2 – A New Threat
Bruma, 4E45, the 27th of Rain's Hand
Camri Everlight and Falas Assurrani ran. Their destination – a remote shrine to Sheogorath near Leyawiin. Chaos erupted all around them. The sky had turned a deep blood red, and gale-force winds blasted grey clouds across it. Lightning streaked across the heavens, and the ground was bathed in a horrifying red light. All around them, the pair could see fires and ominous red magical lights marking yet more Oblivion gates opening. Occasionally, a Daedra, usually a Scamp or Dremora foot soldier, would impede their path but they were quickly taken down by Assurrani's incredible marksmanship skills.
They could not stop to help fight off the invasion. Time was against them. A gemstone had been removed from Tamriel and taken to the Shivering Isles – a gemstone that had transpired to be paramount to Tamriel's safety. They had to get it back.
Earlier, the pair had been celebrating a victory in Bruma when an Oblivion Gate had ruptured from the ground outside the city gate. Bafflement quickly turned to decisive action.
"We've got this one!" Captain Burd, the guard captain, had called. "Harmus, Korst, Sterrus, follow me! I know how to shut these things down!"
With that, the fearless Nord and three of the city guard had vanished into the portal as Daedra began to spill out of it. The remaining town guard fought them off, whilst the militia, led by the Imperial Battlemage captain, set off to deal with another gate that had opened near Cloud Ruler Temple.
"Don't worry about the Gates!" Camri had called to them. The Battlemage captain, Larand Pasqual, turned around and challenged him. A sixty-year-old Breton, kitted out in ebony armour, with long, flowing grey hair and a huge bushy beard, Pasqual was a formidable war wizard and acknowledged as one of the finest warriors at the Empire's disposal.
"Camri, these infernal gates are vomiting Daedra all over the damn city! We've just stopped Bruma from almost being destroyed, and I intend to do the same again!"
"Exactly. Stay here and protect the people. We're dealing with the gates," Camri said.
"How? How can you close all these gates down?"
"The Mantella" Camri said simply. Pasqual had been alongside Camri when he had acquired the gemstone, an azure-coloured stone the size of a human head, from a remote temple atop a mountain in Skyrim.
"It's the Amulet of Kings again," Camri continued. "We get the Mantella back and this shit ends"
Pasqual nodded in understanding. "Good luck to you, Camri. I know you won't let us down"
A bandit leapt out onto the road in front of the pair, wielding an axe and shield.
Camri and Assurrani stopped in their tracks – Assurrani drew a bead on the bandit with his bow whilst Camri approached him, sword drawn. Camri Everlight had barely had chance to breathe for the last few weeks, and with dirty skin, shoulder-length straggly brown hair and the beginnings of a beard, not to mention the patches of dried blood and burn marks covering his leather overcoat and huntsman trousers, he cut an imposing figure. The glass longsword and Elven bow he carried betrayed the fact that Camri Everlight was not a man to be trifled with, and behind him stood Falas Assurrani – lean and muscular, wearing a suit of netch-leather armour from his native Morrowind that concealed a wiry strength, and the gaze of his unblinking red eyes never leaving the bandit.
"You see all of these Oblivion gates? We're trying to stop it. You attack us, you'll have the destruction of Tamriel on your conscience," Camri said coolly. "And you'll also have an arrow sticking out of your forehead"
The bandit froze momentarily then fled back into the undergrowth. Assurrani placed the arrow back in his quiver and ran over to Camri.
"Silver-tongued as ever, my friend" Assurrani said. "Which way around the City do you think will be safest?"
"We're going through it," Camri replied, immersed in thought.
"Are you mad? You can see the fires and Oblivion gates from here!"
"There's some stuff we need to summon Sheogorath. We need to go via the Market"
Assurrani shook his head in a combination of amazement and despair. "No matter how crazy your ideas are they always seem to work in the end"
Still running, bathed in the sickly red twilight caused by the Oblivion gates, the pair reached the road that circled the Rumare and the Imperial City, when all of a sudden an Oblivion gate ruptured out of the ground in front of them in a burst of blinding white light.
"Get back!" Camri shouted, retreating from the gate as a strange fiery portal materialised in its centre. Assurrani reacted instantly and nailed a Scamp with his Elven bow just as it emerged from the portal.
