VOLUME I: Chapter One

VOLUME I

Chapter One

Ritian didn't really know what is it like after being announced dead. He recalls being dragged around by a car that weights ten times than his body but when the moment of truth came and everything finally blackened out, the stairways to heaven and the hole to hell didn't make its appearance to play good cop and bad cop on him.

Ritian was so ready to complain why he had to be dead at the age of twenty five. Luckily, he was brought back to life. Sort of.

He never had a chance know what does the angels and saints look like up in heaven. Who's more handsome or who's more buff. He'd really wanted to take a peek. He never got the opportunity to do so. Nevertheless, he was given a second chance in life. He would never trade that for anything.

On one calm, late afternoon in the quiet lake wedged beside the northern mountains of Cabato, Ritian found himself drowning. His awkward squawk of distress broke the trance of silence in the area.

He gasped and screamed. The water doesn't taste like lime. Fortunately. That made him sigh a little bit in relief. He hates that flavor. That's the only silver lining he could muster in this dire situation.

Ritian's arms and legs were both numbed. Indicating that he's been struggling for awhile now.

The endless clothes he's in made every bit of movement impossible for Ritian. He took a big gulp of air before lowering his body into the water. He wanted to see what held him back from being alive again.

He didn't like what he saw.

His shrieking voice was muffled by the lake water but the horror he felt in his bones perceived.

He's wearing a white robe.

He failed to see things clearly below but he cannot be mistaken. He's in a thick lump of fabric long enough to be called a blanket.

'Why the chicken feet am I wearing this?'

He panicked. Ritian knew how to swim. His Dad forced him once a 'lesson' that he had never forgotten. After that, once he's thrown in the water, his body will move in instinct. His thin arms should wad at a frightening speed with his feet coordinating with a not so elegant frog jumping routine in a desperate move just to push himself up and be on the dry part of the earth again. It should be like that, regardless of who the audiences are.

Forget poise! I wanted to live!

This robe hinders him from fulfilling a long life. It wanted to kill him. This must be possessed!

Ritian's nose burned and the sting made him wince. The warmth he felt in his eyes increased his weariness. Just a little more and his head will be full of water. 'What's the purpose of breathing again, then, just to experience dying for the second time?'

Forcefully pulling himself out of the robes, he wrestled and rolled against the fabric. It took a very long moment before he successfully discarded the pitiful cloth.

Now he only had a thin piece of undergarment left. It resembled a newborn baby nappies. It frightened him. Luckily, he didn't have much time to lament about it. 'Wait for me to get out of this!'

This series of unfortunate events is gnawing on his patience. 

'Oh, stuff it! I survived a car accident, I will live through the shame of—'

A loud splash in front of him halted all of his movements. He struggled to look for what happened. His eyes became blurry and it hurts as well. It took a long while before it gradually cleared. "Holy popsicle…" his hoarse voice filled the air. It sounds weak and terrible. "Oh, my lord."

The unfamiliar surrounding made Ritian quiet for a second. The excessive trees and vegetation surrounding the lake he had been chillin' in was not part of the city where he grew up. Ritian can swear on his grandmother's grave he had never seen an uncooked eggplant before. Whole and wriggling slightly because of the breeze. Still attached to the stems where it hangs for dear life.

'I should call the police.' Ritian swallowed some water. The fishy taste of it registered on his tongue. He closed his eyes, fighting an intense grimace. 'No. I should call Mama. I felt violated! I want to sue someone!'

A large hand held his lower abdomen. Ritian was frightened. He flailed miserably. The hand exuded a light strength, the intent to freeze him in place is distinct. His energy was spent on the robe earlier and being soaked in the water for an unknown length of time, his non-existent muscles couldn't hold on much longer. He tried to remove the stranger's palm on his bare stomach.

The hand was long and wide. A few times bigger than his hand although the fingers were slightly crooked. The callous tickled his skin whenever it slides to move a little.

"Stop! Stop!" A concerned voice rung above Ritian's head. A large expanse of smooth skin welcomed Ritian's view when he tried to look back. It's a chest of a well grown man with a stout, faint chocolate colored nipple.

The body's built and the man's voice itself.

It's a guy he never had a fortune to meet before. Ritian almost wept. God knows he never had any man to man experience even after chasing all of the varsity member of his class. Dying with a profile tagged as a virgin is a waste. He was sympathetic with him that he sent an angel to let him have a good coupling session. 'God is great! God is merciful!'

Ritian laughed comfortably. Having pushed back and forth between life and death, he diagnosed himself thoroughly deranged at this moment. "Yes, yes. Here is a good location. Let's do it here and have no regrets later on!"

Ritian followed the man's graceful chest disposition before finally looking at his face. He was instantly moved. The man was handsome. The type of men who were usually used as a book cover for werewolves Alpha romance flick he reads before going to sleep (or playing with his member).

