Suhara of Curses: Chapter 34 - Released

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Jaux Ballad has always wanted to enter the realm of magic, but could not do so by regular means. In his desperation to become a magician he finds himself with more power, and more trouble, than he could ever have imagined.

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The headmistress had a lead on the harpy's location.

It didn’t require too much digging, all Helsfur had to do was search for information on Suhara. She found a report from Hawkshire about how the girl had been found unconscious in one of the research department rooms back on her first day. The room in question was operated by a witch that no one met, except for the research administrator.

A quick examination by Marlifa showed that the research admin was also under the effects of mind manipulation. The harpy was likely located in the research room.

Unfortunately, when the administration checked the room, it was empty. Everything had been stripped bare.

The harpy got away.

=+=+=

The next few days were peaceful.

Suhara spent a lot of her time learning how to use her Broken Space powers. The eye lasers were one of her favorites. It was easy to use, and worked like a standard spell. It blinded her during the moment it activated, but the beams were quick enough that whatever she was looking at tended to get hit.

The silver vacuum objects were much more difficult. Suhara had to keep track of numerical coordinates in order to conjure any shapes. Her lack of interest in arithmetical magic was a disadvantage here. The only things she could form with any consistency were tiny needles. She couldn’t throw them with a decent amount of force, but she could get them to pierce unprotected flesh. Frey described the damage as being less deadly than a mosquito bite.

Suhara was currently in the cafeteria, eating with all her friends. Her roommates were with her, as well as Deledy, Norman, and Helanna.

"Hey Helanna, you're from Eritea, right?" said Suhara.

Helanna looked up from her bowl and swallowed her last bite. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Could you help me with this thing?" Suhara retrieved the Grim Floret from one of her many pockets. "It's an artifact from the Eritea territory, I've been trying to get it open."

"Cool! Is it like, a magic item?" said Helanna.

Suhara nodded. "Yep, it's got some kinda curse spell inside that I can learn to use."

"So how can I help?"

"Frey said it was some kind of long password lock. I thought it might be some ancient Eritea sayings and stuff, so I was wondering if you knew where to find any."

Helanna's face lit up after a moment of thought. "Oh! My parents used to tell me stories about a bunch of guys from a long time ago who prayed and sang a lot. Try looking for the, um... Spinsel Tribe, I think."

It was the Spencil Tribe, actually. After digging through a few books in the library, Suhara was able to locate the group that Helanna referenced.

The tribe was famous for being the source of the first High Priest of Ulvin, also known as the Muse. Most Eritean wisdoms originated from them. After the first Muse was created, the tribe had dedicated themselves to music, magic, and prayer.

Suhara tried reciting many phrases and incantations in order to get the Grim Floret to open up.

It took three hours to find the correct phrase, "Ne lu rota va sarl, ta sarla va elm."

The phrase roughly translated to, "We fight without bloodshed by taking their weapons."

Once the password was said, the Grim Floret's petals opened up. The metal flower bloomed, and revealed a round gray stone embedded in the center.

Suhara picked up the Grim Floret and charged it with her magic. All of a sudden, a gray cloud composed of magical spores burst out from the metal flower. The spores drifted out in a great pulse.

Magic began to shut down. Books that had been flying overhead hailed down on everyone. Light crystals began to dim, until an entire corner of the library was plunged into darkness.

"No magic in the library!" shouted an angry librarian.

"Sorry!" Suhara called out from the shadows. "It was an accident!"

Suhara spent most of her afternoon helping to repair all the damage she caused with the Grim Floret.

The artifact's gray spores acted like sponges in a pond. They were magic dampeners that caused all nearby standard level spells to fail. It pretty much made low level magicians completely useless. The innate spell was master level, so Suhara had to use a lot of magic to activate the flower.

The magic dampening field didn’t affect Suhara. She was still able to use standard spells while standing in the spore cloud.

Frey helped decipher the spell pattern for Suhara, but it was ridiculously complex. Casting the spell manually would take a few minutes, but Suhara wasn't able to cast it a single time. It was just too much to remember.

Until Suhara was more used to master class spell patterns, Frey hired Deledy to forge the artifact into a hair clip.

