Prologue
3 Sun's Height Fourth Era 221
An Abandoned Hut Located Near Archon, Black Marsh
"What…is the song…of the ocean?"
The eerie, doom-laden voice issued forth from the glowing red door to the two figures cloaked in black. They stared at each other before continuing.
"Sorrow, my brother." said the taller of the two.
"Welcome…home…"
The door to the abandoned Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary swung open, revealing a dark, dank tunnel leading far underground. The two recoiled as a sudden strong scent hit their noses. The smell of death.
"Let us carry on then." said the Short One, and he trudged down the tunnel with his companion close behind him. The deeper they traveled, the worse the smell became. Soon both of them were gasping loudly as they tried to avoid slipping on the damp floor.
They two companions turned the corner and suddenly found themselves facing a caved-in tunnel. In the middle of the floor was a medium sized hole filled with musty-smelling water. A faint, but still visible blue arrow pointed towards the hole.
"You would think this couldn't get any worse," grunted the Tall One.
"You would," agreed the Shorter. "But we must press on." And with that he stepped into the water. "Damn, it's cold like ice."
They swam for what seemed like hours, but it had only been minutes. They were beginning to run out of air when they surfaced in the middle of a small pool of fetid water within a large cavern. The two companions would've thought they had been transported to a place of endless darkness if not for the glowing green crystals embedded within the rock, giving off a steady stream of light.
This room had obliviously been the Dark Brotherhood's meeting place before they were driven out centuries before by the An-Xileel, but decades of putrid water had transformed it into little more than a sewage pit.
"I don't see anyone, Aryo" said the Taller, as he scanned the room. "Are you sure this was the place?"
Aryo frowned and pulled out a small map. "I am positive Guran. We traveled to the lake, we found the hut…"
Suddenly, the very water exploded around them. Aryo and Guran unsheathed hidden steel swords from within their robes and prepared to assault their attackers when they realized what they were.
"By Azura…"
The creatures were Argonians. Or they once had been. They were cloaked with mud, blood, and the strange water worms they had discovered when they had first traveled to Black Marsh. Their scales were hanging from their bodies, even entire patches missing on some, revealing rotten organs and brittle bone. But the strangest thing of all was their eyes, which shone a bright gray.
"Undead!" growled Guran, swinging at the nearest one and slicing open its stomach, then recoiling from the smell. The creature began shuffling back up, moaning. "An ambush!"
"It can't be!" yelled Aryo, as he evaded a swipe with a club from one of the beings. "I made sure that the plan would be secure, and no one followed us."
"Damn the plan! We have risked much on this endeavor of yours. What if the Grandmaster gets wind that we accepted this writ without her consent? We will face death by Mephala's hands!" Guran said as he sliced off the head of one of the Undead, but the creature continued to throttle him. "What are these accursed beings?"
"They were once the servants of Seth, but have been enlightened to the glory of the mighty Tsaes," declared a husky, deep voice. Aryo and Guran turned around and quickly shielded their eyes as an intense green glow issued from the center of the chamber.
"Come forth, assassins. My companions will no longer attack you. They are sentient beings like you and I; transformed by the hand of Tsaes and made immune to death itself. Please no longer be frightened."
"Tsaes is our salvation." mumbled the Servants as they kneeled down and pressed their heads to the floor. "He will save us from the Corruption."
Aryo and Guran began to walk towards the glow timidly, looking out of the corners of their eyes to avoid blinding themselves. As they approached the death smell grew stronger, making tears stream from the eyes and causing their noses to run.
The glow suddenly died, and as they looked to see what they were walking to they stopped and screamed.
Sitting in a deep pool of green water was a huge throne formed out of the bark of a rotting tree. And upon the throne sat one of the most dreadful beings the two assassins had ever seen.
Like the Servants he had once been an Argonian, but was at least seven feet tall, and as wide as a tree trunk. His body was in various stages of decomposition. Black blood ran out of his eyeless sockets, rats poked their heads out of holes in his chest, and tree bark grew over some parts of his body, as if he and the throne had become one and the same.
Aryo and Guran turned around and tried to flee, but the Servants rose from their kneeling positions with surprising swiftness and grabbed them. Despite their struggles, the assassins found that they could not free themselves from their grasp.
The being on the throne beckoned them forward with what was left of his left hand. "Your resistance was humorous. But let us now get down to business."