Chapter 01
A month ago,
Everything changed.
Teufel sat in front his tower on a step of the stairs, being in his Teemo form. His clear, light blue eyes searched around the rundown town. His skin was a very light tan. He brought his ebony, emo shag hair down over his right eye also pulling his royal blue sweatshirt hood over his black beanie. Teufel also wore a leather jacket. His eyes looked up towards the sky where a huge, mainly black yet also dark, clear blue crystalline creature flew overhead. It’s huge wingspan cast a shadow over the already dark night of the town. Sighing, he closed his eyes.
Looking back down towards the ground, he rolled his eyes. Late, yet again, Brady... His voice sounded emotionless to even himself inside his own head. The area he had taken home in was a mainly flat area, a huge tower and adjoining building, joined with many old, rundown looking buildings that were empty. A mist seemed to be about in the air as the clouds covered the moon from showing in the dark atmosphere of an Φθινόπωρο night. Not that far away, a huge stable could be seen with it’s lights on and several figures and creatures among it, Hollows Creek Ranch. An Anos stable. Right next to that was a treeline, all about ten or so yards away from the very town Teufel took a home in.
Jumping down from his elevated step he sat upon, he whistled. The wind seemed to howl in protest, a cold, dull breeze turning up. Suddenly, a huge creature set itself upon the ground. It’s huge wingspan spread across most of the ground, and the twenty-one year old approached. He placed his hand upon the creature’s black scales, running it down till its neck. On its face was multiple eyes, at least four on each side of the face, all in a dark blue colour that was the same as its secondary colour of dark blue.
“Krähe, help me to find Brady.”
Once he actually spoke, it was filled with nothing. His voice sounded almost vacuous. Teufel crossed to the large creature’s back just above where it’s wings sprouted, climbing upon that spot. A low noise emitted from the creature, which had many dragon and wyvern like features alike. It was huge, being taller than the tower itself, which was around the height of a normal two story house itself. The Thriceix made Teufel, a 6′4" male himself, look like an ant as he sat upon Krähe’s back. Teufel pushed off the hood and stuffed the beanie into his sweatshirt pocket. After a moment, the Thriceix’s black and blue wings spread as it pushed itself from the ground. As the pair took off, a roar erupted from the larger creature. Slightly, the buildings around them could be seen shake as an echo filled the flat land. As Teufel looked upon the ground for any sign of movement, his creature took a seating upon the top of his tower, a regal, tall like posture being fromed as it’s neck stretched tall. If it hadn’t been for the huge, flat surface of the room, Krähe wouldn’t have been able to sit upon the tower.
A small movement appeared at the treeline, revealing a horse-like creature, an Anos, and a male riding upon its back as they got closer.
Suddenly, the Thriceix leaped down from the larger building, landing upon the ground next to a knocked down figure. The white Anos reared, the many nostril glands along it’s neck flaring. The figure on the ground recovered, unhurt, quickly getting up to attend to the panicing creature. Grabbing the reigns upon it’s back, Teufel observed, the other seemed to jerk the creature down as he turned back to look at him.
“Landon... Could you please not scare Tauriel? She’s not used to Thriceix yet.”
“Late.”
The male upon the Thriceix only snorted, his Thriceix readjusting itself to lay upon the ground, it’s scales bristling among the fall grass.
“I know. I’m sorry... My lesson ran over.”
“Get on, Brady. He’s not going to wait forever. Plus, I’m not supposed to leave here... Ever... You know this. We don’t have much time.”
The figure on the ground, Brady, smiled, going over to tie Tauriel to a post near the broken down buildings that scattered across the town of Εγκαταλελειμμένο Rose. He then watched as his friend calmy walked back, struggling to climb upon Krähe’s back. Teufel reached his hand down for Brady to grab, who took it and pulled himself up. To Teufel, his friend’s hand felt tender and smooth as he observed his friends features. Brady’s eyes were a deep, beautiful fern colour, his hair a light chocolate. His skin was tanned, giving him an athletic sort of look to Teufel. He was dressed in a not so elegant, ashen coloured long sleeved t-shirt with regular jeans. His friend spoke to him in a voice that resembled admiration and deep feeling. Honestly, he’s kinda- His eyes flickered their gaze between places on Brady’s face, him realizing this and his unfinished thought causing himself to clear his throat and awkwardly look away.
“It’s so cool that you’ve already tamed a Thriceix, Landon.”
“Sure, I guess. Whatever you say. Let’s go find you one. Any specifics your looking for in a beginning Thriceix?”
The male behind him shook his head sideways, indicating ‘No’. Looking towards the front again, he could tell how cold and monotone his voice sounded. Shaking his head, he grabbed onto the huge piece of leather that hung near his thighs, acting as reigns for the Thriceix, and indicated for Krähe to take off. Doing so, the creature heavily pushed off of the ground, his crystalline-like tail shining in the moonlight that had begun to shine through to the clouds that hung over the town.
