Kari awoke in an unfamiliar cot to the sound of rain. It was dark, but the human could make out the shape of a tent in place of the sky above him. He slowly sat up.

“Am…. Am I alive?” A voice wondered aloud. Horribly raspy. Unrecognisable.

Where… am I? Kari wondered. His head hurt like nothing else.

But worse than the pain ringing in his head, something was deeply wrong.

His right hand went to his left wrist, feeling a strange emptiness.

That’s right…

His precious stasis bracelet had been shattered. What remained of it lay beside him on a small table. It was the last keepsake he had of Carderock Academy and his old life, a gift from Benson for his 16th birthday.

But it was not just that. There was something else wrong. Something, missing. Damaged. Corroded.

No… It can’t be…

There was a sound coming from outside that was the source of Kari’s anxiety. A noise from outside the tent.

The sound of rain. Torrential rain; the type that would appear suddenly in a violent downpour and disappear without warning.

Kari felt around but his Gift’s perception was inconsistent. He couldn’t feel the water outside. In fact, he couldn’t feel any water.

He glanced around. His gourd hung off the left bedpost at the foot of the bed. He kicked it to confirm his suspicions. Empty.

But Kari couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief because of that damned noise, seeping in between the folds of the tent entrance.

It was raining, He was certain it was raining.

Yet still… Kari could not believe it. He got out of his cot and walked to the mouth of the tent, peeling back the nearest fold with his right hand. Light streamed into the dim tent.

Outside, he could make out rows and rows of identical black tents. He seemed to be in some sort of temporary settlement outside of Sarigold’s gates.

But Kari couldn’t care less about where he was right now.

It appeared to be raining. Puddles made a patchwork of the dry, packed earth, which struggled to absorb the sudden downpour.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Kari stepped outside, feeling the cold, wet drops against his skin. A chill went down his spine, though not for the usual reason.

Yes, it was definitely raining.

It could not be denied no matter how much Kari willed it.

How can this be?

Kari couldn’t feel the rain with his Gift. For the boy who had had the Gift since birth, it was like being blind or losing a hand or foot.

To be accurate, Kari wasn’t completely disconnected from his Gift. He could still sense the rain in disparate patches, but compared to the mastery he had before, it was of no consolation.

Kari attempted to manipulate the rainfall, but it was like trying to read but only with the corners of your vision. Whenever Kari focused on the rain directly, it disappeared, but his sense of the rain elsewhere would be restored.

Useless.

It was useless. Like trying to read without focusing on the words, or trying to throw a ball without picking it up. There was no way that Kari would be able to complete the delicate work that he was so used to.

But how? How had it become like this?

Kari remembered Rhaspalaka’s final act of defiance. It must’ve been then; when Kari’s missile had struck the book, what Rhas did was so unexpected that Kari had not been able to ‘let go’ of the spear with his Gift.

And so, had that cursed book damaged his Gift just like it had torn at his hands?

Kari sank into the wet dirt with no regard for his clothes.

It didn’t really matter, did it? The harsh reality was that Kari was now essentially Giftless. And, for an instant, for the briefest instant, he wished that Elwin had left him to die.

True despair.

But it was not fair to say that the loss of his Gift was solely responsible for what Kari was feeling.

He had accomplished the goal he had pursued for so long. But rather than being able to bask in the glory of his accomplishment, Kari was simply faced with the predictable reality that it failed to bring even the smallest trace of his old life back. If anything, his life was only worse off than ever before. He had even lost the only remaining memento he had of those treasured days.

He had no purpose left to drive him.

All he could do was try and cope with what little catharsis he could feel, knowing that he had avenged his loved ones.

What was he to do? He had no purpose. No goal to guide him. No friends, or family.

He was all alone, just like he had been ever since that fateful night four years ago. And this time, there was no one to blame but himself. Even those who had saved him could have just as easily left him for dead. It was only because of the foolish Elwin’s pointless kindness that Kari was still breathing.

Kari sat in the rain for a while. Some part of him hoped that doing so would miraculously heal him. Another part of him wallowed in self-pity.

Eventually, it stopped, and the sky began to clear. Faint beams of light stretched their fingers down towards Kari through the clouds.

After some time feeling his matted hair harden and dry in the warm light, he got up, gathered his things, and left the town of tents.

It seemed that the tents had been set up by Lucina’s forces in collaboration with Sarigold, specifically for those affected by Kari’s rampage. Though none of that was on Kari’s mind.

He wandered Sarigold’s outer streets aimlessly in his sodden, torn, bloody and mud-stained robes, drawing more than one aghast look. A wide berth was kept around him. When he happened to cross into the wealthier district nearer the town centre, not even the guards made to stop the shell of a man. Nearby protestors, who had been raising their voices relentless for days, fell silent upon sight of his visage.