Lady of Curses

Now that Aella was comfortably floating inside the cocoon, with her eyes closed and her arms around her knees, Aella saw a familiar messege appear in her mind. 

[Choose your ability]

[Curse of blindness]

[Water creation]

[Curse of sealing]

[High jump]

[Curse of itching]

'There are some really interesting curses out there.' Was the first thought that popped into Aella's mind when she saw the last option. Aella knew that there could be many different curses with many different effects, but [Curse of itching] took her by surprise. After she mulled over the use of that curse and its effects, Aella started to look at the other options and see which one she will pick. 

The first two she eliminated were, [Water creation] and [High jump]. Although they both sounded good in their own way, Aella wanted to go all the way with curses, plus even if she saw those options as viable there were some things that would make her hesitant.

First the [Water creation], she didn't know how much she could create with her mana pool, it could be a whole lake or only a glass worth. Another thing about this ability, she probably couldn't control the water, just create it, and in some situations that would be good enough, but again she didn't know how much she could create.

Now [High jump] was a little bit more promising, because she could use it in many situations, even if it didn't allow her to jump over buildings, she still could use it for quick maneuvering and escaping if needed, so it wasn't that bad of an ability, but she still would like to expand her curse arsenal. 

There are two reasons why Aella wanted to choose from curses, the first is obvious, she wanted more curses that she could use, but the other reason was because she could instinctively feel what they did. Yes, Aella's instincts were kind of telling her what these curses did, it wasn't in a very descriptive way, but she still could kind of tell what each of those curses did deeper than only their names. 

But to be honest, the only curse she needed her instinct to tell her more, was the [Curse of sealing] because the other two were self-explanatory. [Curse of itching] although looked interesting and unique it didn't sound that appealing. The curse could make someone uncomfortable and probably annoy them, or even drive them mad with time, but it didn't have that much application besides being an annoyance. Especially in a life and death situation, she was sure that if someone wanted to kill her, they wouldn't care about an itchy spot, maybe after they killed her. So that was out. 

Now she had to choose from two options, but after thinking about it she decided to take [Curse of sealing]. The reason for her choice was because although the [Curse of blindness] was a good curse, after all, taking someone's sense that they basically rely on every day for almost everything is an amazing effect, the [Curse of sealing], was more versatile. Plus [Curse of sealing], can seal someone's sight, it has a weaker effect than [Curse of blindness], but Aella will take flexibility over straight in one specific thing. 

So with her mind made up, Aella chose [Curse of sealing], and the moment she did it she felt her consciousness slipping and her mind was taken by darkness. 

***

For Aella it didn't feel long before she started to regain consciousness. She slowly opened her eyes and started to awake from her dream-like state. 

It was a little weird for the first few moments, and she didn't move and just stood there where she was. After a while, Aella started to move and look around. The first thing she noticed was that her clothes were on the ground and she was standing on a few of them. 

After she noticed that she stepped off her clothes, but didn't pick them up and just left them on the floor. Instead, she started to explore her body with her hands. Aella could feel some things were different but nothing too distinctive, so she started to see if she had anything reflective near her. 

It didn't take her long to find something she could use as a somewhat decent mirror. She took one of the ornamental daggers that were on the table, she didn't know what they were made out of but they could reflect the image somewhat okay. 

Using the dagger's reflection Aella started to get a better look at her body. The first thing she looked at was her face, and pretty quickly she noticed something different. There weren't any new markings, but her face looked sharper, but besides the overall facial features, there wasn't anything else that changed. 

Then she started to look around the rest of her body, but she couldn't find anything else that caught her eye. So Aella concluded that the only change she experienced was that she got sharper features, and maybe looked more elegant. 

Aella was happy with these changes, but at the same time little disappointed, she was expecting something more drastic and maybe some symbols on her body, but she won't complain. 

After getting a somewhat decent look at her body Aella put down the dagger on the table where she got it from and started to get dressed. Her body didn't change too much so everything still fit her. After getting dressed, she made sure that her necklaces, the new ring, and the choker were in their places, after that she put her pouches on the table. 

She sat near the table and grabbed one of the fruits and started eating it. After taking a bite from the fruit she started to think what she could do next. She didn't have anything important to do, so she was kind of bored. 

She could go out and see if she could find something fun, but she wasn't really interested in wandering around the settlement to try and find something interesting to do, so with not many options left she decided to try her new curse. 

Aella took the pouch where she kept her growth crystals, and activated [Curse of sealing] on it with her finger pointing at the pouch. The moment she did that, a strand of dark blue smoke came out of her finger and shot straight at the pouch. Like all the other curses the moment the smoke made contact with the pouch it got absorbed in it, and then a dark blue lock-like symbol appeared on the pouch near its opening. 

After seeing this, Aella put her fruit in her mouth to hold it, and then grabbed the pouch she just used her curse on. She tried to open it but, she couldn't, even when she used both her hands. The pouch only started to budge when she used a considered amount of straight, and even then it opened only a little bit, and the moment she stopped the pouch again was fully closed. 

Aella could try to use all her straight, but she was afraid that she would rip open the pouch and all her growth crystals would fly all over the place. So instead she just deactivated the curse and put the pouch back on the table. 

In the process of all this, Aella had at some point bitten through the fruit and it had fallen on her lap. So she just took the fruit and started to eat it again. 

This little experiment had helped her understand the curse a little bit better. Even if she seals something shut, it is possible to open it with enough strength, or if need be it's possible to just break the object and kind of open it that way. 

Of course, that works on physical objects, but if she sealed someone's senses then Aella was pretty sure they wouldn't be able to break her curse open with raw physical force. 

To be honest, she couldn't help but want to try out this new curse on someone, but right now she couldn't so she just had to be patient. She could try it on herself, but she wasn't going to do it, because who knows what could go wrong, and Aella wasn't willing to risk her wellbeing for some curiosity or boredom. So with that in mind, she continued to munch on her fruit and thinking of something she could do to pass the time.