Ch 53: Plague

While Elizabeth and Richter work to locate the Sacred Dragonshrine, Karis and Vasuki take the students of Lorem Academy on an excursion.

            Leading Marcyl, Pyro, and Johnny down the mountain from Dragonroost, Karis sighed and muttered to herself, “Why’d Vasuki have to invite them along today? I’m a Dragon Knight, not a babysitter!” As Marcyl skipped merrily along, Johnny glanced at her and said, “You seem suspiciously excited about this Marcyl.” Chiming in, Pyro said, “Yeah, do you have some inside info about what Vasuki wanted us to come along for?” Twirling about and skipping backwards, Marcyl grinned and said, “Nope! Not a clue!” Eyeing her suspiciously, Johnny said, “You’re way too excited, you’ve gotta have some idea! Don’t go thinking you can pull a fast one on Johnny Spark!” Giggling, Marcyl said, “I’m just happy I finally get to go out and play! Now that Mr. Richter and Elizabeth are figuring out how to save Mr. Fox, they’re even busier than before. I’d die if I got stuck having to read any more books!” 

Remembering what she’d said back at Rusfa Outpost, Pyro said, “Oh that’s right, you’ve just been stuck studying.” Reaching the forest at the foot of the mountain, as they saw Vasuki standing there waiting for them, Marcyl waved and called out, “Hey Vasuki! We’re here!” As they approached, Vasuki smiled and said, “Hello everyone! Glad you could come!” Walking up to him with an annoyed expression, Karis asked, “What are these kids coming along for anyways?” Donning a look of equal if not greater annoyance, Johnny exclaimed, “Who’re you calling a kid?! You look the same age as me!” Laughing, Vasuki smiled as he said, “C’mon Karis, it’s because they’re kids that I figured they’d be bored out of their minds. Besides, the more the merrier as they say.” As Karis simply shrugged her shoulders with a sigh, Pyro said, “Yeah that’s great and all, but what’re we doing anyways?”

            Leading them all through a dirt path leading off the main road and into the forest, as they arrived at a large lake, Vasuki reached into some bushes and pulled out a bunch of fishing rods as he said, “Welcome to my favorite fishing spot!” Covering her face with her palm, Karis exclaimed, “You brought us here to fish?!” Seeming disappointed by her reaction, Vasuki said, “Who doesn’t like fishing? I know we usually go exploring or something, but I thought I should tone it down a bit for the others.” Heading off for the lakeside, Marcyl said, “It’s better than sitting around reading musty old books! Yahoo, let’s fish!” As they all followed after her, Johnny snickered to himself as he thought, “I’m gonna laugh if she falls in.” Catching him snickering, Pyro glared at him and said, “Don’t get any funny ideas you twerp! You try to push someone in the water and I’ll be using you as fishing bait!” 

All gathering around the lakeside, Vasuki began to pass out fishing rods and helped everyone set their bait. As he was trying to help Karis, who was struggling to tie the worm onto the hook, Karis stubbornly said, “I can do it myself, I’m not a kid anymore!” Sighing in frustration, Vasuki said, “What is it with you today?” Finally managing to set her bait, Karis cast her line into the water, not looking at him as she said, “Nothing, I’m just fine!” Sitting on a large rock near the lake’s edge with Johnny and Marcyl, an irritated Pyro cast her line and said, “Man, can’t we just fish? What’s with all this drama?” Shooting her a glare, Karis said, “This isn’t any of your business you little runt! Butt out!” His voice becoming stern, Vasuki said, “Karis!” Looking at him in surprise for a brief moment, Karis finally looked away and quickly pulled her line from the water as she said, “Whatever, I’ll go fish by myself! You can watch them!” As she stormed off, Vasuki looked after her in frustration, thinking, “She’s been acting different lately, but I just don’t understand why she’s so angry today.” Then he turned back to Marcyl and the others as Johnny called out, “Lover’s quarrel eh? Want some tips from old Johnny Spark?” As Marcyl turned her attention eagerly to the conversation, Pyro turned to Johnny and said, “Tips from you? HA!” His face turning red, Vasuki stammered, “L-lover’s quarrel?!” Having heard them as well, Karis stopped and shouted back at him, “Like I’d be with an idiot like him! Get real!”

