064 - The Sleeping Forest

Magnus' clothes were in tatters; blood stained, torn at the shoulder, his hunters jacket slashed and cut and covered in blood.

"No . . the Vigour! STOP! No!" Min fell back over her brother's body, crawling on her hands and knees. "Brother . . a Celestial! Please, stop! Don't come any closer!"

She found her short sword on the ground and waved the tip at him.

Magnus pointed the red thread at her, sending it shooting through the air.

Clang!

A faint yellow aura covered Min's sword, she slashed at the red thread stopping its progress. Magnus frowned, the thread curled through the air and shoot forward again . . clang!

The yellow aura, Mens. It can be used in this way? What if I had a sword, could I use Vigour in the same way? A myriad of applications for Mens and Vigour rose in Magnus mind, the method of creating an aura and sustaining it and imbuing weapons and items.

Is this what the brother and sister had been doing? Mens, the spirit realm and divination when focused on a particular body part could amplify their abilities, depending on the individual's affiliation.

Soo used it to enhance his vision and create illusions by stimulating his opponents sense of sight . . . Min used a similar principle to create a command effect by manipulating sound and directly influencing the subconscious. A simple ward would prove those effects entirely useless, anyone with the slightest bit of Mens would be able to guard against it naturally . . that must be why her voice can't affect me now.

Magnus retracted the thread of Vigour, unable to pass through Min's desperate guard. And now? Well, knock her out then devour. Can I use Mens? Magnus focused on the yellow aura around his core and tried to bring it out of his finger. A fine yellow thread appeared from his finger tip extending out. Success! And now? Can I use Mens to attack directly? What about . .

Min watched Magnus, a frantic expression on her face. The gore stained youth seemed perfectly calm, a faint smile on his face . . he stood over Soo's body. A Celestial! Here! On one of the Alchemists worlds! Escape . . run away . . her whole body shook. Soo . . brother . . I don't want to die!

She struggled to her feet taking advantage of Magnus' distraction to try and run.

"Hmm. STOP!" Magnus commanded. Min shivered, running on unaffected. "I guess not. Oh well." Magnus picked a rock and threw it, striking Min's leg and sending her tumbling to the ground next to a hunter's corpse.

Mens! He can use Mens! That means . . the stories are true! A devourer . . a real Celestial!

He . . . brother . .

Min trembled with fear, unable to put any weight onto her leg.

Not like this . . not like this . .

A fierce white aura mixed with the yellow energy gathering on the blade of Min's curved short sword. On her forehead appeared a red mark.

"Brother . ." Tears streamed down Min's face. "Barbarian! I curse you! I curse you to death!" Min declared fiercely.

Magnus felt a sudden chill. The mark . . A mark of Vigour! Danger! The yellow and white energies, what was she trying to do? He searched the newfound memories but came up blank. The girl was doing something dangerous . . a curse . . a curse . .

In his memories appeared a small library within a run down courtyard. There, after the lessons Min and Soo would read from the ancient texts, I would . . no, Soo would study formations, Min preferred to look at the more exotic texts.

The mark on Min's forehead shone a blood red. Vigour! Everyone has one strand of Vigour, it is their lifeline . . Min raised the shortsword, her eyes fixed on Magnus, bringing the tip to her chest.

Eyes wide open, without even a moment of hesitation, she plunged the blade into her heart.

She collapsed, the mark on her head fading. Her blood poured from the open wound, flowing not to the ground but into the blade. A thick stench of blood, a hundred times more than even the stench of death from the corpses of the hunters, rose from Min's body, all mixing with a powerful yellow energy and infusing into her sword.

The Heart Sword!

A feeling of intense danger descended on Magnus. He recognized this curse, she'd read it to him! The Heart Sword! A blade of relentless pursuit, a sword formed from the essence and lifeblood of the practitioner that relentlessly slaughtered the target of the curse!

Too late!

If I had acted quickly I might have been able to stop the curse!

Above Min floated the short sword, the blade turned a crimson colour, a sharp yellow aura emanating out . .

It hung in the air, wavering slightly. Now . . the curse is finalizing . . it will come after me and won't stop until I am dead. Hmm.

The Heart Sword curse . . how can it be broken? If I could use a reversal . . to reverse a death curse, ha . . ahhhh . . oww!

A stinging pain shot through Mangus mind, as if both sides of his brain were being pulled apart within his skull.

What the devil was that? I was thinking . . a curse . . ah hells, what do I know about curses? I've gotta get to Kujata . . . ah, Sif! Oh . . ohhh . . my head . .

The floating sword turned in the air, its blood coloured tip pointing at Magnus. Swoosh! In a flash it shot through the air at him right at his head.

Magnus raised his hand in the way of the sword, grabbing it as the blade stabbed through his palm. It struggled furiously, cutting open his palm, but unable to break through and stab deeper.

He pinched the metal between two fingers and snapped it, breaking the rest of the blade in the same manner, taking the guard and throwing it out over the battlefield.

So much for that.

. . . Around the field of corpses the stench of blood and death grew thicker. The broken bits of the Heart Sword vibrated, flying up into the air, joining back together into a single sword. It spun, pointing at Magnus once more.

What a headache . .