Folklore

I don’t remember when exactly people started to call this place Hell. Some beings used to refer to it as the Abyss, back when it was just a cold vacuum of darkness from whence formless serpents came to feed on human souls. Now, a new generation of dragons drift as aimless coils in a prismatic sea, yet to discover the sparse islands floating above them like planets. In time, they will become curious enough to venture above the surface, but who knows when that will happen. Not much happens here, and not many people come here, if they even know how to get here. This realm is so young that things like civilizations, culture, war, and love are nothing more than far off dreams. Here, it is still and peaceful. I don’t know, maybe for some people that can be the very definition of Hell.

I have this sword, Rembrandt. It had a much stupider name before I decided to take it a little more seriously, but it’s still just my surname. It was originally given to me so I could slay the god of this realm, which ended up not happening. Now it’s a key that grants me safe passage between the human world and one of these islands, where I can sit by the edge and watch the dragons go through their life cycles. This is where I go to have some time alone. I’ve never seen anyone else here, nor would I expect to. Which is why my heart almost jumps out of my chest when I hear a portal open up behind me. I don’t even think to get my sword, I just whirl around with momentary panic as I await who’s coming.

And then, when I see the familiar outline of wings and a barbed tail, my panic turns to elation. I’ve seen him wear so many forms and bodies, including my own, but this is him, in his original shape.

“Will!” I yelp, rushing over to embrace him before he’s even fully stepped out of the portal.

“H-hey!” he stammers, flustered but barely containing his own excitement. He wraps his slender arms around me and we stand there, holding each other tightly for a moment. We’re both at a loss for words, no doubt with millions of thoughts swirling through our heads on where to begin. Finally, in a manner that isn’t too surprising as far as Will is concerned, he starts with an apology. “I’m sorry it took so long for me to see you.”

“It’s okay,” I say. I squeeze him a little tighter, “There’s been a lot going on in the universe.”

Will grimaces within my arms. “It’s been ten years,” he mutters, still looking for absolution.

I shoot back, “Well, it’s not like I was counting.” I look at him and see how his eyes are cast to the side like some guilty puppy that did something wrong. With a sigh I step towards the shore and beckon him over. “Have you ever been here before?”

“No, this is my first time.” Will follows me to the water and looks at the primordial dragons. Well, primordial may not be the best word. After all, dragons have manifested for eons. But this current progeny is starting from the very beginning of an evolutionary process in what is still a new world. It’s like gazing upon the origin of life itself. “Wow, this is beautiful, Evan,” is all he utters. There is a slight weariness in his eyes that softens as he becomes transfixed by the sight. Yet his hands are balled into fists and his tail sways, restless.

“So what’s going on? Are you here to tell me I’m in danger?”

Will is taken aback, almost offended, and gives me a dubious look. “I mean, can’t we catch up too?” he posits.

With a wiggle of my eyebrows I just put a hand on his shoulder and say, “Yeah, but you look very clenched and I think it would be a good idea for you to unclench first.”

Ten years ago he would have clapped back with a shady sex joke about my capabilities as a top, but this time he sighs, conceding. “There are a bunch of mother brains trying to find a way to use this realm as a source of energy.”

“Oh. Okay. What the fuck is a mother brain?”

Will smiles wryly. “Right, you’re unplugged and everything.” Ten years ago, I would have chimed in with a self-deprecating sex joke about my capabilities as a bottom, but instead I let him continue, “Mother brain is what people call any supercomputer that’s gone rogue. Ever since these bots learned that gods are real they’ve been trying to make their own. And what better way than to subjugate a world that is nearly defenseless compared to Earth and the Ether?”

“Can’t believe we’re living through all these doomsday scenarios about AI turning on us,” I say, unable to contain my own scorn. The sudden arrival of the Second Age of Magic really caused the dregs of humanity to come crawling out of the woodwork. You see, magic has a way of lessening the demand for technology in a way that made a bunch of elite assholes panic. With their plans of taking over the world according to their memetic algorithms about to crumble, they desperately lifted all moral guardrails on their bots and allowed them to go berserk. Now spirits and humans alike face the threat of annihilation. “So what now?” I question. “They’re gonna come and fuck this place up? Use these baby dragons as fuel?”

I’m not actually sure how much Will knows about my history with this realm and its god, but he seems to understand why I’m getting heated about a potential invasion. “We’ll do our best to make sure they can’t get here. But please be careful, Evan. These AIs are always looking for human bodies to use as their hardware.”

“Of course they are,” I scoff sardonically. “Anyone who isn’t human wants to be one, for some goddamn reason, even though all we do is fuck and die.”

There’s a bit of an awkward pause. Then Will shrugs. “I mean, it was fun when I got to do it,” he quips with a face that feigns demureness. He’s trying to get me to ease up, and I realize that I’m the one who’s clenched now. I take his cue and relax, breathing in deep and rolling my shoulders. “You’re back to your original look, though,” I point out.

“Oh, this old thing?” He twirls around, flapping his leathery wings and undulating his tail playfully like a streamer in the breeze. “Yeah, this was seven years ago, thanks to Taylor.”

Ah yes, Taylor Krug. Once upon a time he was just some hipster who went to the same college as Will and I. Now he is whispered in legend as the very man who overthrew the devil and ushered in the Second Age of Magic. “How is he? Do you still stay in touch with him?”

“I mean, yeah, I feel like I have to remind him every now and then that he kind of has a duty to protect other magic users. He’s still a bit of a wet blanket, but I think he is happy being the change he wants to see.”

“What about you?” I ask. “You’re out there too, saving the world who knows how many times in the last ten years.”

There’s a glint in his eyes as he stops to think just how content he is with himself, and he smiles. When we were together I always longed to see him like this, but it had also been accompanied by a selfish desire to take credit for it. It’s strangely more fulfilling to feel proud of him now, knowing that I didn’t do shit this time. Will muses, “I never thought this was where my life would lead. I thought I just wanted to stay home and smoke weed.”

I can’t help but give an exasperated sigh. “No, Will, that was me.”

“What?”

“Oh come on. Even before all the magic and spirits, you were the one who was dragging me into ghost hunting in all those abandoned buildings. We just spent so much time in each other’s heads that we couldn’t tell the difference between what Evan wanted and what Will wanted. Isn’t that why you left in the first place?”

Will tries to counter, “You were good with a spear.”

“Unless you’re referring to my penis I have no idea what you’re talking about. Look, I kept hearing about how you were getting pulled into one adventure after another all over the world. I could never. Which is why I…” I pause for a moment, making sure not to come off as too accusatory. “That’s why I figured you couldn’t find the time to drop by. Jumping into any battle and protecting people from danger, no matter how scared you were… It called to you, Will, while I always struggled to keep up. It took me a while to be at peace with that.”

Will takes it all in, staring at the glistening sea. “You save people in your own way, you know. Aren’t you the one who filled this place with light?” Then he turns to me, and his eyes begin to well with guilt. “Do you feel like you’re yourself? That you’re fully you now?”

“Yeah,” I reassure him. I lay back against the soft earth and look up at the sky above. There’s no sun or moon or stars here, but splashes of color weave through the darkness like northern lights, likely reflections from the sea. The gears in my head begin to wind back as less pleasant memories bubble to the surface. Things that Will had to miss out on in our decade of not seeing each other. “The big turning point for me was Connor’s relapse,” I say quietly.

Will’s face alights with alarm. “Oh shit, Connor from Orkney?”

“Yeah. He was sober for a while. Then he wasn’t. And it got really bad. Like, really, really bad. Even Ogma, a spirit of intoxication, tried to intervene. I had to distance myself or else all I was gonna do was flail around feeling like it was all my fault. It was time for me to move out of the city anyway, and I mean, I still waited long enough to see him go to rehab, but…” Realizing I’m trailing off, I inhale to ground myself. And then I chuckle. “It’s funny, you know? I managed to talk a god of chaos out of destroying itself along with this world, but I couldn’t talk my own friend into putting down the bottle. It made me realize that when I’m only looking at the next apocalypse, the smaller things will start to creep up on me. The human things.” I look over at Will’s true form, which is anything but human. “We don’t live as long as you Etherians, you know? And we can’t all be Taylor Krug. Just look at these guys and tell them what they should do with their limited time.” I scan deep beneath the water for a moment and point out a primordial dragon nearing the end of its life. It slows, emitting a burst of iridescence before all that’s left are motes that will float through the sea for a while before reforming into new life. It’s a cycle that can be observed within an hour at most.

“They look like tadpoles from all the way up here,” Will observes solemnly. His eyes glaze over, and I don’t need to be able to read his mind to know what he’s thinking. If there’s one thing the immortal denizens of the Ether can be naive about, it’s the concept of death. Eras before Will and I even met, he obsessed over it, seeing it as a gift that would free his friends from an eternal war. It led him to do a lot of horrible things that he has had to make amends for. Part of that was spending a period of time as a human, sometimes through my eyes. For a brief moment a thought does flash across my mind, whether the soul pact we made so long ago still functioned in this Second Age of Magic. We never formally broke it off. But neither do we need it anymore.

