FIVE: The Story

Klaus’ eyes widened the second Lukan’s lips touched his. But he did not object. He only let the raccoon kiss him on the lips as he hugged him. Lukan held the kiss, not daring in going too deep for several seconds. And in those seconds, it felt like there was an electric surge flowing throughout Lukan’s entire body. From his ears to his fingers, to his tail tip, to his toes. The electric feeling of pure exhilaration. A pure undistilled bliss and liberation of all the feelings. All the doubts. All the pain and confusion, all of it. Was just melting away with that mere touch of the lips. It was all gone. All of it. And replaced with a thrill of discovery. A thrill of finding a piece of himself that he had been searching for for so long. In those seconds as he felt the otter hold him, he felt nothing but warmth and lightness. All tension just evaporated on the spot and was replaced by an ethereal light. The masculinity of the otter’s physique as the mustelid held him was apparent against Lukan’s body, yet he felt nothing other than comfort and joy because of it, and it was the sort he had never felt in his entire life. Not just not with girls, but his entire life. Lukan never felt anything like the embrace of Klaus right against him. Lukan breathed in the otter’s scent along with his breath and felt the loneliness die along with the rest of his qualms. All the negativity. All of it was gone. Lukan did not want to let go of the otter for even a second as he continued to kiss him. Lukan could only focus on the glinting emerald starry eyes that reflected back the same emotions as he felt towards the otter. An overwhelming sense of a wondrous revelation finally set free after being caged for countless time. The kiss lasted or an eternity to Lukan. And yet, he was happier for that than any other time in his entire life. But he knew that it had to end at some point. It was with a heavy heart that Lukan parted their lips but they both remained open as he drew them away to stare into the otter’s eyes some more in pure happiness. The very first genuine feeling of that emotion in his entire life. Was finally realized in the form of the otter’s mere presence. 
“L-Lukan…” Klaus breathed after a solid minute of staring with a gaping maw. “I-I thought you... “
	Lukan could only shake his head with a smile. And he felt tears pooling in his eyes. “No Klaus. You were right. To suppress my sexuality was wrong. And while I had not much of a choice before I met you, after I did, I felt it growing and growing, my feelings for you. And now I am late to the party but… I know now, who I am, thanks to you. Thank you Klaus. So much.”
Klaus hugged him tightly and began to cry on his shoulder. “L-Lukan! I’m so happy that… that you are… I did… I--”
Lukan patted the otter on the back as tears slid down his own face. “Sshh…” he soothed him. “It’s okay Klaus. It’s all okay now. I now know who I am…” he repeated with a whisper. “Everything I felt for you before that you thought I was hiding it… it was my feelings for you. They kept growing and growing every day I knew you until… until earlier today when I saw you beaten to the ground…  and that… that was all I needed to push me to your side. Which is where I want to stay…”
Klaus began bawling all over Lukan’s back. “Y-you have no idea how l-long I’ve waited… f-for s-someone to tell me that!” He sobbed. Lukan sniffed as he continued to pat the otter on the back trying to soothe him as he was nearly crying himself after solving one of the biggest issues he had with his life. It was gone. Could it be possible? That obtaining a relationship with the otter was they key to his life that he had been searching so long for? Was it found deep within the pools of the emerald leading down to his soul? 
“I’m here, Klaus. I’m here,” Lukan whispered. “And I won’t ever leave. If you won’t either too,” he added.
“I’m not letting go of something so precious that I just got,” Klaus sniffled. Klaus backed up and looked into Lukan’s eyes which caused euphoria to drift into Lukan when he say the shining gemstones of his eyes radiating everlasting light right back into his. They were glinting with tears. Tears of joy, happiness, and of a happy ending to a conflict many years in the making.
“A few minutes ago… I did not feel ready to tell you my full story, Lukan,” Klaus shivered and shuddered. “But now… now I do feel ready…”
	Lukan gave Klaus another peck on the lips. It took all his self control to not hold it forever again like he wanted to. “You do, Klaus?”
	Klaus sighed as he laid himself down on Lukan’s bed. “Yeah, Lukan… I am.”
	“You don’t have to tell me it…” Lukan started.
