Amidst a downpour, a rank of soldiers trudged along a wet path towards the Muse-Highland Border. Protected by the soldiers was Doctor Huan in his medicinal gown and Master Lorentz in the robes of the rune master.
"I wonder why Lady Annabelle wished us to inspect the battlefield?" Lorentz asked. Huan smiled, saying "Lady Annabelle has informed me that she wishes us to tend to the wounded soldiers who were involved in a recent skirmish somewhere near Kyaro." Huan looked at Lorentz; "She obviously had you in mind due to your reputation with your Water Rune?"
Lorentz nodded, "And naturally so... even Grand Master Zenith can not use the flowing rune with the skill that I possess!"
The party arrived at the border gate.
"Where are the wounded kept?" Lorentz asked to the escort soldiers.
A soldier replied loudly so he could be heard in the downpour, "They are all sheltered in a camp about a mile north from here!"
Lorentz muttered, "...why set up camp in enemy territory..." but none of the soldiers heard him in the roaring rainfall.
Huan also thought that it was strange how Muse is setting up a medic camp inside Highland territory, but he wasn't concerned with where troops should be located. "Let's go then," he said.
After the party walked into a forest path for a while, Huan sensed the smell of decaying flesh. "Were the casualties buried?" Huan asked one of the soldiers.
"The skirmish took place in the forest, some of the dead were never
recovered... that's prolly why it stinks so much in the forest!" The soldier let out a laugh as he pinched his nose. Other soldiers laughed at the gesture.
Huan looked at Lorentz and Lorentz nodded and said, "Doctor, I guess they have a good reason to keep the wounded in enemy territory. The rainy weather plus unburied corpses... the perfect recipe for an epidemic." Huan nodded, "yes, indeed." Lorentz did not see the subtle glimmer that shined within Huan's eyes as he uttered those words of confirmation.
----------------------------
After a while, the party came upon a crude camp surrounded by a newly erected fence. Even from far away, the grayness of the scenery made the camp a nauseating visage. As they got closer, the path turned increasingly muddy and difficult to traverse.
"Doctor, this way." A tall soldier beckoned Huan to a "path" through the brushes. Lorentz and the other soldiers followed.
The "path," which was nothing but a semi-traversable swamp, snaked its way towards the camp, the smell of carrion getting ever stronger as they progressed. "I'm getting a bit queasy, Doctor," Lorentz said in protest. Huan smiled and silently gave Lorentz an "antidote" vial.
"Why, thanks doctor." Lorentz took the vial and pulled out the cork--the popping sound echoed through the forest. The soldiers were alarmed with the sudden, "pop," and looked around.
A sound of leaves rustling was heard from not so far away, and the sound suddenly got louder as "something" got closer.
"Monotaurs!" A soldier towards the back yelled. Huan looked back and saw taurean humanoids rush towards the soldiers. Huan looked at them in interest, but Lorentz screamed at his face, "We must get out of here! We don't encounter monsters like these around Muse!" Lorentz let out a whimpish scream as he beckoned Huan to run.
The soldiers were well trained and were holding up quite well--
Huan heeded Lorentz's warning, and ran away with Lorentz. He ran frantically inside the forest, but his body was unaccustomed to vigorous physical activity.
"Wait Huan, I can't run any further." Lorentz gave up sooner than Huan. "You are already tired? How could we..." Huan suddenly felt something odd under his feet--something too hard to be mud, yet too supple to be hard earth. Huan knew this feeling, and as he looked down, he saw a rotting corpse--he was stepping on its arm. Huan was not surprised, Lorentz said, "this is a stinker!" Showing no surprise as he proceeded closer to look at the dead body.
"Looks pretty old, good doctor, two months perhaps?" Lorentz said in an eerily cheerful tone.
"Well, the decomposition seems to point to that, but..." Huan stopped mid-way as he lifted his feet from the corpse's arm and proceeded break a slender branch off a small tree. He then started using the stick to poke at the corpse.
"Well well... this sure is strange. Internally "it" is good as new. It seems like "it" has been infected with a rare disease of some sort that speeds up superficial decomposition.