“Evan, you taught me how precious life really is,” he confesses.

I scoot a little closer to him so I can smack him on the small of his back. “And you taught me how to bottom.”

A dam of tension between us finally breaks and our combined uproarious laughter travels across the realm of dragons in its infinite vastness. Something deep within my chest lightens, some burden I didn’t know that I had been carrying with me for the past decade, now sublimating in this very moment I am sharing with the person sitting next to me. My best friend from college is back in my life, if only just for today. It makes me free and bold enough to then say, “So, I’m kind of engaged, and the wedding is in May. Do you want to come?”

“God, humans and their stupid-ass weddings. Yes, for you, absolutely.”

Hey. Just happened to be doing one last lurk on here and saw this. I went over it briefly in a previous post but I’ll go over it in more detail I guess.

Almost all of my posts had pictures of people, who I used to represent characters in my stories. I knew that pictures of hot guys got people’s attention and interest, even though I personally had my own visions of what my characters looked like. Seriously, I’d write first, then spend a lot of time looking for pictures that matched the story, not the other way around. But as time went on I became increasingly uncomfortable with this and finally decided that I needed to stop. If I was feeling anxiety over the possibility of receiving a message from someone telling me to take down a picture of them, I shouldn’t have been using their picture in the first place.

It’s totally fine to have sexual fantasies about specific people. And it’s totally fine to talk about your sexual fantasies with others. But a gray area comes with using a person’s likeness for public, pornographic consumption without their permission. I’ve seen people who are aware that they’ve been used in these stories, or have seen photoshopped pictures of themselves on fetish blogs. Some find it amusing. Some do not. And over the past few years, I’ve made friends with actors and porn stars who I’ve seen had stories written about them. And it would feel weirder and weirder seeing them pop up on here. I can’t imagine a lot of the subjects of these stories will be okay coming across them. And though I think the possession community is fairly private and secluded, some people get bold, writing their stories right onto reblogs of popular posts or using Tumblr’s gif search function (the creator of the gif gets notified when you do that). 

Whether these pictures are of celebrities, porn actors, models, random people taking selfies or having their nudes leaked, or even someone you personally know, you have to remember that these are all real human beings just like you and me with their own lives, limits, and boundaries. To be into stuff like possession, all of us have a sexy imagination and creative mind that should never fall into disuse, but I guarantee you that stepping out of your fantasies for a little bit, loosening the objectification of others and focusing on getting to know them for real leads to much more meaningful love, sex(!!!), and connection with others in general.

It’s a bittersweet feeling to finally say goodbye to all of these characters who have lived in my imagination for the last two years, with Will, Evan, and Taylor existing in different incarnations even before that. Ultimately, I stopped thinking about the ending that I wanted for them, but the ending that they wanted for themselves. Yeah, I know that they’re still my own mental constructions, but for Evan especially, as those final pages came into fruition, it really did feel like he was taking his fate into his own hands, outside of my own influence as the omnipotent author. And that’s how I know it’s time to retire from this business and move on with my own life.

To my readers, thank you for sticking with me and giving these characters a stage to be seen and live out their own magical lives.

To my fellow writers, I can only advise that you remember what it was that made you start writing in the first place, and never lose sight of that so long as you write. It ultimately doesn’t matter what others want as long as you are writing for you.

Will you hear from me again? Who knows. If I do end up writing again, it will be on a different site, in a different form, under a different name that doesn’t start with S.

But now, this is goodbye.

Fairies, goblins, dragons, and werewolves… All manner of magical beings live among us. They need human bodies in order to interact with the mortal realm, but some humans are able to see them.

Start with The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet as a primer for the rest of the series. From there you can move on to either The Good People or Yellow Brick Road, as they are meant to be read simultaneously. For the last two books, The War of the Dragons should be read before the final chapter in Ordinary Humans.

The lives of a few college students are irrevocably changed thanks to the emergence of fairies and their magic. Download the full ebook here (166 pages)

One of the concurrent sequels to The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet. Taylor and Gan go on a road trip through the countryside with an intention of meeting various beings. Download the full ebook here (327 pages).

One of the concurrent sequels to The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet. Will and Evan move into Orkney where they get involved with a group of supernatural beings that secretly run the city behind the scenes. Download the full ebook here (310 pages).

In the 11th century, the regions from the kingdom of Orkay are at war with the neighboring Lucetera. Four childhood friends, with the help of a few otherworldly companions, begin to discover that there is more to this war than meets the eye…  Download the full ebook here (75 pages)

Tonight I’ll be deleting every posted story containing a picture, excluding compendium entries. There will still be ebooks for the Folklore series available, but this is your last chance for salvaging any stories with the accompanying pictures that you want to look back on.

Folklore Index:

http://piosantaibhseil.tumblr.com/stories

Everything Else:

Part 5 (Finale)

Well, as it turns out, all spirits have obtained physical form on Earth.

What this means is, they can all experience sensations. They can eat, touch and be touched, all without the need for a human host. In fact, they're no longer able to just enter the bodies of humans anymore, at least not without magical assistance. Those who form pacts can still meld, communing is still doable, and Etherians can still magically insert themselves into homunculi, but the age of indiscriminate spiritual possession is over.

They're also all visible now. Etherians are keeping enough of a low profile that it hasn't caught global attention among human civilization, yet, but it's only a matter of time. Social media everywhere is buzzing with sightings of fairies flying around, therians roaming the woods, you name it.

Rumors are that this is something Taylor Krug had been scheming, ever since Nicholas was taken out of the picture. But does any of this have anything to do with Chaos creating a new world? Has it already done some intermingling with ours? I'm also hearing a change occurring in dragons. Wulver caught up with me, telling me all about how Henry has suddenly become much more... virile.

The entire world is changing, and what it all means and what the future holds is unclear. The Good People are going to have to sort all of this out for sure.

But first thing's first: the Orkney Gay Pride Parade.

A bunch of us are gathered in Mag Mell. “So you're sure this is the one you want?” Tethra grunts.

“Hell yeah,” I say with confidence. “I'm going full bear this time.”

“You're a brave one, Ev!” Ryan cheers.

“He's just doing it so his parents don't catch him,” Connor mutters.

“Someone's going to have to look after your body while you're in the homunculus, though,” Tethra says.

Everyone looks over at Brigid. She's taken aback. “Wait, what the hell?!” she protests.

Two soul transference spells later, I'm standing in front of the mirror exploring my new body for the day. I'm a mature, silver fox daddy with hair everywhere. And I mean everywhere. It's all grayed, but it's a nice contrast against my tan skin. I run my coarse hands down my torso, marveling at how big my nipples are. Shit, they're like pepperonis. And the belly is this soft mound that feels good to touch. My cock has a Prince Albert piercing. I just love how sensual the weight and texture of the metal feels embedded in me, even when I'm not hard. I feel so big, so strong. “Damn, this is cool,” I laugh, a voice much lower and gruffer than mine booms from these vocal cords.

“Alright, put your shit on,” Ryan says, handing me a leather jockstrap and a harness. He and Connor are already dressed up, along with Tethra in his own buff homunculus. The jockstrap is snug, cradling my crotch comfortably. The harness just feels hot. I look over at Brigid in my body. She's wearing a despondent and exasperated look on my face.

“All set, daddy?” Ryan asks, patting me on the shoulder.

“Let's do this,” I say with a grin.

We join up with the other paraders marching with The Black Hawk. Our float is just a huge platform for us to dance and carry us down Main Street, and as we enter the lineup I watch as all of Orkney cheers us on. It's rejuvenating. I feel alive, awake, ecstatic. The gays have taken over Orkney and turned it into the party of the year. High up into the sky, I see some fae floating around, watching with amusement.

I glance over at Connor and Ryan. They're making out. Oh yeah, they're together now. Connor's a lot more confident now, and Ryan is a lot more grounded. It's pretty cute.

As exciting as all of this is, something doesn't feel entirely right. It's like... I don't actually belong here. Don't get me wrong, I love the leather, I love the drag queens, I love the people dressing up in bright and colors and outrageous outfits and just living their lives freely. But... I don't think I belong here... At least not on this float, or going down this street with everyone looking on.

When the parade is over I get transferred back into my own body. Gotta meet my parents for dinner. I end up taking them to a more quieter place, just outside the city center. It's an Italian restaurant, because I know that's going to be fancy enough by their standards. There are still tourists and pride-goers milling about. Neither my mom nor my dad comment on it. We catch up on stuff going on at home. My brother TJ broke up with his girlfriend. They're thinking of selling the house. I tell them that work is going well, and no I do not have a girlfriend yet.

My mom gets up to go to the bathroom. It's just me and my dad now. “Hey, there's something I want to tell you,” I tell him.

“Yeah?” my dad says dispassionately.

I take a deep breath. I'm scared shitless. It probably takes me a full minute before I finally just stop thinking and say it. “I'm bisexual,” I say.