"Get past it, Camri!" Assurrani shouted. "We haven't got time for this!"
Camri nodded and bolted for the Oblivion gate that was blocking their way when a frost atronach materialised from it. Camri had never seen one in the flesh before – a great, hulking beast about twice his size with a body that seemed to be made entirely of ice, with plumes of vapour spitting from its surface. Looking around for Assurrani, Camri saw the Dunmer caught up in his own fight against two Dremora. Camri brandished his sword and squared up to the enormous creature. It cast a bolt of icy magic at him, but he leapt to the ground in a forward roll to dodge the spell, jumping to his feet and swinging his sword two-handed, shattering one of the atronach's hands. The atronach swung a huge fist at Camri, but he ducked just in time to avoid the blow, ramming his sword into the atronach's torso. The atronach reeled back, visibly wounded, with Camri's sword stuck fast in its icy body.
Camri swore to himself. The only other weapon he had was his bow – useless. Then, in a moment of clarity, he charged forwards and shoulder-barged the atronach as hard as he could. As he made contact with the creature, unbearable cold shot through his body, numbing and almost paralysing him, but the atronach tumbled backwards into the fiery Oblivion gate and was vapourised instantly.
Retrieving his sword, Camri heard an inhuman scream as Assurrani struck the second of the two Dremora footsoldiers in the jugular vein with an arrow.
"You alright?" Assurrani said, running over to his friend, who was still shivering and unable to run. Camri nodded and took a bottle of mead from his backpack, taking several long gulps.
"Nordic courage," Camri said, handing the bottle to Assurrani who finished its contents. "We've got ourselves into some serious shit, Falas"
"Tell me about it. You think we can do this?"
"All we have to do is get to the shrine alive. We sorted Sheogorath's problems out for him – he owes us a favour. I don't know why this one stone caused this invasion of Oblivion gates, but if we undo it, it will at least give us chance to breathe"
"This isn't like the first time either," Assurrani said whilst Camri continued to catch his breath. "Ever seen an Oblivion gate like that one before?"
Assurrani pointed across to a corner of City Isle, where two Daedroths were prowling around a burning stone archway with a dazzling orange light in its centre.
"That'll be one of Molag Bal's," Camri explained. "His name literally translates as Firestone. That looks like a Peryite gate over there…"
"So it's not just Dagon this time? Thanks, Camri, that's really reassuring"
Guild of Mages, Orsinium, High Rock
The forces of Oblivion that had threatened the city-state of Orsinium had been repelled quickly and with little consequence, particularly the Gate that had opened on the street in the City's Arcane Quarter between the Mages' Guild building and a guardhouse. A group comprising Orc militia, Imperial Legion guards and Mages' Guild members adept in war magic had entered the Gate and neutralised its occupants with overwhelming force – no later than ten minutes after the team had entered, the Gate had collapsed, spilling out every member of the group who had entered the Gate, the captain, an Orc warrior, holding two trophies – a Sigil Stone and a Daedric breastplate that he had liberated from a fallen Dremora.
Word had quickly spread of this second coming of the Oblivion Crisis, but Orsinium, and many other of High Rock's city-states such as Wayrest and Daggerfall, had fared well. The indigenous population, a melting pot of Orc and Redguard warriors and Breton mages and war wizards, was more than capable of holding their own against a Daedric invasion.
Radash gra-Moran watched this unfolding from his balcony at the top of the grand five-storey Mages' Guild building in Orsinium. It was his office but also his sanctuary away from the constant spell practicing and general chaos that inhabited the rest of the Guildhall.
Gra-Moran was a most unusual breed – an Orc scholar. Unlike most Orcs his fighting ability was rudimentary at best, and unlike most residents of High Rock he wasn't a particularly adept spellcaster. But as a living library, a repository of knowledge on divine and arcane matters, he was bettered by nobody in Tamriel – nobody he had ever met, at least. Along with an elderly Battlemage, Larand Pasqual, and a young woman called Ariel Lasaille, he had been rated as one of the top three minds of High Rock.
