I stood there at the edge of the cliff, the infernal winds of Hell brushing past my skin like the breath of a monster. Below me, in the crimson valley, demons danced and played cruel games with the lost souls—twisting, tormenting, laughing. Their echoes bounced off the burning stone walls like mockery aimed at Heaven itself.
I didn't move.
I just stood there. Watching. Thinking.
"Cursed, huh..." The words escaped my lips in a low, serious tone, almost as if I was confirming something to myself. "We were cursed... by the demon himself."
The one we were hunting.
The one far beyond our league.
We thought we were ready. We weren't.
His power was overwhelming. He didn't even break a sweat when he closed the gates to Heaven right before our eyes. And then, even with his energy nearly drained, he cursed us—some teenagers who didn't even come close to his level.
A curse so powerful, so twisted, that even using it could lead to death.
Why...? Why curse us?
My hands trembled in silent rage. I clenched my fists and slammed them against a massive rock near the cliff's edge. A crack split across its surface.
Behind me, the others were trying to figure it out—what kind of curse we had been marked with. I wasn't helping. I didn't want to. Not yet. I needed to breathe... to think... to cool the fire that was burning me from the inside.
After a while, the storm inside me calmed, if only slightly.
I turned and walked toward the group. They were sitting in a rough circle on the scorched ground, faces furrowed in deep concentration. No one was speaking. Their expressions, however, told me everything.
They had nothing. No answers. No theories. Just silence.
I sat down next to them.
Just as I began to focus, a voice stabbed through the quiet like a blade.
"Are you trying to think with your feet or something?" Fearlessness smirked without even glancing my way.
I glared at him. "We're all being serious here, trying to figure this out... and that's what you decide to say?"
He scoffed, eyes still closed. "Thinking? With what? You don't have a brain."
A chorus of laughter erupted. Even the others—my own team—nodded in agreement. No one defended me. Not even Kindness.
I clenched my teeth and stood up. "Come on, guys. Really?"
I took a few steps back, shaking my head... and that's when the air shifted.
A demonic howl screeched through the skies, and a blur of shadow came diving down.
Fast.
I barely managed to dodge. A blade carved a shallow line across my cheek before slamming into the ground behind me, leaving a crater of molten rock.
A low growl echoed in the aftermath.
The others looked up in alarm, finally noticing the attack.
I grinned through the pain. "Just a little scratch," I said.
No one responded.
They simply turned back to their thoughts, as if nothing had happened. As if I hadn't just been inches from death.
I felt invisible.
I clenched my fists again. "That's it?! Just a look? I almost got cut down!"
But they were already lost in brainstorming again.
I turned away.
The rest of the night passed in eerie silence.
---
Morning light filtered through the curtains of my bedroom.
I yawned loudly, stretching as I stumbled into the bathroom, rubbing my eyes. Everything felt normal again. Earth normal. The usual, dull rhythm of morning.
I brushed my teeth.
I looked in the mirror.
And froze.
My heart skipped a beat. Then another.
There it was.
The scratch. The same one. The exact same cut the demon gave me in Hell… was now on my face here on Earth.
I spat out the toothpaste, spraying the mirror in a mess of shock and disbelief. I leaned in, staring at my reflection with wide eyes.
No way... No way... Could it be?
Could it be that wounds from Hell… follow us back here?
I didn't have time to think—my phone vibrated violently on the sink.
An incoming call from the team.
Justice.
I answered.
"Why are you calling so early...?" I muttered.
His sleepy voice was filled with panic. "Fearlessness... remember when you punched me in the face back in Hell?"
Fearlessness groaned. "Yeah...? What about it?"
Justice paused. "I felt it this morning."
Silence.
Creativity burst out laughing. "Not believing what he said.
Faith chuckled too, but Wisdom was quiet—too quiet.
I stared at my reflection again.
I touched the cut on my cheek with trembling fingers.
It was real. Not just a dream. Not an illusion.
"I... I had the same scratch this morning that I got from the demon..."
Wisdom turned toward me with sharp eyes. "What are you saying?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"I think... I think the damage we receive in Hell carries over to our bodies here. On Earth. That's the curse!"
Silence.
Everyone's faces froze.
Then, laughter again.
Fearlessness couldn't help himself. "So you can think after all!"