Avarice - 4

Cor arrived at the gate of the Central Park at 4:55 am, cursing the cold and having a hard time, adjusting his vision to the faint light of the dawn. He had a hard time sleeping last night, thinking about the letter from the arrow and the person behind the act. He looked at the signboard attached to the gate. It read the park would be open from 6:00 am to 8:00 am every day. However, the gate was already unlocked for him. The Central Park was the largest park in Gyulir. As he crossed the threshold of the gate, he was welcomed by the chilling mist of the trees that augmented the effect of the cold atmosphere. The mist offered even little visibility and the silence of the trees gave a chill running down his spine. The sweet fragrance of the freshly blooming flowers did little to calm his uneasiness. There was not a soul lingering there.

How shall I find him? 

Just as he thought this, something flew right by his face, causing him to fall back. It circled back and sat on a bench near him. It was a raven, and it looked straight at Cor showing no signs of aggression or fear. After Cor came close, the Raven lifted off and flew west. 

Perhaps I should follow him.

Cor began walking towards west. He couldn't see a thing, yet his instincts told him to keep going. When there was another crossroad, and he stood in confusion as to which direction he should venture forth, the raven reappeared and after circling around Cor once, flew in the direction north of him. In this way, after a few minutes, Cor arrived at an open space, overlooking a small pond and surrounded by small trees. There were benches lining the periphery of the open space. Cor looked here and there for the raven, but it didn't come. Finding, nowhere else to go, he sat down in one of the benches and waited. For some mysterious reason, the fog receded, but only around the region of the open space. The fog was still there hiding the rest of the park from the view. Moments later, a heavily dressed man came into view, coming from the same direction as Cor had. He was wearing a large-brimmed that covered his eyes. It had a large feather attached to it. The Man wore a violet overcoat, a matching pair of trousers and bulky boots that surprisingly made little noise when he walked. 

"Sorry for the weather," the man said, as he stretched out his arm for a handshake, " I am Ulfric Foster. Glad that you came at my request Cor."

Cor shook hands, his hand feeling warm from the velvet gloves of Ulfric. His voice was that of a burly quadragenarian, but he looked youthful. Perhaps even younger than Cor who was twenty seven. His beard dripped wet from the mist.

"Perhaps it would have been nicer if a simple letter or note had been used instead of an arrow." Cor said smiling sarcastically.

"Ah yes, forgive me for that. But the nature of my work does not permit me to reveal myself much to the crowd." said Ulfric returning the smile.

Cor became intrigued, although slightly annoyed. "Really? What do you do?"

Ulfric's smile widened. "I am someone who keeps track of everything that happens in and around. I serve for Lord Kyron, the entity who awarded you powers. And right now, I have a little task for you, which if you complete successfully, you will be rewarded." Cor did not speak, he just nodded in acknowledgment after coming to know that he was going to do a task for the one who gave him his powers.

"I come to you, at the request of the Preacher, our 'mutual' friend. He is currently busy doing some errands. I have a little job for you that needs to be dealt with urgently. Among all of us, only you have the power most suited for this."

"And what if I just say no?"

"Then my friend, I am afraid Lord Kyron will want to reveal your secrets to the whole world of how you became the manager of your factory so soon."

Cor gave a look of disdain.

"Don't be such a cry-baby. I am sure you won't regret this after doing it." He then proceeded to tell Cor about his task.

Cor arrived at the Rockfurt City Central Station at 8:00 pm the same day. According to Foster, he was to confront Orville Blake, a scientist at Healtech corporation. The only information that he had about Blake was that he was working on a top secret experiment that will revolutionary consequences. He only had to devise a method in which the top secret will be revealed to the general public in a manner that it won't appear unnatural.

His first objective was to meet a man, Joe Murphy, who worked under Blake. Cor took a taxi and arrived at his location which took only 10 minutes. He knocked at the door. Dark clouds had started to converge over Rockfort City and cold breezes started to blow. 

A skinny middle aged man opened the door. "Need something?"

"Only your uniform," said Cor as he infiltrated the mind of Murphy. 

Twenty minutes later, the guard stationed at the out-gate of Healtech, saw a lone person walking towards the facility in the rain. The man stopped at a large distance from the gate. Strange, he thought. All the employees had left two hours ago and this is the time where the head scientist performs his experiments under total secrecy. He went towards the man and called out.

"Good Evening Sir! Did you happen to leave behind someth-" 

Cor was enjoying this more than ever. His head did not ache any more. "Hello Jeffrey." He said after knowing the man's name from his own mind. 

"I see there's a camera on top of your post. Is there any way where I can access the facility without being seen by your cameras?" Cor asked.

"Towards the east side of this facility, there's a hidden passage underneath which the Prof. Blake uses to enter into his lab. The general employees have no information about its existence. No cameras are installed at that location."

"Is that passage locked?"

"Yes sir."

"Do you have the key?"

"Yes sir."

Cor walked inside the tunnel-like dimly lit passage. He was dripping wet from the rain. Fortunately, the water-repellent uniform, the hood attached with it and the gas-mask kept his body dry. The tunnel ended in a small door which was slightly opened.

Cor entered into a vast room, filled with the scent of bleach and a large number of weird looking objects. There was a deathly silence prevailing in the room. His wet rubber boots were the only source of disturbance, which persisted no matter how hard he tried to walk softly. As he was exploring the hall, he saw a light coming from a room at the end and the slight movement of shadows which suggested the presence of someone. He made his way briskly towards the room. In the middle, however, a slight moan from the right stopped him in his tracks.

