The plague of the mages spread among the priest. What spread it is unknown, but we know it didn’t happen overnight. It became a problem when the priest holding a mass on a Sunday morning started screaming litanies and prayers as they take their skin off.
Kei took me to where the mass happened. You can still the blood of the priest at the center of the altar, creating a distinct outline on the floor. I can smell it. That tang of blood in the flood and in the air. No amount of chemicals could wash it off.
Kei takes a picture of the altar. She looked around, inspected the area, and then made notes. She took a charm she bought from a Mage and then threw it on the altar where there’s no reaction at all. The questions to ask remained the same. What is causing this? We know it ‘corrodes’ those who are going through it. They feel as if it fills their insides with acid, causing them to flay themselves. It leaves no trace. It jumps from one victim to another without a symptom.
“This is really a mess, isn’t it?”
The mass that took place here made news. Every headline was about this and it’s even more bad in other places. Other than that, there are even idiots capitalizing on it. ‘If you are pure, you cannot get it’ and opinions were that only the impure one’s skin themselves.
“It’s funny because the scumbags are always somewhat doing this.”
Kei pointed out. She circled around the altar before scratching her head in irritation.
“This is irritating so far. See, my assistant, is why I hate dealing with the magical side of things.”
“Says the Anomalist.”
We were always chasing after the anomalist. She thought differently and lifted a finger.
“We are chasing after the anomaly. Not investigating their ways. And we don’t cross with the magical side of things.”
I noticed that too. We refer to ‘professionals’ when we can and get their opinions, too. Even when we’re in Alonzo, most of the time we remain purely on collecting data and barely interfered. Not to mention, we collect more data than investigate. We go the extra mile for data sometimes, but Kei doesn’t poke. I believe she’s extra careful now, too. With what happened in Vultan, she doesn’t take unnecessary risk without a stronger muscle like Eta around.
Kei learns, and she’s extra cautious too. I’ve no complaints about it. I’m no coward, I’d fight, but it doesn’t I have to find some trouble either.
“Hey, we should pray.”
“Do you even pray?”
“Of course, if God exists, then why not pray?”
“Sounds like you just want to. Hard to be a believer in this line of work.”
She contemplated it seriously, before shrugging. I really hope God doesn’t see our blasphemous ways and smite us from his throne in heaven. Kei take the equipment she laid on the altar and packed it inside her dimenbag. We left the church. On our way to the service station. We saw a priest holding a bible praying to God, attracting the attention of the believers.
Inside the train we were noticing the amount of citizens watching news related to this and it came to me how big this news was. It’s not unusual to hear news about some new disease or some malfunction in the softwares of cybernetics. But one involving magic or the clergy was unusual even in our standards. There’s also a problem if this disease, this plague, isn’t just available for the priests and mages. One speculation out in the forums is that this may evolve and eventually the citizens will have to deal with this problem as well.
It’s reasonable to assume it too. Kei told me she thinks this affliction will spread to the citizens as well. She reasoned out the mage and priests have stronger resistance than us they could resist it. If the affliction comes to those who didn’t have resistance. They’ll skin themselves immediately. The plague was unreasonable and what bothered the globe the most was how undetectable the affliction was. Even hexes, curses, and spells leave traces. But this one doesn’t. Physical examination showed only results of what happened after skinning himself and even brain footages which includes all the sensations of being skinned alive by their own pair of hands, showed no result. What we noticed, however, was how the plague affected those who didn’t have cybernetics. One of the machine-worshipping sects, specifically the cult of Deus Machina, had one of their priests skinned themselves. Difference was that he survived because what he shed was only his synthetic skin. His artificial organs suffered, but after replacing his innards, changing his skin to another. The priest survived and was now under the bureau’s hands after they learned what happened. We didn’t get to him first, so interviewed the sect until we got enough data. Kei did most of the interview when I was with Aidan, so I didn’t know how it went and how Kei coaxed them into talking. All she told me how was annoying they were and how rabid their belief was in cybernetics.