Even having those words come out of my mouth, something doesn't feel right. But I don't have any intention of going into all the nuances behind the exploration of my own sexuality. There's just too much shit to explain. All I know is there's more to me than just being the straight jock country bro or whatever the hell I can get perceived as, and I want to convey that to my dad in the simplest way possible.

He sighs very deeply and nods. “Were you afraid Joanna and I would disown you?”

“Uh...”

“You're still our son, alright? I don't care who you're getting in bed with because I don't wanna think about that kind of thing. All that matters is that you're happy. You're happy, right?”

“Yeah, I'd say so.”

“Good.” There's a slight pause as he downs his beer. “I just ask that if you end up with a guy, don't make him a complete fairy.”

I laugh nervously. I mean, technically he was an incubus...

My mom comes back from the bathroom, and the same conversation gets repeated pretty much verbatim with her. The rest of my time with my parents goes pretty well, even I still feel awkward telling them something that I didn't really feel was true. Oh well, at least I know that they accept me no matter how confused I am.

I'm alone in Nuada Park now. The week has flashed by in the blink of an eye. A lot of people are still out celebrating. The city of Orkney still stands proud as ever, a citadel of commerce, art, and possibility. I don't mind being alone this time. I feel... secure. Fulfilled. In my struggle against my own ordinariness for the past few years, I ended up meeting some extraordinary people.

Gancanagh, the fairy who loved weed and sex.

Gille, the sprite who went above and beyond to protect the park guarded by his lover Bauchan.

Taylor, the moody shaman who ended up becoming a god kind of.

Lugh, the principled leader of the Tuath.

Scott, the dedicated mayor of Orkney.

Howard and Dagda, inseparable even in death.

Ogma, the surly clurichaun I had the experience of being for a bit.

Brigid, the leanan sidhe who eventually warmed up to humans.

Bodb, the redcap who relied on deadpan sarcasm to hide how much he cared.

Pete, the friendliest, most mild-mannered family man.

Bres, the fomorian noble who dedicated the remainder of his life towards kindness.

Ian, the humble bartender who continues on his partner's legacy.

Tethra, who also decided to follow his old friend's footsteps.

Aengus, even cockier than Gan.

Don, the refined tenor.

Wulver, the sweetest werewolf you'll ever meet.

Henry, the drake with an aura of quiet intensity.

Alexei, the domovoi who just wants a home to protect.

Edith, who sang her heart out for the one she loved.

George, always confident and direct.

Sarah... The dame who I helped get back in touch with Brigid. Maybe I should give her a text.

Logos, the all-knowing god who still had very human motivations.

Cibran, whose will persisted through said god.

Eogan, who waited a thousand years to be with the one he loved.

Aldarius, who lived in service of his best friend and lover.

Teodosio, who wanted to heal the world.

Connor, the ginger with a big heart and a fiery passion.

Ryan mac Lir, ever the valorous and extravagant.

Will, my dearest friend since the first day of college, who will always be a part of me no matter where he is.

I'm grateful for all of them.

Oh, and me? I'm Evan, the straight best friend who fell in love with his gay best friend who ended up actually being a fae best friend. And I also like helping people. There's a lot of insecurity behind why I do it, but hell, if I'm able to do it, then why not? Nothing bad about changing a few lives for the better.

Even then, there's still so much more to me. I get that now. For the first time I feel a weight coming off my chest, and something opens up in me that is vast and limitless. Chaos had been right back in the Abyss. For a while I was nothing more than the object of a gay boy's fantasy, and I willingly indulged in that role because it gave me purpose. Now that he doesn't need me anymore? I've grown into something much greater. And now, I can write my own story, be the author of my own life. I'm free.

From my view on top of the hill of Nuada Park, I say it out loud to the entire city of Orkney. No, to the world. Fuck it, to the entire universe.

“I'm free.”

----------------------------

Part 4

It's just darkness, as far as the eye can see. I feel light. I don't even think I'm touching anything. Just floating in a void. It takes me a moment to get my bearings, get used to this weightless feeling. It was kind of a similar feeling back when I was Ogma for a bit. This is kind of what being a spirit feels like.

I see a pair of green eyes approach me, accompanied by the hazy form of a fomorian. Indech. He doesn't talk. It's like he's just a phantom now, remaining in the realm of existence just to do one last task for a friend. Don't worry, I won't let you down.

I'm holding my sword out. I move my legs, and that seems to be enough to propel me through the vacuum of space. Chaos is up ahead, in the form of Teodosio Knast. He's in this black, skin-tight outfit that blends in with the Abyss around us.

“This is who they sent?” he protests, offended at my sight. “Unbelievable.”

“I don't remember if I ever introduced myself properly,” I say. “I'm Evan David Rembrandt. I was born in Tarryville. I'm not sure how a country boy like me got a fancy last name like Rembrandt, but-”

“Enough!” Chaos interjects impatiently. “You've come to finish me off, have you?”

I look at the sword in my hand. It shines with the only light in this hellish dimension.

“No.”

And then I toss the sword away, and watch as it tumbles down, down, down into the Abyss.

I immediately regret it. That was idiotic. I'm going to die here. I won't see my parents or Connor or Ryan or Will again. Chaos will have a chance to regain its power and try to destroy the universe and it will all be my fault because I'm a useless idiot.

No, stop it. Just do what you always do, Evan.

“I'm here to talk,” I declare.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” Chaos asks indignantly.

“I think I have one idea, at least,” I reply. “You're an aeon. Your existence I probably can't comprehend with my tiny human brain or whatever. There used to be more like you though, right? The aeons of Earth and the Ether. They left you alone.”

“So you've read a book. Big deal.”

“Not even. I just had a friend give me the cliff notes. So these other aeons made these huge, colorful worlds full of life. And you? You have... this.” I gesture to gratuitous amount of nothing before us.

“The Abyss can swallow you up in an instant.”

“Yeah? And then what?”

“I'll swallow the entire Earth! And the Ether!”

“And then what?”

“Everything will belong to the Abyss. All mine to destroy and create.”

“And then what?”

“And that's it! That's all I want!”

“Why? What does all of that bring you?”

“I don't have to explain myself to you, Evan David Rembrandt!”

“Will ruling over all of existence make you any less lonely?”

“What?! You think I experience something as meaningless as loneliness?!”

“Yeah, I do. Why else would you act out against our worlds, but do nothing about your own? You tried making dragons, but that wasn't enough for you, was it? You were too afraid to use all of your essence like the rest of the aeons because what if that didn't ease your own emptiness? So instead you lashed out at the others for abandoning you. Right?”

“How dare you mock me!”

“I'm not mocking you! In fact... I... I sympathize with you.”

The form of Teodosio Knast laughs maniacally. “Well, if you're not going to kill me, then I suppose you wouldn't mind if I made you my next vessel!” His form then melts away, leaving me completely alone with the Abyss.

I don't really know how to describe it, but the Abyss itself begins to... move. Like the whole thing is alive. I feel an icy pain coursing through my whole body. Looking around me, I see the Abyss starting to crawl all over my skin, like worms burrowing into me. A deep, monstrous laughter rings throughout the void. I start to laugh back. “Go ahead! Use me!”

My reaction seems to cause the Abyss to hesitate. The worms are halfway embedded into me, but they halt their burrowing. “You... do not fear being consumed?”

“Oh, no, I'm pissing my pants here. But if you take over my body, see the universe through my eyes, maybe... Maybe you'll learn something.”

I can feel the worms in my starting to probe through my mind. Within a few seconds, it's like they've penetrated my very soul. “And just what do I have to learn from you? You're nothing more than the object of some gay boy's fantasy, and now that he no longer needs you, what use are you at all?”

The words sting, but I persevere. “If you know that much about me already, then you should also know how much you remind me of him.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, that's right. He hurt a lot of people. And paid for it. And maybe he still deserves punishment for what he's done. But the whole time he was scared and in pain. Just like you. And I can't... I can't help but want to help. That probably makes me an idiot, but I don't care. So go ahead. Use me as a vessel. It's what I want.”

No response at first. And then I feel the worms start to withdraw from me. “This... Is just disturbing,” Chaos says distastefully.

I'm a little offended. “Hey, if I'm seriously the most fucked up person you've met so far then you still have a lot to learn!”

“And you have all the answers?!”

“I never said that-”

“Tell me, Evan David Rembrandt, since you presume to understand me so well! What would solve my own... loneliness, as you call it?”

“That's not for me to answer!” I yell critically. “You have to figure that shit out yourself! We all have to look into our own abyss and fill it up with our own meaning! Every single one of us has to go through that, even us lowly humans that you look down upon. I mean, isn't that what the other aeons did?”

“I would rather you just kill me now.”

“How? I threw away my sword. It's not like I can just-” I'm cut off by Evan Junior magically materializing in my hand. Hastily I toss it aside once more. “Pretend you didn't see that.”

“Perhaps death really is my only release from all of this.”

“Shut up!” I'm getting unreasonably heated. “I don't want to hear another word about how there's no left but to die! There's always meaning to be found even amid suffering! That's the whole point of living! You wanna die? Fine! But at least do something meaningful first, for once!”

