Disclaimer: The only items of Skyrim or Bethesda that I own are a couple shirts, a game disc, and a game guide. All rights go to the kids who make the games. Though it'd be pretty cool if I could be one of them in the future.
Prologue
Eighteen years ago
The Ebony Elysium. Known as one of the most perfect, most beautiful realms in all of existence. Despite being one of the planes of Oblivion, many creatures used it as a refuge to escape the turmoil that surrounds the Ebony Elysium. It's situated on the tallest mountain in Oblivion, taller even than the Throat of the World in Skyrim. A truly breathtaking plane, it stretches and reaches out over leagues and leagues of ebony and ivory forests and plains. Every blade of grass and leaf on a skyscraping tree was made from obsidian, quartz, onyx, and crystal. No matter whether the sun or moons were shining, the stone trees and grass always glittered in the light. Animals from every corner of the universe could be found living here. The most predatory animals all seemed to live in content harmony. Wolves could be seen lying next to bear cubs. Lions would share their kill of the day with towering dragons, relatives of Alduin. The ones who sought to escape his tyrannical rule.
On the slope of the towering sentinel that is the White Mountain rests a marble, gold, and ebony castle with soaring turrets and lofty gates. The center tower was the tallest out of the three. The castle itself looked as though it was hewn straight from the pale granite mountainside. The walls were impossible to scale, not a foot- or handhold until the walkway, fifty meters above the ground. The only entry into the castle was through the massive, wrought iron gate in the south wall. There was no way to infiltrate the palace, for it rested upon the hardest stone found anywhere, in Nirn, Aetherius, or Oblivion. It was the ideal home, for its safety was unmatched.
However, on one fateful night, that sense of security was breached.
Something dark, something ancient, and something evil was about to assault the protection of the Ebony Elysium.
A deep rumble shook the very foundations of the Ivory Castle. The diamond chandeliers that hung from the soaring ceilings of the main tower chinked as they were jostled.
The Daedric Queen Morrigan Thalos felt a shiver crawl down her spine and through her two pairs of wings. One set had feathers that mimicked midnight's darkness and the bottom set was as white as a winter cloud. Both pairs were magnificent to gaze upon when completely unfurled. Currently, they were folded against Morrigan's back comfortably. The queen was garbed in her signature armor. Instead of the Daedric armor being black and crimson, the queen's armor was white and spewed ebony light that gathered in a barely discernable aura around her. On the bones of her wings were thick pieces of ivory metal. The thick spikes that adorned the pauldrons and vambraces were more pronounced than usual Daedric armor. The sharp tips of the fingers of her gauntlets were much more severe than the Daedra's typical adornments. The armor itself should have been more than enough to break a mortal's bones because of the weight, yet it posed no difficulties in maneuverability for Morrigan. Over the chest and across her waist was dark, silken fabric gilded with gold. The sword she wore on her right hip was fused with Light and Dark. There wasn't a curve to be found on the entire weapon. It looked to be seraphic, tossed back through time yet forward enough for Morrigan to own it. Its straight edge could cut through any surface as though it was melted butter. The blade was elegant yet simple in its design. The cross guard was conservative, no piece of ebony metal wasted to form its beautifully modest appearance. The handle was molded perfectly to Morrigan's left hand.
Another reverberation shook the palace.
Morrigan Thalos pushed her choppy, black and silver-streaked hair out of her violet eyes and hard features. Using one of the infinite powers at her disposal, she sought with her mind for the disturbance. What she felt shocked her to the core.
The queen knew this entity, knew it from countless millennia ago.
"My Queen, you must leave this place," a woman's voice said. Morrigan turned around to see Lady Nocturnal, Daedric Prince of thievery, shadows, and matron of the secretive Nightingales. The prince was clothed in a very revealing, black robe. The satin cloth was outlined with silver trim and contrasted with her pale skin. The robe had a deep V-neck that reached all the way down Nocturnal's abdomen and stopped just above her navel. It was exposed on the sides and the fabric hung down the woman's legs, hiding the area between her legs. Morrigan had always loved this outfit on the prince. And she had always enjoyed looking at Nocturnal's midnight blue eyes and running her hands through that long mane of sleek, black hair.
