Exile (22 page)

The younger man didn’t even falter, continuing his brutal pace. Corin displayed amazing virility, Aless noted, shuddering. It was at least a half hour before Corin eventually groaned, burying himself as deep as he could into Aless, releasing into the older man.

Corin pulled out, flopping onto his back in exhaustion. He didn’t think it was possible to maintain that level of pleasure for that long. He looked at Aless, who had rolled over and was climbing on top of him with a smile covering his face. The older man leaned over, giving him a lazy, chaste kiss.

“That was incredible,” Aless murmured. “I’ve never seen a virgin last that long.”

Corin blushed, allowing his hands to wander over Aless’s back. “It was like something took me over.”

“Whatever it was, I liked it.” Aless replied, giving Corin another kiss.

Corin moved his hands down to Aless’s ass, giving the cheeks a light grope. “You aren’t sore?”

“I will be,” Aless laughed, “but it was worth it, believe me. Corin… I know I really haven’t known you for a long time but I… I think I love you, Corin.”

Corin sat up, staring at Aless. “Y-you do?”

“Yeah,”Aless replied, moving a hand to Corin’s ear, playing with it.

“I…. I think I love you too,” he replied, giving Aless a light kiss on the lips.

“I’m so relieved to hear you say that,” Aless confessed.

“You really like my ears, don’t you?” Corin asked, smiling as Aless gave the tip a rough tug, pulling him closer to Aless.

“They’re unique,” Aless answered, pushing Corin back onto the bed, giving him another light kiss. “I love all of you, but I’ll confess, I do love your ears.”

Corin laughed. “You have a thing for Far Easterners?”

“Just you.” Aless kissed Corin again. “I promise. I’m not planning on running off with Cyril anytime soon.”

Corin smiled and rolled onto his side, pulling Aless with him. He wrapped his arms around Aless’s shoulders, placing his head on the older man’s shoulder. He was coming down from his high, and he was feeling immensely exhausted as a result. He just felt so at ease with the older man, and he felt so connected now that they had…. Corin blushed at the thought—he couldn’t believe what had come over him!

Corin yawned. “Y-yeah….”

“Tired?” Aless asked.

“I didn’t think I would be so—”

Aless smiled, kissing his cheek. “Sleep,” he commanded. “I won’t keep you up any longer, I promise. We can talk in the morning.”

Corin smiled, relaxing his eyes and pressing his entire body against Aless. He pulled Aless closer, allowing himself to succumb to his exhaustion.

Chapter 23

C
ORIN
awoke in an empty bed.

He frowned at this, sitting up and allowing Aless’s blanket to fall down to his waist—but what? Corin scanned the room a second time; this wasn’t Aless’s room. It resembled his dorm more than anything else, but his clothes weren’t on the ground and room just felt… wrong, for lack of a better word.

He looked down at his arms, noting they still appeared to be the same. He stood up, wandering toward the mirror, feeling his face with slight confusion. He
was
still himself, though his clothes were different from normal—when had he gotten dressed? He wandered over and grabbed a pair of boots, sliding them over his feet and walking out.

Corin figured he had to be dreaming as he stared down the hallway. It still felt like the monastery though, and as a pink-robed student pushed past him, he raised his eyebrows, glancing between the hall and the stairs. If this was the monastery, he had certainly never been in this hallway before. He walked toward the stairs. It looked like a new wing altogether.

The walls displayed scenes of that tale he had read. There were sights of the spirit falling in love with the girl, the others banding together to destroy them.

“Hail to you, Guardian of Llubla,” a small girl stood there, smiling. Corin almost reeled back. She looked almost exactly like his mother! Well, his mother if she had been younger, at least. The girl was stocky, with the same ruddy skin he had and short, straight black hair.

“I’m sorry, but you must be making a mistake,” he apologized, examining the coat with a frown—wasn’t that the guardian’s traditional garb? Well, not in that color, but the coat was the same as the others in shape and design. “I’m just an apprentice.”

The girl gave a small laugh. “No, you’re not,” she answered, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I can feel it inside you, Guardian.”

“You’re wearing the guardian’s coat though, aren’t you?” he asked. “This is a pretty odd dream.”

The girl laughed, pulling down her hood. “Llubla chooses a guardian whenever he needs one. Perhaps today he needed two.”

“Who are you?” Corin asked.

“My name is Faye of Llubla. And your name, stranger?” she introduced, curtsying.

“Corin of Zephyr,” he answered, bowing. “Where am I, on that note?”

“Corin, I can tell you’re not a child of Zephyr,” Faye giggled, tilting her head to the side. “You’re in the Clan of the Elements! Did a child of Ubel curse you?”

“Ubel?” Corin asked.

“You really did get cursed, then. Ubel’s the spirit of anger and madness, of course.”

“I’ve never heard of that spirit before,”Corin muttered, looking between Faye and the wall.

“And you call yourself a guardian!” she teased, before sighing, a sad expression falling over her face.

“I never called myself a guardian,” Corin defended himself. “You’re the one who insisted I was—wait, are you okay?”

“My lover, Iason, recently took Ubel’s spirit into his body, and we had to trap him in the temple,” she explained. “He was a lovely man, from the Eastern Isles…. We’ve been together for fifteen years! Since we were ten years old. I wish I could see him.”

“You’re a guardian too,” Corin countered. “Why haven’t you been sealed?”

Faye shrugged. “Because Llubla’s guardians don’t fall under the same rules.”

“What do you mean?” Corin asked. “And why won’t you tell me who Llubla is?”

