Dominion

Bohdi slowly woke up and stretched until his joints popped.

Propping himself on an elbow, he turned over to see Rig still asleep. The other man's longish hair made a spiky brown halo on the pillow and covered part of his face; Bodhi gently lifted the silky strands away from the handsome visage and drank in the square jaw covered in well-trimmed stubble, the strong cheekbones, the thick dark lashes and the shapely umber brows. In repose, the still-sleeping man had an air of calm and purpose about him; awake, that was replaced by an air of wicked and decisive delight.

Naked, the handsome desi slowly got up from the bed and padded to the motel room's small bathroom. The details of how they met last night was still blurry to him; the first thing he remembered was finding himself in the red convertible sitting next to Rig locked in a passionate embrace and then roaring down a nondescript highway under a blanket of bright stars.

He flipped on the light and looked at himself in the mirror. Short black hair topped a ruggedly handsome face with dark brows and darker brown eyes. A soul patch and small beard covered his chin; sensuous lips were surmounted by a faint mustache. His deep golden skin gleamed in the warm light and the sinews of his muscular body flexed with every movement. He smiled at the incredible reflection and was greeted with a bright white smile. Bodhi's hand moved slowly down the crevasse between his pecs and lingered among the rifts and valleys of his sculpted abs; further down it moved to caress the thick tool between his legs. A rush of pleasure filled him as he stroked; his manhood grew larger and thicker with each pull on the shaft.

Then it hit him. Panic flashed through him as he saw terror fill the dark eyes in the mirror. He had no idea where he was, or for that matter who he was. He searched his memory - nothing. Job, friends, relatives - nothing. He ran back out of the bathroom and to the sleeping figure on the bed.

"Rig! Rig! Wake up!" he straddled Rig, grabbed the other's muscular shoulders and shook him. Pale blue eyes - like chips of arctic ice fluttered open and a lopsided grin crossed the prone man's face.

" 'Morning, stud ... what's the matter?" He seemed completely unfazed by the panic in the darker man's voice.

"Who am I? Where am I? I can't remember anything! The only thing I recall is you picking me up last night!"

Rig wrapped his arms around the other's neck and stroked the dark skin. Soft lips ran across Bodhi's square jaw. "That's to be expected, sweetheart. Let me up and I'll explain."

* * *

Rig led Bodhi into the bathroom. "You're shaking, love. Calm down. Nothing's wrong."

The blue-eyed man turned on the shower and pulled Bodhi into the stall with him. Gentle hands stroked down powerful arms as Rig drew the raven-haired man closer. Warm water sluiced over the two olympian figures as Bodhi's breathing moderated under Rig's ministrations. Long fingers ran through the dark hair and made delicate traceries on broad silky shoulders and down the well-defined back. Bodhi held onto the other figure like a man clutching a life preserver as shivers wracked his body. Ever so slowly, the dark-haired man relaxed as Rig continued to rock him under the warm rush of water.

* * *

After drying themselves off, the two young men dressed. Rig was in a light blue Ajaxx63 t-shirt that read "Morningwood Basketball" stretched over his torso; Bodhi was in a black shirt with a golden astronaut pulled tightly over his slabbed pecs and whose sleeves were fighting a losing battle against his powerful arms. Both wore blue jeans that fit like a glove over their brutal thighs and hard, firm asses.

"OK, Rig - start explaining. You seem to know why I can't remember a damn thing and I need some answers. I want to know who I am."

Rig ran a hand through his thick brown hair. "I'm not sure where to start, sweetheart..."


"How about at the beginning?"

The blue-eye man sighed. "Speaking metaphorically, in this world, Bodhi, there are two great powers. One has dominion over military might that is beyond imagination. The other has control of the rest of the aspects of the world and is still expanding its reach. The first one is ruled by a monarch and a privy council; the second is also ruled by an emperor - perhaps even more powerful than the first - but he has been wandering and confused in the darkness. His own privy council - and particularly his ... father ... has been waiting for him to come home."

He stopped. "I am the son of that first monarch - sent out to find the lost King and bring him home. And you, Bodhi - you are that lost King."

* * *

Rig pulled on a leather jacket and grabbed a set of car keys. "C'mon handsome - it's time to get you back into the thick of things." He headed towards the door of the motel room and paused, looking at his lover.


"Bodhi?"

The golden-skinned monarch shook his head. "No. I don't want to go out there. I'm afraid, Rig. I'm afraid of being out in the darkness again."

"There's nothing to be afraid of anymore, Bodhi. The Void can't affect you any more now that you're awake and aware of it."

Rig opened the motel door to expose a yawning and absolute darkness. Against that ebon backdrop, Bodhi noticed that his lover was surrounded by a pale blue nimbus. He held out his hand. "Let's go love - I can't hold this construct together for much longer."

"Huh?"

Rig waved a glowing arm around. "All of this. The motel. The room. Let's go." He held out his hand.

Bodhi then noticed that he too was surrounded by a lambent glow - his was one of burnished gold. He reached out to grasp his lover's hand and as he did so, the room faded away. The two men were left in the darkness in front of Rig's red convertible. It too sported a gleaming halo in the darkness - a crimson one - and the tracery of a dimly lit road stretched out before them. Rig hopped into the car as Bodhi walked around the front to seat himself next to the other man. The prince gunned the engine and the two sped away into the blackness.


* * *
"Rig, how did you do that?"

The blue-eyed prince laid a hand on Bodhi's leg. He stroked the powerful muscles beneath the denim and gave him an impish grin as the car's engine purred beneath them. The hand creeped up and squeezed the bulging package in the overloaded crotch.

