Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2023 20:59:38 -0600
From: Thanh Tran <thanhjtriet@gmail.com>
Subject: Traveler From The Moon Chapter 1

Traveler From the Moon
By Thanh Tran

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

This story is a work of erotic science fiction and contains explicit
depictions of sex acts between consenting men and/or fictional non-human
creatures with male anatomy. There are also darker scenes of horror and
violence. Anything more extreme will have a content warning at the start of
the chapter. This story should not be read by children or anyone who finds
such content upsetting.

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

Chapter 1 - Yichen Song

It was 2 AM. The power had gone out for the fourth time at Camp Smallwood
where the juniors and seniors stayed for their Summer Art Retreat. Rain
poured from the sky in buckets, turning the restrooms into a creek outside
the cabin window. For most people, it was a good time to stay indoors and
in bed, but for Yichen Song, it was the perfect time to leave. This was the
site where his ship had crashed on Earth 18 years ago, and this was the
first chance he'd had to get back to it with all the pieces in place. For
the first time since he'd repaired the controller, the planets were in the
proper alignmment from the star chart he'd memorized, which would light up
the wormhole leading to his home planet like a beacon once he'd passed Mars
at a quarter tilt, sending him back to his true home and his true people
after all this time. The night was warm, despite the rain, and almost
peaceful, despite the occasional lightning. He would go undetected. The
only compromise he had to make was to get a little wet in the process.

The boy's human form was short and thin with light tan skin, high cheeks,
piercing brown eyes, and epicanthal folds. He had straight black hair that
was long on top and buzzed off on the sides, giving him bangs that
sometimes fell into his eyes. He bundled up his rain coat and hood around
himself, taking care not to wake any of the sleeping high schoolers or
adult chaperones. He opened the door slowly, looking outside into the
pouring rain, mentally preparing himself for the trek through the rain. If
all went well, his disappearance would go unnoticed until he was no longer
on the planet to be found.

All of the sudden, lightning struck. Thunder shook the building. Teryn, who
was sitting guard for him on the stairs to the sleeping quarters, jumped up
and cried in panic. Smart as he was, he couldn't help acting like a little
boy at times. Song cringed and listened closely for anyone else who might
be coming to check out the noise.

The thin shirtless black 18 year old clamped his mouth shut with both
hands, trying to take back his loud scream. He stood a few inches taller
than Song and had dark skin, dark brown eyes, rounded cheeks, and a patch
of a goatee. He had on his favorite pair of Broncos pajama bottoms that he
wore almost every night, regardless of the weather, along with bright
orange socks. His hair was getting long and growing into a messy afro that
he hated getting cut at the barber's because of his sensitive skin and the
close contact with a stranger. Song had started cutting it for him, which
he seemed to find much more relaxing, and momentarily lamented not having
done it one final time before he had to go.

"I'm sorry," whispered Teryn, eyes darting up the stairs to see if anyone
heard and was coming down.

Song wordlessly went over and put his hand on his shoulder.

"I can't help it," winced his friend. "You shouldn't a woke me up."

"It's okay." He looked him full in the eyes. "I want you here."

Song hugged him tight, rubbing his upper bare back with his fingertips in a
gentle massage the way he liked. He had a light smell of lavender
deodorant. Were it not for his short window of opportunity, he would have
stayed to embrace him for longer, burning the memory of his best friend's
body into his mind so he'd never forget it. Teryn had an odd pressure point
on the back of his neck that he said gave him a blissful, almost orgasmic
feeling when it was stimulated. Song gently kneaded his fingers into the
spot just the way he liked, and he moaned and shuttered in response, his
watery eyes turning to laughter. "You hadta hit me there before you go!"

This boy was the only one Song had told his secrets to, and Teryn had
helped him every step of the way, even going so far as to find out about
the Summer Art Retreat so that he could get into this private campground
without hiking through a mile of wilderness or arousing suspicion by trying
to travel through a fenced off and guarded path.

Song felt Teryn's erection against his waist, and breaking their hug caused
it to rise out to a full tent in his pajama bottoms. He blushed and covered
it with his hands. That had been happening a lot lately. To make matters
worse for his friend, he had a short fuse, and it wasn't uncommon to see
him just tense up and cum in his pants without even being touched,
especially when the two slept next to each other. Song used to cut class to
bring him his gym clothes in a bathroom stall at school. Hopefully he'll
find a hot boyfriend someday that will be able to make him feel good in
every way possible. Song leaned up and kissed him on the lips, savoring him
one last time before going back to his task at hand.

