Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Leon knew something was different about Floh. He didn’t behave quite like the other spirit ashes he employed during his journey through the lands between. Leon was a mage through and through. Even during his time in prison he never quite got the hang of a blade, so he relied upon spectral champions to keep his enemies well away from him while he pelted them from afar. The other spirits were generally eager to help, often too eager by his estimation. He knew they were once living beings, that they had once had wills and ambitions different from his own. Yet each of them obeyed him unconditionally, except Floh.

He’d learned early that Floh didn’t give a shit about what Leon wanted him to do. The first time he’d found out was when he’d summoned the knight just outside an enemy camp. Leon had expected him to follow him like everyone else, only for the mage to turn back and see him chasing butterflies as Leon had the shit kicked out of him by the entire camp. However, when Floh actually decided to fight, he was the perfect partner. He was damn aggressive, practically rabid, and he knew how to keep himself alive. For a mage like Leon, someone who could consistently keep his enemies’ attention was a valuable companion. If anything, the strange distance between them was refreshing. Floh was once a living man with his own wants and needs. His obstinance kept that fresh in Leon’s mind.

Leon wanted to be as respectful to the compelled dead as possible. It reminded him too much of puppet magic, the dark secret of the Carian royal family. He’d been in line to become a preceptor until he discovered the dark magic the position would have required him to perform. He was imprisoned for slander after that. Funny thing to call spreading the truth. He hated having to rely on the dead in the same way they had forced the living into servitude. Perhaps that was why he liked Floh’s company. He was always sure that the Bloodhound Knight only ever did as he pleased.

It was because of that certainty that he had become concerned when Floh began to stick around longer and longer after battles. At first he thought he’d imagined it. Floh was only hanging around for maybe an extra minute, usually just investigating the aftermath. After a while though, he remained for five, maybe ten minutes by Leon’s count, shuffling around watching curiously as Leon looted the bodies of his fallen enemies, occasionally bringing him an item or two himself. His friendliness was becoming concerning to him. He hoped Floh wasn’t losing his will with repeated summons. It had gotten to the point where he was now avoiding summoning him altogether. However, today he had been backed into a corner.

The fanged imps he had taken to using (they were created beings to start with, that meant they were fine to use right?) weren’t really cutting it against the giant Magma Wyrm he’d found himself up against. He needed someone who could keep its attention for longer. He regretfully pulled out the box containing Floh’s ashes.

The two of them took care of the dragon handily. It was much easier to pelt its head with magical arrows when Leon wasn’t dodging sword swings every five seconds. Floh was streaked with blood and ash when he approached Leon after the battle. “Thank you.” Leon had gotten in the habit of thanking his summons after battles even if most never responded. Floh nodded in understanding. But continued to stalk forward. “You know you don’t need to hang around if you don’t want to. I’ve disturbed your rest, you shouldn’t feel obligated to stay.” Floh stood drawing himself to his full height. He took Leon’s face in one hand. The worn leather on the underside of the spectral knight’s gauntlets was soft against his skin. He felt the desperate urge to lean into the touch but he steeled himself. He would not take advantage of him like that. Floh scrutinized his face for a moment before wiping a fleck of blood from his skin. The mage felt all the blood in his body suddenly rush directly to his dick. The Bloodhound Knight made a gesture Leon didn’t recognize and faded away, leaving the mage alone with his guilt, and his raging erection.

Leon was reasonably sure he’d found the correct interpretation for the gesture that had burned itself into his mind. He paused and set his book down a moment to blast the Lazulite mage that had spotted him in the face before he resumed his reading. Bloodhound knights could not speak but they could use sign language to make their wills known. If this text was correct, he now knew what Floh had said before he disappeared, “Stupid fuck.” Perhaps his fears had been unfounded. He slipped the book into his brown and blue robes. He’d need to study up for the next time he summoned him. The phalanx of blades he’d erected skewered the Warrior Jar spinning towards him down the hallway. It’s not like Raya Lucaria couldn’t afford another copy. He figured it must cost less than his tuition had. They could take the cost of the book out of that.

Leon wanted to attempt to speak with Floh. Clearly he still had some semblance of his wits about him and the ability to communicate, so the mage wished to negotiate terms of their companionship. In his mind, if Floh was able to set boundaries it would be a significantly more ethical arrangement than their current one. However, before that, he needed to take care of something. The… issue that had arisen the last time he’d summoned Floh. Over the course of his journey, Leon hadn’t had many opportunities to feel the touch of another person and he was starting to feel a little pent up. That’s why he’d gotten a boner, not because he wanted Floh to gently hold his face like that again as he pulled aside his armor and took out his cock and thrusted it into Leon’s mouth like he was just a hole to be used. That definitely wasn’t the reason. He just needed to jack off a little bit first. That was it.

Before he attempted the summoning he made a quick stop at the Church of Dragon Comunion. He wasn’t an adherent or anything but there never seemed to be anybody out on its small island, especially not at night. He leaned himself up against the walls of the ruins next to the grace and pulled aside his robes. At first his thoughts drifted to an old fuck buddy from prison, but as he kept going and his strokes became sloppier his mind went instead back to Floh. What would it be like if he fucked him? Would he be passive, letting Leon fuck himself silly perched on his massive cock while he begged him to move, only to laugh at him and leave him crying for more? Or would he take him on all fours fucking into him over and over again until he was lying delirious in a puddle of his own cum, still using him like the fuck toy he was.

Suddenly his hand on his cock wasn’t enough anymore. Leon removed his robes completely and began working his fingers into his hole. It had been a while, so he’d tightened up considerably. That was unfortunate, he’d have to rectify that. Not for any particular reason, definitely, he just needed a little more than his fingers up there. It took what felt like hours for Leon to work himself back open to his satisfaction, but he eventually managed to fit his hand comfortably inside his hole. Praise the stars! His title as the biggest slut ever expelled from Raya Lucaria was no longer in question! He shook as he slowly clenched his hand into a fist, working his way back up. By the time he began to thrust he was drooling into the grass, cock entirely forgotten in favor of the hole that he desperately wanted filled. He could feel Floh’s name falling from his lips as he lost himself completely, but couldn’t think clearly enough to feel guilty for it. He just needed to cum. Just a little bit more and he would be there. He twisted his wrist and his knees buckled as his brain leaked out of his cock.

It took a minute for him to gather himself again. May he be struck down by the comets, that wasn’t how he’d intended things to end up! He was supposed to be disposing of the urge to fuck Floh not engaging in fantasies revolving around it. The complicated issue of whether or not Floh could even properly consent should have been enough to keep him away from that line of thinking. But, no, Leon had let himself get too fucking cum brained and now he had to deal with the consequences. As his head began to clear he heard the rustle of paper from somewhere behind him. He stood up quickly, not bothering to get dressed before snatching up his glintstone-less staff. Floh was sitting cross legged on the wall of the church thumbing through the book Leon had stolen.

“Having fun?” he signed. He shouldn’t be here! Leon hadn’t summoned him, unless? The bell had been in his pocket when he’d tossed away his robes, it might’ve rung when he threw them to the ground or he might’ve kicked it when he was lost to the world. Shit, Floh Probably heard him. Leon bowed politely, still naked.

“My apologies for my lapse in decorum. I promise you it will never occur again.”

“Did you understand me or would you have started with that anyway?”

“Both.”

“You learn fast.”

“I’m a quick study.”

“I guess you need me for something if you aren’t dismissing me.”

“Yes, once again my apologies for what happened earlier, it was not my intention for you to see.” Floh waved his hand, indicating for him to wrap it up. “Right sorry, since you’d proven yourself capable of communicating, I was wondering if I could negotiate terms with you, regarding your summoning.”

“Alright, what are your terms then? If you want me to play things more defensively the answer is no.”

“Oh you seem to misunderstand me, I wanted to know if you had any terms.”

“What?”

“Well, I feel like I’m taking advantage of you, you know? I can disturb your rest at a moment’s notice and ask you to fight for me. It doesn’t seem very fair to you if you don’t get anything out of it. For example, is there anything you’d like me to help you do? Latenna asked me to take her to the consecrated snowfields. I'd be happy to help you visit family or take you to some place you’ve always wanted to visit.” The bloodhound knight paused for a moment and then Leon heard a raspy almost hiss-like sound ringing through his helmet. Floh was laughing at him.
“You’re serious aren’t you?” Floh dropped down from the wall and stalked towards Leon on all fours. He placed his clawed hand on the mage’s shoulder. Leon could see the red glow of his eyes through the visor of his helmet. With his free hand he signed, “Do you really think that you could make me do anything I didn’t want to?” Fuck, that was going right to Leon’s dick again.

“Well, surely there must be some way I could compensate you for your service.” He said quietly, suddenly very much aware of exactly how naked he was. Floh removed his claws, letting them drop to the ground and disappear.

“Seems like you’ve already got something in mind don’t you?”

“That was, I, just because I want it don’t think that I expect you to reciprocate.”

“Come on, you put on a show like that, going wrist deep in your ass moaning my name, and you think I wouldn’t at least want a taste?” Leon could feel Floh’s breath hot and wet against his face. The knight grabbed his ass kneading it before feeling around the edge of his loose hole. He felt like he was going to melt from pleasure. Leon felt Floh trace something onto his skin. “Eager?” He nodded. Yes he was eager. So eager he didn’t know where he wanted it first. All he knew now was that he wanted to be filled. Floh started to remove his helmet, but then paused tracing “Scream if you want, you agreed to this.”
Leon had never seen a bloodhound knight without their helm. They were all mostly human in their proportions aside from their size and digitigrade legs, but the way they moved and their inability to speak led Leon to believe they were a good distance from human underneath their armor. At first his only thought was that Floh was unusually hairy. It wasn’t fur, just a thicker than average layer of body hair, but then he got his helmet all the way off. It looked like the starting point for whatever Floh was had been human, but he had been obviously warped and formed into something far from that. His jaw had been elongated into something not quite a snout, his lips stretched over sharp teeth that didn’t all quite fit inside his mouth. His tongue hung slightly out, much longer than a person’s should be, rendering it useless for speech. All Leon could think about was how deep he could fit it down his throat. Stars, self control, self control.

“May I please kiss you?” Floh smiled.

“No.” He traced and Leon whined involuntarily. The knight laughed that harsh hissing laugh again. “You’re filthy. Have to clean you up first.” He pushed the mage to the ground and sat on top of his legs, pinning him down. Then Floh lowered his head down to Leon’s stomach and began licking the remainder of his cum off of it. He squirmed helplessly as the knight licked his way up further, his tongue curling around his chin and teasing the corner of his mouth. “Now you can kiss me.” Leon surged forward trying to take as much of him in as possible. He could taste himself in Floh’s mouth as he licked over his sharp teeth and tried to swallow down as much of his tongue as possible. Floh pulled away, humming low in his throat. “Not eager, desperate,” he traced. Leon panted underneath him. Yes he was desperate, he wanted to kiss him again, he wanted that tongue to cover every inch of him, he was hardly sure anymore exactly what he wanted anymore aside from more.

Floh backed off of Leon’s legs and flipped him onto his stomach. Then the knight grabbed a hold of his hips and brought the mage’s ass up to his face. Leon moaned quietly as Floh spread his cheeks. Marika’s tits he had a nice ass. That had been one of the things that had first made him stick around after battles were over. The mage’s robes gave Floh just enough of a hint of what was underneath to get him drooling. Well, not that it was particularly difficult with the way his mouth was shaped. Having the real thing in his hands though, that was something else. It was softer than he thought it would be and plush enough that he could really sink his hands into it. Then there was of course that loose hole, still wide open from Leon’s hand, practically begging for something to plug it back up.

Floh pulled off his gauntlets with his teeth. Most wizards he’d met were massive pervs in some way or another. Usually it was a control thing. Maybe something about learning the secrets of the infinite universe just gave people a thing for domination, maybe it was just the hazing culture at the academy, he had no clue. All he knew was that if he had a rune for every mage that had tried to get him to wear a dog collar, he’d have been able to afford a much better burial. Seluvis especially, eugh. Floh didn’t know how Darriwil stood working with the old lech. Man, it had been a while since Floh had seen Darriwil. He wondered how he was doing.

Leon was clearly pretty well educated, Floh had seen him melt a tree spirit in seconds using some souped up version of a comet spell. He’d assumed he’d be just like all the other mages, maybe with a bit more guilt and crying afterwards. This though, this was new for him. To see somebody so desperate for him, squirming in his hands begging to be touched… fuck. That was hot. Floh spat on his fingers and teased at the edges of Leon’s hole. It was still slick from the show he’d put on for him earlier. You know what, fuck foreplay, he was prepped enough already. Floh just wanted to taste him.

Leon tried to muffle his moan as he felt a long rough tongue make its way into his ass. “Louder,” Floh traced into the sensitive skin of his inner thigh. “Don’t hold back, let me hear you.” That tongue licked deeper and deeper into him and he let himself go, moaning wantonly. Floh hummed and the vibration against his hole made Leon throw his head back. “Good boy.” Oh stars, yes he was a good boy. Maybe if he was even louder Floh would call him that again.

“Your cock! Please! I need it!”

“Where?”

“My mouth.” Floh slid his tongue slowly out of his ass and he whined desperately. “Please don’t!”

“Don’t what?”

“I need you in both! Please!”

“Greedy.” Floh laughed as he traced the words. He slowly, agonizingly, removed the rest of his armor and sat up on his knees. The rest of him was unusually hairy as well, with a few bald patches worn away underneath the straps of his armor. His legs were strangely bent, as Leon had observed outside his armor. Now he could see that it was because the bones of his feet were unnaturally elongated, forcing the knight to stand on his toes. Floh didn’t give him much time to take all of it in, easily handling the mage so his thighs rested upon the knight’s shoulders and his head hung down into Floh’s lap. Leon’s position gave him a perfect view of Floh’s cock.

It was disappointingly human looking, however, it was also significantly larger than Leon had imagined. His cock was about the same girth as his fist but a good couple of inches longer than he could reach with his own arm. As if that wasn’t enticing enough, his balls hung the size of apples beneath it. Oh stars, he could just imagine how much cum Floh would be able pump into him. He could imagine how he’d look, leaking into the grass out of both holes like a used cum rag. It was a shame spirits didn’t smell like anything, he’d have loved to bury his face in them and take a good whiff. “Go on, what are you waiting for, an invitation?” Floh looked down at him and Leon could see strands of drool leaking past his overcrowded teeth. Stars, Floh was just as desperate as he was wasn’t he?

Though Leon prided himself in his ability to take anyone, even he could admit that Floh’s dick presented a challenge. It would be difficult for him to get his mouth around it, let alone down his throat, so he resigned himself to worshiping every inch of it with his tongue. It didn’t taste like anything sadly, but it had a strange slick texture to it that he found endlessly fascinating. Maybe, with the added slickness he’d manage to get it down his throat like he so desperately wanted? It was worth a shot wasn’t it? He played with Floh’s balls as he kissed his cock’s massive head in preparation. He forced his mouth as wide as he could and attempted to take it inside of him.

Floh noticed what Leon was attempting to do and pulled him away, whining in protest. As good as it would feel to ruin his throat, the mage probably would’ve hurt himself trying that. Normally Floh figured he would’ve known that, but in the state Leon was in it was probably safer to assume he’d try anything if he even remotely believed he could get off doing it. Leon had offered himself up as a toy but he was a delicate one, Floh would have to be careful not to break him. He easily flipped him over, sitting him on top of his thighs. The mage immediately switched gears, grinding his own cock against Floh’s. Fuck that felt good, but one of them had to stay more or less lucid. Floh held him in place with one hand and snapped his fingers in front of his face. “Are you still with me?” The mage nodded vigorously. Okay, he was still communicating at least, that was good. “You’re not going to be able to get my dick in your mouth.”

“Please, give me one more chance! I promise I can do better! Please!” Leon looked legitimately distressed at the idea, something to unpack later he guessed.

“Look buddy, if I let you try you’re just going to end up hurting yourself. We can find other things to occupy your mouth alright? For now I can think of somewhere else I want to put my dick.” He lifted up the mage, pulling him closer so that he could slot his dick between his ass cheeks. “You want to be a good boy for me, right?”

“Yes! I’ll be a good boy!”

“Great. Now, I’m going to sheath my cock in that loose ass of yours. I want you to stay absolutely still until I tell you, alright?

“Alright.”

“Good boy.” Floh slid his cock into the mage’s gaping hole. Marika’s tits, that was nice. He was just loose enough that Floh could slide in easily but he was still tight enough to squeeze deliciously around him. He stopped for a moment allowing Leon to get used to him. He was being good to his word, but was crying from the effort of staying still. Floh pushed himself further in, feeling Leon’s walls stretch around him as he went deeper and deeper. He paused again. Fuck, he was so close to getting it all the way in, but he didn’t want to go too fast for Leon’s sake. Of course the mage wasn’t making things easy for him. He’d progressed from crying to screaming and begging.

“Just use me! Please! Let me be your cocksleave! I want to be your hole!” Well, even if Floh was having a rough time looking him in the eyes, at least he was honest. It gave him more to work with. When Floh was sure he could keep going without hurting him too badly he pushed the mage down onto his back and finally sheathed himself fully. The mage breathed a sigh of relief as Floh’s hips met his ass. Fuck, he was really going to enjoy this.

“You can move now.” Yes! Leon immediately surged upwards, nearly headbutting Floh in his rush to kiss him again. That rasping hiss of a laugh came again as he ran his tongue over Floh’s teeth. The knight began to kiss him back, delving deep into his mouth and towards the back of his throat. He hummed contentedly around his tongue. Leon was finally being filled the way he needed to be. He didn’t have to think about the people he’d killed to get here, he didn’t have to think about the burdens he would be expected to take upon his back if he became Elden Lord, the only thing that occupied his mind in that moment was the tongue in his mouth, the massive cock in his ass, and how much he wished Floh would just move already.

Floh could tell Leon was getting impatient, he could smell it on him, but this was supposed to be his compensation now, wasn’t it? He was going to be the one dictating the pace. Floh began to pull out, moving at a snail’s pace. Leon clawed at his arms, begging him to go faster, but he held steady, pulling himself almost all the way out before slowly pushing his way back in. It was torturous, but the way Leon squirmed made it all worth it.

Floh was starting to understand the whole control thing now. He knew Leon was a competent mage, honestly probably one of the best he’d seen in a long time, but in this moment he had put himself completely at Floh’s mercy. Having someone he knew was so capable surrender himself completely, doing as he said and begging to be used, It was utterly intoxicating.

Floh drew himself out slowly one last time, before slamming back inside. The mage arched his back as if he was electrocuted at the change of pace. Leon grabbed onto the knight’s back for support. He was close again now. It almost felt as if Floh was getting bigger inside him, though Leon was too far gone to care about anything aside from how good it felt. He felt Floh’s cock scrape up against that sensitive spot inside him and his vision went white. He just barely registered the feeling of cum spilling into his own ass as well.

As Leon started to come back to himself it slowly dawned on him that Floh hadn’t pulled out. Not that he was upset he hadn’t in the moment, far from it, it was just a little odd he was still in there. Leon tried to gently back off his dick, but found he couldn’t.

“Sorry, it’s going to take a while to go back down. We’re going to be stuck like this for a bit.” Floh looked almost sheepish, well as much as he could look sheepish with those intensely glowing red eyes.

“Don’t worry too much about it, it feels kind of nice actually.” Leon felt pleasantly full. Not in the same way he had earlier, desperate to have his brains fucked out, but content and comfortable in the intimacy of it.

“This isn’t going to be a one time thing is it?”

“Why do you listen to me when I summon you?”

“You can’t just avoid the question by asking me one.”

