THE VANISHED EMPIRE by Andrej Koymasky (C) 2006 written on February 11, 1995 translated by the author English text kindly revised by John
USUAL DISCLAIMER
"THE VANISHED EMPIRE" is a gay story, with some parts containing graphic scenes of sex between males. So, if in your land, religion, family, opinion and so on this is not good for you, it will be better not to read this story. But if you really want, or because YOU don't care, or because you think you really want to read it, please be my welcomed guest.
EIGHT - THE EMPIRE IN TOTAL PEACE
8.1 - Emperor Nami. Emperor Grude.
In 1546, after a referendum, the plateau finally asked to become a region of the empire with full rights and so, with this territory included, the empire was totally unified. But this could not be seen by emperor Buga, who died in 1544, aged seventy-seven. On the plateau, during the reign of his successor, Nami, rich and precious mines were discovered, so that the plateau became one of the most important and wealthy regions of the empire.
There was nobody still alive of the generation that unified and reformed the empire, but everybody sang the epic deeds of the empire fathers and of their men, and the boys studied about them at the schools. After the death of emperor Nami in 1562, the new elected emperor was a young man, twenty-nine years old, named Grude. He fully personified the new reality of the empire - he had studied at the imperial schools and was the son of the old and the new empire. In fact he was born in Nethe province, his father being an imperial soldier and his mother a native woman descended from the barbarians who first met Meta.
Moreover, coming from army traditions and from the imperial schools, even though he was married and had three children, like his father he also had a male lover, a former studies mate three years his junior, called Razel. They first met at the normal school, when Razel was twelve years old and Grude fifteen. Razel had been just been admitted to the school and, as with all the greenhorns, he felt somewhat lost.
Each school had developed its traditions, jealously preserved and passed on from student to student. In the two boys' school, for instance, one of the traditions was that the greenhorns had to take their baths only after all the seniors had bathed. Nobody had explained that to Razel who, therefore, with no qualms went to bathe with his elders. When the other boys saw him enter, they surrounded him and told him that a greenhorn had no right to bathe with his elders. Razel apologized and was about to going away when one of the final year boys seized his arm and asked him where he thought he was going. Razel apologized again, telling him that he didn't know the rule, therefore he was going away to wait for his turn.
But that boy, laughing with a scornful expression, told him that he had to be punished for his transgression and, amidthe other boys' laughter, caressed his little buttocks trying to slip a finger inside. The boy swerved trying to escape, but the other boys blocked him and forced him in position so that the senior boy could take him. Razel, who still never had a sexual intercourse, uselessly begged them to let him go - but the senior penetrated him, to the jests of the others.
Razel was crying silently, suffering that uncalled-for violence, when Grude entered. As he saw the boy in tears, held still by the others and violated by the senior, he became furious - Grude was the school champion in catch-as-catch-can wrestling, therefore, seizing the raper and pulling him away from the boy, after a short fight, he freed Razel. He took him outside, away from the bath and told him to dress again, he too dressed and took him to his room. There he asked Razel to tell him what had happened so Razel, sobbing, told him. Grude caressed the boy to soothe him and told him that a true man doesn't cry over such things. But he also promised him that nothing like that would ever happen to him again. Grude hated gratuitous violence.
Thus Razel became the protege and friend of Grude and nobody dared to even just touch him any more. But gradually Razel, becoming aware that his new friend had sex with several mates, something normal inside the schools, asked himself why Grude never tried to have sex with him. He started to feel jealous of the others - Grude was always kind to him and at times also caressed him, but nothing never happened, not even when they were alone.
So that, one day near the end of the school year, while they were alone, Razel asked Grude if he thought he was ugly. "No, not at all." Grude answered with a smile. "So, then, why you never make love to me?" the boy asked him. "Because you are still too young." Grude answered, as he liked only boys who were already well developed.
