Charlie: …umm, not much to say here…just keep reading.

Erk: You're forgetting something.

Charlie: OH RIGHT… yeah, people die in this fic. I kill off some of my favorite characters too…so yeah… sorry if this upsets you, but I don't want flames reading "OHNOES YOU KILLED HIM/HER! I WILL KILLS YOU NOW BECAUSE HE/SHE WAS THE AWESOMEST!" You send me that…and I'll just ignore you…or mock you…or mock you then ignore you. Anyways, enjoy the second chapter. I don't own FE…remember that..don't sue me.


The Khathlati Strain

Chapter 1: Apathy to Terror

Word of the Khathlati Strain spread slowly. General interest in the disease was rather subdued. In short, very few Lycians cared, and the ones who did expressed concern over the spread of the disease rather than the welfare of the Khathlatis. Despite pleas for medicine and healers, many provinces turned a blind eye towards the plight of the plague struck town. The ones who responded did so slowly, reluctantly.

Khathelet has always been seen as the oddball of the Lycian League since the start of the Scientific Revolution, which stands to reason. Though all of Lycia had devloped scientifically… all the other provinces made findings and entered fields that did not interfere with the teaching of St. Elimine. Religion riddled theories and findings. Though this provided quite a few errors in science, people were happy. Progress with religion, everybody wins!.

Khathelet however, had other ideas. Ever since entering the field of biology, the city was shunned by the religious clerics and monks of the Eliminian Faith. Khathelet was cast out as the bad apple of the league. The rebel town, a maverick… the city was branded as the city of heretics. Basically, it was a scientist's Mecca.

Religious regulations on research was very loose in Khathelet. People no longer accepted St. Elimine's teaching. Creation theory was invalid…everything was invalid. People began searching for definite answers to definite questions that were previously answered with indifinite answers. Khathelet was disobeying God. In a sense, Khathelet was becoming God.

Thus many people of Lycia saw Khathelet's plague as punishment from St. Elimine and the Almighty for their heresy. The other Lycians showed little sympathy…thinking that the plague was just Khathelet's fault. A plague sent by god to wipe out the defiled.

Then… it happened, and the real story…the real struggle to save humanity... began.


The Khathlati Minister of Science was not happy. He glared at the group of people assembled before him. With each breath he took, his anger grew.

"…Where…the hell are the papers!" He said in a dangerously quiet tone. He knew he had to be discrete.

The Minister was in a meeting chamber with representatives of the Khathlati Biomedical Institue, where the original bacterium had been created. On his desk was a mess of papers, work records, purge records, payrolls. But apperently the piece of paper the minister wanted was not on there.

"Sir…" One of the scientists squeaked. "That's everything we have. It's all there."

The ministered turned towards the unfortunate soul. "You know DAMN well that this CRAP is not complete!" he roared, losing his patience. "The HELL happened! NONE OF THE DATA MATCHES!"

The scientists shuddered at the anger of the minister, but they knew he was rightfully angered. The Khathlati strain had ravaged the city for three months now, and yet no records of how it could've gotten out surfaced. Now, even the information of the original research team was incomplete and missing. Things were getting out of control.

The Minister of Science glared out at the mass of scientists. "I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but if you haven't noticed…PEOPLE are DYING here of something your institution apperently CREATED. Now if you haven't already noticed yet, the followers of St. Elimine were already on our backs…if this gets out, we're toast. You got it! I want a corrected set of information and I want it ASAP! NOW GET OUT!"

The scientists didn't need more encouraging. They scampered out as quickly as they can, most with the intention of leaving the plague ridden city.

After everyone bolted, the Minister sat down behind his desk, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He looked down at the mismatched information….none of it made sense to him.

'What the hell are they trying to pull?'

He had in front of him two sets of information. One set for purge information on the bacterium that was ordered by the Marquess, the other was a research profile outlining purpose and members of the research team. That's where things got confusing.

