Valtome was a smart man. A man had to be smart to get a seat on the Begnion Senate - he knew that it had been his immaculate clothing, his sublime speech, his unparalleled breeding, and most importantly, his absolutely flawless, perfect hair, crimped with the addition of his very own invention, a sublime formula of waxy gel imported from Begnion (as there was no place classier, honestly) that took the labor of a thousand unpaid laguz employees to create.
With this addition, his shining, fragrant aura filled every room blessed to be entered by him - people even cleared the way at parties and let him have his way, so stunned by his magnificence as they were.
He was so beautiful, in fact, no man or woman could resist the blessing from Ashera herself that was his attentions. If he deigned to give them attentions, that is, since he had deemed none worthy of the grace that was his continued presence - excepting the goddess herself, whom he was sure created him in Her Own Image (except manlier).
Valtome was pained when the position of General of the Begnion Central Imperial Army was given to a young upstart instead of himself, the brilliant, master tactician who had proven himself in countless battles with even more countless victories. As if the musclebound idiot could strategize himself out of a burlap sack.
He knew that the rather-less-attractive-than-himself Prime Minister would see the error of his ways after Valtome's strategies proved more effective, and the rest of the Senate would fully back him after that. Even the drooling idiot Oliver would see sense. He just had to be patient and wait it out. But as praise for the young general's victories – apparently in every condition with minimal casualties, year after year, he found himself wondering more and more why people just wouldn't see reason. It was surely the upstart's fault - he was likely working on his knees, while Valtome was too refined to even think of such vulgar things. He only had to suck one member to get where he was, while Zelgius probably went through hundreds a day. Valtome was certainly not jealous, as that petty emotion was below one of his picturesque visage and dashing stature. It was a matter of fact.
However, in the back of his mind, a thought nagged at him. As he was doing his daily routine of pleasuring himself in front of his gilded full mirror to relieve the stress of his difficult senatorial position which few at the raw ability and intelligence to do, he wondered why Zelgius, who likely sucked and licked his way through thousands upon thousands of organs to upsurp Valtome's power, didn't bother was his. He didn't even offer (an offer which Valtome would surely reject, by the way) or even pause to turn his head when they passed each other in a corridor. How obnoxious and childish, ignoring him on purpose like that. Obviously, he was jealous.
With this revelation, Valtome stroked himself harder. He thought of Zelgius' profile, with his annoying, cropped hair (ridiculously out of style), his stinky, musky scent, like he'd been sleeping in trees or on the bare, dirty ground, and his completely, completely undeserving... position... as! General!
Good thing he had the brilliant foresight to place a towel there. He hadn't expected to cum so hard.
-
After that particular night followed a slew of similar nights. Zelgius would show him up, embarrass him openly, even contemptuously, in court, and he would angrily relieve himself over a sketch he conveniently confisticated from a group of young Pegasus knights. The artist, likely also a young Pegasus knight, was rather ridiculously generous about Zelgius' body under the armor he always wore. Valtome sneered at the thought as he wiped off the stains.
Another year (or was it two?) passed before Valtome had the slightest inkling that his fixation was rather unnerving and unnatural. It was the night after a grand gala, and he was with a beautiful woman, the daughter of a no-name rung governing a backwater county who was sent to the gala to gain some favor from the senior senators. Her hair was long and flaxen, and her bosom marvelously large and barely contained by her bodice. Valtome had, after a few drinks, decided that she was quite worthy of his attention.
Yet he found that he could not perform.
He barely saved himself from the embarrassment by turning off the lights and telling her to get on her hands and knees while closing his eyes and imaging that her hair was shorter and darker, and her shoulders broader.
Afterwards, he tried all sorts of fertility rituals and medicines, and discreetly consulted with some practitioners on the matter. It became more and more obvious that some sort of spell had been cast on him, or perhaps he had been slipped a potion.
Either way, Zelgius and perhaps the swarmy Prime Minister that he followed around all the time were definitely behind it, trying once more to diminish his position and embarrass him in yet another way. He had people following their movements, and knew that the two often spent entire nights locked up in their quarters. He now understood that they were definitely plotting dastardly acts to overthrow the esteemed Senate and likely performing highly illegal dark magic.
