The Mysterious Curse

This particular curse pierced his natural resistance striking at the essence of the main source of his skill even though it was intended to drain him to the bare minimum of strength in seconds, but his own will slowed it down except it couldn't stop it from doing its job. Xerxan would lay there as he tried to gather his remaining strength which was proving to difficult as he struggles to get to his knees which seems to be taxing his limits till he adjusts which will take some time. When they helped him up to carry him to the hidden little cavern which would of been really difficult to find even with the directions given to Arasinya days before. The cave still feels the same except now it is just an empty campsite with only the three of them occupying which will be good place for them to rest which is making the grandmother and aunts pissed because somehow their baby sister is blocking their scrying magic from piercing that cave allowing them a safe place to rest. There is a rolled up parchment where the Matron mother rested which turns out to be a map to the quickest route to the house where the sisters were kept at.

The Aunts report back to their mother keeping between the three them what they were about to say " Matron mother Xerxan's drained power seems to be quite unstable as if there was some added unknown that he wasn't aware of himself." They will finish by saying " we will keep watch and try to make sure the power doesn't break free which is our main concern because it is unknown how much more power the container will be able to hold before it breaks from being overloaded." The grandmother nods saying " you are right to be worried if you feel the container is close to its limit you have my permission to temporary to stop the draining process while a new container is formed which may be dangerous because if the container ruptures while he is close to what his strength was before the enchantment drained him will just add to his might." The sisters figure something is up with the curse by their aunts worried expression wondering if they underestimated their brothers physical strength which even they couldn't fathom it themselves.

It took a few days for the three, but they managed to reach the cave according to the directions the matron mother gave Morwen. The two elves would carefully lay down a mat for Xerxan so he can rest for the time being. Arasinya tended to his care while Morwen searched for the parchment that the matron mother hid. The dark elf soon found it in the place the mother rested and it was revealed to be a map leading to the place where the aunts and sisters were. Perhaps the grandmother was there too. Those directions are crucial and must be kept safe in case they run into trouble.

Morwen would then use her magic to try and contact the other sisters and ask about their well being. She had to make sure that her magic can be undetected by the aunts to ensure the success of their mission.

When they arrive Xerxan will say " sorry that I am now a burden instead of an extra set of hands to aid in the search" as he is layed down on the mat obviously feeling ashamed that he is too weak to do anything for himself atm. Xerxan would stubbornly keep trying to move on his own strength while trying to reverse the spell with his own will, but still can barely move while not realizing how frantic his aunts are working to make sure the containers aren't overfilled otherwise the strength would be returned to him.

The grandmother using Morwen's spell to try and contact the sisters says so all three could hear her" bring the weakened boy to my house my daughters have left you markers that even a muff could follow so I can retrain him to utilize the part of him that was ignored which is his mind which is capable of probably rivaling some of the greatest drow wizards." Her image focuses more on her grandson than the others while saying" you wont be able to get in touch with my granddaughters without my permission no matter how hard you try." The image would wave a hand as another map materializes between them showing the marked way to the house then vanishes not giving a sign that she knew of the other map or cared about its existence.

Arasinya would smile as he put a wet cotton patch on his head to relieve some heat off of that last fight and help him recover. She would stroke his hair back to comfort him as she said, "No, Xerxan, you're not a burden to us. You never were. You did what you had to do to stop your mother and get closer to stoping your grandmother. You deserve the rest and recovery now." She would use her own magic to help in his recovery as best as she could in hopes of her friend feeling better soon.

Modern would keep in mind of the information given out to her. Xerxan has to be kept safe and in good condition as best as possible before moving on. If his brain gets "retrained", they will be at a loss. After memorizing the map, she would ask, "May I ask for your permission to speak to them, Grandmother?"

He would relax when the cotton patch is placed on his head as it still cant break through how the curse is rendering him so weak he could barely move which is affecting him mentally which was the intention. The drain lessens a to a tiny drip as his strength is now at the point where they want him, but the moment Arasinya starts to try apply magic to aid in his recovery he starts to thrash around as if her spell is hurting him instead of helping him.

