Morpheus Fantasy Services: It's the Circle of Life
#6 of Morpheus
Morpheus Fantasy Services
It's the Circle of Life
If there's anything I've learned...
... it's to never invite your boyfriend's ex to participate in an orgy with you.
As I stood there, now fully awake and with my heart pounding in my chest, my eyes settled on how firmly Troy gripped the green book in his hands. His fingers were closed around the leathery binding tightly almost digging into it. The ferocity at which he stared at the book was blistering. I could almost feel his laser-like stare radiating heat that sent a prickling sensation all over my body.
"What are you planning to do with that, Troy?" I asked softly, trying to make my voice light and almost comical. I failed. My voice just fluctuated and broke with every syllable that spilled from my muzzle.
In contrast, Troy spoke with determination, his voice slow, calm and even. "I don't know, Dex..." he answered, those burning eyes twisting to meet mine. "What will you give me for it?"
I slowly slipped off the sticky examination table, trying to impose my superior size over him. I towered over him easily and I was twice his size in muscle. Yet no matter how I stood, no matter how far I raised my tail or how far back I pulled back my lips to bare my fangs, he seemed to have the upper hand.
"It's not yours," I growled, low and menacingly.
Troy didn't flinch, his eyes never even wavering. "No. It's not. But who's going to stop me from claiming it?"
I made a lunge for the book but froze about halfway to raising my arm. Troy held the book in front of him at chest height with one hand. In the other, he held a cigarette lighter, a tiny, flickering flame gently licking the edges of Corey's book.
"What do you think will happen if Corey's book was destroyed, Dex?" he asked, his voice devoid of all emotion.
I thought back... Every night, Mr. Reaper ensured the forms that were written in the client's books were torn out and shredded by Gwendolyn. I recalled how he never stopped emphasising that. It was crucial to the club's success...
I drew a connection...
A single piece of paper tied two people together because the serviceman bound himself to the client's reality... A reality that was restricted by Mr. Reaper in the form of a single page in their book. When that page was destroyed... that fantasy was destroyed with it and all the ties that were associated with it.
But if the whole book was destroyed...
"You wouldn't..." I began softly, my tail slowly dropping between my legs.
"Maybe..." Troy answered with a shrug. "Maybe not." Yet drew the lighter closer to the book. "But you haven't answered my question. What will you give me for Corey's book?"
"For the last time," I sneered, my hackles rising. "That's not your book to trade!"
"So what? I have it right now." The lighter's flame drew even closer to the book, searing its edges.
Feeling myself cornered, I lifted my paws into the air and backed away. "Fine... What do you want?"
For a second, it seemed as if Troy was staring directly at me... envious of me. I could almost imagine him saying 'I want to be you'. I wasn't sure what I could do for him. He had seen the magnificent fantasies of Morpheus Fantasy Services and he no doubt had an inkling about the truth around these books.
Now that I recalled... The way he looked at his book when Mr. Reaper gave it to him... He was like he knew what they were!
I was so stupid for having not realised it earlier!
"I want Keith."
Of all the things he could ask for... Of all the requests he could make... And it just had to be the one thing - the one person - I would never give up. My love, my life... everything that I had devoted my existence to... He was asking me to give it all up... for my brother.
My heart broke... right down the middle...
One half went to Keith... the other half went to my brother, Corey.
For Keith... I had changed who I was... I threw aside Drake Somers, became Dexter Saddler and embraced a new life just for him. I couldn't imagine myself as being me without him.
And yet... on the other side of the spectrum was my brother... A person who I looked up to when I was younger and who had been a strong pillar of support for me throughout my pre-teen life. Now that I had reconnected with him, I knew that if I gave him up, there would be a hole in my very soul that no one - not even Keith - could fill.
"What..?" I whispered, completely dumbstruck.
"It's simple," Troy answered, his voice low and dangerous. "Go into Mr. Reaper's office, steal Keith's book and then come back here. We'll switch books. You get your brother and Keith."
I decided to try and play dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about," I answered, my voice shaking a little. "They're just books. I don't know how Mr. Reaper does it -"
Troy slowly drew the naked flame over the borders of the book, scorching the fragile paper beyond the leather bindings. "Don't. Just don't. I know you're in on Mr. Reaper's secrets. Anyone with half a brain would know what these books are, how Mr. Reaper gives people their inner most desires if only for a night."
"How did you figure that out...?" I asked, dropping my facade entirely.
"How do you think!?" Troy sneered, his nails digging into the cover of my brother's book. "I was invited in here! Do you think Mr. Reaper just lets any yahoo find and enter the club? This place is invitation only. Only people he wants to come here will come here." He cursed beneath his breath. "Every now and again... even a total degenerate reject like me gets the chance to go into the backrooms.... and for one instant... just one night... all our worries fade away and we're where we belong..."
I could feel Troy's intense gaze burn against my flesh as he snapped his gaze back towards me. "Don't you think it's cruel that he would give us a taste of freedom and then take it away? That he'd taunt us with our own escape from this shithole of a universe and never let us step through unless he wants to!?"
I considered that... Then I considered the other things that Mr. Reaper told me...
"You just haven't earned the right..." I murmured in reply.
"Then I'm going to take the right," Troy growled. "And you're going to help me." He shook Corey's book, reminding me once more who had the upper hand. "Get Keith's book, come back here and we'll trade. No tricks. No going to Mr. Reaper. I don't think even he has enough muscle to stop your brother's book from burning!"
Did he?
Could Mr. Reaper save Corey...?
Better yet... would he?
He told me before it wasn't a matter of how he'd help people... but rather when... Would he help me when I asked?
I closed my fists, took a deep breath and ran through all the options in my head. I didn't have very many... but I was trapped. Slowly, I gave Troy a very even nod.
"Alright... Fine..." I growled. "You better not do anything while I'm gone."
Troy didn't respond. His lips were clenched together and his eyes were locked in place, unblinking. His grip on both the lighter and the book looked almost vice-like, his knuckles having gone white from the pressure.
