AA. 31 (Patreon)

After two hours of searching, Ester and Nil failed to find the Cursed One's hiding spot. However, they found several clues hinting at its size and shape and exchanged whatever information they had on the mysterious monsters.

“Cursed Ones are born when horrific acts are committed in places of power or regions especially rich in mana,” Ester said, holding her staff high. She illuminated the basement of a house ravaged by the beast. “I don’t see why one would live or be born here. It must be sabotage or an attack. The feckers to the east want it to kill us so they can take control.”

“Isn’t this town rich with mana and a place of power?” Nil raised an eyebrow. “Haven’t there been any disasters or horrific events here? Every place has a past.”

“Yes to the first. Of course not to the second.”

“But you have a mine of naturally occurring and growing mana gems under your feet. Don't accidents happen down there all the time? There is unstable magic, collapses, and mysterious deaths.”

“I mean, they do, but it takes a lot more than a collapse or a slip to birth a Cursed One.”

“I've faced one of these things before. Apparently, it was born when good people committed abhorrent acts out of desperation, and the local spirits turned on them. They melded together into something terrifying that feasted on people or turned them into horrific bat-like creatures.”

“Oh.” Ester froze mid-step.

“What do you mean, oh?”

“Something did happen a long ago. It's been almost a century. We didn’t have any Cursed Ones, though. The things never left the depths of the mines.”

“What things?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” The ancient mage sounded more scared than dismissive. “It can’t be it. Too much time has passed.”

“Cursed Energy and these things fester, don’t they?” Nil asked. “You need to tell me, Ester. For your granddaughters’ sake.”

“I was just a little girl trying to get an apprenticeship under the last Warder of the Land,” Ester’s voice quivered as she spoke, staring at the claw-marked floor. A rough triangle with a line through it sat at her feet. “There was a collapse deep in the mines. Forty good men and boys got trapped. Everyone chipped in with the rescue effort, but it was slow. A month of digging later, we got only nine out. They told us the rest died of suffocation or were crushed. Desperate for food, they had no choice but to eat the dead. Most believed them. Some didn't and left. My husband and his father were among the survivors.” Her volume got lower, and she wobbled. Nil helped Ester get to the basement stairs, and she took a seat. “A darkness haunted both men until the day they died. They never spoke of the incident again. My father-in-law took his own life less than a decade later. My husband never went into the mines again but rallied for better equipment and safety measures, eventually running and winning the mayoral election.

“Then the creatures came from the depths. Half-man-half-bat. They dragged miners where the mana was too thick for people to follow safely. We never heard from them again. My husband had their territory—the bit around the collapse—sealed. We don't dig around there anymore.”

“Are any of the survivors of either incident alive?” Nil asked. “Do you think it's possible that they killed their fellow miners over resources and then for food? I bet things got scary and desperate down there.”

“I always thought it a possibility but didn't want to say it.” Ester tapped her staff on the ground, and the gem grew brighter, almost blinding. “And no. None of them are around.” She fell silent for a moment. Then, the ancient woman’s brows furrowed. Nil could almost see the pieces of a puzzle coming together behind her eyes as the fear and sorrow faded. “All the houses and families that were attacked, they're descendants of the survivors.”

“The Cursed One is attacking the offspring of the ones that got away,” Nil finished the thought for her.

“Or ensuring the bloodlines of the people that turned on them don't get to continue,” Ester said. 

“We're looking in the wrong place. You and I should be scouring the home of the original victims.”

“Most of them lived in the old miner’s barracks. It's abandoned now. The guard looked. They found nothing there.”

“Well, they didn’t know what they were looking for,” Nil said. “We do.”

The old miner’s barracks sat in a far corner of the town against the mountain containing the aether gem mine. Guards stood around the mine entrance and eyed Nil as they passed. The trio watched him, and Ester climb the narrow stairs up the cliff side to the long abandoned longhouse halfway up. Dusk had fallen, and the hour of attack was swiftly approaching. So, he carried the old woman during the ascent. She was tiny and old and barely counted as a burden to his Iron Realm physique. 

The hunch proved correct. Nil sensed Cursed Energy as soon as they got to the top of the stairs. It seeped through the boarded windows and was especially thick around the front door. Ester’s nose twitched when they entered the building.

“You look like a dumb brute. But that head’s not empty, is it?”

“You sense something. too?”

Ester nodded. “The Cursed Energy is so thick here, even I can sense it. It was foolish of me not to come up here with the guards. But who in their right mind wants to climb all those feckin’ stairs.” Her eyes lit up with the same glow as her staff. “It's not just Cursed Energy, though. Ritual magic.” Ester froze. She frowned, scanning her surroundings. Then her eyes darted to the floor. “There is one going on now. Right below us.”

Since Ester lacked the power to tiptoe, Nil gave her a piggyback ride and channeled Absorb. They found the ajar basement door and slowly descended the two flights of stairs into the basement. A horrific sight awaited them.

Candles lit the room carved out of the mountain, illuminating the bloody remains of the Cursed One’s victims. They lay in a ritualistic circle around the center of the room. In the middle of the floor, surrounded by arcane symbols drawn with blood, lay a man and a woman locked in the throes of passion. 

