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The first thing I noticed when I woke up again was the weight in my chest, like someone had shoved a stone inside me. But it wasn't painful exactly. Just... dense. Heavy with something I couldn't name.
I blinked.
Still alive.
Still here.
Miss Kaur was sitting beside the bed again, flipping through a tiny notebook filled with weird symbols. When she noticed me awake, she didn't smile or gasp dramatically like they do in the movies. She just exhaled slowly, like, "Alright, finally."
"You're awake again," she said. "This time it stuck."
I sat up groggily, realizing we were still in that room. The one that smelled like herbs and firewood. The mirror with Sallos in it was still covered with that thick cloth in the corner, like a sleeping ghost we were pretending didn't exist.
"How long was I out this time?" I asked.
"Three days," she said. "Your body was… adapting. Reshaping parts of itself."
That explained the dreams. The ones I hadn't even told her about. They were starting to feel like memories, not hallucinations.
"You said I'm changing," I whispered. "Into what?"
She stood up and poured me water, passing it to me. "Not a demon. Not a human. Something in between. A tether."
"Tether?"
"You're the only one who can balance both ends of this curse," she said. "The living and the trapped. The innocent and the damned."
I sipped the water and stayed quiet. It was cold and earthy and tasted like something ancient. But still it smelt sweet and nice, like the soil that smells after the first rain.
Miss Kaur sat back down and pulled out a leather pouch filled with chalk, leaves, and what looked like bone fragments. "We start your training today."
I blinked at her. "I just woke up from dying."
"And you're stronger than before," she said. "We don't have time to waste. That man, our ancestor, is going to start sending more visions. And Sallos is growing restless in the mirror."
I sighed but nodded. Maybe I was tired of being afraid. Now I have decided, I'll lock in so har- oh did I use the term? oops. I hope you got the emotion I tried to express hehe. I thought I'd start getting more mature but i guess the roots are still with me.
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The next few days were hell.
Mentally. Physically. Emotionally.
Miss Kaur didn't go easy on me. She made me recite chants until my throat was dry. She drew symbols on my arms that burned like frost. She showed me how to push my mind out of my body and then yank it back before something else took control.
"You need to learn how to leave and return on command," she said. "Sallos will try to drag your spirit into illusions. You have to be faster."
I didn't ask how she knew that.
I just did what she said.
But the nights were worse.
The dreams were crawling again, long corridors lined with mirrors, endless versions of me crying, screaming, begging to be let out. Sometimes they'd whisper in sync: "He's coming. You're breaking. You're him. You're him. You're-"
I'd always wake up gasping, drenched in sweat, heart hammering like a death drum.
One night, Miss Kaur stayed up with me.
"You dream loud," she said casually, tossing me a fresh towel. "It's always mirrors with you."
"I think I saw him again," I said. "Sallos."
Her eyes didn't blink. "What did he say?"
"Nothing. He just smiled. Like he was waiting."
She didn't answer for a while. Then she looked at me strangely, like she was deciding something.
"I haven't told you everything," she said finally. "About us."
I blinked. "Us?"
She pulled her sleeves up and pointed at a small mark on her arm, barely visible, but shaped like a little flower wrapped in vines.
"You have this too," she said. "But on your back. It shows up only after the curse awakens fully."
"What is it?"
"A blood mark," she said. "It appears in descendants of the original curse."
My stomach dropped. "So… we're related?"
She nodded slowly. "Distantly. I'm not your sister. But… I guess I always felt like one."
I stayed quiet.
She stood, walked to the window, and spoke without turning back.
"I knew you were the seventh when I first saw you in the school records. Something in me just… knew. But I didn't think I'd feel this attached to you. Not like this."
I looked down at my hands.
"You think of me like a brother," I said, half a question.
"I don't just think it," she replied. "I feel it. I would kill for you, Ojas. And I'd die for you too. Because if we don't break this curse… it starts all over again. I'm not letting that happen. Not to you."
I swallowed hard.
I wanted to say thank you. Or that I felt the same. But the words didn't come out. Instead, I stood up and hugged her. Not like some dramatic movie hug. Just enough. Enough to say I got it. That I was in this now. That maybe, just maybe, I wasn't alone in this creepy, cursed nightmare. She hugged me back. Then stepped away and clapped her hands.
"Alright, that's enough trauma bonding. Back to training. You're way behind on your sigil drawing."
I groaned.
But I picked up the chalk anyway. Because this wasn't just for me, it was also for Miss Kaur who always does everything just to protect me and keep me away from troubles…she's the one who saved me from the death that our ancestor was forcing on me. I knew it, i should have always followed Miss kaur. That man felt fishy.
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Later that night, I stood outside the cabin alone, staring at the moon. My chest still ached, but not from the pain. It was for a purpose. Miss Kaur came up beside me, holding a flask of that bitter tea I hated. Agh but I had no choice to deny it really so I just accepted my fate.
"You'll grow into this," she said.
"I already am," I replied.
She smiled slightly. "Good. Because soon… we'll have to face the mirror again."
I looked toward it, back inside the cabin. The cloth still covered it. But I could feel him in there. His green glowing silhouette inside the mirror, wearing an armour.
Watching.
Waiting.
Not just for me to break. But maybe… to become something he wants, but I won't let myself get out of control. I'll fight sallos, even if it costs me my mental health and life.
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