Chapter Forty-Three: Haunting

As it turned out, curses were another area of study. Oftentimes, they were like puzzles, requiring very specific actions to lift them. When Ash asked about it, Skori scowled at him, waving the question away,

“Light, boy, do I look like one of those fancy academy teachers? Go ask them when you go to classes. All I know is that there is a bloody curse on the place! Somethin’ about a little girl, and that’s about as much as I can say.”

“I’m on my own, message received.”

“What about you? Do you know about curses?”

Lilith showed him an image of her attacking an abstract darkness, followed by her looking triumphant. She put her hands on her hips, smiling.

“Yeah, I guess that’s all you need to do. Just attack the curse. Problem solved.”

He rubbed his face, thinking. If he could get a book on curses, he might, just maybe, have a plan of action.

He snapped his fingers, gesturing at Lilith,

“Let’s go. We have a library to visit!”

Ash marched out, Lilith behind him.

________________

Wyrmhaven’s library was massive.

You could fit a couple of villages in here, Ash thought, marveling.

Shelves were everywhere, and there were so many books he could spend entire lifetimes reading and not finish them all. There was a small desk in the front, dwarfed by the city of tomes all around. The scent of old leather, ink, and paper hung in the air, teasing the nose. A tall, willowy woman with chestnut hair and sharp business clothes sat behind it.

Her face was heart-shaped, and her brown eyes were lit with intelligence.

“Yes?”

“Hi! I’m Ash. I am a new student here. I was wondering if I could check out a book on curses?”

“Badge?”

Ash didn’t want to reveal his ignorance, but it must have been on his face because she raised a brow,

“You’re not just new, you’re a foundie.”

“I’m not familiar with the term,” he replied dryly.

“You’ll learn about it in bronze ranked elar and elan class. You’re restricted to foundational stage books, but yeah, I could get you something that should be useful to you.”

Ash got it,

“Ah, foundational stage. Foundie. Clever.”

She flashed him a wry grin,

“You got it. Sit tight, I’ll be right back.”

True to her word, she returned, handing him the book,

“I’m Meredith by the way. Welcome to Wyrmhaven Academy,” she shook his hand.

“How do I check this out?” Ash asked after nodding.

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“You have one week, I’ve already logged your name.”

“Oh, okay then, thank you!”

Ash looked at the book, and snorted.

Curses For Dummies, by Eralt Rivia.

He left the library with Lilith in tow. He was headed back to Ivalia.

It was time for the second phase of his plan.

_______________

The haunted mansion was at the outskirts of Ivalia’s eastern side. It was run down, with bits of wood falling away, busted windows, and half a front door. The large wooden porch was cracked, holes in some places. The paint was once blue, and white, but it was now dull, faded, covered in grime.

Permeating all of it was a feeling of wrongness. Lilith growled, eyes glaring at the house.

It was like walking into a thick, rancid soup. It didn’t smell rancid, but he could feel it like a thin layer of grease over his skin. He wiped at his arm, but the sensation did not abate.

“This is home for the night, Lilith.”

She turned the glare on him,

“I can’t figure out how to lift the curse if I don’t get more details. The only way to do that is to stay here.”

She showed him images of him talking to the Bells.

He sighed, shaking his head,

“I could do that, but there’s no guarantee that anyone has any details about the curse, and in this way, I can experience it first hand. Let’s go.”

Lilith didn’t like it, but she followed when Ash entered the mansion, having to go around a medium hole in the porch.

He pushed open the half door and was greeted with a dilapidated interior.

It was dark, so he reached into his pack, pulling out the script lantern that he had bought from Skori. He touched the script and it lit up with pumpkin orange light.

“Mommy?”

The voice was light, a whisper that swept through the hall Ash walked in.

His light flickered and died.

“Mommy?”

A translucent silhouette of a little girl in a frilly white dress, no more than eight years old flickered into existence several feet down the hall in front of him.

Ash paused.

The little girl cocked her head,

“Mommy?”

“Who’s Mommy, little one? I can go get her.”

She held out her hand,

“Mo-mmmy!”

The whisper was lighter now, a sing-song tone.

An invisible force slammed into Ash, sending him flying backward into the entryway. He crashed into the ground, a stinging sensation lancing up his side. He nearly bit off his tongue, his back protesting with pain.

“M-o-mm-y!”

Ash drew his sword. He was certain of one thing.

This wasn’t a little girl.

Light quivered, gathered together, and took the form of the little girl, her translucent face one of utter fear.

“Mommy!”

She held out a hand. Ash flicked his sword forward in a slash. It went right through her.

He was blasted away again, but he tightened his grip on the sword’s handle; he didn’t drop it when he hit the floor this time, cracking a portion of it. Lilith cried out as her head thudded against the wall.

“No!” Ash called. He hissed as a large splinter stabbed him in the hand. It didn’t go through thanks to the gloves he wore. He reached to his bag, pulling out some wraith oil as the little ghost girl appeared once more. He barely got the oil unstoppered when that horrible, whispering voice, split the air once more.

“Mo-mm-y!”

Ash drizzled a bit of the oil on his blade, before slashing with his blade once more at the ghost girl. He hoped the wraith oil would allow him to hit the spirit, as it had with Sally of The Water.

His mouth fell open as his sword went straight through her with no effect whatsoever.

Picked up by an unseen force, he was spun away, oil falling out of his hands, toppling to the floor and rolling to rest against a wall. This time, he wasted no time when he landed, despite the sudden, throbbing pain in his shoulder, he stood up, turned and scooped up Lilith, who let out a squeaky growl, and ran from the house.

“M-ooo-mmm-y!”

Ash didn’t look back.

He looked down at Lilith, who was glaring at him, kicking her feet and just about to bite into his arm.

“Okay! I’ll put you down! Don’t bite me.”

Lilith upturned her nose as he placed her on the ground.

He looked back at the mansion, pulling on his backpack straps.

“I guess we got to experience it,” he said, blowing out a breath through his mouth.

Now he just had to see if he could find anything like it in the Curses for Dummies book.