Wicked Ways: Genesis

The Downfall of Fitzwilliam Ilias Nazaryan

The dungeons have always been cold; The frigid, ancient, gray stones turning almost black with age almost as slowly as the Earth's tectonic plates shift. Despite its extensive period of change, the age associated with the dungeons, as well as the rest of the castle, was completely evident in this year of 1990 as the hallways got colder, the stone walls began to crack and the smell of non-existent mold began to emanate from the dingy dungeons.

There was no mold in the dungeons. Aeneas would know. Ebenezer Aeneas had been working as the groundskeeper at Maledumfici school of Sorcery and Alchemy for nearly fifty years and had checked the dungeons nearly every single day for as long as he can remember. It was almost as if his body was addicted to checking for the abhorrent, abominable, sickening spores as one might be addicted to caffeine; He needed to check multiple times per day for his brain to become satisfied, for him to get his fix.

Despite his nasty habit, mold was not the only duty he had as groundskeeper. Aeneas not only had to clean, but keep the ghosts in check, keep the students out of the paintings, hold detentions and confiscate pranks and other harmful objects that students attempted to sneak onto campus, much to his displeasure. To complete his task Aeneas became a vulture, in a sense. Preying on every speck of dirt, dust, grime and mischief that dared crossed his path and mold was no exception.

On this specific rainy, misty, July evening there were no students to disturb him. There was nothing but the gentle patter of the rain along the granite walls which Aeneas could faintly hear as it pounded against the high, arched windows of Professor Nazaryan's office next door. There were no students to disturb him that night but their memory still remained to torment him as, in preparation for the three chosens potentially coming to stay early , Ebenezer was currently on a cleaning quest, an epic adventure to rid the school of last years' pranks and mischief. He began the day after school ended, heading to the highest towers and beginning his quest downward. His goal was the surface world, rebirth, enlightenment. That freedom never seemed to come. Aeneas did not complete his task alone. He as well as multiple aids worked together; scrubbing, scraping, buffering, sterilizing all which without the use of magic.

After an entire month of surveying the towers and the classrooms and the greenhouses and the observatory and the mess hall and the bathrooms and the library and the commons Ebenezer finally found himself facing the expanse of the dungeons to inspect the potions, alchemy and protections classrooms as well as the duelling hall, not to mention Professor Nazaryan's office and supply closet both of which were kept to a high standard of cleanliness and organization.

At the hour of five o'clock, Ebenezer found himself scraping the remains of an immortality potion from off the walls of the alchemy classroom. With the rain in his ears, alongside the song that had been stuck in his head for the past two years, Aeneas had been struggling to scrape the spongy mass from off the walls for over an hour before he was interrupted by three gentle knocks upon the door. As his focus breaks, Aeneas places down his bucket and chisel on the flagstone floors before shuffling towards the door, dragging his left leg behind him as he does.

Ebenezer opens the door to reveal the polite, tall form of Heremides Laufeyson, the Headmaster of Maledumfici school, whose eyes were light but whose lids were heavy. Perhaps due to anxiety? Perhaps due to tiredness? He still wore his light blue robes but instead of being down and straight like it was that morning, his hair was now half down with an intricate fishtail along the back of his head with two rope braids crossing over it from the sides.

"Good evening, Ebenezer." Heremides' voice seemed to contrast the fatigue in his eyes as he spoke with an energized, excited, hopeful tone. You could practically smell the optitism in the air.