Nyne burst through the Laneads' inn in broad daylight when returned to the village. He was all dirt and dust with part of his cloth blooded. He made his way to the back of the inn hurriedly, speaking no words to anyone.
"What's the matter with him?" Trys asked Gaia.
Gaia shrugged. "I don't know," she said, looking at the young man zoom past them.
"I'll be back," she said.
Gaia went inside to find Nyne and see what is wrong.
Nyne pulled out the small part of one of Madrea's branches that stuck to the flank of his abdomen, wincing in pain as the small branch came out, allowing blood to drip.
"Aer of flame," He incanted.
With this incantation, his hand was gloved in magical energy. Removing his other hand that stopped the bleeding, he placed the hand shrouded in magic energy over his wound. Nyne shrilled in so much pain that he fell to the ground, panting. His face wetted in sweat, the cloth he bit on fell to his side. Painful but he succeeded in cauterizing the wound with Aer.
"What is it, child?" Gaia asked, rushing into the room as she heard his shrill cry.
She saw spots of blood on the floor. Looking at Nyne, she understood immediately what had transpired. Gaia pulled a piece of cloth that hung near the door. She tore it apart and wrapped one part round Nyne's abdomen after applying healing balm on the wound. It bound the area to prevent worsening bleed.
"You fought her too?" Gaia asked.
Nyne gave her a nod, though surprised how she could guess that spot on.
"Madrea is not a demon. You can't defeat her by normal means."
"What do you mean!" Gaia blurted out, "How do you know that?"
"She has no physical form as such sorcerers cannot defeat her. The only option is to seal her away but sealing magic is not a handy magic. It requires a skilled sorcerer to do so.
"Mrs Gaia..."
"Yes, child" Gaia was shocked at the seriousness in the voice.
"You asked if I fought her too. Who else did and how do you know all these?"
Gaia smiled. Nyne was hinting that she was not who she claims to be. He was not wrong. Gaia rolled up the sleeves of her gown. Nyne was shocked at what he saw.
"You see that?" Gaia said, "She did that. I must tell you, you are lucky to get away with only a stab wound. It could have been worse. What were you thinking?"
Gaia's right arm down to her wrist was barky. A lasting injury she received from Madrea.
"Are you also...?" Nyne asked in shock.
"Yes. I am a sorcerer" she said, "I and Trys, the same"
"By the gods..."
It started making sense to Nyne how Gaia was so knowledgeable about Madrea. The very reason she and Trys remained in the accursed village was to see an end to the vengeful spirit that brought chaos upon the village, the spirit that kept them trapped.
"I will tell you our story," she said.
"Trys and I are Nortvardian mages. We were assigned a mission a year and half agone to come and take care of a lurking spirit in this land. The one that gave the job was one of the survivors of this land, one who managed to escape from Madrea's grasp.
"He sought help from Nortvard and we were called upon. We had no idea what we were getting into. Coming here, the villager said no words to us. Not even one. Eyes lurked around, watching us. What was surprising was that they did not interfere in whatever we did. It was as though they lived in their own world and we, in ours."
"Is that why they are not talking to me?" Nyne asked.
"It's because you aren't cursed by Madrea."
"Then that means you're..."
Gaia nodded. "Yes, child. We are cursed too."
Nyne was speechless at the revelation he had just received.
"But ours was different. When we had gathered enough information on Madrea, we went to fight her. A battle that lasted through the night and ended in our defeat. Because she saw us as rebels and threats to her established authority, she cursed us. I and Trys were cursed with body aged forty years more than our present ages. Even though we're young mages, she cursed us to grow old to the bones.
"That is how powerful she is, child. The only way to free us from her curse and free the souls of these villagers is to defeat her spirit."
"I think I know how," Nyne said confidently.
-
Two men were approaching the village of Payre on horseback. There were the two sorcerers of the Labronkath sent there by master Reshi - Makr Reimyr and Vorgard.
