The Curse

Instead of replaying her memory of the encounter with the armed serpent, Maizy suddenly found herself standing in a cold, echoing stone chamber. At the far end of the room stood an altar, etched with lettering in a language she didn't recognize. It felt ancient—important, somehow.

Flaming stone sconces lined the walls, their light flickering and hissing in the silence. But they were outshined by a golden bowl resting atop the altar, radiating a bright, pulsing light.

"What the heck? Where am I?" she asked no one in particular. "Oh wow—I can talk!"

This must be one of Pathy's memories, Maizy thought.  But why? And how?

She decided to investigate the altar and began walking toward it. But then a voice called out, "Stop!" It sounded like Pathy.

"The bowl is cursed!" Pathy's voice shouted. "It's my curse. If you look at it, you'll get cursed too."

"You're cursed?" Maizy asked, hoping Pathy could hear her.

"Yes. It's a curse that makes everyone forget me. It's almost done erasing me—I can feel it. Like it's about to explode." Maizy could hear a deep sadness in her voice. "When it's complete, I'll fade away, and even Path won't remember me."

"I got this curse while working as a Proscribrarian."

She's ALSO a Proscribrarian!?

"I climbed the altar and looked into the bowl. That's when the curse shot out—right into me. I destroyed the bowl, thinking that would prevent anyone else from being cursed, but it's already spread. I've only just realized this, thanks to your memory tail."

Maizy considered the implications of this. "If it's a memory curse, can I remove it with my gift?"

"I don't know, but I can feel that it's having a very strong reaction to your presence. It does not want you here."

Then the bowl started to rock.

"It's fighting back!"

"I DON'T THINK IT CAN BE REMOVED. YOU SHOULD LET GO AND GO HELP PATH."

Maizy felt something was off.  That didn't quite sound like Pathy. It was too loud. Maybe it's the curse?

Then the bowl flipped over, and black, wriggling worm-like creatures began funneling out from underneath—headed directly toward Maizy. There were a lot of them.

"RUN! THEY WILL CURSE YOU!"

That definitely wasn't Pathy. The only being that had ever shouted that loudly into her mind was WHAT.

So she did what any skeptical child does when faced with such clear instructions: She crossed her arms and stared at the worms.  I don't think I will.

One worm slithered close, and Maizy picked it up. "I eat worms like you for breakfast!" Munch!

Ick. A bit chewy... Compared to that null crystal, though, this is nothing.

Maizy proceeded to gobble down worms left and right. Then the swarm of them melted into a puddle of black ooze, which coalesced into the shape of a large, writhing snake.

"Could you get any more cliché? Really?"

Maizy leapt on the curse snake and began biting off chunks, slurping them down like a hungry isopod. She was not afraid of things like giant snakes. Not anymore, and especially not fake, chewy black ooze snakes that just...  wiggle, grossly.

Then it changed shape again—this time into a hawk—and Maizy stopped. It startled her.

She reached down, picked up the tiny hawk, and ate it.

Wow, if it had come a bit sooner with that shape, I might have skipped this meal!

"Pathy? Can you hear me? Is there anything left?" There was no response.

Maizy walked around the chamber, searching for any remaining black goo, a hidden challenge, or perhaps a way out. But there was nothing. Then a thought slipped into her mind like a curse sliding out from under a bowl.

She climbed onto the altar, picked up the bowl, flipped it, slammed it back down, then picked it up again. There it was: A tiny little piece of the curse. She lapped it up—but again, nothing happened.

Pathy said the curse shot into her when she looked at the bowl.

So Maizy closed her eyes, licked the entirety of the bowl, then slammed it down on the hard stone floor.

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Maizy was thrown back from Pathy and slammed into Grandma.

"Gods, Maizy! Are you okay?" Grandma asked. Then everyone in the room froze. Their eyes went glassy.

Maizy signed, "What going on?" and Grandma shook her head. "I don't know."

Grandma walked over to Pathy, who had fallen over. "Pathy!" She gently nudged her. "Pathy!" Her eyes were open, but she wasn't responding.

Grandma then waved her hand in front of Bloom, then Blossom, and the Postmaster. "I don't know what's going on. I've never seen anything like this before. What did you do?"

Maizy signed, "I ate..."

Then, all at once, everyone woke up—just in time to hear Maizy let out the loudest, most disgusting burp ever emitted by a kad. It echoed like a thunderclap through the conference room and shook the grapes on the table.

She floated upwards, her body straightening out against her will. A noxious cloud of shimmering black particles streamed from her mouth like a villainous teapot letting off steam.

"WUHHH! UH!"

Then, she dropped back to the floor with a thud.

"Excuse me!" Maizy signed, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"DING!"

Grandma jumped at the sound. "Ooh, you got a title!"

Is that what that sound means? I got a title? Am I living inside a game or something?  Maizy's grip on reality suddenly felt loose.

Then Pathy and everyone else came to their senses. Pathy shook herself off, then ran over and picked up Maizy. Just like Willow, she was too quick to bite. "Oh Maizy! You saved me! How did you remove the curse!?  Incredible!" She could not have been happier with this little kaydee. In her mind, she immediately started scheduling lots of play time for Maizy and Path.

"She didn't just save Pathy. Apparently all of us were infected—maybe even the whole village!" Grandma sounded very excited. "Maizy got a title from it! I heard the ding!"

Mom looked over at Grandma, excitement lighting up her face. "Well, don't just stand there! Make a title scroll!"

"Right!" Grandma grinned, then reached into her poncho and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. In the top left corner, she drew a circle with a dot in the center. Then next to it, an octothorpe.

Grandma walked over to Pathy, who was still holding Maizy. "Maizy, that ding sound means you were granted a title by the gods. I have a few, and so does your mom. It's a super rare event! Very exciting!" Maizy motioned like she wanted to get down, and Pathy obliged.

Maizy signed, "I heard before."

"You've heard that sound before?" Grandma asked. "Ah, probably when you killed that snake." Maizy nodded, then made the sign for the number two.

"You heard the ding sound twice when you killed the snake?"

Maizy nodded again.

"By the gods!" The Postmaster suddenly looked at Maizy with a whole new level of interest—beyond just delivering letters. "She might have three titles already." Then she casually grabbed another grape.

With a big grin, Grandma held a piece of paper in front of Maizy. "I wrote a magic spell on this scroll that will display your titles. Take it, place it somewhere on the surface of the tree, and push a tiny amount of magic into it." She then handed the scroll to Maizy.

MAGIC SPELL!?  YES! Magic spells are possible!  Maizy made a mental note to experiment with those two symbols later.  Those were NOT in Burrow's book on magic symbols. Why?

Maizy followed Grandma's instructions, and a table of information faded into existence on the paper.

| God Slayer | Beat WHAT at his own game. That counts!
| Soul Smuggler | Brought someone back to life. Seriously, how'd you do that?
| Curse Gobbler | That couldn't have tasted good.

God Slayer? When did I get that?

"YOU KILLED WHAT!?" Grandma sounded weirdly happy about it.

Maizy shook her head, then signed, "I W O N bad game. Before grow." She didn't know the signs for "life" or "born."

"Can you show us?" Grandma asked.

Then Maizy heard a loud "POP!"

Time itself stopped.