Chapter 17: Flooded by the Seeds of Emotion

  Darkness ebbed and flowed around me like a tide, sluggishly pulling me back to reality. I felt nothing at first, only the weight of my own exhaustion pressing against me. But slowly, sounds began to seep through the haze.

  “Leiy , We o untie him,” Akira’s voice, sharp with irritation.

  “We ’t,” a girl—young, fident, and familiar. “Not yet.”

  “He’s not our enemy,” Theodore insisted. “We’ve been through enough together.”

  “He’s uable,” a sed voice tered, this one deeper, ced with casual amusement. “That makes him dangerous.”

  I tried to move, but my limbs resisted. Rope. Tightly wound, seg my wrists and ankles.

  Maki was the o speak. “I get it, but you didn’t see him fight against the Bastard Rave. He held himself together evehe curse was eating away at him.”

  A scoff from the deeper voice. “Held together? He was moments away from snapping. Don’t act like you didn’t see it.”

  “The point is,” Lucky interjected, “he’s on our side.”

  A beat of silehen the girl’s voice—calm, yet unwavering. “Do you know the extent of his curse? Do you know what will happen if he loses trol again?”

  The weight of their argument pressed down on me more than the ropes. I forced my eyes open, blinking against the dim dlelight flickering in the abandoned house. Wooden beams sagged above, dust motes drifting zily iale air.

  “I’m awake,” I said, my voice hoarse.

  All eyes turo me. My friends looked relieved, but the twers remained cautious. I met Akira’s gaze first, then turoward the girl and the green-haired man.

  “I assume you’re the reason I’m here?” I asked.

  The girl—small, with an uling maturity in her gaze—nodded. “I moved you all here after I vinced Akira, Theodore, and Maki to listen. This pce is hidden from everyone by my spell. No one sense us, track us, or find us.”

  I exhaled, gng at the ropes. “And these?”

  The green-haired man shrugged. “You have a habit of turning on your own. Didn’t seem like a risk worth taking.”

  I sighed, testing my restraints. “I’m fine now. Let me go.”

  The girl studied me for a long moment before nodding. With a flick of her wrist, the ropes unraveled and slithered away. I rubbed my wrists, resisting the urge to gre at my captors.

  Akira stepped forward. “Ray, this is Leiy. She’s the one whht us here.”

  “And that,” Maki added, gesturing toward the man, “is Enzo, the one who attacked the kingdom.”

  I turned my gaze to Leiy. “Why?”

  She tilted her head. “Why did I help you?”

  I nodded.

  She csped her hands behind her back. “I wasn’t pnning to. My inal goal was to capture the Bastard Rave and take him back to the kingdom.”

  Something in my chest tightened. “Take him back?”

  “He is my brother.”

  A stunned silence filled the room.

  “I am the heir to the Ravehrone,” Leiy tinued. “My brother betrayed our family, and my mission was to retrieve him. But when I saw you, I ged my pn.”

  I folded my arms. “Why?”

  “Elthias has someone from Rave on their side. My brother, with the Rave blessing. But with you…” She gave me a measured look. “You’re a power stealer. You bahings out. You could be Rave’s ao what they’ve done.”

  I scoffed. “You wao work for you?”

  She smiled slightly. “Not work. Join us. Fight with us.”

  A bitter ugh escaped me. “You expect me to align with you that easily?”

  “No,” she admitted. “But I expect you to think about it.”

  I ched my jaw. My mind was already heavy with guilt—Selia, Benjiro… their faces haunted me. I wasn’t sure if I was in any state to make choices like this.

  Leiy seemed to notice. “Yret what happened.”

  I didn’t answer.

  I hesitated, then gnced around. “Where’s Selia?”

  A brief silence followed before Theodore answered, “She’s outside. She needed space.”

  Guilt twisted inside me, sharper than before. I had nearly hurt her. I exhaled, rubbing a hand over my face. “I o talk to her.”

  Before I could move, Leiy spoke again. “Ray, before that, I o uand something. How did you all end up like this?”

  I took a deep breath. “I was in a bad situation before I died. Then, I woke up on that white ptform, surrounded by strangers. Selia was one of the first people I met, and I realized quickly that none of us knee were there.”

