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Tethrine took a step forward while Shifting at the same time, that single step taking him from one side of the world to the other. He could still sense the remains of the surge of holy power sending echoes all over the place, which allowed him to pinpoint the source relatively accurately. He was inside a city and could tell instantly that this place was the area where most of the dimensional paths of this world converged. Several heavily damaged airships were moored nearby, and confused people were milling about everywhere.
The confusion was understandable. The wave of power had washed away not just the curse, but also the diseases that had been affecting almost everyone in the area. Many people had also recovered from their wounds and any damage the diseases had wrought, and the sudden change in the situation had everyone wandering around in confusion. They clearly knew where the wave of power had come from though, as it seemed most people were congregating in the direction of a particular temple. “Make way!” He said with an authoritative voice and used his presence to clear a path easily.
It had only been seconds since he sensed the wave happening, and he reached the temple where the phenomenon had originated from, but he could tell he was too late. There was no sense of a Divinity being present, and it would've been odd for one of the gods to step foot in this place. The temple itself was rather simple and relatively unadorned as far as such structures usually went. The only concessions to making an impression were the sheer size of the stone temple and the large statue at the altar. Normally he’d assume some soft-hearted Divinity had taken pity on these people and stepped in, except that wasn’t possible. Not with this temple. And the Divines almost never ventured to the Higher Planes. It was a major event when they did.
The place was filled with people that had been sick or dying only moments before. The whole place was also covered in a very faint ‘feel’ of the Divine that only barely managed to overcome the smell and feel of the stench of death that had existed here previously. Whoever had performed the small miracle had expected someone to come to investigate and had made sure that he would not be able to recognize who had done it. Heck, even the small rabbit-tribe girl that was crying and holding what seemed like her mother with one hand, while holding a blueish-white kitten with the other hand could’ve been the one. Speaking of, it seemed like the place had also functioned as a sort of orphanage as there were quite a few kids around. But there was no way to tell at a glance who could’ve caused this. Yet somehow, that didn’t completely shock him once he saw who the temple was dedicated to.
“The Sacred Lady of Mercy.” He muttered while looking at the statue. Most of the temples dedicated to this particular goddess were just like this. Houses of healing and mercy, like the name suggested. “Why is it always the Sacred Lady that causes headaches, while not even being around?”
The goddess in question had been dead for so long that no one could accurately say how long ago it had happened. The reason for the goddess' death was famous, and it was one of the main reasons she was still one of the most popular Deities even after all this time. Tethrine knew there was maybe a handful of Deities old enough to have been alive when the Sacred Lady had lived and died, and at least one of those had been nothing but a mortal at that time. The others would not speak about her for some reason. Few could say what the goddess had been really like when she had lived, but her deeds and her sacrifice were remembered to this day.
It was odd for the current Deities that the faith in a dead goddess was still so strong. On the other hand, they had all grown with that fact, so no one really paid attention anymore either. Several Divines had tried to step into her shoes to assume the position of the Goddess of Mercy, as the huge reservoir of believers and faith was attractive to even the most powerful Divines. For some reason, no one had succeeded. Part of the reason was because those that served and followed the faith worshipped the Sacred Lady specifically, not the concept of a Goddess of Mercy, so any Deity taking her position would’ve been rejected as a pretender. Perhaps there was something in the minds of believers that thought it right that the position remained unfulfilled. No matter the reason, the faith remained and most of that power remained unused.
That wasn’t to say all the power went to waste. It seemed like the universe had compensated by making the faith work like it was automated. Priests and priestesses of the Sacred Lady got blessed and could perform holy spells just like normal. Notably, and perhaps befittingly for the Goddess of Mercy, none of her servants could use their power to attack and no one who sought out her blessing was rejected. Because the temples all seemed so simple and lacking in glory, the faith didn’t really draw in the most gifted and powerful, but for the same reason, the servants the faith did have tended to be the most dedicated. They were also always staunchly neutral, helping all sides equally, which in an odd twist also meant that even the most wicked warlords left the servants of the Sacred Lady alone. Only a handful of people had shunned that principle and they had all lost all support quite quickly. She was considered the goddess of the people and the downtrodden, her death granting them an opportunity to rise by contracting a spirit. That dedication caused the faith to grow and more power to gather, waiting for someone to claim it. And now someone had used that power.
