Dead World: The Origin of Viruses

"She passed through here..."

It was a constant thought, one that was repeated every time my feet stepped on the ashes of a street or I saw the skeletons of buildings. The city, which was once a metropolis of light and life, was now a canvas of fire and destruction. The sky was stained an orange-red from the fires that burned out of control. The air, dense and hot, smelled of burnt meat, ash, and a metallic smell that reminded me of blood. The skyscrapers leaned against each other, like tired giants. The windows, bare and broken, looked like empty eyes that watched from the darkness. I walked among overturned cars, their broken windshields like spiderwebs. The asphalt was cracked and melted in some places, solidified into grotesque shapes that captured the terror of the last moments of this world.

"There's no doubt."

I remembered social networks before everything went to hell, the viral videos of that monster I invoked, her pink hair waving in the wind as she destroyed tanks and combat helicopters.

"It could only have been her."

Her laughter, which resonated in the videos, was an echo that I could still hear in the silence of the streets.

"I have to hurry."

Following the system's instructions, which were shown as a holographic map in my vision, I arrived at a place.

"The answers must be here..."

It was an underground complex, a high-tech clinical facility that had escaped the destruction of the surface.

"...The answers."

The entrance was a reinforced concrete bunker, sealed with a heavy metal door. The air, once I crossed it, was clean, cold, and smelled of disinfectant.

[<Ding!>]

As I walked down the corridors, the system gave me the next mission:

[<Discover the origin of the apocalypse.>]

Glancing sideways at the message, I advanced room after room, each one sealed with security doors. An aura of mystery enveloped me.

(Pssshhhh)

I passed through decontamination rooms, sterile labs, and observation rooms filled with medical equipment.

(Chufff)

In every corner, the sensation of a contained horror was palpable.

(Clack, clack, clack!)

The silence was total, except for the sound of my boots echoing on the tiled floor, which was a welcome peace in comparison to the hell on the surface.

"...."

Each room was a piece of a puzzle.

(Ch-ch-ch)

Corridor after corridor, each one was identical to the last. The emergency lights flickered overhead, casting twisting shadows. The smell of disinfectant mixed with a sour stench, the smell of rotting flesh. The first thing I noticed were the corpses. They were not scattered evenly, but were piled up against the walls, some with their eyes still open, as if death had surprised them in a moment of panic. Their bodies, wrapped in lab coats, were filled with claw marks and bites, with their limbs bent at impossible angles.

"Ugh..."

My stomach churned, but I kept going, my sword ready. Then came the test subjects. In each containment chamber, I encountered a different horror.

(Thump! Thump! Thump!)

"Grrrrrrr!"

(Swoosh!)

"Grrr-grrr-grrr!"

(Thud!)

"Rraaaaaagh!"

(Thud! Wham!)

A "zombie" with an extra arm writhing on its chest, another with multiple eyes that had opened on its back, and one in particular with a mouth that stretched to its ears. All of them were pounding on the glass of their cells, their distorted screams suffocated in the air.

[<Anomaly detected. Analyzing biomass...>]

"...."

However, thanks to the system's messages, I regained my composure until finally, after what felt like an eternity of silent terror, I reached the end of the corridors.

"Is this it...?"

The last room was different. It was completely empty and destroyed.

(Zzzzt, zzzzt, zzzzt)

The lights flickered even more frantically. The metal walls were covered in dents and burn marks. The floor was cracked, and fragments of broken containment glass covered the ground. A gigantic hole in the wall, with twisted metal edges, looked as if something had exploded to get out. Below the hole, metal stairs sank into the darkness, inviting the mouth of a new kind of terror.

(Clack, clack, clack!)

I went down the stairs slowly, the sound of my steps muffled by the twisted metal that covered the steps. The path was filled with destruction. The claw marks on the walls became deeper as I descended, and the air grew colder and heavier. The emergency lights had stopped working a long time ago, so I had to rely on my flashlight to light my way, revealing the chaos that had been left behind. I finally arrived at a control room with a large armored glass panel.

