Hi, this is Arimadios again. I'm here with a brief retelling of the final battle between Nerevar Moon and Star, and, the mad 'god' Dagoth Ur. Forgive me for making ANOTHER one-shot.


A battle between men


I stood in the small cavern lit by the eerie red light. I could see the golden facemask of the man who so doomed Vvradenfel. I had felt his wrath, and his blessing, if you could call it that, before. "The blight… and the Corpus… I've felt them Both, Lord Dagoth. What would the Mad God of Mortals be willing to say unto me, Moon-And-Star?"

He smiled and shot off another wave of the foul smelling corpus gas from his palm. "I would say that you are wrong to have so quickly rid yourself of my divine blessing, Nerevar. But how quickly have you kicked in the doors of my house. Slain my Bretheren, and felled my hopes. Alas, once more, you betray me, Moon-and-Star."

"I never betrayed you. It was you, who betrayed me. You took from me the tools, and swore to protect them… But you did not, even from me. You gave them unto the hands of my Advisors."

"What? Are you not angered that I used these tools?"

"You were mortal, and if the heart were destroyed, you would still be mortal. How could you resist this temptation?"

"You are wise beyond your Incarnate's years, Moon-and-Star."

"I've been around. I extend to you an offer, Dagoth Ur. Submit to ME and MY will, and I will spare you, and the heart."

"And if I submitted?"

"I would require you to do three things. First, Give Divayth Fyr all he needed to know of how to cure the Corpus. Secondly, Dismantle the Logic God in your antechamber. Third, you would stop your blessings and your curses. You would cease to be a so called 'god' and relinquish unto the Dremora Lords your right to rule the world. You have made mistakes in your divinity."

"Ah, but would you submit to MY will and way before this?"

"If you require the Wraithguard, it is yours, provided you do as I have asked." I put Sunder back within my pack. I removed Wraithguard, and he cocked his head to the side as he gazed at my hand, as black as fresh pitched coal from the mines. I smiled. "Take it, Dagoth Ur. You were to protect it, from even me. I will give you this task again, if you will understand but one thing… If you take this gauntlet of the Logic God, you will live as a Mortal, forevermore."

"Why should I believe this is not a trick?"

"Because I will be honest with you, if you are honest with me. My father would be most displeased if I simply tricked you, while I carry one of his greatest gifts."

"… On one condition."

"Would you like me to remove my helm?"

"Yes."

"You will be shocked, and possibly driven even further into madness."

"I CARE NOT! You speak as though you are divine already, and none have passed to the heart! I must know what manner of being the Moon-and-star has chosen in its utter wisdom! A Khajiit would be far too filthy for the ring to abide, and Argonians would slip right out. A Redguard's spirit would shudder at the thought, and a Dunmer could never fill that ring again." Dagoth Ur snarled. "An Imperial would break the ring on principal, and a high elf would spend millennia of study upon it, all while ignoring the world around them." He shuddered "A Brenton would seek to exploit the magicks, and an Orc would use it to wage war on the gods."

I smiled beneath the Face of God that I wore. I unlatched the back side, and pulled it off, my face still within the shadows of the tunnel. I tossed it at his feet. "You are right on all counts. My father must not be bitter with you in his mercy." I tossed the lance I held down in front of his body, his eyes widening beneath the mask as trickles of blood seeped out. I stepped forward, and smiled as I looked up at him, my golden eyes shining with the Light of Azura, and my twin horns joyous at their freedom from the face. I smiled.

"I am not Nerevar Reborn. I AM Nerevar, who was driven to madness by your utter deceit in our last moments as mortals. Sheogorath opened his arms, and took me into his bosom. I was destroyed, utterly and completely by madness, but I was saved by my Mother Azura, who sent me unto a Hermit, of her Daedra blood, to rest and revive. I was changed, my Dusky flesh that had once been pale becoming as ashen as Oblivion. My eyes that had once been as blue as the Everlasting sky became gold with the blessing of her saints. My face and body changed to reflect the madness in my body."

Dagoth Ur ripped aside his mask. Blood washed from his eyes, and the third split wide, revealing the bone in which it was set as it bleed. I kicked Wraithguard to his feet. "I am not a God; I am simply a Mortal Reborn, much as you are, Dagoth Ur…"

"Im…Impossible! You should have been devoured in the fires and pressure of Oblivion!"

