-----

A singular airship Shifted into the airspace above the elven capital of Teleriand. The distinctive shape of the vessel identified it as a warship of the Magocracy. It was decidedly odd that the elves would allow a warship of a foreign power around their capital even with the alliance in place, and if there had been more than one ship, they’d all be shot down by the dragon riders circling above the city. Even this lone ship was escorted to land in a designated spot near the palace by a pair of large Gold Dragons. They knew that just because there was just one ship, that didn’t mean those aboard the ship couldn’t be a danger to the city.

"I'm still surprised you managed to get the elves to allow passage," Wolfgang commented with a concerned frown. "They'd never allow it under normal circumstances."

"Well, apparently Karna did them a favor, and it's not like they don't have a stake in getting to the bottom of this. The kids disappeared under their protection, and apparently, some of Amaranthine's own children were also involved. Besides, this mess is only growing in proportions.” Arjuna replied in a calm tone. He neglected to mention that one of the reasons the elves had allowed the ship to come here was because the Queen knew Arjuna would come here anyway, one way or another. It was better to allow a ship than to have him punch through the defensive wards around the city with his magic.

“You seem rather calm about this.” Wolfgang pointed out. “I’d think that you would be the most worried seeing as both Karna and Duskclaw are missing.” The ship the students were on wasn’t the only one that had disappeared. Many ships in transit had suffered the same fate, and some of the ships had been confirmed destroyed.

“We created a soul jade for both of them a long time ago," Arjuna explained. The only purpose of the item was to crack and break if the person tied to the jade was killed. "As long as they're alive, I have confidence in their ability to survive. Now we just need to find them."

"That…makes a weird kind of sense," Wolfgang said as they were escorted from the ship towards the palace. The guards surrounding them were not the usual green-clad royal guards, but mute professional warriors clad in golden scale armor. Even Wolfgang had to nod in appreciation at the discipline and sense of professionalism the guards had. These weren’t guards but warriors, and the difference was easy to sense.

They didn’t have to travel too long as they were escorted into a small side room in the palace and the Queen soon arrived as well, not keeping them waiting. “Arjuna. Wolfgang. While I’m glad to see you, I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“Indeed. Any news?” Arjuna asked immediately.

“Some. The entire pathway to the world they were traveling towards has collapsed, but the good news is that the collapse was gradual and less violent than some. Our spatial mages could determine the ship was struck by the wave and was damaged, but they also sensed the presence of a large-ish rift. It seems the people on the ship were scattered on different worlds, but we don’t think they were outright killed. Not unless they had a bad landing. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we also detected Scourge activity in the area. It is likely that some of their forces made it through as well. We also don’t know where they landed. We can make educated guesses to narrow the field, but…” The Queen made a disgruntled face, something the two men were surprised to see. She wasn’t one to display her emotions so openly to other high-ranking visitors.

“I’m fairly certain that Duskclaw at least is capable of getting a message back to me, as I gave her some charms that should reach us as long as she’s still on the Higher Plane. She probably needs time to determine where she is first though, as she doesn’t have too many of the transmission charms I gave her. Karna…I think will manage. Either she’ll get a word out, as she can create a charm powerful enough with some time and materials, or she’ll just make her way back. The others I’m not so sure about.” Arjuna speculated.

“I talked to Tsumi. The badges the students have can be used to locate them once we’re close enough.” Wolfgang interjected. “In fact, the only reason she’s not here already is because she already left to try and visit as many worlds as possible to try and find them. But with the spatial pathways being as they are…”

“Could you…?” Arjuna made a vague gesture towards Amaranthine, suggesting she could use her powers.

The Queen frowned in response. "I tried, but unfortunately my skills aren't as easy to control as I'd like. Apparently, your daughter is also somehow resistant to my abilities. Interestingly predicting minor things about her is possible, but seeing anything major about her is much harder for some reason. I tried more traditional scrying spells as well, but the spatial disturbances are messing with that too. I’d also need to get closer. The potential presence of a Scourge makes things more complicated though. Besides, travel isn’t exactly safe yet either. Unlike Tsumi, I can’t just drop everything and go, no matter how worried I am.” Usually seers were also gifted at other types of divination magic, and the Queen wasn’t an exception.

“Minor things?” Arjuna asked, something about the Queen’s tone setting off warning bells.

“You can ask her if you want,” Amaranthine deflected, quite certain that Karna wasn’t going to gossip about such things with her father.

"We're going to have to do this the old way then," Wolfgang stated, turning the discussion back on track. "Search parties using direct portals and Shifting when possible." Using the ability to almost instantly Shift between two places was quite challenging between worlds, as the methods for doing so were very closely guarded secrets and known only to select few experts. It could also be quite power-consuming depending on the destination.

"Well, fortunately, I can help there." Arjuna agreed. His own ability to form portals was on a very high level thanks to his shadow magic and spirit companion. “That said, I’d rather go alone, as taking someone along would make things much more difficult.”

