“Your opinion, Antina?” Ludmint smiled.

“I have no objection. This method is the most effective at nullifying the curse.”

“Then I shall prepare everything. Please entertain our Iris in the meantime.”

Iris’s eyebrows twitched. She glared at Ludmint, who pretended not to notice anything, and then at Antina, who met her eyes with bashful sincerity. These two entrapped her with their sweet voices and loving gestures. She knew what they were up to!

“Shouldn’t you ask for my opinion?” Iris sharply inhaled. “I’m the victim of your plan.”

“Your wish is to stay awake.”

“But not that way!”

Iris shifted her eyes around the dining room. The unfurled curtains covered the windows through which moonlight shone. Their star-patterned fabric, glimmering in a deep blue hue, sealed the cold nightly winds from entering and the warm ambiguous voices from leaving.

This atmosphere of heightened emotions, where every touch itched her skin and every pant impassioned her chest, rendered her defenceless and feeble, fragile and sensitive.

Antina appeared behind Iris and lightly massaged her shoulders. Her fingers stroked Iris’s thin clothes, which failed to protect her innocent body.

“You’ve been restraining yourself for the whole day,” Antina said. “It must’ve grandly affected you.”

“We don’t know what will happen. It’s too dangerous, even if it’s you two.”

“Are you worried for me?” Ludmint covered her mouth, though her smile seeped through. “You shouldn’t. I’m not as fragile as you think.”

“So is the curse.”

“Mother’s power will ensure our safety,” Antina said.

She motioned her hand. A dark insignia of rose-shaped black light carved itself into the air in front of her before dissipating into the airy atmosphere. The Domain of Nightly Concealment layered over Iris and her Corruption Power which, tainted by the curse, wavered as if caressed endlessly by the delicate fingers of her beloved.

Iris straightened her back and tensed up, keeping her moans deep within her chest, where they dissonantly echoed in her mind. If such a sound were to escape her, she would lose her excuse.

That outcome didn’t fret her as much as she expected.

“There are other methods that don’t risk your well-being,” she said.

“I don’t mind it if it can lessen your pain.”

“You must, if you treasure me.”

Ludmint playfully traced her fingers along her figure. “My body belongs to you, Iris. Your wife is waiting for you to play with her heart.”

“You’re my fiancée.”

Ludmint pouted. “You always focus on the irrelevant part.”

“Your safety isn’t irrelevant.”

Ludmint was about to argue with her unreasonable fiancée when Antina drew her hands from Iris’s shoulders to her neck and finally on her cheeks, brushing her silky hair. Iris shivered and covered her mouth, flushing with pink emotions.

“Ludmint, we cannot force her. Let’s try other methods first. She’ll surely accept our offer if the rest fails.”

Iris refused to acknowledge that disguised question. She slipped out of Antina’s grasp and ate quietly the rest of the food Ludmint thoughtfully prepared. Their tastes melted in her mouth and overflowed out of her heart, which craved these intense flavours. They pushed away the worry, the anticipation, of what to come.

Antina and Ludmint too savoured the food, though their attentions remained much more on their fidgeting patient, who ate swiftly as if she had been fasting for a week.

Upon this observation, Iris delayed herself by wiping her mouth with the provided scented handkerchief, nibbling at the dessert, and sipping the fermented fruity punch.

The dinner ended with plates empty and hearts animated. Ludmint skillfully cleaned the dining room without any magic, just to prolong the tension that distressed Iris, whispering suggestions she dared not listen.

“Iris, what should we do to your body?” Ludmint said.

“Your phrasing is ambiguous.” Iris sighed. “I know someone knowledgeable in the interplay between powers.”

Ludmint narrowed her eyes. She recalled none of Iris’s friends with the specialised knowledge. Had she already lost sight of her wife-to-be, whom she looked after every day?

“Who is this friend you hid from me?”

Iris’s eyes widened before they curved into the crescent shape, which indiscernibly flirted with Ludmint, who reacted to that provocation with a gleam in her rapidly calculating eyes.

“That person isn’t my friend; she’s my fiancée.” Iris pointed at Ludmint and coyly shrank back. Her smiling eyes pleaded with tears brimming in them. “I trust you, Ludmint, more than anyone else. Will you help me?”

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Ludmint let out a strange noise which, combined with her surprised expression, made her look adorable. She was tricked, tricked by none other than her Iris!

Antina giggled, evidently waiting for this moment. “She caught you, Ludmint. Will you deny her victory?”

“Don’t tease me, Antina. We’re on the same side.”

“You’re on her side, always.”

“You too.”

Antina averted her eyes from Ludmint and looked at Iris, who lifted her head to meet Antina’s gaze. That pair of exhausted yet clear eyes created bubbles in her heart, bubbles which suffocated her, drowning her in the fuzziness she’d never experienced before.

Ludmint broke the silence by clearing her throat.

“The first floor of our lab won’t help. We’ll use Black Polylith to deal with the curse.” Ludmint grabbed Iris’s hands. “You can hug me when it hurts.”

“I trust you not to deliberately harm me.”

“Don’t say it like I would hurt you.”

“The motivation is there.”

It was tempting, but Ludmint wouldn’t play around with her fiancée’s safety. There would be a lot of opportunities after this. She could wait and receive her rewards with interest.

Ludmint led Iris and Antina through the secret passage into the underground laboratory, passing the first floor where she stored her bizarre potions and chemicals. They arrived at the second floor, greeted by the black tiles outlined by luminous golden fluids coursing on their edges.

Antina observed everything with bright stars dancing in her eyes. She walked to a large cylinder within which suspended in unknown green liquid a carcass of a Wild Beast. Its feathered skin bubbled with black bloodied pus of evil origin.