“My answer depends on yours. Bloodhound Knights only swear themselves to one master right? Why listen to me?”

“I never had a master. I waited my whole life looking for somebody I thought could be a king and bought it before that happened. Isn’t that carved on the box my ashes are crammed in?”
“Precisely, why me then? Why not wait for someone stronger? I can think of several people off the top of my head whose strength better befits a crown.”

“It isn’t strength that befits a crown. Any dog’s arse can be strong. Hell even if you weren’t strong to begin with there’s plenty you can do even without runes to become stronger. Not that any of them are exactly healthy.” Floh wiped some of the drool from his mouth as he finished to underscore his point. He knew a couple of people who became bloodhound knights because they wanted to be strong, and look what had happened to them. “You might not be strong but you’re a clever bastard.”

“Then once again, there are a multitude of options far more intelligent than I am.”

“I’m not talking about how much bullshit they crammed into your head at the academy either. I’ve seen enough young mages get themselves killed thinking that just because they know a few spells, the whole continent was obliged to kiss their ass. How much you know isn’t as important as you’d think when you’ve got half a fort on your ass.” He stopped, running a hand through his shaggy hair, trying to think of a way to phrase what he was trying to say. “Cleverness isn’t something you can really teach and it’s certainly not something you can get with runes. You can learn it, but it’s difficult and you have to do it on your own. It’s not a measure of the resources you have, whether mental, or physical, or material, but a measure of how well you utilize them. I have seen others decide their lords based on who was the strongest or, the smartest, or the wealthiest, and seen them fall, because their lord didn’t understand how to effectively use the gifts they’d been given.” Floh attempted to look away, difficult as that was with the two of them stuck together. “You understand what you can and can’t do. When we fight, you know how to leverage both of our strengths. You never take on more than you can handle, but you also don’t make me do all the work either. And don’t think I don’t notice how much you set up, even before I get there, to make things easier on me.”

“Well isn’t that my role as your commander?”

“It is.” Floh managed to look at him again. “But not everyone is good at it. That’s…” He looked conflicted, not sure if he was willing to continue signing. He took a breath, the intensity of his eyes softening for just a moment. “That’s why I figure you can do it. Out of everyone I’ve met, before and after I bought it, you’re the only contender for the throne with any damn sense. Even if you’re a fucking dumbass sometimes.”

Leon breathed a sigh of relief. Okay, he had actual confirmation now. There was nothing compelling Floh to listen to his wants or needs. He was the same as always, he’d just decided this for himself. It gave the mage a warm feeling, knowing Floh thought he was special. “This doesn’t have to be a one time thing, if you want.”

“What about you? Do you want to do this again?”

Now that the haze of arousal was no longer clouding his eyes, Leon could finally begin to take in how Floh looked in the light of the approaching dawn. There was his unnaturally elongated face, which looked as if it were halfway forced into the shape of a canine’s before whatever mage, priest, or surgeon had done it had given up. His ears were slightly pointed with a notch in his left one. The hair on his head was limp and shaggy, though it was impossible to tell what color it was when he was alive. A thin layer of hair also covered the rest of his body, too thick to be natural, but still too short and thin to be called fur. Patches of it had worn away at the points where his armor was strapped onto him. His hands were relatively ordinary, apart from their size and the thick calluses that had developed from being forced to walk on them. Floh’s legs on the other hand had been forced into a digitigrade configuration. What was fairly clearly once an ankle, rested at what should have been his mid-calf, allowing him to run and fight on all fours. His body as a whole was strangely thin and gangly looking, as though he had been simply stretched into his current shape, with the exception of his chest which was already particularly broad, but looked especially so in contrast to the rest of him. He was unsettling to look at, a creature more than a man, molded into a form designed specifically to track and to kill. Floh was in fact quite frightening to him, but at the same time, by the stars and comets, was that hot.

“Yes, I would like to, but, once again I want to stress that you shouldn’t feel obligated to have sex with me just because we’re working together.”

“If you don’t want to fuck me just say so. I’m not going to be offended.”

“No! Far from it! It’s just, I lose myself when I have sex. I ask for things that my partners find beyond their capacity or their comfort to give. Others generally find me selfish or unreasonable.”

“You didn’t ask me for anything I wasn’t willing to give you, though maybe I’m just special.” Floh grinned. “I’m going to guess with an ass like that, it would normally take more than one cock to satisfy you.” Leon squirmed a little in embarrassment. “Of course if I’m still not enough I’d be willing to share. It would be a shame if I kept you all to myself. I’ve got a couple of friends I could introduce you to if they’re still kicking.” The thought of being passed around like a doll between more men like Floh threatened to make him hard again.

“Stars, please don’t tease me like that,” he moaned.

“All I think you need is a steady hand. Somebody willing to tell you no if things start looking too dangerous.”

“Maybe, but I ought to be able to control myself. I don’t want you to feel like you have to be responsible for me when you also have needs that require fulfillment.”

“Maybe, but I don’t think you’ve considered that keeping you under control might be a way for me to fulfil those needs. Trust me, I was into it. I could’ve dismissed myself ages ago if I wasn’t.” Floh finally felt himself flag enough to pull out and laid down in the grass next to the mage. It had been a while since he’d felt grass on his skin. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed it.

“Alright, but if I ever become too exhausting for you…”

“Fuck, you’re stupid.” Floh kissed him again, this time slower, more exploratory. He had been all business before, but now he wanted to take his time to map out all the details of the smaller man’s mouth. “Bloodhound Knights swear to serve for life. Ignoring the fact that we’re both already dead, you’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”

Chapter Text

“You’re sure he’s in there?” Leon poked the seal of the Evergaol with his staff. Seemed like a strange place to find a beloved knight, sworn to the guardian of the Carian Princess.

“Who’s the tracker, me or you?” Floh signed. “I can smell him. He’s in there.” That was Darriwil alright. It was weird though, he and Blaidd were inseparable. Floh didn’t think either of them would’ve let the other remain imprisoned like this. “Alright, here’s what you have to say.”

When Leon entered the gaol Darriwil emerged from the darkness as he always did, ready to strike. This time instead of trying to fight back, Leon threw his hands up and began to sign, “Floh sent me.” Darriwil put down his sword but he still stalked warily around the edge of the gaol.

“It is surprising to meet a tarnished who speaks as we do, however, it is also unsurprising to meet one who lies. Floh is dead, do not pretend to speak on his behalf.”

“He told me to say that the only thing that made all of it worth it to you was that you could finally match Blaidd.” Both looked up as they heard Floh bang on the seal outside the gaol.

“I suppose that sounds like him at least. However, know this, Tarnished, I will not hesitate to strike you down if you’ve lied to me.”

Marika’s tits, what was taking them so long? Floh was still here, so clearly Leon hadn’t died. He smacked the seal with the butt of his sword. Hopefully that would tell them to move it along down there. A few minutes later the two of them appeared crouched in the center of the seal. Darriwil looked around for a moment before his eyes found Floh.

“I heard you were dead!” Darriwil rushed over to greet him. Floh gestured at his general glowing translucence before signing back, “You heard right, but I’m still here!”

“I’ll let you both catch up.” Leon walked far enough away that they had some privacy, but remained close enough to keep Floh more or less corporeal.

“So, that is what you consider a true king.” Darriwil jokingly punched his shoulder.

“Shut up, he’s an idiot sometimes, but he knows what he’s doing.” Floh took off his helmet so that Darriwil could see his smile.

“I never thought I’d see the day. Everyone thought you’d die before you swore yourself to anyone.”

“Well I did, clearly. Oh, speaking of which, how is everyone?”

“Well Rhuddan is dead, though from what I hear Rennala has him in the same situation as you. His son Hirnant took over for him guarding the academy. Katy is alive, though who knows when Gideon is going to get her killed. Daping is alive. He’s keeping an eye on Selia in Radahn’s stead. Sandby and Tremadoc vanished with Rykard to who knows where,”

“Mount Gelmir. As far as I know they’re still alive but Rykard has lost it completely.”

“Rykard is still alive?”

“Yeah, he managed to turn himself into a giant snake somehow.”

“That’s rather disturbing. I’d assumed the hands that took over the manor were his ghost back to haunt us.”

“No, that’s because of him. Ritual he did to turn himself into that thing spawned a whole load of monsters.”

“How did you discover all this if I may ask?”

“Well I was on the front lines for a bit, trying to push back his inquisition when things started getting really bad. Some of Rykards guys defected after the giant snake thing and joined up with me. We didn’t last too long, but we did manage to find something that could kill him before we all croaked.”

“Didn’t you say he’s still alive?”

“Well we found it, never said we ever managed to use it.”

“Stars, Floh, I wish I’d known.”

“It was what it was. I was honestly more pissed when his father’s stupid dog swallowed my ashes. Leon had to kill the fucking thing to get me out.”

“Leon?”

“The wizard, that’s his name.”

“I always thought you hated working with wizards.”

“Well most of them are asshats.”

“And your wizard isn’t?” Floh could practically see the shit eating grin under Darriwil’s helmet.

“What makes you think he’s my wizard?”

“Come on, Floh, I don’t think I’ve seen you smile once since we met and now that you’re with him you’re grinning like an idiot.”

“I suppose you’d know wouldn’t you.”

Darriwil was a special case among bloodhound knights. He’d become one with the intent of swearing himself to a particular person. He didn’t mind the grueling training or the steady disfigurement because he was doing it for someone. Floh had his own reasons for joining, so at the time he hadn’t cared as much about the changes. It wasn’t like he was all that handsome before either. Darriwil on the otherhand had been beautiful. Not handsome, beautiful. He wasn’t insecure about it the way some men were either, he was proud of his beauty. Yet, he gave it all up. Floh remembered one long night when they were both awake in the barracks, the burning in their legs keeping them up far past the others, he asked him if he regretted it. Darriwil had replied no, because despite what he’d lost, he was becoming more and more like Blaidd.

In the present Darriwil hung his head sadly. “Did something happen?”

“I left him.”

“What?! Why?!” So that’s why he was stuck in there. Leaving their lord was considered the highest treason for one of them. Far from helping him, Blaidd was probably out for blood after Darriwil’s betrayal.

“Blaidd’s sister is rebelling against the Greater Will. I can’t say I blame her, I would hate to be shackled to a destiny I did not choose too, but Blaidd is a shadow. The greater will demands that she be brought to task for her rebellion and no matter how many times I ask him to leave her to tread this path alone he refuses. Even though I know it pains him and I know he has to resist the orders of the fingers to kill her. He’s succeeded in ignoring them so far, but the effort is killing him. I just couldn’t watch it any longer.”

“So you came here.”

“So I came here. I deserve to be imprisoned for my cowardice after all.” Floh shifted uneasily from foot to foot.

“I had a favor to ask you, but now I’d feel bad.”

“No need, ask away. I don’t have much to occupy me in there. I could use a distraction.”

“I need your advice on something, since you were in a relationship way longer than me and all.”

“Alright, what kind of advice?”

“Well, Leon is a little distant, well not distant exactly but…” Floh stopped for a moment to figure out what he was trying to say. “He prefaces everything we do together with “as long as you’re okay with it” and “don’t feel pressured”. At first I thought he was being passive aggressive or was just afraid of insulting me if he didn’t want to do anything, but that isn’t the case. It seems like he’s genuinely worried I’m only with him because he’s somehow forcing me.”

“Well consent is important in any relationship.”

“He does it even when I initiate.”

“Oh dear. And you’re absolutely sure he isn’t trying to spare your feelings?”

“Positive, when we actually get to the having sex part he loosens up completely. It’s just before and after that he starts feeling guilty again.”

Darriwil hummed in thought. His voice still had a soft melodic quality to it, unlike Floh’s disused rasp. “It’s possible that in the past he was made to feel unwanted or unreasonable by a partner. Perhaps that is something he has internalized, assuming any partner he has will eventually tire of him.”

“Anything you could recommend to help?”

“Well, lots of love, repeated confirmations that he is worthy of love, likely a great deal of time.”

“Hey, speaking of that I’ve got another favor to ask on his behalf.”

“What is it?”

“You and Blaidd had an open relationship right?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Well remember what I said about him loosening up when we have sex?”

Leon heard Floh whistle for him. That was the signal that he and Darriwil had finished talking. When he rejoined the two knights the two of them stared at him without speaking. Darriwil circled around him, giving him a once over.

“You’re sure he can manage both of us?”

“I’d stake my life on it if I still had one to bet.”

“You are willing then, to indulge me?” Leon was unsure how Darriwil would react to the request. After all, unlike Floh he had no oath sworn to him or even a personal connection to him.

“Of course I am. How could I say no to such a pretty little thing?” Darriwil cupped Leon’s face in his hand, gently dragging his thumb across his cheekbone. The mage leaned into the touch letting himself relax into Darriwil’s hand. The knight hummed in delight. “Quite responsive aren’t you?”

“You should see what he’s like with a cock in him.” Floh came around behind the mage, kissing and nipping at the back of his neck.

“I can imagine.” Darriwil removed his gauntlets, sliding a thumb into Leon’s mouth. The mage eagerly wrapped his tongue around it and began to suck. “You’ve got quite the talent.”

Darriwil took off his helmet. Like Floh, his face was elongated into a form halfway between man and beast. A large scar cut across one of his blue eyes. The eye itself was clouded, suggesting he’d been blinded by the injury. Compared to Floh however, Darriwil seemed to take much better care of himself. His long blond hair was soft and carefully braided back. Though at the moment it was a little messy from his helmet, it was clear the knight took fastidious care of it. His face was clean shaven and the layer of hair that covered the rest of his body was carefully trimmed. It was a strange contrast with the more bestial shape the rest of him took, but perhaps that was intentional. A way for him to remind himself of his humanity in spite of what he’d become.

“How about we use that talent for something more deserving?” Darriwil’s eyes were full of mischief as he withdrew his thumb. Floh licked a stripe up his neck and Leon keened. “I bet you’d find my mouth more interesting than my finger, wouldn’t you?” Leon nodded vigorously. Darriwil nuzzled the side of his face before licking into his mouth.

The knight kissed him languidly. He had no desire to rush. He and Floh had determined their strategy before they called the little wizard back. Floh had related to him that Leon reacted favorably to being called a good boy during sex. Working from that, Darriwil had suggested taking things slow, making him fall apart in their hands, all the while offering him constant praise. It wouldn’t solve, what seemed to be, his self esteem issues outright but hopefully expressing how much he was wanted during the act would lessen his guilt after.

Darriwil felt the mage’s hand touch the back of his head, gently stroking his hair before quickly pulling away as if he’d been shocked. Darriwil pulled away to take a look at him. Leon avoided eye contact with him. Floh paused in his ministrations as well to figure out why they’d stopped. Darriwil turned Leon’s face back towards him with one hand and with the other, he pulled the mage’s hand back into his hair.

“Feels nice right?” Leon looked at him with wide eyes as he gently felt along one of his braids. “It feels good for me too.” Darriwil leaned into his hand and pulled him closer again. “You don’t have to be afraid. I want you to touch me.” He began kissing him again. “You’re being so good for us. We want you to feel good too.” Floh tapped Darriwil’s hand to get his attention.

“Start taking his clothes off for me.” The other knight signed. “I want to touch him.” Darriwil smiled into the kiss as he undid the sash belting the mage’s robes shut.

“So impatient.” Darriwil laughed. Floh made a rasping hum deep in his throat.

“Maybe you could help me with that.” Even though Darriwil was ostensibly attached he and Floh had blown off steam together quite a few times during their training. Well, not that that was unusual, basically everybody had blown off steam with each other at one point or another. Only Sandby and Tremadoc progressed past fuck buddies though.

Darriwil pulled himself away from Leon, still working on untying the laces of his undershirt. Floh wrapped his hand around one of Darriwil’s braids and pulled him in for a kiss. Darriwil was a hell of a kisser, talented with his tongue. He’d spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to force his tongue into the shapes that would allow him to speak again. Of course he’d never managed it, but the dexterity he’d built up had plenty of other uses. Floh could feel Leon’s eyes on them. He peeked at the mage out of the corner of his eye. He stared longingly at the two of them, his shirt hanging half off. He almost had the look of a lost kitten.

“Don’t think I forgot about you.” Floh traced into the mage’s back as he and Darriwil parted. He gently pulled Leon’s face towards him and kissed him while Darriwil took off the mage’s pants. Leon moaned into Floh’s kiss as the other knight took his cock into his mouth. He was slow and careful, his tongue lazily curling around the mage’s length, savoring it. Leon attempted to buck into his mouth, but Floh held him fast. The knight brought his hands to Leon’s chest as they kissed and began to play with his nipples. “Such a good boy.” Floh hummed into his mouth as he traced the words. Leon shivered in his arms. “Do you like being touched there?”

“Yes.” The mage’s lips were slightly red from both of the knights’ mouths. “It feels nice. Please…” he cut himself off with a moan as Darriwil swirled his tongue around the head of his cock. “I want you inside me. Darriwil too.” The other knight pulled off his cock.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have me suck you off?” Darriwil asked.

“No, please just use me.”

“So you wish to be of use to us then, is that it?”

Leon had to think for a moment. In the state he was in that was fairly difficult. He only really had the ability to answer questions, lying about the answers was far beyond him now.

“Yes, I want to be useful to you.”

“Are you worried you aren’t useful to me?” Floh asked. Leon squirmed uncomfortably at the question. “Look at me.” Floh turned Leon’s face towards his own. “I,” his hands shook a little with nerves as he forced himself to admit it, “I love you, you idiot. If this is what you want, of course we’ll do it for you, but if you’re only doing this because you feel like you have to…” he stopped for a second, his hands steadying. “I know what I look like. You didn’t sign on for that. If you don’t want to after seeing me…”

“I want to.” Leon’s head was clear. The fear in the knight’s red eyes had pulled him right out of his pliant state. He gently stroked Floh’s cheek. “I want to.” Darriwil smiled sadly up at them. It was a shame he and Blaidd would never have a moment like that again. “You as well.” He bent down to kiss Darriwil again. “If you insist, I will completely selfishly ask the both of you to ruin me.” Leon reddened as he spoke, unused to airing his desires while fully lucid. “Fuck me until I pass out from pleasure and then continue until I am so full your cum spills from both ends.” Darriwil looked at Floh to gauge his reaction to the request. His eyes glowed with an intensity the other knight had never seen before.

“Are you entirely sure you want to consent to that?” The rabid stray growled deep in his throat. No, that was wrong, that wasn’t a growl, Floh had moaned. It was dark and raspy, his ghostly vocal chords still tight from disuse, but that was a moan. He had never been particularly vocal when he and Darriwil had fooled around back in the day, but then again, they’d never done anything like this.

“Yes, absolutely.”

“Darriwil.” He almost shivered at Floh’s uncharacteristic intensity. “I think you can fit in his mouth. Fuck his brains out will you?”

Leon watched as Darriwil removed his pants. The bloodhound knight was long, much like Floh, but his cock was much thinner. Leon felt himself beginning to drool. Floh was right, he probably could get Darriwil down his throat no problem. He dove straight for it, not giving Darriwil a chance to prepare before taking it into his mouth. The knight clawed into the ground beneath him as Leon swallowed around him. His cock also had that same wonderful slick texture that Floh’s had that made it so easy to get down. Leon could feel the base of it expanding against his lips as he licked and sucked and desperately swallowed.

