• Solo • The Chancellor, Part 2

[Doran]

Part 1

Ymiden 21, Arc 720

On the 20th of Ymiden, the son of Ziell had had an interesting dream. The things that had happened that trial – he had attended a lecture that had been held by a new colleague, Orik Qy’Azour, a man of mixed biqaj and human descent – before he had taught a class of his own had mixed with past experiences and future plans. The resulting scenario had been one that could have taken place almost exactly like that. In his dream, Orik had interrupted the class that he had taught in order to inform him that something had happened to the Chancellor of the Academy of Viden, Sheud Fahe, an elderly Eidisi. He had lost consciousness during a meeting and fallen from his chair. Orik had been asked to take him, Doran, to the Infirmary where the Chancellor was being treated as his medical advice was necessary.

At first, Doran had assumed that the Chancellor had simply had a stroke, but an examination had revealed symptoms that had been somewhat inconclusive, and when he had used one of the abilities that his divine blood afforded him – he could read people’s memories – he had seen something most unexpected – before he had abruptly woken up.

He had wondered about the dream for a bit while he had eaten the breakfast that Elias, his mortal cook, had prepared for him – since he had become a dreamwalker, he viewed such things differently and was more aware of Emea and its unique traits. Eventually, he had dismissed the dream as inconsequential and meaningless though and decided to just go about his trial.

Gradually, the memories of what had happened that night had grown hazier and hazier as dreams were wont to. By the time that he had gone to bed again, by the time that he had fallen asleep once more, he had already forgotten all about it, only to suddenly find himself in the room in the Infirmary where Sheud Fahe was lying in a fairly luxurious bed, barely alive, once more.

The dream continued nearly where it had stopped in the morning, with him bent over the unconscious Eidisi, attempting to find something that would give him a clue as to what had happened to him in his memories – and hopefully enable him to save his life.

[Doran]

Doran reached for the unconscious Eidisi, the head of the famous Fahe family – his granddaughter Caeli was a member of the Directorate, and several other members of his family held prestigious positions in Viden as well. In spite of his more than one hundred arcs, he had been in excellent health. He had been strong, and his mind had been as sharp as a blade – but he looked weak now, and his skin was ashen – and cold to the touch, as if whatever had happened to him had sucked all the warmth from his body.

His fingers lingered on his neck for a moment, as if he were just feeling his pulse again, a second time. He could feel his heartbeat, slow and weak, but this was not what he was looking for this time. What he was looking for was located deeper, and it was nearly intangible. Due to his divine blood he could read people’s memories as if they were a book of sorts. He could not always choose what he saw – sometimes, the memories that he saw did not have anything to do with the matter at hand – but this time at least his ability revealed something …

.. surprising.

He saw a woman, a woman that he had last seen in Zi’da, the arc before. She appeared to be a curvy human woman, with alabaster skin, bright red hair and emerald green eyes that was approximately in her mid to late twenties, but he knew the truth about her. She was an Yludih. Her name was Smoke. She was an accomplished poisoner and alchemist. Her concoctions had been the reason why several people had ended up in the Infirmary, some of them on the brink of death – back then, he had still worked as a doctor on a fairly regular basis. He had caught her and handed her over to the authorities.

She had gone to prison, but the room that she was in now was definitely not a prison cell. She stood in a luxuriously furnished room, a salon of sorts. The view from one of the big windows was one that he was quite familiar with. It was a street that was located close to the Obsidian Prism where he lived. She was dressed fairly elegantly, in a long, dark-blue dress with a bit of fur at the collar and wore jewelry made of Grave Gold.

In her hand was a crystal glass that was half-filled with red wine, and she was laughing at something that someone said. Was she talking to Sheud Fahe? That was his memory, after all. There were other people around her as well though, Eidisi, and humans, members of Viden’s high society. He recognized some of them. What was a poisoner and drug dealer that had been incarcerated for numerous cases of attempted murder doing in such company and in such a place?

