《Emika Grows》


 Chapter 1: The Woods Under Her Skin

    Emika woke up from her deepest sleep as she felt a piercing, throbbing pain in the back of her right wrist. In her groggy state, she couldn¡¯t gather the energy to open her eyes. Instead, she was left wondering, in a haze¡­ Why would it hurt? She wasn¡¯t dreaming, right?


    She grazed the back of her wrist, and immediately, the pain shot back, and her eyes sprang open.


    When she saw Eva¡¯s long, silver hair glittering in the moonlight next to her, she calmed down. Emika hated sleeping all alone in the estate left to her by her parents, so sometimes her friends would come over to make her feel less lonely.


    Just as she was about to slide into idle thoughts and fall back to sleep, the throb returned.


    What the hell is this?


    She tried to get up; accidentally supporting herself with her right hand and thus feeling the most intense pain yet, only barely managing to contain a loud groan. Something was up, but¡­ even with the help of the moonlight, she couldn¡¯t ascertain anything wrong on her skin, so she decided to leave the room to look in more detail.


    The bedroom door creaked softly as she pushed it open ¡ª this time remembering not to use her right hand. Then, across the floor, Emika walked down the stairs leading to her basement. She had a very strong desk lamp there. She passed by three of her bonsai trees that she had recently cut short, and eventually sat down at her work station, switching on the lamp.


    It took a minute to get used to the brightness, so for a while, she could do nothing other than sit there and endure the waves of pain.


    But¡­ Her wrist looked normal. At least, that¡¯s what she first thought. Possibly a little red. Yes¡­ her right hand was definitely a bit red, and also very hot. Again, she tried grazing over the area on the skin the pain came from, but this time, did so much more carefully, and¡­ yeah. Now, she sensed it. It felt like something was under her skin.


    She didn¡¯t remember seeing or feeling that bump before. It appeared to be a tiny, hard thing; perhaps one centimetre in length, somehow attached to her arm¡¯s bone. She could move her skin over it gently, but she couldn¡¯t move the thing itself.


    This was somewhat worrying. Certainly not supposed to be that way. Or was it? Just to make sure, she tried feeling for a similar shape on her left wrist, but indeed, there was nothing alike to be found there.


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Going back to her other wrist, she accidentally touched too hard and was forced to let out a sharp wail to endure the stabbing pain, as her skin suddenly sprang open and a squirt of blood gushed out.


    Immediately, Emika jumped up to get an old sweat cloth from a nearby chair to press on the wound and wipe the blood away. Now that the thing had burst through her skin and wasn¡¯t scratching at it from the inside, the pain was actually much easier to bear.


    After a few minutes, the bleeding mostly stopped. As Emika cleaned the wound, she finally found out the cause was, as best as she could tell, somehow, a little splinter of wood; just the kind of wood she¡¯d work with most of the time when taking care of her bonsai trees. Was it a chip of wood she had accidentally rammed into her skin? And her skin had just grown over it, maybe?


    Emika looked at it with a magnifying glass; it definitely seemed like dry, bleached juniper deadwood.


    Either way; at that point, she decided that it was no use trying to guess what had happened. There was only one action to take. She grabbed one of her bark removal pliers, pinched the wooden chip in her skin and, taking a deep breath, holding it firmly, twisted it out in a swift, trained gesture like removing bark from a bonsai tree.


    The pain thundered through her entire arm and was so intense she couldn¡¯t even think. As she looked at the pliers in her hand, she realised that a part of her own flesh was attached to the wood.


    ¡°Are you for real?¡± she gasped, and stumbled over to the chair on which she had put the sweat cloth. After a moment of collection, she began wiping off the blood from her wrist.


    She heard a meow from below as she felt Catrine graze her legs. After a few seconds, with a slight slurping sound, her cat started licking up a spot of blood that had formed on the ground.


    ¡°Thanks for cleaning up,¡± she mumbled to her, and eventually, after having processed the shock of the pain, she got up to get some bandages to put around her wrist.


    After treating herself, she returned to her room. Inside, Eva was awake, sitting upright on the bed.


    ¡°Everything okay?¡± she asked, rubbing sand out of her eyes.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Emika. ¡°I think I just had a splinter from work. I couldn¡¯t sleep, so I pulled it out.¡±


    Eva took a second to process what she just heard. ¡°Ah¡­ so, nothing serious?¡± she asked, but then her gaze fell onto Emika¡¯s arm. ¡°Wait¡­ are those bandages? How big was that splinter?¡±


    ¡°It was pretty big.¡±


    ¡°Oh no¡­ maybe you could have asked a doctor to pull it out,¡± Eva said as she took a closer look at Emika¡¯s bandages. ¡°Wait, these are so dirty¡­¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t have anything else,¡± shrugged Emika.


    ¡°This can cause blood poisoning, you know. There is a reason people are supposed to use clean ones¡­¡±


    From her expression, it was clear that Eva was deeply unhappy with the situation, but having known Emika for years, she knew that there was little to be done about that obstinate airhead of hers.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ll try to find clean ones tomorrow. Let¡¯s just go back to sleep for now¡­ I am super tired.¡±


    With these words, Emika let herself fall on her pillow and watched as Eva, with a sigh, laid back down as well.

 Chapter 2: Not Much of a Sharer

    The next morning, Emika felt terrible. Eva had already woken up and prepared morning tea; a gesture which in and of itself would have made the perfect start for Emika¡¯s day¡­ If not for that biting ache in her wrist.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± mumbled Emika as she picked up the mug with her left hand, trying to drink without spilling it all.


    ¡°No problem!¡± said Eva with a smile. ¡°You were in pain the whole time, right? The least I could do.¡± She tucked her hair behind her ear in a gesture that made Emika¡¯s heart jump a little.


    ¡°Ah¡­ was it that obvious? Did I disturb your sleep?¡±


    ¡°A little,¡± Eva chuckled, despite not looking tired at all. She was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room, a cup of tea next to her on the small night stand, phone in hand. She still had her nightgown on, and her long hair looked slightly dishevelled. Cheerfully, she added, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, though. Let¡¯s get ready, shall we?¡±


    Ah¡­ right. They were going to meet up at Mina¡¯s place today. ¡°Sure¡­¡± Emika mumbled. ¡°I¡¯ll just be in the bathroom for a bit.¡± She figured she should at least change the bandages or something¡­ not that she had anything to change to¡­ maybe just wash the wound in the sink and put them back on? ¡°Feel free to take anything from my fridge if you¡¯re hungry. I¡¯m going to eat at Mina¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°Alright!¡± said Eva, taking another sip, then immediately getting up and leaving toward the kitchen.


    Meanwhile, Emika left and headed straight to the bathroom. Sitting on the toilet, she looked at her wrist. The binds were incredibly tight, and hurt a lot. She didn¡¯t remember putting them on this firmly at all. Also¡­ what was that bump?


    Carefully, she removed the bandages, and got shivers when she saw what was underneath.


    Another piece of deadwood had grown out of her wrist in place of the old one. This time, it was almost twice as large, surrounded by dried blood and skin, causing waves of pain whenever Emika tried to bend her wrist.


    ¡°What the¡­¡± Emika whispered to herself.


    She tried to think this through logically.


    She had removed all the wood yesterday, a splinter that had been pretty much attached to her very bone. Then, she had put bandages around it, so it couldn¡¯t have gotten there from the outside¡­ Meaning¡­ This thing must have grown from her? And it was, again, eerily similar to chemically treated juniper deadwood, like the stuff she made when she prepared a new bonsai tree¡­ by removing the bark from a branch, adding sulphur, and then torching it with a flame. Something like this couldn¡¯t physically just grow from underneath her skin.


    Wait a second, she thought. Was this¡­ magic?


    She felt dizzy for a second. No¡­ magic was incredibly rare¡­ If it really was magic, that would be way too bothersome. Sure, some of her clients were mages and witches, which apparently had to do with bonsai trees being strong magical ingredients, but¡­


    The truth was, Emika had never really cared that much about magic. Mina, on the other hand, was a bit of a nerd when it came to these things. Maybe she should ask her later¡­


    Emika sighed. Didn¡¯t she already have enough on her plate? After today, she was going to work full time because of two upcoming deadlines for bonsai tree exhibitions, and a live cutting competition at the end of the month¡­ What if she couldn¡¯t use her wrist for those? She would have to cancel. She got annoyed just thinking about that. As she tried touching the tip of the wooden branch, it moved her entire arm, because it was so firmly attached to her bone. Surprisingly, doing that didn¡¯t hurt. Apparently, the only thing that hurt was the wound around that piece of wood.


    Well¡­ just like last night, there was only one thing to do. Emika got up, flushed, washed her hands and made her way down to her workshop. There, she picked up one of her incredibly sharp, black bonsai scissors, and put the open blades right around the base of the wood protruding from her wrist. She was about to cut it off ¡ª but then hesitated for a second. Was this really a good idea?


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Taking a few deep breaths, she imagined what a responsible person would do in her situation. That¡¯s right ¡ª as Eva had said yesterday, things like this could cause blood poisoning. So, she needed to disinfect the tool first before using it to operate on herself. Proud of this conclusion, she removed the scissors, wiped off the traces of blood and scab that had gotten on it, and prepared her blow torch that she usually used to burn off bass from branches she turned into deadwood.


    Doing all this with her offhand turned out to be slightly tricky ¡ª however, after a few seconds, just as she was about to hold the scissors over the torch, she hesitated again.


    These scissors had been incredibly expensive¡­ Their short blades, the long large, slightly distorted ovals leaving enough for all her fingers¡­ Probably her favourite tool out of all the ones she had¡­


    Yeah, she decided. She wasn¡¯t going to blowtorch her best tool. It should be fine either way. She simply wiped them off with her sweat cloth and then blew on the blades to make sure there wasn¡¯t any dust on them. Eventually, she set the tool around the deadwood on her wrist again, and confidently cut it off.


    Done! The cut was very clean. That said, she was still unhappy. There was still deadwood left inside, after all¡­ but she needed to get going. She put on some more of the bandages she had found yesterday, then she called for Catrine, since it was time to give her food.


    However, even after calling her three times, Catrine didn¡¯t arrive. That was a little unusual. However, not wanting to make Eva wait for too long, Emika just put some food on the plate and went up to get dressed.


    After getting ready, the two of them walked through the streets on their way to Mina¡¯s house, and for a few minutes, neither said a word. Emika was still internally preoccupied with her situation, feeling increasingly uncomfortable with each step they made away from her home. What if, against all common sense, the thing actually started growing again while she was spending time with the others?


    ¡°Is everything okay?¡± she heard Eva¡¯s voice break through the monotonous rhythm of their steps.


    ¡°Yep,¡± Emika said.


    ¡°I see¡­ It¡¯s just¡­ You were gone for a while this morning. Is something wrong with your splinter? We could go to see a doctor, if you want.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a Sunday,¡± said Emika. ¡°It won¡¯t be open today.¡±


    ¡°Well, then we go to a hospital.¡±


    ¡°Can you go to a hospital with just a splinter?¡± Emika asked, and Eva shrugged.


    ¡°There¡¯s a hotline for stuff like that¡­ let me just call them and ask.¡±


    As she pulled out her phone, Emika side eyed her. The gentle breeze was throwing her hair around. For a second, Emika wished she was back in bed with her and had just never gotten up. She kept looking at her for the duration of the short call; not because she was interested in the result, but more so because it was a good excuse to do so.


    ¡°¡­ Well. In short, he said that you should take pain meds and wait until tomorrow to show your spot to a doctor. Either your general practitioner or directly to a surgeon.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope it will just be gone by tomorrow,¡± Emika said.


    Eva chuckled. ¡°You have no intention of going there, do you?¡±


    ¡°What can I say, I¡¯m busy¡­¡± she sighed, and looked at the ground.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get you some pain meds when we are at Mina¡¯s place at the very least,¡± suggested Eva, as they crossed the street. It wasn¡¯t too much further until their destination.


    ¡°Ah, no. Don¡¯t worry. If you ask her for pain meds, everyone is going to worry about me¡­ I¡¯m fine, really.¡±


    ¡°Nonsense! I can tell you are still in pain even now! I know you¡¯re not too much of a sharer, but please rely on the people around you at least a little bit, okay?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not much of a sharer? What do you mean?¡± Emika asked, and stopped walking. That idea puzzled her.


    ¡°Well, what am I supposed to mean? You rarely talk about yourself, do you? Like¡­ that time you were on that magazine cover and all of us were so surprised to see you there. You didn¡¯t even tell Mina. Imagine how she felt when she walked into that grocery store and suddenly saw a picture of you on the shelves¡­¡±


    Emika rolled her eyes. This again. Several months ago, her bonsai workshop had been featured in Plants Today, together with an interview of her. It wasn¡¯t even that big of a deal¡­ Why would Eva bring it up now? Emika just stayed silent, so Eva sighed. ¡°Of course, you don¡¯t have to tell us anything. Just know that me or the others will have an open ear for you when there¡¯s something on your mind, okay?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Emika. ¡°Thank you very much. The same goes for you.¡±


    Eva smiled, although it was a bit of a sad gesture at the same time, and then they fell quiet for the rest of the way.

 Chapter 3: Cuddles & Horror

    Mina¡¯s house was small and cosy. Being a bit of a cottagecore nerd, she had a small garden with a variety of herbs. Inside her home were countless old, wooden bookshelves filled with all kinds of aesthetic looking old books and crystals, and the walls were garnished with floral wreaths and landscape paintings. She had a corner just to do tarot readings, and her most recent one was still lying on the table, using a deck Mina had ordered online from an artist she loved. With a quick glance, Emika could see one of the cards that featured a large Tower.


    Mina greeted both with a hug. She was a small person and had tattoos all over her arms and sported a shaved undercut on the sides of her head with otherwise long, green coloured hair.


    ¡°Welcome! The others are already upstairs preparing lunch.¡±


    ¡°Oh, nice! What are they making?¡± asked Eva as she untied her shoes and slipped into a pair of wooden clogs that Mina asked people to wear inside her home.


    ¡°Lasagna.¡±


    That being Eva¡¯s favourite food, she looked up happily and soon ran up the stairs to help. Mina grinned looking after her, then turned back to Emika, and her expression turned more serious. ¡°Is everything okay? You look a bit pale.¡±


    ¡°Say, Mina,¡± responded Emika slowly, pointing at the tarot corner. ¡°You know about magic, right?¡±


    Mina pulled her eyebrows together, throwing a worried short glance at her tarot reading. ¡°Honestly, I just do tarot for fun. It doesn¡¯t have anything to do with magic. Why do you ask?¡±


    Emika slipped into the clogs, gripping her wrist with her other hand. ¡°I feel like something weird is happening to me.¡±


    ¡°Oh? What is it?¡±


    Emika sighed. In all honesty, she didn¡¯t want to talk about it at all, but remembering Eva¡¯s words from the walk, she pointed to her wrist and said: ¡°I feel like something is growing from inside of me. I cut it off, it grows back. Like¡­ a plant. Is that something that can be explained by magic?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± thought Mina, ¡°I must say, I have never heard of anything like that¡­ But, when it comes to magic, many things can be done. Do you want me to get you an appointment with the local Cursebreaker?¡±


    Emika wasn¡¯t sure what to say. ¡°Cursebreaker?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Ah, well. They are human-aligned magic users who specialise in protecting people from all kinds of magical things.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡± said Emika, then biting her lips. She paused for a moment, then said: ¡°I¡¯ll think about it. Thank you. Let¡¯s go upstairs, too?¡±


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    There, they were greeted by their other three friends: Reiko, whose parents had immigrated here just like Emika¡¯s had; Sam, a white law student who had quite short hair and was usually very cheerful to the point where it became her running joke, as well as Taara, a silent and shy bass player who Mina had picked up in a rock bar a few months ago.


    Throughout the next few hours, Emika grew increasingly tired as everyone else ¡ª except for Taara ¡ª was socialising a lot. As much as she needed her friends around her, right now she felt overstimulated, which probably was a result of the constant throbbing from her wrist.


    They all talked for a while as they ate lunch, and then decided to play some board games. After her short conversation with Mina, Emika actually decided to look for a magical explanation for her affliction on her smartphone. Though, the main issue was not only her being pretty unaware of where to look for magical info; she also wasn¡¯t particularly good with technology in general. In the end, after some vain attempts, she just dumped a short explanation of what was happening to her into a conventional search engine, together with the key word ¡°magic.¡± With that, she stumbled upon a 14-year-old forum post about a guy complaining about some ¡°growths¡± on his body. It was apparently a community where people shared magical events that happened to them¡­


    She wasn¡¯t allowed to see his attached pictures unless she had an account, so she made one, only to find that these growths were actually live fish eyes, not plants. The sole answer in the thread told him they were ¡°cute.¡± At that point, she gave up and just watched the others play their games.


    Eventually, though, her friends would get to the part that Emika loved the most about their gatherings: All six of them would go and squeeze together on the couch that was just a bit too small, and watch a horror movie together. Skin contact really was the best for Emika¡¯s soul.


    ¡°By the way, I can¡¯t come over to sleep at your place tonight after all,¡± said Mina as she let Emika huddle herself onto her shoulder. ¡°I have a deadline coming up and will probably need to pull an all-nighter.¡±


    ¡°Sure, no problem,¡± said Emika, as she tried to withhold how sad she was to hear that. That meant she¡¯d have to savour the closeness now even more.


    The horror movie that they decided to watch was of no interest to her; it was about some monster hiding within renaissance paintings, and it would occasionally slip out to eat people¡¯s skin off.


    ¡°Oh wait,¡± said Eva suddenly, right after the monster had had its biggest meal yet, ¡°Do we have enough bread for tomorrow morning? We ate it all for dinner, right?¡±


    ¡°Yep. It¡¯s gone,¡± said Reiko.


    ¡°Let me go get some more while the shop¡¯s still open. Don¡¯t worry, you can continue without me. I¡¯ve seen that movie already, anyway.¡±


    ¡°Alright, thank you very much, Eva,¡± said Mina. ¡°I forgot to get more groceries yesterday¡­ My thesis has been hogging up all of my brain power lately¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it! See you in five.¡±


    With that, she jumped up and trampled down the stairs, and with it, she knocked Emika out of her daze.


    Emika felt Mina¡¯s warm body, her slightly elevated up and down breathing, her quick beating heart. That girl usually got that excited by horror movies.


    Lifting her head, Emika turned around and looked at the others, too. Sam put a potato chip in her mouth, then reciprocated Emika¡¯s gaze and smiled at her.


    By now, Emika had almost completely forgotten her pain, just feeling dizzyingly happy, barely able to contain her desire to stay with these people forever.


    It was at the moment that she thought that when, suddenly, Sam started coughing, as if she had choked on her snack, and a small line of blood made its way out the corner of her mouth.

 Chapter 4: Time to Sleep

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± asked Reiko, patting Sam''s back, while Taara took out a tissue.


    ¡°My stomach hurts,¡± Sam gurgled, clenching it while curling up. As she wiped tears out of her eye with the base of her thumb, to Emika¡¯s confusion, small bits of vegetation immediately sprouted from the skin around her eye. A few stalks and young leafs, with an unnatural speed, meandering outwards, softly jittering around like seaweed in the ocean.


    Reiko screamed. But, as Emika soon realised, not from shock, but from pain. Like wings from her back, suddenly large branches from some kind of tropical plant burst out from the inside of Reiko¡¯s body, splattering a mist of blood throughout the room.


    With a strong grip, Mina pulled Emika¡¯s up and pushed her towards the exit of the room. ¡°Run!¡± she screamed.


    Emika did as told, jumping towards the stairs, immediately tripping over some vines growing out from Sam¡¯s stomach. She tried to gain back her balance, but it was too late. In full fall, she slid over the uppermost step and then tumbled down, feeling the cracks as her body collided with the edges of the stairs. As she hit the back of her head on a cupboard on the ground floor, Emika lost consciousness.


    ¡°Hey, hey, hey!¡±


    Emika felt a slap in her face. ¡°Hey! Wake up!¡±


    She opened her eyes and saw Eva¡¯s close face. She had a few scratches on her forehead and blue lips ¡ª but other than that, she seemed okay. Emika groaned as Eva took her hand and helped her up.


    ¡°We have to get out of here,¡± Eva whispered.


    ¡°What about the others?¡±


    Eva¡¯s grip on Emika¡¯s hand tightened a bit. She didn¡¯t look at Emika and just dragged her along without giving an answer.


    They left the house through the front door and turned into a side street towards a park area. At first, Emika didn¡¯t understand where they were going, but then, she remembered that this way would eventually lead to Eva¡¯s home. They then ran over a small bridge, behind which was a new patch of woods ¡ª where Eva then veered off the path and pulled Emika in among the trees of the forest.


    Eventually, Eva collapsed, gasping.


    ¡°I can¡¯t go on,¡± she said, supporting herself on a spruce. Emika propped her up by the waist and realised how cold Eva¡¯s muscles were ¡ª her whole dress was completely soaked through with sweat. Her breaths were short, cool, and irregular, too¡­


    Then, Eva closed her eyes, sinking to the ground, taking Emika with her.


    ¡°I can¡¯t go on,¡± she repeated, ¡°I¡¯m exhausted.¡±


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Yeah, me too,¡± Emika said to comfort her, but in fact, she didn¡¯t feel tired at all. Was there something wrong with Eva? ¡°¡­ Let¡¯s rest a little.¡±


    ¡°Do you have your phone? We should call for help¡­¡± she said in a quavering voice.


    Emika pulled her phone out of her pocket. The display was splintered into a thousand pieces, and it wouldn¡¯t turn on. ¡°It must have broken when I fell¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ I left mine at Mina¡¯s place before I went out for groceries¡­ it must be buried somewhere beneath them¡­¡±


    Emika¡¯s heart pounded terribly loudly. The crickets chirped in the surrounding woods.


    ¡°Sorry we ended up here,¡± Eva murmured. ¡°When I came back, I saw things weren¡¯t okay¡­ I ran up and saw them¡­ Their faces hanging within a bunch of plants¡­ What the hell happened? It seems like they exploded into vegetation? You were the only one left, so¡­ I just took you and ran somewhere¡­¡± Her voice broke as she uttered those words, but she forced herself to keep talking. ¡°But my home isn¡¯t too far, we almost made it.¡± Tears were still welling up under her eyelids. ¡°Please, can you explain to me what happened? I¡¯m so glad you are okay¡­¡±


    Emika gently rubbed her back. ¡°Just calm down, take some very slow deep breaths, and then we¡¯ll figure out together what to do now, okay?¡±


    Eva nodded and hugged Emika a little tighter. ¡°Are you sure you are fine?¡± she asked in an increasingly low voice. ¡°It looked like you fell down the stairs¡­ And¡­ whatever killed the others¡­ it didn¡¯t get you, right?¡±


    Emika just sat there, silently. She didn¡¯t even know how to begin to answer. Yesterday, deadwood had begun growing from her. Today, her friends had exploded into plants. A connection was almost guaranteed, right? This was, quite probably, all entirely her fault.


    ¡°Still not sharing with me, huh¡­¡± Eva mumbled. ¡°Silly thing¡­¡±


    Emika¡¯s stomach turned. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. This is my fault,¡± she blurted out, her voice breaking. ¡°I¡¯m not okay. I¡¯m not sure how. But this all must have been me.¡±


    Eva¡¯s consciousness was almost gone. ¡°No¡­ it can¡¯t be your fault. Don¡¯t worry about that, Emika. Ahh, I feel so tired¡­¡±


    It didn¡¯t take much longer for her to actually fall asleep. Slowly her chest rose up and down, still cold, with at least her pulse calming down. Emika would have also closed her eyes and taken a break, but she didn¡¯t have the courage. The queasy feeling in her head would not leave her alone. She looked at her arm, which she had always kept a bit hidden from Eva until now.


    The growth was now much larger than before. The deadwood twisted in an elegant, irregular spiral around the arm, with several branches ¡ª it was very thick where it sprouted from the wrist, but it ebbed off after surrounding her hand the second time. Small twigs with tiny green leaves had also grown out of the stem.


    Cutting them off again would certainly do no good. Rather, Emika suspected that the growth was only getting larger with each pruning.


    Was she contagious? Maybe it just happens more slowly to me than to others, Emika thought.


    But on the other hand¡­ Emika¡¯s deadwood and the plant sprouts that had come out of her friends were completely different. Emika¡¯s looked like a century-old bonsai tree. But with the others, she remembered the wood of a mature linden tree growing out of Sam¡¯s mouth, a bit of sheep¡¯s sheaf growing out from between the leaves of an elderberry bush on Reiko¡¯s arms. Of some native species of flowers, and a small bush of chanterelles in her ear. In a matter of seconds, they all had become the breeding ground for a wild, diverse garden.


    This was quite different from Emika¡¯s own proliferation. Maybe they weren¡¯t connected after all¡­


    Emika looked at the peacefully sleeping Eva, whose chest was rising and falling with slow breaths. She was now her only friend left in the world. She had to protect her. In fact, she never ever wanted to let her go.


    But, despite her best wishes, it didn¡¯t take Emika too long to realise that something was off.

 Chapter 5: Gasoline

    It started when small twigs started growing from Eva¡¯s ears and made their way towards the back of her head. There, they dipped into her hair, wrapping around the strands.


    ¡°No, no, no¡­¡±


    Emika loosened the hug, now grasping Eva¡¯s head between her hands.


    Slowly, small shoots pierced out from the skin on her cheek, eventually turning into a sea of tiny orange flowers on her face. A few seconds later, a few tiny grey mushrooms with black, upturned edges sprouted amidst the blossoms.


    Frantically, Emika tried plucking them all out, but they grew back faster and faster. Soon, the ground beside them was full of orange petals.


    With a rocking movement echoing through Eva¡¯s body, her legs stretched out as they became alder roots digging into the earth. With the direction of her clavicle bones, branches grew out of her lungs, forming a shape resembling the antlers of a deer. The leg roots lifted her torso up, but by now it had too much weight from the large number of plants growing out of it, so with a loud crack, her spine snapped.


    ¡°Fuck, no! No¡­¡±


    As Emika desperately tried to hold Eva¡¯s pieces of flesh together, she was pushed further and further away from the body parts by the plant mass coming out from it. When she pulled out branches or leaves, she often accidentally took small scraps of skin and flesh out with them. It was all to no avail.


    At last, Emika kneeled down before the dead, barely recognizable body that had once belonged to Eva, which had just like that become part of the forest. Her heart was beating too fast, her hands shaking too much. What had she done?


    It was deep at night when Emika finally entered through the gateway of her home estate. Stepping through the garden with heavy steps, she slowly passed by its largest sycamore tree. She found Catrine¡¯s overgrown remains at its base.


    At this point, it wasn¡¯t a surprise, but it still felt like a punch in her gut.


    Within a few hours, she had scrapped up most of the cat''s body, and cremated her in her largest fire bowl. She carefully poured the ashes into a small urn from the old shed and then placed it on a shelf in the living room close to the urns of her parents.


    She paid respects to all of them. When she got up, she noticed her legs were quivering, and she¡¯d brought mud into the room, so she decided to at least take a bath before falling asleep. As she left the tub, the water was red and dark from blood and dirt. Her head was completely empty. She couldn¡¯t form a clear thought.


    As if not a single second had passed, she woke up again in her bed the middle of the next day. The first thing she caught sight of when she opened her eyes was her growth that had further protruded from her arm. It wasn¡¯t just deadwood any more; mostly so, but parts of it now had healthy bark that transported nutrients to the tips that now featured lush, needle-like leaves. It had increased in size again, one branch going up her forearm and wrapping protectively around her, while the other grew in finger-like shapes over the back of her hand.


    Despite feeling dizzy from hunger, the thought of eating made Emika nauseous, so she skipped the meal. Instead, she just stared at one of her bonsai trees.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Whatever was she to do now?


    Was there even a point to notifying any authorities? What happened didn¡¯t make sense in the first place. Speaking from a realistic point of view, as inappropriate as that might be, Emika couldn¡¯t have any fault in it, because all of this was impossible in the first place.


    So, this really was magic, then.


    That said, even if it was some kind of magic, she felt it hard not to blame herself, and in that vein, who knew how other people would react? Would they just think she was a monster?


    But¡­ even if she wanted to tell anyone about all that happened, weren¡¯t they just going to die, too? Mina had mentioned some kind of Cursebreaker, but Emika didn¡¯t have any contact info on him. In addition, her phone was broken, and she didn¡¯t actually have any other devices she could use to access the internet or even call anyone. That said, even with a working phone, she wouldn¡¯t have known what to do.


    As she was racking her brain about all this, she wandered around the estate and took care of all the plants and bonsai trees she had.


    If all my friends and my cat are dead, I should at least take care of you all properly, she thought bitterly. She just hoped she wouldn¡¯t somehow mess them up, too.


    Sam had been so close to finishing her degree. The entire last day, Mina had tried to convince Taara to start a band together. Of course, Taara had been too coy, but who knows what could have come off it? Emika heard Reiko¡¯s laugh echo through her mind, a sound that now felt colourless.


    Afterwards, as she sat on her couch and looked through the window into the garden, which was bordered by two hanging ferns, she felt the terrible urge to return to her friends. Right now, Eva was just hanging out there, decomposing in a small patch of woods somewhere in the outskirts. Emika¡¯s stomach turned.


    It couldn¡¯t stay that way.


    So, she gathered a few items, including the last empty urn her parents had taken with them when they¡¯d moved to this country. When this was all over, she could send the urn to Eva¡¯s family.


    Then, she took out a jerry can filled with gasoline from the shed. Once she was prepared, she left through the gate.


    Eva¡¯s body was about a twenty-minute walk away. Carrying the large container through the summer heat quickly exhausted Emika, adding to the fact that she was still extremely hungry. Two times, she had to take breaks, sitting down at the side of the path in the shade of a small tree and later a bus stop.


    A small part of her didn¡¯t want to arrive at her destination at all. Sitting at the stop, looking down the street, an uneasy feeling sunk to her stomach at the thought of what she was about to do. She absent-mindedly gazed down the asphalt flickering from summer heat.


    Suddenly, there was an odd movement there.


    ¡­ What had that been?


    Emika looked closer. Some kind of critter?


    No, something bigger. In the direction Emika had come from, something had disappeared between two hedges. But now there was nothing. Only the rustle of the wind, the glitter of the tarred road, the oppressive heat.


    Emika didn¡¯t like this at all. Paranoia on her way to¡­ essentially destroy evidence of a corpse she produced. In her mind, there was no nicer way of putting this. She got up again quickly and kept walking, now much more alert. For the rest of the way, she made herself aware of every little sound, and every twitch anywhere around her.


    After getting to the forest, it didn¡¯t take her very long to find Eva.


    Once her feet, a large trunk cascaded down, featuring steps of various plant species that extended from her backwards-bent spine. At the very bottom, gently resting on the ground, almost two metres away from the legs, was her blossom-covered face.


    Emika began pouring out the gasoline right there, then slowly dumped it uphill over the rest of the structure. Swinging the canister took almost all the energy she had left, and a good portion of the gasoline¡¯s vapour made it deep into her lungs.


    Finally, she was done.


    Time to say goodbye, Emika thought with a dry throat, her heart throbbing painfully. Then, she took two steps back and lit a match.

 Chapter 6: Great News, Actually

    As the entire air in front of her suddenly incinerated, the burst knocked Emika backwards to the ground. Parts of her skin tightened in the blazing heat. Her eyes felt like they had been gouged out.


    When she got back up, the fire was devouring not only Eva¡¯s remains, but also the two trees above them. For a moment, she thought she might have accidentally caused a forest fire, but the weekend¡¯s rain had left the wood with enough moisture to withstand the flames long enough.


    Emika sat in front of the ever-shrinking pile of Eva for nearly two hours, until all that was left of her was some charcoal residue. She gathered it all up with a small shovel, filling an urn she had brought with her. She then covered the charred ground with brushwood and leaves so that it looked like the forest floor around it; however, she couldn¡¯t hide the two trees that were now completely black. Either way, it was time to go home.


    After closing the entrance door to her house behind herself, Emika took one deep breath and exhaled. She placed the urn on a cabinet in her living room along with Catrine¡¯s, lay down on the couch, and closed her eyes.


    What was she supposed to do now?


    In the end, she decided to go down into her basement to start working her plants. Not necessarily because she felt like it was a good thing to do; it was mostly out of habit, to find a distraction, and something to do while she could sort out her thoughts.


    As she went through her notebook listing all the work she still needed to do on her plants, she saw a lot of things that wouldn¡¯t be necessary or possible now any more; for example, preparing specimens for the next exhibition, answering customer inquiries or sending out the next orders. She did see in her calendar that one of her biggest bonsai trees, one featuring a multi-trunk cascading style, needed to be repotted this year, so she figured she might as well do it now. She felt like doing physical work might distract her the best.


    It was a healthy juniper bonsai tree that spilled out of the pot to the right side, spiralling downward well beneath the desk it stood on. She¡¯d have to remove it from its current pot, knock out the soil from the roots and cut them down, and place it back into a new pot that was slightly bigger.


    Emika joined her hair into a ponytail and then started working; although she soon realised that she first had to remove her growth as it was hindering her handling the tree.


    Noticeably, it seemed to get larger by the hour. Emika would have loved to just ignore it, but it was such a big part of her now that to not constantly think about it was largely impossible.


    In fact, nothing was possible. There was nobody she could possibly talk to about any of this; not that she felt the particular urge to do so in the first place, with how messy it all was. She couldn¡¯t ask anyone for help, because she would put them at risk. Her phone was broken, and that had been her one gateway to the world, as she didn¡¯t even own a PC and had done all business using that one device. And she couldn¡¯t just leave her home and buy a new phone, either.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    No matter how much she thought about all of this, she simply couldn¡¯t come up with anything to do about her situation. But what did that leave? Was there truly, really nothing else for her to do than take care of her trees until slow death took her?


    That said, how long would that even take? She already didn¡¯t have any fresh ingredients for food at home; she did have some bags of rice, flour, and a few packages of pasta, but not much else. Was she going to run out of food first or die by turning into hardwood?


    Did it even matter? Even considering the best case scenario of her issue to stop growing right now and forever, her life was already over. Once the authorities would be alerted to Mina¡¯s house and find the human remains, the trail would soon lead to Emika, who was one of their closest friends.


    Unless¡­


    Emika had a thought that shot off a firework in her head. Yeah¡­ no¡­ But¡­ What if nobody ever found their remains?


    The thought made her stomach turn. She felt bad for even considering it. But, couldn¡¯t she just¡­ go and burn down Mina¡¯s home? That way, there¡¯d be no evidence tying her to them. She¡¯d be completely fine.


    Well, probably not completely fine. That was sugarcoating it a lot. But she needed that bit of denial right now.


    Suddenly, Emika heard an unfamiliar sound. She had just knocked off a good chunk of the tree¡¯s roots, but now stared at the stairs, focusing.


    After a moment, she gently put the tree down, and then, as fast and noiselessly as possible, went up to the ground floor.


    As she did that, she heard some footsteps from the end of the corridor. She went to where the sounds had originated from and finally got to her office, where she saw an open window. She gulped. That window was supposed to be closed. Another noise from her entry hall snapped Emika out of her thoughts and she ran there. When she arrived, she just saw the door slam shut.


    Fuck, fuck, fuck.


    She ran out, hoping she could still see the intruder. But when she stepped into the garden, she recognized nothing and no one there. The gate was closed just as it usually was. Nevertheless, she hurried out into the street and looked around, but there was not a soul to be seen there either.


    Despite her painfully strong heartbeats, she ventured up and down the street for a few minutes; not really because she was hoping to find anything at this point, but more so because she felt this strong uneasiness that was hard to calm down from.


    Who the hell would break into her home now? There was no reason to. She had nothing of value that was easy to take; Of course, her trees were valuable, but only to people who knew how to handle them. And it would be hard to sell them since her style was fundamentally recognizable, especially here where there were much fewer bonsai growers than in the home country of her parents.


    So, was this break-in connected to whatever was happening to her?


    Emika¡¯s heart started beating. If that was true¡­ if that was really the case¡­ then wasn¡¯t that great news? She just had to set a trap for whoever that was, and wait for them to return, then squeeze some answers out of them. Right? Thinking about this objectively¡­ She was already afflicted with a condition that was slowly killing her and served as a perfect fatal defence mechanism at the same time. What could go wrong?

 Chapter 7: Invasive Manoeuvres

    Emika left her home at 8 the next morning. She¡¯d gotten up especially early to prepare herself for her venture to burn down Mina¡¯s house. Once she had done that, and caught that person who broke into her home, she¡¯d be various steps closer to solving all of her issues. Probably¡­


    This time, she did a much better job at hiding the fact that she was carrying highly flammable liquids, and she was feeling pretty confident. Nothing could stop her from burning down that house.


    The reasons for her newfound optimism were quite simple; for one, it seemed that setting things ablaze was becoming a habit ¡ª outside of her usual flame treatment of bonsai deadwood branches. On the other hand, this time she actually felt like she was starting to get things under control. She had a path in front of her ¡ª not a good, secure path by any means, but, a plan of sorts, or rather, a vague idea of how to move forward; or if not forward, maybe at least somewhere. Once she got rid of the bodies, she had one thing less to worry about, and then she just had to set some booby traps. Not like she knew how to build any, though¡­ which reminded her of the fact that she needed a phone.


    When she arrived at the estate, she opened the gate, then walked through the garden. Things seemed very calm; almost serene. The birds chatted in the large oaks surrounding the building, the fresh morning air was just as sweet here as it was in Emika¡¯s own garden. Most of the house was made out of wood. Emika suspected it would go down easily, but first, she wanted to inspect the inside, so she put down her immense backpack on the terrace next to the door.


    How was she supposed to get in? She didn¡¯t have a key to Mina¡¯s place, after all¡­ Of course, usually, Mina didn¡¯t keep her doors closed, but Mina wasn¡¯t here anymore.


    Either way, Emika tried to push down the handle, and¡­ It opened with its familiar creak.


    Lucky, she thought, and as she went inside, she was immediately greeted by a wall of warm air, as the house must have been heating up under the sunlight. But also, she was met with the nostalgic scent of her best friend¡¯s home¡­ A smell she had already started to miss.


    On the other hand, just being in here again made her stomach turn, as all the things she had lost now became that much more apparent to her. Maybe all this wasn''t such a good idea after all¡­


    As she walked up the stairs, though, she realised that the bad feeling in her guts was not entirely due to sadness and nostalgia; there was something unusual. Something¡­ uncomfortable, about all of this.


    When she had climbed the stairs half way, she slowly came to a halt.


    That¡¯s right¡­ All of this was off.


    For one, the state of the entry door didn¡¯t make any sense? When Eva and Emika had run away together, they for sure didn¡¯t take any time to close the door behind them; at least, Emika didn¡¯t remember them doing anything like that. So, why had the door been shut just now? Maybe the wind? Was there an open window in the house?


    No, that wasn¡¯t a good explanation either, because when Emika had entered Mina¡¯s garden, the gate had been closed as well. There was no reason why she and Eva would have closed both the gate and the door while running away¡­ right?


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Also, it was summer, and it had been two days since the incident. Why was there no awful smell? No smell of rotten food or decaying bodies, or anything. It just smelled¡­ nice. Like it always did.


    These thoughts made Emika feel slightly dizzy, and she tried to brace herself for what she¡¯d find at the end of those stairs. And then, slowly, she started moving again. The wooden steps creaked loudly under her feet. It was nigh impossible to move around in this house without radiating noise everywhere. Thus, more than ever before when being in Mina¡¯s house, she became aware of herself ¡ª maybe because this time was the first time she was in here alone.


    And when she finally stepped onto the wooden boards directly connecting to the upper end of the stairs, what she found there was terrifying.


    It was Mina¡¯s living room, in its best ever condition. No wild plants. No flesh. No human remains, nor disarray. It was as if that fateful day had never happened. Emika found neither human remains nor human activity; and as she stood there, looking at this perfect scene in utter disbelief, she had a choice to make. A choice that her mind desperately wanted her to make; to either run away immediately, or to inspect the house to find clues as to what in the world could have happened since she was last here.


    In the end, she opted for the compromise of running through the house and taking a cursory look in each room. If anything, she had to find a phone. Having a phone would help her out tremendously.


    It¡¯s not like she remembered too well how the house had been left, so a quick glance didn¡¯t give her too much to go on. One important part was that the kitchen was clean, even though they hadn¡¯t cleaned up after making food together on Saturday.


    Other than that, she didn¡¯t find anything of immediate note. All she could say was that any traces of the get-together with her friends and its aftermath had been wiped from the house. She also found no phone. There was Mina¡¯s PC, but didn¡¯t know the password, and she didn¡¯t want to spend any more time here. She felt uneasy; even more so than when she had found the open window in her house the day before.


    As Emika left the place and took a look at her backpack next to the door, she was faced with another choice: To either burn down the building anyway, or just go home. It felt so defeating. Her plan had been to take matters into her own hands, and now it truly seemed like she was completely powerless.


    Emika sighed. Since all traces had already been eliminated from the building, she decided not to burn it down. This was Mina¡¯s home, after all. She would have never deserved to have all traces of her existence erased, and now there wasn¡¯t even a logical reason left to do it.


    However, just as Emika was about to go, as she swung the backpack onto herself, she suddenly heard a wooden creaking noise.


    For a moment, she wasn¡¯t entirely sure if she had actually heard it or not, but she turned around slowly, looking back into the entry hall through the open door. That noise¡­ That noise, had it not been from a footstep from inside the house¡­?


    So¡­ Did that mean there was someone inside? Someone she had overlooked on her shallow search? Emika gulped.


    If there actually was someone inside the house, could they not have potentially seen her? No, rather, with how noisy Emika had been, that person must have noticed she was there, and hidden from her.


    Emika just stared at the corridor for a solid five minutes, waiting for the sound to repeat, but it didn¡¯t. In the same moment she decided she had to make sure and made a step back into the house, with an alarmingly convenient timing, she suddenly heard a cough from behind her on the streets. Turning around, she saw a figure dash into the woods.


    Fuck, Emika thought. In a split second, she decided between either looking for the person in the house or going after the person running into the woods, and her choice fell on that figure she had actually, really seen, so she darted off. She jumped down the few stairs that led up to the door, ran out on the street and disappeared into the forest, just as she had together with Eva a few days before.

 Chapter 8: Found You

    Emika dashed through bushes and foliage for a solid twenty minutes until she finally gave up. She was completely out of breath when she broke down somewhere in the woods, and started crying.


    Why did literally nothing go her way? If only she had gone back into the house instead of chasing the figure¡­ maybe she would have actually found something. Emika let out a deep sigh. What a disaster¡­ The worst of it all was that she now had to carry all that gasoline back home. The way was arduous, and she felt like her legs were close to giving way a few times. She felt exhausted.


    Clearly, there were many things she didn¡¯t understand about her situation¡­ There was definitely something going on behind the scenes. Some people were trying to mess with her in some way.


    However, one thought gave her a semblance of solace. If her assumptions were right, she was the deadly one. She was the one the others needed to be wary of. If she just waited, then surely, at some point, they were going to make a mistake. And then she¡¯d get them. Right?


    After that, a few days went by. Emika largely just tried to keep herself calm by working on her trees, pausing every few minutes to listen if anything was happening inside her house. Other than that, she had found a few old cans of food in a closet in the basement; her parents had probably bought them long ago, so they were likely already well over ten years old. At least she didn¡¯t have to live solely on pasta with mustard now.


    Despite everything, all things considered, Emika was holding on quite well. Just wait, and they will screw up. That thought kept her going, and she scolded herself for anything else that materialised inside her brain. She deliberately avoided thinking about how sad she was, about how lonely she was, and about how exhausted and tired she was. The only thought she allowed herself to have was just that one. Wait, and they will screw up.


    It definitely felt weird, though. For her entire life, her home had never been so quiet. Usually, she¡¯d have friends over who¡¯d keep her company, and she would have Catrine, who had always been a very active cat who loved to dart around, and then immediately came back to cuddle once exhausted. Now, there was nothing.


    The nights were long, as Emika slept very poorly, if at all. It was tough without having anyone near her, but in addition, she tried to avoid falling into any form of deep sleep either, because that could cause her to miss her opportunity. She stayed wary of any sound or movement at all times, even at night, even when lightly dozing off.


    It was on one of these lonely, exhausting nights that her patience finally paid off.


    She was in bed. It was almost 4 am. She had gotten one, maybe two hours of sleep, and otherwise just laid awake, taking in every sound around her, when she finally heard it: The soft sliding sound of her office being opened at the other end of the corridor.


    Emika quickly, and as silently as possible, got up, and pressed her ear against her bedroom wall. She didn¡¯t hear anything for a while, so she came to the conclusion that the intruder had entered her office and not left it. Thus, she slowly left the room and softly tapped over the corridor floor with her bare feet, knowing where to place her toes to not make any sound.


    The door to her office was open and the lights were on, and she heard the faint sound of paper rustling. It seemed like the intruder was going through her business files; nothing else of note was in that office.


    But¡­ Why would anyone want to go through her files?


