Those Due Heaven
Everyday_Im_Preaching

Summary:
It's been a hundred years since Sìhǎi, the Dragon King, had last demanded a sacrifice; in the middle of the night, he calls for a single man-an orphaned, sickly beggar that lives on the outskirts of town. Relieved that they and their children are spared, they eagerly offer up the broken-spirited man in hopes that it will bring good fortune into their lives.


"I'm doing this." The words were shaky as they left Jack's mouth, hanging dead in the air around him; the acolytes of the temple had departed hours ago, leaving Jack to pray at the shrine of Sìhǎi, the Dragon King. The prayers had gone on for hours, reaching up into the cavernous, open space of the cathedral and echoing back at him mockingly. And now that they were done came the important part.

The sacrifice.

In front of Jack lay an altar; big enough for three people to lay on and smothered in thick quilts and adorned with thick embroidered pillows. Jack swallowed, and then took a deep, steadying breath. Beside the altar was a stone vanity, carved carefully into four, opalescent dragons. In their claws they held a bowl of marble. It was full to the brim with a heavily scented amber coloured oil that was infused with herbs to better attract the gods attention.

It had been a hundred years since the god last demanded a sacrifice. No one had expected the sudden request, and surely not for Jack. Jack was, at best, an outcast—forced to live on the outskirts of town due to his cursed complexion, he was rarely allowed in the temple. Sìhǎi, when taking a sacrifice, had normally asked for women or wealthy individuals, if the records were correct. Not the orphaned, sick, or otherwise detestable parts of society.

"I…I'm pretty sure you heard my prayers." Jack murmured quietly as he approached the altar. He shakily hooked his thumbs under the shoulders of the thin robe he wore, shuddering as he exposed naked skin to the air around him. "And you know I'm here."

Jack let his hand relax, and he let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. He looked down at his feet, flexing his toes. "I come here as a willing sacrifice." He took another step forward, trying not to shift his eyes from the altar. "I come here to offer my body and soul to you and your whims, in order for good fortune to fall upon my people."

A harsh laugh cut through the otherwise dead air, getting Jack to jump. He kept his eyes forward, even as his body froze. Jack swallowed and nodded, trying to regain some semblance of composure. Just a god. He inwardly muttered. You're his. You're his sacrifice. You know this.

"You jest." The voice was warm and foreign, bubbling up from behind him. "Your people? The same people who starve you? The same people who spit at you when you beg, and beat you when all you ask for is a warm meal? Or was it coal, last time?" It was right over his shoulder now, chuckling again when Jack laid his hands against the cushioned edge of the stone altar.

There was a low growl when Jack didn't respond. "Tell me. What was it they broke your jaw for?" There was the faintest brush of fingers along Jack's cheek, and he swallowed.

"Coal, shangdi. " Jack answered, trying not to shake. He closed his eyes and swallowed.

A low hum vibrated the air behind him, and those fingers became solid. Stroking Jack's jaw with gentle whispers. "It never healed right, did it? There's not a bit of you that's healed right." Jack's jaw was grabbed, tight. Not tight enough to hurt, but enough that Jack didn't dare move a muscle. Not that he could have, even if he wanted to.

After a movement, the hand, the presence behind him left, leaving Jack feeling strangely empty. He swallowed, clenching the quilt beneath his fingers. He wasn't good enough—that's what Sìhǎi was saying. That he'd expected more of Jack. Something unbroken.

"Get on the altar. Assume the position those ignorant whelps taught you." There was a bite to Sìhǎi's voice that Jack dared not disobey. "And then I will teach you how to present yourself correctly for me."

Jack nodded, hauling himself up onto the stone bed, glad for the padding; even with the three days rest beforehand, his body was still sore. Something in him hoped that the god would keep him long enough that he might sleep on the rather comfortable altar; it would keep him far warmer than anything he had in his own little shack.

The position in question was on his knees and elbows, upper torso tilted downward. A cough scratched at Jack's throat, and he clenched his teeth together, trying to ride out the urge; it forced its way out of him in the form of a coughing fit that shook his entire body, leaving him quivering and panting.

"Disgusting."

Sìhǎi's voice had Jack lowering his head even farther between his arms. He wasn't fit for his shangdi. He never would be; Jack closed his eyes tight enough to hurt, refusing to cry. If the god saw him unfit, then Jack would gladly let him strike him down—there had to be honour in that. Dying by the hand of a god.

"When did you get that cough?" Sìhǎi asked, voice dripping with disgust. "How long has it lingered without proper treatment?"

Jack cleared his throat as subtle as possible. "Years ago, shangdi. When I was a child."

