Villain's Second Heart: Trapped in A Fantasy Novel (BL)-Chapter 108: The Farm

They arrived at the farm after another hour of walking - the place where supposedly the famine first started.

It looked like it could have been someone’s home only a few weeks ago. Plentiful plants waited unharvested on the vine, only just beginning to rot. Laundry left out to dry had scattered across the lawn, and the sound of a running stream - one beginning to dry up - left a faint, trickling ghost in Ezra’s ears.

Rav closed his eyes and walked into the decaying field. "Hm." He was thinking. Pondering. Ezra wondered - could he sense something with his magic?

As they walked through the property, Ezra felt it - a subtle shift in the air. Like they weren’t alone. He glanced at Oberyn, but the Nephilim seemed oblivious, focused on the farmhouse ahead.

He curled his arms around his torso, looking at the house with disdain. Ezra could tell he was uncomfortable - fearful, even.

"I’ll take a look inside the house," Ezra offered. Rav nodded and shooed him along.

The front door was unlocked. It swung open easily, slamming against the wall as the wind carried it. Ezra shut it behind him to block the gusts, then stood in the foyer of someone’s abandoned home. His hand lightly traced the wall where the doorknob had slammed through. There was a hole there. This wasn’t the first time that door had done damage.

He stepped over a small towel into the living room. Toys for a small child lay strewn across the floor. A knitting station sat in the corner, complete with a rocking chair. It all felt terrifyingly... normal. Not like something out of a horror novel. More like a home invasion.

He passed through the dining room, eyeing the trinket display in a glass cabinet. One caught his attention. Among the fine dinnerware sat a small wooden object wrapped in vines—almost like a doll, albeit with a big head. Staring at it sent a chill through him. There was no way it had anything to do with the famine...right?

[I sense magic from that thing. Best stay clear.]

"Right," Ezra replied.

Though the voice of Alcor came and went so suddenly, Ezra was surprised to find he was beginning to grow comfortable with it.

He and Alcor were really becoming a team.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, he heard a thunk upstairs. His breath caught in his throat, and he froze. Was there something else in the house?

He swept through the rest of the first floor quickly - nothing else of note - and cautiously placed a foot on the first step. It creaked loudly. So much for the element of surprise. Each step creaked louder than the last. He figured even a dead body in the basement would be roused by his stomping.

At the top of the stairs, he exhaled sharply. He’d been holding his breath the entire way up. He listened. Nothing. Was it just his imagination?

He turned down the left hallway first - only one door. Inside was the primary bedroom. It looked perfectly clean and maintained... except the bed. The sheets were rumpled and spotted with blood.

What in the world...

He moved to the other side of the hallway. A bathroom. Just a bathroom. Then a bedroom. Another bedroom. One door left.

He eyed it with suspicion. If anything was up here, it had to be in there. He didn’t bother with his spear - too cramped in the hallway. He’d have to fight some other way.

He threw the door open, adrenaline pumping.

Nothing.

Maybe it was all in his head.

Ezra headed downstairs, confident he’d searched the whole house - these two floors, anyway. As he stepped down onto the first floor, he spotted Oberyn peering into the basement.

"Empty down there," Oberyn said with a shrug. "You find anything?"

"I thought I heard something. Might’ve been my imagination."

Oberyn narrowed his eyes but said nothing. Ezra cast one more glance toward the dining room before they stepped outside. That doll still gave him the creeps. The dread clung to him.

As they walked back across the farm field, they stuck close together, finding comfort in each other even as they explored the eerie, silent farm.

They met Rav outside, who looked to be finished with whatever he’d been doing.

"I can fix it," Rav said confidently.

Both Ezra and Oberyn stared, dumbfounded.

"You figured it out already?" Oberyn beamed. "That’s incredible, Master Rav!"

Rav smirked. "Well, no, I haven’t figured it out. But! It’s definitely a magical curse, and I can read the output levels. Whoever cast this spell is a weakling compared to me! Might be a tough match for you two, though."

"Is any of that... real? Or are you just saying things again?" Oberyn asked, skeptical.

Rav clacked open his fan and covered his mouth with it. "Mostly real."

Bree landed behind him just as he started unpacking his theory.

"Picture this place as a point on a web," Rav mused. "I can sense energy in other places like this. But for a web to be made, there must be a spinner. It’s...north. Northwest. And high."

He looked toward the distant mountains, freshly dusted with snow.

"The caster’s up there, somewhere. I’m certain."

Bree stared at the spot he pointed to. "My family lives on that mountain."

"Don’t I know it..." he stammered, thinking of Bree’s father and brother.

Rav spat on the ground and cracked his knuckles. "Would you three mind deeply if I left you behind for now? I’m going to track this magic, and I can do it much faster alone."

He flipped once, landing on a summoned cloud.

Bree looked over at him. "If you mean to ask me to look after the boys, then fine. I’ll escort them to my tribe. But do be in touch."

"Mmm. If I need anything, I’ll use that pop pop pop spell. You know the one." He winked. "That’ll be my signal!"

And with that, his cloud burst with a gust of wind, and he shot into the sky. Ezra could no longer see him. The fact that Rav had walked here with them when he could move that fast was humbling.

Bree put her wingtips on her hips as she watched Rav soar off. "Can you two keep a secret?"