Previously:
The two dwarves, who had been focusing on Otr, looked up from the otter and made eye contact with the human woman in front of them. "Her?" Galar asked.
By now, more dwarves had appeared behind Fjalar and Galar, curious at what was going on. Some were even sticking out their heads through the windows from inside the mountain.
"She needed help, so I took her here." Otr explained.
"What is going on here?" A voice asked and a brown haired dwarf stepped out from the crowd.
"Brother, it's been awhile!" Otr laughed nervously.
'Brother?' Yui thought, clearly confused. How could an otter have a brother who was a dwarf?
The brown haired dwarf ignored the otter and turned to Yui. "You, who are you?"
Now:
"Hello, my name is Kusanagi Yui." Yui introduced herself to the dwarves. "I'm here because I need help and Otr-san told me you would be able to."
"She has something beautiful she wants to remove from her body, brother." Otr added.
Yui looked down at him. 'Beautiful?'
"Otr, change back to your original form, I can't take you seriously if you don't." Otr's brother told him.
"Hah? What's wrong with this form?"
"Just do it."
Otr sighed but did as he was told and Yui watched in surprise as the small otter turned into a red haired dwarf in front of her eyes. "You're… not really an otter?" She asked after a few seconds. Otr looked quite young, if he had been a human she would have guessed he was around 25 years old. His brother looked at least 45, maybe 50.
"No, he is not. Kusanagi-san, was it? My name is Regin, I'm a smith and this fool's brother. It's a pleasure to meet you and I hope he hasn't caused you any trouble."
"The pleasure is all mine, Regin-san. Otr-san reached out to me when he saw I needed help, so I believe I'm the one causing trouble for him."
"Nonsense, Yui-san!" Otr exclaimed. "I took you here so we could remove that beautiful thing for you and perhaps make a deal. I would really like to have it once it's been removed."
Yui blinked at him a few times, was he serious? "Um, Otr-san…"
"Could you please show me what it is my brother wants exactly?" Regin asked and stepped closer to Yui.
"Of course." Yui replied and pulled down the sweater.
Regin's eyes became wide and serious when he saw the thing Otr thought was so beautiful. "This is…" He began.
Yui turned to Otr. "Otr-san, I'm afraid there has been a misunderstanding. This isn't some kind of jewelry."
"It's a curse." Regin finished for her. "Something powerful has put a curse on this human girl."
"Wait, wait, wait! A curse? Human?" Otr exclaimed in confusion.
Silence ~
"You… didn't know I was human?" Yui asked.
"And that the thing on her chest is a curse?" Galar added.
"I… I had no idea!" Otr cried out.
"Come with me." Regin said to Yui. "I think we should talk about this somewhere more private."
Yui, Otr, Fjalar, Galar and Regin were sitting around a table inside Fjalar's stone house almost at the top of the mountain. Yui had just told them the whole story of how she got cursed by Sisyphus.
"I'm so stupid…" Otr sighed.
"He likes beautiful things, that's why he wanted to help you." Fjalar whispered to Yui.
"I thought she was a goddess whose jewelry was stuck on her and thought that I could trade it or something if we were able to remove it…"
"I'm sorry, Otr-san. I should have told you about it but I thought you had figured out it was a curse when you first saw it." Yui apologized.
"Do not apologize, Kusanagi-san, my brother may have fooled you into believing he wanted to help you thanks to his cute appearance but what he really was after was that thing on your chest. He doesn't care about your well being, only about the profit he can make for removing it for you." Regin explained.
Otr looked like he was about to shout something at his brother but the sound of Yui's voice stopped him before he could. "It's alright, I don't ask him to care or feel sorry for me. I was just glad he told me there was a way to remove it."
"Yui-san…" Otr said in almost a whisper.
"But… it seems that, because of the misunderstanding, you may not be able to remove it, right?" Yui asked.
"I'm afraid so." Regin sighed. "If it had been something else, then perhaps we could have removed it for you but us dwarves can't remove a curse as strong as this, I'm sorry."
Yui's heart sank. "Don't apologize, I will find a way to heal myself somehow. Thank you for allowing me to enter your home, it was really generous of you but I'm afraid I have to leave. I don't know how much time I- AAHH!"
The ice suddenly started spreading.
She felt the ice cutting through the flesh, leaving a burning sensation as it moved like a snake over her skin.
The four dwarves looked like they were panicking and wanted to help but there was nothing they could do and was forced to watch as the ice was slowly devouring the human girl.
