Many centuries ago on Planet Aramen there was peace. Peace that stretched across the globe and throughout the binary star system in which Aramen was held. But peace can only last so long.
*****
An ambitious and charismatic archaeologist by the name of Valdar came upon an artifact deep in the arctic that had been well preserved for thousands of years. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. A small rune boulder that was slightly bigger than his torso was frozen in ice in a cavern not too far from his camp. The rocky brown rune glowed a bright orange that illuminated the ice around it and as Valdar began to chisel the rune from the ice, the rune grew more and more luminous, lighting Valdar’s face in the glow that had now stretched through the cavern. After struggling for roughly fifteen minutes Valdar broke the rune free from its icy hold and he held it in his arms and gently put it beneath him to study it further before calling to others for assistance in bringing it back to camp.
As Valdar continued to study the artifact on his own the rune slowly and steadily began to pulse faster and faster. Valdar brushed the rune with his hand, removing a small layer of frost from its icy surface and then suddenly Valdar began to feel a warmth from the rune. It continued to pulsate faster and faster. The cold icy rock below the rune began to melt and Valdar began to become startled by the activity. A few moments would pass and Valdar would continue to witness the rune as it pulsated and vibrated on the icy floor. And then a shockwave emitted from the stone, propelling Valdar a short distance away. Valdar quickly shuffled on the ground, getting his bearings once again and stood up and walked back towards the rune. As Valdar got closer and closer to the artifact he began to feel faint and scared. He was dumbfounded by his discovery and abandoned the rune and ran back to his field camp which was roughly two hundred meters to the west.
Valdar informed his team about his discovery and what had happened as he unearthed the artifact. Together, the science team along with Valdar returned to the rune only to find it resting idly by on the frozen floor. Valdar’s colleagues looked around and questioned Valdar with suspicion. They only saw a small boulder where Valdar excavated from the icy walls. There was no hieroglyphs, no melted ice. Nothing at all. Just a large rock sitting in a cavern of ice.
After thoroughly questioning Valdar the science team departed from the ice cavern and returned to the camp, leaving Valdar behind with the seemingly ordinary boulder on the ground. Valdar was at a loss for words and significantly humiliated by what had just transpired. He studied the rune once again, brushing it with his hand and patiently waiting for a response from the artifact. There was nothing. Nothing at all. And then Valdar’s hand began to shake.
His right hand began to shake more violently as seconds passed and his fingers began to blacken as if frostbite took hold, only that the cavern was not quite cold enough to inflict the amount of frostbite that had just occurred to Valdar. The rune once again began to illuminate and hieroglyphs once again began to glow on the rock. Quickly Valdar began to shout for his team to witness what was happening but there was no reply. No acknowledgment whatsoever.
While his hands began to die so did his arms and eventually his body as well. Valdar, by all intensive means, was dead shortly after calling to his team to return to the cavern. Valdar’s body was destroyed by the rune but his mind was still intact. Puzzled, he looked at each of his limbs and could not believe what had happened. The rune still rested on the ground, now slowly pulsating a fiery orange. Valdar picked up the rune and began west towards the camp to bring the ancient artifact to camp just a short distance away. He entered through the south gate and brought the artifact to a large, sturdy table that would be used to further examine the boulder. Valdar again called out for the others to join him in studying the rune and this time, due to his deprecated body, they would take him seriously.
The others entered the examination room and were very much alarmed with what they saw. Valdar stood there confidently but at the same time his body was seemingly frostbitten all over. His body charred black, dead on the outside but still alive on the inside. The others shifted their attention from Valdar to the artifact which laid on the table before them. Hieroglyphs began to glow a fiery orange once again. Faster and stronger the light emitted from the relic, once again pulsating as if it had a heartbeat. As if it was alive.
While the others starred at Valdar and the rune they too slowly began to decay into a withered shell of a human being. They would now soon be undead much like Valdar and the artifact would once again lay dormant until it would find its next prey.
*****
It wasn’t long after the infected science team was relieved of their duties and another team take their place. Valdar warned the newcomers of the ancient alien artifact but curiosity would soon get the better of them. What this rune was capable of was still a mystery. Why would it decay its discoverers? Where did it come from? Why was it on the planet Aramen? And who put it here?
It wouldn’t take long for the infection of the rune to spread to the new team of scientists. Now over thirty people were infected and undead. Their bodies aged beyond that of natural time and lifespan but their minds stayed intact. As if there was nothing wrong with them at all. However this curse of undead phenomenon roused the curiosity of the infected. For they were already infected and all those who resided in close proximity to the relic would soon bear the curse of its very nature. Valdar would convince the others in his team to return and smuggle the artifact to the mainland. For if he had to bear this curse, so would others.
And so, the Plague Wars would begin...
