(From Maxwell)

One day I received two mail deliveries; the first one was an invitation for Rosanne’s birthday party. That was quite the surprise, for as long as I had known her, she had never celebrated it, nor made any mention of it. She cared a lot for other people’s birthdays though, she had even made me tell her when mine was two or three years ago, and had made a point of inviting me for dinner on that day every year since then.

The other package was a manuscript that contained a more detailed description of the symptoms and effects of the curse of Calliope. I came to know about it after thinking that the context of the legend might give us a better insight on it. So I looked up battles similar to the one mentioned in the tale we already had. Of course, there had been way too many conflicts between two armies near a temple or church, but I felt like the name of the priestess that released the curse was a hint in itself. Calliope. That was a name that originated in the Minoan region, after one of their muses. It was possible that the name had been adapted in retellings, but at the moment I decided to go for the most obvious and straightforward route.

Eventually I found a promising suspect, a conflict that had happened centuries ago, between the Minoan civilization and the “ancestors” of ours, the Achaemenids. Once in this trail, I managed to find a reference to a manuscript written by a traveling historian called Deucalion, who had recorded the effects of a sickness that resembled a lot of what we knew of the curse. Moreover it was reported they had interviewed people who had witnessed the events just a couple of months after it had happened, or so they claimed.

The problem was that there was not a single copy of that manuscript in our nation, just references to it. All the copies that had once existed had been lost to time. In a last attempt, I sent requests asking for it to several libraries in other countries, just in case. The replies I had gotten, at least from those that bothered to send a reply, were as depressng as expected. Some had scraps of the original manuscript, barely anything of substance, while others had also lost theirs. When I was about to lose all hope, I received that package from all the way beyond the Sindhus river. The sender was a librarian that called herself Yamma. I didn’t remember sending a letter to her, but the message that was annexed to it seemed to address this.

—I heard of your plight from a friend, Doctor. We have the manuscript you are looking for, in a perfect state I must add, so I’m sending you a copy of it. I have to say, I am quite disappointed with the care other librarians had of such remarkable works. Our manuscript was written into an ancient version of our language though, so I am also sending you a dictionary I have written myself. With that, someone like you should have no problem translating it. May the gods guide you, Doctor.

I was rather confused after reading that letter. But despite the new challenge presented by this stranger that acted so familiarly towards me, I had to recognize this was exactly what I had asked for, so I started to work on translating it. Still, I couldn’t help remembering that woman I had met before, who apparently was also from Bharat, and had also treated me as if she knew me. For a moment I considered the possibility that they were the same person, or related in some way at least, but that would have been too much of a coincidence. Perhaps it was just an aspect of their culture.

I finished translating right before Rosanne’s party, and I was actually a bit excited to show her the results of my research, but Carmila made it very clear that it was a work-free day. I thought it wouldn’t matter, we could talk about it the next day. Rosanne certainly could benefit from resting more, and it wouldn’t hurt me to take a break.

But then, at the very end of the party, Carmila fainted. We took her to her room, where I analyzed her state. I had brought Sylphie with me, just because she had slithered around my arm and refused to let go of me, but that allowed me to realize a more thorough inspection. I was hoping she had just overexerted herself, but I realized that was not the case very quickly. Her symptoms were almost identical to the first stage of the curse as recorded by Deucalion; her fingers and toes were turning black, but not due to necrosis, and her hair was losing its pigmentation, turning into a whitish silver. She got an intense fever, followed by sporadic spasms. But more importantly, when I examined her mana flow, I found out it was completely erratic, even more so than Rosanne’s had ever been.

But weirdly enough, precisely because I had been helping Rosanne to regularize her mana so many times, I knew exactly what I had to do. It took me several hours, but I managed to stabilize her mana, and her condition seemed to improve. Still, this treatment only diminished the effects of curse, it did not cure it. I took a moment to breathe, rubbed my eyes, and let a sigh out of my mouth. Then I focused my attention on my other patient.

—Rosanne.

—How… How could this be happening? —She had been holding Carmila’s hand all this time, trying to help as much in any way she could.

I haven’t even told her anything yet, but it was pretty clear she had figured it out from my actions.

—She is… stable, you don’t have to worry for the moment —I said, not being completely honest.

—But she is still unconscious!

—Her body went through a lot. You should know how this works better than anyone else, you have slept for almost a week a few times —I said, trying to alleviate the tension. She didn’t reply.

She seemed to instinctively know something I had only become aware of by reading Deucalion’s manuscript. Not everyone affected by the curse ended up becoming deformed monsters, there were a few who just went unconscious and never woke up. And I could barely sense any brain activity coming from her.

—Carmila, please… wake up —she said, sobbing.

A lightning hit pretty close to the mansion, making a very loud noise. Both Rosanne and I were taken by surprise by that, and even more so right after that, when Carmila jolted awake, gasping for air.

—That’s it, breathe slowly —I somehow manage to say in a calm voice.