So other than the priest from the Deus Machina cult. We have no lead. Not a single damn thing other than the one who survived. Leading us to roam the city without a damn clue of what to do next. It’s an unusual affliction and even they started thinking how long it would last, or would it become a common one? Others theorize it’s a backlash, but it’s too instantaneous, too unpredictable, and there are no signs of it. It may be negative of me, but when dealing with cases like this. It feels like you’re looking at a pure black void, trying to squint your eyes, hoping you can see something. Maybe a dot of light you can follow. But in this case, we can only afford guesswork and deductions without solid foundations backing said guesses. I guess we got used to the anomalies showing themselves brazenly that when an actual subtle one comes out. We’re left with a mystery we can’t put a finger on. I told Kei what I thought, and she just smiled and gave me the bird.
It was afternoon. It was around 2 PM when we got an unusual visitor. Unusual that he rarely contacts us unless he has something we need. Matt, the Tech-lich we’re cooperating, visited. Matt, as usual, was intimidating enough for me to take the safety of my blade and revved up my Castor and reach out for my Pollux. The Tech-lich seemed to think of it as an honor. His quick and easy smile was always uncanny. He had that artificial look and although there were surely better ways to conceal his artificial appearance. Matt did not care. He was the kind who’d remind you how different he was. Kei eyed Matt and deduced.
“You want to learn about what happened to Deus Machina, priest?”
“Astute, as always, Miss Kei Ma. Indeed, after a few birds, it came to me coincidentally that you two have information on this. I find it fascinating that you two seemed to gravitate towards cases like this. Then again, the matter of anomalies has no limits.”
“So this interests you, Mr. Matt?”
Kei uploaded the data without a fuss. Matt’s one of our few partners who asked a little and yet contributes to our office more than enough. Honestly, most of our network, our databases were semi-configured by Matt. I had no reason to believe he didn’t leave a backdoor, but for a Tech-Lich, he had the patience. Technically, this man was immortal, he’s a Tech-lich and time was merely as inconvenient as replacing his parts or upgrading for a better software.
“It interests me. A virus… a plague… whatever it is causing a ruckus. I shall confess, my collaborators. I had succumbed to this disease a long time ago.”
The bombshell dropped loudly. Kei inwardly groaned, crossed her arms, and remained rationally.
“Do you have proof?”
“Transferring the record. I hope you keep this as a secret. I am trusting you in this.”
Kei and I received diagnosis data from Matt. What shook me wasn’t the data, but how old Matt had become a tech-lich. In fact, this man had achieved mind transference at 2030 when his body suffered spontaneous flaying. Leaving us to wonder why he was after information on the Deus Machina priest when he should have more data.
“Why go after this when you seemed to have already experienced this?”
Matt chuckled.
“It is best if I can refer to other data. Having more data means I can analyze what went wrong.”
“So what went wrong?”
Matt raised his artificial face. My hand went to my Castor again. Something was off about him and it bothered me to my core. Kei, who skimmed through the diagnosis data, looked at Matt with horror.
“Body transference did not get rid of the affliction. Once afflicted, it did not go away.”
Matt nodded mechanically.
“I have transferred myself to vat-grown clones fifteen times. I suspected I could evade this affliction, but it clung to me. As you know, my collaborators, those who have a soul, no matter what body they inhabit, keep their soul as long as their ego remained. EGO itself is the chain that keeps our soul to the body we choose. I’m sure you’ve heard of certain studies that dispute this. But this affliction, this continuous flaying, has made me realize we keep our soul despite transference.”
“Are there data that supports this?”
“I am a living proof of it, Miss Kei Ma. I have tried to duplicate myself through certain methods and yet I found my clones mindless… they are soulless and without ego.”
“Or they’re simply not done right. Perfect copies exist.”
“And yet they are soulless. Meat automatons that don’t think as we do. They behave in patterns, act based on what we programmed them to do. Even the best sex dolls, copies of those who you want to bed, are nothing more than inferior copies.”
It may sound like he had a bias against clones. But it was not hate. It seemed to be out of pure observation. Matt raised his artificial head and thought.
“But do not mistake my observations to certainty. Assuming that I am correct is pure foolishness, and I think looking at the data I gave you. You’d understand.”
Kei compared the data to the priest’s data.
“He did not have a full-body cybernetic. He did not suffer further flaying. I am surprised you got this. So you’re here to get the complete story.”
“And the observations you made are quite helpful. This is a curse. A curse I have to endure for decades. It surprised me how this spread again. Back then, this was simply a disease we thought we’ve gotten rid before.”
“Let me guess. The Bureau covered it up so we don’t notice?”
