Book 3. Chapter 12.
“In the News.” Part 1
The sweet warmth of a comfortable bed enveloped her, lulling her with tenderness and allowing her to rest as much as she hadn’t been able to since that Saturday when the semester at the university ended and her life had taken a turn of more than one hundred and eighty degrees. But until today so many things had happened one after another that she had barely been able to sleep a little, although the fatigue was still accumulating despite the large amount of revitalizing potions she consumed in order to keep up with Artemis’ continuous demands and continue saving the other heroes’ asses.
She had even reached the point where she feared she would develop a dependency on such potions. Good thing Alynn, as well as the rest of the fairies she had cured of the black plague, kept her supplied with plenty of theles.
But now that she could finally enjoy her well-deserved summer vacation, Tsuki’s constant screams interrupted her sacred moment of communion with the bed.
“Master, you are dying!” the puppy continued to scream in her mind while barking and howling near her ear.
Kalysto just whimpered and rolled over, covering her head with the blanket.
“Five more minutes,” she whimpered, too sleepy to pay attention to anything but the warm and very seductive comfort of the bed.
But the puppy did not relent and instead threw himself on his mistress’s face.
“Master, wake up! Master, you’re dying!” He yelped again as he let out a prolonged yelp, followed by several annoying barks. As he stuck his nose under the blanket and tried to lick her face, but ended up licking her ear first a couple of times. “Master, you must take the potion! Your health is running out!”
“What?” she moaned, half asleep. ”Stop it at once! How many times do I have to tell you not to lick my face?” grunted the saintess, tossing him aside along with the top of the warm blanket as she sat up and scrubbed her heavy eyelids. ”....What do you want?” Half grunted as she yawned.
“Master, check your health!” insisted the little boy as Sakura entered with a black jacket on over sensual pajamas, sword in hand, and no shoes.
“What happened? Where is the monster?” She questioned, frightened, while she checked every part of the room with her eyes. Confusion flooded her face when she saw that everything was in perfect condition.
“State window!” Kalysto muttered, and her face paled at the sight of it. “Shit!”
[Status window]
Name: Kalysto Luna
Age: 21 years old
Race: Half-breed (????????)
Level: 65
Fatigue: 10
Class: Saintess (Heroic)
Professions: Enchantments
Title: Champion of the fairies (avatar of ?????) (?????? of the ??????)
Affiliation: Kingdom of Bahram
HP: 1982/11015
MP: 8306/8306
DMP: 3600
Strength: 265+55
Vitality: 173+80
Agility: 321
Stamina: 270+110
Intelligence: 167+100
Charisma: 11
Luck: 40
???: 75
Status: sleepy. Cursed.
Available points: 0]
“What happened?” Sakura panicked.
“I lost eighty-two percent of my health while I was sleeping,” she answered and hurried to take out a bottle of health potion from her inventory and drink it in one gulp. “Can you count ten minutes?“
“Yes, of course,” replied the teacher as she ran out of the room and noticed the clock hanging against the wall of the corridor connecting their rooms. It’s half-past six in the morning. What do you need it for?” She worried as she went back into the room and sat down next to her. “Sorry for barging in, I know you said you needed space and I know how much you value your privacy, but when I heard Tsuki barking like that, I got scared...” she whispered when Kalysto didn’t answer, thinking that maybe her friend would be upset by her sudden intrusion. “You’re going to be all right, aren’t you? The potion is to fix that, right?” Kalysto grimaced before answering.
“Remember, I told you about getting a curse while destroying the altar and the priests?” She murmured and bit her lip afterward, unsure how to explain something she could hardly believe was real.
“Yes, you told me that before you went to sleep. And you also said I didn’t have to worry about it,” she commented cautiously, suspecting that Kalysto had not given her all the information, as was usual for her regarding personal matters.
“Well... it turns out that the curse eats up ten percent of my vitality every hour... and it seems I slept too much... the potions help, but I don’t know how long ago the last notification about the curse came out, so I have no way of knowing when the hour will be up.”
“And the ten minutes are for...?”
“A potion can only be taken every ten minutes.”
“Does that mean you could die at any time?” Sakura put a hand on Kalysto’s, wanting to comfort her. “Is there anything I can do to help you?” At that moment, Katia’s sleepy voice interrupted them.
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“Mrs. Kalysto, is everything all right?” she asked with some trepidation at seeing them so worried. The blonde head peeked timidly through the open door, while the girl had on an old Sakura T-shirt that she wore as pajamas.
Kalysto smiled tenderly at the sight of her and skillfully hid all the concern from her face.
“Don’t worry,” she answered with an unusual sweetness in her. “My HP is a little low and that scared Tsuki...” As the words came out of her mouth, a doubt flooded her mind.
“How is it that your dog can know those things?” Sakura whispered, not wanting Katia to hear them.
“That’s what I would like to know...” she murmured, throwing an accusing look at Tsuki, who didn’t take long to answer.
“Because the master and I are connected, that’s why I can see the curse as well as the seal.”
“Seal? What seal?” Kalysto immediately asked aloud, drawing the attention of the other two people in the room.
“Is everything all right?” Sakura and Katia asked at the same time as Kalysto’s stomach roared with hunger and she raised her hand, asking for silence.
“I think it is better for us to take care of preparing breakfast. I am sure that Kalysto must be starving,” intervened Sakura, suspecting that Kalysto and Tsuki had things to discuss. “Why don’t you accompany me and we wait for her to finish solving her business and accompany us later? Yes?”
“But...” protested the young blonde who was having growing problems and although she was fourteen years old, her appearance was still that of a ten-year-old girl.