I'm so caught up in my reprimanding that I don't notice the Abyss starting to rumble until I'm done.

“Evan David Rembrandt... You are too peculiar of a human to talk to.”

“Hm. I also feel like you've never really taken the time to actually talk to any of us,” I sass back.

“I'm at the end of the line. Yet I feel like I'm back at the beginning.”

“That fear never left you, did it?”

“Hmph.”

“Hey, what happened to Teodosio?”

“What? The vessel? I have already released his soul.”

Phew. At least I was able to see to that much. You can finally rest, Teo.

“So what are you going to do?” I ask Chaos.

“Evan David Rembrandt... You, the weakest human I have ever met, have brought me the greatest humiliation I have ever been dealt. Because... you are right.” The rumbling intensifies. I see dark tendrils, tentacles, worms, all of gargantuan sizes, thrashing about wildly. “Thank you.”

With an explosion of light, the Abyss fills with color. Red, orange, blue, green, pink, white, colors that I didn't even know could be visible to the human eye. The worms and tendrils bend, split, and branch out to morph into more discernible landscapes. Oceans and skies spill forth, as though a child were haphazardly splattering them all over the place with playful abandon. A tidal wave comes my way, threatening to swallow me up. I'm swept off my feet by a black cloud. Indech. Looks like it's time to go home.

I take a good look at the creation of a new world unfolding right before my eyes, a world unlike the Earth or even the Ether. Damn, now isn't this something?

The realm formerly known as the Abyss disappears from my sight, and all I see around me is white. I feel moved. “Hey, Indech, wait a minute,” I say. There's something I'm sensing in the phantom spirit, even as he's starting to fade. Something that he's carrying. Another soul. It's calling out to me. I open my heart, and feel a tender warmth filling my body as I welcome the wayward soul inside me.

I'm back in that monastery in Rognval. And there's Aldarius Reis, laying there dying from the wound inflicted by Teodosio while he had been possessed by Chaos. I walk up to him. He can see me this time. “Who... are you?” he rasps.

The soul inside me transmits pangs of grief and yearning that reverberate within my own heart, but there's also an immense, assuaging relief. Kneeling down by Aldarius, I place my hand over his. Whoever's cohabiting my body begins to commune with Alda's soul.

In my mind's eye, I see Aldarius, perfectly healthy, no wounds at all. And right in front of him is Eogan Ruairc. “Alda!” he exclaims, eyes glistening with joy.

Aldarius' eyes widen, and he runs up to his friend. The two entangle each other in an embrace. “Eogan... gods, Eogan, be this an illusion? Oh, I care not! I can feel you! I feel your warmth!”

Eogan strokes Aldarius' hair affectionately. “I have waited. One thousand years I have waited for this.” Tears well up in his eyes. “I had thought this would never happen.”

“What? One thousand years? I don't underst-”

Eogan hushes him. “Worry not, Alda... We live no more. We defeated Chaos at a heavy price, but we did it. But now we may rest. Together.”

Aldarius wipes the tears from Eogan's face, doing his best to hold back from crying himself. His smile is that of sublimated joy and contentment. “Gods, you are no illusion. I love you, Eogan. Long did my heart beat for you in secrecy, but no more. I love you.”

“You must forgive me, then, for never assaying those same words when I had the chance. I love you too, my dear Alda.”

And then they bring their lips upon each other, seizing each other in a passionate exchange of blissful union. They hold one another as if their lives depended on it, to make up for the millennium of words unsaid, of flesh not felt, of love not admitted to and held. It's the first and only time they've ever kissed each other. But they make it count. And for Eogan, whose soul endured a state of limbo for centuries, it was worth the wait. Theirs is a love that ended up transcending time itself.

Through my own eyes, I look around at the monastery. “Hey, Logos,” I say out loud. “Aren't you going to let Cibran say hi?”

The omniscient god steps out from the shadows, a bemused smirk on his face. “So you figured it out, huh.”

“Just a hunch. You never told me what happened to Suarra. And... it explains why you were so personally invested in these guys in the first place.”

Logos chuckles. “I've taken in so many forms, souls, and identities these past few centuries. I'm afraid that there's not enough of Cibran Ruairc left in me for a proper reunion.”

I roll my eyes and give him an earnest look. “I don't believe that one bit. You're just being shy. Come on, stop trying to act cool.”

“Brother?” Eogan's soul calls out.

Logos looks like a deer trapped in headlights. Then he smiles and shakes his head sardonically, joining my side and placing one hand on my back.

And Cibran Ruairc joins them.

“It was you, brother, was it not?” Eogan asks. “You saw all of this possible.”

Cibran shrugs and scratches his head. “The time travel part took a while to figure out. History cannot be changed, but fate can. And really, it's the heart of the one hosting us that made us able to meet again.”

Eogan hugs him. “I had truly thought you lost forever to the Abyss.”

“I'm... Look, I'm still Suarra, technically.”

“You're my brother,” Eogan insists. “I know now... Even as a dragon, still you were with us.”

Cibran starts to laugh. It's a laugh of catharsis. “I... Thanks... Thank you... brother.”

Aldarius takes Eogan's hand and looks at Cibran. “It is time, is it not?” he asks.

Cibran nods. “Yeah. Teo's waiting for us.”

The three of them look over at me, eyes shining with gratitude. I feel a profound sense of peace, and I can't help but grin at them. And then they're gone, and in the material world, Aldarius Reis takes his final breath. All is still and quiet in the monastery of Rognval.

Logos is still with me. “Well, that was unexpected,” he says. “You really are something, Evan.”

“How do you feel?” I ask.

“You just uncovered a vital part of me that had been buried so deeply into my being. And just like that it's gone. Kind of sad. But, oh well, it's all for the best. I'm... I'm happy for Suarra and Cibran.”

“So what's going to happen now? Chaos ended up transforming the Abyss into its own world.”

“Why don't we go home and find out?” Logos waves his hand, creating a portal in front of us, then offers his other hand to me.

The War of the Dragons had to be ended abruptly so that I could move on to the final story (otherwise I would have never finished this series), so here’s everything that got skipped:

With the War of the Dragons won, everyone goes home to celebrate. Suarra goes to Rognval, posing as Cibran in front of his family and adjusting to human life. Eogan finds him and attempts to kill Suarra but can’t bring himself to do it.

The Orcadian Empire is ready for the fabled Communion, which involves everyone going to church and drinking the blood of the holy dragon. However, this blood contains worms similar to the worms making up Suarra, and they take control of all humans who ingest them, forming a sort of hivemind. Indech shows up just in time to stop Aldarius from being taken over, and Eogan gets possessed but has his worm removed by Nuada.

Indech’s disappearance was due to him running off with and helping Nicholas and Kristoforos, who inform him of Chaos, who appears throughout history as a powerful dragon that attempts to take control of a human empire and incite war. Each time it is taken down by a hero wielding a weapon of light, with Kristoforos being the last to fight Chaos. They’ve tracked Chaos down to Orkay, where they confirm it’s taken on the name Visucius, the holy dragon. They also see that Eogan’s sword is a weapon that can slay it, along with Aldarius’ spear.

Storming the city of Rognval, they enact a ritual Nicholas, Kristoforos, and Indech had been preparing that frees every Orcadian from possession by the worms they ingested. Suarra offers himself as tribute for the ritual, vanishing.

Kristoforos and Nicholas get held up fighting giant worms from the Abyss that haven’t taken a draconic form yet. Eogan runs into the grand marshal Vitor, who is possessed by pontiff Endovelicus, who is actually a dragon. Vitor transforms into Oillipheist, the Chaos Avatar, and fights Eogan and Nuada. Aldarius goes to confront Teo in the monastery. Indech leaves him to fend off other worms.

The rest of the final battle is seen in The Impossible Soul

Nicholas realizes how destructive magic is and resolves to become a god who can suppress its influence on Earth.

Eogan lives out the rest of his life quietly in Espadeo, accompanied by Nuada. After Eogan’s passing, Nuada and William begin traveling together, eventually joining the Tuath centuries later.

Indech returns to his tribe, but he is exiled by King Balor when attempting to appeal to the fomorians to cease their warlike behavior. The only fomorian who seems affected by his message for peace is Bres.

And here are some plot points that ended up getting cut from Ordinary Humans:

Sarah and Brigid meeting again, with Brigid getting over her disdain and fear of humans.

Pete missing Bodb and wanting another household spirit to watch over his family. This is where Evan gets the idea to get Alexei the domovoi to live with them.

Ian finds out that Tethra is the one who killed Bres. He gets possessed by an abyssal worm and starts planning to kill Tethra, eventually transforming into a creature resembling a reptilian, to keep up with the alien theme. Evan, Brigid, and Lugh stop him. Brigid reveals her guilt over her last interaction with Bres being them arguing. Ian blames himself for being weak. Tethra blames himself for being controlled by Balor at the time. 

