I do not own Familia Myth or any of the characters.

New Nightmares

Ethan groaned as he stood, stretching gingerly. His Mind was fully recovered, but his bones were still sporting hairline fractures, by the feeling of it, and he'd sprained both knees, hips, and his arms trying to catch the Juggernaut's ridiculous weight. Plus, it felt like his spine had compressed from the weight of the Goliath Muffler, which Bell had taken back while he was unconscious.

"So, we're back on the Eighteenth Floor now?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah," Anya nodded. "The Xenos helped us get back up to the Great Tree Labyrinth, then disappeared, except her, of course."

Ethan smiled as he watched Ryu and Wiene. Wiene was telling Ryu about her own adventure in Knossos with the other Xenos, where they were working as a secret arm of the Guild to deal with dangerous situations that Adventurers, minus the Loki Familia, should avoid. Apparently, in addition to the monumental load of crystals she'd stolen from Anya, she'd also been eating the crystals of any monsters she killed while helping subjugate Knossos for the Guild. If Ethan were to judge her current strength, he'd wager that she'd caught Lyd when she transformed, and was slightly below him in strength in her normal form, but vastly outstripped him in speed. He smiled wider. Her tendency to lean toward speed more than strength was just like Ryu.

"So, what were you guys fighting?" Anya asked. "We didn't get to see it. Although, I did see those nasty claws you kept."

"Speaking of, what happened to the ones caught against my back?" Ethan asked.

"You kept them," Anya said, pulling out a bundle of cloth and opening it to display twelve purplish-blue claws. "What are these? I've never seen anything like them, and Welf almost cried when he saw them, claiming they were the finest smithing materials he'd ever seen, aside from the chunk of Adamantite he made his new magic sword out of."

Ethan smiled, nodding as she put the claws back in her pack. "I'd believe it. They came from a unique monster the Dungeon spawns in response to massive amounts of damage to a floor. It's only spawned twice, and I doubt the last time left any drop items."

Anya nodded. "Of course, there's also the matter of those mermaid scales you had, and the chunks of wood. Alf's Lumina?"

"Obliterated," Ethan nodded. "Know anyone who might be able to fix it?"

Anya shook her head. "You'd have to ask Welf."

Ethan nodded and sighed. "I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll be back in a minute."

Anya nodded and Ethan headed for the trees nearby. As he walked, he glanced around, smiling. Their Familia had all managed to make it through multiple deadly situations alive, albeit barely, and then had been saved from a Monster Party that would have killed them by the Xenos and the Hostess of Fertility waitresses, minus Syr, who were all apparently Level Four, and who had brought Tsubaki, the Hephaistos Familia captain, a Level Five. They were all laughing and enjoying themselves now, and it was a Godsend compared to Ethan, Ryu, and Bell's time on the Thirty Seventh Floor.

He stopped as he reached a spot in the woods hidden from view of everyone else and reached down to unzip his pants, only to freeze as a chill ran down his spin, leaving a field of goosebumps behind. His hands reached over to their weapons as he looked around carefully. Then, he stopped, staring at a silhouette partially visible behind a tree. It grinned, its teeth catching the light just as the silhouette lifted a pair of goggles up to the top of their head, allowing their red irises to catch the light as well as they lowered a spear off their shoulder, the jagged, crimson blade catching the light.

"You!?" Ethan gaped, then drew his weapons, his skills flaring to life instantly.

However, the silhouette merely chuckled and stepped backward, melting into the darkness before Ethan's senses went haywire. He leapt backward, expecting an attack, but instead, something began to rise out of the ground, passing through it like stories of ghosts. His arms fell limp as he instinctively understood that he couldn't hurt it. If it could pass through the ground, it could pass through a sword blade. Instead of attacking, and with his legs refusing to allow him to flee, he merely stared at the thing floating in front of him, hovering a foot off the ground, but seeming roughly his height, its hooded head about an equal amount higher than his own as the bottom of the thing was from the ground. The thing was wrapped in a tattered, faded, grey cloak with the hood up. The cloak had no sleeves and was wrapped tightly enough around it that he couldn't tell the seam from the frayed spots. However, aside from the cloak, nothing else was visible. Instead there was a pitch black, smoke-like darkness emanating from inside the hood and out of the bottom of the cloak, like the being was a mass of darkness animated by the cloak wrapped around it. The thing remained there, staring at him, the shredded bottom of the cloak blowing as if in a wind but set to slow motion. Finally, Ethan gulped.

