The First Age

Sage was glad Aiden wasn't too upset about Nox. And he'd said something that was true. Nox did help him through a rough time, just like he'd helped him through the loss of his sister. Which he was still dealing with on many levels - the whole Elyse thing was just one part of it. But Aiden kissed him again and the thoughts of Nox helping him left and there was nothing but Aiden. Until when Sage opened his eyes and saw an orange glow casting shadows over Aiden. He smirked. "We really need to get that fixed." Sage pressed his body against Aiden. "We can't burn Dorian's mansion down if you get all excited. But..." Sage winked. "Nox's Dojo is fire proof."

Sage reluctantly pulled away from Aiden and left his thumb hooked in Aiden's waist. "I think it will be easier for you. There is no telling when Nox will be back though. He's at the grand ball thing at the Kremlin. So we have run of the house until Ana and Christian get home."

Aiden's butler/driver, whatever Sage thought opened the door and took Lasher's leash and they all got in the car. Christian was Dorian's butler, but he didn't act like it most of the time. Though Sage was pretty sure that was because Christian was banging Dorian's wife, and everyone knew it in the house. His life was so fucking strange now that he was living a 'normal' life. Was this even normal? Sage was pretty sure it wasn't.

They sat together and Sage sat as close as he could to Aiden, he liked the feel of the man beside him. It had been a while...

Sage wanted to kiss Aiden more, but figured it was better to wait. The last thing they needed were those lights distracting the driver and them crashing. Aiden needed to get them under control, they were seriously a dead give away and Sage didn't like being the center of attention. The neighborhood started to look familiar and Sage saw Dorian's mansion pull into view. What had once been a grand view of the ugly Russian house, was now a 10 foot high 3 feet wide stone wall build by Nox himself, and Cruz too, though it was mostly Nox. Sage sat up straight and wondered if Aiden would be able to see the traps Nox and Cruz meticulously checked before they left for the ball. "Stay in the driveway. Don't go out on the grass." He warned the driver and turned to Aiden to explain. "The yard is trapped with your gift. Trip wires and with flash bang bombs span every inch of the estate lands. Every window is trapped the same and so is every door but one. Nox is preparing for a war that will eventually come. You might think he sounds a little big crazy, but they've already tried to kill him once, and they'll come at him again."

The driver pulled into the driveway and Sage sat up. Christian's town car was parked in the driveway and Nova was walking the perimeter of the drive way barking at the strange car. "That's Nova. Nox's dog, or rather it's Aurora's dog, he just kept her." That was a big distinction, it was Aurora's pup, Nox just loved it to death 'cause it was hers.

Christian stood in the door watching the car pull in. Sage knew he had a gun in his hand behind the door way. The car had barely stopped when Sage got out first. he didn't wait for the door to be opened for him. "It's just me Christian. I'll take Nova in." The other man relaxed a little and headed inside Nova rushed towards him clearly staying off the grass. Once was enough for the pup. He jumped up against Sage's leg and he reached down to pet his head. "Hey Nova. This is Aiden and Lasher they are coming to visit."

Aiden was shocked at the sight of the walls and then Sage’s explanation as to what lay about the property. Was there a way to see the traps? He assumed it was magic if Nox had a hand in their creation. An ugly mansion loomed overhead, a butler standing at the door eyeing the limo with suspicion. Aiden looked over to his date and cocked an eyebrow, “The Atharim I assume? Isn’t the Ascendancy supposed to be protecting us from all that? If he’s so powerful, why doesn’t he just blast the assassins off the planet? Wouldn’t have to waste all of this space with traps then. I think a garden would look lovely over there,” He pointed to the side of the house, “I know some great landscapers in Suzdal… or rather my assistant does… If you all ever decide to brighten the place up a bit.”

                They got out of the car, Sage not waiting for Cooper to open the door. Aiden slid out after him, Lasher in tow, “Oh he’s adorable!” Lasher went right to the dog, sniffing Nova’s ass and then giving him a happy lick to the face. Aiden bent to scratch the dog behind the ear.

                Aiden looked up at Sage and quirked an eyebrow, “The Dojo is fireproof you say…?” Mischief twinkled in his eyes. He still didn’t want to sleep with Sage, oh he did, but not on the first date. That wasn’t to say he was going to stop teasing and tempting the man. That might get Aiden into trouble if he wasn’t careful, but he couldn’t help it. Sage was bringing out his playful side and it seemed that the other man could keep up. That was good.