Evan tries to date Sarah only to end up regularly hooking up with George. It’s not nearly the same as being with Will, but Evan realizes sex with a man is the closest thing he can get.

And then there was what was supposed to be the final short book, The Man Who Killed the Devil

Taylor experiences Shoney’s memories due to the water spirit imparting a part of his essence in him before he died. This includes his first time on Earth, making friends with and partying with his friends Ness and Agave up to the point where they are killed by the nuckelavee

Part 3

I'm back in that church. It's a different scene, though. Two people are fighting each other. One is Teo, Morgan Kraft, Mr. Superhuman, whoever the hell he is. The other is a werewolf wearing armor. They're jumping all over the place, swords clashing furiously. Teo makes a misstep, and it's his downfall. The werewolf drives his sword right through Mr. Superhuman's chest, and their movements grind to a halt. It's over.

“E...Eogan...?” Teo chokes. Something shifts in his eyes. All of a sudden they're filled with fear and confusion.

The werewolf lets go of his sword, still embedded in Teo. His features start to shift, the fur disappearing, muscles shrinking, until he has a completely different appearance. Human. “Teo...” he whispers. “I...” The werewolf whose form he had taken just seconds before steps out of him. The therian has silver fur and one arm. This is Nuada.

“I have slept... For a long time, have I not?”

“Prithee don't talk. Save your strength.”

Teo crumbles, but is caught by Eogan. They kneel on the ground together. “I suppose I will be seeing Alda soon. Think you that he would forgive me? Or... mayhap I'll not go where he is...” He then convulses, thrashing about as something emerges from behind him. It looks like a dragon's head, trying to break free from its host. “Release me, vessel!” it roars. “You dare defy me?!”

Teo pushes Eogan off of him and kneels as the dragon continues to struggle in vain. “I'll not let you blight our world any longer!” Teo declares, blood spilling from his mouth.

The entire church quakes from the dragon's rage. “I AM CHAOS! I AM AEON OF THE ABYSS! HOW CAN I BE FELLED BY MY OWN VESSEL?! ACCURSED HUMANS! ACCURSED DAEMONS! YOUR AEONS ABANDONED YOU! YOU WOULD CONTINUE TO LIVE IN YOUR GODLESS WORLDS?!”

I walk closer. I'm a little afraid of getting too close. But again, no one can see or hear me, not even this supposed god. My role in this is just as watcher.

Teo closes his eyes. There's a look of peace on his face now. He smiles faintly. “Eogan... Nuada... Thank you...” he says. He and the dragon become consumed by a blinding light. There's the sound of something terrible breaking, collapsing into itself. When the light disappears, Teo and the dragon are gone. Eogan's sword has vanished as well.

Eogan sits there. It's unnaturally quiet now. And then he suddenly lets out an anguished cry, drawing a knife and holding it out, tip pointed back towards his chest. Nuada springs into action, diving into Eogan's body. The veins on Eogan's neck bulge, and he strains himself, unable to move. “Nuada! Do not stop me!” he yells.

“I will not!” Nuada replies through Eogan's mouth.

“Let me die! PRITHEE LET ME DIE!”

“We just saved the world, and you would end your own life?!”

“WHAT PROFIT IS SAVING THE WORLD WHEN ALL WHO I LOVE ARE DEAD?!”

“AND WHAT OF I?!” 

“RELEASE ME!”

“MEAN I NOTHING TO YOU?! YOU WOULD LEAVE ME ALONE AS WELL?!” Nuada roars. Eogan hurls the knife far away as the werewolf is thrown out of his body. Nuada is huffing with indignation while Eogan curls up on the ground, weeping inconsolably.

Another portal shows up. Its gravity tugs at me, gently taking me out of the scene and leaving the two alone to mourn.

And then I'm back on the street right outside my apartment, in the present day.

I call in sick at work the next day. And the day after. No appearances from Teo, or Indech, or that disembodied voice. I just stay at home. Connor sends me a text asking about Pride, but I ignore him. I'm able to make it to work on Wednesday, but it's not like I'm gonna get anything done.

Thursday comes along and that's when my mom texts me confirming if I can pick her and dad up from the airport. I comply. That night, they're waiting for me with their suitcases and over-sized clothing and I take them back to my apartment. Will's gone, so there's no boyfriend for me to hide from them now. They ask me what I'm doing Friday. I lie and say that I already have plans, but there are some nice tours that they can go on. I think of Connor and Ryan. There's a huge party to kick off Pride weekend. I'm probably not going to that. I don't know what everyone else is up to.

“Honey, are you sure you're okay?” my mom asks. “You look tired.”

“Come on, Joanna, the boy knows how to take care of himself,” my dad mutters. “And you'd tell us if anything was going on, right Evan?”

“Uh huh.”

There are no cases for me to take on. My energy is completely spent anyway. All of those jobs, constantly keeping myself on my feet, trying to help people, it was all to avoid this crushing emptiness. So I didn't have to feel as powerless as I do now.

Well... I guess there is one more case I can do. It's not a matter of helping anyone, but just getting answers at this point. I start at the library. It has a trove of texts on things of the ancient magical kind.

“There's nothing at all about time travel,” Wulver tells me after some research. “But the aeons... That's something that came up while I've been researching magic.” Right. That's what that white dragon called itself. Aeon of the abyss.

“Are they gods?”

“Oh, by definition, absolutely! Aeons are considered the very first beings to ever exist,” Wulver shares excitedly. “But they saw how empty the universe was and decided to fill it. So they used their own essence to create worlds like this one and the Ether.”

“So they sacrificed themselves.”

“Transformed would be more accurate. You could say the Earth and every living thing on it is a part of the aeon that created it all. Oh! And this tome here theorizes about how there was a lot of cross-mingling between aeons too! The evolution of humans was guided by the influence of the Etherian aeon, while therians came into existence from the aeon of Earth!”

I start scratching my head. “Was there anything on an aeon who didn't choose to transform itself? One called Chaos?”

The therian shakes his head sadly. “No, I'm afraid not. Sorry.”

“Don't apologize. That was a lot of thorough research you did. Thanks, Wulver,” I say.

“Honey, guess who's come to visit,” Wulver's drake boyfriend Henry says as he walks in. He's followed by...

“There you are,” Taylor Krug says upon seeing me. He looks a lot different these days. He's wearing a slim, blue suit with a pink tie, and he's completely clean shaven with his hair expertly styled in a modest comb over. An exceptionally well-groomed look.

“You're looking for me?” I ask him, puzzled.

Taylor nods curtly. “Can you meet me outside?” he requests. “I'll join you once I'm caught up with Henry and Wulver.”

I do as he says, waiting on a bench at the library entrance. I haven't seen Taylor for longer than I haven't seen Will. Everyone knows about him at this point. He's gotten incredibly powerful with magic for a human, and some say he's already reached godhood. But the rumors are that he's shaking things up wherever he goes. Nothing evil, just radical. It might have to do with Nicholas going completely off the radar at the same time. He was the one who was always trying to maintain the order of the world when it came to magic.

“So how've you been?” he asks once he joins me on the bench.

“Just trying to keep myself busy,” I say. “What about you? I keep hearing you've been up to some crazy things. Some say you go by Shoney now.”

“I did for a little bit,” Taylor sighs. “I swear I can still feel him inside me, you know? And I wanted to hold on to that in some way. Pretending that I was him.”

“What about Gan? Ever find him?”

“Yeah, actually. He's living with this preacher we fought back in the day. They run a haven for wayward spirits,” Taylor laughs wryly. “It's funny, he thought I had come to kill him when I showed up, but I wasn't even looking for him. I stopped being angry at him a long time ago.”

“All of this stuff...” I start to say, trailing off. Then something opens up in me. “God, everything with Will and Puck and the fomorians and the nuckelavee... It really fucking changed me. I can't ever go back to a normal life now.”

“Would you have preferred to live in ignorance?”

“I... I guess not.”

“Hm. Sometimes I wonder what I would have wanted.”

“Hey. What about Will? Have you run into him?”

“Henry and Wulver told me about him. I didn't even know he left Orkney. He's the only one I haven't been keeping tabs on.”

“Ah.”

Taylor gives me a peculiar look. “You seem a lot more tired now.”

The word “tired” makes me flinch a little. What is he, my mom? “I'm just... not sure what to do with my life anymore. Fuck,” I chuckle sardonically.

“You know, you were always the more upbeat one. Had I been more emotionally invested in the love triangle we had, it would have been the thing that pissed me off but I was secretly jealous of.”

“Didn't you know? It was all to cover up my inadequacies, how utterly basic and ordinary I am. All this magic and fairy business around me is just a reminder of that.”

Taylor sighs. “Look, I'll be honest, I didn't really come here for us to wallow in self-pity. I was asked to connect you with someone. You're free tonight, right? Of course you are. His name is Logos, and he's got all the answers you're looking for in regards to your case with Chaos.”

This gets my attention. “What do you know about it?”

“Not much. I've got my own things to take care of.”

“Is this Logos one of your god friends?”

