The Cursed Jewel of Avari: Kiss of Life

Previous Event (Cravings Conjured) | Next Event (Lessons in Domination)

**The Cursed Jewel of Avari: Kiss of Life** was the 11th story event in Court of Darkness. It started around July 14, 2021. In part one (labled Primary), Lynt and Fenn were available. Toa and Rio were added in part two (labeled Medial), and Guy and Roy were added in a third part (labeled Final).

The Legendary Avarian treasure called the Blood Abyss has come to the Isle of Colde. Powered by the wrath of the dead, it demands magic and life force until its hapless victims succumb. There's but one path left to you if you wish to save your beloved. It all starts with a kiss.

## Routes

### Toa Qelsum

*[Show/Hide]*

Toa shields MC from the light from the Blood Abyss. At first he says the curse was a work of fiction, but soon drops to his knees from the magic being drained from him. He seems to be in pain. MC wants to help, but Toa tells her not to since the curse might spread from him to her. The headmaster quickly disproves this theory. Lou then asks Guy if he could take custody of the Bloody Abyss and contain it; this won't help Toa, but it will prevent anyone else from being cursed. Guy agrees. Rio offers to take Toa to the infirmary, but Toa insists on being taken to his room. There's nothing that can help him in the infirmary, and if word gets out that the Qelsum crowned prince was cured by an Avarian artifact, it could start a war. Rio carries Toa to his room and is followed by MC; Guy sends Jasper ahead to examine Toa. The rest of the princes are told not to follow to avoid drawing attention to the situation. Once Rio gets Toa into bed, he and Knight leave to get Toa some water. Jasper arrives to look Toa over, but Toa initially declines. He doesn't want help from someone from Avari. Jasper is quick to point at he's not there to help Toa, but rather help his master avoid a political incident. Toa consents and Jasper confirms that he has been cursed. Jasper leaves to inform Guy. Knight returns with the water and some towels. MC fills him in on what Jasper concluded. Knight feels guilty because he feels he should have been the one to shield MC in Toa's place. Toa smiles and ruffles Knight hair saying Knight wouldn't have been able to handle the curse. Knight asks if he can do anything for Toa, suggests getting him something to eat, and dashes out of the room to do just that. Toa comments that Knight never seems to sit still before getting out of bed. MC tries to talk Toa into staying in bed, but Toa doesn't want to leave his fate in Guy's hands. She offers to kiss him and help with his research, but Toa doesn't want her attempts at charity or her help. He leaves her wondering what she's supposed to do.

After deciding to go after Toa, MC bumps into Knight as he returns. They decide to split up to look for him. MC checks the music room, S-Rank lounge (where she finds Fenn, Lynt, and Roy), classroom (where she finds Sherry), courtyard (where she finds Rio), and the library (where she finds Guy). When she asks Guy if he's seen Toa, he replies that he was told Toa was resting in bed. He tells MC Toa could die in the condition he's in if he isn't found quickly. Guy says he'll let her know if he sees Toa, but at present, Toa isn't in the library. MC decides to check the music room one more time and finds Toa slumped over the piano bench. Her kiss revives him, but he holds her at arm's length. He denies any of her attempts to help him, and announces that he's going to examine the Blood Abyss itself since he couldn't find anything about the gem through his research. He doesn't want MC going with him because he doesn't want her getting cursed as well.

On Toa's way out of the music room, he bumps into Guy. Toa expresses he doesn't want Guy's help and Guy is exasperated that Toa would rather die than accept assistance. Toa leaves, leaving MC with Guy. Before pursuing Toa, MC asks Guy if he discovered anything. Guy asks MC what duty she has to help someone who doesn't want her help. MC says she just wants to and begs Guy for whatever information he has. Guy sighs and says that he and Jasper couldn't find anything about the gem's origins, but it was given to the royal family to monitor as it was too much for anyone else to handle. He also tells her the only way to break the curse was to break the gem. MC thanks him and goes after Toa. Outside the headmaster's office, Toa notices the curse's affects get stronger as he gets closer to the gem. He's having difficulty standing when MC catches up to him. She blurts out how to break the curse and is afraid he won't listen since her source is Guy. Toa seems intent on breaking them gem himself, but MC stops him. She starts telling him how she feels and then starts kissing him. Then she notices that he's beginning to feel warm.

When she pulls away, she sees that Toa's glowing. Toa's surprised that MC beat him to saying, "I love you" first. He returns her feels as the headmaster approaches. Toa asks permission to break the Blood Abyss. The headmaster says he can't guarantee their safety, but agrees. He accepts MC's help and the two enter the headmaster's office. They hold hands so MC can channel power to Toa and they both put a hand on the Blood Abyss. It takes a while, but the two manage to break the gem. Lou congratulates the two of them and MC hugs Toa, happy that he's safe. Toa explains that he was raised with the mindset that asking for help was a show of weakness and shame should be kept private. He recognizes these thoughts could've gotten him killed and admits that he never thought to value himself as MC was saying he should. Toa tells MC that he may have difficulty accepting help in the future, but is pretty sure she'll stay by his side anyway. MC confirms this and she realizes that him trying to push her away earlier was his attempt at being kind.

