Chapter 1.13 - We Were Here

 

Auru and Strong Elk dropped the white, bloody tusk in the dirst in front of Eshana’s bare feet. The lines on the crone’s face did not move. Only her eyes, vibrating, suggested any motion to the woman at all...until she looked up at Auru and said, “Then, it is done.”

Auru’s chest, painted dry with the blood of the mammoth, heaved and fell. Quietly, the caveman nodded his head. “It was a difficult hunt,” he said, while Billy looked alongside him, quietly. “But not for the reasons you’d think.”

Eshana slowly turned her head towards Strong Elk, whose face was once again hard and impassive. “No,” she said. “I am well aware. You have done well.” Her eyes flickered towards Billy. “All of you.”

That, more than anything, hit Billy deeply, and for a moment he was afraid he might start crying again. Instead, Billy lowered his head in deep respect.

While Billy couldn’t remember a time in his life where he’d stared death directly in the face, and felt he was entitled to a bit of congratulations, Eshana’s nonchalance suggested she wasn’t about to throw a hero’s banquet. “I suspect there’s no point in sending out a party to collect the flesh, bones, and skins,” the old woman said, while Kido graciously helped her onto her feet. “If the poor wretch was tainted by spirits, it could well poison the meat. Better to leave the beast where it fell, with its people.” With solemn respect, the eldress looked to the icons on the altar. “The gods are pleased. Even the wind is different. It feels right again.”

Surprising Billy, it was Strong Elk who spoke up in Auru’s favor. “Eldress of the Bull Clan,” he started, “Auru has fulfilled your request. As Chieftain of the Elk Clan, I give him my blessing as eternal brother. Will you give him yours?"

Billy felt time stop (not literally). He held his breath.

It was the first time he heard Eshana laugh. It was young. Melodic. Happy. “Obviously,” she huffed. Without assistance of Kido or her walking stick, the old woman grasped Auru’s hands in her own. “Auru. You are now one of us,” she said. “Welcome home.”

 

Once Auru had finally worn himself out from his unbridled joy at being accepted into the clan (which included many tight hugs Billy thought would break him in half each time) he took Billy and Strong Elk to the edge of the village, for some privacy.

Strong Elk had been distant since the mammoth fall. Billy couldn’t imagine what thoughts played through his head. Maybe now he would find peace.

The broad chested, long haired man placed his hand warmly on Billy’s shoulder. It was an unexpected gesture, coming from the brute, but Billy accepted it.

“This is where I bid you farewell, Billy,” Strong Elk said.

Confused, Billy glanced between the two hunky cavemen. “What do you mean? I thought you two—” Billy cut himself off, and then intertwined his index fingers into a knot.

Strong Elk turned his face to the side, probably to hide the tinge of redness spreading across his chiselled face. “Auru, I expect a visit to my cave every now and then,” he said. His firm tone could not disguise his intentions, however. “You know. Only if you want to.”

Auru smugly folded his hands over his chest. “Auru will consider.”

“Because, you know, even though I have my very capable and voluptuous wives…a male mate now and then could be nice.”

“Auru will consider,” Auru repeated, with a laugh.

The vein in Strong Elk’s forehead pulsed in anger, but only once. The proud hunter tossed back his regal mane and addressed the twenty-first-century gym bunny. “I would say, ‘take care of him’, but I know you are about to embark on a journey.”

What does this oversized protein shake know that I don’t? Billy thought, angrily—that is, until he felt a subtle warmth against his throat. Was the chain lock getting warmer, or was it just him?

“I know these things,” Strong Elk said. “Billy, you are no hunter.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“But I now believe you have the potential to become one.” The chieftain smiled, pounding his fist to his chest and then raising it, a gesture he repeated for Auru. “Someday.”

Strong Elk too his leave, stepping forward into the bush. Billy’s eyes savored the last few peeks at the big man’s loincloth, a ‘suggesting’ swaying in the breeze. Man, I hate to see him go, but I love watching him leave.

A light, but firm ‘pay attention’ tap on Billy’s head told the unwitting himbo to turn his attention back to his friend. Auru looked down at him. “Billy, let’s go back to my cave. I want to show you something.”

The shot of adrenaline and emotional overload from the past day’s events had left Billy fatigued. He looked to the white smoke from the village fire pit. “You don’t want to stay in the village and party with your new family?”

Auru shrugged. “I can return here later,” he said, bearing a wide smile. Then, he stepped forward, pushing his bulky body onto Billy’s. Belly felt his warmth at once. Thank goodness he’d also washed the mammoth blood off his chest. “Besides, all this time I’ve been the one mating with you.”

Billy blushed. He scratched his head, unable to make eye contact. “Well, yeah. We’ve had some fun.”

“It’s time Auru returned the favor.”

Billy squinted. “I don’t…” Then, he looked down, watching Auru’s loincloth lift upward by the force of his own erection. “Ohhhhh!"

 

The fire lit warmth of Auru’s cave was almost a nostalgic site for Billy. He remembered the first time he’d entered it, cold, uncertain, and somewhat shy.

Auru grunted and got down on all fours, eagerly stripping off his animal skins, and exposing himself for Billy. He growled softly, and turned his head backwards as if to ask Billy, ‘What are you waiting for?’

It didn’t take Billy long to find himself overcome with animalistic desire. He put all notions of formality aside and got on his knees, crawling over to Auru. Willed by animalistic lust, he buried his face in Auru’s big, caveman butt, taking in his natural pheromones. The gesture made his big-bodied friend shiver.

After a healthy application of one of gelatinous, pulpy gourds (that Billy knew he was going to miss) the twenty first century man stuck his fingers inside the muscle man. Auru groaned and shook, like a giant disturbed in its slumber, but made no indication that Billy was to remove himself. In fact, Billy found that Auru was already ‘ready’. His hole practically tugged on Billy’s digits, as if willing him to go further in.

Billy surrendered to his urged. After peppering Auru’s backsides and broad, muscular back with kisses, he pressed the tip of his cock against the big man and entered.

“Oh, ffffuck,” Billy groaned, as tight warmth enveloped his mass. Auru growled. Billy returned the vocalization, adjusting himself deep into Auru’s insides.

