The Truce {BoyxBoy}

~Chapter Two~

Hello everybody! Chapter two is hear! On the side is a picture of Beckett ~~>>>> and on the last chapter I wrote there was a picture of Conrad (sorry I forgot to mention that), so if you didn't see him before you can go back to see his sexiness before or after reading this chapter. Hope you enjoy!

~Chapter Two: I Dreamed a Dream~

Conrad’s POV

I was sure in those terrible moments that my death was imminent. I couldn’t be certain whether I was falling or flying; maybe I wasn’t moving at all. The void wasn’t exactly black, more of an unexplainable array of color that morphed into one dark mass- thousands of shades that were somehow one flowing pigment. An absence of sound so defining it hurt was everywhere, pressing down on me but also pulling me apart one molecule at a time. Agony, it was total agony.

And then it was over, and so here I am, still alive.

Pulling in drags of sweet, sweet oxygen I pant like a dog. My whole body is racked with uncontrollable shivers, and I’m shocked to notice there’s salt water flowing from my eyes in torrents. I’m kneeling, my knees digging into the hard cobbled ground with my arms wrapped tightly around my quaking torso. It’s hot, wherever I am. Sweat gathers at the base of my neck makes slick my forehead. It’s probably close to 95 degrees, but thankfully there’s no humidity. It’s hot, but it’s much better than that void from hell I just came from.

 A pressure falls onto my right shoulder and I jump with a terrified cry. My eyes whip up to see Beckett and Nora, both standing and looking much better than I, with twin looks of sympathy on their faces. The pressure was Beckett’s hand, and he retracts it quickly at my outburst.

“I’m very sorry about that sweetheart. The Jump is always hard the first couple of times, but you’ll get used to it.” Nora mutters, apology in her voice.

“Wh-what was that?” I stutter, my voice like that of a scared little boy.

“It was magic of course; I used it to get us from that world to this one.” She states matter-of-factly. My eyes widen considerably; but I tell myself this is all some crazy dream to keep the creeping madness at bay. Still, even if it is a dream I want answers, because if I don’t get them, it could very well turn into the worst of nightmares. Though, that ‘Jump’, as Nora put it, was quite nightmarish anyway.

“And what world is this exactly?” I question, shakily getting to my feet. Beckett makes a move to steady me, but seeing the venomous look I throw him, he moves back again.

“Elemental, it’s the mirror dimension to Earth.” Beckett pipes up awkwardly. I rub my now aching temples and sigh. I have one weird imagination and subconscious to have dreamed this up. Did I fall asleep watching Sci-Fi again?  

“And what, pray tell, the fuck does that mean?” I spit, officially fed up with Dream Beckett and Dream Nora. Nora makes a face like she wants to scold me for my foul language, but instead just rolls her green eyes and laughs.

“Let’s take this conversation inside, alright?” The woman with hair like flames- hair like mine- says. Beckett nods enthusiastically, a grin I’ve seen too many times stretching across his face. I just shrug, and look around for the first time.

We’re on a road; it’s wide and made of relatively flat stone cobles ranging in color from an ashy black to vibrant flamingo pink. There’s not much in the way of vegetation, mostly just dusty dirt and more colorful rocks of different shape and size. However there is the occasional plant, most resembling cactuses with palm fronds shooting out from the tops, except they are more of a dark forest green color. As I turn in a one-eighty I see that most of the ground is flat in the west but hilly and mountainous in every other direction. In the flat lands I can see crop fields growing lush with plants I couldn’t name. Some look a lot like large purple pumpkins while others resemble shimmering gold spider plants. Turning my back to the fields I look up, and there, not more than a hundred feet way and up high on a mountain is what looks like a castle straight from ancient Rome.

The structure is great and intimidating. The main face is the color of ash while dozens of blood red pillars line the castle. Twin turrets shoot out from the building, one on the left and one the right. The ash-colored turrets are strange protruding from structure, but somehow they work.

“Are you coming?” Beckett calls, Nora and himself already a ways up the road. Gulping down my unease and the bile crawling up my throat I take off after the pair at a steady jog, the idea that this could really all be some strange dream slipping through my fingers like sand.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I am not walking up that god damned mountain.” I snap, already my breath labored from the incline leading to said mountain.

“Oh, of course not,” Nora says with a giggle (which shocked me by the way; she doesn’t seem like the giggling sort.) and a dismissive wave of her delicate tan hand.

“You’re in for a real surprise.” Beckett snickers.

“Like the rest of this freak show hasn’t been surprise enough,” I say, my snarky tone taking hold. Beck burns red and his snickers are cut short. Nora smiles.  Over the last rise, I see were at the base of the mountain now. The tan rock with swirls of rust red takes an immediate and steep slope, almost shooting up at a straight vertical line. There are three men directly in front of us, all wearing orange tunic’s and black shorts to the knee, and holding staffs that look to be made of glass. They bow and one of them, the one in the middle, speaks.

“Going up my majesty, Queen Nora?” Nora nods and my mouth drops.

“What did that guy just call you?” I squeak in a totally manly way. Nora winks slyly without a word. Without having to say anything further; the three raise their transparent staffs and bring them down forcefully on the rock ground. Red swirls of fire shoot through the hollow center of the three staffs and hit the earth. Deafening grinding of stone and rock echoes out everywhere, and with a pop the ground under Nora, Beckett, and my own feet is free from the rest of the earth. We go soaring straight up, making our way towards the castle.

I give a yelp, and look down. Fire, so hot and roaring so strong, is blowing from the bottom of thick rock I’ve found myself on, blasting us up like a rocket ship. I scream in fear, and drop to all fours, clinging to the flying bolder for dear life. My eyes clench tightly shut as I shout profanities at the top of my voice. Someone kneels down next to me to wrap their arms around me protectively. I know it’s Nora when she coos in my ear that we we’re ok, and that it’s almost over. Her words and embrace does nothing to patch my frayed nerves. I just can’t take it anymore, I can’t.

When our strange aircraft comes to a halt (fire still blazing to the bottom but letting up some so we stay level) I scramble on all fours off of the bolder and onto a marble floor. I sob into the cool surface, any composed fragment of myself completely gone. If this really is all some sick dream I want to wake up, and wake up right now damn it! It’s just too much.

“Come on hun, let’s get you into bed. You’ve had a very taxing day, so we’ll talk about everything tomorrow.” Nora says in a soft and pained voice. All I can manage is a broken whimper in reply.