Only a True King

Chapter 4

“Sorry.” Leon kept repeating the word to himself as he cut. He wasn’t sure who he was saying it to, the poor dead man in front of him, the smith who made his sword who was probably cursing him from the afterlife, or the blade itself which he was debasing with the removal of yet another curse from one of the Dung Eater’s victims. This would be the fifth one he’d found, sixth if he counted the one already inside of him. That felt like the right amount. Maybe. Then again he might’ve gone just as fucking crazy as the Dung Eater. Maybe the glintstone that grew around his soul had finally reached his brain. He finally pulled the curse free and covered the corpse as respectfully as he could. Once again he was relying on the dead. He didn’t feel very good about it, but these poor souls had no autonomy to take. That was the fault of another corpse though, not him.

Leon had killed the Dung Eater before he’d met Floh. He didn’t normally kill in cold blood like that, but the implication that they were one in the same had enraged him. Of course they weren’t, he knew they weren’t. His affection for monstrosity hadn’t driven him to become a killer. Even in school he’d been lapse in his study of combat, choosing instead to study how different living things were transformed through contact with glintstone. But yet he’d still felt a rush of mad joy when the Dung Eater’s life faded from his eyes. Maybe it was the days of torture the maniac had put him through before he finally died, maybe it was something darker, he didn’t know. He did know however, that he hated having to rely on the man’s ghost. However, no matter how much he hated it, he wasn’t above it. The Dung Eater was a tool. A tool that was rusty and dull, prone to biting into his wielder, but he was a tool nonetheless.

Leon took a look at the rest of them lined up in his pack. Initially he’d thought it better to just get it over with all at once. Now looking at them, he wasn’t so sure. He steeled himself. It was far too late to back out now. It would be even more disrespectful to the dead if he’d desecrated their bodies for nothing. Now he would have to find a safe place where he could both summon Floh and deal with all of those. Stars and comets one of those was the size of an apple! He quickly closed his pack. It was probably best not to look at them until he actually had to put them in. He might lose his nerve.

That wasn’t to say he wasn’t curious. With the first one, he’d guessed he would be afflicted, no that was the wrong word for his feelings on what he’d become. He’d guessed he would be blessed with the omen curse, but he hadn’t quite realized how much else would change. There wasn’t a great deal of study being done on omens at Raya Lucaria. Their identity as a people was too bogged down in theocratic politics for any mage to consider their study. As a result, even after breaking into the restricted areas of the academy library, he was unable to discover any treatises written on their anatomy or biology. It was likely Hirnant’s examination of Leon was the only, even semi-formal, documentation of omen anatomy that had taken place on academy grounds and he was definitely not an ideal subject for general anatomical study. So of course, every new thing he discovered was a complete surprise and he was never entirely sure whether it was an omen thing or a glintstone exposure thing. He’d spoken to other omens about his situation, he found many of them were willing to share information in exchange for food, medical supplies, or his own information, but given the gulf of distance between their circumstances, it was far more difficult than he’d expected to establish a control group. For example his fur was softer and less patchy than most other omens he’d met, was that due to glintstone or proper nutrition? He wasn’t as infection prone, was that because his magic protected him from disease or because he wasn’t forced to enter battlefields with open wounds? It was beginning to piss him off. Not just because he wasn’t able to establish a good control group, but because an entire group of people had been so oppressed and understudied for so long, it was difficult to tell what was an ordinary physical characteristic and what was a result of poverty and oppression. That was getting added to the list of things to do: a) abolish puppetry, b) legal rights for Albinaurics, c) legal rights for omenkind.

He had at least discovered a few things that were useful. For example, it was apparently not uncommon for omens to be born with two functioning sets of genitalia. The majority of them weren’t but there was still a sizable minority that were. Some of them identified as men or women but it was more common for them to identify as neither or both interchangeably. Although Leon found the concept fascinating from an ethnographic standpoint, he still found that he more closely identified with masculinity than anything else. That in and of itself was a welcome revelation. He’d never thought to interrogate his feelings regarding his own gender before, but now that he had been forced to, he found that he’d become more confident and secure in his own masculinity. It was strange, after all those years of self doubt, all it had taken for him to become confident in his manhood was for him to grow a cunt.

