***WHEN A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR***
As Hashirama screamed out his emotions, I felt a cold shiver of dread pass through me. "Everyone stand back, I don't know if Hashirama can tell friend from foe at the moment." Everyone quickly moved backward, watching with stunned silence as the portal was being forced open. "STAND DOWN HASHIRAMA." I yell.
I didn't expect a response, so I wasn't surprised when he just kept staring at the portal. As the branches seemed to wrap around the hole in reality and tear it open further, I could see Hashirama getting impatient. "Alright, everyone, I'm going to need you all to stay here and guard the portal. Make sure the Island stays safe, I'll follow him and do my best to make sure he stays safe."
"Who's going to guard and protect you?" I looked over at Luna and smiled sadly, not that anyone could see. "Who's going to watch your back and make sure you come back safe?"
"Don't worry love, I'll be fine. It's Hashirama that needs us right now." A massive booming noise interrupts me as Hashirama breaks the sound barrier. "Do me a favor and take care of Mito while we're gone?"
I took off at high speeds, hoping to catch Hashirama before it was too late. The first thing I saw as I went through the portal was three massive wooden dragons circling around Hashirama. The problem was how far he had gotten away from the portal before stopping.
Suddenly everything went completely silent and still as Hashirama began pulling power in from the Oblivion plane itself. Large chunks of the plane seemed to turn into smoke as the natural energy was absorbed by Hashirama. Even his Wood Dragons were quickly consumed. It was as though the entire plane stopped for a moment to pay attention to the anomaly within.
"Sage Art Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands" Hashirama's voice seemed to reverberate throughout the entire plane of Oblivion, shaking it to its very foundation. The ground began shaking as the wooden Buddha rose from the ground, dwarfing even the Susanoo encased set of heavy armor. Before I could move, one of the hands gently reached out and plucked me from the air, setting me beside Hashirama.
I stood beside him, shadowed by the obscenely large wood jutsu wanting to speak, but no words came to me. I stood as a silent observer, my heart pounding in fear and anticipation. The silence was broken when Hashirama screamed his challenge. "MEHRUNES DAGON, COWARD, COME FACE ME IF YOU DARE."
A roar answered his call, getting swiftly closer, chains preceded the Daedra doing their best to kill us both. Sadly for the Daedric Prince, he didn't have nearly enough chains to get by the thousand hands of Buddha that grabbed them and pulled him closer. "YOU'LL PAY FOR KILLING MY WIFE."
Hashirama's voice echoed across Oblivion with rage and power, the hands grabbing and yanking the chains. It became obvious that the Daedric Prince had quickly regretted his decision and was attempting to flee. A futile effort as it hardly slowed him down at all, only slightly delaying the inevitable.
I could see the desperation and fear apparent in the Daedric Princes face, as for the first time in his existence, he was faced against overwhelming power. Suddenly four of the duplicates of Hashirama came flying out of the construct and landed at cardinal points around us.
Behind Mehrunes Dagon, and between the row of the duplicates, a portal started opening. For the first time since I got there, Hashirama turned to look at me and spoke in a soft whisper. "You're a good man, Alexander, but it's time for you to leave. Neither Mehrunes Dagon nor I am walking away from this."
"Please don't Hashirama-Sensei, you don't need to go this far. Mito will be alright, we just need to…" Hashirama stopped me with a look.
"We'll both be back after this jump Alexander-Kun, my honor demands this, and so does my grief." I nodded, thinking of how I would respond to an attack on Fleur or Luna. I didn't like it, but I would respect it, after making a pair of shadow clones and releasing them I left at full speed towards the portal.
***NIGHT WILL FALL AND DROWN THE SUN***
When I got back to the portal, it was slowly closing. The second I left Oblivion, the trees died and let the gate close. Everyone looked shocked when I came back alone and started talking over each other. Finally, I held up my hand. "Hashirama wouldn't be reasoned with, and there was nothing I could do. He is set on making a final stand and taking out the Daedric Prince responsible for this tragedy."
"You shouldn't have left him alone, you should have forced him to return." I glare over at Albus and interrupt him.
"By all means, Albus, go, try and make a force of nature do what you want. For your next trick, you can stop a hurricane. In case you haven't been paying attention Albus, Hashirama and Mito are practically gods." Sarcasm was dripping from my voice, it was thick and heavy.
"I don't want to fight with you, Albus, but I've never been so terrified in my life. And in case you forgot, I was tortured for months by an incredibly powerful and crazy witch." Albus flinched back, but he also nodded in understanding.
