“A concoction I brewed myself,” the doctor had a self-satisfied smug smirk on his face. “What I give him while everyone is looking is nothing more than a placebo. This is actually the last dose he needs. Now there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it unless he receives treatment almost immediately.”
“His wife will come for her regular visit in a few days. About now is when she’d be thinking of complaining to the administration that things are taking too long. But he’ll wake up when she’s sitting right next to him. A touching moment that will surely see a proportionally sizable donation to the hospital and boost its reputation even further.”
“He will leave this hospital feeling better than he has in decades, but it won’t last. There is an upcoming vote in a few months, a very important one that he’ll be leading the charge on. But, there will be a tragedy that day. A few hours before the vote, he’ll start having an excruciating headache. This isn’t normally how aneurysms work, but I added it for fun. The pain will grow worse and worse. By the time he’s worried about it enough to do anything, it’ll be too late. And then… pop!”
“A master of medicine and a psychopath. Yes, you’re certainly a Fiend,” Phon smirked as all doubts were erased. “Don’t think I’m judging you. I have no room to talk, but it’s weird that you’re telling us all this. Guessing the murder that made you a Fiend must be something along those lines.”
“Sort of,” Farian paused for a moment to figure out how to word it. “Well yes, exactly like this case. It was a patient of mine that deserved to die. But it was not a traditional loved one that triggered the change like it is for most other Fiends. No, I long abandoned familial and amorous relationships for my work.”
“But the truth of it is, I love all of my patients! They are my family now, and their lives are in my hands. How could I not give them all of my attention and affection?! From the moment they enter to the moment they leave, they are all who matter in my life. Even this insufferable bastard here. You see, it is because of my love that I know when correction is needed, that they are a festering wound, just as you have amputated your own father from the world for his mistakes.”
“As for why I’m telling you, it’s because I’ve been holding it in for so long. There’s absolutely no one here, be it patient or staff, that I can confide in without risking my cover. And I know you won’t tell anyone, not just because you’re Fiends yourselves, but also because there’s something you still want from me.”
“So I will help you, but there’s something I want as well. Medicine is my life, but I’m at the peak. This is why I only specialize in unique diseases, because everything else is either solved or has a huge backing behind it. There’s very little left to explore in human medicine.”
“But then came a new frontier. I’ve been interested in Fiends for quite some time, well before I became one. I even submitted a few research papers about the belief of an evolved species beyond humans well before they became public knowledge. I’d based it on snippets of evidence and vague accounts. I even had mentions of you and your brother in it. Some of the papers got decent attention, but most got me laughed out of the room. Who’s laughing now?”
“Of course, Fiends don’t exactly get sick very often, so there hasn’t been much to explore on that end. Though, I’ve still investigated Fiends as a whole and your group thoroughly. However, I’ve obtained something of a rival: a fellow Fiend known as The Pestilent Plague Doctor. They may not know of me, but I’ve seen their work more times than I’d care to count.”
“I assume their Curse is something like mine, it’d be hard to explain some of the stuff I’ve seen otherwise. They are in the business of creating new, completely unheard of diseases, and they use live humans as incubators for their experiments. It’s not uncommon for their victims to become patients of mine. After you all, they’re near the top of the CP’s most wanted.”
“Don’t get me wrong, though. They’re not all bad. We seem to have similar ideologies of who deserves to be subjected to such twisted fates. Not all the time, however. Some don’t quite meet my bar, so I heal them completely and send them on their way. But others, I’ll finish the job that The Plague Doctor’s work should have finished had they not sought out my services. If anything, I’d actually like to meet them—not as rivals but as colleagues, to see how far we could advance the medical world.”
“That brings me to my next point. The environment here has become quite stifling and ill-conducive to my goals. To put it bluntly, everyone’s admiration and bickering for my attention has become nothing but a nuisance. However, I’ve always gone where I’ve been needed, which means I’ve stayed put for the most part. But now that somewhere else needs me, it seems like it’s time for a change.”
“I said I normally don’t charge for my services, but I’m about to lose my livelihood. The cost is that I will join your organization as its head physician, but there are several caveats. First, and most importantly, I will be allowed to continue my work outside of helping your organization. Any who wish to seek out treatment from me will be allowed to do so, regardless of species or affiliation. If you can’t agree to that, the rest is irrelevant.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Second, I will be given full access to the medical records of your organization as well as those you stole from the Central Peace. Yes, I know about that as well. Third, you will use your vast wealth and distribution networks to release medicines I create to the populace for no expected profit. Fourth, I’m aware you have a chemist on staff and would like their assistance in my experiments moving forward.”
