Chapter 103

It felt as if the curse was gnawing on his flesh, ripping chunks of his skin away while it slowly spread across his arm. The intense pain nearly drove all rational thoughts from his mind. It was all encompassing, his world reduced to agony.

‘This shouldn’t be possible!’ Wil screamed silently, watching the darkness continue to devour his forearm. He was Rank 10, five whole ranks ahead of the shaman. He should be able to defeat a dozen of them easily, not fall to a single curse, haphazardly slapped onto his arm from a sneak attack.

Even if he was afflicted by the shaman’s attack, it should not spread this quickly, his mana unable to resist it at all. Not to mention how ‘remove curse’ spell had been completely ineffectual against it.

“Wil! Gods above, I’m sorry! It’s not working.” Astrid exclaimed, holding the wand against his arm once again. The bright white light washed over the curse but did nothing to stop it. A Tier 3 spell, unable to stop a curse from a Rank 5 troll? It was ludicrous!

“Bag. Rose.” Wil mumbled, hissing the words out through teeth clenched from pain. Astrid looked at him in panic for a moment, before catching his meaning and digging through his bag of holding. In a moment, she pulled out the Black Desert Rose, still vibrant and fresh as the moment he had collected it from the oasis.

“Here!” She offered, holding it out to him.

With a shaky hand, twitching as pain spasmed through his body, he slowly and carefully reached forward, plucking a single black petal from the rose. Without hesitating, he placed it on top of his tongue, letting the petal’s vitality seeped into his body, his mana carrying the healing energy contained within it throughout his body.

The black petal dissolved immediately, and the pain subsided. Watching Wil’s arm, Astrid saw the black curse spot slowly recede, the darkness driven from his body by the power of the Black Desert Rose. Smiling in relief, she wrapped her arms tightly around Wil as he settled against the ground, exhausted from the healing.

“It’s alright. You’re going to be fine. I’ll get you back to Ur as soon as possible.” Astrid whispered, burying her face in Wil’s chest, and running her hand through his hair. Not hearing a response, she looked at the man next to her, seeing his peaceful expression as he succumbed to sleep.

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Two days later, Marali landed on the outskirts of Ur, an exhausted Wil and Astrid slowly climbing down from her back. They had spent the evening at Aramoor, Wil unresponsive while he recovered from the curse. It was left to Astrid to describe the demise of the Trolls, and the state they had found the missing villagers, to the mayor.

Several of the villagers had carried the comatose Wil to the mayor’s house, the grateful man even giving him his own bed to use while he convalesced.

It was only this morning that Wil had finally awoken, groggy and exhausted. The Black Desert Rose was said to be able to cure the most serious of wounds, and break the strongest of curses, yet the panacea had still left him drained and tired.

The pair slowly walked through the gates of Ur, the normally busy streets were nearly deserted at this late hour. They had made the trip back in record time, Astrid pushing Marali to her limits, and switching to the Clockwork Owl when her strength had flagged.

Astrid’s mana had fueled the Owl, draining her core until only a few dregs were left. She hadn’t realized how exhausting powering the Clockwork Creature was, Wil had made it seem effortless on their travels.

Visiting the Guild, they turned in the completed Quest, receiving their reward of a thousand gold coins, which Astrid turned down, giving Wil the full amount. To her, five hundred gold coins was a minor amount, not even enough to recharge her wands.

“We should get you looked at by a cleric. I don’t want a repeat of what happened in front of the cave.” Astrid ordered, guiding him towards the Church of the Twin Suns.

“I’m fine, Astrid. Whatever it was, the Rose Petal removed it.” He argued, trying to steer them towards the palace. Not entertaining his argument at all, Astrid simply latched herself firmly to his arm, pulling the weakened and exhausted Wil towards the Church.

A quick examination by a cleric revealed that whatever curse afflicted Wil was gone, but healing the damage had drained his energy, requiring days of bedrest.

“That’s not going to happen. Not until we inform your father about this.” Wil said, striding out of the Church confidently, his weakness concealed behind a false layer of bravado and arrogance.

“You’re aware that I could make you.” Astrid threatened, causing Wil to nearly miss a step.

“Perfectly aware.” Wil said, sneaking a glance at her, before letting out a sigh. “I’m well enough to walk to the palace, Astrid. And I’ll sleep in the guest room, rather than my rented home, until I’m feeling better. Alright?” Wil bartered, feeling like he was back in the vision of the past, a hen-pecked farmer at the mercy of his wife.

