The Curse on Eris

Chapter 19: Magic

Once they were out of the store, Edmund led Nalsy towards narrow streets with no lampposts. Instead, the street was lightened by tens of small lanterns hung on the line between the buildings. There was a small cafe with tables set outside. Each table had a flickering lantern on it.
Edmund placed the shopping bags and books on the side of the table as he pointed for Nalsy to sit down.
"Good afternoon, Sir Gray!" A woman barely older than them walked out of the cafe with a wide smile on her face.
"Good afternoon, Helga."
"We haven't seen you in a while. Have you been on another lengthy mission again?"
"No, I haven't," Edmund answered with a smile, glancing over at Nalsy. Helga followed his gaze and smiled knowingly.
"Good afternoon, dear." Helga welcomed Nalsy with an equally warm smile.
"Good afternoon, madam," Nalsy replied respectfully.
"I see that you must've been busy. How did you manage without your favourite for so many days?!" Helga turned back to Edmund.
"I never thought it possible, but here we are," Edmund answered with a chuckle.
"What can I get for you, darlings?" Helga took a notepad and a pen out of her apron.
"The usual," Edmund said without a glance at a menu.
As Helga turned towards Nalsy, Nalsy seemed to panic a little bit as she was not prepared to order.
"Make it two," Edmund instructed. "I think Nalsy might like it, and if not, we can always pick something else."
"I thought you'd say that if she doesn't like it as much as you, it'll be the last I'll see her!" Helga laughed. "Don't worry about what I've just said, sweetheart." Helga turned towards Nalsy. "I'm sure our boy is just a misunderstood softie." Helga walked away with a slight bounce in her step. Nalsy looked behind her curiously. She was a pretty woman in her late twenties or early thirties, with her hair braided into a long plait that reached her waist. She was bubbly and smiley.
"Don't mind, Helga. She's always quite excited and outspoken." Edmund said, looking at Nalsy, who seemed to be still wary of the new place.
"She seems nice," Nalsy replied with a faint smile.
"She is nice. She's one of the few who treats me as an equal around here."
"That's good," Nalsy said as she was looking around the street, which was quiet in comparison to the busy city square and the main roads. "It's a lovely place."
"It's one of the Lumen's hidden gems."  Nalsy's eyes shot back to Edmund at the mention of Lumen. "And I'm aware that you still have lots of questions. I'm surprised you haven't bombarded me with them yet, nor that you haven't had a freakout moment of sorts."
"What? No. I am obviously curious, but I've reached the stage of acceptance in regards to just about everything."
Helga walked out with a tray, quickly placing the plates and drinks before them.
"Enjoy, my lovelies!" She said, disappearing as soon as she appeared. The steam was coming off the food, which was stacked into heaps on the plates.
"It smells delicious!" Nalsy exclaimed as she smelled the aroma of the spices.
"Be careful with it" Edmund gave her a mysterious warning. After the first bite, Nalsy realised what he meant. The food was sweet and savoury, with bold flavours and subtle hints of other spices. It melted in Nalsy's mouth, and hot spices tingled her throat.
"What is it?" She asked with her mouth full.
"Spiced Fern Flower."
"I thought that fern flowers were a myth!"
"That's what gives it a sweet taste."
"What is it spiced with?"
"Grains of paradise, pasilla de Oaxaca, with a bit of chilli. And of course, a secret blend that Martin refused to share with me."
"So that's why my insides are burning," Nalsy said with her face turning red.
"Quite possibly", Edmund chuckled devilishly. Nalsy was quickly distracted by the food, at which Edmund smiled. It was the first time that she devoured the food before her, only now realising how famished she was. All her focus was on the food as she tried to pick up what seemed like a wrap that lost its integrity as soon as it left the plate.
Nalsy looked back at it with slight disappointment as it didn't seem to get inside of her quickly enough.
Once Edmund finished, he leaned back in his seat, once again watching Nalsy as she tackled the last of her food.
"So, this place is Lumen?" Nalsy asked as she nearly reached the bottom of the plate.
"Yes, the other place you'll hear a lot about is Tenebrae", Edmund answered.
"Very Latin", Nalsy observed.
"Latin originated here. Some of the greatest philosophers on Earth came from here."
