--------

”Stop!” Tsumi suddenly shouted, and their ship came to such a sudden halt that they were all thrown about by the momentum. “Can you sense it?”

Karna frowned and her mouth twisted in distaste. “Yes. I spotted it just a tad after you did.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Anaire asked, picking herself off the floor. She had been the only one to not have any warning, and she was also the one least likely to be able to maintain her balance out of the trio.

"There's a large persistent curse field ahead of us," Karna explained curtly.

“Demonic magic!” Tsumi hissed. She was familiar with the foul stench of the corrupt and fel magic.

“Either that or someone familiar with their rituals.” Karna pointed out a second possibility. “Although, with the current situation being what it is, the presence of demonic spellcasters is much more likely.” She didn’t have the same kind of aversion to demonic spells as most people of this universe. She’d been a demon herself after all.

“What kind of curse?” Anaire asked warily. While the aberrations of the Underworld were known for spells that targeted the mind, the forces of Inferno were known for their curses and maladies. Sometimes those curses could wreak more havoc than entire armies of demons.

"I don't know," Tsumi admitted. "I have limited experience with demonic magic." They were quiet for a few seconds before she spoke again. “Go ahead Karna, I know you know something. No point in trying to hide it now.”

Karna gave a small shrug. “It’s a curse cast on an extremely large area. I wouldn’t be surprised if it covered most of the continent in fact. It has a dual purpose. The primary one is to spread a magical disease. The second one is to cause any already existing diseases, both magical and mundane, to grow much worse.”

“Any way to break it?” Anaire asked with a worried tone.

"From here? No. Theoretically, someone with enough power could attack the spell-structure and overload it, but the attack would have to be multiple times stronger than the being that created the curse. That's however assuming that this curse isn't being actively maintained and monitored. If it is, as is rather likely, then the ones powering the curse could fight back and likely win unless the difference in power is enormous. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a group of demons maintaining the thing considering they bothered to create a curse like this." Tsumi went briefly into a teacher mode. While she wasn't an expert on demonic magic, she was still proficient when it came to curses and breaking them. "I could try to attack it, but this was probably cast with the aid of a group ritual and more likely a large number of sacrifices.”

“Blood magic.” Anaire spat the word out. There were two kinds of blood magic. Magic that used blood as a medium, Thaumaturgy, and there was sacrificial blood magic that used blood and lives as fuel.

“A sufficient counter ritual with enough people using holy power would also work. Which makes the whole situation a little odd. The Luminous Sect is the type of group to have such casters on hand, yet the curse is still here.” Karna speculated.

“You’re right. They’re not only obsessed with Qhaysh but also holy magic, and the more…shall we call them sacred ways of using Qi." Tsumi confirmed. Karna knew that in many other universes the so-called 'sacred' ways of using Qi were associated with religion and temples.

“So either they can’t or they won’t. The curse is covering the area covered by their rival.” Karna suggested an explanation.

“That doesn’t really sound like them. They’re a very righteous sect. Annoyingly so at times. They might not extend a helping hand if their rival had more standard trouble, but the Inferno? And a curse that affects the innocent population as well? Sounds unlikely that the Sect would leave it alone.” Tsumi argued. She didn’t always see eye-to-eye with the leader of the Luminous Sect, but the sanctimonious Aasimar woman wouldn’t allow innocents to suffer.

“So the problems of this world seem rather severe.” Karna trusted her master’s evaluation, which happened to coincide with her own impressions.

“Can we avoid being affected by the curse?” Anaire asked the important question.

“Well…” Tsumi looked at the elven princess. “I can protect us for a time, but not forever. And I’ll have to maintain that protection by staying in close proximity the entire time. It also won’t work if I have to sleep, or if I have to fight several dangerous enemies at the same time.” In reality, the only one in real danger was Anaire, as Tsumi was too powerful to be affected and Karna had her Phoenix form to deal with the disease. Even Anaire had some resistance due to her druidic abilities.

“I could probably create something to block the curse, but let’s go with Tsumi’s method for now. We’ll try to keep the duration of the visit short and see what the situation is. With the curse in place, I’m pretty sure the whole place is crawling with demons anyway. If it seems we’ll have to stay longer, then I’ll figure something out.” Karna finally suggested.

