Humanity was slow to believe in the threat, it was simply too fantastical to grasp at first, but then as more and more live footage of swarms in South Africa became apparent, the world seemed to recoil and panic in shock. Many countries closed their borders within the first week, enforcing strict rules about who could and could not come into their countries. Other countries' reactions were not so extreme, but their actions were still telling of their governments' concerns.
Much of the foreign overseas troops found in places like the Middle East were being redeployed to South Africa, particularly into defensible positions and around major population centers. The former British territories in particular seemed to ban together to send aid to the nation. Even countries such as China, Russia, and Japan began entering discussions in preparation to send aid to the area.
As for South Africa itself, much of their offensive abilities were crushed in the first wave hitting Johannesburg, sending refugees pouring across the northern borders and citizens along the coast taking every open refugee space, many departing for Canada, Australia, and the United States after heavy inspection.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) became a household name as they received backing from nearly every western European government and had sponsors all around the world. MSF descended on the stricken areas behind the lines of the horde under heavy military protection, finding survivors and saving who they could through the use of helicopters and similar quick aircraft.
Then the threat spread to Namibia, Botswana, and to everyone's confusion; Indonesia. An outbreak in the city of Makassar, an island in Asia, seemed to reinforce the seriousness of the issue and the first responses of helping others began to be redirected to securing the internal state. The flood of support and promises of aid began to trickle out, leaving a bleak and horrific fate for many still trapped between the horde and the sea. The population of Maputo, capital of Mozambique, were driven into the ocean on shaky homemade rafts and overstuffed barges, hundreds of thousands drowned rather than be eaten alive.
Ox withheld a scoff, picking out his sister amongst the debaters. No doubt she would be going down to Earth just so she could kill things. A girl drew his attention though, one of the speakers from before. She was clearly not having a good time, and her miffed expression on her youthful face bothered Ox. He looked away from her, face unreadable.
"What Claire is trying to say is that she and I both want to help the mortals, but we must be careful with how we go about it. This disease is of their own creation, not any of ours. If we handle this incorrectly, we may end up either not doing anything at all, or even helping the disease rather than stopping it."
The mortals created it then? Surely he could destroy it if that were the case? Yet even as he felt the tremble of several strings that were bound to him, he knew it would be much more difficult than that. He narrowed his eyes in anger, making a vague gesture with his hand that signaled a bound spirit to manifest. It was a young vampire, slain by the horde seconds ago.
”Warn your kin of the coming threats, tell them of your struggle.”The ghost seemed to evaporate, going back down to the mortal plane and spreading the words of it's god.
Occus' attention was drawn back to the debate when a familiar aura made itself known, heralding the arrival of Cythlla. Ox grimaced, he was not very fond of immortals of madness, not after the battle with Dionysus at least. Her presence was likely to bring nothing but more conflict among the Merged, as if they needed more.
"I don't think we should help the humans. They can figure this out for themselves. They made this mess afterall, they should be the ones to clean it up." Cythlla said to the other gods after her entrance had gotten the attention of everyone. "So don't even bother with that cure of yours, your just wasteing your own time and resources. I say leave them." Cythlla said repeating her idea of leaving the humans alone.
Her words did have merit, if the mortals made the disease it was their own problem. He would help those who asked for it, but he would not endeavor to fight humanity's battles for them. They were hardly his responsibility. He ignored the niggling of discomfort he felt at leaving the young to die before truly tasting life.
”Save them… they are so few.”Ox ignored the Heart, who knew what she was talking about now.
A distant echo of power reached him, one of his more powerful spawn had opened a gate to Wickedeisos. The various Fae were turning to him for protection once more. His focus elsewhere, he missed a part of the argument, but hearing his sister's voice refocused him.
"And you," She nodded begrudgingly to Ox, "This nonsense is right up your alley. Vampires? The undead? You're a necromancer and you're telling me you have no idea how to combat the risen dead?" She shook her head, "No matter what this is, this should be simple enough for any of us to handle. The obvious weakness is the brain or the spinal column."
Ox bristled under the insult, of course he knew how to deal with them, he'd just burn them out of existence if that's what it came to. What bothered him was he couldn't understand the magic behind them, and having some of the greatest Necromancy spells in existence at his fingertips, that was quite the feature. He was concerned about immortal involvement, of their apparent resistance to low level magics, and of course, of how virulent they were. He knew for a fact the bodies of at least three vampires, five werewolves, and twenty-two witches were among the horde. Why was the disease affecting his people? Their souls were safe with him, but their bodies were a different story. How would the horde be affected by gaining supernatural members? It was not a good situation, though once again surrounded by the squabbling Merged, reminding him so much of the Pantheons, he remembered why he'd distanced himself from this in the first place.
Listening to a soft girl speak up uncertainly, Ox couldn't help but be struck be how naive some of them were. The debaters were quick to point this out, Jera's own cynical response mirroring his thoughts. The Merged were not known, certainly not worshiped. Or at least not all of them. Spreading his name among wiccans, cultists, and the supernatural Ox occasionally heard the prayers of the desperate calling out to him.
Of course, Jera had to continue to fire at him.
She nodded towards Ox and smirked, "Or Occus, Patron God of the Young Adult section of Barnes and Noble? Face it, if the only reason we're doing this is for worshipers, I say give up now! The mortal world has never believed less in gods than they do today! They know more about our parents than they do us!"
She had a point, and the idea was somewhat amusing… but he refused to let her, or anyone for that matter, see he thought the joke was funny.
"Look, whether you all want to help the mortals or not doesn't matter to me. I'll be going down there no matter what. The way I see it, any fight's a good fight and these undead will probably take a little more effort than the average mortal. And if this nonsense really does get out of control, someone has to make some effort to fight off Armageddon." She said, bitterly.
And there it was, always eager to commit 'glorious' murder. At least it was on something that deserved it, mindless creations of purposelessness that they were.
Then there was another speaking up for Humanity; because it was the right thing to do? Who cares?
”Anatole is right, we've been terrible role models.” A man in red spoke up,
”The mortals do not deserve our silence, why should we not grant them boons for goodly deeds?”Deciding he'd had enough of this uselessness, Ox decided to take his leave.
”Arguing will get you nothing. Take action if that is your will, if not then this no longer concerns you.” He gestured around him in disgust,
”You look like you're parents.” He observed aloud, taking one last look around him at the gathered deities, disdain and frustration in his words. He dissolved into motes of violet darkness, reassembling himself in Wickedeisos to meet with the Fae arriving from the mortal plane.
