Drip...

Plop...

Alex woke up in a puddle of water as the sound of water dripping woke him up. He sits up and looked around, to see nothing but an endless cavernous void with stalagmites and stalactites everywhere. He looked up confusedly to see stalagmites dripping water down. He had no idea where he is.

"Hello?" Alex yelled into the endless void. "Is anyone there?"

Suddenly, he couldn't move or think. He just stood there as if he's paralyzed. He could only listen to his voice, echoed endlessly throughout the cave. After a while, it stopped and Alex regained control over his body. He's confused and scared as to why he's here. Alex could hear something faint in the background. He listened closely. But still couldn't hear it. He listened to it even harder, still nothing. Alex couldn't help but feel something is off. In this gigantic cave, there are no signs of life and he's the only one here. It felt so surreal and eerie.

Alex tried to run, but every time he thought about running, his body would paralyze, then regain back control. There's no way of him leaving this place like this.

"What kind of hell hole is this?" Alex thought as he looked around the cave while feeling uneasy. "This is so weird. I don't want to be here anymore!"

Alex tried one last time listening to the faint noise in the background, he tried his hardest. This time, the sound of a ticking clock could be heard. When Alex realized what the noise was, he couldn't unhear it. He could only hear the sound of the clock ticking, and it's getting louder.

Alex covered his ear out of fear, but the sound of the ticking isn't coming from anywhere, it's in his mind. After a while, the ticking sound stopped as a drop of cold sweat roll down Alex's face. Suddenly, the sound of a grandfather clock chiming roared across the cave, the noise was so loud that Alex's ears started ringing.

Alex gasped as he woke up in cold sweats, he breathes heavily as if he's out of breath. He stared at the wall as he thought about what just happened in that nightmare. He took deep breaths as he's trying to calm himself down.

"It's okay Alex." Alex thought to himself. "It's just a dream, that's what dad always says to you when you had a nightmare. Don't be such a wimp."

Suddenly, someone opens the door to Alex room. Alex got spooked, jumped out of his bed and immediately went into a defensive stance. When he realises it was his father, he calmed down and let out a sigh.

"The hell are you doing?"

"Dad!" Alex whined. "I always said knock before you come in!"

"Why? This is my house"

"At least give me some privacy!"

"Why did you act like that when I came in?" Lance asked while wearing a blank expression on his face. "You're probably doing something suspicious."

"No! I'm not! I just had a nightmare. And you just came out of nowhere and scared me."

"You need to stop being so spineless, you're always really easy to scare. Go get prepare, we're almost late for your curse checkup. Go, now."

"Are we?!" Alex said in shock. "I need to hurry!"

Alex quickly rushes out of his bedroom to go to the bathroom, but when he rushed past his father, he heard him whispers something to himself.

"I can't wait."

Alex felt weird when his dad said that, as it came out of nowhere. His dad rarely gets excited about anything. But he brushed it off, thinking that his dad is just happy that Alex is finally becoming a real man by getting his curse.

After Alex prepared, they headed over to the church. Along the way, they passed by a lot of market stalls and crowds, selling goods like fruits, sweets, vegetable and even some artifacts. Stalls owner yelling their deals to make bystanders interested in buying their stuff.

"5 Rias for 1 Lettuce! Special Deal today! Buy 1 Free 1!"

"TOMATOES! CUCUMBERS! ASPARAGUS! ALL THE VEGGIES YOU NEED! BUY TODAY FOR HALF OFF!"

Alex looked in awe as he stopped at a stall that was selling sweets. Lance noticed that Alex stopped following him, turned around and saw Alex staring at the sweets as if he's going to swallow them whole.

"Alex, why did you run off by yourself? What if I lost you in the crowds?"

"But these sweets look tasty! Can I have some? Plus it's my birthday today!"

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"No, let's go."

"Hehehe." The stall owner chuckled awkwardly. "Gee Sir, you kids want some sweets, why not buy some for him?"

"The stall uncle is right!" Alex agreed.

Lance looked at Alex in defeat, let out a sigh and pulled out his wallet.

"Fine, but you only get 1."

"Yay! I want the chocolate tart!"

The stall owner grabbed a piece of chocolate tart with a piece of paper wrapping and handed it to Alex. Lance paid the man 6 Rias, but he gave him back 3 Rias generously.

"Huh? Isn't it normally 6 Rias?"

"Nah, it's half off for today, I'm feeling generous," Sorren said with a big smile on his face. "The name's Sorren, come and buy some more sir!"

"Thanks," Lance said as he puts his wallet back in his pocket. "I will."

Alex and Lance continued walking towards the church. After a while, they arrived at the church as Alex finishes eating his chocolate tart. Alex looked in awe as he looked around the church. The giant white pillar seems to be made out of blessed concrete. Chiselled symbols on the walls of the church to make them look more aesthetic. Even though Alex doesn't understand what each of the symbols means, it's still very pretty to look at.

"Dad," Alex said. "This place looks stunning! Why have you not brought me to this place before?"

