Here is a little short story I wrote several years back - I was just about to add it back into the archives, but then I figured there was no reason this had to show an earlier date, and some of you might be interested in reading it again. If it is your first time through, I sure hope you enjoy! 

  The Infection of Logoro-Yu’Dabi
  By: Craig Allen Reade

Yusih pulled a cloth from his pocket and wiped his brow. It was growing quite hot outside as summer approached, and soon the Kipux Festival would be upon them. Yusih was working late into the evening, as he often did this time of year. It was considered a bad omen if the fields could not be seeded before the festival, so all of the farmers worked harder during this time of year, to get the planting done on time.

The Kipux Festival is also known as the Thanksgiving to Yshiuey, Consort to the Lady Hriuh, the one true god of the Miyoe people. Throughout the year, night grows shorter until the day of the festival, when the orbit of Miyoe crosses between its two suns, Hriuh and Yshiuey. Then there would be light for a full day.

This time of year is the safest for the Miyoe people. All of the nocturnal predators go into hibernation, to avoid the long days. The hunters take advantage of this seasonal safety to venture further into the wilderness and bring back game to the community. Thanks to the light from the Yshiuey sun, the hunters need not fear attacks from these vicious predators. In return for this gift of safety from Yshiuey, the festival in his name is held.

The Festival was but two days away, and Yusih was falling behind. If he could not finish the planting, his crop could be dangerously small. He could continue past the festival with his seeding, but then no one would buy his crops. Word would get around that he had planted after the festival, and he would be blacklisted at the market. If his crop was too small, he may still have something to trade, but not enough to provide his family with meat throughout the winter. His whole family could starve.

His wife, Xeseh, laughed at his concern. Each year Yusih worried that he would not be able to finish the planting on time, but each year he finished with plenty of time to spare. His family had always eaten very well throughout the winter.

Yusih looked across the field at his son, barely walking, who had come to the fields to ‘help his daddy with the planting.’ The tiny boy eagerly pushed as much soil as his small hands could move into a mound, then giggled as he sprinkled seeds on top of it. Planting was a game to the boy, but his son eagerness to help brought much joy to Yusih. Soon, the boy would be strong enough to help with the chores, and his family would be able to plant more than ever. Not only would they be secure, they would make a considerable amount extra. Yusih would then be able to rest easily.

An odd shadow moving across the ground caught Yusih’s attention. It was much too soon in the year for any clouds, and there were no birds in this part of the land that large. Yusih looked up, curious at the apparition.

A moment after Yusih’s eyes protected themselves with a thin, third eyelid; he was able to look up through the glare of the Hriuh sun. What he saw confounded him. It was very close to the sun, so close that it was almost concealed in its glare. But, he could see it clearly: a large, dark, oval shape. Just floating in the sky!

It must be a sign from Hriuh. What else could it be? Perhaps she was going to punish the Miyoe for some yet unrevealed crime. Maybe she would come, bearing a gift, as reward for the Miyoe’s faithful worship and adherence to Her Word. It may be something else entirely; there was no way to be certain.

He scooped up his son, who was still playing with the bag of seeds, and rushed to the house. For a moment, Yusih thought he might be too worried. For all he knew, someone’s barn had been blown in the air by a freak whirlwind. Maybe it was a bird after all, and the glare of the sun had made it unrecognizable. 

He looked up again. It still wasn’t a house, and it was slowly getting bigger.

Yusih rushed into the house and plopped his son into the confused arms of his wife. Without explaining why, he told her to stay inside. He then rushed out the door and galloped towards town square as fast as his uyrid would carry him.

---

Soon after, Yusih and his tired steed trotted into the town of Logoro-Yu’Dabi. Already there was a large group of people congregated around the front of the temple, where the high priestess was leading the crowd in a prayer. Yusih tapped his head in respect as he walked by, hurrying towards the office of the mayor.

