Morcster Chef Book 3- Chapter 29 (Patreon)

“Ah, that’s rich. When was the last time I was threatened?” Vell wondered aloud. “Was it you, Arek? I believe it was. How quaint. Get that pathetic look off your face, orc. I’m not going to hurt your aggressive little friend. I hold to the promises I make. Unlike you.”

Arek gritted his teeth. “Don’t get started on me. Just do what we agreed on.”

Vell flicked his fingerers. Metal clattered above them as an avalanche of parts crashed through a stairwell in the back of the room and washed over to them like a sea of steel. It rose up, forming into a long table.

“Lie down,” Vell said, nodding to Arek. “This will be easier if you are prone.”

Arek stood and walked over to the table. He sat down, swinging his legs over it, and laid back on it. The metal was cold and uncomfortable, but he hardly expected any better from Vell.

“Good. Don’t move. I can’t put you asleep for this,” Vell said. “I need to see your psyche while you’re awake.”

He pressed a hand into Arek’s head, wrapping his fingers around the top of the orc’s skull. Arek tensed, preparing for a rush of pain, but nothing came. The two of them remained there for several minutes. Then, to Arek’s surprise, Vell lifted his hand.

The mage’s lips pressed together and his face was troubled. He paced back to his desk, sitting down and jotting several things down on the papers.

“What did you find?” Arek asked, sitting up.

“Nothing definitive. Move. I need to examine the girl.”

Arek stepped out of the way and gave Ming a worried glance, but she just shrugged and grinned as she hopped onto the table and laid down. “Do you have a pillow?”

“No.”

Vell grabbed his notes and strode over to Ming, placing his hand against her head and closing his eyes. Arek repressed the desire to pace around the room and risk distracting Vell. Instead, he sat back down on his chair and watched the mages, ready to jump into action at the slightest sign of trouble.

Nearly half an hour passed before Vell finally pulled his hand away. If anything, he looked even more agitated. His quill scribbled across the paper and he shook his head, muttering to himself.

“What is it?” Ming asked, starting to sit up.

“I’m not done,” Vell said. “Down.”

He pushed her back onto the table with a hand and put his hand on her head. Ming licked his palm and he cursed, yanking his hand back. She blinked innocently.

“No. Bad,” Vell said sternly. “Don’t do that.”

Arek’s eye twitched. Was he talking to a dog?

Ming winked at Arek, then laid back down. Vell resumed his work, leaving Arek sitting baffled in his chair. Evidently, each of the mages was pretty confident they were the one in control. Arek was starting to think everyone in the room was just insane.

Almost ten minutes later, Vell raised his hand and snatched his notes, sitting back down at his spot behind the table. He shoved the piles of books over the edge to make more room and started to write.

Ming and Arek watched him work for a while. Then Ming hopped down from the table and peered over his shoulder.

“You suck at writing.”

“They are runes,” Vell said. “Not common.”

“Oh. If they’re not common, are they rare? Do you collect rare runes?”

“No, I meant I’m not writing in the common language, not that the runes – never mind,” Vell said, letting out a sigh. He studied his work for a moment, then leaned back.

“Well?” Ming asked. “Am I awesome?”

“Yes,” Vell said, nearly making Arek choke on his own saliva. “You are. What in the world is that magical energy you’ve got? That shouldn’t be possible. You’ve got more than any mage your age has any right to have.”

“I eat lots.”

“That is not an explanation.”

Ming shrugged. “You got any food here?”

“If you know what’s good for you, you won’t let her anywhere near your food,” Arek warned. “She won’t leave anything behind.”

“I – just sit down,” Vell said, rubbing his forehead. “Is this all just a joke to you?”

“I’m always serious about food,” Ming said, crossing her arms.

“As am I,” Arek said. “But, just for the sake of the matter at hand, can you share what you learned?”

Vell gathered his papers and tapped them as if Arek and Ming were supposed to be able to understand what he’d written on them. “I have deduced some information on the nature of the curse. It wasn’t hard to find at all, but I believe it was warped in both of you. Unique circumstances made the curse fail to properly take hold in your bodies.”

