Chapter Fifteen: The Plague of the Edgelands
After assisting Tercero with returning the girl's body to her family the group all returned to the Sanctuary where they all approached the map table with the two new additions to the group that was slowly starting to expand.
Glancing over at the hooded figure with his arms crossed in the corner Kyler pointed with his thumb and turned to Seth, "Who the shy stiff with the hood?"
"Pendejo," Tercero said rolling his eyes. (Pendejo = asshole)
"What did you call me?!" Kyler growled hearing Gabriel clap his hands.
"Enough, gentlemen we have something I want you all to look into," Gabriel spoke pointing to the Edgelands, "have you heard the rumors that have been happening north of Albion?"
"I have, the whole area been quarantined, no one can figure out why but all that the news can say is that a very contagious illness is spreading and the government is 'doing everything in their power' to combat this," Seth spoke knowing well Tirich has done nothing to help the people there.
"I fear something horrible is happening, whatever it is I can not see anything in my sight about what happening, but I do know one of the next allies we need is up there and possibly in danger," Gabriel spoke pointing to the card where a hand was mixing ingredient in a mortar, "the Alchemist."
"Wait you can't see the future in that area? Would we be in danger if we went?" Seth asked eyeing that area of the map.
"Had it been you and Connor before I'd be worried, but now that we have Roscoe, Kyler, and Tercero I am confident you will be fine, go, find out what is happening and see what you can do to help the people there," Gabriel spoke.
"I'll message Friday, perhaps he got some information that the media can't leak to the public, I'd rather go in prepared than stumble around in the dark like an idiot," Seth spoke typing to their hacker.
"Alright gentlemen, let's go," Connor spoke touching the map and teleporting there followed by the others.
Appearing at Honeyholm Farms the group gasped at the sight before them, what was once a lush green forest filled with life had become a wasteland, it was as if life in the very soil of the land had been sucked out.
"Ay dios mío, what happened here?!" Tercero asked shocked at the state of some of the Edgeland seeing the forests of Thorndeep in the distances were safe, protected by whatever magic lurked in the roots of the trees. (Ay dios mío = Oh my god)
Kneeling Kyler grab a hand full of the soil watching it crumble and become ash blowing away in the breeze, "The land itself is dead, I've seen pictures of this farm before, full of life, successfully farming Honey from bees and Stingers."
"Seth any reply from Friday?" Connor asked approaching the farm when he noticed something odd.
"It mostly reports, talking about a serious outbreak, the citizens urged to stay indoors, even some of the video and photos are vague, but that makes no sense, a virus can't spread into the land itself, can it?" Seth asked seeing Connor hop a fence and followed after with the other.
Reaching the honey farm the group stared in horror, the hives that once safely housed the bees were in ruins, the larger hive that the Stingers were kept in was destroyed and the bodies of torn-apart Stingers lay all over.
Sniffing one of the Stingers Roscoe growled shaking his head, "UGH! Guys something seriously wrong here, these Stingers were devoured by something, something foul."
"I do not like this, I can sense the land itself is dolor, in pain, like something is trying to kill it," Tercero spoke approaching the farmhouse noticing all the doors and windows boarded up with white x paint on the front door.
"I don't like this," Kyler spoke looking to the field and saw half-eaten remains of cattle and noticed in the middle of the field was a large mound, like something had burst from the earth itself.
Approaching the hole Connor almost gagged when a smell coming from the hole violated his senses, "Oh bloody hell! What is that awful stence?!"
With his face mask on Tercero approached kneeling to the hole and used his knife to scrap a black substance that appeared to line the wall of the tunnel they stood above, using his Eagle Sense, and gasped quickly stumbling back to get as far from the hole.
"What's wrong Tercero?" Connor asked looking cautiously at the ominous hole.
"I have never sensed something so...dark...this place, something evil is lurking beneath the soil, trying to consume the very life around it," Tercero warned narrowing his eyes.
"I sense it too," Connor shivered, "we need to find out what happened, let get to Fairwheel surely someone in that town knows what happened."
Leading the way Connor led the group through the destruction of the lands searching for a clue as to what was behind this attack till they reached the town of Fairwheel which was just Poppywheel Farm.
Seeing many buildings boarded up they approached a hospital where the group found an empty hospital.
