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Chapter Text

At first, Dan Heng didn’t exactly understand what a new cycle meant, but after waiting for several years with not a single murmur of familiarity, born at the beginning of the world alongside the Titans… he did not awake until Era Creatura, he began to comprehend the weight of what had befallen him. Horns had grown from his head, and he noticed ridges along his spine beginning to stick out, and if he tried hard enough he could will them to flatten against his back. “The Trailblazer will return someday, and until then I just have to wait for them.” He watched Mnestia make advances on Cerces, he saw Aquila and Kephale forge the dawn device, and make the light calendar itself.

Even after some 300 years, he watched humans harvest clay and wood born of the earth in order to build what he could predict as the precursor to Okhema at Kephale’s feet.

Time passed, agonizingly slow. Dan heng, despite being a vidyadhara, was used to living every single day with joy and thought alongside his newfound family on the express! and now… More and more space was consumed by foul memories up in his brain. He felt his determination ebb, yet he centered himself quickly with the idea that one day, he and the Trailblazer would be responsible for bringing Amphoreus salvation, saving millions of people who were unknowingly tortured by Era Nova countless times. “I must persevere, for the Trailblaze, and the sake of Amphoreus.” He told himself over and over like a mantra as moss clung to his skin, stalwart as always.

Even then, loneliness clawed at his being, making itself at home and curling up in his stomach to force a disgusting slimy feeling to settle. He missed March 7th, He missed Stelle, Himeko, Welt, Sunday, Aeons. He even missed Blade. Actually, perhaps him almost most of all. They’d really started to get close over the last year. All started because Kafka kept feeding him dog kibble, and he’d somehow gotten it into his head that Dan Heng of all people would make him food.

…Maybe it was just an excuse to scare him, maybe boss him around a little to see him tremble and sweat while cooking in the middle of the night, feeling beastly eyes searing into his flesh. But after some time, he started to be less aggressive with him, and Dan Heng even began to slip a recipe from Bailu into his food. While it wouldn’t cure the Mara, it would lessen the symptoms. And Blade started to treat him in an oddly familiar manner that one might even refer to as kind.

Humans now relished in Era Chrysea, and Dan Heng dreaded that one day, it would all go very wrong. He walked among the land that would once become known as Aidonia.

”Stelle, my dearest friend. Have you endured the same torture as me in some distant corner I’ve yet to explore over these centuries?” He spoke aloud to dull air, snow tumbling down from the hillsides in beautiful white plumes, the cold snarling against his skin, scales had begun to form, and he noticed his teeth sharpening more and more lately. He was becoming something less human. And that terrified him. The way Aidonia’s cruel chill felt like nothingness against him, so unlike the previous years.

He held a Jade abacus in his hand, small and round, carved with a beautiful dragon and sword. It was a momento from his life as Dan feng, ’I recall… Yingxing held the other Abacus. I wonder if he can hear me?’ A past of which he began to remember bit by bit. It just made him miss Blade more. Despite the years of chasing and hunting, they at the time had began to find a common ground, and had started to grow close. Dan Heng even inadvertently spent one of his mating seasons with him. It fulfilled the yearning in Dan heng’s heart for something intimate, a man he couldn’t quite remember. But all that was distant now. How much time has passed outside Amphoreus?

The jade abacus had started to grow smooth, the pattern lessening in distinctness considerably, and he was terrified that one day it would whittle to nothing like the original leather straps to his bracer, of which he’d had to replace twice now. It never sat the same on his wrist. But still, he could not stop himself from rubbing his thumb across the jade gently like a worry-stone, humming to himself a familiar song in Mandarin, numb with chill as he continued to walk with a spear upon his back through the snow.

”The moon is bright… the wind is calm. Tree leaves cover the window frame…” His voice trailed off, hoarse and cracking from the cold as he was absorbed in a sheer breeze of snow. He felt guilty knowing Thanatos would be born soon.

A familiar burn sunk into his core, and he was nauseous. Another May completely alone in isolation. He’d forgone sleeping, instead pushing himself into a meditative trance for months— maybe even years at a time, only to perhaps be roused by a child who thought he was a statue, or a bird finding him a proper place to build a nest. But this time, it was the throes of his mating season, wracking his still frame suddenly. He’d grown a tail, now. Further solidifying his inhumanity as he assumed the false identity of a Titan.

He tried to not let it get to him, but after a few hours he felt sick, suddenly breaking from his dedicated seiza sitting to vomit. But even as his body heaved, nothing came out. It’s true, he hardly ate nowadays, finding the task redundant. Even as the remnants of Dan feng in his mind cursed him and called him foolish like an ashamed mother, then tried to coax him with sweet words to sustain his body. He Couldn’t keep going like this.

Weakly, Dan Heng fell to his side, shuddering and heaving as sobs were ripped from his esophagus. The jade abacus sat in his shaking open palm, muttering the name of someone he only remembered more and more of day by day, “Oh, Yingxing…. Blade.” a faint scar of teeth sending striking pain through his upper torso like a shawl pinned at his shoulder, a cloth of pain draping from that point. Sorrow and loneliness ripping through his soul. His hands were sharply clawed and dark now, not at all resembling the soft human flesh previously.

He hated being awoken from his trance early by this stupid mating season. Most years he could simply ignore it, but this year it was incredibly painful, his veins throbbing with burning fire and loneliness. He’d much rather sleep for another 15 years, especially after having to implore an enraged Cerces into giving humanity a second chance in this Era Bellica. But he was not so lucky

Dan Heng fell to his knees, a howl gurgling free from behind his clenched teeth, in his hands were the remnants of the bracer he cherished. The metal was tarnished and thinned, too brittle to wear, and too far gone to rejoin leather straps after the last five had disintegrated from use. He felt the very final vestiges of the cloudhymn magic disperse into nothingness from the bracer, as it had been steadily decreasing for a few centuries now.

Every single trace was gone, everything he yearned for, the connection he prayed to a higher being would accompany him through this journey was severed completely. Now all he had was a jade abacus, the carvings still barely visible as he anxiously placed it back in his coat pocket, terrified to further dull its surface. Because one day that will leave him too.

Hallucinations of his loved ones had recently started to call his name as well, distant and mourning. a searing pain settling in his chest. Sometimes he’d see March or Stelle in the corner of his bloodshot eyes. Or perhaps a reassuring hand on the shoulder from Welt. But worst of all was when he felt Blade place shard to his throat, and he practically leaped in joy with the very concept of seeing him again, only to turn around and be met with a cliff edge tempting him. …Having remembered so much about Yinyue and Yingxing. He could feel the old dragon weep within his psyche.

’I have… to wait. For the sake of everything.’ He told himself this over and over again, but had long since ceased speaking it out loud, it was pointless. He held the pieces of the bracer in his hands and wept silently, returning to his now grief-stricken kneel as a row of sharp teeth ensnared his own gums, pulling it bloody from the inside and watching the golden ichor drip and stain the tarnished metal. Sun blaring on his back.

As much as Dan Heng tried to ignore it, he was getting up there in age now. ’If it continues like this, I’ll become stricken by Mara too.’ He shuddered at the thought, honing in on the burn rooting itself in his chest as he paranoidly spoke to himself in his head, now ignoring the sweet candy voice speaking “Dan Heng, everything will be okay! Take lots of photos for me!” From somewhere far off.

”Pull yourself together.” The old dragon in his head sneered, but could not hide his tear-stained eyes. Truly, in remembering his past, Dan Heng and Dan Feng began to have a sort of… cross over, in personalities and thoughts. While they weren’t exactly the same person, they weren’t separate either. “We Vidyadhara do not become struck with Mara, we are reborn before so many cruel memories accumulate that the Chī in our bodies loses control and explodes.” It spoke further, tone softening.

”But there is no scalegorge, and there are no waters of rebirth for our kind, Yinyue.” Dan Heng replied dryly, blood still dripping from his jaw as he felt his grip on himself slipping away, returning to a meditative state. “Then, you must continue to hibernate, or else all will be for naught, my other self.” He hissed, but not quite aggressively, more sad and bitter. And when Dan Heng began to fade back to nothingness, he heard himself hum back in his mind, just as he’d sung it so many times before, and as Yingxing sang it to him.

”…The chirping of crickets is strong, and steady. Like the sound of Qin strings.” Is the last thing he heard.

Blade felt a final chill run through him, like death had finally come, but not for him. He’d caught wind of what happened in the Astral Express after he failed to find Dan Heng, and since then wore the bracer on his arm. Despite the fact he got no true feedback, it still felt like someone was wearing the other bracer, if even a hairs-breadth of a beat in response.

