Villain's Second Heart: Trapped in A Fantasy Novel (BL)-Chapter 71: To Hunt A Magician

"Alright, come along, Ezra. I need to take a shower, I stink."

He grabbed Ezra by the waist and pulled him outside, toward his waiting cloud.

"Rav - wait!" Ezra wailed, trying to fight back. But against Rav’s incredible strength, he had little recourse.

"I wanted to ask you about the Magician of Thorns!" he cried as Rav threw him onto the cloud.

Deek peered out from the doorway, curious. She, too, wanted to know more about the situation. After all, she’d been the one to bring it up to Ezra in the first place.

"Magician of Thorns?" Rav chuckled. "Now, why in the hell would you want to know more about that woman? Steer clear, Ezra. Isn’t bedding one Magician enough for you?"

"That’s not what I want!" Ezra shouted as he got to his knees on the cloud. Rav hopped on next to him, landing in a perched pose.

"She’s been hurting people, hasn’t she? Causing Torrents?"

"None of that sounds like a me problem," Rav said, rolling his eyes. "Listen, I have a deal with the King of Asteria. I don’t go prodding about in his business, and he doesn’t with mine. I’m on thin ice already harboring a fugitive Magician and a literal Harbinger, so if you don’t mind -"

"Please, Mr. Rav?" Deek called from the doorway. "Just a minute, we promise! She’s ruining the land my dad died trying to farm, and all I can do is watch. It sucks."

Rav shifted his body toward the open door. The fox Ferin’s eyes sparkled back at him as she attempted her best pleading face.

"You’ve learned well, Deek," Rav noted. "Your begging face is nearly as cute as mine. When you grow up, you’ll be the most feared Ferin of us all."

"Don’t I know it!" Deek said confidently. "I’ll be even stronger than you, Mr. Rav!"

He smiled. "I’d believe it. So, this is all coming from you, Deek? You want to know about the Magician of Thorns?"

"How come you’re so quick to agree when it’s her?" Ezra pouted.

"Because Deek is my precious student, and you are a lump of meat I inherited from a failed relationship. Now - Deek. Before I answer anything, you must promise me. You’re not trying to go after Thorny, are you?"

"Not alone..."

Rav’s sharp, piercing eyes landed on Ezra. "Not alone," he repeated, putting specific emphasis on the word.

"Ezra wants to battle a Magician, does he? That’s quite a step from Spriggan."

"Nobody’s fighting anyone," Ezra clarified. "I just want information, to see if it’s even possible."

"Very well," Rav acquiesed. "But you will BOTH owe me a favor. I can’t start doing charity work. People will start to talk! They’ll say - oh, that Cloud Sage. I heard he doesn’t even kill anyone. All he does is help people through their problems. Doesn’t sound very powerful, does it?"

Ezra and Deek didn’t reply - they just watched Rav expectantly.

"Fine, fine," Rav grimaced, waving his hand in a dismissive flourish. "Venae. That’s her name - the Magician of Thorns. Not the strongest, but no slouch - she’s a Magician, after all. She was pretty fresh but awakened her powers before I did - suppose she’s around 30, now. Age-wise. Oh. Level-wise, too. Most of Asteria’s Magicians fall in that 30-50 range. In other words - far too powerful for either of you, even teamed up."

"But Deek, me, and Oberyn..." Ezra mused.

"If you all get to at least level 20, then I will entertain even the thought," Rav said. "But that’d be a lot of effort, and I won’t make a point to bus you all around."

"Level 20? I can do it."

Ezra was confident - he’d already made it to 16, after all. Not bad work, considering he started from 10.

"Hear that, Deek?" Ezra called to her from his cloudy perch. "Level 20. Think you can do it?"

"I know I can!" she clenched her fists, fired up. "These low-level monsters are no big deal for me - I can kill ’em sleeping! You just watch, Mr. Rav, I’ll get it in no time flat!"

"We’ll make that your next mission as a Sage-in-Training, then," he decided. "Next time you climb the mountain, you’d better be level 20! Then, we can discuss your feud with the Magician of Thorns, hm?"

"You got it!"

Rav nodded. "Now, are we all settled? May I finally go home?"

"Thank you, Mr. Rav!"

"I’ll see you around, Deek!" Ezra said. As he did, Rav’s cloud began to lift off and spirit them away, back to their mountainpeak pagoda.

They arrived in minutes, Rav flying even faster than usual to return. As they did, he pitiously dropped Ezra off on the ground in midflight as he continued up to his domain on the higher floors.

Ezra landed face-down with a thud.

"Ugh...damn it, Rav..." he groaned as he pulled himself up from the floor. "How are you the nicest guy and the biggest jerk at the same time?"

The Ferin couldn’t hear - he was already up in his chambers.

Oberyn peeked up. He was sitting on one of the outdoor couches, legs crossed, with a book in his lap. He set it aside immediately when he saw Ezra and scrambled to his feet.

"You’re back already!" Oberyn laughed with delight. He had a mischievous look in his eyes that Ezra couldn’t discern.

Ezra brushed off his clothes, dirty from his fall and from the journey to Crandle Falls. In fact, he was a mess all over.

Oberyn tugged at Ezra’s collar. "You’re so dirty," he commented, looking him over from head to toe. "Did you go mudsliding or something?"

Ezra wrapped his hand around Oberyn’s, pulling him closer. "Basically," he laughed. "But I found a cute place. I’ll show you, sometime."

Their eyes locked, and Oberyn smirked again, devilish and mysterious.

"What’s gotten into you?" Ezra asked, raising an eyebrow. "You seem...different."

"Do I?" Oberyn blushed. "Well...I suppose there is a reason."

"What’s that?" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"Go shower up and change," Oberyn ordered. It was endearing to see - Oberyn always had a hot streak, but when he was alone with Ezra he was usually submissive. Today, he had a fire burning in him. "And then come meet me in our room. I have something I want to show you."