By the Chains that Bind Thee (Part 9) by Fantasy Weaver

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Guess what? Hair's coming off. Shay and Eleos are getting each other off. You get the point. That's why you're here. And if you're not here for that...man I don't know what to tell you. Go read something else? Too long to your liking? Not my problem, darling. My story, my rules. You want to commit to my stories, you'd best be ready to strap yourself down to your chair for a few hours and let yourself get engulfed by the fantasy. As Shay would say, between these lines, only one thing matters: release.

I'm rambling again. Enjoy!

Part nine of "By the Chains that Bind Thee". Please read the previous parts for context.

-Fantasy Weaver.


Note

1: Some foul language ahead

2: Some adult content ahead

By the Chains that Bind Thee

Part Nine

XXXXX

Shay had broken his arm once. Yes, of course, breaking an arm is painful, but magic heals it quickly, no? Any peasant or person not versed in the arcane would be the first to say that, the first to sarcastically claim that "it’s not a big deal". Except that, to everyone who knows, it doesn’t matter that the pain can be healed. Pain is pain. It’s not because one can make an incantation after that suddenly makes a mage immune to hurt. And that broken arm? It hadn’t just been broken. Shay had been practising force spells and had lost control of one, sending him flying through the training dome. He couldn’t even recall how it had happened. One moment his arms were lifted to blast a rock apart, the next he was lying on the ground, white light flashing behind his eyelids as his arm broke, the bone snapping, tearing out of his skin, sticking out like some gory, mangled third limb that shouldn’t belong there.

What was the point of this long-winded story?

Oh, just that getting one lock of hair snipped from his head was about…

Five times worse.

His jaw hung open, but the young mage couldn’t hear his scream even if he tried, the drawn-out wail a smothered noise under the ringing in his ears. As soon as the scissors had snapped shut over one of those braids Eleos’ copy had made, a slicing, throbbing pain traveled at blinding speeds to his head, like a lightning bolt was coursing through his nerves and burning everything in it’s wake, making the world around him go dark and blindingly bright all at once in a chaotic, incomprehensible jolt that literally stole his breath and had his heart skipping more than one beat for it to be considered healthy.

Eleos’ own ears were echoing with the sound of his love’s anguish, and his manhood, where it had entered Shay’s quivering hole, was seized in a death grip that nearly made the Dark Mage black out -not from pleasure.

Teeth grinding and a pained groan catching in his throat, Eleos snapped his head to his copy. He stiffened, watching the shadows which formed the doppelganger flicker unstably. Sh*t, his concentration was wavering! Dark hair glowed more fervently around him as he forced his arcane abilities to the forefront of his mind, commanding the copy to retain its corporeal form. Silver eyes narrowed and sweat glistened on his forehead, wrinkled from exertion.

The copy regained its full form.

Still, Eleos cursed under his breath. One snip. He had thought that he might have been able to get more than that before Shay got consumed by the agony. His eyes watched the platinum braid fall to the cavern floor, it’s once gleaming blonde turning to a sickly, ashen grey-white. The magic that had sustained its healthy sheen being cut off, the strands had now "died" in their own way. The man had ordered his copy to cut the braid off at shoulder-length, as a test. The results were as Eleos had feared they would be: inconclusive.

"Ah!" Shay’s tortured cry brought the Dark Mage back to reality. Shay’s eyes were wide open, sapphire irises rolling back into his skull.

"Shay!" He called, ignoring the pain in his shaft. He wrapped his hands around the young mage’s face, his pained expression, and lowered himself towards him, touching his chest to the heaving one beneath his. Somewhere between the first cut and now, Shay’s hands had wrapped crushingly around his biceps, as though trying to make Eleos feel the same torment he was afflicting upon him. "Shay, shh, it’s alright, it’s…" Eleos forced the tears back. One of them had to stay strong, and he knew it had to be him. Still, "Little apprentice…"

He closed his eyes, bringing their foreheads together. A quiet, murmured incantation came forth from his mouth, and a silent prayer to Musuni, to give Shay strength, to heal some of the pain he had caused.

