The Daedric Chronicles: Dreams and Nightmares

Prologue

Nightmare from the Past

The cell was cold and damp, which reminded of home, of Black Marsh. My head throbbed violently. Why am I here? It throbbed again. I…. I can't remember. Then a cold, gruff voice rang out, "Hey swamp lover, I see you're awake. Guess what? You're locked up in here for the rest of your life, and that means no more swimming in those refreshing waters of your homeland. Not even the lakes a couple miles from here." A loud crash came from the wooden door down the hall. I looked and saw guards running this way, their armor shining in the bright torchlight. "You hear that?" the prisoner said next to me. "They're coming for ya. They're gonna take you somewhere special, just for you!"

The guards ran up to my cell gate and told me, in a loud voice, "Stand back, and no sudden moves!" I rushed to the far corner and waited as they slowly unlocked the cell door. They suddenly surrounded me and behind them, I saw the… Emperor? What's going on? I thought. One of the guards mumbled something to the Emperor, he looked at me and said, "You will come with us, the stars have told me much about you."

"Are you sure this is the right person?" one of the guards asked.

"Yes, his reddish skin with green around the eyes is exactly the same as what I have seen. Even the long, black spikes on the back of his head are the same. He is the one." Then one of the guards pushed open a secret door hidden in the bricks of the wall of my cell. A couple guards walked in holding out torches to light the way, the other two shoved me in.

I followed them and turned a corner. They told me to open the wooden door, in case there was something on the other side. I was about to open it when I heard a loud rumbling, as if the very earth was splitting apart. A dull, blood red glow shined through the cracks in the door, smoke came pouring out, and ear splitting shrieks pierced the air. I quickly opened the door to see daedra, the demons from the hellish planes of Oblivion, ripping the guards in half, skinning them alive, dragging their burning corpses, some still writhing in pain through a gate-like portal I knew all too well. The fire, the heat, the gore, was overwhelming, it was….. Not real.

Chapter 1

The Only Fire is the Fireplace

I awoke with a start, covered in cold sweat, muscles quivering, sheets thrown aside, heart racing, and head throbbing. It was a dream, I said to myself, just a dream. I swung my legs over the side of my bed and stood up; also immediately falling over. I slowly got up, shaking the jelly-ness from my legs and stumbling over to the window. Outside, I could see villagers wrapped up in bundles of clothes and scarfs, heading down to a crowd of people. A couple loud knocks startled me; I quickly threw on my nice tweed shirt, leather pants and bear skin shoes and ran up the stairs to the door. As I opened the door, snow and a rush of cold air greeted me, along with the Countess' steward: Tolgan; who was shivering in the cold morning air.

"You need to come quickly, we are having an urgent meeting!" he wheezed, sounding like he had to run around the whole town.

"I'll be there in a moment, let me grab my cloak." I replied. Now what could this be about? I pondered.

I grabbed my cloak and ran out the door, not bothering to lock it. I noticed there weren't even any guards at the gate. This must be very important. As I ran into the crowd of murmuring people, I recognized a few old friends Selena Orania and Helvius Cecia. I jogged over to them and realized both were half asleep. Thankfully, with my limited knowledge of alchemy, I had some special "energy" potions. They each took a swig and shuddered.

"What kind of ingredients do you use in that crap?" Selena said almost gagging.

"Ditto…" Helvius replied, "But hey it worked, my mind isn't so cloudy. Speaking of my mind, I had the worst nightmare last night. Like every bad memory just resurfaced and played out in front of me."

"Really?" I replied. "I had the same thing, but I woke up pretty quickly."

"Hmmm, I wonder if this has anything to do with the urgent town gathering." Selena wondered.

"Did you have a nightmare too?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I-"

At that moment, the Countess herself appeared eyes sunken as if she had the same trouble we had. Everyone stared at her attentively, waiting anxiously for the news.

"People of Bruma, I have called you all here to say that we are the last town in all of Cyrodill."

"Excuse me?!" a shop owner exclaimed. "What do you mean we are the only town left in this country? My two brothers are in the Imperial City doing guard work for the emperor."

"It's Vaermina, the daedric deity of dreams. She is taking control over all of Cyrodill by slowly putting every sentient creature to sleep. Beasts, humans, animals, monsters, all are under attack. Vaermina started from the south and has been slowly putting everyone under her spell. She seems to have no intentions to kill, yet. But I would like you to know….."

