Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 11:35:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Gay Writer Subject: Earth Reborn: Chapter 4 - Life and Loss The following is a complete work of fiction. Any resemblance between the characters and any real life person is completely coincidental. Please do not copy or distribute the story without the author's permission. Disclaimer: The following story contains erotic homosexual situations. If it is illegal for you to read this please leave now. *** This is a completely revised version of the original story... If you are lost or confused please read it from the beginning in its entirety. Chapter 4 - The Dawn My eyes opened and I found myself lying in the same hospital bed that I had been in thirteen days ago. The smell of antiseptics as strong as before assaulted my nose. "Morning Bransen" I said in my sleep slurred speech. "Morning Khore" he answered looking very well rested but concerned. "Sleep well?" I asked as I tried sitting up further in my hospital bed instead making myself content by finding the button to elevate the head. "Sleep Well did you ask?" the Doc snarled barging into the room slamming the door behind him. "Did you ask him if he slept well?" "That's all anyone could DO after your orgy induced escapades from last night! It was by sheer dumb luck that it was so late when you spiraled that energy through the complex. Most couples were already in their beds, but I can tell you this much, the maintenance people are NOT impressed with the mess that was made in Rec room!!" he ranted. A giggle escaped me at the thought of it. "How's Jason err Dusty doing?" I smiled in my dopey expression feeling kind of drunk. "What the hells wrong with you!?" Doc said defeated as he crossed the room to check my vitals and reflexes. "He's doing very well in spite of the workout you put him through." He finally added. "If I didn't know better I'd swear you were piss drunk." Doc muttered. "You are going to stay here under observation until I find out exactly what is going on with you." "You've got til noon Doc." A silly grin planted on my face, I blurted flopping my head to the side to look at Bransen. At least he wasn't yelling at me. "Noon Doc, by then Bransen should have my quarters assigned and ready and I will be moving there. Have Jason install a smaller version of the MFM device and equip it in the room so that if this should happen there, then no one will be affected." I continued with a burst of clarity... only feeling it cloud over again. Nope... too hard to think right now... not going to bother. "Take some more blood, run some tests... show that naked video of me dressing" I chuckled, "have a field day!" For the first time since Doc's entrance Bransen finally spoke up. "It might be for the best Doc. We can have Dusty install another MFM and keep him away from others, at least for the moment." "Yep yep!!!" I quipped, "now... nap time!" I mumbled seeing Doc's aggravated expression turn toward me in the corner of my eye. With that the sounds blended around me as I drifted off into one of many forgettable dreams. My eyes popped open to the sound of steady heavy breathing with a light snore escaping at regular intervals like some machine that was in desperate need of a tune up. Looking around I knew this room. It was the same quarters usually reserved for Kelay. The grey metal walls were darkly lit with only the stray picture hung here and there to break the monotony. The room was ten foot across by ten foot deep. A desk with connected work table filled the right wall from corner to corner adjacent the bed with a chair tucked between its legs barely giving enough room for passage. In the left corner of the room on the front wall was the entry door to the quarters, and directly adjacent to it on the left wall was the door leading to the bathroom room that contained a very small sink, toilet, and standing shower with room barely for two. A shower sounded like a wonderful idea, but not just yet. My bed was a small twin that would fit two persons should the need arise, and I didn't see any reason it shouldn't be used for that right now. "Bransen..." I whispered.... "Bransen.." I whispered slightly louder this time jerking him from his dreams or more possibly his nightmares. "Huh... ?" he grunted as his eyes opened to slits and he started to stretch slightly while pulling himself up into the chair. "Come here.. There is no sense you should sleep in such an uncomfortable place. You know how you get when you don't sleep well." I said scooting over to the right under the woolen blanket making space for him. I sleep on the right, always have. He stood and stumbled climbing over the end of the bed to the pillow I now shoved over for him to rest his head. With as much flair as a bull in an outhouse he climbed under the covers behind me rolling onto his right side as I was. Not knowing what to do, or possibly more unconsciously he flopped his left arm over me for lack of anywhere else to put it. These beds were made for functionality, not convenience and