The Diabolical Tales: The Great Mortality
The Seeds of the Degradation have planted their roots all over the known universe. And that too includes the Earth. But even on Earth the Mortalis are not all that they seem...
The Great Mortality may started in Asia but now the dread plague’s tendrils had reached Europe. It swept unopposed through many a European town and city carried by rats and fleas from more wayward shores. Doctor Frederich Laech saw first-hand the struggle to keep the plague at bay as pyres burned everywhere permeating the sky in a thick black smog. Still for Doctor Laech and his trusted assistant Cecilia business during this awful period was booming. People now more than ever needed the services of a capable Doctor. Together the two wayward travellers trudged through a thick mud past begging crowds and Town Criers chanting ‘bring out your dead’ whilst they rang a small metal bell loud enough that it may as well have waked the dead. They soon came upon the house of interest. If you could call it that. It had become dilapidated and broken down as its foundation sunk ever more into the earth making it exist on a precarious tilt.
Laech knocked three times before someone finally answered. The diligent peasant wife had opened the door partway revealing a bowl of stew under her arm.
“He the doctor I asked for?” she asked Cecilia ignoring the beaked horror before her.
“Yes. Please, may I come in?” Doctor Laech said.
“Of course! You’re our only hope. My husband, Walter. He’s in bed. Been there for three days. I keep feeding him but he’s not getting any better. I’m not sure what to do, Doctor.”
“I will see to him, Cecilia -” Laech motioned to his assistant. “Look after her will you and make sure she’s well. If she shows any signs of the infection, you know what to do.”
Cecilia nodded in her usual muted fashion and took the anxious woman by the arm leading her to one side. Laech made his way toward the door that led to the bedroom. The stench of decay and rot tickled his nose hairs. He gently opened the door and entered the room. He closed the door behind him before taking a position beside the bed. The man’s pale face stood out against the black veins that ran up and down his neck. The man looked at him for a few seconds pleading with his eyes.
“I am Doctor Laech, what ails you?”
The man pointed to the squirming mass that was his chest.
“As I suspected. May I remove your shirt?”
He nodded.
Doctor Laech removed a short scalpel from his belt and cut down the shirt exposing the man’s chest. At its centre was a growing brown blotch.
“May I ask, did you consume any unusual fruit or vegetables in the last few days?”
The man shook his head.
“Then what have you eaten?”
“Stew. It’s all we can eat.”
“I can’t remove what’s inside you,” Laech said. “It’s too far gone But I can stop it from taking your mind.”
He removed a bottle labelled ‘healing oil’ from his satchel and rubbed balm onto his hands before pressing them down onto the man’s brown spot.
Mortalis. Morte. Ghoul. Wake up. I beseech that you do not consume this man’s mind if you wish to continue existing.
Nothing. It would seem the Pestis variant is more feral than most.
Doctor Laech took in a dozen deep breaths and pressed down harder this time. His veins glowed a vibrant red as his psionic power surged into the room. You will obey.
The spot writhed under his pressure as barbed red tendrils travelled from Laech’s arm and penetrated beneath the man’s greasy skin. It spread from there, travelling up the corrupted veins, the man winced and squirmed as many inflammations that had ravaged his body healed in an instant. The cuts and bruises sealed like they had never existed in the first place. If you refuse this peace offer. I will purge this man of your corruption. You will die. You need him.
Exhausted by the stubbornness of the symbiote Doctor Laech soon came to rest and took a minute to look down at his arm. He saw yet more zigzagging cuts marked upon his taut skin. He turned away. “How do you feel now?”
“What are you?” the man wheezed.
“A Doctor…” Laech said as he began preparing one of his concoctions.
“You’re a -“
Doctor Laech raised a single hand in the air revealing the red wire that grew taut as he closed his fist.”If you so much as squeal. I will crush your organs. You are still in my snare. But I can feel the pulse of your heart, even now. I can kill either you or the creature inside you but the shock of it would leave you addled. You’d be a mere passenger in your own body. My goal here is coexistence for you both.”
“What are you doing now?”
Laech faced the man, wooden bowl in hand. “This should make you feel better.”
Laech left the room not too long after. The peasant wife approached him with Cecilia not far behind.
“Will he live?”
“Yes, but there is something inside him. You know what it is?” Laech asked.
“Aye, Doctor. I was afraid to accept the truth. He’s a goner, right? Will he become a Mort?”
“As long as you care for him and keep a close watch on his daily activities,” Laech said removing a scrap of paper from his pocket. “He should be fine. Also, this recipe should satisfy it. Raw meat stew only. Make sure it’s bloody. It doesn’t matter who or what. It’s not fussy. If you want him to stay that way. Do not let it starve.”
The woman nodded and Doctor Laech moved past her with Cecilia quick to join his side. She hurried off to grab payment and returned with a weighty pouch of gold. She handed it to him.
“Thank you, Doctor. We won’t forget this.”
“Don’t thank me. This is what I do. I make people better. Come, my dear Cecilia. There are more people that need our services,” said Doctor Laech taking the pouch, he stored it within a pocket on his well-worn robe and together they left the house returning to the chaos that welcomed them with open arms. Doctor Laech met Cecilia’s troubled stare.
“Don’t fret, my dear. It is not the end of all things. At least not yet. That won’t happen for at least another few hundred years.”
How can you be so certain? came her soft gentle voice in his mind. I don’t want to live in a dead world.
Neither do I my dear, neither do I. While I can perceive the coming storm there is little I can do to stop it. As long as the disease spreads I will follow it to the ends of the Earth if I have to.
To cure it?
It is so far incurable, thus I seek to understand what it wants and find a way to make it work. Because this… he gestured to the tortured chaos spilling out around them. It is all wrong.