“Come on Katia, it’s not right not to respect the privacy of others,” whispered Sakura, taking the attitude of a teacher. As she put a hand on Katia’s back, she guided her out of the guest room and closed the door.
As the door closed, Katia sadly observed that Kalysto never stopped looking at her pet while everything was happening. And an immense sadness seized her as she felt ignored at the same time as she followed the teacher into the kitchen in complete silence and closed the door.
Although the little girl could not understand why she felt so bad, the truth was that she felt a great admiration and respect for Kalysto, to the point of wishing they were family, at least sisters.
But seeing her ignore her, as her mother always did even after her father demanded a divorce after discovering her in bed with another man, a wound she always tried to keep hidden, reopened again.
****
For her part, Kalysto was too preoccupied by Tsuki’s comment to pay attention to anything else.
Communication with the sacred beasts! she invoked. Tsuki, can you hear me?
“Of course, Master!” replied the puppy in her mind.
Now, explain! What seal are you talking about? She demanded.
“Master knows that around your heart is the curse, right?”
Yes, I see it as chains with roots that try to spread throughout my body.
“That’s not the only thing that surrounds the Master’s heart,” the puppy assured. “There’s something else there, something that was put there many years ago.”
“Mana detection!” She conjured and checked her whole body, centimeter by centimeter. But her own heart was more a mass of shadows surrounded by chains than anything else. “I can’t see what you’re talking about, I only see chains of two colors,” she muttered at the same time that Sakura’s shout from the kitchen interrupted them.
“Kalysto, it’s been ten minutes!”
“Thank you!” She shouted and immediately took out another health potion and drank it in two big gulps, then took out her cell phone. Noticing that she had more than fifty missed calls, she ignored them all and set her alarm to ring in another ten minutes. But before she turned off the screen, she noticed that she had about twenty audio messages and another collection of text messages, but only one call was from a known number, Natasha’s.
I’ll call her later! She thought, and concentrated on Tsuki. Vaguely remembering that he had mentioned to her earlier that he could sense Persephone’s presence.
Kalysto swallowed saliva before continuing, too nervous about what he might say to her to bother hiding it.
You mean ‘her’?
“She?...” Tsuki turned his head to the side, confused. “... Is the Master talking about that entity that is sealed inside you?”
Yes! she thought, keeping the skill of being able to talk to him telepathically active, fearing that Persephone could hear the conversation between them.
“That thing is very dangerous, Master!” the puppy warned her, full of concern. “Sometimes she tries to devour the Master from the inside! The Master should never have allowed that seal to be put on you!”
I didn’t allow anything! She assured him, raising her voice in her mind.
“...But the seal can’t be placed against the guardian’s will! The Master had to agree to keep that thing inside herself and seal it!” Tsuki assured, getting more and more worried about the whole situation.
But I don’t remember any of that! She refuted, annoyed. And then she stopped, all too aware of the fact that she had no recollection of the first seven years of her life. Shit!
“What’s wrong? Did the Master finally remember what happened?” he hastened to ask.
No... it’s just that my parents told me that I had an accident when I was seven years old, that’s why I have no memory of my life before then. She explained.
Both remained silent for several minutes until her cell phone alarm went off again and Kalysto took out another health potion and drank it.
It was only after she set the alarm to ring ten minutes later that an idea occurred to her.
Can you tell me when the seal was set? She asked.
“Not right now. Maybe when I go up at least two more levels, my perception level will increase and I can give you more information about it or even show you.”
Show me? Are you sure that’s possible? She questioned, and the doubt in her voice annoyed the puppy.
“Of course! Even if the Master doesn’t believe me, I am a sacred beast, and that is something that any bound sacred beast can do with its master!” The cub’s voice sounded indignant as he said it.
Of course, I believe you! Forgive my lack of confidence. It’s just that since you’ve never done it, nor commented anything about it, it took me by surprise. She said without quite believing him, but not wanting to make an issue out of it.
“I just need to grow a little! As soon as I do, Master will be able to see how strong I am!” He assured her proudly.
Of course you will. Kalysto replied as she carried him, stroking his furry head, more with the intention of appeasing him than anything else. And I’m so grateful that you took care of me while I was sleeping! You did a good job!
Hearing those words, the puppy’s chest puffed out, filling with pride.
“So, is my cute pet hungry?” She asked as she pulled one of Alynn’s baked breads from her inventory, along with a thel. “You must be hungry after protecting me for so long.”
But as she broke off half of the bread and gave it to the puppy, the apartment doorbell rang and Sakura’s shout echoed throughout the place.
“Kalysto, the food is here! I ordered two boxes of your favorite pizzas!”
“I’m coming!” She shouted in return, taking a bite of her half of the bread as she got up from the bed with Tsuki in her arms. “And that’s why we’re good friends!” She whispered to her pet. “She always knows how to score points with me,” the puppy looked at her blankly as he took another bite of his own piece of bread, being very careful not to bite his mistress by mistake. “You have to try them, Tsuki! If there’s something Sakura has besides a taste for clothes, it’s an excellent taste for good food!”
As soon as they sat down on the huge sofa in front of the TV, Kalysto put two boxes of pizzas, one of chicken with mushrooms and a double portion of cheese and another Hawaiian, along with five servings of French fries, five servings of Takoyaki and three hamburgers on the table in front of the sofa. Sakura brought the glasses, the Coke, and the napkins.
While Sakura turned on the TV and put on the news, Kalysto took out two potions of pizza, and after giving her one to Tsuki who was waiting for her to taste it first, the champion of the fairies took a big bite, savoring its delicious taste, until she saw a video of herself together with the girls killing monsters in the seven o’clock news.