Book 2. The Grand Gathering. Chapter 20. A Bloody Kiss.
“Wow, they are quite nice,” Yin said with honest surprise as he and Laien were peeking into the bath from the changing room.
The whole room was spacious, its floor was laid out with smooth tiles, there were stools to sit on while washing along with hundreds of different liquid soaps and oils. Further to the back were three large baths that were nearly like pools with two smaller ones on the sides. The water inside them was steaming hot, by the looks of it being constantly heated up by a mechanism the boys weren’t familiar with.
“Our baths tend to be nice,” Laien said with a smile. “It’s normal everyone wants to keep them in a good state since they are being used so often,” he mentioned lightheartedly, retreating back to the changing room to pick up a towel.
“That being said, I wonder what Anatis and Nila are doing right now,” he mused aloud and laughed a little. Judging by their reaction by what he had insinuated, the two were probably making out; and they weren’t limiting themselves to just kissing.
“Say, if you were looking for a partner what kind of person would you look for?” Yin asked somewhat out of the blue.
“Hmm?” Laien, however, wasn’t disturbed by the sudden question and answered straightforwardly. “I guess it’s about ‘the feeling’? If I meet the right person I will probably know,” he said and tied up the white towel around his waist, then stored his clothes into the black gold interspatial ring.
“Grandfather said the same thing. He also told me to find someone strong and reliable,” Yin said merrily, happy to find out Laien was thinking along the same lines. “Laien, won’t you be my partner?” he asked, this time catching Laien by a total surprise.
“Your partner?” Laien repeated while looking at Yin with wide eyes. He calmed down a bit after a second or two, but couldn’t help blushing slightly when he considered the idea. Yin was super strong and talented, it was fun being with him and he was really good looking. Even if Yin didn’t just misspeak, he wouldn’t be against such an idea. “You are a boy, right…?” he asked Yin with a bit wry smile, even though he had literally felt before that Yin was indeed a boy.
“I am,” Yin said with a laugh and put his clothes into one of his interspatial rings. He stood as he was, without covering himself at all; his face did get flushed a bit because of having Laien look at him so openly, though. “Grandfather said it doesn’t matter if I make a girl or a boy my partner, so it should be okay,” he added carefreely, hoping that Laien wouldn’t mind either.
“And what do you mean by partner…?” Laien asked, unable to shake off the feeling that there was some misunderstanding between them with regards to this word.
“Someone who is strong and someone I like; and someone who likes me too,” Yin explained with a smile. “I like you. Do you like me too?” he asked innocently and glanced at Laien with his charming green eyes.
“I like you,” Laien began with a helpless smile, but before he could explain anything else…
“Then it’s all good,” Yin said happily and took two quick steps forward, then placed a light, somewhat clumsy kiss on Laien’s lips.
“It’s not like I mind, but what is he thinking…?” Laien thought quietly, for the time being throwing all reason and sense to the wind. He put his right hand on Yin’s back and pulled him closer, slowly returning the kiss and showing Yin how to do a bit more than just have their lips touch. Yet, when Yin suddenly stuck his tongue into his mouth, he couldn’t help but be a bit startled; especially when he tasted blood which began spreading flowing onto his own tongue.
“He bit himself? No, he used Qi to make a cut?” Laien wondered what was going on, only to sense a stand of Yin’s Qi cutting his tongue. It did sting a little, but more than worry about this little bit of pain he was curious what in the world was Yin trying to do here. He could feel and taste how his and Yin’s blood and saliva mixed in their mouths and for some reason, he could also feel his heart throbbing strongly, the heartbeat carrying all the way to his ears.
After a long moment, Yin stepped back and looked him in the eye. He opened his mouth slightly, then closed and swallowed, giving him a meaningful look. “Does he want me to…?” Laien guessed, then did the same and swallowed the few drops of their mixed blood. The moment he did, he felt a wave of heat spread through his body… but more importantly, something else happened at the same time.
