The lands of Canelux, and more pointedly the Western coats of the continent, had been devastated by the invasion of the insect tribes from Onnen. Even now they were still trying to rebuild their homes and lives from what was left over from the war. One place that was hit particularly hard was the island of Apoy, and the village of Kinigoh that was built upon it. As one of the main landing areas for the insects upon their arrive Apoya had been nearly flattened, not helped by the eruption of the islands volcano.

Since the end of the invasion the locals had been struggling to get their crops started again and much of the islands naturally according food sources and prey animals were all but wiped out. While normally somewhat isolated the war had brought new people to the island who may otherwise not have visited. Among them some after the war had found out about the issues the natives were having in getting their society going again almost from the ground up.

As such a small caravan had been formed to take a large supply of food and other necessities like furs and cloth. This small group of people were just ordinary citizens who had formed it, or at least that’s what most thought anyway. Among them was one that stood out, however she had come along after the formation of the caravan, seeking it out after it had been formed and finding it while it was still on the mainland of Canelux.

Sirona had explained that she was from Onenn like the insects, but that, of course, she was not one of them. However she wanted to help in whatever way she could feeling some guilt about what had happened. Seeing that the angel was in fact armed and armoured and could clearly handle herself the leaders of the caravan had agreed to let her join them, asking if she could guard them from any attempt at a raid.

Sirona had agreed to these terms and was now with the caravan as it was unloading the rafts at the shore, having taking the shortest route possible from the mainland to the island. Sirona stood out thanks to her armour and sword and shield at her side, and certainly the large white feathered wings folded against her back helped. She stood around five feet and nine inches tall, what skin was visible on her face was fair and perfect not a flaw in it. The hood of her black and white armour was down, she had no true helm as it interfered with her flying. Her eyes were a brilliant blue and when she faced the sun her eyes glowed even in the brightness. On her face was a more striking feature perhaps not associated with angels; tattoos. On her cheeks were what could be considered claw mark tattoos, between her chin and her bottom lip were two more lines and in the middle of her lower lip was a solid square of black. Sirona knew that people had eyed them but no one had asked so far about them.

At the moment with no threat currently in the area Sirona simply and happily helping unload cargo from the rafts with everyone else. And she was proving to be a bit stronger than her frame suggested but her body was mostly covered by her armour, so what kind of muscle mass she had under it was a mystery.

When old Apoy blew its top everyone had been miles away on the mainland safe and sound. But when it came time for the people to return home, everything had been leveled by the cooling flows of lava. Tons of ash had showered the island, and swaths of the rainforest were now a dark rocky wasteland. Rebuilding was a top priority to help the locals return to their daily lives as soon as possible, and for that they needed lots of material. Being in the shipping business was a great help, as bringing items in bulk was easy with the Clephsydra. Druids and mages helped with accelerating the jungle's regrowth and reestablishing the local food sources, while any rubble that could be salvaged was repurposed. The Centipede diggers were showing off their intended use as they broke up the cooled solidified volcanic ground into rich dark soil, loosening it for seeds to take root. The Bakulaw flying spider drones airlifted rubble that was stuck in harder to reach spots out. The thelyphonidae automatons assisted with driving off wild animals from attacking the recovering villages at night, also bringing in additional food for the population. Things were looking up, even after all the destruction and bloodshed the island has seen.

Since this island was where she had been stationed during the invasion, Shiloh felt personally responsible for helping Kinigoh get back on its feet. As usual she kept a low profile not revealing her identity to direct more focus on getting objectives completed. Rebuilding an ecosystem was going to be hard, but they'd do what they could. Any injured animals would be healed and if possible, those still relatively intact were resurrected. Population diversity was important, from what she read on a book about the natural world's habitats. Hopefully the decreased numbers of species wouldn't hurt the island in the long run. Now that Apoy was dormant, it was time for her to return the small colony of wyverns she had moved out before the eruption. Cages of them were stacked up in the back of her horse-drawn covered cart along with other amenities, like medical supplies, tools, and clean clothes. Being by herself, she was pretty confident that she could handle her own cargo in the short ride to the settlement. At least, until they showed up.

