Centaurian Ch. 07

"I get it now," said Ronan. "What an appetizing hunk of meat and potatoes you have there."

"Why, thank you. You, Liam, and the others may drop by as my special guests anytime."

"I appreciate the invitation. The place sounds amazing, and I would love to see it. So, you suggested that I might help you. In what way do you need help?"

You and I never have this initial discussion on the timeline, so it must happen here. I would normally have a reticence to reveal the future to anyone, but I will on this matter since it's already evident. You need to know what's coming on this topic. Your cum is Ambrosia, but that's not the only way you can make it. Unlike anyone else, the source of your power is so strong, stable, and pure that you can create Ambrosia at will, and that will be important to the gods in the future."

"Why is that?"

"Our supply of Ambrosia has dwindled, but the usual flow of it to Olympus will soon cease. It would arrive there every day, and today, we received about one-tenth less than before. Our having it every day has never been more than a decadence, but we have received it daily, so we must drink it, or it goes to waste. We couldn't store it like wine; old Ambrosia isn't good."

"If you're connected to the timeline and know all events," said Ronan, "then you know where Ambrosia comes from."

"That's right, I do. I refuse to say from where, except that no other planet has Ambrosia. It's a substance that accumulates over a twenty-four-hour period, and it has a short lifespan of only twenty-four hours after we receive it, and the following day more arrives."

"And you're saying that, over time, it has begun accumulating less and less."

"Yes. So, you see, our need for you is twofold."

"Who else has noticed it dwindles?"

"I don't know what everyone thinks—or suspects and keeps to themselves. For that, I can only surmise based on the evidence from the timeline. I only know those things said and done. That it dwindles would create a stir, and no one has spoken of it, so, for the moment, I think it's just me, and now you."

"Okay, then I have two questions. How long before the supply to Olympus stops? And how much do the gods actually need?"

"According to the timeline, the source will dwindle until it stops by the end of next year, but our access to it ceases well before then for reasons I cannot say. As for how much we truly need, Ambrosia is powerful. If we made a specific feast day once a year and everyone had some, we would be fine."

"Would they eat nothing in between?" asked Ronan.

"Oh no, we manifest food when we get hungry, and we eat all sorts of things, but we cannot manifest Ambrosia."

"I'm glad you've told me. So, how does this apply to my helping you?"

Angus smiled. "For a long time, Zeus had made an edict against giving mortals Ambrosia. Not all mortals are worthy of immortality. I hope that you will be more trusting. I have an inner circle of friends that are very much like Liam and William. I would like for them to have it, and if you could send me a wooden firkin cask of Ambrosia on a prearranged date every year, I would be most appreciative."

"Would you agree to let me meet them first?"

"Yes, please do," said Angus. "They work during the week, so any Saturday night you like would be perfect."

"Let me meet them, and I will decide then."

"That's most fair and gracious of you. While you're with Liam, I will transport myself to Genoa to look around, but call me if you need me. And by the way, just so we're clear, I am here for you even if you must say no when you meet my friends. Okay?"

"Okay."

As Angus left the CS Fritz Himmel for the continent, Ronan returned to Emma's cabin, and the four people in the room hadn't moved but the space around them reflected the pristine condition of the ship that the captain and crew would soon discover.

He squatted to look carefully at Liam. Fortunately, when time stopped, he had lifted his hand from William, so Ronan could unlock him without unlocking them both, but how to go about that without causing him a fright seemed important, but maybe unavoidable.

From Liam's perspective, he had knelt beside William before Emma arrived, and from his training, he thought to apply pressure to the wound, but as the odd-shaped projectile had tumbled and tore into his body, it left a golf ball-sized hole, and Liam could see through it to the rapidly pooling blood on the floor and pushing on the wound would likely have done nothing more than cause William more pain. They both called for help, but mid-blink everything had altered. Liam saw that the lighting of the room had changed with everything around him glowing except Emma and William who had frozen in place.

