Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2022 15:05:16 -0500
From: Rick Heathen <rick.heathen@gmail.com>
Subject: Centaurian - Chapter 5

Centaurian - Chapter 5

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All Rights Reserved © 2021, Rick Haydn Horst

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events,
locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination
or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living
or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Thank you for delving into this work; I hope you enjoy it.

Please send questions, comments, or complaints to Rick.Heathen@gmail.com. I
would enjoy reading what you have to say.

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

Synopis: When an unusual man comes into the protection of Officer Liam
Phillips, Liam doesn't know what he's in for. His world gets broadened and
turned upside down in this adventure of love, sex, gods, a one-quarter
equine, and a vacation he will never forget.

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

Centaurian, By Rick Haydn Horst

Chapter 5

After making the plunge, Ronan jerked his hand free of the container
door. Having left his element, among the broken strings of kelp and the
flotsam he had chucked from the ship's cargo, he found himself enveloped by
a world where sound plays a more important part of life than sight. His
ears filled with a cacophony of sounds from the ship, a few creaking groans
from the metal containers, the motion of the water around him, and every
stroke of his limbs as he struggled to swim to the surface, but his efforts
came to nothing; he continued to drop with the shipping container which,
with every passing moment, inched its way farther from his reach.

He tried not to panic and worked as fast as he could to find a way to
reverse his descent; the greater distance from the surface, the less light
he would have to see.

He could alter his trajectory by swimming any direction but up, so he
returned to the twenty-foot container and ripped the doors from it. As the
opening faced the surface, he could see the Honda's position---the front
bumper pointed downward---and most of the straps that held it to the bottom
of the container had burned to a few threads that would snap when it
impacted the ocean floor.

Due to the width of the container, he could barely reach the vehicle's
unburned driver-side rear tire. It still had air but would weigh too much
to have sufficient buoyancy. He used its Schrader valve to inhale air from
it, thinking to fill the space inside him that he used for speaking,
attempting to make himself more buoyant before it was too late, but the
external water pressure had already reached the pressure of the air inside
the tire---maybe, 33-pounds per square inch---so the negative pressure in
the tire drew water inside rather than allowing air to escape. A few
seconds later, the tires tried to implode, but rather than collapsing
inward from the vacuum, it broke the seal, and the air he might have used,
he lost to the ocean.

He tore open the trunk and scavenged for what he could find. Beneath the
floor mat, he found the vehicle's donut spare tire. He figured it would
float, and it had yet to lose its air, so he hurried to remove it from its
holder, but before he could, it imploded sending the air inside it bubbling
to the surface. He wouldn't climb farther into the vehicle to reach
anything else; even the foam cushions rapidly grew waterlogged.

He thought to use the metal of the car to craft a large set of rudimentary
hand-held flippers---at least, that would be something---but his ability to
manipulate metal in regular air wouldn't work in the ocean. The water kept
the molecules too cold, and it wouldn't bend to his will.

The light he used to see in the photic zone transitioned to a darker blue
tone, and he knew he had entered the twilight zone of the ocean: less of
the spectrum made it that deep. Ronan could not think of anything else he
might use, and it became harder to see as he descended. He gazed upward and
watched the light from above grow evermore remote along with his hopes of
easily reaching the ship.

In that experience of an unwelcome and uncomfortable sense of imposed
solitude, he could only think of Liam. He knew him enough to know that he
stood at the railing waiting for him, but every second took him farther
away, and he couldn't tolerate the sensation of being torn from him. He
realized just how much Liam meant to him. Having been the first person he
saw upon awakening, he almost felt as though he had imprinted upon his
protector. And in his own unique way, he had, and at a level he couldn't
understand at the time.

He wished he could feel Liam's presence the way he could Aquila. He could
still sense the man out in the world and which direction he could find
him. As a last resort, while more than seventeen hundred fathoms beneath
the surface, he could make a blind trek in Aquila's direction across the
ocean floor, and if he hadn't stumbled along the way into a worse problem
than he already had, he would reach dry land...eventually.

Feeling alone and exposed to the openness of his abysmal surroundings, as
the minutes ticked past and the light grew dim, he held fast to his
metallic companion. As he glanced around, he could barely detect his hand
in front of his face, and the evidence that the surface world existed at
all had become little more than a memory. He hadn't known what creatures
dwelled at that depth---or how large they could grow---but he would catch
from the corners of his eyes occasional flashes of a ghostly luminescence
from something that lived there.

He closed his eyes and concentrated to speak to Prometheus.

"I'm in trouble," he told him. "I can think of nothing to use to help me;
my resources are limited. Is this when I should use the power? Is that my
only option besides walking the ocean floor?"

"You could," said Prometheus. "But you have the power to help yourself
without it. You have had it within you all along."

"Is this where I close my eyes, click my heels three times and say,
`There's no place like ship?'"

Prometheus found the reference amusing. "I'll give you a hint, my
son. Watched or not, a cold pot never boils."

Ronan opened his eyes, smiled, and shook his head at a solution so simple
he couldn't think of it.

