Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2009 17:27:31 -0500
From: Jon Lappin <jontlappin@gmail.com>
Subject: Ludan: Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: All character are a work of fiction and are copyright 2009 Jon
T. Lappin.  This story contains explicit sexual acts.  If you are not of
legal age to view, please go no further.

The man stared at himself in the full-length mirror.  His shirtless body was
well defined and his long red hair was naturally complimented by the red
crystal which hung from his neck.

394 years old, and he still looked 22.

" So... you just let him stroll out of theere no questions asked?"   He
peered at the reflection of the brown-robed man behind him as he waited for
an answer.

" Sir... w-we can't hold the boys like animals... the scriptures forbid-."

" Do not tell me what the scriptures say, Father.  I'm fairly well versed in
them, since I wrote them," the man said in a monotone.  He could smell fear
in the father and it caused his blood to flow faster, a slight flush forming
on his face.

" That's... blasphemy, Sir.  Scripture comes from Zalpher," the Father said
softly, the fear permeating from his words.  A slight smile formed on the
man's face, unnoticed by the Father.  A slight laugh escaped the man's mouth
as he pulled the large dagger from his hip and spun around.  The Father
could barely contort his face in fear, before the man slit his throat with
one brisk slice.

The blood splatter was as red as the crystal hanging from the man's neck.

***

Alexander sat against an apple tree, knees glued to his chest, the brown
robe holding back the unrelenting rain from his skin.  " You cast off the
Old Ways like a whore does a skirt, but you cling to this stupidness.  Maybe
you're more fucked up then I ever realized.  And to think... and to think
that I gave up my entire fuckin' belief system just to be one with you for a
single moment."  Abraham stood above him with eyes closed.  The blue crystal
no longer glowed.  It laid on his robe limply like the eyes of the dead.
 Alexander knew the anger was evident in his voice, and he noticed a slight
cringe on Abraham's face as his words ripped into him.

" I don't expect you to understand.  I don't expect you to accept it.  I
don't even know why the fuckin' thing did what it did.  I just know it can't
be taken off," Abraham said, his words soft and shaky.  There was pain in
those words and Alexander found himself cringing as well.

" Where did you get that damn thing, anyway?  I just- I just always assumed
your parents gave you it... that it was just a trinket.  Were they... you
know?" Alexander thrust his leg out and kicked him lightly in the shin.
 Abraham opened his eyes, the rain hiding the water that had been falling
from them.  " Were they a part of this?"  The boys at the Zalpheranial never
talked about their past, their families.  It was an unwritten code that all
the boys lived by, even Abraham and Alexander- their bond never strong
enough to erode away the pain and loss that Original Sin had brought to
them.

" I don't know.  I just always remember having it.  There's very few
memories of my life before the Zalpheranial, but in every single one, this
thing was present.  It's just always been with me."  Abraham dropped to the
wet ground and snuggled up to Alexander.  Feeling the pain in the boy,
Alexander wrapped his arm around him and held him tight, hoping that the
gesture would bring some solace, even though he knew deep down that it
wouldn't.

The conversation brought Alexander back to his own family, his own memories.
 There were birthdays and there was happiness.  There was also the day that
the Fathers came to his large villa in Faster, a well to do city in Northern
Ludan.  He remembered his father had been at work- a job that Alexander was
unfamiliar with.  His mother had opened the door and dropped to her knees in
respect of Zalpher, upon seeing the Holy men.  They explained the situation,
that Alexander was infected with original sin.  He remembered his mother's
beautiful face was wrecked by tears as she allowed them to take him, her
devotion to Zalpher and all that he had blessed them with taking first
concern, even over her own flesh and blood.

He remembered it had hurt her..  At least that was the picture that he had
painted for himself, though he had often wondered if it was an accurate
painting of events.

The sun hung high in the sky, breaking the clouds, its ascent of the day
unnoticed by the sleeping boys as they had held each other in deep sleep,
the perplexing circumstances surrounding their first sexual encounter
filling their dreams.  Alexander had no marks from the burning, but the
crystal seemed to have sucked the energy out of him, as he could barely hold
on to the world as Abraham apologized... and apologized... and apologized.

