CHAPTER 17: THE UNBLESSED

Disheveled blond hair, dried-up pale white skin, empty eye sockets dripping with a viscous black fluid… And most importantly, elven shaped ears that have been bruised and damaged. What Soren was currently looking at was almost an exact image of what he had seen during his brief encounter with the Malevolent Hex known as a Memory Void Spirit.

“This…” Sweat dripped down from his forehead as he resisted the urge to stumble back. No wonder he couldn’t recognize it immediately. He had been purposefully suppressing the memories of that event, and the trauma that came with it. But now, all of it was crashing into him once more, like an unstoppable tsunami eager to consume everything in its wake.

Soren grit his teeth. “This thing… I’ve seen something just like it before I met up with you guys. But rather than having a body, the one I encountered was invisible—somewhat like a ghost.”

“I see…” Myrin’s voice deepened.

“Why the hell did you guys stop the carriage? We need to find a place to camp out for the night!” Tina’s voice jolted them from their reverie. She had been busy prepping arrows for the next day’s hunt but decided to check out what was going on.

She walked up to the group and frowned. “What the?...”

“A Malevolent Hex,” answered Myrin. “And a fairly unnatural one at that. Look here,” he pointed toward the creature’s void-filled eyes. “That liquid, it's pure anima. I have never seen anima this corrupted before… And for it to be this concentrated that it’s completely visible to the naked eye is completely unnatural.”

“I'll go scout out ahead… Something isn’t right.” Before they could reply, Tyrel flew off into the distance in the blink of an eye.

“Soren, try using [Eyes of the Fairy] on it. My Soul Realm can’t penetrate the thick miasma that permeates its soul’s outer layers, but your ability might be able to do it.”

He glanced at Myrin, “You said this thing is a Malevolent Hex right? What the hell are they?” The information he had recorded on them wasn’t enough to fully understand them.

“Malevolent Hexes… One of the biggest taboos of the Mysterious World. Do you remember how I said that in the Beyond, all things exist as a separate entity?”

Soren remembered their conversation—he nodded.

“That separate entity is called a ‘Runic Existence'. If The Beyond holds some aspects of this world’s will, then Runic Existences hold the will of the objects they represent. Or as our Mistress likes to describe them—high dimensional structures that hold the values of the object they represent in the natural world.”

Soren crossed his arms. “What does this have to do with Malevolent Hexes?”

“A Malevolent Hex is a being that has had its runic existence tampered with.”

Soren’s eyes widened. “So you’re telling me… Someone purposefully created this thing? Through magecraft?”

“Indeed… Unlike inanimate objects, a living being’s Runic Existence resides at the core of one’s soul. Someone was experimenting with forbidden Mysteries.”

A chill ran down his spine as he gazed into the creature’s abyssal eyes. What was in front of him was a living person—what was left of one at least…

Did the same thing happen to that Memory Void Spirit? The question lingered in his mind. He had always been curious about the true nature of that thing that attacked him. But also, he began to consider something else.

“The Malevolent Hex that I saw… It wasn’t an adult like this one. It was a child.”

“.....”

They all stood there silently. Soren decided to break the awkwardness. “I'll use [Eyes of the Fairy] now. But I need to focus a bit. It hasn’t been that long since the last time I used it.”

Myrin nodded.

Taking a deep breath, Soren prepared himself to dive back into the unseen. His Soul Weapon activated, and his vision turned into pastel colors once more. He looked deeply into the creature, brushing past the countless distractions and oddities that permeate the Beyond.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

His vision honed into what he desired to see most. The creature laying down on the cyan grass looked ethereal from his perspective—as if he was staring at a ghost or specter. And within the frame that makes up its body, was a tiny blue rose—at least that’s what it looked like to him—its shape was oscillating rapidly, making it almost impossible to truly grasp what it really looked like. Soren wasn’t sure what it was, but he could tell that his vision was responding to his thoughts. He assumed that it was the being’s Runic Existence—there was no other conclusion to come to.

Just when he was about to look closer, cracks began to appear across the blue rose. Soren had no time to react as an abyssal black mist seeped out from the crevices, creating a cloud of darkness that surrounded the now ruptured rose.

