Alive

Izzy cautiously approached Ruben's corpse. She was going to kick it to check if he was really dead.

BEEP

The loud familiar buzz of the phone rang. Izzy jumped from the sound holding her hand to her chest.

" At this point, I'll die from fright", she mumbled.

The screen lit up like a beacon in the darkness and Izzy ran the phone. She scooped it up and smiled.

"System?"

[ Congratulations host for killing the Cursed One!

You have achieved a new breakthrough]

Izzy felt a wave of warmth course through her veins and concentrated on the feeling.

She felt her body fill to the brim with energy and opened her eyes. Her vision, hearing and strength had improved. She had broken through to level ten, the peak level of the specialisation phase.

Izzy breathed out taking in the new sense of power. The phone in her hands had repaired itself and was now back to its original state.

" I'm so glad you're not broken," Izzy said to the phone, which did not respond.

[ Would the host like to scan the Cursed One?

Yes or No]

Izzy was at a loss.

If she scanned Ruben she knew that the system could analyse his powers, which she could later use but she also knew that he would disappear into the phone. Just like all the other things she scanned did.

Izzy looked in front of her at his charred body. She felt sad, that she had killed him but it had been in defence of her own life.

Theonymphi hovered around Ruben's body examining it.

" What's wrong?" Izzy asked.

Theonymphi looked at her crossing his arms, " I don't know why but I still sense life radiating off of him".

" That can't be true. He's is dead... right?" The system had confirmed it and Izzy was inclined to believe it but still asked.

" System is he dead?"

[ Yes-]

" He's dead," Izzy said with surety.

[ The Cursed One is dead. However, the individual Ruben is still alive]

" Wait how is he dead and still alive?"

[ When one is cursed they are overcome with darkness that spreads like an alter ego. Eating away at the original host's soul. It appears that Ruben has not completely let the curse consume him and remains fighting.]

Izzy was now excited " So if we remove the curse we can save him right?"

[ Yes]

Theonymphi raised his brown " That's impossible no one can undo a curse from the fallen." he stated.

Izzy ignored him.

" System, what do you suggest? Is there anything from what you know about this world that we can use?"

[ Negative. The system's knowledge of spells are limited and this world does not have anything strong enough to combat the curse.]

" How about we do that resonance thing you did the last time. But instead of using it to kill we use it to heal"

The system was quiet and Izzy waited for its response.

[ It's plausible. However, the right spell will be needed]

" Alright", Izzy and the system poured through all the music she had on her phone.

She was looking for songs that could relate to healing. So she decided to go with some indie or classical songs. Since those were the calmest and only genres she could think of that related to healing.

Izzy held out the phone and played Claire De Lune.

The music played through the speaker and Theonymphi felt his entire being shake from the beauty of the song.

It was mellow but so beautiful, he had never heard of anything like it before.

Izzy held the phone in her hand and felt the song draw out the magical energy from inside her. She closed her eyes and let it flow through her picturing healing Ruben.

With her eyes closed, Izzy could not see what was going on around her.

However, Thoenymphi was fully engrossed in the scene before him. Strange symbols floated into the air, they fused together over Ruben's body creating an amalgamation of colour.

A green and yellow glow pulsed through the air and settled on Ruben's body causing it to float slightly off the ground.

The colours wrapped around him in a cocoon and as the music sped up the light from the magic became overwhelming and Theonymphi looked away.

Once the song ended Izzy dropped to her knees, she coughed up light amounts of blood but wiped it away with her sleeve.

" Hey, girl! Are you okay?" Theonymphi asked seeing the blood on her sleeve and smeared on her mouth.

She smiled " Why you worried about me?"

Theonymphi scoffed " No".

The cocoon floated vertically in the air and then exploded. Thin noodle-like particles floated into the air and then slowly dissipated.

Izzy's mouth flew open as she stared at Ruben who slowly floated down standing on his own two feet.

His entire outward appearance had changed. His hair was now a glossy chestnut brown. It had grown to fall against his lower back, his features appeared more refined.

The scruffiness of his looks was gone and Izzy was now staring at him. He opened his eyes that were still blue but glowed. He was unclothed so Izzy hastily looked away while Theonymphi casually flew up to his face.

" How is this possible?" he said looking over the transformed Ruben.

" You've ascended from Graduate levels straight into the Ancient levels!" Theonymphi looked at Ruben and then at Izzy.

Ruben who was in shock looked at his hands and realised that he was alive. He was no longer trapped in that endless cycle of torture and despair.

" I-"

His voice echoed carrying with it a deep power and he heard a bell ring incessantly in his direction.

" Oi! Learn to control your power!" Theonymphi was complaining at him but Ruben couldn't understand what he was saying.

He then looked down at Izzy who was sitting weakly on the ground.

" Did you save me?" he asked emotionally.

Izzy weakly nodded her lips were a pale blue. Her body tipped to the side and Ruben saw a small blue creature fly to her side.

He gasped " A fairy?" ...

" Hey, girl! Wake up!" Theonymphi said.

" Ah just let me sleep for a bit."

Izzy fell to the ground and Theonymphi was distressed. He saw the black box lose its power too.

Ruben's bare feet crunched against the leaves and he bent down to pick Izzy up. Theonymphi carried the black box and followed Ruben.

Ruben lightly pushed off the ground and soared into the air, carrying Izzy with him.