"What is it?" her steward squeaked in fear.

"We have no way of stopping this. I'm sorry, sincerely. I'm just afraid it's too late, we can't do anything about it."

The crowd was silent, with fear? With anger? I thought to myself. There's got to be a way. I stopped the Oblivion Crisis; maybe I can stop this too.

I cleared my throat, and addressed the Countess, "I volunteer, to quest against this sudden yet slow evil. I will vanquish this incoming darkness and bring conscious peace back to Cyrodill." My words hung in the air, like a light fog slowly drifting through the crowds ears. It was so quiet, you could almost hear the snowflakes landing on the ground.

"What makes you think you can do anything? I know you saved us before, but this time, you'll have no support!" Selena shouted, breaking the silence.

"I've done business with her before; maybe I can figure out what the motive is and help her and Cyrodill out." I turned and looked at the Countess, her gaze was fixed on me, I could see worry in her eyes. She called attention back to herself and spoke.

"Everyone is dismissed, Do'om, you come with me." With that, everyone quietly hobbled back to bed, but I knew no one would go back to sleep soon. They were too afraid of not being able to wake up again, forever.

Chapter 2

The Preparation

What the hell did I get myself into? I thought to myself, staring into the flickering flames in my fireplace, reflecting a warm orange glow around the room. I thought about the debate I had with the Countess earlier, and wondered why I had made her agree that I should go. Am I just full of myself for stopping the Oblivion Crisis? I gazed out the window again, it was snowing even harder. The quietness was unbearable, so I set up my alchemy station just so I could have some background noise. Before I knew it, I was drifting into my thoughts.

-Two Hours Earlier-

"No! I will not allow it, I will not condemn you to eternal punishment by sending you on this quest." The Countess shook her head, sat down at her table and put her head in her hands.

"Don't worry about me; I have a lot of luck on my side. I made it through the whole arena, unscathed; I fought countless daedra in their own fiery hell multiple times, heck! I even became the Hero of Cyrodill." I put my hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. Ever since I saved Bruma from a weapon capable of destroying and leveling an entire village, we became very good friends. I knew she thought I would be the one to pull this off, but she didn't want me to die.

"I…. I can't. I can't allow you to go. I'm sorry, but-"

"Please, I beg you, I can stop this! I will save everyone, I can do this!"

"I… just go. Nothing I say will hinder your will to go, so just go." She got up, hugged my for a couple minutes, and escorted me out the giant castle doors. "Please come back." She waved.

"I will, don't worry about me." I waved back. I turned and walked towards my house, realizing I will be leaving the next day, not sure whether I was coming back or not. Or even what I will come back too.

-Back to Present Time-

Two knocks snapped back into reality and I scrambled up and dashed towards the door. As I opened it I saw my two friends, Selena and Helvius, shivering in the normal snowfall of this frozen town.

"What do you think you're doing mate?" Helvius exclaimed, "You can't do this again, you might get maimed!"

"Maimed? You'll get yourself killed!" shrieked Selena.

"Well…" I murmured.

"Nothing we say is going to change anything will it?" Helvius stated, reading my expression. "Then take this, it's an experiment of mine. I took your old broken ebony sword and replaced the hilt with a symbol of Talos, since you two have a good relationship. I also sharpened the blade with help from Selena's new armory spells." Helvius pulled out the sword and handed it to me. It was perfectly balanced, and definitely looked wicked sharp. The hilt itself glowed in response to my touch as I sheathed my old companion and shook hands with him. I then turned to Selena as she was fishing through her backpack.

"Give me a second; I have something in here for you…" she sounded frustrated. "Aha! Found them!" she handed me two scrolls, one tied with a purple string, one tied with a light blue string. "Knowing your personality, you'll like these. Save them for when you need them though, one time use only." I hugged her tightly, and Helvius eventually had to pry her off.

"Promise us you'll come back?" Helvius asked hesitantly.

"You got it Helvi; make sure you protect her as well."

"Ok, we will get going to let you prepare. May the Divines grant you safe passage, friend." Helvius and Selena turned and walked towards the church to pray to the Divines.

I closed the door, having everything already packed. Goat cheese? Check. Salted pork? Check. Alertness potions? Check. Weapons? Check. Water? Check. Well, that's all I need, time to get some rest. What I forgot to realize was I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. Nor was I going to sleep well when I finally get there. As I drifted off, I was haunted by the tortured and damned in the hellish planes of Oblivion. What a good night's sleep.

