Chapter Three: Madness Unleashed
Vorald watched Cassandra walk forward to the block, and felt pretty horrible. She was being punished because she was traveling with him, and he was wanted by the Thalmor. It wasn't enough they'd ruined his life, they needed to continue to persecute him because of his unrepentant worship of Talos. He was also surprised to find that he actually cared about what happened to this woman he barely knew, and didn't particularly like. She walked up to the block, appearing slightly agitated, but not fearful. He could respect that. This Imperial woman was facing death like a true Nord. The headsman pushed her into the block, and as the man did, a strange noise was heard. Vorald wasn't sure what it was, but he supposed it didn't matter. He would face execution soon, but he had lived honorably and was sure he would reach Sovngarde, which was more than could be said for the Thalmor bastards who ordered his execution.
The Captain ordered the fall of the axe, and Vorald winced as he watched her head get cleaved from her body. Then, the Captain ordered him forward. "Next! The Nord in the rags!" He felt like spitting on her, but he would walk to his death with dignity.
It was around this time that everything went to Oblivion and back several times.
What happened first was that Cassandra's corpse began to glow. But it wasn't light radiating off of her, it was a kind of tangible darkness, a purplish-black glow. Her head lifted up off the ground and reattached itself to her head. The flesh began knitting together, and then Cassandra blinked. "Owwwwwwww. Decapitation really hurts." She then went to crack her neck. "Seriously! My hands are still tied after that? Fuck me." Every single jaw in the courtyard dropped, and slowly went lower with each new development. First Emissary Elenwen, General Tullius, and Ulfric Stormcloak had all just witnessed a resurrection, and the image would be with them forever. The Captain, predictably, was the first to recover.
"Kill her again! And make sure she stays dead this time! Cut her up into tiny pieces if you must but I don't want her to ever draw breath again!"
"You're very silly you know that? I don't breathe. And also I can't allow you to kill me again. Allowing you to kill me once was a mistake born of distraction from whatever that thing was."
"What are you waiting for soldiers?! Grab this witch!" The soldiers were still staring in shock, and some of them visibly backed away on the orders. Even Tullius made sure there was distance between him and Cassandra.
"Really? A witch? Now that's just mean. I have never once danced naked under the moonlight or kidnapped little girls. Except for that one time, but she was a vampire, in my defense. I think she was anyway. And I'm really sorry to have to do this next thing to you. You seem like good people, but I can't let you execute another one of these men. It could be Nirn's undoing. So, Haskill, open the gates now."
And with that order to no visible person, the second thing happened, a stream of daedra began pouring out of newly opened oblivion gates. Vorald shot a look at Cassandra, or whoever the hell she was, and she actually looked pained, then, she turned away. He returned his attention to the creature's streaming out of the gates. They appeared to be scantily clad women, shouting things like "Death to Order!" and "For the glory of Sheogorath!" Half of them shimmered with golden light and wielded axes, swords, shields, warhammers, and maces. The other half appeared to be darkness incarnate, and wielded daggers and the shadows. The soldiers were wholly unprepared, but Vorald noticed something astonishing. Not a single one of the daedra was trying to kill. They were all attempting some non-lethal incapacitation of the soldiers. This whole thing was nothing but a distraction.
He heard Ralof calling to him, "Hurry, into the tower! The Gods won't give us another chance!" Vorald began running after him, but when he was halfway to the tower the third thing happened. A dragon, a gods-damned dragon flew overhead and summoned flaming meteors to pummel Helgen to a pulp. Vorald wasn't even sure which he was more scared of, the daedra or the dragon, and couldn't even begin to contemplate Cassandra's role in all of this.
"Jarl Ulfric! What's happening! What are those creatures? Was that a dragon I heard?" One of the Stormcloak soldiers asked.
"I don't know, all I know is that the Legion will be in disarray and we will have no better chance to escape." Ulfric replied.
"You there! Vorald! Climb the tower with me!" Ralof called out.
