Ren

Oh, it’s you! Did we meet yesterday? Sorry, I can’t recall – was too drunk to even remember my name. Ridiculous, right? I’m not a drunkard but yesterday was SO boring that only alcohol could help. Seems like I drank more than nine tankards... Saint Krina, my head hurts like hell. I... I did something strange? What? Promised to tell you my story?! I even mentioned my curse... Ho, I was wasted. The priest was telling the truth - don’t drink, you’ll see the devil. I’ll never touch that muck again. But promise is a promise and I always keep my promises..

So, my name is Ren. Just Ren. I don’t have family or friends. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for cursed ones but my life is even more special. Nobody can give me a last name or moniker. And this is the only constant thing in my life. My age is a mystery, even for me. Maybe I was born around twenty six or thirty years ago but don’t believe me... My looks are too good for my age. My memories are vague, especially after such a binge. Maybe you have an extra coin for water? I’m not sure where my bag is - let alone the money!

May Saint Krina save your soul in the next live. Where did I stop? Ah, age. I can’t say more about that. Maybe if someone from my family was alive, they could tell more about me. Should I tell you more about them? Well, I probably had parents. Everybody has them, I can’t be an exception. I can’t remember more about them now. Maybe I’ll tell you more later. The next thing I should tell you about myself is... my birthplace... Hm, I’m sure it was a cold place. Do you happen to tell me how much I drank? More than seven or ten? Ah, I’m losing the narrative. Sorry, it’s been so long since I’ve talked with someone that my tongue is trying to jump off the topic, ha-ha. The place I remember was lonely and cold, it probably was a basement. I spent a few years in there during childhood. You know, most people after finding out that they have a cursed child just throw them out the window. But my parents probably were “special”. Leaving your child in the basement is a great idea really. If I wasn’t smart enough, I would have died in that place. Those... bad people didn’t feed me properly, so I was quite thin. And it’s all my memories from childhood about my family! Not much, but still something.

Quite unusual; I’ve never met people with the same curse - all those whom I begin to consider my loved ones soon die from the rupture of internal organs. So bloody and boring. It might be more interesting, if the curse would kill people without visible consequences. You can judge me as much as you want, but being cursed is a blessing for me. I don’t know what is family, love, honesty or kindness. I have never understood those phenomena. So I’m free from them, it makes everything much easier. Normal people hate cursed people, but for people outside the law, we are very profitable. Don’t tell me, nobody has suggested you to help him with shady dealings? No?! Oh, buddy, you lost out on so much fun in this world!

Hm, let me remember some of my “adventures”. One of the most interesting ones took place about ten years ago. When I was in the capital, deceiving grieving widows, one lady with long black hair tried to seduce me. It was so stupid. I looked like a vagabond, even worse than now. She didn’t succeed in her plan, so I asked directly about it. That lady was silent for a couple of days, but I managed to get the desired answer. And it was quite shocking. She was working for a prince - for prince Shuradan, if I remember correctly. He wanted to use that woman to force me to kill one man for him. I don’t know what the prince had in his mind. He could just offer me money and I would do anything for him. I don’t know what happened to that woman after she told me about the prince’s plan but I liked the opportunity of easy money, so I went to Shuradan of my own free will. I can’t say anything good or bad about the prince. All people in our kingdom know about his curse, and every rumor connected to him is the truth in its purest form. Just believe me when I say that I worked with him so many times that he’s like my hand. Back to my point though: First time I came to him, I was charmed. Not with the prince himself but with the wealth of his palace. Even though he is a cursed child, the queen loves him more than the crown prince. Every carpet in his castle is made out of the best materials. The food served by talented men and women is made from the most delicious products. And it doesn’t matter if it’s fish, meat, vegetables, fruits or sweets. You will remember their taste for all your life. During my first visit to his palace, I stole a gold cup. With the money I earned from selling that cup I lived without need for six months. If you meet the prince one day, don’t tell him about my little theft will you? He didn’t need that cup but I could afford a good life through it. After stealing the cup, Shuradan finally told me about my task. He wanted to see a nobleman dead. I don’t remember the poor bastard’s name but it doesn’t matter anyway. I agreed to it without even thinking about it.

If I was a decent person, I would live my whole life through the money I made. But talking about money is boring for me. Remembering the past is my favorite pastime. I had only one thing in that time – to like the future dead man. You know, that noble looked like me. We had the same curly red hair, noses, skin tone. Even same smile. Only our eyes were different. His gray eyes couldn’t compare to my brown ones. I visited him as a guest from the government. I was forced to wear a suit and, the most terrible part, shoes. I can’t help but mention that the place where that nobleman lived seemed familiar to me but I like traveling so it’s a usual thing for me. When I saw you today, thought you looked like an artist I once saw. But he would never leave his city, unlike you. But thoughts about that nobleman still haunt me. There wasn’t anything strange in him. But there are no reasons for dislike. So it was hard to change my mind. And that noble tried so hard to make impression on me but he was so bad at it... The nobleman talked a lot about his family, mainly about his wife and daughter who died in childbirth. There wasn’t much to do in that wilderness, so the only thing I had was walking around the mansion. Once I saw a portrait of that man and his wife. She was a beautiful lady- especially her brown eyes stroke me. I also liked the stables. There were good horses there, it’s a pity that their owner was as good as them. I don’t know how to ride a horse but I liked feeding them. The groom was a good man. He often told me about all sorts of stories... So he was the first man who died in that mansion. Then a young maid, a black and white cat, a tinker horse, a cook, a gardener, sixteen chickens, three footmen... I’m just kidding. After death of the groom I concentrated on the noble. It was hard, boring, annoying and a bunch of other less pleasant words. But all my work was worth it. When I saw what was left of that man, I felt such pleasure for the first time ever.

