Chapter 54: Curse (1)
Shit.
After safely escaping that trap, I and Aria escaped into another room nearby.
As I couldn't walk due to the arrows in my thighs, she had to carry me on her frail back, trembling with every step she took.
Quite understandably, as it looked like she was more of a mana conjurer than an augmenter.
Augmenting one's body with mana was usually something that only combat-based mages would learn, as other types of mages never found a need to learn such a thing.
Thud!
With a heavy breath, Aria put me to the ground.
"Haah, rest now." She panted as she wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"..yeah"
Usually, I would've refuted it, as I hated being in debt to someone else. Even as a kid, I didn't like the thought of someone helping me when I am not asking for help.
For some reason, it made me feel weak.
However, this time, I couldn't bring myself to refute her order. It was not because of the pain — no, that pain was actually quite bearable.
After getting hit by the arrow, I quickly realized that the arrowheads were enchanted by a curse effect.
While I couldn't exactly identify the type of curse, it certainly wasn't one that was meant to damage.
Had it been that case, I would've already felt a wave of pain spread throughout my body.
However, the only thing I had been feeling was exhaustion.
In fact, my exhaustion had been so great that I completely lost my ability to move at all.
My whole body just felt paralyzed,
Was it perhaps a paralyzing curse?
"How do you feel?" Aria asked as she inspected the wound on my thigh, carefully caressing the broken arrows in my thigh.
"... besides the fact that my body can't move?" I released a weak laugh. "..pretty good so far."
"that's not good." Aria furrowed her eyebrows. "Would you mind if I pull these arrows out? It could hurt for a moment."
I shook my head. "No, proceed as you want."
"Alright then."
Wrapping her hands with holy magic, she grabbed the arrow, carefully removing it from my thigh.
Simultaneously, she used holy magic to heal my thigh, minimizing the pain as much as possible, as a comfortable feeling spread through my body.
"Urgh." However, that didn't mean that I didn't feel the pain at all.
Instinctively, I grunted as she pulled the arrow out of my thigh.
"Are you okay?" Aria asked in a worried voice, as she gently stroked the wound.
Or at least what was left of the wound.
Aria's holy magic was very potent, and thus its healing effect was impressive, to say the least.
Where once a wound had been, nothing but a few scratches were left.
Releasing a short chuckle, I smiled, even though she wouldn't be able to see that.
"Yes. Due to your help." I nodded.
Supporting myself on the wall, I tried to stand up.
"Stay down!" Aria warned as she grabbed my arms, pulling me back down. "You need some rest!"
"But I-"
I wanted to refute, when suddenly a wave of tiredness spread around my body,
Crash!
I lost all the power in my body as I fell against a wall.
"Lapsa!" Aria screamed, quickly hurrying to me to support me.
Not being able to form a sentence, I just grit my teeth.
It wasn't a paralysis curse.
Was it perhaps...a sleep inducement curse..?
My eyelids grew heavier when they then fell down, closing, as I was greeted with a view of darkness.
***
***
When I opened my eyes again, I didn't wake up in the room I had been in.
Instead, it looked like the room of a child.
"Aria..?" I called out to her as I looked around.
She was nowhere to be found, but more importantly...
...why did I sound like a child?
Raising my hands, I looked at them, finding out that they were small and chubby.
I quickly jumped off the bed I was in, running toward a nearby mirror at the end of the room.
"What the..." I muttered as I touched my own face in disbelief, not knowing whether this was real or not.
In my reflection, instead of a tall man in his early twenties, a little boy was reflected.
Not just any boy, but it was me, as a kid.
Was I dreaming..?
As I guessed that the effect of the curse was sleep inducement, I deduced that this must have been a dream.
Grabbing my own cheeks, I pinched them, pulling them apart with so much force that my face threatened to rip apart.
"Ouch."
A sharp pain spread from my cheeks as I pinched them.
It certainly was not a dream. And if it was one, it was a damn good one.
A dream that only one on his level could create.
"Where am I..?" I muttered as I turned my head around, scanning my environment once again.
While I knew that I had regressed to my childhood self, I found myself in a completely unknown room.
Sure, it was the room of a child, but apart from that, there was nothing here that reminded me of my own childhood.
I and my mother lived in a relatively small house.
Although it was a small house, I always found it to be a very comfortable home.
Even though I had to admit that I didn't know whether it was because of my personal bias or if it accurately depicted reality.
Regardless, I liked my own home.
However, this room didn't belong to my old house — not to mention my own room.
I never had a room this big, as I always preferred to sleep in a rather small home, and there certainly weren't that many toys here.
I looked around the room for another while, roaming around, and searching for any clue as to where I was, but I couldn't find anything noteworthy except underwear with my own name on it.
Deciding that I had already seen enough of this room, I walked over to the white wooden door, preparing to jump to grab the door handle.
Click!
However, before I even had a chance to open the door, the door clicked, slowly opening by itself.
Quickly, I leaped backward, glancing with my eyes around to look for any weapons.
I had already tried to use any of my ether abilities, but none of them seemed to react in the strange place I was in.
Grabbing a nearby wooden sword, I narrowed my eyes as I watched the door open.
The familiar sound of footsteps resounded as a familiar-looking face approached me.
My eyes widened as I watched the brown-haired woman stepping toward me, grabbing me with a bright smile on her face.
She picked me up, our eyes locking on progress.
My grey eyes met her maroon ones.
I could hear my heart beating faster at the sight of the familiar woman, trying to say something — anything, but being unable to.
The words were stuck in my throat.
"You are already awake, my baby?" she spoke in her usual warm tone.
Her voice warmed my heart like fire warmed my body in a cold winter.
I could feel my heart growing heavy at the familiar voice, and touch, warm tears building themselves up in my eyes.
"I..Mo..Wha.."
I tried to speak, but only managed to force out some incomprehensible words.
"What's wrong, baby?" The woman asked in a worried voice, tilting her head. "Did you miss me that much?"
She laughed happily as she spun me around, her eyes beaming with joy.
Gathering all my courage, I calmed myself down, trying to talk to her once again.
However, even though I tried my hardest, I could only say a single word.
With a trembling voice, I spoke, still unable to fully comprehend the situation.
"Mom?"
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
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