This choice: Melona really is cursed! • Go Back...Chapter #6Melona really is cursed! by: Hole    
Chantess' office was exactly what could be expected of the stern professor, neat and orderly to a near clinical fashion, shelves of advanced-looking books, a workstation with numerous crafting tools, blueprints and patents framed on the wall for her many inventions, and a sitting area for guests, with a steaming put of tea and a pair of teacups already set out for the two. Melona nodded thankfully as Chantess poured a glass for her before topping off her own teacup.
"Let's begin." Chantess said, after taking a long sip. She set down a pad of paper that had an intricately carved pen attached by a string. She twisted the bottom of the pen, making the tip come out, and the pen leapt to life, standing on it's own at the top of the page. No doubt this was one of her enchanted tools. "Describe your symptoms to me."
"U-um, alright." Melona stammered. As soon as they started talking, the pen began moving on it's own, jotting down everything it heard on the page. "Um, I can't do magic. I know I have mana, I've been tested for it, but whenever I try to cast a spell it just doesn't work. I can't even do non-casting magic tasks, my potions are useless no matter how closely I follow the instructions, and mana-powered tools are useless for me. I can't even use a mana pen." Melona cast a longing look at the self-writing pen as she said this. Oh the money and wrist cramps she would have saved if she had one of those, or at least a normal mana pen.
"That is strange." Chantess said, raising a brow, "Though it does explain why you always use a quill pen in class, I've been meaning to ask you about that. Even non-casters should be able to use magical tools... Unless..."
Chantess got up and walked to her workstation, rifling through one of the drawers before pulling out what looked like a metallic wand, with lines notched on the side like a thermometer. She handed it to Melona.
"Please channel mana into this. As much as you can sustain at once."
Melona took the wand and held it, focusing her mana. The tip of the wand began to sparkle, but nothing else seemed to happen.
"That's... Unusual..." Chantess murmured, taking the wand back. "Melona, did you know that there are two phases for channeling mana?"
"No?"
"I'm not surprised, this isn't taught until sophomore year." Chantess began, "But in as simplified a way as I can explain it, the first phase has you concentrate mana into a specific 'exit point' in your body, and the second is where the mana actually leaves you and enters the wand. This is relatively instinctual, so most witches don't need to know about it until they start learning more precise control of their mana. Wands react to both phases as well. The sparkling happens when the wand comes into contact with a concentration of mana, and when the mana enters the wand the spell is cast. Or, in the case of this tool, this would have happened."
Holding the wand, it began to steadily turn a glowing blue, starting from the handle and stopping at the middle notch. It held for a few moments before dissipating. Melona blinked in surprise. She'd thought she'd channeled mana into it, but she hadn't made even a fraction of the glow Chantess was producing.
"What does this mean...???" Melona asked
"It's just a hypothesis for now, but it appears that something is preventing mana from exiting your body." Chantess explained, "This is why you can't even use magic tools, they require a small injection of mana to activate, a negligible amount for even non-magic users. Potions also require mana for the proper reactions. If something was blocking your mana, then that would explain everything."
"O-oh..." Melona sat with this for a moment. On one hand, it was good to know that it really wasn't a personal failing, that something had cursed her. But on the other hand... It still felt like a personal failing to have not somehow overcome this blockage.
"Okay, now I need you to strip for me."
"Wh-what???" Melona stammered, snapped out of her ruminations, her face turning red. Perhaps she'd just heard her wrong...?
"There aren't any objects you've been in contact with as long as your symptoms have existed, yes?"
"Yes, I-I mean no, nothing..."
"I thought so." Chantess said, pulling more tools out from her workstation, "If the curse is not from an object, then you are likely to have a curse mark on your body somewhere. Sometimes they can be well hidden, but..." Chantess put on a pair of gloves with magic circles sewn into them, smirking as she did so, "There has yet to be a curse that I am unable to find."
"A-alright..." Melona said as she began removing her robes.
Chantess took note of her discomfort. "Are you uncomfortable naked, Melona?"
"I-it's fine, don't worry. You need to inspect my body anyway, don't you."
Chantess sighed. "Correct. I'll need to inspect every part of your body. Any curse on you could've been cast anywhere, and I don't want to miss it."
Melona shivered, both from being cold and also from the idea of Chantess groping her entire body. "D-do it. I'm ready." Chantess nodded, her hands glowing as the magic circles on her gloves activated.
Chantess brought her glowing hands onto Melona's face, gently rubbing over every inch of her skin. With no crest forming in response to her enchantment, Chantess moved her hands to Melona's neck. After finding nothing there, she moved on there her arms. Putting her right hand on the top and left on the bottom, Chantess slowly glided her hands over the length of Melona's slim arm, all the way to her small hand where each of her delicate fingers were checked the same way. Chantess repeated the process with Melona's other arm, blushing at the feeling of the professor's dark fingers feeling up her pale hands. However her blush would only get redder when Chantess moved to Melona's chest.
Chantess pressed her palms against Melona's flat chest. She avoided pressing harder than she needed, but Chantess could tell her inspection was already arousing Melona, especially as her hands passed over the girl's nipples. Melona moaned, making Chantess remove her hands. "Do you need a break?"
"N-no!" Melona said, still slightly aroused. "B-but, h-hurry up, please."
"Alright," Chantess sighed. She put hands back on her chest, where she would finally find something. Passing her palm over Melona's chest, Chantess found a spell crest right between Melona's nipples. Swiping her hands over the sides, she found that also had spellbindings coming out the side and going all the way around Melona's body. Melona gasped at the sight of the markings, which glowed a bright pink.
"Found you." Chantess muttered. She pulled out a choker with a silver locket in the center. She opened it, dragging it lightly against the curse marks, making a strange tingling sensation against Melona's skin, and then fastened the choker around Melona's neck. The glow faded, but the marks remained, like twisting pink tattoos.
"There. I cannot yet remove the glamour hiding these curse marks, but this charm will keep them visible so that I can inspect them." Chantess explained, "To see a curse mark of this size, though..." She muttered under her breath, her tone somewhere between concerned and impressed.
"Uh, I'm guessing this isn't normal...?"
"Not only is it not normal, it's unprecedented." Chantess said, "And you say you've been this way your whole life?"
"Yes...?"
Chantess' eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint in her eye. All signs of admiration over the curse replaced with a quiet rage. Melona shivered, it almost feeling as though the room had dropped a few degrees in temperature.
The next hour was spent in tense silence as Chantess meticulously copied down the markings covering Melona's body, until finally she was allowed to get dressed again. Chantess removed the choker from Melona's neck, the marks fading away, and finally spoke in a serious tone.
"Melona, not a word of what we have found here to anyone. Not your teachers, not your friends, not your parents."
"Huh? Wh-why?"
"These are not the kind of marks that result from a generational curse. They're too deliberate. This means that someone cursed you when you were far too young to remember, and it would have to be someone who was able to be alone with you for long enough to apply these marks."
"What!?" Melona cried, "But why???"
"I don't know." Chantess said, eyes narrowed, "But whoever it was, it was someone powerful. Someone who may still know you, or know people who know you. So until we can completely break this curse..."   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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