Cearbhail: Hmm, this chapter is getting pretty close to where my references keep coming to. You'll see what I mean by the end of the chapter. Well, anyway. Enjoy.

[Warlord Zeelius]

"So, what am I looking at?" I asked as my eyes darted around the screen.

My most trusted shadowmaster, Shadowmaster Yuvenni, pointed to the hovering visual of hundreds of dead bodies. Everything in a mile was a corpse. I could see the bodies of children, skeletons, necromancers, mothers, fathers. I could see a lot of dead stuff lying on the ground. "The aftermath of the Bruma Massacre. Scouts were sent in yesterday to collect data on what happened last week."

This new floating orb was wonderful. It produced a wonderful picture of all of Tamriel. It allowed me to zoom in as close as I wanted, even see through walls if need be (although it would be spectral form). This was the ultimate tool of spying. I could easily conquer the world with this orb…and the Aldmeri Dominion gave it to me as a present of our union. The damned fools.

Even though I loved this thing, there was one troubling discovery. If I have one…they have more. That was always the name of the game. Only give your allies what you no longer need. That way, you're still superior to them. So, if I have this, I wonder what they have over me.

"So, what did our scouts find?" I asked in return. This was troubling. There were over a hundred dead civilians, people who had no quarrel in the war, and they were killed by something other than Aedra. Whoever did this was already on my 'dead' list. If I ever found out who allowed these people to die, I would kill them myself.

"Six shadowwraiths were found slashed to pieces. Four shadowscales, and even three shadowblades. They were the squads assigned to track and supply intelligence on the necromancer resistance group forming." Shadowmaster Yuvenni replied back, emotionless.

It was like her to respond so casually about such a massacre. She was one of the shadowwraiths that responded negatively to the Soul Chamber. She lived locked up in a bottle of her own emotional defenses, never letting herself relax for a second. I had tried to set her free from her restrictions, but helping her usually ended up working against me. I won't explain why or how.

"Did we find out what happened?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "There were no survivors that we could speak to, sir. We did find blood, though. Lots of it. There was a trail from where it began to where it ended. Whatever it was, it was only one thing and it slaughtered 45 innocents, 79 necromancers, our 13 shadow warriors, and 256 undead lackeys."

I shook my head. "I would mind it if those numbers were only necromancers and their undead lackeys. Actually, I'd probably invite the person to join us. But…to kill innocent civilians and OUR troops…that's unforgiveable."

"What would you have us do, sir?" She asked.

I had to think it over. Whatever it was couldn't be stopped so easily. But, I couldn't let this slip by while the trail was fresh. "Patrol the area where the blood began. See what you can find. Send another squad to follow the trail that lead from the end of the original trail of blood. See where it goes. We'll see what happens then."

Shadowmaster Yuvenni bowed to me. "At once, Warlord." With that she vanished into a portal of darkness.

I continued to stare at the hovering image of the whole area. It was as zoomed out as it could get while keeping everything as close as possible. I couldn't see any individual bodies. I could see buildings that were leveled, mounds of corpses, and then a giant scar of blood that stained the whole ground in a dark red image. Something had caused this massacre and whatever it was…could just as easily do the same here.

Fiirnar, who waited silently near the corner of the room, rubbed his chin while glancing at the image. "So, what do we know? Why were the necromancers there? Who was there to stop them?"

I shook my head. "We don't know. That's the problem. There was a story here and I don't know it." And it doesn't involve Aedra.

"Sir, I see Aedra approaching from the west." Shadowmaster Yuvenni replied over her transmitter.

I could see her location as a ping on the map. So, I pulled the map away to see what she was referring to. It took me a little bit of pulling back, but there it was. It was a massive wave of red. A giant cloud that was slowly approaching the bloodbath that was the Bruma Massacre. That wasn't all I saw. There was a massive collection of white north of Bruma. I zoomed in on it to see what I believed to be Cloud Ruler Temple.

"Well, do what you have been instructed to do. If the Aedra come too close, leave. Don't worry about your assignment if there is a chance you could be killed. Got it?"

"Yes, sir. I understand." Her voice was emotionless and compliant. I know her team would get as many answers as possible before leaving. "The Aedra are moving more north now. They aren't heading to us."

"I know." I said. "They're heading to Cloud Ruler Temple."

"Shall my team move to intervene?"

"No, let them attack." I said back. I had no love for the Blades and they made my life more than unnecessarily hard most of the time. Not to mention, if I let some of them die, it will push their superiors to join our war council. Up until now, they had rejected joining us. They thought that they were better off not throwing away their hiding place to fight this war. They were doing this by the easiest method: waiting out the storm. It's what they did best: wait. Now, let's see how fast they act when they can't hide anymore.

