"Today?" Ri'za-in asked, seeming more truly confused than normal. "It's been ten years already?"

Kysenn nodded, crossing the room to sit in the gnarled wood chair that had been a gift to him some centuries earlier. Ri'za-in didn't much like when Kysenn went to sit over there. It meant that something important was going on and that he'd best pay attention.

"You're to go to him now," Kysenn said softly. "And I don't know if you'll ever be allowed back to this sanctuary."

"Kysenn!" Ri'za-in was stunned. Never seeing his master again seemed a bit extreme. But either way, he had not meant for his life to be lived in the home of the Life-giving god.

"Prolonged farewells only make things more difficult," Kysenn continued. "So you'd best go. Stay strong, Rizza, and you'll make it through the ritual."

"Kysenn..." Ri'za-in couldn't even find the words he wanted. He took a couple of steps toward the door but paused. "I..."

Their eyes met, one last look between teacher and pupil before Kysenn looked away.

"Go. Now."

Knowing that this was the moment he had waited so long for, Ri'za-in turned and left Kysenn's part of the grand palace. If he never made it back, he knew he would be forever haunted by Kysenn's eyes. There was something there that Ri'za-in had never seen from anyone else and it was almost painful to think about.

"Come along, come along!" Light bounded into view, her golden robes strangely tattered and her hair tangled. Ri'za-in no longer feared her madness however, and he followed her to what he knew well to be Dayn's chambers.

Before he could say a word to the turbulent goddess, she vanished without a trace, leaving only a flickering spot on the floor that faded into the stone a moment later.

"Goodbye," he said to no one in particular and then he knocked on the door, not at all surprised when it opened right away.

"Tens years untouched," Dayn said, taking Ri'za-in's hand and pulling the priest into room. "Kysenn was too easy on you. But I do keep my promises."

Fear raced through Ri'za-in. Too many times he had tended to Kysenn's wounds after his master spent an evening with the god. And now it was his turn.

"Don't be afraid," Dayn commented, almost as though he was reading Ri'za-in's mind. The god pulled Ri'za-in tight and grabbed a handful of Ri'za-in's behind, crushing their bodies together. Ri'za-in could already feel the hardness of Dayn's arousal against his groin but he wanted to deny it. He wanted anything but to be where he was. Even if he had to be back with Kysenn for another ten years...

Pulled too quickly from his clothing and too quickly onto Dayn's bed, Ri'za-in was almost paralyzed with fear as Dayn started kissing him, warm mouth moving from his lips to lick away his tears.

"Fear not, young mage," Dayn said, coaxing Ri'za-in's penis to arousal. Ri'za-in squeezed his eyes shut, trying to deny himself the pleasure. Still, as the god stroked him, he knew there was not going to be any denying what would come next. If this was to be what needed to happen, it was okay. After all, would it have been any better with Kysenn? Ri'za-in didn't know. He realized that after ten years he still knew nothing and the sudden and nearly painful bliss of his first non-masturbatory orgasm confirmed it.

For hours, he gave himself willingly, being taken again and again by the untiring god, basking in the heat and the pleasure. It only grew better and as Ri'za-in found himself crying out Dayn's name and burying his face into Dayn's dark hair, his only regret was that he hadn't done this first with Kysenn.

Because now and forever, he would be haunted by that look in his master's eyes.