Time passed faster while speaking to Prometheus, and as he continued to
drop in the benthic depths, an inky blackness had shrouded Ronan's vision;
he had reached abject darkness. But in the ocean, sound moves five times
faster than in the air, and it carries for miles, so when a new noise
invaded Ronan's ears, he listened intently to discern its source. The crew
had engaged the ship's propulsion; the captain wouldn't believe he could
survive and would choose to leave him behind. If he wanted to get back to
Liam, he needed to make a rapid ascent. He swam a few yards from the
shipping container, called upon the eternal flame within him, and turned up
the heat.

-------

When the engines engaged, pushing the ship forward, Liam jerked his head
toward the bridge at the top of the superstructure. "What the hell is the
captain doing? We've waited less than half an hour!"

He felt fine when Ronan helped people at the hotel a few miles away, but
the watery divide became more distressing with each passing moment. He,
along with Emma and William, had stared out over the ocean at the railing
where the container had pulled Ronan overboard. The incident aboard the
ship had left the water littered with debris, including a couple of
containers with air pockets large enough to keep them afloat for a while.

When it first happened, Emma had spoken with Prometheus about Ronan, but he
had nothing to say. Not that Prometheus had no knowledge, but for things to
play out as they should, an absence of knowledge often catalyzes much
decision-making and change.

William told him, "If you ask Captain Stettler to stop the ship, I know
what he will say; we have fallen behind schedule."

"Is that the sort of consideration Ronan deserves?"

"He will refuse to believe Herr Stallion can survive underwater unaided for
this length of time, especially if he has fallen to the bottom."

Liam asked him, "You believe us, don't you?"

"After this morning, I will believe anything that Emma tells me, and she
has said that I can trust you and Herr Stallion to always speak the
truth. So, I believe you."

"I appreciate that. I know I can speak for Herr Stallion on this, but
you're welcome to call him Ronan, and me, Liam."

"Thank you," he said. Germans are usually very formal when addressing
people unless explicitly told otherwise. "And you all may call me
William. So, what shall we do about leaving the vicinity? I know the
captain; he won't change his mind."

"If Ronan manages to reach the surface," said Emma, "hopefully he can catch
up with us. Alternatively, the land and the ocean floor ARE connected..."
She turned her gaze upon Liam.

"That sounds like such a long, lonely walk back to Florida."

William glanced over the railing and pointed. "Something is happening..."

Off the port side of the ship, a fog-like mist rose from the water, and the
ocean began to bubble. Someone on the bridge must have noticed as they had,
once again, stopped the ship. Liam, Emma, William, and several crew members
ran to the section of railing closest to where the water roiled near the
ship. And as it grew increasingly frenetic, they realized they were
witnessing not just air bubbles but water in gaseous form boiling up from
the ocean, which, unfortunately, had the effect of cooking several fish
that lay floating on the surface. When it reached its peak---looking like a
pot of water hot enough to steep tea---it appeared as though the ocean had
rid itself of Ronan's presence by ejecting his muscular body three feet
into the air where he then landed atop one of the floating cargo containers
where steam surrounded him. A scorching heat emanated from him. Viewing him
through hand-shielded faces and squinted eyes, felt like they stared into a
blast furnace, with the extreme temperature distorting his image. They
could see he had burned off his clothing when he stood. He moved his feet
and bounced the container into the water to wash over the top to keep it
from getting too hot, and steam rose from where the brine touched his skin
as he began to cool.

"Are you okay?" Liam yelled to him.

Ronan nodded, raised one finger, and then tapped his throat.

"Give him a minute, he can't talk," said Emma.

Captain Stettler joined them all at the railing to watch.

Ronan bent down and stuck his hand in the water. The water steamed and
bubbled around it. Once it had cooled enough, he held onto the container
with it and slid into the water over his head. The ocean continued to boil
around him, while he cooled himself as though he were searing hot metal
pounded into shape by a blacksmith's hammer.

Dunking his head to cool himself beneath the surface along the way, he
attempted to move the container closer to the gangway staircase built onto
the side of the ship; it reached a foot above the waterline to the main
deck. Everyone moved closer to the stairs, and by the time Ronan reached
it, the water around him had stopped boiling.

Liam descended the stairs and met Ronan at the bottom where he had remained
submerged hanging onto the metal staircase until he reached a normal
temperature. Ronan stared up at him, pleased to linger in Liam's proximity.

"So," Liam said with a smile, "you can't swim."

Ronan made a few tests of his vocal cords and said, "Not a lick. I don't
have any memories from Chiron of the other Stallions swimming, so they may
not have been able."

"So, unless we find something to assist you-"

"I'm no better than a sinker in a fisherman's tackle box."

Liam laughed. "Do they make water wings for biceps the size of yours?"

"Yeah, that would be cute," he said. "Let's just avoid my having to save
anyone from drowning."

"One day, we need to find a way to make you buoyant. It's a vulnerability
we need to eliminate."

"Agreed," he said and tipped his head. "One day? That sounds suspiciously
like a long-term plan."

"Yeah. About that. I want you to know that I've learned something about
myself in the brief time you were gone."

"I learned something too," he said. "What's yours?"