I turned towards the door and strode stiffly onwards, constantly running through my mind all the scenarios that could lead me to liberating Corey from Troy's grip. Both Keith and he were still asleep and no doubt they would've had their own opinions. I didn't need that kind of pressure...
I slipped through the Change Room and back into the hallway of the backrooms. The constantly thud-thud-thud of deep, techno music roiled through the doors leading to the club itself. I guess it was still the middle of the night and everyone else was still occupied with their clients or enjoying themselves. A brief image of Mr. Reaper being chased by Gwendolyn passed through my mind and I couldn't help but chuckle.
Despite being completely nude, I headed towards the golden doors leading into Mr. Reaper's office.
It was weird... My paws shook and my entire body tensed more and more the closer I inched towards the door. When I had stolen Corey's book from this very same office, I barely hesitated. With every step I took, doubts kept swimming in my mind.
Was Troy really trust worthy?
Was I doing the right thing?
What would Keith say?
... could I at least say goodbye?
My fingers closed around the golden doorknobs and I swore at myself.
Cowardice... I could almost feel it being printed on my forehead. Cowardice and helplessness. Add a dash of disbelief and you got a mix of a poor, helpless puppy who had been backed into a corner and was just too stunned to believe that he had been defeated so easily... or that he was willing to give up his most precious friend.
I slammed my toe purposefully on the door, kicking it open. The pain shocked me out of my depression and my thought patterns returned anew. I stormed into Mr. Reaper's office - half-expecting him to swivel around in his chair and greet me. Thankfully, no one was there.
With my mind renewed, my thoughts were clear to assess the situation.
Mr. Reaper's office, as always, was filled with oddities and books. His desk was empty this time. For that, I was grateful. Time to think about how to get out of this mess was granted to me as I searched for Keith's book somewhat half-heartedly. Part of me hoped that Troy would get agitated and fed up with waiting before entering to check on me himself.
My fear and paranoia of what he might do to my mate and brother, however, hastened my search.
Rows and rows of books presented themselves to me. Each one had a blank cover and while they varied in size and design, there was no clear way to differentiate one from the other. Finding Keith's book would be impossible without Mr. Reaper's help!
Perhaps that was his way of telling me to seek out his help...?
The urge to turn around and ask Mr. Reaper for aid grew steadily... but I decided to try one last thing before I took that step.
Keith was my mate... my soul mate... If I couldn't identify his book... then perhaps I didn't value him enough as I should... and maybe it was better if he went with Troy who clearly treasured him and would risk everything just to be with him...
... not like scum like me...
Depression clouded my vision... that and the back of my eyelids.
Reaching deep into my very soul, I searched for him... Looked for Keith... I saw the first day we met... that first little spark in my heart that said, 'Wow, this guy is hot' followed by the fear and paranoia of possibly being gay. The months where he supported me from the sidelines as I struggled with semi-poverty and my studies intensified that spark into a visible flame. My first introduction to Morpheus Fantasy Services and then the consequent episodes turned that flame to an inferno...
... and inferno that was quickly contained in a single book.
My fingers found purchase around the leathery bindings of a book... and I pulled it free of Mr. Reaper's bookcase. I opened my eyes... flipped to the first page...
...
Damn.
Keith Towson...
I wasn't sure whether I should have cried or laughed...
A leaden weight had fallen in my heart. My right eye seemed to cry tears of sadness while my left poured out tears of joy. My fingers lifted through the pages of Keith's life... I saw his life as Haemorrhoid - still can't believe someone named their son that - and his transition into Keith Towson.
A transition from an inner circle to an outer circle...
... or was that from one set of circles into another?
In any case, Mr. Reaper's analogy of concentric circles began to make sense to me.
... and this step... It was just another change from one circle to another...
I never even noticed when I had come upon the door into Room 1.
Time was quickly running out for me and while I wanted to delay, hold back and just wait for Troy to come to me in one last act of spite... I knew I couldn't leave Keith in the hands of that lunatic... And yet... here I was, about to hand over his very existence over to that very same lunatic.
Both eyes were suddenly weeping tears of sadness.
I pushed open the doors into the Change Room, knowing full well that this would be the last time I would step into this place. If I handed over Keith's book... I could never return to Morpheus Fantasy Services. Not to the place where I had gained... and lost the man of my dreams... because if I handed over Keith's book... that was where Keith would remain... In my dreams.
A fantasy.
Memories came flooding by as I strode into the Change Room, the glass walls, floor and ceiling with hidden closets that had uniforms, clothes and all sorts of utilities that were used for all sorts of erotic fantasies reflecting my tears.
And of course, who could forget that pedestal where Mr. Reaper would place the client's book -
Wait...
The client's book!
My eyes widened as they settled on that book that sat right on the pedestal... Troy's book!
Suddenly, there was a whole new equation.
We were on even grounds now.
He had something I wanted... and I had something he needed.
I could alter his reality... I could change him... Maybe I could rip off his legs and arms so that he couldn't ever mess with someone's book ever again! Troy ripped to shreds by a thousand super-strong mice sounded pretty good. In fact, perhaps I should confine him in a tube of mild acid so that he could watch me and Keith propagate our love over and over again while all he could do was just float there and scream soundlessly!
My fingers closed around the book and I eagerly prised it open.
Without a pen, however, I realised that I couldn't actually make any changes.
Damn... and me with a 'pen' in my pants... Though I don't think 'Little Dex' qualified in this situation. Then again, wouldn't that be the ultimate insult; me befouling his very reality by spreading my seed all over it?
The door into Troy's personal fantasy remained still and I didn't want to risk ducking back out and grabbing a pen when he could just as easily step outside, realise that his book was a vulnerability and snatch it away. Similarly, I feared that if I took the book from its pedestal and left the Change Room, something terrible would happen.
Taking the book into the fantasy itself didn't seem to have any effect.
Troy did it with Corey's book after all.
Though my imagination went wild with all the harmful and painful possibilities I could inflict upon Troy, I decided there were too many unknowns. The known factors would just have to do.
