The world was spinning. Everything was white. A shrill buzz rang loud in Min´s ears. Her body hurt as if she had been ran over by a truck. Had she died again?
Slowly, her ears stopped ringing, and she regained feeling in her limbs. Min could feel the hard stone under her body, the stale air of the dungeon going in and out of her lungs. She opened her eyes.
Min was still in the inner chamber, but the cauldron was gone. In its place, there was nothing but a black stain on the ground.
"Wow, can´t believe I survived that," Min chuckled, looking down at herself to check for injuries. From her toes to her legs, to her sprightly chest; everything seemed ok, if covered in a bit of soot. She ran her hands across her body to double check. While she was sore all over, she couldn't find any cuts or bruises, nor did anything felt broken when she tried to move.
"Huh, I guess I do have extra defense! The goddess gave me a gift after all, not a curse.… wait, what about Celeria and Peonie?"
Min got to her feet and looked around the room. The animals were all fine, and they seemed to be out of the trance. They slowly marched out of the dungeon, forming an somewhat orderly queue out of the broken wall.
Celeria and Peonie were on the floor. They were unconscious but alive. Min could see their chest rise and fall with each breath. They were also one on top of the other, Peonie was cuddling Celeria and nuzzling her face into the elf´s cheeks.
"Awww, they look cute."
"They do, don´t they?"
To Min´s surprise, Tarienne was standing next to her and looking at the sleeping girls.
"Ahh!" Min jumped away from the pale woman. "Y-you are still alive!"
"I mean, I´m still not mortal, so can I really be alive?
"No doubt you are angry after our victory over your dark ritual."
"Victory? Have you looked around you? Half your party is knocked out!"
"A pyrrhic victory is still a victory." Min struck a fighting pose. She kept her fists raised and her legs separated, bouncing from feet to feet. "Y-you might be immortal, but I´m not going d-down without a fight!"
Tarienne rolled her eyes. "Is that the way to show gratitude to the enchantress who saved your life?"
"You didn´t save anything!"
"I did! If it wasn´t for my barrier spell, the explosion would have turned you into ashes!"
"I survived because I´m blessed by a goddess! I won´t fall for your lies! Surprise attack!"
"It´s not a surprise if you shout about it." Tarienne stepped back, casually dodging Min´s punch. "Have it your way. You are right about one thing, I am angry. It will feel good to blow off steam."
The enchantress raised her bony hand and aimed at Min. A cold water current surged from her fingers and flowed freely… right towards Tarienne´s face.
"Blblb!"
"Ha, not so high and mighty now, huh?"
"I-I must be still tired from saving your lives. This next attack won´t miss." Tariene wiped the water from her eyes. With a nod, she commanded the remaining spider to shoot her web downard... right at Tarienne herself.
"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" The enchantress yelled, squirming like a trapped fly.
"Oh great, now my magic jamming ability activates. It would have been useful ten minutes ago!"
"Magical ability, what nonsense are you talking about?" Tarienne glared at Min, her nose wrinkling as she did. "That smell again…!"
Tarienne released a lightning bolt from her eyes towards the web. The webbing caught fire and burned to a crisp. Despite being in the center of the impromptu fire, the enchantress looked barely annoyed about it. As the web disintegrated, Tarienne was released.
The lich plodded over towards Min. The naked adventurer tried to punch her, and even kick her, but it was like hitting a sandbag. Tarienne didn´t even flinch. The lich grabbed Min by the hair and pulled her towards her face to give her a smell. "That stench. It is the stench of my former master. Stay away from me!"
Tarienne briskly tossed Min away. For the first time since they began to fight, her face showed something other than irritation. Fear.
"Hey, I don´t smell that bad! I bathed yest-"
"Not literal stench, idiot. I can smell the dark energies of my former master, the Apostate Spirit, coursing through your body. You are a bomb of corrupted mana. A blight upon the land. No wonder everything went wrong when you appeared!"
"Dark energy? Former master?" Something clicked in Min´s mind. "Errm, is she, by chance, a tall woman with silver hair and no pupils? Snow white skin?"
"Yes!"
"Oh. Ohhhhhh. So she is the one that reincarnated me?... Did you say she is an Apostate Spirit? That sounds ominous! Please tell me more about her! What are her powers? How old is she? Is she good?"
"Good? What part of Apostate Spirit sounds good? She is the reason the Sisters turned me into a pile of ash and rejected my soul! She started the Catastrophe of the Burning Skies! And she is supposed to be dead! I don´t know why you have her smell, but I want nothing to do with it! GET OUT!"
"What? So, she is evil? N-no… but, I guess it kind of makes sense. Then does that mean I´m cursed after all? I don´t have any abilities at all? That can´t be, I can understand other languages, and I´m pretty sure my defense is buffed. Why did she reincarnate me?"
While Min was having an introspective monologue, Tarienne cautiously paced around her as if she was powder keg with a lit fuse. "L-look, I don´t have any answers for you, please go away!"
"I can´t! You are the only one that knows about the spirit that brought me here!"
"I swear by the Sisters and the Goddess, if you don´t leave now, I will err…" Tarienne pointed at the sleeping adventurers. "I will bring the ceiling down on their heads! So if you value their li-"
"B-but please, I can´t leave yet! You have to tell me everything you know about your former master! I think she cursed me!"
"Then go ask a wizard for help, I don´t care!"
Min sighed. The erstwhile dreadful Lich was looking at Min like she was a cat and she was a little mouse. Trying to talk to her in that state would be like trying to get water from a dry well. Maybe it was best to heed her advice. At least now she had a lead about who brought her into this world. That was progress.
"… That´s not a bad idea. Do you know where I can find one?"
"I´ve been asleep for millennia, why would I- If it gets you to leave, fine. There was a wizard tower west of here. I don´t know if it´s still there, but you should go check it out. Now."
"Great…" Min looked outside, her bare skin shivering with the breeze from the forest. "Erm, sorry to keep bothering you, but do you know any teleportation spells? It´s just ...it´s a long journey, and as you can see, I´m not exactly equipped for it."
"Fine. As long as you leave, I´ll teleport you there. Just… don´t come bother me again."
"Thanks! Ah, but also, I can´t leave you with my teammates knocked out on the floor. How do I know you won´t try to kill them when I´m gone?"
"I didn´t kill you when you were unconscious, didn´t I? J-just go!"
"Hmm, that´s a good point. Maybe you are not as evil as we thought you were. Still, I want you to promise me you won´t harm them. Give me your word."
"Ok, ok. Here, We´ll shake on it. I promise I won´t hurt your friends." Tarienne stretched her skeletal hand out, Min carefully shook it. A purple flame emanated from the handshake. "There, that´s a magical pact, I can´t go back on my word. I am literally incapable of hurting them now. C-can I please teleport you away?"
"Wait. They probably won´t believe your word if I´m gone when you woke up. They´ll probably think you killed me instead. I better write them a note. Do you have a pen and paper handy? Oh, I guess you would not now what a pen is. Then do you have a quill and some ink? Or maybe-"
"Uurgh... I´ll go see what I can find. But after that, you promise you will let me teleport you away?"
"Of course! I want to get to the bottom of this curse as soon as possible."