The end of this chapter correspondence with the end of Chapter 52 in Elemental. From here on out, the chapter of Cursed that corresponds with Elemental will be in parenthesis after the chapter number.

And, as you guys may or may not have noticed, this story now has an actual cover image! The awesome picture was created by a good friend of mine, Daisy Pragnya! Thanks again Daisy! And when you said "Both the persons think Magic is a curse to them but each with a different story." in your review, you pretty much summed Yuki and Lyra up!

"It's been because betrayal in hearts,

can in dreams tonight deceive us.

A million voices, silent screams,

where hope is left so incomplete."

—Aurora

Chapter 2—(Chapter 52)

Philyra wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there holding Tigress and silently crying until the first rays of dawn started to peek over the horizon. She had to move on. There was no way for Philyra to do so, but she still wished that she could bury Tigress, give her a proper grave.

She kissed the forehead of the closest thing she'd ever had to a mother and gently set her down. With one last glance at Tigress, Philyra started walking.

And she walked. And walked. And walked. She walked until she had lost all feeling in her feet. She walked until her throat may as well have been ashes, it was so dry. She didn't even need to force herself to keep walking—she'd fallen into a numb sort of existence. She heard and saw everything around her, the birds, the sunlight streaming through the canopy of leaves...but she didn't process any of it. None of it mattered.

All that she needed to do was keep going.

…. …. ….

"Why does Geysis always get the fun missions?" whined a man to his companion as they walked through the woods, "He gets to go after the princess and get all the glory, but I only get to track down a boring little nobody magic user!"

"Because you wouldn't be able to overpower said princess and bring her to the castle." the companion said, "Besides Garrick, Geysis is really the only one who could take on the princess, even with most of her magic bound. Her magic is strong, and she's a fighter, from what I've heard. You're pretty low on the ranks after you failed to get the last kid without nearly killing him. Besides, you don't have enough patience to wait until she reached an ideal capture point."

"Shut up!" the first man snapped, "If this is such a low rank job, why are you here?"

"Because I've got nothing better to do." the other man said nonchalantly. The first man went red in his blue face.

"Well if you're so high and mighty, why don't you hurry up and find this human brat-child?" demanded the first man.

"That's your job. I'm just the escort." While he wouldn't admit it, and his stoic face didn't show it, but coming along on this boring job was worth it just to annoy this irritating water elemental.

The first man growled, and then went silent, searching out for the unique feel of human magic. "She's nearby, and weak. Bah, this is too easy." He walked off.

The second man, a wind elemental, followed him, making sure to keep the bored expression on his face. And there, on the other side of some undergrowth, was a small human girl with dark hair and pale skin, collapsed on the ground. Her feet were in awful shape, and she seemed to be unconscious. This is too easy, thought the wind elemental.

"Hurry up and grab her," he told the water elemental, "We've got other things to do, you know."

…. …. ….

Philyra felt consciousness slowly coming back to her—mostly because the floor was hard, and, honestly, a little damp. At least it wasn't freezing. She could handle a hard and a little damp. She rubbed her eyes and opened them. There were copper rings connected by a thin copper chain around her ankles. These weren't as sharp as the ones the slavers used, thank goodness. They wouldn't cut up her skin as she tried to walk.

There were several other kids in the room. Huddled in groups or in corners by themselves, they were all quiet. Philyra could handle the quiet. But she couldn't handle the uncertainty of what was going to happen.

She huddled up against the nearest wall, hoping that something would happen to let her know what her new "normal" was going to be.

…. …. ….

She found out only days later.

One of the older kids, a boy, whispered to her what was going to happen. He was one of the ones who stayed off by himself in a corner.

"They're coming today." The voice was hardly more than a whisper.

Philyra looked up, confused. She had noticed the boy—who seemed to be about a year older than her—come and sit near her.

"I'm Jake. So what's your name?" he asked.

Her whispered reply was barely hearable.

"Philyra, huh? Pretty name. Probably the prettiest thing here." His laugh was bitter. "You're new, so you don't know the drill. They feed us enough to keep us alive. Barely. Then, once a week, they drain almost every drop of magic from us. That's right, every single one of us has magic, and apparently strong magic. Most of us were street rats to begin with, and even for us this is a step down. Some of them have families though. They've got a reason to try and live. Not the rest of us. But for some reason, we do. Don't ask me why. I don't know."

She said nothing in response.

"Not a talker, are you?"

She shook her head.

"Other than the current circumstance, why?"