Abruptly a powerful lightning exploded forth from Yin’s body, its power frightening Laien to the point of unintentionally closing his eyes in fear of what was going to happen to him. This emerald lightning was many times stronger compared to the normal lightning Yin had displayed in their duel. Laien was sure that even a brief contact with this lightning would result in heavy wounds or even death to someone with his strength.
Yet, when he should have been struck by that emerald lightning… he felt how it instead engulfed him and danced all over his body harmlessly. Although he couldn’t control it, he could somewhat sense it in the same way he was aware of his own magic. It was a really strange sensation to experience.
When the initial shock passed, Laien opened his eyes. However, instead of calming down, he ended up being shocked again. Before him no longer stood a green-haired and green-eyed youth, but nearly one meter high and over two meters long wolf! The magical beast had Yin’s green eyes, though its pupils were more animalistic. The beast’s fur was silver and spiky, aligned from the head to the tip of his long, velvety tail. Occasionally, some sparks of emerald lightning would flash across his body.
What’s more, the silver wolf emanated a noble, ancient and powerful aura… one which seemed to be out of this world. This kind of feeling… Laien didn’t experience anything similar even when meeting the strongest martial masters of the Kingdom.
“Yin?” Laien asked uncertainly, what just happened had shocked him out of his mind. He had access to much secret information about the mysterious things around the world, but he never heard of a magical beast capable of taking on a human form!
“Yeah, what is it?” Yin asked, the tone of his voice suggesting that he was pretty amused by the flabbergasted look on Laien’s face. “This form sure feels strange at first, just like grandfather said it would. Even talking is rather hard… Oh, I can feel your presence… and mood too. Hehe, you are so startled,” Yin pointed out playfully, at the same time succumbing to the desire of seeing his tail and beginning to circle around in place in chase of it in a rather silly fashion.
Seeing Yin act like this caused a smile to appear on Laien’s face. He took a deep breath, then concentrated on Yin’s presence; which he sensed instantly. He could even feel Yin’s excitement and how happy he was, what caused him to gradually calm down. The situation was something he never expected to happen, but it wasn’t something he couldn’t cope with.
“I can feel your emotions too, you seem quite happy,” Laien mentioned with a smile. “You are a magical beast, right? What was this kissing and the thing with blood? Some kind of ritual?” Laien sighed helplessly, feeling Yin’s amusement and hearing his laugh.
“A Blood Pact to be accurate,” Yin replied merrily, then transformed back into his human form. “Looks like I can now switch whenever I like, good thing grandfather gave me those special interspatial rings though so they fit my fingers even in the wolf form,” he thought aloud, looking at the two interspatial rings on the index fingers of his both hands.
“And what else? What’s the full story behind you?” Laien asked with a little sigh. He would very much like to know the circumstances behind Yin’s actions and his appearance in the Sarkcente Kingdom.
“How about start washing up as I tell you?” Yin suggested, to what Laien agreed. He abandoned his towel in the changing room and headed to the washing area with Yin.
“I wonder what should I start from?” Yin asked himself, trying to pick a kind of soap which would smell the nicest to him. “Probably from my origins? I am a species of magical beasts called Lightning Wolf. I come from the place humans call ‘Forbidden Lands’, though I live on the very edge of it in the mountains surrounding the mainland,” he began explaining calmly as if he was speaking about the most normal thing in the world.
“When we reach the age of twelve, we become capable of establishing a Blood Pact with a human, what comes with a spiritual bond and a few other benefits like enabling me to transform or use this green lightning you saw. Anyway, grandfather told me to go look for a potential partner to the south since he judged I would have better affinity with martial practitioners, but as you can see I found a spiritual practitioner instead,” he said with a laugh and glanced at Laien, the mutual awareness of each other’s feelings proving to be quite pleasant and amusing to him. He could clearly tell how intrigued Laien was by what he was feeling and could even tell that through sensing his amusement Laien was getting amused too.
