Ivory Tower

REPORT #223G34

incident reported by ; anonymous

report submitted to archives by ; GABRIEL UTTERSON

case report reason ; inhuman screams from 826 Dambrich St

The report came to my attention on the evening of November the 8th. I didn't mind it at first, and in fact, seemed rather ordinary. The woman who filed the report mentioned an "inhuman screaming from next door," that sounded rather "like howling and followed by broken glass". I hate to say it, but I brushed it off as simply a report to the wrong location. I wrote down the incident, but told the woman to report to a guards' station. I came back to the report a few weeks later, looking at it with a new light and taking in the fact the woman was in the right. The address, which I had looked over in the past, was none other than 826 Dambrich St, the residence of one Doctor Henry Jekyll. This, at first, truly alarmed me. I myself had never met the doctor, but a few of my co-workers had, describing the Doctor as soft spoken and polite. I decided to set off to the flat alone. Of course, I told Lanyon where I was going and said to send a team had I not return for several hours. Upon arriving to the estate, I found myself at a rather sense of calm. It was darkly colored, and the doorbell outlined with silver rather than the gold of surrounding buildings. A moment after ringing it, a thin and well mannered butler opened the door. He let me in with no question upon seeing the badge, sat me in the living room, and quickly ran to fetch his master.(edited)

The man I was met with was not one I had expected. He was a thin, pale man, wearing a rather simple blue waist coat with a silver watch tucked neatly into the pocket. The doctor bore long white hair, much to my surprise, and spoke with a shaking and rather quiet voice. Upon hearing me ask to have a small interview with him somewhere private, the doctor hesitated and stood still and silent for a few moments. He had finally accepted my request and led me upstairs to a rather tidy office. Tidy, that is, aside from the desk, which looked like it had been hurriedly cleared off. A rather large cat sat asleep in the chair, evidently, from the dip of the chair, having taken it over after the doctor had gotten up. "Pardon me— I do apologise—" the doctor had said, followed by a quiet hiss of "poco off my chair—" I could hardly hold back the soft chuckle I had, but I came upon myself to stay as professional as possible. The doctor beckoned me to sit down, hurriedly pulling a chair from the wall and setting it infront of the desk. His wings bristled slightly as he sat down.

I took a moment to examine the man before beginning my questioning. Through his glasses, I could see strained, grey eyes, evident in lack of sleep. Shimmering earrings hung from his ears, and as I glanced down, his hand was in a tight grip around his other forearm, nails digging rather harshly into his shirt. The doctor snapped back to attention as I cleared my throat and began to explain the reason I was there. He seemed to blankly nod along with what I said, staying rather silent. Occasionally, his wings would bristle before hurriedly flattening back down, pressing against his back. His eyes darted back and forth across the desk, knuckles turning gradually white from his incredibly hard he was gripping his arm. "Doctor Jekyll, sir," His gaze snapped back up to mine, and I repeated my question. "Doctor Jekyll, are you aware of these yells?" He remained silent for a moment, wings bristling once more as he opened and closed his mouth, seemingly choosing the best way to approach the situation. ". . . yes, I . . . i am aware of these, these screams the neighbor has described," He swallowed, throat bobbing. He wouldn't keep eye contact with me now, and I couldn't help myself from growing worried. "Doctor Jekyll? Are you quite alright? Is there someone else I could talk to?" "Y-yes yes, I'm rather fine— I'm not sure if you're aquatinted with him, but you . . . but you can ask Victor Frankenstein, I'm afraid I'm not in the best state of mind at the moment,"  The doctor let out a weak chuckle, standing back up to lead me towards the door. I was, infact, aquatinted with Frankenstein. He worked in the guard unit at the time and was an all-around odd individual. And so, like the doctor suggested, I went to seek out Victor Frankenstein.

I arrived back at the Society three hours after originally left. I wasted no time in setting up a small appointment with Frankenstein, and while waiting, set it upon myself to scan Anashian birth records. [for, that's what he rather looked like, being so pale] Starting with the last name of J, and around the time period I suppose he had been born, I found absolutely nothing. I decided to scan through the rest of the records by year, and as I expected, never found an answer to what I was looking for. I had just begun to put the folders away when Victor walked through the door, satchel slung over his shoulder, eyelids drooped, and his lower left hand resting on the top of the satchel. "You needed me?" "Yes, I was informed by a . . . I assume friend, of yours that you may have information regarding Doctor Henry Jekyll," Frankenstein paused at the name, brows knitting together for a fraction of a second, "I've never met a Jekyll. The only Henrys I've been relatively close to had the last names Wolfenstein and Clerval," Henry Clerval was part of the Guard Unit, bearing sunbleached brown hair and the wings of a harris hawk, apposed to the white hair and osprey wings of the doctor. "Wolfenstein?" "Mhm, greyish eyes, bad hearing, sort of eccentric type, we were rather close but . . . i haven't seen him for the longest time," I paused and sat back in my desk. The Wolfenstein family was Requillian, not Anashian. He had looked at the wrong files. "Thank you, Victor," The four armed man nodded and slipped out, closing the door.

