How To Survive A Calamity

The world of stacked colours diluted and dispersed as i quickly deactivated Eyes of Discerning impulsively, almost on instincts and reaction as if to stop my Ether from getting devoured any longer. The world reverted back to normal and the colours settled, it was like my eyes suddenly snapped awake after a long and deep sleep.

The world seemingly coming to a crawl. My breath hitched, finding it hard to move past my lungs and throat.

"What was that..."

Sweat covered the entirety of my forehead as i felt my heart race and pound like war drums underneath my ribcage, the loud thumping seemingly resounding amidst my racing thoughts.

I stared at my lean left arm with alarm, high on alert. With the skill deactivated, the mutilated limb looked almost as normal as any other time before — the massive scars and twisted, folded flesh was still there and my left arm was still thoroughly lacking in muscle density, looking almost like it was mummified.

The skin on my left arm was a shade paler up until my left shoulder, than any the rest of my body. The ominous black aura and inky black veins had vanished, replaced once more by the ugly appearance of my arm. Aside from the wounds and scars, it was almost as if nothing was wrong, almost like nothing ever happened and the black aura and veins were just figments of my imagination.

But there was a small black spec, as unseeming as a birth mark, tattooed at the center of my palm.

I sucked in a sharp breather through my mouth and straightened up, wiping some of the accumulated sweat from my forehead.

Now that i had terminated Eyes of Discerning, i no longer felt the absurd amount of drain from my Ether reserves. But at the same time, i was just beginning to fully realise just how much energy and Ether i had expended in only the last couple of minutes as a small wabe of hysteria hit me out of nowhere.

My vision thinned and faltered for a brief second, quickly regaining their light in the next, however. My forehead thrubbed with a slight dull pulsing ache, but that couldn't distract me from staring deeply at the black mark in my palm with regard.

"When did i get a new birthmark?" I mumbled, my brows knitting a frown against my face.

On a regular day, this usually probably wouldn't be a cause for alarm or exaggeration like right now. It wasn't weird for birthmarks or spots to appear over the body at some point due to certain reasons or factors. And usually, i would attribute the appearance of this new and unfamiliar black spot against my palm as something that my have occured due to the scale of the injury of my left arm.

But what i saw with Eyes of Discerning left me deeply concerned.

The black coloured aura had been leaking out from the left side of my body, spreading from my left arm. The inky black veins that slowly spread through my arm and branched out stemmed from the centre of my palm. From the very same spot as the black mark i was staring at.

"Meta, what was the black colour and what does it have to do with this Mark? What does it all mean? Should i be worried?"

Maybe i was just being unnecessarily paranoid and exaggerating, and i hoped i was. Eyes of Discerning showed me a rainbow of different colour all at once, each of them layering over another and representing one thing or the other, just like the purple hue from my body was my Ether.

I still couldn't yet differentiate the different colours and hues or understand what they meant, so maybe the black shade wasn't probably as bad as i thought. But Meta's short, indifferent tone of her voice sent me into rolling into shock.

[You've been branded with a 'Curse Mark'.] The voice was deadpan as always, despite the gravity of what the words meant.

My brows knitted and furrowed deeply.

"What's a Curse Mark?"

Despite my question, i didn't need some god like suparnatural level of instincts and premonition that everything about that sounded bad. But perhaps maybe it was because of the traces of exhaustion and lethargy that came with having almost half of my Ether consumed, i wasn't jumping up in a fright and my reaction was still measured.

But the sense of unease and foreboding it gave me only continued to increase and swell inside.

[Curse Marks are Arcane techniques which involves a variety of things, rules and laws. In some manner, some even say Curse Marks are similar and like the dark demonic opposites of Stigmatas, or Blessings, depending on the circumstances and context. There are various types and variants of Curse Marks scattered across the universe, but this technique has been made more popularly known by the use of Demons.]

[Demons are innate creatures of corruption, and negativity. Just like there are Spells and Skills for the Awakened society of the universe, the Demon race, instead, employ the use of dark, sinister abilities called Curse Techniques, and most commonly employed amongst their Curse techniques... is the Curse Mark.]