"Remember," said Song. "I went to take a shit. I have diarrhea. If they
want to come out for me, say anything to stall them. Tell them I'm waiting
for the storm to die down to come back in. Tell them I'm jerking
it. Anything. Make them call me too to buy time." His phone was a thousand
miles away in his friend Andrew's bedroom, who'd agreed to be another
accomplice without knowing any of the details. If things took too long and
they tried to geolocate his phone, it would show him as being inside the
campground, but in the complete opposite direction of the crashed ship.

"Will you ever come back?" Teryn asked in a small voice.

The answer to that question had always been an unspoken no. If he were able
to reactivate the crashed ship with the controller in his pocket and the
knowledge he'd built up since becoming stranded here as an infant, it would
take him to his real home and Yichen Song would cease to exist, having gone
out on a rainy night and disappeared for good.

"You done so much for me, and..." Teryn sniffled loudly.

Song stepped out into the storm and pulled the door behind him, stopping
with just a sliver of cabin left in his view, his best friend's brown eyes
on his. "Teryn," he whispered loudly through the crack. "I love you." He
pulled it the rest of the way closed before he could respond and hurried
away.

For all he knew, the earlier scream had woken up the adult chaperones, who
were now out of bed coming after him after hearing the front door close. He
took off with a run along the muddy path into the forest. Coordinates 36,
56 on the map. He'd memorized it. Should be a ten minute hike from the
cabin, past the path to the cave where they'd explored with the full group
earlier that day. He slipped on the mud, crashing into a tree and slicing
his cheek on a branch. He steadied himself and continued more carefully
down the path. Maybe fifteen minutes in this weather, but the adults would
also be slowed down by it if anyone was out to follow him.

As he got closer, he heard a friendly beep and was filled with
elation. From the pocket of his poncho, he pulled out a geode-like rock
with a spherical black device slotted in the center of an amythest
shell. It had turned on of its own accord. After so many years and the
repairs he made learning on the job, it was actually working. He forgot
about the rain pouring down on his head as he stared at his device, such a
wonderful accomplishment brought to fruition. Six pieces of it had littered
the ground next to where he lay as an infant, and it was a miracle all had
been recovered and could be put back together.

The device beeped three times in quick succession, and a large transparent
sphere began to shimmer before his eyes in a small clearing ahead of
him. The ground was marked with a telltale crater that had long since been
reclaimed by the forest, but no trees had regrown there. The sphere was
about 15ft in diameter and covered in a smooth metallic surface with a
visual cloaking device that the device was slowly deactivating, melting it
off like liquid mercury and revealing the blue-gray sheen. Song reached out
to touch it, looking for the door hatch, and his hand went right through
the metal like it was only a hologram. The assimilated knowledge he had
aquired had never mentioned this. But it made sense that the ship had such
a security feature so it wouldn't be looted or destroyed by hikers,
animals, or the elements while parked on a strange planet. Song fiddled
with the device, attempting to find the control to make the ship tangible.

He pressed a few buttons. A shrill beep came from the device, causing him
to jump back and nearly drop it. It spoke loudly in a language he couldn't
understand, but in his head, he heard the words, "Unauthorized biomass
detected!" Was the ship rejecting him? Even transformed, he was still the
same organism that had to have been previously authorized.

He mashed different buttons on the geode controller and kept getting more
shrill beeps and "Unauthorized biomass detected!"

Song hoped he'd never have to do this while still on Earth, not after what
he did to that boy out in the woods that day. But he realized he might need
to transform back into his own species in order for the craft to recognize
him. He removed his raincoat and threw it to the ground, then his
sweatshirt, then his undershirt, standing out in the rain in his bare
chest. It wasn't a cold rain, fortunately. He looked at his shoes sunk in
an inch of mud and decided to do those last.

Looking both ways on instinct from his time as a human, he untied his nylon
gym shorts and gripped them and his boxers to pull down in one fell
swoop. But at that moment, he heard a noise out in the woods from the way
he came. Lots of noise. Could someone be coming after him? It sounded like
multiple people if so. Did Teryn let something slip? No, Teryn wouldn't
betray him. Song had done little to nothing to cover his tracks on the trek
up and probably gave them an easy trail to follow.

