The Cure
DISCLAIMER: Danmachi belongs to its respective owners. Everything that occurs in this story is of my own creation and the characters abide by the fictional laws in the setting.
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Chapter 4: A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one
Part 6
"That's quite the bargain you're offering, Hephaistos," Alfia twirled a strand of her long silvery hair around her index finger while looking at the ambitious red-haired Goddess.
"Can you blame me?" Hephaestus smirked and pointed with her thumb at Bell, "Bell's one of the rarest beings residing in Orario and you're not too far off from being one too."
"Hmph, I expected no less." Alfia's pride was evident in her voice and left Bell feeling all sorts of giddy at hearing it.
Hephaestus, after learning of Alfia's return by Bell, had decided to accompany the young adventurer back to his current residence, that being the inn at the western district until Alfia returned from her endeavors.
On their way back, Hephaestus pitched to Bell the benefits she could provide to him, and Alfia, if they joined her Familia and with every step they took, she added in another one.
Out of all the benefits Hephaestus offered, Bell only cared for the immunity Hephaestus Familia could grant his aunt in case the top Familias learned of his aunt's return to Orario and the access she could provide to unlimited knowledge which he could use to try and find a cure for his aunt.
Hephaestus Familia, from what Hephaestus told him, was vital to Orario and even if there was friendly competition between her and other crafting Familias, her Familia was the only one involved with the major powers in Orario.
Her connections to other Familias could also help Bell ask around for knowledge not written in books from other adventurers, if they were willing to spare him the time of course.
There was also the fact that unlike other Familias, hers didn't require her Children to live together with her at the workshop and gave them free reign to live wherever they wished so long as they didn't tarnish the Hephaestus name.
Which meant he could still live with his aunt and continue caring for her in whatever place she found.
All in all, it was quite the bargain Hephaestus offered.
"I'm willing to join on two conditions," Alfia finally caved in, though she still had her last demands. "One, we will not respond to anyone but you. Two, Bell will not be purposefully involved in any Gods' whim, no matter what. I don't care if Ouranos himself is the one asking for him, you will not let Bell be involved."
"Deal." Hephaestus offered to seal the deal with a handshake that Alfia accepted.
There were very few Familias Alfia could see herself joining along with Bell without causing another massive uproar, after all it was not every day that a level 7 adventurer returned from retirement, less so the one that had been labelled as the 'Incarnation of Talent'.
She had thought of the Astraea Familia, as the goddess there shared many similarities with her young nephew life's view, but when she learned of the Familia's disbandment, she had to scratch that thought out.
Next came the Ganesha Familia whose God could be extremely noisy and bothersome to deal with, but one that she knew many secrets from and could use as blackmail to give her, and Bell, a temporary, strong, Familia to reside in until she found a better one.
Hermes was a possibility too, but it was so far down on the list that she didn't even deign sparing the finicky God a thought.
In all her monstrous intelligence, Alfia hadn't thought of using non-combat related Familias.
Bell had brought back with him what could arguably be the best possible solution to all her immediate, and even long term, problems.
Both women were perfectly aware they would be using one another for their own selfish gains, Alfia using Hephaistos to give Bell a safe and unproblematic Familia to become whatever he wished to be, and Hephaistos using Alfia as a deterrent from the other Familias well known stupidities.
Alfia wouldn't even need to fight at all, as her name and alias would be enough to scare shitless any other Familia besides the strongest five.
Really, what else could she ask for? – Alfia thought as she untied the strings behind her neck, her provocative dress falling to her waist and revealing her chest to Bell, and most importantly, her back to Hephaestus.
"I have several questions about what you just did," Hephaestus light-heartedly said as she took off one of her gloves.
"Good, I have several more for you too." Alfia replied, tilting her head in confusion at her nephew who was looking at anywhere but her. "I understand why you'd want me in your Familia, but why Bell?"
