Gifts and Conditions.

Leonardo flipped back to the fourth page of the small book. Handwritten in black ink, he read the page to himself.

‘Gift of Recovery: Grants the owner of this book the ability to feel sexual pleasure once more. Meant for those bearing the Curse of the Gifted. May the heavens be merciful and smile upon you. Condition: Give a single partner three orgasms within a three days, without orgasming yourself.’

Nothing more was written. Following that page were incomprehensible writings.

“What’s next are the details for the spell. Think of it as the formula that makes use of the sexual energy to make the spell take effect,” Mrs. Wisler explained. “But never mind that. What do you think?”

Leonardo swallowed hard. “It’s… more straightforward than I thought it would be.”

“My father made that a priority. If whoever I gave the book to needed to study as much as he did, the curse would never be lifted.” She smiled wryly. “If you keep flipping through the pages, you’ll find even more Gifts, which need different conditions to be fulfilled. The ones you should absolutely focus on, however, are that one and the next two.”

Leonardo read the next two Gifts.

‘Gift of Giving: Grants the owner’s partner(s) the ability to feel sexual pleasure when having sex with them. Meant for members of the clan who could not attune with the book. May the owner of this item grant them some form of relief, if only temporary. Condition: Enter a formal sexual relationship in which you keep your partner satisfied and maintain it for at least a month.’

‘Gift of Polyamory: Removes the concept of exclusivity regarding relationships when it comes to the owner of this book. Sexual energy generated by a single person is very limited. This Gift is meant to allow the owner to fulfill the objective of this book while sparing others from as much heartache as possible. Condition: Gain the trust of four different people whom you have feelings for.’

“Is this seriously real?” Leonardo asked with a small twitch of his eye.

“Don’t try to suppress it, dear,” Mrs. Wisler chuckled. “I can see you like what you’re reading.”

He groaned. It was hard to say if it was his pent-up frustrations making him think like that, or perhaps he was just naturally a damn pervert, but the thought of having several women to himself was… exhilarating.

“No matter how much they tried, my father and his friends couldn’t get around the fact that the sexual energy of multiple people is needed to power the book. No matter what, if the owner of the book wants any chance at gathering enough sexual energy, they’ll need to have sex with several people. It’s what led to the development of things such as the polyamory spell. Sexual energy can only be gathered from your partners, not yourself. And a single person can’t hope to produce the amount of energy needed for the final and true purpose of the book.”

“What’s that purpose?”

“The summoning of Ragaraja’s power, the deity to whom the first ritual was offered. The being who both blessed and cursed the clan. You could think of using the book as an extremely long ritual. Just as our ancestors offered all their sexual energy to Ragaraja for their Gifts in a single night, you’ll accumulate sexual energy over time, harmlessly and from several people, and use it to fuel a spell that will cleanse you, every other member of the clan and even your descendants, of this damned curse.”

Leonardo bit his lip.

He felt pressure on his shoulders, but worse than that, he clearly felt the excitement, his own desires pushing him to agree. Why should he even hesitate, anyway? He would get to recover his ability to feel pleasure and be granted power to have as much sex as he wanted. He had to suffer the agony of involuntary abstinence for too long, and he wasn’t the only one.

…

Then he remembered Angela in the other room. She was incredibly hot, and his mind already had come up with so many scenarios in which he’d like to have her. With the Book of Eros, and the powers it granted, those thoughts might even become a reality.

He clicked his tongue and smiled wryly to himself, shaking his head.

“Fucking hell.”

"What is it?” Mrs. Wisler asked, tilting her head.

“I think I’m just realizing what I’m gonna have to do.”

“Does that mean you’ve accepted it?”

“Worse. I think I want to do it,” he admitted. “Not because of some altruistic reasons like freeing everyone from a curse. I just need to feel the pleasure, not that ghost of an orgasm that happens when I masturbate. My whole body is demanding the real thing.”

“Believe me, I understand,” Mrs. Wisler nodded. “Plenty have felt like you. Use that motivation to drive you.”

Leonardo knew that accepting this meant he might have to do some nasty things. He was sure he was 100% straight, so that meant looking for many women to have sex with. If Angela was half as pent-up as he was, she would probably be up for it, but he needed to recover his own ability to feel pleasure first, and then gain the ability to let her feel her own.

“There is something else you need to know about the book,” Mrs. Wisler said. “Remember how this magic follows the logic of conditions. For the book itself to work, it must also follow two general conditions. One, it may only have one owner. It has accepted you now, and I do not know of a way to invalidate the contract. And two, the conditions for every Gift must be fulfilled here, in Noroi Island.”

“I see,” Leonardo smiled wryly. “That’s why you brought me here.”

“Precisely,” she admitted. “I promise I’m not hiding anything from you or the others. I’m just trying not to overwhelm you with information.”

“Well, I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed,” Leonardo chuckled with a tired, toothy grin.

“If you ever have questions, I promise to do my best to answer.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, ma’am,” he said. “And I hate to ask this, but… any ideas on how to start?”

“Like I said, focus on the first three Gifts. You need to recover your own sensations, or you won’t be able to progress at all. Then, focus on the Gift of Giving. I believe female members of the clan, like Angela, will be more cooperative than others. And finally, if you manage to acquire the Gift of Polyamory, you won’t need to worry about cheating on women, and you’ll be free to do whatever you want.”

Leonardo let out a soft chuckle devoid of any humor. “I’m gonna get hanged.”

It was a bit conflicting, but he had no time to hesitate. A solution to his problem lay right in his hand, and he was going to make use of it.