The Plague Part 1: The Unusual Weed

Zoa was oblivious to the silent brilliance of this chilly autumn day as he meandered through the forest path at a pace laxer than it should have been. Zoa was hungry, he hadn't eaten in a day, and with no money to spare and no idea how to get to the next big city to offer his craft, he had left himself stranded in a country he didn't know how to navigate properly. But relying on luck more than brains worked out for him ever so often. The path he had been walking on for the past few hours ended up in a clearing. In front of him was a village built in, around and on a large beanstalk that grew unusually tall. He had arrived at a small village.

Before the first huts and houses began however, he came upon a bulletin board with several notes of various informative quality on it. There was a particular one that caught his eye. Not a note, but a job offer put out by the local herbalist, promising a small jewel reward. Immediately mesmerized by the idea of finally being able to have a proper meal before bed, Zoa hasted into the town. His youthful appearance turning some heads, but otherwise not causing much commotion, he quickly arrived at a small hut located on one of the beanstalks overgrown roots.

Knocking the door, a middle-aged woman opened. "Down here." Zoa exclaimed with a bright, joyful tone in his voice, waving at her from beneath. She was surprised to see such a short-grown child in front of her door, but saw the paper flapping in his hands was hers. "I haven't seen you around here kid, what do you want?" She responded in a raspy, deep voice that didn't quite match her otherwise very feminine appearance. Explaining that he was there for the job, and getting told that a child couldn't possibly help her, the two quarreled for a bit until Zoa was forced to showcase his magical abilities, forcing her to let him go do what she asked for in the request she put out.

Arriving around the spot he had given him directions towards, Zoa easily spotted the weed soon enough. It was pearl-white and impeccably clean. Some bilious green leaves sprouted out of the growth. Getting to work as soon as possible, Zoa clapped his hands together and began working his magic. A viscous, dark metallic substance with a red hue began swirling between his palms. It multiplied soon enough and began morphing into a peculiar shape that turned out to be a shovel soon enough. It had a particularily long handle, long enough for Zoa to not have to get near the herbs that he was warned about hospitalizing their agressors.

When he approached the first herb, he jammed the oversized shovel into the ground beneath it. That was when his skin began glowing red and a surge of heat emanated from his body. In a flash, Zoa hammered down onto the shovel and blasted open a small hole beneath the weed, earth and debris flying in all directions, with the weed landing just a couple feet away, now detached from the ground that had surrounded it before. Repeating this action a couple more times until no more weed were left, Zoa used the shovel to carry one of the weeds back to beanstalk village. Thanking him for his efforts, but still not quite sure what to think of the young boy, he decided to stay in Beanstalk for the night and enjoy the local inn and everything it had to offer.

After a morning of reckless spending and a pompous breakfast that Zoa had treated himself to, he was well on his way to the next big city. Having asked around for directions, Zoa was pointed towards Clover Town, a small but wealthy city at the outer rim of the forest region. Zoa had already been en route for about four hours when he heard a crackling accompanied by a low-pitched cooing. Unmistakeably coming from a pigeon, an species that was rarely seen around forestry these days, Zoa was slightly befuddled. Looking around to check where the noise was coming from, he just noticed the grey-feathered bird flapping its wings right above him to rest on his shoulders.

On one of its feet a little note was tied. So it was a carrier pigeon with a note for him. He felt a rush of excitement as he fumbled around trying to release the paper from the animal's leg. Ultimately succeeding, he quickly flew over the words. A letter from beanstalk village. The herbalist called back for him immediately, requesting his advice. A subtle grin spread on Zoa's face as he turned on his heel and began marching back where he came from. Something interesting was happening, and he was involved. Delighted by the idea of getting entangled in some sort of conspiracy, he didn't notice himself rushing along. Zoa also didn't notice the cloaked figure tracing his footsteps some fifty feet behind him.

When he arrived in Beanstalk Village, people actually welcomed him back, remembering his presence and his good deed from the day before. Being his usual joyous self, Zoa politely greeted back but otherwise ignored the townsfolk. Quickly arriving back at the herbalist's hut, banging on the door. The middle-aged woman opened the door in a similar manner to last time. She seemed a little dazed and didn't quite know how to deal with the situation. But this time, it was not because of Zoa, but because of the weed that the young-looking boy had brought her. Having followed her into her laboratorium, she showed him how the now-quarantined plant seemingly deteriorated anything it touched.

It was then that Zoa noticed a dark blur rushing past the window. While the unlikely duo was standing before the pearl-white flora embedded into a glass case with various rune-markings on it that prevented the plant from growing out of control, someone was apparently listening in to their conversation. Telling the herbalist that she should just keep talking, Zoa decided to step outside quietly. Going out the front door, but maneuvering into the backyard to the wall where the laboratorium was located, he immediately made eye contact as soon as he turned around the corner.

