|Mianite| The Missing Woman

[Chapter 61] Curse

[Author's Note]

Before everything gets all serious and stuff, I just wanted to point out something I noticed a while ago.

Alva

Alister

Andor

Alyssa

And what do they do when they want to make a new name for Ianite's mini-me?

They add an "A" to the end.

And Jericho to Jeriah? Move some things around and add an "A". 

And they thought we wouldn't notice.

We now return you to your previously scheduled programming:

[Alva's Perspective]

"The research is finally ready m'lord," I said. I was standing in the now comfortably familiar office of Mianite with Alister at my side.

"Fantastic!" He said enthusiastically, clapping his hands together once.

"Will this really work?" Alister asked timidly.

"Of course it will," Mianite said confidently. "Faith has always been incredible at gathering intel. How far did you have to travel for this spell?"

"Dellmoor for the wizard and Mawhill for the ingredients," I said.

"I could have helped you know," Alister said.

"You could have gotten in the way," I said.

Mianite sighed. "Is everything set up?"

"Not quite," I said. I took out a few careful diagrams I had drawn on my journey and handed them to Alister. "Make sure everything is set up around the altar exactly like this," I told him.

He looked confused when he saw them. "What exactly does this spell do?"

"It is not a spell," I said, "it is a curse."

Alister looked horrified. "A curse? Why are we cursing our god?" He turned to Mianite, "why do you want this."

"It is a curse against anyone who tries to harm me," he said. "That is all you must know. Now I believe you were given orders?"

Alister's eyes went wide and he stood up very straight before gathering the papers and heading quickly for the door.

"So you still have not explained exactly what this will do," Mianite said to me when Alister had left the room. We each sat down in one of the more comfortable chairs around the room while we began the wait for Alister's return.

"Well given that no single person could get near enough to kill you," I began, only to be cut off.

"You could," Mianite said. "We are alone together now, just as Dianite was with whoever killed him."

"That is foolish and you know it," I said. "I would never attack you."

Mianite smiled and let me continue.

"This curse will have them turn on their accomplices," I said. "It will happen before they could actually kill you, assuming they managed to get their hands on a weapon that could do that to begin with, and they will instead begin to target their allies."

"Interesting," Mianite said, stroking his beard in thought. "But I would be injured?"

"Nothing you could not handle yourself," I told him. "The curse has an almost immediate effect, though it will likely start to wear off over time. We will have to perform the ritual again in a few years."

"That is not so bad," he said.

"If it saves your life m'lord, I would recreate the curse daily."

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"Mianite has been attacked!" A guard shouted as I reentered the compound. It was a few months after we created the curse, and I therefore found I was not terribly concerned.

"I would not be too worried," I said calmly to the guard.

The guard stared at me, gobsmacked. "Are you behind this attack?!"

I stared daggers at him and he looked a new breed of terrified. "If you ever suggest that I would harm the one true god I will kill you on the spot. Or do you doubt that Mianite can hold his own against a few mortals?" I spat.

The guard stuttered and staggered away from me. I tore through the entrance halls of the temporary fortress to Mianite's private chambers. I had no idea how anyone could get in, but at the very least it was a chance to test the curse.

I opened the door to see Mianite standing unharmed next to a young man, covered in blood that I assumed was not his own. He looked horrified as he surveyed the room of his dead companions.

"H-How..." He choked back tears.

"Take this man to the dungeon," Mianite said to me.

"Shall I disarm him?" I asked Mianite quietly when I spied the knife still tucked in the man's belt.

"I do not think that will be necessary," Mianite said sinisterly. "I believe our young friend here might find a use for it very soon."

I took the man by the arm and started to lead him towards the door.

"Thank you Faith," Mianite said. "None of this would have been possible without you."

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I lead the man to a jail cell but as I walked back towards Mianite's private quarters everything started to feel fuzzy. Something was not right. I did not think that whatever was coming next was a part of any memory; it did not feel vivid enough.

I wandered the halls momentarily until I found the chamber I felt somewhat drawn to. The room was covered in blood and I saw myself standing in the middle, though it was the me I was now. Alva with mostly purple hair and rosy cheeks, and not the Lady Faith for my memory.

I had the same horrified look that the young man had had, and there were eight white sheets, covering what I could only assume to be bodies.

I was holding The Kikoku, which was coated in blood.

I counted the sheets again from my place in the doorway. Sonja, Tucker, Jordan, Tom, Mot, James, Martha, Dec.

Mianite's words echoed through my head over and over.

"None of this would have been possible without you..."

"None of this would have been possible without you..."

"Possible without you..."

Declan woke me up, holding me tightly.

"It's okay Alva," he whispered to me as I let out a whimper. "Whatever it was, it was just a dream."

I buried my face into his shoulder. "They were all dead. I killed them all."

"It was just a dream Alva," he promised me. "I know you. You would never be able to do something like that."

I tried to calm down so we could go back to sleep, but I knew his words were not very comforting. I had not wanted to kill them in my dream; I had had no choice.