Ganymede and the Dragon
Inspired by the story of Zeus and Ganymede.
Chapter 1: Escape
The sound of laughter and sweet fragrance brought on by the wind roused Furuichi from his nap and he stood up to his tiptoes, leaning against a stack of timber. Looking over the logs, he's blessed with an unhindered view of girls around his age, sharing fruit at the field.
"I just wish they would bother to look at me, ya know?" Furuichi grumbled while watching the girls eat. "They look so nice all the time…"
"You do know you're hiding behind a bunch of logs, right?" Oga replied before bringing his axe down, splitting wood. He kicked the freshly chopped firewood to a sloppy pile and sat down next to his friend, who was still straining himself, stretching, so he can watch the girls. "I don't get it." He mumbled and then leaned his face to Furuichi's tunic so he can wipe his forehead with it.
"Really, Oga? You're doing that?" Furuichi took a big step to the side to keep Oga from using his clothes as a towel.
"Payback." So Oga says but Furuichi soon ignored him for the girls who took to braiding each other's hair.
Oga rolled his eyes every time his friend swooned when the girls acted playful. When he'd had enough, he pulled Furuichi from the logs and dragged him out of the field by the belt around his tunic. "It's past highpoint. I gotta train. And you gotta study." Furuichi whined about that all he liked but Oga didn't give a damn.
By the time the girls were too obscured by trees and tall grass, Furuichi yanked himself away from Oga. "Really? You wrinkled the back of my clothes, goddammit." He tried to smooth it out by pulling at the fabric but it was no use.
"Help me out a bit, will you? I don't wanna go the teacher looking like a wrinkled mess. I haven't even made the trek to the library yet and I already look disheveled. He'll make a dirty joke out of it." It was common knowledge that the wise man who tends to the city's library was a pervert.
"I don't see what's messy about this…" Oga mumbled again although he already undid Furuichi's belt so he can smooth down the fabric with his palm.
"Don't forget to notice what Aoi is wearing on your training. I really wanna know."
"Yeah, yeah. I know."
Most of the time, Furuichi was glad that he had been chosen to be among the few who were taught personally by the city's wise man. He'd pick the dusty library, with all its allergens, than the training grounds in the blazing heat of highpoint any day. Other times though, he'd rather wrestle with Oga and inevitably end up bruised and sore, than have to suffer the teacher's sexual innuendos.
"Now, Jabberwock," Furuichi felt the pause and felt the paw right on his knee. "though the strongest of the gods, could still be bested by someone! Do you know who?"
"His father." Furuichi answered in monotone, while swatting that intruding hand off him. "Behemoth."
"Right! Right!" The teacher was ecstatic to know that his pretty student knew the answer. He then held a book open to Furuichi and pointed at an illustration of what Behemoth looked like. "This old man here can defeat the strongest of the gods!"
"Yeah."
"This old man here is better than the strongest of the gods!"
There was a long pause before Furuichi realized that the teacher was trying to make him realize something. From time to time, the teacher surprises him with ambiguous moral lessons from stories from the gods. He looked at the illustration closer again and tried to guess what he wanted to say.
'Do not underestimate a man for his appearance', perhaps? 'The strength of youth can be thwarted by the wisdom of the old'?
The teacher then raised the tome close to his head so the photo and his face would be side by side. "See the resemblance, Furuichi? Don't I look like Behemoth?" The teacher laid the book down on the table between them and began a tirade about Behemoth being the wise man among the gods and about how virile he is despite his age. He goes on about all the young men he'd had and all the younger boys he'd had under his apprenticeship. At this point, Furuichi was sure that there was no moral lesson about to come.
"And that's another thing Behemoth and I have in common, we can still get it up! And it remains up for a long, long time, Furuichi. It's quite unfortunate that such a misconception is perceived as truth for all old men. Have I told you about that experience I've had at-"
"No." Furuichi stood up with raised hands. "No, sir. I want to learn nothing of this." He backed away slowly, making his stool drag backwards with him. The teacher hated that noise and so he stood up as well, with a look of urgent anger in his eyes.
"It's very educational. You ought to learn about it while you're at this ripe age. You are fifteen, correct?"
"I assure you, sir, I'm plenty educated in that respect."
"Oh are you, sweet boy?"