“Feel good,” Auru grunted. “Rut me, Billy. Mate with me.”

It had been ages since Billy had topped, but it was like riding a bicycle…or a caveman, in this instance. “Fuck yeah,” he said, before speech left his brain entirely. Filled with a masculine power, Billy slid in and out, thrusting deep, pulling back, and diving in harder.

Billy was shocked to hear the next roar was from himself. “RAGH!” He grabbed Auru’s hips and began increasing his thrust, becoming depraved and hungry in his mating. Auru’s guttural cries of pleasure would have been a bit too ‘much’ in any other scenario, but in this primal rutting session, they were fitting. Billy was happy to match them.

Auru, it seemed, was suited to bottoming—but perhaps a bit unaccustomed. It wasn’t long before the caveman nearly wolf-howled and spurted his seed against the stone floor, with an ejaculation so voluminous and intense that Billy could hear it.

That, plus Auru’s sphincter muscles contracting against Billy’s cock, was enough to bring Billy over the edge. Billy roared and he released, an orgasm both emotionally and physically intense. It took everything out Billy (literally). Fatigued, and still deep inside Auru, he fell forward onto his back, pressing his face against his sweaty-slicked skin.

Eventually, Billy did pull out, and found himself entangled in Auru’s arms, trading deep, hungry kisses, both men fully aware that their time together was about to run its course. Or, at the very least, Billy was. The heart-shaped locket’s warmth had only intensified. It was impossible to tell if it was some sort of ‘magic’ influence, or not, but Billy knew this signified that he had fulfilled Eros’s goal and was set to move on to another time, another place, and another hunk.

Not that Billy could ever see himself making a real life with Auru, and not because he didn’t like him!

After a week of running around near-naked, the sensation of modern fabric slipping over Billy’s legs was almost alien. He felt severely overdressed in the shirt, jock, and shorts the villagers had cleaned for him.

Billy adjusted his hat and looked over at Auru. “Not alone anymore, eh, cave-stud? You got a whole village who loves you now. Which is….more than I can say for me.”

Auru smiled. “Your tribe will love you too,” he said affectionately. “You just need to find them now. Billy, what you have done for me…I cannot put into words. So…” Auru motioned back towards the cavern. “Come.”

Billy sensed—no, he knew—that he was now on borrowed time. Still, he followed behind, hoping to savor each second with his new, best ‘mate’ (in every meaning of the word).

Inside the cave, speckled with art of Auru’s world, the hunter dipped his hands into a clay container of red liquid. Billy identified it as ochre.

Auru pointed to the cave wall—at the single red handprint burned into the stone wall. “Auru was here.”

Billy allowed Auru to smear his palm with red paint, and then let the caveman guide his own hand to the wall, where he pressed down next to the larger imprint. For Billy, it felt ceremonial, spiritual, profound. He was almost moved to tears. He pulled his hand back and admired the fresh print, next to its older companion.

Auru wiped his own hand on a ‘towel’ of moss and instructed Billy to do the same. Still, their palms were stained. When he was done, Auru pointed between the wall and Billy.

“You…were here,” he said softly. “Billy, my mate. Billy, my friend. Give this. Remember Auru.”

Billy was so completely lost in Auru’s gentle stare that he didn’t understand Auru had meant to give him something until he looked down at his dry palm and saw the fragment of bone, likely from the lion that had tried to eat Billy upon his arrival to the stone age. Etched into the white was the crude, but easily identified shape of a bull, or aurochs.

It occurred to Billy that taking anything from the past might not be a great idea…but since when had bad choices ever stopped him? Billy gratefully accepted the totem, swinging his arms around Auru, unable to connect them across his broad back.

“I won’t forget you,” Billy said. He regarded again the painted cavern, and the red handprints. “Nobody will forget you.”

Somehow, peering into Auru’s wise face, he knew that the caveman understood him perfectly.

Just as Billy placed Auru’s gift into the safety of his backpack (he couldn’t wait to chow into a power bar after trying to force down that lion meat), his ears perked up at an intrusive noise that seemed to be coming not from the cave entrance, but all around him.

“Do you hear that?” Billy asked Auru, but all the colors began to blend, and soon Billy was swallowed whole by the sound of shouting and clanging metal…

Next Era!

 

Chapter 1.12 - The Graveyard

 

The next day, Auru roused Billy (without arousing Billy) before dawn. The sexual endurance test from the night before had exhausted Billy well into unconsciousness, miraculously dodging any restless anxiety from hunting a massive, wild animal.

Billy decided, if he could take two enormous beasts in one go, then what was another? All in all, he was much more confident by the time he followed Auru and Strong Elk out into the tundra. Then again, confidence had been his undoing before…

The fiendish mammoth’s territory was well known to Strong Elk. Now, Billy knew very little about ancient pachyderms (he was a historian, not a palaeontologist) but he assumed they were migratory creatures. Thunder-That-Walks, however, was said to be a solitary wanderer who kept to a territory all to his own. That was unusual.

The hunters travelled, from the open, chilly tundra, to the shadow of the towering valleys. By mid-morning, Billy noted a drastic change in the landscape. The scenery transitioned from the soggy, brown, green of the prehistoric plains to a charred, ashy, gravely situation that reminded Billy of a grim landscape from one his dark fantasy video games. Gray, ominous cliffs rose at either side of the hunters, and a hollow wind whistled through the crevasse, ushering in an eerie atmosphere over the shadowy passage.

Billy’s anxiety returned, nearly on queue. Up until this point, he’d kept quiet, not wanting to throw the hunters off their game. By the time his eyes passed over the skeletal remains of a creature he could not possibly recognize, embedded deep in the cliff, Billy felt a lump form in his throat.

Also, something stunk.

“Something stinks,” Billy said, pinching his nose. “And it’s not me.”

Strong Elk, indifferent to the ominous energy seeping from the cracks and craigs, acknowledged Billy’s complaint. “We are near the  hot place,” he said. “A wound in the ground. The blood of the land boils.”