I picked up the book... then regarded the open pages for a brief moment.
I settled the book back down on the pedestal and quietly flicked through the pages.
The words on the page... I can't describe what happened... Simply that my eyes scoured the pages, flying over the letters in a blur. The black ink filled my vision, swirling into one until my vision was just filled with darkness. The fluttering of pages echoed in my ears, deafening me to all else... but at the same time... I felt no fear...
Instead... what I felt was a certain... anxiety...
Someone gripped my paw...
"Don't worry, Troy. It'll be alright."
Troy!? Where!?
The source of the voice was a brown-haired woman with the same nutty brown eyes as Troy. She towered over me, holding my hand in hers. Considering how I was over six feet high, she must've been a giant!
Or...
I glanced down at my feet. No brown and black fur covered my muscled legs. Proud pectoral muscles had deflated into a child's flat chest and my broad muzzle had melted back into a human's rounded face.
My lips moved without my consent. "Okay..."
"You'll be alright, right?" the woman replied, smiling down at me benignly.
A smile touched my lips ever so slightly. "Sure will. I'll just what daddy always told me to."
The school bell rang... and suddenly, I was moving towards the large school grounds amidst countless other children. I didn't even say goodbye to my mother... I didn't want her to see how I was shaking or my quivering lips. I put on a brave face... and stepped forward.
I blinked once...
... and suddenly I was in middle school, sitting alone in the lunch room with a packed lunch from my mother. No one would come near me. I was small, weak and had a heart defect. People didn't want to get close to me for fear of sending me to an early grave. Those that did only had pity in their hearts and that made me feel utterly empty.
I ate my lunch quietly... The last bite of the salad sandwich gave me a craving for more. I reached into the brown plastic bag, searching for crumbs. Instead, my fingers brushed against a loose piece of paper.
A paper that said, 'Stay strong. Love mom.'
That hole in my heart...? It didn't seem so big anymore.
Again, I blinked...
Swimming class... The class I dreaded.
There were countless guys around me, naked safe for a pair of swimming trunks and soaked to the bone. They were laughing, cheering each other on and clapping one another's back, young, firm muscles moving with perfection. There was nothing wrong with their athletic bodies. They didn't have a heart that would give out just about the same time average men should be having their midlife crises.
Envy boiled inside of me... and something else.
"Troy!" the coach roared. "Get your ass over here!"
_"Y - Yes sir!"_I stammered.
I dove into the water as commanded.
The cold splash of water pulled me from one world into another.
I stepped out of the shower, the last as always to leave from the class. My heart didn't let me sustain much exercise and while I pushed myself to my extremes every day, I was always left exhausted and with little or no progress to my body. Even after a cold shower, my lungs burns and breathing was difficult for me.
A loud slam made me jump and leap back behind shower stalls. I heard someone grunting... and the sound of hard bodies hitting the lockers.
"Oh fuck yes!"
The coach's voice...
I slowly crept out of from behind the stalls, following the sounds of bodies colliding with one another. Loud, wet slaps and grunts intermingled with moans filled my ears. Peered around a locker bay and what little breathing I had was caught in my throat.
There was the coach... with a student's cock stuck up his ass...
A familiar word entered my mind... but one that took a whole new meaning...
'Gay'.
For what seemed like an eternity, I just kept staring as the student pulled himself in and out of the coach's ass. His middle-school body seemed so strong compared to the coach's bigger, bulkier and slightly paunchy frame. They roiled on the ground, the smell of their sweat mixed with the smell of their scent and I found myself growing hard...
Thump-thump-thump...
Wham!
I jolted as the cold metal of high-school gym lockers slammed against my bare back. The captain of the football team leaned over me, a devilish grin on his feline face as he pressed both arms against the sides of my head, pinning me in position. Around him were the rest of his posse...
"Didn't I tell ya, faggot?" he growled in a semi-threatening way. "Next time I catch you checking out my ass, I'm gonna make you regret it."
A big, predatory grin split across his face, one enough to paralyse me. I couldn't open my mouth to scream or even challenge his masculinity. All he did, in full view of his fellow team mates, was to seize my shoulders, spin me completely around and tear the towel that had been barely covering my growing erection.
He spent no time with foreplay.
He jammed his huge, pulsing cock right into my ass!
I screamed -
"Oh yeah, that's it bitch! Squeal for daddy!"
I arched my back as my client thrust his hips and rubbed his throbbing cock against my over-active prostate. Pre dribbled out of my ass with every motion he made. Strong hands wrapped around my chest as he pulled me towards the bed, hoisting my onto his lap and pushing me up and down his pole. I planted my feet beside him, going with the motions.
Lust rolled off my cock, intermingled with the pain throbbing in my ass and rolled up my spine. A soft wetness dropped down the sides of my human cock. A cold breeze blew in from the cheap motel's windows, giving me a chill. I squeezed my cock, blocking out the frigid breeze and pumped my cock at the same time.
He spun me around, slamming me hard against the bed.
A soft, familiar face hovered over me.
_"I didn't hurt you, did I?"_Keith asked softly.
There was no love in my chest... no sensation of feeling appreciated from someone who genuinely cared for me.
_"I've had worse,"_I answered.
"Tell me if I hurt you, okay?"
I grunted, squeezing my ass down on his cock and making him moan. "You could never hurt me."
Keith leaned forward, his soft lips touching mine.
I felt his love... but I didn't feel loved.
Why couldn't I feel love?
Desperate, I wrapped my arms around his back and pressed myself down onto his knot, making him gasp. Mercilessly, I ground my ass against his cock. Up and down, up and down... I pushed myself onto him. I needed him inside me!
Maybe then... Maybe then I would feel love...
He grunted in my ear... His thrusts were hesitant, half-hearted and gentle. I squeezed down harder with my ass, trying to bring about the beast of lust I knew was buried deep somewhere beneath that gentle, kind soul.
All mortals were the same...
... they carved sex in the end.
There was no such thing as love...
... just sex.