Ritian believed that he is still blessed after everything.

"Oh, yeah!" Ritian nodded in satisfaction. "Really good."

The man had an unfriendly look on his face. His straight, jet black hair fell graciously on the water. It was long and shiny, reaching just below his ribs. Ritian's eyes widened slightly when he noticed that just like the man, he got the long hair going on. It's just that his was unruly and wet because of the water, while the man's hair doesn't drip. 

'Is this God's requirement before going up in heaven?' Ritian pondered, 'I never had this long hair before but if it look 'that' good, like the guy here, then I might want it an extra inch or two.' 

He lifted a finger and smiled at the man. Ritian tried to be coquettish. He must look awful by now. Eyes red-rimmed, nose red and swollen, lips bordered between pale pink and blue. 'It's okay. He saw what torture I've been through. He's that handsome, so he must be reasonable!'

Contrary to what he had expected, the man winced. Scrunching his nose before staring at him deeply. "Get up! You're disturbing the fish."

'I what the what?' Ritian blinked. He lifted a palm and put it on the man's chest. "You saved me. Thank you!" His ears might be clogged because of the water and didn't hear it clearly. This is a bit disconcerting!

The guy's lips opened for a moment. He shifted his gaze at the side later on, still keeping silent. It was as though he's considering something before shaking his head. "I didn't save you. I need to move you out. The fish in this lake were scared of you."

The man had a nice voice. Warm and gentle. The deep baritone voice caressed his heavily injured self-esteem. It's neither fast paced nor slow. Yet Ritian doesn't understand him. He couldn't comprehend what he had said.

'Does he wanted to say… he wasn't intending to save me but to appease the fishes?' Ritian tilted his head on the right. He held his cheek on one bony hand. It felt as though he was slapped by someone. "Oh, then… why are you hugging me? Do you like me?" 

'My eagerness got ahead of me.' Ritian pushed the guy lightly. He swam to the side and readied to pull himself up. His arms were still weak but there's no way he's staying on the lake with this man. 'He wants to get to know the fish! Not. Me!'

He can basically hear a comment from someone on an online forum berating him with something along the lines of, 'That's why no one wanted to date you, Tee. You tend to jump the gun.'

'Then what's the use of that 'gun' if it's not for humping! Let me get it just once!'

Certainly, they were talking about different guns. Ritian thought seriously, 'Do I really misunderstood everything in life?'

Then it's good that he's dead right now!

He pursed his lips. Casting the guy still staring blankly on the water a suspicious glance, he continued minding his own struggles. 'It might be 'him' giving me wrong clues! Spare this virgin, sir! I'm not well-versed in flirting!'

"Hey, you!"

Ritian involuntarily stiffened. He hesitated for a second. Deciding to ignore the guy, he humped. The cold wind swept his face. He gritted his teeth and continued to fight the cold.

"You're not supposed to walk around naked!"

Splashes of water indicated that the man moved. Ritian became alarmed. He hastened his movements, and almost grin in pride when he finally survived the sloppy way. He called, "I'm not naked! See this sexy white piece of see through something? This is called underwear! An ancient type of undergar—"

Ritian halted. He turned back only to see the male god carelessly taking steps towards him. His golden skin was adorned with tattoos in runes on both arms.

"Ancient what?" the man said, "It's not polite to run around in that state. That's why I kept you in the water. I'd like to ask you where did you put your clothes."

Ritian's mouth slacked. He couldn't hear anything aside the man's alluring voice, and the meaning that it implied.

"Tell me where did you lost your clothes. I'll find it. If a villager happened to caught an eye on both of us here with you naked, you wouldn't like the rumors once its spread. It will be awful, miss."

Ritian's lips twisted. A scandalized look crossed his face before he focused on the most important thing. "I'm clearly a man! Who were you calling a miss? What? You wanna see a proof of my male goods?"

He expected the man to be shocked and weirded out. Ritian stared as the man shook his head and smiled. "I'm Wenren. Let me help you."

Ritian sneaked a look on his waist before squinting. He can't explain why does everything feels like a trap to him.

The man's gentle approach to him thwacked his alarm bells. 

This man knows him. There's no unfamiliarity with the way he moved and talked towards him. Like they knew each other, it's just that they don't talk before. Ritian know people like him, and he doesn't trust them.

'Maybe I'm overthinking.' Ritian scolded himself, 'I don't plan running around in this mess.'

He doesn't know the place he is currently in. Ritian don't even remember coming to this place. The only thing he could verify right now is that, he's not dead. And this place is no heaven.

"Hey!" Ritian called him, "What's your name?"

The man swam to his direction. His muscles flexed as he pushed on the ground and hefted himself up with ease. "I'm Wenren. I'm a martial hero."

'It's official.' Ritian thought, 'Looks like I really lost my marbles.'