“A Natural Curse?” Zac muttered. He’d faced quite a few Hexmasters during the war and had experienced all kinds of attacks. Natural Curses sounded like sothing different. “Like Natural Formations?”
“Exactly. You could say it’s a rare subset of Natural Formations. Sothing in the environnt has given birth to a hex powerful enough to whisk away townspeople en masse.”
Zac frowned and scanned himself. He didn’t find anything, and [Spiritual Anchor] didn’t indicate anything was amiss. Then again, the utility skill he got from Brazla’s repository was reaching the end of its use. The kind of hidden threats Zac needed to worry about were usually beyond its ability to expose. He had greater faith in [Immutability of Eoz], which was designed to deal with this exact kind of threat.
The Hidden Node had remained silent throughout their visit. It wasn’t enough to allay Zac’s fears. “Are we in danger?”
“I’m not sure,” Esralda admitted. “Hexes are generally targeted; they don’t glom onto whoever cos within range. The more powerful they are, the more restrictions they will have.”
“Law of Balance,” Zac said in understanding.
“Exactly. The ones to look out for will need specific actions for their activation, like the steps of a ritual. Understanding the purpose of a curse is the best way to discover these rules. Unfortunately, Natural Curses don’t have any purpose, making them extrely unpredictable. It’s all random,” Esralda said helplessly. “The residue should hold so answers. Get ready. The temporal seal is about to fail.”
Zac gave Esralda an annoyed look as he took a step back.
“What’s with that stinky face? Even the mortals who’ve been exposed seem fine,” Esralda scoffed. “We’ll get marked at most, and we can always leave if that happens. We’re dealing with a mother-daughter configuration. Spatial Displacent requires quite a bit of energy. The missing bigshots would have noticed if they carried around such a powerful hex.”
Zac stopped in his tracks, feeling it made sense. His Danger Sense had also remained quiet, so he returned to the desk.
“Sounds like it’s a two-step process. First, the victim does sothing that leaves them marked by a hidden tracker. Then, the main curse displaces them when a second criterion is t,” Zac said as the purple goop began dissipating. “Weird. It’s not vaporizing, but I can’t sense any energy from its diss—huh?”
“Did you feel it, too?” Esralda said after the last of the residue had disappeared.
“Sothing tried to form a Karmic Bond with ,” Zac nodded, feeling the heat coming from his Duplicity Core. Thankfully, the Specialty Core had acted without Zac noticing the problem. Seeing how small the drain on his Cosmic Core was, the Karmic attack wasn’t very powerful. Then again, if it was any stronger, it would have been exposed long ago.
“No, that’s not quite it. The curse was looking for sothing,” Esralda said, rolling her eyes at Zac’s surprise. She could tell with such accuracy, and she had obviously blocked the attempt. “What? Avoiding curses and Karmic entanglent is a basic requirent for any enterprising thief. How am I supposed to unburden tombs of their funerary relics otherwise?”
“I get it,” Zac surrendered. “What was it looking for?”
“Beats . Maybe it’s a secondary trigger?” Esralda shrugged, explaining upon seeing Zac’s blank expression. “The residue can’t be the origin of the curse. If it were, how did the first disappearances occur? Besides, there are many victims who haven’t been exposed.”
“You’re saying the curse has two thods of picking targets? So get it directly from the source, and they transfer the curse onto their neighbors when they’re displaced. It sounds more like a like a virus than a curse.”
“The lines can get blurred,” Esralda agreed. “Except, the theory doesn’t match what we know. People would have noticed if the residue was connected to the increase in disappearances. If anything, it seems like the exposed are less likely to be taken as well. If the residue holds a secondary trigger, it’s still dormant. Maybe the curse hasn’t gathered enough power to activate them yet.”
“The curse is about to evolve? Wouldn’t soone have noticed? A dozen of Monarchs are looking for any and all clues. They would have investigated even the smallest change in the environnt,” Zac asked with a frown.
Natural Formations were manifestations of their environnt. As circumstances changed, so did they. They were also bottomless pits that kept absorbing energy to grow stronger. That was how the ancient formations that even Supremacies feared ca to be.
