Scene 2: The First Letter to Elizabeth
(RALATHOR stands in the center of a vast desert holding a letter in his hand)
RALATHOR: Dear Elizabeth, I write to you with great hesitation. It seems like the many lifetimes that I’ve spent trying to prevent this night from occurring were in vain. A great calamity is about to befall our realm, a cataclysm that will mark the ending chapter in the book of men, and you are the only one who can prevent it.
I’ve spent a hundred lifetimes crossing through the realities bound by the Tapestry, but no matter what path I seek to explore, no matter what changes I make, they all converge to a single point in space and time. The Tower: A vast and infinite creature reaching ever more toward the edge of our reality. This cursed place was built by the Creators long ago in order to hold the strands of existence together. Connected at its apex, space, time and destiny weave together according to the divine will of the cosmos, forming what you know of as your world, the great Tapestry. It was at this awesome and terrible place that I first came to see how it would all burn to ash.
It began as any other night. As I closed my eyes to sleep away the pain of my wretched work, they opened to bring me back to the Tower. For as long as I can remember, this Tower has been my eternal prison. By day I work to try and decipher it’s will, but by night I am forced to rediscover its secrets. The Tower itself is a living entity brought to life by the souls of the deceased Creators. An entity who reveals its rooms to its prisoners as it pleases, and not a moment before. However, the night that I had my vision was different. Usually I awaken at the Citadel, but for some reason, when I opened my eyes, I was standing before the Library.
(JACOB and EMILY act out the following narration)
Usually this was one of the rooms that the Tower was especially protective of, and I had only ever seen it once before. As I ran my fingers across the elvish engravings on the doors, I heard a young woman cry out from behind them.
As fast as I could, I threw the doors open and ran out towards the cries. In all my years trapped within these walls, never once has another living being crossed my path. I run through the many shelves of books before I saw her, a young woman with skin rough like diamonds, but rotten and torn away with writhing insects in place of hair. When she saw me, she turned away and fled out of the room. As I continued the chase, a young man ran up from behind me, and through my body, catching me off guard. I called out to him, but he did not respond. Dumbfounded, I made my way out of the room to follow the pair.
As we ran through the hall, the corridor began elongating itself, a sign that the Tower was in great distress and was attempting to protect itself. Pushing past this warning, I continued to chase after the pair. The feeling that I got from this action was different from the other times the Tower had guided my path. It wasn’t me the Tower was afraid of. I ran harder.
We ran down that infinite hallway for years as my skin began to sag with age and my hair withered away to dust. Still, I kept going. Slowly my mind began to crumble as I ran trapped within the hallway. As the last remnants of my sanity slipped away, my eyes shot forward to the pair once more. We had finally stopped. Ahead of us lay a door bearing the mark of the Creators, a Sword, a Shield and a Pen. This room was the Vault, a great hall of prophecy. As I finally understood what was happening, the woman had already made her way into the room as the man yelled out
JACOB: Elizabeth! Wait!
RALATHOR: As he ran into the room, I used the last of my strength to throw myself at the doors, catching only the briefest glimpse at its contents before I was shut out. Thousands of books laid scattered across the floor, each one bleeding onto the others. At the back there was a magnificent, burning tree that reached up high up to the very ceiling of the room. I did my best to force the doors open for me, but after so many years, my body’s strength failed me. As I worked away on the doors, I began hearing demonic cries calling out from behind them.
JACOB: Please! Don’t do it I beg you! I’ll come with you, just let her go!
RALATHOR: As the man’s panicked cries filled my ears, I beat down harder on the doors until the flesh on my hands peeled away revealing the broken bones beneath it. I fought through the pain as the young woman’s cries twisted and morphed until at last no humanity was left. I collapsed at the sickening nature of that beasts' cries, its power reaching through my soul. Never in all my life had I ever felt such horrendous power. My body shook with fear, my heart very nearly giving out before a single shot tore through the monster’s mighty roar.
JACOB: Elizabeth! No!
RALATHOR: As the demons dying cries faded away into nothingness, I got up one final time and pushed on the doors. As they opened, I fell forward and witnessed the man standing over the diamond maidens' corpse. I took one step before I was attacked by a creature flying toward me from the ceiling. Its talons found my right eye, and as I fell back, I fell into the grass lands on the furthest side of the Tower’s domain. I awoke that night with the smell of burning flesh, and the sound of crumbling stone as my world ate away at itself. My eye was gone, and so too was any faith I had for us, for in my hand lay the corpse of a raven. Elizabeth, I write to you, to not only warn you of the impending end of the Tapestry, but to warn you of your death. Your death, and the death of all things.