“Ugh, maybe. Kind of. He's the one who I actually trust to an extent. I think he just wanted me to be the one to pass on his message for his own voyeuristic interest in seeing us get back in touch.”

I look around. “Is he here now?”

“No, he's just omniscient. Look, you know that Bohemian beer garden in Ardee? He'll be there at 8 PM.”

Taylor gets up to leave. I stop him. “I think you know more than you're letting on,” I state. After all, wherever he goes, it's to shake things up.

He smirks. “Like I said, Logos will tell you everything you need to know. All I can say is... Don't fuck this one up.” And then he starts leaving for real this time. “It was good to see you, Evan.”

The Bohemian beer garden is at the top of a hill overlooking Orkney. My tram ends up breaking down, so I'm fifteen minutes late to the appointment. When I arrive, I immediately spot Logos. I just know it's him, or maybe he's transmitting himself to me.

And he tells me everything. About the War of the Dragons, and Eogan, Teo, Alda, Nuada, Indech, William, Cibran, and... the dragons. Dragons originated from the aeon of the Abyss... The one known as Chaos.

Chaos survived that battle with Eogan and Nuada, taking Teo's soul with it. That's why it's running around looking like him now. Those creatures from before... The alien in Hydra, the mindflayer, those were also creations of Chaos.

It's a lot to take in. And now I'm being asked to finish the job. Chaos has been severely weakened since the War of the Dragons, but he's still running amok being a nuisance to the city of Orkney. And he still has bits of Teodosio Knast's soul held hostage. I don't even know the guy, but I'm making the decision to help. Because helping people is what I always do. Nothing left to do at this point anyway.

I am directed to Nuada Park afterwards, where Morrigan, the god of war, meets me. She appears as a drag queen whose outfit has this black, feathery raven motif. It's getting late, so there aren't enough people wandering around to gawk. Logos shows up, and surprise surprise, so does Taylor.

“Indech has managed to hold down Chaos as we speak, but there isn't that much time,” Logos says.

“You'll be going to the Abyss to meet it,” Morrigan adds.

“None of you are coming with me?” I ask.

There's a moment's hesitation at first. Then Taylor grunts with a hint of indignation. Who it’s directed to, I’m not entirely sure. “Chaos is almost harmless now, but if it the Abyss ends up swallowing anyone with enough magical power it can quickly regain its strength and become an actual threat again. That's why you were picked.” I'd be laughing if I weren't still nervous. Guess my ordinariness serves some purpose after all.

Morrigan steps in front of me, placing her hand over my heart. I feel a warmth spread throughout my whole body, and my chest glows as she pulls a brilliant sword with a gold hilt and a pure white blade out of thin air. She then hands it to me. It's light despite its size, and somehow... comfortable. Like it's just an extension of my arm. “Every hero had their own weapon when they fought against the Chaos. Longinus, Mjolnir, Claoimh Solais, Ame no Murakamo. Got a name for yours?”

I hold up the blade in front of me with a frown. “Oh, fuck if I know. Evan Junior?”

Morrigan rolls her eyes. “Good lord, this isn't your penis we're naming. Okay, we're putting it in the books, boys! The abyssal aeon of Chaos shall be slain once and for all by the legendary sword, Evan Junior!”

Logos clears his throat. “It's time.”

“Wait!” I say. “Dragons are a part of Chaos, right? So if I kill it, will all dragons die too?”

Logos and Morrigan look at each other with uncertainty. Taylor casts his eyes downward. “We don't know for sure,” he says.

“They've done a lot to ingratiate themselves with us, especially in the Ether. They've even been able to grow their own souls. I'm sure they will be fine,” Morrigan says.

“I... Okay. I see.”

“Ready?” Logos asks.

“Yeah.”

Logos waves his hand, and a portal not too different from the ones that dragged me through time opens up in front of me, but this one is black. The kind of black that sucks all color and light away from it, crushingly empty and infinite vacuum.

I look around at the three of them. They look stern, but confident. That's reassuring, I guess.

Part 2

There's a distortion in the air behind me. A bright, swirly thing materializes, and it sucks me in. The scene around me begins to shift. I feel like I'm free-falling, and then all of a sudden I'm somewhere else. This looks more modern. There's a lot of machines. I see crystals and runes. Looks to be a lab of the magical variety. I remember seeing stuff similar to this in the Rossinan building where the fomorians had been based.

“Who the hell are you?”

My heart almost jumps out of my chest. It's fluttering now. My god. By a spiral staircase, he's just entered the lab and is staring me down. I can't contain myself. “Will!” I yell, rushing to him to give him a hug. But just as I reach him he shoves me to the floor. That's when I actually notice. He's got wings and a tail. And he's a lot shorter. Holy shit. This is him as an incubus. I also notice that he's in bondage gear. Huh, is that what incubi usually wear?

Will wraps his hands around my throat. Geez, he's surprisingly strong in this runtish form. “You should have told me you were to choking, dude,” I grunt with a grin. He responds by raising his barbed tail threateningly above me. “Come on, harder daddy,” I continue to goad him.

That seems to do it. Too weirded out, he backs off of me with a repulsed look on his face. “Seriously, who the hell are you?” he demands.

“What are you talking about? You don't recognize me?” I check my hands to make sure they're my own. Nope, I didn't quantum leap into someone else's body. Then I remember that my last vision was in this weird medieval setting. I try to put two and two together. “What year is it?” I ask him.

“1967,” he answers tentatively.

Okay, so I've been traveling back in time somehow. And this isn't the Will I know. This is the evil, genocidal William that ends up betraying the Tuath which leads to him being transformed into a will-o'-the-wisp for decades as punishment. I have to approach him carefully.

I hop up onto my feet, beaming at him. “I'm your boyfriend from the future,” I declare. Yeah. That should do it.

It doesn't seem like he believes me. Judging by the look on his face though, he totally kind of wants to believe it. I'm just that charming, after all.

“What are you doing here? And how did you get here?” he asks.

“I don't really know. I got carried away by this thing that looked like a fomorian. I think his name was Indech. And then-”

His eyes widen at the mention of that name. He backs up to a table and reaches for something behind him. “Alright, I need to get to the bottom of this,” he mumbles.

“You can enter my body and look at my memories,” I say. There was a time when Will wasn't able to possess anyone except me. I'm sure I have the same ability to let him meld with me in this instance. Even if this is him before he's met me, his soul is still the same.

“Yeah, that's what I was thinking,” he says, as he flies towards me and tosses something blue in my face. Oh, cool. Fairy dust. I mean, it wasn't necessary but-

***

Move-in day. My family is helping me bring all my stuff into my dorm room. I'm having the freshman jitters. College is going to be way different from high school. I wonder how different the people here are. Maybe I can finally get a girlfriend who I can stay with for more than three months.

It looks like my roommate has already moved in. I'm hauling a cart stacked to the brim with all my stuff. There's something... kind of weird about him. I can't really place my finger on it. Maybe it's the way he's looking around as though he's lost child at the mall. In any case, I give him a warm smile once we make eye contact.

“Hi! I'm Evan!”

“Will,” he replies without skipping a beat. We shake hands.

***

“So can you just jump inside people whenever you want?” I ask incredulously.

“No, I think... I think I at first became some kind of spirit or something,” Will says. He's furrowing his brow, and he doesn't look to confident. Like everything he's saying is crazy. But it's not. I saw it with my own eyes before, him in that park ranger's body. “I was able to phase through the gate, and it felt like I was dreaming. You know, operating under dream logic and all that. Here, let me see if I can do it again.” Will closes his eyes, taking deep breaths. Nothing happens at first. Then his entire body starts to shimmer. I feel my mouth dropping in shock. Will's body vanishes leaving nothing behind except a shiny orb, like a miniature sun, floating whimsically through the air. And then just like that the orb turns back into Will.

“You just turned into this ball of light,” I say. “Holy crap.” I'm trying not to

“So that's what I turn into,” Will mutters.

“I can't believe this,” I say. I chug the rest of my beer because that's what I do when I'm nervous. I place the bottle on the table but accidentally do so too forcefully. The other bottles I emptied shake and clink from the mini earthquake.

“Hey, Evan?”

“Yeah?”

“You're not scared of me now, are you?”

Damn. He sees that I'm on edge. I try to play it cool. “Why would I be scared?”

“You're freaking out.”

“I mean, yeah, this is pretty freaky, and it's something I need to get used to, but...” I'm feeling something intense, that's for sure. But what is this? It's not the fear. Maybe confusion? No. Anger? Kind of. Is it... jealousy? What Will's got going on... It's pretty fucking cool. Makes me wish I had cool powers. Why did it have to be him? Why do I feel so viscerally about this?

“Maybe I'm the one who's scared,” Will snaps me out of my thoughts. “I don't know exactly what's happened to me, I don't know what's going to happen to me, I don't know if there are any unforseen consequences to this. Like, am I still human? Or did I get transformed into some kind of demon or something?”

