I still haven't been home. I talked with Jake today. He said Frank and Dad had a huge fight about me. Dad begged Frank to make him bigger, give him more strength. Frank refused and told Dad that he ought to respect the choices I make. Ya, I might be a 'fucked up kid' (his words), but I have a right to make my own mistakes. Dad told Frank to mind his own business. Jake said it was loud, and it sounded like blows were exchanged and things got broken. Dad told Frank to get out and never come back.

Frank stormed out and Dad went upstairs. Jake said he thought he heard Dad crying in his room. Dad never cries.

"I remember Dad crying once before," Jake said. "I was a little kid and you were a baby. I think it was when Paps and Mom died."

"Dude! You've never mentioned this before! Do you know what happened?" Over the past couple of days, I'd heard more about their deaths than I had my whole life.

"I remember a little," said Jake. "I remember Paps and Mom leaving the house. I was outside playing with Dad when the phone rang. He went inside, then I heard him scream. He came out, grabbed me and told me something bad happened. Paps and Mom were never coming home. Lots of people came over, and there was a funeral. I remember it was closed casket. Dad said that the bodies were 'ugly.' I guess they were pretty messed up."

"Do you know what happened to them?" I asked.

"Dad never said. I just assumed it was a car accident or something." That's all Jake told me, then he changed the subject. "So, when you coming home?"

"I don't know. Ric said I can stay with him as long as I want."

"Well, it's kinda weird not having you there."

I shrugged. I wish I knew what happened to Mom and Grandpa. I went looking for Frank to see if he could tell me anything and to thank him for talking to Dad. I asked Larry and Joe how to find him. They didn't know. He seems to have gone underground. Maybe he's upset about the fight with Dad. Or maybe he's just out hunting again.

--- From the Journal of Todd Rothman, October 2

I'm still shaking. I keep looking around, to see if they followed me. Every noise I hear, I jump. I've never been this scared. I don't know what to do. They said they'd kill anyone I told, and they can do it. From what Frank told us at the Council, they almost killed him. No one can protect me. Not Frank. Not Ric. Not even Larry. I've never felt this alone. I could never live with myself if Ric died, if they drained him.

Oh god. Gotta calm down. Those bastards killed my Mom! They killed my Grandpa!

Shit. I'm sorry. I'm not making sense. Damn it! What if they find me? No, they have found me. Now, I have a decision to make. They gave me a choice, if you can call it that.

OK. Let me write this down. Maybe it will help me think it through.

It all started after school. Larry said he was worried about Frank. Sure, he's a loner and has disappeared before, but Joe normally had some idea where he was. This time, Joe was clueless. Larry and Ric were going to go and see some morphs that Frank sometimes hung with. He told me to meet up with Joe and search some of his other hang outs. I wanted to go with Ric, but Larry was right. They were better suited to dealing with morphs. Ric was so fucking big and strong now, no one could mess with him. And Larry, well, he's in a league of his own.

On my way to Joe's, I decided to take a short cut through the park. I've done this a zillion times before, so it was no big deal. The park was kinda empty. Saw some weekend jocks trying to get fit. Decided to give them a show of what a real man looks like, so I peeled off my shirt. It allowed me to catch some rays and tan this muscle bod I now have. Besides, as the weekend warriors would run past, they'd always turn their heads in awe. So, maybe I bounced my pecs a bit, or tensed my bicep. Why not? When you got it, flaunt it.

So, when these two joggers approached, I didn't think much of it. These guys weren't your weekend warrior types, though. They were wearing only jogging shorts, and showing off pretty buff gym bods. Figured they must be doing their cardio, staying cut. Summer may be over, but some guys like that ripped look all year.

I checked them out and looked at myself. I figured I was still bigger than them, and decided to give them a bit of a show, so I started twisting and flexing like I was working out a cramp or something. They were jogging right toward me, so they had to notice.

The joggers were about my height, with long dark hair. They were obviously bodybuilders and each must have weighed in at 250 or 275. Solid muscle too. There's something hot about the way a guy's muscles bounce up and down when they run. These two ran in perfect unison, their legs ripped and hard propelling massive muscle forward. Lines of sweat trickled down their massive pecs, creating a fine mist that highlighted their tight abs and the roundness of their pecs.

They kept getting closer, running right toward me. I began to step aside, but they changed course. Before I had time to think about it, they were on top of me. They grabbed my arms and lifted me from the ground, carrying me into a wooded area. I struggled, but these guys were more powerful than they looked. I watched my arms tense, the cords popping out below the skin. These guys just absorbed my fight, shook it off like it was nothing. I tried kicking them, but my foot bounced off their hardened bodies with no effect.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

I felt their grip tighten in response. It felt like they were breaking my arm. "Quiet! Our father will answer all your questions," the one on my left finally said. He spoke with an accent. European. Italian maybe, or Greek.