“I’ll stay here and arrange more search parties and coordinate our communications.” Amaranthine promised. “We’ll need to survey the damage done by that spatial wave anyway. It’s a good chance to also send out search parties along with the surveyors.”

“I’ll take a group and see what traces I can find about the Scourge. We don’t need them interfering.” Wolfgang decided. He didn’t have the ability to travel to as many worlds as Arjuna or to perform location spells, but he was plenty good enough to hunt down the Scourges.

“I’m somewhat surprised the new Emissary didn’t offer his help. This would’ve been a good opportunity for him to create some good will.” Amaranthine pointed out.

“He did offer. I turned him down. If he got involved, we both know who he’d find first, and that would defeat the whole point of this diplomatic trip. Now that a Scourge might be involved though…well, he’ll be getting involved no matter what. Maybe the Scourges can keep him busy.” Arjuna explained. It was one of the duties of the Emissaries to deal with the Scourges after all.

---------

Karna took a glance behind her and noted how tired the falcon flying behind her looked. She had been pleasantly surprised when she discovered that Anaire was capable of the druidic magic of shapeshifting now that she had calmed down, and was pleased that the elven princess had managed to keep up with her this long as they flew above the hot desert. The falcon was of course slower than Karna’s Phoenix form, but it was still relatively fast, and the princess had stamina. They had seen nothing but sand for the last three days as they had flown continuously and the heat was starting to become sweltering. It seemed the princess had reached her limit at last.

Without a word, Karna angled her flight downwards and soon they both landed on a sand dune, though Anaire’s landing was decidedly ungraceful as the falcon flumped on the ground in an exhausted heap. Karna returned to her original form and with streams of magic started building a shelter. Earth magic formed thick walls as sand solidified into stone, and the base below them turned into something that could hold the weight of the sudden construct. Karna had learned in previous lives that building something on sand was problematic at best. At the same time, she created water with water magic, which took quite a bit of mana as there wasn't enough moisture in the air to use, so she had to conjure the water literally out of nowhere.

Anaire also released her shapeshift and lay down on a soft bit of bedding Karna had tossed in her direction, thankful for the chance to just rest. She had not wanted to complain, but she truly had reached her limit. She could've pushed past them, but that would've meant that when she finally did stop, she would've needed several days of rest instead of the good night’s sleep she needed at the moment. “You seemed to have a destination in mind as you were flying in a straight line.” She commented and wearily looked at Karna who was pulling out supplies from her storage ring. The contents of the ring seemed almost inexhaustible, and even the clothes the princess was wearing had been stored inside. Why Karna was carrying around attire suitable for a desert was a question she wasn’t sure she wanted answers to.

“I do. Even though it seems this world is mostly desert and barren wilderness, that doesn’t mean it’s uninhabited. There’s quite a bit of activity under the sand in the form of various creatures and magical beasts. I used a scrying spell to locate the largest gathering of intelligent life in the vicinity, and we’re traveling towards them. The problem is that they’re pretty far and moving away from us, albeit not very quickly.” Karna explained.

“Nomadic people?” Anaire realized the implications.

“That seems likely. I’ve seen traces of vegetation and an oasis or two as we’re getting closer, so they’re likely traveling some predetermined path between the more fertile areas. Or areas with some special resources. It wouldn’t be the first time a desert civilization survived by trading the special resources that can be found in extreme conditions like these.” Karna had lived as such a nomad before.

“I didn’t notice any vegetation," Anaire exclaimed with surprise.

“That’s because you were too exhausted to pay attention. It also helps if you know where to look.” Karna teased with a slight smile. The arduous travel had not left them much time to get to know each other, but they had talked enough to get friendly at least.

Anaire conceded the point with a small hand gesture. “What sorts of resources can be found in a sandpit like this?”

“That depends. Certain spices and herbs thrive in these kinds of places. Fire and sunstones. Mined minerals. Resources from the creatures that inhabit these sorts of places. It’s also rather common for nomadic peoples to develop certain crafts out of necessity.” She listed off. “It’s hard to say for sure until we find them.”

“And what will we do when we do find others?” Anaire asked with a bit of trepidation. “There’s a good chance they won’t be friendly or welcoming.”

“That’s true. However, we don’t have much of a choice. While we could just camp somewhere and hope rescue comes to us, as I do have quite a bit of supplies, that won’t help in finding the others. They might be hurt or in a worse situation. And we can’t be sure how long it will take for help to find us. I doubt traveling is easy currently. It is likely that these nomads might be in contact with others of their kind, and word of our friends could’ve reached them if they’re on this world. Besides, we might be able to negotiate passage to somewhere more productive. I doubt the nomads have too many vessels capable of traveling between worlds, but the traders might take us somewhere where we could find passage back home.” Karna laid out her plan.