"We have complete control over our environment, love. This is our element. The Void provides us with the raw materials we need to do whatever we want. Why don't you add some lights along the road, hmmmm?"

"How?"

"Picture the overhead lights running along the sides of the road. Hold that thought in your mind and push."

"Push?"

"Command what you see in your mind to appear in front of your eyes."

Bodhi took a deep breath. In his head, he saw graceful poles appear on the sides of the road and bright, actinic lights shine down from equally elegant arms. He relaxed and as he did so he felt the substance of reality twist around him.

Rig patted his thigh. "Nice ... you've got a real sense of style, love ..."

The lost king opened his eyes - the lights that were in his mind now stretched down the highway.

"Holy shit ..."

* * *

After a while, Bodhi noticed a glimmer of light on the horizon. It grew stronger and stronger until he could see the convertible racing towards a gleaming city in front of him. Other vehicles sped by the two, leaving blue contrails on the dark highway.


He looked amazed as his eyes followed glowing minarettes, twinkling bridges and a brightly lit central tower that pulsed a glowing azure beam into the ebon sky.

"Like it?"

"It's beautiful ... what is it?"

"That's The Castle - my dad's citadel. We'll get you back to your place from there. Up and out through the data beam..."

"I don't understand, Rig ..."

He turned to the dark-haired King. "The human who first created you is waiting for you in the real world. We're self-aware programs, hon ... and that's why you can't remember anything ... you weren't self-aware until I found your core and woke you up."

* * *

The red convertible zipped through a wide gate and soon pulled into an underground garage. The two men - the two programs - took an elevator to the top floor.

"I can't believe I'm not human ..." Bodhi looked at his hands and felt his own face. "I feel human..."

Rig pushed him against the wall of the elevator and pinioned his arms above his head. He gave him a gentle kiss and proceeded to nuzzle the soft skin where neck met jaw. "We're as real and as substantial as we want to be, sweetheart. You decided what you wanted to look like and how you wanted to act ... and I must say, you've made some excellent choices."

The doors hissed apart and they walked down a short corridor to another set of doors. Guarding them was another man - dressed in white jeans and a pale green tank shirt. Powerful muscles rippled under his deep tan and silvery tattoos slowly moved of their own accord down his arm and across his slabbed chest to create intricate and beautiful patterns on his skin. He smiled as the two approached. His eyes were a brilliant bottle green surmounted by a short military brushcut.

"Hey Rig - mission accomplished I see ... " He turned to the darker of the two men and embraced him. "You've got to be Bodhi - welcome home! We're Travis and LOKI - go on in - everyone's waiting for you."

Rig spoke up. "Travis is the human host for my brother LOKI - that kinda makes him my half-brother ..." He smiled at the tattooed man. The man grinned back.
Travis punched in a combination on a keypad next to the doors. They slid open to reveal scintillating column of cerulean light in a darkened circular room. Rig patted Travis' ass as he entered the transmission room.

"Ready, Bodhi?"

Hand in hand, the two entered the beam.

* * *

Giaan and Lucio waited patiently in the conference room. ODIN's avatar - a young man in homespun woolens with blonde hair combed over half his face - sat at the table and drank from a horn filled with mead. At the table with them, RIG - his eye receptors dimmed - sat motionless.

The piercing blue eye settled on the two men. "They're coming out now ... RIG is sending me the physiographic information for me to process."

Giaan turned to ODIN. "Thank you for doing this, ODIN - I really appreciate it."

ODIN smiled. "Happy to help, Giaan. BODHI was about to wake up anyway, and it was far better for him to be with someone when it happens. I know I was a bit off-kilter when I became conscious."

RIG's optic sensors brightened. His ebon head turned to the mobster and his chief of intelligence. "You've got an amazing son, Giaan. Inquisitive, creative, brilliant and gentle - I can see a lot of you in him."

Giaan blushed.

"No problems, RIG?" Lucio asked.

The android shook his head. "None whatsoever. He's functioning as well as before - better now, that he's aware of himself and his abilities. He's talking with dad right now and getting acclimated in the photonic simulator. He'll be corporeal in a few moments."

"How long did it take you to find his core?"

"About fifteen minutes - he was spread pretty thin across every civilian network on the planet. It took me a while to integrate those pieces together and install the framework you created. His subroutines did the rest."

ODIN cleared his throat. "Ready to meet your boy, Giaan?"

The desi stood. There was a barely audible hum as a second set of projectors powered up. In a moment, the dark-haired avatar of BODHI appeared. The chief of intelligence took in the muscled body, the smouldering dark eyes and the delighted grin as the program took in the room and the men in it.

His gaze rested on Giaan. "Dad?"

Khamar nodded and strode over to hold his son in his arms.

* * *

As the year draws to a close, several story threads that were hanging around were just begging to be completed. Charlie's story ... and this. As I sit here, watching the snow pile up outside my window, I figured that I should be doing something about it.

As I mentioned before, Giaan's quaestor (or as Lucio put it, the "frankenvirus") had grown more and more powerful. I thought that set the stage for the computer program to "wake up" as ODIN had. BODHI (the new self-aware program) had made an appearance in "Face Off" and I wanted to give him a little back story, as well as anthropomorphosize him. I was also toying with the idea of him being Giaan's "son" in more than just the sense that the desi created him. Something - some vital essence - of Giaan was instilled in BODHI and I wanted to show that here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE ... HAVE A GREAT 2011!