A Pocketful of Posies.. Ashes, Ashes

   Which leads us back to where we are now. Inside the manor walls; having lost everything we had and becoming poor. Now known as Peasants; or Serfs. At least we had a somewhat decent lifestyle. And of course, death had come upon us once again. 


This time it wasn't an attack, but possibly something worse. None of us knew where it came from or how it started. After witnessing many deaths, we thought it was just executions or people having died from wars. We thought we would be fine and won't get affected by it. Boy were we wrong. My father had gotten sick one evening one evening after working in the fields. He complained of muscle pain, headaches, and fatigue. Nathaniel thought it was just the common sickness that occurs towards everyone. 



The sickness only seemed to get worse as he started growing purplish, round nobes on his neck along with a high fever. I had called for a doctor who knew anything about this. We finally managed to reach one. This doctor had some sort of metal mask in the shape of a beak covering his face. Not only that, he also wore a black trench coat which dropped down to above his feet. I happened to notice the herbs in the doctor's left pocket. It was heard that herbs would kill the bacteria and disease.


I watched as the doctor took a scalpel and made an incision in my father's arm, letting the blood drain out. It didn't seem to help as he bent over and coughed up chunks of blood. He laid back down shivering violently in pain. There was no other remedy the doctor had as he told us that many people have died already from this disease. 


The next day, father lay lifeless on the ground. There were nobes around his body and his hands looked as they have been put into a pit of fire. To drown out the smell, we carried his body to the city, where we witnessed people either burning bodies or dropping them into the lakes and letting them drift off. Nathaniel led me towards the fire pit, where we tossed him in, watching the flames engulf him. People coughed and vomited around the city. We walked back home in hopes that this disease would end.


  We turned to the Catholic Church and prayed. Once again we were wrong. The disease had struck again, this time affecting Nathaniel. A noble first appeared on his shoulder, causing him distress and pain. He got weaker each day leaving me to do the work on the fields, cooking, and cleaning. After what happened to father, there was nothing I could do but pray. Unfortunately that didn't help as Nathaniel died from the same disease a few days later. I had lost faith in the church and turned to my last resort. Leaving the manor. 


 
  Stage two of the end of the world had taken a heavy toll on us.