Floh began working a finger into his ass as he did. The mage leaned back into him begging for more as he moaned around Darriwil. The knight slapped his ass in response and Darriwil yelped as Leon’s throat suddenly tightened around him. “Slow down, buddy, you have to be patient.” Floh turned his attention to Darriwil. He was lying stock still, his face screwed up in concentration trying not to come. It was almost cute. “Go on. Cum.” He licked his lips as he spread the mage further. “You heard what he wants.” Floh made sure to trace his words onto Leon as he signed them to Darriwil. “You’ll need to do it more than once if you want to satisfy him. Doesn’t he deserve a reward for being so honest with us? Cum for him.”

Darriwil cried out as he did and Leon swallowed as much of it as he could, though some still leaked out around Darriwil’s cock. The knight began to pull out of the mage’s mouth but Floh put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. “Come on now, you’re not done yet. Give him more.” Leon licked down his shaft as Floh finished and it suddenly became abundantly clear to Darriwil that he was no longer in control of the situation. Floh quickly signed him a message without relating it to the mage. “If you need to tap out, go. This isn’t the scene you signed off on.” That was true enough. The Floh he’d agreed to have sex with was quiet and mostly passive. It was clear that his little mage had awoken something far more active within him. Darriwil had certainly had the rug pulled out from under him, but he wasn’t exactly turned off. Floh’s check in had allowed him to get his bearings again. He wasn’t opposed to continuing.

Darriwil pulled himself to his knees. He grabbed ahold of Leon’s hair and pulled him away. He licked the remaining spend off of the mage’s lips making eye contact with Floh as he did. He gave him a quick thumbs up outside of Leon’s line of sight. “Such a good boy taking me like that. How about I move a little more for you this time?” He made a show of licking his lips as the mage nodded. Floh hissed as he watched them. Darriwil pushed back his long bangs as he held Leon’s mouth open and pushed himself back inside. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing something, Floh?” The other knight grinned.

“I think he’s about ready for me now.” He withdrew his hand from the mage’s hole. Leon whined as Floh shoved himself inside. It was both too much and not enough at the same time. He felt completely unmoored, unable to focus on any particular sensation other than being full. He grabbed at Darriwil’s thighs trying to find something to ground him and then Floh ran his fingers through his hair. It was a careful touch, exploratory, his fingers lacing through Darriwil’s as he found them. Leon felt himself relax again. He could feel the stretch of his hole around Floh’s cock as he pounded into him and taste the salty slick of Darriwil’s as he fucked his face. His mind finally felt pleasantly empty again as he focused completely on the two men inside him and he felt himself cum.

Floh grunted as he tightened around him, but kept up the same demanding pace. Leon’s oversensitivity was starting to make him lose it again. Distantly he felt Floh and Darriwil cum inside him again. He swallowed again dutifully, more leaking from his mouth. He could tell Floh was trying to tell him something but he couldn’t string together the letters he was tracing into words. Leon knew he was saying something but the words spilled out of him before he could realize what he was saying. Darriwil kept a hand on the back of his head as Leon came a second time, fucking him through it.

The two knights shifted their positions, Floh sitting beneath him and Darriwil standing. Floh grabbed his ass like he was drowning and Leon curled in on himself. His cock jerked weakly, but this time nothing came out. Leon was starting to go limp.

Darriwil felt the mage slacken and pulled out of his mouth. He slumped against Floh’s chest, out cold. Floh stopped for a moment as well. He took a look at Leon’s face. His lips were red and slightly swollen and cum still stained the sides of his mouth, but his breathing was slow and peaceful. Floh pressed a gentle kiss into the corner of his mouth and moved the sorcerer onto his back.

“Do you need help cleaning him up?” Darriwil watched as Floh positioned himself over Leon.

“Not done with him yet. I’ve probably got fifteen minutes at best before I’m out too.” Floh wiped some of the drying cum from the mage’s mouth with his finger. “Gotta make sure he’s pumped full by then.”

When Leon woke again Floh had disappeared. Darriwil slept curled protectively around him. As he sat up he felt Floh’s cum leak from his hole. Fuck, the warm stickiness of it running down his leg had his spent cock perking up in interest again. He felt something tap his leg. Darriwil blinked up at him. His blue eyes were stunning in the daylight.

“How are you feeling?” The knight asked.

“I’m alright, thank you. I could probably use a bath but I’m perfectly alright.” He was having a hard time looking Darriwil in the eyes. Usually he got fucked, the other people left, and then he went on with his day. He wasn’t used to fielding questions in the aftermath.

“That was rather intense last night. Is that normal for you and Floh?” Leon could tell the two had history. Floh didn’t seem the type to ask for a threesome from someone he hadn’t fooled around with at least a little bit before. He wasn’t quite sure what that history was, whether they were exes or fuck buddies or something unspoken. However, based on the question, it seemed like whatever they’d been doing together had been a little more vanilla than what he and Floh were doing now.

“Well, last night was the most intense thing we’ve done during sex so far, but it was routine compared to things I’ve done in the past.” He looked at Darriwil askance, half expecting him to call him a whore. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“It’s interesting, I’ve never seen Floh like that before.” Darriwil stretched and sat up.

“Like what?”

“Oh apologies, that sounded bad didn’t it. I’ve never seen him take so much interest in sex before. In the past he’d come looking for me or one of the others maybe once a month, cum, and then go to sleep. He was polite enough, he always made sure his partner came first, but he was all business. It was unnerving honestly, he never made a sound and then suddenly he’d cum and go home. But with you, he was talking, he was initiating action, stars, he even moaned.” Darriwil laughed. “He was actually enjoying himself.” Leon didn’t really know what to say to that, though he supposed the fact that he was beet red and had a stupid grin on his face probably said enough. “I imagine you’re curious about him.” Darriwil shot him a conspiratorial grin. “I’m going to guess he is still just as apprehensive about sharing any personal details as he was when we trained together.”

“He was afraid I wouldn’t want to be with him after seeing what he looked like.” Leon pulled his knees to his chest. “He never told me that was worrying him.”

“Well,” Darriwil’s face fell for a moment. “It isn’t difficult to see why he’d be concerned, is it.” He played with his own hair, braiding and unbraiding a few strands.

“What makes you say that?” Leon replied, protectively.

“Most would find those transformed as we are to be repugnant. In fact most of us suffered through periods of self hatred after our transformations were completed. Each of us found different ways to deal with that self hatred, but it occasionally sneaks back up on you. Always at the worst of times as well.”

“What- what did he look like before?”

“He was handsome in a rugged sort of way. He’d had his nose broken at some point before we’d met and it had never set properly. His eyes were red back then as well. He never told anyone the reason, but I know a few of us suspected cessblood madness. Even as an ordinary man he fought as if he were rabid. His hair was always a mess then as well. He kept it long, as most Reedlanders tend to, but he never took care of it particularly well. I think with a little work he could have been quite dashing, but I could never manage to corner him with a comb,” Darriwil huffed.

“So his hair was black?” Leon added it to the mental portrait he was painting. He would never see the man in color but he could at least imagine what he would have looked like alive. His red eyes glowing faintly under long dark lashes instead of translucent ones. “I think he’s quite handsome as he is. I just wish I could have had him while we were both still alive.”

“You need not spare my feelings, wizard. As Floh said, I know what we look like.”

“You said some of you suffered periods of self hatred, I assume you yourself were included?” Darriwil stopped playing with his hair. “I have often been called perverse for this, but I have always preferred partners who were monstrous to those who were beautiful. Perfection is limited, there are only so many ways that one can be considered beautiful, but to be monstrous is to be infinite, and in the infinite I believe there is true beauty.”

“Not a very orthodox school of thought for a sorcerer. I thought you were meant to fear the infinite.”

“Well I won’t say it never got me in trouble. I tried to fuck the wrong person in prison and, well, let’s just say I’m glad that what ever it was the Dung Eater did to my dick was fixed when I came back.”

“Right, you are tarnished aren’t you. One of those Marika saw fit to revive to fight again. It must have been strange to return here after all those years. Much has changed since the shattering hasn’t it?”

“Less than you’d think. The same injustices that existed in my own time continue in this one. The only difference is that the powers that be have weakened enough for one man to be enough to change things. Not even Selen and her coven could change things at Raya Lucaria while I was there, but in this age of conflict and uncertainty, a drop out like me could kill three demigods.”

“Three? ”

“I’ve defeated four, but Rennala still lives. I killed Godrick, I participated in the Radahn festival, and most recently Floh and I defeated Morgott, rightful King of Leyndell.”

“I’ve heard rumors of him. Supposedly he veiled himself in public, never allowing anyone to see his true face. His general, the fell omen, seemed to be a force to be reckoned with though. Supposedly he personally fought Radahn to a standstill during the siege of Leyndell.”

“They were one in the same.”

“Really!”

“He was a warrior through and through, far more worthy of his crown than any I’d faced yet, but he wasted his gifts just as the others did.” Darriwil’s eyes narrowed at Leon’s assessment.

“Elaborate on that if you would.”

“Well, Morgott for example was a talented priest of the Erdtree as well as a skilled wielder of multiple weapons, but he was also blessed with the ability to wield both cursed wraiths and bloodflame. However, he only began to utilize those abilities about halfway through our battle due to his shame about them. Had he opened our battle using everything at his disposal I would have had a significantly harder time vanquishing him. Or look at Godrick. He was willing to do whatever it took to gain strength for himself, even doing things to his body that most would find detestable, however he completely ignored the men under his command. Their hatred of him allowed me to sneak into his castle largely unobstructed. I could not judge Rennala and Radahn’s capabilities given the state the two of them were in, but the two I fought who were still sane allowed their grace given gifts to lay unused. We fight for our lives and for the worlds we wish to come into being, why anyone would let their weapons gather dust, or worse needlessly destroy them, is completely beyond me.”

“And Floh is also a weapon to you?”

“For the purposes of the analogy, yes. However if you are asking if I only see him as a weapon to be used, never. Even before I learned to understand him, I treated him as a person with a will of his own.”

“You know, he doesn’t say he loves you lightly.”

“I know, I’m just not entirely sure I deserve it. He was waiting for a king wasn’t he? Not a damn fool who couldn’t keep his head down.”

“Floh asked me about you yesterday while we were catching up. He said you often held him at arm's length giving him as many opportunities as you could for him to back out. He was concerned you were not actually interested in him and were merely afraid of offending him.”

“Well, our relationship is somewhat uneven in terms of power. I didn’t want him to think he had to have a relationship with me if he didn’t want to.”

“While it is good that you value his consent, I fear that repeatedly asking, despite his initial assent, may have left him feeling that you didn’t want him.”

“I do want him! It’s just, I’m a lot to deal with and he didn’t agree to that when we entered the relationship.” Darriwil could see what Floh had been talking about, the mage could run circles around his own insecurity.

“Have you considered talking to him about it?”

“Talking about what?”

“Well in relationships like yours, where one or more partners is looking for something specific during sex, it is generally good practice to discuss your preferences with your partner to determine what you are both comfortable with.” Leon reddened at the suggestion.

“I find it difficult to speak on such matters when I am not in the right headspace so to speak.”

“Come now, you asked to be fucked unconscious last night.”

“Well, I was thinking more with my cock than my brain. I didn’t have the wherewithal to be embarrassed.”

“Look, even if it might seem embarrassing at first it will be better for the health of your relationship in the long run. You owe it to yourself and to Floh to have this discussion. If you need some help from your hand to find the courage, so be it.”

“I’d want to be fully aware for the discussion. If I do this I do this with my wits intact.” Leon held his summoning bell in his hand, the icy chill of magic told him Floh was at the ready. “Would you be alright if I did this now or would you prefer I had this discussion somewhere else?”

“Well if I am to be invited back, I would like to know what you and Floh like.” Darriwil looked at him through long blond lashes. “Although I was blindsided a bit, I did enjoy myself a great deal last night.”

Floh’s consciousness was slowly pulled back out of the nothingness of death. Leon had referred to it as rest but that wasn’t quite it. It was deeper and far darker. Floh didn’t dream in death, he just ceased to exist until he was called again. If he was an older man when he died, a warrior that had fought his battles and now was too tired and broken to continue, Floh might have accepted oblivion as rest, but Floh had been cut down before his peak. He still wanted to keep fighting, to finally prove himself in service of a lord. He wasn’t done with life yet even if life was done with him. He readied his sword as his body solidified, until he realized it was just Leon and Darriwil.

“Did you need me for something?”

“Darriwil suggested we have a conversation about our sexual preferences.”

“Any, you?”

“I meant, you two ought to have a discussion about your boundaries and individual kinks.” Darriwil clarified.

“Do you want to go first?” He signed awkwardly.

“I’d prefer not to…”

“By the comets, you two have the strangest thresholds for embarrassment! I’ll go first if you both find it so difficult!” Darriwil folded his arms for dramatic effect and then unfolded them to continue. “I’m open to being in either the dominant or submissive position during sex. When I play the submissive role, I’ve found I enjoy bondage, but it isn’t a particularly high priority for me in any given relationship. I have a hard boundary around the use of blades during sex however and I do not like using or being subject to them.” He looked at Leon.

“Oh okay, I guess I’ll go then. Um, well I’m open to quite a bit so if you have a request just let me know. Uh, in terms of what I’m into, I suppose I prefer to be submissive. I, uh, I like the idea of being used by my partner, preferably by a number of partners. I enjoy praise quite a bit. If I’m being honest, size is rather important to me. Obviously that isn’t a problem with either of you, but in the past I’d generally ask for a second or a third of my partner wasn’t quite up to my standards. In terms of what I don’t like, I’m not particularly into humiliation, it hits me a little harder when I’m in an emotional state like that. It makes it difficult to compartmentalize.”

“And you?” Darriwil turned to Floh.

“I don’t have as much experience with this kind of thing, but think I might be into dominance? I like dictating the pace, I like when I ask you to do things and you do them. Competence might be a part of it for me? I think part of what really got me going was that I know both of you are really good at what you do and you were still doing what I asked you to do. I really, really, like when my partners act completely desperate. Regular dirty talk doesn’t really get me going most of the time, but for some reason begging just really did it for me.” He thought for a second. “I guess I’m not into bottoming. I’ll do it, but I’m not really all that into it.”

“So you don’t mind how much I ask for?”

“No, I don’t mind, like I said it’s hot.”

“Even when you think my requests are unreasonable.”

“Well, I think this might be part of the control thing, but honestly, I kind of get off on telling you no.”

“Do you think you might be into denial?” Darriwil offered.

“Denial?” Floh asked.

“Preventing or withholding certain actions during sex or otherwise. So for example if you commanded a partner not to touch themselves during sex or prevented them from orgasming until a specific condition was fulfilled.”

“How would you go about preventing somebody from cumming?”

“Well you could use a ring, accurately sized for safety, that would fit around the base of the cock. I know a few knots I could demonstrate if rope is more readily available to you.” An image jumped into Floh’s head. Leon bound, his cock red and weeping, begging to be allowed to cum.

“Shit, hold on a second, I think I might be into that too.”

“Denial or bondage?” Darriwill asked.

“Both maybe?”

“I’m willing to experiment with either. Like I said, there’s not much I’m unwilling to try,” Leon purred. That sounded interesting. Interesting enough to overcome his embarrassment. He might like that, being tied up, completely at Floh’s mercy, unable to cum unless the knight decided he’d earned it.

“So we’re good?” Floh turned to Darriwil.

“It might also be good to designate a signal that you are no longer comfortable with any given action. Generally this would be a word, but it may be better for you two to designate a tactile signal. That way even if you are out of sight, Floh, you can still communicate your discomfort quickly.”

“Three taps on the hand?” Floh suggested.

“Works for me.” Leon replied.

“Excellent.” Darriwil stretched and put his helmet back on. “Leon still needs to be cleaned off.” He stared directly at Floh as he returned to his Evergaol. The knight held the mage’s hand. Alright he could take a hint.

“You need help with that?”

“No, but it might be nice.”

Bathing together was a different sort of intimacy than sex. For Leon it was somehow more intense, there was no plausible deniability. He couldn’t wave it away as Floh just fulfilling a need as he scrubbed the dried cum from his thighs. He touched him haltingly as if he was handling something unimaginably delicate. Leon reached up to touch Floh’s tangled hair. He recoiled for a moment at first, taken by surprise, but then relaxed back into the touch.

“Would you be willing to let me wash your hair?” Floh stilled at the suggestion.

“That would probably take a lot of work.”

“I would still like to try.”

“You have a comb?”

It was as difficult work as Floh had believed. His hair was dirty and nearly matted in places from being trapped inside his helmet for so long. Leon had to work through the knots with his hands first, working soap into them to loosen the snarls before carefully picking them apart. Once he’d managed to untangle the most tightly wound knots, Leon began to carefully comb through Floh’s silver hair. The knight relaxed into him as he did, letting his full weight rest on the mage. Leon continued to comb even once Floh’s hair was completely smooth, not wanting to let go of the moment. His hair, now that it had been de-tangled, was thick and smooth. It was unevenly cut, especially in the back, likely the result of Floh trying to cut it himself without bothering to find a mirror.

“How do you like it put up?”

“Usually I would just leave it like it is, but do what you want with it.” Floh still leaned against Leon with his full weight. He was reluctant to get up as well. Leon began braiding his hair, leaving it half down and Floh hummed quietly as he did. He hadn’t had his hair washed by someone else in a long time. Not since he’d left home looking for a way to prove himself. He’d forgotten how nice it was to have someone else taking care of him. Leon’s hands slowly left Floh’s hair.

“We should probably get going shouldn’t we.”

“Probably.” Floh looked at Leon over his shoulder, his eyes half closed. The mage leaned in pausing for a moment, silently asking permission. Floh placed a hand on his cheek. Leon closed the distance between them, kissing him softly. He was slow and hesitant, still seeming to be asking if it was okay. Floh returned the kiss just as soft and slow. There was no rush.

Leon helped Floh put back on his armor when they’d dried off. The knight insisted that there was no point, he’d just come back fully dressed the next time he was summoned anyway, but the mage had insisted.

“Don’t keep me waiting too long.” Floh dissipated and his ashes flowed back into their box. As Leon tucked it back into his pocket he tasted iron in his mouth. He spat onto the ground leaving a red stain, and something small and white. He carefully bent down to take a look already half certain of what he’d find. It was a tooth. He felt around in his mouth finding where it had come from. It was his top right canine. As he felt around the hole he felt a sharp pain in his tongue. He quickly began rummaging around for a mirror. Another tooth had already begun to grow in, sharp and needle-like. He carefully put the glass back in his bag. Shit.

Chapter Text

Leon laid out each of the swords he’d chosen one by one, turning expectantly to Floh as he finished. “Well, which of these do you think would suit me best?”

“I still don’t see why you want to learn a weapon. I can always back you up.”

“A lot of my understanding of sorcery is informed by Selian schools of thought. Within the disciplines of night and gravity sorcery, magic and blades are treated as complements to be used together, whereas the sorcery of Caria and the twin moons attempt to replace the blade, and sorceries of the stars and comets ignore the blade altogether. Essentially, I believe my practice of sorcery is only half complete. Learning to defend myself with a blade would allow me to live up to my full potential as a mage. Besides, I think I’ve been learning to move better in fights. If I can be more flexible, entering fights more directly if necessary I could be a better help to you.” Leon was right, he had been moving better. Almost suspiciously so. He was probably investing more of his runes into building his speed or something, but Floh couldn’t help being worried about the sudden change.

“Any reason these are all katanas?” The knight picked up a blood red blade with a chipped edge. Nah, that wouldn’t do. That was a killer’s blade, not a scholar’s.

“Well I thought since the weapon you use can cause an enemy to bleed out, if I used one with similar properties we could do it faster.” Floh considered an odd stone sword with a dragon’s head carved into its hilt. He could feel cold electricity dance along his fingers. A little too weird probably. Not really suited for a beginner to swordplay.

