Morte et Dabo

Dunixi chuckled as I paced my room. What was I going to tell Valentina? Dunixi stood to his feet, grabbed my arms, and forced me to stare up into his eyes. I hate it when he does that. “How about you let me talk to your sister? I’m sure she’ll believe me.” All I could do was nod. We walked into the living room, where Valentina was and we joined her on the couch.

“Oh Korbin, you are here. Who’s your friend?” She asked, with a smile.

“He’s…um...”

“I’m his boyfriend.” My jaw dropped. Boyfriend? She would never believe that.

“I knew it.” She laughed. I wanted to fall on my face. Did she really believe that? “Since Korbin was little, I always thought he had an attraction to guys.”

“Well, then I guess you were right. Oh, forgive my manners, my name is Dunixi.”

“Valentina. Your name is not of Elvin origin, is it?” She asked with a curious look. I bit my lip, please Iris, don’t let Dunixi say something stupid.

“That you are right about. My father was obsessed with the language of Iris, which would be the language Daemons speak. He wanted me, his first born, to be named in Daemon. So he chose ‘Dunixi’ which meant ‘God of Wine’. Though, I have no idea what became of my family after the creation of Soteria.”

I caught myself listening to his story. I doubt it was real, but I felt as if somehow I was closer to him. Valentina smiled, “That’s amazing. Now, how did you and Korbin meet?”

“We ran into each other at the Iris statue. When he heard me sing the Iris lullaby, he practically begged me to take him.” Dunixi joked and laughed with my sister. I sighed and closed my eyes, laying my cheek against the palm of my hand. Then, he grabbed my chin and pulled my face to his. Our lips touched, and at first, I liked it. I pulled him closer, and then I smacked him. Hard too. Valentina stared at us wide eyed and Dunixi looked at me, a red mark formed on his cheek. I said the first thing I could think of.

“First you tell my sister a shitty story of how we met and then expect to get a free kiss? You offend me.” I winked. Although I now was stuck playing this game with him, it could actually be very fun.

Dunixi laughed and pulled me in his lap and Valentina smiled. "Well boys, I hope you're hungry. I'm making beef stew for dinner." I jumped in excitement, her stew was my favorite. We all pitched in to get dinner ready; I cut up some meat and boiled water, Dunixi put together some seasonings, and Valentina did the rest. After we finished eating everyone went to bed, Dunixi laid beside me.

"Why would you say we're a couple?"

"She believed it. Besides, I know you want my body." Dunixi winked and pulled me to his chest. I rolled my eyes and allowed him to cuddle as sleep slowly took over.

...

When morning came, Dunixi was gone from my room and Valentina went off to work with Lebbaeus. I stretched and began searching for my Agonist friend. I went out to my workplace in the backyard and saw Dunixi looking at some of my designs and sketches. "You're an amazing artist. And such great ideas." He spoke softly. I noticed he wasn't wearing his chained jacket, and there were strange symbols on his body. They looked as if they were tattoos. "These marks claim me as an Agonist. They may look familiar to you, for some of the markings are of Iris." He looked at me over his shoulder and stared with sad eyes. He turned to face me and markings covered his chest as well, but they looked different. "The Darcwins began creating their own language, and use it to curse humans."

"How did you-"

"Become one?" He laughed, but sadness was in that laughter. He stared at the ground and his hands rose to his pale chest. "My mother and father were doing all they could to find shelter for me and my younger sister. My sister was sick, you see. We lived in a town you may not know, but it was beyond the Forest of Thie. My hometown belonged to the Darcwins around that time, and when I reached the age of seventeen, they beat me until I surrendered. Heh, even now I think of myself as that weak punk being bashed around." He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. I grabbed his arm, trying to tell him to stop, but he continued. "They turned me into an Agonist and forced me to kill my family. A year later, they told me and the other Agonists to raid Galian and take control of it. Then it became a place where Agonists do nothing but fight each other. I was sick of it. That's when you showed up."