------

As they flew over the curse-riddled land, it became obvious that Karna’s suspicion had been right. Any village or small city they came across was either evacuated, devastated, or both. The demons were quite happy to destroy empty buildings as well, though it was quite obvious that not all of the buildings had been empty. Bodies were strewn about several devastated villages, and it was obvious at least two cities had not been evacuated before the demons reached them. The bodies impaled on the walls made that abundantly clear. Demons didn’t discriminate either. The corpses of children and elderly were lined up right next to the likely defenders of the city. Tsumi and Karna both kept their senses out in case they found any survivors, but the demons were quite thorough in their massacres.

Not everything was devastated though. Several cities and forts still stood under domes of protective energy as waves and waves of misshapen demons crashed against the outer walls. The Higher Planes were not peaceful places and most cities had sturdy defenses. In some cases they even spotted decently sized groups of local soldiers making forays outside the cities, striking the demons in the flanks and clearing out any stragglers, though those were relatively rare. They also spotted some other airships that seemed to be mostly carrying refugees and supplies. Most of them stayed high enough in the sky that even flying demons had trouble reaching them. Those that couldn’t reach such heights were usually escorted by military vessels or soldiers riding griffons or other flying beasts. The demons had an upper hand but the locals clearly made them work for it despite the circumstances.

“That’s…” Anaire tried to speak but her voice was choked as they hovered above the second city with all the inhabitants slain and placed on the walls as grisly trophies. She was looking at the remains of the carnage through the window on the ship.

"That's the realities of war," Tsumi said firmly. “Although the Inferno does make it a tad more obvious than most. Sights like these aren’t exactly rare when it comes to normal wars either.”

“No survivors this time either.” Karna declared with a cold voice. Suddenly flames engulfed the diseased corpses that had become swollen and twisted by the effects of the curse. “We won’t be able to give them a real burial, but…”

“Agreed. Their loved ones and friends shouldn’t have to see them like this.” Tsumi also used her own magic to make sure all the bodies were incinerated.

As their ship started ascending higher away from the city, they noted that they had company. Dozens of large airships were approaching them from the distance, and they had obviously been spotted, as smaller support vessels seemed to spread around and screen the skies around the larger ships. “Do we run?” Anaire asked.

“No. That would only get us labeled as suspicious, and that’s the last thing we need in the current situation. We might as well see what they want.” Tsumi rejected the idea. She could always use her power if things got difficult.

It didn’t take long for the fleet to reach them. While most of the fleet continued their travel, they did slow down enough to allow one of the larger ships to make contact. "They're using a messaging spell to contact us," Karna said simply. As she was the one controlling the ship, she was also the one controlling the spells protecting the vessel from outside magic.

“Let’s hear them out.” Tsumi nodded. Even though Karna had taken most of the lead since they started looking for Mayumi, Tsumi was still the one that had the final say in most things. As a teacher, she purposefully allowed her disciple to learn to make such decisions and to carry responsibility, but in the current situation, she felt it was time for her to take the lead again.

A glowing paper-talisman appeared in the cockpit and a male voice could be heard addressing them. “This is the Captain of Lammasu to the unidentified vessel. Identify yourself and your purpose.”

“Captain, it is good to see something besides demons for once. I am Tsumi and we are traders. We’re traveling towards Zharr-Nagar but stopped at the city below to see if there were any survivors. We found none and burned the desecrated remains as a show of respect.” Tsumi explained quickly.

“Traders? How is it that there are traders on this world that don’t know that Zharr-Nagar has been under siege for more than a week?” The captain asked in a suspicious voice. The city Tsumi had mentioned was the city where the spatial pathways mostly converged.

“We may have not entered the world via the traditional route. We didn’t know the situation was so bad here, but we wanted to avoid getting caught in anything if the Scourges had attacked the arrival point.” Tsumi started to spin a web of lies.

The captain grunted, clearly not buying it. “Smugglers I see. Well, in the current situation that might be the best option actually. We could use some skilled smugglers. What wares do you carry? With Zharr-Nagar cut off, we're running low on most things. I'll look past your illegal entry and even give a decent price on your goods if you carry food or medicine. I'll even pay a premium if you have something that can stave off the effects of magical disease or prevent curses."

