Miasma in the Madhouse
By @john1208
Opening with a shadowy pact struck centuries ago, grandmaster alchemist Corvin Morstan awakens in a padded cell at the Bleakmoor Institute. The modern world is on the brink of an incurable, supernatural plague known as the Hollow Rot. Corvin is the only one who can concoct the cure, but his archaic speech and deadpan demands for venomous centipedes have the clinical staff convinced he suffers from a severe schizotypal personality disorder. Told in close third person, Corvin sarcastically navigates mandatory group therapy while crafting antidotes from cafeteria mold to save his younger sister, Tasia, from the encroaching infection. He finds an unexpected ally in Dr. Yvaine Helstrom, a disgraced epidemiologist who realizes his 'delusions' are actually saving the city. When Corvin brutally beats a terrifying plague-demon to death in the courtyard, the staff merely applauds his vigorous shadow-boxing. But as the dark truth surfaces - revealing his past self deliberately engineered this very asylum stay to intercept the plague's epicenter - can Corvin synthesize the ultimate cure before the rot consumes the woman he's falling for?
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