My mind spun at Meta's characteristically somber voice reverberating synthetically inside my head, my heart racing and pounding crazily behind my chest. Suddenly, the seemingly harmless black spot on my palm seemed like the most dreadful and terrible thing in the entire world.

A curse.

Before i could fully give way to panic and let my emotions consume me from fear and foreboding, i quickly restrained myself and forced myself to have coherent thoughts, my brain and mind weaving at stunning speed that my head thrubbed to process Meta's words as fast as i could.

The Demom Race, creatures bred of Corruption — born of it— were diabolical existences which had perfected the art of Cursed techniques and manipulation, just as Awakened relied on Skills, Aura arts for Knights, and Spells for Mages. At the same time, once more in contrast to the Awakeneds, the Demons employed the use of a more vile and sinister Source called Curse Energy, or Miasma, or Demonic energy to fuel their techniques and corruption.

The Curse Mark was a major and particularly powerful Technique which is more commonly used by the Demon a lot often. It involved branding a specified target... with a curse. That was as simple as it could get.

As there were numerous and almost countless variants of Curse Marks, as there were as Curse techniques, the particular nature and true purpose of the Mark in question branded on a target is ofetn a mystery. Until it was too late and the effects had already deeply taking root.

And as for the question about just how i ended up branded with a curse mark like this, i didn't have to think to hard as the answer was immediately obvious, causing my face to pale slightly, turning grim.

"Nico..."

Even until his final moments, Nico and the Demon made sure to leave me behind with a sinister farewell for good.

My lips trembled and an unsteady breath escaping ny lips as i moved them to speak. The sound of my voice was shallow and hoarse.

"How do i get rid of it?"

[You can't, it's not that simple. Your current level of strength isn't nearly enough to accomplish such a feat.]

Meta's words hit like a hammer to a nail's head, and another wave of exhaustion swept me by in its tides. Honestly, i couldn't say i expected it to be that simple.

The next second i raised my head and shot to my feet.

"Then I'll just report this to the Academy. I'll tell them I've somehow been branded with a Curse Mark since I came back from the dungeon. They should be able to do something about it, right?" The idea beamed like a light of hope in the sprawling darkness of a twisting tunnel.

In this case, the Academy should be responsible for such a thing. Not only was it under their supervision and rules that i went into an allegedly low category dungeon that turned out to be a death trap, but they also overlooked the presence of a Demon and a Contractee amongst their environments.

If the Academy was doing it's best to control the escalation and information of what happened in the Dungeon before it gets too much and causes more scandals than necessary, they'll be more than willing to do just about almost anything to 'take responsibility ', to put it lightly.

Like, let's say, treat one of the students branded with a curse mark?

And as for wether or not it was possible to get rid of a Curse Mark, from the short interaction I've just had with Meta right now, i believed it was. There was a small likelihood concerning that, and an even slightly bigger chance that Aegis, the foremost Awakened academy institution in the human domain would have some necessary means or resources to deal with it.

In fact, the main question was, wether they would be willing to exhaust such resources on a low talent prospect like myself. Especially with my current circumstances.

I shook my head, banishing the last of my thoughts before quickly stumping towards the door. I had to try.

Then Meta's words came in a timely manner the moment i grabbed the door handle.

[I wouldn't suggest doing that.]

"What..."

I froze in place, a frown twisting on my face with annoyance.

[Debunking you current thought process, Curse Marks aren't such a common thing. Curse Techniques follow such different rules and laws than Awakened Magic or arts, after all. Besides, by nature, the Curse Mark which you possess can not lightly be tampered with or removed, unless you wish for death]

The words rang hollow. It was at that point i realised i had overlooked one small but necessary detail in Meta's earlier explanation. There were various types and variants of Curse Marks as there were Curse Techniques. It was just like how there were different types of curses and blessings.

Then...what type of Curse Mark had i been branded with?

[You've been branded with a Curse Mark as the vessel for a Demon's rebirth.]

The worse kind.

.