Antidote

Lord Yong and his disciples finally reached Noam. Lord Yong was happy that finally, he had the book to save Si-ri but at the same time he was agitated with the remedy that leads to break the curse. Lord Yong and the others placed the book in the shrine located at Lord Yong's house. Lord Yong opened the book and started looking for the antidote to break the curse.

He continued to turn page after page with a menacing taste of what's to come. The front page of the book was dark and coarse, the pages had turned yellowish. Spells and amendments were written on each page of the book. The pages of the book are said to be made of vellum of animals.

Sentenced to death for breaking his monastic vows, the monk offered a proposal to the King that he would create a book with the world's knowledge in return for his life. The King accepted the proposal but asked him to complete the manuscript in one night only. As a last gasp of survival, the monk made a deal with the devil and traded his soul and also made an unbreakable vow to the devil to serve him till his last breath. Eventually, he completed the book in one night and gained his freedom.

Dark legends surround the tome and its origins and the full page portrait of the Devil increases its air of mystery. The book surely has dark aura but the thing that add on its gloominess was the depiction of the devil in the first page titled The Prince of Darkness.

The devil rendered as a large, monstrous figure taking up the entireness of Hell. The depiction in the first page might be a tribute or a way of expressing gratitude to the devil.

Lord Yong was turning pages in order to get the remedy for the curse. He was keenly and carefully reading the script. It was written with blood red ink. While going through the book and some of its content he learned that breaking the curse won't be an easy task. Lots of questions and insecurities filled his mind. He was desperately hoping for the remedy to be accomplishable, so that he could rescue Si-ri from the curse before it's too late.

After turning lots of pages, he finally came across the page he was searching for. As he was about to read it, his heart was thumping faster. His eyes opened wide while looking at an illustration that was depicting a bizarre tree. As he goes further to read, the path for breaking the curse was thwarted at every point, throwing curveball after curveball, shaking up all Lord Yong's hopes and expectations.

Lord Yong started reading.

The innocent one whom you killed mercilessly, the poor one whom you tormented endlessly.

The dark arts you had taken shelter under,  to fulfill your selfish desires was a blunder.

You have followed an act of inhuman butchery, Which will someday bring you nothing but a lifetime misery.

The whining of the devastated soul yearning for life,  all her words fell onto deaf ears as you stabbed her with a knife.

Gasping for her last breath she cursed your unborn, once they reach eighteen then you my dear will be torn.

You cannot fix this with your hand,  that of an assassin and not of a man.

The forgotten soul will come back to take revenge by dint of her curse,  You cannot stop it no matter how much blood, sweat and tears you disburse.

You have become an author of your own cataclysm, as curse will make you suffer in its vicious vandalism.

Woe of a poor will never go to vain, no matter how much you bargain.

The expedition to break the curse leads to the road flowing with blood all the way, you have no choice but to do it anyway.

After reading the preamble, Lord Yong hands were shivering to go to the next page that might have the full view of expedient. The part that made his stomach churn was the last line of the prologue and its mention of Blood. Lots of questions plagued the mind of Lord Yong at that moment. Taking a deep breath he finally managed to turn to the next page. A shudder went through his body seeing the illustrations, it was something bizarre and mysterious. He curiously started to read the words.

Doesn't matter where you reside, the forest nearby you always have that one tree that emit light on the full moon. When the streams of bleeding silver moonlight illuminates the tree, each of its beautiful violet flowers emerge from the darkness to bathe in the luminous radiance. This is not an ordinary tree, whoever sees this tree illuminating on the full moon they call it divine. Therefore, the tree is titled as a 'Tree of Empyrean'.

The whole story to break the curse revolves around that Tree. On the full moon night the cursed child would have to give some of its blood to the tree and the moment the blood came in contact with the tree its flowers would start to fall and lastly the tree would stand with no flowers and dried leaves. Because the child is an outcome of dark arts, the pious tree won't be able to endure the blood and determinately lose its charm.

The end of that Tree would be the beginning of the journey to break the curse. The only way for the disposal of the sins is to gather blessings. Therefore, the cursed child must collect blessings of people with good deeds and when the person would truly bless you, one of its flowers would bloom. In this way, with every blessing the tree would begin to turn into its older beauty and at last when light from the moon illuminates the tree as earlier, this would be the last stage of curse.

But, it's not that easy to lift the curse, you need to give up something that is precious to you. To give peace to the vengeance of the soul, the sacrifice of a beloved one must be given. For your well-being and to completely break down the curse, one would have to holocaust his life. This would be the last blessing that you need to gather.

Before the accomplishment of the mission, the cursed child must reside in the 'Shrine of Sagas'. The pious place keeps the child safe from the attack of dark spirits that might create hurdles in order to keep the curse intact.

This must be done between the periods of four full moon days. In case the task couldn't be accomplished within the assigned period, then the cursed one has to die on the night of the fourth full moon. The last full moon would become the last night of his/her life.

Lord Yong looked worried after reading the whole page keenly. The matter that shook him was the word sacrifice.

Nyang, one of his trusted disciples was there with Lord Yong. He too read everything and looked at Lord Yong in a hopelessness.

"I shall sacrifice my life for my daughter," Lord Yong stated.

"Master, all your life you have been longing to lift the curse and wished to live with your daughter happily. Now after waiting for a long time you finally get a chance to live with your daughter like any other father, you are going to sacrifice your life. Master, I am ready to sacrifice my life for Si-ri. You have done everything for me now it's my turn to do something for you." Nyang said in denial towards Lord Yong's decision.

"No need to sacrifice your precious life, Nyang. I can clearly remember the day when I took her into my arms and rescued her from that shaman. After coming home with her, my wife and I saw her face, she was smiling looking at us. Her smile captured our hearts that was the only moment of my life which I will cherish till my last breath. In a very short period of time, Si-ri became our world. While playing the role of a father I almost forgot that she is a Princess too, she is a heiress of the royal family."

"I promised the King to take care of her, nurture her and look for an antidote for her curse. Once the curse is completely broken, I would have to hand over Si-ri to her real father. Therefore, I'll happily sacrifice my life at the end as the book says only the one whom the cursed child loves would sacrifice his life. She only loves me in this whole world, so I sacrifice my life for the well-being of my beloved daughter. She'll lead a happy and prosperous life." Lord Yong's eyes crinkled up at the corners with a gentle smile.

Nyang tried hard but tears shimmered in the corner of his eyes hearing his master's words. He had heard so little of this, yet it was enough to build up a wretched dolorous feeling in his heart.

Lord Yong turned towards Nyang, he laid his hand lightly on his shoulder and said, "You are also like a son to me, Nyang. Promise me one thing that you will never reveal about this sacrifice, otherwise Si-ri won't let me do this. This must be kept secret."

Nyang's eyes shifted to Lord Yong and became glazed with a glassy layer of tears. His lower lip quivered as words slowly made their way out of his mouth. "I promise..." he began to nod his head yet the words were engulfed in the tremors. Later he walked out of the room wiping his tears.