His slow beating heart suddenly sped up, a growling and electric pain shooting through his body with the Mara, igniting the aches of his bones aflame like they’d been doused in gasoline. Anxiously, he ran his good hand across the bracer strapped to his crooked wrist. Dan Heng was naturally cold, but this was a different chill. He couldn’t quite tell what it was.

Lurching nausea rose from his guts. Despite the years of hunting Dan Heng down with the intention to make him repay his debt, he’d recently found himself not as drawn to that goal, remembering bits and pieces of his life as Yingxing, being made to recall His and Dan feng’s true goal behind the sedition by a little pink haired Harmony pathstrider. It made his mind crave to forgo the purpose battered and beaten into him by Jingliu through countless deaths. ..Unless, of course, the Mara rattled his brain through an episode.

His teeth clenched together, threatening to make his gums bleed. Was this Dan Heng’s death? Did he reach that paradise without him? Truly? Did they fail their promise to see it through until the end, in which they’d both perish? A sudden horror set in at this realization, his skin began to crawl with golden cracks and spindly veins dark as pitch.

His head turned almost robotically, a black cat staring at him through a dirty window pane, his mind started to blank out as he stalked over, fist slamming against the glass, but it didn’t crack even once. The cat licked its paw, then hissed at him sarcastically. “Elio…” he rumbled, and the cat merely blinked slowly. “Tell… me.” His voice was strained and dry, teeth gritting together as he obsessively rubbed the bracer on his arm.

He felt a string suddenly dig into his flesh, and he snarled, whipping around to see who dared come up behind him, and then his brain went silent. Like a cold needle stabbed through his eyelid. “Bladie, calm down. Don’t let your temper get the better of you.” A smooth voice whispered, cooing at him like a mother, but it was hollow. “I could hear Elio, whats the issue?” She firmly put a hand on his shoulder, and he couldn’t do anything but stare into nothingness. “Dan Heng. What. Happened….” despite Kafka’s threads, his lips still pulled back into a shell of a snarl.

everything hurt, the Mara’s rot burned golden and hot through his veins. The cat meowed, licking its paw again and jumping down, scampering somewhere out of sight. “Elio says they don’t know. What’s the big deal about Dragon-boy? We already spoke to the Astral Express, and they said they’re working with that genius chick to sort it out.” She hummed curiously, but took a slightly cautious step back right before Blade snapped his head to stare at her, pupils blown wide. “Bracer.” Wow, what a conversationalist.

”Bracer?” Kafka quirked a brow, squinting at the Mara-struck man inquisitively. “Cold, it went cold. My bracer went— - cold!” He suddenly yowled like an animal, eyes harshly constricting as he made a move to lunge at her in blind anger, her visage completely overwritten by a shadow of Jingliu, the threads control slipping.

But, just as quickly as Kafka lost control of him, she regained it in the form of his head suddenly twisting with a snap, dug into cruelly by searing vermillion threads around his neck as his head spun clean off in a gush of blood and a sickly crackle. Blade’s body fell limp, then it writhed and shuddered on the floor for several minutes as blood continued to gush from his neck with each pump of his rotten heart, eyes fluttering seizure-like and mouth stuck wide like a butchered fish before going still. Kafka tutted her tongue. ’Gross… Blade hasn’t had an episode that bad in months. Poor fuck.’

It was several long moments before the corpse finally went lax, then, as if his spirit had been breathed back into the vessel, it suddenly jumped into action, hand forcefully grabbing the severed head on the floor with white knuckles and smashing it into the bloody neck, grinding it back and forth like an uncooperative lid. Sometimes the only way for Blade to calm down was to take a ‘nap’ Kafka found, grimacing in disgust at the sight of his flesh threading together and the man blinking a few times experimentally, nothing like the spastic twitching earlier. He Groaned in pain and annoyance, rubbing the spot where the threads cut, and he tried to get up, stumbling weakly, and shoes slipping in his own blood pathetically, resembling a sick old dog on slick wood floor.

”Aeons’ sake, if it’s got your panties up in a knot that bad Blade, we can go to the Astral Express to ask for updates.” Kafka moaned like she was annoyed, and blade just coldly glared at her. “Fine.” His voice flat and posture rigid. His clothes were ruined in blood, and he dreaded having to clean it as he’d done many times over by now. “Great, but don’t freak out like that again. I’d rather not have to ‘Old yeller’ you in the parlor car, I don’t think Miss Himeko would let me set foot back on the express if I did that.” Kafka snickered sickly, and Blade felt bile rise in his throat once more. Briskly turning and walking away, soaked red coattails dragging behind him. “Find me when it’s time to leave.”

Sadly, the Express had no answers, and blade was only left with a purely inanimate feeling from the bracer that triggered something primal inside of him. Dan Heng had been gone a month. And it drove him boundlessly insane. Dan Heng is vidyadhara, a reincarnating species. Yet, there are no waters of rebirth in Amphoreus are there? If he’s truly died, then that means there is no next time. Is there anyone there who will bury his body properly? There would be no starskiff to send his belongings to the stars, and he would die far away from home in a completely unfamiliar world.

This train of thought sickened him, the ghost of who he used to be whispering arrogant plans into his bones. “You know what you need to do, Blade.” Yingxing’s voice boomed through his skull, and he wrenched over in Dan Heng’s room, clutching at his sides as Mara continued to bite at him. “Go to Amphoreus, any way you can. Claw your way there like the immortal guard we swore to be.” He growled at himself, Blade lurched back a few steps, stumbling and falling over into a bookshelf. The blue swirling tiles of the floor making him gag. “Yes…” Blade murmured, shaking his head like a rabid dog and drooling, then looking straight ahead with a sudden stillness, pupils blowing out big and black.

In the recent past, he and Dan Heng had snuck out at night many times, sharing drinks when they were lonely. He’d kept a starskiff hidden in one of the multiple cargo compartments of the Express, Pompom never saw it as an issue, and therefore they never spoke of it. Now, he simply had to wait for an opportunity when Kafka and the Express crew’s eyes were off of him. It took a few days, and he dreaded what could’ve happened in that time. …Kafka always kept him under her control, but even she had her moments of falter.

Dan Heng had found a good friend in Helektra, her demeanor being similar to his own in their unique ways. It was a gracious thing to have people to talk to, every few decades. She was pushed out of her hometown due to the conflict between Castrum Kremnos and the Seaside states. Despite her short-term memory, she was a pleasant, although dry conversationalist. It reminded him of Blade, sort of. She enjoyed music, and Dan Heng was soothed by her singing, it made the burning stop.

He was cooperative in efforts for the coreflame, knowing the truth that the Titan perished at the very start of this world, instead being replaced by Dan Heng, his very genes contorting into that of a Chrysos heir. When the time was right, he’d reveal the truth. But for now, he’d enjoy the pampering and praises from citizens who worshipped Georios and the Titans, adoring him as their lovely Earth Titan, offering redsoil and labor to him in exchange for a good harvest in the coming new year. It helped to distract himself from the painful dredge in his bones.

The searing pain did not leave his chest either, each time he dragged his weary feet to the mountain cliff he’d resided on for centuries, he felt nothing but dread and sorrow. He’d stopped rubbing his thumb over the jade abacus, now just staring at it. The red sturdy tassel, now reduced to just a few threads, had finally come off despite how delicately he’d treated them. He tried his very best to keep them together, but everything fades with time, the color drained from his skin, and he became statuesque.

He didn’t look natural now, just humanoid. His hands had began to resemble the Mara-struck, and he always felt a moment of anxiety when he looked at them, but he knew he wasn’t at that point yet. A familiar voice hummed a song he’d heard hundreds of times now, deep and gravelly, a comforting cradle song in his native tongue, a language known to nobody else on Amphoreus but himself. He began to worry he’d forget it, but Dan Feng assured him that wasn’t possible.

He gently rolled the Jade charm back and forth in his rough palms, the ground beneath him was chilly, frozen solid with the Month of Fortune’s snowy plumage. But the cold stopped bothering him, and so did the burning hot. He felt inhuman, monstrous. When the trailblazer comes to deliver Amphoreus from the inevitable Era Nova, will they recognize him? Would Yingx— Blade? He’d completely remembered his past, and found himself only yearning more and more for the comforting embrace of familiarity every year that this went on as hallucinations of the people he loved continued to haunt his every waking moment. He could hear Baiheng’s sweet-as-honey laugh, as though she was drinking right beside him. And little Jing Yuan’s boasting to Jingliu.

”I will exist for as many centuries as it takes, even if the Mara may one day fill my brain with holes, my very skin betraying me as a breeding ground for ambrosial roots… I will preserve, and wait. …Wait for my dearest friends. Stelle, my Deliverer. How many more years can I retrieve from this rubbish body of mine?” He spoke aloud to dry cold air, perhaps using his voice for the first time in months, placing his hand against the metal remnants of the bracer in his coat pocket. No mater how much polish he used, the shine never returned to the pieces.

