ValentineDavis21

Tarkhon had been true to his word: They’d been waiting for Aethan and Ghor to return this whole time. Tarkhon had done more than just convert them into his own dark religion. He’d remade them into something completely new. A nightmare not even Ghor could conjure up in his worse nightmares. Xera, Gromm, and the Saurians had been melded together into a grotesque, seamless collage of flesh and muscles. Ribcages were spread open, intertwining with twisting lengths of muscle and calcified bone t

As they passed the dead proximity monitors, Aethan recalled the first time he’d stepped onto the ship; it was a memory he knew he’d never be able to forget. He remembered how the air had smelled of dust and age and the green musty smell of the moss. And yet the atmosphere had seemed to carry a static charge to it, a life. He and the expedition team hadn’t just been stepping into the remnants of a dead civilization but another world. Seeing the camp as it was, a cluster of tents and small buildin

Each time the darkness took him Aethan prayed it would be the last. How many times could your head sink below the surface before it simply didn’t come back up any more? This was the first true thought that crossed through his mind before it was cut off by a screaming alarm bell of pain. And the answer was: At least once more…Maybe next time. He jerked his hand away, slapping at the air frantically, not knowing what he was slapping at, only sensing that he wasn’t alone and he was in danger.

Aethan and Ghor led Tarkhon away from the compound towards the desolate edge of the valley. Other than the sound of sand crunching beneath their feet and the occasional cryptic mutter from the Kaldari, everything was completely silent. The Cathesan had no choice but to confront his own racing thoughts. In the end he knew that he had made his decision and that he would carry it out even if it meant the cost of his sanity. The cost of his soul. The determination had yet to drain from his bone

The moment they stepped out of the tent, Ghor steered Aethan in the direction of the greenhouse as a parent might a sleepy child. It took all the felid’s effort to simply not scoop the Cathesan up in his arms and carry him the rest of the way. If the prince had proven to be completely incapable of movement he would have, but Aethan was conscious enough that he stumbled after him, his face completely blank. Remote. Completely devoid of emotion. It was an expression that filled Ghor with an uniden

He has stayed with Aethan. The boy and Chakabron have moved on

For a moment Aethan was blind, unable to see through the static that filled his head. A thousand bells clanged in his ears and a red light pulsed in his eyes. One minute he was standing in inky darkness and then the violent red light faded away, revealing colors and smears of light just below his feet. He knew where he would find himself before his feet had touched silent ground. Like many of the souls still buried in the dark chambers of Aethan’s subconscious, the child spirit that had infiltra

Chakabron paused long enough for a heavy silence to fill the tent. His eyes swept the room, pausing on each watchful face. After a moment he cleared his throat and continued. “We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. If we had I don't think we would have…” “There is no sense in feeling shame for a past we cannot change,” the cleric said through Aethan's mouth in his dry croak of a voice. “The Vol-Khet wouldn't have let you…You were under their influence the same as we were under

“You have a look of such sorrow upon your face,” Chakabron said solemnly in the Vrevil tongue. “It makes you look well beyond your years. It makes me feel even older.” “I’m sorry,” Aethan said, leaning back in his chair so that the Vrevil commander had his full attention. “I don’t mean to waste your final hours with my own self-pity. I just wish that there was more I could do for you. If we were back on my home planet I’m sure…” “But we’re not back on your home planet. You torture and

Not for the first time had the feeling that he was stepping into another world. A feeling of superstitious dread mixed with wondrous stupefying awe. It was the same feeling he had felt when he'd first seen the black hole - studying them and actually seeing them were two completely different things he would tell you - and again when he'd first stumbled off the Threnbody shuttle into the driving, flesh-eating sandstorm on Kharon-IV. And many times on the ship, each new discovery more wondrous and

The last thing Aethan remembered was the way Ghor’s strong arms had closed around him, slowly pulling him in until the Cathesan’s back was pressed up against his chest. The steady kick of his heart against Aethan’s shoulderblade and the deep rumble of his breath reminded the prince of his very first memories of when Vash had held him as a child, singing lullabies. Vash was gone but another felid had entered into his life…Crashed into it, really. With this thought in mind, coupled with the irony

We are currently at a slower-paced moment before the final sustained ramp-up. By chapter 3.45 I think you will really like how things ramp up between the characters. When you reach that point please let me know how I did building up to it, if it feels natural, or if it seems terribly out of place with the characters...if you don't mind.

Aethan was more tired than he could ever recall being in his life; even after he’d been resurrected from cryosleep, his muscles turned to jelly from atrophy. But it was a different kind of exhaustion than the kind born from distress or terror. It was a sleepy, shuffling exhaustion, one that made him feel like a wrung out scrap of cloth. Ghor stalked beside him, deliberately matching him stride for stride, pretending to be focused on something else. Yet Aethan could sense that the felid was track

It was no easy task pulling Ghor’s loincloth; with each passing second it seemed to swell another centimeter larger, but Aethan knew such a thing wasn't possible. He would manage to get it halfway down, revealing the upper portion of the felid's cock and a long vein that tapered down like a crease in the middle of a page. The massive organ seemed to beat with an inner life of its own. He would reach the limit to which the cloth could stretch, enough that he could see the opposite wall through th

Aethan was held aloft with only Ghor’s hold to support him in the air. He needn’t have worried about the felid losing his grip. His fingers almost completely encompassed Aethan’s back and thighs. For a moment Aethan was back in the theatre again with Vash, sitting in the highest booth, the booth honored to the Crown Prince, watching as Cathesan and felid performers soared through the air, holding and flipping onto trapeze over a five hundred foot drop or even height, seeming to defy gravit