"Yes," Morrigan said, her voice lowering with regret and anger. "I see that I must. Do you know who it is that is trying to breach the Ebony Elysium?" Morrigan already knew what it was. Zharr Auri-El, King of the Abyss and the good Auri-El's opposite. The being who ruled over Chaos before the Eight Divines formed consciousness.
"No, I do not," Nocturnal replied.
"I hope that it remains like that," Morrigan solemnly muttered.
An earsplitting boom resounded and shook the palace. Dust fell from the ceiling and rained down on the two women. A subsonic roar made the marble walls tremble from the sheer force. Eventually, a deep, guttural voice began to speak.
"I know you are here, Morrigan Thalos," it spoke. The voice sank into the queen's ebony forged bones. "Come quietly and I might spare this precious realm of yours."
A troubled expression crossed Morrigan's features. Her thin brows drew together over her violet eyes. Her full lips thinned out slightly. She clenched her chiseled jaw.
"M'lady, you must leave now," Nocturnal said, worry evident in her commanding voice. "We can hold him off long enough."
"It is impossible for you to hold off a being this powerful, Nocturnal. Do not fool yourself into believing so. I can barely hold my own against this creature."
Nocturnal's strong features tightened subtly. "Then we will try all the harder. Your safety is the only thing that matters to us."
"You force me to speak in this raucous language of yours so that you may understand me," Thoros spoke again. "Give me your queen before I tear this plane of existence to pieces."
Suddenly, the ground shook and the castle began to fall apart. An enormous segment of the peaked, marble ceiling crashed to the floor not five meters away. Tiny fragments pinged off of Morrigan's armor and wings. She pulled the black silken hood over her head.
"Lady Morrigan, you must leave now," Nocturnal said impatiently.
"No, not until you and the other Daedric Princes leave Oblivion." Morrigan turned to face her. "I need you to be in charge of the evacuation. I don't care how you have to convince them, or even if you drag them out of their planes. Get them out. Nowhere is safe, not anymore." Nocturnal began to protest but Morrigan quickly cut her off. Another chunk of the ceiling shattered on the ground, closer this time. "Get out of here. Now!"
Sounding extremely out of character, Nocturnal pleaded, "You know I won't be able to live with myself if I leave you here, Morrigan!"
"I don't care! Leave now!" Morrigan swiftly placed a hand on Nocturnal's shoulder and willed her to another plane. The other woman disappeared in a white flash.
Morrigan powerfully spread her four wings to their full expanse, over three meters in length.
"All right, you bastard," Morrigan bellowed. "Come and get me."
And come to get her he did.
The King of the Abyss tore through the very fabric of reality. Looking up into the sky, Morrigan saw a gaping black hole with massive hands ending in razor sharp talons ripping at the edges. The skin of the immense hands was surprisingly human in appearance. The hole ripped large enough for the king's enormous body to fit through. He moved too fast through the hole for Morrigan to catch what he looked like. He landed on the side of the mountain and began clawing his way up it like a cat climbing a tree. The mountain shuddered under his immense weight.
Morrigan snapped her wings and launched herself into the air, pulling her sword out of its sheath simultaneously. Her wings ebony and ivory wings flapped powerfully as she flew out to meet the king. When she exited the castle, she got her first true look at what Zharr Auri-El's appearance was.
The colossal form of Zharr Auri-El was quite a sight to behold. Standing over one hundred meters tall, he took up a large portion of the mountainside. The armor that was melded to his skin was a swirling pattern of deep crimson, brilliant orange, and blinding yellow, giving it a likeliness to flames. The plates looked as though they were hammered straight from the forges of chaos. On the king's back were giant dragon wings that spanned across the sky, blotting out the afternoon suns. The king's features were terrifying as well. His eyes glowed an unearthly hue or red and orange and bored right through Morrigan. His lips were screwed up into a mocking imitation of a grin, oversized incisors pushing into his bottom lip. With high cheek bones, a strong jaw, and a straight nose, he would be considered attractive to mortals and others who did not know who he truly was. That was not Morrigan's case.
Morrigan flew down to hover roughly twenty meters away from the king.
Thoros swiped a clawed hand at the queen, which she narrowly dodged. For being so large, he could move quite quickly.
"How about you fight me fairly?" Morrigan shouted at Zharr.
"Now," his deep voice rumbled. "Where would the fun be in that? But I shall oblige your insolent request." He decreased in size until he was a little over two meters. He snapped his own wings and flew up to meet Morrigan in the air. "Is this better, Queen Morrigan Thalos?"
