User blog:HeartOfLordNumidium/Is appearance really everything? WWYD response

I glared through the moonlight into the mostly empty street, one thought on my mind. I was so screwed. I had been cursed by some upstart wizard who for some reason just really hated me in particular, a self made ‘hero’, as people said. I didn’t call myself a hero, but others had. My father was a blacksmith, and due to the fact that we lived at the edge of Order territory, I had never met any monsters besides an occasional elf or dwarf. I’d made friends with one elf in particular, a lanky guy named Charles. His father had been a human, so he was an outcast within elves. He had helped train me with magic and ranged weapons. Charles hadn’t really talked much, my first meeting with him was when I saved him from a wolf- we were maybe ten at the time.

We helped each other, and I was named a hero after saving the town from an odd magically enhanced fire-breathing horde of three foot log rats. Quickly after that, I had to regularly help random people with similar situations. Then that damn wizard came in, saying he’d take over the town or something and called for me in name. I kicked his ass, but before I could kill him, he threw a curse at me and booked it. After a lot of confusion, I discovered that the curse made me look like a persons greatest fear. I was essentially forced to isolate myself, and ended up getting my own small shack outside the village, living on my own crops and hunting. After a month, I started running out of resources, my crops had been dying, and the hunting had gone horribly. I awoke one day, now it’d be about three days ago, to my door being banged on furiously. I avoided answering it, until the door was blown in and Charles came charging in. He stared right at me, and I waited for the screaming.

“The fuck, bro?!” He exclaimed. I froze, gawkin at him.

“You... you aren’t scared?” He snorted. “I was told what had happened. I know it’s you, man. I think... I may be able to help.” I begged him to tell me. He told me about a nearby demon realm, how he was friends with a local, and knew that one of the people living there could probably help. I made my way there, and here I was. There was only one couple on the street now, a kobold and her husband. I hesitated, but the hunger pains pushed me forward. I stepped out, and the kobold instantly looked at me. I waited for a scream, but after a moment of silence and her looking me in the eye, she sidled closer to her husband.

“What’s wrong, babe?”

“I don’t know... I thought I heard something...” she mumbled. I blinked in awe. Was it something with monsters? This question was answered by a child’s scream behind me. I spun to find a child crow tengu staring at me. “ORDER!!!” She squealed, backing from me. The couple ran over and started consoling her. “Where?” The girl pointed at me. The two looked at me and gave each other a confused look, then turned back to her. “It’s fine, no big deal. He’ll disappear soon...” The mother dropped from the trees, looking flustered. “I’m sorry about her...” Her talking faded as I sprinted off. I had to figure out what the hell was happening. Why couldn’t adults see me?

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The crow tengu growled furiously, glaring down at her notes. It had gotten difficult to do her research since the incidents had started three months earlier. She had been at first the main suspect due to the nature of her research. She was researching mental manipulation magic, mainly to be used to compel Order soldiers to not kill indiscriminately. The incidents started with her younger 11 year old sister, Mandin. She had been out on flying lessons with her mother when something caught her eye. Mandin swooped down while their mother wasn't paying attention, and saw a human step out into the edge of town, gripping his stomach. She had at first been ecstatic, as he seemed like a nice enough guy, but as she got closer, she recognized the symbol on his shoulder, and the gold/white armor he wore, labeling him an Order soldier. Mandin, in a panic, crashed, seemingly startling the soldier. Oddly enough, only she could see the soldier.

Obviously, the person studying mental manipulation magic would be the one who would be causing it. After about two months of indiscriminate sightings, suspicion of her dropped a good bit, but there were still people who thought it was her. These people unfortunately were numerous enough to slow her studying considerably. Her parents thought that Mandin was lying about it, but the girl knew Mandin rarely lied.

"Kellen!" came her mother, Mary's voice. Kellen leaned back, glancing at the door with a weary sigh.

"Yes, mother?"

"Dinner!"

She stood, walking down the hall to the dining room and sat down at the table, chatting aimlessly with her parents while Mandin sat quietly, looking at a dark corner. They took no notice of it.

————————————————-

I stared at the unwavering eyes of the child, frozen by their topaz glare. The crow tengu that had first seen me. How could I be so stupid as to think I wouldn't come across her?

I'd been doing some investigating for the past three months, until roughly a week ago, I finally overheard the teenage crow tengu, apparently named Kellen, talking to a familiar face.