Leaving his shorts on, he hurriedly took the device in hand and kept
pressing buttons, trying to get the ship to disappear. More shill
shrieks. More "Unauthorized biomass detected!" He saw the beams of two
flashlights on the tree at the clearing's entrance where the controller had
first activated. Thinking fast as his pursuers approached, the only other
option he could think of was to leave the area with the geode to deactivate
the ship like it had been before he arrived. According to the knowledge,
that should cause it to hide itself again. He left his clothes on the
ground, running into the trees on the opposite side of the clearing from
the flashlights. What would the chaperones do if they saw a giant metallic
sphere out in the woods with his clothes next to it? If he could be sure
transforming would cause the ship to accept him, he could give them a show
and be off. Nobody would ever believe them. But if the problem was
something else entirely, he'd just end up captured if they managed to
overpower him.

Song kept moving until he couldn't see the clearing behind him any
longer. The controller's light had turned back to a soft blue. He didn't
know if that meant it had disappeared. The knowledge he was calling upon
said nothing about reactivating the cloaking device, only about the ship
and controller activating in proximity of each other.

He had to find a place to hide until they gave up looking for him. He sat
down behind a big oak tree in an inch of water just as a flashlight beam
passed over the forest in front of him with the tree blocking its view.

There were three people in the group, each wearing a heavy raincoat. For a
rescue mission, none of them were calling out his name but instead loudly
chatting among themselves. It was impossible to make out their faces
through the rain, but he noticed one of them was very tall and had a bushy
brown beard, fitting the description of Raymond Gurzler, the wannabe drill
sergeant asshole of the adult chaperones who had shown up seemingly only to
cause paina and misery for the sissy art students. Song wouldn't be talking
his way out of this one if Raymond were the one to find him out there with
his clothes next to a spaceship.

All of a sudden, the controller in his hand gave off a loud shriek and an
"Unauthorized Biomass Detected!" Barely a moment passed and all three
flashlights were suddenly on him. He heard yells from the men.

"Hands up!" roared Raymond in his gruff voice

Before he could decide whether to run, fight, or try to talk it out, he
heard popping sounds fill the air. They had guns. They were shooting guns
at him. One hit a tree five feet from where Song stood, sending a deafening
crack through the air. The rain fortunately made it hard for them to aim.

Song ran in the opposite direction veering wildly left and right to make a
moving target, hearing four more popping sounds behind him. He seemed to
have lost them in the dark when his device suddenly shrieked again, echoing
across the forest and alerting them to his location, which they quickly
circled around to. Now that they knew what he was, there was no chance of
escape back into the human world without killing them. He had to get the
spaceship to work and fast. He was thinking about all this as he ran and
didn't see the dark figure in his path, crashing right into him and sending
them both tumbling to the ground.

It was Teryn, still shirtless in the rain with his Broncos pajama bottoms
soaked all the way through. "Ow," he said.

"Are you okay?" Song whispered as he quickly stood again, pulling Teryn up
to his feet.

Teryn nodded. He stammered so fast Song could barely understand him. "Don't
go to your spaceship. It's Raymond, Frank, and that other bald guy. They
have guns. They have another one of your device and it keeps beeping to
tell them where you are." Song showed the controller to him, which was
silent and pulsating a blue light. "Get rid of it," Teryn pleaded, reaching
for it.

"I can't!" Song pulled it away and started walking fast again with his
friend on his tail.

"It's not worth it! Please!" said Teryn. "They know what you are! They'll
kill you!"

"Did you tell them?"

"I didn't!" he cried. "I would never!" The flashlights from behind stopped
on something in the distance, and there were more gunshots. Teryn shrieked
involuntarily into his hands and started shaking. "The device. See if it's
what they want. Try and trade it for them to let you live." There was a
massive crash that shook the ground like they'd just cut down the tallest
tree in the woods, and then silence.

"What?! Live where? In a glass case?"

"You're the only person who's important to me. My family...my ex
family... None of them is any good like you."

"Go back to the cabin!"

"But..."

They ran out of the forest and back onto the road going through the camp,
both breathing heavily. Having lost the pursuers, they took a moment to
rest. The geode controller had gone completely dark.

Teryn leaned against Song. "What all can they do with their device?" His
afro was matted down from the rain.

"I don't know. Depends on what knowledge they've assimilated. If they found
a way for humans to use it, then quite a lot." More than me, he
thought. They knew enough to use a second controller to locate mine. But
they must not have been able to use it to find the ship themselves,
otherwise they could have just ambushed me there. These people must have
known what I was planning and waited until I left so they could kill me and
make it look I'd just ran off on some whim and disappeared.

"Can they do anything if they get yours?"

"No idea. I only just learned there was more than one."