Yui was clutching the ice over her heart tightly as if trying to relieve some of the unbearable pain it caused her and breathed heavily. It felt like she wasn't getting enough air into her lungs and she was starting to become very pale.
"Yui-san!" Otr exclaimed and quickly stood up from his chair and ran over to her. "Is there anything we can do! ?" He cried out as he placed a hand on her shoulder to soothe her but Yui only groaned in response. There was no end to the pain and she felt the panic washing over her as it was getting harder and harder to breath. In desperation, she flew up from the chair and managed to take a few steps before she collapsed on the floor.
The dwarves rushed to her side.
"Breath, Kusanagi, breath!" Galar shouted.
"You have to calm down and focus!" Fjalar added.
Regin put a hand and her cheek. "Kusanagi-san, can you hear me? !"
Otr was still standing by the table, watching the three trying to calm the suffering human.
A few minutes passed and Yui was starting to calm down and breath normal again but she was exhausted and didn't have the strength to move. The dwarves thought it would be best if they could move her to the bed but since they were all shorter than her it was hard for one dwarf to do it, so Fjalar and Galar both helped carrying her into the bedroom.
Half an hour passed before Yui opened her eyes and found herself on a comfortable yet small bed. She sat up slowly, the ice tearing on her skin as she did, and pulled the sweater down. 'No…!' She thought and removed the sweater completely from her body. She didn't have a bra since it would be too painful to wear one but she couldn't care less about being so exposed right now. One line of ice was now resting on top of her left shoulder, the other had moved sideways below her armpit and had continued a few inches towards her back, the third line had traveled between her breasts, continued down and had stopped less than 2 inches from her belly button and the last line had stopped right below her throat. 'What am I going to do now? It hurts so much…'
She could hear the door open but didn't bother to look up or even cover herself. Regin entered the room with a bowl of hot water and a towel but stopped in his tracks when he saw that Yui was sitting up, half naked. "Kusanagi-san!" He exclaimed and ran to her side. "Are you alright?"
"I… I'm fine…" Yui whispered and used both her arms to cover her chest.
Regin's eyes were stuck on the ice on her body, it had definitely spread.
Three more figures appeared in the doorway. "Yui-san!" Otr exclaimed and ran up to the bed. "How are you feeling?"
A single tear rolled down Yui's cheek. "Thank you for taking care of me, I need to go now…" Was her answer before she moved to the side to get out of the bed but a hand on her ice-free shoulder stopped her.
"Kusanagi-san, you have to rest." Regin told her.
"That's right, if you move too much you might collapse again." Fjalar agreed.
Yui sobbed softly. "But… if I can't heal myself… then-"
"Wait here for a moment, I'll be right back." Regin said and left Yui with the others as he hurried outside.
"He's been gone for awhile now, what's he doing?" Otr asked, mostly to himself.
Yui had calmed down and was feeling a little better now, her sweater was back on and she was ready to leave and continue her search for a cure.
Galar, who had left the room just a moment ago, came back in with a cup of water. "Here, it's not good if you become dehydrated." He stated and handed Yui the cup.
"Thank you." Yui smiled, accepting the kind offer.
They then heard the front door open and a few seconds later, Regin entered the bedroom. "Sorry, took longer than I thought it would."
"What have you been doing?" Fjalar asked.
"I have managed to make something that might help you, Kusanagi-san, just a little though but still better than nothing." Regin explained and held up something small that had the shape of a star and looked like it was made of iron. "You see, I can make a lot of useful things out of iron as well as silver and gold, this is a combination of all three and it will help relieve your pain a little. It can't stop the ice from spreading but at least you will be able to handle the pain when it grows without collapsing."
"Regin-san… thank you so much!" Yui cried out with a smile, feeling very grateful to the dwarves for being so kind to her, even though they just met.
"Could you pull down the fabric a little so I can place it on you?"
Yui did what she was told and Regin carefully placed the star over the snowflake-shaped ice on her chest, once he removed his hand the star was glued to the snowflake and was covering it completely. Even if it was still pretty painful she was relieved it had taken away some of it. Perhaps she would be able to withstand it a little longer now? "I can't thank you enough, I don't have anything to give in return but if there's anything else I can-"
"Just stay alive, young human." Regin told her. "I will not ask anything from someone whose life is slowly being taken away from her. What I ask from you is to keep fighting, don't give up. It truly saddens me that such a sweet and innocent human has become a victim of such an evil curse…"
Fjalar, Galar and Otr looked at them in surprise when Yui suddenly leaned forward and gave Regin a hug. "I will fight till the end, I promise." She whispered.