With every disaster there are those who would come in droves to loot and plunder. Like vultures, they circled the island in their ships hiding in coves and bays to attack supply caravels sailing in or made routine raids on the camps to take whatever they wanted. Dressed like an ordinary person, maybe it wasn't so out of place that she was jumped just out of the receded treeline. The screeching of several wyverns alerted her a few seconds before the armed men came out from the woodwork. Dropping the reins, she slid off the horse before they spooked it, making it bolt with the cart still attached. "HEY!" One of the men fired a shot, cutting the mare loose and sending the cart rolling to a stop. Running after it, she clenched her teeth as she saw a smug grin spread across his face. "Looks like we hit paydirt boys! Haha!" Already he was getting his grubby hands on some of the distilled alcohol from the medical gear, looking at it like it was free moonshine. "Bottles, a whole dozen of 'em! Catch!" The bandanna-wearing man threw a few to his crewmates while turning everything inside out.

"Get your filthy hands off the merchandise you rat!" They all turned in her direction and began to laugh. There was a big bald one who was guffawing the loudest, until a spiny melon jammed itself into his mouth. From a pile of fruit that had fallen out from the barrels, Shiloh had another still in her right hand. "Drop the goods and beat it, or else the next one's a coconut!" With one of theirs down, that got their attention. Scimitars and knives drawn, they thought this would be over quick.

After a little while of unloading Sirona felt a tingly sensation, something was wrong. She had a good sense for wrong going on around her and she now felt it. ”I’m going to have a look around.” Sirona mentioned to one of the others who nodded to her as she opened her wings and took into the air gracefully. Gaining enough altitude to gain a view over the trees, or what was left of the trees, it didn’t take Sirona long to spot where the trouble was. A lone woman being attacked by a small group of bandits, she had one cart and the horse was gone. Sirona scowled, she had to do something!

As the men started to close in on the woman there was a wooshing sound as Sirona came down from the sky. The man she had targeted only had time to turn around, see nothing and then look up in time to have Sirona’s booted foot kick him across the jaw. He fell to the ground out cold as Sirona’s feet touched down and she moved in closer to the woman, sword and shield out and at the ready. ”Stay back, bandits! Leave now and leave with your lives” She warned, wondering why the woman was holding some fruit while her sword had a slight fog around it from the chilling affects of the blade.

The men glanced to each other and then started to chuckle, not taking her threat seriously, she was only one angel after all, what kind of a fighter could she prove? They continued to advance and Sirona frowned. ”So be it, your evil shall be cleansed from these lands.” Sirona sighed as she moved forward to meet the man closest to her who carried a large two handed axe. He swung it a powerful diagonal slash forcing Sirona back a step as he tried to turn the heavy weapon around to swing back again Sirona was behind his defences. She stepped back a second after removing her sword from the man’s stomach and allowing him to drop dead.

The angel turned around quickly to see the rest of the men rush them as their comrade fell. For a moment the tip of her sword glowed, and Sirona thrust it in the air as a burst of sunlight erupted from it, blinding the men and opening them for an easy attack for a few moments. With little hesitation now that they had made their decision to die, Sirona swung his sword and cut open the next man’s throat in a clean cut, he was dead before he hit the ground.

Just as she was preparing to lob another spiny melon, someone dropped down from on high and sent a man flying. Suddenly a winged warrior was standing in front of her, shield and sword fully primed. Wait what? In the next few seconds the bandits decided they still wanted to fight, did so, and both sides engaged. The winged woman was handling herself pretty well while the rest of the bandits completely forgot about her standing by herself next to a pile of spilled goods. One of the men tried to force an opening, but got shanked from the front. A blinding flash of light forced everybody to cover their eyes, and when it was over there was another body lying on the ground. Well that escalated quickly. Sure these men were probably the literal scum of the earth, but Shiloh hadn't gotten to the point where she wanted them dead. That was Dalanesca's area, not hers. Before the warrior could get another man down, she took the initiative and aimed a throw at the one closest to the angel. 