“You, priestess. Tell me exactly what happened.” Tethrine commanded the nearest servant of the goddess.
The priestess obviously recognized him as an immortal and bowed low. “I do not know great one. We were all busy helping the diseased and we’ve been running ragged for days. We wouldn’t have noticed if a pack of dragobears had rushed inside. Suddenly the whole place was filled with power, and everyone was healed.”
“No one saw anything? Really?” Tethrine demanded with a bit of anger in his voice. Everybody stood stock still, and the only one making any moves was the tiny bunny girl crying tears of relief over the fact that her mother was saved. Even the damn cat seemed to have disappeared somewhere.
With a sound of vexation, he marched outside and allowed his senses to scan the area. It was like his senses were completely failing him as they failed to come up with an adequate answer. He found a single rank nine near the ships and decided to approach the Alpyran woman. He was somewhat surprised to note that he had seen the woman before. “You. Aren’t you the Headmistress of the Academy? What in the name of Divines are you doing here?”
"Emissary." The attractive and immodestly dressed woman made a small bow. "We're here to try and find the last of my students that were lost during the spatial disturbance. They were originally traveling towards the Luminous Sect on a diplomatic mission when the wave hit. We were the ones to call the Grand Medjai for help when we found out about the presence of the demonic immortal.”
“Ah, so I have you to thank for that bit of information. In that case, I owe you my thanks. Tsumi, right? You may have saved us a lot of trouble. You said we. Who’s with you, if I may ask?” The woman’s words made sense to Tethrine. He had been wondering where the Grand Medjai had gotten the information.
“Anaire, the daughter of Queen Amaranthine is using her druidic abilities to heal the wounded over there.” The woman gestured towards the wrecks of the airships. “My disciple got stranded with her and I managed to find the two a few days ago. She’s…around somewhere. She’s more the type to get into combat than to heal people, so I’m not exactly sure where she went. She might have even gone towards the walls to make sure all the demons are dead.”
Tethrine had a smile of polite interest on his face, and he wasn’t completely uninterested. Someone gifted enough to get picked by a rank nine as a disciple was someone worth meeting at least once. However, he had more important things to think about at the moment. “Do you have any idea what or who might have caused the phenomenon that just happened? Even if you don’t know anything specific, I’ll take it if you saw something odd or suspicious.”
“I have no idea. My understanding of holy magic is limited to what we teach at the Academy, and I’m not even the foremost expert of the Academy on the subject. This place was a mess with all the sick and the wounded and the battle didn’t help matters. I didn’t see anything especially out of the ordinary after your forces arrived. I’m just thankful for whoever or whatever did this.” Tethrine could tell the woman was being completely honest, and he was paying attention. This woman would be the most likely to know what had happened if someone did see anything.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Even though Tsumi knew Karna could pull out a lot of tricks from her seemingly endless bag of wonders, even she didn’t suspect Karna was behind this. Thus she really was truthful in her words. “Well, if you do find out anything, let me know. I’d also like to meet the one responsible and express my gratitude.”
Tethrine decided to stick around the city to see if anything else happened, but he wasn’t feeling very hopeful about his chances. More and more he felt that there was something very suspicious going on, but until he figured out what that something was, all he could do was to report the event. The Deities would have a fit if a Divinity had come down to the Higher Planes, and they’d have an even bigger fit with who that Divinity seemed to be tied to.
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“Yikes! That was too close.” Karna made an adorable face in her cat form. She had been sure the Emissary would be able to see through her, but the man seemed too flustered to really pay attention. That and she’d turned Gem into a collar that hid any sign of magic from her, which was also why her wings were gone. It also happened to make her incredibly nauseous as Tressym were so inherently magical creatures, but that was a price she was willing to pay. The Emissary had been too busy looking for something or someone Divine to pay attention to a simple cat.
