HORNS (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 149

Chapter One Hundred and Forty Nine

Thunder roared in my ears. Sand lay beneath my back. Stars exploded above me.

I lay there, watching coils of gold ripple down out of the distant universe, staring at eyes as blue and cold and hard as sapphires. A hand was clasped tightly in my own. I couldn't move, I was way too comfortable for a change, but I could feel the warmth of  his palm against mine.

I could hear his breathing.

His heartbeat.

The one beside me was male, I knew that much.

I also knew that he was tethered to me from the inside.

Connected. Loved. Bonded.

Brothers.

Side by side. Hand in hand. On our backs, staring up at the magnificent dragon, together.

Luka and I were dreaming, together.

It was a peculiar experience to have someone here, dreaming the same dream, but I was actually very comforted by the fact that I wasn't alone anymore. I felt his fear at the sight of the exploding sky boiling above us, and at the frothing ocean bucking at our hooves, and at the sand, vibrating as if alive under the intensity of the heavens thundering their cries. 

I felt his fear through his hand, and I was quick to offer silent reassurances. Not because the vision of a dying world wasn't scary, but because we were safe. Without a doubt, we were safe, I knew we were. The one who's beautiful golden coils curled around my soul deep into the night would never, ever allow us to be hurt. Not even if the world ended.

Not even if the universe was destroyed.

Not now, not ever.

He was protecting me and my life and my happiness and I trusted the sapphire eyes that now gazed into mine with every fiber of my existence.

The golden dragon's massive head leaned down, whiskers drifting like feelers, scales gleaming like they were reflecting the fire of the sun. Green flames licked his nostrils and smoke puffed into my face as his coils settled around the two of us, widening to make room for the one beside me.

His muzzle pressed against my cheek, gentle and reassuring. Heat flooded me from the inside, green as emeralds and raging with emotion. I felt comforted by the stone-enshrouded warmth that fused into my being at his touch. 

Thoughts bubbled up.

'Huang...?'

The dragon's sapphire eyes flickered. A powerful voice filled my mind. "What is it, Horst?"

I wanted to reach out with my free hand and touch him. I wanted to thank him, for standing behind me even when he'd known all along how difficult I was going to be. But I think he already knew that, I could see it in his eyes that we'd been here before, seen each other just like this.

He'd known all along.

Every tear, every laugh, every thought, every step, a million times over. In a sense, he'd lived my life repeatedly. He'd felt my emotions. Seen things that were going to happen to me through my eyes, and he'd even watched my loved ones die from my own perspective. He'd felt me die, too... felt my life come to an end, over and over again, every last second up to the final breath. In trillions upon trillions of different ways, all branching in endless directions. And yet, he chose to be here, every night, in my dreams.