A little time ter after moods have calmed, Siril comes back out from the back with a bunch of food and drinks and tells Ray to sit down at the table with the Five Winged Angel.
Pharynx the Losta speaks up and asks, “So, Miss Ray, right? Could you tell us what is going on right now?”
Ray then gives them a rundown of what happened.
“So, what makes you think that he didn’t let himself get kidnapped?” Prudence asks.
“What do you mean?”
“His body is emitting the same stench as the cultist. Haven’t you thought about why that is the case?”
“I was assuming that he just copied Thoma’s smell with magic to lure him in.”
“Tsk You’re too naive. That smell on him is the smell emitted from mages using forbidden dark magic rituals. He probably just tried to get away after gathering intel on this guild.”
“Thoma wouldn’t do that!”
“And how do you know? You know him for how long? Two weeks? He’s most likely just been pying you this entire time.”
“That’s not true! I’m sure that he isn’t like that.”
“Then how do you expin the smell emitted from him?”
“You said it comes from dark magic, right? He does have a curse on him, maybe that’s where it comes from.”
The Losta then speaks up, “Oh? What kind of curse?”
“Oh please, Pharynx. Are you really entertaining this? Even if he is cursed, it still wouldn’t be enough to emit such a strong smell.”
“The mark is really big though! Even the guildmaster said so!”
“Oh yeah? How big is it? The size of his palm?”
“No, it spans over half his back.”
“What? Come on, you're exaggerating. There is no way it would be this big.”
“But it is! I have seen it myself and the guildmaster saw it too.”
A little incredulously they look at each other.
Mira the mage then pulls out a piece of paper as well as an ink pen.
“Do you remember what it looked like? If so, write it down, so we can see if we recognize it.”
“Yeah, sure. It’s actually not very complicated, it's just big.”
Ray then draws the symbol and the Five Winged Angel seem to get quite the serious look on their faces.
Thane asks, “Are you absolutely sure that you remember it correctly?”
“Yeah, it’s not a complicated symbol and I got a good look at it.”
“Provided it is a curse, it would make sense then that he’s giving off such a strong odor wouldn’t you agree Prudence?”
“That is IF it is a curse mark. It might just be a tattoo to show his devotion.”
“Don’t you think the guildmaster would know the difference between a tattoo and a curse mark?” Chastity asks.
“I suppose she should…”
Pharynx then pushes his pte of fried squid towards Ray. “We’ll be able to figure it out when they return. Until then, why don’t you eat a little. This must be tough for you as well.”
“Sure, thank you.”
“And have some of my steak as well. They coat it in a great tasting sauce!”
Mira speaks up, “Come on Thane, you can’t just give her steak, it won’t fit well with the sea food. Here have some of my Takoyaki instead.”
“That’s just giving her more squid on top of the squid she’s already eating!”
“So? Still better than meat!”
Chastity then slides over her pte, “You can have my burger too. Siril makes them herself and she always puts extra cheese on mine.”
“Now that doesn’t fit either of the meals!” Both Mira and Thane yell in unison.
Prudence sms her hand on the table and yells, “Will you shut up already and just eat!”
A bit of time passes and the guildmaster walks past the veterans lounge to her office.
“Oh, good. I’m assuming Miss Ray has filled you in. You’re here at the perfect time, please come up to my Office.”
“Is Thoma okay!?”
“Yeah, he’s fine. They gave him a sleeping drug but he should wake up in an hour or so. It’s nothing serious.”
The guildmaster then puts him on her office table with his back showing to the Five Winged Angel.
“I’m not as well versed as you are in this, but even from my limited experience I can say that this looks pretty bad, correct?”
“Yes…It does…” Prudence says rubbing her chin.
“And you said he rejects holy magic?”
“Yep, the healing attempts made recently seemed to hurt him. Healing using water affinity spells worked fine.”
“Mira you go ahead and cast an earth element body strengthening spell. Pharynx you hold him down in case he starts seizing. Thane you and me will boost everyone's resistance to dark magic in case there is backsh. Chastity, you go and attempt the strongest diagnostic spell you know, we’re not going to try and remove it yet as long as we don’t know what it is.”
“Yes Ma’am!”
“Siegfried, God of the forge, hallowed be thine name. May thine forge ever burn brightly and create the greatest of armors. Please gift this lowly one with just a glimpse of thine creation. Cloud him in the warmth of your metal so he may know who protects him. Iron Body!”
“Thane, are you ready?”
“Yes.”
He then offers Prudence his hand and they both start dancing while singing in unison, repeating the same words over and over again.
“To those wandering the path of darkness,
Heed the call of our Lady,
Her Song a guiding voice,
Her Light a guiding beacon,
The Darkness is but the ck of her presence,
As you feel her by your side you will know bliss,
You will know love and affection,
Oh blessed are we the lost ones,
We did not know of your light,
Your embrace and love,
Now that we feel your light we are complete,
We will from now forever dance in your sight,
Mara our guiding light.”