Laien poured some water over himself, then began washing himself with some orange smelling soap. He smiled wryly, then glanced at Yin and asked. “So, was the kiss necessary for this Blood Pact? Wouldn’t exchanging some blood work just as well? Not that I have anything to complain about,” he said playfully, the taste of Yin’s blood still lingering in his mouth.
“Grandfather said that it would be the best to do it this way. He also said that it would be good if I and the partner I chose would be naked… why though? I have no idea,” Yin replied, only now giving this matter a second thought. Why would his grandfather advise him to do something like this?
Laien raised his eyebrows, then chuckled a little. “What did you think about kissing me, another boy?” he asked, beginning to suspect that Yin’s childhood had been quite sheltered. Well, according to him he did live in the mountains with his grandfather, so this guess probably wasn’t that far off the mark.
“Nothing much? It’s just like when Anatis kissed you, right? We are both males, we can’t really become a couple or anything,” Yin said innocently and shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t think much of it… but now that Laien mentioned the subject, he blushed a little. Was he perhaps missing something on this subject?
“Maybe not a literal couple that would have children,” Laien said with a slight smile. “But men can have sexual relationships too, you know?” he mentioned, after what Yin’s face quickly became thoroughly red.
~~~~~~~~
As the new information was settling in, Yin began to feel really, really ashamed. “Stupid grandfather…” he pouted, suddenly starting to feel incredibly embarrassed by the memory of what he did a few minutes ago. Knowing that Laien was fooling around in a similar manner with Anatis was making him feel a bit better, but it was still pretty bad.
Laien smiled helplessly, a little amazed to see how clueless Yin was. In the Sarkcente Kingdom it would be unthinkable for a twelve-year-old to be so oblivious, but honestly, the way Yin was reacting and blushing was pretty cute. “Say… do you masturbate?” he asked, getting a feeling that Yin didn’t know about this either.
Thanks to their spiritual bond, Laien didn’t even need to hear Yin’s answer to know what it was; the way Yin timidly shook his head in response only confirmed his thoughts. As he was looking at Yin, he once again came to think that Yin was exactly in his type; his green hair and eyes, his delicate facial features and the toned, not overly muscular body… that kiss with him felt good, too.
“Want me to teach you?” Laien asked, the perspective causing him to grow quite embarrassed and excited at the same time.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Yin fidgeted before answering, becoming more aware of the certain part of his body. He peeked at Laien and noticed that his penis was also begging to stand up, then looked Laien in the eye and nodded lightly. He was very much curious about these things but didn’t know much about them.
Laien swallowed nervously and took a deep breath, very literally knowing how nervous and embarrassed Yin was. He himself wasn’t much better off, but the curiosity and arousal were enough to make him forget about shame. It was one thing to fool around with Anatis, or even with Siana or Alex… but actually doing something like this was mightily embarrassing.
Since the two of them could both sense each other’s state of mind, they exchanged a meaningful glance. Knowing that neither of them was the only nervous one helped them to calm down and grow more relaxed. After the initial awkwardness faded, they became much more like their usual, carefree selves; their mood became quite playful, too.
“So, what do we do?” Yin asked with a smile, for the time being doing the same thing as Laien; taking a good look at the other’s body.
“For now, could you turn towards me and come closer?” Laien suggested and turned to the side on his own stool. After Yin moved, he looked lower and took a better look at his penis. It was already fully hard, revealing the tip of the light red glans under the foreskin. There was some sparse light green hair at Yin’s nether regions, somewhat less than there was black hair on his own.
“We are the same size, but you have a bit more hair down there,” Yin noted aloud and smiled at Laien. He had also used this chance to get a better look at his friend’s penis.
Laien smiled back at Yin, quite happy with this discovery. He wouldn’t have minded if he was a bit smaller or bigger than Yin, but he surely wouldn’t have wanted to find out that he was much smaller than him. “Could you lean back a bit and spread your legs more?” he requested, thinking it was about the time to get to the actual thing.
