Thea was terrified when she felt disturbance in the air. It was faint but she also heard Asuren saying, 'YOU NEED TO STOP'.
She quietly slipped out of her makeshift bed and soared towards the disturbance that she felt.
"Thea, what's wrong?" Ayhan was flying behind her.
"I think…" she hesitated then said, "Asuren and Henry might be in danger. She soared faster and Ayhan closely followed her.
They did not fly that long to reach those two. Henry was unconscious on the ground while Asuren was writhing in pain. Thea picked Asuren from the ground and was terrified when he vomited blood and fainted in her arms. His breathing was faint and his pulse was unstable. She quickly put the unconscious fairy on her back and rushed back to their camp. Ayhan did the same with Henry.
"What happened this time?" Riz asked when Thea and Ayhan returned and carefully placed Asuren and Henry on the makeshift beds. "Did Asuren hurt Henry? Was he possessed again?"
Henry had a bruise on his left cheek. Blood oozed from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth. "If Asuren was possessed, Henry would be dead by now. He had been knocked out by a well-controlled punch," Juliann said after checking on Henry. "The blood in his face is not only because he had been punched but also because of a strange curse. It looked similar yet different from the flesh eater curse. I'll try to give him the medicine we brewed. Let's hope that it can cure him."
"I thought this place is already curse free?" Thea was shocked.
"It is," Gia said while checking on Asuren. "We can only know more about what happened to these two once they wake up."
"How is Asuren?" Thea was even more worried because the unconscious fairy was getting paler by the moment.
"Something went wrong with his medication," Gia examined Asuren with a creased forehead. "His curse is acting up and draining his energy. I'll try to stabilize his curse before his situation worsen."
^#########^
Asuren was chained once again at the prison cell inside his head. The Evil Witch materialized in front of him and, as always, her eyes were filled with rage.
"How dare you try to undo the curse that took me thousands of years to perfect?!" Her scream pounded on the dark walls of the prison cell and caused Asuren a terrible headache.
"Did you really perfect this curse?" he bitterly smiled while enduring a lot of pain. "You didn't even notice that I started countering it for almost a week."
"You…" the Evil Witch was furious and quickly stabbed him in the chest.
He thought he could not feel any more pain but the stab wound still made him scream in agony.
"Why don't you just die?!" she pierced it deeper but the blade, as always, had failed to graze his heart.
"You kept asking me the same question for thousands of years…" Asuren coughed out blood. "…even though you knew that I don't have the answer you seek. You know my body and my memories better than I am. Why do you keep wasting your time? Why do you keep on coming here despite knowing that I can eventually throw you out?"
Despite the agony that was draining his strength, Asuren had gathered enough energy to summon wind gusts and toss the Evil Witch out of his body.
^############^
Asuren jerked awake and coughed out a lot of blood. He looked up and saw everyone looking at him with worry.
"Drink this," Juliann had given him a mug of smoking medicine.
"Henry…" he looked around their camp and saw Henry lying unconscious on a one of the makeshift beds. "How is he?"
"He only needs to rest," Gia answered.
"What happened?" Thea asked. "Was it a flesh eater? A warrior of the boar seal? Or the boar seal himself?"
"Asuren!" Henry jerked awake then winced with pain. He carefully touched his swollen cheek and glanced at Asuren. His eyes turned to silver and widened with dread. "Your curse…" He slipped out of the makeshift bed and rushed at Asuren but the latter had swiftly evaded his hand and leaned closer to the walls of the cave, away from him. "Asuren…"
"I am bothering you for quite a while now," Asuren maintained a safe distance from Henry. "Juliann knows how to brew my medicine. I can learn it from him. You should focus on countering the flesh eater curse."
"The curse within your body is still unstable. I only managed to calm it a little," Gia informed him. "Henry's medicine will no longer work for you. We have to examine your curse further to discover another effective medicine."
Asuren was already expecting that terrible news but hearing the words out loud still made his chest tighten with pain.
"I ruined our chance," Henry slumped on the makeshift bed. "I should not have forced it out of your body. The curse has already taken roots within you and my impatience only alerted the one who cursed you."
"Why did you force it out of him when you are already countering it?" Thea stared at Henry with confusion.
Henry hesitated then admitted with a sigh, "I used dark magic in lifting the curse in this cave. I thought I could handle it. I was wrong. I felt so hungry. I want to devour not flesh but curses. Asuren has the most powerful curse. I want to consume it," he shook his head and said, "I'm sorry. I ruined everything."
"Not everything," Asuren said. "You still cleansed this cave. Just… stop using dark magic. It will ruin you."
"I know," Henry sighed. "I will not use dark magic anymore. I promise. So please, Asuren, give me another chance to further study your curse."
"You don't need to find a cure for me," Asuren reassured the mortal. "I've been enduring this curse for a long time already. I know how to handle this. You should focus on the flesh eater curse."
"But we already found an effective cure for the cursed fairies that haven't turned yet," Henry was still trying to convince him.
"How about those that already turned? Maybe you can also find a cure for them," Asuren said as he remembered Greyleaf. "Next time we encounter a flesh eater, we can heal them instead of killing them."
"But…"
"Maybe we can try again after we are done dealing with the boar seal," Asuren said before Henry could find another reason.
"Fine," Henry sighed. "I'll focus on the flesh eater curse."
"Now that Gemma has fully recovered, Juliann, Henry, and I will take her back to Foliage Ville," Gia said. "The four of you should continue searching for the boar seal."
^##################^