"The White Crown? Here?" The ambassador tilted her head in disbelief.
"Yes. I already informed the authorities." The King was marking every corner of the room with his hectic throttling.
"What did they say?"
"You here, they said you can authorize the cleansing. Can you?!" He looked at her worryingly. His hands were trembling.
"I can. But I need to be there to expect a place after the procedure."
"Whatever! Anything you need!" The monarch rushed out of the room, but then, returned. "The containment zone is... It's a fucking forest!" He hastily left the room, now for good.
"Shit..." Muffled the "high authority".
The King almost killed me on his way out of the guestroom, where the ambassador currently resided. I entered the room and put down the tray with the breakfast I was holding.
"What's with him? He was as pale as me, really." I started moving the dishes from the tray onto the table.
"The White Crown contamination."
"No fucking way..."
Here?! How?! This... This thing was brought by them, by starlings. They, of course, were not affected by this pest, but all of us, and our planet... I saw a lot of people infected by this... This shit! I saw people dying in horrible pain because of it! But we got rid of it... Why it's here?!
"You obviously know nothing of it. Only that it is killing everything... Correct?"
'Well, yes, obviously! It is fucking classified info!!! Nothing about it in any books and I... I only have books... No science qualification or just smart brains. I am a bloody servant!' I wanted to say but instead just looked at her irritated, and rose my brows in question.
"I didn't want to make fun of you... I wanted to offer you... the knowledge." She sipped some green tea out of her cup. "Do you want to have a little adventure?" She put the cup down.
"What are you talking about?" I thought she was just playing with me, after all, I was just a dumb little servant to her.
"I don't think it's as bad as Seth pictures it to be..." She picked up the cup and exhaled. "And... You helped me a lot with my... Well, you know what." Her pulpy brownish lips softly brushed the ceramic rim of the beautifully ornamented tea cup. She smelled the tea. "Mmm... I like the smell..." She chugged down the remaining tea, and, looking rather pleased with the taste too, smiled. "I have noticed your curiosity, and I want to repay you."
"Uh-huh..." I was dead curious! It felt like time stopped while I was in waiting for her words.
"Will you assist me with the cleansing?"
***
Needless to say, I've answered with the "yes-yes-yes, thousand times yes". The King was not happy, but he stepped down, after all, she was the higher authority in this situation.
There were ten people, besides me, the ambassador, and the King. We were suited up in some protective gear. It was orange suits infused with some magic. On our heads, we had impenetrable helmets with liquid glass to be able to see. However, the King didn't wear it, which was confusing.
The cleansing team was equipped with flamethrowers. 'To cleanse' as I figured it out by asking one of them.
We marched to the containment zone in a straight line. The commander of the cleansing team walked at the start, then the team, the King, the ambassador, and me closing the line.
The ambassador was reassuring the King, saying that he was overreacting. Her attempts were unsuccessful. The King trembled when we finally saw the forest.
He was chanting "Oh no, oh no, oh no" while we all were getting closer to the containment zone.
It was quite windy. The ambassador noted that the wind was too cold for spring, and one of the people from the team answered that the days were overcast and rainy in this area lately. She nodded.
Suddenly we stopped moving. The team scattered around the forest as their commander ordered. I heard "Oh fuck..." and rose my head to the words. The ambassador stood there, her eyes looking aghast at the forest. I turned my head and saw the zone with my own eyes.
The trees were covered in milky white veins. It seemed the white grew into everything: the soil, the flora, the dead fauna. I never saw the White Crown that close. It looks alive. The veins pulsated mesmerisingly. I wanted to touch it but stopped halfway. I went deeper into the containment zone, unwillingly listening to the sounds of the fight between two authorities. I looked closely, inspecting the veins, they reminded me of fungi mycelium I used to see while helping digging up the soil in the mansion's gardens. White lines dotted the soil, growing into it, deeper and deeper.
What if it's the same? Starlings were fungoids. They brought it with them. Could the White Crown be mycoid in nature too? Then it's growing into... people...?
I thought of the terrifying nature of the infection around me without stopping walking. Soon I stepped into a clearing of some sort. I looked around. My attention was drawn by the tree roots. One of them resembled a hand. I approached it and saw a human hand, covered in Crown's veins. It was a real human hand!
I started digging frantically. Chunks of dirt and dead leaves were flying everywhere. Then I saw it! The face! I resumed digging. I dug and cried for help. A child! It was a child! Their body looked like the trees in here - covered, dotted with the White Crown. I picked the child up and rushed back.
I didn't remember much of what happened next. I remember someone took the child from me, remember shouting, remember the dread in everyone's eyes, remember...
I remember the flames licking the skies with their squirmy tongues. I remember the heat of the burning contamination zone. I remember thinking that I don't want to remember.