Ebony hair glowed white this time, a soft white, the kind that makes one think of the moon. The heat circle that had been around the chair had broken after the first cut, leaving them in the cooler air of the cavern, but now, as Eleos kept chanting, small, pale orbs filled the space.

Shay panted raggedly, the sudden blindness dissipating, the world coming back to him in a foggy, unfocused image. Eleos…that was him pressing his body into his own, it was his words, his softly spoken voice banishing the migraine, the loss of connection to his arcane focus, in as small a dose as it had been. Whimpers passed through his lips, panting, struggling to catch his breath.

His head; it hurt. It hurt so much. But the Dark Mage’s foreign words, were they not a healing spell? No, it wasn’t the same. What was it? At last, Shay was able to focus again, finding small, glowing things around him. Little circles of magic, gathering around their naked bodies, caressing, unfelt, along their fevered skin.

"Shay?" Eleos called out, and the young man could feel his hands upon his face.

They were shaking.

The Dark Mage’s hair had gone back to its twilit color, Shay noticed, and the copy wasn’t touching him. "Eleos, I-" he broke off, unable to find the words he wanted to say.

He became aware of Eleos’ manhood inside of him.

As though the pain from before had been nothing but an illusion, a new feeling replaced it: pleasure. Fullness. Eleos was inside him, all of him, from the tip of that magnificent spear to it’s base, where the man’s orbs rested snuggly against his behind.

A twitch. "Oh Gods…" Shay gasped, hands tightening around his lover’s biceps. "That feels so much better."

Somehow, Eleos laughed. How he found the energy to do so, considering the rising panic from moments prior, he could not fathom. "I don’t think this is going to go the way I had planned it" he breathed, planting a quick peck on Shay’s lips.

"Mm, you think?" The young mage shifted, experimentally squeezing his inner muscles, a ragged moan escaping Eleos’ lips as he did. Oh, this he could enjoy. But as wonderful as that thought was, it didn’t change the fact that shaving his head was going to require a monumental effort on both their parts. "What now? It hurt so much, I can’t…"

"Shh!"

Sapphire eyes turned annoyed. "Don’t ‘shh!’ me, what-"

"No. Look."

He understood once he caught the reflection of his lithe body in those silver eyes. Dumbstruck, his gaze flicked to his chest, his stomach, his arms where they gripped the other, and something phenomenal began to take shape.

Some of the magic-infused orbs around them melded into his light skin, spreading a pattern of some kind along Shay’s body, in luminescent turquoise on par with the sacred spring itself.

"What is this?" Shay murmured in awe.

Eleos smiled, closing his eyes as he sent a loving prayer out to the one who had helped him, ‘Thank you, mother…’

His pale hand traced the runes as they etched themselves onto Shay’s cheeks, sighing happily, "A blessing. To give you the strength needed to resist the worst of the shave."

"Blessing…" Shay brought a hand up to his eyes, eyeing the peculiar inking. He had never seen symbols like these before. "From who?"

Eleos simply gave him a cryptic smile. ‘Oh,’ Shay realized. Who else but the primordial goddess herself? For some reason, that fact made him blush. "Is um, is she watching us right now?"

Eleos bowed his head, shoulders quaking on a supressed laugh. "Are you going to be embarrassed about that now? After you’ve had my unmentionables in your mouth?"

"Oh, go poke a wyvern! I didn’t think she who made all would be looking down on her son f*****g his lover" Shay grumbled, forgetting the dire situation he was in.

"She who made all SEES all, dearest," Eleos teased, running his nose down Shay’s own, causing the young man’s icy expression to melt. "It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Neither is it wise to look a gift horse in the mouth, when it comes from she."

That, Shay conceded, Eleos was right about. Musuni has been more than generous to their cause lately, especially where his wellbeing is concerned. It would indeed be rude to imply the creator of all things is a pervert (considering she was also the one to create the act of love in the first place).

Shay sighed, chuckling once to settle his nerves. Silently, he sent out his own thanks to Musuni, wondering if she had heard him. "So…" he began shyly, his hole clenching subconsciously around his lover, "Does that mean you’ll still love me gently and unrelentingly while you divest me of my hair?"

Eleos gave a glance up at his copy, hoping. "Well, let’s find out."

