The room was small and could only hold a tiny bed roll and a table. Outside of the metal bars was a little corridor leading to who knew how many cells. It was claustrophobic for any one passing through and some the heavily armored guards had trouble turning around whenever they made their rounds. Inside of the cell, there was a window about twenty feet up the wall. During the day, dust motes would dance through the sunbeams that flowed through the hole in the wall.

Each and every day, Soliril would watch the dust motes, desperately hoping that maybe something would happen. Anything to appease his boredom would be appreciated. Or food, may it be bad, stale bread, would also be nice.

Despite being the proud high elf that he was, Soliril was deteriorating in the Imperial dungeon. His once brilliant orange hair was now lack-luster and the high cheekbones that were prominent in his race were now sullen. His golden skin was paling and his arms were weaker than before. What had struck him as funny was the fact that he had been thrown in jail only a week before.

He could remember the afternoon he was arrested). It was sunny and Soliril decided to go for a stroll in the market district. The market district was a sketchy place to stroll in the high elf's opinion, especially with all those thieves prowling around. When he stopped to rest in the shadow of a small garden, Soliril could hear a shriek. As he turned around he could see an old lady talking to one of the guards. After the old woman caught sight of him, she yelled something and the guard went to apprehend him. The high elf struggled as much as he could and almost escaped, but the butt of a sword found the back of his head. Next thing he knew he was in his cell.

"Hey, Soli? Are you awake?"

The high elf looked across the corridor to the neighboring cell. A dark elf was standing close to the bars with a crazed look in his crimson eyes. Soliril sighed before answering, "What do you want Dreth?"
"I can hear footsteps coming."

"So they're coming for me?"
Valen Dreth grinned wildly. "It'll be soon now. And I'll-"

Soliril cut him off. "And you'll be sitting on a beach in Summerset Isle with my mother as your mistress, right? I can't tell you how old that gets."

"Oh, but it's true."

Soliril turned his attention to the four figures approaching his cell. A woman, obviously the captain, glared at him. "Get back to the wall, prisoner. We don't want to have to use force on you." He did as she said and stood with his back against the cold stone.

A few others came into the room, all seeming to circle around an old Imperial man dressed in fine robes. The Imperial's eyes were old and wise, but they had no hope in them. It chilled him, so Soliril paid them no attention, but rather focused his attention on the Dunmer across from him. Valen Dreth watched the new comers with absolute shock. Out of the corner of his eye, Soliril could see a part of the wall in his cell move downwards and reveal a passage to what was probably freedom.

The old man came up to him now and looked over him in examination. "I've seen you before. You were one of many from my dreams." He breathed heavily and looked down to the ground. "The stars are right and this is the day. Gods give me strength."

"What do you mean by that?" Soliril asked, now becoming confused.

"My sons were assassinated and I'm next. My blades are leading me out and the gods seemed to have put you in the cell that exit is in."

"Right. That sounds like gibberish to me, old man." The elves' tone was bitter and sarcastic as he spoke.

The woman waiting at the head of the passage snarled. "Watch your tongue. That's the Emperor you're speaking to." Soliril shrugged his shoulders and looked back to the Emperor. He gave him a grim smile then left for the passage. Soliril waited for a moment then looked back to Valen Dreth. The Dunmer was begging desperately to tag along, but Soliril gave him a look of victory and left for the claustrophobic passage way.

The passage was dug into the bedrock, but soon led into a bigger chamber that resembled old catacombs. There were loud clangs of swords hitting swords, telling the Soliril that a battle was going on in the chamber. Not wanting to risk his life, Soliril stood at the mouth of the passage and waited the battle out. Before the melee had ended, the woman had fallen along with their enemies. The party went ahead past a gate and when Soliril tried to followed, he found that they locked it after themselves. Common sense had told that Soliril was bound to follow and the elf knew that he wasn't going to be trusted. He was disappointed that he wasn't as mad as he thought he would have been. This was his one chance to escape.

