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]

And continue I shall! Some madness in this chapter...

Chapter IV

Slowly, Raynari got on his feet. He was shivering slightly, which looked somewhat odd, since he was dressed in a warm robe. His face was paler than usually, too, and that had already dragged some attention his way, mainly from guards. One of them was already trying to reach him through the crowd, so the Dunmer had to hurry.

Ignoring the fact that his left eye began twitching, Raynari slowly stepped forward. His step wasn’t a very straight one – thus, he would’ve looked like drunk, if it wasn’t for the fact that his skin was changing color very fast. The wave of weakness and cold that hit him almost got the Dunmer on the ground again, yet he just focused on the spell that was the only thing that kept him going, and took another step forward.

Thunk, thunk, thunk.

The heavy footsteps of the guard echoed in his head like war drums, messing with his brain. The Ordinator took another step forward, only barely avoiding slamming into a passing Nord.

Thunk, thunk, thunk.

The sound of metal hitting against stone seemed to be louder than any other noise to Raynari. The footsteps of others, including his own, drowned in those of the Imperial Legionnaire. With enormous effort, he took another step forward, then almost tripped over himself, taking another step forward.

Thunk, thunk, thunk.

It was getting unbearable, the sound that was pursuing him. Raynari began feeling as if he was slowly driven mad. Black spots danced in front of his eyes, and he was only so far from passing out. Every footstep seemed to be draining him of his strength, as well as his focus. His spell began getting weaker.

Thunk, thunk, thunk.

It must stop…[i/] Raynari babbled under his nose, his appearance reminding a madman now, no longer a drunkard. His red eyes darted around the crowd, yet he saw nothing, asides from faces that danced around him. They were laughing at him, yelling at him… Slowly, Raynari began loosing his sense of the world around him.

[i]Thunk, thunk, thunk.

“ENOUGH!”

After the loud yell, everyone around him froze, slowly turning their heads towards the obviously crazy Mer. Raynari ignored them, grumbling things under his nose. Yet the sound of the guards footsteps did not stop – worse yet, it seemed to be growing louder.

Thunk, thunk, thunk.

With a loud roar that sounded like that of a wounded beast, Raynari stumbled forwards, then forced himself to run. The footsteps behind him got faster as well, and he could feel the eyes of everyone in the docks on his back… Sweat began covering him once again.

This all felt like a very real dream. The colors around him seemed to be oddly bright, and he did not feel as if he was in his body. He could see the guard behind him, running after him, with a pike in his hands… And behind him, Raynari could see hundreds of eyes, all fixed on him. Such a feeling was overwhelming, and he could feel that his grip on the spell that kept him running was loosening.

Thunk, thunk, thunk.

***

Far away from Raynari, in the fiery chambers of the Red Mountain, a tall, white figure moved his hand over what seemed to be a glass orb, yet on the surface, a complicated dance was performed by thousands of moving red shades. It was a beautiful sight, as much as it was an unnerving one – inside the orb, a heart, at double the size of a man’s head, was beating.

The orb and the heart were fixed to a strange pipe, which was in turn attached to a bone-like thing, shaped in the form of a giant ribcage. The ribcage was only one part of an enormously large humanoid figure, which seemed to be dragged out of an old Dwemer scheme. And truly, it was, for this was the Akulakhan. The heart that was to fuel him was the legendary Heart of Lorkhan, which was said to grant godhood to those who had the knowledge to use it properly.

Currently, the heart was in the possession of someone who should have never got his hands on it – the Devil Dagoth Ur, once a friend of Lord Indoril Nerevar. After he was defeated, Dagoth Ur had managed to survive, and even more, he managed to bind himself to the Heart, and assemble a ‘family’ of sorts, a group of generals to aid him. His plan was now very close to being successfully finished, yet if he was to succeed, he would need one last figure, one last card.

This card, this figure, was very dangerous to him, as it could’ve meant his doom, even if Dagoth had it in his hands. However, if this card was to become his general, he would be victorious.

“Very good, Nerevarine… Come to your destiny. Let it be fulfilled.” Dagoth Ur grumbled, watching the orb, which showed a Dunmer in blue robes run wearily, only one thing on his minds – the Red Mountain. Cards were falling into his hands, as it seemed. However, maybe it was time to speed up the play, to the point where all the good cards were in his hands, and it was time to put them on the table…

***

Looks like I’ve lost him… Now that he was alone, Raynari was able to think more clearly. His eye stopped twitching, and the sense of the world around him began returning slowly. He was able to focus enough to keep his spell from fading away. The drums stopped echoing in his head, too.

Currently, Raynari was somewhere past Vivec, on the road that led, besides many other places, to Seyda Neen. The journey ahead of him seemed very intimidating, as the Red Mountain was in the middle of the island, while he was nearby the shore. It would take weeks for him to reach the volcano…

However, the will of others more powerful than Raynari was not such. Suddenly, the Ordinator felt a slight pull by his stomach, and the next thing he knew, a purple light devoured him.

This post has been edited by Gaius Maximus: Mar 8 2008, 11:16 AM