•HUNTERS & AFFLICTION• read me third!

(It is recommended that you read the Floklore and Species Explained thread before reading this one)

➳ HUNTERS

Hunters- These are often Blessed Spirit Walkers, knowing of the evil that the Wendigo carries with it, and are determined to slay the Demons, whether or not they were once normal humans. With the advantage of the their supernatural abilities, they can fight the Cursed Spirit Walkers with relative ease compared to the average person. But that doesn’t deter some people who know about them, because there are also Mortal Hunters out there; however there are a lot less Mortal Hunters compared to Blessed Spirit Hunters, due to the danger and fear factor of going up against the treacherous Wendigo. There have been known to be a rare handful of Hunters who kill both Blessed and Cursed Spirit Walkers out there as well.

Slaying a Spirit Walker- To slay a Spirit Walker one must be adept and cunning, physically fit, and mentally prepared for any kind of challenge. While there are a variety of traditional methods that will work to kill one, such as beheading, stabbing through the heart, bleeding out, any thing that would be immediate or inevitable death to a human, really, they are still extremely difficult to hunt down and locate unless you can happen by one; and even more difficult to face and fight them- the smartest way to go about it would be to track them down unnoticed and get them from a distance, but good luck with that. There is a less known way of killing them as well, through a supernatural method of breaking down the soul, until there is nothing but rotting flesh left.

This method of slaying a Spirit Walker is considered inhumane to most who know about it, due to the suffering it inflicts - the process is called a Spiritual Affliction. This particular illness can only be contracted through a method similar to a hexing, and it will only be effective if the Afflicter has the true intent of death when invoking the illness upon their target. To activate the Affliction, the Afflicter must manage to obtain a tangible piece of physical DNA from the Spirit Walker of whom they so desire to Afflict. i.e. a lock of hair, an extremity, small body part, or a piece of bone or flesh, or so on will suffice. If the Afflicter can manage to remain in possession of the physical DNA for the duration of the illness until the death of the Afflicted, then they have successfully hunted their target... but if the DNA comes into the possession of someone else, or if it becomes lost then the Spiritual Affliction is immediately rendered moot, and the Afflicted will recover.

It works like a disease, affecting the physical body of the host through the deterioration of the soul, but the more powerful the host is, the more gradual the Spiritual Affliction will be, and the longer it will it will take them to parish. In general, a Spirit Walker with considerably average power will take approximately a week to die, but some of the longest Spiritual Afflictions have been known to last the span of up to a few months. Both types of Spirit Walkers are affected differently by the Affliction, the bodies of the Blessed Ones absorbing the evil in the air around them, and the Cursed Ones bodies being deteriorated by the evil within themselves.

When a Blessed Spirit Walker is infected they will begin to develop the symptoms of a common flu, including shortness of breath, fatigue, sore muscles, head aches, and eventual fever, which can lead to dehydration and hallucinations. The symptoms will progress until they are too weak to walk, their brain function will decrease and death will shortly follow. At this point it is not too late to survive, until their very last breath they have the chance of recovery.

As for a Cursed Spirit Walker, they exhibit symptoms of grogginess, a gradual slowing of their movements, worsening bouts of extreme hunger and thirst, and rotting of the flesh; which will lead to bruising easily, hair and teeth falling out, nails loosening and/or peeling off, bones becoming brittle. And like the Blessed Ones, the symptoms progress until they are too weak to walk, their brain function will decrease and death will shortly follow. At this point it is too late to survive, for those with Cursed bodies are too damaged by this time as their souls are already corrupted by the spirit of evil to begin with.

The only way to cure the sickness is by the Afflicter losing possession of the obtained piece of DNA, or it gets destroyed. In a majority of cases the Afflicted one will attempt to seek out their Afflicter, and if they can retrieve the stolen DNA they can relieve the effects of the Affliction. However there have been more instances than one might expect of the Afflicter simply losing the piece, and the almost never heard of case of the Afflicter choosing to get rid of it themselves for whatever reason. When the DNA is disposed of or returned to its original owner, then and only then will the afflicted be cured- the effect of the curse breaking brings immediate relief to them, and almost no matter what state their in they will heal fully, but it is a slower process, taking a few months before completely recovering; though, they can walk again within the first day most times, and will regrow their hair(and teeth for Wendigo), they can never fully regenerate the afflicted area however, which will scar over like a normal wound.

There is but one other way to cure the illness, and this cure will only work on Wendigo who have been Afflicted. They can reverse the effects of Spiritual Affliction through an extreme act of genuine selflessness - if it is not true in their heart, then the curse will continue to draw them towards their eventual death. Should they be cured in this method, they will heal in just the same manner as the other cure entails. In being cured this way, there have been instances of the Demon leaving their host, and allowing them to re-connect with their Spirit Animals. However, this will only happen on rare occasions, also only if the person committing the selfless act has the full desire to repent(as in they wish more than anything to be forgiven for allowing such Evil to overcome their bodies).