Keith grunted louder, his thrusting starting to grow in pace and strength. His defences were crumbling. This time, it was I who initiated the kiss and I drove my tongue deep into his muzzle, playing with the edges of his lips and sliding it over every tastebud on his flat, long, dexterous tongue.
My fingers slid off from his back, under his armpits and onto his thick, pectoral muscles. I squeezed upon his nipples. His head jerked back to moan but with my other hand, I seized his neck and just pushed him closer to me.
The shock of the move was enough.
Whatever reservations he had... It was long gone.
He began thrusting... pumping his cock deep into me. Precum poured into me as his titanic cock pressed up against the ring of my ass and opened the way for his knot. I stopped squeezing down long enough for that bulbous knot to slip into me.
His breaths grew frantic just like his thrusts.
Keith pulled his lips from mine, panting like a wild dog with his eyes rolled into the back of his head. My whole body shook with every quake of his body... with every second that bought him closer and closer to the edge!
He was whining... and with ever whine, his pitch grew higher and higher just as his thrusts became more and more desperate.
I knew... I knew then that it would be soon...
I was the trigger...
I could make him cum whenever I wanted...
I smiled confidently to myself at the control I had over this pup... I let him hover over the edge for a little while longer...
... before I squeezed down on his cock.
Keith arched his back and let out an ear-splitting howl. His seed spilled into me... and I felt warm inside. That warmth, just like all those times before, pooled up from my ass, into my stomach... but never seeped into my heart...
That hole in my heart... just remained empty...
Keith collapsed on top of me, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight. The warmth from his body didn't penetrate my skin... It was shallow... useless... No love in it what so ever.
"I love you, Troy..." Keith whispered.
No... No you don't, Keith...
Slam!
I jumped back...
The book in front of me was shut tight... The walls of the Change Room reflected the tears that slid down my cheeks, matting my brown and black fur. My whole six foot plus body quivered from the experience.
Troy...
Determination returned to my system as I snatched up Troy's book and Keith's which lay on the ground. With a firm step, I stormed out of the Change Room and straight back into Troy's fantasy. Troy's eyes lit up when he saw the book in my left paw... but they instantly filled with fear when he saw the book I held in my right.
"What -?"
I glanced at Keith and Corey... Both were still asleep by some miracle. That was good. I didn't want either of them to see what I was about to do.
I held up Troy's book.
"You're book," I answered sternly but softly. "The one we used to make this fantasy."
Troy's eyes widened in horror. "No..." He cursed loudly. "That Reaper..."
"You were invited here, weren't you?" I accused, my tone even just like his had been. "Keith serviced you... But then he began to have affections for you. Why couldn't you see that he loved you?"
He scoffed, eyes full of hate. "You think that was love? How could he love me when he fell in love with you? What value was the love he gave me then when compared to the love he gave you now? Hell, what makes you think he actually loves you?"
I didn't...
My eyes fell on Keith's book... and I smiled gently.
"I don't need to think. I just know."
Troy snarled and brought up Corey's book once more, lighter in hand. "Idiot. Mortals just want sex. Nothing more. Whatever they do, it's about sex. 'Love' is just some imaginary feeling fools like you add to sex to give it more weight. It's worthless."
"Then," I began, lifting up Keith's book, "why do you want Keith's book so much?"
For a second... he faltered. Then that ferocity returned to his eyes. "Because I don't want sex. I just want someone that will be there for me no matter what. Unconditionally. Always by my side!"
I shook my head sadly. "That's what love is... But what you want is control..."
Troy's memories... All of them... They were about control... or lack thereof. He couldn't control his genes... He couldn't control who his parents were... He couldn't control the feelings that rose in him when he saw his coach and that student fucking in the locker rooms... He couldn't control when those bullies fucked him over and over again... But as time passed... he learned control.
He learned to control people... through sex.
"So what?" Troy snapped. "I've still got Corey's book!"
"And I've got yours," I answered darkly. "You want to risk dying?"
A chilling grin split across his face. "No... but the better question is... Would you be willing to live without your brother?"
...
Damn.
He was right... Was I willing to risk it?
Corey... How could I go on preaching about love when I was willing to risk him like that? Would he understand if I gave him up for Keith? I mean... he was dying...
No... that wasn't fair.
Corey's life wasn't in anymore or any less important than Keith's...
I loved them both...
But... where did that leave me...?
I had to make a sacrifice...
Keith... or Corey...
Which one...?
The tears were starting to creep back into my eyes but I had to keep myself from crying. No way did Troy deserve to see me weep. He didn't deserve anything... least of all Keith... Even after all that he had gone through, everything he's been forced to suffer... He didn't deserve getting control of people when he was only going to rule over them tyrannically!
Images of Keith being leather-bound and dull-witted, acting as Troy's sex slave and doing Troy's every whim. No freedom... no personality... nothing... Not even love...
Hell... I wouldn't even really mind if Keith did become a sex slave as long as he was loved...
But Troy... He wasn't capable of love...
On the other hand... How could I live without Corey...? He was a staple in my life... a pillar that would support me whenever I stand. These few weeks that I've spent in his company, they were the best in my life. I had my mate and my brother as equals. Not a little brother, his boyfriend and his older brother... As three gay guys who had the same job and shared similar interests.
Okay, his tastes were a little weird but I still loved him.
But... A sacrifice had to be made...
So... I made a choice.
Thud... Thud...
Troy gawked.
The two books lying at his feet.
"Take care of them," I said, smiling sadly.
I finally let the tears flow.
I couldn't live without either of them... so... I would let them live... even if it was under Troy. Maybe I could even see them every now and then...
Surely even Troy had enough heart for that?
"You're kidding right?" Troy laughed, throwing his head back. "You're just giving them to me like that!?" He snatched up one of the books... Keith's. "God you'd an idiot! If this is what 'love' makes you do, then I'm better off without it!"
The walls of my heart constricted as I realised that I had made a terrible mistake.
"And you know what?" Troy said, picking up Keith's book and setting down Corey's. "You're right. I'll take good care of Keith. I'll be a good master to him." From a nearby table, he picked up a pen and flipped open Corey's book.
