The Shadow of Gloom

After I had left behind Gloom and Leuthar, I had barely made it up the stairs before going back down. I had forgotten that I hadn't known where the bathroom was or where I could get something to eat. All I had gotten from Gloom when I had asked had been for me to look in my room, and with heavy feet and slumped shoulders, I had dragged myself upstairs. He hadn't been pulling my leg either.

When I had entered my room, I found a steaming bath in front of the lit hearth. A small side table had been set beside the bathtub and held a bowl, spoon, and cup. I peered into the bowl to watch it automatically heap with a thick warm soup, then the cup filled with a watery liquid. It wasn't water that much I could tell after a good whiff of it. Probably was the heated ale I had been drinking since I'd gotten here. It wasn't the greatest but wasn't the worst.

With a silent thanks to Gloom and a promise to make it up to him, I began to undress, grateful to get out of my dirty clothes. Each article of clothing fell to the floor without a care for where it landed, and once I was stripped bare, I stuck one toe into the bath water. I sighed in satisfaction from the heat that rippled through me. It was call for me to dive in.

I stepped in and sunk to the bottom, putting my back against one side, and stretching my legs out in front of me. There were no complaints from me as I relaxed every muscle and joint and let my head fall back, eyes closed. My body was in heaven, skin prickling with warmth and soft from the soap, while my mind stabbed me repeatedly until I groaned and peeled my eyes open.

There was no escaping the obvious. I had to confront my reality and that was that I wasn't going to go home because even if I did, there would be nobody to help me with my newfound powers. There was no wishing them away or putting them back. I was stuck with them just as I was stuck here.

But was I really willing to let my mom go, my friends go, and everything I had once known? I'd have to start all over, make new friends, and a new life. It seemed... incredibly exhausting. It already had been, and I didn't think it would get any easier. Maybe the only thing that made it easier was Gloom when he wasn't being an ass.

My lips fell into a frown, knowing that I was about to embrace my life here. I didn't like the idea, but I had to either sink or swim and I wasn't about to sink. I had to raise my head above the surface and keep myself afloat.

This here was my life now, even if I didn't know what that was yet. I just knew that I was a part of Gloom's life as much as he was mine now. We were glued at the hip and were going to go wherever this crazy shit took us. Neither of us knew what we were in for, if I were being honest.

When I began to shut my eyes again to rest them, a knock sounded on the door. I swore beneath my breath and forced my tired eyes back open. There was no such a thing as personal time was there.

"Who is it?" I called, not wanting to lift my ass out of the tub to answer the door.

"Gloom."

"Why not," I mumbled to myself, then added in a louder voice, "Come in."

The door handle clicked open, then Gloom stepped in. My body went stiff as a board while my eyes widened and trailed over him. He'd taken his entire cloak off this time, and he was much, much bigger than I had thought. If I were standing up, the tip of my head would only meet his chin. That meant it had to be well over six foot five.

He ducked through the door to avoid hitting his head, then met my gaze with only the seriousness that he could. I swallowed hard and shifted uncomfortably under his hard gaze.

I was fucked.

As he approached, I tried desperately to wave the bubbles towards me to block my body beneath the water. I managed to get them over in time before he loomed over me and glanced towards the untouched food.

"You should eat," he stated in a low, deep tone, a tone that tried to send a shiver through me. For my ego, I wasn't going to turn into a puddle. "You need your strength to maintain your balance. You're like a child whose powers have just begun to emerge."

He had to bring that up.

"Please can we not talk about that right now?" I sunk to my chin in the bath, having to scrunch my legs up as the tub wasn't long enough. It left my dripping wet knees sticking out awkwardly as bubbles trickled down them. He didn't seem to notice while I burned red.

He quieted as he moved to stand sideways beside the tub, gaze pointed elsewhere across the room rather than on me. I bit into my lip and turned my eyes onto the bubbles skimming the water top, trying to ignore the tension between us. It was my fault, sort of. I'd been the one to be quick to think him something that he wasn't and had started most of our fights. I wanted to work on that and try to be a better friend to him, but I could only go so far if he didn't put in any effort too.

We had to make this work together if I was going to be stuck in Laelmos.

When he turned his gaze down to me, I looked up, far up. He really couldn't have been close to my height, could he?

"I'm here to give you a choice," he began plainly, making me raise my eyebrows. He paused long at my expression, considering it before he continued, "You can either stay here and train under our watch or you may leave and do as you wish. You may dislike your powers, perhaps despise them, and want to hide from them but what you have is a gift and a gift cannot be wasted. You'd do good in Laelmos and in a time like this, it is needed."

This was a change of events.

"What's this coming from?" I asked with a light smile, strangely feeling a butterfly in my stomach over his words. Since when did he show such an intimate side of himself? I'd never once seen him say anything with a care before. It had always been cold and stern.

He hummed as he turned away from me, not responding. I huffed to get his attention, and when he paused in his steps, I spoke up.

"It's nice to see that you care. I kind of thought you'd step all over me for a little while there."

He glanced over his shoulder at me, eyes shifting from their usual glazed over look into a softened one. "It may seem that I don't care and perhaps I don't at times, but you deserve a choice because this will decide your future. You don't deserve to be shoved into something that you didn't want."

I smiled at first, then my lips fell when I noticed his gaze turn hollow then drop away from mine. He had sounded like he had spoken from experience.

"You should eat then get some rest. You'll be seeing Daesa tomorrow to allow her to test your magic's potency," he stated when he turned away from me, headed towards the door.

I sat up, water dribbling off me and into the tub. "Are you sure you want me to see Daesa? Wouldn't she tell everyone if she found out?"

"That is up to you. You don't have to go if you don't want to," he replied, pausing in the doorway.

It was, wasn't it? I did want this, to be able to decide for myself, and that meant making difficult choices that I didn't know the outcome. I'd have to take a leap of faith and hope she didn't go to everyone about this and try to have me turned into some experiment.

"You don't have to decide now. Think about it and tell me your answer tomorrow," he muttered, and then once I nodded, he walked out, closing the door behind him.

I settled back into the tub, sinking into the warm soapy depths. This felt like the only moment that I was going to be able to bask in peacefulness because once tomorrow came, I knew that I was in for it.