"Hrk!" Solar plexus. The man folded inward and rolled onto his back, clutching his stomach and dropping his saber beside the coconut that smacked into his gut. Groin. Another well-aimed hurl sent a spiny melon straight into another man's nether regions. His eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head as he dropped like a rock and began frothing at the mouth in agony. By now the others were starting to get the message and were making a hasty retreat. Dropping the goods and bailing, they made a beeline for their skiff. "AND DON'T COME BACK!" Shiloh yelled at the fleeing raiders, orange in hand. "And that about does it. So much for a short trip…" Seeing the angel she shouted at her. "Hey, I think that's enough. I doubt they'll try that again for a while." Looking over at the bleeding corpses she sighed. Without missing a beat, she began to go through the dead men's pockets taking back whatever the stole and any other valuables they had. They weren't going to need it. The two unconscious ones she began tying up to take back to the camp, and she handcuffed them together with a set of shackles for safety. 

 Taking out a shovel she began digging a large hole to dump the bodies in. Leaving these out would draw out predators, not a good idea when they didn't have the village walls fully reconstructed. She covered up the blood with dirt, buried the bodies, and stuck a few stones on top as a makeshift grave marker. "Sometimes in life things don't always go as planned." She grumbled. Sure she had her goods back, but her horse was gone and she sure wasn't going to drag this herself. She then looked at the two bandits now regaining consciousness. "You and you, get over there and start pulling. If you don't, you're going in with your friends." The deity pointed at the mound where the three dead men were buried. The men looked at the armed angel and the plain woman, looked at each other, and made the obvious decision when one is faced with this sort of choice. "Oh and don't try to run. You're not going to get very far." They paused again, realizing escape was futile. "You scared off my horse, so until I get it back–you're going to do his job."

Sirona was about to continue her attack but saw that the woman she was here to help defend throw the fruit and hit the man closest to her with a coconut. Sirona stopped and glanced over in time to see the woman throw a spiny looking melon into another man’s groin, dropping him to the ground in agony. The angel couldn’t help a small smile at that, that was one way to do it. It seemed that this combined with the two deaths that the others decided that they were done with them and took into the trees. Too drive that point home Sirona swung his blade a few times and each time a blast of sun light lashed out, but she wasn’t aiming to hit. The blasts scorched the trees around the man and made enough noise to keep them running.

The woman yelled in Sirona’s direction, saying that that was enough and Sirona nodded in agreement as she sheathed her blade and walked over to the woman as she started to rummage through the pockets of the two corpses. Sirona scowled, but said nothing, she didn’t like the idea of stealing from the dead, even of these kinds of beings, but she wasn’t going to judge at the moment given that they had attacked this woman first. The two unconscious men she restrained with shackles, now, why would she have those on her just like that ready to use? Interesting.

The angel helped as she could with the bodies and the clean up of the area with the woman in silence, introductions could wait. But the two men started to wake and were instructed to do the horse’s job with the wagon and Sirona grinned, that was a very interesting and appropriate punishment if she ever heard one. ”I can help you find yourself, ma’am, might be a bit easier from the air.” Sirona suggested but didn’t go to find it right away, no, let these two man have some time served before that. They were on an island the horse probably wouldn’t have gone too far anyway if it was well trained.

Before Sirona could say anything further a twanging noise caught her sensitive ear and she instinctively brought up a magic screen. An arrow ricocheted off of it and when she heard more twangs, she extended the screen further to protect the woman. Scowling it didn’t take long for her to see what was going on; the bandits that had fled had come back with their boss riding on a boar and a few more men with bows.

Sirona started to build up a rather large amount of magic as she stepped forward. The boss of the men was saying something, but Sirona couldn’t hear him over her own heart beat in her ears as she took steps forward keeping the barrier up as she did. He was threatening them and saying how much he could make off of Sirona’s wings and feathers if they couldn’t take her alive.

