The three with family and friends in the city went to collect – or enlist other into collecting – information while went around the blocks surrounding the dormitory in search the origin of last night ruckus.

Initially Ignis and Azrael should have acted as a pair, but they looked too inconspicuous for that. The kid’s features were too unlike his senior to pass as brothers, and the death mage himself too young to take apprentice. Instead, he elected to stay behind and review Azrael’s knowledge.

On the matter of exorcism, apart from his technique being rough and forceful, he was up to par. Unlike the techniques taught by the church that focused on diverting the curses while calming the spirit and severing their bong, the child’s exorcism was about submission and control. Ignis disliked the very concept, but he knew enough of the situation in the southern countries to understand it was brought by necessity.

“Why did you choose to come here?”

“Sir Janardan and his pupils deal with the evil spirits because it’s the most urgent, but the curses aren’t really dealt with. I thought it might as well be me since I just a burden for them at the moment.”

The death mage hesitated for a moment before asking. “Did something happen to you involving a curse? You don’t have to tell if it’s too hard.”

“It did, and I don’t want to talk about it, thank you.”

“What did you learn about curses so far?”

“Just the basic. I know some rituals and magic circle to deflect them, but I cannot remove them unless by force.”

“That’s a terrible idea, you should never do that!”

“I know, that’s why I came here to learn.”

It was clear that this kid went through a lot. As someone who was recently in the northern region Ignis had an inkling of an idea of what it was like to be surrounded by evil spirits, but even so there were only a few dozen of major haunts up there while this boy’s country was reputed to have hundreds… the amount of lesser evil spirits was probably uncountable.

“Sir Janardan often complain that we should ditch the fools, create our own place and expand from there.”

A sentiment most people with the death attribute shared. Yet such a place had yet to be created.

“On paper, it’s probably be the best solution… but it’d lead to so much suffering.”

Azrael showed his first smile. “Everyone complains, but no one leave.”

When you knew of the suffering of the dead, it was hard to leave them alone… the living too.

“You can’t just learn about curses; theoretical knowledge can only get you so far: you need experience them to fully understand.” There was the method his master had used to teach him, he didn’t like it, in fact the memories still haunted him to this day, but he had to admit it worked. “My master used a variety of curses on me until I learned how to distinguish between them and ward them. I do not recommend this method, but it’s the fastest one I can think of.”

The kid thought lengthily then asked. “How long?”

“It took me less than a year to learn the most straightforward, and two years for the really insidious.”

“And with the normal method? twenty years, maybe only ten if you encounter a large variety.”

“I see. Can you start by showing me the one inducing violence and madness?”

Those two were the most commonly used by evil spirits, although depending on the type of grudge and power the effect could range from slowly induced paranoia to instantly transforming a whole village into a bunch of bloodthirsty berserkers.

“You’re more courageous than I was. Draw a ward and prepare puppet, I’ll start with a straightforward one.”

Once the boy was done drawing his circle, Ignis walked over it and erased one part, deliberately introducing a flaw.

“What did you do?”

“I weakened the barrier so you don’t take the full brunt of the curse.” He then proceeded to cast the spell.

“niev ruoy ni esruoc rewop eht leef dna flesruoy etarebil ,srednih dna sdnib nosaeR .uoy nihtiw sllews ti tel ,wolf etah eht teL.”

The child looked pensively at his senior, then at himself before asking. “Is that all? I’m not feeling anything?”

“Let’s try again.” Ignis cast the curse for a second time.

“I don’t feel any different.”

“sgnorts eht fo ytud dna thgir eht ti ,yaw ruoy ni teg dluow ohw esoht hsinup dna flesruoy etarebil ,uoy srednih dna sdnib nosaeR .uoy nihtiw sllews ti tel ,wolf etah eht teL.”

“Ah… I’m feeling good, really good, like I can do anything.”

This spell was a lot stronger, but it was still a feat to be able to pinpoint the feeling after only a few tries. “Never forget this feeling, it makes people feel strong then rob them from reason leaving only a rabid beast behind.”