*[Hide section]*

### Guy Avari

*[Show/Hide]*

Guy shields MC from the light of the Blood Abyss. The effects are immediate. Guy struggles to stand and the others are shocked that the curse is real. MC asks the others if they know how to break the curse as it doesn't seem that Guy knows. Toa comments that if Guy doesn't know, then there's no way any of them would. Lou sends Nix to Avari to find a way to break the curse. He asks MC to say with Guy for the time being, and he'll call for her when he learns of a way to break the curse. Guy passes out and is taken back to his room by Jasper. MC stays by Guy's side kissing him, hoping that would give him more energy. She tells him she loves him. Guy muses that he wondered what she was going to say at a time like this. MC wants a response but tells him he can tell her how he feels when he gets better. Guy's youngest brother, Zev, comes in wanting to see Guy. He's come to Colde to curate the items sent for the exposition. He's surprised because the Blood Abyss wasn't meant to be among the items. He reaches out to Guy, but Guy bats his hand away. Guy then turns to MC instead. When Zev asks who she is, Jasper answer that's she's Guy's paramour. MC is just as surprised as Zev. When MC asks about it, Jasper hints that he had heard her confess her love to Guy earlier. Guy goes along with it and asks Jasper to provide MC with whatever she needs since she would be staying with him. Zev comments that Guy never let him stay in his room before. Jasper says he has some errands to run and ushers Zev out of Guy's room on his way out. Jasper offers to take Zev to see Aquia or to his room, but Zev insists he can make it to his room on his own. MC wonders if Zev dislikes her, but Jasper tells her Zev is most likely just taken aback by all this new information (that Guy's cursed and has a paramour). He also tells her that Zev idolizes Guy. In the hall, Zev wonders what Guy sees in MC.

MC goes back to her room the next day. She apologizes to her familiar for disappearing on him, but her cat says that Roy explained everything to him. She asks her familiar to hold down the fort a little longer before heading back to Guy's room. On the way there, MC bumps into Zev. He starts asking her questions, trying to figure out why Guy likes her since she seems so ordinary. She dodges the questions as best she can since she can't tell him about her power and gets to Guy's room. They make out on his bed for a while. MC thinks they're doing more than what he needs, but doesn't mind. Guy gets on top of her and slides his hand in her shirt as Zev bursts in with Jasper close behind in an attempt to prevent Zev from entering. Guy talks dirty to MC for a while then turns to his brother and asks if he's seen enough. Zev and Jasper leave MC and Guy to their activities. He asks Jasper about something Guy said to MC, and Jasper explains that MC feels responsible for Guy being cursed. Zev takes this to mean that it's MC's fault that Guy's cursed and his expression turns cold.

MC goes to talk to the headmaster. He says Nix has returned from Avari, but no one knew how to break the curse. Lou mentions that the Blood Abyss may absorb any magic attempt to break it and curse those who try. However, everything has a limit. Their best bet might be overloading the gem with magic causing it to break that way. MC leaves, disappointed that she doesn't have a real solution to ending the curse. She bumps into Zev, who says he thinks he's found a method. He tells her he doesn't want to risk being wrong and disappoint Guy, so he asks if she'll try it out with him. Zev leads her to the exhibition room and shows her a magic cabinet. He says anything inside is unable to exert magic on anything outside. Zev proceeds to shove MC in it. He tosses the Blood Abyss in as well before locking the doors. He can't hear her screams, but he can see the cabinet moving as she attempt to escape. Zev then tells someone nearby that the cabinet is to be returned to Avari. MC holds the Blood Abyss planning to overload it with magic like the headmaster suggested. This breaks the gem and MC uses her magic to unlock the cabinet (implying that the lock mechanism is technically inside the cabinet).

When she emerges, she's at the docks, still on the Isle of Colde. She runs back to the academy. Meanwhile, Guy is still very weak. Jasper wonders where MC's been, but Zev says he can take care of Guy. Zev suggests MC ran away because she was afraid of the curse, but the idea is quickly shut down as that's not in MC's nature. Aquia bursts in demanding to know where MC is. Her cat had been looking for her and told Aquia something was wrong. Thinking it weird for MC to disappear for hours, Jasper and Aquia go looking for her. Zev leaves Guy's room as well, and bumps into an out of breath MC. He wants to know how she got out of the cabinet, but MC's too busy trying to get to Guy's room to check on him to do anything other than forgive Zev. Realizing her feelings for Guy are genuine, Zev apologizes and promises to make it up to her. Once inside Guy's room, MC starts making out with Guy to raise his magic levels. Jasper returns to Guy's room and both he and Guy ask where she's been. As Zev begins to confess what he's done, MC cuts him off. She tells them about the magic cabinet and she accidently locked herself in while putting the Blood Abyss inside. Guy sees through this lie and tells Zev that this won't happen again. MC also apologizes for breaking the Blood Abyss. Zev's not sure how she managed it and Jasper pulls out a replica to take the gem's place. With all seeming well, Jasper and Zev leave. MC tells Guy his color looks better, but he pulls her in his arms and tells her he needs more. They start to kiss.

