Frostrot
"This makes no sense!" Renelle said, "You're telling me they found this elf crawling out of a Lava Lake, covered in ice like this?"
"I know it's hard to believe," Commander Moore responded, "But, that's what the reports said. You know why I asked you to come, right?"
"Of course!" Renelle exclaimed as she cracked her knuckles, "You need me to incinerate the corpse and stop the spread of the corrupting aether!"
"There is a reason we have this body in a concrete room with a blast door." Moore said, "Think you have the firepower to do it?"
"We'll find out!" Renelle charged a fire spell and pointed a hand at the corpse. An intense flame shot towards the frozen body but nothing happened to it even after several minutes. The body stayed cold and no heat could be felt in the room. "Well, that's strange."
Discovery
The Order of the Phoenix is tasked with keeping watch over what seems to be a relatively normal lava lake on Mount Cendi. Phoenix birds fly in and out of it and the lake resembles the other lava lakes from elsewhere in Cassel, but the lake holds a secret. It is actually a portal to another world. The Phoenix Knights keep watch over the lake to prevent any incursions from The Moon Izi, the hellish moon orbiting the planet Tarsuros and controlled by the Fire God Beirunes.
It was surprising then when an Elf surfaced at the lake and swam to shore. He was covered in ice despite having just swam in lava. He was immediately apprehended by the knights and placed in a cell. The Elf was telling the knights that he was trying to warn them. "She is coming!" the Elf said repeatedly. He couldn't say anything else and was shivering as he spoke. Within a few days, the ice on the Elf spread and started growing off of him. By the end of the elf's first and last week on Vreathe, he collapsed.
The Phoenix knights had already informed the Knight Council of the strange incident when it started. A few hours after the Elf collapsed, the medical team arrived. Something strange was happening on the other side of the portal and they needed to get to the bottom of it. The medical team set up a field hospital and placed the Elf, which was really no more than a corpse at this point, on a wooden table and started the examination.
The Mount Cendi Lava Lake reaches temperatures of 1250°C. Any ice or water that touches it should immediately flash to steam and explode violently. Nothing of the sort happened with this Elf...
Examination
1. Icy Horns - There are ice covered growths coming out of the skull. Under the ice, crystalline bone is visible indicating partial transformation into... something.
2. Eyes - The Eyes are pale blue and glowing, indicating some form of aetheric corruption from ice magic, but the body clearly couldn't handle it. Even the tears are frozen.
3. Icy Growths - Similar to the horns on the skull, the growths on the shoulder also have bone underneath, indicating partial transformation. The ice seems to be physically part of the body and has a similar pliability as normal skin does.
4. Skin - The skin itself is quite pale compared to what is normal for most fire elves. The flesh underneath is almost completely frozen and crunchy to the touch. On closer inspection, The blood vessels are frozen as well and ooze out a strange blue-green liquid.
5. Burned Clothing - This elf's clothing is almost charred black from the swim in the lava lake, but it too has ice forming on it. This is due to how cold the body itself is. Even after swimming through ultra hot lava, none of the ice actually melted on this elf.
"I have an idea!" Renelle clapped her hands, cupping them together. Renelle's eyes turned silver and her hair started to flicker with light. She was channeling magic into her hands, so much that she started to breath heavily and sweat, despite the icy cold temperature of the room. Bright light was filtering through the gaps between her fingers.
Commander Moore knew what Renelle was up to and ordered everyone to leave the room. He was the last one out before he shut the iron blast door. "The room is yours Ren!"
Renelle nodded then walked slowly towards the corpse. She was gasping for air at this point. She raised her hands over the body. With one final charge of magic and a deep breath, she opened her hands. A single tiny sphere revealed itself. It shined outwards, covering everything. Outside the room, intense rays filtered through the cracks in the door and singed everything it touched.
The sphere fell until it touched the body. It immediately exploded outwards, engulfing the body, engulfing Renelle, and covering the room in an intense bright flame. The blast door was heated so much it started to glow orange and flames shot out of every opening no matter how small. It cooled back down within a few seconds. Commander Moore tested the door handle for heat, but it felt cold. He opened the door.
The entire room, floors, walls, and ceiling, was charred black. The oak table that was supporting the frozen corpse was reduced to a pile of ash. Renelle was kneeling, exhausted from casting such a powerful magic spell, but she was otherwise unharmed, without a speck of ash on her clothing. The corpse however was completely untouched. None of the ice melted on it and the exposed skin and hair was the same as it was before Renelle got here.
"I literally created a miniature Sun!" Renelle gasped, "That should have been hot enough to melt a diamond... Not good enough."
"Are you joking Ren? You're one of my best fire mages!"
"And it wasn't enough!... Think we can convince a Phoenix to help us?"
The Spread and Cure
After the medical examiners looked at the corpse and gotten as much data as they could, they suggested incinerating it. The Phoenix knights got one of their best fire mages, Renelle Vernador, to do the job, but her fire was not hot enough to melt the ice and turn the corpse to ash. She suggested that a Phoenix could do it instead, as the Mount Cendi Phoenix Monastery wasn't far away, so a few knights traveled there to procure a phoenix.
