𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕠𝕡𝕤𝕚𝕤

2: Separate Tides

The sun's bright rays felt warm on your eyelids as you slowly returned to your senses. The uncomfortable sensation of metal pushed against your face was enough to fully wake up. 

You opened your eyes and assessed your surroundings. Turns out you'd fallen asleep in your office... again. You winced as you lifted your aching body from its previous position.

You stood up and stretched, the sharp pain in your neck was proof enough of why you hated sleeping in your office. You wished you could've held out long enough to sleep in your own bed instead of a hard oak table. 

You looked over to your desk. The papers had been scattered from serving as your make-shift pillow and there was a wet spot on one report was from where you had drooled. You tidied your desk enough to pass for clean and threw away that report, opting to re-do it instead of accepting your gross sleeping habits. You moved to the door, pushed the heavy oak open, then slowly crept to your room. 

You snuck in and silently pushed the door closed. Sighing, you pulled your mask off, relieved to finally be able to take it off. You faceplanted into your bed, thrashing and flailing to remove the more uncomfortable pieces of your uniform. 

you sighed into your comforter, finally able to relax. You turned your head to your alarm. 5:55, you had about 35 minutes to relax before the castle came alive. You decided to spend your time reading a book. 

You had quite a few in your stock. Most you'd picked up from the library in Bonesborough but some books, your most favorite books, came from the Nightmarket.  You picked up your used tomb, fingers brushing over the cover. The Curseweaver's Compendium: A Comprehensive Guide to Curses. A long title and an even longer book but, it was too interesting not to re-read a hundred times. 

It seems that curses don't originate from the Isles or that's at least what some people theorize. There's also no precursor to curses, most spells or magic types have a precursor, like how abomination magic and construction magic both came from the same magic type but over time separated into their own form, it seems that curses just appeared out of nowhere one day. That's where the book ends though.   

The book only really focuses on the different types of curses and not so much their history, you've tried to ask Belos but when you did he said that you really shouldn't focus on such things. The book is dated back to the savage ages and most history from that time, or even before it for that matter, where burned after Belos came into power. 

No one except Curseweavers knows how to make curses. It's a protected practice and no one's been able to crack the code of making it. 

There are about three different categories curses fall into, Dangerous, Lethal, and Harmless. There are also Long-term and short-term curses. Most curses fall into long-term and harmless. Like laughing instead of crying or tap-dancing during awkward moments. These curses are easily destroyed by a curse breaker. You asked Hettie how she does it, but she just told you to get out of her office. 

You focused back on the book in your hands, brushing your fingers over the hand-drawn images of the curses and effects it has. That was the main reason you kept on reading it, the pictures were too interesting not to see. You had long since memorized the pages, simply paging through the different illustrations. 

____

You re-read your favorite passages and kept yourself busy by studying the art. You sighed when you heard the screeching of your alarm clock and put your uniform back on. You looked at what was on the schedule, expecting to see the usual meetings and administration you'd been accustomed to during your time as the Silver Scout. 

What shocked you though, was that you had a mission. You had to rub your eyes just to believe it was true. 

Right there, in bold lettering, Silver Scout, Task: Escort Imperial Naval Ship to capture a Selkidomus. You couldn't believe your eyes! You were finally leaving the castle! The only thing that would make this better is if Hunter came with you.