Meanwhile, inside the Mintaka Healing Campus, the air was thick with the sound of agonizing cries and the rhythmic twitching of muscles. The stench of necrotic wounds hung heavy, drifting through the halls like the breath of the living dead. Davina Hebronor stood amidst the chaos, gripping her cruciform staff.
"Stop that screaming at once. Your wailing is deafening," she commanded the patients, her eyes igniting with a sharp, emerald glow.
"Davina, it looks like the other side has begun... do you really think the Thallerion healers can treat this?" asked a Cyprioxian woman, her voice trembling. "We have no idea what kind of magic or curse is afflicting these soldiers."
Davina's jaw tightened. "Are you losing your nerve? They are mere novices; do not fret. This is nothing more than a virus permeating the cells... we simply need to refine our power to pulverize these microscopic pathogens."
The doors swung open, and a young man entered. He wore a floor-length white robe cinched at the waist with a simple cord, clutching a scroll in his hand. "I am Coventher. I have come to warn you: the AS-Myrmex virus is extremely volatile."
"Coventher?"
"According to the research of the High-Ranking Religious Healers, this is neither magic nor a curse," he explained, causing Davina's brow to furrow deeper. "It is an anti-celestial gene. It requires microscopic precision to neutralize what we call the Myrmex virus."
"Why is this report only arriving now?" Davina asked sourly. "Don't tell me you reported this to the Thallerion officials before bringing it to me?"
"I have just arrived from Cypriox after three days of travel, and the guards mentioned you were in the middle of a competition," Coventher's voice echoed with authority. "Listen to me... this is no joke. It is a biological threat. The lives and the celestial powers of these patients are in our hands."
He took a breath, trying to steady the tension. I don't have time to argue with her; I need everyone's cooperation.
"Fine," Davina conceded. "If that's the case, tell us: how do we erase this virus?"
"Listen, everyone... we may lack specialized 'tool abilities,' but that does not mean we cannot destroy the virus's Mother Cell," Coventher declared. As a student of the priesthood and a representative of religious healing, his expertise was unique. "First, we need Molecular Vision to locate the gathering hub where the celestial genes are being siphoned. Only then can we strike with high-density energy needles."
"That is easily done," Davina replied. "The entity of the Crux will grant us the cellular vision required to see the epicenter of the infection." She whispered to her cross, her mind channeling a light that seemed to stretch into the distance. She recited a mental orison: "Lux Crucis, veritas in tenebris, aperi oculos nostros ad mundum invisibilem." (Light of the Cross, truth in the darkness, open our eyes to the invisible world.)
A white holographic light flickered into existence, displaying the prompt: 'SCAN THE PATIENT.' Their staves began to glow like torches in the dim room. "Aim your staves at the patients' bodies!" Davina ordered.
Coventher donned his Rotating Microscopic Lenses. "Second, you must use these shards to constrict the flow of your healing energy." He reached into a small satchel, producing crystal shards that clattered onto the floor.
"Why use shards of glass?" Davina asked, picking up a hard crystal that emitted a faint blue luminescence. They shimmered, smelling of incense mixed with sulfur.
"If you pour raw healing energy directly into microscopic cells and tissues, you will incinerate the patient's body. These shards act as focal points, ensuring the energy bypasses healthy flesh and hits only the contaminated areas," Coventher explained. "Listen, Davina, I'm not here for your personal games. I am here to stop the virus created by Dr. Ophiuchus—left unchecked, it will cause mass Genetic Silence."
"And why did you take so long? We sent samples to Cypriox for analysis ages ago, and only now do we get an answer? That is not my fault," Davina retorted, slamming her staff down. "That is the fault of the Association of Higher Religious Healers."
"Regardless... you should not have decided to treat soldiers struck by the stinger without understanding the virus's traits." Davina merely scoffed. "I am going to the other side to check on Xurien's team," Coventher added, leaving her with a sharp grunt of annoyance.
On the other side of the campus, the atmosphere was markedly calmer. The patients looked as though a great weight was being lifted from their hearts. "Xurien, I heard the genius student Coventher is in the other ward. He's a prodigy, known for his inventions," a Blue Healer remarked.
"I met him once in Cypriox," Xurien replied, her fingers moving gracefully as filaments of pure white energy pierced the skin of a patient with decaying wounds. "I heard that once he passes his healing training and mastery of the Crux doctrine, he will be crowned King of the Northern Region of Cypriox—the First Church."
