The Gods' Games Volume 1 & 2: Graphic Edition (The Gods' Games Series)

by Quil Carter

  “I – I wasn’t, m-my king,” Sweeny said, his head succumbing to an intense roaring that seemed to be trying to push his brain out through his forehead. He had never felt more embarrassed.

  “Don’t be… it made me smile and I haven’t smiled since all of this happened,” Erick said as he closed his eyes and clasped his hands behind his head. “Now untense my body. I would like to feel relaxed at least one more time before they kill me.”

  Sweeny placed a chaestone in the middle of Erick’s chest and started to gently rub it into his skin, leaving a red mark behind from the burning heat of the smooth round rock. Chaestones were gemstones big enough to barely fit in your grasp and the colour of blue opal, they took in heat like no other stone and kept it burning inside of their centers for hours and hours. The king had five of them always ready and six more he surrounded himself with while he slept. The poor king was always cold.

  “Get on me squire, stop being so damn pensive,” Erick said, his eyes still closed. “You cannot do a good job sitting beside me.”

  Nervously Sweeny straddled Erick and, with a deep breath, he started gently kneading the hot stones into his chest. He had done this many times to the king’s back but this was something entirely new.

  However Sweeny became more relaxed when Erick let out a soft sigh and as Sweeny twisted and pushed the stones into different parts of his chest and slowly rolled them up and down his stomach, he felt himself relax as well. This was… much more intimate than how he had done it before and… and that wasn’t altogether bad.

  And it was doing wonders for King Erick, which is exactly what Sweeny knew he needed. His body, which had previously been firm and rigid from his stress, was unwinding and softening as the king succumb to the warm touch. Sweeny would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a rush of pride at this and because the king had his eyes closed he even allowed himself a proud smile. When the quarter hour turned into a full hour of kneading, even though Sweeny’s hands were red and aching from the hot stones, it felt like he was massaging a relaxed cat instead of a slab of rock.

  But, to Sweeny’s embarrassment, when he had shifted himself lower to get a better angle at Erick’s stomach… he felt something stiff brush up against his own inner area. Sweeny looked down and felt the heated pressure on his head return when he realized… his king had gotten aroused.

  Sweeny looked at Erick, then back down at the area, not sure what he was supposed to do. But to his own inner surprise, he found himself not as scared or uncomfortable as he initially thought he would be. He felt in himself, perhaps an opportunity to relax his king further.

  A large part of his mind was screaming at him to stop but even the thought of edging this boundary with his king had made his own linen trousers tighten. He had never done anything even remotely intimate with anyone and the closest he had come was listening to Erick and whatever male suitor he had decided he liked, go at each other. Sweeny was always in his bedroom with the door shut when this happened.

  Sweeny looked down at Erick’s bulging pants and, with his throat dry, he deliberately started tracing a chaestone lower until he was running it along the thin thatch of black hair. Then he dragged it down further until he saw the area where the hair disappeared and the base of Erick’s stiff penis could be seen.

  With his heart a battering ram against his rib cage, Sweeny dropped one of the chaestones and brushed his palm against Erick’s penis, then gently he started slipping his fingers down the king’s trousers.

  Erick groaned and to Sweeny’s shock… he separated his legs, shifted a hand down and freed his penis and testicles from his pants.

  “Use your mouth,” Erick whispered, his voice raspy and heavy. “Do you know how?”

  Sweeny stared at the hard flesh, his mouth open in shock. He’d never seen an aroused elf before. It was thick like a staff, rigid and flesh-coloured but the head was pink with a glisten on the very tip. Two thin folds of skin were below the curve of its head, its sheath which the head had seemed to have escaped.

  It looked… welcoming. Sweeny felt his previously dry mouth become wet, and, without even answering Erick back, he leaned down and gently put his lips to the head. When he heard Erick groan he brought his tongue to the tip, the hard flesh burning inside of his mouth as did the shaft in his grasp, and rubbed his tongue against it.