"The heart was found by the nine come thirteen. Nine touched of hands bare and weak, nine minds became bodies and souls became minds, divinity came to the nine as if by a wave, sundered and keened with no tool to guide." I said, remembering the books of oblivion as though they were guides to my life. "The false four would touch this with the hand of the dead, and sunder and keen with tools of logic and reason, losing their soul but retaining their body."

He looked at me like I was insane. "What's the Matter Dagoth Ur? Afraid of me? A Dremora Saint? A being of shadows, cast aside and left to wonder? Who found his memories, and came to rectify his own history?" I smiled. "I am Moon-and-Star Nerevar reborn, but not an Incarnate."

Dagoth Ur smiled wide. "Surely you are joking. Remove the second mask, and I will accept this Deal you offer." I smiled, and with my bare hand, dug the claws into my cheek, and ripped forward, removing a layer of my flesh, and I tossed it onto Wraithguard.

"There is no Second Mask."

He faltered a bit. I smiled. "You are insane, Dagoth Ur, and by that very token, doomed to repeat your mistakes. I offer you Sanity, and still you do not take it? I offer you a Place in the Light, embraced by the arms of the Daedra. And still, you simply do not partake…" I shook my head. "I can see there is no offering of peace here."

I pushed him back with a jam of my shoulder, looking at his face. I pulled up Wraithguard, and placed my hand within it once more. My lance I withdrew from the ground, and placed it over my back once more, behind the shield I had crafted. I withdrew my Daikatana, and placed it in the ground at my feet, and pulled free my sidearm, the Fang of Baham. I threw it at his feet. "This is how a Noble Fights. You have no blade so I shall give you my most powerful. That is the Fang of Baham, Wraithguard's Archfoe. I will not draw Sunder or Keening. I want this battle to be remembered."

Dagoth Ur snarled and took the blade. I could read the Fear in his trio of eyes. Had I been anything less, his hands and magicks would have sufficed. "You Dare… YOU DARE COME INTO MY HOUSE, WITH MY TOOLS, AND CHALLENGE ME!? YOU WILL PERISH MOON-AND-STAR! AND WITH YOU WILL PERISH THE WORLD!"

"In three days, we will be visited by the rest of the thirteen. The Nine truths and the four false shall be gathered within that chamber."

And the battle began. I was the first to strike a blow, but not to lift my blade. His katana came up, and flared with power, as he lifted it over his head, and swung down, the purple white ribbons of energy reaching for my body, even as the blade flared into life, oozing its own venom, but not of poison. I smirked, and raised my own unmiracolus blade crosswise, and took the blow full onto the side of my silent brethren.

He snarled, and pulled his blade back, coming to slash me in twine. I spun my blade, knocking his back on its arc. His arm went wild as he was knocked back a step. My left hand was on the blade, and my right shoulder was pushed into his chest, knocking him back to the edge of my sweep. In a flash, my slash was complete, and a small ribbon of blood followed the tip of my blade. His own flesh was healed, and exhumed what looked to be the weepings of his very divinity. The instant it took for me to prepare for his next attack, and I was a speedy Dremora Saint, was all it took for him to heal his body.

He lunged at me with all his might and I turned my back on him, the shield on my back snarling as it felt the impact, and slid the blade off it the side in its sanctuary. I turned once more; my blade raised high, even as I swung is down and cross. He raised the katana with a flourish, and blocked the blow. I ricocheted backwards. "Not even Venim graced me with a fight this wonderful!"

He snarled, and attacked just as I had while I was still reeling myself in from the blow to my blade. The Katana bit into my armor, nearly exploding with it's pent up force of flame and death, while Baham's maw gripped my body and withdrew the blood it needed. I stepped back and shuddered, even as the black scales of my body coated the crimson river. "I may not be divine, but my amulet is." My wound was sealed after only a moment, and I was back in the fray. I was speaking as I blocked his mad attacks. "The Star of Baham. It graces my body with his very blood. From my greaves of the twilight, which ensure I will forever return unto this world as does the twilight of Azura, to the left hand of Sheogorath, which just as sure as my own madness ensures my fortitude, and this star, I am invulnerable to you. Even Baham's Maw cannot drink too deeply of my blood before my blood rejects it."

