NOVEL NEXT Chapter 159 - Curses, Pocket Dimensions and Sins
Seeing those three people together, in agreement and aligned with the goal she was seeking to fulfill, brought a new smile to her face. The path to everyone's salvation, which she had drawn on that blackboard in the Room of Knowledge of her mind palace, was solid. Firm beneath her feet; everything was proceeding according to plan, with the pieces in place.
Even the obstacles that threatened to destroy her.
"Since we're all in agreement, what if...?"
She had to interrupt her question, concocted by a sudden idea that had emerged from that inkwell of dark waters that in her mind was called the Negative Altar.
"FUCK!"
The Baptism in Ruins had made itself felt through icy agony. The mark of Death sent a powerful pulse that froze the air inside her lungs, rendering the warmth of the fireplace superfluous, insignificant. The first solid warning brought with it the Curse of the Nemesis and a crystal clear sign that time was running out.
"Lady?!" Auron rose from the armchair to take Tristessa by the arms and prevent her from falling backward against the coffee table. "What's wrong with you?!"
"Bring her here!"
Guided by Astoria's command, he led the dazed girl to the three-seater armchair. He helped her sit down and lean her back against the backrest carefully, to not worsen her sudden state of extreme weakness.
"What was that…? Did anyone also feel a strange disturbance in the Discord surrounding her?" asked the cautious blood elf, approaching with his arms crossed.
"Severus, please…!"
"N-no, wait!" Before anyone could reproach the elf for his comment, Tristessa silenced everyone with a scream that hurt her soul. "I have something to explain. Sev…he…"
"Don't call me that."
"…he's right. What he felt is a curse that just awakened in me. I didn't think it would happen so early… Ugh! Damn, it hurts so much… This is going be awkward, but…" Laughing at the astonished looks of Auron and Astoria, she grimaced in annoyance as she felt the force of gravity trying to pull her down into the depths of Nekrom, and the inhuman cold that frostbitten every corner of her body in absolute torment. "I'm going to need your help tonight, to kill a dark spirit."
She held onto the two warriors to stay upright and explain to them about the Dullahan. The extreme fatigue from the curse had come on so suddenly, taking her by surprise even after experiencing it several times, but it didn't stop her from giving them a general idea about the knightess made of shadows that tormented her.
Of course, without saying a word about the connection the two had with Endrel and Margules, and with the [Divinity of Death and Resurrection].
"I think this is the first time I've heard of such a bizarre anomalous effect with a Divinity." Auron was the first to offer his opinion, while Astoria poured fresh water for Tristessa in a brass cup and Severus pondered that explanation in silence, leaning against the wall next to the fireplace again, deep in thought. "I've heard stories of entire villages disappearing from the face of Nekrom, or people turning into horrible, nightmarish monsters, but summoning a headless knightess every night, wanting to kill you? I understand the consequences of using your Divinity, but it's the entity that wants to punish you what troubles me."
"Dullahan… A devil from your world? You want us to kill her?" Astoria asked, sitting back beside her. "Is that possible?"
"Didn't you hear what she said, Silverthorn? That armored phantom seeks to be defeated. If so, then it is possible," Severus commented, from the distance. "And you have to be the one to deliver the final blow, Irandell?"
"Yes. I'm sure of that." Without adding any further details or commenting on the fact that she had learned of this unique solution to the problem after seeing capable warriors fail so many times before her Nemesis. "If you don't help me defeat the Dullahan tonight, I don't think I can endure another night. And she grows more powerful the more the Curse of the Nemesis weakens me… She will become unstoppable and finish me off."
"Then there's no time to lose!" Auron stood up from the armchair and reached inside his jacket. "I can't allow my jewel mine to die right after just meeting her."
He pulled a large map from inside, rolled up and old, its paper worn, its edges gnawed by use and the passage of time.
"How did you do that?" Tristessa asked, still not used to seeing Auron pull objects from his jacket like a typical illusionist on Earth.
"Well, you reach into the inside pocket, pull out the obviously hidden map, and…"
"Auron… You know what I'm talking about."
