The Dreamers [MxM]

[Prologue] The torches surrounding the ancient chamber lit up one by one, illuminating the golden throne encrusted with jewels. The tall figure of a redheaded female remained motionless in a graceful pose, with her hands resting over big, masterfully shaped rubies decorating the top of the armrests. Slowly, almost reluctantly, the dark-red lashes fluttered, revealing crimson eyes with vertical slits for pupils. A delicate smile curled the woman’s full lips even while the expression of her eyes remained distant. They were locked on the future. The paths to take and the outcomes—each now tinted with a chaotic flavor—were the possibilities, not the certainty. “It’s time,” her musical voice – its honeyed silk – reverberated through the silent chamber, announcing the beginning of the scheme eons in the making. Her two thousand-year-long wait over, Bastet smiled, closed Her eyes, and set to watch. 6th October 2075 [Kai] Living in a small town surrounded by a deep, dark forest had its ups and downs. Especially when one knew that said forest rested at the bottom of the mountain, containing one of the biggest lairs of the shapeshifters. It didn’t matter to Kai Lystad much, even though it brought crazy bastards to their town that others would gossip about. In his opinion, he had far more significant issues to deal with than the beasts that no one had ever seen—so far, he knew, at least. Most of all, living in a small town where everyone knew each other – and their families – up to x-generations back and figuring out that he didn’t like girls sucked. Really, really bad... It was worse than having a twin brother smarter than everyone around or having the misfortune to inherit the creepy, red eyes that sometimes popped up in their father’s family... And he knew since both of those afflicted him! And every-f*****g-body around him knew and loved to point it out to make him miserable! He refused to add to that by letting anyone know that while other teenage boys not long ago started to see girls in a different light... he was downright plagued by far, far too realistic dreams about another boy. Even if his goddamn imagination cooked up a gorgeous male to torment him with, night after night for over a year now, he would be damned if he let anyone know about that! Kai sighed miserably, closing the notepad and shoving his phone inside his pants pocket. He moved carefully to lay belly-down, sprawling on top of the branch he had earlier been sitting on. Looking down at the mossy ground below the tree he had picked today to be his perch, alone and far from the prying eyes, he closed his when he dared to recall the previous night’s dream. He came here early on Sunday when his whole family still happily snored away in their beds to attempt somewhat naively to exorcise his stupid imagination by trying to write down the ‘nightmare.’ But staring at the open page of the file, the only thing he could think of was how adored he felt in those stupid, impossible fantasies. It started a bit over a year ago, basically when hormones hit his system, and his body began to change from a far too-skinny, tiny kid to a still not-that-tall, awkward teenager. One night soon after that, his dreams changed, too. It was warm and innocent at first. ‘Waking up’ to an older-looking, beautiful (cat-like!) teen was a surprise. He put it up to Ravi – his twin brother – never shutting his big mouth about the nearby lair of shapeshifters. His brother was fascinated by them, but even he wouldn’t dare to get anywhere near the ‘border’ of the lair. It was common knowledge that the crazy bastards who attempted it were never seen again. Since they were kids – as with all other children in the town – it was repeated to them constantly never to cross the scratched line of trees that announced the beginning of the lands belonging to the beasts. One time, over dinner, his twin asked his parents why they had never considered moving away from their neighbors, and both looked baffled at the idea. The truth was: other than the occasional visitors from outside (who, as mentioned, tended to disappear swiftly, anyway), their small town was probably the safest place to live in the whole state. A few that decided to leave for bigger cities tended to return after a while, bringing back horror stories about rampant crimes and abuse, swearing off going away again. None seemed to know why – but their town, Gatesville, had none to speak of. Crimes, that is. There were some occasional conflicts and arguments, and they had a tiny Sheriff’s station, but as long as he was alive, he never heard of theft or murder happening there. The current Sheriff, Luke Morris, threatened to quit his office every year due to boredom. And every year, he was appeased by some carefully placed compliments about how well he looked in the uniform and the plethora of home-baked goods offered by the worried townspeople. And he was the longest-running Sheriff they had – with five years behind his belt – because apparently, all others before him quit after a year at the most. Hence, worry, because their parents believed that the lack of a Sheriff would work to invite the trouble that so far looked to avoid their community. His and Ravi’s parents, Katie and Sol Lystad, told