Suddenly, they heard a sound coming from above within the trees that
sounded like rain hitting a sheet of metal. Up high and floating on its own
was a single metal sphere the size of a basketball being pounded by the
rain with a single blue light on the front. Song tapped Teryn's shoulder
and pointed up at it, making as small of movements as possible. As soon as
his friend turned his head to look right at it, the light turned off, and
it fled at high speed back into the woods toward the crash site. Off in the
distance, there were faint popping sounds, possibly more gunshots, that
couldn't be aimed at them.

"Go back to the cabin," said Song. "Pretend you know nothing."

"I can't leave you," he said. Song couldn't help but give him a hug. They
embraced briefly out in the rain, both bare chested, with Teryn's erection
poking his waist. Song was asexual toward humans, being a different
species. He wished his dear friend would find a lover that could make him
feel bliss in every way imaginable. But there was no time for that. He put
his hands on Teryn's butt and pulled him closer, bringing his erection into
closer contact, and he moaned.

Song gave him a quick kiss on the lips, breaking the hug. "I love you. But
I'm going to either leave Earth during the alignment or die trying," Song
said. "You can't come with me."

Teryn lowered his eyes in quiet acceptance. "I'm with you until you leave."

"Alright," said Song. He looked all around the road and didn't see any
signs of their pursuers, nor the UFO. "Did they just give up, or...?"

"Probably guarding your spaceship now."  "Or maybe you're on the right
track and they're trying to get in with their stone." Song fingered the
geode thinking deeply about the knowledge he'd assimilated which told him
nothing about how a human could have made another one or had found out
about it in the first place. Teryn was the only one who he'd told any of
that to. If more of his species were on Earth with their ships and
technology, things would start to make sense, but then there was the
question of what anyone hoped to accomplish by giving it to humans to stop
him from leaving.

Song transferred the stone to his left hand and held Teryn's hand with his
right as they walked. The rain was beginning to die down. Slowly, they
walked another half mile to the parking lot in the dark.

"So, I have a plan for now. For all that I still don't know about this
tech, there's one thing I do know to do with it," said Song. "You're not
going to like it."

"Steal a car?"

"Has to be something with a remote start." They peered through the windows
of the vehicles of adult chaperones and other staff, most of which being
old pieces of crap that definitely didn't have remote start anything. Song
remembered something and laughed out loud.

"What?"  He walked over to a blue van and searched his assimilated
knowledge for a button combination to input into the controller. The
vehicle started, and the doors unlocked. "Raymond's van," said Song. "If he
wants to keep me out of my ship, we can trade for a while."

Teryn giggled and got into the passenger seat, immediately turning on the
heat to full blast and reclining back, physically spent, stretching out his
drenched pajama bottoms. There was all kinds of garbage on the
floor--papers, empty snack boxes, and two broken ice scrapers.

Song pulled out and drove down the road in the opposite direction of the
cabin, through the long winding path that ended at a chained fence next to
a small booth. The booth was empty. Even knowing nobody was probably out
there, the thought of leaving the vehicle to undo the chain left him on
edge. Teryn squeezed his hand and nodded. He had trouble pulling the chain
off and kept making glances all around, paranoid about the sphere he'd
seen. He jumped back in the van and sped off, not bothering to return to
reattach the chain. The pursuers would know they left this way when they
noticed Raymond's missing vehicle anyway.

He drove to the highway, doing all he could to follow all traffic laws and
not get stopped. Who knows how long until the van is reported missing?
Plus, his license was in his wallet that he'd left in Teryn's bag back at
the cabin, never expecting to need it again. "Teryn, do you have any money
with you?" he asked.

He pulled out his smartphone from his drenched pajama pockets. "I can get
on my bank account."

"I might need some kind of weapon."

"I'll buy a piece myself and blow Raymond's brains out for you."

"You couldn't fire a gun." Song smirked.

"I'll wear earplugs," said Teryn. Song hoped he wasn't serious. He loved
how innocent his friend was and hoped he'd never end up killing someone,
especially not to protect him.

They traveled for three hours before stopping at a gas station that had an
outdoor restroom since they didn't have shirts. And then, figuring the car
would be reported missing soon, they left it at McDonald's and started
walking down a busy morning street in Minnesota, two shirtless boys in
their gym shorts and pajamas in the sprinkling rain.

