8-16: The Bedridden Girl

"I'll be fine, Cass." Veronica whispered in her bed, holding the hand of her best friend.

"Ver, it was killing you last time! You've been coughing up blood nonstop. I can't help but worry." Cassidy said, her voice shook.

When the girls all got back from the dungeon, a small group went off to report to the administrators, and attempt to get a healer, while the rest stayed with Veronica.

Though, after a few days, and no luck with the healers, the house was full of gloom.

Veronica sat up weakly in her bed and looked out the window, at the training grounds in the afternoon light. She shut her eyes for a moment, sighing as she wished she could do more.

However, Lilith surprisingly came back, but she was just as blue as the rest of the girls.

"Well, Lilith? Did you fix whatever it was that needed to be fixed?"

"No... I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I had... a guess that it would come back... Hey, Lilith?"

"Yes?"

"Can you tell me what this is? I remember you calling it a curse."

Lilith nodded her head, and proceeded to tell Veronica everything she needed to know. The origins, the outcome, the reasons.

"I'll go speak with the other girls. Give them the news, you know? You go ahead and think about it, 'kay?" Lilith said before she left the room.

The girls sat in silence, Cassidy was curled up into a ball, Kazue was anxiously bouncing her leg up and down, and the rest, they all dealt with anxiety in their own ways. Tisha, Liafi and Nia even came by to check on Veronica, though they haven't seen her yet.

"Lilith! Is she getting better?" Eleanora asked, pacing the floor.

Lilith shook her head. "I think you all need to sit down." She spoke calmly. The rest listened, though still full of stress.

"Why, what's going on?" Seraph asked, biting her thumb.

"I've already explained this to her, and I figure I should explain it to you all as well." She started, making sure everyone was paying attention. "Veronica isn't sick with some disease. It's a curse. A very powerful one."

"What!? A-A curse? But why? She had this since she was little! Why would somebody curse her?" Cassidy exploded.

"Couldn't we dispell the curse with Holy magic? My sister is skilled with restorative magic and curse breaking!" Eleanora continued, ready to burst through the door to get her sister here.

"It's not that simple. Like I said, it's a powerful curse. So powerful, thay it can't be dispelled. Because it's also made from Holy magic instead of Dark magic."

"Meaning... it can't be broken through normal means. But it can still be broken, right?" Sirtia asked, gripping tightly onto the book she was going to give Veronica.

"No. At least, not that I know of. It was around during my time as well. Let me... tell you a story." Liltih said, sitting down, crossing her legs. "At the time, we had Hakano, Elves, Dragons, Angels and Humans. And humans, due to their shorter lifespans, bred like rabbits. They were everywhere, in everyone's territory." Lilith started.

"However, the Angels decided that the humans needed a smaller population. So, as a form of population control, they worked to create a curse to do so. Amaranth, who now calls herself a Goddess, was the one to come up with the curse. And it was accepted." Lilith explained.

Everyone was in disbelief, their Goddess was being ridiculed, and yet, they can't help but believe what Lilith was saying.

"So, they spread the curse far and wide. Humans across the world suddenly started dropping like flies. As time went on, less and less humans were affected. By the time I died, it was roughly one in a hundred humans were born cursed. Now, I'd probably day one in a million, if not more, seeing how rare it has gotten."

Population control. And Veronica has it. She had it since birth...

"Wait, then why did it suddenly disappear, then come back years later?" Cassidy asked.

"When I first... inhabited her, I wanted to get rid of it. However, that was impossible. What I was able to do, however, was create a seal, preventing the curse from killing her. And, if the seal wasn't broken, she probably would've died from old age long before the curse would've taken her." Lilith started to explain how she kept Veronica alive all this time.

"Then why did it break?" Sable wondered.

"Her body wasn't used to magic. Probably due to this odd Spirit system. Hakano magic had no issues. But magic that was 'not for her class' was to much for her body too handle. Smaller spells would've been fine, as long as I kept the seal maintained. However, when she killed that beast with that huge spell, the seal couldn't take it and was destroyed."

"So, she has another chunk of years, r-right?" Cassidy tried to be optimistic.

Lilith shook her head in response. "Sadly, no. Think of it this way. The seal acted as a dam, blocking off the source from the rest of her body. Whatever curse was left in her system was naturally drained over time. Also, over time, the curse started to build up behind that dam. When that dam broke, years worth of that curse flooded her body." She said.

There was a long pause of silence as the girls understood what that meant.

"At most, I give her a few weeks." Lilith took a deep breath for a moment before she continued. "But I might have a way to save her."

The girls lit up, and Cassidy was over the moon.

"Then do it!"

"One, it's not your choice, it's Veronica's. And second, there's plenty of issues. For starters, I'm not even sure it'll work considering I'm dead."

"Then we could do it." Aviris gestured to the whole group.

"Impossible. It requires a full blooded Hakano. If it doesn't work, then that's it."

"And the other issues?" Tisha asked.

"Well, this is a ritual. A ritual to turn her into a pure blooded Hakano. Which means—"

"She'll be ageless." Kazue interrupted Lilith.

"Yes. Only a few of you will even be able to live alongside her for eternity. The rest will die long before her."

Cassidy sunk, speechless.

"Not to mention, if the ritual does work, the transformation itself may kill her."

"What!? Why!?" Nia exclaimed.

"Her organs would be changing and shifting about, half of it would be regurgitated from her body. Not to mention that she'll have definitive exterior changes, like horns and a tail. She may also develop an appearance similar to mine from the process itself."

"What... what else do we need to worry about?" Liafi wondered, holding her daughter's hand.

"Assuiming she survives the transformation process, she may have various mental changes. From likes and dislikes for tastes, to a completely different personality. I once saw a kind girl who loved animals turn into a mass murderer who decorated her lair with her victims. It's entirely random, and you just have to hope."

"How does the ritual work? " ?azue asked.

"It's simple. I... have sex with her, imbuing my semen with magic, which her body would then absorb. 'Ritual' is just the... professional way to say it. Because, of course, my race need to make everything about sex."

That certainly shocked the girls.

———

Meanwhile, Veronica was trying to rest. But a bright light came about, with a radiant voice.

"My poor girl. Look at how she made you suffer. Worry no more. Once you join me in my arms, you'll experience no more pain." The voice said. A voice that Veronica guessed correctly.

"Amaranth. I'm naive, not stupid. I already know who you are, and what you've done."

"Hmph. Ignorant fool. Very well. Let the curse eat away at yourself. You'll join me in the end as a loyal slave instead. I do wish you were more... religious. Hm... maybe that Cassidy girl would be better..."

The voice was gone, and so was the light. And Veronica gripped her bedsheets tightly.

"Fuck her... If I live, I'll kill that bitch." Veronica sputtered, clenching her teeth until her jaw was in pain.