there simply wasn't space to avoid it. I enjoyed the comfort it brought me as I heard his rhythmic breathing almost instantly fall back into its previous pattern as his breath tickled the back of my neck. I pulled his arm tighter around me from behind and enjoyed the warmth of him against my back. I felt safe, and dozed off with that knowledge that should anything ever happen, he would be here to protect me, and I would be able to protect him. I woke some time later feeling the best I had in days before this entire mess with Bransen's arm still in tow as a shield holding me close in his slumber. Lifting his arm gently I felt him resist and pull me in closer grinding his obviously aroused body into mine. I lay still as he adjusted in his sleep. After a few moments passed again I lifted his arm from me and quietly slid my way from his grasp and tangle of covers out of the bed trying not to disturb him. Finally free from the bed, I looked back at him. He was so peaceful looking though his face showed some aggravation in his sleep that he was now alone in the bed. Shifting, he grabbed the pillow in my stead and gave it a tight squeeze comforting himself. He was gorgeous after all. His blond hair spilled around his face onto the pillow in a tangle of yellow chaos. His body was muscular and bore the scars of so many battles before leaving its shiny mementoes here and there across his skin. His eyes now closed are the lightest blue I had seen on anyone. It was like looking deep into the sky the color of his eyes. Quietly I made my way around the bed and to the dresser on his side of the bed. I opened the wardrobe and pulled out a pair of black loose pants, and a billowy cotton blue shirt with sleeves that reached almost half way down the arms. This would do perfectly. I crept to the bathroom clothes in my arms and closed the bathroom door behind me. Putting the clothes on the sink, I lifted the toilet lid and released. Damn that felt good. With a few shakes I tucked myself back into my pants and then opened the shower door and set the water to a medium heat. As steam began to roll through the tiny cubicle I stepped in and did my best to scrub myself clean from the last few days of fighting and sex. Finishing with my hair I opened the door and pulled the towel from the rack located on the nearby wall. Then again.. in here 'everything' was close. Blotting my semi curly brown hair dry I grabbed the clothes I'd selected from the sink and dressed while my damp curls left their mark on my collar and shoulders. I had had bangs before, but after the transformation and my hack job on my mane of hair I simply combed it straight back and let it fall where ever it might, occasionally brushing a wet ringlet of hair back from my eyes. I felt absolutely refreshed. It had been the first time in days. I gathered my dirty clothes and the wet towel and tossed them into the tiny hamper that was wedged between the sink and wall. I got a fresh towel from the cabinet beneath the sink knowing that Bransen would want a fresh shower as well and hung it up on the hook by the door to the shower. Opening the bathroom door quietly I peaked out only to find Bransen sitting up in bed looking directly at me as I was trying to be quiet. Well... no sense in it now. I walked out casually and made my way to the chair he had occupied earlier at the end of the bed. Bransen looked somewhat perplexed and I know what was on his mind. Looking at his quickly wakening expression, "No... we only slept." I had answered his question. "You looked so uncomfortable, and the bed had room for two, and honestly... I needed the comfort of someone I could trust." I said with a little blush rising to my cheeks. "I need to shower." He said with a hint of disappointment in his voice. "There is a fresh towel on the hook. We'll talk when you are finished. Please help yourself to the clothing in the wardrobe. There should be something in there that will fit you. I know it is policy to keep a stock of different sizes just in case." I said to him with a mischievous smile. With that he hopped out of bed and made past me. It was a tight fit and I got a nice view of his muscled ass as he twisted to get past. He picked out a black pair of denim pants and deep blue short sleeve shirt. The shirt, we both knew would be too small, but would accent his powerful chest and arms and make his eyes stand out like stars in the night. He disappeared into the cramped bathroom and soon I heard the water running again. I got up and made the bed taking a moment to stop and smell the pillow that he had used. Yeah... it smelled just like him, fresh with the odor of sleep and his natural cologne. I continued about my work and then returned to the chair to wait for him to finish. When Bransen emerged from the bathroom I had to stifle my surprise. Damn he was hot. He had selected a pair of pants that accented how very small his waist really was. The fabric now barely contained what I felt the night before in my sleepy daze. His chest was broad and strong as it tapered into such a small V of his