In a panicked frenzy, the hooded figure tried making a run for it. But without hesitation, Zoa had already molded and forged a small metal hatchet and threw it with all of his might at the stranger. A deafening thud could be heard as the hatchet hit the mysterious stalker square on the back, forcing out a high-pitched screech, likely coming from a female. The window to the laboratorium opened and the herbalist looked on ahead in shock. Demanding to know who this person was, the magus received no answer as the stalker began scurrying ahead. Zoa, not letting up sprinted after her picking up the hatchet on the way.

Following the stranger around corners and the short alleyways of Beanstalk Village, he quickly cornered the fiend. The figures hood had fallen off her head somewhere along the way. It revealed a female that now stared down Zoa. Drawing a rapier from inside her cloak, the woman charged at Zoa attempting to make a run for it. But before she could reach him, Zoa had tossed the hatchet again, this time hitting her on the cheekbone right beneath the eye. She stumbled to the ground and screamed in pain as blood gushed from the wound.

Molding a sword out of thin air, Zoa's relatively neutral facial expression showed no sigh of wincing as the screaming seized. He repeatedly stabbed the stranger down until there was only a mangled body lying in a pile of blood. Whistling when she stopped, he dragged the corpse out of the corner and onto the street. That was when the herbalist finally caught up with him. Wordlessly, she watched Zoa remove some valuables from the corpse's body. Aside from the rapier's hilt and some rations he also found a used match and a silver coin with a skull on the side. Deciding it'd be best to stay around the village for the next couple days, the herbalist took all the evidence for herself. The corpse was burried under no name.

A deafening crack of broken wood reverberated through the inn that caused Zoa to jolt up out of bed. The small room he had decided to spend another night in was on the first floor. Loud screaming of several people could be heard as monstrous growling, barking and the chaotic crunching of wooden furniture being destroyed filled the otherwise so quiet atmosphere. The youthful looking boy had a wide grin on his face as he got dressed quicker than ever and burst out his door to the sound of trampling coming up the stairs.

Standing in the hallway, Zoa was now staring down a wolf grunting and sniveling, preparing to charge Zoa. Conjuring up two swords made of metal, the young boy took the initiative and sprinted towards the pink beast that fell into a similarily vicious sprint. Just a moment before collision, Zoa jumped into a summersault over the canine, simultaneously jabbing both of the blades downwards into the back of the beast that squealed in agony upon Zoa's feet hitting the floor. The wild animal stumbling against walls trying to rid itself of the stakes in its back struggled. It would bleed out from the inside soon enough, and there seemed to be a lot more chaos going on downstairs.

Rushing into the tavern, two wolves had began ravaging the tenant and one of his guests. Seemingly not minding or being greatly bothered by the brutal display of violence before him, Zoa simply conjured up two more blades in his hands and rushed towards the wolves that were busy mauling their victims. Jumping above the first wolf and jamming one blade straight down its neck, severing the spine in the process, it immediately collapsed over the houseguest that didn't have much of a left shoulder to speak of anymore. The second wolf now noticed Zoa and without hesitation extended its neck forward trying to bite the mage.

Instead of flesh however, it bit down on a hunk of metal that was now sticking inside its throat down to the guard that blocked the jaw. Whimpering in unbelievable pain Zoa conjured up a hatchet and slammed it down on the wolf's skull. A crack could be heard, and the animal collapsed similar to its predecessor. Wanting to waste no time reaction to the commotion outside, Zoa burst through the front door and saw chickens, pigs and wolves all chasing down village people causing heaps of screaming, chaos and bloodshed. Feeling right at home, Zoa conjured up another two blades and began rushing through the streets lopping off several chicken heads on his way to assaulting four wolves in a pack that took to circling him as soon as he slashed the first one's thigh.

Now engaged by these five ravenous creatures, one of Zoa's blades morphed into a small shield, just big enough to block an attack with fangs or claws. Two wolves jumped at Zoa in succession. Blocking the first attack with his shield, Zoa was given enough time to strike with his blade at the other one's head that fell down with a loud, high-pitched squeal. The other three immediately attacked. Zoa's skin began glowing red and in one swift motion he dodged the three wolves, following the first one that attacked him with his shield, pushing the animal back and striking into its eye with his blade. Blood gushed out of the wound, and the canine jolted at the pain giving Zoa enough time to stick his blade into the back of its neck immediately killing it.