"I'm unsure of the precise cause, but for as much as I have loved working
as a police officer on Key Biscayne, I can't stand being away from you, and
I would like to think you need me more than Key Biscayne ever has. Besides,
I never went into law enforcement just so I could brag about being a
policeman. I wanted to help people, but I can do that more effectively by
helping you than I could anywhere as a policeman. So, if you will have me,
I know that I am exactly where I'm supposed to be."

Ronan smiled. "Really?"

Liam nodded. "So, what was your revelation?"

"The worst part about falling to the bottom of the ocean was that it took
me away from you, and until I spoke with Prometheus, I felt powerless to
stop it. I don't quite comprehend the reason either, but I want nothing
needlessly keeping me from you; it's unbearable. So, I do need you, and I
want you. I hope it's okay that I always want us together...except at the
bottom of the ocean, of course. You wouldn't enjoy it; it's terribly
unpleasant down there."

Liam laughed a little. "Oh, I believe you! Let's make a pact to stick
together as best we can. I think we both know that occasions exist when
that will prove impossible, like at the hotel, but...when you fell into the
water..." Liam shook his head and stopped himself. He tried not to sound
too maudlin, so with levity, he added, "It's that damn gravity!"

"Oh, I know!" Ronan said, joining in. "How dare it come between us! I
suppose I'll just have to find a way to defy it."

"Well, that's nothing less than it deserves." They smiled for a moment, and
Liam took a deep breath and relaxed a bit, and whispered, "It worried me."

"It worried me too."

 Liam reached out a hand. "Are you ready to come up?"

"I think so."

As Ronan took his hand to climb upon the staircase, he used one foot to
shove the metal container away from the ship.

The moment they could, they wrapped their arms around one another and
kissed a proverbial sigh of relief.

By the time they reached the main deck, nearly the entire crew had arrived
with Captain Stettler, Emma, and William in front.

"Herr Stallion," said the captain. "I wish to offer you my sincerest
apologies for doubting you. You are a most remarkable man who has proved
himself a friend to this entire crew, and we thank you for your
assistance."

"Not a problem, captain, but should we not get going? I believe you have a
schedule to keep."

"Indeed, we do. Everyone, get back to work." The captain radioed the bridge
to get the ship underway.

"Captain," said Ronan as their group returned to the superstructure, "how
is the balance of the cargo load from the starboard side. Is it
acceptable?"

"It's within limits," he said. "I believe we will be fine. I have a
question for you. I have the challenge of explaining to the company what
has occurred in the insurance report over the cargo and the damage to the
ship. Fortunately, the company equipped this vessel with cameras to record
incidents and issues that occur along the journey, so they wouldn't have to
take my word for it, but as a courtesy to you, I wanted to know what name
you would like me to give them. At the hotel, they knew you as
Stallion. Would you prefer that?"

"That's considerate of you to ask, captain, thank you. Give them the name
`Stallion, the Centaurian'. And if anyone asks who that is, just tell them
it was a passenger who wanted to be helpful."

"I will do that," he said, "and Herr Stallion, welcome back aboard."

Up the staircase back to their cabin, Ronan walked ahead of Liam who petted
the fur-like hair on Ronan's muscular ass. He said, "Well, so much for
those clothes. Why hadn't your hair burned off?"

"The hair, like the rest of me, doesn't burn. As for the clothing, no
fabric would have survived the amount of heat I had to generate to get to
the surface before the ship left, and I had ruined my shoes in the fire
before the container pulled me into the water."

Emma followed behind Liam. "I have someone working on improving your
clothing and crafting something for your feet that won't ruin so easily."

"Really? Who?" asked Ronan.

"You wouldn't know him. It's Rhapso's youngest son Caleius, an immortal
demigod who held an apprenticeship with Hephaestus a thousand years ago. He
learned certain metallurgic techniques that he's utilizing in what I would
call his profession, but he insists that it's just a passionate hobby."

They paused outside their cabins.

"Well, if he could make something that would suit my needs," said Ronan, "I
would appreciate it. That's the second pair of shoes I've burned up in the
last two days." He turned to William and looked him up and down. "You're
hearing this conversation without a look of bewilderment, so I take it Emma
has clued you in on the situation."

He nodded and smiled. "Ja. She kindly helped me with a problem, and she
told me."

"I see," said Ronan. "I'm glad she could help you. Emma, may we speak to
you, please?"

She had William wait for her in her cabin while they talked in the one
occupied by Ronan and Liam.

"How much have you told him? Does he know you're Dolos?"

"I'm glad you're asking," she said. "There's no sense in confusing him. I
told him what I always tell them in these situations---since he enjoys
women---I said that I am the goddess Erastis, that I came to help him
disguised as the woman of his dreams, and that he should call me Emma. In
the past, with men who prefer men, I've also played the part of Erastis as
a male god."

Liam's brows drew together. "Erastis?"

"If my memories from Chiron are correct," said Ronan, "it's a name that
means `Lover'."

"And you can just do that?" Liam asked Emma. "I thought that the gods had
realms of influence."

"We do," she said, "but you might be surprised at what a trickster god can
do. In my opinion, it's the best sort of god. So, while Zeus is the god of
the sky, and Hestia's stuck at home, I can do a lot, as long as I trick
someone in the process."

"And as a result, William got the help he needed," said Ronan.

"Speaking of a size increase," said Liam. "I want to thank you for the
five-inch gift. I never believed you would do it, but I appreciate it."

