Wrath. Betrayal... and rage...
These were the first pillars of the demon realm. All the emotions the first demons felt when they got kicked out of Heaven. It was what the first demons swore to live by.
The main reason they waged war on humans, to hurt Heaven as much as Heaven hurt them. As years passed, though, things in the demon realm changed.
Priorities shifted.
The demons now wanted to live... Survive. On their own terms and not on the dictates of age-old wrath. Hence, many demons forgot... these first pillars. They even forgot the real reason they hunted humans.
But not Selora. Her father was one of the top demons in hell after all. How could she forget their heritage?
That was exactly why Selora knew what she was looking at... even though she didn't fully understand it.
This curse that Morica gave her... was one cast by the first sect of human witches. The Mothers Of The Night. The first women to support demons and the first to devote their whole hearts to the then-demon king. Zahir.
Their curses were old, powerful, and unforgiving. Most were used to seal forbidden things for millennia.
And this one... The Curse of Wrath was no different.
Selora's fingers traced the ancient letters in the book Orrameth had given her, matching them with the paper Morica gave her.
Her eyes narrowed, lips moving silently as she translated each line, copying the strange words into her notes.
Finally, she got the full meaning of the curse.
Verakh tullar dom'Zahir,
Bound in blood by Zahir's breath,
Ezrak kinthi mor'ael.
Only ruin shall greet the unworthy.
Et'daru ashel venna'rin,
When soul, bone, and wrath are offered,
Solth nekth dravhell.
The Thorned Halo shall awaken.
She dropped the paper on the bed as she stared at the translation. Then she let her head roll back. She'd been sitting in the same position for so long, her neck already felt sore. Just as she rolled out of bed, her system's soft voice chimed in her head.
[You know what you need to break the curse?]
Selora looked back down at the paper and rolled her eyes before walking over to the window. She leaned over it as she stared at the sky.
"I'm not sure I can trust Morica." She spoke out loud as she stared at the soft clouds passing by the full moon.
"Sure, she gave me a curse that Orrameth's book helped me translate... But that's not enough. This could be a trap. I don't like it." She added, and she was met with silence.
[What if it's legit? You do need to find the relics.]
The soft voice chimed again, and Selora let out a breath.
Her finger absent-mindedly tapped against the window board as she cradled her cheek in one hand.
"What would you do in this situation, Father...?"She sighed, feeling mentally exhausted for the first time in a long while.
[I believe in this situation, Master Zarus would take Morica's help.]
[Not because he trusts her, but because she knows too much to be left unsupervised.]
Selora blinked as the words chimed in her mind. Her system was right. Morica was a threat, she needed to keep close enough to understand.
Selora turned back to the bed and looked at the books on the bed. She walked over to the bed and picked up the translated version of the curse. Her blue eyes traced one particular line that explained to her exactly what she needed to break this curse.
When soul, bone, and wrath are offered, the Thorned Halo shall awaken.
She needed three things. But not just random things. No, the Mothers Of The Night never made things so easy. Selora needed the bones of a betrayed warrior... Preferably a demon who died in the traitorous raid of heaven over their realm. She also needed a soul filled with so much rage that even death couldn't calm it.
The shattered citadel was a good place to get that... The place where the first demons slaughtered hundreds of innocent humans who had no idea they had been pulled into a war that should never have included them.
Then she needed something filled with so much wrath it could break the curse. That was what she didn't understand. What exactly was filled with such an immense thirst for vengeance, it could break a curse of the first witches?
Was it a person, an item, an object... this particular item felt ambiguous, and she could only hope she would find a clue in the book Orrameth gave her.
Selora sighed, dreading the next maze ahead of her, and just then, her system's notification popped up before her.
[Main Quest 003]: The Curse Of Wrath
Objective: Get the three items to break the curse within 2 days.
Reward: The Thorned Halo
Failure: Reduction of mana capacity and mana regeneration speed.
Selora blinked at the challenge. Initially, challenges excited her. But not when she was walking on thin ice. First, she met Orrameth, whom she was still having second thoughts about, and next, she met Morica.
Two unlikely allies in one day, and now she was working towards a direction both of them pointed her at. Was she doing the right thing... or not?
She stared at the little clock icon at the corner of the screen and tapped it. The timer displayed, and Selora stared at the blinking numbers
[28 Days: 15 Hours: 19 Minutes: 48 Seconds]
Just beneath it was her main mission...
[Main Mission: Survive and Thrive]
Objective: Increase your Sin Points through acts of Lust, seduction, and corruption.
Minimum Required Sin Points: 10,000
Penalty for Failure: Soul Erasure.
So far, she had just 3,500 sin points. Barely enough. She was still missing 6,500. And for the mission ahead of her, she would certainly need and use more sin points...
She needed to be strategic... Two days had already passed. It may seem like a little time lost, but that mindset was the very start of failure.
She had to buckle up. A lot was ahead of her, and she couldn't afford to be slacking off.
She needed to be at the top of her game if she was going to fulfil her missions. She had to...