CHAPTER 11: The Sorrow

Aella trudged her way back into her room with her face far from the harsh reality she had found herself in just a span of a few hours.

She shut the door behind her quietly as her worn out figure fell to the floor, her blue eyes glistening with ushered tears.

She had just come back from visiting the witch for the second time of the day.

She had gone there to inquire about a possible cure to the curse that was placed upon her family.

She was given an answer but not the one she hoped for.

Just thinking about it made her whole body vibrate with terror which made her slump down in anguish.

"The only to reverse this type of curse according to my knowledge is for you to get the heart of a mystical creature," the witch, Lumen Caramel had said as she stood just a few inches away from a confused Aella.

"A mystical creature?" Aella repeated with a frown.

She could hardly comprehend what the witch was implying.

"What do you mean by that?" She questioned further.

"Have you ever heard of Cassa de Dron?" the witch's query left Aella feeling perplexed.

She had no idea what that had to do with this.

"Y-Yes, I have heard of it, but why do you ask?" 

"Tell me about it," 

Aella let out a strangled sigh. What was this witch playing at now?

"It is the place which is believed to house a notorious demon rumoured to have devoured all humanity in that area. It is mainly used to scare children or even in eerie lullabies," Aella narrated what she knew from the stories the servants used to tell her or when she visited the markets.

She had no idea if it was true or not but it didn't really matter to her because most people believed it to just be a myth and nothing more.

What made her even more curious was why the witch would mention an unknown demon when she had asked her for a cure to the curse.

"I see, you do know what most people do. Now, what if I told you that the only way to save your family from the damnation your sister brought is for you to bring me the heart of that mystical demon at Cassa Dron?" Lumen's brown orbs were hooked on hers.

Aella's brain whirled into a tornado from her statement.

Her first response was to burst out laughing.

She tilted her head backwards as she chuckled at the outrageous offer the witch had just made.

She wasn't even scared that she had just turned the witch's words in mere jest because that was what it seemed to her.

Plain mockery.

"P-Pardon me, but do you have the slightest idea of what you just spewed? The heart of what? The demon? How can I get something which doesn't exists? The Cassa Dron is nothing but a myth," Aella couldn't believe what she was asking of her.

The expression in Lumen's face didn't change a bit even after she had just deemed her a jester. Instead, it grew even more determined which Aella didn't find funny anymore. At all.

"The demon at Cassa Dron is everything but a myth, I assure you that with all I possess. Getting the demon's heart is the only way your family could be saved by the natural order of the malicious spell cast on you," the witch's tone was cool, as though she hadn't just subtly annocued to Aella that she was doomed forever.

Aella's expression was quick to change gravely after she realized that Lumen was far from joking about this matter.

But it was still ludicrous to Aella, how was she supposed to get the heart of such a powerful creature?! It was impossible for a fragile human like her!

There was no way she would survive it, not to mention surviving through the strenous path to get there! It was plain suicide!

She had only heard of some foolish men wanting to show off their chivalry by embarking to slay the great demon so that they could be rewarded by the king but not one had returned alive.

Even if he did, he would be deficient of a limb or two from the monsters who attacked him on his journey.

So how was she, a lady who had just picked up a sword of recent, to accomplish a herculean task which thousands of kinights couldn't?

"Y-You jest! The heart of a demon? Do you know what that means? I would have to venture beyond the Dark Lands where hundreds of unknown creatures scamper before I would even reach Cassa Dron? I would be crushed in the blink of an eye," Aella let out to tell the witch how incredulous her suggestion was.

"But I thought you claim yourself an incredible swordswoman? Aren't you the one who won the recent battle in the streets?" the witch circled her slowly now.

"Y-Yes, but that was against measly humans, not a 10 feet tremendous creature from hell!" Aella spat back.

The fear of what the witch would do to her for speaking rudely not her main priority anymore.

Her life was more valuable than any other thing.

"But I thought you wanted to save your family?" the witch asked.

"Of course, I do! But not by putting myself in danger! What you are asking of me is unthinkable! Suggest something else, do you want me to hunt an ox? I can do that, anything else!"

"Or can't you just stop the curse yourself? I thought you were the most powerful witch in the kingdom? Please help us out this once," Aella was ready to get down on her knees if it was required.

"Do you think a curse is something you can just blow out like a candle?! It takes more than that, you nimcompoop! It is a natural order like the air you breathe in, causing a rift in the atmosphere would inflict harm not only on you but also on others!" The witch seemed to be scolding her for her demand which went overbaord.

"B-But what you're asking of her is more of risk to me and my family!" Aella retorted, not wanting to give in the dangerous notion.

"You have no other choice in this. It is about your family's safety and this is the only way. If you don't do it in time and your family keeps on receiving misfortunes after misfortunes, a time will come where you will all be wiped out of the surface of earth without remainder,"

Aella let out a sob in the silence of her room as the proposal the witch had told her was too much of a burden to be put on her shoulders.

Her sister was a dimwit who wouldn't even think of going on such a mission and she obviously couldn't send her ailing father.

She was the only one in the family who could embark on such a journey but she was also terrified of the consequences!

She had lived all her life in the walls of her father's estate and never once had she been subjected to any hardships as the Baron's eldest daughter so how was she going to do this?

It was like she had meet a dead end in her life and there was way out of this dilemma. 

She moved up to the cabinet at the side of her room to take out a rope from her drawers.

She was barely in her right senses when she climbed her bed to tie the end on the chandelier in her room.

Her eyes showed no fear even when she wrapped the ropes tightly around her neck with a determined stance.

Silent tears streamed out of her eyes as she took the hard decision.

If the curse was going to wipe them all out in the end then it was better for her to end her life by herself instead of living through the misery any longer.

Her family could use the money she had saved up to take care of her father but she had no strength to go on with life at this point.

With that in mind, she lifted the gravity from her feet as her body dangled in the air.