CH 23 - The Disease

Alex

"So, you're saying the first victims were that kid's parents?" That sucks, and I know. My mom was killed during a monster attack in Kyudo ten years back, my father soon after from a mugger who had lost everything, just like us. "I feel bad for getting in his way, now."

The beast girl, Cass, looks not as sympathetic, nor does Gauss. We are sitting in the tavern, enjoying an early dinner before heading over to the jail cells. "What's wrong with you two? Isn't he your friend?"

Gauss shakes his head in a definite 'no', while Cass looks ashamed slightly at the question. "Well, yeah, but… It's just, I've never seen him get so aggressive and… terrifying."

That is an understatement, and I say that as someone who was on the bad side of his onslaught. Even now, hours later, my nerves are still extra sensitive, responding to any and every outside stimulus that may or may not be a threat. In short, I'm jumpy.

"Meaning he isn't usually like this, right? I don't think a single incident should change your view on the guy."

"Except," Gauss says, his eyes dark and full of barely masked malice, "it wasn't the first time." He takes a swig of mead before taking a bite of medium rare steak.

"What do you mean, Gauss?" Cass asks.

He sighs. "Technically, this would be the second incident, though if I'm honest, this wasn't anywhere near as bad as last time."

The way he says it, it's like he's being forced to remember some terrible horror he witnessed. But this Dainn is just a kid, right? "What happened?"

He looks at me, then at Cass. He is deciding whether or not he should spill a secret that's not his to spill. "I'll tell you, but it doesn't leave this table. Understood?"

I nod, since keeping secrets is nothing new to me. Cass takes a moment, but finally exhales in acceptance. "I guess if I want to turn back, it will have to be before we leave Asylum. So, go ahead. Tell me about our party's mage, and just what I've gotten myself into."

"First, it all started when he came to live at Hera Manor. I'm sure you've noticed, Cass, but he is unnervingly mature. He thinks and acts more like an adult than a child. He is calm, for the most part, but in the beginning, I saw a rage constantly flashing across his face.

"Then he was befriended by Emilia, and the boy changed. He started thinking about someone other than himself, and I saw that rage fade. My concerns faded. Then, we were attacked.

"It was Emilia's birthday, and assassins came after the Lord at night. Dainn was unconscious at the time, and I was defending him from one of the attackers." He pauses, and I see sweat forming on his brow. He is shaking, clearly remembering a fear that struck him back then. He has trauma from this event. I've seen it a few times, even amongst the highest ranked adventurers.

"Suddenly, he woke up, and in mere moments, killed the man with magic. I felt it, and it was unlike any school I've ever seen, and I had spent a year or so at this point watching him learn all eight. He ran to go help the family, but I stayed behind, too terrified to move. After he left, I used Gold magic to get a rough x-ray of the assassin, and I found his heart utterly crushed."

I keep my eyes from going wide, though I do permit the flutter in my heart. "Interesting. So he created a new school of magic?"

He nods. "We think he is a Miracle. But that's not where it ended. I didn't see it myself, but apparently in order to kill the leader of the attack, Dainn used this magic to turn the bodies of the dead into his soldiers. They were apparently incredibly strong physically, and according to Emilia, his face became demonic when he did so. It was so terrible, she avoided him for a good while afterwards."

Cass slaps the table, her face a knit of frustration. "Wait, but I've never seen him use this dark magic you speak of. Except… oh shit. Did he kill that draxon?"

Gauss takes another sip. "He's been good, as much as I hate to say it. Emilia has been his foundation for a good while. He even agreed to avoid using his Black magic, as he called it."

None of this explains why Gauss hates him so much. Clearly something dangerous resides within the boy, but it sounds to me he is doing his best to keep it in line. I get why today he snapped. Doesn't Gauss?

"Tell me, Cass," I say, trying a slight manipulation tactic. "Will you leave your party after hearing this? I mean, it's clear to me he is trying to be a good boy. Besides that, he stopped the moment that other girl - Emilia was it? - told him he was scaring her. If he was the monster Gauss seems to think he is, would he have spared me?"