waist and then bursting out again as his muscled thighs filled the legs of his pants. The shirt as I suspected was like a second skin and clung to every inch of his strong chest rising and falling with his every breath and muscular twitch. "Wow!" I had said not meaning to. "You look very nice." I said awkwardly trying to cover my interest. It wasn't appropriate, and he already had issues he needed to sort out with his previous infatuation of Kelay. I didn't need to be feeding that right now but I wanted to rip his clothes off and run my tongue across his body. No time for that now... we had business to take care of. Strapping his wrist COM on he tapped it and raised it to his mouth. He has such pretty pink lips I thought to myself. "Doc... if you have a few moments, Khore and I would like to meet you in conference room 3 on level 5." he said as he lifted his eyes to me from across the way. "Well it's about damn time!" Doc spat across the COM. "Lose the attitude okay? There are more important things right now... Check your attitude or don't bother." He hissed into the COM as lifted his eyes to my direction. "Shall we?" he asked still looking at me. "Certainly!" I said rising from the chair. To be honest I felt like a new person. I had gone through so many changes, but this was the first time I felt like I was me. A new me none the less.... I didn't know quite how to explain it. Clinically I knew what had happened, and feared Doc's confirmation, but we were still on course, and I would have to explain to him what had gone on in the last 48 hours. "Call the team please. I would like them to get this first hand. We owe them this much." I said somewhat sullen. "All alpha team members report immediately to Level 5, conference room 3." I heard belt out almost as quickly as he spoke the words into his wrist COM. "Okay then..." I said with a sad smile while I gazed into his eyes. "Let's do this." We took the lift to level 5 and waited while Doc, Sweed, Twist, Mike, Neek and Raven entered the room and found places at the conference table, while Doc, Bransen and I found our place at the front of the conference table. "Please call Jason too please... he needs to hear this." I said more to Bransen than anyone else. Bransen spoke into his wrist COM and about 10 minutes later Jason... whom everyone knows as Dusty emerged through the door in his coveralls looking questioningly at me and Bransen. "Have a seat please." I said smiling in his direction. Grinning slightly Jason made his way to an empty chair beside Raven. We were all here, and now I had some explaining to do. This was not going to be fun. As I looked across the table from face to face I remembered their abilities with thoughts that had been given to me from Kelay. To my left was Dusty, though I often refer to him as Jason. When you have sex like that, it's hard to use nicknames, though from now on I would refer to him as Dusty. I did not want to cloud the situation anymore than what I already had. He sat resolute with expectation as his eyes glanced at me; a bit of pink to his cheeks as he tilted his curved nose and hazels eyes to stare into the surface of the conference table. Beside him sat Raven. Raven was an ominous looking guy who appeared to be in his 27th age. Dark black hair matched his upturned black eyes. It was as though he had no iris, but only pupil and when he looked at you it was as though he could read the deepest fears of your soul. His mop of poker straight black hair brushed the tops of his ears and collar with bangs nearly as long in front that cascaded down to his chin on both sides of his face. He was cold and quiet with ample pink lips and a small nose. He was the same height as I standing... barely 5'8" but bore tight compact muscle across his body letting you know he could make the killing move. The sadness behind his eyes however let you know that had done just that; too many times in the past leaving a bruised look about him. He is what most would simply describe as dangerous and rightfully so, being his area of expertise was hand to hand combat. Beside him sat Sweed. The Nordic mass of a man that was more power than he was skill, but that skill was not something to scoff at when it came to a fight. He was more cunning than the Neanderthal appearance that was painted across the bone structure of his face. It was a deception that had worked to his advantage on many missions. The contrast of him and Raven side by side was stunning. It was as though someone had made a negative of Raven and enlarged it. His blond hair, blue eyes, and strong square jaw gave him the look of the Vikings that we only know by story. While very strong in spirit, Sweed often would look at Raven when he wasn't watching. It was the look of a dog afraid you'd yell at him but with anticipation of some loving attention. It was a strange thing to see someone of such strength to be cowered so easily by emotion. They were lovers, but as it had always been, Raven treated that love as something to be flicked off after passion had run its course. I could sense the love