Turning back to the rest of the wolves, it didn't take long for him to deal lethal damage to them while avoiding damage. That was when he heard a deafening roar coming at him from behind and several loud stomps. A bear was rampaging through the village destroying anything in its way. Zoa managed to just jump out of his way as it stomped through the corpses of wolves he had left behind. Changing the form of his sword into a hatchet, he threw it at the bear striking its inner thigh, causing it to roar. Not in pain however, but in wrath.

Turning to Zoa, who was quite content with how things were turning out and had a bright smile on his face, the beast began running at him, stopping just some three feet before him and rearing itself up on its legs, its paws now crashing down with the full weight of its body aimed at Zoa. Managing to dodgeroll away by a hair, the ground before him breaking up at the sheer strength of the beast, he immediately burst forward again jamming a sword into its skull and using it as a lever to catapult himself skywards and onto the bears back. Finding a grip on its fur, Zoa conjured up sword after sword, keeping his grip on the bear, riding the wild animal like a horse.

It took about a dozen blades jammed into various spots all over the bear's body, but it finally came to collapse dead in its tracks. It was just then that Zoa began noticing the strange appearances of the animals he had killed. They appeared to have been growing funghi colored similarily to the weeds from two days prior. The herbalist came to find him and talked to him about the happenings. He was soon celebrated as a saviour by the townsfolk, something Zoa didn't quite care for much.

Twigs snapped, their sound echoing through the eerily silent forest. The noises one would come to expect to hear from this forest had vanished. In their place were only Zoa's footsteps and a rythmic sinusoidal tone reverberating from a lacrima-powered device Zoa was holding in his hand as he trudged through the scrub. He had been given these by a scientist who traveled all the way from Era, the city of the Magic Council, in an attempt to aid the village in their fight against the toxic flora that had spread here over the past couple weeks.

His mission was to bring back samples of all the different plants the herbalist had spotted and registered. Already having experience with the basic weeds from the first day of this adventure, Zoa skillfully extracted one of them from the ground and placed it in a small quarantined container that would allow him to carry the sample without hurting himself. The second sample was trickier. The vines beneath the weeds were part of the problem and would just continue giving birth to new plants. However, separating the roots only caused them to shrivel up and lose any of their magical essence that the scanning device registered.

Placing it into the container nonetheless, Zoa moved on to the bark of affected trees, breaking some off with a crowbar. The moss on top of the bark turned to ash the moment it was separated, similar to the dying vines beneath the weeds. Finally, Zoa found some algae near a small body of water in the remains of a dead tree trunk. Digging it out with a shovel, he placed it into the container and was already on his way back when he heard a familiar grunting, sniveling snarl coming out of the woodwork. Conjuring up some blades and placing his bag containing the samples and scanning device safely into a tree trunk unaffected by the weeds, Zoa took a battle ready stance.

In the woods, he could move. Swiftly, with agility. He didn't care much for property damage, but a forest was still different terrain. It was more difficult to maneuver, but offered a better fighting ground. On the other hand, this was the wolves' home turf. Two swords appeared in his hand and his skin turned a deep-red. Steam began emanating from his body and Zoa zoomed across the forest floor, towards the wolves. Jumping over one of them, it could only voice a gurgle as the blade pierced its throat from above, causing it to collapse in pain and bleed out. Zoa counted six more. Two of them approached him in a line. It had been a while since he had the chance to use one of his spells.

He voiced "Juzumaru." as brilliant rose colored petals shot out from his forearm towards the two canines. The leading wolf had its side pierced whilst the one following it had its front leg cut and hind leg severed off cleanly, whimpering as they collapsed. Three more approached him from the left, whilst one approached him from the right. Dashing towards the one coming from his right, he sommersaulted over it and pierced its throat just as he had done with the first one. Landing behind the wolf, he waited for the three to approach him. The animals jumped in mid-air, baring fangs, aiming for straight for his jugular. Zoa moved his arms in a crescent motion. A metallic arc-shaped blade appeared before him and severed jaws and front legs in different lengths of his attackers. Blood spilled on his face and clothes as the beasts ragdolled past him and on the floor, bleeding out, unable to move.

Apart from one that surprised Zoa. Still able to move, but injured, it was right above Zoa and landed on him, pinning him to the ground, attempting to dig its fangs into his skin. However, it was unable to. His skin had turned a metallic grey, and the wolf's teeth, although hurting, didn't manage to tear off his shoulder like they intended to. Before the wolf could retract its head back for another attempt, a sword struck straight through its neck, causing it to gurgle before collapsing next to Zoa. The boy whistled, patted his knees and scrubbed some blood off of his face and blothes, returning to Beanstalk with the samples. Deciding to stay until this is seen through, Zoa spent the next couple nights in the village.

