This is my first story that I liked enough to put on this website. I'm far ahead of Chapter One so I'll post some new chapters periodically. I really hope you enjoy it.

I didn't know how I got myself into this mess. That's a lie, I do know how this happened, and that's what scared me the most. I was facing down a band of the toughest individuals in Cyrodiil, and I was sure of a bittersweet victory. I was shaking like a leaf, and I was already cut badly. Would I survive this? I truly didn't know. But if I did, would it really be a better fate than death?

I'm sure you're confused, so let me start from the beginning.

It was a foggy morning, and a small Imperial Legion team was ready to take another job. I had just joined said team – actually, I was forced to join due to debt. I had no real allegiance to the Legion. The team – our team – were tasked with hunting down high risk escaped criminals.

I was quite unlike any other legionnaire I knew, for I was a mage. But it was either join the legion for life or spend life in jail for high debt – so I joined the Legion, no matter how different I was. I got paid nothing, but I had parents that I needed to be taken care of. They would live better if I could visit them. I was just an Imperial, average height, average weight, with sandy blond hair. I had a gift for destruction spells, especially frost spells. Foolishly, I had little restoration spells.

I considered my team to be very unique and powerful – they were the only ones to take me in, so I admired them greatly.

There was Celeste- she was the leader of the team. A tall and proud Nord, Celeste cut back any foe in her way with her deadly claymore. She was tough on the outside yet gentle on the inside, always willing to do the right thing.

Then there were the Hemlock twins – Jerry and Gabe. These two couldn't stay out of trouble if they tried, but they had good hearts. They each wielded two full silver longswords and were extremely talented with dual weaponry. I could rarely tell them apart – they both had bright ginger hair and a bad haircut, green eyes, and spotted freckles. Plus, of course, that ever present mischievous glint in their eyes.

Iris was the archer of the group. She was a tall, lean Bosmer and could shoot an arrow hundreds of yards without it losing power. She had no sense of humor – which was tragically great fun for the Hemlock twins because they constantly made fun of her – and we generally just called her Deadeye.

Lastly, there was our mentor Avers. He was an older man with grey hair tied back and a short grey beard. Avers was a battlemage – best of both worlds, you could say, but it was no match for my skills. That wasn't bragging, it was just fact. He was wise and kind – it always made me feel unworthy to look at him.

But there we were – the dream team clad in Legion armor – and we were being barked at by the guard captain. He had told us that the criminals we were looking for, a deadly bunch who were in a warrior cult lead by a guy named Felix, were hidden in a large abandoned military fort, Fort Pick.

After we got the full briefing; who were the criminals, that Fort Pick was heavily booby-trapped, and all that fun stuff, we met up outside the city.

"So," Celeste announced. "We'll go in hard and we'll go in fast. This won't be a stealth mission, I'm expecting us to be back for dinner. Deadeye, you'll go and scout ahead while we barge our way in – just to make sure we won't walk into a booby-trap. Jerry H., Gabe H., you'll be following me close. Avers –" She announced to the old man. Even Celeste, the strongest woman I've ever seen, was tender when giving orders to Avers. "You'll stay behind the Hemlocks." She finished.

"White!" Celeste barked at me. That was my name, by the way. Jason White. "You'll stay back and shoot those spells I've heard so much about." I hung my head then nodded quietly. She was purposely putting me out of the fight because she didn't trust me. "Does everyone understand their assignment?" Celeste shouted. "Yes ma'am!" We shouted back in unison. "Good," She smiled, "Then move out!"

We started our long trek from the Imperial City to Fort Pick. I mostly hung back – Jerry and Gabe playfully harassed Deadeye while Celeste discussed tactics with Avers. This team just didn't seem like a good fit for me. I didn't even try to communicate with them, after even the chatty Jerry and Gabe refused to converse with me I just gave up.

Once we finally got there, we found that the outside was empty, not a guard in sight. "Strange," Celeste said, "I can't believe that they didn't post a lookout."

"Maybe they want this fort to appear abandoned." Said Deadeye, and Celeste nodded. She ran a finger through her hair thoughtfully, like she always did when thinking. "This is no reason to stop, let's go." She decided, and the six of us cautiously ventured into the fort.

Deadeye went on ahead and we kept a steady jog, finding no enemy near the entrance.
"This is odd," Gabe whispered, "I can't believe that we haven't seen any evil cultists. We haven't even stumbled across Deadeye's corpse!" And Jerry snickered.

"Be quiet, you two!" Avers hissed, "We will be discovered!"

"By whom?" Jerry retorted.