"No!"
Troy's eyes left mine and turned to the pages of the book. I was frozen stiff. One eye was on Keith and the other was on Troy...
... Troy... and his wide eyes.
"It's empty..."
I frowned.
It was...?
I had just looked at Keith's book... It was filled with words...Filled with all the memories we had shared together. It couldn't be empty...
"The hell!?"
An opportunity presented itself.
I lunged forward as Troy's eyes were fixated on the blank pages that he sifted through the pages. I saw words on them in the periphery of my vision.
What was he seeing?
My superior baseball player's body and canine agility worked to my advantage. I crossed the distance between myself and Troy even before his eyes flicked to meet me. I snatched the book in his hands and dove down, grabbing the book on the floor and rolling away.
I jumped back to me feet and spun around.
"You asshole!" Troy screamed. "Fine!" He picked up the book on the table... which I realised was Corey's book.
Crap!
He didn't even bother flipping open the book. He just picked up his lighter and pressed the naked flame against the cover.
"NO!"
Once again... I was just frozen even as the heat from the inferno reached me. The pages turned black and fell to the floor in cinders. Troy, with a satisfied look on his features, dropped the book to the ground, letting the flames spread all over the leather bindings of the book. To add a bit more insult to injury, he stomped on the book.
My eyes darted to Corey.
Was he going to erupt into flames?
Was he just going to vanish?
Or would he haunt me for the rest of my life for the mistakes I had made?
Corey's eyes flicked open...
... and he sat up.
"What's with all the noise?"
...
Huh?
Why wasn't he burning up?
Why wasn't he vanishing from the face of existence?
Why wasn't he coming to haunt me?
"What's going on!?" Troy demanded. "You should be dead!"
Corey took a few seconds to process the information then a broad grin crossed his face. "Oh! We're still role playing? So am I the ghost of your boyfriend who's come to give you some undead sex?"
... Okay... Eeww...
"No!" Troy screamed. "Your book! I burned your book!"
Back to confusion for my brother. "Whu...?"
I slowly slinked over to Keith who was just about waking him. My arms wrapped around him tightly, still clinging onto the books.
"What's going on...?" Keith whispered.
There was no time to give him an explanation. Troy's eyes flashed and he bolted straight towards me.
"Give me those books!"
All too late did I realise there would be no time to move... I had pinned Keith's arms down with my hug... my arms were wrapped tightly around Keith... I couldn't move in time to get out of the way!
He was going to get the books again!
CLANG!
Troy's eyes boggled...
... then he toppled over to the side.
"Troy, Troy, Troy..." Mr. Jacob Reaper said, shaking his head sadly. "I'm going to have to say that out of all my clients, you have got to be the slowest." He flipped the frying pan he had in his hands over. "My turn-around rate was never the same."
Stunned, the human on the floor scowled and looked up at Mr. Reaper defiantly. "You..." His eyes darted to a confused Corey. "Why didn't he...? What did you do!?"
CLANG!
Troy staggered again, a welt showing on his forehead. "Why are you hitting me!?"
"Because you're blaming me for something that you did," Mr. Reaper answered, twirling the pan absently. He lowered his glasses slightly, his penetrating, alien eyes seeming to cook Troy alive. "These books. They are my representation of what a reality is. The operative word being 'my'."
The owner of MFS leaned forward, staring straight into Troy's eyes. "You created a little 'clone' of Corey's book but made the mistake of letting Dexter give it to me. Corey's book was never yours to claim. Just possessing the book of another person doesn't make it yours. That's what we call 'stealing'. If people automatically got ownership over something they took, then you wouldn't need to even buy anything.
"What did you expect? You just took it and suddenly it's yours?" Mr. Reaper straightened. "I give people their realities not based on the fact that they have the power or the capability to take it. I give them their realities because they have earned it. I most certainly do not give other people's realities to those undeserving."
I could see that even Troy's defiance... and how Mr. Reaper's words were just battering at the walls without any effect.
"Troy," Mr. Reaper began, his voice slow and gentle, "only those who own a reality can change it."
"Then what was the point of inviting me into this goddamn place!?" Troy screamed, tears running down his cheeks and his face turning red from frustration. "Why would you tempt me with my own fantasy and then deny me the right to live in it!?"
A soft, exasperated sigh escaped from Mr. Reaper's lips. "Even I can see that this is pointless..." He gripped the pan in his hands tighter. "Time to end this."
Was he going to -
CLANG!
Troy went rigid... and fell back onto the floor, stiff as a board.
I dared not to breathe.
Everyone in the room was still...
I couldn't believe it... Mr. Reaper had killed Troy... Was that the fate of people of defied him? Is that what happened to people who tried to reach a circle that was too far out of their reach and failed?
To be killed?
What would happen to him...?
Then...
... Troy took a breath...
And slowly... His hands went to his chest. "What... What did you do?"
"Better question," Mr. Reaper answered. "How do you feel?"
Troy blinked. "Good... actually..."
"That's because the hole in your heart is all gone now."
The shock in my system was enough to get me to jump in surprise. Troy did the same as he sat up, staring at Mr. Reaper in surprise.
"What!? Really?"
Mr. Reaper then smiled and pressed a finger against Troy's forehead. "That."
What...?
"That right there," he continued. "That is the purpose of Morpheus Fantasy Services."
"Curing an undeserving slob who tried to outwit you what he wanted most in the world?" Troy asked bitterly.
"No. What you felt right there. Just when I told you that the hole in your heart is gone. Hope."
I... I didn't understand... Wasn't this place essentially a male brothel? Wasn't it designed so that people would come in, have a wild time and then come back again later to alleviate their lust? Maybe, occasionally, there would be guys like me that found deeper meaning in it but... hope?
It seemed so far-flung compared to what the club actually did.
"In this club, I show people their deepest desires in these rooms." Mr. Reaper made a sweeping gesture around himself. "Then, they are forced to return to the cruel world. This wasn't to tempt them but to show them what they can have. That what they thought impossible could indeed be possible. To give them hope.
