I tuned out the cries behind me on the dock. All that mattered was getting him to Arrakus. Arrakus reached out for us with his long appendages, pulling us to him. Wrapping them about us, he submerged us. An inky blackness met my gaze. He swam ever closer to it, and my lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. Then we were in the Void and there was nothingness.
I spluttered. “Where are we?” I asked Arrakus.
Evvvverrrryyyywherrre.
He let us go, and we hung there, suspended, Shannon’s head lolling. Arrakus manifested a claw and cut through Shannon’s shirt. He touched his chest, placing a sucker there.
Yooouuu givvvve.
I give what?
Arrakus removed his tentacle and curled himself into a ball, morphing into the man-shaped form I’d first seen him as.
“LLLiiiffeee. I taaake. Yooouuu givvve.” He held up his hands in the same manner as when we fed, only he placed them on either side of my head. Instead of feeling drained, I began to feel too full, as if I was about to overflow. It was excruciating. My body locked up; I couldn’t make myself move as every inch of me screamed in agony as each and every nerve ending lit on fire. Arrakus grabbed my hands, placing them on Shannon’s chest.
“Pppppourrrr…”
I immediately envisaged myself as a jug of water filled to overflowing and being tipped to let the excess out. A glow surrounded Shannon’s body and his head snapped up, his eyes opening impossibly wide, the light shining from within like dancing flames. He opened his mouth as he gasped, sucking in air. The light spilled from his nostrils, and his mouth as I continued to pour. He shrieked, prompting me to pause in hesitation.
“Mmmmore…” Arrakus said, showing me the curly-haired man from his memory. This time, he was on the beach, and it looked as if he had drowned. His wooden craft lay shattered on the shore beside him, his fishing companion sprawled face-down further away. Arrakus showed me himself doing just as I was, and his love screaming from the agony of his cells becoming corrupt with UnLife. He stopped, and the transformation failed, Arrakus’ uncertainty ending with his lover irretrievably dead. I looked at the light dimming from Shannon as this played out, grief roiling within me.
No! I would not fail! I poured more into him. It still wasn’t enough. Arrakus had made me powerful with the Bonding, but I was still young and not as strong as I needed to be, not yet.
“Help me,” I begged Arrakus.
He cut my pants away, and I knew what was coming next. “Go ahead,” I told him. He manifested his two arms as tentacles then again, wrapping one around me, slipping the other to drip its oils against my pucker. He moved the tip inside, then withdrew. I felt a very human feeling head press against me, then it was pushing its way inside. Christ, he was huge even as mostly human in form. He wrapped the other tentacle around my cock now, jacking me off. As he thrust, I felt him push some more of himself inside of me, and in turn, I was able to feed more of myself into Shannon. I bent my head over him, slanting my mouth over his, and kissed him, swallowing his renewed screams. Time lost all meaning. I could feel Arrkus fucking me, the pleasure and pain filling me with waves of ecstasy. I could sense Shannon now, feel what he was feeling. It was heady. Then I tumbled as the light tore my mind apart, Arrakus coming with a roar and filling me with his seed. Shannon fell from my grasp, and when I came back to myself, I saw him there, looking about in frightened wonder.
“Is this heaven?” he asked me. “Oh, God, I went to hell, didn’t I?” he cried, spotting Arrakus.
This was not going well at all.
Arrakus shifted back to his winged titan form and grabbed us unceremoniously.
Hold your breath!” I shouted to Shannon. “We’re about to be underwater!”
I didn’t have time to see if he heeded me or not. As soon as I ended my last sentence, we were through the hole, tear, portal, or whatever it was and back in the frigid, dirty water.
I recoiled as I spotted Roy then, his mouth open in rictus, his insides on the outside. His intestines were wound around the pier pilings, and I fought the urge to vomit. Arrakus beat his wings and pushed up upwards. Our heads broke water, then his tentacles were gently depositing us on the dock.
“Mmmmine.”
He said nothing else, disappearing under the water. Shannon and I both stared at the spot, trying to process what had just happened.
“I saw Roy,” I said, finally. “He’s under the dock. He won’t be hurting anyone ever again.”
No one said anything, and I realized it was awfully quiet and had been from the second we landed on the dock. I looked around, wondering what was up. Everyone was down on one knee, heads bowed. Not facing the water, but ringed around Shannon and me.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I’d like to know that, too,” Shannon added.
“My princes, all shall be explained.”
“Why is your dad calling us princes?” Shannon asked me.
“Hell if I know,” I replied.
“This isn’t a nightmare, is it? I was kinda hoping it was,” Shannon murmured.
