Chapter 54 - Good Day

  Alex’s ‘rest’ was anything but restful. Unlike the prior times he’d slept, he isn’t swathed in the dark void. He still perceives himself suspended in open space, but now the void is sporadically lit by sparks of blue flame winking in and out of existence. Occasionally when two of the sparks pop in near enough to each other, Alex can see shimmering strands lash out to link them for a brief moment before both fade again.

  As the moments linger, Alex realizes that he ‘senses’ the sparks first, then his eye is drawn to them. As if each spark is calling out, wanting to be noticed for its brief flickering life. Alex smiles to himself, content to float, letting his eyes drift to the calling sparks. The flickering sparks make his dream-like state feel more comfortable. Even with the nagging sense of urgency that tickles at the back of Alex’s awareness.

  He tries to mentally brush the bothersome annoyance away, not wanting to…

  Alex startles awake, blinking his eyes open as the visions of sparks flee from his mind. With that sense of urgency virtually screaming in his head now, Alex recognizes it for what it is. His sense of time. He tries to sit up, only to find a weight keeping his arm held down. Finally taking stock of his surroundings, Alex realizes Uril had been laying next to him, one of the goat’s arms hooked around his own.

  Uril had been only lightly dozing, and Alex stirring easily woke him too. “Well, look who’s decided to rejoin the waking world.” Uril teases him with a grin, not relinquishing the arm just yet. At some point Uril had shed his customary leather vest and kilt, wearing only a snug fitting wrap around his hips.

  There’s no hiding where Alex’s gaze wanders, or the crimson blush that colors his face. Then Alex wiggles back a bit, freeing his arm. Uril props up on an elbow, his face a mix of concern and confusion. “Too much?” He asks, sitting up and pulling one of the many pillows into his lap. He watches Alex’s face go through a mix of expressions, then settle on a shy smile.

  Alex rubs at his arm gently, fingers touching where Uril had been holding him. “No, I mean… I’m just not used to… this… yet.” He says before scooting closer again to lean his shoulder against Uril’s. “It just surprised me, that's all.” He tries to reassure the incubus.

  The goat leans into him in return and slips an arm around Alex’s hip. “I was worried about you.” Uril says softly, giving Alex a gentle squeeze.

  Tentatively, Alex reaches over to rest his hand on Uril’s knee where it sticks from under the pillow. “All I remember is trying to tap into the skill again, then,” he tries to think, but the details slip from his mind like water through a sieve. He shakes his head. “I don’t know, I think there was something, but…” He trails off, shrugging.

  Uril nods. “Yeah, you got hit by a pretty bad backlash. Corvus said you’d be ok, just needed to rest.”

  The mention of Corvus startles Alex and he looks around, not spotting either Corvus or Hara. “Where are…”

  “In my guest-room.” Uril answers, then smiles softly. “They decided to give us a lil privacy, and we didn’t want to move you, so they’ve been relaxing in there.” He explains, patting Alex’s hip.

  The mention of privacy has Alex blushing again, and he can’t help but let his eyes wander over Uril’s bare chest with the dark red tattoo outlined just under the velvet black fur. Then his eyes dart down to the pillow which valiantly guards the modesty of the incubus prostitute. “What, wanna see more?” Uril teases, startling Alex out of his sight-seeing.

  Alex quickly averts his eyes and he can feel his whole face heating up. He opens his mouth to respond when that nagging urgency feeling resurfaces. And Alex’s eyes go wide as he realizes why it’s happening. “Oh shit, I gotta go.” He jumps to his feet, then bends down to give Uril an apologetic hug around the shoulders. “I gotta get to work.”

  Without waiting for a reply, Alex bounces back up. “Hara, Corvus! We gotta go!” He calls out towards the back rooms. Only a brief moment later, Corvus holds the curtain aside as Hara bounds into the room. Letting the curtain fall back after him, Corvus once more assumes his crow guise and flies over to perch on Alex’s shoulder.

  Alex reaches for his knapsack then pauses, fingers inches from the strap. Then he smiles and leaves it where it sits. A soft smile teases at the corner of his lips, with the gentle realization.

  Rather than let an extended hand go to waste, Hara nudges her head into it. “Alex better after sleep?” She asks, wagging slowly.

  “Yeah, I think I’m alright.” Alex says, rubbing along Hara’s ears. “I had a dream, I think.” He says, patting the hound’s neck. Then he smoothes down his clothes and runs his fingers through his hair to try and at least appear a touch less disheveled.

  One of Corvus’s black-marble eyes examines Alex’s face for a moment. “I am glad to see that you are not suffering further ill effects from that backlash.” Tipping his head a bit, he regards Alex curiously. “I would prefer to discuss the events of the prior night, but we do not have the luxury of time. We will be able to cover some minor details enroute.”

  Alex gives a simple nod in answer and starts towards the door. Before he can reach it though, a chuckle from Uril gives him pause. “Forgetting something?” The incubus’s voice is laden with every ounce of his sly sultriness, drawing out the words in a way that makes Alex’s face heat up just from the tone.

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  Looking back over his shoulder, Alex’s cheek is met by Uril’s lips, the goat having snuck up behind him and raised up on his hooftips to reach. The kiss is gentle and warm, but fleeting. “See ya tonight.” Uril says, then opens the door for the trio.

  After seeing them out, Uril closes the door and steps back from it, letting out a long sigh. “Fuuuuuck me… this is going to drive me mad.” Uril half-heartedly complains to the closed door. Then he turns back to the room and starts picking up the cushions they’d been using. On one, Uril finds a bit of Alex’s presence still clinging to the fabric. He grins to himself as allows his incubus nature out on a very short leash, drawing in that hint of essence the same way another person might savor the smell of good food. “Mmmm, woody spice.” He whispers with an easy smirk.