“They have to. If people learned how, it flays mages and priests. They would have not been so eager to learn magic. We wouldn’t have corporations who specialize in the magic of all things. We needed the mastery of supernatural and so we covered it up.”
Kei holds a hand up.
“You’re taking us into places we can get into trouble.”
“Miss Kei Ma. I know your agreements with the Bureau that even Sato doesn’t know. In fact, I’m surprised no one asked how they are so cooperative.”
“No one questions in this city.”
Kei smiled without a trace of worry. Matt adjusted his body and straightened his back.
“Indeed. We covered it up. Made sure it will keep the mages interested and not relent. Hmm, I’m sure you youngsters are familiar with the Twelve Demis?”
“Of course. I don’t think there is no one who didn’t hear.”
“Famous, they are, but what everyone remembered about them was Demis themselves.”
“What are you on about?”
“The 12 Demis resisted the flaying. To resist the flaying, they ascended themselves and warped reality to an extent that the very nature of things changed. Some even believes that the last Demi’s death would revert the world back to normal.”
“I don’t get it.”
“There’s a theory we are in the dreams of the twelve Demis. A shared dream where we are in their nightmare until we kill off the last Demi.”
“How is this connected?” Kei asked seriously. “I understand the Demis ascended to escape the flaying, but what’s this about theory?”
Matt blinked and then nodded. He trailed off.
“What I’m getting at is that Demis would have spread the flaying. But the case was that they themselves wanted to ascend in the first place, and they got the idea they want to cannibalize each other. They fed on their flayed remains and it became a ritual of death. Unfortunately, they didn’t expect that a Slayer would appear.”
Kei beamed. “You’re talking about him?”
“The Nameless, the Tearer of Flesh, and the one who slaughtered the first monsters. The Lich Eater. They called him many names, but we haven’t really learned who he was. He was a man who didn’t boast about his name and merely slayed. But most know him as the Pale Magus.”
This time, Kei did not understand.
“And how does this relate?”
Matt smiled with that uncanny face of his.
“He was the only one who escaped the flaying.”
karsev Thanks for reading!
Please don't forget to share and add this to your library!
The plague of the mages spread among the priest. What spread it is unknown, but we know it didn’t happen overnight. It became a problem when the priest holding a mass on a Sunday morning started screaming litanies and prayers as they take their skin off.
Kei took me to where the mass happened. You can still the blood of the priest at the center of the altar, creating a distinct outline on the floor. I can smell it. That tang of blood in the flood and in the air. No amount of chemicals could wash it off.
Kei takes a picture of the altar. She looked around, inspected the area, and then made notes. She took a charm she bought from a Mage and then threw it on the altar where there’s no reaction at all. The questions to ask remained the same. What is causing this? We know it ‘corrodes’ those who are going through it. They feel as if it fills their insides with acid, causing them to flay themselves. It leaves no trace. It jumps from one victim to another without a symptom.
“This is really a mess, isn’t it?”
The mass that took place here made news. Every headline was about this and it’s even more bad in other places. Other than that, there are even idiots capitalizing on it. ‘If you are pure, you cannot get it’ and opinions were that only the impure one’s skin themselves.
“It’s funny because the scumbags are always somewhat doing this.”
Kei pointed out. She circled around the altar before scratching her head in irritation.
“This is irritating so far. See, my assistant, is why I hate dealing with the magical side of things.”
“Says the Anomalist.”
We were always chasing after the anomalist. She thought differently and lifted a finger.
“We are chasing after the anomaly. Not investigating their ways. And we don’t cross with the magical side of things.”
I noticed that too. We refer to ‘professionals’ when we can and get their opinions, too. Even when we’re in Alonzo, most of the time we remain purely on collecting data and barely interfered. Not to mention, we collect more data than investigate. We go the extra mile for data sometimes, but Kei doesn’t poke. I believe she’s extra careful now, too. With what happened in Vultan, she doesn’t take unnecessary risk without a stronger muscle like Eta around.
Kei learns, and she’s extra cautious too. I’ve no complaints about it. I’m no coward, I’d fight, but it doesn’t I have to find some trouble either.
“Hey, we should pray.”
“Do you even pray?”
“Of course, if God exists, then why not pray?”
“Sounds like you just want to. Hard to be a believer in this line of work.”
