Disclaimer: I do not own the world in the Elder Scrolls Series, only a copy of the fourth game Oblivion.

Neveri the Sidequester

1. Prison Break

Neveri sat up, head aching and every muscle in her body feeling sore. A bit groggy, she looked around, trying to get her bearings. The first thing she spotted was the chains, and the bones and skull of some unlucky fellow yet to be buried. So she was in a prison cell. She wrinkled her nose at the stench of piss and ale that reeked from the entire prison, as well as the distinctive smell of sewers that seeped up from beneath.

She stood up and looked around a little more before she approached the door to the cell. Maybe there was a guard that knew what she'd done, because she didn't.

"I must surely be dead." A voice said from within the dark of the opposite cell. "And in the halls of Azura to look upon such a vision." Whoever was talking stepped into the light. It was an old Dunmer, who seemed to have seen better days. "You are so beautiful my dear, Dunmer maiden."

Neveri ignored the old man and started looking around in the cell for hidden lockpicks and such or at least some food, but he kept talking in a sleazy tone.

"One of the guards owes me a favour you know. I could get us put in the same cell. Would you like that? You should have some fun before you die. Yeah, you heard me. No matter what the law says. No matter what they told you, you're going to die in here! You're going to die!"

Neveri didn't reply. Instead she threw a fireball in his direction. It hit the bars of the cell door. The man snorted, and the sound of a door and approaching footsteps echoed from the stairs to the right of his cell.

"Hey, you hear that? The guards are coming. For you!" He cackled.

"Baurus, lock that door behind us!" A woman said in a commanding voice.

"Yessir."

"My sons… They're dead, aren't they?" The sombre voice of an old man said.

"We don't know that, Sire." The woman replied. "The messenger only said they were attacked."

"No, they're dead. I know it." The old man said.

"My job right now is to get you to safety." The woman said, sounding very sure of herself. "What's this prisoner doing here? This cell is supposed to be off-limits." She said once she arrived at Neveri's cell.

"A usual mix-up at the watch." The other guard replied apologetically. "I-"

"Nevermind, get that gate open. Stand back prisoner, we won't hesitate to kill you if you get in our way."

"You! Prisoner, stand aside. Over by the window and you won't get hurt." The guardsman commanded

"Alright, alright I'm going…" Neveri muttered as she went to stand by the small window of her cell. "You don't have to tell me twice…" One of the guards followed her and when she turned around pointed to the ground.

"Stay put, prisoner." Neveri just looked at him. I'm not a dog, you know, she thought but decided not to say it aloud. She had a knack for getting in trouble if she spoke, so she rarely did.

"Good, let's go. We're not out of this yet." The female guard said in reply to something a third guard had said, and walked into Neveri's cell. It was getting a bit crowded now.

"You… I've seen you…" The old man in the company said, facing Neveri. "Let me see your face." He stepped closer and Neveri resisted the urge of taking a step back. "You are the one from my dreams… Then the stars were right, and this is the day. Gods give me strength…"

Neveri gave him a long, apprehensive look. She did not like it when old men in fancy clothing spoke to her. She swallowed the rude reply that had popped up in her mind when he first spoke and instead opted for a marginally nicer route. "What's going on?" She said, sounding a bit sheepish.

"Assassin's attacked my sons, and I'm next." He said. "My blades are leading me out of the city along a secret escape route. By chance, the entrance to that escape route leads through your cell."

Yeah, I kind of figured it was something like that… Neveri thought. "Why am I in jail?" She asked then, she really wanted to know why.

"Perhaps the Gods have placed you here so that we may meet. As for what you have done… it does not matter. That is not what you will be remembered for."

Oh, yay, the Gods… Neveri wasn't particularly fond of the gods herself. She had an uncle back in Morrowind who used to bore her and her cousins to death with his stories of the gods doings and such. Neveri much preferred the Daedra over the Aedra, their stories were usually much more interesting, but she didn't say that. One could get in trouble for doing so.

"Who are you?" She said, although she already had a fair guess as to who he was. The bright red gem glaringly resting on the old man's chest really didn't leave many options.

"I am your Emperor, Uriel Septim. By the grace of the Gods, I serve Tamriel as her ruler. You are a citizen of Tamriel, and you, too, shall serve her in your own way."

Neveri stifled a snort. "I go my own way."

"So do we all. But what path can be avoided whose end is fixed by the almighty Gods?"

"Please Sire, we must keep moving." The woman pressed a stone in the wall, and a hidden passage was exposed behind the wall. Neveri just stared. Note to self, always check if there are hidden passages behind prison walls.

