Disclaimer: I still don't own Morrowind. Nope. Own not the license. Bethesda, please don't send lawyers (or Ordinators…or Imperial guards) to beat me to death.
AN: Okay, we've met Dom, and explored some of the inner workings of his mind. Now, in the words of the Monty Python troupe, "time for something completely different."
Charon looked down one hallway, and then another. The young Redguard considered his current situation. He was in a long-forgotten Daedric shrine, trying to retrieve a powerful artifact for some Imperial big-wig. Charon sighed, and recollected the events of the past few days.
He had come to Vvardenfell by a somewhat typical method: a prison transport ship. He had then been escorted to Fort Moonmoth, where he spent the next day or so in a cell. That was when the Imperial came.
"Hello, Charon." he had said. "I am Carnius Magius, of the East Empire Company. According to your record, you are here due to your participation in an illegal gladiatorial arena, correct?" Charon nodded. It had really been the only way he could've survived in his home city, being paid for winning illegal pit fights.
"I am here to offer you a proposition. In the Sheogorad region to the north, there is a Daedric shrine, in which is a powerful artifact. A helmet unlike any others. Find it, and I will assure your freedom."
What choice did Charon have? It was either rot in prison, or die in a Daedric ruin. He had considered running on the way to the shrine, but he'd been "escorted" there by a squad of Imperial guards.
So now, he was here, in an ancient shrine, on a Gods-forsaken island in the middle of nowhere. Surprisingly, though, he'd met little resistance. A few Scamps, here and there, and there was a trap on a door that nearly cost him his life, but he was relatively unscathed.
Charon turned the corner and proceeded down the corridor, cautious. At the end of the hall was a large stone door. Spying a lever, Charon pulled it…only to have hidden doors spring open, and several golden orbs roll into the room.
The spheres tops popped off, and from within the spheres, vaguely humanoid mechanical figures emerged, blades deploying from claw-like right hands. Sphere Centurions.
One rolled forward, striking at Charon with its blade. Blocking with his steel shield the Redguard contemplated his foes.
"This is far too strange. Why would Dwemer Centurions be guarding a Daedric shrine?" Charon thought, lashing back with a steel katana. His blow, while not destroying the mechanical guardian, damaged it. The Redguard struck out several more times, dodging or blocking each blow.
As the other Sphere Centurions closed in upon him, Charon destroyed the first, and repeated his strategy, though being injured several times in the process. Once the Centurions had been destroyed, he pulled the lever once more, and the door opened.
Within the chamber, at the far back, lay the artifact Charon sought. He walked to it, still cautious of potential traps. He climbed the dais stairs to the pedestal on which the helmet sat. Charon removed from its place, and examined the relic.
It didn't seem to be Daedric in origin. It seemed to be made of flesh, dark, even black, skin, with pieces of metal seemingly fused onto it. The headdress had a mouth design, filled with sharp, jagged teeth. It might not have been Daedric, but whatever it was, it still made the Redguard uneasy.
"I wonder, does Carnius know what this does? I doubt it. Beside, he might even pay me if I test out what it does." Charon placed the helmet upon his head, anticipating the effect.
"That's odd. I don't feel like anything's different." Charon thought. At that moment, his face began to burn with pain. The Reguard lifted his hands to the helmet to remove it, but found that it was impossible to do so!
He fell to his knees, clutching and clawing at the helmet. Words and phrases echoed throughout the chamber, taunting Charon in a language that was old when existence was new. The Redguard felt something bubble and shift beneath his skin, as dark, chitin-like material burst forth from his flesh.
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Hours later, the dark lord Sjall-Mikela-Swiheim opened his eyes, and rose to his feet. He looked upon his body, the body that had mere hours before been owned by a Redguard foolhardy enough to enter into the place where, eons before, he had been sealed.
Sjall rummaged through the raider's memories, as if turning the pages of a book. Charon's mind was before him, spilling it's contents. In mere seconds, Sjall knew all the Reguard had.
"So…" he rumbled in Tamrielic. "I am free, after endless years of imprisonment." He grinned, jagged teeth glinting. "Well, it is time to make sure things stay that way."
Cidius Aurrus sighed. It had been hours since the Redguard prisoner had entered the ruins, and he was wanting to return to Fort Moonmoth. But, he had to stay here, along with the men under his command, until either dawn of the next day, or the Redguard returned.
"Sir!" a recruit on his first mission called to Cidius. Walking over to the man's position, covering the door, he asked,
"Yes, what is it?"
"Sir, there's something coming out!"
"Is it the Redguard?"
"No sir, it's bigger. Much bigger."
"Okay. Legionnaires, equip crossbows!" Every member of the Legion unsung the crossbow they carried on this particular mission. As a looming shape appeared in the doorway to the shrine, Cidius ordered, "Open fire!"
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Ten crossbow bolts struck Sjall in various places. Barely feeling their impact, much less their sting, he moved onward. As another volley was fired, he struck out at a Legionnaire with his claws, easily slicing through his chain cuirass like a Daedric dagger through Sload Soap. As they drew their broadswords and shields, Sjall slashed again at the closest soldier.
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Cidius saw the clawed hand coming towards him, and blocked with his shield. Bringing his Imperial broadsword around, he slashed at the thing. The blade connected with its chitinous skin…and shattered.
The creature swiped with one hand, knocking away Cidius' shield and broken sword. With its other hand, it impaled him through the chest with its claws. As he was stabbed, Cidius heard bones brake, and felt vital organs in his abdomen pierced.
Collapsing to the ground, the light leaving his eyes, Cidius watched as the thing slew his men, listening to their final screams and shouts of pain. It took him a very long time to die.
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Sjall looked to the massacre he had committed. For the first time in innumerable years, he felt alive again. Well, not really alive. He examined the bodies of the Imperial Legionnaires he had slain. Upon the wounds of each body, a black substance was forming, and rapidly spreading across the skin.
Minutes later, Cidius' corpse sat up, given new life. His skin was darkened, much like Sjall's, and was harder and more durable than before. But there was one major difference in the Legionnaire. It might've been his body, but the mind controlling it belonged to something entirely different.
"My Lord Sjall." it choked out, the words sounding guttural. "It is good to finally be free of the Nexus."
"It is indeed." Sjall responded, as the other bodies began to rise. "And we will never return."