Helektra felt pity for Dan Heng, no matter what lie he told, she could see the truth of his identity. Memories that didn’t belong to this version of herself, which she’d catch a glimpse of in her mind. She could sense how the dragon lost his humanity progressively. He was an outsider, a poor soul who bound himself into this world to be a savior, but bit off far more than he was capable of eating. With too much to eat, one should be worried their stomach would explode. —She never forgot, and she kept his secret.

After several days passed, he gripped the opportunity to run, white knuckled. Blade fumbled with a bag of medicine pellets, and a pre-filled dry powder inhaler, hiding them in a buttoned pocket. It was the last of the medicine Dan Heng had prepared when he was still on the Express… If this journey into a world unknown to the entire cosmos didn’t grant him paradise, then he’d need them. It’s what allowed him to sleep, to be reasonable. “Find Dan Heng, Blade. And if he’s dead, we must bury him properly, and wait alongside him for our fate as well.” Yingxing’s voice echoed, cutting through his thoughts with a chill.

The ceiling panel above the cargo compartment shifted as he palmed against it, prying his bitten nails under the metal tile and lifting it up. His eyes glowed with something insane, burning and red like fire, letting it fall to the floor with a loud clatter that would still not be heard by anyone. He jumped down, and the starskiff was within his line of sight. He approached quickly, fists clenched tightly in determination— Or maybe something closer to obsession.

”You will never escape me, Dan Heng.” His good hand grasped at the hood of the Yaoqing starskiff, and he lifted himself with ease, sliding into the cockpit of the small vessel. He powered on the ship, locking himself into the biomechanical chair at the front and bringing down the windshield, It purred to life, recognizing Blade’s genetic data thanks to Silver wolf’s tinkering. It was surely a sturdy Starskiff, but weren’t exactly made to be drove in space. However, that doesn’t mean you cant.

Blade is by no means good with cars, but a starskiff is a completely different thing. It’s like muscle memory to him. He felt a little bad for this one, however. As he was sure the poor ship would be demolished trying to enter unfamiliar grounds.

But, Yaoqing starskiffs mimic their owners innately, and it shared Blade’s lack of fear when it came to death. He knew if anything could get him there, it was this machine. He called the only person whom he knew would help, and she answered with a heavy sigh. “Bladie, you’re seriously stupid, know that?” The childish voice of Silver wolf rang through the Starskiff’s cabin, and Blade only scoffed in reply.

”Stupid and crazy, that’s what you are. And, I know there’s no stopping you. Kafka just can’t ever be wrong so she won’t listen. I’m putting my neck out for you dipshit, and if you fuck up the script so bad you end up dying in Amphoreus, I’ll find my own way to rez you. Got it?” Her words sounded harsh and annoyed, but there was a tinge of concern under it all, Blade knew she thought of him sweetly, maybe like a dumb grandpa. He sighed, nodding his head. “I won’t fail.” Yet even as he said that, he knew there was no guarantee.

The pressure began to equalize inside the cabin and the space around the docked Express, so all the supplies wouldn’t fly out into the stars when Silver wolf opened the freight door. If that happened, Pompom would definitely never let him back on the Express again. He steeled himself for whatever he would face, whether it be his death, or Dan Heng’s, or perhaps something worse all-together. The door cracked open, and he could see the blazing multicolor mobius strip, illuminated by the Memokeeper Blackswan.

”Thank you, Silver wolf.” The word rarely graced his lexicon, and he could hear Silver wolf sigh. “I don’t need your thanks, I know I’m the greatest. Just… promise you’ll come back. Firefly would be sad if you up and died while she’s out fighting the swarm, you bum.” Blade frowned, and had no reply. He might be arrogant, but he’s not so much so he’d be willing to promise something he couldn’t guarantee. Wordlessly, he pressed his heel into the accelerator of the Starskiff, and turned harshly to shoot out of the compartment, cutting comms with Silver wolf as the shutter-door slammed closed behind him.

Blade didn’t let his foot off the accelerator, even when the cockpit started to feel uncomfortably hot. Blood sprung from his nose and he gagged at the pressure change, bloody bile and vomit splashing onto the control panel in front of him as he moved to not get it on himself. He entered the Atmosphere far from protocol, but he could handle it. This would’ve killed the average person, but not Blade. Not Yingxing. Cursed by Imbibitor Lunae with eternal life.

Blade was struck out of the air by a harsh bolt of thunder, a monster far larger than he swam through the clouds, howling in anger as rain poured down, almost skeletal in appearance and covered in countless eyes. The starskiff swerved and screamed out, sending an electrical shock up his spine as he continued to pilot, turning sharply to brake all while he crashed to the ground and lost consciousness momentarily.

When he awoke, there was no flames or rubble. ’By Lan the Hunt… did I actually not wreck the starskiff completely?’ He crawled out of the pilot chair slowly, biomechanical wires releasing him from where he was safely strapped in. The ship was heavily damaged, yes. But not beyond repair… that creature seemed absolutely irate however at him being in the sky, leaving is no option, but Blade never intended to leave without answers, and depending on which one he got- then never at all.

He felt the weak whirr of his jade abacus, and followed it’s source down across plains of rain-wet grass, and up an old mountain trail. He walked for hours upon hours like a zombie, clutching madly to the last hint he could possibly have to Dan Heng’s wereabouts. If it sung to him so, then that means Dan Heng must be alive, right? …right? his clothes were soaked in heavy rain showers, indicative of springtime. Perhaps around April or March if he had to guess. He stumbled through the mud, body aching as rocks slipped out from under him along the old path, and still he continued to move, only briefly stopping to rest when the pain in his bones became unbearable.

He finally reached the root of the pulse, upon a worn cliff edge he saw Cloudpiercer embedded into stone, covered in vines and moss, and beside it… what almost looked like a statue. He took a few steps closer and felt his heart sink into the mud.

Golden horns crowned his head, and a large tail strapped down by plants rested behind him as he sat faithfully in seiza, like a dog waiting for their master to return from work. His clothes tainted with moss and small twigs, flowers growing around him lovely, as though trying to comfort the dragon.

Blade stepped closer to look, Dan Heng was visibly much older, growing iridescent scales in large patches similar to the previous High Elder. As much as the Mara tried to flare in his veins at the sight, his anxiety outweighed it. Parts of his skin were cracked like stone, gold solidified. His heartbeat quickened considerably. ’Does time pass differently here? Is this Mara? Dan Heng can’t rebirth here so if he gets Mara he…’ His thoughts go quiet as he touchlessly inspects the Vidyadhara.

He was apathetic, and didn’t seem to even acknowledge his presence. “Dan Heng.” He muttered, to no response. “Dan Heng!” He spoke firmly now, placing a hand on his shoulder. He saw him twitch, imperceptibly so, to a normal person. Panic set in his gut, just as bad as when the bracer first went dull. ’Mara… that is a worse fate than death itself, oh…’ He grimaced, eyes trialing down to the dragon’s hands, blackened and clawed just like his.

”Dan Heng, I’m here. I came to find you.” He murmured in a softer tone, squeezing his shoulder and kneeling— yet he did not take his hand off of where Shard was sheathed on his side. He twitched again, brows furrowing in slight sorrow as he refused to acknowledge him. He could clearly hear him, yet pretended nothing was there. In his limp palms were barely recognizable metal scraps, but Blade immediately clocked what it really was. ’Those are scraps of the bracer… just how long has it been? Time must flow different in Amphoreus, he looks much older too.’

”Dan Heng, I know you can hear me.” Giving him a light shake, as his eyes cracked open barely, Irises a lifeless grey-gold color. “Ghost.” Dan Heng murmured, closing his eyes again. “I do not listen to the words of a hallucination.” Blade felt annoyance and worry building up inside of him, so he ducked his head and sunk his sharp teeth into Dan Heng’s arm. Earning a shocked yelp from the Dragon, hand flying up to strike, dropping the metal pieces.

He jumped, yanking his arm out of Blade’s mouth and landing on all fours, pupils slitted and his teeth bared like a wild beast, tail thrashing and grabbing ahold of Cloud-piercer, barely recognizable— - Then, he stopped. Cloud-piercer clattered to the ground. “No…” He whispered in disbelief, eyebrows arching and eyes rounding.