Azrael nodded strongly; he’d seen it first-hand.

“The next is far more insidious. "uoy netaerht ot tfel era enon litnu ,meht llik dna meht tnuh ,meht eusrup ,noisacco eht meht evig t'noD .ekirts ot ssenkaew fo tnemom a rof gnitiaw ,uoy tsniaga tolp dna eripsnoc meht fo llA .kcab ruoy dniheb hgual yeht woh raeH."”

What made this spell so insidious was how it played on the natural fear. For death mage in particular, it was an everyday fear and a real one at that.

The youth didn’t feel any different, until his teacher tried to touch him and he backed off on instinct. “What are you trying to do?” Screamed the eleven-year-old with a hint of fear in his voice. “D… don’t go touching people without asking, that’s rude.” The second part was the child trying to make sense and excuse his overreaction.

Ignis smiled bitterly, he’d done the exact same thing and said something very similar to his teacher. He stopped the spell. “This one play on your paranoia, it’s something most people have, and is at the very the core of people like us.”

“I’m so sorry,” Pleaded the child “I couldn’t stop myself.”

“I’m not blaming you, I did almost the same thing. Well, I might have added a few insults… probably more than a few. I had quite the temper back then.”

Azrael blushed then looked down then while hesitating a lot, asked. “Did you… Have you… Do you know of a curse that make things rot? Even the ground itself?”

That he knew, he had used himself not so long ago, although the form described by the youth was on a different level altogether. “Yes, it is one of the few offensive hexes with direct effect in our arsenal. With that said, it’s a tricky one to use as it can do some serious collateral damages.”

“Do you know how to remove it?”

“Yes, although normally this one shouldn’t persist if the source as been dealt with.” Unless there’s a special like when his combined with existing curses to form a one.

“Please!”

“I’ll show you. It’s just that there’s one more thing… the damages are permanent; the wounds and the earth can only be cured with the help of a life or an earth mage. In the worst-case scenario, in might even require the participation from every attribute, or at least that’s what my master told me.”

“But you can stop its progress?”

“If the source’s been dealt with, yes.” The ritual was long and complex, not something that could be taught in a single day, but the curse was very easy to learn, and knowing it would help in the long run. “I won’t be saying that too often, but since dealing with it imply the use of many different magic circles, you’ll have to brush up on some literature before we can go further. On the other hand, I can teach you the spell and how to ward its effects.”

They were still working on it when the others came back many hours later. Just like yesterday, Alize was the first to speak. “We don’t have precise locations for the last two days, but its we shouldn’t be more than thirty meters wrong.”

“Just like she said.” Added Oliver obligingly.

The other three had already pooled their information and drawn an approximative path on a map. “Where?” Asked Atesh who seemed to act as the spokesperson for the trio.

“Around here.”

“I expected something more linear.” Commented Ignis while looking at the map.

“Yes, even accounting from approximation, it’s been zigzagging a lot. However, the distance doesn’t seem to vary that much.” Contributed the quadruple. “It should be somewhere around here.” He drew a circle encompassing nearly three blocks

“That’s a lot of ground to cover.”

“We can make three groups like today.”

“It was more like two groups and three individuals.” Pointed out Govad.

“The goal isn’t to intervene, but to pinpoint the position and call for reinforcement, understood?”

“If you’re ordering us to wait without taking risk, what choice do we have but to obey.” Jokingly remarked Oliver.

“What did he teach you.” Asked a curious Cascade.

“I asked to learn about curses and he taught me how to identify them by casting them on me.”

“Okay, I don’t want to learn anymore.”

The other five looked at Ignis as though he was a madman.

“He was within a ward, and that’s now my idea, that how I’ve been taught!” Turning to the young boy. “I gave you two choices, and you’re the one who chose this way, don’t blame it on me.”

“Eh? But I didn’t, I just described it as it was.”

“Next time, describe better!”