Chapter 9- Finally a Cure or is it a Curse?!

Anyway, the pool of crystal-clear water turned out to be holy water. Which means that to turn her eyes back to their true color all she needed to do was put a couple of drops of the water into her eyes. And calculating the amount of Aura she used to create the spell, it was an insignificant amount compared to the amount of Aura stored in her core. She would be able to keep the curse on herself with minimal effort on her part. Even if she hypothetically ran low on Aura, it seems like she does not even have to meditate to replenish her core with Aura particles from her surroundings. She just has to concentrate on the particles, and they automatically start to enter into her body and into her core. No matter what angle she looks at the solution of a curse, she can't find a con to placing a curse on herself.

After a little more thought, she finally decided the best course of action would be to place a curse on herself and curse her eyes to be as black as the night sky. So, she immediately started to gather a list of things she would need to put the curse on herself. Firstly, she would need to figure out a black object for the curse to have to mimic as her eye color. Then, she would need something from her body so that the curse will have both a sacrifice and a way to tie itself to her as a recipient, not just the castor. Then she would need a God or Goddess to pray to as witness to the ceremony.

She looked around the cave and as she got closer to the wall, she realized that the cavern wall was made of a type of obsidian-like stone. The whole of the cave was made with blackened rock, and she could use the rock as the color for the curse to mimic as her eye color. Grabbing a chunk of the rock, she returned to the pool and thought of the second part of the ceremony. She thought of what to use as a sacrifice that would work. She finally decided to use her blood as it would make a great sacrifice. It was a part of her body so it would tie her to the curse, and it would be a great way to test the healing capabilities of the holy water pool. Now the only thing she needed to figure out was which God or Goddess to call as witness to the ceremony. As a former atheist in her former life, this would be the hardest part of the ceremony to decide on. The people of this world seemed to believe in the Greek God and Goddesses. The citizens of the Empire generally pray to the God Ares, the God of War, or to Hephaestus, the God of Fire and Forgery. Legend has it that these Gods blessed the royal family with red hair and that is the reason that the royal family all inherit fiery red hair. This is another reason that the old Shinju was shunned, she happened to have dark red hair instead of the fiery red that was the norm in the royal family. When she was younger there was even a rumor that she was of a bloodline not even of the royal family, that she was not the Emperor's daughter but a product of her mother's affair.

Praying to these Gods seemed not to be the right choice. Firstly, they never seemed to answer any of the old Shinju's prayers. They in no way ever helped Shinju when she was alive and seemed to actually curse her with all of the bad luck she experienced. Secondly, she did not want to pray to them as she did not believe in their domains. She was a former assassin, not a warrior nor a forger. While she was thinking, a voice not her own whispered into her mind.

"Nemesis" said the silky voice…it was as if time stood still, and the outside world ceased to exist.

There was only silence and a feeling of calmness enveloped Shinju. She then took the obsidian stone, used it to cut her palm, and in a steady voice called out the name of Nemesis, The Goddess of Vengeance.