    Either way, Emika was determined to ask that person herself, but first, she wanted to see exactly who it was. She sneaked around the door to position herself in such a way so she could peek inside, and as she finally saw what it was that had nested itself inside her office, she felt a shiver go down her spine.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    It was a very small and incredibly old man. Sporadically, little puffs of dust broke free from his body and clouded the surrounding air. For a while, she just observed him. Looking at him felt strange. He was¡­ ageing at an incredibly fast pace; his skin folded deeper and deeper into itself, new creases appearing between the other ones every second. His hair kept growing thinner and greyer, his eyes slowly faded away deeper into his skull.


    In stark contrast to his appearance was his demeanour ¡ª he was very active, looking around, sifting through the paperwork almost frantically.


    Emika stepped out of the shadow to face him. When he saw her, he just froze, terror in his eyes. As she towered right in front of him, for a few seconds, they just stared at each other ¡ª and then, when his jaw grew so old, so ancient, so decayed that it could not hold itself any more, it collapsed into sand. Thus, small, cloudy particles filled the air. The sand clumps too heavy to stay airborne rinsed to the ground, forming a small heap.


    And then, it happened again, with his left shoulder, and again, with his ear, and a finger of his. Emika couldn¡¯t help but be entranced. How had someone so amazing weaselled his way into her home? And yet, her indignation won against the marvel she felt at observing his peculiar appearance, and she angrily let out: ¡°What the hell are you doing here? Are you that guy who keeps following me?¡±


    He was still in shock. Annoyed at being ignored, Emika slowly made a step towards him, and he immediately reciprocated by stepping back. But her legs were much longer, so she was able to force him to stumble back in a way that eventually led him to bump into a wall corner, entrapping him.


    Her success in this little game made Emika really happy, but she tried not to let it show. She bowed down towards him as he sank to the floor, breathing heavily, with more and more sand gathering beneath him.


    Was he aware of Emika¡¯s curse? She figured the best way to find out was to threaten him with it.


    ¡°Talk,¡± she said firmly, and then continued in a whisper: ¡°Or I will touch you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll talk!¡± he finally rasped. His voice was shaky and high-pitched, and a little pathetic. ¡°I, I, I am sorry, I truly am. I am sorry.¡±


    What? He was sorry? Emika almost laughed out loud at his obvious lie. Sorry he got caught, maybe. However, using quite a bit of restraint, she held herself together, hoping silence would make her appear scarier. Instead, she just stared him down, waiting.


    ¡°As to your initial inquiry,¡± he tried to formally catch up with his own trembling voice, ¡°I am here for¡­ business. And¡­¡± He looked a little caught, then continued, after a gulp: ¡°I wasn¡¯t that much following you as I was following orders, you see¡­?¡±


    His eyes were practically begging Emika to pity him, and then one of them dissolved into sand. At this point, she realised that in fact, this person wasn¡¯t actually slowly disappearing; It was more like he was in an eternal state of fading; like a pot that would pour endless tea, or maybe like an optical illusion that kept circling on itself.


    ¡°Whose orders?¡± Emika asked testily, a little indignant at herself for getting distracted by this person¡¯s amazing biology.


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± he started, but there was now a newfound horror in his gaze. After a short but distinct pause, and apparently fully aware of the danger in his upcoming words, he murmured: ¡°That¡¯s a bit of a trade secret¡­¡±


    Emika¡¯s eyelid twitched. That person had some nerves. She didn¡¯t really want to kill him. Regardless of any empathetic reasons, it would probably just bring her more trouble. But the issue was she really had nothing else to threaten him with. Letting him get away without a single answer wasn¡¯t really an option, either. After all, he was the one who had decided to come here, apparently knowing she was cursed, so in her mind, he might as well leave a little tax.


    Approaching him just a bit further, she hoped that the implication would be clear enough. He squealed, pressed his eyes shut, made himself as small as possible; however, Emika wasn¡¯t too impressed. ¡°Come now, little friend. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to survive.¡±


    She showed him a fake smile, putting in as much uncanny flavour as she could gather. Under her unrelenting gaze, his posture crumbled just like his body, as if this was the very moment his soul left him behind.


    ¡°So,¡± Emika then made her final push, knowing there was really not much else she could do, ¡°What do you have to say to me?¡±

 Chapter 9: Threats & Larceny

    ¡°I have a lot to say! A lot, yes!¡± he cried. ¡°I am sorry! Do not end me!¡±


    ¡°Just answer my questions and I won¡¯t,¡± Emika sighed, and took a step back. Maybe a little bit of room would loosen his tongue.


    He looked up to her, then gazed to his right and to his left, undoubtedly gauging his chances of escape. Eventually though, to Emika¡¯s pleasant surprise, he did not in fact even attempt to dart. She didn¡¯t trust her reflexes not to immediately grab after him if he had.


    ¡°Your questions,¡± he said, nodding to the point of hurling sand all over. ¡°Very well. Yes. I will answer them all. A-huh. Just keep them coming!¡±


    Emika noticed his desperate attempts to steer away from revealing who ordered him to tail her, so she decided to let that one go. ¡°Okay,¡± she said slowly, ¡°So, first of all¡­ what the hell are you?¡±


    He eyed Emika for a few moments, trying to collect his thoughts, until he eventually said: ¡°W-what am I? What a question. I am human. I have a family!¡±


    Emika raised her eyebrows, and in that same moment, that person seemed to realise that mentioning his family might have been a terrible idea. Nevertheless, he continued after a small pause: ¡°In fact, maybe this is all a big misunderstanding, you know? Maybe it wasn¡¯t you whose house I was supposed to break into at all. Now that I look at you more closely¡­ nope, must have gotten the wrong gal. Definitely, yes. I just ¡ª you know, my client asked me to follow someone ¡ª anyone who had recently maybe had contact with a deadly curse.


    Then I saw you, in the woods, burning a strange botanic structure with parts of flesh inside it ¡ª which, mind you, probably wasn¡¯t real flesh at all, I must have mistaken it, ¡ª and then I thought to myself, hey, hey, this might be the person my client referred to ¡ª but I don¡¯t want to jump to conclusions, naturally, maybe it¡¯s not you after all, and in that case, well, then I¡¯d be heartbroken to have invaded your privacy and would love to get out of your life immediately. And forever. Deal?¡±


    ¡°No deal,¡± said Emika. ¡°So you''re telling me that this is a deadly curse? I¡¯m going to die?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± he stammered. ¡°N-no way! No way. I wouldn¡¯t want to be the bearer of such bad news! In fact, most likely, you¡¯re still going to survive for months!¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Emika dryly. ¡°That¡¯s what I want to hear¡­ Anyway¡­ just¡­ tell me how I get rid of this curse, and I¡¯ll let you go.¡±


    ¡°Getting rid of it. Getting rid of it¡­¡± He started mumbling and acting as if he was racking his brain, grazing his fingers through his beard.


    ¡°Yes. Getting rid of it,¡± repeated Emika.


    ¡°Well, about that¡­¡±


    It was clear that his fear of death kept him from saying anything further. He just stared at her, stammering. Emika was fine with it, though. More than fine. In fact, it was right now that she learnt how much she loved to inspire dread.


    ¡°Yes?¡± she reiterated.


    His jaw got stuck in a trembling motion for a second, until he finally let out his next waterfall of words. ¡°I¡­ I would hardly call myself an expert on curses. I know nothing about them. At all.¡± He looked like he was lost in thought for just one second, then continued: ¡°Oh, in fact, I do have some pointers for you, when I think about it like that. I am a private magical investigator, you see, and a different case of mine right now, given to me by our Cursebreaker, is to study the whereabouts and activities of the local Revenant. And I only took your case in the first place because your curse is all planty and such, with all the leaves and wood, so it¡¯s similar to a Revenant; right in my alley of expertise, one might say, so yes, if you find out about that Revenant, then maybe that could help you.¡±


    This was almost too much for Emika to keep up with so suddenly, but there was one immediate bit that stood out to her.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    A Cursebreaker¡­ That¡¯s right. Mina had mentioned something like that. Emika had no knowledge of where or how to find him, so she hadn¡¯t bothered thinking much about that, but if that old guy seemed to know him, maybe that was another avenue to find clues. Or maybe even help?


    ¡°So, about this Cursebreaker you mentioned¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ right¡­¡± the man replied slowly. ¡°I guess the name might suggest that that¡¯s exactly the person you should go to right now, huh¡­ Well, he is a little busy at the moment, and in fact, if you and I knew each other a little better, like, if we were friends, I¡¯d advise you against going to him.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    He gulped and his lower lip started shaking, just before it puffed into dust. Finally, he said: ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s because Cursebreakers side with humans. They help humans.¡±


    Emika was puzzled. ¡°Isn¡¯t that good? I am human.¡±


    He made a short pause and then asked, with a very low voice, almost in a whisper, ¡°But¡­ Can you prove that to him somehow¡­? Do you have, like¡­ A document showing that?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Emika exasperated. What kind of silly question was that? Obviously, she was human.


    ¡°I¡¯m not doubting you!¡± he immediately added. ¡°I¡¯m just saying that he might. So far, you have killed ¡ª of course, tragically, accidentally, in a bad turn of fate, I want to add ¡ª but, tragically, killed several people. And you are slowly, quite obviously, turning into something that looks entirely non-human. Let me tell you, as someone who himself is not particularly close to a human exterior ¡ª¡± as he said that, he gestured all over himself, ¡°¡ª if you go to that Cursebreaker, your fate will be completely up to his whims¡­ And while he might decide to see you as human, he also very well might not.¡± After a short pause, with a strange gravity to his voice that was almost void of fear, he added: ¡°I suggest you live out your days in your home, not harming anyone else, and you might get a while of peace before leaving this world.¡±


    Emika had a tough time processing the information she had just received. On one hand, it did seem like this old person in front of her was actually trying to give her honest advice. On the other hand, she had no good reason to believe him, and moreover, she just didn¡¯t like the content of his words at all. Was her situation truly so messed up that even people well-versed in magic wouldn¡¯t be able to help her?


    Though, now that she thought about it, and how her last few days had gone, maybe that shouldn¡¯t be that much of a surprise after all.


    ¡°¡­ I see. Anyway¡­¡± At this point, her brain was grasping at straws. ¡°Uhm, that Revenant you mentioned, and that case you are on to find it¡­ Please tell me everything about that, then.¡±


    If worse came to worst, Emika could just investigate the thing herself. If the Cursebreaker was not an option, then finding out about something that was apparently similar to her might give her a clue.


    ¡°Y-yes. If you kindly gave me your email address, I would send you all the info first thing after I get home¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, really. Is that how it is? Very interesting.¡± She nodded slowly. ¡°So, how do I know you¡¯re not lying through your teeth?¡±


    For a moment he seemed shocked at the suggestion, but then, after rummaging through his coat, produced an expensive smartphone, tapped on it a few times and showed Emika a screen with a table full of data.


    With a fast and sudden grab, she snatched the phone from his hands to take a closer look. ¡°Do you have some other info about magical stuff on here, too?¡±


    ¡°Y-yes?¡±


    ¡°Okay, thank you very much. I will go through this myself.¡± She put the phone into her pocket. She had scouted the pin to unlock it from him right as he had put it in just now.


    He stood there in silence, stunned, before asking: ¡°¡­ Are you robbing me?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Emika.


    ¡°¡­ Okay.¡± His mouth opened three more times, as if he was going to protest, but in the end, didn¡¯t dare to.


    ¡°By the way, just out of curiosity. How old are you?¡±


    He looked at her, confused at the question. ¡°I¡­ I am 37.¡±


    Emika pulled her eyebrows together and started thinking. ¡°Okay, but like, how old is that? In human years?¡±


    A second passed of him looking very puzzled, then she continued: ¡°¡­ Ah, never mind. You did say you were human. Makes sense now, thanks. I just wanted to know whether I was actually robbing an old man, just for my conscience. Not that I would need to worry about my conscience after the things you¡¯ve done¡­ You can come visit to retrieve your phone in a week or two. Oh, and just so we''re clear: If you follow me ever again, or rat me out to anyone at all, very bad things will happen to you. Understood?¡±


    He gulped, and with that, his Adam¡¯s apple crumbled to dust. After coughing for a moment, he said: ¡°¡­ Understood. Your precious secrets are safe with me.¡±


    Emika smiled. ¡°You¡¯re not so bad, huh? I might have taxed you a tad too much. Please get home safely.¡±


    He didn¡¯t wait to hear that twice, immediately got up, bowed to her, and ran off.


    Sitting alone in her office, Emika took a look at his phone, like it was a prized possession ¡ª the reward of her hard work.


    I wonder what I¡¯ll find on here.


    She definitely couldn¡¯t wait. It was time to check it out.

 Chapter 10: Finally Connected

    Even though she had barely slept, and it was almost time for sunrise, Emika started investigating the phone right away. She couldn¡¯t help but feel a certain sense of wonder going through the device of a complete stranger. Immediately, she had to wade through a sea of notifications, with a bunch of new messages from something called ¡°Family Chat,¡± as well as 3 messages from someone labelled ¡°Love,¡± which Emika could only imagine being his spouse.


    She found out that he had a wife and a daughter, was living on the other side of town and still had three shifts to Observe Hasegawa Emika scheduled in his calendar, which she promptly deleted.


    After learning that his name was Lester, she wrote a message to his wife, saying: ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Lester is fine, should be home soon.¡±


    Unable to quell her curiosity, Emika started scrolling up in the chat log. It was mostly comprised of short messages related to everyday life. That is, until she intruded upon a string of texts and pictures that were truly only intended to be shared between lovers. As if she had touched a hot baked potato, she immediately exited the chat log on reflex. This is why you don¡¯t invade other people¡¯s privacy, she thought, and she meant it as an admonition to both herself and Lester.


    To distract herself from what she had just seen, she opened the internet browser. To her surprise, it wasn¡¯t one of the usual sites that popped up, but something called ¡®Barnacle¡¯, which Emika soon realised to be a search engine for magical topics. Not like it turned up a lot of results on her first few attempts to use it, though; it seemed incredibly niche.


    She noticed that there was a link to a page with usage instructions, but they were quite long and Emika¡¯s tired mind was unable to even properly parse the introduction. She¡¯d have to go through this at some point ¡ª it seemed much too interesting a prospect to pass up on, but she¡¯d bother with it another day.


    Going through the pictures on Lester¡¯s phone, she could see a multitude of videos and photos of herself ¡ª pictures taken through windows, pictures from when she had gone outside to burn bodies, as well as pictures of her house, and work documents. There were probably hundreds of them.


    In addition, there were many pictures of his family, who didn¡¯t seem to have the same ageing condition as he had. His daughter was apparently either in her late teens or early twenties, and had the air of a college student around her. Interestingly enough, even though the pictures were pictures and not videos, the effect of him constantly perishing remained. Small lines of sand kept pouring out of the phone¡¯s screen whenever he was on display, together with small puffs of dust that filled the air every now and then as the body parts vanished into nothingness.


    Emika got distracted by this phenomenon for way too long, until finally snapping out of it like from a trance. This person was truly marvellous.


    At last, she took a look at Lester¡¯s work notes and reopened the list that he had shown her earlier. It took her quite a while to understand what she was seeing; the data was obviously only meant for him, and not written with necessary explanations or insights to be understood by another person. That said, he seemed pretty organised, and thus making sense of it didn¡¯t seem like an all-impossible task.


    Apparently, his modus operandi was to first gather reports of weird phenomena, and then to go there to check in person whether they had to do with that Revenant. There weren¡¯t that many, and some of them had occurred pretty far away, to the point where Emika couldn¡¯t easily reach them in her current state. The data consisted of a time and a place, as well as some additional notes to the occurrence, and an assigned danger level. Some of these sightings had already been visited by Lester and contained notes like Nothing verifiable or just a pixie.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Emika checked the locations he hadn¡¯t visited yet and found the one that was closest to her. It was denoted with a danger level of A to S.


    It was unclear to her whether the Levels A to S were high or low. She couldn¡¯t possibly imagine dangerous beings existing in her vicinity, so she figured A must be the lowest, and if it went up to Z, then S was¡­ Being too lazy to count up the alphabet, she just assumed it must have been somewhere in the middle.


    Meeting one of these wasn¡¯t out of the question, was it? Emika wondered what kind of amazing creatures were lingering out there¡­ She almost forgot that she was supposed to investigate them because they might be related to her own affliction, and not just because it seemed exciting.


    She put the phone on the night desk and laid down on her bed.


    This all was really happening, huh? This was all real.


    Now that she finally took the time to go over her situation in quiet, an unwavering, dull worry started to seep into her mind. If what Lester had told her ¡ª and for that matter, what he had written in his notes on his phone about her ¡ª was to be believed, then she was indeed suffering from a deadly curse that was slowly spreading through her body, killing her in the process.


    She looked at her growth. It was truly unrelenting. It had already grown to twice its size compared to when she had last looked at it¡­ and that was despite having cut it off not so long ago. So was it her fate to turn into a bonsai tree? How fitting¡­


    In fact, too fitting¡­ She couldn¡¯t help but feel like it wasn¡¯t a coincidence. Whatever cursed her must have had to do with the fact that she was a bonsai gardener. For now, she didn¡¯t know where to take that lead, but it seemed notable, so she made sure to edge it into an appropriate space in her mental notes of her entire situation.


    When she noticed the time, Emika turned on the radio and put on a random news station, in hopes that it would eventually reveal if there had been a development¡­ She figured, the way her friends had died, it would make the news. But ever since it had happened, there¡¯d been nothing. No news whatsoever that could give her a hint.


    It was as if the entire world was just living on in peace, and she was the only one who couldn¡¯t. Just thinking about all this made her feel sick to her stomach again. Eva¡¯s death flashed back before her. She pressed her hands against her eyes before she¡¯d start crying.


    Her situation really sucked. Someone ¡ª Lester¡¯s client, of whom she¡¯d found no traces on her phone so far ¡ª was definitely aware of her curse, and was aware of what she had done. She briefly thought about leaving her home, but¡­ she had nowhere to go. She was stuck.


    Before going to sleep, she changed the SIM card in Lester¡¯s phone to her own, and also made a second profile on it where she could log in to her email account and her social media. She wouldn¡¯t take care of all the issues that had piled up while she was offline now, but she wanted to at least take a cursory look.


    After logging in, she was immediately greeted by a flood of mails, most of which were spam. As she scrolled through, though, she found a peculiar one:


    Melisande from MysteryLense has sent you a message.


    MysteryLense¡­ Why did that name ring a bell to Emika? She needed a second to remember. On the day of the incident, after her growth had first appeared, she had made an account on a random internet forum about supernatural phenomena¡­ That had been a frustrating dead end.


    Melisande, on the other hand, was definitely not a name Emika had ever heard before, so perhaps it was some user from that network. But why would anyone send her a message when she had only ever logged in once? ¡­ And what could they have written?

 Chapter 11: Melisande

    Logging into the account wasn¡¯t an issue because of course Emika, as always, had used the same password she had thought of back when she was twelve. After a few clicks to navigate through her dashboard, Melisande¡¯s message on Emika¡¯s public profile page turned out to be¡­


    Welcome to the forum! If u need help, let me know!


    ¡­ And that was it.


    Emika wasn¡¯t sure what she had expected. She frowned and pressed herself deeper into her cushion, puzzled about why she of all people would receive such a message from a stranger.


    Still, now that she was logged in, she decided to poke around a bit. For one, she noticed this user had sent her the message almost immediately after Emika had signed up to the site. Also, Melisande was sending out similar welcome messages to all new users signing up on the forum fully around the clock; she¡¯d issued almost a dozen such welcomes to users these past few days. In total, Melisande had over seven thousand postings on the forum and seemed to be an incredibly active user.


    The other thing Emika noticed as she was going through her details was that Melisande apparently didn¡¯t live that far away. While Emika herself lived in a small rural town, her general surroundings sported a good portion of the country¡¯s population, so it wasn¡¯t too unusual, but it did cause her to be slightly more interested in that user.


    Out of politeness, Emika decided to answer, especially because none of those other people had done so thus far.


    Thank you very much. Sorry I answered so late. I was having issues with my phone.


    Emika pressed on ¡®send¡¯ and started reading through her message again, just to make sure that there were no errors in it and that it had come through correctly. Before she could even finish, the notification dot lit up again. Unbelievably, Melisande had already responded with: lmao dw ab it. hope you¡¯ll have a nice time here c:


    For a second, Emika just stared at the words, trying to decipher what they even meant. All she was ever online for were business emails.


    That was a very fast reply. You have so many posts, too. Are you an employee of the site?, Emika asked.


    Again, an almost immediate response: lol no i¡¯m just bored all day. btw what brought you to this site? did you see something weird? if so pls tell me all about it i loooove hearing strange stories!! oh but feel free to dm if you don¡¯t feel comfortable talking ab it in public


    How presumptuous, thought Emika. Then again, it¡¯s not like she was wrong¡­


    For a second, Emika seriously contemplated just going for it and sending that Melisande person a whole essay about what had happened to her¡­ It would all be anonymous anyway, right? And worst case, she could just say she made it all up.


    On the other hand, Emika was too tired to write so much, especially on a phone. Sending a message explaining it all would take hours¡­ And the sun was starting to rise. In the end, she decided to put the phone away to fall asleep before the light would make it much harder.


    Today had been a good day. She didn¡¯t have to worry about intruders anymore from now on, and she finally had a phone, which opened up a great range of possibilities.


    She stretched, and felt her joints crack suspiciously like strained wooden branches. Then, she let herself fall back into her cushion, and for the first time in days, got a few hours of actual rest.


    When Emika woke up, out of all the options open to her now, the first thing she did was take Lester¡¯s phone and send a private message to Melisande.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    You are right, it¡¯s not something I¡¯d want to talk about in public.


    As Emika was about to put the phone back, she saw that she had already received a reply. Startled, she opened the notification, and the message read: yeah, that¡¯s totally understandable, there¡¯s so much stuff i wouldn¡¯t wanna talk about in the open either.. or am not allowed to


    Like what?, Emika asked.


    you first, cutie


    Emika gulped at that reply and turned a little red. Was that person flirting with her? After a bit of thinking, she wrote: Something really bad happened a few days ago. I¡¯m not sure I even understand it well enough to process it. It¡¯s not something that can be¡­ explained. I¡¯m not sure what to do.


    For a second she wondered if she was scaring Melisande off by unloading dark stuff, but before that fear could really materialise, the answer read: damn that sounds tough.. idk if i can be of much help but if you wanna talk ab it let me know. i¡¯ll be here. i hope i didnt overwhelm you with my first messages¡­ most ppl come here with, u kno, fun lil stories that im trynna pull out of them haha


    You didn¡¯t overwhelm me, no worries. I am good with people who are very direct and open. And thank you for your offer to talk. After writing that message, Emika immediately added a new message saying: Cutie.


    With that, she got up from bed and went to the kitchen to have her breakfast bowl of cereal ¡ª by now, she was eating them with tap water, since her oat milk had gone out.


    The next few days went by so quickly, Emika barely noticed. She unintentionally spent most of her time chatting with Melisande. Their conversations didn¡¯t have much substance, but made her feel a lot better, so she could barely keep herself from her phone.


    It seemed that Melisande was aware that Emika was going through a rough patch, and so she tried to cheer her up. Emika on the other side sought refuge somewhere that had nothing to do with her current personal situation. Apart from that, she took care of her trees and ordered some things online that would help her out in the long run, like a new phone and food. She just left the gate open and told deliverers to place the packages inside her garden so that she could receive the items contact-free.


    At the same time, Emika started to tie up some loose ends. She began researching if there were some places she could run off to if she had to leave her home. It didn¡¯t take her long to give up, and instead she used her time to apologise to her customers and other business related people about the delays and cancelled all ongoing projects and orders, together with sending refunds. She really didn¡¯t want to get into a situation where people she barely knew started worrying about her or getting her in trouble for not upholding contracts.


    As for her growth; cutting it back became more and more of a hassle, so she stopped, and instead tried to find ways to deal with it in her everyday life. By now, it wasn¡¯t painful any more; the area around where the wood exited her skin was numb and didn¡¯t bleed. The branches spiralled around her arm towards her elbow, and some smaller branches retraced her fingers in the air above them.


    The growth was definitely aesthetically pleasing; she loved the deadwood parts, and junipers were her favourite plant to use for bonsai trees. The things that were annoying about it were how it made it harder for her to put on clothes, do household-chores and work on trees.


    Also, she wondered what she was eventually going to do about the weight. For now, it was fine. The branches weren¡¯t very thick, and while she certainly felt the added mass, she could still move her arm well. But, if it kept growing like that, wouldn¡¯t there come a day when it would become tricky to move?


    One day during the next week, as she was just wiring some branches after cutting a material tree she had initially gotten for an exhibition, she heard Lester¡¯s phone vibrate. She half expected it to be another message from Melisande, but when she opened it, she just stared at it for a few seconds, completely puzzled. She had never seen an alert like this before.


    The notification read:


    Spatial distortion detected.


    When she clicked it, she was brought to a map app that showed a location a few kilometres away, with the added line of: ¡°High likelihood of being caused by a Well of Abstraction.¡±


    If Emika had understood Lester¡¯s notes correctly, these types of notifications were linked to his investigations pertaining to that ¡®Revenant¡¯ he had talked about. In other words: Could this notification show the current whereabouts of that creature, or something connected to it¡­?


    That said, she had never heard of the phrase ¡®Well of Abstraction¡¯, and it hadn¡¯t been mentioned in Lester¡¯s notes either¡­ Well, in that case, it was time to check it out.

 Chapter 12: The Well of Abstraction

    In Emika¡¯s mind, the decision to go to that place had been made pretty much the moment she had received the notification. She simply had to find out more about her curse by any means possible; and if this even just slightly furthered her understanding of magic and magical creatures, that in and of itself was already a win. In addition to all of that¡­ What could possibly go wrong? No matter what the outcome, she didn¡¯t feel like whatever happened there could make her current situation any worse.


    The main issue was that this place was definitely too far away to just walk to. It was well outside the town in the northern reserve.


    She would have to go by bike. That way, it was less likely that other people would touch her, and she could potentially get away from dangerous situations much quicker than by foot.


    So, she started scrambling around for a while, trying to prepare herself as best as she could for whatever might come; she packed food, tea, some additional clothing, a flashlight, a power bank in case her phone battery died, and the newspaper she had retrieved from her mailbox this morning.


    Emika actually was a little bit anxious about whether the news had some info on her case in it that hadn¡¯t made it to the radio broadcasts. And, she figured, on a stake-out she¡¯d need to find something to do anyway.


    As for her growth, she just decided to wear a big poncho to conceal it as much as possible. Even if there were some branches protruding from her; that was probably going to look weird for outsiders, but as long as they didn¡¯t see them literally extrude from her skin, it should be okay, she figured.


    So, at some point in the late afternoon, and with the feeling of a large clump in her stomach, she left the gates of her residence to find whatever that spatial distortion had waiting for her. It had been a hot day, but by now, as the sun neared the horizon, the heat slowly let off. She hadn¡¯t been out in nice weather amid nature like this in a while, which eased her tremendous anxiety at least a little.


    At one point, while traversing large meadows on thin, old asphalt roads, she saw a small group of deer grazing at the end of the grassland.


    It wasn¡¯t before long until she could actually start feeling the strain on her thighs; she rarely used her bike to travel long distances. Eventually, as the sun was setting, Emika arrived at a small railway gate at a junction crossing an abandoned track. It took a bit of effort to carry her bike around the barrier. The leaves of a neighbouring tree hung so low that she got her own growth tangled up in them. After the junction, a way led to the left, closely hugging the railroad. That¡¯s where she needed to go.


    Clearly, this place wasn¡¯t frequented by anyone. Her destination was an abandoned station ¡ª or rather, the vague surroundings of it.


    Now, it was dark.


    Throughout the entire journey, her branches levered against her arm as they were sticking out in the wind; especially so when she was pedalling fast.


    Emika felt herself getting a little jumpy. At one point, as she was moving, she set off a crow right in the tree above her, who then blurted out some caws and flew away. She almost crashed from fright.


    Finally, she finally arrived at a small abandoned settlement. The houses had fallen into disrepair; the windows were broken, vegetation had started growing through the walls and collapsed roofs. From the looks of it, it had been decades since the last person left. Somewhere here¡­ That ¡®Well of Abstraction¡¯ had to be somewhere here.


    Having not taken a single break up until now, she drank almost all of her tea and ate most of her provisions. Then she sat there, on the step of the entrance to one of the houses, for a few minutes, massaging her calves.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The scent of the musty forest floor filled her nose, and she heard a little stream babbling in the distance. The sounds of a few birds echoed around her, as well as the rustling of leaves in the trees.


    Emika felt weirdly calm, but vulnerable at the same time. At least, she didn¡¯t immediately see or hear anything that could be described as that ¡°spatial distortion.¡± That meant, it was time to start investigating. Pulling out her flashlight, she took a deep breath and slowly entered the first small bungalow.


    The door had been removed from the frame, and inside was a ton of garbage; pieces of broken furniture and glass, isolation material, leftover concrete and chipboard. She realised only now that her clothing was very ill-suited for her endeavour. Not only was she wearing sandals bare-footed, she also had put on leggings with just a short skirt and a poncho to lightly conceal her upper body growths. She did have a trench coat in her luggage, but that was just in case she¡¯d get cold at night.


    Trying not to accidentally cut off one of her toes at a large shard of glass or something like that, she slowly strode through the room to take a look around. Of course, she thought it was unlikely to find a well of any kind inside a house, but she didn¡¯t want to get surprised by anything jumping out of unchecked corners either. Just as she thought that, she got her face tangled up in a myriad of spider netting. Annoyed, she took a cursory glance at the kitchen, and it was just the same as the main room.


    Okay¡­ first building done, she thought to herself. She decided to be adventurous and climb out of the window in the back, mostly because she didn¡¯t feel like risking walking over all the glass again in the dark. Unfortunately, she only realised too late that a whole patch of stinging nettles awaited her on the other side¡­ Immediately, her feet and lower legs were absorbed, and even her leggings were not enough to keep them from applying their burns.


    She made a few jumps, trying to get out as fast as possible, almost breaking an ankle as she accidentally hopped into an unexpected small hole in the ground.


    Emika sighed. For someone growing bonsai trees for a living, she sure had very little experience with being outdoors. She didn¡¯t remember it being this hard from back when her mother had been alive, taking her out to the woods all the time.


    However, as she had barely finished that thought, she suddenly heard a noise and froze. She could only recognize it as a mixed high-pitched, low grunting and puffing, quite unlike anything she had ever heard before. Her blood ran cold and for a second, she wondered why she had even come here.


    Slowly, and as carefully as possible, she made her way back onto the path, then even taking off her sandals, just so her steps wouldn¡¯t be so loud. She didn¡¯t even feel the burns of the nettles anymore, as her legs were now ice-cold and sweaty.


    Step by step, she inched closer to the source of the sounds as they changed in pitch and strength. She couldn¡¯t see anything, though, even as she tried to illuminate the direction the noise came from. Eventually, she passed by a small plum tree, and felt the wet fruits squish open under her bare feet as she walked over them.


    Whatever made the noise was very close now, but still completely invisible. Slowly, Emika knelt down, as the sound seemed to be coming from below.


    After a few minutes of staring around, and as her eyes slowly got more accustomed to the dark, she finally saw what it was.


    A tiny hedgehog was striding through the forest ground, putting its little nose into the moss, then regularly feeding itself off of the plums beneath the tree. Emika¡¯s throat was so dry that the tiny laugh she almost let out got stuck inside it.


    She was unsure how it was possible for a tiny being like that to make this much noise. That is, it did so until it actually, in complete shock, recognized Emika, who was now cowering only about two metres away. They both eyed each other for a few seconds, until, as if by some unknown command, the hedgehog suddenly and immediately ran away, vanishing into the night.


    Emika chuckled and got up again, and started rummaging in her pocket to find her tea. She was completely drenched in sweat.


    She only registered the true danger of the situation as she turned towards the path, freezing in place the instant she did.


    A flat, scarlet red ring levitated in front of her.


    It was fuzzy, as if sketched by a large brush in a hasty stroke, but also perfectly round, the way it could never be done by hand. The shape¡¯s brilliance remained completely untouched by the darkness of the night ¡ª in fact, Emika felt like it was painted directly onto her retina.


    And it closed in.

 Chapter 13: Monsters

    Emika instinctively made a step back, only to let out a quick scream as she squished onto another plum.


    Her light didn¡¯t have any effect on the ring; it was bright, saturated and didn¡¯t fit into its surroundings, the inside of it being transparent, with the air flickering as if from the heat above a campfire. The light did, however, have an effect on what was attached to the circle; a body of sorts, four legged, similar to that of a large deer, and it seemed like the ring was just its gigantic head.


    She had trouble breathing. Realising how all her blood shot into her head, she again made a step back, this time ignoring whatever she might have felt at her feet.


    The creature slowly inched closer, with its hooves slowly advancing, as if in slow motion, and the circle moving downwards. However, it didn¡¯t seem like the head was actually carried by its body. More so, it appeared the body was dragged by the ring.


    As Emika circled around it while trying to keep her distance, she recognized that the ring looked the same no matter which angle she looked at it from; it was completely unaffected by perspective. By now, it had almost reached the ground and was at the edge of the path where Emika had initially stood. The ring hovered right around a little pile of plums that Emika was extremely sure she had accidentally stepped in a moment earlier. Just as the ring surrounded them, it appeared like they were cut out from the world; with some plums severed in two, as if removed by a cookie cutter. Then, gravity lost its influence on them as they started spinning inside the ring, slowly turning smaller and smaller¡­ It was as if Emika was watching them fall down a well right from above, until they finally vanished into nothingness.


    A shiver went down her spine, and she felt the corners of her mouth rise involuntarily. Yeah¡­ she was sure of it. This was, by far, the most amazing thing she had ever witnessed. At least now she knew why this thing was called a ¡®Well of Abstraction¡¯.


    Not even bothering to attempt to wipe the awkward smile of admiration off her face, she made a few careful steps towards the creature to take a better look at its body. The terror she¡¯d felt was still present in her bones, but for now, curiosity won.


    As she shone light on the creature, she realised that even though its shape resembled that of a deer, there were some significant differences. For one, this body had no fur, but instead greenish, leathery and transparent skin that made it possible to see the black muscle tissue, bones, blood vessels and organs inside of it.


    ¡°This is so cool,¡± she whispered under her breath, until she noticed that the ring, which she had lost sight of while focusing on the details of the body¡¯s biology, had come dangerously close to her hip. She jumped aside, her whole body trembling in a short burst of fright, and the circle kept pursuing her. It was very slow altogether, so she could easily keep her distance, but she definitely shouldn¡¯t lose focus, or it would be lights out.


    Without breaking eye contact with the ominous red shape, she kneeled down and tapped around the ground, until her fingers touched one of the plums. She grasped it, and tossed it into the centre of the well. As it entered the ring, it lost momentum, then started spinning around itself, right before being devoured into the depths of the abyss. It didn¡¯t take very long until it went back to pursuing Emika.


    For a while, she just took the creature on a walk between the abandoned buildings, occasionally feeding it with whatever she could find on the ground. She made sure to find special things that would be fun to see tumble into the void, like for example a small keychain, a booklet, and at one point, she even tossed a brick.


    Regardless of the offering, the spectacle remained the same: For a second, the object seemed captured by the big red ring, then, it fell down as if being watched from above. That remained true even when Emika tried walking around the creature as it gulped something down.


    With time, Emika even dared getting up really close, although she made sure not to accidentally get eaten. She kept fighting the nigh irresistible urge to pet its back. Of course, she understood that if she were to do that, that poor thing might suffer an excruciating death, so she kept her little hands to herself.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Almost two hours went by just with Emika satisfying her curiosity, feeding and watching that particular creature. It really did seem to do its best at eventually catching her, even going as far as to predict some of her movements and changing course in order to cut her off. But since it was so incredibly slow, Emika wasn¡¯t that worried.


    Eventually, after feeding one last plum, she said: ¡°I think I need to go home. It was fun, though¡­¡±


    While uttering these words, she finally remembered that she hadn¡¯t been here for fun. That¡¯s right ¡ª she wanted to find out about the Revenant. That said¡­ This monster didn¡¯t have any plant-like properties and didn¡¯t seem similar to her at all. So¡­ another dead-end?


    With a sigh, she waved the creature goodbye.


    She¡¯d still have to make her way back home, a task she wasn¡¯t at all looking forward to. Her legs still felt weak from the trip to this place, and from tip-toeing around the forest for such a long time. After making sure she had gathered all her things, she went back to her bike and rode home.


    She couldn¡¯t wait to tell Melisande about all of this. In fact, her phone had vibrated a few times already, but checking and replying had been too dangerous while some monster was actively trying to gobble Emika all up, so she had ignored all the messages.


    It was already after four in the morning when she finally arrived back home. Completely exhausted and with a dry throat and almost numb legs, she strode through the living room, took a cup of tea that she hadn''t finished before she left and washed it down in one gulp.


    Afterwards, she took out Lester¡¯s mobile phone and dropped onto the sofa with an exhausted moan. She was far too excited to sleep, but could hardly move either. Instead, she just lay there for a few minutes, listening to the crickets making their noise in the garden.


    Eventually, she unlocked the phone, and took a look at the messages she had received while she was gone. The oldest one read: Wow sounds scary! U def gotta tell me how it went when ur back!


    Then, the others were:


    ¡ª And? did u get there? Pls don¡¯t tell me u got lost


    ¡ª Any updates?


    ¡ª Ok it¡¯s been 2 hours dear lady. U kno i¡¯ll come save u if ur gone too long right?


    ¡ª I#m sorry but did you really put your phone on mute and forget all about me before visiting a literal MAGICAL PHENOMENON bc if u did istg do you not know i¡¯M WORRIED >=(


    ¡ª I mean it makes sense you wouldn¡¯t wanna have ur phone go off right as you lo9ok into the eyes of some monster or something uwu but stiiiilll


    Oh right, thought Emika. It would have been a very good idea to mute her phone, actually. She¡¯d remember for next time. For now, though, she wasn¡¯t able to wipe the smile off her face. Who would have thought this girl would get so worried? For some reason, Emika¡¯s heart felt very warm.


    She then spent a very long time writing down her experience in all of its details, and after sending her text, read through all of it again. She had barely reached the middle when the screen flashed. A reply. She refreshed the page and saw the following words: Omg that sounds super exciting!! So glad you had fun. Man, I wish I¡¯d been there with u. It does kinda sound like this was your first irl encounter w/ an actual monster, huh?


    Emika got a little startled by the quick answer, but then she responded with a short Yes.


    Honestly, I¡¯m a lil relieved at how u handled this all. Seems like u didn¡¯t mind meeting a monster, the next text read.


    Emika pondered her reply for a second, and then wrote: Well, how else would I have handled it? I just thought it was really cool. You are making me self-conscious¡­ Also, why would this relieve you?


    Unusually, Melisande¡¯s answer this time wasn¡¯t immediate. Instead, an actual five minutes went by; completely unprecedented. Finally, a short message appeared.


    Well, y¡¯know. Ig there¡¯s something I gotta tell u.


    After that, another minute went by until her second text.


    A monster¡­ The thing is¡­ actually¡­


    Emika could, for some reason, not help the excitement that was building up inside her body, until she was finally met with the last reply in the bunch that said:


    ..I¡¯m one too.

 Chapter 14: Barnacle

    Of course, after Melisande¡¯s incredible reveal, Emika had tried to get some more info out of her regarding the topic. Through some back and forth, Melisande had confirmed that it indeed was not a joke, she was in fact what was commonly referred to as a ¡®monster¡¯. At the same time, though, she apparently wasn¡¯t allowed to go into much detail about her situation or her identity due to some circumstances she was dealing with.


    Eventually, Melisande wrote: uh.. this isn¡¯t gonna change anything btw us tho right..?


    Emika couldn¡¯t possibly imagine how it would. In fact, it just made her all the more excited to get to know Melisande better. Of course, she¡¯d have loved a clearer explanation of all of this, but¡­ At least she¡¯s sharing as much as she can with me, she thought, and smiled.


    When Emika woke up the next day, she had to suppress the urge to just chat up Melisande again with all her might. It¡¯s because she had planned to actually be productive today, and by now, she understood her affection for Melisande quite well enough to know that once she started talking to her, a few hours would pass in an instant.


    Instead, Emika had set her sights today on another thing; the search engine called ¡®Barnacle¡¯ that she had found on Lester¡¯s phone. And thus, planning to reward herself afterwards with a few hours of socialising with her new monster friend, she opened the page and pressed the link that said ¡°How to use.¡±


    It brought her to a short instruction manual that said:


    ¡°Welcome to Barnacle!


    Barnacle is a spell machine that will help you channel magical or immagical information from anywhere in the world, be it contained in books, tomes, scrolls, the minds of scholars or other sources. In order to use Barnacle, you must first infuse it with magic energy. That energy will then be expended to gather relevant information to your query, and to convert and present this information in a way that is easily understandable for you (for example by means of translation or rewording).


    Small amounts of magic may sometimes be sufficient, but consider that a higher amount of magic could be necessary based on the nature of your query. The amount of magic provided will impact the quality of the result in many ways.


    The following outlines a typical standard procedure to provide Barnacle with magic, but as always, feel free to adjust any steps based on your personal magical aptitude and customs.


    1. The Conduit: First, you will need to find a solid item with as many deep holes in it as possible. The bigger, darker and deeper the holes and the larger their number, the more efficient the spell¡¯s magical conversion rate will be.


    2. The Value: Then, find a material that is ideally dry and brittle. This is the item whose destruction will set free the magic provided to Barnacle, so be prepared to lose it (be aware that the more valuable the item is to you, the stronger the spell will be). Suitable materials can be dried flowers and plants, small works of art made out of thin crystals, or sandstone. Small pieces of dried grains, seeds, or marbles can also work.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    3. To proceed with the spell, imagine your query as detailed as possible, or write it into the Barnacle search field if random thoughts easily distract your mind. While doing so or after, crush the Value over the Conduit, for example in your fist, so that the remains of the Value fall into the holes of the Conduit.


    4. Wait for the search result! It will usually take anywhere between a few seconds to a few weeks, depending on the amount of magic provided and complexity of the query.¡±


    After reading through these instructions several times, Emika put the phone on the table and got up, strolling up and down her living room despite her sore legs.


    Once she made up her mind on how to do it, she started working right away. First, she found a big chunk of wood in one of her sheds and decided to make the conduit out of that. She could have just used an electrical drill to make the holes, but decided to do it by hand, using some old tools from her father.


    It would take much longer, but it would look much more aesthetic, and if she was going to use the thing regularly, she didn¡¯t want to have just a makeshift solution. She also didn¡¯t want all the holes to look completely uniform and technical. By slightly varying the shape of each cavity, and arranging them neatly in an interesting formation, she slowly inched towards something that looked like a lotus seed pod.


    It was a big undertaking, spanning over a few hours, and she also started thinking about the value part of the spell. If it was to be something that she could crush in her fist or spill from it, then what would be a good thing to use?


    Of course, she had rice and other types of grains at home, but the instructions did say that the spell would be stronger if she used something that was valuable to her¡­ And all of these grains she could just order online for cheap.


    Something valuable to her¡­ there really was only one thing that came to her mind: her bonsai trees. Of course, these weren¡¯t just valuable to her. In fact, they were her life. Sometimes, she called them her babies¡­ even though a significant portion of her trees were older than herself. Thinking of her collection, there really wasn¡¯t a single plant she was ready to just crush up. That said, for exactly that reason, they were probably very good ingredients for a spell that required something of value to her.


    In the end, after many hours, she was finally done. She had a large, dark, rounded chunk of wood with countless pores in it, each of them just big enough to barely fit some of her smaller fingers. In the meantime, she had also prepared the tree. After putting the conduit on her desk, she went to the kitchen to take a plate out of the oven ¡ª with a now completely dried-out freshly baked bonsai tree of hers on it.


    It was a red maple; one of her first self-made trees, and one of her oldest memories of her father, who had helped her shape it.


    She carefully clipped off all the twigs with leaves from it, being very prudent to not accidentally break them before casting the spell.


    Finally, her preparations were complete. It was already in the middle of the night. She felt extremely exhausted, but at the same time, wide-awake. She had positioned herself in the garden, in her favourite spot under her favourite tree, sitting in seiza.


    The conduit stood before her on a small wooden tea tablet, and next to her, she had another tablet with a garnished piece of cloth over it. On it, she had neatly arranged all the twigs that had once belonged to her late red maple tree.


    Lester¡¯s phone in hand, she looked at the Barnacle display, and read through the instructions one last time, to make sure she had it all right.


    Now, it was time for her first question.

 Chapter 15: Monsters, Part 2

    Emika had decided that she would, on her first try, ask a fairly simple question that would hopefully give her a good overview of the magical world. Thus, the question she sought an answer to was:


    What is a monster?


