The mysterious curse [1]

"Aah~, I am full"

With a satisfied expression I slumped back on my chair.

In front of me sat Cyrus and beside him was Lucas, all three of us had satisfied expressions on our faces as we all sat there quietly.

Breaking the silence was Lucas's voice,

"So, the thing is, there's something we need to talk about, it's serious"

He said with a serious face and a grave tone.

Looking at his expression i sighed inwardly, 'I knew that this day would come sooner or later, now that I have almost recovered, there's no way i can live off of them any longer, although it's regrettable, but it cannot be helped' 

"Oy, you listening to me"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Lucas's voice.

I blankly looked at him and said, "Y-Yes?".

Shaking his head he looked at me with determined eyes.

Looking into his eyes a cold sweat trickled down my neck.

With the most serious face he could muster he said, "What should we call you?".

"Ok, I get...wait! what?"

With a confused expression I looked at him questioningly, 'Has he gone mad', looking at Cyrus I was taken aback, he had an even more serious expression on his face and his expression also had a hint of....nervousness?

Looking at both of them I was confused.

Both of them looked at me and then at each other, and suddenly….

Pffttt

….both of them started laughing.

"Huh-"

I was even more confused.

Lucas looked at my face and controlled his laughter.

Cough

With a dry cough he awkwardly looked at me and said.

"Well it's been troubling us for a while now, since you don't remember your name, we were wondering how should we address you"

"Oh! So that's it!"

Hitting the palm of my hand with my first i gestured as though I understood what they were trying to say, but in reality I was even more lost than before.

I mean, why on earth would they be asking for a name if i was going to be kicked out, was it a form of courtesy or something.

Looking at them i thought, "Oh well i can't be bothered, just call me whatever you want"

"Just call me whatever you want", little did I know this was the biggest mistake of my life.

"Really, you want us to name you"

Asked Cyrus and Lucas in unison.

"Yeah I have no problem", I nonchalantly answered.

As i leaned back, i thought of what to do after i leave, how should I pursue after this.

Unbeknownst to me both the men before me were having a brainstorming session, for giving me a new name.

"Ok so it's decided",  Cyrus slammed the palm of his hand on the table with a grin, while Lucas was smiling mischievously in the baground.

"Huh?" 

I looked at them blankly.

With an excited voice Cyrus announced.

"From this day onwards you will be called Zephyr, 'Zephyr Fitzgerald'"

"W-Wait! Huh~, whaaat?" 

***

One week later...

Standing in front of a huge mirror, Zephyr slowly removed his robe from his upper body, revealing the bandages which left no skin visible.

Sigh….

Looking at himself Zephyr sighed, looking over his shoulder he saw two grown ass men looking at him like predators.

Zephyr looked at them with disgusted gaze, his eyes screamed, 'what the fuck do you old farts think you are doing?'.

"Hey come on don't look at us like that, if not for us you would have left this world long ago"

"Tch", clicking his tongue Zephyr looked ahead, taking a deep breath he calmed himself down.

'What the said is not wrong but still it still infuriates me for some reason' 

"Whatever", whispering to himself Zephyr slowly unwrapped his bandages.

Behind him both Cyrus and Lucas were looking at him intently, looking back again Zephyr glared at them.

"Oy! Comeon we both are into women" 

Cyrus said in a teasing tone, Lucas only chuckled.

Looking at them Zephyr's brows twitched, "I really hope that's the case".

Both of their faces hardened as the next moment they both glared at Zephyr.

Sticking out his tongue mischievously Zephyr slowly took off his bandages.

Gasp

Soon all the bandages on his upper body came off and what revealed was something that made both Cyrus and Lucas gasp in shock.

Zephyr's chest and back were riddled with scars which seemed to have been made by blade slashes, but that was not the thing that shocked them, the most shocking part was…..

…..a Crimson Red tattoo-like mark, depicting a snake with the body which resembled 'Chains' and a head which resembled that of a basilisk.

The mysterious snake was coiling around his waist and going up through his back, almost seeming to be climbing his spine all the way to his shoulders making a loop back to his shoulder blades and going over his left shoulder till his left elbow, while coiling around his arm.

"W-What is that?", Lucas asked apprehensively while Cyrus was just looking at the crimson snake.

***

'What is this tattoo, I thought to myself, my eyes widened in shock.

Although I didn't feel any similarity with this body but still, I was shocked at this revelation, and what's with all those scars.

Even the muscles, although lean, seem extremely dense.

The boy wasn't particularly handsome but he looked above average, but while half naked, I got to say.

"I look stunning"

Both Lucas and Cyrus's faces darkened as black lines appeared on their faces.

'well shit, i spoke my thoughts out loud'

Rolling his eyes Lucas pointed his finger in my direction and asked, "so what's with all that".

"Huh-", i was confused, "didn't you say that you both patched me up, so i was wondering why do you both look so surprised, didn't you already see these beforehand"

Shaking his head Lucas answered, "No, your body was covered in blood when you first came in so we cleaned your body but apart from the scars there wasn't anything there before".

'that's strange', i thought while stroking my chin.

"A binding curse", finally breaking his silence, Cyrus spoke in a low tone.

"Huh, a binding what now?", I knew about curses as Lucas taught me about a lot of stuff and that naturally included curses, but he didn't go into much detail.

"Wait! A binding curse", Lucas cried out loud in surprise.

I look at him questioningly.

He looked into my eyes and shook his head, with a solemn tone he continued.

"Remember how i taught you about curses, well there are many different kinds of curses and mostly they are classified into two categories, taboo and non taboo"

I nodded my head 

"Well, the binding curse is one of the curse that falls into the category of taboo curses"

"hmm well that's good and all but what's the real problem here"

Nodding Lucas continued.

"Well as of now the curse of binding is more or less a mystery to us humans"

"But didn't you tell me that slave contract were made in the past to bind people, and they were a type of curse as well" 

"Affirmative"

"But, they were not really curse of binding, they were more like mana contracts with unfair terms"

"Oh! I see", nodding my head I urged him to continue.

"As you already know mana contacts function using the mana of two parties who are signing the contract, and uses it as the energy source–"

"And more the energy given stronger will be the contract"

Cutting Lucas off mid-sentence Cyrus chimed in, "and in case of binding curses, they are way way stronger when compared to mana contracts, can you guess the reason"

Cyrus looked at them with a serious expression.

Taking his gaze head on, I spoke, "Because they need more energy, maybe?"

With a wry smile Cyrus continued, "Indeed, now then how much time do you think a mana contract lasts for and what does its lifetime depend upon?"

Gulp

Swallowing my saliva I answer reluctantly, "it depends upon the amount of magic energy it was initially supplied with"

"Affernative"

"Now, mana is the energy that lingers in all living beings naturally and also in the atmosphere, and what do you think is the most potent source of such energy?"

With an indifferent look I spoke, "Life Essence".