumption wasn't correct.  \nOf the three virgins within Firemouth, the night god had chosen him.  \n\u0026nbsp;  \n  \n\n"}