Disclaimer
This story is a work of fiction, any resemblance with real life is just coincidence. It is a work meant to be funny, romantic and thrilling. If it offends your belief or religion I ask for forgiveness.
This story contains graphic descriptions of gay male sex. If that may offend you, or is illegal for your country I suggest leaving now. Sorry about my English, it is not my native language and I do not live nor the US or the UK. I would like to thank Kev for helping with the editing of the story.
This work is copyrighted and I ask that you do not copy, post or electronically download without my express permission.
Here is Chapter Twelve ... Come on people let me know what you think by emailing your thoughts to mohamed180996@gmail.com or Kev my editor at ukwriter12@yahoo.com. I plan on updating Ashwood University every week, maybe more. It totally depends on how the story is received.
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Chapter Twelve – Samhain Carnival
When I woke up and looked out of the window I saw that it was a dreadfully wet autumn day with rain pouring coming down in bucket loads outside. Cold autumn temperatures could be felt like a blanket of cold wrapped around your body. Today was the last day of October known as Samhain, Halloween, All Hollows, the last year of mystic calendar, the day of the dead. You it name it, it seemed to be known by it.
What one could not escape by being in this school was that today was one of the most important nights for the magical world. Though the actual the celebrations started at sunset and went on until the sunset of the next day so today we just have a normal day for us. As it's a Saturday we have to go to training.
As we entered the gym we were met by Professor Daniels, who had eventually become known as Professor DD. He couldn't stop it, as he said it was always the same. Helena was beside him and a weird table was behind them with a white linen covering it.
"I have good news for you," announced Professor DD. "There is going to be a competition of Catch the flag."
"How is that good news?" asked MJ, pretty loudly.
Professor DD looked at him, "Because it is mandatory for students to participate." Suddenly a "boo" sound filled the room. "The winner will end with the maximum in training and defense along with a very beautiful and useless cup. Oh and I forgot...the winner will not attend this class during the second semester." Now a cheering filled the room and he tried to speak again. "Ok! Ok! I know you hate me!" he said and Helena laughed.
"What's on the table?" Alastor startled everyone as everyone was so used to him using almost all of his time and ability to pass unseen.
Helena turned to take of the linen cloth as she said, "Thank you for asking Alastor". It wasn't a table it was a scaled representation of a jungle. Well at first I thought it was a representation, until I saw the threes move with the wind and animals wandering all over the place. It was a real jungle, only in miniature.
Helena continued, "This is called a Jurge. It's basically a pocket universe used for many things, including playing Catch the flag." She clicked her fingers and we were suddenly in the center of the jungle, where a line of mushrooms divided the jungle on two. My Class stood on one side and the other on the opposite side. Helena and professor DD stood on the line.
Professor DD shouted, "The basics of the game you know already, the difference this time is that instead of a flag you have to rescue one of your own men. The damsel in distress is going to be chosen by the field. You have ten minutes to hide the treasure and prepare your strategy. In the official games you will have a day to prepare. The thing is that you will not know who is the flag until the game starts so you can't depend too much on anyone.
As we stood there taking it all in Professor DD continued, "This game is scored by points. Rescuing the flag and taking him or her to your safe place on the other side of the jungle wins 200 points. For every 5 minutes that passes the winning point descends by 10 until only 100 is left.
"For every opponent that your team knocks out you will receive 10 bonus points. For the opponent team losing the player there will be a penalty of a loss of five points. If after two hours, the game is still without winner sudden death will be called and the points gathered at that moment will decide who is the winner.
"You need to understand that only taking the treasure or the flag to safe haven is not what makes you win! If your team wins without knocking out opponents and the other team knocks out 20 people...they will win. UNDERSTOOD?" Everyone nodded.
Helena smiled, looked around and shouted, "Let the Hunger Games begin!" Everybody laughed and then she and DD disappeared. We all looked up and there they were, supergiant versions of our professors. They looked like Gods watching us from above. We looked down again and a girl of our class was on the other side and one of theirs was on our side.
The Professor clapped and we heard a sonic boom, a very loud one. Immediately we started running and took our hostage to a very safe and hidden place. This time I got to be offense, due to my repertoire of abilities. We could use almost all our abilities except transport.
The game began with a boom and I turned invisible and ran as fast as I could. Somewhere along the way I found a guy from the other team. I knocked him out and he didn't even see me coming. The moment he touched the ground another boom sounded and the guy disappeared. I kept running after that.
