Fog of Redemption - 3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It had been a long day at work for Allen. As he drove home, he thought about how nice a long hot bath would feel. It had been two day since Gil had left, and Allen was starting to get worried. Gil often had to leave for days at a time, but be he usually called everyday that he was away. Something about this time felt different. There were things going on the Allen didn’t understand, though he tried with all his might to do so.

Allen wished that he knew what Gil did when he was away. If he knew, he was sure that he wouldn’t worry so much, but every time he asked Gil about it, he only got vague replies. There was so much about Gil that was a mystery. Allen knew next to nothing about his past before they had met. Gil never mentioned his parents or any other family. Allen didn’t even know where he was from. It was part of the charm that was Gil, Allen guessed, all dark and mysterious.

Allen smiled. Just thinking about Gil made him do that. It never matter how bad of a day he had, the moment he saw or thought about Gil, everything else seemed to melt away into the background. In the beginning that scared Allen. He had never met anyone that he cared so deeply for. He had loved in the past, but never quite like this. It was almost as if they were meant to be together. Not that Allen believed in destiny or anything like that. A man shaped his own life, and there was not some unseen driving force that made everyone do things. At times though, he couldn’t help wondering if there was such a thing as destined love. Maybe there was only one person that you are meant to spend the rest of your life with. No, Gil and I are just perfect matches is all, he thought.

Parking the car in the garage, Allen fumbled with his seat belt. The damn thing always got stuck, trapping him in the car. Finally, after cursing at it, it let go and he got out of the car and walked into the house. Half heartedly he quickly looked through his home hoping to find Gil waiting for him. Not unexpectedly he found the house empty and made his way to the bathroom. After relieving himself, Allen turned on the water in the tub and threw in some scented bath salts as the water began to fill up, lavender to help him relax from the long day. Going a short way down the wall way he retrieved a towel from the linen closet. Then he walked into the bedroom to get a change of clothes for when he was finished with his bath. After he had everything that he needed, he walked back to the bathroom and put the fresh clothes and towel on toilet seat and took off his clothes.

The water in the tub wasn’t full yet, but he climbed in anyway, easing himself into the hot water. The scent from the bath salt filled his nostrils, and he let out a relaxed sigh. Lavender was his favorite scent. Finally the tub filled, and he used his foot to turn the water off. Leaning back, Allen let the weariness of the day flee his aching body. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply of the lavender scented steam. He started to think about what Gil might be doing right then. A small smile spread a crossed his lips as his member began to harden at his private thoughts. Slowly his eye lids began to droop and he drifted off into a pleasant sleep.

* * *

Gil awoke with a start. There was a loud commotion going outside of his door. He cursed himself for falling asleep. He should have been awake thinking about Allen, and about the test. He was just so emotionally drained. He loved Allen like he had loved no other. In fact, he had never loved another man before. In the past it had always been women, nothing serious, but women just the same. Then by chance he met Allen. At first he didn’t think anything of it, though, something about him struck Gil as being odd. It was almost as if the very Gods themselves pointed him out. Gil was a young dragon mage by their standards, but he had certain talents that most three times his age did not. The first thing he noticed about Allen was the aura of power that seemed to radiate from his body. Most humans had a glow about them, but usually just around their heads. The aura around Allen made the noon day sun, seem midnight in comparison. Gil knew he was special.

Gil sent a communiqué back to the Castle of the Light explaining that he was going to be absent for a time while he followed a human. This wasn’t uncommon for a dragon mage to do, as they were always searching out for humans with the extrasensory ability to sense the presence of a dragon mage. For three whole weeks did Gil follow Allen around, learning his routine. He led a pretty uneventful life. He would get up, and drink his morning pot of coffee before going to work, then after reading the paper, he would drive to work. There, he would sit at his desk, and go through his in tray making neat piles of what had to be done then, and what could be put off until later. After work, Allen would often stop off at the store to pick up a few food items for that night’s dinner, and almost always a bottle of wine. Allen seemed to prefer a Shiraz more than anything, and would almost always drink the whole bottle. There were other little habits that Gil picked up on. For example, Allen almost always showered after work (Gil had the common decencies to let him bath without him watching), preferred skim milk to 2%, drank his coffee with one sugar and half and half, and always watched the six o’clock news.

Though following Allen around was easy for Gil, there were a few close calls that almost got him discovered. Being a dragon mage, Gil could make himself unseen, though not truly invisible. Being invisible was a human talent that the dragon mages had never been able to master. They did however; devise a suitable way to nearly accomplish the same affect. Being Mages of the Light, they had certain control over light itself. So, it wasn’t hard for a Mage to simply bend the light around their bodies. If the light was not hitting their bodies, then no light could be reflected back into the human’s eyes, and there for no human could see a dragon mage that way. The difference between bending the light, and being invisible, was that other dragon mages could see you when you bent light around your form. Humans who could be invisible, we truly not there, and no one, human and dragon mage alike could see them.

