Living Armor Boyfriend: Epoch (complete)

Female Main Character(cis) x Male Monster (nonbinary)

The North Pole, nestled between the Kringle Mountains, is a cold place filled with warmth and joy. Thanks to the twin dormant volcanoes, the kingdom is habitable even in such horrible cold. The heat that rises from under the ground allows people to live their daily lives. But the North Pole is not always so perfect. The kingdom is ruled over by the Saint Nicolas family, who are all said to be demigods. Sired by the one known as Father Klaus, each child possesses certain powers which allows them to influence the North Pole.

My mother, Holly Saint Nicolas, is one such person, but I have not spoken to her in years. To be blunt, most of the Saint Nicolas clan have the same predilections as Father Klaus, which is to say they all have libidos as fiery as the Kringle Peaks. Each has several children on their own, multiple partners, husbands, wives. My mother is no different, I have two other sisters I know of from two different fathers. The three of us are often together, and I prefer being with them more than anything. My father, poor thing, still resides in Holly’s Keep as her primary husband. For years I have been trying to find a way to free him.

Thanks to my sisters, I may have finally found a way to set my father free from my mother. Winifred, the eldest of us, was lucky to be born to a magic user. Her father had a massive library, which we pored through since we were children. Lydia, the youngest, has a wonderful ability to understand any written language by looking at it. Thanks to Winifred’s books and Lydia’s sight, we’ve found a conjuring spell to summon a being of power to fight against Holly Saint Nicolas.

“We should go somewhere outside the house,” Winifred suggests. “Just in case our fathers should see or get hurt.”

“We’re all adults,” Lydia argues. “We don’t need to be afraid of our dads and getting into trouble, Winnie.”

“We don’t need to be arguing about this! Winnie is right. We should go somewhere else to summon these things. What if something goes wrong?” I argue.

“But where should we go, Edith?” Lydia looks at me with those big bright eyes that shimmer like silver bells.

I think for a moment. “The Armored Court,” I say decisively. “All that’s there is those suits of armor from the Jingle Wars. No one goes there.”

The three of us pack up and leave, heading towards the Armor Court. It’s a small monument just below the village, where a long staircase takes us to a pavilion lined with different suits of armor used in the Jingle Wars. The floor and ceiling are carved with depictions of battles, while the pillars are carved with the names of the fallen.

We set up the ritual right away, putting down candles and tossing powdered charcoal onto the floor with cinnamon sticks, sprigs of peppermint, and chunks of dark chocolate. Lydia opens the spell book and begins the chanting spell. Her eyes change, becoming almost completely silver, and even her long lashes appear different. “I summon these spirits of antiquity, teachers of history and harbingers of futures. Come to us this night, be told by mouths with revenge so cold. Offer your bounty. Prepare thy might. Look forward now to All Saints’ Night!”

Everything is still aside from the cold wind. We wait with bated breath for something to happen.

“I said it all, right?” Lydia lifts up the book and turns the pages. “That’s the only spell to summon these guys.” As she looks at us, the book spews forth smoke. “Holy shit!” Lydia screams, and tosses it into the center of the pavilion. The smoke swirls, and voices bellow from within.

The black billowing mass collects at the top of the pavilion and flows down, circling three suits of armor before vanishing inside them. We stay still, watching the book and then looking towards the suits of armor. Nothing happens. Everything is still and cold.

“You saw that, right?” Lydia squeaks. “I’m not crazy, am I?”

I swallow hard and stand up. “No, we saw it.” I approach the suit of armor closest to me, which is clutching a massive claymore sword in its gauntlets. I reach out, touching the hand on top of the hilt, and the armor feels warm.

“Edith,” the suit whispers.

“Motherfucker!” Lydia laughs behind me. “It really did work!”

I would scold her, but I am bewildered by the speaking armor. “Yes, that’s my name.”

The armor removes a hand from the sword and flourishes. “Why have you summoned my brothers and me?”

“It’s my father.” My voice quivers as I try to speak. “He’s being held by Holly Saint Nicolas. I want to free him and the other husbands who wish for freedom.” I try to keep my voice steady, but I must admit, this is a strange and frightening moment.

The armor opens its visor, revealing four sharply-defined glowing green eyes inside, a smaller pair above a larger one. Smoke still billows in the interior, but I can make out the faint shapes of a mouth and possibly ears. “You wish to go against the blood of Father Klaus?”

“I am the blood of Father Klaus. My sisters and I are the daughters of Holly Saint Nicolas.” I motion to Winifred and Lydia.

