Chapter 1: The Whispers

Nisseth was never good at magic. His siblings made fun of him. His parents were Nords. His parents had adopted all of their children, because of this Nisseth had an Altmer brother, a Bosmer brother, an Orsimer sister and a Breton sister. All of them could at least cast a Firebolt, Nisseth could do nothing. He couldn't even get a flame to flicker. Nisseth himself was a Dunmer, so it was very surprising that he didn't have an aptitude for Fire Magic. A raspy voice whispered in his head with a slight echo, he couldn't make out what they were saying, it sounded like distant conversation. Sometimes it spoke to him and he could understand it perfectly. "You have double of their potential – no, even more than that. If they can cast a Firebolt you can dry up an ocean." This scared Nisseth. He started crying.

"For gods' sakes stop bloody crying! You are 12 years old now!" It took a while for Nisseth to calm down. He almost started crying again when Ygrag, his Orsimer sister, and Ymarri, his Altmer brother started teasing him.

"Ignore those fools, they will be gone soon enough, bid farewell." The voice laughed.

"Good bye." He said to his mean siblings. They looked at each other and then laughed.

That night lighting illuminated the house through the windows and the thunder shook the floors. "Right off to bed, the lot of ya. Go, right now. Time to go to bed." Nisseth's father, Eorlund, was cheery, but it annoyed Nisseth that he said the same thing many times, but said it a different way each time.

"Do not worry, child, he will leave you alone. Without knowing the consequences he will in fact punish himself." This spooked Nisseth more than the weather, he thought back to what it said about Ymarri and Ygrag, was this voice giving him prophecies or riddles about his family dying?

Nisseth climbed into bed. He shared his room with Ymarri. Ygrag walked in. "Nisseth, are you a wake? Nisseth?" He didn't reply. He was awake but pretended he wasn't. "OK, Ymarri, ready to go?" She whispered.

"I've been waiting all day." He said with an invisible smile. They climbed out through a hole in the wall being used as a window. Their feet crunched the soft leaves and twigs beneath their feet. "Haha! Free of that torture!" Ymarri cried out when he was a good few hundred metres away; he must have thought the house was out of ear shot. Nisseth thought for a moment… but he was interrupted.

"Just as I promised you child, they are gone. Do not expect to see them back. You are my vessel and I will eliminate anything that I foresee to bring you any harm at all." Nisseth was relieved. His siblings weren't going to die, just get up and leave. Maybe his dad wasn't going to die either…maybe…

At 03:00 the next morning his dad shouted through the house. "Where is Ygrag!? Everyone get up, up now. Up y'all get." He burst through Nisseth's door and woke him up. "And where in Oblivion is Ymarri? Mother of Nords!" Nisseth rolled over to his belly and buried his face in his lumpy pillow. "Oh, no mister. I don't believe for one second that you can be in the same room as Ymarri and not realise him just vanish." He grabbed Nisseth's arm which was hanging from the bed and hoisted it up. Nisseth was lifted out of the bed, his bare feet were hanging a few centimetres from the floor, Eorlund dropped him. He fell to his knees. "Get up! Up ya get!" Nisseth was only wearing the rags that covered his groin that he slept in. He had weird, thick lines all over his body that were barely visible through his dark, grey skin.

"Eorlund, do you have to be so harsh? He is only a child." Nisseth's mother, Camilla, said. Eorlund calmed down. He pulled up two chairs. He sat on one and ordered Nisseth to sit on the other.

"Now, you are going to tell me everything that happened, or you are going to pray to Kyne that I don't-"

"Eorlund, stop it!" Camilla shouted. Eorlund sighed.

"What happened?" He asked Nisseth calmly.

"I don't know." He replied.

"What do you mean you 'don't know'?"

"I didn't see or hear Ymarri at all in the night so I have no idea what he did – I was asleep."

"How come he didn't wake you? Yer a light sleeper, had the door opened once you would have been awake."

"Maybe it didn't." Eorlund sighed; he felt his anger building up again.

"If the door didn't open then how do you think he could have escaped?"

"I don't know." Eorlund started tap his boot quickly on the floor.

"No more games, Nisseth, tell me what happened. You aren't in trouble here, Ygrag and Ymarri have disappeared, if they ran off then they are in trouble, not you. So, you didn't see or hear Ymarri or Ygrag at all after you went to bed?"

"Maybe they were kidnapped?" Camilla suggested but she didn't believe it.

"No paedophile steals a 17 year old and a 15 year old in 2 different rooms and leaves a 12 year old to sleep."

"Maybe they don't like Dunmer." She said.