Gil would bend the light, and follow Allen around at a safe distance, should Allen stop to quick, Gil could bump into him, and it would make for a very confusing scene. There were times however, that he had to be very close to Allen, like when he was going through a door, or in a large crowd of people. Several time at Allen’s work, He had to jump out of the way as Allen suddenly turned to walk back out the door. Once, in jumping out of the way, Gil knocked over a potted plant, but thankfully for him, another worker was stand right near the plant and happened to have tripped over Gil’s leg. To everyone it appeared that the worker tripped over the plant and knocked it over. From then on Gil was very careful of doors.

It was at a local store that Allen saw Gil for the first time. Gil was a few feet behind Allen, when a Dark Dragon Mage entered the store. Gil very quickly wove the light back to normal so the Dark mage wouldn’t be able to sense him. He sent a communiqué to castle warning them of the situation. The dark magi usually didn’t cause trouble in public areas where humans could see them, but that wasn’t always the case. A dark mage there, was strange enough, and Gil didn’t want to do anything that would aggravate the situation to something that he couldn’t handle.

Keeping both eyes on the dark mage, Gil slowly backed up right into Allen causing him drop the sauce that he had been contemplating to buy. The jar slipped out of Allen’s hands and crashed to the floor breaking, and spilling sauce all over both Allen and Gil.

“I am so sorry sir, I wasn’t paying any attention at all. I didn’t mean to bump into you,” Gil said with a wide eyed expression. “If you want, you can send me the dry cleaning bill.”

Allen just stood there for a moment with a blank expression on his face. Then he barked out a loud laugh. Wiping his eyes he said, “I don’t think I own anything that would ever have to be dry cleaned. If I did, I probably wouldn’t worry about a little sauce on my leg. Thank-you for the offer though. Don’t worry about it though, I am a total klutz. I usually stay clear of stores that have a lot shelves that are close together, but I thought I would be safe here in this store. Guess I had better do my shopping from home then.”

Allen flashed a smile, and it was then Gil saw something more than just the strange aura of power that shone around him, and for a moment, he just sat there and looked at the beautiful human. Reality soon came crashing back however, as Gil realized that the dark mage would also be able to see the glow. His mind racing, he thought of away to keep both Allen in his sights, and out of the dark mage’s.

“Like I said, I am really sorry for that. Tell you what, to call it even, could I buy you a cup of coffee or something?”

“I think I would enjoy that. It’s the least you could do now that my dinner is all over our pant legs,” Allen said again flashing his smile. “I am free right now, if that is ok with you.”

“That would be perfect,” Gil said. The Gods were surely smiling down on him to make everything go so smoothing. Allen paid for the few items that he had in his basket, then he and Gil walked out of the store without so much as seeing the dark mage. The evening was brisk with the last chill of winter trying its hardest to keep its hold over the city. As they made their way to a local coffee shop, they made small talk and Gil learned all kinds of interesting things about Allen. More so than what he had learned following over the past few days. He was an only child, his parents having been divorced at a young age. His father left his mother for some strange beautiful women that he met one night while walking home from a bar in the city. Life with his mother was hard, but plentiful. She taught him values that only a good mother could ever teach her son. Sadly, his mother passed on to the spirit world a short year ago.

Ordering their coffees, he and Allen chose an outside table were they could sit and continue their conversation. “So,” said Allen, “Gil is a very unusual name. Was your family from another country?”

“Well, Gil is short for Gilthas. I am not sure where the name comes from, but my mother once told me that it was a very proud name from and proud family. Not that it means much these days I guess. She never really went into any other details about it. I didn’t know my mother for very long, she was killed when I was three.”

“I’m so sorry,” Allen said

“No, it’s ok. I have had a long time to work out the issue with it. The man who adopted me was a wonderful father and raised me with as much love as anyone could have. I have no regrets. It was her time to go.”

A sudden knock at Gil’s door brought him back to reality. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he stood up and opened the door. The scene was pure chaos. Mages dressed in all four robes ran in every direction. Gil saw Roufas standing just outside the door giving orders to the mages as they hurried about.

“What’s going on?” Gil asked.

“It’s the humans. The prophesy is being fulfilled. They are now at war with each other, and the first nuclear bomb has already been dropped. We are readying the Fog of Redemption now. We need you to go to your pre-planed city and be ready for the signal to let lose the Fog.” The War mage turned and left, knocking on a door a few feet from Gil's own room. Gil just stood there in a stunned silence. The prophesy can’t be coming true now, it wasn’t time yet. His mind suddenly leaped to Allen.

“Which city has the first bomb been dropped on?” Gil screamed.

“What?” asked the War Mage?

Gil grabbed a fistful of his robes and shook him. “Which city!” he yelled. “Which city was hit by the nuclear bomb?”

“It was Granada!” the mage said through clenched teeth. “Granada!”