"It's dangerous to talk to much." Her voice was extremely soft, and he could tell that it wasn't one that got much use.

"Dangerous? How?"

She looked away.

"Is that where your magic is?"

Nod.

"And you came from a place where magic is evil, didn't you?"

She looked up at him, eyes wide, asking "how?"

"I'm from a place like that. Terra. Magic technically doesn't exist. I was born in this world, but I went to Terra when I was seven. Then my mum died and I was out of the streets, not even able to use magic. I was picked up by my current captors about a year ago. I'm one of the longest stayers here. Anyone who would've been here longer is dead. And don't worry about your magic coming out, these chains are spelled with non-human magic. Our magic's bound until they drain it." Jake sighed, "They're going to have another draining today. I thought it would only be fair for you to know. It'll hurt, and it'll be hard, but it'll be easier if you don't fight it. Because if you fight it, they might kill you. Or you'll die from the strain of having the magic yanked from you. Either way, you'll have no hope."

"Why?" Philyra inhaled slowly.

"Because they're building stores of magic. These people are going to use it for some sort of magic rebellion. This isn't Terra. This isn't Myula. It's some other world. I've got my suspicions that out captors aren't human, or even fae." Jake looked at her, "Good luck."

And he went back to his own isolated corner.

The magic draining was horrible. It hurt like nothing she had ever known. And she would have to do it once a week for who knows how long.

…. …. ….

Two weeks later, two new kids were in the dim dungeon-like room. And one kid was dead. Jake had stood up for one of the youngest kids, a boy only about five, and had gotten punished for it. And the only punishment the captors gave was death.

…. …. ….

"Why are we doing this again?" It was the one who had originally captured Philyra. He and the other elemental, the wind one, were down by the place where the human children were kept.

"Because Garrick wants someone to serve the princess." Stupid, the wind elemental mentally added. "Just open the door and I'll pick one." It'd have to be a particularly quiet one, one who'd shown no signs of fighting. The princess had enough fight for an army, particularly since she was furious with her situation.

He scanned the room. None of the ones huddled in groups. No boys, either.

There. That one. The small girl he had helped pick up a while ago. She hadn't said a word, as far as anyone knew, and hadn't made one attempt to fight. He came to the conclusion that she was completely broken, and would work perfectly. "You, come over here. We've got a job for you." The other children curled up tighter as the girl went towards the door, expression blank.

…. …. ….

This tray was really heavy. And it was covered in high-quality food. For a moment Philyra had been scared that she was going to be used at some sort of toy—she wasn't stupid. She new what some men would do to girls who couldn't do anything in retaliation. But no, she was apparently supposed to serve some sort of princess. She wondered what princess would be horrible enough to be in this awful place.

Philyra was surprised, though she didn't show it, to walk into the room to find a girl only a few years older than her bound thoroughly to the bed she was on. She set the tray on the girl's lap and undid the bindings that held her wrists in place. Once that was done, she silently backed up to the corner.

The "princess" sighs, "Come here, girl. You look far more hungry than I am. Please." Philyra hesitated. "Come on, I don't bite those who don't deserve it. You've done nothing. The only one I'd bite at this point is that nasty Azuron creep who took me here, the jerk. And probably not even him. He probably tastes like lies and evil." The girl beckoned her closer. "Come on, take whatever you want. I insist."

Philyra decided she was too hungry to refuse, and carefully crept up, taking a roll and biting it. It was probably the best thing she's eaten since she was little.

"What's your name, sweetie?" The girl said gently, "I'm Selene."

Philyra mumbled something.

"Could you speak up a bit, hun?" Selene encouraged.

"Philyra…"

"That's a pretty name. I haven't heard it before. Are you like me, a prisoner here?" Selene handed her apple and sighed, "I wish I knew why in the heck he's doing this. If one knows their captor's motives, it can reveal methods of escape."

Philyra tensed, feeling a wave of fear wash over her, "He's...building an army."

Selene froze, my eyes wide at her quite sentence, "An...army? Do you know why?"

She shook her head.

"Are you part of his plan, willing or not?" Selene asked.

Philyra nodded.

"Are there others forced into this?"

Nod.

"Is there a connection between each of these people?"

Nod.

"What is it?" Selene's brows furrowed and she looked worried..

Philyra looked up at her again, a single tear slipping out of the corner of that one visible eye.

"Magic." she whispered, "Strong magic."

Philyra wasn't sure what language Selene was spoke in, but she could tell that she was cursing something very not-nice.