C18- Piscea (2)

Noah and Corvin sat up and greeted the governor when he entered the meeting room. The old man shook their hands and they sat down to start their discussion.

"So, you two are the rumoured geniuses of this century, huh?"

Noah and Corvin looked at eachother and gave their answers at the same time.

"I wouldn't call us geniuses!"

"You are right, sir!"

They looked at eachother again.

"Noah, be a bit humbler sometimes."

"Unlike you Corvin, I am actually a genius, okay?"

"What did you say!?"

"What-"

Just as they headbutted eachother, Norman interrupted them.

"I was joking, please calm down and let's talk about why you two came here, alright?"

Corvin turned towards Norman.

"I am sorry, sir. My name is Corvin Mundy and his name is Noah Vyolor. I am pleased to meet you."

"And my name is Norman Penour. Pleased to meet you as well. So, now that the formal introduction is done, let's talk about the plague."

"Yes sir."

"So, what do you two think the cause of this plague is?"

"I think it is a colossus, sir."

"I think so too, but I only know what Corvin knows about the plague, so I am just parroting him."

"I see, I see. Do you know what that colossus is or what it looks like then?"

"No, sir. That's why we came here. We want to see if there are any reports about humanoid monsters or anything of that sort."

"Actually, we do."

"Really? Can we see them?"

Norman gave a stack of papers to Corvin.

"As you can see, there were some unconfirmed rumours about rat humans attacking villages and also a rumour about a giant rat that appeared where the plague started."

"Were?"

"They were rumours, most of them, until yesterday. A neighbouring kingdom found the corpse of a monster that resembles the ones from the rumours, now named ratmen. And they named their rumoured master the Plaguehorn, but nothing is known or confirmed about it. It should be... here on the papers."

Corvin read the part Norman showed him.

"A giant rat... Humanoid rats... Hmm... Huh? A monster corpse that doesn't disintegrate? How is that possible?"

"We are also wondering that. There are some theories about it like-"

"It's not a monster?"

"Huh? Yes, there is a theory like that too."

Corvin suddenly stood up.

"This plague turns humans into abominations. Those aren't monster corpses, they are humans, that's why they don't go away. I am sure of it now. Sir, what is the extent of the plague right now?"

"The signs of the plague was reported to be seen at the northern parts of this city yesterday."

Corvin looked at Norman with a horrified expression. Noah suddenly stood up as well.

"This is much worse than I imagined. Sir Norman, we would like to see the patients as soon as possible. Corvin, I am getting the protection and my paintings. You figure out how much time is left before it spreads throughout the whole city."

Noah left the room running. Corvin turned towards Norman again and asked.

"So, sir. What's being done to battle the plague currently?"

'They sure are reliable... or at least they look reliable...'

Thought Norman and started to explain how they were fighting against the plague.

*****

Amy was running through a forest path. All she wanted was to run away. Run away from the plague. Run away from her family. Run away from her people. Run away from her guilt.

No matter how much she ran away, the image of her mother didn't go away. The empty streets she saw never left her mind. The fact that she could use magic yet achieved nothing, ate her heart away.

She took everything around her for granted. She fought with her dad because he would sometimes work for days so the citizens of their small kingdom could live a little bit better. She wouldn't talk to her dad for days sometimes because of that.

Her mother would exhaust herself while using her weak magic to come up with something new that could help people. She would scold her mother for trying to help others until she collapses.

Whenever she left the castle and visited the city, the people would greet her with warm smiles. Some children her age would approach her and ask to play. She would lose the track of time while playing.

For years, she took her happiness for granted. She didn't stop to think about how to protect it.

But now that she lost them all, she understood. She got conceited thinking she had everything and they would forever be hers. It was all because of her. If she was strong like her dad, a hardworker like her mom, and was kind like the people of the city, she wouldn't have lost them all. She started to hate herself and the more she hated herself, the more she ran faster.

Eventually, she got exhausted from running. Her vision was blurry because of tears, so she stumbled and fell down.

"I can't even run away properly... Sniff, I am such a weak and disgusting person..."

Chiu~ Chiuu~

"Huh? Who is there?!"

Weird noises came from behind a bush nearby. When she looked at where the sound came from, she saw six humanoid shapes running towards her.

The silhouettes got closer and closer. The closer they came, the more appearent it was that they weren't humans, but monsters.

Step step step

The ratmen stood in front of her and stopped. They stared at the girl crying on the ground. The girl lowered her head and muttered.

"Aahh... This is how I die, huh? Before I could do anything worthwhile... I will become food for monsters. Just like the useless thing I am..."

Pta pta

Tears restarted flowing from her face and fell on the ground. The thin layer of snow melted at the warm tears' touch.

She looked back at the monsters with reddened eyes. Her normal beauty was nowhere to be seen, her beauty ruined from crying too much. After swallowing her saliva, she shouted at the monsters.

"Come on! Kill me! Please... I don't deserve to live... I have nothing to live for..."

Hearing her shouting, the monsters started to get closer.

Badump badump

Her hands started to shake and her vision got blurrier, this time out of fear.

Step step

The monsters got closer. Her mind was screaming to her. The closer they got, the more her heart beated with fear. Her fingers curled into a fist on the ground. Loosing her courage to die, she closed her golden coloured eyes shut.

'This is it... I am going to die. Even though actually I wanted to live longer with everyone...'

She started to feel the monsters movements. Just as a tail was getting closer to her heart-

Shwaaa~

-a light so bright that it got through her eyelids shone.

"Huh?"

"Aren't you accepting death a bit too early, miss?", asked a robotic male voice.

When Amy opened her eyes, the monsters were gone without a trace and instead, in front of her was a tall man with a light blue skin with thin yellow lines on it shining randomly. The man had red glowing eyes and wore a dark blue suit, completed with a dark blue top hat and a black cane with white on the tip.

"W-who are you?"

"Hi, my name is SAM. Care to listen to me for a bit? I won't take much of your time, I promise, miss.", said SAM, with a wide smile.