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College of Celestials - The Zodiac

Chapter 3 - Virginity

The Eternal Virgin

Matteo Rosiello had a rough life. Unwanted from birth, Matteo was only given his name before being abandoned at an orphanage where he had no one to rely upon. No one would adopt him even when he was well into his teenage years. It is hard to think how someone as attractive as Matteo would not find a home but there was a coldness in his eyes that often deterred people. Making a habit of running away from the orphanage, Matteo learned how to rely on himself… and his sexual appeal.

He quickly learned how to survive on the streets and sold his body to make a living. Always careful, always intelligent and always willing to do what it would take to survive, Matteo never thought he would cross the line of murder until he was almost strangled to death by an overzealous lover. Killing the man tipped him over the edge and he would have descended into madness… had he not been found by Virgo.

The Celestial cleaned him up, removed all of his injuries and then promised him a world of endless pleasures, to always be clean of every sexual encounter he had ever experienced in the past and to start anew with every dawn as long as he became an Astral.

Matteo was actually one of the few Astrals who was, in some way, already in Virgo’s employ being born and raised in Giannivos after Alfonso had turned into a city of sin. I’ve often wondered why Virgo waited so long to bring Matteo into the fold. Most would have seen the kindness. I strongly suspect that Matteo has his own ambitions and is only using the Celestial in some way even though his naiveté means that such an ambition will never be realized.

This is why I honestly believe that of all the Astrals, Matteo is the most dangerous.

_ _

******

Twenty-Three Years Ago, 2:00 PM, Giannivos

“Fuck yes! I’m gonna cum! I’m gonna cum!”

Matteo closed his eyes, biting his lower lip and rubbing his supple face against the jostling balls of the big, beefy and hairy Italian pornstar. It was with incredible precision that he counted down the seconds to when the his partner screamed those magical words and when the hot seed finally splashed against his face. The moment he mentally counted down to zero, molten man spunk slapped against his cheeks and his partner let out a loud, gravelly moan. As was to be expected from the ‘top’ of the scene.

As always, he let the seed stick to his face for a little while as the cameras zoomed in and made sure to capture the ‘money shot’. Just to add his little flair to the scene, he wrapped his lips around the cock of his partner, cleaning it of the seed.

“And that’s a wrap!” declared the director.

Matteo removed his supple lips from the cock in front of him and got up. Almost immediately, there was a towel offered and he wiped off the splooge on his face. When he opened his sky-blue eyes, found himself staring at the bearded features of his current scene partner; cheeks read, sweat dripping from his brown and a cheesy grin on his face.

“That was great,” rumbled the man. A water bottle was offered to them both and Matteo popped it open, downing half of it in one gulp. No one could ever doubt his ability to swallow.

“It was fun,” he responded in a slightly accented English. He absolutely hated that despite being an Italian porn studio, he was still forced to speak English. Not to mention he had to have sex with these Americans. Apparently, that was where all the money was at. The hairy brute that had just fucked him and now came all over his face was one of those Americans.

The studio prided itself in ‘amateur’ videos. What that really meant was that they sometimes hired backpackers that were suitably attractive to have sex on camera for extra money to fuel their adventures through Europe. American college students looking to ‘discover themselves’ were a hot commodity.

“So did you want to get a drink, Teo?” asked the man, speaking with a low southern US drawl that Matteo absolutely despised.

‘Teo’ was the name that Matteo went under to preserve some of his anonymity. Not that he really had an identity to be proud of. The twenty-two-year-old grew up on the streets and was blessed with some good looks. Public school had taught him how to be tough and the moment he could legally start having sex, he started selling himself off to make some money. If anyone were to look up his true identity of biography, they would learn that he was abandoned as a child and grew up in a Catholic orphanage. In complete defiance to their teachings, he basically whored himself out.

Why?

Because he was damn good at sucking cock and riding dick.

“I’m good,” Matteo said, shaking the bottle of water he was holding. “Thanks.” Someone shouted for him amongst the cameras, microphones and production equipment. He winked at his costar and then moved towards the voice, still naked and still dripping with a bit of cum. He approached the director, a balding man wearing purple, circular glasses on the bridge of his fat nose.

“There’s someone here to see you,” the director said. “Go shower up and I’ll get him to meet you in the green room.”

The ‘green room’ was really just one of the bedrooms of this massive four-bedroom home that had become the ‘studio’ for this porn studio. Giannivos was such a den of debauchery that none of the neighbors in this opulent suburb cared that the house was clearly being used to film same-sex pornography. Hell, one of the women living across the street even suggested that they might reach a bigger audience if she got involved. Matteo wasn’t interested. Some of the other ‘straight guys’ were eager though.

“Sure thing,” Matteo said lazily. “Just give me a few to get cleaned up.”

Still fully naked and with his impressive nine-inch dick hanging flaccid between his supple, hairless thighs, he strutted out of the set which really was the master bedroom. His costar could use the connected bathroom. He had a feeling the guy would try to talk him up into some sort of friendship if he stuck around too long. Matteo didn’t like to make or even maintain any connections. If there was anything he learned on the streets, it was that everyone either wanted something or had something you wanted. Nothing more.

From the second floor of the mansion, he glided down the stairs and keenly observed the white limousine parked outside. Definitely not one of the trucks that the studio owned. If he had to guess, it belonged to the owner of the place and that was likely the ‘someone’ he was geared to meet. The director probably wanted him to seduce the guy into letting them use the mansion for a little longer.

Wouldn’t be the first time. On the website, ‘Teo’ was rated the number one model. His chiseled jaw, exotic olive skin, beached blonde hair and marble-sculpted, hairless body was the main draw for the site since he joined two years ago. It was evident that he took care of himself. His bouncy pectorals, sculpted abdominals, beautiful, unblemished skin and rounded muscles were simply perfect. That was not a boast. He knew this as fact. He worked out to maintain his form, ate the right things to keep his body well-nourished and never did any drugs. He was even very sure not to work out too much to get any bulging veins or striations on his pectorals. The term ‘Italian Adonis’ was one that the site coined just for him and his current physique.

It was his major selling point and clearly, he would be selling it to some rich, old horndog that clearly wanted to get a taste of the action that his home was being used for.

Matteo mentally braced himself for some saggy, old scrotum before heading towards the bathrooms downstairs. Unless this owner was into sloppy seconds, he needed to make sure he was as clean as possible. Despite coming from what many religions and moralists would consider the filthiest and sinful industries in the world, there was a surprising number of people who absolutely adored Matteo’s clean-cut, innocent persona. Too often he played the role of a cute, wide-eyed virgin who was just about to have his sexual awakening.

Sadly, it would be far from the first time he had ever been penetrated.

He stepped into the ground-floor bathroom, currently assigned for the crew. It was easy to tell as there were some half-finished coffee cups littered about, a few loose pieces of paper and generally was less tidy than the one on the second floor. The upstairs one was used for any shower scenes that may arise.

He stepped into the broad, open shower and switched on the water. Cold pellets pelted his body. The shock of the Arctic-level rain woke him completely from his trance. Having been paid to have sex on camera for almost two years, Matteo had developed a technique to ensure that he gave the best performance while also making himself numb to all else. This ‘trance’ of his dulled any existential dread that may come from remembering that he barely made the equivalent of seven-hundred USD per scene. Though the studio justified such a meager amount by ‘taking care of him’ through paid housing, food and gym memberships, it was barely enough to do anything besides sucking on their teat until they got tired of him.

But if there was anything Matteo Gelli did well, it was survive.

“Your performance today was quite convincing.”

Matteo jumped and immediately spun towards the voice while pushing himself as far back away from it as possible. The cold tiles of the shower pressed up against his shoulders.

“What the hell!?” he exclaimed in English, fully expecting it to be his costar come to stalk him. “Who…?”

He stopped when he noticed that the speaker was a man in a clean, pressed white suit, platinum-blonde - almost silver - hair and the beautifully bronzed skin of a man who spent a lot of time in the sun. Enthralling blue eyes regarded Matteo with a hint of amusement and superiority, both of which shone through from the strange glisten in those blue irises - like he had specks of glitter in his eyes.

It didn’t take a genius to realize that this was the owner of that limo outside.

“Scusi,” Matteo said in his native Italian.

Replying in the same, the man held out a hand, “My name is Vincent Valentino. I own this house.”

Valentino. That was a name that was infamous here in Giannivos. Supposedly the richest man in town, the Valentinos had a villa off in the hills surrounded by vineyards. They made some terrible wine but apparently, they controlled everything in town. Twenty years ago, they extended their reach to the town itself. Just when Matteo was born, in fact. Giannivos when for a quiet, Catholic town to a glistening jewel of debauchery, gambling and sex that would have made Las Vegas proud.

All because of the Valentinos.

“A pleasure to meet you, sir,” replied Matteo, taking the hand and shaking it. “I’m sorry. Let me get cleaned up first. The last scene was quite messy. We can talk afterwards.”

Valentino appraised him with a coy smile. “No. I like you this way.” The wealthy businessman crossed his arms and leaned against the side of the shower stall. “Your performance was spectacular. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone suck cock or get fucked on camera so convincingly before.”

It took a second to get over the shock of the monopolizing mogul invading his private space. But when he did, Matteo switched on his trance and stepped back into the rain of the showerhead. He turned his back, showing off his shapely back to the man while artfully running his shoulders and flanks to let the water drizzle all the way down his seductive curves.

“I had fun,” he said, lightening his voice and raising his tone a little so that it had that hint of the ‘boy-next-door’ in it. “When you have fun, it’s easy to get into the moment. Then the cameras disappear and it’s only me…” He shook his hips a little. “… and my partner.”

“How sad.”

Those two words knocked him from his trance and he threw a puzzled stare at Valentino.

“To narrow your perception to just the one in front of you,” sighed Valentino. “I’m rather disappointed. I would have thought an experienced ‘star’ such as yourself would have known the technicalities of presenting the best angle for the cameras and doing what is best to please the audience not the man fucking you.”

Valentino’s square jaw tightened. “I see now that most of your appeal is manufactured by the production crew and not some innate talent.”

Negging. That’s what this was. The mogul was trying to insult him so that he would go groveling and beg. Wouldn’t be the first time a guy with power used the tactic on him. Just like many times before, he once again entered his trance and transformed into the persona needed for the situation.

Turning towards Valentino, he held his hands together almost in prayer and lifted his eyebrows, putting on his most convincing, pleading look. “Sir, please. I try my best. Please don’t take it out on the crew or the studio. I can do better. I promise. If there’s anything I can do to help my career along, I’ll do it.”

“Career,” scoffed Valentino. “Is that what you call it?” With a hard, steel-like stare, the millionaire continued. “A career is something you can see yourself doing for ten-to-twenty years. Something you can keep doing to grow and become better. Tell me, Matteo, do you see yourself getting fucked and sucking cock when you’re forty? Do you think your boy-next-door looks will get you by into retirement?”

Again, he was brought down from his trance. Those questions pierced the defenses of his harden heart and the words that came tumbling out were the blackened ichor of a soul that had seen the worst of mankind and survive.

“I’ve survived this long with no help from anyone else,” he answered coldly. “I do what I need to do to survive. I use what I have and use what others have to make it to the next day.”

Realizing that he had broken his persona, he quickly recovered, entering his trance and lowering his gaze. “It wasn’t easy growing up without parents and with no one wanting you…”

Valentino sighed and rolled his eyes. “And just for a second, I saw the real you. Stop this bullshit. I want to talk to the real Matteo Gelli. Not this… shallow puppet you put on to get into people’s pants.”

