Yurui The Cursed One

“Aw, come on, don’t make that face.” Marcus coos.

I swear to God, I wanted to punch him in the face badly enough that my hands actually started shaking.

Marcus shrugs. “Look, Maevis doesn’t exactly seem like the type to stick her neck out for someone without a reason. If she personally pushed to get you in here, she must’ve seen something.”

Unfortunately, I don’t really buy into that.

Whatever Maevis thought of me, I seriously doubted affection had much to do with it. Only a few hours ago, she had made it rather clear that if I refused her offer, Miracle Inc. would find some other use for me. She had never outright said the word laboratory, but she hadn’t exactly gone out of her way to discourage me from reaching that conclusion either.

Remembering all that makes Marcus’s reassurance considerably harder to believe. At best she wants something from me, maybe a favor as she said. At worst? Well, I’m too scared to even think of what the worst-case scenario would look like.

Narun rubs his chin. “Would explain why they didn’t start you at the bottom.”

"Umhum." All I could do was hum in agreement. I really wasn’t going to argue when they were kind of glazing me up.

Oba has stayed quiet through most of the conversation, watching from the edge of the group while everyone else questions me about my blessing, Maevis, and just about everything in between. By the time the questions finally die down, his silence has become noticeable enough that I find myself glancing his way.

He notices me looking and turns his attention toward me.

“There’s only so much we can figure out from talking,” Oba says. “You’re going to have to transform sooner or later anyway, especially now that you’re Third Officer.” His gaze settles on me. “So unless you plan on standing here all day, we might as well get on with it.”

Deep down I had known this was coming all along, but hearing him say it aloud finally makes it sink in. There is no getting around it, I’m going to have to transform somehow, whether I like it or not.

I glance toward the center of the practice room, suddenly much less enthusiastic about where this conversation has ended up.

“You want me to try now?”

Oba nods.

Of course he does. I suppose that had been where this was heading from the moment we walked into the practice room, but somehow I had managed to put the thought aside while everyone was busy interrogating me.

Suddenly, I become very aware of how much empty space there is in the middle of the practice room, and of the fact that everyone is now looking at me expectantly.

Marcus perks up almost immediately. “I was wondering when we’d get to that.”

The enthusiasm in his voice earns him a suspicious look.

“What?”

“You sound far too excited about this.”

He gives me an innocent shrug that convinces me of absolutely nothing. “Can you blame me? You’ve spent like ten minutes or so telling us you turn into some giant armored nightmare.”

“I don’t remember describing myself quite like that.”

“Ehhh, you kinda did.”

I narrow my eyes at him.

Marcus raises both hands. “I mean that in a good way.”

That doesn’t make me feel any better. Is there even a good way to conceptualize someone as ‘some gia? armored nightmare’ ?

Narun pipes up. “You can’t blame us for being curious about the mysterious blessing that impressed Maevis so much she got you an officer's position on the spot."

Ohhh, so that’s what I was now, a mystery. And to be fair, I didn’t exactly get the position on the spot, especially considering that I had first transformed the day before that and then found Miracle Inc. knocking at my door the very next morning, so it’s safe to say that it was some time in the making rather than a spur-of-the-moment decision.

“I can, actually, but that probably wouldn't accomplish much,” I reply, rolling my eyes to the side.

Maya’s expression shifts from playful to genuine interest. “Have you ever tried transforming deliberately?”

“No.”

Her yebrows rise.

I shrug.

“What the hell was I supposed to do ? I was about to get killed when those things started coming out all on their own .”

“How many times has it happened?” She asks, looking genuinely curious.

I count backward despite already knowing the answer. The classroom. The desert. Then the classroom again.

“Three. I already told you before.”

My remark completely flies past her ears.

“And you didn’t trigger any of them yourself?”

“No,” I reply bluntly

Curiosity flickers across Marcus’s face.

For the first time, their prodding makes me uneasy for a reason that has nothing to do with embarrassment.

I realize that not being able to transform at will isn’t even the most concerning part. I have no idea how to turn back either, and without Miss Maevis around to stop me if something goes wrong, this could turn into a disaster very quickly.

Maya steps away from the others and gestures for me to come closer. “Do you remember what happened immediately before each transformation?”

"Well, the last two times I almost got murdered, and I don't really remember what happened the first time around. I got extremely unlucky? Or lucky, depending on how you wanna look at it.”

She gives me a side eye.

“What did you feel?”

I almost make another joke, but stop as I see just how serious she is.

The memories come flooding back.

I clearly remember the heat permeating my chest as I stood terrified in the desert, convinced I was about to die while the chicken woman threatened me. Then the classroom, blood pouring from my body as that same heat burned through my chest again.

Every time I transformed, I was terrified. Angry too, sometimes, with enough panic and adrenaline mixed in that I couldn’t tell where one feeling ended and another began. But thinking back on it now, there was one thing that had always been there beneath all of that. The heat.

I press two fingers against the center of my chest.

“There was always this heat here,” I say. “Right before it happened.”

Maya’s expression sharpens a little. “Every time?”

“I think so. At least, that’s the one thing I remember clearly.”

She considers that for a moment. “Then don’t worry about transforming yet. Try to find that feeling first.”

I glance down at my hand. “And if I do?”

“Then we see what happens.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. Knowing my luck, “see what happens” could very well end with me losing control, getting put down, and spending the rest of eternity stuffed in jars. I shudder at the thought.

Maya seems to notice my hesitation. “Don’t try to force the whole transformation at once. Just focus on that feeling and see if you can find it again.”

“Okay,” I say slowly. “So what exactly am I supposed to do?”

Maya thinks for a second, then glances down at her arm. “Might be easier if I show you.”

Marcus immediately perks up. “Finally, something interesting.”

Maya ignores him and holds one arm out between us. “Watch.”

Out of nowhere, feathers start appearing along her wrist.

There is no dramatic flash or visible strain. One moment I am looking at bare skin, and the next small overlapping feathers are spreading toward her elbow in neat layers. Her fingers narrow as the bones beneath them shift, the shape of her hand beginning to stretch into something that doesn’t look very human.

The sight of the emerging feathers catches me off guard.

I know perfectly well that it’s Maya, but the sight of bird-like features is enough to stir an unpleasant memory of Nara looking down at me in the desert, as she spoke to me like I was some vermin.

Remembering how certain I had been that I was about to die sends a painful jolt through my chest. A second later, that pain gives way to heat, then spreads throughout my chest. I didn't recognize it at first, but just moments later I realized that it was the exact same burning sensation from before. It was faint, no stronger than the warmth left in your chest after swallowing a hot drink. My hand moves there before I even think about it.

Maya lets the feathers fade from her arm as she presses her hand over my heart. “There?”

“Yeah,” I reply quickly as my heart skips a beat.

The room goes quiet.

Suddenly, I become painfully aware of everyone staring at me. The warmth falters almost at once, so I close my eyes and try to pretend they aren’t there.

For a few seconds, I just focus on what is happening inside me. The heat is still there, faint but unmistakable, rising and falling with the beat of my heart. I concentrate on that rhythm and try not to think about anything else.

Nothing. There was nothing inside me but empty darkness. Then I saw it—a faint spark, barely visible in the void. I reached for it, grasped it with everything I had, and the instant I did, it flared into a roaring flame, flooding my entire body with heat. My whole body was burning from the inside out, and yet I couldn’t help but feel ecstatic.

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