9.

image [https://i.imgur.com/aUZPPJy.jpeg]

I had to adjust to the light glaring at me from above when I woke up.

‘Good morning, princess,’ May said.

My neck turned. I was laying on the floor, still in the cavern. It was as quiet as always, with the moss acting as the sole lanterns.

May was sitting beside me next to a campfire. The flames radiated a constant warmth that caressed the side of my face. I breathed out sharply.

The lack of feeling I had experienced rushed me from the darkness beyond sleep, where it had haunted my subconscious. The siren, I thought, horrified. What had she done to me?

Frightened emotions built a castle in my core with the efficiency of a slave army. I shook my head and kicked the sandcastle apart, placing my attention on examining my body to keep me occupied.

The first thing which jumped out at me was that I didn’t feel any pain.

At once, the slaves erected a wall around their castle, guarding their construct of doom against my descending boot.

My breathing came in rushed puffs. The void. It had followed me…

No! That couldn’t be. The touch of the cavern floor on my knuckles was rough. I could still feel. So, I tore down the walls, and my racing heart slowed down.

A disturbing fact was pushed to the forefront of my head: I wasn’t wearing any bandages.

One hand went to my neck, where the siren had bit me. The skin was smooth and whole. I frowned. I tried to cover the area with my sixth sense, which lead to nothing. Every sign pointed to me rubbing my fingers over a regular patch of skin. The rest of my body was the same. Not a scratch anywhere.

How was that possible? Waking up had been a gamble at best. But if I won, I at least expected to rouse a mummy.

I whirled on who I thought must have the answers to my questions. Lifting my head from the robe propped underneath it, I sat upright, opened my mouth—

And yawned.

Damn.

May gave me a deadpan stare.

I coughed.

‘Good morning?’ I said, both returning the greeting and asking.

She nodded.

‘You slept for seven hours.’

…damn. I wasn’t that much of a sleeper. But I supposed it was unavoidable with everything that had happened.

‘You watched over me the entire time?’

‘Just the last hour. I drifted in and out of sleep for the rest of it.’

That was to be expected. She had spent a lot of maura during our fight. Thinking of the fight, I cringed and made myself smaller. Another thing we had to speak about.

‘Did the moss heal me?’ I asked, staring at the top of my list of mounting questions.

It hadn’t done the same for May’s wounds—her calf was still wrapped. Though I saw that the bandage was dirty and needed to be reapplied.

She shook her head side to side.

‘You were healed when I came to.’

My brows touched each other. I’d healed during my sleep?

May had a look on her face that said: ‘Don’t ask me.’

An echo of the system notification I heard before falling asleep rang in my head.

Status, I thought.

Status Screen for Djina Marshall.

Hunter Nickname

N.A.

Hunter Rank

N.A.

Affiliation

Hunter Academy

Physical Status

Rested, The Siren’s Accursed

Maura

21/22

Physical

E

Mind

E

AP

E

Talent

N.A.

Abilities

Basic Maura Nature Manipulation (Water) - rank B, Basic Dagger Wielding - rank E, Basic Body Enhancement - rank B, Basic Weapon Enhancement I - E, Water Striding II - E

Ailments

Curse Mark of the Siren.

I took a moment to digest what I was reading.

There were some new abilities, and my Basic Body Enhancement had ranked up. The latter was a matter of time since every fight got me more used to enhancing myself and powering the muscles necessary for certain movements. All of this was unimportant.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

My maura capacity was down from fifty to twenty-two…what in the shit? I used my mind to click on the ailment tab for more information. While an effects panel opened up, the system had no information on it, listing the description as its favourite word: ‘N.A’.

A bundle of nerves sprung in the back of my mind, and the slaves rallied behind it. I stomped on them and everything they stood for. Calm down, Djina. I wouldn’t allow them to sound the alarm without having all the information.

‘May,’ I whispered softly. The name trembled over my lips despite me trying to sound composed. ‘My status says I’m cursed.’

May was staring into the campfire like it had called her a slur. Her body swayed in tune with the motion of the flames. She seemed a part of them. A whole that was separated.

I wasn’t sure why I thought she knew more about this curse than me, but I latched onto the flame that she was for comfort.

She looked up.

‘Cursed?’

