Villain's Second Heart: Trapped in A Fantasy Novel (BL)-Chapter 28: Reunited

"Ezra."

The human snapped back to his senses, looking away from his inventory menu. He'd have to take a deep dive into all the goodies Alcor left him later, but he was already excited. He had a small but mighty stash of rare armor and weapons.

He looked back to the room, where Rav was staring back at him. "He's awake."

Ezra's heart skipped a beat and he walked into the room. As he did, Oberyn turned his head to him slowly.

"Ezra..." he mumbled.

"Oberyn!" he exclaimed excitedly. He leaned next to the bed and took Oberyn's hand in his own. "What happened? What are you doing here?"

The Nephilim didn't pull his hand away - Ezra's touch was comforting.

"Who's this?" he said, eyeing Rav first. "Is he the - ugh."

Oberyn winced in pain. His injuries had been treated by Rav's magic, but infernal pain yet coursed through every inch of the Nephilim's body.

"Oh. This is the Sage of the Clouds, Rav. He and I...kinda live together now."

"Live together...?" Oberyn asked, a slight apprehension apparent in his voice. Even through the pain, he seemed to focus with curious intent on that.

"None of that's important right now," Ezra said, trying to change the topic. "I want to know what happened. Please, Oberyn. Tell me."

The Nephilim took a heavy sigh. His eyes found Ezra's through the mire of pain, and he refused to look away once they beheld each other.

"I...might have done something a little impulsive," he murmured, laughing for a moment before wincing in pain.

"Try not to move too much," Rav advised, his tail swaying back and forth nervously. "Your wounds are barely sealed. I'm no healer, it's a pretty slap-job I did on you, but if you lay there and don't cause any trouble, you should make a full recovery."

"Thanks, Great Sage."

"Oh, please. Any friend of Ezra's is a friend of mine - or at least that's what I think I am supposed to say. Call me Rav."

Oberyn nodded slowly. "I returned to Asteria, like I planned. The Curse Master, Demetrius..."

He paused, closing his eyes. He looked like he was about to cry.

"He did this to you?" Ezra asked, his voice stilted and tense. Ezra wanted to know who to get revenge on.

"No, not him."

Oberyn took another shallow breath. He had no broken bones, but a few bruised ribs. "He...invited me to dinner. But after, he...wanted more..."

Ezra narrowed his eyes. Oberyn...went on a date? With some guy named Demetrius?

Even though he was concerned for Oberyn, he couldn't help but feel jealous. Did Oberyn really have to leave in such a hurry, just to get off to a date with another man?

Oberyn glanced past Ezra, not wanting to look into his eyes. He was embarrassed.

"So you went on a date."

"It's...not like that," Oberyn said. "He forced me to. And he was going to force me to do more..."

Ezra shifted from jealous to enraged on a dime. He started to squeeze Oberyn's hand, not even realizing what he was doing.

"Don't be mad," Oberyn exhaled. "I didn't let him. I...got a little too angry, myself. And I..."

Rav and Ezra both waited with baited breath.

"I sort of...used my Explosion Magic on him...and blew him to smithereens."

"Whoa!" Rav yelped, covering his face. "You killed the Curse Master? Nice. I hated that guy."

Ezra couldn't believe it. Oberyn didn't seem like a killer to him - but even as he thought it, he realized how silly it seemed. The first interaction he had with Oberyn was a life-or-death moment where Oberyn was all too willing to cut his throat.

Rav blinked his eyes slowly. "Impressive as it is, I can't help but notice you still have a curse mark on you. That's going to be a problem, my friend."

Oberyn leaned his head back flat on the pillow, looking straight up at the ceiling.

"I know. I'm going to die. The curse is going to consume me, isn't it?"

Rav opened his mouth to say something, but quickly changed his mind. The catboy focused elsewhere, unsure of how to proceed.

"What do you mean?" Ezra asked. "There's got to be something we can do, isn't there?"

Oberyn fought back tears. He didn't want to appear weak - not in front of Ezra. Never in front of Ezra.

"It's impossible without an experienced Cursebreaker. None of them would so much as touch me after what I've done. I'm a fugitive. A criminal. If the curse doesn't kill me, Asteria's military will. There's no hope for me."

Ezra still clung onto Oberyn's hand with all his strength. "I don't accept that."

Oberyn laughed - faintly. "I knew you'd say that, Ezra. It's...you'll find it so stupid of me, Ezra. But once I killed Demetrius and fled Asteria, as I realized I had no future..."

The two exchanged a look that was beyond platonic, even if neither could admit it.

"...All I wanted was to see you."

Ezra's heart practically leapt from his chest - his human one, anyway. Words he wanted to hear for his whole life.

In his periphery, a System message appeared, visible only to him.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

[+10 FP - Fulfilled Oberyn's wish.]

"Oberyn," he said, ignoring the message for now. "I felt the same since the moment you left Deek and I, back at Cliff's house. I knew I had to see you again. Knew that something between us was unresolved, and that I would do anything, even if to have just one more conversation with you.

"I feel the same, Ezra. After all, you're my first friend, and..."

His voice trailed off, and he didn't finish his thought. His eyes lidded shut and his head fell to the side.

"Oberyn...? Oberyn!?"

"Relax, he's just sleeping," Rav said. "Whatever happened to him, he's been through a lot. Let's let him rest a while, hm?"

The two walked out of the room, leaving Oberyn alone - though Ezra didn't want to.

"I'll check on him again soon and reapply some magic. I didn't want to overwhelm him - with that curse mark, his mana is incredibly unstable."

"Unstable? What does that mean?"

Rav cleared his throat. "If I'm not careful - hells, if he has a flare-up of any kind - I'm afraid he'll turn into a Torrent. Ka-boom. No more Oberyn."