"It's a curse." The shaman had said. "His skin is an omen from the Sun Lord that we are falling from his favour."

"What do we do?" His mother had cried, clinging to his father. 

"When he is old enough to care for himself, he is to be made an example. We will show the Sun Lord that we acknowledge our disgrace and are rejecting it."

He'd been ten summers when his parents had taken him down to a small shack on the edge of the village, at a rocky, treacherous part of the beach, and told him never to call them Eomma or Appa again. He had stared after them as they left, mouth closed and expression void. Only Taekwoon, a couple months his junior and winter's child, had emerged from the brush to hold him close. It was only Taekwoon who cared for him, held him, kissed him and told him it would be alright. 

Hakyeon knew he was not allowed happiness, however. At sixteen summers, he revealed himself to be an omega, weathering a week of dehydration, starvation and bitter aching with only a scared and uncomprehending Taekwoon at his side, trying his best to care for someone who was meant to be left for dead. Hakyeon almost thought he was in love with Taekwoon - could very easily have been - but a year later, Taekwoon came to him, delerious, in pain and sweating.

Both omegas. 

Hakyeon had always known better and even here, he had to admit that he had been right. 

"I'm so sorry." Taekwoon had whimpered out, his pale, pale ivory skin shimmering like starlight in the moonlight. "I'm so sorry. I wanted to be an alpha, I wanted to claim you, to protect you and I can't even manage that . . . "

"Aww, Taekwoonie." He kissed the young omega's forehead. "It's not your place to take care of me."

"But it is." He twisted in bitter pain. "No one else will help you."

Hakyeon stood at the edge of the beach. He was in his thinnest clothes so he could feel the sharp bite of the wind at its coldest and the mist surrounded him like a veil of misfortune. The shaman had been insistent, to this day, that Hakyeon's estrangement from the village proper was a good thing and what the Sun Lord desired, but ever since Taekwoon's parents had forcefully mated him off and Hakyeon was isolated completely, there had not been one day of full sun. 

It was strange, almost magical. The weather felt like it reacted to his mood. The more lonely and sad he was, the thicker and damper the mists. When it felt like it wasn't so bad, that he enjoyed having a part of the world he could call his own, he was bathed in the warm, radiant light of the sun. What struck him the most, though, was that there was never rain. There was no dramatic thunder and lighting clash accompanied by a monsoon of thick, icy rains - only chilling mist and darkening fog. 

Today, however, he was not sad. In fact, Taekwoon had managed to leave him a message, telling him of the birth of his son, Sanghyuk. He didn't know if he would ever truly know what happiness felt like, but he was content today. And yet, the mist had soaked into his hair, the ocean was silent on the rocks, and the fog was the same grey as the slate caves to the west. He had to go the village, despite his lack of welcome, and speak to the shaman about another possible bad omen. 

The mist swirled around him and the fog parted as he took the long-unused path to the village. 

"What? No! Get away from me and stay away from my family!"

Hakyeon rounded a corner to find a door slammed in the face of a crippled old man. He was in rags, his beard white like seafoam and skin worn like tattered leather. 

"I ask only for a night of rest and one meal." The old man rasped out. "A family with plenty to give that won't give anything."

Hakyeon retreated behind the house and watched as the old man hobbled over to another family and asked for the same things, a single night of rest and a meal. Each of them turned him down and fled from him like he carried a plague. Each door slammed in his face, each family hoarding what they considered theirs and becoming more and more unwilling to share. 

"I can help you."

The old man turned and met Hakyeon's gaze. He assessed him visually before he hobbled over. "Your body doesn't look like you have much food for even yourself."

"I don't have much and what I do have is certainly meagre, but there is enough room for one more body and certainly enough food to halt a starving stomach."

The old man's eyes glimmered with mirth and he cracked a smile. "You are plenty generous, young man. Would you help a tired old man?"

Hakyeon took his hand and began walking back to his home, deciding the shaman didn't need to hear from him after all. 

The old man ate a decent portion of his food alotment for the day and then took to the opposite side of his shack, only taking one of Hakyeon's meagre blankets after his continued insistence. 

"If you don't take it now, I'll wait until you're asleep and cover you with it." Hakyeon threatened playfully. "The mist gets heavy at night and the temperature drops."