The gunslinger sighed and looked at those present with clear discomfort.
"I don't normally reveal my secrets, but since we'll be working together from now on… It turns out the God of Death and Dimension saw me being born and said, 'Instead of giving him a gift to multiply soul shards, I'll give him one so he can have his own pocket dimension.'"
Besides the map, Auron took out various types of ammunition, cans full of condiments, clean rags, and vials of oil from his jacket. He left everything on the coffee table, so anyone could see how hard it was to believe he was carrying all of that within his persona.
"My [Divinity of Dimensional Pocket]. I can store and retrieve items from a dimension granted to me by my Divinity, as long as no one is consciously watching me do it. Since that dimension is both here and not here at the same time, you know? It's probabilistic. As long as they can't see me reaching into the alternate dimension, there's always the chance I'm putting everything in my pockets…or not."
"My, that's a very useful gift," Astoria opined, watching him stuff all those items back into his jacket, except for the map. "If you didn't have that jacket, you wouldn't be able to do that."
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"Actually, I can access my pocket dimension any way I want, as long as no one is watching. For example, you don't have eyes to see behind your ears, do you, lady?" Auron extended his arm to the knightess' side and then showed her a broken soul-jewel between his fingers, which barely emitted a faint glow. "Here. A worthless jewel for a worthless woman."
"Fuck you."
"It's impressive…! Ugh, my…!" Marveled, Tristessa wanted to praise Auron's gift, but the ethereal pain attacking her spirit was too strong to ignore. Impossible to locate on the material plane, she could only place her hand on her chest, above the Ruined Baptism, in a vain attempt to soothe that bane. "T-tell me, Auron… Can you carry weapons within your dimension? How much ammunition? Can you carry swords, rifles…?"
"Hold your horses, lady. My Divinity solves a problem of space, but not of weight," he hastened to explain, though extremely concerned for her. "Besides the fact that I can't store organic objects, I can only carry as much as my physical stamina can hold, as strange as that may seem. As thaumaturges say, 'nothing escapes gravity,' right, Severus?"
"Correct," the elf agreed, without moving from his spot. But with his suspicious gaze fixed on Tritessa. Devoid of pity for her suffering. Indifferent. "If not even light can escape gravity, objects stored in another dimension should be no exception."
"Oh, I see… Anyway, your Divinity is great! Mine, on the other hand…" Tristessa felt a bittersweet taste in her mouth, aware that each one had its pros and cons. Especially the one she called [Dark Resurrection], which, without it, her existence would have ended long ago. "No, nothing. What were you going to show us on that map?"
The gunslinger unrolled the large scroll on top of the coffee table, making it so small that much of the map was hanging off the sides. Regardless, the four of them had a complete topographical view of the continent, Ithryos.
"Let's see… Centralia, Stormfall… End-World. And here, Entrana." Auron tapped his index finger on the visual representation of the city, its black walls and the Evil-Warding Pillar, the most obvious signs, along with those glyphs on the side that Tristessa couldn't yet read. "You said that devil, Dullahan, can appear anytime, anywhere?"
"That's right. Even in this very room, once it's nighttime."
"Hmm... Then it goes without saying that we can't stay in the city any longer. We need a nearby place to fight. Without people, without anyone who might be a hindrance," Auron said, then looked at Severus and Astoria. "There are several options. Any preferences?"
"The Derelict Outpost? Pretty far away, isn't it? What about the old crystal mines?" the knightess asked, pointing toward the foot of the southern part of the mountain range that was almost flush with the north of the city. "No one goes there anymore. Perhaps some treasure hunter. Or bandits...or witches."
"Whatever's there, the mines have endless corridors. We can't risk fight there," Auron questioned her.
"Speak for yourself. Even I, with my greatsword, know how to fight in narrow spaces."
"What about the Burnt Fort Hexel?" Severus leaned closer and pointed to a drawing of a castle-like structure located on the eastern side of a valley that opened toward the region Auron had designated as Stormfall. "There's no better place near here to try to deal with Miss Irandell's problem."