"What ar-"

The thing shot forward so fast that Ethan barely had time to register it had moved before it had passed through his chest and then down into the ground again. Terror. Pure, unrelenting terror. That was all that Ethan knew from the moment that thing touched his chest. He was aware of someone screaming, but his brain couldn't process who. There was also a smell trying to be noticed, but again, the terror robbed him of his ability to comprehend anything. Images flashed before his wide-open, unseeing eyes. Minotaurs ripping Anya apart. Wiene being stabbed. A shaft of light around Hestia's fading body. Ryu lying naked in an alleyway, being held down and violated by Apollo and Ishtar Familia members. Ryu with her body shattered and lying at the feet of the Juggernaut. The Juggernaut standing before him, claws raised. More and more images began to flash before his eyes, completely blocking his sight, each image more gruesome and horrible than the last, and with each image, his terror spiked to new heights. Time fell away, becoming a concept that he had no ability to acknowledge the existence of, much less comprehend. All he knew was the terror and the horrible images of death and torment that fueled the terror.

Ryu jumped as a high, petrified shriek tore through the air. She looked around, rapidly, seeing only Ethan was missing, only to freeze as he gut dropped. A horrible feeling filled her before she tore off toward the sound, Wiene just behind her. What they found stopped them both cold. Ethan was lying on the ground, eyes wide open but glassy, body convulsing like a seizure, screaming in such pure terror that flecks of blood had stained his teeth from screaming too loudly, a thick sheen of sweat clinging to his pale skin, and a wet spot spreading over the crotch of his ruined shorts, urine running out from under them as the smell of feces radiated from him. Ryu covered her nose and mouth as Anya reached them, only to instantly gag from the smell. Whatever was happening, he'd lost control of his bowels.

"What's happening!?" Anya asked over his screaming.

Ryu shook her head.

"We need to get him to the surface!" Cassandra said, stepping up beside the others. "Ryu, you're fastest."

"Hold on!" Bell said, jabbing Hakugen into Ethan's arm, only for nothing to happen. "It's not poison!"

"Then we don't have a choice!" Anya said. "We need to get him to the surface, now!"

Ryu nodded and stepped forward to lift him, only for his convulsing to throw him out of her arms almost instantly. "I need help!"

Bell stepped up instantly, wrapping an arm around Ethan's knees before Ryu grabbed him under the front of his chestplate. Then, they took off like a shot, streaking past the others, who all stared after them, wide-eyed.

Ethan groaned, eyelids barely opening and allowing him to look around blearily. From the blurs he was seeing, he was able to make out Ryu at his side, but he couldn't see where they were. He blinked and the blur began to clear. He spent a long few minutes staring at the ceiling and blinking over and over until his vision had finally cleared. Ryu was asleep in her chair, her eyes red and puffy from crying and dark shadows under her eyes. He tried to call out to her, but his throat was so sore that he couldn't bear the pain of making a sound. He grimaced, taking her hand instead, and she stirred, looking down at him before bursting into tears, pressing her face to his chest and clutching his hand to her chest. Memories began to filter in, starting with seeing the undeniable silhouette of Dix Perdix, along with his favorite cursed spear, once again intact, then the strange cloaked thing, and then the fear. As the memories of the fear began to filter into his brain, he began to tremble and grow pale again, but he didn't begin screaming. Finally, the door opened and Hestia walked in with a girl with long, wavy, silver hair and a white and blue outfit befitting the head doctor of the Dian Cecht Familia. Airmid walked over, handing him an Elixir, and he drank it, passing the bottle back as his throat tingled and healed.

"What happened?" Ethan asked.

"We were hoping you could tell us," Airmid said.

"You started screaming and convulsing," Ryu said. "You lost control of your bowels, and you were screaming so much that you were ripping your throat apart, but you seemed like you weren't fully conscious. But before Bell and I could get you up to the surface, it stopped and you passed out."

"I detected traces of a Curse," Hestia said. "But who cast it? Did you see anyone?"

Ethan hesitated before frowning. "The last thing I remember was this flying, cloaked thing flying through my chest."

"WHAT!?" Hestia shrieked, everyone flinching from the volume. "AN ARAI!?"

"Wait," Ethan frowned. "I thought you said an Arai was a winged female creatures."

Hestia shook her head. "That's an Arae. It's almost the same thing, but the Arai is a little different. Arae curses are long term and indirect. The curses don't affect the person directly, they affect the world around that person, like your Minotaur ambushes."

"Bull-type monster ambushes," Ethan corrected her. "We had to go through the Thirty Seventh Floor's Colosseum and were ambushed by Barbarians, exclusively."

Hestia's eyebrows furrowed.

"Anyway," Ethan said. "What about Arai?"

Hestia nodded. "Like I said, Arae have long-term curses. Arai, on the other hand, have more direct curses. They affect the person it's placed on themselves, like what you experienced. They also look like what you saw. Physical attacks, as I'm sure you figured out, are useless against them, but magic can hurt them."

"So, I could have killed it with Light Blade or Lightning Spree?" Ethan asked.