  Then suddenly a flash of blinding blue-white light filled the room. Immediately Sweeny jumped away from Erick, falling backwards onto the bed. He looked around wildly, his pounding heart going into a panicked rhythm which sucked the air out of his lungs and left him gasping and hyperventilating.

  Erick quickly pulled his trousers up and jumped off of the bed. He stared forward just as the eye-searing light disappeared – and in its place was the kessiik Nyte.

  “The twin gods are in Elron and you lay there seducing your damn squire?” the kessiik said coldly. He turned from the two stunned elves and walked to the door.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Erick yelled as he belted his pants; the previously heated atmosphere in the room had disappeared like the blinding light. “I sent you away for failing me and now you have the audacity to barge into my personal quarters? I should have you killed for this!”

  Nyte ignored him. He stood in front of the door and rose both of his hands into the air. A blue glow appeared around his raised hands and spread throughout the room like a barrier, coating it wall to ceiling in its shimmering light.

  He was… putting the bedroom under protection. But why?

  “Answer me!” Erick snapped. The kessiik lowered his hands, a stern and glaring look on his ethereal face. Then, to both Erick and Sweeny’s surprise, the haunting blue glow that made up the kessiik’s form shedded off of him like a second skin made up of smoke, and in its place was Nyte’s physical form.

  Nyte turned from the door, a solid being, and looked at Erick and Sweeny, now standing side by side in front of the bed.

  The kessiik mage was a feroe, Erick had never realized it before. In his mind Nyte had always been Dashavian. His actual form was of a strong, well-built, violet-eyed elf, with wavy black hair that reached his shoulders. His strong jaw was firm, and his pale lips looked like they had never smiled. He was just as menacing as a feroe than he was as a wraith.

  And as the shock started to wear off of Erick, something occurred to him. What the kessiik had said when he’d first appeared in his bedroom.

  “You know about Xalis and Darsheive?” Erick said in a hushed tone.

  “There are supposed to be no gods in Elron,” Nyte said, a vein of anger in his voice that was unnatural for the usually emotionless kessiik. “Only Kelakheva, only the demigod. The jewel – the jewel you coveted and searched for, the ones the prophecies wrote of… if the gods are here…”

  Nyte’s face turned grave and it was that look that drew up and raised the terror and unease that had been planted in Erick’s chest since the twins had shown themselves to him. It had temporarily been hidden under the calming and, just minutes ago, wandering, touch of his squire, but like the kessiik had dumped cold water on him, it had returned with vengeance.

  “Why should I care if they get the jewel?” Erick said bitterly. He took a green and gold button-down blouse from Sweeny and started putting it on over his bare, but still flushed chest. “I’m their fucking pawn and they can apparently do as they will since they were the two who brought–” Erick caught himself, remembering that Sweeny didn’t know his prior origins. “– they are the two who put me on the throne. What fucking good am I? Let them have their fucking jewel, let them have their fucking prophecy.”

  To Erick’s surprise, Nyte walked up to him and put his cold hands on either side of his face. Erick stared back, stunned at the odd gesture, and looked into the feroe’s shining purple eyes.

  “Erick Zahn, if the twins want the jewel… all of Elron should tremble in fear with the thought of what they plan to do with it.”

  Plan on doing with it? What could they… possibly do? �
�I… I don’t understand,” Erick sputtered, his cheeks turning to ice under Nyte’s frozen hands. He suddenly felt like a lost child in the kessiik’s shadow.

  Worse still – he’d never felt more human.

  “No, no, Zahn… you wouldn’t,” Nyte said in a harsh whisper. “You do not… you are not of Elron.”

  The words stung Erick more than he’d cared to admit. “Then tell me,” he said. “Make me understand then.” And he wanted to understand. He knew the twins could want nothing good with their father’s jewel, but beyond that, he had no idea. He knew the prophecies were involved, and Kelakheva, but the consequences for the twins getting the jewel, fulfilling their side of the prophecies…

  “Why would they even need the jewel?” Erick said as Nyte’s hands slowly dropped from his face. “They’re gods, powerful, immortal beings. What use would they have for more power? They wanted to play games not destroy Elron. They had no reason to, their worshippers lived in Elron too.”