"Yes, but it's a bit far away." Auron pondered his options, his brow furrowed, the occasional drop of sweat threatening to fall onto the map. "Can either of you get a vilecross carriage right now?"
"I can try…" Astoria replied, sounding tired, as if she were being forced to do something that would have consequences.
"Try not, please get it," he asked, and the knightess reluctantly agreed, almost immediately heading for the door. It closed on its own once she left, guided by the power of the thaumaturgical seal etched on its surface. "Severus, you go with her. Perhaps you can help her convince a guard who's becoming a nuisance… That is, if you change that attitude."
"Giving me orders, gunslinger?" The elf leaned forward, his hands resting on the map. Displaying a certain hostility that made Tristessa feel a lurch in her stomach. "And what are you trying to imply?"
"No, of course I'm not implying anything. It's just that it's strange not to see you laughing or telling one of your usual silly jokes."
"You little…!"
"No, Sev!" Tristessa wanted to avoid a completely unnecessary fight breaking out at a time like this, and when she got up from the chair, she was forced to hold on to Auron, leaning on his right shoulder. Both men stopped when they saw her react in that way. "Ugh... I-I'm sorry. Please, n-no... Sev..."
"I told you not to call me...!" Severus suddenly fell silent, and both he and Auron and Tristessa looked down at the table: the map had begun to ignite, thin lines of black smoke rising from the sides where the blood elf's hands were resting. Right before fire erupted, he stepped away from the table and looked at his hands with a dangerous mix of fear and anger. "I... I'll listen to you just this once, Casimir."
Without looking at either of them, Severus roughly straightened his tie, picked up his cane, and walked in a hurry towards the door. But when he grabbed the doorknob, he received a few final bullets, almost as deadly as lead ones, from the gunslinger, without honor and in the back.
"You made lots of refugees laugh when you left on your journeys and told them jokes as you passed by, you know? They truly needed that joy… And they prayed for your safe return."
"…Tch!"
The blood elf went out and slammed the door, nearly tearing it off its hinges. As the echo of that demonstration of violence faded into the far reaches of the hallway, Tristessa heard her own sigh at the resounding silence that had begun to reign in the suite, even over the crackling of the fire.
"I wasn't lying about what I told you, Lady. I assure you, everyone in Entrana knows Severus Malak Drakan, and he doesn't… Lady?"
Auron's voice could be heard in the distance, impossible to override Severus's voice, which Tristessa remembered without a doubt, in the form of a film playing in the Projector Room.
"…but now that I have a Stranger at my side, the only thing I'm sure of is that she is not my enemy. I don't hate her, nor do I want to harm her… I want to protect her, and face at her side the Darkness that is coming for us and our mutual friends."
She saw his smile brimming with confidence. So handsome, so real… And now, nothing. A past only she remembered. A present filled with hatred, suspicion, and mistrust. An uncertain future, but one in which Severus was never going to smile at her like that again.
"Lady? Are you all right?"
With that call, Auron shook her right shoulder and brought her back to her senses. Meeting her dismayed light brown gaze, she saw the dampness of sweat beginning to form on her handkerchief.
"D-don't worry, Auron. I understand why Severus doesn't like me." Gently, she allowed the gunslinger to help them both sit back, once again. "It makes sense, doesn't it? I'm a Stranger, and the person who massacred her kind is also one… Therefore, the sins of the Shadow Queen also fall on me."
"Ah, lady…" As she stood before Auron's shrewd eyes, he pulled a clean, white handkerchief from his dimensional pocket, in excellent condition. He dared to hold it to her face and wipe away the two traces of tears that had begun to run down her cheeks. "I'll agree with you the day you kill millions, yes? Now, what you're saying is just nonsense. And a woman shouldn't shed tears for a man she doesn't know."
He placed the handkerchief in her hands, whose fingers trembled from the sadness that ravaged her heart and soul alike.
Those words Auron spoke to her in an attempt at comfort did the opposite, acting like a dagger piercing her chest and leaving a hole impossible to fill. Empty, hollow, alone… Like the boundless loneliness brought by the memories created with Severus that no longer existed.
"Oh, Auron… If only you knew…"