“Sure,” Yin leaned back slightly and opened his legs. When Laien reached out with his hand and grabbed his penis, he released a muffled moan. Was his penis supposed to be so sensitive?
“Just relax and focus on the feeling,” Laien said with a smile, then began slowly moving his hand up and down, revealing some more of Yin’s glans with each stroke but not going as far as to pull his foreskin down completely. He made sure to hold Yin’s penis lightly, without putting much force into his grip; he didn’t want to just make Yin come as far as possible, he wanted him to enjoy his first time properly.
With each moment, Yin’s breathing was becoming deeper and the expression on his face was turning more excited and flushed. His body was also growing increasingly hot, his thoughts getting rather hazy as he could think of nothing else but the pleasant sensation he was experiencing.
“How is it?” Laien asked, quietly thinking how incredibly arousing the embarrassed and excited expression on Yin’s face was.
“Feels good,” Yin replied with a slight gasp. He could clearly feel Laien’s fingers on his penis and with each stroke, he couldn’t help getting a bit overwhelmed by the sensation of his foreskin stretching to reveal some of the light red tip hidden beneath it. “Something is… building up at the base…” he huffed quietly, feeling as if something strange was about to happen.
Laien didn’t say anything and kept stroking Yin at a steady, slow and light pace. He made the motions of his hand a bit deeper though, causing almost all of the glans to come out with each downward stroke. After a few more seconds, he felt Yin’s penis twitch lightly in his hand as if impatient for release; a little bit of clear liquid even came out from the tip, showing how close to the edge Yin already was.
It didn’t take much more for Yin to groan in pleasure and arch his back as the wave of pleasure spread through his body. His penis twitched, the first spurt proving to be strong enough to land all the way on his chest while the remaining ones covered both his sparse, green pubic hair and Laien’s hand.
“Wow,” Laien said to himself, amazed by how much Yin came. “I guess it’s normal since it was his first time,” he thought quietly, at the same time squeezing out the remaining white, sticky fluid out of Yin’s penis.
“So, how was it?” Laien asked when Yin glanced at him, having returned back to reality from the hazy lands of pleasure.
“It was amazing, it felt incredibly good,” Yin said honestly, still pretty dazed by the whole experience. He looked at his stomach and at Laien’s hand, wondering how so much of this white fluid could have come out of him. Curious, he picked up some from his chest with his finger and put it in his mouth. “Tastes strange,” he commented with a slight frown, what caused Laien to chuckle.
“It really does, right?” Laien said with a smile, but despite that couldn’t resist his own curiosity and licked his hand, wondering if Yin’s tastes different than his. “Pretty much the same as mine I guess?” he said helplessly, the peculiar taste spreading in his mouth as he swallowed some of Yin’s come.
“Now you lean back and spread your legs,” Yin said along with a chuckle. He could see Laien’s was hard, so he would naturally return the favor.
Laien also chuckled and did as he was told. He relaxed and simply looked at Yin, the sight of his naked body being more than enough to excite him greatly.
Without being too shy about it, Yin reached out with his hand and grabbed Laien’s penis. He then began stroking it gently, mimicking the way Laien did it to him.
“Nn,” Laien moaned quietly. The feeling of Yin’s fingers on his penis was better than anything he had ever experienced before. “How can this feel so good? Is it because of how aroused I am?” he asked himself,
He wanted Yin to go faster and stronger… but he resisted the urge to speak up. He did the same to Yin, so it would be only fair if he held himself back and had Yin making him come slowly. After all, it would feel much better this way too; he just needed to have some patience.
“Is it good?” Yin asked after a while. He could see from the look on Laien’s face and the restless fidgeting of his body that he was feeling good, he could also vaguely sense the same through their spiritual bond, but he wanted to hear him say it aloud.