"OK, enough of this. Nisseth, I know you know something. Kyne has told me, you have 5 minutes to write down exactly what happened or I'll punish you until you wish to be unborn." He stormed out of the room. Camilla went outside to check on her wheat.

"Give him the truth and you're free for a day, come tomorrow morn' and forever you will pay. Don't write a word and you're tortured for a day, come tomorrow morn' and the pain will go away." The Whisperer spoke to him in hushed tones. He didn't know what to do because he had no idea of what the Whisperer meant. He decided not to write anything as the lack of pain and end of torment sounded promising. When his dad returned and saw there was no page he almost exploded.

"OK then, punishment is it. Kyne have mercy or his soul." He grabbed Nisseth by his long, black hair and dragged him through the house. He opened the cellar's hatch and threw him down. It was a vertical drop of about 6 metres. The cellar was never. There were Skeevers the size of large dogs and spiders that were so big that each foot step sounded human. Nisseth fell into the foot-deep, putrid water. He got up choking and coughing. The hatch closed stealing his only light away. He heard the bolt slide across. His dad shouted down to him.

"You can come out when you are ready to tell me the truth. Mind the Skeevers." Nisseth kneeled in the muddy water; if he sat it would have covered his mouth and nose. It was cold and thick; bits of food and rotting flesh were floating around in it. He threw up and added last night's dinner to the mixture. He was too scared to cry. It was pitch black and the cellar led into a massive cave. He started to calm down until he heard splashing up ahead. It was the kind of splashing a human might make if he jumped into a pool, but it was continuous. It almost sounded as if was a small waterfall. It got closer. It was moving quickly. Nisseth guessed there was only about 100 metres left between him and the splashes. It got closer and his fear turned to panic; he could hear its long hairy legs rubbing against each other. It was a Giant Frostbite Spider. He knew he was dead. He had no way to defend himself, or even see it.

"It does not know you are there, relax." Said the Whisperer. Nisseth calmed his breathing and when it was almost on top of him he stopped breathing all together. He counted the seconds fighting the urge to breathe. The Frostbite Spider walked into him. One of its legs hit him on the chest and pushed him under water. He felt his ribs getting crushed. Even if it hadn't known he was there, it must now. But the Frostbite Spider walked on as if he hadn't been there. "You are my vessel. You will be safe." The whispers sounded weirder – they sounded stronger. There was a slight whistling in the background when it spoke now. "Continue through the cave, I will guide you." Nisseth burst through the surface spluttering and clutching his chest. As soon as he was able to he started walking through the cellar. He went where the Whisperer asked and the deeper he went in the deeper the water got. It was now up to his chest. "Turn left. Walk." Nisseth obeyed. The water's temperature started to drop. "There are nasty Skeevers here, they will bite and claw at you but will never break the surface while you are in eye-sight." As if on cue and a sharp pain went down the side of his thigh. He almost collapsed in pain. "Ignore it, keep going." The water was now up to his neck. Slashes started appearing in his chest. He was sure the filthy water would infect all of his wounds. He pushed on. A large claw – larger than all of the others put together – hit him in the side of his ribcage, it yanked down and left a large gash 3 centimetres deep and leading from his chest down to his thigh. He winced and almost screamed but the pain almost completely went away. He felt his whole chest go numb from the cold. He stepped on a stone and a dull pain was sent up his leg. "Walk on." He did. The water was over his mouth. "Now swim." He stopped for a second. "You are almost at the end. There is an overhanging rock, you will hit your head if you don't swim and hug the ground." He dived under water and started to swim. The second he did this the Skeevers bolted away. After a few seconds he saw light. It was getting through the cracks of a broken door. It was his way out. "You must go deeper or you will knock yourself out and drown." He obeyed even though he couldn't see a rock. He went deeper and deeper, fighting against the will to breathe and then the water shifted around him. It pulled him down. He trashed about. The Whisperer had tricked him. It laughed in his head. "You are mine now, come to me child and start your life anew." It stopped speaking. He was pulled deeper and deeper. He felt rocks scraping against his legs and arms. He gasped for breath and vile water went into his mouth. He threw up but the vomit was pushed back down his throat by the water. He started choking on his own vomit and then his head hit a rock. He lost consciousness.