“I checked; the basin has been stable for centuries. We’re dealing with an old curse that grows through Sacrifice. The hex gains a little bit of power every ti its conditions are successfully fulfilled. Happen enough tis, it can relax an existing rule or introduce new ones. That should be why they are disappearing at an accelerating rate,” Esralda said, looking troubled. “Though the curse shouldn’t be this good at hiding its tracks. Soone might be hiding its tracks.”
Zac felt a headache coming on. “So we’re dealing with an evolving curse with a possible helper. If it swallows enough people, it might reach critical mass and activate the second trigger. Half the town would disappear if that happened.”
“It sounds about right,” Esralda nodded. “Most of the mory domains depict the days leading up to a disaster, by the looks of it.”
“So what are we supposed to do? Avoiding getting cursed and resolving its root cause are very different things. Do you know how?” Zac asked. The embarrassed silence was answer enough. “I’m not any better. Besides, we’ve scoured every inch of the domain already. I can’t think of anything suspicious, even if I’m ard with this new knowledge.”
The Natural Curse’s core should be hidden in an energy-rich region. The lake and volcano were the obvious suspects. The lake was massive, and only a small part was within the mory domain’s border. The sa was true for the Spiritual Fla mine. Terren’s Loom was intentionally placed on the least valuable side of the super volcano’s basin, leaving the best land for herbal fields, pill houses, and foundries.
“Sothing must have changed inside the city for the curse to start wreaking havoc in the first place,” Zac slowly said. “But if we lack affinity or Fate with the cause—"
“Why do you, of all people, limit yourself with such rigid thinking? So asly curse wants to stop from getting what I want? Fat chance. If we lack Fate, I'll simply steal it,” Esralda said, looking incredibly pleased with herself. “I said I had two pieces of good news. You never asked what the second was.”
Zac rolled his eyes. “Just spit it out.”
“A few minutes later, and you’ve already forgotten how to address your betters,” Esralda lanted and threw over a Recording Crystal. “Here, take a look yourself.”
Zac looked at the series of scenes recorded throughout the night’s investigation. He didn’t understand what Esralda was getting at until a hazy figure appeared in the distance. The important point wasn’t its appearance, but rather that it stood outside the mory domain’s border. Monts later, an odd-looking elental stepped into the past.
It looked like a floating donut made from swirling mist. The donut was spinning inward with such speed that it generated so form of domain in its hollow center. The recording failed to capture exactly what kind before it morphed into a humanoid shape. Zac guessed it would be difficult to interact with the trial in his original shape.
“Another trialtaker?” Zac muttered. “It’s not a Silzurian, like the possessed elentals we encountered outside the Imperial Graveyard. It should still be a subordinate of the Centigrade Pryer. I’ve never heard of sothing like this appearing in Zecia or Zurbor.”
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
“Exactly,” Esralda eagerly agreed. “It’s an enemy, so there’s no need to hold back. And this one is all business. He imdiately sensed sothing was wrong upon entering and began investigating. I only found out about the curse by shadowing that guy for a few hours.”
“He?”
“Gut feeling,” Esralda shrugged. “You’ll get a sense for it after encountering enough creatures.”
“I can’t wait,” Zac drily said. “Anyway, he’s that amazing? Even you couldn’t find the source of the spatial anomalies.”
“Don’t underestimate the talents of the world. Elentals are the opposite of you humans. Their Dao is narrow and decided by their race. In return, they’re exceedingly talented and gifted with unique innate abilities. This Elental is blessed by Flas, Space, and the Peak of Tapestry. It’s like he’s tailormade for Terren’s Loom.”
“How strong is he?” Zac asked.
Like Esralda said, an Elental’s path was partly decided by their birth. This one’s mix of affinities spelled trouble. The few Spatial Cultivators Zac had faced were extrely slippery, and the Peak of Tapestry indicated it practiced the Centigrade Pryer’s Dao of Formations. The Elental even had the Dao of Fire to add so raw power to his attack. Altogether, it was a well-rounded combination. Zac wasn’t sure he could pin the Elental down if he was too powerful, at least not without alerting the local Monarchs.