them it wasn’t always like that. The almost unnatural tranquillity arrived sometime before the twins were born. Townsfolk attributed that to the nearby lair – all growing up to the stories of how much more united humanity grew after the emergence of the Bast’Aikhtiar. The shapeshifters used to be a myth connected to the ancient forest that, fifty years before Kai was born, came to life when humans apparently stepped over the unwritten line, introducing the threat of nuclear warfare. And the Bast’Aikhtiar – as the shapeshifters called themselves – took offense, swiftly and mercilessly squashing the manufactured weapons and introducing an ultimatum to ever-warring, volatile humankind. Any further attempts on the production of weapons of mass destruction were to be ceased... or else. And since they apparently commanded far superior magic... Yeah, it wasn’t much of a contest. Then they backed off, marking their territories (thirteen total, all around the world) and warned that uninvited guests in those areas would be dealt with according to their customs. He didn’t know what those were, but living in this town his whole life, Kai – like any other kid here – with some interest, watched the morons that attempted that breach of conduct from time to time. The story – that most often brought to Gatesville, the outsiders – was that the shapeshifters could somehow give one immortality. He didn’t know if it was true – and, honestly, didn’t care either, busy with his own problems – but the ‘myth’ itself was enough to drive into the town the craziest-looking assholes. They arrived, asked about the town and their ‘neighbors,’ and went into the forest... never to be heard from again. Their Sheriff’s most common task was dealing with their leftover cars or belongings. Or so Kai heard, at least. The latest of such arrivals, he had a chance to witness himself accidentally two weeks ago. Coming home from school and passing the small inn, buried in dark thoughts, he almost stumbled into a slightly older-looking girl with bright hair and blue eyes. He wouldn’t have paid much mind if not while apologizing awkwardly for his distraction, the girl’s twin brother joined in, soothing her apparent annoyance. And there was no confusion about their familiarity, especially for him, because they were more identical than he and Ravi were. He had never seen them before, and even if he left swiftly – embarrassed about causing a scene – that encounter engraved itself in his head. Later that day, over dinner, Ravi snickered throughout the meal about the ‘supernatural detectives’ who apparently stubbornly decided to investigate the shapeshifters while trying to avoid the fate of their predecessors. The small group of teenagers, with one accompanying them adult, rented rooms in the inn and set upon the townspeople with a bunch of the weirdest questions. His twin dubbed them ‘Mystery Inc.’ and spent the whole afternoon stuffing their ears with the most ridiculous stories. He clearly enjoyed causing the ‘investigators’ to be here still, chasing the provided ghost stories. Kai figured that sooner or later, they’d either get bored or make the mistake of going into the wrong part of the forest and mostly shrugged it off, busy with his issue. His ink-haired, pale-eyed, nightly... trouble. As time progressed, the dreams became increasingly intense and realistic. Though he couldn’t hear anything in them – even seeing his dreamed-up boy’s almost too-pretty lips move, shoving tantalizing hints of too-pronounced fangs – from the first apprehension at dreaming the same thing over and over, eventually, he got far too comfortable with the fantasy. As hormones raged, he went from trying to understand the meaning behind the stubborn images to enjoying them far, far too much. Each night, when he fell asleep, he ‘woke up’ in something that looked like a cave with walls decorated with colorful, gorgeous crystals. A strange wooden contraption filled most of that cave and climbed up to its ceiling. The only other thing there was a messy nest made of a mix of black furs and blankets. And that’s where he always woke up, naked – no matter what he wore to bed that night – and to a ridiculously gorgeous black-haired teen who at first looked almost as shocked as he felt by the strange dream. It was weird and awkward. Initially, Kai was more than freaked out by the whole thing. Everything looked so real and clear. If not for the fact that he couldn’t hear or touch anything other than himself, he would be almost tempted to believe that it was somehow true. But no, his hands passed through anything, including his dreamed-up cat-like teenager. He knew because he tried. Who wouldn’t...? He was beyond gorgeous, that older teen and looking at him night after night... God, anyone would get ideas, right? Very tall and with pale skin covering the taut, impossibly well-defined muscular body, the cat-like additions in the form of ears, tail, and vertically slit eyes didn’t take away any of his charm with those impossibly beautiful features of his slightly triangular face. If anything, they only added to it, and a few weeks of those dreams were more than enough to ruin his interest in any ‘real’ people. Over a year later, he was hopelessly in love with a f*****g