Shay stiffened as soon as the copy lifted a new braid in its hands. He still hadn’t completely processed the last tortuous emotions still, and his hands gripped Eleos’ shoulder tightly to him as he begged, "Please hold me!"

"Always," Eleos replied just as fervently, commanding his copy.

Shay braced, his body tensing in preparation for the onslaught that would come-

Snip.

A guttural hiss burst forth from his tightly grit teeth. The feelings from before, the blindness, ringing, the headache, all of it was there, but a far less insufferable version of it. It was by no means pleasant, but tolerable, certainly.

A compulsive need to look around the chair possessed him, but just as he twisted his head to do so, both Eleos and the copy clamped their hands around his head and face. A meek sound built in his throat under that intense silver glare.

"Don’t, Shay. Will it make it any better?"

The young mage shook, eyebrows furrowed in discontent, "H-how much are you-"

"Shay," Eleos repeated, firmly, "Does it matter, when in the end, all of it is coming off?"

Shay heard the sound of the cut braid falling to the ground, and closed his eyes, head bowing in defeat. "You’re cruel." Though he said it with a rueful smile.

Eleos smiled in return. Bracing himself, the handsome mage adjusted their position, silver eyes holding deep sapphire as they opened to gaze at him. "Let me try something." Shay quirked a brow, but nevertheless nodded.

The copy behind Shay lifted a strand of hair, unbraided this time. At the same time, Eleos slid carefully out of his squirming lover, watching as a hitched breath entered his lungs. He entered, slowly at first, keeping an eye on his copy, but not yet. Not yet. He would build up a rhythm first. Allow shay’s pleasure to build upon itself again, so that they may proceed with the shearing in earnest.

As he slid back in, Shay let himself voice a low, approving moan. This was worlds different to having Eleos’ fingers inside him. Unconsciously, he clenched his muscles as the other pulled out of him again, creating a terribly sweet pressure upon the Dark Mage’s manhood. In. out. Again. Repeatedly, gently and tenderly at first, causing both men to murmur and groan at the delightful sensations. Shay’s toes curled, his hands caressed and pressed into the other’s arms, his shoulders, his back, urging him to continue.

Eleos speed up, Shay’s breath catching now on every upstroke. And when the young mage was comfortable, even quietly pleading Eleos to move faster, that’s when the demi-god allowed the copy to take the scissors to the strand-

With a grunt of effort, Eleos plunged inside his lover just as his copy cut the strand.

Sapphire eyes flew wide open. A confused, garbled noise caught in his throat, hands tightening around Eleos’ shoulders. On the one hand, PAIN, terrible and stabbing behind his forehead, but on the other, pleasure, gratification, powerful and beautiful and negating the awful, previous sentiments.

"Oh Gods-" he gasped, eyes searching worried silver irises.

Eleos panted, swallowing once, "Is it…is it no good?"

Trembling hands grabbed that perfect face between them. "Shut up with that nonsense." Heated lips crashed onto Eleos’ own, a furious concoction of anger and ecstatic enjoyment mingling on Shay’s tongue like the rarest of wines, and Eleos, at last satisfied that this would not be the horrible experience he had feared it would be, let himself drown in the taste, and drank up Shay’s cries with his open mouth.

And so it repeated: for every time Eleos thrusted his hips, and plunged that weapon of his inside the sheath that was Shay’s passage, the copy would snap those golden shears shut over a gathered lock of hair. The cavern became filled with sounds of the carnal variety, interspersed with the young mage’s cries and hisses that popped up between his moans and whimpers.

The copy took another section. The hair on the back of Shay’s head had been reduced to a choppy shoulder-length mess, but they were far from over. Eleos snapped his hips forward again, another crunching of the scissors -and a subsequent cry from his young lover- informing him of another lock lost.

Lost. Losing. He was…he was losing his own mind, Eleos pondered, barely able to keep his concentration up with the way he was f*****g Shay, with how intensely Shay was holding him, blunt nails scratching along his arms, mouth open in a mix of pleasured-pain. He could only keep focusing on either giving orders to his doppelganger, or keeping it’s form together, but not both.

