Advice from a New Friend

'Though there is one more issue that could cause some trouble,' The words scrawled upon the illusionary script appeared vibrant once more as Kull looked at Drew with zero emotion.

'Mel is a very advanced mage. Mages have many specialties outside magical affinities and one of these is tracking mages. It's a field that most spacial mages dabble in but Mel is a master. She can sense any magical residue in the area and can discern a lot of information on the caster, and with some time she can even pinpoint exactly where they are,'

"So since I used that Dark Hand skill she will be able to locate me... and you cast the shadow teleportation and illusion magic as well, Right?"

'Correct, however Serenity, my dagger, and my armor, 'Dark Step', covers up my magical aura and any residue that would normally occur from casting my magic,'

"I see..."

'I wonder if Mana Reaper could get rid of the ambient magic?' Drew thought to himself as he remembered the effect it had in the meadow.

"I'm gonna try something,"

'Alright,' The script replied as Kull moved away from Drew.

'Activate Mana Reaper,' He commanded.

Immediately the suction force filled his body and the surrounding area looked as if a heavy mirage was encompassing it.

His body became blue as the ambient magic in his surroundings swirled into him, causing the small drain in mana he had previously to completely regenerate.

After nearly a minute of this, he moved to the other rooms and did the same. Hoping desperately that this trick would work.

Kull's face remained impassive as he watched Drew at work, and he stayed still during the entire time.

After Drew finished he felt as good as new and looked at Kull with a thumbs up.

'We only have about 15 minutes to get out of here,' Kull motioned towards the illusionary script.

'I'm unsure whether what you did remove your magical trace but all we can do is hope,'

"Looks like we better get going," Drew said as he could almost feel the grains of time slipping by.

---

The journey out of the tunnels was easier than expected. They reached the surface in minutes with Kull's help and in a few more they had already booked a room at an inn called the 'Black Bar' which was incredibly fancy compared to what Drew was used to.

The rooms were made out of some sort of glossy stone and the patrons looked richer than most of the folk in the central ring.

"This is... high brow," Drew mumbled as Kull traveled silently beside him.

As Drew followed by Kull's side not a single glance passed their way. It might have been due to Drew's new armor and suit or due to Kull's influence, but in a way... they were invisible.

Kull moved mechanically to the Bar of the Tavern and stared at the Human man who was making complex drinks for his patrons.

Kull made a half grunting half coughing noise and the man's eyes snapped towards the both of them. He accidentally spilled a good portion of the drink he was making after the scare, but quickly put on a professional look.

"What could I do for you two kind sirs," He said with a thick accent of some sort.

"Room... One night," Kull grunted.

"A-Alrighty then... That would be 5 silver's each for a total of 1 gold if you wish to stay in two base rooms," He stuttered.

"One room,"

"Oh, Then 5 silver it will be," The human said while glancing between the two of them. Kull's mask was enough to scare this man to his bones and Drew being silent didn't help.

Kull raised his gloved hand and snapped soundlessly once more, and as he did so 5 silver coins appeared in the air which he got in one swipe.

He rolled them around his knuckles for a moment before placing them on the table in a perfect stack.

The man nodded at the trick but was clearly even more scared than before.

"Y-your room key," He stuttered while passing a key to Kull from a ring of keys on his waist.

"Hmm," Kull grunted before snatching it out of the man's hand and walking upstairs silently.

The walk to the room was silent and they soon arrived in the room they had rented.

Kull entered the room and scanned it, though it was difficult to tell with his mask on.

After making a visual observation of the room, he snapped his hands, and dozens of shadow hands spread across the rooms and tested the walls for how thick they were, and searched for hidden traps.

After a minute, he nodded in satisfaction and closed the door behind them.

Drew stared at the room and found it more lavish than anything he had seen while here.

A bed with black sheets took up the center of the room. It wasn't specifically special but to Drew, it was an oasis in a dry desert.

'A bed... a real bed!' He thought, as his face lit up and he jumped onto the comfortable new sleeping spot.

He rolled around in it for a few minutes before letting out a sigh of satisfaction.

Kull tilted his head at Drew's actions but instead of speaking he simply snapped his fingers and created the familiar scroll from before.

'You enjoy a bed this much?'

"Absolutely! Who likes sleeping on a wooden board for half your life... A bed like this is a life send,"

'Interesting. I don't know how it feels to sleep, let alone on a wooden board,' The words scribbled on.

"What? What do you mean?"

'You have shared all your secrets with me and have felt my pain, I will not hide secrets from my kin,' The words had notes of weakness within them... Kull was exposing whatever he hid from others so that Drew could understand him better.

