The five of us stood frozen, the quiet woods around us waiting with bated breath to see what was about to happen. I looked Quinn up and down to see if he was about to educate me more on the supposed curse, or I was now doomed to stand in this place forever. He didn’t seem to get the hint that I wanted him to weigh in.
Ren broke the silence. “Can you get rid of the curse?”
A brilliant question, and one I should have asked.
He raised his eyebrow, but didn’t move his single-eyed stare from the envelope that we were both now holding. “I’m trying. You might not assume it, but having one eye makes the process more difficult.”
I ran my tongue across dry lips. “Do you know what it does?”
A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face, eventually getting lost in his goatee. “Nothing good.”
“I guess that’s why they call it a curse.” My expression dulled.
Ren crossed her arms and scowled at the pair of us. “If we have to spend ten minutes just standing around after almost getting blown up for doing just that… well, I might grab the curse myself. Perhaps I should have taken Shuffle.”
“You dare.” I narrowed my eyes at her, despite feeling the pressure of the situation. Maybe it would take us ten minutes - it would be a thing. We’d look back at it and laugh.
“Alright.” Ren turned and stepped over to lean against Wolf. “You have ten minutes.”
My eyes went over to Tanya for some backup, but she just gave a tired shrug. Instead, I leveled a cool gaze at the fixer still melting. “Maybe we’re going about this all wrong - I could just zip it into my Inventory for a time it is more safe to open?”
“You can’t,” he replied, still staring at it. “I’m also holding it too. You can’t loot it from my hands.”
“Then… let go?”
“It might set off the curse.”
Part of me assumed it must be something overwhelmingly dire for him to be so hardheaded and awkward about it. I wasn’t even sure it was cursed… there was nothing I could sense at least - and I had a basic attunement to everything magical. Or I thought I did, anyway.
Which was just as good, at this stage.
“Eight minutes.”
I exhaled. “Quinn. I will not be undone by an envelope. One of us will need to let go.”
“I agree - but will the curse go onto the one who releases, or remains?”
My teeth clenched together. He had a point, despite being the one would was supposedly going to fix the situation and knew what was going on.
Wolf yawned. “Would it help if I touched it too?”
“No!” Quinn and I said in unison.
“Seven.”
There were a number of things I could do in this situation, but since the fixer had decided to invite himself into the problem, I didn’t want to leave him with the potential curse. Knowing how bad some of them could be, I’d never live down the guilt of trying to do some bullshit that got him killed.
“I… think I might have it.” He pulled a face and narrowed his eye - and I was pretty sure he hadn’t blinked this whole time. “Just allow me to…”
We all waited patiently as he remained unmoving.
“…Five.”
“No, no - I’ve done it… yes!” He nodded eagerly, joy in his eye as he looked up at me. Without waiting, he lifted his hand and stepped back.
I hit
“Food poisoning, essentially,” I said. “Rather a weak curse, all things considered.”
The fateweaver gave a sigh of relief. “I have something for that, I think. Wow, this must be how Ren feels with you.” Her face went a little flush as she realized what she said, so I turned away to allow her to avoid further embarrassment.
I rotated instead to face said elf, who was always worried over me breaking myself - and was only partially surprised to see she still had crossed arms and a scowl leveled at me. I could read the reason behind those bright blue eyes. She knew I used Shuffle.
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Didn’t know how she knew, of course, but I watched as she became briefly unfocused.
[Ren: He would have died?]
[Max: In less than three seconds.]
[Ren. …]
[Ren: I’ll keep it between us.]
I titled my head to Wolf, who appeared disinterested with the current proceedings. He looked up at me with his amber eyes, before the letter still in my hand caught his attention.
Must be time to read it, I supposed. Surely the curse was a one-time thing? I’d already opened it before I considered the alternatives - just in case Ren started counting me down again. Didn’t need that kind of pressure.
Magician.
If you are reading this, you must have killed Leon - which, while unlikely, is something I have accounted for. Soon the necromancer will chase you down with powers you do not understand.
That is, if this curse does not kill you first.
-Lady in Red
I rolled my eyes and screwed the letter up. “It was written before the Guardian and necromancer shit.”
“Useless then.” Ren shook her head. “Let’s get moving. I’m sick of the day already.”
“Not as much as Quinn,” Wolf countered.
The fixer himself did look rather green - even sweatier than before, and now exhausted from throwing up. It didn’t please me to gamble with his life, but only in the most dire circumstances was it reasonable to use Shuffle on my ally. I’d nearly killed myself before with the debuff randomizer, but for him, it had been an easy decision to make. A risk, but better than guaranteed death.
“We need to get someone who can put curses on things,” I thought out loud. “Then getting someone to pick a card from my deck would be potentially deadly.”
