A Curse Upon the World

In the distance, the setting sun slowly began to disappear behind the far-off mountains, casting a final disturbing red light before vanishing, allowing the night a chance to take over.

Watching all of this was Walid, in his room inside the palace. A look of determination adorned his calm expression.

'It's time!'

Despite his thoughts, Walid didn't move from his standing place by the window.

He had to ensure he wasn't just deceiving himself.

With one last look at the reddening sky that was darkening slowly.

Walid remembered the darkness of his thoughts this morning, his surrender or desire to surrender to his fatigue and the failure that haunted him like a vengeful ghost.

The surrender at that moment felt as sweet as sleeping in a warm bed on a cold night. And yet, sleep didn't come that easily to him, not then and not before. His mind was busy with the question he posed to himself.

'What is the answer of Walid who lost everything?'

He tried to pretend ignorance of the answer, but Vierenna gave him a small push that cleared his mind enough to regain some stability. As he told Vierenna at that time — though she didn't believe him — he knew the answer, it was with him and accompanied him even to this world that supposedly he created ink on paper.

In theory, this answer was simple, clear, and straightforward.

Restore everything he lost...

Even if it meant restoring his previous despair.

Yet, from a realistic perspective, how could Walid, a failed writer, a failed person, and a failure overall, do such a thing? It was blatantly obvious that he was just deceiving himself. Anything he might try to do would only lead to despair.

Walid didn't have an answer to that.

But, did he need one?

'How will I return to my world?' That was the question.

'How did I reach the world of my novel in the first place?' And that was the answer... or at least the direction.

Walid's answer was step by step. Only by learning could he uncover the mystery that veiled his vision.

So first, Walid decided to discover how he arrived in this world. As for the why and what for? These questions didn't concern him for now, and he felt they would answer themselves. His existence was proof of that.

But he was getting ahead of himself. Haste was a fast track to failure. He knew that from experience, and that's why he was able to control himself. The adrenaline that rushed to the top of his head slowly receded, leaving space for coherent thoughts to crystallize.

'First things first, I need as much information about the world and how it works.'

Despite being the writer of this world, Walid knew very little about it. And his current location, Zeleshyre—the city capital of the Macizar Empire did not fall outside his circle of ignorance.

Although the events of the planned second volume took place in the capital, they were only planned and not solid like the events of the first volume.

'The events of the first volume have ended by now if my date predictions are correct.'

Despite the ignorance and uncertainty Walid had to deal with now, he was still glad that the events of the first volume had ended. If he had been summoned to the north—the cold land where the events of the first volume began, he would have been just a statue corpse by now.

Walid's body shivered slightly, and he regained his train of thought.

'First, I will learn about the Macizar Empire from the palace library, if there is one. Then I should ask Vierenna about my admission date to the Academy. In the first year of the main character Emlyn, she was in the second year, so she should know, right?'

Of course, Walid had more questions and doubts, but if he stopped to think about each one, he would never start.

So for now, he would try and start somewhere.

Walid placed his hand on the reflection of the window in front of him, and with the little light remaining after the sunset. He looked at his reflection on the glass.

Long dark hair, large violet eyes, and good facial features. Despite the blurriness of the reflection in the low light. The figure before him was handsome, if not charming.

'This shouldn't be that hard, should it?!'

Walid would try to be this person, bear his name and burdens until he regained his own. Despite the ease of saying the words, Walid doubted his ability to apply them.

But again, he would try.

And that didn't excite him at all.

...

Deon left his room and descended the spiral stairs to the first floor. His path was illuminated by white light, changing intensity depending on his movement. He didn't wander much due to his ignorance of the palace's overall layout, but he knew where the servants were, and that was his destination.

As he approached his destination, he could hear their words from a distance. They didn't even seem to try to lower their voices.

"No, he looked pretty good for someone who hadn't left his room for ages. The lady takes good care of him."

"And whose job is that supposed to comment on the matter."

"I tried, okay!.. But every time... he just shuts the door and ignores me... I don't want to lose my place... I…"

"You worry for nothing, his father doesn't care about him for some reason, he's not even here! I don't think he'll mind if you don't care for him... you said it yourself, you tried...

"I'm still trying…"

"You didn't go today. Why?"

"The young lady said to prepare breakfast for both of them... and I can rest for the day."

