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.

“Leiyla , We need to untie him,” Akira’s voice, sharp with irritation.

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

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

“He’s unpredictable,” a second voice countered, this one deeper, laced with casual amusement. “That makes him dangerous.”

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

Maki was the next to speak. “I get it, but you didn’t see him fight against the Bastard Ravencrest. He held himself together even when the 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 silence, then the girl’s voice—calm, yet unwavering. “Do you know the extent of his curse? Do you know what will happen if he loses control again?”

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

“I’m awake,” I said, my voice hoarse.

All eyes turned to me. My friends looked relieved, but the two strangers remained cautious. I met Akira’s gaze first, then turned toward the girl and the green-haired man.

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

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

I exhaled, glancing 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 glare at my captors.

Akira stepped forward. “Ray, this is Leiyla. She’s the one who brought us here.”

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

I turned my gaze to Leiyla. “Why?”

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

I nodded.

She clasped her hands behind her back. “I wasn’t planning to. My original goal was to capture the Bastard Ravencrest 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 Ravencrest throne,” Leiyla continued. “My brother betrayed our family, and my mission was to retrieve him. But when I saw you, I changed my plan.”

I folded my arms. “Why?”

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

I scoffed. “You want me to work for you?”

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

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

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

I clenched 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.

Leiyla seemed to notice. “You regret what happened.”

I didn’t answer.

I hesitated, then glanced 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 need to talk to her.”

Before I could move, Leiyla spoke again. “Ray, before that, I need to understand 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 platform, surrounded by strangers. Selia was one of the first people I met, and I realized quickly that none of us knew why we 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 control. I wanted to understand the rules of this place before making any moves. That became impossible when a fight erupted between factions of the group. I handled it, 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 understand my blessing. But there was one person with an invisibility blessing—that was strange. I had completely forgotten about him until now. His attack was smart and calculated. If I hadn't been prepared with a stolen ability back then, I think I would’ve died."

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

I clenched my fists. “I refused to let them control me. I fought back. But the more I fought, the more I realized something: Every time I defeated someone, there was always someone stronger waiting to come 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 destruction. But I knew better. Every fight had proven it—if I waited, someone stronger would come. They always did. And so I chose to strike first, not because I wanted to, but because I felt I had no other choice.” After I fought the muscular man and his ally, I knew whoever sent them would come looking for me. When I wiped out the city, I knew Prince Elthias—and probably the whole kingdom—would be after me.”

I met Leiyla’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 happened to 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 uncontrollable curse?"

I let out a dry chuckle, shaking my head. "I don’t remember the last 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 fingers tightening around the fabric of my clothes. "I fear my curse. It’s changing me, making me something I don’t fully understand. 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, becoming 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 turned to see Selia entering. Her gaze met mine, filled with something I couldn't quite decipher—anger, sorrow, understanding? 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 can, but you’re not alone. You never were."

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

She reached out and placed a hand on my arm, stopping me. "You didn’t lose control, 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 you’re getting it anyway." She hesitated for a moment, then reached out, gently placing 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 fingers twitched 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 uncomfortably 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 knew that if I waited, someone would come for me. Someone stronger, someone with the power to crush me before I had a chance. I thought I was playing smart, but in the end..." My voice trailed off as I clenched my jaw. "In the end, I only made things worse."