“So we broke it?” Ming asked.

“It was never meant for an orc, so it just didn’t work properly on Arek,” Vell said, pointing at Arek with his quill. “Your battle rage meshed with it, growing stronger and strengthening you in the process.”

He moved his hand to point at Ming.

“But you broke it. Your body consumes energy at an astounding rate. You’re like a black hole. If you didn’t have such an obscenely large pool of magic, you would never have been born. Even still, over eighty percent of your magic is being drained away just to support you.”

Ming’s eyes widened. “Wait, you mean I have even more magic than I thought?”

“You might as well pretend it doesn’t exist,” Vell said, waving his hand. “Did you not hear anything I just said? Your body is consuming it. Be happy with the amount you already have, and let the rest of the world be thankful you didn’t actually gain access to all of it.”

“As interesting as this is, what does it have to do with the Blessed One curse?” Arek asked. He rose, unable to control himself any further, and started to pace back and forth.

“The girl’s body consumed a huge portion of the curse before it could take hold,” Vell said, shaking his head. Arek nearly tripped as he realized that there was admiration in Vell’s tone. “You destroyed the curse as it tried to take hold in you. That’s why there are runes floating around – they aren’t just in your eyes. They’re all over the inside of your body. The curse broke, and they essentially spilled out.”

Ming rubbed her chin. “So curses are kind of like bean bags?”

“No, but that was the best explanation I could think of for someone as simple as you,” Vell replied. “Would you prefer an explanation at my level?”

“No, that sounds stuffy. Continue, old dude. I ate the curse. What’s that mean?”

“It means,” Vell said, drawing a slow breath to keep himself under control. “You’re not cursed at all, aside from some cosmetic changes. Even as we talk, your body is slowly consuming the curse. In a few months, it’ll be gone entirely.”

“That’s good,” Arek said with a sigh of relief.

“More than good,” Vell corrected. “You see, curses are generally wrapped in a way so that someone peering in would be unable to determine how they function. If you know how something works, you can break it.”

Arek’s eyes widened as he realized what Vell was getting at, and he stopped pacing. “But because Ming’s got runes spilled everywhere, you can decode the curse?”

“To a degree,” Vell said, nodding. “There’s a slight problem in that her runes are all out of order. They’ve just been floating around, after all. Still, there’s enough information here for me to start getting deeper into how this works. If the two of you sit silent for an hour, I should be able to have more information shortly.”

Arek glanced at Ming. They both nodded, and Arek made his way back over to a chair and sat down. He drummed his fingers on his knees, staring up at the ceiling while Vell worked. It felt like the old mage was taking forever, but it was truly only a little more than half an hour when he finally glanced up again, a pensive look on his face.

Vell strode over to Arek and put a hand on his head, not even directing him to a table. The orc froze, not daring to budge until Vell lifted his hand and nodded to himself. He walked back to his side of the desk and jotted several more things down.

“Okay,” Vell said. “What a brilliant curse. The makers were truly talented.”

“You decoded it?” Arek asked.

“I did. I knew your battle rage warped the curse, but I was unsure of its exact purpose. Now, even though you’ve done some damage to it, I believe I’ve got an understanding. Like you said, the curse will draw you to Dortusk in a few weeks. It also draws you to fight other Blessed people, and the curse will steal power from the loser and give it to the winner.”

“Why?” Arek asked. “And why force us to Dortusk?”

“Seriously? It’s so obvious,” Vell said, shaking his head in disappointment. “To create the most powerful mage, of course. Think about it – all the powers of hundreds of cursed people, all put into one man after being drawn together. They would be unstoppable. Likely stronger than most A rank mages.”

Arek cursed. “Well, did you find anything else out? A way to break the curse?”

Vell set his quill down and leaned back. “Of course I found more. Who do you think I am? The curse is incredibly clever, like I mentioned. It’s tied itself to your soul. It cannot be broken. It will just have to wear off naturally.”