Lyros. That damned coward who had cast the curse. I had no idea why he was with her, or here at all, but as I stealthily followed them, I at least got information. Kellen was, admittedly, beautiful. Electric blue eyes, clashing with the dark raven black of her hair and feathers, black equally clashing with her pale skin, but I couldn't focus on her now. I was sure that Lyros had stolen notes from her or her family for the curse, he wasn't the most creative person ever, but the tengu seemed quite intelligent. So, I followed them to her house. She seemed oblivious of his attempts at romance, only focusing really on some joint research they were working on. watching him was almost pitiful. So, I waited for the perfect opportunity, and today, I'd thought I hit it. I snuck in through a window, sticking to the shadows in case of a child, when suddenly an adult crow tengu walked in, carrying her daughter. Mandin, as I discovered, who started when she saw me. She stared right at me, then muttered something and went to the table, staring at me the entire time.

Her eyes flicked to the doorway and she gestured with her head, basically pointing me to the hall. I quickly crept over there, and instantly started searching.

It was twenty minutes, and then I heard a dull voice speak.

"What do you want?"

I spun to find Mandin standing behind me, kitchen knife clutched firmly in one wing.

"Just some notes", I said softly. Her eyes hardened.

"What for?"

"To lift a curse."

She paused, cocking her head.

"Mother has research and notes on removing curses, I can get them to you. But... who are you?"

"Numidium", I muttered. The knife clattered to the floor and her jaw fell.

"Numidium?" she asked quietly. I gave her a curious look.

"Yes, why?"

She quickly grabbed the knife, hastily sheathing it and opening the window.

"Sister will be done soon, just get out, quick. I'll find you and get you the notes."

I nodded and climbed out the window, jumping the ten feet into a garden, and sprinted away.

—————————————————————-

Mary paced, face red as she panicked.

"Are you sure?!" she exclaimed fearfully at Lyros. He blew a blond strand of hair from his eyes.

"Yes", Lyros stated solemnly. "I saw an Order soldier sneak into your home and leave with your daughter, and all of the magical notes you and your daughter took."

Kellen spoke up.

"I placed tracking spells on my notes", she said, trembling. "I'm sure we can take him down if we alert the nearby Demon Outpost."

Mary nodded, wiping tears from her eyes, smiling at Lyros.

"Thank you for this. If we get back my Mandin, I'll give you whatever you want."

"Oh really?" Lyros grinned widely. "Well then, I'll take your daughter's hand in marriage."

Kellen stiffened, blinking in surprise. She blinked in surprise at his grin, and felt her face burn.

"I-I already like... somebo-"

"Oh, the boy disappeared, he's probably dead. Of course you can go with him!"

Kellen gawked at her mother.

"He... he's alive", she whimpered weakly. Lyros grabbed her shoulder.

"Oh, it's fine. Come along, now, babe. We'll go alert the demons and then get your sister back."

Kellen shyly nodded, a defeated look in her eyes.

"O-Okay... fine..."

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The preparations had taken a good two hours, but they were finally. done. I stood in the large barn just outside of town, a grin on my face. I looked to Mandin, who stared at the magic circle.

"It looks ready, doesn't it?" I ask. Mandin nodded.

"Now, we just need somebody else to activate the spell. I don't have enough magical power myself, but if I got all of my friends, I'm sure we could activate it. I'll go get them."

I nodded and Mandin flew out the window. I walked over to a large stack of hay and reclined on it.

Finally, after nearly half a year of this damnation, I would lift this curse. I sighed, smiling to myself.

The door slammed open. I cracked an eye open.

"Well that was fa-"

An arrow thudded into the wood by my head. I went quiet and watched the door. A female elf stepped in, leather armor covering her slight curves. Behind her, a dullahan stepped in.

"I heard a voice from the hay over there." said the elf. The dullahan looked around, focusing on the circle drawn in the center.

"What is this?" she asked. Behind her, three more people walked in. A cu sith, outfitted in wizard gear, with Lyros following behind and Kellen trailing behind Lyros. Kellen looked around, then ran over to the notebooks on a small table.

"The notes!"

"Yes, but where's the girl? What's this?" asked the dullahan again, gesturing at the magic circle. Lyros became nervous, looking around. I dodged into one of the horse pens. Lyros' greatest fear was me, so he'd see me clear as day. This was bad. I prayed for Kellen to return quickly.

I watched as Kellen lifted up the notebooks, a single scroll falling down. It unfurled and she bent over.

"Whoops!" she said nervously, trying to grab it. Instead, she accidentally activated it and everyone in the room got a blast in the face. Now was when I would strike, if there was any time to hit. I had a limited time period, so I mustered up my significant magical reserves, using my combat training and experience to lunge out.