"Your tenth year." Sìhǎi corrected. "Head priestess Changying threw you out into a blizzard at the beginning of the evening and wouldn't let you back in until morning." A warm hand gently laid itself on Jack's lower back, skirting up his back and tiptoeing along his spine. Sìhǎi's fingers stopped at Jack's shoulders, and those same fingers splayed outward, right over a scar at the base of Jack's neck.

"This one too. Where did you get it?" Sìhǎi pressed his thumb against it, and Jack inhaled a sharp breath.

"Whip." He croaked out, still breathless. "It was meant for my shoulders, but wrapped around my throat instead." A low heat was beginning to build where Sìhǎi touched, and he felt his sore chest begin to ease it's heavy, deep breaths.

A soft hum reached Jack's ears. "Pathetic." The hand left him, and Jack felt relieved. His ears perked up as he heard footsteps echo against the stone floor. "Roll onto your back and gaze upon me, Jack."

Jack let out an uncertain, near imperceptible squeak, but did as he was told.

Sìhǎi was beautiful in a way only a god could be. From what Jack could see, he was broad-shouldered and strong, with eyes as sharp as flint and as cold as gold. His features were nothing short of royal, accented by golden scales that were scattered across his cheeks like a permanent blush. Long, folded ears drooped down on either side of his face, laden down with jewellery, pierced in places that Jack could only imagine were painful.

Jack instantly looked away from the god, finding it too hard to take in. He hadn't even had the time to take in the unholy wave of dark that was Sìhǎi's hair; legend said that it contained the night sky itself, and if one were to touch it they could rearrange the heavens.

"I said gaze upon me. " Sìhǎi uttered, voice dominant and commanding. Jack's eyes snapped upward, every inch of him quivering within the presence of the divine creature in front of him. The hard expression that Sìhǎi had adopted softened. "Is it sadness, I sense, Jack?"

The human was shaking his head before he could stop himself. "No, no of course not shangdi. I could never be sad in your presence. It is nothing short of an honour." Jack swallowed; the god moved closer, head cocked to the side and ears twitching. "I give my body and soul to you, Sìhǎi. For anything you find it worthy of."

"At least your fear is honest." Sìhǎi murmured, cocking his head the other way. He let his eyes wander down Jack's slight frame, and proceeded to let out an irate huff. "Do you know how I judge my people, Jack?"

Jack opened his mouth to respond, but Sìhǎi cut him off. "No, of course not. Why would that knowledge be allowed to one such as you?" The god came to the edge of the altar, placing a hand on it. He began to circle it, running his hand along the cloth, inspecting it as if it held his interest. "You are an outcast. Unwanted. Any true knowledge you have of me has been crammed into your head over the past few days."

Sìhǎi snorted, and Jack swore he saw smoke leave his nose. "I judge my people by how they treat their lowest—their broken. Their trash." He flattened his palm against the blankets, looking up and catching Jack's gaze. "Time and time again I tell them, and yet here you are. Open your legs."

The human could do little else but, keeping Sìhǎi's gaze. The god slid his fingers into the slippery oil; pulling them free, the oil splattered here and there, apparently of no concern of Sìhǎi 's. There was no preamble. Jack knew that he was here to lay with Sìhǎi.

"You have suffered." Sìhǎi told him, now right against the side of the altar. He once again took in Jack's body, and Jack could see Sìhǎi's mask of apathy crack, only slightly, to allow sympathy to bleed through. "I will assure you suffer no more."

Jack's heart dropped to his stomach, hollow and unsure. It wasn't often that Sìhǎi killed the sacrifice given to him. "If that is what you wish, shangdi. " He whispered, unable to get much out. Sìhǎi huffed and leaned over Jack, letting his slick fingers slip low between Jack's legs.

"I will only ask you to relax once." Sìhǎi told him, pressing a single, wet finger to Jack's entrance. Jack went lax instantly—he intended to close his eyes next, but those glowing, golden eyes kept his attention and gaze. The finger pressed in, and Jack jumped at the unusual feeling. Sìhǎi hushed him, and Jack nodded, clamping his lips shut.

"Very good." The god murmured, now in to the knuckle. He withdrew his finger slowly, watching Jack's face twitch in discomfort. The finger slipped free, and there was a low grunt as Sìhǎi hauled himself onto the altar. Jack froze once more, watching as the god took place between his thighs. "No need to fear, I simply wish to prepare you from up here."

Sìhǎi reached over and dipped his fingers back into the bowl, scooping up a liberal amount on his fingers before pressing one back into Jack. The human whimpered, finally closing his eyes. There was something radiant about Sìhǎi that hurt his eyes if he stared too long.

Robes brushed Jack's outer thighs as Sìhǎi adjusted himself, placing his free hand on Jack's hip. Something akin to a coo left Sìhǎi's mouth, and Jack shivered when lips pressed against his collarbone.

