The Ordinator, The time of change is approaching... Options

[Gaius Maximus]

So, I decided I would psot it ehre as well. Enjoy!

Chapter I

Raynari Vandareth sighed in relief, taking off his Indoril helmet. Sweat gushed down his brow, and he could feel the same was happening to his back, which gave him an uncomfortable feeling, since he could do nothing with his armor on. However, he wasn’t an Ordinator captain for nothing, so he could endure this feeling, like he endured the hits that came from Corprus monsters a mere several minutes ago.

“Captain? Are you alright?” A voice distracted Raynari from the dead body of a once-man in front of him.

Turning around, he was faced with an Indoril helmet, worn by one of his Ordinators, with whom he was tasked to clear out a nest of Sixth House heretics.

“Yes… Yes, I’m fine. Only several dents in my armor… Those damn monsters know how to pack a hit.” The Ordinator Captain replied, cleaning the sweat off of his brow with a gauntlet-less hand. The gauntlet that was supposed to rest on the hand was lying in dirt, deformed to the point where it was impossible to use it for its original purpose.

“Casualties?” Raynari finally asked after a moment of silence.

“We’ve got at least half a hundred of those beasts. Yet at a high cost, they took at least a quarter of our own men, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s double the number of them left in this cave.” The lower-ranking Ordinator replied with a sigh. Raynari shook his head slightly.

“Tell the remaining men to regroup into a schiltron. The heretics aren’t known for patience, they’ll come at us soon, so we have to be ready.” The Ordinator Captain ordered with a weary voice, again cleaning the sweat from his brow – it was still pouring. “Dismissed, Suleri.” Raynari added, cleaning the tip of his spear into the ground, which was also stained in blood.

With a salute, the Ordinator called Suleri hurried off, leaving Raynari alone with his thoughts once again. However, those thoughts weren’t the nicest ones, as the Ordinator Captain could hear footsteps approaching them – more Corprus beasts were coming into the cavern in which the Ordinators were trapped.

If this lasts for long, we’ll all be dead. Apparently, the informant underestimated the Sixth House while gathering information about this goddamn cavern… Vehk save us if no reinforcements come. Raynari sighed again, then shot a glance at his Ordinators. They were all weary, yet still more than willing to fight for the glory of the Temple and the Tribunal. They didn’t have much hope of surviving, and the little hope they did was in the form of a circular schiltron, a forest of spears deadly against cavalry and useful against infantry.

When the second wave of Corpus monsters finally began, the spear-armed Ordinators met it with grim face expressions and tightly gripped spears and shields. However, the mad beasts did not stop for even a moment of consideration, slamming into the schiltron. The tight formation retreated slightly, yet suffered light casualties, while leaving many bodies of Corprus monsters on the ground.

The Corprus monsters slammed into the schiltron again, suffering more casualties, yet making the circle of spears retreat a bit more. This was certainly not a welcomed situation, as soon enough, the Ordinators would be pushed into the wall, and their formation disrupted. Raynari had to quickly think a way out of this. However, it wasn’t that hard.

When the Corprus monsters slammed into them for the third time, he yelled out the command that could either doom the Ordinators or save them:

“ATTACK!”

Thus, when the Corprus monsters slammed into a part of the schiltron, their flanks were crashed into by the other Ordinators. Soon enough, the Corprus monsters were forced into fighting on three sides – their flanks and the front. Now was the time when Raynari had to lead a handful of Ordinators to smash into their rear, an action that the Corprus monsters would not expect.

As fast as possible, the party of some ten Ordinators separated from the main force, trying to stay away from the fighting. It didn’t take long for them to reach the location from which they could charge down on the rear of the Corprus beasts, hopefully turning their attention away from the other Ordinators long enough for the fighting to turn the way they wanted.