Raven felt in his heart for Sweed, but it was bottled up and kept away from the light. He had seen too much pain and been hurt one to many times. My heart went out to Sweed. He was traveling a difficult path. Across the table from Sweed sat Neek, the name having been whittled down from Sneak. He was a small frail looking thing that seldom if ever had daylight touch his skin. In his 18th age he bore the body of someone of 14th age being small boned and almost weasel like in appearance. His bland brown shoulder length hair hiked into a pony tail behind his head did little to age his appearance making him looking even younger than he actually was. He sported wide brown eyes atop a nose that seemed to escape from his face being slightly larger than it should have been. While he could hold his own in a fight, his special skills were in communications and electronics. He acted as sentry to the group twisting and contorting along the way as only his small five foot frame could do without leaving a trace. He fidgeted like a nervous animal preparing for slaughter. It was just his demeanor. Like so much energy packed into too small a package. He, much like Doc, was our worrier, and when Neek worried... there was usually a damned good reason. Neek was a loner and we all knew why. His lover Chance had been killed on a mission not long enough ago for him to forget or forgive. I could feel it burn in him as he looked up at me. He was angry, he was sad, and it was my fault though I didn't know why. In front of him sat Twist. Twist was a holy terror to say the least and known for making brash decisions in the heat of the moment surviving death by the skin of his ass. He was also our comic relief. If ever there was a smart ass comment to be made at any opportunity, it was made by him. His specialty was weapons. He was forever coming up with new gadgets and items that would kill all the quicker, but he never seemed to dwell in the death of it. He seemed to thrive on the discovery and mechanical science. He was taller than most of us standing some six foot tall. He had the upper body muscle of someone that always carried too much but never moved great distances; though we all knew his stamina to be on par with the rest. He was, to say the least, pretty. His sharp features, murky born eyes, and short cut spiked hair seemed to reflect his personality; sharp and painful to the touch. Rift sat in front of Twist; his skill being the use of explosives. Guns and bombs seemed to go together as well in topic as in bedfellows. Rift and twist were lovers by more than just practice. The loved each other deeply and it was hard not to notice as they glanced at each other. Rift had blown shit up for as far back as anyone could remember. He didn't just blow shit up though... he made it an art in only destroying what need be to get the team further to its objective. He mirrored Twist nearly enough that they could have been brothers except for his wavy auburn hair. While his jaw was more pointed and his shoulder length loose auburn hair was a contrast; I could not help but to look on in admiration at a pair seldom better matched. Being the quieter of the two, when Rift did speak, it was usually for good reason, and it was always best to listen. The room had been quiet for too long and Twist broke the silence "So... what's up Doc?" to which there was a slight snicker to the ancient reference. Glancing over to the Doc, I interrupted before he could begin, "Tell them everything Doc. We don't have time to sugar coat this." "Well.." he fidgeted nervously with the test results and many print outs he'd gathered in the last few hours. "You are all now part of Khore. Khore is also now part of you." He raised his hand to stop any questions before they started. "From the blood tests, Khore has somehow infused himself into you and by proxy also taken parts of you into himself. He now has a DNA make up of proportions I cannot begin to understand. The computers can't split it out like a normal genome. There is simply too much data, too much complex genetic code. And now... from the scans I have taken, you are all part of it." He finished looking much to tired. "What the hell does that supposed to mean!?" blurted out Twist. Placing my hand on Doc's shoulder, "Let me explain." I said in an authoritarian tone I didn't know I possessed. "Surely you've felt it. When you woke this morning." I paused..."The feeling that you are more now than what you were before. I know you feel it, I can feel it in you as easily as you feel it in those next to you." "I should start from the beginning. I am from a primitive village. Until three weeks ago, I knew little of this world or how it worked." I had their attention now. "My fathers were Briar and Kelay", the statement seemed to stop a heartbeat or two. I watched as the realization gripped their expressions and continued. "It was through their love that I was born. I am now 1600 years old though in appearance 21st age." A sharp intake of breath could be heard from Doc. "Please let me continue..." I said as I turned to