"Sometimes, they rise up to the challenge and go out there and become better people empowered by hope. Other times, they just keep coming back here, trying to escape their reality. But whatever the case, Morpheus Fantasy Services gives them that hope. And as long as people have that hope, then they will be able to carry that on in this life or the next, giving them that little bit more power to change their world."
Troy frowned, his hands still over his heart. "But why can't you just give people that? Why do you let people treat this place like a brothel and lose themselves in lust? Why don't you try harder?"
"Try harder?" Mr. Reaper laughed, seating himself on one of the examination tables with the pan on his lap. "Troy, I just created and opened a club for the explicit purpose of people earning the right to their own realities. I've got rooms where they can enter and have their own little fantasies inside another reality that isn't even truly mine. If I were to do more, it wouldn't be their reality they'd earn. It'd be a broken and fragmented version of mine.
"I have no more right to your reality than you do to Corey's, Keith's or even Dexter's. I just merely hold them for you until you're ready to take it for yourself."
Troy's eyes blazed. "Then who are you to judge if I'm worthy to get my reality or not!?"
There, Mr. Reaper grinned. "I'm not judging. I'm just holding them."
"Holding them until what!? Until I die of old age or until my heart gives out on me!? Do I have to live a thousand lifetimes before I finally earn the right to my reality!?"
I watched Mr. Reaper shrug nonchalantly, completely ignoring Troy's heartfelt plea. "Different people have different prerequisites." He nodded in my direction. "Take Dexter for instance. When he accepted who he was, his love for Keith and his sexual orientation, he earned the right to his reality. Who made those prerequisites?" He chuckled. "Sorry, can't tell you that or you'll just pester the poor bugger."
He turned a benign smile towards Troy. "But more often than not, one of the major prerequisites is to find out what those requirements are."
Troy grunted and folded his arms across his chest. "Great. So it's basically an impossible task."
"That," Mr. Reaper said with a shrug and a coy smile, "or you could go around asking random people. That's always fun to watch."
At that moment, I had a bout of clarity...
"... or you could go around asking_random people..."_ he said.
I thought back to our conversation earlier this night...
"Oh of course I'm willing. But it isn't a matter of how I help them... It's a matter of when I'll give my help."
"People ask for help all the time, Dexter."
"The first thing I try to teach people is how to stand on their own two feet. How to ensure that the power to obtain their greatest desires rests within their own hands... or paws."
Then... to what Gwendolyn said about asking for help...
"We're mortals, just like you. Sometimes, some of us forget that... But just like you, our actions have consequences. We take action only if the subject wants us to take action."
And it hit me...
"Ask him."
Troy stared at me incredulously like I had just interrupted his most divine prayer with God... which was sort of the case. Mr. Reaper, however, gave me a very bright 'And-we-have-a-winner!' smile.
"What?" Troy sneered.
"Ask him for your book," I urged, a big smile on my face.
He looked baffled. "What? Why the hell would I do that?"
And therein lay the prerequisite for Troy's reality... In his past, he never once asked for help. It was always given to him and he took it without question but he never asked.
As he first entered school, he was scared to show his vulnerability even to his own mother. He didn't ask for her help. When he ate lunched all by himself, he didn't ask for anyone else's aid. He just took what love his mother gave without question and without thanks. His struggle with his sexuality was a trial he dealt with alone. Even when those jocks bullied him, he never once cried out for help.
And even when he was older and had Keith beside him, he never once asked for Keith's love.
All he had to do... was ask.
"Just ask you big idiot," I responded. "There's no crime to showing people your vulnerable side. No one can make it through this world alone." I found a similar smile to Mr. Reaper's crossing my face. "And I think that's why you wanted Keith so badly... You knew you couldn't go through it alone... You needed someone to be there with you. But you just didn't have the strength to ask."
Troy lowered his gaze, his eyes wavering as he clenched his fists.
"Ask, huh...? All I have to do is ask..." Slowly, he lifted his gaze until it met Mr. Reaper's.
I held my breath...
Keith clung to me tightly...
... and Corey... Corey leaned forward until he was on the edge of the table he sat on.
"I can't!"
My heart jolted.
Troy ducked his head, the tears coming down his cheeks. "I just can't... I'm sorry... I just can't ask for your help!"
I felt for him... My heart bled... and there was nothing more I wanted to do than to pick him up and hold him tightly. To tell him that everything was going to be alright and he would have all the time in the world to find the strength to ask for help. Even with his broken heart, surely there was enough time.
I looked towards Mr. Reaper again, hope in my eyes. "Mr. Reaper... Can you find it in your heart to give Troy a job in your club?"
Troy's head snapped upwards. "What!?"
"You heard him," I answered, hiking a thumb at the club's owner. "He's here to offer you hope." I grinned broadly. "And I think if you stick around, you might just get to ask him one day... What do you say?"
The man who I had grown to hate not too long ago and now I sympathised lowered his head... before lifting it up again to look at Mr. Reaper. "I guess... I could ask if I could work at your club... if for just a little while."
Mr. Reaper shrugged and waved at him absently. "Not my club anymore."
What...?
Everyone stared at him in awe.
"What?" we all demanded in unison.
Mr. Reaper jumped off the table and crossed his arms behind his head. "Didn't anyone tell you? Today was the day that I hand over Morpheus Fantasy Services to the new manager." He checked his watch. "My contract effectively ended a few minutes ago and I was just letting out one last party." He gave me a grin and a wink. "I'm calling a staff meeting to say my farewells. Gwendolyn, Conrad and some of the others working underneath me are also leaving. You might want to meet the new manager before you start working here again. Not sure if he'd like you using the backrooms for your own pleasure."
My heart sank when I considered that the new manager might just be a male version of Gwendolyn.
Maybe it wasn't too late to hand in my resignation.
I winced and agreed to meet Mr. Reaper at his office. As the former owner left, I stepped up to Troy...
"Why would you do that...?" the poor heartbroken man asked. "I risked your life... your life, your mate's and your brother's... Why would you spare me?"
