"You are a worshipper of Tartarus?" Zarios looked stunned.

"Yes," Odessa replied. "You seriously thought that I liked you? Or even cared whether you might die from this curse or not? But once I knew you were indeed cursed by the mighty Tartarus, I could not help myself. I also wanted to be blessed by him."

"A bless? Have you gone crazy? You consider a curse the same as a blessing?"

The needle was still drawing blood from Zarios left arm, and could do nothing about it because he was tied up. He was feeling dizzy because he lost a lot of blood, close to a liter Zarios assumed.

"A god, an actual god had spoken to you then cursed you. Who out of all the creatures in Earth managed to speak to a god? And not just to any god but to the mighty Tartarus. This sets you apart from all the creatures on Earth, it even puts you on the level on the divine, O blessed one, give me some of your blessings!"

Odessa placed her legs on Zarios belly and kept showering his chest and face with kisses, not out of love but out of a passion for her god.

How did the mature and kind Odessa change suddenly? Zarios wondered. Does this explain the reason why Zarios was able to talk to her out of all the ladies in the town? Is it because she was linked to the same god who cursed him? If that was the case then Zarios is ruined, because he must keep talking to her for the rest of his life to stay alive.

"How did all of this happen?" Zarios exclaimed. "Where did the old Odessa go? You cannot be her, you cannot be the same person. I can't believe all these two weeks were just a lie, it can't be."

"Why not? Many humans have different faces from what they are in public. I learned this from my late husband."

"But this difference is too much."

"Live and learn," she laughed. "I bet that after this you will not only have stronger shyness from ladies but a phobia from them. Funnily that the only person you managed to talk to was me. But it was all according to Tartarus plan. He, my beloved god, came to me and cursed me as well. And you know what? He cursed me before he cursed you. Have not you seen the scars on my palm and neck? He cursed me so that if I could not find a boyfriend younger than me then I would have to cut my body once daily till I could find one."

"All of this was planned?"

"Yes," she dug her nails into Zarios shoulders from excitement. "You getting cursed, and me getting cursed was all to make us meet one another. Do you get it now? We were destined by a god to be together."

"To think that I actually liked you..."

She ignored him and stared at her beloved blood container. Her response forced Zarios to close his eyes tightly to keep himself from crying. He had given it his best and did many things the old Zarios would not have imagined. Yet all of that was in vain.

"Finally the container is full," said Odessa as she hugged the container. “Do not worry your holy blood is getting used for a good cause as it should be plenty for the rest of my brethren." She then removed the needle from Zarios arm and bandaged his punctured skin.

"And what are you planning to do with my blood?"

"We will drink it of course."

Oh my god, Zarios shouted inside his brain.

"You cannot be serious."

"I am. It is one of the main religious doctrines for the Tartarians or the worshippers of Tartarus. True love can't form until the lovers drink the blood of one another."

"But this means that I also have to drink your blood."

"True, I have my blood prepared for you."

"Seriously? Do not you think what you are doing is messed up?"

"No, it is only different. Do you know many nations had worshiped Tartarus thousands of years ago? Where all of them mistaken? I do not think so. Our main religions today are equally messed up in their eyes. So neither religion is better than the other."

Everything is heading into some messed up route. Zarios had no way to run away from her. He was tied up, weak, and dizzy from blood loss. No one would hear him if he tried to shout, and arguing to her about her religion seemed to go nowhere. But Zarios had to escape this messed up situation.

"How about you untie the ropes now? Since you finished drawing my blood there is no point in keeping me like this."

"You think I am retarded? I will only do that if you become one of us. If not, you will remain tied up till you die."

"Sooner or later, there will be investigations that will definitely check the houses closest to mine. So you will be one of the primary targets."

"What are you implying?"

"Let us make a deal. Untie me and leave me alone and I will also do the same and ignore you completely from my life."

"A tied up man is trying to make a deal, very interesting." She then dug one of her fingernails into Zarios belly deep enough that he shouted. "You are not the first person who was in the same situation as you, we have experience. But first, let me get a taste of this blessed blood."

When Zarios saw Odessa drinking his own blood, and a little dripping to the floor, something inside of him was broken.

"What a great taste, I already feel that I am closer to the great Tartarus compared to before," Odessa said as she removed some of the blood from her cheeks. "Your blood will serve us well."

Whether it is due to the blood loss or from what he had been seeing in front of him, Zarios soon fainted.

***

Three days have passed since Zarios got tied up by Odessa. His body had become thin from malnourishment and blood loss. He felt like he had just a few days to live. During these three days, Odessa had brought up many friends from her cult who have taken a little of his blessed blood. Odessa had also forced Zarios to drink her own blood using metallic tools to keep his mouth open.

"Odessa, is there anything that I can do to make you untie me and leave me alone?" Zarios asked, on the verge of giving up.

"We can no longer leave you alone, that would be too dangerous for us. But if you are willing to worship Tartarus and follow his rules and doctrines, I will untie you right away."

"It is not like Tartarus wants me to worship him. He told me that he does not care if a human like me worshiped him."

"Still, you always have to seek salvation from Tartarus, no matter how much he ignores you. And who knows, perhaps his words were no more than a test to gauge your belief."

Holy shit, Zarios thought.

"Alright, say that I wanted to worship Tartarus, what kind of rules do I have to follow?"

"You will have to sacrifice something very precious to you. I sacrificed my ovaries for him."

"You are no longer a sane person Odessa."

"You may think so, but what Tartarus blessed us with was greater than the gift of birth."

"Which is?"

"Happiness."

"What?"

"I, no, we Tartarians no longer feel sadness nor depression. It does not matter what will happen to us tomorrow, because I will know that we will always be happy until our death."

How is such a thing possible? Zarios could not get it. Did he give them some kind of food or artifact to stop all these feelings of sadness? But Tartarus is the god of torture; he is not supposed to make people happy. Instead, he is supposed to torture. It made no sense.

"Tartarus is supposed to torture humans."

"He tortures all except for his worshipers."

"But he cursed you."

"That was a blessing, not a curse."

"Arguing with you goes nowhere, doesn't it?"

"It does, it is just that you are too young to convince me."

"Or maybe that you have gone too mad to understand me."

"Trying to get me angry will get you nowhere. And like I said the only way you can leave this situation is to be one of us and sacrifice something dear to you."

"I don't really want to sacrifice my reproductive organs like you."

"Why not? A shy person like you will never use them," said Odessa while laughing.

I use them every day, Zarios wanted to respond to her but was too shy to do so.

"So what else can I sacrifice?"

"It is common to sacrifice a hand or a leg."

"No thanks, but what about cursed ones? Aren't I already blessed by him, so I do not necessarily need to sacrifice anything do I?"

Odessa stared at him for a while, "Actually that might be true. Because whoever gets cursed by Tartarus means that the great god likes him."

"So do I have to sacrifice something or what?"

"...I do not know, none of us would know for sure. There is not a clear statement about it in our scriptures."

"Who would know?"

"Tartarus for sure."

"How about we ask him then? Tartarus, you can hear me, can't you? I want to speak to you." Zarios shouted.

"Oh my, you think the great Tartarus would show up for a little mouse like you?"

"Why not?" A third inhuman voice was heard suddenly between the two. That person was no one other than Tartarus himself.