Morrigan kept a stern expression on her face. "It certainly didn't hurt for us to begin this battle on even ground."
Zharr Auri-El vanished for a split second and suddenly reappeared inches from Morrigan. "You will never be my equal. Do not pretend for even a moment that you could stand a remote chance against me." His orange and red burned like hellfire. His bottomless voice reverberated through Morrigan's ribcage.
Before Morrigan could comment or swing her sword, Zharr Auri-El used one of his leathery, scaled wings to bat her out of the sky. The sheer impact knocked her down hundreds of meters, spiraling on the way to the rocky mountainside. Morrigan slammed into the sharp rocks hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs. She tumbled down the jagged slope until she regained her breath. When she did, she stood to her full height of just under two meters. Her wings were now sore from all of the rolling. Morrigan looked into the sky to see the imposing form of Thoros swooping down toward the queen. She quickly readied her sword, grasping it in both gauntlets. She could feel the cold metal through the palms of the metal. Just as Zharr was about to collide with her, she swung her sword as hard as she could, the blade slicing through nothing but air. Zharr had disappeared and reappeared behind her. Morrigan had known he would do this and followed through with her slice. The blade had enough momentum to carry around to the area behind her, turning her around. Her sword cut into Zharr Auri-El's side and he grunted. He quickly snatched the blade with his bare hand and tore it from her grip.
"Let's have a fair fight, yes?" the king snarled at her, his sinister voice accentuated by the intensity of his tone. He flung the sword behind him, off the mountain and into the ebony plains below.
Morrigan's features tightened significantly. That was the only blade that could cut a being like him.
The queen flung a metal gauntlet at the man. He quickly grabbed it in his own fist and slowly squeezed. Morrigan began to grimace in pain as the ivory metal crumpled beneath his relentless strength. Zharr began to force her down onto her knees and he squeezed tighter and harder, her hand being compressed ruthlessly by the creature standing above her. Finally, he let go of her now useless hand, only to swing his fist at her. It connected solidly with her jaw and she saw stars. The strength he possessed was preternatural, immense, and Morrigan knew she could only stall him for so long. The king tossed another blow at her and she dodged it by using a short flap of her wings. Zharr only followed her and snatched out to grab the fabric of her hood, dragging her back within his reach. He threw another punch at her, aimed toward her abdomen. She shot a hand out and intercepted his path by grabbing his wrist. With a hard yank, she wrenched it to the side and he growled in pain. The king swiped at her face with his free hand, raking his talons across her cheek and cutting deep into her skin, drawing out deep purple fluid. It was her version of blood, her life force. She could feel the crisp air burrowing into the open wounds in her face, almost down to the bone. She felt another firm blow hit her, in her abdomen this time. The metal armor conformed to the man's fist, denting in and making it difficult for Morrigan to breathe. He began to lay on punch after unremitting punch to her body. Occasionally, he would tear at her armor with his talons, ripping chunks from the white metal. There was little that Morrigan could do underneath his onslaught. There would be the random blow that she managed to avoid, but there were five more that she couldn't evade. Eventually, she was a bleeding, swollen mess, deep violet liquid flowing freely from numerous wounds.
Zharr Auri-El cranked his leg back and kicked with all of his unnatural strength. His foot smashed into Morrigan's stomach and launched her at least three leagues off the mountain. Before she hit the ebony and ivory grass fields, she righted herself with a few flaps of her four wings. However, not before she hit the ground hard, kicking up shards of the diamond and obsidian ground. She left a kilometer-long skid mark in the earth.
"You do understand that you are unable to kill me, don't you?" Zharr's voice was amplified sevenfold, piercing through Morrigan's mind.
Morrigan Thalos smiled through the immense pain she was subjected to. Her incisors, which were longer and sharper than most every creature's but Zharr's, were prominent in that bloodstained grin. It was not a hospitable expression, obviously.
"No one said I need to kill you," Morrigan told him, her usually silky voice now rugged with pain. "Not yet."
"Do not be foolish," he insisted as he flew to land in front of the battered Daedric Queen once more. A firm boot to her chest pushed her back onto the ground below her. He kept his metal-encased foot there, trapping her and making it more challenging for her to breathe. His flame-like armor was spattered everywhere with her blood. "No matter how much time you manage to acquire, it will never be enough to figure out how to kill me. Accept your fate as my slave and I may spare you from further torment."
