Once upon a time!

Looking up, the gleaming stars in the veil of darkness reveal the magical forest in front of me. The skyscraping trees with their crowns of rustling leaves resemble a dark ocean from above that hides undiscovered, mystifying secrets that should remain hidden from prying eyes.

Just like the real ocean.

Apart from that you notice unusual individuals flying here, floating there, even teleporting around as if it is the most natural thing to happen. Well, that might be true for us. But for humans? Fortunately, they cannot see them.

But do you hear the few passing cars in the distance? No? Well, I do and it gives the calm, serene night a soothing vibe that makes it immaculate.

A cool breeze pushes the massive cloud that has been covering the moon for a while now thus blocking my highlight of the night. Rays of silver light slowly illuminate the equally silvery majestic fur that is covering my entire body, revealing an ancient being only known from norse mythology.

Its height more than two and a half metres, which was certainly not a normal dog or even wolf but something superior.

Something surely out of this world.

Since changing races, my life has been a heck of a rollercoaster and my whole universal and philosophical perspective has dramatically changed to degrees that can never be the same as before.

Oh, you want to know what happened and what I am now? Here is my story then.

Let's go back to five years ago.

A much too loud alarm sound rang through the house of a seemingly peaceful family as a hand desperately tried to reach for the clock but to no avail.

Sigh.

"I hate Mondays…" A groggy voice, seemingly during his voice breaking phase, left the mouth of a young teenager.

He pulled his blanket down to fully display a lean torso but actually nothing special to see except maybe his awfully pink nipples. If that's how nipples are supposed to look, he himself wasn't sure but at the end of the day he didn't care enough to think about it too much.

As the annoying sound of the alarm still didn't shut down and he slowly couldn't stand it anymore, with full force the clock was thrown against the wall next to his mirror.

Phew. That was close to say the least.

But instead of waking up and starting his morning, he chose to close his eyes and pull his blanket on top of his head hiding from the world once more.

It didn't take long to drift into dreamland again where anything was possible and soft snores could be heard once more.

Just a few minutes later, the door to his room was slammed open. A noticeable dent from where the handle hits the wall. The devil disguised as his mother entered the room and without a warning she pulled him out of his cosiness. Next thing he knew, he was landing hard on the floor.

Trying to gather his thoughts, he soon realised that he must have done it again. Slamming his clock against the wall. He was sure a dent must have been visible by now by the amount of times it happened occasionally. Okay, maybe two since his mother liked slamming the door too.

Sigh.

"Morning, Mum." Rubbing the few droplets of sleep from his crusty eyes away, he stood up and walked towards his window pushing his curtains open to bask his bare torso in the warm sunlight.

"Morning to you too, Silas." A smile that looked much too evil and didn't reach her eyes decorated her charming face as she picked up his blanket, folded it and placed it on his bed.

"I made breakfast. So go take a shower, dress up and then come to the kitchen."

"Uh huh."

And with that she left the room.

An image slowly walked towards the large mirror. A young boy let his fingers drift across his identical twin on the other side of this reflective surface.

There he was. A boy with silky pitch black bed hair reflecting the sunlight and those tired black eyes curiously staring right back at him.

Slowly entering puberty had brought some changes with it like previously mentioned his changing voice, the steady growth and other unmentionable aspects that should remain in pants. For now.

But he still wasn't taller than his best friend, Jude. What bad luck.

It was never meant to be a competition between them but at some point they both became some sort of friendly rivals throughout the years, which strengthened their friendship further.

Before he could fall deeper into his mind, his mum entered the room once more and picked out a few pieces of clothing for school.

"Here you go. Now hurry up into the bathroom, we don't have so much time to waste." She ushered him out of the room. 

Silas picked up his clothes and walked towards the bathroom but before he entered, he awkwardly turned towards his mum.

"You know mum, I can pick my own clothes. I am not a baby anymore."

"Yeah right, that's why you were staring at yourself in the mirror instead of hurrying up." A knowing smirk never leaving her mouth. She really was a devil in disguise.

As soon as she said that, he blushed heavily, hastily walked towards the bathroom and abruptly closed the door. His mum, seeing his cute reaction, chuckled while walking away.

It only took him a few minutes to finish everything and so he hurried towards his room to pack his backpack, eat breakfast with his parents and leave for school.

Now for a normal teenager school isn't something to be overly excited or motivated about but for Silas? He kind of liked it there. The teaching and learning in itself was pretty interesting but it was the ambiance that brightened his mood always.

His best friend, the breaks, club activities or just reading in the library. All of those made his school life so much more fun. So much more colourful.

The only thing that bothered him was the early wakening like what was the point? To force oneself out of their comfort called sleeping. For one or the other maybe even the only time they can let their guard down and fully relax.

Sigh.