Nalsy choked briefly after hearing this.
"Are you telling me that I am not on Earth?" She asked in disbelief.
"I did try to tell you that earlier", Edmund pointed out.
"Where am I then?"
"Eris", Edmund answered. Nalsy laughed nervously. "I am being serious" Edmund frowned slightly, but Nalsy wasn't sure whether Edmund's frown was directed at her or the mess she made with the food that was still escaping her fingers.
"I can see that."
"Why are you laughing then?"
"I wonder how hard I hit my head," Nalsy said with a grin. She wasn't sure how she felt about what Edmund said. She didn't think she believed it. But if it weren't true, what is this place? Who are those people? Could she imagine everything, especially Edmund?
"Quite hard," Edmund said with a smile appearing back on his face.
"Anything else I ought to know?"
"I don't know," Edmund said in thought.
"Why is it dark all the time? I mean, Eris is still within the solar system, right?" Nalsy furrowed her brows as she tried to remember her astronomy lessons.
"It's a curse."
"Ah, okay." Nalsy nodded. "It's already unbelievable that I might be in the Kuiper Belt, but a curse?" Nalsy shook her head.
"Caligo, the Witch, put a curse on the planet."
"I do think that you need to elaborate on this story, just a little bit."
"Caligo is from Tenebrae. We're at war with them as they've committed the highest level of treason. They broke the Pact. They killed the Lumen's royal family nearly twenty years ago. They are power-hungry, and they've tried to overtake Lumen, but they couldn't. As they fell in the battle, Caligo placed a curse on the Lumen. The curse backfired, and it fell onto the entire Eris, and no one was able to break it since. It was meant to be used to weaken Lumen. No sun meant that there was no harvest, leading to lengthy periods of hunger for many years. But Queen Sol worked hard to help the country recover. Lumen started lifting itself much faster than Tenebrae, but it is still difficult."
"That sounds outstandingly made up", Nalsy commented.
"It might sound made up, but it is true."
"So people that were after me were from Tenebrae?"
"Yes. They work for Caligo and the rest of her family."
"Some wicked witch was after my family and me? But why?"
"I don't know. I hope to be able to find that out."
"How long do you think I'd have to stay here?"
"At least until we can determine that it's safe for you to go back."
"You seem to be very concerned about my safety."
"It's a military tactic. Anything that can get in the way of Tenebraenians is technically good."
"I see" Nalsy's smile faded away. "I hope that it's not going to be that long," Nalsy added in the hope to give Edmund some reassurance that she isn't going to burden him forever.
She didn't realise that her words hurt Edmund. He knew that she didn't mean to hurt him, but her eagerness to leave made him feel like he wasn't doing enough to make her feel comfortable around him.
"We have been interrogating the people that we caught, but they haven't let a word out yet. At the moment, we are unsure why you have been targeted and if indeed, you were even the intended target."
"I would be surprised if they knowingly went after me. My family and I were perfectly ordinary. We never had any enemies." Nalsy's smile vanished completely, and her face showed sorrow. "My parents didn't deserve this."
"I know," Edmund said in a serious tone. "You didn't deserve this."
"How did I get into the Kuiper Belt?" Nalsy changed a topic as she started sipping on a drink in front of her.
"Warp. Deep in the forest, there's a warp."
"How does it work?"
"Ancient magic?"
"But how?" Nalsy didn't accept his answer. "With teleportation, we are expecting that one will be completely disintegrated and then put back together on the other side of the teleportation port."
"It's nothing like that. It's more like a tunnel or a highway."
"So, it's more of a wormhole?"
"I suppose. We call it a warp."
"I suspect that travel through it is very fast."
"Oh yes. It feels like a bad rollercoaster. The tugging can be very uncomfortable."
"And how does a person not fall apart at such speeds?"
"Magic?" Edmund said back with a shrug, surprised by Nalsy's deep interest in the subject.
"Of course, magic is the easiest answer." Nalsy sighed.
"It is. I'm afraid I can't explain it any further."
"And how does the curse work?"
"No idea. The moon is there as normal, but it's almost as if the sun was behind a curtain."
"If it were a curtain of blackness, I don't think we'd be seeing the stars."
"True."
"Yet another bit of magic?"
"I'm afraid so."