“Landon..... Why aren’t you supposed to leave Abandoned Rose?”
“I-..... That’s something I’m not yet ready to discuss with you....”
He mumbled back to his friend, his posture becoming more rigid as he slightly stuttered out his answer. He wasn’t quite yet ready to tell his friend that he was the Guardian of Hell. Let alone the fact he was an eight-thousand, nine-hundred, and sixty-seven year old Guardian that was twenty-one in Teemo form. Heavily sighing, he let himself become less rigid as Brady reached his arms around his stomach as to not fall off. A small smile barely formed in his lips. Briefly, he let himself look down at the black, studded bracelet around his left wrist that he consistently wore. But as the Thriceix gracefully flew, they began to enter a different looking region, tearing his attention away. This one wasn’t a sort of flat area. It was instead full of mountains. Teufel could feel Brady tighten his grip even more on himself as a light roar erupted from somewhere above them in the clouds, the wind blowing through their hair. Suddenly, Krähe violently came to a halt, causing Brady to bury his face within Teufel’s back.
“Brady, look up. They’re here. Pick the one you like, but don’t make it too hard for your first tame.”
The montonous voice of himself lightly shifted to a softer version as he coaxed his friend. But yet it also sounded demanding, taking away the small hint of care that was hidden behind his voice. His friend loosened his grip to basically no grip, looking up. They were hovering in the air as Brady pointed towards a Thriceix that was a bit smaller than Krähe himself, covered in black spikes. It sat upon a rock that jutted out of the mountain, it’s main scale colour red. It had a secondary colour of black running down the bottom of it’s snout, it’s neck, and to the top part of it’s stomach.
“That one.”
A light snort came from Teufel as his friend spoke.
“No. Maybe when you’ve handled Thriceix for a few years. It took me years to be able to learn to tame Krähe. I may only be twenty-one, but I started learning when I was seventeen. That Thriceix isn’t for ameteurs.”
The huge creature landed upon a relatively flat top of a mountain, getting the attention of the red and black Thriceix, making it turn its head towards the trio.
“Please... Landonnn... Teach me? I wanna look cool, riding around on a huge Thriceix, like you do.”
“Find a different one. A Fire Thriceix such as that one is not for beginners.”
They seemed to bring up enough curiosity from the other Thriceix, as it began making it’s way toward them by jumping upon the mountains. Teufel made a clicking noise to Krähe, who began to move away. Smoke seemed to be curling out of the other creature’s nostrils, and Krähe lightly pushed off of to the mountain top. He landed upon the side of another mountain, losing traction and grip as he sank his claws into the mountain while they slipped down. Rocks could be heard falling towards the sides and bottom of the mountain. Brady grabbed onto Teufel tighter, as he seemed to constantly be finding an excuse to do so, as the Thriceix pulled himself up. The trio was soon back into the air, and Teufel looked back to the other Thriceix staring at his own crystalline Thriceix. Looking back ahead, he could no longer feel any sense of a smile upon his face.
Once they had begun to get closer to re-entering the clearing, the slightly smaller Thriceix stopped following their trail. The large, crystaline creature folded his ears back as he began a descent of turbulence. Teufel could feel Brady tighten his grip just a tad bit more, causing Teufel to feel his face slightly heating up. Harshly thinking to himself, he gave his head a light shake. Noooope. As Krähe began nearing closer to ground, he took a hand off of the leather reign and placed it on Brady’s arms around his waist. Upon landing, Teufel quickly took his hand back as well as quickly dismounting his Thriceix. Looking back at Brady, he saw that Brady was smiling and had a slightly red face as he stared down at his hands. Teufel cleared his throat and reached his hand for Brady to get help on dismounting. As the tanned male took Teufel’s hand and pulled himself down, he shyly smiled up towards the taller male. His blue eyes looked up at him once, quickly looking back down.
Teufel walked over to Krähe, pulling the huge, leather reigns off of the huge creature. Once finished, he nodded to Krähe, who took off towards the sky. Turning back towards Brady, he put his hands into the pockets of his blue sweatshirt that he wore under his leather jacket. Brady continued to smile in a way he felt odd, staring down at the ground and rubbing his foot around in the grass.
“Landon... I-”
“Don’t say anything...”
He looked slightly harsh at Brady as he looked up, which caused his smile to dissapear. Sighing, he took a step closer to Brady, pulling him into a hug. At first, his friend didn’t hug back, but Brady made the hug somehow deeper in a fashion. He placed his head on Teufel’s shoulder as he tightly wrapped his arms around him. Teufel buried his head within the shorter male’s shoulder, hiding his face from anyone who could potentially see him smile. Clearing his throat and erasing any sign of a smile, he soon pulled away from Brady. Teufel but his lip on where his lip ring was, awkwardly clearing his throat. Looking at Brady, he saw that his friend was smiling. Teufel lightly laughed and smiled as he rubbed the back of his neck. Brady’s smile seemed almost pure.
