(From Maxwell)

When we arrived at that temple, Quejada informed us that the patients in the worst conditions were members of the cult of Lilith. Twelve individuals were found in that same place, already showing signs of the curse.

—It looked like they had practiced some sort of ritual, they had drawn a magic circle on the floor with symbols I haven’t seen before —he said.

—Considering the state in which they are… —I replied. They were barely holding on to their humanity— they are probably among the first to get infected. How long ago was that?

—Must be around half a year ago, maybe a little more.

—Then perhaps they are the patients zero. The ritual they were doing could have been what caused the curse in the first place…

If that was the case, they would be responsible for everything that had happened, all that suffering had been caused by them. I took a deep breath. I needed to remain calm and objective. I had swore to treat anyone who would need it, even if they had caused such a pandemic. Furthermore, I got the feeling there was still someone behind their actions, I couldn’t believe that the mastermind would be so foolish to get themselves infected. Once they had been healed, we could interrogate them to find out who had given them their orders, and punish them accordingly.

I occupied most of my time keeping the patients’ mana flows stable, teaching the nurses, volunteers, and Ingrid how to treat them. The people in the worst stages had bouts more frequent, and they were harder to control. I was trying to improve the method I had developed, but anything I could think of only helped marginally. As I was focused on this, a donut materialized in front of my face. It took me a second to realize it was actually being held by Ingrid.

—Here, you need to eat something —she said.

—Thank you.

—Eh, thank your madame, she bought them all. And thank the little girl as well, she is the one who brought them.

I threw a glance towards where Rosanne was, talking and playing with the little girl.

—Maybe later, they seem to be having fun, I don’t want to intrude on their conversation —I said.

I had perceived that Rosanne was missing her daughter and feeling the pressure of the situation we were in. I wanted to talk with her, but at the moment I had my hands more than full. It was so frustrating. But with the help of that little girl, she seemed to have recovered a bit of her energy. That’s all I needed to have some peace of mind.

As I ate the donut, I returned to my work, but even with food in my stomach, I couldn’t think of anything. This curse attacked their souls, the changes in their bodies were just a side effect. It couldn’t be caused by any physical pathogen, it must be magical in nature. It was a genuine curse. But even the greatest mages at the capital were unable to find any trace of the spell. What else could affect someone’s soul?

One of the patients near me started to have an attack, breaking my concentration. I was about to start treating them, when I noticed it was not just them, but everyone who was cursed in that room. There was no way I could calm them all in time. And according to the description of Deucalion, some of them were already at the last stages of the infection. They could either die… or become monsters.

I needed to tell Rosanne and all the others to get as far away as she could while I treated the worst patients, that was the most logical thing to do. But I have to admit, I was frozen by fear. I wanted to run away, even though that would mean our pursuers would be more. I feel so ashamed of it now, but I can’t deny that thought crossed my mind, my self preservation instinct was blaring in the back of my head. Then I heard it.

—It’s the radio! —the young girl said, sounding like she was in pain.

I turned around, and caught a glimpse of Rosanne. Her mask had flown away from her face. Her arm was extended towards her front, almost towards where I was. I heard her threads pass whizzing by, and the music that had been playing in the background shut down. The radio laid now broken in pieces all over the floor. But the most shocking part is that everyone had calmed down. It took me a minute to process what had actually happened. Once we checked on every patient twice, just to be sure, and once Quejada had returned from accompanying “Lillie” and her mother back to the town, we had a meeting to discuss what had just happened.

—So, good news, we discovered how the curse is being spread, it is through sounds —I said.

Hearing it out loud made me realize something that now seemed obvious. Calliope, the person who had released the wrath of Lilith to create the curse in the first place, shared her name with the Mycenaean’s muse of music.

—We need to tell everyone to turn off all radios —Rosanne said.

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—That’s right —I replied, and turned towards Ingrid—, could you use the link you have with other priests to warn them about this?

—A-about that… —she said, suddenly sounding shy— I haven’t been able to communicate with the collective since we arrived at this town. I have been sending them updates of the situation, but I haven’t got a single reply from them. I’ll try to send them a warning, but I don’t know if anyone will hear it. I’m sorry for not telling you earlier.

—There is nothing we can do about it now, don’t worry —Lucius said—, but that is very unusual. When we were at the capital, we kept getting reports from the other teams without any trouble. There must be something different about this town.

