《Plague》 Prologue: The light Prologue White. The color I see everyday. In this hospital room I call ''home'', I have been strapped to this bed and connected to many machines I don''t know the purpose of for many years. After all this time, I kind of forgot how I got here in the first place, but what I do know is that I''ve contracted a disease. And because of that... I have been quarantined. Feeling numb all over and the occasional phantom pains on random parts of my body, I wheezed through the mask that covered my mouth. Looking around, I see other patients as well. A man in his twenties, a girl around twelve, an old woman... the long hospital room contained many victims and is divided by some plastic curtain. The only reason I can say for sure that these people are who I think they are and how old, is because I spent a looong time here enough for me to just give a guess that I slowly confirmed or corrected to be a fact. Back to the disease, it seems it has spread out quite far and wide around the world and doctors from everywhere are feverishly trying their best to keep this sitaution from getting any worse. But alas, after so many years, they slowly gave up. Of course there are still quite a lot of them left studying and researching a cure for this sickness. A sickness that nobody knows where it came from. A disaster that popped out of nowhere, attacking us from behind. Not only humans but animals as well. Because of this, many are not even sure what to eat anymore. Many have become vegetarian because it was found out that plants were not affected by this disease. And a while after that, a sort of temporary cure was found. But in reality, it was just some pain killer that only delayed the sickness for a really, really short amount of time. After that, no more progress has been made, and production of this pseudo-cure has taken priority. But even with this, it doesn''t stop the progression of the disease and continues until it becomes severe. Like us. Cases where the body cuts all control, but doesn''t numb it and leaves phantom pains every now and then. Pain so unbearable but thankfully short. And even when we feel it''s painful, we couldn''t move our bodies nor could we shout. It was excruciating. It was painful. It was like torture. I''m not sure if doctors even notice this or even know about it, so I doubt they''d think that it would be better to kill us. To put us out of our misery. But it has been so long and my vision is hazy. And the only thing I could see is white. White all around me. And a person. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± A person with an appearance that I cannot process. Ah, maybe it was because my vision is blurry. The person in front of me was incomprehensible. I don''t know if it was a man, a woman, or human at all. No. It is human. It looks human. My vision slowly left me during thse few months and I''ve gotten kind of used to it. The person then stretched out it''s arm and offered me it''s hand. Subconsciously, I reach for it. And surprisingly, I could feel my hand move towards it. But the hand was too far away. So I walk towards it. I put one foot in front of the other, and before I knew it I was running. The person felt so close yet so far away. And when I was close enough, I grabbed hold of the hand. The person smiled. Slowly, I felt myself drifting away. My body dissipated and all I can see is white. Then green. Then brown. Blue. Yellow. Red. Until around me was a beautiful place. A forest with a lake and in the horizon is the sun going down. The red sky covering us all. It was strange. Looking at things without a body. But then it hit me. Is this heaven? Then... I must have died. That''s, that''s great... To think that the day would come when I would be free? Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.I moved around in happiness. I looked around and found that there are animals as well. Hmm, if this is heaven, then where are the other humans? Or maybe their just like me. A mind without a body. Oh well, I''ll just go towards the animals then. When I got close, of course they didn''t notice me. Even if I ''stood'' in front of them. There were many animals I recognized. Like deers, rabbits, foxes, bears, wolves... I kept travelling around but sadly none of them noticed me. It''s kind of lonely though. So I went to one of the rabbits and tried petting it. Albeit being inevitably ignored. I kept petting it because the sensation of petting it felt real. As if I still had my hand. After a while, I let go. ¡­ Did I let go? Strange. I know I let go but I can still feel the rabbit. I examined the rabbit. Looking a bit closer now, I can see a bit of colour red. No, it''s not blood. Just the colour. Like some particle effect. Did I do that? I tried touching it again and found that the colour red became more vivid and covered more of the rabbit. DNA point+1 What? I thought as a screen appeared in front of me. DNA point? What''s that? And just as I thought that, another screen appeared in front of me. DNA