He knew that Begnion would befall terrible harm if a man such as Zelgius was allowed to run amok. He was young and rash, and needed a firm supervisor to control him. He needed to be punished for his transgressions against his elders.
Valtome did not believe in new-age thinking and their soft ways of punishment – it was that kind of coddling that led their little empress to become so belligerent and spoiled. Corporeal punishment was the only way to deal with wayward brats. With this thought, he immediately set out to capture Zelgius and set him straight.
Unfortunately, as he searched for an excuse to discipline Zelgius personally, he found that his official transgressions were disparagingly few, and the Prime Minister had already pardoned what little there was. He could hardly admit to being under the influence of magic, though the punishment of the crime would be severe. Valtome was smart, and he knew that on top of the embarrassment of having to reveal his selective impotence in front of the jury, there were too many ways the sneaky, slimy Prime Minister could turn his very own argument against him. Besides, he couldn't personally discipline the young General if he was under guard. Also that pesky little fact that, Zelgius could probably lift three of him if he wanted to, then carry them all up the Guiding Tower and throw them off the side with little effort if he wanted to.
However, there were many factors to take into account. The Senate still had the upper hand in information leverage, against the out-of-control Prime Minister and Empress. He knew that Lekain would reveal this information completely when the time was right - that time was when he would reveal his plan-to-be, for Valtome was not only a smart (as well as ridiculously handsome and charming) man, but a patient one too, and brains always triumphed over brawn.
He knew that one of these days, he would catch him off guard. In the meanwhile, he built up his torture instrument collection.
-
"Sanaki, I'm going back for Sephiran."
What a crazy bastard, Sanaki thought, he nearly got his head chopped off and still has the same facial expression as a brick. She slowly nodded as the words filtered through her brain. Zelgius did not need her consent, but it was reassuring in a time that she felt powerless.
He went, and Sanaki didn't think twice about it.
-
Zelgius nearly collapsed after warping to the eerily silent hall of the Begnion palace. Warp powder's effects were taking their toll on him, but reaching his master would be the end of his mission. He rested against one of the ornately carved pillars to catch his breath - recovery would hopefully be fast. He was usually strong enough to barely feel a twinge as he was wrenched through space, but as of now he was too exhausted to move his arm, much less his sword, when a eerily familiar voice behind him said,
"Hello Zelgius, does this lacy handkerchief smell like chloroform to you?"
-
Zelgius woke to what sounded like some animal choking and gasping for air.
"Uwee hee hee! I have finally captured him! Uwee hee hee!"
His mind blearily registered the sound, and he groaned. An angry tiger would have been preferable. He reached out to choke that bastard to death - the sound was making his splitting migraine even worse - but his still-weak hand managed only to rattle his manacles instead. His arms were sore from holding his weight.
Valtome giggled - the sound was more horrifying than even Zelgius expected. "Finally awake then, Zelgy dear?"
Zelgius groaned again behind what seemed to be a bit gag. Valtome had obviously gone insane from stupidity.
Valtome stroked Zelgius' jaw with a manicured nail. "So strong. So confident. Always flaunting your talents, embarrassing me because you liked it while I was powerless to stop you." Valtome leaned over to whisper in his ear, crimped hair brushing against his cheek. Zelgius strained to get away from him. "Who's in control now, Zelgy?" he paused, "That's right. I am. But don't worry, baby. Daddy will take care of you. Uwee hee hee!" The general suppressed the urge to vomit in his mouth.
He stood back and said gravely, "Now look upon the awe-inspiring visage of your new master. I think saying beautiful would be redundant at this point." Valtome deftly removed Zelgius' blindfold.
