Plague of divinity

Chapter 16

Enrick flicked through the thick stack of papers. It seemed he had finally gone through all he had brought with him. He breathed a sigh of relief before tucking them away, now he was done he could finally leave. He inhaled a large breath of the earthy forest air before releasing. The weather had been kind to him as he had done his labour, the gentle sun flickering above from behind lightly swaying leaves. It all felt so good.

He stood up and began to walk back into the town. The thoughts of his next tasks buzzing through his mind. First he'd go back to Lydia's house to collect the rest of the papers, then and only then after going through them could he begin to work on fixing the town's blight. And... maybe if he had time after that... he could check out what the snake son Sherizawa of the sun god gave Aldrion. He smiled to himself. Not only did it feel like he was actually getting somewhere plague wise, it also felt like he would get to see what had made him so jealous the other day. He was still a little disappointed he hadn't had the chance to see the deity and actually speak with him; ask him about his point of view as a god, ask him what he would do if he were human and even perhaps, although it not being his field... if there were a way he knew to get the cure of the plague...

As he walked he began thinking to himself about what he had read on the documents, there was something on them that came across as odd to him. The room they did experiments in, experiments on the sick. Although he hadn't seen any room that looked as the papers he read had described in his brief look around the house, he had a feeling he would just have to have a better look around when he got there, surely it was just some room he hadn't looked in yet. Perhaps the remaining documents could give him a tip to which room it was? If he could find it perhaps it would offer even more suggestions, or at least what doesn't work so he knew what to avoid to save time.

When he got to Lydia's house he swallowed before once again sliding through the window. He bit his lip as he placed his feet on the ground. Deciding to try and find it sooner rather than later he investigated the rooms in the house.

No luck on the ground floor. He climbed the stairs and checked the first floor, he decided to keep away from the room Lydia's body lay in due to the fact he knew he didn't really have the time to become depressed once more. Nothing upstairs. No hints of where it could be just yet. He sighed and hurried back downstairs to the study. If he couldn't find the room then he'll just have to finish the papers and move on. He could feel himself becoming disappointed but if it wasn't there, it wasn't there.

He picked up the remaining papers and began to read through them. He had to admit, going through medical papers in a musty house with the dead body of your co-worker just upstairs wasn't exactly as pleasant as reading in a scenic forest, but it wasn't really worth the journey back for a few papers when he might as well read them just there.

His eyes carefully studied the pages in front of him, not wanting to miss a single detail. No, these mentioned a room in Lydia's house as well. Maybe someone cleared everything away? But her work was still in her study and it hadn't looked like anyone had been in the house in a long time... What was he missing? His eyebrows narrowed as he focused harder, there had to be something. As he got to the last page he began to feel discontent, he hadn't found anything thus far, had he been looking for the room in vain? His eyes slid down the page disheartened until they got to the last sentence.

Basement.

Enrick froze, a slow grin creeping onto his face. How could he forget? It wasn't the usual place to try and cure the sick but people usually stored stuff within them so it wouldn't be out of the question for her to keep work inside.

He hurried over to the window and hopped out of it, running around the side of the house before spotting a double trapdoor pointed towards the ground.

There appeared to be a rusted padlock on the door but he disposed of it quickly after picking up a nearby brick and smashing down hard a few times. He wrapped his hands around the grimy handles before yanking back as hard as he could, releasing the door from the clutch of the dirty chains keeping them together. As the doors opened a repulsive odour spilled out along with hundreds of flies. His hands shot up as they swarmed outside in an attempt to swat away any that came too close. A few landed on his clothes, investigating with their proboscises before taking to the air in their frenzied dance to freedom. Thankfully they eventually cleared off after a few moments. The scent from inside was musty and stunk of decay. The inside of the basement was swallowed in darkness. It was hard to see more than a foot inside but a strange shape caught his eye. It was grey and indistinguishable due to the dirt that had gathered upon it.

Enrick slowly lowered himself to look closer at it. He took a small step closer, after opening the doors he felt a little reluctant to enter the dark place containing the odour strong enough to curl against his nose through the scent of the flowers in his mask like a cat rubbing against its owner's leg. He shifted his foot forwards once more to try and get a better view of the object but suddenly he found his foot slipping out from under him on a loose piece of mud. A gasp fled his lips as he was flung unexpectedly into the gloom. His arms rushed up to protect his head and neck as he tumbled.

When he came to a stop he slowly opened his eyes. He was completely blind apart from the light coming from the entrance way from where he had fallen. He was a little surprised he hadn't taken more damage from his fall but he could feel something soft underneath him he assumed must have protected him from sustaining anymore injuries. Fumbling around he eventually found his way to solid ground, getting to his feet unsteadily, his hand above his head to make sure he didn't bump his head on anything unseen.

Once he had gotten his bearings he shuffled around until coming to a hard wooden object, on top he found what felt like a candle. Reaching into his pocket he took out a flint and steel. Making sure the candle was close enough he clicked them together until a spark enveloped the candle wick. He sighed in relief before using the candle to light other ones nearby. Dipping the lit flame into a lantern the room illuminated in a deep red hue. Creepy. He noticed more documents scattered upon the table along with anatomical sketches and charts. Good, there was more.

He then remembered something else itching at his mind. Wait... what had he fallen on to begin with? And where the hell was that horrid smell coming from?

He turned around and he could almost feel his heart stop when his eyes finally laid upon the forms in front of him.

Bodies. Fuck.