The game ended almost 45 minutes later. My team won 110 points and another 100 points for the ten fallen opponents but we lost 65 penalty points for losing some of our people. Our opponents got 130 points for beating 13 of our people, nothing for saving their flag, but lost 50 penalty points for losing their people. That meant we ended on 145 and they on 80. We were the champions!
After that we got the day free until 6 in the evening when we had to walk to Arzú to the Samhain festival. I took a shower and was going to get dressed when Alexander stopped me.
"Not those clothes today," he said handing me some clothes.
"What's this?" I asked.
"Today we dress the same as our ancestors hundreds of years ago."
I smiled and began to put on these new clothes. They were pair of black leather pants and some kind of long navy blue tunic that was open at the sides from the waist down. Over these there was a cape that covered only one side of my body, it was also navy blue. To add to this Alexander used a spell to paint eyes on the back of my hands and also on my eyelids. So when I closed my eyes it looked like another pair of eyes.
Alexander was dressed somehow like me, but he was in green. John was dressed all in black leather and a cape made of fur hung from his back. I learnt later that it was the fur of a wolf he killed years ago, as cruel as it sounds it is a ceremony that each wolf shifter has to pass. The fur was white...as white as snow.
MJ was dressed in silver armor and he was in his full Fae form. Theo was dressed in a blood red tunic with a black cloak. When we were ready we went down, along the way I saw students dressed like us. All the Fae were in their true forms; Floras had flowers growing on their heads, Fauns had goat feet and horns and then there were some with beaks and bird wings or scales and gills as the fishes. Stella was dressed in white and had a crown and the points of her hairs glowed.
As we reached the first floor I reunited with my usual group. Lance was like Theo and Sarah was dressed like me but in white. Syre was dressed in green.
I saw my sisters walk towards me, they were dressed like me but in different colors and they had crowns. This kind of crown hung on the forehead, each one like the spirit of its owner. After my sisters came my grandmother followed by her entourage, two of them had boxes in their hands. One box was square and the other rectangular.
"Hello boy," said Maman with a smile.
"Hello Maman." I hugged her.
Grandmother then said, "Today is your first official appearance in public as the heir for the De Lumiere crown."
"I thought one of my sisters was the heiress. They are older than me." I was confused.
"The thing is that my great grandfather, King Maximilian De Lumiere had no son, only daughters. He signed a petition for women to inherit the crown and to pass the name. Since then no male has been born under the De Lumiere family until you."
"What about Thomas, Aunt Cecilia's older son?" I asked.
Marguerite smiled, "He was adopted."
"Bu...But you deserve the crown." I said to my sisters.
Claire looked at me, "I can't be queen. I have sworn myself to Henya. I will become a priestess and stay a virgin until the day I die."
"Plus, you deserve the crown as much as we do," added Amelie.
I looked around, "Ok...I'll take the crown when the time comes, but only on one condition."
"What condition is that?" asked Maman.
"That if someday I become king, my sisters sit beside me as the princesses that they are." I said
Grandmother smiled, "I wouldn't expect anything else from you." She hugged me and my sisters join the hug "Now accept this gift." Grandmother looked at me, "People have started referring to you as the blue prince. Your story with the blue rose has already leaked into the public arena and given that blue is your favorite color anyway I thought the best symbol I could think of for you is this." She signaled to the man with the square box.
He walked toward us and opened it. There lay a crown. It was a metal band designed like the embattlements of a tower. The crown was made of filigree, and it had incrustations of blue precious stones. The design was inspired and looked like a blue rose and wings at the sides. It was stunningly beautiful. Delicate, but manly at the same time.
I knelt because I knew this was a tradition as my grandmother put the crown on my head. It fit perfectly. On the insides the crown were some clips that I didn't noticed before. The clips attached the crown to my head "The clips are temporary, until you are comfortable wearing a crown," said Maman. I remained on my knees as she opened the other box.
A beautiful sword appeared in her hands. The sword was covered by a scabbard made of the same silvery metal as the crown with the same precious stones. My sister tied a sword belt on my hips as my grandmother unsheathed the sword. I could see the beautiful design. The sword was a double edged long beauty. It had an inscription along the middle that read in French, I am the bearer of light
"This sword name is Lumini and it has been passed from generation to generation. It was supposed to pass to you from your mother but..." she trailed off.
"It's beautiful." I whispered. I stood and took the sword from Maman's hands,
"The pommel..." she said pointing to the knot on the hilt of the sword "...is new." The pommel was a metal rose with a big blue stone in the middle. The cross-guard of the sword looked like two wings.
