A/N: Howdy everyone. Quick note here, I just want to say thanks once again to everyone who's been reading and leaving wonderful comments thus far. It's really nice seeing everyone enjoying what I've written and I greatly appreciate the feedback. A whole lotta stuff has happened in January, I hope everyone's been able to make the best of it so far and continues to do so for the rest of the year. Thank you everyone!
"...Vilval Telaram was thrown in this hole?"
Luz continues to read the next tombstone, Remember Endarie. One day she will rise and take her vengeance.
"Bendu Olo. Lived a hero and died. The end."
Well that was on the nose! Kinda rude for that guy, don't you think?
Amity nods her head. The map marked this as the New Sheoth graveyard and, for the sake of curiosity, she took a small detour to see what it would be like. Honestly? She can't say she was surprised that the denizens of New Sheoth have such a demented way of remembering the dead. She will admit, for all of the depressing ones there's twice as many frankly hilarious ones.
"Helene the deaf. She never heard it coming." Amity snorts and covers her mouth to stifle a few laughs. Luz chastises her lightly but Amity waves it off. Witches from the Boiling Isles don't revere their dead as much as Luz's humans do. Looking up from the graveyard Amity can see the high walls of the city of New Sheoth, specifically she can see the walls of Crucible which, like the split lands of the realm, makes up the southern half of the city with Bliss, the other half, resting to the north.
Even the singular city of the Shivering Isles is split in half just like the land and the people.
"Well, this was fun I guess. Let's walk up the hill to the city. I really would like to sleep on a regular bed finally."
Just up a hill from the graveyard is the grand gate of Crucible. Stone fortifications and wooden barricades bolster the defenses of the highwalls. Tall battlements and fortifications protect the gates of the city from whatever dark forces lurk in the nearby swamps. Manning (womanning?) the defenses is a sizeable force of tall, blue-skinned women daedra donned in spiky black armor that leaves their midriff bare. Amity... may have gotten some nasty looks for staring, but none of the daedric warriors skewered her with their black swords or crushed her head with similar styled maces so she must be okay.
Dridyn's journal notes that there's two species of daedra in direct service to Sheogorath that act as both a police force and a standing army. The daedra on this side of New Sheoth are the blue-skinned Mazken or Dark Seducers. Their counterparts in Bliss are similar daedra with golden skin called Aureals or Golden Saints. Apparently, the journal notes that the nicknames do not apply to the actual daedra, and trying to hookup with a Mazken ends in death, and that the so named 'Golden Saints' are actually temperamental and despise mortal races almost as much as they do Dark Seducers.
Wow, they're like Amazons! They're all so pretty, too! If I had a body I probably would've got caught staring like you did. Amity flushes red with embarrassment and pulls her hood up to hide her face, Hey, it's okay! They're an army of warrior babes, anyone should be enamored by them.
Amity simply sighs and pulls her hood back down. No need to make herself seem suspicious. After passing through the battlements Amity finally arrives at the actual gates of Crucible but finds herself unsure what to do. The gates are open so she theoretically could walk through them into the city, but who knows if she's supposed to check in or something? She very well might get shot with an arrow or something!
"Um, excuse me, miss?" She calls out to a nearby Seducer who approaches Amity with a very neutral face, "Am I-do I need to check in, or can I just walk into the city?"
"New Sheoth is open to all who pass through the gates, citizen. Our laws are the same as any other realm; Act orderly and honor our lord and you shall be always welcomed. Violate the order and you will feel our wrath. Pardon me, I must return to my duties."
The Dark Seducer leaves Amity without another word and returns to conversing with a group of her kin. Amity breaths a big sigh of relief and marches through the gates with new found confidence. Despite the constant haze of dusk in the air, the district of Crucible is fantastic and beautiful to behold. Waiting for her as she enters through the gate is a beautiful and bustling market filled with hundreds of stalls and hundreds more people of all races.
Each stall is just and varied and diverse as the people that weave around in a chaotic frenzy. Slurs and swears fly around like arrows on a battlefield but to Amity's surprise no violence takes place. Like her the residents are mistrustful and question the validity of the stalls, yet that doesn't stop them from practically throwing coins around on their purchases.