I told her what the siren did to me, the name of the ailment, and what I’d heard the system say prior to entering my beauty sleep.

May was quiet for a while.

‘The siren must’ve healed you,’ she said. ‘Nothing else makes sense.’

She pronounced the words slowly, as if weighing each one.

‘Healed me?’

I frowned. Was she trying to convince me or herself?

There was no convincing me, though. She hadn’t felt what I felt. That darkness, that expanding void, could never be anything remotely close to healing.

‘It’s a curse,’ I said with a finality I didn’t want to acknowledge.

She side-eyed me.

‘The siren was undoubtedly a lord spirit. I don’t know what a being as strong as her is doing in the first layer. But if she wanted us dead, we would be. That we’re not means she wants us alive. She wants you alive.’

A lord spirit. I’d heard of the term before. They were spirits of the natural elements, who had gained intelligence and had absolute authority over their element.

I swallowed.

‘You really think she’s a lord?’

May deadpanned.

‘She could speak and shape her own body. That’s a lord.’

I leaned back. That meant she could’ve stopped me from using my water striding with ease. I shivered. How many times could she have killed me?

‘But what about the curse,’ I said.

‘It’s a good thing,’ May said.

‘Is it?’

She nodded, staring into the campfire again.

‘The effect of a curse depends on the spirit. Lords have wants just like humans. Whatever that want is, she needs you alive and well for it. That’s why she healed you.’

Her words started coming out faster and faster. By the end, her tone was crystal clear. She was assured of her case.

I wasn’t.

‘My maura capacity decreased, though.’

‘Could be a side effect,’ May said easily. ‘The medical centre at the academy will know for sure.’

I exhaled. The slaves were still building their castle, but a share of their army had routed, giving up the battle. May was right on one thing: the medical centre would know. Stewing my fears any more wouldn’t achieve anything.

And, well, at least I wasn’t dead? That counted, right?

‘I’m glad,’ I said, more to myself than anyone else.

I’d come too close to death in a day’s time to be anything but.

May nodded.

‘Me, too.’

She glanced at me. There was a pause, as if she wanted to say something. But she turned to the fire again, continuing to glare at it.

A silence stretched, and I tilted my head.

‘Are you okay?’ I said.

I knew I was the one cursed and all, but the siren had manipulated her, too—hold on. Now that I thought about it, the siren had lifted her out of the water, hadn’t she?…how was that possible?

‘I am,’ she said.

Her chin came to rest on her knees, and she hugged her legs.

‘Just tired.’

I hummed.

Discreetly, I searched the immediate space around me for my gear. My pouch was next to the robes acting as my cushion. So was my dagger. Both within arm’s reach.

‘Say,’ I said.

May shifted towards me, bumping the blade at her side. There was no weight behind her attention like there had been during the battle at the gate. Yet her gaze was still piercing.

‘You remember how many corpses we looted to get your cores?’ I asked.

I was careful to genuinely scrunch up my forehead and keep my tone steady. My right hand was already on the floor, steadying my upper body. Or so I faked it.

‘Three,’ May said without pause. ‘Why?’

‘Just forgot,’ I said. ‘It feels so long ago.’

It wasn’t lie, so there was no need for me to keep up an act.

May sighed.

‘You can say that again.’

I was about to respond when two pigs squealed in my ear. My cheeks went red.

‘That was my stomach,’ I said.

From the way May’s flushed, hers had voiced its opinion as well.

Our eyes locked. May’s lips curving ever so slightly was the drop sending me over the edge, and I burst out in laughter that drowned my aching tummy. I fell back on the floor, my legs floundering and nearly entering the campfire.

May was smiling head to toe, shaking her head.

I wiped away my tears.

‘For a second there I thought you were the siren,’ I said.

May’s neck whipped around.

‘Huh? Why would you think that?!’

I got my breath under control and sat upright again. Then, I turned my face into an expressionless mask and stared straight into the flame.

‘My name is May,’ I said, mimicking her voice, ‘and I’m so mysterious.’

A moment of quiet passed. Then, both of us burst into another fit of laughter.

‘Who are you—’ I caught up to my breath. ‘—trying to look cool for?! It’s just us two.’

