Blessed Cursed Love

Chapter 1

"Jessica!" I heard a voice call me and I looked up from my book. It was one of my classmates. I shut the well-worn book to give her my full attention as she joined me on the park bench. "Are you reading that book again? Didn't you just read it a month ago?" I smiled softly as I brushed off the cover.

"I finished it a long time ago. Sometimes I just like to read my favorite parts again. It's one of my favorites." I turned the book over in my hands lightly. "A friend of mine and I became close over it and, with her at another school, it feels nice to remind myself of our shared interest."

"What's it about?" I smiled and flipped open the front to show the illustration of a knight in shining silver armor with a hawk on his shoulder.

"It's about this guy. Wyatt is a skilled knight, but more importantly, he is blessed by the gods. That gives him powers beyond other mortals. And he's blessed by the most powerful god of them all. This hawk is actually his familiar that he can summon at will. The bird is made of pure magic and can do some really cool stuff. The king recruited him to help with things around the kingdom because of his power and abilities."

"Isn't it a romance though?" I smiled and nodded.

"Technically, yeah. Though it focuses more on Wyatt and his adventures early on. He falls in love with the princess of the kingdom and she with him. So he earns himself a title and his own crew to ask for her hand. Both she and her father accepted his proposal because of his renown. He's a really sweet and gentle guy at his core, and he's really good to her."

"Lucky girl." She reached out and took the book gently. Flipping it over in her hands to read the back. "So he goes around solving the king's problems?"

"In the beginning. Then it gets serious when rumors of someone collecting the powers of the blessed surface. He steals their magic to try and revive a god who was murdered by the other gods. See, he wanted to control mortals like slaves, but the other gods wanted them to have free will. So he tried to destroy the mortal plane. He gets killed, but a guy in the story is working to revive him thinking he could be blessed by this god and be all-powerful."

"Sounds more like the god would kill him and destroy everything." I laughed softly and nodded.

"Honestly, that's probably right. I don't know what he was thinking, but it's typical villain behavior not to think things all the way through, right?"

"So random people just have magical powers then?" She asked as she read over the words on the back.

"Not so much as random. The gods choose who they bestow their blessing on personally. They communicate with their blessed as well as those of other gods as well. Not as much as they do with Wyatt, but they have saved lives by warning of disasters and such. But yeah, being blessed gives someone abilities based on what god blessed them and how powerful they are. One of the characters doesn't get any magic, but he gets super strength and speed from the god of battle. One woman is a powerful spell caster and calls herself a witch. She was blessed by the god of magic."

"What about Wyatt?"

"He was blessed by the god of creation. One of the first two gods to ever exist. He and his brother who is the god of death. Wyatt has incredible healing abilities and can even make plants and such grow with enough power. He can also summon his familiar as I said. He also heals very quickly because of all the life magic in his body. Which makes him harder to kill than most."

"The god of death's blessing must be scary then."

"I wouldn't know. In the book, he has never chosen to bless anybody and has no interest in communicating with the other blessed ones. The other gods shun him, and he spends a lot of time on the mortal plane in disguise. Wyatt even ran into him once in the story and the god of creation warned him that his brother was ruthless if you got on his bad side."

"That sounds a little sad for him." She said as she handed me the book back.

"Maybe, but I think it's mostly his own fault. He doesn't seem to make an effort to involve himself with the other gods. He seems to prefer mortals when he isn't reaping their souls from mass deaths or watching over the afterlife."

"What is the afterlife like in that book?"

"I don't know. That's a good question. It's never mentioned in the story beyond talking about it being a duty of the god of death. I guess it's an interesting idea, though, because the gods make themselves known so easily that everyone knows there is an afterlife. Unlike the real world. It must be nice to know for sure that when you die there is somewhere to go."

"Are you regretting trying to be a doctor?" I shook my head quickly.

"Not at all. I want to help people. I don't like death very much, but more than anything I want to be the person to help people prevent it. I want to heal people and make them better. I want to do good for others." I held the book to my chest. "I think that's why I like Wyatt a lot. He can do that so easily. All he has to do is touch someone, and he can heal them." I looked at my hands. "That would be really nice in the real world. I want my hands to heal people too." She glanced at her watch.

"The break period is almost over. We should get back to class." She stood from the bench.

"I have a free period next, actually, so I will stay for a bit longer. See you at dinner?"

"Oh was that tonight?"

"Yeah, I am picking up the dessert from the store after class."

"I'll see you there. Just be careful with the robberies going on."

"Always," I assured her with a smile. As she turned and gave me a short wave, I opened my book again. Little did I know that would be the last time we talked. That the store run would be fatal to me and my life would be cut short.