"so, are you coming to the meeting?" Sam's still unnamed witch teachers asked. Sam blinked before looking at her, "Meeting of your-"
"our!" she corrected.
"I haven't seen anyone in more than a hundred years, not to mention I know none of their names." Sam gestured, almost knocking over the flower he was careful pruning." steadying the bot, he continued plucking its petals. " besides, you're only going to share that lust I've collected. We both know it is going to be a big study session that could go on for months."
"And you are currently living with some mortals you don't want to leave behind." Sam nodded even though she wasn't facing him. Drying out harvested petals and herbs with a simple rune. "I don't blame you unless something manages to kill you. You can always come to the next one."
"how about if something kills you." Sam replied, moving from the flower, pushing some bone meal into its swampy soil. "oh, that is true, but I don't go looking for trouble." she had him there instead of responding to it, he walked over to where Daniel was trying to save himself from a carnivorous super plant.
"Finally!" the rich and cursed teen shouted." you let that go on way too long." Sam shrugged, moving over to grab the bones of something and throw them to plant. With that, it quickly lost interest in them, and Daniel stuck close to Sam.
"why did I agree to come here." his curse would be so much worse in an unfamiliar place and without the people his family hired to keep him from wandering away. "cause she is a powerful witch who might look at your family cures and give you some advice."
"Right, but almost getting eaten has me rethinking it. which is strange as I've almost been eaten before because of this curse." Sam paused to think if he'd heard that story, then thought if he was told a story about him almost getting eaten or getting eaten, then getting out.
"well, it's fresher trauma; getting eaten will never be a planet adventure." Dnie responded, "You said that way more certainty than I want to hear. " Sam shrugged, "The regeneration had come in handy during tough times." the hairs on his neck stood up. So he moved, danile following, knowing he didn't want to get caught in it.
They both landed and turned to see the tree roots thicker than them. "I don't think that's going to let us prune it." they both looked at the flower bush wither and snapp its petal teeth at him, "You've been practicing the skills I helped you learn."
"of course," Daniel said. He was mostly ready when he rushed to the overgrown plant. While he had been practicing, it wasn't on battling, mostly using the new power in a casual way. Using it on the plant was a different challenge, and it left the physic with a mild headache by the time they pinned it, pruned it, and sent it back to its enclosure.
"Oh, you, too, did so well against that little one. You're really feisty despite living with me for the past decade. But then again," she looked at Sam. Shrugging, she turned to Daniel; "now there was a curse you wanted me to look at?"
"My family curse, we've seen a lot of people look it over the generations. But not made much progress, Sam vette, for you, so I decided to come out on a limb."
"Well, I'm glad he gave me such a glowing review." leading the way out of the greenhouse, she brought them to their lab/ examination room. Over the next twelve hours, he was subjected to a number of tests; it started out like a typical medical exam. Like the kind you got before school.
Then it slowly got weird, pulling out more strange and obscure tools. Doing weird things if it wasn't for the growing frown on Sam's face. He'd think he was being messed up. After several uncomfortable hours, she stopped.
Taking a seat, she sighed, rubbing a hand through her hair for a long moment." what the, I don't have the words. This is such an intense and complex curse. It geniuses, its madness, it should be exploding or working perfectly."
"Can you do anything about it?" Daniel nervously asked his brief hope that he would be free from it dying." oh yes, but it's not going to be simple. Someone might die, something possible worse might happen."
Daniel swallowed nervously before nodding, "So what's first?" the witch spun out of her chair, strutting over to a whiteboard, snapping her finger and causing the marker to raise and sketching out a diagram of the human form. "look, the first thing the thing afflicting your family is technically not a curse on your sense of direction."
"what people call their sense of direction doesn't begin to account for what is being affected." with a snap of her fingers, it spreads into three parts. " it affects your mind on several different parts, memory, navigation, even emotion. It also affects your body's sense of balance and distance. Worst of all, the effect on your soul." the marker wrote down next to each diagram.
"my soul?"
"your soul, your metaphysical senses. Even if you lose all your physical senses. This sense would remain, and on some level, everyone uses these in navigation." she turned to Sam," like any time you look in a certain direction and just know something bad is going to happen if you go that way."
"which is how I know this new location is going to be fun." the other two occupants of the room only decided that made sense to him." so the reason the curse hasn't been broken is because of all the layers it affects my family on?"
"which is, in fact, another problem. If you managed to break the curse's effects on you. The curse on your parents would restore it. The same works for every member of your family." Daniel proceeded to curse, using every curse he knew in every language he knew. "I didn't know he spoke whale."
"I'm guessing your family is very big?"
"We don't know because of our wondering and some rather loose members. My family is quite literally spread across the globe." both of them winced, "Okay. I' 'm wondering if the gods are mocking me. but this is still doable." she hesitated for a moment before looking at him," This curse can be broken, but it might not be while you live. It might go on for a few more generations."
Daniel took a long moment to just breathe, not focused on the pumping of his heart, the growing pit in his stomach. "okay, okay. I can work with that. Maybe you can't help me, but one day, I would like to have children. Knowing that they or my grandchildren might not suffer is good news." he continued to try and focus on his breathing.
The arm he found aligning itself over this shoulder was an even better distraction. Sam pulled him until their bodies were flushed together. For a moment, Sam just offered him silent and physical comfort. "You know she's only thinking about if you live the hundred years. Something might be figured out in a hundred and fifty years."
"how could I live that long?" but he found himself smiling at the small hope. He said nothing for long moments, adjusting to the really that he now knew. " Sam, this is probably a little greedy, but would you look after my descendants?"
