Ask Mirage and Macabre!

I’ve been having these strange dreams lately…

I see several rune stones, five of them bearing symbols I recognized. We’re trying to break Harriet’s curse, and our very long research found that we’d need six of these. They’re created when Harriet makes a genuine connection with another, and considering the fact that she’s forced to be a killer, she doesn’t get many friends.

Vex was the first to gain his, being her boyfriend and the one to really kickstart this search. His showed the feather and torc.

Macabre was next, showing sympathy for a mortal soul trapped in a horrid circumstance. His is the violin.

Ollie is a good kid, compassionate and kind. He already knows what Harriet is going through. His rune shows water.

Nikolai was the first to bother interacting with Harriet, even if it was for his own personal reasons that didn’t mean anything else. Still, once he learned that a way to free her existed, he set out to help us. His is the skull.

I initially hated Harriet for what she was and what she did. For a long time, I made things between us very clear. However, Macabre was able to convince me to help her, as this was something she didn’t want, either. Over time, I began to see a bit of myself in her. I wasn’t always able to control my Beast form, why should I hold so much against someone who literally can’t control her actions when summoned? After opening up to her, finally, my own rune appeared, the horn with ears.

One issue with all of this; these connections must be genuine, otherwise these runes won’t manifest. The rest of us reluctantly agreed not to tell Harriet these requirements, as the danger of this knowledge could ultimately poison any attempts at friends, as there’s the real risk of said friends thinking that Harriet was just using them for these.

Another problem remains; we need six runes, and we currently only have five. We’re still looking for alternate methods to break this curse, should a sixth one not appear.

But this dream shows a sixth one, with an insignia that almost looks familiar, but it’s not coming to me for some reason. Doesn’t look like it’s related to anyone else I know. In the middle is a gem with a heart symbol. This has to represent Harriet’s soul being completed. She’s the only one I know with a heart motif, which was initially symbolizing the fact that she first enacted this curse due to a broken heart.

I pray that this dream is an omen of the future. While we are able to strip the curse away right now, it will be devastating to Harriet. Not enough of her original soul is intact, only really being held together by the power of the curse. If it’s removed, she’ll basically lose all sense of self until enough of her original soul shards return. A grisly fate, even if temporary. We just don’t know how long “temporary” will be. That final heart gem I saw must be what will hold her together once it strips away the curse.

Until we either find an alternate method of saving her, or this final rune stone appears, we have to keep vigilant to keep Harriet from taking another life.

*sigh* Harriet is a…complicated…person for me. There’s so much more to her than her appearance. She’s a Haunt, a dead mortal soul that can’t enter either afterlife for whatever reason. Her reason is because her soul was shattered on her death, caused by a botched killing curse. Until the missing pieces of her soul gather back to the core, she’s stuck like this.

As for her history, she was a mortal human. I know little about how she was before her transformation, but the fact that she attempted to employ a killing curse against someone who rejected her confession of love kind of paints a less than wholesome picture. But because she did something wrong, the curse chained what was left of her soul to it. The curse apparently just killed the target, but now Harriet is forced to carry out the crime.

The worst part is that apparently this curse exists on a number of worlds, so Harriet can be summoned to any of them to take out a target. Needless to say, she has a great deal of blood on her hands. Doesn’t help that she gains a number of perks when she’s summoned; in her Huntress form, she becomes much stronger, she can teleport to wherever her target is, and she always has a weapon.

She deeply regrets her actions and is always devastated when she carries out a job. She loses all autonomy when she’s summoned, but she’s fully aware of everything. She is desperately looking for a way to break away from this curse, and with the help of her current boyfriend, Vex, she’s making slow headway.

I used to hate her. A mortal who willingly wanted to take someone else’s life simply because they didn’t love them is incredibly petty. But after hearing what Vex and Macabre thought on the matter, I realized we had one thing in common; my Beast form was also uncontrollable for a time, so I know what it felt like to lose yourself. And I shouldn’t have disregarded the remorse she felt when she’s successfully summoned. I don’t think Heaven will hold most of her kills against her, but the first one was a conscious action she needs to answer for. I just hope we can get her to realize that grace and forgiveness are there for those who ask of it, and are easier to obtain that many mortals believe.

In the meantime, Nikolai, Macabre, Vex, and I are on alert for when she’s summoned. If we can keep her held for long enough, the summon will wear off. We’re sadly not always successful. I have personally told Harriet that I will do everything in my power to stop her, and I do have ways of “containing” another. She’s holding me to this promise.