  Stepping into his room, Uril dismisses the waist-wrap. The spirit-manifested cloth simply melts away. A morning like this deserves something better than one of his usual outfits, he decides while standing in front of a full-length mirror. For as lush and comfortable as most of his apartment is, his personal bedroom is far more modest. The mirror stands out, with its brass fittings and wooden frame kept polished. The other furniture in the room is far more utilitarian. A simple bed with a comfortable mattress, a trunk that rests at the foot of the bed, and a wardrobe for his clothes.

  Stepping over to the wardrobe only takes a couple strides in the small space. Opening it up, Uril looks over the shelves of neatly folded outfits and the few vests and nicer shirts hanging on pegs in the back. He runs his fingertips over several garments before finding just the one he wants.

  He slips on a snug-fitting jockstrap, adjusting it so everything sits just-right. Then he pulls on a pair of chaps, buckling the belt on. He takes a look in the mirror, twisting to see the way the leather settles around his hips and thighs. Then he picks up the shirt, slipping the burgundy dress-shirt on but leaving it unbuttoned. And finally, he straps on a pair of ‘boots’ that give the appearance of calf-length leather boots, but leave his hooves exposed. “Mmmm, now that’s the look I want.” He says to himself, smirking. “It’s gonna be a good day for sure.”

  It’s still early for Uril’s normal routine, but he isn’t bothered. He heads out just a bit before the dawn bell, figuring there ought to be at least someone who’d be interested in paying him for his breakfast. Though he knows it won’t live up to the enjoyment he felt from savoring that tiny bit from earlier.

  Alex’s intent-movement feels strange as he blurs through the vacant pre-dawn streets with his companions. He’d expected a bit of fatigue after the backlash before, but it’s not any additional strain that’s causing the feeling. Each time he touches down to reorient or renew the skill, it’s like he can feel his spirit tugging slightly off from normal. The intent-movement still activates like normal, the motion still flows easily, but the moment of activation just feels weird to him.

  “Hey Corvus, something’s strange here.” He says, looking at the shoulder-perched crow from the corner of his eye. A tip of Corvus’s head lets him know the crow is listening. “When I’m starting the leap, I feel my spirit tugging. Before it was just a swell, now…” he pauses to kick off again, “it’s like it’s got a directional pull.”

  After a moment’s consideration, Corvus asks back, “Like you described your sense of direction leading you here, or different?”

  Alex has to think on it, taking another few leaps to really feel out the sensation before answering. “No. It’s internal. The sense of direction always felt like it was pulling to something, not just pulling at something.” He explains, already nearly half way to the couriers.

  “Ah, I see. Alex, attempt to use Perception-augmentation as well. Just a small amount, no reason to strain.” Corvus instructs, and is quickly rewarded when Alex’s eyes widen slightly. “What did you feel?”

  “Different pull.” Alex says simply, the implications whirling through his head. Prior to this, any use of the skills just felt like a welling pressure from within his spirit. Directionless, just a mass of intent and will that he could channel. But what he’d just felt was clearly the portion of spirit fueling each skill pulling in different directions within him. Each leap with Intent-movement feels the same, and when he tentatively pulses the sensory skill again too, it tugs in a different place.

  “Very good Alex, very good indeed. You are starting to recognize the shape of it, your soul.” Corvus congratulates him. With Alex paying even closer attention to it all now, he feels the faintest of waverings from within as Corvus’s telepathic voice reaches him.

  “Corvus, keep talking, please. Just, anything.” Alex has to pause between leaps, taking a brief rest at one intersection and stepping out of the intended path for intent-movement users.

  Without waiting for, or requesting, an explanation, Corvus launches into conversation. “While we were settling down for the night in Uril’raya’s home, my prime-self was having a conversation with Gravitas. You see, we are both in a region of Hell near the territory of Last to Burn. The same location where I had to detour from you to attend to an errand. An Apex of staggering power is attempting to do something quite cataclysmically dangerous, and it has garnered a rather inconvenient amount of attention from the majority of the Apex that consider this portion of Hell home.”

  Corvus pauses for a mental breath, but Alex gives no indication for him to stop and so he continues. “While the danger may be unfathomable, it has provoked what could still become an Apex war. Though for several of my Apex colleagues, it is a good excuse to meet in person. Gravitas and I have actually been discussing you, and as Uril’raya warned, she has grown interested in you. She seemed quite amused to learn that the pair of you are courting.”

  Alex lets out a little startled laugh, fidgeting in place. “Oh shit, I guess we really are. I… I have a boyfriend.” He mutters to himself before refocusing on what he’s trying to sense. As Corvus had kept speaking, that wavering persisted. Feeling it out is tricky, like trying to locate a lightswitch in a dark room. He has an idea of where it should be, but not the specifics.

  “From the display this morning, I would certainly agree that you do.” Corvus says, showing that even he isn’t above a small amount of light-hearted teasing. “If I am assessing this situation correctly, you are sensing the method of how you ‘hear’ my telepathic voice.” He deduces, watching Alex for confirmation.

  “Yeah, I am.” Alex says, then turns to Hara. “Can you talk some too?” He asks, getting a wag in reply first.

  “What Alex want Hara say?” The hound asks, cocking her head. “Hara no think Hara can just talk like Corvus.” The head tilts the other way. “Hara not know what talk about.”

  But even that was enough, the wavering felt the same, even from a different source. And finally, Alex thinks he has it. He summons his intent, feeling the familiar swell of pressure from within, and then he directs it towards that wavering sensation. “I’m not sure, but I think…”

  Corvus was just about to reply, but catches it and lets out a triumphant caw. Alex’s lips hadn’t moved just then.