There, too, a large crowd had gathered. Already the object in the sky had tripled in size, and was beginning to take a more defined shape. The sky was growing darker as it began to blot out the Hriuh sun, and the Yshiuey sun was hours from rising. Insects that were normally dormant this time of year were beginning to stir, causing fear among the people that Hriuh was going to take the gift of light that Yshiuey so generously gave away from the people.

The crowd around the office of the mayor was smaller than the one around the temple, but was much louder. People badgered the Mayor’s assistant with a variety of unanswerable questions, few of which were acknowledged.

Yusih slumped against the wall, not knowing what could be done. Clearly he was not going to get any answers from the mayor, who was conveniently no where to be found. The temple seemed inappropriate. He did not know for certain that this was an act of Hriuh, and Yusih did not like to pray for things that were not clearly a matter for the gods. He sat against the wall, hoping the answer would come to him. It did.

Yusih shot to his feet, as a bright red shimmer of light appeared a few feet in front of him. The column reached into the sky as far as he could see, towards the floating shadow. As the light faded, part of it solidified into a tall, ugly creature. It was a good deal thinner than the average Miyoe, and was a great deal paler. Parts of its skin looked hard to the touch, and if the creature had any hair at all it had been removed.

The creature stood for a moment, surveying its surroundings. Its eyes finally settled forward, looking directly at Yusih. Yusih tried to run, but his legs were frozen in fear. 

“What is this?” Yusih gasped, flattening himself against the wall. He thought it must be some sort of god, or a demon. Only such a one could appear out of thin air like that. 

Yusih finally began to pray. He prayed that Yshiuey would grant him the strength to flee. He prayed that Hriuh would strike the creature down with a bolt of lightning, and save Her loyal son. He prayed for forgiveness of any sin that would cause his gods to send such terrible creatures to plague him, and his people.

The creature reached out and wrapped its (his?) strong fingers around Yusih’s neck. He was certain that the creature intended to snap his spine, and Yusih didn’t doubt that it had the strength to. Instead, it spat in Yusih’s face, and tossed him to the side. The creature then moved away.

At first, Yusih thought that he was safe. The demon had left. Slowly, Yusih struggled to get to his feet. 

His face began to itch. Yusih thought nothing of this; common itches are usually ignored, especially in times of stress.

The itching spread throughout his body. He began to grow disoriented as the itching slowly turned to burning. He could hear almost in the back of his mind the screams of the people throughout the square.

Soon, he didn’t even care about that. His skin felt as if it would melt away from his body. Yusih began running in a blind panic, searching for something that would ease the pain. Yusih stumbled into a tree, and then fell to his knees as his whole body throbbed in pain. He grasped his head with his hands, and felt the thick chords that were bulging out of his body where his muscles were tightening. Finally, he could no longer tolerate the pain. His body went limp and fell to the ground in seizures. Yusih faded from consciousness, his soul fleeing the torture that his body was undergoing. Every inch of him begged for the release of death.

Then, there was peace. Yusih woke, but he could feel no pain. He soon realized that he couldn’t feel anything at all, and panicked as he failed even the simple task of opening his eyes.

“Is this death?” Yusih thought to himself, as he struggled to understand what had happened to him. Yusih spend what felt like an eternity in peaceful solitude. Several times he wished for the urges of his body, but the memory of the pain he had felt before soon laid waste to that desire.

“Join me,” the Voice whispered. The Voice seemed to belong among Yusih’s thoughts, so he had to force himself to be startled by the intruding demand.

“Who are you?” he managed to reply.

“The One,” the Voice replied softly, after a moment of silence.

The answer made no sense to the disembodied Miyoe. A simple number could not possibly explain the voice that didn’t belong among his thoughts. Or was it his mind after all? Perhaps his solitude had driven him insane.

“I don’t understand,” Yusih thought.

The Voice smiled. Yusih wondered how he got that impression. Could a thought smile?

“I will heal you. I will make you whole. Join me.”

“Join you? What do you mean?”

“I will make you a part of a greater being. All that you are will be added to all that there is. You will be at peace.”

