"Dat ting ya want most, ya oft need dey leest"
Vol'jin
The meandering line of amber colored ants marched high above him.
Zebu sighed heavily and tried once more. Dat one, he murmured softly to himself, Turn turn… turn… ya dinker! The tiny ant continued onward, ignoring his efforts, and eventually disappeared along with others into a small fissure in the rock ceiling.
Lying on his back in his rumpled bed, Zeb frowned at his latest failure. Since he was young, he'd often felt an odd mental connection with other living things but never before had he attempted to actually use it to manipulate them. Yesterday's conversation with his mentor Drekkal had changed that forever, and now the idea would not leave his mind.
"No matta," he said out loud with a determined smile cresting his face. "I can do dis… tomorrow mebbe I get it."
The young blue-skinned troll rolled over on one side and eyed his surroundings. The Skete was ancient, having been built by many laboring monks over the last thousand or so years. Carved by sweat and muscle and fueled by religious conviction, it had been hewn from the nearby mountaintop. The retreat rested deep in a southern Kalimdor valley far off the main road that cleaved the continent in two and was a most uncomfortable place to be. The days stretched long and hot, the lessons and chores never ending, as the thirteen monks and one High Priest scratched out a meager existence from the lower Barrens. Seeking spiritual atonement, they rarely mingled with outsiders and to some, it became as much a prison as it was a home. Scarce were any visitors as the nearest outpost, Camp Taurajo, was forty or so miles away. It offered limited goods to the monks when needed but they chose to exist in solitude as they inched their way closer to The Light, one long hot sweaty day after another.
But it was home…
He remembered the desperate look on the villager's face as he stood small and terrified beside her. The lone traveler had been passing by what remained of their village soon after the band of raiders had finished the razing. Curled bodies still smoldered like blackened husks of tortured agony and his mother and father lay unrecognizable amongst them, leaving the elderly woman little choice. Her dirty hands were shaking with emotion as she transferred Zebu into the rough, calloused grasp of the monk. No words were exchanged as he settled the boy gently into the nest of hay, then turned his stone-carved face back to the donkey and clucked softly to it. Zeb remembered the haunting laugh of a nervous hyena in the distance as the cart slowly rolled away from the old troll. She failed to return his wave goodbye as they passed from her view, perhaps knowing full well she was never to see him again.
The hushed sound of cloth-bound footsteps in the hallway outside reminded him that the day was starting and his duties beckoned. Tinged lightly with the guilt of sleeping in when others had not, he prepared himself a for day of atonement in return for the blessing of humility the ants had taught him earlier. His relationship with the spirit was somewhat unique compared to the others here. He believed deeply in the Light and followed those around him in seeking its blessing, yet never once could he truthfully admit that he'd actually felt it touch him as others had. "Mebbe it be havin the same problem as me," Zebu thought with a rueful smile as he watched another ant disappear into the small crack above his bed. "Or mebbe I jus need to listen a lee'l more."
His dirty feet slapped the floor in unison causing motes of dust to rise in the bright sunlight streaming through the open window. Cleanliness and holiness had obviously become strangers to each other in his tiny abode. The piles of codices, scrolls and various odd objects he'd found while exploring the countryside littered about but tomorrow would be there to clean it all up eventually. Stretching both arms high in the air, he squealed a small squeak of happiness then reached for his robe...
and realized he was quite hard.
The shamefulness of what transpired last week blossomed his face bright purple.
"Vendel'o eranu! What foolishness are you doing, Zebu?" The undertone in Gi'Alduk's voice was very clear. Zeb cringed as he turned to face the Elder, his cock shrinking in his still-stroking grip as the erection subsided quicker than it had arrived.
"I'm sorry," he started with an uncertain smile. "I was just…just relieving myself." Zeb looked into Gi's face for understanding.
The High Priest glowered at him and spoke back darkly in perfect Thalassian. "Zabra Hexx would not wish you to spew your worthless seed upon our hallowed ground. Your incessant need to relieve yourself is a sign of weakness and nothing but ruin and further separation from his guidance will ever come from it. Learn to control your baneful urges or you will be set free to wander the barrens alone. I task you to learn the true meaning of the word abstinence. Giving in to your pukku and its so called 'need' is a sign that you have not learned much of anything in the short years you have been here."
