They came for him near dusk.
Jason had finished the wood and moved to the side well to wash his face. The swelling along his cheek had darkened into a deep bruise. When he cupped water into his hands, it stung where skin had split. He kept his head down, listening to the bucket chain rattle against stone.
He heard Marcel before he saw him.
"Still alive."
Jason didn't look up.
Footsteps approached across gravel. Three sets. He knew the rhythm of them now. Marcel heavy and careless. Tobin quick, uneven. Edric steady.
Jason straightened slowly. His ribs protested. The ache had settled into something dull but constant.
"What is it?" he asked.
Marcel grinned. "A ceremony."
Tobin laughed under his breath like he had been holding it in for a while.
Edric stood a few paces back, hands clasped again. Watching.
Jason glanced toward the manor doors. No servants nearby. No uncle on the steps this time. The courtyard had emptied with the fading light.
"I have work," Jason said quietly.
Marcel stepped forward and grabbed him by the collar before he could say anything else.
"Not anymore."
Jason's back hit the stone lip of the well. Pain flashed through his side. He didn't resist when Tobin caught his arm. Resisting made it worse. It always did.
They dragged him across the courtyard without hurry. His boots scraped against stone, catching once on a crack. Marcel didn't slow. The jolt sent another shock up his ribs.
The main gate loomed ahead, tall and iron-bound. The guards at the post straightened when they saw Edric approaching.
"My lord," one of them said.
Edric inclined his head slightly. "We'll take him out."
The guard's gaze flicked to Jason. There was recognition there. Not sympathy. Just recognition.
Marcel shoved Jason forward. "Open."
The gate creaked as it parted.
Cool air met them on the other side. The smell changed immediately. Less stone. More earth. Damp leaves. Something sour from farther down the slope.
They didn't stop walking.
Jason stumbled over the uneven ground as they pulled him along the outer road. Gravel gave way to packed dirt. The estate walls rose high behind them, cutting off the fading light.
"Where are we going?" Jason asked.
Tobin tightened his grip and twisted his arm slightly. "Your place."
They left the road after a short distance, moving toward the lower slope where waste was dumped beyond the sight of guests. Broken furniture. Rotting scraps. Ash. Things that no longer had use.
The smell hit before the sight did.
Jason's stomach tightened. He swallowed hard.
Marcel laughed. "Perfect."
They hauled him closer to the edge of the pit. It wasn't deep, just wide and uneven, layered with discarded refuse and rainwater that never fully drained.
The sky above had turned gray. Heavy clouds pressed low. The air felt thick, like it was waiting.
"On your knees," Tobin said.
Jason's legs buckled when Marcel kicked the back of them. He landed in mud that soaked through his trousers immediately. Cold seeped in.
Edric stepped forward at last.
"This is generous," Edric said, almost mildly. "Most bastards are not afforded a view."
Jason's hands sank into wet soil. He could feel bits of something sharp beneath his fingers. He didn't look down.
"You should have understood earlier," Edric continued. "But perhaps this will make it clear."
Marcel released his collar only to shove him hard between the shoulders.
Jason pitched forward.
For a brief second he thought he might catch himself. His palms slid instead. The ground shifted under him, slick and unstable. He tumbled down the shallow incline and landed among broken boards and soaked cloth.
The impact knocked the air from his lungs.
Above him, Tobin leaned over the edge and laughed.
Marcel brushed his hands together like he'd finished a chore.
Edric looked down at him without expression.
"Even trash deserves a proper place," Edric repeated.
Jason's ears rang. The words sounded distant now, like they were being spoken from underwater.
The first drop of rain struck his cheek.
Then another.
Within seconds the sky opened.
Cold water poured into the pit, flattening the top layer of ash and dirt into sludge. It plastered Jason's hair to his forehead. It filled his mouth when he tried to breathe.
He rolled onto his side, coughing.
"Leave him," Edric said.