"Better not close this one. There's no way to open it from the other side." The woman remarked and Neveri silently thanked whatever Aedra or Daedra was listening for the route out. Just because she didn't like the Gods it didn't mean that she couldn't thank them if they were nice to her.

"Looks like this is your lucky day." One of the guards told Neveri he walked past her. She recognized his voice as the one that had replied when the woman had spoken to someone named Baurus. "Just stay out of our way."

Neveri nodded and followed behind them in a crouched stance. They were hunted by assassin's after all.

Neveri made sure to stay relatively close to the troupe, although she did try to stay out of sight. During the walk she was rather astounded at the fact that there was so much unused space below the Imperial Prison. Most of all she wondered why. It didn't seem to make much sense to have huge open spaces in an escape route.

"Close up left, protect the emperor." The woman said suddenly, and Neveri saw a dark figure jumping down from a ledge by some stairs. In the ensuing battle, Neveri made sure to stay out of the attacker's view behind a pillar, but the second one of them got within range she sent a fireball his way. The attacker burst into flames for a second and then he fell dead to the floor. The Blades finished off the last of the assassins.

"Are you alright, sire? We're clear for now." Baurus said, sheathing his katana.

"Captain Renault?" The emperor said quietly.

"She's dead." Baurus replied. "Sorry sire, but we have to keep moving." The emperor and the Blades walked down the stairs as Neveri lingered, picking up the fallen captain's katana and her extra shortsword before searching the bodies of the assassin's for useful items.

"How could they be waiting for us here?" She heard the other Blade wondering aloud.

"I don't know, but it's too late to go back now." Baurus said. "Don't worry Sire, we will get you out of here. They won't be the first to underestimate the Blades."

"I'll take point, let's move."

"You stay here prisoner, don't try to follow us." Baurus said with a final look at Neveri, who was standing in the stairway.

As the door closed behind the emperor and his bodyguards Neveri heard how a small portion of the wall crumbled, expecting more assassin's she was pleasantly surprised when she saw that it was only two rats. A fireball and a quick slash with the katana later, and the rats lay dead at her feet.

Hopefully, Neveri walked towards the door through which the emperor had disappeared. But to no avail. It was locked. Sighing, Neveri was about to return to her cell when she noticed that the hole in the wall wasn't just a hole into a rat's nest, but it lead to a large, underground area that seemed to be forgotten, even to the blades.

The first thing she saw was another rat. Annoying little pests she thought as it burnt, but they're good target practice.

Neveri proceeded into the earth-filled basement, looting chests and the skeleton of some unfortunate adventurer that had somehow managed to die there. She doubted it was because of the rats, but you never knew. Pondering the likelihood of death by rodents, she took everything the skeleton had on him and in the chest next to him. As she picked up his rusty bow she examined it closely. It didn't seem entirely useless, but she tried it out anyhow on the bucket hanging above a well in the underground area. She briefly wondered why there was a well there before she found the corpse of a recently killed goblin, whose corpse she systematically looted before she walked through the door it seemed to have been guarding.

The area beyond the door seemed exactly the same, with a lone rat wandering about until Neveri felt that it was annoying and flared it to death by a chest. As she crept down a path further into wherever in Oblivion she was, rats appeared and ran straight past her. She turned and watched their odd behaviour. When she turned back, she stood face to face with a zombie. One Flare spell later, and the zombie was no more.

"I hate zombies." She said to herself with gritting teeth as she put on the leather cuirass she had found on the dead adventurer earlier. If there were zombies here she would not be having a particularly good day.

She continued on her way, slightly more careful, yet most likely not as careful as she should be, and blundered her way through rat infested tunnels with a surprising amount of chests and dead people. She even found edible cheese and vegetables in a pile of bones, and then some ale in a barrel up ahead.

Neveri sat down on a rock in a well-lit area with some skull hanging from the ceiling and had a, in her opinion well-earned, snack. She honestly couldn't remember why she had ended up in the imperial prison. She was pretty sure she hadn't stolen anything, and she was even surer that she hadn't murdered anyone. Maybe she punched a noble in the face or something. Taking a swig of ale she shrugged and decided not to bother trying to figure it out anymore, and continued on her merry way through yet another door.

This time it didn't lead to another part of the Imperial prison's basement, but rather to some caverns populated by goblins. Neveri wrinkled her nose as she smelt the first one. It was rewarded for its stench with an arrow in the back before Neveri stole all of its possessions and killed its friend further into the goblin caverns.

It was a frustrated Neveri who exited the Goblin caverns and found herself back inside the stone walls of the Imperial whatever it was. She had had to fight her way through several goblins, including one of their blasted shamans whose staff she was currently carrying on her back, a severed goblins head on top it making the dirty, bloody Dark Elf quite a macabre vision.

