26 Damn It All! (1/2)
The old man burst into a fit of laughter after realizing Darius's true intentions. After calming himself down, he pushed the floating bubble forward.
”You mean this hammer?”
Darius nodded.
”Indeed, Sir, that very hammer.”
The old man stared at Darius.
”You intend to use it right now?”
”Indeed, wise sage.”
Darius nodded his head like a chicken pecking corn.
”To finish your daily quota.”
Darius nodded profusely.
”Exactly! To finish my… to finish my… eh?”
Darius's face instantly became ugly to behold. He realized that this had been the second time the old man had made a suggestive statement.
The old man started stroking his beard while saying, ”In my youth, I once heard rumor of such an interesting curse. One that required a hammer just like this one.”
Darius stepped back wearily. ”Uhm, really? Isn't that interesting?”
”Yes, really.” The old man chortled. ”It was an odd curse. One had to use a hammer such as this one to strike an anvil a certain amount of times daily. Unless the daily quota was reached, the curse's flare would kick in.”
Darius nervously gulped as he pulled at his collar. ”Is that so?”
”Yes, I believe it was so.” The old man grinned mischievously and continued, ”The flare was quite nasty. It would cause an incredible heat to spread throughout the bones of the cursed.”
Darius nervously laughed and said, ”What would happen after that?”
The old man feigned a thinking posture before saying, ”It was said that the heat would start in one's bone marrow, before spreading to the muscles and blood. Eventually, it would become a scorching heat that could torture even the most sturdy of minds to insanity.”
Darius swallowed his saliva so hard it was audible throughout the whole room. ”Scorching?”
”Yes, young man. Scorching. The heat would spread to the soul, preventing one from sleeping or fainting. After countless hours of torture, the heat would ignite flames, flames so hot that they could even burn the soul into nothing, preventing reincarnation. Everything within a thousand miles would be burned into nothingness,” said the old man with unusual fervor.
”Torture? Flames? Soul? Re-reincarnation?” Darius squealed as he tripped back, his backside touching the ground.
The old man's face turned grave. ”Indeed, this was an incredibly vicious curse created by a cruel Spiritsmith to train his recruits. His name was Pretorius; thus, it was named the Pretorius Curse.”
Darius started sweating bullets. All he had known was that scalding heat would cover his body and kill him, but he had never known that the consequences would be so dire.
This is not possible. How could something so cruel exist? How could a curse like that exist? Was Pretorius so bored that he just had to mess with our lives? What will I do?
Darius gripped his head in despair. He started madly pulling at his hair as his mind went into overdrive.
”Ehem.”