The Crown's Entrapment



[This is a nightmare…]

Aurelia couldn't agree more to her wolf's words as she currently stood beside her mate. In front of them, a clearly distraught Alpha Niro was visibly barking orders nonstop to what few healthy members he had left. They were all wearing masks, thankfully, but that clearly didn't stop the others from contracting this mysterious disease.

[So it's probably not airborne then,] she mentally noted. [That lessens the risk at least.]

[But if that's the case, then it shouldn't have already spread this far,] Aura skeptically remarked. [A pathogen this virulent needs to have a vector that's just as widespread.]

"Lord Niro," Calypso began, grabbing the other Alpha's attention.

"Ah, Lord Calypso, Lady Aurelia," Niro weakly greeted. "I wish we could've met at a better time, but I'm afraid that I have a problem in my hands at the moment."

"We can see that," Aurelia faintly raised an eyebrow. "Moreover, this is clearly an outbreak of some kind."

"Indeed," Niro sighed. "We've done what we could, but for some reason, this disease is popping up everywhere. Isolation did little to stop the spread. Or maybe it was already too late by the time we saw it happening."

"So countermeasures have already been put in place?" Calypso asked.

"Isolation wards, contact tracing, road inspections… Except for locking down the entire pack, I already did what most of the healers have suggested," Niro grumbled. "It's only a miracle that the spread of the disease here in the mansion itself is limited, but there's no telling what the state of the nearby villages are."

"Then I suggest you give out the order to isolate the whole pack then," Calypso sighed. "We passed through one of the nearby villages earlier, and this disease has already begun to affect them as well."

"Oh Almighty…" Niro deflated as he sat on his chair. "Is there anything I can do to stop this?"

"Has the King been informed?" Aurelia asked.

"I was just about to," the Alpha sighed. "I didn't have the time with how quickly and widespread this disease suddenly moved. It had barely been a week."

She raised an eyebrow at that declaration. A fast moving pathogen then… It was something, but she still needed to learn more.

"The healers," she mumbled. "Are they in the clinic?"

"They're doing what they can," Niro nodded. "They told me to start burning the bodies of the deceased, but I couldn't give out that order just yet. Not without confirmation that it would help."

"I'll get that confirmation shortly then," Aurelia nodded, her voice full of purpose as she turned around. "You two should focus on containing the spread of infection. I'll see what I can learn about this thing in the meantime."

She then promptly left the room without even waiting for them to respond. She didn't care what they had to say. What mattered to her now was that she got to the bottom of this disaster in the making.

[Take care out there, Lia,] Calypso advised her through the Bond. [I don't want you getting sick with whatever this thing is.]

[I expect the same with you as well,] she replied back just as she began to tie a makeshift mask over her nose and mouth. [I suggest that you mask up and limit bodily contact to a minimum. Until I have enough information to say otherwise, assume that anything and everything can infect you.]

[Got it, Lia,] he grimly replied. [I'll suggest to Niro to instruct his men to take the same precautions.]

Letting out a breath, Aurelia cut the connection in favor of beelining to the clinic. Giving a cursory knock, she didn't wait for permission as she walked in, immediately noting the rather full capacity of the room itself.

"L-Lady Aurelia?" one the healers asked. "What are you-"

"I'm here to help," Aurelia cut the healer off. "Where's the one in charge?"

As if hearing her call to him, the head healer walked up towards her. The man was covered from head to toe, splotches of blood staining his clothes as he held what looked like a bloody piece of flesh.

"Lady Aurelia," he introduced himself. "I'm Campos, the one in charge here."

"Very well," she nodded. "Tell me what you've learned about this thing." 

Walking into the clinic itself, Aurelia swiped what few pieces of protective gear she could get while listening to the head healer explain the situation. By the time she had covered herself from head to toe, she had something of a gist of what exactly was happening.

[A disease that kills the patient by total organ failure,] Aurelia grimly hummed. [For it to move to act this quickly, its symptoms should be more extreme.]

[Perhaps the dark rashes are a sign that the disease is still in its early stages,] Aura supplied. [None of the people we saw with it earlier were on their deathbeds yet. In fact, they were still moving and working, even if they did seem more tired than usual.]

Clicking her tongue, Aurelia let the head healer take her to the morgue where over a dozen bodies were currently stored. There were a few healers doing autopsies and experiments already, but she didn't care. She was still going to do her own analysis if only to form her own opinions on what exactly this disease was.

"Here's the morgue, Lady Aurelia," Campos introduced as he let her walk in. "While some of the subordinates are already busy with their own research, feel free to take your place among them. I trust in your experience, especially as the Head Healer in the Capital."

"Noted," she nodded in appreciation. "I'll make things quick. If I find anything, you all will be the first to know."

"Much appreciated," the head healer nodded in deference. "Now if you'll excuse me, I still have patients to save. Good luck, Lady Aurelia."

Hearing the man leave, Aurelia made her way to the side of the nearest untouched corpse. As she walked in, some of the researchers with her gave her a wide berth, some of them trailing behind her as they all looked up to her for direction.

"Y-You're Lady Aurelia, right?" one of them asked. "The Head Healer from the Capital?"

"You're here to help us?"

"Indeed," she simply nodded. "I'm going to uncover whatever this is that's ailing this place, and I won't stop until I find my answers."

Grabbing the nearest scalpel, she took a deep breath before preparing herself for the task at hand. Time was of the essence. She had to find her answers soon, or else the whole Kingdom might be plunged into a full-fledged epidemic.