User blog:Leea/The Tale of Voronwe, Chapter 56

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4th Era 150, 3rd of Second Seed, Pyandonea
The papers still had the memory of being flat, not rolled, which meant that the report was sent as soon as it was finished. Tossing the string that held the roll closed into the wastebasket, he took another deep breath and fully opened it.

The scrolling official letterhead of the Temple of Arkay adorned the front page. Knowing from experience that the first page was only religious content and nothing to do with the case at hand, he flipped to the second page, where he usually got answers.

Nothing.

All the priests could ascertain was that he died of great fear. No signs of assault - physical or otherwise - and no marks on the body at all. No poisons or drugs, either. No food that had gone bad, thus resulting in hallucinations. In an amusing side note, the priests stated that they had still been unable to pry the deceased's fingers from the sheets, and, not wanting to break the fingers to loose their hold on the fabric, had cut the sheets away from him, leaving only the cloth that was balled in his fists.

Oncalimar tossed the papers off to a corner and laid his head in his hands. Great. Just great. He sighed heavily as he rubbed his eyelids and temples with his fingertips. Such an odd case and nothing to go on at all. What could cause such terror as to kill a person? Carodaar had been - quite literally - scared to death. He took his head out of his hands and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling as he folded his hands in his lap.

Stick to the facts, he told himself. Dead body, found on the bed. That horrible, horrible expression on his face. It gave him goosebumps just thinking about it. It was obvious that he died in the night. The body had also been the same temperature as the room, suggesting he'd been dead long before the housekeeper had gone to summon him. There were no temperature drops from the usual Pyandonean climate, so the temperature did not interfere with his readings at that time. Was there enough time for the stiffness to set in? Remember: he had (obviously) been under extreme distress, which could effect the progression into rigor mortis. Okay, given those facts, he'd perhaps died midnight-two in the morning.

Next: That terrible facial expression. Oncalimar fought off another wave of revulsion. What caused him to experience such terror? It couldn't have been anything from the day before; Niranya had reported that he acted the same all that day and night as he always had. Allright, so it wasn't caused by anything in the waking world. A nightmare, perhaps? Must have been one heck of a nightmare. He'd had nightmares before - related to work, mostly - but non that bad. Sure, some had woken him in the night, but the fear from most of them wasn't even enough to make him break out in a sweat. Nightmares aside, what else could kill in the night? A creature? He'd found no evidence of anything in the bedroom. He had even gone to the effort of a divining spell (even though he wasn't particularily magically incined) which had told him what he already saw then: no person or creature had invaded the house and bedroom. Maybe it was a daedra. They - especially the Princes - were capable of leaving without a trace. But why attack Carodaar? But, then again, why not attack Carodaar? Princes and their underlings didn't care who they messed with, as long as it gave them pleasure, especially the certified evil Princes, namely Molag Bal, Peryite, Mephala, Mehrunes Dagon, Namira and...and Vaermina.

Vaermina! Oncalimar sat bolt upright as the thought came to him. She was the patron of dreams and nightmares. If there was an entity capable of entering and leaving without a trace, it would be her. She could have entered his mind and woven a dream so frightening that it was lethal. He glanced out the window of his office. It was nearly mid-day. Still plenty of time to head to the library and search for clues...or answers.