*[Hide section]*

### Roy Invidia

*[Show/Hide]*

Roy is hit by the light from the Blood Abyss, however he says he feels fine. They all assume the curse was a legend. The headmaster asks MC to stay with Roy as much as possible. While taking Roy back to his room, he notes that MC probably didn't have time to think about what he said the day before. MC thinks back to him inviting her to tea in the rooftop garden where he told her that he loves her. MC blushes at the memory, and Roy assures her that she doesn't have to answer him right away. However, he is hopeful of a receptive response considering the look her her face. The next day, he teaches his class like always, but he looks pale to MC. When the class is over, she asks Roy how he's feeling. He insists he's fine and intends to take a rest in his room. To Roy's delight, MC offers to escort him there. Everything seems fine until Roy opens the door to his room and nearly falls over. MC catches him and helps him over to a settee. She tells Roy that he is cursed and starts kissing him in hopes it would make him feel better, taking note that he isn't glowing.

After he's feeling better, Roy admits that after the light flashed he felt his magic start draining. He didn't say anything because he didn't want to force her into a kiss. MC insists that he tell her when he starts feeling unwell, and he's glad she doesn't seem to hate the idea of kissing him. They check out the Avarian exhibition later. Roy's glad to be spending time with MC, even though the reason is he's cursed. He laments that she won't spend time with him like this once he's cured. Just then, some thieves break into one of the display cases, take what they can, and run. Roy tries to stop them with magic, but struggles. He catches one, but the other gets away. MC wants to give him more magic, but doesn't think kissing him with so many people around is a good idea. Guy shows up with Jasper. Roy gives a report, and Guy doesn't seem impressed. MC scolds Guy before taking Roy back to his room. They make out for a bit on his bed, and she justifies it by saying it's because he's cursed. Roy seems disappointed, but says nothing. She regrets what she said immediately.

MC spends as much time as she can with Roy, kissing him at regular intervals. When he drops her off at her room for the night, she realizes she's in love with him. Roy returns to his room and is having a hard time because the chaste kisses he's been receiving from MC isn't enough to keep his magic up. He hears a knock at the door and opens it to find Guy. Guy tells Roy the thieves were from Ira and to take care of himself. The next day MC is in a good mood because she knows she's in love with Roy. She bumps into Guy, who asks if she's on her way to see Roy. When she says she is, Guy asks her to pass on a message for him: There's a gem that looks like the Blood Abyss at a jewelry shop in town, and Jasper would take her and Roy there.

The shop is only open at night, and when they arrive, they find the gem is blue. The shopkeeper tells them it will emit powerful magic if paired with a red gem. MC thinks this is a bit sketchy, but Roy thinks it's worth a try and buys the gem. As he's making the purchase, the thief who got away enters the store. MC recognizes him right away and gives chase. She, Roy, and Jasper lose him when he goes down an alleyway, so they split up. Roy and MC find him. Roy blocks the man's path with magic. The suspect hurls rocks at Roy, MC, and nearby buildings causing glass to rain down on them. Roy shields them. MC begs him to stop, but Roy insists that there's no point in having magic if he can't use it to protect the one he loves. He succeeds in capturing the thief just before collapsing and Jasper arriving.

They leave the thief to the townspeople and Jasper carries Roy to the infirmary. They are soon joined by the Headmaster and Guy. The Headmaster is hesitant at first to put the blue and red gems together since they don't know what will happen. However, he agrees since Roy is dying. Unfortunately, nothing happens. MC starts panicking and Guy asks if she's really given up. This gives MC the idea to kiss Roy without wearing her choker. He doesn't move, but the Blood Abyss starts to crack. After getting permission from Guy to break the Blood Abyss, MC takes the gem in her hands a breaks it by pouring more magic into it. MC goes back to kissing Roy and he wakes up. Later, Roy and MC go to Roy's room. She tells him that she loves him, and he confirms that she doesn't hate kissing him; he thought she might have only been kissing him to save him due to the comment she made earlier. Once that's all sorted out, Roy makes an attempt to be less formal and seems to be excited by the idea of them being such a supportive couple. Then the two start making out.

*[Hide section]*