Before Wolfe died, he had an illicit affair with his childhood sweetheart, Charlotte. While Wolfe was legally married and in love, it was all for the public's eyes. After all, he was a public figure and he cared a lot about how people viewed him. Maybe a little too much. If he hadn't, he probably would have married Charlotte instead.
Charlotte was heavily pregnant when Wolfe jumped into the those outer worlders' ship. The knowledge made Wolfe's real wife, Monica feel betrayed. The invasion and resistance continued for a while and after some time, Monica and Charlotte met in a makeshift underground bunker while escaping for their lives. They got into a stupid fight with each other and insulted and cursed at each other. But Monica was quickly overwhelmed, she burst into tears and in a fit of rage and frustration, grabbed the bare soil beneath her and glared at Charlotte.
"Wolfe deceived me. He used me to boost his career. And while I suffered every night, he spent them in bed with you."
Charlotte laughed derisively, her protruded belly jiggling.
"Let the earth be my witness. If you will ever bear a child that shares a bloodline between you and Wolfe, whatever happy relationship the females have, they will destroy with their own hands. And the men, they will continuously chase after their own death. They will seek fame and wealth and die in its pursuit just like Wolfe."
**************
Agnes opened her eyes with a gasp. The fire was dead, the smoke was completely gone, the cauldron had dried up. Silvia slowly opened her eyes. Lethargy swept over her and so did the cold wind. The process had taken a lot from her but at least now, they knew what they were dealing with. She was cursed and so was her unborn child. Who knew Charlotte wasn't even the legally wedded wife. Not even the Tiger Family's history books told them so. Apparently Charlotte had modified that part of the story, painting herself in better light. She called herself the wife and Monica, the rich, spoilt obsessed girl that Wolfe dated when he needed financial help. She looked at Agnes and saw Agnes staring back at her. Unbridled hatred flowed out of the witch. Her face took a darker shade than her already dark skin.
Silvia was puzzled. Before she could ask what was wrong, Agnes grabbed her by the neck and squeezed tight.
"Ack...nyes..." She tried to speak.
"You are the one." Agnes growled, her voice deeper than she should be capable of. Her tone and words carried with it her rawest intentions.
Silvia could not put her head around it.
"Die!" Agnes said and raised her left hand up. A potion flew out from inside the hut into her hand. It uncorked itself and without hesitation, she poured the viscous liquid on Silvia's face.
Silvia screamed, or she tried to, as Agnes tilted the potion bottle. Just before the potions content could touch her, Silvia forcefully turned her entire body, twisting herself out of Agnes' grip and at the same time, escaping the unknown potion's contents. The stone platform it landed on melted so immediately and even burnt three feet deep in the soil.
Silvia ran into the hut as fast as she could, Agnes trailed be behind her, chanting as they moved. Small pieces of paper began to fly out of Agnes' body. As they did, runes and markings wrote themselves on the piece of paper. The papers had become talismans.
Silvia entered the hut and grabbed a long, white, furry coat. The hut looked small from the outside but was actually large on the inside. It went up two stories and even above an underground bunker. All of that was hidden by a couple of powerful runes that created and fed the illusion that appeared from the outside.
Silvia swatted away the first talisman Agnes sent towards her from outside the door to the hut and jumped behind the chairs.
*************
"Wait!" Wilson interrupted. "Why did she attack you?"
Silvia shrugged. "She was a descendant of Monica's. Apparently, Monica had laid a second curse before she died that forced all of her bloodline's powers to be sealed to a certain extent."
"Huh?" Wilson was stumped. " I can understand cursing us because she hated great....great grandma Charlotte, but why would she curse her own children as well?"
"Hatred, Wilson." Silvia answered. "You should never let hatred grow to the point of clouding your sense of judgement, son. Or else, you will keep making costly mistakes that will hurt not only you but everyone around you. Do you understand?"
Wilson nodded.
*************
Silvia jumped behind the chairs just as explosive, acidic and ice talismans nearly hit her. Her battle sense that was trained from childhood, although she never paid much attention to the training, was what saved her. If she had jumped any slower, she was doomed.
Luckily for her, there were lots of chairs and after the chairs were gone, she was out of the room. Agnes groaned in frustration. She hated how slow she was.
"Stupid curse!" She grumbled under her breath.
Silvia hit a hidden button in the kitchen that opened up a stairway that sent her straight to the underground bunker. Agnes cursed and chanted as quickly as possible. The curse affected her movement speed but not her mouth speed. More pieces of paper flew out of her body and almost instantly became talismans. These talismans flew straight at Silvia who upon seeing them ducked under the first one and ran straight towards the stairs by her left that led upstairs to the first floor.
