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Acravirus

CW: Graphic descriptions

 
They say the skies were black with dust. Wherever the wind flowed, it would carry the remains of everyone we once held close. Streets littered with rotting dust as people collapsed from their bodies turning black from death.
  I don't know why the world chose me to live. I watched my mother, my father, brothers and sisters, everyone dear to me get snatched away by this plague. First their skin grew dry and wet. Then their bones began snapping. Next, their head dropped off. I wish it killed me before I had to see it for myself.
— Plague survivor

Sixteen billion years ago, the acravirus swept its way through the Yonderverse. This devastating plague wiped out 99.9% of life in the Milky Way, and ravaged through neighbouring galaxies.

The virus could be transmitted if a spaceship was within a mile of another. It is the most fatal pandemic in all of history, having wiped out a confirmed number of 192 quintillion, with possibly twice as many undocumented.

Symptoms

A person will contract the acravirus weeks before symptoms first appear. After around five weeks, the skin around the neck and shoulders dries up and cracks, while the hands and feet sweat profusely.

Symptom Summary

Skin dries and sweats
  Bones grow brittle and break easily
  Necrosis of the neck
  Collapsing into a pile of dust

Bones will then start to deteriorate, causing fractures and breaks throughout the body. Joints in particular will weaken and infected often become immobile due to knee and shoulder breaks.

The last symptom to appear is necrosis of the neck. The skin blackens and falls apart as cells die, and the neck eventually breaks under the pressure. Once the neck collapses, the infected will disintegrate in a cloud of foul-smelling dust.

History

Exact dates are argued between historians, but the acravirus swept through the galaxies sixteen billion years ago. It is believed acravirus, a mutated form of the relatively harmless virus acrotorovirus, emerged around the Densen Quadrant of the Lesser Field. It first spread through fleets under asotamian and golloperian civilisations, two of the dominant peoples in the region at the time.

Consequences

Having annihilated almost all life in the Milky Way, most planets were left completely uninhabited. For millions of years these planets were left unchecked, ecosystems left to re-balance and domestic animals to fend for themselves.

Due to the aggressive nature of the virus and how busy the spaceways of the Lesser Field were, the virus had spread to other Quadrants in days.

In weeks, it had spread throughout the entire Lesser Field, and it took just two months for the entire Milky Way to have caught the virus. It ravaged further galaxies over the next several hundred years; most unreliable sources agree the virus died out after roughly a thousand years. The virus only died out due to infecting every last possible person, leaving only those with natural immunities.

Most planets were left void of civilisation. It took millions of years for new people to evolve on these planets. Some never bounced back to what they were, while others eventually blossomed into worlds far more advanced than they had ever been. Those that survived the virus were left with the monumentous task of repopulation. It took millions of generations to forget the trauma of this near-yonderversal extinction event.

Rarity
Extinct
Type
Viral
Origin
Alien
Cycle
Short-term

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Comments

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Nov 9, 2025 13:52 by CoolG

.......I honestly have no words. 99.9% of all life gone???? Holy.. DX

Explore the dark and mysterious Inferncenem, the bright and wonderful Caelumen, the dark but magical Ysteria, the vibrant and bustling Auxul or the world of contrasts Mytharae!   Have a good one!   WorldEmber 2025 is upon us! Check out my progress!
Nov 9, 2025 23:27 by Mochi

HEHEHEHEHEHE

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I hope you have a great day!   Explore the endless planets brimming with life of the Yonderverse! Go after creatures, discover new places, and learn about the people you find along the way. While you're at it, come visit the A to Zoo, the Yonderverse's largest zoo!   Come prep for WorldEmber with me!
Nov 12, 2025 19:20

Very nice article, though uh this does not sound fun. "Those that survived the virus were left with the monumentous task of r e p o p u l a t i o n" made me laugh. Also, sweet cover :D   Wdym by "most unreliable sources"?

Nov 12, 2025 19:20

Also left me with the question "How old is the Yonderverse?"

Nov 14, 2025 09:15 by Mochi

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the article and the cover <3   Sources are pretty unreliable given this took place so long ago, especially given this virus was 16 billion years ago xD to answer your other question, the Yonderverse is 640 billion years old!

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I hope you have a great day!   Explore the endless planets brimming with life of the Yonderverse! Go after creatures, discover new places, and learn about the people you find along the way. While you're at it, come visit the A to Zoo, the Yonderverse's largest zoo!   Come prep for WorldEmber with me!
Nov 15, 2025 08:41

This is so horrible, really. I guess I would have killed myself as soon as I realized what happened to me. Truly horrible!

Enjoy Worldember 2025!
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Nov 15, 2025 14:11 by Mochi

Given this virus is basically a death sentence, not much worth living to see the end of it :(

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I hope you have a great day!   Explore the endless planets brimming with life of the Yonderverse! Go after creatures, discover new places, and learn about the people you find along the way. While you're at it, come visit the A to Zoo, the Yonderverse's largest zoo!   Come prep for WorldEmber with me!
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