Jeez, they're like black Friday shoppers! Is it like this everyday, or maybe something's going on?
"I don't know, but I have no idea how we're supposed to get through this crowd!" The mad horde of shoppers seemingly blocks access to the rest of the city. Amity legitimately fears she'll be trampled to death before she could make it past them!
Such a fear isn't unwarranted. At the start of the Fourth Era only a few years ago the accidental death toll by trampling in the Crucible marketplace has already reached four hundred and eight. Not that any of the Mazken nor Lord Sheogorath have tried to put a stop to it. Such goodwill and chaos is greatly encouraged by the ruler of the realm.
"Maybe I can..." An idea suddenly pops into her head. Amity raises a hand into the air and summons Sh'rk, her newly acquired Ogrim servant. The hulking one ton daedra appears from a portal and lifts his master up onto his shoulder, minding the pointy bits of his pauldron.
The bond between a daedra summoner and a daedra runs deeper than simple forced servitude. Conjuration binds part of the daedra's essence to the summoner, using their Animus to temporarily bind a daedra to Nirn also allows a psychic connection between the two individuals.
Of course, the danger is great as allowing a daedra access to a soul can result in madness, possession and losing a soul to Oblivion forever. Only powerful and experienced mages practice the art, but those that are successful find themselves at a great advantage over their fellow mortals.
Sh'rk stomps through the crowd, parting the waves of bodies like a prophet crosses the sea. The on duty Dark Seducers watch the Ogrim cross the sea but make no attempt to stop him. Many of the stoic daedra even seem to show a small bit of amusement at the sight, something almost completely unheard to the residents of New Sheoth.
Barely a minute later they're across the crowds and at the corner of an empty street. Sh'rk places Amity back on ground level and observes the gothic streets with disinterest. The quirky and depressing realm of Crucible never interested him much. Mania and it's streets flowing with Greenmote were the talk and dreams of many independent daedra scattered across Oblivion.
Amity ruffles through her bag and pulls out her coin purse as well as an empty small bag. She weighs out roughly half of her coin into the empty bag and gives it to her servant. "Here. I'm too young to buy alcohol, but you should have no problem. There should be plenty for food too, I think."
The Ogrim shrugs and snatches the bag, marching off through the streets in search of Bliss.
"Jeez! He could've at least said thank you!"
Rude! Maybe daedra don't say please and thank you, though? I can't imagine a monster that looks like that would have great table manners!"
"You're right," The Blight yawns lightly as her body suddenly feels very heavy, "Let's find an inn for the night. I'd like to eat something other than bread and salted meat."
"Psst! Hey, you!"
Amity lifts her head and looks around for the voice disrupting her meal. At the far end of the bar is a scruffy balding man dressed in ratty patchwork clothes. He motions for Amity to come over. She choses the opposite and keeps her free hand close to her dagger, just in case.
"Who was that man?" She asks Sickly Bernice over the counter. The chronically ill woman glances at the despondent man and waves off any concerns.
"That's just poor old Hirrus. Suicidal, you see? But he wants someone else to kill him or else he'll end up on the Hill of Suicides. Poor man. Someone really should put him out of his misery."
"That's awful! Why would he want to hurt himself like that, and why won't anyone help him?!"
Bernice is slightly taken aback by Amity's exclamation, "Well I don't know, he just doesn't want to talk about it! If a man really wants to die then who am I to say otherwise? It's a miserable city so I don't blame him, really. He's been living like a beggar for years now!"
She says nothing more and goes back to solemnly eating her breakfast. Amity watches the miserable man place a few coins on the bar and leave Bernice's Taphouse.
Gosh, that poor man. I wish he had someone to watch out for him... Maybe we should talk to him, just to say hi?
"I think so too..." She places a few coins on the counter and takes her leave of the Taphouse as well, "But first we need to see Lord Sheogorath. We need to get back to the Boiling Isles as soon as we can and he's the only being I can think of that can do it. I don't have much more money, and I'm sure my family's raising hell trying to figure out where I went."
