[Flashback] With a Whimper (Hadrian)

[Hadrian]

Hadrian remained none to sanguine about this entire operation, but handling bottles of alchemist's fire while skulking through the night with this madman tightened his nerves to a new level. When the window opened, he turned his face away, and hid the bottles with his body; there was no need to arouse more suspicion than necessary for being out and about in the night. With any luck, they would be taken for inebriated students. "Where are we going?" he whispered furiously. The did indeed have fire now, and he was none to sure that it was a good thing. They could do some serious damage with all those bottles, start a fire to ravage the whole city if they weren't careful. He imagined everything awash in flame from the beautiful pre-Valterrian buildings of the University to the ships at anchor in the harbor, and shuddered. An admonition to safety died on his lips; it would not reach his wild-eyed companion.

[Alistair deGrey]

Fire is not bad or evil. In fact, it is the ultimate shepherd: culling from the herd wherever necessary. It is the tool of despots, magicians, and madmen alike. I have sunk to a new nadir, and savor each chime of undiscriminatory insanity. Damnation upon those who stand in my way, death is quite becoming.

The trip from Verdanzo's to their final destination was not long, scarcely stretching more than ten minutes. Nght had worn on as the pair flitted through the forsaken streets of Zeltiva with surprising alacrity. Shadow's companion, fueled ever faster by the impending promise of vengeance, lead him through what felt like a maze of stacked masonry. Each brick sussurated in Alistair's ear, evoking sweet memories from slumber. This route, taken so many times before, held the shadow images of the ex-apprentice walking its length. Each remnant of a life long past echoed before Alistair, in particular one of flight. deGrey's ghost dashed past him, arms flying wildly, eyes wide with fear. Tears had streamed from his eyes that day as well, Cedany was truly an invoker of those swollen salty drops.

They breached the maze, deGrey slowed his pace, halting at the mouth where the alleyway emptied into the larger side street. Individual houses lined the far side like soldiers awaiting the order to march forth. Pristine ranks stood side by side down the entirety of the street, almost indistinguishable in the draped night; although little mystery remained as to which their target was, for even now Shadow could see his companion's wide unseeing eyes staring at a particular soldier.

Shadow's fellow erudite madman turned to him with refocused eyes, a small shaft of what may be sanity breaking through impossibly dark foliage, and announced their arrival, "My Shadow, we have arrived." A familiar cracking rose up in his voice, as if the earth decided to resume its tremors. Trees splintered and rocks rattled as he continued to speak, "Let this serve as a fraction of revelation for you. When, one day, the Void swallows up everything you have loved, contemplate this. Remain cognizant of your mistakes even as you commit them."

Alistair pivoted, hurling the first flask at the house directly across the cobbled street. deGrey faced Shadow again as the fire sailed through the air, calm as the cloudless night. Suddenly, an impact, a shatter, and anger flared from the broken flask. A great gout of flame erupted from the wood of the house, bathing the street in an orange glow. deGrey took a deep breath as inferno purged the venom, and spoke, "This is ecstasy, Shadow. You do not feel it, but the fire burns through me as well. I can hear it voice satisfaction as it eats..." His voice trailed off and rage twisted his face into some unrecognizable beast. Alistair threw the second flask. "As it eats away at me."

[Hadrian]

When they arrived at the place, Hadrian followed the broken man's gaze to the particular house, tried to pierce it with his eyes and see if this was really what he said it was. In no time at all, after a few more pompous, overblown sentiments, the man started hurling bottles of alchemist's fire at the offending home. First one, and then another, and Hadrian was observing the way the flight of the bottle effected the eruption of fire, and how the fire slithered up from where it landed like Ivak's own serpents. Now it was an academic pursuit. If he looked at it in any other way, it became clear that he hadn't done anything to prevent the man from further mayhem. He passed over another flask of the stuff to see another iteration of the experiment, this time blinking until his eyes picked up the magical spectrum as well. He wondered if some shred of alchemy clung to the stuff or manifested in its flames. He didn't know enough to say with any confidence. For all he knew, reimancy was involved in its making. He didn't know, but he would learn. He looked, eyes squinting against the intense brightness in the dark, only slightly mitigated by the ambient glow of the local djed. "I do hope whoever actually killed that woman is in the house now," he noted offhandedly. The man hadn't checked, after all, and it would be a shame to have done all this and missed the culprit entirely.