"Do you think we'll lose if he sides with Davina's group?" a Green Healer asked, clutching her notebook while watching Xurien intently.
"Don't focus on that. What matters is saving these soldiers from certain death." Xurien paused her scan and looked at the Blue Healer. "Chalthrea, help me visualize my Molecular Vision so everyone can see the Myrmex virus clearly."
"Understood." Chalthrea placed her hands on Xurien's temples, and a blue holographic screen materialized in the air. Xurien projected her vision onto the display for analysis.
"Gaeia, I need your Herbal Cabinets," Xurien requested. Her Molecular Vision tunneled through the patient's veins and cells. They watched the blood rushing through capillaries and microscopic cells moving in real-time. Then, they spotted it: a black cell with a distinct heptagonal shape.
"Here they are, Xurien... manifesting the cabinets now." Gaeia's hands glowed green. The air seemed to solidify as green holograms morphed into physical cabinets filled with specialized medicinal plants. "Its shape is bizarre. This isn't a simple virus. I see why it's called 'Myrmex' now... it behaves like an ant."
The door opened, and a man radiating stability walked in. Everyone turned, struck by his presence—his thick, kind brows and soft smile. It was Coventher.
"Friend Xurien, I am glad you identified the true nature of the virus so quickly. But I bring grim news... this virus is harvesting celestial genes."
The healers gasped. "We must destroy the Mother Cell immediately before it evolves into its adult winged form, similar to an insect," Coventher warned.
"A flying insect?" They whispered in horror.
"If the patient cannot withstand the Myrmex infection, it is fatal. Even if we cure them, they will suffer 'Genetic Silence.' This means they will be unable to activate their celestial genes for five years or more, based on our research."
"I see the Mother Cell!" Xurien cried out. Blood began to trickle from her eyes and nose from the sheer strain of the energy required to maintain the vision, yet she remained calm, listening to Coventher. She swept through the network of neurons. The virus was beginning to form a crystalline structure, its camouflage failing as it grew to the size of a thumbnail, perched directly over the patient's heart.
"Friend Xurien, do not overexert yourself! If you use raw power, the Mother Cell will simply consume it. Use this shard," Coventher urged, his eyes fixed on the screen.
"No, I'm alright. Do not worry about me," Xurien wheezed, wiping the blood from her eyes with a white handkerchief. "Coventher, can you synthesize a serum using these plants?"
Coventher nodded vigorously, examining the cabinets. "Ophiocordyceps?" His eyes widened in admiration. "And Cuscuta—the Dodder plant."
"Xurien, rest for a moment... we will handle the Mother Cell," Chalthrea said. She began laying out the centrifuges, specialized beakers, and high-precision titration apparatus for the serum synthesis. "Is this laboratory equipment sufficient, Coventher?"
"Yes! Thallerion blood truly is remarkable at crafting the tools of science and medicine." Coventher smiled.
***
Hoooooonk!!!!
Three consecutive blown of a trumpet. All the soldiers in Thallerion rushing and preparing. Meanwhile, in the Thallerion's border, there was shadowy presence writhed between the towering mountains, rushing through the valley, cloaked by a cunny thrifty fog.— Screeeech!
The piercing blare of a Thallerion soldier's trumpet tore through the mist, its defiant echo reverberating through the very heart of the mountains. Then, a rhythmic thud approached—not one, but a legion!
The Queen of Thallerion, Queen Xurien Wrez, while she was reading an inscription about the holy scripture of Cyprioxian, she heard the incoming sounds, rumbling between the two mountains, yet, her son Prince Xerxez still not at home, I'm worried.
The queen stood, and walked toward the corridor, watching, as the king and the soldiers, were busy, identifying the object in the borderline. And I'm worried too, those crawling things hiding beneath the shadow haze, might be an infested soul. Perhaps, possessed by Entity?
"My king, what that sound??"
The queen approached to the king in protruding corridor borrowing a telescope too. When she saw the rushing reporter. She noticed the unexplainable worries on her husband's face.
"If you find the boy, tell him, hide." The king stared first, to the queen, as his face laced with worries then he immediately meet a reporter, upon the queen nodded at him. Those objects moving on the valley looks strange. The king thought heavily.
"Was it a crawling reptilian... moving in a grim unison?" King Cerceux stood on the upper floor in the Thallerion palace. His eye in the telescope still puzzled by the presence of unknown things moving in the distance. "Are they Lacerta people?" The king presumed.