Passion might not be the right word for it. They are going at it like animals.

It would’ve made for an erotic scene if not for the squirming sphere of flesh floating above them. Candles spluttered as blood rained from the mass. The pair having sex didn’t seem to care. In fact, they reveled in it.

Ester’s hold on Nil’s shoulder tightened.

“This can’t be,” Ester whispered. The lowered volume wouldn’t have mattered. The sex was so loud that Nil doubted anyone would’ve heard them.

“What is it?” Much to his surprise, the visage was drawn to the scene. It closely inspected the ritual circle and the couple. The cursed energy billowing from them and the flesh above especially intrigued her. 

Energy Instinct has progressed to Mortal 4!

“Daughter-in-law.” She pointed at the woman on her hands and knees. Then, her old, gnarled finger moved on to the man behind. He held her hips tightly as he moved, face locked in an animal snarl. The man’s eyes looked more beast than human. “Guard captain.”

It pleased Nil that Ester didn’t interrupt them to ask questions. She gestured for him to let her down before whispering alien worlds. A magic circle formed around her hand, and a sphere of pure arcane energy gathered. Nil had to turn off Energy Instinct because of how blinding the light became. When she released it, the energy shot forward and through the guard captain’s torso. There was no bang or explosion. There was only a soft sizzling sound as the magic disintegrated his chest. He released his partner and fell backward. Another sphere followed and did the same to the mass of flesh above. 

“No!” The woman screamed as the flesh screeched and ripped itself apart. Her eyes darted between it and the dead man before settling on Ester. “What did you just do?”

“What did I just do?” Ester rasped. Her voice is hoarse and tired. She struggled to stand and leaned heavily on her staff. “What have you been doing, girl? Are you daft? Are you mad?”

“I was taming the curse. I was ensuring it didn’t come after the girls! Feed it enough, and it won’t pursue its target. That’s what the grimoire said! Now, it was all for nothing!” She jumped from the magic circle and ran to a corner of the room. More symbols and several odd dolls hung from it. The woman’s panicked eyes darted between all the littered body parts and blood. They all left the floor and floated upwards to the now pulsating blob on the ceiling. “The girls are going to die. You’re all going to die!”

“The girls were never in trouble, you daft harlot.” Ester spat. The light atop her staff rippled. “The thing was only after descendants of the survivors. And yer fecking husband isn’t one!”

“What?” The woman momentarily ripped her eyes away from the mass of flesh. Long, wiry limbs had started to extend from it. “What are you saying?”

“I had an affair. That’s what I’m saying.” Another sphere of energy burst from Ester. It lanced towards the flesh but stopped a couple of feet short. The color changed from blue to bright gold. A metallic screech ripped through the room, and the flesh started to burn. Unfortunately, the cursed one didn’t stop forming. “It's on you now, Summoned.” Ester collapsed, her breathing fast and uneven. “I’ve done all I can.”

“Thank you.”

Nil had used the launchers in the training area to charge up Brutal Battery. He used Expend to close the distance and punched the mass. His fist sunk into the flesh. Nil heard bones break as thick blood splattered him. 

“Go for the core, you feckless idjit!” Ester wheezed.

“I know what I’m doing, you old bag,” Nil retorted. He used Expend’s dual function, releasing all the energy in his stores through the part of his body currently inside the Cursed One. It hurt. The creature’s insides were already boiling hot but, fortunately, not full of molten slag like the specimen from his first quest. Then, the burning from the energy release sunk in as the mass of flesh and solidifying limbs exploded. 

Expend has progressed to Mortal 7!

An eyeball-sized sphere floated in the center. It was much clearer and brighter than the last Cursed Core Nil encountered. The destroyed flesh and blood stitched itself together and moved like slugs back toward the heart.

Nil stopped the creature’s recovery by switching to Absorb before grabbing the sphere. It didn’t help; his skin and flesh still burned. Fortunately, he didn’t need Expend’s gifts to destroy the Cursed Core, which shattered when he smashed it against the ground. 

The mayor’s adulterous wife tried to make a run for it. Darts of blue magic shot toward Nil as she hopped over the still-wheezing Ester and ran up the stairs. The energy burned his tunic and torso but swiftly disintegrated, restoring Brutal battery to twenty–five percent. He leaped after the woman and tackled her, not caring about breaking any bones in the process.

“I don’t think you’re getting away with it that easy,” Nil said. She struggled, but his Iron Realm Might was enough to restrain her. 

“You don’t understand,” she cried. “I did this for my girls. I told the bitch of a warder, and my husband the girls were in danger. If we didn’t cleanse the town of the curse, they would die, but no one listened to me.”

“Explain it to a judge.” Nil paused. He didn’t know what judiciary system the locals utilized. “I don’t give a shit either way.”

Quest cleared!

You have gained 200 Schema Tokens.

You have gained 2 Schema Tokens.

The Cursed Pupae perished without meeting the prerequisite for its metamorphosis. No one of value perished! Oleg’s Watch is safe and the Control Worlds thank you for protecting their supply chain.

Your exemplary performance deserves a bonus. Please speak to your case worker to make a claim.