The grandmother will laugh at Morwen asks her permission to speak with her adoptive sisters saying " you should be worried more about what your friend is doing to your adoptive brother as his cries of pain echo most likely causing Arasinya to stop her spell realizing healing magic has a reverse effect on him while the curse is active.

Arasinya had to think fast in figuring out how to get Xerxan to calm down and still heal without hurting him. Already, her healing spell wasn't working against a curse like this...wait a minute. Perhaps for this case because it's darker magic, she had to approach this differently. So Arasinya would try to use the more intense healing spells, the kind that would hurt and feel harmful at first before the soothing of the pain. In addition, she would also add in some natural healing salves since they weren't anything magical.

"Hmph," said Morwen with a smirk when the Grandmother mocks her attempts to contact her sisters. "I'm not worried about her. She's a smart girl after all and she always seems to manage to come through. I had no idea you would actually feel for your grandson rather than the death of your daughter and the girls' own mother. You must have contempt for her too."

When Arasinya swapped to using a different type of magic he would relax with his bodies physical injuries healing causing him to fall asleep to relax which the curse finally stopped syphoning as his strength is now right where his grandmother wished it to be at to the relief of his aunts. What they didn't realize was the whole reason the strength draining took way longer than they expected due to the fact he stubbornly pulled his draining power back to really slow the whole process down.

The grandmother just says" when he wakes up use the directions I gave you to bring him to me and I will return all his stolen power once he chooses to serve me because I been observing him for sometime." When Morwen asks why she is more worried about her grandchildren than her own daughter she will casually say" she was useless in my own plans which I planed to use the curse you see used on the boy on her to have her bring her children to me, but things got complicated so I waited till now." She will finish with " the daughters hold five times the potential to learn magic their mother could ever be because I used a spell to weight their potential level which I was pleased to see, but I can't wait to see what hidden potential my grandson has otherwise he will make excellent breeding servant. The image then fades on that note as she felt her business with the three of them with a ward to send a backlash of magic if Morwen tried to keep the spell active.

Arasinya heaved a sigh in relief as the change of spells really did the trick. Now she can focus that magic in helping Xerxan relax so he can recover better. She hoped that no more dark spells can siphon out his strength because he needs as much as he can for their final fight.

Morwen nodded to the grandmother in understanding her instructions. She wasn't really surprised though at the fact that she cared more about the strong than the weak like the matron mother at the last moment. If the grandmother was really that tough on her own children, then the sisters will definitely suffer much worse. She and the other two had to stop her before that can happen and she maintains her belief that the sisters can help them out greatly. With no further words to say, Morwen would stop her magic and return to Xerxan to help him recover also.

With the directions in hand, it's going to be quite a journey to get to the grandmother's location and confronting her face to face.

Four hours after he finally passed out Xerxan wakes up still looking weak, but he will stubbornly work at standing up unless both of them work against him to keep him laying down then he would settle for siting up. He would say if they worked to stop him" I don't want my body to get stiff from inactivity so even if it is hard I must keep moving so that doesn't happen."

The Aunts look worried as they look at the crystals that are barely stable holding the drained strength from their nephew which they never expected to have to siphon so much compared to the other test subjects. They relax knowing the ritual that is rewriting their nieces memories to serve the house hoping to have at least the two of them ready for the raid their mother is planning to bring their house to rank 3 from rank 5 by wiping out the houses between them at that rank. They know the nieces physical strength will be the surprise needed to tip the battles in their favor. The Matron mother watches her granddaughter's magic skill improving along with them blending it with their martial skill with surprising results.

Morwen and Arasinya both practiced on their magic and fighting while Xerxan was still resting. He finally came around just as the two were having their meal and they rushed over to him to help his current mobility. Arasinya would say, "Well, you need to be careful. The last thing we need is you being unable to move at all after a hard fall."

Morwen nodded and said, "Come on, you better get some food and drink. We have to hurry to the house if we're going to have any chance to defeat your aunts and grandmother before it's too late." They helped him over to the fire so he too can have a hearty bowl of soup that should help relieve his aches and pains for the time being.