He was more than open to experiencing further changes, especially if it gave him a better understanding of himself. Of course there was also the more important reason he’d chosen to do this. As the tips of his finger bones had lengthened and turned into claws, Leon had seen something just on the edges of his vision. He barely remembered what it was but something deep in his soul told him that it was important. He needed to see it more fully. Even if it meant he had to shove a lump of horns the size of an apple up his ass. He shivered. It was still probably best not to think too hard about that one.

Leon eventually settled on Fort Haight. It was relatively private, Floh could join him almost indefinitely, and even if they were interrupted, most of the soldiers and Demi-humans in the area wouldn’t be terribly difficult to dispatch. Floh took a look at the curses he’d gathered.

“You sure you still want to do these all at once? I can’t imagine it’ll feel too good.”

“If I don’t I’m worried I’ll lose my nerve.”

“Fuck, alright. That’s as good a reason as any. Do you need me to do anything?”

“If you could help me relax before I have to put them in, I’d appreciate it.”

“I can loosen you up alright.” Floh tongued over Leon’s tight asshole.

They took their time working Leon open. Floh licked while the mage pulled himself open with his fingers. Once Leon decided he was ready, he handed the gathered curses to Floh.

“Do it as fast as you can alright?” Floh didn’t say anything, but he held Leon’s hand tight in both of his and squeezed. The knight picked up two at once, holding them both in one hand and shoved his hand up the mage’s ass. He wasted no time scooping up the second two with his other hand and quickly putting them inside the moment he removed his hand. As he put in the final curse one of its horns caught on Leon’s rim and he screamed. The rest began to writhe, burrowing into him as Floh twisted it and finally worked it inside. The pain was becoming too much, Leon’s vision began to go red.

And out of the red bloomed a great tree. That tree’s name was life and all that was and would ever be hung from its branches. Inside its trunk a great crucible burned, heated by a yellow flame. The crucible held within it all life, all potential, all forms, melted into one. Life flowed like sap to the tree's branches and all creatures were born from its heavy bows.There was one who tended the tree, a giant, winged, horned, and tailed, both mother and father to all that sprouted from the branches. At their feet sat a child with white hair, a golden ax in his tiny hands. The mother and father of life looked upon him lifting their child onto their hip as they stood. They held out their hand to him. He opened his arms, trusting, accepting anything they wished to give him. They did not speak, but he heard a voice within his mind. “This I leave to thee. Bear it well, kin of my kin.”

When Leon woke he held a mending rune in his hands. Floh jumped up the second he realized Leon was awake.

“You spasmed a bunch of times while you were out. I thought you were dying and then that came out of you. Do you know what it does?” Leon’s body felt heavy, he was exhausted and sticky with sweat but still he glanced at the shining ring in his hand.

“All life shall be intermingled. That which was deemed anathema shall be sanctified once more.” He felt his eyes slipping shut again. He reached out and hugged Floh, who struggled against his grip, clearly unsatisfied with the cryptic answer. “Good night Floh.”

Leon was heavy and at this point fast asleep. There wasn’t really any easy way for Floh to get out of this. He stopped struggling. It was actually kind of comfortable like this and he hadn’t really had a good sleep in a while. He wiggled around to press into Leon’s chest. “Good night.”

His body still felt oddly heavy when Leon reawakened. He felt rested, In fact, he felt full of energy, but he still needed to exert more force than he was used to to stand. Floh had dissipated at some point during the night, but still Leon held that glistening rune within his hand.

