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

95 - Nick

All he could do was yell, scream.

Breck was dangling in the air, covered in shadow, wrapped in darkness. He struggled against his confines, face contorted in anger and fear. Maxil levitated a few paces above him, completely covered in the black muck, a string of it dangling from his hand and attaching to Breck.

Nick was still stuck in the pit, pinned to the ground by the goopy, hardening shadow that had flooded the bottom of the hole. He tried to lift his feet. He pulled and pulled with everything he had, but it was useless. His body wasn't moving. He was completely, utterly stuck.

And all he could do was scream.

Maxil lifted up a shadowed arm. The coils around Breck seemed to tighten, as if he was being strangled to death by dozens of thick, oily snakes. The shadows writhed and twisted.

"MAXIL, STOP! TAKE ME! TAKE ME!" Nick desperately clawed at the shadow, but it was no use.

Breck's eyes started to widen. His struggle became more frantic as the shadow around him visibly tightened. Nick had no idea how much time he had left, not that he was able to do anything. He was stuck, he was fucking stuck.

"Nick."

He turned his head to the side. There was nobody there. He could've sworn the voice had come from somewhere nearby. It had been so clear. It had been so familiar.

"Nick."

Closer this time. He looked down, casting his gaze into the hardening, shining shadow.

And there she was, just as he had left her.

Sally looked back up at him, smiling. Her blue eyes were shining, even as she was submerged in the endless shadow. It was like her image was being projected into the darkness. She was perfect. She was there.

"Sally." He breathed out and reached out to touch his wife. His fingers came into contact with the black and he pulled them away.

"Don't hide from it." The words came from far away, as though she was speaking from the end of a long hallway. Her voice echoed, traveled.

He gulped. He breathed out. "What?"

"Find it... Find what you've become. Accept it. Embrace it. It's who you are now." The smile was sweetly sad, a mournful, happy memory of things that had been. "Look inside yourself, Nick, and see the power you've been given."

And with that, she was gone. The inky blackness of the shadow overtook her again, smearing her, and then making her vanish. Nick blinked into the darkness for a few moments, unsure of what to do, unsure of what to think.

She had told him to look inwards, to find some sort of power, to accept what he had become. But what did that mean? How could he look inside himself?

"AGH!" Breck's deep, throaty cry came from above. Nick's head shot upwards again, and he was blinded by the same panic that had ripped through him before.

His soulmate was in trouble. All at once, in that instant, he felt terrible for having waited for so long, for having denied his feelings, for having pushed the man away. It had been a year since he had come to Sesstria and The Goddess had placed a jewel inside of his back. Fate had brought them together, and he had stubbornly refused to see it until recently. And Breck had waited for him, like the amazing, patient guy he was. He had waited while Nick had worked through the complex tangle of feelings that had come with being attracted to a man for the first time. And his soulmate had been there with him every step of the way.

And now he was about to die. The Shadow Knight was about to squeeze the air out of him, suffocate him, crush him.

Nick couldn't let that happen. Nick wouldn't let that happen. Because... because he loved Breck Xall. Nick Fulton was in love with a man. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with him. He wanted to start a family with him, and grow old with him, and live together with him. He wanted all of that shit, and he was going to get it, too. He wasn't going to let The Golden Spire, or an arrogant shadow caster, or anybody else get in the way of his happiness.