The old man cracked a smile and gently took the thin blanket from him. "Thank you very much."

He looked at the sunset against the fluttery linens that covered his windows. "Come. We should get comfortable and try to sleep before the sun completely abandons the sky, despite his absence today."

The old man nodded. "I greatly appreciate your kindness."

Hakyeon laid down, wrapped in another thin blanket. He knew in the middling darkness of dusk, he almost vanished into the murkiness of his home. "I'm not sure having met me is a kindness."

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Hakyeon averted hsi eyes, looking at his own hand. "A male omega is already a great waste on his parents and a burden on his village. I'm a curse on top of that."

"A curse?" The old man's voice was filled with surprise tinted by shock. 

"One who's skin has been burned black by the Sun Lord. An omen, a warning from one of the Life Princes that the village has violated his faith."

The old man frowned harder. "Who decided this?"

"The shaman. He was the one who called for me to be distanced and outcast like this." Hakyeon rolled onto his back. "I also think he was the one who told Taekwoon's parents about his visits with me."

"Taekwoon?"

"He was a friend of mine. They mated him off and now he's got young to care for and can't leave to see me without notice. But I'm almost happy about that."

"Why would that make you happy?"

"Taekwoon had a beautiful baby boy named Sanghyuk. His mate, Hongbin, is good to him, adores him. I was born to be alone, written clear as day on my skin."

The old man fell silent, but there was fury radiating off him. 

"Don't be angry on my behalf. Not at the village, anyway. Perhaps if you're a spiritual man, you can reach up to the Sun Lord and ask him why he would do this to me."

The old man reached a hand across, surprisingly warm, and tenderly cuppe dhis cheek. "I will try to recitify this."

Hakyeon smiled weakly. "I think that's enough grim talk. We should sleep."

The old man withdrew, but there was a dark sparkle in his eyes bespeaking many things to come.

Hakyeon woke up at dawn to fresh light streaming into his shanty. He was wrapped up in both blankets and the old man gone. He didn't know what he had expected - maybe to wake up before the old man, find something in his meagre store for breakfast and then bid the old man a safe journey and long life. But he was gone, completely and entirely. 

Had he really even been there? Was he so lonely now that he would hallucinate company?

Imminent mental collapse or not, Hakyeon decided he should go to the village again today, He would speak to the shaman and see if the day prior had indeed even happened and what such a dream could mean. 

The walk to the village was lengthy, but direct. Despite his aching heart, he was never in any hurry to return to the village. There was no friendliness that awaited him there and he knew Taekwoon would be kept from him. Were he to be completely honest, he didn't even know if his own parents were still alive. He figured it was likely they were and even likelier that they had another child after he was gone, trying to make up their mistake in the eyes of the village and prove that they themselves were not the cause of a cursed child. 

Today, the village was a hub of activity. People were everywhere, all buzzing around and whispering about a stranger in their midst, one with a kingly air standing in the village center. They were so excited, they didn't even seem to notice that he was there and those that did even took the time to respond to him when he asked questions. No one knew where the stranger was from and he would not speak to anyone. He simply stood, scanning the crowds of people and looking.

Hakyeon made his way to the center of the village, catching a glimpse of a tall man with silver hair. He was indeed a stoic, looking onwards with quiet focus - he was looking for something or someone but was in no rush to find it, assured that it was here and would come to him. Hakyeon seen the shaman approach the kingly stranger. 

"I am the spiritual leader of this village, in service to the Sun Lord, Prince of Life Fire. Will you not at least tell me of your business in our home, good sir?"

"In service to the Sun Lord . . ." The stranger echoed back; his sharp, black-lined eyes had locked with Hakyeon's and the man felt himself go still. The stranger's gaze was heavy, but in a warm, reassuring way. He was here for Hakyeon. Hakyeon is what he had come for. "You discern the omens and messages of the Sun Lord."

"Indeed I do." The shaman's brows furrowed. "In his name, you must now speak clearly of your purpose."

The stranger, voice booming and rumbling, laughed. "What do I owe a village that would not even take in a kindly poor old man? You would not even offer an elder a roof to sleep under or something to soothe the starvation in his stomach. What could I ever possibly owe to the people who would not look twice at me in a less appealing form?"