"This was his village, huh?" Makr said.
"So it seems, Makr," the second sorcerer, Vorgard, replied.
The two aepari travelled all the way to Payre to find Nyne. They arrived with Vorgard's senses leading them to the Lecrem's former home. Vorgard possessed an incredible ability of sensing the innate force of Aer.
There is a saying in the Labronkath, among the masters; if Vorgard senses it the first time, he can always find it.
"It's burned to the ground," Makr said, observing the burned down home of the Lecrems.
"I can see that," Vorgard replied.
Vorgard bent down and felt the ash that resulted from the event. "What could have happened here?" he wondered.
Vorgard felt the Aer within the ashes in his palm, from that feeling he could deduce one thing. "There were no ordinary flames," he said.
Vorgard smelled and tasted the ashes and felt a rush of Aer in his system. He had registered the Aer signature so he could recognise it later on.
"One thing is sure. Nyne was here but he wasn't alone," Vorgard said.
The aepari noticed the decaying bodies of the ograkks slain by Nyne. Vorgard tracked Nyne's Aer down to the cliff where he battled the strange man who had ambushed him and Sirsca.
"A battle scenery," Makr pointed out.
"Yes. This must be where he parted ways with his godmother," Vorgard said.
Vorgard's guess was on point. His senses were held in high regards even throughout the continent of Esterya. The wind swept his long black hair to the side revealing the complete features of the hard mask that covered his face. A coal black mask with only openings for his eyes and nose. As the wind swayed his hair, Vorgard stared down from the cliff into the waters below, where Nyne had fallen into. The aepari were now closer to finding their own.
-
The villagers of the accursed village gathered under the voice of Gaia and Trys. They all followed the couple behind as they followed Nyne. This was all part of Nyne's plan, still unknown to anyone else.
"Where are we going, son?" Trys asked.
"Trust me. I believe this will work. Brute force isn't how the curse would be lifted."
It was obvious that Nyne knew something they did not. They had no choice but to trust him. Nyne led the crowd deep into the forest. Deep into this forest laid the tombstone of Madrea.
"Though you won't speak to me but I'll go ahead and say this. Some of you may know what happened with your elders many decades ago, some of you may not. I tell you this, the curse you suffer till this present day resulted from their wickedness. The wickedness of your elders brought this upon you all. The evil they committed those years ago."
Gaia and Trys stood there and wondered what point Nyne was trying to make.
-
Many years ago. The accursed village was at war with four of its neighbouring villages. Known for their strength, they held on and fought but they could only do so much by themselves. Their numbers were dwindling and it was doing so very fast. The villagers and her warriors knew that they needed outside help if they were going to win this war and retain their territory.
"There's a witch that dwells in these forests. I believe she can help us," one of the warriors suggested.
"I do not conform to that idea. Witches are bad omen and we all know this!" One of the elders said, arguing against the suggestion of the warrior.
The elders and the warriors of notable ranks gathered to bespeak their fate in the course of the war. They decided to use a voting system and each person, present, agreed to conform to the outcome of their vote. The result of the votes cast meant that they would implore the help of the witch that lived in the forests. The sorceress of the forest, they called her or the wild witch.
Per the result of their meeting, the elders and some warriors went into the forest where the wild witch sojourned. They went to find her and seek her help.
-
Deep into the forest, the trees start shaking in a strange manner. The trees gathered around and created a circular space that isolated the forest's guests in its centre.
They were mere humans and were wise enough to know they could neither raise their weapons to a sorceress nor could they even fight her if it ever came to that.
Carried on one of her thick branches, she appeared before them. The sorceress of the forest. She stared down at them from the branch she stood. They recognised it was her given the display of sorcery before their very eyes.
"O great sorceress of the forest!" they hailed, falling to their faces.
Her green eyes started to glow. "What do you want with me, Madrea dea Reinberth?" she asked.