Shallow Love

NATHAN

The night air in Reagis' capital truly is crisp and fresh. The plague was spreading but it wouldn't touch the royal palace just yet. If the god of misfortune decided to intervene, it would be a different case entirely.

"Samuel," I called out. He landed on my raised arm, giving his report.

"I found the source of the energy and tried to investigate it. However, it is sealed with his holy power. I think you're the only one who can enter, my lord."

"How convenient. I am less interested in seeing him again, though."

I had the brief thought right then of bringing Winifred with me. However, it wasn't something I could do because I wanted to. She needed to conserve her energy to deal with the plague. It felt so strange that I was hesitating to go alone when I had no problems doing so in the past.

Perhaps I had grown too attached to her. It would be so hard to just leave whenever I wanted.

"Let's go, Samuel."

Teleporting was a minor thing since Samuel had already found the initial location. From the royal palace, we appeared in the midst of a burial ground. The pulse of power from my body and his holy power seemed to blend together perfectly, repelling even me. It was truly amusing.

The burial ground had a giant monolith and a familiar inscription on it. His name was carved on it and surprisingly, mine as well. Since it was written in a language so old, it had become obsolete, nobody could tell who was buried there.

"This is the royal burial grounds of the Reagis royal family."

"I gathered that. He's their ancestor? That makes more sense."

I reached for the monolith, tracing the names on it. They were carved so beautifully like they were made out of love. Such love that couldn't be fully expressed in the moments most critical was just...useless. He betrayed me when I would've given the world for him. I couldn't accept such shallow love.

My power responded to my emotion of fury, spreading to the monolith. It began cracking, spreading from the bottom to the top. The damage only spread on the surface and it stopped right at the peak. A portal began to form above the monolith, increasing the pulse of familiar energy. I just knew it was in there.

"Wait here for me, Samuel."

"Yes, my lord."

I took one leap up and was sucked into the portal. I saw it close behind me as I appeared on a vast lush green plain. The grass was vivid enough to tickle my ankles and there was nothing else in sight but green grass. Additionally, the pulse of energy that I got from the outside could no longer be felt. It was fishy.

"Look, I just want my body back. If I have to fight you for it, I won't hesitate."

{I won't give it to you}

Sure enough, it was his voice. It echoed in my mind, soft and ticklish. His defiance over what isn't his is still the same as before. I used to let him have his way but... no more.

"Give it back. Surely you're not under the delusion that it now belongs to you?"

{You left it to me. You left me, Nathan! You won't have it back!}

"Leave you? You went ahead to seal me with your friends. You abandoned me! You cast me away when all I did was love you! I would've sacrificed the world to keep you from being sealed away like I was. But, you chose the world over me. You chose that bastard god over me. You have no stake over my body!"

{I did this to save you. They would've killed you!}

"Dying was much better than what you did to me."

It didn't matter if my actions would erase the last of his consciousness lingering in the world. After languishing in that lonely darkness for so many years, I truly held nothing but hatred for him now. I forced out my magic and resonated with my body hidden somewhere in this mini-dimension.

"There's someone who wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice the world to protect those she loves. She...cares for me. She's so different from you yet your defiance is so similar. I'm sure if it were her, she would've chosen me over the world."

{Please Nathan. I can't...lose you again.}

"Nothing can ever be the same again."

WINIFRED

The Fefnir plague, named after the ancient kingdom of Fefnir, originated from a pathogen supposedly carried around in the breath of the god of misfortune. As someone who was more familiar with scientific definitions of plagues, I couldn't accept such an explanation.

But it truly was the cause. The god of misfortune used to be a human who was born to a great king but was cast down because of his hideous face when he was born. Yes, Inbreeding would do that to someone. So, he wandered the world as a beggar with insane luck, finding worldly treasures that eventually helped him ascend to godhood.

After his ascension, enraged by his father's decision to cast him away, he breathed on the ancient kingdom of Fefnir, and the Fefnir plague was born. The symptoms were the problem. It caused the infected parts of the body to turn to stone that bled black blood once cracked. If untreated, the infection would spread for a total of four months until the entire body was a stone statue and they would disintegrate.

What was truly insidious was that people didn't know if they were infected. It spread through air, touch, and liquid from the infected body, especially the black blood. The infection often started from inside the body and it is usually untreatable since the source could not be determined. In the past, they thought they would only have to cut off the infected limb but after cracking open someone who had only been infected for two days, they found that his entire heart had turned to stone. The plague was incurable.

"So, what did the Reagis Kingdom do to piss off the god of misfortune?" I asked in the carriage ride on its way to the quarantine area.

"According to the king, it was a botched assassination attempt. One of his enemies had found a fossilized heart from a former victim of the Fefnir plague and took it to study to see if they can extract the black blood that could be turned into poison. The assassin underestimated just how dangerous the black blood was and everyone involved in the experimentation quickly contracted the plague. It began to spread and the king had to declare a lockdown."

"Wow. How can one be so splendidly stupid?"

The prince chuckled. "Unfortunately, this time, you're right. It was truly a stupid move not to make proper countermeasures. Ordinary poison wouldn't have sufficed to kill a king because he has Oriel's blessings."

"That makes more sense. But if this plague can be spread through any means possible, then saving this kingdom might be impossible. I think we were sent here to die."

"Don't be so negative, my dear. So far, the royal family has not been infected because of Oriel's blessings. We will be safe from the plague for that reason."

Oriel's blessings? That seems lousy, considering the goddess was such an annoying being. I was sure this was connected to her somehow but it wasn't something I expressed out loud. At the very least, Bishop Matthew wouldn't be pleased.

The closer we got to the quarantine zone, the more concentrated the scent of rotten eggs became. I smelled it as soon as we were out of the palace's gates but it became worse as we traveled away from the palace. I could only cover my nose with the sleeve of my dress but it didn't help.

"Has the plague spread so widely that the hygiene of the capital city has deteriorated so much?"

"No, not really. All the victims have been contained and a lockdown order prevented the spread. The priests we sent ahead confirmed this. The streets are still being kept clean," Ferdinand replied.

"Well, why does it smell so much?"

"Smell? What do you smell, my lady?" Bishop Matthew asks.

"It smells like rotten eggs."

Hearing my reply, they were very quiet. I could see the outline of their bodies staring at each other so it meant they knew something and they didn't want to tell me. Well, I would find out anyway. There was no need to rush.

The carriage stopped and we descended from it, making our way through a narrow path between two tall buildings. Beyond it, there were more people than there were in the streets, moving around swiftly. They cleared a path for us and we went through it. Once we were inside what I assumed was the Quarantine center, the irritating scent went away.

"Oh. It doesn't smell anymore, just like the palace," I deliberately said loudly enough for them to hear. This likely forced them to explain why.

"My lady, I think...you can detect the presence of the plague through scent."

Yeah. No sh*t, Sherlock.