It took Billy a few moments to try and piece Strong Elk’s poetic vaguery together, but he didn’t need to wonder for very long. A steamy mist embraced him and the other hunters. The stench rose, as did the temperature. Soon, Billy, Auru, and Strong Elk were surrounded by glowing, red pools in the earth.

Lava roiled, crusting over black at its edges. Even at a ‘safe’ distance, Billy—who was more fascinated than afraid—found the heat nearly unbearable. The volcanic breach flowed in a fiery river around the hunting party, keeping Billy mindful of where he stepped. He felt the heat from the hot earth though his sneakers. He couldn’t imagine how Strong Elk and Auru could bear it.

This really is like going into the boss’s lair! Billy thought.

An accurate assessment. For when the curtain of volcanic fog lifted, the dark silhouettes in the distance grew more distinct. What Billy had mistaken for jagged rocks were the jagged remains of mammoths.

The three hunters stepped into the clearing within the forest of bones. White tusks grew out of the earth, and the dark hollows of skulls stared deep into Billy’s soul. Even though it was physically hot and humid, Billy suddenly felt quite cold.

“It’s a graveyard,” Billy absently muttered to himself. But it wasn’t as if Auru and Strong Elk would have ever heard that term before, so he added, “A place for the dead.”

Strong Elk acknowledged Billy, with cold, serious eyes. The hunter then took a few steps forward to examine a pile of muddy matter on the ground. “Droppings. This must be the lair of Thunder-That-Walks.”

The proverbial belly of the beast, in other words. With all the heat, smoke, and bones, it didn’t look dissimilar from the covers of old, heavy metal albums vinyls used by Billy’s dad to line his office.

Billy was hesitant to step forward, but he decided if he didn’t summon any bravery now, he was less likely to be prepared for when they eventually encountered this walking nightmare. “Why would he come to a place like this?” Billy asked the group.

Auru had been unusually quiet up until this point, content to take everything in and process it slowly. “Mammoths are creatures of instinct and routine,” Auru said. He did not elaborate. Instead, he approached Billy. “Billy, this place isn’t far from where my old clan once kept their village. Until that day, there were no rivers of fire here.”

Billy thought about saying something consoling, but he didn’t get the chance. All at once, there was a great shaking in the earth. The bones around them began rattling like horrific, hollow chimes. “Guys, I think we’re standing on a volcano,” Billy said over the rumble.

Strong Elk’s hair whipped with his head, towards a divide of bones—a tunnel of rib cages—in the distance. “No,” he said. “It’s him.”

And then, the world exploded. Not with a rush of lava, but shards of bone and strewn earth. Something the size of a truck, with the same velocity, crashed through the growth of rib cages and tusks, storming out into the open. A foul reek of ammonia and musty fur hit Billy in a violent waft, almost overpowering the sulphuric stench of the unearthed magma.

Fittingly, a very primal area of Billy’s brain activated, or perhaps it was genetic memory, dormant for thousands and thousands of years, now reawaken. Adrenaline, terror, and an alien sense of wonder gripped Billy, frozen in the face of something impossible.

Billy had seen pictures and render of mammoths before, and the genuine article was mostly like those known recreations. But there was no way to replicate the realistic details of the beast’s muddy, matted fur, or hunched over shape, or the forest of spear tips and broken pieces of wood—remnants of the doomed hunting expedition—embedded in the monster’s flesh. As horrible as it was for Billy to behold Thunder-That-Walks, it was the awe that stuck Billy to the spot.

Then, the creature’s strangely shaped head turned towards the visitor from the future. True to Elk’s stories, its left eye was a nearly solid, burning red, matching the geothermal landscape of its territory. That single look was like a frozen claw digging its nails into Billy’s chest. Thankfully, he was far too much in shock to scream.

Even as the sound of a hundred infernal trumpets bellowing from below the earth threatened to shattered Billy’s ear drums. Thunder-That-Walks roared. Then, it charged.

Billy ran, quite literally, for his life—not that there was much room for him to run. Everything was rock and bone or burning fissures in the landscape, belching noxious gas. It was probably the closet approximation to hell that Billy had ever encountered, coupled with the raging, giant demon about to squash him flat. The terrible odor from beast and landscape stifled Billy’s desperate gasps.

Coughing and sputtering, Billy turned his head towards Auru and Strong Elk’s general direction (the smog made it hard to tell). “You said you wanted a distraction!” Billy gasped. “HELP!”

A sharp screech from behind tore through Billy’s ears. He felt the mammoth’s breath on his back, and everything went slow and drawn out. Billy knew he was on the precipice of death.

But when he turned to stare his doom in the face, he suddenly understood why the beast had screamed. Strong Elk, with all his muscles gleaming in the hellish light, bared his teeth and withdrew his spear from the creature’s flank, in a spray of blood. Amid all his wild fury, his matted hair whipping around his ravenous face, his eyes fell softly on Billy as if to say, ‘good job’.

Billy’s ‘job’ had mostly been running and screaming. While humanity’s best evolutionary trait was their sheer endurance over time, the smog and the adrenaline were making it hard for Billy to move. He tried looking for Auru, but both the ash and the mammoth blocked out his view of the hunter.

A human roar, this time, cut through the darkness. Strong Elk leapt with his spear gripped firmly in his hands, ready to deal a vengeful blow to Thunder-That-Walks. Strong Elk was fast, but unfortunately, the demonic mammoth was faster. With a sewing of its head and its trunk, it slammed into Strong Elk with a violent force, throwing the giant man straight through the hollow orbital of a mammoth skull. His prolonged moan was the only indication her was still alive.

If a beast like this could toss Strong Elk like a rag doll, then Billy feared there was no means in this era of bringing down he beast. Once again, the angry monster turned towards Billy, who, incidentally, was now fenced in between two bones, with nowhere to run.

“HOOOOO!”

It wasn’t the mammoth making that loud, obnoxious noise. Billy looked to his right and deduced the large outline of Auru’s body. The hunter, far from being subtle, was jumping up and down and waving his hands.

“Hey, ugly!” Auru shouted.

Billy’s heart sunk into the fiery earth. He was doomed. “Auru, I’m supposed to be the distraction!” he squeaked. What does he expect to do, bear hug something that size?