“You’d probably be better off with a straight sword, you wouldn’t need to worry about edge discipline as much.” A blade made of rough meteoric iron caught Floh’s eye, that was closer to what he was looking for, but it wasn’t quite it. That was better suited to somebody with more brute strength.

“That might be true but…”

“Darriwil told you about me, didn’t he.” Floh pulled another sword from its sheath. Hm, this looked promising.

“Well he might’ve told me a bit but…”

“For reference I used to use a club. They work better for fucking maniacs like me. Don’t have to worry about what direction the edge is facing or anything you just hit and keep hitting.” Floh examined the sword in his hands, it was a Selian work, forged from glintstone the color of the moon. The blade itself looked almost like steel, it was only the intact formation of crystals on its dull edge that gave it away. “The idea was cute though.” He gave it a few experimental swings that would have made his older brothers cringe.

“Well I did also think I’d be suited for one. A katana makes more sense than a greatsword or a hammer.” Floh sheathed and unsheathed the blade, he could feel magic crackling beneath his fingertips, just beyond his reach.

“You’re right about that I guess, but you wouldn’t consider a dagger instead?”

“A dagger, really? I’m not a princess looking to defend myself from the local ruffians, Floh.”

“The one princess I know uses a greatsword.”

“Floh.”

“Yeah, yeah I get it, you want me to quit stalling. Here.” He handed the Selian blade to Leon. “This one looks like it should suit you alright.” The mage turned it over in his hand. “You know its name? Usually swords this well made have one.” Leon pulled the sword from its sheath swinging upwards as he did. A crescent blade of magic shot forward from his swing.

“Moonveil.” The mage resheathed the blade. “I got it from a Magma Wyrm who couldn’t use it anymore.”

“How’d you manage that? I can’t imagine anyone would just give away a sword that nice.”

“The usual way.” Floh winced at the mental image.

“Fuck, that must’ve hurt.”

“Not as much as you’d think. Reptiles have proportionally smaller genitalia than mammals.”

“And you knew that before you fucked him?”

“Well of course I did. I feel like everyone at the academy has at least considered propositioning Smarag.”

“Okay, not saying that you were probably the only one, but doesn’t Smarag eat sorcerers?”

“The danger makes it more interesting.” Leon shrugged. “Besides, it’s not like devourers of sorcerers haven’t been convinced to work with them before. Adula serves Ranni now, don't they?”

“You know what, sure buddy. You go fuck that dragon.”

“Oh I don’t really have that much of an interest now. That’s just how I knew about the genitalia thing.” Floh took a deep breath. He didn’t need to anymore, but he still found it helpful to calm down.

“Do you need anything else?”

“Well if you’d be willing to spar, I could probably use the practice.” The mage smiled without showing his teeth. He’d been doing that a lot lately. Yet another reason Floh was starting to get worried. The mage had been acting oddly closed off, not allowing his feelings to show quite so easily as he used to. Something was weighing on him. Floh just hadn’t figured out what it was yet.

“Just so you know I’m not going easy on you.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to.” The wizard rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. Cocky bastard. Or maybe not. He knew better than to show his hand like that. Leon was baiting him. He wanted Floh to dodge so he could nail him with the beam from his sword. The wizard was a tactician first and foremost, Floh definitely had the skill advantage, but he’d need to approach this carefully.

“As long as you know what you’re getting into.”

He dashed towards the mage, so fast it almost seemed like he had teleported. He swung his sword but missed, Leon had already dodged out of the way and was winding up to strike. Floh slashed at him with his claws catching him off guard. He brought his sword back around to strike and he could see the fear in the mage’s eyes. Such a baby, even if it killed him he wouldn’t be dead for too long. Leon dodged faster than the eye could follow, so quickly it almost seemed like… Floh dropped his sword and stomped towards Leon. The mage seemed just as shocked as he was. Floh took advantage of his shock and forced his mouth open. Already his canine teeth had been replaced with fangs.

“How long has this been going on?” Floh knew his hands were shaking but he didn’t really care to try and steady them.

“Since Darriwil.”

“Fuck!” Floh started pacing. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

“I don’t really see what the big deal is.” Floh took off his helmet.

“You don’t see what the big fucking deal is?!” This was his fault, he should’ve known. The second Floh had something good in his life of course he had to fuck it up. “You want to be stuck looking like this for the rest of your life?”

“I wouldn’t mind if I got a cock the size of yours as compensation.”

“This isn’t a fucking joke!”

“I’m not joking with you, that is my honest opinion.” Leon played with the laces of his shirt. “It may be perverse, but monstrousness will never be ugly to me. Although others might treat me differently, I would find myself beautiful. I find you beautiful, you know that right? You’re beautiful.” He held Floh’s face in his hands. The knight stilled calming down a little at the touch. He held onto the mage’s wrist for a moment before continuing.

“You’d probably loose the ability to use magic as well. Way harder to cast spells when you can’t talk.”

“Oh okay, yes that’s a serious problem then. Has this ever happened to anyone you knew before?” Now Leon was starting to panic a little bit.

“No it hasn’t. Not unless you count the ones that did it intentionally.”

“So then you don’t know how to stop it.”

“No, but I might know somebody who does.”

“Hey! You!” The bloodhound knight clinging to the Raya Lucaria gates looked down. “You’re not that good at hiding! Come down here I need your help with something!” The knight pointed at himself. “Yeah you! Do you see anybody else over here?!”

The nomadic merchant who set up shop nearby tried his best to pretend nothing was happening. If the sorcerer had a death wish the sorcerer had a death wish. Wasn’t his problem.

The bloodhound knight dropped down from the gate. “Finally. Took you long enough. Anyway what I wanted to ask you was-“ The knight struck out with his sword almost immediately after landing. Leon dodged out of the way just as quickly, he was still getting used to the feeling. His brain couldn’t quite keep up with his body yet. The bloodhound knight cocked his head.

“Interesting. You don’t seem to have a weapon capable of housing bloodhound step. Could I ask how you are currently using the ability? Well, provided you can understand what I’m saying of course.” Leon pulled back his cheek to show his new fangs. “Is that intended to be an answer or a threat?”

“An answer.”

“Then you’ve managed to replicate my father’s research. Admirable job considering the lack of good laboratory conditions available to tarnished.”

“Well, not exactly.” Leon explained the situation, leaving out a few of the more private details.

“So it was entirely accidental then. That in and of itself is actually somewhat impressive.” He paused in thought. “Have you ever been cursed before?”

“Yes.”

“What strain?”

“Seedbed curse.”

“That may have done it.”

“I don’t quite follow.”

“Ordinarily, you should not have been able to begin a transformation like this simply due to exposure to others who have undergone it. However exposure to certain strains of curses can prime the body for the process. However even then, it seems strange that mere exposure could’ve done this. Normally even with a curse in your system, you would either have to be treated with magic, or somehow take in massive amounts of humors taken from a bloodhound knight.” The knight regarded him curiously.

“So how do I stop it?” Leon’s ears burned.

“Well given your circumstances I know of one solution.” The knight explained what it would entail.

“Would you mind if we go somewhere I could talk it over with my partner?”

“I don’t mind provided we don’t stray too far from the gates.”

Of all the people Hirnant could’ve expected the mage’s partner to be, he’d have never guessed it would’ve been the rabid stray. He really was receiving all sorts of surprises today.

“So what’s the prognosis Doc? Can you fix him?”

“Once again I never got my doctorate Floh. I’m still just a research fellow.”

“You can still fix him though, right?”

“Well unfortunately fix is a rather strong word for what I’m able to do for him. I’d say a better analogy would be he has to be broken in a different direction.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Floh growled. Hirnant put up his hands. He didn’t want a repeat of the last biting incident. He’d very much like to keep his remaining fingers.

“I was cursed before I died the first time. The man who did it is a serial murderer who kills men and pulls their souls out of their asses. My cellmate was able to pull him off me before he managed to find my primal glintstone, but he still managed to implant a seedbed curse. Stopping the transformation would require allowing the curse to run its course.”

“Do you know what will happen to you if it does?”

“Well, knowing the man that created it, I probably won’t still be human at the end of it, but I don’t think it should affect my mind in any way nor would it prevent me from doing magic.”

“I would also like to add that because he would be allowing a curse to tear through him there will likely be unintended side effects. It is malignant magic constructed by a manic, at least the transformative magic that was used to create us was constructed by an expert who actually bothered to document its effects.” Hirnant half hoped that the two of them would be scared away from letting the curse run its course. He’d never seen a case of unaided transformation before. It would have been an interesting case study to document.

“And you’re okay with that?”

“I’ve practiced magic my whole life, my very soul crystallized through its study. I would rather die than give it up.”

“And the side effects?”

“Well that’s part of the reason I wanted to ask you how you felt about it. I personally have no qualms about it, as we previously discussed.” The mage’s eyes flicked to Hirnant for a moment. Ah so he was into that, fascinating. A shame he had such strong opinions on keeping his access to magic, the mage would’ve been a perfect test subject. “But I would understand if you had any objections.”

“You said you’d rather die than lose your magic.”

“Yeah.”

“Why the fuck are you asking me then? If it’ll make you happy then just go for it.”

“Well like I said I probably won’t be human anymore after it’s done.”

“As if I have any right to complain about that.”

“By the stars!”

“Alright, fine! You want me to be honest?! I don’t know how I feel about it! But it’s my fucking fault this is happening to you!”

“Well more accurately it’s the Dung Eater’s fault. If this tarnished had never been cursed he wouldn’t have shown symptoms no matter how many times he’d been exposed,” Hirnant added, hoping that the reminder of his presence would stop him from having to sit through their lover’s quarrel.

“I wouldn’t want you to only stay with me out of guilt.” The mage gripped his staff tightly. “If I go through with this, and you decide you no longer have any interest in me, I want you to know I wouldn’t be upset with you for leaving. Whether you no longer wanted to be with me physically or romantically or whether you decided I was no longer capable of being the king you wished to follow, I would accept it without complaint.”

“Don’t say that.” Floh hung his head. “Please don’t say that.”

“I would be upset about it.” He said quietly. “I would be incredibly hurt if you decided to leave me, but I wouldn’t retaliate.” The mage was starting to tear up.

“I’m not fucking leaving. I don’t really know how to feel about any of this, but I know I’m staying right the fuck here.” Floh gently wiped the corners of the mage’s eyes. Eugh. Hirnant wasn’t used to seeing the knight acting so mushy. It was uncomfortable to watch. “So what do we have to do?”

“Well this is the other unpleasant part, you’ll need to find a matured seedbed and administer it to the patient analy.”

“Okay that doesn’t sound too bad.” Floh noticed Leon squirming out of the corner of his eye. “What’s up with you?”

“This is a seedbed curse.” The mage produced a festering lump of horns and flesh from his pack.

“Marika’s tits!”

“Yeah, unpleasant is a little bit of an understatement,” Leon winced.

“Is he going to be alright after that?”

“It should be incorporated into the surrounding flesh about a half hour after insertion.”

“You have to know that’s not an actual answer.”

“My answer is I don’t know. I’m not a curse specialist. What little information I have is based almost entirely on the data from your own case. Not a good sample size and not even remotely applicable in terms of effect.”

“You’ve been cursed?”

“You’ve got enough to worry about, we’ll talk about it later.”

“I really think I ought to know what exactly it entails.”

“Look, mine already triggered, it’s not a huge deal, can we just focus on how we’re going to get that thing in your ass?”

“We’re not done talking about this,” the mage threatened. “As soon as I’m done you’re telling me everything.”

“Deal.”

There wasn’t really a good place to try and shove a powerful curse directly up his ass, but Leon figured the first floor of the roundtable hold was as good as any. It was relatively safe, and the only person he’d ever seen down there was Alberich, who he was reasonably sure was dead. Leon was still careful to gag himself before starting. He didn’t need anyone vaulting over the railing to come investigate the noise. There was also the risk that the pain could make him bite his tongue off. If that happened he’d need to start the whole painful process all over again. Those horns were already intimidating enough as it was, he wasn’t sure he would have it in him to go for a second attempt. It helped however, that he was desperately curious about what would happen if he actually managed it.

Leon knew the Dung Eater both personally and sexually. He knew that the two of them had nearly identical aesthetic tastes, though they strongly disagreed on the topic of consent. The sorcerer didn’t believe that you could call anything a blessing if it was forced upon another, and he certainly did not support murder for the sake of aesthetics. He knew what this “blessing” was supposed to do to a person, provided it didn’t kill them first. He knew and he was excited, enough to once again allow himself to become a willing victim.

Leon worked himself open incredibly carefully. There was an incredibly high likelihood he would injure himself as it was, he wanted to make sure he was at least adequately prepared. Eventually he managed to open himself wide enough to fit his fist. Just to be safe, he opened and closed his hand a few times to try and stretch himself as much as possible. He stared at the seedbed curse on the bedside table. He’d woken up with it placed with the rest of his grave offerings. Maybe it had fallen off of him after he was buried, maybe the Dung Eater had left it with him thinking it was somehow an appropriate burial offering, who knew, but something told him that was the curse that had grown from his body. And he was going to be putting it right back in.

He took a deep breath before picking it up. There was no going back from this now. He clenched his hand around the curse, trying to ease its entry and then dropped it inside himself. For the first second or two he didn’t feel anything, then his nerves made him clench involuntarily. It was the worst pain he’d ever felt in his life. The curse’s horns dug deeply into his sensitive walls. After a moment he felt something shift inside him and they began to move, burrowing back into him. Even with the gag he was reasonably sure the others could hear his screams. Leon balled his fists, willing himself to be quiet. He felt his hands grow sticky as he dug his nails into the skin of his palms. The smell of iron became overpowering.

After what felt like hundreds of years, the pain suddenly stopped. Leon stayed on his hands and knees, desperately panting as he tried to recover. He didn’t look or feel any different. That scared him more than anything. He removed his gag so that he could get more air. He could still feel the unfamiliar length of fangs inside his mouth. That was good, he was worried he might lose those. But then again maybe that was a bad sign, maybe the curse hadn’t taken hold. What if he had endured all of that and it was all for nothing?

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a loud crack. It took a few seconds for his body to register the pain, then he fought the urge to curl into a ball as his spine began to twist itself into a new shape. Leon shoved the gag back inside his mouth without bothering to tie it. He was going to be suffering for quite a bit longer it seemed.

Floh felt the call to awaken pulling him from the void and for the first time he was afraid of what he’d find on the other end. He knew Leon said that this is what he wanted, but who knew how the curse had changed things. Hell, Hirnant had said there might be unknown side effects, what if his personality had changed? What if he’d decided he only liked the idea of being monstrous in theory and now he wanted revenge? What if he’d become a different person entirely?

When he’d fully materialized the first thing he saw was an omen looming over him. Ah, combat. He could do combat. Usually he wasn’t a big fan of fighting omens, they’d really been through enough already, but hey, anything to avoid a difficult conversation. Before he’d finished drawing his sword Floh noticed the Omen held a staff, a wooden staff without a glintstone. He’d only ever met one sorcerer who used a staff like that before.

“Leon? Is that you?” The wizard smiled nervously.

“Sorry I took so long to call, I had to get all my clothes refitted.”

He’d ended up looking kind of similar to Morgott, tall and wiry rather than tall and broad. It looked like he’d been lucky on the infection front, the black horns that periodically erupted from his skin seemed healthy and nothing looked like it had become ingrown. He supported an impressive rack of horns on his head as well, curling up from his temples. It looked like his skin had turned completely gray, but upon second glance Floh realized he was covered in a short layer of fur. He took one of Leon’s hands in his own. His fur was soft, almost like a cat’s. He had also grown a set of small claws that slid from their sheaths as Floh pressed on the pads of his fingers.

“I also got to keep the teeth.” The wizard smiled, showing off a much more threatening set of fangs. Floh didn’t try to say anything for the moment, choosing instead to feel along one of the horns that circled around his arms. As Floh looked closer, he could see veins of colorless glintstone running through his horns. So then his sorcery was still fully intact. Maybe that was why he’d been so lucky, his primal glintstone may have helped guide the spread of the curse.

“You’re awfully quiet, so to speak.” The mage looked down at him pleadingly. The whites of his eyes had turned completely black. The hazel rings of his irises looked almost as if they were glowing against the darkness.

“You’re really soft.” Floh took off his helmet and brought Leon’s hand to his cheek. “Feels nice.” He sighed contentedly as he signed the words. The sorcerer squatted down to Floh’s eye level.

“So you like it then?”

“I still don’t feel great that you had the choice forced on you, but yeah, I think I like it.”

“Trust me, if I knew it was possible I would’ve done this a long time ago. It certainly would’ve helped when the royal guards came knocking.” Floh touched Leon’s face, the fur on his cheeks was particularly soft. He gave him an experimental scratch. Leon purred, this time a real one, coming from a place deep in his throat that hadn’t been there before. “Stars, that feels nice.” He let his eyes fall closed as he leaned into the touch. “So, are you going to tell me about your curse?” Floh pulled his hand away.

“Like I said it’s nothing you need to worry about.”

“It’s still something I’d like to know. Maybe there’s something I can do to help?”

“Like I said, it already went off, there’s nothing anybody can do about it.”

“Could you at least tell me what it is?”

“A couple hundred years ago one of my ancestors killed the son of a witch. Now every fourth son of the current head of the household becomes a monster by the time they’re thirty. Usually it would be more of a metaphorical thing, my dad had to kill my uncle after the family found out he’d started torturing small animals, but every once in a while you’d get one that ended up literal. It wasn’t usually great for them, but at least they didn’t always end up as murderers. So, I figured that was the way to go for me too. I still get to have a pretty similar life to what I’d be doing if I hadn’t been cursed. I’m still a vassal knight sworn to a lord, I just ended up a little fucked up looking. I got the best situation I could’ve asked for.”

“You do make quite the handsome monster.”

“I guess I can’t say there aren’t benefits.” He threw one arm over Leon’s shoulder. “Speaking of which, can you still bloodhound step or did the curse take care of that?”

“Oh yes, I can still do that! Hold on a second.” He stood back up. “I had a hard time doing it without falling over on two legs, but the claws really help in terms of getting purchase.” He dashed back and forth coming to a quick stop as his claws scored the ground beneath his feet.

“You been back to the doc yet? We should probably have him take a look at you again just in case.”

“I was waiting until I’d plucked up the courage to call you again. He unnerves me a little bit if I’m being honest.”

“Hirnant’s bedside manner is pretty piss poor yeah. Definitely cares a lot more about results than he does about his test subjects, but now that his father is dead he’s the foremost expert on bloodhound knights. As long as I’m there he should be alright though. He got a little too rough with us during training one week and lost a finger.”

“By which you mean.”

“I bit it off, yeah. Father wasn’t too bad a guy though. Just had a bit of an obsession with shadow bound beasts. He wanted to become one for his Queen but wasn’t so obsessed he was willing to test the process on himself. He and Hirnant only turned once the rest of us proved it was safe.”

“That was rather unfair of him.”

“I mean that’s how it always goes right? You test on the soldiers before you let the important people do it.”

“Well I for one think you’re very important.”

“You would, dumbass.” Floh affectionately ruffled Leon’s now soft, white, hair. His bracer clacked against Leon’s horns. They curled elegantly up and back like a gazelle’s. “You know, you might not be king yet, but you’ve got one hell of a crown.”

Hirnant was sort of surprised to see Floh and the wizard back so soon. He’d assumed based on past experience that he’d have to track the two of them down to get his data. However the two of them had come right back to him, waiting just beyond the gates.

“Can you take a look at him and make sure everything went alright?” Floh asked.

“Can I have some clarification on what your definition of alright is?” The sorcerer had sprouted horns all over his body, most would not consider that part of their definition of alright.