His voice is getting shaky. Whenever he starts talking like this I always feel something tugging at my heart. Like, god, I have to take care of this poor guy. He's my best friend, after all. I go over to him and grab him by the shoulders, making sure to lock eyes with him. “Look, you're still Will. As far as I'm concerned, you're still the guy who has been my friend for six years. It doesn't matter what's happened to you, you're still you. And no matter what may happen in the future, just hold on to that thought.”

He nods. I can tell he's trying to fight off a boner. I find it endearing. “Thanks, Evan,” he says. I mentally congratulate myself. It feels good being able to make him feel good. Will always had issues with self-confidence and anxiety and all that pitiable stuff. I can be there to ease all of that. For some reason, I'm just good at that with him. Other people? Not so much.

Conveniently, that visceral jealousy I was feeling also dissipates.

***

“Why do you still live with me?” Will asks. There he goes with his self-loathing game again. And it’s up to me to make him feel better.

“What do you mean?”

“How are you still okay living with me, knowing how I've felt?”

“Because I can't think of anyone else here I'd rather live with,” I reply. “I mean, we make good roommates, don't you think?” He'd better say yes.

“I suppose,” he says with a shrug. Wow, okay then. Wait, why am I getting all bothered? I know he's just being modest.

I sigh. “But maybe I haven't been considering if it's something that's hurting you.”

“I mean, it's a matter of me being able to move on. And you know, I think my date with Taylor really went well tonight.”

“Really? Nice!” I feel a pang though. Is this jealousy again?

“Yeah, he seems really into me, and I like him a lot too. So we'll see where it goes. But I have a good feeling about it.”

“Well, you're making more progress than me,” I say with a wry laugh. “All I have right now are the occasional drunk texts from Sarah.” Actually, she's never done that ever.

“Ugh, why can't you just be gay?”

I give him a victorious smirk. “Ah, but my sexual orientation is a part of who I am, and if you really loved me you have to love my straightness too,” I say haughtily.

“Oh, just suck a dick already!” Will punches me in the shoulder. We're laughing, and then I hug him tightly.

“I love you.”

“Sorry, man.”

“It's okay.”

***

There's something warm inside me. Something familiar. I feel myself come to. It's as if some voice inside me had called for me in the darkness, and I blindly followed it until I was back in the light. 'm still strapped to the device Puck had placed me in, but something was different. I feel Evan coming back. Thank god.

Wait, that thought didn't make any sense. I am Evan. No, I'm Will. Or is he inside me now? Of course I'm inside Evan, I already knew that. It was the only thing I could do to resuscitate him. So Will was the one who brought me back? Yes, I did! Fuck, am I Evan or am I Will?

Whoever we are, the device shocks us once more and sends us in a world of pain. This is the pain that I had been subjected to for so long. I had just wanted it to end, and I did give up at some point. We can't give up now, though, we have to get out of here! But how? Our eyes wander over to Taylor, whose back is turned towards us. It looks like he's beating the shit out of someone. Before we can focus on figuring out who it is, another shock courses through us. Oh god, the pain.

I'm slipping away again. My body is just shutting down, having long since passed the threshold of withstanding all this pain. I feel my lips form into a faint smile. I'm Evan, who was brought back one last time thanks to the efforts of my best friend, and to feel his warmth and put my mind at ease. I'm Will, who loved Evan no matter what and is just happy to finally be by his side in the end. As I slip back into the darkness, I feel content knowing that I'm not alone.

***

I wake up in darkness. I'm still groggy from the fairy dust. It's stuffy, wherever I am. Something tells me not to make a sound though, and as I listen I can hear the muffled voice of something deep and ominous. Will, with his higher-pitched voice, is more audible. “I call it the nuckelavee.”

They exchange for a bit more, and then I hear the other voice leave. I reach out with my hand until I feel a door and push. A view of the lab opens back up. “Did you put me in the closet?” I say.

The incubus William looks at me doubtfully, unsure of what to do. Finally, he says, “Follow me. We should go to a safer place to talk.”

He leads me up the stairs and into a hallway, checking to make sure that no one is around, and then leading me outside. From the looks of it, we were in some abandoned warehouse. Into the woods we go. The thought that he could be leading me to an isolated an area where he could kill me crosses my mind. But I push the thought away. I'm not thinking, just following this fae version of my boyfriend.

We stop by a stream where we plop down on some rocks. For a while we kind of just look at each other. Well, I'm looking at him, he's having trouble making eye contact.

“You saw everything, right?” I ask him.

William closes his eyes, then nods slowly. “So that's how it all turns out,” he whispers.

“I heard you mention the nuckelavee.”

“It's been completed.”

“Then-”

“The final battle between the fomorians and the Tuath is nigh.”

I scoot closer to him. “You don't have to do this.”

Silence.

“You're going to hurt a lot of people.”

Silence.

“Nuada will die. Everyone will hate you for a long time.”

He tenses up at Nuada's name. They're supposed to be best friends after all. “Our deaths are supposed to be our liberation,” he says quietly, but I can hear how unconvinced he is. “You mentioned Indech. That was the name of a fomorian I met when I first came to the human world. There was an enormous war going on. I made some friends, but they all... ended up suffering so much. Then back in my world, it was just more war. War everywhere. It's never going to end.”

“But you saw an end in my memories of the future,” I say.

Choked laughter escapes his lips. “I don't even want to believe it. I especially don't want to believe that I end up with such a beautiful man.”

“I also have a really fucking amazing personality,” I add with a wink. “I'm caring, funny, cool, and sensitive.”

“This would make you... the first being I'll fall in love with.”

“Yes!” I celebrate with a fist pump.

When the old William had been described to me before, I'd imagine some evil, mad scientist with a thirst for blood. But looking at this guy now, he's not the same as the Will I know, and yet not that different either. He's scared. And sad. Very, very sad.

“You know, you kind of remind me of someone,” William says pensively.

“But I'm one-of-a-kind,” I reply sarcastically.

The incubus rolls his eye. “Ugh, maybe not. His name was Eogan, though. He used to be Nuada's partner. Eogan... He always lived to protect the people around him. Unfortunately, he didn't always succeed.”

“You can let me protect you,” I say earnestly.

“And even now,” he continues, “you're coming to me to try to save not only me, but all of my friends who fall to the nuckelavee, who you've never even met.”

“You can just destroy that thing, can't you?”

At that moment, the air warps and another portal opens up. Shit. Talk about really fucking poor timing. I take a tumble backwards as it starts to draw me in. “Is that your ride?” William asks rhetorically.

“Will! Do the right thing!” I yell to him as I struggle to keep my ground before being sucked into the portal. “Hell, you can come with me! Come to the future with me, and we can just start over together! Please! Will!”

William floats up to me and smiles. “Evan...” he says as he places a hand longingly on my chest.

And then he pushes me, sending me flying into the portal.

“My fate has already been sealed,” I hear him say as the woods begin to fade from my vision.

“WILL!” I scream.

Laughter. Deranged, confused, joyous, pained laughter. “See you in fifty years, lover boy!”

At the completion of The Impossible Soul and the publishing of the ebook for Ordinary Humans, or perhaps even sooner, I will be deleting every single post containing a picture of a real person.....Which is literally every single story I’ve posted here. This is my own personal decision of no longer wanting to publicly use someone’s likeness for my erotic stories without their permission, and it’s too troublesome to remove pictures from the posts one by one so I’m just going to use the mass post editor to delete them all in their entirety. For Folklore, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem since the ebooks will still be available. For one-shots, I’m not sure if I’ll be compiling them somewhere. So, if you want to do any salvaging before everything’s gone, do it now.

As a tip, liked posts still disappear when the original posts are deleted. You have to either reblog them or save them into your own document.

This will be the final case in Ordinary Humans, and the final story in the Folklore series

Part 1

Will sniffles, remaining fixed at the edge of the bed to maximize his distance from me. “I have a fever, man. I don't wanna get you sick.”

“I don't care. You know I have a strong immune system.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“When have I ever been sick?”

He's honking into a tissue. His nose is red, and his eyes are a little glazed from the fever. “I just wanna pass out in a bucket of ice,” he says.

“Why don't you just come inside me, then? You'll be in my strong, healthy body with clear sinuses and not your frail, waifish one.”

“No.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously, I'm fine.”

“Oh my god, just get in here, asshole!” I pounce on him, wrapping one arm around his torso and giving him a noogie with my free hand. Twenty years together, and we're still like this. Our bodies may have gotten older and softer with age, but things are still pretty much the same. I squeeze him into me, trying to get to that feeling where he just sinks right into my skin. And then he does. And it feels so good. His soul rushes into mine and I can sense the immediate relief from him from no longer being congested, groggy, and feverish. The change is almost jarring for him. He can smell again, picking up the scent of the bed linens, and of me. Will gets a little excited and strips me out of my clothes. It's a cold winter night, and the air sends tingles all over my skin, with the space heater occasionally sending a brush of warmth across my naked body. Will's mind starts to relax. He likes being in me. And I like having him in me. My cock is a little excited by the presence of a beloved guest, bobbing up and down ever so slightly to the beat of my heart. We lay spread eagle on the bed, grounding ourselves in stillness. Even the chatter in our minds has been silenced.

