💎A Collision of Fates💎 (Straight to Gay) (MxM) (18+)

109 - Nick

The shadows had slid into his mind, and he only realized that when he woke up.

He stared at the ceiling of their stone room, the embers of the fire burning dimly in the corner, the floor and walls streaked by blue moonlight.

Even now, Nick could feel the shadows receding, retreating from his mind as though scared by his consciousness. For his own part, he forced them away, but how long the darkness had been inside of him, his mind? He didn't know, and that was scary.

The worst part was that he felt oddly elated, like he was coming down from a high, an intoxicating rush. Was that what the shadow did? Did it become like a drug? Had Maxil been taken in by the intoxicating power of the darkness, and that was how he became The Shadow Knight?

Whatever had happened to Maxil, one thing was quickly becoming clear, the shadows had a mind of their own. Did the darkness want to control him? To taint him? Nick tried to remember what he had been dreaming about, but it was lost in a fuzzy haze. There was a still image lodged in his mind, though, and that was the symbol of The Lost Brothers. Even now, he could remember dreaming about that symbol, the circle with the three lines, crafted from shadow, stuck to the side of the wall in The Commerce.

Why were the shadows showing him this? Why was that everything he could remember? A wall, a stone wall, and a dark symbol on it.

Nick breathed out, and turned his head to the side. Breck was beside him, eyes closed, handsome face glinting in the dim light. He was sleeping, deeply, the rise and fall of his naked chest was consistent, constant, his body was completely still.

He tried to be as quiet as he could as he slid out of bed and put on some clothing. He could feel Breck's dried cum plastered to his leg, where it had dripped out of his ass. There was another man's cum on him, and he didn't even blink an eye. Jesus, things had changed. What would Sally have thought, if she saw him now? Crawling out of his bed, the bed he shared with another man, after an evening of hot, sweaty sex.

Nick shook his head, forcing the thought away. He looked towards the door of his room. Was he really going to leave The Estate and find that symbol? Couldn't it wait until the morning? But the shadow, for whatever reason, was pulling him towards the cold symbol. It was alluring, intoxicating. And, besides, it wasn't like they had all the time in the world. If they were going to stop The Golden Spire, they needed to be bold and decisive.

Quietly, briskly, Nick walked out of their room, down the stairs, and out the door. The night was cool and windy, blowing his hair around wildly.  The moon watched from above, silently observing his every move. To the right, The Palace towered over the city, small glowing lights in several of the windows, little figures moving over the battlements and balustrades. Nearby, walking between two buildings, a pair of bobbing torchlights were coming closer, no doubt held by defenders. Nick was a yevan, but that didn't mean he wasn't bound by the curfew when he was off-duty.

He ducked lower and moved to the side, tracing a meandering, slow path to The Square. It wasn't the fastest way, but it was the most hidden. He sped through narrow, dim alleyways and quiet streets, finding his way towards the center of the city, moving down the great mound that Sesstria had been built overtop of.

Of course, he had to walk down the main thoroughfare of Hilltown eventually, the city was designed to force that, being bisected in the way that it was. It was impossible to enter The Square from any other place, coming from The Palace. From the North, from Hilltown, there was one path in, and one path out. So, he took a quick peak out of the alleyway, confirmed that no defenders were close, briskly walked down the last stretch of the main Hilltown street, and then darted into The Square.

He navigated his way into The Commerce, and quickly found himself standing in front of the symbol on the wall. Behind him, the rubble of the destruction had been cleaned up substantially, with only a few piles of charred timber remaining, which were scattered throughout the craters that marred the cobbled roads.