Shoulder Your Burden
AN
This story takes place at the beginning of agony of a witch. Maine difference is that Eda's curse started to truly affect her like in the episode a few days earlier.
Disclaimer I own nothing.
Pain, that's the first thing I feel as I wake up. Nothing bad just a slight burning in my right shoulder. I need to put a new band on soon, not now though, kings still here. I can't let him or Eda know what I did. Not yet.
Going down stairs me and king found a surprising sight. Eda was in the kitchen cooking. This would not be odd if it were not for the fact she was making a rather large breakfast. I could see eggs, sausage, bacon and pancakes. At least, I think that's what it all is. The eggs are green, the sausage and bacon are both black and I don't think there burnt. The pancakes are brown though… with pink spots. Not only that but she seems unusually energetic this morning as well. Could it really have worked? Can the results already be showing?
I'm pulled from my thoughts by king. "Wow talk about a spread. What's the occasion? You next to never cook like this." As Eda turned around to answer him we both notice something else which king is quick to point out as well. "Hey your gem is back to normal!" His words got a grin out of Eda before she finally spoke.
"I know, I can't explain it. I just woke up this morning feeling better than I have in years. Heck I haven't felt this good cents before I got cursed."
As Eda goes back to coking I can't help but grin as well. For both the same reason as King and Eda, and a little more as well. It worked, that thought alone made the slowly intensifying burning on my shoulder more bearable. And more than worth it.
Leaving for school after telling Eda not to over work herself as we… well they don't know why she's feeling better and there's still a chance her cruse can act up. It's only now that I finally have the chance to replace the cloth leather band on side of my shoulder.
Underneath the band just beneath the joint a black rune rests on my skin. Inside a circle is a pentagram, along the sides are four arches connecting to the tips of a square star in the center of the pentagram. In the center of that, is a drop of Eda's blood.
Taking the now near useless band causes the burning sensation to intensify imminently. Quickly placing a new one over the rune cause's the burning to fade completely.
I really need to thank amity for finding that old book. Unfortunately most of the pages were too worn and faded to figure anything out. But one of the still legible pages was about an incredibly powerful rune that I knew could help Eda, The curse rune.
From what I could make out on the worn page, despite the name it does not make or apply curses. Not on its own at least. In truth it was made to transfer curses to immanent objects like Rock's, cups or bracelets. The former for containing, the latter was for things like jokes or prisons as using the now cussed objects will transfer the mane effect of the cures. For things like cups, temporally, time of effect depending on the strength of the curse. Bracelets, as long as it was worn.
The rune can be used to suppress curses as well, but it has to be anchored to it to work. For that it has to be transferred. I would have transferred Eda's curse to an immanent object if I could but it was too strong. It would take something more than a rock or cup to contain it. So I used the best thing I could find to take and contain her curse. Myself. I know that this seams reckless but the book was very clear on how it works and I really did think this one out.
Now of course there would be problems if there was no magic to fuel the rune, but is was Eda that supplied an answer to that ironically. It was a real surprise to find that old carved rune like we did. Eda had decided to show me a mana well. Looking around I found a, well I don't know what it was before but time had worn it to little more than a simple stone. It was a miracle that the rune was still legible. Eda helped me figure out that it was meant to store raw mana gathered form things like the mana well's. That way they could be used to activate artifacts or other runes that needed more mana than what could usually be found in the environment or even the user. It wasn't too hard to make a few bands that strap on were ever you need them. Just leave them at the well to charge, I where the new ones and I'll be fine.
The only really hard part was getting close enough to Eda so that I could activate it and transfer the curse without Eda knowing. Luckily she was pretty out of it last night. Looking back a lot about this was only possible do to luck. Sneaking into her room and getting a bit of blood by pricking her finger. Placing the blood on the rune and Eda was cursed no more. It hurt at first, like someone had put a branding iron on me. I could see feathers beginning to grow as the curse took effect. Quickly putting a band with the mana storage/supply rune over the cures transfer rune on my shoulder and the pain faded away along with the feathers.
Eda's appearance didn't change, whether that was due to the way the curse was removed or how long she was under its effect I couldn't say. I'm just glad the rune was strong enough that my appearance wasn't affected.
It hurts if I don't keep up and place fresh band but they can store a lot of mana if you leave them for a bit. Above all this is something I can do for Eda, to repay everything that she has done for me. Coming here and learning magic is a literal dream come true for me. I have friends, I'm learning magic. There's nothing I don't like about living hear. Compared to that, shouldering Eda's curse is a small price to pay. One I pay gladly.