I grinned, clapping his shoulder. "Because I think I understand what you've been through."
"How could you understand my pain...?"
Keeping my grin, I said, "Let's just say that I've read your story."
And with those words, I took Keith by the paw and followed Mr. Reaper into his office. Sure I was still naked and so were Corey and Keith but none of us seemed to mind. A few other members of the staff were also filing into the office and most of them were scantily dressed as it was. The party must've been pretty wild.
I passed Conrad who had the biggest grin on his face. The enormous tiger's paw clapped around my shoulders in an almost congratulatory manner. My guess is that he already knew what had occurred in Room 1.
Gwendolyn waited at the door to Mr. Reaper's office and as the rest of the staff entered, she stopped me with a firm hand to my chest.
"You've grown quite a lot since I first laid eyes on you," she said. Reaching into her pocket, she took out what appeared to be a business card. "You'll be needing our help again in the future. When you do, use this."
I took the card. There was no number on it. There was just a picture of a golden key.
"How do you...?"
"You'll figure it out," she answered, turning to enter the office. "They always do."
Puzzled, I followed her into the office.
Oddly enough... the only people in the office were Conrad, Gwendolyn and Mr. Reaper.
Mr. Reaper was standing in front of his desk, calm as ever.
The instant we entered, the doors shut behind us.
"What's going on...?" Keith demanded. "What happened to all the people that came in with us?"
"They're going back to where they belong," Mr. Reaper answered. "It might interest you to know that none of the staff here at Morpheus Fantasy Services were actually from this world. We brought them all here from other realities."
None of them...?
"Whoa... So I was fucked by aliens...?" Corey asked, bewildered.
"What!?" I demanded.
My brother shrugged with a helpless smile on his face. "What? It's a gay club. How else was I supposed to get to know the staff?"
A soft chuckle turned my attention back to Mr. Reaper. "Well, the three of you will make a great skeleton crew. You'll have to employ other people, of course, but I do believe Troy has some bartending experience. Some people on your baseball team might also be interested as bouncers and servicemen, Dexter. And Keith, more than a few of your football teammates will be coming tomorrow on your invitation."
Keith looked puzzled, his ears perked. "I never asked them to come here..."
"You will now."
I couldn't help but smile. That smile ended fairly quickly. "Wait... Does that mean...?"
"Congratulations, ya doofus," Conrad chuckled. "Yer ta new manager!"
My jaw dropped. "What!? Me!? Why!?"
Mr. Reaper reached behind his back and took out two books. One I recognised as Keith's... and the other was Corey's. "Because, Dexter, you've successfully transformed yourself from one circle to another. What you showed me back there was not only your ability to handle stressful situations but also to think of others on their level, not just your own. Any mortal who can achieve that is worth of not only their own reality... but can be charged with the reality of others."
He stepped up to Keith. "Keith Towson, for your undying loyalty to your mate and completing your journey to self-discover, I grant you your own reality. Take care of it." He winked and handed Keith's book over. "About time, am I right?"
Keith let out a nervous chuckle as Mr. Reaper walked over to Corey. "And you, Corey Somers, you're getting your reality because..." Mr. Reaper seemed to ponder for a moment before shrugged. "I don't really know why. It just feels right to give you one. Don't want to have you feeling left out."
He chuckled and stepped back. A stunned Corey just stared his book.
"Wait..." Corey began. "You mean... I didn't have to do anything... no moral lessons or self-discovering journeys to earn this?"
"Sometimes, the best lessons are learned when you can carve the path of learning yourself," Mr. Reaper answered, pointing at me. "Look at Dexter. I only made him manager after he proved his worthiness. He already had his book. The key is to never think that you've stopped learning. You will always learn something new if you look into people's hearts."
Just like what I did...
I smiled up at Mr. Reaper, my heart swelling with joy. "Thank you! I... I'm just..." I choked up a little. This was everything I could have ever wanted!
Corey had his book!
Keith had his book!
And now...
Now... I could take my brother and my mate... and we could make our own world somewhere... Live away from the craziness of Iterion. Of course we'd tell our parents and those we loved... but then we'd be at peace... right...?
But...
My eyes found the golden doors to Mr. Reaper's office again... and I considered the club beyond... and the poor, broken individual who had been so desperate for control that he nearly got himself killed...
I could leave...
... but why would I leave when there was still so much to do here?
He spun back to Mr. Reaper, grinning broadly.
"I've got a club to run."
*****
Epilogue
Naught...
The home reality of R3 the Writer of Reality, the entity who controlled the very laws of Space and Time and was effectively in charge of existence itself.
Nothing but complete and utter whiteness as far as the eye could see.
There was no horizon, no sky, no land.
Just white.
I absently flicked through the red tome that sat in my paws, reminiscing about the reality that I had created and the events that had led up to the creation of my world. I found it ironic that even though Keith, Corey and I were three different 'gods', everyone just considered us the one entity.
'Itero' they called us.
I guess it must've had something to do with the fact that the first thing that Corey did when he got his book - and Mr. Reaper, Gwendolyn and Conrad left - was 'to give himself a knot'. Yep, Corey was a canine now. A big, buff, Doberman. When we left our first reality, he introduced himself as 'The God of Male Fertility' to our newly created race.
Yeah, that went over well.
We learned a lot as we forged our own world once we had settled everything in our previous reality of Iterion. We handed Morpheus Fantasy Services over to Troy when he was 'old enough'. He had a new mate too. A cute lion whom he cuddled up to every night.
He finally learned the meaning of love.
Oh, he asked Mr. Reaper for his book pretty early on but then he asked me to hold onto it until he was worth of it.
He grew up a lot.
At that point, I must've felt exactly how Mr. Reaper must've felt when I had proved to him I could handle the club.
Now, as I sat on a pure white bench, flicking through the events written down on my book, I couldn't help but laugh at how many circles I had drawn and how many times I had brought up others from the small, inner circles to the outer ones. Even evolution was a form of that 'transcendence'. None of them ever followed the same path and, just like Mr. Reaper, I never offered my aid unless asked.