Yusih could feel his mind slipping. Every second that passed seemed to drain a little more focus. It troubles Yusih that he had no concept of time in this disembodied state. It took all the strength he had to form his thoughts clearly, and his ‘conversation’ with the voice in his head wasn’t helping. Seconds could be centuries, and Yusih struggled to come to terms with what was happening to him, before it was too late.

“Why do you want me?”

“Your species possesses a very unique metabolic quality. I will use your genetic knowledge to improve the lives of each of the One.”

Yusih could not understand what he had just heard. Words like genetic and metabolic were unknown to the relatively primitive Miyoe, and to Yusih they sounded like the incantations of a priestess, not a matter for a farmer.

“How can there be more than one One?” Yusih asked. The question sounded ridiculous to him, but the Voice made him feel as if it was the most important question in the world.

“The One is many beings with one purpose, intertwined in perfect unity.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“Join me,” the Voice repeated, after a long silence.

“What is the One?”

An image filled his mind, frightening in its enormity. He could see millions of creatures in thousands of places, all in one view. Many of the beings were like the ones he encountered in the Town Square, and he was frightened at first.

Then he realized that the creatures were nothing but shells. A single mind inhabited all of the bodies he saw, working its millions of appendages in perfect unity. To be part of the One was to surrender completely to them. Yusih rebelled against the thought.

“The One,” the Voice calmly stated.

Yusih lashed out against the Voice, pitifully weak in his disembodied state. The Voice remained, patiently waiting and completely unaffected by Yusih’s powerless tantrum.

“Join me!” the Voice demanded, louder than before.

“Why should I give in to you, who appear out of nowhere like a devil in a myth. You attacked me! You took my body and left me here, powerless! Hriuh will strike you down. She will free me!”

“I am Hriuh. I am Yshiuey. I am the only god you ever need know.”

“Liar!” Yusih raged. “If you are truly Hriuh, reveal yourself to me! Let me look upon you, and prove to me what you say is true!”

“Your god would damn you for demanding that She prove Herself to you. How do you know what She intends? How can you be certain that I am not She?”

“The sacred texts say that-“

“Men wrote the Sacred Texts,” spat the Voice. “A god does not need WORDS written on PAPER to guide their actions. They do what they will, what is in their power to do.”

“Who are you?” Yusih meekly asked.

“I am the One.”

“Why should I join you?”

Yusih felt power. For a moment, his mind contained everything that it was to be the One. He could see the smallest detail, and how it related to the larger whole. He could feel each of the tiny viral bodies that had invaded his body, and each one that inhabited every single One host. He could feel how they linked together, and how they connected to form a single, vast mind capable of containing the knowledge of a thousand races. He could see them altering who he was, improving his weak body by adding the strengths of other races on a molecular level.

He felt the unity that this entailed. Differences between people were irrelevant. You could not argue with someone that thought and acted exactly as you did. Cultural differences could not possibly be an issue. Individuals sacrificed everything to the billions that were now like them, and in turn, those billions strove to better every last individual. All were cared for, and all were loved.

All that could be known, was. A man could work all his life and learn but a fraction of the knowledge that the universe contained. But the One held the knowledge of billions. Everything from botany to starflight was held in a single mind. In that second, he knew all that the One knew, and it filled him with pain as he felt that knowledge slowly slip away.

He would never want for anything, again.

Even as the image faded, and he forgot all that he had held in his mind, he remembered how it felt. He remembered the power to do anything he chose. He felt the wisdom of billions. Hriuh was a dwarf next to such power. It had to be an illusion.

“Evil!” he cried. “You tempt me with absolute power and unattainable wisdom. You are no Hriuh! You are no Yshiuey! You have exposed yourself Keilley. I will not give my soul to you!”

The Voice seemed to smile, this time its grin spat contempt. The pressure from the Voice made him feel stupid. He still thought that Hriuh and her conflict with the evil Keilley was the most magnificent battle there could be. All of creation, battling as Good versus Evil. But that was so tiny, now. And he knew it.