Very eloquently, Morrigan growled through her teeth, "Go fuck yourself." Then she spat at him, the mucus landing on his pale cheek. He slowly lifted a hand to wipe his face clean, only ending up smearing the purple liquid further into his skin.
Without preamble, he drove his boot hard into her sternum, the air from her lungs fleeing once more. Morrigan coughed and sputtered, trying to regain her breath and move away before the creature above her did something worse. She rolled out of the way just as his boot came down again.
"Quit playing these childish games, woman!" Rage was embodied in his voice. "There is no use deluding yourself. Simply submit or I will force you to!"
"You can't force me to do anything!" Morrigan roared back. She could feel her violet eyes burning with anger and hate toward this abomination, this monster. "I will never succumb to a piece of trash like you! You may be ancient and powerful, but that does not equate being invincible. I will tear your fucking head off if I have to! We Daedra can be just as ruthless as you!"
To accompany her vehement statement, she pushed herself off the ground, her boots crunching the precious stones beneath her. With a second wave of sudden energy, the queen launched herself at the demon king standing in front of her. She attacked with all of the force of one thousand dragons, reciprocating the punishment handed to her by Zharr Auri-El. In minutes, she had the king as broken and battered as she was. By the end of her assault, they were both left huffing and puffing, struggling to catch their breath and ignore the pain coursing through their bodies.
Zharr Auri-El ended up kneeling down on the ground, a clawed hand resting on his knee. Morrigan saw this as the perfect opportunity to land a final blow. Faster than a snake strikes, her fist shot out and connected with the junction between Zharr's shoulder and neck, knocking him out cold. Morrigan knew this would be her only break so she summoned up the last of her energy and willed herself to another plane of existence.
It was dark, cold, and silent for a moment, then she found herself in a warm, lit room inside some stone building. From the looks of it, there were traces of Dwemer technology, cookware, and other household items littering the room. The walls were solid, grey stone and marked periodically with a band of golden Dwarven architecture. The room was rectangular in shape and housed a wooden table, two chairs, three weapons cases, and a wooden chest that sat at the foot of a large, feather mattress bed with a green quilt on the top. On the tables was an assortment of different foods ranging from green apples to roasted rabbit leg. A few candles were lit on the tables and in the chandelier that hung over the bed. On the wall above the bed was a weapons display with dragonbone longswords crossed behind a large dragonbone shield.
It would seem as though the Daedric Queen had landed herself in some dragon hunter's home, possibly in the city of Blackreach or Markarth. The former seemed unlikely as the air smelled fresh, not stale like that of the underground metropolis. If she was in Markarth, that meant she was in Skyrim. All she needed to do now was figure out what era and year this was and she would be set.
Before she could do that, however, a woman's voice washed over her. "What the hell are you doing here? More importantly, who the hell are you?" The voice was rough, yet oddly pleasant. Morrigan turned around to face this newcomer, most likely the owner of this home.
What she saw shocked her to the core. The woman was absolutely striking. Rich, dark brown hair, partially pulled into an elegant braid, cascaded down her back and over her strong shoulders. Her face looked as though an artist had brought it to life straight from a painting of some warrior goddess. She had strong features, but not strong enough to be considered masculine. Her high cheek bones accentuated her straight nose and ample lips. Her electric blue eyes contrasted wonderfully with her dark hair. She was a tall woman, and well-built, too. Her arms bore the telltale signs of working at the blacksmith's forge, for they were muscular and toned, along with the rest of her body. The clothing she wore did little to hide her shapely figure and the neck on her burgundy top cut down enough to reveal cleavage. Her soil-colored pants were tucked into leather boots, more than likely bestowed to her by some thieves' guild. On her wrists were ornate, metal bracers that looked to have hidden blades in them.
"What is the year, mortal?" Morrigan Thalos asked sternly.
"The fourth era, year two hundred exactly," the other woman responded with a wary expression. "But that doesn't answer my questions. Why are you—"
Before the nameless woman could get out another word, Morrigan had collapsed to the ground from sheer exhaustion and blood loss. The last thing she remembered seeing before blacking out was the dark brunette with the stunning eyes rushing to attempt to catch her before her head hit the stone floor.