Cursed Gift

"Yes, please go ahead," I replied, glancing at Alice and Karen for confirmation. Alice nodded, while Karen gave a lazy thumbs-up from where she lay.

"First things first," the elf girl said, pointing upward with her finger, "we need to figure out who the culprit is. Have you met or seen anyone unusual recently?"

I looked at Alice and Karen again. Both shook their heads. "No," I answered.

"Are you sure?" the elf pressed.

"Yes," I replied. "We only arrived a few days ago with Father and his wyvern. Then we met Grandma… and now you."

"Oh, that creature was yours?"

"Yes. Why? Is something the matter?"

The elf girl let out a sigh of relief, pressing her hands to her chest. "No, I just thought a wyvern had come to attack the forest. The whole elf village has been restless, on edge due to it. But if it is yours, then that’s a relief." She lowered her hands, though her eyes narrowed. "But what about before that?"

I thought hard, replaying everything since I first arrived. Father, Alice, Karen, Grandma, and the elf girl. Beyond that, only Father’s knights, and even earlier, the maids and the rest of my family. Nothing out of place.

I shook my head.

"!"

But then it struck me, Alice and Karen had taken a very different journey. They had gone on a journey escorted by knights, visited subcities, and stayed at inns.

"Wait, Alice. Karen. Did you find the knights suspicious at all?" I asked suddenly.

"You mean Father’s knights?" Alice tilted her head.

"Yes!" I confirmed.

"No, nothing suspicious," she said. "We’ve known them since childhood. They treat us like their own children."

"Hmm…" I tapped my chin. "Alright then, we can exclude them for now. What about Greystone Hollow? Anything unusual there, the area, the inn?"

Alice blinked. "Wait… how do you know about Greystone Hollow?"

"Oh, that." I paused. "Father tracked you down with the wyvern. He knew where you would go."

Alice sighed. "Typical of him. Let’s see…" She pressed an index finger to her cheek, thinking. "We entered the city, paid the guards, and the inn staff were polite… no issues. Karen, can you remember anything?"

"!"

Karen, who had been lying with her eyes closed, suddenly opened them wide and raised a finger. "Actually, yes. There was one thing."

I gulped. "What was it?"

The elf girl leaned closer. "Go on."

Karen nodded. "When we first arrived in Greystone Hollow, we asked the knights if we could explore the day market. They agreed, but kept an eye on us from a distance. That’s when I saw her, a strange old woman. Small, hunched, with a long nose covered in boils, her nails yellow and uncut. She wore a black cloak."

"Oh, right," Alice exclaimed. "That woman!"

"A bit generic, isn’t it?" I muttered.

"Right?" the elf girl agreed.

"..."

Karen continued, "She was selling strange pearls, relics, trinkets. She tried to offer me a dusty golden-copper necklace with a strange circular design. She said it would bring us luck in what we were about to face. I thought it was odd how she knew…"

The elf girl suddenly stiffened. "And did you buy it?" she asked, her tone sharp.

"Yes. I think I left it in my side pocket…" Karen reached into her dress, pulling out an old necklace from a hidden waist pocket.

The elf girl snatched it instantly, her hands trembling as she inspected it.

"Hey! Careful, that cost me a lot!" Karen protested.

But observing the elf girl's expression, it had shifted from curiosity to outright terror. Her face had drained of colour, her fingers clutching the relic tight as though it might bite her.

"What’s wrong?" I asked.

"No…" she whispered. Her voice cracked. "No, no, no! This can’t be…"

"Tell me!" I demanded.

She looked at me with wide, fearful eyes. "This is an ancient relic."

"Yeah, and…?"

"Everything is wrong with it!" she cried, clutching her head. "This is a creation of the ancient demons, artefacts forged with dark arts. Our people once studied them, but most of the knowledge has been lost due to human invasion. Some say a few of these relics still circulate the world."

I leaned closer, inspecting it. At first glance, the design seemed harmless, with patterns of a sun and a crescent moon intertwined. Almost beautiful.

"It looks normal enough," I muttered.

"That’s the point," the elf warned. "It’s made to deceive. To lure. These cursed relics are always given innocently, as gifts, tokens, charms. But within a week, the victim is marked. They die by the hand of a Nachtmaw. The relic draws it, like a magnet. One by one, the creature slaughters the household, erasing the lineage entirely. Then it vanishes."

Her voice dropped. "Only those who wield dark arts can handle such relics safely. For anyone else… it is a death sentence."

"..."

A chill ran down my spine. My palms pressed to the floor as I sat forward, stunned.

"So the strange invisible walls I felt in the kitchen… that’s related to?" I asked.

"Most likely, but I am not too sure," the elf said grimly.

Karen bolted upright from her mat, panic in her eyes. "So that woman cursed me!? She wants me dead!?"

Alice placed a calming hand on her shoulder, though even she looked pale. "No, Karen. The old merchant probably intended it for the Marquis. Most likely, she wanted us to deliver it, so that his entire line would be destroyed."

"But..." I stared at Alice in horror. "Since you never reached him… Now Karen is the cursed one. And we’re all its targets."

"Yes," Alice whispered. Her eyes shut, her voice grave. "That is most likely what it means."

I whipped around toward the elf girl. "So what do we do, Miss Elf? No... Madam Elf!?"

"I—"

Before she could finish, a low, distorted laughter echoed outside.

It was unmistakable.

"Nachtmaw!" I screamed.

"Yes!" the elf girl shouted back.

The sound circled us, moving from the left to the right, from above to below. The necklace pulsed faintly, as if answering the creature’s call. The hut seemed to vibrate with its presence.

The elf girl grabbed her bow and quiver in a rush. "Quickly! Shut the windows, stop it from entering," she commanded.

I nodded, racing to close them, but just as I was ready to shut...

The lamp sputtered and died, plunging us into suffocating darkness.

And before I even understood what happened, I felt the world spin...

"..."

Our heads lopped off, one by one.

Not even the elf, who had once slain a bear-like beast with ease, could stop it.