Karna interjected. “Captain, I can provide you with a fair bit of supplies, though not enough to feed a fleet like yours. I have a handful of magical items that can work against the curse and I can make a few more fairly quickly, but they’ll only delay things. You’ll need to deal with the issue at its root.”

“I realize that. We all realize that. That’s why this fleet and a few others like it are all moving towards Zharr-Nagar. We need to liberate the city and consolidate our forces before we can push for the ritual site.” The captain was speaking rather freely because he knew there was no way anyone would choose to ally with the Inferno in a situation like this. The Underworld had spies, cults, and even allies, while the Netherworld had their vampire spies, but the Inferno didn’t do subtle. There were scant few demon worshippers and those that tried to steal the demon’s powers, but those were few and far between.

“What about the Luminous Sect? Surely the rivalry between you and them isn’t enough to deter assistance in a situation like this.” Tsumi addressed the thing she was worried about.

“Ah yes, the righteous gits. They’re not much better off than us. In fact, we might have gotten attacked by the demonic horde, and they’re dealing with a single demon, but I’d still argue they’re worse off. The demon they’re facing is actually an immortal.” The captain seemed resigned to the situation.

"That doesn't sound good," Anaire said quietly.

“Indeed it’s not. It’s the first I’ve heard of the Scourge managing to sneak an immortal into the Higher Planes. The Luminous Sect will be able to resist for a time, assuming the immortal isn’t more than rank 10, but this is still something the Host should deal with.” Tsumi confirmed.

“Yeah, about that.” The captain interjected. “If you really are a smuggler that can go outside the spatial pathways, then I have a request for you. We need someone to get help. From the Celestial Host if possible, but I’d settle for any help if it can arrive soon. Reaching the Emissary would take too long. If you manage to pass on the message and get us the help we need, then we’ll make sure you’re rewarded accordingly.”

The captain gave a deep sigh before continuing. “This curse is really fucking us up. We can’t fight properly when any army we put on the field gets cursed and reduced to nothing by attrition and disease. The rate people get sick and immobile is stupidly high. We have some hope that this maneuver will be successful with so many ships taking part, but our forces can’t actually get outside the protective magic of the ships. That’s not how you win battles. The enemy was smart. Unlike the Luminous Sect, we don’t have the powerful individuals to face entire armies. We have our own armies and our technology, but both are useless if we can’t get them on the field. On the other hand, the powerful warriors of the Sect are all tied down by a single immortal stronger than them. We need help and we need it yesterday.”

Tsumi and Karna looked at each other meaningfully. “Captain, we can take on this mission, but we aren’t interested in a monetary reward. We need to find someone. A friend of ours was stranded by the spatial anomaly, and we have a reason to believe she was at Zharr-Nagar at some point. We detected one of the items she was carrying there.” Tsumi suggested meaningfully.

“Ah, I think I know what you’re getting at. You’ll deliver the message if we can find information on your friend. Well, I can probably already help you a bit to get things started. Before the demons bothered to shut down travel, we managed to send out several refugee ships. That was likely their intent as it removed a large portion of our ability to move people around, and the true magnitude of the disaster became obvious much later. If your friend traded for a passage on one of those ships…well, I can’t say where she is now, but we can maybe find out if the city gets liberated.”

"Captain, I might be able to get word to an Emissary in less than an hour. It might take longer though, depending on where he is at the moment. And I can’t guarantee how quickly they’ll respond.” Karna stated.

“How?” The captain asked with obvious suspicion.

“Let me worry about that. Just make sure you don’t die off before help arrives. I need someone to attest to the deal we made.” Karna dispelled the communication talisman. “Tsumi, keep us in the air. I’m going to contact Arjuna. If he’s home taking care of Duskclaw, as he damn well should be, then he should be able to get in touch with the Emissary. I would assume they’d be in a hurry to arrive once they learn there’s a demonic immortal on this world.” There was a risk of drawing attention to herself and being here once the Host arrived, but she wasn’t going to let more innocent people get murdered by the demons if she could solve the problem just by contacting her father.