He snarled. "I need no puny gifts from the Gods and Dragons to annihilate you, Moon-and-Star!" I smirked, and grabbed the fang. It bit into Wraithguard as he poured his divine strength into the blow. But my gamble had payed off. The glove absorbed the blow, and with a screech that cleaved fragments of rock from the walls, it sent the maw turning on its master, followed by the very flame and venom the blade oozed.

The battle raged for near a day, each gamble I took would pay off in some way, returning the strength of my foe unto me, or even allowing me a good clean hit. He finally fell, but I noticed he vanished. I heard the creaking of the Dwemer louder than ever. The door to the Antechamber had opened. As I walked towards it, I took the time to use sunder to destroy the doors. I wondered where my Fang had been placed.

The sweltering heat of the TRUE Crater of Red Mountain assaulted me. I had taken time to repair my gear, for the battle had taken its toll. I smiled as I saw Dagoth Ur standing there, in full battle garb. The old Regalia of the Dwemer lords, and indeed, of the old House Dagoth, adorned his body, and he held Baham's fang tightly in his grip. "You cannot hope to win here, for I am clothed in the heart it's self. You will perish."

I smiled. "Dagoth Ur… we only have two days until I destroy the heart… It took you one day to die less than forty foot away from the heart. Two should do it here. Come at me then, False God!"

He yelled, and leapt at me, and the battle was joined.


Sotha Sil, in his Failing body, stood in Balmora's main, on a bridge, answering all who asked anything. Vivec stood on a bridge to his left and Almolexia to his right. They all said in unison "The heart will awaken within the day and ye Chimer come Dunmer shall perish in wave, Breaking faith doth lead you astray, so come forth ye dogs, unto thine said cave."

The three gods looked at each other, and immediately pushed through the bewildered crowd, running straight towards Ghostgate. The Armigers, Lady's Hands, and even the Fastest of Sotha Sil's Fabricants had trouble keeping up.


I gasped as his power threw me back once more. The power of the Eldest dragon and that of the Eldest God were a fearsome combination. But I would not falter, not against his falsehood. I would be… Better than that. I would be Nerevar. I knew in my heart I was just his incarnate, and I knew, that despite the corrupt blood of the Daedra lord Sheogorath, and the pure blood of Azura in me, that I would be a Saint to the Dunmer. A Former life, it seemed, where I walked the plains of Vvradenfel, as Archmaster of House Redoran, and before I knew of the corrupt union of Dwemer logic and Dunmer Faith, the Patriarch of the Temple, I knew I was an important man. But alas, into the tomb of a god I went. A Cursed Dremora with power unimaginable, yet still dwarfed by my own, or that of Dagoth Ur, fought me to the death everlasting. His face had fallen, and I placed it on my own. The cursed dreams and nightmares had coursed through me then, pulling forth the Chimer, and Expunging the Dunmer, at the same time corrupting the noble flesh, and yet blessing it, like the Corpus Disease, yet less harmful. I was a Dremora Saint. The Blessing of Azura still flowed free within my veins, and the Madness of Sheogorath corrupted my body.

I stood up, and shook off the memory. My life had flashed once. Twice more could I take without fearing for my life truly, even as the near fatal wound closed up. My armor was torn and tattered, and his was no better. I tore off the Daedric breastplate, feeling its strength evacuate my arms, and tossed down a number of my weapons. I was now in naught but my greaves and right side pauldron, my boots along with Wraithguard. The rest was useless to me. He had lost his robe in his first trip into the lava, but he had leapt back, glowing with a shield preventing the damage of fire. My spear of Bitter mercy, which I wielded knowing every moment drove me further into madness, my lone hope after my other weapons had shattered. I drank a potion I had brewed earlier, shielding myself from his attacks once more, and I dove back into the fray.

The same battle took place again, I, Blocking his viscous sword strikes with my spear's body, while deflecting his spells with Wraithguard. My own spells he laughed at, taking the magicks full on and snarling at me came in a charge. I would always block him well, but sooner or later, one attack would sneak through and blast me back, or I would strike him and push him into the lava below. It was a Blood soaked field, we were both slipping in the blood of a god or a demon. It mattered not who was bleeding most, for we both knew, simply striking each other would have no effect. I was shielded by my Faith in the Daedra, and he, in his faith to the heart. We could feel the nine watching, but all were cheering for me.

