Ch. 77: The Curse That Binds
Talos had stormed off after her terse exchange with Hephaestus, her words sharp and cold, but her steps uncertain. I could see the tension in her shoulders, the way she carried herself— like someone holding onto an invisible burden far too heavy for her.
For a while, I let her be. She wasn’t one to be pushed, and I wasn’t exactly the comforting type. But something was shifting. I could feel it in the air, like the electric charge before a storm.
“Talos,” I called, my voice echoing against the stone walls as I finally caught up to her. She didn’t stop, her pace quickening. I matched her step, walking in silence for a moment before adding, “Running from this won’t solve anything.” Especially when we need you to make Hephestus comply.
She paused, her fingers curling into fists. “And what exactly do you think I’m running from, Hades?”
I leaned against the wall, watching her closely. She was biting back something, a storm of thoughts behind her eyes. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “But whatever it is, you’re not facing it.”
Talos turned to me, her eyes fierce but filled with a flicker of something else. “You think you know me so well, don’t you? Like I’m just another piece in your game, another soul you can figure out and categorize.”
She was pushing me away, that much was clear, but the desperation in her voice was palpable. I stepped forward, my voice softening. “I don’t know you. Not fully. But I want to.”
She blinked, taken aback by my words, her guard dropping for just a second. “Why?” she whispered. “Why do you care?”
I didn’t have an answer, not one that would make sense even to me. Something about her was… different. Maybe it was her defiance, the way she wasn’t afraid to challenge even a god like me. Or maybe it was the fact that, like me, she was searching for something— an answer, a resolution, a way out.
“Because I see a part of myself in you,” I finally said. “We’re both trapped in this mess, cursed in ways we can’t even fully understand.”
Her expression hardened again, but I could see the cracks forming in her defenses. “Cursed?” she scoffed. “You have no idea what I’ve been through.”
“Then tell me.” I said, serious etched in my voice.
The silence stretched between us, heavy and thick. Talos looked away, her fingers trembling slightly. For the first time, I saw vulnerability in her— a crack in the armor she wore so tightly.
“I’m not like you,” she muttered, her voice low. “I’m not cursed… I’m broken. I’m just someonr who wants to have clarity with the world.”
Before I could respond, a sudden pulse of energy shot through her body. Talos stumbled back, clutching her chest as if something had gripped her heart. I rushed forward, catching her before she fell.
Her skin was growing cold, and I could feel it— the unmistakable essence of a curse, it was similar to what I felt from Aphrodite and Hephestus. It was creeping through her, slow but deliberate, winding its way into her very soul.
The dark marks started to form like strings on her forehead and thicker and they oiled longer.
“No…” she gasped, her eyes wide with fear. “No, this can’t be happening. I’m not one of them.”
“You’re not,” I said, trying to steady her, though I wasn’t even sure what was happening. The curse was familiar, yet different, ancient and powerful. “But something’s happening, Talos. You need to fight it.”
She gritted her teeth, her body trembling as the curse continued to spread. The black veins of amber seemed to pulse in rhythm with the marks appearing on her skin, dark tendrils crawling up her forehead, wrapping around her like chains.
“I don’t want this!” she cried out, her voice cracking. “I can’t… I can’t be cursed. I’m just… I’m just me!” I have never seen her so afraid before, I never thought it was possible either but she was clutching so tight to me I felt my cloth would be torn apart.
But curses don’t care about what we want. They latch on to our deepest fears, our darkest desires, and they twist us into something else, something unrecognizable. That I belived was the true essence of a curse.
Her eyes met mine, desperate and filled with pain. “Hades… help me.”
I didn’t know what to do. All my knowledge of the underworld, of curses and death, felt useless here. But I couldn’t just stand by and watch her be consumed.
I knelt beside her, my hand reaching for hers. “You’re stronger than this,” I said quietly. “This curse— whatever it is— doesn’t define you. You define it. Now conquer it.”
It was easier said than done but if anyone would be able to figure it out, it would undoubtedly be her.
Her breath hitched, her body shaking as the curse coiled tighter around her. “How do you know that?” she whispered.
“Because I’ve seen it before.” I could still remember Aphrodite, her beauty masking the emptiness inside, her curse making her the embodiment of love but unable to feel it. I saw it in Hephaestus too, his deformed body a result of his own power. “Stop talking and focus dammit.”
For a moment, her breathing steadied, the dark tendrils slowing their advance. She closed her eyes, focusing, fighting against whatever was threatening to take her over. I held her hand tighter, willing my own strength into her.
Then, suddenly, the curse surged again, but this time it was different. The black marks on her skin began to glow faintly, almost like molten metal. It reminded me of the way Hephaestus’s forge burned, bright and intense. Talos’s body was no longer rejecting the curse— it was absorbing it.
A low growl escaped her throat, and for a terrifying moment, I thought I’d lost her to whatever dark force had taken hold. But then her eyes opened, and they were glowing.
“Hades…” she whispered, her voice calm but laced with something unfamiliar. “I… I think I know what this is.”
She stood up slowly, the curse still swirling around her forehead, but it was no longer acting on its own. It was a part of her now.
“I’m not broken,” she said softly, more to herself than to me. “I’m cursed.”
Her eyes met mine, and in that moment, something shifted between us. She wasn’t the same Talos I’d known before. There was a power in her now, a strength that had been hidden beneath the surface, waiting to be unleashed.
“You were right,” she said, stepping closer to me. “We’re both trapped in this… but maybe we can find a way out. Together.”
Her hand brushed against mine, a small, tentative gesture that sent a strange warmth through me. For the first time in centuries, I felt… something. Something more than the cold emptiness that had defined me for so long.
But before I could respond, the ground beneath us trembled, and I could tell something was happening back at the workshop.
I wonder if Talos contracted the curse from Hephestus or being in close proximity with him caused it to manifest. I felt I had progressed one step further in solving this mystery.
But what could Talos’ curse be….?
If I revive a magic castle I will mass release 10 chapters