Ascendancy couldn't protect them from the Atharim.  He didn't know who they all were.  "How do you protect the world from snakes in the grass but they look like blades of grass just like everyone else?"  Sage sighed.  "I'm going to tell you now because now is better than you getting mad later.  Nox is Atharim.  He is one of these so-called channelers and he is being hunted by his own people.  He knows them, how they fight, how they'll come at us here.  You can't wipe out the Atharim.  They fight the things that go bump in the night.  They fight baba yaga, and those creatures from the simulation I showed you.  Nox fought them, he lived."

Sage knew Aiden might leave now.  And he wouldn't blame him, but it was better than him finding out when Nox said it.  Nox was proud to be Atharim.  Ashamed of their deeds but he was Atharim.  "I understand if you want to bolt now, but you need to get those fire  things under control.  And I really do want to show you the house, and more of what I can do."

Aiden wasn’t shocked, but he was very confused. He still didn’t know exactly who or what the Atharim were; just that they were out to kill all Channelers. That was enough to scare Aiden, obviously. He cocked an eyebrow at Sage and voiced his confusion, “Good point… I’m still very ignorant on all of this. I was trying to read up on it all on the drive from Suzdal, but I couldn’t find much about the Atharim online… Save for what the Ascendancy has said in interviews. But how? How can he have been both? If he had anything happen like my little fairy lights, I don’t see how those snakes wouldn’t have found out. Lucky for him he got out when he did… And I guess that’s even better for us, yeah? Having a guy that was on the inside… He’d know best how to cut off the head of the beast if ever given the chance.”

                With a shrug, Aiden spread his hands, “I mean, being at this house does make me a bit more nervous now, but you’re not dead and neither are your roommates. So Nox’s enchantments must be doing the trick. Probably isn’t a safer place to be… At least for now. I’d very much like to learn how to do those things, if possible. I don’t need an invisible dog or sneaky snakes coming at me in the middle of the night. I want to be ready. I want to be able to protect myself… And those that I might care about.” Aiden winked at Sage then.

                “I wanna see the house and what you can do… and this mythical dojo,” he was all smiles at that last line. Aiden’s life had never exactly been normal and now it was shaping up to be like one of his books. That was both frightening and exciting.

Sage let loose a sigh of relief. "I think I can show you." Sage took Aiden's hand and checked his shoulder and pulled him along the driveway away from the traps. "Keep Lasher off the grass. If he needs to go there is a spot out back. I'll show you."

Sage led the way into the door Christian had been sitting at. There was a gun sitting on the table on the right side. Sage didn't know how to use it and he frowned at it as he walked into the foyer. But it was nothing new, he was just a hacker. "Over there, is the study. It's the best place in the place. Upstairs is everything else you rich and famous people like." Sage grinned at Aiden and led the way into the kitchen. "My second favorite place. The kitchen." The island in the middle had fruits waiting to be eaten. And the fridge was fully stocked. Nox's favorite part of the kitchen was the large brick oven on the other side of the island. The best pizza came out of that oven. Sage grinned as he lead Aiden through the kitchen and down into the basement.

It wasn't so dusty anymore as when they first started using it. Nova piled down the stairs ahead of them. Sage flipped the lights on and as you walked down the stairs the walls were covered in a plastic that wasn't really plastic, it was black and it hid the scorch marks well. The floor once they reached the bottom was too. Lining the walls there were several tennis ball serving machines. There were some pillars in the middle of the room holding the ceiling up. There was a set of weights and punching bag across the room in the corner and a couch on the other side of the pillars. The hall to Christian's room and Nox's hole in the wall and the gym like bathroom down the same hall at the end.

"This is home."

Sage lead Aiden into the house. Oh, he had heard everything Sage was saying, but the sight of a gun on the table next to the front door had given him pause. It’s not that he didn’t believe Sage, it was easy to when random fireballs popped up around you everytime you felt something strong. The gun though… Those had always made Aiden uncomfortable and worse, it made all of those stories about the Atharim real. Perhaps if he had been able to see the ‘traps,’ he would’ve felt a bit more uneasy. Instead, Aiden steeled himself and followed Sage deeper into the mansion.

                Lasher trailed after Nova, no doubt wanting to play with the other pup. Aiden took mental notes of everything Sage was pointing out. He was very curious as to what lay upstairs ‘for rich people.’ Perhaps there was a hot tub up there. Aiden did love a good, long soak. He hadn’t had a chance to install his yet back at the manor.

                The house could definitely use some love. If Aiden ever ended up coming here regularly, he would have to do something about that all. It wasn’t his house, true, but he had a taste for the finer things in life. That included fresh paint, larger than life furniture, and fresh flowers everywhere. He doubted the owner would mind a free makeover, but that was for another day.