She contemplated it seriously, before shrugging. I really hope God doesn’t see our blasphemous ways and smite us from his throne in heaven. Kei take the equipment she laid on the altar and packed it inside her dimenbag. We left the church. On our way to the service station. We saw a priest holding a bible praying to God, attracting the attention of the believers.
Inside the train we were noticing the amount of citizens watching news related to this and it came to me how big this news was. It’s not unusual to hear news about some new disease or some malfunction in the softwares of cybernetics. But one involving magic or the clergy was unusual even in our standards. There’s also a problem if this disease, this plague, isn’t just available for the priests and mages. One speculation out in the forums is that this may evolve and eventually the citizens will have to deal with this problem as well.
It’s reasonable to assume it too. Kei told me she thinks this affliction will spread to the citizens as well. She reasoned out the mage and priests have stronger resistance than us they could resist it. If the affliction comes to those who didn’t have resistance. They’ll skin themselves immediately. The plague was unreasonable and what bothered the globe the most was how undetectable the affliction was. Even hexes, curses, and spells leave traces. But this one doesn’t. Physical examination showed only results of what happened after skinning himself and even brain footages which includes all the sensations of being skinned alive by their own pair of hands, showed no result. What we noticed, however, was how the plague affected those who didn’t have cybernetics. One of the machine-worshipping sects, specifically the cult of Deus Machina, had one of their priests skinned themselves. Difference was that he survived because what he shed was only his synthetic skin. His artificial organs suffered, but after replacing his innards, changing his skin to another. The priest survived and was now under the bureau’s hands after they learned what happened. We didn’t get to him first, so interviewed the sect until we got enough data. Kei did most of the interview when I was with Aidan, so I didn’t know how it went and how Kei coaxed them into talking. All she told me how was annoying they were and how rabid their belief was in cybernetics.
So other than the priest from the Deus Machina cult. We have no lead. Not a single damn thing other than the one who survived. Leading us to roam the city without a damn clue of what to do next. It’s an unusual affliction and even they started thinking how long it would last, or would it become a common one? Others theorize it’s a backlash, but it’s too instantaneous, too unpredictable, and there are no signs of it. It may be negative of me, but when dealing with cases like this. It feels like you’re looking at a pure black void, trying to squint your eyes, hoping you can see something. Maybe a dot of light you can follow. But in this case, we can only afford guesswork and deductions without solid foundations backing said guesses. I guess we got used to the anomalies showing themselves brazenly that when an actual subtle one comes out. We’re left with a mystery we can’t put a finger on. I told Kei what I thought, and she just smiled and gave me the bird.
It was afternoon. It was around 2 PM when we got an unusual visitor. Unusual that he rarely contacts us unless he has something we need. Matt, the Tech-lich we’re cooperating, visited. Matt, as usual, was intimidating enough for me to take the safety of my blade and revved up my Castor and reach out for my Pollux. The Tech-lich seemed to think of it as an honor. His quick and easy smile was always uncanny. He had that artificial look and although there were surely better ways to conceal his artificial appearance. Matt did not care. He was the kind who’d remind you how different he was. Kei eyed Matt and deduced.
“You want to learn about what happened to Deus Machina, priest?”
“Astute, as always, Miss Kei Ma. Indeed, after a few birds, it came to me coincidentally that you two have information on this. I find it fascinating that you two seemed to gravitate towards cases like this. Then again, the matter of anomalies has no limits.”
“So this interests you, Mr. Matt?”
Kei uploaded the data without a fuss. Matt’s one of our few partners who asked a little and yet contributes to our office more than enough. Honestly, most of our network, our databases were semi-configured by Matt. I had no reason to believe he didn’t leave a backdoor, but for a Tech-Lich, he had the patience. Technically, this man was immortal, he’s a Tech-lich and time was merely as inconvenient as replacing his parts or upgrading for a better software.
“It interests me. A virus… a plague… whatever it is causing a ruckus. I shall confess, my collaborators. I had succumbed to this disease a long time ago.”
The bombshell dropped loudly. Kei inwardly groaned, crossed her arms, and remained rationally.
“Do you have proof?”
“Transferring the record. I hope you keep this as a secret. I am trusting you in this.”