"You're welcome, sweetie. For a human, your penis was perfectly fine as it
was"---then she gestured to Ronan---"but you're with an enormously endowed,
gay Centaurian." She raked her eyes over him thinking for a
moment. "Ahh...I wanted to discuss this earlier Liam, but we had the
Ambrosia matter to deal with and then the cargo incident, so this is my
first opportunity. I have a problem, and I'm hoping you will help me."

"Sure," he said. "What is it?"

"After divvying up the inches with you and William, I still have some. So,
I would consider it a personal favor if you would take the remainder off my
hands; I need somewhere to store them. I know it would hang a burden on
you, so if it's too much, I promise one day to take however many you don't
want and give them to someone else. If you prefer, just think of them as a
lease with the option to own."

He scrunched his face and shook his head a bit in befuddlement. "What are
you talking about?"

"I think I understand," said Ronan who turned to Emma. "We heard Gustav
knock on your door this morning. Had any of them apologized?"

"I searched their minds last night," she said, "Kurtis is mean and rude,
but he's cowardly. Gustav is self-centered and insensitive, but Otto is
just a bully. So, I figured---at most---I would have the inches from Otto
and Gustav (those inches I had homes for). I expected Kurtis to cave in and
apologize, but apparently, he's more easily led by the others than I
realized. So, none capitulated."

"How many inches from them had you taken?"

Emma smiled and laughed a little. "Between the three of them I took
nineteen inches, and I left them just one inch a piece."

"Are you saying I have five inches of their dicks?" Liam asked.

"No," said Emma, "you have grown five inches from the energy I transferred
from them to you, and William has eight."

Liam feigned a gasp of shock, and whispered, "Why, Emma Nordstrom...you're
a peter pirate!" He smiled and laughed.

"Ha Ha Ha, very funny," she said. "These men need to learn an important
lesson. If they're incapable of empathy, then it's that speaking is an
action and actions have consequences. As a law enforcement officer, I hope
to find you sympathetic to my cause. And while they haven't broken any
human laws, they broke mine. In front of me, they were cruel to someone I
care about. Besides, I just caused their condition to give them a
first-hand experience, and it's not necessarily permanent; they have an
opportunity for redemption. I told them their penis would stop looking like
it belonged on a two-year-old when---after three days---they acted like a
man and apologized to William for what they've said with a promise to never
do it again to anyone."

"Well, law enforcement should never exist to teach lessons, but I am
sympathetic," said Liam, "and I suppose their opportunity for redemption
does change things a bit. So, nineteen inches minus five minus eight
leaves-"

"Six extraneous inches with nowhere to put them," she said.

Liam laughed. "And you need a mule to lug around your illicit inches
until---at some point---you find them a home, is that it?"

"Minus the inches, you decide to keep," she said. "I wanted to give you the
option."

Liam looked at Ronan for some input. "It's your burden to bear," said Ronan
with a shrug, "so the decision is entirely yours, but"---he put his arm
around him and whispered to him---"think of the fun we could have with so
much cock."

"I can't wear the underwear available to me now with the twelve inches I
have."

Emma just gazed upon Liam with a little smile. Beckoned him to come closer
so she could whisper to him. He hesitated but complied, bringing his ear
close to her mouth.

She said, "Have you ever had a god beholden to you?"

He drew back a little and looked her in the face as his brows drew
together. "Do you mean...?"

She raised an eyebrow gave him a tiny smile and nodded. "Anything you
want."

Feeling a tad apprehensive, he thought about it for a moment and came to
the compelling conclusion that the benefit outweighed the inconvenience. He
gave a slight nod. "Alright. You've got a deal."

"Wonderful!" She caressed his cheek with her hand before he could change
his mind. "There you are, thank you, sweetie."

"So, when their penises grow back, where will you obtain their inches?"

"I have the energy to grow someone's penis," she said, "that's
easy. However, if I make one shorter, I'm removing energy from it, and I
can't just hold onto it until I need it; it must go somewhere."

"Oh...well, that makes sense."

Emma smiled. "I still marvel over you, modern humans. You're not scratching
your head and looking at me like I've spoken a foreign language."

"Yeah, we're a little more sophisticated than that." He pointed to his
crotch. "Will this grow as I sleep tonight?"

"Not this time," she said. "You may not feel it yet, but you're growing
right now. It should only take about fifteen minutes."

When Emma left, Liam kissed Ronan who then said, "I should shower, I'm sure
I taste fishy like the ocean."

"I think there's no part of you that isn't delicious, even now."

"That's nice to hear," he said, "but I would like to get the smell and salt
off me anyway. The shower barely fits me, so inviting you to join me would
only impede my goal, but will you stay in the bathroom while I clean up? I
feel that I need you near me for a bit."

"Wild gay centaurs couldn't drag me away."

As Ronan showered, Liam sat naked on the lid of the commode and watched
him, their eyes rarely leaving one another.

"So, what are you thinking?" asked Ronan.

"It should be fairly easy to make you a life jacket that could keep you
afloat, right?"