"We weren't so sure, the gatekeeper was confused too." The reporter said, his voice laced with dread.
The king of Thallerion, thought it was a reptilian mountain-beast or the nuisance Thavizarus, but in the blurry, foggy valley, there was a murmuring, mammalian growled. Confirmed otherwise. Then, from the swirling mists of the colossal flock, bearded legs stood, clumsy, chubby-bellied beast. Its sharp claws poke at the mountain's foot—a fatted beast, covered in soft fur and feathers, unequivocally quadrupedal!
"Oh… are those the Abyssal Beasts, my King?" the knight asked, voice unsteady. "Have they truly returned—in this age?"
The king's expression darkened. "Tell me, my Queen—what do you make of this? Do you know anything of the creature that draws near?"
The queen's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "According to the Book of Histories, the Abyssal Beasts ceased to exist after the disappearance of the Orion Entity. Their essence was bound to his presence; once he vanished, so too did they, erased from the mortal realm." She paused, troubled, her voice lowering. "For them to reappear now defies every record and reason. Something... or someone... has disturbed the balance."
"I suspect the Thavizarus may be behind the disturbance, though nothing is certain yet. Still, we cannot ignore what is already before us — the rivers have been overrun, and our fishermen suffer. The waters grow foul, and disease spreads among the fish. Whether or not the lizard clans are to blame, we must act swiftly. Strengthen our patrols and send word to the river watch. Until we uncover the truth, we must treat every sign as a warning."
But one of the river watchers reported seeing a flock of lizards near the water," the messenger said, voice cautious. "They appeared to be… children, as he confirmed it, it was a Thavizarus children."
The queen's breath caught. "Oh gods… our boy. Do you think they've taken him? Dragged him across the border to bargain for ransom?" Her voice trembled, suspicion spilling into dread.
The king's eyes hardened. His reply was steady, carved from cold conviction. "No. Our son would not disobey me. He knows the weight of my word… he would not cross the border."
"Wait a minute, the growl become silent....the rumbling thud, become calm... what's happening?" The queen wondered as they notice the sudden paused of the rumbling sounds.
It blinked, and like tear drops that vanishing into verdant fogs , the grotesque, visceral beast dissolved, its bestial shadow shrunken and consumed by pollen-flakes. Then, BOOM! The clang of metallic, rhythmic planks and blades, resounded, shattering the eerie silence. Then, the aftershocks of the beastly growl, the thud of the hooves, appeared too.
"BEHOLD! All of you, Citizens of Thallerion!"
"Who is that shouting?" What are they wearing? The queen said, holding a telescope. The queen was worried as he heard something familiar shout, written on the books of the Constellar Myths. That sounds! It look like ...ah.
"It's a vanguard!" The king replied.
"Wait? Where did the mammalian, growl go? It disappeared? I thought, it was a beast?"
Those arrogant people standing in the border line as if they were wolves ready to attack, while all the districts were stunned by their sudden appearance after the growled disappeared, like Cassowaries who was preparing for a strike, alerting, vigilantly watching every movement of this group of people in the borderline, but the queen laught sarcastically in front of king Cerceux. "Look, they are too fat....that clumsy chubby bellied-warriors, what are they doing here?" She amazed with a hint of suprise.
"See their war-fashion?" The queen helped to identify the visitors. "They were wearing white armor...with crescent shaped... feathery. Bulbous chariots? Like onion... bulb...? Then, clean milky frostbite horses—is that a Moonatorian?" The queen eye clearly seen the figure in the border using the telescope. Moonatorian? That's it, I heard that name in the Book of Constellar Mights.
"Aye, my queen… they are indeed Moonatorians," the king answered, his tone low but steady. He slid fresh bullets into the pistol with deliberate care, each click echoing like a vow. At last, this weapon may serve its true purpose, he mused, a grim spark of courage flickering beneath his doubt. If their kind dares test us, let steel and powder speak where words cannot..
The Moonatorians stood, valorous, clad in moonlit-feathery armor. They glinted toward the hazy valley like a crescent moon ascending in the dusky, icy mountains, like ominous stormy flakes revealing cantankerous, yet bladed men.
"It was human, not beastly!" the queen declared, her voice ringing with authority, as if her words could command the truth itself. Yet as the silence settled, her shoulders eased, the steel in her eyes softening. A breath shuddered from her lips. "Thank the heavens… my son was not kidnapped. So, this is not the Thavizarus afterall, they are indeed Moonatorians."