"!!"

As I looked through it, my breath caught. On the other side was an elaborate containment chamber, made of a shiny metal. It was completely wrecked. The wall panels were torn off, cables hung like vines and the lights flickered uncontrollably, casting wandering shadows everywhere. And in the midst of all that chaos, I saw the trucks.

"Why...?"

There were toy trucks and real trucks, tightly aligned as if they had been placed around something.

At that moment, I realized that despite the order, other trucks lay destroyed, their metal ripped off and brutally smashed, and their wheels scattered all over the place. The contrast was grotesque; a childlike order and a brutal destruction.

"?"

As I observed the scene, my flashlight moved, revealing what I had not noticed before. In a corner of the room, there was a bent metal crib, its mattress torn and a children's mobile of astronauts and stars that was spinning, but with no sound.

It was not a cell. It was not a containment chamber. It was a child's room.

"?!"

And at that instant, the horror struck me with all its force. They didn't have her contained. They had her isolated, like a child. And with the sight of the toys, the horror of realizing that the monster I invoked... was a creature that played with the world.

"What were they thinking?!"

Rage took over me, mixed with despair and fear.

(Who would even think of treating a thing like that as a child?)

Ignoring the smell of death and the chaos around me, I moved with urgency, searching among the broken control panels and consoles. My heart was pounding in my ears. The system was still active in this place, and a computer terminal was blinking in the darkness. I approached, hoping to find answers. And what I found was a log, a file that seemed to describe everything that had happened here, written in a clinical and dispassionate language.

CONTAINMENT LOG

Entity Code Name: Project Seraphina.

Classification: Class A Anomaly.

Description:

Female entity, appears to be a girl aged 12 to 13. Possesses reality-manipulation abilities on an unprecedented scale. The Entity demonstrates a predilection for destruction and instability. It has been observed creating matter from nothing, altering the laws of physics, and dismantling biological beings and inorganic objects at a molecular level. The Entity is, by nature, a force of Chaos.

Discovery and Capture:

First contact was made at [REDACTED LOCATION], where she was discovered setting fire to an entire forest while manipulating the landscape at will. The containment team was dispatched to neutralize and capture the Entity, but all attempts were futile. The Entity demonstrated overwhelming resistance to all forms of physical and energetic damage, transforming munitions into soap bubbles and causing soldiers to dematerialize in the air. A behavioral anomaly was observed. The Entity demonstrated an intense fear and extreme avoidance reaction to visual contact with heavy vehicles. After several attempts, it was confirmed that the Entity became fearful and timid in the presence of trucks, which allowed for her capture and transport to the facility with minimal resistance on her part.

Containment Method:

The Entity is contained in a reinforced chamber that simulates a child's room, filled with toy vehicles and real trucks, strategically arranged. The objective of the containment is to keep the Entity in a docile state for further study, in an effort to understand its biology and the functioning of its power with the belief of taking advantage of it.

Additional Notes:

The Entity appears to be unaware of its destructive nature, and its behavior resembles that of an innocent child playing with its surroundings. Total isolation of the Entity from the outside world has been recommended to prevent future incidents.

The document fell from my hands. Through the glass screen, I saw the destroyed room again, the aligned trucks and the crib. A shiver ran down my back. It wasn't a simple madness; it was a containment method that had failed, a game that had turned deadly. My hand trembled as I took the next document from the panel. It was an addition to the main file, an observation log that detailed the initial study of the entity. With a lump in my throat, I forced myself to read.

CLINICAL OBSERVATION LOG

Entity Code Name: Project Seraphina.

Initial Observation:

The Entity was placed under constant observation, with blood and tissue samples taken. Its biology defies all known classification. At the cellular level, its components appear to constantly reconfigure and mutate, a controlled entropy that defies the laws of physics. In a calm state, its eyes exhibit a remarkable optical phenomenon. The iris, instead of a normal pigmentation, reflects light prismatically, breaking it down into a spectrum of colors that alternate and shine similar to an aurora borealis, projecting the colors of the rainbow.

