Empathy
Kindness kills.
A disease of the heart, which often bears fatal symptoms. Empathy is created by a disproportionately small amount of selfishness in one's own worldview, which may severely deteriorate the their mental fortitude. Like Ignorance, Empathy is embraced by the host as an important part of life and personal identity.
Transmission & Vectors
Empathy is not extremely contagious, but can have a tremendous effect on those who are more susceptible. The most common form is inherited from one or both parent(s), though environmental factors can also work to catalyze the contraction of this disease. A few scattered cases rise among those who dwell in less-than-hospitable mindsets for too long, but that is usually a progressive effect brought on by desperation than a simple contraction.
Treatment
A few good slaps should knock the happy feelings right out of any diseases perceived to be "positive". Because acquired Empathy in particular is typically the result of someone expecting an emotional reward, it can be easily fought (especially in the early stages). If a Fluxer is born with Empathy, treatment is not quite so simple.
The only way to cure the inherited form of Empathy is through ethically compromising means, such as revealing moral corruption, explaining the hollow vessel that is emotion, or giving them lots of money. If none of these work, then the host is considered to be a true Empath and this disease will become a chronic condition (if it hasn't already).
Affected Groups
This is a cosmic disease, meaning it most likely originated in celestial beings, specifically a god named Prometheus. Empathy has been the centerpiece of most non-romantic tragedies in Flux (and many other worlds) but somehow celebrated as an enviable trait. Mortals sure are weird.
Hosts & Carriers
Anything adorable is a potential carrier of this life-sucking disease. Unfortunately, "adorable" is an opinion specific to a viewer, so no specific beings can be accurately implicated.
Prevention
Powerful strands of Empathy are rarely found in hosts that have already been infected with Ignorance, because the two conditions directly contradict each other. Then again, Ignorance thrives in contradictions and misunderstandings, so it is still possible.
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