[Inquisitor Rosenadel]

Part II: The Seven Symptoms

When the Cultor Pestilus was spotted in the sky over Pandema, the city erupted in panic. The Arbites were sent out to get all personnel into the bunkers beneath the city. The task was difficult. Some were hysterical, some refused to go, and some fought the Arbites with envenomed weapons and died where they stood.

The governor assembled the PDF in defence of Pandema the other cities around the planet. Defence lasers were activated, Hydra platforms’ ammo hoppers filled to capacity, and the wall turrets manned at all times. The governor knew that Chaos used trickery and lapses in vigilance to gain an advantage over its enemies. What he did not realize was that the lapse in vigilance had already occurred.

Deep below in the dank bunkers in which the citizenry hid, the traveller was accused of bringing damnation upon the people of Bubonis. He denied this claim, stating that he would bring what the citizenry had asked for. The marines above them, if they were let into the city, would peacefully give them the constancy, power, and safety they had asked for. They were a “blessing”. The people would have none of it, and they locked him in a cell normally used for the most dangerous criminals. They gave him neither drink nor nourishment, and he began to whither away. He pleaded that if they would simply listen to him, he would set things right and deliver his promises. But they closed their ears to him, knowing now that it was their open ears that had brought about this terrible chain of events in the first place.

No one came even to talk to the traveller anymore, which was just as well as he could not speak intelligibly anyway, so dry was his throat. After two days, he was discovered dead. The people decided that he deserved to rot in his cell and they left his corpse there.

A week passed, and the Chaos Marines had not attacked. The people were allowed back into their homes until such time as an attack came. Life in the city returned to its previous state, albeit at a higher state of alertness. Despite the fact that no Marines entered the city, the attack had already begun.

In the ghettoes, the workers began to complain of rashes that itched every now and then, but with increasing frequency. Their overseers admonished them, ordering them to cease their complaining and do their work. But the overseers soon began to feel the rashes breaking out on their own skin, as well. Soon the rash had spread throughout the entire city, much in the same manner as the heresy that had spread before it. The people dismissed it as another malady that was a result of the wet season that had recently begun. Illnesses such as these came and went with little trouble.

But in the ghettoes, the rash had already developed into something worse. Within days there were reports of gangly, sickly things attacking people and spreading the devastating contagion. They were almost inhuman, with claws and horns, additional eyes, and even additional limbs. The Arbites were called in to destroy the creatures, but they proved hardier that they looked, and the Arbites lost several men to the abominations before they were able to be dealt with effectively. Doctors in the city were able to identify several stages of the disease.

First there was the rash, where the patches of skin turned blotchy and became itchy. On the heels of the rash came a wheeze and a cough that brought forth a sticky green-grey phlegm. After that, where once there were rashes there bubbled up pustules and boils. In the fourth stage came a violent retching from which the afflicted vomited pus and bile. Next the skin paled and greyed, and the eyes sunk into their sockets. After that, mucus began to pour from not only the nose, but the eyes, mouth, ears, and even through the skin. In the seventh and final step, all manner of hideous mutations emerged and the afflicted were no longer able to identify friends or family and often attacked them for no reason.

During this time the cause of the disease was sought, but to no avail. Then came reports of crops going bad within days. Water became slimy and filmy, and had a horrible odour. It was determined that this fouling came from near the centre of the city. It was tracked to the bunkers, and in the cell the people had left the traveller was a great mount of foul muck. Mucus, pus, blood, and all manner of disgusting oozes flowed out of the mound and into the ground beneath the heart of the city. The traveller had promised great things for the people of Pandema. What the people did not understand was his perspective of “blessing”.