He understood instinctually that it was both a gift that had been given to him, and his own creation. A product of enlightenment at the hands of a curse but also birthed from his own understanding of the deeper truth he’d been shown. It was a rune of restoration. If used to repair the broken pieces of the Elden Ring, it would restore the status of the crucible as the birthplace of life, those it had blessed, the omen and the misbegotten, would once again be sanctified. All forms of life would once again be intermingled, freely taking on aspects of each other. He held it close to himself. It was warm, glowing soft reddish gold. Leon knew what kind of lord he wished to become, a caretaker, a steward of life. The mage willed the rune back inside of himself. He knew he could call upon it when the time was right, as sure as he knew the sun would rise, as he knew the moon would wax and wane. It was a part of the universe, a law of nature locked in potentiality, but it was also part of him, something he understood as intimately as his own body.

As the sleep fully cleared from his mind, he began to realize how truly amazing he felt. So much energy flowed through him, it felt as if the very blood in his veins was alight with it. Remembering Morgott, he pressed a claw to his palm, allowing his blood to pool in his hand and fall to the ground. As he’d suspected, it burned as it fell to the ground, small red flames erupting from the droplets. He laughed in disbelief. The flame of life and creation ran through his veins like blood and it felt amazing! How could anyone ever choose to seal this away? He felt something brush softly against his back, and at the same time felt the sensation of touching something from a completely new limb. He tried moving it and it shifted, as naturally as if he was born with it. As he did he felt it brush up against yet another set of limbs. He looked over his shoulders, attempting to get a better look. He had a tail! It was covered in long, soft fur and crowned with sharp, crystal spines of glintsone. The tip twitched back and forth as he examined it. Further up, a pair of black feathered wings sprouted from his back. A sharp claw extended from the central joint of each. He flexed and they extended to their full wingspan. The air furled beneath his wings as he gave them a few experimental beats. His feet briefly left the ground and he smacked his head on the low ceiling. He coughed in surprise and felt heat force its way from deep inside his throat. A tongue of flame escaped his mouth as he hit the stone floor. As he sat on the floor in shock he decided it would probably be best to go outside before experimenting further.

Leon opened the door back out to the courtyard. The gathered Demi-humans looked up from their looting. Leon and the Demi-humans stared at each other for a moment, then one of the raiders stumbled back and the rest quickly scattered. He could certainly get used to that. As he ducked under the door frame and into the sunlight his wings caught the light suddenly shimmering blue, green, and purple. Leo sat on the steps of the fort shifting, his wings to reflect different colors. The sun warmed his fur pleasantly, making him feel like he was wrapped in a warm blanket. It was a feeling he wanted to share.

Leon took a deep breath. He knew Floh had been there while the curse took hold this time, but there was still a voice in his head that said the knight was only humoring him, that this would finally be the last straw and Floh would leave him. He would finally see how fucked up and perverse Leon really was and see sense. He knew it wasn’t true, that Floh still cared about him despite his oddities, that he’d sworn his life to him knowing exactly what kind of a deviant he was. A new, kinder, voice in his head gently chastised him for calling himself a deviant. He had seen what was once the order of the world and it was an order he had a place within. It was the world as it was now that was unnatural, not him.Yet, even as he was coming to better accept himself he knew he couldn’t expect Floh to do the same if that wasn’t what he wanted. Leon could simply never summon him again and he’d never have to find out, but then who would sit and enjoy the sunlight with him? He rang his summoning bell and prayed.

Watching Leon’s transformation had been deeply upsetting for Floh. He thought he was prepared, having seen his own body and the bodies of his comrades painfully changed by magic, but he was wrong. It was probably the time frame that did it. The process of creating a bloodhound knight was painful but it was also slow. The subject was given time to breath, their pain mostly mitigated to a dull ache. The seedbed curse, on the other hand, tore through Leon’s body like a wildfire, forcing him into a new shape in minutes and hours rather than months and years. It looked absolutely agonizing. Floh could see the bones and muscles writhing beneath his skin. Leon had seemed completely elsewhere, his eyes staring blankly into empty space as he quietly whimpered. All Floh had been able to think to do was hold his hand as he struggled through it. The last time he’d been alone, that was all Floh could think about. The last time Leon had suffered through this completely alone. Then when that rune had come out of him, and he truly screamed for the first time, Floh thought he was dying. But he’d survived it. Leon hadn’t been particularly coherent for the short amount of time he’d been awake and that worried him, but at least he was alive. He was also clearly together enough to attempt a summoning so that was hopefully a good sign.