“It wears off?” Arek asked.

“All curses wear off,” Vell replied with a snort. “Unfortunately, this one will not give for at least a few months. You don’t have that long.”

“I see,” Arek said, clenching his hands.

“I’m not done,” Vell said. “While I cannot break the curse, I can modify it. You see, it seems to function off of emotion. That’s why your battle rage got caught up in it. When you see someone else that is cursed, it artificially heightens your subconscious emotions to make you hate them until your body physically cannot avoid trying to kill them. Even if you logically know you don’t want to fight, it just won’t matter.”

Ming picked her nose. She raised an eyebrow at Vell and the older mage sighed.

“You are the worst crowd I’ve ever revealed something to. I hate both of you. My work is wasted on your dull, stupid minds. While I can’t change the curse completely, I can reduce how strong it affects you, Arek. By modifying which emotions it targets and trying to decrease the strength that it raises them to, it should become manageable.”

“That would be brilliant,” Arek said. “But… what can we do about the other Blessed people? You can’t fix them all, can you? They’re in Dortusk. And, if nobody stops them, the Howlers will probably line things up so that their own mage ends up with all that power.”

“That would indeed be problematic,” Vell agreed. “Which is why I will introduce a spreading vector to your curse. If you can get your blood on another cursed person, it will infect them and modify their curse to be like yours. They won’t be forced to fight.”

“That’s incredible!” Ming exclaimed. “Could you just make them really hungry? Nobody wants to fight when they’re hungry.”

“I think that’s just you,” Vell said wearily. “But hunger and anger do share similar components. When you’re hungry, anger is closer to the surface. That might not be a bad path to use, actually.”

“I know. I’m a genius.”

“There are a lot of words for you,” Vell said wearily. “That is not one of them. Now shut up. Arek, get on the table. If the little creature talks while I’m working and I turn your mind into mush, it’ll be her fault.”

Ming swallowed and pressed her lips together while Arek walked back over to the table and laid down. Vell put both of his hands on the orc’s head and grinned down at him.

“This might hurt a little.”

It did.

When Arek awoke, his head was ringing. He scrunched his eyes together, groaning. It felt like someone had spent an hour smacking his skull with a metal spoon.

“Are you okay?”

That was Ming. At least, Arek was pretty sure it was Ming. Her voice sounded a little distant and off pitch.

“Give him a little more. Meddling with the mind is never a simple procedure,” Vell said. “If any other had done it, it is unlikely that he would even be awake right now. He’d probably be asleep for the next week.”

“Wow, you must have a lot of practice,” Ming said.

“Thousands of hours – and people. Animals too,” Vell replied proudly. “I have honed my craft to perfection.”

“Sounds boring. I’d rather just eat.”

Arek chuckled, allowing his eyes to open as the pain pulled away even further. His head still felt awful, but it didn’t hurt to think. He slowly sat up, looking around the room. He had no way to tell how much time had passed since Vell had started working on him, but it felt like it had been hours.

“Did it work?”

“Of course it did,” Vell said dryly. “I do not fail, and you are a familiar canvas. The curse is modified and prepared to spread.”

“Thank you, Vell,” Arek said, carefully climbing off the table. He grabbed it as the world spun, holding on until he was steady once more. “If you just kept putting your talents to use for things like this, you could genuinely do a lot of good for the world.”

Vell narrowed his eyes. “What a waste that would be. I do not care for the world, Arek. I care for my projects. People are replaceable, but my art is not. I do, however, have issue with the Howlers attempting to threaten me. Now, I believe our bargain is finished. You will deliver this curse, so that I may them fall for wasting my time.”

He snapped his fingers, summoning a blue portal at the end of the room.

“Thanks, old guy,” Ming said. She stuck a hand into her bag of colding and pulled out a frozen meat pie, tossing it onto the table in front of Vell. “That’s my thank you. Don’t eat it too fast, you’ll hurt your teeth.”

