The news reports crackled with a chilling urgency. Adrian watched from his mountain cabin, the once vibrant colours of the screen replaced by a sickly green. A new virus, the reports declared, was spreading like wildfire. It wasn't airborne, but transmitted through touch, a horrifyingly intimate way to spread disease. Panic flooded the streets, turning once bustling cities into ghost towns.
A pang of dread echoed within him. This wasn't just a random mutation. It was the Harbinger's insidious touch, a way to amplify fear and discord, to further unravel the Tapestry. The fragmented note he'd received mentioned manipulating realities, and what better way to manipulate than to exploit humanity's most primal fear – the fear of sickness and death?