”No! No… nonono… please not you too!” He wailed unexpectedly and tried to stand, knees giving out underneath him as he fell onto the dirt, visible grief surging through him. “You have to leave! You can’t be stuck here Blade, this world is a trap.” His voice was full of panic as he shuffled towards his long lost companion, grabbing onto the fabric of his coat desperately. “You have to leave! Aquila— I’ll speak to Aquila. I’ve known them from the beginning, even if they’ve gone mad I’m sure I—“ Blade shushed him by shutting his jaw gently, hand loosely gripping his chin.

”I’m not leaving. Dan Heng…” Blade was still anxious, Dan Heng seemed disoriented, flipping through a dozen emotions at a time as his irises flared to life with golden fire. Shaking his head and pleading words that made no sense. “Please! Please you can’t— it’s all going to-“ Dan Heng hyperventilated, fangs tearing shimmering blood from the inside of his mouth, he wasn’t used to speaking anymore, biting down on his own tongue frantically as he rambled, and then stilling with a chilly quickness.

His expression went blank again, and he let go of Blade, moving himself back to his sitting spot and resuming his previous position with robotic dedication. “I will find a way for you to leave Amphoreus, Blade.” Dan Heng’s voice was eerily punctual, tone completely neutral as he shut his eyes. “Dan Heng, are you…” Blade hesitated to even say the word, teeth gritting together “Mara-struck?”

”No.” devoid of any feeling. “…I don’t believe you.” Blade pressed further, snatching ahold of Dan Heng’s shoulder once more. His throat grew tight with anxiety, hand gliding down to gently caress his chest, feeling for the roots of Mara. “Let me examine you.” Dan Heng shook his head, “only if you agree to go back to the outside world.” Blade glared at him, impatience gnawing at his insides. “I already said I’m not leaving.” He grabbed the front of Dan Heng’s shirt, popping it open and scooting around, putting his ear against his chest as the dragon groaned in discomfort.

Dan Heng’s heartbeat was slow, but too slow for Mara… he saw cracks along his torso, but it looked more like a statue’s, and not veins of gold, or roots. Dan Heng shoved him harshly, a contradictory slight look of regret. “I’m not Mara-struck.” He repeated, and Blade scoffed. “With the way you behave, I find this hard to believe.”

”Vidyadhara don’t get Mara… they are reborn before that point.” Dan Heng buttoned up the front of his shirt, “But there’s stories, aren’t there?” Blade grabbed onto his wrist where he would obsessively wear the bracer, and Dan Heng winced. “…A few.” — “Then, what are the symptoms?” Blade moved closer to Dan Heng, searing red eyes boring into gold.

”…Sorrowful? They become… grief-stricken, and emotionally unstable.” He regretted speaking the truth, because all he saw was Blade’s thinly veiled upset deepen, pupils dilating as he continued to examine his appearance, fumbling with his sharp clawed fingers. “How long has it been outside of Amphoreus?” Dan Heng turned his head, gazing into the ground uncomfortably. He hasn’t felt human contact in so long it.. almost tickles, to be frank.

”…Only a month.” Dan Heng sighed in pure relief, truly grateful that much time hadn’t truly passed. “Then, technically am I only a month older? No risk of Mara, Vidyadhara only gain risk of Mara when they’re around two thousand.” Blade didn’t find it funny. His expression deadpanned “You still show signs of age. Dan Heng… how long have you…” His bad hand trembled as he reached up to run along the Vidyadhara’s neck, thickly inlaid teal and gold scales patched along his flesh. Dan Heng was warm… Vidyadhara aren’t supposed to be warm.

”Calling me old? Rude.” There was no bite in his voice, bottom lip quivering sadly. “…You’re a fool for coming here, Blade.” His shoulders trembled a little, and Dan Heng heard the dragon weep in his head once more, crying out for his lover. Dan Heng also wanted to cry out, to fall into the familiar arms of the man who’d previously tried to kill him hundreds of times and sob uncontrollably, but the idea of breaking character after so long was shameful, already seeping with regret at his outburst just moments earlier.

”Dan Heng, how long has it been for you?” Blade’s stare intensified, inching closer to his face. He wasn’t asking Dan Heng, he was demanding an answer from him and wouldn’t let up unless he got one. Dan Heng knew this, and knew there was no way to get out of it. He sighed, and squirmed uncomfortably. “Only roughly 3267–“ “Only!?” Dan Heng flinched when Blade snarled at him, still gripping his wrist with Mara-blackened hands tightly.

”Yes. Judging by the light calendar— - Of course I’ve been keeping count myself.” Blades eyes were wide and his jaw was slightly ajar, he felt the screaming pain of rot in his body, and he tried to tamp it down. He himself waited 700 years to settle his debt with Yinyue, and that was a miserably long existence. But to wait over three millennia… completely isolated. He couldn’t really fathom that. He didn’t want to fathom it, actually.

Dan Heng shook the plants from his tail, tiny white roots pulling free of his armored skin, patterned to show where they had made use of any space they could in the small gaps between every iridescent scale. “Blade, please…” he opened his eyes just barely, pleading, “I don’t know if there’s even a way for me to make medicine for you here to calm your fits. There is no cyan poria, dragon scale coral, or gourd’s from golden mount… those things don’t exist here.“ He frowned at Blade, trying to guilt him into changing his mind, even though they both knew Blade was not someone who’d change his mind.

’He never liked changing his mind either.’ And as they expected, Blade’s mouth pressed into a thin line, brows furrowing pensively. “I… I don’t care. I’m not leaving you alone here. I already made my mind up on this days ago. You aren’t changing it.” Blade let go of Dan Heng’s wrist shakily, the size of his pupils fluctuating slightly. He reached into his coat pocket and took out the powder inhaler, there was already medicine crushed into it as he placed the nozzle to his mouth, pressing down on a switch and taking a deep breath. He felt the cold powder line his esophagus, a comfortable chill soothing the burn of Mara in his skin.

”…Fine.” Dan Heng couldn’t help the way his voice cracked slightly. He wanted to curl into the arms of someone, something, familiar. So, so bad. He wanted to be happy Blade would spend however many years it took for the Trailblazer to be reborn in Amphoreus, but all he could muster up was guilt and shame. ’This only adds to the horrible burden of life I’ve imposed onto my dear, Yingxing.’ both Vidyadhara nodded solemnly together in agreement mentally.

”I will work with the Grove of Epiphany to find a replacement for your affliction that will hopefully work just as well.” His voice was monotonous, but… Aeons, he wanted to sob. He wanted to choke on his own spit and cry, red and snotty faced like an injured child. Yet he just couldn’t let himself fall so low, it would be humiliating. Just as he felt about the times he’d cry into the jade abacus laying on his futon in the Astral express, crying over his own loneliness pretending the person on the other side of it wasn’t the vengeful dog made to kill who he used to be. Sometimes, even, he’d hear a cracking voice respond with calm lullabies to soothe him. Perhaps the other at the time also pretended his target wasn’t the recipient of such words.

There was an awful pang of pain in his torso, and his back arched, curling in on himself like a shrimp as he gasped in shock.

Blade calmed himself down significantly with the medicine, and he leapt to grab Dan Heng, placing a hand on his back and placing his other over the Vidyadhara’s, ducking his head down to look at the other in concern. “Dan Heng…” he murmured, and the dragon shook his head. “I’m alright, just overwhelmed.” He panted a little, wobbling as he moved his legs out from under himself, sitting criss-cross on the ground for stability instead.

Blade grimaced. He hated how different Dan Heng was. His body language, the way he spoke… It didn’t remind him at all of the person he was finally getting to know before they set off to Amphoreus. The physical changes didn’t matter to him in the slightest, but the very way Dan Heng carried himself was different. …There was nothing he could say that would help, either. His thumb rubbed over the ridges of spines under Dan Heng’s shirt along his back, and he gently pulled the Vidyadhara closer, letting him fall off-balance and onto his chest as he finally sat beside him.

The ground was muddy with rain that had passed, but Blade didn’t mind. His hands slid around Dan Heng’s frame. It was more broad than before, but Blade didn’t mind. He pulled Dan Heng closer, petting the Vidyadhara’s weight shift onto his lap. Dan Heng didn’t reciprocate the motion, but Blade didn’t mind. It’s alright.

”Blade…” The dragon’s voice cracked, barely above a whisper. Slowly, his head turned and he let his face worm into Blade’s hair, oh Aeons how he missed him, missed how he smelled, how his larger frame enveloped him defensively in a complete 180 from their previous dynamic. Dan Heng missed all of it, a faraway memory from millenia ago now brought back as he inhaled deeply, letting the intimate smell swirl through his lungs.

Heavy, and looming. A bit like dirt and moss… drenched in blood. Yet, unmistakably, somewhere under all of that, he could smell jasmine and Lilies, sweet and pleasant. It felt like an icy balm over his worn skin, a sudden sheen of saccharine calm enveloping his mind, unlike the grief-ridden hibernation he imposed upon himself, brain releasing a sudden amount of endorphins at being able to scent Yingxing again, even if he’d abandon the name.