"Hello?" Kyler hollered hearing his voice echo through the town.
Using his Eagle Sense Tercero looked around seeing through the walls of the building to see all the people were hiding themselves away in their homes, "they're afraid, they hide from something."
Hearing coughing the group walked down the hall where an odd scent hit their noses, peering into a room, a woman with a red hair wrap tied around her head was quickly moving while a child in the bed began to shake violently.
"Oh, Bobbie! Please do something!" the child's mother pleaded watching the woman open a large box pulling out a thin needle and digging it in a clear substance.
"Hold him still!" the woman spoke rushing over as the mother held the child down to allow the mysterious woman to prick the child in the neck with the needle and step back watching the kid's rapid breathing slow down.
"Oh, thank you, doctor," the mother sighed in relief kissing her child's hand.
"I am not a doctor ma'am, just a humble Alchemist," the woman spoke removing her gloves and checking her stalk of supplies, "we are running out of time."
"What did you do?" Kyler asked catching the woman's attention.
"Oh, on no your four aren't sick too, are you?" the woman wearing Auroran clothing asked removing her face mask to reveal blue markings on her face.
"No, we were, never mind the reason, what happened here? What is making all these people sick?" Connor asked seeing the woman sigh.
"It's a long story, you four aren't dressed like the locals, adventurers?" she asked seeing Seth glance at the others who shrugged.
"Uh sure, you could say that, we had heard about the miraculous Honeyholm Farm honeys and wanted to pick up some but...everything was destroyed," Connor explained.
"Seems we all came for the same reason, my name is Jaya, and you could probably tell I'm from Aurora, under my master's teaching I learned the art that is Alchemy, however I wanted to explore and gather more exotic alchemical ingredients to better improve my skills as a proper healer," Jaya explained picking up possibly the last two jars of honey.
Approaching the child's bed Roscoe whined hating to see a child so sick then noticed a bite on the child's hand, it was small but it looked badly infected and oozing a black ooze, sniffing his eyes wide, "uh bark! Bark! Bark!"
Looking over Tercero approached watching Roscoe point his nose at the child's hand and noticed the bite with the black ooze, "it's the same."
"Pardon?" Jaya asked approaching and noticing what they were looking at, "Oh yes, that was the cause of all of this, THEY are the cause."
"What 'they' are you talking about?" Kyler asked peeking down the hall and noticing every room was filled with sick patients.
"To be honest I don't even know what they are all I know is that they only come at night, that how it starts, it started with a bite, as you can see with poor Bobbie here it attacks the body defenses, like it wasting him away," Jaya explained going to her alchemy set up and began to pick up papers with crossed out ingredient, "I've been trying everything when the doctors got sick too, normal medicines were not working! So, I concluded this sickness has dark magic keeping it at bay."
"Dark magic huh?" Connor repeated narrowing his eyes took a seat next to the child's bed and looked at his gauntlet, "I wonder?"
Watching the others witness Connor carefully taking the child's hand, where the infection first attacked, and hovering his hand over the wound, closing his eyes to perform the healing spell, the green light healing the wound and making the child moan as they watched black ooze try to escape the wound and drip onto the bed.
"By the blood of my ancestors I banish you from this child's body," Connor spoke still concentrating till the last of the sickness escaped and the child's pale skin began to brighten again.
"All of that was inside the child?" Kyler asked watching the ooze puddle then wondered about something Gabriel had told him about the enemies they face the Corruption they would witness for themselves that the seer spoke of, "Connor, use the Light Spell."
Confused Connor looked at the puddle and held his hand over it, forming a ball of light that made the puddle hiss and burn away in the light, "is this?"
"Corruption," Jaya spoke getting the other's attention and seeing her stare in horror, covering her mouth with her hand "The elders told us stories of the dark times, the Corruption the Crawler and Corrupter spread across our lands, how it almost consumed us, what in the world is it doing here now?!"
"Shit, that means one of the five must be here!" Kyler growled looking down the hall of the patients, "Connor you are the only one who can heal them, get to healing them, Seth update Gabriel about what's happened."
"Right," Seth growled pulling out his seal and leaving the room while Connor headed to the other rooms with Roscoe following.
"Wait hold on! This isn't how the Corruption is supposed to work," Jaya spoke following Kyler and Tercero out into the hall.
