The mortal plane. Mundus. Nirn. Tamriel. Skyrim. Solitude. The blue palace. Pelagius wing. To the left. Up the stairs. Down the hall. On the floor.
He never said he would take me home. I realize that now. All he said was "mortal plane", not "home". How could I have been so stupid to assume he would take me home? Fuck, Ashlynn. You fucking moron!
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Ashlynn," I hear Sheogorath's voice echo in my mind. "If it makes you feel any better, I placed you in a fairly peaceful time in Tamriel – compared to everyone else before you."
"You've placed other souls here?" I ask angrily. "Did anyone go home after meeting you?"
"No," Sheogorath answers with a laugh. "But like I told you, your life now is different from the life you once had. Just accept it."
I sigh and look down at my clothes. An old-timey, medieval-ish wool dress. Dull blue and dingy white. Itchy too. A loose leather belt. At least I think it's a belt; I don't know what it is exactly. I also have large leather satchel with nothing but one thing inside it. In a hidden pocket of the satchel is my MP3 player. Sheogorath says he allowed me to keep it to remind me of home. He also said it has infinite battery life. Yeah right. That can't possibly be true.
"I let you listen to a song and the battery is still at 100%," Sheogorath says. "It will last. Give it time and you'll see that it is true."
"So where have you placed the others?" I ask him.
"Not just where, Ashlynn, but when," Sheogorath laughs. "This one young lad, Nathaniel as I recall, was placed in Vvardenfell. He contracted the Blight and didn't survive for long." The Blight? "Don't worry, Ashlynn. For us, that was about 3 years ago. For the mortals of Tamriel, about 200."
"And where is he at now?" I ask.
"Well, since he only lived a couple days, not long enough for me to truly decide whether he's more manic or demented, I placed him in Split." He tells me. "Both his manic and demented sides live as two people, and sooner or later, maybe I'll decide which one is more prominent." He laughs and adds, "Or not! I may just leave him there!"
I stand up and look out the window, wondering how long I might survive. Then I had a thought, What's the longest someone managed to live this way?
"The longest survivor lived about 16 months, almost a year and a half," Sheogorath answers my thought.
I smile. "Make mine 2 years," I turn and start heading towards the stairs. "I will survive. I will live."
