Cearbhail: Yay, new chapter. All done with a throbbing migrane that has not let up all night long. I thought about rubbing an amethyst on my head to calm it down, but if I rely on magic for every little ache and pain...I'll never adapt. Anyway, enjoy.

The town of Cheydinhal. I spent a lot of time here training with Teinaava and Ocheeva. Seeing as they were successful shadowscales who were commissioned as Dark Brotherhood agents, I was able to come by and receive some specialized training from them. I spent a lot of the time walking around the town with Teinaava, taking in the sights and taking notes against my marks. It was a lot like spending time with Julanza only with more emphasis on how anything you do affects the Dark Brotherhood.

The town as I knew it back then was pretty much an Orc town. Orcs seemed to make up the population and hated anyone who wasn't already a part of the town. Seeing a small teenage Argonian wearing mage clothing, they pretty much assumed that I was already an outsider that they could pick on. Well, while I did not do anything against the Orcs, some of the bullies pushing me around wound up dead the next morning and Teinaava was busy washing his blades. Do the math.

The town itself was beautiful. The buildings were lovely and spacious, the town center was built around the guilds. Then there was the small garden outside the Fighters Guild. That was my favorite spot. And although Cheydinhal was surrounded by political corruption it was still a nice place.

But, now the town was leveled. Most if not all the buildings were dropped into a smoking pile of stone and smoldered wood. Craters were left in the ground where Aedra dropped their light bombs. Bodies of victims scattered the streets and some of the bodies were half skeletons with charcoal clinging to where their clothes used to be. It was a grim sight.

I turned to face my task force. I nodded to Erandur. "So…despite our vampire attack, our seer was last sighted here. Think she stayed?"

Erandur glanced around the town. "I'm not sure." He said, beginning to rub his stubbly beard. It looked like he had forgotten to shave the past few days. Then again, we did have more pressing issues. Erandur glanced over to Oleeme and said, "Can you do a scan for anyone containing a high amount of magicka?"

Oleeme glanced over to Erandur and nodded. "Yes, of course." He took a step back and started making lightning-fast hand-signs. His eyes flashed open into a bright light. His body started surrounding itself with a bright flaming white aura as wind started blowing from all sides of him. He started lifting his hands up, and with that, his feet left the ground. He started levitating, crossing his legs and he touched his index finger to his thumb in a relaxing pose. "I will begin scanning immediately. I suggest we use as little magicka as necessary, lest we attract Aedra to our current position."

I nodded, looking over to Huir. "Huir, we need you on overpass. Tell us if you see any movement, our little vampire friend included."

Huir nodded and started looking for a good place to set up. He had just reached the top of a fallen building before he turned to us. "Our little vampire friend in on her way back."

Both Erandur and I turned around to see the vampire girl flying back over to us. She was flying just a few feet off the ground, very slowly. Her wings flapped as fast and as hard as they could and I could see the girl actually strain to keep herself airborne. Although her feet were only an inch length from the ground, she wobbled as if she might fall off a giant cliff. The expression of pure exhaustion and strain was starting to show on her face.

She looked up at Erandur and me and smiled. The break in her concentration allowed her wings to fold and she fell to the ground, smacking her face against the ground. She hit so quickly that I thought that she had just died or something.

"oww…" She mumbled through the dirt. She folded her wings up and pushed her way back up to her knees, brushing off her dress as she did so. She looked up at me and grinned like a child. I could see her teeth were stained with someone's blood. "I'm back."

"I can see that." I replied to her. "Did you kill someone?"

She gave me a confused look. "No…I found a recently dead body that I drained of blood. Then…" She said, rubbing the side of her face nervously. "…its hand may have started moving. I think I just animated a dead body into becoming a vampire."

Erandur smacked his head and pointed up at Huir. "Huir, animated body. Go find it, see if the person's alive. If so, bring them back here for healing and interrogation. If a zombie or thrall…kill it."

The girl protested the last statement. "What? Kill a vampire? Are you going to do that with me?"

Erandur shook his head. "You seem to be in control of yourself now. Plus, we were ordered to keep you safe."

The girl crossed her arms. "Yeah…good job with that." She touched her fangs in mock-surprise. "Wow…I have fangs…" She glared at Erandur. "If you had been protecting me…I wouldn't have them!"

Erandur sighed and face-palmed gently. He looked over to me and said, "Please…handle this."

I nodded, looking over to the vampire girl. "What's your name?"

She smiled. "Babette Traven." She stuck out her hand for a handshake. "My grandfather was some mage or something." She said as I took her hand and shook on it.

I nodded, thinking about her last name. Traven. I don't know what it stuck out to me, but it did. I think it had something to do with the Mages Guild war with the King of Worms, but I wasn't too sure of it. My feeling of infinite knowledge seemed to leak away, making me feel like I was missing some sort of defining trait about this girl that I should know about. Whatever it was, I guess I could find out later.