He added after a short pause," ...and nothing good will ever come forth from that thing between your legs when it's awakened for your own pleasure."
Gi'Alduk swirled about, his robes twisting vainly to follow his abrupt end to the conversation and he vanished as soundlessly as he had arrived.
A warm drop of pre-cum ran slowly over his trembling fingers before he could unclench his flaccid cock. Never before had Zebu felt so embarrassed. The Order had made it clear as he arrived at age that sexual activity of any manner was inappropriate while he was training to be a Holy Priest but he was at that frightful period in life when the damn thing most often times had a mind of its own.
Swearing another new vow, he promised himself he would never again succumb to his fleshly desires and prayed for the control he needed over his innermost urges.
His cock twitched amidst his drifting thoughts, bringing his attention back to the present. Perhaps it was a sign that it too had been listening to his vow of chastity, but more likely it was due to the pressing need of his near-full bladder. Zebu donned his tattered and dusty adept's robe and headed out of his room determined to conquer the images that filled his mind.
"Light's Will to you young Zebu."
Zeb squinted up to see Drekkal standing over him. The noon sun beating downwards with relentless presence had caused drops of sweat to litter the ground where Zeb was crouched.
"Zebu." he stated quietly. "What binds you with such fascination of these simple creatures? Are you seeking the purpose of their existence?" The lone ant at Zebu's foot crawled up curiously up onto one of Zeb's toes and carefully inspected something crusty and yellow at the juncture of his toenail, oblivious to the discussion above.
The boy shook his head gently once to answer no. Beads of sweat flew about in all directions erupting in the dry dust below like tiny explosions.
"Dey not be listening to my thoughts, I've tried over and over."
"Thoughts? What makes you think dey could do that?" The older Troll looked slightly puzzled as he squatted down as well and peered closer at Zebu.
Zeb smiled when he heard the inner troll come out in his mentor's sentence. The adepts were instructed to communicate with precise and grammatically correct words, "To purify our nearness with the Light," said The High Priest whenever he corrected someone he overheard speaking troll "Once dey troll… all-waays dey troll" was the inner joke that circulated amongst the monks whenever the Elder was away.
Dey words dey jus flow off da tongue bettah, Zeb thought as he peered back down at the ant once more.
"Tell me Drekkal, if I could find a new way to shine the Light into all creatures, even ones that cannot speak as we do, would that bring pleasure to The High Priest?"
Drekkal laughed gently at the seriousness of the young troll. "Yes Atal-child, that concept would most clearly meet with his approval. Maybe my son, you have found the entrance to the path upward that you have been seeking."
"So if I…if I made them understand the way that would be ok?" Zebu snuck a sideways glace at the monk trying to gauge his next reaction.
"Zebu, you cannot truly make another being do anything other than by trickery, coercion, force or duress. They must choose the path to righteousness of their own volition in order to be bathed by its eternal knowledge. We can lead them yes, but the steps to reach it taken must be by their own two feet." He looked down at the ant waving its tiny antenna at him. "…or six."
"But what if I could convince them from within their own thoughts that the Light is truly the answer to all questions?"
The face next to his darkened immediately
"What is this vile idea you speak of?" Drekkal reached out and tipped the young troll's chin upwards with a sharp tilt until Zebu's eyes were forced to look directly into the monk's.
"What you be tempting, Zebu?" The concern was clear in his voice. "Tell me ya not be usin dat black magic wit'in ya now?" Drekkal stared carefully at Zeb, searching for the lie to surface.
"No mon, it not be dere," Zebu said with open honesty. But he also added within his own thoughts, ...yet.
The older troll paused for a moment before dropping his hand from the boys chin. "Good thing then. I would hate someday soon to find you deep in the belly of something out there." He pointed at the plains beyond the outer wall surrounding the grounds. "Ya be too damn skinny ta feed any ting good anyways. Dat magic is never ta be used eben if ya could. Evil it be and never could good tings be rise'n from it's use."