The dark green metal flower adorned Suhara's black hair. Now she had four magic items, three that she always needed to put on every morning. The black bracelet was considerate enough to stay out of mind until needed.

=+=+=

The following morning, Suhara ran into Rales by the stairway. He had been waiting for her.

“That looks nice on you.” Rales complimented on the new hair clip.

“Thanks,” said Suhara.

“Listen, I’m going to be heading out on the research trip in tomorrow,” sand Rales, “any chance that you’ve changed your mind?”

Suhara recalled what Desyi had suggested about the trip. “Oh, I do want to, but they won’t let me out of the school because of the ghost attack. I’m on lockdown.”

“Ah, that’s too bad.” Rales sighed, then said goodbye and walked off.

=+=+=

Wenlia read the request that Rales had submitted to her department.

Rales asked for permission to take Suhara out on a research trip, against the lockdown mandate. He had reasoned that the trip would be safer than remaining in the school.

The kingdom that discovered the ruins had stationed royal paladins as guards. Royal paladins were capable fighters, so they could protect Suhara from any threats. The ghosts from the previous invasion also wouldn’t know her new location. Newly discovered ruins were kept confidential.

On the condition that Suhara wear a distress beacon necklace, she was given permission to attend the research trip with Rales.

=+=+=

“If you really don’t wana go, you don’t have to.” said Tricks.

“I’d feel bad, I already told him I wanted to go.” Suhara stuffed another robe into her clothing bag. “I don’t want to come off as ungrateful or lying or something.”

“It won’t be too bad,” said Desyi. “you’ll probably find a ton of cool stuff. Undiscovered ruins are pretty amazing.”

“Yeah, bring us back some souvenirs!” said Tricks. “There’s got to be a secret treasury in that place.”

Frey laughed, “It’s not likely, but worth a look.”

After Suhara packed up all her necessities, she sat with her friends and bantered away the rest of the day.

=+=+=

Suhara feared for her life like a fish out of water, magic carpets were the worst.

Rales had assured her the the carpet was a safe method of magic transportation, but that did nothing to ease her fright.

The carpet was such a thin piece of fabric. Suhara could feel how the air was flowing against the bottom of the rug. Her body sunk into the carpet just a little, and she was sure that it would soon tear open and drop her. Winds constantly crashed into her. A strong gust could possible knock her over the edge of the rug.

Suhara didn’t like flying, not one bit. Massive heights were not her thing. She kept her eyes shut and held onto Rales for dear life.

Of course, she didn’t have anything to be worried about. The protection blessings on her magic items, combined with her vampire abilities, made falls incredibly non-lethal. She even had a curse that slowed down falls. The problem was that she forgot about all these details while on the flying carpet.

Rales enjoyed the ride a bit more than he should have. He liked how Suhara hugged against him during the entire journey, even though it was only out of fear. It seemed cute to him. She had squealed and held on tighter every time there was unexpected turbulence. He tried to explain that the carpet’s enchantments wouldn’t let her fall, but she just shook her head and groaned.

They eventually landed in a forest located somewhere on the eastern side of the continent. The castle ruins that they would be spending the week in was camouflaged under the shadows of gigantic trees.

The castle was large, but didn’t disrupt any of the vegetation. The entire castle bent around the trees. All the sections and rooms were separated by tunnels that were partially buried in the dirt. The forest didn’t surround the castle, the forest grew through it. The walls were covered in overgrown ivy vines. Whoever constructed the building made sure that it was hard to spot.

There were nine Ginrook paladins guarding the ruins. Two other research groups were already present. One was from the royal court of Ginrook, and the other was from a magician’s academy in the Javex territory.

Rales showed his identification papers, and told them that Suhara was his assisting student.

“Welcome aboard then, Marlifa magicians!” said a man from the Ginrook team. "You are free to set up camp anywhere you'd like."

Rales thanked the man, then gestured for Suhara to follow. When they reached an empty spot, Rales took out his wand and cast a spell into the ground. The dirt rumbled, then two stone shacks rose out of the floor. He even added their names above the doorways.

"Put your stuff away," said Rales, "then we can start up the research!"

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Comments

Aww... so Rales finally got

Aww... so Rales finally got his wish.

Thanky you for writing this captivating story,
Beyogi