"Actually, no," said Ronan, "we would have to make something so unwieldy;
it would become useless. Humans are easy to float; your body is roughly 60
percent water already, and you all carry some body fat, which is lighter
than water. So, you only need to offset your body's dense matter which is a
fraction of your actual weight." Having finished, when he turned off the
water, Liam handed him a towel. "I weigh 275 pounds, but my body uses
little water, and I have no body fat. So, if the goal is to float me, think
of the weights in the gym you've used, and imagine trying to float 275
pounds of that."

"Oh, shit...that would be a lot of weight. How did you reach the surface?"

"I had to reduce my body's density by mostly returning to flame to make
myself lighter than water."

"You can do that?"

He nodded. "It sounds scary, doesn't it? Fortunately, water couldn't
extinguish an eternal flame, and the process wouldn't hurt me so long as I
kept my structure intact. Otherwise, I could re-form, but chances are I
wouldn't look exactly as I do now. I would be a bit different."

"Like a stunt double?"

Ronan laughed and put his arms around him. "Maybe."

"So, when you became what you are now, what happened to the human body you
had?"

Ronan's lips pressed into a line. "I wondered how long it would take before
you asked me that question. When I tell you, I want you to know that I
understand how horrific this sounds, so try not to think about it too
much. Chiron is a non-physical essence who Prometheus bound to an eternal
flame in the realm of the divine. In this world, it cannot become more than
that unless it binds to a human. When the flame and Chiron passed to my
former human self, it---for the lack of a better term---burned away my
unconscious physical self by replacing it with one that included Chiron, so
that---in some form---he could exist physically here. It had an identical
appearance to the human I was, and in my dormancy---as the doctor put
it---I grew into the person before you from the image I had held in my mind
which Chiron had a direct influence over."

"So, what exactly are you made of?"

"I am sentient eternal-fire incarnated through my own will."

"You are actually made of fire..."

Ronan nodded. "Fire being whatever I will it to be.

Liam stood before him, expressionless, taking in all he had heard. "Now, I
understand why it worries you that people would fear you. If I hadn't had
the experience of you the last two days, knowing this now, if I got past
the part about how unbelievable it is, I think you would terrify me."

"I'm sorry," he said.

"No no." Liam hugged Ronan. "You're fine; you don't frighten me. Although,
if you can `will' this into existence, I can see why there's a question
over what you may be capable, and why Zeus wants to see what you can do. He
fears you can remove him from power, doesn't he?"

"That's the impression I got. So, has understanding this better changed how
you feel about me?"

"No. My knowing this doesn't change who you are as a person, so you just
seem even more like a superhero, and they always have unique origins. I
know you shy away from the idea of being a superhero but let me give you
some advice. Never deter anyone from viewing you in that light; there are
worse things."

He held Liam to him. "You are my protector, it's your job to think of these
things, so okay. Are you hungry? How about I feed you lunch, and a little
later, we mosey down to the dining room to socialize with the others?"

"Shouldn't I eat regular food at some point?"

"It's not necessary," said Ronan. "You're a human made immortal through
Ambrosia, so you could stop eating altogether. You would feel hungry, but
it wouldn't kill you. I can satisfy your hunger with Ambrosia anytime you
like. And if you're worried about losing muscle from not eating proteins,
don't. You are as you are, so that won't change now. But there's a benefit
to living on Ambrosia that you may like."

"What might that be?"

"You will never gain any body fat from it, and trips to the bathroom will
be a thing of the past."

"Really?" Liam stood there in shock. His eyes narrowed and he gave Ronan a
sidelong gaze. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Ronan laughed a little and nodded. "A preparatory cleanse before sex
becomes superfluous."

"Oh, I'm more than willing to give up human food for spontaneous sex, but I
hope your mention of this isn't strictly for my benefit."

"Well, no, of course not," said Ronan with a smile. "I have sexual needs
too. So, as far as sex is concerned, if I had a profile on some hookup app,
it would probably say something like: [Horny horsey needs muscular man to
mount. Centaurian seeks enthusiastic equestrian desirous of frequent bouts
of bobbing and bouncing on giant johnson.] And from what you said, you know
a thing or two about horses, so you sound perfect to me."

Liam gave a hearty laugh. "Have you just offered me your giant johnson as
the source of both my pleasure and sustenance?"

"As a rule," said Ronan backing Liam onto the bed where he hovered over
him, "Centaurs would refuse to suffer the ignominy of acting like a beast
of burden, but you, my handsome lap-jockey-cum-dairyman, have my perpetual
permission to milk and ride me as much as you like."

Turning onto their sides, Liam and Ronan began that most famous of
double-digit positions, the sixty-nine. Liam had never felt anything as
incredible as Ronan's ability to throat all eighteen inches of his cock. He
hadn't realized that Ronan never needing oxygen would come in so handy. He
slurped and slathered Ronan's Centaurian appendage for about ten minutes,
and when Ronan came, he just allowed himself to experience an extended
orgasm with Liam chugging every drop of his Ambrosia, and it wouldn't
matter how long Ronan wanted to feed him, he would have taken every
drop. However, cognizant of Liam's limitations, Ronan stopped when it
amounted to about a two-liter bottle, which his body would immediately
begin absorbing.

