FM Chapter 15

Remember this is an original novel written by Addis of ExR. This is not a translation.

 

Chapter Fifteen

Cian had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Even as he thought this to himself, he still increased the pressure of his lips against Kai’s. Just as he had imagined, kissing Kai was like drinking water after being stuck in a dessert for days. He ran his tongue along Kai’s bottom lip, hoping to have some kind of reaction from the younger man. But, not much to his surprise, there was none.

Pulling away, he looked down at Kai and froze. Those two piercing different colored eyes were wide open from shock, like a deer caught in the middle of a forest. Even his breathing had frozen.

Is he that terrified? Cian thought to himself. He didn’t want to scare Kai, he didn’t even know what had caused him to lean down and initiate the kiss anyway. Cian blamed it on that feeling in the back of his head that echoed with every breath, claim, claim, claim.

Cian had once heard about a second nature feeling such as this from his grandmother. As a fully grown male from the Golden Winged Leopard family, Cian knew that there were old wives tales that circulated throughout his clan. His grandmother would tell him such stories as a child.

Once in a blue moon, a leopard from the clan would find something that could only be considered ‘fate.’ This fate was a soul bound mate. Essentially this meant that the two souls were bound by fate, their lives intertwined. Cian’s grandmother had such a relationship with his grandfather, and she claimed it was the most wonderous feeling, something nothing could describe.

However, as Cian looked down at the frozen Kai, he wondered if this feeling that had been bothering him since their first meeting was the same feeling him grandmother had. Kai was, after all, another male, how would it make sense for two males to be bound together?

The only way that two males could be bound together in such a way was if…

Cian’s eyes widened in astonishment. “No,” he breathed. “No way.”

His jade green eyes locked onto Kai’s bright ones and for more seconds then they realized, the two stood there staring at each other with their mouths dropped open.

Eventually, Kai was the first one to respond. His face flushed a deep red and he reached out, slapping Cian hard across the face as if he was a teenage girl. Embarrassment flooding through him, Kai leapt up and ran out of the small cottage, his face aflame.

On the other hand, Cian hasn’t even registered the slap from the younger man. His mind was in a distorted mess that was becoming increasingly messier.

“He can’t be,” Cian muttered to himself, staring at the spot Kai once was. “They should be extinct. Didn’t the last one die over a hundred thousand years ago? How? How is this possible?”

Every single second Cian spent with Kai was like discovering a rare, lost treasure. But, this new theory, everything else paled in comparison. If he was correct, this would be something that could turn the world upside down. Flashes of Kai’s memory being sealed, his magic having manifested into such a rare form… Every piece began to connect.

~~~

Kai looked around the forest he was standing in. After being kissed by Cian, he had ran as far and fast as he was able, but now, surrounded by nothing but large thickets of bamboo, he felt lost. The main reason he had darted was because he was embarrassed. But, if he was being truthful, that wasn’t the real reason.

There was something almost terrifying about being alone with Cian. He felt it on several occasions but had never pinpointed the reason. Slowly, Kai brought his hand up to his lower lip and grazed his fingertips across it. That kiss triggered something in the farthest part of his mind.

Inside his core, the second largest dragon visibly trembled like a butterfly trying to escape from its cocoon. Slowly, the crystal like skin began to fall off, sparking like the stars. As each piece fell off a deep, dark blue, the color of the midnight sky began to appear. The little dragons wings changed form becoming like that of a bat.

As the midnight dragon escaped from it’s skin, it roared in Kai’s core, sending out shockwaves. The largest dragon, the one to first invoke Kai’s lost memories stirred, but stayed silent as it watched the midnight dragon. As the other dragon howled, three other dragon stirred from their sleep and began to glow with intense light. Like butterflies, all three trembled as their iridescent skin fell off to reveal midnight black skin. Soon, four small dragons the color of a moonless night roared together, shaking everything around them.

Outside of his core, Kai fell to his knees, his body shaking visibly, his skin changing between it’s once pale human skin tone and a deep, dark blue. Small horns began to form just above his ears, slowly curling around the back of his skull until they looked like nothing more than a harmless piece of jewelry.

On his back, Kai felt the sensation of being burned by the highest heat possible. His shoulder blades felt as if they were going to break in half. Despite the intense pain, Kai clenched his teeth together and didn’t utter a sound.

The moment the first midnight blue dragon formed in his consciousness, he heard a voice call to him. It wasn’t his memories that had awakened. Instead, it was the memories of a long lost species. His race, and his ancestors.

Due to the kiss from Cian, these memories awakened, triggering a transformation within him. This was only possible because he was part of what was thought to be an extinct species with the last one recorded being alive over a hundred thousand years ago. This race had the ability to be the mate of any other species.

If their mate was a human, their rare genetic makeup would change them into a human as well. It didn’t matter if their mate was a male or female, until they found their mate, they could choose any gender they wished. However, if they preferred being a male and their mate was also a male, to make up for this, their species had the ability to still reproduce with a male form.

Every single member of this race had the ability to control every Element in the world. This was what made them so powerful, but it was also the reason for their downfall.

~~~

Within the small cabin, Cian began to worry about Kai. It had been nearly four hours since he had run from the cabin. With no other people or dangerous kind within a hundred mile radius, it was unlikely for Kai to get into trouble, but Cian felt unsettled.

Worried, Cian determinedly walked out of his house and began to search the woods with his Elements. Soon, they began to flow back to him, whispering that they found Kai further away in the bamboo thicket. Relieved, Cian raced in the direction the Elements had whispered about.