According to the purge data, 40 canisters were incinerated accounting for 100 percent of all existing cultures. However, the research data insisted only 30 canisters were ever created. To make matters worse, the research profiles were sloppy and disorganized. It didn't match payroll information. The research profiles had three members listed

Research Team Members – Field of Study
Dr. Christopher J. Liang – Microbiologist
Dr. Jessica H. Nam – Ecologist
Dr. Patric Pan – Ecologist

However the payroll information regarding the Khathlati Bacterium had an extra name…
Dr. Tarlon C. Woo – Biochemist/Geneticist

Not only did the extra name confuse the minister, but the field of study of this extra name was odd. The Minister did not recall anything in the experiment requiring the need of a biochemist or a geneticist. In fact, both fields were completely new to Elibe. The information avaliable to either fields were so limited that it was basically obsolete. And hell, he did not even recall this particular doctor working at the KBI Research Department.

The minister sank into his chair. The information was corrupted…someone had got to one or the other. In his heart, the minister hoped someone had added a name to the payroll…but in his mind there was no doubt someone erased the records of Dr. Woo's involvement in the Bacterium Project. Somehow, things were becoming clearer to him… if his assumptions were correct…someone screwed up, and accidentally released the bacterium into the environment, and was not trying to cover up his or her tracks… or at least he hoped it was accidental.

While he was deep in thought, a secretary entered his room.

"Sir?"

He looked up. "What is it?"

"The administrators at the Biomedical Institution sent an updated payroll check." She said coming in with another stack of papers. "They claim that this was complete and that no errors were possible."

The minister nearly choked when he heard that. "Hah…that'll be the day." he scoffed.

The secretary placed the new records on his desk and left the room, closing the door behind her quietly.

The minister wondered if the record was even worth looking at, but he decided that he had to. He hated his job sometimes. Pulling the sheet towards the light, he flipped through the sheet. Looking down he found the research team section. He looked and sighed. Dr. Wu was not on this rollsheet. The minister felt as if a weight was lifted. There was no fourth man on the research team. He laughed at his own paranoia. There was no cover up. Just some stupid kid playing around with the payroll. Now he just had to deal with a disease rather than a madman. Then, as he flipped through the rollsheet, he saw something that made his heart stop. At the end of the sheet, was the name:
Dr. Tarlon C. Woo – Physicist/Research Consultant
Current Research Project: Bacterium Agriculture Integration.

This time, he was a physicist. The minister's joy evaporated. Not only that, this man was the consultant for the Bacterium Project. Once again he was thrown into a quandary. This time, he had no choice. After a while, the minister pulled out records of the renegade doctor from the ministry files. The records were clear this time. The minister memorized the scientist's adress, and sent for the militia.

Miles away, a caravan set off for Ostia…


That night, the citizens of Northern Khathelet were disturbed. However, instead of another death, the culprit of this disquieting event was the Khathelet Militia. The disturbance happened quickly though. Militiamen stormed the house of a prominent physicist with muskets. At midnight, a terrified scientist was dragged out of his house.

The next morning…Dr. Tarlon C. Woo, Junior Physicist of the Khathelet Biomedical Institution was convicted with obstruction of justice and the creation and release of a disease that could bring about the end of humanity.

He was executed that afternoon.


Two days later, a report reached Lord Hector of Ostia.

Lord Raymond of House Cornwall was reported dead in Araphen. His body showed signs of malnutricion. Upon further diagnosis, his body seemed to have decomposed itself. Final Diagnosis, Lord Raymond had died of a unusually rapid state of starvation. Because of recent fears of the Khathlati Bacterium, his body has been cremented and his personal effects burned. All persons who had come in contact with his body is now under quarantine. Because of fast action, no infections are expected.

Hector read the report. Then he looked up at the people present in his court.

"…St. Elimine help us all…" he prayed. "The bloody disease is spreading."


Charlie: Yep…so what's gonna happen next? Well, I guess you'll have to wait and find out eh? Again, pls leave a review. I know these chapters are a bit short…but I don't want to like kill you with too much stuff right now. It'll probably get longer later.