    Immediately upon crushing the twigs, her mind started to get flooded with information. Hints of visions, voices, and raw data entered her stream of consciousness, to the point where she couldn¡¯t put any of it into words or understand it. At the same time, it felt as if some foundation was being laid out inside her brain. Then, a text appeared on her phone:


    Nonhuman Beings that are either born through magic, infused with magic, or capable of using magic, are generally referred to as ¡®monsters¡¯. Many attempts have been made to categorise monsters throughout the centuries, though no universal method has ever been widely adopted. There exist species of monsters; in the sense that of that particular monster, there are many specimens. Likewise, there are special monsters that are referred to as ¡®unique¡¯, in the sense that it is the only individual of its likeness. Some of the strongest monsters to have clashed with humanity throughout the ages are of the type recognized as ¡®unique¡¯, although species such as dragons have still inflicted great devastation and loss.


    With that, there also exists the attempt to categorise monsters by the danger they pose to humans. The most widely recognized classification system in modernity is the Falter-Reigh-Ranking, which ranks monsters like this:


    F-Rank: A monster that poses no risk.


    E-Rank: A monster that poses a risk to property, mostly referred to as a ¡®pest¡¯.


    D-Rank: A monster that may harm humans in certain circumstances, but can easily be avoided or doesn¡¯t leave lasting damage.


    C-Rank: A monster that can cause serious injury to humans, but rarely does.


    B-Rank: A monster similar to a C-Rank, except it has an aggressive/hostile disposition towards humans.


    A-Rank: Serious risk. Killer of humans.


    S-Rank: Similar to A-Rank, except it is very hard to suppress.


    SS-Rank: Poses a risk to small scale settlements.


    SSS-Rank: Poses a risk to populations.


    After reading through that, Emika took another look at Lester¡¯s notes. She vaguely remembered having seen some kinds of danger levels in his database, especially when it came to his monster sightings.


    With slight surprise, Emika found that the Well of Abstraction she¡¯d met yesterday had been denoted as S-Rank. She couldn¡¯t for the life of her imagine how it would be that hard to deal with¡­ Then again, it was probably easily possible to get maimed by it if not careful. Emika smiled proudly. So, to other people, that little creature was this dangerous? Maybe not everyone is as precarious and cognisant as I am, she thought.


    She figured that in her next questions, she could ask about curses, Revenants and maybe even about the Well of Abstraction itself. However, she didn¡¯t want to blow through all of her resources immediately, and maybe she¡¯d come up with questions that were more important later. After all, while this detailed definition of monsters was certainly nice to know, it still didn¡¯t feel like a game changer¡­


    She wasn¡¯t sure if she¡¯d actually want to destroy her trees for it if all the knowledge she¡¯d receive from Barnacle was going to be in that realm. In either case, she decided to think about it for a while first.


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Which meant that now, she¡¯d finally get to reward herself with some Melisande-time. But first, not having eaten in a while, she inattentively poured herself a bowl of cereal and added her last droplets of oat milk to it ¡ª she¡¯d have to fetch her delivery from outside later.


    She crunched down on the first few spoonfuls at her kitchen table while unlocking her phone. When Emika opened the forum, her heart immediately lit up. She had gotten several messages from Melisande during these past hours.


    That girl often wrote fairly small, inconsequential things; reported random thoughts she had, shared creepy anecdotes she found on the internet, and so on. Sometimes, she¡¯d complain about work, too. Apparently, she was a doll maker for a living.


    Emika didn¡¯t respond to every single one of her thoughts, and she was fairly certain that Melisande didn¡¯t mind that. Most of all, she appreciated being made part of Melisande¡¯s life like that a lot. Her chest swelled up every time she remembered that there was another person in this world who would think of her so much as to write her so many small messages each day.


    I just did some research, she wrote to start the conversation. I know this is kind of a personal question, and you don¡¯t have to answer if you don¡¯t want to, but what is your danger level?


    Lol, Melisande answered. That nonsense made up by privileged old men?


    Emika hesitated for a second. Now that she mentioned that, it made sense. Thinking about this for more than a second¡­ hadn¡¯t Emika just asked something really bad, maybe? After all, she didn¡¯t even have a clue who made up those facts that Barnacle spat out, and didn¡¯t know anything about its inherent biases, either. I¡¯m very sorry. This was an insensitive question.


    Melisande still replied rather quickly.


    well...Idk what they categorise me as nowadays. Ig i¡¯ve gone through all kinds of ranks. A-Rank¡­ then I got upped to S-Rank¡­ and at some point, some people wanted to put me into SS-Rank, i think. well. that was just for political reasons if you ask me¡­ to get rid of me? I don¡¯t even know if they succeeded in reclassifying me¡­


    Wow, Emika thought. For some reason, she had not expected that answer. If Melisande was truly that dangerous, wasn¡¯t it a bit of a miracle that she¡¯d be talking about it so openly?


    Then again, maybe Melisande was right and this was all a bit of a sham. After hearing what Lester had told her about Cursebreakers, Emika couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly sceptical about humans when it came to dealing with monsters and curses. But¡­ there was no way to know whether what Lester said was actually accurate, either¡­


    Emika thanked Melisande for the answer, and after a few back-and-forth messages, the heavy air she had felt after asking her question was all cleared up.


    She focused her attention back to her meal, and was about to swallow the next spoonful, when she suddenly noticed a movement in it.


    A few seconds later, she saw a somewhat large black beetle squirm itself out between the flakes.


    ¡°Oh my, what a cutie you are,¡± she whispered, slowly getting up from the table, careful not to let it fall out. Perhaps she should do a better job at sealing up her food supplies. ¡°What if I had accidentally hurt you? Don¡¯t you know it¡¯s dangerous to hide inside my cereal? It¡¯s what I eat.¡±


    In a feat of dexterity she was quite happy with, Emika managed to write a small note to Melisande saying that she was going to fetch her delivery while holding the spoon so the bug wouldn¡¯t fall out.


    She let it jump off once she was in her garden. Absent-mindedly, she swallowed down what remained on the spoon and went out to gather the oat milk from her gate. Upon seeing her empty mailbox, she finally remembered the newspaper she had still not read.


    It was inside the bag she¡¯d taken on her trip yesterday, and after returning inside, she pulled it out. As she unfolded it, three letters fell out that must have gotten caught up between the pages.


    Damn, Emika thought. With how long she hadn¡¯t checked her mailbox before yesterday, these could have arrived ages ago¡­ She hadn¡¯t even considered that she might get actual mail.


    Upon inspecting them, all of these letters seemed peculiar in their own way.


    The first one was a red letter with a handwritten address. Emika didn¡¯t recognize the writing, and she had never received a similar letter before. It didn¡¯t seem very heavy, but it was fairly thick.


    The second letter was even more unique. It had no address on it at all. Also, while it definitely felt like there was something inside, the envelope¡¯s paper had no seams and no opening through which anything could have been inserted ¡ª as if someone had created a perfect, hollow piece of paper around another. In addition, thin vines with small leaves grew from and around the paper; and they were very much alive, not dried out at all.


    The third letter, however, was in and of itself the least interesting, but at the same time, the most threatening.


    It came from the criminal police.

 Chapter 16: The Three Letters

    Back inside her living room, Emika stared at the three letters she¡¯d put on the desk, her heart beating rather violently. She needed a while to calm down before she could even open the first one; none of them seemed to be letters related to her business, or letters coming from anyone she personally knew.


    Eventually, she picked up the red letter first, and opened it. Inside was a weird looking scroll with complex writing on it, together with a piece of paper containing a handwritten message:


    Dear Emika Hasegawa,


    Our routine divination checks have shown recent spikes in strong magical energies released in your close circumference. After investigating the issue, we have come to the conclusion that you might suffer from a strong magical affliction.


    Our facility is well-equipped for magical research and treatment, and we specialise in discrete and effective work, independent of Cursebreakers and similar rigid structures. We would love to take a look at you, determine the problem and offer any kind of help we can provide.


    While we would not turn you away in any case, we would highly appreciate it if you brought one of your bonsai trees as recompensation for us to use as a magical ingredient for other projects, to offset time and resources used for your examination and eventual treatment.


    The letter then provided some instructions on how to use the scroll to teleport to their place, and gave weekly time frames during which they¡¯d be able to receive her visit. It was signed by Victor Felton, who apparently worked at the Great Magical Fund Research Branch.


    Reading this, Emika felt a big lump form in her stomach. An entire bonsai was a lot of compensation, she felt, but it was fair enough of them to be transparent with the process. This request also told her that they were well aware of who she was, and she didn¡¯t quite know how to feel about that.


    With a sigh, Emika opened the next letter, which was the one from the criminal department. It was a simple, short notice, just inviting her to the station for an interrogation. The date was set for the next morning; the letter had apparently been in her mailbox for a few days already.


    As she read through it, Emika could feel the sweat build up on her skin.


    Did they¡­ did they already know she was responsible?


    If so, how?


    Her thoughts started circling, until they were interrupted by a notification sound from Lester¡¯s phone. It was a message from Melisande.


    Sooo.. how¡¯s the milk?


    Right. Emika had been in the middle of chatting to her when she went to fetch the delivery. Sorry. Got distracted. I just found out the police want to interrogate me tomorrow.


    WTF! Why??


    Emika tried to word her response as vaguely as possible. A few days ago, there was¡­ an incident¡­ I think it¡¯s related to that. They probably want to find out if I had something to do with it.


    Damn, that¡¯s terrible¡­ Do you have a plan? U gonna get a lawyer?


    No plan. I can¡¯t get a lawyer. Obviously she couldn¡¯t. That person would probably just die and she¡¯d be in an even bigger mess. And even if she were to just call one, she didn¡¯t even know how to explain her situation.


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    In that case, don¡¯t talk to them. you said it¡¯s an interrogation? just don¡¯t go. If they wanna ask u questions, they gotta come to you!! and then when they come, don¡¯t open the door. if they break in and ask stuff, stay silent.


    Emika frowned, and wrote: That sounds like really bad advice¡­ If I act like this, they¡¯ll know immediately that it was me¡­


    The response was lightning fast. SEE, this is exactly why you don¡¯t talk to them!!! You just FREAKING ADMITTED IT BY ACCIDNGT


    Fuck, thought Emika.


    Im begging you, don¡¯t SAY A WORD


    Fine, wrote Emika. At least I know that if I do talk to them, I¡¯ll have to be more careful. Thanks¡­


    She took a deep breath. What could they even know? Emika¡¯s friends were dead, so they couldn¡¯t have talked. Also, it was very unlikely that there had been any witnesses. Sure, someone saw her burn a body, but she had already solved that issue, right?


    She had, however, revisited the scene of the incident¡­ but, it was Mina¡¯s home. The home of her best friend. Why shouldn¡¯t she go visit her? The apartment had been in a good state, so for all they could possibly know, Emika had just found the empty house of a friend after not seeing her for a few days, and then gone home again.


    It wasn¡¯t possible that they knew more than that, right? Emika hadn¡¯t done anything, really.


    But wait¡­ wasn¡¯t that in and of itself a problem? That she had not even tried to contact any of her friends who had been missing for days¡­ nor tried to alert any authorities about their disappearance¡­?


    This thought felt like a punch in her gut. Was it already too late? Did she mess it all up? Was¡­ was there even anything she could still do at this point? Not to mention the fact that she was still suffering from a curse that would kill off any person trying to investigate the matter or arrest her. This sucked.


    With a big lump in her throat, Emika turned to the third letter. It was such a pretty and perfect piece of artistry. There wasn¡¯t even any weakness to do it carefully with a letter opener; she simply had to rip open one side and felt slightly bad for ruining it.


    When she did, a folded piece of paper fell out, neatly written on with extremely elegantly curved handwriting.


    The letter read:


    Dear Emika,


    My name is L¨ªf. I hope this letter finds you well. I come to you with a matter very close to my heart.


    You may not be aware of it, but through a series of unfortunate events, you have come into possession of something that truly belongs to me. Unfortunately, I have no other choice but to demand its return. For this, I would gladly receive your visit.


    I want to be honest with you, though: There is no method by which to return my possession to me from your body without you losing your life in the process. Of course, I understand that asking to surrender your life for a stranger is an unreasonable request to make, and as such, I want you to understand that while this possession is of immense importance to me, measured by the lifecycle of a human, I have some time left until I need it returned. Thus, feel free to simply drop by whenever you realise your life is nearing its end, and I shall tread carefully and hide until that time comes.


    As an aside, please note that getting into contact with a human poses great risk to me and I would like your discretion. I am of an old people that lived largely at odds with humanity, and as things stand, I am likely the last of my kind. Furthermore, I have been left slightly weakened after being attacked last year.


    Finally, I want to express my sympathy for your situation and the circumstances you are going through. While none of it was by my intention nor my volition, I still bear some responsibility for part of me finding its way to you as a thing that causes you trouble.


    Please take care of yourself, and kindly make sure you don¡¯t pass before finding me.


    Heartfelt regards,


    L¨ªf


    Emika read it three times, until her thoughts finally started working again. This couldn¡¯t possibly be from that ¡®Revenant¡¯ Lester had mentioned¡­? More importantly, never in her time would Emika have imagined being asked this politely to give up her life. For some reason, she felt compelled to ¡ª just so she could meet that person. Though, peculiarly, the letter contained no information at all about how she¡¯d actually be able to visit L¨ªf. There was no address, nor any hints at a location.


    In other words, this was something for future Emika to worry about ¡ª unlike the contents of the other letters.


    After carefully considering all her different options, she eventually arrived at the conclusion that she needed to visit that Research Branch to get herself checked out. Ideally, that would simply solve all her problems, right?

 Chapter 17: Great Magical Fund Research Branch

    The next day, Emika sat in front of her desk and more closely inspected that apparently expensive teleportation scroll she¡¯d been sent by the Research Branch.


    Of course, Emika thought it was fishy that they¡¯d put such a thing into their first letter to her. It was almost as if they really tried to make it as likely as possible for her to visit them, and no matter how she looked at it, it felt suspicious. On the other hand, there really wasn¡¯t much she could possibly lose by going.


    Hey, Melisande, she wrote eventually, figuring it couldn¡¯t hurt to consult with her.


    What¡¯s up??


    Sitting back on her couch, Emika composed her reply. I told you yesterday about this Magical Branch Research thing I had been invited to, right. But now that I think more about it, it feels weird. Something¡¯s not right about it, maybe. I still want to go, but do you have some ideas of how I could prepare for it?


    Well yea personally I think they¡¯re sus af. Ig it makes sense that u still wanna go tho¡­ I mean¡­ Well for one, if u send me the details of where they live, I can simply come save u the moment they try to pull anything. Other than that¡­ I think taking a weapon with u would be kinda pointless¡­ just charge your phone so u have options and stay wary when ur there?


    Emika needed a moment to allow her heart to calm down from Melisande joking about coming to save her. Still¡­ even Melisande didn¡¯t have any amazing ideas on how to deal with this¡­


    She wondered if she should get her affairs in order in case this Research Branch would spell the end for her, only to realise that she had pretty much already done that during the last few days without really noticing. Of course, she didn¡¯t have an updated will, but she also had nobody to leave anything to.


    The only string of attachment that still connected her to the world was Lester¡¯s phone. Her new one would arrive any day now, so she was going to give it back soon. She very briefly considered postponing her visit to the Magical Fund until after that was done, but she figured that in the worst case, Lester would just have to buy a new one¡­ That is, if he hadn¡¯t already.


    She wrote down a note and attached it to her front door. It said that in case she was found dead, all her trees should be donated to the international non-profit bonsai tree association that had helped her family settle in before her birth.


    Turning around, Emika stared into the pouring rain that had been going since morning. The temperature had cooled a lot compared to a few weeks ago.


    There was one thing that she couldn¡¯t help but feel sorry for.


    L¨ªf had asked her not to die until she was ready to give back whatever that possession of hers was that had wormed its way inside Emika¡¯s body. At least, Emika thought it must be inside her; otherwise, she couldn¡¯t make sense of the letter.


    Emika sighed. She did feel guilty about risking her life now, but she still pulled the bonsai tree she had brought out with her closer to her side, and took out that scroll.


    As per the instructions, taking a deep breath, Emika ripped the scroll open. Immediately, she heard a soft pop, and the paper lit ablaze. Quickly after, the fire spread to her hands, her clothes, her body, and her bag and even the bonsai tree.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    In awe at what was happening to her, she tried to make out parts of her body, but couldn¡¯t see anything through the gleaming flames. They didn¡¯t hurt her, but they made her feel warm and cosy. This went on for a minute or two, which was on one hand longer than she had expected, but on the other it went over slightly faster than she would have liked.


    Finally, the fire started to die out, and instead, she now sat on the ground in a brightly lit room. The ground was plastered in stones, and when she got up and looked around, she saw that she had left a ring of soot on the ground.


    At least none of that stuff was left on her.


    The room had four walls; one of them had windows on it, the other one had a glass door that she couldn¡¯t open. Seeing that there was something like a doorbell next to it, she rang. It felt weird to do that when she was inside a place with no other way to exit. Though, it probably made sense for them to have a layer of safety when anyone could just teleport to the location with a fitting scroll.


    A short while later, a white man in his thirties appeared, wearing an expensive business suit and a practised warm smile, and opened the door. He had a very clean shave, and freshly washed, short hair puffed around his head.


    ¡°Hello, Victor Felton. Emika Hasegawa, I take it?¡± he asked in a polite and welcoming tone, opening the door, then affixing it to the wall so that it wouldn¡¯t fall shut.


    ¡°Thank you for receiving me,¡± she said, stretching out a hand. Then, after remembering the large growth that was attached to it, she retracted. He simply smiled, and took two steps back to give her enough room to walk through the door. While doing that, she made a mental note to unlearn her nonchalance of touching living beings. ¡°The tree is a little too heavy for me to carry around, so I left it in the receiving room for now.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not a problem,¡± he replied, taking a glance at the maple tree she had brought. ¡°What a beautiful one!¡±


    ¡°Thank you. I made it back in high school and have been putting a lot of effort into it since then.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s wonderful! Please follow me to my office. We can iron out the details, and then run some tests in our lab.¡±


    The office was just as clean as Victor himself. In addition to being clean, it seemed a tad luxurious, but with a slight air of plausible deniability. The simple painting on the wall looked like it could have cost a fortune, or it could just be decoration. Same for the few trinkets on his desk, which seemed simple but high quality.


    Emika sat down on a small sofa that had quite the distance to where he sat at his workspace. He seemed very eager not to get too close to her.


    On the small table in front of her, she noticed a cup of coffee, which he gestured was for her.


    ¡°Alright. First off, I would like to ask you a few things.¡± Saying that, he held up a questionnaire. ¡°Is that alright?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± answered Emika. She had already thought about which topics she was ready to go into detail with and which she¡¯d keep for herself. For example, there was no reason to believe that these people already knew she had killed people, and she preferred for it to stay that way. She¡¯d just need to make sure they understood she was dangerous, but judging from his demeanour, they seemed to be aware of that.


    The first few questions were just about herself; her name, address, date of birth¡­ Most of these would be data that these people should already have on her in the first place, but she answered diligently anyway. When it came to explaining her experiences with her curse, she just detailed its growth, and she explained how it had killed Catrine.


    ¡°All done,¡± he said finally, lightly dropping the filled out questionnaire on his desk and smiling at Emika. ¡°Thank you very much for your openness.¡±


    ¡°Well, as much as possible, I want to put you in a position where you can help me.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°And we will.¡± After a moment¡¯s pause, he continued: ¡°Next up, we would like to examine your body, if that¡¯s okay with you. That would include taking probes of both the growth and healthy tissue, as well as running a few tests and imagery. We will be taking various safety precautions.¡±


    Emika didn¡¯t feel comfortable with that at all, but she figured there really was no way around it when it came to finding a cure.


    ¡°I see. Okay,¡± she replied, making her voice sound way more certain than she really felt. For one, she just hoped it would be over quick. For another, she hoped it wouldn¡¯t end in a disaster.

 Chapter 18: Monsters, Part 3

    The examination wasn¡¯t over quite as fast as Emika would have hoped. She had been led to another floor of the building; it seemed to be some kind of laboratory complex. The walls were white, the rooms sterile. Eventually, she was told to lie down on a cot with an azure coloured mattress. The room was full of electronic instruments and devices, as well as some steel tools that looked suspiciously useful for dissections.


    Victor didn¡¯t accompany her down here; instead, there were several people wearing protective gearing so elaborate that it resembled space suits. They bustled around for a while, giving short instructions to Emika while preparing the examination.


    By now, she was feeling pretty dizzy and lethargic, and couldn¡¯t even respond to them properly anymore. They ended up taking pictures of her, cutting off her growth, then took some blood, some hair, and some saliva. Eventually, they scuttled out, telling Emika to dress herself back up.


    For a while, she just laid there, too tired to do anything. It wasn¡¯t clear to her how long it took, but eventually, she mustered all her strength and pushed herself into a sitting position, realising now that she had a splitting headache.


    When she heard some squealing noises, she turned around and saw a battery of cages with lab animals of all kinds; bunnies, rats, mice, even a cat and a monkey. They issued those squealing noises because, right now, they were in the process of turning into vegetation.


    ¡°Oh god,¡± Emika whispered. What were these doing down here?


    Vines stretched out between the meshes, and eventually, they even bent under the strength of the plant tissue that tried to make its way out, until finally, the noises died down.


    By then, the tingling sensation in Emika¡¯s legs had finally stopped. She got ready, then washed her face in the sink next to the animal cages, trying not to think about that big hole of emptiness she felt in her chest right now. Eventually, she left the lab, and was escorted back to Victor¡¯s office, who acknowledged the workers ¡ª still wearing their heavy suits ¡ª and then welcomed Emika back.


    ¡°Thank you very much for your cooperation,¡± he said after she had sat back down on the sofa. He waved a pile of documents that he had apparently been provided with.


    What a weird thing to say, thought Emika. A glance at the clock on his wall told her that she must have been dozing away down there for several hours.


    ¡°So?¡± Emika asked. ¡°Do you have a solution?¡±


    ¡°Well. First and foremost, what we have now is data. It will take a while to get through. I did manage to take a cursory look, though, in case you want my preliminary opinion.¡±


    Right now, all Emika wanted was to get out of this place as soon as possible. Despite that, she managed to reply with a calm, ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Before I do, please allow me one more inquiry. Earlier, you described what was happening to you as a ¡®curse¡¯. Could you tell me why you chose that particular word? Why is it that you came to the conclusion that your affliction is a curse?¡±


    Emika wasn¡¯t really prepared for that question. For a second, she just stared into the air, trying to sort her thoughts out and remember. The truth was; she wasn¡¯t sure. She had always somewhat known that curses existed, and the word had circulated in her mind ever since that fateful day. That said¡­ Wasn¡¯t it Lester who¡¯d given her the confirmation?


    ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t have a strong reason to think it¡¯s a curse. I guess it was just an assumption on my part. Why do you ask? Are you saying it¡¯s not one?¡±


    Victor elevated his hands, and shook his head. ¡°No, no, that¡¯s not what I¡¯m saying. Or rather, what we know so far is that a curse is one of the likely causes of what¡¯s happening to you, but based on our data, it¡¯s not necessarily the only one. I was curious as to whether you had some proof that it is indeed a curse. That would have made diagnostics easier.¡±


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Emika sunk back into the sofa. More complications, then. She wasn¡¯t very happy to hear that. ¡°What else could it be?¡±


    Victor took a short breath, and squinted a little, as if to find the right words. ¡°Well, how do I put it? Let¡¯s say it¡¯s a curse. There are a number of very old curses that were initially created through human cognition, and they can, in some circumstances, spontaneously manifest within certain individuals or items. Curses can also be inflicted on other people by human users of magic. In other words, if you are suffering from a curse, then that means that whatever is happening to you is ultimately of human origin.¡±


    Emika nodded. That pretty much sounded right; not that she had ever read an actual definition of what a curse was.


    He then continued his explanation, slowly stirring his coffee. ¡°Assuming that it¡¯s not a curse, there are two options left. The first one would be that, if it¡¯s not of human origin, the affliction could be caused by some kind of monster. For instance, a parasite could have nested itself inside of you, or you could have been infected by a magical disease, or, maybe even suffer some kind of possession by a monster trying to take over your body.¡±


    Emika had never considered any of these things to be possible, but now, it seemed reasonable. That said, she didn¡¯t like what he said at all. If it could truly be such a wide variety of things, how would she ever find out what it actually was?


    ¡°So, in other words, it could be anything. What were these tests for? Are you trying to waste my time?¡±


    Even though her voice remained calm, the content of her reaction seemed to cause a shift in his demeanour. Suddenly, Victor let go of his spoon and straightened his back. ¡°Is everything okay? You seem unhappy.¡±


    ¡°Well, you drugged me.¡±


    These words lingered in the room for a while, and Victor¡¯s jaw started working. Emika wondered whether he was going to deny it, but eventually, he seemed to resign, and replied: ¡°I apologise. I needed to secure the safety of our workers. Since we didn¡¯t know anything about your affliction, we had to make sure the examination would go without issues.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± replied Emika. ¡°How did you do it? I did not even drink that coffee you made for me.¡± After all, she preferred tea.


    He leaned back in his seat, avoiding her gaze for a moment, and then answered: ¡°I made sure the vapours would be enough to induce the effect.¡±


    At these words, Emika felt her skin prickling. All the blood in her body shifted around, finding its way into her head in its anger. She needed to get out of here before she killed him.


    Instead, she just sat there, looking at him, not saying a word.


    ¡°I am aware that this seems really problematic,¡± he continued, ¡°but I still would like to explain to you the third possibility of what could be happening to you, in which case you may be more receptive to my apologies.¡±


    He took a sip from his coffee before continuing, as his voice was starting to sound a little dry. ¡°Imagine someone coming in here, afflicted with a potentially deadly issue. Now, of course, as outlined, it could be that it¡¯s caused by a curse, or by a monster invading you. But, the last option ¡ª and I imagine the one you want to hear the least ¡ª is that you might actually be a monster yourself.¡±


    That rhetoric again? Lester had said something similar. Why were people so obsessed with insinuating that she was a monster?


    ¡°You can stop right there. That doesn¡¯t help me,¡± said Emika. ¡°I know it may not be easy for you to rule it out, since you don¡¯t know me. But I already know I¡¯m not a monster, so that line of thought isn¡¯t going to improve my understanding of my situation.¡±


    She really didn¡¯t want to listen to him go on about that topic. And yet, he said, ¡°Can you really be so sure about that?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± he continued. ¡°Throughout the ages, some marvellous predators have evolved among monsters. To be more candid¡­ There are certain situations in which it is beneficial for a monster to believe itself to be human ¡ª for example, for purposes of infiltration and deception. Be it through having a secondary human brain, or by erasing, sealing off, or altering parts of its own memory, it is certainly possible for a monster to consider itself to not be one.¡±


    What kind of nonsense was that? More importantly, what exactly was the point of him telling her this? As Emika stared at him in disbelief, he sighed, and as if having waited for this opportunity, he said, ¡°Truth be told, Miss Hasegawa¡­ I want to offer you to stay with us for a while.¡±


    Oh. So that¡¯s why he was telling her this.

 Chapter 19: Saviour

    After making his request, he started running down the various benefits of their facility; explained how they could help her, where she could stay, and the various luxuries to be found in their corporation.


    Emika barely listened to him. Rather, she tried to figure out what in the world was happening ¡ª but the more she thought about all of this, the more it made sense.


    These people hadn¡¯t invited her here to help her. Instead, they had invited her here to capture her. At this point, there was no doubt in Emika¡¯s mind about that. There was only one thing that she struggled to comprehend: Did Victor honestly believe that whatever he had performed here would cause her to stay voluntarily? In what world would that have happened?


    As her gears shifted, she realised a few things, though. The animals placed in the cages to make her feel bad about herself. Giving the safety of workers as an excuse for drugging her. Claiming that she could unknowingly be a monster.


    They were trying to insinuate that she couldn¡¯t trust herself.


    If she was right about this, then that told her another important thing: These people had put a lot of effort into making her stay here willingly. In other words, they might not be able to stop her from leaving.


    Eventually, Victor finished his introduction to the marvels of the Great Magical Fund Research Branch, and looked at her with a warm smile.


    For a moment, Emika acted as if she was seriously contemplating any of his ideas, but then she politely replied: ¡°Thank you very much for the offer, but I have business to tend to at home. I will not be able to stay.¡± After a small pause, she added: ¡°That said, please do notify me when you have come to any conclusions regarding my data. I will also happily provide more material.¡±


    With her last sentence, Emika smiled, and gestured towards the door in the direction where she had placed her bonsai tree earlier. She was rather happy with the way she had worded her refusal; at least now, he couldn¡¯t easily insist without having to drop his act.


    He netted his lips, apparently trying to conceal his discontent with her reaction. ¡°Are you really sure? Chances are, you¡¯re not going to be safe when you stay home and the Cursebreakers catch wind of you.¡±


    Emika got up. ¡°I can¡¯t remember asking you for your opinion,¡± she said calmly. ¡°I¡¯m going home.¡± As she opened the door to his office in order to leave it, she turned around, and with a heavy gaze, told him: ¡°I strongly advise you to let me go peacefully.¡±


    His polite smile had finally fully vanished from his face. He nodded, adding in a low voice: ¡°I hope you reconsider one day. This place will always be open to you.¡±


    As Emika left, she heard him pick up his telephone receiver. She wondered if he was going to call security to keep her from leaving, but in fact, the corridors and elevators on her way out were completely empty, including the reception hall on the ground floor. If anything, it seemed like he had told them to evacuate.


    When Emika had finally left that awful building, she still felt a little numb. She wasn¡¯t immediately sure where she was, but managed to get her location cleared up after using the map on her phone. She¡¯d need to get home using public transport. The trip was about 2 hours¡­ she would only be back late at night.


    And thus, not sparing many thoughts, she made her way off, if only to quickly get as much distance between this place and herself as possible.


    She knew that she would never come back here; no matter what kind of promises they made. The most tragic thing about all of this was that she had sacrificed one of her trees; any info they had given her, she figured, she could have just gotten out of feeding that tree to Barnacle.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Honestly, she thought, I should stop using them.


    The truth was, each and every one of her bonsai would have a longer life in front of them than her. Razing any of them for a vague chance of survival seemed less and less appealing. And it seemed less and less just to them.


    Those poor two maples¡­ Both the one she¡¯d left at the corporation, and the one she had fed to Barnacle¡­ They were trees she had grown from scratch herself, which made her feel that at least she¡¯d had the right to abandon them. But in a way, that logic was flawed, because creating them didn¡¯t give her the right to destroy them. They had been alive, after all.


    Studying the return journey, she noticed the longest part of it actually was the waiting time at a railway station that wasn¡¯t too far away from her home. It would take almost an hour for the next train to appear, even though she¡¯d already be very close to home ¡ª the worst part of it being that it was only a very small station that didn¡¯t even have a station building.


    With a sigh, she walked through the rain. She had an umbrella, at least, so she wouldn¡¯t be completely soaked. She knew already that depending on how many other people were transiting today, she¡¯d have to keep her distance, which also meant not being able to use rain shelters.


    She just hoped that she¡¯d be the only person to travel today in the entire world. Even though they had completely removed her growth earlier, it had already grown back a considerable amount by now ¡ª but this time, for once, she simply didn¡¯t care.


    The first half of the trip went by without a single thought occupying her mind. She just sat there, in an empty wagon, watching the lights pass by in the dark window. Next to the emptiness in her stomach, next to the heavy beating of her heart, there was still that one feeling of unrelenting, overboiling anger in her body. She wanted to crush something. Wanted to see something destroyed. And yet, she just sat there, staring into the night.


    Her gut feeling had told her from the start that this was going to be a bad idea, and then, it had turned out to be just that terrible. She wasn¡¯t ready to blame herself, but she figured she might as well call it a lesson and not again do something just because it seemed like it could help.


    Maybe, I should have touched that guy after all, just before leaving. Just to see the look on his face.


    With that thought, she involuntarily retreated her arms closer to herself, pressing the growth against her own body until it hurt. If anyone died because of her, she¡¯d only get in more trouble. There was truly nothing she could possibly do, was there? Thinking about this more, she noticed a particular trend: When she had left to see her friends, they all died. When she had left to get rid of the evidence, she had been seen. And now that she had left for this¡­


    Lester¡¯s words echoed in her mind. I suggest you live out your days in your home, not harming anyone else, and you might get a while of peace before leaving this world.


    Maybe he was right. Maybe that had actually been amazing advice. Maybe struggling to find a way out of this was entirely pointless.


    Waiting on her next train, she finally pulled out her phone again, feeling absent, apathetic. And she found herself writing a message to Melisande; without even reading the ones received in the meantime.


    And that message was, I thought you¡¯d come save me if something happened.


    No elaboration, just that simple, unfair reproach.


    The answer took longer than usual, but still arrived within the same minute.


    Are you okay?


    Emika bit her lips. She hated that reaction. Since when was Melisande writing properly, anyway? Was this some kind of impostor? Also, Melisande was a damn liar. What good was it to be friends with someone who couldn¡¯t even keep the simplest¡ª


    Taking a very deep breath, Emika terminated that train of thought before she could finish it. She was angry, but she shouldn¡¯t let it out on the only person in the world she felt close to right now.


    Then again, a small remainder of her bitterness thought, who else am I going to let it out on¡­?


    In the end, Emika wrote, I guess it¡¯s slowly sinking that my life sucks. Mayve I should just give up


    She didn¡¯t even care to correct that error.


    Where are u right now? still in danger?


    Emika felt guilty. I¡¯m on the train home, she replied. I¡¯m not in danger anymore. I just feel awful. Sorry.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the next two messages to appear.


    The first one read, No.. I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t come for you rn. But you can come to me. Pls be really quiet when you enter


    And then, the follow-up was a home address.

 Chapter 20: Mistakes

    After staring at the message in disbelief for a while, her mind snapped back into reality, and Emika replied: I can¡¯t. I¡¯m cursed. If I visit you, you¡¯ll die.


    For some reason, she regretted sending that message immediately.


    Dw ab that, Melisande replied.


    And, at that moment, that was all it took to convince her. The truth was, there was nothing in the world that she wanted to do more right now than go to that place and fall into her friend¡¯s arms.


    In the end, she still had to wait on that small station to catch the connecting train for a few more stops to get to Melisande instead of her own home.


    The rain was still going. Luckily, there were indeed only very few people there, but the only shelter on the station was occupied by a guy wearing large headphones, bobbing his head along to the music while air drumming with his hands.


    She walked past him along the shoulder until she reached the very end of the road. The tracks were elevated; behind her was a deep drop into the forest, but she leaned against the railing anyway.


    Against all better judgement, she still felt a very small spark inside of her. A small spark that just wouldn¡¯t go out, that just refused to drown into darkness ¡ª the small hope that this time, it would be different. That meeting Melisande was not a mistake, that it wouldn¡¯t make it all worse. And that, even if Melisande couldn¡¯t help with her situation, she¡¯d at least, maybe, still find a little bit of respite there.


    And, for the moment, Emika really didn¡¯t want to think about anything else. She barely managed to fight off the faces of her friends rematerializing in her mind, with all the little plants growing out from them, and all hope lost.


    No, she¡¯d hold onto that spark instead.


    Just don¡¯t think about anything. Melisande said it¡¯s okay.


    But. She had never told Melisande the truth about all that had happened to her. Bits and pieces, and some hints, perhaps. But never the full truth. So, how could Melisande possibly know that it was fine? Couldn¡¯t she just be wrong?


    After feeling the weight of that realisation, and failing to heave it in her mind for longer than a few seconds, she found a different way to look at it. Melisande knew full well that Emika hadn¡¯t told her everything. It¡¯s not like she had made a secret out of that. There was no way Melisande didn¡¯t understand that Emika¡¯s situation wasn¡¯t deeply messed up. In other words, Melisande must have had a good, strong reason not to be worried. She must have thought, ¡°No matter how bad her situation is, it¡¯s fine if she visits.¡±


    With that idea of simply trusting Melisande, Emika was satisfied. Not satisfied logically, though. Objectively speaking, that reasoning sounded terrible to her. Or, at least still full of holes, and risky.


    But the fundamental truth to this entire situation was that Emika simply really, really wanted to go to her place no matter what, and she was ready to take this excuse and blend out everything else. Let¡¯s trust Melisande.


    Of course, reality was never going to be that easy on her. It was about ten minutes before the arrival of the train that Emika was torn out of her empty thoughts by a loud and pained scream. Emika¡¯s first thought was that she must have really messed things up again. As a shiver ran down her spine, she elevated her umbrella to see what had happened, and froze.


    There it was. Next to the shelter, a red, bright ring. The man in his headphones, still screaming, ran from the thing that had apparently just swallowed his hand. He pressed the remainder of his arm against his body, and through the light of the street lamp, Emika felt like she could make out a darkened pool of blood beneath him.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Then, after getting over his shock, the man ran away towards the other side of the track and disappeared into the dark.


    Emika¡¯s mind was absolutely blank when she watched the Well of Abstraction slowly approach her.


    It couldn¡¯t be. It couldn¡¯t be. Had it been following her ever since?


    A dark and all-encompassing realisation waved over her mind, occupying everything.


    I shouldn¡¯t have fed it.


    That thought kept ravaging inside her like a machine. Time and time again, as the Well, ever so slowly, still approached her. She didn¡¯t even try to run ¡ª or, more precisely, it didn¡¯t occur to her that running away was an option.


    In a way, she was in a dead end. The rails were on one side of her, the drop to the woods on the other. Of course, she could have still tried to escape, but that small mental barrier, together with the understanding of how deeply she had messed up, made no action possible.


    She simply watched as the graceful being floated towards her. That same body she had seared into her memory, that same ring burned onto her retina. The familiarity of that creature that, just two nights ago, she had still so much adored.


    And when it was in arm¡¯s reach, as she still stood there, watching it, the umbrella over her head, amidst pouring rain, remembering what she had just seen¡­ she had an epiphany.


    In a spur of the moment decision, before her impulse control or rationale could have stopped her, she reached out, placing the wrist with her growth inside the ring.


    She immediately felt its pull, as if her arm was magnetised and no force she could muster was able to move it out of the Well, and then it happened. An agonising pain shot through her body just as that part of her arm was separated away and launched into nothingness.


    She let the umbrella fall and then wrapped the strap of her satchel as firmly around the wound as possible, hoping to stop the blood from gushing out. What the hell had she just done?


    ¡°Sorry,¡± she gasped to the Well, quite aware of the fact that she had probably just killed it.


    She heard the Well of Abstraction thud to the ground next to her. Its entire body squirmed around. Clearly, it had eaten something bad. It didn¡¯t take long for the vegetation to start extruding from its body, making its way around inside of it, visible through the translucent skin.


    As she watched the being suffer, Emika realised that the pain of her hand had almost completely let off. When she looked back down, her heart sank.


    Out of her flesh had sprouted new juniper growths. They grew quickly, as if in time-lapse. But now, instead of winding themselves around her arm like before, they instead became her new arm. Emika kept glancing back and forth between the growth and the creature. The creature that was sprouting into a garden right next to her.


    After a while, the Well didn¡¯t move any more. Her arm was now an arrangement of different intertwining branches that split into fingerlike structures at the end, even though it looked nothing like her hand had before. When she tried to move it, it did indeed twitch, however, not the way she wanted. The stirrings seemed random, the twigs jolting around disjointedly.


    Again, she had gone and made it all worse.


    The next moment, the body of the Well contracted, and Emika let out a surprised screech. In disbelief, she watched the being unsnap itself from all the vines and stems sewing it to the ground. When it was done, the Well just sat there, kneeling on its fours. The ring slowly grazed over the ground, feeding off the small pieces of vegetation around that had sprouted out from within it.


    Crucially, though, it made no attempt to go after Emika anymore.


    ¡°Learned your lesson, huh?¡± she asked faintly. ¡°Truth is¡­ I¡¯ve learned mine, too.¡±


    Emika let go of all her bodily tension, leaning back against the railing. After letting out a deep sigh, she started sobbing.


    ¡°What a big, big mess I made,¡± she cried. ¡°And that poor man. I lured you here. It¡¯s my fault that he got so hurt.¡±


    She kept trying to wipe the rainwater and the tears out of her burning eyes, but to no avail.


    And then, finally, the train moved into the station.


    Emika got up and made a few wonky steps, fetching her umbrella back up with her offhand, as her right one was now completely unusable.


    Instead of holding it over her head, she just simply dragged the umbrella behind her. She looked through the windows of the train to make sure ¡ª absolutely sure ¡ª that the wagon was empty. Gazing back at the Well of Abstraction, now a few dozen metres away, it still showed no intention to go after her. Or anyone else, for that matter.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t hurt people ever again, okay?¡±


    She waved it goodbye, and then boarded the train.


    Inside, she took out Lester¡¯s phone. It had gotten dangerously wet, but still seemed to work.


    Hey Melisande. I¡¯m on the last train now. Will be there soon.

 Chapter 21: The Tea Leaves’ Magic

    Deep at night, Emika finally made it to the address Melisande had mentioned in her message. It was a small town shop featuring mostly dolls, sewing materials and tools in its display window. The dolls looked incredibly well-made. They had all kinds of shapes and forms, but were made almost entirely of stuffed fabric. Many featured proportions that were fairly alike to humans.


    The shop wasn¡¯t open, and there was an entry bell at the door, too. Emika didn¡¯t feel like she¡¯d be able to just walk in. The windows were also closed. She turned around and strode along the alley until she found a way to get on the other side of the buildings. It was a big inner yard, and among many others, the doll shop''s rear entry was accessible through there as well.


    It definitely looked less intimidating than the front door. Especially because there were no street lights here.


    A soft push on the door told Emika that it was locked. A range of possibilities ran through her head. She knew Melisande lived in the basement. A look across the base of the masonry showed several windows embedded at ground level.


    Kneeling down, Emika attempted to make an assessment as to whether she would be able to squeeze through. Definitely looked tight, but not impossible¡­ She even found a window that, deceptively, had no glass in it at all.


    First, she threw her stuff through, and they landed on the bottom with soft thuds. Then, it was time to go in herself, hopefully not making a fool of herself or crashing through with a lot of noise. It wasn¡¯t easy by any means; in fact, it kind of hurt, but she managed to finally get through, all dusted up now.


    Emika could only imagine the extent to which her clothes got dirty by this ordeal, or even damaged. The inside of the basement smelled musty and wet, and she found herself standing in a room full of sewing materials. Not like it mattered. The only thing she was here for was Melisande. Trying to make absolutely no sound in this unknown environment, Emika made step after step in the corridor of the basement, until she finally found a strong, wooden door as described by Melisande in one of the messages.


    So that was it?


    Of course, she was not going to knock, because she had been told to be very quiet. So instead, Emika just gently pushed the handle down, and pulled the door open.


    A long creak issued, and, slightly scared of the sound, she just hurried inside and closed the door behind her.


    Where she found herself in now was a room stock-full of dolls. There was a very large, human-sized one propped up on a chair. On the desk in front of it, a lamp illuminated a doll that was a strong work in progress; it didn''t even have a face yet. Next to it lay a very old flip phone. Beyond that, countless finished dolls sat on shelves, leaned against the walls, were even accumulated in a heap on the ground.


    ¡°There you are!¡± a low whisper resounded. The voice sounded soft and gentle, with a little playfulness to it. Incidentally, at the same time, the large doll on the chair started moving.


    Emika almost yelled from shock, but managed to contain her voice in a withheld squeak.


    The doll got up, a smile on her face. She looked almost entirely like a human, except with fabric for skin, and buttons for eyes. The fabric across her body was plastered with patches and seams from repairs, completely run down. Her yellow dress was falling apart, but must have been very cute once. The button eyes kept Emika tight in their gaze, until Melisande was just a step away, and she almost expected her to stop walking, but the doll kept going.


    Then, Emika found herself in a gentle, greeting hug.


    Tears welled up in her eyes immediately. She hadn¡¯t properly realised how much she¡¯d missed that feeling. She squeezed Melisande back tightly, who smelled like old clothes, but at the same time, there were also strong hints of grassy, earthy, and sweet scents mixed in. There was no warmth to the hug. But it was so very soft, all-encompassing and felt like it lasted a welcome eternity.


    And then, the memory of Eva¡¯s last few seconds flickered up.


    ¡°Wait, are you okay?¡± Emika shouted out way louder than she should have. She ripped herself from the embrace and pulled her hands off Melisande. Her eyes darted across the button eyes, the cheek, her neck, in search of anything that might be amiss. Any sprouting mushrooms, grass, wood, or leaves. But nothing came.


    ¡°There something on my face?¡±


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°What? No!¡± Emika answered, still feeling gripping anxiety in her stomach, still having a tear running down her cheek, but she got a grip on herself and backed off a bit. ¡°Sorry. I was just. Hoping you wouldn¡¯t die.¡±


    Melisande chuckled. ¡°Yea, no worries about that, cutie. I¡¯m already not alive. Just a doll, after all.¡±


    ¡°Just a doll, after all,¡± Emika repeated slowly.


    ¡°Yep! You¡¯ve got to be tired from today, huh? Come sit down.¡±


    She held out a hand for Emika to take, and used the other to point to the heap of dolls on the ground. Now, it looked surprisingly like a sofa.