Zelgius really wished he hadn't. Valtome was clad in black leather strips with studs on them, his makeup was applied even more than liberally than usual (though Zelgius had deemed it impossible before this point), and his hair was so supersaturated with that nasty-smelling gel he used that it seemed to be literally dripping off the ends in chunks as he moved despite the draftiness of the dungeon. This, combined with the sight of long black steel-toed boots and - Ashera forbid - a leather studded codpiece, led him to give up all hopes of suppressing the nausea that he felt. Bile and stomach fluid filled his mouth and ran down his chin while Zelgius concentrated on breathing through his nose. At least he hadn't eaten in a while. He squeezed his eyes shut to avoid more of the monstrosity.
Valtome sighed, then grinned. "I guess I'm going to have to... uwee hee hee... punish you more severely than I thought." He cracked a whip with rather mean-looking spikes on it.
-
To be completely honest, Zelgius barely even felt anything as the whip tore through his shirt and struck his back. Valtome's arms were ridiculously weak and skinny from a life of being completely dependent on servants. At this rate, he wouldn't get so much as scratch, much less a welt. Valtome seemed to realize this and worked harder. Zelgius nearly fell asleep from boredom. By the time Valtome had whipped Zelgius 50 times, as promised, he was huffing and puffing from exertion, and Zelgius had already contemplated more than 10 ways to escape after Valtome was stupid enough to let him down, and only slightly less than 40 ways to put the poor bastard out of his misery.
Valtome leaned heavily on the stone table and downed the glass of water he had brought with him for this session, and admired his prize. Zelgius' hands were bound by both rope and steel manacles, which were attached to a hook-and-pulley system he designed himself for this very use, lifting his body off the ground so he could barely stand on the tips of his toes. His feet were chained too, for Valtome could not risk the blundering oaf marring his perfect body.
This was, of course, all done after armor was removed and relocated to another room. It amused Valtome to let him have his last remnants of clothing before he stripped it off with the dagger he bought for this very purpose. It had all gone perfectly so far, adhering exactly to the plan he had spent years thinking of, though he had expected more screaming and begging during the whipping part. But that could be dealt with later.
He lightly slapped the general's face, whose eyes were tightly shut, most likely from pain and fear.
"Zelgy baby. Look at me. The best part is yet to come." He stroked Zelgius' cheek with one hand and slapped the other, harder, when Zelgius refused to open his eyes. Deciding to take a different approach, he lightly brushed his lips against Zelgius' earlobe, causing his eyes to snap open.
"Good, good. Now keep looking." Valtome moved a distance away and began to slowly remove what little clothing he had on in what he must have thought to be a very seductive manner, until he had only the codpiece left on. He then sauntered over and started unbuttoning Zelgius' pants.
He found that the drawing he had did not exaggerate one bit on the size of Zelgius' member, and neither on the attractiveness of his round buttocks either. Valtome could not help but reach out and grope one. He felt Zelgius shudder at his touch - likely in excitement towards what was to come. Now this was beauty worthy of him. His codpiece felt tight - he could not be patient any longer.
Zelgius tried hard not to think about what was happening. He knew he would have to scrub his buttock with a wire floor-cleaning brush slathered with every soap and disinfectant he could find in the palace, nay, the entire city. Suddenly, the boredom of the whipping didn't seem to bad. He remembered his training as a soldier and returned his attention to what was happening in front of him.
Valtome was removing his codpiece. It was like a two carriages smashing into each other at top speed. It was terrible, but he couldn't look away.
Valtome revealed his pubic hair. It was hideously crimped and oiled. Zelgius' mind went blank.
With a rush of energy that he had only felt while fighting his old mentor, he tore apart both the rope that was binding him and both pairs of shackles in one movement, and slammed Valtome against the nearest wall hard enough to crack it. Before he knew what he was doing, each hand had grabbed a thick fistful of Valtome's hair and wound it around his thin neck. Zelgius pulled the ends of the hair, cutting off the vile senator's windpipe. Valtome struggled weakly, making choking sounds so much like his laugh, then went still.
Zelgius did not regret the death of a single person he had ever killed, but he did not relish it either.
In contrast, this one felt particularly satisfying.
-
When Ashera revived Valtome as he knew she would to serve her holiness, he could only think of one thing.
"Zelgius... Where is Zelgius?! Do you think you can hide him? That man... must be... uwee hee hee... punished!"