Behavioral Anomalies:

Following exposure to the containment vehicles, it was observed that the optical anomaly in the Entity's eyes disappeared completely. The irises turned off, losing all their prismatic glow and acquiring a common black color. During this state, the Entity holds tightly to a blonde-haired stuffed doll, which seems to have a life of its own.

Object-Related Anomaly (Doll):

Multiple attempts were made to take and study the doll, but each attempt resulted in the person in question being dismembered by the Entity's hair, which extended, hardened, and acted with unusual speed and force, subduing them before they could react. After documenting the power of the Entity's hair, it was decided to desist from future attempts to study the doll. The doll has been cataloged as a vital object for the psychological containment of the Entity.

The paper felt heavy in my hands. The stuffed doll. The girl and her toy. The horror of what I had invoked was deeper than I had ever imagined. It was not just a power; it was a force that rewrote the rules of reality, and that, at some point, had broken its containment.

"But still... None of this yet explains how things got this way."

Horror mixed with confusion. Why had such a powerful and seemingly innocent entity, that only wanted to play, lost control in this manner? The answers in the previous logs were just pieces of an incomplete puzzle. I took another document, the last one there was. My heart stopped when I read the title.

PROJECT INMORTALITY

Confidential Log - Restricted Access

Panacea Protocol

Objective:

Based on the tests and studies performed on Entity C-03 (Project Seraphina), it has been determined that its cells possess an unprecedented regenerative factor, capable of reorganizing matter at a molecular level. The research suggests that the study of its biology could lead us to true immortality and a cure for every known disease. In order to verify this hypothesis, the Panacea Protocol has been initiated.

Procedure:

The Entity will be subjected to all kinds of viruses and pathogens in a controlled environment. The objective is to observe and document the response of its cells to achieve immunity against any infectious agent and, potentially, to synthesize a serum for humanity.

Results and Consequences (Warning: Contamination Risk):

The initial results were successful. The Entity demonstrated total immunity to all pathogens tested. However, in the final phase of the test, the Entity developed a simple common cold. The virus mutated explosively in its system, combining with the Entity's biology to create a new strain of mass mutation.

The consequences were a grave and catastrophic error. When she fell ill, the Entity lost control of her power, which caused an exponential viral spread that turned every infected being into a living undead. The test subjects, researchers, and security personnel were transformed, acquiring unimaginable strength and extreme hostility.

The last video log shows the Entity escaping the chamber, desmembrando and mutating all the personnel in her path. It's too late. In a short time, she has infected the entire complex and has dispersed to the surface, causing the pandemic.

This could be the end of this world. We opened a Pandora's box.

"IDIOTS!!"

My knees gave way. I fell to my knees, the document crumpled in my hand. It had all been my fault, of course. I had invoked that monster, but they... they had opened the door. They had played with her power, with her life. What I had seen on the surface and in the corridors of this place was a side effect. The madness I lived, the fear I felt, the loneliness that consumed me... it was all the result of a simple ambition.

[<Achievement unlocked: Origin of the Plague Discovered!>]

[<Hidden achievement unlocked: Inconvenient Truth!>]

[<Reward granted: +10,000 EXP, 5 Skill Points, Title "Truth Bearer.">]

But in the midst of my despair, the system, with its robotic and emotionless voice, resonated in my head. The messages, absurd and cold amid the magnitude of the tragedy, snapped me out of my stupor.

"...."

I looked at the screen and a new thought, raw and terrifying, formed in my mind.

(If all this came from her, from that monster, if the chaos broke out because she got sick... then, the cure must be in her.)

"She is the center of everything."

I was no longer just a zombie hunter; now I had a bigger purpose. The only way to put an end to this hell was to find Seraphina.

"....."

I looked at the system's counter. The time, the countdown to the birth of the Demon King, was dwindling away more and more.

(Time is running out. The clock does not stop.)

I stood up, feeling a new determination. The fear was still there, but now I had a mission. And time was running.