"Kids below the age of 7 aren't allowed to enter the church," Lance answered. "Take off your shoes before you go in."

"Okay!"

Alex and his father walked inside the church, Alex kept gasping at everything he sees. Since this is the first time he had ever been to a church. At the same time, Alex is also trying to find a trash can to throw away the piece of paper wrapping. But he couldn't find any, so he decided to just throw the paper onto the ground. Lance immediately noticed this and stops him.

"Alex, don't throw the trash onto the ground!"

"Wha-Why?"

"It's is incredibly disrespectful to litter in the church!" Lance lectured. "Put it in your pocket first, throw it away later when you find a trash can."

"Fine!" Alex said as he puts the piece of paper in his pocket unwillingly.

Suddenly, a nun walks up to Lance. The nun is wearing a black and white nun's veil, she also wore a necklace that has a strange religious symbol on it that resembles a flower.

"Sir," Istial said. "Is your name Lance Armstrong? You've booked for a Sunday curse examination, right?"

"Yes."

"Well," Istial said. "My name is Istial, and I'll be examining your child's curse today, may I know your child's name?"

"Alex." Lance implied. "Alexander Armstrong."

"Great! Now you two, please come with me."

Istial guided Alex and Lance into a small room, with a mirror and an altar in the middle of it. The mirror gave Alex chills when he got a glimpse of it. The mirror's top frame resembles a ghost-like creature with hollow cavernous eyes and razor-sharp teeth. Alex looked at the bottom of the altar, and it had a bloodstain in it. Despite the questionable sight, he's still extremely excited to see his curse.

"Istial, how is this going to work?" Alex asked Istial.

"This mirror is made out of Phantom quartz, it will reflect someone curse-."

Before Istial even finishes explaining, Alex jumped in front of the mirror, but the mirror didn't react in anyway.

"It's not working!"

Istial is very confused with Alex's excitement. Since no one is excited to see the thing that will negatively impact their life. Unlike most people who are terrified at the thought of curse examination, Alex isn't even showing any signs of fear.

"Sir, why is your child excited to see his curse?" Istial whispered. "This isn't a normal behaviour for a kid."

"Just...ignore him. He thinks curses are cool despite how many time I lecture him about it." Lance quietly complained. "I can't bear his stupidity."

"Sir, what you need is patience when you're teaching your kid, don't say stuff like that," Istial said. "He's still a learning kid."

"Hey, what are you babbling about?" Alex yelled. "I need to know my curses now!"

"Don't yell in church!" Lance scolded. "You're being incredibly rude, be patient and apologize!"

Istial walked towards Alex as she's holding a dagger, then proceeded to hand it over to Alex. Alex carefully holds the dagger as to not accidentally cut himself.

"Uhm, what's this dagger for? Istial?"

"I'd prefer if you called me sister Istial."

"Sorry, sister Istial," Alex said while trying not to be rude as his father is glaring at him menacingly. "What's this dagger for?"

"You'll have to cut your finger and bleed in this altar. In order for this mirror to possess your blood and reflect your curse."

After hearing that Alex needs to impale himself with a dagger, he flinches out of fright and most of his excitement died down. After a while, he gained the courage to raise the dagger, putting it closer to his finger as he was about to cut it. But he's still shivering.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lance asked. "You look pale."

"Anything," Alex said. "Anything for my curse."

He pricked his finger and flinched from the pain, he moves his bleeding finger to the altar and let the blood dripped into it. The Phantom Mirror reacted with Alex's blood and started to turn black, somehow, it's getting blacker. Suddenly, the mirror turned blood red. Alex felt a sudden chill down his spine as he saw the blood-red colour of the mirror. Then, the red faded away and formed into a few unreadable symbols. Alex got extremely excited and confused when he saw those symbols, he thought his curse looked cool but had no idea what it does.

"Istial! What does this curse do to me?"

"It's, sister Istial,"

"Ah Right. Sister Istial what does the curse do?"

"I'm not sure yet," Istial responded while writing down the curse's symbol on a piece of paper. "We need to get a curseologist to understand what this curse means. Fortunately, our pope is one, but he's not here yet."

"Awh man, what a bummer," Alex said disappointedly. "Well! I'm going to tell my friends about this!"

"Wait-!"

Alex immediately ran out of the room before Istial could stop him. Lance let out a huge sigh as he didn't even try to stop him.

"Sir, your child is definitely interesting, to say the least," Istial said.

"Sister, I don't know what else to tell you about him." Lance sighed. "No matter how much I lecture him he would never change.

"Well, I guess it takes time for him to mature sir."

Istial took a peek into the altar, she noticed that there's something strange about Alex's blood. In his blood, strange small blue particles could be seen, it's subtle but can be easily spotted with a naked eye. She immediately found this suspicious, and Lance could tell as well. But he's not suspicious of the blood, he's worried because of Istial's reaction.

"Istial," Lance said.

"Y-yes, sir?" Istial said nervously, she avoided eye contact with Lance as she's scared of him.

"When does the pope return to the church?"

"I-in, like 5 minutes, why sir?"

"May I talk to him when he returns?"