The suit of armor tilts his helmet up. “I see that. You have summoned my brothers and I for a task of love? Is that correct?”

I want to answer yes, but that is not the full truth. “For a rescue mission. You see that too, don’t you?”

The armor places his hand on my head. “I see everything driving you, Edith. We will go with you.” Two more suits of armor step down off pedestals, one behind Winifred and one behind Lydia. “But first, a pact must be made.”

My sight is filled with green eyes, and when I blink, I am standing somewhere else. I am standing on a rooftop overlooking a small village. In the distance I see brightly colored lights blossoming on the horizon. “Where are we?” I gasp. “Where are my sisters?”

The suit of armor takes hold of me, helping me to stay balanced on the slanted rooftop. “Such as you, they are now with their familiars. The six of us must make a covenant and bond as partners before we take on this war.”

I laugh softly. “It’s not a war! A rescue,” I say weakly. The suit of armor is silent. He knows I am lying. “At least, I hope so,” I murmur.

He turns away from me and looks in the direction of the lights. “There are many paths ahead of you, Edith. I can help you down any of them, but I cannot see the way forward yet.”

I wish I could see what he does, but all I see is the little village below and the bright lights ahead of me. “May I ask for your name then, if we are to be bonded?”

“I am Epoch.” He bows his helmet.

“Epoch,” I murmur. “Is it a family name?” I try to jest with him again, but it doesn’t land and I uneasily look away.

Epoch extends his hand. “Look around. Do you know where we are, Edith?”

I look around me, stepping gingerly on the steep roof. “I am not sure. It looks like one of the smaller villages of the North Pole.” I can see the Kringle Peaks in the distance. “Looks like we’re just beyond the Cinnamon Bark forest.”

Epoch puts his hand on my arm and guides my attention towards the lights. “Edith, I am going to need you to look.”

“What are you trying to tell me?” I brush his hand off. “I just want to save my father. What does this little village have to do with any of it?” I can feel my insides boiling.

“Because in order to understand where your journey is going, you must look to where it began.” Epoch jumps down from the roof and lands with a heavy thud in the snow. He looks up and extends his hand. “Come, there is much to see.”

I frown down at him and roll my eyes, jumping off and floating slowly down to meet him. I don’t have a power as cool as Lydia’s, or even Winifred’s, but I can float and cause other objects around me to do the same. I have been told it was the power of Father Klaus to fly, and that I am blessed with it as well. I do not consider ‘floating’ anything blessed. I just don’t fall as fast as others.

Epoch catches me and sets me down gently onto the ground, taking my hand. “You’re so warm,” I say in surprise.

“We came from the Kringle Peaks,” Epoch says simply. “So perhaps my brothers and I are a little toasted after all this time.”

Maybe this is my chance to get a laugh from him. “How’s the magma this time of year?”

Epoch turns and looks at me, all four green eyes glowing slightly brighter. “Have you ever been a marshmallow on fire?”

I shake my head.

“Then you’d have no frame of reference.” He leads me through the streets, all of them dark and empty.

I’m never going to make him laugh. I look away from him again, horribly aware of the darkness we are standing in. The only light comes from his glowing eyes. “Why is it so dark here? Are there no people in these houses?”

“Once, long ago, but these windows are not the ones I want you to look through.” He points me towards a house that is illuminated, shining with twinkling lights and decorated to look like a gingerbread cottage. “Those are the windows that you must see inside.” He places his warm hand against my back.

I see my father walk past one of the windows. I’ve not seen him in so long, I could almost cry. In my excitement, I let go of Epoch’s hand and race to the front door. I knock excitedly, hoping to see my father again. “Papa, it’s me!” I call. I knock again and realize that my knocks make no sound at all.

“What’s going on?” I turn and look back at Epoch. “He can’t hear me.”

Epoch stands beside me, placing his hands on my shoulders. “The windows, Edith. You cannot go through these doors.”

I grimace at the door and forcefully try to knock again. I take hold of the handle and shake it, but it has no give to it. “I want to see my father! What sort of horrible trick are you trying to pull on me?” I snap angrily at him.

“This is no trick. The windows are all that you can touch, Edith. So please, look through them.” Epoch moves me to the window and uses my scarf to wipe away the frost. Inside I see my father stitching a button onto a boot. There’s someone with bright red hair sitting before the fire.

“He looks so young,” I whisper.

“Your father was a cobbler, right?” Epoch asks gently.

You nod. “He used to be, before he met my mother.” I press my palms against the cold glass as I look inside. “Once she chose him, he only made shoes for me when I was born.”

Epoch’s hand squeezes my shoulder in a strangely comforting way. “Do you know the story of how your parents met?”

