Undian was spending his well earned gold on food. Why? Because, now he was going to this Lake Arrius. But he also had to supply for two people. An Argonian assassin that only goes by the name Yinzei. All of this gold was earned from killing bandits and selling their equipment. Undian didn't need to use a bow.
Yinzei was quiet, but that is how Undian liked it. He never liked talking to any other race, apart from any Imperial trader from Cyrodiil that he communicated with for a short time. How he sometimes hated having parents in the Thalmor.
The bread and produce he just purchased was packaged and was placed into his knapsack. Undian then walked away with a bag full of food and a few coins lighter. The Altmer came back into Luther Broad's, which was mostly empty apart from Yinzei, who was silently sitting in the corner, keeping a vigil over the terrible excuse for an inn.
"Have you got everything?" Yinzei asked, when Undian sat down next to him.
"Yes. Though I'm not sure why you had me buy everything." Undian replied.
"I don't want money. And whatever amount of Septims I do have is of blood money."
'Blood money? No one gets that except a group of assassins or bandits.' Undian thought. 'Unless...'
"Are you an assassin?" Undian asked, whispering so that Luther at the counter didn't hear them.
"I was. It was a dark chapter in my life. Jeelius brought me out to the light, along with a sound beating from my father."
"Then why did Baurus tell me that you are coming with me?"
"Jeelius has been kidnapped and all of the fingers point to the Mythic Dawn."
"And you want to get him back."
"Aye. Why are you after the Mythic Dawn?"
"The Mythic Dawn hold the Amulet of Kings. And the leader of the Blades ordered me to get it."
Yinzei grunted, nodding. 'But why would Grandmaster Jauffre do that? The Emperor and his heirs are dead.'
The Argonian stood up. "We should begin. The enemy will grow only more powerful every day we waste."
Undian followed Yinzei's lead. "Finally, an Argonian that makes sense." He grumbled.
The two picked their weapons up and walked out of Luther Broad's. When the light hit Yinzei's armour, Undian saw why he called Baurus Knight-Brother. His armour looked exactly like the Blade's armour, except it was more chainmail than actual steel plate. The colours were dulled down to assist in blending into the shadows.
They just left the Imperial City and were walking over the large bridge that connected the City to the rest of Cyrodiil. Luckily, they were alone on the bridge.
"You're a Blade, aren't you?" Undian asked.
Yinzei looked at Undian with indifference. "It's the armour design, isn't it?"
"Aye."
"You, my Altmer friend, are smarter than you look."
Undian stopped and harshly grabbed Yinzei's shoulder. "I am not your friend, Argonian." He growled.
Yinzei breathed in and exhaled in a sigh. The next thing Undian knew was that he was on the ground with Yinzei's head blocking the sun, with Yinzei's hand wrapped around his throat. "If we are to work together, then we need to be friends. If that cannot be done, then the Mythic Dawn has already won." Yinzei said, with an odd calm to it.
Yinzei retracted his hand from Undian's throat, allowing the High Elf to breathe once again. Undian stood up and the two continued, an air of hostility emanating from Undian. They reached the stables, two horses came up to the fence to greet them. One was Prior Maborel's paint horse, the other had a silver coat to it. Yinzei came up to the fence and lifted his hand up to the silver horse's snout, which it nuzzled with what Undian thought was glee. The stable-master, seeing the two owners of the horses, unlocked the gate and lead the two horses outside. It was here that Undian saw that Maborel's paint horse was a bit on the plump size. And, from the looks of it, Yinzei noticed too.
"Is that your horse, Undian?" He asked.
"Not officially."
Yinzei shook his head in disgust. "Such a young horse. Did this person ever ride her?"
Undian was shocked, but he didn't show it. He didn't know that Prior Maborel's horse was female, and young at that. "No."
"Anyone who knows their horses would know. She's a keeper, if a glutton at best." The stable-master quipped.
"We should start moving." Undian said, not wanting any more delays.
Undian mounted the paint horse and Yinzei his silver horse.
"Have a safe journey, you two!" The stable-master yelled.
Yinzei raised his hand in appreciation. Both spurred their horses into a gallop and raced away from the stables.
"And may Kynareth protect you in her realm." The stable-master mumbled when they were gone.
They just began their journey east along the Red Ring Road when the sun was on the western horizon. The two made up camp and Yinzei went out into the woods nearby to hunt for the local game, leaving Undian to make and maintain the campfire.
He took some branches from the from of the forest for firewood. Some of the larger ones he placed on an angle on a nearby rock and broke them with a good kick. He carried each piece to the small camp. He placed them in a way that would begin a small campfire. He didn't have a dagger or flint on him, so Undian waited for Yinzei to come back.
"Tch, tch, tch. Too much hostility."
Undian jumped, his right hand reaching for his sword hilt, but he only grabbed air. He then calmed down, realising that it was the Nord's voice once again.