figment of his imagination! How pathetic was that...? He even went as far as to attempt to communicate with him! Growing perhaps a tad desperate, night after night, he drew with his finger on his arm: ’Are you real?’ but, predictably, the other teen only looked on without understanding. While funnily waving his long, black tail enthusiastically. Kneeling in his ‘nest’ opposite him and naked, the cat-like teenager always looked happy to see him. Always attempted to touch him and bared his fangs at him with increasing frustration when his hands passed through Kai’s form. For what felt like hours of this fantasy, the teen would stubbornly try to kiss him. He would get sooo close that Kai could easily count his long, ink-black lashes if he weren’t busy losing his f*****g mind, wishing to touch him. Dying to feel his touch, too... About half a year ago, it became so increasingly and painfully frustrating that he started avoiding sleeping whenever he could. He inhaled unhealthy doses of caffeine and tried to stay awake because, with every next dream, his heart broke. Especially when his mind decided to give his dreamed-up boy’s ice-blue irises the same expression of heartbreak he felt every time his hand passed through him. And last night, he broke, after almost three days of not sleeping, simply passing out – during some boring lecture from his twin about how shitty he looked lately. And, predictably, he landed straight back in that dream and to the initial, matching his brother’s worry in the pale eyes. To his gorgeous ‘fantasy’ trying to put his big hand against his cheek, a mere breath away, Kai so painfully wished he could feel its warmth. Leaning his head in his palm and weeping when he still couldn’t feel anything. When he woke up, he needed to be alone and away from anyone who could ask questions about his misery—at least until he could think of it without feeling like crying. It was pointless and stupid, and he had no idea why his brain decided to torment him like that, but he was so f*****g tired... No wonder he missed the scratch mark set at the base of the tree he chose to climb on. The border... and his perch, a branch hanging on the wrong side of it. He was staring numbly at the mossy rocks below him when he finally opened his eyes. Kai realized his mistake when a massive feline beast—insistently sniffing at the green moss—entered his vision. Kai froze, not daring to breathe, as his crimson eyes darted toward the base of the tree he was on, and then he swore in thought, seeing the telltale scratch mark. He paled when he looked back at the gigantic cat – a strange mix between a panther and a jaguar. Covered in a thick coat of ink-black fur, its long tail swiveled slowly as it circulated about the tree’s base. It was audibly – and intensely – sniffing. Holding his breath and clinging to the branch for dear life, Kai fought not to utter a sound, praying it wouldn’t raise its triangular head and look up. With eyes wide like saucers, he followed with his gaze the massive... animal? No, it was far, far too big... Oh, f**k! Understanding how badly he f****d up wasn’t any comfort when the beast pointedly looked up. His eyes were caught in the snare of the sky-blue, wide, and vertically slit irises. Sweating profusely and beyond terrified, he squeaked embarrassingly loud when the big cat sat down on its hind legs, still staring at him. Its maw parted, uttering a human voice between far too many fangs... His already stuttering heartbeat lost the rhythm again at the sight. Three rows of extremely sharp, gleaming fangs were more than proof that it couldn’t be a normal animal. “You’re aware you passed the border, kid?” it said in a distinctively male voice that seemed amused. “I-I’m... s-sorry,” he stammered nervously, gawking at the feline as he swallowed around a lump in his throat. “I didn’t... m-mean to...” and because his fate just loved to f**k with him, when Kai tried to sit up, his hand slipped, and with a yelp, he tumbled down right on top of the shapeshifter! I’m so dead! He scrambled away from the ink-black beast and groaned loudly. He covered his face with his hands, praying for a fast, painless end. “That’s better,” he heard and blinked, then peered through his fingers at the giant feline. It was still sitting in the same place as if Kai hadn’t fallen squarely on its back. Seeing his shell-shocked expression, it bared its too-many fangs in something resembling a crooked grin. When it stretched its paw between them, he yelped with fright. Kai backed away instinctively... and the beast’s sky-blue eyes betrayed far too much amusement at his reaction. Taking deep, calming breaths, only after a moment, Kai realized what it was pointing to: in his mad scramble, he involuntarily – blessedly – landed behind the tree and the border. “Next time, take better care, kiddo,” it chuckled, stood up to all fours, and then calmly walked off with a slight wave of its long tail, disappearing between the thick foliage. Kai stared after it for a long moment with a wide-open mouth – even wider eyes – until he realized how lucky he was to breathe still. He scrambled to his feet, soon sprinting home. And though he probably shouldn’t, he was dying to wake up his twin and rub this encounter in Ravi’s face!