The Sins of Unworthy
Chapter One
"Please... don't hurt me." The terrified voice came from a woman in a black robe, a bundle in her arms. She was cowering in the corner of a small, wooden house. "I had no choice!"
"May the Void take you!" The hooded, mysterious figure towering over her sneered, and promptly swung its sword so it met and drove through the woman's neck. Dark red liquid spewed everywhere, and the severed head fell from her shoulders and rolled down across the bundle and coming to a stop at the killer's feet. Kicking the head aside, the figure reached down and took the bundle into its arms. Pulling away the cloth around the top, it revealed a small baby with crystal blue eyes. The baby looked at its mother's head on the ground silently, then reached up, trying to tug the hood away from its holder's face. Smiling, the figure did as the infant wished, revealing a young light-skinned Breton woman, barely older than 20 years. She looked down at the infant pitifully.
"No time to waste, now." She murmured to herself, and swept her way to the door, which she opened. Out in the chilly midnight air stood another hooded figure, an Imperial. The Breton looked sadly at him as she handed him the baby.
"What will we do with her?" She whispered.
"You are to raise her until her eleventh winter. Then she can be initiated and live in the sanctuary with the rest of the Brotherhood. Here is the key to my house in Cheydinhal. You may live there until the time is right." He handed her a curved key.
"Her eleventh winter? Isn't that a little young? I didn't kill until I was older." The woman bit her lip.
"I can sense the bloodthirst in her already. She is much like her mother."
"Is that a good thing?"
"We'll see." The man gave the baby back to the woman and she hugged it close, shivering from the cold. The man then turned around and strode away into the lightly falling snow, soon to disappear from sight. The woman looked down at the child and kissed it lightly on the forehead.
"Everything will be alright, Corella. I promise."
I slashed my dagger at the rat, fending him off. My linen clothing gave me little protection against its sharp teeth, but I had only sported a few scratches on my wrist. I dug my blade deep into its head, and saw the bloody tip emerge from the other side. I pulled my weapon out, panting slightly, glowing with pride.
"Great job!" Antoinetta cheered. She had caught the beast and set it loose so that I could practice my melee skills. Ever since I could walk I held a blade in my hand, first wooden then metal.
Antoinetta Marie had raised me since I was very young. The Breton had always been very vague about where I came from, and only ever told me that "Your mother was a filthy traitor, and her name must never be uttered unless in curse", and "One day your father will come to see you. Be patient" She made it sound like my father was a powerful man, one to be proud of. I never got a name for either of them.
Antoinetta always leaves the house as soon as she thinks I'm asleep and goes somewhere, and on occasion goes on lengthly trips, leaving me to take care of myself. She says I am a very resourceful young child, and can handle myself, which I do. I tend the fire and eat bread out of the pantry and draw water from the well without her. People always give me weird looks though. I wonder what they think of a child living alone.
And sometimes, when she comes home, she is covered in red liquid, similar to that which oozes from my small cuts and scrapes, and now the rat.
I wiped the blade on my shirt and smiled up at Antoinetta. "That was fun!"
She grinned back at me. "Do you know what day it is today?"
"Loredas, 13th of Evening star?"
"True, but not what I was thinking." She giggled. I wondered what the special occasion was.
When I failed to guess anything else, she said, "It's your 11th birthday!"
"Oh." I seldom kept track of the day of my birth. I found it pointless to celebrate one's percieving day, as it is like any other day. But Antoinetta always made sure to get me some stew from the Inn to celebrate. For some reason, stew is her favorite.
"I have a surprise for you tonight." She appeared to be bursting with joy. I was excited to see what it was, though I knew it wouldn't be much with our low wealth. Still, it's the thought that counts.
"Since you were born under the sign of The Thief, we will practice Sneaking today." I smiled. Sneaking was by far my favorite of the lessons she insists on giving me every day, right next to Blade.
"So, if someone spots you, what do you do?"
"If they know they saw a person, run. If it's possible to persuade them there is nothing there, sit patiently in the shadows until they are convinced." I repeated from my memory.
"Good!" She looked proudly down at me. "And what is the proper stance?"
I crouched down so that my shirt almost touched the ground but not quite, with my legs so that I was up on the balls of my feet, reducing the amount of sound my footsteps make, but in a moveable position. My hands were held out and ready with my blade clutched, prepared to stab.
