The night was especially dark in Olympia with the protection of their deities gone and Agents running rampant in the streets. Sporadically, the sky lightened as humanity’s defenders clashed against its seemingly endless aggressors.
From within, things weren’t much better; Sorin could feel corruption expanding like tumors despite the absence of their respective Evils.
And in such an environment, Hope flourished. Long lines waited at the temples to offer their livelihoods to the growing pyre called wish fire.
Sorin began mapping the extent of this damage as soon as he left Sanderson’s Leather Outfitting. \Have you checked on the others yet and confirmed their situation? he asked Lawrence as he spread out tendrils of Strife and connected to the city’s greater web.
Almost done, answered Lawrence. Dropping off the mysterious tablet. Confirming Astley is still sane... And we’re good.
Normal Agents were easy enough to detect, but weren’t something Sorin could act on given how humanity’s forces were manipulating. On the other hand, Agents of Disease were notoriously difficult to find; the constant stream of life force they nurtured created a convoluted and clustered web of karma that made them difficult to sniff out.
Their consequences, on the other hand, were much easier to isolate. Sorin spent only a few seconds finding the largest clusters before checking in on the rest of his friends. Stephan is still up at the Northern Border fighting demons, said Sorin to Lawerence. Have you found out anything about his clan’s situation?
From what I can tell, they’ve set up a battle merit system to determine the next clan leader, answered Lawrence. Stephan is third but is climbing fast.
And still no word on Daphne? asked Sorin. I know she’s alive, but she has a treasure to block my senses.
I think she’s doing it because she’s setting up an alternate black market, answered Lawrence. There’s a bit of a power vacuum on that end with the Undercity gone up in smoke.
Sorin could see the need for black markets in the city. The clans and organizations had monopolized several markets, and the illegal trading scene was the only way to fight back.
She’d better not enter the slave trade, opined Sorin.
She wants to make money, not commit suicide, Lawrence assured him.
Sorin was glad that he could at least rely on Daphne to be reasonable.
Thoughts of the salve trade naturally brought his attention back to Fenrig. The barbarian’s psyche had been heavily scarred by his enslavement and was still ill-adapted to freedom. That said, he took his mission very seriously and had taken to scouting the Phoenix Clan despite the personal risks this entailed. Sorin would join him shortly, but before that came safeguarding the lives of common humans in Olympia.
Dance of the Tail Biter brought Sorin to the city’s slums where most of the mortals were located. Lawrence appeared via a portal of string and shadow a few seconds later.
“I can sense the Agent of Disease’s influence everywhere, but I’ll need you to keep an eye out while I smoke him out,” instructed Sorin.
A gentle aura spread out from Sorin and seeped into the living creatures in their surroundings. This included microbes and viruses that spread the agent’s contagion, along with the less dangerous and beneficial varieties.
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Minute amounts of poison and corruption made their way through the slums, activating automatically when they encountered viruses and infections that might killed hundreds of thousands of not millions overnight.
As disease died, so did people. It was an inevitable consequence of the treatment. As elated as Sorin was at saving such a huge swath of people, the number of elders and infants he was too late to save doused his mood.
He could have saved them sooner if he’d avoided the politicking and the bickering.
Fortunately, one of the arrangements he’d made during said bickering paid off almost immediately. The physicians dispatched by the Kepler Clan and their allies from the Pollen Clan were already hard at work preserving the lives of these mortals. Casualties would be several times lower thanks to their intervention.
Sorin intensified his search as the local diseases were eradicated. He discovered a few unrelated agents in the process but focused exclusively on the trillions of tiny karmic threads now connecting him and the Agent of Disease.
There was a flicker in Sorin’s sphere of spiritual perception as he swept over a cramped balcony. A figure flashed away in a vain attempt at hiding himself. He was quick, but not quicker than Lawrence, who appeared beside him and tied him up in less than three seconds.
“So, you’ve come at least,” croaked the Agent of Disease as Sorin joined them. “The Bearer of Death in all his glory. Honestly, you put Death’s herald to shame with the number of lives you’ve reaped.”
Sorin shook his head. “That’s as very twisted way of viewing life. The world is better off without you, Nameless Agent.”
The Agent chuckled as Sorin’s poisons crept up his body and devoured his essence. “We’ll have to agree to disagree, God Seed of Asclepius. We Agents of Disease have long known that diseases come in waves. Populations must be culled via disease to flourish. The flourishing itself is a beautiful thing, a cycle of life and death at its purest.
“The countless lives you proliferate are meaningless,” countered Sorin. “They are so insignificant I must kill tens of thousands to obtain the tiniest thread of karma.”
The agent coughed out blood as he laughed. “Is the bearing karma now the litmus test for the significant of life?” He shrugged. “If that’s the way you now think, maybe a few of those unfortunate myths will make it out of this alive.” His eyes flashed as he suddenly looked up at Sorin. “That’s especially the case now that you’re incorporating life into your cultivation.”
“I’m incorporating Disease into my cultivation, not life,” said Sorin.
“So, you’re saying you didn’t specifically take on Disease to counter Death?” To that, Sorin and no answer. Hiis next words, however, came as a complete surprise to Sorin. “Did you know, Sorin Abberjay Kepler, that everyone sent to this sector came knowing that they would die at your hand?”
Sorin raised an eyebrow at that. “And you came because…”
“Because it is necessary,” said the Agent, coughing up another mouthful of blood. “You stink of Death, so we must counter it. By whatever means available to us. In this case, our best course of action is to nurture your poisons with the loving care of a parent. Only in this way will your poisons transcend Death.
“Now finish it, Sorin Abberjay Kepler. End my life to birth many more. Partake of my flesh to complete the cycle. Embrace your destiny.”
The Agent was as crazy as an Agent of Madness, and it was quite clear that no more worthwhile information would be obtained from him “As you wish.’ A poisonous serpent consumed the agent, core and all, infusing a large dose of Disease into his bloodstream.
Sorin’s blood writhed as Disease fostered rebellion from inside him. Several cancerous growths appeared on his skin and his organs but were quickly felled by the excess amount of death-aligned mana and corruption inside his body.
“Um, Sorin?” asked Lawrence, stepping out of the shadows. “Are you alright? You’re looking a little more disgusting than normal.”
“I’ll be fine,” said Sorin. “Did you scout out the next location?”
“It’s clear for transport,” said Lawrence. “You’ve got to wonder, though. If he came prepared to die, why was he running away?”
Sorin shrugged. “He can’t avoid his baser instincts. Disease’s primary urge is not to kill and destroy, but to flourish.” In that, the Agent of Disease was right. Disease was the perfect counter to death despite all their appearances to the contrary. “Unfortunately, it seems like I’ll need many more of these agents to fully incorporate Disease. I’ll need to completely clear out the human sector and then some.”
Lawrence nodded. “I’ll keep scouting the other locations to save you time.”
“Wait.” The Web of Strife stirred, alerting Sorin to some new developments. “Actually, Lawrence, I’ll be fine mopping up the rest of the agents. Why don’t you go back to the Order of Phantasia? Things are about to get very lively over there, and Astley may be needing your protection as she translates that ancient tablet.”
Lawrence laughed. “Who’d be stupid enough to attack them?”
Sorin’s expression turned cold. “The Nighthawks. It appears that the organization recently experienced a bit of a shakeup. Gareth is one of the new top dogs, and it appears he’s rather zealous in his pursuits.”