Aerynn
Aerynn
"D-did I hear that correctly? Renelle Vernador is requesting a phoenix bird? And the reason is to burn away magical ice?"
"Why would I have a problem with her request? Send her one, right away! She's still a princess of the realm. What happened in the past... That doesn't really matter anymore!"
A few days later, the elven members of the medical team that came in contact with the corpse started to come down with a mysterious sickness. They were cold to the touch and frost started to accumulate on their skin. The Phoenix Knights immediately quarantined them along with anyone else who came in contact with the body or came in contact with the medical team.
Within two weeks, the elven and half-elven members of the team started to appear very much like the corpse they found. The human members of the team were unaffected. Renelle was also unaffected. She is a descendant of Saint Nora, which means she is technically already corrupted with a form of aether. The Phoenix Knights then determined that introducing a less lethal form of aetheric corruption was probably the best way to save the medical team.
At great expense, exceeding over a hundred thousand Beryls, they quickly procured several kilograms of Dragonblood Resin from the Barony of Palma. This resin was distilled into a tonic and given to the affected team. Immediately they were overcome with a different form of aetheric corruption, that of the great fire dragon Xiralgus, the Nova. This canceled out the other aetheric corruption in the hosts and burned away the sickness.
After everything that happened, the medical team was able to come up with a list of symptoms and a path of progression of the sickness. They decided to name the sickness Frostrot. They still do not know what exactly is causing the sickness, whether it is some sort of microscopic pathogen or if aetheric corruption is causing it to spread magically, but at least they have a cure.
Symptoms and Progression
Transmission
Coming into contact with the infected guarantees a 100% transmission rate. Being in the same enclosed area with the infected has rougly an 80% transmission rate. This lines up with the condition being magically related instead of from a pathogen, but this requires more research before a conclusion can be made.Stage 1: 0 - 48 hours
Within hours of coming into contact with an infected person, the newly infected person will start to feel chills and unusually cold. No amount of heat will stop this dreaded feeling of cold.Stage 2: 2 - 4 days
Frost starts forming on the skin. The infected starts to uncontrollably shiver and has trouble speaking. Their skin will start to get very pale and they start to chill the area around them.Stage 3: 4 - 7 days
Icy growths start to protrude from the infected skin. This ice is integrated with the body and the outer surface of the skin has a similar composition as normal skin. Underneath this ice, crystalline bony growths start to protrude from areas of the body, specifically from the head and shoulders.Stage 4: 7+ days
The infected starts to expire. They stop breathing. The blood converts into an unknown blue-green substance. At this point the body starts to rapidly transform into what is believed to be an ice elemental or some other creature. Results after this are inconclusive as the infected was incinerated before the body could go past this point.Immunities and Cure
Humans
Humans seem to be completely immune to this variety of aetheric corruption, which is actually somewhat odd, as they are often MORE susceptible to aetheric corruption than Elves are. Half-Elves however are not immune, but due to them being part human, the disease seems to progress slower in them.Other Immune Subjects
Being infected with another form of Aetheric Corruption grants immunity to the condition. A Half-Elf with the Divine blood of Saint Nora was immune. The Corruption of a Dragon Lord is what was used to cure the condition on several subjects.Treatment and Cure
3 100 ml doses of a tonic consisting of Dragonblood resin and a Phoenix Pinion taken over six hours removed all traces of the sickness. This does however cause a buildup of the Corruption of Xiralgus, which itself can be quite dangerous over time.Further Research
While the medical team worked away on this, the Knight Council had a meeting to determine what to do. If an Ice plague is really spreading among the Fire Elves on the Moon Izi, it won't be long before either the Fire Elves cross over, or whatever the thing is that created the sickness crosses over. The infected Elf did say that someone was coming. This means that a war could possibly break out and if the ice plague spreads beyond here, it will be impossible to control. The Knight Council decided that the best course of action was to send a team of knights to the other world to find out what the issue was and deal with it over there. but that is an issue for another time.
"I didn't even know half-elves could have the aetheric energy of Saint Nora flowing through them until now..." Commander Moore said as he read the reports, "Doesn't that mean you can cross into the Wellspring and speak to the dead and Nora herself?"
"I haven't tried it yet," Renelle sighed, "and also, it isn't something me and my siblings are going to advertise anyways. There is the Edict of Nora to consider, and the stability of Cassel depends on no one knowing."
"Cassel has it's problems and always will. I couldn't care less about that right now. The more important thing is... you're immune to Frostrot and we can take advantage of it... Renelle Vernador, I am promoting you to Field Commander. You are to lead a team of knights to the Moon Izi and investigate the cause of this plague."
"The day you let me out of a three week quarantine you want me to go to another planet?!?"
"Moon, and yes, I do. Is there a problem with that?"
Smoke and Frost I
Next:: Aether Suits
| Smoke and Frost |
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It's nice how the article is divided into parts of a story that introduces the next section. I particularly like the explanations of the symptoms using the picture of the elf. Very well done.
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