Blade rubbed his good hand over his back reassuringly, the other coming up to gently cup his neck over a faded bite scar, yes… it was barely visible now, partly obscured by newly grown scales, gliding over the iridescent patches and carding through his hair to rest on the back of his head. Shaky fingertips scratched back and forth through frayed black locks to pet comfortingly. His hairs grown out now.

Dan Heng shuddered, turning his head just enough to press his nose against the crook of Blade’s neck, where he’d hidden a similar scar, old and barely there anymore. But, it still made something in the back of his mind purr with delight since Vidyadhara often only choose one mate for an entire incarnation. Since his molting rebirth was tampered with, he never quite moved on from Yingxing. He recognized mentally their differences, but biologically it still yearned for his comforting embrace.

This is what Dan Heng dreamt of for oh so many tens of thousands of lonely nights, to be caressed and coddled in silent affection, in Blade’s own stoic way. His body went slack against the stellaron hunter, years of aching and fatigue finally realized by his bones as he groaned, tail wrapping around Blade and himself loosely as he tried to let the feeling melt away.

They were quiet for a long while, Dan Heng occasionally rubbing his face against him, double-checking if it was real. He still felt guilty for Blade coming to Amphoreus, knowing he still had much more to wait for the Trailblazer, but he also relished in instinctual relief and joy at finally having his mate after being separated for so so long.

Night had fallen upon Amphoreus, and they watched the last beams of the sun die over the horizon together. Dan Heng felt relaxed, and content for the first time in centuries, he actually even felt… sleepy. Dan Heng gave up on mortal sleep long ago, trading it for long periods of hibernation where he was almost conscious, but not quite. It was an easy way to pass time, and to avoid becoming Mara-stricken from the accumulation of painful memories. But he finally felt an urge to sleep, his eyes drifting shut even as he fought to keep them open.

The other took notice of this, though. He opened his mouth to speak, hesitating, and then completely unexpected by the both of them, began to hushedly sing. Familiar, soft, in the very same way he used to. Dan Heng felt an overwhelming emotion he couldn’t quite describe ripple through his entire being, something bittersweet, caught between grief and joy, tears pricking in his tired eyes as he began to tremble, clawed hands gripping at the back of Blade’s coat.

It was the very lullaby Dan Heng used to comfort himself for three millennia, and the very lullaby Yingxing sang to his previous incarnation. He sniveled, screwing his eyes shut and further pushing himself against Blade’s body. The way he carefully ran his hand through his hair, singing to him so sweetly. It made the dragon burst into tears, wailing uncontrollably against familiarity that lacked all warmth. But he didn’t care. He wasn’t alone.

And so, Georios cried himself to sleep clinging like a scared child to the visage of one single thing familiar to him in a world he did not belong to. Finally resting himself after 3267 faithful years of patience, Which when morning comes he will undoubtedly return himself to. But at least, he will not be in isolation when that happens.

Chapter Text

Blade firmly ran a hand up Dan Heng’s leg, coaxing out a clipped gasp and kneading at the taut muscles underneath thick golden and teal scales as they lay atop a thick comforter. Blade didn’t know the next thing about giving a massage, quite honestly. But he gladly learned after seeing how much Dan Heng grimaced and tried to stretch out his legs to relieve the tension and aching from centuries worth of sitting.

And also, Blade wanted to pay Dan Heng back just a little for the way he purposefully groped him when he gave massages to calm the horrible pain of old injuries caused by Jingliu, or perhaps one of the many grievous wounds he’d sustained throughout his centuries of living. Now, he didn’t mind one bit that Dan Heng groped him a little. But…

When Dan Heng originally offered to give Blade a massage, he took it as an innuendo, commenting on it to which the Vidyadhara snickered ”So dirty, Blade. I meant an actual massage. Oh! Or did you have ulterior motives? It’s true, humans often find physical contact like that… enticing.” Most people would view this as a normal comment, but Blade knew better. He knew this was a veiled challenge, especially with the next statement.

”Vidyadhara are oftentimes made to study human anatomy closely, not just medically, but to memorize pressure points for combat. And by regaining my past life’s memories, I’ve recalled those details. So such a thing isn’t particularly arousing. After all, it’s merely medicine, right Ren?” There it is. Dan Heng spoke his name with a particularly sarcastic lilt, teasing him. So now, the man had a goal. Make him go fucking stir-crazy.

But it can’t be too obvious, no… Blade had to make it seem coincidental. Dan Heng had to be the one to cave. He pretended to be oblivious to the time of year as he caressed his shoulders, sitting behind him atop his thick tail. He hadn’t slept with him intimately in a few months, too. It wasn’t unusual for them to go through sexless periods along with the domestication of their life in Amphoreus, but definitely not leading up to this time of year. He knew Dan Heng was just as competitive as him, and he was confident this was all another part of their unspoken bet. Besides, the massaging made his hands feel less painful over time too.

’Dan Feng loved it when I’d put him over my lap and rubbed his legs too, you should do that.’ Yingxing whispered playfully to Blade, whom closed his eyes and smirked sinisterly, sliding off his tail and scooting around to his thighs. He actually quite liked that Dan Heng was a bit more broad, it gave him much more to work with as he grabbed his hip, pulling him onto his lap. The effect was immediate when he saw his shoulders flush a sweet honey color, the golden chrysos heir blood rushing to his skin in fluster.

His blackened hands continued to knead his calf, knuckles running heavily along the dip of his knee and up his thigh. Pride and satisfaction welled in him when he heard a soft ”Ah…” from the Vidyadhara, ear twitching. But he had nothing else to say, since it wasn’t unusual for Blade to be a bit… fervent in his movements? He was all over Dan Heng during his massages usually.

’You can’t let that old dog win, Dan Heng.’ But undeniably, his thin face was flushed a deep pink, eyes glowing softly. He could feel everything Dan Heng felt, see, smell, taste… they shared a body, really. It’s just that Dan Heng was the person who operated it instead of the previous Imbibitor Lunae. So it was difficult for him to focus too… Mentally Dan Heng nodded at the other, ’Obviously, I can tell he’s just trying to—‘

His train of thought was cut short as fingers brushed through his long hair, scratching along his scalp lovingly as Blade’s other hand felt a little higher on his thigh. He grit his fangs and shifted ’That clever sneak… he thinks I’ll cave with just this? Hmph, arrogant as Yingxing.’ Dan Heng sighed, and Blade paused for a moment.

’Look at that, Blade. Mocking you in his head isn’t he? So mannerless. The High Elder is just so full of himself isn’t he? Fix that.’ Yingxing huffed, urging Blade to take it up a step. His eyes closed and he snickered to himself, ’Shut up, shut up. I was already planning something you old coot.’ He recalled Dan Heng bought a warming oil from Okhema the last time he visited some months ago…

Despite his nefarious intentions, he did want Dan Heng to loosen up a little— not in that way. No, definitely in that way, in both ways, actually. He felt bad for how he’d limp somedays, knees clicking when he walked from all the sitting he did over three millennia. He wanted his legs to relax, and he wanted to coax the pain away. He understood all too well how agonizing it was to have movements once so trivial and unconscious be filled with stinging aching pain burning under the flesh somewhere you cannot scratch.

”The cramp in your left leg won’t give up, where’d you put that oil you bought from Okhema? It felt amazing on my back, so I’m sure it’d help.” Dan Heng felt a bead of sweat roll down his neck, and he lifted his head from the pillow to look over his shoulder at Blade, hesitantly pointing to their oak bedside table. Blade took his time walking over and rummaging through the random junk in the drawers, tying his long hair back as he scanned his eyes over the items.

Dan Heng watched him carefully, arms cradling a pillow underneath his head lazily as the other man put up his hair. Dan Heng’s breath hitched in his throat, and he saw small strands of white beginning at the root of his hair. ’The medicine I made with the Grove really is helping bit by bit over the years…’ his brows furrowed, eyes shimmering in a muted gold trained onto the others back.

Warmth blossomed in his stomach at the strands of silver, reminding him of Yingxing whom he also adored. It turns out that the golden blood of Chrysos heirs’ is remarkably good at lessening the effect of the Mara when mixed with Castrum Kremnos honey brew, and water boiled with Stonewood bark and mashed Ladon’s rain berries.

Even his voice started to sound more like Yingxing, and it made the dragon’s heart flutter whenever he spoke to him sweetly. “I can feel you staring at me.” Blade murmured softly, giving Dan Heng a surprisingly calm look with heavy hooded eyes and - Oh fuck. Dan Heng felt his stomach do somersaults, a sudden throb in his abdomen.

