Oblivion:
The Rise of a Fallen Hero
The cold. That's the first thing I can recall about those wretched dungeons is the bone-chilling, mind-numbing cold that seeped all the way to the core of my very being. Then there was the smell that perpetuated in the damp cold darkness and hung thickly in the air. At first, I didn't know what it was, but as my nostrils began burning with I began piecing it together. It was a combination of mildew, moisture and rotten flesh and all around decay. Believe me, it's not the most pleasant thing to awaken to but that kind of smell will most definitely get one's attention. I can remember lying there on the floor for a while longer before my eyes would open…and then I wished they never would have. Directly in front of me was some poor soul's remains that were just kind of swept aside in the back left corner of my cell. Instinctively, I scrambled away from the skeletal pile until my back met the steel bars of the cell, which I immediately turned to inspect. It looked as though the bars were well kept if not brand new, which made comparing them to the rest of the prison laughable. The Empire sure had its priorities straight these days.
I pushed myself to my feet and took a closer look around; there was a single window about eight feet up on the wall opposite the cell door, through which bright sunlight was barely able to filter. Then, I heard a sneering voice from behind me and turned about to face the creature that began mocking me; a Dunmer. 'Big surprise' I thought to myself before proceeding to explore the rest of my cell and ignore him entirely. On the left side was a simple slab of stone with some straw, cloth and a pillow scattered on it that would constitute my 'bed'. Opposite that was a small, splintering table with a dirty stone mug sitting atop it with a pitcher to match. In front of the table was an equally splintering stool tucked away in the back corner of the cell. I blew out sigh and made my way over to the chair and sat down gingerly, trying to avoid and splinters that might have been coming my way. The Dunmer was still rambling away about some thing or another and I still paid him no mind. Instead, I tried to figure out just exactly what was going on.
My name was Darellus Antonius Cid, that much I knew. I remembered serving with a mercenary company out of Hammerfell for a while, but anything other than that was a blank. I racked my brain for answers for what seemed like an eternity trying to figure just what I had done to land myself in prison here of all places, but I just couldn't remember. The Dunmer, who had thankfully fallen silent for at least a brief moment, spoke up again.
"Oh! Do you hear that, Imperial? The guards are coming. For you!"
I looked up from the table that I had been staring at absentmindedly as the Dunmer began snickering maliciously and retreated to the shadows of his cell. Curiosity got the better of me and I made my way to the cell door, watching the dimly lit stairs to the right intently. I could hear voices echoing down said staircase, but I couldn't quite make out the exact words. First down was an Imperial man, pale skinned and sour-looking. His armor was definitely not that of a Legionnaire; it was ornate, almost oriental with gold trim and lace across the chest. I recognized it fairly quickly as a Blade's armor. If the Emperor's personal guard was here, then something big was going down; I knew he couldn't have been here for me. Behind him was a Redguard who looked equally as distressed as his Imperial counterpart, but not half as ornery. He, in turn, was followed by an Imperial woman and the Emperor himself. All four approached my cell, and I quickly came to realize my presence there was not what they had expected.
"What's this prisoner doing here?" the woman demanded. For some reason, I was a bit offended by the emphasis she put on the word 'prisoner'.
"Must have been a mixup with the regular watch!" her male counterpart replied, eyeing me with no hidden malice.
"Nevermind," she said, "just get this door open. You! Stand back, prisoner! We won't hesitate to kill you if you get in our way!"
"Stand aside, Prisoner," interjected the Redguard, "over there by the window."
I was suddenly growing very irritated with the several looks I was getting from everyone…except the emperor. The expression he wore was that of a man that was looking at an old friend that he hadn't seen in ages. Truthfully, it looked more like confused curiosity, like he had seen me somewhere before and couldn't quite place his finger on it. I did as I was told and backed up under the window as the Imperial man unlocked the door as the Redguard told me if I stayed out of the way, I wouldn't get hurt. A small smirk spread across my face for one reason or another and I watched them all come in. Suddenly, the Emperor spoke.
"You…I've seen you." Well, that was certainly a surprise.
"Me?" I replied, voice cracking. I suddenly noticed that my throat was incredibly dry. Wonderful.
"Let me see your face." I stepped over into the light a bit more to allow the Emperor a chance to study me a bit more. "You are the one from my dreams…then the stars were right. This is the day…Gods, give me strength."
The expression on the Blades' faces were priceless; they seemed to think suddenly that the Emperor was as insane as I was supposed to be and I couldn't help but smile a bit before turning my attention back to the old man that ruled the Empire. A dozen questions were circulating in my mind, but really the only words that immediately came to my tongue were the obvious ones.
"What exactly is going on, my Lord? I must admit, I'm a bit confused."
"Assassins," he began, "have attacked my sons…" My heart skipped a beat; assassins had attacked the Emperor's family? Why in the world would anyone want to do that. "…and I am next. My blades are leading me out of the city through a secret escape route. That route just happens to lead through your cell."
I simply nodded, more than a little dumbfounded, and continued speaking with the Emperor, much to the dismay of his bodyguards. He seemed like a kind old man and had a look of wisdom in his eye. I also noticed that he seemed a bit eccentric. The Blade captain, the woman, seemed to have had enough a few minutes later.