Chapter 3

Descent into the Quiet

I opened my eyes, staring up at my wooden ceiling, trying to remember what I was going to do. I leapt out of bed, threw on my clothes, grabbed my things and ran out the door. I can't believe I slept in! I thought to myself. As I neared the gate, I noticed the guards on duty were lying on the ground, motionless. Oh no! Vaermina's spell has already reached here! Why is she doing this? I have to hurry! I dragged the soldiers inside so they won't freeze and I woke everyone else. After many "thank you's for saving my life", I ran back to the gate and started to follow the path down the mountain.

I checked my map, making sure I remembered where her shrine was located. Last time I was there it was located next to Lake Poppad in the Nibenay Basin. A fair distance, but I should be able to get there sometime before nightfall. The snowy mountain landscape slowly faded away and morphed into the grassland forest that made up most of Cyrodill.

As I jogged through the forest, I realized just how true the Countess' words were. No birds were singing, no elk were signaling the herd, no bugs were chirping or buzzing, and (thankfully) no bandits telling me to hand them my money or die. It was completely quiet except for my footsteps. I could even hear my pulse. This just isn't right. Everything's asleep. Even the trees don't sway in the wind. It's driving me crazy. I thought. I kept jogging, passing sleeping trolls, bears, and even butterflies.

I stopped for a quick rest, taking an energy potion, some water, and a couple chunks of cheese with salted pork. The quietness was very unsettling, as if something bad was about to happen. I could rest easy though since every creature was asleep. I packed up my remaining food, wishing I had brought some bread, and continued on my journey, which was easy so far. Too easy, I thought.

I saw a clearing up ahead and heard water flowing, so I knew I was close. As I burst out of the clearing, I noticed that even the disciples of Vaermina were snoozing. Why would she do that to her own disciples? I first stopped and refilled my canteen with water from the lake, taking a couple sips to re-hydrate. I then searched the campsite and located the shrine. A tall stone statue depicting Vaermina stood on top of a pedestal. I had nothing to offer, but even if I did I wasn't going to offer it, so I approached the shrine. A voice entered my head and it shook my bones.

"Ah, I've been expecting you! Come on in, friend. " Vaermina laughed. "Welcome to the Quiet, my secret realm that exists inside everyone's own mind. Just then, the statue raised it's hand, as if it had casted a spell, and a portal formed just to my right. I peered in; trying to see what was in there before jumping headfirst into what could be a trap. I felt a stony hand shove me into the portal, and close it right behind me, leaving me stranded in whatever realm I'm in now. The Quiet? Why does she have a secret realm? I thought to myself. I was right though, I fell into her trap. Hopefully I can talk some sense into her. I finally hit the ground after falling (I think I'm falling anyway) for a few minutes but was unharmed. Then I realized the situation I was in. Everything was black, soundless, and seemingly everlasting. I was lost in her maze, the maze of my own mind while I'm asleep. I started to feel woozy. This place is sucking out my own life force; I better find a way out quickly. Damn Vaermina and her trials, even my light orb spell won't work. I fell to my knees and I knew I didn't have much time left.

"Oh come on, you have the resources to help yourself!" Laughed Vaermina.

Something isn't right. She doesn't laugh like that. Then I felt something vibrating on my leg, and realized it was my Talos amulet sword. I unsheathed it and realized it cast a small glow. I wonder if… I took my sword and swung it straight in front of me, hoping for an effect. The fabric of this realm tore like cloth and seemed to open a new portal. Light poured out of the tear and I quickly jumped and landed hard on the dusty ground. I realized I was standing in the middle of an arena. No, not an arena, my arena. The one where I became champion in the Imperial City. Why am I here? I turned to see a crowd of people. They were starting to surround me, and with a closer look I realized they were dead, pale, and seemingly lifeless. There armor was dented and stained with blood, while some were missing a limb or an eye.

They all faced me and said in unison, "Oh, haven't seen you in a while. Glad you could come."

"You can't be... You're supposed to be dead!" I called back.

"Now why's that?" they all called back.

"Because, I…. killed you all in this very arena! This is just another trial, just a dream…" I said hopefully.

"That's the scary part about dreams; they are real, just an alternate dimension from "reality"." They all said in unison again. "Can you kill us again?" They all growled as they unsheathed their weapons, with a deadly intent in their eyes. "Don't think you'll make it through this "dream" alive."

With that, they charged.