It wasn't long before a guy in his 40s stopped to offer them a ride, not
even questioning why they were out there like that. He introduced himself
as Sam and took them to Super 8, staring at their chests in the rearview
mirror the entire way there, sneaking feels onto the growing bulge in his
khaki shorts. He told Teryn he could strip to his boxers to wring his PJ's
out in the back, which he ignored. Song told Sam he'd give him a show in
exchange for his shirt, which he declined but started to unbutton his dress
shirt anyway and take off his undershirt beneath. As his side of the
bargain, Song knelt on the back seat and pulled his shorts down, showing
Sam his uncut 4 inch cock with a sparse patch of pubic hair. Teryn stared
with an open-mouthed blush and covered his own crotch. The man stuck his
hand in his shorts and had an orgasm, bringing it back out covered in a
spurt of semen which he wiped on his undershirt that he threw to Song. It
was a few sizes too big but covered enough to get him into stores. He gave
Song his number on a sheet of paper in case he wanted to play, which he
politely accepted and then shoved into the seam of the car seat while the
man wasn't looking.

They called Song's friend Andrew back home and got a room in his name, and,
as a bonus, they had him make a reservation on Song's phone to a motel up
north 4 hours away to throw off the authorities' trail. Beaten and
exhausted, they finally checked into their room at midday with a pile of
snacks from the convenience store.

"I can't believe you flashed that dude. Like bro," laughed Teryn after he
flopped on the only bed in their room. Teryn wouldn't believe the half of
what Song had done for him in the past. This was on the tame side, all
things considered.

"The things you have to do to get a shirt." Song took it off and threw it
to the corner of the room in a ball next to his muddy socks.

"You look better without," said Teryn, throwing his damp pajama bottoms to
the same corner and standing there in his green boxers.

Song admired his friend's chest. He had tan dime-sized nipples and an innie
bellybutton with the start of a black curly happy trail leading into his
pajama bottoms and a small oval of chest hair on his sternum. He reached
out and grabbed Teryn's hand. "I have an idea for what to do about this
situation, but I'm too tired now. Let's just sleep for a bit."

"Yeah," he said. "Want to take a warm bath first?"

"With you?" asked Song. Teryn's face lit up with a smile and he blushed so
hard that he physically shook. He stammered out a reply and sat up in bed,
still holding Song's hands and looking into his eyes with a lustful gaze.

"We never done this before, are you sure?"

"I want to make you feel good. It's long overdue."

They walked to the bathroom hand in hand, Teryn's growing erection starting
to come out his fly. There was no tub for a bath, but there was a shower
big enough to share.

Teryn put his hands on Song's waist and kissed him passionately, rubbing
his boner against his lover, while Song put his on Teryn's ass. In between
kisses, Teryn gripped Song's waistband and pulled his pants and boxers all
the way down and then broke away, seeming to just be standing there and
checking him out. Song's uncut cock remained flaccid, which he knew was a
disappointment, the glitch that showed his body was only an illusion.

Song lightly tugged on Teryn's boxers and he pulled them down himself,
stepping all the way out of them and freeing his trapped erection to bask
in its full glory, a 5 inch pipe with a pronounced curve up and to the left
and bulbous tan head below a mane of coarse black hair. His friend blushed
fiercely and radiated embarrassment at his erection being exposed, moving
his hands to cover it.

Song giggled and lightly grabbed his hands, inches away from his goods,
pulling them away and holding them. Teryn was visibly shaking and breathing
hard, staring into his eyes with a mix of desire and bashfulness.

"I love you," whispered Song, moving in to kiss his full lips again.

"I love you too." Teryn tried to say more, but stumbled over his words and
lost the ability to speak, instead opting to kiss back several more times.

"Can I play with it?"

Without even being touched, Teryn's pulse quickened and his breaths got
shallower. He closed his eyes and nodded, moving his hands to Song's back.
Song knew about his short fuse and didn't want him to erupt too fast, so
decided to take things slow. He gingerly moved his hand down and let the
curve of his dick rest in the palm of his hand. Teryn exhaled deeply. He
closed his hand around the shaft and heard a high pitched moan.

Song began stroking it lightly, kissing him down the neck as his lover
froze up in ecstasy. It was rock solid and jumping in his hand.

"That feels so good," whispered Teryn, pulling him up for a kiss.

Song pulled back his foreskin and rubbed his thumb over his moist,
sensitive head, and Teryn purred and started to hyperventilate a bit,
tightening his grip on Song's shoulders. "Gonna cum fast if you do that."

He took his hands off his cock and started fondling his balls, lightly
massaging them and sticking two fingers between his legs to rub along his
perineum. With one hand working on his groin, he moved the other up to play
with his right nipple, which got even more forceful moans into his mouth as
they made out. He squirmed from the sensations, thrusting his pelvis
lightly to touch Song with his hard shaft.