            Sitting down by the lake’s edge near Marcyl and the others, looking somewhat hurt by Karis’ words, Vasuki cast his line with a sigh. Holding her rod while she eagerly awaited a bite, as Marcyl heard him sigh, she glanced at Vasuki and said, “You ok there Vasuki?” Putting on a cheery face, Vasuki said, “I’m alright, yes. I just hope that all that noise didn’t scare away the fish, haha…” All sitting there fishing for a bit, Vasuki kept looking over at Karis, who had set up a ways down the lakeside. Noticing this, Pyro finally said, “Hey Vasuki, you didn’t invite her out on a date or something today did you?” Looking over at Vasuki with stars in her eyes, Marcyl exclaimed, “Are you two going out after all Vasuki?!” His face turning red again, Vasuki quickly replied, “Of course not!” Looking over at Karis curiously, Pyro said, “Sorry, just trying to figure out why she’s so angry. She seemed pissed ever since she heard we were coming.” Pulling his line in and recasting, Johnny said, “I kinda thought you guys were an item too. You said you go places with just the two of you all the time, right?” 

Nodding, Vasuki said, “We’ve been friends since we were very young, and once we were old enough to be part of the Dragon Knights, we developed a sort of tradition of frequently planning fun events together during our time off. We’re not in any form of relationship though. We usually just goof around and have fun together.” Smiling merrily, Marcyl said, “Oh, that’s so nice! You’re such good friends!” Looking over at Karis, seeing her glancing over at Vasuki while he wasn’t looking, Pyro thought, “I’ve got a sneaking suspicion there’s more to this story. Vasuki may not realize it, but even if it’s not a date to him, it could be that Karis is misunderstanding.”

            Sitting there holding her fishing rod as she sulked, Karis thought to herself, “Stupid Vasuki! He never thinks about my feelings and just does whatever he wants. Now that he’s become the Lord of the Wind Dragons after his father died, we hardly see each other while we’re on duty. This is supposed to be our time together…” Suddenly getting a tug on her line, Karis quickly turned her attention to the task at hand, getting up quickly and attempting to pull in whatever was on the other end of her line. Struggling with her unknown catch, as Karis found herself having a great deal of difficulty reeling it in, she thought, “Damn, what the hell did I get?!” Seeing her struggling to reel in her line, Vasuki quickly got up and called out to her, saying, “Think you can get it, or is it giving you trouble?” Shooting him an annoyed glance, Karis called back, “I don’t need anyone’s help to catch a stupid fish!” 

Moments later though, the tug on the line intensified, and Karis let out a cry of surprise as she was pulled into the lake. Rushing into the water in concern, Vasuki shouted, “Karis!” Finally letting go of the fishing rod, Karis floundered in the water, crying out in fear, “Vasuki! Vasuki help!” Swimming out and grabbing hold of her, Vasuki said, “It’s alright, I’ve got you!” As Vasuki carried Karis back to the lakeside, Marcyl and the others gathered around them in concern, Marcyl quickly asking, “Are you alright Karis?! I can heal you if you’re hurt!” Coughing a bit as Vasuki set her down on the ground, Karis weakly replied, “I’m… I’m ok…” Kneeling beside her, an apologetic look on his face, Vasuki said, “I’m so sorry Karis, I didn’t even think of what could happen if you fell in. I don’t know what I was thinking, going fishing…” Calming down somewhat, Karis sighed and said, “Stupid. It’s not like it’s your fault I can’t swim.” Looking out at the lake, Pyro said, “Man though, just what the hell was on the other end of that fishing line?” Then, as if in answer to her question, a large portion of the lake’s surface began rising as an enormous creature started to emerge.

            Rising out of the lake, a transparent, dome shaped creature appeared before them. As tall as a two story building, it was made out of a gelatinous, red ooze-like material, and exuded a horrible odor. Staring at it in surprise, Johnny exclaimed, “What the hell?! Some kinda blob monster?!” Clutching her nose with one hand and waving the other around in panic, Marcyl exclaimed, “EWWWW! It smells worse than bad pudding! Make it go awayyyyyy!” Gritting his teeth, Vasuki drew his glaives from his back as he muttered, “Where did something like this come from?!” Turning back to Marcyl and the others, Vasuki said, “You three, go with Karis and get help!” Yet Karis suddenly shouted, “Vasuki, look out!” Vasuki turned his attention back to the creature just in time to be knocked aside as a long tentacle of ooze that had grown out of the creature’s body lashed out at him. Getting to her feet and drawing her sword from her back, as the creature turned it’s tentacle on her, Karis chopped part of it off with a mighty swing as she said, “Don’t you DARE touch me!” 