    ¡°So you won¡¯t die? Even if I touch you?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯d be pretty surprised. I don¡¯t really do dying,¡± Melisande replied, and softly ran down Emika¡¯s arm to take her hand and pull her to the doll heap. ¡°Sit! I still gotta finish up some stuff or the hag will get angry. We can talk while I work, though.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Emika whispered and plonked herself down in the ocean of dolls. It was not the most comfortable place she¡¯d ever sat in, but it wasn¡¯t bad, either. ¡°To be honest, this is not at all what I expected.¡±


    Already, Melisande was back at her desk, threading needles through the face of the doll with incredible dexterity. ¡°Oh? What¡¯d you expect, then?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ I thought you were a monster¡­¡±


    Melisande shrugged, her back still facing Emika. ¡°I am one. After all, I¡¯m not human, and I¡¯m magical. Don¡¯t gatekeep monstership!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I was just kidding,¡± she waved off. ¡°Humans are the ones who decide who gets to be a monster. I guess I¡¯m one of the lucky ones.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m getting the feeling that I am too,¡± replied Emika. ¡°These people at the Branch tried to tell me I was endangering them, and so they poisoned me to keep me down.¡±


    Melisande stopped her work, shoved the needle into her finger as if it was a pincushion, and turned around. ¡°They did what?¡±


    Emika raised her hands weakly. ¡°To keep the workers safe,¡± she mumbled.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna kill them,¡± said Melisande. ¡°Keeping the workers safe, my ass! If they can¡¯t do that, they shouldn¡¯t have invited you. Those scumbags!¡±


    Emika felt a lump in her throat. ¡°Yeah, right?¡± she forced out, already feeling the tears well back up.


    ¡°Damn, I never thought you¡¯d cry so easily. What a sight.¡±


    Emika laughed. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t, usually. Today has just been¡­ A lot. You know, I just met that Well of Abstraction again. Apparently, it had followed me the whole time.¡±


    ¡°Oh dang. You okay?¡±


    ¡°I think I am, but someone else wasn¡¯t so lucky. I hope they are okay.¡±


    Melisande got up and went to Emika, kneeling down in front of her. ¡°Need hugs?¡±


    ¡°I¡ªBut you¡¯ve got work, right?¡±


    ¡°Who cares!¡± Melisande said, and dropped herself on the heap of dolls right next to Emika.


    ¡°You cared! Just a minute ago!¡±


    ¡°Changed my mind,¡± Melisande chuckled. ¡°Old hag can suck it for today. Now¡¯s time for cuddles. You said they calm you down, right?¡±


    ¡°They do¡­¡± Her grassy scent waved back over Emika. ¡°God, how do you smell so good?¡± Immediately, she felt her face reddening. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I just blurted that out.¡±


    ¡°That would be my tea!¡± Melisande replied in an almost triumphant whisper.


    ¡°Your tea?¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± she said, pressing down on her upper arm to show the dent and soft scrunch it made. ¡°I¡¯m stuffed with tea leaves. It¡¯s also where I get my magic from.¡±


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    Emika also gently pressed down on the spot Melisande had shown her. It felt like dried up leaves, indeed.


    ¡°Those are pretty old, though. The hag probably won¡¯t give me new tea until I pass out. Could still take a while until that happens. But it means my skin can¡¯t heal, so I¡¯m patching it up myself.¡±


    Emika¡¯s gaze went back to the repairs on Melisande¡¯s body. So she had done all that on her own? It surely looked neat, despite how chaotic the spots of the patches were. Suddenly, Emika halted when she looked at Melisande¡¯s hair.


    Thousands of very thin strands of thread were tied together into a large fishbone braid that fell to the side of her face. And within those threads, there was a tiny spider crawling along.


    ¡°You good?¡± Melisande asked when she noticed Emika¡¯s distraction.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s just¡­ There¡¯s something in your hair.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so you noticed her,¡± Melisande smiled. ¡°It¡¯s fine! She means no harm! Probably just bored. There¡¯s some bugs on me, too.¡±


    ¡°I see. So, you like insects.¡±


    With a shrug, Melisande fell into a short pensive silence, and then said: ¡°Never thought about it. It¡¯s more that they¡¯re usually my only company down here. So I guess I do like them?¡±


    Emika gave a mischievous grin. ¡°So, what about clothing moths? I suppose they could be dangerous to you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m good if they don¡¯t swarm me!¡± Melisande laughed. ¡°I can fight off a single one or two. Oh, also, I suppose it''s the larvae that would eat me, right?¡±


    Before Emika could respond, they were ripped out of their conversation by the sound of someone stepping down the stairs of the basement.


    ¡°Melisande?¡± an old woman yelled out, ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡±


    She jumped up, throwing a doll onto Emika. ¡°Bury yourself and don¡¯t move.¡±

 Chapter 22: The Warden

    The door was yanked open. Emika almost completely vanished within the dolls. At least, that¡¯s what she thought, especially with Melisande having turned off the desk lamp.


    ¡°I¡¯m doing nothing,¡± Melisande said. ¡°I was just dancing. And singing. Living my life, you know?¡±


    The woman let out an unhappy growl. ¡°Since when do you do such nonsense? Either way, knock it off, I can¡¯t sleep.¡± Emika heard the door creak open wider. ¡°Also, don¡¯t you have work to do still? You¡¯ve been behind your quota for a week.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡± Melisande mumbled, sounding a little sheepish.


    Emika shuddered. It couldn¡¯t be? Is she behind because she¡¯s spending all her time chatting with¡­ me?


    The woman raised her voice a bit, sounding boastful, saying, ¡°Keep on like this and I¡¯ll decrease your cut. See if you can pay your damn phone bills then.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I understand,¡± said Melisande in a very unusual, polite and defeated tone. ¡°I will get right back to work.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± the woman grunted. ¡°Now let me sleep,¡± she said, and hammered the door shut.


    Immediately upon hearing her walk back up the stairs, Emika unburied herself and ushered over to Melisande, whose button eyes scrunched up looking at the unfinished doll as if in frustration. ¡°Well, fuck me,¡± she whispered.


    Emika gestured to the door, with a hint of anger. ¡°Who was that?¡±


    Melisande shrugged. ¡°My warden.¡±


    Letting her eyes wander over the room in the basement, thinking of all the dolls in the shop, and the bits and pieces Melisande mentioned in her chats before¡­ Emika made a step back and stared at her friend. ¡°Wait¡­¡± There were too many words circling in her head, but she tried to focus. ¡°Wait, is this¡­ Are you in prison?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Built and paid for by my own work. An ingenious machination by the old Durand. Just so he didn¡¯t have to kill me. May he rest in a lot of peace.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s that? And why wouldn¡¯t he want to kill you?¡±


    Melisande pulled up the corner of her mouth. ¡°I mean, I¡¯m grateful that he didn¡¯t. He was a Cursebreaker. Long ago. The witch who built me put in a good work and¡­ Durand¡¯s family has a tradition of¡­ avoiding kills if possible. I guess they sleep better that way.¡±


    ¡°But you aren¡¯t locked in, right? Can¡¯t you just walk out? Or did they put some magical seals on to keep you here?¡±


    ¡°Nah, nothing of the sort. Way too expensive to keep maintenance up for that. The hag checks on me daily. If I¡¯m not here, or he doesn¡¯t hear back from her, Durand¡¯s descendant will cast a divination spell and kill me within a day or so. ¡±


    Emika stared, and uttered the only words she could come up with. ¡°I thought you don¡¯t do dying.¡±


    Melisande chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s a figure of speech! If the guy tears me to shreds, I¡¯ll be done. Sure, someone could sew me back together and put new tea leaves in, and I¡¯d probably heal. But like. I¡¯m sure he can irreversibly off me once I¡¯m in that state, so¡­¡±


    Again, Melisande shrugged, and Emika just walked up to her and closed her into a hug. ¡°That really sucks. And you were going on about saving me? You¡¯d die!¡± Suddenly, Emika realised something very uncomfortable. ¡°Wait. Wait one second. Are you risking your life right now by having me here?¡±


    Melisande bit her own lip. ¡°You sounded like you needed help.¡±


    Emika ended the hug, and stepped back, all blood vanishing from her face. ¡°Oh my god,¡± she whispered. She¡¯d lost enough friends. No way she¡¯d risk it again. ¡°I need to go home.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Melisande cut in rather sharply, and when she continued, her voice softened. ¡°I mean¡­ Not gonna keep you here, but¡­ It¡¯s the middle of the night. She won¡¯t come down again, especially if we¡¯re quiet. You can stay if you wanna.¡±


    Emika shook her head, starting to get dizzy from shock. The scenes from the incident came back up in her mind, now overlaid by flashes of Melisande ripped apart. ¡°How can you be so careless?¡±


    ¡°What? Are you the right person to ask me that? Plus, what am I gonna lose, exactly?¡±


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Emika hesitated. On that front, there was nothing to argue about. She fully understood the feeling. She glanced back at that old flip phone; apparently the only grant of respite that Melisande ever felt. And she thought about how she, too, was pretty much confined in her own home, at least while she wasn¡¯t out recklessly endangering herself and others. So that was her choice? She could either leave against Melisande¡¯s wishes and return her to her lonely life, or stay and risk her getting killed off?


    She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, then said, ¡°And that woman is so stingy, she won¡¯t even give you a good phone?¡±


    Melisande smiled sadly. ¡°It¡¯s not that. I mean, it would probably be a big mess to ask but, it¡¯s not like I can use those modern types anyway. They don¡¯t register my fingers¡¯ touch, because I¡¯m¡­ well. Not warm enough, I guess? No clue. That old ass forum we met on is one of the few sites that even load on my thing, so¡­ yeah¡­¡± Her eyes met with Emika¡¯s for a second, then she added, ¡°Anyway, what I¡¯m saying is, you can stay here if you want. I¡¯d like you to stay.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Emika replied, and slowly moved back to sit down on the dolls. She wasn¡¯t going to give herself the ¡®trust Melisande¡¯ speech again, but she was too tired to argue anyway. Even with herself.


    ¡°I should probably work, though. Mind?¡±


    ¡°Of course not.¡±


    However, contrary to Emika¡¯s expectations, Melisande did not sit back down at her desk. Instead, she moved the desk lamp to the shelf, and pointed it towards the doll sofa. Then, she took a pair of scissors, some more fabric, threads, and the doll she was working on, and brought them with her to sit down as well.


    And soon, with her head leaning against Emika¡¯s shoulder, she started sewing. Almost immediately, Emika¡¯s tension left her body. Again, for what she hoped would be the last time that day, her eyes welled up. What a precious being Melisande was. And for now, with the doll¡¯s low weight on her, even the worries of messing it all up again eventually washed away.


    ¡°By the way,¡± Melisande asked after a while of silence, ¡°The hell happened to your arm?¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Emika responded. She hadn¡¯t even fully grasped that situation yet. Things were going to get much harder from now on, wouldn¡¯t they? ¡°I messed up. Fed it to the ring, thinking it would cure me. Well. To be honest, I wasn¡¯t really thinking anything when it happened.¡±


    ¡°¡­ You telling me it grew back like this?¡±


    Emika nodded. ¡°I can¡¯t move it, though. Or rather, it does nonsense.¡±


    Melisande gave a short hum in acknowledgement. ¡°Maybe you just need to wait a bit. Or practice.¡±


    ¡°So you think I might actually be able to use it?¡±


    She felt a shrug. ¡°Dunno. It wouldn¡¯t just randomly grow back that way, would it?¡±


    ¡°At this point, I don¡¯t expect anything to make sense, ever. But I guess you are right.¡±


    Looking at her new hand, Emika tried moving it again. It didn¡¯t do what she wanted it to. But¡­ perhaps it was worth practising.


    ¡°You know,¡± Emika said. ¡°I could just break you out. And then kill them if they try to stop us.¡±


    Somehow, she expected Melisande to laugh. Instead, she felt her head shake on her shoulder. ¡°Nah. The guy¡¯s way too strong.¡±


    Emika¡¯s heart sank. She found herself just watching Melisande make stitches for a long time.


    However, contrary to Melisande, she did require food and sleep, things she hadn¡¯t gotten enough of over the last day by any means. So, with the sunrise, Emika finally got up.


    ¡°I think I need to go,¡± she said.


    Melisande looked up from her doll. ¡°Okay. Doll¡¯s finished, anyway.¡±


    Emika laughed. ¡°I was wondering what you¡¯ve been doing for a little while, didn¡¯t seem like you were making much progress. It¡¯s really pretty.¡±


    ¡°Yea, I¡­ I figured you¡¯d leave when I finish¡­¡±


    What a cutie. ¡°I¡¯ll be back,¡± Emika assured, and gave her a hug. ¡°Promised.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t wait.¡±


    When Emika arrived back at her home with a foggy mind, the first thing she noticed was that her new phone had finally arrived. Immediately, she sent Lester a message, telling him he could come and fetch his at his leisure.


    Would he actually do it, though? Risking his life to get an expensive phone back? Of course, by now, Emika had absolutely no intention to do anything to him, but she wasn¡¯t sure whether he knew that.


    After sending the message, she sat down on the stone path to her house next to her gate. She figured she might as well put her plans into action now. Her plans of buying stuff to make Melisande¡¯s life even just a little easier. The first one was a new phone. Emika was fairly certain that there were ways for Melisande to interact with one, even if she had fingers filled with tea leaves instead of flesh. After ordering some other things for her as well, she got back up, ready to finally crash into her bed.


    She made a few wonky, exhausted steps. And then, her gaze fell on what currently sat there in her garden, just leisurely grazing as if it was the most normal thing in the world.


    Was she hallucinating? Why was there that Well of Abstraction? Hadn¡¯t she had enough of it?


    It had changed somewhat, though. Now, it featured growths similar to Emika¡¯s, coming out from its body and limbs, even the neck. Most notably, as if out of nowhere, two strong branches of juniper wood, together with brushes of needle like leaves at their ends, emanated out from the edges of both sides of the red ring like antlers, without actually being connected to it. As if they were attached to air.


    Emika clenched her fist. ¡°You. You.¡±


    She stomped closer.

 Chapter 23: Visitors

    ¡°What the hell are you doing here? I thought we had this, like, unspoken mutual agreement to leave each other alone from now on?¡± Emika halted right in front of the ring and stared it down. ¡°If you cause me any trouble, I will feed myself to you whole and claw my way back from inside, you understand?!¡±


    She lost balance while trying to intimidate the Well and almost fell over. It was truly time for bed.


    Meanwhile, the thing just sat there, not really doing anything. Hopefully it hadn¡¯t made a mess coming here. On the other hand, there was really nothing she could do about it anymore.


    ¡°Fine. Please don¡¯t hurt anyone. Please don¡¯t cause me trouble. In return, I will feed you. Is that alright?¡±


    Without even waiting for an answer, Emika snapped off part of her growth and threw it into the Well¡¯s mouth. She watched it fall inside, and the ring lowered itself a little, as if the creature was putting its head on the grass.


    With her heart beating hard in her chest ¡ª from anger, sleepiness, or hunger, she didn¡¯t know, but it probably wasn¡¯t fear ¡ª she turned around and entered her home. Not even bothering to make it to her bedroom, she instead simply crashed on the couch in full clothes.


    She was woken up basically immediately by her doorbell ringing.


    Groggily picking up the phone, it became evident that ¡®immediately¡¯ truly meant 12 hours and judging from the latest message she¡¯d received from ¡°Love¡± on Lester¡¯s phone, this must be him, coming to pick up that very phone. With a groan and the sounds of a falling tree, she slowly sat up on her sofa.


    It cracked under her weight, snapping in two. What the hell was that?


    A little inspection showed that she must have been just too heavy for this piece of furniture. The supporting plates had been ripped apart. But¡­ how?


    The doorbell rang again. She ran out, somewhat careful to only walk on spots she figured would support high mass.


    She opened the gate and indeed found sweating Lester on the other side. ¡°Good afternoon,¡± he said with a forced smile, and the hand he used to wave at her fell to dust right at that moment.


    ¡°Hello,¡± Emika replied. ¡°Please come inside.¡±


    Lester hesitated. For a few seconds, his eyes wandered over Emika¡¯s body. Or, to be more precise, they seemed to wander over what wasn¡¯t Emika¡¯s body ¡ª looking over herself, she noticed now that she was spun in growths of all sizes, emanating from all parts of her body, like she was the soil of many smaller and larger juniper trees that just bloomed out from her.


    It explained some of her newfound weight, but still, even though there seemed to be almost more volume in growths than there was in her original body, that wasn¡¯t enough to snap a strong piece of furniture in half, right?


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t harm you. The truth is, I just got the new phone and went to bed, I haven¡¯t had time to transfer my data from any backups or that sort. I¡¯ll do that now while we chat? I do have some questions.¡±


    Lester made a step back, but nodded. ¡°Okay, yes, sure. That sounds amazing. I can¡¯t wait.¡±


    Emika opened the gate as wide as she could, then tried to turn around to give him as much space as possible. However, in turning, she lost balance again, and crashed down onto the ground.


    ¡°Fuck,¡± she blurted out, trying to pick herself back up. ¡°Oh my god. I forgot to eat. I¡¯m so dizzy.¡±


    ¡°¡­ Is it better if I come back another time? Tomorrow, maybe? Y-you could just leave me the phone by the gate then?¡±


    Emika had by now supported herself back into a sitting position. ¡°Let¡¯s just do it now, since you are here already.¡±


    Lester gulped. ¡°Well, okay. You know, I would offer to make you food if I wasn¡¯t somewhat worried about becoming said food,¡± he explained, but he still entered, making as much of a circle around Emika as he could while overtaking her. ¡°I can answer your questions. Least I can do. Considering your¡­ predicament. Yes, yes. My wife knows I¡¯m here.¡± He added that last part with a grave look on his face, almost as if to check out Emika¡¯s reaction.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    She didn¡¯t care and instead rose up, so they could make their way to the kitchen. Lester, of course knowing where it was, led the way. Emika trailed behind slowly ¡ª the new weights on her body made her wonky, plus she didn¡¯t want to destroy the floors, and her head was spinning. What a great morning. Or rather, afternoon¡­ Her sleep schedule was completely destroyed now too. She just wanted to go to bed.


    In the kitchen, Emika poured herself a bowl of cereal, then sifted through it with her spoon for five minutes, with Lester becoming increasingly agitated as time went on.


    ¡°W-What are you doing¡­?¡± Lester eventually managed to spell out.


    ¡°Oh. I¡¯m just making sure I don¡¯t end up chomping down on a cute maybug or something. It almost happened a while ago.¡±


    ¡°¡­ But maybugs aren¡¯t a food pest?¡±


    ¡°Well, it was what it was¡± she replied to his confusion.


    ¡°Maybe the bug was already in your bowl before you poured anything in? Or it fell in from your growth? Those must be a breeding ground for insects, right?¡±


    ¡°You know, those aren¡¯t the mysteries I want you to solve for me, right?¡± Emika chided between spoonfuls, ¡°Anyway, there is something I need to know.¡±


    Lester nodded anxiously.


    ¡°I will have to lay some groundwork, though. First off, you said you were investigating that Revenant. And you said that the Revenant was also a plant type creature, just like me.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± he confirmed.


    ¡°Okay, and you had a list of magical appearances similar to that Revenant on your phone.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± he nodded, speaking rather quickly. ¡°I¡¯m in touch with a divination witch. She checks the surroundings for beings with that same type of magic, yes. Regrettably, it¡¯s not easy to use divination to find a specific, very strong being. So we¡¯re left to blanket checks.¡±


    Huh, that was interesting. Emika would have thought that it was easier to find a strong being than a weaker one. Disregarding that, she said, ¡°And one of those blanket checks flagged a Well of Abstraction.¡±


    ¡°W¡ª¡± Lester started, ¡°How did you know? Oh, did the note say?¡±


    ¡°I went there.¡±


    ¡°What? You¡ª¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t derail from my question!¡± Emika cut in impassively, accidentally spitting out a bit of cereal.


    ¡°Your¡ª With all due respect, I¡¯m sorry to point out, but you haven¡¯t asked one yet!¡±


    Oh, right. She hadn¡¯t. The bed was still yelling for her. ¡°Yeah, so my question is, what the hell does a Well of Abstraction have to do with plants? It doesn¡¯t seem plant-like at all.¡±


    Lester issued a drawn-out ¡°Oh!¡± and then he simply said, with a shrug, ¡°That¡¯s just because those things are based on the same branch of magic. Revenants, you, and Wells of Abstraction.¡±


    ¡°How?¡± Emika asked in perplexion, and slight annoyance when she realized how much sand Lester had shed on her floor by now. ¡°What branch of magic would that be?¡±


    ¡°Dimensional magic,¡± he replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. ¡°Don¡¯t ask me for the details, I¡¯m not a scholar. Plant magic used to be its own branch, until some advancements in magical science have proven it to be part of dimensional magic.¡±


    Emika really hated this. How was it that every single time she gained new information about herself and her curse, it seemed to make everything just more confusing and ridiculous? Dimensional magic? She had never heard of that before.


    ¡°So you are saying these growths come from another dimension?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Lester spat out. ¡°No way! What are you talking about? This is not at all in any way connected to the pop culture meaning of dimensions. You do realise magical scholars take themselves seriously, right?¡± He seemed to notice he was stepping out of line, so a bit more quietly, he added, ¡°No, we are simply talking about dimensions in a mathematical sense, obviously.¡±


    Obviously. That really was the word he had just used, huh? Emika fought back the urge to strangle him. Either way, at least she had some new buzzwords to feed Barnacle later. Her meal was finished by now. They entered the living room, so she could get done with the backup of her phone ¡ª something that went surprisingly quickly. She didn¡¯t remember other questions and was too focused on getting the backup right, anyway. Lester just watched her do it, sitting on a chair he had put as far away from her as possible.


    ¡°There we go,¡± she said eventually. ¡°All done. I¡¯m sorry it took so long. Thank you very much for your answers. And for the phone. And, you know, your company.¡± She eyed him as he sat there, nodding. ¡°I suppose you want to get going? Make sure you have everything, I don¡¯t want to open the gates unless I know who it is.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sure. I will be on my way. T-thank you, for,¡± ¡ª he made a gesture towards the phone ¡ª ¡°¡­ Well, for your generous keeping of your promise to return it. I don¡¯t make that much. So¡­¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± Emika said. ¡°It was a little selfish of me to take it, although I have to say, I don¡¯t regret it.¡±


    She saw him smile for probably the first time, then he made off. Emika was about to try fiddling around with her new one, when the doorbell rang again seconds after he had left.


    ¡°Wow, even though I told him not to forget anything,¡± she mumbled to herself with a slight smile, and got up on her weary limbs.


    She opened the gate after traversing the garden, ready to chastise him.


    But, on the other side, it wasn¡¯t Lester who her gaze fell onto. Immediately, a sobering wave of fear ran over her body. Her guests were two men, one of whom showed her some kind of ID. He had fuzzy hair, was probably in his forties, and carried a serious look. The other one was probably a decade older and wore all grey.


    ¡°Good morning,¡± the man with the ID said. ¡°Emika Hasegawa? My name is Inspector Beckford, and this is my external colleague, Maxime. We would like to ask you some questions.¡±

 Chapter 24: Dead to Me

    ¡°What?¡± Emika asked. ¡°''External colleague''? Who the hell are you? Also, I don¡¯t want to answer any questions. Please go home.¡±


    This was a total disaster. Were they onto her? She gazed over the street behind them, trying to make out if there was a team ready to apprehend her ¡ª but so far, it all seemed peaceful. What was she to do? These two needed to just run away right now, or she couldn¡¯t see them survive this encounter, which would leave her with an incredible mess. Especially so if they died out here on the streets, trying to arrest her.


    As these thoughts jumped through her head, Emika tried to calm down and took a breath.


    ¡°Excuse the rudeness,¡± the ¡®external colleague¡¯ said, and made a step forward to offer her his hand. ¡°As he said, Maxime. At your service.¡±


    She stared at him and his smile that even crept up to his eyes, as if entirely genuine.


    ¡°Please come in,¡± Emika said eventually, ignoring his unknowing offer to get killed off. At least this meant these people had no clue about her. If she played this right, maybe they¡¯d just leave quickly. ¡°And excuse the way I look. It¡¯s just a fashion statement I¡¯m working on, because I¡¯m in the business of bonsai growing.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, we¡¯ve seen worse,¡± Beckford said.


    ¡°Oh. Well, I worry about everything,¡± Emika claimed, trying to retrieve a good impression after having botched it on first sight.


    Luckily, her all-devouring monster ring was currently residing in an obscured part in the back of her garden. Unluckily, Emika didn¡¯t know for how much longer that would be the case.


    Inside, she pointed to the sofa, letting them know they could sit down there, and suddenly saw a few branches she¡¯d sawn off herself a while ago still lying on the ground next to it. Great. It was like having cut off fingernails lying around in her house. How had she not noticed before?


    To keep a sizeable amount of distance toward the two of them, she sat down on the chair Lester had put on the other side of the room earlier. She briefly considered making them tea to seem nice and hospitable, but really, was there a point to seeming nice? After all, she wanted them gone.


    After they¡¯d sat down, Beckford started rummaging in his bag, and pulled out a file. He glanced through it for a moment, before laying it down on the low table before him. ¡°Alright,¡± he said, clearing his throat. ¡°As I said, we just want to ask some questions. Do you have any idea as to what might have brought us here?¡±


    What, was this a fishing expedition? Emika knew she had a slight tendency for carelessness, but she wouldn¡¯t start incriminating herself right from the get-go. She just shook her head.


    He pulled out a photo and showed it to Emika. Upon seeing it, the blood left her head. What a terrible start.


    ¡°Do you recognize this person?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, with a weak voice. ¡°That¡¯s Mina Hargrove. She was my best friend.¡±


    ¡°¡­ Was?¡±


    Fuck, Emika thought. Well, at least she had lasted ten seconds. Her brain froze, trying to come up with any way to get out of this. This was not going to be pretty. ¡°Yeah,¡± she then said, about to give one of the worst insinuations she had ever come up with, ¡°I get angry at people if they leave me hanging, and she hasn¡¯t talked to me in a while. Done with being her friend.¡±


    She wanted to melt into a puddle. First killing Mina off, then acting as if the lack of contact was her fault. She felt so bad. How Emika¡¯s brain was even able to come up with thoughts like this was beyond her. On the other hand, she had to deal with what her exhausted mind gave her.


    ¡°I see,¡± the inspector said, and it was impossible to discern his thoughts. He simply scribbled down a line on a note pad.


    Then, Beckford pulled out more pictures. Reiko Takahashi. Sam Wiley. Taara Basu. All of her dead friends. Emika couldn¡¯t cry now. She absolutely couldn¡¯t. And yet, her eyes welled up. Talking now would be a bad idea. She needed to calm down.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    ¡°When was the last time you saw any of them?¡±


    Emika stared at the pictures ¡ª they were quite small in his hands, with how far away she sat. They all were family pictures; some of them a few months old, some of them very recent.


    ¡°I¡ªI don¡¯t know,¡± Emika mumbled. ¡°Must have been a while. Why?¡±


    ¡°The truth is, they all went missing around three weeks ago. We are just trying to put pieces together to find out where they might be,¡± he explained. ¡°Any help you could offer in finding them would be greatly appreciated.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Emika whispered. Even if she wanted to, there was no way she could help them find any of them. They¡¯d already vanished by the time Emika had gone to Mina¡¯s home, after all. Of course, Emika could tell them that they were dead, and that this all was just a terrible mistake, and due to the curse she had been inflicted with ¡ª but, from her encounters in these past few weeks, one thing was certain to her: whether she was actually at fault for their deaths or not didn¡¯t seem to make too much of a difference. There was a good chance she¡¯d be seen as a monster either way.


    After waiting for an answer and only receiving silence, Beckford finally pulled out one last photograph.


    No. Not that. Showing her this now, how was she supposed to remain composed? Emika just stared at it, a tear running down her cheek, dropping right on the floor.


    It was a picture of Eva, with her parents.


    ¡°Do you know who this is?¡± Beckford asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Emika responded, almost as if on autopilot. ¡°Eva. Oh, god. She loved her parents.¡±


    ¡°Loved?¡± Beckford asked right back, a strong emphasis on that last letter.


    Emika started seeing stars, all the blood emptying from her brain. Now she really had done it. So, that was why Melisande had warned her about talking to the police. Was there a point to trying to get out of it?


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Emika said, this time lining up the very worst thing she¡¯d ever say, ¡°Also didn¡¯t talk to me lately. Dead to me now.¡±


    She felt like vomiting. Could she even call herself human after this? In fact, was there any way this type of sentence would make her seem less suspicious at all?


    ¡°Okay,¡± Beckford said, nodding. Then, out of left field, he asked, ¡°Do you have family?¡±


    Emika was full on crying by now. ¡°No. My parents died a few years ago.¡±


    ¡°How did they die?¡± he asked, and Emika stared him down.


    ¡°Accident.¡±


    ¡°No other family? Dead or alive?¡±


    ¡°Not in this country. None that I know,¡± Emika leaning back in her chair, trying to wipe the tears off her face without scratching herself with growths.


    ¡°Then, who is in those urns?¡±


    He pointed to the small shrine in the room. There were the two urns containing her parents¡¯ ashes. And next to those, stood the two urns containing Catrine¡¯s and Eva¡¯s.


    ¡°Thank you very much, Beckford,¡± the other man, who had just been sitting there watching, suddenly said.


    With confusion, Beckford turned around. ¡°You mean¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Maxime said. ¡°I¡¯ve got it from here. Good work.¡±


    Beckford seemed to understand what was expected of him. Quickly, he gathered the pictures back in the file, stashed it away, and got up. ¡°And the case?¡± he asked with a last glance to Maxime.


    ¡°Close it. I¡¯ve got it from here.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Understood. Have a nice day,¡± he said to him, then turned to Emika. ¡°Goodbye, Miss Hasegawa.¡±


    And with that, he left. The other person remained as he was, and for a moment, he just observed Emika with his dark, unreadable eyes. Meanwhile, she tried to calm herself down.


    ¡°You did well,¡± he then said.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I mean, you did well with this visit. I was curious as to what you were going to do. Which is why I arranged this little meeting. The police had been investigating this¡­ incident for a while.¡± He had a particular cadence to his short sentences. ¡°I wanted to first see if you would take the advice. To gauge how dangerous you were.¡±


    He got up, and then sat down on the table, getting much closer to her. He smiled, and now that he was alone, he seemed much more significant than before. As a bystander, he was simply another person tagging along, but now ¡ª he seemed confident, laid-back, as if no worry in the world clouded his mind.


    ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± Emika said. ¡°What advice?¡±


    ¡°The advice to stay low. To not endanger other people. This just now? Great job. You kept your distance, didn¡¯t let yourself get angry. Didn¡¯t instigate a fight or resistance. That¡¯s how I like them.¡±


    Them being monsters, Emika figured.


    ¡°My name is Maxime Durand. But, just Maxime is fine. I¡¯m tasked with keeping our little town safe of magical incidents. Among other things. I¡¯m pleased to meet you.¡±


    Yep. This was the Cursebreaker Melisande ¡ª and, pretty much, everyone else ¡ª had been alluding to.


    ¡°I am somewhat unhappy about one thing, though. And that is what I¡¯m here to talk about.¡±

 Chapter 25: One Way or the Other

    Well, that sucked. Two normal people in her house ¡ª that was something that could have caused her trouble if they had done something to get killed off by her curse. But now, it seemed like Emika was actually the one in danger.


    She remembered Melisande¡¯s words quite clearly. ¡°Nah. The guy¡¯s way too strong.¡±


    And somehow, despite how milquetoast he looked, Emika believed it.


    ¡°What are you unhappy about?¡±


    His gentle expression faded, and turned more serious. Pulling out a picture from his front pocked, he made a step forward. It was a photograph of that person who had lost their hand on the railway station.


    ¡°He came into the hospital at night. After listening to his account, authorities checked the station surveillance camera. All sightings of magical phenomena come right to me. Imagine my surprise when I saw you on it.¡± He put the picture back in his pocket. ¡°I don¡¯t want to think that you had anything to do with this. At the same time, Wells of Abstractions are incredibly rare. And afflictions like yours are not common, either. I don¡¯t believe in coincidences.¡±


    Emika started to get annoyed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but ¡ª I don¡¯t understand,¡± she said. ¡°If you¡¯ve been aware of me for a while, how come you never ¡ª like¡­ Never contacted me? Never told me what to do? The reason I was out yesterday was that I tried to find a way to cure myself. What exactly was I supposed to do?¡±


    ¡°I have not been ¡®aware of you for a while,¡¯¡± he responded. ¡°I¡¯m a busy person. Up until a few days ago, I was out on a mission to subdue a Rage Phoenix. After being called upon by another Cursebreaker team up north. Happens all the time, there is not enough of us. In addition, you have an ally. That ally invoked a few favours, asking me not to interfere. Guaranteed me instead that you would lie low and not cause anybody further harm.¡±


    ¡°What ally?¡±


    Maxime just looked at Emika, making a regretful can¡¯t-tell-you-this expression.


    Wait¡­ why did this cause a d¨¦j¨¤ vu? Could it be that this supposed ¡®ally¡¯ was the same person who had hired Lester? After all, Lester had been similarly reluctant to reveal anything about that.


    Right now, though, Emika just needed to do one thing. Looking through her living room, she found her new phone lying on the table, next to Maxime. Somehow, she¡¯d need to tell Melisande that he was here. If only to gain advice on how to handle this.


    ¡°So¡­ you are here to¡­ scold me¡­? I shouldn¡¯t have left my home. That¡¯s what you are here to tell me?¡±


    Maxime shook his head, pulling up a corner of his mouth. ¡°I am here to tell you I¡¯ve made a mistake. I should not have allowed leniency. People died already. And yesterday, a person got hurt. Would this person still be doing just fine if I had simply captured you the moment I heard about you? I have to consider the possibility.¡±


    ¡°Captured me,¡± Emika repeated dryly.


    ¡°Yes. I am here to take you with me. I cannot take any more chances than I already have. Don¡¯t worry. You will be put in a safe environment where you cannot harm anyone. And then, I¡¯ll find a cure for you.¡±


    Nonsense, thought Emika. At this point, she trusted nobody to ever find a solution to her curse. She knew that she was on her own on that front. He was just giving empty promises to make her tag along, that much was clear. She knew that in order to solve it, she¡¯d need to become stronger herself.


    And, the other part of what he said was just as bad. A safe environment¡­? Emika already knew what that looked like. It would be the same as Melisande. Hidden away from the public in a space Emika wouldn¡¯t be able to leave.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Perceiving her silence, he added, ¡°I would advise you against doing anything rash. I am concerned with two things ¡ª the safety of people within my area, and, of course, providing magical beings as high-quality a life as possible. However, the first takes precedence. If you try to fight, it won¡¯t end well.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll kill me? How do I know you¡¯re not bluffing? I have to be honest, I am somewhat reluctant to just tag along with a complete stranger. In addition, if you know about my curse, aren¡¯t you the least bit worried?¡±


    He scrubbed through his three-day beard, pulling his eyebrows together. ¡°I take it you don¡¯t know much about Cursebreakers?¡±


    Swallowing her indignation, Emika replied, ¡°Well, what is there to know? Please enlighten me.¡±


    ¡°The title is meant literally. We break curses ¡ª and magic, for that matter ¡ª simply by existing. In other words, I am immune to all kinds of magic. And to your curse too. There is really nothing you can do against me. So, keep that in mind. Will you come with me peacefully?¡±


    Great. Just great. Out of all the things that existed in the world, the guy standing in her living room just had to have an ability completely countering her curse. With a dry tongue, Emika said, ¡°Well. Is it okay if I get on my phone for a moment? I would have to say goodbye to some people, so they don¡¯t come looking for me.¡±


    He eyed her for a moment with a measuring gaze, but in the end, nodded. ¡°Sure. If it keeps you calm. Feel free to say goodbye.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be able to take the phone with me, right?¡±


    ¡°Not for now. If things go well, I can probably provide you with a phone eventually.¡±


    Emika took a deep breath and slowly approached, pointing to the phone next to him. He didn¡¯t make any attempt to move away. Apparently, he was just that confident he¡¯d be immune.


    After sitting back down on her chair, Emika frantically started tapping the display, opening up the forum and composing a message.


    Durand is here. At my home. Wants to take me with him.


    The immediate response was a simple fuck.


    Great. Very encouraging. Though, it summed it all up quite well.


    Then, Melisande wrote, gonna be honest here hon, u gotta go w/ him. he¡¯ll shred u to pieces otherwise.


    Emika¡¯s heart started beating heavily. Out of fear, yes. Though, she did notice the part where Melisande had called her hon, and that didn¡¯t help her heart slow down, either.


    Again, another message appeared: god this sucks. fckn hell. dont do anything that might make him think ur hard to handle or he¡¯ll kill u.


    And, pls promise me that emika. go with him. he has no reason to kill u yet. we¡¯ll figure something out


    Okay, I promise, Emika replied, with feeling a large knot in her stomach. She put the phone down and looked back to Maxime.


    ¡°All set?¡± he asked. ¡°There isn¡¯t really anything you need to bring with you.¡±


    Well¡­ that sounded ominous. Was she all set? She really doubted it. Suck it up, behave, and hope she wouldn¡¯t get killed? So, that was what she was supposed to do now?


    The only issue was ¡ª once she was in his palm, her fate was completely up to Maxime. Right now, she didn¡¯t know anything about him. There was a slight chance he was bluffing and that a simple touch would kill him. But, what if not? What if he really was immune? He¡¯d simply destroy her. That said, right now was probably still her best shot. Because if she went to his place, he¡¯d be able to inspect her, conduct research, and find out more. He¡¯d be able to come up with a way to kill her if he didn¡¯t already know one.


    So, there it was. She had the choice between trying to defy him now, which would, in the best case, result in his death; or going with him, in which case¡­ whatever would happen was impossible to say.


    There was the very, very slight chance that he actually wanted to help, and that he would really be able to cure the curse. That meant going with him was the only option to take right now that could possibly result in a positive outcome overall.


    But¡­ she had just promised Melisande to go with him. What a terrifying promise.


    Trust Melisande, a small thought echoed within her mind.


    ¡°I realise this is a very difficult moment for you, but you really only have one option. Please come with me. I have other things to take care of ¡ª other lives to save. And we have a long day ahead of us too.¡±


    Sweat drops started running down her face. Her eyes still felt bloated from crying. She was still infinitely tired. And yet, it was time to decide.

 Chapter 26: Still Alive

    A few days later, Emika was sitting down, staring at one of her wooden fingers, thinking no other thought than please move.


    Please move. Please move. Please.


    And that was because she figured that the one way to get out of this awful situation was on the off chance that, indeed, she¡¯d be able to control her tree hand one day.


    In the end, the choice Emika had made was, ¡°You promised, so go with him. Worry about the rest later.¡± And now, she was indeed worrying, but not necessarily about herself.


    Maxime ¡ª he insisted on being called by his first name ¡ª had brought her to a large, remote building. It was apparently somewhat his operational base.


    ¡°If things go well, you¡¯ll be able to live in a better place eventually,¡± he had said, right after locking her into a small room in the basement. ¡°It¡¯s just that this is the only secure room I have here, and stashing you away in a place further from me would pose unnecessary risks to anyone involved. Additionally, I want to run some tests to get to know your curse.¡±


    And with that, she was in a cell. And after leaving her inside, he hadn¡¯t returned for over a day. At least, there was a makeshift toilet down here. Truth be told, she¡¯d spent most of that first day asleep, still exhausted from all that had happened before.


    However, her sleep didn¡¯t prove to be very restful. She¡¯d wake up several times feeling cold shivers. Sometimes, a chuckle. Maybe she was dreaming, or maybe there was something up with this stony, moist, damp smelling basement. It was even worse here than at Melisande¡¯s place. Because at Melisande¡¯s place, at least there was Melisande. Which promptly turned any prison into a respite.


    Waking up groggily one last time, the pungent smell of mould in her nose, she finally decided it was time to get up. Having slept on parts of her growth she¡¯d snapped off for makeshift bedding, she had a few scratches on her arm and cheek, but at least she wasn¡¯t freezing.


    She tried to make sure that whatever sounds had bothered her in her sleep were gone now, and apparently, they were. So, now, there was nothing left to do.


    Nothing except for plotting her escape.


    Essentially, there were three ways she could play this situation. She could either do whatever he said and live a life in peaceful, lonely and boring captivity ¡ª that is, until her curse had replaced her with wood completely, which might not take all that long at this rate. In addition, that option would leave Melisande to rot in her own prison forever.


    Or, Emika could try to escape. Break open the door somehow, or run away when Maxime pulled her out for another experiment. The issue with that was the ¡®divination¡¯ stuff people had been talking about. Emika figured, the moment she left, she could easily be found. So, in that case, she¡¯d need to leave quickly, and go as far away as possible.


    And lastly, of course, she could try to kill him.


    Which would be a lot easier if she could use both her hands.


    And thus, she sat there, trying to move one of her wooden fingers.


    Other than that, there was one more idea that kept her going. Which was that, maybe, she was actually strong. As absurd as that sounded, there were some facts that pointed to that direction. And this wasn¡¯t about the fact that she had some amount of muscle due to her gardening and bonsai work ¡ª these were useful, of course, but nothing that would really help her that much in a fight.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    More so, she suspected that her curse was making her stronger. And she thought that, based on the little test Maxime had conducted on her two days earlier, he might be feeling the same. Just remembering it already made Emika want to blow up. She needed to cut it out now.


    Don¡¯t think about it. Don¡¯t think about it.


    But, it had shown Emika one thing: She was resilient.


    And looking back, that had been a pattern. The day her friends died, Emika had fallen down the stairs and hit her head, with no real consequence, except for being unconscious for a little. A day later, when trying to incinerate Eva¡¯s remains, she was caught by the blast of fire. Still fine. She also had lost an entire arm after feeding it to the ring, and then boarded a train like nothing happened. In addition, there was no telling how strong the poison Victor had given her at the Research Branch actually was.


    In other words, she was strong. And Maxime was onto her.


    She pulled her ragged pants down to look at her thigh. Yep, there it was. A tiny growth of what almost looked like a small deadwood flower. And, as she touched it, she felt it move through her entire thigh right to the back side. Like a small cylinder of wood that had grown through her. Around it, her skin was a bit red, but didn¡¯t hurt. In trying to pull and move the deadwood, she realised the smallest twigs were growing out from it inside her flesh, making sure that this replacement to her flesh was very firmly attached and couldn¡¯t be removed.


    After a while, she heard the second door unlock upstairs, and steps echoed as Maxime made his way down. Emika looked at him through the bars, as the indirect light from above illuminated him like some divine figure. Disgusting.


    ¡°Time for the second test,¡± he said. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be too many more.¡±


    Emika made a fist. ¡°Wasn¡¯t one damn time enough? Did you even find out fuck all? Clearly, none of you guys are actually competent at handling curses and magic. Let me try. How about you just give me some books on the topic, so I can learn it myself?¡±


    ¡°Want a lamp too?¡± he asked, and it was impossible to tell from his tone whether he was mocking her or actually offering.


    With a click of the key, he opened the cell door and beckoned her out. Emika already knew the way ¡ª up the stairs, up the stairs again, then through a few corridors until they reached one of the main halls. On the ground, Maxime had carefully painted a range of circles, all originating from the same midpoint, which was where Emika was supposed to sit.


    The circles had different sizes denoted on them, and by now, he had actually put a few more on. And within those circles were animals in cages. Today, mostly dogs.


    That was how he set up his experiments to figure out Emika¡¯s range.


    Before the first trial, he had explained, ¡°The thing is, I believe that in order to heal you, your curse saps energy from surrounding living beings. That means you are at your most dangerous when injured. Touching a living being directly, or being very close, likely always saps their energy, based on the account of the incident. This is a complication that¡¯s a little unusual and needs to be explained, but first, we need to find out your radius.¡±


    And now, it was time for the second trial.


    ¡°Okay, are you ready?¡± he said, preparing himself on his desk a few metres away as she sat down. Emika guarded her thigh on reflex. ¡°Last time, your radius encompassed all the lines I¡¯d drawn. Let¡¯s see if it¡¯s within this new distance. 15 Metres.¡±


    And then, he took a gun, and shot. This time, it didn¡¯t land in her thigh, but in her stomach instead.


    She started gurgling, and sacked to the ground, bleeding out.


    As he sat at his desk taking notes, she was just lying there, face against the ground. Her blood crept into a pool within her vision, right beneath her wooden hand resting next to her head, motionless, except for random twitches.


    Of course, she knew that these were not experiments to find a cure. They were experience to figure out how she could be killed. That was exactly how she knew her resilience was an important asset.


    She felt cold and dizzy. And yet, her conviction was clear, now more than ever. These weren¡¯t conditions for anyone to live in. Completely unacceptable. The idea that Melisande had been in the hands of people like this made the little blood left in her body boil over.


    She would break out of this prison, and rescue Melisande. And anyone standing in their way would be obliterated.


    Focussing all her conviction on her tree hand, she finally did it. The finger moved.

 Chapter 27: Interim — The Witch of the Eternal Sunset

    When Melisande had received notice that Emika and young Durand had met, her mind blanked out.


