Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

When Ethan arrived at home, he received quite a surprise. Although dinnertime had passed a long time ago, everyone was still waiting for him. He did not have dinner, but his parents, Hannah and Nuvian, were there waiting for him for some reason.

"I think it is a bit soon for my birthday party," Ethan said.

"You are late!" Hannah said, visibly angry. "That is not fair, Mom, Dad. When I was his age, you two never let me spend the whole weekend outside the home. Even if I had a good motive."

"I was working, you know," Ethan sighed. "I wasn't fooling around… Anyway, why are you guys waiting for me?"

"Your lecture can wait, I guess," Hannah said. "Sit. We need to test a few things."

Ethan frowned when he heard. Still, he obeyed. As soon as he did, Ethan saw Hannah concentrating while touching a weird on her right hand. A few moments later, some gloves appeared out of nowhere. Just like the ring, those gloves had some mana in them, so Ethan discovered what all was about.

"Try to use this and then touch my hand," Hannah said.

"I guess I should have explained that I already tested the limits of my power…" Ethan sighed. "Sorry for making you lose your time, Hannah. It doesn't matter if I am wearing something or if you are covering your body with some magic device. As long I have the intention of touching you, my power will activate."

"Are you sure?" Hannah asked. "Maybe you missed something… how about you try to touch someone without wishing for it."

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ "That is not possible, Hannah," Ethan laughed a little. "The very moment my brain recognizes the touch, my power will be activated."

"But that is…" Hannah said.

"The only circumstances this power won't be activated is if I touch something that is already dead and if I touch an illusion," Ethan explained. "For example, I can't drain the mana of undead because their mana isn't actually theirs. It belongs to the summoner. As for the illusions, the very moment I touch something and my power doesn't work, I will notice that it is an illusion."

"That is quite complex," Nuvian said with a serious expression on his face. "I heard of a few skills like that that comes with a high cost for use, but yours is… probably the worse of them all, which is quite weird given that you don't spend mana or anything when the power is activated."

"Tell me about it," Ethan said. "In the past, I almost went mad wondering why this power doesn't have a cost in mana. Every other skill I heard of had a cost, but it would be too easy to counter if this were to consume my mana, and I would just have to keep my mana empty at all times."

Despite hearing that, Hannah didn't give up. Over the last few weeks, she thought of many ways to counter that power. She even thought of several other ones while they were talking with Ethan. However, in the past, at some point, Ethan had come across all of them and failed to get any results.

The mood that had improved in the room when Ethan arrived suddenly worsened. For the first time, someone aside from Ethan learned how dreadful his powers were. So, it was only natural that they would feel that way. Even Evelyn, who was a woman who could smile even at the hardest of moments, had a hard time forcing herself to smile after imagining the problems Ethan faced while he was in another world. He couldn't touch anything aside from illusions and dead things. If he touches something alive, that very something, in a matter of seconds, would turn into a lifeless doll.

"Don't worry too much about it," Ethan said. "For the first time in my life, I am progressing quite a bit with my magic training, so I am confident that eventually, I will obtain full control over this power. Anyway, it has been a while since I took a shower, so you will have to excuse me."

Ethan didn't look in the slightest bothered by his power, but his family could only see him putting up a strong front in order not to worry them. They were wrong. Ethan had already reached a point where he couldn't let himself be dragged down by the circumstances. He would fight against it with all his might, and he would never let himself feel down by the things that may happen.

"Hannah," Michael said with a serious expression and while his arms were crossed. "Did you notice? Ethan talked about this power in detail and what he did to nullify it. Still, he didn't mention a single thing about his experiences on the other side."

"Yes…" Hannah looked away.

At first, he thought that his fear of touch was due to some traumatic events, but it was due to his powers. He talked pretty often about something that bothered him for quite a while. Do you think that he will talk about his experiences in the other world if we ask him?"

"I think he will," Hannah said. "However, I don't think that will be good for him. He didn't change for the worst. In fact, his good points only improved when he got other ones. However, we can't forget that it is too much of an improvement for a teenager to undergo in a single year."

"You think that, too, huh," Michael closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

"It is okay," Evelyn said. "Let's trust Ethan, and let's trust on the glow of his eyes that he shows us whenever he crosses that door."

"You sure can say that kind of thing pretty easily, Mom," Hannah forced a smile.

After that, everyone laughed a little, and the mood improved a little bit. Although Nuvian did the same, his mind was somewhere else. He had been destined to be a ruler since the day he was born, and as a ruler, he had seen his fair share of battles, even before the meeting, with Hannah. So, he couldn't help but worry about Ethan's head. In his experience, those who stayed in the war for too long, he had a hard time returning home, physically and mentally. Nuvian never saw someone so recover so fast from wars. Even some of his generals went mad on some occasions. Ethan's behavior was far too off the mark while he was at home… while he was his brother-in-law, Nuvian would have to keep an eye on him for another reason.