The severed tentacle falling to the ground, the creature retracted the remaining stump of it’s appendage as it made a disturbing cry and quickly retreated back beneath the waters of the lake. Everyone staring in surprise, Pyro murmured, “It… ran away…?” Turning away from the lake, Karis rushed over to where Vasuki laid unmoving, calling out in concern, “Vasuki?! Are you alright?!” Reaching him, she saw he was most definitely not. The tentacle having struck his exposed chest, the area where it had made contact was turning red as though he’d contracted some form of rash. Breathing heavily, he looked to be in great discomfort as he laid there grimacing from the pain. Kneeling beside him in horror, Karis said, “No… Vasuki!” Quickly rushing onto the scene with Pyro and Johnny, Marcyl said, “Hold on, I’ll heal him!” Kneeling by Vasuki as well, Marcyl raised her hand and formed a blue rune circle. Concentrating deeply, she struggled to heal him with her water based healing magic, but after a few moments it was clear there was no effect. Looking to Marcyl in desperation, Karis said, “What’s wrong with him?!” Watching Vasuki continue to suffer, her magic having failed her, Marcyl stared in terror as she said, “I… I don’t know…”

            Staring at the rash where the tentacle had struck Vasuki, Pyro thought, “Did he get this way just by touching it?” Attempting her healing magic again, Marcyl said, “Ohh, I just don’t understand! If he’s not injured, why does he look like he’s in pain?! I’m not sensing any poisons in his body either!” As Karis reached out to grasp Vasuki’s hand, Pyro realized just in time and exclaimed, “Wait Karis! Don’t!” As Karis paused in surprise, she turned to look at Pyro and said, “What?” Staring at Vasuki with a fearful expression, Pyro said, “Don’t touch him!” Backing away from Vasuki nervously, Johnny turned to look at Pyro and said, “W-why? What happens if we touch him?” As everyone looked at her expectantly, Pyro replied, “If it’s not a poison, it could be some kinda disease, and if we touch him we might get it too!” Finally giving up on her healing magic, Marcyl said, “My healing isn’t working at all! We need help!” Nodding, Pyro said, “You and Karis stay with him, Johnny and me will go get someone!” 

As Pyro hurried off, Johnny remarked, “Hey! Don’t go telling Johnny Spark what to do!” Looking back in frustration, Pyro shouted, “Just get your stupid a*s moving!” Following after her begrudgingly, as Johnny made his way along the lakeside and headed towards the path back through the forest, he suddenly caught his foot on something and fell forward. Picking himself up, as he turned to see what he’d tripped over, he saw what looked like the edge of a small metal box sticking out of the dried mud around the lake. Bending down and extracting the object, he found it was indeed a box of some sort, but as he attempted to open it, he found it was locked. Stuffing it in his pocket, he hurried after Pyro as he thought, “This has gotta be the worst fishing trip ever!”

            Sitting at a table in the Dragonroost Keep library tower, Elizabeth poured over maps and tomes as she finished up some last minute research. Scheduled to begin searching for the Sacred Dragonshrine in various target areas across Tagosa, she, Richter, and Cortez would soon be leaving with a Dragon Knight escort. As the double doors of the room opened, Richter entered and approached her as he said, “All the preparations have been made Headmistress. The Queen has assigned a group of full grown dragons to help us move quickly about the island. Cortez is waiting outside with the escort now.” Closing a book, Elizabeth turned to look at him with a grin as she said, “Excellent. I have a feeling this won’t take too long. All the research I’ve done points to the Sacred Dragonshrine being somewhere in the Murkfang Basin. The dragons have a small outpost there already, but it’s otherwise a large area of untouched wetlands and rainforest. According to what we’ve learned, more artifacts from the hazy historical period when the sacred dragons supposedly disappeared have been unearthed there than anywhere else on Tagosa, many of them holding no known connection to any of the four modern day dragon races.” 

His uncertainty showing on his face, Richter remarked, “A lot of evidence does point there, however it just seems strange to me. If it were the water dragons maybe, but why would they house the Sacred Dragonshrine there? As far as I can tell, all of the other dragonshrines are found in areas whose topography reflects the specific dragon type.” Adjusting her spectacles as she considered this, Elizabeth replied, “Yes, but I can’t think of what kind of area would actually suit them in the first place. It may be that in place of matching topography, they instead created a fitting structure. There are many references to a great tower existing on the island in the distant past, and if the tower itself fell, I’m rather confident that the debris could only have avoided detection if they had sunk into the wetlands.” As Richter stood there unable to find any serious flaws in her deduction, the doors to the library once again burst open as Cortez rushed in and exclaimed, “Headmistress! The students were attacked!” Bolting up out of her seat immediately, Elizabeth thought, “Marcyl!”

