Chapter 30: Plague
No one knew where or from whom the disease had come from. Perhaps it was from the sailors returning from distant ports—they had been to many places, and it was not surprising that they brought back some illness. Or maybe it was from a corpse that had lain uncollected for days on the street, gnawed at by rats and vermin, and then shared a bed with the living. Of course, it could also be that the gods, angered by the wickedness of humanity, had sent down flames of wrath to cleanse the insufficiently devout sinners. The ancient city of Solla, now submerged beneath the Black Sea, would certainly agree with this theory.
In the first four hundred years, God had sent down a great flood to cleanse the world and sank the sinful city of Solla into the sea. In the next four hundred, God had sent down a raging fire to burn the sinful world and reduced the fallen city of Radha to ashes.
Now, with a little over a century remaining until the next four hundred years, is He about to wield the blade of disease, to condemn the world for its sins?
At first, it was merely rumors and laughable speculation. But as the number of people afflicted with boils and ulcers grew, the common people in the lower city fell into fear. They began to try to leave and go to places where there were no sick people. The prayers in the church continued day and night. There were too many dead bodies that needed to be prayed for, and even the clergy began to be short-handed. They reported the sudden catastrophe to the higher church and cautiously labeled it a ‘highly contagious plague’.
These reports were immediately presented to the Pope’s desk.
The golden-haired Pope calmly read through the words and then passed them to Julius, who was sitting beside him.
“Plague?” Julius’s smile vanished as soon as he saw the first line and his eyes showed an unprecedented solemnity.
“Are you certain?” The Secretary General of the Papal Palace tensed his muscles.
At any time, this word always had a more terrifying effect than any disaster. The last great plague on the continent had resulted in the deaths of half the population and the extinction of two royal families. The subsequent wars that broke out leveled seven cities. The massive population decline gave merchants the opportunity to rise to the new noble class. The Holy See had sent the Knights Templar to participate in the rescue, but the horrific casualty rate had severely damaged the vitality of the Holy See. The Pope’s authority had declined steadily over the following centuries, and many powers, including the right of coronation, had been stripped away. Even the Papal States had become fragmented…