"Liam," said Ronan who stood just behind him to the left.

He turned his head, smiled to see him, and stood. "Hey! Why does everything look strange? What's happening?"

"I have stopped Time, but everything that you see glowing is generating a time-field."

"Holy shit... You can stop Time?" Liam spied a figure with folded black wings at the side of his vision that startled him. "Death."

"He had come for William, but he will walk away empty-handed."

"So, the gods stop when Time stops?"

"Apparently so, but only Chronos and I can do it, and I'm uncertain that the others know it happens. I doubt they even notice it. I stopped Time many hours ago, and a lot has happened since then. We have much to talk about, but first..." Ronan guided Liam into their cabin across the hall, took him into his arms, and kissed him for several minutes.

Liam pulled back. "Oh, I need you."

"Right now?"

"Absolutely." He began to undress.

With raised brows, Ronan made a momentary tip of his head. "Why not?" He removed his shirt. "We have time."

Liam began kissing him again.

Ronan pulled back. "There's something I should tell you about the Ambrosia."

He shook his head and got onto his knees before him. "Later." When he pulled down Ronan's shorts, he shoved his rapidly hardening cock into his mouth and began sucking him.

"Ooh...I love you," said Ronan.

As Liam's lips caressed the head, he ran his tongue along the foreskin and frenulum before taking more into his mouth. It reached the entrance to his throat but having so often practiced on his ten-inch ex-boyfriend caused him to lose his reflex, and even with the thickness, he slid several more inches into his face. He wished he could disengage from the practical necessity of breathing, a wish that most anyone who found comfort in accommodating an appendage as magnificent as Ronan's would make at every opportunity. Just slide it in, and leave it there, like the perfect garage for a vehicle as fast and sexy as a Lamborghini, as classy as a Rolls, and long like a super stretched limousine. Ronan reoriented his cock with a downward curve to make an easier slide into Liam's throat as he fucked his face. Retreating to his mouth with every other stroke had allowed Liam to breathe as he raced to his orgasm. Just before it started, Ronan pulled back until Liam held his Centaurian cock like he was jacking a fire hose into his mouth with the flared tip of a smooth bore nozzle trapped between his lips. With a determined, machine-like efficiency, Liam gulped and guzzled the massive gouts of Ronan's delicious Ambrosia. It pumped out the end for ten minutes, fifteen minutes, the twenty-minute mark had come and gone, but still, Ronan stood there with his eyes closed enjoying the sensations, his feet planted on the floor, his legs locked into position as his upper body swayed with Liam jacking his giant meat into his mouth and chugging his liquid gift.

As they hit their new record of thirty minutes, Liam tapped Ronan's leg, his eyes flew open, and he immediately stopped the flow. With concern, he helped Liam lay upon the bed with his head and shoulders elevated by pillows, and his belly stood out like he had swallowed a watermelon.

"Are you okay?" Ronan asked.

"I'm feeling strange."

"I'm not surprised, but I probably should tell you what Poseidon told me. He said all this Ambrosia is likely to cause you to achieve godhood. I suspect he means that you'll become a demigod, and I think that's what you feel about to happen."

"What will that do?"

"I've watched you grow taller, stronger, and more handsome, so I suspect this will complete that transformation, but in my opinion, it's not enough. Chiron was a demigod, and he could still sustain an injury. You are my partner, my protector, and the one whom I love above all others. I want to give you the same invulnerability that I gave William when I healed him, but also more. For now, you need time to absorb this, and as we wait, let me tell you all that's happened the last few hours."

As the Ambrosia absorbed into Liam's body, Ronan conveyed all he had done with Time stopped and all the information he had acquired. He told him about Chronos (Angus), the dwindling Ambrosia, Zeus readying to torture Poseidon, all the practice he had renewing the ship, saving William, and how the time fields worked, but he also informed him fully of what it meant to be his protector, and for Liam, it lifted an enormous weight.

