Trapped in an uncomfortable chair, Astra let the noises of the murmuring crowd wash over him.
Thalia was sitting between him and Rubio, her arms entangled with theirs, keeping them trapped.
He could feel sweat dripping down his face, the trees surrounding them barely providing any shade.
Winny and his partner stood on the stage, staring lovingly at each other while the officiator took her place behind them, a tall, dark-skinned Elf.
“Welcome, everyone!
To this joyous celebration of love!” She yelled out.
The crowd stopped their mumuring in favor of a loud cheer that had his ears ringing.
“It’s been about a month since our last celebration, so I’m sure everyone is feeling the excitement.” She giggles.
“Now!
I don’t want to sit up here and blabber on forever when our lovely couple is waiting so patiently, so I’ll make it short!” A few people in the crowd clap.
“I’ve known Winny over here since I was a kid, and never once in my life did I ever think he’d get married before me.” She jokes, elbowing the proprietor in the side.
“Hey!” He calls out, but there’s a warmth to his tone.
In fact, the whole thing sounds like standard wedding practice.
Enough that Astra could almost believe the town was normal, that there wasn’t some weird love virus going around, that he wasn’t forced here against his will by Thalia.
“Alright, enough prattle!
I now pronounce you wed!
You may kiss!” The officiator cheers.
The crowd then goes eerily silent as Winny and his partner lean forward.
Maybe they were waiting to celebrate until after this kiss?
The newlywed partners’ lips meet and Astra fidgets in place.
He wants it to be over already; they’d been sitting here long enough, and they finally had a lead.
Hopefully Thalia wouldn’t try to hold them back this time.
If she does…well…he can apologize later.
When he focuses back on what’s happening, he realizes Winny and his partner are still kissing.
Okay…that’s a little awkward.
He thought he’d been zoning out for a while, but it must not have been for that long if they were still doing that.
Only…when he looks closer.
It doesn’t really look like they’re kissing anymore.
In fact, they seem a little panicked, and their mouths seem…fused.
Oh.
Oh no.
Muffled screams for help enter his ears.
He watched in horror as Winny and his partner began melting together.
Their flesh merging at every point of contact.
They’re struggling, desperate to get away, to separate.
But their flesh continues pushing itself together, shoving itself into each other.
They crash to the floor, a puddle on the ground as the sickening squelch of their flesh makes its way to his ears.
Their screams and muffled begging become more desperate, and one of their mangled hands reaches for the audience.
It all culminates when a portion of their body swells and then pops, sending out an explosion of blood and flesh into the audience.
Astra reaches up to wipe the blood off his face.
“Tsk, tsk, such a shame.
And we had high hopes for those two.” Someone mutters bitterly.
“Ah, that wedding was a disappointment.” Thalia sighs.
“What?” Astra rasps.
The crowd begins to dissipate, muttering spitefully as they go.
A sharp twist on their earlier behavior.
Nobody casts another glance toward the dead bodies.
Nobody even bothers to clean it up.
In a few minutes, the area is deserted.
“What…what just happened?” Astra questions.
He looks over at Rubio when he doesn’t answer and finds him staring at the body in thought.
“Did you notice something?” He asks, scooting over to the chair Thalia abandoned, and shakes his shoulder.
“I think…I think I remember something.” Rubio muses.
“Really?
What?” Astra waits with bated breath.
“Well, it just reminds me of a situation I read about…I think…yes!
That’s what this is!
Oh, that’s a relief.
Okay, what we need to do is-!” Rubio cuts off with a gasp of pain, clutching at his head.
“No, no, no, no, no!” He mutters desperately.
“What’s happening?” Astra hovers nearby, unsure how to help.
“You need to…urgh…go to…ck!
Library!
Find books on…” Rubio gasps again, doubling over in pain.
“Plants!
On plants.”
“I don’t…” Astra trails off helplessly.
“And whatever you do…” Rubio straightens suddenly, his voice deadly serious.
“Don’t drink any water.”
They both go silent after that.
Astra just watches as Rubio’s eyes flicker over him.
Then, he rises from the chair and stretches, running a hand through his hair.
“Well, I’d say that wedding was a bust.
Be seeing you.” Astra can only stare helplessly as Rubio leaves, a slave to whatever virus has ensnared the rest of the town.
And so he was alone again.
Great.
He was expected to figure everything out and save an entire town.
Alone.
He really should’ve left when he could’ve.
Sighing, he decides to take Rubio’s advice.
The library, was it?
The building was small, and it certainly wasn’t any bigger on the inside.
He really shouldn’t have expected much for a small town on a small island.
His stomach rumbled again as he roamed the shelves.
The sharp pangs of hunger made themselves known.
He forced himself to ignore it; he could eat when he was done.
The section on plants was dismal.
Only two books in the entire place.
Hopefully, whatever hint Rubio was trying to give him was in these books; otherwise, Astra had no idea what he was supposed to do.
Plopping himself down in a corner chair, he began to read through the first book.
This one was on the local flora and fauna of the island.
It was informative, but leafing through it yielded no results.
None of the plants mentioned in the book had anything to do with what was happening.
Besides, if a plant did cause this, then it wouldn’t be a local one that had been there for years.
The second one was an omnibus of plants.
It was huge, with three plant dictionaries all wrapped up into one.
Astra groaned.
He did not want to read through all this.
But Rubio had trusted him, and he wasn’t going to let the man down.
It took him around an hour or two of reading before something caught his eye.
It was pretty innocuous overall, especially considering all the other plants he had to rifle through.
But a singular word caught his eye.
Love.
His attention instantly snapped into place.
Cordyceps Agape.
Or more commonly known as the Love Mushroom.
It is a rare fungus that only grows in certain areas of the Wild Sea.
It is content to live on the jungle floor and feast on the nutrients of dead trees.
Its most dangerous trait is its method of reproduction.
Though usually not a danger to Beings, if one of these Love Mushrooms happens to infect one, it could be disastrous if not handled properly, as our bodies are unfit for the standard reproduction process.
Love Mushrooms reproduce by sending their spores into a nearby water source and waiting for an animal to drink.
The spores then head into the body and up to the brain, pushing on the nerve center for love and romance.
This convinces the animal to find a partner to mate with, their brains subconsciously searching out a partner who has also been infected.
The animals proceed to merge, their bodies breaking down until a mushroom is in their place.
Unfortunately for Beings, due to different races having different gene structures, this process isn’t as successful, leading to a painful merging and eventual death unless the circumstances are perfect.
Luckily, there is an easy way to get rid of the spores.
Simply drink enough alcohol, and the spores will flush out on their own.
Since these fungi are so rare, and because of our tendency for drinking in the Ten Seas, this hasn’t ever been big enough of a problem to worry about.
Mushrooms.
Of course it’d be mushrooms.
And the only reason Astra wasn’t infected like the rest of the town was that he’d been lucky.
Go figure.
He wanted to laugh at the irony of it all.
But now wasn’t the time.
No, he had a visit to make.