	“N-no. Y-you have the right to know. You must know, my friend,” Klaus whispered. And before Lukan could say a word to refute what the otter just said, he continued. Or started, rather…

	“I was seven years old when it all started. Me and my mom, dad, and little sister lived together in one happy family together. It was a time back then when all cubs were oblivious to the real world around them. When you are a cub, you are mindless and unaware of how the world was really like. It was at that time that I got a massive wake up call. 
	It was in August, right before I had entered the second grade at elementary school when my dad had not come home after a few days of going out camping with a good friend of his from work. I watched in silence as my sister began to panic over his disappearance. My mom was trying to assure her that everything was okay, that daddy would come home soon. I noticed though, that when she was alone, she would go to her room and cry with a picture of her and my father on the nightstand by her bed. Somehow I knew she was lying to  Kandice, my sister, and that my father was never coming home. I had no idea what was going on. All I could remember of some of the things she read aloud in the newspaper was that a local otter who was a famous real estate agent for Lilac Grove, disappeared a week prior to my sister’s breakdown. He was presumed to be dead, killed by something while he went camping.
	Needless to say I was devastated to learn that my father was probably never going to come back. And even more heartbroken when I realized that the news had to be broken to my four year old sister. She did not take it well. She screamed, fought, tooth and claw, to know what happened to her father. The otter that raised her into the fine girl she was turning into. She wanted to fight what had stolen him away from us. She could not accept that he was not returning.  She swore to us that he was coming back, and it hurt every time we had to shoot her down. He was never going to come back. It was tragic and bitter that our family was ripped to shreds before our very eyes.
	But. We were wrong. Our father did come back. When I was ten, I read a newspaper article that said that Kuaren Richtors was spotted ten miles away in the nearby small town of Castoria. I ran to my mom and showed her the article and she was more surprised at that moment than I have ever seen her at any point in my life. Naturally she ushered us into the car and drove us to Castoria. Seven year old, Kandice Richtors was pestering both of us the whole way asking why we were driving to Castoria for. And my mother. I could see it in her eyes that she was wondering the same thing. Why was my our father in Castoria? How did he get there from his camping trip three hundred miles away? Why did he not come home at all when he was only ten miles from us? What reason was there for Kuaren Richtors to cause his family, friends, and coworkers to believe he was dead?
	Well we got our answer when we saw Kuaren in the local grocery store walking with another man. We only got a glimpse of them before we lost them in the shelves of the store. My mom was definitely shocked. And Kandice kept asking what was going on and where dinner was. It was at that point she decided to look and ask around Castoria. Despite being close to Lilac Grove, Castoria was a tight knit community where everyone knew everyone. And it did not take long for her to find her answer. As it turned out, Kuaren Richtors was engaged to a raccoon named Aron Benka, who was said coworker from three years prior. And yeah, your mom said that he was your uncle and her brother in law… My mom was furious beyond belief saying that she was married to Kuaren already, and that it was impossible for Kuaren to be engaged to another guy as well. The authorities in Castoria  told my mom that she was wrong, that she was never married to Kuaren. Despite the ring and the ceremony, she was never legally married to our father. And it enabled him to marry Aron a few months after that time.
	My mom was hysterical. She left the police station muttering nasty things from swear words to threats. She seemed like a ticking time bomb that would go off at any second. She drove us home in a fit of road rage, not giving a damn about others on the road. I could tell that she was about ready to snap, because the whole trip home, Kandice did not speak a single word all the way. 
	Still some things felt like they weren’t over yet. Yeah we found out our father was cheating on mom with another guy, and that we were definitely still going to be fatherless until we grew up, but something felt wrong at the time after we discovered the truth even after a year passed at that point. And that was when one night, we saw mom walking through the living room, looking like a zombie had possessed her. We watched her through our bedroom windows go outside and get in the car. It was two o’ clock in the morning when she left. And she returned two hours later, breathing heavily and angrily. We could smell something very odd on her fur. It was a very bitter scent. One that smelled of metallic copper. It took only until dawn for police to be right on our doorsteps, and our mother was forcefully hauled away right before our very eyes. I remember what she screamed out as she was hauled to the car…
	“I may be gone for now kids, but now you do not have to live in the company of those traitorous faggots!” 
	I could here my sister screaming as she and I were also taken away. Where to we had no idea. I overheard one of the officers that Krystina Richtors was going to go to prison for the rest of her life on account of two first degree murders against Kuaren Richtors, and Aron Benka. We could only think of where we’d end up, where my mom was going, and if we’d ever see her again. 