The shaman stumbled over himself, suddenly unsure of this stranger. "In a less appealing form?"

"All of you who shunned me yesterday stand here now and gawk at me, suddenly enthralled by beauty. If I asked you now, I'm sure you would fight amongst yourselves to be my host, not slam doors in my face."

The stranger surveyed them all, but they were all silent. Even the shaman had nothing to say to that. He only continued to peer up at the stranger, lost somewhere between shame and suspicion.

"But I would not go with any of you." The stranger continued. "You are all of you dim witted and shallow hearted. All save your most beautiful omega."

The stranger fixed his gaze on the dark-skinned man and he felt his heart freeze in his chest. The rest of the village turned to stare at him, the most piercing of which were the eyes of the shaman. The stranger smiled and let out a sheepish chuckle. 

"I know I did not give you my name, omega, but it is not fit to be heard in this company. I promise, when we are alone once more, I will tell it to you." 

The shaman turned sharply on Hakyeon, marching forwards before Hakyeon could bring his body to try and move away. He was grabbed roughly by the hair and pulled down to his knees. "What do you think you're doing, consorting? You're not allowed to breed and you know it. Do not think that your isolation gives you room to yourself out to any passing body."

"I didn't!" Hakyeon yelped, hands in his hair trying to keep the old shaman from pulling it out. "I offered the old man food and shelter for the night! That's all I did!"

"Lying harlot." The shaman hissed. "You bring the wrath of the Sun Lord to our shores with your very prescence."

The stranger placed two of his fingers on the top of the shaman's hand and the old man screamed, immediately releasing Hakyeon to clutch the two searing burn marks on his hand. 

"Your treatment of my favourite does indeed inspire my ire." The stranger said, kneeling down and cupping Hakyeon's cheek, gently running his fingers through the tangles in his black hair. "I had thought that you, as my shaman, would understand when I blessed Cha Hakyeon with dark skin that it was a sign of my affection. Instead, you banish an innocent boy to the fringes of his home, starve him of love and companionship. You took away his only friend, bound him to your village, and pushed my loved one further away. You disappoint me, most assuredly, but more than that you hurt me."

The Sun Lord helped Hakyeon to his feet, keeping the omega close to him. The Lord was taller than Hakyeon himself and regarded the village with searing judgement.

"I should burn you, but I think having the frigid pale of your skin echo the cold of your heart is a better punishment." The Lord looked down to Hakyeon, smiling softly and his cheek. "But you, my most gorgeous of creatures, you I shall keep eternal in all your loveliness."

Through the still and unmoving crowd, Taekwoon pushed through. He rushed forwards and threw his arms around Hakyeon, kissing his cheek, voice even softer than normal and thick with emotion. "I knew it. I knew you had to be special. You had to be."

Hakyeon, for the first time in a long time, felt like clinging to his friend and sobbing thickly, clutching him close. But the Lord's touch at his back erased the sadness, filling his chest with warmth that spread through his body. 

"I don't want you to go." Taekwoon whispered. "I wish I had of come anyway, damned the judgement of the village and gone to see you. I'm so sorry that I never did."

The Sun Lord chuckled, gently prying to the two friends apart. "Don't worry. You two will have plenty of time together. After all this village has done to corrupt itself, I could not imagine the Prince of Devotion would let his lover and child linger much longer."

Hongbin stepped calmly out, one arm holding Sanghyuk and the other coming to wrap around Taekwoon's waist. "I imagine he wouldn't."

Taekwoon's eyes went wide and he stared at his mate like he'd never seen the man before. 

"Will you come with me, omega?" The Sun Lord whispered, his breath on Hakyeon's ear making the dark man shiver. 

"Yes." He breathed back. 

"Then our business here is done." He pulled Hakyeon back into him, wrapping the omega up in thick arms that were the same kind of warm he got when he fell asleep in a summer afternoon sun.

He didn't know, really, what happened next. The Sun Lord had kissed his bonding gland, just lightly and he'd closed his eyes into it, melting some, and suddenly the cool of moist dirt was gone from under his feet and he felt smooth stone. 

"Welcome home, Hakyeon." The Lord rumbled against his back, lips still on his neck. 

"Home?" The omega murmured, opening his eyes to find himself in a grand house that looked like a palace. The floors were quartz and thrummed faintly with warmth and life. The walls were a matted bronze, curtains a fluttery cream. "Where are we?"