She was confused, but still had all of her cognitive abilities intact. That was reassuring, at least she hadn’t entered a more advanced stage of the curse. Still, her vision was blurry, she was weak and her body was stiff. I took a mental note of how similar those symptoms were to what Rosanne had experienced after Violett was almost kidnapped. I then proceeded to explain to both of them clearly what was happening.

—You were infected by a disease that we were… researching, known as Calliope’s curse. This treatment should help your body fight it more efficiently, but currently… there is no cure.

Carmila pondered what I told her for a few seconds.

—We need to tell everyone who was at the party. The queen and everyone else might have been infected because of me —She said.

It was surprising that someone in her situation would even consider others. But then again, it might have been out of her character to do otherwise. I shook my head.

—We will tell them about it, but this disease isn’t transmitted by conventional means. To be honest, we don’t know how it is transmitted, but at least we know it isn’t through air, water, or food, so you don’t have to worry about that.

—I… understand. So this is what you have been working so hard for? —Carmila said, looking at Rosanne.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

—Y-yes. I’m sorry we haven’t been able to find the cure.

—Don’t be. Remember I forced you to rest because you were burning yourself out. There is no way you could have… worked harder.

I noticed that Carmila was looking visibly exhausted.

—You need to rest, we’ll take care of everything. And we WILL find a cure —I said, trying to sound convincing.

—I am sure if anyone can do it... It is you two…

She fell asleep pretty quickly. Just in case I checked her mana flow once more, but it didn’t seem to have become irregular. I asked Rosanne to follow me out of the room, where almost everyone was impatiently and worryingly waiting, the only ones missing were Sophie, Eve, and Violett. They probably had heard our conversation, the door wasn’t even fully closed. Still, I gave them a brief explanation to dispel any misunderstanding, and send them to rest. It was only Rosanne and I. She was trembling.

—Why… the curse shouldn’t have appeared yet! Why now? Why HERE?!

—The only reason I can think of is that whoever is behind it, figured out that we were trying to stop them. Something we did alerted them… or someone might have leaked the information. So they decided to retaliate, a warning shot.

—They DARED to attack my family?! —she said. No, she growled it.

—Rosanne —I grabbed her by the shoulders, and she looked at me. Her eyes were full of fury and anger, she almost looked like a completely different person, but in mere seconds, her expression softened to her usual meek self.

—W-wha… What are we going to do? —she said, almost to the point of crying.

—We… We need to inform the royal family as soon as possible. We don’t know if this is an isolated attack or if they already released the plague completely. We need to prepare for the worst —I told her, and started to write a letter with some paper that was close—. I’m sorry for asking this to you in this situation, but I need to stay with Carmila to keep monitoring her state. Take Adrian and Nora with you, and give this letter to the Royal family personally. Not to a guard, not to a minister, only directly to the Queen or the King. Can you do it?

—I… yes. I’ll do it.

I felt horrible for dumping such responsibility on her, but my words weren’t lies. Just because Carmila was stable at the moment didn’t mean she would remain in that state, and if she had a bout without any treatment, that could be it for her.

I could already imagine her giving me a long sermon for making Rosanne go to the capital with such a small guard, but I would welcome it if it meant seeing her full of energy once again. And with Adrian and Nora at her side, as well with the cover of the night, she shouldn’t have any troubles reaching the palace. The troublesome part would be the next step, to get in contact with the king or the queen, which was another reason why Rosanne was the best candidate to go.

Once Rosanne called for Nora, I accompanied both to the dock and explained the situation to Adrian. I skipped some details, but he nonetheless understood the gravity of the situation, and agreed to the mission. After seeing them off, I returned to the mansion hurriedly. I had left Sylphie with Carmila, if her state were to change, I would know thanks to her, but I couldn’t get overconfident in this situation. However, I got distracted by movements in the kitchen, and found both Gabby and Eve preparing something.

—You are going to spend all night up, won’t you, Doctor? —Gabby asked, without looking at me—, you’ll surely need coffee and something to eat to stay awake.

—You can count on us —Eve added.

I thanked them and went back to Carmila’s room. As I had predicted, she had a couple of small outbursts through the night. I’m not sure how they would have affected her if left untreated, but I couldn’t risk her trying to figure it out.

Later on, I would hear what Rosanne did to get to the Royal family. It must have been around 3 am when she reached the capital, so it was pretty obvious the guards would reject her, and told her to come back later. Apparently she stared them down, to the point of having them break protocol. It would have been hilarious in any other circumstance. In any case, she managed to get the letter delivered directly to their Majesties.

The letter, once again explained the current situation, and what we must do now. I had already discussed with his Majesty a contingency plan for the event that the curse started to spread before we found a cure. It was still in preparation, so I wrote in the letter the steps we needed to correct and improvise.

—There is no time to finish the building of the hospitals, we need to repurpose existing buildings —I had written—. The academy buildings would work perfect as our main hospital, as its construction is almost finished. It is also pretty close to the capital and to other of our more populated areas. However, if the numbers of infected reach those predicted, we might need to use other buildings. Everyone who shows the initial symptoms needs to be transferred there, no excuses, as they might wither away very quickly or turn into dangerous creatures. For the same reason, we would need some military personnel in each hospital. I found a way to diminish the effects of the curse, and I am confident in my ability to teach it to other doctors, but we don’t know how the curse will continue to affect their patients. We need to focus on finding the cure, no matter what.