Just as she finally caught sight of the emperor and the Blades again, more assassins arrived, dropping down from the ledge on the opposite side of the room. Neveri watched the ensuing fight with no intention to reveal herself.

"I think that was all of them, let me take a look around." Baurus said after the last assassin was dead. Neveri pulled back into the shadows.

"Have you seen the prisoner?" The emperor asked.

"Do you think she followed us? How could she?"

"I know she did." At these words Neveri sighed and jumped down into the room. The senile old man was clearly very keen on babbling nonsense about the Gods and fate and whatever in her presence.

"Dammit, it's that prisoner again!" The unnamed blade said and drew his katana. "Kill her, she might be working with the assassins."

Neveri was just about to open her mouth and protest when she was interrupted by the emperor.

"No. She is not one of them. She can help us. She must help us."

"As you wish, Sire."

Neveri was just about to thank the emperor when she was interrupted by him again.

"Come closer. I'd prefer not to have to shout." Why don't you come closer instead? Neveri thought with a sullen look on her face, but she did as he asked. The Blades were still eyeing her with suspicion.

"They cannot understand why I trust you. They've not seen what I've seen. How can I explain? You know the Nine? How They guide our fates with an invisible hand?" The emperor rambled and Neveri patiently waited for him to shut his mouth before she could reply.

"I'm not on good terms with the Gods." She said, resulting in a raised eyebrow from Baurus.

"I've served the Nine all my days, and I chart my course by the cycles of the heavens. The skies are marked with numberless sparks, each a fire, and every one a sign. I know these stars well, and I wonder... which sign marked your birth?"

"The Thief." Neveri said truthfully, getting yet another raised eyebrow from Baurus.

"The signs I read show the end of my path. My death, a necessary end, will come when it will come." Well that's morbid.

"Well, what about me?" Neveri asked, getting annoyed with this man now. He really could go on about this subject.

"Your stars are not mine. Today the Thief shall guide your steps on the route of destiny."

That really doesn't say much… "Can you see my fate?"

"My dreams grant me no opinion of success. Their compass ventures not beyond the doors of death. But in your face, I behold the sun's companion. The dawn of Akatosh's bright glory may banish the coming darkness. With such hope, and with the promise of your aid, my heart must be satisfied."

I never promised you my aid… "Aren't you afraid to die?"

"No trophies of my triumphs precede me. But I have lived well, and my ghost shall rest easy. Men are but flesh and blood. They know their doom, but not the hour. In this I am blessed to see the hour of my death... To face my apportioned fate, then fall."

Could you shut up about death for a while? "Where are we going?"

"I go to my grave. A tongue shriller than all the music calls me. You shall follow me yet for a while, then we must part." And with those words the emperor dismissed her completely and walked away but was soon replaced by Baurus.

"You may as well make yourself useful. Here, carry this torch and stick close." The Blade said.

"So who are you Blades?" Neveri said, trying to make a bit of conversation as she lit the torch.

"We're the Emperor's bodyguard. Our job is to get him out of situations like this. Although I admit, things are not going according to plan…"

Neveri nodded and held up the torch. "Lead on."

"Stick close and let us do our job, and you'll be alright." He said before rushing over to take is position by the emperor's side. Neveri looted a healing potion off the body of one of the assassins before she hasted off after them, picking the lock of a chest on the way.

When she caught up again the emperor and the Blades were currently fighting off a new group of assassins, one of whom rushed to dispatch of Neveri, who yelped and flared him as Baurus cut him down. Once all of the assassins were dead the emperor and his Blades continued on, without so much a look at Neveri who begrudgingly carried the torch behind them, staying out of the fray whenever a new group of assassins attacked, occasionally trying to send them burning into Oblivion.

"Hold on, I don't like this. Let me take a look." The Blade who wasn't Baurus said (Neveri really had to find out what he was called, no one had mentioned it during their walk). "Looks clear, let's go. We're almost through to the sewers." He said after a quick look and proceeded towards a gate.

Oh yay, the sewers… as it didn't smell bad enough in the goblin caverns… Neveri rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall.

"Dammit! The gate is barred from the other side! A trap!" The Blade that wasn't Baurus burst out once he got to the gate and Neveri immediately drew her weapon.

"What about the side passage back there?" Baurus suggested and pointed towards the passage behind Neveri, who turned and started for it.

"Worth a try, let's go!" The other Bladed said, and Neveri froze in place. She was already in there, and there was no way out from what she could see. Just as she was about to call back to the others the gate in the other room creaked suspiciously.

"They're behind us!" The Blade said, "Wait here, Sire."