"The Sun Forum." The Lord replied, taking a deep breath through his nose. "It's my home."

Hakyeon had learned of the legends before he'd been outcast - each Lord had a Forum and all the Forums were in the Life Pavillion, the home of the gods. If this really was the Sun Forum, that meant that just outside the fluttering of the massive cinnamon curtain which was most certainly a doorway, lay the Forums of Water, Earth, Fire, Wind and Devotion. 

"Were you joking about Taekwoon? Was Hongbin really the Devotion Lord this whole time?"

"He wasn't supposed to be there." The Sun Lord replied. "Your village is my patronage, but we made special connections to people even we cannot help. They only happen once. Because of that, the Lords all agreed to let each other cross territory to claim their mates. Taekwoon will be cared for and very soon, you will be able to go see each other without boundary."

Hakyeon chuckled weakly. "I guess I should thank Hongbin for saving Taekwoon from the village."

"You don't need to thank anybody. Everyone will reap what they've sown. Taekwoon received love in turn for the love he gave you. And, if you will accept it, you will be given the affection you were starved for."

Hakyeon felt the Lord's arms righten around him, one hand toying with teh hem of his shirt. If he was reading this right . . . "I have only one condition."

The Lord rumbled a laugh. "Name it."

"I want your name."

"The name of the star you call Sun is actually Ravi. In a fashion, since I am the sun and it is me, I am Ravi. However, my true name is Wonshik."

"Is there a difference between Wonshik and Ravi?"

"In the same way there is a difference between Hongbin and Love."

Hakyeon swallowed thickly.

"Do you have another condition?"

"I'm not wrong, am I? You're asking me to be your mate."

Wonshik's breath left him in a rush and he groaned into Hakyeon's neck, a sound made of pure need. "I have known you were mine for as long as you've been alive. I've longed for years to hold you like I am now, but I am not so fortunate as Hongbin to be able to leave my domain for many lengthy periods of time. I could tell you understood my signs - the cloudless days, the fog and the mist. You know me and I know you. I want you to be mine, to finally feel the beautiful deep stain in your skin against mine, to see such a luminous face twist in pleasure. But if you do not desire me, would not want to be my mate, I will not force you. You are as welcome in my arms as you are to decide against them."

Hakyeon leaned back against teh solid body of Wonshik, letting his head loll back onto the other man's shoulder. He was just so comfortable here, finally free of cold, both in and outside his body. "I like it here inside them, I think."

Wonshik smiled against his neck.

The sheets under him were unlike anything he'd ever felt before and even after so long here, he still wasn't used to the absolute luxury that surrounded him. Least of all was Wonshik, who was godly in all respects and treated Hakyeon like a king. 

A large hand crept across his waist and he felt Wonshik's hot breath on the back of his neck as he snuggled closer. Dawn would come soon and like the great fireball Ravi, Wonshik would waken, tall and strong and broad and beautiful. 

Hakyeon liked Wonshik. The Prince of the Sun was a kind and generous host, free with his affection and often telling Hakyeon how heavenly he appeared and how his skin - so long a symbol of pain and loathing, both for himself and for the village - was Wonshik's favourite part. Wonshik was clingy in his sleep, often curling his larger body around Hakyeon's and rumbling with contented noises like the pleased purrs of a wild cat. In the early hours of the morning, sometimes Wonshik's inner alpha revealed itself with wandering hands and a chest pressed very firmly and solidly to his back. He had never pressured Hakyeon into anything, seeming only to test how much of the golden plain he was allowed to touch and to simply remind the omega that the alpha had a desire for him. 

This morning was no different in terms of Wonshik, but Hakyeon felt different. He had felt this desire build for some time, wanting Wonshik to touch more of him and as it had grown and he felt safe enough to allow it, he had granted access. This morning, he wanted more than any of that. Touch was a dismally unsatisfying. 

"Wonshik." Hakyeon whimpered, his own hands coming down to clasp around the alpha's. He felt the other man wake, press a kiss to the back of his neck, but stop their hands. 

"Hakyeon." Wonshik murmured back, voice sending sparks skittering up his spine. He rolled his head back, meeting the alpha's heavy gaze. "What are you asking for?"