The magic that Sirona had been building was peaking as she drew her blade and dropped her barrier. The moment that happened the archers loosed their arrows, but Sirona tanked the hits, nothing hit her face and her armour just moved on its own subtly enough to negate the worst damage. She ended up with one sticking out of her upper right arm but ignored it. ”You had your chance!” She called swinging her blade in a straight down two handed vertical slash.

She wasn’t anywhere close enough to hit them, so it took a few moments for the result to it, but did it ever hit! There was a rumble in the air and a crackling sound as all the magic that Sirona had been building rushed out of her all at once and into the sky. With a boom of thunder a massive sword started to fall from the sky with all speed, translucent almost as she whistled its way down, the blade looked almost identical to Sirona’s sword. It made a thunderous crash into the leader of the bandits, impaling him and his mount to the ground together. Everything stood still for a few long moments as the rest of the bandits stood staring terrified at what had just happened.

The swords magic fizzled out and the whole thing disappeared in a puff of magic smoke, leaving the two corpses to finally sag to the ground. That ended the fighting and the bandits decided that now they truly had enough. Some of them took one last look back to Sirona who was still standing staring them down almost daring them to attack, heaving for breath as she did with sweat on her face. They broke further under her stare and took off running for their skiff to get off of the island.

Sirona stayed still for a moment before swaying, dropping her sword to the ground before collapsing to her knees. She didn’t black out but she was close, exhausted from the sheer amount of magic she had just expended in such a short amount of time. Her breathing was heavy as she found herself laying on her back looking up at the warm sun just trying not to pass out. ”Never, never done that before.” She breathed out after a moment, where had that come from?!

The angel didn't say anything when she made the burial mound, which was nice for a change. Usually she had to explain why leaving corpses out uncovered was a problem. With the two hostages now hooked up to the cart, the winged woman told her if she could help scout out from above. Shiloh cracked a stiff smile, but shook her head. "Thanks, but not today. The horse knows not to get itself killed and might find its way back to camp. Besides, I can't pull this thing all by myself." She glanced at the two men tied up like mules. The sound of something flying fast caught both of their attention, and the fighter was quick to deflect the shot. Good reflexes, probably had formal training with a lot of experience to react without thinking. More arrows were on their way and Shiloh automatically diverted them to miss them so it looked like poor aiming. "Should've knocked them all out before they ran off…" Eyes in a hard glare, she saw the big man himself–back with reinforcements and a mount no less. The boar wasn't a problem, but the sheer number of archers would be a pain to deflect without blowing her cover.

Then the man started saying a bunch of dumb things, like how he wanted payback for his dead crew and some obscenities mixed in a threat to strip the angel's wings of every last feather. For a man who had a handful of able bodied men killed, he sure was full of big talk. But nobody said he was smart, now was he? Guts and intimidation only got you so far. As Shiloh was calculating how to incapacitate all of the raiders at once, the angel made her move. The archers fired, raining arrows down like a hailstorm and the woman taking it all. "You had your chance!" She shouted, and Shiloh was just about to say the same thing when it happened. Something was released from her and came down a hundredfold from on high.

Shiloh dropped to the ground and put up a protective shield on herself just before it hit, the ground shaking like an earthquake. Blinding light and roaring sound forced her to shut her eyes and cover her ears. And the magic–it was like her head was going to explode! Her ears still were ringing as the bandits ran for real this time, fleeing and not looking back. The silence amplified the echoing sound, the rogue rolling on the floor until it all finally quit. Crawling back up she saw the angel pretty winded after pulling off that attack. When her head wasn't pounding anymore, Shiloh let out a low whistle at the sight of the bandit leader impaled sitting up on the dead boar. "What a way to go… That's not something you see everyday." She was going to need more space in the back of her cart. The two men filling in for her horse were white like sheets, cold sweat breaking out all over. Seeing your leader die in the blink of an eye does that to people, even hardened criminals like these. Turning her head in the direction the remaining bandits had fled, she pointed ahead and muttered under her breath: "Good luck trying to buy another drink for the rest of your life… People like you shouldn't be able to buy what you want stealing off the backs of honest folk." There was a hum in the air as something went into effect, then it disappeared.

