"Put your homework on my desk as you leave the class when it is finished. Alright, now having been dealing with charms and enchantments of the whiter side, we now progress into the blackest domain you will study here at Pemberton's Academy. Curses. Now who can tell me the rank required to perform Bogies and Hexes? Corrimund!"

"Wizard, Professor."

"Very good. Magicians can only perform illusions, and wizards execute more real magic that can be used in practical ways as well as frivolous. Can anyone tell me who can perform curses? No one?"

The class looked at each other, and then one small child hesitantly put her hand up.

"Mama doesn't think it appropriate to be discussing charms. She says it is a sin to even speak of them."

The teacher ran his hands through his hair, in utter bewilderment of the ignorance of the little girl's mother. "Do anyone else's parents feel this way?"

To his utter astonishment, the rest of the class raised their hands.

"But this is absurd! How must you recognize curses if you aren't allowed to speak of them? One thing you must know right now is that curses aren't dead, curses do not die. That is why they can't be performed by just anyone. A tiny seed of evil made from something so powerful it cannot be explained is enveloped in intricate layers of magic; and only can they be broken when you can manipulate these layers. The only one that can do this is the one who put the curse into being. Curses aren't obvious, you aren't going to open a cupboard and find a black cloud labeled 'CURSE'. Nor are you likely to find a signpost reading: 'Curse ahead, turn back now.' No, those who are unfortunate enough to fall into such a predicament are usually looking for something, are simply stupid, or the curse was meant to wait for them this whole time. Curses need to be buried in something, soil, the skies, or a woman's womb for it to live. If a curse is placed into a woman and manipulated correctly, it can become a creature that can make curses, or a demon of destruction. If not executed properly, the mother could become a mutant creation of evil, and always in this practice, the mother dies. Sometimes it is used simply as a painful way of killing a woman who has offended, and then the child is killed. But if the child is not killed… Anyways, it is entirely another matter when a wizard takes an existing curse and masks it to do the wizard's bidding, although this ends messily as the first curse lurks under somewhere. The only magic users who can create these curses are Whisperers, the highest rank we know. The- - oh, Tonmi, do you have a question?"

"But- - I thought Enchanters were the highest rank Professor."

"Ah, yes, you are right in a fashion Tonmi. Enchanters are the highest you can reach by work, Whisperers, however, are born with the ability to become one. Some never find their gifts. The thing is most parents suppress any such hint of a talent in their children at a young age because of the dangers it presents. Whisperers are a great asset to any kingdom, they protect and shield the people who live there, and invent all sorts of interesting and useful spells. The King needs one desperately, but cannot find one. The problem is it is rare for a Whisperer to be good. Most of the time, greed takes over, and from there arrogance, and then jealousy, until layers of these emotions surround them and in a sense, become a curse themselves. Whisperers possess many talents, and they can be reborn over and over in their choice of person. You all know of blood forest, correct?"

The class obediently nodded, and sat up straight. It was extremely rare to hear an adult speak of the intriguing forest.

"Well, what happened was there was a Whisperer named Effelin. She rushed through her tutelage with great speed and skill, and was marveled throughout the world. She was beautiful and intelligent, until one day, something in her changed. No one knew why, but she started to disappear. Time progressed and the forest in between our kingdom and the kingdom of Rith began to snatch lives up quickly and mercilessly. A war raged between the two kingdoms, the wars took place in between the kingdoms, making the forest a graveyard. Effelin turned out to have lived in the wood, and she took over Rhuin. She ruled and men fell at her feet in love with her beauty, and they were each executed. The death that happened during those years was not to be believed. And all the while she laughed, as the people she had once loved wondered what had happened to their Effelin as they were killed. And then one day, the fighting stopped. People realized that they were killing off people that they needed to overcome this force of evil. Now, Whisperers fear a few certain things. Extreme heat, suffocation, poison, and above all, sugar. Class, you laugh, but you would do well to remember it. The people took over and covered the palace in sugar, heated it up, and forced her out. They tried to kill her but without success. They pushed her into the forest graveyard she had created and doomed her to stay there. On the day of her banishment she spoke to them, saying that they couldn't force her, but she would go. Yet she would come back in another form, and that they should all be prepared. And then what happened then is she created a curse and embedded it into the center of the forest."

The teacher looked at his class, gave a shaky laugh, and then dismissed him. He didn't know that that would be his last class, he was relieved of his position and banished to Rith as punishment for telling children what parents said were lies and fairy tales.

The thing to remember is that when fear takes over, the truth is dismissed as fictional, and a crime at that. The poor teacher should have remembered this before the children ran off to tell their parents what they had learned in school that day.

Ardente

Thank you so much for reading this and having patience,

I know this hasn't been updated in awhile, I had writer's block with this. But it's back, and I know what's going to happen so keep reading!.

Reviews are so nice, thanks so much for all your encouragement.

Chap 4 coming up soon…