THE RETURN OF THE HEALER

CHAPTER 3 — “THE AWAKENING CRACK”

Rain dripped from the silver-cloaked figure’s hood as he stepped into the courtyard. His boots splashed in shallow puddles, each step deliberate, predatory.

Ray instinctively moved back, but Lira seized his wrist and pulled him behind her. “Don’t engage,” she whispered. “Not with him.”

Ray’s voice was barely a breath. “You… know who he is?”

Lira’s jaw tightened. “High Inquisitor Theron Arkwright.”

Ray froze. Celene’s uncle. A man known for hunting mages whose power “threatened public order.”

A man who never failed to bring his targets back, either bound or bloodied. Theron’s pale eyes swept over Ray with calculated coldness.

“So,” he said, “the rumors were true. The useless groom dares imitate a healer.”

Ray swallowed hard. “I didn’t imitate anything. I just tried to save a man”

“And performed a miracle far beyond your station.” Theron’s lips curled. “Your presumption is noted.”

Lira stepped in front of Ray. “Leave him alone, Theron. He healed someone. That’s not a crime.”

Theron’s gaze snapped to her. “You again. The little slum rat who meddles in noble affairs.”

Lira didn’t flinch, but Ray felt her grip tighten. Theron twirled the glowing restraint sigil between his fingers. “Don’t struggle, Ray. This seal will suppress whatever anomaly is leaking from your body.”

Ray’s pulse hammered. “Anomaly?”

“A sickness,” Theron said calmly. “One that makes you dangerous.”

Ray felt a spark of anger flare. “Is that why your family sealed me when I was a child?”

Theron’s eyes narrowed the slightest bit, surprise flickering for half a second before disappearing. “So,” he murmured, “someone’s been talking.”

Lira stepped forward. “He deserves to know the truth.”

“No,” Theron replied. “He deserves control.”

He flicked his wrist. The sigil flared. Ray staggered back as the symbol pulsed with oppressive force, like invisible chains reaching toward him.

“Ray,” Lira whispered, “listen to me, don’t let it touch you. If it binds to your core, you won’t break free again.”

“I’m not trying to!” Ray snapped, panic rising.

Theron advanced. “Stop embarrassing yourself and submit.”

Ray clenched his fists. “I’ve been submitting my whole life!”

Theron’s expression hardened. “And yet you still caused trouble.”

“I healed a man”

“You disobeyed your place.”

Ray’s breath shook. “My place? I don’t even know what my place is!”

Lira hissed, “Ray, move!”

But the sigil surged forward, spiraling toward him like a glowing rope. Ray dodged, barely. The sigil smashed into the stone, burning a perfect hole through it. Ray stared. “It… destroys?”

“It restrains,” Theron corrected. “Violently, if necessary.”

Ray’s stomach dropped. “You were going to use that on me?!”

Theron lifted a brow. “You’re reacting oddly. Why? Does something in you fear suppression?”

Ray took another step back, straight into the broken statue behind him. Theron smiled thinly. “Good. Fear makes sealing easier.”

Lira shouted, “Ray! Don’t let him corner you”

“I know!” Ray yelled back, trying to scramble aside.

But the sigil leapt again. Ray flinched, And something inside him cracked. A whisper, A flash of light, A burning pain in his chest.

Ray gasped and collapsed to one knee. Lira spun around. “Ray?!”

Theron’s eyes sharpened with interest. “Oh? Is the seal unraveling?”

Ray pressed a trembling hand to his chest. Heat pulsed beneath his ribs, too bright, too wild. His vision blurred as strange symbols flickered in his mind. “What’s… happening to me?”

Lira knelt beside him. “The seal is reacting to danger. It’s trying to break.”

“Break?” Ray choked out. “Won’t that… kill me?”

“Maybe,” she said bluntly. “So stay conscious!”

Theron shook his head in disappointment. “Pathetic. A creature like you was never meant to possess power.”

Ray’s fingers dug into the wet ground. “Stop calling me that.”

“Creature?” Theron smirked. “What else should I call an unstable experiment?”

Ray froze. “Experiment…?”

Theron exhaled impatiently. “Ignorance suits you. Don’t question it.”

“What did you do to me?” Ray demanded.