  I leaned back against the wall, staring at the ceiling as memories flooded in. “Chaos broke out almost immediately. Some people panicked, others tried to assert trol. I wao uand the rules of this pce before making any moves. That became impossible when a fight erupted between fas of the group. I ha, but that was only the beginning.”

  I hesitated, my brow furrowing. "At some point, I was attacked by different people from the group. Those fights were how I first started to uand my blessing. But there was one person with an invisibility blessing—that was strange. I had pletely fotten about him until now. His attack was smart and calcuted. If I hadn't been prepared with a stolen ability back then, I think I would’ve died."

  Shaking off the uneasy thought, I tinued. “Then, the Lion Cub anization found us. They wao take us in, sort us. Later, I realized all the nations do this—they cim territories, capturing newly summoned people to find royal blessings among them or if any of us had a useful blessing”

  I ched my fists. “I refused to let them trol me. I fought back. But the more I fought, the more I realized something: Every time I defeated someohere was always someoronger waiting to e after me for revenge.”

  I sighed. “That’s why I attacked first. But even then, I hesitated. I asked myself if there was another way, if maybe I could run, hide, or find some other path that didn’t lead to more destru. But I knew better. Every fight had proven it—if I waited, someoronger would e. They always did. And so I chose to strike first, not because I wao, but because I felt I had no other choice.” After I fought the muscur man and his ally, I knew whoever sent them would e looking for me. When I wiped out the city, I knew Prihias—and probably the whole kingdom—would be after me.”

  I met Leiy’s gaze, my voice hollow. “So I went after the king. I thought if I took him down, I could escape this endless cycle.”

  Silence filled the room. Then, softer, I added, “But now, after what happeo me, to Benjiro… to Selia… I regret it.”

  The weight of my choices settled onto my shoulders, heavier than ever before.

  Enzo studied me for a moment before asking, "What about your blessing, or more precisely, your untrolble curse?"

  I let out a dry chuckle, shaking my head. "I don’t remember the st time I felt real fear. If you had asked me when I was alive what I feared, I would have said nothing. I was certain of myself, certain of my decisions. But as I use my blessing more and more, I’ve developed fear—something deep, something growing inside me."

  Taki frowned. "What do you mean?"

  I exhaled slowly, my fiightening around the fabriy clothes. "I fear my curse. It’s ging me, making me something I don’t fully uand. Every time I steal a blessing, I take something from the person who had it before. Their strengths, their abilities... but also their burdens. It feels like I’m losing myself, little by little, being something else entirely. And the worst part? I don’t know if there’s a way to stop it."

  Silence fell over the room as my words sank in.

  A soft sound of footsteps approached, and I turo see Selia entering. Her gaze met mine, filled with something I couldn't quite decipher—anger, sorrow, uanding? She walked past the others and stood in front of me before finally speaking.

  "Ray... stop carrying this weight alone," she said gently. "You think you have to fight and push forward because you’re the only one who , but you’re not alone. You never were."

  I lowered my head, swallowing hard. "Selia, after what I did to you... how you even look at me? I lost trol. I—. And even before that."

  She reached out and pced a hand on my arm, stopping me. "You didn’t lose trol, Ray. You fought against it. And even if you make mistakes, even if you fall, we’re still here. I’m still here."

  Her words cut through the fog of guilt and exhaustion. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a shaky breath. "I don’t deserve that kindness."

  Selia gave me a small, sad smile. "Maybe. But yetting it anyway." She hesitated for a moment, then reached out, gently pg her hand over mine. "And you’re not alone in this, Ray. You never were." I felt a lump form in my throat, the weight of her words settling deep within me. My fiwitched slightly under her touch, but I didn’t pull away. For the first time in what felt like forever, the crushing loneliness inside me eased, if only a little. Lucky shifted unfortably before muttering, "That’s... terrifying."

  "It is," I admitted. "And that’s why I attacked first. Not just to keep myself alive, but because I khat if I waited, someone would e for me. Someoronger, someoh the power to crush me before I had a ce. I thought I ying smart, but in the end..." My voice trailed off as I ched my jaw. "In the end, I only made things worse."