Just as Thunder-That-Walks was ready to spear Billy straight through the gut with his tusks, the mammoth decided Auru was much more of a threat (or more annoying) and veered to the right, slapping Billy with a cloud of hot dust that left the young stud coughing and sputtering on the hot earth (but still very much alive). With eyes watering, Billy looked up in horror as the giant closed in on his friend. Auru was seconds away from becoming a caveman kebab.

Billy had only known Auru for about a week, but it felt like longer. Across the eons, he’d made a friend and lover, and now Billy felt that man was about to sacrifice himself for the biggest dumbass in all huma history. Head dizzy, and lungs likely charred black with the poisonous smog, Billy forced himself onto his wobbly feet and used all his breath to scream out Auru’s name, in the hopes it would either force him to come to his senses or turn Thunder-That-Walk’s attention back on him.

Time slowed and the mammoth speeded. Then, in quite possibly the most well-timed and calculated swerve Billy had ever seen, Auru threw himself to the side, out of the mammoth’s path, revealing the jagged, knife-sharp bone sticking out of the earth that had been hiding behind Auru.

The mammoth’s momentum was far too great for it to catch itself. The beast threw itself into the tall, sharp bone. A spray of blood turned the white remnants red. This was accompanied by a death ‘trumpet’ that Billy could not couple to a modern equivalent—only something out of a nightmare.

Impaled on the bone, the beast slunk awkwardly to the side. Auru rose, determined, knife in hand, but as soon as he laid eyes on the fallen creature, he knew there was no need. He’d already dealt the killing blow.

With Billy focusing mostly on not passing out face first in a puddle of hot lava, there was nothing more he could do than watch events unfold. The giant stumbled backwards. It paused, still. For several seconds, all Billy heard was a melancholic wind passing through the hollow bones. Thunder-That-Walks fell forward, without much fanfare or impact, slumping onto its side.

Strong Elk’s groans and stirring managed to snap Billy out his stupefaction. Cautious, he met eyes with Auru, covered in sweat, ash, and a warpaint of mammoth blood. The caveman slowly nodded.

Under normal circumstances Billy would have kept his distance from the fallen animal. Violence and death made him squeamish. But these circumstances were far from normal, and he was far from the man he was a week ago. Billy stepped forward, along with Strong Elk, and went to the crumpled mass of fur.

Gently, Auru held his hand out and placed his palm to the mammoth’s face. The creature breathed, slow and laborious, with every rise and fall of its stomach prolonging in duration. Only a red ribbon of blood from beneath its bulk told Billy the story. Otherwise, its mortal wound was well concealed.

Auru’s bright eyes reflected the embers and ash, falling like snow upon the trio of hunters turned mourners. The caveman glanced around, quietly assessing the grim landscape, before he spoke. “This place,” Auru started. “The same explosion that killed my village. I think it killed his tribe too.” He looked down at Thunder-That-Walks.

The bone that speared the mammoth through the chest may as well have speared Billy. A pain struck his heart, an anguish he had not felt since his last breakup.

In the hot air, in the middle of the mammoth cemetery, Billy knelt at the beast’s side. “No wonder he was so mad,” he mumbled. Next to him, Strong Elk—stone faced and inscrutable as always—appraised the situation with solemn respect.

Auru grunted. “No,” he said softly. “Alone.”

Billy’s hands reached out and touched history. Warm, coarse fur threaded through fingertips. The last of something. A solitary beast that would not go unwitnessed.

Something inside Billy, something that he had both held back and refused to face, finally shattered and broke. He wept, openly and freely, for all lonely monsters.

NEXT CHAPTER

Chapter 1.11 - Making a Warrior

Billy was alone.

But Billy had been alone before.

The beaten down, forest path took Billy to an open clearing with a lone, strong tree and—more importantly--nothing that could kill him, eat him, or eat him out. In an angry huff, Billy took shelter under the trunk, propped his head against his backpack, and looked up into a cloudy sky that existed thousands and thousands of years before his birth.

“I’m over it, bro,” Billy muttered to himself (the bro in question). He shifted his mostly bare ass against the uncomfortable root, wincing at the inner soreness from being fucked by both prehistoric man and prehistoric plant. “I’m over lions. Over mammoths. Over…sexually aggressive plants! And I’m done having to handhold sexy cavemen just so I can get back to a shitty life.”

In defiance of his circumstance, Billy sat up, removed his backpack, and took account of his stock of snacks and other 21^st century provisions.

 “For now on, I’m going solo! I can survive out here just fine on my own! I got power bars. Protein shakes. Well, enough to last me two more days, but that’s okay, I was in the scouts. Call me Billy, the king of the jungle!”

Within the span of ten minutes, however, the clouds above burst into a cold, drizzly rain that not even the tree’s foliage could hold back from soaking Billy to the bone.

“Ok, I lied,” Billy said to himself through chattering teeth. “I wanna’ go home!” Wet and pathetic and exposed to the elements, Billy grabbed the lock around his neck and held it close to his chin, as if it were a lapel mic.

“Look Eros, I get it, dude! I learned my lesson! I won’t be a douchebag to boys anymore. And I’ll try and pay attention to other people than myself…I guess. Maybe. Now, be a bro and bring me back home!”

But the gods were silent. Only the rain on the earth answered Billy’s plea. He considered that perhaps, in his frustration, storming off into the unknown landscape was not a wise move.

Billy sighed, hugging his thick legs close to his chest. “This fuckin’ sucks,” he said. Then, his ears picked up a new sound beneath the rain. Perhaps all those days spent hunting with Auru had endowed Billy with keener senses after all. Something was coming, through the bushes. Something big.

Billy grabbed the stone knife, his only defense, and stood up. Okay, remember how the Scouts told you to deal with bears. Make yourself bigger and scarier. Come on now, scary roar!

So, Billy raised his arms over his head and yelled, “BAAAAAH!!!” His voice, of course, cracked as he did.

Branches peeled back from the green woodland. Auru stood at the edge of the clearing and scratched his head in confusion. “Is that meant to be your scary roar!”

A larger shape behind him grunted, “You need to train him better.” It was Strong Elk.

