Cosmic Love: Heartbeat
This chapter reveals some of Thomas' history with Justin as his teacher, mentor, and idol. It also explains why this mysterious rabbit has come to the country of Ezario and some of his background as well as some history between the Castia and Ezario nations. It also introduces some subtle attractions between the two males, as well as an unintentional mateship due to Justin's desire to help the rabbit on his mission.
This story does not contain any yiff scenes, but I promise there will be such scenes in later chapters for your... enjoyment. Also, please don't reuse my work or repost it. I place it here on SoFurry because I really like the site. Any characters, once again, are my own, and any resemblances in personality or appearances are purely coincidental. As always, please vote, comment, and criticize constructively.
Please, enjoy Chapter 2: Heartbeat
Cosmic Love: Heartbeat
"No, hold your sword like this." Thomas shifted Justin's sword arm lower by an inch and brought it closer to the center of his body. The adjustment caused the blade tip to level just between the wolf's concentrating blue eyes. He adjusted the young wolf's wrist too, angling the blade outward more so it pointed a few more inches past the prince's wrist. "Here you can move the blade to where you need it to be faster."
"I see." Justin nodded. He was absorbing every word the older bear spoke. It was his first day of sword and shield training, and he was excited to learn to how to properly wield the practice sword his father had given him for his fourteenth birthday. As prince, he was aware that one day he might have to raise a blade like this one in defense of his country and its people. The faint whispers of war had already reached the ears of the citizens of Ezario, which the young wolf suspected was the reason his father had insisted he begin training. He didn't mind though, he wanted to learn how to fight ever since he was ten and watched the city soldiers training in the courtyard. Thomas, the very bear who trained hundreds of the royal guards was his teacher, and Justin looked up to the massive knight as an idol. He was his father's personal bodyguard, and had been his father's friend since they were children. With reports of missing merchants circulating out of control, Thomas was more than happy to train the next heir in the art of war. This wolf was the future of the country, and his protection was incredibly vital.
"Now, come at me." Justin blinked confusedly a few times at Thomas' words. The bear held his sword and shield at the ready. There was no way the wolf would even consider attacking the much more experienced bear.
"You can't be serious." Justin lowered his arms and laughed at the challenge. "I don't stand a chance!"
"Don't ever lower your guard!" Thomas struck, and Justin barely reacted in time to raise his shield. His heart began to pound as adrenaline rushed through his veins as he stumbled sideways a few feet at the incredible strength behind the strike. "You are a wolf!" The bear quickly struck again, belying his true speed, and hit the wolf's shield harder this time which caused him to wince at the pain of the blow radiated through his left arm.
"You should be faster that this!" Thomas used a back handed sword swing, bringing his blade across in a wide arc. Justin raised his blade to stop the blow and felt his feet shift across the dirt a few inches before he finally found grip and held his ground with all his strength. Their swords erupted in red, blinding sparks as they slid to their hilts. "Use your speed to your advantage." Thomas pushed the prince back with a growl, nearly knocking the wolf onto his rear with his impossible strength. Justin recovered in time to raise his shield and deflect another swing, once again wincing in pain as his forearm absorbs most of the heavy swing.
"Every species has an advantage. I have my... strength!" Thomas struck with even more strength, cleaving his blade edge into Justin's shield, nearly slicing into the leather glove covering the prince's arm. Thomas yanks his sword back, ripping it from Justin's padded hand and arm. The wolf was tugged with it at first before it was torn from his weakened grip and carried away with the bear's shield. It sent him forward and off balance which Thomas took advantage of by sweeping the boy's legs out from under him. Justin plummeted to the ground with a breath shaking thud. He could smell the earth as dirt covered his face, but the scent was soon replaced with the smell of iron as his red blood dripped from his nose. "Use your speed, not your strength" Thomas swung again, bringing his sword down in a high arc, but Justin rolled out of the way in time so that the sword stabbed into the earth. The shield attached to the bear's sword was flung off of the blade and skidded to a halt a few feet behind the wolf.