Hephaestus used one of the many tools to make a small cut on her fingertip and pressed it against the Silence's back, "We hit it off quite well at the start, right Bell?"
She was not going to let him live that one down, was she?
"It was an accident!" Bell bemoaned.
"But to really answer your question, I'm betting on the chance that he can become my new runemaster with his absurd magical knowledge." Hephaestus praised Bell, and in turn Alfia since she was his teacher.
"A runemaster?" Bell looked back at Hephaestus, in turn seeing his naked aunt again and looked away.
"A mage specialized in engraving enchantments or pre-prepared spells," Alfia glared at her nephew, "We've covered this before, Bell."
They did?
Probably another thing he forgot after being pummeled to within an inch of his life during training then.
From the corner of his eyes, he noticed his aunt was glowing, and when he looked back at her in concern, found her to be standing without the tired slouch she always held herself with, her skin regained a much healthier color, and he could see her soul harmoniously signing as if something precious had been returned to her.
"I forgot how much of a blessing a God's Falna was." Alfia muttered in silent awe as she looked at her own body, and with naught but a fleeting thought, her magic pleasantly hummed to her will.
"And I forgot just how strong you were," Hephaestus muttered in awe as she stared at Alfia's back, "How did you guys even… Never mind, that would be a rude question."
"Lost?" Alfia snorted, "We weren't prepared, not enough. That's all there was to it."
Bell tilted his head in confusion, "What do you mean, mo-" a glare, "Teacher?"
"You already know Freya and Loki drove us out of Orario, you don't know why and it's still to soon for you to learn about that," Alfia crossed her arms, Bell reluctantly moving his gaze away from her again as his aunt's chest bounced in her arms, "When you reach level 5, then I will tell you."
Only then would she tell him the truth about what happened back then, about what Orario did to them, about what the other Gods did to Bell's family. She trusted in her nephew's maturity, but she didn't trust him not to grow resentful of Orario and lose track of his goal or, at the very least, deviate from it.
Hephaestus blinked, "That could take decades."
Alfia gave Hephaistos a deadly smirk, "Want to bet on it?"
"No, thanks." Hephaestus backtracked and waved at Bell to switch spots with Alfia.
Bell slid down to his waist both his one-sleeved kimono and the form-fitting shirt beneath it, giving complete access of his back to Hephaestus who gave a silent prayer to herself before pressing her bloodied finger against his unblemished back. Just like Alfia, Bell glowed for several seconds as the Goddess arcanum seeped into his body.
The experience was like an electrical surge coursing through is entire body, his own hidden well of magic and 'noise' (as his aunt called it) vibrated in harmony with the Falna traveling through every nook and cranny within, and outside, of him. It felt like his muscles tensed yet remained equally loose as earlier, his noise that always felt distant within him grew louder and it almost felt like he could grasp it with his own hands.
Which he tried, and the world around him lost all sound.
"Hm, it's quiet. I like this," Alfia's voiced out without an echo, she clapped her hands and all that was heard was the initial impact, incredibly deafened, and no echo. "So, this is why I love your noise so much…"
"Bell," Hephaestus grabbed both of his shoulders, quite tightly might he add, "You're mine."
Well, he did join her Familia after all, right?
"I'm never letting you go." Hephaestus squeezed painfully before relenting her grip and placing a paper on Bell's back to write down his stats for him.
… That's what she meant, right?
Probably.
"Alfia," Hephaestus called over the silver-haired woman who had yet to fix her dress, all the while she waved the status paper of Bell with urgency and when Alfia read it with her, she understood why.
Bell Cranel
Race: Human
Level: 1
Familia: Hephaestus Familia
Basic Abilities:
Strength: I0
Endurance: I0
Agility: I0
Dexterity: I0
Magic: I0
Development Abilities:
- None
Magic:
- Serenity Eden: Quick action chantless magic with varying effects depending on caster's intent.
Skills:
- Liaris Freese: Immunity to charms. Growth speed increases as long as feelings last and vary on the strength of the user's feelings.
