Love or Not

Chapter 16: A God's Choice

He called to Zeus and his master's lifemate before he made the orb and himself invisible. He noticed that his master's life bonds were silent, another issue he would have to deal with later.

Lóngshén was unsure if any of the messages got out before he fell into the abyss. He had held on as long as he could. The next conscious thought Lóngshén had, he knew he had to assess the situation.

He took the time to ensure the orb was silent and sleeping, and after careful thought, he acted. Lóngshén opened a pinhole in his stone shell to see how his master was and if he could determine where they were.

Instantly the orb screamed in terror, and Lóngshén, afraid he had damaged his charges, closed the pinhole quickly and soothed the orb. Someone was whipping his master, and he could not allow the pain to reach the orb.

The orb only felt a fraction of what his master had, and it could not tolerate even one second of the pain. He must not allow that to happen again. He resealed the stone and attempted to lull his charges back to oblivion.

The dragon thought that if he did not promise Zeus to protect the orb, his master would already be home safe with his lifemate. But his priority was the orb, and three were counting on him.

Zeus was right to have him protect what was weak. It was already unstable even after his ministration, and he would have to take extra care to ensure he did not damage them further. Lóngshén would need to plan a strategy once he can stabilize the orb.

Even with all his precautions, the orb seemed to know something was wrong. He was a little proud, and the orb had already used its powers but could not allow it to suffer. His charges had felt pain for the first time.

He will make it up to them and give them a gift, it would strengthen them, and his knowledge would help them become more. The dragon closed his eyes and merged minds with the inhabitants of the orb, and joined his essence as he did with Nu.

When they were all safe at home, he would merge with Master Zee. All will become him, his family, and ours. He didn't want to think he would become family to his old rival Zeus, but it could not be helped.

If Zeus could not take care of them, he would. He already had come to love them as his own. The dragon softened when he heard a sound like a dragon hum. His charges finally fell back to sleep. Smiling in happiness, a few seconds later, Lóngshén joined them.

NuNew

Hours later, long after Lóngshén fell back to sleep, NuNew began regaining consciousness. His head ached, his back burned, and he wanted to scream in pain, and his legs cramped. He must have been out for a considerable time to be this sore. He tried to open his eyes and felt like he would pass out from the pain again.

They had beat him! They shoved a piece of paper in his face and asked him to denounce his lifemate. Nothing else they said made sense, only that they wanted him to leave his lifemate forever. He knew that he had been drugged, and everything was surreal.

Even now, the whole event was fuzzy in his mind. He wished he could have understood half of what was happening then, and he still didn't remember half of what they were saying. He was glad that he was so doped up that even being whipped didn't matter much to him.

He remembered his screams of pain, but he was never afraid. His father and lifemate would find him, and whoever had taken him would pay. He grinned at them with blood seeping from his mouth, making him look almost feral as he screamed that he would never leave Zee. His screams filled the hallways until he finally passed out.