"All of you, shut up before I make you shut up!" Celeste yelped. I decided to jog a little slower and stay back from them. Right after I decided to do that, I heard a "White! Keep up!" from Celeste, sighed and continued on ahead. We jogged for about five minutes and reached another chamber. There was an "I" carved in the door to show that Deadeye had gone through there.

Still sighting no enemy, Celeste decided to become more cautious in case we were walking into a trap. Everyone's nerves were slowly growing. Avers was chewing on his beard, Celeste was fiddling with her sword, and the Hemlock twins were inching closer and closer to each other.

As soon as we slowed to a walk, we heard a cry for help up ahead. Deadeye! Celeste took off after the scream, followed closely by us. We found Deadeye with a long gash on her leg, next to a wall with several slits in it.

"Ahh…" She gasped between breaths, "Blade trap…" She managed to squeak. To test it, Avers threw a dagger of his into the trap and large blades slid out of the slits in the wall, making a large metallic clang noise. "It's a miracle you only got away with that." I said to Deadeye. Everyone looked at me, surprised. It was then I realized that was the first thing I had said to them since we left the Imperial City. I just shrugged. "Avers, do you have a spell that could help?" I avoided looking directly at him.

"Aren't you supposed to be a mage?" He said quickly. He spotted my ears turning red and went to look at Deadeye.

"Okay, Iris," He was the only one who called Deadeye by her real name, "I have a healing scroll. This isn't powerful enough to heal you completely, but is should heal the wound." Avers cast a healing spell over her leg. It stopped bleeding, and the cut sealed. Celeste helped Deadeye up. She groaned once she put weight on her leg.

"Aah… it hurts." She grimaced. Celeste patted Deadeye's shoulder reassuringly. "Stick with us from now on. Stay back with White and shoot from afar. No more heroics from you today, got it?" Celeste was always so kind despite her harsh outer shell. Deadeye nodded and limped back to me.

"We need to find a way to get past this." Avers though aloud.

"There might be a way around this… the warrior cultists got through, anyhow." Avers pointed out. "If we just looked…" He studied the walls and finally found a ledge high on top of a wall. "There! Jason, could you use a telekinesis spell and lift us up there?"

I nodded. "I can do that. This may tickle." I announced, then slowly lifted everyone up one by one on the ledge, then lifted myself up. "Yep, looks like there's a doorway to a deeper part of the fort from here." Avers confirmed, and so we pushed on, slowly though for Deadeye.

We didn't get far until we came to a large open room with what looked to be a suit of armor standing vigil on the other side. But then… it moved!
"A warrior cultist!" Celeste shouted. Before anyone could react, Jerry H. drew his twin blades and stepped out to face the cultist. "I've got this one, guys." He announced. But the second step he took, darts shot out of the wall at him.

"Jerry! " Gabe shouted. Celeste contained Gabe before he ran out into the dart field, but it looked bad for Jerry. Luckily his helmet was on, so for a few seconds the darts didn't penetrate his armor. After those fateful seconds, however… the screams began. Jerry writhed in pain and fell to the floor. When he was on the ground the darts just grazed his back.

After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, the darts stopped. I managed to get my wits together and shot a frost spell at the cultist that lead Jerry into a trap. The warrior fell over in a heap, mist rising from his body.

Gabe quickly ran to Jerry and carried him across the dart field. We did the same, while the darts were recharging. Gabe examined Jerry, shaking silently. Darts had punctured his arms and scraped his back, and a few in his side. "Now is the time to pull the darts out," Avers said sadly. "Gabriel, help me." Avers and Gabe quickly pulled the darts out of Jerry's body. He was bleeding heavily, and breathing in short, ragged breaths. Avers took out some medical wrap and wrapped it around Jerry's entire side. "Jerry," He said, "You're going to be fine. You stay with me, Jerry."

Two of us already injured and our goal wasn't even done. My goal was even farther from being done. Avers and Gabe hoisted Jerry up to his feet. His back was bleeding lightly. I'm sorry, but I only had one healing spell." He said sadly. Jerry just grunted in pain. Gabe was shaking even more now, putting his arm around his brother. "Jer'," He squeaked, "You're gonna be okay, you hear me? You are."

Jerry seemed like he was going to survive, for now, but his sword arms were destroyed. He was just going to be an onlooker when we fought the cultists.

Celeste sighed. "We need to keep going, they know we're here now, fully armed." Celeste continued forward. Gabe lead Jerry slowly. We came into the next room, which was a large throne room, but with no one in it.

"The fools wish to challenge us," A deep, menacing voice called out from nowhere, "But are they strong enough? No! We shall cut them down, fellow Followers of the Dark! Slay them and keep their heads as rewards!"

Suddenly, six men and women in dark red armor appeared in all the corners of the room, with daggers and swords and masks.