Arek walked to join her and Ming strode through the portal, vanishing. Before Arek could follow her, Vell put a hand on his shoulder.

“What is it?” Arek asked suspiciously. He wasn’t too far from the portal, and he was pretty sure he could dive through it before Vell could stop him.

“What, can’t old friends exchange gifts?” Vell asked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small black badge. “I got this while you were asleep.”

The orc’s eyes narrowed. “What is it?”

“Power,” Vell replied. “You are weak now, and I would hate to see all my work wasted early.”

“I know what happened the last time I took your power, Vell. I don’t want it.”

Vell laughed, shaking his head. “That was you, Arek. I simply gave you a means to use it. Is a sword evil?”

“We both know that isn’t the case,” Arek growled. “You made me into that monster.”

“You’re heading into the territory of a guild with C and B rank mages. Do you really think you can fight them on your own? You talk big now, but you’ll become a monster again to protect your friends. Or am I wrong?”

Arek stared at the black badge in Vell’s hand, his hands clenched.

“It’s up to you, Arek. Just remember the consequences of refusal in a month, when you’re looking into the dead eyes of that girl, knowing that you could have had the strength to protect her, but you refused it out of a sense of pathetic honor.”

The orc locked eyes with the man.

“So, tell me,” Vell said, his grin widening. “What kind of monster are you? I’ve seen you abandon one group already. Will you do it again?”

Arek grabbed the badge and shoved it into a pocket. Then he spun, striding through the portal and vanishing into he blue light. As it swallowed him, he couldn’t help but feel like he’d just made a huge mistake.

“Arek!” Malissa exclaimed as soon as he stepped back into the room. Her daggers were in her hands and Belmont stood beside her, his staff raised defensively. The portal snapped shut behind the orc.

“I’m sorry,” Arek said, rubbing his forehead. “I didn’t expect him to literally kidnap me. We were only supposed to talk. That could have gone incredibly poorly.”

“It’s fine,” Ming said, giving the other members of the Happy Sunflowers a thumbs up. “He was too scared of me to try anything.”

Belmont pressed his lips together. “I’m not going to address how dangerous that was. Who were you talking with, Arek?”

“Vell,” Arek replied. “He’s a master of runes and enchanting, so I thought he might know something about the curse.”

“And you ignored the fact that he was a psychopath that did terrible things to you for years?”

“Belmont,” Malissa said, the daggers vanishing as she put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. “Don’t. Arek had no way to know Vell would abduct him and Ming. Honestly, it does sound like Vell would probably know what he was doing in this particular situation.”

Belmont heaved a sigh. “You don’t have to do all this yourself, Arek. We’re here for you. You could have at least told us.”

“I know,” Arek said. “I’m sorry. I truly didn’t think he’d do anything more than talk, although I suppose that was just naïve of me.”

“Leave being naïve to me,” Ming said, patting her chest. “I’m very good at it. That’s what Belmont says, at least.”

“And I’m right,” Belmont said irritably. “Did you at least learn anything useful, Arek?”

“More than learn.” A flicker of a grin passed over Arek’s face. “Let’s get out of here. Then we’ll talk – but I’ve got something we can finally use against the Howlers.”

The Happy Sunflowers left the small Adventurer’s Guild outpost and made their way over to the edge of town. They sat down in the grass, far away enough that they wouldn’t get any accidental eavesdroppers.

“Vell figured out the curse,” Arek said. “It magnifies subconscious emotions or something like that. I didn’t entirely understand exactly how it functions, but the main purpose is to fill you with so much anger at your opponent that your body has no choice but to fight.”

“So we weren’t too far off,” Belmont said, rubbing his chin. “You look pleased, though. Did he find a way to cure it?”

“Essentially,” Arek replied. “First, Ming is apparently completely safe. She literally ate the curse.”

“That does fit, doesn’t it?” Belmont burst into uncharacteristic laughter. He shook his head, his features growing serious once more. “But what about you?”

“He couldn’t completely remove the curse. It’s too integrated into me – but it’ll wear off in a few months.”