"I am Shadowblade Nexauvia Frazviani. Don't both trying to pronounce it. Just call me Nexa, everyone else does." I nodded my head over to my companion floating in mid-air. "And this one of my partners…"

"Oleeme Puparammanx." He called back gently but forcefully.

Erandur only seemed to sigh. "I'm Erandur Ocato."

"Name's Huir!" Our archer called from the top of his little roof. "I'm a little worried, sir!" He shouted, his accent thick. "I see a giant wave of bright orange heading our way. I remember seeing waves before, sir. I believe they may be an Aedra extermination heading our way."

Erandur growled under his breath and grabbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. "This is no good! We need to find this seer." He looked over to Oleeme. "Have you located her, yet?"

Oleeme shook his head. "I cannot feel any other significant magicka-laden energy levels within the city hold. I can feel small pockets of lesser forms, maybe children or commoners, or maybe even animals. No significant fighters, though."

Erandur looked shocked for a second. "Wait…survivors? Where?"

"Below us, sir." Oleeme said.

Babette nodded, looking away for a second. "Oh yeah…there was this fallout cellar that everyone started piling into. But…" She said, rubbing the back of her head. "Some of us didn't want to hide. The dead bodies you see are the guards and the Fighters and Mages guild. My dad fought as well and I was hiding in the house, crafting potions for him. I…I never got to hand him my healing charm." She said, holding out a blue bottle that sparkled with a pink glow. I could see tears welling up in her eyes.

Erandur wasted no time. "How do we get down there?" He asked, stepping up to Babette.

Babette pointed back to one of the burnt down houses. "Each house has a trap door that leads down to the fallout shelter. My house wasn't hit that bad so we'll go through my house."

Oleeme stopped levitating and looked down at Babette. "You seem very calm for a ten year-old who just experienced death beyond any measure."

Babette scoffed and crossed her arms. "Well…I am a mage's daughter. Not to mention…becoming a vampire is a very sudden change." She clenched her fists. "I feel…so different. Capable, powerful,…invincible."

Erandur smirked. "Good, we need someone like you if we're going to fight these Aedra."

Babette growled in response. "Don't worry. I have plenty reason to fight them."

We started walking into Babette's house. Well, whatever was left of it anyway. Old paintings of the happy family hung across what was left of the wall, a giant scorch mark obscuring the mother's face. Since the wall that surrounded it was untouched by fire, I can only guess that the scorch mark had been intentional. Babette led us into a very pink and blue room. Right where a bed used to be there was a giant hole in the ground and in the ceiling above. She walked over to the giant hole and gestured down. "The entrance was under my bed…before someone destroyed it."

I looked down, seeing a square hold continuing past the crater. Along with it was a ladder that descended down into the darkness. I wondered how far down it all went. Had to be far enough if everyone was safe.

I was the first one to begin climbing down the ladder. The crater was filled with shifty rocks and I almost slid down the tunnel because of improper footing, but I had caught myself before I actually fell any further than a few inches. As I got about 10 feet down, I could see Erandur going next.

The way was dark and for a few minutes I had to actually feel every step I took, every bar that I grabbed. I could feel cool air flowing up and I noticed a slight breeze that was starting to collect. I had to be near the bottom. Finally, I felt my foot hit a solid piece of ground. I stuck out my hand and started warming up a fire-palm spell. A giant burst of flame erupted from my hand, illuminating the now stretching tunnel that was lying in front of me. It was a short tunnel, only long enough to take a few yards of walking before coming up to a doorway that no doubt led to the giant fallout center under the town.

I waited for Erandur to land next to me before I went ahead and stealthily slid up to the entrance of the door, scanning it for any physical or magical traps. Erandur must have followed my principle of being stealthy because he brushed up to the other side of the door, quiet as a ghost that doesn't breathe loudly.

I allowed myself to catch my breath before I charged up to the door and began to grab the doorknob.

The doorknob started twisting and I jumped back, pulling out two of my throwing knives. The door slid open and out came someone shrouded in a giant black cloak and hood. He was charging right for me. I unleashed both of my hidden throwing knives. The hooded assailant pulled out a two-foot long stick of wood and spun it around. My throwing knives thunked against the wood, becoming lodged inside it. The warrior spun the stick around and the throwing knives flew off into the walls surrounding us.

Erandur took that as his invitation to attack. He unsheathed his blade and charged forward. He came in, bringing both his blades down onto our new enemy. The new guy seemed to notice Erandur, flowing between his swords, stabbing his board of wood into his arm, and then bringing the other one down on his knee. Erandur screamed out more in surprise than pain as he crumpled over.