------

Arjuna rushed through the luxurious building that had been assigned for the Emissary’s use. The Emissary was having a dedicated building built for his own specifications in a different location, but that would take a bit of time. Until then, this palace was his to use as he saw fit. Arjuna was ready to pitch a fit after he was contacted by Karna. His daughter was on a world under heavy Inferno assault, and there was even a demonic immortal present! And that didn’t even take into account curses and other dangers. He knew Karna was resourceful, but this was getting really bad.

A seneschal came to intercept him as he was marching towards the quarters used by the Emissary. His arrival had been sudden and unannounced, something highly improper when dealing even with a standard Emissary, not to mention one that was a member of the Royal House of Asuryan. “Grand Medjai, the Emissary is in a meeting right now.” The man tried to prevent Arjun from going forward.

"This can't wait," Arjuna said firmly without bothering to stop.

“Grand Medjai! The Emissary gave instructions…” The protests of the man fell to deaf ears as Arjuna pushed open the large heavy doors in front of him.

Before he could take another step forward, the bodyguard wearing silver armor had appeared in front of him with a spear point pressed against Arjuna's throat. He hadn't even noticed the movement and hadn't sensed anything, but he didn't show any reaction either, beyond stopping before he impaled himself. He could see the Emissary was standing at respectful attention while the illusionary image of a woman seemed to be lecturing him, though the lecture had stopped as soon as Arjuna had opened the door. Arjuna couldn't stop his eyes from growing a bit larger as he noted that the woman looked even more like an older version of Karna, which made her stunningly beautiful, than the Emissary who was already quite similar in appearance to his daughter. The family resemblance was quite obvious at this point.

“Seneschal, I’m quite sure I gave instructions about not letting anyone in.” The Emissary said in a chastising tone.

“My apologies Prince Tethrine. I could not stop the Grand Medjai.” The seneschal kneeled down on the floor.

“This better be important Grand Medjai.” The Emissary turned his displeased eyes to Arjuna, while the woman seemed to be measuring Arjuna from head to toes and wasn’t all that impressed with what she found.

“It is. I just got word of the homeworld of the Luminous Sect being under a massive attack by the Inferno. The enemy is led by a demonic immortal. The world will fall fairly soon if they do not get assistance.” Arjuna explained quickly.

“A demonic immortal? On the Higher Planes?” The woman asked with a voice that commanded attention and respect. It was impossible to judge the age of someone that had reached immortality, but the woman looked to be in her late twenties at most. The voice on the other hand suggested someone much older and much more powerful. “Tethrine, I’ll forgive this interruption. If the Scourge has reached a point where they can send immortals to the other planes, things are much more serious.”

“Indeed. Grand Medjai, give the seneschal all the details. Your little faux pas is forgiven, but do not make a habit of it.” The Emissary also seemed to agree and watched as Arjuna was escorted out.

“Tethrine, there was something odd about the way that man looked at me.” The woman suddenly said with narrowed eyes.

“Mother, you’re one of the Goddesses of Beauty. Although impertinent, I can’t exactly blame him for looking at you.” Tethrine pointed out with a tired voice.

“That’s just it. The way he looked at me wasn’t out of fascination or admiration. That I can recognize easily. In fact, the fact that he didn’t is odd in itself. For a moment it looked like he recognized me. Or that I reminded him of someone.” The woman dismissed her son’s words.

“Reminded him of…I see. I think I know what you’re alluding to. He has…acted a little odd before this as well. This might be a lead.” Tethrine thought he had finally found the first real hint to follow up on. The Witch of the Starlight Tower had warned him, and warnings from the one bearing the True Name of the Seer should be taken seriously. That said, he was still curious.

“The issue with the Scourge comes first of course. I’ll have a word with your father. We will need to take this more seriously.” The Goddess said before her image disappeared.

The impression of the Prince’s face changed as soon as the image was gone. His respectful look turned to one of displeasure. “My reports were not enough to get a serious response but a single word of a demonic immortal is? Well, maybe I really should thank the Grand Medjai. At least he managed to get a reaction out of her and get things moving in a direction I like.”