points Points used to upgrade or degrade your plague. These can be obtained by infecting various living things. You can also infect non-living things but these do not give you DNA points. Another way to obtain DNA points is by popping ''bubbles''. Bubbles? Bubbles These appear randomly around those you have infected. And among these bubbles, there are different types. Red-gives you a small amount of DNA points but very plentiful. Orange-gives you a good amount of DNA points but appears less. Blue-does not give you DNA points. Taking these all in, I stared at the screens in front of me. What do these all mean? Plague? Does that mean I''m a disease now? Haha, very funny. But still.. What sick joke is this?! I die from a disease and now this?! Even though I ''shout'' these out, I feel very... apathetic about it. I know I''m supposed to be angry but... nothing. Just nothing. I can still feel emotions, which is strange for a disease, but I don''t particularly feel anything about my situation at all. So instead of thinking about all this, I turn back to the screens. DNA points huh... I gained one but how do I use it? After thinking that, another screen appeared. No, not just one, but multiple screens appeared. Genes Bacteria Obtained Virus 100 DNA points Fungus 200 DNA points Neurax Worm 500 DNA points Parasite 500 DNA points Prion 750 DNA points Necroa Virus 1500 DNA points Nano-Virus 1500 DNA points Bio-Weapon 2500 DNA points Simian Flu 0 DNA points Transmission Bird 1 12 DNA points Livestock 1 7 DNA points Rodent 1 10 DNA points Insect 1 9 DNA points Blood 1 8 DNA points Air 1 9 DNA points Water 1 9 DNA points ??? ??? Symptoms Nausea 2 DNA points Coughing 4 DNA points Rash 3 DNA points Insomnia 2 DNA points Cysts 2 DNA points Anaemia 2 DNA points ??? ??? Abilities Bacterial Resistance 1 6 DNA points Cold Resistance 1 7 DNA points Heat Resistance1 11 DNA points Drug Resistance 1 11 DNA points ??? ??? DNA points 3 ... Chapter: One Chapter 1 Although I''ve spent most of my life in the hospital, I''m very educated. I''ve gone to elementary school and half of high school. Then contracted the disease. But still, during those years without the disease, I''ve played my share of games too. Ones on the old consoles like the gamekid, gamekid mini, and the new ones like the playztation. Of course, I''ve played with toys too, especially blocks, and I know how to play some sports as well. But the point is this. The screens in front of me make this whole ordeal seem like a game. Which is supposed to irritate me but I still feel nothing. Going back to the screens, I try to make sense of the first ones. So, DNA points are what''s going to be the core of how I technically build myself. To get these points, I either infect or pop bubbles. Bubbles. Speaking of which, Looking back at the rabbit, I can see that it is already a bit away from here. But a few feet from it was a bubble. A red bubble just floating around. It''s like one of those bubbles you blow from soap only red. So I went closer tried ''popping'' it. With my finger. That I don''t have. That I can still ''feel'' for some reason. Tapping it lightly, the red bubble burst and a notification appeared. DNA point+1 Oh. So that''s how it works. How much do I have now though... DNA points 4 4? I only remember getting 2... Is it passive perhaps? Just because I''ve infected the rabbit? Ahh, questions, questions... Well anyways. I look at the other screens. Genes, Transmission, Symptoms, and Abilities. Looking at the genes, I can see that they are sooo expensive. But as for the others, they''re relatively cheap. Transmission looks like it would help me spread my virus. Well yeah, I mean petting everything just to infect others would be a pain. Symptoms is kind of obvious. Abilities. Now this is what interests me a bit. So it seems that my disease has protection as well huh? Who knew. Well.. I didn''t. Maybe the disease I contracted back then was really strong. It must''ve had this ¡°Drug Resistance 1¡± or whatever it was. Or maybe even stronger. It has the number ¡°1¡± so there must be a ¡°2¡± or a ¡°3¡±. Reviewing the tables, I found that one of the genes costs 0 DNA points. Simian Flu. Simian huh? Then, monkeys? I wonder what it does... but since it''s free I''ll take it anyway. I ''clicked'' on the simian flu and purchased it and a window appeared. Simian Flu Simian Neuro-Genesis 15 DNA points Formites 8 DNA points Pharyngitis 1 DNA points Headache 4 DNA points Neuro-enhancement 4 DNA points What? So I''ve unlocked the simian flu. And that unlocked more options. But which category do they fall under? Transmission? Abilities? I don''t even know what Neuro-whatchamacallit is.... Can I have some info? I asked to no one in particular. And a window appeared. ¡­ Hey, at least I was answered. Well anyways, the window explained what it was and basically it increases the intelligence of apes. But it cost 15... I check my points again and see it at 6. So it is passive. Looking around, I search for bubbles. Turning to the rabbit once