‘You know that there will be consequences from this, right?’ Gem sent her a mental message. ‘Even though we seem to have managed to fool the Emissary for now, the gods are now aware of our presence. Most of them might not know what it means but some will. They may not know who you are either, but they will be on the lookout and now they know where to look.’
‘I’m aware. You know me though. I can't stay uninvolved.' Karna knew the spirit was right but didn't regret her decision. Gem didn’t even think she’d done something wrong, but the spirit liked to remind her of the consequences of her actions.
She padded close to Tsumi once the Emissary had gone away and she no longer sensed him close-by. “I can see why you would think it would be bad for me to meet him. We do look quite similar.” She commented.
Tsumi picked her up and scratched her behind the ear. Karna quickly decided that her master’s scratching skills needed some work. “Yeah. It’s not hard to see a connection between the two of you. A brother or a cousin maybe?”
“Could be. Hard to say at this point.” Karna said non-committaly.
“Shall we go and try to find what happened to Mayumi? Anaire seems like she still has her hands full, but I can leave a message and a stern warning to keep her safe.” Tsumi suggested.
“Let’s. I’ll stick to this form for now. That Emissary might decide to look in on you and we don’t want him to see me in my normal form. If anyone asks, I’m your spirit.” Karna suggested.
“A useless bloody spirit at that. Always bringing trouble.” Tsumi made a fake grumble.
It didn’t take too long for them to discover the store where Karna sensed the presence of the item she’d made for Mayumi. The shop was run by an elderly gnomish man. "Oh, this little thing? Yeah, it was sold to me by a pretty little Yuki-Onna. She was in a rush to leave. Although her kind aren't part of the Inferno, certain people still consider them to be a demon race. And demons weren't real popular around these parts for obvious reasons. She was on one of the first ships out I believe. They charged her extra too. Still, they wanted her gone so once she forked up the money, they were happy to let her leave. She sold a handful of items to pay her way. I seem to recall she really didn't want to sell that one, but she needed the money and I had my eye on it so we worked out a deal.” The gnome narrowed his eyes a bit. “You look like you have some demon blood as well.”
Tsumi had become quite angry at this point. “So, you basically scammed a desperate young girl for no other reason than her race. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t let my ‘demonic’ side out just kill you and take everything you own in recompense.”
“Besides the fact that I was the only one willing to buy from her? Well, it’s against the law for one.” The gnome didn’t seem too bothered. What he’d done wasn’t exactly ethical, but it was legal.
“I don’t think the law will care considering we just helped save your world. Now here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to hand over everything she sold you, and I’m going to pay you half of what you paid her. Consider that to be the mercy I’ll give you for being greedy enough to look past her race.” Tsumi made her demand.
The gnome grumbled but realized he had little choice. They soon exited the store. “That wasn’t a total bust. Now we have to find out where she went. Hopefully, the captain can come through with his end of the deal." Karna didn't mention her master's little extortion.
The captain they had made the deal with was among the wounded and thus surprisingly easy to find. Despite being bound to a bed for taking a piece of shrapnel through the abdomen, he had not been idle. He held his end of the deal and had found the information they wanted. “Wei-Jin?” Tsumi seemed surprised to hear the name of the world the ship carrying Mayumi had traveled to. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. They took all the people with demonic blood there. One of the first ships to go, just like you mentioned. My pal mentioned a Yuki-Onna that fits your description getting on the ship as well.” The captain explained.
“Alright. Thank you.” Tsumi gave her thanks and walked away with a concerned look.
“Ok, spit it out. What’s with that reaction? Bad news?” Karna asked, not familiar with the name.
“Wei-Jin is…well it's both good news and worrisome news. We can be sure that the world will not be threatened by the scourges. It's the most powerful world on our plane, and possibly on all of the Higher Planes. The world is home to the Weijin Empire. There are several powerful sects there, and I’m quite confident Mayumi is not in major danger seeing as she was a refugee. The locals aren’t racist towards demons either, so there’s that, and I know there are Yuki-Onna on that world. Many demonic races live there in fact. There’s a reason the demon refugees were sent there. There are certain concerns though. Wei-Jin can be a bit…lawless at times as they believe in strength above all, and foster rivalries and a certain ‘survival of the fittest’-type of attitude. Mayumi is smart enough to keep her head down but…” Tsumi tapped her lip in thought.