He did the next best thing, which took a tremendous amount of his energy to perform, but it would be worth it. He gave a longer series of commands for his copy to execute, to keep cutting Shay’s hair until most of the superfluous length would be on the floor, and to cut only when he plunged himself into his lover’s entrance. The dark rings around his copy’s limbs glowed a deep purple, indicating his will had been imposed.

Now, he could give Shay a proper loving.

Shay moaned. His eyes had closed when Eleos had begun pounding him into oblivion. He couldn’t keep them open if he tried. There was so much stimulus, both good and bad, but even with the hurt caused by the shearing, for some reason, he found the pleasure thereafter so much more intense, like his nerves already so sensitive, were hyperaware of the delight the Dark Mage brought forth. His insides were acutely aware of every different texture of the man’s cock; every ridge and vein rubbed his inner walls in the most delectable of manner that sent his mind reeling from the onslaught.

"Oh! F***!"

Stars, constellations, galaxies even flashed behind his eyelids. He recalled Eleos’ words, the way his fingers had played with it, ‘A man’s secret treasure’ as he had put it. The same sensation had blasted through him on the last stroke, washing over him like a tidal wave he could do nothing to swim against.

Eleos panted above him, eyes taking in the way the arcane runes upon his lover glowed brightly with his last stroke. His hot lips brushed over his sweaty neck, "How was that, little apprentice?" his hot breath fanned over his skin, voice a rough, heated whisper that send tiny jolts of ecstasy down the young man’s spine.

It had been so good, he hadn’t even felt the last cut. "Please, please do that again, I-"

He didn’t even finish his sentence. A loud moan drowned out the rest of it, from the hard snap of Eleos’ hips, where his manhood rubbed that point inside him yet again.

This time, the pace was faster, more erratic. The copy was cutting almost indiscriminately at whatever it could get its hands own. Shay was only partially aware that the tight braids on the right and left side of his head were being undone and cut away. The half ponytail on top of his head was taken out in a similar manner, and a large portion of it was hacked off and thrown to the ground, all while Eleos pounded him and pounded him and, ‘Oh sweet, heavenly Earth…’

Strained grunts passed through clenched teeth as Eleos put some work into his chaotic thrusting, relishing in Shay’s uncontrolled moaning. Firery kisses constantly cut their labored breathing off, and Shay could feel tears spilling copiously from his eyes.

He broke the kiss suddenly, a rippling, warm feeling settling slowly in his gut. That damn arcane lock around his own weeping shaft pulsed and glowed brightly, and as though Eleos had just remembered it and the bouncing cock, the man wrapped a tight fist around the base and began pumping the hard appendage with abandon.

The dam that kept Shay’s climax at bay broke with a softly spoken word from Eleos. And as soon as it did, that warmth that spread from his abdomen seemed to consume every one of Shay’s limbs to his very last brain cell. Only one thing mattered now.

Release.

Eleos timed his final thrusts, the copy snipping off the last of the long locks.

Wide, glaze sapphire eyes flew open. His face morphed into some vulnerable expression for a moment, and then, the flood came. The ecstasy of climax overtook every one of his senses, and all he could do was ride them out on a loud exclamation of euphoria.

A cry ripped through Shay’s being, and his seed erupted in Eleos’ still-pumping hand. Eleos watched that beautiful expression on his lover face, but then his own impending orgasm caused his silver eyes to close. He buried his face in the crook of Shay’s neck, savagely thrusting, chasing the same pleasure that had consumed the young mage. A strained cry, followed by animalistic grunts preceded his own seed flooding the tight, spasming canal in which he was settled.

They became still, trembling something uncontrollably, arms crushing the other in a sweaty, sticky embrace.

A metallic clang startled both men enough that they jumped. Shay’s confused noise was ignored by Eleos, who peered over the chair, to see his copy had finally vanished. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to hold up his concentration when he reached his peek, but there was no use grumbling about it now. At the very least, Shay’s hair was a much, MUCH shorter length now.

So much shorter in fact, that some of the platinum strands fell over the smaller man’s shoulders, tickled the sides of his face and brushed teasingly along his neck. Shay’s mouth opened in shock, and his hand flew to his head before Eleos could stop him.

