“Elias… err, man, I really need to talk to you about that thing you told me today, you know, the… that thing.”
“Quinn, for the love of anything that you hold dear, shut that trap for a second.”
“Later, Quinn,” I told the boy.
He looked at me with pitiful eyes. Don’t know if it worked with the others, but it wasn’t the time. He raised his hands up.
“Ok, OK. I get it, but later? Please.”
“I promise.”
I told him curtly. Teenage drama wasn’t on my list of things I liked to get involved with, but Quinn was a valuable companion, and it was the first time he had actually asked me for anything. So if it was important to him, I’d take some time to see what I could do.
At least with him my curse wouldn’t start to bother me. Contrary to with the other two, I could feel it in my chest. My resistance to the curse was even greater than before, but it was still there, trying to erode me slowly from the inside.
“Eli, I, what is this about?” she asked, looking between me and Alya.
Clearly the two didn’t have the opportunity to talk today. After I left Alya in the care of Mary, I simply left, and now I had to deal with everything.
If I was by myself, how much more would I have grown by now? All this busyness about others. I took an afternoon for myself and got questioned already, like I had to sacrifice myself for everyone all the time. Give them a nail, and they take the whole arm. It’s always the same.
“You can ask her after we are done, but if she doesn’t want to talk about it, it’s not up to me to say.”
I remained vague, in the hope that it wouldn’t create trouble later. After all, I was going to talk to Alya about her anger problem. I didn’t want to breach any other subject if not necessary.
Rhea looked between me and her, now confused, then said to Alya, “Whatever it is, you know you can talk to me.”
Alya, for her part, bit her lip in frustration, but nodded.
Rhea tried to come closer to me, but as soon as she entered my aura she involuntarily took a step back.
“I’m sorry, I—”
“It’s not your fault, it’s mine,” I told her. “I’ll fix this problem as soon as I can. Already it has improved a lot compared to some hours ago, maybe by tomorrow I’ll have it under control.”
“Ok, I’ll be going there, you know where to find me.”
“I’ll come as soon as I’m done here.”
With that she went out of the common room, back into her place in the forest.
Me and Alya were left alone. She was avoiding looking at me and was not talking, so I decided to tear off the bandage and start somewhere.
“Alya.”
At her name she turned to me, but after crossing my eyes for a moment she looked away. I didn’t know if it was because of the aura my eyes were infused with, even if I tried to tone it down as much as I could, or for other reasons, but still.
“Alya, how are you feeling? After the spar with Vix you were pretty wounded.”
“I’m fine.”
Oh boy, this was going to be harder than I thought.
Sometimes I forgot that she was so young. While I was a man, she was still a girl. Not that some women were more mature if older, but still, it was mostly based on personal experience.
“You’re not. It’s not hard to notice it. And Vix told me what happened.”
Her gaze snapped up to me.
“He had no right to divulge my information to anyone, not even to you.”
She said it with no small amount of venom in her voice. The anger she was known for, for the first time, was directed at me.
I felt something in her presence. I used my Piercing Eyes to look at her better.
I could see her aura now. It was rising. It looked like flames to my senses, angry and agitated.
“He shouldn’t have, and if it was me I would be more than mad about it too. But I know about your trait, not the specifics, but enough to know that it would become a problem. A big one, and I don’t want anything that Vix told me to happen to you.”
That seemed to mollify her a bit.
She sighed deeply.
“I don’t know what to do…”
She sighed again, but this time it felt like she was doing it to hide the trembling in her voice. It wasn’t fear, no, she was on the verge of tears.
“Can you tell me the specifics about your trait? Maybe we can find out the solution to this conundrum.”
“I’ll tell you, if you tell me what you are hiding.”
Her expression became harder as she looked into my eyes, not breaking contact. Something in my face must have betrayed me, because she started pacing back and forth, just outside my aura range.
“Is that it, right? Is that why you chose her? Because she knows your secret? Are you trying to keep her loyal so she doesn’t tell anybody? That must be it! Because it can’t be otherwise, I know that you feel it too! I see how you look at me! DON’T LIE TO ME!”
I didn’t even say anything. I was just looking at her.
Now she stopped pacing, her stance like she was ready to jump on me, to claw my eyes out.
Veiled Marionette.
I couldn’t allow this to escalate. No, that was wrong, I could deal with the consequences, I just didn’t want to.
So I gave her a simple directive: to wait.
If I planted the thought to calm down or not get angry, it would directly conflict with her trait. I didn’t need her to not get angry, I needed her to remain long enough to find a solution. She had great potential, was a stalwart ally, and was loyal. I knew that.
That was all my reasons without considering what I felt towards her.
“Vix gave me fifty thousand points for you to spend on trying to fix your problem.”
I transferred her the points after saying it.
“And I intend to help you find a solution too, but about the rest, I can’t tell you, it’s too risky. Rhea took a magical oath the moment she discovered it, because if this thing gets out it would ruin me. It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that it’s too dangerous to even speak out loud.”