“We want to make sure that I am not still in the process of becoming a bloodhound knight.” He could still speak, words were intelligible, seemingly did not suffer brain damage as a result of curse.

“I would have to perform a more thorough examination. Do I have your permission to take notes?”

He had the mage strip before he began his examination.

• Subject was wearing undergown of preceptor’s attire, ex-preceptor? Stolen? Strength of magic may influence results
• Glintstone has suffused structure of horns.
Subject part of Selian school, characteristic glintstone noted

He pulled back the mage’s lips to check his teeth.

• Fangs still present, rest of teeth ordinary
• Scleras darkened, Iris and pupil remain normal.
• Neck and shoulder muscles well developed. Necessary to support horns?

“Are you experiencing any neck or shoulder pain?”

“Not really. I was a little sore the first few days but I’d say it was similar to how I felt wearing a glintstone crown.”

“No scholar’s crick?”

“No, never used to get it from the crown either.”

Subject’s spine able to withstand strain. Need follow up decade out.

“Breath in for me?” The mage did so easily.

• No lung punctures hopefully due to lack of internal horn growth. Impossible to verify without dissection
• Claws and fur somewhat cat-like, tarnished said to be descendants of Godfrey and aligned warriors, connection?
• Lions also known to exhibit symptoms of omen curse, further evidence of Godfrey connection?
• Chest size proportional to rest of frame
• No ingrown horns noted

“I’ll need you to remove your small clothes.”

“Hey, why do you need to see under there?” Floh bristled.

“To check for signs of further transformation. I assure you I wouldn’t look unless entirely necessary. You wouldn’t want me to miss anything would you?” Floh backed down.

“As long as he’s alright with it.” Leon nodded his assent.

• Subject exhibits abnormal genital structure, ridges present along length of penis, appear to be formed from subdermal cartilage, difficult to verify without dissection
• Note: ask to be given access to corpse upon death
• approximate length 7in unaroused
• Otherwise ordinary

Hirnant gently moved the mage’s dick aside to check his balls. However, he noticed something far more interesting behind them.

“Has this always been here?” The knight ran his finger along the slick opening that sat where the mage should have had a perineum.

“No, that was a result of the curse.”

“Are you experiencing any discomfort as a result? mental or physical.”

“Not particularly, though I still consider myself a man if that’s a part of the question. If anything, I’d say the strongest emotion I feel towards it is curiosity.”

“May I measure depth?”

“By all means.”

• Subject exhibits secondary set of genitals
• Appears to exhibit normal vaginal structure
• Subject has developed secondary urethra and associated structures

“Have you been urinating normally?”

“More or less given the circumstances. If anything, I guess I haven’t had to go as often?”

• Subject may also exhibit secondary bladder, once again impossible to verify without dissection

“Have you exhibited any symptoms of menstruation?”

“Not as of yet, but it hasn’t been a full month since my transformation.”

“Alright, please inform me if that changes.”

• Presence of womb unverified, unclear fertility status. Follow up in one month
• Legs align to standard human joint configuration
• Claws present on toes as well as fingers
• Additional notes: proportions are non-standard for most of omenkind, residual bloodhound magic the cause or glintstone magic?

“I think you may be in the clear but I would like to take a sample of fluid just in case.”

“What kind of fluid?” The mage asked.

“I’d prefer blood, vitreous fluid, or semen.”

“Oh come on, really?!” Floh threw up his hands.

“Those three contain the most testable information. I would only need a small sample of any of those three. Urine could also work theoretically.”

“I, uh, don’t really feel like I have to go unfortunately.”

“I would be willing to assist in the collection of any fluids you wished to give.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake! Just say you want him to fuck you if you want him to fuck you!”

“I’ll admit I would certainly enjoy it if it comes to that, but I would also not be disappointed with a sample of either of the other two.”

“This is a little embarrassing, but I’m deathly afraid of needles.” The mage shuffled from foot to foot.

“Not you too.”

“No, I’m serious! I don’t know why, I know they don’t hurt very much, but for some reason I can’t stand the sight of them.”

“You shoved a mass of horns up your ass and you’re afraid of being stuck with a needle?”

“It’s completely irrational, I know, but I’d still rather not if it can be avoided.”

“If that’s the case, then I’d ask that you make sure to pull out before you ejaculate to ensure the sample does not become contaminated.”

“I’d actually prefer to be penetrated if possible.”

“Floh would you be willing to assist in the procedure?”

“The doc is kind of like you, likes to be reamed open by the biggest dicks he can find. He’s probably been stuck guarding this fucking gate for about a century at this point. I wouldn’t imagine there’s all that many opportunities for hookups up there. Then you come along with what’s probably the most interesting cock he’s ever seen. Of course he wants you to fuck him,” Floh traced into Leon’s back while answering, “Why the fuck not,” to Hirnant.

“Was the request for penetration an expression of need or discomfort?”

“I don’t have any discomfort around penetrating, no. Do you prefer to prepare yourself or would you like me to do it?”

“I prepared myself in advance.”

“Told you.” Floh traced.

“How on earth did he know?!” Leon traced back. “He’s never seen it before today!”

“You said you got a curse from a guy named fucking Dung Eater, he probably thought it was going to be a sex thing.”

“Why would he think it would be a sex thing?”

“I thought it was going to be a sex thing.”

“Why did you think it was going to be a sex thing?!”

“You don’t know? I mean I could explain it if you want but you’re probably better off not knowing.”

“Are you two going to continue your private conversation or am I getting my sample?”

“Fine, Marika’s tits,” Floh cursed. “Impatient motherfucker. Leon, you’re undressed already, you mind helping him?”

“Of course not. I’m curious after all.” He played with the straps of Hirnant’s armor. He knew his own kinks pretty well and he knew what drove him crazy. If Hirnant was similar Leon knew exactly what to say. “We’ll have to see if he’s prepared himself adequately. I haven’t seen myself hard yet, but I was always more of a grower.” Leon tried putting a little bit of a growl into it, he knew he liked that. It came out deeper and more resonant than he expected. A soft rumble from deep within his chest. Floh glanced over at the sound, still in the process of removing his own clothes. Leon glanced back in stunned silence. Floh gave him a thumbs up. Okay, so they thought that was on purpose, good, good. He carefully undid the leather straps of Hirnant’s armor. Leon could hear him breathing heavily under his helmet. The knight flinched away as Leon attempted to remove it.

“Helmet stays on.”

“I’d really prefer if I could see your face. I want to make sure what I’m doing is enjoyable for you as well.”

“Helmet. Stays. On.”

“If you insist. Do you have something you’d like me to deposit the sample into?” He switched gears quickly. It seemed like the knight would prefer to keep things relatively impersonal.

“I’ve set aside a perfumer’s vial. It’s in the second pouch on the left side of my belt.” Leon removed the vial.

“Ah glass. A shame.”

“It is what most instruments are made of.”

“Of course, however, if the material was more flexible, or at least did not shatter when broken, I could have left it in your ass to aid in sample collection.” He fondled the large bulb on the end of it suggestively.

“I’ll take that into consideration.” He saw Hirnant swallow as he replied. Leon pulled down the knight’s pants, pretending not to see his erection.

The mage was only half hard but he’d already begun to notice stark differences in how his cock reacted to stimulation. For one the ridges that ringed his length were becoming more and more pronounced as he hardened and they’d began faintly glowing. The same thing had begun to happen to the glintstone seams in his horns. So that’s what that was, the crystallization had reached his cock as well. It had also already begun to leak pre cum, far thicker than it usually was. He took some between his fingers, testing the consistency. By his estimation that might just work as lube. Leon worked himself up and down, making sure to coat himself fully.

A strand of drool leaked from the bottom of Hirnant’s visor as he watched. He didn’t particularly care to wipe it away. Veneer of academic respectability be damned, the tarnished mage’s cock was self lubricating and those ridges were becoming more and more enticing with every stroke, he needed it in him now. He lowered himself onto his back and spread his legs hoping the mage would take the hint. Floh tapped on Leon’s shoulder to get his attention.

“Not yet. Have to make sure he’s ready to go first.”

“See for yourself if you want, but with the addition of lubrication I should be more than ready.”

“I wasn’t talking about you, asshole.” Floh gave Leon a few good strokes. “He’s only half hard.” He turned Leon’s face to his own, kissing him with one eye open staring at the other knight. “Where do you want my cock, my king?”

“My cunt.” Leon signed his answer, not willing to pull away from their kiss. Floh laughed into his mouth.

Hirnant squirmed as Floh began to push his cock into Leon’s waiting hole. He still stared directly at the other knight as he did. That fucking bastard.

Of course it had to be fucking Floh that had sworn himself to this man. Floh had been a thorn in his side from the moment they met. His hate for him was more intense than anything he’d ever felt. So intense was his hatred that it had begun to wrap around itself, twisting and consuming itself like a serpent, warping into a perverse desire. He wanted to be fucked by the very man he so intensely loathed. Not have sex, be fucked. There was a definite distinction in his mind. He wanted it raw, angry, and bloody. He wanted to be taken in the dirt and left broken and twitching. Of course his pride would never allow him to ask for that, and despite his coarseness and violent behavior, Floh wasn’t the type to force himself on another, so Hirnant would have to settle for fucking his lover instead. However, Floh wasn’t exactly making it easy, monopolizing the man as he was. He clearly knew what he was doing, staring at him like that as he did it. Hirnant wanted to strangle him, he wanted to choke on his cock, he wanted to tear out his still-beating heart and eat it, he wanted to be broken utterly and completely underneath him.

“I think you’re ready now.” Floh wrapped his arms around Leon’s shoulders, giving him a chance to re-center himself. “Give him what he wants.”

Hirnant put up his hands to protest the implication that he was in any way enjoying this, but fell still the second the mage breached him. Even with his extensive preparation the first ridge caught on the edge of his hole. The mage pulled back for a moment and then shoved himself in, pushing past the knight’s rim, but then stopping again as he reached the second ridge. Hirnant gasped, his tongue lolling out underneath his visor. He was glad he’d insisted on keeping it on. Floh didn’t need to know that he was right.

“Sorry, this may take longer than expected,” Leon grunted apologetically, as he forced the second ridge through. Hirnant didn’t reply, he was too focused on staying as quiet as possible. After a few torturous minutes of thrusting back and forth, working his way in deeper, the mage finally managed to fully sheath himself inside of Hirnant. The knight ground his teeth at the feeling of being full after such a long period of emptiness. The ridges of Leon’s cock ground maddeningly into his prostate with every slight movement either of them made. Hirnant’s control slipped for a brief moment and a whine escaped his lips. He saw Floh’s lips twitch as he began to trace something into the mage’s back.

“Are you sure?” Leon asked. Floh traced something else into his skin. It was impossible for Hirnant to see what it was from this angle. “If you say so.” He pulled himself out and slammed back in with none of the stopping and starting of earlier. Stars, he’d been trying to be gentle. Now the mage had thrown that completely out the window, taking Hirnant like a beast. The knight’s control slipped entirely and he moaned wantonly as he was fucked open wider and wider. The slick that poured from Leon’s cock made things marginally easier, but only in that Hirnant wasn’t being ripped open. He still felt the air rush from his lungs every time the mage bottomed out, he was reasonably sure he was crying, but he didn’t care. He felt too good to care.

“Told you he likes it rough.” Floh was just barely holding it together himself. Fuck, even just watching him reduce Hirnant to a drooling mess would’ve been enough to get him hard, but Floh was watching him do that while he was buried in the slick heat of his cunt. Leon truly was a king, his crown and rod of office formed from his very flesh. If he wanted he could hold Floh down and take him, like he was taking Hirnant. Even before, he could’ve put his staff to Floh’s head and forced himself upon him, but he didn’t. Instead he laid everything at Floh’s feet, he offered up every part of himself and begged for Floh to take even more. How could he say no?

Already he felt himself becoming closer to spilling inside the mage. His cunt was slick and loose for him, letting Floh’s cock slide in and out of him effortlessly. A strange voice in his head, probably the voice of Leon’s influence, wished for a moment that he had a second cock so that he could fill both his holes at once. He came, the base of his cock swelling to trap them together. He felt Leon clench around him and a warm wetness spread onto his cock. Fuck, he was a squirter. Damn that was hot. Floh quickly snapped out of his post orgasmic haze. Shit! The sample! They were going to have to do this again! However as the haze cleared further, he realized Leon was still going.

Leon felt like he was going insane. Usually he’d just let himself drift off into near mindless pleasure, but he had to stay aware and focused if he didn’t want to have to spend far more time than was needed on this visit. Stars, it was tempting though. He knew he’d just came, he felt buzzed and over-sensitive, but he was still sopping wet and wanting. If he remembered correctly from past partners, people with vaginas could cum multiple times end on end without a break. Fuck, he was already insatiable when he let himself go, and now he didn’t have to stop. The sensitivity had reached his cock as well, heightening the sensation of Hirnant underneath him. Leon shifted to rock back into Floh’s still swollen cock and Hirnant threw his head back. His helmet clattered to the ground. Leon caught a glance of dark eyes and brown hair before Hirnant covered his face with one arm. Past it Leon could still see that the knight was drooling all over himself as he moaned in pleasure, his tongue hanging out of his mouth in ecstasy.

“Look what you’ve done to him.” Floh whistled long and low at the sight of him. Hirnant lowered his arm slightly to glare at the other knight. Leon pulled his arm up and pinned it to the ground Hirnant struggled against him, his eyes blown wide. Leon released it not having meant to make him uncomfortable.

“Would you be willing to move your arm so I can kiss you?” Hirnant hesitated for a moment. He didn’t want Floh to see him acting like a whore, however, he also didn’t want to see him acting like a coward either. He took his arm away slowly, attempting to surreptitiously wipe his face and nodded. The mage was gentle at first. He softly kissed him trying to encourage Hirnant to kiss him back. Of course that wasn’t what the knight wanted. He didn’t want to be shown affection. Leon seemed to remember this after a moment and dove into him, pulling his mouth open for him. His tongue was rough, its scrape was surprisingly nice against the sensitive insides of Hirnant’s mouth. He felt himself finally begin to shudder through his release. Leon pulled out quickly, grabbed the vial Hirnant had set aside and came into it. Floh slid out of the mage and took a quick look at Hirnant. He was spent, blinking up at him sleepily.

“Leon, you have a rag?” The mage tossed him a strip of cloth as he corked the vial. Floh carefully wiped the cum off the other knight’s stomach. Hirnant tried weakly to push his hand away. “You’re going to be uncomfortable if I don’t get this cleaned off.”

“Fuck off. I can do it myself.” Leon handed the knight the corked vial. Hirnant immediately re-donned his helmet as he accepted it, stubbornly trying to pretend nothing had happened. “I’d like you to return for a follow up either in a decade, if you begin experiencing menstruation, or if you suddenly begin experiencing nausea, fatigue, bloating, increased urination, or swelling of the chest.”

“That’s quite the list.”

“If it makes you more comfortable you need only return if you’re exhibiting a combination of those symptoms. Unless it’s increased urination, you ought to have that looked at regardless.” As the mage and knight left him alone, Hirnant added a few extra bullets to his notes.

• Subject exhibits barbed tongue
• Genital ridges formed from glintstone rather than cartilage as previously believed
• Sperm viability testing still necessary
• Genitals able to ejaculate independent of each other
• Excellent lay, must ask Smarag about foursome next visit

“You’re still horny aren’t you?” Floh asked as soon as the two were out of eyeshot. He could smell the arousal coming off him in waves.

“Yeah.” Leon looked at Floh out of the corner of his eyes.

“You want to take care of it yourself or can I help?”

“I’d appreciate it if you did.” Leon’s shoulders relaxed as Floh pulled down his pants.

“How about I eat you out?”

“Fuck, yes please.” Floh shoved his head between the mage’s thighs. He could taste his own cum mingled with the metallic, musky taste of Leon’s slick. Claws pricked against his scalp as the mage grabbed onto his hair for purchase.

“Still not used to it?”

“Not yet. Stars!” He grasped tighter as Floh licked over his clit.

“How does it feel?”

“Strange, but not a bad strange.”

“So a good strange then?”

“Fuck!” Leon staggered a moment as Floh grabbed onto two of the horns that sprouted from his hips for stability. As the knight’s fingers met glintstone he felt as though Floh was touching his soul itself. “Yes, it’s so good. Like- like you.” Leon was starting to become breathless. He rocked himself into Floh’s mouth trying to get even a little more stimulation. His breath hitched as he felt one of Floh’s fangs brush against him. “You’re a good strange.” Floh knew better than to take anything he said while he was like this seriously.

“You’re much stranger than I am to think like that.” The mage pulled away from him.

“Hey. Stop that.” He said the words firmly, but without raising his voice or allowing anger to enter into his tone.

“Stop what?”

“You’re confident in your skill, your speech, your sexual prowess, why do you find it so hard to be confident in this as well?” Leon held Floh’s face in his clawed hands. “You’re beautiful. Even if I’m the only one who has the courage to say it, you're beautiful.”

“Come on now, even before you never could have called me beautiful.” Not with his broken nose, or curse-marked red eyes. Not with his hair so matted with dirt and blood, he already looked like he was half beast.

“Darriwil said he thought you were handsome.”

“Yeah well, Darriwil fell for a wolf man, he’s not the most reliable source.”

“Floh do you think I’m beautiful?” Where the hell was that coming from? Floh wasn’t sure how he would categorize the way he found Leon attractive. Horned and towering as he was, glowing faintly from the still simmering heat of his arousal, he was statuesque, practically humming with power. Floh could call it beauty, in the same way he could call lighting beautiful. The more accurate way he could convey his feelings would be with his own emotional reaction, awe.

“Yes. I do.”

“And am I not just as monstrous as you are?”

“You know that’s different.”

“How. Explain it.”

“I don’t know it’s just different, alright?”

“Because it’s you instead of me?” Floh was starting to feel strange. The high of sex was wearing off and he felt oddly sensitive.

“I don’t really feel like talking about this right now. Can you just send me back for a second?” Leon kneeled down, his eyes full of concern.

“Are you alright? You’re crying.” He was? He wiped his eyes and his hand came away wet. Oh shit he was crying.

“I don’t know, this has never happened to me before.” He was starting to feel like he was drowning. Leon quickly wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into his chest.

“You’re dropping. It used to happen to me all the time.”

“How do we make it stop?” He curled into Leon’s body as the mage softly stroked his hair.

“Well, you can’t do anything but get some rest and wait it out. What I have to do is make sure you get plenty of attention and make sure you understand how much you’re loved. Even if you’re too stubborn to believe me.”

“I know you care about me. I just can’t understand how you could think I’m beautiful.”

“Well, why not? Clearly you can if you think that I am.” A thought began to form, one that he’d pushed down for years and years, but only came to the surface in his overly sensitive and moody state.

“It hurts too much. My whole life I knew I was going to turn into something like this, or someone much much worse. I guess I just kind of accepted that if anybody ever wanted me it would be despite how I looked. Letting myself hope that anyone could ever actually find me attractive would’ve been too painful.” Leon gently kissed the top of his head.

“You’ll never have to merely hope I find you beautiful. I’ll prove it to you as many times as it takes.”

“So what are we doing now? Are we headed to the forge? The Haligtree?” Leon stilled.

“I think I need to find more seedbeds.”

“What? Why? You already managed to stop the transformation!”

“I think… something tells me I’ll come to some sort of understanding if I absorb more of them. The first one, it was more painful than anything I’d ever experienced, but I felt as if I was on the edge of something. As if I was just on the precipice of coming to a deeper understanding of the world. I’m not sure I want to. It would probably be incredibly disrespectful to the victims, but I can’t live without knowing where that precipice drops down into.”