Regin wrapped his arms around her as well. "Do come visit when you feel better, alright?"
"Of course."
The two let go of each other and Yui stood up from the bed. "Again, thanks for everything."
"Take care of yourself now." Galar smiled sadly at her, knowing this might be the first and last time they'll ever see her again.
"And if you ever need weapons or jewelry, come to us and we will have it made for you." Fjalar added.
Yui smiled at them. "I will."
"Otr, escort Kusanagi-san home." Regin ordered his brother, who was looking down at the floor.
"... Alright."
The walk back home was slow and quiet. Yui wasn't able to walk in a normal speed, was already starting to feel tired and Otr, for some reason, looked like he was feeling guilty. 'Perhaps I should apologize again for not telling him about it sooner.' Yui thought as she looked down at the dwarf walking beside her.
"I'm sorry…" Otr whispered before she had the chance to say anything to him.
"What?"
"I'm sorry, I said we could remove it but we couldn't. I gave you false hope."
He didn't look her in the eye.
"Otr-san, I think I should be the one to apologize."
Otr's eyes met hers. "But I'm the one who only wanted to help you for selfish reasons."
"I'm just glad you wanted to help me at all. I didn't care about your reasons and I don't expect anyone to help me because they feel sorry for me. I have to seek help from the ones Sisyphus called outsiders and I don't know anyone here except for a handful of gods, so it's not like I believed you would help someone you don't know. Not without getting something in return at least."
Otr stared at her with slightly wide eyes. "... You… you really are something."
"What do you mean?"
"Even though you are dying and are desperate you're still able to be so understanding and grateful for the little things my brother could do for you."
"..."
"And you're strong, too."
"Me? Strong?"
"I mean, look at you, you can barely keep your body moving and you're still able to push yourself forward so you can save yourself and that kid. You're strong, I like that in a woman."
She blushed a little at his comment. "I, um, thank you, Otr-san. That made me feel a little better."
Otr suddenly stopped walking and turned his head to the side, away from Yui.
"Otr-san?"
"I just got an idea that's worth trying… maybe."
"And what is that?" Yui asked, sounding hopeful.
"I don't think you're going to like it though."
"Is it dangerous?"
"It involves a dragon."
"A… A dragon? !"
"My other brother actually, his name is Fafnir." Otr explained. He looked like he was starting to regret he even brought it up.
"Your brother? Your brother is a dragon?"
"Indeed, he wasn't always though. It's a long story, but after being affected by the curse of Andvari's cursed ring and gold, he became greedy and mean and finally turned into a dragon. He resides in that mountain over there where he guards all of his gold."
"A dragon…" Yui repeated to herself quietly.
"It's alright if you don't want to go there, but a dragon's blood has healing abilities. I don't know if it's enough to remove the curse but it might be worth a try."
Yui thought hard about it for a minute, Otr was right and she was willing to do almost anything to get rid of the curse and save the human boy. "It's going to be very dangerous, right?"
"Yes, I'm not going to lie. We need to come up with a plan if we're going to enter his cave. You should also know that instead of breathing fire, he breathes poison. The poison can weaken us mythological beings but if a human like you inhale too much of it, you'll die."
"I understand… Let's do it."
"You sure?"
"I'm dying anyway, if I want to live I have to take a few risks."
"I admire your courage but if Fafnir catches us in the act, we're more or less doomed."
"Oh no…" Yui sighed when she realised something important. "I didn't think of that." She added and looked down at the snow covered ground in shame.
'Is she regretting her decision?' Otr thought.
"I'm sorry, I didn't think about what you're risking."
"What?"
"If you go with me, you'll be in danger as well and I don't want that. I don't want you to risk your life for me, Otr-san…"
"That's what you're worried about?" Otr asked in surprise.
"Of course I'm worried about that! I could never forgive myself if you got hurt or even killed because of me."
Now it was Otr's turn to blush and quickly turned away from her. "... I'll do it…"
"Huh?"
Otr turned to face her again. "I'm going to help you."
"I can't ask this of you…"
"You don't have to, I'm going to do it anyway."
"But-"
"You're going to need my help and I'm willing to lend you my strength." Otr assured her as he took her hand in his.
Even if she was a little taller than him her hand still felt smaller in his.
After a moment she finally smiled and said, "Let's do this."
A/N: Good news! I have some free time on my hands so I will probably be able to post the next chapter in about 2 days!