Raynari smirked, looking at the temptingly vulnerable rear of the Corprus monsters. However, the smirk was left unnoticed by his companions, since his head was covered with the Indoril helmet, which was in turn smeared with blood, as was his whole armor. He knew that soon enough, his armor would receive a new layer of blood, and a new set of dents from the monsters that fought ahead of them. Since there was no time to be wasted, the Ordinator Captain lifted up his spear into the air, then yelled out the phrase that all of the Ordinators were eager to hear:

“CHARGE!”

It took several moments for the Corprus monsters to realize what happened when the handful of Ordinators slammed into their back, and when they did, several of the monsters’ numbers were already dead with spears in their backs. However, when they did realize what happened, they turned to fight with ferocity that Raynari had not foreseen.

The Captain himself, though, fought with ferocity that equaled, if not surpassed, the ferocity of his enemies. However, his ferocity blinded him temporarily, which almost cost him his life. As he impaled a Corprus monster with his spear, another one lunged at him from behind, knocking him on the ground.

Raynari was unfortunate enough to land on a rock with his unarmored hand. With a sickening crunch, he looked as his arm twisted in an unusual way, indicating that it broke. As if that wasn’t enough, he cut it quite deeply, and blood started gushing out of his wound. But it wasn’t the only of his problems – the Corprus monster jumped on him, pressing him to the ground.

After a bit of struggling, Raynari managed to turn himself around, coming face to face with the disfigured face of the monster. A sickening stench blew at his face, though he did his best to ignore it, hitting the monster in the face. This didn’t seem to have much effect, though, and in return Raynari got a hit that broke his nose. He felt warm blood on his face, yet ignored it, moving his head to avoid another such hit.

What the Corprus monster failed to see was that Raynari’s fine arm managed to grasp the shortsword that hung at the Ordinator Captain’s side. Just as the creature was going to land another hit, Raynari swung the shortsword. It too several moment for the monster to realize what had happened, yet it soon roared in pain, staring at what was left of its arm. The rest of it landed nearby, cut off by Raynari’s shortsword.

Blood poured out of the remaining part of the beast’s arm, mixing with the blood on Raynari’s face and arm. The Dunmer frowned in disgust, then drove the shortsword in his hand into the creature’s neck, causing more blood to pour on him and mix with that of his own. With a one last roar, the monster fell down on Raynari in full weight, hitting his head against a rock.

The last thing Raynari heard before passing out was cheerful shouts and heavy footsteps of many armored feet.

***

Raynari looked around a large room, seemingly made out of gold. He did not know where he was, nor how he got here, yet what he knew was that he didn’t want to be here. Still, the room was so beautiful, and the wooden door leading outside seemed so ugly in comparison, he couldn’t make himself leave. What drew him more were other doors, made out of precious gems and diamonds of all sort.

In an oddly sluggish way, Raynari walked towards the diamond doors. It took only several moments for him to reach them and open them. However, when he did, he felt himself falling through the floor before he could even see what was inside. As he fell into the abyss, darkness surrounded him. The Ordinator Captain heard someone laugh, before opening his eyes.

Sweat gushed down his enormously hot brow. Raynari felt weak and sick, which was probably the case, as the first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was a man in blue robes – the Ordinator healer. Raynari was back in Vivec.

[Gaius Maximus]

Chapter II

Come to me…

Raynari looked around the pitch-black space, seeing no one to whom this voice could’ve belonged. This slightly unnerved him, as voices that came from nowhere was an almost sure way to make sure you were crazy.

“Hello? Anybody?”

Let me take you…

The Ordinator Captain frowned, grabbing for his scimitar, yet finding nothing. Then, he cursed, remembering that all of his weapons were removed from him, including his backup weapon, the Ebony Scimitar.

“Who are you?”

You belong to me…

Raynari looked behind himself, feeling as if he was being watched. However, when he was again looked in front of himself, he saw an enormous golden mask, larger than himself. The mask had no expression; neither did it seem to have eyes.

“The hell..?!”

All out of sudden, the mask’s mouth opened, becoming large enough to consume him. In a lighting-quick motion, it moved up to the Dunmer, and the last thing Raynari knew, he was being devoured, screaming from the top of his lungs.

