Chapter 2: Michael (Rough Draft)

         When Zach arrived at the gates the knights were already there in their ranks. The troop he was accompanying consisted of mostly younger trainees looking to be in their upper teens to lower twenties. There looked to be about fifteen or twenty of them. “I think this voyage is just what the boys need to get a bit of hands on experience.” Sir Jordy, the commander of the troop, said to Father Isaac and Knight Captain Galdoraan.
         “I’m sure they’ll do just fine.” Father Isaac responded.
         “Galdoraan, will you be accompanying us to the sanctuary?”
         Galdoraan stood observing the boys standing formally in their ranks looking strait forward in rows of five. “I’m afraid not, Sir Jordy.” Galdoraan said formally. “I have some very important business to attend to here.”
         “Oh really? Well that’s too bad. Perhaps next time then?”
         “Perhaps.”
         Zach approached Father Isaac.
         “Ah! There you are. Zachary, this is Sir Jordy. He is the commander of the troop you will be accompanying to the sanctuary. Please, introduce yourself.”
         “So this is the young healer you’ve told us so much about?” Sir Jordy asked. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you!”
         “Nice to meet you too.” Zach responded.
         “Please, just fall in somewhere among the ranks of the knights and we’ll be off as soon as the High Priest and Priestess are finished.” Sir Jordy suggested.
         Zach did so. He had never met any of the knights before, except for a few of the older knights he had met when Isaac had stopped to speak to them.
         He made his way to the back row and shyly stood beside a brown-haired, seven-foot tall, steel titan that didn’t dare to look anywhere but forward. Why is everything so formal? Zach wondered.
         “Knights! Kneel!” Sir Jordy commanded.
         In unison all of the knights bent down onto one knee and bowed their heads. Zach quickly glanced at them and clumsily followed. Then he heard the High Priestess, Jocelyn, recite a familiar prayer he’d had to recite before as well.
         When she was finished,the knights once again stood tall, in unison, and Zach clumsily followed them. “Farewell. We shall return in a few days.” Sir Jordy announced.
         “Gods guide you, Sir Jordy.” Spoke the Knight Captain.
         The knights turned, again in unison, and marched off into the forest, Zach clumsily following.
         Once they were far enough away from the sanctuary, or, more specifically, from the strict eyes of their knight captain, they relaxed. No longer were they standing backs straight, stiff as a monastery column. The assumed a more casual position and held friendly conversations.
         “Phew! It feels good to finally be away from him!” one of the knights said, referring to the knight captain.
         “Tell me about it! He’s so strict all the time.” responded another.
         Zach felt like a tiny ant on a busy street. None of the knights even spoke to him. He wished Priscilla had been able to come with them, at least then he would have had someone to talk to.
         “Hey there!” A group of three of the titans approached him.
         “Oh. Umm… hi!” Zach managed to stutter.
         “You’re Zach, right?”
         “Y-Yeah.”
         “Nice to meet you,” the titanic man said. “I’m Joshua. This is Chad…”
         “What’s up?” Spoke the tan-skinned giant Chad.
         “And this is Michael.”
         The giant looked at Zach with a strange look in his green eyes. Zach had trouble deciphering just what kind of emotion the giant was conveying. Was that… No. It couldn’t be!
         “Hey Michael. Are you OK?” his friend, Josh, asked.
         “Huh?! Oh, uh, hi!” his face turned red from both embarrassment and nervousness.
         “…Right. So you’re Isaac’s apprentice. Please, tell me about yourself. I’m curious, how did you end up at the sanctuary? How long have you been there?” Josh asked.
         “Well,” Zach began “when I was a kid my parents sent me here. It was never really my choice, to be honest. As for how long I’ve been there, I’ve been there since I was ten.”
         “And you are now…”
         “Seventeen.”
         “I see. So what is it that Isaac teaches you?”
         “Mostly healing magic. That’s kind of why I’m here. In case you guys need me.”
         “Interesting.”