“You’ve never hugged me before.”
For a few moments, he stuttered to speak, eventually giving just an awkward shrug in return. A smile had spread onto his face. His friend walked closer to him, reaching a hand up to brush Teufel’s hair out from his face. Brady just kinda laughed at his reaction, which was looking towards the ground, a smile on his face. He ended up pulling the taller male into another hug. He noted that Brady had stood on the tiptoes to be able to hug him around the neck. When his friend pulled back, Brady kept his his arms around Teufel’s neck and continued to stand on his tiptoes. He looked at his friend and swallowed. Brady took one of his hands and placed it on his cheek as he leaned closer to Teufel. Within moments of something that would have changed their friendship, he pushed Brady away.
“Brady, I... I’m sorry... We can’t.. I-”
“Why can’t I kiss you, Landon?”
Teufel sighed, looking at Brady yet not fully. He pulled his beanie out of his sweatshirt pocket and put it on after fixing his hair back over his eye. Cause the last time I kissed a guy, Father- He looked at a sideways angle towards the ground.
“Continue..?”
“Hmm?”
“What’d your Dad do?”
“..... I... Said that aloud?”
Brady smiled as he nodded, a light chuckle escaping from his throat as he nodded. Teufel looked up towards his friend, barely seeming able to keep eye contact. He smiled, looking back a couple years. He started heading towards his house, motioning for Brady to follow him. As the pair walked towards his house, he shoved his hands into the sweatshirt pocket, watching the soft, emerald grass flatten beneath his feet. Nearing the house, he spoke to Brady, somehow noting to himself that his voice seemed foggy of a sort.
“If I’m going to tell you this, just know... I was fourteen, ok? It’s embarrassing... I was different after.... Cause... Of... The result...”
He stopped a lot in talking, almost as if processing his words, finally reaching the door of his house. It was a one story house, painted a lovely dove colour. The door was a milky, creamy looking pearl colour. The doorknob was worn yet sparkly. Not much, but it still seemed to feel comfortable to him. He removed one hand from his pocket, turning the doorknob to open the door. Once they were inside, the pair sat down on his sapphire blue coloured couch. Sighing, Teufel turned to look at Brady. He smiled and chucked nervously.
“Ok, look, um... I was fourteen when this happened.... I hadn’t, well... I hadn’t been kicked out of school yet. We were doing a project in social studies, partners. My partner was a guy named Gabe.”
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I sat about my room, getting everything at my house for Gabe to come over to work on our project. In a few moments, someone knocked on my door and opened it. When I turned around, it was Gabe. He was... Taller than me.. At the time... Through our partnership, we had become best friends. He came over almost every other day. My Father kept talking to me about how he was certain that he had feelings for me in a non-platonic way. As we began working on the project, I could tell he seemed nervous in a way. I didn’t ask about it until he was about to leave. But when I asked him, he only smiled and laughed. He hugged me, as usual, but he didn’t turn around and leave. He stood directly in front of me and placed a hand on my face. That was when he kissed me. Of course, I was idiotic and kissed him back. We were in my house. I should have known that my Father would have walked in. Which he did. He’s very.... Homophobic? Once he saw us, he basically screamed at us. We both knew not to get involved with each other in that way. Being young, I was rebellious. I ended up leaving with Gabe, returning to his house. For the night, I stayed. And the next day.... Seeing as my Father is... Well.... Uh... An important figure, I guess, in the city I grew up in... He had... Gabe executed... At fifteen.... Just playing on the fact that he had run away instead of having been dead.
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As he finished his story, he realized he had been shaking. Brady looked at him in what he believed was utter disbelief.
“Landon, I...... Where the hell did you grow up?”
“A city...”
“But... Fine... This is your house, though. You can live how you want, right?”
“I guess.... My brother, Noel... He.. I’ve always been the favorite of my Father, so if he knew that I.... Well, we... Are more than friends.. He’d tell my father, and I’m not sure what he’d do then. Noel is good. Never lies, never been in trouble. I’m pretty sure he’s engaged now, too...”
Brady smiled, looking straight into Teufel’s eyes.
“You’ve never opened up to me this much... I didn’t know you had a brother, Landon.”
“Oh, come on... Shut up...”
He looked down, smiling. Brady took a hand and held his head back up.
“Are you going to push me away this time?”
Teufel shrugged in a joking sort of way, letting Brady get closer to him. Although, Brady stopped just before kissing him, leaning his forehead on his. He smiled and lightly laughed, putting his hand on the back of his friend’s neck and kissing him. Although, a knock came upon the door, causing Teufel to flinch away from Brady. Immediately, he stood up and went to the door. His friend cleared his throat as he stood up to join the other male at the door with him.