Lorentz evoked an expression of concern on his face, "is it contagious?"
"Yeah, I think so." Huan replied carelessly.
"Then lets get the HELL out of here doctor!" Lorentz let out a whispered scream.
"Wait wait, Master Lorentz, I have never seen this before... let me just take... a closer... look," Huan said while busily poking around with his stick. Suddenly the stick snapped when Huan put too much force into it, sending a piece of flesh flying towards Lorentz.
"Ack! You got it on my robe! Now I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!" Lorentz screamed loudly in a high voice.
Huan silently brought his index finger to his lips and said, "Shhhh, I'm about to figure something out here, could you please be quiet."
Lorentz just shook his head and sighed, and as he lowered his gaze, something stared right back at him.
"Whhwhwhwhwwhaaaaat!!??" Lorentz cowered back and tripped as he let out
another cry. "Something's there! In the mud!"
"Another dead body? Hmm, lets see." Huan abandoned the now dissected body and proceeded towards where Lorentz was.
".... Help.... Me...." a weak voice was heard from the mud.
Huan saw that a mound of mud was sticking out from a puddle that vaguely resembled a human head. Huan looked closer and said, "anyone there?"
".... Yes.... Help...." The "head" moved slightly as if trying to nod.
Huan beckoned Lorentz to come closer. "We have a survivor here deep in the mud. Come, help me get him out!"
Lorentz grudgingly stood up and dragged himself to the mud patch, he then said, "Okay Huan, I guess this is what we are supposed to do anyways, right?"
Huan nodded, and the two started to pull the body out of the mud. The body was a boy, but he showed the same symptom as the dead body nearby, and he was covered with festering scabs.
Lorentz used his water rune on the boy, but nothing happened. "I think my rune has no effect on maladies of this nature, good doctor."
"Okay then, I will try using this..." Huan started to take the bandage off of his right hand, revealing his unhealing hand and the Plague Rune. He brought the palm of his hand to the boy's forehead and started to concentrate as he chanted arcane words, "Quod de domino ad dominum movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto..."
Suddenly, green light erupted from Huan's left hand, slowly inching towards the boy like an army of worms marching towards carrion. The green tendrils of light circled around the boy and slowly enveloped him, and eventually the boy was completely covered with green light.
Huan continued with his incantations--"Quod de domino ad dominum movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto..."
Lorentz watched at the side with his eyes wide-open, "This is most
extraordinary! My skill on 'Melding' has reached such heights!" Lorentz made a crooked grin, green light reflecting upon his unnatural facial expression.
The green light slowly started to pale, turning white, and then
transparent--gradually revealing the boy's body. Finally, the light
disappeared completely, and another spot on Huan's Plague Rune turned white.
The boy laid on the ground, with all of his scabs gone, he remained
unconscious. Huan saw that there was visually nothing wrong with the boy any longer. Lorentz said with a chuckle, "So Huan, you've turned into a miracle worker! Perhaps you could start your own religion now?"
Huan replied, "Okay, lets take the boy to Muse."
"But what about the camp?" Lorentz asked.
"I got a specimen here," Huan lifted his left hand, "and I want to take a look at this boy to see if the rune was truly effective."
"But the camp? Lady Annabelle's request?" Lorentz said in a sarcastic tone.
Huan looked at Lorentz with a blank stare, "It's probably no use, I have no idea what this disease is, and I imagine the people in the camp have the same disease. It will be better to take a look at this disease closely first--in my laboratory..."
Huan carried the boy and left with Lorentz. The rain stopped, and the journey back was quite uneventful. Huan wondered what happened to those soldiers, but the thought passed soon.
----------------
Huan was back at his clinic, writing in his diary. The boy was unconscious and lying on a bed in the clinic.
"Found new disease. I feel great joy in this new discovery. Took a specimen with my rune and a specimen that seems to have been cured. Plan to experiment with both specimens at a later date. Met with Lady Annabelle, congratulated for saving boy, and given 2 million potch to find cure for disease..."