With no concern for their state of shock, she unhooked them from the cart while still keeping them shackled together, one cuff on a man's arm. "Looks like were going to have barbacoa tonight. You–Lefty, Righty–start rolling the pig down to the cart. If you move fast enough I might put in a good word for you and the locals might not string you up when we get to camp." They stared at her in horror, and she stared back with that stone face of hers. "Unless you want to join him in the Circles?" Still shaking, they ran over and began dragging the large boar over while she looted the raider boss behind their back. She didn't take much, most she left behind except for a few interesting things he had in his clothes pockets. The coin would be put to good use, the saber she would pawn, and the map and scraps of parchment with scribbling she stowed away into her boot. The rest she left so her pilfering wasn't as obvious, and she dug a grave for the man like the others. Since he died by himself, he alone had the privilege of being buried in his own hole.

Making some space in the cart, she opened up some of the wyvern cages so they could fly free. The cages themselves were specially designed to be collapsible, taking up less space when empty. Back home at last, the wyverns departed in a flock to build their new lives. It was a brief moment's peace as she watched them go, waving at them. When the men were done they were back to being mules again, this time a bit more willingly. By now she remembered she should probably thank the armored woman for dropping in, even if it wasn't necessary. If it wasn't for her own dumb mistake this probably wouldn't have happened. "Thanks for your help back there, shame not all of them were able to get away." She threw a sidelong glare at the two men hauling the goods.

Sirona sat on the ground gasping for air, utterly spent from summoning that giant heavenly sword from the skies. She did Sirona heard the other woman speak something about drinks and she glanced back over her shoulder to see her pointing in the direction of the fleeing men. A hum in the air made the hair on the back of Sirona’s neck stand up and her skin tingle. What had that woman just done?!

The angel set that thought in the back of her mind for the moment as she got herself back up into a sitting position. At least she hadn’t passed out, but Sirona had felt like, and was still light headed, enough that she didn’t help the woman in disposing of the bodies and could only watch as she ordered the two men around. But Sirona’s mind was running wild with what she had just done, she had never called down a heavenly sword like that before! Didn’t even know that she could! The power of that spell almost made her stomach turn, mortals should not have that kind of power. Yet that was the world she lived in and was part of.

Getting to her feet slowly she winced in pain and finally registered that she had an arrow poking out of her right arm. Just as she was pulling it out, thankful that the wound wasn’t bad and would heal in time, the other woman had come over. She thanked Sirona who smiled back, but was still clearly tired. ”You’re welcome, stranger, just doing my part to help cleanse these lands of evil.” She glanced at the two men who didn’t make eye contact with her.

As she spoke the small hole that was in the chainmail links of her armour were already slowly starting to pull themselves back together. It was very subtle and you’d only notice it if you were looking for it or if you had the power to sense that her armour wasn’t exactly what it appeared to be. In fact parts of the her armour were shifting back into their neutral spots again, again this was subtle, but visible nonetheless.

”I have to admit, I have never done that before, I didn’t even know I had that much power magically speaking.” Sirona admitted while taking a deep breath. ”I don’t believe I’ll be able to do that again, but, by the Gods, I am tired.” She gave a slight chuckle and looked at the two men. ”What are to be their fates?” She asked of the woman. ”Ah, how rude of me. I am Sirona.” She bowed her head slightly in greeting to the woman. After a moment Sirona decided to ask her question. ”As the bandits ran off, you said something I think, but at the same time I felt a hum in the air. May I ask what you did if that was you? The power felt, somehow familiar to me.” She asked carefully but with genuine curiosity.

