Chapter 16

It has officially been a month since the tournament. Rey has been traveling with Amiel ever since just like he used to before. Rey hasn't been himself since the tournament. He's stopped cultivating and has begun to accept his new life as a regular human.

"Rey, come on. You can't go on like this forever. There's going to be a point in your life when you're going to need your skills as a cultivator." Amiel told Rey. Amiel has been trying to encourage Rey to continue his cultivation but has had little success so far. "Amiel, I'm sorry but you know that I can't do that. You were there when it happened. Ever since then I haven't been able to." Rey told him softly.

Amiel couldn't help but look at Rey sadly. A month ago, Rey was a powerful cultivator who had amazing potential. Now he was a husk of what he once was. "Rey...you can't change what happened, you just have to move on." Amiel tried to reason with Rey on multiple occasions but Rey was quite possibly too far gone. "Amiel how can I move on from having my abilities stolen? I've lost every ounce of energy I once had and I can't even find any anymore." Rey yelled. Amiel couldn't help but look at Rey disheartened.

After witnessing his mother's gruesome death before his very own eyes, Rey was traumatized. His mind did the only thing it could to keep him sane, it created a fake scenario. In Reys mind his mother was still alive and Rey had just said goodbye to her for the time being. Rey firmly believed that he had been crippled and thats why he was with Amiel again. His mother had sent him with Amiel in hopes that Rey could cultivate again. But in doing so, it blocked his ability to cultivate and use his power. Rey was now a normal human being with hopes of being a cultivator some day.

Although Reys future looked grim, Amiel still had hope. Afterall, Amiel has seen Rey jump back from bad situations before. This was just one of those occasions where he took a little longer. Amiel has been patient with Rey so far, knowing that Rey was in a sensitive state. Reys mind was not where it needed to be.

Currently Amiel and Rey were in a religious town. Here the only ones who were cultivators were that of the church that resided in the center of town. Rey had visited there once on the recommendation of Amiel. Amiel had hoped that the priests there could help Rey move on and start cultivating again. Days went by but nothing changed for Rey. "Are you even trying to get your cultivation back?" Amiel asked. Rey let out a soft sigh, "Ofcourse I'm trying to get my cultivation back. How else am I supposed to protect my mother?"

Amiel has told Rey on multiple occasions the sad truth about his mother. Each time Rey denied it and passed it off as a joke. Rey didn't appreciate the 'jokes' that Amiel told and usually got mad at him for it.

Later that day Amiel and Rey were eating dinner with eachother. "So Amiel, whatever happened with your daughter? I think her name was Sarah if I'm not mistaken." Rey didn't know of the news that Sarah got married. Amiel didn't tall about her much and the last thing he said about her was that she was doing work. "Sarah has been married for a few months now. I thought I told you this already?" Amiel answered. "You've never told me this... Married? I don't see her getting married though, she's too much of a brute." Rey said which brought a look of dissatisfaction upon Amiels face. "Shut up Rey."

Amiel had been giving Rey money so that he could sleep in the tavern. Rey used to be able to afford it himself but he stopped being an adventurer when he lost his cultivation. Rey and Amiel had been adventurers for a short period but completed a few missions which gave them gold. To be an adventurer, all one needs to do is be a cultivator and register. This was fairly common knowledge. Rey was able to become an adventurer easily thanks to Amiel being a high ranked adventurer and recommending him.

While Rey slept, he dreamt of his mother. In his dream he and his mother were out on a walk outside the town walls. Rey was talking with his mother and holding her hands. "Mom, I'm going to become strong so I can protect you. Then you don't have to worry about anything!" Rey said. His mother smiled and thanked him. "You're already strong and I know someday you'll be the strongest!" She said. Rey smiled and kept walking with his mother for what seemed like miles. Rey got worried when the clouds got dark.

"I think it's about to rain maybe we should go back home." Rey told his mother. She said nothing and continued to walk with his hand intertwined with his mother's. She said nothing as they walked. Reys hand started to get wet but when he looked up he saw no rain. 'That's strange, it must be sprinkling then.' he thought to himself.

A little further along their walk it still hadn't started to rain but Reys hand kept getting wetter and heavier. Rey looked over at his hand to see what was on it and his eyes grew wide as he saw red liquid. "Is th-that bl-blood?" He asked out loud. His mother didn't answer and Rey looked up to see what was wrong. What he saw caused him to fall backwards. His mother had no head and was bleeding from the neck. Rey screamed at the top of his lungs. "Why didn't you protect me?" His mother's corpse said. It faced Rey and fell directly on top of him which forced Rey awake with a scream.

Reys heart was pounding so hard it felt as though it would burst through his chest. He calmed down when he heard a knock on his room door. "Excuse me Mr. Rey, is everything alright in there?" A lady asked through the door. Rey got up and opened the door. He apologized to the lady and told her that everything was fine. She smiled, bowed and then walked away, leaving Rey alone in his room. Rey closed the door and sat down, leaning his body against the door. 'It was just a dream. It was just a dream. It was just a dream.' Rey told himself repeatedly. Rey would remain telling himself this for the rest of the night, not going back to sleep the whole time.