There was enough threat and malice in those few words that it prompted Furuichi to leave the library at once. The teacher often sent signals to Furuichi, but it was only this time that he truly felt the need to leave the old man to escape his advances. The teacher was old and his steps are slow and wobbly but Furuichi didn't let that fact cause him to be careless. Furuichi could hear the old man stumbling onto shelves and displays, sauntering after him when he reached the library's entrance door.
"Furuichi, I did not mean any harm from my words. Come back at this moment and let us finish today's lesson."
Furuichi didn't grace the old man with a glance. He pushed the heavy door open and slipped outside, where he discovered that the sky has darkened and the wind brought with it the scent of the sea. He was sure that a terrible storm was upon the land and it was all the more reason to get as far away from the library as he could. It was already drizzling when Furuichi began distancing himself considerably from the library.
He was assured that there was no way the teacher would go out in this weather. For that, he was thankful that the storms chose to go his way. However, the library was built in relative isolation to the rest of the city, making it difficult to look for nearer shelter in the rain. It's times like these that Furuichi really beat himself up about why he didn't just go with Oga, training with the retired soldiers. The training ground was smack in the middle of the city square, where all citizens could see their hardworking defenders train until sundown. During weather like this, they would be excused from their training and be treated to soup and tea with the veterans. Whereas the library was at the edge of the city, near the highest cliff where the only observatory is. The nearest building would be the makeshift barracks next to the ore-mining caves. To get there, Furuichi had to tread through an uneven path that cuts through the forest. It was either the barracks in the middle of a muddy forest, or an hour of walking in the rain before reaching the main square.
Furuichi chose the muddy road.
The path to the barracks was short, but it was downhill and steep at some parts. Large rocks prevented the path from being flat and the loose soil over them always turns muddy when wet with rain. Before Furuichi lost his nerve, he began climbing down slowly, making sure to keep himself low and close to the ground so he wouldn't slip and fall and die on the rocks. As he focuses his sights on the modest shelter that was his prize and only solace from the weather and his teacher, he grows more and more impatient. At this point, he doesn't even mind that he's drenched.
"This wouldn't have had to happen if I chose to train as a soldier instead." He grumbled while planting his foot firmly on a rough but level rock. His now-soaked sandals were starting to pinch his feet and ankles, so his impatience developed into haste. "No, this wouldn't have happened if the wise man of this city wasn't a pervert!" He shouted to the forest.
Furuichi couldn't believe it but he actually transited through the whole downhill path without slipping or falling or dying. From here to the barracks was only a short distance away and it was easy now because the land was completely level, with sheets of dark shale making the path hard and stable. He thanked the gods for this small stroke of good luck.
And then it was as though the gods acknowledged his gratitude in the effect of lightning striking the ground mere yards away from where Furuichi stood. He was blinded by the light for a few seconds. Then he was frozen in place right away as he watched the ground sizzle and fizz once rain began to hit the blackened rock again.
The thunder that followed immediately snapped Furuichi back to reality. He learned from the teacher that lightning is one of the gods' signs for one's impending death. He learned from the teacher as well that the gods do not miss twice when striking with lightning. Furuichi was never superstitious but right at that moment, he ran while praying to the gods not to take him yet. Not like this.
But his prayers were wholly ignored. Furuichi slipped on the wet shale and went down to the ground hard. His knees were scraped and bleeding and worse, he twisted his ankle. "Ahh… gods." He cursed under his breath and pushed himself to sit so he can inspect the damage. He could deal with blood but he could not deal with not being able to move his left ankle without a torrent of pain flooding his senses.
From his point of view, the barracks seemed so close. Yet, he's still outside in the pouring rain. His tunic is soaked, heavy and transparent. He's cold and afraid and now he's in pain.
"Suck it up…" Furuichi urged himself on and slowly eased his legs straight under him, doing his best to put as little weight as possible on his injured ankle. He winced at every step he took but he was getting close to the shelter and that motivated him forward.
Not long did Furuichi come crashing down again, slipping on the shale. The enduring optimistic side of him thought that at least today, he learned that shale is smooth. He let out a grim laugh for that, which was quickly overtaken with a broken cry. He covered his face for wailing like a child then forced himself to man up and stand back up again. But this time, he simply couldn't and forcing himself only made him sob.
With tear-filled eyes, he looked around him for any hope for help. There was no one he could see but in his heart he believed that maybe there was someone. "Help!" He yelled, voice cracking. "Please…"
His heart sank to his stomach after the world's rejection and for a while, Furuichi felt numb. He managed to get on all fours and crawl in the direction of the barracks. His cut knees left a bloody trail which the rain quickly dissolved back into nothing.