Liam needed Ronan to have an obvious need of him. Ronan's love meant more to him than he could say, but he needed more than to live as the object of Ronan's affection or as an ornament for him or as Kratos might have put it—useless for anything more than an ass for Ronan to mount. Kratos's words had made a deep cut into Liam's confidence, making him question whether anyone as powerful as Ronan really needed a protector. He never wanted to struggle with finding some use or relevancy to Ronan's existence, but in the light of the current information, he had a vital function and a responsibility greater than he could have imagined, one that made him irreplaceable. He had never been irreplaceable for anything, and it gave him a feeling inside that his career as a police officer couldn't touch in a billion years.

When Ronan began to tell him his thoughts about Aquila, the power in Liam's body had reached critical mass and the light emanating from him began to brighten causing him to strain to hold back the pain he felt all over his body.

"Are you okay?"

Unable to get comfortable, Liam squirmed as the light intensified. "I hurt." He began to moan, and his breathing became irregular. "I'm a little scared."

"I'm right here," said Ronan who held his hand.

His moaning turned into a long continuous wail as his light grew so bright it made Ronan squint. He partially lifted Liam from the bed and hugged him. "Hold onto me," he said to him, "you're going to be okay."

Liam tried for a minute but fell limp, having fainted from the pain, and although Ronan couldn't see inside the brilliance of the light, he could feel Liam continuing to breathe as his body grew bigger. The growth continued for several minutes as Ronan held him, and when the light faded, he smiled when Liam wrapped his arms around him again.

"How do you feel?"

"I feel glad it's over," Liam whispered, his forehead on Ronan's shoulder, he took a couple of deep breaths. "The pain is nearly gone." He pulled back to look Ronan in the face.

"Your eyes!"

"What? Are they blue again?"

Ronan shook his head. "They're like mine, the color of cognac...which, now that I think about it, is the color of concentrated Ambrosia."

"That makes sense, actually." He kissed Ronan. "Let's check the damage."

Standing from the bed, Liam felt heavier and bigger, but he had also gained more height. Originally, he stood six feet tall and had grown nearly an inch the previous few doses of Ambrosia, but he stood six feet four, and his musculature had increased to demigod proportions, but he couldn't match Ronan who had far surpassed anything remotely human. But for as much as his height and muscles had a drastic change, his greatest change had more subtlety. He had a godlike handsomeness on par with Poseidon. Except, unlike Poseidon, Liam still carried the extra eleven inches of cock gifted to him by Emma which, when added to what he already had, dangled well below his knees before, but with the added height, came to just below his knees.

"A slight improvement," said Liam gazing down at it.

"Is it too much, really?" asked Ronan.

"If it would make you happy, I would have a cock that hung to my feet, but I couldn't walk about with that much. This gets in the way as it is."

Ronan placed his hand onto Liam's chest. "I think I have the solution. There's something I need to give you. I wouldn't want anyone injuring you, especially just to get to me, so I will give you some protection, and with that, a few other things."

"Will this hurt me?"

"Not this time."

Ronan released a burst of energy into Liam that spread throughout his body. It happened with such intensity his eyes widened as his mouth dropped open from taking in a rapid breath with several orgasmic spasms as his cock hosed a stream of ejaculate that coated his feet.

"There..." Ronan smiled, staring at the string of cum hanging from the head of Liam's cock. "That's better than pain, isn't it?"

"I loved it! Do it again!"

Ronan laughed as he bent down to catch the string of cum on his finger. Tipping his head back he dropped it into his mouth. He then kissed Liam. "Maybe later. I've just given you an invulnerability like mine, the ability to heal people (I figure that could come in handy for us when we finally get back to the task of helping people), and now, not only can you change your junk at will, but also, you can help others with theirs. I know you liked the idea when Emma told you about doing that."

"That's thoughtful of you. Thank you." Liam kissed him. "So, I'm a demigod now?"

"A gifted and immortal demigod. William is like Aquila; they both carry the spark that makes them invulnerable, as well as immortal. I also gave William superhuman strength, so he's stronger than the strongest human being, but as a demigod charged up with a couple of kegs of Ambrosia, you're stronger."