"I doubt it," Hestia said. "Arai and Area are both ranked somewhere between Level Six and Level Seven. Arai curses are debilitating, no matter what they are, so they make it nearly impossible to fight one, especially alone, and they don't have Magic Stone cores, so they can take ridiculous amounts of damage before they die. Arae, on the other hand, can be hurt by physical attacks but are just so fast and powerful that they rate their rank, so if it had been one of those and you attacked them, it would have killed you, hands down."

Ethan nodded. "So, will the curse come back?"

Hestia shook her head. "Like Arai curses are short-term. As long as that one doesn't attack you again, it shouldn't affect you again."

Ethan nodded, sighing. "So, am I okay to leave?"

Airmid nodded. "You can leave whenever you're ready."

"I brought you some spare clothes," Hestia said. "Your armor's all at our home, but the outfit itself was ruined."

Ethan nodded. "I remember. Alright. Have you upgraded my status yet?"

Hestia shook her head. "I'll do it when we get home."

Ethan nodded and Airmid and Hestia left the room. Ryu helped Ethan up, as his entire body was still sore and stiff, and helped him get dressed before wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I can't believe we survived," Ryu said. "I was so scared when I saw you being affected by that curse."

Ethan nodded, squeezing her lightly. "I'm sorry. That thing...the curse brought every fear and every trauma I've ever felt into the light and forced me to experience that terror all over again, but amplified. I think if I feel that again I might die."

"You're probably right," Ryu said.

Ethan smiled, stepping back. "Come on. Let's go home and show everyone that I'm going to live."

Ryu nodded and they left the building, finding Hestia and Anya waiting outside. Anya hugged him instantly, complaining about Airmid not letting her stay in the room with him and Ryu, then all headed home together.

"You're here!" Hestia smiled.

"I came as soon as I could," Astraea said, voice thick with worry. "Are they okay?"

"They're fine," Hestia said. "They're upstairs resting. They're still exhausted, but they managed to make it out alive, and they beat the Juggernaut twice."

Astraea smiled proudly. "She's grown a lot."

Hestia nodded. "They both have, even just since she joined the Familia. Speaking of which, I have something I'd like to ask you."

Astraea nodded, and they headed into the kitchen where Hestia quickly made them some tea.

"So, back when you upgraded Ryu's status before she switched Familias, you somehow levelled her up before giving her the excelia," Hestia reminded her. "How?"

Astraea smiled knowingly, nodding. "Ethan will definitely level up after everything that happened. Well, I actually only found out how just then. Ryu was long-since ready to level up, ever since she survived the Juggernaut's attack the first time. So I didn't want all the excelia she'd gained since then to go to waste, so I tried to hold the excelia back while she leveled up, then upgraded her status a second time to give her the excelia."

"We can do that!?" Hestia almost shrieked.

Astraea smiled and nodded. "You're the one who controls your blessing, so apparently yes."

Hestia hummed thoughtfully. "How?"

Ethan stared at his paper. Hestia had said she wanted to try something, and apparently, whatever it was had allowed his status to grow after he'd levelled up. And a good amount, too. But the part he was staring at wasn't the status numbers, or his new level, or the fact that his Luck Stat was at E already where as Bell's was still at F. What he was staring at was the extra section labeled "Curse" and which had one entry, "Skeleton Key".

"You have a Curse," Hestia said. "It's probably because of that Arai."

"It's the Curse the Arai hit me with," Ethan said, unable to explain how he knew, or how he knew the exact words to activate it, but knowing with absolute certainty that he was correct.

Hestia nodded. "What will you do?"

"Never use it," Ethan said. "I will die before I ever Curse someone."

Hestia nodded. "I won't tell anyone you have it. Do you know the chant?"

"Yes, I do," Ethan said. "I knew it from the moment the Arai touched me. 'Unravel the monster hidden inside. Be birthed into this world, so twisted up and shaken. Unravel the truth you can't erase. Reveal your pain to those who smile blindly. Search the world of another's virtue to block out that bright and vivid light. Search for that which does not want to be found. Look upon your cage of solitude and remember that which you cannot forget. Unravel.'"

Hestia nodded mutely before Ethan ripped up the paper and pulled his shirt back on. He sighed heavily and stood. "There was something else I saw before the Arai attacked me. I didn't want to say in front of someone outside our Familia or Ryu. Dix Perdix was there. And before you ask, yes, I'm sure. He had the same grin, goggles, eyes, and that fucking cursed spear."

Hestia nodded. "I'll ask around, starting with Fells and Ouranos. Hopefully it was the Arai playing tricks on you."

"Yeah," Ethan said flatly. "I'm going to head back to bed."

Hestia nodded and Ethan headed up to his room, finding Ryu sitting on the bed, waiting for him. He told her about his new ability and Ryu's eyes widened in surprise before she agreed with his decision to never use it. Then, both climbed into bed, returning to their mandatory bed rest.

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