"Why are you doing this?" Silvia yelled as she ran up the stairs.
"Your ancestor ruined my life." Agnes yelled in response and mumbled another chant again. The flying talismans shone a sky blue color that slowly deepened. They stopped halfway up the stairs and stood in a straight line. Agnes ran as quickly as her slim yet heavy legs could take her towards the stairs.
"How?" Silvia asked from the first floor as she quickly put on a couple of enchanted clothes. She had enchanted them herself and while they were not as good as Agnes' self enchantment, she was not quite willing to try on something someone who was trying to kill her made.
Agnes did not respond and slowly climbed up the stairs. There was an enchanted elevator by the side but it was obviously a bad idea to use it right now.
As she trudged up the stairs, Silvia looked for a few pieces of paper in her room. She knew Agnes was sensitive to these things but at least these pieces of paper will give her more chances at survival, no matter how little.
"Why are you not answering? Is Monica your ancestor? Did she curse you as well?" Silvia probed. She was in fact guessing blindly but she knew she was right when the heavy steps on the stairs paused, replaced by more mumbling.
"Oh, so I'm right. But what does that have to do with me?" She further asked as she picked up a sword and hid a few ready made talismans and plain knives under a black overall. She was battle ready.
"As long as I kill you, I will be free."
The heavy footsteps started again and slowly neared the top of the stairs. A couple more steps after that and she would reach the room Silvia was in.
Silvia ran out of the room first and approached Agnes, throwing at her, the ready made talismans and the potions Agnes gifted her some time ago.
Quickly, Agnes sent her talismans flying to meet the enemy's. She drank a potion and began mumbling again. More pieces of paper flew out of her body and were already flying towards Silvia while the runes and ancient markings were still forming. Silvia ran towards Agnes, dodging and cutting the unfinished talismans as she approached. Agnes sneered as Silvia got closer to her on the stairs and threw a potion. It exploded midair, stopping Silvia in her strides. If Silvia took another step, she would immediately begin to rot. But that did not stop her. She dropped her sword by the wall and began to chant while holding the blank pieces of paper in both hands. The talismans quickly came to be and Silvia threw them at Agnes on the other side. She was sure Agnes was preparing on the other side as well. And since Agnes was faster and way more proficient than she was, she threw all the talismans through the thick green smoke.
*clang* *tang* *crack* *sizzle* *ting* *bang* *boom* *slash*...
All sorts of sound effects could be heard on the other side. Silvia did not stop as soon as the papers finished, she threw half her knives through the smoke. She heard them rust through the smoke and crack and break.
By this time, the cloud, while still there, had cleared enough for both sides to see each other. Silvia held her breath, grabbed the sword and ran through the smoke. It burnt her face and exposed skin but the enchanted clothes did their magic and reduced the effect to a tolerable level.
Agnes screamed in frustration. All the erratic throwing from Silvia had put off her caring rhythm and left without a chance to take another potion to replenish her lost strength and mana. Already, she looked thinner.
Silvia looked at her and instantly understood why Agnes, who had taken her in like a daughter wanted her dead. The casting obviously took a huge toll on her physically, spiritually and mentally.
'Monica really did her dirty. And her grandmother wasn't even born yet. Curses are such evil.' Silvia thought. 'Too bad I'm trying to survive here.'
She swung her sword at Agnes who chanted a protection spell. Her body was covered in a dome that rippled when the sword struck. But Agnes' body also paid the price. Her bones could be seen jutting out of her body, her eyes sunken, her face obscenely pale.
Silvia hacked and slashed like crazy. The dome persisted but took a lot out of Agnes. Yet she persisted and even increased her hacking speed and strength as she saw Agnes' hand slowly brought a replenishment potion close to her mouth. Silvia knew she was done for if Agnes drank that potion. That won't be a do-over.
As the uncorked potion tilted to the mouth of the weak, stick-like visage of Agnes, Silvia yelled and slashed down on the dome. The dome finally ceased to exist. But the momentum was almost gone. Silvia instantly dropped the sword and threw a knife.
*Shuk*
The knife went straight into Agnes' throat.
Agnes'hand drooped and the potions pilled all over the floor. Blood filled her mouth. She gargled and choked on her own blood. Silvia picked up the sword and beheaded Agnes.
She did not trust that woman to not do something drastic like blowing each other up or something. After all, she was a witch who wanted her dead.
After that, Silvia knew she could not stay, but she could not go back home. Not like this, not while 'heavily' pregnant (She wasn't actually heavily pregnant), and on the run. So she made a risky move and decided to travel along the forest. And she just kept traveling until she reached a village that quickly took her weary self in and gave birth to her son who she named Wilson.