I felt like each day my strength had reduced more and more till I couldn't move on, yet the next day I jolted out of my house with my favourite book in tow, right until I reached that hill again.
Dashing forward with a full backpack, I say, "I need to slow down, I need to slow down."
But my body only moves up the hill faster than ever before until I end up at the top, and then I swing my head down as I grab onto my knees to keep my body upwards as I breathe in and out rapidly.
Staring down at the ground, I see a puddle of water, which makes me notice the gross smile I have strung across my face, forcing me to recompose myself and fix my appearance before slapping my cheeks and raising my head.
Looking in front of me, I see nothing but an empty bench surrounded by cursed flowers like yesterday, and in an instant, a disgusting feeling flows from the inside of my stomach before I feel my heart freeze for a moment. I quickly hit my fist against my chest, and say, "What an idiot," which restarts my mind as my smile fades.
Rubbing the back of my head, I say while maintaining a smile, "I guess the Wonderbeast was just being nice. I guess I was acting really stupid after all. I should head back."
Turning around, I take a step forward, but my foot slips and I fling into the air right before cracking my head off against the ground. I roll around in pain to try and snuff out the horrible sensation, but as I move, I notice my body cannot spin too far from the position I started in, making me stop.
I quickly lift my body upwards, and stare at where my foot first slipped, and in a pile I see the slime, which causes me to shout hysterically, as I move my leg away.
Yet some of the slime sticks to my leg, causing me to run around and freak out more. I quickly try and grab the slime that is attached to my leg and move it over to the rest of the body as I refuse them all into one body as I pray, "Messiah help me, Messiah help me!"
In an instant, the mixture of purple and green liquids on the ground and my leg reform into the slime body, and soon a bow appears on top of its head. It then sticks out a little mass, which it swings around happily, making all the worry and anxiety in my body fade with the wind.
Letting out a sigh, I say, "Thank God. I thought I had killed you."
The Slime shakes its head from side to side and then waves towards me happily. It then makes a series of gestures which causes me to say, "Were you waiting to surprise me?"
It nods its head up and down rapidly, forcing laughter out of my mouth as I say, "Really? Are you dumb? There is no way you could've caught me with your tiny stature!"
As my laughter continues, it slimes onto my body and starts bashing its small fists against the sides of my head, causing me to say, "Sorry, sorry, I won't laugh at you."
Standing up, I walk over to the bench and say, "Thank you for coming all the way over here to meet me. It means a lot."
It hollows out both of its sides before placing the little stomps it uses as arms against them and looks up with pride. "You're really silly, but I am used to silly and adorable little people."
Sitting on the bench, I take off my backpack and pull out a book, then say, "You see, this here is a treasure of the Frumos family. A one-of-a-kind secret encyclopaedia of all the curses that have ever been absorbed by Balaur. It is something only our family and the Queen knows; people would kill millions just to have it, and I have brought it here to read."
The eyes of the slime light up as its entire body vibrates with amazement.
"I know, right? It's cool!"
It rapidly shakes its head, and I say, "Luckily for you, as the next head of the Frumos family, I get to share that with those whom I wish, and I shall share it with you if you're so inclined."
The slime shakes its head again, and again before climbing onto my shoulder, so I open it up and say, "Now, where should I start. Here is a good one. Number One's Empire is the name of a curse that forces 49 groups of people to participate in a random game that allows each contestant to best use their skills, and the winner at the end takes on all physical characteristics of everyone they beat. This curse has said to have many fun interactions, which have been recorded her-."
Seeing the slime's face enlarge with excitement, I feel an uncontrollable smile burst onto my own, causing me to say, "How silly," as I start to laugh.
The slime continues to bash its fists against my face, but the smile it has brought onto me as laughter reigns can't be stopped.
From that day I arrived on that hill again, and again to share new things I found with the slime.
"Did you know that curses tend to always dominate in the blood of half-breeds, but from anything less than half, it becomes up in the air if curses dominate or not, and some people from that point on are just born with better physicality with no spirit energy lost.
The fun things, the cool things, the sad things, and most of all the weird things.
"Apparently, in the Wild Lands, the Queen got so mad at them at one point that she stabbed a cursed item into their very soil that makes it so that the sensation you feel for certain actions was switched around, so hunger in your stomach could originate from your ear being ichy, and you'd never know."
