Winter Curse: Book One

August 15th

"Well that's completely sloppy of them! They were supposed to wait for us. Okay," Suguru says, realizing this debacle has turned in his favor. "I'm going to go ahead and go see what's going on. You guys don't have to come with me. I'll be brief."

Ingrid opens her mouth to argue but he stops her with a brief kiss.

"You can practice mantras with Satoru while I'm gone, and we'll do something special when I get back."

Giving him a wary look, she sighs and goes to her meditation mat.

"Better not come back in a body bag."

"My least favorite fashion accessory."

Cathedral:

After about 10 minutes of debate, Suguru makes his way down below. Stopping at the first checkpoint and then the next; he assesses both murals in context to each other.

It seems whoever this person is changes personas periodically. I wonder what the catalyst is? A new more powerful body? A natural phenomenon attributed to a technique? And the child! Who is that child? Is it Ingrid? No something about that isn't right, he reasons. A future child or manifestation of this persona?

Continuing to walk, Suguru checks the next couple passageways and finds nothing. Not that he was entirely expecting a veritable gold mine of information.

Ahead is the ravine, and no way across that would not make the archaeologists suspicious. So instead, he moves along the walls of the cavern on his side, and searches for more evidence.

Nothing to the left he sees, except for some broken shards of pottery. He'll leave that for the archaeologists. Moving along his right now, the most he finds is an ancient skull devoid of a body. Picking it up at random, he looks deep into the eye sockets, contemplating this lack of evidence.

Have a seat let us talk...

Did he truly hear that?

Poor little Suguru....

No, he definitely heard that! Looking at the skull closely, it looks like the bones of the forehead have been cut into... like the head had been opened and something alien put in place of the brain....

—--------

"Your own technique? I can't promise that you'll ever develop your own technique, but there are basic Jujutsu skills that sorcerers of every proficiency can learn."

"Like what? What could I potentially learn?"

"Non - innate techniques."

"What are those?"

"Ubiquitous skills. Anyone with enough cursed energy can learn to use them with enough training. Barrier techniques and curtains, mostly. New Shadow Style: Simple Domain and some simple shikigami are summonable by any sorcerer."

"That's it," Ingrid asks miserably. "That's the best I'll get?"

"Any of these techniques can become powerful the more they're practiced and honed by the sorcerer! Our managers can employ barriers so powerful that only chosen people may exit or enter. That's pretty cool," Satoru encourages, seeing Ingrid look a little down. "And if you can figure out a reverse technique, which is NOT easy, you can be a healer."

"So nothing like you or Suguru?"

"Well, mine are inherited and innate. Suguru employs innate techniques. Inherited is obvious, but innate is imprinted on the individual sorcerer and uniquely theirs. Like a fingerprint."

"Well," Ingrid says, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, "One way or the other, I am a help to others, and this is important to me."

Satoru smiles and adapts a lotus position on the mat before her, closing his eyes in relaxation.