"The Saxhleel was right. Right now, the Mythic Dawn has won. But you can change their victory to defeat, Undian Loreius." The Nord said again.
'I will never make an animal my friend.' Undian thought.
"Who's the animal? Yinzei? Or you? He has given you respect, but you didn't respect him back. That makes you the animal."
The voice dissipated, leaving Undian alone with his thoughts. 'Is this voice really right? No! No! He's wrong!'
"Undian."
Undian looked up from the floor, seeing Yinzei standing there, a bleeding pouch in his right hand. Undian growled, and made a flicker of flame appear in his hand and lit the pile of sticks. The fire burned with the tenacity to destroy, but was only limited to the pile of sticks. Suddenly, Undian's eyesight began to change. The tallest point of the pile became the White-Gold Tower, caught in the middle of the flames. The circle of sticks around it became the various districts of the Imperial City, also caught in the flames. A torch bug came flying near the fire, but it turned into a huge creature, but only one quarter of the size of the White-Gold Tower. It had four arms, the upper right held an axe and the lower left held claws of some kind. Its face resembled a scamp's, but the skin was more brown than cream. It had no tail, which was also unlike a scamp.
"This is what will happen if you do not change, Loreius. Destruction of all Nirn." The voice explained.
Undian blinked and the vision disappeared, returning to Yinzei who just began to cook a few pieces of meat above the fire. He seemed transfixed on cooking the meat that it gave Undian some time to think. Although cooking was a simple task, cooking over an open fire was a skill that few learnt, and fewer mastered. The concentration that Yinzei was displaying was beyond an ordinary hunter, but a seasoned survivalist. Animal's don't learn, people do. But, he seemed distracted about something, but that only showed for a split second. Animal's do not show remorse or mercy, but Yinzei did while Undian hasn't. Undian was so distracted by his pondering of many situations that he didn't see Yinzei remove the meat from the fire and place them on a piece of bread each.
Undian accepted it without worry. They ate in silence, although Undian couldn't help but look at Yinzei. The sight that befell him was the Argonian savagely biting into the meat and bread and swallowing it without chewing it. It made him shiver.
'More animal when it comes to food.' Undian thought.
Yinzei must've sensed him watching, as he stopped eating and looked at Undian. The fire on the side of the lizard's face makes him look even more animalistic. Although, the fire must've made Undian look more animalistic as well.
"It looked terrible, I know. I get that stare a lot at the inns." He explained.
"Why don't you chew it? It's rude." Undian responded.
"For Men, Mer and Khajiit, yes it is considered rude. The Hist made us Argonians this way. You try chewing with sharp teeth that can rip flesh easily."
Undian looked away, shaking his head. "Fucking dirty lizards and their stupid worship of the trees."
Yinzei must've heard what he said, but didn't say anything in return. 'He will come to light. Sithis would know when.'
The two began their ride east, along the northern part of the Red Ring Road. Suddenly, the sky turned red and broken, thunder cracking without a lightning bolt.
"No, no, nonononono." Undian muttered, turning his head towards the strong feelings of magicka.
He dismounted the paint horse and began to clamber up the hill to their right. Yinzei calmly dismounted his horse and took its muzzle in his hands. He made a series of sharp pops and long hisses to the horse, which it understood. Yinzei then let go of his horse and followed Undian up the hill with ease.
Over the hill, a hellish gate to Oblivion stood tall, towering above the trees. Undian stood at the top, mouth partially open. Shock soon became anger.
"Xuth." He heard Yinzei say. Undian wasn't sure what it meant, but now was the time to close this accursed Gate.
Undian drew his longsword and ran towards the Gate without a care on Nirn. Waves upon waves of scamps and odd little dinosaur things came running out of the Gate. It didn't matter to Undian. All were cut down in one way or another. Soon, a mass grave of Daedra laid on the ground, bleeding some yellow liquid. Undian sheathed his longsword and looked to one of the dinosaur corpses, wondering what they were.
"Clannfears. Runts. Another twisted mockery of life on Mundus." The Nordic voice said.
'How do you know so much?' Undian thought.
The voice chuckled. "That is a secret."
A fireball struck the High Elf. While the chainmail stopped most of the harm, Undian was still harmed to a small extent. The ethereal flames kept burning the armour. Undian looked to where the fireball came from, seeing a taller version of a scamp.
It began casting another fireball to hit the downed High Elf. An arrow suddenly hit the side of the scamp's head. It fell to the side, dead, the fireball having stopped casting. Yinzei was running towards Undian, his bow raised to deliver a quick death to any daedra that come out of the Gate. Fortunately, none came out. Yinzei placed the arrow back into the quiver.
Undian stood back up and picked his longsword up as well.
"We need to close the Gate!" Undian yelled above the roaring of the Gate.