But now, his mind was in a rare state of confusion. The reason for the Oblivion invasion was something he had spent his entire professional career researching. On the horizon, Radash could see the magnificent Direnni Tower, still intact, still standing as a pillar of the mortal world. He could not help but feel he was looking at the last Stone…
"Mr gra-Moran?" a voice asked from behind Radash, startling him. The Orc spun around and his fear instantly vanished.
"Ah, I recognise you," Radash said to the Redguard Blade stood before him. "Sartan, isn't it? You were at Cloud Ruler Temple during the Oblivion crisis"
"The very same," Sartan replied. "It's good to see you again. And about Cloud Ruler Temple…"
"The thought had just crossed my mind that I might be called upon soon," Radash said. "Are you ready to leave now?"
Radash gra-Moran had been a semi-permanent resident of Cloud Ruler Temple during the Oblivion crisis, where his knowledge of the more arcane parts of reality had been invaluable to Martin Septim's attempts to unravel the Mysterium Xarxes.
"Yeah, I'm good to go," Sartan said. "We'd better hurry up. Jauffre reckons you might be the only one who knows how to sort this mess out. Do you know what's going on?"
"I think so… Have you read my book, by any chance?"
"I tried to. I have to be honest, it went way over my head. Jauffre and Martin Septim both tried to get us all to read it"
"Did you get the basic concept, though? There are eight Towers, each with a counterpart Stone, holding Mundus together and keeping Oblivion at bay"
"I got that bit, yes"
"Well, the fact that this is happening means that my worst fears are realised – the Stones are being destroyed one by one and can no longer maintain the barrier between Mundus and Oblivion"
Camri Everlight and Falas Assurrani raced through the Imperial City, having entered by the Market District gate, Camri stopping only amidst the chaos to rummage through a pile of crates to locate three items – a ball of yarn, a lettuce and a lesser soul gem. The Imperial City was faring well against the assault – no gates had opened in the City itself and the huge stone walls and barricaded gates were holding the Daedra at bay.
Running down to the Waterfront, the pair had commandeered a pair of canoes with little difficulty – they were technically still in the Emperor's service - and had set off towards the Sheogorath shrine.
A few hours later, the pair had just passed Bravil, whose outer walls had been broken down and seemed on the verge of complete destruction, but they knew they could not stop to help. Camri indicated a small inlet and the pair rowed their canoes up it, running them aground then leaping out and completing the journey to the Sheogorath shrine on foot.
The shrine was deserted thanks to a nearby Oblivion gate. The Mad God's worshippers had fled to the comparitive safety of the fortress-town of Leyawiin – a few Scamps prowled around the woodlands but Assurrani quickly dealt with them.
Camri placed the three items he had taken from the Market District at the base of the altar, and waited. A chirrupy, accented voice cut through the air.
"Well, finally I have the pleasure of being summoned by Camri Everlight! You should know that Latta is settling in well here. Thank you for not getting her killed"
"Time to repay the favour, Sheogorath" Camri called to the statue.
"Really? Well… What in the blazes is going on in Tamriel? Is Dagon troubling you again?"
"Yes, and the rest. We need the Mantella back. I believe you have it. It's the only way we can stop this. Do a favour to the mortal world…"
"Alright, alright, I don't really need it anyway. Close your eyes and hold out your hands…"
Camri obliged, and felt a huge weight materialise in his hands. Opening his eyes, he saw the Mantella – a huge azure-coloured gemstone, easily the size of a human head. The last time he had seen it, he had liberated it from a remote mountaintop temple and ensured it to none other than Sheogorath's Guard Captain, Golden Saint Commander Staada, who had taken it out of the mortal realm to neutralise Mannimarco's semi-divine powers.
"Camri, it's stopped…" Assurrani said. Silence fell over Blackwood. The Oblivion gate nearby had collapsed, leaving nothing but a charred patch of ground where it had once stood.
"Not a moment too soon, either," Camri commented. "We should take this stone to Grandmaster Jauffre. I imagine he's busy concocting a plan as we speak…"
All around Cyrodiil, the population of the Imperial Province breathed a sigh of relief as the Oblivion gates all closed, the sky cleared, daylight flooded over the lands, and the Legion, town guards and militia finished off any straggling Daedra. The relief was soon replaced by confusion – what had just happened? Why had Oblivion gates suddenly appeared all over Tamriel? And why had they vanished as quickly as they had appeared?