”Just… watching what you’re doing. Can I not do that anymore?” Dan Heng huffed, tightening his arms around the soft silky pillow as he shifted uncomfortably. ’He’s doing this on purpose, I can’t let him win..’ Dan feng sighed, ’Oh, but… he looks so much like Yingxing doesn’t he?’ Dan Feng whined, his face felt warm.

Blade didn’t know exactly what he was staring at, but he knew it was getting a rise out of the Vidyadhara. He could always smell the faint scent of seawater when Dan Heng was… in a mood. Mara gave him a rather sharp sense of smell. And right now he could definitely almost taste a tinge of salt, reminiscent of Scalegorge waterscape in the back of his throat when he opened his mouth to breath in the intimate scent.

Dan Heng watched him pull out the glass bottle carefully, pivoting his body and sliding back onto the bed with him, sharp claws reaching out and grabbing at Dan Heng’s side again. He didn’t flinch, because his skin was thick enough it wouldn’t hurt him. But, it felt nice of all things… He was made to roll over onto his back, Dan Heng was thankful he was wearing underwear at least, eyes widening as Blade threw his left leg over his shoulder.

”Ren, what are you thinking?” Dan Heng muttered breathily, trying— and yet miserably failing— to keep up the facade of cool composure. Blade hummed like he was focused, “Better angle.” Blunt. He kept Dan Heng still with his own thighs, twisting the cap to the bottle and using the dropper to put some of the oil in his palm. It shimmered in the near-evening light coming in through the window, and smelled richly of sandalwood and hot ginger, and even a bit like almonds. He rubbed his palms together and felt it quickly warm up his otherwise cold hands, a pleasant sensation.

he ran his hands experimentally up and down his thigh, rubbing oil into his skin and carefully kneading it until it softened under his grasp. Dan Heng’s breath hitched in his throat, Blade conveniently was placing his knee right into the dragon’s crotch, and he had to stifle the urge to squirm everytime he moved it a little with his shifting of body weight.

Blade could see Dan Heng’s expression shift as he turned to cower his face away into the soft pillow, gaze simmering with a barely contained desire. And plus, Blade clocked that his knee felt a bit sticky. ’Easy.’ Yingxing nodded in agreement, ’Dan Feng was never difficult to rile up either, quite honestly.’ Blade snickered aloud, and felt Dan Heng twitch against him, continuing to massage his thumbs up the underside of his thigh in languid strokes. ’Actually, maybe it’s just because I’m just that good?’ the white haired man chuckled with an arrogant grin in his mind.

Blade scoffed in his head at his former self. “Mmh, Feel better, Nán shén?” Blade purred, dipping close to the others pointed ears as he spoke, absolutely relishing at how Dan Heng shivered, pressing a light kiss to his jaw where his skin still felt as tender as it used too… Lan above, Blade wished he could just eat him up.

’Ah… I- I can’t lose, I know he’s doing this just to win that stupid contest.’ Dan Heng screwed his eyes shut, trying to concentrate on anything else. Maybe the previous Imbibitor Lunae had a shred of advice? Peering into his own consciousness, the dragon purred. ’Mmh, he’s acting so much like my Yingxing…’ A slow drawl rumbled from Dan Feng’s vocal chords, hissing. ’Honestly, why care about some prizelesssss competition? Especially when he’s acting so sweet…’ Dan Heng sighed, Dan Feng was— despite his previous conceptions of the High elder’s personality… very willing to bend to the visage of his devoted Yingxing.

So, Tl;dr? Dan Feng had nothing motivational or informative to offer Dan Heng in the slightest. Instead, encouraging him to lose completely… such a change in stance from just earlier. ’You’ve got to be fucking kidding me…’ Dan Heng groaned in annoyance out loud, pulled back from his thoughts by Blade, whom had flipped him back over and was running his hands along his sides languidly.

”Not enjoying it Yinyue?” Blade hummed, punctuating the name with a squeeze, pressing his thumbs into the divot of Dan Heng’s waist. ’Oh fuck, that stupid old lizard is right, he is acting so sweet!’ Dan Heng squirmed, tail quivering a little like a pleased cat. “No, it’s… it’s nice.” He croaked, his mouth felt dry… and his tongue sat fat in his mouth, abdomen tingling in expectation. It felt like Blades hands were tugging on a string tied to his soul, stirring up a neediness the Vidyadhara fought to suppress.

”Mhmnn… Good, good…” The bottle made a ^{’Splish!’} as Blade shook more oil into his hands, lathering his palms again and resting them just above his ass, level with his tail. His thumbs caressed over the now shockingly-sensitive skin, palms slowly following across the swell of soft flesh. “Blade…?” The Vidyadhara panted, looking over his shoulder at the other a bit accusatory. “You’re trying to get a rise out of me.”

”Hm, and it’s working, isn’t it?” He experimentally squeezed with his good hand, absolutely delighted by how Dan Heng’s breath caught square in his throat, bobbing with a rough swallow. “If you want me to stop, all you need to do is command me.”

He shuddered.

Blade felt a little impatient, even annoyed. He enjoyed being Dan Heng’s tool to no end, but seriously? He was so hard it was starting to hurt. ’Hand it all over to me if you’re so incapable of wooing him. Or learn some patience.’ Blade had to suppress a growl at his older self, brows furrowing as he squeezed Dan Heng again. ’Fuck you.’

”Come on, tell me what you want me to do.” Dan Heng’s mind reeled, he felt dizzy… his stomach lurched with need and he felt this stupid haze cloud up his brain just like every may. A shudder racked through his body when Blade kneaded his calloused hands over the dip of his hips, ripping a small keen from between his fangs. “A tool can’t do anything without being told, can it?”

”Oh…? but- you can grope my ass without being told, apparently?” He tried to retort confidently, but his voice only came out hushed and quivering, it made him feel a sear of shame across his face, being referred to as a great Titan for millenia only to be reduced to this. Blade hummed in response, eyes not leaving Dan Heng’s ass as he gave another squeeze.

”Apparently.” Mirrored back after a few achingly drawn out moments, an arrogantly playful smile on Blade’s lips. He leaned forward until his chin rested on Dan Heng’s shoulder, letting his unruly hair curtain their faces. Dan Heng’s breathing paused, and he parted his lips slightly. “Ren…” his voice barely above a whisper, taking a sudden deep breath as his senses were assaulted by the smell of his partner.

He keened again, ’Shit, it’s so over…’ His lower body twisted as much as he could will it and his eyes fluttered shut, arching his hips up to grind against the others pelvis without any sense of control. “Yhh- you… you!” He growled weakly, the intimate scent swirled in his lungs just like the first time he saw him again after three terrible millenia. It smelled so sweetly of Jasmine and lilies, the dreaded stench of blood and gore long washed away for now.

’Oh, by Lan the Hunt he’s going to drive me mad!’ He felt a hot coil ensnare itself around his innards, tightening and sending strikes of want through his trembling core. “Yihhn— Yingxi-nnhh…” the Dragon sputtered, a needy throng of pain shooting up through him, biology begging him to surrender himself. “Pleauhhse…” a fat tear rolling down his cheek

Blade felt his patience immediately snap, pupils blowing wide with pure unadulterated lust, his hand flying down to tangle with Dan Heng’s thin underwear, claws raking and tearing through it easily as it was ripped off of him. And as he did that, Dan Heng used his tail to pull down Blade’s briefs. There wasn’t a real need for preparation, the second Blade’s hands gripped at his hips, forcing them up to meet his, he could feel the wet smack of smeared slick onto his skin.

”Do… your job.” Dan Heng growled, a slightly more authoritative tone that made Blade shiver with delight. He spared no time letting himself sink into Dan Heng until he was fully hilted, finding absolute bliss in the way he throbbed and twitched around him, burning hot in a way he could feel all the way down to the tips of his toes. He rushedly set his pace, careful not to lose full control of himself, the medicine he’d been taking helped immensely with that. If he were like before, he’s sure he would’ve ground into Dan Heng until he was raw after being called by his old name so lustfully.

Dan Heng whimpered loudly, stuttering and arching his body against his lover, face shoved into the crook of his neck to drink in the familiar thick scent that’s accompanied him in his dreams for countless nights. His claws dug brutally into Blade’s back, ripping up fat bloody scratches as he kicked around a little, snarling in pleasure.

Oh, Blade just loved when he worked up Dan Heng so much he’d go absolutely feral the moment he sheathed himself in his body, a clear primality in full control of him as he’d ruthlessly claw into his dearest partner, a complete 180 from the flustered and shy man he was just a few minutes ago, any shred of composure dying back like grass under snow. He’d relish in how when he stopped moving, Dan Heng would continue to immoderately grind his hips against him, rutting his hemipenes shamelessly into Blade’s Mara mottled skin.