"You know you are his personal maid,.. but you can't just defy her... what a dilemma you are in... the young don't last long, they say."

"Stop scaring her, what's wrong with you... don't tink his words seriously, he just enjoys scaring you... you'll be fine, just... the work you don't do, make it up with other work and come to me to record it in your name…"

Having heard enough, Deon opened the large double doors, and stepped forward where a variety of servants sat.

"My personal maid?" He asked from what he learned from the conversation he eavesdropped on.

With that, he stepped back a few steps outside the room and waited until a girl with a nervous expression followed him.

"What can I do for the master." Her small body was trembling under the black and white maid outfit she wore.

Feeling pity for the young girl, Deon spoke the reason for requesting her services. "No need to be nervous, I want you to go and summon my sister. Tell her I will be in the back garden, and she is welcome to join me." And also because he didn't know where Vierenna's room was.

The young maid raised her head to meet Deon's eyes directly. Her large green eyes held a slight hint of astonishment. "Is that all I can do for the master?"

Deon fell silent. He was surprised by the girl's sudden enthusiasm, but he was more surprised by her appearance.

Raven-black hair similar to his tied in a bun behind her small head. Light green eyes with yellow patterns merged smoothly to give an alluring look to her eyes. Pale white skin enhanced the sharpness and beauty of her other features. Her body, although leaning towards delicacy, carried a balance that seemed fitting for her alone.

'Is this really a maid?'

Deon didn't care much for a person's outer beauty as much as he did for what was inside their heads. But the girl in front of him was too beautiful to be just a maid. He would dismiss the situation as just the norms of this world. But as he took another corrective look at the rest of the servants who watched him from behind the open door, he realized that the girl was just an anomaly.

Nonetheless, Deon didn't give the matter much thought.

"For now, that's enough. I'll go ahead there." Without another look at the girl or the other servants, Deon made his way following his memory towards the back garden.

Part of his mind hoped his intuition about the lake was just a meaningless hunch, but the other part hoped otherwise.

The first part of his mind was afraid of what he might learn, and the other sought that knowledge.

Only through knowledge, are puzzles solved.

Deon's thoughts continued to spin until he found himself facing a familiar wooden bench. The entire area around the lake was illuminated by white lights spread over the green ground, not allowing shadows to participate in the scene.

Deon didn't look at the small lake that was facing the bench, apparently, the fearful part of his mind was still in control.

But that wouldn't last long.

He approached the wooden bench and sat facing the lake, his eyes closed, facing it as well.

With a deep breath, Deon opened his eyes to the familiar scene.

Colorful stones rested in the clear water depths, and on each stone, different colored symbols from stone to stone.

At that moment, the familiar feeling of his consciousness slipping away returned. But contrary to what the feeling indicated, his consciousness didn't slip away.

In fact, his consciousness expanded allowing a new sense to enter the scene along with his other senses.

A sense that allowed him to see and hear what he couldn't this morning.

Hello, you've finally found your way here—

A familiar and unfamiliar female voice entered Deon's consciousness directly, bypassing his hearing.

Deon held his breath at the strange phenomenon and engaged all his senses to make sense of this strange but somehow comforting mode of communication.

He waited to hear more, but the voice stopped at the welcoming message.

"Is that all? Just..?"

His thoughts halted at the sight of the change that began to occur on the surface of the small lake.

"Words..?!"

Indeed, words were forming above the lake's surface in white, appearing from nowhere.

Soon, a text formed vertically, facing Deon directly like a huge sheet, though the sheet was the lake and the ink was the clear white color on its surface.

'And my... my current name headed the text.'

—♦[Deon V. Eirenios]♦—

//// Tier 1 Magician

 /// Duel Talent

 // Type : Extreme [curse]

 / Innate dormant ability

Mana sense : The key to the world's greatest mysteries.

Cursed : You are cursed and your curse will bring about the end.

 // Type : Body [Swordsmanship]

 / Innate dormant ability

Sword Sense : The sword is not a thing, but a process; sense it.

Sword Attraction : The movement of the sword is an ignored perspective. you are just one possibility of its meaning.

—♦[Deon V. Eirenios]♦—

As Deon read the text with complex emotions, the familiar and unfamiliar female voice spoke inside his mind again.

Now, I will impart to you knowledge that will remain absolute—