“What is that?” the Man stutters, feeling an intense discomfort winding up his muscles, making him even more tense than usual.
“A Deity,” the Girl answers, “Specifically, the one who put another Curse on you.” The Man scoffs, his shocked stare turning into menace. “As I thought. Are you going to take care of it?”
She purrs loudly, her form shifting swiftly back into that of a child with strange golden eyes and jet black hair; her hands immediately find his. “Already done. Its name is Nuan, and It has agreed to release you.”
“And the payment?” he inquires, his piercing hatred never leaving the disturbing figure that for some reason seemed to be laughing at them, at him, while managing not to move at all. The winds curl around the Deity and pound against the window of their room, and even inside the Man can sense the overwhelming Essence forming and flowing off of the Fau. Without a doubt, the stench is the same as the one drowning his senses. The Girl shakes her head.
“It was a trivial amount, nothing you should concern yourself with. What’s important is that you’re going to get better, and we can leave for the South.”
The Man raises a sweaty brow, “No amount is trivial. Payment is payment, and nothing comes without consequence. What did you pay?”
She frowns, “Nothing.”
And her partner’s eyes flash with a quick, but scalding anger, making her flinch and slit her eyes. “Do not lie to me.”
She cannot disobey the Man as it is against her very nature, as important as her hatred for all of humanity minus one. Her fangs poke out aggressively but there is nothing more, because he is the only one she will never betray. Reluctantly, she explains what happened.
The Man is silent for a moment, then looks to Nuan. “Are you going to come in, then?”
He knows very well that the Fau can hear everything behind the thick pane of glass.
And in seconds Nuan is standing in the room, Its very presence sending all warmth scrambling away. With Its strange voice, It addresses the Man for the first time.
“Hello, human. I am the Deity of this Mountain.”
“Save it,” the Man growls, “Everything hurts and I can barely breathe. Remove this Curse at once, like you promised.”
The Deity’s head rolls to the other side, “Yes, yes. Of course. But before I do, I’d like to ask you a question. Just one, short inquiry and you can be on your way.”
Next to the bedside, the Girl jumps to her feet and snarls, “Do not prolong this! We already reached an agreement!”
Nuan makes Its strange chuckle again, slowly sliding Itself closer to the bed. A sound like cracking ice emerges from Nuan’s white body as It bends closer to the Man’s face, Its head falling forward in one jerking movement. The Man maintains eye contact with Nuan’s black slits, not once flinching from the nauseating presence.
“One question, human,” the Deity repeats, “Just one question.”
And despite the Girl’s hiss of disapproval, the Man simply stares back, silently consenting.
Nuan hums in satisfaction.
“I told the Cat before that I was interested in her, particularly her relationship with you, a member of a species with little to no Essence whatsoever. But in truth,” the Deity chuckles, “I am equally interested, if not more, in you.”
“Oh?” the Man says blandly.
“Yes, you are quite amusing. You’re human, yet you possess an incredibly potent Essence. One that can control other Fau, powerful Fau, and make them follow your will. You must be aware that the Flames have never obeyed anyone before, much less a mortal like yourself? They’re demons who relish their freedom, but you are able to entice them to your will. I wondered why that was, why both the Flames and a Cat seem to be so infatuated with you.” Nuan spoke without intonation or emotion, but the Man can sense the building glee in Its Essence.
He sighs internally. Why does he always attract such annoying creatures? “And? What is your question, Nuan of the Mountains?”
Silence weighs on them for a moment as Nuan stares into the Man’s darkening mossy eyes. The human feels the heaviness of Essence trying to probe his mind, but he knows exactly how to keep it out. He refuses to bow to something as insignificant as a Mountain Deity.
A gust of wind blows between the two like a sigh, and the pressure halts.
“Were you Cursed by the Lady in Red?”
It is a name the Man never wanted anyone to say to him. Inside, his anger builds and overflows like ugly toxic tar. There are hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunamis ripping through him while he stares at the Deity who dared to even think of that name.
Nothing at that moment feels more appropriate than sending the Girl to utterly massacre the vermin before him, but the Man remains composed.
The Man is trained. The Man does not do anything unnecessary. The Man knows exactly how he must react at all times. He does not attack Nuan.
Instead, he closes his eyes and exhales.
“No. This Curse is not the Lady’s.”
He can feel the Girl’s questioning stare next to him. But all that matters is the reaction of the Deity. It stays quiet for seconds which turn into minutes which turn into something that feel like hours.
It replies curtly, “I see,” and nothing else. It drives the Girl into a frenzy.
“That’s it? That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?” she says with a continually rising pitch. Nuan backs away and rolls Its head towards her. “Yes, that is it. I told you I only wanted one question to be answered. Now,” Its Essence glows softly, “I will lift the Curse.”
Something inside the Man warms. Deep within his body, he can feel a tiny piece of sub-zero cold, a small icicle of sorts slowly melt away. Then, the frost in the rest of his body begins to fade as well.
“Cat, return your Shard to your Essence. I used a fraction of your power to create the Curse, so absorbing it will be the last step to free him.”
She refuses to listen, pushed far beyond common aggravation by Its infuriating self. It is the Man that tells her to calm down, and though her eyes still beam with pure rage, she opens her Grimoire and absorbs the Shard into Its pages.
The familiar ink bleeds into the paper.
Nuan is intrigued by the form the Girl’s Essence takes, but sees that the Man is gaining his strength back. The Deity is powerful, but faced against the army of Flames, the ice-like wall of Essence he uses for protection would disintegrate immediately. While the Girl is preoccupied with the Grimoire and the Man struggles to throw off his blanket, Nuan quickly slips back into the snowy night, retreating to the safety of his Mountain.
The Girl glares at the window.
“Should I rip him apart?” she hisses.
The Man snorts, “Why bother? It was just another one of the Lady’s stalkers. The best punishment we can give is simply ignoring Its existence.”
Her human nails are still extended unnaturally, but the Girl huffs in agreement, turning back to the Grimoire as It writes down the history of her most recent Shard. After a few moments, when the Man is able to sit up on his own, the Girl tests the waters.
“Are you okay?”
He turns, “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well…” she grumbles without meeting his eyes, “She’s just… you know… a sensitive topic.”
“What are you talking about?” he says with an annoyed click of his tongue, “Why would I be bothered by something so small?”
She wants to speak up, to say that yes, she can feel that he’s lying and that there’s no way she can’t feel the pain replacing the cold. He’s furious and crippled with longing again, but the Girl knows better than to push him.
She stays quiet, flipping carelessly through the Grimoire’s pages for the rest of the night.
...
They leave at the first sign of the Sun, the Flames cackling loudly behind them, searing the snowy path with their happiness. The Man shows no emotion, though the Girl still feels the burns inside him, chains that will never let him forget the Lady in Red.
She hugs his arm in a silent effort to comfort, knowing that it will take some time before he is ready to speak openly again. But she is fine. She can wait.
The Girl preoccupies herself by fantasizing about the idiot innkeeper’s faces when they go to clean their room. How regretful that she wouldn’t get to see their shock when they found the mangled corpse of Nuan thrown haphazardly on the bed, choked in the many blankets from last night.
She finally manages a smile.
