I watched through the carriage window as the scenery of the city gradually faded into the distance replaced with green rolling plains. The journey was supposed to take us about a week as long as we didn't face any unforeseen circumstances. To the far west I could see a mountain range with snow capped mountains, though they seemed rather small with how far in the distance they were. I was somewhat disappointed that the capital Eldora was to the south and not north, as that would have taken us past the Forest of Darkness, somewhere that despite its inherent danger I wanted to see, as it had been my birthplace.

The day progressed rather boringly as the once novel experience became routine, only broken by the occasional traveler. Adventurers and merchants were the most common, though they gave rather wide berth when they saw the duke's crest on the carriages we were traveling in. I wasn't sure if it was the unfamiliar experience, motion sickness or something else, but as dusk approached I began feeling to feel unwell. It started with me being uncomfortably warm, followed by nausea, before culminating in internal pain.

When Elaine examined me she couldn't find anything wrong and even when she used healing magic she was unable to solve the issue. According to her this meant I was probably just having an adverse reaction to the change in environments. I wasn't a human so in her professional guess as an ex-healer my body was adjusting to life without the monster suppression barrier that existed in the city. While I knew such a barrier existed I'd never had an adverse reaction to it in the five years I'd lived there, but it was really just a guess anyway and I would have to tough it out until it passed.

I felt like I was burning and my insides churned as some invisible force was rearranging my body against my will. Even once we stopped for the night and I eventually fell asleep after a struggle, even my dream seemed to be out to make me uncomfortable. The dream itself was just a flash of images and sounds, but each was vivid and evoked a visceral reaction from me. Images of Ashara being burnt and screaming in pain. Myself both in my current form and my past life, being tortured as horrific experiments were done. A shadowy figure branding symbols into my flesh, or flaying me alive. I was forced to watch as Marian, Reine, Kalista, Gabriel, and Elaine, were massacred with the rest of the city, and several other horrific scenarios that almost felt like premonitions of the future. It wasn't until the fourth day of the trip that my affliction began to subside. The pain and burning slowly went away and I was no longer plagued by nightmares anymore.

On the dawn of the seventh day I was awoken by a scream of alarm. My body felt somewhat heavy and stiff as I pushed myself up, freezing when I caught sight of my arms. Unlike the pale fleshy appendages I should have seen, I was greeted by a sight that could be described as monster-like. While my hands and arms were still resembled their original shapes they were covered in a hard black chitin exoskeleton, not that dissimilar from an insects shell. My fingertips had become sharpened tips and I could see various gouge marks in my bedding.

I was at a loss for what I should do as I tried to process what was happening to me and it wasn't until I looked around and saw my Status Plate that I remembered I had a perfectly viable way to see if this was something I could control. I carefully shifted my body around not wanting to damage anything else before I pulled up my Status and inspected it. Their were a myriad of new Skills listed, but what concerned me the most was a brand new entry line that was listed in between my Gifts and Skills.

Curses: Brand of The Dark Lord