And I’m happy. I’m so fucking happy to have my best friend to grow old with.

Look, I don't know if any normal human would understand, but it's such an incredible sentiment for my body to have room for another person. And when it's Will, it's the feeling of fullness, of completion that just feels so right. I can shelter him in here. I can keep him safe. Without him, I'm like a home without a tenant.

And so when I wake up from this dream, I'm faced with the reality of being alone. We haven't been together for twenty years. I'm not even thirty yet. And it's been almost two years now since Will went off to “find himself.” Alexei the shapeshifting domovoi is gone. We never found his family, but Pete was willing to take him in. In Bodb's absence, he needed a new household spirit. But now I'm left with this empty apartment.

Oh, well. Time to get up. Piss, shower, brush teeth, shave, eat breakfast, skip the morning workout, then out into the city.

I'm on the tram when I get a phone call. It's George. I met him through Ryan for a case involving a siren and her lover. It didn't have the happiest of endings, but George and I managed to maintain contact since then.

“Hey, what's up?”

“Hey, Evan. You got a moment?”

“Yeah, I've got time.”

“Just thought this was something that I should do over the phone.” He takes a deep breath. “I think it's time that we move on.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean we should stop hooking up.”

He's direct. I respect that about him. “What's with the change of mind?” I ask him.

“Well, it was a lot of fun, but we were just living out fantasies, right? I got to be with the hot straight guy who's still experimenting. But I'm trying to focus on relationships that involve more intimacy.”

I'm a little bit offended. “We weren't intimate?”

“Well, what do you think?”

It takes me a moment. “I... I guess not.”

“You alright?”

“Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks for talking with me about this.”

Fine time for a drink.

From day one in this city, Mag Mell has always been a constant. I've laughed. I've cried. I've been possessed to sing Billy Joel in front of the entire goddamn pub while my boyfriend took a video. There are a lot of memories in this old dive.

The regulars change with the seasons. People who I see all the time just suddenly stop showing up. It's a reminder that the ones in your life always come and go. A bittersweet thing to think about, but that's life.

What really trips me up though, is walking in and seeing that flowing gray hair behind the counter and always being reminded of Bres. But that old soul is gone now. Now it's just Ian, the original owner of that body. I greet him once I see him, and he responds with silent smile and a nod. He's still a quiet one, but he's certainly doing a lot better than the days where he'd just stare blankly ahead without Bres in the driver's seat. I heard he recently reconnected with his son. Whenever it's his shift as the barkeep he dutifully tends to the patrons' orders. It gives him something to do.

There are a couple other familiar faces at the bar. “Hey!” Pete calls enthusiastically upon seeing me, raising his glass. He's sitting next to Scott, and, much to my surprise, Brigid. I've been doing a lot these past few weeks. As I said before, Alexei lives with Pete's family now. Brigid I had finally managed to get her to speak with Sarah. They're on okay terms now. As for Scott, I've been helping him, along with some of the remaining Tuath in the city, to organize the integration of spirits in Orkney. We do secret town hall meetings now. A lot gets discussed. Spirits aren't satisfied with possessing random people anymore. They want to really be able to settle down somehow in human society. Sometimes that means finding a partner who can see them. Sometimes that means obtaining a homunculus. A lot of the homunculi that the fomorians produced way back are being repurposed for just that. Demand is rising and we're always looking for solutions.

“Anything new?” I ask the gang.

“Still no record of any Morgan Kraft showing up,” Scott tells me. “I think we can conclude by now that it's a fake name.”

“Figures. It would never be that easy,” I say.

“Oh yeah, Connor wanted me to bug you again about helping out during Pride.”

I groan. “Isn't there anything more... administrative that I can do? The Black Hawk really isn't my style.”

“Sheesh, it's not like they're asking you to dance for tips,” Brigid taunts.

“Hey, it's not like I'm necessarily opposed to that,” I shoot back. “It's just... My parents are visiting.” I'm not jazzed about it. I have no idea why they're bothering to come all the way here. And they picked the worst possible weekend to do it, too. I know they'll have some shitty comments about the gays during the Orkney Pride festival.

The day drags on. I walk around, do some shopping. Haven't been getting a lot of jobs lately. Maybe that's a good thing. The spirits of Orkney are in a good place now, that they can take care of themselves. But now what am I supposed to do? I stop by the park, pull out my notebook, try to get some writing done. Nah, it's no use. I can't come up with anything good. Never had, never will.

Night falls rather quickly. I have to get home early. Might as well get enough sleep for work tomorrow. I'm lost in thought, turning the corner to the street of my apartment. And then it happens. All of a sudden, something large and black jumps right in front of me, then jumps away immediately. It's followed by something more human-like landing in its place.

Oh, great. This asshole.

“You again!” the one allegedly known as Morgan Kraft growls upon noticing me. “Quit bothering me!” What? I didn't even mean to run into him this time. It's almost as if someone is constantly setting us up-

Morgan makes a frenzied dash towards me, but then I feel something sweep me off my feet and into the air. Darkness clouds my vision. I have no idea what the hell is going on. Oh, right. That apparition that keeps appearing along with Morgan, as though they're always fighting. It always takes the shape of a fomorian, and looks eerily like Bres.

Geez, how high am I going up? I just hope this thing doesn't drop me. All the sounds of the city start to die out until there's nothing but dead silence. I can't even feel night air anymore. It's just... stagnant space.

“Thanks, Indech. I'll take it from here.”

Indech? So it's not Bres after all.

There's this... jerky sensation. I'm suddenly thrown into a completely different environment. I yelp from the abrupt change in stimuli. The air is cool and musty. Is this a cavern? No, it's some kind of underground church. And there's a guy. He's dressed like he's at the Renaissance fair. Leather armor, gauntlets, and he's got a spear in his right hand. He's already in the middle of saying something, but not to me. “Was it all lies, Teo? The Communion made every human in Orkay vessel to the dragons.”

I turn to look at who he's talking to. He's up at the altar, his back facing us, wearing white robes. I guess he's the minister at this church. “It was the doing of that accursed Suarra, who stole dear Cibran's form,” the clergyman says.

“No! Suarra saw the ritual undone!” the spearman yells. “Speak the truth!”

I can see the shoulders tensing on the guy in white. “Alda, do you mean to tell me you have allied with a fell dragon?”

“Fell dragon? And what of Visucius?” the one called Alda spits back. “He is no holy dragon of God! It is a false name of Chaos!”

Nothing. I can hear condensation dripping from the stone walls, echoing throughout the entire chamber. Then chilling laughter emanates from the guy in white. “I am possessor to many names. Leviathan. Jormungand. Illuyanka. Dahaka. Vritra.”

“Typhon,” Alda adds. His eyes flare up with rage.

“Ah. That name. In the land of Ioulida, I bore that name when I met my defeat to those two knaves. Kristoforos and Nicholas. But they cannot stop me now. Nor you, nor Eogan, nor Suarra.”

Alda tightens his grip on his spear. “Aberration of the abyss! I'll not let you wear my friend's skin and defile his image any longer!” He charges right in my direction. I tense up, but I feel absolutely nothing as he passes straight through me. Yeah, I figured by now that he couldn't see me and I'm having some kind of weird vision.

The man in white turns around just as Alda reaches the altar. Alda stops for some reason.

“Alda? What's happening?” the man's voice is softer, more timid.

The spear in Alda's hands tremble. “Teo, is that you?” he chokes.

I have to get a closer look. But as I'm approaching the two of them I hear this strange noise, like a wet, splattering, puncturing impact. The tip of a blade is sticking out of Alda's back, soaked in blood. I freeze where I am. Holy shit. This is an actual fucking murder I'm witnessing. And I finally see the face of Teo, the man in white.

Just to fill everyone in, yes, I’m becoming more and more inactive... mainly due to a general loss of interest in porn. I don’t really come on here that much or check my messages anymore... sorry to those I haven’t responded to. 

I still have a desire to finish Folklore for the sake of completing a story I have already put so much time into, but it’s not as pressing, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take for me to reach the end. I will say that it’s getting close though, plotwise Ordinary Humans and War of the Dragons are nearing their final arcs.

Anyways, thanks to those who are still here.

Type: ???

Folkloric origin: Eldritch

The mindflayer is unique in that it is actually a human transformed into horrific creature with tentacles all over its face and sickly skin. With a single touch they can magically latch on to a human, slowly sapping them of their intelligence. This process can be hastened drastically by devouring the victim’s mind using its tentacles, rendering them almost catatonic. 

Transformation into a mindflayer requires infestation by an illithid tadpole that enters via orifice. This process is called ceremorphosis. The tadpole does not possess the human but rather forms a symbiotic bond, although they do cause the insatiable thirst for draining intelligence in their host. Most frighteningly, illithids can reproduce asexually with time, allowing new mindflayers to be created. Mindflayers can return to a human appearance at will, allowing them to blend in when needed.

Ceremorphosis