Here’s a snippet from Invictus, Chapter 12, which will be posted in full tomorrow! Teldryn has an unsettling dream laced with frustrating riddles and overt sexual metaphors - thanks Vivec.
Teldryn had a slightly difficult time falling asleep. He had stayed up reading as much of Vivec’s sermons as he could stomach, but once his eyes had begun to droop he had put them down immediately. Aerik slept almost silently beside him, which possibly meant he was also having trouble drifting off. Teldryn drummed his fingers against his chest, staring up at the ceiling. Where his eyes had felt heavy mere moments ago, now they seemed unable to close. It didn’t help that this blasted inn had no doors for any of their rooms. The hearthfire from the main room cast long shadows across the ceiling, flickering and undulating against the rough wooden planks.
Movement across the door drew his attention in that direction. Someone had just walked by. But no… that wasn’t entirely correct. He could have sworn he just saw someone float by. With one final glance at Aerik, Teldryn pushed back the covers, getting to his feet. The floor felt surprisingly warm beneath them. He decided against shoes, choosing to pad barefoot and shirtless out into the great room. Silence greeted him. All the patrons were gone, even the innkeeper was nowhere to be seen. Asleep, most likely. Whomever Teldryn had seen pass by their door had long disappeared, though they couldn’t have gone far. With curiosity getting the better of him, he walked silently to the front door of the inn, opening it and swiftly stepping outside.
His body seized up, freezing him to the spot.
The air was hot and thick with ash, a warm breeze blowing bits of debris into his eyes and nose. Before him stretched the ash wastes - endless, lifeless. Towering before him, dominating the landscape, was the Red Mountain, billowing plumes of smoke. He squinted, looking around, trying to remember what he was doing - why he was here.
Off in the distance ahead of him he saw a figure, walking away from him. Was that the person he’d seen? Had he seen anyone at all? Teldryn took a tentative step forward. The ash was hot beneath his feet. He stumbled forward into a jog, running in the direction of the figure, who remained just out of reach, walking along at a calm pace. The Red Mountain seemed to loom impossibly bigger in front of him, curling forward, blocking the sky. He could see trails of lava rolling down his sides, like white hot veins. Like blood. He was bleeding.
He?
The figure wasn’t getting any closer, even as Teldryn broke into a sprint, pushing himself harder, faster, muscles protesting and lungs burning against the hot smoke and ash. He wanted to call out, but he was afraid to hear his own voice. The Mountain rumbled, a fresh expulsion of molten lava rocketing skywards followed by thick plumes of smoke. So much smoke. He had to make sure Llunela and Ryne were alright. He pushed forward, ducking his head against the smog, shielding his eyes from the heat. Rivers of lava were closing in around him on either side, scorching his legs. The figure was just up ahead; he was closer. Teldryn opened his mouth to call to him only to stumble, pitching forward, too fast to stop himself. Lava rushed up to meet him and he watched with horror as his hands sunk into the molten liquid, his skin melting from his bones.
It didn’t hurt.
Teldryn could only watch as the lava sluggishly engulfed what was left of his arms, his feet, his knees, his thighs. He looked up to see that the figure had turned to watch, still too far away to see clearly. Teldryn closed his eyes as the lava reached his chest. He felt his skin sloughing off his body numbly. The heat was intense, blistering, and he should have been terrified or screaming or at least fighting, but instead he felt overcome with an odd sense of calm. It was familiar. He felt the lava consume his face, pushing into his mouth, filling him.
He opened his eyes.
The heat and ash were gone, vanished. He was sitting upright, legs crossed, as if he were sitting in meditation. The room was black, wall-less, it dimensions stretching endlessly around him. Was it a room? There was a door, so it must be a room.
It was a perfect triangle, standing alone in the center without any support to hold it up. Slowly, Teldryn got to his feet and approached it, one foot in front of the other, careful, precise. His feet felt wet, but the floor was dry. The floor was hot. Steam rose from where he stepped, hissing like snakes. The door was just ahead. There was someone on the other side, also approaching him. He held out his hand and the figure did the same. Lightly, they made contact, fingertips brushing.
It was himself.
It was a mirror.
“Who are you?” they asked in unison.
“Look,” a voice behind him said.
Teldryn felt every hair on the back of his neck slowly rise, the sensation trickling down his spine and into the soles of his feet. He slowly turned around. A face, two-toned, so very close to his own. A man hovering off the ground, sitting cross-legged in the air. The light jingling of jewelry, bangles hitting one another, like small bells, like a secret ritual. Eyes - so dark and so ancient that he felt a primitive terror rip through his body like a lightning strike. Half golden; half gray. The man smiled. White teeth. Feral. Loving. He reached out with slender fingers, cool to the touch against Teldryn’s burning skin, turning him back around to face the door. Those lovely hands slid across his shoulders, up his neck, across his face, through his hair. He felt his eyes flutter closed, a soft moan escaping his lips. It was terrifying; it was ecstasy.
“Look,” Vivec said into his ear. Teldryn’s eyes snapped open. He looked. His head was guided, cradled between Vivec’s hands, turned sideways, the door tilting, teetering on the edge, about to fall, about to shatter. He only saw himself.
“Wake up.”
Teldryn gasped awake, sitting bolt upright in bed. Aerik startled into consciousness next to him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, panicked hands reaching out in the dark to grab Teldryn’s shoulders. Teldryn was shaking slightly as he looked around the room. Everything seemed to be normal. Then again, so had everything in his dream. It felt so real… To his frustration, on top of being utterly disturbed, he also had an erection.
“Perfect,” he mumbled, rubbing his hands vigorously across his ears. The hearthfire from the great room still cast dim light through their open doorway, though this time it was accompanied by the soft murmur of other voices. His eyes drifted to his copy of the sermons that still sat innocently on the bedside table.
“Tel?” Aerik tried again, sitting up fully beside him, running a warm hand across his back. Teldryn’s mind wandered back to the very real feeling of Vivec’s cool, long fingers against his skin, his lips moving against the shell of his ear. He shuddered, ashamed and aroused. Aerik placed a kiss on his back, pulling gently on his shoulder to get him to lie down.
“No more reading those damn sermons before bed,” Teldryn grumbled.
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