Matteo lifted his gaze towards Valentino. “You don’t want me, sir?”

A soft smile touched Valentino’s lips as he reached forward and cupped Matteo’s chin, lifting it up so that they were looking into each other’s eyes. “Oh I want you. I will get you. If you play your cards right, you will be considered my son and we will fuck so many times over that the Christian God will birth himself into existence just to try and smite us. But for that to happen, I want you to be real with me.”

Pursing his lips, Matteo turned his gaze away. Valentino did not take his hand away from the actor’s chin. “You do not want the real me, sir. The real me is blackened by years of living off the streets.”

“And despite that, you found yourself standing here, looking absolutely gorgeous and seducing men into sticking their cocks in you,” Valentino continued. “Tell me, Matteo, do you ever want more?”

The young, blonde man’s eyes hardened and he glared at the white-clad mogul. The cadence in his voice dropped, that almost feminine quality fading. “Of course I do. Who wouldn’t?”

Valentino smiled. “There he is.” He finally let go of Matteo’s chin and spread his arms. “Welcome, my son.”

“I’m not your son,” Matteo snarled.

“Oh but you are. You just haven’t realized it yet.” Valentino lifted his chin arrogantly, his eyes shining like he had just found a winning lottery ticket. “So you want more. What are you willing to do to get it?”

He crossed his arms defensively, leaning back on the heels of his bare feet. “Whatever it takes. What are you offering?”

“I have a better question,” answered Vincent with slick smile. “What do you want?”

Matteo gave him an coy smirk in return. “Your life.”

Instead of mockery or any sort of hostility, Matteo was surprised when Valentino gave him a shrug and held up a finger.

“Alright. That’s fair. But let’s break that down a little more, shall we? What will get you my life? What will you need? What do you want?”

This had to be some weird interview. Maybe Valentino wanted him to be his personal whore or something and was testing him. Whatever. He could play along.

“I want to get out of this goddamn industry,” he answered. Just admitting that caused an incredible weight to be lifted off his shoulders. It was the first time he had ever admitted anything so personal to anyone let alone audibly voiced his ambitions. Strange as it was, he actually felt a little rush of power through his veins; his dick even twitched a little. “I hate having sex on camera.”

Matteo glanced off to the left. “No. That’s not true. I love having sex on camera. I love the idea of making people wet or cum when I get fucked. What I hate is being told who I’ll fuck around with. I want to decide who plow my ass and how.”

There was that rush again, a sudden if brief quickening of his heart and a flush of endorphins that sent tingles throughout his body and made him feel really good. His dick twitched, a beast awakening from its slumber and groggily rising up from its stupor. As more and more of it began to stir, the exponential cascade of sensitivity and arousal began radiating from it.

Matteo felt something he hadn’t experienced in a very long time; genuine arousal.

“Independence,” Vincent said before Matteo could delve into the thought too far. “What else?”

It took him a second to puzzle out what else he could possibly want apart from deciding when and where to use his body. It shouldn’t have. The next item on the list was very related to the first.

“I want to be able to survive off this industry,” he said. “I don’t want to hang on the shitty pay I get per scene. To keep having to come back because I don’t have anything else.”

Again, there was that fiery rush throughout his body; a warm shiver that ran from head to toe. This time, it was far more powerful and he felt his hips inadvertently buck, thrusting his engorged foot-long cock in the direction of the home’s owner. Though his cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, it felt strangely right. Something in him told him that this was how things were meant to be; that it was fine to have his cock erect in front of Vincent Valentino.

“So you want to have stop having sex for money?” asked Valentino.

“No,” he said fiercely, his cock twitching with every syllable. “I want to stop having sex for shitty pay. I’ll willingly get fucked if it means I get gold, millions or at a bank in savings. Not the dirt they give us!”

Raw arousal shot through him like fresh, new blood pumping through his veins. His dick throbbed with need and every muscle hungrily consumed this new yet familiar sensation. These emotions stirring within him were so alien that it took him a long, few seconds to finally put a name to it.

Arousing catharsis.

Every word was a long-held bomb that was finally being released. The joy and relief that came from it pushed at the limits of his body, stretching every fiber and bone like he had been standing hunched for most of his life and was only now finally straightening.

“And if you got those millions?” Vincent prompted. “What will you do then?”

Matteo let out a soft, humorless laugh. “What will I do? Fuck.” It was a good question and it took him an entire five seconds to come up with an answer. Unsurprisingly, it was the throbbing pressure in his member that provided inspiration. “I’d go to each and every fucker that ever shoved their cock up my ass and make them choke on my horse cock!”

‘Horse cock’.

He had always been well-endowed but that was the first time he had ever referred to himself possessing a ‘horse cock’. It felt both right and arousing. In fact, just thinking about it stirred a different kind of beast inside him. Gripping his engorged member, he stroked the foot-long tool. Each stroke brought this beast closer and closer to waking. He wasn’t sure why but he wanted whatever it was inside him to fully awaken.

It felt that good.

His eyes were unfocused, staring off into a distant future. That left him completely unaware of the dark brown flesh that was spreading from the underside of his ball sack. New mass pumped into each testicle, pushing out against the darkening flesh and smoothening out the wrinkles. A light tingling that was nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the gentle vibrations in his body prickled town the very middle of his swelling sack. Thick bands of golden-blonde hair sprouted in a neat line right from the underside of his cock, down the middle of his sac under it to form an unruly ‘ballhawk’. He was so enraptured by the sensations that he didn’t even mind having to widen his stance a little to make room for his tennis-ball-sized testicles.

“Just make them suck your dick?” came Vincent’s seductive voice. “That’s all?”

“Fuck now,” he replied instantly. “They’re going to want to ride my dick. They’re going to fuck me because I want it. We’ll fuck all day and night long. We’ll post it on the internet and it’ll be so fucking dirty that we’ll make millions and no one can do or say anything about it!”

With that declaration, the dark brown flesh began surging up his dick. His fingers were forced further apart as the circumference of his cock grew. Strange, new and yet familiar flesh brushed up against his fingers with each stroke. The pink flesh turned completely black, smooth and slick. His strokes grew more fevered, each pump adding another little bit to the overall length and girth of his member. He had to pause, however, when he felt an unfamiliar lump against his palm. Only then did he look down and gaze upon the mutated mass jutting from his crotch. That lump was the beginnings of a medial ring forming around the halfway point of his impressive 14-inch cock. Matteo stood by, watching with a stern, unreadable expression as he watched his mushroom-shaped glands flatten and form a ring of spherical lumps around his flared cock head. Not a single word was uttered while he watched his massive member grow so long that, even erect, it could barely hold itself up on its own weight and he had to seize it with both hands. The 18-inch monster was an absolute ass destroyer.

But he wouldn’t want to use it to pierce any one’s ass.

Not really.

“No,” he corrected himself. “I’m not going to fuck others. They’re going to fuck me. Over and over. Two at a time. Fuck. I’ll be spitroasted. They’re going to line up to get a chance to fuck me. That’s how hot I am. That’s how popular I’ll be!”

An immense burst of that fiery energies pumped throughout his entire body and he threw his head back, letting out a loud cry. His shaved crotch suddenly sprouted golden hairs that were so dense and compact that it simulated the texture of fur. Silken fur spread all the way out of his crotch like wildfire, radiating out over his groin, over the upper part of his quads and creeping up his washboard abdominals. Most of all, however, it spread over his ass.

He felt a tightness around his glutes, a pump that he only felt after doing squats for an extended period of time. Matteo instinctively thrust his hips forward, the tip of his cock brushing up against the wall of the shower stall. A cleft formed against ass as it became incredibly defined, permanently forming that tight crescent of taught muscle. The golden fur danced over their curves and disappeared into the cleft of his ass. A tightness formed around his sensitive hole, a firmness that needed instantaneous relief.

He needed to be fucked.

Now.

As fate would have it, the door to the bathroom opened.

“Hey, Teo? You in here…?”

Through glazed eyes, he noticed that the intruder was none other that his most recent costar, that hot, hairy Italian stud that had wanted to get a drink with him.

“What the fuck!?” declared the man.

Pushing his way past Vincent, Matteo approached the stud currently dressed in a simple, aquamarine, furry, bathrobe. He immediately pressed his lips against the man, his immense cock sliding up against the hairy chest and depositing a healthy amount of precum into the black forest there.

“Fuck me,” pleaded Matteo between kisses. “I need you in me right now.”

Another explosion of that powerful need exploded from deep within him, radiating throughout his body and seeping into his costar. Somehow, he could feel the man. Like this wave carried with him a connection from his body, crossing the bridge where his flesh touched the pornstar and tying ropes around the man’s limbs that he could tug and pull at. His overriding desire to be fucked caused his costar to immediately pull off his robes and grip Matteo by his hamstrings.

They continued to ravage each other’s lips, tongues dancing between heavy pants as the much bigger man lifted him off the ground and carried him over to the sink. Matteo felt the cold brush of some bathroom toiletry against his back. The shock was uncomfortable and jarring to his current pleasure. Almost as if he could read Matteo’s desires, his unnamed costar reached over and swept all the combs, shavers, bottles of soap and facial wash off the sink so that Matteo could rest his back on it with as little discomfort as possible.

“I want you,” panted Matteo, leaning back and lifting his legs into the air. “I want to be fucked like I’ve never been fucked before. Fuck me like it’s your first time! Like it’s my first time!”

His costar, all to eager to please, was already completely hard and shoved his dick straight into Matteo’s tight hole. The golden-haired adonis let out a cry of ecstasy. That thick, throbbing meat in him stretched his tight hole, bringing back memories of that first time he had ever been penetrated. Intense ecstasy shot throughout his entire system, a solar flare of sensations that caused his hips to thrust into the air and his enormous cock to fling into the air and splatter his thickening precum all over the bathroom even the the ceiling.

Muscles all over his body tightened. Golden fur crawled up his abdominal muscles, each slab of perfectly square meat tightening and enlarging. The bottom pair pressed up against the middle two, pushing them up further and stretching his flesh. This stimulated the middle abdominals to press up against the top pair and force them to widen as his his entire torso lengthened to accommodate.

All just in time as the cock within him suddenly surged deeper into him, bypassing the normal limits of human engorgement and filling his entire ass. His costar let out a strange sound, a half-growl, half-knicker as he thrust harder and harder into Matteo. The curly, dark brown hairs on his crotch multiplied rapidly, spreading all the way up his torso in a dark reflection to Matteo’s own transformation. Like Matteo, his torso filled up, growing more and more defined, thick veins pulsing along his flanks and every muscle becoming so well-sculpted that it looked like they were crafted out of marble.

“Yes! Yes! Fuck yes!” Matteo howled. “Deeper! Be my bitch and fuck me!”

As he screamed this, his already well-formed pectorals flared out, pushing out like two perfectly shaped molds that belonged on magazine covers. They were perfectly smooth, symmetrical and topped with two, pink, perky nipples. These flushed targets were too tempting for his costar. The man bent over, using his newly acquired torso to reach all the way down and press his lips against each one. Matteo squealed in delight, his arms curling around the man’s broadening shoulder’s.

It was only natural from that point for the rapidly transforming man to lift him off the bathroom counter. Gravity and his own insatiable desires pulled him down into his costar’s crotch, feeling that medial ring popping into his tight, newly virgin, equine ass. Then, the transforming man pulled back and thrust with enough force that he was lifted off the fleshy pole that had impaled him. For a whole second, he tightened his rear around that shaft, slowing his descent back down the pole until that equine dick could once again thrust into him and repeat the process.

