It happened ~XX years ago... At the Hone Research Facility...
"Are you sure about the transfer? Not only would you forever tarnish your integrity as a pure magician; but you might end up blind if that operation fails."
"I'm fine... Please, just hurry up."
Curses. Many are born with them. Many are afflicted with them. But only few would dare to willfully carry them.
"Alright, preparing our ray. Stay still, alright?"
Usually, people curse their limbs or entire bodies to gain advantage in battle.
I will place a curse into my eyes to gain advantage in intel.
"It's gonna hurt, but you better suck it up. Remember, you asked for this."
I want to become the curse detector. I want to be able to see things that nobody else can. Sure, I'm a pure blooded human; and I had no history of ever being cursed before - but it should be alright. People get cursed all the time unwillingly.
"Alright, here it comes."
I need... To know more.
The concentrated surge of magical energy begins entering my system: but as it does, something feels wrong.
It hurts... IT HURTS!!!
WHAT IS THIS???!???!?????
STOP IT!!! SOMEBODY!!!!! HELP ME!!!!!!!
AAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!
GOD!!!!!
MY EYES!!!!!!!!!! MY EYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
STOP IT!!!!! STOP IT PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Wait, that's not what's supposed to happen! Hey, somebody, turn off the damn machine"
"Uh, I can't! The thing's refusing to co-operate!"
"Shit! Get him out of there, quickly! Don't get under the damn ray! This is our prized researcher, damn it!"
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! WHYYYYYYYYYYY?????????????
IT HURTS!... IT HURTS A TON!... AURGH....
"Quick! Get the medics and exorcists! Shit that wasn't supposed to happen!"
It was supposed to be a weak curse... Only strong enough to be able to discern magical output...
"Can you close your eyes? Try closing them."
"I... Can't... Help me..."
"Shit! WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?! GET THOSE BASTARDS QUICK!!!"
It was a fateful day I could never forget.
Turns out... My body was blessed; and the violent reaction was a result of my body fighting against such a concentrated curse.
Being blessed is almost the opposite of a curse - it repels other curses; your flesh and soul is considered absolutely revolting for daemons; the only magic you can possess is one of the "pure ones"; and your body isn't eligible for daemonic possession. Yet in a sense - it's perhaps itself a curse.
"Guess we were lucky we didn't try to curse your entire body... God damn it..."
I was hospitalised for a month, having to wear a bandage over my eyes. It was perhaps the worst time of my life I can remember. Being forced to navigate by feel and sound is equivalent of torture. My family would visit me everyday, and it was heartbreaking hearing my daughters cry over me. Even my wife was disturbed. She said that on the first days, my eyes kept bleeding and my daughters would have nightmares over seeing my blood-stained bandage.
"... It was awful. Hearing both Sol and Veronia weep in fear and cling into me for comfort... You should've been more careful."
When I was eventually released from the hospital - I was blind for the next three. Everything was in blur. Only colours remained. My sweet little angels would gently guide me around the house and my wife even bought a guide dog for me in case I wanted to go outdoors. Being unable to work was truly awful - it was like I was robbed of my own purpose in life. Only my family kept me sane at these trying times
Yet gradually I would end up regaining my sight. The guide dog became our beloved house pet. And while I certainly see way worse than I did before; it's nothing that the eye glasses couldn't fix. I became nearsighted, which was rather inconvenient for my line of work that requires precision; but I guess I gotta thank science for inventing such miraculous accessories.
As for the curse transplant itself: initially I concluded that it was a total failure and I shouldn't have done such a reckless act without checking for any anomalies beforehand.
Yet, as I came back to work, I've started to notice some strange anomalies, albeit I had to focus if I wanted to even see them. I was working with the cursed specimen once again, and suddenly I felt some sort of aura around them.
I began to document every single one I managed to encounter and began to correlate them to the Grimoire recordings; turns out - they're about ~75% match. Of course, I had a rather basic Grimoire - so I had to commission all up and coming researchers and practitioners of dark magic to compile as much data as possible. I don't have enough capacity to be able to exterminate a daemon, especially at my weakened state, so having "commissioned" assistants is quite convenient.
Unfortunately, as it is a failed transfer - I have several issues regarding my ability to see magic.
The specimen has to be quite strong and able to cast the magic in the first place for me to even notice them. Another thing is that I can't discern who is cursed and who is blessed: I can merely feel their energy, and if it's strong enough - its type. And I also have a very limited range - I have to be quite close to them to be able to sense something is awry. And the last thing, perhaps the most damning flaw is that I couldn't tell how many curses the person is afflicted with - I can only detect the strongest one at the time: which makes dealing with say - a beastkin - extremely difficult, as they usually have several curses at once.
They called me a failed, old radar as a result. Once my research crew was notified of my oddities and we conducted tests regarding my abilities. It's embarrassing how many times I confused the cursed ones from the regular ones; it was as if I merely saw blurry silhouettes of magic. And it was like how old models of radars from Belograd would confuse airborne bodies with birds - which made them victims of countless mockery.
Now I'm in Praeya, initially set to investigate the gateway located in its mines: but my daughter had befriended a rather curious specimen. While seemingly he is a non-magician - from him I sensed a rather unnatural aura.
It was as if it was "Fate-Defying"
Of course, he could be just a naturally lucky individual, perhaps even blessed one at that. Such individuals usually stump me up; so usually I wouldn't exactly bother with it.
But it is strange that in the village that is seemingly "non-magician" we would have someone with such a strong aura, or at least with a strong enough aura for me to notice.
And there were oddities as well where he would win any chance based games against Sol. Given his reactions, it doesn't seem to be a conscious manipulation.
Either way, I'll keep a close eye on him.
---
Scraps of Research:
"It seems his temporal powers managed to overpower his fate-defying ones. Given that it was clearly a curse - perhaps he happened to be an ordinarily lucky guy, as otherwise it would've been impossible for him to manifest his curse like this. Once again, I wish I had better tools than what I have on me right now."
..
"His utter weakness to unlight was the tipping point. Turns out he really was a cambion. Normally I would've been much more wary of individuals like him, but so far he was nothing but cordial and respectful towards my daughter and me. I need to investigate his parents, because I doubt Fortune will ever say anything about it: I'm not sure if he's even aware of his condition at all. If it turns out that they're under pact - that can't be good. It means I'm dealing with something much more sinister."