Taya stayed up all night in her bedroom at the Creator's Forge, creating a special alloy from the Sha blood in her personal forge/lab. At one point, the Creator's Bladesmith popped in to see what she was doing.
"Forging a new weapon, I see," he said as Taya pounded a sword at the anvil.
"Yeah," she replied, holding up the glowing sword for him to see.
"I call it Leukos. It's almost complete." Taya dunked the blade in a basin of water, making a satisfying sizzling noise.
"I guess that I'll leave you to your project," the Bladesmith said. "With Resheph on the rampage, nobody is safe."
As he said that, something clicked in Taya's brain.
"Hey..." she realized. "If Resheph wants to spread the Plague of Decay across the multiverse, then why hasn't he done it already?"
The Bladesmith stopped. "Good observation, Apprentice. I will go to the library and see what I can find on Resheph." With that, he hurried off into another room, as Taya kept working.
Taya set Leukos aside on a rack to fully finish cooling. She set to work making a set of armor from the Sha blood. Taya knew very little about fashion design, but by using some of her spare clothes and occasionally checking the armor's proportions against her own body, she made a decent-looking breastplate. She tried it on, and she had to agree that it was pretty comfortable.
Now, she had an experiment she wanted to try.
She grabbed an Uktena crystal - one she had found on a poor skeleton long ago - and placed it on her desk. With her sword, Sobek, she carved out a dent in the gem and poured a small amount of Sha blood into it. The Uktena crystal immediately began glowing.
"Let's see if this works," she said to herself, placing the gem inside Leukos' hilt. She put the sword together, and the whole thing immediately began glowing. The blade began to vibrate with energy, as did the armor. Taya felt like lava was running through her veins. There was a blinding red flash, and then all was still.
Taya looked in her bedroom mirror. Her hair now had red streaks instead of green, and likewise one of her eyes had turned a glowing shade of scarlet.
"Oh yeah," said Taya. "This is sick." Second guessing what she had said, she added, "Except it's meant to keep everyone from getting sick, of course."
The Creator's Bladesmith came back into the room holding a book. He did a double take when he noticed Taya's new appearance, but she explained about how he used the Uktena crystal to power up the sword.
"Intriguing," the Bladesmith commented. "The medicinal properties of Sha blood mixed with the healing abilities of an Uktena crystal. Quite unique."
"Thanks," Taya said. "Did you find the book about Resheph?"
"I believe so," the Creator's Bladesmith replied, opening to the page he had bookmarked. "It says that Resheph used something called the Monolith to infect the multiverse, until the warrior doctors defeated him and used Sha blood to recant the disease. But it doesn't say anything about where the Monolith is."
"True," said Taya, "But I might know a certain plague doctor who does."
