Tap Tap Tap Tap

A figure ascended an endless stairway, their eyes blood-red and their hair as dark as their surroundings.

Footsteps echoed as pebbles rolled down the ancient stone stairs. The damp air below began to turn sterile as a light from above illuminated the dark abyss.

Cain abruptly paused, one step away until he reached the light. He slammed his fist into the wall, breaking into pieces and trickling into the abyss.

'This isn't worth it. What's the point of continuing…'

His eyes flickered as if his thoughts were erased. He took a deep breath, murmuring to himself, 

"As I walk out of this hell, I will become anew. I will forget my past and become my future, all to better the world, all to fix the sins that drown it."

He slowly repeated his words like a mantra. Inside his mind, memories were sealed away, locked in binding imaginary chains under the power of Cravis Renaltic. 

It was funny, Cain had just regained his memories but then sealed them away again. Only this time, far more was being locked away, practically his entire life.

Other than the necessary memories, Cain began to forget everything else. Memories connected to Luna, Darius, John, and many more. Their faces began to grow foggy, disappearing. All that remained were memories of his background, knowledge, pain, and his goal.

Reborn, he opened his eyes once again. A single drip echoed as it hit the stone below him. Cain touched his face; it was wet, and he was crying. He didn't know why, but he felt sorrow within himself. He wiped away his tears and took that final step into the light.

'Nothing changed, it seems no one came after I did.' His thoughts churned as he studied the room leading into the abyss. 

Cain quickly left the empty room and began heading to his real target, the vault. He planned to loot everything valuable in this place before he left. 

The destruction of Free City was at hand, with it were vultures looking to seize its treasures.

'The vault holds millions of years of history, I must have it!'

Even if most of the information in the vault was useless, or even erased due to the sands of time. Everything remaining had been used in some way. And if not, there were still other treasures to steal.

With the Cravus virus now in his possession, Cain's brain could process information extremely fast. Although it was up to Cain to understand what he consumed, he could memorize anything that came from his six senses, which would make obtaining all of the Union's knowledge easy.

Returning to the broken white halls, now filled with corpses, Cain maneuvered around the bodies of doctors in bloodied lab coats, stepping over electrical wires and glass. 

He followed the path to the vault he memorized on previous occasions.

'I wonder if I will find anything like the Animum virus in the vault again, though I shouldn't get my hopes up.'

The Animum virus was not only a simple virus but an ancient one. It was able to be seen in a liquid state, which was weird, strange even. But the strangest thing was that Animum seemed to be untouched in the vault for all these years, so how did the virus not die yet?

Another thing Cain didn't understand, was how could he use it? He shouldn't be able to, shouldn't he? It was a virus after all. 

Cain had a bad premonition. 

'Evil Spirit…that's what the researcher called it right? I shouldn't be able to fully understand it…I know I got help with Cravius from….from? Ugh, why can't I think of a name? Nevermind! But I definitely shouldn't be able to use Animum like I can now!'

Why could he control Animum? Was the virus somehow allowing itself to bend to his will? Was it alive? Cain had already fused it with his body; he had overwritten himself over someone with it! 

He committed such a dangerous action! Since when did he not use common sense?! Such abilities were not within the realms of mortals! If it was indeed alive…then he allowed a viscous and evil entity in his body!

The thought chilled Cain to the bone, but with Animum in his bloodstream, it heated up to offset the cold feeling.

Cain started to run as if his life depended on it, because it did. He needed more information, or else he could be in deep trouble.

…

Cain made it to the vault entrance, only a large metal door blocking him, good thing he already had the keycard. Slowing his pace, he saw a guard trying to pry open the door, struggling.

It wasn't surprising the guard could hear Cain's footsteps, turning to face him. The guard immediately readied his weapon. 

But the guard didn't have a chance. As he charged, a red menacing haze escaped from a wound Cain inflicted on his wrist.

'Had to get the Animum virus out some way.'

Before the guard was even 10 feet away from Cain, the mist forced itself through every orifice. The guard fell to the floor, coughing blood and experiencing his entire body burning up.

"AHH! AHHHHH!"

A few seconds later, the guard was no more, only crimson mist leaving behind bone and metal plating.

It was time to get his prize. Cain walked up to the door, opening it using the keycard. He then used the vault key to enter the vault itself.

Cain didn't even care about the first room; he already knew most of what was in there. He headed straight to the second room, where all the important documents and knowledge were stored.

Again, he used the vault key once more to open an even more elaborate steel door. 

Cain's vision filled with desks and shelves full of books, along with file cabinets and papers everywhere.

'This place is hardly organized…this might take awhile.'

He got started on organizing everything, spending a full hour searching for what he wanted; thankfully, there was some form of order, and Cain found what he was looking for.

He grasped a book, it was a record of ancient viruses depicted in folklore. He wasn't going to find a virus as ancient as Animum on any other page in this whole place.

Cain quickly flipped to the book, reading every page until he found the story of the Animum Virus.

=================================

Folklore of the Animum Curse, Compiled from engravings and word-to-mouth stories over the annuals of history. Contributed by Arther Henchkins.

…

Once upon a time, in the vast forest under the Earth Tree, there was a cave. In a cave was a sacred fluid.

It was said the liquid granted everlasting life to all plants in Netherane and was rumored to grant immortal life if one were to drink from it. 

One day, a man found the cave and the scarlet liquid of life.

He was overjoyed and drank it, thinking he would live forever. But what followed was only pain. 

The man whose name has been long lost, watched as his body melted. His spirit fused with the mist that was created from his evaporating flesh and blood.

Throughout the whole process, the man could only feel unbreakable pain, screaming in agony before he was completely transformed.

