“I will explore the inside of the tree house alone. You stay here and wait,” Arad looked at them, turning toward the tree.
“I will go with you,” Aella stood beside Arad.
“You’re an archer. Fighting indoors isn’t your specialty,” Arad looked at her, cracking his neck, “I go inside alone. It’s too dangerous,”
“What about me?” The black rag approached Arad, wiggling in place.
“Eris, you will survive a hit or two,” Arad smiled.
“I can’t fight here due to the sun, but I will be able to go all out inside that tree house,” She smiled beneath the rag.
“And burn the whole place down? Please don’t,” Arad sighed, and Jack approached them, “I can sneak around and search for clues,”
“Don’t do it,” Lydia approached them, “Curses aren’t something you can sneak around. Unless you can see or smell them,”
Arad looked at her, smiling. “You go with Jack and explore the garden. Aella and Isdis will protect the elves, while I and Eris will explore the tree house.”
“Sounds like a plan, a half-baked one, but it should be a start,” Jack waved his hand, walking with Lydia by his side.
Arad and Eris approached the tree house, standing in front of the door and looking at it, “This place stinks,” Arad growled.
“The smell of rot. At least this is wood rot and not corpses.” Eris touched the door, pushing it open, “Let’s get inside. I’m getting sick of this rag,”
“Fine, fine,” Arad followed her inside the house, and she threw the rag on the ground, stretching her arms, “AH! It’s always nice to be able to move freely,”
“Don’t throw it,” Arad picked up the rag and stored it in his stomach, “You will need it to walk outside.”
Eris looked at Arad, “I heard people in the east have some large clothes to cover them under the desert sun. Should I pick one of them?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if it’s something that won’t stand out then do it.” Arad stared at her, having no idea what she was talking about.
The two walked into the main hall, “This place is bigger on the inside than what it looks on the outside,”
“Spatial domain, it’s a magic that slightly expands space. A divergent type of storage magic,” Eris replied, “I heard of it. But never saw someone who could use it.”
“Heard of it? Like a spell in tomes?” Arad looked at her.
“No, I heard the royal treasury is made with one of those spatial domains.” Eris scratched her head, remembering the information she heard from the thieves guild in Rita. ^Than man named Gojo was planning to break into it, wasn’t he? How stupid is it to plan a heist on the royal treasury, and what does he want?^
“Where did you hear of that? Shouldn’t such a thing be a secret?” Arad looked at her.
“The thieves in Rita, the ones you robbed,” She stared at him with a smile, “Didn’t you get this information as well?”
“I don’t remember, but I got a lot of papers, and they are with Alcott,” Arad looked at her, “Let’s search,” He walked toward the wall and pulled one of the paintings on the wall.
A great green snake coiled around a golden goblet filled with blood, “What a strange thing,”
“Art is always strange,” Eris looked at it, “But it’s sure the place looks creepy,” She stared around at the rusted chandeliers and torn carpets. Bugs crawled out of the wall holes, scrambling to escape the first guests in decades.
“This place is oozing with strange magic. It’s the curses Lydia talked about,” Eris walked toward Arad, “We should be careful. We might face another golem,” 𝐨𝘃𝗹.
Arad looked at her, “Are you scared? I can beat it,” He smiled.
“From what I saw, last time seemed like pure luck,” She stared at him with a dubious look.
“Even if it was luck, I now know that I can kill him by destroying the head. I can do it again,” Arad smiled, cracking his fists.
“Is that so? Don’t count on that,” Eris walked forward, “The magic is stronger from this direction. Should we follow it up?”
“That direction?” Arad scratched his head, “But it’s changing,”
“What are you talking about?” Eris looked back at Arad.
“The magic intensity, it’s shifting.” Arad pointed toward a wooden door, “It’s the strongest from here,”
He then pointed at the door beside it, “And now, it’s the strongest behind this.”
“Are you saying the source is moving?” Eris stared at Arad, “We can be sure it’s another golem,”
“Either way, we need to follow it up to find the witch,” Arad walked forward and opened the door, walking down the hallway with Eris behind him.
“This place is getting more humid. It’s becoming hard to breathe,” Eris pulled a rug from her pocket and covered her nose.
“What are you talking about…”The moment Arad looked at Eris, he felt a slight shift in the magic surrounding the house. “It’s two sources.” Arad gasped.
“I can fell it,” Eris growled, “One source is in the room ahead of us, the other one is in another room,”
“Two golems, not those ones are static.” Arad approached the door they were sensing the magic behind.
“Get ready for a fight,” Arad slowly pushed the door open.
They were faced with a library full of books and dust. Arad walked toward the middle where a skeleton wearing an old robe sat on a wooden chair beside a small table.
“The curse is coming from this skeleton,” Arad and Eris approached, taking a closer look.
“Arad, look,” Eris walked toward the table and picked a painting. Three people stood beside each other. A man and a woman, and a little girl sitting between them in a white dress. She read what was written behind the painting.
“Albert Python, Medusa Deianira, and their daughter Doma Python.” Eris scratched her head, “Is this the witch’s skeleton? Doma wasn’t it the name on the letter you received?”
“Wait! The golem outside was her father?” Arad gasped, feeling a large wet tongue licking his back.
“YoU hAvE My DaUgTher’s weDdiNg RiNg, DoN’t yOu?” A crackling voice growled from behind him, sending shivers down his spine.
“Don’t, fucking, look back,” Eris growled, staring straight forward.