Amity's mind wanders as she walks up the streets heading towards the grand palace that looms over the city like a mountain to an valley. How is her family taking her absence, or her friends, Gus and Willow? Do they know what happened to Luz, or did they just assume a monster got her in the woods, mourn their loss and move on?
...Is that what they think happened to Amity, too? She hasn't really wanted to think about it, but when she gets back to the Isle's she's going to have to tell everyone what happened to Luz and how she really died. Titan, just thinking about breaking the news to The Owl Lady makes her feel uneasy. She knows Eda was close to Luz, given how much her human friend talks about it, but Amity thinks Luz wasn't ever fully aware of just how much she meant to her master.
She can't help but feel a tinge of jealousy at the thought of Luz and Eda. Amity had a mentorship under, surprisingly enough, Eda's sister, Lilith. It was... okay, they didn't really care for each other and both knew they were just trophies to help raise their public image. Amity's okay with that, it's what they both agreed upon even if they never said it out loud.
So what about her mother, then? Why does she feel so jealous and imagine, in place of Eda and Luz, Amity and her mother? Amity huffs angrily and kicks a baby Baliwog out of her way as it crosses the street.
Amity knows damn well why she's jealous. Odalia never hit her or her siblings, she never berated them or made fun of their interests; So long as they got good grades and represented the Blight image well then their mother never intervened. That incident with Willow was the worst they'd ever done, but even then it still bothers her to this day.
That must be it then... Amity just wishes her mother gave a damn about her at all!
Why go back? You belong here, after all. With the mad.
...Should she go back, does she even really want to? Luz is... gone, and Gus and Willow never liked her, not really. Ed and Em are so annoying, too! Her father was never there, just like her mother! She could start a new life here! The city's safe, after all, and with her new Ogrim bodyguard she'll never have to worry about fighting again! Everything is setup perfectly for her!
Then, her mind wanders once again. She remembers Ed and Em teaching her a fireball spell and their words of encouragement as she tried and eventually succeeded in freeing them from a Slitherbeast. She remembers talking to Inner Willow and then the bond she shared with the real one after they fought grudgby with Boscha. She remembers Gus being so welcoming and encouraging, not once did he make her feel bad for being a Blight or a former bully.
None of them did, and she won't forget that! Maybe, just maybe, she has something to return to after all?
The grand staircase leading to the palace suddenly looms over her. Amity raises her head up... and up and up and up and almost sprains her neck in the process. New Sheoth Palace looms hundreds of feet over the rest of the city with grand steps at least a thousand in number leading up to the grounds. The palace walls guard the interior grounds and stretch hundreds upon hundreds of feet far right into the horizon. To the left she has no idea as a great stone brick wall blocks her view and separates the domain of Crucible from its counterpart, Bliss.
It's easy to imagine, just beyond the barrier, that the palace walls stretch just as far on the other side.
She swallows a nervous gulp and begins the journey up the grand steps. It should only take a few minutes, she used to be grudgby captain, after all! Her body's in peak physical condition for her age!
A sweaty, trembling hand slaps onto the top of the final step. Nelrene raises a single eyebrow as a tiny and pathetic mortal girl claws her way up the final step, a panting and disgustingly sweaty mess. The Mazken feels utter disgust and resists the urge to kick the vagrant back down the steps. Does this puny and pathetic mortal really think she can bask in her Lord's grace as disgusting as she is?!
Nelrene sighs within her own mind and waits patiently for the disgusting mortal to catch her breath and ask her a series of asinine questions as her kind always seems to do.
Amity huff and lays on the warm stone ground and stares up into the sky and finds herself surprised to see actual light! Not the dark blue-purple dusk of Crucible, not the persistent fog of Dementia, but honest to Titan normal blue-green sky!
She pushes herself up to a sitting position, catches her breath soon after and then rises to stand like the good civilized Witch that she is. No one saw how pathetic she was, now all she needs is a towel to wipe off the sweat and she's good!
Uh, Amity? Behind you.
