17. Tyler

"That is why you must return to Circeana," says Aethereos. "You must find them, and you must find the temple and finish the cycle."

I spread my arms wide open. "Great. We're ready. Zap us back."

The Great Phoenix stops beneath the cover of a tall and luscious pomegranate tree. Rain continues to roll down the glass wall close behind it.

"If I could, don't you think I would've done so already?" He examines one of the branches heavy with the bright red fruit. "I sacrificed much when I sent you and the others to Circeana. What little remains, I use to keep Umbrios's shadows out of this place. They will overcome me; it's only a matter of time now. Tyler, you must return yourself and Kalistratos to the world before that happens."

"Me? With all due respect, Mr. Aethereos… How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"The power is with you. You just need to learn how to access it."

"What happens if I can't?"

Aethereos plucks a pomegranate from the branch and splits the fruit in half with two hands. The dark red juice trickles down his hand, and he turns the halves over and shows them to me. I gasp. The seeds have become black worms, writhing through a spoiled core. And then another vision flashes into my mind—of a shadow washing over me, much like when I was transported back to Earth. I see Kalistratos, overcome by a tidal wave of darkness that coats his body like a terrible oil spill. He fights against it as it clings to him and tries to pull him into the ground. He shouts my name and reaches for me, struggling as the shadow moves up his neck to suffocate him.

The vision is gone. I'm back in the garden. The pomegranate is perfectly normal and healthy. Aethereos puts the two halves together and buries the fruit.

"Tyler?" Kalistratos says, touching my hand.

I look at him and shake my head, then hug him tightly. "What should we do?" I ask Aethereos.

He leads us out of the garden to a long flight of stairs, where Feather is waiting for us. It's our signal that our audience has come to an end.

"Use the remaining time we have to rest and to learn," the Great Phoenix says. "There is no better place to discover your phoenix powers than the house of Aethereos."

"Lord Aethereos," Kalistratos says. "I have questions I need to ask you."

He smiles, and for a moment, the regal beauty of his face gives way to a harsh weariness. It's like what I'd seen from Kalistratos when he'd used up his phoenix energy, except even more so.

"I know you do, Kalistratos," he replies. "There will be time for them, but not now."

Feather comes to us and gestures for us to go with him. "I will show you to your accommodations," he says.

Looking back, we see Aethereos slowly disappearing into the garden like a ghost, and I realize the extent the Great Phoenix's powers have been reduced. He's barely holding on to his existence here on Earth.

"It's only a matter of time now."

I have powers? What powers? How the hell am I supposed to figure out how to use them when I don't even know what they are?

Tick, tick, tick. I can feel the weight of my burden piling onto me like sand from an enormous hourglass.

"This must be what it's like to live like a god," Kalistratos says.

We're standing on the balcony overlooking our quarters. The place is similar to what we'd seen in the Great Phoenix's chamber—high columns, drapes of colorful fabric, an ocean of a nest made of soft fabrics, cushions and furs, surrounded by braziers with bright flames. To my surprise, there's also a normal kitchen. Kalistratos opens the fridge and is delighted to find the shelves full of Coke.

"I guess he has been looking out for us, after all," I say.

"Please, make yourself comfortable," Feather says.

"Are we stuck here?" I ask. "What if we want to leave?"

"If you wish to leave, you can, but I cannot protect you beyond this place. You're not a prisoner here."

"I just want to know one thing, Feather," Kalistratos says as he opens up a bottle of Coke. "Who are you, and who were those guys we walked in on with Lord Aethereos? I never got my answer."

Feather bows slightly. "I am a shard of Aethereos, as are the others. He created us from four of his feathers. We serve him, and we are here to serve you and help you with whatever we can."

"You're a part of the Great Phoenix?" I say.

"I am created and sustained by his power. What happens to him also happens to his shards. If you're wondering whether you are speaking directly to him when you speak to me, the answer is ‘in a way.' We are independent beings who share a mind with Aethereos."

"Jeez," I say. "So… we basically walked in on him masturbating, then? That's kind of weird."

Kalistratos snorts. "Tyler. That's Lord Aethereos you're talking about."

"What? It's true, isn't it? You phoenixes have a serious case of horny brain."

Before excusing himself, Feather gives us a simple and curious instruction to use the elevator if we require anything we can't find in our quarters. Then he gives us a final bow as the oak elevator doors close.

Kalistratos stares out the panoramic window at the sea of lights below peeking through the haze. The storm cloud has descended on the building, enveloping it in a relentless downpour. I can't help but think of Star Wars again—it's like we're in a spaceship with crippled shields moving through an asteroid field. All we have is the Great Phoenix's protection keeping those shadow monsters out—and our defenses are getting more compromised every minute. And I'm supposed to rest?

