1

  There was no power besides magic that could do something like this, it’s like I was cursed, before I could get the words out, it spoke. There in my mind, as if I was thinking but in another voice “You are cursed, kid.” The God stated simply. Just when had it invaded my mind? I checked my surroundings, even the corners of my vision, the spaces in between, my truesight never deactivated, but there was no sign of it.

  “You must really have no idea who you are, just how much have you forgotten? how much have they lied to you?” The feeling of another person thinking in my brain was so uncanny I couldn’t focus on anything else, I didn’t know how I was supposed to communicate with something like this, or if I should even listen to what it says, it is the God of Lies after all.

  ”Believe whatever you want, kid, I can function just fine in your body, but that can’t be said for every human on this planet, just as much as I am here, they are as well, your body is simply trying to find a more fitting form to compensate for your power, that is your curse.” My body was always different, bigger, stronger, I never knew why but I was born this way. I was cursed since birth to contain the power within, Jupiter and Europa told me that my armor was built to contain the curse… yet it still manifested.

  And yet the question remained, who cursed me? and why? “That’s simple enough, we did.” The God spoke, admitted fault… no not fault, guilt? no… truth?

  “As the God of Lies, my role was to obscure, after all, there are some things that humanity is better off not knowing, yet those two always strived to break every rule, uncover every truth, break the very world they were but a guest in, outsiders all the same, they think this is some sort of game or a toy to break, if I had one question for the King I would ask why they exist.” The God spoke with contempt, this group somehow earned the ire of the Gods, especially whoever the ‘two’ were, and this was the second time it mentioned the ‘King’, I couldn’t imagine he was talking about the Dreg King, so what was it?

  Then it went quiet. “Do you think I would tell you? my words are measured and you’ll never get the whole truth out of me, though.. maybe that’s a lie too, from inside your body I can make sure you never uncover a single truth in my presence, if you offer me shelter from a single human and you believe me to be on your side? you’ll be sorely mistaken.” It made threats towards me even though it held back against me in that fight, is it just another lie? I feel like I am starting to feel the effects of having this God inhabit my mind…

  2

  In the end, all my questioning lead me to nothing, wether it was lying or not it was simply being difficult. I had never had to deal with people like that, let alone a God, so I didn’t know where to begin bridging the gap…

  For now I would hold back on the questions, once I talked to another God along this path I might be able to wring some more answers out of it. In a sense it was like how I learned a little more about Jupiter from someone else who knew him… Kensei, just who was he? I got the feeling like I was onto something… but I just didn’t have enough information, still…

  That star on his back, it’s the same as the star on my armor, on the left side of my chest, where my heart is. If I could figure out what the symbols mean, maybe I’d be closer to understanding what he is, or at least why it was attached to him… No sign of that God ‘speaking’ now, did that mean I was close to actually uncovering something? Whatever the case, I would need to pay a lot more attention from now on, if I missed something crucial would my understanding of the world really be complete when I am done? Of course not, just as much as I needed to fight each enemy I needed to learn everything I could about each location, customs, practices, writing, language, history, people, heroes and Gods, I needed to know everything, otherwise I couldn’t trust myself with the fate of the world, that’s right… Had the Dreg King done the same?

  At some point I decided to take note of my surroundings, Jupiter had set up camp while Europa was tending to me, which mostly consisted of replacing my bandages about every hour, the parts that were exposed, where the armor was broken, admittedly my tactic of attaching myself to the enemy probably gave me more opportunities to be attacked than was necessary… If I were more skilled I might have come out of that fight without damaging it… but if I were more skilled maybe it wouldn’t have gone easy on me… Maybe I should be more thankful to be alive, but I never thought I was in real danger so it never occurred to me.

  Europa was safe outside of the fight, and Jupiter could handle himself, so the only thing I could lose was myself… Even at this point, there wasn’t much value in that, I had no family name, no memories, and now I learn that my body is cursed, if I were to die before I travel the whole world, would it really be that bad? It’s not like it’s something just anyone can accomplish, I could be happy just… no…

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  I already knew the answer, maybe I really was scared for my life, if I was reconsidering this journey. I had a promise to fulfill, or a prophecy, it didn’t really matter, I wanted to travel the world, and for that I would drag my broken body past the finish line if need be, Jupiter and Europa were more than enough help to do that, I was the weakest link.

  3

  “Elias… you still up?”

