‹ Prequel: Tenebrism
Status: WIP
Chiaroscuro
Twenty, maybe thirty, minutes went by. I’d seen a burly guy walk his two tiny fluffy dogs from one end of the street to the other, noticed the mail truck head into the complex and back out again, watched a woman herd two little girls on tricycles around in their driveway for a while. Normal people with normal lives. Was I ever gonna get that back, or did I even want that back?
Even if Earth was safe and Ahieel’d been the only clarbach here and there wasn’t gonna be anything to worry about, picking up my life where I’d left off would mean spending the rest of it knowing aliens actually existed, but having no one to talk to about it. That there were other cultures on other planets—whether they were from another galaxy or dimension or however it actually worked. Oh yeah, and forgetting about the part where I basically had magic fucking powers. I didn’t know if I could actually handle that, just dropping all of this and forgetting it, going back to regular things like college degrees, figuring out a career, paying taxes, and goddamn calculus classes.
One thing was for sure, I’d felt more awake and alive in these past two weeks than I ever had, and that wasn’t just because I kept ending up in dangerous situations that kept me fueled with adrenaline. That definitely wasn’t my favorite part. Sure, Keyd and Rysa were weird and unusual and intense, but they were also exciting and amazing people that I cared about, and I didn’t want to let them go. I didn’t want to let any of this go.
After a final confrontation that left Alan with some interesting changes to his abilities, it appears as though Ahieel is no longer an immediate threat to Alan and his new alien friends. Keyd and Rysa focus on getting in contact with their own army, which they assume they have been absent from for several months. There's a chance that Earth itself may be a target for invasion by the clarbach, and Alan has promised to help the oenclar out out in any way that he can, even if that includes traveling to another world. As the situation begins to rapidly unfold and become far bigger in scope than Alan ever imagined, he finds himself unable to uninvolve himself despite the dangers, and despite the important secrets that have been hidden from him about both Rysa and Keyd.
At the same time, Alan and Keyd are beginning to slowly feel out how to be with each other, and all the difficulties that it will mean for both of them. With attention constantly on them both from an intolerant society and a person from Keyd's past complicating things between them, Alan is forced to make some pivotal choices about both his relationship and his entire life.
[contains m/m]
Even if Earth was safe and Ahieel’d been the only clarbach here and there wasn’t gonna be anything to worry about, picking up my life where I’d left off would mean spending the rest of it knowing aliens actually existed, but having no one to talk to about it. That there were other cultures on other planets—whether they were from another galaxy or dimension or however it actually worked. Oh yeah, and forgetting about the part where I basically had magic fucking powers. I didn’t know if I could actually handle that, just dropping all of this and forgetting it, going back to regular things like college degrees, figuring out a career, paying taxes, and goddamn calculus classes.
One thing was for sure, I’d felt more awake and alive in these past two weeks than I ever had, and that wasn’t just because I kept ending up in dangerous situations that kept me fueled with adrenaline. That definitely wasn’t my favorite part. Sure, Keyd and Rysa were weird and unusual and intense, but they were also exciting and amazing people that I cared about, and I didn’t want to let them go. I didn’t want to let any of this go.
After a final confrontation that left Alan with some interesting changes to his abilities, it appears as though Ahieel is no longer an immediate threat to Alan and his new alien friends. Keyd and Rysa focus on getting in contact with their own army, which they assume they have been absent from for several months. There's a chance that Earth itself may be a target for invasion by the clarbach, and Alan has promised to help the oenclar out out in any way that he can, even if that includes traveling to another world. As the situation begins to rapidly unfold and become far bigger in scope than Alan ever imagined, he finds himself unable to uninvolve himself despite the dangers, and despite the important secrets that have been hidden from him about both Rysa and Keyd.
At the same time, Alan and Keyd are beginning to slowly feel out how to be with each other, and all the difficulties that it will mean for both of them. With attention constantly on them both from an intolerant society and a person from Keyd's past complicating things between them, Alan is forced to make some pivotal choices about both his relationship and his entire life.
[contains m/m]