Drekkal turned and started off towards the Chapel. Before he had gone two steps he spun back suddenly and said sharply to Zebu. "No more of this from you ever Zeb, promise me that right now!"
Zebu nodded in agreement, but his heart was pounding heavily with the knowledge he'd just learned.
…it could be done!"
The older Troll shook his head with valid concern as he left the boy squatting in the hot sun. He remembered being at that age with so much to learn still brightening the horizon each day. "May the Light gift you well young Zebu and guide you gently upwards with its wisdom," he prayed quietly as he strode towards the inner courtyard. "…and the strength to resist what may beckon to us all as well."
Zebu's many chores still to finish hastened the hours of the day. While cleaning the stable of manure, Zeb couldn't resist reaching out with his mind towards the nearest donkey and probing it. He found the stubby equine's center quite easily and if pressed by anyone who wondered, he would have described it as a purple orb that ambled happily about. The orb pulsed slightly as he circled it with his own mind. Closing his eyes to concentrate further, Zeb pushed his thoughts forward until the flat taste of stale hay erupted so strongly within his own mouth that it caused him to spit awkwardly, the drool thread hanging from his lips and sticking to his robe. The donkey lifted its fuzzy ears at him then, a quizzical look adorning its face, making the boy wonder if it too had felt the brief connection. Or maybe it was just the clumsy act of spitting that caused Abby's subsequent reaction. Either way, the taste of warm chewed grass lingered heavily in Zebu's taste buds, bringing revulsion as well as elation to his thoughts.
I can do this! But remembering Drekkal's harsh warning, he stifled the overwhelming urge to jump back into the donkey's mind. ...as long as I don't get caught!
The evening bell called Zebu back to the kitchen. The monks commonly ate each meal alone in their rooms and some, chosen by their abilities (or more often the inability of others), would prepare supper for the rest. Zebu being the youngest was tasked with cleaning up afterwards. The mess was never much but it added one last chore for him to do each night before heading to his room. He'd found the kitchen in its usual state of mild disorder and quickly busied himself within it, but his thoughts were far away from his actions as he scrubbed the pots and plates clean with handfuls of dry sand. Afterwards, he grabbed a leftover roll and a flask of lukewarm water to tide the growling coming from his stomach.
As the hyenas outside began announcing their growing excitement over the evening hunt, Zebu found his way back to his room in the gathering darkness and pulled aside the worn leather flap that covered the opening. Lighting his lone candle against one that guttered away in the hallway, he drew the flap closed again, allowing himself a small modicum of privacy, and tossed his tattered robe onto the nearby table. The bare candle threw dancing shadows of impostured magic against the wall beside him as he lay naked on his back in bed. The cool katabatic breeze filtering in through the window sent gentle eddies of air across his bare loins.
…his member stirred with need once again.
Zeb attempted to shift his thoughts elsewhere but as the blood pooled heavier in his cock and the skin became increasingly taut, he watched with quiet fascination as it grew before his eyes. The building pressure within continued until it rose gracefully off his flat stomach with tiny ratchet-like movements, each timed perfectly to his thudding heartbeat and it eventually pointed at him like an accusatory finger. He desperately looked about for any diversion in his tiny room but as his heart pumped his cock thicker, his attempts became meager. His hand drifted downward, fingertips tracing lightly along his chest…then his stomach and as they softly touched his cock, his palm encircled it with gentle familiarity. The hand began its stroking…slowly at first then quickly transitioning into a rapid blur. His hips lifted higher off the mattress until he finally turned and buried his face into the bed to muffle his joy. A gust of cooler air rushed in through the window just as he climaxed causing him to release harder than usual. The hot cum splattering his neck and chest with droplets of wet pleasure reminded him that his flesh was not just his own weakness…but very much also his to own.
As sleep chased him down with ponderous arms, his eyes drew upwards once again to the ants above and he smiled as they moved along oblivious to his moment.
"Tas'dingo my leetle ones…"
Tomorrow was coming soon and it promised to be a very busy one.