  Europa laid next to me, using my limp arm as a headrest, she looked up at the sky, and her hands which were rough from replacing the bandages so many times, clearly she cared for me, she wouldn’t have taken care of me all this while, though I had a suspicion that Jupiter had told her to do this, for some reason the image of Jupiter sitting by my bedside and caring for me was funny to me, and a I laughed a little, though Europa just tilted her head, probably not thinking of the same thing.

  She took off the bandages covering my mouth, apparently that was a dangerous thing…, but surely a little bit wouldn’t hurt right? I cleared my throat and asked a question. “How long do I have to stay like this? I want to at least move around again…” There was a bit of a pause before she responded, as she adjusted herself to better get a look at the sky, it was clear tonight so the stars were more visible than usual.

  “Honestly, the damage you suffered is minimal, you’ll make a full recovery in a day or so, the toxic lake produced by that good should have been more than enough to kill even a big brute like you, but it seems you have some magic to counter poison, that’s really rare…” When she spoke like this she seemed more intelligent, not that she wasn’t already, if she heard that she’d probably kick my ass…

  I just let her continue, so far everything she said made sense, the one who cleansed the toxin was something called a ‘Monk’ who apparently had great mental discipline, his last wish was most likely to have complete control over one’s body, or at least that’s what he told me, it seemed that some of those souls were from somewhere completely different so they did not know much about magic, I could hardly comprehend trekking across the entire world, let alone another world, so I could hardly blame them…

  She elaborated on my condition. “Your hand will probably be sore for a couple weeks, I did my best to patch up the damaged bits, but that horrific power of yours did a number on it, I would be careful using that again, if it is bone manipulation, using that on your ribs could puncture your heart and lunges…” That’s right, grappling onto that God by making a claw of bone hurt so bad I thought I’d die, though the power to control my bones did not care how much pain I was in, it was less like forcing my body to move and more like the power had a mind of its own…

  That one was from someone who called himself an ‘Adrenaline junky’ or as he explained, a thrill seeker, he said that in life he broke every bone in his body at one point, the final one being his skull, before coming to our world, in which he used his new powers to do it all again, he explained that his power was likely born of the desire for his body to keep up with what his mind wanted to do, that if he did not break his bones he would have been more fulfilled, where he was from there were no wars, and people lived in luxury, so to him it was all the more important to find something exciting.

  “Even despite all of those issues, there is something more pressing…” She paused for a bit, looking down at her hands as if trying to find the words. “When you walked out of the temple, your hand and legs that were exposed, where your armor was broken, it was like the flesh was trying to escape, it pulsed and grew… it was terrifying.” I couldn’t see her eyes under her glasses but I assumed she was looking at the bandages now, from how her head tilted and the feeling washing over my skin… “There was something automatic, like Jupiter’s protection but different, it felt like your body was subconsciously attacking us, dangerous stuff… but that wasn’t the weird part, when I lifted my glasses… there was no more magic than usual, in fact most of it was dormant because you were asleep, yet this phenomenon still occurred.”

  ”I don’t know how to help you Elias, and Jupiter is at a loss as well, which never happens, if I’m being honest there might not be a way to fix you, the only thing I can think of would be magic… but I cant even comprehend what is happening to you, let alone know someone who would die to cure it…” Everything she said made sense, magic was strong, so strong that it could probably remove this curse from me, but you cant force someone to want to do that, even if someone wanted to cure me they would probably have some other desire or ideal that would far outshine that want. If that was the case, I would now have a time limit on my journey, or I would need to find a way to repair this armor. There was only one man who could make armor like this, and he was dead, the magic I held was proof enough of that, the only hope I had to repair it was as good as gone, and as a someone who never stayed in one place for too long he probably left no notes before he passed away, he did tell me to stay low and not expose myself to danger… yet I fought a God and suffered the consequences…

  Maybe I should have listened…

  “Goodnight Europa, I need some time to think about this…” She sat up and tilted her head, the visible portion of her eyebrows seems to show her concern, but she didn’t say anything, she only left quietly, giving my bandages a once over before she slinked off to where I assume Jupiter was sleeping as well. Honestly I didn’t want to send her away, my body still hurt and I probably shouldn’t let my thoughts fester with a God in my head, but I had to seriously consider what this journey would do for me, and the world.

  Maybe I would be considered conscious before, but now… I was really awake.