“I trust your instincts. Just, let me be there this time? I want to make sure you’re okay.”

“It may be unpleasant for you to witness.”

“I want to be there for you. I should’ve been there the last time, but I was too much of a coward.”

“I could have called you. I was afraid of what you’d think too.” They sat with each other for a while longer, glintstone fireflies landing on Leon’s horns. “You know,” Leon watched as one crawled over his fingers. “Glintstone fireflies have a hard time attracting mates. Ordinarily fireflies flash so that they can find each other, but since these ones have had their abdomens overtaken by glintstone they can’t anymore. They have to gather by larger crystals and hope they can find a mate there. At the same time, there’s still lots of them, so you know, even if it takes a while, they still manage to find each other.”

“Was that your attempt at composing a poem?” Floh smiled.

“Maybe.”

“Well it’s better than anything I’d have come up with.”

Chapter Text

“Sorry.” Leon kept repeating the word to himself as he cut. He wasn’t sure who he was saying it to, the poor dead man in front of him, the smith who made his sword who was probably cursing him from the afterlife, or the blade itself which he was debasing with the removal of yet another curse from one of the Dung Eater’s victims. This would be the fifth one he’d found, sixth if he counted the one already inside of him. That felt like the right amount. Maybe. Then again he might’ve gone just as fucking crazy as the Dung Eater. Maybe the glintstone that grew around his soul had finally reached his brain. He finally pulled the curse free and covered the corpse as respectfully as he could. Once again he was relying on the dead. He didn’t feel very good about it, but these poor souls had no autonomy to take. That was the fault of another corpse though, not him.

Leon had killed the Dung Eater before he’d met Floh. He didn’t normally kill in cold blood like that, but the implication that they were one in the same had enraged him. Of course they weren’t, he knew they weren’t. His affection for monstrosity hadn’t driven him to become a killer. Even in school he’d been lapse in his study of combat, choosing instead to study how different living things were transformed through contact with glintstone. But yet he’d still felt a rush of mad joy when the Dung Eater’s life faded from his eyes. Maybe it was the days of torture the maniac had put him through before he finally died, maybe it was something darker, he didn’t know. He did know however, that he hated having to rely on the man’s ghost. However, no matter how much he hated it, he wasn’t above it. The Dung Eater was a tool. A tool that was rusty and dull, prone to biting into his wielder, but he was a tool nonetheless.

Leon took a look at the rest of them lined up in his pack. Initially he’d thought it better to just get it over with all at once. Now looking at them, he wasn’t so sure. He steeled himself. It was far too late to back out now. It would be even more disrespectful to the dead if he’d desecrated their bodies for nothing. Now he would have to find a safe place where he could both summon Floh and deal with all of those. Stars and comets one of those was the size of an apple! He quickly closed his pack. It was probably best not to look at them until he actually had to put them in. He might lose his nerve.

That wasn’t to say he wasn’t curious. With the first one, he’d guessed he would be afflicted, no that was the wrong word for his feelings on what he’d become. He’d guessed he would be blessed with the omen curse, but he hadn’t quite realized how much else would change. There wasn’t a great deal of study being done on omens at Raya Lucaria. Their identity as a people was too bogged down in theocratic politics for any mage to consider their study. As a result, even after breaking into the restricted areas of the academy library, he was unable to discover any treatises written on their anatomy or biology. It was likely Hirnant’s examination of Leon was the only, even semi-formal, documentation of omen anatomy that had taken place on academy grounds and he was definitely not an ideal subject for general anatomical study. So of course, every new thing he discovered was a complete surprise and he was never entirely sure whether it was an omen thing or a glintstone exposure thing. He’d spoken to other omens about his situation, he found many of them were willing to share information in exchange for food, medical supplies, or his own information, but given the gulf of distance between their circumstances, it was far more difficult than he’d expected to establish a control group. For example his fur was softer and less patchy than most other omens he’d met, was that due to glintstone or proper nutrition? He wasn’t as infection prone, was that because his magic protected him from disease or because he wasn’t forced to enter battlefields with open wounds? It was beginning to piss him off. Not just because he wasn’t able to establish a good control group, but because an entire group of people had been so oppressed and understudied for so long, it was difficult to tell what was an ordinary physical characteristic and what was a result of poverty and oppression. That was getting added to the list of things to do: a) abolish puppetry, b) legal rights for Albinaurics, c) legal rights for omenkind.

He had at least discovered a few things that were useful. For example, it was apparently not uncommon for omens to be born with two functioning sets of genitalia. The majority of them weren’t but there was still a sizable minority that were. Some of them identified as men or women but it was more common for them to identify as neither or both interchangeably. Although Leon found the concept fascinating from an ethnographic standpoint, he still found that he more closely identified with masculinity than anything else. That in and of itself was a welcome revelation. He’d never thought to interrogate his feelings regarding his own gender before, but now that he had been forced to, he found that he’d become more confident and secure in his own masculinity. It was strange, after all those years of self doubt, all it had taken for him to become confident in his manhood was for him to grow a cunt.

He was more than open to experiencing further changes, especially if it gave him a better understanding of himself. Of course there was also the more important reason he’d chosen to do this. As the tips of his finger bones had lengthened and turned into claws, Leon had seen something just on the edges of his vision. He barely remembered what it was but something deep in his soul told him that it was important. He needed to see it more fully. Even if it meant he had to shove a lump of horns the size of an apple up his ass. He shivered. It was still probably best not to think too hard about that one.

Leon eventually settled on Fort Haight. It was relatively private, Floh could join him almost indefinitely, and even if they were interrupted, most of the soldiers and Demi-humans in the area wouldn’t be terribly difficult to dispatch. Floh took a look at the curses he’d gathered.

“You sure you still want to do these all at once? I can’t imagine it’ll feel too good.”

“If I don’t I’m worried I’ll lose my nerve.”

“Fuck, alright. That’s as good a reason as any. Do you need me to do anything?”

“If you could help me relax before I have to put them in, I’d appreciate it.”

“I can loosen you up alright.” Floh tongued over Leon’s tight asshole.

They took their time working Leon open. Floh licked while the mage pulled himself open with his fingers. Once Leon decided he was ready, he handed the gathered curses to Floh.

“Do it as fast as you can alright?” Floh didn’t say anything, but he held Leon’s hand tight in both of his and squeezed. The knight picked up two at once, holding them both in one hand and shoved his hand up the mage’s ass. He wasted no time scooping up the second two with his other hand and quickly putting them inside the moment he removed his hand. As he put in the final curse one of its horns caught on Leon’s rim and he screamed. The rest began to writhe, burrowing into him as Floh twisted it and finally worked it inside. The pain was becoming too much, Leon’s vision began to go red.

And out of the red bloomed a great tree. That tree’s name was life and all that was and would ever be hung from its branches. Inside its trunk a great crucible burned, heated by a yellow flame. The crucible held within it all life, all potential, all forms, melted into one. Life flowed like sap to the tree's branches and all creatures were born from its heavy bows.There was one who tended the tree, a giant, winged, horned, and tailed, both mother and father to all that sprouted from the branches. At their feet sat a child with white hair, a golden ax in his tiny hands. The mother and father of life looked upon him lifting their child onto their hip as they stood. They held out their hand to him. He opened his arms, trusting, accepting anything they wished to give him. They did not speak, but he heard a voice within his mind. “This I leave to thee. Bear it well, kin of my kin.”

When Leon woke he held a mending rune in his hands. Floh jumped up the second he realized Leon was awake.

“You spasmed a bunch of times while you were out. I thought you were dying and then that came out of you. Do you know what it does?” Leon’s body felt heavy, he was exhausted and sticky with sweat but still he glanced at the shining ring in his hand.

“All life shall be intermingled. That which was deemed anathema shall be sanctified once more.” He felt his eyes slipping shut again. He reached out and hugged Floh, who struggled against his grip, clearly unsatisfied with the cryptic answer. “Good night Floh.”

Leon was heavy and at this point fast asleep. There wasn’t really any easy way for Floh to get out of this. He stopped struggling. It was actually kind of comfortable like this and he hadn’t really had a good sleep in a while. He wiggled around to press into Leon’s chest. “Good night.”

His body still felt oddly heavy when Leon reawakened. He felt rested, In fact, he felt full of energy, but he still needed to exert more force than he was used to to stand. Floh had dissipated at some point during the night, but still Leon held that glistening rune within his hand.

He understood instinctually that it was both a gift that had been given to him, and his own creation. A product of enlightenment at the hands of a curse but also birthed from his own understanding of the deeper truth he’d been shown. It was a rune of restoration. If used to repair the broken pieces of the Elden Ring, it would restore the status of the crucible as the birthplace of life, those it had blessed, the omen and the misbegotten, would once again be sanctified. All forms of life would once again be intermingled, freely taking on aspects of each other. He held it close to himself. It was warm, glowing soft reddish gold. Leon knew what kind of lord he wished to become, a caretaker, a steward of life. The mage willed the rune back inside of himself. He knew he could call upon it when the time was right, as sure as he knew the sun would rise, as he knew the moon would wax and wane. It was a part of the universe, a law of nature locked in potentiality, but it was also part of him, something he understood as intimately as his own body.

As the sleep fully cleared from his mind, he began to realize how truly amazing he felt. So much energy flowed through him, it felt as if the very blood in his veins was alight with it. Remembering Morgott, he pressed a claw to his palm, allowing his blood to pool in his hand and fall to the ground. As he’d suspected, it burned as it fell to the ground, small red flames erupting from the droplets. He laughed in disbelief. The flame of life and creation ran through his veins like blood and it felt amazing! How could anyone ever choose to seal this away? He felt something brush softly against his back, and at the same time felt the sensation of touching something from a completely new limb. He tried moving it and it shifted, as naturally as if he was born with it. As he did he felt it brush up against yet another set of limbs. He looked over his shoulders, attempting to get a better look. He had a tail! It was covered in long, soft fur and crowned with sharp, crystal spines of glintsone. The tip twitched back and forth as he examined it. Further up, a pair of black feathered wings sprouted from his back. A sharp claw extended from the central joint of each. He flexed and they extended to their full wingspan. The air furled beneath his wings as he gave them a few experimental beats. His feet briefly left the ground and he smacked his head on the low ceiling. He coughed in surprise and felt heat force its way from deep inside his throat. A tongue of flame escaped his mouth as he hit the stone floor. As he sat on the floor in shock he decided it would probably be best to go outside before experimenting further.

Leon opened the door back out to the courtyard. The gathered Demi-humans looked up from their looting. Leon and the Demi-humans stared at each other for a moment, then one of the raiders stumbled back and the rest quickly scattered. He could certainly get used to that. As he ducked under the door frame and into the sunlight his wings caught the light suddenly shimmering blue, green, and purple. Leo sat on the steps of the fort shifting, his wings to reflect different colors. The sun warmed his fur pleasantly, making him feel like he was wrapped in a warm blanket. It was a feeling he wanted to share.

Leon took a deep breath. He knew Floh had been there while the curse took hold this time, but there was still a voice in his head that said the knight was only humoring him, that this would finally be the last straw and Floh would leave him. He would finally see how fucked up and perverse Leon really was and see sense. He knew it wasn’t true, that Floh still cared about him despite his oddities, that he’d sworn his life to him knowing exactly what kind of a deviant he was. A new, kinder, voice in his head gently chastised him for calling himself a deviant. He had seen what was once the order of the world and it was an order he had a place within. It was the world as it was now that was unnatural, not him.Yet, even as he was coming to better accept himself he knew he couldn’t expect Floh to do the same if that wasn’t what he wanted. Leon could simply never summon him again and he’d never have to find out, but then who would sit and enjoy the sunlight with him? He rang his summoning bell and prayed.

Watching Leon’s transformation had been deeply upsetting for Floh. He thought he was prepared, having seen his own body and the bodies of his comrades painfully changed by magic, but he was wrong. It was probably the time frame that did it. The process of creating a bloodhound knight was painful but it was also slow. The subject was given time to breath, their pain mostly mitigated to a dull ache. The seedbed curse, on the other hand, tore through Leon’s body like a wildfire, forcing him into a new shape in minutes and hours rather than months and years. It looked absolutely agonizing. Floh could see the bones and muscles writhing beneath his skin. Leon had seemed completely elsewhere, his eyes staring blankly into empty space as he quietly whimpered. All Floh had been able to think to do was hold his hand as he struggled through it. The last time he’d been alone, that was all Floh could think about. The last time Leon had suffered through this completely alone. Then when that rune had come out of him, and he truly screamed for the first time, Floh thought he was dying. But he’d survived it. Leon hadn’t been particularly coherent for the short amount of time he’d been awake and that worried him, but at least he was alive. He was also clearly together enough to attempt a summoning so that was hopefully a good sign.

Well, he wasn’t wearing any clothes. Floh didn’t know why he let that surprise him, the first time they’d fucked Leon had summoned him naked. This time, he sadly wasn’t on his hands and knees with one fist shoved up ass. Not to say that he wasn’t a pretty sight as he was. He sat on the steps of the fort, one knee pulled up to his chest, his cock flopping onto the opposite thigh. His massive wings were spread out behind him, dazzlingly colorful in the sunlight. The glintstone seams in his horns and the spines on his tail caught the light as well, throwing little rainbows of refracted light onto the walls of the fort and the ground. The tip of his tail twitched as he regarded Floh.

“Thank you for staying with me last night. I may not have been able to tell you, but I appreciated your company.” He stood up, stretching as he did, baring every inch of him. “I was hoping I could enjoy it again, now that I am fully present for it.” Fuck, Floh was willing to do much more than keep him company.

“You’re a real fucking tease you know that?”

“Really? In what way?” Leon sat down in the grass right next to Floh. He was radiating heat, it was almost like he was sitting next to a campfire.

“You’re buck naked and fucking sparkling.”

“Well I can’t help that, my clothes can’t exactly accommodate wings and a tail.”

“Have you figured out how to control those yet?” Leon wrapped his tail around the two of them.

“As if they were my arms and legs. That’s not all though.” Flames flickered behind the mage’s teeth. He looked upward and allowed it to escape his throat, fanning out up into the sky. “No dragon hearts needed.” He smiled, his fangs seeming just a little bit more predatory.

“I mean, aside from the fur and feathers, you’re not that far off from a dragon yourself.” Floh laughed.

“I ought to guard my heart carefully then,” Leon returned flirtatiously.

“Maybe I can help you with that.” Floh buried his face in the fur of the mage’s chest. He was so warm. It was like he held the sun within him.

“Aren’t knights supposed to slay dragons?”

“Not ones they’ve tamed.”

“Oh? So then I’m a tame dragon then?”

“Not yet, there’s still some fight left in you.”

“How exactly do you plan to take it out of me?”

“Do you have any rope?”

“Yes. Shall we take this inside?”

Getting Leon tied up had been a little more difficult than anticipated. Floh needed to negotiate three more limbs than he’d expected when he’d first asked Darriwil to give him some pointers. Luckily the other knight had given him some advice in the form of what he’d thought at the time a rather strange digression into the mechanics of restraining a partner’s tail. Blaidd didn’t even have a tail, he’d just done the due diligence. Leon’s wings were the most difficult. He’d had to dispense with the dragon tamer roleplay while he bound them down to ensure the mage was alright. Floh knew birds had hollow bones, he wasn’t sure if Leon’s wings did, but he didn’t want to accidentally break anything. When he finished the mage’s tail was bound to his back underneath his arms, his wings folded down and bound to his sides. His legs were folded up to his chest, ensuring his bound cock stood fully on display. Leon was already shivering from the attention, his cunt leaking and dick twitching against the ropes. Floh ignored both of them and started playing with his ass. He looked so pretty like this, all wrapped up for him, it would be a shame to let it end too soon.

“Please!”

“Please what?” Floh took out his finger, tracing the rim of Leon’s hole.

“More! I need more please!”

“More what? Use your words.” The knight began running his fingers through the mage’s feathers. As his hand passed through them they began to perk up, exposing the down beneath the smooth top layer. Floh looked at the mage out of the corner of his eye as he continued to stroke. “You like that don’t you?” He took one between his fingers and caressed down its length. Leon arched his back whining at the touch. His cock jumped, but nothing came out. Tears began to form at the corners of his eyes.

“Please,” he whined.

“Let you cum?” Floh laughed darkly, baring his fangs. He flipped Leon onto his knees, holding him up by his bound wrists. “I’m trying to teach you patience, monster. You’ll cum when I let you.” The mage’s wings puffed up even more and Floh could smell his arousal. The knight was starting to drool now.

He felt strange, Leon’s scent was beginning to cloud his mind before he knew it he had his teeth in the back of the mage’s neck. Leon cried out and he quickly let go. Fuck he’d lost control. He should be the one who was fucking tied up. God damn it.

“Again.” Floh was pulled out of his spiral of self loathing. “Please, do that again.” He bit down again and Leon shivered and moaned.

“Well, aren’t you eager to submit?” Floh lined his cock up to Leon’s entrance.

“Yes! I’m yours!”

“You know that would mean life in my service, monster. You’d be sworn to act as my companion and guardian.”

“I submit!” Floh began to thrust. He was already close. He hastily undid the knot binding the base of the mages cock, and brought a hand to his clit. The two of them collapsed into each other as they both came.

Floh released the back of Leon’s neck and began undoing his restraints. “Are you alright?” Floh gently licked the spot he’d bit. Leon rubbed his wrists.

“A bit stiff, but otherwise fine.”

“Sorry I bit you.” Floh hung his head sheepishly. “I lost control of myself for a moment, but it won’t happen again.”

“What do you mean it won’t happen again? You’ve been holding out on me.” Leon smiled.

“Even if you were into it, I shouldn’t have done it. I’m not an animal.”

“Is there any significance to the gesture I don’t know about?”

“I mean not as far as I know. It’s just something I want to do by instinct. I think it’s supposed to be so that I could get a better grip on you if I had paws instead of hands.”

“Then what’s the problem? You restrain yourself admirably when we fuck. If anything you could do with a little less of it.”

“I could’ve hurt you.”

“Could you?” The mage took a claw to the ropes still binding his legs, easily parting the fibers.

“You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

“I meant it earlier, when I said I would swear myself to you. Even though we were just fooling around, I would do it. I would swear myself to every part of you, both Floh the man and Floh the beast. I know what I’m asking for, I need it just as much as you do.” He ran a hand through his white hair. “Floh, look at me as if you didn’t know me. As if you didn’t know who I once was.”

Floh tried to put himself in the shoes of the man he’d once been. Young, fresh faced, journeying to fight as, what those in this country called, a knight errant. In front of him stood the most imposing monster he’d ever faced. Standing over seven feet tall, he dwarfed even his own oversized frame. Horns, veined with transparent crystal, erupted from his body and crowned his head. He was covered in thick gray fur, sleek and soft like a tiger’s. The long claws that slipped from his fingertips only furthered the comparison. His long tail twitched in a way he recognized. The cats his family had kept to kill mice on their estate did the same when they were about to pounce. His wings stretched almost as large as the creature himself and he radiated heat like a burning flame. He couldn’t figure out whether what he was looking at was a minor god or a demon. The Floh of the past, who hadn’t yet shed his name and taken up the one he held now, would have tightened his fists around his club and grit his teeth. His face would’ve contorted into a mad grimace. He did love a good fight. The mage spoke again, his voice pulling Floh out of his younger self’s head.

“Can the creature you see take it?”