"Perfect. You will do wonderfully." She said mysteriously. I only wondered for a moment about what that meant before straightening up. The Sneaking stance was hard to hold, and staying there without moving makes my joints ache. Supposedly after doing it for years your muscles steel up and become ignorant of it, but I'm not anywhere near that yet.
"Come." Antoinette whispered. "Time for your surprise!" It was dark outside as I yawned sleepily and got out of bed. I had gone to rest a few hours earlier at dusk.
I drowsily followed the Breton woman as she led me through the moonlight in Cheydinhal. I began to become more aware as my curiosity heightened at what my surprise would be and we walked across the bridge over the creek.
We passed Ganredhel's home and came upon the Abandoned House. The boarded up door loomed over me in the dark, and I shivered, a foreboding feeling creeping upon me. This feeling only grew as Antoinetta approached it and slid a key into the lock with a click. She turned and motioned for me to follow her as she slipped inside.
It was pitch black in the house until Antoinetta lit a torch. What little the dim flame revealed was broken and dusty. Crates crowded the floorspace and spiders hung from the ceiling. The creepy scene raised the hairs on the back of my neck as Antoinetta led me into the basement. Our footsteps echoing through the stone walls made the house seem even more empty as we descend the stairs. We walked through a hole in the wall to a tunnel, and the stone walls seemed to close in on me as the light danced across them. As we walked through this tunnel, I started to hear subtle thumping, like a heartbeat, and we came upon a door. This door had a skull with a red handprint in a circle on the forehead. Below the skull was a skeleton woman with long black hair holding a skeleton child. Next to her were four more children, with a knife hovering above them in the hand of the woman.
Antoinette closed her eyes and placed her hand over the skull. It whispered in a dark, hoarse tone:
What... is the color... of night?
"Sanguine, my brother." She responded.
Welcome... home.
I wasn't scared anymore. As soon as the thick, sacred door swung open, I got an overwhelming feeling of calm, as if I had finally found a place to belong. This feeling grew as I looked around the big stone room, empty except for a (presumably conjured) skeleton walking slowly around the room. There were two doors on either side of us and in the left corner was a hole in the wall with a ladder.
"What is that?" I pointed to the skeleton. Antoinetta smiled.
"That is a Dark Guardian. He protects us."
"What is his name?" I was intensely curious for some reason.
She thought a little bit. "I guess we don't have a name for him." She admitted. "Do you want to name him?"
"Skeletor." I said instantly. "His name is Skeletor." I walked up to Skeletor and waved up at him. He just stared blankly into the distance.
"I think he likes me." I giggled. Antoinetta sighed, smiling.
"Come on, I have someone you should meet."
"What is this place?" I looked around as she led me down a gently sloping hall which twisted first to the right, then to the left.
"Everything will be revealed after your initiation."
"But initiation into what?"
"My family, the Brotherhood. Quiet now, for we must be respectful in the presence of a superior." She pushed open one side of a big two-door barrier. Behind this door was another hall also twisting gently to the right but with a door straight ahead. Antoinetta pushed this door open to reveal a small room, in which there was a female Argonian clad in close-fitting black armor, reading a book. She looked up from her novel at our approach.
"Ah, Antoinetta, I see you have brought our young Initiate. Many of us have been talking about you, Child." She set the book down and turned to face us.
"You said Lucien has finally chose a contract for her?"
"Yes." The Argonian's voice had a rough quality. "Do you believe she is ready?"
Antoinetta glanced down at me, and I cocked my head questioningly at her.
"Ready for what?"
"Yes." She affirmed, and to me, she said, "I will explain all tomorrow."
"Then here is the letter containing all of the details. May the Night Mother guide you."
My head was spinning as I saw a sealed envelope pass between them. I felt numb as we retraced our steps back into the cold night's air. What does all of this mean? I asked myself. So many unknown names, secrets, and agendas. Is this how the rest of my life is destined to be? I knew one thing, though. Something had changed. My life was going to become much, much more fun.
A/N: Hey guys, long time no see! I started this one a long time ago, and decided that I might as well show you guys. If you see any spelling or grammar mistakes, PLEASE comment and tell me! I'm planning to have this be my most lore-friendly story yet, so if you see anything incorrect please let me know and I will fix it. I am writing this story while I go through the Dark Brotherhood questline in Oblivion in my own game so it is authentic. I've worked really hard on this, so I hope you like it!