Divinitas

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Divinitas



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Posted on - 12th January 2007



A/N: Two year absense = my bad. Here's ch 062, 063 next weekend. Also, new Divinitas website at: http://cruelangel.net/divinitas please do visit! Lots of new illustrations and much much more!



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062 - Disobedience's Price



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Going through his new wardrobe was depressing. Honestly depressing. Black, red, gold. Tight leather, mesh, chains, and gold jewellery that consisted of arm and wrist bands. And everything clung to him like a second skin or covered so little he wondered if they could even be considered decent wear in public society. And to think that the outfit Casimir and picked out, the one he was wearing now, was the best of the lot.



Phoenix firmly shut the walk-in wardrobe’s door, hoping against hope that doing so would somehow make them all disappear. And immediately wanted to pulled it open again, just to hid in the clothes infested space.



He felt him. His whole body shivered, alerted by that ever present yet intangible thread that connect Aether to him. Leash to a collar that was ever around his neck.



“You don’t need these rooms. You’re staying in mine.”



“Your rooms are too black for my tastes,” Phoenix answered evenly, turning around to face the golden haired god. In their brief time apart, Aether had made himself presentable, calmed his dishevelled hair and brushed the stone-dust from his fine clothing. “I like mine better. Red and gold. More fitting for me, don’t you think? Fire, fire, burning bright, warming your tainted half-soul?” The God of Fire raised a questioning eyebrow, mocking and defiant.



“Do you intend to mock and defy me at ever turn, Phoenix?” Aether asked quietly, slender fingers tightening around a black case he held in his right hand.



“Shouldn’t I? After you took away weeks of my life? Damn it, why did you do it? Why? You said to me that you wouldn’t stand for apathy from me, yet you do this thing… you stripped away my freewill, my consciousness and made a doll of me. If a doll isn’t apathetic, I don’t fucking know what is!”



The God of Soul remained silent, gently setting down the case on the single table in the suite of rooms. It made a near-silent noise, wood on wood.



“Damn you. Do you even know why you did it, Aether?” Phoenix demanded, crossing the distance between them and taking hold of Aether’s neck with a clawed hand and digging his nails into the smooth flesh, intent on shaking some sense into his wayward god.



It was the wrong thing to do. The shock of contact forced the breath out of him, every cell of his body vibrating with the endless cursed chant. Mine. MINE. MINE. Burned, the God of Fire snatched his hand away, glaring.



“I can’t hurt you,” Phoenix whispered, eyes wide, staring from his throbbing hand to Aether’s still form, whose one eyed amethyst watched with a mixture of anger and hurt. Slowly, ever so slowly, the throbbing chant faded from both body and mind, falling back into its dormant state.



“No, you can not hurt me. Because you are mine, you are bound to protect me. Because you are mine, I can do what I please with you,” Aether answered softly, only the tremble in his voice giving away his barely contained emotion.



Phoenix’s voice shook when he finally mustered the strength to speak again. “That isn’t fair.” It was barely more than a whisper. It would have been a roar, had his teeth not been clenched so tightly his jaw ached.



“My Phoenix… what I command of you, you will do. You have no choice but to obey. That is our bound, that is what Heaven’s gift allows me, what my half soul bought. I can invoke that power any time I please and you will do as I say, just as the other three Elemental Gods, should I will it,” Aether shot back, returning the fiery youth’s glare. “So, no, it isn’t fair. But I will use whatever means to keep you by my side, because you are mine!”



His throat clenched, and he could barely swallow. His eyes were wide and staring, yet he saw nothing. Aether’s words blocked out everything. What Aether commanded, he would obey…? That… that…



“No. NO! You’re lying. I am not your doll, Aether!”



Aether smirked. “I’m lying?” he asked, glare slipping into a predatory gaze. “Phoenix… kiss me.”



Phoenix’s heart skipped a beat. He felt it. The power, the command behind those simple words. It at once terrified and aroused him. He wanted to kiss Aether. But was it merely the command’s power at work?