Once Cian was close enough, he didn’t even need his Elements telling him where to go, he could feel the pulses of the world around him forming something that seemed unprecedented in this world. As Cian feared, when he found Kai, the boy was wrapped up in magic so thick that even he could not see through it. The Elemental magic was the color of a galaxy, it was dark like a black hole, but also gave off the light of a million stars. Just the power alone contained within that sphere caused Cian to shake with trepidation.

With every step he took closer, Cian felt his soul respond to the one who was wrapped up within that power. This solidified his suspicion that Kai was indeed his mate. The feeling of a potential bond coursed through his system, aggravating his beast so much that Cian couldn’t hold his human form fully. Along his back, golden wings sprouted, lightening the entire area with a sun colored glow.

From the legends he had heard, Cian knew that when one’s fated mate appeared, their magic could not hurt one another. Although he feared being affected by so much magic, Cian still strode forward with a determined look on his face. As the magic buffeted the area around him, Cian felt everything around him begin to collapse. This was the adverse reaction of all the Elements around clashing with one another. If this went on any longer, the entire area would be destroyed by an incredible destructive force.

This was the very reason the sacred race had met their downfall, their powers had gone out of control and destroyed every single member. With so much magic trapped within their small bodies, they did not have the ability to stop the disaster that had occured all those years ago.

To save his mate, and the last member of such a sacred species, Cian leapt into that ball of magic, his golden wings flapping lightly behind him.

Curled into a small fragile ball on the ground was Kai, his entire appearance changed. Large black leathery wings flared from his back, seeming to stretch out into the sky forever. His skin was changing between black and silver, flashing so frequently it seemed to blur into a permanent stone grey.

Fate wound her hands around both CIan and Kai, pulling her strings tightly, binding them even closer with each step Cian took. His blood boiling, his form barely staying human, Cian continued to move closer to Kai.

What an unexpected situation to run into. He had never believed that he would ever find a mate for himself. In fact, he was determined to live his life as a bachelor. However, Fate had in store for him something he would never have expected.

With his hands over his head, his entire body quaking with aftershocks, Kai seemed on the verge of losing consciousness. Reaching out, Cian’s soft fingers lightly brushed across Kai’s arm. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Kai lifted his head until his eyes appeared over his arm. When Cian caught sight of those eyes, he shuddered.

Both of Kai’s eyes had changed color. Instead of the two different colors Cian was used to seeing, those once bright eyes had turned an imperceptible silver, like the color of moonlight, the same shade of his hair. To Cian, Kai looked like a demon with pure white hair and eyes and pitch black wings rising from his back.

He didn’t feel threatened, and instead smiled softly down at Kai, his fingertips running down Kai’s arms in a reassuring manner. Quietly, almost so softly he himself questioned whether he even said it, Cian whispered, “Let’s go home.”

At the touch along his arm, the feeling that had been pulling on Kai began to manifest itself once again. But, instead of pulling on all the Elements within him, it latched onto Cian and pulled him closer. Rising from the ball he had been curled in, Kai stood until he was straight, his blue white eyes never leaving Cian.

Unable to move, Cian watched Kai as the boy moved closer. Stepping forward until he had to lift himself up on his tiptoes, Kai smiled at Cian. His once straight teeth were now sharp with his two incisors pointed and deadly. Kai licked his lips as he stared Cian down.

“Why do you smell so good?” Kai’s melodic voice flowed out. His bright red tongue darted out as he licked his lips, a slight curl forming at the corner of his mouth.

Cian smiled back at Kai, leaning down until his mouth was close to the boy’s ear. “You smell the same to me.”

His eyes widening slightly in shock, Kai innocently whispered back, “Really? I smell this good?”

“You do. Like flowers blooming under the moonlight.” Cian’s fingertips ran down Kai’s arm, touching as lightly as he could. The younger man was still quaking from the pain of his wings developing, but the tremble that followed from Cian’s touch was of a different kind.

“Do you taste the same?” Kai asked, blinking his large eyes. Cian pulled slightly away, then, as he thought about it, a wicked smile played on his lips. Slowly he reached up towards his neck and swept away all of his hair to one side, showing his bare neck to Kai.

“Care to try?” Cian chuckled, watching Kai’s reaction. That red tongue darted out once more as it licked his lower lip, wetting it.

His rationality still slightly there, but still taken over by his other form, Kai seemed like a polite demon as he asked, “Can I?” Even as he asked the question, his hands moved forward until one lay gently on Cian’s left shoulder and the other one traced Cian’s neck up and down from collar bone to the bottom of his ear.

Feeling his own body shudder in response, Cian could only lower his head a little bit more to give Kai all the permission he needed. At first, the tongue across Cian’s neck felt like a tickle, until Kai began to suck gently on Cian’s skin. Then, with a quiet sound of surprise, Kai bit down on Cian’s bare neck, his teeth sinking into the older man’s skin without resistance.

With each drop of blood Kai drank, Cian sent his own power into it, closing the space between them. Ever so slightly, the power around Kai began to retreat until even his wings folded in on themselves and disappeared into his back. When the final trace of power disappeared from the area, Kai let go of Cian’s neck, licking it one more time, he looked up at Cian with drowsy eyes.

Their original green and blue iris’ were returning as he gave a soft smile. WIth one last whisper, “I remember.” Kai’s eyes closed and he fell unconscious in Cian’s outstretched arms.

Holding the boy to his chest as he would a precious object, Cian lightly kissed the boys silver hair. “You really are of that race,” he whispered to the unconscious Kai.  

Now Cian knew for sure that Kai was of a precious extinct race. They had once been deemed the ultimate species, but only their legends remained. They were the Chrono Xenowyrms, or more commonly referred to as the Dragons of Time.