The Champion awoke early the next morning with a terrible ache in her back. She wearily opened her eyes and saw first that the jagged star which she had been admiring the previous night was still clutched in her hand. She gasped quietly and hid it away once more in the burlap sack. After standing up and surveying the room, and finding to her relief that all of the Blades in the room were asleep, Melissa gathered up the sack and strode out of the room without making a sound.
That had been close- too close. Even if most of the people stationed at Cloud Ruler Temple would not recognize the star for what it truly was, she couldn't risk it being seen by anyone, even someone like Caroline or Belisarius. True, most people would not recognize Azura's Star as a powerful Daedric artifact, but its very appearance seemed to exude a mysterious, celestial power. Melissa adopted a grim look as she swept through the Great Hall, and decided that it would need to be hidden.
Luckily, her body had most likely covered it up while she was sleeping, so she wouldn't have to further compromise her position by providing some ridiculous explanation to her dorm mates. If she had to improvise such a story in front of one of the Blades, she would either choke and end up telling them everything, or inadvertently convince them that she was hiding a mountain of stolen gold. That could not happen. The more covertly she went about this, or any other matter, the better.
She exited the temple and descended the laborious stone steps that led to the heavy main gate. The guards all knew her, and that she had a habit of going for frequent strolls, no matter what ungodly time of the day it was, so she was likely to avoid any trouble.
She tied the burlap sack to her belt and began massaging her neck, hoping to work out the monstrous kink that had situated itself there. She waved to the guard that was stationed on the wall above the gate, and pushed through it. She was met with a bitterly cold gust of air, which carried upon its treacherous breath a good deal of fresh snow. It speckled the front of her dark uniform, assimilating her and drawing her further and further into its frosty domain. Melissa spat and brushed some of the snow off of her front.
The burlap sack bounced on her knee, the jagged edges of the Star occasionally pricking her through the fabric. Next to it was sheathed a small blade, quite sharp and impossibly potent. She had acquired it during her tenure in an organization as old as it was feared: the Dark Brotherhood. They had found her months before, not too long after her escape from the Prison District in the Imperial City. A petty thief had pickpocketed a small amount of gold off of her while she was walking through the streets of Cheydinhal. This had caught her off guard, as the last place that she, or anyone, would ever expect to be robbed was Cheydinhal, with its pleasant and perfectly manicured streets, lined with beautiful shops and peaceful-looking people. However, Cheydinhal was a city that hid many a secret, as Melissa would learn soon enough.
She had attempted to speak forcibly to the bandit to get him to return the gold. When he began to attack her, she had no choice but to draw her blade and defend herself. She ended up spearing him directly through his chest, killing him within a split second. Luckily, it had been the middle of the night, and the street that she was walking on was free of onlookers. She promptly disposed of the body in a nearby sewer grate, and returned to Newlands Lodge, where she was staying.
She was woken up a few hours into a fretful sleep by a shadowy figure standing at the foot of her bed. She began to panic, but he calmed her down, reassuring her that he was not there to harm her, and introducing himself to her as Lucien LaChance. LaChance was the Speaker for the Dark Brotherhood, and had come to recruit her after her "admirable elimination of that blasted pickpocketer". Terrified in spite of his benevolent intentions (well, besides being a spokesman for the Dark Brotherhood and all…) Melissa had agreed to kill a helpless old man named Rufio in order to confirm her place amongst the servants of Sithis.
She did the Brotherhood's bidding, killing many a human being and accumulating quite a large fortune. Targeted killing, she had discovered, was a most lucrative trade in the land of Cyrodil (or wherever the Dark Brotherhood took their grim refuge). Before too long, however, things went awry (another memory that she wished to avoid), and she lost her good friend Lucien LaChance. But she emerged on the other end the savior and the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood. She continued to collect a respectable little sum from Arquen at the Brotherhood's headquarters beneath the Abandoned House in Cheydinhal as a reward for visiting the tomb of the Night Mother in Bravil and reporting the names of those poor souls who were destined to join Sithis in the Void.