The elf shrugged, but her ire had withered away to neutral annoyance. “How often do you get to do that?”
“Only one perfect time is necessary.”
She wrinkled up her nose and gave me a side-eye, as if she had some smart remark to make, but kept it to herself. Now a magician herself, she had started to believe. In what, I wasn’t sure. The bullshit. Watching her switch places with a white dove and explode a munitions stack from mid air was… pretty frightening for a few reasons, but I also loved it.
“You did great back there, by the way. Can’t remember if I said.” We walked together, with Wolf in front.
“Flattery, trickster?” She turned her face to me, and a smile illuminated what was once prime grumpiness. “I very much appreciate that. Now I can see why you have so much fun putting yourself in dangerous positions.”
I was sure to regret allowing her to take the Guardian's power. For some reason, I felt the sour Ren of our earlier journey would be a lot more pragmatic with the new skills. After dazzling our way through the bloodied aisles, she had come out of the ordeals with a streak of glamor of her own. Like glitter you couldn’t get rid of.
A natural extension of her being happy and comfortable in our group, so I wasn’t complaining… just unused to the taste of the humble pie now that I had to do my share of backseat worrying about her pulling of death-defying stunts.
“What was next on the horizon, Tanya?”
“I’d suggest we detour to a small outpost a little southwest. Let Quinn recover for a little. It will delay our arrival to the Wardens… but fuck them.”
“Hear, hear,” Ren agreed, while Wolf grunted his agreement.
“Make it so,” I confirmed. The man did look unwell still, even with the debuff now gone. No use turning up to our destination with one of us on death’s door - unfortunately for them, our Party’s well-being was paramount.
Progress was slower with the fixer being slightly broken, but we took it easy and allowed the good weather to soothe our moods once more. The random appearance of the assassin felt like a bad dream after another hour of walking. Most things in this world had been. I tried to keep the worst at the back of my mind and focus on cultivating what good I had around me.
A sharp pain stabbed in my brain, and I winced.
“Okay, Max?” Ren managed to spot my discomfort like a hawk.
“Maybe a looming headache? Just a little pulse of pain, nothing terrible.”
She brought out her gun and became more alert, not really taking my word at face value. While I had exhibited some precognition on occasion, this wasn’t it. Just an ache because I was a living being who continued to function. At least, I hoped I was living.
“You ever wonder if our actual bodies came here?” I asked the surroundings.
Ren pulled a face. “What are you asking?”
“I’m two people, sort of - right? But they couldn’t mash two bodies together, otherwise I’d look even more of a mess. So… what if it’s just our ‘souls’ that are put into a recreated body in this world?”
“Did a fine job of it if that’s the case,” Tanya offered. “Not a mark or blemish out of place on me.”
Ren narrowed her eyes at the far woods. “Seems… I don’t know. I guess it’s possible - a transfer of consciousness, then? I think I’ve read a story about that before.”
I nodded. “Essentially, sure. I guess the question then is… are our old selves dead, or did they continue and we are just the split?”
Quinn gagged and coughed out an unhealthy amount of saliva. “Ugh. I am not a fan of thinking over… the ramifications… getting my head around it is…” He held his hand up to his mouth to prevent anything - words or otherwise - from falling out.
“From our point of view…” Ren began. “It doesn’t really matter either way, right? I certainly feel real and alive, even if Othea still has the dumbass version of me there.”
“Agreed.” I smiled, but gave a glance back to Tanya. She looked deep in thought, barely focusing on tending to the queasy Quinn. If a version of her had survived her car crash, she would technically still be with her family there… even if wasn’t the better her that she had been striving for in this world.
I daren’t prod her for her thoughts. She had a lot riding on being able to go back, on an emotional level. Less so these days - I figured she had come around to focusing on being the best Tanya this world needed. All I could do was sit back and be there to support her when needed.
“We’ll be there shortly, trickster.” Ren took me out of my thoughts, but it was clear she could tell what I had been thinking about. “How about I rub those shoulders out when we’re settled?”
“I could have sworn I saw you hovering on white wings. You truly must be an angel.” My wide grin disarmed her completely. Her hand came down to intertwine with mine. Amusing given how clueless and alone I had arrived in this world… now I had…
Well, all of this. I looked around at the rest of my Party. Almost enough to warm my heart. Well… my insides did feel pretty warm, actually. The pain in my head stabbed through my brain once more.
“Max? Something’s… wrong.” Ren let go of me to move to the treeline.
Amber, red, and gray danced amongst the horizon.
I turned an eyebrow up at Tanya. “I’m guessing that’s the outpost?”
While she nodded, apprehension in her eyes, I raised up my right hand.
It was shaking. Restless.
Demons were nearby.