more, I see an orange one. I quickly move closer. But before I even get the chance to ''pop'' it, it disappears. What? I check my points and it is still at 6. So that means I need to pop it before it vanishes to get points. I look around again. This time searching for something to infect. I spot a panther. It''s black coat blending into the forest. I''m impressed I even saw it. I move closer and notice it is actually stalking it''s prey. So I thought of something. Instead of going to the panther, I went to its prey. Which was a deer. I went ahead and pet it ''til the colour red was visible. Very visible. From there, I waited for the panther to pounce. After a moment of getting closer, the panther pounced... and sprouted white wings. Dafuq? Its claws as well. They glowed and expanded, then quickly used it to kill the deer. After confirming if it was dead, it started eating it on the spot. And because of that, the colour red immediately enveloped the panther, making its black fur look like it has red spots. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. But that didn''t interest me right now. What just happened? It did things.. things I didn''t understand, that''s why I''m asking. Getting closer to the panther, a window appeared above it. Fairy Panther lvl.32 Fairy Panther? Good Lord, so many questions... First the DNA points and bubbles, then the many windows that made this seem like a game, and now this? Hold on a minute. Game? Yes.. that would make sense. Only creatures like that appear in games. A mythical creature. It even had a level. So does that mean there are others as well? Like dragons? If there are, I wonder how I could infect them.. All I know is that dragons have very strong bodies and high resistance to many things. After contemplating for a while, the Fairy Panther is now enveloped in red and even had particle effects. I even saw a few bubbles appear. But before I could try to pop them, windows appeared in front of me. Magical Creature 1 obtained. Livestock 1 obtained. Woah. There were windows saying I obtained DNA points too but I ignored them and I went ahead and looked at the Symptoms/Transmissions/Abilities windows. There, adding into the Transmissions is Magical Creature 2 with a cost of 100 DNA points. 100?! That''s too much. As of now, I only have 13. I also noticed Livestock 1 being replaced by Livestock 2 with a cost of 15 DNA points. Nothing else seems to have changed though. I look around and see that the panther already disappeared. But even so, I could still ''feel'' it. I see a red bubble and pop it to receive a DNA point. I look around again and find something else. A goblin!! A REAL goblin! Wow, I never thought I would get excited just because I saw a goblin. Aah, goblins. The basic monster in RPGs. Along with slimes. Oh I''ve GOT to find those. I went ahead and infected it as well. I also received ''Goblin 1'' in the process. Does that mean, there will be a transmission thingy for each race? Geez.. That''s going to be troublesome. But I''ll go with it. I went around and found several others like a pack of dire wolves, wild dogs, felines, and even an ogre which was level 87. I received, ''Mammal 1'' and ''Ogre 1'' after. Feeling that it has been a while already, I checked my DNA points and see it at 26. I went ahead and purchased ''Bacterial Resistance'' for 6 points and Simian thingamajig for... 16? I thought it was only 15. I also noticed that the other options also increased in price by one point each. So with every purchase other options will get more expensive. Darn... Well no one said this was going to be easy in the first place anyway. And at least thankfully it was only the Abilities category that increased. Huh. So that means, Simian achu-chu is an ability? Well the more you know. Quickly after purchasing it, instead of Simian Neuro-something 2, what came out were 4 different options. ''Ape Rampage'', ''Ape Colonies'', ''Primal Awareness'', and ''Organised travel''. Hmm... I asked for info and read on each. In the end, I decided not to invest much into this ''til I found a monkey. So now, my points are at 6 again. Maybe the best course of action would be to increase resistance for now. Maybe even get another gene. Sounds interesting. Sooo, I went around and infected more animals. I received ''Reptile 1'' for some reason even though I never saw a snake or anything of the like yet. I shrugged it off and thought that if I get, then I get it. It''s still a benefit. I kept infecting but didn''t receive anything else. I kept going and going until fated encounter. A human. --------------------------- HAHA. I posted a chapter! yay! free time! but will soon end... oh well. sooo how ya guys been? pls dont hate me for not posting for a while on my other stories. I just really find it hard to find time you know? even though i want to work on this. (inspired by a certain onee-sama) and well, even though i had "free time" to write this, i actually still have homework needed to be passed tomorrow. but i wrote this instead and had fun!! but seriously though. ill start working on it after i post this chapter, so rest assured im not *ahem procrastinating *ahem. well anyways, see you next time guys and i hope you enjoyed! Chapter: Two Chapter 2 A human. Looking at her, she wore leather clothes and had a sturdy looking bow as well as a quiver of arrows. I even noticed a few knives here and there. ¡°Alright.