Rosanne stood up and looked at the pieces of the radio.

—I don’t know how your collective works, but perhaps the same signal that caused the curse is jamming on yours. And since it affects only this place, the signal must be at its strongest here, it must be coming from this radio tower.

—Are you saying that the origin of the curse is in that tower? —I asked.

—It would make sense —Quejada chimed in—, this was the oldest tower being built in these territories, and the workers that came to check it got infected shortly after visiting.

—And there was a group of Lilith’s cultists in this town… —Rosanne added, looking away.

—They could have infiltrated the tower and made it so that their signal was transmitted hidden between the rest of the songs —Lucius said.

—We can’t conclude that’s what happened, but turning off that tower seems to be the safest option —I said—. If we are right, the curse will stop spreading, and we’ll be able to communicate with the others through Ingrid. If not… we’ll think about it after we are done.

We decided that we will do it the next day at first light. Unfortunately, it started snowing that night, becoming quite strong around midnight. I feared that we would be snowed in and unable to get out all day. But the snowing stopped as the morning approached. After a quick breakfast, Lucius, Ingrid, Rosanne, and I stepped out of the temple and set our path towards the radio tower.

I was unsure if going with them was the best option, or if I should remain attending the cursed people. But since the radio had been destroyed, their condition had been more stable than at any point since we had arrived. Ideally, this task wouldn’t take us much time. I couldn’t have let Rosanne go on with people she barely knew, and it was pretty clear she wouldn’t let the two priests do this without her.

—I am going to finish this once and for all, for Carmilla, Erzi, and everyone else! —she told me, after she had spoken with her friend, Christopher, from whom she got a key to enter the building.

To get to the tower, we had to get quite far away from the temple, crossing a snowy forest that covered the sides of a mountain. After almost half an hour of walking, we came to an opening, where we could actually feel a warm breeze. A bit further ahead, a building stood at the top of a small peak. It was way bigger than what I expected, at least 5 stories high, and each seemed to be at least as big as the interior of the temple we had been in. Over its roof, there was a metallic structure that resembled a thin and tall pyramid, with several dishes attached to its sides.

We kept walking, feeling the heat increasing, until we found that we still had an obstacle to clear. In front of us was a ravine. It must have been around 5 meters in width, and not much deeper, with water flowing at its bottom. It was pretty clear that was the source of the warmth we were feeling, the water was almost boiling.

There was a metal bridge right in front of us, but it was obvious its exposure to the elements had left it in pretty bad shape. Just taking a step into it made it creak. The workers who had come before us had tried to reinforce it with new ropes, but without replacing the whole structure, they did pretty little to help.

—What do you think? —I asked the others.

—Maybe we should go back to town and bring something else, I would trust a ladder more —Ingrid said.

—I think the storm might return if we take too long —Lucius added, after having taken a good look at the sky, and black clouds that were forming on it.

—We are so close… —Rosanne said.

I took a moment to consider our options.

—What about this, let’s cross one by one very carefully —Lucius chimed in—, even if the steps break, we can hold on to the new ropes. I’ll go first, I’m pretty confident in the strength of my arms!

He slapped his biceps to make his point come across.

—Are you sure?

—Yeah, it is pretty risky, but if even one of us can go through, we can put an end to this.

I sighed.

—Fine, but be very careful.

Lucius walked to the start of the bridge and got a hold of the cable, but Rosanne stopped him.

—W-wait! I don’t know if this would help, but it might… —she said, releasing the red threads from her fingers and using them to hold Lucius' hand to the cable.

—Thank you very much, my lady.

—No, thank you. You are risking your life. Be very careful.

He smiled, and started to cross the bridge slowly. The structure creaked with each step, rocking a bit from one side to the other. A part of the floor actually cracked under his weight, but he managed to put his weight on his other feet and remain stable. And after a very stressful minute, he managed to arrive on the other side.

—I think it is pretty safe, just be careful where you step! —he yelled.

I went next, and Rosanne also tied me with her threads. Thankfully, I got to the other side with no problems. Ingrid was the next one, but she refused to get tied.

—I do not need your demonic magic, the bridge is quite safe, isn’t it? —she said.

She was almost halfway across it, when the whole bridge snapped. Not only the old ropes that were part of its structure, but also the new ones. The young priestess started to fall towards the almost boiling water.