“It is very good,” Laien replied with a smile. He felt his orgasm approaching closer and closer and did nothing to fight the feeling. He glanced at his penis in Yin’s hand, then looked at Yin… after a few more seconds, he shivered slightly and ejaculated on his own stomach and all over Yin’s hand.
“I had a similar expression when it was coming out?” Yin wondered in embarrassment. The look on Laien’s face at the moment was definitely very lewd.
Laien allowed himself to indulge in the post orgasm after-sensation for a few more breaths before taking out two small towels from his interspatial ring and handing one of them to Yin. “It doesn’t come off well with water,” he smirked a little and explained when Yin gave him a questioning look.
~~~~~~~~
After wiping themselves with the towels, the two of them finished cleaning their bodies and headed straight to one of the three large baths. They got into the hot water, then exchanged a glance and both took out their bottles of rejuvenating water and poured them right into the bath.
“I can already feel my spiritual energy recovering…” Laien said in surprise, not having expected the rate of recovery to be this fast. At this rate, he would be fully recovered within the next ten minutes! “It’s as if the energy in the bath is soothing my body and entering it… it also feels like…” he began saying, but then made a pause and took a deep breath, a familiar pleasant sensation of making a minor breakthrough spreading through his body.
Unexpectedly for Yin, he himself felt the energy in his Qi Origin stir up and grow stronger. He had expected this advancement to occur in a few more weeks… but somehow, it happened so quickly!
“I’m now at the late fifth mortal realm,” Laien said contentedly. “In a few days I should be able to advance to its peak and I will finally be able to master a martial art!” he added excitedly, knowing that gaining full control of his Qi would cause his overall strength to rise dramatically.
“I also advanced to the mid-eighth mortal realm,” Yin mentioned heartily. “This water helped… but it’s mainly the result of our fight,” he added with a smile, never before having had fought so hard in his life. He was very satisfied with the way he had preserved to the very end to defeat Laien.
“We established this Blood Pact,” Laien brought up. “And what do we do now? I get we keep your magical beast heritage a secret, but do you have anything you want or need to do now?” he inquired, hoping that he will at least have enough time to attend the Academy he wanted to go to before needing to get involved in anything major. Yin was someone from the Forbidden Lands after all! It wouldn’t be that surprising if he needed his contracted partner to help him with something.
“No… not really,” Yin said responded calmly, though with an apparent sadness and melancholy in his gaze. “At least not in the coming years,” he added, a clear hint of ice-cold murderous intent rising up within him. He wasn’t nearly strong enough to accomplish what he wanted, so he would do just like his grandfather advised him to; not let those thoughts cloud his mind and live happily as himself.
Laien was about to inquire further, but he sensed that Yin didn’t want to talk about it; and thanks to the peculiar spiritual bond the two of them shared, he knew it wasn’t the same reluctantly as Anatis had… he understood that even if he asked, Yin wouldn’t have told him.
Ironically, the same spiritual bond allowed Yin to more or less sense Laien’s reluctantly and recognize the moment he chose not to speak up, what on one hand made him happy, while on the other made him feel troubled. He really didn’t want there to be any secrets between the two of them… but he simply wasn’t ready to talk about his circumstances.
“Yin,” Laien said with a slight smile and moved a bit closer. “Forget it, I hate this kind of gloomy mood,” he said quietly and placed a light kiss on Yin’s lips, then retreated slowly and smiled at him. Yin would tell him when came to feel comfortable about it and it was perfectly fine; he didn’t wish for this one thing to make this incredible day somewhat less pleasant of a memory.
Yin chuckled, able to tell that Laien was being fully honest with him. “Thanks,” he said simply, then hugged Laien out of an impulse. He allowed his body to rest against Laien’s, the sense of closeness bringing him some very much needed comfort. He loved his grandfather… but the old man was already a bit senile; he never took anything seriously despite possessing great knowledge about the world and wisdom regarding life. The last time he had hugged someone like this, without tears of despair in his eyes… it was over seven years ago, wasn’t it?