Huan closed the book, locked it, and retired to his bedroom.
"I wonder why Lady Annabelle wished us to inspect the battlefield?" Lorentz asked. Huan smiled, saying "Lady Annabelle has informed me that she wishes us to tend to the wounded soldiers who were involved in a recent skirmish somewhere near Kyaro." Huan looked at Lorentz; "She obviously had you in mind due to your reputation with your Water Rune?"
Lorentz nodded, "And naturally so... even Grand Master Zenith can not use the flowing rune with the skill that I possess!"
The party arrived at the border gate.
"Where are the wounded kept?" Lorentz asked to the escort soldiers.
A soldier replied loudly so he could be heard in the downpour, "They are all sheltered in a camp about a mile north from here!"
Lorentz muttered, "...why set up camp in enemy territory..." but none of the soldiers heard him in the roaring rainfall.
Huan also thought that it was strange how Muse is setting up a medic camp inside Highland territory, but he wasn't concerned with where troops should be located. "Let's go then," he said.
After the party walked into a forest path for a while, Huan sensed the smell of decaying flesh. "Were the casualties buried?" Huan asked one of the soldiers.
"The skirmish took place in the forest, some of the dead were never
recovered... that's prolly why it stinks so much in the forest!" The soldier let out a laugh as he pinched his nose. Other soldiers laughed at the gesture.
Huan looked at Lorentz and Lorentz nodded and said, "Doctor, I guess they have a good reason to keep the wounded in enemy territory. The rainy weather plus unburied corpses... the perfect recipe for an epidemic." Huan nodded, "yes, indeed." Lorentz did not see the subtle glimmer that shined within Huan's eyes as he uttered those words of confirmation.
----------------------------
After a while, the party came upon a crude camp surrounded by a newly erected fence. Even from far away, the grayness of the scenery made the camp a nauseating visage. As they got closer, the path turned increasingly muddy and difficult to traverse.
"Doctor, this way." A tall soldier beckoned Huan to a "path" through the brushes. Lorentz and the other soldiers followed.
The "path," which was nothing but a semi-traversable swamp, snaked its way towards the camp, the smell of carrion getting ever stronger as they progressed. "I'm getting a bit queasy, Doctor," Lorentz said in protest. Huan smiled and silently gave Lorentz an "antidote" vial.
"Why, thanks doctor." Lorentz took the vial and pulled out the cork--the popping sound echoed through the forest. The soldiers were alarmed with the sudden, "pop," and looked around.
A sound of leaves rustling was heard from not so far away, and the sound suddenly got louder as "something" got closer.
"Monotaurs!" A soldier towards the back yelled. Huan looked back and saw taurean humanoids rush towards the soldiers. Huan looked at them in interest, but Lorentz screamed at his face, "We must get out of here! We don't encounter monsters like these around Muse!" Lorentz let out a whimpish scream as he beckoned Huan to run.
The soldiers were well trained and were holding up quite well--
Huan heeded Lorentz's warning, and ran away with Lorentz. He ran frantically inside the forest, but his body was unaccustomed to vigorous physical activity.
"Wait Huan, I can't run any further." Lorentz gave up sooner than Huan. "You are already tired? How could we..." Huan suddenly felt something odd under his feet--something too hard to be mud, yet too supple to be hard earth. Huan knew this feeling, and as he looked down, he saw a rotting corpse--he was stepping on its arm. Huan was not surprised, Lorentz said, "this is a stinker!" Showing no surprise as he proceeded closer to look at the dead body.
"Looks pretty old, good doctor, two months perhaps?" Lorentz said in an eerily cheerful tone.
"Well, the decomposition seems to point to that, but..." Huan stopped mid-way as he lifted his feet from the corpse's arm and proceeded break a slender branch off a small tree. He then started using the stick to poke at the corpse.
"Well well... this sure is strange. Internally "it" is good as new. It seems like "it" has been infected with a rare disease of some sort that speeds up superficial decomposition.
Lorentz evoked an expression of concern on his face, "is it contagious?"
