Now this is interesting, I murmur to myself as I float in Nicholas’ Core space. Not his internal matrix, though that is interesting in itself. Though noticeably similar with an intricate mandala-like weave around the brilliantly-shining golden Core, it’s significantly more extensive than my own, and the Skills that he possesses aren’t all the same. I’m increasingly convinced based on the weave’s intricacy that he has to be above level fifty.

  But as fascinating as the matrix and the implications it holds for my future development might be, there’s something that draws more of my attention: its setting.

  I’ve seen the blackness of the Core space in two states – luminous in a healthy space, and void-black after soul damage or Pure Energy poisoning. But I’ve never seen it threaded through with malevolently glinting red light.

  This must be the curse, I comment to myself, admitting that it does rather resemble a network of blood vessels. It even throbs rhythmically, the red light brightening and dimming in waves.

  I draw myself out of Nicholas’ Core space and search through his body again. I’ve already closely examined his physical form and found nothing that indicated a problem. But with the infection of his Core space in mind, I search for traces of that red light anchored in the tactile.

  Eventually, I open my eyes. As soon as I shift, two pairs of eyes fix themselves upon me expectantly.

  “I found it,” I say simply. Nicholas’ shoulders drop slightly, a breath escaping him.

  “Really?” Jermaine asks, fascination in his voice. “What did you see?”

  “First, let me see if I’ve got the symptoms correct,” I request. “It could be that I’ve mistaken something else for the curse.” I turn to Nicholas who is watching me intently. “You’ve already mentioned reduced lifespan. Do you find that you tire sooner than you should with your points in stamina? That it takes longer to recover your stamina with age? The same with your health pool? That Skills that draw on mana are easy but those that draw from stamina or health rapidly deplete your resources?”

  “Yes,” Nicholas nods sharply, his mouth set in a hard line. “All but the last. Skills that use mana are also increasingly difficult to draw upon. Those that are based primarily on my Bonds or attributes are unaffected, however. If I did not have the grimoires of my ancestors as reference, I might have thought that it was just due to age.”

  “And the same was true of your father?”

  “It was. Though I believe it hit him more severely. What did you find?” he asks impatiently.

  “An infection,” I tell him bluntly, describing the malevolent red light in his Core space. “Normally I would expect it to hit your Willpower, but what I felt during our Battle implies that it isn't compromised, or if so, only in limited ways. Which is why I went searching for signs in your body.”

  “And?” Nicholas demands impatiently.

  “I found traces of the curse everywhere,” I tell him bluntly.

  “Really?” Jermaine exclaims, his eyebrows climbing up his forehead. “Lord Nicholas has been investigated by the best healers of this country and they have found nothing. Do you mean to say that you are more capable than them?” In a different tone and from someone else, his words would be a challenge. But Jermaine is merely honestly incredulous. And I can understand why.

  The truth is that I don’t pretend to be more capable or knowledgeable than people who have spent years studying magical healing – spending time with Jermaine would have cleared up that delusion very quickly if I had it. But Nicholas is currently my Dominate Bonded, and that is probably what makes all the difference.

  While Bound, his magic is incapable of fighting me, however, the curse is not his magic, which makes it far more obvious to me than it would be to anyone else. And now I know what I’m looking for, it sticks out.

  But I’m not sure if Nicholas wants to reveal his current status as my Bonded even to his healer, so I decide not to allude to it.

  “It was very subtle,” I say instead. “And I didn’t sense it when I started by scanning his body. It was only when I saw what was happening to his Core space that I was able to trace its effects backwards.”

  “I see,” Jermaine muses thoughtfully. “I will have to work harder to see these ‘Core spaces’ you have spoken about. It seems we are missing a great deal in not being capable of accessing them. Perhaps you could help me–”

  Nicholas interrupts impatiently.

  “Speak on such matters later if you wish. For now I would very much like to know if, having identified the problem, you are able to do anything about it.” His tone is sharp; his expression blank. But I don’t need a direct link to his emotions to know that he’s wound tightly inside.

  “I need to test some things,” I answer him, seeing the lines at the corners of his mouth tighten a little. But I honestly need to experiment before I can answer his question.

  Truthfully, though, I’m not sure where to start. This situation is new to me. I’m more used to a Core space not being luminous enough than being too much so. Hopefully the luminosity of Nicholas’ Core space indicates that the blood curse doesn’t have an effect on the soul. That would be complicated – I had to learn to do Deep Meditation before I could heal my own soul. For someone like Nicholas who hasn’t even seen his Core space and doesn’t have Meditation, that’s probably impossible at this point.

  Diving back into Nicholas’ body, I continue my investigations. I try out a few ideas, becoming more and more familiar with the curse as I do so.

  Eventually, I come to the conclusion that we’ll have to approach it directly in his Core space. I can’t be certain, but I suspect that my comparison of the curse to an infection is more accurate than I realised it was at the time. The effects in Nicholas’ body that leech away at his stamina and health regeneration are symptoms, not the cause. Which may be why nothing else he’s tried has worked – if they were merely dealing with his tiredness or increasing fragility, their effects would be limited.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  That’s not to say that the treatments were necessarily useless – I suspect that anything that beats back the progression of the curse gives Nicholas a bit more time. Because, as his father experienced, this curse is both degenerative – and terminal.

  I reveal these findings to the lord and his healer, their eyes displaying increased concern as I continue.

  “How long do I have?” Nicholas asks, his tone emotionless, his eyes bleak. He knew the prognosis wasn’t likely to be good – had indicated he was aware his lifespan might be curtailed. But it’s a different thing to be told it unequivocally.

  “Without seeing your status – or knowing exactly how the infection has progressed to this point, I cannot give anything like an accurate prediction,” I reply, shaking my head.