Razel said nothing else, neither that year and nor the following one. When Grude moved to the middle school, they lost sight of each other. Grude wasn't thinking about that little boy he had rescued any more. But three years later, he saw him again in his school - now Razel was seventeen and Grude twenty-years-old. Razel had grown up, had developed in a handsome and really well built boy. As soon as Razel saw Grude, went to meet him with a wide smile, "Do you recognize me? Do you remember me?" he asked.
"Razel! You're here too? I'm pleased... how are you?" "Fine, thanks. I'm grown up, you see?" "Yes, sure, you are now a beautiful teen." "So, then, do you want me, now?" Razel asked at once. Grude burst in laughter, "Don't tell me that for all these years you thought just about that..." "Yes..." the boy answered becoming serious, then asked, "Do you perhaps already have a boyfriend?" "Yes, sure. Haven't you got one?"
"No, I have been waiting for you - you told me I was too young, but now... I wanted to be yours." "Hey, what's that? You aren't falling in love with me, are you?" "You think that's so weird?" "Well, I liked you, but... I'm sorry, Razel, really sorry." "Do you love him?" "Who? Hannu? Well, he's been my boyfriend for a year now. I'm with him, do you see?" "Yes, I see. Forgive me, then." Razel said, crestfallen. "Well, anyway we can be good friends, can't we?" "Thanks." "Don't pull faces, now, come on! Find a good mate. Listen to me, if you want I'll introduce you to my friends and..." "It doesn't matter, thank you." Razel answered, disappointed.
Anyway they were good friends. Razel didn't like Hannu, even though at times he asked himself if it was just his jealousy making him feel so. To please Grude, he never showed this feeling. But he neither liked nor trusted Hannu. He was asking himself what Grude could find in him. It is not that Hannu wasn't a handsome boy, Razel could not deny that, but... possibly he was good in bed... He, on the contrary, as he had never had any lover, possibly was not even able to please Grude in bed, even if he wanted to try sex with him.
Then Razel took a decision - from then on, he would say yes to anybody who made him understand he wanted sex with him, so he could learn to make love skillfully and later he would steal Grude from Hannu. So Razel, when he had an adventure with another boy, stayed with him until he felt he had nothing more to learn, then jilted him to pass on to a new adventure. Thus he earned the reputation of a fickle and unreliable boy.
Another year passed and Grude went to the high school. Hannu, being one year younger, remained at the middle school. Razel calculated that, when he too would attend the high school, Grude, who was a really good student and therefore never lost a year, would then leave it - he therefore had no chance to be again his school mate, to live with him. But the high school was very close to the middle school and the two dorms were very close too.
Therefore Razel, after getting to know where Grude's room was, one night climbed over his dorm wall, went to Grude's dorm, climbed over that wall too and, slipping in the shadow, his heart in his mouth, he went inside the silent dorm, walked along its corridors until he found Grude's room. At the last moment he thought that Grude could be not alone, he could already have found a new lover even though the school year had just started... But in the end he decided that, as he managed to get so far...
He knocked lightly, scratching at the door several times so as not to raise too much noise, but there was no answer. He was about to give up, when the door opened and an half naked Grude, with sleepy eyes, asked who was there. When he recognized Razel, his eyes widened and he asked him what the hell was he doing there.
"I wanted to see you." "Come in, hurry up! If you are caught... Are you crazy?" he said with an urgent tone, pulling him inside and silently closing the door. "Do you want to be expelled from the school? Do you want to get me into a scrape too? What's the matter with you?" "Grude, I love you, I want to be yours!" the boy murmured, tears in his eyes, then added, "Don't scold me."
Grude looked at him, shaking his head. "You are totally crazy!" "I love you." Razel repeated. Grude felt suddenly moved, embraced and caressed him, "You ought not..." he gently rebuked him. Then said, "You have to go back to your dorm... let's hope they don't catch you. Wait, I'll dress and see if the way is free." "Grude, why you don't want me?" "Razel, I like you a lot, really. I would like having you, but..." "So, then, as I'm here now, don't send me away immediately - make love to me, please."