The Dan Heng of the past would’ve absolutely never done this… but after so many years alone, and a little over a century together, he stopped being so reserved once he was really worked up, and Blade adored it. There was nothing quite so erotic to him as this feral dragon. It made his stomach flutter how he could now see the Vidyadhara’s muscles ripple and shake when he was racked with pleasure, how Dan Heng could actually push him around however he wanted now with a broader frame, suited for Terravox.

”You— hahh… get serious or I…” He grit his fangs, fully rolling himself onto his back and hooking a leg up over Blade and sinking his talons into him. Blade savored the stinging throngs of pain from where Dan Heng dug into his flesh, tightening his grip on the others hips as he quickened his pace, after all who was he to deny a ’Titan’ what it wanted?

Yingxing was clearly having a fun time too, forcing Blade’s hand to release one side of Dan Heng, in order to reach up and cup his face, using his thumb to smear drool across his bitten bottom lip. Dan Heng leaned into the touch greedily, nuzzling his face against his palm and whimpering “Yihh— ahh… Renngh!” His head lolled back, baring the length of his neck with no hesitation at all. “Plea-heeeasee… bite it, bite it nowwuh…” he panted and squirmed, urging Blade to sink his teeth into his neck.

Dan Heng hadn’t offered this to Blade before, shockingly. Sure Blade’s bit him plenty of times, but Dan Heng never gave him direct access like this, tone somewhere between a desperate plea and a wild demand. ’Careful now, he’s trying to get you to give him a new mating bite since the old ones so faded.’ Yingxing warned, but there was no real concern or urgency in his voice. He already knew Blade would give Dan Heng what he wanted, and he didn’t care because he’d do the same.

Blade’s eyes blew wide and he felt a growl bubble up in his chest. Dan Heng needed more, he felt like he was going to catch on fire, every buck of Blade’s hips building something inside of him, golden-hot and trembling. Greedily his body drank in every ministration, every rub and grind and lick against the middle of his throat from his lover. It was all too much, but not enough. The taut feeling in his navel just wouldn’t snap no matter how much he rutted himself against the others skin.

Dan Heng and his previous incarnations minds seemed to overlap, blathering out a mix of slurred names that rang like church bells in Blade’s psyche, his identity momentarily muddling itself as he lunged at his throat, blunt white teeth glistening in the now-sunset lighting. He couldn’t quite puncture the tough skin of Terravox, and he clenched his jaw further. He began to snarl, drool leaking from the corners of his lips as he tugged and bit down hard.

Dan Heng let out a pathetic strangled mewl, choking and gurgling as Blade’s teeth constricted his throat like a wild tiger threatening to rip it out and - “Ohhfuck!” Tears ran down his face, Blade’s beastly snarling vibrating against his windpipe in a way that felt absolutely thrilling, adrenaline rushed through his nerves and his heart rate spiked erratically, barely able to process the metaphorical snap of the tight coil in his guts as he came.

His legs trembled wildly and he sobbed loud and unrestrained, gasping and crying and squirming and kicking all while Blade continued to fuck him through it, not releasing from his throat and not caring at all about the sticky strings coating their skin as they rubbed their bodies together, instead sucking on the thick skin of his throat with the intention to give him an angry bruise. “Ghk—! Pre- nhahh…! Breed— give me..! Uuhn… — -Please!” Dan Heng’s words were broken apart by hiccups and sobs as he babbled dumbly, going on and on like a broken record about being bred and mated.

He pleaded over and over, watery eyes staring at the ceiling in pure bliss. “Guāiguāi! Please— I’ll do- anything! Anything at—“ he stumbled over his words messily, choking on his own drool like an idiot, “fill… mghnk!” Another sob rolled out of his mouth, nose ruffling through Blade’s hair and gulping down his smell like the best meal.

Blade felt like his brain was going to melt out of his ears, he couldn’t stop bucking himself from into Dan Heng like crazy, feeling how his body clenched and trembled around him suffocatingly tight made his fingertips feel numb and fuzzy. ’I can’t get him pregnant, we’re still in Amphoreus but— Oh fuck he’s making this so difficult Yinyue you greedy—‘ He was cut off in his thoughts by a triumphant cackle from his mind. ’Aeons above, Blade! If you don’t have the discipline to pull out let me do it you rabid dog.’ Yingxing was making fun of him.

But, in truth…. Blade really truly did not want to pull out. With a heavy sigh he let his shoulders relax. Yingxing felt a sudden thrill, air filling his lungs in swirling droves, taking pleasure in the oceanic and earthy smell that flooded his senses. It was a little dulled, being trapped as a ghost in Blade’s consciousness even though they were really the same person. But now, everything overwhelmed him and his world spun. He let go of Dan Heng’s hips and felt gravity pull him off his cock, the release of Blade’s bruising grip completely unexpected by the other.

He wailed immediately at the loss, but Yingxing didn’t let his lover arch back onto him, instead shifting to rest his weight on top of him, giving himself a few more pumps and groaning. Spend splattered between them both where Dan Heng had already finished. He heard Dan Heng snivel, an annoyed expression etched with the furrow of his brow and the golden glow of his eyes.

Yingxing released his mouth from Dan Heng’s throat, laving his tongue over the already purpling bruise, golden ichor leaking from where clear teeth marks glared on his skin. “Mmh, I’m sorry, Nán shén, please forgive me…” He whispered in hot breaths against the Vidyadhara, arms worming under his shoulders to wrap around and cradle him. “Be patient, just as you have been. So, so patient for me, for us.” Yingxing purred into his ear, rubbing his cheek against him lovingly and planting overly-affectionate kisses wherever he could.

”I need… more.” Dan Heng chirped out, his death grip on his partner’s back subsiding, “I know you do, you’ll get it all, I’ll give you everything I can, but I can’t give you that until we’re out of this place, Qīn qīn. I promise I will, however you want.” Dan Heng sighed dreamily, soothed by his dear’s honey-sweet words. “Let me serve as your tool, however else I can please you.” Blade’s demeanor seeped back into his words, Yingxing wasn’t exactly thrown back into Blade’s mind, but he wasn’t fully in control either. It felt like their identity melded together into one, for just a moment.

Dan Heng purred, hands sliding down from Blade’s back onto his chest. He pushed firmly, peeling Blade from his flush skin like stubborn velcro and toppling him over onto his back. “You mean it?” He loomed over his partner, hands still pressing on his chest, forcing him into the mattress with his body weight. Blade almost choked on his own tongue, a visible shiver running its course from his toes up to his eyes that fluttered shut. “Yes. Use me, use me for your pleasures, Yinyue.” There was a certain ecstasy-driven mania within his veins, taut and fraying, burning hot.

Dan Heng whined, eyes glowering down in marvel at how Blade just relaxed, letting his hands fall lax to his sides, legs pinned straight underneath Dan Heng’s thighs as he laid underneath him in a ‘T’. “So willing to serve, Guāiguāi…” a clawed Vidyadhara hand ran up his collarbone, then his neck, then through his hair, pausing for just a moment to admire his face, then grabbing firmly at midnight locks.

Blade groaned, watching expectantly as Dan Heng dropped his head close to his neck, running his nose over his skin and breathing in deeply. His eyes locked onto the bite mark, old and faded… something wrenched around in his gut, and he growled, lips pulled back into a snarl. ’Bite him, Dan Heng. Make his skin scar with your teeth, reignite your claim over him, remind him of who he’s really devoted to, his bondmate.’ Dan Feng barked, egging on his reincarnation to once again claim Blade’s skin as his own.

”Go ahead.” Blade muttered, cutting through Dan Heng’s thoughts and hesitations, he hadn’t even realized it but he’d been slobbering and drooling all over his neck, long tongue lapping over the faded scar with obsession. He tried to mutter out some sort of response, but all that left his head was warbled syllables, tail hiking up to stand in the air, he was pleased.

Dan Heng opened his jaw wide, wider, his joints clicked, his mouth snakelike in appearance with a row of sharp teeth glinting in whatever rays of light were left over the horizon, thin tongue hanging lithe from his jaws as he paused. Blade trembled, he had no idea Dan Heng could do something like that… but it was strangely erotic to him, seeing something so positively monstrous about his love.

”Please…” Blade breathed out, barely audible, candlewick eyes lit aflame with wicked desire. He almost wanted Dan Heng to just rip his throat out. Teeth latched around his throat like a belt, easily wrapping around both sides of his neck and sinking in. The Mara on his skin flared and danced in beautiful golds, trying to heal the punctures all while his lover kept biting down, trying to ensure a scar around his entire neck, like a tightened choke collar for an unruly dog, showing exactly whom he belonged to.