- Iremía: Grants Serenity of the Mind, Body and Soul. Improves Mind-related actions, strengthens Body, and allows for visualization of the Soul.
"Did something go wrong?"
"No/No." Both Hephaestus and Alfia replied at the same time then looked at one another through narrowed eyes.
"I have so many questions," Hephaestus voiced first through her glare of Alfia.
"I believe we can find out the answers, together." Alfia replied through her own glare before it set on her nephew's back, "Bell, what is the most important thing to yo-"
"You, mom."
Alfia raised a hand to stop Hephaestus from asking about the way her nephew called her and continued, "And the thing you want the most?"
"To find the cure for your sickness, obviously. Why are you asking me this?" Bell scratched his cheek and glanced back at his aunt whose eyes shimmered slightly.
"Nothing, we just needed to confirm something." Alfia took two deep breaths that made Bell look away again, "Does that answer your questions, Hephaistos?"
"To an extent," Hephaestus pressed her still bloodied finger against Bell back and hid the Falna before somehow, someway, anyone else could see it. "Do you want him to know?"
Alfia snorted, "Bell, here's your Falna."
She was not going to hide absolutely anything from her nephew, not when his entire blessing revolved around her.
"Huh, a growth skill and… I don't even know what the second one can be categorized as," Bell scratched his hair in confusion as he looked at his own blessing, he was not surprised in the least that everything revolved around his aunt, either.
Alfia was the one to have taught him how to use magic in her own way, so it was not surprising they had magic of similar name with hers being Silentium Eden for her desire of silence and his being Serenity Eden for providing as much peace of mind as he could for his aunt.
Which also translated into his skill it seemed.
His magic, on its own, shouldn't be capable of creating the current vacuum-like effect around them. Only with the help of this new skill had it the capability of that, as it augmented his magic. His body did feel stronger, or more like more durable, as for that last part of the souls…
Bell's crimson gaze glowed for a split second, and he turned around to fully look at his still half-naked aunt and Goddess.
A scorching red flame in the shape of a hammer surrounded by a golden, divine, glow and besides it was a decaying, silvery, glowing chapel bell without the clapper.
His mom and Goddess were bickering about something, the glow of their souls expanding and contracting with every word and curiosity made him look down at himself to see…
Nothing.
"Huh?"
"Are you alright with that Bell?" Hephaestus called him out, snapping him out of his confusion and the sight of their souls disappeared.
"Sorry, I wasn't listening."
"Your magic augmented by your skill is amazing," Hephaestus complimented Bell as she hammered down yet another new piece of equipment with her new, and possibly favorite, Child inside her private smithy.
The usual echoing, ringing sound of the hammer strikes dulled to absolute nothingness which forced the Goddess to work even harder, something she had not done for centuries.
"Is it really fine for me to be here, Goddess?" Bell asked with a light blush, keeping one hand on his goddess naked, sweat drenched, back.
No, she was not fully naked, but she was not that far from it, at least from the waist up.
Hephaestus still wore her coarse black pants, boots, and long-sleeved gloves, her sizable chest was hidden tightly under a white sarashi which gave her full range of movements on her upper body without any annoying bounce.
"Of course, how else are you supposed to learn the way I imbue my arcanum into weapons?" Hephaestus scolded and paused for a moment to clean the sweat from her forehead. "So, after a week of this, have you learnt anything?"
"A lot," Bell admitted, and added in a low voice, "More than I needed…"
It had only been a week and half after joining the Hephaestus Familia, a week spent living with the goddess in question since his aunt hadn't managed to find a place to live that was up to her standards, and Bell doubted she ever would.
Even more so after how comfortable she had made herself with Hephaestus's home, and her winery cellar.
Hephaestus Falna had worked wonders on her decaying body, giving her more strength and energy than she expected which she had put to good use by getting back into the flow of being an adventurer in the privacy of Hephaestus home.