He doesn't know how but he feels as though the barracks was never getting nearer no matter how long he kept crawling. He let out a sob once more and stopped moving. He pushed himself back to sit and tried to soothe his abused knees by rubbing at the outer sides of the wounds. He felt a little thankful for the circumstance once more, because his cuts were being washed by fresh rainwater. Then Furuichi descended into mournful cries, near-silent amidst the pounding rain.
He looked up at the sky and began to pray silently. 'Oga, I always knew I would die before you. Despite you training to be a soldier and me only studying literature and history, I always knew I would die before you. I'm sorry I never saw you bring your spoils of war. I knew you would have a lot. Because people like you always come out of trouble alive and victorious. I'm sorry you never got to share me some from your spoils of war.' Furuichi let out another chuckle and then his gaze descended back to the horizon.
In front of him stood a man that brought his dying prayer to a halt. His eyes widened in shock at the fact that there was somebody there. "H-help!" He called out at the large man who remained still all this time. He was far enough that Furuichi couldn't see the details of his face, but he was near enough that he could tell from the silhouette that this was a man who was facing his direction.
"Oh please, help!" He tried calling out again. "I slipped and fell and am unable to walk to shelter. Please help me." Furuichi saw no movement from the man and he was losing heart once more.
"Please? I'll do anything. I'll give you all my coins. Please help me." Again, there was no response. Furuichi began to wonder whether this man was real or a mere figment of his imagination.
But Furuichi refused to believe that that man will not help him so he shouted louder, "Help me, please!" while moving back to all-fours so he can lessen the distance between them. When Furuichi started to crawl towards the man, he heard a deep, crisp voice warn him.
"Don't move."
He was stalled for a moment because it was as though the voice resonated right to his ears. He wondered if he was going mad but Furuichi urged himself forward again. "Please! I need your help! You have to come to me if you don't want me to come to you." He begged and was met with another calm response.
"There's a beast about to pounce on you. You must not move closer to it."
Once his eyes forewent focus on the mysterious man, the blur of white stalking him from his immediate right rattled Furuichi's consciousness. It was a white panther and it was clear from his posture that he has marked Furuichi as his prey.
Furuichi instinctively veered for the opposite direction, slowly inching away from the predator. However, his fright and panic made his movements twitchy and erratic. The beast recognized the effort as an escape. With a growl, the beast announced its call to attack and dashed for the vulnerable boy.
Furuichi couldn't look at the oncoming fury of the beast and so shielded himself from the terror by hiding behind his arms. He was trembling in fear as he waited for the panther to tear him to shreds. But the pain of teeth and claws never came. Furuichi dared to check on what games the beast might be playing but there was none. His caution was for nothing because the white panther is a bright red splat on the shale. Standing over its blood and guts was a large man, nearly twice the height of Furuichi. This man's hand was balled into a fist, which dripped in the same curious blood as that of the dead panther.
Furuichi couldn't put two and two together. He turned his head to find the previous unmoving man in the distance. He was not there. Could it be that that man and this man right here are one and the same? Could it be that this man was strong enough to reduce a wild animal to bits with just one punch?
"Come." The stranger's deep voice pulled Furuichi out of his developing mental breakdown. He was easily lifted up by the large man, with one arm sturdily supporting Furuichi under his thighs. This change in viewpoint made it easy to look at the stranger's face.
Furuichi was sure that he had never seen this man before. But the red hair and red eyes he was seeing was nagging at his memory. The scar over his right eye crossing to his left cheek screamed at him that he must know this person. When realization hit, Furuichi was already held close as his savior bounded upwards to the sky only to be caught by an enormous flying dragon.
Furuichi shivered as he felt the wind pick up and the rain peter out until he couldn't feel it anymore.
"Jabberwock. I…" Furuichi couldn't possibly continue. What does one say to a god? Whatever is about to happen, he knew that there was little he could do about it. He kept his hopes up that he will be fine because he is with his savior.
To the Mountain where they were going, Furuichi's mind and body couldn't keep up. Before reaching the home of the gods, the mortal lost consciousness and was a damp slack on the God of Power's lap. Sodom surged upward, tearing through the skies until no mortal on earth could see the Grand Bahamut fly.
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