"What do you mean, señorita?" Tercero asked crossing his arms and leaning on the wall. (señorita = miss)
"The Auroran people pride themselves on NEVER forgetting those dark times so that they could never repeat, Corruption is supposed to take over the body, no poison it hosts, and behave like a virus, I do believe this is Corruption but I think this Corruption has been meddled with by humans, a witch to be exact!" Jaya spoke with narrowed eyes showing her notes on the behavior of the virus.
"A witch?" Kyler spoke looking at the mix of doctor notes and some from Jaya's observations, "What happened to patient zero?"
"The morgue below," Jaya spoke seeing a beam of light appear and Gabriel appeared to see for himself what had happened.
"She right, the Sins aren't present here, this is their Corruption but what I sense is that it been...tampered with," Gabriel spoke seeing Connor and Seth approach, "I want you to follow Jaya to the morgue, I will remain up here and heal the sick."
"Shouldn't I help?" Connor asked seeing Gabriel head down the hall and peering over to them.
"All of you need to see for yourself what I saw down there," Gabriel spoke in an ominous tone.
"What just happened? What does he mean?" Jaya asked confused about how Gabriel appeared and what he meant.
"Jaya, how many have died from this illness?" Seth asked looking at the girl.
Leading the group down the stairs Jaya pulled out keys she took when she became the default doctor after others got sick, "at first we could slow the progression of the virus when I discovered that Stinger venom in a concentrated dose can slow its progression, however, more grew sick, more died, this was a small town of roughly a thousand? The bodies kept pilling up, I suspect the count is hundreds."
Approaching the freezes Jaya reached for the handle but stopped when she noticed the black-like Corruption leaking out from under the door.
"Oh, that can't be good," Kyler growled not liking this.
Putting her key in Jaya pulled on the handle and realized it was stuck and tried to pull again, stepping back when Kyler took it and with a powerful yank ripped the door open letting a trapped bubble of fumes escape the room and hit the group.
"OH!" Seth groaned coughing with the others who stumbled back getting slightly dizzy and all gagging, "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?!"
Covering her mouth in horror Jaya pointed into the room where the others all looked on in horror to see.
Inside what was once a walk-in freezer to keep the bodies chilled till they could be relocated to be buried was now a large tunnel.
Covering the walls were black-like substances that covered all that they could, among the black and red sludge human remains bloody and down the skeleton were formed into the strange substance.
"Oh god the smell! It's burning my throat," Kyler groaned watching Connor approach and watching some of the slime drip down from the ceiling.
"It's human remains...something made a bloody nest out of all the bodies here!" Connor spoke in horror seeing the dark tunnel that led underground, "Whatever down there going to get into the hospital! Kyler, Tercero, can you two help Gabriel and evacuate the town?"
"Leave it to us!" Kyler spoke running upstairs.
"I know where to take them! What is the plan?" Tercero asked watching Connor draw his sword.
"I am going to guess the source of this sickness, the creatures behind this mess, all of it, is down in those tunnels," Connor spoke seeing Roscoe stare up in horror.
"You wanna go down there?!" Roscoe asked seeing the determination in Connor's eyes, "I hate that your right! The only way to stop this is to take out the witch!"
"I'm coming too!" Jaya spoke spinning a duel-bladed spear from her back, "it's too dangerous to go alone."
"Ok, Tercero, close this door behind us, do not let ANYONE in here," Connor spoke watching the other nod.
Once the door closed Connor held up a ball of light to lead the way down the tunnel deep underground all while trying to avoid touching the walls.
"It odd," Seth spoke with his sword drawn and had a hand covering his nose.
"What odd?" Jaya asked with her weapon in hand and seemed to clutch something in her other hand wrapped in leather.
"All the remains we have seen used for these tunnels are humans, we've seen dead animals and bugs alike but why not use those for the nest too? Why targe humans?" Seth asked looking to Roscoe who growled.
"Because man can easily be Corrupted," Roscoe spoke looking up to Jaya, "you seemed calm about me talking."
"I will confess I was surprised but after what I've seen today, I don't think anything will surprise me anymore, this will plague my nightmares for a long time," Jaya spoke seeing a light in the distance.