                Aiden wasn’t sure what to make of the basement. He looked over to Sage and gave him a inquisitive look, “What do you guys use this room for? I mean, besides working out… Do I even wanna know what the tennis ball machines are for? It’s not bad. Could use a little TLC, but not bad. I’m sure that’s low on the list, though, what with evil assassins and all. Where is your room?”

Sage grinned. "This is the dojo. I programmed the serving machines to shoot balls randomly and he fights them off. Sometimes it's blind folded, most of the time it is." Aiden asked for his room. "It's not exactly mine. Christian stays with Ana so he said I could have the room instead of my hiding spot under the stairs."

Sage pointed to the overlarge pillow and christmas lights under the stairs. "This way." Sage tugged on Aiden's hand. They passed a small room with no door, on the other side was a small bed and lots of weapons, and a giant hole in the wall leading into the underground tunnels. The walls were lined with lead and was why it was so small now. "That's Nox's room. It's the safe room but he likes sleeping there."

Across the way was another door open just a jar and Nova pushed his nose through the door and jumped on the bed and spun around three times before jumping back down to bound around with Lasher. The pup was excited. "My room." Sage sighed. "Christian said I could redecorate." He winked at Aiden. The only thing in the room that was Sage's were his pillows and his laptop which sat on one side of the bed the other side was a rumpled mess.

“Oh! Well, that makes sense. The tennis ball machines just threw me off. The way he uses them kinda sounds like that old ass movie Star Wars… Was that your source of inspiration? If you haven’t see the movie yet, it’s awesome. We’ll have to pull it up on your computer or something,” Aiden took a harder look at the wall. There was a strange film over it. “What’s the stuff on the wall? Flame retardant?”

                Sage lead him deeper into the ‘Dojo,’ showing off Nox’s space and then finally his own. It was plain, which Aiden had assumed. Sage made the internet sound like his life, and really did his surroundings matter that much if he was just constantly in a VR heaven? Lasher chased after Nova, around the bed and out of the room, no doubting bolting around the spacious basement.

                Aiden looked at the bed and wiggled an eyebrow at Sage. “Well, you know I’d love to help you if you ever wanted to spruce the place up. A couple of pictures, a plant or two, maybe a desk and chair… That would definitely brighten this place up. I kinda assumed you’d have this huge monitor that took up the entire wall. Kinda like Batman, I mean you guys kinda already have a Batcave already. Then again, you probably don’t need a monitor, do you?”He loved pop culture, especially the stuff that came out in the 90’s and then the aughts. Not everyone caught Aiden’s references to those things, however. Not everyone was eager to watch the older classics, not with all of the advanced visual technology that had grown leaps and bounds since then.

Sage giggled a little at the Star Wars reference. "It was Nox's idea and he has no idea what Star Wars is. He knows monsters and fighting and killing." Sage shook his head. Sage grabbed his laptop and hit a button and a holo screen filled the whole room. "Nox's sister, took my designs and made this. Nox let me take it from his laptop when Aurora died. It was my tribute to his sister. And it reminds me a lot of Tony Stark's computer system."

Sage smiled. "But I don't need it, it's usually so others can see what I do." Sage winked. "So now I got you alone in my room what should we do?" Sage sat down on the bed and shoved backwards. [

“Yeah, we gotta culture that kid. I’m beginning to think he won’t understand half of what I say… Although I am sure the confused looks would be funny by themselves. Nah, you gotta download a movie library. Strap the dude to a chair and force him to watch it… Wait, we probably couldn’t do that either. Not if he’s got magic too,” Aiden said thoughtfully.

                A large holo-screen sprung up at Sage’s touch. Aiden’s eyes widened like saucer plates at the display. The other man was constantly surprising Aiden tonight. What was one more? A gasp escaped his lips, “Woah! Wicked! Sage, this is amazing! I can’t believe!”

                Then the other man flew back onto the bed, all but inviting Aiden to ravage him then and there. A smile quirked onto his lips, “Well, I did say no screwing on the first date. I guess that would depend on the definition of screwing… Is your room fire-proof too?” In a rush, Aiden descended on to Sage, shoving him down and pinning both hands above his head, securing them with a one-handed grip. He brought his face down to Sage’s, kissing him deeply and passionately. There was a hunger there; it had been so long for Aiden… Not since before coming to Russia… His body responded immediately, the pants he was wearing suddenly felt three sizes too tight!

                Aiden drew back, still holding Sage in place. Aiden looked at him for a moment, the hunger evident on his face, “What do we do indeed?” Two orbs of fairy fire sprung to blazing life above his head, spinning in a fast circle. They were strong and bright, a reflection of the storm that raged inside of Aiden.