In December 1993, after fourteen years of scientific labor under Arnold’s leadership, the Order finally developed Nova—a form of brain worm engineered to control the human mind. Thus, a people who lived in slums, who practically fasted throughout the day, and who had no knowledge of wealth or luxury nevertheless managed to produce scientific output substantial enough to bring into existence an invention that would reshape a civilization.
Nova larvae, undetectable during incubation with contemporary technology, were systematically introduced into exported goods. Aldira’s foreign trade was already limited, restricted to a handful of lukewarm relationships with certain states and political entities due to sanctions and embargoes. At first, this suggested that the parasite’s spread might be constrained. But the Order had anticipated this limitation. To compensate, Nova was designed to induce a specific behavioral symptom: once infected, carriers subconsciously developed a compulsive drive to deliberately infect others.
Nova spread in two primary ways: through touch or through ingestion. When transmitted via physical contact, the organism anchored itself to the skin using microscopic barbs and secreted proteolytic enzymes to penetrate tissue until it breached the vascular system. Once in the bloodstream, it used the host’s circulatory flow to reach the brain. When transmitted through ingestion, the parasite’s cystic form survived gastric acid, activated in the intestines, and entered the bloodstream through the intestinal villi during nutrient absorption.
In both cases, once in circulation, Nova navigated toward the central nervous system through chemotaxis, following gradients of neurotransmitter precursors such as dopamine and acetylcholine. At the cerebral threshold, it bypassed the blood–brain barrier by secreting mimetic lipoproteins—compounds resembling endogenous transport molecules—which deceived endothelial receptors into granting passage.
Inside the brain, over a period of ten to fourteen days, the organism matured fully, reaching an average length of up to three centimeters, though in some cases it extended to nearly five centimeters within the ventricular cavities. Its body, only one to two millimeters thick, coiled and flattened to conform to the contours of cerebral spaces. The mature parasite moved in slow, peristaltic undulations, guided by faint electromagnetic cues generated by neuronal firing.
Nova’s artificially engineered genome—a hybrid of helminth DNA and lab-synthesized regulatory sequences—rendered it neurotropic, with a preference for specific neuronal populations. It attached itself to synapses in the prefrontal cortex, limbic system, and amygdala, subtly modulating neurotransmitter release. Rather than consuming neural tissue, it fed on ionic differentials and microflows of glucose, altering the timing and intensity of local signaling. Over time, it controlled the host’s mind with increasing precision.
Because Aldira’s objective was not to trigger a conventional epidemic but to reshape humanity’s conception of existence, Nova targeted psychology rather than physiology. It produced no overt physical symptoms—no coughing, no vomiting, no bleeding—only a mildly increased appetite, a side effect of the parasite’s metabolic demands. Even then, it did not consume the brain itself.
Instead, Nova induced profound personality changes. While individuals with “Aldiran-styled cognitive conditioning” proved resistant, those infected experienced persistent questioning of societal values, obsessive individualism, generalized distrust of universal concepts such as culture or religion, hostility toward mainstream authority, inclinations toward anarchism or atheism, stubborn grandiosity, fluctuating melancholy, and an unrelenting need for dreaming or daydreaming.
These effects resulted from Nova’s manipulation of neuromodulatory systems—particularly dopamine and serotonin—through which it artificially amplified self-awareness, pain tolerance, memory consolidation, cognitive acuity, and artistic creativity. Simultaneously, it eroded sleep regulation (largely through excessive mental activity), reactive empathy, sensory tolerance, social bonding, and collective pleasure. In essence, carriers began dismantling the structures they had once accepted as immutable—precisely as intended.
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The first carrier appeared in Spain. Within weeks, numbers rose into the hundreds, and within months, nearly all major European countries were affected. Yet the phenomenon remained undetected.
At first, people noticed only a vague “shift in perception,” for which no scientific explanation existed. The phenomenon was attributed to seasonal stress or cultural transitions. However, as the number of carriers rose into the hundreds of thousands and the resulting disturbances became increasingly patterned, the anomaly could no longer be dismissed.