Grude seemed hesitant, caressed the boy thoughtfully then said, "All right. Come on. I will see you back later." And he guided him to his bed. He undressed him caressing him and, when he had him naked, he too was aroused. Finishing undressing himself he climbed onto the bed with the boy. They started making love and Razel did his best to conquer the youth whom he had loved for years. And conquer him he did, not so much because he was now skilled in making love, but because of the love, the passion and the joy he put in it.
When they laid down, sated, Grude gently caressed him and said, "It has been really wonderful. You really want to be my boyfriend?" "Yes, please." "I like you. I like you a lot, Razel." Grude said pensively, continuing to caress his naked body with deep pleasure. "So, then, do you want me?" the boy asked, with a hint of hope in his voice. "Yes, I want you. But you have to promise me something." "Anything you want!" "You will never do such a foolhardy thing again!" "But I wanted to be with you!"
"I want that too. I'll find a way, but you must never do such a dangerous thing again." "But how then?" "Trust me. I want to meet you again too, but you have to promise me you will do nothing until I let you know how we can meet." "Yes, I promise." "Even if some days pass?" "It will be hard, but I'll wait." "Good. But there is another thing you have to know - last month, I married." Razel became pale and looked at him, "Do you love her?" he asked in a whisper. "No. I simply desire to have children. She knows I rather like men, I told her, and she accepted that." "She accepted?" Razel asked, amazed. "Yes, because she really likes making love with women better, but she wants to have children too. Therefore we decided to marry. But I would be happy if you were my lover." "I'm yours, Grude." "Very good. But now let's dress, and I'll see you back to your dorm."
Razel succeed in going back to his dorm and his room without being caught. He felt happy - at last he had achieved it. And making love with Grude had been even more beautiful than he could have imagined, more beautiful than with any other man. So he waited. The days were elapsing but he had no news from Grude; however, even though he was feeling more and more uneasy, he still waited. Some of his school mates tried to approach him but Razel now didn't give them any opportunity - he continued to wait for Grude.
A full month elapsed and Razel was already starting to become sad, and started to doubt that Grude asked him for that promise only to get rid of him. But quite the opposite, he got a letter from Grude who wrote him that he missed him very much (and Razel's heart jumped in his chest with joy) that he was longing to meet him again, but that he couldn't yet find a safe system. But, he added, he was trying hard to do his best. He prayed him to be patient still and to trust him.
Razel, filled again with hope, plunged into his studies, both to make time pass and because he wanted to cut a fine figure with the so-brilliant Grude. Ten days later, a second letter arrived - Grude explained him that, when he was a student at the school now attended by Razel, there was the possibility, by just asking the dean, to be allowed to go consult the imperial library. Grude had a friend working at the library, who would assign them one of the cubicles to copy texts, where they could shut themselves inside. They could meet there every school rest day with the excuse to consult some texts. Grude knew which the rest days of Razel's class were - he would wait for him at the library.
Razel was happy. He at once went to see the dean asking for the authorization, justifying it with some research on the empire fathers. The dean gave him the pass for the library. Then he waited until his first rest-day and went to the library. Grude was already waiting in front of it. They greeted each other with joy. Grude guided him to see the librarian, who checked their passes and allowed them in. Then Grude went to see his friend who took them to one of the cubicles reserved for the copyists, also giving them the books that Razel had required, and shut them inside telling them to call when they were finished and, added with a mischievous smile, to keep silent, not to be overheard.
"At long last! Here we can be safe. It's not really comfortable, here, but... Come..." the young man said, opening his arms in an gesture of invitation. "Grude, I have also to make the copies, to justify my coming here... We will have little time for ourselves..." Razel said falling into Grude's arms. "Well, we will solve this problem too. Later, you mark the parts you want to be copied - next time I will have them copied ready for you. Now don't think about that, let's enjoy the time we have..." he said embracing him and starting to undess him. Razel, happily, undressed Grude and they finally began to make love, filled with desire and passion.