Song moved back out of its reach and pushed Teryn into the shower wall,
then started a full assault on both his nipples at once, squeezing and
pressing them as he kissed the side of his neck. He gripped Song's wrists
with two shaking hands to steady himself and let out a rapid series of
moans from the pleasure and hyperventilating. His cock, moist with precum,
kept flexing and desperately trying to reach him but falling just short.

"Oh my god," breathed Teryn. "I can't take it anymore."

"Want to cum in my mouth?"

"Are you sure?" he asked while already pushing down his shoulders to feel
the first mouth on his cock. "I'm gonna go so fast."

Song got down on his knees on the dry shower floor. He grabbed Teryn's
foreskin again and pulled it all the way down, jerking to the end of his
shaft. Teryn moaned and panted out loud, rubbing his lover's shoulders, the
exposed head inches from Song's mouth. Sticking his tongue out a little
ways, Song looked up in Teryn's brown eyes as he licked the tan head of his
shaft like he was sampling an ice cream cone. Teryn let out a loud squeak
and tensed up, his hands on Song's shoulders shaking as he rubbed him,
signaling he was teetering over the edge.

And then Song plunged his head down on it, taking his full cock in his
mouth and massaging it with its tongue. One. Two. Three. Four pumps was all
it took to send his best friend over the top.

"I'm releasing!" Teryn squeaked, hitting Song once on the shoulder. His
voice cracked with a long, unbroken moan as his dick jumped in Song's mouth
spewing out three big bursts of cum and firing several more blanks.

Slowly, he deflated and began to gasp for air. He laughed at Song, pulling
him back up to his feet. Song opened his mouth wide, the bitter load still
on his tongue. "Spit it out already, that's nasty!" Teryn giggled and
scooped it out with his finger onto the shower floor. "Shit, I came a lot!"
The dollup was the size of his big toe. "That was so good. You're so sexy."
He pulled Song in for another long kiss.

"About that shower..." said Song with a grin.

"We got so wet already tonight. Or is it today now?" He turned it on,
moving his sensitive upper back away from the stream. They began to wash
each other quickly and delicately, stopping for brief kisses. By the time
they were done and drying off, Song noticed Teryn was already getting hard
again.

They walked to bed hand in hand, stopping to close the blinds to block out
the midday sun. In bed, they embraced face-to-face, with Teryn's rock hard
erection poking Song in the belly as they kissed. The dark lines under his
eyes showed he needed sleep, but his cock clearly had other ideas.

Song turned around and played little spoon, pulling the covers over them,
moving his ass crack to mesh with Teryn's hardness like a hot dog in a bun,
eliciting a moan from him. "You're so sexy," whispered his lover in his
ear. He reached around to Song's soft cock, pulling back the foreskin to
finger the sensitive head. "Do you like this?"

"Yeah," whispered Song, feeling a pang of guilt at ruining his friend's
moment by not being hard. "I'm not human," he said as an apology.

Teryn moved his hand to Song's bare chest. "You're the sexiest, most
handsome, most cutest man alive." He held him tight, brushing his fuzzy
goatee against Song's shoulder. "I want to hold you every night like this."

"It's nice," said Song.

"I want to be able to hold you like this again," said Teryn with a cracking
voice. Song rubbed the hand that was on his chest. "You staying one more
night was the best thing that's ever happened. The best thing."

Song said nothing and stared at the wall illuminated by the sun shining
through the crack in the blinds. Finally he whispered, "I'm sorry. I have
to leave."

"Why you gotta go?" Teryn had started to cry and was doing little to hide
it.

"Because I'm not human."

"You act like you're not welcome here. Just...just stay like you are
now. Please."

"People want to kill me here. And I don't want to just pretend to be
someone else forever. I've got my own self underneath that I've just never
gotten to be."

"But you're great no matter what you are. We can be together and hide
somewhere. You can change to your true form for me."

"I can't."

"I don't care what you look like."

"And I believe you. But the thing is, once I change back, I can't become
human again easily. Yichen Song no longer exists. I can't just turn into
him again."

"But why not?"

"You're not going to like the answer."

"Tell me! Please! You can trust me, no matter what!" He gripped Song's
hands.

Song replied somberly, deciding to finally let Teryn in on one of his worst
secrets of all. "I can't just decide what form I take. If I want to take
someone's appearance, I have to kill them in the process."

*