There was a large glass window in the wall but the room was dark. There was a door slightly behind the window and beside lay a switch panel. Cor looked back at the lighted room at the end of the hallway. You are not going anywhere. Let's see what secrets you have hidden first. He went towards the panel and flicked on a switch. Three vertical lamps in the room were now switched on.

Cor walked back towards the window. He could now see clearly, but he wished he had not seen it. 

Three persons were sitting on chairs awkwardly. One was looking fairly human but his complexion was quite pale. He looked sedated. The second was sedated too but he was smiling awkwardly, as if in intense pain. The third, which looked like a lady, was the most terrifying. Her mouth was outstretched to reveal all her teeth and her tongue was protruding out. Her arms and legs were twisted and she made awkward movements. Her chest was moving in and out very slowly. She looked like she was dying. All three of them were strapped to the chairs. Although Cor could not see what was written across their chests in small placards, he could make out the word 'SUBJECT'. He kept looking at the three trying to figure out what sort of disease had taken over them.

---

In his room, Orville Blake was signing off a few papers and reviewing the analysis of a recent experiment.

"Anxiety levels seem okay," he was murmuring to himself. "There's a little resistance to the pathogen in subject 10. There! Now to implement the modifications." 

He packed all the papers in a folder and stuffed it in between his left arm and chest. Then he headed to his locker and took out from it, a strange looking case. Carrying both the items, he headed out of his room. 

He was so preoccupied in his mind, that only after locking the door and walking a few steps forward did he notice that someone was standing by the specimen room. He was so shocked to see a person at that time that he gasped.

---

Cor turned in the direction of the sound. He saw a middle-aged man with a slightly receding hairline, wearing white lab apron and holding a case, standing in front of the last room. Assuming him to be Blake, he stepped forward slowly towards his direction.

"You! Who the hell are you?! Don't you know the facility is closed now! What are you doing down here?" panic struck, Blake blurted out, thinking that it was one of his employees.

Cor said nothing, he kept advancing towards Blake until he was at a yard's distance. He focused his mind into Blake's and began to learn the secrets of the test experiments. Blake dropped the folder and the case and stood there gawping awkwardly.

The people in the room were actually test subjects of a newly created virus. The virus was engineered by Blake himself and he called it 'Zeta virus'. The disease it causes has three stages. The first one is latent phase, where the symptoms will not be seen. The virus slowly adapts itself to the immune system of the host and disguises itself. It keeps mutating itself, in large numbers, inside the red blood cells at a rapid pace until it becomes undetectable. The second one is the contagious phase, where the virus spreads through any kind of contact the host makes with the environment. It spreads through air, water and vectors. The third and the final phase is where the virus infects the central nervous system and disrupts the vital metabolic activities of the body. The person will feel nauseated in the beginning, then there will be imbalance and falling during movement due to lack of muscular coordination. Lastly, the person will lose control over all of his body activities, both voluntary and involuntary except breathing. In short, the person will just become a breathing corpse. However, the antidote to this virus has already been developed. It works for a period of 16 hours and has to be injected before exposure to the virus. The cure is still under development. The primary reason for the development of the virus is to earn money. If there will be a virus outbreak, people will give any amount of money to get themselves immunised against the virus. Then Healtech will have the monopoly as no other medicine corporation can develop an antidote in such a short notice. The best way to earn money in such a short time...

And we are afraid of demons, monsters and darkness...

Cor realising that Blake had not taken the antidote, confronted him and ordered him to do something. Blake picked up the case and went inside his room while Cor walked away.

At 10:00 pm, there was a knock on the door of Joe Murphy's house. When Joe opened the door, the same dark eyes that had stared at him before were staring again."Yes, master?" Joe said in a servile voice.

"Dry these," Cor replied, "and hide them somewhere safe."

Cor returned home by the last train from Rockfurt to Gyulir. The next morning, while sipping hot coffee in his office, he read in the newspaper how Orville Blake, a mad scientist with evil plans to dominate the society was caught red-handed due to an accident in the lab. Blake was found in a severe condition along with three unknown people in his test lab. All the details about the virus were explained. Blake, along with the three test subjects were to be quarantined until the cure has been developed. Blake will face a lifetime imprisonment for this offence. 

Cor closed the paper and began browsing the papers in his work folder for any recent updates or issues in his department. For the first time since many years, he felt peace after doing something.

In the evening, Cor visited the Central Park again and sat on one of the benches overlooking the pond. A few minutes later, the man sitting beside him nudged him and whispered," Excellent work."

"You knew all about this, didn't you Mr Foster?" said Cor.

Ulfric smirked. "That's just what I do. It's my job to know what's going on around the neighbourhood."

"Then surely you must be knowing who Viking is?" asked Cor without looking at Ulfric.

"Viking?"

"Yes. When I was reading through Blake's memories, I came to know that Viking was the one who sponsored all of the experiments of Blake and helped him develop the virus. However, the guy never met Blake and only communicated through a private telephone connection. I suspect his voice too was modulated in his calls. Maybe, it was Viking who needed the virus more than Blake for some agenda. Blake was greedy only for the money and reputation."

"Hmm. Haven't heard about him before. I am certain that Viking is only a pseudonym to hide his true identity. I'll start looking."

Ulfric got up from the bench. "Take some rest now. You have saved a lot of lives," he said with a sly smile and walked away.

Cor watched the sun as it withdrew from the horizon, taking away all the light from the world. He left the spot when a couple came and started kissing right in front of him.

As he was walking towards his home, he saw a light twinkling from his hands. It was the gemstone in the ring. Cor stopped and went into one of the lonely lanes and clenched his fist for a few seconds. As he opened his fist, the dark ink flowed from nothingness and assembled in his palms, forming the text:

New Ability unlocked.

Control your human puppets

from a larger distance

[Repositus]