He juddered mechanically, eyes fluttering wildly as he choked and gurgled, face bloomed a brilliant red with a positively feral smile drawn on his face, he felt crazy, he felt faint. He could see, but everything had a grain of static overtop it, his lips felt numb and he couldn’t quite feel his tongue. Oh… even better, Dan Heng was suffocating him. His eyes rolled back and he gagged out a groan, kicking and squirming futile like a dog caught in the jaws of a gator.

After several minutes of writhing, Dan Heng finally let go. The Mara washed over the area weakly, the wounds filling out, yet dark divots in the skin remained. Blade gasped and panted, choking on his own spit trying to get his bearings again, his hand finally moving to brush over the scar on his neck. He could feel it with his fingertips, sex twitching underneath where Dan Heng sat atop him.

”Mh-mhn, you’ll serve me a different way.” He wiggled his hips a little, teasing the other man with a coy bloody grin. He lazily dragged himself up the length of the others body, sitting on his chest, thighs cradling his head loosely. “I could feel how much you love it…” fingers traced along his sharp jawline, thumbing at Blade’s lip. “When I choked you out with my teeth… Blade, you remember he used to do what I’m about to with you, right? Except back then, there were breaks.”

Blade’s mind almost short-circuited. A memory of Dan Feng sitting on his face flashed through his mind and he shuddered in delight, the lightheadedness, the feeling of weight smashing his head into the mattress… “Oh, fuck… yes.” He croaked out, eyes trailing down Dan Heng’s broad frame, savoring it like honey dripping down his throat, pupils dilating when he set his gaze on Dan Heng’s core, drool pooling up underneath his fat tongue.

”Guāiguāi.” He hummed lovingly, pulling his hands away from his jaw and hair, and placing them behind himself and lifting his lower body up to sit down square on Blade’s face, squeezing his head with his thighs and swaying his hips back and forth to get comfortable, like a bird sitting on its nest. Blade needed no instruction, tongue flitting out to lick long and quick stripes through him, reveling in the thick taste, lips parted to suck on sensitive flesh with his nose nestled firmly in a patch of curly black hair.

Dan Heng exhaled sharply from the stimuli, oversensitive still as his fingers returned to Blade’s scalp, intertwined with his unruly midnight hair and ensnaring it by the fistful, pulling at it to drag low groans from the other, vibrations rang through his core pleasantly as he drank it up like a sponge, already feeling slick and drool spread onto Blade’s cheeks and the dip of Dan Heng’s inner thighs, happily wriggling on top of his face and purring in delight when his calloused hands ensnared his hips, pushing the Vidyadhara roughly against his own mouth.

Dan Heng squeezed his head roughly between two muscular thighs, watching Blade’s eyebrows furrow, thick dark eyelashes knitting together, growling and lapping at him like a big dog drinking water, determined and clawing Dan Heng’s hips, imperative and begging for more as if he were starving. Dan Heng bucked himself against his face every few seconds, quivering with delight each time he slid over the ridge of his dearest’s nose.

Blade laps at Dan Heng’s clit over and over, patternless and sloppy, absolutely hungry and moaning against it to send a trilling pleasure up the others spine, a tickling licking flame inside of him growing with each famished suck and whine, Blade’s hips stuttering up into open air pathetically. A long string of desperate pleas leaves Dan Heng’s mouth and he harshly yanks at Blade’s hair, fully pushing his weight onto him and resting his own forehead against the high wooden footboard of their bed.

He ground against Blade’s face, thighs quaking and lifting slightly, sliding from beside Blade’s face to on top of it, effectively smothering him as his grip tightened enough to further bruise the iridescent scaled skin. “Bla— Oowuhh…” he hiccuped “S-sooo… soso good, oh- obedient…” hot tears swelled in the corners of his eyes, a string of drool slipping out of his mouth and plipping onto the blanket below his face as even still Blade continued to try and lick, spit, moan, anything he could manage.

A harsh tremble racked through Blade’s body, completely trapped underneath Dan Heng— - Right where he wanted to be. Precum sputtered onto his own pelvis, knees drawing up and shifting around as his grip loosened on Dan Heng’s hips. “Mmgh— good! so good… Such a good boy Yingxing…” He panted erratically, chest heaving in an awkward rhythm as his stomach hollowed out in a muscle spasm, “Ah- almost… almost!” Streaks fell down his cheeks and he screwed his eyes shut, lashes beading with salty tears.

Dan Heng shamelessly used Blade’s face like a grinding mat, as though he were simply inanimate, and that’s exactly how Blade loved it. An object for Dan Heng to use to pleasure himself with at the drop of a hat. Spend splattered with force onto Dan Heng’s backside and he yelped in surprise and pleasure, “You- you like this… sooo much you… you... mghhn! ” His hands fell slack from the Vidyadhara’s sides, lungs trying unsuccessfully to gasp for air, rhythmically heaving and hollowing out his chest desperately.

Blade was absolutely reeling, his mind was spinning and Dan Heng’s praises sounded muffled and staticky, his hands were warm, yet numb, and he couldn’t feel his feet as much as earlier— yet none of it mattered, he couldn’t focus on anything except relishing in the lightheadedness, hardly even conscious.

See, if Dan Heng wasn’t mind-breakingly horny, this is certainly where he would’ve stopped, but he knew Blade loved this kind of treatment every once and awhile, Yingxing did too— just… not this rough, of course. His orgasm hit fast like a slap in the face, clawing at Blade’s scalp and pressing his sweaty face against the footboard, thin tongue lolling out of his mouth with a pornographic spill of drool. His vision went dotty, world spinning for a second time that night as waves of pure bliss and warmth washed over his body, glazing over his mind.

Dan Heng finally parted his thighs, hemipenes laying red and angry in his lap. He grabbed Blade’s wrist, putting his own hand over Blade’s and pumping into it a few times, huffing out an ecstatic groan as his own finish splattered all over the upper part of Blade’s face, and even into his hair, completely soaked with sweat, tears and spit.

Just as slowly as he crawled on, he slid easily off of the other, borderline hydroplaning off of him, actually. ’Aeons, I totally soaked him.’ He grimaced a little, but was also proud of himself, marveling at how absolutely wrecked Blade looked, a little blood smeared underneath his nose… drool and slick absolutely lathered across his face messily, and cum sitting comically across the bridge of his nose and up into his sweat-slicked sticky bangs.

Dan Heng drew his hand back, giving Blade a slap across the face to wake him up. Immediately he jolted back to reality with a gasp, eyes snapping wide open and bleary. The room was dark, stars glittering outside, pitch and peaceful all but for a dimmed oil lamp sitting on a table across the room. “You were out for a few minutes, how do you feel?” Dan Heng murmured sweetly, already caressing apologies through his ruined and tangled hair. “…Sticky.” He groaned, smacking his tongue inside his mouth a few times and reaching up to pluck a black hair off his lips.

”Even though its night, want to step out into the creek down the hill and wash off?” His tail gently ran up and down Blade’s thighs, petting him sweetly. “You were so well-behaved, I’d gladly wash your hair for you.” He giggled when Blade groaned again, this time in faux annoyance, struggling to push him off his chest for a moment then successfully sliding the slippery lizard off of himself. “You were going to do that anyways.”

”Yes, I was.” He rolled onto his side, shuffling up close to Blade and pressing sloppy kisses to his collarbone, proudly eyeing the belt of teeth now permanently imprinted along the expanse of his neck. “Like the new collar, where’d you get it?” Dan Heng’s voice was horribly sarcastic, and the other man elbowed him, giving a unimpressed side eye. “Huh, no clue.” He responded with more than just a little sass.

”Very well, let’s go down to the creek then, don’t forget my hairbrush.” Blade slowly threw his legs over the edge of the bed, wobbling as he stood. “You mean our hairbrush?” He didn’t reply, instead stumbling over to another dark room, and walking out with a pair of towels thrown over his shoulder, “Hurry up.” Voice raspy from disuse, “Walking there naked? Really?” — “Nobody else lives within 10 miles of here, Dan Heng.”

’Shit, yeah he kind of has a point.’ The dragon shrugged, staggering out of bed and hobbling over to the bedside table, clattering open the drawers haphazardly and picking up a hairbrush, then following after his companion.

All in all, Dan Heng was truly gracious for the newfound company over these long years, finally able to find joy in daily activities again, and partake in the simplicities of life as a normal person.

He just hopes they live up to their promise once they get out of this foreign world.

”Oh, you lost the contest miserably, by the way. I guess Vidyadhara really do get off from massages.”

.

..

…

“…Fuck you.”

What an asshole