Vorald ran up the steps, but when he reached the top the wall collapsed inwards and the dragon breathed fire into the cavity that Vorald barely evaded. Ralof pointed out that they'd have to jump into the inn across the alley, but that he needed to find Ulfric. So once again, Vorald was alone. Gods-damn it he was running through a burning village past daedra fighting legionnaires while bound and unarmored with a dragon flying overhead, and he was sure it was all her fault. Vorald ran into the Imperial officer who'd read the names, a Nord named Hadvar, and then had to follow him through this, this, well, clusterfuck is the only word that accurately describes it with the proper emotion. As they were running the dragon landed on the roof of the building they were taking cover next to and breathed fire directly in front of them, although it couldn't actually reach the two or else Vorald was sure he would be dead. They ran out into an open clearing and found the fourth surprise of the day, Cassandra calling out to the dragon. Vorald wasn't even sure why he was surprised anymore.
"ALDUIN! Fight me like a man you overgrown lizard! Umm, dragon! Not man! Come on you weak, spineless little-!" Then, as if this day wasn't strange enough the dragon moved to hover in front of Cassandra, using its wing beats to deftly deflect incoming arrows. And along came the fifth surprise, it spoke. "Sheogorath, you are not like these joor. Why do you bother defending them? They are worms, fit only to grovel beneath the feet of creatures like us."
"Because if you destroyed Nirn it would get really, really, boring, and I'd prefer to avoid that outcome."
"No. It would merely usher in the new world."
"That sounds like the Greymarch, you dumbass. I stopped it then, I'll stop it now. Fuck you Alduin, this place was once my home and I won't abandon it to its fate like every other God has. Why don't you go ask Jygallag what it feels like to cross me? Or Mehrunes Dagon? You are nothing wyrm."
This sent the dragon into a rage, he flew off and the attack intensified.
"Listen up Aureals! Mazken! I know I called you here to engage the Legion, but you have a new primary objective before the portal closes. Make that bitch in the sky feel the pain of Sheogorath's wrath. Or was it the wrath of grapes? No matter. KILL!" Cassandra called out to the various daedra, who then gave off a series of battle cries and directed their attention towards the dragon and away from the defenders of the village.
Hadvar was calling to him and Vorald ran to catch up, but Cassandra spotted him and ran forward to intercept him. "Vorald, we need to get into Helgen Keep's armory, that's where they stashed our stuff. I know you likely have many questions, but I can't answer them until we're safe."
Ralof appeared and he and Hadvar got into what looked like a pissing match. They finally broke apart and each was calling out to Vorald. Vorald didn't trust the Empire, not right now anyway, and Ralof was something of a friend while Hadvar was little more than an alliance of convienence. As a result, Vorald took off after Ralof and was dimly aware that Cassandra was following him. The dragon began another sweep, and Cassandra shut the door right as the fire was about to enter the room. Ralof and Vorald had to pause to catch their breaths, while Cassandra appeared unfazed. Dimly, Vorald realized she had the same white pupils and gold streaks in her eyes as when he first met her, except they didn't subside nearly as quickly.
"Sorry, I was shutting the oblivion gate. It required a bit of power, that's why the eyes started glowing."
"What. The. Fuck."
"I'm sorry I had to lie to you Vorald, but I didn't lie about my help being needed, or that the other Gods won't pitch in."
He was so overwhelmed and had no idea how to put his thoughts in order enough to ask any questions. So, he grasped onto the first thought that surfaced in his head. "You were complaining about it being cold."
"What?"
"When we first met, you were complaining about the cold. You're a God, why would cold bother you?"
The corners of a smile started twitching at her lips. "Honestly, it shouldn't, but I'm Sheogorath, the God of Madness, nothing about me makes any sense to anyone except me. If you'll recall, I was also hungry but I don't need to eat, sleep, or even breathe."
"So when you were speaking about the Gods you were speaking from experience?" Ralof asked, completely incredulous.
"Yes."
"Do you know Talos?"
Cassandra, or was it Sheogorath, laughed at that. "Oh yes. You could say we are well acquainted." Ralof began to blush slightly while Vorald just slid down the wall. He suddenly realized his bonds were still in place. He'd completely forgotten in all of the madness. "In all seriousness, Talos is my best friend. We understand each other in ways that others simply can't as we're both 'mortal' gods. But what I said about Akatosh being a prick wasn't exaggeration. The guy doesn't want to help at all, and he imposes his will on the Aedra. Daedra are out of his net, and the others can try to sneak away from time to time, but for the most part he keeps a stranglehold on the Gods you call the Divines to keep them from getting involved. And no one has the power to face him openly, not even in a united front. This was actually Talos' idea, for me to come here and help out. I thought it would be fun and didn't have anything more pressing, so I agreed."
