The Stableboy's shadow (BL)

Chapter 15

At some point, Riley woke with a jolt. Something was off—so very off. Percevin still slept, his back turned, his breathing slow and steady beneath the blankets. Riley pushed his own covers aside, the cold night air biting at his skin, and rose quietly to his feet. He cast one last glance at his companion before slipping toward the tent's flap.

Outside, the night pulsed with the chirps of a thousand crickets. The camp was desert. Shadows clung to every surface, broken only by the faint orange glow of dying embers in the fire pit. All the benches were empty—except one. On the nearest log sat a silhouette, its back to him, outlined faintly by the firelight.

Riley frowned and stepped out. Instantly, the cold receded, replaced by a strangely warm breeze, as though the wind carried the fire's heat to him.

He moved closer, curiosity rising like a tide. Who was this, sitting alone in the middle of the night? The closer he got, the calmer he felt. The figure's posture was still, almost serene—oddly reassuring.

He circled the fallen log slowly, never taking his eyes off the figure. A hood shadowed most of their face; only the tip of their nose and a sliver of their chin were visible.

"Hello, Shade-Bringer," a voice said.

It hadn't come from the figure—not exactly. And yet, Riley knew it had spoken. The voice was layered: a child's whisper, a cavernous roar that rattled his bones, and something in between—a genderless adult tone that threaded through the others.The figure didn't move. Riley drew closer, but the closer he got, the harder it became to look directly at them. His gaze kept shifting, involuntarily sliding away. It didn't want to be seen.

So he turned his eyes to the glowing coals and sat beside the fire.

"What are you?" he asked quietly. Whatever it was, it wasn't bound to this earth.

"I am what they want me to be. The balance between good and bad, darkness and light. I am what they need me to be."

"What do you want?"

"To learn. Observe. Prepare."

"I don't know what that means."

His words echoed into nothing, fading like mist. His thoughts kept getting more confused by the second.

"You will know. The path you walk is undetermined. Watch your steps."

And suddenly he was on his feet. The world pitched beneath him, the ground vanishing in a blink. He fell, heart surging into his throat, nausea twisting through his gut as vertigo took hold.

There was only darkness. Not a single drop of light pierced it. No shape, no sense of where he ended and the void began. No borders. No form. He grew, shrank, expanded—and stayed.

Suspended.

Alone.

"Lee! Wake up!"

Riley jolted upright, a weight dragging across his chest as he pulled something with him. Beside him, Percevin groaned and rolled onto his back, his arm flopping away—that had been the weight. The movement had turned him in his sleep. Riley shook his head, trying to push through the sharp pain throbbing in his skull, and looked toward the tent flap.

Aneimis stood there, grinning like a devil, holding the canvas open and backlit by daylight.

"Top o' the mornin' to ya!" they practically shouted, leaning hard into their northern accent.

"What the hell, Mis..." Riley groaned, flinching from the light and turning away.

"It's late already, ya lazy lot. Breakfast is ready, and we've got plans to go over."