  You have not looked? Nicholas asks me silently, surprise curling through his words.

  I would not without your permission, I reply to him, just as privately. “Even with that,” I continue aloud, “I’d rather not estimate how much time you have. I just don’t have enough information and I’ve never seen something like this before. On the one hand, you might use treatments to beat back the grip it has on your system and extend your life for decades. On the other, its progression might speed up the more of your system it has compromised, giving you less time than I think.”

  Nicholas slumps back a little.

  “So we are no further ahead than we were,” he comments with a resigned air. Jermaine puts a hand on his shoulder but he shrugs it off immediately.

  “I wouldn’t say that.” I put an encouraging note in my voice. “I know from experience that the Core space is not immutable. Our actions affect it. There may be a way of uprooting this infection.”

  “But you depart in just a few days,” Nicholas points out in frustration. “I don’t have the impression that this will be something you can solve in that time.”

  “No,” I agree. “But you have a healer – if I can teach Jermaine what is the curse and what isn’t, then he can try to limit its effects. And if I can teach you to access your own Core space, then perhaps you can do something about it.”

  Jermaine nods firmly – he’s completely on board with my plan. As for Nicholas, he looks contemplative for a long moment. Then he nods slowly.

  “I suppose that anything is more than nothing. Let us try. Perhaps you can teach me the Skills I need.”

  “Quite possible,” I agree. “If those are even necessary.” After all, many samurans learned to access and edit their Core spaces without needing to learn Meditation or Energy Manipulation. “Let’s see what we can do.”

  *****

  By the time the sun sets and we stop for the night, we’ve made some progress. After briefly stopping in order to eat dinner and take a break – I, for one, desperately needed it – we continue working together, seeing a night of lost sleep as a worthy price to pay for the cause, even as we see few actual advancements.

  It only takes Jermaine a few hours to be able to consistently identify the curse effects on Nicholas’ magic. Once he’s able to differentiate the different energies, learning to eliminate them and heal their effects is relatively easy. Unsurprisingly, the healer who serves the House of Titanbend is highly accomplished. He does reach a limit in what he can do, but that is far more than he used to be capable of.

  Helping Nicholas reach his own Core space is what takes the most time. He seems to have a blockage – a mental one, I suspect, as I don’t remember it being so difficult for myself when I first entered there. But the interference of decades of ‘knowing’ what’s possible and what’s not makes it difficult for Nicholas to just relax into himself. Or perhaps it’s the perceived loss of control that limits him.

  However, thanks to a good deal of experience with leading people into their Core spaces and Nicholas’ own dogged determination, I’m finally able to get him there a little before dawn breaks.

  It’s beautiful, he murmurs to me, our Bond functioning perfectly even in the Core space. As with previous people I’ve investigated in this way, I can’t see him anywhere – I guess because he is the Core space. On the other hand, I know that I tend to look like a glowing light when I’m in someone else’s Core space – probably because I’m the intruder.

  They always are, I agree. Because, honestly, big or small, and whatever colour they end up being – Nicholas’ are bronze, even if his Core is golden – internal matrices are always stunning.

  That is the infection? Nicholas asks and I sense his attention turning to the web of malevolent energy that encircles his entire Core space. Bronze threads do feed through it and out the other side, but they are affected – the reason for why his mana regeneration is more limited, I guess. I also theorise that his progress to the next level is slowed, but given how many factors govern that, it would be hard to know for sure.

  It is, I confirm. Nicholas focuses closer on a section and I drift towards it.

  What can I do about this? he asks, feeling lost.

  I hesitate.

  I’m not certain, I admit. While waiting for you to join me here, I’ve investigated it further. It’s a leech, drawing energy hungrily from your body to feed its growth here – which in turn means more infection of your body. Dealing with the symptoms has to slow down its growth, but to truly be rid of it, you must remove its influence here. And in this space, Energy is king.

  I briefly relate what I did to heal my own Core space – how I controlled beads of Energy entering my system to heal my Core, and then how I drew Energy out of my Core to regrow the threads that had been destroyed by the Pure Energy. I even tell him about Raven’s acidic mana, and how it had clung to my internal matrix, corroding and destroying it until I burnt away its influence with my fire affinity mana.

  But I have no elemental affinity mana, Nicholas sighs, disheartened.

  Can you borrow abilities from your Bonded? I question. The lord’s emotions shift from desolation to thoughtfulness.

  I can… he answers, trailing off.

  Then perhaps that’s a good place to start, I encourage him. But for now, I think that we both need to rest.

  That is a good idea, Nicholas admits. We will probably be setting off shortly.

  I agree, then pull out of his Core space. Settling back in my physical body after so long spent in Meditation is a little odd as always – like putting on clothes that are slightly too tight in places.

  Nicholas’ eyes are still closed and his body has a sort of…absent feel to it – more like someone in a coma than in a deep sleep. I’m starting to get worried that he’s lost his way back when his chest inflates in a deeper breath and his eyelids flutter open.

  He winces and raises a hand to his head, squinting a bit in the early morning light. Dawn has indeed come.

  “Headache?” I ask solicitously.

  “Indeed,” Nicholas grunts in agreement.

  I pull out a flask of water and hand it over. He drinks deeply, letting out a quiet breath of relief before handing it back. “Thank you,” he tells me. “I didn’t realise how thirsty I was,” he admits, then grimaces as his stomach growls a little. Mine rumbles in response and we share a wry grin.

  “Come on – we can do more of this later.” Though I’m going to ask if he’s fine with some of my other Bonded joining us – I feel a bit guilty that they had to find other arrangements yesterday when this wagon was meant to be for them. “But for now, breakfast?”

  Nicholas nods firmly.

  “Breakfast,” he agrees.

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