[R]6.10 Clear the Curse

The two girls stood close by the well. A simple errand to fetch some water had turned into something much more. Something, only one of the two girls was eager to hear. “Please father.” The girl with wine colored hair placed her hands on her hips. “Surely there must be another way? We can’t go down to face Dionysus ourselves.”

 

“Why not?” The voice boomed. “He has escaped his penalty for thousands of years already. He can no longer keep hiding. He must pay his debt to our society.”

 

The girl, called Enyo, had known this to be the truth. Dionysus was the traitor who had turned his back on his people, even after Father had given him nothing short of handing the keys over of his castle. Still, she had once called him brother and that was a bond not easily forgotten, no matter how many thousands of years had passed.  “I think it’s a marvelous idea!” Eris, her older sister, had cried out defiantly. “It will teach him to never make a mockery of Father.”

 

“You just want there to be Chaos,” Enyo muttered, lowering her eyes to match her frown. “Sister, you chose a life up here away from the darkness. Surely going to attack is not the smartest idea. We cannot create more disorder than what we already have.”

 

“Then war,” Eris stated simply. “That is your strong suit, no? Wage war on him until he has no choice but to surrender. One man with no army can’t stand against you, Sister. Unless of course, I go down there myself and drag him back up by those pointy little ears of his. Father, please just assign this to me. Enyo will not betray him.”

 

“But she must,” The voice boomed. “Or she will pay a price even bigger than Dionysus. Is your eternity worth giving up for a man who had chosen a life of miscreance over his kin? The man you call brother doesn’t seem himself as such anymore, but you will see that yourself. Go, Enyo, down to where we have found him. Bring him back for a public trial where he will face his punishment.”

 

“Yes…Father.” Enyo bowed her head, her sister sneering next to her. “I hope it does not come to this but I will wage war if I have to. So long as he comes back to clear your name.”

Graciela’s eyes sparkled as she wandered around the new town. It was nothing like Fortitude! Fortitude was a small place where all of the faces were the same and none of the businesses seemed to change. There were stories of people’s great great grandfathers meeting their wives and blah blah blah. Thousands of years had passed, was there no new stories to tell? “So what do you think?” Winter asked, spinning around in the sunlight. “There are some cool places indoors that we can visit. You know, a little less taxing on the skin.”

 

“I like it,” Graciela mumbled. “I could stay in the sunlight all day if my skin didn’t burn. Does anybody have vampiric sunscreen?”

 

“Wasn’t really planning on going out,” Maric replied. “But there are some really sick indoor places. Winter, why don’t we show her the tavern? We can get a drink, I know the bar keep.”

 

“We’re not old enough to drink,” Graciela replied. “And I have no desire to anyway. I just want to see what’s in  town so I can write this stupid paper and go back to my room. You guys don’t have to be nice to me, you know. I’ll go around myself and you can go do whatever it is you want to.”

 

“We don’t have to be nice to you, but I want to,” Winter said. “Not often we get a new face around here, and another vampire no less. Arc is a bit of a downer and Tera follows her around relentlessly. Those two are annoying. Adriana is related to me so it’s a little different.”

 

“She’s right,” Maric agreed. “I don’t really care much for the others but no point in writing you off without getting to know you first. Besides, I think you’re cute.”

 

“Maric!” Winter cried, hitting his arm. “Don’t be weird. You’ll scare her away. Graciela, please ignore him and hang out with me instead.” Winter linked her arms with Gracie’s much to the girl’s dismay. “We can go to the tavern and have a bite to eat. We don’t need to drink, Maric can do that all on his own.”

 

“Woah, woah!” Maric cried. “You can’t leave me behind. Wait up, girls!” He chased after the two, waving his arms as he tried to catch up. 

“We should get to know each other,” Dionysus replied, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at the students in front of him. He didn’t know exactly what Sophina wanted him to teach them. “Tell me about your powers and your names I guess. I’ll start. I’m Dionysus Blaze and I don’t have any powers. I’m just here because I’m old and I know a lot of information your headmaster thinks could be useful.”

 

“What a coincidence,” Tommy said, patting Dionysus on the back. “I am also quite unremarkable. I’m from another dimension, but it didn’t afford me any special powers or knowledge. I guess my DNA is special? I don’t know. Oh, and my name is Tommy Bennett  but most of you know that already. You go next, Leon.”

 

“Oh, uh…okay.” The students were all sitting together on a couch across from Dionysus and Tommy. Leon, in the middle, leaned forward. “I’m Leon Sikes. I’m a seer, so I can see what’s going to happen in the future. I’m not very good at it yet, but one day…Ms.Sophina thinks I could be really good at it. I hope to use it to save my best friend.” He looked over at Tera and Arc. “It’s Graciela.”

 

“Yes we could tell with how hard you were defending her this morning,” Arc said, rolling her eyes and leaning back in her seat. “My name is Arc Black. I’m a werewolf. But not just any werewolf, my mother is also a mage so I have some cool powers along with my heightened senses. You know like fire and ice and stuff like that. Tera, you go.”