He woke up. He was floating up a river. It smelled worse than down in the cellar. It wasn't black/brown with floating bits of flesh or food. It was blood-red with floating skeletons and bones. 2 things amazed him; the first was that although he was in a cave he could see as if he was outside, the second was that he was alive. How? He asked himself. He had infected cuts all over his body and lost consciousness while being sucked under water. He came to the end of the river. He crawled out. He stood up. Had he dreamed all of this? Was he dreaming now? All of the cuts were gone. His skin was perfect. His skin was a lighter shade of grey and the weird lines on his skin were more vivid. He was still naked from when the massive 'thing' under the water that tore into his left side. He walked about the seemingly empty cave. He found a door. Despite the heat in the room the door was freezing. It was made from bones. He pushed it open. "Ah, my new apprentice!" A strange man beamed. He had wispy, grey hair that instead of going down his back split and went over each shoulder. He wore strange black robes with weird designs that had red swirls and designs. "Better get you into some clothes." He had a staff. It was a simple black staff with bones spiralling up around it. At the top of it there were 2 skeletal hands grasping a sphere of green-black energy. He tapped the bottom of it into the ground and black, smoke-y swirls surrounded Nisseth and the slowly dissipated to reveal a smaller black robe similar to the Whisperer's just without the red designs. "You have much to learn, but you will learn quickly. You will learn faster out of Mundus. Follow me. Your life is only starting now." The man walked through a door. Nisseth followed slowly trying not to trip over his robe with each step.

He went through the door and saw a large room. There were hundreds of people wearing the same robes as the man but only the designs were white and slightly less fancy. There were zombie and skeletons. There was an altar where a man was having his insides pulled out. At the back of the room there was a large throne made of Obsidian. It was on top of a large pile of skeletons and bones. The strange man had somehow already made it to the throne – as if by magic.

Nisseth made his way through the crowds and up to the throne. He only had a robe – no shoes or hand wraps – so some of the sharper bones cut into his hands and feet as he climbed it. He got to the top and stood in front of the throne. A large skeleton in armour pushed him forcefully down onto his knees. "Pray to me, Lord of Brutality, God of Schemes, Harvester of Souls. Give me your life and I will give you back a better one. Give me your blood, your flesh, your bones or your soul as a sacrifice. Your life will begin here with me. Your life will depend on what you give and what you ask for in return. And don't start any 'normal life' bullshit; we're long past that point. Pray to me now. Say the words: I offer to you, Great Lord, my… And then say, 'body' for flesh, 'heart' for blood, 'will' for soul and 'strength' for bones. And then add your own wants and wishes. Pray to me now child. Give to me your life!" Nisseth didn't know what to say, he didn't even know if he wanted to go through with this. "Or…Stand up if you wish to decline my offering. I will send you back to the first you heard those disgusting whispers and never bother you again." Nisseth couldn't go back, he couldn't.

"I offer to you, Great Lord, my heart. Take and accept my offering. Great Lord, in return all I wish for is magical talent and knowledge. I seek not money, nor power, nor love. I seek magical talent and an answer to a few questions, nothing more." He didn't know how to finish, so he just stopped there and hoped it would be OK. The Whisperer clapped.

"A perfect prayer. No selfishness, you just asked for what you've always wanted. Most take the chance for money or power when a Daedric Lord offers them anything they want. I accept your offering. I shall give you what you seek. Perfectly done. That was excellent. It is difficult to make a Daedric Lord smile but you have done it. Well, let's do the easier thing first. What would you like to know? Ask me anything." Nisseth was surprised and delighted. He didn't know how he knew what to say, it just came to him.

"OK, umm, what happened to Ygrag and Ymarri."

"They left the house and a pack of Vampires slaughtered them and drank them dry. Tragic." Nisseth was a little bit upset, but at the same time he was relieved.

"Oh…OK…Umm. Why am I so special?"

"Ah, a good question. There are few like you, very few. I knew you would pick your blood as a Sacrifice. You knew without knowing. You have magical talent all ready, you just don't…yet… I know it doesn't make any sense. You have potential. Your soul knows and sends you on a path. Your soul already knows what the outcome to each situation in your life will be. It knew that offering your blood will give you magical capabilities even if your brain did not."

"How?"

"I told it."

"So you used my soul to get me to you?"

"Yes, I needed someone like you beside me."

"But why? You answered about my soul and then said you told my soul to do that because you wanted me. But why do you want me?"

"It is because you have a heart of evil. You soul is twisted. Let me show an example of a pure soul." A perfect white orb appeared in front of Nisseth. It pulsed slowly and gently. It gave off a gentle hum. "And now, this is yours." The white sphere disappeared and was replaced by a misshapen black ring. It pulsed with an irregular beat. It made the same sound as the whispering that Nisseth constantly hears – he couldn't make out any of the words. It disappeared. "That is very useful to me. Anymore questions?"

"What do I call you?" Nisseth asked politely. The man thought for a moment.

