Ariac Castle (Part 2)
The man in question was Isaac Mortimer. He was the last member of the Ariac Castle to live. The only one who had managed to escape the plague. His face was rugged and pock-marked from the disease, but he had used his magic, his forbidden magic, to heal himself.
He could not quite bring himself to feel sorry for those who had scoffed at him. They had sneered at the herbs he used to heal wounds and cure colds. They had jeered when he went out in the street dressed in his long robe. They openly mocked his "mumbo jumbo" he used to ward off the Terrinati. No, he did not miss them. As far as he was concerned, they had received their just reward of death by plague. He had survived.
Isaac, an old man by many standards, was still in the figurative prime of his youth. As a Mage, he could increase longevity, and he had. It was of course an "unnatural" use of magic. At least that is what the Mage Council had said shortly before they had expelled him from their ranks. Bah! What did they know. They were just as bad as the rabble of the Ariac castle. He had happily let them die by their own hands. And what of the Wizards? They had no standards, they had no practices worthy of note. They had merely been an off shoot of the Mage council from some bygone age. The Wizards hated the Mages, and vice versa. And worse still, the lukewarm middle men would easily switch their allegiance from one side to the next. All based on what they thought would best suite them in the moment.
Isaac hated them all. None of them had ever agreed with his practices, each in turn had called his ideas dangerous. Oh, if only they had known. He had studied the works of Forteu, Gretnu, and perhaps most scandalous, Gthrre. Ah yes, Gthrre had had the right ideas about immortality. Forteu and Gretnu had only scratched the surface, but the great Gthrre had managed to bend time and reality to his will. Isaac wanted that power. Ever since the betrayal of his friend. His friend.... he hated that man more then any other. He had left Isaac behind and Isaac intended to get revenge on him. But first he would gain immortality. That would make him invincible.