It echoed not in the empty cave, but in his head, as a voice brought him news of his ill fortune; it was perhaps the Omen. But the Omen doesn't speak to people; it's herald was the Grand-oracle who preached for the Realm. Nonetheless, after the scream of inaudible curses died down, a voice translated their words,
{You have been cursed with death... "No! For the countless lives that you have made miserable; for the wives you have made into widows; for the children you have made to be murdered to spare them from your world, by the hands of the gods, you, king shall suffer a fate worse than death!"
How unfortunate. You are not the king, are you?}
Equinox's eyes stared into the blank with terror. But then a soothing cold sensation blew into his body.
Other than the moments he had spent embracing his mother, that fraction of a second was the most blissful and calming moment of his life. But what followed was a blood curdling scream.
A thick thorn-like line suddenly started drawing from one side of his neck, circling it. In time, that line started to heat up and burn him.
The sensation was like a blunt knife being brutally stabbed into his neck to be slowly pulled along a jagged line, just for the blade to be dipped into coal again for the heat to compensate for the knife's unsharpened edge.
Equinox felt his throat get cut into, making every successful breath he took, a miracle, no less.
When the pain stopped, hoarse laboured breathing was all one would hear throughout the cave. The boy did not even care that he would be found out by the evil-spirit. At this point, wouldn't death be better?
Alas...
{You shall plead for death, but those are the moments it will elude you the most.}
The cool air blew into his orifices again, and a star drew over his chest. Equinox did not have to look down at it know that it was there, when he could feel it.
***
'The knights! Where are they?!' It had been a while since the Captain had sent two knights to call for the reinforcements he had left around the openings of the mountain. He had placed them there in the first place to block possible escape paths that the spider spirit might try to take when it was cornered. But it was clear now that they would be far more useful here.
Ten minutes had passed since he and the spider spirit had locked themselves into a stalemate, and yet there was still no sign of backup.
'At this point... I have no choice.'
He was about to do something that could quite frankly increase his chances of beating the spider spirit. But this action that had just flickered into his mind didn't exactly guarantee his survival. Moreover, he had promised them that he would not use it again.
It was quite a dilemma he was in but, it wasn't like his chances of winning now were zero.
"I am the Captain of the nine squads of the Knights of Nocturni! A swordsmaster!"
Holding onto the hilt of his great sword, he chanted again,
"Imbue this blade with my blessings, oh god of this desecrated realm!"
Just then, the silver blade of his sword burned into a beautiful porcelain white, as its blade melted away, reducing its width but sharpening its edges in folds.
What the Knight was holding now looked more like a white ornament than an actual blade. But with the sharp cuts this new longsword made at the wind, it would be wise to not think of it as such.
Sticking its scythe into a wall to reduce its impact after being hit by the Captain, the spirit looked up to find the man charging at it again, this time with a surprisingly calm expression. It was more like, all the intimidation the Captain had was transferred to his sword instead.
With the spirit's sadistic smile still glued to its face, it crossed two of its scythes together and braced for impact.
———
Ikky's eyes blinked open, with the world around him looking like a smeared art piece done with oil paint. Although his sight was blurry and he might even be hallucinating, he could swear that there was something lurking, moving in the darkness, silently towards him.
As if to add to the frightening situation he was in, he could even hear loud grunts, echoing in the cave.
But wait, those grunts were in rhythm with his restless chest movements, so that was just him. What about the moving figure in the darkness?
A long limb came from above to caress his neck, its cold touch promising to release him from his miserable life. And it did. That leg slowly sunk into his healed neck, pressing further down into it.
'There's another one?!' He panicked.
That should be impossible. One was more than enough!
'First Omens should not be this hard... It is all that old man's fault! When I die, these curses better return to his bastard head." Equinox's head was in dissaray as he began to scream curses of his own.
*Shing!
Light flashed in the darkness, and the spirit's head suddenly dropped a second later.
Adjusting up the visor of her helmet, this short knight looked down at the person she had just saved.
His thin body looked to be in horrible good condition, and his clothes were completely riddled with tears, holes and gashes. She closed her visor and walked away.
"Rest In Peace." She said.
His body looked cold and sickly too, but she had said for him to rest because this man was without a single sinew attaching his head to his body. He had been decapitated before she could intervene.
As she walked back into the darkness she came from, the mysterious voice suddenly said,
{You may wish for the curses to go back to your father's head, but you are those curses.}
Ikky took a second to figure out what was happening, before the voice elaborated,
{Oh you poor little thing. You have already suffered the pain of death, as you will continue to right before your true death.}
Ikky's eyes fluttered open weakly. 'Can my head be reattached?'
{...}
'Tell me.'
{As long as the curse of suffering is with you, you will suffer the pain of death ten fold, but will not die.}
'That was not the answer to my question.'
{... You can sew your head back on. Your curse will keep your soul attached to your body, and prevent death, but it does not heal.}
'I... have been disabled. So you're telling me it was possible for me to become an even bigger freak of nature...' He glanced down as blood continued to stream down his ripped out neck, before asking,
'Who are you?'
{I am your Augur Spirit.}
'So... what should I do? My body can no longer move because my brain isn't connected to it anymore? So how should I live from now on?'
{Your body is made from—}
'Stop dodging my questions! If my body is made of it, why do the curses still hurt so much?!' He cried.
{Man was made from mud, but can still be hurt by it when it is thrown. Our link has yet to be fully established, so pardon me if I have to guess some of your questions to me.
If you remove the curse you are suffering, then your body should be restored to its primary state. If I had to guess, I would say that you need a blessing to counteract that curse.}
Even the mysterious spirit was just guessing.
But if she was right, to remove this curse that was preventing him from dying and become normal again, Ikky would have to get the opposite of a curse by earning a blessing.
Now the new question was, how does one get blessed, especially someone as infamous as he was in this godforsaken mountain?
His eyes soon came back to life after indulging in the deep thought, only to notice a pair of metallic boots in front of his face.
Without a word, the knight pulled out her sword and aimed it at his forehead.
"Oh, come on!"