With nowhere to run, and with a speed that far outmatched my own; I was a sitting duck. Maybe if it was my own world, I could have willed myself out of range, dodged it with a thought and forced it away.

But I wasn't.

In the slip, the rush of adrenaline perhaps, filtered through Anastasia. Here in the inner confines of her soul, the careful control she exerted wavered. Her eyes widened and she lunged like a meteor of light, but it still wasn't enough.

I crashed to my knees, held in place as a searing blade pressed against my nape. Burning flesh entered my senses as the world turned hazy with lines blurring in the heat. I attempted to raise my hand, to ward off the attack but it shot through my palm and out.

The malicious energy drilled into my chest, knocking me off the edge of the island. The blade at my neck pushed down. Something inside cracked, and my consciousness fled.

Out of Anastasia's inner world, my physical self snapped into awareness, but not for long.

I dived, shunting off my senses even as I felt Áine's healing stream into my back. Black gave way to a swirling lake and I landed on the obsidian island with a thud. My familiars that were unsummoned took their places on the pedestals and raised their voices in alarm.

Even if I was blind, I would have been able to feel the curse attempting to establish a foothold. It moved much like the one afflicted upon me in the arena, appearing from the outskirts and tunneling in.

With a gesture, my defences parted, letting it through. Fast as a cannonball, the fleshy thread spiraled downward, tearing away from the lake and toward its target. But I wouldn't let it. Maybe if I was still in Anastasia's realm it'd have a chance to fight, but this was my realm and my soul.

Here, I ruled absolute.

Like a lightning bolt it shot down, above me aiming for the grandest prize. Too bad for it; I let it come.

When it reached within touching distance, I grabbed hold of the living missile. Threads of gold erupted from the island, sigils blazing to life. The strand–the curse–wasn't expecting it, all it's momentum halted, frozen in place.

I tasted the intention, and felt the ring on my finger try to seal itself. I didn't let it, I wouldn't, but the curse needed an anchor. I could crush it, throw it off and take off the ring before it could muster another attempt, but that wasn't useful.

An inkling of knowledge appeared, one that didn't exist in my head previously.

With a twist, I ripped the thread closer, pushing it together. Thread swirled and splattered, mixed with my own, and forced to heel. A choice had to be made, and an anchor had to be given if I wanted too keep the curse around.

So I made my choice and raised my arm. The skill wisp for Roar of the Spirit Lord shot toward me. I willed it into place and exposed it to the curse. It hungrily sought the binding and I eased the golden threads enough to allow it.

My skill wisp darkened and twisted in itself, the thread becoming a bloody cocoon. I felt the wrongness permeate my soul, and anger stirred.

The curse would be allowed to exist, but not with its fangs and claws. Pulsating blood screamed as the golden thread took over. It did as it did to the king, becoming a needle and saw. Holes were made and threads lost form, becoming fat droplets. They tried to latch onto the thread but failed. For each attempt, my thread isolated the curse and thinned it out. What was once a dark crimson sack now looked almost orange.

I could still feel the wrongness of having it inside me. The anchor was in place and I wouldn't be able to access my skill. In return, it couldn't hurt me. The hold on my soul was flimsy and hollow. With a thought I could shatter the binding and cast it away.

I let it rest and rose to my feet. My familiars called out before I left. I waved and smiled before returning to the physical world.

"Cyrus?" Celanae asked. She was leaning close, one hand on my shoulder as her mana surrounded my legs. "I can still feel the curse but it's muted."

I fended off Zagreus' licking and tapped Celanae's barrier. It rushed into my claws straining the nearly bursting receptacle containing the pool of blood mana. Celanae backed off and I stood up, feeling the breeze blowing into the box.

"What's with the giant whole in the wall?" I croaked. Copper filled my mouth and I hacked up a wad of dark brown. "Ugh, that taste nasty. Where's Anastasia?"

Teddy helped me up and pointed to the distance where a brief flash of light illuminated the floor. Instead of refined marble or carpet, we were surrounded by a field of blood that hissed and bubbled.

"There's been a complication. Something breached the wall and she left to fight it. We're assuming it's tier three."

"Why's that?" I asked.

Nathan turned and stepped forward. "Because she's still fighting. Do you think you can do that again?"

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

"I don't have another inhibitor," Khrem pointed out.

He had his tools out, a sort of mobile alchemy station that could be strapped to his chest. Khrem busied himself with crushing powder into a bowl while a flask bubbled with green liquid.

I sat down and looked at Nathan, sorting through another small influx of information. It came with a tingling buzz that sent copper down my throat, forcing me to cough.

"Cyrus?" Teddy asked.

"I'm fine. I think I can help limit the curse, but not destroy it. Just modify it enough to limit the impact."

"When did you become an expert in curses?" Isaac asked.

"Just now."

"Cheat," he said shaking his head.

"I'll take any form of cheating. Can you start?" Nathan said.

We got into position and his mana entered my own. The raging tide broke through my veins with the fury of a waterfall, pulling me in its wake. When I came to, it was on a floating island in the middle of an ocean.

Much like his wife, I saw representations of those he held dear carved into the stone, scenes depicting moments of his life with his wife and children. Where Anastasia's curse had anchored into a statue, Nathan's was the water around us. Crimson tide rippled as the curse strands sought to push further out, and infect the water around it.