“I want so much cock!” Matteo cried without provocation. “I want so many sluts to fuck me whenever, wherever I want!”

He howled in ecstasy. The golden fur spread down his arms, tightening his shoulders into solid, defined slabs of meat that tightened around the back of his costar’s head, pressing the man’s lips harder against his pectorals. The golden hairs on his head spread down the back of his neck mirroring that burst of hairs that exploded from just above his rear; the wispy tail of a horse. Feeling the new muscles over his ass, he whipped his tail, slapping at his costar’s thighs to spurring the hungry man into increasing his pace.

That physical urging was not necessary. Their souls intertwined, his costar immediately began thrusting harder and faster. Each thrust spurred the dark-brown fur to spread over the man’s chest and over his shoulders. Muscles bulged all over his arms, ballooning to carry Matteo’s increasing weight. That same fur crawled over his face, bones twisting and features changing.

Matteo first felt the change when his anonymous costar’s tongue began snaking over his nipples much more ravenously. It seemed to flatten against his sensitive flesh and cover more ground. Instinctively, his tongue slipped out between his lips, mirroring the dance against his own flesh and perhaps even inadvertently controlling his Thrall through the gesture. His dancing tongue seemed to pull away from his lips with each passing second but his skull was obsessed with keeping it behind his teeth so it gave chase. The moan that left his lips was long and almost like a howl as his skull elongated and his nostrils flared.

“You are mine!” Matteo roared, his eyes springing open upon his new, equine features.

He shut his eyes briefly as the pressure that had been building in his crotch reached critical mass. A similar pressure began building against his forehead. Instincts immediately took over and he seized the back of his costar’s head, tugging at the developing mane there and forcing it away from his nipple.

Not a moment too soon as a big, thin, curved horn erupted from both his and his costar’s foreheads, the curve almost looking like a scimitar.

Both men cried in ecstasy, hot cum exploded from their cocks. A satisfied smile crossed Matteo’s features as his cock exploded with release. The rush was like the very first time he had orgasmed, a blast that was alien to his body but so familiar and fresh waves of euphoria exploding through every vein and setting every vein on fire.

This was compounded upon by the feeling of hot seed exploding into his ass. That sensation of being filled, the hot goo in his cavities, the throbbing cock that violently shook within him and the ecstasy that came with feeling himself get so full that the cum started leaking out of his ass even as the guy kept fucking him long and hard.

Matteo was on the verge of tears.

It was like the very first time he had ever had sex… and now he had the power to make it happen over and over again. Somehow he just knew… and his soul cried out in thanks and joy to the one who made it happen. The man who stood just a few feet away, still clothed in white and watching with this satisfied smirk on his face… Vincent Valentino… or Virgo.

His sexual bliss was interrupted with a loud knocking on the door.

“Guys? If you’re going to fuck, at least let us watch!”

A devilish grin crossed his features and he regarded Virgo with a knowing smirk.

The god bowed towards him and gestured towards the door.

“They are yours.”

Matteo's Vice

Ambition. Power. Eternity.

These are Matteo’s goals. Above all else, Matteo Valentino does not want to go back to his previous life and will do anything to maintain his current status quo or make it even better.

Recall the story about that failed attack Virgo orchestrated when the Celestial lured the Godhunters in with a Pakistan diplomat. It was only later that I discovered that Matteo was the one that made our escape possible. This is because Matteo doesn’t want anything to change.

Yes, Matteo will even do whatever he can to sabotage the efforts of his brothers and sisters and even his patron Celestial if it will serve his ambitions. This is Matteo’s ultimate goal. He has schemed and plotted to keep Virgo exactly where he is. His reasoning is beyond me, unfortunately, but I suspect he doesn’t want Virgo getting more powerful so that he can take over in some way. He could arguably be both Virgo’s greatest asset as well as his warden.

If anything threatens Virgo, Matteo will do his absolute best to ensure that the Celestial remains alive. Conversely, if Virgo or any of its Astrals do anything too ambitious, Matteo will sabotage them to ensure that they fail. He will allow small improvements here and there if it won’t disrupt whatever plot he has brewing between the Celestials, Circle and Godhunters.

Naturally all of that changed when the Circle disbanded and was hunted down one by one… and when the Godhunters left the fate of the world to me.

I cannot tell how Matteo will react or what he plots but know this, my dearest Dante, he will blame me, and by extension, you for the changes in his life.

_ _

********

November 25th, 8:00 PM, Reaper Residence

The Lance of Longinus.

In the Christian mythology, it was the lance used to pierce the side of Jesus Christ to confirm his death at the crucifixion. The man who wielded it was an unnamed centurion in most Gospels but was once named Longinus in one of the holy texts. There were many tales about the ‘Holy Spear’ across the centuries and some even believed that its spearhead is kept in Rome by the Church.

The truth, however, was that the Lance of Longinus isn’t a physical item; it is a spell.

Developed by the Godhunters at the dawn of the Catholic and Christian faiths, the Lance was designed to pierce any Celestial’s Domain and provide access to the realm within. Over time, it was further developed and enhanced to not only pierce a Domain but outright shatter it albeit temporarily. There were rumors that a variation of the Lance was being developed by wizards in Japan who called it Amenonuhoki - The heavenly jeweled spear. It was supposed to seek out the Celestial within the Domain and deal a killing blow. But it never saw the light of day as the Circle was destroyed before it could be completed.

The Lance was nonetheless the fourth way to break a Domain.

A costly spell that required intimate knowledge of the runes involved and demanded a long casting time, the Lance could be sent to any place on Earth and if there was a Domain there, it would break through it. There was also nothing stopping the Celestial or Astral from recreating the Domain as soon as they got over the shock. The flaw of the Lance was that it was a blunt weapon. It could not home in on the one creating the Domain. It just broke it momentarily.

That said, when the Thralls that had managed to make their way into the entrance foyer of his home suddenly collapsed, Jacob knew Russ and the others had succeeded. No subsequent Domain was erected and the Thralls remained comatose. Just to be safe, both he and Frank restrained each of the Thralls. Frank tied them up with some rope while Jacob cast spells on the bindings that restricted divine powers.

An hour and a half after he launched the Lance, he heard footsteps coming up from the bottom floors. Jacob and Frank, waiting in the ground floor, rushed towards the stairwell. The lawyer breathed a sigh of relief as Russ lead the way up the steps, carrying a Thrall over his broad shoulders. Next was a white unicorn he didn’t recognize holding the legs of a second Thrall with Flash carrying the unconscious man by the arms. Dante brought up the rear.

“Never thought I’d see the day,” Frank admitted, leaning against the banister. “Alfonso Valentino defeated. I should go bet on some horses.”

The phrasing was rather odd demanded a curious stare from Jacob for a whole three seconds.

“I’m not sure if you were trying to be funny or you’re actually serious,” he admitted.

Frank leaned forward as the men carried the unconscious Thralls to the sitting room where Jacob had set up the rest of the other unconscious unicorns that were no longer under Alfonso’s control.

“You’ve got to understand,” the big black unicorn admitted. “Alfonso never took orders from anyone apart from Virgo and he rarely ever did any of his own heavy lifting. Seeing him like this…” A short nicker-like laugh escaped Frank’s muzzle as he turned to watch Alfonso place the unconscious Thrall on a cot that Jacob had brought out. With the addition of the twenty-four other Thralls that had invaded, there were now twenty-six unconscious unicorns sitting in his home.

“Times change,” Jacob said. “People change.” He patted Frank’s back and moved to intercept Alfonso. “Watch dinner, would you? I’ll speak to our esteemed guest.”

He approached Alfonso who regarded the large mass of unconscious unicorns in the sitting room with cold, calculation, deep brown eyes.

“If you’re thinking of trying to use your divine powers to take control of them, I wouldn’t try,” Jacob advised.

“I wasn’t going to,” replied Alfonso tersely. “There’s no telling what else you’re capable of. You unleashed the Lance of Longinus at me. Should you so wish, you could do so again. Now that I’m in your home as well, I can sense that my powers would be severely sedated.” The priest gave him a curious look. “Why is that?”

“Aetherite.”

There was no shock or surprise on the tall, powerlifting unicorn’s features. Just a light lifting of the eyebrows, a smack of his lips in acknowledgment and then a somber return to his vigil over the bodies in front of him.

“Your plan worked very well,” huffed Alfonso. “A double blind. You successfully kept my attention divided. Though if I were a betting man, I think your team near me would have been able to do something incredible had I directed my attention back to you.”

“There were a lot of unknowns,” Jacob admitted. “Dante and Flash are still developing but they’ve made leaps and bounds in the past few days alone. Russ also has centuries of experience.”

Alfonso let out a soft sigh. “It was pure arrogance on my part. I knew that the three were clearly Celestials or at least a Celestial and two Astrals. And yet, I still took it upon myself to try and defeat them. I knew that they were still bound to the Celestial Cradle. That power alone should have put me on guard but I was reckless.”

Jacob crossed his arms and shifted his weight away from Alfonso. “For what it’s worth, the Cradle was destroyed.”

Alfonso spun completely towards him, staring in slack-jawed surprise. “What?”

Shrugging, the lawyer said, “How about we go down and grab that drink?”

Looking paler than usual, Alfonso nodded. Jacob returned to the kitchen where he snatched an unlabeled bottle of wine, two wine glasses and led the way down to his study. Alfonso was right behind him. Within his study, he took up his seat behind his desk and poured them both some wine. Alfonso regarded the crimson liquid for a moment, swirling it in the glass and then sniffing it. He then lifted towards his lips and took a taste. The face he made clearly showed his disgust but he swallowed it none the less.

“Excuse my bluntness,” he grumbled. “But this wine is awful.”

“I know,” Jacob said, taking a sip himself. “It is produced by Virgo, after all.” Alfonso stared at him for a second and he took no pains to hide his smirk as he took another sip. “Your boss doesn’t know how to make wine. He really should have gone into making olive oil or something. You know. ‘Extra virgin olive oil and stuff.”

Alfonso frowned but still took a sip from his wine. “I believe at one point he did go into that business but gave it up for wine as that seemed more ‘decadent’. Some of the soirées we have still involve wrestling and making love in tubs of oil.”

“At least you know they’ll be well-lubricated.” Jacob set down his glass and regarded Alfonso with a smile. “So I’ll rip the bandaid off. The Celestial Cradle was destroyed. When Virgil, the Last Godhunter, got his hands on it, he modified it. Its powers were fragmented into three parts. Dante, the black wolf, obtained the power to drain divine energies while Flash, the red wolf, gained the ability the store and seemingly purify it. Russ, the last of them, can distribute the energies he absorbs as he sees fit. The Cradle itself was destroyed as it imparted these final powers to the three.”

Alfonso remained calm and simply swirled the glass of wine in his hands. “Given your penchant for deception, you’ll have to excuse my doubt.”

“That’s your choice.” Jacob set down his drink and regarded Alfonso intently. “When I faced Frank, I forced him to see that he has been used. I awakened the memories of the souls that made the foundation of his essence. It made him realize that Virgo has been hunting people like him down to become his Astrals. The fragments that started off his soul were built from high concentrations of past Astrals. That’s how Astrals propagate.” Jacob drummed the table with his fingers lightly. “I have a feeling that even if I told you think, you wouldn’t care.”

The priest gave him a faint smile. “In my tenure with the church, I learned that it doesn’t matter where you come from or how humble your beginnings. God will always love you for who you are not who you were.”

“As long as you worship him and obey his tenants or else you get to suffer in a very hot, very pointy place, right?”