	We were sent to a foster home for five years. We lived life there as normal without any parents, with dozens of other orphaned or parentless cubs. It was a quiet time. Neither of us made any friends, spoke to anybody; we just kept to ourselves. It was around the time I was thirteen, three years into our life in the home that I began to feel attraction to the other male cubs there that were around my age. I did not know what to think. I was always taught to be attracted to only girls, and no one else. But members of my own gender were foreign to me. I suppose it should not have since my dad had an affair with your uncle behind our backs, but I had not understood what they were all talking about yet, even at age ten. It was a strange time as I began to panic. I refused to tell anyone I was attracted to boys, because I thought something was seriously wrong with me. But it only kept growing and growing.
	All the while this was happening, my sister was adopted by someone else when I was fourteen and she was eleven. Needless to say I was devastated when my sister also left my life forever. It was at that moment that I realized that I was all alone. I had no one to talk to, no one to confide in. No more family left. With my father dead, my mother incarcerated, and now my sister separated from me forever, I was ready to just give up. 
	After I turned fifteen, I got the biggest shock of my life. My mom was released due to good behavior and a loophole in the laws of the city that enabled her to get out because she murdered two GAY people of all things. She came for me in the foster home. She was remorseful of what she had done to her cubs, and that she’d likely never see Kandice again, and she promised me that she’d never make the mistake with me again.
	So thanks to her experiences with her ex-husband, my mom was homophobic extremely down to her core. I’m not sure if she was beforehand, but after such betrayal, she definitely was. She promised me, that she’d never let me fall into the same trap again.
	Until she saw me at the gay friendly ice cream shop I took you to a few days ago. There is a blatant sign on the window after all. I had gone there to confide in the owner of the shop, Dunnan over what to do. He told me to wait. Wait until I was out of my mom’s grasp in about two and a half years or so at the time. I could not just run away, nor could I risk being kicked out. I had absolutely nowhere to go but that foster home. And I had no intention in going back there, even though my mom was a murderer. But it was hard to ignore it. As I mentioned last night, my libido is a real bitch that won’t leave me alone no matter how hard I tried. I tried so hard, but my mind kept nagging me to do something. Try to meet other guys, gawk at them, hang out with them, be with them. Something! That was when I started working out by the way. And I joined the swimming team to boot. My mom took no notice of this. She thought I had legitimate interest in building my body up to impress the ladies and get more involved with school activities. But when she saw me at the gay ice cream shop, with no girl holding my hand… she knew I was just like her husband. Or that is what she assumed.
	She was convinced that I was going to cheat on a girl I would have with a guy, and undermine not just her life, but everyone else around me as she did. She thought I was going to fall into the exact same trap as she did five years prior to this time. She was not furious when she confronted me, but she seemed, completely defeated. As if we let each other down by letting me become gay. It was at that time that I feared for my life. Was my mom going to kill me or not? Luckily no… but she restricted me beyond all belief. She refused to let me have any friends. She refused to let me have any sort of social life with anyone. She tried to take me out of school so she could homeschool me, in fear of what I would do if I were to defy her.
	It was at that time, that two of the three brutes earlier today discovered that I was gay. I was watching the fox showering after we all had a workout session in the gym. Needless to say. It was not pretty. While he was banned from the gym, I myself was forced to give up working out and helping the swim team win their meets for fear of this happening again. It was then that I thought my mom was right. Was it being gay so much of a mistake that it was going to ruin my life for good? I was convinced it would be. I tried to find girls to be with, but my mind refused to click. My mind refused to let me live a normal life. I knew it was never going to be so. 
	But I found someone. A guy. That friend I mentioned when we first met. The one that my mom freaked out over when she found out. She made me choose between him and my college money. And as you can understand, being friendless for as many years as I have been against my will, having one friend was all I needed to realize just how precious friendship was. A corny moral, yes, but true.
	I regretted every decision I made to leave that friend behind. But… I do not anymore. You want to know why, Lukan…?
	…
	Because in doing so… it led me… to you…”
	
	And with that, Klaus took a deep breath and looked right into Lukan’s eyes. 
	“S-so.... my uncle died… because of your mother…?” Was all Lukan could say.
