It certainly wasn't my first time in the Imperial City Prison, and it certainly wouldn't be the last, I had already become somewhat of a regular. My usual cell had faded old scribbles carved into the stone walls with some loose rocks that were scattered about, last month during my week stay I tried to make a dragon, though no one but myself would see it as a dragon due to my lack of artistic talent.

Today, I was not in my regular cell, my home away from home. My home being a small, filthy run down shack I shared with three other men in the Waterfront District, the poorest district often considered a blight upon the beauty of the rest of the ancient city. Now what petty crime did I commit to earn myself a new suite you may ask? Did I steal bread from the market stalls again to avoid hunger pains? No. Did I pick the pocket of some unsuspecting tourist who was far too busy admiring the various buildings and the White-Gold tower? Not this time. Surely I must have broke into the house of some fancy, too-rich-to-notice-a few-coins-missing citizen residing in the Temple District, right? Wrong once more. This time, surprisingly, I did not break the law.

I was sick most of the week and had just today been feeling well enough to get out of bed and get some fresh air without feeling faint, I was minding my own business in the Waterfront District when I was approached by my arch nemesis: Hieronymus Lex. He is one of many Imperial Watch Captains that patrol about the city, and he loves to stalk about the slums of the Waterfront, waiting for just the right moment to pounce on "criminal scum" such as myself. He was well aware of my thievery and had caught me red-handed many times in the past, and today he approached me and arrested me on the spot. He claimed to have seen me pick someone's pocket just moments prior, which I did not, although I did bump into a sailor by accident as I had rounded a corner. Regardless of what I said, I was still cuffed and hauled away, paraded through the stone streets as I had been many times before.

"You know Alvin, I'd be willing to pardon you for this theft in exchange for any information you have about the Gray Fox and the Thieves Guild." Captain Lex offered. I kept my mouth shut, I knew he wouldn't keep his end of the deal, and I wouldn't dare hurt the closest thing I had to family either. He wasn't at all happy about it, but then again when was the man ever happy?

Back to the present, I was pressed up against the bars of my cell and looking into the face of another Dunmer behind bars in the cell across from me. The frail older Dunmer's eyes were filled with hunger, and his tongue wagged nonstop as he tormented me. "Ugly". "Daedric eyes". "Dying alone in a prison cell". He kept going and going, ignoring my ignoring him, clearing loving the sound of his own voice echoing in the empty hall between us. His insults were nothing new to me, not many Dunmer had white hair as I did and some saw it as a defect. Another defect was the color of my eyes, they were black as coal rather than the usual crimson that all other Dunmer had. Sometimes my mind wandered to thoughts of my parents, I wonder if they had these same characteristics.

"You're going to die in here! Hahahaha!" He loudly cackled as I went to go sit on my hay pile of a bed, I grabbed a small stone from the ground near me and began to carve into the stone walls. Today's drawing was going to be the other Dunmer being struck by lightning as soon as he was released from prison like he said he was going to be.

"Hear that? The guards are coming... for you!" He called out once more. My pointed ears perked up in interest as there was indeed someone coming down the hall, and I could faintly hear inaudible whispers and mumbles. I looked towards the cell door to see that there was now a group of people clad in strange armor standing there looking at me, and they did not look happy.

"What is this prisoner doing here? This cell is supposed to be off limits". Barked a shrill female voice belonging to one of the strangers.

"Mixup with the watch? I... uh..." A man replied nervously.

"Never mind, get that gate open." She ordered, then she looked me in the eyes from under her helmet and ordered me to stand under the small barred window that was near the ceiling. I obliged, biting my bottom lip slightly in fear as my stomach began to do backflips. The three armor clad soldiers entered my small cell, and with them was an elderly Imperial man with thinning white hair clad in purple robes with red silken clothing underneath. The clothes he wore didn't matter much to me, instead it was the large rock he wore around his neck that earned my rapt attention. It was a large red diamond shaped gem in the middle of a gold amulet, and was surround by nine tiny gems of various colors on each side.

"Stay back prisoner, we won't hesitate to kill you if you get in our way." The woman threatened, as if she knew that I was thinking about swiping that prize.

"No sign of pursuit." The third man reported. I snapped out of my greed induced trance long enough to become puzzled by his statement. Pursuit? What was after them? What the heck's going on here?

"You... I've seen you. Please, step into the light, let me see your face." The Elderly nobleman beckoned as he motioned for me to step forward, I stepped directly into the sunlight that shone in to satisfy him. He was silent for a moment, clearly taking in all of my features, perhaps memorizing them. My pale bluish-grey skin, my short shaggy white hair kept in place by my ragged headband, my hooked nose, and of course, my black eyes.

"You are the one from my dreams... then the stars were right. Gods give me strength." He said simply, but seriously and with a hint of sorrow.

"Your... dreams? Huh? Who are you?" I asked with obvious distaste.

"I am your Emperor, Uriel Septim VII. Assassins killed my sons and I am next..."

"Sire, please, we must keep moving." The female bodyguard said impatiently. The woman pressed a secret stone button on the farthest wall, directly to my right, and instantly the walls and floors connected to the panel began to shift to reveal an ancient corridor. The musty smell of dust and decay was overwhelming to the point that my eyes began to water and I coughed slightly, the Emperor covered his nose slightly too.

"Let's go." She ordered, and the group began to decsend the staircase down into the secret corridor.

"Come with us, I will try to explain more as we go." The Emperor called out to me, and I cautiously began to follow.