For the gods to drink Ambrosia was one thing, but for a human to have
unlimited access to the magical liquid was unprecedented, and Liam had
greater access than even the gods themselves. On that day, Liam overloading
his body with enormous quantities of it had started something, and at
first, it had gone unnoticed...

Life aboard the ship for the thirty crewmen had a certain rhythm with three
rotating eight-hour shifts, including those who held positions that could
not go unmanned during the hours of darkness. The daylight hours had much
activity with either the crewmen working on general maintenance, cleaning,
or defending the ship by various means from the corrosive sea air or
crewmen relaxing off-the-clock in whatever means they saw fit until their
next shift.

For the next three days, Ronan and Liam had taken to getting some sunshine
just after lunchtime on the forecastle---the foreword most part of the bow
where one would find the mooring station for docking. They also spent time
naked in the sauna allowing Liam a non-sexual environment where he could
release his---never fully flaccid---18-inch hose. (That's exactly what it
looked and felt like at its softest, a smooth, rubbery hose, five inches in
circumference, whose weight kept it from shrinking even half-an-inch from
just below his knees.) Ronan loved it---its length allowed him to suck and
fuck Liam simultaneously---so when they weren't talking, they also spent
many hours in their cabin, pleasuring one another and slowly getting Liam
accustomed to taking as much of Ronan's Centaurian appendage as he could,
filling his gut with a glut of Ambrosia which his body would absorb, giving
Ronan the room he needed to fill him again and again. Every day that passed
as Ronan continued to feed and fill Liam with that magical fluid, he could
see Liam growing slightly more muscular and more handsome, but on the
evening of the third day---when his body had reached complete
saturation---the changes grew more apparent in other ways.

After receiving three massive doses of Ambrosia that evening, Liam lay
asleep atop Ronan for several hours, and at three that morning, a knock
came upon their cabin door. Liam awakened when Ronan left the bed to answer
it, where he found the pajama-wearing first mate, Paul Hurst. Apparently,
he had knocked upon Emma's door as well, as she and William also answered
their door.

"We have someone aboard the ship that most likely isn't a stowaway, and the
captain wishes to speak with the three of you on the bridge."

"Okay," said Ronan, "we'll be right there." He closed the door. "May I turn
on the lights?"

"You may as well," said Liam who moved to the side of the bed.

When the lights came on, as Ronan turned to get some clothing, he glanced
at Liam but stopped, walked to him, and tipped his head back to study his
appearance. "You might want to look in the bathroom mirror."

While Ronan tossed yesterday's clothing into his bag, zipped it closed then
unzipped it again, pulling a new suit of clothes from it, Liam rushed to
the bathroom.

"Oh my god!" Liam looked closely at himself. His dark-brown hair hadn't
noticeably changed, but his skin had taken on a healthy golden-tan color,
and most unusual of all, inundating his body the past few days with the
yellow gold of the Ambrosia had turned his blue irises to a bright
emerald-green color whose metallic glint looked stunning even in the poor
bathroom lighting.

Liam left the bathroom. "Is this permanent?"

Ronan smiled. "The way we Ambrosia bomb your body? Probably."

"Well, it will just have to be permanent then because I want that to
continue, and is it my imagination, or am I slightly bigger than I was?"

"It's not your imagination," said Ronan. "I've watched you grow evermore
handsome and hunky the last three days. That's why I've given you as much
Ambrosia as you've wanted."

"Are you okay with this look?" he asked digging into his bag for some
clothing.

Ronan kissed him. "I would glow with pride to be seen with you in
public. Wait until Emma sees you; we've hardly spoken to her the last few
days; she's dead set on providing William every opportunity to use his new
toy."

"So, who is this person on the ship, you think?"

Ronan shrugged and shook his head. "If the captain wants to speak to us,
this can't be good."

At night, the usual mode for the bridge is to keep the lighting dim. It
lessens the window reflections for a better view, but upon their arrival,
they found the lights turned up a bit, and the bridge's usual night crew
there, with the captain, first mate, William, and Emma staring out the
window.

Emma turned to them when they entered. "We have a problem," she said. "For
as much as the container incident a few days ago caused us some trouble, it
was likely a coincidence. It seems Zeus has elicited the assistance of
Kratos."

Liam and Ronan gazed out over the shipping containers illuminated by the
ship's floodlights, and there stood an unmoving, muscular naked man not
much different in appearance than a stone depiction of a bearded Heracles
with a wide, rippled torso. He stood staring up at the bridge on top of the
superstructure. Due to the distance, it would have been difficult to say
between Ronan and Kratos which had the greater size of the two. With Kratos
naked, however, one could easily tell which was the Centaurian. Ages ago,
the people, in what is now Greece, viewed having a smaller penis as
preferable; anyone oversized they considered a fool.

"Who is he?" asked Liam.

Ronan said, "He's the god of strength, and the guy who---at the behest of
Zeus---used the chains forged by Hephaestus to bind Prometheus to the rock
so an eagle could eat his liver every day."

"Oh, he's THAT guy. Ugh...."

When Kratos saw Ronan in the window, he yelled with a booming voice,
"Centaurian! Fight Me!"

"He's a lunatic," said Ronan. "I'm not gonna fight him."