They continued to run in unison, unaffected by the undergrowth of the woods, fallen trees, or the fact that they were now carrying me. Nothing was stopping them. They ran through the woods, and on the other side, a black van waited. As they approached, the back of the van opened. They jumped in and threw me into one of the walls. One closed the door as the other stood ominously over me. His sweat covered body gleened in the dim light, and I could see how ripped and defined he was. Even relaxed, his muscles were clearly visible.

"Where are you taking me?" I begged. I tried to get up, but the man guarding me put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down. Yesterday, I did squats with nearly a ton of weight. But this guy's hand was like I had five tons of bricks suddenly fall on my back. I tried to fight him, his one arm was more powerful than both my muscular legs. It wasn't even strain for him to contain me. My heart raced with fear of what was going to happen to me. I was helpless against them.

"You can smell them on him," said the other man. "He has some of their power."

"Not enough," said the other.

"It would be so good to take it from him."

"No. Father has other plans for him."

They were silent after this as the van sped toward our final destination.

It was dark when we got there. It was a large Victorian House in the country somewhere. The one guy picked me up and led me inside. They took me into the living room and sat me in a chair.

"Wait," was the only thing they said. It was an order.

I sat for five minutes. I heard the joggers, my guards, in the hall outside. Someone was with them.

The man who entered the room looked to be about 20 years old. His dark hair was curly, and he was extremely handsome in a swarthy, Mediteranian way. He was about 6 feet tall. He wore only a pair of speedos displaying the most impressive thing about him -- his muscles. I couldn't believe a man could carry that much raw, muscular mass on his frame. His waist was thin, about 29 inches, but his chest had to be four times as large. His pecs resembled breasts, except they were more firm and very ripped. The separation between his upper and lower pectoralis muscles formed a ridge, the upper pecs a shelf dividing his torso from his neck and traps. His legs stretched the speedos tight. Each of his quads seemed thicker and more muscular than both of my legs combined. Even with his incredible muscularity, his motion was fluid, betraying a certain grace. It was almost as if he glided toward me.

He extended his arm for me to shake. His forearm was thicker than my upper arm. I took it, testing his strength by squeezing with all my might. He didn't even react.

"You must be Todd. I have been so looking forward to meeting you!" Like his sons, he had a European accident, yet he spoke perfect English, annunciating each word clearly. "You may call me Claude."

I shivver ran up my spine at the sound of his name.

"Ah, I see you've heard of me."

"You can't be... from the book?"

"Yes, my family is long-lived. I have a had a very full life." Claude smiled a perfectly white smile. "You have seen the book then. Interesting. But, Todd, you are young. You have yet to understand there are two sides to every story."

"I know you kill people," I said stupidly.

"We all kill. You kill animals for food. Even vegetarians kill plants to live. Yes, it is true that my life is dependent on others to sustain it. That is simply the nature of things."

This wasn't the conversation I wanted to have. I wanted to get home. I wanted to find Ric, Frank and Larry. "Why did you bring me here? What do you want?"

"Ah, straight to the heart of matters. That's good. Well, since you know who I am, you know about the prophecy -- the curse." It was as much a question as it was a statement.

"I know you sucked the life from Julius!"

"Ah, yes. The one you mistakenly call Julius. It was a fortunate encounter. Without him, I probably would have died a long time ago. What you don't understand is that this story about Julius is only one prophecy. There are many."

"Ya, but that is the one you are worried about!"

Claude laughed. "No, not at all. It is the one we have told the others about, yes, but that was our plan all along." He looked at me, surveying me. "Let me tell you a story. I had a son, a very beautiful and powerful man. He was a seer. He saw many things, both future and past. He saw you. He saw the upcoming war. He saw his own death. He helped us prepare. He told us the ones who killed him would join with our lost brethren in a war to destroy us, to avenge their Julius. However, our brethen will come back to us, and we will win that war."

"What brethren? What are you talking about?"

"Todd, the future is a riddle. And, as for brethren, my child, that is you."

"I'm not like you!" I objected, jumping out of my chair.

"No, you aren't. But you are still my child. I have had many children, some with our," Claude's chest flexed and bounced, his abs becoming very defined, "power. Others have not been blessed. You lack the power, but you have another attribute of mine." Claude grabbed his speedo in his big hand and ripped it off. His dick flopped down, nearly reaching his legs. It looked as large as mine. "You see, you have inherited something from me."