"You insist upon closing your eyes—am I ugly, Jack?" Sìhǎi asked, finger moving slow and steady, stretching Jack. "Are you so tired that you cannot concentrate on me?"

"I do not wish to stare." Jack told him, cracking his eyes open once more. Sìhǎi's ears had perked up slightly. "Your divinity burns me, the longer I look."

Sìhǎi clicked his tongue. "Ah, yes. Mortal eyes are not meant to take in the grandeur of my form." Another kiss, lower on Jack's chest, right above his heart. "I will adjust."

It was like turning off a flashlight; suddenly things seemed darker, muddled yet still brimming with glory. Jack's eyes relaxed, now focusing on Sìhǎi with every bit of his energy. Sìhǎi seemed pleased, because he moved back up Jack's body, tucking a second finger inside along the first. It burned, but Jack gritted his teeth against it. He was blessed that the god was taking the time to stretch him—and he was by no means a stranger to pain.

"What first?" Sìhǎi murmured softly; his lips found Jack's throat, pulling a stuttered whine from it. "The cough, yes." The warm, wet lips travelled up Jack's neck, pausing only at the corner of his permanently misaligned jaw. "I can't have you too breathless on me."

Jack wondered briefly what the god spoke of, and then decided it was of no consequence when kissing resumed up and over his jaw and across his cheek. He hadn't been expecting the kindness, but it was welcome. Sìhǎi pressed his nose against Jack's, humming out loud. He then dipped down, pressing his mouth against the human's.

A choked noise left Jack, and he opened his mouth in an instant. Sìhǎi pressed his tongue in without further prompting; Jack could hear the low growl building in his chest and then dying in his throat. The kiss lasted long enough to steal Jack's breath, leaving him panting.

"You seem disinterested." Sìhǎi growled out when he pulled away; his free hand moved from Jack's hip to the area above his flaccid cock. "Is that anyway to greet me? Not even half-hard."

Jack swallowed. "I've no right to pleasure in your presence, shangdi." He responded. "I was given something to relax my body and prevent any such thing from occurring."

"Nonsense." Sìhǎi rumbled out; he laid his hand over Jack's stomach, and a pulsing, uneasy jolt jerked through Jack's body. Finger's stalled inside him, and then Jack groaned— something in the air around him changed. Suddenly the scent of pumpkin and nutmeg invaded his senses, and his head was turning to the side, his next inhale a reedy gasp.

The fingers moved again, this time crooking up and pressing hard against his inner walls; Jack made a noise far from human, toes curling. There was no mercy in Sìhǎi's eyes as he pressed his fingers harder against Jack's prostate, rolling the small bud beneath his fingers almost painfully.

"Much better. To think that they actually believe me to be blind to my sacrifice's pleasure—do they not understand your purpose?" Sìhǎi snapped. "Do you understand your purpose?"

Jack shook his head quickly; the drug, so easily drained from him, hadn't given any time to adjust. It was too much, too quickly. Every bit of him was crying out to be touched, to be branded by the immortal, divine being above him—and the god hadn't even pulled out his cock yet. In fact, Sìhǎi was still dressed in robes that flowed over his body, fitting so well they could have been made of water.

Sìhǎi grabbed at Jack's cock, giving it a quick pump. The human's hips jerked upward, rocking into the hand around his cock, and then back down against the fingers shoving into him, stretching and twisting until they slid in and out with ease.

"I suppose that is too much to ask of you." Sìhǎi hummed, pressing another kiss to Jack's mouth. Jack whined against his mouth, forgetting for a moment that Sìhǎi was a god. Sìhǎi shifted, kissing Jack harder. "The look in your eyes tells me that I am your first."

Jack nodded—or tried to. The divinity from earlier had flooded him again, mixing headily with that heavy, haunting scent; the combination had Jack's vision going blurry. Without thinking, he brought his hands up to grab at Sìhǎi's shoulders—the skin nearly burned in his grip, but he merely moved his hands higher, wrapping his arms around Sìhǎi's neck. There was a slight tinkling where he brushed the god's hair, but he was too scatter-brained to pay it much attention.

If Sìhǎi was offended, he didn't let it show. His tongue plunged into Jack's mouth, tasting every inch of the young man's mouth and licking across the inside of his cheeks.

"Wider." He snarled out, tugging his hands free; as the cowing pressure on his prostate left, Jack gained some semblance of thought. He blinked dizzily up at Sìhǎi. "Your legs, you silly little thing."

Jack opened his legs wider, mind desperately trying to piece together why Sìhǎi had stopped not only stretching him, but fisting his cock as well. As the god reached into the bowl once again, and then applied the oil to his cock, the answer snapped into place.