The first formal test subjects were selected, and scientific investigations began. Nova was conclusively identified in Britain during the psychological evaluation of members of an underground group involved in violent activity—raiding bars and casinos, bombing schools and universities, sending threatening letters to corporations and executives, and looting markets for food and clothing. Imaging and postmortem analysis revealed the presence of a foreign organism within their skulls.
A formal list of symptoms was quickly established: normlessness, melancholy, megalomania, anarchism, and nihilism. It was also observed that infection correlated with an increase in intelligence quotient by at least twenty points. The findings were immediately presented to the World Council, and international health organizations concluded that the parasite originated in Aldira. It soon acquired a name in public discourse: the “Aldiran plague.”
Because Nova transmitted most efficiently through touch, people began to avoid physical contact. The World Council’s subsequent endorsement of this behavior, followed by formal directives requiring governments to enforce it, deepened social fragmentation. Even close relationships deteriorated as embraces, intimacy, and physical closeness were avoided. Some couples separated in panic, fearing that even kissing—or sexual contact—might transmit the parasite.
Yet despite these measures, Nova continued to spread. The novelty of the outbreak obscured its true danger; confusion and disbelief outweighed caution. A restless uncertainty settled over the world, fostering a quiet recklessness that allowed physical contact to persist. Some tried to maintain intimacy by wearing thicker clothing, believing it would offer protection. But Nova, after all, could spread through fabric.
A Polish woman issued the following statement regarding her infected husband:
“I have so many memories with him: we drew pictures together, flew kites, went to concerts—we were happy, and it went on like that in a secure routine. Then, almost imperceptibly, he began to isolate himself, spending less and less time with his family and taking diminishing interest in his work. I don’t know what he does in that room all day, but once, when he wasn’t there and I hesitated before entering, I found page after page of disturbing, obsessive philosophical essays—nothing like anything he had ever written. Where did they come from? He had never cared for abstract nonsense; he was a practical, responsible father and citizen. Within a week or two, he became someone else entirely. It coincided with reports of a worm invading brains, and that was when I began to suspect it might be the cause. Authorities warned us to avoid people like him, and I was grateful for that, because I felt myself on the verge of losing control. Yet even as he withdrew from us emotionally, he began seeking contact in other ways—touch without intimacy, proximity without affection—as if closeness itself had become a task rather than a bond. I sensed an artificiality in such intimate actions. Emotionally, he did not want to, yet it was as if something compelled him toward it, and he could not resist. When I finally allowed him to embrace me, he would withdraw immediately, and I thought it was a lie—yet my feelings of love toward him prevented me from seeing him with such harsh clarity. Nevertheless, he became increasingly instrumental in his relationship with me, as though I were nothing more than a kind of maid. The more I tried to hold on, the more it felt like grasping stone. So I gave up. He still tries to touch me at times, but now it is I who refuse him, because I know he is no longer the man I knew; it is not truly he who wants my embrace. He looks at his children with contempt, as if he were a god and they were insects. I want him back at any cost. I want the state that destroyed my family erased from the Earth!”
News of Nova soon became the central concern of international health organizations and ignited intense global debate. Biologists and neurologists delivered lectures on the parasite’s structure, while psychologists and sociologists analyzed its social consequences. Governments struggled to coordinate a response: some demanded immediate intervention, while others urged restraint.
After three weeks of inconclusive deliberation, a consensus was reached and coordinated international treatment efforts began. Specialized research centers and laboratories dedicated exclusively to Nova were established.
This announcement provoked the parasite’s carriers. As their numbers grew into the millions, they began to develop a sense of collective power. Anti-treatment demonstrations appeared at first sporadically, then multiplied; counter-statements circulated, laboratories gradually became targets, and, over time, senior researchers working to eradicate Nova were attacked and assassinated.
A state of global distrust followed. Eventually, the number of carriers reached tens of millions, posing a direct challenge to governments worldwide. The outbreak was formally declared a pandemic. Humanity was drifting toward global civil war.