"Oh gods…" he whispered fearfully. Some strands were maybe a foot at their longest, but most of them were far less than that. Both his hands rubbed at his head, mounting panic begging to break through the surface of his mind. Some of the strands were probably less than three inches!

"Hey," Eleos called out softly. Shay snapped his head up, teary eyes holding calm -satisfied- silver. "You’re alright. We’re halfway done already."

But how he wished it was over sooner. Shay wiped the moisture from his eyes, breathing shallowly. He gave a pitiful nod, his lower lip trembling. "Okay…"

Eleos pursed his lips, using his non-soiled hand to help wipe the tears away. He gave a small smile, "Was it everything you had hoped?"

At first, Shay didn’t understand the question. A brow rose askance, but then, he blushed. "Oh, um…" he shyly looked down, but that was probably worse than seeing Eleos' inquiring eyes. Their stomachs and parts of their chests were smeared with his seed, opaque droplets clinging to their skin in sticky puddles and rivulets. Eleos still held his now limp cock in his right hand, where more of his arousal covered it. He would be lying if he said anything but what felt right. "It was everything and more."

A small laugh from the other. "Even while your hair was being cut?"

He pondered over that question for some time. There had been a moment that he had thought the pain followed by the pleasure had been wonderful. He hadn’t known of his own masochism in this sense, but that could be a conversation with Eleos for another time. "Yes," he offered instead.

"Good." Eleos bent forward, kissing him on his moist forehead. Though now that they had both been sated once, the Dark Mage knew that the next part of Shay’s shearing would be far more difficult to bear, even with Musuni’s blessing. Both Shay and him needed to rest before they could climax again, though…staying aroused might still be possible.

He came up with a plan.

Shay watched curiously as Eleos lifted himself off his prone form, and a gasp fled his throat when the handsome mage’s softening cock slipped from his hole. An odd ache filled him at the loss. His muscles tightened around nothing, as though already missing the fullness. The action also caused something warm and slick to drip from his insides, and it was as that thought manifested that Shay’ face reddened with recognition. ‘That’s his seed’ his mind provided, an awe-struck realization that left him one part satisfied and one part mortified.

Eleos let go of his shaft, a string of ejaculate following behind. Shay tried to cover himself when he saw the man’s still-silver eyes glance down at his entrance.

The handsome man was beautiful, standing above him with magic still flowing through his gently swaying hair, and it made the embarrassment of the situation even worse; what must he look like, Shay wondered, sitting, sweaty and covered in seed, hair a disheveled mess of cut locks, his hole weeping the evidence of their love-making and manhood shriveled against his thigh.

And yet, Eleos didn’t look at him in disgust. He looked on with amusement, with tenderness, with love.

"You’re beautiful."

He didn’t deserve this demi-god.

"…So are you" he whispered, words only meant for Eleos.

The man gave a wonderful smile.

A small gasp left Shay. The chair was morphing again. His legs were lowered onto a new footrest, and the back of the chair, now straight, had lowered somewhat to better give Eleos access to his head. Shay swallowed down the nervousness eating away at him. He knew what came next, logically. His hair had been cut shorter to facilitate the shaving after all.

A part of him still wondered how much hair must be pooled behind the chair, but he didn’t need Eleos to hold his head this time to keep him from looking. The fear alone, of knowing how much was gone, prevented him from being overly curious.

But Eleos could see it, as he bent to pick up the scissors and place them back under the linen. He could see a staggering amount of hair, with all the jewelry he and his copy had adorned it with. Five-foot coils of a dying arcane focus, stripped of its color, in a mountain of sickly grey.

Some of it was already turning to ash.

‘Good’ the Dark Mage thought. By the time this would be over, only dust would remain.

"Eleos?"

The man turned to Shay, who has hugging his arms to his chest. His worry wormed its way into his voice, "What is it, little apprentice?"

It took a few seconds before Shay spoke. "…You’re going to shave my head now, aren’t you?"

Eleos sighed. He didn’t answer. There was no need to distress Shay even more. From the marble table, he took a towel. He made his way to the sacred pool, soaking it, before returning to the young mage’s side. His platinum head was bowed, the scraggly hair dangling around his face.

He bent down in front of his lover, finding those sapphire eyes regarding him fearfully. He simpered, trying to dissipate Shay’s terror. "May I wash you?"

