Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-5583506-20150708222546/@comment-5583506-20150709002547

Theomyr Cordius was a sinewy old man with grizzled hair. He had overheard the local townsfolk speaking their minds on his looks. They had said that he had the appearance of that of an old, grey cellar rat. Perhaps it was true. He didn't really go out much and wasn't the best looking man for his age, but he was neither vicious nor cruel. In fact, Theomyr Cordius was a really charitable and kind old man. He had inherited a fortune from his family in High Rock and thus was able to buy himself a mansion in Leyawiin and establish himself a study and a laboratory for his burning interests in the art of alchemy. His intention had been to create a potion which would satiate the hunger and the thirst of anyone who just as much drank a single drop from its contents. That way he could aid the poor people of Leyawiin who couldn't even afford to buy themselves a proper meal each and every day.

But somewhere on the path to the pinnacle of realisation of his work, he had stopped... A letter had arrived just a few hours ago, and with it came the news of the re-opening of the Crimson Academy in Cyrodiil. His face had turned pale that afternoon when he had read its contents. He felt thousands of cold needles teasing his spine as he immediately knew the danger he was in. Not just he, but all of his friends as well... Their identities as alchemists had been officially acknowledged and he knew what he had to do. He needed to inform them. Inform them of the looming threat that was upon them.

He looked out from the windows of his mansion as he heard the scratching of tree branches whipping against the glass in the wind. It had already begun to darken. There was no time to lose. He needed to send a letter to every corner of Cyrodiil in order to warn them, and then he needed to pack his belongings and escape. He had been careless. He shouldn't have let others know of his identity as an alchemist. Because if the Crimson College had knowledge of his identity, they did as well. And they were coming for him... He could sense it...

He lit a candle in his study. The walls were decorated with papers, depicting drawings and formulas of different recipes and schematics on how to construct alchemical equipment. It all seemed to be for nothing now if he couldn't get away in time. His hands trembled in panic as he wrote on a piece of document with an unsteady handwriting.

Montinette, my old friend.

''By the time you receive this letter, I shall be gone. Gone into hiding. You will probably not hear from me again in a very long time. If you are still at work with your project chances are that the Crimson Academy has sent you a letter of invitation as well. If they have, you should escape and go underground as soon as you receive it. There is a strong possibility that the letters have alerted the Order of our presence and thus they will be coming for us. Coming for their vengeance... and their prize... ''

''Did we do them wrong, Montinette? Was there ever any doubt? No matter what your opinions are, you must warn the others! Go into hiding! Bar your doors and windows! Make sure that those bastards never get their hands on the Great Work!''

I will...

There was the scraping sound of iron, coming from outside his mansion. He froze up in his writing and felt a chill running down his back. He was cold sweating.

''The gate... ''he thought. They are coming through the gate....

He quickly blew out his candle and quietly rose up from his seat. He slowly approached the tall window and looked out over his moonlit garden. The iron gate swayed back and forth on only one hinge as if someone had recently entered it... with brute force...

He swallowed hard, his underlip trembling in anxiety. His gaze wandered from the gate and down to the mansion doors. Dark shapes took form in the night, gathered around his very entrance with the sole purpose on entering... to claim him.

He shivered uncontrollably. "Oh Gods, have mercy", he whispered to no one in particular in a silent prayer.

One of the huge shapes turned its malformed head up and towards the window where he was standing. A pair of white eyes seemed to glimmer in the dark. Upon the moment they made eye contact with the alchemist watching over them from the second floor, Theomyr covered his hand before his mouth to keep himself from screaming out loud and withdrew into the darkness of his study. Maybe there was still a small chance for him to escape? Perhaps he could dart down the staircase and escape through the cellar entrance before they broke through the door?

Then he heard a loud banging on the front door as if something large and heavy threw its own weight against the wood. The sheer impact caused the door to break both hinges and fall into the mansion. There was no way out.

Theomyr eyes were fixed on the door to his study. They were through. He had nowhere else to hide. He trembled in fear, but kept himself as quiet as possible.

''The letter... I must hide it from them... The desk!''

He crawled along the floor, trying to make as little noise as possible and then stuffed the letter down behind a wood strip at the bottom of the wall behind his desk. He jammed it down and then proceeded to carefully approach the door to his study. Perhaps there was still a chance for him to outrun them? To jump out through one of the windows and then just keep running until he had no stamina left? Then he heard the heavy sound of a large, lumbering and steady footstep coming up the staircase.

No way out now...

It came closer and closer. Theomyr breathed heavily in a fit of panic. The study was almost pitch black, save for the light of the moon shining through the window and brightening up the doorframe. A doorframe through which something awful was bound to emerge at one point.

Another step. He then heard the sound of long claws carving their way up the wooden railing of the staircase, probably leaving huge marks.

By the Gods, he thought. What in the world have they become?

The steps were just outside the study by now. The presence of the Order was undeniable. He could tell from the sound of heavy, rugged breathing. The sound of something huge and heavy, struggling to take the next breath due to the weight of its own body structure.

Theomyr then threw himself against the door, slamming it completely shut and giving the key a firm twist. An inhuman snarl from the other side, proclaimed its dismay and immediately responded to Theomyr's resistance by giving the door a forceful push. It nearly shattered the doorframe. The alchemist took his stance and pushed the door back for all he was worth, but he knew that in the end he didn't stand a chance against the forces at work.

Another impact loosened the top hinge of the door and it fell to the wooden floor in a rain of dust and splinters. There was an angry growl coming from the beyond the door, which responded to the rattling of the hinge by giving the door yet another push, and another one. Theomyr started to weep in his impotence to resist, but kept holding the door in place, no matter how many times it slammed against his back.

Another push forced a gap open between the door and the doorframe. Theomyr caught a quick glimpse of awaited him on the other side. Darkness, deformity and death... He wished that he had turned blind in that moment. What he saw was not meant for mortal eyes. His fearstricken gaze met an infuriated and maddened stare in deadly white. A stench of putrifaction from something which should have been buried for decades, if not centuries, oozed through the door. A deformed hand reached its way around the door with claws as long as kitchen knives and sickly yellow skin covered in abscesses. But it was the eyes that was the worst. He looked at them and they looked back. They saw him... and they hated...

Theomyr struggled to contain himself from screaming his lungs out at the terror he witnessed and slammed his body weight against the door in retaliation. The hand of the monster tried to reach around in an attempt to grab him, barely scratching his face and leaving a trail of three freshly red marks on his right cheek.

"CORDIUS, YOU DECEITFUL BASTARD!" growled a hoarse voice, as cold and and unforgiving like the sound of breaking ice. "GIVE US THE FORMULA!"

"Go back!" shouted Theomyr and tried to hold the door in its place. "There is nothing for you here!"

"YOU TRICKED US, CORDIUS! WHERE IS THE FORMULA?!" snarled the voice in response.

Theomyr bit together hard as he felt the banging against the door becoming more erratic with each given blow.

Please stop, he begged. ''I want to live... Just a little while longer...''

Then the hinges broke. Theomyr threw himself out of the way as the door came down, and stumbled into the darkness of the room. He knew however that it would serve him little purpose. The hideous eyes could see him as clear as ever. Through the door it came. A slow lumbering abomination with a taste for vengance. Its fanged teeth were glimmering in the moonlight and the claws seemed to grow to twice their size, when combined with their shadows. A creature bred in hatred and contempt for everything holy within the name of alchemy...

One of the five... Theomyr remarked before he screamed as the huge beast fell upon him...