	Klaus’ voice became unbelievably shaky. “I-I’m so sorry, Lukan… I really am…”
	Lukan shook his head. “I-it’s not your fault, Klaus I-- I’m just… so shocked. I’m so sorry that any of that even happened to you… Makes me seem incredibly weak for having a story such as mine…” he said as he thought about it.
	Klaus held Lukan’s handpaws. “Don’t say that. No matter how you felt about your own life, you’re strong for making it this far. And I am  so glad I did. Because you are now mine… r-right?” He added nervously.
	Lukan gave Klaus a tearful kiss as he held the otter’s handpaws tighter. “O-of course, Klaus. Of course we’re boyfriends now.” They touched noses together as Lukan smiled, mirrored by Klaus’ own smiling, tearful face. That in of itself instigated another kiss.
	The same feelings of euphoria surfaced when Lukan’s maw made renewed contact with the otter’s again. And this time they grew stronger as they explored the shapes of their lips, the feeling of their hot breath mingling together in harmony as their tongues danced along with each other. They tasted each other’s breaths, and while the otter’s was strong, it served nothing but to give Lukan endless comfort as he explored the shape and feel of it with his own. The kiss continued to deepen until Lukan was certain they were making out at that point. He sighed happily and surrendered to his feelings and continued to enjoy the feeling of the otter’s face against his. Two solid minutes of making out later, and Klaus broke it, with a strand of saliva hanging on between them as he did.
	“So that’s… what it is like to kiss… with passion…” Lukan breathed. “I-I love it…” 
	Klaus sighed as they held paws again. “I do too…” He looked away for a moment as his face reddened. “He Lukan…?” He asked.
	“Y-yeah, Klaus…?” Lukan asked as his heart raced a marathon again.
	“D-do you think you could now… help me with…” he stopped as he blushed furiously. Instantly Lukan knew exactly what he meant. 
	“Of course, Klaus… that’s what a good boyfriend is for…” Lukan said as his heart skipped a beat. No wait. Skipped twenty of them. “But i-if you want to now…  w-we’d have to wait until my mom has gone to bed…” he whispered. 
	Klaus nodded as he sniffled. “O-okay Lukan… I… waited years for this day to finally come…” he added. 
	“In a way, so did I… boyfriend,” Lukan added. And that made the otter start crying again. It was as if his own internal struggle had also evaporated with the revelation of Lukan’s true feelings with him. It was at that moment that Lukan realized that being gay might not be so bad after all. Especially if it gave him warmth and happiness in the arms of the otter next to him. If only it were easy otherwise… “He Klaus…?” He asked.
	“Y-yeah…? Boyfriend…?” Klaus whispered tearfully.
	“C-could we not do this…? A-at least while my mom is still up?” Lukan asked in a pained voice because he loved it so much and knew that he should not let it happen because he knew his mother; she barged into his room without warning way too often for his comfort. 
	Klaus looked into Lukan with sad eyes. “It sucks that we have to hide this…” he said as he got off of Lukan. “Are you sure your mom would not be okay with it?” 
	Lukan shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea. And to be even more honest, I don’t want to risk it,” he said.
	“I-I see,” Klaus said. “A-all I did was hide myself for the past five years… I-I guess if I have to… I will again, for the sake of being with you,” he said with more determination than Lukan had ever heard from Klaus in several days. 
	
	It was a bit of an agonizing wait for Lukan’s mom to stop watching her Korean dramas and go to bed. He could feel the anticipation radiating from Klaus’ fur in what they were about to do that night in just a short amount of time. And Lukan felt a similar anticipation as the memories of the experimentations with boys he had done in the past as an older cub surfaced in his mind. Only this time, he was going to do it for real. His tail twitched impatiently as Klaus’ tail twitched excitedly. It was 10:30 that Lukan heard her headphones drop to the desk in the living room. He could feel Klaus squeaking with excitement as Lukan heard his mom’s pawsteps approach.
	“Night Lukey,” she said as she approached the room. She looked inside and was momentarily surprised. “Oh Klaus? You’re still up?” She asked.
	“Y-yes, Mrs. Benka,” Klaus responded with too wide a smile on his face. 
	“Are you okay, Klaus?” Lukan’s mom asked, narrowing her eyes in concern.
	Klaus shook his head too quickly. “Nope! I’m perfectly fine!” Klaus chirped. 