With every successful strike against me, he mocked them and their chosen champion, and with every blow against him, I was their savior. We were utterly tied, but I was slowly being backed into a corner.

Finally, an idea came to me… Shatter the heart now! But I shook it off. I could not. Too much was at stake. I had to make a show of it in front of the Tribunal. But slowly, another formed… Sunder and Keening could shatter the heart, correct? So maybe they could destroy his armors!

I growled as during my revere, I had been hit with a spell. I quaffed one of my stronger potions as my strength began to fail. Suddenly, I was revitalized, strong, fit, healthy, and powerful. I grabbed sunder with the Wraithguard the only thing between me and it. He cocked a brow, and I hammered him with it, sending him back against the wall. This was the dawn of the third day. Keening was in my hand before he could speak, and I wrapped my left hand about his throat and thrust it into his shirt. Repeatedly, I thrust. Slowly, the material fragmented, then burst, leaving him bare chested and bare armed, only Kagrenec's gloves, pants, skirt, shoes, and belt adorned him now.

That was the turning point.

The Tribunal charged up the slope of the mountain. Hopesfire cleaved clean through Almolexia's foes, mostly ash slaves and the like, While Vivec's darts and knife ripped many before they were even touched. Sotha Sil's acidic hands eroded all who interfered. They were inside within moments, and they could hear the sounds of battle, even from just within the entrance.

Vivec panted. "What's… going on?"

The others shook their head as they saw the utter carnage in front of them. They heard weapons clash, and felt a wave of death erupt over them. Sotha Sil coughed harshly. "That was no magic. That was a pure and simple weapon attack, but such force was behind it that it cleaved through the very walls of the mountain. That's what's slain these beasts." He sighed, and cast a spell upon the group.

I smirked. This part I enjoyed. I slammed the hammer known as sunder directly into his balls. He screamed with an utter pain no other thing in the universe could understand. Except me, I knew that scream meant "AHHHH!!! That hurt my family jewels!" and then, I pulled keening back into the fight as he held his crotch. My boot met his jaw, and I jammed the dagger directly into the now exposed space. And before he could even scream in pain, it was again in his crotch.

I ripped it out, and flung the vestiges of power against the wall. I smiled at him. His belt had cracked. Then it shattered as he straightened. "Fucker." He said, and charged me again. My spear was in my hands again and I was blocking his blows. He screamed in utter rage as I bested him again and kicked him back against the wall, sunder falling into his foot. Keening followed and jammed into his feet one after the other, each blow shattering his shoes more and more. He was now in naught but his loincloth and my blade. This was noon on the third day. And I toyed with him.

Almolexia burst into the heart chamber to see a Dremora toying with Dagoth Ur. Being a Goddess, and a warrior herself, she could plainly see the Dremora was a god with a lance. And that Dagoth Ur was worked into a battle frenzy the likes of which had never been seen. He was slavering at the thought of killing the obviously superior Dremora.

The Dremora smiled and suddenly impaled Dagoth Ur in a flash. The False God screamed in agony. "Look, My friend Dagoth! We must entertain the rest of the Four! The ten Gods surround us, and we are all here! Lorkhan, Azura, Sheogorath, Malancath, Mehrunes Dagon, Bolag Mal, and Mephala, as well as their kin! All nine Daedra and their father's heart watch us battle, and now the three gods of mortals step in to watch!"

Dagoth Ur's battle frenzy was washed away in a heartbeat as he was flung against the wall. The Dremora looked at his wife. He smiled. "Almolexia, can you not see past Sheogorath's blessing, and see me?"

Almolexia's jaw dropped. "Nerevar?!" she shook her head in disbelief.

"Yes, it's me, and by the way, I'm dumping you." He punched her square in the jaw with Wraithguard. She collided with the wall beside Dagoth Ur and slumped over in pain. The Moon-and-star turned his eyes on Vivec. "You, my friend, broke my trust when YOU used the tools. Of all three, I expected you to the least."

Vivec joined Almolexia and Dagoth Ur with a thump. Sotha Sil was shortly behind. He didn't even get a Word. The Dremora cracked his neck. And then he grabbed Dagoth Ur and Almolexia up, and flung them towards the Logic God in the center of the room. Vivec and Sotha Sil followed. All fell next to the heart, and Nerevar jumped down after them. He landed with a soft 'bump' while they landed with hard thuds.