The burst of relief in Billy’s chest quickly dissipated into embarrassment. Despite his stone age diva turn, his friends had tracked him down. Billy wasn’t sure he deserved it.

The rain polished Auru’s copper skin into a gleaming sheen. He approached Billy warily, but with good intent. “Billy, what are you doing out here by yourself?” he said. “I thought you were supposed to be smart!”

Billy looked between him and Strong Elk, scowling. “Whatever gave you that impression!” he said, before his attempts at gruff indifference and self-deprecation cracked. Billy sprung forward and hugged Auru tight, and wet, against his body. The caveman returned the gesture.

As arousing as it was for Billy to be smushed against a giant, wet, long-haired hunk, now was not the time. Plus, Billy wasn’t even sure he had in semen left inside him to expel after being drained bone-dry by the wugwug plant.

Also, Billy felt like an asshole. After the initial exchange, Auru and Strong Elk joined Billy beneath the tree. Wedged between the two caveman, Billy found their bodies were big enough to block out a sizable portion of the rain.

It was time to address the mammoth in the room. “Auru,” Billy said. “I feel for you, big guy. I know you want to find a tribe, which involves killing a giant mammoth…for some reason. But I’m not sure I’m the right guy for the job. I’ll get in the way, or worse, I’ll get…wugwug’d.”

Strong Elk arched his eyebrow. “You would abandon us over one misfortune?” he growled.

Billy answered him. “Uh….yes? I was violated by a plant!”

“Did you not like it?”

“No, I loved it!” Billy blushed. “I just thought I was in danger and got overwhelmed.”

“Then stop being a coward,” Strong Elk fired back.

Before a fight could break out, Auru intervened. “Strong Elk, wait,” he said. “Billy has every right to feel discouraged and scared after what happened. It was a lot.” He placed his big hand on Billy’s thigh. “Billy. Listen. Auru was on his own for so long, wanting to find people. People are meant to help each other. I can hunt, but I cannot weave, and so I bring back food to the village in return for coverings.”

“But you only wear a loincloth, Auru,” Billy pointed out.

The gently tapped Billy on the head. “That is not the point of Auru’s talkings. We all do something to help, Billy. That is why we bring people together. More people mean more things to share. And no matter what, you are always part of Auru’s tribe.”

They were nice and unexpected words, but every time Billy thought about being ‘a part’ of something again, he pictured his ex’s disappointed face. “Yeah, I don’t bring anything to ‘the tribe’ but broken hearts.”

Auru smiled warmly. “Auru is going to hit you now, okay?”

“Wh—”

BONK!

“OW!” Billy said, rubbing the sore spot on his head where Auru had decked him. Next to him, Strong Elk’s laughter reverberated through the tree roots.

“There!” Auru said, happily. “You are being unkind to yourself because it means you do not have to do the hard work. So, stop being unkind! Stay with Auru and Strong Elk.”

“Even after I ran off?” Billy asked, channelling all the Irish Catholic guilt of his ancestors.

Auru nodded. Billy looked to Strong Elk, with his huge arms crossed. The big man grunted an affirmative. A stone age grace washed over Billy, cleaner and cooler than the rain. Billy tightened his fists and took in a deep breath, pushing away all the nagging thoughts of inadequacy and shame.

That was all in the past. Which was technically the future…

“I’m still not sure I’m going to be any use to you guys,” Billy said, “hunting this wicked scary mammoth sounds like trying to sprint before knowing how to crawl.”

Auru stood up, rivalling the tree towering over Billy. “Of course you will be of use,” he said. “We will find a way. Or we will all die—but at least we will die together!” The muscle giant placed his hands on his hips and laughed, causing his pectorals and belly to wiggle.

Billy nervously bit his lip. “Great,” he said. Then, he realized he was eye level with Auru’s loincloth, and his junk, peeking out just so, and always, semi-erect. “Ok, suddenly my confidence has been restored.”

The warmth of Strong Elk’s hand on Billy’s shoulder surprised him the most of all. The Elk Clan chief gifted Billy with a softer look, and then used Billy as a post to stand up (which nearly drove Billy into the mud.

“Let us find a better shelter,” Strong Elk said to his companions.

Auru single-handedly pulled Billy onto his feet. “Come!” he said. “Billy is friend.”

 

The three returned to the Elk Clan village, embedded into the rocky cliffside. In Strong Elk’s private chambers, the three men sat around the fire, ate cooked reindeer (Billy wasn’t sure he’d ever develop the taste for it) and discussed plans for the hunt. Though Billy was still out of his element, it gave him the opportunity to study the subtle, and not so subtle, methods of communication between Auru and Strong Elk.

Auru was reserved, gentle in his approach, and wide-eyed. He was also incredibly patient, even when Strong Elk’s strategizing turned towards tangents about how brilliant of a hunter he was, recounting tales of taking down mammoths and cave lions.

After Auru carefully brought Strong Elk back on track, the mighty chieftain graciously shared all he knew about Thunder-That-Walks. The beast was blind in one eye, though which eye was unclear, either due to injury or natural causes. Strong Elk also suspected, from survivor accounts, that the doomed hunting party had managed to injure the mammoth’s left hind leg.

Billy looked to Auru, watching the stone wheels turn inside his head, while the firelight touched his handsome face. “If he’s blind in one eye, we can try and focus our attacks from that side. Even better if the eye is on the same side as his busted leg.”

“Even with an injury like that,” Billy started, “this bastard could still be pretty mobile.”

Strong Elk cupped his strong chin with his hand. “Perhaps if we are stealthy, Auru, you can position yourself to one side of the monster, and I can take the other.”

Auru smiled. “Strong Elk, you aren’t so big and dumb after all.”

Strong Elk grunted. “I think a distraction might do the trick. Something to occupy Thunder-That-Walks, while we go for the attack.”

A glimmer of confidence touched Billy’s soul. Maybe this was going to work out after all. Not that Billy was looking forward to murdering a living creature, let alone one that didn’t exist in his native time-period. “Ok, this sounds like a not terrible plan,” he said, pounding his fist inside his palm. “What’s the distraction gonna’ be? … Guys, why are you both looking—oh, fuck, it’s me, isn’t it?”