“I’d say he’s slightly below the level of your strongest subordinates, like your undead lass or the orc,” Esralda said.
Zac slowly nodded. “Then it’s not Kaltosa Lu, the Flabearer. It’s worth a shot.”
His previous run-in with trial-takers had taken a surprisingly dangerous turn, but it wasn’t like all the participants could call mysterious imperials to their aid. With a fully recovered bloodline and Esralda by his side, they should be safe.”
“I was starting to worry you’d lost your spirit of adventure,” Esralda grinned. “But you’ll have to stay here for now. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb as a Draugr. We can’t have you spooking the mark.”
“Can’t you hide my presence?”
“Sure, but how long? We’re dealing with a Spatial Cultivator. They’ll eventually notice sothing wrong if I bring you along. Just play with your figurines while I figure things out.”
“How do you plan on stealing his Fate? I can cut down the guy, but that won’t solve the curse,” Zac asked.
“Who knows? It’ll depend on what he unearths.”
Esralda left soon after to resu her tail. Zac didn’t hear from her for two days. He wasn’t completely shut off from the world. The hostess was only a Peak E-grade cultivator, and Zac could effortlessly listen in on her hushed discussions with her family. The situation was growing more dire by the day.
Zac also started sensing a vague threat, indicating sothing big was about to happen. Thankfully, Esralda returned at that point. “It’s ti to go!”
Esralda rushed the two to the city’s center, where a huge statue of an alchemy tripod was placed in the middle of a park. It wasn’t anything valuable, simply a landmark crafted from the volcanic rocks that made Terren’s Loom famous. Zac saw nothing out of the ordinary.
“Take another look,” the thief grinned and waved her hand. Space flickered, and Zac saw the Elental on the tripod’s opposite side. Dozens of runes floated around him, and hundreds more were fastened at various positions around the tripod.
“He’s after the statue?” Zac said with confusion.
“No. He’s after what’s inside a very cleverly hidden folded space,” Esralda said. “You could say he’s picking the lock right now.”
The two watched in silence as the Elental kept working. Finally, he took a step forward and vanished. The runes started fading the next mont, erasing his tracks.
“Shouldn’t we get going before it’s too late?” Zac asked.
“There’s no hurry,” Esralda said. “I can co and go as I please now that our friend has so kindly shared the location and combination. We’ll go in after he’s lowered his guard.”
Esralda made her move twenty minutes later. Sure enough, the tripod’s arrangent was helpless before Esralda after she’d seen the thod of entry. Zac didn’t have ti to guess what she’d do before they appeared inside a small cave covered in engravings. The Elental floated in the middle next to a small turquoise fla that gave off an extrely uncomfortable aura.
Runes were still floating around the elental, who’d returned to his donut shape. He didn’t notice he had company, perhaps because he had his hands full engraving new patterns on the ground.
“I think I get it,” Esralda said with disdain. “See the array? Only one corner is our friend’s handiwork.”
“The rest is the helper,” Zac nodded. “The engravings seem old too, a few decades old at least. Sothing must have happened.”
“The outer arrays contains the fla and hides the folded space from anyone who doesn’t et its criteria. It’s sothing related to flas and bloodlines. The Elental must have fulfilled at least one and used that to pinpoint this location,” Esralda said. “The problem is the incomplete array. It’s a nurturing array. This fla is a major node of the Natural Curse, and soone was intentionally growing it.”
“Is it an attack?”
“They’re probably just after the Spiritual Fla. Getting mixed up with a Natural Curse has already turned it into a one-of-a-kind. But it's only Early D-grade. Each breakthrough will make it exponentially more valuable and useful,” Esralda said. “Upgrading a Spiritual Fla in its natural habitat is a hundred tis easier than after you’ve taken it away. It might be impossible with such a complex fla.”
“How far would it advance from sacrificing the whole city?”
“It’s already showing signs of breaking through thanks to an incomplete array on the verge of collapse. With the array fixed? I wouldn’t be surprised if it directly stepped into Early C-grade after consuming the whole town,” Esralda said. “At the very least, it’ll beco a very powerful Peak D-grade Spiritual Fla.”