“Yeah, I guess he can.” Floh let himself drop comfortably to all fours. He’d gotten in the habit of trying to stand on two legs as much as possible. He couldn’t maintain the position forever, his legs would start to get sore and his too-high-up ankles would start to click with the strain and then he’d have to drop back down again. It still hadn’t quite sunk in yet, that Leon liked his monstrousness. He still felt like he had to maintain the artifice of humanity, even if it was hard on his body. He now saw that was a little ridiculous, he’d never done that before they had started their relationship and Leon still wanted to fuck him then. The ridiculous fear had still lurked in the back of his head that Leon would eventually get over the novelty of him, but taking a step back, looking at Leon and trying to figure out whether his younger self would’ve shit himself or creamed his pants, he came to realize there was no novelty. He understood now why Darriwil had chosen this life for Blaidd. Knowing his partner was just like him was a comfort. Floh had become unaccustomed to comfort.

“I think I’m ready to finish this.” Leon looked off at the Erdtree in the distance. “I think it’s finally time.” Floh looked at Leon and he believed, as he always did, that he could do it.

Chapter Text

A mage sat before the body of the queen eternal, holding her head in his hands. A single, golden, eye slowly cracked open upon her stony face.

“Well, get on with it.” She regarded him with a seething hatred. “Take thy throne. The Greater Will shall discard thee just as quickly as all the others. We will see thy bones bleached upon the altar of the golden order just as every lord before thee.”

“As your own bones were.” The stone face of the Queen eternal contorted in rage.

“Thou art mistaken.”

“I don’t think I am. You transformed into Radagon before my eyes.”

“So then thou art here to gawk,” the head laughed ruefully. “Let all look upon the God Queen and Elden Lord! Hypocrite that it was, even it could not adhere to the order it put in place and now it shall be forced to wed the phantom of an order long displaced.”

“Is that how you prefer yourself to be referred to?” Marika looked at him in stunned incredulity.

“Have thy horns grown into thy skull?”

“Well I know some that prefer to use ‘it’, though most that exist outside of male and female prefer ‘they’. Though I also know a few that will use ‘he’ or ‘she’ either exclusively or interchangeably.”

“Thou art sincere.” The head regarded him suspiciously.

“Of course I am. I believe I may dislike you, and I hate the order that you forced upon the world, but I cannot become a host of the ring myself. I require your assistance, and I would prefer to foster a relationship of mutual respect, even if underneath that there’s nothing but mutual distaste.”

“Then thy wish is for us to enter a partnership of convenience.”

“Nothing you are unaccustomed to.”

“Do not pretend to know our heart.” Marika snarled. “We loved Godfrey and Rennala both. We would have taken them with the same form, in the same bedchamber, had we the ability.”

“I referred to your marriage with your other self, not your husband and wife.” Leon’s face softened. “She still misses you, you know. She was driven mad by your absence.”

“And thou shalt deprive her still.”

“I will do no such thing, I do not need or desire monogamy from you, and I hope you do not expect it from me.”

“We expect nothing. It is the will and the order that expects everything from us.”

“Is it not your order to change? Yourself to transform?”

“We tried, the separation of Radagon was part of a ritual of purification. We were to split ourselves and allow the halves to be concentrated down into their purest forms. Then those halves were meant to rejoin forming a perfect being, a truest self formed from the essential matter of our binary pieces, but we failed and now we are this: a shattered husk, two halves that refuse to re-enfold into a whole.”

“I think I understand why it didn’t work. Your order purports itself to be the only good and thus all else must be in opposition. Even that which was once sacred to the Erdtree central to your order was discarded as too primal, too uncivilized. You tried to invoke a primal blessing of the Erdtree and it was incompatible with the order you established, so it failed.” The head’s hair began to turn red, his jaw harshening.

“Thou wouldst have us return to the chaos of the time before even Placidussax? Go on then, burn everything to ash if thou wish it. I will fight thee to my last breath.” Radagon attempted to bite his hand.

“That is not my intent either. I merely wish to allow the world to move and change again, to break down the rigidity of your order and allow the state of living things to become more malleable. I want people like ourselves to be able to live in safety and comfort.”

“How are we in any way the same, accursed wretch?” Ah right, Leon remembered Radagon was the part of them who still believed wholeheartedly in the golden order. How could he not. If the order wasn’t right and true then what could have possibly justified leaving Rennala as he did. If the order wasn’t the answer, the only answer, how could he ever forgive himself for abandoning his children? How could he look into his youngest son’s tear filled eyes as he begged for his sister to be healed, as he demanded his demigod half brothers be released from their captivity in the sewers and tell him “Such is the order of the world” if he did not believe it himself.

“You remind me of your eldest son. He too labored endlessly for an order that could never truly love him.” Radagon finally managed to bite his hand but Leon didn’t flinch. “We are alike, because I received the blessing that was denied to you. I still live as a man because that is what pleases me, not because that is what I must be. That does not seem to be what you want.” Radagon attempted to dig his teeth in harder in lieu of an answer. “I can give my blessing to you, if you allow me.” Radagon loosened his hold on Leon’s hand, hair fading back to blond until Marika stared up at him once again.

“We would exchange our right to sovereignty for that. My other self rails against my weakness, but we no longer wish to live like this. We have grown tired from perpetual self conflict. If our order must be overthrown, so be it, we have bound ourself in its chains for long enough.” Leon placed his mending rune within the chest of the shattered god and returned their head to their shoulders. The god of order gave a long sigh of relief as their form shifted, their hair warming to strawberry blonde. They stopped somewhere between Marika and Radagon, broad shouldered and muscular, but still full chested and wide hipped. The god of order fell to their knees as their arms began to reform from the cracked and broken stone. They breathed in and out, feeling at the place where their own spear had pierced their side and felt nothing, not even the ghost of a wound. Leon watched as the Erdtree glowed back to life around them. He began to feel a heat, burning somewhere deep below the ground and he understood the crucible had once again been lit. The God of order staggered to their feet, their muscles weak simultaneously from atrophy and years of combat, using their stone hammer as a cane.

“How do you feel?”

“I am whole for the first time in centuries.” The god touched their own chest, feeling where Radagon’s massive tits had melded into Marika’s. “It is finally quiet.”

“How would you like to be addressed?”

“I have no name yet. Though I suppose for now ‘they’ ought to suffice.” The god of order cracked their back, dust falling from the still healing marble. They gave Leon a once over. “So I must take an omen as a consort. What a sad state of affairs.”

“If you prefer for me to be consort in name only, that is amenable to me. There are others I may find pleasure in. However, I must insist on the restoration of grace and legal rights to omenkind.”

“I traded thee my sovereignty, do as thou wilt with it.” The god waved their hand dismissively. “But there is ritual to these things. The Elden Lord and God Sovereign must produce children that could feasibly replace them.” They hadn’t wanted to bed themself. The act had been repulsive to them, comparable in their minds to incest. They had loved their strong and resilient daughter and their clever and charismatic son, but their curses weighed upon them. They knew instinctively it was because of what they had done. Unalloyed gold was the softest and most delicate of metals after all. However, it was part of the ritual of power. It was necessary for them to maintain their position, even if it had meant cursing the twins, even if now it meant bedding a curse-born monster.

“Alright, well then if you’d like I had something to that effect planned as a celebration this evening.”

“So then I shall stand in for whatever poor maiden thou planned to ravish this evening.” The omen mage made a strange expression.

“Well not exactly.”

“It has been quite a while my friend!” Darriwil clapped Hirnant on the shoulder. “Who is your friend?” A man with long, dark hair and wild, yellow eyes accompanied the knight, his hands dotted with teal Glintstone.

“Smarag. Human-like form is better for this purpose.”

The dragon reached out to take the knight’s hand, shooting him a predatory grin. “You were a sorcerer once, weren’t you?” He kissed Darriwil’s hand allowing his sharp teeth to drag across his skin. “You have a delightful scent.”

“Down boy.” Darriwil withdrew his hand, then pulled Hirnant aside for a moment. “Are you sure he’s safe to bring around the little mage? From what you’ve told me, Smarag is still a man-eater is he not?”

“He should be able to handle himself.” What Darriwil had said fully registered in Hirnant’s mind. “Little? When’s the last time you saw him?”

“Maybe two months ago? Why? Has something happened to him?”

“Remind me to share my notes with you. He is a fascinating case study for seedbed curse exposure in living subjects.”

“Any idea who that is?” Darriwil pointed to a hulking figure, covered by the canvas robes of an ascetic monk. The two knights watched his tail begin to beat against the ground as the Erdtree flared back to life.

“He said something about a promise kept but not much more.” Floh stopped the pacing he’d started well before Darriwil had arrived as the tree was restored to life. The golden fog barring its entrance dissipated and Leon emerged, half supporting a tall androgynous figure with reddish blond hair, using a stone hammer as a makeshift cane. The monk immediately dove towards the pair. Floh and Darriwil quickly drew their swords but the monk skidded to a halt in front of Leon, sniffing the person beside him.

“Marika?!” The God extended their hand petting the monk’s head.

“No longer, brother.” If that was the god of order and the monk was their brother… Darriwil dropped his sword, his knees trembling. That was Maliketh. Oh stars, he’d just tried to fight Maliketh. Floh put his sword away much more calmly. He’d known! Floh had known and had still been willing to fight MALIKETH! HAD HE LOST HIS MIND?! Leon was less of a surprise. He’d suspected something like this might happen. The horns suited him.

“I missed you, I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” Maliketh’s tail wagged as the god scratched his ears.

“I apologize for leaving thee alone for so long.” The god took a quick moment to survey those present, three bloodhound knights, two living, one spirit ash, one dragon in human guise, and one beastman (Maliketh). All men as far as the god could tell. They noticed as their consort began to speak to the spirit ash in the silent language of the bloodhound knights.

“They want in, they say it’s necessary to the ritualistic nature of power transference for us to have children.”

“And you’re comfortable with that?”

“I don’t care who is involved as long as you are a part of it as well.”

“May I ask what exactly I am to be involved in? I believe I may have asked to be a part of whatever this is under a false assumption.” They smiled sweetly at the two men’s surprise. The god of order knew as many languages as there were in the lands between. There would be no secrets kept in their presence.

“I only very recently became what I am now,” the mage answered, “and knew very little of what this body was capable of. We were unsure whether or not I could bear children, but I had my first menses two weeks ago. I’m an adherent to the primordial crucible, so I thought it would be best to mix the seed of many, all thinking life intermingled to try for my first. Your brother also wanted to ensure that you were unharmed.”

“I see no pests.”

“Their reproductive systems are incompatible with those of mammals.” So he would’ve considered it.

“So then I am to be one of many sires of thy children.”

“Yes, that is my wish.”

“You have a problem with that?” The spirit ash growled, ensuring the god of order understood it to be a threat.

“No, I can understand it as an act of ritual. The logic aligns with the god it is thy wish to honor.” Ritual was important to them. It was fervor structured, bound to order. Even rituals conducted in service to chaos bowed to order by their very nature. The god unbound the black prisoner’s cloth tied about their waist. “I would have thee first, as a consummation of our partnership, though I welcome thy vassal if he wishes to join us.” Floh nodded, holding tight to Leon’s hand. Hmm, so that was the one their consort truly loved. An interesting choice, but understandable given their circumstances.

Well, not that the god could talk, the years had turned their body from flesh to brittle stone, like the ancient bodies of beast men that had become part of the stone structures of Farum Azula. It was a beautiful city, a shame they had to destroy it during their conquest.

“Well then, strip for me.” The god sat upon the Elden Throne as they waited, languidly stroking their cock. To their great disappointment only one pair of eyes rested upon them. Only their consort watched as they brought themself to their full hardness. The rest watched the mage as he removed his robes. They could see why they did. The mage had obviously organized this, but disrobed with almost virginal awkwardness. It cut a hilarious contrast when taken against his monstrous appearance. He was probably blushing like a princess underneath that thick fur. It made the god want to bend him in half and cram their cock so far into his cunt that he saw stars.

The sovereign eternal beckoned for Leon to join them upon the Elden throne. Floh followed cautiously, he knew Leon would have to serve as consort if he wanted to become king, but that didn’t mean he trusted the god of order any more with the sorcerer’s well being. The god spread their legs.

“Come sit.” Leon hesitated, glancing furtively at Floh.

“Excuse my presumptuousness, your majesty but might I join you?” Floh didn’t normally like to speak formally, but he knew how when pressed.

“By all means.” The god leaned themself onto one of the arms of the throne. Floh sat himself against the opposite arm, entwining their legs and pressing their cocks together. He gave them both a few good strokes to get himself going. The sovereign eternal moaned appreciatively. Floh watched as Leon’s cock rose to full attention as well. The god of order beckoned for him once again. This time the mage began to ascend the throne. He held himself over both of their ducks for a moment, before sitting himself down, taking both of them in. The stretch was glorious as he rode them both. Floh’s of course was massive as always, filling him deeply and knocking the air out of him, but the god’s was rock solid, mercilessly grinding over his most sensitive part of his inner walls as if they’d already been partners for years. Floh began to kiss the back of his neck and shoulders while the god brought his hand to their tits. They felt strange, their skin was too smooth and cold to be true skin, but their tits were soft like true flesh, in comparison to the swell of hard muscle underneath. Floh turned the mage’s face to his side to kiss him while the god of order replaced him at his neck, kissing and sucking down to his collarbone.

“Such a good boy, taking both our cocks.” Floh made sure to sign the words in the god of order’s view. “Why don’t you let them hear you? Show them just how hungry their consort is for them?” Floh looked the god of order in the eye before biting down on the back of the mage’s neck. He moaned loudly and clenched around them both, making the eternal sovereign hiss. So the knight intended to remind them who the sorcerer belonged to. He could keep him, they would be rejoining their Queen soon enough, if she would have them. They had far more they needed to repent for this time. However, in a public display of prowess like this, they refused to be outdone by a mere dog.

“I think thine praise comes too readily, sir. He hath many more cocks to take besides ours. Save thy praise for when he lies bloated with all of our seed, swollen with our children.” The sovereign eternal gave a particularly rough thrust upwards and the sorcerer whimpered. “It is thy wish for thine womb to be made a crucible is it not? A crucible requires ample raw material.” They spilled into him, sitting back to watch as the knight also finished inside of him. The sorcerer panted with need, still plugged up with the knight’s cock.

“Who do you want next?” Floh signed as obviously as possible for the benefit of the group.

“M-Maliketh.” He was still mostly lucid. That was good. Floh could already see Maliketh’s hard cock peeking out of his robes. With a weapon like that, he knew that wouldn’t be the case for long.

“Would you like your turn now, Father?” The priest nodded his head, discarding his own robes.

“I shall fulfill my end of the bargain. My seed for my sibling’s life.” He spoke his answer solemnly, but the way his tail was wagging it was clear he looked forward to more than repaying his debt.

The sorcerer was a strange one. Upon discovering that Maliketh was the one who guarded the rune of death, Leon had immediately begun to bargain. The death of the demigods was used to warriors begging for their lives before him, however he was completely flummoxed when this tarnished had begged to be fucked silly instead. They had built up a decent rapport, the omen had been bringing him deathroot fairly consistently, despite his apparent lack of benefit for the act. The shadow didn’t see any real reason not to fuck him. It was not customary for priests among the beastmen to practice celibacy, and if it meant his dear sibling’s suffering would finally come to an end, he would gladly do it.

The spectral Bloodhound Knight helped ease his lover off the throne, leaving him on the ground, dripping with cum and slick. Leon began to grind his dick against the ornately carved stone floor, desperate for even a little bit of friction.

“There’s no need for that.” Maliketh positioned himself on top of the tarnished, pulling his back flush with his chest. “I’ll see thee sated before long.”

Maliketh’s cock was the largest Leon had ever taken. Even the Magma Wyrm hadn’t stretched him as wide and as deep as the Beastman. He pistoned in and out at a punishingly fast pace. Leon screamed in pleasure, clawing desperately at the ground.

“More! Please, more!” Someone brought a smooth, stone-like cock to his mouth and he eagerly swallowed it down as Maliketh continued to pound into him. They came down his throat and he eagerly swallowed around them. The second they pulled out Floh replaced them, fucking his throat savagely. He almost cried with happiness as both Floh and Maliketh came. He was already so full, he could feel Maliketh’s cum leaking from between his thighs, but he desperately wanted more.

A long forked tongue snaked between his legs, licking Maliketh’s spend from his fur.

“Both?” Leon faintly heard an unfamiliar voice ask. Then he felt two dicks, both studded with glintstone, enter him. He threw his head back as the crystals dragged along his inner walls, still sensitive from taking Maliketh. He was flipped onto his back with scaly, clawed hands. Smarag had shifted partially back into his true form, his cheeks split open to his jaw bone, exposing dozens of sharp fangs and horns extended up and back from his temples, his tail whipped back and forth behind him. The dragon licked into Leon’s mouth. His forked tongue tickled the back of his throat. “Delicious.” Hirnant shoved the dragon back and sat himself on Leon’s cock.

“Don’t make me muzzle you.” Hirnant yanked Smarag to his face, holding him by the horns. The dragon hummed in pleasure.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, darling.” Smarag leaned forward, pressing himself against Hirnant’s mouth.

The two of them were merciless, Smarag roughly scraping out his insides and Hirnant riding him as if his life depended on it. Smarag came first, his twin dicks filling Leon even further before he roughly pulled himself out. The mage bucked upwards in shock forcing his cock even deeper into Hirnant. The knight shouted, seeing stars as Leon bottomed out, and came onto his own stomach.

The mage was now sticky and oversensitive, his dick weeping and his cunt leaking, still begging to be filled. He was on the verge of tears now, still desperate for more. Careful hands propped him upright and gently stroked his cock until he came, collapsing onto their shoulder. “You’ve been so good for us little mage, only one more before you can rest.” Leon dug his claws into Darriwil’s arm in fear. The knight hissed in pain.

“More,” his throat was sore from both his screams and the thorough fucking it had been subjected to but still he begged, “please don’t stop, I need more.” In his sex addled mind he felt he would die if he didn’t have a cock inside him within the next minute.

“Turn him around.” Maliketh indicated for Darriwil to hold the mage facing outward. The very embodiment of death held Leon by his forehead and let his cock rest on his cheek. “Thy body is at its limit Tarnished. Thou shalt rest when you have received the bloodhound’s seed. However, until then you may slake thy thirst with mine.” He released the mage, who immediately began attempting to swallow him down. Maliketh looked to Darriwil, “Hurry, I do not think I can restrain myself for very much longer.”

Darriwil quickened his pace, moving much faster than his preferred languid one. He couldn't take his eyes off the bearer of destined death. Maliketh stood perfectly still, a paragon of self control as the mage desperately sucked him off. It clearly wore on him though. Leon’s rough tongue offered incredible friction against the shadow’s cock, making Maliketh tightly grip his shoulders to stabilize himself. “Please hurry, I’m close.” Maliketh looked pleadingly down at Darriwil. That look made him come right then and there. Maliketh came as well, shuddering into the mage. Leon attempted to swallow as much as he could, but it was too much and he was utterly exhausted. As the two of them withdrew, he felt a set of hard, stony hands grab one of his arms and a set of broad, callused ones grabbed the other.

It seemed like Floh was saying something to the gathered men but Leon was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

“Anybody here know if their species’ gestation period is any different from a human’s or an omen’s?” Floh asked as he helped lift the mage to get him cleaned up.

“Dragons generally lay their eggs around three to four weeks after sex.” Smarag briefly spat out Hirnant’s cock to answer.

“My understanding is that for most inter-species couplings, among dragons at least, gestation method will depend on the carrier rather than the sire.” Hirnant clarified as the dragon went down on him again. “That is, if anything took.”

“It did.” The God of Order spoke with utmost confidence. “And so it was on my wedding night each time before as well. The god shall be wed and an heir conceived. Such is the order of the world.”

