Cursed: The William Brothers Saga (UNEDITED)

Chapter 23

Song of the Moment: Genghis Khan by Miike Snow

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Nate and I spent the next few days hanging out after school together. I met up with an old mechanic friend of mine the day after the book incident. I ended up bringing Nate along so we could start planning out the go-kart.

"It's been like twenty years, man." He hugged me.

"Yeah, it's been too long, Paul." I pulled out if the hug and shook his hand firmly.

"What do you need, bud?" He crossed his arms while looking at us. "Who's your friend?"

"Nate Caster." Nate introduced himself and offered a hand. Paul almost shook his arm off.

"We need to build a go-kart. Fast." I instructed.

"For the big race next week? You sure are pushing it." Paul laughed. "There's bound to be supplies around this place."

We spent the next few days building the go-kart with the spare parts that Paul had lying around the shop. He had us working in the little building behind his main shop. I assembled the kart together as best as I could while Nate read aloud chapters from the History of Leonboto. It was killing two birds with one stone.

"I think I found out what you are." Nate commented as I was trying to adjust the seat.

"What am I?" I paused from my task to listen.

"'Orphans of the Sun are mortal Leonbotans who had their souls replaced with demons. They feed off the flesh and souls of their victims.'" He paused, "But you aren't from Leonboto. You don't look like an alien to me."

"Well, remember what it said in the first chapter. Earth is in an alternate dimension that semi-reflects Leonboto. Leonboto is actually made up of multiple planets and humans are based off the inhabitants. Anyone could be Leonbotan and not even know it. Because of the rivalry between the royal siblings, a portal was opened to a new world, a new Earth. The thing that doesn't make sense is that I was Cursed with Noctum, not born with it." I explained. I sat on the ground by the go-kart. Nate remained standing by the little desk with the go-kart designs scattered about.

"You don't have to be born with it. It says here that 'The leader of the Orphans, Anton Declaire, had an invention that would hopefully turn more Leonbotans into Orphans of the Sun. The Luna Mask was a sacred piece of power but with that power, it caused the mask to jump from place to place in the world and in time. Using the mask, the future could be seen and a victim could be turned into an Orphan of the Sun if powered by enough emotion. The Luna Mask was an object obsessed over by all who knew of its power.' Maybe we just need this Luna Mask to fix this. Do you know about it?" I forgot to tell him about that little bit of information.

"Yeah, I know about it. That's the thing that Sistine Cursed us with. My brother and I have been hunting that thing down for centuries. We can't touch it though. It burns our skin like acid." I showed him my scarred hands from my rare encounters with mask. "Is there anything else?"

"It's kind of vague. It only explains the basics. For instance, did you know that the Orphans are actually just a group of seven men? They just recently had a woman join their ranks after a former Orphan became the King of Leonboto." He claimed. "It also says that with their demons fed, the Orphans could obtain immortality and could only be cured of their curse by devouring a Pure Soul. The Original Seven-except one-veered away from the Pure Souls to keep their power. It looks like the King of Leonboto was the one who got the Pure Soul. Hey, don't you and your brother have to Claim a Pure Soul to be free? I vaguely remember you telling me about that."