Laien kept quiet, for the time being clearing his mind of all thoughts and focusing on the relaxing moment. He snuggled a little to change the position he was sitting in and hugged Yin over his back, pulling him up even closer. The seconds and minutes passed lazily as they sat there in the hot water, neither of them in a hurry to let go or even to start talking about anything.
About the time Laien’s spiritual energy was fully replenished and Yin’s fatigue had been all but washed away, the two of them sat next to each other and engaged in a long chat. They had various kinds of drinks and foods in their interspatial rings, so they stayed in the bath and spent the whole afternoon talking and getting to know each other; with only the topic of Yin’s past being avoided.
When Laien and Yin left the baths and went looking for others, one of the servants they met on the way had quickly directed them to the same room they had been chatting in with Anatis, Nila and Siana. The two of them soon entered the room and were greeted by three of their peers and Injar.
“Couldn’t have taken any longer, eh?” Sinra said teasingly, first glancing at Laien and Yin then giving Anatis and Nila a meaningful look; which by the way caused the latter two to blush strongly.
“What, you caught them doing something interesting?” Laien asked wryly, he and Yin joining the table and sitting alongside each other.
“I didn’t really catch them or anything,” Sinra said with a laugh. “It’s just that that moan echoed like throughout half of my mansion,” he added in a rather amused tone.
“Sinra!” Nila cried out desperately, so ashamed she could die right now. She wasn’t exactly the vocal type, but it just felt so good she couldn’t help it, okay? There was no need to keep making fun of her and telling everyone for god’s sake…!
Sinra chuckled again, enjoying himself very much while poking fun at Anatis and Nila. “So about you, what were you doing for so long?” he asked and glanced at Laien and Yin.
The two exchanged a brief look, then Laien said with a cheeky smile. “Having fun,” he concluded without giving any proper explanation.
“I would love to wait for a right moment to ask this, but I have a few important things to do,” Injar spoke up resignedly. He looked at Laien, then moved his gaze to Yin. “What are we standing on? Do you know what Sinra’s and our goals are, will you be staying here? If yes then what will your home country have to say about that?” he asked, anxious about the future and the consequences of Yin getting affiliated with their camp.
“I will be hanging around with Laien,” Yin replied with a smile. “As for my home country, you don’t need to worry about it,” he stated plainly, quite apparently refusing to tell more to anyone else than Laien.
“Just trust him at the word,” Laien assured, personally very much looking forward to the oncoming months and years. With so many friends around what did he need to worry about?
Injar sighed heavily. “I really hope what you are saying is true… but it’s not like I have another choice than to trust you, eh?” he asked with a helpless smile. “We still have at least ten years, so I guess it will all come out by itself anyway,” he added, more or less used to dealing with irresponsible actions coming from Laien and those who tended to hang out around him.
“I have a few letters to write about the suspicious actions of the Cail family, so if need me for anything I will be in my room,” he stated calmly. “Also Laien, the tail I placed on Siana confirmed she safely returned to the Red Dragon School. If anything, I advise all of you not to walk without a Great Master by your side,”
“Why all of the sudden?” Laien asked, in his mind recalling the contents of the letter he had received from Garon. He hadn’t thought much of those warnings since he was so much into doing something else at the moment, but if he were to read between lines… then that letter really was telling him to do exactly same Injar now spoke about; not go around with a powerful escort for the time being.
“I have no proof,” Injar said grimly and shook his head. “However, Cail family is acting suspiciously. I have a feeling something big is about to happen. It won’t hurt being a bit more cautious for a few days,”
“I guess we could stay in the Royal Palace for a few days,” Laien agreed, the letter and what Injar told them having placed a seed of anxiousness inside him. He looked around his friends to confirm and judging from their reactions, none of them had anything against the idea.
“Good,” Injar said with a content smile, happy to see the kids listening at least when the matter was important. "Enjoy yourselves then,” he mentioned casually and left the room, closing the door behind himself.