[Bonus chapter]Grace

Fortunately for me, some of the other Priests were there, waiting for us as they healed how much they could. But … out of the ten that came down here before I did, seven had already passed out.

We were not even close to finish healing half of them and for seven to already be passed out … Altair's words suddenly came to me again.

'Cursed'. It is a heavy, heavy spell because of what that means. You cannot be cursed by anyone randomly. If you are cursed, it is because you or your family member did something to greatly insult the goddess or the Priests.

No, killing and torturing a Priest of the goddess is not enough to get you cursed. I do not know all the details of it as it has not happened once in all the years I have lived.

But I did read up on it. The one I remember the most is the one where a Priest cursed an entire family's generation because it was found that they ate human flesh.

For that curse, their family will forever have awful skin diseases for the rest of their lives. In the books, they included illustrations and the pictures were not a pretty sight.

It was no wonder that the entire family linage ended at the great-grandchild. He was said to have set himself on fire and that was the last of that cursed bloodline.

But it is not only Priests that can curse someone, even normal people blessed by the goddess can curse someone but again, I do not know the criteria you have to meet to be able to put a curse on someone.

Sometimes, Priests who have grown to become so vain will attempt to put a curse on someone because of their wounded pride. Other times, a curse is made because of personal grudges or deep-seated resentment towards someone. But all those curses always fall through.

I wanted to study up on this a little more but there are hardly any works written about this. Which is truly a shame, if I am being honest.

The reason why Altair told me to be careful is because, if not cautious when dealing with a certain curse, especially when trying to break it, the curse can become even more potent.

And, there is a high, high chance of the curse spreading to the person trying to heal it. It truly is a tricky thing to deal with. I wish I didn't have to deal with it.

But they came here for help and I cannot just send them away because I am scared. No child should have to bear the burden of their parent's sin.

Because of one bad apple, it is possible for the whole basket to rot. But not every apple from the rotten apple's tree will turn out the way it did. Or that is what I believe and want to stand by.

Though, if you have gone through something horrible and you are unable to get closure for it from the person that might have done that horrible thing to you, the only reasonable thing to do is to take it out on their child.

After all, the child takes from the parent. Do they not?

So this is indeed a very complicated affair, complicated and dangerous. I cannot have these people with curses mingle with the other people. I will have to try and help them separately.

Looking up, I met the sparkling eyes of Altair staring intently at me, "Oh? You are back? You were gone quite a while."

"Sorry," I said, rubbing my forehead. "I was just thinking."

"About the cursed?"

"Yes. Because of how many are in front of us. I do not think I will be able to smell them out but … can you?" I asked, looking at him with my best pleading expression.

"Of course, I can." He said, reaching his hand out, almost as if to pet me but pulled back almost immediately, pretending to cough. "But, if you want someone to do something for you, what do you say?"

Rolling my eyes at him I blinked almost playfully, "Please help me, Altair."

"Alright. I might have made a mistake." He chuckled, scratching the back of his head while trying to clear his throat. "What do we do though? There are quite a number of cursed ones here and most of the other Priests are tired."

"They must have healed the cursed ones with the others by mistake. They are all mixed up after all." I said, thinking for a second. "Ok. I have an idea."

"Then lead the way," Altair said, waving his hand in front of us dramatically.

To think this is the same person that could not be bothered to say a word to Sol. I just am baffled, honestly.

Walking to the remaining three Priests, the people started to push to try and form a line to get to me but is merely shook my head and turned my attention to the Priests instead.

"Are there any that are gravely injured?" I asked, to the one closest to me.

"We already took care of them first." He said, sweat dripping down his face and his matted blond hair stuck to his forehead. "It is good that you are, Orion. I am just about out of energy."

"Come now, Rory. I just arrived and your job is not done yet." I said as kindly as possible as the people in front of us started murmuring amongst one another.

"But, we are almost out."

"I said that I am here right?" I asked, a twinkle in my eyes. "Call the other Priests and meet me inside."

"The people-"

"They can wait just a couple of minutes, can you?" I asked, looking at the masses in front of us. "I promise I will not be long."

"Of course, your grace!"

"Take your time!"

"Please come back to us soon!"

"I will. Come immediately." I said waving at them as I walked into the building with more Priests in there than people. Many of the Priests were laying on the beds, resting.

"Orion?" Sol walked to me and Altair, holding bandages in his hands. "Is something wrong?"

"I have something I need to say," I said as I paused for a minute, waiting for the other three to enter the room. "Aright, everyone's here? Wonderful.

"Sol, Altair has sensed a large number of people in the crowd to have been cursed," I explained, turning to the man beside me with a pleasant air about me. "I also sensed something but I could not tell what it was."

"Cursed?"

"That would explain why some of them fainted after healing one person."

"What do we do about this?"

I tried to speak but they kept talking over and I could not find the chance to start talking. Seeming to sense my discomfort, Altair sent out a wave of pheromones, silencing everyone in the room.

"We are pressed for time so it would be great if everyone just listened to the one that has an idea." He said, not batting an eyelash as he turned to me, features softening. "Go ahead."

"Ah. Thank you." I said, subconsciously staring at him again as I turned to the others. "I apologise about that. But allow me to state my idea first."

"I apologise too, Orion," Sol said, smiling kindly at me. "Go ahead."

"I will be giving another drop of blood to everyone here, not just the ten that came." I stared, looking at all their reactions before I continued talking. "Then, I will leave those that are sick to you all while I take care of those cursed."

Murmurs filled the room again as I waited for them to come to a decision. Again, curses are nothing to sneeze about. They are deadly and if not careful when healing them, you can get it too.

Fortunately, the Priests that healed them seemed to have not come across the more powerful ones. But just one person and they are out cold like this … we will not be able to make any progress to those that actually have sicknesses, even if we want to.

If we coul-

"Are you sure about this?" Altair asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

Well, that is a new one. I didn't think you could interrupt a thought midway like that. Looking up at him, I asked, "Sure about what?"

"If you cut yourself again and give them your blood, while also taking care of those cursed. Not to mention tonight too." He listed off the things I had to do, holding his fingers out. "Isn't that going to be too much?"

"What's this? Is someone worried about me?" I teased getting an annoyed look from him in response. "Don't worry. I should be fine."

"Should be?"

"I think I will be," I said shrugging. "I can't not help them, can I?"

"Yes."

I turned to him, knowing that he is honestly worried and just means well, even though it might come off as being arrogant to others.

"Hey," I said, patting him on the shoulder. "I'll be fine. And don't worry, if anything happens, I'll protect you."

That got a smile out of his worried one as he finally look me in the eyes, "You'll protect me? Well, if you say so."

"Of course, I will." I insisted, making eye contact with Sol as I turned serious again, looking at the Priests. "So?"

"We will be in your care," Sol said smiling at me as relief washed over my body.

Thank goodness.

But I can't say the same thing about Altair. I don't know why he cares so much about whether I got hurt or not. I just don't understand.