I didn’t sleep that night. I learned curses. I learned to convert my healing touch into a rotting grip. I learned to steal the very life energy I once gave freely.
I was never the Chosen One. I was the shadow that followed the light—Riol, the healer, the support mage, the friend who held the hero’s bag. The world called him Leon, the Brave. And Leon took everything. I didn’t sleep that night
I turned my back.
I ripped the Demon Lord’s darkness apart with my own borrowed shadows. I absorbed his final scream into my chest. When the dust cleared, I was the only one standing. The hero’s corpse lay to my left. The girls stared at me—no longer with pity, but with terror and awe. I learned to steal the very life energy I once gave freely