Moments later, Soren noticed his vision faltering. It was as if he was looking into a deep, void-filled crevice that went on for infinity—absolutely nothing could be seen. But even within that unending darkness, a single phrase was heard.

“The Mist…”

Soren dropped to his knees in agony. “Ugh!” His ability deactivated on its own. Tina and Myrin rushed to his side to hold him.

“What happened?” Myrin asked.

“.....” Soren could not answer immediately. He had no clue what had happened.

All of a sudden, they heard the Malevolent Hex growl. They all looked in horror as the creature laying before them swiftly broke apart into dust. It had withered away without leaving a single trace of its existence behind—not even its soul remained.

Myrin grit his teeth. “May the blossoms embrace thee.”

Tina lowered her head in silent prayer.

Soren stumbled back, What the hell?! " A single phrase echoed in his mind as he rubbed away the pain of overusing [Eyes of the Fairy]: “The Mist…”

Soren quickly activated [Record] to make sure everything he had seen was chronicled. The mysterious fountain pen manifested itself and got to work.

Event Log

New Entry Recorded: [Memory Void Husk] (Malevolent Hex)

New Entry Recorded: [The Nameless Mist] (Mystery)

New Entry Recorded: [Corrupted Runic Existence] (Mystery)

His [Eyes of the Fairy] ability had once again proved its usefulness. He swiftly ordered his Soul Weapon to turn the page to where information about The Nameless Mist was stored.

The Nameless Mist

A mysterious form of Anima that should not belong to this world.

That’s it? Only a single sentence was chronicled. He mulled over the words ‘should not belong to this world.’ Is it just foreign to Yarian, or something even more anomalous? He had no answer to that question. Soren decided to flip the pages to view the information recorded about the Memory Void Husk.

Memory Void Husk

A corrupted being that exhibits the visual features of an elf. This entity has clear signs of it being once a living being. It had been transformed into a Malevolent Hex through the influence of a corrupted form of Anima that should not exist within this world. This anima had managed to erase and shroud its runic existence, causing the creature to lose sight of itself, becoming nothing but a husk of flesh that wanders around without any sense of purpose.

Soren blinked. Although he was expecting this kind of information, he was confused by the last sentence. Without any sense of purpose… That did not make any sense to him. Although the poor thing had clearly lost most of its will, there was something still inside of it that remained. If not that, then how could it have possibly mentioned “The Mist” to him? He decided to forward his findings to Myrin and Tina.

“It seems that this person truly had a strong will when he was alive. What a shame, the Court of Roses would have loved to add him to their ranks…” Myrin spoke with a tinge of bitterness.

Tina glanced at Myrin and frowned. “But, Myrin…”

“I know,” he interrupted her. He glanced back at Soren who was confused. “For whatever reason, this person, even in the face of imminent existential erasure, held a goal that he needed to accomplish no matter what. It is for that reason that he lasted for this long… If what you have said is true, then it is certainly possible that he was trying to send a message. Though…”

Soren tilted his neck. “Though what?”

Myrin continued, “This person… He is an Unblessed. I can tell from his attire and mannerisms. But most importantly, his bruised ears.”

Soren frowned. “What the hell is an Unblessed?”

“They are of the servant class in Yadrian society,” Tina answered. “Their existence in Yadria is similar to how the Selkie Federation treats non-Magi. Though there are some differences.”

So Yadria has a caste system? Well color me surprised. He almost wanted to roll his eyes. Even after crossing dimensions, human nature still persisted. Though this time, it was the elves doing it. Not that he was naive to assume that Yarian didn’t have its fair share of societal problems.

“Even so, what does this have to do with the person’s will power? Are you looking down on people of a lower class?”

Tina shook her head, “No, it's a bit more complex than that…” She looked at Myrin and sighed, “How about you explain it to him.”

“In Yadrian society,” he spoke solemnly, “To be ‘Unblessed’ means that your will is not strong enough or is simply not in the good graces of the Flower Maiden. I personally disagree with this notion, but that is what is widely believed in Yadria. And as you can see, this person clearly shows how their blatant disregard for those with unblessed lineages can make them overlook even the finest of gems…”