"I hear you have a fondness for these humans," yelled Kratos. "Will you
fight me, or do I start tearing their weak little hearts from their chests
until you do?"

"He's also known for his needless brutality," Emma added.

Kratos yelled, "Shall I start with your pathetic protector? He's human,
what possible good is he to you, except to mount his ass like the stupid
half-donkey you are?"

"Herr Stallion...," said Captain Stettler with a look of extreme concern.

"Captain, I'm sorry that my presence has endangered you and your crew. That
was never my intention."

"You are not responsible for his actions," said the captain. "Obvious to
me, you are a peaceful man but one not to be underestimated. What will you
do?"

"If you fight him," said Emma, "he will try to kill you, and he won't stop
until he does."

"Captain," said Ronan, "this world has people who refuse to leave someone
to their peace, and to get back to that, sometimes you have to do what you
have to do."

"Which shall it be?" yelled Kratos. "I won't wait long."

Ronan told the captain, "I need you to stop the ship, and when I get
outside, gather everyone aboard---including you, Emma---and get as deeply
into the lower part of the ship as you can get yourselves, stay out of the
superstructure. You'll feel the ship bounce in the water. After that, wait
3 minutes, and you can come out."

"Will you kill him?" asked Liam.

"For the record," Ronan told him, "I'm not a killer; Kratos is the killer,
and I'm just stopping him. I will try to avoid it, but I would never let
him carry out his threats against the people I love"---he held Liam's
chin---"most especially you." Ronan kissed Liam and left.

The captain stopped the ship, and the moment he saw him leave the
superstructure on the CCTV camera, he used the intercom to draw everyone to
the ground floor, and from there, he intended to take them down into the
engine room.

Once the ship stopped, it seemed odd for everything to feel so calm; Ronan
couldn't feel even a hint of wind. When he climbed atop the cargo
containers, he moved closer to Kratos who stood almost amidship.

"There you are," yelled Kratos. "I wondered if you were cowardly as well as
a stupid half-donkey."

They were about the same height, but Ronan appeared larger, not that it
mattered. Kratos was the god of brute strength, which had to count for
something. However, Ronan had more in his arsenal than that.

When Ronan inhaled to speak, he sensed a revolting stench. "Why are you
here?"

"Zeus wants to know which of us is the stronger."

 Ronan held his hand to his nose and kept it there. "Well, if Zeus has a
nose at all, he will know it was you. I can smell you from here. What the
hell is that? Hygieia should host an intervention. Look, no one needs to
fight anybody. I just want to be left in peace with my sense of smell
intact."

"Zeus knows you're plotting to remove him from the throne. We all know
it. Even Prometheus knows it; he's seen it. I will never allow that."

"I know nothing about it," said Ronan. "I have better things to do than try
dethroning Zeus; My purpose is to help people. So, since I don't want to
fight you, I forfeit. You're welcome to strut into Olympus knowing that,
between the two of us, you smell the stronger."

"You must find yourself amusing," said Kratos. "I will enjoy killing
you. Afterward, I'll follow through with the rest of the crew, but not
before I start with your pathetic protector."

"You will never get that chance." Ronan tipped his head back and yelled to
the sky, "Zeus! I know you observe this. You have heard what he has said to
me, and because of who he is, I must take him at his word. I am peaceful,
and I have no ambitions for Olympus but think carefully on what you start
here; my priorities can change, and if they do, YOU will have changed
them. So, given a choice between his death or ours"---Ronan pointed at
Kratos---"he dies. If you want to keep your little pet, you need to take
him home before I put him down...and for goodness's sake, give him a bath!"

"He's not listening to you," said Kratos.

"That's because Zeus is sacrificing you to learn what I can do."

Kratos ran toward Ronan, but Ronan wanted to keep him as far from the
superstructure as possible, so he ran toward him even faster, luring him to
the middle of the ship.

A god or not, Kratos had many vulnerabilities. He expected to kill Ronan by
brute force because he fought his enemies, and with no shields or weapons
he wanted it to test their strength in some form of hand-to-hand combat.

However, Kratos had never met an enemy who avoided fighting him the way
Ronan would. He wanted to get in his punches, to hold Ronan above his head
only to slam him down, to dig a hand into his chest, to search for whatever
he had for a heart and pluck it out, but Ronan was having none of that; he
wouldn't play his game. Ronan ensured that every attempt by Kratos to hurt
him hit nothing but air. He sought only to eliminate a threat to the people
he cared about, and that was all.

Dodging a series of punches, Ronan asked him, "Have you ever felt afraid?"

"No," said Kratos taking a swipe at his opponent.

"Well, no wonder you're such an efficient killing machine. You may not
realize it, but fear is important; it helps everyone stay alive longer."

Kratos paused his attempts to get at Ronan as he assessed him for a better
strategy. "I'm a god, what have I to fear?"

In a deep menacing tone, Ronan said, "Me."

It took little more than two seconds for Ronan to push Kratos's hands
together grabbing both of his thumbs with one hand in an unbreakable grip,
then, after knocking him face-down off his feet, he grabbed the god's big
toes with the other. As Ronan lifted Kratos from the surface beneath them,
he raised him high enough to look him in the face, Ronan sneered at Kratos
for forcing him to deal with his sorry ass, and he continued in the same
voice, "and you should be absolutely terrified."