The Dremora looked up. "Come out, Ye nine gods of old!" and come out they did. They each stood on a small precipice near the top of the crater. And Nerevar smiled. "The heart was found by the nine come thirteen. Nine touched of hands bare and weak, nine minds became bodies and souls became minds, divinity came to the nine as if by a wave, sundered and keened with no tool to guide. The false four would touch this with the hand of the dead, and sunder and keen with tools of logic and reason, losing their soul but retaining their body. Thus the thirteen have come together, standing before the first and the last, all in awe of the unfinished sixteenth!"

They looked at him with fear in their eyes.

I smiled. "You have all come, you nine of Old and truth!" And I then looked at the other four. "And so did you, though one had no choice. The thirteen of today, the nine true and the four false, Stand before the First." I looked at the heart and smiled. "And the last." I touched my hand to my own body. "The first passage of the telling of the death of Divinity is done."

"Now for the second. Who here can guess the Unfinished Sixteenth?" I cast my eyes to the great machine within this chamber. "If anyone guessed, it's this machine. We have all stood in awe of it before. And now we do again… but allow me to read you the third passage." I smirked. "And lo the first would die to the Last, lest the Four of False would be reborn, yet once would fail and twice would win, the heart of all who sheltered within."

"Those of you who know my life will know my first winning of the hearts was when I drove back the Nords with Dumac's help. The time I failed is when I died. The last time to win the hearts of all within would be now."

"And the fourth passage. The hand of the dead and the sunder of sound, would draw to the keening, power unbound. Power still sharpened by the will of the First, whose children he found, were duly so cursed. Sharper and sharper, with sound like the Harper."

I smiled and removed the glove on my hand. Wraithguard clattered to the ground. I looked at the heart. "Lorkhan, Forgive me." I touched the heart with my bare hand and screamed in agony. The Nine truths came down instantly and began to pull me away. "TOUCH ME NOT!" I screamed, flinging them back. "Lorkhan! Forgive us all for all that we have done!" I felt the flesh on my bones begin to burn. "I beg you Lord First to forgive your last son, and grant me your death, to be cast back into oblivion where you belong!" I could vaguely hear the Daedra screaming at me as I felt my body begin to go numb. I realized it was my body being eaten away. "Forgive me for killing you!" I screamed and drew back my fist, slamming it into the heart, making it emit a sound much like a gong. And then I grabbed the visible power, and ripped a thread off, tossing it down into the pit of fire below. Again and again I ripped, all the while hearing the sound of the gong-like hit on the heart grow sharper. Until finally, I pulled at the power one last time…

And the heart crumbled instantly. I tossed the power into the pit of fire, and turned, before falling onto the bridge in the pain I was in. I grabbed up the tools, and put them in my pack. And then I crawled across the bridge, followed by the humble sound of steps. The nine divines floated down around us. The Logic God in the center of the room began to crumble. "And Lo the Infant born of sin doth crumble, born on the short-ones last bumble. The dark one doth die, the last living son, given his wings by the father's true eye."

I looked at Dagoth Ur. "Forgive me my friend. I have betrayed you." I looked at my wife. "Forgive me my wife, for I have left you alone for far far too long." I looked at Vivec. "Forgive me my blood brother, for I did not trust you." I looked at Sotha Sil. "Forgive me my ally, for I had deceived you."

For some reason, they nodded. "We forgive you Nerevar. You've done something we could not do."

Sheogorath spoke. "HELLO! You just fricking ripped the divinity out of a god's heart, with your own bare hand, and you're asking forgiveness? You must be daft, because not even I am that Insane to ask forgiveness when I just killed a god with my bare hands!"

Azura whacked him over the back of the head. "You're a fool, Sheogorath. He did that to ask Lorkahn himself for Forgiveness of ALL of our sins. Everyone in the world. Though he has slain a god, he has shown something that NOT ONE OF US IN THIS ROOM has shown. True Mercy, and Noble Sacrifice." She sighed. "Not a one of us would allow our Servants to take an arrow for a dunmer. And we wouldn't have for a chimer, either. But he, He just let everything that has ever existed shoot him in the heart with an arrow. And he survived."