How was it possible that none of these people had any idea who she was? Or did they know and not care? And why was she still wearing her human face even though it was the one that was associated with her most recent crimes? Nothing about what he was seeing made any sense. He tried to delve deeper, to find out more, to make the memory last, but a cry pulled him out of it abruptly – so abruptly that it made his head spin for a few moments.

The aftereffects of his abilities were never really pleasant – he suffered a headache more often than not - but they were worse when he didn’t leave the memory voluntarily.

[Doran]

“He’s going into shock, Doctor!” one of the nurses that were with him, a dark-haired human woman of approximately thirty arcs of age exclaimed. Doran who was still under the effect of what he had seen, blinked a couple of times before he abruptly sprang into action.

“I need a syringe and a vial of lothadrenaline – quickly!” he told her. The cycle before, he had finished the research on his newest potion that gave the drinker a Lotharro’s adrenaline and endurance and that could be used to treat a number of conditions, such as anaphylactic reactions and heart conditions. It turned out to be invaluable now.

The Chancellor relaxed moments after he injected him with the potion and began to breathe more evenly, and Doran let out a sigh of relief before he made a step back from the bed.

The elderly Eidisi seemed to be stable for now, and his heart beat a hint firmer, but he still did not have any idea what he was suffering from. He just knew what definitely wasn’t the case.

(Some conditions were diagnosed by exclusion; that was something that didn’t satisfy him though, and besides, he was not sure if that would be a helpful practice in that particular case.)

He decided to run another series of tests before he finally left the Chancellor’s room. While Sheud Fahe’s condition had not improved, and he had not regained consciousness, he had not deteriorated either – he had been stabilized which counted for something, Doran supposed.

Another colleague would take over, and he would return the following morning in order to check on what was probably one of his most famous patients to date.

He was one of the most likely successors should something happen to the Chancellor, but he would not let him die.

Under normal circumstances, Doran would have gone home after a trial of work in order to try and relax, especially if it had been that exhausting; as it was, he considered it to be more prudent to conduct a bit of research. He was not sure if Smoke had anything to do with the Chancellor’s condition, but due to the Yludih’s past actions, he definitely did not rule it out.

And even if she turned out to be innocent of this particular crime, she was likely up to something.

With that thought in mind, he entered his apartment in the Obsidian Prism, but not in order to sit down with a glass of wine in front of the fireplace. He merely went into his bedroom to make a few changes.

The man that slipped out of the Obsidian Prism a few bits later, was a different one, still with dark hair and blue eyes, but slender, somewhat younger looking and dressed differently, a student at the Academy, maybe, someone that she would not recognize.

He did not want her to run the moment that she saw him.

He decided to visit a few of the places where Smoke had last been active. Before she had gone to prison, she had often conducted her shady business behind a pharmacy. This was where he would go first, to see if he would find any clues – or one of the addicts that she had supplied with drugs and that often gathered in the alley behind the pharmacy.

Smoke was an arrogant woman.

She seemed like someone that would visit the sites of her previous crimes.

To be continued.

[Azrael]

☠ The Chancellor, Part 2 ☠

☠ ======== ☠ ======== Detective Doran ======== ☠ ======== ☠

Points awarded: 10

Knowledge: N/A

Renown: N/A

Injuries: N/A

Skill Play: N/A

Notes: I'm glad there was a link to the first part, it made it easy to find and you know I enjoy dream threads. A Yludih named Smoke sounds like some sort of Neo-Noir Idalosian thriller character and I love it. I enjoyed the depiction of Doran searching the memory and finding this mysterious cabal of criminals and how quickly the pace changed when the Chancellor went into shock. I'm intrigued to see where this investigation goes now that Doran is on the hunt.

I wonder if these dream people would suspect Doran of foul play if the Chancellor died? He certainly has a lot to gain from the Chancellor's death. Great job!

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