Things were finally looking up, after all that mess. Not the best way to start a day, but what could you do? Once she was at the camp, they'd throw the boar down and cut it up into parts, food would be ready a few hours after that, and she'd make her rounds on seeing what else the new village needed. Shiloh was already hours ahead mentally when the angel interrupted her thoughts. Oh, right. She should nod in acknowledgement. Watching the warrior pull out the arrow, she was visualizing the pain. But then there was something else that kept her stare. All this time Shiloh kept on getting a strange reading on this particular person's life signature, and when she saw the armor patch itself up–she felt it again. So it wasn't just her imagination after all…

Pulling off a powerful attack like that was a surprise to everybody, but the woman who referred herself as Sirona was more interested in what she was going to do with the two hostages. "Oh, I have plans believe me. First they're going to be my pack mules. After that, I'll see what the villagers think." She'd never seen how the people of Kinigoh handed out justice, this might be a good chance to see what sort of laws they had. The men were still shaking, and she could see the sweat beading on their faces. Sirona's next question however, cut her feelings of satisfaction short. Ah, so she saw it. She'd been careless. There was no point in lying, but Shiloh wasn't ready to give up everything. Let one person know and the rest would blab about it to the whole camp, ruining all her efforts in keeping a low profile. And mentally interfering with that many people so they would conveniently 'forget' was not easy.

With a nonchalant tone, she waved her hand as if it wasn't anything interesting. "That? I was talking to myself. They really threw off my entire schedule, and I was pretty mad about it. Sometimes when people get on your last nerve, you feel like cursing them." She was doing everything she could to suppress her emotions, but for a split second her eyes had a deep-seated anger that hinted it wasn't just a little outburst of frustration. "Anyways, I need to get moving. They might start sending a search party if I don't hurry and get this in. No point in wasting their valuable time looking for me. Plus, with a haul like this I want to see the look on their faces when they know they'll be having a good meal tonight." She pointed with her thumb at the massive boar carcass sticking partway out of the cart. Hurrying over to make sure the cart was ready to go, she climbed onto the driver's seat and took the reins. 

"I can't really think of how I can pay you back for helping me out when I was in a pinch, but how about I give you a ride back to the camp? These's still enough space up here." She motioned to the seat next to her. As soon as the angel was seated, the deity's expression returned to its usual unemotional stiffness. Turning to face forward she slapped the reins on the two shackled men and said in a deadpan voice: "NOW MUSH!" It was a slightly longer ride than usual to the new location of Kinigoh Village, punctuated by a certain someone applying painful physical motivation on the two exhausted raiders. As soon as they pulled into the campsite, people swarmed the cart with faces of relief and excitement when they discovered the massive dead boar in the back. Like an army of ants, the villagers made short work of the animal and had it cooking in more ways than you could count.

The two prisoners she turned to the locals after giving a short explanation of what they did before she arrived. The look on the men's faces when they had their shackles removed were like lambs sent to the slaughter, as they started wishing they died with their crew hours back. The last thing she said to them was a whisper suggesting they beg for their lives unless they wanted to be the first sacrifices to Apoy, who probably wouldn't care if they weren't virgins.   

Sirona nodded to the woman’s words of what would happen to the two bandits they had in their custody. ”Fitting.” Was all Sirona said in reply to what would happen to them, being handed over to the locals after being used as pack mules. Sirona asked what Shiloh had done but the woman passed it off as talking to herself, seeing that she was so angry with what had happened. The angel wasn’t blind to the anger that showed for a moment in Shiloh’s eyes, but for now she didn’t speak on it.
Instead the topic turned back to getting the supplies to the locals and with the new haul and the boar carcass Shiloh had thanks to Sirona, it would be that much better. Sirona followed Shiloh over to the cart again as Shiloh made sure it was ready. At the offer of a ride to the village Sirona hesitated a moment and then nodded. ”Yes, those that I came here with are likely there by now and worried about me also.” Sirona replied and climbed up into a seat, shifting a bit to her wings in a position they wouldn’t be cramped in or annoying Shiloh.