I shake my head. “All I was told was that it was love at first sight.”

“Did you ever believe that?”

The woman sitting before the fire turns her head and smiles up broadly at my father. It is Holly, my mother. “Only when I was little,” I say bitterly.

My father kneels before her, placing the repaired boot back onto her foot. She grins and tousles her thick mane of curls. She laughs giddily, eliciting a brighter smile from my father.

“Is there love there?” Epoch asks.

“I don’t know.” I look back at Epoch. “Maybe. I’m not sure.” The lights in the house go dark, and I am standing in shadow. I step back, letting my hand fall into Epoch’s again. “I don’t think I saw what I was supposed to.” My voice comes out as white clouds in the cold.

Epoch takes me to another house as the lights inside slowly brighten. Inside I see my father again, slightly older, crying over a letter on the table. “I know what this is,” I whisper. “This was when Holly told him she was pregnant with Winifred, and was marrying her father.”

“Do you see love there?”

It breaks my heart to see my father weeping like that. It comes from deep within, raging from his broken heart. “I do.”

“Since you know of this moment, what can you tell me about what happens after?” Epoch turns me away from the windows. Behind me, all the houses are gone, and only the bright lights on the horizon remain.

“Winifred was born, and a year later, she returned to my father.” The lights intensify and rise into the sky. They shift like ink, spreading out. “She said she could not forget him and wanted him to come live with her.”

“He did, I take it?”

I shake my head. “Not at first. It wasn’t until I was born that he relented.” I place my hand over my chest and remove the locket around my neck.

“And that’s where you grew up?” he asks gently.

I nod. “In her keep, yes.” I look back at him and smile sadly. “We used to fight horribly, my mother and I.”

“Because you hated her?”

“No, I don’t...” I frown and turn back on him. “Whose side are you on? I thought this was supposed to be about making some covenant. But this just feels like you’re trying to guilt me!”

“I see your past extending behind you, Edith. I’m trying to help you see what it has led to and the paths you will have to choose.” Epoch extends his hand to me again. “I can help you to find the path that is right for you.”

“I just want my father back! Do you know how long it’s been? Do you know how much I’ve...” I stop myself. “Oh, right, you do.”

“Why is your first reaction always one of anger, Edith?” Epoch asks gently. “Have you not realized that about yourself?”

I look at his four eyes, then down at the snow my feet are sinking into. “I don’t know,” I grumble reluctantly.

“Because the past is painful,” Epoch replies. “And sometimes, the wounded lash out in anger because it is easiest.”

I press my lips into a firm line and refuse to acknowledge him. Epoch places his warm, heavy hand upon my head. “It’s okay to hurt, Edith. And even though it is easy, anger and all its brothers should not be who you hold your hand out to.”

I grab his wrist, intending to push his hand away, but instead I hold it and I begin to cry. “I just want my dad,” I whimper.

Epoch takes me in his arms, and his chestplate is even warmer than his hand. “I will help you. That is my vow.”

I hold onto him, feeling his warmth seep through my flesh and into my bones. “I don’t want to be angry.”

Epoch’s hand brushes along my cheek and through my hair. “Then look around you, Edith.”

I raise my head to see us standing inside the lights on the horizon. All around me I see images of me in my youth; as a baby, a child, a teenager. I see myself crying, running, laughing, yelling. I am surrounded by all the past versions of myself, none the same, but all me. I begin to well up with an overwhelming heavy feeling inside my chest. Tears roll freely down my face.

“Where do you want to go, Edith?” Epoch asks. “I will take your hand and lead you there.”

“I want to see my father.” I take his hand with both of mine and squeeze it hard. “I’m sorry I was angry at you. I don’t want to be angry anymore. I just want to see him.”

“I am here to help you, from this day forward.” Epoch touches his helmet to my forehead. “That is my covenant with you.”

I smile softly and look up through my tears. In his helmet the smoke looks more solid, and I can see the face surrounding his eyes. He looks almost scaly with gills along his neck. There are shimmers of purple and pink inside the smoke, but I only see them for the briefest flash. “Do you swim in the magma?” I ask Epoch with a laugh.

A soft chuckle finally escapes him. “Do marshmallows taste better roasted?”

The lights part and clear like, leaving us standing in the pavilion again. I see Winifred and Lydia standing hand in hand with Epoch’s brothers. The three brothers stand all together in a line and kneel before us. “We are yours to command until the eve you will want us no more,” they speak in unison.

Winifred and Lydia look at me. “Well?” Lydia asks. “Are we still going?”