In a way, I was following in Mr. Reaper's footsteps. But that was my choice. I've heard of other people who have taken their realities and just lived in solitude for the rest of their existence. Not even with anyone. There were others that just built their realities only to slaughter everyone in it for fun.
Mr. Reaper allowed that and told me once that since he gave them their realities, they were allowed to do whatever they wanted with it. Those people that died would eventually come to Mr. Reaper anyway and that was when he would help those who were suffering.
After all these years, I still admired that man...
Ding!
A tall, pure-white door stood beside me where once there had been nothing.
My turn.
I took a deep breath, a little nervous. It had been a while since I'd been in his office and I still remembered that first time I snuck into his office and stole Corey's book. Boy, N9 the Neutral never let that down.
I stepped up to the door -
BAM!
Only to have it spring open in front of me.
Gwendolyn - or rather L4 the Liaison of Life - charged past me, looking royally annoyed. I think I heard her muttering, 'Stupid club sandwich eating contest. I'll show him.'
I didn't think it was a good idea to greet her when she was fuming like that.
Taking my cue, I poked my head through the door.
"Dexter," Mr. Reaper greeted from his crystal desk. "Come in. I've been expecting you."
"Of course you were," I answered, chuckling mildly. I entered his office. Like the rest of Naught, it was all white except there were rows and rows of bookshelves that stretched on infinitely to the horizon and upwards into the distance. Books as far as the eye could see. It awed me that I had been so lucky to have been picked throughout this entire mess.
I set down on the crystal chair in front of Mr. Reaper's desk. Just like the first time we had met, he was dressed in a black suit, black shirt and red tie. A pair of sunglasses covered his alien eyes. I heard that he usually took the form that was least threatening when dealing with people even with former 'clients'.
"What can I do for you, Dexter?" he asked. "Or should I say 'Itero'?"
I rolled my eyes. "Oh god... Don't get me started on that name... People can be really strange sometimes... I swear, the three of us act separately from each other. We even tell them that we're three different people and they decide that we're a sort of 'Holy Trinity' or something where we're 'three-in-one'. That doesn't even make sense! We're three different entities but we're the same!? How does that work!?"
"It works because it's your reality," Mr. Reaper answered with smile. "What is possible in one reality could be impossible in another. And let's face it, a person's true reality -"
"Is in here," I answered, pointing at my chest. "I know. I know." I smiled brightly. "It's why I traded my book with Keith's after all."
He nodded, a smile on his face. "The ultimate sign of trust and love... The trading of your book with that of your loved one. Though let me guess... Keith actually has Corey's book, Corey has yours and you have Keith's correct?"
Naturally, he knew me too well. "Yeah..."
"That could be the source of confusion here. You know, in some way, the three of you are one since you've swapped books with one another."
Huh... Point taken.
Maybe we should do something to fix that...
"You learn something everyday..." I laughed.
"Indeed you do." He leaned back against his chair. "Say, how are your parents and sister by the way?"
"They visited me the other day," I answered, smiling brightly. "Jenna is loving the reality she had built for herself and her boyfriend. They have a lot of kids running around the place. They recently made a lake that's made of some sort of crystal water that tastes like candy. Don't ask me how or why." I clicked my fingers and dug into the cloak draped over my shoulders. I pulled out an invitation and pushed it across the table to him. "They invited you over to the celebration of a 'Holy Wedding'. Apparently, they're going to bless some sort couple in their world so that they will make a good foundation for civilisation."
"It'll be a good civilisation," Mr. Reaper answered with a nod. "Just make sure to keep warning them about diabetes in the future. A super-sweet source of water can't be a good idea in the long run..."
Again... A good point...
"They also better invent the profession of dentistry soon..." I muttered. I shook my head and sighed. "My parents are doing good though. Their farm is looking good. My dad recently visited a reality where they genetically engineered watermelons to be twice as big. So he did better and made his melons the size of houses. Now they're living in the hollowed out shell of the melon."
Mr. Reaper chuckled. "Your parents are resourceful, at least."
I smiled, reminiscing at the time I came out to them... and told them that I was not only gay but had also been transformed into a muscular, hunky Alsatian, had a boyfriend, got my brother turned into a super-hot Doberman and we were now gods of our own realities and were running a gay club in the city until we resolved that this reality was good enough that we could leave it.
Would you believe that they were more mad at the fact that I didn't tell them I had a boyfriend than anything else?
I love my parents...
"Yeah..." I coughed and lifted my book, setting it on Mr. Reaper's desk. "But I came here to ask you a favour."
"Shoot."
"Well... You see," I began, a smile crawling onto my face. I had no doubt there was any need to explain the situation to him but I thought I might as well. "My reality's people have reached a pretty modern age. They've got skyscrapers, mastered aerial travel and have even gone into space. I'd say it's about the same timeframe as when you and I first met."
"Uh-huh."
"And well... on my world, a particular kid was born today. A skinny, lanky, farmboy with red hair and mismatched eyes. One blue and one red. He has dreams of becoming a doctor. He's also going to be gay but he doesn't know it yet. Got a nice brother that'll take care of him though. Gay too."
Mr. Reaper matched my smile and leaned forward. "Do tell."
"And there's this other kid..." I continued. "Poor guy. His dad was a total idiot and decided to call him 'Haemorrhoid'."
"Haemorrhoid? Nasty."
"Yeah... They're destined to be together. But... I'm having a little trouble setting it up. Their circles don't quite intertwine just yet. That's why I came to you for help. Iterion needs your particular touch."
Mr. Reaper was grinning now. "So what are you asking, Dexter?"
I matched his grin. "Jacob Reaper, may you please build Morpheus Fantasy Services on Iterion so that Drake Somers and Keith Towson will one day meet, fall in love and...? Well... You know the rest."
Jacob Reaper... R3 the Writer of Reality... former owner of Morpheus Fantasy Services... laughed.
"Dexter... I thought you'd never ask."