Something even Amelia never bothered to try was currently happening.

"Do you need something?"

Orion removed the towel from his neck and calmly wrapped it around his hips.

Karteira was unable to look away, and she wasn't discreet about it.

"Ah... No? Wait, is this the men's changing room?"

The lights finally activated in her head, and she stared at Orion with an horrified face.

"If I'm here, where else could this place be?"

A mix of embarrassment, shock, and confusion appeared on her face.

"I'm sorry! I was thinking and I entered the wrong door!"

She stared at his tempered body, that was still dripping water from the shower he took, even as she apologized.

"Well, that can happen. I would have expect the other way around, with me inadvertently entering the women's side, but I guess you beat me to it."

He laughed at that. It wasn't a big deal for him to be seen naked. The same couldn't be said for Karteira.

'I think I'll never forget what I just saw.'

Her head was filled with bad thoughts. The conversation she just had with Amelia was also repeating in her mind until now, so this situation was really bad for her.

Until she saw something that instantly erased her horny mind.

"What's with the dark spot?"

She noticed the black area where the corruption took hold in his body. It hadn't disappeared yet, even though Orion healed everything.

"About that... I was going to wait until dinner to tell you both."

Noticing the serious and slightly bothered look on his face, she walked and stopped in front of him. Bringing her hand in front of her, she touched his chest.

"Does it hurt? This looks horrible."

Shaking his head, Orion immediately appeased her feelings.

"It doesn't anymore. I've dealt with it the moment I noticed it.

Karteira's face frowned when she realized.

"This color... it reminds me of the corruption."

"It's exactly that."

"How could this happen?! When did you get that? Are you sure you are alright? Tell me!"

Taken aback by the sudden worries Karteira had toward him, he spoke the truth.

"It happened when I was sleeping. Can you wait until Amelia is back though? I don't want to explain multiple times, since it's a serious matter."

"And don't worry, I've double checked myself, I'm cleaned of corruption. There no need to worry that much."

He gently pushed her shoulders away, because she was too close to him. His modesty was at risk in this situation, with only a towel to protect his lower body. Though there was not much to hide since Karteira had a 'very good' look at it.

When she accepted his words, a little sigh left her mouth.

"Well, I'm relieved if you're healthy. I'll wait until later, but I don't want any secrets, we're clear?"

"I wasn't planning to, rest assured."

"Great. I'll go take a shower myself, but if your health is deteriorating, just call alright? Just in case."

'She didn't trust my words completely.'

A gentle, slightly downhearted smile formed on his face.

"I'll do that. See you later."

He forced her out of the changing room. The air on his wet skin was starting to get colder, and he couldn't stay like this any longer.

Karteira walked through the door, looked back at him, and closed the door behind her.

'Let's change before something similar happens again.'

Orion wiped the water off his body, and put his clothes on.

'She was kind of pushy. That's unusual for her, though maybe it's because I've never seen her acting like this before?'

'I'll see with Amelia later. Maybe she managed to get something out of her.'

'She seemed a bit lost, to enter the men's room by mistake. But from our quick exchange, she looked alright.'

Putting his black shirt on, he opened the door to leading to the corridor, and walked toward the entrance, before turning left, into the kitchen.

'Coffee it is. Let's think a little more about everything before dinner.'

Orion prepared himself another cup of coffee, and moved to the living room. During that time, many questions formed, leading to one of the most important discovery about himself.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

~

"What?!"

Both Amelia and Karteira slammed their hands on the table.

It was right before dinner. Amelia had returned from her training and took a shower to clean herself.

Orion told everything that happened in during his sleep.

"You almost got corrupted... while I was away? Damn it!"

The punch Amelia threw at the table was enough to cause a crack into it.

'I guess we'll have to get the other table out for dinner.'

Orion closed his eyes with a little smile at the corner of his mouth.

"I knew something happened, but I never expected something like this. Orion almost became our enemy without us noticing."

Karteira was biting her fingernail in frustration.

"There was nothing you could have done. Everything happened in my head. Except the corruption in my lungs."

"About that, how could you get corrupted in this place? And how did you not notice it? I'm not questioning you, I just want to understand."

"Don't worry, Amelia, I don't mind. First, the seed didn't come from Horizon. It was in me before we came to Hocride."

"Second, I did notice something strange at the time, but I didn't think much of it."

"Third and last, I had completely underestimated the enemy."

Both girls remained silent, until one of them asked the question that was most important in their mind.

"What do you mean by you noticed it?"

Karteira stared at Amelia, then at Orion. She really wanted to know too.

"Do you remember what happened when we arrived near Hocride for the first time?"

"Which points? Before the gate, or after you rescued Kamala?"

"Directly at the gate."

"..."

Both girls began to recall the past events.

Karteira was the first to remember a weird detail.

"Amelia, didn't the corrupted soldiers stop attacking when we arrived. They all moved toward Orion and tried to block his path or attack him."

"Now that you speak of that, there was indeed no exceptions, they all did that."

Nodding to each other, they turned to Orion.

"Is that the weird feeling you had?"

"Yes. At that time, my chest burned the whole time I was near the corrupted. It means that I already had the corrupted seed inside me."

Another wave of anger took over Amelia.

"From that long! How did we not notice?!"

"Amelia, it is worse than that."