Walking over, I embrace Fleur and blindly grab Luna's hand and pull her towards us, on the verge of tears. "I knew things could get bad here, that's why I insisted on all the protection. I thought we would be safe here though, they struck the worst possible target, though."
The three of us stood there huddled together tightly holding each other, unnoticed the others left. "Shhh, it's ok, everyone is ok. Both Hashirama and Mito will be perfectly fine when we leave." I nod, fighting back my tears, stepping away from each other and we head to the Phoenix Tree Grove.
When we got to the middle of the Grove, Phoenix flew over to me, sensing my distress and landed on my shoulder. He lightly headbutts me and nips my ear and chirps. "You're right, I just thought you wanted to stay here with all the other phoenixes."
He responded with a much harder bite on my ear before chirping for a moment. "You're right, but you do realize you could have just come along with me if you feel that strongly." I quickly set up a Safari Lodge and walked inside, followed by Fleur and Luna. Once we got to the master bedroom, Phoenix flew over and sat on his perch, making himself comfortable.
The three of us started making out and helping each other out of clothes. I winked at Luna and the two of us pushed Fleur one the bed. Luna starts kissing her and I began trailing kisses down her neck, gently pulling her top open [REDACTED]
***WHEN A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR***
"Wood Style: Laughing Buddha." Four voices screamed in unison and moments later dozens of wooden hands grew out of the ground each of them grabbing several of the Daedra surrounding them. In seconds the Daedra were crushed and the hands sought more targets to destroy.
Lesser and greater Daedra were attempting to attack, doing their best to stop Hashirama. Golden Saints, smartest of the Daedra stood and watched from afar they had no intentions of joining the assault. They had a much different purpose, they watched patiently for their true master.
Seconds after the Justus was released and the wooden hands retreated into the ground thousands of Dremora suddenly appeared surrounding them all. The group moved as one in an attempt to overwhelm the attackers and free their prince.
Just as quickly shadow clones were summoned and formed a complete circle surrounding the tormented Daedric Prince and the attackers. With almost perfect synchronization they clones all formed different elemental dragons and unleashed them on the army bearing down on them.
The next wave of Dremora trampled over the first wave without care in order to assault the invaders. The shadow clones leapt forward matching their fury, each of them pulling out a sword ready to destroy them. The Dremora that actually looked into any of the shadow clones eyes unconsciously froze for a moment in hesitation.
No matter how good they were though they were being slowly overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Each of the clones taken out cost the Dremora ten of their own, the situation was turning against Hashirama though. One of Alexander's shadow clones was shocked to see another Daedric Prince appear in front of the Golden Saint.
"Wonderful! Time for a celebration... Cheese for everyone! No, that's not right… everyone is cheese!" As the mad god leapt into battle against the Dremora hundred of them turned into wheels of cheese, and Sheograth killed Daedra and cheese with equally. The Golden Saint stood and bore witness.
Another rift opened and yet another Daedric Prince came through, his eyes locked on the armour clad man standing on the wooden Buddha. Taking a step forward and leaping he brought his massive club up ready to strike, only to be intercepted by Sheograth.
The two Daedric Princes fought one another, the fight was short and brutal. Molag Bal gained the upper hand against the mad god, almost crushing his head with a brutal blow. Sheograth grabbed his legs even as his brain started leaking out his head, a bloody grin on his face.
A bright light that was growing in intensity appeared in and around the wound on his head. Molag Bal looked down at the bloody Daedric Prince in shock, watching as a metal clad form pulled itself out of the mad gods head. With a final dying breath Sheograth yelled. "Use the fork mortals, and remember the fork will be with you forever."
With a blinding flash of light Sheograth disappeared and standing in his place was a form encased in shining metal armour. Molag Bal looked frightened as the form grabbed him with both hands and he stuttered. "J-J-J-Jyggalag, it cannot be!"
***MADNESS DIES AND TRUES SELF FLIES***
When I woke up I had the feeling the battle was still ongoing, neither of my shadow clones had been dismissed. I assumed they were there still watching and waiting to see how the battle would play out. As I laid there thinking I pulled a Fleur and Luna closer to me, they both snuggled closer into my sides as I held them.
I relaxed and let myself drift off while considering the events that led up to Mito's death, trying to figure out what I could have done differently. In my arrogance I had thought us completely safe on Nomanisan Island, it could have easily been me that died. Or worse in my opinion, Fleur or Luna.
I was half asleep when the memories of one of the clones came rushing into me, the ongoing battle was like nothing I had seen before. The whole sordid mess was actually going much better than I had thought it could go. The battle was large, bloody and chaotic with the riding turning several times.