And, he could feel the conflict growing within him. Part of his mind longed to be part of the One. He could feel the irresistible pull towards the Voice.

But maybe he wasn’t so small after all. Lady Hriuh could be as powerful as this demon inside him. Would he have comprehended how all encompassing She was if he had not seen what the Voice had shown him? Just as Yshiuey drank from the Cup of Knowledge when we was still mortal. Could Yusih now be a part of this epic battle? If so, One should not abandon their God.

Yusih started to rage, but the Voice waited calmly. Slowly, imaged filled Yusih’s mind. He tried to fight it, but as before, he was completely powerless.

He saw his family: his wife and son. He remembered all the work he had done over the years to support them both. He remembered the happy times he had spent with both of them.

Then his stomach lurched with hunger. In a second’s time, he felt as if he had died a thousand times by starvation. He heard his young boy wail over and over again because there was nothing to eat. He saw his wife, frail and ridiculously thin because she was giving what little food she had to her starving son. He saw himself, weakened from hunger. Bruised covered the bodies of his entire family, injuries sustained so easily due to the lack of nutrition.

He saw himself breaking his leg by falling of his uyrid, an almost impossible injury. The break would never heal properly. His son would die from malnutrition, because the little food his father brought home would be gone. His father would not be able to earn food if his leg was broken. His wife, waif thin and pale as a specter, was working for them both. Despair set in like a fatal illness, one with absolutely no cure. They would both die, and soon.

He was important to his family, but there was no way he could absolutely guarantee their well being, even with his new found ‘wisdom.’ He could make a mistake, or simple bad luck could befall the family, and there would be nothing he could do to make things right. Their faith in him would mean their deaths!

The image frightened him. So often he had worried about it crops being planted on time, but it was only the surface of his fears. He saw the rains coming early, and washing his seeds away. He saw the rains coming too late to help his withered crops. He saw the seeds that he was counting on to grow rot and die before they ever take root. He saw the countless diseases that could wipe out his plants, and the accidental fires that could so easily spread out of hand, leaving him with no harvest at all.

Never could he see more clearly exactly how lucky he was that none of these things had occurred. He could see them happen, things that should be in him control going disastrously wrong. But he could also see how the mistakes of strangers could kill him.

He saw the hunters returning to the village with no game. The herds could be too withered to obtain enough meat for the whole village. They could leave for the hunt and never return, killed by wild animals or bands of barbarians. Warring realms could burn through their village like it was nothing more than part of a trampled landscape. A pack of wild Fu’hars could raid his farm, and pluck away his son while he was out in the fields.

He was irrelevant.

There was nothing he could do to prevent these things from happening. It was dumb luck that his family had survived to this point. There was absolutely nothing he could do to guarantee their safety and well being in the future.

Another image filled his mind, similar to the vast feeling of power that he had felt before. He could see all that there was; vast galaxies with millions of world, each filled with billions of people. But he didn’t understand any of it. The omniscience he had felt before was gone. It made him feel tiny. He was but one small man on a small planet. Hriuh herself was but a fleck of dust in comparison to the vast void of infinity that he had just experienced. His existence truly meant nothing at all. His struggle against the Voice was pointless.

He wanted to give in.

Again, he tasted the power. Not as intense as before, but just enough for him to remember it, and ache for more. Nonexistent hands reached out, to pull the power closer.

“No!” he screamed, recoiling in rage. The Voice remained silent.

“Why do you show me these things?”

“I wish to help you.”

“By causing me pain?”

“I show you the pain so that you will understand just how much I can help you. I only wish to end all pain, to end suffering for all people. My goal is to end limits imposed by lack of resources, imposed by ignorance and hate. I seek the destruction of fear and despair. I want you to see things as I do, so that you will want these things too.

“For you, misfortune is a reality. Pain and fear, worry and despair, each of these things are very real, and all around you. For me, these things have become nothing more than the misfortune of others. You can be like me. You can become me.”

“How?” Yusih quivered.

“Join me,” the Voice boomed.

