Cursed | Josephine & Brennan
@josxphineblake
Once upon a time, Brennan killed a man everyone thought could not be killed. In doing so, he ended a war that ravaged his homeland for decades and brought peace to his people. It also brought the ire of the god whose son he had just murdered. Apollo came to him, a fury in the air that he could never find the right words to describe. His anger brought along a curse that Brennan thought a blessing--at first. He recognized its faults the day his father passed. He was older, a man who could say lived a long life. But after being forced to witness his mother being killed in front of him as a small boy, he never wanted to see his father die--the man who raised him all by himself. And then his wife followed after. And his siblings and children. One by one, he buried their corpses, all the while he was still the same man he was that fateful day on the battlefield. At least, on the outside he was.
He left his town shortly after, the memories of their graves too much for him to live by. He did the next best thing and fought. Any war that would take him was fair game and he fought with the strength of ten men, taking stabs and injuries that would have killed him easily. He hoped that one day, it would.
But it never did.
So much bloodshed and fighting. After five hundred years, he was tired of all of it. He found a corner of the world that his feet had not yet touched and waited to die--a fate that he knew he wasn't privy to. He made enough to get by and took comfort in the animals he raised on his small farm. Occasionally he would find a warmth in the arms of a woman, but never for long--never long enough to form an attachment. Which is why he found her so compelling.
It wasn't her beauty--though that certainly didn't help--that kept him so enraptured with her. If he was being honest, he wasn't sure what always drove him to search for her whenever he went to town--only that he could feel his heart beating against his chest whenever he managed to meet her again and for some reason, his dog couldn't get enough of her. Whatever she was, she was special--special enough that he considered breaking his own rules to be around her. And maybe it was a little enticing how she seemed to reject him and want him at the same time.
His hands clung to the reins of his mare, Yellow Jacket, as his dog followed beside him. He had no real reason to go into town, other than to maybe see her again. As he entered, he spotted her immediately, her shade of dark hair so distinct to him at that point that he could spot her in an instant. Sliding off of his horse, his dog bounded through the crowd and found her before he had a chance to even properly tie up Yellow Jacket. "Hermes!" he cried, jogging toward them. He couldn't help but smile though as he reached the pair. "Sorry about him, Josephine."