¡± She said as she dashed away somewhere. Curious, I followed. To be honest she was pretty fast. Much faster than I thought possible. But for some reason I was able to catch up with ease. Once she got to her destination, what I saw first were tents. Then I saw more humans. ¡°Yo, Robin. See anything?¡± A big guy in a set of armour said. The guy was quite tall, around 185 cm. Maybe even more. His armour covered him from head to toe so I couldn''t make out his face. He had a big shield that matched his armour as well as a short-sword. ¡°Nope. All clear.¡± The girl called Robin gave a thumbs up. Now looking a bit closer, she had reddish orange hair that was a bit covered by her green hoodie. The hoodie she wore was sleeveless and she wore a leather shirt beneath it. She wore shorts and had some boots on. ¡°Then what are we waiting for! Let''s go!¡± A cheery voice said. Turning to look, I saw something that slightly shocked me. A guy maybe 20 years old or older had white hair and wore leather clothing with a few pieces of armour here and there. The gauntlets he had on seemed bigger than usual too. But what surprised me was what was on his head. And now that I mentioned it, even behind him. He had animal ears and a tail. ¡°B-but we need to b-bring down the tents first.¡± A 16 year old girl in a white robe said. The girl had blonde hair tied into a braid and other than the robe she was wearing, she also had a circlet on. Also, she was holding on to this white staff that had a flashy yellow orb on top. ¡°We can do that later~! We''re staying in the area for a bit anyways!¡± The beastman said. ¡°-sigh- This is why you''re still at S rank, Bersi.¡± A girl around 19 commented. The girl also had a robe on, but the difference was that it was purple. She had a wooden staff with a few leaves on it, and a bunch of rings among her fingers. Her long hair was black and reached just below the shoulder blades. ¡°Uwaah. That''s mean.¡± The guy called Bersi pouted. ¡°Alright. Enough with the jokes. Let''s get a move on.¡± Another girl said. This girl seemed to be around twenty. She had bright orange hair and wore some shiny armour. Just like the first guy, she had a sword and a shield. Albeit a bit smaller. ¡°Roger that, boss leader!¡± Bersi saluted as he went with the guy in armour towards the tents. ¡°-sigh- That guy..¡± The purple robed girl said. ¡°Well, at least you can''t deny how strong he is.¡± The armoured girl said. ¡°T-true... haha.¡± The white robed girl laughed a bit. As the girls continued their conversation, I thought about a few key points I have taken note of. First were the words ''S rank''. To me, that sounded like it''s from those guild things in RPG games. The ranks would get higher every time, and when it does you can apply for higher tiered jobs. Second is what they were wearing. They definitely look like they''re from an RPG game. The guy in armour is their tank, the white robed one is the healer, the purple robed one is a mage, Bersi was some sort of monk or berserker, the orange haired girl could be a warrior... and Robin is a scout. Or maybe a ranger. She could be that too. And looking at them as a whole, they look pretty well-balanced. But, enough about that! Let''s infect someone! ¡­ Is it just me or did I just sound excited? No? Okay, maybe it''s just me. Getting my thoughts into order, I closed in on the mage and put a ''hand'' on her shoulder. Letting go, I can see the colour red swarming her shoulder as it slowly spreads out. Really slowly. And by slow, I mean reaaally slow. But on the good side, a bubble appeared. Poking it with my non-existent finger, I received a notification saying I gained another DNA point. Okay. Next is the orange haired girl. I put a ''hand'' on her as well and infected her as the colour red stuck to her. Then disappeared. Huh? I infected her again, same result. My infection disappeared. Frowning after trying for a while, I went to the cleric. I reached out for her, but before I could even touch her, a numbing shock shot throughout my ''body''. And damn it felt painful. Reacting to this, the cleric was surprised. And noticing the surprised cleric, the orange haired girl asked her a question. ¡°Alma? Something the matter?¡± ¡°Ah, well... I think someone tried to poison me..¡± The girl called Alma said. To this, the other girls became more alert. The calm atmosphere from before completely disappeared and was replaced by the seriousness of professionals. At least, that''s what I felt. ¡°Robin.¡± The orange haired girl said. ¡°On it.