As he almost reached school, a medium hard kick on his school bag was all he felt before his left leg automatically moved as if it had a mind on its own, as if it had done this a thousand times before and slammed it into his best friend's side. Of course, he knew the culprit would be none other than Jude, so he didn't apply any serious force in the kick but enough to toss him on the floor.

"It's always the same with you. Ever heard of 'normal' greetings, Jude?" There was a little creases forming in between his eyebrows and the fed up expression on his face indicating his clear annoyance with said boy.

Sigh.

He just let out a sigh to show his annoyance but the little smile threatening to come out was hard to supress.

Jude, a much taller boy with short fiery red hair, carrying a much too joyous expression for this early morning, laughed his ass off before standing up and playfully ruffling Silas' hair.

"You know how much I like to annoy you, don't cha? Then, of course I can't afford being 'normal' around you!" His dirty smile on his face eventually tickling a small chuckle out of Silas' mouth much to Jude's delight.

"See? I made you laugh. Now where is my reward, Sil?" The wiggling eyebrows that almost move like a real wave, the smug look on his face and the outstretched hand as if awaiting a payment. With a swift move of his hand, Jude received the holy stinky finger paired up with a face 'graced' with disgust.

Something that happens too seldom to not count it as holy.

Silas or also known as Sil hurriedly made his way towards school leaving behind a madly laughing friend trying to catch up with him. Oh, how much he adored his disgusted face.

Just as soon as they crossed the school gate a few glances and some whispers suddenly filled the school ground bustling with middle schoolers as if on cue, as if they waited for these two to appear. That wasn't too far from the truth.

Now, it wasn't a surprise for either of them as it happened day by day. Not that any of them cared or felt bothered. That was the price for blossoming so handsomely and appealing to the eye as conceited as it sounded, it was a simple fact.

The taller of the two being known for his height despite their young age, nice looks and a really easy going personality but especially those smouldering scarlet hair. Girls, even some of the boys, left and right swayed easily. He could talk with anyone under any circumstances.

The personification of a social butterfly.

Something many adored and envied him for. Yet he took a liking to this specific smaller human boy since they were younglings. Not as a love interest, rather a younger brother he never knew he had. Or rather needed.

Annoying the heck out him like an older brother would yet be also there in times needed like in past events. Giving him advice, sometimes stupid ones or just spending time with him. Thus he took great care of Sil. Of his brother.

And any attempt from students to claim him as their own fell to deaf ears. It's not like he despised dating, no but rather his upbringing is… let's say a little 'special'. Not that any of them even Sil needed to know that.

And the boy next to him? Even harder to crack.

Not exactly cold but he seemed to just not care about strangers and ignoring them to the best of his abilities. He was not unfriendly, no. More polite but distant adding much to his charm. And his looks were just a simple breath of freshly made hot chocolate. Though it doesn't make sense, his beauty didn't either.

So it was a good analogy.

But as soon as he started to consider you one of his friends, you would immediately discover a new side of him which you never knew you needed. A smile so bright you might consider getting sunglasses for, the sounds of his laughter simply echoing inside of you strumming your heartstrings and a caring side even if you didn't have feelings for him you might blush unnecessarily and uncontrollably.

Even Jude wasn't spared from blushing.

Jude still trying to convince Silas to receive a reward as he made him laugh and Silas openly ignoring him to the best of his abilities, even though the idea of rewarding Jude if he succeeded in making him laugh was pitched by him.

But if the idea was his in the first place, he could dismiss it at any given time, right?

Not that Jude would allow that. Whatever promise was made, be it small or big, he will never forget and even hunt you down to collect his reward.

By any means. Literally.

But to Silas' salvation, just as they entered their class the teacher luckily decided to appear sooner than necessary and quieten the room with his presence. For others the stifling silence caused an unsettling feeling, not even daring to let a sound escape from their mouths as the teacher gets annoyed easily.

Yet to Silas the silence simply caressed his ear like a soft blanket. Welling in the few seconds of comfort before the last of the students sitting silently at their table.

Soon after, class begins. His favourite lesson- philosophy.

With the noticeably tired voice of the teacher yet a quite interesting topic, Silas was soon sent into a state of deep concentration visualising the talked matter in his head. An unusual habit he developed since he can remember. He simply didn't just- well think but every word, every syllable or letter he painted them so clearly in his mind, creating breathtaking artworks or sometimes just incredible movies.

But a fun fact- he didn't know how to draw or create a movie.

Additionally, a splendid side effect of this state of concentration, time seemed to move rather quickly. So in a blink of an eye the school bell rings indicating the end of class thus snapping Silas out of his head.

He abruptly began to pack his stuff to switch class rooms, not wasting any time as the next class was in a completely different building.

A really warm yet calloused hand touched his nape instantaneously relaxing towards this warm, soothing sensation. The few seconds of tingling heat rising in the pit of his stomach climbing upwards to his heart and calming him down. He looked up and saw his older brother smiling like an idiot towards him making his eyes look like crescents. Before he even realised, the corner of his lips ascended towards his eyes. A genuine expression of happiness.