         The group of men continued their trek through the forest, not running into too much trouble other than the occasional wolf pack. Finally they reached the foot of the mountain trail. By this point the sun was beginning to set so Sir Jordy decided it would be best to go ahead and set camp for the night.
         “All right everyone, it’s getting late. Go ahead and set your tents for the night. Zach, you go with Michael and Chad to fetch some wood for the fire.”
         Michael and Chad walked off into the woods and Zach followed behind them. Zach was already exhausted from today’s hike, he was on the verge of collapsing!
         “Hey, little dude, are you alright? You look like you’re about to pass out!” Chad asked in his jock-ish voice.
         “I’ll… be fine… I just need… to catch my… breath…” Zach said breathing heavily.
         “No seriously, Zach, I think you need to- !” Before the mysterious Michael, who had hardly spoken a word since Josh had introduced them, could finish his sentence, Zach began to collapse.

         “Where am I?” Zach wondered. He was in a graveyard. It seemed strangely familiar, yet foreign at the same time. At the end of the graveyard he saw the back of a church. He walked through the graveyard slowly and steadily, examining the gravestones as he walked towards the church.
         He eventually came across a woman mourning at one of the graves on her knees with her hands covering her face.
         “Hey, I’m sorry, I know this probably isn’t the best time but can you tell me where I am?”
         The woman removed her hands from her face and got up off of her knees. She kept her back to Zach, her black hood preventing him from seeing her face.
         “Ma’am?”
         “He he he!” the woman turned and began running towards the church, laughing as she went.
         “Hey! Wait! Please!” Zach started to run after her but stopped as he felt a strange presence fill the graveyard. The dirt at the foot of the gravestone beside him began to shift. Then a pale, corpsey, cadaverous hand emerged from the grave.
         “What the hell?!” Zach screamed.
         Zach turned to check the other graves. Out of all the graves emerged pale zombies except for the one the strange woman was mourning at.
         “That grave…” Zach began when one of the zombies jerked on the back of his shirt.
         “Stop! Let me go! Somebody help me!” He couldn’t escape from the creature’s grasp. And more of the creatures surrounded him, grabbing him, tearing his clothes from his body.

         “Someone help me!!!”
         “Zach! Zach! Zach!!”
         Zach awoke in a tent back at the camp with the face of Michael looking down at him.
         “I… I’m at camp. Gah… it seemed so real.”
         “What? What seemed so real? Why were you screaming? Are you OK?” Michael said this with a hint of franticness in his voice. He was looking at Zach with that same look in his eyes. Zach was under a spell. Michael, by the look in his eyes, was falling under a spell himself. One that Zach was unknowingly casting on him.
         “I… uh… had a dream…” Zach said slowly, as he slowly sat up.
         Zach looked at Michael and took in his every detail. His long black hair, his soft pink lips, his long, muscular body. Every detail about Michael put Zach deeper into his trance.
         “About what?”
         Michael’s words brought Zach back to his senses. “Well… I have these… visions.”
         “Visions? Of what?”
         “Well, they always seem to take place at or around a church. And in both of the ones I’ve had so far there was a horde of zombies.” Zach explained.
         “Zombies?” Michael asked. “Do you think there might be something waiting for us at the sanctuary?”
         “I’m not really sure. Do you think we should tell Sir Jordy?”
         “Are you sure they’re visions and not just dreams?”
         “Well, that last one seemed pretty real. I could almost feel them biting into my skin!”
         “Well… if you truly think that they’re visions then warning Sir Jordy might be wise. But he’s asleep right now so you’ll have to tell him in the morning.”
         “Right… OK.”
         Michael looked at Zach, once again with that look. Could he really be…
         “You’re different, aren’t you?” Zach asked.
         Michael’s facial expression changed to one of shock. “I, uh! W-What do you mean?!”
         “You know what I mean. I can tell by the way you look at me.” Zach replied confidentally yet with a caring tone in his voice, as he scooted closer to Michael.
         “I…” was all that Michael could manage to get out.
