The Shadow of Eudaimonia

Chapter 26: About Last Night

"By the way, Cal, can I ask you something?" Lazzi asked, his back turned. He was busily trying to gut out the wild boar he had caught. But his mind seemed to be elsewhere.

"Yes! Sure! What is it?" Cal's eyes glinted in enthusiasm. "You can ask me anything. This is a safe space. No awkwardness, no judgement. I swear."

Lazzi gave him a weird look and scratched the back of his head. "Um..is it okay if we don't train for today?"

"Huh?"

"I'm still feeling a bit tired. Maybe we could just have lessons on Bridging. The information could really help."

"Oh...yeah sure."

"You know what you can do when you Bridge with me, right?"

Calvin gulped and remembered once again the kiss. "Yeah, I can see future possibilities."

"How about when you Bridge with Vide?"

"Move into a different reality?" Calvin guessed.

Lazzi started a fire to cook the meat. "No, you need to Bridge with all three to do that. If you bridge with Ophelia, you can pull non-living object from different realities."

"What the fuck? Really? So, if I bridge with Vide right now, I can pull out a cruise ship and sail away from this island?"

"You really want to escape, aren't you?"

"No! I mean, why would I—of course we have to move out of here eventually, right? Face and defeat Ortus."

"Yeah, man, of course."

"How about if I bridge with Ortus?" Calvin asked, changing the topic.

"You can make chances of things from happening."

"Huh? Isn't that what I'm doing already?"

"But you are bound from things that can already happen. Like for example, today is a sunny day. No clouds at sight. You cannot wish for a hurricane to occur right now at this instant. But if you bridge with Ortus, you will bend reality itself to your liking and it will happen absolutely."

Calvin remembered the old Veross and how he used lightning to strike on Ortus. The mention of old Veross made something inside him click. He then began to weave an idea. It's crazy but he was sure it would work. "Laz, I have a question."

"I do too. Did you like our kiss?

Calvin's mouth went agape. He was speechless for a second. When he got his composure back, Lazzi had looked away, seemingly shy. For the first time since they got here, Calvin saw Lazzi looking anxious. "You didn't, do you?" he asked again, this time was turning red.

"Shit Laz!" Calvin giggled. "Fuck you!"

"What?"

Calvin disheveled his unkempt hair. "I thought you didn't like it! Fuck! That's why you wanted to talk about Bridging."

"No, I was just waiting for you to ask me about it."

"I was waiting too! You big idiot!"

They both laughed. Calvin saw that Lazzi was blushing. He was so red and cute that his heart almost burst in awe.

"So," Lazzi said between laughter. "Did you like it?"

"It was..." Calvin tried to find the best word to describe it. Good. Amazing. Incredible. Heavenly. "Perfect. It was perfect Laz."

Lazzi's eyes sparkled. Not the way it glows when they activate their Obelisk. It glowed with life and joy. He bit his lips in a desperate attempt to tame the wildest smile he ever had in his life. "Can we—"

"Do it again?" Ever so slightly, Calvin nodded his head but enough to make Lazzi scurry towards him. Cal held Lazzi's jaw and pulled him closer with both hands. Their lips reunited. Lazzi was clueless where to place his hands. He wanted to touch him everywhere all at the same time. But he finally settled on wrapping his arms around Calvin's back. Immediately, Calvin checked in every conceivable reality the probability that he will kiss him back. And just like he hoped, it was an absolute certainty that he will. And he did, and still Calvin felt the luckiest. Lazzi's kiss was like a rageful force but it also felt natural and deeply necessary. It's like a vicious storm, enough to make Calvin lay on his back and allow this unknown and foreign feeling wreak havoc. Lazzi removed his own shirt, his chest now pressed firmly on Calvin's. Their hearts were beating in vivace, echoing the beat of one other, creating a symphony that only they would hear.

By this time, Lazzi's wandering hands had found a route on Cal's body no one had travelled before. His mere touch prickled his skin like silk of ice gliding at the mercy of gravity, yet it was warm and brimming with uncertainty. Calvin nested his calloused fingers into the loops of Lazzi's brown hair and pulled it lightly. That gave him the opportunity to look at him for a second. His ocean like eyes were suddenly a pale blue mirror now. It was clear to Calvin what Lazzi wanted. Lazzi was begging him for more—more of him. In that instance, Calvin found it fascinating that just from a stare, he understood a language he had never spoken.

Lazzi planted kisses on his bare skin giving it more life than it used to. He then perked his head up and whispered "Do you—"

"Yes." Cal answered quickly in a huff of warm air, not wanting any second longer. Yes, he repeated on his head, do anything you want, I am yours.

***

Lazzi's head lay still on Calvin's bare chest. His finger was drawing tiny circles on Calvin's heaving body while his legs were wrapped around him, covering his waist. Both of them couldn't believe what they had just done.

"Fuck..." Calvin whispered and laughed softly.

"We didn't get to cook our food,"

"It's all your fault!"

"Wow!" Lazzi stood up, still completely naked, and skewered the wild boar he hunted earlier before placing it on the now dwindling fire. "Who asked for a second round?"

"Fuck you!"

"Oh, you want a third r—?"

Cal threw Laz's short at him. His face is flushed red. "Cheeky bastard! Put that on." Lazzi followed and then went back to Calvin's side. Laz gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"What was your question by the way?"

"Huh?"

"You said you have a question before we kissed and..." Lazzi proudly grinned.

"I hate that smile! It's like you know you're very attractive and you're weaponizing it against me."

"What? This?" his smile grew even brighter. Even the glimmer in Lazzi's eyes made Calvin feel he had a glimpse of heaven. "I have no idea what you're talking about?"

Cal rolled his eyes and sighed. "You want me to die Laz? You can kill me with that cute face."

Lazzi chuckled and pinched Cal's face. "What's your question Caly? Don't let me distract you."

Calvin shoved Lazzi's hands away. "I had an idea. But it relies on one thing. Can I see past realities?"

"What?"

"You said when we Bridge, I can see future possibilities. Can I perhaps see the past possibilities?"

"I'm not sure. Why do you want to do that?"

"Remember the old Veross planned all of this? He promised that this is the only way to defeat Ortus. I want to ask him how."

"Can't you check it yourself? I mean, if we bridge, you see future possibilities on how we can kill Ortus."

"That's the thing. I haven't checked it yet but I'm certainly sure that there are thousands of ways we can kill Ortus and retrieve their Obelisk. But it bothers me that out of all the possibilities, he said that this is the only way."

"What exactly do you want to say?"

"I'm saying that the old Veross had lied to you and Ophelia."