" Has it ever done anything like that?" Alexander asked, reaching over to
the crystal and holding it in his hands.  There was no burn this time.
 There was no glow.  There was only a cheap trinket on a chain.

" No.  It always just hangs here," Abraham responded, reaching up and
closing his hand around Alexander's.

" How do you know you can't take it off?  Did the Taj tell you something
about it?" Alexander paused and watched the sun for a moment, its yellow
fire fully disappearing behind the clouds. " What are you hiding from me?"

" We've got to go.  We're due in Talerdeen," Abraham said, avoiding the
question.  He jumped to his feet and pulled the other boy up with him.

" Why won't you open up to me?  I can't help you if I don't understand what
is going on," Alexander pleaded as he picked up his backpacks, mentally
preparing himself for the day long trip that still lay ahead.

" We can talk as we walk."  Alexander noticed a shift in Abraham, the caring
boy that he was used to fell away and the commanding leader once again took
form.

Alexander's heart sank.

Abraham started towards Talerdeen and Alexander followed.  ' My destiny...
to follow this boy wherever he goes, apparently,' he thought to himself as
they waded through the puddles that sprinkled the Fields.  ' Maybe if I had
a stupid fuckin' magical crystal, I could call the shots for once.'

***

The man reached down and ran his hand through the Father's blood which was
puddled on the granite floor.  It was warm with life, imbued with history
and soul.  He brought his red fingers up to his face and watched the liquid
fall from them like waterfalls.  ' Like the falls feed the rivers, this
shall feed me,' he noted to himself, as he fed the blood into his mouth,
sucking his fingers dry.

It tasted like copper, as it always did.

The heat started in the pit of his stomach and worked its way upward,
engulfing his heart.  It wasn't painful like it was during the first years.
 He had taught himself to own the pain, trained his mind to accept it and
transform it.  Now, there was just pleasure.

The warmth took over his every pore and he could feel himself drifting in
it, his soul untethered.  He focused and took control of his consciousness,
unlike his first attempts nearly 372 years ago.  He wasn't in control then
and there had been complications- unforseen deaths and crumbling of entire
cities.

But now he was in control.

He closed his eyes and focused on Abraham.  He had only drank a small amount
of the blood, but it was enough to show him what he was looking for.

The Passonh Fields hovered beneath him, their brown grass protruding from
the soaked ground.  He darted his eyes from left to right, until they landed
on the two boys, their figures sticking out amongst the short grass.  He
realized their paths would soon lead them to Talerdeen, and to an
opportunity for the man.  The blue crystal would protect Abraham until his
18th birthday, unless he willingly gave it up.  ' The boy with the blond
hair is the key to my destiny,' he thought to himself.  He brought himself
back into his body and immediately set off to send message to Swen, the
Father of Talerdeen.

He needed the blond boy.

***

" Don't think I don't want to be with you, Alexander.  I want you.  I want
you so bad that it aches in my bones, my soul."  The words were light and
soft, seemingly blowing into Alexander's ears on the slight wind that had
begun to stir.

" What if we never get to be together?  What if that stupid thing keeps us
apart for the rest of our lives?"

" We'll always... be together in some sort of way, Alexander, even if it
isn't physical.  Please believe me, I want nothing more than to feel you,
taste you.  But that isn't what love is about.  It was never part of our
lives before and we survived."  The words rang true in Alexander's ears.
 The Old Ways had kept them apart physically.  And, if they had gone through
their Ascensions, they would be apart mentally as well, as the ritual would
wipe all sin- or love, as he now realized it was- from their beings.  Now,
they could spend the rest of their lives together.  " I can feel it in my
soul, you know."

Alexander grabbed Abraham and stopped him from moving forward.  " You can
feel what in your soul?" he asked, hopeful that the boy was finally opening
up to him.

" The crystal.  It... it's binding to me, somehow.  I can feel its power
raging through my veins, through my body.  I think it's changing me."
 Alexander realized the implications, and hoped that it wasn't changing
Abraham into something unrecognizable.

" We all change, Abraham.  We all change."

" Yes, I forgot, we all have creepy anti-sex crystals overtake our being."
 Abraham chuckled and Alexander smiled.

