Hera gathered the materials for Kadhan's new field, which was nothing more than just another part of the cave where he was placing planters for his mushrooms. Lurize and Nimbus helped her, and the three took a moment to talk about what happened when the Pool of Styx was active. To Lurize, he became much stronger than anything. He even imagined he would be able to take that giant monster that Hera saw during the vision when she met Mr. Beetle. Nimbus also had some unique effects. He became much faster, and his frozen ash aura almost covered the entire village. Luckily, he noticed the change soon enough and stopped the skill before anything was to happen or anyone could notice. Also, since the rumbling started right away, people's attention should have been whisked away to more pressing matters. Meaning the loud explosions and the sudden appearance of mist.

As she returned with all the materials for the fields, she was stepped by Pielle. A beast woman with a lithe, athletic build with powerful legs and a short stubby tail. Her face is mostly human-like but with a pronounced snout and squirrel-like teeth and small, pointed ears that stick up from the top of her head. Her hair is short, sleek, and somewhat coarse, reminding Hera of a large rodent like a capybara, going down all of her back, there was more of that hair/fur forming a line that vanished under her shirt.

"What are you doing?" the woman gasped as she saw Hera carrying large pieces of wood to the tree house.

"Working?" Hera tilted her head, "Kadhan asked me to get these ages ago."

"So? You just went out hunting. It doesn't matter the situation. If you hunt, you don't have to work for the day. I thought people told you that, and did you even eat?" Pielle was somewhat aggressive, but not in a way that made Hera feel intimidated. It was more towards the mom friend complaining how you drank too much.

"Actually, I didn't. I looked over to the kitchen, but it was empty, so I figured I had to wait until dinner."

Pielle huffed, "Are you kidding me? Who do you think we are?"

"Criminals?" Hera replied with a confused expression.

"Fair point, but still, no, we are not making you go hungry when you did what you were supposed to, especially if Reynara was the one who dragged you along. Honestly, that girl is going to be the end of us. Come with me; I'll whip you something."

Hera shook her head, "You really don't have to. I'm fine waiting. I had a good breakfast, and I'm not that hungry."

Pielle simply grabbed Hera's hand and pulled her to the side; the movement caught the Empress off guard, making her drop all the logs on the ground, "Don't give me that. I'm the cook for the day, and you will eat," the woman turned back to the people inside the tree house, "Kadhan, come get you wood. You don't have an assistant for the rest of the day!"

The Empress was dragged away. Lurize and Nimbus did their best to help Kadhan with the materials, but going down his tunnel would put them at too big of a distance from Hera. After a few moments, Hera was sitting on the communal meal table while Pielle was making something that smelled a lot like bacon, eggs, and steak. Even if she said she wasn't hungry, no one could resist a smell like that. Even Daskka and her titled blades seemed interested in the meal, but she quickly told them not to eat anything. So far, no one in the village knew how intelligent the constructs she could create with her court were, and she wanted to keep things that way.

"Here you go," Pielle came around and gave Hera a place with a full serving: three fried eggs, two medium rare steaks, and ten pieces of bacon.

"How do you make them like this?" Hera grabbed the bacon and took a bite; it was so crispy that it looked like something out of a movie.

"A while back, we figured out that if we use pure fat to make a few things, they turn hard like that. We've been trying different dishes, and so far, bacon has worked out the best," Pielle explained.

"Do you have some potatoes here? Cut them small and put them there; that should work great," Hera replied while eating, dreaming about some french fries.

Pielle nodded, "That's a strange idea, but sure, I'll give it a shot," she glanced over to the tree house, "It's a shame Adriel didn't want to join us, then again, it's going to be hard for him to eat for a while."

"Why? Did he get injured in the stomach?" Hera's eyes went wide, thinking that maybe she had done something wrong, and things got even worse.

"Oh, no. Nothing like that. It's just how things go. When someone has a near-death experience around here, they usually stay away from food for a while. Only eat when they absolutely have to. Grilat was the same when he got his scars. He still doesn't like to go around without the mask, even after all those years, poor thing."

"Yeah…" Hera looked down. She was feeling sad, but at the same time, the food was too good for her to stop eating.

Seeing her reaction, Pielle chuckled, "I'm glad you enjoy my food. There is more if you want. It's just a shame that no one else seems to enjoy it as much.

"Really? I don't know why. This is amazing."

"Ah, don't worry about it. They just know how I got here," Pielle stood up and noticed Hera's confused expression, "I poisoned my husband's family with some soup. They all died. It was a shame about the children, but I couldn't let their blood to be running around, they would end up tainting everything," the woman showed a cruel smiled that sent shivers down Hera's spine, "Feel free to ask for more. There is still some meat. I don't know what kind of meat it is, but it tastes great. I'll take care of those dishes."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

'Right… I keep forgetting that this is a prison for the worst of the worst,' Hera thought to herself.

For the rest of the day, she just walked around the village, tried to get to know people, and find someone who might be suspicious. The fact that they didn't have enough information was really bothering her. A couple of hours before dinner was served, the Empress went to her house when a thought came to mind. She closed the door, securing it in place, and activated her soundproof bubble before turning to her titled blades.

"I have a question. Can you guys use spells?"

"Of course, we can. I activate the elemental armor all the time. And add the poison needle when I attack," Lurize nodded.

