X-Ogenous second attempt

X-Ogenous is kind of like your typical villain. He’s selfish, takes advantage of and hurts others, and leaves nothing but destruction in his wake. You’d think he were some big tough guy. The truth is though, X-Ogenous isn’t a big tough guy at all. In fact he’s a virus, the smallest of enemies. Viruses are sort of like spies. They are sneaky, well hidden, and try to sabotage their enemies. This is his tale…

Our story starts in the town of Hand. Hand was a nice little town on the border of the Kingdom of Body. It was surrounded by a thick wall and five watch towers. It was relatively peaceful thanks to the Cytokines. The Cytokines was the name for the guards that watched over the walls and towers in all the towns. They watched the gates and decided who was allowed in. They also were in charge of the signal flag at the top of the keep which told the kingdom the status of the town.

One day however there was an accident, and part of the wall collapsed. Quickly the guards put up the flag to signal the need for supplies and men to repair the wall. During the night a couple of the viruses snuck through the hole in the wall. Before anyone knew what had happened, the viruses had made their way to the keep and into the magistrate’s room. There they threatened him if he didn’t cooperate.

The next day when the townsfolk woke up, they were ordered into the town square for a special meeting. “What is this all about?” “I don’t know. Apparently the magistrate has some orders to give.” Just then the magistrate himself appeared accompanied with a few men that no one knew. “Here ye, here ye. These men here are my new advisors. There are going to be some changes in this town but I can assure you they’re for the best.” The townspeople just accepted his order. The magistrate had never let them down before. He had governed them for as long as they could remember and had always looked out for the best interests of everyone. Why would now be any different?

Life got a lot harder for the good citizens of Hand. It seemed as if more and more of the magistrate’s so called “advisors” appeared every day. Soon the people stopped seeing the magistrate all together. His advisors gave the orders in his stead. The continuing decrees became more demanding. Every day was harder than the last. They had to work longer and longer days. More and more of the food was rationed for the advisors because needed the energy. The blacksmiths were ordered to construct suits of armor for the advisors. For every suit of armor made, the advisor left the town and was never heard from again.

Eventually some of the Cytokines decided all the suspicious activity had to come to a stop. In the night the snuck into the keep and made their way to the top. There they found the magistrate alone and in a pitiful state. He was a mere shadow of himself. He had grown pale and weak.

“Magistrate what’s going on? You’ve always been faithful to us, what has happened? What can we do?”

“They threatened me…they must be stopped. They’re…viruses! Call the Lymphocytes.”

Now the Lymphocytes were the knights in shining armor that swore to protect the Kingdom of Body. To be summoned by any of the outlying towns, all that was needed was to raise their flag. And that’s just what the Cytokines planned to do. They went to the five towers and hoisted the flags of distress. In doing so however, they alerted the viruses who soon came and captured them by surprise and threw them in the dungeon.

Meanwhile over in the King’s castle one of the scouts noticed the flags raised in Hand. He rushed over to the king to tell him the news.

“Sire, I have grave news.”

“What is it?”

“The flags in the town of Hand on the border of the kingdom have been raised…they are signaling that the town has been compromised.”

“Summon the Lymphocytes at once! Send them to the town of Hand with all due haste!”

“Of course my liege.”

And with that the Lymphocytes mounted up and rode full speed towards the town of Hand. After a days ride they finally arrived.

“Who goes there?” said the guard.

“It is us, the Lymphocytes. We came to your summoning because we thought you were in need.”

“No need. It was just a false alarm. You can turn around and go home.”

“What’s your name? I do no recognize you and I know all of the guards.”

The guard looked upon the Lymphocytes nervously, for he wasn’t a Cytokine but a virus in disguise. “I’m new here. They needed some extra hands with the damage to the wall.”

“Bring me one of the Cytokines. I want to speak with them.”

“I’m sorry but they’re all asleep from the hard labor around here.” Just then one of the Cytokines that had evaded capture ran up the ramparts and shouted to the Lymphocytes, “It’s a trick! They’re viruses!”

“Open this gate now in the name of the King!”

At that moment a volley of arrows shot over the ramparts towards the Lymphocytes. But the Lymphocytes were experienced and brought up their shields so that the arrows were as harmless as the pitter patter of rain.

“Attack!” With that the Lymphocytes started to scale the walls using the secret handholds that the Cytokines built into it incase the town should ever fall into enemy hands. It was a grueling battle. The waves of viruses seemed endless, as if they were magically appearing. But the Cytokines also constantly received reinforcements. Eventually they broke threw the enemy ranks and made it into the keep. To their amassment the virus were appearing as if by magic. There was a device, called the Mutlipurpose Polymerase or Multi-Pol for short, that was connected to the Magistrate by a beam of energy. This device was draining the Magistrates energy so that it could be used to multiply the viruses. “We must destroy this at once!” and with that one of the Lymphocytes took his sword and destroy the vile machine in one fell swoop.

With the town in ruins, the viruses run off, and the people freed, the Cytokines raised the flags for repair to signal the King of their need of food, water, and aid. Eventually the town would return back to normal, but there would always be the scar left by the viruses…

…but that’s not where our story ends. Now that the Lymphocytes knew that there were viruses in the Kingdom of Body, they patrolled everywhere. Remember those suits of armor the blacksmiths were ordered to make in the town of Hand? Well they were magic suits and helped to protect the viruses from the Lymphocytes. One of the viruses in the invasion of Hand was able to get away alive, though wounded. He was able to make it to the gates of the King’s castle where he proceeded to pass out. He was spotted by of the local Cytokines and brought inside. “He must be one of the victims from the raid on the town of Hand,” said the guard. “Take him in and put him in one of the spare rooms in the inn.”

After a few days of rest…the virus came to. He was supposed to stay dormant until other viruses infiltrated the city. Something quite unexpected happened however. He grew particularly fond of his host, a young boy. He started to teach the citizens ways to better prepare the city against invasion. Eventually he became a loyal and trusted advisor to the king himself.

The other viruses that had escaped the wrath of the Lymphocytes got wind about X’s new position and thought to take advantage of having a man on the inside. The great virus army was gathered again and prepared to assault the castle. But instead of being helped by X when they attacked, the viruses were crushed by the defenders who had gained secret knowledge of how to defeat the viruses by X.