She scoffs, giving the impression that the thought of abandoning a friend never even crossed her mind. "Of course not. And while I am not of the same mind concerning Gauss's feelings, I do have to ask you something. Why are you defending him so much?"

I hide my surprise, instead smiling and holding up my hands. "Well, I was sent here as a favor to my Lord. I'm pretty sure my objective failed already, since I'm sure Apollo never wanted Dainn to find out while the killer was still at large, so I figured I should try and help him where I can to make up for it." Not entirely a lie. In truth, I just want to know this kid a bit better.

"Speaking of the killer," Gauss says, turning the topic back to business, "I need to ask, are we sure there has been zero signs of Leah?"

Odd, why bring the mother up. "We already looked into her. She was termi-"

He has the gall to interrupt me, and my hand goes to my empty scabbard out of reflex. "She had a disease, I know. Henry was sending aid to Damien, but the affliction was incurable. He didn't tell me much about it, so I'd like to hear what you learned."

I look at him. So handsome, so serious. I get the feeling he is looking to confirm something. "You have a theory, don't you?"

He gives a wary nod of affirmation. "Yes, so please, if you would?"

I sigh. "Okay. Well, no, her body hasn't been found. We assume she was taken, though we don't know why. She can't be a sitter for the abducted boys, nor can she be used for her body. She is too sick for both.

"As for the illness itself, I heard her appetite became insatiable, though she wasn't able to keep anything down. Apparently her skin became hypersensitive to light, and she was easily overwhelmed by loud noises, to the point of pain."

He hums to himself, tapping his fingers on the table. "The victims, they've all been magic users, except for the first, right?"

"Yes."

"And death was due to?"

"Bloodlo-" I shut up as it clicks. "Wait. You don't mean to say..?"

He gives a solemn nod. Cass looks between us with frustration. "Well? Fill me in, boys."

"Cass, I need you to do something and you can't tell Dainn why. Promise me, and I'll tell you what I think is going on."

She looks at him hesitantly. She looks at me, and I look away. This is going to be painful, for Dainn specifically.

"Uh, okay? I will reserve the right to take back that promise if I don't agree with this theory of yours. Your giving - how did Dainn put it that one time? - bad vibes."

"Fine, I can accept that."

He told her the theory, and I found myself agreeing. It makes sense, especially that we didn't consider it before. It is a rare disease, with a guaranteed death rate. However, it didn't end there.

Cass heard him out, and to my surprise, at least, she agreed.

Emilia

I sit in a chair outside the cell the guard threw Dainn into. He is fast asleep, and has been for a couple of hours now. The room is small, at least for what it's being used for. As a whole, it is the size of my bedroom back home, but it was meant to hold three cells with little more than a cot, a bucket for bodily waste, and a window.

I look at him with concern. I keep thinking about how he had ignored my pleas to stop. How he had started playing with that boy. I had seen it, he could have incapacitated him, or even killed him, far faster than he let on. He was being cruel, though I am wondering if that was intentional, or if the monster got loose.

Though, he did stop. More than that, he stopped when I told him he was scaring me. At the end of the day, he didn't want to scare me. So despite how worried I am, how scared I am, I am happy. He truly does care about me, in his own way.

I just wish I knew what set him off. We had gone to his parents house, and found a crime scene. Had they been attacked, or was it something worse?

"Emilia," I hear Cassie say. I turn to see she has returned, seemingly alone. She looks upset. "I need to talk to you, in private."

Her voice is small and quiet. "Okay?" I say, slightly confused. She leads me out the door to the cells, back into the guard house proper, where three guards are waiting with the boy from earlier that fought Dainn.

He bows to me, before offering his hand and name. "I am Alexander Avaris," he says politely. "I have spoken to Gauss concerning a string of killings in town. We believe we have found the killer, or identified them at least. However, in order to go after them we need to know where they might hide."