He continued. "Some of my other children tried to change the future, to answer the riddle in a different way. They tried to stop you from being born. I would have stopped them if I had known, but it was too late. Your ancestor and his woman, it is so sad."

"Who?" Then it dawned on me. He was talking about my mother. He was talking about Grandpa. At that moment I hated him. I hated all of them.

"I am sorry, Todd." Claude approached. "There is nothing I can do to change the past, but together we can change the future." He paused and inhaled deeply. "Yes, I can smell their power on you."

"Why do y'all keep saying that?"

"It's the power, Todd. We sense it, like a smell or a taste. You have their power, don't you?" Claude placed his hands on my chest. I jumped back. "Never fear, I won't take it from you. Quite the opposite. I can give you more."

I stared at him. He was so muscular. So massive. Even Larry couldn't compete with his massive body.

"Your friends, they cannot comprehend the power I have. I have sustained myself with so many, but none compare to the original, to their Julius." Claude's expression changed like he was reliving it. "His power, my power, none have yet compared. Even that foolish leader of theirs, he was insignificant to the original. I am thousands of times more powerful than they, and I can give that to you."

I looked at him, his masculine body. I felt the power radiate from him. I knew he was speaking the truth.

He looked at me. "You are my son, too, Todd." He placed his hands on my shorts, and began to remove them. "Let me show you. You were not born with the abilities or our family, but you have them just the same. They just need to be, how do you say, 'turned on.'"

For a mass monster, Claude was very gentle. He lowered my shorts and I stepped out of them. My dick grew to its full size in seconds. He smiled, and placed his mouth over it. He was an expert in satisfying a man, and managed to take my full size into him. As he did, I begin to feel something. I began to sense his true power.

I placed my hands on his massive traps, feeling an orgasmic pleasure enter me. I hated him for what he told me. I hated him for kidnapping me. Yet, some part of me loved him -- wanted him. I saw his deep brown eyes look up at me, like a puppy dog enjoying a bone for the first time. His body radiated his power, his love.

Minutes passed before he stood up. When he did, he wrapped an arm around me, our massive cocks caught in against our abs, encased in a wall of muscle. Claude hugged me, pressing my muscular body into his superior mass. Even relaxed, there was no give in the sheer hardness of his body. He was like living marble, his body warm and unyielding. He placed his hands on my head and kissed me, then looked me deep in the eyes. "Such a beautiful boy," he said in the softess voice possible.

He reached down and, in one hand, took our cocks. He stroked them, measuring them with his hand. We were the exact same size, the same shape down to the expansive knob at the head. Huge veins pulsed on our manhoods, feeding them with size and hardness.

I placed my hands on his pecs and sqeezed. All my strength could barely dent his unflexed mounds. I felt my dick jerk at the realization of his power.

Claude grinned at me. "I feel the kindling in you, Todd. Now, feel my fire. It is just a taste, but it is my gift to you. For now, just a taste."

I felt Claude press our cocks together. He squeezed mine into his steely hardness. He moved his hand to the sensitive tips and rubbed them. I felt the wave of heat burn through me. My skin felt raw, like all the nerves had been exposed. It wasn't painful, but for the first time my body seemed alive. Then I began to feel it. I sensed the two guards outside. I sensed a source of power, maybe a morph, locked in the basement. I knew there were more in the world outside. I felt them. And Claude. He was like a star, a source of limitless power holding me.

"Now, you understand." Claude raised his arm, causing Olympus to rise, a bicep with no match in the world. "All this and more could be yours, if you want it. You can sense the power, but you cannot take it. You could. You could be as big as me. No, bigger. Do you want it? Show me!"

Suddenly, my cock exploded, shooting cum over both of us. I had no control as my orgasm fired more and more. Cum hit the ceiling and the walls. I tried to stop it, but my mind became obsessed with Claude's power and having it for myself.

"Yes, my little cuckoo, you do want the power. I will tell you now, your coming has been foretold. 'A son of mine with manhood unmatched will decide it. His power ignited, he will come back to his own.'" Claude moved away. "With my love, my son. Until we meet again." He walked away. I sensed him in the hall, talking to the guards, then he went to the basement where the other source of power was.

The guards came into the room and cleaned me up. Without a word, they put me back in the van and drove me home.

There are prophecies about me. It's scary, having a destiny that others know and you don't.

I can sense Ric and Larry coming. They are like flashlights, dwarfed by the brightness that I experienced with Claude, but I sense them none-the-less.

Claude said we would meet again, that he'd give me power like his. I do want it, that's true. I do want to be that big, to be that strong. I know Larry and Ric can't protect me, but do I betray my friends to... I don't know. I am so confused. I wish there was someone I could talk to. I think I'll go home tomorrow. I need my Dad. •