Julien
by Engor
Chapter 32
When he had fallen asleep he had been too tired to think about going for a pee first, and it was the need to do that that woke him up in the middle of the night. He got up, extricating himself from his sleeping partners' arms and legs, and once he'd done what he needed to and had returned to the bed he got a visit from Xarax. The haptir wasn't exactly a soft and cuddly teddy bear, but when he pressed his head against Julien's cheek it wasn't a cuddle that he was after. Instead he'd chosen this opportunity to offer some important information that Julien needed to know.
A long time ago, Xarax's people made a pact with the humans, he began. They agreed that humans could wander freely around approximately one-third of the world of Kretzlal, but they had to promise not to interfere in the haptirs' affairs. Indeed, there was to be no contact between the two species. Men need the plants that grow on Kretzlal, but haptirs have no need of men. If no agreement was reached, the humans could cause great harm to the haptirs and could drive them out of Kretzlal, but the haptirs would certainly kill a lot of people and make life very difficult for the rest.
And so the pact was agreed, and when it was concluded my people presented the Emperor Yulmir with an egg, and from that egg was hatched Xhork, the first of the Emperor's haptirs. Normally when a haptir hatches he is surrounded by his whole Clan and is immediately offered all different kinds of food, and so he becomes accustomed to that diversity, and it helps to shape the view of the world and his place in it that forms during the first days of his life.
But things are different for the Emperor's haptir: when he hatches he is alone with the Emperor, and the only food he gets is a few drops of the Emperor's blood, enriched with Yel, the omnipresent energy. And so a bond is formed. To the haptir, the Emperor is both his father and his mother, and he can only feed on the Emperor's enriched blood. To the Emperor, the haptir becomes almost an extension of himself, and indeed the haptir holds the key to several of his powers.
This is how things have been now for more than seven thousand cycles, and it remains the guarantee of the Covenant between our two species. Later Xarax will tell you more, but for now, that is enough.
But you should also know, young Julien, that Xarax has known you for far longer than you have had this body. Not every haptir of the Emperor has been happy with the role chosen for him, and some decided to... live a shorter life rather than go on with it. But Xarax has loved you since he first opened his eyes upon the world. And Xarax believes that, even though you have no memory of it, you love Xarax too.
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