“Raynari!” A distant voice called, and Raynari looked up. As if through mist, he saw a pair of eyes, looking at him with great concern. He felt a slight pull by his chest, and he opened his eyes again in his sweat-soaked bed back in Vivec. The Ordinator healer was standing next to him, and it became apparent that the concerned eyes belonged to him.

“Raynari, are you alright? How do you feel?” The healer asked, seeing as Raynari regained consciousness.

“Weak...” Raynari groaned silently in response. This was indeed true, for he felt extremely odd, sick and weak – his brow was extremely hot, he was entirely soaked in cold sweat, his body shivered slightly, his left eye was twitching a bit, and his hand and nose hurt like hell. The Ordinator frowned slightly, pressing his hand against Raynari’s brow. A moment later he removed, his frown growing.

“It doesn’t seem like you’re getting any better…” The healer muttered, partially to himself. Raynari sighed deeply, attempting to stop his eye from twitching. However, that failed, so he gave up and turned his attention to the healer again.

“Getting any better from what? And why do I feel like… Well, like crap?” These questions came in the form of a low grumble, yet the healer was able to understand what his patient had said.

“I don’t know what’s with you. You’ve been like this ever since they’ve carried you back from that cave…” Noticing Raynari’s puzzled expression, the Ordinator added: “One of your Ordinators found your body beneath a Corprus monster after the battle. Reinforcements set out as soon as a pilgrim explained the true situation in the Cultist Lair to the Office of the Watch.”

Raynari nodded, then sank in his pillow. His eyes were beginning to close, and he wanted to sleep, so he tried to make himself comfortable by turning away from the candle on the small table alongside his bed. The healer took the hint, and put the light out, then silently left the room. Raynari heard the door creak, before he drifted away into an uneasy sleep.

***

Come to the Red Mountain… Claim your destiny. None can take what is rightfully yours…

Raynari was once again in a black void, surrounded by nothingness. The voice spoke to him again, making shivers run up his spine – there was something… unsettling to this voice. As if it wasn’t a human who spoke.

“What do you need from me?”

I need nothing from you… Yet you know what you need, what you want. You want power… I can grant you power.

***

Raynari woke up in the same room with a flinch. His heart was beating madly, though sweat stopped gushing down his entire body in streams. Even more, his eye was no longer twitching, yet he developed a major headache.

He looked around, hoping to see the healer, yet saw no one. However, this allowed Raynari to get a clear look at the room he was currently in, something that he failed during his first and second awakenings.

The bed he was currently lying in appeared to be positioned in the corner of the small room Raynari was carried into after he lost consciousness. Alongside it, a small table stood, and on it was placed a candle, the same one that was put out by the healer earlier. Another object near Raynari’s bed was a simple wooden chair, on which the healer must’ve sat. Apart from those objects, though, the room was empty.

With a sigh, Raynari shifted his position, looking up into the ceiling. There was nothing special to it, though, nothing that would’ve captured his interest, so he soon moved his eyes towards the wall alongside which his bed was placed. Feeling unpleasantly hot, Raynari lifted his head up slightly, pressing his brow against the wall. This action sent a shiver throughout his body, yet he felt good for a moment.

After the part of the wall that Raynari had pressed his brow against became warm, he again lied down on the soft pillow. After a short while of staring at the wall in front of him, the Ordinator Captain yawned, still feeling rather sleepy despite the long hours of sleep.

However, remembering the dream, Raynari dared not to close his eyes again, and struggled hard to keep himself awake. He did not know what those dreams meant, but they were certainly nothing good. The fact that a small part of him was dragged to the Red Mountain didn’t help as well.

As much as he wanted, though, Raynari couldn’t rest sleep for a long amount of time. After some ten minutes of yawning and struggling to stay awake, he didn’t manage to stop himself from closing his eyes, drifting into the same pitch-black void again.