  Erick saw hesitation on Nyte’s face, then the kessiik turned around, his face deep in concentration.

  Erick looked to Sweeny. He wasn’t sure why he was looking to his squire since the elf seemed just as confused and lost as he was, but he found himself needing the reassurance that he had some partner in this. That he wasn’t experiencing his world crumbling around him alone.

  Sweeny looked back and when they made eye contact Sweeny’s lips pursed together, then a moment later he felt the hibrid’s hand brush his own.

  Erick took it and squeezed it.

  “The twins…” Nyte began, “are playing a very dangerous game.”

  The kessiik’s head turned towards the balcony and he walked towards it; his hand rose, beckoning them both to follow him.

  Erick and Sweeny exchanged glances and they obeyed.

  “In Elron, the gods’ powers are eternal. They are… they are like the sun,” Nyte explained. “Erick, what use would the sun be if it was right in Elron? It would burn and destroy everything. As a whole… there is no controlling the sun. If you took the sun’s heat and energy and dropped it on the surface of Elron… destruction, the apocalypse, everything would burn and die.”

  Erick nodded, he understood that at least.

  The kessiik stood in front of the balcony and opened the doors. The winter sun beamed in, bathing the entire room in light and cold warmth. Erick had to turn away for a moment, his eyes now used to the darkness.

  Nyte raised his hand and in it a small magnifying glass appeared. As Erick looked at him in confusion, Nyte held the glass out towards the sun’s rays and soon a beam of light found itself resting on the front of Sweeny’s vest. All three of them looked at the concentrated sunbeam and witnessed a plume of smoke burst from the linen cloth.

  Sweeny had jumped away with a startled yelp.

  “The Jewel of Elron focuses their powers like a magnifying glass. Without something to regulate their energy, they wouldn’t be able to control their godly powers, so they know not to even try. As you know all mages have this problem at a smaller level, so they use focus stones; but any focus stone in Elron would shatter with even the smallest trickle of the gods’ powers. The gods in Elron can only tap into their regular maegic stores without the Jewel of Elron. So, as of now, Xalis and Darsheive are no more powerful than a high-ranking mage. Though, unlike Elronians, their abilities are not species limited. They’re high-ranking mages with the abilities of every species in Elron and every craft of magic known,” Nyte explained. “The Elder God was no fool; he knew his sons were still young and this is how he controlled them after he left. However, in the end, he still summoned his sons to follow him, and left the jewel with Kelakheva to guard over or give whenever it was required in a gods’ game, a prophecy.”

  “So… has Anea and the others returned as well then?” Erick asked.

  Nyte shook his head, the magnifying glass disappearing from his hand.

  “Just the twins, the black sheeps one would say. They found a way back in Elron. Elron is supposed to be inaccessible to them now. Somehow… somehow they snuck back in, to wreak havoc, play their games.” Nyte’s purple eyes narrowed. “… and to apparently make a new prophecy write.”

  “A new prophecy?” Erick said. “You know about the book Kelakheva came to my study with?”

  Nyte nodded. “I retrieved the information from your head. I know what it is you saw – I know the demigod has a new prophecy in his hands. It is a prophecy for them but… I do not understand why.” Nyte closed the balcony doors and when he turned around his face was troubled. “We kessiik’s don’t know why the Anean Prophecies keep writing even with the absence of the gods. We always suspected it was to keep Elron loyal to the gods in the gods’ absence. To… remind everyone of their continued presence even when they are not around.” The kessiik’s eyes narrowed. “The twins have no reason to follow a prophecy themselves.”

  “So this isn’t a normal prophecy?”

  Nyte shook his head, his face grim. “The twins are up to something – but I do not know what. All I know is… all of Elron should be terrified right now.”

  An overwhelming sense of dread washed over Erick and he found himself needing to sit down. He sat down on the bed, feeling a tremble come to his body. He drew a hand down his face. “What – what now?”

  The room descended into silence for a moment, only Sweeny’s bordering on hyperventilating breaths could be heard. “I have thought a lot about this, Erick Zahn,” Nyte said finally, his voice quiet. “I have seen your head; I have lived inside of it.”