"I can, but I prefer not to. Even if the wind feathers could have some synergy with me, I don't want to waste my mana when I need to do something else, like the mana shield," Nimbus added.

"Ok, but those are my spell. I'm asking, can you use spells?" Hera asked again, emphasizing the word you so they would understand what she meant.

There was a long pause when neither of them spoke anything; then, slowly, all three turned to Daskka.

"I mean… In theory, they should be able to. I can use and make my own spells without a problem. I just don't share them with Mum because, so far, all of them involve me changing my body to a different shape. It's not like mum can do that."

"But we can," Lurize said.

"Yeah, but I'm kind of made out of mist. It's different for you guys. You started as something solid. But back to the matter at hand. They should be able to make their own spells. I don't know how strong they will be or how hard it will be to make it, but they should."

"Really?" Nimbus asked with a glimmer in his eyes. It seemed like he enjoyed the idea.

"Then I have some homework for you two. Try to come up with a spell or a couple. Just do something simple, something I can't do. Also, this is just a test; you don't have to push yourself too hard if you can't do it," Hera said with a smile.

The two titled blades nodded and started to think about the spells. To let them talk a bit better, she decided to keep both of them with her, on their weapon forms, so as not to scare the people of the village. In the end, the rest of her break was spent just walking around and talking to her friends. Hera wanted to meet up with everyone soon to talk about Reynara and the curse. However, dinner would come before that, then Grilat's class.

Luckily for her, everything went by quickly. The meal was amazing, the class was simple, and when the fighter faced Bonnie, he was eliminated almost instantly. Again, he underestimated his opponent's strength. By the time he realized what the elemental motes were, Bonnie sent out a flurry of elemental fists coming from all angles that ultimately destroyed the moss body he was using after giving him a thorough beating.

During the night, Hera and her friends gathered back in their house to discuss things. The biggest topic was Reynara, Adriel's injuries, and what Hera did.

"Ok, so here is the thing. If I knew the Pool of Styx would do that, I would have held back to use it only when we really needed it. And, honestly, I should've checked my attributes, but I think they were getting close to a million," Hera explained.

"A million!?" Bonnie gasped.

"Yeah, that's the only explanation I can give you. I mean, I hit the babies with the pool, and there were so many that I couldn't even count. So the increase I got from each would be massive."

"But that can't happen again. The spell almost sent us back to the present, and the system is now paying very close attention to this room. We are already doing something that pushes its boundaries; if we push too much, the MAZE will push back," Sammy added.

"So, can we use that as an eject button? Like if we need to run away from here fast, Hera can use that spell and toss a meteor somewhere?" Blue asked.

"Maybe, but I doubt we would even have the chance. If Hera starts using that spell again, I think the system will just strip her of her magic completely. If it was anyone else, that would already be bad, but Hera… I don't know what would happen to her legacy if she lost all magic," Sammy hated what he was doing. He was supposed to help people cope with their traumas, not lie to them about things, but he couldn't risk Hera using that spell again and destroying the memory. And the guides hammered down the importance of getting rid of the curse.

Hera's eyes went wide as she looked at Nimbus, Lurize, and the rest of her court; she then turned to Sammy, "Don't do it again. Got it."

"Speaking of doing bad things. I want to use the curse," Alex spoke up.

"What? Why?" Shane gasped.

"To see if there is a way to heal Adriel's scars," the assassin replied point blank.

"Alex, no. We agreed that I was the one who would do it," Hera shook her head.

"You already saved him. It's not fair that you are the one to get more cursed because of it," Alex had a serious expression.

"But we don't know what will happen if your curse keeps growing. It's almost to your neck already," Hera rubbed her temple, "Look, it's better only to let it grow to the points we know about. Why risk it? What if the next stage is the blob thing."

"I'm willing to take that risk," Alex replied with a calm voice.

"What? No! Why are we even discussing this? No one is using the curse just because I have a few scars," Adriel jolted up; he was still tender, but he powered through, "This sucks; I know better than anyone, but we don't have to go after a way of fixing me. All we need to do is remove the curse and find our way back to civilization. I know a doctor who can fix me. It's going to cost a bit of money, but I have more than enough for it."

"But if we can fix this now, why wait? What if it's something we can only find here and not in the future?" Alex asked.

"You mean present," Mylo said.

"What?"

"Their future, our present."

"Whatever. We have resources here. We can use them," Alex pressed.

"I don't care. If you care about me at all, you won't do it. I'm going to be a teenager now and give this as an ultimatum. If you ask the curse about fixing me, we are over, and I mean it!" Adriel huffed and walked off to his room.

There was a tense moment of silence as everyone waited for the assassin's reaction, but in the end, she just slumped back on the bench. The rest of the conversation died down, and they all decided to go to bed. It was a tense day, and they needed some rest, some more than others. Thankfully, Mylo offered to sleep in the same room as Adriel so he and Alex wouldn't keep arguing through the night. Everyone did their night routine, going to the bathrooms and activating protection spells, and finally, they all got ready to sleep.

A voice crept inside her mind as Hera was lying in bed, trying to sleep. It was a mix of a whisper with a gargle that felt eerie, to say the least, 'I can show you. Show you what you missed. Show you how you felt with all that power.'

Hera knew this voice, it was the curse, and she also could tell what it was talking about. It was offering her a way to see what she did today again, to properly see it. However, as tempting as that was, there was another thing she wanted more at the moment, 'Can you just shut up so I can sleep?'