"You were actually pretty close to Talos when the oblivion gate opened. After that shit Dagon pulled two hundred years ago Akatosh created a barrier between here and Oblivion, to prevent anymore daedric invasions. I can slip through with severely weakened abilities because I was once mortal, but it blocks out most of my brethren for more than quick jaunts through the mortal plane. Anyways, the only way to open an oblivion gate is with the will of an Aedra and a Daedra working in tandem. Talos wasn't very happy by the way, he understood the necessity of my actions, but we had both planned for me to be undercover for a bit longer."
"This is all very interesting, but could one of you cut my bonds?" Vorald asked.
"Of course Vorald, sorry about that." Sheogorath said. She moved over to slice the ropes binding his hands together with a steel dagger lying on the table.
"You've said that you were once mortal, like Talos. What did you mean by that?" Vorald asked.
She sighed, "That's a very long story we don't have time for right now. Suffice to say, I was born Cassandra Titanilius two hundred and twenty five years ago. I'll try to explain later when I'm feeling particularly lucid like right now and we don't have any more pressing issues like Alduin flying over us and angry legionnaires out for our blood."
"Alduin? You mean Alduin the World-Eater?" Ralof asked.
"Yes, one and the same. Alduin the first-born of Akatosh. Yet another failing of the Dragon God."
"You really hate Akatosh don't you?"
"We tolerate each other. Barely. But I don't exactly hate him, I hate the Gods like Mehrunes Dagon, Vaermina, Boetheia, and Molag Bol, who get off on pain and suffering."
"So is this really the end of days? Here? Now? Are we all going to die?"
"Gods I hope not. There is a plan in place to possibly defeat Alduin, but no guarantee. That's where I come in."
"What is this cosmic plan to defeat the World-Eater? Only a Dragonborn can kill Alduin, and they all died out with the Septim line."
Cassandra visibly flinched at the last comment, then said, "The plan was to create a new Dragonborn, a true Dragonborn with the soul of a dragon. There has not been one such ever since the days of Tiber Septim himself. Him." At the last comment she glanced pointedly at Vorald.
"WHAT! How can such a thing be possible! That I'm, Dragonborn! I don't even-"
"Stop. I hear someone coming. None of us are armed so we need to get to the armory as soon as possible. I can summon one of my daedra to fight for us in the meantime, but the sheer concentration required to maintain the link to Oblivion will mean I can't fight as long as she's here. We need to move."
"One last thing. Do I call you Cassandra or Sheogorath?" Vorald asked her.
"This is Nirn, I'm just as much Cassandra as Sheogorath, if not more Cassandra. So in answer to your question, call me simply Cassandra. Or the Lord Prince of Cheeses."
As they stood up, only one thought ran through Vorald's mind. 'Why can't today just end? Haven't I taken enough?'
A/N
I hope this is a bit more exciting than your average Helgen chapter. Instead of the Legion running around like chickens with their heads cut off because of Alduin's attack, they're running around engaging both him and the daedra of the Shivering Isles.
I actually prefer the Legion to the Stormcloaks, but these characters would want to help Ralof over Hadvar. Well, Cassandra wouldn't care, but Vorald would trust Ralof more. However the characters won't deal with either side until after Alduin is defeated and it's unlikely they'll participate in any wars when/if a side is chosen.
I've been playing Skyrim again, and recently replayed The Mind of Madness, and realized the insanity of Cassandra pales in comparison to Sheogorath in canon, so I'm just going to say AU and leave it at that. One of the problems in writing this is that she has to be completely insane, but not such a raving lunatic that she is useless to the plot and in combat, or even worse, a hindrance to the others.
After getting the traffic stats for this story when I posted this afternoon, I've decided to move the update day to Saturday to maximize people who read this. There were almost double the views because I posted six hours earlier than the Sunday night I'd been doing on the previous two. Now let's just see if I can remember about that change when it counts. If I forget (which seems likely) you should leave a review reminding me! Or a PM, whatever floats your boat. Also, special thanks to Tamuril Telrunye for leaving a nice review that I can consider as review number one on this site, rather than the asshole I ranted about in chapter two's A/N. I probably would have forgotten to post until the last minute (so, now) if it weren't for that reminding me I have this story running. It also inspired me to finish the chapter I started a week or half a week ago. (It's hard to keep track of time sometimes when not much really happens. In or out of school/work.) So, you don't need to review, but it gets me thinking about the story and writing it when you do.