"What in the!...."
Nolamine could not finish his sentence. He was looking at his skin. He had woken up with mosquito bites everywhere and their bites had formed rashes.
Mi-sun who was sleeping in the other room came to him in a rush thinking something was wrong. She looked so hungover it was a miracle she was walking. After seeing his skin and face, she laughed.
"Cry baby, you used to get bitten even in South Korea, stop acting spoilt."
She said as she went to lay down next to him.
"Not this many."
He said, looking at his arms. What he still did not see was his face. It had swollen due to the bites and that was the reason Mi-sun was laughing. After handing him a mirror, he was horrified. Even his lips had swollen.
"I guess you have your mother's curse."
She said lying on his bed and looking at the ceiling.
"What curse?"
"You too seem to be allergic to mosquito bites. As strong as she was, her skin would react the same as yours when bitten. It was amazing that such a small insect could humble her when even a bullet or anything this world could throw at her could not."
She said, looking at Nolamine who was beyond recognition. He had thought she meant a real curse. Well, it could be a real curse if that's how his skin would be every time he was bitten.
Mi-sun pointed at a drawer at the bottom of the closet. Suggesting that he opened it. He did and could not believe what he was seeing. There was every mosquito product known to man in that drawer and it was bigger than it looked. There were many sprays even in languages he did not know.
"She made me buy them. There are even new mosquito repellents that are still not out even today as they are still being field-tested, but she made me get them. It was like her life depended on it. Much money was spent on them."
She said, reminiscing the past.
"I'm sure I told you what your name means, right?"
"What? You have never and I even wondered what it means myself."
"Nolamine, put simply, it is a chemical used in mosquito repellents. Also used to relieve coughs caused by the common cold and other breathing illnesses. To sum it up, to her, it meant relief."
Nolamine laughed inwardly, embarrassed. He had not even bothered looking it up and now when she was about to tell him the meaning, he thought it would be of the other world's. It, meaning something grandeur or legendary. He did not know what to feel about being named after a mosquito repellent product.
He took one of them meant to relieve his rash and while he did so he remembered something.
"Mi-sun, you know, for all of what we have talked about ever since you came back, you have never once said the name of the other world, the Lord of Gyeonggi Province, my fathers, and even the Guardian's name. Why is that?"
The question took her by surprise.
"Saying the Lord of Gyeonggi Province's true name gets you marked by her and she can see you wherever you are in the world, such is her power."
Nolamine was impressed.
"So, we treat many of the other Mythical Creatures that way as there is another we know has that power which could include the Guardian as well, but nothing is known about him. Only I have ever talked to him in the waterfall who is not of this village. Well, not to mention your mother."
Nolamine nodded.
"The other world goes by many names and your mother told me it's true name, but I am not allowed to tell anyone, even if it is you. Such are the conditions of joining the organization."
"They really take this information thing that far? But you talk about The Veil."
"That's because many know about it, but not many know about the other world. Anyways, you will have your answers answered by the Guardian. He is technically under you, you know."
The statement made him think. After freshening up, they went to see the Grand Witch.
"This is the First, specializing in strength. Facing curses and the supernatural head-on. Next is the Second, specializing in healing and medicine, with defense being her strength. Then we have the Third, who is my Master."
Sazi said. She was introducing them to the six witches who watch over the village.
"She specializes in identifying illnesses, curses, and the supernatural. Finding their weaknesses, documenting them, and identifying potential rips in The Veil around the village. With everyone here knowing about it and many being trained for a worst-case scenario, the barrier is weaker around here and we fight beasts that come through all the time."
She said. Nolamine wanted to ask about the beasts he would play with when he was young but had to hold his questions for later.
"Then we have Fourth. The seer. She can tell future events and is the best fighter in the village. While First focuses on power, obliterating his enemies, Fourth focuses on technique and precision, which pairs well with her ability."
Nolamine was impressed. He was at that point thinking he would never want to fight her.
"Next to her is Nala. You two have met. She is under her. She and I are the only Apprentices present, as the others are out leading the hunt for beasts seen rooming by the edge of the forest. They have to get them before they try to leave the boundary. Normal people cannot see them and they cannot hurt them, but there are people who have the ability to see them and they would instantly get killed if noticed."
He looked at Nala and tried to smile but couldn't because his face was still swollen. Nala giggled to herself with the others remembering his mother and making them smile inwardly at his misfortune.
"She is so far the only candidate to be the Grand Witch's disciple."
Nolamine was more than impressed. Nala had her nose pointing up high with pride when Sazi said that.
"The Fifth, his ability being Curse Manifestation. He can bring curses into physical reality, the ones he controls or that of someone else's. This gives him control over curses and this makes it easy to exorcise them."
It was an ability Nolamine wouldn't mind having.
"Lastly, the Grand Witch. All there is to say is that she has all the others abilities and one more that no one has had the honor of seeing."
Sazi said. They all bowed when she said that. They were in the Grand Witch's hut. It was full of dead beast's hides and heads with it smelling of herbs and medicine.
There was a reason Sazi was introducing them like that. Nolamine's mother had furthered their knowledge of all of their abilities. They were treating him like they would her, out of their respect for her.
Nolamine looked at them after their introduction and they were all different and he could not remember much about them. The First was a man who was nothing but a giant with muscles for days. He was only wearing leather pants with a huge beast leg's bone on his side used as some kind of weapon.
The Second was the witch who called him a 'Caterpillar' when he arrived. She, being the only one out of the six who went out and met him.
The Third looked more like a scholar than a witch. She was wearing glasses, which made one mistake her as such. She had a small frame, looking like she had never trained. But, Nolamine could not be fooled, his eyes were telling him to never fight her and not just her, but all of them.
The Fourth had different colored eyes like Nala. She looked more like a model than a witch. Nolamine could see his future looking at her and her disciple and it was being used and abused by the two and with him taking pleasure out of it. Such was the power of their beauty.
Her eyes were purple and light blue, with her iris looking like clouds turning. She had a long structure with her legs as long as the empire state buildings.
The fifth was a man who looked to be in his thirties and looked scrawny like he was cursed. He too was wearing nothing on top and had scars visible all around his body. Whenever he moved, black smoke could be seen by his eyes leaving him, disappearing into the air.
Lastly, the Grand Witch. She was a terrifying woman. Her demeanor was cold and terrifying but at the same time carried a motherly love. She was as big as the First and was wearing a black beast's hide that had soft fur around her neck. One eye was completely white and the other having its pupil and iris black, which was what was most terrifying about her. She always carried a staff that just looked like a lump of old wood that was dark in color. She looked like a person of few words.
Before they could even talk further, she took something out that made Nolamine not blink for a while in surprise.
It was a wand.