While everyone else got unlucky with the place they ended up with, there were two who perhaps got a bit lucky. Xeno and June ended up on top of a mountain. Although like the rest of the group except Jasper, they also coughed out these weird gelatinous balls of something and black spots grew on their skin.
As they lay there on the ground, tired, they suddenly heard some footsteps coming their way which made them alert and they immediately stood and assumed a lousy fighting stance.
"Who are you?" asked Xeno to the man approaching them. A man who seemed to be in his forties was walking towards them. He wore a tattered leather jacket, faded jeans, and sturdy hiking boots that were covered with mud. A weathered backpack was slung over his shoulders while he was holding an ax made of ice with his right hand, a lamp with his left.
The man raised his lamp to better see Xeno and June, making the scar across his left cheek visible.
"Don't go any closer," warned Xeno.
But the man wasn't threatened. Instead, he pitied them and said, "Oh, you poor kids. You must've been cursed by the witch! Do you have the cure?"
Xeno and June looked at each other, their brows furrowed.
"I… who are you?" It was June. She was hoping that the man would tell them the cure if he ever knew.
"Ah, my bad. I mean no harm." The man then dropped the ax to show his sincerity. "I'm Pedro, an adventurer. Well, if you don't mind, you can come with me. I have other companions below. One of us knows a lot about curses so you might wanna talk to her."
June shot Xeno a knowing glance before saying, "Uh… Pedro, is it? Mind if I speak to my companion first?"
"Sure. Go ahead."
And with that, June grabbed Xeno and dragged him far enough so the man wouldn't hear them.
"I don't trust him," Xeno confessed.
"Me neither but we should at least speak to this curse master whatever, you know?"
Xeno was about to object but June spoke over him.
"I know you're hesitant. But can't you just make those explosives of yours and escape if all else fails?"
"But—"
"I know. I know it's risky but our situation is risky enough anyway and I don't think adding a tad more risk is bad. You see, if anything, we could just fly away and escape too. You understand what I'm trying to say?"
Xeno just looked at her with a defeated look and sighed.
"Fine. Let's have it your way. But I definitely don't want to get tied up again." While saying this, he was rubbing the rope marks in his wrist. When the blinding red engulfed their vision, the rope suddenly melted. They didn't know why this happened but the ropes simply returned to where they belonged.
They marched back to the man and said at the same time, "We're in your care."
***
Meanwhile, at the village. While coughing violently, Thea was dragged to the river by the village chief. He then ordered his people to tie her up to undergo a trial by water.
Where they will tie the accused with ropes and will be thrown into a body of water. If the accused sank and drowned, they were innocent, but if they floated, it was evidence of their guilt and they must be executed immediately.
They wholeheartedly believed her to be a curse bringer. After all, while the whole village gathered to pray to Drusilla to seek vengeance to whoever cursed their land, the twins suddenly materialized on the altar. The boy was horrified while Thea, whom they assumed a cruse bringer, was slowly being covered by black spots.
In their scripture, it was heavily emphasized what the curse bringers look like. They were mostly women that looked normal at day but when the night came, they would transform into black wolves. They would roam the impoverished lands to spread illnesses. They feed on people's despair and they kidnap men to rid them of their sanity for fun.
Theo was screaming, yelling that they had it all wrong and that everything was a misunderstanding but the villager took it as him turning crazy. They pitied him and locked him up in a shed to be cleansed when morning comes. A shepherd boy and a nun was with him to prevent him from running away.
Meanwhile, a priest wearing a long black robe arrived with a scripture in one hand, and a goblet in the other. The goblet contained a juice from red fruits, symbolizing the blood Drusilla shed during the great war in the past. They believed that if they made the accused drink this, if they ever were guilty, Drusilla's vengeance will befall them, making them suffer a great deal of pain.
However, as the priest brought the goblet to Thea's mouth, she suddenly vomited out a gelatinous ball of blood, causing her to stop coughing. Following this, a shield materialized from her expanding outwards, pushing the priest and villagers away. No one could get near her no matter how they tried.
Her nose was bleeding. She was starting to feel the repercussions of her ability after continuously using it within a day. From the Hounds of Tetano and the mutated birds, and then the villagers.
And at that moment, the nun who was guarding Theo was running towards the priest yelling, "A miracle! A miracle, Priest Hoff! We got it all wrong!"
Confused, the priest asked the nun. "What are you talking about?"
The nun raised her arm as she lifted her sleeves up to her elbow, making the priest's eyes widen.
Just the day before, green pus covered her arm that not even the priest could heal, but it just suddenly vanished.
"That woman is no curse bringer, Priest Hoff. She, together with the man locked in the shed, was sent by the Goddess Drusilla. They came here to heal us!"
Of course, Theo fabricated all these lies. The nun tried to speak to him, pitying him from having his sanity stolen and even showed him her arm that was covered in green pus to gain his trust. And Theo sort of understood the village situation and healed her and made up a lie on the fly.
"We are sent by Goddess Drusilla to heal you all and this is how you treat us?" He said this after he healed the nun, who was then overcome with awe and horror. Even the shepherd boy was horrified and they both prostrated before him and asked for his forgiveness.
"What do you think Drusilla would do if she knew how you treated us? Hmm?" he threatened.
And just like that, the nun desperately ran towards the priest, hoping they hadn't thrown the woman to the water yet.