"What?" Amity spins around and meets the unimpressed gaze of a Dark Seducer. The daedra has her arms crossed and idly taps her one foot expectantly. Amity flushes in embarrassment and quickly grabs throw towel from her bag and cleans herself off as best as she can.
Good thing your uniform is black, otherwise she'd know how sweaty you really are! Speaking of which, we need to get you some money and buy new clothes. You look like a hobo with your shirt all ripped and torn.
She looks down at her Hexside uniform and grimaces. Days, maybe even weeks of roughing it up in the realm of the mad has left her clothes thoroughly torn. Her modesty is fine, (than the titan!), but she still frankly looks homeless... Which she technically is. Goodness, Hirrus is better off than she is at this point!
"Ugh, you're right, Luz. Maybe there's on odd job or two I could do around town to get some money. I don't have much left after paying Sh'rk."
She suddenly remembers there's a Seducer nearby and quickly gathers her wits and approaches the guard who stops Amity just before the gate leading to the palace.
"Halt, Citizen! The palace grounds are not open to the public. If you wish to speak with our Lord then you must place your name in reservation."
Amity's mood instantly sours, but she was expecting something like this. Maybe she can convince the guard to let her through? Even though 'nobility' is no longer a thing after Belos replaced the former King and Queen of the Boiling Isle's, Amity's family is still basically nobility given their wealth and influence. Even foreign countries in the human world recognize nobility in some sort of way. Perhaps it'll work here, too?
"Wait, I don't know if it means anything, but my mother is a noblewoman back home! Surely that has to count for something?"
The Mazken's eyes narrow ever so slightly, making Amity shiver under their piercing gaze.
"Nobility means nothing to Lord Sheogorath. Only the Duke or Duchess of Mania and Dementia can claim such titles, and compared to our grace they are merely his servants. Your titles mean nothing. Put your name on the list and move on. Chamberlain Haskill shall call for you when your reservation time comes."
She bows her head in defeat and steps to a table setup nearby the guard. Behind it what looks like to be a male Dark Seducer stares at her with a neutral expression, quill and inkwell ready to write her name down into a comically large book.
"Name and residence," He asks politely. Amity groans and obeys, giving her name. "Amity Blight... Uh, I don't own a home, but I guess I'm staying at Sickly Bernice's Taphouse for now."
The male Seducer hums in acknowledgment and writes her information down into the book. Amity stares at the massive thing and begins to feel the seeds of worry growing within her.
"Uh, just a quick question... But hypothetically, how long would the wait be?"
"Hmm, If I were to guess it would be about a month or two. Chamberlain Haskill is a busy man, though it's been fairly quiet this year."
Amity's eyes nearly pop out of their sockets and she almost has to physically pick up her jaw and put it back in place.
"W-what?! Months?! And who even is Haskill in the first place, can he even get me back home to my realm?! I need to speak to Sheogorath, not his Chamberlain!"
"That's Lord Sheogorath to you!" The male Mazken frowns at her, his fingers tapping the handle of his mace, "And if you want to curry favor with our Lord, then you must go through Chamberlain Haskill first! Nothing is given for free in the Shivering Isle's. If Haskill deems you worthy, then perhaps Lord Sheogorath will send you to your mortal realm. Now, begone! I have duties to return to."
The Blight huffs angrily, her face red as an apple and spins around and marches back towards the grand steps. Before she leaves, she turns around and gives the Mazken her final peace.
"Oh, and by the way, your duties is just you standing around on your fatass all day!"
He simply ignores her and waits patiently at his table. Amity huffs angrily and begins the long march back down to the main city.
She stews in her anger for several minutes, but over time it simply melts away. Being angry won't help her any, and such an outburst is unbecoming of her. She was raised better, dammit! Act like it! However, she still has to solver her newest problem. If she wants to survive in the city she needs to find more money to pay for an inn for a minimum of one month and up to several not to mention food.
Well, Luz's voice wavers as though she's trying to convince herself of something, That was a bust, but at least you have time to practice you spells. I'm sure there's a way to make money with magic, and you're really good with it too!