Well, he wasn’t wearing any clothes. Floh didn’t know why he let that surprise him, the first time they’d fucked Leon had summoned him naked. This time, he sadly wasn’t on his hands and knees with one fist shoved up ass. Not to say that he wasn’t a pretty sight as he was. He sat on the steps of the fort, one knee pulled up to his chest, his cock flopping onto the opposite thigh. His massive wings were spread out behind him, dazzlingly colorful in the sunlight. The glintstone seams in his horns and the spines on his tail caught the light as well, throwing little rainbows of refracted light onto the walls of the fort and the ground. The tip of his tail twitched as he regarded Floh.

“Thank you for staying with me last night. I may not have been able to tell you, but I appreciated your company.” He stood up, stretching as he did, baring every inch of him. “I was hoping I could enjoy it again, now that I am fully present for it.” Fuck, Floh was willing to do much more than keep him company.

“You’re a real fucking tease you know that?”

“Really? In what way?” Leon sat down in the grass right next to Floh. He was radiating heat, it was almost like he was sitting next to a campfire.

“You’re buck naked and fucking sparkling.”

“Well I can’t help that, my clothes can’t exactly accommodate wings and a tail.”

“Have you figured out how to control those yet?” Leon wrapped his tail around the two of them.

“As if they were my arms and legs. That’s not all though.” Flames flickered behind the mage’s teeth. He looked upward and allowed it to escape his throat, fanning out up into the sky. “No dragon hearts needed.” He smiled, his fangs seeming just a little bit more predatory.

“I mean, aside from the fur and feathers, you’re not that far off from a dragon yourself.” Floh laughed.

“I ought to guard my heart carefully then,” Leon returned flirtatiously.

“Maybe I can help you with that.” Floh buried his face in the fur of the mage’s chest. He was so warm. It was like he held the sun within him.

“Aren’t knights supposed to slay dragons?”

“Not ones they’ve tamed.”

“Oh? So then I’m a tame dragon then?”

“Not yet, there’s still some fight left in you.”

“How exactly do you plan to take it out of me?”

“Do you have any rope?”

“Yes. Shall we take this inside?”

Getting Leon tied up had been a little more difficult than anticipated. Floh needed to negotiate three more limbs than he’d expected when he’d first asked Darriwil to give him some pointers. Luckily the other knight had given him some advice in the form of what he’d thought at the time a rather strange digression into the mechanics of restraining a partner’s tail. Blaidd didn’t even have a tail, he’d just done the due diligence. Leon’s wings were the most difficult. He’d had to dispense with the dragon tamer roleplay while he bound them down to ensure the mage was alright. Floh knew birds had hollow bones, he wasn’t sure if Leon’s wings did, but he didn’t want to accidentally break anything. When he finished the mage’s tail was bound to his back underneath his arms, his wings folded down and bound to his sides. His legs were folded up to his chest, ensuring his bound cock stood fully on display. Leon was already shivering from the attention, his cunt leaking and dick twitching against the ropes. Floh ignored both of them and started playing with his ass. He looked so pretty like this, all wrapped up for him, it would be a shame to let it end too soon.

“Please!”

“Please what?” Floh took out his finger, tracing the rim of Leon’s hole.

“More! I need more please!”

“More what? Use your words.” The knight began running his fingers through the mage’s feathers. As his hand passed through them they began to perk up, exposing the down beneath the smooth top layer. Floh looked at the mage out of the corner of his eye as he continued to stroke. “You like that don’t you?” He took one between his fingers and caressed down its length. Leon arched his back whining at the touch. His cock jumped, but nothing came out. Tears began to form at the corners of his eyes.

“Please,” he whined.

“Let you cum?” Floh laughed darkly, baring his fangs. He flipped Leon onto his knees, holding him up by his bound wrists. “I’m trying to teach you patience, monster. You’ll cum when I let you.” The mage’s wings puffed up even more and Floh could smell his arousal. The knight was starting to drool now.