After plans had been thoroughly hashed out, and Billy having reluctantly accepted his role as ‘decoy’, Strong Elk tossed sand on the fire, dulling it down to an ember, and retrieved several fur skin ‘mats’ for Auru and Billy. Compared to the assorted leaves and uncomfortable ‘bedding’ Billy had endured the last few nights, the animal skins were a luxury.

The prospect of getting trampled to death by a mammoth didn’t exactly inspire sleep, but Billy’s body had grown accustomed to finding comfort cuddled up to Auru’s warmth. It wasn’t long before Billy was adrift in dreamless darkness.

Though, at some point in the night, Billy experienced one of the best dreams in his life. In the dark, he grinned, half asleep. “Fuck,” he moaned, between realms. “This is awesome. Yeah, eat my ass just like that. Fuck.”

Billy’s eyes opened and whitened in the twilit cave. “Wait, who’s eating my ass?”

Billy looked down to find his pelvic area and stomach curtained by long, blonde strands, and an enormous shape hunched over him. Strong Elk’s stern, handsome face tilted upward from its labor. The chieftain wiped his face and gave Billy a wicked grin.

“It is a tradition among my warriors,” Strong Elk said, crawling atop Billy and forcefully taking the aroused (and anxious) man’s face into the valley of his pectorals. “For good luck, I will mate with you.”

Before Billy could provide input, firm hands clamped down on his ankles and lifted his meaty legs into the air, locking Billy into ‘position’ and leaving him wide open. Billy’s face smashed itself into Strong Elk’s pillowy pecs.

“Wait a second,” Billy laughed into the man’s chest, nervously. He wasn’t opposed to some middle-of-the-night play, but this was all happening a bit too quickly!

The blonde beast glared at Billy and continued positioning himself. “You will obey Strong Elk,” he said.

Billy had forgotten all about Strong Elk’s girth…up until now. For a moment he feared Strong Elk was about to fist him (one of the few kink’s not on Billy’s menu), when he realized the pressure digging into his wet hole was Strong Elk’s cock head!

Billy grunted, even as his anus weighed whether to open itself up big and wide and take in all that meat. “Hey, Elk, buddy…maybe give me a moment here!”

A shuffle of movement, and a sleepy ‘mm’, alerted both men to Auru’s hulking shadow rising in the dark. Now, Billy was stuck with Strong Elk at the bottom and Auru well-positioned to take Billy’s mouth.

But the prehistoric hunter was more concerned with Billy’s autonomy than putting his oral prowess to use. “Hey, Strong Elk,” he said, in a firm, commanding tone that had Billy flinching (and not in the most opportune of moments to tense up). “You ask Billy if he wants to be mounted, understand? You ask!”

Billy nodded, even as he felt the tip of Strong Elk’s huge cock begin to tease its way into his opening.

Strong Elk responded with a growl and a frustrated sucking of teeth. The barbarian beefcake looked down at Billy, who watched his eyes ‘soften’ in real time. The big man sighed. “Very well,” he said. “Billy, may I breed you?”

Wit the enthusiasm of ordering fast food after a night of clubbing, Billy smiled and said, “Yes please, that’d be awesome.”

Strong Elk nodded. And then he pushed.

Billy’s satisfied smile quickly shattered into an elongated grimace. “Oh. Ow. Ow. OW!”

Auru turned his head to Strong Elk. “Take it out.”

“N-no,” Billy said, already fighting for his life as Strong Elk slid into and parted his insides. “Mama didn’t raise no bitch. It’s ok.” Though being ploughed by a bunch of slimy vines had left Billy sore, it had left him a bit more ‘pliable’ than usual.

Even so, Strong Elk’s cock was ‘intermediate’. Billy’s fingers dug into the fur while Strong Elk made no fuss about digging deep into Billy and then somehow going deeper (or so it felt). The beast of a muscle man threw all his weight on top of Billy and pressed both down and in, pulling and pushing out.

“Oh fuck!” Billy cried out. “This…is intense.”

“Mmm.” Auru grunted, leaned over, and gave Billy a re-assuring kiss. “In my clan, we do this to give our warrior’s power and strength. We must both give Billy our strength so he may face the beast tomorrow.”

If Billy’s eyes weren’t already glued to the back of his skull, he would have looked up at Auru in disbelief. “B-both?” I think I feel my organs being re-arranged.

Auru nodded, as if his new best friend wasn’t being Jurassic jack-hammered into oblivion beneath him. “You are brave and strong,” Auru said, over the loud, wet, slapping noises, Strong Elk’s grunts, and Billy’s moans. “You can take both of us without problem.”

“I-I-I’m not so sure,” Billy squeaked. “AGGGH!”

“Auru will be gentle,” Auru said.

Strong Elk whipped his sweaty hair back and leered down at Billy. “Strong Elk won’t!”

And he wasn’t! “Ahhh!” Billy said, in a mix of agony and ecstasy. AH AH AH!” Holy shit, it feels like I’m being fucked by a log.

It was a mercy that Strong Elk didn’t have staying power, lest his huge body break Billy’s Ribcage or core him out from the inside. The muscle man’s nostrils flared, and he made a low grunt. Billy felt something warm enter him. Beads of sweat dripped from Strong Elk’s hair and chest, onto Billy.

The chieftain uttered another contented grunt and then pulled out of Billy, who yelped at his exit and feared all his insides might go with him (thankfully, they did not).

“Ohhhh,” Billy moaned. “That was…a lot.”

“Strong Elk is virile,” Auru said, observing the trickle of white leaking out of Billy. Now, it was Auru’s turn. He got into position.

Billy was scandalized. He had been to a few sex parties in his time, but he’d never been a ‘mare’! Being double stuffed just so wasn’t him. But, hey, vacation!

Whereas Strong Elk had dove into Billy like an angry jack hammer, Auru was more precise in his slow, deep, stroking. He looked down at Billy with tender, luminous eyes.

“Feels so good,” he sighed.

Billy forgot all about the pain. He let Auru ride him deep. “Feels amazing,” Billy affirmed. “Oh yeah, hit it right there.”

