Berserkr (boyxboy)

Chapter 2: Alphas Suck

The sun was an early riser, never late in its conquest to set the lands alight with its momentous display of power. But just beyond the shore, in a quaint barn not far from the edge of the cliffs, was someone who arose right along with the ephemeral glow of the early morning horizon.

"Ahren, be kind to your sister, now. There is more than enough breakfast to go around, you know that I would never leave you hungry." A gentle voice sounded, hands undeniably tender yet simultaneously agile as they gripped the stem of a pitchfork.

The body connected to those hands was that of an Omega, one who stabbed relentlessly at the fresh bale of hay in an attempt to deconstruct it just like he did with every sunrise; rain, storm, or shine.

Ahren gave a frustrated grunt followed by a sharp whinny of disapproval and the Omega immediately tutted, freeing his fingers from the farm tool that promptly dropped into the pile of hay to instead focusing pale eyes and loving hands on the muzzle of his tall friend.

Ahren was a good stallion, a strong and powerful horse that was easily worth his own weight in gold. The Omega had been raised right alongside the impressive beast, ever since he stumbled upon this quiet village so many years ago at the ripe age of eight harvest cycles, and was lucky enough to secure employment as a stable boy.

It was a tough job full of back-breaking heavy lifting that quickly rendered the young Omega's delicate joints dust. It paid nothing more than one meal a day and shelter from the elements while he slept, but it was necessary.

He was safe here. He could hide away here. And anything... Everything was better than before.

And besides, his manageress – Arne – was nice enough, a widowed shopkeeper whose late husband was the former Jarl, or leader, of the village he now called home.

"Oh, do not give me that look! You know that I adore you!" The Omega praised with a smile bright enough to blind a sighted man. As he lovingly scratched at Ahren's velvety muzzle, the sight of his own, multicolored fingers rendered a reminder of how he ended up here in the first place.

See, this Omega led nothing short of a... unique life. Born into a family with a loving mother and father, that love quickly turned sour as he began to grow and his skin color began to change right along with the rest of him.

Cursed. Damned. Demon... The Omega had heard it all throughout the earliest years of his existence, confusion about why this was happening to him steadily surmounting as his parents sought healers far and wide to take heed of his apparent ailment.

He remembered peering into the lake by his family home, touching his face with soft fingertips as he wondered why they thought that the intermittent patches of paler pigment that gradually spread across his toffee-colored skin were something that could be so terrible.

But unfortunately, when certain falsehoods are repeated enough, anyone will start to believe them.

"Begone, demon. With Odin as our witness, your sins will not taint us here."

He would never forget the day when one too many healers consigned his fate and his parent's love for him ran out. The rain had been so cold that night as it pelted down on his back, strands of black and white curls sticking to his forehead like plaster and obscuring the very last view of his parents that he would ever glimpse before they slammed the door and cast him out for good.

He had been much too stunned, much too confused and perplexed to cry that day. Instead, the eight-year-old had simply stood there, rooted in the spot as he clung to the idea that maybe this was all some heinous, treacherous trick. But only when the sun nudged the moon from the sky and dusk turned to dawn did tiny seedlings of the truth finally seep into the cracks of his gentle heart.