Now as mist, still remembering the pain he had experienced and still experiencing, it felt as if its very being was melted and reconstructed again, over and over.

But the mist could do nothing, it simply followed the whims of the air. Endless pain awaited it as it could only follow the wind.

Eventually, the mist found its way to a village where many people lived. It was one of the Great Earth Trees settlements, where it nurtured its human creations.

Taking the opportunity, the mist felt a powerful instinct and acted on it. Traveling close to a man.

The man breathed in the mist, and the mist felt great pleasure as the constant pain it felt went away, now drawing in euphoria as if this was somehow its purpose.

As the mist traveled through the man's body, the man began to scream in agony. After gathering a crowd, the man stopped screaming, he then changed. The man progressively turned into the man from the cave.

The other villagers surrounding the man witnessed the red mist enter their fellow clansman and saw the result. 

Frozen by fear, sweat formed as they fell to their knees in terror. The only thing they could do was call out to the Great Earth Tree, pleading and praying. 

"Evil Spirit! It's an Evil Spirit! Oh Great Tree! Help us!"

The tribesmen screamed out pleading, yet the mist now man didn't understand why. He was reborn! He was human once more…no…He was a god! They should all worship him!

The Evil Spirit became angry, his anger fueling the mist. In his rage he turned back into a crimson haze, revealing his true form once more. 

He then attacked the villagers, killing them as they fueled him, every kill gave the Evil Spirit a moment of absolute joy. Soon, all the villagers were transformed into mist, leaving only bones.

The man felt great pleasure in his slaughter, snickering hysterically in a new vessel. From then, he would travel to another village, killing everyone.

Finally, the pain from before was gone, now he could travel the land and become a King, nay a God!

However, still in his thoughts, a great force swept the forest. It was the Great Earth Tree!

The Great Earth Tree was furious with the Evil Spirit! And so he gave his verdict and declared the Evil Spirit's fate. The ground shook and the world seemed to fall into despair. 

The Great Earth Tree's voice boomed, "Sinner! You shall be forever cursed! Your soul forever trapped in the state of eternal mist! Forever in endless torture!"

With one last earthquake, the will of the Great Earth Tree was carried out, "Receive your punishment!"

The man was immediately surrounded by dew and morning fog, it crushed his bones and destroyed his body. The Spirit was once again forced into mist and thus felt the unbearable pain.

But the Great Earth Tree wasn't done with the punishment yet, oh no. He still needed to give hope, hope to escape this horrible fate, only then could the spirit know true agony.

"I shall give you one chance! Pass on your pain through a covenant with another who will bear it for you! Let them allow themselves to experience endless torture in your place! It is the only way!"

The Great Earth Tree said his peace and the mist began to follow the wind, forever wandering the world of Neafis, hoping that someone would take its burden before his spirit was truly crushed.

…

Mythical Tales told by the Grand Priest of the Great Earth Tree
=================================

'Well…this means I'm safe right?'

Cain sighed in relief. He must have made a covenant with the previous victim, bound to eternal torture. But now he had to deal with the curse.

'But if I'm now cursed, why am I not stuck as mist or the liquid? Did something happen that changed the curse? Was it broken? Or weakened? If it was a curse, why is it a virus? So many questions…'

It appeared that for whatever reason, once the covenant was passed, the restrictions on taking over another body were removed? This must've been the case. Then why the pain? Had the curse really been removed or only weakened a great deal? Or was the pain just a part of the nature of the virus?

Cain had many such thoughts, 'So I have all the positives of being the Evil Spirit? Hm, useful.'

Now that this mess was cleared up, Cain could now do the other thing he was here for. He began to flip through the different documents and books in the vault, recording them in his mind.

Many documents covered many topics, it was a treasure trove. Cain even found the original recipe for the ancient bricks.

'Grey Stone huh? Meant to block spying from outside influences? Wait, it's not for durability?'

That wasn't all in the ancient pages.

'Wait no, they're still durable, but primarily used for rituals, they are also excellent conductors of runes. This lists a few other uses as well.'

There were also other things Cain learned, there was a wide array of things here. Research for techniques making it easier for visualization and memorization, research for finer control of one's bacteria and viruses, and many more!

Cain's brain was perfectly suited for studying, and his logical process was quite powerful, almost everything could be understood with ease!

There were also techniques for separating and utilizing different ways of cognitive function using the abilities of a plague doctor. There were even other documents depicting Cain's way of augmentation, going over the process of different viruses and even turning bacteria into suitable viruses.

'Who knew someone else had the same idea as me! But…they seem to have died before they completed their research.'

This research helped immensely. If before Cain had a faint glimmer of where to go, he now had a brightly lit hallway and solid ground to walk on for further progress!

But that wasn't all; this room didn't just contain academic knowledge but also combat skills. Cain found many manuals on ancient assassins' combat techniques and skills based on the Yurombi.

He also acquired other techniques for things like hand-to-hand combat, stealth, torture, and manipulation. But mastering all these skills would take hundreds, if not thousands, of years of training and experience.

'Time is nothing now, right? I'm sure I can always get another body if that's how this virus works…'

Cain now had a lot of time on his hands to improve himself, he had no plans other than causing chaos throughout Netherane. He took his time to memorize all the information he could and planned to learn them properly as they were needed.

After spending hours memorizing and sorting information inside his head, Cain finally stopped and came before another vault door, this one was black as obsidian, giving Cain a feeling of overbearing mystery.

He inserted the round key into the door and it opened, revealing a vacuum of space. Bright lights dotted the void-like sky…and Cain was then sucked into it, defenseless.