Pyre | MxB

Chapter 5 | Cursed

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"I'm extremely ill... that is why I cannot help you."

Phoebus' words, spoken in a low and solemn tone, had caught Aster completely off guard.

"You're... ill?" Aster repeated in astonishment.

Aster couldn't believe what he was hearing. This powerful and imposing figure was ill? It seemed almost impossible.

Phoebus nodded once, then began to ascend the stairs.

"W-wait—!" Aster called out, his voice cracking in desperation. "P-please, I have so many questions—"

Phoebus didn't react to Aster's plea. The boy took his silence as an invitation to follow him up the staircase.

The muscles in Aster's legs and back ached with each step, but he did not falter. He was desperate for answers, for a way to help his village, and he refused to be hindered by something as trivial as physical pain.

Aster eventually found himself standing at the top of the staircase, a series of doors coming into view, lining the length of the new hallway. The figure, Phoebus, had disappeared in the time it took Aster to make it up the steps, leaving him alone in the torch-lit hall.

Aster gnawed at his bottom lip as he looked from door to door, wondering which one Phoebus had gone through. He felt a bit of irritation rise up inside of him, wishing that the deity had waited for him before vanishing.

Aster raised his nose to the air, searching for any scent he could associate with the figure. His nose wrinkled, the rune-branded rope still tangled around his wrist making it difficult to pick up any specific scents. All he could smell was the humid, dusty air of the building. He cursed under his breath, his frustration growing as he realized that he was now completely dependent on his eyes to find Phoebus.

Aster shuffled down the hallway, peeking into a few rooms as he passed them. He began to fuss with the rope, muttering incoherently as he picked and tugged at it. The rope seemed to tighten around his wrist in response, almost as if it was intentionally toying with him.

"Stupid rope—" He grumbled, yanking at it once more. "Why won't it come off?"

"You won't be able to remove it yourself."

Aster jolted in surprise as he heard Phoebus' voice coming from in front of him. He had been so focused on the task at hand that he hadn't noticed that the figure was in the room directly ahead.

Aster let out a frustrated huff. "Why not?" He asked, his voice sharp with irritation.

Phoebus strode over to where Aster stood in the doorway. Aster couldn't help but feel intimidated by the figure's sheer size. He was a massive, imposing presence, that towered over the boy and completely dwarfed him.

"The lycanthrope bound by it is unable to remove it. It's written so in the runes burned on its surface." Phoebus said in a bored tone, as if the fact that Aster couldn't remove the rope was the most obvious thing in the world.

Aster parted his lips, poised to let out a snarky comment about Phoebus' nonchalant attitude, but before he could speak the figure reached out and slipped one of his clawed fingers beneath the rope and sliced right through it. Aster stared at the now-severed rope with disbelief. The figure's claws had been so sharp and lethal-looking, and it was now painfully obvious how dangerous Phoebus' could be. Aster swallowed back the fear bubbling up within him, not wanting to show any sign of weakness in front of the deity.