We woke up early in the morning the next day. Baal had pressed himself closer to me throughout the night. He struggled to awaken as he clung to me and told me how warm I was. Of course, when he realized what he was doing, the man pushed himself off me and stood up to shake off his grogginess. I found it hilarious how he didn’t even ask me if I minded, he just assumed he had been annoying. Ion was more than happy to get back on the road, even with us bickering about how much Baal needed warmer clothes. I was pretty sure Ion could hear the noise from the capital very nearby. Civilization promised it a nice stable to sleep in away from the cold. The horse must’ve known that much. Dirt turned to bricks, the pathway became busy with people joining the road from everywhere. After a week upon this path, in front of us lay the capital city of the Irisian Spine and the capital of mana technology research of the Kingdom of Topaz.

A gateway adorned with gold designs gave us a welcome to the grand city of Cordelica. Tall buildings towered over the small wooden ones around them, and the roads that lead you through the city were paved with colorful mosaics. People filled the streets, merchants taking advantage of the morning rush to sell their colorful foods from all over the land as well as other essentials. Baal made a funny excited noise as we went even deeper into Cordelica. The city’s buildings grew taller as you walked towards the center. Skyscrapers with dozens of floors rose above our heads, casting huge shadows at some points while at others the glass windows glimmered against the northern sun.

“They are so tall!! This is amazing!” Baal exclaimed in awe as I laughed and held the reins of the horse so he could pay all of his attention to our surroundings.

“You had never been to Cordelica? Aren’t you an odd one…” I spoke up and Baal turned his face to look at me.

“I’ve always lived in small towns since I ran away. My clan isn’t fond of tall, noticeable buildings either.” Baal replied and grinned merrily at me before he continued looking around like a child looks at his birthday presents. “I wonder how Geos looks like from the top of one of those…”

I figured that maybe instead of an Inn I could afford a hotel anyways. Why would I carry extra gold if not to spend it? I also happened to know about a nice place, too.

I led the horse through the busy streets to the fanciest part of town. Baal got a little estranged as the street emptied to have the few people treading upon it be well dressed folk.

“Uh, Luke is this really the way?”

“You haven’t seen skyscrapers before, so I might as well take you to one,” I mentioned and got a view of the second tallest building in town, the Northern Star. “I’m feeling generous today, it’ll be extra fun to see your face anyways.”

I led the horse to the front entrance and asked the man standing by it to please take Ion to the hotel’s stable. Baal eyed me with suspicion and patted Ion before he told it he was going to see him soon. I found it adorable how he had bonded with the stolen horse. Yes, he stole Ion from one of the knights that had been chasing him, if that wasn’t obvious enough. I took his hand, and we went inside the luxurious building with an outside made of mirror-like glass. The curious purpose to the building’s exterior was so that the whole structure would seem invisible from afar. Northerners were more advanced than southerners in many aspects, especially construction. These types of skyscrapers only existed here and the details that went into them weren’t product of magic like most of the buildings down South, but of pure engineering.

The inside of the hotel was white with hints of pale gold here and there on some of the fancy furniture adorning the lobby. I got us a room high up on the tower and then guided Baal to the mana fueled elevators. Baal held unto my hand for dear life as the elevator went up. Chuckles escaped me as I found his reaction incredibly silly. How was I not supposed to laugh? The man could hold his own against knights but an elevator freaked him out. It was damn adorable in my opinion.

“You’re enjoying this a little too much, aren’t you?”

“Last time I got on an elevator they worked on pulley systems. They had no mana safety mechanism, just good old breakable rope.” I teased. Baal bit his lower lip trying his best to not flip out in an attempt to shut me up.

“Fuck you, Luke. Seriously.”

“Oh, please do so, babe.”

The elevator stopped at the fifty-first floor and we stepped out to search for our room in the vanilla scented, red carpeted hallways. A few minutes walking, I found the door that lead to our room and I used the key given to me at the reception desk to open it. As gasp escaped Baal as he stepped inside.

The room’s back wall was made of glass, giving full view to the skyscrapers of Cordelica loosely framing the Irisian Spine while the city lay below. Eager, my partner ran to the window and pressed his hands against it.

I looked around and found it convenient that there only was one bed, king sized. A coffee table lay by the windows with blue lilies placed in a crystal vase on top, a multiple drawer cabinet placed against the wall in front of the bed. Like the lobby, the room was dyed in white, what would have been light gold was a sky blue.

“Holy shit, Luke! It’s beautiful!” Baal spoke and turned to face me, he looked so happy... “You didn’t have to do this, you know?”

“It’s okay, just keep being an adorable five-year-old and don’t think anything of it.” I replied as I made my way to his side. “Do you see that peak shrouded with clouds over there? That’s Blessed Cael’s Spear, I’m heading there after I leave this city.”

“You’re planning on leaving me here, where I’m safe and sound?” Baal sounded a little disappointed. To be frank, I had a feeling it’d be impossible to part from Baal without having us cross paths again in, perhaps, a more troublesome manner.

“I was planning on leaving you here, but whatever you decide to do after we walk out that door tomorrow morning is your decision. If you wish to follow me, I won’t stop you. Having a companion is quite convenient after all...”

“Thank you, I don’t plan on leaving you alone just yet… I assume the peak isn’t our final destination, it’s a stepping stone, right?” Sweet. He was enjoying my crude invitation and the amused expression on my face after he answered. I nodded to answer his question, leaving him to ponder about something. “What exactly is this ‘important thing’ of yours? The only place I know that lies there is the Temple of Cael, which means you left it with a bunch of priests…”

“Yeah,” Baal looked at me with a questioning look and I shrugged. “It was THAT important. You’ll see what it is when we get there.”

No way in hell I’d tell him what it was any time soon. He would want to ask more questions. And the answers to those questions would require uncovering parts of my dreadful past.

“Sure, keep me at the edge of my seat…” Baal placed his arms around my neck and looked up at me with mischief written all over his face. I raised an eyebrow as I lowered my face to properly meet his gaze. He was plotting something I was sure we’d both enjoy. “It’s rather cold up here and there’s bound to be a way I can pay you back for this charming room…”

A seductive smile graced his lips, his deep purple, entrancing eyes glimmering in joyous expectation. This meant war, the lewd intentions behind his actions were quite evident.

As retaliation against this obvious act of aggression, I lifted him up by his bum. He looked at me a little surprised as he held on tighter to me, a chuckle escaping me despite my attempt to drown it. The pink haired man flicked my nose with one finger before he got back to seducing me.

“Do you want to go all the way today or do you want to take me out to dinner first?”

“Oh my, you’re so tempting…but I want to take you out to dinner first.” I smiled and pressed the tip of my nose against his. I liked him, I really did. Truth be told, if I wanted us to be more, I wanted to at least ask him out on a date before I full on fucked him. “Are you going out of your way to chase me because you wanted to lay with me and I didn’t allow it to happen?”

“Of course not, if I ONLY wanted your dick up my ass I would have misguided the knights and stayed as a courtesan at the village you met me. You would have gone back for my pretty bum right?”

Oh?

“Should I feel lucky you left that place and found me, or should I be sad you left knowing I would be back for you?”

“Lucky, no doubt about that…” Baal whispered his words as his lips got closer to mine. “I would have hoped to meet you again no matter the circumstance.”

***NSFW Available on Wattpad***