    On one hand, their friendship had always been on a timer. On the other hand, she wished that timer had ticked a while longer. The one thing giving Melisande solace was that Emika had promised to go with him. Durands were hesitant to kill. As long as she behaved and didn¡¯t make herself seem unpredictable ¡ª as long as she seemed manageable ¡ª she would get to live.


    It took Melisande about five seconds to understand the error of her ways.


    There was never in a million years any way that Emika would act predictably or be perceived as manageable. Especially not in serious situations. That girl had no concept of danger¡­


    Damn it, Melisande thought. She sent a few more messages to Emika in hopes of finding out what had happened, but even after two hours, there were no more responses. Either she had tried to fight and gotten killed off, or she had gone with him without her phone.


    Melisande stared at her doll-in-the-works. What a pointless thing to do, sitting here making money for someone else while Emika was in the most dangerous situation she had probably ever been in. Was she scared right now? Probably not. Angry, more likely. Which was much worse.


    The fundamental issue with this situation was that if Melisande ran out right now, trying to find and free Emika, not only was it very likely she¡¯d be picked off before finding the place ¡ª even if she managed to free Emika, the both of them would just be killed right after. This was not a situation that Melisande could navigate in this state, especially with how low her tea reserves were. The magic had been running out for dozens of years ¡ª of course, probably by design, because they very much didn¡¯t want her to get any ideas.


    Currently, Melisande was probably weaker than even an average human. Any exertion could be her last, and cause her to faint. All things considered, there was no way she could make any dent at all. This situation was totally hopeless.


    And yet, she couldn¡¯t let things end this way. Maybe she¡¯d walk out and lose consciousness right there on the street in front of the shop. Or maybe she wouldn¡¯t. However, there was at least one bit of preparation she could do before going on this forlorn endeavour.


    She picked up her phone and dialled in a number. She hadn¡¯t ever used it before, but that person wasn¡¯t one to make changes to her life, so it was very likely that this number still worked.


    After a few rings, nobody picked up. Typical. Melisande would have to be persistent to reach her. Amagdala, Witch of the Eternal Sunset ¡ª the first human Melisande had ever seen. Her maker. One of the oldest witches still alive, obsessed with her own immortality.


    That person was not someone whose help Melisande called upon lightly. The whole ¡®making-of¡¯ endeavour around Melisande hadn¡¯t gone all too well.


    However, Amagdala did have something that resembled a conscience, giving Melisande some leeway to cash in on a little favour. Right now, just before embarking on a journey she¡¯d likely not return from, was all in all the best moment to actively make use of this connection for the first and last time.


    It took dozens of tries and several hours until Melisande could get through. It was a long time to just give up on, considering Emika¡¯s remaining life was on the clock, but there was no helping it. Without Amagdala¡¯s support, she¡¯d not be able to do this.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    When it finally happened, Melisande already started to regret things, but pushed the feeling away.


    ¡°Amagdala. Remember when you told me you owed me one? Well, now¡¯s your time to pay up.¡±


    A laugh belonging to an old woman echoed from the other side of the phone. ¡°Somehow doesn¡¯t surprise me that this is what you tell me after, like, a hundred years. I¡¯m glad you had my number. Was starting to worry that I failed back when I tried to slip it to you. I was feeling lonely without my dear child ever reaching out.¡±


    ¡°Fuck you. Anyway, I need you to scramble my presence¡± Melisande explained. ¡°As hard as you can.¡±


    A short pause. Eventually, Amagdala replied, ¡°Okay. Well. I won¡¯t ask you what that¡¯s for. God. Couldn¡¯t you have had a cheaper need? How taxing. You realise I¡¯ll die if I funnel too many resources away from my longevity potions, right?¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t possibly care less,¡± Melisande scoffed. ¡°Isn¡¯t it some dream of yours to die trying to save me? I¡¯m sure you can muster some narcissism for that. You¡¯re not gonna be happy if your greatest creation ends up in a toy dump somewhere.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve developed a foul mouth,¡± Amagdala remarked. It didn¡¯t sound like a reproach at all, though. More like curiosity.


    ¡°I spent too much time on the internet, I guess,¡± Melisande replied. ¡°It¡¯s you who made my speech patterns conform to my surroundings.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Amagdala interjected, ¡°By default, yes. Although you should be able to override those parameters. So, in a way, you talking this way is by choice. It¡¯s just fascinating, don¡¯t mind me.¡±


    There it was again ¡ª that woman was completely unable to interact with Melisande in a way that wasn¡¯t just hidden praise for herself. Melisande was long done being annoyed at this, though. Just one of the facts of life. In a way, it was reassuring that nothing had changed these past many decades.


    ¡°Anyway, we are getting distracted,¡± Amagdala then declared, as if it hadn¡¯t been her who initiated the distraction in the first place. ¡°Scrambling. I can do that. Give me two weeks.¡±


    ¡°One week,¡± Melisande said.


    Amagdala laughed. ¡°That¡¯s not how this works, dear. Of course, I will start working on this right away. But the more time and resources I spend on it, the more likely it is that the scrambling will work. Two weeks, and I can pretty much guarantee you won¡¯t be detected for another two weeks after that, unless they spend a ridiculous amount of resources trying to break the encryption.¡±


    Melisande tried her best to befriend that fact. Having two weeks of safety was huge. But, waiting two weeks to get there was a big risk. ¡°So, you rec¡¯ two weeks even if I¡¯m in a hurry?¡±


    ¡°Oh? Well, let¡¯s say, ten days, then. I¡¯ll let you know when I¡¯m done.¡±


    Amagdala immediately hung up. Apparently, declaring the issue as time-sensitive had some effect.


    Melisande took a deep breath. Not that she needed it, but it was one of those functions the old witch had added to make her seem more life-like. As with all defaults, Melisande had the option to override them, but for the most part, she kept things that made her seem human intact. To the extent that Amagdala had been able to even create something comparable to a human, given how botched of a wretch she was herself.


    Overall, this was good news. Once she was scrambled, young Durand would not be able to locate her with divination.


    The other few issues were that she needed to make a plan on what to do the moment she was out. She would need to confirm whether Emika was even still alive. Ideally, confirm that quickly enough to return to her prison in time before even being detected missing, because if Emika was already gone, there was no point in running away.


    Ever since being confined, Melisande had shut off parts of her subroutines that would make her care or empathise with herself, because it would have been impossible to live this way otherwise.


    But, Emika was different. Emika was someone else. In addition, she was someone else who actually acted like she cared. The first friend Melisande had made in a long time, if not ever, depending on the working definition of friend.


    And now, this friend was in the hands of these human pieces of garbage. Sure, the other Durands were dead by now, but she saw this entire family as just one entity. And other Cursebreakers too, for that matter.


    Anger. Anxiety. Fear. Those routines ran wild within her tea leaves, and they all pointed to one clear and immutable decision. Melisande would leave this place behind, and save Emika.


    Even if she had to burn down the world trying.

 Chapter 28: Haunted

    Surprisingly enough, Maxime had actually provided Emika with a book, a flashlight, and a few batteries. Introduction to Curses, Volume I, published 1963, written by B. Venic. With that, Emika had to split her time awake between practising moving her wooden hand, reading, and lamenting her sorry state.


    She didn¡¯t get a lot of reading done, overall, considering the book was dry, and she felt way too exhausted after practice to even focus on anything.


    The good news was, she had managed to move a finger. The bad news was, it only twitched about as much as you could bend a branch, and it took a lot of effort to even do that. She really hoped this wasn¡¯t the extent of what she was able to accomplish here.


    And yet, there was nothing other to do than to try.


    Sitting in the middle of her cell on the next day, again, she tried to move her finger. And again, barely anything happened. Maybe she was thinking about this the wrong way. However, before she could start brooding about it, she suddenly heard a chuckle.


    That selfsame chuckle belonging to a higher pitched male voice she¡¯d heard in her sleep on her first day. She looked around, but saw nothing. ¡°Hello?¡± she asked, the sound gently echoing within the basement chambers.


    ¡°Hell¡­O?¡± that voice responded, in the same cadence and tone Emika had used, as if to mock her, but sounding a little peculiar at the same time.


    She rolled her eyes. Of course, it wasn¡¯t bad enough that she was being confined, shot at regularly and dying from a curse, now she had to be mocked too. ¡°Get lost, I¡¯m busy,¡± she snapped into the room, and put her attention back to her finger.


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re bUsy, quite obviously, yes, yes. I was just w0ndering whatever it is that you are doing. It¡¯s quite fumny, actually. Especially if you¡¯re doing what I thinK you are.¡±


    The cheeky, melodic voice came from literally nowhere. It sounded weird too. Like it was¡­ lo-fi? And¡­ glitching out?


    With a shock, Emika suddenly saw something protrude from the ground around a meter in front of her. It was a white shimmer, somewhat distorted. As it showed more and more of itself, finally, it dawned on her what she was seeing. A transparent head. And, a neck of the same kind attached to it. And finally, shoulders connected to that.


    A ghost. Slowly, a ghost was emerging before her from underneath the surface of the cell. The shape flickered, like white noise, had no colour, sometimes parts of it disappeared only to snap back immediately after.


    ¡°Who the hell are you? This is my cell. Get lost.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m alreaDy lost!¡± the ghost replied, again with its distinct chuckle. ¡°Or rather, my boDy is. Lost in the void. WoE me.¡±


    This voice was hard to focus on. And Emika was time-pressed. As much as she enjoyed the idea of living in a haunted prison, she had to prepare her escape.


    ¡°Actually,¡± she suddenly said, ¡°Can you help me? Does Maxime know you are here? Can you like. Give me the headquarters¡¯ layout or something?¡±


    ¡°So, eNlighten me, why would I hElp you?¡±


    Emika stared at, not able to come up with anything at all. Instead, she just blurted, ¡°¡­ Because I¡¯m nice and cute?¡±


    The ghost started laughing out loud, voice cracking or losing connection every now and then. Meanwhile, he had appeared completely, sitting cross-legged, copying the pose of Emika. He looked only a few years older than her, 25 at best, as far as she could tell through the noise of his appearance. His skin must have been brown when he still lived, and his clothes were somewhat stylish to the extent she could judge that ¡ª he had a scarf, wore a turtleneck jersey, and what seemed like¡­ linen pants of the same colour?


    Overall, had he not started out mocking her, she would have found him sympathetic.


    ¡°Glad I¡¯m amusing you. What do I know¡­ What¡¯s there to offer a ghost?¡±


    He seemed to ponder for a bit. ¡°I like having fUn. So, honestly, you are already d0ing qu!te well.¡±


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°You are getting harder to understand,¡± she remarked.


    ¡°There¡¯s a liMit to how long I can manifest at a time,¡± he said, shrugging. ¡°Better huRry!¡±


    Emika was rapidly losing confidence that this ghost could help her in any way at all. ¡°You know what, never mind. I¡¯ll manage on my own. Can¡¯t be that hard to find the way out once I break those bars open.¡±


    ¡°AnD, how are you planning on doing thaT? So far, you can barely m0ve a finger!¡±


    Emika just stared back at him. She couldn¡¯t really admit that she was hoping for a sudden breakthrough ¡ª literally. That she was essentially simply banking on the fact that there was a slight possibility of her maybe being able to move her hand, and that it could potentially be strong enough to get her out ¡ª or help her run away from Maxime the next time he took her outside the cell.


    Yes, going through it like this, it seemed like a total flop of a plan.


    ¡°You know ¡ª I was a mage bEfore I was killed. Excuse me, left to die. Maybe I could help you.¡±


    Another mage offering her help, huh? At least this one wasn¡¯t human. It may be worth a shot.


    ¡°Okay, help me then, please,¡± she replied, still unsure what she could offer in return, though. Perhaps she could fool him.


    He inspected her for a few seconds, flickering out and back into existence a few times. ¡°I suppose there is something you can do for mE,¡± he mused. ¡°I¡¯ll help you. But you¡¯ll owe me a favouR.¡±


    First and foremost, Emika needed to get out of this prison. Anything else came second. In other words, no matter how sketchy this seemed, she really had no basis on which to refuse him. And if the advice was garbage, she could just screw him over¡­


    ¡°Okay, sure. Sounds good to me. Do we enter some pact or something?¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about? Your word is enougH for me. Anyway, I take it you¡¯re trying to contRol those,¡± ¡ª he made a gesture towards Emika¡¯s growths ¡ª ¡°¡­ Those things? Do you have any experience with maGic?¡±


    ¡°I do not.¡±


    He nodded, and thought for a while. ¡°What¡¯s your cogniTion?¡±


    ¡°My what?¡± He sounded like he¡¯d sneezed in the middle of the word.


    ¡°What are you thinking about when you try to moVe?¡±


    ¡°I think: Please move.¡±


    ¡°Huh¡­¡± he hummed, and went on to say, ¡°TreEs don¡¯t move, though. They grow. Also. Don¡¯t think too much about the process. Magic focuSes on the result, not the wayYy to get there. You spend magical energy to make something appEar in a way that you want it. Think about it that way.¡±


    Moving her concentration back to the finger, she tried to apply what the ghost was saying. She wasn¡¯t supposed to think that the wood could move¡­ In other words, if she wanted her hand to become a fist, she should imagine it as already being a fist, not as clenching it?


    When she tried, initially, nothing happened. She just stared at the hand, trying to imagine it to be a fist, but¡­ then, she closed her eyes, painting it in her mind instead.


    And a few minutes later, was disrupted by an ¡°OoOo0oo!¡± the ghost let out.


    Opening her eyes, trying to keep her focus as much as possible, she saw something amazing. Indeed, the fingers didn¡¯t move. Instead, new growths appeared from her hand, growing into the shape of a clenched fist, all the while the old fingers decayed rapidly, dissolving into dust. And then, finally, she was staring at what looked indeed very much like a wooden fist.


    ¡°Wait, that¡¯s completely useless,¡± she blurted out, ¡°I can¡¯t even grab anything if it works like this!¡±


    The ghost chuckled again, and shrugged. ¡°YoU¡¯ll have to find ways to make it work, I supPose.¡±


    Emika took a deep breath. On second thought, this was pretty cool. She had something valuable to practice and improve on how, even if she couldn¡¯t see her even holding a mug with that yet.


    ¡°Well, thank you. Let me know when you find a way in which I can repay you.¡±


    ¡°HahA, actually, I already have a p?e?r?f?e?c?t? ?w?a?y? ?f?o?r?  ???y???o???u??? ???t???o??? ???d???O??? ???i???t??? a??????n?????d????? ???????i???t?????¡¯???????s??????  ???????t????????h?????????a??????t???????? ????????y????o??????u????? ???????????s???????h??????????o????u????????l???????d??????????¡ª¡±


    And with that, he disappeared in a grizzled disconnect, his body glitching and flashing up a few times before he was gone.


    And immediately after, Emika heard the footsteps of Maxime approach from the stairs. She wondered if the ghost had just faked his disappearance due to the timing¡­ or maybe he couldn¡¯t stay manifested around Maxime? Or his time had just run out that very moment by mere coincidence. Be that as it may, now Emika had a different thing to worry about. Dealing with this Cursebreaker wasn¡¯t something she looked forward to, right after finally finding out how to control her curse.


    But the topic of Maxime was an interesting one in its own right. He had conducted fewer and fewer experiments over the last few days, and Emika could feel a certain unrest build in him.


    As best as she could tell, through his guarded and expressionless demeanour, he still seemed to be unhappy with his progress. Of course, he wouldn¡¯t tell her why, although Emika had a somewhat decent guess. For one, he had run out of space in the hall. Apparently, her radius was very large. And it seemed like he disliked the speed of her recovery. He¡¯d often return to the cell after an experiment, only to find her awake, and then immediately turned around and leaving.


    ¡°Another experiment?¡± Emika asked, slightly annoyed because the last one had just been the day before.


    ¡°No,¡± he began, ¡°Done with those. This is about something else. You¡¯re going to be transferred.¡±

 Chapter 29: Interim — Sugar Mommy

    It was fair to say that Melisande had never been this anxious in her entire life. She had no way to know if Emika was fine, and she needed to wait patiently for the scramble before she could even do anything about this situation. She already knew that once the effect started, she¡¯d wait for nightfall, then leave after the old hag had checked in on her for the evening.


    In the meantime, Melisande tried her best to keep up her quota, if only not to raise any suspicion.


    Right after finishing another doll, she inspected it with a calm and yet penetrating gaze. Would the doll move? The small arms filled with wires to make them sturdier didn¡¯t bend unless Melisande made them. The little threads making up the doll¡¯s hair didn¡¯t wave in the wind because there was none in the basement.


    Its little button eyes didn¡¯t follow any movements, didn¡¯t dart to the lamp shining down onto them.


    And the lips didn¡¯t part, didn¡¯t make a sound.


    ¡°I see¡­¡± Melisande murmured. ¡°So you¡¯re not alive, either?¡±


    She stared at the doll a bit longer, then added, ¡°If you can talk, please do. Don¡¯t pull pranks on me.¡±


    The doll didn¡¯t talk. The same as all other dolls before it. Of course, it was a fruitless endeavour. Melisande was alive because a human had made her so with magic. She herself, being just a thing, could only use magic through channelling the tea leaves through the predetermined spell engravings already weaved into her fabric.


    And since no other person had managed a feat such as creating something like her ever again, Melisande was the only creature functioning this way that she knew.


    The only doll that could talk.


    And no matter how many more dolls she made, that fact would never change.


    Emika was not a doll. But still, Melisande was able to relate to her a lot. More than she could to any other person she had talked to before.


    What might be the terrors that Durand was inflicting on her at this very moment? Of course, Melisande had the capacity to turn off her anxiety subroutine, but there was one issue with that. Currently, with her phone never vibrating to a new message, with no random thoughts to share with her new best friend, the anxiety was the only thing tying her to Emika for now; the only thing making her feel close.


    This was not something she wanted to turn off.


    Finally, spending days circling these thoughts, she received a phone call in the late evening, after the hag had already checked in for the night.


    After she picked up, a voice echoed from the speaker, saying, ¡°You¡¯re good to go.¡±


    Immediately hanging up, Melisande fetcher her stuff and rushed out.


    She¡¯d sewn a bag in preparation, one containing a few items that might be useful ¡ª a set of sewing utensils and materials for self-repairs, a doll to talk to when she was lonely, as well as a small piece of Emika that had broken off during her visit. That small juniper branch was mostly a keepsake.


    It was dark outside, and calm. Melisande pressed a floppy hat down her face, so she¡¯d be harder to recognize as non-human as she ran through the street. Her first destination would be Emika¡¯s home. It wasn¡¯t very close-by. Emika had reached her by using the train, but Melisande couldn¡¯t use trains ¡ª because she had no money.


    The good news was that she couldn¡¯t get exhausted. Either the magic left in her tea was enough to carry her where she needed to go, or she¡¯d drop over somewhere. It was hard for her to gauge the remaining reserves; the only receptor she had had been letting her know she was running almost empty for about a decade. There was no telling how much leniency Amagdala had given this warning.


    Melisande briefly considered robbing a tea store somewhere to get what she needed. However, she didn¡¯t actually know the location of any, and in addition, she couldn¡¯t for the life of her postpone reaching Emika¡¯s house for just one more second.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Emika, who loved tea.


    That¡¯s right. Perhaps there would be small amounts of tea at her house. If there were even just a few bags, that would ensure Melisande could make it for a few days longer. Hopefully.


    Melisande hadn¡¯t felt the wind blow through her hair in 176 years. She hadn¡¯t felt the roads under her feet, nor all the new smells brought with the latest expanses of humanity. The looks of billboards, cars, shops, slowly replacing anything magical that still existed. It disgusted her.


    However, it was still better than the place she came from. Maybe¡­ maybe she¡¯d leave all this behind, even if it turned out to be too late to save Emika.


    And then, after hours, not having stopped for a single break, she finally arrived at the estate.


    She found the gates open, which was worrying. Slowly, she paced through the garden ¡ª a very pretty place, the descriptions she had squeezed out of Emika¡¯s in their chats not doing it justice. Several grand trees stood inside, between them a shed overgrown with ivy. Most of the ground was covered in moss, interspersed with well looked-after plants, and stepping stones building paths.


    It smelled so good.


    In front of her, in the middle of the plot of land, stood a large one-stock building in Japanese architectural style ¡ª as far as Melisande could judge. Entering, she flicked the lights on, and her figurative heart skipped a beat when she didn¡¯t see any bodies in here, nor smelled any death. The entrance corridor was short. There was a mirror to the left side, and for the first time in a long while, Melisande could take a proper look at herself.


    She needed a lot of fixing-up.


    In the living room, Melisande found Emika¡¯s phone. She couldn¡¯t use the touch-screen, but pressing on the button on the side made it light up with barely any battery left, showing a few notifications of successful no-contact deliveries.


    As she wanted to put the phone back down, Melisande saw something on the desk.


    A note. With just a few words on it, written in a squiggly, rushed handwriting.


    Hey Cutie,


    If you ever find this, please feel free to take a look at the deliveries, in case they arrived without issue. The contents are all for you. I¡¯m going with him. Please take care.


    I hope I¡¯ll see you again.


    ¡ª Emika


    Deliveries, Melisande thought. What deliveries?


    She rushed back outside, finding a few packages had been left on the premise, next to the gate. With the screen of the phone lighting them, she opened the first of the two smaller ones.


    Inside were a pair of gloves. They were black and thin, however, had a bit of a silvery lining at the tips.


    What did she need gloves for? There was no reason to wear them. But¡­ since they were a present from Emika, she might as well try. After putting them on, she wanted to open the second smaller package, when suddenly, something weird happened.


    The light on the phone screen flickered within her grip. It shouldn¡¯t do that, right?


    Looking at it, in her hands, she noticed that suddenly, the phone screen seemed to react to her touch, as her fingers had accidentally put numbers into the screen. These gloves¡­ were they magical?


    Inside the second smaller package, much heavier than the first, Melisande found another smartphone. A smartphone for herself. Her own. She stared back at the gloves¡­ They were like a tool to use this new gate to escape her loneliness.


    She gulped as if there was something in her mouth. A remnant of a human gesture inflicted on her by Amagdala. And yet, it was almost as freeing as crying. Even though the world was open to her now, at least for the moment, she felt no stronger wish than to step in front of Emika and hug her ¡®thank you¡¯ a thousand times.


    There was only one package left. Compared to the other two, this one was massive. Probably almost a meter high, and cubic. She ripped the cardboard open, almost losing consciousness as she realized her magic reserves were nearly empty.


    What she found inside were hundreds of packages of loose white tea leaves. Enough to keep her alive for decades.


    Enough to make her dangerous for now.


    She took out a small pair of scissors, opening up threads holding her skin fabric together on her thighs. As she opened the layers, tea leaves started to spill, and she further shovelled them out of the way with her fingers to make room for the new leaves.


    It took a while to replace everything. Every single one of those smoked-out old shrivels, in every corner of her body. And as she did it, she felt the new magic sweep into her, healing the tears and fringes littering her skin, washing away the blemishes beneath all the makeshift patches she now could finally remove without leaking her insides.


    Only as she had just finished did Melisande notice the being that had crept up to her from behind this entire time. Turning around, she gazed into the abyss opened by the Well of Abstraction¡¯s scarlet red ring.


    Melisande smiled at it, rose up and gently caressed one of its juniper antlers. ¡°Miss her too, don¡¯t cha?¡± she asked, pulling out the piece of Emika she had in her purse. Then, she fed it into the void. ¡°I need your help. You can find her, right? You know where she is.¡±


    The Well stopped pursuing Melisande, now just having its ring gaze at her in calm.


    ¡°I knew it, my dear,¡± she whispered, slowly passing by the creature. ¡°Let¡¯s go get her.¡±

 Chapter 30: Irrigation

    ¡°Transferred?¡± Emika asked, a blank look on her face. ¡°But I just got here. Do I already have to pack all my stuff?¡±


    She gestured around to all the snippets of growths lying around in her cell, to her cloak that she¡¯d thrown in a corner because it was completely chock-full crusted with her blood, a few empty bottles of water lying around that Maxime had to replace way too quickly because she always felt thirsty, as well as the book on curses lying next to her.


    ¡°You can¡¯t take the book,¡± Maxime said. ¡°But, yes. You¡¯ll depart in two days. I¡¯ll provide you with fresh clothing. You may take a shower if you so wish.¡±


    ¡°How generous,¡± murmured Emika. Really, what was the point of him being so prideful on not killing unless necessary if he still treated monsters like absolute trash? What a hypocrite. ¡®Sure, let¡¯s make her presentable before I transfer her to another location, so that it seems like I treated her well.¡¯ Was that what he was thinking?


    She took a breath to steady herself. This is good news, she told herself. It meant she had two more days, hopefully without being interrupted by ¡®tests¡¯. Two more days to practice.


    She already presumed that it would likely be two days without sleep. This was her last shot.


    ¡°The facility you will be transferred to is well-equipped,¡± he explained. ¡°I conferred with them in-depth. They agree that this will be the best place for you. It¡¯s not a facility that has many spots. Honestly, I¡¯m happy for you.¡±


    Emika stared into his calm eyes, trying not to let herself get provoked by his relaxed and toned-down demeanour. He did seem¡­ different. He didn¡¯t treat her with the same confidence and nonchalance anymore that he had prior to his tests.


    ¡°Does that place have a name?¡±


    ¡°Heaven.¡±


    ¡°¡­ Heaven? That¡¯s it? That¡¯s the name?¡±


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a research and treatment facility. It deals with some of the most intricate cases of magical afflictions. Among other things.¡±


    Great. She couldn¡¯t wait to find out with how much hospitality they would treat her. Three time¡¯s the charm, huh?


    Apparently, he was reading Emika¡¯s annoyed expression, because he soon added, ¡°It¡¯s really a great place. I have come to think that it may not be possible using my resources to cure you. But they might.¡±


    It was left up to wonder how many more times these people would think dangling a cure in front of her would actually motivate her to do anything at all. It only worked so many times.


    ¡°I look forward to it,¡± Emika said, not even managing to give a fake smile. ¡°So, what about the bath and the clothes? Let¡¯s do it now, I feel icky.¡±


    She definitely didn¡¯t want to be interrupted with this later when doing her practice.


    He eyed her for a second ¡ª maybe weighing in his mind if she was still presentable enough if she had spent two days in her clothes by the time she¡¯d arrive there ¡ª but eventually he nodded and let her out.


    This time, they went to a different part of the large building, and Emika could get another few glimpses at things. It was run-down all around. Old, torn wallpapers, cracks in the ceilings, dust everywhere, tickling her nose. Finally, they arrived at a range of showers in a mouldy community bathroom.


    ¡°Take your pick,¡± he said. ¡°I will go fetch some clothes and put them there.¡± He pointed to the corner of the bathroom, right next to the door. ¡°I will seal the room with magic. When you¡¯re done, knock three times. I will escort you back to your cell then.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    He waited for a few moments for her to say anything else, but then nodded and left the bathroom.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The first thing Emika noticed after turning towards the closest stall was that she was too large to fit in there. Her growths stuck out in all kinds of ways, making it impossible for her to go inside easily¡­ and she couldn¡¯t break off the larger branches. She¡¯d need a saw for that.


    Or¡­ did she?


    Earlier, the ghost had shown her that she could imagine herself to look different¡­


    Raising her wooden hand, she noticed it was still formed into a fist. The stretched out fingers that had initially been there were still gone. So¡­ in other words, that meant she could reduce her size too, maybe?


    Turning to the large mirror on the other side of the walls where the sinks were lined up, she imagined her growths to be small in her reflection. For them to wither, to be gone. Like looking at a bonsai material tree and imagining it in its finished form before starting to cut off unwanted branches.


    And indeed, within a few seconds, much of her excess growth vanished into ash, like burned away with a flame torch and dispersed into the air. Goosebumps went over her body, and at the same time, she got dizzy, and slumped down on the cold floor tiles.


    She could change her shape. Not just move a finger. She needed a few moments to brace herself against the wave of realisations that hit her mind with that finding. For one¡­ that meant she could wear her favourite clothes again. There was this one sweater in particular that she adored for how comfy it was, but she hadn¡¯t worn it in weeks because she¡¯d feared the curse would destroy it¡­ That alone was a big victory.


    She tried to get up, unconsciously placing most of her weight on one leg in the process, and immediately felt something crack beneath her.


    The floor tile. She had broken it.


    How heavy had she become?!


    More importantly, she again got light-headed, the corners of her field of vision turning fuzzy. She had to lean against the stall, placing her hand against it, thus breaking down the wooden framing in the process.


    ¡°Fuck,¡± she hissed.


    A strand of blood ran down the side of her hand where it had been clamped between two broken pieces of chipboard. I really need to get a grip on this new body. Her mass seemingly increased by the hour. She felt like a forest was growing inside of her.


    Finally, she entered the unbroken stall next to the one she¡¯d ruined, and put on the water. She didn¡¯t even bother to remove her clothes; they were sticking to her like tape because all of her coagulated blood had seeped into the fabric.


    It took her a while to realize what was happening.


    The water was raining down on her, but most of it didn¡¯t even find its way down the drain. By all means, it felt like she was a sponge soaking it all up. No, to be more precise¡­ She was watering herself.


    Oh my god, she thought. How had she never thought that? Of course, if she was a tree, she needed tons of water! Especially if she really had a large mass of plant matter inside her. She practically felt herself liven up as the droplets rained down. Like a shrivelled and dried up patch of moss soaking itself on morning dew, she gained in volume. New growths sprouted out from her in real time, and she did her best to imagine them gone before they could break the stalls further.


    When was the last time she¡¯d received that much water? Even on her day visiting Melisande, while it had rained the whole night, she¡¯d mostly spent it under an umbrella. Suddenly, she realised umbrellas were the work of evil.


    She just stood there, timeless, motionless, enjoying the feeling of finally, finally seeping in the much-needed sustenance. It reminded her of her most busy days, when she¡¯d pushed off to eat due to her work on trees for so long and finally ended up drinking tomato soup at the very end of the day.


    At some point, eventually, she felt saturated. It wasn¡¯t clear to her how much time had passed, but it could well have been an hour. By now, the water was actually escaping her. For a brief moment, she wondered if she¡¯d overwatered herself¡­ Perhaps that was something she¡¯d need to manage from now on.


    Emika hadn¡¯t noticed that the water was missing from her, but now that it was here, she felt so much better¡­ Like she could do anything in the world.


    And so, she got rid of her clothes and tossed them aside, cleaning the parts of her body that were still made of skin and flesh. Finally, she left the stall to fetch the clothes that Maxime had actually reliably placed at the point he¡¯d indicated earlier.


    Looking back at the mirror in her new white sweater and white jogging pants, she felt elated. She could walk around like a normal human again. Except that now, she was even heavier, having taken in all that water, and actually broke each tile she set a single toe on.


    But, she wasn¡¯t feeling dizzy anymore when getting up. Didn¡¯t lose her balance.


    Closing her eyes, she imagined herself looking like one of her favourite bonsai trees in at home, full cascade style. Opening them up again, she could see the growths pierce through the cloth of her new outfit, and eventually, forming into the sloping down shape she had envisioned.


    Emika was strong now. She was sure of it. Strong enough to defeat a Cursebreaker? That remained to be seen. But the water¡­ it made her feel alive.

 Chapter 31: Final Day

    ¡°Can I take another shower the day of the transport?¡± Emika asked on the way back to her cell, as innocently as possible. ¡°If that¡¯s okay? I thought about it, and I think I¡¯m starting to look forward to that new place you talked about. I would like to feel good going there.¡±


    It was a weak excuse, but Emika had to try. She stared into Maxime¡¯s pensive eyes, giving the best impression she could of what amounted in her mind to a ¡®sheepish¡¯ look. Could this even possibly work?


    And then, Maxime smiled. The guy actually smiled. Well, there¡¯s that. Maybe he was happy at her accepting her fate. She smiled back.


    ¡°Sure. Today went really well. I don¡¯t see why not,¡± he replied.


    ¡°Thank you very much.¡±


    With that, she went back into her cell and waited until he left.


    Emika now had almost two full days at full vigor to practice her newfound power. And then, she¡¯d be able to replenish her water reserves with another long and comfy shower session. Life was good. Amazing, even. And soon, she¡¯d get to see Melisande again.


    She already smugly imagined herself, after having broken out of this place, running to Melisande¡¯s home, and surprising her with a visit, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here!¡±


    Of course, she was aware that she couldn¡¯t make the choice for Melisande, but maybe, maybe Melisande actually wanted to meet her too. Possibly, even run off together. Where, Emika didn¡¯t know. Perhaps back to her home. Or somewhere else entirely. That would all be too good to be true, and yet, she couldn¡¯t help herself daydreaming about it.


    But for now, it was time to make sure she¡¯d not mess this all up. It was time to practice her imagination and to reliably form herself to what she had in mind.


    The first thing she tried was creating small, detailed growths. Like making new fingers on her wooden hand and practising certain movements. She also tested out how far her growths could go. The answer was: pretty darn far. She managed to push a single branch out in spirals around her to what surely amounted to a dozen metres. The further out it went, the thicker the base of the branch would become, with its tip generally staying the size she had initially imagined it.


    Crucially, she could only grow from places where it had already broken her skin. Her severed arm was her best place to grow from as it provided the most space, but there were more openings on her back, on her stomach and thigh and other places she¡¯d been shot through, and a few smaller places where she¡¯d been injured before.


    After getting the hang of it, she had an easier and easier time envisioning herself in complex three-dimensional shapes of tree structures. All those years of looking at material trees and imagining what they could eventually look like after being wired now paid off with her curse too.


    Being wired¡­


    That thought made her raise an eyebrow. When creating a bonsai tree, she¡¯d use wires to force branches into specific forms. Wasn¡¯t that¡­ something she could use?


    The mage ghost had called it a cognition.


    TreEs don¡¯t move, he had said.


    Except, he was wrong. They could move. When forced to by a strong wire.


    With this kind of cognition, maybe she¡¯d be able to move her branches. That is, if she could get it to work within two days.


    And then, after those two days of gruelling, self-imposed training, she was utterly spent. She¡¯d decided to rest for the last few hours before Maxime would fetch her for the second shower, to regain some mental energy before her escape. She felt that she was pretty good at using her imagination, but it was still a draining process, and she¡¯d probably lost all her water again, trying to grow and degrow time after time, after time.


    There were two skills she had practised more than any other ¡ª one was a sudden burst of condensed, large chunk of wood, like the base of a trunk. She thought it could be used to block attacks and defend her own body. Definitely, she didn¡¯t want to suddenly be cut in half where she was still soft and squishy.


    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    The other part was that she needed a way to attack in surprise and at long distance. If she was going to fight Maxime, she required a way to beat him. Which, in other words, probably meant a way to kill him. Going for anything less against a guy who¡¯d shot her several times seemed dangerous.


    Maxime was immune to her curse, but presumably not immune to physical damage, so if she could lash out with a piercing, sudden growth and poke his liver, he¡¯d bleed out. She¡¯d had that idea before, but it was a bit of a random thought just for show, because Emika wasn¡¯t actually aware of where people carried their livers. Or their hearts, or other important organs for that matter.


    The point was; she had to deal a kind of damage that could eventually kill him. And she needed ways to stall. Both of these things she thought she could now potentially do.


    This plan being all set and ready, she finally filled her water back up again in the shower, and was escorted back to her cell like last time.


    ¡°The transfer will happen in a few hours. Get some rest. I don¡¯t know what time zone they currently have.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I will. Thank you,¡± said Emika.


    ¡°We won¡¯t see each other again,¡± he started, provoking Emika to raise an eyebrow, ¡°So let me just tell you this. I¡¯m sorry you only got to see the bad sides of my hospitality. It¡¯s necessary to be wary in this line of work. To put some interests below others. Even if it¡¯s not ideal.¡±


    ¡°No hard feelings,¡± she lied. ¡°But, why won¡¯t we see each other again?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll see. Goodbye, Emika.¡±


    With a smile on his face, he nodded and turned away.


    Emika stared at his back as he ascended the stairs, frowning. Well, that was ominous. Either way, it was time to get out. She made sure to wait until he was long gone because she didn¡¯t know how much noise her escape would make. She knew the layout well enough by now to confidently say that no rooms in the immediate surroundings were such that he¡¯d go and spend time there; if anything, his workplaces were probably on the other end of the building. Still, that¡¯s where the exit was, so she needed to go past there too.


    A few minutes went by until she stepped in front of the cell bars and closed her eyes, envisioning a massive burst of deadwood, vegetation, and juniper branches beaming out from her. And then, it happened.


    The cell door was crushed away in a tsunami of wood flowing out, clanking and, bending as the metal stood no chance at the sheer natural power.


    Looking down at the devastation she had caused and the roots and deadwood spilling out from her towards the exit, Emika had never felt so accomplished. Maybe, if she had racked her brain, she could have figured a way to break out in a less destructive manner, but there was little joy in leaving this place without causing massive damage.


    Her bare feet quietly tapped over the stone floor, all the while the noise of her break-out still rung in her ears like a magnum opus.


    Tip, tap. She went up the stairs, through the corridor. She wondered how much wood there was inside her. Her feet were silent and soft, but they carried weight. It was the best feeling in the world, having legs so strong they could carry the brimming vegetation inside her.


    She wondered what it was that enabled them ¡ª but she had a guess, considering her cracking joints in her knees by now felt like aching wood.


    As she stepped through the corridors, she took a cursory look into each room. In one, she found a computer, so she destroyed it by strangling it with a branch like a boa constrictor, the sound of it breaking muted by countless small juniper needles wrapping it up. She went into another room and found a few metal instruments, scrolls and magical ingredients, all of which she turned useless ¡ª be it through bending casings by wedging growing branches between the openings, or having roots take hold inside them until the breaking point, or straight up smashing them with a heavy twig whip.


    All she had to do was think them gone, and they¡¯d be made gone by her curse. Still, it took effort. Mental drain, and she felt that using her curse in this way used up resources inside her, although it was much too early to really tell what it entailed. Water, for one. But, were there other things she needed? That she unconsciously craved?


    Phosphorus? Nitrate? Potassium, too¡­


    There were many things plants needed to grow, none of which she currently had access to in large quantities. She wondered if eating some fertilizer would make her stronger. In fact, she could try rooting somewhere when she was outside. Maybe it would help.


    And yet, she hesitated when she walked past a room close to the exit and heard Maxime¡¯s voice inside.


    He was talking. Probably on the phone, as there were pauses with no audible replies.


    Emika approached the door as closely as she could to listen in.


    ¡°Yeah. Yes, I understand. Thank you. I¡¯ll get back to you. I have another few calls to make first.¡±


    He stopped talking, but soon after, he started a new conversation.


    ¡°Hello Amagdala. I¡¯m glad you could make the time.¡±


    A moment passed, then he said, ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. I wanted to inform you of some developments. Concerning one of the magical beings that I¡¯m currently taking care of. As I understand, that being is related to you. My notes say to keep you informed. I trust you¡¯ve had contact with my father?¡±


    On one hand, Emika wanted to leave. This was the perfect moment. On the other hand, strangely, something kept her listening. And then, her eyes widened.


    ¡°Yes. Melisande. That¡¯s correct. The truth is, she has escaped from her home. This breaches the contract she has formed with our family to keep her and others safe. As such, I wanted to inform you that I will give chase and destroy her. Is there anything you would like to share with me before I do?¡±

 Chapter 32: Grit

    Emika¡¯s heart pounded in her chest. Melisande had left her home? Why? What could have possibly motivated her to do that?


    Before she could think about it any further, Maxime started talking again. ¡°I see. I understand. Let me know if anything comes to your mind. I regret that you likely won¡¯t be able to talk to her again. Is there a message you would like me to express to her? Some final words?¡±


    A brief silence. Then, he said, ¡°There is no need to be rude. I will take her out gently. Please remember ¡ª she agreed to the conditions of her situation. She voluntarily decided to break them. The consequences are clear. It was her own choice.¡±


    The conversation ended. Between his words, Emika heard what sounded like a blazing fire inside the room. Was there a hearth?


    After just a moment, he spoke again. ¡°Hello. Are the results of the divinations in?¡±


    Divinations¡­ That meant he was trying to find her.


    ¡°I see,¡± he continued. ¡°Huh¡­ So the location is scrambled? Someone must be helping her. Did one of the non-location-specific questions yield a result?¡±


    Emika could hear him fetch a sheet of paper and noting down something, barely audible above the flames. ¡°She¡¯s not trying to escape? You are sure that answer was ¡®no¡¯? Could this have been tampered with too?¡±


    A short pause, then he added, ¡°I don¡¯t know who might be helping her, but scrambling not only her location but other facts too sounds very resource-intensive. So, I¡¯m inclined to agree. If she¡¯s not escaping¡­ what else could she be trying to do? Maybe she was kidnapped?¡±


    The conversation ended soon after, and he phoned someone else. ¡°Hello, it¡¯s me. I have a follow-up question on Melisande¡¯s disappearance. You said you had given her a mobile phone a few years ago. Could you give me the number?¡±


    As he was making these quick calls, Emika¡¯s mind raced, trying its best to keep up with what he was saying. She needed to find Melisande before him, but she had no clue where she could be.


    Finally, he had a last conversation.


    ¡°Hello. This is Maxime Durand. I want to request some information based on the Cursebreaker Overreach Protocol. I¡¯m invoking it due to a missing magical creature. Yes. I have a phone number. I need the metadata of this phone. Who called, all correspondents. I also have a static IP-address. I would like you to cross-reference the pages it accessed with other users that might have visited them. How long will that take?¡±


    He listened to an answer, and then dictated the numbers, and then silence fell as he waited.


    Her head spun, barely recognizing what he was doing anymore. Where was Melisande? Emika couldn¡¯t help but have a distant hope. Something that Melisande had once told her. That she would come save her. Emika tried as hard as she could to ignore it. It had been a joke. There was absolutely no way she had meant it. It was an irrational thought. Nothing like this would ever happen. And even if it was true, then how would Melisande even know where Emika was? A total pipe dream, and Emika felt bold and self-servant for even entertaining it.


    But none of this changed the facts.


    It really hadn¡¯t been Emika¡¯s plan to kill him. Trying to was risky, and might lead nowhere. Murdering a Cursebreaker could, in fact, make even stronger fish in the sea aware of her existence, and cause her a range of problems. Additionally, there was no reason to believe that she¡¯d actually outmatch him, even with her newfound powers.


    But she needed to save Melisande.


    After a few minutes, Maxime chuckled. ¡°Yes. I¡¯m glad they finally powered up those channels. Dealing with magical creatures is time-sensitive. It¡¯s best not having to wait for days for such data to come in.¡±


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Another few minutes went by, and there was mostly silence. Except in Emika¡¯s brain, as she started to make sense of what Maxime was doing right now. There was no way. No way, right? There was no way he¡¯d find the connection this easily.


    After having felt so elated for days, now, for the first time, she felt her exhaustion seeping back in.


    But she couldn¡¯t leave before knowing how this conversation would end. The fire inside kept blazing, to the point it made her nervous. Did hearths as strong as this even exist?


    And, finally, she heard some more scratches of a pen move over paper. ¡°I see¡­¡± Maxime mumbled. ¡°You are sure? Hasegawa Emika? And Amagdala, Witch of the Eternal Sunset? I must say, this is surprising. And yet, it makes clear why she left. And why she is able to hide her location. Maybe that witch divined this location. Thank you. Yes. I will go dispatch her right now.¡±


    A small pause lingered, and then he said, ¡°No, she¡¯s just an S-tier. Well, technically, in her current state, not even B-tier. I won¡¯t need any back-up. I¡¯m with my family¡¯s familiar right now, anyway. Yeah. Yes, I know. I summoned it because I am keeping a cursed one on my premises. Things should work out well enough. Thank you.¡±


    He was not alone in there? That fire. His familiar?


    Emika couldn¡¯t go rush off to see Melisande first, because this information was way too vague. She needed to either follow him there, or¡­ kill him right now?


    Sweat broke out from her as she made the split-second decision to rush down the corridor. This was his home turf. He¡¯d just kill her. She left the building, and immediately took in the fresh evening air, for the first time in days. This had supposed to be her big victory, after which she would to go fetch Melisande and live a life in happiness, but now¡­


    It wasn¡¯t dark yet, but the sun closed in on the horizon. The surroundings of the building were pure spruce forest, in which she wouldn¡¯t be able to hide. Instead, she found a small gap in the walls of the building, and sat down, as quietly as possible. She would need to wait for him to leave. It would be much easier for her to fight outside, where her growths could weep out from her unrestrained. Especially because she had no idea what his fighting style actually was.


    While waiting, she decided to try her idea from earlier. She imagined roots growing out from her, and bore them into the earth.


    It actually felt amazing. The deeper she went, the thicker the main root and the more dispersed its endings, the more she felt like she was actually drinking black tea, the caffeine seeping into her, making her sharper, more awake. She absorbed the ground¡¯s nutrition for quite a while, wondering what it was that held Maxime off for so long.


    Until, finally, she heard an engine rumbling, and saw a motorcycle rush across the clearing.


    Within those few seconds, she noticed three things, as she jumped up and ran after.


    The first was that Maxime was accompanied by what she could only describe as a giant burning weasel ¡ª tall as a wolf, long as an anaconda. It ran around his vehicle with agile hops, until Maxime sped up enough for it to struggle to keep up.