“Too late,” Belmont growled. “We’ve got weeks before you’re dragged to Dortusk.”

“Right,” Arek said with a nod. “Which is why he modified it instead. Instead of making me try to kill other Blessed people, I’ll instead just get hungry. And he made one more change too – if I can get my blood on someone that’s cursed, I’ll change their curse to work like mine.”

“So you can effectively nullify the curse?” Malissa asked, her eyes lighting up. “That’s brilliant! We could completely destroy the Howler’s control of all the Blessed Ones.”

“Hold on.” Belmont shook his head. “It’s not that simple. It’s great that we’ve neutered Arek’s curse, but getting his blood on other cursed people isn’t some simple task. Some of the adventurers that are infected are sure to be powerful.”

“More than just powerful if they’ve killed other Blessed people,” Ming piped up. “Arek’s ugly friend said they could get even stronger than B rank mages if nobody stopped the Howlers.”

“We don’t stand a chance against someone as powerful as that,” Belmont said, pounding a hand into the grass. “Even if we’re fighting together versus a group of battle crazed idiots, someone at B rank will wipe the floor with us.”

“We took Magus on pretty well that one time,” Ming said, scratching her chin. “He’s B rank.”

“He wasn’t being serious.” Belmont shook his head. “And, on top of that, we lost pretty hard. If he’d gone all out, we would have all been dead.”

“What about cooking?” Malissa asked, suppressing a grimace. “We could put his blood into food and try to serve it.”

Arek shuddered. “I… really hate that idea. Sorry, Malissa. Contaminating food is a cardinal sin to me. It’s just wrong, especially with my own blood. Almost any other alternative would be better.”

“Yeah,” Malissa muttered. “It’s pretty disgusting to me too. Forget about it. Any other thoughts?”

“Is it really that much worse than stabbing them?” Ming asked, drawing an idle circle in the grass with a finger and frowning. “But we’re acting as if we’re alone. Why don’t we just get some help?”

“From whom?” Arek asked. “It won’t be long until I have to go to Dortusk. We don’t know anybody there, and everyone else has their own things they need to do.”

“Well, most of the other Blessed people aren’t going to want to be in Dortusk either,” Ming said, crossing her arms. “Let’s just save someone strong and have them help us.”

Belmont cocked his head to the side. “That would work if they’ve actually got any interest in aiding anybody, but relying on someone else’s kindness is a very risky plan. Also – don’t forget that they’ll still attack Arek on sight.”

“Oh,” Ming said, her face falling. “I forgot about that. I thought they wouldn’t have to because his curse got changed.”

“Dangerous thing to bet on,” Belmont said. “No, we should assume Arek’s curse is entirely unchanged until we have undeniable proof that something about it functions differently.”

“Perhaps we should test exactly how much of the curse has been reduced,” Arek said. “I don’t know if my battle rage is back to normal or what else might have changed after Vell’s work.”

Malissa nodded. “Maybe we should try to find some monsters to fight on the way over to Dortusk.”

“You want to go there early?” Arek asked. “Isn’t that exactly what Magus told us not to do?”

“Well, we’ll let him know what we’re doing first,” Malissa said defensively, raising her hands. “But I think it’s a good idea. If we arrive on our own terms, we’ll have a lot more room to maneuver and try to find a way into the city. Getting forced to walk there by the curse might take us along a path that’s more obvious.”

“That’s a good thought,” Belmont said with a slow nod. “I back it up. We should scout the area out at the very least. And testing your battle rage would also be a wise move. What do you think, Arek?”

The orc considered their words for a few moments. Despite being the only one of them that actually needed to go to Dortusk, the rest of the Happy Sunflowers were all dead set on following him in.

He didn’t even consider asking them to let him go alone again. None of them would take him up, and it would only serve to offend his friends. A tiny grin flickered across Arek’s face. He never could have imagined that Warchief would have friends like this.

“Let’s do it,” Arek said with a nod. “I think it’s the safest for all of us this way.”