Chapter 5: Fate Cursed

Viren was pretty sure he was kind of crushing Tallow in his hug. The kitten mewled as it struggled against his embrace. He wasn’t letting go that easily, though.

It was embarrassing, but if he let go of the kitten and looked away, he was probably going to break down into ugly sobs. His glasses were already askew, his heart was pitter-pattering like mad, and he kept seeing that awful, clawed, glassy monstrosity looming over them and swiping away Tallow with impunity.

Tallow’s next mew sounded a lot more comforting.

Viren tried to calm his impulse to hyperventilate. Steady, steady. This wasn’t how he was supposed to act. If terrible odds made him fall apart like this, then he had no business dreaming of being anything more than the street urchin he’d been born as.

Soft steps belied the sheer presence that settled down next to him.

“I’m sorry,” the man said. He didn’t sound regretful or apologetic. Just sympathetic. “I have a Glyph of Tranquillity that can calm you.”

“I’m calm.” Viren hiccupped down a sob, blinking through the tears blurring up his vision. Great, he’d need to clean his glasses yet again. “W-why haven’t you used it yet, sir?”

“Because it’s not something to be used lightly. Glyphs of that nature, ones that affect a person’s mind and emotions, need careful deliberation before administering. And in almost all cases, it would be remiss to use it without the recipient’s consent. Besides, my Glyphs are…”

Powerful. That’s what they were. Ridiculously powerful. So much so that he had literally ripped open the fabric of spacetime to snatch Tallow’s soul before it could properly pass on.

At least, that’s what Viren understood from what the man had explained.

“I’d like to feel calm,” he said quietly.

The strange man didn’t hurry, choosing instead to observe and consider a bit more. “As you wish.”

His Glyph almost blinded Viren with its intensity. It was so bright, it was impossible to make out its shape besides the soft curls around its edges. And its colour wasn’t even constant. The gleaming white was interspersed with soft rainbow hues.

That meant it was at least Tier 15 magic. Viren only knew of a handful of people at the academy who were capable of that level of power.

At least Tier 15. If not higher. Probably higher.

What Viren certainly knew was that no one at the academy had tampered with Fate itself. Not to this degree.

“You broke one of Kolmik’s Laws of Magic,” Viren said, hardly believing the words tumbling out of his mouth. “Never use magic to tamper with Fate in any way. I… I think stealing souls before they can fully die counts.”

“And you already sound a little calmer,” the man replied. “How is the kitten?”

Viren could hear the man’s smile. He was right, though. Viren was calmer. And that too, despite the fact that the Glyph had been cast at least thirty handspans away. It was so strong that he was being subtly affected even this far off.

With his newly dry eyes, Viren took in his crazy cat. “He seems fine. Which means I can berate him a lot for running into a dungeon and getting lost.”

Tallow protested with a growly meow.

The man laughed softly.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “Blaszius Kolmik wasn’t the sort of fellow to stress over technicalities. We’re not doing anything evil, after all.”

Viren thought about begging to differ, but he was mostly just a tiny bit flabbergasted at the casualness of his saviour. The man sounded like he had known Blaszius Kolmik. The Blaszius Kolmik, the ancient archmage who had set down the guiding principles of magic that had formed the bedrock of the Grand Frame.

No, no. That was just insane. Viren needed to stop jumping to crazy conclusions.

He was pleasantly distracted by a glowing notice window.

[ Achievement Recognized: Fate Cursed

The soul of a manabeast bonded to your manasoul has defied Fate. As the bonded owner, you are now cursed by Fate itself.

Reward: You now take more damage from all sources and are more susceptible to death. In return, you can now earn Achievements much faster. ]

Was that good? Bad? It sounded perfect for non-risk-takers actually, and Viren…

Well, he had just dashed through a dungeon two entire rank-tiers above his own. Had his somewhat eccentric saviour not been around, Viren was positive neither he nor Tallow would have made it out alive. Which hurt to consider.

He was just glad that the curse part of the achievement was targeted at him, not at Tallow. Poor kitten was innocent in all this.

Said saviour got back to his feet, his evening-blue cloak shifting as he pulled in his skeletal arm made of metallic bones and muscles. His clothes seemed normal, but the material caught Viren’s eye. The cloak had a strange crosshatch quality to it. The threads of his amethyst robes seemed to writhe like they were alive.

Viren realized he was staring rather impolitely and quickly corrected himself.

He also realized the Glyph of Tranquillity was fading, but the calmness wasn’t receding. As long as he didn’t—no, he had to stop thinking about it, for the Everlasting’s sake. The point was that Viren had been far too self-absorbed these last few minutes and he needed to correct that.

“Thank you,” Viren said, bowing his head and making his cat bow its head too. Tallow meowed accordingly. “Thank you so, so much, sir. If you hadn’t been here…”

The man’s eyes were focused on something invisible in front of him when Viren looked up. A window from the Grand Frame, probably. No one could see anyone else’s notices from the Grand Frame. Viren swallowed at a sudden thought.

What sort of achievement would the Grand Frame reward someone for literally defying Fate itself?

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Wait, no. The even more wondrous thing was that he was in the presence of someone who could defy Fate. Viren had so far been kind of repressing that fact from taking over his head. Because the idea of a mage who could literally pull a soul out of Paralimb before inserting it back into its fully healed and functional body wasn’t just absurd.

It was downright insane. If he told the truth of what had happened in the dungeon, he’d be ridiculed. Probably bullied too.

That thought reminded him of Kohn and Vrahm again, igniting a spark of retribution he couldn’t tamp down. He chided himself. As he had already told himself, it wasn’t so much getting back at them as it was meting out deserved justice. And Viren would dispense justice.

“Don’t be too thankful,” the man said, refocusing on his vicinity. The fading light from that Glyph of his was making his supremely dark hair look almost more deep-brown than black. “Without knowing the full story first.”

Viren blinked a bit. What was that supposed to mean? “No offence, sir, but you’re kind of patronizing, aren’t you?”

He clamped his mouth shut as soon as he finished speaking. His eyes had gone as wide as his glasses. Silent though Viren forced himself to remain, his mind was screaming and cursing at him like the time Academ Sylva had done when he had burned through the professor’s prized potions cauldron.

Way to go, stupid Viren. Surviving a deadly dungeon with his cat’s life intact only to piss off his saviour and immediately get obliterated.

The man had frozen, puzzled for some reason. “Patronizing? But I’m not your patron, though?”