As he went back to the passage leading back to his cell, Soliril heard a rumbling coming from the wall. He stopped and looked at it. Through the gloom, the high elf could see the white bricks shifting from their spots. A moment later, the bricks fell from their places and a rat sprung towards Soliril. Being as weak as he was, Soliril couldn't dodge the claws of the vicious rodent. As he flailed around, the high elf took hold of the rat's tail and flung him across the room. The rat landed with a loud thud and a squeak. Before Soliril could think, he was already through the hole in the wall and closer to freedom.

Soliril came upon a rather large cavern. In the middle was large pit, full of rat pens and a few goblins. The cavern itself was maybe one hundred and fifty feet across, making it easy to remain unseen as long as he stayed out of sight. The high elf tried to get closer to the pit to get a better vantage point to examine the cave. On the other side, he could see a goblin. It was larger than the others and seemed to be wearing odd ornaments on its chest.

The high elf definitely didn't want to tangle with this obviously more powerful goblin. Soliril crept up close to the wall of the cave. The light was sparse here allowing him easy access to the tunnel leading to the outside; hopefully to salvation. He stopped to survey the area when he caught a glimpse of something shiny. As he looked a bit closer, he could see a staff. It was made of knotty wood with feathers and small stones attached to the head of the magical instrument.

Soliril knew immediately that he needed to get his hands on this weapon. Though he already knew how to properly wield magic, a staff would greatly increase his chances of protecting himself. He crept up to the staff, but stopped about ten feet way as to not go into the light. His breathing was heavy and loud. The goblin, now very close, could probably hear him, but gave no sign of it.

He continued to sneak up to the staff. Finally after what he perceived as several minutes, he could grasp it. As he could feel the cold dry wood in his grasp, the goblin turned around suddenly. It stared at him for a moment before chittering something in its primitive language.

Without another thought, Soliril ran with the staff in hand. The passage in front of him was short, but echoes of foot steps behind him reverberated in the claustrophobic tunnel. It was terrifying and he only wanted to run faster. Finally, the tunnel led into the catacombs once more, where the Blades were dealing with more assassins. The high elf and the goblin tumbled from the high platform and Soliril landed hard on his back on the white floor. The goblin was quick on the uptake. The monstrosity flung itself onto Soliril. It clawed at his face and spittle flew from its gaping mouth. In a flurry of confusion, Soliril took the newly acquired staff and smacked it upon his foes' head. The goblin toppled over, now allowing Soliril to get up. Finally, the elf was able to gather his wits about him and fire a spell from the staff. A bolt of lightning struck the incapacitated goblin. When the lightning dissipated, only the charred remains of the goblin remained.

The battle that he stumbled upon had already finished and one of the two remaining Blades stalked up to him. The Imperial's eyebrows were furrowed together in aggression and his sword was pointed towards Soliril's soft underbelly. "What are you doing here, prisoner?"

Words stumbled out of Soliril's mouth but none of what he said made any sort of sense to the few men watching him. The Emperor, who was now coming behind the Imperial Blade, told him to stand down. "No, he must help us."

"As you wish, Sire."

Soliril sighed with relief. The sword was no longer pointed at him and for the time being, they weren't being attacked. The Emperor continued, a wise smile on his face, "They cannot understand why I trust you. They have not seen what I have seen. You know the Nine, do you not?"

"Of course I do. That doesn't mean I like them though."

"We all have our opinions. I have served them all my life as they have guided me. The stars have shown me many things, and tonight they show the end of my path."

Soliril was starting to get ticked off. This old man was speaking in riddles. "What the hell does that mean? Does that mean everyone else here is doomed also?"

"No. My stars are not yours. I do not know what will become of you?"

"Aren't you afraid to die, though?"

The knowing smile of the Emperor's face changed into a coy grin. On anybody else, this expression would have normally been accompanied by a dry, low chuckle. But not now. The old man was being sincere about his concern. "Are you?"

Soliril stood silent for a moment. He looked down as he thought of his answer. "Of course I am. Who isn't afraid of death? That doesn't answer my question though!"

