"Are you okay now?" Rick asked.
"Sure I am." Ikky leapt up on his feet. "Need help with breakfast?"
"It's past noon." Rick threw him a loaf of bread.
Catching it, Ikky exclaimed. "It's that late? Man, I got beat up bad."
Rick squinted his eyes as he replied, "You did. You should still be in bed in fact. Your body was as cold as a corpse when I brought you in last night."
"Ha! Haha." Ikky rubbed the back of his head apologetically, recalling how much trouble Rick had to go through to pull his body all the way up to the room.
Before silence got to force Rick out, Ikky suddenly asked,
"That thing back there... you saw it, right? What was it?"
Ikky had been told that Prophets could attract spirits in the Kailash. But was that creature even one? Was it common to get approached by things like it?
'If anything, it reminds me of that spider spirit with the fear thing. Am I gonna keep running into those?'
'Let us hope not.' Yaga sighed before whispering to herself, "At least not until we have enough strength to handle them... But that's an impossible thought."
Knowing well what Ikky was asking about, and not being aware of Yaga's presence, Rick replied,
"Don't worry about it. The higher ups will probably do something about it when it catches their attention. But until then, I advise you keep far away from the Kailash until things get sorted out. Because that thing was really aiming for you."
He then turned around to walk out of the room, as he waved for Ikky to go back to bed. "Your sword is with me. Let's check a Charm-smith later this week and see what we can do about it."
Ikky blinked. "I must be handing over my organs with all these favors, huh?"
He joked, making Rick recall the fact that he had thought the Starlights were human traffickers at the start.
"You must have spent a lot of time in the Realm to have that warped perception of life." Rick scoffed before shutting the door behind him.
"Huh. Seems like I hit the jackpot with these guys. They're awesome." Ikky grinned as he said to Yaga.
Recalling the talk the two had in the Realm, Yaga looked at Ikky. He had gotten hopes then that he'd make friends in his new life as a chosen Prophet. He'd even given himself the name Ikky since it sounded more informal and common than his actual names.
And while it didn't seem like he was making any attempts at achieving that goal, it was just that he didn't know how to go about it.
There were no manuals for friendship, and the stories he'd heard about it just seemed like making friends was a matter of destiny and coincidences.
Ikky grimaced with the fact that it might just be like that. If his fate decided who he made friends with, then he was screwed. His life was just that messed up.
Ikky turned back to his tinted window to glance at his reflection.
"What happened to the curse anyway?"
"It apparently went away after we left the Kailash."
His body was covered with patches of red. It hurt quite much but Ikky didn't take it too seriously since he could still move around just fine.
"So we both agree that I get cursed when I'm around evil spirits, right? Though that last one hit me like a truck!"
He wiggled the leg covered by white bandages. It was the leg he'd dislocated back when the curse of paralysis suddenly came to pass. But he'd straightened back his knees with the night mist, so now, although it stung quite a bit, it would also heal soon.
"Seed of Nyx gave us the power to postpone those curses, Child of Nyx seems to not."
"Yeah." Ikky agreed with Yaga's simple deduction.
"The Costs of Virtues only get worse, unlike the sideffects of using Totems. It's a good thing that doesn't affect me."
Ikky scoffed.
Putting on some of the clothes that he'd sprawled near the bed, Ikky took a walk downstairs instead to help with the restaurant.
"What?! You look like a mess with skin disease. Get out of here."
"Ma'am, if you keep sending me out of your kitchen, how am I supposed to even work?"
"... Did you just talk back at me?"
———
And so, Ikky found himself roaming the weird forests of Mahar, behind Rick of course.
They had just been to a curing steam bath then to a hot spring to help Ikky's skin. The amber-eyed man had even gotten washed down by a couple of women workers (female spirits).
Rick didn't get the same help though. It was a lot harder getting sexually excited in heaven, so those kinds of spirits were safe from horny clutches. Though they were still a good selling point since man would always find the female body appealing and comfortable no matter how active their libidos were at the moment.
Yet Rick didn't get to enjoy those privileges. You'd think it was because his wife was already sexy and enough for him, yes. But there were honestly deeper things involved. He couldn't be satisfied by just anything anymore. This was probably the case for Arley as well—
"The f#ck are you talking about?"
"... Ehm. I guess I should be more empathetic since you can't get treatments like that because of your wife. But it felt really good."
Ikky had unlocked an achievement today. He'd NEVER ever gotten that close to other women before. He technically still hadn't, since those fine women were just spirits with lady-like curves. But still.
"No privilege in being rubbed like an incapable baby. Quit the boring talk and get your sword. We're here."
Charms were weapons Prophets used to improve their Totems. They took the forms of weapons and other random objects, but are most importantly, made of a particular metal that could resonate with souls: Soul steel.
Those who forged those charms were uneventfully called Charm-smiths.
"Tighten your bandanas." Rick suddenly warned.
Ikky made sure the red piece of cloth wrapped around his forehead and shoulder were tied right. Still curious as to why Rick had asked him to wear these, Ikky recalled Rick's previous answer, "You'd look less tasty that way."
Walking out of the forest, Ikky exclaimed as his eyes scanned across the land.
There was a mountain the shape of three tall, small and wide cubes stacked side by side. There were also a few cubical holes in the mountain. It honestly would look like an oversized house if its exterior wasn't so rocky and crude.
Beneath the mountain was a wide pond that reflected the light on its beautiful cobalt blue surface.
Ikky followed Rick to walk around the pond to the rectangular entrance to a cave in the mountain.
Without further words spoken, they both move into the cave.
After a while of roaming around the dark tunnels of the mountain, the two sighted light in an opening up ahead. But as they got closer, they started hearing loud bangs and the sound of fighting. Rick's footsteps got faster.
Finally reaching the vast room at the end of the tunnel, they realised the sound of battle was from a Prophet and a violent spirit.
"Izel!" Rick called out. However, as the woman lost focus for the half second she took to see who shouted her name, the spirit leapt at her, its wide maw ready to take advantage of the situation and swallow her whole.
Ikky stared at the legendary creature in awe, finally understanding why Rick had tied on clothes on his body that were coloured red.