"Thanks Luz, I'm sure there's something we could do. Hold on... is that Hirrus?" The poor man from earlier is stood on the edge of an intermediate landing in the great steps. He's looking out over the city, and a Mazken is standing nearby, but Amity isn't calm. The man is suicidal, why would the guard let him stand there, he could fall!
"HIRRUS, WAIT!"
"W-what the-?!" The Imperial flinches in surprise and quickly spins around, but standing so close to the edge his foot slips on some of the loose pebbles and he starts falling over the edge. "Whoah!"
Before she can reach him Hirrus slips over the edge and plummets over sixty feet down to the hard stone streets below. Amity gasps, her heart pounding in her chest, and races to the edge and watches his body thump onto the ground. He makes no noise and doesn't move, making Amity fear the worse.
The Dark Seducer peaks over the edge next to Amity and glances down at the body with disinterest, "Someone really ought to put a railing up. That happens all the time. I don't know why you shouted at him like that, Hirrus stands there all the time but he would never jump. I wonder if it counts as suicide, given that it was an accident?"
She shrugs and returns to her post, leaving Amity in shock. The Witch carefully races down the rest of the stairs down to reach Hirrus' body. By the time she's at the bottom a small crowd is gathered around his body, murmurs passing between themselves.
"Poor Hirrus, guess he finally did it."
"I bet he got someone else to do it. You know how afraid he was of the Hill!"
"Look, the green-haired girl! I bet she was the hero that done him in!"
A small group of guards arrive before the crowd can turn on Amity and they send everyone away. To her surprise everyone in the dispersing crowd gives her thanks for helping to kill poor Hirrus. What in the blazing hell is wrong with everyone?! A man is dead and she accidentally killed him!
She races towards the body but is physically stopped by one of the many present guards, "Wait. The Captain is receiving his final words."
Amity watches Hirrus whispering something into the guard Captain's ear. He's still alive! Maybe they can save him?!
It wasn't meant to be so. Hirrus' chest stops rising and his head lolls to the side. The man is now dead, nothing can save him now. The captain removes her head and yanks the man's satchel purse off his body. She marches over to Amity who shrinks back under the towering woman's stare.
"Here." The Captain holds out the satchel for Amity to take, "The deceased wishes to express his gratitude and awards you his possessions and property. Congratulations."
She fumbles to find her words, "Wh-I-who-I don't understand! I startled him and he fell off and died! I did this! Why would he give me anything, I don't understand?!"
"Welcome to Crucible," She states bluntly and roughly shoves the satchel into Amity's chest. "Now move along, Citizen. I must attend to the body and inform the Duchess of the change in residence."
Amity's quickly shooed away and left frozen in shock. Alone. Unattended. Uncared for. She accidentally murdered a man and not only was she thanked for it, but she was also given his house and belongings! She opens the bag and removes the key to her new house.
...You have to work for things here. Is that what the guard meant, is this how this place works?!
She still struggles processing it. Did she do the right thing, did she do the wrong thing, or should she have just done nothing at all and maybe that man would still be alive?!
"I guess we've got somewhere to stay, huh?" The morbid joke doesn't really cheer her up. What a cruel irony. She needed a home for a few months so she accidentally kills a suicidal man and inherits his property. Such is the will of Sheogorath, such is the will of the Shivering Isle's.
Amity rears her head back and screams in fury and sadness.
Viney taps her foot impatiently and checks the time on her scroll again. Her client should be here any minute now. She clutches the bag filled with contraband close to her chest and glances around once more to see if any of the teachers are around.
None of them are, she knows that. They left the school grounds hours ago, no one will find her hiding behind the abandoned Oracle wing of Hexside. No one goes around there anymore after what happened to all of the students.
Things have been... different ever since the Madman's Disease took out every Oracle Witch on the Isle's. People are scared, angry, and now there's paranoia. Rumors have been spreading of some kind of boogeyman visiting people in their dreams and changing them. What that means she doesn't know, but recently she may have started sort of kind of maybe working for the bogeyman? Her sponsor is hard to explain, but he helps her and in exchange she has to hand out these strange potions to as many students as she can.