They met every vacation day, regularly. They made love, then Grude's friend gave Razel the copied pages so that he could go back to his school satisfied and happy. They were more and more in love and, in spite the narrow cubicle which forced them to make love standing, they always were full of desire to be together, even if it was just for a few hours every five days.
For almost three years they met in such a way, then Grude completed his high school and Razel entered it. Grude had been the best of his course, so he at once landed a very good job in the imperial administration, as assistant of the regional governor. Now Razel had more freedom, therefore, without needing to invent pretexts, on the days free from his studies, he could go to Grude's home. Now they could make love in complete comfort on Grude's bed, and stay to quietly caress and talk for hours. Grude was more and more fond of Razel, he loved him so deeply that, when it was proposed that he should move to the capital, he refused, so as not to leave his lover.
Even though it could have seemed the opposite, this decision didn't harm his carreer, but make it better. In fact the governor had more time to really appreciate Grude's talents, and was entrusting him with tasks of growing responsibility. At last also Razel got his final license and was offered a good job as provincial coordinator of the normal schools. Grude asked him to go to live at his place and Razel happily accepted - they finally could spend every night together. Grude's wife welcomed him with kindness and straightaway Razel became fond of Grude's two children.
The same year that Razel got his license, Grude was offered the post of regional governor of Fago island. So Razel also asked to be moved there and he too went to work on Fago, and they could move together.
The emperor had his winter villa at Fago, therefore, when he decided to pass some time there, Grude went to welcome him at the port, as was his duty, and escorted him to the villa. Along the way the emperor talked with Grude asking him information on the island situation and was hit by the deep and accurate analysis that the young man was making. Thus, he wanted to meet him again, and talked with him about several administrative problems and of a thousand other subjects. The emperor's admiration for Grude was becoming greater and greater.
Therefore, when one of the great electors died, the emperor named Grude a great elector, and wanted him as governor of the capital region. Here Grude had his third child. Meanwhile, as governor of the capital, he further distinguished himself in his work, so that soon he became famous and admired all over the empire. Also the emperor was frequently summoning him to the court, to discuss political problems with him, and eventually named him his first counselor.
Grude's fast-track career and his skills and talents, attracted the attention of the other great electors so that, when the emperor passed away, in the first ballot he got five votes, another elector got four and a third only two. So they had to run a ballot between the first two and this time Grude won eight votes of nine and was elected emperor - he was just twenty-nine years old.
Grude of course brought his wife, his three children and Razel to the imperial palace. According to tradition, the wife and children of an emperor automatically received the title and honors of imperial princes. Grude felt it was unfair that Razel also couldn't have that same rank. He spoke about that with his council, which told him he had the power to bestow on him the title of prince. But Grude was not happy with that, "It is not question of my decision, he should have got it by right as he is my companion exactly as my wife is." "But you married her," a counsellor pointed out. "Right, then I will marry him too." "But a marriage between two people of the same sex doesn't exist," another of the counselors objected.
Grude, then, summoned the court law experts and asked them if there was a law opposing to the marriage between two people of the same sex. The experts carried out a wide search and concluded that no law forbade the marriage between persons of the same sex, also that no law clearly prescribed that only people of different sex could marry. But, they brought to his attention, there were specific laws forbidding bigamy or biandry.
Grude asked them to show him the texts of these laws. He read them carefully, then make them notice that the law said that no man could marry a second woman, and that no woman could marry a second man. Therefore, he concluded, he could marry with Razel without making a new, special law. The counselors pointed out that according to this interpretation a man could marry just one woman but several men or vice versa - but the spirit and the aim of the law was, on the contrary, to avoid multiple marriages.