  Erick felt a chill go through him. Automatically he could feel his mind try to shut down any invaders, though he knew that was folly. The kessiik was powerful and no ordinary elf could block him if he willed to infect their minds.

  “As it stands now, we are the only three elves in Elron who know the god twins are here. We are the only ones who know they seek their father’s jewel and the only ones who know another prophecy has been written.”

  “The other prophecy walkers…”

  “They don’t know anything right now. I know they are heading towards Azoria, that I was able to acquire.”

  “How – how do you know that?”

  Nyte turned away from the fireplace and held out a hand to Sweeny. The squire stared at him, dumbstruck, before he remembered himself. He quickly walked to the pitcher of wine and poured a full glass for Nyte, then one for Erick. He handed Erick his before standing beside the table.

  The kessiik took a small drink and swirled the glass around.

  “I saw what one prophecy walker knew of the prophecy when I and one of my apprentices were inside his mind. I was able to parasite him, as my orders had been. I was successful in locating them, however I underestimated their strength and the company the hibrid kept. A former Serpent knight who knew my parasiting methods was able to break the link between me and the hibrid. Not only that, the Serpent knight knew how my realm worked and how to manifest things. He was able to entrap me and Mage Nikken inside of my realm. That was the reason why it took me so long to return to you.”

  Erick’s heart jumped at this new information, his heart and mind still with his original mission to find the hibrid and the jewel. He had only known Nyte was unsuccessful, he had received no further detail.

  But with a dry laugh Erick let his raised heart plummet to the hopeless darkness where it belonged. He didn’t care to possess the Jewel of Elron now. On the contrary, he couldn’t get it, the twins would take it from him the moment the green gem brushed his clawed hands.

  Let the prophecy walkers do what they will, let the twins do what they will too. He was tired of being a puppet; he was tired of playing this game. Why was Nyte even telling him this? What use was he? He was a stupid human, brought to a place he didn’t belong for reasons he no longer knew. He was useless to the kessiik.

  Nyte seemed to have read him.

  “Erick… you’re not as unimportant as you think.”

  “Yeah, supposedly I am still s
upposed to be king.” Erick’s reply was bitter on his tongue. “The Draken King. Or in better words… they still need a patsy and a bitch to do their dirty work. Why would they want to be king? They’re already fucking gods; they don’t want the boring politics or to put in the time involved in running this fucking kingdom. It isn’t fun and all those fucking gods want is what’s fun.”

  “No, it is much more than that,” Nyte said, taking another drink. “Your origins are important to this. They did not choose you by random chance.”

  Erick shook his head; he felt tempted to throw his goblet against the wall. “I don’t want to know; I just don’t care anymore. I’m tired; I’m worn. I don’t have another war in me. I’m tired of being a puppet. I was brought here with my mind filled with illusions of power, grandeur, a life so unlike the one I left…”

  The king rose and walked to the hearth, his goblet in hand.

  “I am Erick Zahn, who doesn’t belong, who never did. Who is a pawn of twin gods – Why am I here? To help the twins destroy my home? Is that my destiny in their prophecies? I already destroyed Alcove enough as it is through my own selfish power trip.” Erick grimaced; he hated the humanity flooding back to him. Not long ago he sat tall on the black ivory throne, sentencing traitors to death, brainwashing nobles, watching the Serpents perform their valour. The taste of power was so sweet to his lips before the facade was revealed, before he was shown just how small he was.

  Just how… human he was.

  Now he just felt like a weak human playing twin gods’ games.

  “Why are you telling me all of these things, Nyte?” Erick asked after a silence had fallen throughout the room. “Sweeny is more useful than I.”

  “Because this is no longer about who rules Alcove,” Nyte said, setting his glass down. “This is now about stopping the twins from getting the Jewel of Elron.”

  “How are we supposed to do that? Aren’t we supposed to follow this prophecy we have? Even the demigod is following the prophecy. I was there when he gave the twins the book. Are we not… helpless to follow what the book tells us to do?”