"No trophies of my triumphs precede me, but I have lived well. My ghost shall rest easy. Men and Mer 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 appointed fate then fall."

The Redguard Blade came to the two men after the emperor's speech and ushered them to hurry on. Soliril looked at his feet as he walked on. After his conversation with the old man, he felt himself feeling rather empty.

The group now found themselves at a dead end. The gate leading outside of the catacombs was locked and none seemed to have the key. Baurus, the Redgaurd, ushered the Emperor and Soliril into an adjoining room. He looked back at Soliril as he left. "I don't usually trust elves. Something about them has always rubbed the wrong way, and that includes you. But I don't have anyone else to keep the Emperor under watch. If anything happens to him, anything, it's on your head. Guard him with your life."

Soliril hummed in response. He didn't really care. He turned to look at the Emperor and nodded to let him know of his intentions. The old man smiled in response then asked his name. The high elf looked forward as he answered, "Soliril. That's all you need to know."
"There is one last thing I need to tell you, Soliril. I can go no further. You must be one of many to stand up to the Prince of Destruction and his mortal servants. He must not have the Amulet of Kings." The Emperor's wrinkled hands unlatched the pendant from his neck and dropped it in Soliril's hands. A look of disbelief washed over the elves' face. "You must give it to Jauffre! He alone knows where to find my last son. Find him and close the jaws of Oblivion." Behind him, a panel of the wall moved to reveal another passage. A flash of red maneuvered a dagger into the back of the Emperor, and the old man fell down dead. The new assassin now charged Soliril, knocking him down once more.

The elf was now quicker on his feet and fired a volley of spells from his staff. At least two of the lightning bolts found the flesh of his foe and knocked him against the wall. Baurus rushed into the room and finished him off.

Soliril got up from the floor to meet the Blade. "What happened to the other one?"

"Glenroy's dead. As is the emperor. We've failed." The warrior fell to the floor. Soliril sighed, this situation was rather inconvenient.

"Not really. The Emperor gave me the amulet before he died."

Baurus looked up to him. "Why would he do that?"

"He said something about finding his last heir."

"But there is no last heir. That's common knowledge." The Redguard paused then suddenly, a look of realization washed over his face. "But Jauffre might know. Did he mention that name?"
"Yeah, he did. What does that have to do with anything?"
"Jauffre is the grandmaster of my order. He was the Emperor's personal bodyguard for years. He would know."

"Why does it have to be me?" Soliril whined. He didn't want to be a part of something so big, not now. He was just finally getting out of prison. He needed the freedom to be able to do what he wanted.

"Because he trusted you. If it weren't for the Emperor, you'd probably be dead."

"I don't care if he saved my life. I'm not even sure if it's worth saving. Besides, I'm tired of this place. It smells bad, so I'm leaving." The elf turned into the new tunnel and started walking.

"Fine. I'll let you leave, but just so you know, I'll at least make sure your bounty is triple than what it was before." Soliril turned around in shock. Did this Blade really have the power to do that? He stopped to listen to him. Soliril didn't want to take that chance. Baurus smiled. "I'll let you go off scot free if you take the Amulet of Kings to Jauffre. And if you don't, I'll know."

"Fine!" Soliril stalked up to him and snatched away the bright red pendant.

Baurus chuckled in contentment. "I'll give you a few days to make your way to Chorrol. I'd probably hurry, there's going to be goblins the rest of the way." The Redguard ushered Soliril through the wall then left to him to his journey. The elf sighed. He was out of jail, but he wasn't quite free. At least the outside would feel nice.

Author Note: The ending feels rushed again, but I'm as satisfied as I can be. In this chapter, we introduce Soliril, the high elf who doesn't care! I've never liked high elves and I've only ever played Imperial characters. Elves seemed so snotty. But so are Imperials... Oh well! This chapter also follows the first quest. I took a lot of liberties with the dialogue, but who cares? I certainly don't! Anyways thanks for the reviews and the views. I really appreciate them. Thanks for reading!