Kei and I received diagnosis data from Matt. What shook me wasn’t the data, but how old Matt had become a tech-lich. In fact, this man had achieved mind transference at 2030 when his body suffered spontaneous flaying. Leaving us to wonder why he was after information on the Deus Machina priest when he should have more data.
“Why go after this when you seemed to have already experienced this?”
Matt chuckled.
“It is best if I can refer to other data. Having more data means I can analyze what went wrong.”
“So what went wrong?”
Matt raised his artificial face. My hand went to my Castor again. Something was off about him and it bothered me to my core. Kei, who skimmed through the diagnosis data, looked at Matt with horror.
“Body transference did not get rid of the affliction. Once afflicted, it did not go away.”
Matt nodded mechanically.
“I have transferred myself to vat-grown clones fifteen times. I suspected I could evade this affliction, but it clung to me. As you know, my collaborators, those who have a soul, no matter what body they inhabit, keep their soul as long as their ego remained. EGO itself is the chain that keeps our soul to the body we choose. I’m sure you’ve heard of certain studies that dispute this. But this affliction, this continuous flaying, has made me realize we keep our soul despite transference.”
“Are there data that supports this?”
“I am a living proof of it, Miss Kei Ma. I have tried to duplicate myself through certain methods and yet I found my clones mindless… they are soulless and without ego.”
“Or they’re simply not done right. Perfect copies exist.”
“And yet they are soulless. Meat automatons that don’t think as we do. They behave in patterns, act based on what we programmed them to do. Even the best sex dolls, copies of those who you want to bed, are nothing more than inferior copies.”
It may sound like he had a bias against clones. But it was not hate. It seemed to be out of pure observation. Matt raised his artificial head and thought.
“But do not mistake my observations to certainty. Assuming that I am correct is pure foolishness, and I think looking at the data I gave you. You’d understand.”
Kei compared the data to the priest’s data.
“He did not have a full-body cybernetic. He did not suffer further flaying. I am surprised you got this. So you’re here to get the complete story.”
“And the observations you made are quite helpful. This is a curse. A curse I have to endure for decades. It surprised me how this spread again. Back then, this was simply a disease we thought we’ve gotten rid before.”
“Let me guess. The Bureau covered it up so we don’t notice?”
“They have to. If people learned how, it flays mages and priests. They would have not been so eager to learn magic. We wouldn’t have corporations who specialize in the magic of all things. We needed the mastery of supernatural and so we covered it up.”
Kei holds a hand up.
“You’re taking us into places we can get into trouble.”
“Miss Kei Ma. I know your agreements with the Bureau that even Sato doesn’t know. In fact, I’m surprised no one asked how they are so cooperative.”
“No one questions in this city.”
Kei smiled without a trace of worry. Matt adjusted his body and straightened his back.
“Indeed. We covered it up. Made sure it will keep the mages interested and not relent. Hmm, I’m sure you youngsters are familiar with the Twelve Demis?”
“Of course. I don’t think there is no one who didn’t hear.”
“Famous, they are, but what everyone remembered about them was Demis themselves.”
“What are you on about?”
“The 12 Demis resisted the flaying. To resist the flaying, they ascended themselves and warped reality to an extent that the very nature of things changed. Some even believes that the last Demi’s death would revert the world back to normal.”
“I don’t get it.”
“There’s a theory we are in the dreams of the twelve Demis. A shared dream where we are in their nightmare until we kill off the last Demi.”
“How is this connected?” Kei asked seriously. “I understand the Demis ascended to escape the flaying, but what’s this about theory?”
Matt blinked and then nodded. He trailed off.
“What I’m getting at is that Demis would have spread the flaying. But the case was that they themselves wanted to ascend in the first place, and they got the idea they want to cannibalize each other. They fed on their flayed remains and it became a ritual of death. Unfortunately, they didn’t expect that a Slayer would appear.”
Kei beamed. “You’re talking about him?”
“The Nameless, the Tearer of Flesh, and the one who slaughtered the first monsters. The Lich Eater. They called him many names, but we haven’t really learned who he was. He was a man who didn’t boast about his name and merely slayed. But most know him as the Pale Magus.”
This time, Kei did not understand.
“And how does this relate?”
Matt smiled with that uncanny face of his.
“He was the only one who escaped the flaying.”
karsev Thanks for reading!
Please don't forget to share and add this to your library!
