Kyan was feeling troubled, although this seemed to be nothing new since he had come to be in this host body. But more problems had cropped up in the last week than he knew how to deal with. He'd been unable to recruit new servants, which wasn't a large problem, for he was quite capable of performing household duties, especially as his body was far more agile and could move freely now. But it was eating into the time he would rather be seeking out his lover.

Also a large shipment of cloth was reported missing, it was meant to come from a specific factory built next to the river, but the main warehouse had neither received it nor any communication regarding its delay. A manager thought to inform him, while also deciding to send someone to the factory as no one there could be connected to via the telephone switchboard. Kyan left it to this capable manager.

But now, his butler, Mr Forbes had taken ill. Kyan thought to provide him with medicine, but the doctor was baffled by the symptoms. In the end, the man had diagnosed Mr Forbes with the common cold, but Kyan had remained unconvinced, so sought to try figure out the illness himself. After all, even though he had never been more than a quack doctor in his previous lives, did not mean he was totally ignorant. He had also been a pharmacist once, developing medicine for existing illnesses so he had some knowledge.

However, after stealing a little blood to examine once the butler slept, he found himself baffled. The blood contained dead cells that seemed to have once been bacteria of some sort, otherwise there was just normal blood cells. No signs of what was wrong with the man. So he took a skin sample and a saliva sample to test. The skin sample was much the same as the blood sample, the saliva sample contained a bacteria that shouldn't be there, but shouldn't, strictly speaking, be harmful to a living person.

That bacteria was identified by Yin. It was a bacteria unique to this world that existed in corpses, nicknamed Corpse Dust. It lived in the rotting cells of dead bodies, though it could also exist within dying bodies as well, should a sick person become contaminated by it. Corpses would swell after sometime and graves explode causing the spread of the bacteria. Many took to cremating the dead for this reason, but there were always animal bodies to dwell in, so the bacteria still existed well.

"It reminds me of the sickness that had similar effects to rotting trees when I was Saewulf," Kyan mused. He had not seen the state of the bacteria that caused the phenomenon in the plant ruled world, technology there was medieval at best. But he did recall that there was a potion that Leif created to counteract it so that healthy trees near to their village were not contaminated.

*Its physical identity is not too different* Yin agreed.

"Why does it breed in the dead and dying only?" Kyan asked, out of curiosity.

*Its cell division rate is relatively slow in comparison to other bacteria. In a living host, it would be identified and removed by the immune system too swiftly. Also, in a healthy host, other probiotic bacteria would interfere in its breeding, so taking root would prove difficult.*

"I see," Kyan mused. "Still, it doesn't make sense that the bacteria is in my butler's saliva."

*Perhaps he has recently eaten infected meat?*

"I thought that also," Kyan replied, it was highly plausible, although thoroughly cooking said meat should remove most traces of bacteria. "So I tested my own saliva seeing as I eat whatever Mr Forbes has prepared. But I am clean, it seems." He drummed his fingers upon the table, feeling as if he was missing something. This foreign body within Mr Forbes had him worried, even if Yin assured him otherwise. Still best to help the immune system along, he felt. "The dying trees could be treated by adding a solution of certain herbs into its water supply. But those herbs do not exist here."

*Yin has been informed that Yin can provide products foreign to this world, despite Master's previous rules as this world may be destroyed even without their interference. Do you wish to replicate the herbs?*

"Yes," Kyan agreed, excitedly. "And while you are at it..."

*****

The horse and cart pulled up outside the silent factory around 1pm the day following the warehouse manager's decision to investigate the missing shipment. The man had gone personally with another employee and had paid a cabbie to take them to the site. He had not been expecting the gigantic building to seem practically abandoned! No steam came from its chimneys, no men or women lurked outside its doors with cigarettes in hand and no machinery could be heard operating with in. It was eerily silent.

"Hello?" The man called out as he approached the sealed doors. "Is anyone about?" He heard a loud bang at the doors and odd growling noises. But then nothing for several moments. "H-Hello?"

"I don't like this, manager," the employee said, shuffling from foot to foot behind him.

"Neither do I," the other confessed. "But I can't simply contact Mr Stoker and advise him that I did not investigate as the whole matter appeared creepy!" There was another large bang against the factory doors and the two men flinched. "But let us use the other entrance..."

A few minutes later, the men ran full steam towards the waiting cab. A large, moving mass of grey figures came stumbling after them at a quick pace. The employee cried out as he glanced over his shoulders at the ambling individuals that seemed to move fast despite the awkwardness of their gait. Their, unseeing yellow eyes, their grey and unhealthy flesh, many had large wounds oozing black blood and pus... what in the lords name were these fiends?

The horse caught wind of rotting flesh and began to buck against his reins, but the cabby did not have to try calm his want of flight for long as the two men leapt aboard the cart and screamed; "Go!"

*****

"Sir!"

"What is it?"

Within a certain room, within a certain building, two men were supposedly amid discussions and had laid out instructions not to be disturbed. It was not that they were up to anything illegal nor dealing in matters that were strictly private, it was just that these two men were shared a fondness that was beyond comradery or friendship or brotherhood. It could be more likened as that which is ordinarily between a man and a woman of non-blood relations.

The larger of the two men was a general, retired from the army for reasons of health, though to most he appeared robust, he lacked a flesh and blood arm within one sleeve. The smaller of the two men wore the grin of a Cheshire Cat and was not shy about teasing the other in all ways. He wore customised goggles upon his mess of greasy black hair and many belts about his chest, from which various tools and pockets hung. From one of these pockets, he withdrew a cigarette, which he placed between his lips.

Just as a man burst through into the office, disregarding all orders, the square jawed general standing beside the heavy, oak desk removed the dangling cigarette from the lips of the other and crushed it within his fist, before turning to face the intruder within his office. "Well?"

The third wheel glanced rapidly between the two occupants, his eyes wide and jittery like a bird caught in the jaws of a feline. He coughed and swallowed down the nerves that had abruptly surfaced in the larger man's presence. "The switchboard..." he stammered, before saying with more conviction; "The switchboard has been inundated with panicked alarms. We believe there to have been an outbreak!"

Despite the urgency in his words, the larger man's stoic expression was unchanging. "I told you that I dislike it when you smoke," he said quietly to the man sitting upon his desk. The smaller man pursed his lips into a pout as he mourned for the loss of his cigarette, before turning to glance over his shoulder.

"How large an outbreak? Will clean up be needing the big guns after the squads roll out?" He was part of the clean up crew that disposed of corpse bodies and evidence of squadron activities. Theirs was a secret army, originally formed to deal with foreign spies, assassins and those who would disturb the peace for their own selfish reasons, but these days, they had to deal with walking corpses that preyed upon the living. His general was the man in charge of the operation.

The man, a lower ranked officer in charge of surveillance about the city, shook his head and twisted his own fingers about nervously. "I don't think that there will be any covering up of this incident this time..."

The general and his lover glanced at each other and immediately gave their full attention to this matter. "Have the squads move out," the larger man instructed. "But tell them that their lives should not be squandered with containment. If containment fails, then we may have to proceed to plan b."

"Plan b?" The officer asked hopefully.

"Yeah, pray to god and kiss your arse goodbye," the smaller man informed him with a cheerful smack upon his shoulder.