"Are you alright?" I ask Kalistratos.

He nods and slips his arm around my waist. "There's so much I didn't know."

"He did drop quite a bomb on us," I say. "I can barely wrap my head around everything he told us."

"We have to get back to Circeana," Kalistratos says. "We have to find those other omegas."

"Yeah, no shit. If they're even still alive. God, who knows what could've happened to them if they were dropped into the world at the same time I was."

"They're still alive," Kalistratos says. "They have to be, or else this Umbrios would not be so determined to get to us."

"Did you know that the Great Phoenix had a brother?" I ask.

"I knew nothing," he replies distantly. "I feel like I've been told a terrible truth. The fate of my clan is on our shoulders. I'm sorry that you've been dragged into this, Tyler."

I give him my best reassuring smile. "Dragged? Remember what he said—I've always been chosen, and you've always been my guardian. Maybe my puny mortal brain isn't processing this right, but doesn't that mean we've gone through this together before?"

"I don't know. I'm no more capable of understanding the workings of the gods than you are."

"It's been nonstop impending doom and destruction since I was pulled into your world. I've given up counting the number of times I've nearly been killed. But it's comforting to know I have you with me. That I've always had you with me. Maybe I can do this. Maybe I can get us back home."

He smiles back and takes my hand. "So, you must have an idea?"

"I don't have a clue, Kalistratos," I say, and we share a laugh.

"We'll figure it out," he says. "Together."

The storm worsens the following morning. Thunder shakes the building, and the clouds completely block out the sun. The rain hasn't stopped, and I can only imagine how things are on the ground. The city must be flooding; it can't keep up with this kind of weather for this long.

Tick, tick, tick.

More sand piling on my shoulders.

"He said to use the elevator if there's anything we need, right?" I say. "What if we don't know what we need?"

We stare at the glowing wood grain patterns of the most beautiful elevator doors I've ever seen. Kalistratos folds his arms across his chest.

"Then I suppose we need to talk to Lord Aethereos."

"I hope the guy is decent this time," I say, and hit the button.

A moment later the doors open, and we step inside the empty elevator with featureless white walls. The doors slide closed, and the car immediately begins to move.

"Tyler, when Lord Aethereos opened the pomegranate, what did you see?" Kalistratos asks me.

The painful vision flashes through my mind again.

"Nothing good," I tell him.

"What was it?"

"We lose everything. We lose each other."

His eyes search mine. He can probably see the weight I feel, the fear I'm trying to keep in check. I'm trying to be brave because my mate is a badass phoenix alpha and I don't want to be the weak one. But I am scared.

The elevator pings, and we turn back to the opening doors. We aren't prepared for what we see. Instead of the Great Phoenix's chambers, we're standing in what appears to be the inside of a dark cave, lit by a single flickering lamp sitting on a boulder.

"What the hell?" I say. "Is this real?"

"It can't be real," Kalistratos says, stepping out of the elevator. "I… I think I know this place."

"Seriously? How?"

He walks around the small chamber and nudges a stone with his foot. I realize there is a small ring of them sitting on the cave's sandy floor. The elevator doors stand freely like a monolith in the dim light. I see nothing that indicates this is just a skillful recreation of a cave inside a room, like some theme park attraction. It smells like we're in a cave.

"By the gods, I'd lost this memory until now," Kalistratos says. "I remember being taken to a cave just like this by my father when I was a fledgling. He sat me in a stone circle like this in complete darkness, and I had to find the light. My light. It's how I discovered my powers when I came of age."

This was not what I'd expected when Feather said the elevator would give us what we needed.

"There's just one problem," I say. "I'm not a phoenix. That's what's tripping me up about this whole thing. How can I have any powers when I'm just a normal human?"

"You weren't an omega before," says Kalistratos. "But you got pregnant."

"Yeah, I never got to ask Aethereos about that…"

"Also, you were able to feel that Airos was a phoenix," he reminds me. "That isn't something a normal human can do."

He's got a point. But then, why wouldn't I feel it inside of myself? Wouldn't I know?

But maybe I have felt it. What if the strange blooms of warmth I imagined were coming from the phoenix chicken figurine were actually coming from within me? Maybe. But I have no idea what it means or how to access it.

"Alright," I say. "Well, we must be here for a reason."

"It's a rite of passage," Kalistratos says excitedly, like he's remembering words he was told a long time ago. "The circle of stones represents both a birth nest and the never-ending flow of time. The phoenix cycle of rebirth."