"Yeah, I think so." Huan replied carelessly.
"Then lets get the HELL out of here doctor!" Lorentz let out a whispered scream.
"Wait wait, Master Lorentz, I have never seen this before... let me just take... a closer... look," Huan said while busily poking around with his stick. Suddenly the stick snapped when Huan put too much force into it, sending a piece of flesh flying towards Lorentz.
"Ack! You got it on my robe! Now I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!" Lorentz screamed loudly in a high voice.
Huan silently brought his index finger to his lips and said, "Shhhh, I'm about to figure something out here, could you please be quiet."
Lorentz just shook his head and sighed, and as he lowered his gaze, something stared right back at him.
"Whhwhwhwhwwhaaaaat!!??" Lorentz cowered back and tripped as he let out
another cry. "Something's there! In the mud!"
"Another dead body? Hmm, lets see." Huan abandoned the now dissected body and proceeded towards where Lorentz was.
".... Help.... Me...." a weak voice was heard from the mud.
Huan saw that a mound of mud was sticking out from a puddle that vaguely resembled a human head. Huan looked closer and said, "anyone there?"
".... Yes.... Help...." The "head" moved slightly as if trying to nod.
Huan beckoned Lorentz to come closer. "We have a survivor here deep in the mud. Come, help me get him out!"
Lorentz grudgingly stood up and dragged himself to the mud patch, he then said, "Okay Huan, I guess this is what we are supposed to do anyways, right?"
Huan nodded, and the two started to pull the body out of the mud. The body was a boy, but he showed the same symptom as the dead body nearby, and he was covered with festering scabs.
Lorentz used his water rune on the boy, but nothing happened. "I think my rune has no effect on maladies of this nature, good doctor."
"Okay then, I will try using this..." Huan started to take the bandage off of his right hand, revealing his unhealing hand and the Plague Rune. He brought the palm of his hand to the boy's forehead and started to concentrate as he chanted arcane words, "Quod de domino ad dominum movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto..."
Suddenly, green light erupted from Huan's left hand, slowly inching towards the boy like an army of worms marching towards carrion. The green tendrils of light circled around the boy and slowly enveloped him, and eventually the boy was completely covered with green light.
Huan continued with his incantations--"Quod de domino ad dominum movetur, in cuius initio sit miseria cum aceto..."
Lorentz watched at the side with his eyes wide-open, "This is most
extraordinary! My skill on 'Melding' has reached such heights!" Lorentz made a crooked grin, green light reflecting upon his unnatural facial expression.
The green light slowly started to pale, turning white, and then
transparent--gradually revealing the boy's body. Finally, the light
disappeared completely, and another spot on Huan's Plague Rune turned white.
The boy laid on the ground, with all of his scabs gone, he remained
unconscious. Huan saw that there was visually nothing wrong with the boy any longer. Lorentz said with a chuckle, "So Huan, you've turned into a miracle worker! Perhaps you could start your own religion now?"
Huan replied, "Okay, lets take the boy to Muse."
"But what about the camp?" Lorentz asked.
"I got a specimen here," Huan lifted his left hand, "and I want to take a look at this boy to see if the rune was truly effective."
"But the camp? Lady Annabelle's request?" Lorentz said in a sarcastic tone.
Huan looked at Lorentz with a blank stare, "It's probably no use, I have no idea what this disease is, and I imagine the people in the camp have the same disease. It will be better to take a look at this disease closely first--in my laboratory..."
Huan carried the boy and left with Lorentz. The rain stopped, and the journey back was quite uneventful. Huan wondered what happened to those soldiers, but the thought passed soon.
----------------
Huan was back at his clinic, writing in his diary. The boy was unconscious and lying on a bed in the clinic.
"Found new disease. I feel great joy in this new discovery. Took a specimen with my rune and a specimen that seems to have been cured. Plan to experiment with both specimens at a later date. Met with Lady Annabelle, congratulated for saving boy, and given 2 million potch to find cure for disease..."
Huan closed the book, locked it, and retired to his bedroom.