THE CURSE OF A BLESSING

The enchanting blue elegance of the azure sky forced the defiant clouds out of the way Slejj recognized the sky's beauty as it extended from east to west with no sense of purpose, occasionally he returned to sharpen Alicia's blade, or rather his sword that Alicia carried with her. He hadn't carried one of the four Nephilim swords in quite some time. He still had his own, but after fleeing North Angus, he had never touched it.

After a long night, Alicia regained consciousness. Lisa was snoring like a little squirrel and choking on her blanket when she awoke. Alicia made an effort to reawaken her senses. She was ensconced inside one of the tents. She climbed out of it and got a better view of the area they were camping in from the outside.

'Wait, what happened to me?' she asked herself. 'Did they put anything in my system?'

She looked around, spotting Slejj sitting on a boulder at the edge of the track, sharpening her blade. Daito stood shirtless beside a washbowl, looking into it as though it were a dark abyss, to her right.

'Is it really appropriate to be shirtless in this weather?' She rhetorically asked herself.

she tried to crawl over to Daito, but she was afraid that his enchanting magic would affect her again; she was already sensing the uncomfortable sensation that had taken over her earlier; maybe it only took place because she was closer to him. She made the decision to keep her distance at that point.

'All right, it's Slejj!'

She moved towards him, whispering to herself.

"Oh, my goodness, take a look at that! The little princess eventually made the decision to awaken. Why did it take you too long? Are you having a rough time applying your makeup?"

One way to irritate others was to be impolite in the morning. And it seemed to be working.

"What are you doing with my sword, you old pig? Return it! I saw you crack it the day before yesterday."

"Coming from a beautiful voice like yours, those are some tough words! You should know that this sword can do more than just cut things. If you stick around long enough, I might just show you."

"You pervert, I knew it! That's probably why you drugged me the other day! So, what exactly did you do to me..."

"Relax, I'm just interested in polished ladies. You and other obnoxious brats with untamed mouths are a pain. Furthermore, My heart belongs to someone else little girl," he said as he raised his arm to show off his wedding ring. I wouldn't even dream about it."

"Enough with the chit chat, you are coming with me you traitor!"

"Enough chit-chat, you traitor, you're coming with me!"

Slejj yawned loudly for a long time. He closed his eyes for a moment to reclaim all of the air he had lost, then returned the sword to Alicia.

"The sword was one of my prized possessions, so take proper care of it. It belonged to one of my closest friends. I never expected him to hand it over to someone like you."

"Don't act sad or something! You are well aware that you are the one who caused my father's demise, and you will be held accountable..."

Slejj sprang to his feet and charged straight at Alicia. With his monstrous muscles, he made a huge fist and ignored the sword pointing at his chest. He moved in as if begging to be impaled by it.

Alicia was taken aback by his sheer ignorance to the blade, and she wondered what had gotten into him; was it what she said?

"Little girl, if you blame me for his death one more time, I swear I'll knock your teeth out one by one!" "It sickens me that the whole Kingdom hasn't found out the truth yet! The truth of what actually happened! Even the wisest of us can't see what's right in front of us!"

"If it is the truth you want us to have, then surrender yourself and help us get it,"

"You don't get it... I'm never going back."

"It was obvious to me. You're afraid of facing your sins and paying the price for what you've done! You are a traitor."

Slejj leaned back in his chair and burst out laughing, as if Alicia had said a terrible joke and he was teasing her. It lasted about as long as uncomfortable laughs could last. He went on to say,

"You call me a liar all the time, but do you really know what I did, or were you just told?"

The skepticism that began to crawl into her mind grew exponentially, mocking her convictions and what she had grown up believing. In the one hand, she was persuading herself that Slejj was nothing more than a traitor who was lying to her, but she still felt she needed to know his side of the story. She could tell which side was going to win.