Sìhǎi was going to fuck him.

Yes, of course. That was why Jack had been brought here. He clumsily stretched his legs wider, inviting Sìhǎi in between his thighs without a second thought. Jack was given a kiss for his efforts, and his lips chased Sìhǎi's when they left. He briefly wondered where the god's clothing had gone, but shoved the thought aside. Who was he to question Sìhǎi?

"You will suffer no more." Sìhǎi told him once again, digging a hand into Jack's side. "You have suffered so much, Jack." His cock drug against Jack's thigh, leaving a long, wet line of pre-cum in its wake. Jack looked down, mild fear eating at his otherwise dazed mind. "Do not shy from me—I have chosen you for a reason."

Jack nodded, not entirely sure what to say to something like that—in fact, he couldn't really think of anything to say at all, as Sìhǎi lined up his cock against his entrance and pushed. Jack was expecting pain, of course, upon entry—but once again, it was only that burn, that stretch.
"Sìhǎi.
" Jack breathed as the god pressed into him, hips working in quick jerks that gave Jack little time to adjust. "Body and soul."

A hand placed itself on Jack's chest, pinning him down efficiently as Sìhǎi rolled his hips forward. There was no time wasted, Sìhǎi's hips rolling forward and grinding against Jack's. "I know. There's no need to repeat yourself—I have you now, and you will find no escape from me."

Sìhǎi leaned down near Jack's ear. "I have no intention of going slow, tonight." He whispered, following up his statement with a quick, hard thrust that pressed deep into Jack and ripped a yowl from him. Sìhǎi chuckled, sitting up fully and grabbing at Jack's hips. As promised, the god didn't slow down from there, hips working in a heavy, sharp pattern that burned with each thrust inside. Sìhǎi was only satisfied, it seemed, if he sheathed himself completely in Jack with each movement.

After Jack got past the initial pain and discomfort, he could almost pull pleasure from the rough pace that Sìhǎi had set. There was something about the friction that had him moaning and jerking his hips up to meet the gods needy, rushed pace.

Halfway through the thorough fucking, Jack found his legs jerked up and over Sìhǎi's shoulders, and his lower body folded in half; despite the movement, the god's pace never slowed—but he certainly reached deeper this way, and Jack whimpered at the fullness of it. Jack opened his mouth to voice his appreciation, only for it to be gobbled up by hungry kisses.

"Don't speak, unless it is my name." Sìhǎi growled. "Don't breathe unless it's in my name."
"Sìhǎi, Sìhǎi, Sìhǎi, Sìhǎi,-" Jack chanted, as if on command. He was cut off by another kiss, all consuming and burning to the point of catching fire. Those hips kept pushing forward, spearing Jack deep and giving him no time to rest between them. Every other thrust caught his prostate, getting his body to shake and shiver with a need for completion.

Eventually, Sìhǎi gave it to him; the god snuck his hand down, whispering something in a language that Jack didn't understand. As soon as those hot, thick fingers wrapped around him, Jack was coming, creating a mess between his belly at Sìhǎi's. The world blacked out around him, leaving him only vaguely conscious of Sìhǎi's own release, pushed deep into him by staccato thrusts and uneven rolls of the gods hips before unconsciousness took him completely.

Jack didn't necessarily wake up—it was like he'd blipped out of the world, and then back into it as if no time had passed at all; it had, of course, what with the sun filtering in through nearby windows. But Jack hadn't moved from the blankets that he'd laid upon the night before. He had long gone cold upon them, even with the fires burning insistently around them and the low, mournful sound of the bell welcoming the day.

Lips, no longer warm, pressed against his forehead—those golden eyes, ever-unforgiving, looked into his. Waiting. Jack flicked his eyes to meet those of Sìhǎi's, and he offered the god a crooked smile. Careful and unsure, Jack carefully swung his legs over the side of the altar, genuinely surprised when no pain laced through his body.

Sìhǎi offered a bloodied, steady hand to the human; Jack looked down coyly, swinging his bare feet to and fro. He noted the dried blood that decorated the stone floor beneath him with little interest. He then looked up at Sìhǎi, who hadn't moved. Jack carefully hopped down from the altar, taking the proffered hand in his own.

"No more suffering?" Jack repeated the gods words as a question. Sìhǎi nodded, but said nothing, squeezing Jack's hand. The human looked over his shoulder and caught the faintest sight of flame flickering hungrily outside the stained glass at the front of the church. The hand on his squeezed again, and he turned to look up at Sìhǎi, no longer affected by the god's burning, near blinding grace.

Sìhǎi smiled. "No more suffering...for you. "