Alfonso took another sip. “And you have an alternative?”

Jacob shrugged and swirled the wine in his glass. “In the original version of this story, Heaven and Hell were not built as punishments but as places where people’s souls went based on their desires. Heaven was for those who were kind, compassionate and generous. Hell was for those who liked their sin.” He tipped the glass towards his lips but didn’t quite take a drink. “I never questioned the people who deluded themselves to one side or the other. Like those people who forced themselves to be kind in order to buy themselves into Heaven or those who killed in the name of Heaven.”

“And that’s your alternative?” demanded the priest. “Give everyone what they want?”

“It wouldn’t hurt. Stop this bullshit of sneaking around and corrupting people. Just outright tell the world that you are a Celestial and this is what you offer. Anyone who wants to get in on that shit, like and subscribe.”

Only then did he take a drink.

Alfonso was quiet for a short time, staring pensively at the glass in front of him. “That isn’t how the world works. Celestials have politics amongst themselves that keep them in the shadows. Anyone who breaks that pact will incur the wrath of the other Celestials. Worse yet, a War in Heaven could occur if Celestials began vying for power for worshipers.”

“And so the power truly lies in mortals,” Jacob agreed, lifting his glass. Alfonso begrudgingly lifted his own glass and toasted to that statement. They both took a drink.

After a short moment, the priest broke the silence. “What is your endgame here?” he asked. “Do you intend to sit here and wait for every Celestial to come and try to make a play for the Cradle or your wolves? Do you intend to cut them down every time they pose a challenge while you get stronger?”

Jacob frowned for a moment. It had been a question that he had been struggling with not only when Dante opened the Cradle but also when he was first summoned by Virgil. It had caused him some concern when someone from a reality specifically called for him. Even before he answered, trying to gaze into all the countless possibilities for the story had become muddled by the sheer amount of time it would take between when he entered the world and when Dante’s story truly began. With each passing second, a possibility was made reality and countless other possibilities branched off into infinity. Trying to predict all of that over ten years was impossible.

But something intrigued him about the call.

So he answered it.

“Virgil’s endgame was to ultimately end the threat of the Celestials forever.”

“Threat?” Alfonso repeated with an edge of annoyance. “Is it a threat to want to bring paradise to the world? Is it a threat to be able to purify everything and everyone to the point where they will never suffer harm? Is it a threat to bathe everyone in endless pleasure, to always have that feeling of always experiencing the same thing for the first time for all eternity without ever getting tired of it?”

Jacob lifted an eyebrow. “Is that Virgo’s vision or yours?”

The priest stumbled for a moment. “I have spent over forty years under my Lord’s wing and I like to think I fully understand what he desires and how he will use the powers of the Cradle if he ever got hold of it.” Alfonso lifted the glass to his lips. “Not that it matters now…”

Bobbing his head from side to side, Jacob said, “You know, if your Celestials just weren’t so arrogant, they would have found other ways to tap into the leyline network. All they really wanted was the near-infinite power of the network. They didn’t want the ability to create more Celestials or randomize their powers.”

“Why fix what is not broken?”

“And now that it is broken?”

Alfonso stared pensively at his glass. “Of that, I cannot say.”

“But you still hope for the ‘paradise’ that Virgo would bring.”

He got a piercing stare from the priest for that. “You wouldn’t? Who wouldn’t want a world where you don’t feel pain or suffering?”

“Sadomasochists.” That stare became exasperated and Jacob poured him more wine. “Come on, lighten up.” He waved Alfonso down. “Tell me about Virgo’s paradise.”

He got a look of mockery as Alfonso took another sip of the wine. “What? Looking to convert?”

Jacob tilted his head slightly as he lifted his glass again. “Don’t think of this as me trying to gloat or force you to seeing things my way. Think of it as…” He took a sip of the wine. “… a Divine Challenge. Ever heard of those?”

“Of course,” the priest said. “It’s occurred countless times in history. Basically a contest generally invoked by a Celestial that can bring some form of great reward for the challenger but usually involves great perils. The Twelve Labors of Hercules. The Trojan War. When Jesus was tempted in the dessert. Even the whole tale of Rumpelstiltskin. All were Divine Challenges. The Celestial basically signs a contract with the challenger or challengers and both sides are compelled to adhere to the contract.”

Alfonso narrowed his gaze as Jacob. “What do I get if I win?”

“You get to keep your faith intact,” he responded calmly. “I will stop to try convincing you that you’re selling yourself short and Virgo is using you. I’ll keep you restrained here and I’ll still go up against Virgo but if I end up dead, you get to say ‘I told you so’.”

“And if you win?”

“Convincing you that Virgo is a parasite is victory enough.”

Alfonso snorted derisively. “Fine.” He downed the contents of his glass and then pushed it towards Jacob to fill it up which the lawyer complied. “Virgo is ancient. Long before the Greek Pantheon on Olympus, she existed as a maiden. A mortal maiden. One who was sold off to a brute of a man that abused her. Selfish, arrogant, misogynistic and little more than an ape, he attacked her whenever he could and had his way with her. At the time, she could do little. It was a woman’s place to just keep the home and bear children.”

“Children,” Jacob mused quietly. “If this is as far back as I think it is, there definitely wouldn’t have been any sort of protection. The way you’re framing this man, he must have had sex with her a lot.”

“Not necessarily in the most traditional of places,” confirmed Alfonso. “But when he was in the mood, he would try to impregnate her.”

“And fairly often.” Jacob tilted his head slightly. “But I’ve never heard of Virgo having a child…?”

Alfonso diverted his gaze. “It is not something she speaks of often. It has never been confirmed outright either. But I have been with her long enough. I see the way she regards children; a mixture of sorrow and fury. She freely takes the guise of a man and the way he encouraged Frank’s evolution into an Astral…”

Jacob lowered his glass, regarding it miserably. “Either she couldn’t conceive or she did have a child but it died. It wouldn’t surprise me if the brute she married caused enough injuries that it permanently damaged her ability to give birth.” Jacob lifted his gaze. “Flash, I know you’re there.”

Alfonso jerked his head and Flash sheepishly poked his head from around the door.

“Sorry,” the red wolf said, waving absently. “Dante is trying to drain the divine energies from the Thralls and Russ is working on pumping the ones I had cleaned up into the ones that were clear. Frank is cleaning up some ‘tar’ outside. So… I’m kind of stuck doing nothing until Dante is done.” Ears folded back, Flash said, “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

“Come in,” Jacob said, gesturing at the wolf and pushing his glass across the table. “Have a seat. Drink up.”

Flash made a point of taking a rather round-about route to the table, never keeping his eyes off Alfonso. When he sat down in the other spare seat, he made sure he always had the unicorn in his field of vision. Even when he picked up the wine glass and took a sip, he was constantly eying the priest.

After a sip, he smacked his lips and set down the glass. “This is good.”

“I disagree,” rumbled Alfonso. “It’s absolutely terrible. It came from my villa.”

Before an argument could arise, Jacob asked, “So what’s this afterlife called? Eden? Paradise?”

Alfonso shook his head as he took another sip from his wine. “The Pure World. It is no afterlife. It is a destination. One we can all achieve if we ever will Virgo’s favor. It is a world without pain. Without suffering. Where every day, you wake up fresh and renewed. Immortality at its finest.”

Flash made a sound akin to a speeding car driving off into the distance. “Dude… that just sounds like Groundhog Day.”

Jacob, who had been halfway through a sip of wine, nearly did a spit-take at those words and had to turn away and cough into his sleeve as he fought between clearing his airways and laughter. He felt Alfonso’s fiery stare before he saw it. Flash patted his back to try and help clear his throat. After a few seconds, he waved that he was fine.

“Joke all you want,” Alfonso replied at length. “But the difference between the Pure World and your American movie scenario is that everyone will always experience the thrill of every new experience again. They will keep their memories, of course, but you will always feel that same thrill of visiting a vista for the first time; of making love, first kisses, first win and so much more. All of it over and over again. Nothing will ever be dull.”

Jacob exchanged glances with Flash. Both of them had the same thought.

“So… no one would ever learn anything,” he ventured.

Alfonso regarded him incredulously. “What? Of course they will. I told you they will keep their memories. Their bodies will still experience that same thrill. It’s purely chemical. It’s paradise.”

“No,” Flash interjected. “What you described, priest dude, is a world where people never learn what they can and can’t do. Seriously, what do you think will happen if everyone never kept any scars, every experience is always new and at the end of the day, everything just switched back to what it was the previous dawn?”

Alfonso shrugged at him. “We would be in paradise. No one would suffer. No harm would ever come to anyone. Everyone would never want for anything.”

“Uh-huh. So in your paradise, the reason no one would ever need anything is because Virgo would give it to them and they would always get that same hit of pleasure whenever they got it as if it was their first Christmas. Am I right?”

“Yes. Is that so bad?”

Flash nodded vigorously. “Uhm… yeah. Can’t you see the flaw in that? What if I just went up to you and slapped your bitch face? In the Pure World, it would be nothing because, hell, it doesn’t matter. I could kill someone and they’ll just be back again the next day. People need limits.”

Alfonso rolled his eyes. “Perhaps on Earth. But in a perfect world…”

Jacob saw that Flash was about to interject so he held up a hand, taking his turn to speak.

“I usually like to believe in the good in people,” Jacob began. “Even in the worst case scenario, of all the possibilities that I foresee, I still hold out hope that someone will do the right thing. Even a 0.0001% chance is still a chance. That just means no one is perfect. Not even your God.”

“That’s just blasphemy,” sighed Alfonso, rising to leave. “I will not sit here and let you tarnish my faith. Let’s just call it a draw, shall we?”

Jacob leaned forward. “Human nature is not so easy to ignore.” Alfonso was still turning to leave. “Curiosity is ultimately what got mankind to where it is today. In a world where everyone keeps their memories and is caught in a constant time loop without consequence, someone somewhere will ask the inevitable question.”

Alfonso’s broad shoulders sagged as he turned back towards Jacob. “And what question is that?”

“What if I kill everyone or try to be god?”

The unicorn priest shook his head turned to leave. “Now you’re just being absurd. I’m leaving.”

“But you’ve seen fragments of it already, haven’t you?” Flash suddenly said.

That caused the unicorn to stop. They were on the cusp of a breakthrough. Jacob allowed Flash to push on.

“Frank told us about those sex dungeons beneath the villa,” continued the red wolf. “That’s from people asking weird questions. What happens in the villa stays in the villa, right? There are no consequences to going there and indulging. But people still go there and get into the weird shit. And Virgo lets it happen.”

Alfonso shot him a seething stare. “Master Virgo allows such indulgences because he needs it as he is now. Were it not for the dire situation…”

“You sure it’s because of the situation and not something he’s always been thinking about?” countered Flash. “Virgo’s been expanding his reach on ‘virginity’ right? Frank was all about taking someone’s virginity and you’re about preserving it. That all feeds to the big man. All that extreme shit has got to do the same.” He jerked his chin at Alfonso. “Face it. You Astrals are responsible for making Virgo what he is as much as he is responsible for making you Astrals.”

The priest shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Flash glared at Alfonso, letting the priest stand there for a few short minutes.

Jacob remained seated as he picked up his glass. “There’s something you know, isn’t there, Alfonso?” he asked. “Something about your Celestial that’s stopping you from walking out that door. A dark side of Virgo that doesn’t quite sit well in that ‘perfect’ pure world that he touts.”