“Do we have enough to trade with? You already know I have literally nothing except what you give me.” Anaire pointed out. Passage between worlds wasn’t usually cheap, and it would come at a premium if the pathways between worlds were disturbed.

“Well, I have certain things, and you forget. I’m a rather skilled Artificer. I can barter using my skills. We'll have to see how willing they are to trade when we meet the locals." Karna didn't mention that she also had other methods to help convince others that trading might be a good idea. Some of those methods were rather dark while others…well, there were many ways to reach a deal and she wasn’t above using anything she had at her disposal.

------

“Shaheera, you’ve been holding out on us!” Miralen commented with a loud voice as a bright orange blade of sword ki mowed down a large number of the plant creatures surrounding them. The blade kept going and twirling around, taking even more enemies with it, not seeming content with the ones killed in the initial attack. Not that the dead made much more than a dent in the swarm of enemies surrounding them. Miralen herself released a large burst of frost energy and a nova of cold energy engulfed the ones surrounding her.

“Holding out is such an ugly way to put it.” Shaheera countered a little sullenly. “I prefer to call it using my powers judiciously.”

"No matter what you call it, it's a positive surprise." Sieg interrupted as his own ki blades did their damage. His skills were not as well suited for dealing with such huge numbers of enemies that regenerated any damage that wasn't enough to be called catastrophic. His skills focused more on precision and dealing with few high-ranking enemies instead.

They had been fighting almost constantly since arriving in this very inhospitable jungle, and the number and strength of their enemies only seemed to be increasing. Individually these plants were not a problem, but their tenacity and numbers made them dangerous even for the trio. The constant fighting was also taking a toll. Thanks to training with Karna and in the Academy, they were all skilled at pacing themselves and keeping up a constant fight, but they were still approaching their limits.

Suddenly Shaheera seemed to sense something, and to the shock of the other two, sheathed his blade. “What ar-“ Miralen managed to say before a veritable storm of blade energy very similar to the one Shaheera had used earlier shredded the surroundings. Not just the plant creatures, but the entire jungle around them was cleared in the blink of an eye, and the trio found themselves standing in a suddenly created clearing.

“What the fu-uhh…?” Miralen said with a stunned voice before the shadow of an enormous airship suddenly fell on them.

“Shaheera boyo. Fancy meeting you here of all places. It looks like you’re having some trouble.” A powerful and confident voice said with a bit of a teasing tone. They all took a sharp breath as the biggest Leonid they had ever seen floated downwards from the airship, with his hand lazily resting on the pommel of his blade.

“Grand Marshal Asha-“ Shaheera’s greeting was interrupted midway.

“Boyo, you might have run away to the Academy, but you should still stick to the formalities.” The powerful being said, now with some steel in his voice.

“Ashanti Shifu," Shaheera grunted with a voice that managed to be both respectful and apologetic, while also conveying how grudgingly he used the term.

“Good. You may have not been one of my students for long, but you should still pay the proper respects.” The de facto leader of the Aegean Empire nodded. “So. I always knew that cavorting with the elves and the Magocracy would get you in trouble one day. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon.”

Shaheera gave the older Leonid a long suffering look. “You don’t mean that and we both know it, Shifu. You aren’t petty enough to try and blame the elves or the Magocracy for a spatial phenomenon like the one that hit us. If I’m not wrong, we weren’t the only ones affected. In fact, just your presence here suggests that there’s a massive search and rescue effort being made.”

The golden-furred Leonid burst into a cackle of laughter. “Very good Shaheera. You always were a smart one, and I always respected that about you. No, this isn’t the fault of the spell-flingers or the knife-ears. I was just teasing you. However, one thing remains true. You seem to be in a spat of trouble.”

“And what trouble would that be?” Shaheera asked.

“Well. You’re surrounded by hostile territory in the middle of nowhere. The only reason I found you was because you’re an old student of mine, and we still share a bond of sorts. Others won’t have that advantage. And even if they did, they’ll likely not visit this world to search for you, especially after we already visited the place. That leaves you in a bit of a pickle, doesn’t it? If you were still my student, I wouldn’t hesitate to save you and your friends, but as you’re not…well, I think I’ll need a bit of an incentive.” The older Leonid grinned wickedly.

"You always were an opportunist," Shaheera commented. "It can be a good feature to have, but you take it too far."

"And you've always been too soft-hearted. I'm just doing what's necessary to get ahead in the universe. I'm not refusing to help you, nor am I taking your friends for ransom, both of which I could easily do. I’m simply asking to be compensated for my services. That’s fair I believe.” Ashanti countered.

“And what do you want?” Shaheera asked with gritted teeth.

“Oh, you know what I want. You’ve always known what I want. Like I said. You’re a smart boy. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.” Ashanti pressed a little.

“Fine. Have it your way." Shaheera agreed to what he knew to be the terms. Not that he had much of a choice. He knew Ashanti was actually taking things easy with him and his friends.