“I… I don’t believe you,” he lied.

He did see the truth. People cling to what they were as soon as they have an identity to cling to. To put aside cultural bias would be a huge step in solving so many problems- wars, hunger, disease, and more. Not hunters or farmers, but hunters and farmers. All would be One, working together to help each other survive. There was a beauty in such unity.

No hunger, no pain, no war, no plague, no ignorance, and no weakness.

That was what it was to be the One.

At that moment, he chose the Voice.

He could feel his consciousness thinning. A small part of who he was receded into the furthest depths of his mind. There it would remain, locked in a sort of mental prison until it withered away.

The rest if his mind was lost. Everything he was, and everything that he knew was spread out over the entire mind of the One, each host body experiencing what it was to be Yusih. They all knew what he knew, and were better for it.

But no one grieved the loss of Yusih. There was joy in bringing yet another into the fold, but the well being of a single body was irrelevant next to the needs and goals of the One.

---

The world erupted into chaos in minutes. Strange creatures materialized out of the heavens. Messengers sent to one town seeking help, arrived at their destination to find it decimated.

Logoro-Yu’Dabi was no different. The town was already panicked because of the unexpected darkness. Most didn’t even notice the arrival of the three creatures, at first. When someone finally did notice, it was too late for some.

The first fell at the hands of one of the menacing creatures near the mayor’s office. A woman screamed at the sight. Hundreds more of the creatures appeared all around the square.  Most of the people ran. The town was full of farmers and merchants; none who wanted to risk a confrontation which what must be the agents of evil. The few warriors that were near bye drew their blades and rushed towards the creatures. Not to be outdone, the hunters joined in the fight, stringing their bows and taking out any of the creatures that they could. A few arrows struck true, and a few of the creatures fell before the blade, but most of the creatures were protected by the hard bone protrusions that they wore like armor.  

The One said very little. In fact, they said nothing at all. They were of one mind. They did not need to communicate with one another.

In the end, the One was too much for the struggling Miyoe. They would capitalize instantly on any mistake that their opponent made, since the One had the knowledge of thousands of trained warriors to call upon. Within seconds, the unfortunate Miyoe would either be dead, or be part of the One himself.  The body fluids of the One hosts were the key.

The One existed because of a vast network of viruses that infected the bodies of each and every One host. It acted as a disease that would infect a new host, and then take it over. The One virus could be transmitted through contact with any body fluid. Battles were often won without a deathblow ever being dealt. The viral bodies would quickly gain control of the new host body, and then the new host would turn on the Miyoe. The people often found themselves fighting for their lives against some of their oldest friends.  

Most of the Miyoe, towards the end of the battle, fancied it the Final Battle between Good and Evil. The most devout eagerly awaited the appearance of the Lady Hriuh, when she and Yshiuey would vanquish these upstart demons and usher in an age of peace and holiness. To all, it was a fight for survival.

The cities were crushed quickly. New host bodies began to spread out, searching for the remaining Miyoe that were undoubtedly hiding in the mountains or on their farms. The small villages were upgraded quickly; adapting each population center to a technology level more suited to the One. All that made the Miyoe who they were was quickly being ripped from existence.  

Yusih walked methodically down a path towards a nearby farmhouse. He no longer remembered his name, and vaguely remembered having one. Any conscious thought was coning from the One, who used his body as effortlessly as one bat of an eyelash. The One decided that they wanted to hunt down the Miyoe that were in hiding, and Yusih began searching.

The man who was Yusih did still exist, locked in a very tiny corner of what once was his mind. This was common to a One host. Eventually, this last bit of will in utter boredom. It would be unaware of its surroundings, and would eventually fade due to lack of interest. This part of the mind was of no use to the One, so it was ignored. The remaining wills of any host could cause no harm, so they were ignored.  

Yusih pushed his way through the door of a small structure that looked vaguely familiar to his imprisoned will. The One recognized the structure immediately, but its meaning to the host body was found to be irrelevant, and ignored. There were two life signs inside the building, and two new potential host bodies for the One. That was all that was important.