Hasted steps could be heard. The light thuds of small feet burst throughout the forest. Behind them, three adult-sized pairs of feet were charging after. Chasing, pursuing, haunting. The faces those feet belonged to were disfigured, their cries violent and aggressive, covered in what appeared to be a toxic funghi that had latched itself onto something once conscious. What remained was an animated corpse preying on a young boy with blonde locks who appeared no older than twelve. But his face was not afraid. In fact, it seemed excited, thrilled, like the boy was having fun despite the danger he found himself in. Despite a trio of undead plunging, stumbling, and racing across the forest floor with the intent to kill him.

This time, his quest was to find the source. The creatures he could only describe as zombies were trailing him relentlessly. He was starting to get out of breath and let out of a loud whistle. Stopping behind a tree in his tracks, he knew that the things could sense him. Whether it was his scent or they could hear really well. He wasn't safe anywhere. Conjuring up a large sledgehammer. He waited until the three were just around the corner. Swinging the tool with all his power, at knee level, one of the creatures had just put its leg forward and was about to make the turn. A deafening crunch could be heard and it collapsed to one leg, displaying neither pain nor discomfort.

The other two followed suit barely seconds after, and Zoa swung his palms in a crescent shape, deploying a large metallic scythe-like blade that cut deep into the creatures torso's and pushed them back, giving Zoa enough time to reposition himself a couple steps away. Covering his skin in a dark metallic matter, he conjured up two blades left and right and charged back at the zombies. Two of which had managed to get up again, while the one with busted kneecaps had begun crawling in his direction. Firing off metallic petals from his blade that were rose coloured from their stored heat, he cleanly severed off one of the duo's kneecaps. Brushing past the other one, avoiding its clawswipe, he managed to jam both of his blades into its legs, cutting a large chunk of them out.

Turning around, the zombie had already ignored the damage dealt and swiped its claw at Zoa's head. Defending with both swords, he could hear them creaking under the weight of the attack and could feel himself getting pushed into the ground. From his left, the floored zombie grabbed his leg and pressed down so hard Zoa failed to free himself. Deciding to take the hit, the standing zombie managed to get its attack through as Zoa moved one blade beside him to pierce the wrist of the floored zombie holding his ankle. Elegantly severing hand from arm he flew through the air and into a tree from the standing zombie's attack.

Back on the offensive, Zoa rushed towards it and dodged its attack once more, slicing at the exact same portion of flesh he had just maimed, completely severing the leg and causing the zombie to stumble and fall as well. With his skin returning to normal, revealing the red heat underneath the metallic coat, he had managed to bring all three of his attackers to their knees. Severing limbs first, he carefully began dissecting them one by one until he split head from body, causing them to finally seize their restless motions.

Getting back on track, he found himself deeper in the woods than he had ventured before in the past several days. Arriving at a large stone totem. Black in colour and extremely tough, Zoa knew that this was the place he had been looking for. It had seemed to draw him in. He stared onwards, mesmerized by the stone for just a moment. Long enough for a skeleton hand to wrap around him from behind. In surprise, Zoa peered at three spheres of magic rushing straight for him. Exploding square in his face, a hooded figure made itself noticeable. Commending him for having made it this far, the person beneath another robe spoke in tongue about the futility of Zoa's efforts.

Having to regain his senses and gulping down the stinging pain he felt in his face, some skin surely burned and his vision extremely blurry, Zoa would have none of it. He felt the arms grip loosening somewhat. He could make out the hooded robe's voice. Conjuring up a blade, he destroyed the skeleton arm and rushed towards the voice. From beneath his feet two arms, much similar to the ones the zombies from before had gripped his feet, causing him to fall flat on his face. His head rang, his face hurt, but he could finally see again. Adrenaline was pumping through his body. He was hurting, but he was happy.

It was at this point that inside his right palm, intense heat made itself noticeable. The hooded figure walked over and put their boot on his back, continuing to monologue about something Zoa couldn't quite understand. From Zoa's palm, a sharp blade extended, its edge red-hot in colour. In one swift motion Zoa severed both arms, cutting through them with this blade like butter. The hooded figure spat and took a few steps back. Motioning with his hands, Zoa slowly felt himself getting weaker, but that didn't matter.

He winced in pain, but smiled into the figure's face and charged forward. The zombies fully coming out of the ground now, Zoa slashed his way through them and in a flash pierced into the cloak, noticably carving through their body. Tearing his blade out, the figure began bleeding profusely and screaming in agony. A noise that quickly seized the moment Zoa's spellblade was jammed into the figure's throat. Taking everything the man had on him, Zoa made his way back reporting what had happened. He wasn't much interested in chasing this lead any further. But the past few days had been a great source of excitement. Taking his final payment and bidding his farewells, he went well on his way wasting not another thought on Beanstalk Village.