Lady of Curses

''Chirp, chirp, chirp...'' It was the next morning, and Aella was awakened by some birds singing nearby. Opening her eyes Aella was greeted by a beautiful morning, the birds were singing, the sun was shining and she could hear some children laughing somewhere outside all was good, if you don't include that the shining sun was bearing its rays straight at Aella's face. Her automatic response to getting blinded by the sun was to cover her head with the blanket. 

While Aella was under her blanket considering whether to wake up and go about her day or go back to sleep, she saw some kind of mist that had started to form words right in front of her. 

[Choose your ability]

[Swordmanship]

[Farming]

[Curse of weakness]

[Botanic knowledge]

[Hunters eye]

These were probably the abilities she was told of yesterday by Maya. Aella needed to choose one of them as her first ability. But she wasn't really ready for it right now, she wanted to learn about them more so that she could make a more educated choice, after all, she was informed that these can make some impact on your life. 

But no matter what she did the misty words didn't disappear, she tried to turn her head or swat them with her hand or will them to disappear but nothing worked, they just reformed in front of her as if nothing had happened. So given no options she had to make the choice now.

First, she needed to decide what she wanted to do in this new world, unfortunately, she wasn't given the option to get magic, otherwise, she would have chosen it without a second thought. The first ability she eliminated from her list was [swordmanship], Aella wasn't too big on swords, yes it could be cool in the future to take down multiple enemies with her sword as she danced around them, but she liked the idea of fighting from a distance and eliminating threats before they get the chance to get close to her. 

So that gave the [Hunters eye] some bonus points because in fiction it usually is used by archers or other range units. Now another great ability was [Botanic knowledge], Aella already had some ideas how she could use it. Although it wasn't made for battle so much as [Hunters eye] the [Botanic knowledge] would probably give her plenty of opportunities including a job in this settlement. It was a versatile ability and even if she chooses to take the path of battle, she could still use the knowledge this ability would give her.

[Farming] on the other hand was pushed into the back of her mind pretty quickly, yes it would give her a concrete job and direction she could follow, but she wasn't made to be a farmer, so this ability didn't really impress her as the other two. 

The last on the list was [Curse of weakness], now this ability was calling Aella the most because although it didn't have magic in its name it sounded magical, but there is a reason she didn't choose the moment she read it, and still looked at the other options. The reason being that she didn't know how the curse would work, if it was an active ability she could cast on her enemies, cool, but if it instead was an actual ability that cursed Aella herself then she would be screwed, that's why she is so hesitant about picking it.

Right now Aella was presented with two options, take one of the safe roads or risk it all with the possibility she gets something resembling magic. ''Well, new world new me!''  So she decided to take [Curse of weakness]. Was it a smart idea? No, but she decided to take this risk, she knew the probable consequences but still decided to follow her heart.

The moment she decided which ability she wanted the words dissipated as if they never had existed, and at the same time, she felt a rush of power before her head was filled with new information. This new knowledge included how to use the new ability and what it did. 

This ability has the power to cast a curse on somebody, the curse's effect is that it physically weakens your opponent. The strength of this curse depends mainly on two factors, how much mana is used when casting, and how many times it has been used, but you also have to put the enemy's strength in the equation. 

But probably the main thing Aella should concentrate on, is how much she uses this ability, because the more you train and use the ability the more powerful it grows while at the same time, you get more familiar with it making it so that you can better utilize it. 

It was interesting going over this information, but Aella was more overfilled by the relief that her choice didn't backfire. Now that she has chosen her ability Aella decided to visit the library that Maya showed her yesterday, to gain some knowledge about this world.

Pulling the blanket off of her head Aella was again assaulted by the sun's bright rays making her squint her eyes, but she soon got used to it and was able to open them fully. Rubbing her eyes Aella got out of bed and walked to the corner where she last night dropped her green vine cloak. 

'I should probably get new clothes as soon as possible.' Aella's mind wondered about new clothes, while she put on her cloak and made sure it was comfortable and would stay in its place. 

Walking out of her bedroom, she entered the kitchen and living area room, where she saw that on the table there was a bowl of fruits. ''That's probably the food.'' Most of the fruits looked bizarre to Aella with some of them resembling somewhat the fruits she had eaten back on Earth. 

Walking up to the table she grabbed one of the fruits that somewhat resembled a dark purple apple. She spun it in her hand to take a better look at it before she took a bite. The moment the mystical apple entered her mouth her taste buds were assaulted by rich flavor. Aella was amazed by its taste, she took another bite, then another, and before she knew it she had eaten the whole fruit, and Aella only realized it because when she went to take another bite she was met with empty air.

Seeing her empty hand Aella turned her gaze to where the fruit bowl was and took another fruit hoping it tastes as good. This time she took a fruit that looked like a green-blue sphere that had some bumps all over its exterior. Taking a bite Aella experienced a sweet flavor and the fruit itself was chewy on the outside and soft on the inside. This time she didn't gulp it down like a ravenous beast but actually enjoyed it.

After eating those two fruits Aella decided to leave the rest for later as she didn't feel hungry and had eaten them just to see how they taste. Now that she had done that it was time for her to visit the library and get educated about the world around her. 

Opening the wooden door Aella walked out of her house and while she was closing the door she found that it didn't have any kind of lock, so she just closed it hoping no one robs her. After checking one last time if her cloak was in its place Aella started her walk to the library.

It was a little windy outside, making her black hair get swept by the wind. Aella considered putting in the hood but decided against it as the wind wasn't that strong. 

While walking to her destination Aella started to look around. She saw people going about their life, some were relaxed and some were running in a hurry, making this settlement look lively.  

''HREEEE...!'' While Aella was watching some children playing a prank on one of the residents she hear a horrible screech. By the sound of it, the one who screamed was close to Aella's location, probably in one of the nearby houses. Aella tried to look in the direction where the screech came from, but didn't see the person.

While looking around she saw that people around her started to back away from the location, some were full-on running away. Seeing this Aella didn't need to know anything all she knew was that she had to get away from there. 

*BOOM!* But before she could even move a step away from her location she lost her footing as something rammed her from her side, throwing her some distance away. All Aella could feel was, one moment she was in the air and the next she made contact with the earth, and seconds later she felt a rush of pain.

''Cough, cough...'' Aella's whole body was in pain, and moving it made it worst so she decided for now just to lay there. She still tried to move her head and see what just happened. 

First, she saw some chunks of wood scattered around in multiple directions. Then as she continued to move her vision she saw people running and screaming, but the sound didn't register to her because all Aella could hear was the annoying ringing in her ears. Moving her head some more she saw the explosion's center, there stood a house, or what remains of it.  The house was pretty much ripped apart because of the explosion. 

But the thing that worried Aella the most was that there was someone standing in the center of all that. It was humanoid with pale skin, fully naked, and in the center of its chest was some kind of dark blue crystal, from which, as the center, the same collared veins were sprouting all over the humanoid's body.

''Oh fuck.'' Aella instinctively knew that if she doesn't get out of here she will be in some serious danger.