Grude didn't want to make a new law to his own advantage, but at the same time he didn't want Razel to have a rank lower than that of his wife or children. Then some jurists proposed that the laws concerning the marriage could be explained in this way, "As the law doesn't specify that a person has to marry a person of a different sex, it is understood that the marriage between two people of the same sex is allowed; but as the law forbids marriage to a second woman or a second man, it is understood that each person can marry both a man and a woman, but only one of each sex."
This clarification of the existing laws raised many disputes, but the great majority of jurists of the empire admitted that the proposed interpretation was correct, therefore it was included in the body of laws with the same value of a law.
Thus Grude celebrated his wedding with Razel and after them several citizens asked to celebrate marriages with people of the same sex. A situation that existed de facto for centuries, became de jure and thus legitimised. It was mainly in the army and in the high schools that same sex marriages were celebrated, as in these two communities same-sex relationships had a long tradition.
For the wedding ceremony, Grude and Razel wore identical clothes, so that this soon became the fashion for same sex wedding ceremonies. And with the marriage, Razel automatically received the rank of imperial prince, as Grude had wished. Another usage started with Grude's new marriage, regarding the wedding symbol - up until then the marrying couple, at the moment of the marriage, girded each other's left wrist with an armband. However, Grude and Razel girded their armbands on their right wrists. Thus, from that moment, the habit started of saying the "left spouse" to refer the spouse of the opposite sex, and the "right spouse" to refer to one of the same sex.
Grude also wanted offer to Razel a honey-moon journey, letting him visit all the regions of the empire. When they reached Nethe, Grude wanted to lodge in his former dorm room, where they made love for the first time. They were welcomed with great ovations by the students and it was not a rare thing seeing pairs of boys tenderly holding each other's hand while the two imperial spouses were passing through the campus, greeting everybody.
"Do you remember our first night, Razel?" "For sure I remember it, and I also recall that you scolded me." "Yes... but it was right in this room, and on that night, that I started to feel that I was in love with you." "And in spite of that you accused me of doing something crazy!" "Possibly I was right to do so because you did that crazy thing for me. And because I felt you were different from any other boy." "Because I was crazily in love with you..." "And now?" "Now? More than ever, Grude." Razel answered with a sweet smile, pulling his beloved to him and they started making love on the small dorm bed, with the same passion as on that distant day, but with much more love.
8.2 - Conclusion of this story
So, this is the part of the empire history I intended to narrate, To tell the truth there are plenty of interesting things in the empire history, both before and after this period, and if you like, another time I will tell you them. But I believe that this part of the history going from Gano to Grude is the most interesting of all, because in the span of a century the empire reached its maturity.
What? I never told you the name of the island? Well, today it is known by several names - Atlantis, Autzlan, Atlantide... it stood on the ocean still bearing its name, the Atlantic Ocean. The nearest continent is Africa, where there is also something recalling the vanished empire, in the mountain chain in the north-west - the Atlas mountains. What remains of the empire are the Canary islands, which at that time were the pirates' islands.
Why did Atlantis vanish and when? It vanished because of a cataclysm of planetary dimensions, about a thousand and five hundreds years after Grude and about one thousand years before the Troy war. That is in the period that the Bible records with the name of Noah's Flood or Deluge. And really Noah was an inhabitant of Atlantis, he lived on the plateau, and he survived with his three sons... but this is another story that, if you like, I can tell you another time.
Atlantis sank into the sea in the span of only two generations because of continental drift - suddenly a huge fault opened on the earth's crust, in the depths of the ocean, west of the island, and the island of Atlantis ineluctably slipped into it. No, really it was not only Noah who survived, but it is true that the majority of the citizens decided to remain on the island, believing that it would stop sinking. And Noah had built his ark on the plateau, waiting for the waters to submerge that last part of the empire too.
In fact, it wasn't that the waters rose, but that the island slowly but inelucatbly slipped into the ocean. And it is useless to continue searching for the ark on the Ararat mountain - the ark ran aground on the African shore and Noah and his son used its wood to build their first house, thus the ark exists no longer.
THE END
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