The walls in his room were red. It’s just a pity that the blood got on a painting of his wife. I couldn’t fully enjoy my work, as I had to run urgently. I could finally take off the suit and the shoes. I hate shoes, they’re always so uncomfortable. But it’s all I can say about that adventure. I have plenty of other stories but many of them are alike.

What should I tell you about next? As a teen I lived in the parish shelter named after Saint Krina. Ever heard about that place? No? You haven’t even heard about Saint Krina before? Hey, you’re cursed! How can you not know about our savior? Argh, I never thought I’d ever meet a cursed person who doesn’t know about Krina! I’m not a religious one but still know about her and her church. Saint Krina is just a legend, but a legend based on a real person. As the priests say... Saint Krina was born in a noble family. Her parents and older brother loved her more than everything in this world because of her appearance. She was beautiful but stupid. Krina was naive for all her life, she didn’t understand people’s actions, couldn’t take responsibility, and she couldn’t read or learn anything as well. She was a silent but beautiful statue. No one thought of her as a person. And nothing changed the day her little brother was born. Except the fact that Krina and the newborn were cursed. Krina’s curse had made her become more stupid over the years. Her family didn’t know about it until that day. Little brother of our Saint was born weak and half of his body was green like leaves. Their parents called a doctor. His words shocked the family. It was obvious the newborn had curse but not as much for Krina. Angry parents kicked the future saint and her brother out of the house. They were nobody now. Being cursed means being dead in the eyes of normal people. But Krina didn’t give up. Even though she was stupid and couldn’t do anything normally, she tried. Tried to earn money, to be kind to others, to be a good sister. Krina died at the age of twenty nine.

Shortly before her death, Krina was able to get a large amount of money because of her luck. But she didn’t keep everything for herself, but gave away more than half of the sum to cursed people like her. At that time her brother was a grown man, his body was almost completely overgrown with leaves - barely alive. Only his sister helped him to stay alive. Krina was killed by a regular bandit who thought she had money. But cursed people had never forgotten her. She became a symbol of survival and kindness for cursed ones. They continued to take care of her brother until he died as well. That’s the story of how Krina became a saint. Sounds stupid and boring? Maybe, but I still like it. Have you ever met a cursed person who doesn’t only care about himself? I knew only a few and all needed to be declared a saint. One of them was the priest who sheltered me. That shelter wasn’t big, it had around twelve cursed children and teens. We were different but lived under one roof. I won’t lie, I hated them all. Living in the same place as them was awful for me. I hated seeing their faces every morning, hearing prayers, talking with the priest. But one of the children was the worst, his name was Meldrik. His curse doesn’t cause much harm- on the contrary, it is extremely useful. Meldlik is able to create special brands which are able to find a certain person at any distance. Though the curse wouldn’t be a curse if it didn’t have some negative effect as well. Non-healing burns remain on his body and on the body of the person he is looking for. Meldrik is also required to use his ability approximately once a week, otherwise he will die. Maybe it’s not visible now, but there are a couple of such burns on my body. As a child, he was annoying and loud. He was constantly sticking to me, trying to talk to me. Sometimes it seemed to me that he was looking for death because he knew perfectly well what would happen to him if I liked him.

And I couldn’t live like this for long. The worst thing was that they tried to make me wear shoes! So I ran away after three months.

Probably because of my temper, I don’t stay in one place for more than a week. It was a miracle that I was able to live in the shelter for that long. I like traveling in our country more, even if I walk barefoot. I think about my way and never about the people around me. One day all of us will die, so why should I feel grief for them? Ha? I sound like a heartless person to you? Well, there were times when I thought I’m heartless... But after meeting one person I realized that my heart is still beating in my chest. I can feel guilty despite my curse. Many years ago I visited a small village. It didn’t have an official name, but all people who know about this village called it Smallie. It was a simple and boring place to live, if people here had food. The land was so unproductive that anyone who stayed there for a long time turned into a living dead man. I needed to cross that village to complete one of my tasks. It was night time when I came through Smallie, so I didn’t have any other option but sleeping there. I found a safe place in the attic of one of the abandoned houses. Sleeping among hungry and crazy people wasn’t the best thing I did in my life but I had to rest. The rumbling and incessant footsteps of the inhabitants of Smallie prevented me from falling asleep. I was awake for a long time, but I still managed to fall asleep. But I couldn’t take a nap for a long time. I woke up from the pain of someone biting my hand. It was a little girl. She had probably smelled my bread. I always bring the cheapest one with me. I felt pity for her so I gave it to her. However, I had to escape from the village after that - the crunching of bread by the girl attracted the locals. I ran away far enough, but the girl was following me all the time. No matter how many times I tried to abandon her, she continued to go with me.

At some point I gave up and... I allowed her to be with me. She was a normal human but she didn’t hate me or try to escape because I was cursed... It was a strange but pleasant feeling. We traveled together for a month. And I gave her the name Danni. Only after that time I started realizing I didn’t hate her... I wanted her to have a good life. So I left Danni in the same shelter where I had spent three months. I hoped she would be alive... Try to guess what happened.

Ha, it hurts so much... Now I don’t look heartless? It doesn’t matter to me. We won’t meet anymore. But you know, I like your idea, so I’ll help you out a little. With the help of this coin that I will give you, you will be able to meet the cursed person who will attract interest to your book. But if you get something broken, it’s not my fault.

Good luck in your work, writer.