Alfonso’s gaze dropped, his eyes searching the floorboards for something; an answer to a question he was too afraid to ask. It took half a minute before the unicorn approached the table again and sat back down. He pushed the glass of wine towards Jacob. Even though it was still mostly full, the lawyer nonetheless complied and filled it up until Alfonso held up a hand. The priest took a long drink from it.

Then, the white unicorn let out a scoff. “You’d think a ‘perfect’ god of virginity would make some better wine.”

Jacob offered a sympathetic grin. “I know right? It’s like drinking watered down grape-juice with barely any booze and just the faintest squeeze of lemon.”

“That’s exactly it!” laughed the priest. “Communion wine is better than this swill.” Alfonso shook his head and regarded the half-full glass. “You know…” He regarded Jacob and Flash keenly. “There are things about being a woman that will never change regardless of what shape you take.”

Jacob smiled softly and set down his glass. It took him a second to collect his thoughts. “I can see that in Virgo. Despite his current form, when I met him, he had this… feminine quality to him.”

“This is different,” sighed Alfonso. “There is something about being a woman that we men would never understand. Virginity to us is different. When we lose our virginity, it is in the act of having sex with someone. But to women, it is the act of someone having sex with them. Someone penetrating them. We will never know the joy of motherhood, of carrying a child within us for nine months or the loss of having our children die in our arms. It is different for us.”

Jacob frowned and his heart sunk. “I don’t like the way you put emphasis on the word ‘children’.”

Alfonso gave him a dark smile and downed half of his glass. “Again, it is not confirmed but during those times, a barren woman would have been killed or cast out. No husband would have maintained a relationship with her. The fact that Virgo was still under the thumb of that monster for so long implies that she may have had and lost more than one child. She told me that he would kick her stomach and grip her kidneys to force her to do something. When she was offered the role of goddess, she took it willingly without question. Her first act was to return to her husband. Instead of killing him, she purified him, making him her first Astral.” Alfonso regarded his glass miserably. “Some would take that as a story of redemption and forgiveness. But I still see the way she looks at children and certain kinds of men. In this day and age, she has learned that such acts can also extend to women. She has seen women abuse husbands and get away with it as courts favor women over men. It is just like how it was during those ages but reversed.”

He lifted his gaze towards the two. “And that is why I think she maintains her sex dungeons.”

“Deep down, Virgo still harbors bitterness over the past,” Flash concluded. “He’ll never get that time back.”

Jacob could not help but feel pity for the goddess. Despite all the times he had been reincarnated and entered different realities, he had never known the joy of childbirth or the crushing loss of losing a child. Some of his colleagues bore that cross but he was fortunate enough not to experience it personally. Part of him wished he could pull the others in so they could help Virgo through a very protracted stage of grief.

No one was around to help the Celestial through such a tough time. They retreated into their own Domain with their worshipers and were isolated from anyone who could provide a dissenting opinion. That resentment festered within them and became a twisted form of denial disguised as an obsession with purity. On some level, Virgo must want to create a world free of consequence so that even if someone were to lose a child, it would not matter because they could simply try again. She was trying to erase that kind of pain from the world.

“I almost wish someone had been there to slap some sense into the bitch,” Flash commented. “I can’t really say that she should get over it but doing all this shit all so that she can fill the void in her heart? Seems a bit extreme.”

“Celestials work on an entirely different level than we do,” Alfonso provided. “Our movements only affect the space around us but when they move, they shake mountains. They are subject to greater emotions than we are. Extremes.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Jacob said, regarding the empty bottle of wine pensively. “They are all just mortals like we are. They go through exactly the same emotions and reacted to the situation at the time as was appropriate. Only problem is, as Flash said, no one ever stood up to them for centuries. They were stuck in their current mental state for eons, never changing. They became stuck in their ways, eventually convincing themselves that what they were doing was right even though it hurt.”

Jacob lifted his gaze towards Alfonso. “And that’ll seep into his Pure World,” he concluded. “You know this Alfonso.” He held out his hand towards the priest. “If Virgo ever gets to implement his Pure World, it won’t be the glistening paradise with rolling hills, rainbows and clear skies you’ve envisioned in your mind. It’s going to be a hedonistic hellscape filled with people who understand their lives have no consequence so they’re trying to fill that void with as much pleasure as possible, going to further and further extremes to satisfy that hole that will never be filled.”

Flash was suddenly on his feet. “Virgo’s world isn’t celebrating the taking or even the maintenance of Virginity. It’s mourning the loss of something that he’ll never be able to get back! And he’s going to make the whole world pay for letting that happen.”

Alfonso’s eyes drifted away from the two.

“Matteo…”

“Who?” Jacob asked.

The Astral’s eyes suddenly hardened as he turned his gaze back towards Jacob. “Matteo Valentino. One of the other Astrals. A real piece of work. Arguably Virgo’s most powerful Astral in terms of sheer might. He draws power from having his virginity taken over and over again. His body is renewed at the crack of dawn so it’ll be as if he was never penetrated. It’s turned him into this cold, heartless sociopath.” A bitter smile touched his lips. “In a way… he’s a mirror to Virgo.”

He suddenly reached out and grabbed Jacob’s hand.

“You win. I freely accept that Virgo is a twisted parasite that will infect and warp the world around us. More, I’ll help you fight Virgo.” With his other hand, he lifted a finger. “There is something you should know, however…”

The Renewed Dawn

One would have to ask exactly what kind of power does Matteo Valentino possess. Does he draw strength from taking the virginity of others? Does he grow stronger the longer he is a virgin? Does he become more powerful at the fear of losing one’s virginity? The ecstasy of that first time? The diminishing returns from an experience that will always be second to your first time?

No.

Matteo Valentino uniquely is considered the ‘Eternal Virgin’. His body automatically refreshes itself to set state with the rising of every dawn. This only relates to his body, however. Not his mental state so he will always remember every sexual encounter. Any wounds he may suffer as the result of sex will be gone the following morning.

Coupled with his Mantle with draws power whenever he loses his virginity and he will always be renewed and rejuvenated with each new day. I theorize that Virgo gave him this power or perhaps manipulated his soul to manifest this power as a means to keep his abilities in check and as a test for his Pure World.

Matteo is incredibly reliant on others to regenerate his powers and at the same time, is limited to the number of times he can extract power from a source to once per day. While he can stockpile power from day to day, his strength influx of power is extremely limited forcing him to be both cautious and avaricious towards whatever experiences he can harvest in the span of the day.

Keep this in mind when facing him. The moment those golden rays touch him, it will be as if the fight had begun a new.

_ _

*******

November 26th, 2:15 AM, Castello della Vergine

“Yes! Fuck yes!”

Matteo screamed in ecstasy as the newly formed Thrall came in his ass, tongue drooping out of his equine muzzle and his eyes glazed over in the heat of the moment. The new, towering Thrall that loomed over him was orgasmed the last of his free will and humanity into the Astral, embracing his new equine body and existence. The stallion continued to hold the Astral’s legs like a wheelbarrow, Matteo barely managing to keep himself upright as he held onto the bathroom sink.

The Astral known as the Eternal Virgin basked in the afterglow and the warmth of having what felt like gallons of cum oozing within him and dripping down onto the floor. He could even feel some of the white, equine slime dripping from his ass, running down the curve of his heavy balls before gravity took over and it fell onto the floor. He allowed himself a whole minute before he silently commanded the full Thrall to lower him down onto the floor and pull out.

There was no feeling like that sensation of an absolute ass-destroyer of a dick pulling out of him after a hearty fucking to make him feel alive. It reminded Matteo of just how much he loved being fucked and he needed that hole filled. As easy as it would have been to command his newly made Thrall to mount him in a new position until those balls were completely drained, he had preparations to make.

“Go to the others,” he sighed, rising to his feet, his hooves making loud squishing noises on the cum-stained floor. “I think there’s still room in the eastern facility.”

The Thrall grinned excitedly, his cock throbbing excitedly. “How hard should I fuck them?”

Matteo beamed and turned towards the newly made Thrall, pulling him into a deep, long kiss. Just enough so that his own cock was rock hard again. Then he pulled away and gripped the unicorn’s taut ass.

“Start off slow,” he cooed. “You’ll need your strength to reinforce our defenses.”

“Yessir!” exclaimed the Thrall excitedly and practically charged out of the bathroom, leaving the door opened.

Matteo watched him go, eying that virgin ass and feeling a pang of jealousy that it would at least be a couple more hours before he would feel the glorious sensation of having his virgin ass penetrated again.

With a shrug and a light toss of his mane, he stepped out of the downstairs bathroom. Memories of that first time he emerged from a similar facility in another home owned by Virgo flooded his mind. It had been an absolute joy to easily seduce and transform what had previously been the pornography studio he worked at into his first batch of Thralls. None escaped him and he even took great pleasure as a train of horny men took their turns on him, each one transforming into hung, unicorn stallions as they fucked him.

This event was slightly different, of course.

Back then, he was engorged on his rising power and it all culminated in the glorious peak of being fucked by his god. This time, however, Virgo would not be the cherry on top of his lemon man-cream cake. No, his Celestial had to prepare his own defenses in the unfortunate event that Castello della Vergine was ever penetrated.

Matteo chuckle at his own little joke and stepped out of the bathroom, as still dripping with unicorn cum. He gazed out at what would have been the grand dining hall of the villa that could have seated thirty diners on the long table. Now, however, about sixteen men and women, all of them Thralls, were fucking wildly. Each of them were exploring new experiences with one another, taking and giving up their virginity in a variety of ways to feed the villa’s defenses. The Astral could almost see the stream of divine energies oozing from each of the entangled bodies seep into the very walls and curling into intricate symbols and runes that Virgo had crafted himself.

He didn’t pretend to understand what any of them meant. He just stepped up to where female Thrall was being ass-fucked over the table, her head hanging back over the edge while she clung onto the linen table cloth for support. Matteo slipped his huge equine dick right between her breasts and let her press her boobs against it as he titty-fucked her, making sure that the tip of his member pressed up against the base of the male unicorn that was plowing into her. Thank Virgo that, as Thralls, these beings were infertile. He shuddered to think what would happen if little unicorns started running around here.

When he came, he allowed the energies derived from their coupling to drain away from him and slide into the very walls. He had never done that before… at least since the sun had last risen.

He pulled away from the scene and headed into the nearby solarium, the next room over before entering the main foyer. A similar scene had unfolded here. Countless couplings soiled the expensive rugs and upholstery with sweet, seed and smut. Grinning, he inserted himself into a threesome, turning it into a foursome. He made out with the sole female unicorn while the two studs of stallions fucked them, traded them between each other and, to finish off, stuck their dicks into his ass at the same time until they came.

Again, the energies he produced poured out of each new experience and fed the powerful runes that protected the villa. Ordinarily, these defenses would keep anyone within its walls from being magically scryed upon. Similar runes extended out into the vineyards and most recently - as in the last fifteen to twenty years - out into the town of Giannivos. It had actually been Alfonso’s idea to extend this protection out into the town that Virgo basically owned. It was just a few years after Matteo had joined.

This source of power exhausted, Matteo turned and stepped out into the foyer. It was here where guests could see the more acrobatic of sex scenes. Virgo had specifically designed so that the moment any new guests stepped across that threshold, they were instantly assaulted with the sights and sounds of new horizons being explored and new experiences being forever burned into the very soul of their participants.