The face she made was everything but pretty. If released all of her emotions at his words, she would be crying.

"I don't want to ask."

"I can't get rid of the seed."

"W-Why?"

Karteira almost bit her tongue asking that.

As pure dread took over their expressions, Orion continued.

"When I said seed, I didn't meant a literal one. The seed of corruption seemed to be ingrained in me. Can you find when I got it, and why by yourself? Karteira, you don't have to think about it, you might not know the whole thing."

She nodded painfully, while Amelia tried to get the most out of her broken thinking.

"I'll give you single hint, as you seem to struggle with your emotions. It's related to the 'Purging War'."

"Elliot against the angels and demons? What does that have to do with you?"

Karteira spoke out loud, restarting Amelia's thinking process in the same time.

"Everything, Karteira. From the beginning, everything was about him. The war began because the alliance of the angels and demons through the birth of an 'hybrid', Orion, wasn't seen as a good thing by the humans."

"Elliot killed all members of both factions, with his parents being the remaining fighters."

Orion nodded.

"Correct. Now look further."

With a little concern, she continued.

"After struggling, his parents managed to seal Elliot, in exchange for their life. In the process, they decided to send Orion in the future with an unknown magi-"

"..."

Amelia turned her head slowly toward Orion. The shock on her face explained that she understood.

As Orion nodded once again, she spoke out loud.

"You were cursed? But how?"

"Elliot most likely. Remember the purple haze that slithered during the 'ceremony'? I am pretty sure Elliot is one of the first to have been corrupted."

"Following that, it isn't too difficult to link what happened with my past."

Karteira's face dropped, as she looked at the table, not knowing what to say. Amelia was hiding her face in her hands.

The muffled voice of Amelia was heard.

"What does that means for you? Are you going to get corrupted at some point? Is it inevitable?"

But the answer she expected never came.

"No, I'm fine."

Both girls' brain stopped working as they looked at him.

"That's why you should have listened before making your own opinions on my state."

"What do you think that curse do? If it was a corrupting curse, I would have been corrupted before adulthood."

From Karteira's point of view, she couldn't understand everything.

"But why did you get that corrupted lump in your lungs, and why did you chest showed a black spot?"

Orion looked at her.

"Because I made contact with the Miasma. You can't underestimate the power of a Remnant. The way he tracked me down was most likely because of the curse too."

She touched her healed eye when Orion spoke about the power of a Remnant.

"I see."

Amelia slumped on her chair, and breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Tell me, what does that curse do? All I can think of is that it attracts the corrupted."

"The humans corrupted to be exact."

They blinked a few times.

"During the fight against Ivan, when his corpse came back to life thanks to the corruption, his eyes were fixated on me only. Even though the first thing he did when the opportunity came was to try and kill Kamala before his death."

He continued to elaborate.

"The soldiers, both in Hocride and in Kaios, they all focused on me when I was near them."

"And let me repeat the important part. Only the corrupted humans."

"I guess humanity hates me."

He laughed after saying this.

"Yes, most of humanity at this point."

Amelia said while thinking that it wasn't that bad of a news in the end.

'I panicked way too fast. I really need to do something about that. When it concerns him, I lose it too quickly.'

She remembered when Florian appeared near the lake, and the moth man that appeared right after. The anger she displayed that day was no joke.

"That's all I had to speak about. Let's just eat now. Well, after we replace the table."

He smiled and pointed at the cracked part under Amelia's arms.

~

"Orianne..."

Reon was trying to calm his wife. She was currently inconsolable.

"I knew that we were making a mistake at that time, but knowing that we gave him a curse..."

"It was not our doing. How could we had known that the corruption was back, and that it had taken root in Elliot? Don't blame yourself for everything."

Doing his best not to let his own emotions catch up to him, his own thoughts were like Orianne. A mess.

"I'm tired of all of this. Why didn't we simply die, together? Why did we struggle this much, just to watch our own child fight the world?"

He caressed her back gently, and repeated the words that helped him.

"Look at him. He doesn't appear to be bother at all? Why are we questioning our own motives now? It is way too late for that, and you know it."

Orianne wiped her tears away, and looked at the screen in front of her.

Her son was mocking Amelia, with a big smile on his face.

"He's having fun..."

"That's right. He still shoulders our hope for a better world. Even knowing that the world is against him. And that without losing sight of what's important."

"I want to see him, and talk to him. I want to hug my Orion."

Tears fell on the table as her desires to see her son grew stronger each seconds that passed.

"Don't worry, he hasn't forgotten about you. He will never do that."

Reon continued to caress her back. He also wanted to speak with his son.

"Hmm."

She nodded while wiping the never-ending streams of tears flowing from her eyes.

"Who would have thought you would be such a crybaby when it concerned your child."

"Shut up, you're crying too."

Reon was hiding it well, but he was about to cry.

"I'm not like you, I can control it at least."

"I don't care anyway, there's only the two of us."

"That's true."

Reon grabbed Orianne's shoulder and hugged her tightly, letting go of his chains.

These two truly cared for Orion, so much as their heart broke each time they learned more about the path full of thorns that was his life.

After they calmed down, they watched as Orion, Amelia, and Karteira enjoyed their dinner.

Orion was about to speak about his plan to return to the fairy realm to them.