Some classmates who were lucky enough to witness it held their breath for a second because his beauty was much too overwhelming.

The two boys were still smiling, almost telepathically talking to each other. With just their expression, they agreed to grab their bags and leave the room.

With hastened steps they moved towards the next building as they talked about everything and nothing.

Well, mostly Jude vividly described how a spaghetti got inside his nose as he was laughing too hard at family dinner pulling the slimy strings out and Silas rightfully cringing and gagging at how disgusting it must have been to witness such a repulsive act.

But they both ultimately laughed a little too hard before they entered their next class and at a blink of an eye the last bell rang.

"Finally, home sweet home. I miss my bed." An exhausted Silas dramatically slouching his back as his legs seemingly struggled to carry him through the school gate.

Soft laughter accompanied by a few 'Ouch' as Jude's tummy hurt him as the day consisted mostly of them laughing. Today they had a blast again and the school day successfully ended on a happy note.

"Oh man, you should seriously consider pursuing an acting career. Cause you are darn impressive!" The last few chuckles left his mouth before finally dying down but seemingly meaning what he just said as he saw potential in his friend and brother. Or maybe it was simply a sarcastic act.

"Maybe I should." Grinning sarcastically, raising an eyebrow to mock the other, he slowly walked out of the school ground.

"Oh, come on. Anyways let's go get some bubble tea. I have been craving them so much since I woke up today dreaming of them." Balling his hands in a fist and squinting his eyes to emphasize his struggle of not being able to wait to drink his favourite drink.

Dramatic llama.

Not daring to let his mouth corners rise any further up to his friend's shenanigans, he just turned the other way and walked with a specific location in mind.

Like a child to a parent Jude follows behind Sil just like he usually did knowing exactly where they're headed.

The two stood in front of a humble little store with a fancy sign at the end of a bustling street with pedestrians minding their business and rushing to their intended destinations.

The ringing of a small bell announcing their arrival. Behind the counter stood a fairly slender man they haven't met yet as usually a friendly middle-aged woman received their orders.

He seemed to be just a few years older, probably a highschool senior or similar. If it had been anyone else, Silas wouldn't have paid them much attention but this particular person had something compelling on him. He didn't dare to look away in fear of missing something.

It sounded kind of maniacal, creepy even considering it was a complete stranger but he just couldn't help himself.

Just as it was their turn to place the order, the intriguing male answered faster.

"The usual, right?" A small smile graced his plump lips creating two little creases around his mouth even reaching his eyes. Sil couldn't help but smile right back at him as the prickly sensation he felt in his heart wouldn't stop bugging him.

Was he that excited to drink bubble tea? Probably. Had been a while.

"Wow thanks, Leo. Didn't know you work here." A casual air enveloped the two males as they seem pretty familiar with each other. But my ears perked up at the name Leo.

"Yeah, I just had too much time at hand as I finished all my exams for my finals. And home is kind of boring, you know." His hand rubbed the back of his neck as he smiled sheepishly.

They talked about random stuff but Silas already stopped listening as he just watched every expression that surfaced on this particular male's face.

The way his eyes seemed to hold a plethora of emotions which fascinated the younger male greatly. Trying to decipher what secrets he kept.

His lips moving, sometimes ascending upwards. At some points even morphing into a huge toothy smile probably laughing. But suddenly Silas felt eyes staring right back at him.

They had locked eyes with each other.

A scarlet hue on his cheeks and a slight panic rose in Silas' stomach widening his eyes. He didn't know he was staring so intensely and so long up until this point. That must have been really uncomfortable for the other.

"And who might you be? Oh, wait. By any chance are you Silas?" Pitch black eyes swirled in even more chaos, panic and uncertainty as the lad in front of him somehow figured out his name. Even though they never met. Right?

Sensing his distress, Jude decided to intervene by introducing his cousin.

"He is my cousin, Leonardo. He and some other relatives live in my neighbourhood and we all grew up together as our families have known each other for quite some time now." A reassuring smile beaming from his face aiming to take away Silas' uncertainty was all he needed to calm down.

"I see."

"Oh my, I am sorry I may have come off as too forward without introducing myself first. My name is Leonardo and as mentioned I am Jude's older cousin. Jude talks a lot about you at home, so I kind of recognized you as you are exactly as he described." So that's how it was. The remnants of the uncertainty in Silas vanished into thin air rather a deep curiosity embedded itself into his heart.

Who is this man? This stranger that somehow wouldn't leave his mind at peace, his peace he so desperately built over time. Albeit he wouldn't get an answer anytime soon as the universe had other plans in store for him.

A plan that would change his life forever to degrees that could never be the same again.

And the lad in front of him? He would appear to be more than the eye meets.