Slejj undid the buttons on his shirt, revealing a deep scar on his chest. A network of black veins sprouted from the mutation at the middle of the dark scar, stretching through his whole chest. The veins weren't normal; they were totally dark, and they swallowed any ray of light that came close to them, making it seem as though there was none there at all.

"That's what you get for doing a bargain with the devil!"

"What is that?" asked Alicia, intrigued.

Slejj buttoned his top once more.

"That is what holds the vurhans out, at least in North Angus. I made a shady deal...with a deity."

"You mean a god?"

"There is a distinction between a god and a deity. Who would be so naive as to pray to those worthless brats when all they do is neglect us? During the Vurhanil War, I tried naming them Arekin and Arni. They didn't even bother to listen to us. I'm not sure if it was a positive or bad thing that we called them, but something must have heard us. It was heinous. It had no face, none, and just conscience, unlike a god. It was just a cloud-like black mass swirling about. It began devouring the vurhans' souls, or whatever it was that was holding them alive."

Alicia didn't even notice she'd let go of her sword; all she could think about was deciphering Slejj's face to see if he was telling the truth or not. Slejj didn't seem to mind; he continued to tell her the narrative.

"The king's restricted spell was cast, and all of the vurhans in North Angus died, leaving the deity with little to consume, so it began chasing people's souls. That's why I jumped in and gave it a once-in-a-lifetime contract. I decided to sell my body to it. I told it that if it takes over my body, I would assist it in feeding on the vurhans left in the Independent states in exchange for it never attacking another human. It agreed to the terms and took up residence within my body; it's still inside me as we talk, and I can feel it every day."

He looked down at his arm, disgusted at the veins that had tainted it.

"What about North Angus?"

Alicia asked him.

He was questioned by Alicia.

"Vurhans no longer live in that place, but if I return there, it would clearly break its terms and continue attacking people, which I cannot have. That is why I fled and will not return until all of the vurhans beyond these walls have died. That completes my sad heroic tale!"

Alicia was speechless; the story was too unbelievable for her to believe, yet she did.

"You may trust me or not, child, but the truth is the truth. You won't have to worry about me once I've eliminated all the vurhans; I'll turn myself in."

Alicia was pitiful in Slejj's case, selling his body to an unseen malevolent life and leaving his own home in order to save and defend the people who hate him with all their might.

People who made great sacrifices for the common good were viewed unfairly by the world. The world rewarded his motives by stripping him of the one thing that made him human, his spirit, for what the first king ever did was to preserve mankind, both the Gifted and the normals. Slejj was now in the same condition, except his body wasn't really his own at the time.

"Everyone is terrified of losing something, whether it's the one thing that distinguishes them from the vurhans or some other species. My humanity was what I was terrified of losing, and it's likely the same thing the kid is afraid of losing as well."

Slejj said, shaking his head in the direction of Daito.

Alicia returned her attention to Daito as she stepped towards them.

The thin waves of fog swaying in front of him were being moved away by his muscular frame. He rubbed his hand over his bouncy hair, stroking back the sun-kissed hair, which was drenched with icy water. As he got closer and closer to them, it flapped and fluttered above his ears. A thin stream of water poured down his face and down his defined chest, originating in his hair. The tents behind him were obscured by his broad-shouldered torso.

As he approached, Alicia could see his towering height as he passed her by, leaving nothing but blurred fog and a faint whiff of his natural perfume in his wake.

There it was again, the unpleasant feeling Alicia got when she was next to him; his'magic' must have been greater because Alicia couldn't talk.

Infections of red blemishes sprouted under Alicia's eyes as a result. Her stomach began to ache with an unidentified sensation, as if something was tickling her from inside. Her body temperature rose immediately in the icy field at dawn, and she could scarcely feel the sub-zero wind flooding the valley. Daito's profile was blurred by the shadows of the night. But she had figured out how to read his face now. Most people his age had acne-prone skin, but he had a smooth complexion, perhaps too smooth; was it the tea?