‘Shut up!’ she yelled in indignation. ‘I was just thinking, okay. I can’t help it that a fire is a comfortable backdrop.’

‘Yes, yes,’ I said, chuckling. ‘I get it. Please, just tell me you weren’t whispering “I’ll show them” under your breath. That’d be really embarrassing.’

May threw her pouch at me before I finished my sentence and snorted.

‘You don’t get to ridicule me,’ she said. ‘Did you see yourself when you were fighting? You really thought you were the main character for a second, huh. Disgusting.’

‘That’s because I am.’

‘No, you’re not. A shrimp is what you are.’

‘Nu-uh,’ I said. ‘That’s Rankless for you.’

She flipped me off.

The open space in the cavern swallowed the last vibrations of my laughter. I joined May in watching the campfire. It was quiet again. This time, though, the silence was as warm as the flames.

May broke it first.

‘I apologise,’ she said.

I pursed my lips.

‘For?’

She rolled her eyes.

‘Don’t play dumb.’

My genuinely raised brow prompted her to continue.

‘You’re really going to make me spell it out?’

When I didn’t speak, she sighed.

‘For what I said in front of the gate!’

She was screaming as if I was the one who offended her.

I swallowed my scoff. Fire users, being vulnerable, and saying sorry. Challenge impossible.

‘That’s what you were brooding on?’ I said. ‘Stop it. It doesn’t suit you. You were mind controlled, so I know you didn’t mean it.’

May solemnly shook her head.

‘She may have put it in my head,’ she said. ‘But part of me believed it.’

This time, it was me that rolled my eyes.

‘You really believed I was an assassin?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘But I wanted to.’

I blinked. What was that supposed to mean? I tried to read her expression for a clue. The campfire cast half of her face in a deep shadow, and her blazing hair was completely tangled and dishevelled, giving her a raw and wild appearance. Yet the lighting made me think I could touch her core if I just reached out with my arm.

Seeing her like this…why did it make my insides cramp?

A slow breeze made the flames dance.

‘Aren’t you afraid?’ May said.

The crackling fire devoured what she said instantly, that’s how soft she spoke.

‘Afraid of what?’ I said. ‘The curse?’

‘The constant battles,’ she said. ‘The killing. The monsters…your goals.’

Here she trailed off, peering to our right.

Our campground was near the entrance to the area holding the gate. From where we were sitting, we could barely see the dungeon entrance, with the figure of the siren. No matter how long I stared, though, I didn’t detect a hint of movement from the statue.

Was she there but just hiding? I didn’t want to know.

The ends of May’s robe scraped over the floor.

‘Everything,’ she finished.

I didn’t respond right away. Instead, I closed my eyes. The void was with me immediately. It clung to my skin, and where it did, it stole away the warmth.

‘Yes,’ I said, opening my eyes again, and the moss chased away the dark. ‘But I think I’m looking forward to it even more,’ I added.

May waited for me to continue, so I did.

‘This is the first time,’ I said, ‘I feel like I’m getting closer to my mother while she isn’t physically here.’

Despite everything that’d happened, I’d grown stronger. Oh, I wasn’t out of the woods yet—because who knew what the curse was?—but I’d achieved something.

May clutched her knees in silence. Right when it was starting to grow awkward, she reached for her blade and propped herself up.

She smiled.

‘Wise words from a shrimp,’ she said. ‘How colourful.’

I gathered my stuff and stood as well.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Home,’ she said. ‘The hideout. It should be around eight in the evening. We can make it back to the academy in the morning.’

I killed the fire and made sure we didn’t forget anything. May’s sheathe clanged on the cavern floor as she limped in the opposite direction of the gate. A thought shot into my head.

‘Did you carry me up here?’ I said.

‘Nope. I didn’t start the fire either.’

Huh.

‘Then who brought us here?’ I looked back at the entrance. ‘Can sirens start a fire?’

‘Why don’t you go ask her?’ May said. ‘Shrimps and sirens have to be related somewhere up the tree, so you’re basically family.’

I briefly considered kicking her walking stick out from under her but quickly decided that was too harsh a counter measure. Instead, I formed a bubble of water in my palm and splashed the back of her neck.

She couldn’t catch up to me to punish me either, which made it the perfect move in my book.