"Okay, so… I just sit in this circle?"

I sit cross-legged on the ground.

"Yeah," Kalistratos says. "Exactly like that, and…"

He extinguishes the single flame, plunging the cave into complete darkness. I fight to subdue a panicked reflex but still find myself reaching to my hip for a flashlight that isn't there.

We're still inside the building, I remind myself. We're still under his protection here.

As my ears adjust to the silence of the cave, I hear Kalistratos breathing somewhere in front of me. My heart thuds noisily. A moment passes.

"Uh… So… Now what?" I say.

I can picture Kalistratos's blank stare from the silent reaction.

"I…don't know," he says.

"Oh, great."

"It was a long, long time ago. I just remember that I was eventually able to summon a flame in the palm of my hand. After that, everything else came naturally, like running after learning to walk."

"Alright. Then tell me how you use your phoenix powers now. How do you access them?"

There's a brief silence as he thinks.

"It's like opening a cage deep inside of me, in my soul, and allowing the phoenix there to come forth and take over my physical body."

"Oh-kay…Open a cage."

I sigh. It's like he's handed me instructions to build a piece of IKEA furniture that's missing the first twenty steps and the little tool I need to even get started.

"Try it," he says.

"Yeah, okay."

I sit there with my eyes closed, even though it's completely black inside the cave, and try to think about the cages inside me.

I remember the time when I was sixteen, out on a camping trip with my dad and Uncle Carl. I remember sitting around the campfire, nervous as all hell about the thing I was planning on finally getting off my chest. I can see Dad's face as I tell him my truth, and how disappointed he looks. I hear him shouting at me, his refusal to see me for who I am. I remember Uncle Carl trying to calm Dad down, and how he later comes and takes me aside and reassures me that I've got nothing to be ashamed of, that I'm gonna be just fine.

God rest Uncle Carl's soul. Those few words gave me the courage to leave my parents behind once I turned eighteen and step into my own world where I could be whoever and whatever the fuck I wanted to be.

Then there's the cage of my life here on Earth. My go-nowhere job. No ambitions, no real friends to speak of. Just Jeff. Our relationship was a cage I didn't even know I'd put myself into until I met Kalistratos. I hadn't believed I deserved better. I'd always felt like the life I had was the best I was ever going to get. I hadn't realized it, but I was still the way my parents had treated me–like I wasn't worth anything.

"Kalistratos," I say. "Where are you?"

"Right here," he replies, his voice drifting from in front of me. "What's wrong?"

I reach out and grab at the air. "I need some motivation, and I have an idea."

I grope blindly and make contact with his something or other. What is that? Oh, his shoulder. I move my hand slightly, tracing along the pathway of his collarbone, then leap down to his chest. His hand clasps my wrist.

"What's your idea?" he asks.

I reach forward with my other hand and collide with his abs, then lower my grasp downward past the belt holding the light fabric of his chiton around his waist and take a handful of his hefty bulge.

"Ah," he says.

The sand and gravel crunches loudly as Kalistratos moves into the ring of stones with me. His knees touch mine, and I feel his palm rest gently on my bicep. He explores my body, and his calloused fingers tickle my neck and caress my cheek.

I feel his cock stiffening beneath the fabric. I continue my exploration of his body with my other hand, forming a picture of him in my head with my fingertips. I've never done this before. It feels like I'm experiencing his body for the first time and it's making me hard as a fucking diamond. I flip back the lip of his chiton and his thick warm shaft knocks against the side of my wrist. I push against his erection, feeling the strength and tension of it against my skin. I slowly explore every ridge, building it up until I have a full, detailed image in my mind.

More. I want more.

"I want you in my mouth," I tell him.

Kalistratos rises to his feet, and I get on my knees. I hold onto his thighs and can feel the heat of him just inches from my face. I inhale deeply, filling my lungs with his scent. I can't get enough of it. I lean forward and rub his length with my cheek, moving forward until my nose pushes into the tangle of his pubes. I inhale again, gripping him as I kiss his base and lick the soft underside of his shaft up to the sensitive crease of the tip. His flavor melts vividly across my tongue, and I slowly draw my lips around him and savor the experience of his cock.

He fills my mouth, and I swallow him hungrily, pushing forward and inching him down my throat until my lips meet the hilt. Warm saliva drips down my chin, and when I draw back, I stroke him with both fists, coating his full length with it. He groans approvingly, and I feel his fingers work into my hair, urging me back onto him. The map of his cock is getting more and more detailed as I experience his shape with my tongue and my lips. I then clutch his thighs, feeling the powerful curves of his muscles that twist like thick cables to his finely chiseled ass. My man is divine. His body is heaven.