Deep inside the house, Yusih heard the muffled whimper of a small child. Yusih made his way towards the sound, not bothering to search the rest of the house. The other Miyoe that was detected in the house must be with the child, muffling its cries.  

Yusih entered a large bedroom. A woman was curled up in a corner, holding a small child in her arms. She stood, pushing the child behind her.

“Yusih!” she gasped.  

Yusih stood, motionless. The One struggled for a second to decide how to take advantage of the woman’s unexpected recognition of her former husband. His DNA structure had already been mostly rewritten to incorporate several adaptations, and was completely deformed.

“What has happened to you, my love?” the woman tenderly asked, as she guided the boy towards the bed. Cautiously, she moved towards the man that was once her husband.  

“Xeseh,” the One replied. “I have been healed.”  Xeseh was frightened by the sound of her husband’s voice. She could see that something terrible had happened to him. But he wasn’t acting like Yusih at all. But he looked like him, and his voice was the same. He even knew her. It must be him. She could take care of him, and make him whole again. If she could only understand what had happened… “Were you sick?”

“Yes, it was a terrible disease. Weakness and ignorance were its symptoms. But now, I am healed. I have come to heal you too, my love.”

“Don’t be silly,” Xeseh nervously giggled. She didn’t show it, but she was now deathly afraid. This man was not her husband. She took a tiny step towards her son. “There is nothing wrong with me!”

“You are wrong,” The One shook his head, sadly. “Let me show you.”  

Xeseh recoiled in terror as Yusih spat towards her. She backed away, positioning herself between her son and husband, and almost completely avoided the spittle that the One had lobbed at her. Almost avoided it.

A tiny drop hit her arm. She thought nothing of it; she only stared, terrified, into the eyes of her husband. The One did nothing but grin; he acted as if he had won something. She stared at him, confused.

Then the pain began. Xeseh screamed as she dropped to the floor, unable to contain the agony of the One infection.

“No!” Yusih’s mind raged from its small prison. He had given in to the One, he had been weak. He accepted the Hell he had condemned himself to. But he did not want to be the instruments of destruction of his family.

But he already was. His wife, loudly weeping on the floor, was already giving in/ Her husband had been ripped away from her, and now he returned to take her life. What had she left to fight for? She submitted to the One much faster than Yusih thought possible.

The boy stared blankly at his father. Yusih understood his confusion. The boy saw his mother fall to the ground, in pain, for no reason, and his strangely deformed father do nothing but smile. The boy had no experiences from which to draw any sort of conclusion. So he sat and stared.

The host turned towards the boy, readying to infect him. Yusih screamed for his body to stop. To his surprise, it did.

Yusih could feel the One pushing, doing everything within its power to reassert control over Yusih’s body. Yusih could feel that they were on the verge of doing to. He had to decide quickly what he was going to do with his limited freedom.

He looked at the writhing body of his wife, and the terrified face of his son. He could flee, but Xeseh was already a part of the One. His son would be too, as soon as she awoke. Even if she wasn’t the instrument of his corruption, the One was everywhere on this world. It would only be a matter of time before his son was infected anyway.

Yusih looked at the sharp bone protrusion that jutted from his wrist. After a second of thought, he rose it above his head. He was surprised at how difficult every little bit of movement was with the One fighting against him.

The One’s unity was a joke. To erase all that a person was in order to provide peace was meaningless. What was peace to someone who had no reason to enjoy that peace? Without a mind or a will, the peace was worthless anyway. He would spare his family that fate.

Yusih’s hand dropped. He raised it again and brought it down with even more force. Then he was gone. The One had reclaimed his body. The man who was Yusih would never again exist.

The host surveyed the damage. A thick pool of blood was forming on the floor. Blood drenched the bed, as well. The One, unmoved by the loss of the two Miyoe, turned the host away from the farmhouse.

Within two days, every Miyoe on the planet was infected, or dead.

Within a month, it would be impossible to distinguish their planet from any other One world.

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