It's disgusting, slimy and toxic work. Not physically, but mentally. By the Titan, she's handing out drugs to students, but she has her reasons! The potion alters a person's mood and causes mild hallucinations, effects which have been key in rehabilitating Barcus and making him more normal again. Effects which can save her father if (and when) he succumbs to the disease.
She can even let Barcus out of his cage now! Her dog-Witch friend drinks the potion, loses all of his animal anger and just wanders around and rolls in the grass. See?! She's making him better!
Viney checks the time once again, "Oh no... I'm going to be late!"
Her sponsor hates when she's late. He punishes her when she is, he makes her body hurt but the worst is what he does to her mind. Attacking the mind is a pain incomprehensible when compared with physical pain.
Finally after another few minutes the young Grudgby captain appears around the corner and approaches Viney. The triclops stares at everything except for the older student.
"...Sorry, I was held up by my friends."
The older student isn't having any of it, "Then you need to ditch them next time! I can't hang around here like this. If I get caught, we both go down, okay?!"
"I said I was sorry!" Boscha raises her voice but meekly looks away and scratches a strange itch at the back of her neck. "Look, let's just make the deal. I have a hundred snails, I can pay for it."
Viney shakes her head, "You know what my sponsor says. 'It's not about the money'."
"I still don't understand it, why's he giving Skooma away for free?!"
"Don't know, don't ask. Here, I have twelve bottles. Remember, only a half bottle per day."
Boscha snatches the bag from Viney's hands and sling it over her shoulder, "I know that! Okay... see you in three weeks."
Without another word she's gone. Viney sighs deeply and slumps against the wall. She just can't shake the feeling she's doing something awful to that poor girl who's no doubt going to share that terrible, yet fantastic potion with her friends.
Does that make her a bad person? Maybe... maybe she should get out of the business now while she still has a chance? Surely someone else in the school wants to have this job?
Suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck rise and a choking presence fills the air. Oh no, he's here!
"M-m-my Lord, I was just about to come find you!" A thin stream of blood drips down her nose. In the shadows something unseen with slit yellow eyes stares at her. Viney's body quivers as telepathic thoughts enter her brain.
"N-no, My Lord, I'd never leave your service! You're helping my friend get better!... Yes, My Lord, I know I answer to you. I just-!"
She flinches back from the eyes in the shadows, but something in their gaze compels her to tell the truth.
"It's just... I don't feel good giving these potions out to people! How am I supposed to feel good about giving drugs to my friends?!"
A bottle of Skooma appears in front her of feet. The glass bottle is fancy with intricate decorations blown into it that only a master craftsman could be able to make. Viney instantly knows this particular potion of Skooma to be of top quality, maybe even the best quality ever crafted.
"D-drink it? But I've never-!" She shies away from the eyes once more, "Yes... My Lord, I'll drink it."
Viney uncaps the potion and hesitantly holds it up to her lips. She can feel those slimy eyes watching her with demented glee. But... If she doesn't drink it, the monster will absolutely make do on his promise to rip out her entrails.
She downs the whole potion and drops the bottle to the ground, half expecting to it explode. After a few seconds of nothing, it happens. All of her anxiety simply washes away like a leaf down river. Her tired and stressed body unwinds and melts like butter. A lazy smile works its way onto her face as she slumps down the wall and becomes enamored in her euphoric high.
What was she even worried about? Everything is fine... why wouldn't she want people to feel like this? This isn't a bad thing, this is simply her Lord's blessing working its magic!
The eyes in the shadow vanish, leaving Viney to revel in her high. All of the colors and shapes in her vision blur into each other, becoming one and the same. She reaches out for it and feels a tingling sensation suddenly burst in every nerve in her body simultaneously. It's a pleasant humming sensation, like gentle electricity traveling in happy little trains through her body.
She'll definitely give out more Skooma after this, after experiencing the pure bliss it brings.
Her Lord, hidden in the shadows of every mad mind, simply smiles and whistles a pleasant tune, satisfied with his work. He'll have some good fun on this little vacation of his.