"what on earth they were here for?" The king also said. His brows sharply touches his forehead. "Come with me, my queen, let's meet them."
The queen and King Cerceux, arrived in the border line to greet this unexpected visitor. "I heard the name Moonatoria before, I heard about this people, they said, the legend once said, they have power from entity?" The queen said as the king drove the chariot with four black horses.
"Me too… I am uncertain of it," the king murmured, his voice heavy with doubt. His gaze drifted past the crowd, narrowing at the grotesque shapes of the obese warriors lurking behind. "What sort of bloodline do they keep veiled from us?"
The queen's eyes sharpened, her words edged with quiet venom. "Whatever it is, its presence sickens me. They stand here cloaked in shadows, and still I feel it—their very being is unwelcome in my sight."
"Prepare yourselves, oh Citizens of Thallerion, you, an innocent and forgotten country, perhaps the lowest nation with no Constellar-protector! Without Orion's help, winning is impossible!" The Moonatorian's vanguard shouting from a far.
"How dare you!!!" The king forehead was furrowed, and his jaw tightened strongly, when the vanguard declared.
"Such a bully vanguard!!" Her biting tongue striking like a viper. "Hmph, he really think we are scared of their presence? He think, Thallerion— is the lowest nation?" Her gaze was sharply pointed at the vanguard face.
Now, the phalanx of masculine, lion-hearted men, with corn-silk hair, curled like an apron on their chests. Their brute waists, ornamented with swords and pistols, stood upheld at the Thallerion border.
"STOP!" A loud, yet dignified, shout from a Thallerion gate-keeper soldier echoed through the Moonatoria Vanguard's ears. A low murmur rippled through their ranks.
"That's great, they must not come to pass in the border line, such a bully...we must rebuke them!" But suprisingly, the voice of their gate-keeper, amazed the queen, after the flocks of Moonatoria, stop. The Queen head showed authority upon the arrival of the Moonatorians.
"Moonatoria. What vile spirits drive you to this place? To stand here without our consent… such arrogance." Her tone was ice laced with venom, a queen's displeasure thinly veiled.
"King and Queen...of...Thallerion!" The vanguard stood , etched with a bitter smile, with low guttural, hinted with malice. "Presenting to you, My honorable king, the crown breaker, most powerful among kings. Killer of forty-three kings."
"Such an evil king! Killing such number of kings, was undeniably, wicked, merciless conqueror!" The queen said clutching her chest. "Where is that King?" Her head searching a face of Moonatoria's king among the Moonatorians retinue.
They can't see who among of them was the king of Moonatoria, but perhaps, in the bulbed-onion detached on the wheels, ten men, slaves, chained, and lifted the golden canopy chariot, like onion bulb. Inside, one chubby bellied man, clad in silvery silk, belted with many decorative weapons, no doubts, he is the king, seated lazily.
"Behold… King Hedromus. Lord of Moonatoria. Conqueror… and perhaps, today… executioner."
"Ow, he is too undeniably obese, how can a man like him, kill 43 kings? Well, not to judge by the appearance, he—" Her impulse hinted with teased, then she laughed. "Hahaha...look at his belly? Is that a balloon? He actually a neckless, conqueror!"
At the selfsame hour, as the Queen echoing infront of the Thallerion soldiers, the king of Moonatoria lips etched with curved line. His eyes, stare at the queen with cold gazed. He snorted with a displeasure.
"Listen, everyone.... today...my king Hedromus... give you a chance to live. He wanted to offer you a spare life....surrender this land to him... and follow our mighty Constellar Protector."
"hah, what an idiot!!" The king shouting.
"Moonatorians, our land Thallerion is not accepting king. I believed all of you were infested by an unknown Constellar entity!" The queen tone was loud and firm, then she breathes. "Unless, the king of Moonatoria come here to build a better alliance."
The Queen, her crescent robes flowing, bestowed an unwelcome greeting upon the visitors. The Moonatoria nation, its familiar furrowed brow turned toward Thallerion's defiant head.
"Well, the Orion here in Thallerion, neglected his own people, yet, here comes my king, sympathize, give compassion to those, abandoned, forgotten people by their own protector."
"We don't believe you, Orion entity never been neglected us without a reason." The king defensive reaction was like a sharp blade.
"That is exactly what we've come here for." A vanguard of Moonatorians stood, clutching his bearded jaw. "We are here to prove to all of you: If we are going to destroy the very heart of your kingdom—will the Orion entity come and rescue you?"