“Agreed.” She said, lifting her head primly before guiding him towards the palace, her arm wrapped tightly around his own.

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Astrid’s father was not in the grand hall when they arrived, the servants informing them that he had been called away to a meeting with several nobles at an estate in the northern quarter of the city. Her mother, Tessa, was in her workshop.

When Wil and Astrid arrived there, Tessa was hunched over a workbench, a shimmer of protective enchantments isolating her from the rest of the room.

Wil had never seen her look so informal before. Gone were the silk dresses, and most of the magic items. They were replaced by rough work clothing and a leather apron, covered in runes and sigils of protection.

Tessa didn’t look up from her work when they entered, instead, she was focused intently on a mage staff. Made of dark wood, it was topped with clear crystal.

She was currently engraving a glyph on the wood with a small chisel and hammer, gently tapping it into the wood. Each blow made a strong ringing sound, an indication that the staff was made of extraordinarily hard wood.

The pair waited patiently until Tessa was done, laying down her tools and inspecting her work.

“You’re late. I expected you both back yesterday. Aramoor isn’t that far, and I doubt you met anything too fearsome as to require your prolonged presence. I gave you leave to Quest, Astrid, not gallivant around like a bride on her honeymoon.” Tessa said, her expression icy as she examined the pair of young people standing before her.

“Gallivanting! I’ll have you know-” Astrid flushed red in embarrassment and anger, aware that she was standing closely to Wil while her mother questioned her. Wil stopped her with a gently placed hand on her arm, before stepping forward and bowing his head.

“It was my fault. We arrived on time and dealt with the Trolls that had been taking villagers, but their Shaman touched my skin and something odd happened. It’s why we rushed back to see you.” Wil explained, describing what had happened.

“We would have been here earlier, but breaking the curse was more difficult than I thought possible. I don’t understand how a Rank 5 Shaman could have done something like this to me.” Wil asked, looking to the woman before him for answers.

Tessa stayed silent during his explanation, only speaking when he was finished.

“It’s a quirk of the Wilds. The trolls had no doubt come over the mountains, and the wild mana affected them.” Tessa explained.

“I don’t understand. I thought the mana was just different, that it was dangerous to humans, and affected plants and beasts oddly. How could it affect a curse?” Wil asked, turning to Astrid to see if she was aware of this. The silver haired woman simply shook her head, looking to her mother for answers.

“The Wilds aren’t merely dangerous to humans from exposure, although a prolonged stay there will affect you in unpredictable ways. The mana there is chaotic, unstable. It’s dangerous for humans to travel there because of how it alters our own magic.”

“A mage could cast a fireball, and have it work perfectly normal, or it could enhance the spell until its double or even triple the size, exploding in the casters hand, or near their companions.” Tessa explained, standing up and moving down her workshop towards a desk at the back. Wil and Astrid followed along silently, listening to her continued explanation.

“Or it could do nothing at all, the spell failing to materialize. Worse still, a different spell altogether could appear. Can you imagine trying to use a healing spell and getting ‘Burning Hands’ or something else? Its madness, and why we limit access to the Wilds.” she explained, rooting through her desk drawers for something.

“Then why not ban it all together, if its so unpredictable? Why allow anyone in there if the simplest spells could backfire.” Wil asked, curious.

“Trade, economics, politics. The normal concerns that people like my husband spend so much time obsessing over. The risk is also low, the chaos of the Wilds is limited, only becoming truly terrible during rare periods of instability.”

“Instability?” Wil asked, thinking about the Shaman he had encountered.

“The Wilds are like a pot, Illyrian, sitting on top of a fire, filled to the brim with ice cold water. The stability of the mana is calm, at least relatively speaking. Cast a spell, and 99 times out of 100, it works fine, on a normal day.”

“But the pot is still on the fire, growing warmer, until it begins to boil and spill over.” Tessa explained, finally finding what she was looking for. Standing upright, she showed the pair a small, magic display crystal.

“So, when the Wilds ‘boils over’, what happens?” Wil asked, staring at the crystal in Tessa’s hand.

“Crisis, and Opportunity.” Tessa said, and Wil saw her smile for the first time since he arrived in Ur.