"I want you." Hakyeon whispered, feeling like he should be more ashamed of his admission. Carnality had always been such a public secret in the village, his people such prudes. Well, people who should be his people.

"Is that so?" Another fluttery kiss, this time to his pulse. "How much of me do you want?"

"All of you."

"Are you sure?"

Hakyeon gave a small, devilish smirk. "Let Hongbin know that such a bond as ours has been cemented."

Wonshik was suddenly up on his elbow, blinking down at Hakyeon. "You want to mate with me?"

"Yes, I do." He rolled onto his back, reaching up and pulling the other man down on top of him. He brushed their noses and their lips together. "Feel me. I had thought you would be able to feel the wet and the heat with how close we sleep, how we are."

Wonshik's eyes darkened. "I know what your body says, but it is your mind's permission that I need."

His heart swelled with the words. "You have it."

The alpha stared down at him for a long time before his hand came up, gently cupping his face and brushing some hair out of his eyes. "You are the most perfect creature I've ever seen. I love you, Hakyeon."

His heart melted a little and the feelings that had been growing in him day by day found permanent root in his chest. "Same for me, on both accounts."

The Prince of the Sun cupped the side of his face in one massive hand, rbinging their lips together for the first time. It was soft and slow, just like Wonshik himself. He reach out, sliding his dark arm aroudn the Prince's shoulders and pulled him closer. With a groan, Wonshik followed him down, one strong arm wrapping around his waist and shifting his position, aligning their bodies and pulling them flush. 

Now, he'd never been with an alpha before. Taekwoon and he had shared touches when they were young, before they'd presented, but once Taekwoon revealed as an omega as well, there was nothing to be done. No right alpha would risk teh wrath of the Sun Lord and the village to mate with a cursed omega, even to do so without the omega's consent. He wasn't scared, though. Wonshik had been nothing if not loving, tender and affectionate. There was nothing to fear from a god who could have anythign he wanted without having to force someone unwilling. 

"What are you thinking about?" Wonshik whispered agianst his neck, making the omega shiver. 

"You." He replied, mouth parting as Wonshik mouthed over his bonding gland, pausing to and lap at it. The place was so sensitive it sent chills all down his body, making everything feel so explicitly real.

"What about me?" The alpha rumbled. 

"How wonderful you are to me." He purred, catching Wonshik's lips in a kiss. "So wonderful."

The god laughed bashfully, but his eyes were dark with lust. "You don't know anything about wonderful yet, my darling. Don't worry. I'll teach you what it means to be well and thoroughly pleased."

He laughed brightly, the overwhelming urge to giggle bubbling up. "You're the god here. Shouldn't I be the one to worship you?"

Wonshik looked almost affronted. "Absolutely not. You're my omega. You're a gift and there is nothing that would bring me greater pleasure than to care for you."

"I should, though. Isn't that what it meant o eb lovers, mates? I know Taekwoon was not alone in getting pampered - he freely gave affection to Hongbin and cared for him."

"And you think you don't?" Wonshik kissed him again, this time a little rougher, just enough to leave him gasping, trying to follow for more. "Hakyeon, you give me so much affection, I burst with it at the seams. You shower me in love. The very least you can let me do is care for you ually. It's my role as an alpha to care for you, to make sure you never leave my embrace without being satisfied. Hongbin - who created the dynamics, I remind you - was the very one that told me this. Omegas bear heats and children, and for those two impossible tasks, deserve someone capable of pampering them and attending to their needs. That is my role as you alpha, as your lover."

"So what does that mean for me?" He ran his hands through the alpha's silver hair, jumping a little when long fingers started playing with his s. 

"It means that I want you as vocal as I can make you. I want to be the person you beg for, call out for if you go into heat and I'm not here. I want you to touch me, explore me and enjoy me. I want you to tell me what you want me to touch and if you don't like something. It means you have the reins and I am a loyal servant to your whims."

He peppered little kisses across the god's cheekbones and nose, trailign down one side to his pulse. "In that case, I want you to start. I don't know what I want, what I like. I'll need you to show me."

"I endeavour to be the best teacher." Wonshik teased before he sunk down, pressing another tender, worshipping kiss to his lips. 

(If any of you want a ty chapter two, let me know and I'll get to work.)