"Schemer? Harvester? Mobal? Let's go with that, call me Mobal.

"How do I give you my blood? And can you show me how one would give their soul, flesh and bones?" Mobal ignored the first part.

"Of course follow me. There are all short procedures – but very painful." He led Nisseth into a room and there was a man who had offered his mind. "Very few offer their soul, strange. But I only need a few." One of the robed with the white designs held up a black stone. The man's soul was pulled into it and his body disintegrated. The stone exploded and a black sphere, with smoky tentacles flailing around, appeared. "Everyone's soul is different. He has an evil soul. His will most likely be used to corrupt innocence."

"Who are those people?" Nisseth pointed to the robed man.

"Ah. They are called Worms, they are my living thralls. Now, on to other rituals."

Nisseth was led to another room. A woman had offered her strength. A Worm chanted into 3 green stones. The woman's skin started to bubble and then it melted and dripped off. After about a minute her flesh, blood and muscle was all in a messy pile. A skeleton stood tall out of the mess. The Whisperer led Nisseth to another room. A boy, little older than Nisseth, had offered his body. A Worm cut into his head and chest. A white liquid poured out of both, the one in his head was mixed with grey. After about 30 seconds the pouring had stopped. The Worm cast a spell and the new zombie walked off groaning. "Now, it is time for the last one."

At the door the Whisperer stopped and let Nisseth go first. They walked through. There was a Worm standing beside an altar, but no subject. Nisseth turned to Mobal. Mobal grabbed him and cut Nisseth's robe off with one swipe from a cruel blade. Nisseth was standing naked once again. Mobal picked Nisseth up by the throat and threw him on the altar. Skeletal hands came out of the side of the altar and held him in place lying on his back. "This is my favourite of all of the rituals." The Worm put one gloved hand on the right side of Nisseth's chest. He pulled a twisted blade out of his robe with the other. He held it so he held the handle and the blade was pointing down towards the ground. He made ceremonial cuts on Nisseth's face, legs, arms and chest. He stabbed the left of Nisseth's chest near his neck and pulled the knife down through to his stomach. The blood poured out of him. The Worm put his hand inside Nisseth's chest and felt about. He grabbed hold of his heart and pulled it out. With the knife he severed all of the veins and arteries connected to it. The heart beat on. Skeletal fingers crept inside Nisseth's mouth and forced it open. The Worms forced the heart into Nisseth's mouth. The skeletal fingers slide away. Nisseth's heart sat beating in his mouth. He pushed Nisseth's heart a little deeper into his mouth and skeletal hands forced his mouth closed. He felt the pressure on his heart as it beat on. "I will wait at my throne ready for the last part of the ceremony." Mobal said before leaving. The Worm sewed Nisseth back up leaving ceremonial scars all over his body.

"Keep your mouth closed. You will know when it is the time to release it." The skeletal hands released Nisseth as the Worm said this. He walked back to the throne room. He kept his mouth firmly closed the whole time.

Nisseth entered the throne room. He saw Mobal sitting on his throne. Nisseth climbed up the hill of bones, it didn't hurt him this time. He reached throne. He was once again pushed to his knees. Mobal didn't speak but instead walked around Nisseth. Nisseth followed him around. He stopped after 4 circuits and stopped in front of Nisseth. He sat down and crossed his legs. Mobal put his hand into Nisseth's mouth and pulled out the heart and put it in his own mouth and chewed it. He put his finger into his mouth, took out a bloody finger and drew lines and symbols on Nisseth's bare chest and face. He swallowed what was left in his mouth and then stood up and lifted Nisseth up. He bit Nisseth's neck "The ritual is complete you have one final choice to make. You are now a vampire. I allow everyone a chance to remove 1 aspect of the Vampiric Curse; eternal life, weakness to sunlight, blood lust or Vampiric Magic. Choose now." Nisseth obviously wanted the magic, blood lust could be a problem. Weakness to sunlight is also a major drawback. His thoughts were interrupted. "Choose now."

"Eternal life." Nisseth replied.

"Really? Last chance to change."

"Eternal life. I want to live, get old and die. I don't want to live forever." After a few seconds of disbelief Mobal picked up his staff and slammed it into the ground. Nisseth heard nothing after this.

"Go forth, and spread the will of I, Molag Bal!" Nisseth vanished from Cold Harbour.

Thanks for reading! I am going to continue with this but I'm still trying to work on my time management. If anyone has any comments to make, questions to ask or requests to…request please do so, I will reply to all that require me to do so and I will certainly read all of them. I am still only starting out as a fanfiction author so any constructive criticism and compliments are appreciated. Thanks again.