The dampened towel came into view. Shay’s eyes flicked between the object and Eleos’ calm visage, an acquiescing nod giving the man the go ahead. Shay allowed his arms to return to the armrests, giving Eleos full access to his body. The wet cloth was cool against his still-etched skin where Eleos passed it, removing the drying globs of ejaculate from his body.

A mortified sound lodged in his throat when Eleos even took his soft appendage and cleaned that too. This was…far more intimate that what they had just shared, in a way. He didn’t know how to explain it, just that it was. And when Eleos even had him stand on his weak legs, and held his body upright with one arm, Shay buried his face in his strong shoulder, trying to hide his furious blush. Eleos was even cleaning his sensitized hole, uncaring of how embarrassing that was for Shay.

When finally, Eleos was satisfied he had cleaned him thoroughly, the Dark Mage returned to the spring to wash himself off as well. Shay’s heart was all aflutter after that, thinking that maybe, even if it was a bit shameful, he would let Eleos wash him off anytime after their lovemaking.

A touch to his head had the young man jumping in his seat. A calming reassurance from Eleos calmed him. "Are you ready to continue?"

‘Deep breaths’ he told himself. "I…I think." He turned his head to watch Eleos. He could sense the Dark Mage’s arcane reserves were growing weaker, if just in the way his hair seemed to float a little less high around his head, in the glimmer of gold that slipped through the silver of his irises. Both of them were tired, but they still had so much to do.

Eleos brushed back some uneven strands from Shay’s face, his plan beginning to take better shape in his mind. "Are you sore at all?"

Shay raised a brow. "From you?" A nod. "Not really. I feel…empty" he admitted shyly.

"Do you?" Eleos leaned forward, his mirthful features turning playful. "Do you want something to fill you?"

The blunt question had Shay’s spent shaft twitching against his leg, akin to a dog being asked to go on a walk with their master. Eleos seemed to notice this, and teased the underside with his left hand. The young mage licked his lips, eyelids heavy, "I don’t know if can ejaculate now…"

Eleos lips twitched. "Who said you needed to? There is such a thing as simply enjoying the feeling. No?"

Well, when he put it that way, "Then yes."

"Good man. I think you’ll enjoy this."

He was about to ask what "this" meant, but Eleos was already conjuring a shape of some kind in his right hand, his left keeping itself busy with his slowly engorging manhood. An object appeared from the magical dark mist that covered the handsome man’s palm, and at first, Shay wasn’t certain what he was looking at.

Something made of arcane glass. Arcane glass, unlike normal glass, isn’t actually made of sand or silica. It’s more of a concentration of energy. It’s magic, condensed so intensely it takes a hardened, transparent glass-like form. However, arcane glass is malleable, extremely flexible and can take on a number of shapes, so long as you know how to use it. The first magic most mages are taught revolve around making their own arcane glass, as it’s a perfect tool to practise the flow of magic and how to shape it to suit one’s needs, plus, unlike say, force spells (ahem), arcane glass is extremely forgiving if one messes it up. The magic simply scatters back into the air, becoming intangible again.

Shay could tell the item in Eleos’ hand was this very substance, but the shape was odd. It was a bit rod-like, with a wider base, narrowing to a tube shape, curving upwards into a slightly larger bulb.

Eleos chuckled at the face he was pulling. "You look confused.’

"Well, I’m not sure what this shape-" His eyes widened. "Oh."

"Oh?" Eleos laughed wholeheartedly now, shaking his head at him. "I just asked if you wanted something to fill you. So slow, little apprentice."

He pouted, trying to supress a smile. "Oh f*** off, my brain is still melting because of you."

"Hm. Delightful to know I have that capacity." The two snickered lightly, the tense moment broken. At last, Eleos kissed him, lips caressing his ear, "Lift you hips."

The young mage braced himself on Eleos’ shoulders, doing as he was told, his legs shaking a bit as the handsome mage brought the arcane glass between them, behind his scrotum. The slick bulb rubbed against his entrance…

…And he sighed. It slipped in with ease, his passage still slick from their earlier activities. Shay gave a small moan, a sated smile pulling at his lips when his lover kissed his cheek. Oh, that was good.