"Uh, okay. What does that have to do with me?" They all look concerned, and the guards keep looking behind me to where Dainn is being kept. They are shuffling uncomfortably in their plate mail and their helmed heads hang low.

Are they bringing bad news for a son, or are they just worried of angering him after his display earlier. The cells are meant to hold even mages, using metal in the brickwork to nullify all spells cast at it. Mana is impeded by ninety nine percent of metal, with mithril and orichalcum being the only thing that doesn't nullify a person's magic.

Cass puts a hand on my shoulder. "Emmy, Gauss has a theory. This killer has targeted the same type of people every time, except for the first. He thinks that the killer might be…" she trails off.

"Is he still sleeping?" Alex asks, picking up on her discomfort. "Dainn, I mean."

"Yeah, he's been unconscious since the fight. I think the shock… wait, the first victims were his parents, weren't they?" I get it now. I hadn't heard about the killer until now, but that must be why Dainn went off like that. He could tell something was wrong, and we tried to stop him from finding out what. "Oh, Dainn. Maybe we should get him involved-"

"No!" Cass shrieks, cutting my thought off.

I look at her stunned. "But, why?"

She trembles as she tries to gather the words. "Emilia, I think it would be best for him not to see this. Because… well… okay, so Gauss thinks his mother might be the killer!"

I am stunned in place. "What? Why would a priestess of the faith turn killer?" Dainn only spoke of his parents to me once, so I only knew what they did for their livelihoods. I did ask Mother Michelle if she knew about his mother, and she said she knew that Leah had been a loved and respected priestess of her community. Why would she suddenly start taking lives?

Alex speaks up. "She had fallen ill with a disease no one could identify. Gauss thinks he knows what it may have been. It would explain the vicious first attack that makes no sense, Damien Blackguard. It would explain the missing boys, the only to go missing besides Leah Blackguard, a grown woman. It would explain the magically inclined victims that were killed by blood loss, via a bite wound.

"He thinks his mother might have contracted Sanguine Manaleech. It is a rare malady, only affecting individuals without magic who give birth to people of immense magical ability. Basically, their body temporarily experiences magical attunement, and upon the birth, the body can't cope. It sometimes takes years to fully manifest, while other times it never happens. For those that are afflicted, the only cure is to destroy the heart. If they die naturally, then the body comes back as something little more than a monster."

I feel my heart sink as I realize what he's saying. Leah Blackguard is suspected of being a killer monster, and as such will be put down like one. "I don't understand something. You said kids went missing? Why would a mindless monster take children?"

He and Cass nod, and she answers my question. "Gauss says that she is something called a vampire. They are dead creatures, meaning their minds aren't functioning. However, since they were once human, emotions can remain, traces of their soul and identity .It's acting on instincts, some monstrous, but others might be motherly. She might remember having a son, and so…"

I finish the thought for her. "She is looking for that son. Dainn. And Gauss thinks he might know where she would have taken them. But, then again, he barely knew her. He might not remember every little thing she did with him."

"True," Alex says with an unnerving smile that grossed me out for a reason I can't discern, "but it's our only-"

RRREEEE!

There is the sound of metal bending in the room behind us, interrupting us immediately. I turn to see what's happening even as the guards draw their swords. Smoke comes from beneath the door, backlit by blue, flickering lights. The door suddenly erupts in blue flames, and I recognize them as Dainn's.

The door turns to ash and crumbles before us, and Dainn is standing there with lightning coursing across his body and flames going up his arms. There is a smell of burning flesh in the air. It makes the guards hesitate, seeing him cook and heal himself at the same time. It sickens me, too.

"Emilia, Cass. I am very sorry for this, but…" A guard tries to rush in and restrain him, and I watch as Dainn hurls a sphere of rolling blue flames right at the man's breastplate. He is sent flying back into a shadow portal that appears out of nowhere.

"I have to save my mom." He says it with absolute finality, even as the first guard falls through the roof and crashes to the ground in front of us, coughing up blood.