“It isn’t your order any longer.” Floh growled.

“It is not,” the sovereign eternal huffed, “however, it was a ritual retained in the order our lord established.” The god took a moment to get a better grip on Leon’s arm. “I would have words with thee to discuss what that shall mean for the three of us.”

The god of order took the knight and their consort to their private baths. The pools had been sized large for the sake of accommodating… Godfrey. Their heart twinged with regret. They had summoned him back to life and for what? To merely use him as a shield while they were bound/imprisoning the traitor. They knew Godfrey would lay his life at their feet, he had done it hundreds of times in the past. But yet, they could never have allowed him to take his place at their side. He had too much of the crucible’s savagery within him. The mage, who began to come to as he was placed in the chill of the bath, served as an emissary of the same. However, while he had merely been imparted with an insatiable drive to create life, Godfrey was driven to end it. The God of Order had bound that bloodlust, dampening it for a time, but that was what had driven Godfrey to lose the blessing of Grace. He was never truly himself, never truly happy unless he was half naked and soaked in the blood of a worthy opponent. He had shackled himself for them, but in doing so, had lost his purpose.

If the god of order could do things over, they could not say that they would be content loving him as a mortal. They could not imagine the two of them sharing a home and raising their sons before eventually growing old and dying. Theirs was the will to power, there was no world in which they could have been happy without asserting their will over the very universe, but perhaps, there was a world where they had never met. A world where a warrior, more beast than man, still tore his way through the badlands. Perhaps in that world, a warrior could still come to love a fallen monarch hewn from stone.

They hadn’t expected to remain stone once the Elden Ring had been restored and their body made whole. But yet as they lowered themself into the bath as well, their skin still looked and felt exactly like marble. Maybe this was yet another penance. You who spurned your own kin as if your heart was granite, shall live another eternity with flesh as hard as stone. Although perhaps this was an element of their consort’s new order. The god would have to begin their study of the ring anew. They already suspected much had changed, but the exact details wouldn’t be elucidated until they began their examination of the sacred script. Rewriting the sacred laws of the universe was difficult. One was never sure if something that looked good on parchment would function well, or even the way it was intended once implemented. Their own excision of the rune of death had birthed the undead after all. Though they had made a convenient binary opposition to place their order as the one true good.

Binary! They smacked their fist into their hand as they realized it, drawing the attention of the Bloodhound knight. Their order was one of binary states! There was good and there was evil, there was the Golden Order and there was heresy. There was man and there was woman. The mage had been correct. They could not fully re-combine, because to do so would have gone against the order they’d established. So they had been trapped in that awful twinned state. They had been so utterly convinced of their own righteousness that they had completely written themself out of their own order. It was so pathetic they had to laugh.

“What is so amusing, my sovereign?” The god saw how Floh grit his teeth as he signed the honorific. One with a distaste for authority. A funny choice for a man-made shadow.

“Th- you need not use such titles with me anymore. The crown that was once mine now rests on the head of our consort,” the god indicated the cum soaked omen. Leon nodded.

“They’ve given me their right to act as sovereign.”

“And what did you have to trade?” Floh growled side-eyeing the former sovereign eternal.

“The mending of my body and the resolution of the conflict within my being was payment enough.”

“You’re not going to decide one day that it isn’t?”

“I am that which itself is Order, Faith and Will are my hammer and forge. I am bound by my word as if by golden shackles.”

“So in the parlance of mortals, you pinky promise that you won’t stab Leon the minute his back is turned.” The knight was clearly unconvinced.

“I have no more desire to rule this blighted kingdom. My children are dead, my legacy stained by my own hand, I have grown weary of it all. I accept that by fate I must serve as a vessel for order, but that is the extent of what I wish to do. Although, I will also gladly continue to sire our lord’s children, if that is his wish.”

“What do you intend to do now?” The mage asked. He was also clearly suspicious.

“I intend to return to Liurnia and beg my wife to forgive me.”

“And your daughter?” The god could not understand why their consort would ask them such a thing.

“I suppose I might ask for absolution at her grave, yes. So many cried for Godwyn, but few aside from yourself shed tears for dear Ranni.”

“You are aware she’s still alive right?”

“What?”

“I also don't hold very much fondness for her either. Last time I was at Caria manor I threw a dung pot through her chief preceptor’s window and she shot me with an icecrag for disturbing her peace.”

“My daughter is alive?!”

“Well in the same way that Godwyn is dead I guess. Her body is kaput but she managed to put her soul inside a customized marionette soldier.”

“So then I might yet tell my daughter that I love her.” The god was overcome. They had made so many mistakes, led so many they loved to their deaths, but they at least had one more chance to salvage their relationship with their daughter.

Both Leon and Floh watched in shock as the god of order began to cry. Neither felt much sympathy for them exactly. They had been responsible for thousands of years of oppression, they had ruled the lands between with grasp so tight they had been believed to be their ruler eternal. That was what made it so shocking, that tears could fall from stone. They hadn’t always been a god, they had been a person once. A person that had chosen to instate a broken order, but still a person. That was the most frightening part about them really, a person had done all of that. A person who wept at the chance to see their daughter again.

“You may leave if you wish. Your duty to me is done. If I have need for you, I know where I may find you.”

“Not yet, I- I wish to prepare myself first. Rennala understood part of my nature, but now I am whole. I am neither Marika nor Radagon, nor am I the wielder of the black knife that came before them both. I am their distillate. Rennala…” the god sighed. “Rennala loved Radagon. Now that I am myself, I have no way of knowing whether she will love me. Of course that is assuming she will even forgive me.”

“You are truly a separate person from them?”

“I retain both their memories, and my own personality was formed from theirs, but yes I am distinct.” The mage rubbed the back of his neck. He would probably regret saying it but…

“Then I suppose you cannot be held fully accountable for the actions of your predecessors, provided you make no attempt to repeat them. Rennala was wronged by Marika and Radagon, whereas your first act will be to seek reconciliation for sins that were not your own. Hopefully that will count for something.”

“And what of you?” The god asked. “Any tarnished who would become Elden Lord, must have some opinions regarding what my order has done. One who willingly chose to take on aspects of the crucible so fully that they forever live within their flesh, must have particularly strong ones. Will you ever forgive me for the transgressions of my forebears?”

“As I said, provided it is not your desire to repeat them. Though I would also ask that you actively endeavor to undo them as well.”

“And you?” The god turned towards Floh. “We are to share the same lover, be parents to the same children. I would hear your thoughts as well.” Only one other person had ever thought to ask Floh his opinion before, the man who sat in his lap, resting comfortably against his chest.

“I’ll be honest, I trust you about as much as I trust a knife at my throat and I’m probably never going to care about you the same way I care about Leon, but feel free to try and prove me wrong.”

“So then I face trials in all directions, just as always.” The god rose from the cold water. “If you’ll excuse me, I ought to begin considering names. I imagine you both wish to be together in privacy, my dear consorts.” The corner of their mouth twitched for just a moment as they turned to leave.

“So what do we do when they inevitably try to kill us?” Floh asked.

“Well there’s always Miquella.” Floh remembered the massive hand that fell from that cocoon, its fingers seeming to grasp even in sleep. He remembered a young man with violet eyes, who smiled like a snake determining whether or not you were too large for it to swallow.

“I still don’t know whether or not he’d be worse.” Floh scratched his head. The devil they knew or the devil they didn’t, it was a real fucking conundrum. Sure the god of order was bad, but Leon and Floh had hundreds of years worth of knowledge telling them exactly how. The empyrean of dreams might’ve been more immediately sympathetic, but he was a complete and utter mystery.

“I suppose if worst comes to absolute worst, there’s always Ranni. Though you can really only throw shit through someone’s window so many times before you’ve permanently damaged your relationship with them.”

“I guess you’re right.” Floh thought for a second. “Maybe if you promise to ‘actively endeavor’ not to throw shit through her window again.”

“Oh shut up.” Leon kissed him. It felt strangely heightened, maybe because of the mage’s comparative heat against the cold water. Floh held the back of Leon’s head, luxuriating in it, tired, but not wanting it to end. When they finally pulled apart Floh stroked his cheek with his thumb. Then all at once he realized something. His hand was no longer glowing.

He stared, not daring to believe it. Leon’s eyes slid open.

“So your hair is black.” Floh laughed, no longer as much of a harsh hiss after so much recent practice.

“That’s all you have to say to this?”

“Ye who lie bound in ash and starlight draught shall be once again returned to flesh.” Leon smiled. “It’s much easier to enforce policy with universal law than it is with written ones. Though it may be an abuse of my power to have done so, I believe I am entitled to this little bit of selfishness.” The only part of Floh that still glowed softly were his eyes, still a rich, blood red. “You’re even more beautiful in color.”

“You’re a fucking maniac you know that?”

“The maniac you fell in love with.” The two of them heard a crash and then the sound of a hawk and the god of order cursing more fouly than any soldier or criminal either of them had ever met.

“You left all the other ashes in your pack didn’t you?”

“Oops.”

“How many did you manage to find again?”

“Fifty eight.” The mage winced.

“Hope your consort doesn’t mind house guests.”

Chapter Text

Someone was in the manor. Ranni could sense her traps going off along the path to her tower. No more captured cuckoo knights guarded her ancestral home. Every single one of them had woken up all at once and ran from the manor. Afterwards she had also found Seluvis’s secret storehouse. She had never been fond of the man, merely keeping him around for his knowledge of the eternal cities, but what she had found down there made her sick. She did not flinch at compelling prisoners of war to serve as her guards, it was their fault for attempting their treasonous invasion, but what Seluvis had been doing was hideous perversity. Maybe this was her punishment for allowing this to go on as long as she had, for some unknown invader to be the one to finally kill her.

Well, whoever it was would find a fight waiting for them. Even though Blaidd was out gathering information on the new Elden Lord, she was still Ranni the Witch, last princess of Caria. She would not fall so easily. The elevator descended and she heard someone step onto the pressure plate, bringing it back up. Ranni carried a staff designed to look like a blade, much like her mother’s, though hers was far smaller, able to be slipped into her voluminous sleeves like a dagger. She palmed it discreetly, readying it in case things went spectacularly poorly.

It was somewhat difficult to see the invader’s face under her wide brimmed hat, but they wore the armor of a Black Knife assassin. She stiffened, tightening her hand on her dagger.

“I do not recall penning any letters of invitation to my home, stranger. If thou hast no business with me I would ask thee to leave.”

“It is truly thee.” The stranger let their hood down and reddish blond hair fell to their shoulders. Their voice was not one she recognized but yet there was something hauntingly familiar within it. “I believed thee dead along with thy brother, killed during the Night of Black Knives.”

Whoever this stranger was, they were well behind the times. Most of the major players knew of Ranni’s involvement in the Night of Black Knives, and a few among that number knew of Rykard and Godwyn’s involvements as well, but this stranger was still going off of pre-shattering information. In fact it seemed as if the very moment the ring was broken was the point at which their memory ended. Ranni did not endeavor to correct them. She knew when to push an advantage.

“Dost thou intend to offend me with thy over familiarity or art thou merely a fool who knows not whom they address.”

“Canst thou truly not recognize me?” Ranni squinted her single eye, lifting the brim of her hat. Her vision through her glass doll’s eye was far more limited than she would have liked. The face before her was one half recognized as if through the fog of a dream, but the curious expression on their face, it was one she identified immediately.

“Father?” It couldn’t be. Marika’s order had fallen, Radagon ought to have been destroyed along with it.

“It’s been a long time, my dear daughter.” Ranni dropped her staff and jumped from the stack of books piled onto her chair. The god of order opened their arms. Ranni stretched out all four of her own and wrapped her hands around their neck.

“How dare thee!” They attempted to tear her porcelain hands away. “Was it thy hope that I would welcome thee back with open arms? After what thou didst to my mother?” She would not dignify her father by using magic against them. Ranni would choke the life from them with her bare hands. “After thou turned mine own brother against her and myself? Her own son! Thou darest to show thine face here after all thou hast done!?” They raised their hands and Ranni recognized their movements as language.

“I’m sorry.” She released them. Pushing them away as she did.

“Is that all thou wilt say? I’m sorry?”

“It is all I can say.” They coughed. “I offer no excuse for Radagon’s actions. I do not even fully disagree with most of them, but I do acknowledge that I have hurt thee.”

“You speak of ‘Radagon’s actions’ as if they are not thine own.” Ranni took a good look at them. There was much of her father in their countenance, but there was also someone else, someone equally familiar. Suddenly a candle lit inside her head. Rykard was blond. Both she and Radahn had inherited Radagon’s flaming red, and their mother’s hair was dark as the night, yet Rykard had been blond.

“Marika,” she practically hissed. That fucking cunt had been toying with her mother from the start. Radagon had never existed, it had been Marika the whole time.

“Not Marika, but not Radagon either.”

“Then who, pray tell, cowers before me?”

“Both and neither. Thy father if thou wouldst still have me.” The god of order looked upon their daughter with desperate, pathetic, sorrow. However Ranni no longer had mercy left within her heart.

“Then thou’rt mistress and absent father both. Get thee from my sight.” They stood, placing their hand on the door frame before they left, like Radagon once had when checking up on her as a child.

“I plan to return to thy mother if she will still have me.” They did not look Ranni in the eye. “All I wished to say is, despite all I have done and all thou hast done in my absence, I love thee and I shall always consider thee my daughter.”

“Thou shouldst hope Blaidd does not return before thy exit.” The god of order looked down, still not making eye contact.

“A shame. I would have liked to see my son as well.” Ranni bunched her fists in her dress.

“Did mother know?”

“Yes, she knew. The four of us, thy mother, Godfrey, and I, we all knew, but we never told any of our children.”

“Leave me. Do what thou wilt, but I swear before the moon and every star which moves through the firmament, I shall strike thee down if my mother’s heart is broken yet again.” Their hand slipped from the doorway and they left Ranni’s tower. She cried later, her body moving with the motion of sobs despite the lack of tears in her glass eye, and told herself it was only due to her rage.

Rennala was having a pleasant dream. All her dreams were pleasant now, she slept soundly wrapped around her egg. No need to worry about her husband, alone, trapped within the Erdtree. No need to worry about the rage of her daughter and what it had wrought as she hurtled down her dark path. No need to worry about her students, who had caged her like a brooding hen here in her library.

In this dream she saw a figure hewn from marble with long hair like bright copper. They kneeled at her side and laid their golden sword at her feet. The figure smelled familiar, like incense and golden sunflowers.

“My love, you have returned to me.” The Queen smiled vacantly. Such a pleasant dream this was, that she and her love could be reunited within it.

“I have returned to you, moon of my sky, in hopes that you will return to me.” They placed a hand on the amber egg Rennala held in her arms, the memento they had given her when they had been called back to Leyndell, and knocked it to the ground. It shattered immediately as it hit the floor and the sharp intelligence the god of order had fallen in love with returned to Rennala’s eyes. She stumbled from her cradle, retreating from the god. Her peaceful dream had been shattered and her greatest enemy, the love of her life, stood before her.

“What have you done?”

“I brought you back to me.”

“Have I not suffered enough by your hand?!” She cried. “You would disturb my rest, force me to reckon with the deaths of my sons, deaths you caused! For what purpose?!”

“You accepted my reconciliation once.”

“No, not this time. I know thy tongue to be silver. You fooled me once with promises of reconciliation, you will not fool me again.”

“I’ve given up my throne.” Rennala looked at them in shock. “I’m tired, Rennala. I have no desire to rule this broken kingdom anymore.”

“Then why are you here?” She asked quietly.

“Because I love you, because I have always loved you. Even when I was called from you, even when I was forced to call myself from away from your side, I loved you. I did what I did because I thought it was what I had to do. I longer wish to do what I must, Rennala, I wish to do as I please.”

“And what would please you?”

“To be by your side again, not as a sovereign or as a champion, but merely as your beloved. To lay everything I am at your feet in the hopes that there is still something within me that you can find worthy of you.”

“Your confinement has changed you. You were never so sentimental before.”

“I was, I just never allowed you to see. Sentimentality is so often seen as a weakness for a monarch. After Godwyn died, I decided I would no longer deny myself. Clearly even I didn’t know when someone I loved would suddenly leave me. Even if you no longer wish for me to live by your side, I would regret it for the rest of my life if I did not express just how much I care for you.”

“Do not expect me to believe you so easily.”

“I will do whatever I must to prove that I am sincere. Just say the word and I shall do whatever you wish me to.”

“Determine it for yourself. Any course of action I commanded of you would only ring hollow.” Rennala answered coldly. She straightened her crown. “If I must be torn from my rest, I shall assert my will over this academy once again. ‘Do as you please’, sovereign finite.” She jeered.

For the next week, the god of order sat outside her chambers, day and night, leaning on their golden sword. Rennala ignored them as she went about her day but it was becoming more and more difficult. Still her traitorous heart loved them. She ought to hate them, the very sight of them ought to send her into a blind rage, but when she saw their face all she could remember was Radagon making breakfast for her in the morning, insisting that he preferred to cook for her rather than relying on the servants, Marika shooting her a conspiratorial grin in the war room and squeezing her hand under the table.

That day it rained as if the moon herself was weeping and Rennala paused before entering her library once more. The God of Order still sat outside, just as they had for days now. Their hair was soaked through with water, hanging lank to their shoulders. They did not shiver in the cold, their stone skin protected them from the elements, but as they looked at Rennala, through a curtain of sopping hair with exhaustion in their golden eyes, she took pity on them. The Queen sighed.

“Come dry yourself off.” Rennala extended her hand. Their hand was cold and strangely smooth as she helped pull them to their feet.

“Don’t think this means I’ve forgiven you.” She watched out of the corner of her eye as they dried their hair. They’d removed their armor to dry, and she could see glimpses of their body beneath the black linen shirt they wore.

“I didn’t think it did.” They wrapped the towel Rennala had given them around their shoulders.

“So this was what you intended for yourself.” Rennala had spoken to both Marika and Radagon about why they had split themself into two entities in the past, but they’d given seemingly contradictory answers. However both agreed on the end goal, to reach a final state of self perfection.

“It is.”

“So you are now gold and phosphorus, united into copper.”

“And I have come to rejoin dear silver.” The god smirked at the old cipher. Once used to hide their dealings in court.

“And what of antimony?” The god’s face fell.

“Godfrey has been slain. His life was lost in the contest over the throne of Elden Lord. Yet another reason I feel I must declare my love so ardently.”

“Then there is a new Elden Lord.”

“One of yours, I believe. A mage of considerable skill.” The god sniffed, clearly distasteful. “A man who chose to forsake grace for monstrousness.”

“So then you return merely to leave me again.”

“No. I would fight him with all my might before I was ripped from you a second time. We… have an arrangement. He shall keep his own bedfellows and I shall keep mine. I may take him if I wish, but we agreed that we shall not meddle in each other's affairs.”

“What shall I call him?”

“His name is Leon, though if we were to refer to him in secret…” They thought for a moment. “Well I suppose if I am to be copper that would make him quicksilver.”

“Rather lofty a pedestal to place one you purport to be a monster.”

“It would make sense to you upon meeting him I think.”

“And what would you like to be called now. I don’t imagine you’d wish to carry either of your names anymore.” Rennala bent down, taking the towel from their shoulders.

“Aurelian, or your love, should it still please you.”

“I should tell you to jump into the fires of Mount Gelmir.

“I would, if you commanded me to.” Aurelian stroked her cheek. Rennala held their wrist.

“I should, but I cannot.” The god of order stared into the eyes of the full moon queen. They bent their head to the side, seeing if Rennala would pull away. She closed her eyes. Rennala should hate them, she should cast them from Liurnia forever, but she could not when they kissed her so tenderly.