I waited for a few moments after Victor left before turning around and walking deeper into the rows and rows of cabinets and shelves, digging once more through birth records, but now in the W section of the Requillian files. It didn't take much time to find the Wolfensteins, beginning with the first born in Requill and gradually moving forward. Lykaon Sunbane, Gandthreel Wolfenstein, Dantés Wolfenstein— I paused for a moment at the next record for one Dakota Wolfenstein, bearing an Anashian seal. I flicked forward a couple pages until I came upon a second two Anashian records, for twin boys born in the Northern Wastes.  Henry Jekyll von Wolfenstein, and Edward Hyde von Wolfenstein. They were born an hour and a half apart, on February 23rd. The father's name was harshly scratched out, the only remains a small V. The mother, to no surprise, was Dakota Wolfenstein. I took the records back to my desk to further examine them. The appearance of the man I met matched up with the older of the twins, except the hair color was dark brown instead of the white he remembered. I had a tinge of fear as I turned to the second record, examining the details. Red kite, black hair, and acid green eyes. Edward . . . Hyde. The name sparked something in me. I recognized the name.

I sprang from my chair and ran between the cabinets, twisting and turning before coming upon a section full of newspapers from around ten to fifteen years prior. I immediately started searching and searching through the papers, collapsing backwards onto the floor and taking time to scan every single one of them. I must've been there for hours, I could hear other members of the unit occasionally come and go, and the sound of footsteps outside gradually became more faded and were eventually gone. My face became drenched with sweat, ny hands trembling and shaking as I picked up and set down every news paper. My head pounded with such an intense anxiety, and I even now can't figure out why.  I came upon a stack of browning newspapers, the paper brittle and crinkling underneath my fingers. I picked the first one up, dated to October 15th. I scanned the paper, again with no sign of the name. I slowly moved through the pile, the only sound I could now hear was the utterly horrifying beat of my heart in my ear.  I felt a second tinge of anxiety as I picked up the next paper, dated to October 29th. My breathing became shaky and strained, my throat closing up as I slowly unfolded it, only to be met with the face of a young adult man with rather wolf like black hair, and the headline of BRUTAL MURDER—YOUNG ADULT FOUND MAULED IN EASTWIND WOODS

I took a minute to sit and stare at the image and the headline. My gaze glanced down to scan across the text. Edward Hyde. Nineteen. Found by two officers on their patrol, chest torn open, ribs showing from his red flesh. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The article went further on, detailing the rest of the murder and ending with the simple phrase of, "the murderer, nor their evidence, were never found" I stood back up, slowly walking back to my desk as to take this information in. I didn't understand, at first atleast, why this information would be important until I remembered the smallest detail I had noticed about the doctor. The odd way that as he looked up, his eyes shone a rather acid green in the light. I sunk back down in the chair at the desk, setting the newspaper down and staring down at it as well as the two records. The odd shine of the doctors eyes, his brothers murder, the scattered papers and journals in a box nearby the doctors desk, and the extreme fear that overcame the doctor as soon as he heard the reasoning for the interview. It was hard enough to come to a conclusion, all I could do was wait for the morning and visit the doctor once more.

The morning came within a hurry, as I had not bothered to carry the fear on my shoulders home with me and had instead fell asleep in my office chair. I awoke in the early afternoon from a tap on the shoulder by one of my co-workers, who I rather quickly thanked. It took me not long to pull myself together, taking a deep breath and gently taking the contents of my research and tucking them into a dull leather satchel. I turned to the door, quietly walking out of his office, and then the Society. My hand gripped tightly on my satchel as I hopped onto a public transport, I happened to be lucky, the drivers wyvern was rather steady. I was dropped off on Dambrich Street once more, and approached the dark house of the doctor. Unlike before, the house now brought a panging sense of fear upon me, and I hesitated upon ringing the bell.

The same butler as before opened the door, ever so slightly startled as to why I had shown my face as his master's home once more. He led me back inside, and this time, went upstairs to ask his master if I could infact speak with him again. The butler came back and led me upstairs, opening the office door of the doctor, closing it after. The doctor didn't look up as I stepped in and sat back down in the chair, but I watched as his wings bristle once more at my presence. He finished up what he was writing before slowly raising his head to face me. "You're back here now, I assume you talked with Victor?" "I did, and I do hope you're in a better state of mind then you were yesterday evening," The doctor didn't reply, setting his quill down and pushing his papers to the side of the desk. I took a moment to look at him again before taking the three papers from my satchel, laying them out infront of the doctor, "Are you familiar with the name Edward Hyde?" The doctor froze in his seat, eyes widening as he looked down at the brown newspaper. He didn't reply to my question, but his face said enough, I had my answer. "Sir, might I ask what you specialized in to earn your degree?" The doctor was slow to speak again, ". . . Chemistry, Mr. Utterson," "Are you aware of your brothers murder?" He sat there and blankly stared past him for a moment, nodding, "I do, I had found the news from the guards' station," "Now Doctor Jekyll, yesterday I noticed your eyes were rather green, and I noticed your records said grey," "enough" the doctor suddenly snapped, springing up from his chair I stood with him, watching the man descend into utter madness.

He reached up, hands gripping his pale hair as he paced back and forth, his eyes flashed and grew rather light, saturation filling in. He whipped around and rather harshly grabbed me by the arms, voice rippling as he spoke a raspy "look away" I jerked back from him, watching as he collapsed on the ground, one hand grabbing at his chest and the other wrapping around his mouth to muffle a harsh cry of a scream. I staggered backwards against the door, watching in utter horror and panick as the man before me writhed and withered on the floor, gasping and crying out. His hair grew darker and darker, features shifting and warping, dark brown and white wings shifting and cracking, turning darker and rather red near the edges.  I shielded my eyes and turned my head until the cries faded out into gasping breaths. Now, other members of the Society who have not met the doctor may not believe this next statement, but by the gods above I can swear it to be true, for the thin and pale haired doctor from before had turned into the large, black haired form of one Edward Hyde.

REPORT END