For days, Mitra could neither lie down nor wear clothes. His tortured body hardly withstood the air circling on the raw skin and the mere thought of anything brushing against it, even by accident, caused him untellable pains. Now the worst seemed to be over, though it still stung whenever Vayu's hand spread the soothing lotion.

"You don't understand," Mitra said, trying to ignore the pain.

"What's there to understand, Varuna? You all seem mad to me, including your father. What have you proven with this insane act?"

Mitra sighed deeply. If he had to explain it rationally to someone who did not believe in his faith, it would probably make no sense. "It helps the mind control the body," he said at last.

"Why do you need your mind to control what lives of material passions? The two travel separate ways and it would be foolish if one controlled the other."

"You're wrong, devil," Mitra argued patiently. "We are a combination of soul, mind and body. They seem separate to a neophyte, yet they are one single entity," he explained, revealing the mystery of the Three joined as One. "The soul's journey is what's really important because it is everlasting, but the mind and body both contribute to its travel."

"Your Magi is fucking with your head, sweet Prince. They taught me that mind, body and soul are each a part of us and we should explore their potentials, not limit anyone in particular. They define us as human beings," he pressed harder on the raw skin to mark his point, "made of flesh and blood. If you try to deny that part of yourself, you'd be wasting the essence of life itself."

"I don't deny it," Mitra retorted hotly, wincing from the pain. He remained silent for a while. "I just think there has to be something more than immediate material satisfactions. When I'm dead and my soul has to face the final judges, whoever they may be, what will it tell of my life?"

"That you fucked a lot and with increasingly higher satisfaction," Vayu teased, his hand playing with Mitra's ass.

"Fuck you, devil. Would you give such an answer?"

Vayu bent down to brush his lips against Mitra's, his tongue gently tracing the thin edges. "I'd be proud to give such an answer, knowing who my lover was."

But Mitra firmly held to his belief of something superior that would one day want a detailed account of his journey on Earth. The ordeal had taught him again how frail the body was, compared to his strong will. And since not even fire had lessened Vayu's powerful attraction, Mitra used other lovers to enforce a cold distance.

It all started with the banquet celebrating the new successful initiation. The Prince looked shiny in his new attire, burnt skin carefully hidden by the ample folds. Again, he had the honor of shaking his hand with the Magi, his father and the many other initiates gathered just for him, but through it all, he was only aware of Vayu's sardonic stare. Wherever he turned the green gaze seemed to follow him steadfastly. In an effort to break the dangerous hold or rather to smite Vayu's confidence, he began courting--quite blatantly to be sure--one of his fellow disciples.

A cute young man--though nothing exceptional--obviously flattered by the Prince's attention, he played along beautifully with Mitra's scheme. The rest of the evening continued in a desperately tense game of hide and seek as both lovers circled around the chamber, each pretending to ignore the other, yet unable to resist the temptation to raise their gaze if they thought the other was not looking.

Using only body language, The Prince made sure Vayu understood exactly who would share his bed that night. At the same time, keeping his attention fixed on his new prey turned out to be an impossible task. Unable to resist, he would eventually steal a glance, inevitably meeting the green gaze staring at him, clutching his heart and stomach in an icy cold grip. Determined to follow through his resolve, Mitra ended the evening just as planned, inaugurating a new round of wild nights. Reverting to his old habits, the Prince seduced a different man every night, planning their sexual mating at the same time Vayu passed by his room and made sure the Aryan saw him.

As before, the bodies meant nothing to Mitra, just willing flesh he used to keep Vayu away. Yet, his extra effort failed to achieve the expected results.. Despite the variety, the Prince craved the exquisite lovemaking, the peaks and the intense passion he reached only with the fair man. All the others felt like expendable pieces of meat, which the more he fucked, the more made him miss Vayu. Nothing comparable in any of these replacements, he sighed miserably, hiding in the Temple and contemplating a bleak future.