The God of Soul tilted his head, smiling, slowly backing Phoenix up against the wall. “You’re attracted to me. Even after I tore off your wings, even after I took you against your will and made you feel pleasure when you wanted only pain… you are still attracted to me and you lust after me as much as I do you,” Aether murmured, amethyst searching the depths of Phoenix’s crimson gaze.



A hissed breath escaped Phoenix’s lips, the way flesh did when seared against hot metal. The youth squeezed his eyes shut as Aether eased his body up against his, arms on either side of his head. Slender fingers brushed back stray red bangs, unveiling Phoenix’s blazing red eyes.



“Won’t you submit to me?” Aether’s husky voice asked in a whisper, lips brushing against lips.



The weight of Aether’s body crushed the very breath of out him, and all Phoenix could manage were short little gasps that did more harm than good. Too much contact, and much too close. Clothes that might as well not have been there, for all the protection they gave him against Aether’s silk-smooth skin. And his heart! Hammering so loudly, that had jumped in sync with Aether’s as soon as the God of Soul’s body has touched his. It made him want to scream.



Fingers playing against his lips forced Phoenix back to Aether’s demand, sliding seductively against his parted lips and flushed cheek. “Submit to me, Phoenix. By your own will, be mine. Just stay with me, always, forever… and I will be with you, forever… You would never be worthless again, never be abandoned and tossed aside as you have been in the past. We could work, my Sacred Bird of Fire, we could give each other what we both so desperately want… just submit to me, Phoenix…”



He couldn’t help it. His tongue just darted out and licked Aether’s fingers, tasting the traces of salt clinging to them and drawing them into his hot mouth and sucking on them.



Gods. His body. Why did it react to Aether like this, betray him so easily? It was like his body had fallen in love with Aether, the way his skin felt against his own, his heat, his scent… it yearned for Aether. Yet his heart and soul absolutely hated him. Hated Aether for playing with him like a doll, hated his obsessiveness, his invisible chains that bound them as close as soul mates against his will. And these latest words of his… tempting, oh so very tempting… but at the cost of his life? His freedom? The single thing that he still had some tiny say in? ‘I’ll love you and cherish you, if only you would be my pet, my slave.’ Oh gods.



With a strangled cry, Phoenix shoved Aether off him and pushed himself away from the wall, stumbling out into the empty space of his rooms. He felt bewildered and caged, a wild animal that just wanted space on which to run endlessly until he could run no more.



“No,” Phoenix growled, eyes blazing with untamed fire. “No! I will not submit to you!” he roared before tearing out of the rooms, running from Aether before the higher deity could even react.



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It was stupid. That was painfully clear now. Stupid to have run to the Upper Heart of Genesis and snatched his Weapon of Fire from the still-forming stone guardians of the weapons. Stupid to have ran from the Castle of Genesis and forced his new wings to unfurl. He had screamed then, long and loud, as the wings broke free from skin and flesh, twin bursting blooms of pain along his upper back. But he hadn’t care. Just bit down on his own tongue until it bled and shook the blood from his fiery red and gold wings, spreading them and taking flight.



How long and far he had flown, he couldn’t have said. It was a blind flight, blinded by the his anger, his hatred at both himself and Aether.



Sunset came, and sunset passed. It was only until he faltered that he paused to wonder why. Why did he feel light headed? Why did his stomach wrench in pain? And why was the ground suddenly rushing up to meet him and the world being engulfed with dancing yellow flames?



His head hurt. Like a melon that had been smashed into a rock and was now only a mess of water, seeds and hard outer skin splattered on the wet ground. With a groan, Phoenix rolled onto his back, noting with a small bit of comfort that at least these new wings were smart enough to retract and not be a burden to their owner.



So deities did have weaknesses. Forgo food and drink for weeks, and you might find flying a hazard and plummet to the ground like a rock. The God of Fire made a face as his stomach rumbled again, and then just glared at his body. His body, which was smudge all over with black soot and dirt, and which barely had a scarp of charred crisp clothing covering it. At least the injuries he had sustained were healing.