	Lukan’s mom held her gaze on the two as Lukan tried to have either an indifferent look on his face, or an equally confused one. He hoped his mother bought it…  “Well alright then, but I better not find drugs in our possession, Klaus,” she said as she closed her bedroom door behind her. 
	Instantly, Klaus jumped to his paws. “Okay! Let’s get started!” He grabbed the hem of his shirt and started to pull it up.
	“No wait!” Klaus get back here!” Lukan hissed as he heard his mother’s door open again. Klaus yelped and jumped back to the bed as Lukan’s mother rushed down the hallway muttering.
	“Forgot my stupid medications again…” and she strode into the kitchen and turned on the light. There was rummaging sounds coming from outside along with more muttering.
	Lukan looked at Klaus sadly. “This happens a lot… I’ve gotten really good at predicting when she does that,” he said almost in a proud voice. 
	“Wow thanks for giving me notice!” Klaus said, trying hard to sound annoyed, but failing miserably. It was a few seconds later that Lukan’s mother returned with medicinal bottles in her paws and she closed her door behind her again. Klaus looked at Lukan again to be sure and when Lukan gave him a small, smiling nod, Klaus jumped up again. “Alright! Let’s do this!” 
	Lukan jumped up after him and stopped him from starting to strip again. 
	“What now!?” Klaus complained. 
	“I dunno why, but when she’s awake, my mom does not like it when my door is closed, but now that she’s gone to bed… hopefully…” Lukan strode over to the door and closed it carefully. “And by the way, I-I would kind of like it if… we stripped each other…” he added with a blush. 
	Klaus pointed to Lukan with a giggle. “I like the way you think, coon,” he said. He outstretched his arms and gazed into Lukan’s eyes some more. “Lukan…” he said.
	Lukan grinned as he took hold of Klaus’ shirt and began to pull it up, exposing the otter’s slightly muscular and athletic torso. Muscular as it was, his belly still remained soft and fuzzy to the touch as his arm grazed against it. He pulled the shirt up to his neck, exposing his handsome chest. Klaus shifted his head so it would be easier for Lukan to pull it off. When it was off Lukan could only stare at the bare chested otter before moving down to his pants. He slowly unbuttoned and unzipped them as he could already feel the otter’s excitement behind them, and he pulled them down just as slowly, exposing plaid boxers that were bulging from his excitement. Lukan stared at it as he pulled the pants down past his knees and down to his ankles. Klaus lifted on footpaw each to get the pants off as Lukan was now standing in front of an otter wearing nothing but bulging boxers. Lukan could not help but start feeling excited in his own pants as well from the handsome sight. After briefly catching a glimpse of the otter’s naked physique in the locker room, and imagining it further in his dreams, here he was about to witness the otter in his birthday suit. Lukan slowly reached his fingers to the rim of the boxers on the otter’s waist, heart pounding in his chest, and began to pull them down slower than ever, wanting to savor every second he stripped the otter down. Lukan started pulling the boxers down past the bulge in the otter’s crotch and gasped when he saw the excited member poking out from underneath, fully erect and ready to go. It was a fleshy pink thing that Lukan was excited to see. It looked a lot like his own when he thought about it. He watched it stand from the otter’s crotch as he pulled the underwear down to the otter’s ankles and  the otter lifted one footpaw at a time to get rid of the underwear. The otter looked at Lukan and grinned, blushing deeply. 
	:D-do you like what you see…?” Klaus asked with not much breath in his voice. He was clearly too excited to speak well. Lukan nodded eagerly as he outstretched his own arms and waved his ringed tail at the otter. “Y-your turn, my boyfriend,” he said. Klaus immediately took that opportunity to start taking Lukan’s shirt off. Lukan tried his best to mimic the movements Klaus made to take his clothes off easily, but wasn’t sure he pulled it off. Lukan blushed deeper when Klaus unzipped and unbuttoned his pants the same way Lukan did his before sliding them down. He heard the otter gasp and sigh in pleasure when he saw Lukan’s bulging boxer briefs. Lukan shifted his footpaws around as Klaus slipped his pants off and threw them aside. Klaus took a moment to admire Lukan’s body before pulling down his underwear. Lukan was almost embarrassed as the otter completely undressed him. The underwear slipped past Lukan’s bulge as his member was also exposed right in front of Klaus’ face. Klaus was obviously staring at it as he pulled the underwear down the rest of the way and instead of throwing them aside, Lukan’s heart skipped a beat when he watched Klaus take a deep sniff into Lukan’s underwear and said to himself. “The musk of my raccoon boyfriend…” he said. Instantly Lukan felt like sniffing at his own boyfriend’s…
	“M-may I…?” Lukan held up Klaus’ boxers and as Klaus nodded, Lukan slowly held them up to his nose. The smell of otter musk hit him hard across the face. It was strong, and extremely masculine which filled Lukan with so much happiness that he sighed audibly. “So good…” he breathed. 