“Don’t change the subject! And I don’t want that blue bastard’s money! He said he’d take me as a personal disciple! And now instead he disappeared! Vanished! The moment I wasn’t fit anymore he just up and ran, can you believe that!? And you, as soon as you could, you went away too! I-I woke up with nobody around me, I didn’t even remember what the fuck happened! Do you know how that feels?!”
Two streams of tears were now flowing down her cheeks.
“Do you have any idea what it means to fall in love like never before… and to see that person jump into someone else’s arms? For what reason!? Why didn’t you choose me? I know you feel the same…”
She was bawling her eyes out right now.
Fuck, this was the situation that I wanted to avoid.
I had to accelerate my thoughts to think properly.
“Am I not beautiful enough? Or is it because I’m too weak?! ANSWER ME! Please!”
I sighed.
“None of that,” I said. “It’s because I don’t know where those emotions come from. They are not natural, not normal. Alya, this is not like love at first sight. The first time I properly looked at you, you got smashed by a gorg, bleeding on the ground. Still, there was something that compelled me to do anything I could to save you. That ritual was crazy for our level, and I didn’t care at all about the other two that got healed with you, only you I cared about, and I still care about you. What happened to your trait is partly my fault, so I will take responsibility and help you, because you’re important to me…”
She took a step towards me.
Her anger was mixed with sadness, but all of it became fear as she entered my aura.
“What is that?” she asked in a trembling voice.
“As I said, my aura grew too much. I have trouble containing it, but I’ll manage. Just stay at least a couple of meters from me, it’s for your own good.”
She looked at me straight in the eyes.
Then took a small step forward, then another. She closed her eyes and stepped again, until she reached me.
She hugged me tight, crying on my chest.
I had never seen her so vulnerable before, not even when she was about to die.
“Why didn’t you choose me?” she whispered. “I-I can’t… understand.”
“Alya, I wasn’t thinking of having any kind of relationship, not before… the tutorial finished. But please, allow me to help you. I don’t want you to become a berserker… you are important to me.”
She cried louder, burying her head in my chest.
I could feel her body trembling and shaking while she cried.
Why was I in this situation? I just wanted to go along with my life, free from my curse.
A curse that now was starting to get insistent because of the three morons from before, then Quinn, and Alya now.
But I couldn’t help her, and I wouldn’t betray Rhea.
“Take the points.”
She still didn’t accept the exchange.
“Go to the shop and get any skill that could counter that trait. There are rewards for some achievements, great rewards that we could use to make sure you don’t lose yourself to your rage. Bloodlines with abilities that could help you. Magic items… we can find something between all of this, something that would work.”
“Something that would work?” she repeated while gripping my overcoat. “I don’t care about my trait right now, I want to find something that would work for us.”
Fucking hell! What the fuck should I do with her?!
I needed to stall. With Veiled Marionette I could make her change her mind, in time, but right now I needed time…
“Alya, there is going to be no us if you die fighting against a bunch of monsters because you’re not sane enough to retreat. You need to fix this problem first, then we can deal with anything else.”
A side door opened, and Quinn’s head poked in.
“Are you free right now? I really need to talk to you, man.”
Alya moved away from me, pushing herself back while I raised a hand in Quinn’s direction.
She took some ragged breaths. Apparently it wasn’t easy to stay within my aura even for her, even in this state.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I said.”
I saw a spark light up in her eyes again. She looked at me, wiping off her eyes.
“Ok, ok, I can wait. I’ll solve this issue, then we’ll figure out something.”
That… wasn’t exactly what I was thinking about, but as long as it worked.
I nodded at that.
“Alya, please don’t go hunting. Instead go to the shop, consult everything, potions, items, skills… cursed stuff, I’ll cleanse them for you, or just go to sleep, ok?”
She looked at me, then at Quinn.
“Ok, but, Elias… I-I really…”
I waited for her to finish, but she instead shook her head.
“Never mind.”
As she ran out, Quinn came in.
“That was… ehm, intense?”
“Anyway, you see, I did what you said, and it worked! Sorta… she’s still mad, but she talks to me now, sooo… how do I proceed? How can I get her to be like before?”
My head was churning with problems, and now this.
Quinn, my boy, why didn’t you just fuck her the first time? We could have avoided this conversation right now if you weren’t so dense.
“In three days we’ll be at the new safe zone, apparently it is in the middle of a lake, very idyllic scenery. Work her for these past days, be super romantic, bring her flowers, and treat her as if she were a landmine. One wrong step and you’re dead, so be careful. Once we arrive at the new zone you’ll have to prepare something more fitting, we’ll plan something on the way.”
Quinn’s face lit up, then dimmed.
“Do you mean that I’d have to wait before… you know, doing it?”
“Go to bed, Quinn, and think about what you just said.”
I went out of the common room into the cool night air, and stopped.
Bikrmorr, and probably all the remaining guards, were waiting for me.
I was getting tired of all this shit.