He pulls out of my mouth and sits in front of me, tugging me onto his lap. I feel his hot breath against my neck and his hands on my waist, slowly caressing me. His fingers slip beneath the chiton and play across my back. He kisses me, and I press my tongue against his as he tastes my lips. His erection sits between us like a pillar. I feel it against mine, and I move my body so that they ride together.

"Gods," he growls. "You're torturing me, Tyler. I need to be inside of you."

I take his hand and guide his fingers to my lips. I kiss his fingertips, then swirl my tongue around them, sucking them into my mouth and showing him exactly what I did to his cock. When they're nice and wet, I hold his wrist and move his hand between my legs. I feel him teasing around my asshole, lubricating it with the thick saliva I left dripping from his fingers. I relax for him. He pushes inside with one tip, then two. I gasp quietly as he slips in deeper, and soon his palm is cupping my balls. He massages me, curling his strong fingers forward against my prostate. My cock tightens and throbs in response to his touch, and little quivers of pleasure surge through my length. I want those fingers to be his cock. I've never had sex without lube before, but that's the last thing I'm concerned about right now.

I take his cock in my hand and move off of his fingers, and position myself above him. I swipe my palm across his cockhead, spreading the dewy bead of his warm precome down his length. There's a lot of it, evidence of how eager he is for my body. With a hand anchored around the back of his neck, I slowly lower myself onto him. His tip presses against my tight hole, and there's a jolt of pain as I feel it breach me—but it's nothing I've not dealt with before. His precome is surprisingly thick, and I have no problem taking the rest of him inside of me.

"You're filling me up," I moan. "It feels so good."

He's all the way inside. I feel his fullness pulsing deep within me like a perfectly fitted puzzle piece, and I take a moment to savor the intensity of this experience, of feeling him with all my senses dialed up to eleven. Kalistratos squeezes his arms around me and presses his face against my chest, right beside the pendant hanging around my neck. The heat of his breath filters through the chiton and spreads across my chest. I move slowly, withdrawing just to the base of his head, savoring the way his ridges feel as they pull out of me.

"Dammit, Tyler," he murmurs.

"You want to fuck me hard?" I whisper.

"You know that I do."

"Then fuck me hard," I say.

This is how a phoenix replenishes his power. Maybe this is how I'll find mine.

A surprised and delighted cry bursts from my lips as he bucks his hips and thrusts back into me. I clutch onto him tight, balling up a handful of his collar as I bounce with his movements. The way his cock feels inside of me is like nothing else. The fullness, the heat, the way he pulses and twitches against my prostate—all of it drives me absolutely crazy.

He surges into me again and again as I clasp around him, fighting his retreat with all of my might. His labored moan echoes through the darkness along with the dull cracks of skin against skin. I'm riding him with everything I have, holding nothing back. I can hear my own guttural groans reflecting back at me from the cave walls, my unabashed cries of pleasure from my pent-up need crossing over with the wild, almost feral desperation to keep the vision I'd had from ever coming to pass. I never want us to be separated again. I can't lose him. I refuse.

"Gods, Tyler," he moans. "I want to see what you're doing. That feels incredible…"

"Don't bring back the light," I breathe. "Not yet."

I wrap my arms around his neck, squeezing myself against him. I feel him tug his chiton up so that my cock can press against his bare abs, wet with sweat. I rock my hips with his thrusts, gliding my length up and down the rippling dunes of his muscles. I'm getting close, but I'm holding on for him. He pushes his mouth to my neck, raking me with his teeth. I feel his heat building inside of me.

Please, please,please.

I'm searching, praying, willing whatever power might be inside of me to rise to the surface now, to reveal itself.

I can't hold it back. I cry out, and Kalistratos pushes harder, his fingers clawing so tightly into my waist that they might leave me with bruises. Then his breath releases and I feel his cock flex inside of me. I let it all go just as he does—my cock tightens and a tidal wave of pleasure rocks through, ringing my ears. My cock throbs again and again, draining my balls onto both of our abs, and I feel him emptying his load inside of me. The sudden burst of warmth is so comforting. We slump into each other's arms and float in the darkness, surrounded by nothing but our panting breaths.

"Anything?" Kalistratos asks.

I was hoping for a touch of the mysterious heat I thought had appeared at times before. Some hint that there might really be power lying dormant within me. I clasp my hand around the pendant, but even it offers me no reassurance. It's cool to the touch. Whatever I'd felt from it before…it wasn't there now.

What was I missing?