“Seems like the original owner beca the first sacrifice. That’s Karma for you,” Zac scoffed. “Now, this guy’s about to resu the project. Should we stop him?”
“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea,” Esralda hesitated. “The fla is in a very delicate state, and the nurturing array is actually keeping the curse in check. It’s hard to say what’ll happen if we start breaking things. We might bring forth the real thing if we act without a plan.”
Zac looked at Esralda with a raised brow. “And you’re not saying this because you want to snatch the upgraded fla? Rember, we’re here to create Fate with the rcurial Court, not line our pockets.”
“Who says we can’t do both?” Esralda countered.
“Sothing about Terren’s Loom is important to the Fifth Pillar, and we don’t know what. The sooner we stop the curse, the—” Zac stopped upon seeing Alea erge from his Heart Protector. “What are you doing out?”
Alea’s spiritual form gazed at the fire for a second before turning to Zac. ‘That fla… I think I can use it to reforge myself.’
“You’re ready to step into Middle D-grade?” Zac exclaid, initially excited.
It was undeniable that his weapons had fallen behind his cultivation. [Verun’s Bite] and [Love’s Bond] had beco Early D-grade Spirit Tools shortly after his breakthrough into Hegemony. Four years later, he was making his way through Late D-grade while his weapons remained mostly the sa.
Using Lower-grade weapons wouldn’t stop him from activating his skills, but they weren’t able to bring out the true might of his skills, either. In the sa vein, Zac rarely used their abilities since they were weaker than his skills. It was also becoming harder to rely on his infighting and Techniques to create openings. His chains and vines couldn’t keep up, which created dangerous openings.
The situation created a weak link in his combat style that forced Zac to deal with tricky opponents by spewing out a salvo of skills using [Force of the Void]. Doing so was no different than betting it all on red. If his target survived the ambush, Zac had little else to fall back on. He’d experienced it with Ivar Serpico, and so of these outsiders would have powerful protective asures like Sendor’s protective seal.
The thodical approach of breaking down the enemy with his stances before delivering a finishing blow was much more stable, and it kept his aces in case of ergency. With the extrely high quality of [Love’s Bond], Zac was confident he could shift back to his preferred style after Alea broke through.
Suspicion appeared in his eyes. Zac’s reckless, record-breaking blitz through Hegemony was to bla for the power gap, not Alea and Verun’s slower growth. Such pace wasn’t natural, and there would be ti for his weapons to catch up while he settled his foundations and prepared for Monarchy.
“You don’t have to take such risks just to keep up,” Zac said.
‘Of course I do. You’re taking risks all the ti to advance. How could I expect to stay by your side while playing it safe?’ Alea countered. ‘And don’t forget, I’m not the sa as the mutt. My foundations were already stable when I entered D-grade thanks to the [Divine Investiture Array]. My spirit has grown stronger through our constant battles, and I’ve gained my share of opportunities. I’m ready, provided I get so help.’
Zac slowly nodded, feeling it might be possible. Like Alea said, her foundations were rock-solid. And while Zac’s reserves of Late D-grade materials were pretty pathetic, he had ample stockpiles of Middle D-grade resources. “What can I do?”
‘I need you to refine a few materials. But I also need a blacksmith to assist, or the transformation will take years.’
“I’ll see what I can do,” Zac said as he turned to a curious Esralda.
“Those are the eyes of soone up to no good,” Esralda said with a knowing grin, and Zac quickly explained the situation. “Ha! This is the benefit of stealing Fate. And to think you were ready to leave. Engrave this in your heart, my bumbling protégé. Keep listening to the Great Esralda, and your pockets will never be empty.”
“When have I ever doubted you?” Zac said with a smile. “How are we looking for ti?”
“At least two days, no more than four,” Esralda estimated. “This little flaling won’t be able to deal with a Late D-grade Spiritual Fla. Seeing how it’s connected to such a powerful curse, even Middle D-grade is pushing it.”
“That’s perfect. Now, I just need to figure out how to hire a Blacksmith and bring him here. The good ones are kept under the protection of Monarchs.”
Esralda’s grin widened. “Actually, not all of them. I know just the guy.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)