"Looks like this is your lucky day, just stay out of our way." One bodyguard said, he was a Redguard and younger than the other two that he worked with. He also seemed friendlier, he even smiled as he stated the warning. I kept my distance as the Redguard fellow on the end instructed, though he didn't need to tell me twice. I had no idea where we were going, but I assumed that it would be safe and it would lead out of the prison, and since the Emperor told me to come with him that counted as a pardon right? I couldn't wait to tell my friends once I got home, I'm sure that Methredel would be impressed.

When we came to one room we were attacked by these assassins that the Emperor and his bodyguards spoke of earlier. They emerged from their hiding places in the various shadowy crevices of the ancient ayleid ruins, determined to end the life of the most powerful man in all of Tamriel.

They were armed with jagged ebony daggers with crimson accents, they had matching ebony armor which they wore over their crimson armor, and concealed their identities with black masks. They lunged forth with their daggers, but the bodyguards were quicker and engaged in battle with them.

"Quickly, into the corner." The Emperor ordered, who now had a large gleaming silver blade drawn. I backed up into the corner with my fists raised, I readied myself in case the guards failed and I had to defend myself next. Uriel stood in front of me, defending me from any harm should it come our way, and at the time it did puzzle me a little but there was no time to ask why he would protect me. Shouldn't it have been the other way around?

"Sire, are you alright?" We're safe for now."

"Glenroy, What of Captain Renault?"

"She is dead. I'm sorry sire but we must keep moving before more show up."

Uriel nodded silently and we moved to the other side of the room where Glenroy, now in charge, unlocked an old rusted gate in front of an equally old door.

"You stay here prisoner, don't try to follow us." Glenroy said angrily as he shut the gate and locked it behind them. They disappeared through the door and I found myself all alone in the ancient ayleid room, now more of a tomb since the bodies of the assassins and the previous captain littered the floor.

I tried my best not to look at them, though it wasn't the first time I had seen a corpse I still was squeamish and sick to my stomach every time. The first time was when a rowdy pirate began to assault a woman in the streets because she refused to sleep with him, I was only sixteen years old at the time, the guards pounced on him and tried to make an arrest but he resisted. Within a few minutes he was dead, arrows embedded in his sides and back and a large gash across his stomach, they collected the body an hour later. As for the girl, she was new to the Waterfront and was around the same age as me, her name was Methredel. I was one of the few people who comforted her when she returned, having shared food with her and gave her my old handkerchief when she began to cry, we have been inseparable ever since then.

My memories were interrupted by strange sounds coming from the wall I had chosen to lean against as I rested on the ground, I got to my feet quickly to see the stones were moving. I could hear squeaking and scratching now more clearly now as stones began to be forced from the wall, I quickly grabbed one of the ebony daggers from one of the bodies near by and raised it in defense. I did so just in time, two large rats burst through the weakened wall and charged for me, I took them down with minimal trouble and luckily I was not bit in the process.

For the next half hour I wandered through the ancient musty corridors, fighting rats, goblins and even a zombie with the weapons and armor I had found along the way. Some iron arrows, an iron dagger as well as the ebony one, a hunting bow and some iron armor, all of which was in very good condition which made me wonder how long it really had been down there. As I rounded a corner I found a hole leading from the catacombs within the walls to another aylied room, similar to the one Emperor and his guards left me in. Speak of the daedra, they were there. Glenroy and Baurus having just finished fighting off some assassins, and the Emperor resting on the stairs trying to catch his breath.

"Have you seen the prisoner?" Uriel Septim asked with concern.

"He couldn't have possibly followed us, could he?" Baurus pondered.

"I'm up here!" I called out from the ledge I was perched upon, it wasn't too high and I was able to climb down safely.

"Kill him! He may be working with the assassins!" Glenroy barked to the younger bodyguard as he drew his sword from it's sheath.

"No, he is not one of them. We can trust him. He can help us, he must help us." The kindly old Emperor commanded as he stood up. "Come closer, I'd prefer to not have to shout."

I obliged him and approached, and I could feel Glenroy's glare the whole time. The Emperor began to explain to me, the best that he could, about how he had served the Nine Divines all his life and how he had charted his course by the cycles of the heavens.

"I can't help but wonder, what sign marked your birth?"

"The Lover." I replied.

"The signs I read show my death, a necessary end, and it shall soon come."

"Aren't you afraid to die?"

"No," Uriel said simply, "I have lived well. I am blessed to know the hour of my demise, I have accepted this fact and I am prepared for what will come. Now come, we must continue our journey." He turned to Glenroy and gave him a nod, and he led the way with the Emperor behind him.

"Might as well make yourself useful while you're with us, take this torch." Baurus said.

We continued through a few more corridors, the way lit by the torch I begrudgingly carried, and when we came to another room the Emperor said we were almost there. I felt relieved, I wanted nothing more than to fill my lungs with fresh air.

"The gate is locked! It's a trap!" Glenroy shouted when our escape route failed.

"What about that side passage over there?" Baurus suggested.

"Worth a try."

The side passage was just a small room, a safe location to defend the Emperor until help arrived the bodyguards decided. How wrong they were.

"They're behind us! Wait here sire!" Glenroy said before charging out of the room with his katana raised.

"Stay here with the Emperor, guard him with your life!" Baurus ordered me before following after him. The clangs of metal and grunts pain could be heard from outside our safe room, and I grew nervous. What if the guards are outnumbered and those bastards kill both the emperor and I? Speaking of the Emperor, I turned to him and saw him taking off his large amulet.

"Here, take the amulet. Give it to Jauffree, he alone knows where to find my heir. Find him and close shut the jaws of oblivion." Uriel said quickly as he shoved the amulet into my hands, and before I could ask questions or even change my expression to that of confusion a secret door behind the Emperor opened up and an assassin charged out with dagger drawn.