Eleos sat him down in the cushion, and Shay became aware of how the arcane glass had been shaped to form a base that nestled snuggly between his cheeks when he sat, one part even pressing against his taint. "Are you comfortable?" Eleos asked him.

"Mh-hm," was all he could give as his eyes closed. He didn’t know how much he would have enjoyed having something inside of him, but he was glad for it. "Maybe we can leave it at that for today and you can keep ravishing me instead."

"Ha! Don’t even think about it." Eleos stood, his right hand brushing damp platinum tresses from his lover’s worry-stricken -yet still aroused- face. "Let’s get you ready."

Shay licked his lips, following the man’s movements as he made his way to the marble table. The linen that had obscured the contents was finally removed in its entirety, revealing everything to his eyes.

The combs and brushes Eleos’ copy had used were strewn about the table, as well as were all the gold clasps and beads and ties that had adorned his hair not but minutes ago. The scissors that had been used to cut his hair were also there. There were a few things though that had yet to be used.

A gilded shaving brush, an equally ornate razor, and most concerning for the immediate future, a set of manual clippers of gleaming gold.

He swallowed hard.

Eleos was going around the chair, standing behind him with his reassuring presence. He was glad, Shay now thought, that the Dark Mage was the one to do this to him. With him. It could have been so much worse, he could still be writhing in agony had anyone else done the shearing, but Eleos had shown great care for this. It was almost ritualistic, how every step of the shaving was laid out, planned and executed with precision.

Those strong hands settled on his shoulders, where they lifted and fell with each of his labored breaths. "I’m going to put a cloth around you so you don’t get hair on your body."

He sighed agitatedly, nodding once, "Thank you…"

The same linen that had covered the dangerously glinting implements now sailed over his body. Eleos brought it up his to throat, where it bobbed on a shallow gulp, and placed it over his shoulders in such a way that protected his body from the neck down. Even the chair was engulfed. Only his feet and part of his ankles poked out of the linen on the footrest.

He was glad that there weren’t any mirrors. The SunWoven order had been especially adamant about making sure every mage had a personal vanity in their rooms, and the large halls in which mages could get their hair washed, oiled, dried and styled were filled with mirrors. Even in the class rooms and all over the large premises, there was nowhere one could look without being greeted by one.

Right now, Shay couldn’t be more relieved that all that met his eyes when he looked out in front of him, were the stone walls of the cavern, the glowing flora and the twinkling lights of pollen particles.

His hands clenched on the armrests beneath them. The handles had shrunk, but he still grasped them tightly when he found them.

Eleos’ footsteps echoed along the cavern walls, reverberating loudly in Shay’s ears. Slow, unlike the beat of his heart, where it might have broken through his ribcage if it thumped any harder. Shay let his eyes slowly find the Dark Mage’s form, taking in his relaxed posture.

Eleos took the manual clipper from the table.

Uneven breaths passed through his nose as the man positioned himself behind the chair again. Even after all his previous crying, there were still tears left to be spilled. They filled his eyes now, blurring his vision.

"Shay," Eleos spoke his name softly, causing the poor young man to tremble more. He soothed the shivers away with his left hand, rubbing at his shoulders, and venturing cautiously to repeat the movement on his head.

Shay swallowed once, his mind committing the gesture to memory, how his body, even as terrified as he was, still reacted positively to the touch, how his shaft hardened at the terribly wonderful sensation. "Y-yes?"

There was a small pause, in which Eleos simply stroked his head. "I’m assuming you’ve never had clippers used on you?"

A derisive snort passed through his lips, even as the tears fell. "Um…no. No. Of course not…" Clippers like the ones he knew Eleos had in his hand were strictly prohibited to SunWoven mages. The only reason they would be allowed on the Order’s grounds would be…

To be used as a torture device.

SunWoven mages are, if not only scholars and practitioners of the arcane, the main law enforcement in the region for all other mages. And when someone is thrown into prison, their hair is usually not long for this world. Eleos was lucky; Oras had probably saved him just before the SunWoven mages could commence his own shearing. They like to do it while the prisoner is conscious, to better get the point across. He couldn’t believe he had followed such barbaric people before. ‘I’m such a fool’.