"I am… Not alive." I muttered. "I am dead. I felt my soul pour into the heart. And I destroyed it, pure and simple." I groaned, and grabbed my skeletal hand. My right hand was nothing more than bones now, but I could still move it. "Azura, can you give a message to the world for me?"

She nodded. "Tell them…"


Everyone in the world saw the same thing for those next minutes. Every beast stopped and mourned the loss. "BEHOLD! All of the world in which we were born, behold the death of the God-who-was-mortal. Nerevar, Moon-and-Star was never reborn, only Rebirthed. His hand touched the Heart of the First God, and drew out the power. But not was it clothed in the hand of the Dead, or Sundered and keened by Logic and reason, but by Faith and mercy. Behold world, your dying savior, who was merciful even unto his greatest enemy, yet has slain his first-most father. I give you not Nerevar, or the Nerevarine. I give you his vessel, not his soul which was cast into the heart. This is He, The nameless one. Cursed by madness and Twilight, Sane and yet always mad, driven by only the soul his body possessed." All things could see the Dremora. They watched as his chest fell for the last time. His golden eyes dulled to a dim blue His blackened flesh darkened, and then brightened, going from Dremora, to Dunmer, to chimer in moments. They saw his hand, bones exposed from the power of a god, and they saw his legs, eaten away by the very force of the heart's destruction. He stared blankly at the world. "These were his last worlds.

"Tell them I am sorry that I could not live on to Drive the Outlanders from Morrowind like the Ashlanders needed, but I ask them one thing. As your Nerevarine, please, live in peace with them. Teach them your ways, and learn of theirs. As Horator of Three of the Five great houses that live, Please, Cease this infighting, And all of this utter BULLSHIT that flows around you all. As the Savior of the Rest, I say only this. Please, be at one with the Gods. The Nine Divines are nothing more than Mortals shells to House the Daedra. And the Daedra are nothing more than the souls of the nine divines. To all others, I wish you full and happy lives. I Bid you Farewell…" And with that, they saw his death once more. Many wept and not a few wondered what happened. Others raged, and still others died. But the message was given, and Azura was done. She and the others rose into the heavens.


Months Later, At Bal Isra.

"I can't BELIEVE the Archmaster died." The Nightly gathering in the depths of Indarys manor. "I mean, we haven't grown by a single person since he did, despite the fact that she's pregnant."

The all hushed quietly as a man walked in a cloak so heavy it looked like it was made of lead. He pulled back his mask, and they saw a Blue eyed Dremora standing tall. He pushed out his skeletal hand. "I had unfinished business." He said simply, and sat down at the bar.

The cheers echoed around the manor, and He smiled. "Flin please." He said to the bar mistress, and she nodded with a smile. "We kept your room ready, Lord Damien Indarys." She smiled at him. "The name oddly fits you without that Dreadful mask you used to wear."

He smiled. Then he listened to the words of the bar. "Speaking of Gods, did you hear about Dagoth Ur? They say he was stoned again in Vivec today, and he just smiled and took it, screaming out pleads for forgiveness. And Once again, Vivec stopped it. He called them all fools, and nodded to Dagoth Ur, who washed them all with Corpus Gas!"

"No! Vivec wouldn't allow that!"

"But he did! And then Dagoth Ur Smiled, and washed them with some other gas, and the Corpus left them, but he said they would never catch another disease!"

I smiled. I was alive again, even though I no longer held Nerevar's Soul. I was… Glad to be around these Dunmer and others. Nerevar had changed me completely. I was once the son of Sheogorath Alone, Known as "Damien the mad" and then I met Nerevar. He was blessed by Azura, but I was the son of her Arch-foe. Yet still we were friends. So when he bound with me, it was very surprising. I took a drink of the flin, and then said aloud "I'm Very tired. I think I will retire to my chambers." I opened the great door to my room. "And by the way… Bear Dagoth Ur no ill will. He was as mad as Sheogorath, and stuck in a time when we could not live with anything other than Dunmer in Morrowind. The Death of the heart had shown him his error. He's now on his way to becoming one of the Thirteen Truths. As are the rest of the Gods." I smiled, and shut my door. And I then sat down on my bed, and removed my cloak. My armors came off, and so did my clothes. And I lay down on the top of my sheets, and I slept for ages.