    The second was that Maxime was now armed ¡ª he had what appeared to be a curved, thin sword sheathed on his back, as well as countless scrolls of different sizes draped on his coat, easy to reach.


    And the third was that she had deeply messed up. She could feel it in her wooden bones ¡ª this wasn¡¯t like her. The disaster with the Well of Abstraction had made her hesitant to act. That¡¯s why she had agreed to go with Maxime in the first place, and that¡¯s why she hadn¡¯t confronted him inside just now. She really needed her recklessness back.


    And yet, in a fight against a flame creature, she had no chance of winning. She would have fought and lost, at any stage of the way, regardless of what she¡¯d done. Especially indoors. She¡¯d be nothing but charcoal by now. Despite that, all she could feel was regret.


    Because Melisande couldn¡¯t win against a creature made of fire, either.


    She rushed after as fast as she could, but they¡¯d already disappeared into the forest. Desperately trying to find any way at all to move faster, she closed her eyes. She imagined a thin but strong root lunging out from her, digging into the ground a few meters ahead, and using it as a lever to launch herself as far and as violently as possible.


    And then, it happened. The root deeply pierced the earth, hurling her forward, then withering. After soaring through the air in almost three metres height, she realised that she hadn¡¯t planned ahead, and crashed into the ground. Sliding dozens of metres across, her enormous mass sent earth and weeds and rocks into all directions.


    That said, she was fast. She ploughed through the mossy rubble, vegetation, plantwork and stones, all of it barely affecting her inertia, she simply slid far along on the ground unimpeded. Luckily enough, she managed to bloat out a protective layer of deadwood to keep her skin from peeling off to the bone on the gravel as she reached the street. She felt a few bruises and splinters had edged themselves into her, but overall, she was okay.


    Which meant this was the only way for her to keep up.


    And thus, she snapped out another root from her back, and launched herself again. This time, surely, she¡¯d grow a branch to catch her before crashing into the ground.


    All she needed to do was catch up.

 Chapter 33: Conflagration

    This way of movement cost Emika a significant amount of energy. She kept it up as long as she could ¡ª in fact, longer than she could, judging from the headache that started piercing her mind after having focused on moving her proliferations non-stop for almost half an hour.


    Finally, her concentration slipped as she was still going in full force, taking a shortcut to flatten a curve in the road. Somehow, she¡¯d missed the empty shell of an abandoned stone shed in her path, and smashed right into it. Dust shot up in clouds as she lost all momentum, destroying the walls, then shooting back out a short distance on the other side.


    Now she just laid there, all bruised and beaten up, breathing heavily. She tasted the brick refuse on her tongue. Then, she tasted the blood as it dripped its way inside her mouth from her broken lip.


    This was her limit.


    On one hand, she made a considerable distance. Probably dozens of kilometres. At some point, she¡¯d even heard the sounds of the motorcycle ahead, seen the flames of the weasel blaze on the horizon. The issue was, she had no way to know how much further they¡¯d go.


    ¡°What a disaster¡­¡± she mumbled between her breaths.


    ¡°InDeed,¡± a familiar voice suddenly issued out from behind her. She was too tired to turn around, but knew who it was.


    ¡°You again,¡± she whispered, eyes unfocused. She tried to bring his existence back into her tired mind. ¡°Ah¡­ Thanks for your help last time. It worked.¡±


    ¡°I can seE that,¡± the ghost chuckled, as he shifted through Emika¡¯s head and suddenly became visibly in front of her ¡ª poking out from the ground neck upward, same eye-level as her.


    ¡°God, don¡¯t do that. Super creepy,¡± Emika protested in a weak tone.


    ¡°I saw you take root! In front of Durand¡¯s prEmise.¡±


    Upon hearing that, she closed her eyes. ¡°Thanks for the reminder,¡± she muttered and proceeded to gather her last bit of strength to grow a massive amount of roots from her body to take nutrients from the surrounding earth. ¡°Still have to get used to all this.¡±


    He simply smiled at her.


    ¡°Why are you helping me again, anyway? I appreciate it, but¡­ You still haven¡¯t fetched anything in return from me. I¡¯m not going to regret this, am I?¡±


    This time, she felt the effect from the roots even stronger. It was like they were pumping life energy right into her brain, muscles, and deep inside her, within this rich forest full of life. She could only imagine what the effect would be like in a proper, old mixed forest, instead of a monoculture tree farm like this.


    ¡°You happen to alreAdy be attempting to do what I was going to ask you,¡± the ghost mused. ¡°Funnily enOugh.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sounds very funny.¡±


    The earthy smell of the forest and the gentle, cool breeze made her calm down from the incredible exertion she had just had. It felt like staying still and taking root was what she was always meant to do. Maybe that¡¯s what her retirement would look like, one day.


    And yet, soon ¡ª as soon as possible ¡ª she¡¯d need to continue on. Continue to Melisande. Her only hope was that, somehow, Melisande was able to hold her own against Maxime for at least a while. A brutal, forlorn hope.


    The ghost¡¯s flickering expression turned gentle for a bit. ¡°Humans are quite aRrogant, aren¡¯t they?¡± he said. ¡°I bet Durand has absolutely no clue you are already ouT. It must not even have occurred to hIm.¡±


    ¡°Weren¡¯t you a human once, too?¡±


    ¡°Yes. But noT any more. They make quite certain one knows the diFference once they exclude you.¡±


    Emika gave a weak smile. ¡°That much we can agree on.¡±


    ¡°He is so arroGant, he doesn¡¯t even see me as a threat. And I mean, I am not one,¡± the ghost then continued. ¡°Ghosts canNot impact the world physically at aLL.¡±


    The white noise around him flared up for a moment. ¡°I bEt he wouLd never assume I¡¯d be his unDoing by helpinG you ouT. Because he doesn¡¯T see yOu as a thrEAt, either.¡±


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°The noise is getting very strong. Can you, like, do something about it? Hard to follow you right now. Plus, I¡¯m tired.¡±


    He closed his eyes, pulling his brows together in a display of focus. A few seconds went by, then his entire body snapped like an old CRT screen that had just been turned off. When he came back, he was much clearer to see.


    ¡°Takes me a lot of effort to manifest this clearly,¡± he explained, his voice now sounding like an old recording, without the glitches and stops. ¡°But I will do it, courtesy to you. What I was saying was, he doesn¡¯t see any of us as a threat. And he has his little idea in his head of making the world a better place by being nice to monsters. ¡®Being nice¡¯ meaning not to kill them. And, maybe his ancestors had a point. Possibly, his grandfather or great-great-grandfather, they actually believed in it, and were trying to barter the best bargain for a monster when the world still actively despised and eyed them.¡±


    He glanced at Emika for a moment, then shrugged. ¡°Not that I¡¯d know, I¡¯m not that old. What I do know is that Maxime Durand is nothing like that, and he¡¯d probably kill left and right if he didn¡¯t feel an obligation to his family¡¯s tradition. After all, back when he and I were on a mission, he had no qualms at all to leave me to die when I got injured as we fled from a dragon.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Emika gasped out.


    ¡°I¡¯m a Spite Spirit. I hated the way I lost my life, which is why I still exist even now. That is, until I see him suffer enough to regret, or die. And you are helping me do this. I¡¯m rooting for you,¡± he said, chuckling as he made a gesture towards the ground.


    ¡°Damn, that must suck.¡±


    ¡°Not at all. I was always a spiteful person. And, being a mage, I knew how to become a Spite Spirit quite well. That¡¯s what I spent my remaining few minutes doing back then.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry this happened to you,¡± Emika murmured, slowly pushing herself up from the ground, snapping some of the smaller roots out directly, while the others vanished into ash. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can take revenge for you or anything. I do have my own reasons.¡±


    ¡°I understand, and I¡¯m okay. Just see me as someone who watches this unfold with great pleasure. With a certain outcome I would like to see. But, alas, things don¡¯t always go as we want them to.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Emika finally asked, readying to give chase again.


    ¡°A name is one of the sacrifices one has to make in order to become a Spite Spirit. Immortality rarely comes cheap, even if it¡¯s makeshift. If you will, just remember me as someone who tried to help.¡±


    Emika nodded. ¡°I will. I have to go. Goodbye.¡±


    Then, she launched herself backwards.


    Churning through the woods was almost as easy again as it had been when she started. The amount of strength she could absorb from the ground was massive. In addition, she had gotten a very good hang of it, now almost completely unimpeded by terrain, the cognitions to pull herself forward slowly edging themselves into her brain through relentless repetition.


    That said, she just really hoped that losing those few minutes didn¡¯t make the difference between life and death. For a brief second, the image of a spilled out Melisande flashed in front of her eyes, and it rendered Emika¡¯s heart asunder.


    She needed to be faster.


    It was then, after about twenty more minutes of travel, that Emika finally came to see the burning weasel at the end of the street. It was still running after its owner, who had apparently pulled ahead with the motorcycle. Emika couldn¡¯t believe her eyes.


    The ghost was right. Maxime was just that unbelievably arrogant. To allow himself to split off from this creature, he must have been seeing anything else around him as mere defenseless maggots.


    Emika had no intention to fight this being, and she hoped she could just move past it. However, she wasn¡¯t so lucky. The moment the weasel noticed her approach and turned around, her field of view was completely swallowed up by flames.


    Crashing to the ground, she tried to see what happened, but all that she could perceive were her deadwood proliferations on fire, while the living juniper branches resisted for now due to containing some amount of water still.


    Amidst the flames, staring at her angrily, explosions of flames bursting out from it fire left and right, the weasel rushed forward in zigzag, then lashed out with a cone of fire against her. Emika barely managed to grow a wooden shield in time. Embers and ash flew by her as she ducked, continuously growing the shield back as it was being devoured by the attack.


    When she felt her focus getting low, she launched herself into the air again. Quickly figuring out the being¡¯s current location, she stomped down on it from above with a gigantic elephant¡¯s foot worth of tree mass ¡ª so large she actually figured it impossible to dodge, but the creature somehow managed to¡­ weasel its way out.


    Angry at the pun that had popped up in her own head the moment she saw it happen, she lashed down with another stomp, but again, the critter dodged. A new sudden burst of fire unleashed from its mouth caught her mid-air, strong enough to launch her back, and this time, she didn¡¯t have the focus up to protect herself. The fire hit her skin, partly burning through to her flesh.


    Pain shot through her, she let out a gasp, vision turning blurry. Every single spruce she crashed through snapped apart on contact until she landed on the ground, all air being blast out of her lungs.


    This wasn¡¯t going to work. She couldn¡¯t lose time while Melisande was facing Maxime alone.


    Sacrifices had to be made.


    And with that, Emika got up, conjured another, thicker shield from her wooden hand, and approached the weasel head-on.


    It was time to see what would give out first. The forest inside her, or the familiar¡¯s sea of flames.


    Amidst the next burst, Emika simply persisted onwards. There was no turning back.

 Chapter 34: Going Through Hell for Her

    Even though it probably only took a minute at best, the march to her death of flames felt eternal. Emika could feel the wood pouring out from her, struggling to replace what was burned of her outside.


    I¡¯m going to end this damn weasel, she thought as her skin tightened from the heat and her eyes burned. Pain echoed through her, squeezing out tears that immediately evaporated. Her nose stung sharp with the stench of coal and her scorched flesh.


    The true ambition of her plan was not only to defend herself against the attack. No, there was another layer to it. Something that would let her win.


    At least, that was what she hoped.


    Step after step, she felt her reserves grow thinner, her legs heavier, her shielding falling apart. All of her focus was now on her back, on the visualisation in her head, the clear image she was attempting to recreate within reality.


    And finally, the flame burst relented as the weasel noticed she was getting too close. So, it jumped backwards, banking on its higher agility and speed to defeat her from afar.


    However, the weasel hit a wall.


    A wall made of wood.


    It was only now that it seemed to realise it was trapped. Trapped in a large room of branches, braiding themselves together with no way out, the space only lit up by the flame weasel itself and the juniper needles ablaze inside the confinement.


    And then, in an intricate constricting pattern, the entwined branches closed in. The weasel panicked, bursting out flames into all directions, but its resources seemed to dwindle. Finally, Emika stepped right in front of it, leaving no way to withdraw. The oxygen in the room went out before the fire was able to breach it.


    ¡°Little cutie,¡± she said, crouching down as it hissed a torching burst at her face. The attack immediately succumbed to the smoke, and the flames on the creature¡¯s skin went thinner. ¡°I wish you hadn¡¯t stood in my way to Melisande. That way, you could have lived,¡± she murmured, and held out her hand to touch it. Despite how hot the surface was, its fur felt soft, and Emika gently stroked it for just a moment.


    The weasel squeaked, exploding into charred vines, small patches of grassy, long needles springing out from its body, before spurting into large longleaf pines, parting through the ceiling of the charred wooden capsule. In its death, the creature burst into an explosion of fire, tearing the entire room apart.


    Emika, flames eating at her and her growths, did not care.


    Instead, she launched herself forward, committed to close out the last bit of distance between Melisande and herself. The wind accelerating past her fed the flames, turning her into a blazing ball of fire.


    Landing on the ground, she pulled all of her growths back to dull the flames, rolling over to subdue them, then relented onwards. Her fight with the creature left behind a mounting forest fire that leapt from one spruce to the next.


    She felt the smoke in her lungs, the burns on her skin. The fire churned behind her, no doubt having all intention to devour the dry area whole.


    Wading through the forest, desperate to catch up, she started to notice it.


    The drain.


    Even though the fight had only lasted a few minutes at best, she deeply felt the exhaustion. She launched the next root and jumped, but it came out too short. Pathetically so. Trying to catch herself, she enlarged her wooden arm, but to no avail ¡ª she bombed into the ground, tossing up a wave of soil and dirt.


    However, Emika would not give up. Not this close. Okay, she couldn¡¯t almost fly anymore, but she could still walk. Only a few more steps. A few more minutes.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    She stumbled from one spruce to the next, leaning her arm against them to not lose balance. Sweat was building on her skin, the breeze and temperature unable to dry it off. She could feel pain in her legs ¡ª the pain of having relied on them too long, too heavily.


    As the rush of the fight left her body, a realisation dawned on her. She wasn¡¯t just drained. She was spent. And, she was late. That creature had been her worst possible opponent ¡ª sapping all water from her, charring her entire being. Her legs shook, and despite everything, she felt strangely cold. She didn¡¯t know how long she walked for ¡ª mere minutes, or more? All that kept her going was that she knew she needed to, and yet, her mind played through the scenario in all its possible outcomes and¡­


    There was no way Emika could beat Maxime like this. There was no way Melisande could have persevered this long in her state.


    Emika knew she was too late, and that thought sent shivers down her body, made her even shakier on her feet, and yet, step after step, she kept going. If only she had confronted Maxime at the premise. She might have exhausted him a bit before being killed, to the point where Melisande could have escaped.


    She took a sharp breath. Yet again, she had messed up. Her limbs numbed, a dangerous prickling advancing through them.


    Eventually, she saw the motorcycle abandoned at the side of the road, next to a path onto a clearing, and braced herself for the worst. Too slow to outrun the forest fire, she had brought it with her, and soon it would engulf the vehicle as well.


    A few steps later, a foreign sound jabbed against her ears. It pierced her consciousness almost painfully ¡ª the clunking of metal on metal in the distance. Her heart skipped not just one, but two beats. A small explosion. The sound of something otherworldly, like a heavy electrical impact.


    She heard a fight taking place. Stumbling on the clearing, she could finally see it. First, a wide brimmed hat lying on the ground a few meters away, torn. Raising her gaze, she saw her.


    Melisande was still alive. A sword in hand, one side sharpened, she clashed blades with Maxime. She ducked, attacked. Got parried, retreated. It was one of the most amazing things Emika had ever seen. Melisande was attached to countless threads binding her to the trees and ground in the distance, enabling impossible manoeuvres, dodges, jumps and slashes, as she was essentially piloting herself by pulling the threads, being her own marionette. Maxime seemed not able to keep up, not able to cut the threads fast enough, hampered, hindered. Even when she received blows, she moved her hand over her wounds, and they magically closed back up, just like that.


    By all means, it seemed like she was on the offensive. Melisande was viciously fighting, unrelentingly so, as if completely focused on just the single goal of ending this Cursebreaker¡¯s existence.


    For the first time since leaving her prison, Emika actually noticed and felt the forest ground at her bare feet. The moss her toes sunk into. The little twigs and needles gently poking against her skin. She could swear that she was able to smell the scent of Melisande¡¯s tea be carried over to her, that only now the stars in the sky had come forth.


    Truly, a world without Melisande was not worth caring for.


    How? How was it that Maxime didn¡¯t just take his thin and light sword, and cut her up? How was she so fast? Something about Melisande had changed.


    Emika swallowed hard, trying to hold back the well of emotions spilling out inside of her. She had reached the edge of the clearing, slumping against a tree, knowing that she was too exhausted to even create a single branch right now.


    ¡°Oh, for god¡¯s sake,¡± Maxime snapped, being the first one to notice her arrival. ¡°Can¡¯t monsters just do a single thing as told?¡± He delivered a strangely strong blow to Melisande, viciously knocking her several meters back, ripping off many of her threads in the process. His gaze was hard, annoyed, with a slight hint of disgust. ¡°All you needed to do was stay put. Obedient. And you would have been allowed to live such long lives, in peace. But of course. Being the greedy things you are, you had to throw a fit. And now, I have to kill you both.¡±


    ¡°Emika!¡± Melisande yelped out, and in the blink of an eye, she¡¯d recovered from the blow, with a gentle smile on her face. After a big leap, she slid across the clearing¡¯s grass to reach Emika. As she came to a halt, she stretched out her soft fingers to graze through her friend¡¯s black hair. ¡°I¡¯m so fucking glad to see you¡¯re alive. God, what did he do to you?¡±


    She threw a quick glance back to Maxime, who was quickly clearing out the threads to approach. Then, she turned back with a confident grin.


    ¡°I¡¯m here to fetch you. I¡¯m gonna slice this asshole up, and then we¡¯ll go home.¡±


    Emika¡¯s lower lip wobbled, her body shivered. Vision started to escape her, sweat lingered on her cold skin, the burns still pulling at it. And yet, she forced her eyes to remain open, forced her mind to stay awake.


    There really was a person here in this world who would make all hell break loose and face the worst of odds, just for Emika¡¯s sake? Someone who would go straight through hell, just for her?


    She let out a vibrant sob.

 Chapter 35: Interim — To Water a Juniper With Blood

    Melisande turned away from Emika and tightened the grip on her sword. It was a good sword ¡ª made up of several small segments one could only see up close. She¡¯d drawn it out from her spine, where it was usually stored. Self-sharpening, self-healing, and reinforced through the magic in her leaves. She guessed that Durand¡¯s sword must be similar, or it would have lost its edge from cutting Melisande¡¯s steel-strength threads long ago.


    A steadying breath ¡ª a useless gesture at first glance, but it let other parts of her body know what to expect. And then she charged back at him.


    Emika¡¯s arrival had changed things. For one, this fight wasn¡¯t utterly hopeless anymore. Now, there was an actual way forward ¡ª to get him bleeding somehow, make him lose stamina, then stall out.


    Another part that changed, however, was the burning forest Emika had brought with her. It could only mean one thing. Durand had taken his family¡¯s summon with him. That flame creature that, a very long time ago, had cornered and captured Melisande. It was leagues above S-rank. A creature she could have never beaten, not in a million years.


    Emika being here, in the state she was in, it could only mean that it was gone. What a feat. But here the tree girl was, battered and burnt, after eliminating a centuries old fire based summoning, as if that was even possible at all.


    Emika was truly scary. Scary to the point where Melisande would have needed to forcefully shut down about a dozen subroutines to wipe that proud smile off her own face. All Melisande needed to do now was hold up her end of the bargain.


    A few more clashes. She felt that she was slowly pushing through. Durand¡¯s human body couldn¡¯t keep up with her sudden movements, her strong swipes. And ¡ª there it was.


    He pulled on the end of another one of his scrolls, and an iridescent honey comb bubble shield appeared around him, blocking Melisande¡¯s attack that would have otherwise landed on his thigh.


    She pulled on her neck, loosing a thread, and drew it out. It quickly condensed into another ball of thread. Jumping back, she threw it at the shield. The ball exploded with a sound of cracking electricity, the structure collapsed in a blast of smoke. Immediately, she went back in to apply more pressure, and Durand was losing ground. At least, that¡¯s what it looked like on the outside.


    A quick glance over his coat. There were still about a dozen scrolls left, though not all of them were shielding scrolls. He was waiting for her to run out of tea. No reason to take out the big guns ¡ª no reason to use one of the golden scrolls with the heavy hitting effects, way too expensive to use on a low tier monster like Melisande. She knew that he was still just toying with her.


    And yet, every scroll she forced him to use would diminish his resources. For one, there was a limit to how many he carried with him, or how many he owned in total, because instant spell scrolls were not cheap to make. But also, when they were activated, they used up magical energy of the caster. Melisande couldn¡¯t sense magic, so she had no idea how much life energy he had left.


    All she had was this little sensor in her own fabric telling her that her reserves were at 39%.


    39% that Melisande had to use optimally, in the most destructive way possible, to force energy and scrolls out of him, so that maybe, maybe Emika could kill him off afterwards.


    ¡°You realise that this is pointless, right?¡± Durand said, his breath ever so slightly unsteady. ¡°Surrender now. Both of you haven¡¯t killed anyone in your little escape attempts. Right? Maybe we can work something out still.¡±


    Those words were empty, of course, but they still betrayed a little fact. Not killed anyone?


    Was he not aware? Was the evidence of the growing forest fire around them, and Emika having arrived, not enough to make him realise that his familiar was dead? That idea must be so outlandish, so inconceivable to him that he didn¡¯t even realise the position he was in.


    Durand, Melisande thought. There is a creature here who beat your high-rank familiar. Even though you might still win, you are in trouble.


    And yet, he asked his opponents¡¯ surrender. No danger sense at all.


    Melisande went in again, a little sharper, pulling the environmental threads a bit tighter, and she finally managed to break through with this sudden, unaccounted speed, when his reflexes had grown accustomed to the old.


    And there it was, the slightest cut on his shoulder. Through his coat, through his other layers of clothing, a small infraction, and three scrolls damaged and lost. Not enough to endanger him, but enough to make a statement.


    He grunted, falling back. Didn¡¯t seem too perturbed, just slightly surprised, and started pulling on another scroll.


    This one was different. Still colourless, but no shielding scroll. Melisande braced herself. She wouldn¡¯t be able to stop him pulling the scroll in time with the distance they had.


    Cursebreakers were immune to magic. Magical effects did not apply to them, so some types of scrolls he would not carry. Self-enhancement scrolls, healing scrolls, scrolls to bring himself afloat or teleport, were all out of the question. A shield worked because it used himself as a reference point to blow up the honeycomb bubble, without affecting him personally.


    Of course, there were also scrolls that would hit opponents. But those were usually golden scrolls. Of those, he had four with him. But these caused strong magical effects. Would he be able to cast more than one or two?


    He gently slipped his finger under the uncoloured scroll¡¯s paper, and dragged it out.


    His sword, already healing from the damage it had received in the last few blows as it always did, now started glowing in a sparkly red sheen.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Instinctively, Melisande sent more magic into her own sword as well. She wouldn¡¯t risk him simply cutting through her weapon and leaving her exposed.


    He charged, slashing through the threads still spun throughout the clearing. Now, they barely offered resistance. When he stepped in front of Melisande to cut her down, she was ready.


    One cut, two, three. Heavy clunking sounds echoed through the forest, but she managed to parry them all. The hits were strong. Her weapon was feeling the brunt, but her magic repaired the steel barely in time. Melisande ducked, trying to get a hit against his foot, but he withdrew just in time, then kicked her in the face. Staggering back, she parried one more, two more of his hits, but saw his smile.


    That meant no good. Immediately, Melisande decided to lash out. It didn¡¯t matter that she left herself open, didn¡¯t matter that he¡¯d be able to cut her up, she needed to get this one, final hit against his neck, just as he started pulling the golden scroll on his hip.


    Too late. Just a centimetre from his skin, she stopped.


    A low range freeze scroll. Melisande could no longer move. A tearing sound came from her belly as she felt his sword dart through her fabric, dried leaves flowing out.


    Her remaining energy rapidly sank to almost zero.


    ¡°Can¡¯t believe I had to use this much,¡± he said, matter-of-factly, but his breaths were deep. Shook his head, then walked away from her with a shrug. She still couldn¡¯t move ¡ª the freezing scroll would probably hold for a few minutes. It must have been extremely high-quality.


    He turned his back on Melisande, and with horror, she realised that Emika had been crawling towards them in desperation, too weak to cry out. She was growing proliferations, but they were weak, barely sustained themselves, had a small root in the ground, but it couldn¡¯t compare with how much she needed.


    And yet, with all her remaining might, Emika stood up. Stood up to face him, teeth clenched. When she looked at him, there was only one emotion on her brown-eyed, round face ¡ª a face that rarely betrayed what it felt, and even now, even in its most extreme, it was merely a stare.


    For Emika, that meant pure, uncontrolled rage. She reached out her healthy hand, no doubt in order to touch him, or to launch something at him, but she was too weak.


    Three quick cuts as Durand ducked and spun, and she fell apart like a card house. Parts of her fingers tumbled from her hand, severed away. One lash had gone almost vertically through her thigh, separating her leg. The last one, sideways through Emika¡¯s waist, made her in two.


    The parts of her slumped to the ground, partly in a wet thumping sound, partly through cracking wood. Blood gushed out from everywhere.


    ¡°You got a little arrogant,¡± Durand said. ¡°You do realise surviving a few shots is nothing, right? All I have to do is cause enough damage. We are in a forest. What do you think you can sap from here? It doesn¡¯t matter how large your radius really is. I will simply kill you over and over. Until there¡¯s nothing left alive. God, this is exhausting. To think we could have skipped this. If you¡¯d just been a little sensible.¡±


    Melisande was screaming inside. Her body wouldn¡¯t move. He was almost spent. She could feel it. She just ¡ª if only she could break out. There was sweat on his skin. The oxygen around was dwindling. The forest fire was around them. Smoke in his lungs. He was done. Just a little bit more. Just a tiny bit more. If only.


    He left Emika to die and paced back to Melisande. ¡°Let¡¯s finish you before the freeze wears off,¡± he murmured to her in a tone as if talking to a patient in narcosis.


    The sword had lost its glow, the effect worn off. And yet, it cut through Melisande¡¯s fabric just as well. A few more tears, more leaves spilt out. The freeze wore off, but she was unable to move herself and just fell backwards to the ground, heaps of tea leaves flying around. He stared down at Melisande, as if pitying her, and gently shook his head.


    ¡°A true tragedy. I did my best to make it clear, though.¡± He walked back, spreading out his arms in revelation, before starting to turn to Emika. ¡°You just can¡¯t¡ª¡±


    He froze.


    In his turn, his forehead had bumped against something in the air. A little, tiny thing. A finger. A single, bloodied finger, floating in the air, attached to a long, thin, and wobbly juniper branch. It left a stain of red on his skin. With a quick jerk of his wrist, he cut the branch in two, and Emika¡¯s finger fell to the ground.


    Melisande could barely make it out. About ten meters away, Emika¡¯s body parts were lying around in a pool of blood, connected by wild juniper growths, swirling like tentacles between them, connecting themselves back together. An amalgamation of blood, flesh and wood, interspersed with deadwood branches and juniper needle leaves. A few roots had dug themselves into the ground.


    Emika was barely conscious. A void expression. A last-ditch effort.


    Melisande swallowed, hard. Of course, she couldn¡¯t fault Emika for trying. Emika didn¡¯t know. She didn¡¯t understand that Cursebreakers countering magic was one of the most fundamental truths of the world. She couldn¡¯t know that there was no way forward with this attempt, that it was pointless. But for her, it still had to be tried.


    It had to be tried.


    And somehow, Durand started coughing.


    He wobbled on his feet, held his side like it was hurting.


    Quickly, he undid his coat to check on himself, and found a small seedling with red leaves protrude from his stomach. And another one. And a third.


    Ripping them out did not help. Again and again, they came back. He glanced back at Melisande. His face was unlike anything she had ever seen. Not for the small blossoms crawling out from it, not for the dirt, the sweat, the small speck of blood on his forehead, or for the little, dark red leaves that came out of his ear. No, it was his expression. Surprise, with a hint of panic, as if searching for something. And then, a dark, foundational realisation. He closed his eyes for a moment, clenched both of his hands together as if steeling himself, and then, the growths slowed down. Slowed down, but didn¡¯t stop.


    Opening his eyes again and ripping the leaves from his ear together with a piece of flesh, he frantically stumbled over to Melisande. Step after step, still deteriorating, until he could touch her, and he did. Held her head in his arms, shook it gently. Then, put one hand onto her shoulder to grasp it.


    ¡°Are you still here?¡± he asked, his voice shivering. All his pride was gone.


    As he spoke, he started shovelling tea leaves from the ground back into Melisande¡¯s body. ¡°Are you still here?¡± he asked again, his voice gravelly, no doubt already impacted by growths. ¡°Listen to me, Melisande. Listen. Listen to me.¡±


    He swallowed, his eyes wet. He was about to cry. ¡°I¡¯ll be gone in a second, Melisande. You have to promise me. Please, listen.¡±


    Now, both of his hands frantically pushed the tea back inside her, pressed it in, as much as they could. He looked around to find more tea, one eye now enraptured by green sprouts, unusable.


    Again, he swallowed, stared back deeply into Melisande¡¯s eyes.


    And then he said, ¡°You have to stop her.¡±


    He nodded, his body shaking. ¡°You have to stop her. If it can kill me ¡ª if her curse works on me, then it¡¯s not a ¡ª it means she¡¯s¡­ Do you understand? Understand what it means? Where it will end?¡±


    His remaining eye quivered, imagining the horrors of a future he couldn¡¯t put into words.


    ¡°P-Promise me. You have to¡ª¡±


    He coughed uncontrolled, his focus wavered. The transformation was no longer slowed down.


    Out from his flesh burst a purple beech with dark red leaves.

 Chapter 36: Cherry

    It was still dark when Emika woke up. It didn¡¯t feel like much time had passed. For a while, she just laid there on the ground, a hump of wood and flesh, not sure how to even move.


    She wasn¡¯t hurting that much. It just felt all weird. She vaguely understood that her body parts had reattached through branches ¡ª she could see her hand in front of her, the fingers on it like before, just that there was this little space of juniper in-between.


    Emika was glad she still had them. She was especially glad she still had her leg. Or at least, she thought she still had it. She could feel it, but wasn¡¯t sure where it was. Behind her? On top of her?


    It took her a moment to collect her thoughts. Slowly, she started to remember why she had been here. Yes, Maxime was dead. She could see the purple beech on the clearing. The forest fire was still growing as well, but the clearing seemed to provide a safe distance for now. And then, there was Melisande, still unmoving, rested against the tree that had grown from Maxime.


    Melisande was a bit unlucky. The fire would be able to reach her eventually. Maybe even soon. Emika needed to stop lying around like a pile of chopped wood.


    Pressing her eyes together, she imagined a version of herself standing upright, with her growths pulled back into herself as much as possible. As if she was entirely human. At the same time, she tried to get her muscles to stand up.


    Somehow, it worked. Not without issues, though. She did fall over shortly after getting up, and then landed on the ground with a big thump. The earth was somehow fairly soft, and with her weight being so high, it felt like landing in a dense liquid, with her actually causing a little bit of a wave in the soil.


    At least, she was aware of her body parts now. It was all more or less in place. She could stand up normally, and felt the strain on the connecting wooden tissue within her waist and leg. A weird feeling, but not painful, and the wood didn¡¯t seem quick to break. Slowly, she limped towards Melisande.


    ¡°Hey, are you awake?¡± Emika asked, the flames about ten meters away, the air dry and hot. She looked around and found a lot of tea still strewn around, so she imagined a kind of bowl grown from circulating juniper branches coming from her waist, and ended up collecting the tea in there.


    Right as Emika was about to collect some, she recognised that actually, a lot of dirt had been shovelled into Melisande somehow. ¡°We can¡¯t have that now, can we?¡± she mumbled to herself, laid Melisande on her back, her entire torso and stomach exposed through the deep slashes Maxime had inflicted.


    Then, she tried to pick out the dirt. The pieces of moss, the little twigs, the grass stalks, and some mushroom parts. Emika smiled. It felt like doing surgery.


    Glancing at Melisande¡¯s face, she suddenly felt a bit of a shiver. The button eyes of her friend were closely fixed on her. ¡°Wait, don¡¯t tell me, you¡¯re conscious? But can¡¯t speak?¡±


    Blushing, Emika hurried up, entering both her flesh hand and her wooden hand into Melisande to find if there was more foreign matter in there ¡ª the wooden hand being a bit of a useless gesture since she didn¡¯t actually have any sense of feeling in it. It daunted on at least some part of her mind that having her hands inside her friend that way felt very good. The moment she realised that, she pulled her hands out immediately and emptied the bowl of tea inside.


    Lastly, Emika did her best to connect the torn pieces of Melisande¡¯s skin fabric together. It was hard to coordinate between her two hands ¡ª one of them of wood and growing into place rather than moving, and the other made of freshly cut off fingers patched back on in a hurry.


    She let out a deep breath when she saw the parts of fabric heal back together. Melisande would be okay.


    ¡°Had fun with that, huh?¡± her voice suddenly broke through Emika¡¯s consciousness, giving her a start.


    ¡°Oh, god. You are awake. Sorry. This¡­ I was¡­¡±


    ¡°You were doing your best,¡± Melisande smiled, and slowly got back up with Emika¡¯s help. ¡°Thanks. Can do that again some time. Felt kinda nice.¡±


    Emika blushed hard. Yes, sure, let¡¯s again fumble her hands in her best friend¡¯s insides. Why did that idea feel much less wrong to her than it should?


    ¡°What do we do?¡± Emika asked as they made their way to the centre of the clearing. ¡°Do we try to get out now or wait until the fire¡¯s out? Wait, how did you even get here?¡±


    Melisande turned around to watch to a specific direction within the forest. ¡°I came from there.¡± She thought for a second, before adding, ¡°I wonder where it is. Should have arrived by now.¡±


    ¡°It?¡±


    ¡°The Well of Abstraction. It brought me here. I mean, it¡¯s pretty slow, so when I understood the general direction it was moving to, I just ran ahead. It should be somewhere there,¡± she explained, pointing into the woods.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Oh god,¡± Emika realised. She had a pretty good idea as to why the Well wasn¡¯t here yet. ¡°Let¡¯s hurry and fetch it. It might be in a bad state right now. You think you can make it through a few flames?¡±


    With a shrug, Melisande started moving. ¡°With how much you pushed back in, I¡¯m at about 20% right now. Should be enough for a while, since we aren¡¯t fighting. Some charred fabric can heal away. Let¡¯s rush through.¡±


    And so, they did. It didn¡¯t take so long to move through the flames; the fire had apparently reached its peak and wasn¡¯t that much advancing any more. Emika tried her best to shield the two of them with wood, and used roots and branches to clear out a path in front of them that wasn¡¯t lit up.


    ¡°Damn you can do quite a lot now. And you were so spent earlier. Better now?¡± Melisande wondered when she saw Emika grow so much, so quickly.


    Emika gave a thoughtful hum. ¡°Not sure. Feeling much better, yes. That guy found out I apparently sap magical energy from surrounding beings. That I take from them when I¡¯m hurt, to heal. I must have absorbed what was left from him and¡­ From the Well. If it was already in range.¡±


    ¡°The fuck you mean, you sap from others? Is the Well still gonna be alive? That¡¯s why we¡¯re hurrying, I suppose?¡± she rambled as they rushed through the remaining flames.


    ¡°Yeah. I mean¡­ it¡¯s probably fine. It ate a piece of me back then and stood up right after. But I still feel bad¡­ I want to give it a hug.¡± Then she remembered she shouldn¡¯t be giving any hugs.


    ¡°Honestly, ¡®The Well¡¯ kinda sucks as a name. You know it likes you, right?¡± Melisande mused as she climbed over a log in their path.


    ¡°What are you getting at? How do you know it likes me?¡± Emika frowned.


    ¡°Because it keeps following you? And it helped me when I needed to find you.¡±


    ¡°A name, huh¡­ Okay. I¡¯m not going to lie, I like the Well too, as strange as that might sound,¡± Emika admitted. She thought for a moment. ¡°So, how about¡­ Abstie?¡±


    ¡°Abstie?¡± Melisande stared at Emika, her button eyes wide open. ¡°You mean, like, bestie, just much worse?¡±


    They¡¯d left the flames behind and were by now simply pacing on a path to the direction the Well was expected from. Emika was starting to run out of breath ¡ª somehow she realised moving her wooden protrusions was exhausting, but in a much different way compared to moving her flesh. Throwing herself through the forest for almost an hour hadn¡¯t exhausted her lungs like this.


    ¡°Because it¡¯s a Well of Abst-raction,¡± Emika panted as her glance wandered over the distance of the woods, trying to make out the scarlet red ring.


    ¡°I got that part,¡± Melisande murmured and rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re dangerously close to losing naming rights. I wasn¡¯t aware you¡¯d be so bad at it.¡±


    ¡°Then how about Wellie?¡±


    ¡°Okay, you¡¯ve lost them,¡± Melisande scolded.


    ¡°Can you even do any better?¡±


    The doll put her chin in her hand and made exaggerated thinking hums for a while. Then, she said, ¡°How about Dear?¡±


    ¡°Deer? Because it looks like a deer?¡±


    ¡°No, I mean dear, as in, darling. Something that¡¯s dear to you,¡± Melisande said, raising her arms, gesturing at Emika. ¡°But yes, it sounding like ¡®deer¡¯ would be the second layer.¡±


    Emika thought this didn¡¯t sound too bad. That said, she still wasn¡¯t happy with it. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Sounds a bit much like a pet name.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t think of it as a pet?¡± Melisande asked. She pondered that for a moment, and then added, ¡°Makes sense. Perhaps it¡¯s more of an ally. So¡­ a name I might give to a person, then¡­ How about ¡®Apple¡¯?¡±


    Emika stared. ¡°How would Apple fit? Didn¡¯t you just complain about my bad naming sense?¡±


    ¡°I just¡ª It¡¯s red and round, you know!¡±


    Emika laughed. ¡°Apples don¡¯t have to be red! I was thinking of a green apple.¡±


    Melisande laughed too. ¡°A red fruit, then. How about ¡®Cherry¡¯?¡±


    Looking into Melisande¡¯s questioning gaze, Emika felt a very warm feeling well up in her chest. Yes, she could picture that. ¡°Cherry sounds good. Let¡¯s ask if it agrees.¡±


    The next few minutes went by without either of them speaking ¡ª until they finally saw it. On the ground, overgrown, a mess. The Well. It had indeed been hit by Emika¡¯s absorption ability, just like on the rainy day at the railway station.


    Emika ran to it, jumping down beside, trying to resist the urge to pet the poor little thing. It was convulsing heavily, obviously in some amount of pain.


    ¡°Oh god, I¡¯m so sorry,¡± Emika wailed, again twitching and holding herself back right before touching it. She felt shivers going down her body, and for the second time that day, her lower lip started wobbling. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry I hurt you,¡± she managed to press out.


    A moment later, Melisande arrived next to her. With a gentle gesture, she patted on Emika¡¯s head, then wrapped an arm around her. ¡°It came here to save you. And it did. I don¡¯t think you would have survived that amount of damage had it not been in range.¡±


    After saying that, Melisande crouched down and started petting the Well of Abstraction in Emika¡¯s stead. ¡°Thank you so much for keeping her safe, Cherry. Is that name okay with you?¡±


    Upon being touched, Cherry twitched, and pulled its legs close. The ring started rising in the air, and the growths snapped away from the ground. It then moved a little closer to the two of them.


    ¡°Must be a yes,¡± Melisande smiled, and moved her hand to Cherry¡¯s belly to help it get up.


    Emika simply sat down on the forest ground. She felt awful. Was that really what her fate would be? Absorbing the life energy of others, without her own nor their consent, having them sacrifice themselves for her?


    This was messed up.


    Melisande walked a few steps together with Cherry, making sure the creature could properly move. Just as both of them were behind Emika, she suddenly felt a touch to her shoulders. Melisande was apparently removing part of the clothing that had burnt itself into Emika¡¯s skin in the fight against the flame weasel.


    ¡°The hell¡¯s that?¡± Melisande murmured.


    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s what?¡±


    ¡°On your back, Emika,¡± she replied, a little soft-spoken, but tense. ¡°This might be trouble.¡±

 Chapter 37: Bad Markings, Worse Tidings

    Slightly panicked and slightly flustered, Emika felt Melisande¡¯s gentle and careful touch on her back. The doll¡¯s fingers moved over her skin to remove more pieces of torn cloth, clotted blood and dirt in gestures that caused almost no pain.


    ¡°What¡¯s there?¡± Emika asked, her voice a little shaky. Was it shaky because she was scared, or because she was embarrassed? Both seemed equally likely.


    ¡°It¡¯s a tattoo,¡± Melisande responded. ¡°Anyone fumbled with your back lately? It¡¯s a magical rune.¡±


    Emika stared into the night. She had a tattoo on her back? That was news to her. ¡°Must have been Maxime. He had me unconscious a few times. You know, I blacked out whenever he shot me with a gun.¡±


    In a sudden and incredibly quick movement, Melisande swung around, and her face darted into Emika¡¯s field of view.


    ¡°He did what?¡±


    ¡°Oh. Yeah. To understand how my curse works.¡±


    Melisande stared for a few more seconds, so close the seems in her fabric were on full display, her blue button eyes pulled out of their folds as much as possible. It was quite obvious that if Maxime hadn¡¯t been dead already, she would have hunted him down on the spot. Visibly trying to control herself, she shifted back to excavate the rest of the rune beneath the blood and gore.


    ¡°You know what kind of magic this is?¡± Emika asked, fiddling with her fingers nervously. Couldn¡¯t do anything but wait, and yet, she wished Melisande would take her time. Being perceived by her wasn¡¯t so bad.


    For quite a while, Melisande didn¡¯t respond. In fact, she had apparently finished uncovering what she was looking at, and now Emika simply felt the unrelenting gaze on her body.


    Eventually, the doll got up and began walking in strides, ruffling through her thread hair. ¡°Sorry, Emika,¡± she said, slowly. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s a summoning rune. I¡¯ve had it used on me before.¡±


    Emika gulped. ¡°Okay, and so, what does that do?¡±


    It seemed like an incredibly vague name. Considering it was Maxime who did it, maybe it would summon something to her when she did something bad? But then, why hadn¡¯t it triggered yet? Plus, Melisande¡¯s gaze seemed to imply something rather dreadful. What could be so bad? They had each other now, right? And both of them were kind of immortal, apparently. What could possibly stand in her way?


    As if reading Emika¡¯s thoughts, Melisande took a deep artificial breath to brace herself ¡ª and Emika, for that matter. Then, she explained. ¡°It¡¯ll summon you. Some shitter out there has a corresponding chiffre and can use that, once, to teleport you to wherever they are.¡±


    Emika¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°What?¡± she gasped, reaching towards her back. The rune was beneath her shoulder blades ¡ª she wasn¡¯t flexible enough to get there, but tried anyway. The cut-off fingers on her flesh hand extended with wooden filler material so that she could dig her nails into where she thought the rune must be. ¡°Get it off me!¡± she yelped, scratching herself. She hadn¡¯t been able to cut her nails at Maxime¡¯s place, so they¡¯d gotten good at their job of scraping into skin. ¡°Get it off! Oh, god. I don¡¯t want to be teleported away. Please, Melisande. Where¡¯s your sword?¡± She looked around in a hurry until she remembered Melisande had sheathed it into her spine. ¡°Melisande. Take it out. Listen to me. You have to cut my back off.¡±


    Melisande raised her arms in surrender, but kept the sword where it was. ¡°Not sure that works,¡± she said, swallowing at Emika¡¯s pleading look. ¡°The ink¡¯s only a symbol now, it probably seeped in. It¡¯s just there to show it hasn¡¯t been used yet. Fuck.¡± Melisande grew increasingly agitated, then shouted, ¡°Fuck! I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m gonna call that wretch again!¡± She fumbled out her new phone and glove from within her thigh ¡ª in pure delight, despite herself, Emika recognized the things she had ordered for her ¡ª and started putting some numbers in. ¡°Durand hasn¡¯t mentioned anything to you about this?¡±


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Emika was sure she¡¯d remember him talking about putting a tattoo on her. She shook her head. ¡°Maybe it was so he could call me back easily in case I broke out?¡±


    ¡°No, this must be much bigger,¡± Melisande argued. ¡°Look, humans don¡¯t do magic for fun. It takes tons of time and effort. If he put a rune on you, it¡¯s not for something vague like that, which might not even happen. Total waste of time. Remember, he thought of you as an insect. Damn, why ain¡¯t she picking up?!¡±


    ¡°Well, that makes sense,¡± Emika said. ¡°Hm¡­ Wait, actually.¡±


    Suddenly, it all fell into place. Hadn¡¯t he mentioned she was going to be transferred? That he wouldn¡¯t see her again? Said goodbye to her? That must be what the rune was for. Getting her out without him even having to be there.