Eleos kept stroking him. "I know what these are usually used for, in the SunWoven order," he said, reading his thoughts, "And I won’t lie and say this won’t be like that. But I promise it will be better. Musuni has blessed you. Do not forget that."

He wiped his eyes, the linen around his body moving with him. "I can’t make any promises."

A moment passed, before "Let me see your hand?"

Shay sniffed, perplexed. His right hand, where he had been wiping at his face, lifted up, gently gripped by the wrist by Eleos’ fingers.

Something heavy and cold was placed in his palm. Immediately Shay knew what it was and tried jerking his hand away with a horrified cry. "It’s okay, Shay, I’m not doing anything. You’re just holding it," Eleos quickly reassured him.

The young mage let a scared sound escape him, and he clamped his left hand over his mouth to stop it. "Oh gods, Eleos, I don’t want to see it, much less touch it, please-"

But Eleos wrapped his hand around his on the tool, placing his hand around it as though at the ready to use it. "Shay, just look."

The words, full of sadness and guilt, had his eyelids blinking open, just as Eleos lowered their interlocked hands to eye level.

They were holding the clipper together. Eleos’ hand calm and poised, his own underneath a shaking mess. His lover’s voice was quiet as he murmured behind him, "We’re going to close it."

Shay’s body was trembling for all it was worth, his hand clenching subconsciously on the clipper’s handles. Eleos was using his own hand to guide the movement, until the handles were brought together, and a metallic clack and slide rung out around them. The golden blades smoothly slid together. The sound was unlike anything Shay had ever heard, and was not keen on hearing it again.

But the Dark Mage had other plans. He didn’t want Shay to associate the sound with fear. That arcane glass implement still lodged inside his lover would help in that regard.

Shay tried to resist Eleos’ insistent movement, but he was much weaker than the man, and had no choice but to allow that torture device to snap shut again-

"AH!"

Peculiar. That sound wasn’t the clipper shutting and opening.

Shay’s eyes fluttered closed. The mortifying sound had issued from his throat at the sudden feeling filling his insides bellow the cape, inside his hole. The arcane glass, for some reason it was…

Vibrating.

Eleos released the pressure around his right hand.

The vibrating stopped.

Shay snapped his head to the side, where the handsome mage was grinning. A confused breath rattled his lungs. "Wha-what was that?"

As an answer, Eleos forced him to close the manual clipper again-

And a whine built up in his chest when the vibrations began anew. Eleos did this again, opening and closing the clippers with Shay’s hand around them, the implement in the young mage’s behind purring every time it did.

After the fifth time, Eleos released his hand, but Shay kept firm hold of the handles on the clipper, panting lightly as his eyes tried to read the intent written in those silver abysses.

The vibration had stopped again. But why? He then flicked his eyes to the thing in his hand, warily eyeing the blades. He had a stupid idea of what Eleos was trying to get at, but if it was as he feared, then the man is sick in the head. Carefully, with fingers shaking under the strain, Shay closed and opened the clipper.

A moan rose up without conscious thought, as the arcane glass whirred away inside of him. It didn’t last though. Every time he paused and simply hold the clipper, the pleasurable sensation died. And that’s when he decided that Eleos was indeed sick. That’s also when he decided that he didn’t care.

Grinding his teeth, Shay moved the handles back and forth repeatedly, his moans and grunts drowning out the metallic slicing as the arcane glass hummed happily away inside him without reprieve. Eleos smiled widely, left hand caressing Shay’s head to add to the pleasure building, and kissed his temple.

"Much better," he praised.

Shay only gave a grunt in reply, hand still busy with the clipper. He whined when his new toy was taken away though, bewildered eyes taking in Eleos’ form as he stood in front of him, clipper in hand.

Eleos stood, proudly wielding the clippers that would destroy the last remnants of his mane, and with heavy lashes weighing his eyelids down in a sultry expression, he gave Shay a teasing proposition:

"What say we give you a shearing you’ll enjoy; what do say, little apprentice?"

XXXXX

I hid a little foreshadowing in there. Insert cheeky laugh here and...as usual, constructive criticism is appreciated!

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