Safe to say, Bell had been driven unconscious more times in the last week by his aunt than in the last year under her tutelage in the mountains.
And the time he didn't spent unconscious, he spent it besides his red-haired goddess who put his magic to interesting uses… Like healing her morning headaches, be it from working herself to the bone in her smithy, or from a hangover.
That was not to say he didn't have time of his own, as short as it was, but instead of living the adventurer life of exploring the dungeon and its wonders, he spent it by his Goddess side to learn more about the current Orario, about herself, and her eternal knowledge.
A runemaster she wanted him to be, and all he was lacking was the actual skill itself, as his magical and theoretical knowledge far surpassed Hephaestus other Children. Something his Goddess had found out firsthand after inviting them into her study where one of her latest works reclined against her desk, and Bell had instantly deciphered the engravings she had laid on it.
She took him into her private smithy after that, making him read symbol after symbol of her private collection and he answered correctly most of them, and the few he could not, were close guesses.
If only he had the slightest bit of talent for actual smithing, Bell would've immediately become her favorite Child.
How he could convert iron chunks into industrial waste, she would never know, but it was safe to say, Bell Cranel had absolutely no talent for smithing.
There was something she did found endearing about him, something that his aunt – And wasn't' that a surprise and half to learn – had also found endearing about Bell, and that was his fervent drive for healing her aunt.
Bell did not lie when he said he was looking for any possible method with which he could create a cure for his aunt, he'd gone as far as trying to learn the process in which Hephaestus imbued her arcanum into her creations to try and create a similar effect with his magic.
Which was the reason his hand was on her lower back, his magic, and skills active to allow him to look at her soul very closely as she worked with another piece of equipment.
'If there's a chance, I'll take it' he said, and here he was, for the third day straight keeping watch over her bare shoulder as she continued working inside the vacuum-like area of his magic. If it wasn't for his hand on her back, even her own body sounds such as her heart pumping, her breathing and even the distinct feeling of her blood rushing through her ears was muted with the effects of his magic.
'His noise became so deafening, everything around him became unable to perceive sound' is how his aunt summarized his passive use of magic, which was contradicting to her love for his 'noise' as it should bother her with how much it 'echoed' when it was in use.
There was something she was not telling him, and it was his duty to find out on his own, of that he was certain.
Life with Hephaestus, and Alfia, was amazing and he was glad it was an experience he could share with his mom but there was one thing he could do without…
And that was the jealousy of some of Hephaestus children for how much time he spent beside the goddess, and how much she tried to keep him around at all times.
"Let's stop for today," Hephaestus voice snapped Bell out of his reveries, he blinked several times as the goddess grabbed a nearby towel and started drying the sweat from her body.
'Old man, you'd die to see this sight, I'm certain.'
Bell canceled his magic with that thought and looked away the moment his Goddess's toweled her cleavage, the sarashi coming loose and he saw no more.
Did neither his aunt or Hephaestus see him as a man, or from the opposite sex at least, at all?
Another cloud of despair rolled over Bell's head as he kneeled and drew circles in the floorboard.
"What's that pose for," Hephaestus clapped his shoulder, "Come on, I've got a surprise for you today."
Well… about that…
This could be considered its own surprise too.
Bell would take to the grave the fact that Hephaestus's eye color matched her tips.
"Goddess, your shirt." Bell mumbled and teared his gaze away from the Goddess beauty and even with his eyes closed, he could still see clearly well the mental picture his brain had taken of that second.
"Oh, sorry, forgot about that."
Really, he was a growing man Gods damn it!
A doll, she was a doll.
There was no other way to describe her beauty.
And the glow of her soul, its color was so alike his aunt's.
A silvery glow, flaring the slightest bit in golden, in the shape of the Rod of Asclepius.