Not to feel useless or outdone, Strong Elk leaned over and pressed his face against Billy’s, prodding his tongue inside Billy’s mouth. As much as Auru wanted only to lock eyes with Auru, he let Strong Elk kiss him.

He also allowed Strong Elk to slowly stroke and jack him off. Caught between two wild, buff beasts, Billy was in paradise.

And paradise came sooner than he thought. Auru shifted his position and buried his cock deeper, angling it at a point where it hit his sweet spot. Without prompting, Auru rutted quicker.

Billy came before he knew what was happening. Thankfully, Strong Elk had given him air to gasp. “Oh fuck,” Billy cried out, glazing his stomach. Looks like the wugwug hadn’t drained him completely. He shot several thick strands of rope. “I’m coming hard,” Billy moaned.

And it turned out, so too was Auru. With a bestial roar, Auru grabbed down and squeezed Billy’s puffy, sweaty pecs, using them as handles. After a series of grunts and sighs, Auru slowly retracted himself from Billy, who felt the combined efforts of Auru and Strong Elk trickle out of him.

Billy laid back onto Auru’s chest, with Strong Elk heaving and sighing next to him. The cavemen’s fingers curled and intertwined with Billy’s, connecting him to them.

“Now you are a strong warrior,” Strong Elk said.

Billy believed it. “Fuck yeah,” he sighed. “Let’s do this.”

NEXT CHAPTER

Chapter 1.9 - Unlikely Alliance

Streaks of ornamental white paint covered Strong Elk’s bodyguard, a woman who nearly as big and bulky as the Chieftain she’d sworn to protect. With Auru and Billy’s neck tucked easily beneath each of her knotted arms, the expressionless Amazon dragged both wriggling captives into Strong Elk’s torch lit chamber.

The muscular, beautiful leader sat on his throne of elk bones, crowned with horns. Listless, deep in his own morose musings, Strong Elk barley raised an eye at the intrusion…until he beheld the face of the intruders.

Strong Elk’s henchwoman dumped Billy and Auru onto the dirty floor. “We found these two at the village entrance,” the giantess sniffed, dusting off her hands. “The large one has one of your fangs in his possession, so we chose to capture them rather than kill them outright.” She smirked. "Besides, I know your penchant for men with meat on their bones."

With a flash of recognition, Strong Elk stiffened his back, spread his thick legs, and adjusted into his throne. “Oh,” he sighed. “Those assholes.”

Auru pushed himself off the ground and spat in the dirt. He shot Strong Elk a nasty glare. “I only see one gaping asshole.”

“Shall I break his neck?” the big woman politely asked her liege.

Strong Elk looked like he was considering it, before he held up his hand and asked the woman to take leave. She bowed her head and left Billy and Auru at Strong Elk’s mercy.

The pop of the torchlight fire stirred Billy from his skull-rattling daze. Was it just him, or did Strong Elk look even bigger, up close? “We beseech you, Strong Elk,“ Billy mumbled. “Those...are all animal bones you’re sitting on, right?” He gulped. “Right?”

The chieftain of the Elk Clan frowned. “You two better have good reason for coming here. Unless…Auru, you wanted to mate again?” Strong Elk’s loincloth barely covered his flaccid, but thick member, which peeked out from the animal skin.

Auru’s temperament changed. “YES!”

“NO!” Billy shouted back. Seemed he would have to take the lead here. Billy got onto his feet. He repositioned his peach-emoji baseball cap backwards. “Strong Elk, Eshana told us everything. I am so sorry for what happened to you and your people. We want to kill Thunder-That-Walks just as much as you do.” Well, I don't really want to kill anything, but 'when in the Palaeolithic', I guess. 

The mighty Elk flinched. The room got colder. “What did you say? That name...”

Billy wasn’t so sure his diplomacy was bearing fruit. He shrugged. “Well, I’m usually against killing, and I kinda’ had a vegan phase because of this hot guy I wanted to date, but—”

“Your babbling conceals your courage,” Strong Elk said, much to Billy’s surprise. “Or, perhaps, your stupidity. Or both. You two really think you can kill that fiend?” Strong Elk’s cutting sneer told Billy and Auru what he thought about the idea.

“Well, uh, no,” said Billy. “That’s sort of where we were hoping you might lend a hand?”

Strong Elk cocked his head to the side. After appraising his guest for a long, painful moment, he let out a sharp, “Ha!” 

Billy was deflated.

“Let me try him,” Auru grumbled. He got off the ground and rose strong and tall. Auru puffed his chest out and addressed Strong Elk like an equal. “Strong Elk, there’s no doubt that you and I are two of the best hunters in the valley. Which is I know we can join together and defeat that mammoth.”

There was a brief moment where Billy thought Strong Elk might be considering it, but the mighty chieftain turned his head away in disappointment. “Fools, both of you,” Strong Elk said. “The thing is unkillable. I am convinced it’s an evil spirit. My best men—and my only son—threw spear after spear at it. I’m told some of those spears are still embedded in the monster's flesh. It was all for nought. The beast lives. My son is dead.”

Billy bit his lip. And here I thought this was supposed to be a light-hearted, sexy adventure. I wonder if this mammoth is infected with a degenerating disease like rabies. Something that would make it erratic but also immune to pain. If that’s the case, Thunder-That-Walk's days may already be numbered. Question is, how many more innocent people will he kill before he succumbs?

“It sounds like your people may have already weakened this thing,” Billy offered. “So, we got that going for us, right?”

Strong Elk narrowed his eyes at Billy. “How much do you know about bringing down mammoths?” he asked.

“Uhhh. Can’t say I ever tried? Not that I’ve had much opportunity to hunt mammoths before. Where I come from, they're sort of all...dead."

Strong Elk tossed his golden mane of hair to the side and fell back into his pouty droop. “Forget it,” he huffed, crossing his arms. “If you aren’t going to offer me any useful solutions…or sex…then I want nothing to do with either of you. Leave me in peace.”

Deflated, Billy considered resigning himself to a life of hunting and gathering, balanced out by having his back blown out unga-bunga style. That’s when Auru, quiet and observant up until now, stepped in. The torchlit room elongated his shadow, making him appear that much taller.