The slime opens its mouth wide in shock as it claps its hands over and over.
For the first time in my life, I felt happy to speak; I felt like everything I learned was worth it, and it only made the act of learning far more enjoyable.
"I learned the other day that my family apparently has the ability to command Balaur to follow our lead. This trait has died to the point where we can only request Balaur make the given Cursed item we request, but it is still amazing. Apparently, it's how my family grew to prominence in the first place. So maybe one day I might be able to control Balaur. But that's probably a bit much for m-."
Before those disparaging words could leave my mouth, the slime crawls up my shoulder and starts kissing my cheek, and the sensation of it touching me tickles me enough to the point where I start laughing as I say, "Hey, please, stop, I am way too ticklish."
For the first time in my life, I had someone whom I could truly bare everything to without the fear of worrying, without the fear of them leaving, without the fear of them one day being in danger. And it warmed my very soul so much, that I felt like I could say anything and everything on me mind.
Staring up at the moon, which shines down, filtering through the cursed purple sky, I say, "Curse items really are the coolest thing on this planet. A plague forced onto each citizen in this country, which debilitated their lives to horrible extents, yet we were able to grab it by the neck and with the countless sacrifices passed down from generation to generation, we were able to tame our ancestral homeland, and return it to a form capable of carrying on the next generations.
The ability to grab fate and mould it into a form that benefits you is truly an amazing thing that the citizens of Blestemate have done, and maybe one day I'll be able to reform my pathetic self into one who can truly love all of the Nightfalls."
Realising the embarrassing words that came out of my mouth, I lower my head in shame, and say, "Probably not, I was getting ahead of myself if I think someone like me is able to accomplish all of that. I should probably just stick to ready books like I am good a-."
A slap bears across my face, and looking at its source, it sees the slime which has reformed itself into a hand pushing its finger into his cheek, and says, "Sorry, I won't say anything like that again, I won't be mean to myself."
It pulls back and gives me a thumbs up, and I say, "You can be very scary. Though you're also very cute."
Returning to its blob form, it holds its cheek and waves towards me shyly.
It was everything I could ever ask for. In that place, with that animal, I was finally happy, I was safe, I was encouraged, I was hopeful that maybe things would get better, but like all things, eventually reality came knocking.
With one foot after another, I walk up the same hill as I always do, but in my soul and heart, I feel like I am one second from breaking my very existence into pieces.
Looking at a puddle at the side of my feet, I see my reflection. I see the bruise on my face, my tattered clothes, the mud on my hair, and the swelling on my right eye.
I continue to ascend, and as I do, they play back in my mind. The memory of Lich and his friends finding me, the memory of them ripping my bagpack and my encoypedia away from me, the memory of the battle I waged against them, the beating I took, the tears I split, the way I grovelled to get it back, the laughter they strung at me as I fought, the hate I felt in my heart, the fear I felt in my soul.
The weakness I feel in my soul, the view I now see when I turn my head, and the relief I feel when I drop my body to the ground and start rolling away from where I began, and the softness I feel as the words, "DRAGOSTE!" move through my ears.
Regaining my sense of self for a moment, I look at what I feel, and there I see a young woman with blue skin that has a green glow in overalls, as her long translucent purple and green pigtails wave through the sky.
"Beautiful," I say, captured by the sight in front of me.
Sticking her finger in my cheek, she says, "Do you really think that complimenting me today will let you get off easily?"
As her finger pushes into my cheek, it eventually collapses and turns into slime, causing her to say, "I guess I applyied to much force," as she laughs.
In an instant, my eyes open wide, and I say, "SLIME?"
"The one and only."
In an instant, I crawl away and say, "Aren't you a wonderbeast?"
"No, I am just a Nightmare like you. A student who goes to a school in the Cursed Sea District."
"Then why were you going around like a slime!"
"Because it's way more relaxing to get around like that, it makes it so that fewer people care when you move across buildings, and whatnot. It also allows you to make lots of friends more easily, since people like to talk to animals about things. Though don't worry, amongst all the friends I've made your my favourite."
Walking closer to me, she places her hands on my cheeks and says, "Now, Dragoste, tell me what's wrong like always and let's see what we can do about it like always."
She smiles whilst forcing my face into one, and feeling her warmth, all I can do is cry far worse than I have ever done before, yet these tears hurt the least than any that have come out before.