Yinzei gestured one end of the bow towards the Gate. "Lead on!" He replied.
They both ran up to the Gate, where the roaring was almost deafening. Undian touched the Gate tentatively, unused to the feeling. He was sucked in, the fire erupting around his body once again. Yinzei was a lot more hesitant to touch it, but did so anyway. Yinzei looked into the surface if the Deadlands.
He saw six towers, one large one with the five smaller ones surrounding it, having connecting bridges to the large one. A sea of lava was around the Gate and the towers. Many forms of Daedra stood between them and the towers. Large mason gates were placed in between the towers, although they could only see two.
Undian has already started to walk forwards, rage evident in the way that he was walking. A lightning bolt from Undian's hand spelled the end of the daedra that came near. Yinzei followed, knowing that the plains of Oblivion are a dangerous place, an arrow placed into the bowstring.
They went to the first tower to their left. The High Elf was almost hit by a fireball from a tower, which Yinzei threw him away from. The two entered the tower, being careful to not cut themselves on the spikes of the door. A Dremora Churl was patrolling the bottom part of the tower. It noticed the two and drew its mace. With a distorted war cry, it charged at them. Yinzei pulled the bowstring back and fired the arrow, the missile sinking into the Dremora's skull. It fell backwards and died, dropping the mace. Yinzei walked up to hit and pulled the arrow out, getting a chunk of Dremora skin and bone with it. He wiped it off onto the daedra's armour and replaced it into the quiver.
Undian stopped onto the platform, where spikes were coming out of holes in it. Yinzei got on and waited.
"Are you ready?" Undian asked.
However, the High Elf didn't wait for an answer. He kicked a gear, which sent it spinning. The other gears did the same thing, although they weren't kicked. The platform began to rise, the spikes staying on the floor, except for the large one which it was a part of the platform. The platform stopped a good ways up the tower. A stunted scamp was waiting for them at the top. Undian rushed forwards and swung his sword across the daedra's throat before it could do anything. They went up the spiral ramp, throwing any daedra down the hole that was ever present.
They reached the top, no Daedra to fight when they did. A corpse was in a cage, hanging dangerously above the platform that took them up. A large, demonic looking contraption with gears and three spikes on them was flanked by two levers. Yinzei went to the one on the right, Undian the left. Yinzei pulled his first. They heard a screech from behind them. Both turned rapidly, revealing the cage's bottom has flopped down, releasing the corpse. Not bothering to check where the prisoner ended up, Undian turned around and pulled his. The gears began to turn and the spikes made a sick cacophony of clangs and scrapes.
They went out of the door by their left, meeting the air of the Deadlands. The two looked down and saw the gate beneath the bridge open. They saw the other bridge that was below them, both getting the exact same idea. They went back into the tower and descended to the bottom.
They were at the top of the tower, the end of the line. Yinzei had his quiver slightly depleted, but he looked calm. Undian's magicka has almost depleted and couldn't regenerate quickly enough. He couldn't find any daedric magicka reserves nearby, so he was tired, due to not being a hardened warrior or having a massive stamina, and next to useless now without his magicka.
Both could feel the massive amount of magicka radiating off of the pillar of flames, a black stone floating at the top. Undian searched through his potion reserves, unable to find anything to help regenerate his magicka or stamina. Closing the reserve pouch, Undian sighed and unsheathed his longsword.
He nodded to Yinzei, although reluctantly, and began to fruitlessly charge through. Yinzei followed, expertly shooting his arrows into scamps who thought it was a good idea who try to send fireballs their way. Undian cut through any Dremora Churls and Caitiffs that tried to fight them. One Dremora got past Undian's mindless slashing and to the Argonian. Yinzei noticed it and turned his attention to it. The Dremora raised his mace and sent the savage weapon down to crush his skull. Yinzei used the end of his bow to deflect the blow. Yinzei sent the other end into the back of Dremora's knee. He unsheathed his elven dagger and sliced across the daedra's throat, killing it for now.
For a good while, they fought the daedra. The two stood amongst a pile of dead daedra. Suddenly, what the two could only describe as a woman of flames came down the spiked stairs and began to throw a multitude of fireballs at them with amazing accuracy. Every arrow that Yinzei shot at it was burnt up by a fireball. Undian's magicka has regenerated just enough to be able to use one spell.
He got another look at the being. Undian remembered that this is a flame atronach. Fire helps it, but it has a weakness to Frost magic. He focused the magicka into his palm, seeing a paper thin layer of ice cover it. He saw the atronach send another fireball, hitting the edge of the doorway that the two hid behind. He sheathed his longsword and ran out into the open, making a beeline towards the atronach. He got close, feeling the cold flames lick at his skin. He placed his palm on the side of the metallic half-face and focused the magicka more intently. The frost overloaded the atronach's system, and the fires which sustained it smouldered. It fell, black and lifeless. Yinzei began to recover all of his arrows, regaining all of them fired.