    ¡°He mentioned I was going to Heaven,¡± Emika eventually let out. ¡°That must be what this is.¡±


    Melisande took the phone from her ear as it was still ringing, and stared at her.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to Heaven?¡±


    At that moment, the person on the other end of the line picked up. Melisande put her on speaker so Emika could listen in.


    ¡°Amagdala.¡±


    ¡°Melisande? Is that you?¡± an old woman¡¯s voice issued from the phone, sounding fairly agitated. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be calling me. He¡¯s trying to catch up. You need to be running.¡±


    Melisande rolled her button eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about him. It¡¯s taken care of, I¡¯m safe.¡±


    ¡°Nonsense. Don¡¯t rely on the scrambling too much, Melisande. These people have other ways.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s dead,¡± Emika said.


    A stone-cold silence followed. And then, a heartfelt laugh echoed through the forest.


    ¡°Who the hell is this?¡± the woman pressed out between her chuckles in a voice riddled with age but still sharp. ¡°How the hell did you kill a Cursebreaker? Mel, is that true?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a fucking tree now, Amagdala,¡± Melisande confirmed. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t believe it if I told you how it happened. It¡¯s complete nonsense. Either way, more pressing issue. We¡¯re in trouble. My girl¡¯s got a summoning rune on her. Is there a way to get rid of it? Like, right now?¡±


    A subdued sigh from the other side. ¡°You have a mage around?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Then I don¡¯t know. Maybe. Depends.¡±


    Melisande closed her eyes in a gesture of exasperation. It looked very curious, her buttons just disappearing in little folds in her fabric as she pressed her eye sockets together. ¡°Okay. Different approach then. Did any shit change about Heaven?¡±


    ¡°Oh, come on,¡± Amagdala protested. ¡°The hell is your situation right now? Heaven? That¡¯s what you¡¯re gonna ask about?¡± A resigned sigh ebbed into a short silence. ¡°I suppose nothing changed, no. Not to my knowledge. Not that I have a reason to keep tabs on them. Kinda busy with myself.¡±


    ¡°Can someone fill me in, please?¡± Emika asked, by now pretty much failing to follow the conversation on all accounts. ¡°And like, I know I gave the name away, but please, let¡¯s not say I¡¯m going to Heaven? Like, really? This is terrifying. Is it actually a place? Let¡¯s call it something else. Why is it called that? It¡¯s confusing.¡±


    Melisande shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s an island in the sky.¡±


    ¡°A heavily fortified one at that,¡± the voice from the phone added. ¡°It¡¯s an international research facility for magic and monsters. They also hold some strong individuals there. Pretty big thing.¡±


    Emika¡¯s thoughts raced. Yes, that matched up with what Maxime had told her two days earlier. She just assumed it would be done and over with once he died, or she got away. Though, why? Why would she need to be brought to a high security research facility?


    Sweat broke out on her skin as the answers slowly clicked into place. It¡¯s because she was too strong. He had concluded he couldn¡¯t kill her, and then planned to send her off somewhere that could. And, with how the rest of the day had gone, he was right. They were right, wanting to take her into their facility as well. Because she¡¯d killed him, with just a touch.


    Meanwhile, Melisande nodded at the phone. She sat down, placing it in front of herself, and reached out to grasp Emika¡¯s hand.


    ¡°I want you to consider something, Emika.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Melisande hesitated. She seemed to be struggling. She seemed to be a little repressed. Again, just like a few minutes earlier when she was about to reveal that Emika had an intrusive magical rune on her body, she was obviously bracing herself to say something she didn¡¯t want to say.


    And it slowly dawned on Emika what that ¡®something¡¯ was going to be.

 Chapter 38: To Kill a Cursebreaker

    ¡°But we just got each other back,¡± Emika whispered. ¡°I don¡¯t want to leave you.¡±


    ¡°Not for long,¡± Melisande replied, and she looked like she was about to cry. ¡°It¡¯s just ¡ª I¡¯ve got no clue if we can stop the summoning at all. And Heaven has always been state of the art.¡±


    Emika frowned. ¡®State of the art¡¯?


    ¡°Can confirm that, at least,¡± Amagdala weighed in with her deadpan, weathered voice. ¡°Back when Melisande was on trial, some lunatics tried to up her to S+ rank. The only reason I supported them was because it would have increased her chances of getting into Heaven, if she was seen as that strong. Being in the hands of Heaven isn¡¯t ideal, but was the best shot at the time, especially compared to her being destroyed or kept by the Durands.¡±


    Melisande glanced down at the phone. ¡°What the fuck? You meddled to that extent back then?¡± she asked, somewhat bewildered. ¡°What a shocker, I didn¡¯t realise you had a¡ª¡±


    ¡°A heart?¡± the woman offered with a laugh.


    Melisande grimaced in heavy disgust. ¡°Yeah, no, I¡¯d never think that,¡± she said. ¡°But anyway, what I¡¯m trying to say is. Go there. Exploit the shit out of the place. Maybe they actually find something that could help you.¡±


    ¡°Not you too,¡± Emika whined, rolling her eyes. ¡°That¡¯s always the promise. ¡®They might be able to help.¡¯ It never works. I¡¯d much rather spend my time with you.¡±


    Melisande took a steadying breath. ¡°Just go there for, like, two months. Or as long as you want. And then, you break out.¡±


    Another laugh from the phone. ¡°It would take some serious shit to break out from that place.¡±


    Melisande nodded, and pointed to the phone as if that statement had in any way agreed with her. ¡°Exactly! And if we know anything, it¡¯s that we are fucking great at raising some serious shit!¡±


    Emika laughed, and gently shook her head. ¡°Okay, sure. You want me to go there. ¡®Exploit the place.¡¯ Fine, I can try that. I guess I¡¯m just a bit sad that you want me gone so fast.¡±


    Melisande gave her a melancholic look. ¡°I want you to live,¡± she said. ¡°If you go there, I think that increases your chances of, like, not dying within the next few months. Or like, if we stay together like this, maybe you just stay ¡®alive¡¯ as a tree, but you¡¯ll be gone? What if that happens? It¡¯s you I like. The brain inside you, I guess? The tree stuff is nice, but¡­¡± She trailed off, looking almost inconsolable. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s why I¡¯d like you to try. I¡¯d like you to stay with me as you, not as a tree.¡±


    These words, somehow, send shivers down Emika¡¯s spine, and washed all her doubts away. Sure. Go there, exploit the place. Find out whatever she could about her curse from them, and then dip out, potentially with a cure, even. If it was Melisande¡¯s plan, then Emika had a lot more confidence in it than if she¡¯d come up with it herself. Not that lack of confidence in her dubious plans had ever been any of Emika¡¯s concerns, but it did feel nice not to be in this alone.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna miss you,¡± she said, biting her lips. ¡°We meet again?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, of course we do. Wait,¡± Melisande was saying, tearing open the fabric on her thigh and then fishing out another smartphone from within her tea. ¡°I got your phone. We can stay in touch. They must have a place where there¡¯s reception, right?¡±


    Emika wiped a few small tears from her eyes, and gave a soft smile. ¡°Sounds good. Back to long distance, then?¡±


    ¡°Only for a sec!¡±


    ¡°Only for a sec,¡± Emika echoed the phrase she¡¯d never think of saying by herself, and chuckled at that.


    ¡°So, any clue as to when this might go off?¡± Melisande said after a moment, gesturing at the markings.


    Slowly, Emika slid one of her elongated fingers across where she figured they might be. ¡°Well¡­ I think he used the phrase ¡®in a few hours¡¯. And that was¡­ a few hours ago.¡±


    ¡°So, it could happen any moment. We could be talking to each other, and one second to the next, you burst aflame and poof, gone? Damn, that sucks. I guess it means we need to hurry with prep?¡±


    Melisande was right. It could very much happen any second now. Or, it could happen within the next two or three hours. There wasn¡¯t any way to know.


    ¡°What preparations are you thinking of?¡±


    With that, the conversation started trailing off for a bit with Melisande explaining Emika¡¯s cursed situation and then asking Amagdala questions about Heaven, most of which the old woman could only answer very vaguely and with lots of disclaimers about how dated all her information might be. The best way to break out was apparently to just jump off the island the moment one got the chance, though they¡¯d do their best not to give any such chances. The truth was, Emika was likely capable of surviving a drop from any height, though depending on how much she¡¯d grow in the meantime, it could leave a bit of a crater. The scarier aspect of it was what would happen if she fell into the ocean.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°Are you buoyant?¡± Amagdala asked at some point, and Emika really had absolutely no clue.


    ¡°I honestly think I might not be. I¡¯m pretty heavy for my size. I could go down like a rock.¡±


    A thoughtful hum echoed from the tinny phone speaker, and then the witch continued, ¡°Well, let¡¯s assume you¡¯ll drop to the ocean floor. Question is, will you survive without oxygen? Maybe we can mount a deep sea rescue mission with the aid of some magic.¡±


    That sounded like a pretty big deal, despite the nonchalance she had in her voice when suggesting it. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know. Maybe I wouldn¡¯t drown. Depends on how many fish are around that I can turn into seaweed, I suppose.¡±


    ¡°Or algae,¡± Melisande supplied.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want that, though,¡± Emika added after a moment. ¡°Don¡¯t want really like the idea of other beings suffering and dying to keep me alive. So, dropping into the ocean is a little¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± the woman said from the phone. ¡°Methods of immortality that rely on living sacrifice are a little vile.¡±


    ¡°Kinda sickening to hear you care about morality when it comes to magic,¡± Melisande interjected.


    Amagdala ignored the statement. ¡°How¡¯d you get into that situation anyway?¡±


    Emika shrugged, even though the woman wouldn¡¯t be able to see it. ¡°I just got cursed.¡±


    ¡°Someone cursed you with immortality?¡±


    ¡°With turning into a tree and killing everyone around me,¡± Emika corrected her. ¡°It¡¯s not like I wanted this, nor that I benefit from it.¡±


    Another silence came over them, and it was clear that Amagdala had fallen into thought, as was her habit, apparently. What was there to think about, though?


    ¡°She killed a Cursebreaker with a touch,¡± Melisande spoke into the air after a while. Her tone was hard to decipher. There was maybe a hint of pride in it. And a bit of defiance, too. It was like she knew that she was saying something of certain unorthodoxy.


    And Amagdala reacted fittingly.


    ¡°Impossible,¡± she spat. And then, again, nobody said anything. Neither Emika nor Melisande attempted to convince her. In Emika¡¯s case, she knew what she¡¯d seen and done, it was just something that had happened. And while Maxime had definitely been surprised¡­ The logic seemed clear enough to Emika. It was a curse that turned every living thing she touched to plants. Easy enough. Things that weren¡¯t alive were spared, like rocks or doorknobs. And plants were, somehow, spared too. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t possible to turn something into a plant that was already one.


    On that note ¡ª maybe Melisande was immune to the curse not because she wasn¡¯t alive, as she had suggested, but because she was tea leaves inside? If Melisande had been powered on something that wasn¡¯t a plant ¡ª something inorganic perhaps ¡ª would their first meeting have gone very different and much more tragically then?


    ¡°It¡¯s completely impossible,¡± Amagdala repeated after a few minutes. ¡°How would that even work?¡±


    ¡°Can you tell me why it would be impossible?¡± asked Emika.


    A short sigh came from the phone. ¡°Well, sure honey. Magic works by altering reality according to cognition. The mind casting the spell decides the effect, and the cost is determined by how unlikely that effect should be, how difficult it should be to accomplish using magic, in the baseline of cognition of all living beings.¡±


    Emika was understanding none of that.


    ¡°So that means,¡± Amagdala continued, ¡°Since everyone accepts that it¡¯s impossible to hurt a Cursebreaker with magic, a spell or curse aiming to hurt a Cursebreaker would be that much more expensive. Take that much more time and resources to create. It is universally understood that Cursebreakers are immune to magic; that is their primary role, and they suffer drawbacks for that. I could imagine creating a spell to harm a Cursebreaker, and it would take me decades and an unspeakable amount of resources, but yes, it is conceivable to spend that much effort to create a spell that would pierce the immunity of a Cursebreaker.¡±


    ¡°So it¡¯s not impossible then,¡± Emika said. ¡°Someone must have just done that, then?¡±


    ¡°No, dear, you don¡¯t understand the issue. Why would I spend decades trying to make a spell to hurt a Cursebreaker if I could just go and shoot them with a gun? Or beat them up? They are only immune to magic.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Emika puffed out. Yes, that made sense to her. In that way, hurting a Cursebreaker with magic was akin to waiting for weeks for it to rain instead of using the tap. At the moment her mind provided her with that comparison, she realised her brain and body were screaming for water.


    ¡°Yes, ¡®oh¡¯,¡± Amagdala echoed. ¡°And that¡¯s not even the worst part. Nobody would ever make a spell to hurt a Cursebreaker. It¡¯s impossible not because it¡¯s literally impossible, but because nobody would even think of doing it, because it¡¯s nonsensical and ridiculous. And your curse¡¯s function seems to primarily be killing things around you and growing you with their scraps.¡±


    Emika took a deep breath. ¡°Okay, yes. But I¡¯m not sure I am following along that well. Please, treat me as if I was very dense. Because I am, literally. I weigh a ton. So, what¡¯s the worst about all of this? Please spell it out for me?¡±


    Another silence came down, and Emika was starting to get annoyed. As much as she loved Melisande, and as much as she respected that woman on the phone who was obviously trying to help, she really wanted to just get on with this all and understand what was happening to her. Of course, both of them didn¡¯t know. They didn¡¯t know what was happening to her, they were just as puzzled. She tried to remind herself of that fact and just hoped they could make her understand at least the very basics before she¡¯d poof out into Heaven.


    Finally, Melisande came to the rescue. ¡°It means that whatever your curse is ¡ª if it¡¯s even a curse at all ¡ª it wasn¡¯t built to kill a Cursebreaker.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Amagdala said, exasperated. She took a deep breath before continuing, obviously trying very hard to put what was going on into words Emika could understand. ¡°It means whatever magical affliction you are contaminated with, whatever it is, it just happens to break one of the fundamental laws of magic as a side effect. That¡¯s the worst part about it. It wasn¡¯t made to break that law. It is just that vile and powerful of a spell that it kills a Cursebreaker as a mere afterthought.¡±

 Chapter 39: Wet to the Touch

    It took a few more minutes for them to wrap up the call with Amagdala, most of which Emika spent in silent shock at the revelations. So, she was going to Heaven, apparently, and from the looks of it, going there was entirely justified. And the most ridiculous part about it was that not a single person present was actually scared for her. Melisande wasn''t even nervous, and that girl had just spent her entire day trying to break Emika out of confinement and kill the prison warden. Amagdala wasn''t scared, and she was apparently an extremely experienced witch. And Emika¡­ Emika wasn''t scared either. What could they meaningfully throw at her if they decided to be hostile? Couldn''t any problem they put her through just be solved by exploding into waves of juniper?


    So, she''d go there, do some socialising, learn some curse stuff, and then she''d break out. Easy enough, apparently.


    ¡°Who was that?¡± Emika asked when Melisande finally ended the call with a sigh.


    ¡°The woman who, like¡­ built me. My maker.¡±


    ¡°Your mother?¡± Emika let out immediately, and earned herself a glare.


    ¡°Yeah, nah, that ain¡¯t how I think of her,¡± Melisande replied curtly.


    ¡°Well, I''m glad she helped,¡± Emika said, carefully. She didn''t want to make her angry.


    Melisande looked back, eyes unfocused to the extent that it was possible to make that out when someone had buttons instead of eyeballs. It seemed like she was thinking about something. Eventually, she said, ¡°Yeah. Glad I asked her, I guess. Would have loved to never hear her voice again, though.¡±


    For a short moment, silence fell into the forest, with Melisande just slowly caressing Cherry''s back. Emika really, really wanted to know about Melisande''s past. Now was clearly not the time to ask, though, because she could poof away any moment. And in addition, Emika wasn''t even really sure how to inquire about this. Melisande had apparently done something so bad that it warranted her either going to Heaven or being confined for life, and Emika didn''t want to give off the impression that she was going to judge her for whatever she may or may not have done back then. Emika wasn''t in the position to judge anyone for anything ever, obviously, but Melisande had given her so much leeway and acceptance that it felt really improper to be nosy in return.


    Before Emika could even come up with a way to proceed, Melisande got up and smiled. ¡°You really can''t go like this,¡± she said, gesturing at Emika, and it took a moment for her to understand that she meant all the blood and torn clothing.


    ¡°Okay? Why not?¡±


    ¡°Because you look like you just fucking killed someone? It¡¯s gonna be suspect if you arrive like that.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ It''s not like I looked so much different while in confinement¡­ And we don''t have water?¡±


    With a prideful soft grin on her face, Melisande put her hand on her hip and towered over Emika. ¡°We got something better!¡± she exclaimed, and then pressed two of her fingers against Emika''s forehead. Immediately, a warm and wet liquid trailed down her face, between her brows, along her nose, and eventually to her lips. The strong smell of blood and burnt skin was hard to displace, and yet, she suddenly scented a note of sweet, fresh grass.


    She reached out with her lips and tasted white tea.


    ¡°Damn,¡± Emika let out and smiled. ¡°You can do that?¡±


    ¡°Takes lots of magic. Got a water creation circle in my pelvis. And I can make the leaves transport it! I can¡¯t form too much, but it¡¯s fine since there¡¯s more of your tea leaves at your home. Am just gonna replenish it later.¡±


    ¡°Oh! I see¡­ You can make water¡­ I thought you had no chance against that flame weasel, but maybe you could have won against it after all.¡±


    Melisande shook her head with a huff. ¡°Look, I can definitely get all wet, but it would wear me out like hell and probably knock me out.¡±


    Emika was stunned by that sentence, and she struggled to not imagine it in an entirely different, inappropriate context.


    ¡°So yeah, nah, that thing would''a destroyed me. Thanks for taking care of it.¡±


    ¡°No problem,¡± Emika mumbled, distracted by the feeling of Melisande''s wet fingers gently stroking over her face to wash away the blood and soil. That reminded her. ¡°Actually,¡± she said before she could stop herself, ¡°I''m really thirsty.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, you must be,¡± Melisande replied, and immediately held her arm out above Emika and pressed on it with her other hand. Like wringing out a sponge, suddenly, liquid threatened to drop out from it. But then, Melisande hesitated. ¡°Actually, you okay with drinking that?¡±


    Emika could barely respond, blushing furiously, stunned beyond words. Was this, like, some kind of dream? What was going on? Ever since the battle, they seemed to be all over each other with some of the most dangerous and daring kinds of intimate gestures imaginable. Emika gulped her dry throat, hard.


    Be that all as it may, she ignored the implications for now because actually, she really did need to drink. She could think about all of the rest later when she was alone and completely undisturbed.


    So she drank a lot, and then she persevered through Melisande''s gentle cleaning touch, like being wiped with a soft wet cloth. Emika held her flesh arm pressed against her chest in embarrassment, until Melisande needed access and gently pulled it off her.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    How was Melisande doing this? She didn''t seem to mind at all. She was simply focused on the task she had created for herself, not seeming flustered in the slightest. Emika could have never imagined that the truly precarious part of this whole endeavour would only start when the battle was already won.


    ¡°By the way,¡± Emika said at some point, trying to distract herself in any way possible. ¡°I saw Maxime approach you shortly before he died. Did he¡­ do something to you?¡±


    ¡°Nah,¡± Melisande replied. ¡°He just came over for a lil¡¯ chat.¡±


    ¡°What did he say?¡±


    Melisande hesitated for a moment, biting her lip. ¡°Sure you wanna know? This is all over and done with. If you never wanna speak another word about that guy, we can totally do that.¡±


    ¡°I suppose I¡¯m just curious.¡±


    Melisande sighed. ¡°I guess, if you really wanna hear. Yeah, well, he¡­¡± She took in a breath, and gestured with her hands as if looking for words. ¡°Called you dangerous. Wanted me to stop you.¡±


    ¡°To stop me?¡± Emika boggled in surprised disbelief.


    ¡°He kinda was like, ¡®she¡¯s super dangerous and needs to be stopped¡¯ and started begging me.¡±


    Now was the time for Emika to feel bad, maybe to feel sympathy or to be scared of herself, but her brain delivered none of these feelings to her. Now was absolutely not the time to become proud and flustered at the fact that she was perceived as so dangerous, and yet, that was exactly what her brain came up with.


    A little mischievous smile entered her face, quite unlike her, the power of her pride and the constant overstimulation from Melisande¡¯s touch having whittled down the defences that normally kept her feelings from reaching her face completely. ¡°So, are you going to stop me?¡± she asked facetiously.


    Melisande didn¡¯t join the joke, instead just staring back with a worried expression. ¡°You¡¯re taking this kinda well.¡±


    ¡°And you are taking this surprisingly seriously. What¡¯s the deal? Am I missing something? I¡¯ve never heard him say a single reasonable thing, ever. Why would this be different?¡±


    Melisande shook her head. ¡°Nah, ¡¯s not different. It¡¯s just, he knew he was gonna die. He was done. He could have, I dunno. Become angry and tried to kill you. Or killed me. But he used his last bit of strength to say all that. Cus¡¯ he was worried about something other than himself. I guess that just left a dent on me.¡±


    ¡°And we know what that other thing he worries about is,¡± Emika said. ¡°Humans. And what he doesn¡¯t care about is monsters.¡±


    ¡°Nah,¡± Melisande said, waving that statement away as she was cleaning Emika¡¯s arm. ¡°Pointless distinction. He cares about some humans. All other beings he calls monsters. There¡¯s nothing more to it than that. And those ¡®some humans¡¯ he cares about, he thinks you¡¯re a danger to them. But it¡¯s nonsense anyway. He wouldn¡¯t have died if he hadn¡¯t gone out of his way to fuck you up. It¡¯s why I didn¡¯t wanna tell you this in the first place. Because it¡¯s silly.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you did tell me. Screw that guy. It¡¯s not like I am going around killing people for fun.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    By now, Emika was absent-mindedly breaking off branches and twigs from herself to feed them to an eager Cherry while Melisande finished up the cleaning process. The atmosphere felt gloomy for a moment, until the cleaning was done and Melisande eventually lit up.


    ¡°Hah, there we go, now you can be shown off!¡± she exclaimed with a proud smile, wringing out her fingers and cleaning them of the rest of blood and dirt by having little bits of liquid seep out. Emika was still only barely able to contain herself, and nodded her head awkwardly as she felt the tea on her skin dry. She wasn¡¯t amazingly clean; Melisande couldn¡¯t produce that much tea. But she now at least looked more akin to several-days-in-confinement and not walked-through-a-sea-of-flesh-and-flames.


    ¡°Oh, right. Before we forget.¡± She took up Emika¡¯s phone that was still lying on the ground. ¡°You got a place to store that? You wanna take it with you, right?¡±


    Emika didn¡¯t really have any workable pockets left in her torn clothes, so instead, she bulged out a few branches from the cut across her stomach and revealed a small entanglement of deadwood. Then, she took the phone, firmly placed it in the crevice in the wood, and absorbed it all back into herself.


    ¡°Damn,¡± Melisande let out as she watched that.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s how I took a book from prison with me too,¡± Emika noted, making a few movements with her wooden arm as if to regurgitate something, and eventually showing the book about curses firmly placed between two branches, before getting it back inside herself. ¡°I can store stuff within me. Pretty sure I¡¯m¡­ Well. There¡¯s more space inside me, or something.¡±


    Melisande gulped, and stared at Emika¡¯s stomach. She was clearly fighting with herself.


    ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡± Emika asked.


    ¡°Well. I¡¯m¡­ Considering¡­ Ah¡­ Nah, I can¡¯t. I was thinking if you could¡­ like¡­ take me with you? You know? But someone needs to take care of your trees and clean up Durand¡¯s home and break you out when you¡¯re done in Heaven.¡± She sighed.


    Meanwhile, Emika froze up completely. Oh, god. What an idea. Putting Melisande, who was about the same size as her, inside herself, to make her come to Heaven with her? What an incredible idea. She wondered if it was even possible. She desperately wanted to do it.


    But they both knew it was not going to happen.


    Emika dared a side-glance at Cherry, biting her own lip.


    ¡°I need Cherry to come find you,¡± Melisande said, as if reading Emika¡¯s thoughts. ¡°Also¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Putting a Well of Abstraction inside me sounds like it would cause a big, big mess. Total disaster. I don¡¯t think it would work.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°So, I¡¯m all alone again, huh¡­ That sucks.¡±


    Melisande put her arms around Emika and pulled her into a firm hug, her hands, and arms still slightly damp. ¡°We¡¯ll stay in touch,¡± she said, her face buried in Emika¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Emika responded, hugging back, trying not to cry. As such, they stayed silent for a long while, just cuddling.


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s not gonna happen,¡± Melisande mumbled eventually.


    It was a pointless sentence that yet had to be spoken. They both knew it was going to happen. Still, speaking that hope out loud gave them both a sliver of reprieve, tuned out the anxiety just a bit, let them sink into each other that finger breadth closer.


    And eventually, it did happen. Just like back when she¡¯d used the teleportation scroll, Emika turned into flames. Warm and cosy, they obscured her vision in a wall of bright red tongues of fire. She tried to keep Melisande in her gaze for as long as she could, but eventually, her face vanished behind the bright lights, and she stopped feeling the soft embrace. Stopped sensing Melisande¡¯s weight against her shoulder, and her hand on her waist, and their entangled legs. What a terrifying feeling. Emika wanted to cry.


    A minute later, the flames let off, and slowly, she could see again.


    And found six eyes staring right back at her.

 Chapter 40: Six Eyes

    Six eyes, three strangers. Emika felt incredibly disoriented, but luckily, she was already sitting, so she couldn¡¯t fall over. The surroundings were bright compared to the night forest she just came from, so she needed a moment to adjust. But those eyes in the room, they were burning their gaze into her, unrelentingly, impossible to ignore.


    Six light green eyes, almost beaming. Dark sclera, which made them seem inhuman. One of the gazes was afraid. Another was condescending. And the third was empty.


    Emika scrunched her eyes shut, using her flesh hand to rub them, as if clearing out sleepy dust after a long nap. When she looked around her surroundings again, the gazes persisted.


    She was in a brightly lit, mostly white, windowless room. It wasn¡¯t a big one. The walls were tiled in marble, all furniture was white, too. Two bunk beds on her left side, a desk with a few chairs in front of her, white cupboards and a wardrobe next to it. Emika realised she was sitting on the tiled floor in a shadow of soot, squarely within a complex magical circle. At least, she assumed it was a magical one. It must have been how she was summoned.


    To her back was the wall, and to her right was a large plane of glass. Behind that glass was a white corridor with more similar rooms, all of which were neatly filled with white furniture and featured a glass plane through which one could gaze inside.


    It very much looked like how one would imagine a dystopian psychiatric hospital. An arrangement of cold rooms with no way to hide anything from the cameras gazing into them from the ceiling of the corridor.


    And of course, Emika wasn¡¯t the only person inhabiting her room.


    The condescending gaze originated from a person sitting sideways on a chair in front of the desk. He had his body turned towards Emika, ankle of one leg placed onto the knee of the other, arms folded with a small sheet of paper in his hand poking upwards, so he could see it. He wore a black chequered suit, and a red tie over a white dress shirt. He didn¡¯t look like a doctor or a lawyer; he looked like a person that had eloped from a casino. Black hair, messily combed back, frameless rectangular glasses sitting on his pale face. He seemed a few years older than Emika, but not by much.


    It took her a second to realise that the look he was giving her wasn¡¯t really condescension at all. It was a little bit of disgust, a little bit of fear. A frown, with a corner of his thin lips pulled down, as if looking at a vile and dangerous insect. Or maybe a scorpion. And that scorpion seemed to be Emika.


    Her eyes flickered over to the next pair of emeralds glowering at her, edged into the face of a girl who was, in every sense of the word, terrified. She was lying up on the top of one of the bunk beds, wrapped in several blankets, only parts of her head visible, pressed against the mattress behind an opening in her fabric cocoon.


    She seemed younger than Emika She seemed of Mediterranean descent; strands of brown, curly hair fell down her cheeks of an olive skin tone.


    Lastly, Emika¡¯s eyes darted back to the other side of the room. The empty gaze. Young, androgynous face and stature, the person sat on the tiled floor right next to the glass plane, legs pulled up against their chest, head resting tilted on the knees. Again, Emika had to reconsider ¡ª the gaze wasn¡¯t as much empty as it was gloomy. Yet, it held her in its interest, unblinking.


    While these seconds of disorientation passed by and as Emika slowly gained a grip on where she¡¯d been transported to, none of these people said a word. They stared at her, almost frozen, as if awaiting something ¡ª anything ¡ª to happen.


    But nothing did happen. Emika just sat there, pressing her back against the wall, pulling in her curse as much as possible to make sure she¡¯d not touch anyone in this small room. Her breathing was strong for a while, until she consciously tried to calm down with a few, deep breaths.


    Emika just jumped between gazes. She wasn¡¯t one to talk first; especially not to strangers, not if she could help it, and somehow, the way these people looked at her made it impossible to get a word out, even if she wanted to. Eventually, she saw the fearful look on the girl relent slowly, as her terror turned to confusion. The person gently moved to unwrap herself just a little. Using her arm to push herself up the tiniest amount, she eventually gulped.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t work, then?¡± she asked with a soft, squeaky voice. ¡°Safe?¡±


    The man sitting in front of Emika finally broke his pose, putting his leg down on the floor, and shrugged, turning his head up towards the girl. ¡°Can¡¯t say. Might just take a while. Or they are banking on her to get aggressive.¡± He looked back at Emika. ¡°You going to hurt us?¡±


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°Hey!¡± the girl snapped in annoyance at his question, finally wiggled from her blanket cocoon, wrapped what she shed off all up in a ball, and threw it. For a second, Emika thought she¡¯d throw it at him, but actually, the blanket landed on her own face and torso. She yelped, but only took a second to understand the gesture, and then used the blanket to wrap herself in it to hide the parts of her skin that had been exposed due to most of her clothes having burned away.


    ¡°She¡¯s clearly confused! And unhappy! Be nice!¡± the girl kept yelling at the man, who shrugged and held up his hands in resignation.


    ¡°Just covering the bases. She might be confused, but we all know how this will end if push comes to shove.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t know shit!¡± the girl yelled. ¡°God. You are so annoying.¡± Little curls fell around her head in her exasperation. She was wearing a white blouse and a black, wide skirt, now kneeling on the bed with legs spread far enough to that her bottom could sit on the mattress. Her head almost touched the ceiling, though she did seem pretty short.


    The man ignored her, turned back to Emika, and held up the hand with the paper sheet. ¡°They made me call you here,¡± he explained, with an oily and calm voice. ¡°You know where you are?¡±


    ¡°Heaven?¡± Emika asked.


    He nodded. ¡°Good. I¡¯m Blaike,¡± he said. ¡°That up there,¡± he nodded to the girl, ¡°Is Alisha. And that one,¡± he waved a hand at the androgynous looking person next to the glass plane, ¡°Is Epse.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t ever touch me,¡± Emika spilled out. She didn¡¯t want to start her stay at Heaven by accidentally killing off three people. That would probably make for a terrible introduction.


    Blaike¡¯s lips curled into a soft smile that didn¡¯t reach his eyes. ¡°No worries. We know.¡±


    They knew? Knew what? How much did they know? What a pointless thing to say. At least she wouldn¡¯t randomly get touched, it seemed. Good enough for now, maybe. Emika made a round of their faces again, trying her very best to memorise all of these names. It would be embarrassing to not remember them, though she could probably claim excuses, like being too confused by the transport, or her new favourite one of being too dense.


    As her glances landed on them, she was again captured by these eyes. These inhuman, bright green eyes. Eyes as if they could pierce Emika¡¯s very soul. And yet, these people didn¡¯t look alike at all beyond that. Not like relatives, not like friends. Not even like acquaintances. All they seemed to share among each other were these piercing, light green eyes.


    Emika took another deep breath.


    Okay, so she had been summoned not by a staffer, or a worker, or a doctor, or a nurse, or a receptionist, or whatever the people working in this place might be called. Instead, from the looks of it, she was summoned by an¡­ inmate? A patient?


    ¡­ A monster?


    A research object. A guinea pig.


    Yes, right. This was a research facility. These three people here were probably here to be researched. Maybe.


    It seemed like a rude question to ask, so Emika just stared back at them.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Blaike finally said. ¡°Welcome, and all. They will probably introduce themselves to you at¡­ some point. Who knows. The humans, I mean. Whatever. Anything you need? You look rough.¡±


    ¡°You are so freaking insensitive,¡± Alisha groaned, then turned her gaze to Emika. ¡°But, yes. You need anything? Anything I can help you with? There¡¯s¡­ clothes in the wardrobe. Just take any that fit. Though I think maybe only Blaike¡¯s would, and he sucks at fashion. You can try mine, but they¡¯ll probably be too small. That okay?¡±


    Emika barely registered what they said, and instead attempted to grasp her situation. So, big thing, first and foremost, was that at least these people were trying to be nice to her. That was a first among her recent¡­ Well, to be honest, since her curse had hit, the only other person that had been nice to Emika was Melisande. And now¡­ That girl, too. Emika wasn¡¯t sure about Blaike yet, but at least he was being honest, as far as she could tell, and she could work with that.


    Emika pulled in a lungful of air, holding it for a few seconds, then letting it all out. ¡°Why the hell do I not have a room of my own?¡± she then asked. ¡°Why did they put me with others? They should be well aware.¡±


    ¡°They are,¡± Blaike replied, looking like he was trying his best to control his face after biting into a lemon.


    ¡°They are? Then, why?¡±


    ¡°Because,¡± started a soft and raspy and wonderful voice, as if sung by a melancholic choir ¡ª and as Emika¡¯s eyes darted back, she saw that it was Epse speaking for the first time, their eyes still gloomy, face sunken ¡ª ¡°The wardens here are hoping to dispose of us.¡±


    Oh. Okay, well, yeah. Sure.


    Of course, the mages and witches running Heaven, the moment they heard about a deadly curse on an extremely strong creature, they¡¯d use that to try and kill off their trash. Because to them, what else could a monster be worth in this world? The worst part about this was that Emika was not surprised at all, and yet still deeply upset. She felt a sudden and sharp spike of anger.


    She wanted to break something.


    With all the adrenaline pumping through her veins, her curse almost all spilled out. She closed her eyes for a second to compose herself, then opened them back up, staring at Blaike.


    With as calm a voice as she could muster, Emika intoned a single sentence.


    ¡°Tell me their names.¡±

 Chapter 41: Wanted List

    It turned out, Heaven was way too big to list the names of all the people complicit in its maintenance. In addition, Alisha didn¡¯t stop herself from claiming that some workers were actually nice and didn¡¯t deserve any harm done to them, as one does. Overall, it did help to alleviate the slightest amount of anger rushing through Emika, if not by much.


    ¡°Why would they need me in the first place? Can they really not kill you any other way?¡±


    Alisha began a long, drawn-out, ¡°Well,¡± before continuing to explain the situation. ¡°Kinda¡­ we¡¯re hard to kill. People have tried to get rid of us for, like, ages. But they can¡¯t, because they suck.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± replied Emika. ¡°So, you¡¯re immortal? Like me?¡±


    Emika wasn¡¯t really sure whether she was actually all that much immortal, but she might as well keep up the bluff.


    ¡°Yep!¡± Alisha confirmed, a big smile on her face. What was there to be happy about? Ever since she tried to calm Emika down from her fit of rage against the maintainers of this place, she¡¯d been bouncing up and down, even going as far as to jump from the bed to look at Emika more closely.


    ¡°So¡­ are you, like¡­ evil, then? Did you kill people?¡± Emika asked. If they had, there was a chance they wouldn¡¯t be honest with her, but she might as well try. It¡¯s not like it truly mattered to Emika. Yes, of course, she wouldn¡¯t be too thrilled if these three turned out to be abusive murderers, but then again, that wasn¡¯t the only thing that mattered. Emika had never been too strong on the empathy-side, but she still retained some sense of morality out of pure principle. That said, even if there were incredibly good reasons to kill them, Emika still didn¡¯t appreciate being used in this manner at all, especially not without any consent. She wasn¡¯t some kind of weapon to be pointed where one wanted death to happen.


    ¡°Nope! No kill-count.¡± Alisha said. ¡°At least for me. Can¡¯t vouch for the other two, but considering their wishes, it sounds unlikely that they would have offed anyone.¡±


    Blaike simply nodded, and Epse gave out a short affirming hum in their beautiful voice. Ever since Emika had heard that person speak, she¡¯d placed them on spot three of her wanted-list; that is, the list of people she wanted to hug, with Melisande currently supremely occupying spot one and Eva being on spot two, if she¡¯d still be alive. Somehow, Epse seemed just incredibly huggable, with that gloomy gaze and the short black hair and the numerous styled piercings all over their ears and the tips of a tattoo reaching out to their neck from the chest, as well as their stylish jacket and black ballerina shoes.


    Emika absolutely loved hugs with no remorse, and she¡¯d made her own personal hug-harem with her previous circle of friends, but now, no more hugs, especially not for random strangers that were her hugging-type, because the curse had taken it all from her, and she didn¡¯t want her huggables to die. If she hadn¡¯t been so preoccupied with suffering and being angry over the past few weeks, her touch-starvation would have filled that gap anyway, and now that she saw Epse, it all came crashing back in.


    Only after a while of derailing into that line of thought did Alisha¡¯s full sentence parse in Emika¡¯s mind, and she was able to take her eyes off Epse, who was just gazing back at her with no movement on their pretty face.


    ¡°Wait,¡± Emika said. ¡°What do you mean, ¡®Considering their wishes¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡± Alisha¡¯s eyes widened a bit. ¡°You don¡¯t know what we are!¡±


    And just as Emika was about to ask ¡®what they were¡¯, a sound issued from behind the glass panel in the corridor, and steps echoed from within. A few moments later, a woman appeared in front of their room, glancing inside.


    She was wearing rather formal attire; a lab-coat over a pair of high-quality pants. Her messy and curly brunette-blonde hair was pulled together into a ponytail. She had tons of freckles on her face, light-brown skin and dark eyes, wore no make-up and looked immensely tired.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    ¡°Hasegawa Emika?¡± she asked, eyes on her target. After staring back at her for a few seconds, Emika nodded and got up, still wrapped in the blanket Alisha had thrown at her. ¡°I¡¯m Doctor Haur,¡± she said. ¡°I am responsible for your rehabilitation. Please follow me.¡±


    With that, and waving Emika towards herself, she made off to where she came from. Emika looked back at the others, though Blaike had preoccupied himself with reading a book, and Epse was daydreaming. All Emika got back was a shrug from Alisha.


    After closing her eyes very shut for a moment, Emika angrily got up, whipped open the wardrobe, and fumbled through the clothes inside. She wasn¡¯t going to try on things that might be too small, so she just grabbed a random pair of pants and a button shirt, both of which probably belonged to Blaike and were likely a little too large for her, and then hid between the open doors of the wardrobe to change. They were not large enough to conceal her, but all of the occupants of the room did their best to make her believe she had some privacy by pointedly finding things to stare in the room that were decidedly not her.


    Oh, well, whatever. Emika was modest out of principle more than anything, and her anger right now made it hard for her to care in the first place. It was altogether humiliating, which she would have loved to avoid, especially with the camera gazing into the room and god-knows who behind that.


    The pants ended up being so large that they would have slid down her legs, so she grew a tiny branch through the latches that a belt would usually go through to keep them on tight. Other than that and her right arm, she had almost completely pulled back her curse, so she looked almost human.


    As she was closing in on the glass plane, she was wondering how the hell she was supposed to leave, but just as she was about to complain, a click issued from it, and it slid to the side, letting her pass. Just as she moved outside, the sterile smell of a hospital dug into her nose, devoid of any non-artificial nuance or sub-scent that would in any way indicate she was currently in a welcoming environment.


    Emika was truly annoyed beyond relief. She looked back inside the room just as the glass panel slid back. That¡¯s when she noticed that there was a door on the wall a few metres behind the summoning circle, and she almost wanted to die of embarrassment. Of course, there was a bathroom! This was not Maxime-level confinement. What had she changed in the room for? And none of these people had mentioned it to her, either¡­


    Right before moving away, Emika¡¯s eyes fell onto Alisha, who hesitantly waved her goodbye. Emika sighed. What a cutie. That girl was now spot four on her hug wanted-list. It wasn¡¯t that hard to get on there, apparently, though Alisha really had done her best to make Emika¡¯s arrival here the slightest bit less horrifying.


    This was all so very messed up. Emika hated the fact that she had a stranger¡¯s clothes on herself. Maybe it would have been fine if it was Epse¡¯s or, god forbid, Melisande¡¯s, but this Blaike guy, well, he was nice and all, but¡­ The fabric was an intruder upon her senses, a heavy weight reminding her of all that was wrong with all of this.


    Emika still very vividly felt the sensory remains of all the touches Melisande had recently littered all over her body, and it was almost driving her up the wall. What ticked her off the most about her situation was that among the three bunk-pals and the surveillance camera, Emika wasn¡¯t likely to receive meaningful privacy anytime soon. Thus, it was going to be regrettably hard to pursue any Melisande-themed thought crimes.


    She scrunched up her eyes. She¡¯d messed up her priorities again. Yes, yes. Proper priorities. Right now, there was one very important thought forming in her head, and she did her best to put even the most benign thought crimes beneath it.


    They had summoned her here not to help her, but to use her as a weapon, and then probably off her, too. Or, maybe this was a trial run, and they would keep pointing her wherever devastation was supposed to happen?


    And Alisha was nice to her.


    This could have ended just like that fateful day. With her going somewhere, and then accidentally killing off a bunch of people without having any intention to. Just like that, they would have made her repeat the very thing that caused her entire situation in the first place.


    She was here to exploit the place and find a cure? Screw that. They really thought they could summon her to kill off some shelved immortals? No way.


    Forget breaking out. She¡¯d not ¡®break out¡¯, she¡¯d break it all down. Brick by brick, until nothing of this Heaven nonsense island in the sky was left.


    Pinching the bridge of her nose, Emika made a conscious effort to calm down. First of all, she needed to follow Dr. Haur. The woman was still patiently waiting at the end of the long corridor, arms behind her back. Find out where each brick was first, then pull them apart. Emika swallowed hard, then set foot after foot to join the Doctor for whatever she was planning to do.

 Chapter 42: Dr. Haur

    After leaving the corridor, another two followed that were just like the first; same setup, same type of rooms, same white furniture. Then, they got to an elevator, and judging from the buttons Dr. Haur pressed, they were pretty deep underground. The machine carried them up for quite a while, until it stopped, and they left into a large reception hall of a building. Being on ground-level, Emika could see out through the windows; it was a bright day, the sun shone sharply from above. There was a garden and park area outside the building, neat little shrubs and bushes and the occasional tree. She could vaguely make out what probably were some other complexes on the island.


    But they weren¡¯t leaving the building; instead, Dr. Haur gestured Emika towards the left, where they entered a roundway lined with more windows showing the outside on the right, and nondescript metal doors on the left. Emika tried to keep all of this in mind to build a mental map of the place, but she got fairly distracted when suddenly, there was no park outside the windows anymore but deep nothingness filled with clouds in the distance reaching up to the horizon, and the occasional glimpse at a ground kilometres beneath them. They were likely well within the stratosphere.


    Okay, yes. This was Heaven, sure enough.


    Eventually, they moved into one of the doors on the left, and entered another corridor hidden behind it. It was very wide, filled with an expensive looking carpet. A multitude of large meeting rooms stretched themselves to the sides, shut off by large glass doors.


    It was at around that time that Emika realised how this was all off.


    Apart from her three roommates and Dr. Haur, Emika hadn¡¯t seen a single person on her entire way so far. All the rooms in the corridors that probably were supposed to contain research subjects had been empty. Not a single soul had been inside the meeting rooms, or crossed their path on the way here. She hadn¡¯t even seen anyone outside.


    Something similar to this had happened once before, when Emika had left the Magical Fund Research Branch after almost killing Victor Felton due to his ill-advised decision to poison and gaslight her.


    In other words, apparently Heaven had chosen to evacuate the entirety of this wing in order to receive Emika.


    At the end of the corridor was a spiral staircase leading up, and then finally, at the end of the next floor, they arrived at an office with another glass door that had the words Dr. Eris Haur, Magical Affairs written on it.


    She opened the door and waved Emika through. Then, she gently closed it behind them, took place at her desk right in front of a wide glass wall overseeing the deep cloud sea and gestured Emika to sit on one of the chairs opposite her.


    Emika eyed the chair, but it didn¡¯t seem strong enough to hold her. At least, she was not going to try. Instead, she summoned a few strong branches and roots from her back that spiralled down into a stout structure she eventually sat down on, leaving her legs dangling a few fingerbreadths above the ground. Like she was sitting in a moon sickle made of wood, held up by simplistic meandering footing.


