Wraithvine y sus amigos entran en un pueblo afectado por un brote de sarampión. -- Anon Guest
[AN: Translation from DuckDuckGo - Wraithvine and hir friends enter a village affected by a measles outbreak.]
Some called it Red-rash. Some called it Childpox, Some cursed its seemingly eternal presence as children passed it between other children. It was known mostly as Measles, and was wrongfully dismissed as a harmless childhood disease.
It was only ever survivable if the sufferer caught it when they were a child. That was what people forgot.
They also forgot the insidious things that Measles also did, which was make the very young vulnerable to attacks by other diseases[1]. What very few remembered was that Measles, itself, could kill.
The little town of Tobysaut had not had a case of Measles for a generation. It came in on the tailbed of a travelling show, and almost laid waste to the entire population.
It doesn't take long for people to forget how troublesome a simple childhood disease can be. Before ten years is gone, the newest parents are believing in crystals and clean eating.
Those who could still stand appealed to Wraithvine to charge their crystals with a healing aura. Not only had they selected entirely the wrong crystals for such[2], but Wraithvine refused to let them think ze was trying.
There were spells to cure disease, which would not help the infected when the disease came around the next time. It would stop them dying, which was always better than nothing. As for the children, they were better off going through the experience rather than avoiding it.
Something better needed to be done. Something to stop a disease before it started. Something to protect people like the people of Tobysaut, who could miss out on a disease for a generation or two.
It took some work, but Wraithvine came up with a new spell.
With an infected person within one hundred and twenty feet, and a small ivory needle, a memory of the disease could be passed to someone who had not been infected. Or someone who was in danger if they were infected.
They would have a minor illness, true, but they would not perish from the infection.
Ze called it Innoculate, and wrote the precise instructions down so that anyone could understand it.
Many people, unfortunately, refused to understand it.
Even in Tobysaut, where the disease caused immeasurable trouble, there were some who would do anything other than receive the new spell. There was no proof it would work long-term. There was no proof it was safe. They suspected magic that was seemingly invented on the fly. How could Wraithvine be sure it was hygienic? What of the material component? Did it have to be sourced from an animal? And anyway, it was just a harmless childhood disease. People were just dying from other things.
Unless they had received the spell, in which case they definitely perished because of that.
Some were merely speciesist and wouldn't let Wraithvine, Gikka, or Pondermore anywhere near them. They added emotional injury to the insults by blaming them for the pestillence plaguing their village.
Some people just refuse to learn. Or use evidence. Or think.
[1] This is true. Measles and Rubella [aka German Measles] has a side-effect of corrupting or erasing a body's "immune memory". Thus making the infected vulnerable to diseases they should already have immunity to. This is why the introduction of the Measles vaccine co-incided with a HUGE drop in infant mortality.
[2] Magical worlds have genuine healing crystals. Regular gemstones don't make the grade.
[Image sourced from https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/making-clothing/bone-and-ivory-needles]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [82 remaining prompts!]