Celeste spun around quickly and looked for the leader, who she couldn't find. "Felix! I know you're out there!" She shouted. A man with two sharp daggers stepped forward, his face hidden by a mask. "I am Felix Lindar, and you are Celeste Vallden, am I correct? Of course I am. We've been expecting you." He looked around to his men. "Followers… attack!"

We all engaged our own enemy. Celeste took on two men, including Felix, and Avers, Gabe, Deadeye and myself took on one.

It was a tough fight, and admittedly my first time fighting a real live person. I've fought monsters before, and several training dummies, but I've never fought a person. A lit my hands up in two balls of fire, and tried to punch the large masked criminal facing me. He dodged it gracefully and swung at me with his sword. I shot a frost shard at him, but he held up his shield and blocked it.

I tried again with a frost shard, and he blocked it again. I had noticed a pattern. When he threw up his shield, he covered his entire face, and couldn't see anything. I could easily go around him while he was blocking.

I shot the frost shard at him, and he expectedly covered his face. I took the opportunity and dashed ton his backside. By the time he put down his shield I was out of his sight, and he was confused. I acted quickly and unsheathed my dagger, and thrust it into the criminal's back. He gurgled, grasped the air, then fell to the floor.

I looked around. Deadeye was doing pretty well, so were Gabe and Avers. Celeste, however, was still fighting Felix, and she looked to be wavering, so I jumped in. "Need help?" I asked, out of breath. She nodded and grinned then charged towards Felix. He tried to block it, but the woman was a walking battery ram. She knocked him flat onto his butt and body slammed the wall. Taking the chance, I conjured up a scamp. He may not seem like a challenge, but the little guy packed a punch. He lunged at Felix and tore at his throat. Felix grabbed the scamp, but it had already disappeared back to Oblivion. He tried to garble something to me, but fell back. He started twitching slightly and then fell still. I turned around only to find a criminal charging at me. With a flash of daggers and arms, my arms were cut and my chest was cut. Before the criminal could finish me, however, Deadeye shot an arrow into his neck.

Around the same time, Avers and Gabe managed a swipe of the sword that hit home. Every criminal was dead.

At first, it was silent. Then Gabe started to laugh and cheer. His attitude is contagious so before long everyone was cheering… everyone but me.

Celeste pumped her arm in the air. "That's why no one messes with us!" She shouted. Deadeye limped up and hugged her in delight. Gabe knelt down to cheer up Jerry, who was sitting down resting.

I walked away from them and brought my arms behind my back. Their job was done; mine was not. "I'm sorry," I whispered, and cast a mass paralyze spell at them. The team fell over to the dusty fort floor in shock. I just shook and tried to stop myself from bleeding, but my increased heart rate made me bleed even more.

"Jason, please tell me this is a joke." Avers pleaded. I shook my head. "I'm afraid not."

Celeste's face grew red. "Hey! Let us go, now!" She commanded, and I shook my head again. "I can't."

"You all know I got sentenced to dangerous Legion work for life," I said, "They probably told you it was due to debt, but that wasn't exactly true. It was a fraud, I extracted millions of gold pieces from the Imperial City alone. But the guard found me, and it was Legion or life in prison. But I have elderly parents to take care of. They can't live without me; so I struck a deal with the criminal gang the Alleria. They promised my freedom… if I killed Felix, then killed the most powerful obstacle between their escaped agents and their freedom. You guys." I shrugged and looked at my feet.

Pleading voices came up from the group, and even though I looked away, the faces of those I were about to kill floated in my mind.
Celeste, the hard yet kind warrior. Avers, the wise battlemage. Jerry and Gabe, the fun twins, and Deadeye, the serious archer.

"If you do this, son, it will haunt you for the rest of your life. This action will devastate your life. Ruin it." Avers said desperately, but I didn't hear him.

I didn't know how I got myself into this mess. That's a lie, I do know how this happened, and that's what scared me the most. I was facing down a band of the toughest individuals in Cyrodiil, and I was sure of a bittersweet victory. I was shaking like a leaf, and I was already cut badly. Would I survive this? I truly didn't know. But if I did, would it really be a better fate than death?

"Forgive me." I whispered, then shot a wide flamethrower at the group, my eyes closed. Their screams were carved into my head and their pained faces burned into my skull. After it was done, I finally looked down at myself. My armor was covered with blood and by arms were dripping red. I clutched my torso and fell to the floor, depressed and near death. I was scum for betraying those who took me in so willingly. How could I? Avers was right. This will haunt me forever. I was nothing now. Well, maybe I was something.

I was a criminal.

Weak from blood loss, I closed my eyes and accepted whatever fate was destined for me…