The Girl of an Old Mansion

9. The Dark Lord of North

Lord Yong and the other members of his bureau were huddled over a map. One of them had said that they had found the location of The Dark Lord of the North — the only person who supposedly knows about the book that holds the key to break the curse.

Lord Yong had been looking for The Dark Lord for a very long time. The man was a really renowned personality in the world of black magic, besides practicing black magic, he could even see the dead. There was one thing that made him different and more respected from others who practised black magic, he only used his powers and knowledge for helping people.

It is said that when The Dark Lord was in his late 40s, a group of black magicians did something awful to the noble man out of pure jealousy.

After that incident he had vanished. Since then nobody has seen him or heard of him.

It seemed next to impossible for Lord Yong to find him until one day the Dark Lord's disciple came in and shared his whereabouts.

"I must apologize for eavesdropping on your private conversation. But I can help you," said the young disciple.

"How can you help us?" Lord Yong questioned.

"I know about the Dark Lord. He is my master."

"Alright, tell me everything about your master".

"The Dark Lord is hidden in the Zorus Kingdom right now."

"Hidden?" Lord Yong asked.

"Yes, a group of black magicians had cast a powerful and deadly spell on him. But because the Dark Lord is a powerful wizard it was not possible for them to kill him with their powers. So, they cast a spell of leprosy on him, as it was done through dark arts it was impossible to cure it."

"The spell made him look horrible, the blisters and scabs popping out from his body with a pungent odour. He never wanted people of his town who loved him and respected him so much, feel pathetic towards him, therefore, he walked out and now lives in a dense forest where no one can find him."

"But he is a powerful wizard, couldn't he remove the spell?"

"Indeed he is a powerful wizard but when a group of black magicians come together and sacrifice one of their body parts the spell becomes so strong that nobody can cure it," the disciple explained.

When he said the sacrifice of a body part Lord Yong thought of Mi-sook as she didn't have her little finger on her left hand.

"Was Mi-sook involved in this sinister act?" asked Lord Yong.

"How do you know about that wicked shaman? She was the one who provoked the other wizards and afterwards, she killed them all."

"She wants to ruin the royal family of Noam. She even tricked our Queen and at present she is serving in the palace. Her bad deeds are the reason behind the curse. This is the reason why I have been searching for the Dark Lord for so long, only he can tell me the solution to break the curse," Lord Yong disclosed.

"In that case you need to reach him as soon as possible. Master is on his deathbed. I had been taking care of him for so long. One day he told me to go back to my town. He said that he would always be grateful to me as I truly cared for him. I did not want to leave him but he insisted for me to go back. I left my poor master with teary eyes and a heavy heart," said the disciple sadly.

Lord Yong and one of his followers, Nyang, head to the Zorus Kingdom to meet the Dark Lord. It takes them four nights to finally reach the Zorus Kingdom.