“Llubla’s the spirit for love,” Faye answered. “Llubla faced a tragedy, falling in love with a human. The other spirits were so jealous they turned Llubla human! He wound up marrying his lover, though, despite that, and happily living with her for the rest of his days. Isn’t that so romantic?”

He muttered Kateline’s book’s title in Centrallian.

“That’s right!” Faye exclaimed, smile back onto her face. “You’re from the Village of Teron too, then?”

“Yes, I am,” he replied, pausing. “You are?”

“I came here to become the rightful Guardian of Llubla,” she declared.

“But I don’t understand,” Corin said. “If Llubla became mortal, how can he select a rightful guardian?”

“Llubla chooses a guardian when he feels one is required. You can never underestimate a spirit.” She answered, playing with a lock of her short, dark hair.

“So why would a guardian be required for Llubla?” he asked, frowning.

“I’m not sure….” Faye mumbled.“But I was going to go make a prayer to find out. He always answers my questions. Do you want to come along?”

“You’d welcome me to join you? Aren’t the temples supposed to be reserved for apprentices?” he asked, blushing slightly as he remembered his encounter with Aless in the Water Temple.

“Since when?” Faye asked, raising an eyebrow. “Besides, you’re a Guardian of Llubla. He sent you here for a reason, I’m assuming. I’d love for you to come with me.”

It looked like the monastery Corin knew, but wrong, in a way. He didn’t recognize a single person wandering the halls. All of the walls were lined with carvings similar to the ones around where he had woken up, all appearing to tell various old folktales.

Faye pulled him out of the main door, and Corin instantly noticed no fence guarding the monastery, unlike what he was used to. The forest almost blended in with the temples, Corin noted. He could see Serac’s temple out of the corner of his eye, but many large, overgrown trees obscured the view.

Faye pulled him forward, walking toward a temple very close to the door. Corin narrowed his eyes as it came closer; he had never seen that temple in his monastery. He looked around the area to ensure he hadn’t confused it for a different, known spirit. Why wasn’t the temple in his version of the monastery, he wondered. A temple didn’t just disappear, especially not without a trace.

Faye suddenly walked around toward the main entrance, smiling at the various carvings on the door. “Llubla doesn’t want you to follow,” she said.

“It’s fine,” Corin replied, watching as she entered the temple, shutting the door before he managed to get a glimpse of the inside.

“Corin…?” a voice called out, and suddenly Corin felt the ground begin to shake.

Corin reached out and grabbed a tree, watching in absolute horror as the temple in front of him began to sink into the ground. The vibrations caused him to lose his balance, falling over and planting his face into a nearby pile of dirt.

The temple was seeping into the ground, and all of the students bustling about didn’t even seem to notice it, Corin observed in horror. He looked to his left and found the trees were now bursting into flames, crumbling into piles of ashes at an alarming pace.

“F-Faye?” he called out, trying to stand up and look around the temple. A gust of wind suddenly followed, and a pile of the ash blew into his eyes, blinding him.

“Corin?” The voice called again, and Corin fell to his knees, trying to crawl toward the temple again. How could it be sinking? What was going on?

“Corin!” the voice screamed, and suddenly Corin woke up.

Chapter 24

“
C
ORIN
!” Selena called out, finally managing to awaken her apprentice.

Corin looked up curiously, groaning as he felt the hot sun covering his skin in a thick blanket, overheating him with the—

Wait, he realized, flushing bright red and noticing the cape conveniently covering his frame, where were his clothes? Why was Selena here? Where was Aless? And why, he realized, giving a small groan, was he lying in the front of the main temple completely naked?

Out of all things she had expected to see during her morning walk, this had to be one of the more unlikely ones.

She had to admit her conversation with Aless had managed to wake her up. She understood the event with Piers had been painful for her, but sitting around and doing nothing wasn’t going to help, even if she was still slightly torn up over the event. In the future, Selena supposed, when everyone else had gone feral, she’d have her shot, but now they needed her support, however she could provide it.

He looked up at Selena. “How long have I been out here?”

“I’m not sure,” Selena replied, averting her eyes from her nearly nude apprentice. “No one else is out, don’t worry, but, Corin…. Why are you out here?”

“I must’ve sleepwalked. I was having the weirdest dream,” he explained.

“What happened?” Selena asked, before quickly turning to an apprentice wandering over to see the commotion. “Go grab him some clothes.”

“Thank you,” Corin murmured, before staring at the ground. “We have to dig here,”he suddenly declared.

Selena’s eyes widened. “Why?” She asked.

“There’s a temple down there!” he exclaimed. “I saw it in my dream… Llubla’s temple, it sank a thousand years ago. We have to dig it out!”

Selena placed a hand on Corin’s shoulder. “What happened? Who’s Llubla?” she asked again, pushing him down. “We have to wait for your clothes, anyway, but we can’t go off digging around the monastery without a good reason, Corin.”

“In my dream, I saw a version of the monastery…. It was so similar, yet so different,” he explained. “I met a girl there, she brought me to see Llubla’s temple—”

“Who’s Llubla?” Selena asked.

“Llubla is the spirit of love, the sixth element!” he exclaimed. “I know this sounds crazy but—”

“Corin,” Selena interrupted, “you had a dream. Was there anything in your dream that made it seem true?”

“Faye mentioned Zephyr,” he answered.

“Faye?”

“She was the Guardian of Llubla a thousand years ago,”Corin answered. “She greeted me as his guardian, too…. It was too normal to be a dream.”