him. "This was never meant to happen, at least on the schedule we've all now fallen into." I said now turning back looking into their confused expressions. Taking a deep breath I started again. "You are now as you will always be, and what I mean by that is this. You will not age. Not from this point forward. I did not know that this would happen so quickly. It was not meant to occur for another 30 years." I explained. "Everyone in this complex will no longer age. It was the only way we could ensure our survival. The Thorens are dying. If by this fact alone, we could endure. You will be finding yourself stronger and less susceptible to influence by Thoren tricks of the mind. I have given to you as much as you have given to me. I had planned a better time but something has gone terribly wrong. This was never meant to happen so immediately, and I cannot explain why." I said now looking down at the table to avoid the looks in their eyes. "I can", said Bransen. He glanced at me letting loose a pent up breathe and continued. "I was there during your conception". Suddenly my eyes blazed with their familiar white-blue light. "What?!" I was nearly in a rage. "I'm sorry Khore. I'm sooo sooo sorry." Bransen continued somberly, "I had no idea that this would happen. Kelay had been acting strangely, and had run out into the woods to god's table to make love I suspected with Briar. They had been going each night and I was so very jealous. I would listen to words spoken by them wishing I was the one hearing them first hand, but it just wasn't so." He called it god's table... I saw it in his mind... It was the same place I had gone so many times with Vale. The pain reverberated through my soul poking tender places of pain that I wanted to forget. "Fourteen days and 1600 years ago I followed them to the table. They made passionate love, but this time... something happened. I was pulled in from my hidden place behind the rock-face. No... I did not participate, but my insides were pulled outward none the less. They took my soul, and from that day on I did not age." I was in a complete rage... the white blue fire had erupted along my skin. "What have you done!!!!" I nearly screamed lifting him into the air by shear force of mind and will in front of me as the rest looked on in horror. "We knew...... we knew something was different that night.. " I said glancing up at him tears brimming in my eyes. "An extra... had joined us in energy and we thought by chance it had been..." I grew cold and looked at him suspended form in the air. "You had NO RIGHT!" I yelled more out of rage remembered than my own, as a gash slid across his abdomen through his clothing in a quick upward slash. "GODS!" I screamed as I fell to my knees. "What have you done!" The others had risen from their seats. 'SIT!' I forced them back into position at the table. Laying my hand along the slash I had just created... I sealed Bransen's wound. Hanging my head... I released Bransen letting him fall to the floor and exited the door running and entered the lift. With tears rolling down my cheeks I continued to pound the level 1 button. I needed air; fresh air. I needed an open sky. I needed a place of quiet. Finally the doors opened and I bullied my way through the guards freezing their muscles as I made my way into the night. I was atop a mountain. It looked like the top of the world as I gazed out at the landscape of shadow and blue lit moon light. Working my way to the peak of the mountain away from the access shaft I finally found a plateau to rest. I hung my head and let the tired tears work their way down my cheeks. I hadn't expected this. We, I or Kelay or whoever the fuck it was never had expected this. Three souls had brought me into being. I laid there feeling the cool stone against my tired body. It seemed to soothe me as the wind rustled the fabric of my shirt. It was peaceful and my most favorite place. I had never been here before, but it was what it was. The air smelt like wet soil as it brushed past my face and as I gazed up into the uncountable stars as I calmed myself. This always was a good place. Closing my eyes... I prayed the sun would incinerate me in my sleep. Just let me sleep through the sunrise and die inexplicably... It was sooo much easier. I lay there for some time when suddenly I heard a voice. "Khore. Please forgive me." it begged. Regardless of the merge, or anything else... I was normally not a creature of vengeance. I reached my hand out to touch his lips to quiet them. "What is done.... Is done." And I slept. --- Per suggestions from others, and a bit of work, I have re-written the entire story. Much of it is the same and the changes were cosmetic. I have also added some more depth to beginning characters and added a few other things. The chapters are for the most part longer and I have corrected some continuity problems. I know that I have much to learn as a writer, and would greatly appreciate any constructive criticism regarding this story. Please contact me at gaywriter72@yahoo.com with suggestions and criticisms. Thanks!