It was like a virgin face, with no folds or lines apparent because it had never been blurred by countless gestures. His cerulean eyes were a sight to see, as if they were sparkling.

"The key," said Daito, stretching out his hand towards Slejj.

He told Slejj in his usual sluggish speech.

"Let me have a look..."

Daito turned around, going for the tents, and Slejj gave him a rusted key, which he handed over to him. As he walked by, he muttered a 'good morning' to Alicia in a lazier accent, a tone so indistinct it sounded like a yawn.

"Oh, um...hello,"

Alicia replied. Her voice was fractured again, and she had no idea what was wrong. It was a squeak with a loud note. Her hand just jumped into the air and began doing whatever it wanted, scratching her hair for no particular reason.

"And you prick, don't touch my things!"

With a fist in the air, Slejj screamed at him.

"Whatever, old guy,"

With his back turned to them, he replied. When Alicia turned around and screamed nervously, he was still a distance away from them.

"HAPPY MORNING AS WELL?"

''what the heck was that?'

She told herself, her hand poised to crash into her face.

"I'd probably do the same thing he did if I were in his shoes,"

Slejj said something out of nowhere, and Alicia had almost forgotten they were talking.

"Is he really Hashi's son, Daito?"

With that question, Alicia replied.

"In the flesh, indeed, but I believe he resents it."

"What? I mean, he's the dark bender, the world's most strong gifted! If I were him, I wouldn't just walk away and leave the Independent states like that; he's frail in my mind!"

Alicia remarked, her mouth curled in disgust and her eyes rolling as she tucked her hands into her robe.

Slejj took a while to respond.

"Don't you have a family? And I don't just mean family; I'm talking about someone dear to you. Take your mother as an example."

"I'm not sure where you're going with this..."

"...your mother, of course! Isn't it fair that you've basically lived with her for the entirety of your life? Unbreakable is the relationship you share with her. And then someone walks up to you and tells you that a deity you've never met or believed in has asked you to take a dagger and kill your mother for the sake of the Kingdom you don't care about, can you do it?"

Alicia bit her lower lip and swallowed bitterly. She had never considered the dark bender role in that light. Drom was the only one Daito ever spoke to at Noble school, she recalled. Their bond had to mean a lot more to them than she realized. Daito was carrying a heavy weight on his shoulders, having killed his only friend for what, some godforsaken kingdom?

"We all have options, kid; some of us actually chose what is best for ourselves to preserve our humanity."

Alicia returned her attention to Daito, who stood by the tent, unlocking a chest they'd carried with them, which most likely contained their belongings. He took a book from the chest and closed it. Lisa crept out of the shelter, softly wiping her eyes with her fists, and he hopped onto Daito's back, laughing hysterically. She was a fantastic kid who exuded joy and energy at all times. She tightened a lock with her stick-figure arms, nearly strangling Daito, then grinned and pointed away, yelling, "Let's go horsey!"

Daito sighed, shutting his eyes and forming a charming grin with his pinkish slash carmine lips. A surge of the uneasy sensation that had began to wash through Alicia's body rushed through her body once more, this time more profoundly because it was the first time she had seen him smile. It raced through her entire body and pooled in her heart, giving her the sensation of being light on her feet.

Was this the gift of the dark bender, the most powerful source of magic in life, or something else entirely? Is go magic?

"All right, just one more round and we're done."

"Let's go! Horseys are mute!"

Daito continued to race through the tents. Lisa was giddy with excitement, waving her hands in the air every now and then.

"Alright, it seems that this isn't the village where the vurhan was murdering people...now our trail has gone frozen,"

Slejj swore under his breath, swearing.

"Wait, you're talking about a village where a vurhan has been targeting people at night? I'm familiar with that village. On my way to Kiyani, I rode by it."

"Really," he said, his eyes brightening with anticipation.

"Can you tell me where it is?"

"I will take you there; it's due east."

"That's fantastic news. Lora has gone east, so we can meet up!"

who's Lora?!?