“But she might also attract attention by accident or get caught in something.” Karna guessed.
“Well, she is the type. And the emperor is a bit…well I wouldn’t call him a dark cultivator, but he isn’t too far either. He’s the kind that thinks the ends justify any means. There's also a bigger problem. We won't be able to go there. They accept refugees, but anyone above a certain rank will have to go through a strict background check and interrogation to see if they truly are a refugee. The Wei-Jin people aren’t fond of other great powers meddling in their internal affairs. You most certainly can’t go there, and the emperor knows me, so I can’t go either.” Tsumi grimaced.
“What exactly do you mean I ‘certainly can’t go’, hmm?” Karna’s little claws were digging into Tsumi’s shoulder in a dangerous fashion.
“You even dare to ask? You’re a trouble magnet! And with your looks, you aren’t exactly stealthy or subtle either. The whole planet would go up in flames as they competed to steal you away! Besides, with your potential, there’d be a hundred old monsters that would want you as a disciple and you’d be stuck. And there’s no way you could credibly play the part of a refugee. You simply carry yourself with too much confidence. Refugees…feel different.” Tsumi retorted with a raised eyebrow.
"Fair enough," Karna admitted with some reluctance. "So, what can we do?”
“At the moment? Nothing. Their spatial surveillance is second to none. We can’t sneak in like we did here. We have to wait until Mayumi can get away. Or until something distracts Weijin enough for their security to become lax. Or we need a legitimate reason to go there." Tsumi shook her head. "As I said, the good news is that they do treat refugees well. Mayumi has some time before she can get into trouble, and even then the other Yuki-Onna might protect her. She could be fine or even thriving for decades. We just have no way to find out. I suppose the Frostpeak Institute could make an official request for information, but I’m pretty sure even that would be rejected.”
“Well. Shit.” Karna cursed.
“I do have some…vague ideas that could help but we won’t be able to act on them for a long time. Weijin has some contact with other worlds and there are certain events that they either participate in, or even host when it’s their turn, but they won’t be hosting anything for a while, and the recent trouble has made such events unwise anyway. I might be able to arrange something on the grounds of having an event moved to their world due to safety reasons, but that would take time as well.”
"Or I could get strong enough to go and kick their doors down," Karna suggested.
“Or that, yes. But I’m guessing that’s going to take a while too.” Tsumi smiled in response. “There is…one option, though I don’t know how we’d manage to swing it or if we should even try. Weijin can’t deny an Emissary entry.”
“We’d need something to entice an Emissary then. And I’d rather that didn’t include me showing myself. Theoretically, we could approach another Emissary, but there aren't too many around. Especially ones that wouldn't raise questions if we went to them instead of the Emissary that resides on our world. Especially since he’s royalty.” Karna went into planning mode.
“Well, no matter which path we take, I’m pretty sure we need time. We’ll have to keep our eyes open in case an opportunity presents itself. On the plus side, with the Emissary busy here, I think we could visit back home, at least briefly. There's just one problem. They still haven't lifted the lockdown on this world because they don't want to let any demons escape.” Tsumi wasn’t all that excited to go back and get yelled at by the vice-headmaster, but sometimes you had to make sacrifices.
“I assume the immortals will lift the lockdown soon to allow people to return and this world to gain supplies from elsewhere. I would like to go back at least long enough to see Duskclaw’s condition. Maybe we could help her. And we really need to be gone before the Emissary gets suspicious about us. Anaire probably wants to see her family as well.” Karna raised an issue.
“Speaking of…” Tsumi grinned at the approaching elven princess. The sparkling eyes looking at Karna’s current form promised mischief.
“That’s unfair! You allow Tsumi to scratch you, but I can’t?! This is elf discrimination! I’m a druid! I’ll be able to do it much better!” She shouted while she approached.
Karna made a hissing sound. “Well, you can’t be much worse. Tsumi sucks at scratching. I’m tempted to agree just to get her clumsy attempts out of my mind.”