C14- Heading North

After school, Noah and Corvin were walking towards their dorms. Noah planned to make at least another painting before they go to Piscea, so he took painting supplies with him.

"What are you painting next?"

"Hmm... We are going to the north, yeah? Probably something to keep us warm?"

"Good idea."

"How is your research going? Did you find a lead or something?"

"I have a theory. I think this plague is actually two disasters combined into one."

"Uuh, scary. Why would you think like that?"

"Well, there is definitely a plague, but with it comes something else as well, I think. Some people show physical changes in their bodies. That's not something a normal illness causes. There is definitely something worse behind this. I can feel it."

"People are morphing?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Into what?"

"I don't know. No one has seen a complete transformation and lived long enough to report it. The city state the plague was born in has already collapsed, appearently. This thing has been spreading for months."

"So people are turning into monsters... What kind of nightmare did we got ourselves into?"

"Who knows..."

*****

Noah went to his dorm and started painting. This time, he was painting a family of four around a campfire in the forest. It took him about the whole afternoon again to finish this piece, and he named it 'A Warm Family'. After signing his name at the corner, he injected a small amount of mana to the painting.

The family started to move, as well as the fire. The father put down a fish on a stick. After some time, the fish cooked and the older child ate the fish. A little bit of smoke came out of the painting, but it wasn't burnt. The room warmed up while the painting was active. Noah activated his other painting to clear the smoke in the room. The family didn't put new food over the fire and the activation stopped.

"Good job me, I am getting really good at this."

Although it wasn't anything advanced, these paintings were still magical, and Noah made them in just hours. No matter how exhausted he gets afterwards, it is still a really short time to make paintings.

Proud with himself, Noah went to sleep in his warm bed.

*****

In a Piscin town, a family could be seen, snuggling together. It was a cold night, and their firewood had run out. So to not freeze, they were huddling under any fabric they could find in their house.

They didn't go outside to get more firewood. They couldn't. There was a chance they would catch the plague, and they didn't want to risk it.

"There is someone on the streets... I-Is that person coming to our house?"

"Huh?"

"Maybe it is help from the capital?"

"They are finally helping! Yay!"

The family was excited to finally have a chance of getting out of this pitiful situation.

Knock knock knock

"I am going to open the door, you wait here."

The father got out of the sheets and went towards the door. His heart was beating hard and he had a sense of discomfort. While walking, he started to question why the other side was this quiet.

'No, don't get cold feet now. Your family needs help.'

After forcing out the sense of discomfort, he approached the door.

Creak~

When he looked through the peephole, he saw a humanoid silhouette. He opened the door.

"Did you came to help us? We are really than- Huh?"

Spurrtt~

The thing in front of him was nothing but a human. It was a monster with a rat's skinless face, round horns and a worm-like tail. Under Sermee's red light, he was seeing a living nightmare.

While he was trying to understand what was in front of him, his vision started to darken. He felt a warmness coming from his chest area. When he looked at his own chest, he saw the tail of the monster impaled to his heart.

"Huh?"

Before he could even move, he saw his world turn upside down. His head was flying in the air as he died.

"Dad? Who is it?"

His elder kid came to the door, just to see a monster and his dad's headless corpse.

Before the child could scream, the monster killed the child.

It walked into the house, slowly inching it's way towards it's prey.

*****

Corvin was walking towards the workshops to meet with Clair. To further his research, he had an idea that made him wonder why no one before thought of. It was simple really. To see what living beings were made out of, all he had to do was use some kind of magnifying glass.

He wanted Clair to make a lens for him.

"Oh, Corvin. What brings you here today?"

Entering the workshop, he saw Dion working with some liquids.

"Oh, Mr. Dion. Actually, I might need your help as well. It's for the plague research."

"Hm? What do you need? If it is for researching the plague I will help you with all my power."

"Thank you sir. Actually, I need glass to be made into lenses. But it needs to be really clear, because I will use it to look at stuff we can't see with our eyes."

"What are you trying to see?"

"I read a theory about what living beins are made out of, and the theory includes the causes for illnesses as well. I wanted to test that theory."

"Oh, do you mean the 'cell theory'?"

"Do you know about it?"

"Well, I was quite the nerd after all."

"You still are, dad."

While they were talking, without Corvin noticing, Clair was already listening to them next to her dad.

"Clair, you heard him right? Can you do it?"

"Hmm... give me your calculations for a bit."

"How do you know I have one?"

"You are holding papers and you have another weird idea on your mind. I just know you have calculations. You are a nerd after all."

She checked the papers and then turned to her dad.

"Dad, get me the glass, this wont take much. Come back before night Corvin, these should be ready by then."

"Thank you, then see you later.", said Corvin and went to train in his dorm.

Later that day, Corvin got the lenses and crated a microscope. He looked at samples and confirmed the theory. He could see small cells on the microscope, even though the magnifying effect needed to be more to see more clearly. He was excited, but decided to put the reserach reports to a later date. He needed to take care of the plague first. But he was sure his findings could bring a new age to biology and medicine.

*****

About a week later, Corvin and Noah were now leaving for Piscea. Their preparations were done.

"Corvin, my dad told me to give these to you. Here."

Clair gave Corvin a bunch of clothing. The cloth wasn't normal cloth, as it was made by an alchemist to stop ilness from being spread. Corvin requested these for extra protection from the plague after he confirmed the cell theory.

"Thank you, these will help out a lot."

"Corvi~n come on dude! We gotta leave!", hearing Noah's shout, he quickly got on the carriage.

"Then, see you all later!", the duo shouted, waving their hands at Clair, Felyp and Dion who were seeing them off.

"Is this your first time going abroad Corvin?"

"Yeah, I don't know much about Piscea other than the fact that they are a bunch of city states to be honest. What should I know?"

"Don't worry. Actually, they also speak Ofetan like us, so you don't even anything to worry. They are just like us, the Avib, but in the north. Well, not actually, but they are pretty close. So, they are like..."

And with Noah's lecture about Piscea, their journey started.