LETHYFEROUS
1. SELENA'S CURSE
The bloody full moon looked gracefully and boldly in the night sky. No rain this month. Only the wind blew fiercely, hitting the branches of trees and causing a rough crackling sound. Dark clouds covered the Luna slowly, along with the sudden sound of the baby crying, breaking the silence.
The chasing cry came from an old hut in the middle of the forest. People never side with it because of the many myths circulating about the owner of the cottage. Hera, name. People know him as a witch. That's why he was expelled from the village and forced to live in the cottage.
Tonight, precisely when the full moon bleeds, Hera gives birth to the baby she contains. No one ever knew who the father of the sweet baby girl was. Her skin is as white as her mother's. Her lips were red, like a freshly cooked apple.
“You are beautiful, darling,” said Hera as she kissed her recently cleaned daughter's forehead.
Yep. Rather than bothering others because all the citizens were afraid of her, Hera preferred to give birth to her own baby. Luckily, Selena blessed him tonight so he could get through the painful process
single-handedly. The baby, named Fleur, is now asleep in a blanket wrapped around his tiny body.
However, something made Hera speechless. A reddish glow emerged from behind the blanket that enveloped Fleur's body to make the baby wriggle, then cry. His hand pulled the cloth until it appeared a little tiny baby body. An intricate pattern was etched so slickly, flawlessly, on Fleur's chest.
“This ...” Hera muttered, then looked at the sky that was visible outside the open window of the cottage. The red full moon shaded the night sky.
Hera looked back at her daughter with an anxious look. As if already knowing the meaning of the seal on his daughter's chest, Hera's hand did not stop gently wiping the pattern. “Selena, what do you want?” he asked, looking back at the goddess of the night out there.
***
Twenty years have passed ….
Fleur, the baby girl with blushing lips has now grown into a very charming girl. Her beauty rivaled that of her mother and sure enough, if she were to leave the house now, there would be many men lured to her. However, since his birth, Fleur had no interest outside the cottage. He preferred to help Hera concoct medicine from the plants her mother cultivated in the back of the house.
“Ah, shit.” Fleur grumbling. He opened a few medium-sized jugs neatly arranged in the storage shed behind the cottage. For a minute not finding what she was looking for, the girl snorted. He got up from his kneeling position, then walked over to Hera.
“What's up?” As if he already knew his daughter's intentions, Hera immediately replied. He's cleaning the kitchen.
“Our availability is running out,” said Fleur half-complaining. “Should I look for him?” tanyanya.
Hera sighed. “Let Mama alone later,” answer.
“But the jug in the furnace can not wait long, Ma,” eyel Fleur.
The woman who was still busy wiping the kitchen utensils did not reply. Making Fleur can only snort softly.
“OK, let me look for him outside,” said Fleur, then turned to leave his mother.
“Fleur!” exclaim Hera. However, his call did not make his daughter turn her head. “Fleur! What would you look for out there?”
“Ganoderma, Mama!” exclaim Fleur who is now back in the storage warehouse. “That mushroom in our garden died of Ferguso's eating last week! Did Mama forget?”
Ferguso is the name of Hera's pet goat. The animal that accompanied the woman at the time of joy and sorrow approached. Ferguso simply chimed in on Fleur's exclamation. Meanwhile, Hera went outside the cottage and headed
storeroom. He found Fleur had prepared with a sling bag with a magic wand tucked inside.
“No, Ma.” Fleur is still tight. “Mama is busy, ‘kan? Just let me. I'll be right back after getting it.”
Hera speechless. He clasped his daughter's hand with a raging feeling of anxiety.
“Ma, I've been twenty years now,” Fleur said. “I think, it's time I went outside the house.”
Hera nodded. He looked at Fleur, then rubbed his daughter's head. “You must remember the message Mama,” he said. “Never try close to anyone, let alone it's a man.”
Fleur remained silent. Of course he remembered with Hera's message which was always repeatedly rang by him. At the age of 10 years, he once asked about the seal on his chest and Hera said if he was hit by a curse from Selena. His mother told him that he could never get married. If forced himself, his partner will burn to death later.
The girl sighed. “Mama don't have to worry so,” he said. “I'll be smart-smart keeping myself out there.”
After the mother allowed it, Fleur said goodbye. Actually, he did not believe the mother's words related to the curse. Hera, who was a former witch, worshipped Selena. I don't know what he did until the seal he said the curse was pinned on his daughter's chest. However, Fleur still affirms that the curse does not exist. He could still marry the man he loved one day.
***
“Where, yes?” muttered that 20-year-old girl.
Her strands of red hair seemed to dangle out from the hood of the robe. Gently fluttering in the daytime wind. The glint of the sun shone on the green iris of the girl's eyes. Anyone would have thought that a girl as beautiful as Fleur was the daughter of a witch. Despite living alone, the mother also taught herself about casting spells and some ways of surviving in the witch-style wilds. It was useful to him in a crucial moment like this.
Fleur occasionally knelt down. His hands fluttered the bushes covering the weathered wooden chunks. Ganoderma is usually a pathogen for woody plants. This fungus causes decay in the roots and stems so that it makes the plant die quickly. However, the mother often uses it as a pain reliever, lowering blood pressure, even deadly diseases such as cancer. Fleur learned quite a lot about medicinal plants and fungi from Hera and he easily looked for them in the wild if the supplies in the garden and in the warehouse were up— as now for example.
“Ah, finally!” fleur cried a moment later.
The girl's eyes twinkled when she found something she was looking for. The fungus grows well on one of the dead trees. The tree is quite large and the Ganoderma that grows too much. Fleur took them one by one with a happy feeling. In a moment, he will come home with the mushrooms.
However, a voice stopped the movement of his hand. A soft growl from behind made his body tremble. Fleur turned around slowly. His body was stiff when the five wolves had been on standby not far from his current position.
One mushroom in his grasp slipped off and fell to land on the ground surface just like that. The sound of friction of the wolf legs began to sound as his growl grew louder. Fleur who is still a beginner in terms of survival in the wild, then sat down for a while.
“A-what do you guys want?” his tan trembled with one hand grabbing the magic wand from inside the bag.
One wolf that was seen leading roared fiercely. Breaking the silence of the forest and making some birds fly out of the cage. The golden-eyed wolf stared intently at the girl in front of him.
Fleur managed to grab the magic wand. He quickly pointed the holy tool forward. “Brenne!”
A blinding light was just highlighted from the end of the stick and directed at the wolf horde in front of him. The wolf closed its eyes, except for the one that was roaring earlier. He roared back, even harder than before.
Fleur screeches. “Sial! It does not work!”
***