"Your shield is only for when there is no other choice." Thomas struck again, but was met with the flat of Justin's blade just as the wolf got to his knees. The bear pressed harder, but Justin pressed both hands back against the bear's strength with his other hand pressed to his flat sword. Thomas kicked Justin square in the chest instead, sending him rolling backwards over his shield. The lupine coughed some as the air was knocked out of him and he breathed deeply through his mouth. He could taste his own blood dripping from his nose as well, but he just licked his lips to clean them. "Either get all the way up or stay down."
Justin quickly recovered and stood to his feet just before Thomas came after him with another swing. He used his sword to block again, but the bear's shield hit him in the stomach with its edge, knocking the air out of his lungs once more. He coughed and splattered a small amount of the blood from his nose onto the bear in front of him. He yipped loudly as another shield punch sent him stumbling backwards. He regained his composure again, and used the back of his leather glove to wipe his face of the blood dripping from his nose. This was what he wanted, to learn the blade and above all, square off with his war idol. His heart was pounding in his ears still, adrenaline pumped through his veins, but he smiled defiantly and proud like a true prince.
"You're strong." Justin panted as he tried to recover his breath in deep gasps. Thomas roared loudly and struck at the wolf again, but Justin deflected the attack with his sword once more, smiling at how proud he was to be able to last this long against the massive bear.
"You're faster. Use your speed." Thomas swung his blade again, but this time he hit only air as he came across. Justin rolled under the blade swing and toward his shield. He succeeded in getting a grip on the round metal plate. His look of determination returned two fold now, but Thomas just smirked as he lowered his sword and shield.
"Very good, but you have yet to prove your skills on someone who's actually trying." Thomas sheathed his blade and walked over to where his water pouch hung. He uncorked it and raised the pouch to his mouth before turning the whole thing over. He began to drink in huge gulps as Justin contemplated the bear's words for a few moments. He replayed the fight from beginning to end in his head and finally realized Thomas had intentionally only struck easily defendable areas. Justin sighed dejectedly as he realized just how easy the bear was taking it on him.
"No said this was going to be easy, Sire. It's only your first day." Thomas corked his water and grabbed Justin's pouch. He threw it to the wolf, who caught the sack in his leathered shield hand. He noticed the huge slotted hole in the metal now from Thomas' sword. The bear's strength was far more incredible than the wolf thought possible.
"Randal won't be happy about this." Justin sighed as he uncorked his pouch and turned the whole sack over into his mouth. He drank a several large gulps of refreshing water before replacing the stopper in the nozzle and tossing the pouch back to Thomas.
"Seeing as your shield is ruined for the day, why don't we move onto dummy training." Thomas caught the pouch with his free hand and hung it back up on the post his was on.
Bright light pounded intensely against Justin's closed eyes, rousing him slowly from his dream state with a yawn and a loud groan. His pointed ears picked up the distinct sound of a creature sniffing close by his head, which caused his azure eyes to snap open. He jerked straight up quickly, eliciting a startled eep from the glowing rabbit who was crouched down at the head of the leather sleeping pad. There was a slightly crimson tint of blood to the rabbit's white fur around his mouth. Justin softly touched his head where he had been bleeding the night before only to find the once opened head wound now entirely closed and the black fur around it wasn't only clean, but it was fully grown in as if the events of the previous night had never occurred. He could still feel the slight rhythmic throbbing of the initial wound, but even that was slowly fading back normal.