 

“My name is Tera,” The fairy spoke quietly. “My specialty is dispelling and removing charms placed on other people. It’s erm…useful when we’re up against people trying to use mind altering spells and stuff. Uhm…are we going to have to use our powers against actual bad people?”

 

“Most certainly,” Dionysus replied, running a hand through his orange ponytail. “I don’t imagine you’ve all been enrolled in a school like this without that thought present in your mind. I could sugarcoat it and tell you all that you’re an elite group of students that are being given an opportunity of a lifetime but I think it’s much more fair to tell you that you’re needed in paying off the debts of some rather foolish people who decided their happiness meant more than the world’s wellbeing. So on that note, today’s lesson is over.” 

 

“Wait…what?” Leon asked. “That’s it? You tell us something like that and then dismiss us?” 

 

“Yes,” Dionysus replied. “You can see the future, but not the past which is a shame. If you did, you’d understand why I’m saying what I am. Think about my words, reflect on them, come back tomorrow and we’ll talk about it. Including you, Tommy. Alright, class is adjourned. See you all tomorrow.”

Maric chuckled, sliding his phone towards the girls. “Look at what Briella is making her kids do. Tera sent me a picture as she walked by the door.” Graciela peered at the phone, seeing Braylen, Adriana, and Rylan on the ground completing a jigsaw puzzle with really tiny pieces. “Knowing Ms.Briella, she won’t let them leave until they finish. That’s got to be like 1000 pieces, right?”

 

“I thought you didn’t like this Tera girl,” Graciela replied curtly, dismissing the vampire’s words completely. “Yet you’re texting her.”

 

“Jealous?” Maric asked, raising a brow. “I can talk to whoever I want. Tera included. It’d be different if you were my girlfriend, but you’re not. Right?”

 

“I don’t very much like this boy. His energy is all wrong. Perhaps it’s time to go home.”

 

Graciela scoffed, at both Maric and the voice. They had some nerve speaking to her in that manner. Though she could agree that she wanted to go home, it wasn’t because of Maric’s energy. He was trying to make her flirt with him or something, but that didn’t mean he had negative energy. Nothing like the teens at home. “We have enough for our paper, yes?”

 

“You don’t want to stay out more?” Winter asked. “It’s just starting to get dark. That’s when all the fun happens.”

 

Graciela stood up, ignoring Winter’s pleas to stay and hang out more, and Maric’s sad attempt at trying to get her to stay by teasing her. She had enough social interaction for the day. It would be interesting being paired with these two, but she’d much prefer to go back to her room since it seemed as if her only true friend, Braylen, was tied up doing something. 

Sophina threw the file of papers onto her desk, looking at both Briella and Dionysus with heated glares. “You told your students that they have to pay for our mistakes?” Sophina cried, directing her anger first at the orange elf. “Have you lost your mind?”

 

“Am I wrong?” Dionysus asked, raising a brow. “Besides I didn’t say it like that. I said because of the mistakes of people in the past. Listen, I don’t know what you want me to tell you. You gave me three kids and a man who isn’t experienced in any of the things you guys are teaching. I had no lesson plans, no time to prepare…I told them what I know and what will help them.”

 

“It seems to me like you’re butthurt for no reason,” Briella replied. “You did just spring this gig onto Dio without so much as an explanation. Did you want him to summon Ellora himself and beg for her forgiveness? That worked so well the first time.”

 

“No.” Sophina spat. “I want you to teach those kids what they need to do to get into the underworld to face Victus and beg HIM for help!” Seeing her colleagues, Dionysus with brows furrowed and Briella holding back a laugh, she seethed. “Go ahead, tell me you think that’s a bad idea. But before you do, think about it! The only one who can change a god’s favor, is another one. Victus is Ellora’s counterpart, he could do something.”

 

Dionysus let out a groan and shut his eyes tightly. “Victus contains the darkness in the underworld so that it doesn’t leak out into our world and take over. Ellora keeps her light from pestering the dark so there is no war between the two. I don’t see how asking Victus to overstep his boundary is going to do anything, especially to help these kids. I’ll pay my mistake and wander the world forever, but those kids aren’t going to have to do it as well.” 

 

“This time will be different,” Sophina replied. “I did my research, hundreds of years of it! If Victus can’t help us reset the curse, maybe he can point us the direction of someone who can!”

 

“That’s not how that works,” Dionysus replied. “You can’t just go into the underworld and ask the god of darkness to tell Ellora to reverse the plague she placed on the Grays and the Sikes. Those were always going to happen because they need to for the world to stay in balance. She is the darkness and he is the light.” Angry, Dionysus stood up. “What we can and will do is find out what this generation has to do to fulfil their curse and make it so that they’re best equipped to face it. I will have no part in your silly games summoning a god.”

 

Sophina was at a loss for words as the man she had once loved, stormed out of the room. She understood his apprehension but asking two teenagers to bear the balance of the world on their shoulders was unfair. It was unfair to ask Timmy to do it all those years ago too. There had to be some other way.