Collapsed World [MxM, Non-Con, Mpreg]

Part 12 [Julius]

Julius was wary about trusting the halflings too completely. While others were confident and rejoiced when they came to join the ranks in the resistance, Julius held on to his skeptical natural. There wasn't enough data on these half Corvine half Avaen creations to fully know how they were going to behave and where their loyalties would ultimately rest. To Julius, it was more logical for the halflings to side with their Corvine parents, who provided them with freedom and rank. Power was a great motivator, and Julius found it hard to swallow that the halflings would give up their power and risk their lives for something that they couldn't possibly understand. They had only ever known Avaens as slaves and pets. They never saw the majestic beauty of the land before the Corvines came and destroyed everything. Without that first-hand knowledge, Julius doubted that they fully knew what they were getting themselves into, and thought that many of them only wanted glory and excitement of their own. He could clearly see how many of them thought of the brewing war as some kind of game. In the end though, Julius couldn't turn them away, despite his doubts. He needed the extra able bodied warriors if they were going to have any hope of winning this. There was one, however, that was different from the rest of them. The young and high spirited Tajadin. Julius was proud of his abilities, and his eagerness to learn their ways. However, even this wasn't enough to completely gain his trust. As with all of the halflings, Julius rigorously looked into the back story that he'd given. It didn't take him long to figure out that the man Taj claimed to be his father didn't have any surviving children. Julius kept this information to himself though, instead allowing things to play out. Julius wasn't one to share sensitive information anyway, not even with those that were closest to him, so he was sure that whatever reason Taj had for hiding the truth, it wouldn't hurt the cause as long as Julius kept a close eye on him.

There were other things that made Julius slant his eyes at Taj in a curious way, like when they were torturing Corvines for information, wondering idly to himself where such a young boy had learned so many different dialects, and more importantly, tactics of torture. It was the little things that made Julius raise a curious eyebrow, but he never said anything. He would have been a terrible leader if he couldn't gauge the loyalty and intentions of others. Julius had a very keen sense for when people were lying, though like most things, Julius kept that information to himself.

Julius indeed had not realized Taj's presence there with him,so when the boy put his hands on him, Julius reacted out of shock and suspicion, grabbing him roughly by the shoulders and was about to push him away when he saw the boy's face and recognized Taj for who he was before doing any physical harm to him. "Taj..." He panted, still physically shaking. Without thinking about the dangers of taking Taj back to his home, Julius lead him there, leaning against the smaller framed halfling out of need, his body just barely going as he commanded it. He knew that even though he looked like a halfling in his disguise, it still wasn't safe to be out in the streets looking the way he did. Even though the halflings were accepted in the Corvine society, there were still many simple minded Corvines that would harm a halfling just as soon as they would harm a Avaen. His mind went into autopilot, leading Taj away from the dangerous streets and towards his home. Everything about the house was simple in design as to not draw any extra attention, the front gates made of steel bars with a stone pathway that led to the front door of the home that was made out of a combination of clay and wooden elements.

The gate opened for him as soon as they approached it, and the door swung open, a concerned Avaen girl with no wings and wearing a simple white dress stood on the other side, motioning for them both to come in quickly. "Master!" She gasped, seeing the distressed state that he was in. She closed the door behind them, kneeling down next to Julius as he weakly let himself slid into the floor.

"Alia... leave me be. Go. I'm fine." He assured her, though she was still reluctant to leave him in his condition, but she did as he asked and quietly left the room. Wincing in pain, Julius leaned over and rolled up his pant leg, making a low, pained sound as the flesh that had melted to his clothing was peeled off. There was a gaping hole in his ankle where his mate mark had once been, the flesh around it scarred and burnt badly and looked like it was nearly rotting away. He turned his head away in disgust, though not from the wound itself, but at the absence of the mark that connected him to Iris. Finding Iris would have been a true blessing. Even if he'd been broken and beaten, barely alive, at least he would have been alive and Julius would have taken him away from those horrors and do everything in his power to heal his lover's torments. He would have taken Iris no matter what shape he was in, no matter how many horrors he had experienced. None of that was important to Julius, he just wanted to hold Iris in his arms.

"My mate.... is dead." Julius confessed to Taj, feeling as though his heart were about to explode right out of his chest at any moment. Feeling helpless and lost and angry, Julius wrapped his arms around himself, laying on his side in a fetal position, wishing for nothing more than to trade places with his beloved Iris, he would have accepted death a million times over if it could bring him back.