"Myaax. O fiix Myaax." The rabbit lapped at his lips slowly with his pink tongue, cleaning the fur around his mouth of the red blood he had been licking off the wolf's head. Justin felt nauseous at the vampiric sight. His stomach threatened to empty its contents onto the leather bed, but he hadn't eaten anything recently, so he simply gagged as nothing came up. He turned to exit the tent as quickly as his scrambling would allow him in the confined space and stumbled into the cool night air. The sun hadn't even risen yet, and by the shift in the Northern Star during the night, he judged that barely an hour had passed since he had lain down. He could still smell the aroma of burning wood, and looked to the forest he had carried the rabbit out of earlier. It was still burning out of control, and threatened to light the lush plains on fire as well. Quickly, he began to gather up a few of the iron eating utensils his caravan had brought with them as well as the small pot that hung over the now smoldering fire pit and started to pack them away into satchels to be mounted on the backs of one of the few horses still available. The paint horse he had chosen to carry the supplies snorted as several bags filled with the food reserves and cooking ware were strapped tightly to its saddle.
"Easy girl, we will be leaving for home in a little while." Justin whispered gently to the uneasy horse as he stroked her blotched sides softly. Light illuminated the horse's black and white side which grabbed the wolf's attention. He turned around to see the white luminescent rabbit standing in the center of the soon to be deserted camp with a black silk cloak, which once belonged to Thomas, draped around his small shoulders. The overly large clothing dragged along the grass and effectively hid the rabbit's bright body from sight. The giant hood was pulled up over his long ears, which were folded backwards on his head as he looked toward Justin with those glowing blue eyes.
"Uhi qi yiukoft?" Justin could only make out the distinctly questioning tone of the rabbit, but the language was impossible for him to understand. He ignored it though as he walked towards the rabbit and pulled the huge hood further over his head to further shield in the bright light.
"We will have to be careful. We will be seen for miles with this bright light coming from you." Justin held the rabbit's small hand through the billowy robe and walked him towards another unburdened horse. He helped the bunny up into the leather saddle before climbing on as well behind him. The wolf strapped his shield to his waist before he drew his sword from its sheath and sliced the reigns of the mounted horse and the burden steed from their posts. Then, with another slice, he unbound the few horses still present to free back to graze as they wished. After sliding his blade back into its home, he gripped the extra horse lead along with the reigns of the Paint he was sitting on in his sword hand and begun the long trek towards the distant mountains on the furthest edge of the plains.
"Qwihi uhi qi taoft?" The white rabbit looked back at Justin as they trotted along at a slow pace through the tall grass.
"I'm sorry, I can't understand you." Justin said as he held the horse reigns tightly with his arms wrapped around the thin lapin. The hood around the rabbit's head produced the same kind of spot light effect Justin had seen in the light houses in the ocean front cities. From the light shining at the ground in front of them, the wolf could distinctly make out the blades of green grass on the ground. They continued to trot along at a delicate pace, since the horses still couldn't see far enough in front of them to make out any imperfections in the ground quickly enough.
"Uhhh... destination?" Justin's ears perked up in surprise as he heard the word.
"Excuse me?" He wasn't sure if he had heard the rabbit correctly.
"Destination? Temple?" The lapin looked over his shoulder at the wolf as he spoke slowly, as if talking to a child.
"Umm... no, Lucet, the capitol city." Justin said as he shifted just slightly in the small saddle some to get more comfortable.
"Lucet? To the temple?" The rabbit said, confusing Justin even though his speech was becoming much more understandable. Lucet had been the wolf's home ever since he was born, yet he knew nothing of any temple. He knew the entire city better than anyone, since he had traveled through its streets countless time to visit with his people.
"There is no temple in Lucet. It is a secular city. The old teachings died out over a century ago with the signing of the first treaty." Justin explained as they continued to grow slowly closer to the mountains which guarded the western side of the city with its confusing peaks. Justin remembered only two days ago he looked up the eastern faces of the Gazatine mountain range in awe of snowy rock cliffs. Their peaks disappeared into the white clouds which always drifted through their rocky spires like hair being combed into fine lines.
"There is a temple." The rabbit said determinedly.
"How do you know?" Justin growled at the lapin who claimed to know more about his home city.
"My father described it to me, several centuries ago." The rabbit spoke English so plainly now, but Justin didn't bother with finding out how. He was more curious about what this boy was talking about.
