As I contemplated how to go about this, or if there was another solution at hand, I heard a final scream, more spiritual than physical; it was grating at my senses. The mask was still fighting against the cursed core; the two opposite-coloured roots were strangling each other and trying to reach the nearest fallen body of an eldir warrior.

  Like hell I’ll let you. I blasted the mask away at a distance, sending it flying up the stairs and away from any of the corpses as it howled even louder. They could finish their battle and just die by themselves up there. I had more important things to do.

  Looking around, I ran over to the nearest eldir warrior and picked up one of its swords, then returned to Mary’s side. She was still out cold, with no sign of consciousness; her eyes were rolled up in their orbits, showing only the white sclera; and her body still wasn’t fighting off the damages the mask inflicted on her. The curse was the culprit; I was the culprit. I wanted to target the mask, but in the end she got it.

  But I could fix this; I just hoped it would be easier than I was fearing.

  I placed one hand on her shoulder while the other was gripping the sword. I didn’t really need the direct contact, but I felt it would direct my intent better. I shaped the mana I still had left and gave it the right intent, then I cast Curse Rebinding. I felt the curse in Mary; it was suffusing her body totally. It nearly felt like mana; it was suffused in every cell… This was not a good sign, but I pulled anyway.

  With my senses I could perceive a dark mist exiting her all at the same time. I was managing it, but it was so hard; I was pulling with every ounce of willpower I had available. Despite my efforts, it looked like there was too much of the dark mist; it was never-ending. I tried pushing it into the sword, but the curse was rejecting it fiercely; it found a new home and wasn’t going to leave it any time soon.

  With a swoosh I could feel but not hear, the mist returned into her body, and I was left with a useless sword in hand. I failed.

  Wait! My mace… it had already been home to a curse, and it was a magical object; it could work.

  I discarded the sword and went near Alya and Rhea; the former was still unconscious, but the ritualist was performing her magic. As I went to retrieve my mace nearby, I noticed the puddle of blood surrounding Alya start to shine with a bright light and reduce in size. I hoped that she could manage to do her thing.

  I reached Mary’s again, placing the mace on the ground. An idea flashed through my mind: this would suck, and not a little. But the returns could be enormous if it worked. I prepared myself; the curse will not make it easy, but I was pretty confident this time.

  As I started casting my spell again, the dark mist got dragged back out of Mary’s body; a great flow of the stuff was starting to circle me as I stood besides her. I wasn’t trying to push it into the mace just yet. No, this time I would take it.

  When there was so much of the curse around me that I felt like the room was starting to become dark, I inhaled.

  The mist streamed down my throat; a burning and painful sensation followed it, as if it were burning sand coming inside me. I endured; the mist from around me was nearly all absorbed, but the one that remained in Mary was still resisting my attempt at removing it, but at one point, after a minute of constant effort and pain, the behaviour changed.

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  Now, there was more of the curse entering me than in her body. I managed to move the anchor, and so the curse exited Mary willingly, coming streaming for me. I felt it churning inside; my body started to spasm as I fell to my hands and knees.

  I heard a ding; for sure it was a notification about me gaining a new shiny curse.

  Fuck… damn it all for making me do this, despite my resistance, my high stats and everything else, this curse was more debilitating than I thought; every part of me seemed affected, and all of me was diminished. That is how I felt, and the pain was still growing worse. I won’t scream though… no, I just need to endure a bit more, just a second more, just another…

  Any moment now, c’mon. I knew I was near an upgrade in my trait; I wasn’t suffering all this time for nothing, right? I was pushing myself day and night to get rid of these things; I will not add another one to the collection. Everything was feeling distorted and strange, my body first of all, like I had a delay, but I won’t succumb to it; I won’t allow it to take root completely in my body. There was already a curse ruining my life I had to take care of.

  So I pulled on any sliver of will I had, every bad memory and all the pain and grief that I ever felt in my damnable life, and I poured it all into fighting this curse. Without the use of any spell, I pulled my aura inward; it had the capability of reducing magical effects around me and was breathed when I took the potions back in the Safe Zone. I will repeat the feat again.

  As my aura got pulled inside my own body, I felt it better than ever. I still had no idea what it really was, but this was not a simple thing. The curse recoiled at its touch and tried to fight back. I could feel something shifting inside of me; any moment now, I just knew it.

  As I pulled my aura tighter and tighter, it stopped existing outside and got totally compressed in my body. The curse too was starting to compress. I felt strength returning to my limbs as the mist was pulled into a mass of churning dark mist into my chest, but the sensation there only got worse. I started wheezing, and it seemed like my heart was going to stop any moment.

  Ding!

  Ding!

  “WRAAAAH!!”

  I roared as I felt my body push against the curse even more. I evolved my trait again, and now it was time to fight back.

  I opened my notifications without looking, just to trigger any kind of achievement I could have earned in the last fight. A flood of power rose in me; I got something good this time, and it couldn’t have come at a better moment. Riding the momentum of the surge, I wrapped the curse in my aura while casting Curse Rebinding. The spell and the aura mixed, dragging the ball of churning energy out of my chest. I staggered as power returned to me, then I took the curse with my hand, a sheath of aura protecting me from it as I slammed it into the mace.

  The mist got forcefully pushed inside; it tried to escape, to find some other, more alive target to feed on, but I didn’t let it. No, it will stay there. I will smother it until it ceases its resistance.

  It tried more and more to escape back into my hand, but my resistance, my aura and the spell were pinning it in place; the mace will be its new home, and that was that.

  As the curse finally settled and I felt my spell elapse, the curse finally anchored to the mace. I raised it in the air, still using my aura to protect myself from it, and slammed it into the stone floor.

  BAM!

  The tile broke, with stone chipping away, forming an indentation.

  BAM!

  The crater deepened to the size of a melon, and the ground below was revealed from my strike. It reverberated all around the cavern, then I stood and threw the stupid mace towards the entrance, far away from everyone.

  Rhea and Quinn looked at me with a wide stare; I should have looked like a madman to them, but I couldn’t find it in myself to care.

  I turned around and checked on our healer; she was looking healthier already. I had no means of improving her condition at the moment, but from what I was feeling through a focused use of my senses, she was alive and fighting the damage done to her body. The life force infusion healed anything critical, so now she just needed time.

  I turned to the others again, exhaling deeply. I was exhausted… dirty and sweaty, and I still felt the phantom pain of my injuries and the curse. But we were all alive, somehow.

  “I think Mary will be fine.” I told them, “She just needs some rest.”

  “Yea, man,” replied Quinn. “I could use some of that too…”

  20 chapters ahead!