The two ran up the stairs and up the skin drapes. Undian took the chance to use the magicka reserves, using the chalice supplied to drink out of it. When it came to actually getting the stone, another huge wave of Dremora came running in. Undian grabbed the stone, feeling the stone cool rapidly at his touch. The pillar extended upwards towards the sky. The magicka picked the two from Mundus and sent them out of the top of the tower. They were thrown out of the tower and through the rapidly closing Oblivion Gate. It closed after Yinzei's flying form went through.
The two came out bouncing off of the soil. Steam began to rise from their armour. It felt better now that they were out of the Deadlands and back on Tamriel. Groaning, they stood up and stumbled over to their horses over the hill, still on the road. Both mounted their respective horses and began to ride towards Cheydinhal once again, although Undian took this moment to rest his head on his horse's neck and close his eyes.
When Undian woke from his short nap, they were at a small shack in the middle of the Red Ring Road. He saw the sign hanging from beside the door. The Roxey Inn. They dismounted and tied their horses up at the fence and walked into the poor excuse for an inn. It was smaller than they previously thought, but it was warm and away from the elements, so they couldn't complain much. They sat near the small fire at the other end of the small eating hall.
They had a small portion of food from the innkeeper, which was gratefully warm.
Yinzei rented a room for the night ahead. Undian, thinking that the room would be dirty as hell, elected to sleep outside with the horses.
"There it is. Cheydinhal."
The two were riding up to a walled city, North-East of the Imperial City. The moons, Masser and Secunder, were shining bright. The gate stood proudly before them, lit by torches and bearing the seal of Cheydinhal. A few metres towards the gate and Undian found himself riding by himself with Yinzei riding northwards.
"Where are you going, lizard?" Undian asked loudly.
Yinzei looked at him, seemingly unimpressed at Undian's apparent lack of respect.
"Lake Arrius." He replied before continuing.
Undian began to follow, heading north.
"And this is what a High Elf has been reduced to." The Nord voice said.
'I'm not sure what you are talking about.'
"The Argonians are ruthless in defending their home province. I've heard the stories."
'What stories?'
"Of how they used guerrilla tactics for defence, using their natural gifts to their advantage. Better than Orcish berserkers in a way."
They passed a pretty unremarkable structure. And even Yinzei was confused by this, but they kept riding. The hills that surrounded Cheydinhal reminded Undian of the forests of home, minus the majestic cities and the constant feeling of magicka that permeated the air itself.
An arrow flew past them, splitting the wind. Both quickly dismounted their horses, the silver horses running away to hide behind a tree.
'Smart animal.' Undian thought, another arrow flying past him.
Undian almost drew his weapon when a ball of frozen wind rushed past his body. He could feel the ice forming on his skin from the proximity, but it didn't hit him. He saw another High Elf, charging down the hill. Ice formed around her palm, which froze the air around it. She threw her hand out, unleashing yet another ball of icy wind. Undian thought quickly, and sent a fireball at the projectile.
They clashed, both magicka projectiles fading. The Altmer bandit sent a fireball, which was made defunct by streaks of lightning. Both Altmer soon began to throw many Destruction spells at each other. Poison, Fire, Ice and Lightning. All were sent, all were rendered defunct by another. Undian, in a moment of realisation, sent two spells straight after the other, streaks of lightning followed by a fireball. The streaks made contact with the poison projectile, both rendered each other useless, allowing the fireball to continue without impediment. The projectile hit the Altmer bandit in the chest and sent her onto her back. The flames licked at her leather armour, burning it. The flames spread unnaturally, rapidly cloaking the Altmer in flames that did nothing to the environment. What was left was a burnt corpse, some golden skin was left unburnt.
Undian looked to Yinzei's battle, which was with a Khajiit. The Argonian was holding the cat around the neck, an elven dagger pressed dangerously around the throat. The two seemed to know each other, as there was a small conversation between them.
"I LEFT THAT LIFE BEHIND!" Yinzei savagely shouted, before slicing the cat's neck open.
Undian ran up to Yinzei, who was staring at the dying Khajiit. The Khajiit was saying something, which Undian knelt down to hear.
"On this day, I go to the Void." He wheezed out before succumbing to Arkay's embrace.
Yinzei's horse trotted up him, seeing that the danger has passed. The Argonian grabbed the reins and lead the horse further up the hill. Undian did the same thing and followed. They came up to a camp, where a smouldering fire still lay. Undian fed some more firewood into the fire and relit it with magic. The warmth the fire gave off was welcoming. They cooked almost the last of their supplies, eating them with a ferocity that was rivalled to animals.
After the ravenous part was over with, they were grateful that the two bandits had the sense to keep covers over their bedrolls, which were unrolled. They slept in their for the night, grateful for the fact that they can sleep with some protection from the elements.