Shadow Prince [BL]

chapter [1]

"Vael, did you take the lunchbox that I prepared for you?"

I was in the middle of trying to get my shoe on when mum shouted from the kitchen.
Having a quick glance at the clock calmly ticking above the doorframe, I realized that I had already lost too much time doing last-minute studying this morning. The bus would arrive in two minutes so I would have to sprint to the station again.

"Yes, mum, I'm in a hurry!" I rolled my eyes without her seeing but maintained a respectful tone. Mum had always been overly caring for me even though I was an adult since yesterday. For some, it might be annoying, but I secretly appreciated it.
One last time, I caught a glance of myself in the mirror, again being reminded of how desperately I needed to shower. The dark brown strands of usually curly hair had lost their volume and almost poked out my eyes at that length.

"Geez, I really gotta go now. See ya!" With a last quick smile to the woman standing there with her hands on her sides and raising an eye brow I grabbed the stuff for school and was about to shut the door when she yelled after me again.

"Good luck! And-"

"Don't talk to the fairies, I know I know." I laughed and began to jump down the stairs rather than walking without looking back another time.

This was the last day of exams after all... after this day, all of my friends and I would finally finish school and be one step closer to our future.
And even though I wouldn't say that I was pleased about most likely parting ways with them, this feeling of soon starting something completely new was thrilling in any way possible.

The only problem here was... my condition. Right... that special gift of seeing the hidden world of mystical creatures that only a handful of people in this country possessed, my mother being another one of them. My father, who died before I was born, apparently didn't have that gift, so I must have inherited it from my mother.

But while she called it a gift, it was in fact more of a burden to me.

The first 8 years of my life my mother and I had lived secluded in a small village where people wouldn't question a little boy running through the fields trying to catch pixies, fearing the waters because of the sirens, staying away from the forest because of the monsters and putting cookies and milk in front of the entrance door for the brownies.
But even if nobody asked a thing, we had always been outsiders there except for the few children that had played with me once in a while because they thought I was funny.

As a result, mum had home schooled me and repeatedly taught me about the hidden world and its countless dangers. It had taken a very long time until I was able to persuade her to move into a bigger town, but even now, I still felt different from everybody else.
Back then, my ability had been hard to accept, and I still felt awkward when flinching back from a gloomy looking elf that my friends couldn't even see.

Even now that I entered the school grounds trying my best to avoid the gaze of the butterfly pixies that were sitting on a stone and chatting in their high pitched voices I wished that I could simply be like everybody else.

If you didn't see them, they weren't a threat... but if I were to attract their attention somehow, dangerous things might happen.
For example, those mischievous pixies... small creatures seeming weak at first glance with their tiny hands and cat-like features. They were chatting, singing, and dancing the whole day, so if I'd approach them, some might want me to dance with them to eternity unless I wanted their wrath on me.
To be fair, getting killed by a pixie was unlikely, but they had a talent of being incredibly annoying.

That was why the most important rule was to never interact with these unpredictable creatures. But then again, what use was it being able to see them but a constant bother?
Well, I couldn't really say that I was stickig to that rule anyway. One of my best friends out there was the dwarf that lived in the basement of the school, after all.