He felt strange, Leon’s scent was beginning to cloud his mind before he knew it he had his teeth in the back of the mage’s neck. Leon cried out and he quickly let go. Fuck he’d lost control. He should be the one who was fucking tied up. God damn it.

“Again.” Floh was pulled out of his spiral of self loathing. “Please, do that again.” He bit down again and Leon shivered and moaned.

“Well, aren’t you eager to submit?” Floh lined his cock up to Leon’s entrance.

“Yes! I’m yours!”

“You know that would mean life in my service, monster. You’d be sworn to act as my companion and guardian.”

“I submit!” Floh began to thrust. He was already close. He hastily undid the knot binding the base of the mages cock, and brought a hand to his clit. The two of them collapsed into each other as they both came.

Floh released the back of Leon’s neck and began undoing his restraints. “Are you alright?” Floh gently licked the spot he’d bit. Leon rubbed his wrists.

“A bit stiff, but otherwise fine.”

“Sorry I bit you.” Floh hung his head sheepishly. “I lost control of myself for a moment, but it won’t happen again.”

“What do you mean it won’t happen again? You’ve been holding out on me.” Leon smiled.

“Even if you were into it, I shouldn’t have done it. I’m not an animal.”

“Is there any significance to the gesture I don’t know about?”

“I mean not as far as I know. It’s just something I want to do by instinct. I think it’s supposed to be so that I could get a better grip on you if I had paws instead of hands.”

“Then what’s the problem? You restrain yourself admirably when we fuck. If anything you could do with a little less of it.”

“I could’ve hurt you.”

“Could you?” The mage took a claw to the ropes still binding his legs, easily parting the fibers.

“You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

“I meant it earlier, when I said I would swear myself to you. Even though we were just fooling around, I would do it. I would swear myself to every part of you, both Floh the man and Floh the beast. I know what I’m asking for, I need it just as much as you do.” He ran a hand through his white hair. “Floh, look at me as if you didn’t know me. As if you didn’t know who I once was.”

Floh tried to put himself in the shoes of the man he’d once been. Young, fresh faced, journeying to fight as, what those in this country called, a knight errant. In front of him stood the most imposing monster he’d ever faced. Standing over seven feet tall, he dwarfed even his own oversized frame. Horns, veined with transparent crystal, erupted from his body and crowned his head. He was covered in thick gray fur, sleek and soft like a tiger’s. The long claws that slipped from his fingertips only furthered the comparison. His long tail twitched in a way he recognized. The cats his family had kept to kill mice on their estate did the same when they were about to pounce. His wings stretched almost as large as the creature himself and he radiated heat like a burning flame. He couldn’t figure out whether what he was looking at was a minor god or a demon. The Floh of the past, who hadn’t yet shed his name and taken up the one he held now, would have tightened his fists around his club and grit his teeth. His face would’ve contorted into a mad grimace. He did love a good fight. The mage spoke again, his voice pulling Floh out of his younger self’s head.

“Can the creature you see take it?”

“Yeah, I guess he can.” Floh let himself drop comfortably to all fours. He’d gotten in the habit of trying to stand on two legs as much as possible. He couldn’t maintain the position forever, his legs would start to get sore and his too-high-up ankles would start to click with the strain and then he’d have to drop back down again. It still hadn’t quite sunk in yet, that Leon liked his monstrousness. He still felt like he had to maintain the artifice of humanity, even if it was hard on his body. He now saw that was a little ridiculous, he’d never done that before they had started their relationship and Leon still wanted to fuck him then. The ridiculous fear had still lurked in the back of his head that Leon would eventually get over the novelty of him, but taking a step back, looking at Leon and trying to figure out whether his younger self would’ve shit himself or creamed his pants, he came to realize there was no novelty. He understood now why Darriwil had chosen this life for Blaidd. Knowing his partner was just like him was a comfort. Floh had become unaccustomed to comfort.

“I think I’m ready to finish this.” Leon looked off at the Erdtree in the distance. “I think it’s finally time.” Floh looked at Leon and he believed, as he always did, that he could do it.