         Zach kept slowly getting closer to Michael. He was now right beside him with his hand on Michael’s thigh. “It’s OK, Michael. You’ve found somebody who understands.”
         “Wait. You mean you like…”
         “Men?” Zach asked.
         “Y-Yeah.”
         This was something Zach had been hiding for years. Not even Priscilla knew about it. He was afraid to tell anyone. The priests at the sanctuary strongly preached against same-sex relations, but Zach never really cared. Coming to the sanctuary was never his idea to begin with, and frankly he didn’t really care what the sacred texts said.
         “Yeah. Yes I do.”
         “Really?!” Michael asked excitedly, wide-eyed, heart pounding.
         “Do you want me to prove it to you?” Zach asked playfully.
         “Prove it? How-”
         Michael was cut off by Zach leaning in and stealing a kiss from his lips. Michael was shocked! Zach slid his tongue inside of Michael’s mouth. He wanted to explore this beautiful man. His tongue darted around his mouth, exploring every nook and cranny of this gorgeous human being’s mouth. When he was finished exploring he went for his tongue, enticing it to come and play.
         Zach had caught Michael completely off guard. Michael, sensing Zach’s message, went with his gut and slid his tongue into Zach’s. Their tongues danced around each others’ mouths for what seemed like an eternity, dancing their ballet of masculinity.
         Ever so slowly their tongues parted ways, slipping back into their own individual domains.
         “That was… amazing.” Michael said in awe.
         “I never kissed anyone before.” Zach admitted.
         “Really? Neither have I. But you’re very good.”
         “Thanks. You were too. So, does anyone know that you like men?”
         “Are you kidding me? If anyone knew, I’d be exorcised!” Michael exclaimed.
         “I’ve been thinking, I’ll be eighteen soon, so I’ve been thinking about maybe leaving the monastery.”
         “Where will you go?”
         “Well, I’m a healer. I could always open a clinic.”
         “That sounds…” Michael paused to think “viable. I’ve also thought about leaving, but I don’t really know where I’d go…”
         Zach looked at Michael’s beautiful face again then looked away and began thinking. “Well, maybe you could…”
         “…Maybe I could what?” Michael asked nervously.
         “Well… I was just gonna suggest that you, maybe, could come with me…?”
         Michael look at Zach again, somewhat surprised. By the look in his eyes he was taking Zach’s suggestion into serious consideration. “We’ll see.” Was his short response.
         Zach looked him in the eyes once again. “Wait. How did I end up back here anyway?”
         “When you passed out, and wouldn’t wake up, I carried you back here. Sir Jordy instructed me to watch over you and make sure that you were OK.” Michael explained.
         “How long was I out?”
         “About four hours.”
         “That long?”
         “Yeah. Everyone’s been concerned.”
         “I see. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep after that dream. Do you think we could sit up and talk for awhile?” Zach asked.
         “Sure. I usually don’t need much sleep anyway.”
         “Thanks. So tell me about… you. How did you end up in the knights?”
         “Well, I can say first and foremost, it wasn’t my decision. It was kind of a last resort. I’m an orphan. My parents were killed when our village was raided by a group of bandits. I had nowhere else to go after that, so I came here.”
         “That’s terrible!” Zach exclaimed. “How did you survive?”
         “I’m not entirely sure to be honest. I was fourteen when it happened. The bandits, they came out of nowhere. One minute, peaceful farming village. The next, disaster. My father wouldn’t let me fight. He gave me a dagger and told me to hide in the house. I ran inside and hid in my room. I stood at the center of my room, ready to stab any bandits that came through that door. They broke the door down, stepped inside, looked around, and left. It was as if they didn’t even see me.”
         “Didn’t see you? How could they not see you?”
         “I don’t rightly know.”
         Zach and Michael sat up for a few more hours. Talking, getting to know each other. Zach told Michael about how, according to Isaac, his parents were going through a financial crisis, that’s why they sent him to the sanctuary. They didn’t think they could support him.
         After awhile, they grew tired and went to sleep.