His downward plight had seen him turn into a fireball streaking the night sky, the Divine Beast of Fire having wrapped itself around Phoenix to protect the youth’s body. And whilst fire did not and could not ever harm Phoenix, it ate his clothes away without a second thought, leaving him with… nothing except ash and soot.



“Great. Just perfect. I’m a god, am I? So why the fuck can’t I have godly clothing that doesn’t fucking burn!” Phoenix growled to himself, hauling himself to his feet, eyes flickering over his surroundings.



Forest. Deep in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a freaking forest. Well, wasn’t that just fine and dandy. At least it couldn’t get any worse. At least Aether wasn’t there with him.



Aether. Gods. Thinking about him, it made Phoenix want to laugh. Because if he didn’t laugh, he might very well cry. They could work, could they? Like some twisted parody of a loving couple.



“Stupid, worthless idiot,” Phoenix cursed, kicking a rock and instantly regretting it. “Damn it! Gods, damn you Aether! How can you fucking say we could work, whilst I have no choice but to bend to your every whim? How can I possibly live with knowing I am a doll to you?!” Phoenix shouted, snatching up his weapon and swinging it with all the rage he could muster at an innocent boulder.



“Don’t you care about anything else except owning and controlling me?! Don’t you give a shit about anything other than molding me into the perfect little fuck toy that makes you feel emotions, that makes you feel alive?!” the deity continued, punctuating each sentence with a mindless hack.



“Damn you! Why can’t you love me if I’m that important to you? Why can’t you let me live?! How can you say ‘we could work’ when can’t you even love ME for MYSELF?!”



Flames flared, encircling down Phoenix’s arms and diving into the weapon gripped in his hands. One last swing and the rock shattered into a million pieces, fire cracking over each and every shard and particle. They flew off into the undergrowth, sparking blazes where ever they touched.



Phoenix watched, breathing heavily, as flames danced around him, lighting the night.



“But why should you?” the fire deity asked quietly of the crackling flames, eyes glazed, shivering. “I don’t know anything about you either, Aether. I just hate you blindly because of the things you’ve done to me. And I lust after you because of the pleasure and the pain you give me that makes me feel so desired, so acknowledged, so wanted… What a stupid pair we make. We could never work. We’re at odds with each other, and we always will be. A relationship built on satisfying selfish desires. ‘You make me feel, so I’ll keep you.’ ‘You make me feel needed, wanted, so I’ll use you.’ Heh. We’re no better than each other, Aether. Yeah, what a fine, lovely couple we’ll make.”



He just wanted to curl up in his ever growing nest of flames and let unconsciousness take over, block out his twisted and muddled life that way. Oh, if only it was simpler. If there was just the hate, without the lust, without the need to be of significance, it would be easier. So much easier. But it wasn’t, and for that, Phoenix hated himself just as much. To go from being completely torn inside from spilling so much blood to reach his current status, to feeling something… twisted for Aether that was beyond hate. If this was human nature, to be so fickle, to be so self centred, it really disgusted him.



A terrified squeal in the night tore through his brooding. Filled with wild fear and pain, and a higher whinny that was almost drowned out by it. The scent of burning hair and flesh drifted on the air, chocking Phoenix with the horrid realisation of what he had done.



With a single thought, Phoenix silenced the fire, smothering it to whispering wraiths of smoke. Weapon still in hand, the God of Fire crashed through the blackened forest, homing in on the still whimpering whinnies.



Flushed out by the fire, a mare and her foal had been fled in terror, the flames driving them blindly in the night. Yet instead of a path to safety, the one they trod had lead them into a dense undergrowth, one which barred their escape from the ever destroying flames.



That was the scene Phoenix stumbled onto. It wrenched his heart, seeing the horrendously burnt body of the dead mare. And the poor foal, scorched and filled with fear, weak from inhaling so much smoke and barely alive, hiding behind its mother.



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End 062 | Continued 063