Rosanne returned with the Royal Family’s response, almost at dawn’s break. They agreed with my suggestions and started to move the strings to get it done. After two days, Carmila was doing better, relatively. She still was unable to walk, and the skin of her hands and feet looked like they were made of obsidian. On the other hand, she wasn’t as exhausted as before, she could eat on her own, and she only got a fever every so often. Still, when the notice arrived the Academy was ready to receive its first patients, I recommended sending her there anyway.

—She’ll be at less risk there, there will always be someone supervising her state —I said, and Rosanne didn’t reject the idea, though it was pretty clear that she was worried and would rather keep her close.

I went to the Academy with Carmila, as I needed to train the other doctors. It pained me to leave Rosanne behind, as she was really affected by all of this. She had spent most of her time cooped up in the greenhouse, trying to figure where the “saintess” might be. She was working all night and all day despite even Carmila herself telling her to take a rest before leaving.

I intended to stay only a couple of days at the Academy, then check on Rosanne, and return to work, but I overestimated my teaching capacities. There were quite a lot of old school doctors who didn’t want to hear a “youngster” teach them anything. Having Carmila at my side was surprisingly quite helpful against that.

—Isn’t your first duty as physicians to save your patients? —She, who we had deemed the “patient zero”, scolded them—, Maxwell managed to stabilize my status, so you better throw away your overinflated ego and try the method he devised.

Being reprimanded by one of the afflicted did change their minds a bit, and from then they were more willing to listen to me. Each day we received more people infected by the curse, and although it was still “within control”, it was pretty obvious there was a lack of personnel. There were just not enough doctors to take care of the patients if the curse affected as many people as the Astrological Tower had predicted.

Thankfully, the priests of the church of Enki volunteered to help. They were no doctors, but some of them had some medical knowledge, and through their mental link, all of them were able to have access to not only the information, but the experience and muscle memory required to realize the procedure. It was actually easier to teach them how to treat the curse than to the old doctors. It still was a bit unnerving to see them walking around, they reminded me of owls for some reason.

After a few days, everyone knew what to do, which cleared my schedule by a lot. I just needed to get over a meeting, and then I would be able to see how Rosanne was doing. I had been sending her letters, but getting no response whatsoever. I was really worried about her, and a bit pissed as well.

—Doctor? Are you listening?

—Ah, excuse me, I got lost thinking of something.

—Don’t worry about it, you have been helping a lot during this crisis. It is understandable you would have too many worries in your head.

—Indeed. What were you saying?

—Thanks to the treatment that you developed, all of the patients who were admitted at an early stage of the curse had become stable. However, the curse continues to corrupt their bodies slowly. Furthermore, the few who were brought in a more advanced stage were more difficult to treat, and have lost their reason. We had to seal them, and even as we continue the treatment, they show no sign of recovery. And over everything, the rate of admissions is gradually but steadily increasing. Thankfully, no one has grown horns yet, which is the start of the late stage of the curse according to Deucalion’s description.

—Thanks for your report.

That man was Lucius, a clerk from the Church of Enki, and one of the few within the organization that didn’t share a link with their collective, like that woman we had met at the Black Tower. In the short amount of time we had worked together, he had shown to be quite reliable in managing other people, priests and doctors alike, and even more reliable in information management. I would openly admit that our operation wouldn’t have run as smoothly if it wasn’t for him.

—With that everything should be in order, I’ll be taking my leave —I informed him—. I’ll return in a day or two, but if anything happens, you know where to find me.

—Oh, are you going to visit Madame Dragonroot? —Lucius said in a more informal tone.

—...Yes.

—I have heard lots of things about the Madame! Is it true that she fought against ten people when they tried to kidnap her daughter? Or that she is so powerful that the royal family has to bow to her when they meet?

—Those are all rumors, she is a proper noble lady with no power but the name of her ancestors —I said, not being completely honest.

—Mmmm, I guess you can’t always trust what people say —he said, and paused for a moment—. Say, what kind of relationship do you two have?

—I suppose we are friends —I said without thinking too much about it.

—Eh~ then those rumors are also wrong? —he said, sounding a bit disappointed.

—And which ones are those supposed to be?

—The ones who said you two were romantically involved! —he said with a smile.

I glared at him, equal parts annoyed and confused. Why would anyone even get that idea?

Before I could retort his words in any way, the door to my improvised office was suddenly blown open. To my surprise, Rosanne was the one standing on the doorway. She looked confused and embarrassed for a moment, but then she came running towards me, grabbing me by the shoulders and dragging my face way too close to her’s.

—Maxwell! I got it! I know where the saintess is! —she said with a big grin.

—T-that’s great… —I said, trying to repress my shock.

It took her a few seconds to realize there was another person in the room.

It took me even longer to notice two small horns were coming out of her forehead.