Callie's Heroes

PART VIII - THE ANATOMY OF THE CONSCRIPTION CURSE

The six privately pondered the next steps for some time, before Callie asked a question. “Vanis, you mentioned you ‘intercepted’ the Curse that was meant for your father. What do you mean by that? How do people get it?”

Vanis blew out his cheeks. “Where to start on that one.”

“I mean, do you walk down the street one day and suddenly you have this thing? Like a bad cold?”

“No, no,” Vanis chuckled. “You can only receive the curse from a person, mostly. My situation is a little different, but I’ll explain that after the more-common ways one receives the Curse.”

“There are three groups of people that end up with the Conscription Curse, Callie,” Lena said. “Those chosen by lottery, those cursed as penalty for crimes, and volunteers.”

“So you…” Callie started to ask.

“I am in the middle group. I did wrong, and this was my punishment. I’ve accepted it.”

Callie remembered that Lena didn’t want to talk about it, and resisted asking for more information. “Lottery?”

“We are at war, Little One,” Xin said. “The army needs soldiers.”

“So, like a draft?”

Vanis nodded. “Yes. Cities and towns and villages will have lotteries to choose who they will send. Those chosen will be given the Curse by an Enchanter or Shaman to ensure they comply. If we weren’t at war, our army would be all volunteers, but that just isn’t the case right now. Even I was eligible for the lottery in my city, although I was never chosen.”

“I know Xin volunteered, but what about the rest of you?” Callie asked.

“Lottery,” Tazrok said, raising his giant hand. “But stepped in for sister that was choosed. Sister with new baby. Not fair to niece to send mother away.”

“That was so good of you, Tazrok,” Callie said, a sad smile crossing her face as the words ‘I volunteer for tribute’ from that one movie appeared in her mind.

“Also l-l-lottery,” Pixyl said, although deep down the Pixie was convinced the results were rigged to get her away from the Pit bosses. She had recently crossed a few people that shouldn’t be crossed.

Callie pondered this new information. She understood from history that an army needed soldiers, and sometimes that required a draft. Her grandfather had been a draftee in Vietnam, and he had told her a few tame stories of his times there when she had been a little girl. But she had grown up in the United States and all of her life it had been an all-volunteer army. The concept was just …foreign to her.

“How did you get it?” Callie finally asked Vanis.

Vanis blew out his cheeks again. “That’s where a fourth and not as common method comes into play. A method that is very difficult to do, as well. A curse can be applied as an enchantment to an object. From that object, if specific conditions are met, the curse can then be transferred to a person.”

“So… someone tried to curse your dad, right?”

“Yes. My father received a gift, ostensibly from the Legacy Queen. They often exchange trinkets and baubles, going back to when they were children. But as he went to open the package, my Danger Sense triggered, and I snatched it from him. It was too late though, and the daylight coming through the windows activated the gem inside, laying the Curse on the closest person. Me.”

“Certainly the Legacy Queen did not try to curse the King?” Xin asked with a shocked look on her face.

“No, it took very little effort at that point to determine the gift was a forgery. The Queen even volunteered to be examined by our people possessing high Truthseeking skills. No, it was a poor attempt to frame her, but for me, the damage had been done.”

“Why didn’t your father’s Danger Sense go off,” Lena asked.

“Whoever planned to hex him was able to disguise their intentions, and the courier knew nothing, so it got through our basic inspections. We were lax on the security, in retrospect. It is really that simple. I believe, being a Warlock, my Danger Sense is a little extra attuned to curses, and I was able to feel it in time. At least in time to save him.”

“Danger Sense? Is that another skill?” Callie asked.

Lena shook her head. “No, it’s a racial trait that Elves have. A few Beastkin types have it as well. It’s like an extra sense that actively tells you something bad is about to happen, and maybe from what direction. You can get more details if you are particularly adept, but I know mine is fairly limited. I might get, at best, ten seconds warning before something occurs, and no details about what it might be.”

“Some classes do get Danger Sense perks or skills, however. Often far more accurate than the Elven passive trait,” Vanis added.

“That doesn’t tell me how I got my Curse, I guess,” Callie, hoping that knowing more would shed some light on her own situation. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter much, does it. I have it and I’m stuck with it. But you said the Curse is not all bad, right? There are benefits?”

“Yes,” Vanis said. “The bad part of the Curse is you must be in the presence of an active Command Aura, or it will begin to take its toll. However, you also gain bonuses to your stamina and mana and ability to fight in general. When combined with the morale boost from the Command Aura, Conscripted soldiers fight much better. More importantly, they are more likely to survive.”

“It is so,” Xin said. “As soon as I chose to volunteer, I asked for the Curse to be put on me. The boost to my power is small, but noticeable.”

“So if you’re here, you might as well have it, you’re saying?” Callie asked.

“Yes,” Tazrok said. “Make you better.”

Callie was pretty sure she had a basic grip on what ‘mana’ was, based on things she’d overheard, and ‘stamina’ sounded roughly like something similar. Still, she’d heard the terms several times, and decided it was best to get it clarified. “Mana is the power you put into some skills.” Lena said, “It’s a natural energy that one stores and then forms, channels and releases as what would be called a spell. A skill that uses mana is called a spell, while a skill that does not is called an ability.”

For Callie, that information was largely aligning with what she’d been thinking so far, as least as far as mana went. Every person had some amount of this mana and stamina stuff in them to power their spells.

“It is like this,” Vanis continued. “Some skills use your supply of mana, while abilities sap your physical strength and will make you tired, or even exhausted to the point of collapse when used. If you use an ability too much, It will quickly sap your strength, and you could become physically exhausted and falter or fall.”

“And there are magic potions and grandma candies that restore this physical endurance?” Callie said, trying to understand. “You call that stamina, right?”

“Yes. We generalize that endurance and call it stamina. And just as there are stamina potions, there are potions to restore mana as well.” Vanis confirmed.

“How do you get more mana then, and stamina, too, I guess. It can’t just be from drinking potions.”

“Resting and staying nourished will allow your stamina to return,” Lena said. “As for mana, you will naturally absorb it from all around you over time. In some places, the mana concentrations might be higher or lower than normal, so that rate can vary, and with practice you can learn to absorb mana more efficiently and faster, as well as rest your body’s stamina more quickly. It is also possible to speed up mana restoration, and to a lesser extent stamina, through meditation.”

“Kitty Lady say I must med-i-tate,” Tazrok said, sounding out the word. “Sound boring.”

“It can be,” Vanis agreed with a chuckle. “But it is very helpful for improving your restoration rates.”

“So every time I use some Ranger spell, like the Sniper Shot that Jesca mentioned earlier, it will use up some of this pool of mana I have, right?” Callie asked, wanting to make sure she understood. “Then it comes back over time.”

“Exactly,” Vanis said, nodding. “You also must be careful not to exceed that pool of mana, however, or you can actually injure yourself. You’ll quickly learn proper mana control, once you start using your new abilities, and where those limits may lie.”