	Klaus blushed. “Th-thank you…” he got down to his handpaws and knees and got up to Lukan and sniffed his crotch directly. “You are too…” he said, giving it a bit of a lick.	
	Lukan blushed when he realized what the otter was about to do. “D-don’t you think… maybe we start off small at first…?” He asked.
	“S-sure, Lukan,” Klaus said as he got up. Lukan sat down on the bed and Klaus followed. Lukan held his handpaw on Klaus’ member and shuddered at the warm, pleasant feeling of it and held it in his paw. Klaus moaned lightly as he did the same. A similar electric current from when they kissed was sent right into Lukan’s spine when he felt another paw on his member. One that made him sigh and smile in pleasure. Lukan started moving his paw on the otter’s member and moaning at how nice it felt in his paw. The shape of it. It’s firmness, it’s warmth. It all felt heavenly to Lukan. And it only got better when the otter started jerking him as well. Lukan moaned alongside Klaus as they pleasured each other. Lukan hoped their moaning was not audible to his mother on the other side of one the walls in the room, but he did not care. He did not want the pleasure to stop. The pleasure caused his and Klaus’ legs to squirm as they shook each other’s shapes. Such intimate actions that Lukan could never have imagined himself doing, especially with another guy, yet there was nothing he’d rather be doing at that moment in time. He and Klaus breathed heavily as they worked their paws in perfect harmony. A harmonious pleasure overwhelmed Lukan as he felt the otter’s member throbbing in his paw as it shot out memoirs of its appreciation, causing the otter to yelp and moan louder. The results of Lukan’s paw’s actions soaked into it. It felt warm and wet, and it smelled strongly of the otter’s musk combined with a salty tinge that Lukan enjoyed thoroughly. The otter moaned as he finished, moaning out Lukan’s name as he continued working on Lukan’s member. It took only seconds for Lukan to reach the same climax as his new boyfriend had, as his member throbbed out his own appreciation all over Klaus’ paw. Seconds later they had soaked paws, breathlessness and spent, happy members. Right as Lukan looked into Klaus’ eyes again, the otter grabbed Lukan’s soaked paw with his own and kissed him deeply again.
	“Oh Lukan… that… that was wonderful…” Klaus breathed as he stared at their paws.
	“We should get ourselves cleaned off before it gets into my bed. Which I’d love to smell our love together, but my mom wouldn’t!” Lukan giggled as he licked Klaus’ cheek.
	Klaus giggled. “Yeah you’re right.” They got up, still holding paws as Lukan led them into the bathroom to get cleaned off. Still naked and hoping his mom would not show up for no reason, he and Klaus cleaned their paws and wiped off their crotches, each other’s crotches, before returning to the room.
	“Aw man I wish we could sleep together…” Lukan said sadly when they got into his bed and snuggled up to each other.
	Klaus sighed. “I do too, my lover, but… if I am not there in the morning and your mom finds us together… then we’re caught!” 
	“W-well my mom IS off tomorrow, so she’ll be up late but… the problem is is that she still sometimes gets up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water or something,” Lukan said as he rubbed and petted the back of the otter’s head. 
	“That sucks…” Klaus said as he grabbed his boxers to put them back on.. 
	Lukan shook his head. “Well, we’ll see what we can do tomorrow, alright Klaus?” he prompted. 
	“Yes, let’s…” Klaus whispered as he got up to leave Lukan’s room. “Goodnight, boyfriend... “ he whispered.
	Lukan waved as he put his underwear back on as well. “G-good night… my boyfriend, Klaus…” and with that, Klaus turned off the lights and his door, leaving Lukan to reminisce in his now dead memories of the past, silently celebrating the beginning of the life he was destined to lead. And he hoped that it would stay this way, for as long as he could live… Yet, despite the happiness overwhelmingly overflowing his senses, Lukan could not help but think that his troubles are only just beginning...