One of the things that she had inherited from LaChance was his blade, which hung now at her side as she navigated a little stretch of snow-covered land east of Bravil. The wind was less oppressive now that she was a little further inland, but it was still enough to send a small chill down her spine. A few moments later, she was greeted by a terrifying, familiar sight. This was none other than the Siege Crawler that she, Martin, Jauffre, the Blades, and the Bruma Guard had fought valiantly against and prevented from decimating Bruma as it had Kvatch. Here, an Oblivion gate had opened, into which Melissa had gone and, against all odds, closed. The people had bestowed upon her yet another title to join her numerous others- the Savior of Bruma.
She stood before the twisted monstrosity, looking over at the spot where Jauffre and Burd had lain dead at the close of the battle. One rested now in the yard of Weynon Priory outside of Chorrol, and the other in the catacombs of the Chapel of Talos in Bruma. She bowed her head in respect for the dead, tossed a single gold coin in the snow, and walked solemnly away.
She came to a small wooded area a few paces away from the site of the battle, and locked her eyes upon a rotted tree stump at the foot of a small hill. She jogged over to it dropping the burlap sack in the snow and falling to her knees. She began to dig through the snow and earth at the base of the trunk, soon exposing a small tunnel that appeared as if it had been dug by a rodent, and that wound up into the body of the stump. Melissa smiled, dumping the contents of the pack (a few gold pieces, a wrapped filet of salmon, a couple emerald rings, and a flame scroll) onto the ground and taking up the Star. She stuffed into the sack and tied it up firmly, jamming it deep into the body of the trunk. She filled the hole and placed a few rocks and pieces of foliage where it had once been, so as to make it appear inconspicuous.
Melissa set off once more for Cloud Ruler Temple feeling quite satisfied. Few people went off of the main trail near Bruma except to hunt, and the hunters of Bruma knew better than to get involved in anything mysterious.
She made good time, ascending the stony little trail that wound up to Cloud Ruler Temple with a comfortable haste. She breathed in the sharp, cold morning air and found that it was not at all unpleasant. Melissa thought longingly of her sparse bedroll in the dormitory, anxious to reenter the land of dreams. Her comfortable reverie was interrupted suddenly by a queer noise. She could not quite make out what it was over the incessant and cacophonous howling of the wind.
Melissa continued along the trail cautiously, listening to the continued moaning noises and attempting, not without some hardship, to discover their origin. However, her years of travel and reckless adventuring had only been kind to her senses, and she soon found herself straying off of the main path and proceeding into a small thicket of trees, one hand positioned at her side, ready to draw the Blade of Woe if needed.
The pained noises grew progressively louder and louder until Melissa became aware of a man-sized, shuddering form huddled against the side of a tree. She grew ever more cautious, focusing on the pained being and readying herself to strike if necessary. But as she drew closer, she observed that he was not clothed in necromancer's robes or cheap iron armor… but in Blades armor… Melissa quickly abandoned all apprehensions and rushed over to the man.
She knelt beside his shuddering form and turned him over. He was young, probably no older than twenty-five, with immaculately cut brown hair and a matching beard, and he was bleeding profusely from under his armor in the stomach region. His eyes were fixed desperately upon Melissa, and he was gurgling at the mouth.
"Can you speak?" Melissa asked, supporting him against the bulk of the tree and digging around in her bag for anything that might be of use, all while maintaining eye contact.
"Y-" he struggled, "yes…"
"What happened to you?" Melissa said, simultaneously applying a custom potion of hers to the site of the wound, "were you attacked?"
"Yes," he gasped, nodding weakly.
"By what?"
"I… don't know…"
Melissa shook her head slightly out of worry, all the while continuing to apply the potion to his wound. She could only do so much for him here- he would have to be taken back up to Cloud Ruler Temple. She figured that he could support himself, however weakly, on his legs, and that by the fruit of their combined efforts, they would reach the Temple safely. She related this to him and forced him onto his feet. They began limping up the hill.
"What is your name?" Melissa asked, looking over at the man as they lurched along. She was sure she had never seen him before.
"E-Esbern…" he managed, swallowing and turning his gaze longingly in the direction of shelter.
(Author's note: Yes, I know that Esbern is from Skyrim. And yes, I know that Skyrim takes place 200 years after Oblivion. Just keep reading.)