[Alistair deGrey]

A curse burst from Alistair's lips and he took off to the conflagrated structure. His brain had balked at the notion of actually entering the house, deeming it safer to attack from the safety of the street. But Cedany had to be in his house, or else all would be for naught. This pain, this night, this burning revenge, would all be washed down the storm pipe like so many fallen leaves.

The door opened easily, probably kept unlocked now that there was nobody to keep inside. deGrey rushed into a room of finely woven nightmares. He could see them everywhere, the table, the counter tops, the living furniture and chairs. The room was hot, a small part of the room had collapsed onto a rafter, casting an infernal glow in the room. There was nobody here. Alistair ran past the table, seeing a hollow image of himself tied down on its hard wooden surface. Cedany's memory was bent over the apprentice with a blade, carving finely detailed glyphs into the boy. deGrey arched his back and struggled against his bonds, until his mentor forced a liquid down his throat and tightened his bonds.

The heat of the other room died away as Alistair entered the study, where his old mentor slept and worked. Only the dim fire light from the other room served as illumination, and deGrey's eyes struggled to see the dark corners. He searched manically, but found not a single trace of life. White anger, outraged at this turn of events, exploded from Alistair. He screamed curses at the top of his lungs, and hurled one of his vials at Cedany's desk. As if a miniature sun had been born, the room was suddenly brimming with light and heat. The fire clung greedily to the desk, crawling up it to lick at the wall.

A loud cracking sound pierced the room as a rafter fell in the living room. Alistair started, dashing out of the room. The heavy beam had fallen a few feet short of the door- it would be a tight squeeze out. Still hurling curses like the vials, he threw his last alchemist's fires at the wall. The entirety of the room was bathed in the vicious glow of the chemical flames as it ate away at the house. deGrey wasted not another second with this house, squeezing between the burning rafter and the door to escape. Flames licked at his clothes, but the contact was brief enough that they did not jump onto him.

Alistair ran out of the house, his clothes belching smoke like a furnace. He approached Shadow, soot and burns covering his face. "We're done here, the house was empty." Disappointment clung heavily to the last curling tendrils of smoke from Alistair's shoulders. The cold night swallowed him as Alistair walked down the dark alley from whence he came.

[Hadrian]

It wasn't long after the pyromaniac's disappearance that a crowd began to gather, watching the conflagration devour the house. Soon after the crowd came the fire brigade, doing what they could to protect the other wooden houses from the fire. The heat pushed most of the onlookers back, but Hadrian stood a bit closer, hands clenching and unclenching as he wished fervently that he had the power and mastery of his reimancy that he might freeze the alchemist's fire in place like some great, living sculpture such as the Vantha made in the snowy wastes of the north. Finally, he sighed, turned and left the fire to the experts. At least, he thought, he hoped, nobody had been hurt. FIN

[Kelpie]

Alistair: + 1 Unarmed Combat, +3 Rhetoric, +2 Larceny Lore: The Death of a Loved One Lore: Going Crazy Lore: Concocting Plans Lore: Searching for Fire Lore: Deep-seated Hatred Hadrian: + 1 Mathematics, +2 Auristics, +1 Unarmed combat, +1 Reimancy (Water), +3 Rhetoric, +2 Distraction Lore: Peer Pressured to Parties Lore: Analyzing the Situation Lore: Confronting Psychopaths Lore: Helping Psychos Steal Lore: Simply There Mod Note: Great thread guys. Poor Prince, Ali. I could FEEL his insanity. And Hadrian, haha, despite the morbid theme, it was well, a pretty entertaining thread.