Optovorosis

Optovorosis, meaning devouring of the eye, is a parasitic infection of the eye and its surrounding skin caused by the Oculux worm. The worm seats itself just below the surface of the skin, creating ridges or bulging "veins" around the eye. An oculux is faintly luminescent, and while not noticeable in daylight, a dim glow around a person's eye in the black of night can be a sign of infection.

Symptoms and Development

The condition usually spreads through person to person contact, primarily by way of hugs and/or kisses. Symptoms can occur within twelve hours, but the worms can also lie dormant for up to a week before establishing itself on a new host. Once burrowed into the skin, they start feeding on interstitial fluids while gradually moving closer to the eyes. There they feed on tears and mucus. This leaves the eyes itchy and irritated for a while.

The worm eventually starts secreting its own mucus that replaces the mucus consumed. This happens roughly a week after infection. It relieves the host from the irritation, as well as providing some benefits. The relief from itching is not limited to what is caused by the parasite, but also to allergic reactions. The host is also granted the ability to perceive their surroundings even when there is little or no illumination, within a limited range. This effect is enhanced over time as the oculux continues to grow and secretes more mucus. These benefits has in some cases led to the misidentification of the worm as a benevolent symbiote, causing some occurrences of intentional infection between people.

Between three weeks to six months after infection, the oculux will have burrowed into the eye socket itself, where it will latch onto the eye. It slowly feeds on the fluids within the eyeball, which sets its reproduction process in motion, causing eggs to form within it. Once the eye is sufficiently drained, the worm will enter the eyeball and die, wasting away until its eggs are exposed. Needless to say, this process is extremely painful for the host. Blindness is guaranteed at this stage, and a partially open eye socket from a collapsed eyeball also means the host is in severe risk of infection from other diseases.

Cure

In its early stages, before the itching stops, the condition can be treated and cured by removing the worms with a sharp implement, such as a needle or a thin-bladed knife. Once the parasite has settled, though, the process becomes more complicated. The worm will grow more reliant on the host to maintain its own structural integrity, meaning that attempted removal may just break it into smaller pieces, making it harder to remove. The method of choice for killing the parasite at this stage is heat. A red hot iron salamander is used to scorch the oculux from the outside, preferably led with a steady hand so as to not cook the host's eyes. The permanent burn marks are presumably better than the permanent blindness.

by Illvilja

Type

Parasitic

Origin

Natural

Rarity

Extremely Rare

Affected Species

• Human
• Goliath
• Elf
• Goblinoid
• Moonborn
• Dwarf