"Please, sire, we have to keep moving!" she pleaded with a slight bow. The Emperor nodded his consent and smiled kindly at me (I swear, I could hear the Imperial man snarl something nasty in my general direction), and the Blade woman searched the wall for something or another. I stood there, amused as she fumbled around on the wall until a stone sank back into it. Much to my amazement, the 'bed' sank away under the floor and a large segment of the wall swung open, revealing a dank corridor that smelled strongly of mold. "Better not close this one," said the Blade woman as she peered inside, watching for any signs of trouble, "there's no way to open it from the other side."
I shot a cocky grin over at the Imperial man and he snarled at me ferociously before falling in stride with the Emperor. I walked along side the much friendlier Redguard and decided to drum up some small talk. I asked him his name; he said it was Baurus, and his much grumpier friends. The woman's name was Renault and the man was Glenroy. As we walked, the severity of the situation finally dawned on me; the Emperor and his sons were being picked off one-by-one, and here I was having a friendly conversation with one of Emperor Uriel Septim the Third's personal bodyguards. I shook my head and blew out a frustrated sigh; maybe things weren't going to turn out so well after all. If assassins attacked the Emperor now, I'd be more of a hindrance to the Blades than a help. After all, I had nothing on me but a sack cloth shirt, sack cloth pants, some ratty looking shoes and shackles, which Baurus was kind enough to remove. Before I could thank him, Captain Renault sounded the alarm.
"Form up left; protect the Emperor!"
Swords were immediately drawn and the sounds of battle erupted in the cavernous room that we had entered. It was large, probably twenty feet wide and fifteen or twenty feet tall, and the assassins were certainly using every bit of that to attack from. Captain Renault charged down the stairs in front of us and I leapt next to the Emperor, prepared to use my body as a fleshy shield for the Emperor. One assassin had apparently sneaked around the Blades and started toward me; an unarmed, unarmored bodyguard was next to useless, and the assassin knew it. I could see his grip tighten around the heavy looking mace he held and slowly stalked closer to me. His soulless black armor glinted in the strange, aqua light that shone from the walls and the hideous facemask glinted evilly. I found myself wishing desperately for a weapon, and the Gods seemed to answer my prayer. I dove away from a sideswipe that was intended to remove my head and hit the stone floor hard, palm open and suddenly felt something hit my hand.
I didn't care what it was at the moment and lunged at the assassin, tackling him to the ground. The object I'd caught, which I now realized was the hilt of a sword, came down hard on his face, cracking the mask he wore. He pushed me off of him with a strength beyond any I'd ever witness and sprung to his feet, mace once again at the ready. He charged me, mace held high above his head. I scrambled to raise my blade and closed my eyes, arms extended in front of me. Suddenly, I felt something jerk and then a warm, gooey substance on my fingers and running my arms. Immediately, I knew it was blood and opened my eyes. Apparently, the assassin had impaled himself upon my blade and the essence of his life was slowly oozing down the blade of my sword and onto my hands and forearms. Disgusted, I shifted to the side and yanked the blade free. The corpse thereby had no support and collapsed to the ground with a wet thump. I groaned and pushed myself to my feet slowly, swearing up and down that I would never fight without armor ever again.
When I turned about, I came find that the Emperor, Glenroy and Baurus had already gone ahead and locked the door behind them; I guess they thought I was dead. The next few minutes were spent searching the room for any way out, but I couldn't find any; the walls all looked pretty solid. Frustrated and sore, I sat down with a huff and resigned myself to my fate or someone to find me, whichever came first. To pass the time, I took a look at the sword that had magically appeared in my hand; the blade was long and elegantly curved with several characters that I was unfamiliar with etched into it. I wiped the blood off with my shirt, which was then dumped on the floor, and took a closer look at the hilt. Unlike the blade itself, the hilt looked old and frayed, but still fairly familiar. It took me another moment or two to realize that the thread used to decorate the hilt was the same thread found on Blades' armor and shot to my feet to have a closer look around the room. I had assumed that all three of the Blades had left with the Emperor, but there was no way any of them would leave without their swords. After a few minutes searching, I found Captain Renault crumpled in a dark corner, the entire right breast of her armor caved in. Her face was twisted in a horribly pained expression and her eyes stared blankly into space. A wave of sadness washed over me and I closed the warrior's eyes and whispered a prayer to the Nine, asking them to take care of this woman who had died so valiantly to protect the Empire. She at least deserved that much.
Before I could ponder the situation any further, a strange sound from the base of the stairs caught my attention. Blade at the ready, I made my way down and stopped, listening for any more sounds. It came again from behind some loose stones in the wall to my right, and I approached slowly. Suddenly, the stones exploded outward, followed by what was quite possibly the largest rat I had ever seen in my entire life. The creature smacked right into my chest, sending my stumbling backward gasping for breath. It was startled so greatly that it lunged at me again, leaving me no choice but to strike the poor thing down with one clean strike of my sword that effectively removed the head from the rest of the body. Panting for air, I slowly peered into the hole the R.O.U.S. (Rodent Of Unusual Size) had created in the wall and grinned; I had found a way out.