I looked down and let go of his arm. So last night's story was true. I thought he was an orphan, and became an Agonist because he hated the Daemons and wanted to destroy Soteria. Guess I was wrong. I shook my head and looked at him. "Tell me about Agonists. I heard that they can cast magic and they have amazing strength. Then again, I also heard that they didn't have human appearance, either."

He sat down and stretched out his arms and smirked. "Well, everything you read or heard is not the real thing. Think of Agonists as a half child to Darcwins. Darcwins are Daemons that can no longer shift to human form, correct? Agonists however, keep their human identity, but gain powers of a Darcwin. Problem, we cannot control the power given to us. We are, incomplete. Failures. As for the power and strength, Agonists can control only one element of magic while Darcwins and Daemons can use many."

"What's your element of choice?" I asked. I wanted to know everything. If I can get information from Dunixi, then I will be well prepared for protecting Elenhime and protecting myself on Soteria.

He smiled and stretched out his hand, water formed from his hand and he moved it around the room. "Water. It happens to be my favorite."

"Why?"

His eyes had that crazy look again and I felt some type of tightening in my body. "Did you know that blood contains about ninety-two percent of water? It makes my fights easy and mostly without effort, no Agonist is as smart as I. No, they are nothing more but empty shells walking around waiting for someone to end their life. I am different. I can still feel the human in me, although it is said not to be possible. I have emotions of a human and I can control my power with no problem. I am one gifted Agonist." After that, the tightening disappeared and I coughed up some blood.

“B-but the Daemons taught in books and other teachings that blood was identified through air, because blood was known as hot and wet, unlike water, which was taught to be cold and wet. The air is the same as blood, hot and wet, according to the teachings.”

“Then you should include how water occupies a space between both air and earth.” He lifted his hand and formed water again, this time, allowing it to fall from his hands. “See how water simply falls from one’s hand? In the Daemon teachings of elements, they explain that not only can water be cold and wet, but can take up form of blood, which is as air.” I was amazed with how smart he was. He read all the books I did, learned everything I learned. Though we were different and from different places, we were the same. I felt complete with Dunixi.

Then, a rush of cold went through me. I rubbed my bare arms and felt my eyes getting heavy. Dunixi wrapped me in his jacket and picked me up. We were back in my room and he placed my head against his chest. He was really warm and I felt freezing cold. I cuddled closer, trying to make sense of what was going on.

He kissed my head and told me to sleep. His voice was soft and gentle; I wanted to know what he was thinking. Why he was holding me and caring about me. I fell asleep against him and throughout my sleep I could still feel him; his fingers softly tracing circles on my arm and his warm breath beating against my neck. It was relaxing and it felt nice to have someone care about me and stay by me. Why did a part of me want Dunixi?

I woke up close to an hour later and he was peacefully sleeping on his back. His face was soft and was angel-like and his hair covered his eyes. Then my eyes stared at his pale lips, a part of me wanted to taste them. Why? Maybe I needed to know for sure, if what I was feeling was real. I gently moved closer to him and leaned in close, my lips about an inch away.

“Morning princess,” I heard his voice and shot up, my face burning red. His gorgeous eyes stared at me and I bit my lip, trying to think of a way to explain myself.

Before I could open my mouth to say my excuse, he pressed two fingers on my lips, and then replaced those fingers with his soft lips. I was drawn to his kiss, to this feeling. I had feelings for Dunixi, feelings for an Agonist. Feelings for someone I barely knew. After a while, he bit my lip softly, and I moaned. We pulled away for a minute, and just stayed still as our foreheads touched. “I know you feel it.” He spoke quietly, “I feel it to. I…I am attracted to you.” He looked at me with his eyes, and I avoided them. Wasn’t this wrong? If it is, why does it feel right? I was confused. I rolled off of him and turned my back to him; he sighed behind me and left the room. I shut my eyes and forced myself to sleep; I didn’t want to think of him. What was this feeling? Why was it here? Why…