“What the hell is this thing?” Rixam spoke up, looking at the defiled corpse hanging above them.
“A message, more than anything.” Savekio said, cutting the body down, “This is the former guardian of this place. Their body was used as fodder for cursing the Siren Ceremony.”
“You were in here before then, right? Why didn’t you cut it down before then?” Luna asked.
“Because I couldn’t,” Savekio knelt down next to it, touching two fingers to his chest in silent prayer, “Once the ritual was performed, the body could not be cut down until it was finished. Not that cutting it down would have mattered though. All we’re doing now is putting the poor soul to rest.”
“What did the ritual do?” Dreiki asked, “Is this what cursed Kaara?”
Savekio shook his head, “That child’s curse is unrelated to this. Though, whoever set this up knew about her curse for one reason or another.” He pulled a roll of linen from his bag, wrapping it around the figure’s body, “This is what drew more than just Oskuutors to the ceremony. It also grants the Oskuutor the ability to deal psychic damage to their victims. I’m sure you heard them laughing in your head at some point.”
Dreiki looked at the grin carved into the guardian’s face, his eyelids had been cut out. He’d been made to look like a Malaki.
“Why do any of this? For what purpose?” Rixam said.
“Because the goal was to cripple this generation of hunters. Those that were killed would have their souls stolen away. Those that survived would be too traumatized to continue fighting.”
“Then how did you know to come here?” Dreiki asked.
“I always intended to come here. This guardian was a contact of mine. When they went silent, I knew something was wrong. I arrived to find him here like this, and the scrolls he was guarding had been stolen. Lucky for us, you managed to find those scrolls. How those kids got ahold of them is beyond me, though.”
“How did Shiira not know of this?”
“Shiira has duties as both a Godslayer and the grand elder of the Tibur tribe. During this time of the year, it’s only natural she wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on this place. That’s what this guardian’s job was, after all.” Savekio said, standing over the freshly wrapped corpse and picking it up over his shoulders.
“That’s true. She seemed surprised to learn the scrolls had been stolen by Deka and the others. But one thing still doesn’t add up, grandpa. You told me to lead the Malaki to you and send up a flare before you saw any of this for yourself. Even if you knew something was wrong, how did you know the ritual was being interfered with before you even got here? You were planning to interfere in the Siren Ceremony from the beginning, weren’t you?”
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Savekio paused, seemingly surprised at Dreiki’s observation. He snickered, “You are a sharp one indeed, my disciple. You’ve met the cursed child of the Tibur, and even managed to learn that she was cursed in the first place. A long while ago, Shiira had told me about her. She even sought my counsel to break the curse, but I found it was beyond me.”
“So you were planning to interfere because of her?”
Savekio nodded, “Indeed. Her participation in the ceremony would only amplify the Siren’s call. I’m sure you noticed how many Oskuutor had joined the ceremony.”
“But then why did they not exclusively attack Kaara?”
“That was Shiira’s doing. She utilized the puppets to spread Kaara’s curse to the other participants. So long as the puppets existed, the Malaki would not be able to find her.”
“But the puppets have always been a part of their ritual haven’t they? And they always lure Malaki.”
“They have, but the child’s curse only amplified the effects of the Siren Ceremony. During normal years, while it’s still dangerous, the Siren Ceremony is quite possible to survive. You’d be lucky to see twenty Oskuutor, let alone the hundreds that were present this year. Although, by Shiira’s account, there were typically over thirty to fifty every year since Kaara’s birth.”
“Then why allow her to partake in the ceremony at all? If it was going to turn out like this-”
“There were several options. One was to simply euthanize the poor child and risk the curse being passed on to someone else. Another was to allow the Malaki to claim her. Another was to send her away to a village where she would inevitably perish at the hands of the Malaki she lured. In the process killing every innocent life in that village. Another was to forever keep her within the tribe, never growing into a huntress, and always being defended from that which they do not understand. Do any of those sound like good options to you?”
Dreiki shook his head, “They don’t. But why not warn the rest of the tribe about it? Why not allow the Tibur to fight back alongside the gray order?”
“Unnecessary panic, assassination attempts, paranoia among hunters and nobility alike. The Siren Ceremony prevents them from interfering until a third of the participants remain. If they attempt to intervene, the ceremony’s curse will kill them. This goes for any nobility overseeing the ritual as well. Knowing of her curse would not have changed what needed to be done. It would’ve only alerted bad actors to our plans.”
“But what now? They saw how many Malaki there were, and that you interfered. Kaara is still cursed too. Won’t it end up the same anyway?”
Savekio pressed his palm to the cave wall, “Roktuun.” The wall came to life, a hole widening into a path that they could take. He gestured for them to follow, “They will know something went wrong, but they will not understand the source of it. The rest is up to Shiira. However, we needed to ensure the girl’s Ux was awakened before knowing what our next steps would be.”
“Why?”
“There are two reasons a curse can appear unbreakable. The first is that we have not found the conditions for breaking the curse. The second is that it’s not a curse at all, but a blessing waiting to flourish. It is only when their Ux is awakened that we can tell the difference. And judging by the information Shiira gave me, it’s the latter.”