Villain's Second Heart: Trapped in A Fantasy Novel (BL)-Chapter 101: A New Morning

The night passed without further incident.

[Quest Complete: Help Decoy. Reward: +25 FP]

He bid the excited Deek adieu - and promised her he would relay the news of their success to Rav on her behalf. As for Leona, the infamous and former Magician of Thorns, Deek caught up with one of the village guards and the unconscious killer was successfully detained.

Ezra wasn’t positive he made the right choice - letting Leona live. She’d find her way back to Asteria, he had a feeling...but he hoped that his mercy in letting her live would stop her from coming after him again.

Ezra returned to his hotel room and fell fast asleep. Oberyn returned at some point during the night, but Rav didn’t appear until morning. He smelled distinctly extra-Ferin when he arrived, prompting Ezra to shove a towel in his face and push him into the bathroom.

"Don’t tell Bree!" Rav panicked as the door slammed shut behind him.

While Rav cleaned up, Ezra sat on the bed beside Oberyn. Both of them were already packed and ready to go - Rav, unsurprisingly, would be a while.

"Rav is unhinged," Oberyn said in a whisper. He tried to keep a straight face but burst into laughter.

"Don’t I know it."

"We had a lot of fun last night," Oberyn went on, his voice tinged with nostalgia. "Everyone wanted to dance with Rav. He really is a celebrity here. And since I was with him, everyone wanted to dance with me, too! It was a blast! I’ve never had fun like that before. Just letting loose. You know?"

Ezra stood up and walked toward the window, his brow tightening. He felt an ominous presence but couldn’t pinpoint its source.

Oberyn frowned, clearly hoping for more conversation. "Sorry, I thought I heard something," Ezra said. "I’m glad to hear you had fun. Doesn’t sound like my kind of jam."

Ezra bit his lip as he spoke, distracted. He still hadn’t told either Oberyn or Rav about last night, but he would - once he could explain it to them both at the same time. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"Well, me neither," Oberyn admitted, playing with a frayed edge of the bedsheet. "But maybe a once-in-a-while kind of thing, yeah? We did this one dance called ’The Electric Whorl.’ Everyone got in a big line and made a spiral. Then Rav ended up on a chair, being held by a bunch of Ferin..."

Ezra sat down beside him again, but his mind drifted. He wasn’t the party type. Rav embodied a kind of energy he could never quite keep up with.

Ezra’s arm curled around Oberyn’s waist and they sat leaning on each other in the quiet. The only noise was the rushing water coming from the bathroom as Rav cleaned himself up.

"He’s a good guy, Rav," Oberyn said quietly. "I know you think he’s... well, you know. But the people here, they love him. They treat him like a god. And... it’s because he’s earned it. He put his life on the line for them. He saved the world from being consumed, and the Ferin Village would’ve been the first to go.

"You should hear the way they talk about him, Ezra. People were crying, telling me stories of how he saved them, or someone they loved. This village used to be where Ferin were forced to work for scraps. Rav changed that."

"He’s told me most of the stories, believe me."

Just then, Rav emerged from the bathroom, soaking wet with a towel on his head and nothing else.

"What the hell, Rav!? Put some clothes on, I can see everything!" Ezra exclaimed, covering his eyes.

"So what, we’re all buds here, right?"

Ezra peeked through his fingers, curiosity getting the better of him. No - stop. No.

"You’re a savage. Cover yourself up."

"Yeah, yeah," Rav muttered as he rummaged through his backpack and finally put on some underwear. "You were so flirty yesterday, I thought you’d love it."

Ezra lowered his arm, his eyes inadvertently drifting across Rav’s torso.

"That’s a big scar," he said softly. It was his first time allowing himself to really take in Rav’s body and not look away in a hurry.

At the center of Rav’s torso was a cross-shaped scar, seared deep into his flesh. It looked like whatever caused it had nearly cut him in half.

"Hm?" Rav glanced down. "Ah, yes. That was a gift from the Magician of Lightning. Don’t worry, little Ezzie. I gave him much worse."

He rolled on a turtleneck and buckled his belt.

"And by that, I mean I killed him."

Yeah. Ezra figured as much.

"Gave him one of these!" Rav said, shooting a puff of cloud from his palm. It floated gently through the air, harmless.

"And one of these!" He threw a kick, summoning another harmless puff.

"Just like I told you yesterday, Ezra. If you’re fighting a Magician, there’s no ’taking prisoners.’ You kill, or you get killed. Our magic is too powerful for anything else."

Rav hopped onto the bed next to Ezra and started sniffing him.

"Speaking of...something’s different about you."

"I fought her last night. The Magician of Thorns."

Rav jerked back in disbelief. "What!?" he exclaimed. "What do you mean? Where? Here? How!?"

"She found me," Ezra explained. Oberyn shifted as well, turning with confusion toward his human.

"You...took her on, all by yourself?"

Ezra shook his head. "Initially, yeah. She was hunting me - got a good start on me, too. But then Deek showed up. She and I defeated the Magician together."

"That’s my Sage-in-Training for you!" Rav said proudly. "So what? Did you kill her? Were you able to take her power?"

Ezra smiled hesitantly. "Well...yeah. Deek awakened as the ’Magician of Roses’..."

"Ahhh!" Rav shrieked, jumping to his feet and leaping for joy. "My apprentice has become a Magician at last! Happy day, indeed! Oh, but this certainly changes things on my timeline..."

"I should add," Ezra said quickly. "The Magician of Thorns - Leona - I didn’t kill her. After I drained all her mana and stole her powers, I decided to let her live."

"Now, why would you do a stupid thing like that?" Rav snapped, his expression sharpening in an instant. His eyes narrowed into slits and he put his hands on his hips. "Well, nothing that can’t be fixed. Where’d you put her? If you can find her, she’s powerless - maybe we can have Oby blow her up."

"I didn’t want to kill her," Ezra clarified. "No killing. She lost, we took her power. There’s no need for that."

Rav grit his teeth. "Stupid humans. Always."

He turned away from Ezra, clicking his tongue.