"Why wings?" I asked.
"It is our family symbol. It represents who we are descendants of and where we have come from. We are descendants of angels." Amelie said putting the scabbard on the sword belt. I sheathed it and let it hang at my side.
"Thankyou Maman." I said as she kissed my forehead. I walked out to meet my friends followed by my family and when the doors opened all the student body that was in the front yard looked at me. Suddenly everybody bowed their head signaling their respect for my position. I took Maman's arm and helped her go down the stairs.
We had to walk to Arzú with lanterns lit with the angel's light. It was very beautiful, as every person in the school recited the verse. Many had tears in their eyes.
The procession was led by Dean Ashwood, his family and mine. Today my Babushka (grandmother in Russian) Aleksandra came with us. Behind us the student body followed, only several workers stayed at the school. We took the path that went around the mountain. The walk to Arzú wasn't too long and we were soon at the main street. The street had two sides, one on each side of the river connected by several bridges.
The street was filled with people and some kind of carnival was taking place. There were attractions and games for the children and stands selling food from all over the world. There was a stage where musicians were playing. It was a beautiful sight. It was a celebration for the people that had left us and if those people were here they would have been happy, very happy.
There was even a Noria over a side of the river. It was like a gigantic big wheel only this went under the water. When the pods descended the people submerged in the river for a few seconds and when they came back to the surface the people were completely dry.
The night was one of the best nights of my life. I spend the whole time with friends. We ate a lot of cotton candy, funnel cake and churros (these were almost the same). We ate falafel and Chinese food and then we moved on to some weird one-bite lasagnas. Soon I was so full I couldn't eat anything else. I was fit to burst!
We rode on the attractions and played the games. I was some kind of expert at shooting arrows and I won a stuffed animal. I didn't need it so I gave it to a little kid that was running from one place to another dragging what looked like a very tired mother with them. He thanked me as did the mother.
I went to ride the Noria for tenth time. It was great! I was alone, but the moment that the pod was going to move away from the platform MJ got up and I was trapped with him. "Please stop avoiding me," he begged.
"I am not avoiding you."
"Yes you are. Every time I try to talk to you, you're busy or you find an excuse to run away." He said taking a step towards me and I took a step back. We were going up still and I looked to the ground, no one was looking in our direction.
"Maybe I am." I said a little too bluntly.
"Why?" he asked.
I shook my head, "I don't know."
"That is not an explanation."
"MJ, please, things are difficult for me. I haven't come out of the closet, and you haven't either. So you of all people should understand my situation."
"Most Faes are pansexual. Me liking a dude is not a big deal."
"What do you mean by pansexual?" Suddenly I understood and I was creeped out a little bit. Being a pansexual in the magic world is different to that of the human world. It's the attraction towards individuals not regarding their sex, race, species...animals included.
He just nodded, "You know what I mean from the look on your face."
"I am not judging you. It is just that it's a little..."
"Shocking." He smiled, "I know. It was shocked to seeing my teacher date a goat. I always thought he was a bird kind of Fae." He said trailing off.
"Yeah that must have been what shocked you." I said sarcastically.
"Don't change the subject." He took another step towards me as I took another back. I reached the end of the platform and a railing protected the border so I was trapped. He smirked when he saw that I couldn't move any further from him. He took another step. He was close now, very close.
We were at the top of the Noria from here you could see almost everything in the valley; the river, the waterfall, the castle, everything in the shadows. The night was very clear, a beautiful full moon shone over us, but I wasn't seeing any of that. I was looking directly into MJ eyes. He has very beautiful eyes. They shone a little, not like mine. His were as if a fire burned behind them.
He took another step and the platform started on its way back down. This was the part I most feared. This side of the Noria was far from the multitude, so no one could see us. A perfect moment for him to do whatever he wanted. He took another step and now we were real close. Our noses almost touching. He was taller than me, not too much taller though.
MJ looked at me, "I love you."
"Wait, what?" I was shocked. No one had ever told me those words before.
"I love you. I don't care if you love another man, because I know you love me too. I am not going to make you chose." MJ repeated. We stayed like that for several minutes and we would be going underwater any second.
He looked at me "Tell me that I'm wrong and I'll leave." I didn't say anything. The moment the platform went underwater, we were protected by some kind of invisible barrier, MJ kissed me. He kissed me fiercely and passionately. I felt his heat. His lips burned mine. I felt the change of temperature and electricity ran down my spine. He backed off as the platform rose above the surface. It was time to get off the Noria.