¡± Saying this, Robin literally disappeared as she ran off somewhere. And interestingly enough, I could follow her without much trouble. Also, as weird enough as that was to me, I could also stay and watch the other girls at the same time. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡­ God, this feels weird. ¡°Melina.¡± The orange haired girl said. Nodding, the girl named Melina did something with her staff as it glowed with intensity. And because of that, I could see that the infection I left on her was immediately removed. Widening my eyes, I felt a bit intrigued. What happened? Observing them, they seem to be glowing a little thanks to what Melina did. ¡°Good. Now, cleanse the area.¡± The orange haired girl ordered. Not saying anything, Melina did something to her staff again as it glowed again. This time with a shade of violet. Although I was intersted, as soon as it glowed, it expanded quickly and pushing me with great force backwards. The force felt as if I was being hit by a truck. Well... I was never hit by a truck before, but it was the first thing that came to mind when making a comparison. Flying backwards, I tumbled and spun around making me feel like vomitting. Just like a rollercoaster. Only without rails and much faster. I say that, but even though I was sent flying away, I could still somehow ''see them''. ¡°Boss leader!¡± ¡°Laila! What happened?!¡± The beastman and the tank said respectively. ¡°An attack. Someone tried to poison Alma.¡± The girl called Laila replied. ¡°What?! To think they could get close enough to do that... and even when Robin just went to scout the area.¡± The tank contemplated. ¡°Yeah. The enemy must be quite skilled to be able to do that. That, or that it was a fluke.¡± Laila said. ¡°Should I go as well, boss leader?¡± The beastman asked as he drove his fist into the other. Thinking for a moment, Laila nodded. ¡°Alright. Robin went north so you go south.¡± ¡°Roger!!¡± He said as he pumped his fist into the air and disappeared as well. Surprised to see that he was just as fast as Robin, I tailed him as well. I wasn''t able to infect him since it seems like he was also affected by what Melina did a while ago. ¡°We''ve finished cleaning up, so should we spread out as well?¡± The tank asked. ¡°No. We stay together. We''re not as fast as those two, so we can''t cover as much ground as them. And if they encounter trouble, they can run away.¡± Laila said as she prepared her sword and shield. ¡°And besides, it seems that it is an enemy we can''t make light of.¡± Saying this, the group then moved as one and went east. Even though she said they weren''t as fast as the other two, they were still pretty fast. Especially since you wouldn''t expect that from the tank wearing heavy armour, Laila for the same reason, and the two girls who I didn''t think would be as fit as the rest of the team. Watching this entire thing play out, I just ''stood'' there a bit shocked. I mean... what have I done? ---------------------------------- Hello again! little spider here to give you an update! so let''s talk about games. i just recently downloaded the binding of isaac afterbirth. it''s really fun. and cute. a lot of cool new stuff i''ve never seen before and this new greed mode. can''t beat ultra greed though... even with azazel. and another thing. i also plan to download ''don''t starve shipwrecked'' when it''s out. i love that game too. my fave character there is wendy. farthest i''ve gone is around 120 days. until the game suddenly started crashing. then not working at all. haaa... sad life. oh well. just download it again. and while we''re on the subject of games, how about league of legends? unlike dota, it''s super duper much easier. it has camera lock :P (don''t hate) but i''m good you know! i main thresh and kha''zix. and also nocturne. my main roles are support and jungle. but enough about me! about the story, i will be finishing my "endable" stories first. those stories i can already see the end of. and are short. kingdom come 2 is, just like the first one, six chapters. bicycle is around 10 chapters. crosshair is estimated to have more than that but i can already see the ending. as for my long term stories like plague, amaron online, riflesmith... (yes, riflesmith is long term) i will stock up on chapters. call me a passive writer if you will. i will stock up on chapters on my shorter stories, and when they''re finished, i''ll post them all at once! and don''t get mad at me for having a bajillion stories. i consider these stories to be my stress relief. if i need to calm down for a bit and distract myself, i''ll write a chapter or two. and you guys should know, that finding motivation is hard. so having multiple stories with different genres really helps. woops! i''ve become talkative. or is it chattative? since i''m not talking and is pseudo-chatting with you guys. yeah... let''s call it that. chattative. the birth of a new word!! and no one can stop me! well anyways, see you later and merry christmas! (i prefer if christmas is used instead of "x-mas" coz you know. replacing christ with an x is messing with my catholic raised self.) (derp)