Serene instruments and dancing lights surround the bodies of everyone except Thoma Ahad.
During their dance Chastity puts her staff over Thoma’s body and starts chanting,
“Lay, great goddess of healing and your three disciples. Darkness has fallen on the nds, a curse pgues your children, your daughter Mara has grown ill and needs guidance, your son’s illness is spreading, we seek your help so that we may contain the rot pguing this world. Tell us the truth that lies before us, we seek only to aid you so that you can nurse your children back to health.”
Light then emanates from her staff enveloping Thoma Ahad. At first nothing happens but after a short while his body starts seizing as bck tendril-like shadows sh around the area leaving scratch marks all over the office. Thankfully most of them are being repelled by the dancing light whenever they attempt to attack any people. But even so, Pharynx,who is holding down Thoma Ahad, is getting slight cerations as most of the tendrils are targeting him due to him being the closest to their origin. Not all of them are able to be blocked by the lights, his fish head is slightly starting to bleed as more and more scratches start appearing on him. But before any more damage can be done Chastity lowers her staff and together with the light disappearing so do the tendrils disappear. Just to be safe Prudence and Thane keep up their dance for a little while longer but after a bit more time of nothing happening they stop as well.
Shortly after catching her breath Prudence asks, “So, what were you able to learn?”
“That this is a very complicated curse. It is made of three parts, one is a defense mechanism to holy magic. The other two can only be removed once this part of the curse is gone and I believe that only a very high ranking Dark Magic user would be able to get rid of it without killing the victim. The other two parts of the curse I was only able to look at on a surface level due to the interference. As we thought, one part is affecting his mind but there seems to be another part of the curse that is affecting his body, which seems to have been the most important goal of the curse as this part feels the most intricate. If I were to offer a guess I’m assuming that the caster wanted to make a person completely disappear without killing them. There is great emphasis on the changing of the body, simir to a curse that turns someone ugly or a permanent form of lycanthropie. But exactly how much was changed or what the person looked like before I can not say. To cast a curse like this, one must have immense experience in forbidden Dark Magics as well as sacrificed at least ten people. It seems to me though that the memory part of the curse is somewhat incomplete. Leading me to believe that there is a possibility of this just being done as practice for the real target.”
The guildmaster asks, “Could it even change someone's race?”
“It is definitely possible. When using magic at this level the body is just like cy to the caster but even so, once the curse is removed the body will take on its original shape without any permanent changes to it.”
“So, how can it be removed?”
“Like I said, first the holy element rejecting part of the curse needs to be removed by a high ranking dark magician. Afterwards it would still take considerable skill and mana to be able to remove the rest. I would recommend seeking out the three saints of the middle kingdoms for that part, they’re known for their high purification factor. But to meet them he’d need approval of the White City which right now at least seems unlikely at best. ”
“Is there any way to substitute any of these steps?”
“Hmm…Perhaps, but I need to do more research. From the top of my head the only thing that would come to mind is the Evergde. If he were to bathe in the waters that the Spirit Kings of Earth and Water are said to resign in, there is a chance that the holy resistant yer could be cleansed via the water element. Theoretically it could also be possible to have Dark Magicians remove the curses that affect the body and mind but they would have to be more competent than the original caster and there would need to be sacrifices.”
“So essentially it is close to hopeless.”
“Yes…I’m sorry. The curse might not be able to be removed but there shouldn’t be any health problems coming from it. His quality of life shouldn’t be impacted too much. He might have lost his first fourteen years but he could still live another happy seventy years or so. I’ll try to look into a charm that will stop him from exuding dark magic but otherwise that is the only thing that can be done.”
“I see…”
Ray then looks at them with desperation in her eyes.
“Don’t tell me you’re just giving up on him!? You're the Five Winged Angel and the Dancing Ballista. Everyone in the north knows that the Five Winged Angel will protect them from cultists, svers and the undead and yet you can’t save one person!? And you guildmaster, everyone has heard of you. Bards still sing the tales of the Southern Lotus and its members a hundred years after you disbanded! How is it that all of you have given up!?”
Prudence puts her hand on Ray’s shoulder and answers, “Sometimes there is just nothing that can be done. He’ll still be able to live a normal life even if- “
Ray sps her hand away in disgust, “Mighty fine heroes you lot are! Do you know what he told me the day we met? What his dream is? He told me how he’s suffering as memories keep popping up that he keeps forgetting, how he feels like he doesn’t belong. That he himself is wrong! His one wish is to go home to the pce where he belongs. And the worst part of it all…He forgot he even uttered that wish to me in the first pce because after I asked one too many questions his memory reset to a point before we even had this conversation. And still, during all of this, he could say with full confidence that he will help me make my selfish wishes come true. So, unlike you fake heroes, I’m going to do the same for him. I’ll be waiting in the infirmary for him to wake up, we have a quest to go on tonight.”
Ray then stomps out of the door and loudly throws it shut behind her.
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