"I don't babysit for free," Sam said, partly joking," but I will watch them. They will come under no true harm I can prevent with my knowledge and ability." his tone was sincere, and it calmed Daniel down a great amount. "your a better friend then I've ever thought to ask. I can never thank you enough for what you've done for me and what you would do for me."
Feeling a bit braver, he asked the teacher more about her observations, made notes to share with his family, and added them to their archives. It might not solve the situation at the moment, but information about their curse was information. Someday, it may come in handy. After that, they headed into the kitchen, where she made smoothies, "something cool and sweet to help calm your nerves." Daniel wasn't entirely sure what she put in there, but it was delicious. Sweet, a bit spicy, "I'm starting to understand where some of Sam's eating habits come from."
"I'm taking that as a compliment," she said, sipping her own more berry-flavored smoothie." His taste can be strange, but never anything bad. more willing to try something than I am." Sam cut in as they started talking about the strange thing they had eaten. "I'd like to remind you both I lived on the road for a long time; I've had to eat a wide variation."
"I don't think that should include trees." Sam went on to defend his decision to eat trees, as it wasn't even the strangest thing he ate, even going into detail about taste and texture. His half attempts at cooking the wood and leaves. "why did you try and eat more than the fruit that bloomed."
"there is such a thing as too much fruit." Sam defended; finishing their smoothies, they headed back out to the garden for the gate circle that was carved into the ground and surrounded by innocent-looking roses. With teeth, if you looked close enough, in usual witch extraness, the gate could only be opened with a dance key.
The dance was something that went to the tune of classic rock; Sam forgot its name. But he could remember how to move his hips when the drums started going so hard, how his feet moved to the strums of the guitar even after decades, and how his muscle memory was going strong. when the portal opened, he let Daniel step through it first, "So, are you going to watch the fight?" Sam asked.
"oh, I plan to record it." she assured," I hear that guy has a bad bite?" Sam only smiled, flashing his teeth at her. "oh boy," she sighed as Sam stepped through the portal. "the moment the portal closed, her face turned grim, rage in her eyes." what on earth was she trying to give birth to with that curse!!" turning around she stormed back toward her lab, staying there until he alarm reminded her about Sam's battle and the witches coven meeting coming up.
"let's calm down and watch your pupil kick some ass." she dropped herself on the couch and tried to block out the thoughts of what she knew, focusing on the screen as the opponents appeared on the battlefield.
"acho! fuck!" Sam swore at the temperature. Knee deep in the snow, "didn't have time to grab a jacket," tapping his heel for a moment, he tried to think. Are there any temperature regulation spells in this outfit? Searching with his power for a moment, he didn't find anything. "great, something to fix later."
Letting a sigh, he watched his breath frost over," how cold are you?" he asked, not looking up from the snow in front of him. His opponent didn't reveal themself. Squinting, Sam focused on the four presences he felt. he was sure one of them was the fighter, summons copies? he wasn't sure yet.
"All right then," reaching out, he grabbed the dice and threw them out. Forced to jump a moment later as a scythe cut through the frigid air. Rolling forward, he avoided another and third scythe. Pushing off the third scythe, he avoided the fourth, "Tch!"
Looking down, he saw one of the dice had landed on the sword. With the edge of the blade, the raven was able to slash through the magic bullets. 'one of those was cursed.' he thought, mentally losing some of the ribbons wrapped around his arm. Sending the sword flying into the snow, he used it to pull himself out of the air before more shots could be fired.
Sliding, he pulled his sword out, swiping it out to knock up snow into the face of one of the clones. He knew it was a clone, a lack of depth. No, he didn't know how to explain it more than that. Two shots ripped through the cloud of snow; ducking the upper, he blocked the other. Observing the shot break against the metal of the blade.
"that's not just mana, is it?" still, they didn't answer the clones rushing him; one stayed back, what Sam suspected of being the original, to take a shot at him while he danced between the sythes.
Blocking the shaft of a scythe, he stepped down and rose up an uppercut directly into the clone's stomach. 'solid work,' he could feel organs and blood, even bone, breaking under his fist. stepping as another clone came over the other's back, slashing at his arm.
Its foot crunched against the snow as he stepped forward, blade moving quickly and continuously at him. Dancing and hopping back, kicking up some snow. The clones flinched, closing their eyes for one instant.
Sam rushed around the small cloud; the snow crunched hard as he rushed one of the clones. Going on the offensive. "AH!" it cried out, blocking with the staff of its Scyth, sliding its blade down it. Sam forced him to pull back his hand or risk getting it slashed.
"shit, the clone cursed before Sam twisted his sword around the scythe, twisting the weapon out of the clone's grip. His eyes followed it before Sam twisted his body and kicked it in the chest, followed by his swinging around and cutting the clone from the shoulder to the groin.
"Seriously, that level of real." he thought looking at the blooding mess staining the snow. Was it necessary to make your clones fo lifelike." he bit back some barf as he turned to face the rest of them, all of them on more guard." you could have killed me." the first thing they said with their surprisingly feminine voice.
Sam shook his head, "No, I couldn't have; I knew that one was a clone. Your cloning technique is good. But they lack the depth of existence."
"what the fuck does that mean." he growled, leveling his rise riffle scythe. " figure it out!" Sam said, losing his grip for the blad slid down, leaving ribbon in his hand. Spinning it like a frail, he rushed at them.
"my cloning technique is better than you believe!" just a bullet tore through Sam's abdomen." I guess you're right!"