"Wait here with the Emperor, guard him with your life." Baurus ordered Neveri who nodded fervently."

"For the Emperor!" Baurus and the other Blade called out and rushed into the other room, Neveri stood behind them, weapon drawn and ready for a fight.

An assassin got through and started for her, but she flared him to death and turned to the emperor.

"I can go no further." He said. "You alone must stand against the Prince of Destruction and his mortal servants. He must not have the Amulet of Kings! Take the Amulet." The emperor took off the necklace and handed it to her. "Give it to Jauffre. He alone knows where to find my last son. Find him, and close shut the jaws of Oblivion."

Neveri was about to say something when a hidden door appeared and an assassin jumped out of it, striking the emperor in the back with a dagger. Neveri yelped as the assassin yelled for the emperor to die. The assassin turned to her.

"Stranger, you chose a bad day to take up the call of Uriel Septim." He said and lunged at her, just as Baurus came out of nowhere and impaled him with his katana. As the assassin fell down dead, Baurus knelt by the emperor's corpse. Neveri went back out and saw the body of the other Blade lying on the floor next to an assassin. She searched the bodies and picked up the Blade's katana. They were very useful weapons she had noticed. When she returned to Baurus he was standing again.

"We've failed. I've failed… the Blades are sworn to protect the Emperor and now he and all his heirs are dead. Where's the Amulet of Kings? It wasn't on the Emperor's body!" Baurus said.

"The emperor gave it to me." Neveri said, and showed him the Amulet.

"Strange. He saw something in you, trusted you. They say it's the Dragon Blood that flows through the veins of every Septim. They see more than lesser men. The Amulet of Kings is a sacred symbol of the Empire. Most people thinks that's the Red Dragon Crown, but that's just jewellery. The Amulet has power. Only a true heir of the blood can wear it. He must have given it to you for a reason. Did he say why?"

"I must take it to Jauffre."

"Jauffre? He said that? Why?" WOULD YOU STOP ASKING ME A MILLION QUESTIONS AT A TIME?

"There is another heir." Neveri said, the perfect image of a calm and stable person.

"Nothing I ever heard about. But Jauffre be the one to know. He's the Grandmaster of my Order. Although you may not think so upon meeting him, he lives quietly as a monk at Weynon Priory, near the city of Chorrol."

"How do I get there?"

"First you need to get out of here. Through that door must be the entrance to the sewers, past the locked gate. That's where we were headed. It's a secret way out of the Imperial City, or supposed to be secret. Here you'll need this key for the last door to the sewers." He handed her a key.

"The Sewers?" Neveri said apprehensively.

"There are rats and goblins down there. But from what I've seen of you, you're an experienced Pilgrim. Am I right?"

"No." Neveri said with a disapproving frown. "I'm a Sidequester."

"I wasn't far off. In any case, rats and goblins won't give you any trouble."

"After the sewers, then what?"

"You must get the Amulet to Jauffre. Take no chances, but proceed to Weynon Priory immediately. Got it?"

"Yes, I understand." But I'm not looking forward to it.

"Good. The Emperor's trust was well-placed."

"What about you? What will you do?"

"I'll stay here to guard the Emperor's body and make sure no one follows you. You'd better get moving. May Talos guide you. By the way thanks for recovering my fallen comrades swords. I'll see that they are given a place of honor in the hall of the Blades." And with those words he removed the katanas from her person.

NO! Don't take my swords! Neveri shouted in her mind. I'll make you pay…

And then she walked through the passage from where the emperor's murderer had come, half expecting another one to jump out at any minute. She found a small solace in the fact that there was a chest not far ahead with potions to help her on her way.

It was with a wrinkled nose that she entered the sewers, intent on getting out as fast as possible.

I'M BACK! Well, kind of. I was bored yesterday and decided to write an Oblivion fanfic, documenting the entire game from my character's point of view. Yeah, it took two days to write this chapter, and it's longer than what I've written on my own original stories since my computer crashed!

Well anyway, so, Neveri the Sidequester... yeah I made a new class for her ^-^ Basically, she's a Dark Elf Sidequester born under the sign of the Thief, her favoured attributes are Willpwer and Agility, with her Major Skills as Blade, Destruction, Acrobatics, Light Armor, Marksman, Security and Sneak. Her worst subject in school was Math and her best English. Oh no wait, they're mine...

Basically anything written in Italics is part of her thoughts and stuff she'd like to say but she won't because she's a smart cookie and doesn't want to get in trouble. Which is ironic considering her skills are just begging for her to become a thief or assassin.

Well that's it for now, R&R and all that if you like, if not, feel free to tell me what you don't like and I might change it. Or not, it depends on how you say it really.