Nathan rose from the ocean, his form that of a raging elemental dressed around a man. "The curse is spreading slowly. Signs of a work bordering on the upper ranks of our tier."

There was no time to waste, I willed Zagreus to wait for my signal, and stretched my hand onto Nathan's broad chest. Before I could begin, his hand squeezed my wrist.

"Cyrus, I know what I'm asking of you but do not sacrifice yourself."

"I wasn't planning on it," I chuckled.

His voice was firm and he grabbed the back of my head, gently pulling me to look into his eyes. "You weren't. But I know you enough. You would sacrifice yourself, foolishly so." His eyes softened and he ruffled my hair. "You remind me and Ana of someone we know, a kind boy who would jump off a cliff without thinking if it meant saving someone he knew."

"I'm not that kind. I almost let a city burn because I didn't like the offer from a god," I scowled.

"Yet you rushed to the city because your god asked, and you saved people without promise of a reward." Nathan released me and stood straight, the waves of his inner realm stilling. "I won't ask you to sit and do nothing, for you have already done more than enough. My boy and his dearest friends would never sit still, and neither would you. But all I ask is to remember that you are worthy of life too. So stick around, so that people can appreciate how proud that can be of you."

I blinked away some of the saltwater in my eyes. Letting my mana probe into Nathan without speaking.

Despite Isaac's ribbing, I wasn't a sudden expert on curses. The information given to me from mystics forces was narrowed and contained. But with the knowledge, and my experience with handling my own curse and Anastasia's, I knew enough to push things along.

I can't suck in more blood mana, and I don't want to use it yet just in case. So I'll have to settle for removing claws but not the fangs.

"Okay, I'm ready when you are. You'll have to weaken the curse, fight against it. I can't get rid of it of it but-"

Nathan responded with a single gesture. His fist rose into the air, and the tide rose with it. At once, blistering cold tore the heat away from the air and turned the world blue. A pair of watery limbs pulled the curse like taffy, stretching it thin. The crimson began infecting the water around it, spreading but Nathan forced it back through a series of rapids.

"Begone from what is mine! Swell!"

Water blotted out the sky and I pulled with my mana. Zagreus aided my efforts and together we reached deep into Nathan's core.

The curse froze for a split second, a single moment.

Then it snapped back into place. Nathan dropped to one knee, his form wavering. Pressure began to push me down, and water surged around my legs.

Nathan looked up and clapped his hands.

I rocketed back to my body, and once again spat out a disgusting wad of brackish plegthm. Sereza helped me up this time, and I used my tail to steady myself.

"Did it work?"

"It did," Nathan rumbled. He held out his hand and showed where the thread was crooked and fraying. "Five actives working, two passives. It's not everything but better than before. Thank you, Cyrus."

Nathan turned to go, but Tyrrion grabbed his sleeve.

"Wait. Do you have your movement skill?" he asked.

Nathan shook his head. "No. I can't ferry him out of here fast enough,"

"You have to anyway. His majesty's life is more important than your wife."

Water flowed out of Nathan's sleeve and formed a spiked collar around Tyrrion's neck. Each tine was a blade, drawing a bead of blood. "I'll forgive you this once, and only once. Stand down Tyrr, Allaron needs you."

"You…" Tyrrion growled.

"Enough. Both of you," Allaron commanded. He braced himself on a nearby chair and struggled to stay standing. Now that I could see it, the curse had spread past his barrier, and behind the confines of his clothes. "I won't ask him to abandon his wife, Tyrrion. I remember what you promised me decades ago, Nathan. Just try too find help when your able. And if you can save my children-"

"Don't worry, I'll rescue them if there's a chance," Nathan assured. He gave a quick hug to Teddy and headed for the hole, water surging into a small wave underneath his feet. "I don't know if you're safe here. Teddy, work with Tyrrion to escort his majesty to a safer place."

"Understood… Father?"

"Yes, my boy?"

"Survive."

Nathan gave an award winning smile. Water surged around his clothes and he crouched. "You too."

He launched forth, riding atop the crimson pool in his own wave, sending a generous splash into the box. Zagreus stomped and forced it away, preventing it from reaching the others.

Celanae looked to Teddy and gripped her staff. "Orders?"

Teddy observed us all. He met everyone's eyes including Tyrrion and the king's. With a smile that matched his fathers he rolled his shoulder and exhaled.

"We protect the king and escort him to safety. Once he's safe, we see what aid we can provide to my parents and help stop whoever is behind this."

"Oh? That's it? Here I thought you'd ask us to do something crazy," Isaac teased.

Igas punched his arm and unslung his sword from its sheath. "No different than one rift. We did it once, we can do it again."

"Let's not repeat what happened in Helio. Everyone stay together this time," Celanae warned.

"We'll make sure of it," Eodyne said, her voice steeled. "And Cyrus, nothing crazy this time."

"I wasn't planning on it," I replied. I pointedly ignored the expression that beamed my way and pointed to the king. "What do we do about him?"

"Tyrrion?" Teddy asked.

"I can move him, but can you keep us safe?" the grizzled man replied.

"We'll do our best, that's we can offer."

Tyrrion's lips puckered and a vein bulged in the side of his neck. Before he could snap out something stupid, I tapped the king's arm and pulled something from Chomperz' stomach.

"Can you channel any mana at all?" I asked.

"Almost non existent, why?" he wheezed, his eyes darting to the silver in my hand.

"Because I have another idea," I said with a grin.

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