            Rushing out the keep, Elizabeth, Richter and Cortez hurried over to Johnny and Pyro, who were standing outside being questioned by Ciestra. Turning to them as they approached, Pyro said, “Elizabeth? I thought you all were going somewhere today.” Seeing it was just the two of them, Elizabeth quickly said, “What happened? Where is Marcyl?” Turning to them as well, Ciestra said, “Apparently she and Karis remained with the victim.” At this, Richter remarked, “Victim? Is someone injured?” Nodding, Pyro said, “Vasuki got hit by the thing, and it’s like it made him really sick or something!” Raising an eyebrow questioningly, Elizabeth said, “Thing?” Raising his arms up high to indicate something of great size, Johnny said, “It was some huge blob monster that just rose up out of the lake! I’d swear by my name as Johnny Spark it was like two stories tall!” Then flashing a cocky grin, he added, “Not that it scared me of course! In fact, it fled in terror as soon as it saw old Johnny Spark!” 

As Pyro simply rolled her eyes at Johnny, Richter looked rather shocked as he said, “You’re joking! An animated fluid beast is rare enough, but one so large? Something like that living in a regular freshwater lake is almost unheard of!” Concerned for his student’s safety, Cortez said, “We can worry about where it came from later. We need to get them away from there before whatever it was comes back.” In agreement, Ciestra started to say, “Yes, I’ve already dispatched a team to retrieve them. The young half sprite believes contact could spread the disease, so I’ve made sure they are equipped to handle him without directly-” Suddenly a male Dragon Knight rushed up to her and said, “Commander! Forgive the interruption, but we may have a problem!” Turning to him, Ciestra said, “Report.” Saluting, the Dragon Knight responded, “Yes ma’am! It’s not yet completely clear whether it’s related, but we’re receiving a large number of reports of citizens falling seriously ill. The symptoms are identical to what the younglings described when they reported Lord Vasuki’s condition.” Letting her composure waver for a moment, Ciestra said, “What?! Does this mean it can spread by air as well?!” Suddenly realizing it, Richter exclaimed, “The water! The river where you get your water also flows into the lake, that’s how the monster got there! If the river’s source is contaminated…” Grimacing at this grave development, Elizabeth said, “This could turn into an epidemic.”

            Standing with Malum in a dark chamber within the Sacred Dragonshrine, as they stood before a humanoid skeleton that was covered in a writhing blood-like ooze and suspended above a glowing black rune circle by chains affixed to the ceiling, Alastor glanced suspiciously at Malum and said, “You still have yet to tell me what happened to him in the first place Malum. Just what have you been up to?” With a creepy grin on his face, Malum replied, “Don’t worry yourself with the details dear Alastor, it was a trivial matter I assure you. As they say, accidents happen…” Narrowing his eyes, Alastor said, “I’m sure.” Then turning his gaze back to the writhing mass of red ooze, Alastor said, “Whatever you’re plotting behind my back truly doesn’t concern me much anyways. What does concern me is whether this endeavor is worth so much of my time. I have worlds to conquer you know.” 

Holding up the Sacred Dragon Gem, the other four arranged spread out on the floor around the oozing skeleton, Malum said, “Reviving him in this manner will serve both our ends. Not only will Pestilence be reborn stronger, but with the Sacred Dragon Gem in our hands, we can regulate the power of the other gems and empower all our servants with their energies. If the dragons refuse to heed our warnings, we can simply use the corrupted dragon’s blood that fills these ruins as a biological weapon to eradicate them all.” Suddenly Alastor’s communicator began beeping, and taking it out of his pocket and turning it on, he raised it to his ear and said, “Yes? What is it Scathe?” Through the communicator, Scathe’s voice said, “Grave has returned. He claims to know the location of the Vinculus.” A faint smile crossing his face, Alastor said, “Finally, some good news. Gather our full forces to take back the Vinculus as soon as possible. Once we’ve dealt with the traitors, we’ll take hold of this world and crush any who would oppose the Second Truth.”