It was here that the masked Thralls drifted between the many celebrants that were all in various stages of transformation. Virgo had sent off the non-Thralls, closing the villa off. While the entire nearby town of Giannivos was already under the control of Virgo, none of the inhabitants were true Thralls. They were under Virgo’s thumb and owed everything to the Valentino Family but only a select few would ever make it to the villa to become Thralls or, if they were lucky, Astrals. Canceling any future events at the villa had also been trying and there were many refunds and angry emails that had been thrown around but that was a small price to pay for security.

Not that Matteo had any doubts that Alfonso would succeed. He just wanted to make sure that on the off chance the his eldest brother somehow failed to obtain the Celestial Cradle from the Americans, no Godhunter spawn or vengeful Celestial would come crashing down upon them. At least without first having to punch through the formidable defenses.

Speaking of which…

Matteo sauntered over to one of the masked Thralls. These men and women were the barest of Thralls. Just the smallest of seeds had been implanted into them. Loyal and fully aware of the gift that the Astrals or fully formed Thralls possessed, they served the Valentinos in the hopes of one day becoming a full unicorn themselves.

For one such man, it was his lucky day. Matteo silently hooked a finger into the man’s pure, white speedo, tugging the flushed Thrall over to one of the silken harnesses. The silver tray filled with refreshments and lube fell from the Thrall’s hands as Matteo mounted the harness, resting his rump on the smooth, cool fabric. He leaned back, pressing his muzzle against the Thrall’s bulge. Hanging upside down, he beckoned another Thrall to approach. This man eagerly leaped upon the harness, straddling Matteo’s hips and angling his own erect cock into Matteo’s waiting hole. This man then pulled at the harness, lifting Matteo off the ground until his muzzle was just at the right position to tear off the first Thrall’s underwear and reveal that all-too-human, erect cock.

He took great pleasure gobbling up that member and funneling his soul through the mere contact into the Thrall, nourishing the seed within him and stimulating its growth. Both men that were in him had their seeds blossom into seedlings and soon into writing plants. Their cocks stretched and grew inside of him, one penetrating deeper into his ass while the other dug deeper and deeper down his throat.

The harness pulled up, forcing him to slip his tightly-clasped lips up the transforming shaft of the man in front of him while simultaneously hilting deep into the other dick that was throbbing inside of him. Just as he reached the tip of the changing dick, the harness lowered again, pulling him out of the man impaling him while driving the other member back down his throat.

The dance repeated, this time with increased fervor. He rose, was impaled on the twitching cock and then he was lowered once more, his nostrils pressed up against the throbbing balls of the Thrall. Each repetition saw more and more of the human fade as the unicorn emerged. The acrobatic sex scene likewise stimulated others around him. As others grew erect from watching him change the two men, they began fucking harder, inspired by his act to find new positions.

All of that provided fuel to the fire. Their orgies seeped into the runes around, infusing the defenses and filling it to the brim. There was so much divine power being generated here from lost virginity, maintained innocence and even the act of taking virginity that it made the air physically thick and heavy like breathing in heady perfume. Matteo closed his eyes, allowing himself to bask in the writhing energies all around him. The defenses of the villa itself were fully charged so there was nowhere else for the power to go but to hang in the air. These divine particles manifested as small, twinkling shards of softly glowing runes. Each one was just about the size of a fingernail but it was clearly emblazoned with the emblem of Virgo, that stylized ‘M’ with an extra loop at the end.

Matteo bucked his hips and finally let himself orgasm, his seed exploding from his equine cock and baptizing the Thrall in front of him with his seed. That same Thrall let out a roar of triumph as his own transformation completed and he pumped his own hot seed into Matteo. The one on the harness did the same. Matteo swallowed as much as he could but enjoyed the rush of hot seed dripping down his face and lathering into his fur all the same.

Exhaustion finally kicked in. Sensing this, the Thralls gently plucked him off the harness and gently rested him on the floor.

Just as the golden rays of the sun streamed in through the curtains and struck the exhausted Astral’s body. A soft, glow emanated from Matteo’s body and energy surged through his system. Never letting his smile fade, the Astral known as the Eternal Virgin slowly rose to his feet. All the cum that had caked into his fur flaked off, seemingly burned away by the light of the sun. Even the fresh seed that was soaking into his fur seemed to leap off, desperate to avoid touching him at all costs.

Matteo spread his arms wide as his body was renewed… and that need to be fucked grew once more. His cock never became flaccid and his ass was ready to be penetrated.

He turned towards the celebrations that were still well underway. A little flake of Virgo’s rune danced across his muzzle. The defenses were charged. But they could always do with more.

“New day,” he announced. “Let’s get going.”

False Purity

Ultimately, even Matteo knows that his ‘purity’ is merely an illusion. His mind and his soul cannot erase the fact that he has had these experiences before despited what his body says. This had left him with a sort of disjointed sensation to his physical form. Like those around him and even Virgo, he considers his body merely a tool.

I was saddened to hear this when I encountered him personally about a decade ago. He had hunted me down, curious why the Godhunters had suddenly stopped recruiting and were retreating from the world stage. While I was still strong enough to fend him off, I had already started piecing together the parts of the Godhunter plan and did not want to risk provoking a war.

Matteo is extremely convincing and even tried to seduce me, promising me my youth once more should I tell him what we were planning. No truths were revealed. Just a well-crafted lie about the Godhunters no longer wanting to endanger human lives in what was going to be an eternal war. The Circle had grown tired and so had the Godhunters, I said. The Celestials were doomed to either fight amongst themselves or fade into obscurity and die out.

My words stung with some level of truth that I think Matteo even knew. The only thing holding the Zodiac Alliance together and the tenuous peace amongst the other Celestials is the threat of the Godhunters. The last signs of rebellion faded, the weakened Celestials would hunt for the Cradle and kill one another to get it. They would be reduced to ashes.

He threatened to abduct you and your father, my dearest Dante. Threatened to take you to Virgo and turn you into Thralls so that I would be motivated to rescue you both and create more Godhunters in the process. I did not mean to belittle your lives or that of your father but I dismissed his threats.

This war had to end and it was the threats of keeping it going that confirmed Matteo’s desperation.

_ _

*******

November 25th, 8:30 PM, Reaper Residence

There was something in the way Russ had fought against Alfonso that had piqued Dante’s curiosity. While the hellhound was hurling hellforged weapons convincingly and even when he had started to convert Alfonso’s very Domain into hellforged matter, Dante had been watched the flow of his soul. With his ability to see souls for what they really were, he had seen Russ’ immense essence doing its work all around them.

To him, he had seen an immense, ethereal, black and red, three-headed hellhound much like the Cerberus of legend hovering behind Russ during the battle. The creature’s shape curiously possessed two extra pair of arms; one jutting out from just behind its shoulder blades and another right beneath the first. It was this hound that had reached down and started manipulating the very ground itself and forging it into the hellforged materials like it was clay. When Russ had started ripping away at Alfonso’s Domain, the three-headed soul punched at the magical dome over and over again with its mighty fists.

What fascinated him was how Russ’ soul could manipulate something intangible like Alfonso’s Domain. Perhaps it was because both the Domain and soul were on a similar plane. Being able to see how souls interacted with the environment opened up a new dimension to him. It was like seeing the world through a different lens and watching Russ work was like watching microorganism going about their daily lives as he watched silently.

He learned from watching Russ and now, as he knelt beside one of the two Thralls that they had brought back to Jacob’s home, he had both paws pressed against the man’s broad chest, slowly absorbing the tainted essence into himself and leaving the fragments of the man that remained human intact. He still eyed that grotesque creature hovering close to the Thrall. It was no larger than the other Thralls that he had previously drained but this one was more closely embedded into the human’s soul. It hovered much closer to the Thrall, the tip of it’s cocoon-like body touching the man’s head.

As he drained it, however, it pulled further and further away from the innocent soul and its body began to gravitate towards him. Wisps of silvery, gaseous light peeled away from from the unconscious Thrall and began latching onto Dante. At the same time, Dante could see his own soul manifesting. It was still unfocused. Unlike the fiery auras around the others, his was this nebulous, black aura that clung to his body like he was surrounded by a big, black cloud. When those tendrils from the Thrall reached out to him, the cloud sucked it in, absorbing it within himself and bringing it even closer.

It was slower than when he had first drained the three Thralls under Frank but he wanted to take his time and understand the process in the hopes of refining his technique. The rate of which the corrupted essence was flowing into him was rather consistent. After a few minutes of remaining in the same position, however, he began feeling his arms start to cramp. Dante lifted his right arm and gave it a shake to get the blood flowing again. The flow immediately dropped and his right arms felt weirdly cold.

“Interesting,” he mumbled to himself. Once he placed his paw back onto the Thrall’s chest, the rate resumed at its usual place. Giving his left arm some relief, he once again felt the rate fluctuate the moment his paw left the flesh of the Thrall.

“I wonder…”

He leaned down, pressing his forearms against the man’s chest as well as his paws. The rush of divine energies dramatically increased and the corrupted spirit was dragged towards him much faster. Pushing his theory, he wrapped his arms completely around the Thrall’s chest, placing his head against the man’s powerful pectorals.

Now, he felt his entire body tingle with the rush of energies from the Thrall. On top of that, he felt the Thrall’s equine features start to recede. The fur all over the poor man’s body faded back into pale, human flesh. His size shrunk considerably - particularly his belly - and within just a few moments, Dante found himself looking at a quietly slumbering human once more. Over his shoulder, he found the ominous figure of Virgo’s seed now contained within a thick, black cloud that extended from Dante’s figure.

“Serves you right,” he rumbled.

Turning to the next Thrall, questions began floating around in his mind. Now more curious than ever, he shuffled over and placed his paws on the man’s massive hands. Like before, his body instinctively began draining the divine essences from the man but it was at a much slower rate. The dark aura emanating from his fingertips had to travel much farther up the Thrall’s arm before it hooked itself onto Virgo’s seed and similarly had as much distance to cover to bring it towards him.

“Alright… So let’s try…” He pulled his paw away and then placed it on the man’s rather large belly. There was definitely an increase in the flow compared to the hands and more than when he was draining it from the man’s chest. Excited at the discovery, he glanced around for something to write his discoveries on. Finding a pen in the kitchen was easy enough but he didn’t find any notepads or books that he could scribble upon.

Except one.

His grandfather’s diary.

With a bit of trepidation, he approached the book and leafed through it, searching for some empty pages. Curiously, at the back of the book, there were entire pages that were left blank. He had to wonder if his grandfather simply ran out of time or there just wasn’t enough content to fill out the entire tome. That was good for him, however.

“Anatomy of Soul Extraction,” he wrote. “Seems like depending on where I put my paws, the rate of extracting someone’s divine energies varies. Extremities seem to be the slowest while the torso has a modest amount.”

To further his experiment, he knelt next down to the Thrall and pressed his paw against the equine’s cheeks. Strangely, the flow was much less than the chest but still more than the arms.

“The head of the subject is about a midway between extremities and torso.”

His eyes went to the man’s currently flaccid cock. Expression souring, he nonetheless shuffled over and grasped the Thrall’s enormous balls in one paw. His entire arm immediately felt like it was on fire as the burst of spiritual energies rushed into him. Like a rocket, the Thrall’s dick surged up into erection almost immediately. Dante found himself caught in a trance as he watched that flared horse dick twitch and throb before him as a rush of warmth vibrated throughout his entire body like every cell in his body was vibrating and dancing to a loud rave and their undulations were stirring desire in his cock. He fought the urge to lean forward and take that huge dick in his muzzle or to start stroking the member despite how much his own cock demanded he do so.

