"Why are you doing this, my lord?" asked Odessa. "Why are you favoring this stupid animal instead of me? After I prayed to you for so long..."

"That is not your concern," replied Tartarus. "Or do you have complaints about the way your god does his job?"

"No, not at all my lord."

"Pay heed that this is your last warning, I expect someone who worships me not to repeat this insolent question." Then he turned his head to Zarios. "Now then, you called for me, pitiful human. What do you want?"

Zarios tried to cover his fear, "you surely know why I called you. After all, you are a god aren't you? You should be smart enough--"

"Watch your mouth," Tartarus interjected, "It seems that we do not have a single retard here but two. If you try to harass me in any way you will regret it. My torture for you has been humble so far. If you want me to turn it into something that even a Titan, an immortal cannot bear, then I shall gladly do it for you."

Zarios face changed color, he did not want to go that far. He had enough torture from the curse, and from Odessa, he did not want more of that. "I am sorry," he replied.

"Good," Tartarus replied. "Now speak up properly."

"I want to make a deal."

"Which is?"

"Release me from Odessa's torture, and I am willing to do whatever you want."

"I see..." Tartarus smiled, revealing long canine fangs. It was the first time Tartarus had smiled for centuries.

After a few minutes Zarios asked again, "So will you accept the deal?"

"Fine." Tartarus then looked at Odessa. "Do you hate her?"

"Huh?"

"I am asking you, do you hate this retard?" Tartarus pointed at Odessa.

"Of course." All the emotions of love that Zarios had for Odessa got amplified into hatred.

"Good, and you Odessa do you hate him?"

"I am jealous of him."

"Even better," Tartarus smiled.

"My lord," Odessa said, "I am willing to do whatever you want, even more than this insolent dog--"

"Be silent."

"But--"

"I have already warned you yet you ignored my warnings. You have to be disciplined."

Tartarus snapped his fingers thrice, and that twisted Odessa's body in the most inhuman fashion. Odessa gave very sharp cries that Zarios felt his ears might burst. After 2 minutes Tartarus seemed satisfied, he snapped his fingers thrice once again, and Odessa body returned back to normal.

"How was it?" Tartarus asked.

Odessa did not reply but kept sobbing.

"I said, how was your lesson?" said Tartarus. "Are humans stupid enough to ignore the orders of the gods?"

He snapped his fingers and twisted Odessa's body. And after another two minutes, he stopped the torture and asked, "How was your torture? I do not want to repeat the same question again."

"It was..." Odessa could barely catch her breath, "very painful my lord."

"Good, I can tell you won't repeat your insolence again. Now back to you pitiful mortal, I will release you from this pitiful torture of yours. But you will have to live with Odessa for the rest of your life. Otherwise, you will receive extreme pain that you have not felt anything like it your whole life."

Zarios felt that his heart had fallen on the floor. The last thing he wanted was another curse or to live the rest of his life with a crazy lady who drank his blood. Could not he have given Zarios an errand? Zarios thought.

"You look sad. You should instead be grateful that I am helping you fill the condition of your first curse. Having a lady with you at all times will ensure that you will be able to talk to her every single day." Tartarus laughed, "This is so much fun. I do not get it why the gods do not torture mortals more often. Anyways you will be living with two curses from now on, and she will be living with two curses as well."

Zarios gave Tartarus a sharp glare, but Tartarus replied to it with a smile, he enjoyed the glare. It was his job after all.

"Why do you want to torture me this much? Why me?"

"Why should I tell you? Though I suppose I will just say that the reason is related to the same reason why you have this extreme shyness towards ladies."

Zarios did not get what Tartarus meant.

"With this my job is done here. Do not hesitate to call me again, pitiful mortal," Tartarus laughed again, "that is if you want a third curse."

Tartarus disappeared out of thin air, and Zarios and Odessa were alone in the room. But something felt different to Zarios, then he realized that the ropes that Odessa had tied him with, the needle she pierced him with to draw blood, even the dizziness from blood loss all had gone away. Zarios felt relieved, but his thoughts got depressed upon remembering he will be living forever with Odessa.

Perhaps I should just kill myself, Zarios thought.

Then suddenly, Zarios heard a sharp cry "Even though I had been the most obedient servant to him?" Odessa shouted, breaking one vase after another. "I will have my revenge!"

====

It has been four days since Tartarus appeared and gave Zarios his second curse. Both Zarios and Odessa got the same curse this time, they had to be together else both would receive excruciating pain. Death, Zarios felt was gentler than this pain. Every second felt like breaking ten bones at once or getting stabbed twenty times in a single second. The pain was simply out of a different league.

However, Zarios could not go over 10 meters away from Odessa. Zarios realized this after a few unfortunate tests since he obviously had to understand how it works. It pissed him off that Tartarus had not explained the whole system of the second curse like he did to the first one. He then assumed that Tartarus wanted to torture both of them thorough understanding of how the second curse works by activating it numerous times. The bastard.

And he obviously could not go to university because he cannot bring Odessa to his university. Her brain was so messed up from the psychological damages she experienced from Tartarus torture that she became bedridden. It was brutal of Tartarus to treat his own worshippers so harshly. Odessa expected a royal treatment, but the reality had broken her heart instead. It seemed weird to Zarios because just after Tartarus left the two Odessa was on fire for revenge, but the next day she lost all her energy and never left her bed. Zarios also had to keep her alive, so he had to cook for her and even helping her to the toilet. Otherwise, he will have no other girl to talk to and he will die.

But this situation can't remain like this forever. Suppose that Zarios and Odessa lived together till they died, his life first would be unbearable because he will be living alongside a psycho that drinks blood for her mad god. And the act of being his girlfriend she started was mainly to stop her first curse from killing her, so there is that.

And after four days Zarios had it, he forced the semi-unconscious lady lying at her bed for four days straight out of the house and hit the library. The library sounds like a weird choice but Zarios figured it was an excellent place to find a way to dispel the two curses and keep the depressed Odessa in a calm place.

But the in the library books were full of crap, Zarios thought. They were useless and made by people messed up like Odessa. Some suggested boiling an egg and rubbing it on the curse on his arm, and on his left ring finger for his second curse (it was also on that same place for Odessa, quite a funny hint that Tartarus had given the two. Tartarus basically meant that they should marry, the troll). Zarios tried four dispelling methods he found on the most reliable books that seemed to him. He cracked an egg on the curse, he boiled hot water on it, he even put a horse's pee and fertilizer made of coal on it, but the two curses did not get affected.

Zarios felt he was getting mocked by the authors of the dispel books, basically telling him hey you believe in bullshit so here we are giving you more bullshit. Out of rage, he thought of burning the books, but of course he did not do that.

He then tried going to a few priests. This seemed to him as a more useful alternative than readings dispel books. But after they used very similar techniques to what Zarios had tried from the books, like rubbing a boiled egg on the curse marks, the priests concluded that he had to cut the whole arm remove the two curses (both curses were located on his left arm).

Luckily, the priests did not make a large fuss about this curse; perhaps they have seen similar curses in the past? In any case, Zarios did not find cutting the whole arm a good solution but kept it in mind as his last resort. For now, living with the two curses with his two arms intact was more favorable to him.