She was small, not even reaching Bell's neck, and wore a nurse beret, white with golden accents. He wasn't certain if the shirt was a one piece, or two pieces, but it clung to her body like a second skin and covered her entire upper body just as the skirt did to her hips, the same went for her white, with golden accents, tights.
"Good evening, Lady Hephaistos, to what do I owe the summon?" The doll bowed formally at the waist with her greeting, her silvery hair a darker shade than his aunt's falling over her shoulders with her purple gaze sparing a glance at Bell before it returned to the sweating Goddess.
"Hello Airmid, thank you for coming in such short notice," Hephaestus greeted her with a small, tired, smile, "There's someone I'd like you to try and heal with your magic, I'll pay the price for it, obviously."
"Very well," The doll – Airmid, bowed again, and walked behind Hephaestus, and after a moment Bell followed after them.
"Goddess?" Bell called out for his Goddess, and she pulled him, so he walked by her side.
"Wait for a bit longer, okay?" Hephaestus quietly told him, and they continued walking in relative silence until they reached the winery cellar.
Bell was not surprised to see his aunt sitting in what should be their Goddess favorite love seat, a novel in her lap and a wine glass in hand.
"Oh, you're done early." Alfia closed her novel and regarded the three that entered with varying levels of affection, the highest obviously going for her nephew.
"I'm not even going to argue this time," Hephaestus sighed out loud before she presented the doll. "This is Airmid Teasanare, one of Dian Cecht's Children, and the current best healer in all of Orario."
"Hm," Alfia hummed as she took another sip from her glass before setting it on the table beside her, "Interesting."
Where Bell could see how devoted Airmid was to her profession, Alfia could hear the subtle healing tones Airmid's soul passively released and she was surprised that for someone so young, her craft lived up to her words.
Alfia didn't even need to ask why Hephaestus had brought that woman here, it seemed her nephew's drive to cure her had already rubbed off on their Goddess.
Really, that child.
"I can't heal her." Airmid stopped everyone in their tracks.
"What?" Hephaestus stumbled in surprise.
"My magic is not strong enough to heal her," Airmid bit her lip in frustration, the first emotion she had displayed since Bell first saw her. "I'm not sure I can even sufficiently restore the current damage to her body."
Well, there went that plan of Hephaestus.
"Could you give it a try, at least, please?" Bell's soft voice brought all attention to him, he was not even the one whose death hung over his head every second yet the miserable look on his face gave pause to his Goddess and the doll.
"… I understand, but please don't expect anything." Airmid clenched her fist, another rare display of emotion and she regarded the quiet Alfia who had yet to raise from Hephaestus's lover seat. "Please turn off that skill or my magic won't be effective, at all."
"In that case, Bell if you would, please?" Alfia regarded her saddened nephew with a silent question which he replied by triggering his own magic around Alfia alone at the same time she released the Seal she kept on herself at all times.
All source of noise ceased to exist around her which made her sink into the soft cushions in silent wonder as the Silver Saint walked closer to prepare casting her magic.
"Bell, I want you to watch Airmid with your skill," Hephaestus whispered to Bell, and he quickly triggered Iremía to actively look at the Silver Saint's glowing soul.
"Healing droplets, tears of light, eternal sanctuary.
Compose a medicinal hymn-three hundred, sixty, and five.
The melody of the healer's almanac saves all things.
Come, destruction of evil.
The burial of wounds, interment of disease.
Curses be gone in the light of vitality.
In the name of all that is holy - I heal you!"
It worked.
It was working!
It was –
…
Ah, so that's how it was.
Alfia was not sick.
The visage of a deathly sickle held by something heavily robed in shadows appeared over his mom's recovering silvery soul.
His mom was not sick.
Its long skeletal fingers absorbed the magic released by the Saint's soul and with a grin, for it could be no other thing under that dark hood looking back at Bell, swung down the scythe on his aunt.
She was cursed.
By a God.
-0- Chapter End -0-
Author's Note: Well... The description did foreshadow that ending, no?... Ehe, there's still more to follow!