“You were sealed. For the kingdom’s safety.”

Lira spat, “Liar. You sealed him to keep his bloodline from ever challenging yours.”

Theron’s eyes flickered. “Enough.”

Lira yanked Ray to his feet. “Ray, focus on your heartbeat. Keep the crack from widening or”

She didn’t finish. The sigil lunged again. Ray instinctively threw up his hands, and the air rippled. A pulse of pale light exploded from him.

The sigil shattered in midair. Theron stumbled back, eyes widening. “Impossible.”

Ray stared at his own trembling hands. “I—I didn’t mean”

Lira whispered, “You broke a restraint sigil. Ray… those are designed to hold archmages.”

Ray felt sick. “What am I?”

Theron regained his composure, though Rey saw the flicker of unease he tried to hide. “So,” Theron murmured, “the Healer’s curse is surfacing.”

Ray flinched. “Healer’s… curse?”

Lira shot him a warning look, but it was too late. Theron continued, smirking, “The Celestial Healer line always fails in the end. The more they use their power, the more their bodies collapse.”

Ray’s heart dropped. “What?”

Theron rolled his shoulders, summoning mana to his hands. “The more you awaken, the faster you die.”

Ray’s mind spun. “No. No, that’s”

“Truth,” Theron said. “Sealing you was mercy.”

Ray felt the world tilt. Lira shouted, “Ray, don’t listen”

But Ray’s voice trembled. “I’m dying…?”

Theron raised his hand. “Sooner than you think.”

Ray’s fear spiked, and his chest burned again. Pain shot through him. Lira grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her.

“Ray. Listen to me. You are not dying. You are awakening. Your body is fighting the seal, that’s all.”

“Then why does it hurt so much?” he whispered

“Because you’re remembering what was stolen.”

Theron lunged forward. “Enough stalling.”

Ray tried to run, but the pain crippled him. The courtyard blurred. Rain pounded harder. Lira jumped between Ray and the Inquisitor, raising her arms. Theron snarled, “Move or die.”

Lira didn’t move. “You’ve already done enough to him.”

Theron snapped his fingers, A whip of crackling mana lashed toward her. Ray didn’t think. He reacted. He grabbed Lira and pulled her behind him, and the whip struck his chest.

Ray cried out, but instead of tearing flesh, The energy dissolved. Theron staggered back. “That… shouldn’t be possible.”

Ray panted, “Neither should any of this!”

Lira stared at Ray, voice trembling. “You absorbed it.”

Ray blinked. “Absorbed?”

“The spell,” she breathed. “You, Ray, that wasn’t defense magic. You nullified it.”

Ray’s mind spun. Theron’s lips curled in fury. “So the seal wasn’t strong enough after all.”

He reached into his cloak. Ray grabbed Lira’s hand. “We have to go.”

She nodded. “I have a route.”

Theron hissed, “You won’t escape.”

Ray shot back, “Watch us.”

Lira dragged him toward a collapsed wall, and they sprinted into the ruins as Theron shouted for reinforcements.

Ray’s breath tore through his throat. His chest throbbed. His mind ached. The seal inside him pulsed violently, too awake, too alive. Lira squeezed his hand. “Just a little farther, Ray”

“Lira” he choked, “I don’t think I can”

“Don’t say that!”

Rain hammered the stones around them. Boots pounded behind them. Mana crackled in the air. The world narrowed to pain and fear and the sound of Lira’s desperate breathing beside him. Ray stumbled. “Lira”

“Ray, stay with me!”

But the burning inside him erupted, A second crack tore through the seal. Ray collapsed with a hoarse cry. Lira dropped beside him. “Ray!”

Ray’s vision flickered, light, memories, a gentle voice he’d never heard but somehow knew “Ray… run…”

Ray gasped. “Who… who was that…?”

Lira froze. “You heard a voice?”

Ray looked up, terrified. “I think… I think I remembered something.”

Before Lira could respond, A dozen silver-cloaked figures stepped into the ruins, sigils glowing in their palms. The Arkwright hunting squad. Their leader raised a hand.

“Ray Graham,” he declared,

“by order of the Duke, your existence is hereby condemned.”

Ray’s heart thundered. The seal cracked deeper. And for the first time, His fear turned into something else. Anger.