"Centuries?! How old are you?"
"By your years, I'm three hundred and thirty six years." The rabbit said casually. "I'm the youngest Crysalian to come to your world."
"H-How long have your kind been coming here?" Justin was intrigued now.
"Longer than I can remember. My family has always been responsible for the safety of your planet."
"Safety? Are we in trouble then?" Justin suddenly felt very concerned. As prince, he was responsible for the safety of his people. If this rabbit was here for the safety of every fur on his planet, then what could possibly be coming to require his help?
"Yes, our stories tell of my ancestors traveling here to subdue the demon, Abaddon, every five hundred years. That is why I need to get to the temple, so I can do as my fathers have done for millennia." The rabbit gripped the front edge of the saddle and pulled himself forward some as he looked down to give Justin enough view to guide the horses along.
"How did you learn my language so quickly?"
"Your language evolved from my language over time. Our species have to be able to pick up on other languages as quickly as possible too. It's vital that we get our mission done and return home as quickly as possible."
"Return home? How do you plan on returning home? The crystal you came in was destroyed when it cracked last night."
"I won't return in that one. I can create another one with enough energy. In my realm, I can create a ship without any help, but in your realm, the connection to the life force I survive on is weaker. I need more energy to generate another star. I'll do just as my ancestors-" The rabbit stopped talking suddenly and fidgeted in his seat some.
"What?"
"Nothing, I just need to get to the Temple to repel the demon and return home as soon as I can." The lapin said quickly. Justin could sense he didn't want to talk about something, and he didn't feel like pressing the issue, mostly in fear of the possible retaliation the rabbit was capable of. After last night, the wolf preferred to stay on the bunny's good side rather than risk death at the hands of such a powerful creature.
"So what is your name?" Justin asked as he adjusted again in the saddle that was built for one. The rabbit in front of him meeped a little bit before he maneuvered forward slightly in the seat again to separate them some more.
"In your language, I'm Seth, in mine, it's Gicr." Seth readjusted in his seat some, sliding himself forward in the saddle to create a little more space between Justin and himself. The rabbit was adjusting himself every few minutes now, seeming to try and get comfortable.
"Well, I'm Justin. I'm the prince of Ezario."
"Ezario? You mean this country's name has changed again? What happened to the Castia empire?" Seth turned to look at the wolf as they bounced along slowly in the saddle.
"Castia is our sister nation. About one hundred years ago, my grandfather led the revolution against Castia, and then created the nation of Ezario after we won our freedom."
"There was a revolution? My father described Castia as peaceful, what changed?"
"Education changed everything. Castia wanted to remain as barbarians and follow their old religions, but they began to force others to worship their gods as well. My grandfather was an inventor at the time, and he led the revolution against their old temples." Justin explained. "With his knowledge, the revolution was successful, and we won our freedom when they signed the first treaty."
"It was not religion they worshipped, it was my predecessors, but they must have misunderstood my father's intentions." Justin blinked a few times at the rabbit's words. He knew very little of the religion the Castians worshipped, and didn't care much for it anyways.
"You mean your ancestors were the gods the Castians preached about?"
"Yes, but my father tried to tell them not to worship us. We are not gods. We live and die just like your race, but in our realm, life force is everywhere, so we can live for hundreds of millenniums. I am only a small child in my world." Seth adjusted himself again, attempting to shift further forward in the saddle once more. "In your world, life force is scarce, so I cannot draw on the natural energy as easily. One day here is like living a thousand years in my realm." As the rabbit said this, the glow of his fur began to diminish some. Justin noticed the subtle change in light, and when the bunny looked back at him, he could tell the fur on his face seemed to just glimmer faintly compared to the vibrant glow it had earlier.
"What's wrong?"
"I am becoming drained as I shine. My body's normal ability to absorb life energy is reversed here. The longer I remain, the more it fades from me until my fur turns metallic."
"How did your ancestors fight it?"