She touched the reinforced glass. Her fingertips radiated dark purple light, which dimmed the liquid’s glowing quality. Her flickering eyes stayed on the swirling magical energy. She drew back her hand and returned to Iris’s side.

“Is this your first time?” Iris said.

“Mother’s quite protective of me.”

“She’s been here before.”

“I was busy elsewhere.” Antina eyed Iris. “Ludmint’s mean is beyond me. She might be her own undoing.”

Iris chuckled. “I trust her not to sabotage my health.”

“No matter the outcome, I’ll get to be with you. There’s no reason to deceive you now.”

Iris ignored the implication and walked to a small platform hovering on the floor. The surroundings morphed into a set of tea tables, where Iris sat and drank warm herbal tea while waiting for the ascent.

The floating black pillars, which patrolled this massive floor, gathered around the platform. Their golden liquid showered rays of soft yellow light upon Iris, scanning for abnormality. She closed her eyes, waiting for the warmth to subside.

She opened her eyes when the platform came to a stop. The black pillars receded their powers, unable to suppress the elusive curse.

No one expected it to work. Antina helped Iris up and lead her to the highest structure of the flying island. Ludmint followed closely, staring at Iris’s tired back, her thought boiling in her mind.

Before Iris was an altar with mystical symbols engraved on its surface. The symbols glowed in faint golden light, exuding thin spectral lines that dissipated in the air like sparkles.

Iris stepped to the centre of the altar and looked down. She now stood on the highest peak, her view overlooking all of the second floor, which appeared dim and illusory in its monotonously vague detail. Her eyes couldn’t focus on anything; she didn’t have to focus on anything.

Ludmint’s presence assured her from behind. Once she could no longer hold on, she only needed to lean back.

“Please take gentle care of me,” she said.

“When have I not?”

“You . . . can be rough and fierce. Not that I dislike it.”

“The occasion permits me; this time is different.”

Iris laughed. Her voice reverberated throughout the silent floor. Golden light intensified their brilliance and congregated around Iris. They muffled her tone and obscured her silhouette, which melted into the radiance.

The golden light crashed against Iris’s power, a mixture of Corruption and Holy Powers, whose ever-changing colour revolved between shades of blue and gold and purple.

Series of illusory wings, feathered and demonic, sprung from her flickering outline. They violently flicked as if trying to break free from the invisible chains and soar skywards, but they shattered upon the mountainous resistance. Like meteors, their sparks impacted the black floor, leaving small caters housing puddles of rainbow-coloured condensed magic.

Ludmint frowned. The wings signified the clash between the curse and Black Polylith. The continuous cycle of destruction and reformation indicated that the curse didn’t weaken.

Iris must be in mind-shattering pain, yet she never let out a scream.

This purification was akin to cutting with a searing blade the rotten flesh. Each ray of light, a dagger of all-penetrating potency, sliced through Iris, through her slimy body, through her spiritual heart, through her delicate soul.

Ludmint channelled her Corruption Power and plunged her hand at the torrent of light. Antina snapped her fingers. Pitch-black chains coiled around Ludmint, restraining her.

Ludmint stared at Antina. “She’s in excessive pain.”

“She has yet to give up.”

“The treatment’s already failed.”

“You’re denying her capability, Ludmint. Is this what a fiancée would do?”

Ludmint pursed her lips. Her eyes pinkened, turning watery. “I don’t care about her pain tolerance or limit. I just want to keep her safe.”

“Restricting her will only make her fragile.”

Ludmint knew this well, but what could she do?

The platform trembled. The surrounding golden pillars darkened, their radiance flickering.

A delicate hand broke through the torrent of light and swiped groundwards. A pressure wave blasted the flow of light into a downpour extending throughout the floor. Luminous snowflakes descended and broke into embers. The night-like blackness of the second floor lost out to this new dawn.

At the centre stood Iris. She looked at the back of her hands, where heart-shaped insignias manifested, pulsing alongside her heart. They whispered encouraging words, words she pretended not to hear.

Nupian’s giggle rang in her mind, subsiding as the insignias too sank into the depth of her soul.

Iris smiled. Her pale expression, that of a terminal patient, regained its pinkness when she met Ludmint’s tormented gaze. The weariness threatening to consume her felt light and airy, and if Ludmint were to embrace her, it was sure to disappear.

Antina let go of Ludmint. Ludmint came to her fiancée, though she didn’t know what to say.

“What are you waiting for?” Iris said.

“May I hug you?”

Iris shook her head. She tightly embraced her nervous fiancée. Her bubbling slime body, warmed by the magical light, soaked Ludmint’s clothes, which stuck to her membrane as if merging with her.

Ludmint returned the embrace and closed her moist eyes. “I hurt you.”

“You hug me.”

“I let you suffer meaninglessly.”

“You let me hug you.”

“I’m not the one who needs consoling.”

“Then don’t cry, Silly.”

Ludmint didn’t cry. She steadied her emotions and drew back the churning mists in her eyes. Yet she refused to let go of Iris.

The snowfall of golden light vanished into the black-tiled floor. The floating pillars returned to their original positions, leaving Iris and Ludmint in their reassuring ritual.

Feeling left out, Antina walked to the couple, leaned close, and hugged them. They snapped out of their trance, which sent flushes rushing through their faces.

“After Iris recovers, we’ll head for the third floor,” Ludmint said.

Iris was about to speak when Antina covered her mouth. “You have no say in this, Iris. Rest well if you wish to speed up the process.”

Whatever she could say, those two would never listen to them. Iris could only let them soothe her body with their hands, her heart with their presence. She closed her eyes and prayed to herself that she never fell asleep.