The journey there was silent as Sirona watched the two shackled men pull the cart and Shiloh had taken on a more emotionless look about her. Sirona still didn’t know the woman’s name, she hadn’t said it yet so for now Sirona didn’t press any questions on her. But something was niggling her in the back of her mind, she wanted to know more about this woman and she didn’t know why, just that she did and would ask more questions later.

Until then they arrived at the village and Sirona smiled as the locals came out to greet them, well, more so Shiloh who explained what had happened. Sirona watched the locals descend on the boar carcass and in short order had it cooking. In that time Sirona noticed those she had came with and went to them with a wave. She explained to them what had happened and asked of their well being, they were fine, none of the bandits had made it past Shiloh and Sirona. They had heard and saw the bright flash of the giant sword in the sky and had wondered what was going on but kept moving to the village anyway.

Heading back to Shiloh again the angel watched as they were released into the custody of the locals. She saw that Shiloh may have whispered something to them, but she wasn’t sure so didn’t ask, instead waited until Shiloh was alone and walked over to her. ”You said before you were speaking to yourself, but you also said that sometimes you feel like cursing people when they get on your last nerve. I know I felt some kind of power in the air around that time, but it may have been residual magic from my spell, bless the Gods I can even do that. I will not ask again should you wish, ma’am,” Sirona’s subtle way to say that she didn’t know the woman’s name yet. ”but I feel compelled to ask again about it. In return, I’d be willing to answer any questions you may have for me.” Sirona offered and waited. If told to leave the topic alone she would and go back to the group she had travelled with.

It seemed as though a feast would be held that night and Sirona was thinking that, yes, perhaps she would stick around for it. Being around a larger group of people in this kind of setting would do her some good.

Well she knew it would have happened eventually. There wasn't any way around denying it anymore. But still her reluctance to give more sensitive information was strong. Shiloh still remembered what had happened to Dalanesca. Taking a seat out of the way of the villagers making preparations, she was silent for a while before she spoke slowly. "…Do you know what a curse is?" A curse wasn't just a string of angry or profane words you threw out to vent your feelings. There was a reason why curses actually worked, why things happened after they were said. She continued, keeping her voice low. "A curse is a wish, a manifestation of a person's will upon the world. Whether you say it, or think it–it's the same as casting a spell. But it doesn't always work because there are specific underlying conditions. In most cases people just blow off hot air, but sometimes it really happens." A quiet, unsettling seriousness was in her voice as she explained the fundamental theory behind what she had done to the men who got away.

"Cursing is not something to be done lightly. As the old saying goes, when a curse is cast–one digs two graves. The first is if it succeeds…the second is if it fails." Her hands were folded and she was staring straight ahead. "If you felt something, I think you can figure out what that means. Don't worry, they're not going to die from it. But things are going to get a lot more difficult for them from now on." Killing them would be too easy. And if she could handle things without using the last resort, she would. Recalling how Sirona mentioned gods, she carefully asked her next question. "Do you believe in gods? What do you think about them?" It wasn't an unusual question since she asked not too long from the angel mentioning it, but she wanted to sound as natural as possible. Depending on how the angel answered, Shiloh would determine whether to spill or to keep mum.

Most of the general population on Canelux were devout to varying degrees. Parvporans were more varied, either they didn't care or didn't know. The only exception was Zets'Ki and Abed, but they had history to back their beliefs up. That was partially why she put Antikythera there in the first place. Having to deal with mobs of blindly passionate sycophants would make her quit. People who only asked for you when they wanted something then go back to their daily lives were hardly devout at all. But at least they were better than crazed zealots. The group that she had left the prisoners with were back, both men still alive. It appeared that the villagers decided they could make use of them for the time being, and they were put to work under the watchful eye of several armed spearmen. Any weapons and goods the prisoners had were confiscated and given to the chieftain to decide how they would be distributed. It was probably the more practical option–right now they needed to focus on building defenses and the jungle was still too dangerous to venture into with the landscape and ecosystem so drastically changed. They would need to scout the island all over again, familiarize themselves with the new dangers. But then they could thrive and they wouldn't need assistance from the continent anymore.