Crawling out of the slime-covered tunnel Connor and the others found themselves in ruins of some sort that were deep underground, untouched by what caused the tunnels they could see many more tunnels and some stairs leading deeper into the tomb.
Looking around Jaya saw on the walls and lit by the candles around them were murals of witches, rituals, and symbols all over, "this is a coven!"
"Or it was," Seth spoke looking at the murals, "It looks like this was their home, they performed many rituals here until each witch was burned one by one until..."
"Until what?" Connor asked seeing him stop at a mural of a blonde-haired woman in a purple dress being decapitated and her limbs separated.
"Till they were no more, looks like the witch hunters missed one, whoever she is unleased something," Seth spoke looking around till he saw what looked to be written in blood on the floor the words, "Corrupted Plague?"
Hearing a rumble a gust of wind blew out all the candles in the room and the heroes all turned to the stairs where a swarm of black rats with glowing red eyes began to charge toward them squeaking and hissing.
"WHOA!" Connor yelled forming a light and holding the rats at bay forming up with the others seeing the rats circle and avoiding coming into the light, "Stay close to me!"
"They're so many of them!" Seth yelled seeing the rats were partially covered in black corruption deforming the rats into monstrous forms.
"STAY BACK!" Jaya yelled throwing the leather ball and creating a ball of fire where it hit on a nearby floor scaring the rats from the spot.
"What was that?" Seth asked shielding his eyes from the bright light.
"We alchemists call that 'Luminosa' a brilliant combination of crushed Everblaze, alcohol, and sulfur all wrapped in a leather bundle ready to be thrown," Jaya spoke narrowing her eyes and pulling out another leather bundle, "I had thought it was a bug causing the bites but rats?! It is a nightmare!"
"We're trapped!" Roscoe growled trying to look for an escape but all looked up when a large fist smashed through the roof letting light in.
"Found them!" Kyler yelled punching and making the hole deeper seeing all the rats below, "bloody fucking hell! It's rats?!"
"Apresúrate! Get them out!" Tercero yelled looking down to see Connor using his light to hold the rats at bay. (Apresúrate = Hurry up!)
"Ladies first!" Seth spoke putting his hands together and gave Jaya a boost and lifted her to Kyler who took her hand and pulled her out.
"I have a plan! Keep them focused on you!" Jaya spoke digging through her bag and began to mix several ingredients.
"Ok, Roscoe you're next!" Seth spoke lifting the dog with a grunt and handed him to Kyler who grabbed him by his scruff and pulled him out.
"Got it! Here! Take these and try and spread it all over the room!" Jaya spoke handing Tercero several vials filled with a black liquid.
"Qué es esto?" Tercero asked watching her making more vials. (Qué es esto = What is this)
"Tar, very flammable, we are going to burn all those little bastards alive!" Jaya glared.
"Yeah, baby! I can get behind that plan!" Kyler grinned holding out a hand, "Come on Seth! Your next!"
"No, we need to spread the tar! Jaya toss me some!" Seth spoke watching her wrap five in a leather bundle and toss them down.
Catching them Seth unwrapped some then proceeded to pull off the cork and began to splash the tar across the room, throwing the glass vials and shattering them against the entrances to the witch's tomb.
"We're running out of time! Let's go!" Kyler yelled watching Seth jump up and take his hand quickly lifting him out and looking to Connor who used his light to keep the rats at bay and used his free hand to form Inferno.
"Oh, my count you guys get ready to BOOK IT!" Connor warned looking for an opening before chucking the fireball and jumped-up taking Kyler's hand, "NOW!"
Quickly yanking Connor out, the group quickly ran from the hole that shot up flames the ceiling coming down in a burst of flames showing the rats below screeching and thrashing around as they were all burned to death.
Panting Seth cried out seeing a rat with its jaws around his thumb and quickly ripped it off throwing it to the ground before smashing it under her boot several times.
"Little shit!" Seth yelled stomping again before looking to Connor when his vision began to blur, "whoa..."
"Seth?" Connor spoke with his voice starting to distort and run towards Seth when the other began to fall over, "SETH!"
A.N. I believe this is the first chapter where we get to meet one of the heroes I cut from the OG story! Curious about what Jaya looks like? Head over to my Newground page, there you will see the full illustration of the old and new heroes!