“Lastly, if anyone ever again attempts to become a burden to me because of their hormones and one-sided emotions, I reserve the right to inject them with a love-stunting serum I’ve been working on. There’s more, but the rest is merely wants and are negotiable. If you agree to all that. I will cure you.”
“So, you’re saying we’ll be fixed and we’ll get a specialized doctor that we’ve honestly really needed. Nah, no way, terrible deal.” Even though her body had regressed, Phon’s snark certainly hadn’t. “Fine, agreed. Let’s finally get to it, but didn’t you say I wasn’t sick? How can you fix something when there’s no problem to begin with?”
“There’s always a problem,” Farian corrected her. “It’s just not always the one you suspect. No, you are certainly not sick. In fact, you’re overly healthy for your age. That’s due to being a Fiend, no doubt. But that doesn’t mean you weren’t sick. If I may, I’d like another taste. The moment from before gave me the gist but not all of the specifics.”
Phon reluctantly held out her hand, grimacing as it was kissed once more. “0.86 seconds, that’s how long you were sick for. Up until this reading just now, I wasn’t entirely convinced you’d been sick at all. I noticed something the first time, but considered that it could be a remnant of The Witch’s Curse lingering on you. My initial guess was that you’d upset her and she’d turned you into a child. Then you came to me instead of apologizing.”
“But no, now I can tell you with absolute certainty that a virus did this. I’ll need to come up with a name for it later, but to explain it simply, your ‘time’ has been attacked. What an interesting concept. I’d heard of The Witch’s time manipulation, but never fully grasped the tangibility of it. That’s a taste I won’t soon forget.”
“And what exactly does time taste like?” Mallea spoke for the first time in a while now that something interested her.
“Hmm… decay.” Farian wasn’t quite sure, but that was the best way he could describe it. “Now, could you please explain the full scope of events so that I can get a better picture before giving my diagnosis.”
“You do it Mallea. This body is getting tired,” Phon’s order was followed by an affirming yawn.
“Fine,” Mallea agreed since it would move things along. “Yesterday morning, I couldn’t tell you the exact time since it was unimportant. All Fiends and Lesser Fiends had their ages changed. The Fiends were all roughly between the ages of 1 and 4, with one exception that looked almost fetal. The Lesser Fiends appeared roughly between the ages of 70 and 90. For whatever reason, the ages were pretty inconsistent, but all were all within those ranges.”
“All humans were left entirely unaffected. There were two further exceptions to the change. The Royal, Feyjrusa Sulatrieve remained unchanged and unaffected by the illness, but they do not have any time and age at a fixed rate. The Witch was also physically unchanged, but her body is normally frozen in time.”
“However, she seems to be the most affected by the illness and is actually showing symptoms of traditional disease. Whatever the cause, it seems she is still sick. Furthermore, the illness appeared to be worsening before we left, slowly over time. I’ve asked a staff member to keep us updated, and her condition keeps degrading.”
“Alright, that’s enough, thank you,” Farian went into thought for a bit longer. “That confirms my suspicions and diagnosis. All of your members were affected by the same time-attacking disease. This virus is very greedy, and is only interested in those with superior time outputs. I cannot see time like The Witch, but I can still measure it with my own Curse. Fiends and Lessers exude much more.”
“That is why humans aren’t targeted, since they wouldn’t have been satisfying enough to the virus. It’s a good thing too, since the disease would have literally eaten their time to death. The only reason you all only had your ages changed instead of suffering a much worse fate is because of the boosted immune system of Fiends and Lessers.”
“As I said early, you were sick for exactly 0.86 seconds. Quite fortunate really. If it had reached a full second, your time would have been fully devoured and you would have been unborn out of existence.”
“This next part is only a theory and would require more study, but I’m guessing that the reason Fiends grew younger and Lessers grew older is because the virus took the path of least resistance.”
“We don’t have enough data yet, since a Fiend has yet to live a full natural lifespan, but from what I can gather, a Fiend’s immune system will remain relatively unchanged in its life. Therefore, the virus targeted the time in reverse, taking advantage of the weaker immune system of a child and less time to eat through.”
“For a Lesser, while their immune system will always receive a boost, they should still see considerable degradation in their health as they age. Even though it was more time to eat through, it would still be the better path for a virus rather than fight through resilience of a younger body. And like with humans, a Lesser would be less desirable, so it’s not going to put in as much effort. Fortunate again, since if it went the younger route, all the Lessers would be dead.”
“That leaves us with The Witch. Obviously, she did not change in age because of her usual quandary with time. However, that doesn’t explain why her immune system didn’t dispose of the virus. She shouldn’t still be sick either, which makes me believe something else must be affecting her. I’ll need to see her in person so that I can examine her properly.”