"With the blood of your kind. The natural energy in your blood can sustain me for about an hour of your day."
"Do you need some?" Justin reached for his sword and ungloved his shield hand as the other held the reigns and his sword. He held the blade's edge to his palm while offering it to the rabbit.
"I shouldn't." Seth looked away from the offered palm. "If I take offered blood, it will create a bond between us. I'll only be able to drink from you then."
"That's fine. If it will help you, then I don't mind." Justin slid the sharp blade across his palm, wincing and whimpering at the stinging pain it caused to shoot up his arm. Seth looked at the crimson blood pooling into the wolf's hand in the fading light his face was still emitting. He reluctantly leaned down to drink the warm blood, dipping his soft face into the bleeding palm as he slurped slowly on the red liquid. The metallic taste filled his mouth as he gulped it down hungrily. Justin began to feel a strange sensation as he felt the rabbit's tongue lick across his palm several times, like the surface of it had gone numb. Before long, the wet sensation of blood and saliva vanished along with the pain of the cut he had inflicted on himself. He looked at his palm after the rabbit had finished drinking in surprise. The red slit he had created against the pink flesh had vanished, and no scar had formed in its place.
"How did you do that?" Justin inspected his palm closer, only to realize again that there was no light to observe the surface with when be brought it closer to his face.
"My race has its normal abilities which you saw earlier in the crater, and a few of us have evolved even further. My father was able to read the minds of those around him, which made his mission all the easier and probably caused Castia to worship him and our ancestors as gods. His gift didn't pass along to me, though. My mother didn't share his ability, so the trait never got passed to me. I, however, got her ability to heal others, but she can do it by touch. I can only do it by licking."
"It's still an amazing gift." Justin replaced his leather glove on his arm and gripped the horse reigns again. His position caused him to inadvertently wrap his arms around Seth, but the rabbit didn't seem to mind as he settled into the saddle once again and up against the wolf's chest. The lupine had never had to share his saddle with someone before, but with his armor on, he could barely feel the rabbit pressed against him. The only sensation he could feel was pressure against his front. Seth, however, could feel everything through the warm silk robe, and he didn't necessarily mind being this close to the larger wolf. It was his first time being away from his realm, his parents, and ancestors, and he was now in the presence of someone vastly different than him, but someone kind none the less. The position he was in, however, had become very uncomfortable, since his little bunny tail was pressed right up against the wolf's crotch which was covered in a hard metal plate. However, it was the sensation of having someone much larger than him pressed up against that area that was new to him. In his realm, he wasn't old enough yet to take a bond-mate, but here, the laws of his world no longer mattered.
Yet, Seth felt uneasy about having formed such a bond, which his people considered sacred, with Justin. The wolf didn't realize the act was essentially his equivalent of marriage.
"How did you do it father?" Seth whispered to himself.
"What?" Justin asked as he barely heard the rabbit's soft voice.
"Nothing. Just thinking to myself." Seth said quickly. Justin could tell it wasn't the truth just by the sound of the rabbit's voice, but decided to let him explain it in time.
"We will be nearing the mountains soon. From there, we must go on foot. The horses need to be able to split the weight of what we are carrying with us so they can climb through the pass safely. You may want to try and get some sleep; it will be a difficult climb."
"How do you expect me to sleep?"
"You can lie this against the horse's neck." Justin grabbed the wrapped up sleeping pad that he had rolled up and draped it across the neck of the Paint. Seth leaned forward over the edge of the saddle and draped his arms around the horse's neck. He laid his head on the hard pad while the hood of his cloak draped over his face more to not hide almost all the light his body emitted. His eyes went wide in surprise though when he felt the angle his body was in now. The movement pushed his rear end right into the wolf's plated crotch, but the lupine didn't seem to notice or say anything. However, Seth felt his body warm up slightly at the sensation. The rabbit cleared his mind of the improper thoughts quickly and focused on trying to rest instead.
'he doesn't know, Seth, he doesn't know."