The way Ronan held Kratos he couldn't do much but squirm a bit, and with a
mighty push-off from the ship, Ronan made a vertical jump as hard as he
could. The air rushed past as they rose into the sky, and they just kept
rising. He hadn't a clue how high he could go but even with the lurch of
the ship down into the water as it bounced, he had to have made a mile-high
leap holding Kratos's squirming body by his thumbs and toes.

On the way up Ronan prepared himself for what he would do, he felt the
pressure of containing the buildup of a massive amount of heat, the likes
of which one might only find in a neutron star, and the moment he felt
their direction change to free fall, he released a directed microburst so
intense it burned blue-hot and lit the night sky like a flash of lightning
that, within that split second, vaporized Kratos, and as with Kakia, his
destruction sent out a shockwave into the atmosphere, but this one had no
building to destroy.

However, it shoved Ronan's nearly naked body off course and out from over
the ship. As it was, he would fall into the water, and this time, he would
have no cargo containers to land on when he resurfaced. That would cause
him to remain separated from Liam for a long time unless he used that
untapped power within him, and if he needed the power to keep himself close
to the man he loved, then so be it. Prometheus was right, he would use it
for the best of reasons. He tore from his body what little remained of his
shirt and shorts.

Transforming into Chiron's idea of how he should appear, felt like a rush
of energy, and it happened all at once. In an act of pure creation, he grew
and changed from lines of embering on his body that glowed in the night sky
like the smoldering edges of burning paper but in reverse. As he bent his
knees a little, he felt his feet lengthen as his toes became hooves. The
hair from his waist down thickened and turned pure white, as a horse tail
with long white hair emerged from the base of his spine. The appearance of
his human cock grew more equine to a massive 24-inches of pale horse
flesh. His legs thickened and stretched, making him a beautiful 7-feet-tall
Centaurian with a god-like power that would both fascinate and
frighten. But to stop his fall, he sprouted from his back a powerful set of
giant Pegasus-like white wings. He struggled with them for a moment but
slowed his descent, swooped down in the darkness to only a few yards from
the water, rose into the sky, and headed back to the tiny oasis of light
floating on the black sea in the distance.

On the return, however, he recalled the captain saying that the ship had
CCTV cameras. He wasn't quite ready for the public to see him as the
centaur, so he returned his lower body to its usual appearance.

Having used his abilities, he hadn't felt different. To him, he seemed the
same Ronan Stallion, the Centaurian, the one whose mission was to help
people. If he was a god, that hadn't interested him; he only saw a greater
capacity to help others with his abilities. He and Liam would have to
discover all he could do.

As he approached the ship in the darkness with the illumination from all
its floodlights, he could see Liam, Emma, William, and several other crew
members looking out from atop the shipping containers for any sign of him.

As he slowed his descent, he flew into view of those people standing on the
cargo and the bridge. The lighting reflected off his white wings causing
him to glow, and not once had it occurred to him how it may have looked to
anyone else. He carefully set his bare feet onto the metal surface giving
his usual affable smile, and while he noted everyone's look of awe, his own
relief at having gotten back to the ship in one piece made him just chalk
their reaction as his simply having returned. Sure, he had given himself
wings, but he had obliviousness of his actual appearance. After all, he had
looked closer to a Pterocentaur only a minute earlier.

Liam gave him the brightest biggest smile and rushed to hug
him. Thankfully, the short duration of the heat used, and his exposure to
so much air had cooled him without the need to dunk himself into water.

When Liam wrapped his arms around him, Ronan asked, "Do I stink?"

"You're far too angelic to stink, but ahh...you might want to ixnay the
ingsway; you are giving people the wrong impression."

As Ronan eliminated his wings, Liam saw that their disappearance began at
the tips with a thin fiery line that burned them away until it reached his
back. Emma and William had joined them along with several members of the
crew.

"You used your abilities," said Emma.

"Yes, if I hadn't, I would have been separated from Liam for an unknown
amount of time. We've reached the middle of the Atlantic, so when Kratos's
destruction threw me several miles that way"---he pointed---"I would remain
in the pitch blackness of the depths for maybe a month until I walked out
of the ocean, or I could just use my abilities and return to Liam's side
where I belonged. I have already experienced a short separation from Liam
once, I won't do that again."

William had a big smile on his face. "You are one well-hung angel."

"My favorite kind," said Emma and put her arm around William.

Ronan gave Liam a look of concern. "I will probably need the wings on
occasion."

"We'll deal with that later."

"Why did we need to go down into the ship?" asked William.

"I hadn't known how far I could jump, and if it was too short, I needed all
of you as far away from the blast as possible when I vaporized him. We've
already seen what the destruction of a god can do at the hotel in Miami. By
the way, Emma, has Kratos always stunk like rotten eggs and horse dung?"

Emma nodded. "Pretty much, yes. He says it's so off-putting that it helps
him win against his opponents."

"Yeah, well, he's dead now, so a fat lot of help that was. How do you think
Zeus will react to Kratos's death?"

"I'm unsure," she said. "You may want to ask Prometheus."

"Well, after something Kratos told me tonight, Prometheus and I need to
have a long talk."