Marcel hesitated only long enough to spit down toward the pit. The saliva vanished into rain.
Tobin threw a small stone that struck Jason's shoulder. Not hard. Just for emphasis.
Then their footsteps retreated.
The gate creaked again in the distance.
Jason lay still.
Rain hammered the refuse around him, turning everything into a slow-moving slurry. Rot and damp cloth pressed against his skin. Something soft shifted under his hip. He didn't want to know what.
He tried to push himself up.
His arms trembled and collapsed.
He lay back down.
The sky above blurred into gray streaks. Water ran into his ears. He turned his head weakly to the side, pressing one cheek against something rubbery and cold.
He breathed in.
The smell made his stomach heave.
He gagged, rolled partially, and vomited what little he had eaten that day. The rain washed it away almost immediately.
He needed to stand.
If he stayed here through the night, the cold would finish what they started.
He dug his fingers into the mud and tried again.
This time he got onto his hands and knees.
The pit shifted under him as if it were alive, layers sliding with the rain. He crawled a few inches before his palm slipped on something smooth.
He looked down despite himself.
Half-buried beneath soaked cloth and splintered wood was a strange, rounded shape. Dark. Almost black. Not stone. Not wood.
It flexed slightly under his weight.
Jason blinked water out of his eyes and stared.
For a moment he thought it was just his vision warping from the rain.
He pressed his hand against it more firmly.
It was warm.
The warmth startled him more than anything else had.
Everything around him was cold. The rain. The mud. The air.
But this… this held heat.
He shifted closer, pushing aside a torn sack. The object was roughly the size of both his fists together. Its surface felt thick, almost like hardened leather but smoother. It gave slightly when he squeezed.
Another flash of lightning split the sky, illuminating the pit for a heartbeat.
The thing seemed to pulse.
Jason froze.
It might have been the lightning playing tricks. Or the rain hitting unevenly. Or his own pulse echoing through his hand.
He swallowed and pressed his palm flat against it again.
Warm.
He dragged it free from the muck with both hands. It resisted for a second, suctioned by mud, then came loose with a wet sound.
Up close, it looked almost… organic.
Not shaped like anything he recognized. No clear seams. No cracks. Just a rounded mass, dark and slick with rain.
He should have thrown it away.
He should have climbed out of the pit and left it buried.
Instead, he pulled it against his chest.
The warmth seeped through his soaked shirt immediately. It spread slowly, like a coal placed against skin. Not burning. Just present.
His breathing stuttered.
The rain no longer felt as sharp.
He leaned back against the sloped side of the pit, cradling the thing without fully deciding to. His fingers tightened around it almost on their own.
His eyelids grew heavy.
Not the heavy of sleep after work. Something thicker. Dragging.
His side throbbed in time with his heartbeat.
For a moment he thought he heard something beneath the rain. Not a sound exactly. More like pressure in his ears. A low vibration that made his teeth ache faintly.
He blinked hard, trying to clear it.
The vibration didn't stop.
It wasn't outside.
It was under his palms.
The object pulsed once. Slow. Deep.
Jason's breath hitched.
He tried to push it away but his arms didn't move. His muscles felt detached, as if they belonged to someone else.
The warmth intensified.
It crawled under his skin, spreading through his ribs, down his spine. Not pain. Not comfort. Just… there.
He thought of the courtyard.
Of stone against his cheek.
Of Edric's calm voice.
Even trash deserves a proper place.
Rainwater streamed down his face and into his mouth.
His grip tightened further without his permission.
The pit seemed quieter suddenly. The rain muffled. The world narrowing.
His heart pounded harder.
Or maybe it wasn't only his.
For a brief second, between one blink and the next, the darkness behind his eyes wasn't empty.
It was vast.
He exhaled sharply and slumped sideways, the object still clutched to his chest.
Mud soaked into his hair. Rain continued to fall.
He did not move again.
Above the pit, thunder growled across the sky, long and low.
And beneath the rain, something answered.