Part of Them

Part 35

"But why can I not go down there and talk to her myself?" I wasn't even sure what I was going to do if I ever got permission to visit her or if I could even handle it. I had nothing left to say to her. It was more a matter of upsetting my brothers than really wanting to go down there and have a talk with her. I despised any social interaction and her begging me for help or screaming at me in anger would certainly not be easy to handle.

"Because it's dirty down there and disgusting. There's old torture devices you couldn't even imagine and the stench of blood is agonizing. You wouldn't be able to handle it and we don't want you to see anything associated with nasty stuff like that - you are too fragile," He stated matter of factly.

Too fragile? I couldn't handle something like that?!

It was truly infuriating to listen to something like that. But I knew if I started arguing now, I couldn't win anyways and it would be more humiliating for me than it would get me anywhere.

Instead, I just cursed all of them under my breath. I hope they rot in hell. That is, if they ever die. Sometimes I forget that we are probably doomed to wander earth for all eternity. Well without them, I actually had a great chance of dying because I was weaker than them, but now that I was back under their control, my chances were practically nonexistent.

Alerus grabbed the tape while still holding onto the loose end of the bandage and then stuck it onto the bandages on my back. When he pulled back, he looked pleased with his work.

Was putting on bandages really so impressive?

"Alright, now that that's done..." He clapped his hands and turned to Rayi. "Would you mind showing me what you have there?" He asked.

Rayi held up a hand in response, indicating that he was going to answer in a second.

"Almost done..." He mumbled absentmindedly.

"And... There!" He explained happily.

Rayi stood up from his spinny stool and went over to the counter, whose top was going to have to serve as a table as he placed the clipboard on it and waved Alerus over.

"Come here, let me show you how it works," He said.

Alerus turned back around to me and gave me a warning look, silently telling me to stay on the bed and rest some more.

Rolling my eyes, I threw my back down into the mattress. I was pissed at always being supervised.

Alerus shook his head disapprovingly but I could see a hint of amusement in his eyes. Sure, just go ahead and make fun of me, it's not annoying at all.

Throwing him one of the nastiest glares I could possibly muster, he turned around, smiling to himself, and walked over to where Rayi stood bent over the countertop, studying his work.

When Alerus stepped to his side, Rayi looked up.

"Alright, so this is how it's gonna work. You see that part in the middle? The one with the complicated twists?"

Alerus nodded his head, staring at the paper before him.

"That's the base of the curse, aka the thing that has been carved into Faer's back and the fancy complicated little twists are the extensions that have developed over time and made the curse what it is today.

"Now, I have drawn some simple lines first, and each line is a counterline to one of the lines of the current curse mark. The counterline will basically lift the efficiency of the original line. So in the end, the curse will be lifted completely. But inefficient curse marks that are developing curse marks can't just be left alone, because they will continue to extend, and that's probably going to go in a completely different direction than we want it to, so we have to give it a different direction to go into instead. A harmless direction. Some kind of useful charm, like better eyesight or something like that," He finished looking Alerus in the eyes.

Alerus nodded his head slowly, still staring at the paper.

"So you want me to give you an idea for which direction the curse should develop in... But we could also do something a little more complicated than just eyesight, right?" He asked, finally looking up from the paper and turning to Rayi.