I was already charging back in, unsheathing my sword. I was a trained assassin. There was no way this upstart could beat me. I flashed up to him, slashing with my sword, already preparing to shove my spiked kneecap into his stomach. My assailant seemed to flash alongside me, catching my attacking hand and bringing up his own knee, keeping mine from interfering.

A good head-butt later, I found myself stepping back, grabbing my head in slight pain. Erandur was already back up on his feet. "This has gone on long enough!" He screamed, clapping his hands together.

A giant shockwave of spark, fire, and air magic roared off his hands, blowing the entire small walking tunnel into an explosion of tight magic. I could just barely raise a warding spell to protect myself. As the dust cleared, I could see the assailant holding up an entire warding bubble. He looked just fine.

Both Erandur and I were slightly shocked to see the assailant's hood had come down. It wasn't a man, it was a woman. She had straight black hair and a giant white blindfold that covered her eyes. This was it, this was the seer we were sent to collect. Just as Erandur was about to say something, she flashed over to him, launching her arm into his sternum. He was still so shocked that he fell off his feet and into the wall. When she turned to face me, I was already preparing to fight her.

"Hold." I heard Oleeme say softly from behind me.

Just as the seer charged up to me, a giant blue fire surrounded her and she became frozen.

Oleeme looked over to me and then to our assailant. "I believe this is our target. Shall I release her from my hold?"

I shook my head. "No way to know if she'd stop attacking us. Knock her out, we'll tie her up and stop all her magicka, and then we'll talk."

Oleeme nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Sleep." He spoke softly, his eyes lighting up. The seer seemed to struggle for a second but then her entire body went limp.

…

A few minutes passed and we took the time to draw a magic circle around her body, limiting her magic to just inside the circle. At first, when we entered the room with their 'protector' limp in our arms, they started preparing to attack us. Once Babette ran into the room and explained what was going on, everyone hesitated in attacking us, finally settling into the belief that if we trumped their only fighter that they were as good as dead if they did charge us.

After we had prepared the circle and cuffed her hands behind her back and tied up her legs as well, I took the time to survey the area. It was just common sense to examine all supplies, take in a guess as to the condition of any possible fighters and liabilities within the group, and a quick survey of all exits. This was what I was good at. Apparently, so was Erandur. His eyes practically followed mine in exactly the same line of thought.

The room was large. A large steel ceiling hung overhead us with vents that probably led up to the clean part of the sewers. That would be the logical guess, or this place could be alongside the sewers. There were no excess buildings, just tents set up along the perimeter. Crates of fresh canned food were stacked along walls. It appeared that someone had tended some sort of underground garden. Vegetable stacks had their own corner, a constant Sunlight spell flashing overhead, creating the necessary light to grow fruits. Aside all that, there seemed to be an adequate amount of chickens and cattle. Good source of eggs and meat if need be.

The people looked more or less worn and torn. The most of the populace were Orcs and Dunmer, but I could see the occasional Imperial or Nord. Some Bretons seemed to line the herd as well. But I did not spot many Bosmer or Altmer. I wondered why.

A mumbled groan coming from our unconscious ally broke my concentration. Erandur was the first one to bend down to check on her. "Good, you're finally awake."

She struggled through her binds, glancing down at the circle. "Ah…a magic blocking circle." It appeared as if she could see through the cloth. Yeah, this was our seer alright.

Erandur stood up and crossed his arms. "It was for our own good. You startled us. Gave us a good beating."

She smirked through her tight lips and glanced up at Erandur. "You were being stealthy. I worried that the vampires had discovered our location." She glanced up at Babette and her smile vanished. "Babette, I thought I told you to stay down here. Why did you go up there?"

Babette smiled sheepishly. "I wanted to see if anyone was coming. I thought I heard voices…"

The seer sighed and said, "And against my orders…you were bit and turned into a vampire. I told you to stay here."

Babette shrugged and looked away. "Oops."

The seer looked up at me and then to Erandur. She pushed herself onto her feet and suddenly, the cuffs holding her arms snapped and the ropes surrounding her legs burst into flames. She brushed off her cloak and tossed it to the side. I could see the white mithril armor with magical runes etched inside the metal with blue glowing Welkynd crystals. Sown into the armor was a rich blue fabric known to the battlemages. The fabric was traced around the sides with golden runes of the same design.

The seer looked up at me again and said, "I am to take it that you're the Shadow Squad sent to acquire me?"

I nodded and looked over to Erandur. "Yes, and this is Troop Leader Erandur of the Battle Group 4."

Erandur nodded a greeting to her, sticking out his hand. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance…?"

She 'looked' down at his hand and took it gingerly. "Just call me Lilly."

Cearbhail: Yes, for all of you who know what's going on. I'm sure you all know what's going on..(that made perfect sense, if it made perfect sense)...