“Alright, we will be holding a council meeting. Have a few people good at earth magic make a new building as tall and as big as possible just inside the wall. We will still take in all refugees, but all personnel dealing with them are to suit up in biohazard suits. We happen to have plenty in stock. We will go about this using old world rules. Quarantine everyone who comes in. I would rather them die inside and have their souls safe. This could be another reglios plot.” Blake wanted to cover all basis. If, by chance, people coming inside the barrier are safe from whatever is causing this, then good. If not, they would deal with the cleanup and give all the fallen a proper burial. But the building itself would be a hazard zone until they could figure things out. “Also, have barriers set up around the quarantine building. We can not allow our citizens to get infected or whatever it is that is harming those outside.”

“On it. Give me thirty minutes to get things taken care of, and I will be at the meeting in full biohazard gear. Just in case I was exposed.” Bret sighed. He had no idea what was happening, but he did not wish to pass it on to anyone.

“You won’t be the only one like that.” Blake turned to Nanaya and asked? “Who touched all the bodies and got close to them?”

“Blake, don’t worry. I already banished Ishtar to a room of her own. She is not allowed near the kids.” Tina was out of breath as she came running into the room. “You know if Lillia did not tell us, we would not have known you had returned.”

“Sorry, I just got back and was getting the run down. Everyone, including us here, are to stay away from the kids. Have the girls’ helpers seal off the area. No one is to come in contact with Sei and the other girls either. As of now, I am declaring that Destiny City is on lockdown. Only those coming in can come in. No one is to go out!” Blake bit his lip. Until he figured out if this had spread through the city or not, he had to be extra careful.

The meeting hall had all the council elders and even some of the city’s best doctors and scientists. Those who came in direct contact with the bodies or had been outside during this time were forced to wear suits to keep them from spreading anything. “Blake, is this necessary?” Ishtar hated having to wear something so bulky. It covered her entire body!

“Yes, for now. Just bear with it until the meeting is over. I also suggest not going back to your realm either. Hold your meetings from here. If by chance it is able to get into a goddess’s body, we do not want you to pass it to your people.” Blake had more than just destiny city to worry about. Ishtar pursed her lips as she nodded. She had never dealt with a plague or anything like that before, so this was all new to her. She just hated the suit!

“Alright, first off, let’s hear your reports, docs.” Blake took a deep breath and sat back in his chair. Everyone in this room had come in contact with those who were near the dead or outside the city. But only Ishtar and Bret were forced to wear hazmat suits since they had been up close and personal with the dead and even touched them.

“Yes, the results all come out negative. We have tested all the different blood samples and compared them to what we have on file but nothing. None of the samples show any changes. Not in the DNA. Not in the bloodstream or any of their organs. Brain scans show no abnormalities. Muscle and bone samples also result in no signs of infection or virus. We are stumped as to what happened. They all just died instantly for no reason.” The head doctor reported.

“We in the labs have also done many tests and can’t seem to see anything wrong, like curses or anything of that sort. We ran through many magical theories of all kinds and even the best minds of all the races, and none of us was able to come up with anything. Lord, I am afraid we are at a standstill…. It is like someone attacked them in some way that made them all drop dead without leaving any traces.” The head of the science division reported.

Blake rubbed the bridge of his nose as he looked around the room. Everyone had their heads lowered. “And how about our citizens?”

“Nothing to report. They are all in good health. Even those who got near the body. Madam Ishtar as well as General Bret, all gave us some blood samples. And we still found nothing. We even checked the reglios that Madam Ishtar allowed to pass through the barrier. And it showed nothing as well. With all of our data and everything that we know so far, we have come up blank. ” The doctors and scientists were all drawing blanks. They had no idea what was going on.

“Okay, keep checking. Check everything! I do not care if you have to dig a hole to the center of the planet to find out. Just try to come up with a reason.” Blake knew he was being unreasonable, but he could not let harm come to the people of Destiny City or his family. He had not come this far to lose people to some mysterious disease.

*Bam!*

The door to the meeting room slammed open, and one of Destiny City’s soldiers stumbled in and fell to his knees. He was completely out of breath and dripping in sweat. “Lord, excuse my sudden entrance but…. We have an issue. Many people are falling ill! Right now, we have been pulling sick people left and right of all races into newly constructed quarantine buildings that we are creating near every hot zone. The entire north side of the city is now quarantined off.”