…

[Vatu]

"So, the necromancer says 'Summon a lich?' I thought you said, 'Summon a bitch' …"

Everyone started laughing and falling to the floor as Thomas finished his joke. It was one of those long jokes that you couldn't possibly begin to understand without being able to hear the first two paragraphs of dialogue.

That was our life at the second: jokes and waiting. We finally made it to Cloud Ruler Temple with the survivors from the necromancer invasion four days ago. Even though I killed a lot of people, we still found plenty of survivors and brought them with us up to Cloud Ruler. Once we had arrived, we were ordered almost immediately to go down to the Imperial City and offer any help we could to the surviving Imperial Legion. It was being run by Vilena Donton, the Guild Master for the Fighters Guild. She was the most experienced leader of fighters in Cyrodiil and was using her fighters and what remained of the Imperial Legion to host a protection program within the Imperial City. It was mostly done from within the sewers, but she did her job well.

We had already made it to the Imperial City and had found the sewers. But we still haven't found the resistance yet. So, while some scouts were out scouting and making sure we were goblin-free, the rest of us were enjoying a quiet moment to relax. I originally wanted to go help with the scouting, but Dav and Prim were really serious about keeping me relaxed until we found some reinforcements. She didn't want me to go crazy.

My sister hugged me as she started falling asleep. For as much as she loves to prove how 'grown up' she is, she still can't resist curling up in my lap to fall asleep every night. Having her grab onto my arm and purr quietly as she falls asleep reminds me why I fight so much. I need to protect us from whatever might try to separate us. I was almost the reason a week ago. If I had even as so much gotten any closer to any of my friends during that fight, who knows if I would have targeted them too. It's not like I can control it. It's getting worse every time. The first time I did it, I almost killed Thomas. The second time, I was able to direct myself to the liches. The third, all the Aedra. Last time, I killed more than just necromancers. I couldn't distinguish the enemy. When it's liches or Aedra, it's obvious. But my brain does not separate humans and undead. Especially when the undead are run by humans.

Crassi, my squad leader, was happily sharpening her sword with her Alteration magic, while Thomas continued to tell jokes to the other battlemages in an effort mostly to keep me calm. I know this because he looks at me almost at the end of every joke to make sure I'm not turning red-eyed. Everyone is on edge with me around now. Everyone but Erandur, Davilia, Primrose, and my sister. Sometimes I wish that Jurard was still with us.

I started to close my eyes and I felt myself drift off. It had been a while since I was able to sleep like this. Even though I was in one of the crappiest places in the world, it felt like nothing bad was going to happen today.

…

[Huir]

"What's on the menu today?" I knocked on the steel bars that separated me from my guard. It was that time of day already, my stomach told me so. "Gruel, paste, or lice?"

My guard actually smiled at me. "Huir, your jokes are always welcome in this stale hall." He passed me a plate of green goop and a wooden spoon. "Miracle paste." He said. "Meant to keep you alive and healthy so that you can live long enough to hate your life behind these bars…" He stopped at the end and sighed. "At least, that's what they tell me to tell you. It's only mushed up lettuce and spinach."

I took the plate from him and nodded to him. He was my favorite guard, Iver. He was one of the battlemages assigned to watch over the civilians held within Cloud Ruler Temple. Or course, I've been here for well…I believe the Oblivion Crisis was three years ago so maybe three years. I've lost track of time behind these bars. I thought I was getting a good deal by joining the Mythic Dawn. I had no idea what they were planning, but the Blades don't care about that. They only care that I was at the Battle of Bruma when we tried to invade Bruma. They only cared that I had a bow and fired it a few times while in the heat of battle. I was protecting myself. Mostly from them. And now, I'll be locked away for eternity. I have come to terms with it. At least I had a fun prison guard to chat with. More enjoyable than Jauffre, the steel wall or his constipated Blades.

"So, what's been going on the past few days?" I asked him. I haven't heard a word as to why everyone was suddenly dying and places exploding until this guy showed up. This crisis was new to me and I've only had a few weeks to digest it. I was trying to come to terms that someone else had begun a new war.

"The convoy leading civilians here was attacked by necromancers. Our leading fighter went berserk and killed almost everyone. Some of the civilians here are very resentful of the event but are happy to be in the last safe haven of Cyrodiil."

That was when I heard the bells chime. Those bells, they were the warning bells. They only went off when attack was confirmed to happen or if the temple was being evacuated. I pushed away from the bars and ran up to my tiny slit of a window. I jumped up and down as I tried to glance out at the courtyard. I couldn't see much but what I did see were robed things flying up in the sky. I jumped back from the wall as I remembered hearing about them. "Aedra."

Then…the ground shook. A lot.

Cearbhail: Huir was a prisoner...of the Blades? And he was a member of the Mythic Dawn? Wow...what else does this guy do? And how does he become involved with the battlemages?