"You mentioned Aquila before my transformation. What about him?"

"He wanted to meet us at the train station in Milan where we would transfer to the overnight train, but I have placed us within a few minutes of Genoa, and we're several days early. We need to find him, so I can bring him to us. It's just easier than him flying here. And although I can find anyone who carries a spark from me, I couldn't teleport to their exact location just to the general area. However, once I restart time, I will be busy."

"I see. So, what about Emma, William, and Death over there?"

"I would unlock Emma to talk privately, but she's touching William, and that would unlock him as well, so it will have to wait. I want to ask her if she would like to leave Dolos behind and become Erastís. I wouldn't want to discuss that with her in front of William for obvious reasons."

"He should be told the truth."

"I agree, but that's not our secret to tell."

Ronan donned his cream-colored, square-necked tank top with the midnight-blue reinforcement around the arms and neck, bedecked with CENTAURIAN across his chest, but when he held up his shorts, he had to reconsider them. "I have no problem with these for the ship or some resort, but I need these in pants." He put them on and stared at the hem on the legs for a moment. He concentrated, and in a fiery embering, they extended down to his ankle. "That's better."

"I'm impressed," said Liam, "and you said you weren't a designer." He held up his clothing. "Could you help me with these, they won't fit."

Ronan took Liam's shorts, shook them a bit, and a line of embering changed them into a pair of pants like his own. He did the same with the shirt, but rather than Centaurian across the chest, he left it blank, and Liam noted it.

He shrugged. "Think of something, and I'll put it there."

"You make all this look so easy." He stuck a foot into a pant leg and began to dress. "So, have you considered having a team with these our uniforms?"

"What would you think of that?"

"I think it would solve some problems," said Liam. "You couldn't always stop Time whenever you get overwhelmed in an attempt to do everything yourself."

"I can think of circumstances where stopping Time wouldn't help much. My Time field would negate its effect on things around me, but my helping people also extends to setting a good example, which couldn't happen if I stop Time as I have here."

They crossed the hallway as Ronan asked, "You know what to tell the captain, right?"

"Yes."

"I may be gone a little while. Ask Emma to find Aquila and get his exact location. When I return, hopefully, the ship will no longer be in danger, and the captain will have docked."

"So, you will go ahead and dethrone Zeus?"

"If I have the opportunity, but I will definitely save Poseidon."

Liam kissed Ronan. "I love you."

Ronan smiled. "Okay, I admit, that's nice to hear. And you know I love you."

Liam returned to William's side where Ronan found him. "Good luck."

Ronan moved in front of Death to block his path. "Thanks, I'll need it. Are you ready?"

"Let's do this."

Ronan held his left hand out, so Death wouldn't walk into him. He held his right hand up, his fingers at the ready. He concentrated on what he wanted, and with intention, he snapped his fingers.

Immediately, the glow of everything around them vanished, light poured through the cabin window, William's wound continued to heal as he received Ronan's spark and gifts. Death walked into Ronan's hand. And with a look of astonishment, he gazed up at Ronan's stern and unamused face. Only two words escaped the Centaurian's lips, "Off-limits."

Thanatos backed up a little, staring at Ronan for a moment. He gave a curt nod, but turned and left, vanishing into nothingness.

It relieved Ronan to find William breathing normally again, and Emma hugging him.

"I must go," Ronan told them. "Emma, should I concentrate on anything specific to teleport to Olympus?"

"You're going to Olympus?" she asked.

"Zeus is about to torture Poseidon."

"Concentrate on Zeus, and it will take you to Olympus."

Ronan's brows shifted both incredulous and repulsed as he tipped his head.

"It's narcissistic, I know," she said.

"Ronan," said William, "thank you. I knew I could count on you."

He nodded. "I'll be back when I can." He concentrated on Zeus, walked forward a few paces, and faded into nothingness.