Auru pressed his fist to his chest in a gesture of respect. “Strong Elk, I do not want to hunt Thunder-That-Walks just because it means I’ll get to join the Bull Clan.”

Elk snorted. “Oh, so that’s the truth of it, then?” Strong Elk balanced his head on his hand and appraised Auru like a piece of succulent deer meat. “Well, if you two are banished from the Bull Clan, perhaps you can stay here as my personal breeding bucks. I’ll have fun making good use of you. Nightly.”

That concerned Billy for multiple reasons, the least of which was being able to walk normally ever again. He looked pleadingly to Auru. Big guy, come through!

Auru clenched his fists and huffed deeply. His strong, stern, silence was enough to command Elk’s complete attention. “I don’t want to do it just so I can have a clan again—I want to do it to help you! Because I know the hurt in your heart. The big sadness.”

Billy saw Strong Elk’s fingertips clench down on the throne’s bony arm rests. He held his breath.

Strong Elk rose from his throne and stomped towards Auru, who remained unflinching, not intimidated by the lordly brute bearing down on him. Still, when Strong Elk spoke, it was with an agony in his voice. No anger.

“How could you possibly know what I feel?” Strong Elk asked.

Auru met his eyes. “I lost my village. They are dead. And until Billy came along, I was all alone.”

Auru’s words were a stone knife to the heart. Billy quietly watched the shadows play across Strong Elk’s face, the curves and valleys of his musculature. The Chieftain looked like he was fighting a battle inside.

Finally, Elk spoke. “It seems you and I share more in common than our hunting prowess and potent virility.” Strong Elk’s enormous chest rose and fall with a long sigh. “I will consider your proposal, Auru.”

Billy whipped around to give Auru a high five, until he remembered the high five wouldn’t be invented for at least another several thousand years, so he awkwardly touched his shoulder instead. Still, good news.

“But first,” Strong Elk interrupted, “a test!”

“Motherfucker!” Billy cried out. It seemed neither Auru nor Strong Elk grasped the meaning of that curse, which was probably for the best. Just when Billy thought he was finally getting somewhere, now there was this JRPG-ass side quest nonsense! 

Ignoring Billy, Strong Elk addressed Auru head on. “There is a more pressing menace that plagues my people,” he said. “Perhaps you have heard of the wugwug?”

“Now you’re just makin’ shit up!” Billy yelled.

Auru quietly placed his enormous hand on top of Billy’s head. It shut him up. “Billy, please, use a gentle voice. Now, Strong Elk, my new friend, tell us more of this wugwug.”

“You’ve never heard of the dreaded—or, as some say, desired—wugwug?” Elk asked. “Ha! Well, that’s probably for the best, knowing your propensity for sticking your dick in things, Auru. In any case, it is not a beast. It’s a plant. One that feeds on man.”

“Man-eating plants don’t exist,” Billy said. They certainly didn’t back during these times, anyway, or else fossils of them would have been discovered by now.

Strong Elk gave Billy the stink-eye. “Do you take me for a liar, little man? Mark my words. The thing is a monster.”

“Monster?” Shit. This must be one of the paradox things Eros was talking about. “Wait a minute. What was that part about Auru sticking his dick into things?”

“It is an understandable question.” Auru politely said. He patted the front of his lion skin loincloth. “I do have a habit. But I am confused, Strong Elk. You want us to kill…a plant?”

“A plant that eats human flesh,” Billy added.

Strong Elk, however, shook his head. “Flesh? Not quite. The plant consumes human essence, yes, but its target is neither flesh nor blood but the—”

“Cum.” Billy cut him off. “It’s cum, isn’t it?” Damn it, Eros.

Strong Elk nodded affirmatively. “The wugwug has an insatiable appetite. Or, so say those few who have survived it. It seduces men with its pollen, ensnares them in its many arms, and latches on to your manhood. Then, it sucks you completely dry, until you experience such pleasure as to beg for death’s release! The power of the wugwug is unrelenting. It feeds and feeds, causing release after release until your heart gives out from maddening pleasure. They say women aren’t affected, but that’s probably because they’re smarter anyway.”

“Yeah,” Billy answered. “Because they don’t go sticking their genitals into weird plants. While that does sound strangely like one of the exact ways and methods by which I would like to die, why is it a problem for you, Strong Elk?” Auru too, looked as if he wanted to know Strong Elk’s reasoning.

The Chieftain was happy to explain further. “Many of my best men were killed by Thunder-That-Walks,” he said. “And now I am finding more who have gone hunting in the shrouded woodlands to the north are not returning. Recently, one of my huntswomen did, and she said the other men were ensorcelled by the voracious wuwgug. I have no reason to doubt her. The monster must be slain.”

Cum-sucking vampire flora aside, Strong Elk’s rationale was sound. He looked to Auru to take the lead. The large man spoke for them both. “And then you’ll help us, Strong Elk?”

The Chieftain lowered his head. “Fear and grief have sickened me for far too long,” he said, in a somber tone. “Auru. Billy. You have my word.”

That solved one problem. Potentially, anyway. Fortunately, Billy had tried to become a ‘plant daddy’ once (to impress a boy) and found that he was very good at killing green things. “Okay, guys, so how do we take care of the evil cum plant?”

“It is impossible to uproot,” Strong Elk said. “And approaching it directly is to become poisoned by its mesmerizing pollen. Legend has it that only a warrior of immense virility was able to overpower one of its kind—wait, Auru, where are you going!?”

Auru gave Elk an unintentional eyeful of his beefy ass as he turned towards the cave entrance. One would have thought he was fleeing a fire with how quickly he made for the exit.

Auru whipped his head back to Elk and Billy. “Uh, I’m going to go find it of course?”

“Right now!?” Billy exclaimed, exasperated.

Auru rolled his eyes. “My balls are aching for release, Billy! Now is the best time.”

Billy slapped his hand against his forehead. Fucking stone age himbos. “Auru. Bro. Didn’t you hear the part where it will make you cum until you die? Is everything about mating, to you?”

Auru stared at him blankly. “Yes. Now, what are you two waiting for? Let’s hunt a wugwug!”

next chapter