***
Swen had been confused when the messenger, cloaked in all red, had delivered
the note.  Though Talerdeen was a major port city, it had passed unnoticed
by the Zalphera for his entire 12 years as Father.  He had not even heard
from the higher ups since his initiation ceremony, at the age of 20, by the
Chief Father of South Ludan.  They seemed preoccupied with other matters,
which suited Swen greatly.  He was devoted to Zalpher, but distrusted the
organized religion aspect of the Zalphera.

The messenger, having placed the note in Swen's hand, was gone as fast as he
arrived.  As the 32 year old man opened the note, a look of shock crossed
his face.  ' Imprison the blond outsider that will arive in your city within
the day and await the High Father,' the note read, the words burning into
his eyes.  Imprisonment went against Scripture, and he found himself torn
between what he knew in his heart, and the oath he had taken to the
Zalphera.

He crinkled the note up into a small ball and placed it in his pocket,
retreating to the bedroom situated in the back of the tiny church which
tended Talerdeen's small flock.  He sat on the edge of the bed, careful not
to disturb the naked young man who had sprawled out across it once Swen had
gotten up to answer the door.  He turned his head and looked at Aaron, the
19 year old who had come to him only a year earlier.  The boy, like Swen
himself, was plagued by Original Sin, but was never brought to the
Zalpheranial.  Swen had no idea why the two hadn't been taken when they were
younger and his lack of Ascending haunted him to this day.

Swen had become aware of the sin which overtook his soul, when he was only
12.  He had started to notice boys, specifically their bodies and the
effects they had on his penis, as soon as he hit puberty.  He knew from
Scripture that the thoughts were sinful.  He tried to suppress the evil in
his body, and succeeded, but the realization that he would never be touched,
never be able to feel love from another, threw him into a deep depression.
 He looked to the Scriptures, to Zalpher for solace, and finally he was
granted peace through Zalpher's graces.  His devotion to the Church and its
god brought him salvation.  He knew in his heart that he was forgiven and he
promised himself that he'd spread the Old Ways, in return.

And then the boy showed up at his door, looking for shelter from the Rains.
 Swen offered Aaron his bed that first night, as it was much more
comfortable than the one in the church's spare bedroom.  He had fetched him
some warm, dry clothes, and when he returned to his room the boy stood
naked.  ' Wow,' he thought to himself at that moment, ' I've never seen a
beggar with such a build.  Surely he should be working as a guard or knight
somewhere, not here hiding from the rain.'

Over the next months, the two had grown closer, though Aaron was always
guarded about himself and his past.  Swen would press the boy for details,
but all he ever got in return was a simple, " Nope, don't want to talk about
it."  It wasn't a sad rejection, but it was firm, and Swen got the feeling
that whatever Aaron was hiding was out of respect for the Father, and not
out of embarrassment to himself.  On the first day of the sunny season,
Aaron came to Swen before nightfall.  The boy looked him up and down as he
explained that he was falling in love with the Father, and that he had hid
is sinful nature out of respect to the man that have given him shelter,
rather than out of shame for himself.  Swen melted at that point, the years
of lonliness faded away, and he gave himself to Aaron.

They had been a secret couple ever since and it tore Swen in half, as his
soul battled his heart.

" Who was at the door, babe?"  Aaron asked, surprising Swen, who thought the
boy had slept through the visitor.

" A messenger for the Zalphera," Swen answered. matter of factly.

" Psh, what do those assholes want?"  Swen knew that Aaron was an atheist
who viewed the Zalphera as the enemy, but it still shocked him every time
the boy spoke like that.  He had never heard someone so open about their
hatred for the religion.

Swen reached into his pocket, grasped the crumbled note, and thew it on
Aaron's bare chest.  After reading the message scrawled across the note, he
looked at Swen and rolled his eyes.  " You aren't seriously thinking about
imprisoning someone are you?  Fuck that, Swen.  Fuck them.  Does this even
coincide with their stupid teachings?"

" No it doesn't, but I took an oath to uphold the Zalphera's laws.  Perhaps
there is a reason for all this.  Perhaps the boy is evil."

" There is no such thing as evil.  There's only people making up their minds
and committing acts.  That's all there is to it, Swen.  So what action are
YOU going to take?"

" I-I-I don't know.  I haven't made up my mind yet."