Forcing himself to remain completely scientific, he watched the clock closely as he absorbed Virgo’s bad seed into him. At around two and a half-minutes, the throbbing member in front of him throbbed and the balls in his paw pressed up against its base. A burst of cum exploded from the towering pillar of flesh and the last vestiges of the corrupt soul was trapped within Dante’s nebulous aura. The man beneath him had shrunk back into his original human shape… though with one exception. That monster of a cock hanging between his legs remained at an impressive foot-long erect.

It seemed that some part of the divine influence remained.

Fighting off the erection, he noted the experience in the book.

“The genitals of the subject proves to be the most efficient means of facilitating the transfer of divine energies.” He paused a moment and even cringed a little at how obvious his words were trying to mask the fact that he clearly fondled someone and alluded to sexual intercourse. “Clearly not the most efficient in terms of combat as I can’t imagine grabbing hold of a subject’s cock and balls for three minutes until they orgasm.”

Nodding to himself, Dante regarded the next Thrall in question.

“What if…?”

He slowly reached down and placed one paw on the man’s belly and then another around the big, rounded balls. The incredible flood of energy flowed through his arms, electricity surging up his fingertips, through his forearms, coursing through his biceps and pumping into his chest. His eyes glazed over, eyelids fluttering and his cock plumping up in his sheath. He had to close his left eye and bit his lower lip as he tried to keep his focus. Just two minutes later, the surge of cum from the Thrall as he reverted back into his human form. Partially lost in the moment, Dante hadn’t been watching where that cock was pointing and got a face-full of hot seed in the process.

A cough and a splutter later, he noted that clearly using both paws would accelerate the process. He absently lapped up the seed on his muzzle and frowned a little.

“Huh… Tastes like lemon meringue.”

“That’d be the Virgo shit mixed in there.”

He jumped in surprise and turned around, most of his face still covered in unicorn seed. Russ was standing a short distance away, arms crossed and with this knowing smirk on his muzzle.

“It’s not what you think!” Dante exclaimed.

“You mean you weren’t fondling their balls?” Russ accused.

Blushing beneath his black fur, Dante said, “Well… I was but… but…” He struggled for an excuse. “It’s for science!”

“Right,” drawled the hellhound, padding forward. He knelt down towards Dante and scooped some unicorn slime from off Dante’s cheek fluffs. With slow, deliberate movements, he lapped up the milky cream from his paw, never dropping eye contact with Dante. “Science.”

Dante, his cheeks afire, turned towards the fourth Thrall. “Look, at the rate I was draining them, I would’ve been here forever. So I started experimenting.”

“Experimenting with other men’s bodies. I thought you were past that stage, pup.”

He growled, ears folded back. “I figured out that the more surface area of my body is in contact with their body, the faster I can get the bad parts of their souls. I also figured out that certain body parts are more efficient avenues to get Virgo’s essence out of them. It just so happens that…”

“Their cock and balls are the best?”

He turned towards Russ suspiciously. “Yeah… How’d you know?”

Russ gave him an expectant stare and knelt down next to him. “I could’ve told you that. Why the fuck do you think Reaper told you to give them a blowjob the first time we fought Thralls? Why do you think it was only after Frank fucked Flash that they merged?” He pointed at Dante’s semi-erect, red cock poking its tip out of his sheath. “Our genitals, male or female, is the very core of our being.”

That felt both a little obscene and very contrived so Dante had to question it.

“Not the heart?”

“What the fuck is the heart but just another muscle that just happens to keep running all the time?” replied Russ. “It’s just like your stomach, liver or lungs. Your reproductive organs both house your past, present and future.”

He shook his head in confusion. “Huh?”

Russ lifted a finger. “In your balls is your very DNA. Your present. That DNA is made up of a combination of your parents. Your past. The cock is designed to pass on your genetics to the next generation. Your future. That’s why they’re so important. Fuck, you could talk to some philosophers who will tell you that we’re just animals and our entire purpose in life is just to prepare until we fuck someone and reproduce.”

Dante regarded his own semi-erect cock with a bit of trepidation. “That seems like oversimplifying things… I mean, what about our brain? Isn’t that important?”

“Your soul and brain are two different entities. Your soul can change what you think and how your body appears if you know how to manipulate it. So no, your soul can’t be in your brain. It’s in your balls. For chicks it’s in their womb.”

Looking towards the man he had just drained and reverted to a human, he said, “So the reason that his cum tastes like a lemon pie…”

Russ reached over and scraped a bit of cum from Dante’s forehead. Unlike before, he wiped it on his bare knee instead of lapping it up. “Is because that’s the remnants of Virgo’s taint that you sucked out of him given physical form. I guess it’s like the human kicking out the last bits of the corruption in him.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Dante mumbled, looking at the four humans he had now successfully transformed back. “I suppose… fondling them would be a quicker way of getting them to revert. It’s just… Messy.”

Russ ruffled his hair. “Take what you’ve learned and think about it logically. Why can’t you just touch two of them at the same time? You also said that the more surface area the quicker it goes, right? Why not just cuddle with them and get the same thing?”

Dante took the hellhound’s advice in another route. “Or… what if I stretched my soul to cover a wider area…?”

He got a puzzled stare from Russ. “Huh?”

Turning towards the friendly Celestial he asked, “How do you do that thing with your Hellforged? How did you learn how to do it? That’s not your Sphere or Mantle, right? It’s something else. Who taught you that?”

Russ squatted down in front of him. “That’s a Godhunter technique. In the face of the more powerful Celestials and their Astrals, Godhunters needed to find some way to defend themselves. They needed to harden both their minds and their souls.” Russ tapped his temple and then his chest. “That’s why Godhunters are equipped with psionics and Soul Manifestation. There’s stories that psionics came from wizards and the Circle who use intense study and mental fortitude to cast their spells. Soul Manifestation comes from sorcerers who managed to awaken the latent power in the souls without aid of Celestials and their ilk. Combine the two and you have the Godhunters.”

“And how did you learn how to manifest your soul?”

Russ crossed his arms and gave a soft hum of deep thought. “It came down to starting with learning how to change the shape of my soul so I can change my body. You first need to feel your soul. You need to understand that it’s just like another limb. A phantom limb that you need to feel is there first before you start using it.”

Dante closed his eyes. Hearkening back to his grandfather’s technique, he shut off each of his senses, focusing on the big void that was left behind. First, he opened his eyes and again, he was greeted by the sight of his soul - that seething, shapeless black mass that surrounded him and emanated from him like a shadowy cloak. Russ was still talking but as he had locked away his hearing, he couldn’t tell what his mentor was saying. Trying to focus on the mass, he imagined himself moving it, guiding it in a direction. He envisioned an invisible hand stretching the mass and reaching out to his left…

… but just stared into the air as nothing happened.

Sight clearly did not help. So he again closed his eyes and this time, tried smell. Russ’ musky aroma mixed with a little bit or charcoal was strong and the almost offensive herbal lemon emanating from the unicorns completely overpowered everything else.

That was a no-go.

Next was touch. All he could feel was the soft breeze of the air conditioning and a little bit of heat coming from Russ. There was also that sticky sensation of the unicorn cum all over his face that distracted him.

No headway there.

Shifting to hearing, Russ’ voice cut through his focus.

“… magic and spells. The leylines are made out of souls and they…”

He immediately shut that off and focused on the last sense he could fathom - taste. Sadly, the strong sweet-sour tang of unicorn seed still lingered on his tongue. Not that he could imagine tasting his own soul.

So he was once again stuck in that big, black void deprived of any of sensations.

But… what if the void was his soul.

A little lightbulb seemed to spring to life in his mind or perhaps it was in his spirit. Slowly, he opened his senses once more. There was something different about it this time, however. He was aware of the black void of nothingness inside of him, that dark, shapeless mass that currently restrained the four corrupt fragments. He could actually feel those fragments in that void now; like simply by acknowledging it, he had taken a step into fully manifesting his soul.

Heart pumping in excitement, Dante turned around, completely ignoring the fact that Russ was still going about a lecture and turned towards the next Thrall. With about five feet between them, he focused his attention solely on the unconscious Thrall and pushed the void towards the unicorn. He could see and feel the tendril of darkness seeping out from him and reaching towards the Thrall.

As it approached, he hesitated. Instead of going for the man’s balls, he reached directly for that hovering abomination above the Thrall. It squirmed in his grip. There was no fighting the darkness, however, and Dante began to pull it slowly and carefully towards him. The unicorn immediately became erect and Dante found himself being attacked by the same arousing sensations that rippled throughout his entire body. This time, it was far more severe as he could feel the fragment being drained into himself instead of having to go through his paws and arms. The sensations reverberated out from his soul and into his whole body. As Russ had lectured, a soul’s shape could influence a mortal frame so as his soul writhed in joy at being filled, he was similarly growing erect.

Fighting through the haze of lust, Dante continued to drain the essence into himself until the unicorn thrust his hips into the air and a jet of white seed shot into the ceiling. The corrupt fragment slipped into Dante’s darkness, joining the four others and currently being stored. He panted, falling to his knees with sweat dripping down his brow.

Russ’ strong paws gently wrapped around his shoulder, bringing with it a soft blanket. “You okay, pup?”

Dante nodded and moaned a little as his semi-erect cock demanded attention. “I’m… I’m really horny,” he growled. The five fragments within his soul weren’t fighting but their mere presence filled the limits of his soul. Almost like there was an intense pressure building up in his chest, compressing his heart. There was less darkness as a whole and his soul instinctively wanted to eject them out. He was made to extract essences from others not keep them. “I need Flash,” he gasped. “He needs to take these fragments from me.”

“I’ll get him,” Russ insisted. “You stay put. Don’t try anything yet. You’re still new to this.”

The enormous hound bounded down the steps, yelling for Flash. Dante closed his paws into fists, resisting the urge to grasp his aching cock and jack off there and then. His brow dripped with sweat. Something told him that if he did jerk off, the moment he came, he would be shooting all these fragments out, manifesting them into the physical realm as lemony seed. Then they would be lost and they wouldn’t be able to repair the souls of the Thralls that had been broken.

Thankfully, Flash came running up the steps a short while later.

“Dante! I’m here!” bellowed the crimson wolf. Jacob, Russ and Alfonso were a few steps behind. Frank came barreling down from the guest bedroom a few seconds later. “What do you need?”

Dante held out a paw. “Take these souls from me.”

Immediately understanding what he meant, Flash clasped Dante’s forearm. The broad range of contact came with a huge rush of relief. Dante physically sighed as the five fragments he kept were sucked out of him by Flash one by one. His dick began to recede back into his sheath as the tension all over his body relaxed. Offering a shaky smile, he looked to Flash who showed no signs of arousal or even strain as he took one soul after the other.

His friend really was meant to store the souls.

Once all of the fragments were gone from him, he patted Flash’s forearm with his free paw, signaling it was time to let go. They unclasped their paws and Dante sighed in relief, offering a lopsided smile.

“I guess my limit is five souls right now.” He gingerly got back to his feet. “I might have been able to squeeze in a sixth but that’d be pushing it.”

“You should’ve called me,” Flash insisted. “At least when you were straining, I could’ve taken them so you wouldn’t be in pain.”

“I wasn’t in pain,” Dante said with a shake of his head. “Just horny. I felt like I really needed to cum. Problem is, I think if I did, then I would’ve shot all those fragments on the floor and then we wouldn’t be able to repair the Thralls’ souls.”

“You intend to repair their souls?” repeated Alfonso. “So quickly? How?”

Jacob and Russ explained the process.