'I was born with a unique skill, similar to you in a way. The skill is called 'Kull's Nightmare','

Confusion was the only thing that filled Drew's face at this moment, his mind tinkering away at what his words meant.

'With the help of appraisal magic from my clan's mage... We learned that it was a type of skill gifted to future heroes of the Giant kind,'

"Giant?"

'I am a Half-Giant. I thought it was obvious from my appearance,'

'I just thought giants were... bigger,' Drew thought to himself while shrugging sheepishly at Kull.

'My father was a Human and my mother was a Giant. Though I was born into the Giant Clan and never heard a word about my father through my childhood,'

'Though most people don't know this, Half-Giants are disdained by pure-blooded Giants,'

"Why?"

'It doesn't quite make sense to me... why punish your children for your mistakes?' Drew thought to himself as the quill scrawled upon the scroll.

'As a Half-Giant, I do not suffer the full brunt of the Giant's Curse. This is something they hate about our kind, and because of that, we suffer,'

"The Giant's Curse? I've never heard of a curse being put upon an entire race,"

'You don't know of this either? Hmm. The Giant's Curse is something that a forgotten god placed on us when the Giants of old killed a priest of theirs, though most legends say that the death of the priest was an accident,'

'The god still didn't bend at this matter and cast a curse upon our entire race. Every giant knows the exact words she said as she etched this punishment into our very souls,'

'"Murderers... your entire Clan are Murderers. Your bloodstained hands will forever be painted red from your sins. Every Mortal in this world will know the crimes that you have committed, and every Mortal to come. May you always be shamed for your bloodlust and barbaric ways. By my name and divine right, the third being to walk this plane, I curse the Giants of Lune for the atrocity that they have committed. Make it so,"' The words scribbled upon the page with an emotionless flair.

'The words of a god,'

'The curse of a god,'

The quill went silent as Kull watched Drew's face intently, searching for any of the thoughts that were racing within his mind.

"Damn, that sounds more like a demon than a god," Drew said angrily.

"To curse an entire race over the loss of a single life? To make them shamed by every person in the world for making a single mistake?"

"And it may have been only one person who committed the murder. On accident or not, why curse all Giants for one person's mistakes?"

"Sounds like bullshit to me!"

"Some god... Wait, you said that they were forgotten, I doubt that. The other gods probably got fed up with their shit and banished them,"

The anger and irritation that filled Drew weren't just out of sympathy.

'This 'God' probably ruined the lives of millions because of this one curse. People with talents and dreams. People who could have had a great future if everyone else in the world hadn't hated them,'

'So many people punished for nothing...' His thoughts trailed.

Kull remained silent and still at the venomous words that Drew spat out of his mouth. But behind the mask that hid his face, a smile bloomed brighter than any he had ever had in his entire life.

'It was a terrible thing. But is something that cannot be changed. Everyone in this world will never trust the Giants because of this sin, and Giants will always hate them for the same reason,' The quill wrote, making Drew's eyes snap to attention.

"That's not true. I don't hate you! I don't think your lying!" Drew said, nearing a shout.

'And I find that strange. You are the first person I have ever met who stopped fearing me. Even Gill Rike and his brother had lingering fears and a deep prejudice inside them towards me,'

'Well... technically not the first 'Person' I have found, but still, you seem special,'

'And for putting your trust in me, I thank you,'

"Yeah... It might be Mana Reaper or something, Maybe it eats the effect of the curse when it tries to place itself on me," Drew coughed awkwardly.

'Might be because I'm not from this world...'

'Intriguing,' The quill continued.

'But besides the Giant's wrath towards me for being a half-born, they also hated me because it was said I would be a hero of their kind,'

'And for most of them, a Half-Born like me could never be a 'true' hero of the Giants,'

'So the Family and Clan I grew up in treated me like a false saint,'

Kull's head turned slightly away from Drew as those words were written.

'Those memories must be hard to relive... He has gone through pain just like I have,'

"Stop," Drew said suddenly.

Kull's head stopped moving away and turned to stare back at Drew.

"Don't force yourself to relive the past. No one deserves to experience that pain over and over again thanks to their memories,"

"That was the past... This is the present. You may have been there a long time ago but now you are here. Don't force that pain on yourself, it's not keeping a secret from me if I feel your pain,"

"So stop and move on for now. I know it's impossible to forget about the pain you must have endured, but right now it's best if you focus on something else, thinking about it will just make things worse,"

"That at least I know..."

Silence filled the air for a long time. Drew's eyes were damp, yet not a single tear fell from his eyes.

'Understood,' The quill wrote.

'And... thank you, Drew. No one has shared the same sentiment as you have,'

"Thank... You... Kin," He grunted in a strained voice, almost as if holding back a sob.