    When Emika was done, the woman cleared her throat and smiled. ¡°Welcome to Heaven.¡± She waited for her guest to answer, but Emika had no clue how to react, so she said nothing. Instead, she just looked at Dr. Haur, waiting for her to continue, which she eventually did. ¡°First of all, I want to ask you a question. Prior to your arrival, we have been ensured that you willingly accepted our offer to join us as a guest. Is that characterisation of events correct?¡±


    Emika was here willingly? That was news to her. Or¡­ was it? She vaguely remembered perhaps softly agreeing to the transfer in front of Maxime, even though that had only been part of the ruse to get to use the shower. In any case, he hadn¡¯t made it sound like it was her choice at all, so it didn¡¯t matter. Technically, she¡¯d come here willingly, though, because after all, she could have spent her last few hours on earth desperately scratching her entire back off instead of cuddling Melisande. Though it was still very questionable whether that would have worked.


    ¡°Sure, I want to be here,¡± she eventually settled on saying, because it was true enough. Right now, she wanted to be here, so she could bring the whole thing to the ground.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Dr. Haur nodded in relief. ¡°That¡¯s good. Sometimes, people arranging transfers aren¡¯t too straightforward with us. It is very important to our establishment that everyone here actually wants to be here, since treatments are generally much more effective if guests are put through them voluntarily. Can¡¯t help anyone who doesn¡¯t want to help themselves.¡± At that last sentence, she gave a knowing and soft chuckle.


    Well, Emika did actually want to receive treatment for her curse, if that was what that woman was talking about. So, again, good enough for now, even though it still didn¡¯t motivate her to speak.


    Dr. Haur bore through the silence by sorting through some documents on her desk, and then she said, ¡°Okay, very well. Then, let¡¯s start with laying some groundwork. Miss Hasegawa, what brings you here and how can we help you?¡±


    Oh, god. Didn¡¯t they already know full well what brought her here? Hadn¡¯t Maxime provided them with information? Emika couldn¡¯t imagine that they would have just accepted her blindly. So what was the point of her having to repeat it all? Sure, Emika wasn¡¯t very squeamish, but she did go through a certain amount of trauma, and a reasonable person in her place probably wouldn¡¯t be too happy with repeating it all the time. Well, on the other hand, it made sense that these people wanted to cross-reference their data with her actual personal account, but damn, Emika had no clue what data they already had! How much had Maxime supplied? Did they know she had killed all of her friends? Probably. But if they didn¡¯t, Emika didn¡¯t want to be the one to reveal it.


    This sucked tremendously.


    ¡°I¡¯m cursed to turn everything I touch into plants,¡± she eventually decided to say. ¡°I¡¯d like for you to remove that curse.¡±


    There, good enough.


    Dr. Haur went on to ask some follow-up questions; mainly about how the curse functioned, when the symptoms had started showing, if Emika had any prior knowledge of magic, and so on. Eventually, she was satisfied, and although the process had been slightly annoying, Dr. Haur had obviously tried very hard to be considerate and accepting of boundaries. For example, a question like ¡®Has the curse ever killed anyone?¡¯ had not been asked.


    ¡°Okay, please excuse me. Those are the motions we need to go through with every new patient, can¡¯t be helped, even when it¡¯s someone like you.¡±


    What was that supposed to mean? It didn¡¯t sound deprecating at all. If anything, Emika got the impression from the tone that she was supposed to feel good about it.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to be very honest with you,¡± the woman went on to say, ¡°While we are going to give our best efforts, I am not sure if we will be able to cure you. There is a limited number of tests we can run ¡ª non-invasive tests like ECG, MRI, CT ¡ª and those still have good chances to give us decent data on your condition. But beyond that, we are constrained, as you should well be aware.¡±


    ¡°I am probably aware,¡± Emika lied, ¡°but please explain it to me anyway.¡±


    ¡°Well.¡± Dr. Haur hesitated, gesturing at Emika. ¡°It is our understanding that your affliction repairs damage you receive by taking magical energy from your surroundings. There is a reason I am the one assigned to your case ¡ª I am a trained medical professional, but also an experienced witch. While I feel reasonably safe in your surroundings due to the immense amount of magical energy my body has saved up, there are still risks involved with anything that would damage your body in any way. And of course, I will continue to monitor my personal levels of magic and how much it saps due to being in your vicinity, and recuse myself if I end up believing to find myself in danger.¡±


    She cleared her throat again before continuing. ¡°We do not want to take any risks, because we value the life of our guests as well as everyone involved in this project as a worker. As such, non-invasive tests are the primary recourse we are recommending in this situation. I sincerely hope that you have understanding for this situation.¡±


    It made sense. Emika wouldn¡¯t have felt comfortable with invasive tests anyway.


    Dr. Haur eyed Emika for a little longer; as if appraising her. Then, she wet her lips, and continued, with a bit of tension in her expression, even though she tried to cover it up very well with a decent amount of professionalism. ¡°Again, I absolutely want to reassure you that we will do our best to help you. That much is true in any case. However, it is not the only reason why you are here. There is a secondary aspect to it, one that I hope you will appreciate as well.¡±


    Emika raised her eyebrows. Dr. Haur swallowed. ¡°You are a being of exceptional magical abilities,¡± she said. ¡°We are experienced in establishing relations with several individuals of immeasurable strength, one of which is also currently inhabiting this island.¡± She gestured to a place behind Emika, in a way that made it seem like she was pointing to the other side of Heaven.


    Emika shook her head gently and gave the Doctor a confused look. ¡°I am sorry. Please be clear with me. What exactly is the second reason I¡¯m here?¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± Dr. Haur replied, some of her tension leaving her body as she shifted her arms around the table. She took a noticeable breath.


    ¡°Emika, we would like to negotiate peace.¡±

 Chapter 43: Only in Heaven

    ¡°Peace?¡± Emika echoed. ¡°What? We aren¡¯t at war or anything, are we?¡±


    Dr. Haur closed her eyes and shook her head gently, in a gesture that didn¡¯t seem dismissive but rather sympathetic. ¡°I would like to make two points to shed a bit of light on this. First off, your curse is incredibly dangerous, and seemingly cannot be contained by any means that we would have access to. The reason why I only offered technical tests earlier and no magical ones is because we have no way to understand how your affliction interacts with foreign magic. It¡¯s possible that it will see any magic cast on you as a threat, and we have no way of verifying that theory without potentially sacrificing a mage or a witch. For obvious reasons, we are hesitant to do that. In other words, any person sharing a room with you, ever, is at your complete mercy to survive, with no way to defend themselves. That is not a common situation, as typically even the strongest magical beings have some weaknesses, or countermeasures that can be taken against them.¡±


    Were they aware that she had killed a Cursebreaker? Or did they just assume that she could, if she wanted to?


    After a brief pause, Dr. Haur gestured to some documents lying on the table, and her face darkened. ¡°The second point I would like to make is that, to our knowledge, your past warden decided to put you under a certain amount of¡­ duress.¡± She swallowed. ¡°Frankly, I was shocked when I read the reports, and how unaware this person seemed of the inhumanity of his actions. Be that as it may, what I want to communicate is that I would understand and empathise with any amount of resentment you might carry with you, and part of our negotiations are to make sure that such feelings are nipped in the bud and that our relations can grow into something positive instead.¡±


    Nipped in the bud? Grow into something positive? Was she doing this on purpose? Either way, there was nothing to ¡®nip in the bud¡¯; Emika¡¯s resentment already stood in full bloom, and had for a while. These people were way too late to the party. At this point, Emika wasn¡¯t sure yet if she wanted to communicate that to them, so she just nodded. Maybe it would have been different if they hadn¡¯t started off by trying to use her to kill people. Truth be told, these messages were rather mixed.


    ¡°All of this is just the groundwork,¡± the woman continued. ¡°This is just an introductory little chat, so feel free to think it over before we start negotiating properly. Consider what you might want that we could offer, and whether there are ways through which we can make your stay here more welcoming. To show you that we mean it when we say that we want to help, I hereby offer you to get those medical tests done right away, if you would like. If you¡¯d rather rest, we can instead carry them out whenever you feel ready.¡±


    Emika had just spent several days in solitary confinement being experimented on, and had spent today breaking out of there, throwing herself through the forest like a sapient rock, being set aflame, and then killing a weasel and a Cursebreaker, only to at last be summoned to Heaven. The truth was, she really wanted, and needed, a long shower, and a ton of sleep.


    Maybe some food, too, but Maxime hadn¡¯t given her any, and by now Emika wasn¡¯t too sure anymore if she required food at all. She was desperately hungry, but that apparently didn¡¯t impact her ability to maim and kill or move around or stare at medical professionals in silence. On the other hand, there was some chance that her hunger was actually causing her to sap more energy from her surroundings, which was something that felt slightly unpleasant to her, so eating a meal was definitely a priority.


    ¡°I want to eat,¡± she said. ¡°And then do the tests.¡±


    Her wish was essentially treated like a command. Dr. Haur made a quick call on her phone, after which she led her through the buildings into a large canteen that ended up completely empty save for a nervous worker behind the counter with a net over his hair asking what she would like to eat.


    That was a very good question. What would she like to eat? For some reason, she couldn¡¯t help but ask for mushrooms, onions, carrots, beetroots, and potatoes and only after stating that preference, she recognised that what she was really craving was soil, though she decided to keep that to herself.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Emika sat down on one of the tables joined by Dr. Haur, but they both didn¡¯t speak during the wait. Eventually, the worker delivered a rich potato stew with all of the ordered ingredients, plus red beans as a protein source.


    It was probably the most amazing meal Emika had tasted since that soy-based lasagna on the day she turned her friends into plants.


    The moment she realised that, the moment she remembered that, with all the vivid images flooding back into her consciousness ¡ª the blood, the limbs, the mixtures of flesh and plant ¡ª, she wasn¡¯t hungry anymore. Instead, she felt like vomiting. She took a short break and put her spoon down, closing her eyes and forcing herself to breathe slowly and deeply to wait out the retching reflex.


    She still needed to eat this. She hadn¡¯t eaten in days, so now, she needed to. There was no way to avoid it. After a few minutes and one last deep breath, she finally went on to finish the plate, and decided to ask for seconds for good measure, just trying her best to empty her head and not think about anything this whole time.


    After she was done, she felt like she could probably ask for a third and fourth serving, but for now, she decided she¡¯d suffered enough.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Emika said after having stored away her plate in the dish cart.


    Dr. Haur nodded. If she had any thoughts on Emika¡¯s hesitation towards finishing her meal, or even noticed at all, she didn¡¯t show it. ¡°Ready for the rest?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s get it over with.¡±


    They ended up running the tests Dr. Haur had already mentioned, as well an ultrasound and a standard examination of reflexes and the like, although Dr. Haur ended up not trying to hit Emika¡¯s knee with a hammer. She then went on to measure her weight ¡ª or, at least trying to, because apparently, Emika¡¯s weight was oscillating between random values of about two hundred kilograms to over a metric ton.


    Emika was starting to feel extremely tired rather soon, now that all the stress and pressure of the day was wearing off. At some point, she mostly ceased to be aware of what Dr. Haur was doing, simply following her instructions to lie down there, adjust, hold still, get up, move along, lie down again, and so on.


    Dr. Haur didn¡¯t make any unnecessary comments and if something was immediately wrong with Emika, she didn¡¯t say it. On the other hand, everything was already wrong with her, so maybe there really was no reason to expect any peculiar reaction from her to whatever findings the test showed.


    Finally, when everything was completed, Dr. Haur said she¡¯d have the results ready within a few hours, and she¡¯d come fetch Emika once she¡¯d caught up on sleep.


    She was led back to her room, and the other three weren¡¯t currently inside. Their stuff was still scattered around, though, so it didn¡¯t seem like they had moved out. In any case, Emika entered the bathroom to finish herself up before going to bed, and it was right then that she found out why those three hadn¡¯t pointed her at it before, when she¡¯s been trying to change.


    There was a camera in there as well. If anything, hiding behind the open doors of the cupboard had probably given Emika the most privacy that she could have possibly received.


    She took a deep breath, trying not to get herself upset and angry again right before sleep, because that might cause her to stay up for another two hours, just brooding. She had already decided that this island wouldn¡¯t survive her, so this didn¡¯t really change anything. That said, the first thing she did was to reach out with her curse and destroy the camera, wrapping it in a juniper branch until it issued a soft crack.


    Finally, she was just about to lie down on the lower mattress on the bunk bed below where Alisha had wrapped herself in a cocoon earlier, but then she hesitated.


    Would the bed hold her? Or would Emika¡¯s body crush it?


    Well, only one way to find out.


    Emika rolled herself into the bunk and to her almost-surprise, the frame did hold. Even the mattress was way firmer than she¡¯d expected, and she barely even sank in. There were two blankets, one of which was weighted, both of which were extremely soft.


    As the knots of tension released themselves all over inside her body, Emika felt the soft cracking and snapping of wooden branches inside her as they eased into more comfortable positions. Like a weary behemoth settling itself after a long day, she felt her heartbeat slow down, her breathing steady, and her thoughts calm.


    Such a beautifully warm bed against the cool temperature of the room.


    Amazing. A good meal. Nice roommates. A bed that could hold her weight. Truly, this could only be Heaven.


    What a shame for Heaven.

 Chapter 44: Welcome to Life

    When Emika woke up, she was a doll.


    She had the hands of a doll, made of fabric and seams, she had the legs of a doll, and she appeared not to breathe, just like a doll wouldn¡¯t. Except, even though she was a doll, she couldn¡¯t move her hands or fingers, nor wake up. It was like someone else was piloting her. Like she was tugged at with threads.


    Her hands moved, but she wasn¡¯t the one who made them move, and she stood up, but she hadn¡¯t intended to do so.


    It took her a moment to realise ¡ª or, better put, remember ¡ª that this body she was currently inhabiting belonged to Melisande. Different, though. Not the very same Melisande she had come to know, but a different version of some kind. For example, her legs were thinner, and she didn¡¯t wear a dress. Instead, she was clothed in what amounted to a simple linen chemise and drawers.


    As Emika was moved through the room and closed in on a crate next to the wooden door, she decided to just give up and roll with it. This was probably a dream, right? Why else would she be in Melisande¡¯s body, and then have someone else move that body? It was awkward, and unpleasant, but it was okay. Not the worst experience she¡¯d had so far.


    It was a strange dream, though, because while Emika definitely felt dizzy and somewhat unfocused; while she felt that she couldn¡¯t see all that clearly and not perceive everything she wanted, she still was very much herself in her mind. She remembered that she had just gone to sleep in Heaven. She remembered that later, Dr. Haur would wake her up to talk her through the test results.


    When Emika involuntarily crouched in front of the crate, she had to pick up the letter lying on top of it, and rip it open with a gentle and smooth gesture, just like Melisande might.


    Then, she was made to unfold the paper, and started reading. It was written with a fountain pen on a sheet of paper with several imperfections, not like modern print paper at all.


    Hello!


    Sorry, this all went bad and I had to erase your memory because you found out some things you weren¡¯t supposed to. For your own safety, I want to say. Don¡¯t worry, you only lost about a day and were never active before.


    I¡¯m going to give you the gist of it: You are my graduation project, and I finished with first place in the academy thanks to you. But then I thought I could give you to the boy I fancy. So you could do chores for him, or stuff. You even agreed, but that¡¯s beside the point. He rejected you based on something he called ¡®basic human decency¡¯. Well, I guess I get it, but I thought it was fine because I made you myself. You¡¯re just a doll, after all.


    Anyways, I have other stuff to do and can¡¯t really take care of a daughter, so I provided you with some money and this room, I¡¯ve paid the rent for a few days. There¡¯s a spell embroidered on the inside of your skin. It makes you inconspicuous, so others won¡¯t mind that you¡¯re just a doll and treat you mostly human. You don¡¯t need food or anything like that, but make sure to earn some money so you can buy more tea. There¡¯s replacement tea in the crate, as well as some more pattern pieces for your skin, with some body parts. With those, you can choose what kind of shape you want to have.


    Inside, there is also a library card and a few books. I thought, since I don¡¯t have time to teach you morals myself, books probably can do that well enough.


    Good luck with your life!


    Best regards,


    Amagdala


    Well, this was horrifying. And yet, somehow, even though she¡¯d only known Amagdala through a single phone call, she could very well imagine a much younger version of her having acted this way. Amagdala, who really hadn¡¯t seemed emotionally fazed at all that they¡¯d killed a Cursebreaker, who nonchalantly accepted a deadly curse on Emika without showing the slightest kind of empathy, who mostly had just been curious about all of the magical implications of the situation.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Of course, Emika couldn¡¯t really fault someone for being pragmatic. If she¡¯d received a letter like this, she would have probably simply accepted it and moved on. Actually ¡ª hadn¡¯t she, once? That letter from L¨ªf may have not been nearly as cold, but still somewhat extraordinary in scope, with how it had asked her to lay down her life.


    Regardless, this right here was about Melisande, and Melisande was different.


    Because in contrast to Amagdala and Emika, Melisande actually did seem to, albeit not literally, have a heart.


    Without wanting to, she placed the letter aside, and opened the crate.


    What followed was a rather intimate scene of Melisande choosing her own body. She made it look female when it was androgynous at first. Emika tried to avert her eyes, but unfortunately, she had no control over them, and if there was a way to ¡®wake up¡¯ from this, she didn¡¯t know how. This really seemed like one of Melisande¡¯s memories that Emika was accidentally witnessing. The first of all her memories, in fact.


    Not that she didn¡¯t want to know every single thing about Melisande that Melisande was ready to divulge ¡ª but the ¡®ready to divulge¡¯ part was rather important in that sentence, wasn¡¯t it? She¡¯d have to apologise to Melisande later, and tell her what she¡¯d seen.


    That is, when she figured out how to get signal in Heaven.


    And then, Emika woke up. It was dark, and she now felt her roommates¡¯ presence. The soft snoring of Blaike, the shuffling of the blankets issued by Alisha above her. And after rising in her bed for a moment, she saw Epse, sleeping like an angel in the bunk next to her.


    What an odd dream. Emika had never had one like this before. It felt fuzzy, more like a hallucination than a dream, she would guess. And also, it had been a memory, and it was clearly incomplete. There had been a room, but nothing in it? No, she¡¯d felt that the room wasn¡¯t empty, but that what was inside wasn¡¯t important, and so she couldn¡¯t really make out anything.


    Emika sighed softly, and hoped she¡¯d be able to see some more of Melisande¡¯s memories at some point, but not without talking to her about it first¡­ That¡¯s right, she needed signal. At least, in this room, she had none.


    That aside, what was she going to do now? Was Dr. Haur already done with the tests? Was there even a way for her to call for anyone?


    In the end, Emika simply got up and walked towards the desk in the room, pushed the chair aside, and made herself her own cursed wooden bench to sit on.


    At that moment, she realised she didn¡¯t even need a table at all. She could simply make structures to use that way with her curse, and they¡¯d be much more fitting for whatever she was going to do. But for now, she already sat in front of the desk, and was too lazy to move.


    How much time would she have?


    Either way, now was as good a time to start as any.


    Inside the prison, she¡¯d never found the state of mind to actually comprehend what was written in Introduction to Curses, Volume I ¡ª the book Maxime had given her to pass time in confinement. But now, maybe she could attempt to learn about them. So, she puked it out from her belly where she¡¯d been cut in half, and placed it in front of herself. The soft ambient light falling in from the corridor was just enough to make out the words ¡ª Emika didn¡¯t want to wake the others up by using the lamps in the room.


    Preamble, introduction, chapter one¡­ Up to chapter twenty-six. It was a chonky work of literature, and apparently only the first of a series.


    By now, Emika had some understanding of what a curse was, some personal experience too, most likely. She skimmed through the first few sections of the book to compare knowledge, and what they said seemed to match her own knowledge.


    Curses were of human origin, one way or another. Something interesting she hadn¡¯t known yet though was a section on ¡®Ancient Curses¡¯ ¡ª curses not spoken by a specific person, but rather born from the collective unconscious of humanity.


    This wasn¡¯t the first time Emika had been confronted with that kind of concept, was it? Amagdala had explained something similar ¡ª that it was hard to kill a Cursebreaker with magic, because most thinking beings considered Cursebreakers to be immune to it. It wasn¡¯t entirely the same, because this book seemed to attribute curses to humans only, while Amagdala had, to the best of Emika¡¯s recognition, talked about beings with thoughts as a whole.


    Emika couldn¡¯t help but feel a little happy. Magic had always been something at the periphery of her life ¡ª yes, it existed, but it was dying out in a world that had no more use for it. As Amagdala had said, it was usually easier to shoot someone with a gun than to devise magic against them. As such, Emika had never known a lot about it.


    But now, she was starting to see patterns within the magical theory she had learned so far. That was a good first step.


    Just as she wanted to read about those ¡®Ancient Curses¡¯, Emika was interrupted by the door to the room being opened. She looked up from the darkness and saw Dr. Haur look at her expectantly.


    ¡°If you are ready, we can talk about your results.¡±

 Chapter 45: Among Other Things

    It took them a few minutes to walk through those very same empty halls and corridors that they did last time to reach Dr. Haur¡¯s office. Emika couldn¡¯t help but feel a little bit of tension build up, as the woman didn¡¯t show her cards at all. Good results? Bad results? There were no inclinations either way on her face.


    Which, especially in Emika¡¯s case, likely spoke for the worse kind of result, didn¡¯t it?


    After growing her own place to sit in as she was getting accustomed to, Emika glanced at Dr. Haur, who was going through a few documents on her desk while getting ready. Finally, she started speaking.


    ¡°If it¡¯s okay with you, I¡¯d like to ask you a few questions before we get into it. I promise it will be short, and make sense when I¡¯m done.¡±


    Okay? Okay, sure. Emika said nothing, though, just keeping Dr. Haur in her gaze.


    ¡°We usually do things like these through questionnaires, but since I am not on a clock here, I¡¯d like to talk to you openly. So, my first question to you is ¡ª did you notice any changes about your behaviour ever since the curse manifested?¡±


    Emika stared, but this time, it was more out of confusion at the question. Had she changed? Had she been different before getting cursed?


    Out of left field, she couldn¡¯t really say she had. She didn¡¯t feel that much different.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know? What kind of changes would that be?¡±


    Dr. Haur wet her lips and leaned back in her chair. ¡°I have some ideas. If you didn¡¯t notice anything specific that rings any bells, then I can ask you some pointed questions to help you, if that¡¯s alright. Also, I am asking these things to help you understand your situation. I don¡¯t mind either way if you think you have changed or not. This is only for you to consider.¡±


    Emika simply gave a nod. This was ominous in a way, but she hoped it wouldn¡¯t go exactly like the Viktor Felton situation with them trying to gaslight her into thinking she¡¯s an evil monster. Insinuating in some way that her judgement is impaired.


    ¡°For example,¡± Dr. Haur began, ¡°Do you get annoyed or angry quickly?¡±


    Somehow, that question really ticked her off. She didn¡¯t get ¡®annoyed quickly¡¯, there was just so much to get annoyed at! So it was like the Research Branch, after all. A simple repeat. At that thought, Emika wanted to smash something, but she held back.


    She tried to calm down, if only to properly consider the question for a moment. Did she get annoyed quickly? Turning it around in her head, she could definitely come up with some situations lately where she¡¯d been terribly annoyed or angry. She was angry right now, after all.


    But¡­ Even if the answer to the question was ¡®yes¡¯, was that even relevant? Because Emika felt like she was angry because other people kept making her angry. Kept shooting her in the thigh and her stomach, kept abducting or stalking and gaslighting her, and she was in a terrible situation that made her a danger to everyone around her ¡ª and she¡¯d lost everyone she¡¯d cared for.


    She might get angry quickly, but was that a question worth considering if all the anger was justified?


    As she reflected, Dr. Haur simply gave her time. She didn¡¯t even make her feel like she needed to answer out loud. When Emika had finished her thoughts and looked up, the woman nodded at her, and then went on.


    ¡°There are a few other things, but just one more question before I show you the results, because that question at least has some relevance to us. Us, as in, our entire institution.¡± She frowned for a moment, took another look at one of her papers, and then asked, ¡°Do you have any issues with recalling memories? Are you forgetful?¡±


    Emika didn¡¯t feel like she needed to consider this much. She was able to recall details from way back rather quickly, wasn¡¯t she?


    ¡°Not as far as I know,¡± she replied.


    Dr. Haur nodded, and looked slightly relieved. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±


    Maybe she hadn¡¯t been looking forward to negotiating terms with someone who was losing their memory.


    With that, Dr. Haur pulled out a small document folder and opened it up to flip through the pages. ¡°Let¡¯s start with the easy things. Apparently, you have two hearts.¡±


    What?


    ¡°I think only one of them is made out of flesh, though. The other one appears to be part of your curse, but it still seems to pump blood. We can also see that the curse growths seem to be able to substitute simple body functions. There are wooden blood vessels between parts of flesh where you have been¡­¡± She trailed off, bit her lip, and then continued, ¡°I don¡¯t want to make assumptions, but, where you appear to have been bisected. You retain usage of your legs, so my assumption would be that it can even replicate nerve tissue to send information to and from your brain.¡±


    Well, having that spelled out was nice, but it also seemed rather obvious. Yes, her curse was replacing parts of her body, and apparently doing a good job at that?


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°There are limits, though. It¡¯s just wood. It remains just wood, so what it is able to do is constrained. You mentioned you don¡¯t feel any input in your wood extremities, so it¡¯s likely that the curse cannot create new nerve endings, just connect between existing ones. And that is what makes our main finding rather worrying.¡±


    She pulled up a dark piece of plastic paper, and pushed it over the table to let Emika take a look. The imagery showed what looked like an intersection of a brain as shown from above, although even Emika could understand at first glance that most brains didn¡¯t look like that.


    There appeared to be a plantlike structure growing inside of it. Mostly in the centre of the picture, but there were some more in the top. Branches cutting through what seemed to be brain tissue, some closing off entire areas of grey matter, as if containing them within a fence. It looked so bad, in fact, that while the implication was clear that this was her brain, she felt like it may as well have been one of her victims¡¯.


    ¡°That¡¯s me?¡± she asked, just to make sure.


    Dr. Haur nodded. When Emika placed the image back down on the table, she picked out a pen to show some of the areas. ¡°This region here is the limbic system. It¡¯s where, among other things, anger and inhibition are handled,¡± she explained, and pointed to the centre of the brain with a large branch cutting through it, with many smaller twigs embedding themselves into the surrounding tissue. ¡°It is impossible to say if this actually impairs your emotions. It could just be nothing. Or, maybe, it affects you in a different way. The limbic system has many purposes, but I am pointing anger out specifically because it is something you may want to know. You can handle yourself as you see fit.¡±


    Then, Dr. Haur proceeded to show a subset of the limbic system, and gave an explanation. Emika¡¯s hippocampus had a few tiny twigs growing through it, though it didn¡¯t look as bad as other regions. That said, according to Dr. Haur, it was possible that Emika may experience issues with her memory at some point. ¡°Not accessing old ones, necessarily, with the current expression of the growths,¡± she specified. ¡°But it may be that at some point, collecting new memories may become harder for you.¡±


    After leaving Emika to process this for a moment, she added, ¡°We will need to make more of these images over the next few days or weeks, if you would allow us. That way, we can see if and how fast it grows, and how much time we have left.¡±


    ¡°How much time we have left,¡± Emika echoed.


    Dr. Haur nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Emika. Your curse takes over bodily functions when it replaces your tissue, but it really doesn¡¯t seem like the wood is capable of emulating something as complex as brain function. Even if it is, once it has replaced your brain, what remains will probably not be you.¡±


    That made sense to her.


    ¡°What we are looking at here,¡± Dr. Haur continued, ¡°Is¡­ well. Again, I¡¯m sorry. But it looks like this is what you will die from.¡±


    With a grave look, she kept Emika in her gaze, but there was something questioning about it, something apprehensive. Dr. Haur was apparently checking out Emika¡¯s reaction.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Emika asked.


    ¡°How are you feeling right now, Emika?¡±


    With a frown, Emika looked back down at her brain. ¡°It¡¯s confusing, I think,¡± she said. ¡°A lot of information to parse through. Well, it¡¯s not exactly news. I have always worked with the assumption that this curse will kill me. Now, I know how.¡±


    ¡°So, you are not afraid?¡±


    Afraid? Right now, Emika just felt empty. What was there to be afraid of?


    ¡°Not really? It¡¯s bothersome. I don¡¯t want to die.¡±


    Melisande had been right ¡ª Emika needed to make the best out of their remaining months. She wanted her to find a cure, and if anything, this would give her a concrete timetable to work with. So, wasn¡¯t it good news, actually?


    Dr. Haur placed her finger on another, small part near the centre of the image. In fact, what she was pointing at was mostly a dark web of twigs and twirling growths. ¡°Again, I don¡¯t know how much these growths affect your brain function so far, but this,¡± she tapped on the part, ¡°Is also where we feel fear.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Emika let out. Did Emika have trouble feeling fear?


    She hadn¡¯t been afraid when something grew from her wrist. She¡¯d only been annoyed. She hadn¡¯t been that much scared when Lester had followed her around and broken into her apartment. She¡¯d just been angry, and even gone as far as to confront him. She hadn¡¯t been scared about meeting that Well of Abstraction, and looking back at how that went, maybe she should have been. Research Branch, Maxime. Just angry, not much afraid.


    On the other hand, it wasn¡¯t like Emika was never afraid.


    She had been an emotional wreckage the moment Melisande had been in danger. And she¡¯d been afraid for some other people as well. Not all, not always, but sometimes, in very extreme situations. So, maybe her fear wasn¡¯t totally gone, just very muted, and didn¡¯t much pertain to herself. And even that¡­ wasn¡¯t news? She¡¯d always been reckless.


    Yes¡­ She remembered Eva¡¯s reaction back then when the curse had first manifested. Eva had been upset with her, but acted mostly like this was just another Emika-thing to do ¡ª and she¡¯d been right. Emika felt like she¡¯d always been the odd one out. Always been unreasonable to some extent. That¡¯s how her friends had treated her too, albeit with a lot of affection.


    Perhaps Emika had never felt a lot of fear, throughout her entire life. Or other emotions, even, except for anger and annoyance. She didn¡¯t know if it made any scientific sense, but perhaps the curse had just grown into this region so easily because there hadn¡¯t been much to be found there from the start.


    In a way, none of this really changed anything. It shouldn¡¯t change anything. Maybe she¡¯d think about it more later, but for now, Emika couldn¡¯t help but just stare at these results apathetically.


    The one piece of information that was definitely new, the one that had surprised her the most about all of this, was that apparently, Emika actually had two hearts¡­ instead of none.


    And, the prospect of receiving a concrete time window was something to look forward to, for her planning. Then she¡¯d know how much time she had left before turning into a mindless unkillable tree.


    Hopefully, however large that time-window was, it would leave her enough room to¡­ find a cure? Seeing all this evidence of her upcoming demise in front of her, and running through the concept of ¡®time remaining¡¯ in her head, wasn¡¯t she still very far away from finding anything that could help her survive?


    She wasn¡¯t ready to give up on that yet. But the truth was, right then, she just wished she could see Melisande.


    ¡°Dr. Haur,¡± Emika started, eyes finding hers. ¡°Is there a place on this island with phone signal?¡±

 Chapter 46: The Obvious Question

    A few hours later, Emika was absent-mindedly sitting in her room, trying her best not to process the information she¡¯d received all too much.


    It didn¡¯t change anything. It shouldn¡¯t change anything. So instead, she sat over her book of curses, trying to absorb as much of it as she possibly could. Which, in her current state, wasn¡¯t a lot.


    That went on until eventually, her three roommates returned from wherever they had been, and made concentration impossible.


    ¡°You suck, Blaike! I¡¯m never going to ask you for a favour again!¡±


    Alisha was fuming, strode through the room and eventually ¡ª much to Emika¡¯s surprise ¡ª jumped into a float, and flopped down on her bed.


    ¡°You can fly?¡± Emika asked and looked at the other two. Could they too?


    Epse didn¡¯t answer and just sat back down in their corner.


    ¡°You really don¡¯t know what we are, huh? Well, whatever,¡± Blaike said, and took a seat on his usual chair, crossing his legs.


    Emika didn¡¯t know what to say to that. Wasn¡¯t that already established? When she didn¡¯t answer, he motioned to the book she was reading. ¡°Introduction to Curses, right? Check out chapter 15. Should mention us.¡±


    ¡°Should mention you?¡± Emika asked.


    ¡°Well, not us, specifically, but our species. We are Wish Demons. People use us for curses all the time.¡±


    Emika frowned. Using people in curses? What did that mean? She started flipping through the pages and landed on a chapter called ¡®Delivering a Curse.¡¯


    Sure enough, among others, there was an illustration of a person with gleaming green eyes, despite the book being black-and-white otherwise.


    ¡°Why are you reading that book anyway? Want to curse someone?¡± Blaike asked and righted his glasses.


    Emika frowned again, rapidly losing track of this conversation. ¡°What? I¡¯m reading it because I¡¯m cursed, and I want to find a cure.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Alisha poked her head out from her bed, staring down at Emika. ¡°What¡¯s your curse? What happened?¡±


    Emika took a deep breath. ¡°I was cursed to turn into a tree and kill everyone I touch.¡± She grew out some of her branches a bit further in a snakelike motion.


    At that, silence came over the room. Alisha stared down confused, and Blaike looked like he was seeing a six-legged cat.


    ¡°You weren¡¯t born that way?¡± he asked. ¡°You¡¯re not a monster?¡±


    Not a monster? Well, that much was apparently debatable. ¡°I was cursed, and I¡¯m trying to find a cure. I was a normal human just a few months ago.¡±


    Well, with what she now knew, ¡®normal human¡¯ was maybe a bit of a stretch, but mentioning that probably wouldn¡¯t serve her right now. In any case, she was slowly gaining a decent understanding of what was going on. Yes, yes, curses like the one she was suffering from weren¡¯t normal, it was a ¡®ridiculous¡¯ curse, she already knew that. Maybe that¡¯s why these people had assumed she just was that way.


    ¡°Hey!¡± Alisha shouted after a while, and it took Emika a moment to realise she wasn¡¯t the target; the girl was shouting at Blaike. ¡°Help her!¡±


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ¡°Help me?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s a researcher. That¡¯s how he got caught. Thought he could come here to help find out more about monsters and then they just kept him locked up.¡±


    Blaike shrugged. ¡°They still let me help with their research projects, so I got what I wanted.¡±


    This was truly a horrifying place.


    ¡°So you can help me?¡± Emika asked. So far, she hadn¡¯t ever had the chance to talk to anyone about curses without having to hold back in some way. Everyone she¡¯d met with any knowledge on the topic had been her enemy in some way, or at least adversarial, to the point where she couldn¡¯t just ask questions.


    Blaike just shrugged. ¡°Can try. At least, I can help you with theory on curses, if there¡¯s something in that book you don¡¯t understand. It also only barely scratches the surface of what¡¯s to know. I won¡¯t be able to help you other than by talking, though. Not going to get my hands dirty.¡±


    Emika shook her head, and felt a soft elation in her chest at the same time. Suddenly, she saw him in a very different, much more huggable light. ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± she replied. ¡°Just need the theory. I¡¯m ready to get my hands dirty all by myself.¡±


    At that, Blaike¡¯s lips curled up to a slight smile. ¡°Perfect. So, what do you want to know?¡±


    There were probably a thousand questions that popped into Emika¡¯s head at that very moment, although she deemed one of them the most important to know, just to understand the connections between everything that was going on. She tapped on the picture of the Wish Demon on the book, and then asked, ¡°So, what¡¯s a Wish Demon, and what does it have to do with curses?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re like curses ourselves!¡± Alisha blurted out from her perch. ¡°If enough humans have a certain wish ¡ª you know, something they want to become real ¡ª a Wish Demon is born, and tasked with making it come true.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Blaike confirmed. ¡°Each of us has a wish, and the desperate need to fulfil it within the world. We can¡¯t die until we succeed.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s like a curse, how¡­?¡± Wait. Actually, just as she asked that question, she remembered those Ancient Curses mentioned in the book. ¡°So, like Ancient Curses, instead, you are personified?¡±


    ¡°And productive,¡± Blaike added. ¡°Ancient Curses only destroy. Of course, there are Wish Demons like that, which is why humans would like to find a way to kill us. They don¡¯t want to kill us three, specifically, but they¡¯d like to find out how a Wish Demon can be destroyed, to get rid of the¡­ ruder ones. Whatever.¡±


    Again, he gave a wide-armed shrug.


    ¡°That¡¯s not the reason why we¡¯re mentioned in that book, though,¡± he continued with a nod towards it. ¡°The thing is ¡ª curses normally don¡¯t travel long-distance. You can¡¯t sit in your home devising and concocting a curse and expect it to just hit whomever you want. The curse needs to be delivered, usually by hand, in some way. The target needs to drink a potion, or be touched, or otherwise directly compromised.¡±


    Emika had trouble processing this information; it felt like a ship piercing the dense fog of her minds¡¯ waters. It kind of changed things a little, didn¡¯t it? The fact that someone needed to have been with her when it happened. That someone had to have touched or made her eat something to infect her.


    ¡°But,¡± Blaike said, ¡°People don¡¯t like to deliver their own curses. It¡¯s potentially dangerous to do that. You can be caught or it could backfire in some way. So, typically, curses are delivered by a proxy.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡± Emika looked back at the book. Delivering a Curse. The different beings shown on that page, were they creatures that could be used as proxies? She could see something that looked like a faerie with wings there, and also some indiscriminate black blob with the tag ¡®Shapeshifter¡¯. ¡°So Wish Demons are used to deliver curses?¡±


    Blaike nodded. ¡°We are immortal and have some benefits. Some of us can fly, some of us can turn invisible. Tools given to us to try and accomplish our wishes. Abilities aiding with infiltration. Thus, many mages will make pacts with Wish Demons and ask them to deliver curses in exchange for furthering the fulfilment of the Demon¡¯s wish.¡±


    In other words, it was possible that someone had cursed her by hand, or that maybe she¡¯d been visited by an invisible Wish Demon or a Faerie at night, and gotten her curse that way. Emika¡¯s head started spinning.


    ¡°Enough about us,¡± Blaike then said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. You want to find a cure? Then let me understand your situation. Is it okay if I ask you a few things?¡±


    Emika nodded.


    ¡°In that case, let¡¯s start with the obvious.¡± He raised his eyebrows and made an offering gesture with one of his hands. ¡°Do you have any enemies?¡±


    It was at that exact moment that everything fell into place. Something in Emika¡¯s brain shifted to the point of sending goosebumps all over her skin.


    She didn¡¯t have any enemies. None that she was aware of. At least, not before being cursed.


    However, that¡¯s not what made this question important. It¡¯s not what made it matter. It¡¯s not what it told her. She felt fireworks go off in her head as suddenly, how she¡¯d ended up in this situation started to make a lot more sense.

 Chapter 47: Enemies

    Do you have any enemies?


    Of course, if someone got cursed, if someone had received a fatal injury that couldn¡¯t have been an accident, that was the first question to ask them. If not the very first, then at least one of the earliest ones. It truly was obvious.


    Someone out there in the world had spent their time and resources and efforts inflicting a terrifying curse on Emika, and maybe that person was still out there, and that¡¯s where she needed to start. If she found the person that had cursed her, she could maybe find their notes; find out why it had happened, how it had happened, and perhaps, how to reverse it.


    And yet, at that very moment, Emika realised that nobody had ever asked her that question before.


    If Emika actually had any enemies she was aware of, it would probably have occurred to her to check out that trail by herself. If she had a person in her life that hated her guts, wanted her dead, wanted her destroyed, she might have made that connection on her own.


    But wasn¡¯t it truly peculiar that nobody who¡¯d ever offered help with her curse had asked her about her enemies before? Had asked her about her friends, her family, her surroundings, her life?


    It¡¯s because Viktor and Durand and Dr. Haur had never seen her as a victim, they¡¯d seen her as a threat. They had all approached the situation based on the assumption that it was Emika who had threatened and killed people when in reality, the murderer was the one who¡¯d cursed her.


    But the one who¡¯d cursed her was a person, and she was a monster. People were protected, and she was not.


    In other words, why would they care about the one who cursed her? When they could instead just get rid of Emika instead.


    People like her ¡ª or rather, beings like her ¡ª weren¡¯t meant to exist. They weren¡¯t meant to walk the earth. Weren¡¯t meant to breathe.


    Maybe it was the same for Melisande, too. Melisande had apparently committed crimes in the past, and been thrown into jail because of them, but for all that Emika knew, Amagdala, Melisande¡¯s maker, had gone scot-free. Amagdala had not been the one in prison and had not been the one facing death, despite having dropped off Melisande in that cruel manner back then.


    In the end, Emika didn¡¯t really care about the details. Maybe Melisande had done something truly horrifying, and maybe none of it had been Amagdala¡¯s fault, but if Emika took her own experiences as a sample case, she really doubted that.


    If anything, her best guess was that Melisande had acted in self-defence some 200 years ago and would have then been killed off, and only Amagdala¡¯s interference had saved her.


    And the Wish Demons, too. People thought up their wishes, and instead of creating a world where those wishes were no longer needed ¡ª where those people could be happy ¡ª instead they went after the Wish Demons and tried to kill them for being nuisances.


    Of course they did. None of this was news to Emika.


    And yet, seeing it all before her like that, it shifted her perspective slightly.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    As her thoughts kept running wild in her head, the discussion with Blaike continued, but she was mostly tuning out and answering on autopilot.


    No, she didn¡¯t have any enemies. She just had her friends and her little life with her little trees before it had all gone belly-up. After that, Blaike started asking the kinds of questions the others had also asked; how her curse functioned, what the timeline had been, and other things like that.


    Emika tried her best to answer, but couldn¡¯t help derailing into further thoughts in her mind at every possible opportunity.


    So, people like her weren¡¯t meant to exist? Sure, maybe she wasn¡¯t the most empathetic, and maybe she wasn¡¯t really all that nice. Maybe she was selfish, too, and perhaps it was a bit of an issue that she involuntarily killed and sapped energy from everything around her. That last part though was done to her.


    As such, she wouldn¡¯t just stand by idly and accept her fate.


    That curse had killed all her friends, and it was killing her too, albeit much more slowly. In other words, somewhere out there, her very own murderer was walking around. The person that killed her, and Reiko, Taara and Sam¡­ and Mina and Eva.


    All of it was that person¡¯s fault.


    So now, Emika needed to make a choice. And it was a very tough choice.


    She only had a few weeks or months left to live. How would she spend them?


    Option one was to break out of this place, return to Melisande, and spend her remaining time with her, in peace. Even if it would be tragic, and even if her mental capacities would further decline over time ¡ª the idea of returning to Melisande and just living that life was oh so alluring.


    The other option was to go with what she¡¯d initially decided to do; to find a cure. Maybe pursuing the one who¡¯d cursed her would help with that, but truth be told, she wasn¡¯t sure how to go about it. Her curse was strong enough to kill a Cursebreaker, which should be an impossibility on its own. It was so strong that other mages were likely very unhappy with the idea of operating on her or using magic that could help her, for fear of getting killed off by the curse in retaliation.


    In other words, Emika could spend her time trying to find a cure, even though there was no clear path to it.


    And her very last option, the one thing that had now revealed itself to her, was revenge.


    She could avenge her own murder. The murder of her friends. She could tell the world that screwing with her was not going to fare well. All she needed to do was find whoever did it to her, and rip them to shreds.


    And, in a way, to some extent, options two and three followed the same path, up to a point. Finding her murderer was helpful in finding a cure, she figured. So, she could pursue that option, and decide on the details later.


    But¡­ What about Melisande? With what Emika now began to understand, the chances of surviving this curse were dwindling. Was it time to accept it? Time to give up?


    Emika felt her own skin crawl at the thought. The idea of letting her murderer roam free, it just did not compute with her brain, and at the same time, not spending her remaining time with Melisande was just as terrifying.


    She¡¯d always operated under the assumption that she¡¯d be able to do both; that she¡¯d find a cure and then go live with Melisande forever. That it would somehow work out, and that everybody who had told her she was going to die to this was wrong.


    She just wanted to tear this whole world apart now. This entire world that had allowed this situation to happen in the first place; that had let her get cursed, that had ignored the cause, that had strung her along from one irredeemable situation to the next, and now forced her to make an impossible choice.


    Before she caught herself, her curse had run wild in the entire room. It hadn¡¯t protruded far enough to touch the others, but it was getting pretty close. A warbling mass of anger overboiling, squirming branches, evergrowing into different shapes, like a convulsing swarm of worms with leaves.


    ¡°Everything alright?¡± Epse¡¯s voice echoed through her mind and brought her back.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Emika answered, and pulled her curse back into herself as best she could. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Talking about this upsets me more than I thought.¡± Emika sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s continue later, if that¡¯s okay with you? I was told that there¡¯s phone signal on the ¡®Front Lawn¡¯, can you maybe tell me where that is? Or can someone escort me there?¡±


    Living her life with Melisande, or avenging her own death? She couldn¡¯t make a choice like this on her own. It wouldn¡¯t be fair to choose on her own.


    She needed to make that choice together with her.