The moment that I set foot on the ground I saw a very uncomfortable looking John who was glaring at MJ. I guess he knew what we did. "What is up with you? You think this is some kind of game?" he shouted. Thankfully it didn't draw a lot of attention as almost everybody was near the stage where some artist was singing.
"Please John calm down. I can explain."
"What we had in the labyrinth was real and you know that! Yet the first thing you do is go and hook up with this asshole like a bitch on heat." His voice was low as he realized we were in a public place.
"What did you say?" asked MJ pressing his chest against John's. They were measuring each other. They were both fierce warriors, each one wanted to prove that he was the best. Sorry, but as I not a damsel in distress. I can act on my own and with all my strength I pushed them apart.
"This is one of the reasons I was avoiding you!" I said to MJ "Oh and stop acting little child. I'm a man so you do not have to prove your masculinity because I can bloody well show mine too. I am not a weak crying baby!"
Then I looked to John, "Go fuck yourself!" I said as MJ snickered. "That goes for you too. No a better idea, go fuck each other and leave me the fuck alone!" I added and started walking away from them.
I crossed a barrier that MJ had lifted someway during our little altercation. I reached where my two grandmothers were seated with Dean Ashwood. I took a seat beside Maman, she looked at me and handed me a glass of something transparent
"It's vodka, you look like you could use a drink," she said. That was the kind of relationship I had with my family. I accepted the drink and gulped it down.
"There you go...prove that you are Russian." said Aleksandra and I laughed a little.
"What is wrong with you my child?" asked Maman.
"Nothing," I said bitterly.
"Oh I see...Love problems," said Dean Ashwood. I looked at him, "Who is the girl that broke your heart?"
"Who says it was a girl?" I blurted out before I could stop myself. As had been proven several times, anger can make certain choices clearer...The only thing is that once the temporary anger clears you have to face the repercussions caused by your choice.
"What?" gasped Luzeiza who was passing by and took seat immediately.
"He said that he is gay" said Aleksandra not surprised. I told her long time ago. It's hard to keep a secret from a telepath.
"Ok, family time!" said Dean Ashwood as he stood and dragged his daughter far away.
I looked at my grandmother and she slapped me. "What the f..." I started, but she interrupted.
"You promised no more secrets!" she said with her voice breaking.
"Sorry Maman, but this is different." I could feel tears fill my eyes and my face start to get red.
"No, it's not. You kept another secret from me."
"This secret was before the promise."
Maman looked at me, "That is not how a promise works."
"She's right." Amelie startled me. I looked behind me and there were my three sisters.
"Ok, forgive me then. From now on no more secrets."
Maman looked down, "Ok, if we are not going to have any more secrets. I want you to know, that we already knew."
"Whaaat?" I shouted, "So what was that slap for?"
"I have been practicing that for a long time!" she laughed, but I was mad.
"Since when?"
Claire thought and said, "A year and a half back."
"How did you know?"
"We followed you," said Claire.
"You did what?"
"You were acting strange one night. You said you were going with Oscar and Gert to the mall, so we went there and found them, but there was no sign of you. So we made them tell us where you were. The next time you went out we followed you and found you visiting some guy's house." My Maman said.
"And then?"
Marguerite finished for Claire, "We saw you kissing the guy and start to take off your clothes, so we left...quickly."
"Oh." I said sitting down again. My family hugged me, Aleksandra included.
Amelie smiled, "We will always love you. It doesn't matter if you like boys or girls. We will always love you." At that very moment I realized that I was crying.
"I love you too." It was a perfect moment, but it was broken as a scream. We broke apart and ran to where a crowd was gathering in an alley. Some girl was crying and a dead body lay in the shadows.
"Who could have done that?" I asked and then Luzeiza took something from the hand of the corpse. It was a piece of cloth. The moment I saw it I realized the gravity of the situation. The cloth was a piece of the night sky.
Everybody looked at Syrena. She was as surprised as the rest of us, but the only person who knew that spell was Syre. Tonight her clothes were traditional though like the rest us based on what our ancestors wore. So where did it come from?
That's all for now folks ... This is Chapter twelve – Chapter thirteen will follow soon.
Let me know what you think as it really helps to inspire me... Write me with your feedback and comments and ideas at mohamed180996@yahoo.es or mohamed180996@gmail.com ...
As stated above if you want to contact Kev the editor, please contact ukwriter12@yahoo.com
The story will take a big turn soon I hope. Please let me know if you hate it, like it, love it, IDK.
Thanks