The cu sith was the first to drop, then the archer. I quickly hit a pressure point in their necks, knocking them out cold. The other three were alerted by the noise of the two bodies hitting the floor, and I lunged at Lyros first, intent to kill him. Lyros screamed bloody murder as the staff he always carried was yanked from his hand. In it was a crystal which he used to store SE and DE for various spells, 'quartz', it was called. I smashed the crystal off by slamming it into the floor, and threw a haymaker at the morons face. Lyros stumbled back.

"Dullahan! Help!" he cried out. The dullahan was still confused and startled by the light, but tried her best. I could hear her drunkenly stumbling towards me. I shattered the staff over Lyros' face, then spun around, swiping the dullahan's feet out from beneath her. She hit the floor hard and I shot to my feet, turning to face Kellen.

Everything slowed as I saw the dagger sailing down for my stomach. I met eyes with Kellen, and her eyes widened in shock and horror. Her lips moved, forming my name, and startling me enough that I didn't dodge. She tried to redirect the dagger, but all she did was stab me in the kidney instead of the chest. I choked, staggering back and clutching the knife.

"Mister Numidium, we're here!" I heard Mandin say. Then I heard an audible choking gasp from her as she entered the room. I growled, hearing the dullahan stand up. Then I felt the DL silver slide through my gut.

Wait a minute, how could they see me? My brain kicked into overdrive with its limited, near death functionality. I stumbled in a circle, staring at the dullahan, gripping my chest. The dullahan shrieked when she saw the dagger, then looked at me.

"Numidium?" she stuttered out.

Alright, how the hell did everybody know who I was?

My brain kicked into gear when it saw Lyros. Its simple processing power recognized him as an enemy, and also recognized the fact that he was about to stab the dullahan with a long, crooked, rusty dagger. If the hit didn't kill her, tetanus surely would. I jumped forward, dragging her to the side, then did the only thing I could do.

Trust my instincts.

I yanked the dagger from my kidney and blood spurted out. I deflected the rusty dagger and slit his throat.

Instincts bad.

The world went hazy, flashing in and out as I stumbled. As I finally passed out, I felt something catch me.

———————————————————————

Mary couldn't see the boy, but that was to be expected. When she had been told the nature of the curse, it was quite simple, really. Children had more substantial fears, spiders, wolves, etc., whereas an adult would fear something like taxes, or death. He couldn't just take a physical form of death or taxes, so the curse took a shortcut by just making him invisible to an adult.

She had, at first, been scared and horrified when Kellen came sprinting in, covered in blood, with her dullahan friend lugging an elf and cu sith. It was odd, though, because usually the dullahan, Krysten, could carry the elf, Helen, and cu sith, Wicket, quite easily, but she was quite winded. Mandin came in after, closely followed by her own two friends, a witch and a gazer. Kellen didn't explain anything, just dragged her friends into her room. Mary and her husband, followed, to find blood slowly spreading through Kellen's sheets. As the boys life faded, so too did the curse, allowing her a translucent, flickering form of the boy.

She recognized him as Numidium, a boy who had stayed in the nearby village. The village had been under close observation under orders from a Demon general to the elf and dullahan. They'd set up nearby, and Kellen had made friends with the two. The three girls had noticed him when Numidium had saved a cat from a horde of wolves, which would later be discovered to have been terrorising the village. He was named a village hero thanks to this, and he trained pretty much relentlessly to match the title. The cat he named Wicket and took in, and the cat would later go on to be corrupted into the cu sith nearby. He only gained more favor from them when he saved Helen's brother, Charles, who became friends. When Numidium had disappeared after a fight with some mysterious wizard not too soon after the four had started fawning over him, thy had thought he'd succumbed to his injuries.

Then he showed up in town.

Mary had done everything she could to save him, and with some help from a unicorn, he recovered quite well.

His voice came from Mary's right.

"Is it ready?" he asked, anticipation creeping into his voice. Mary grinned in his general direction and nodded. She heard him walking to the circle of magical runes, humming happily under his breath. She activated the runes, and they glowed red, wiping the curse from his body and cutting its connection to his SE. After a moment, his form flickered into existence.

"Can you see me?" he asked nervously. Mary grinned widely, nodding.

Numidium hugged her in a flying tackle, spouting thanks for a good five minutes until he finally ran to the door.

"Oh," she said to him as he reached the door. He spun to her, still grinning widely, not noticing the mischievous glint in Mary's eyes.

"Kellen and the others wanted to see you."

"Alright, where are they?"

"Kellen's room."

There was a moment and he ignorantly cocked his head.

"Why are they there?" he asked, completely missing her cue. Mary chuckled and waved the confused, but happy boy, and hummed to herself as she walked from the library to the kitchen, preparing dinner as the sound of the poor boy being jumped echoed through the house.

He didn't even seem to fully comprehend that he'd gotten laid until the next day, but it was enough.