With Dante draining the corrupted fragments, he could pass them on to Flash who had the uncanny ability to ‘purify’ them. The crimson wolf could reduce those fragments into pure ‘leyline energy’ which, as Jacob drew a comparison, was like stem cells for the soul. Flash could then pass that raw energy to Russ, who as the distributor, could inject it into the damaged spirits of the Thralls and let the souls do its own thing to repair itself. With a few spells from Jacob, the soul could be guided into reforging itself with as little trace of Virgo’s influence as possible. Including a few memory adjustments to wipe the otherwise traumatic events from memory.

Flash moved towards Russ and held out his paw during the explanation. As Russ grasped his paw, Dante watched the silvery cocoons slowly crumble away into ethereal, light green wisps that curled around Flash’s arm, coiled around Russ’ and filled the hellhound with energy. The energy spiraled around Russ’ demonic soul but never completely fusing with it. Russ could only consume three of the souls at the moment but that gave him enough to move towards three of the reverted humans and start pumping the energies back into them. Just by holding out his paws, his soul instinctively acted to press its titanic hands against the damaged souls and allow the ghostly lights to work their way back into the former-Thralls to fuel their recovery.

Jacob then unfurled what appeared to be a marker from his jacket and drew a few symbols on the naked bodies of the men, always on the same body-parts; on both hands, on the forehead, over the heart and then over the stomach. Those symbols glowed as Russ finished filling the gaps in their souls. Dante saw it as the fiery aura around each man wrapping around their bodies completely, leaving no gaps. Flash and Russ repeated the process with the two remaining souls giving Dante motivation to turn around and start reaching out for more corruption to drain.

“You know,” Alfonso mused as he watched the process. “Whenever I made Thralls, Virgo always told us we were planting ‘seeds’ into our candidates and letting it grow. Now, I see it for what it is…”

“A weed,” Frank provided.

“Viriditasem,” provided the priest. “At least that is what I would call it. The ‘weed seed’.”

That had a rather nice ring to it. There was an air of menace to the name and it sounded much better than ‘soul fragment’. He reached out with both paws, extending the gaseous form of his soul towards two of the viriditasem and began pulled them towards himself. Still cautious about the integrity of the host soul, he took a slower, methodical approach as his attention was now divided between two Thralls.

It wasn’t long before he felt Flash’s paw fall on his shoulder and that warm, tingling sensation of the football player drawing the newly captured energies into himself. It was curious watching the viriditasem passed from him and towards Flash seamlessly. Even more fascinating was when Russ got involved. The big hellhound rested his big paw on Flash’s head. Flash automatically converted Virgo’s seed into raw spiritual power which he then passed right into Russ who then pumped it back into the unconscious bodies. Jacob had to work fast to draw the appropriate runes as the unicorns began to revert back to their human forms.

They were a single, working assembly line of sorts. Dante retrieved the materials, Flash refined them, Russ distributed them while Jacob assembled them.

“Is this what you envisioned, grandpa?” Dante asked softly.

With all four of them working in unison, it wasn’t long before they had reverted all the remaining Thralls back to their humans shapes. They were now all resting and recovering. Jacob’s spell would keep them asleep until they were ready to be woken up tomorrow where the lawyer would create a likely cover story for all of them being at his residence.

Dante had been so focused with his task that he totally didn’t notice that Frank and Alfonso had retreated to the kitchen and had prepared them a meal by the time they had finished. When he checked the clock, it was already eleven in the evening. His stomach grumbled at him for lack of nutrition.

“You four truly are amazing,” Alfonso said, setting down a big, heaping bowl of pasta. Frank brought some garlic bread, bruschetta and the pasta sauce. “Repairing souls isn’t something that is done lightly or easily. Most people would take years to come back from having escaped Thralldom.”

“Does that happen?” asked Flash. “Can Thralls break free?”

“Sometimes it’s what Celestials count on,” growled Frank.

The black unicorn explained that it was clear that Astrals could make Thralls of varying degrees. Some Thralls came to Celestials willingly. Others were semi-autonomous like the ones that Frank had made while others were little more than obedient meat-puppets. He shot Alfonso a withering look at the last statement. Depending on the Celestial, some Thralls could know they were Thralls and make escape attempts only for the Celestial to recapture them and feed on some part of that experience.

“Sounds like torture to me,” Russ said, chewing loudly through his pasta. “By comparison, Virgo seems pretty tame.”

“Wait until you see his sex dungeon,” Alfonso said miserably. “Which brings me to my next point…” He lowered his fork and spoon and regarded the entire table. “What will we do next?”

“We?” repeated Dante. “You’re on our side now? Did Jacob do his magic on you to make you realize the truth about your soul?”

The priest waved at him dismissively. “No magic but he did tell me about that. It was not the truth that convinced me but rather the realization that a perfect paradise under Virgo is not so perfect after all.” He tented his fingers and glowered at his half-finished food. “I already told both Flash and Jacob this but Virgo is being used by his siblings.”

Virgo’s eagerness to jump into the fight to reclaim the Celestial Cradle was a mad and ill conceived grab for power. There had apparently been a conference amongst the Zodiacs before the Cradle was opened. Each member of the Zodiac knew where the Cradle was but Virgo was the closest one at the time and thus made a grab for it. Yet, as was obvious with Alfonso and Frank’s sudden appearance on American soil without passports or flights, any Celestial could cross the ocean and be in Angelton within a day or so.

So why weren’t the other Zodiacs coming after the Cradle or fighting Virgo for that right?

“Because they aren’t sure what we’ve got up our sleeves,” Russ concluded. “And they’re using the basic bitch to try and wear us down or at least see what we have got before they strike.”

Frank growled and nodded in agreement. “Never thought about it until now. Was too caught up in trying to grab glory for the Virgin and being inside this one to really think about it.” His last statement was accompanied by a hearty slap of Flash’s shoulder and gentle shake. “The other Zodiacs don’t have confidence in Virgo succeeding. So they held back and are either waiting for her to fail or call for help. Either way, it’ll be a rallying cry.”

“If Virgo falls to us, it’ll all that Leo will need to rally the other Zodiacs under his banner and attack us with the full might of the remaining Zodiacs,” Alfonso said. “Virgo knows this. With the loss of two of his Astrals, I can see this situation going in one of three ways. One…” He held up a finger. “… Virgo loses his temper and sends everything he’s got against us. There were agreements between the Celestials to prevent all-out war and if the other groups learn that Virgo made a bid for the Cradle, they might just try to make their own grab. I don’t think this is the most likely option.”

“Virgo could also go groveling to Leo,” Frank added, getting a nod from Alfonso. “But I don’t think he’d do that either. Too proud to admit failure.”

Jacob set down his knife and fork. “Then there’s the last option which we all thought that Virgo is likely to choose.” He lifted his gaze towards the three hounds. “He’ll turtle down and consolidate his power. Wait to get stronger and hope that one of the other Celestials might lose patience and try their bid.”

“We need to attack him,” Flash insisted. “We’ll never get a chance like this again. Virgo is down two Astrals. Astrals that are now on our side. We should take advantage of this and wipe him out just like Virgil wanted.”

“Won’t that invoke the wrath of the other Zodiacs?” Dante asked warily. “It’s different if Virgo came at us and lost. The Zodiacs could blame him on being reckless. But if we attack, that’s us showing that we’re capable of offense.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Jacob agreed. “I say we hunker down and focus on your training. Get you all able to change back into human shape, master Soul Manifestation, learn some good spells and get your started on psionics.”

Russ shook his head. “I’m with the kid,” he said, hiking a thumb at Flash. “If we don’t take this opportunity, Virgo can just find two more Astrals and come back stronger than ever. This will all be for nothing. Fuck. Those guys sleeping in the other room will have suffered for nothing and could go through it all over again! I say we attack!”

“Virgo will make all the excuses in the world to claim all of this wasn’t a failure,” Frank added. “He’ll say it was a scouting mission. Tested our defenses. Boast about everything that he’s learned. But none of the other Zodiacs will let him live it down. Sooner or later, he’ll be compelled to attack again. Might even be with everything he has. We can’t wait for that.”

Alfonso turned his gaze towards Jacob. “In terms of votes, it’s four to two.”

Jacob lifted a finger. “Nuh-uh. Not to be rude but you and Frank don’t get a vote.”

Frank clearly bristled. “Why the fuck not!?”

“Because you’ve been with us less than two days. I’m not questioning your loyalty but… I am.” Jacob groaned and ran a hand down his face. “Okay, that sounds petty. I’ll admit it but…” He gestured at Dante. “… I’ll divert my vote to Dante. If he wants to go, we’ll go. Otherwise, I’ll defend him in his stance to stay.”

Now all the pressure was on Dante again and he could feel all eyes in the room on him. He regarded his own paws, seeing the seething darkness surrounding his fingers. It would be so easy to become overconfident and feel that with his new powers, he could take down a Celestial. But this was Virgo. An ancient Celestial with eons of experience and power. They couldn’t just charge in guns blazing or be so brazen to try a double-feint.

He closed his eyes, retreating into the comfort of his void for a moment. Without any other fragments in there with him, the shadowy emptiness was oddly comforting. It came him time to think. Just a few seconds in the dark felt like an eternity but he was ready by the time he opened his eyes and welcomed all his senses back again.

“I’m changing my vote,” he announced. Russ pumped a fist through the air and Flash banged the table with a fist in excitement. Jacob offered a small, consolatory smile and nodded at him. “But if we’re going to attack Virgo, we need a solid plan.”

“Your plan against me was fairly effective,” Alfonso chuckled. “With my knowledge, we should be able to get past the Astrals and cut down Virgo.”

“And we’re just meant to trust you?” Russ countered. “As far as I can tell, you’ve still got Virgo’s seed in you. Give it up and then let’s talk strategy.”

Alfonso regarded him with a smirk. “But what if we trick Virgo into thinking I won and I have taken you all prisoner?”

“Oldest trick in the book,” Frank grunted. “Not going to work.”

“Not even if we take my private jet?”

The black unicorn regarded the priest with a stunned expression. “You have a private jet!?”

Jacob held up a hand, silencing them all. “Virgo will expect some grand and elaborate plan. He would have sensed the shattering of your Domain and all this silence will have made him suspicious. No. We need to approach this differently.”

Russ jerked his chin at the lawyer. “You have a plan?”

The No One rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe.” He regarded Frank and Alfonso. “Start making arrangements to go to Italy. How will we get there? Where will we stay? Everything. Fully expect Virgo to know of our arrival. Don’t bother hiding it either.”

Dante’s heart started pounding in his chest. This was it. They were planning to assault Virgo’s fortress and end this chapter of their lives. Excitement, trepidation and a bit of testosterone-fueled adrenaline pumped through his veins.

Though there was something that told him that he had forgotten something.

Jacob turned his gaze towards Russ. “I’ll need your help tonight. We’ll need to drop off the former-Thralls all over town and make up excuses for why they suddenly woke up there.”

It was something important. Something that he really shouldn’t have forgotten…

Jacob’s eyes then fell on Flash. “Your first day as a student teacher starts tomorrow so we’ll to make up an excuse to why you can’t attend.”

Something about the school…? An obligation?

Lastly, Jacob finally turned to Dante.

“You’re going to need to tell your dad and boyfriend something.”

That was it.

Dante’s eyes widened. In all the excitement, he had completely forgotten that he had promised to meet Zeke today and he hadn’t been home in three days. Both of them men he loved were likely calling his cell phone which was still at Flash’s mansion, probably destroyed or lost in the wreckage of the fight. The fact that he wasn’t answering likely only caused their fears to mount.

“Shit! I need to make a call!”