Fleur and Luna started waking up as I chuckled to myself over Sheograth's final words. As the two of them came awake they exchanged confused glances over my laughter, after kissing them I explained. The three of us were laughing softly more to break the tension than anything else.
Phoenix watched with contentment as her human was pulled towards the bathroom for a shower, the three of them leaning on each other. Physically and emotionally, as Phoenix began singing she could feel her human's spirit rise. His two mates laughing along with him as their burgeons were lightened.
***NIGHT WILL FALL AND THE DARK WILL RISE***
People all over Nirn were tense with nervous anticipation, and yet nobody knew why. Powerful mages and those who happened to be near the Ghost Fence had some idea, but those were few in number. Even of the people who could see the portal few of them could sense the energy streaming out of Oblivion.
With the Ghost Fence itself a small, self-sustainable community was organizing itself. Most of them didn't have any training, but swore to themselves they would after this. The few that had taken the offer of training stood inside of the doors preparing for an assault that wouldn't come. Mentally thanking their rescuers for providing them with so much and helping them.
Deep within the sanctuary a meeting was taking place amongst the magicka wielding former slaves. They could sense the energy being siphoned out of the Oblivion Plane and could follow its path inside the volcano, the dormant volcano became more active as the Heart began to pulsate with growing strength.
They knew there wasn't much they could understand about the event, let alone do. Yet even meeting and discussing the situation made them feel as though they had some semblance of control. Very important for those who had lived without any control for so long. Eventually the mages would head to the library to read and see if they could find relevant information.
Hours of research didn't lead to anything relevant to the current situation, but what they found would have an impact in the months and year to come. It was this meeting that would lead to the formation of what would become known as the 'Mage's Council'. That was a story for another time though, what they did accomplish was helping set a goal for themselves.
That goal would help many of them come to terms with what had happened to them and move past it. For the former slaves this would be remembered as the dawning of a new age for them, as they stepped away from their dark pasts and embraced the future. A future that while dark, held hope for them all.
***WHEN A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR***
***DAEDRA RUN, AND COUNT THE COST***
Jyggalag dragged Molag Bal forcefully away from the mortal and his fight towards his Golden Saints, the host watched with great joy as their true master came closer. When the badly beaten Daedric Prince was thrown to them by their god they descended upon Molag Bal like locusts.
Jyggalag nodded p, satisfied and turned to watch one of the main instigates of his downfall begging decimated piece by piece. Already his domain had been emptied of allies, and now with The Lord of Order watching over him none of the other Daedric Princes dares to intervene.
In a desperate move Mehrunes Dagon pulled himself away and began running in terror, fear of the mortal behind him. For the first time ever he felt hunted, he felt damned and he cursed himself for his clever plans. Both Jyggalag and Hashirama watched with cruel smiles as the tormented Deadric Prince attempted to flee.
His desperate attempt grew as he could feel power rising behind him, the further away the more hope he felt. Until he felt the accumulated power being released and a loud echoing voice scream out. "Hidden Sage Art: Wooden Chains of the Senjumaki"
Each of the thousand hands grew wooden chains that quickly hunted the Daedric Prince and bound him, painfully squeezing him as they pulled him back.
He began begging for his miserable life to no avail, his strength almost gone. Once he was deposited back in front of Hashirama he looked up in abject terror.
"Rejoice Mehrunes Dagon for your invasion has succeeded beyond your wildest dreams." Hashirama looked at the Daedric Prince, who was writhing in agony before him. The large branches not only holding him in place but also draining his energy and sending it back to Nirn, to the Heart of Lorkhan.
"You will be part of Nirn forever." The Daedric Princes tormented screams of agony grew in volume and desperation as his life force was sucked out of him. "Live forever in desperate failure."
The Daedra's final pain-filled screams echoed throughout Aetherius, Nirn, and Oblivion. A dire warning to all the Daedric Princes on what happens when a good man goes to war. Smiling after gaining his vengeance, and eager to see his wife in their "Next Great Adventure" as Albus likes to call it, Hashirama settles into a restful grave.
As the armoured encased man fell towards the ground Jyggalag gently caught him and jumped through the portal to Nirn, setting him gently down on the ground. Turning he leapt back through the portal, his sheer power and will forcing the portal closed behind him.
***THE BATTLE'S WON, BUT HIS WIFE IS LOST***
NOTES
The poem I used to separate the scenes was modified from a poem from Doctor Who written by Steven Moffat. Thank you ajprevett for your help and suggestions, especially the changes to the poem.
Question, should I go back and rewrite the first chapter and repost it as another thread, continue as I have been or a combination of the two?
Next chapter will close out Morrowind and then to the next jump. So long for now and thanks for reading.