-Elden Root -
Iveryni stands at the edge of the small clearing where Softly-Speckled-Crab is buried by ferns and leaves, her eyes locked onto the mound. As hard as Iveryni tries, she cannot seem to feel anything about the current state of her friend, if Softly-Speckled-Crab is even still alive, for Iveryni can sense only Valenwood in this moment. Slowly Iveryni moves to the mound and sinks beside it, her hand on the cool dirt. "I was Telvanni, I never found a way to tell you," Iveryni softly says, "I never helped the slaves...just ran away from the reality I could not abid. I felt so strongly about it...I hated their ways. Now... hate, love. It is all lost, lost in the river of fire. To end the war...it must have been worth it." Iveryni bows her head and then rises and starts to walk away before a voice calls out to her and Iveryni turns to Wyress Tiasiesa who moves from the forest. "Is she..." Iveryni trails off.
Wyress Tiasiesa shakes her head. "We do not know. Softly-Speckled-Crab is one with the Valenwood. She will rise, or fade away. Only time will tell," Wyress Tiasiesa tells Iveryni.
"I should care," Iveryni says. "I did once. Before."
Wyress Tiasiesa moves closer to Iveryni. "Wildfires destroy, but they also allow new growth. You will grow from this, but in what way depends on the choices you make now, and in the future."
Iveryni slowly nods and turns, only stopping at the edge of the forest. "Is it over?" Iveryni asks quietly. "I felt him die. I felt all of them die. Yet my Prince makes no move to reclaim me. Everything is in a state of silence, stillness. It seems wrong, but perhaps it is my lack of emotions that make it seem strange."
"The dead have fallen," Wyress Tiasiesa responds. "They have returned to the dirt, but are they dead, or do they sleep?" Wyress Tiasiesa frowns softly. "It feels as if it is over. And yet, you are correct. The silence is unnatural."
Iveryni quietly nods and departs from the cleaning. Her thoughts on the silence, on Wyress Tiasiesa's words. What way would she regrow? It would be far easier to grow as Dagon intended. And perhaps...it was easier not to feel such emotions any longer. No longer does Iveryni know if she has the will to fight for something...else.
On a large furry rug in front of a flickering fire, Theodyn and Rufico are curled up in each other's arms as day breaks and the night fades away. Theodyn's hand moves to Rufico's as his fingers drift over it. "I thought... I feared Meridia would come for me," Theodyn whispers. "But nothing happened. Rufico... this should be our after. Why does it not feel like it?"
Rufico closes his eyes and leans into Theodyn. What he had been thinking of. What he had not wanted to think of. The silence was unnatural, but why? The armies of the dead had returned to the earth, Viperish Night and his pack was dead by Iveryni's hands, so why? Rufico sighs softly. "I want it to be, Theo. But your right. Something feels wrong." Rufico opens his hand and takes Theodyn's hand. He had been prepared to fight for Theodyn if he needed to. He had already told Meridia as much. Theodyn was not hers, for he did not want to be, and for she had shattered him with her hatred of Jeziasi. Rufico shudders slightly and changes the subject, for now. "I was so worthless once. To think, I almost refused to go with all of you. I'm glad I did. All of you...wanted me. Accepted me."
"And now we love you," Theo responds in a voice filled with love. "I love you."
Rufico's smile says it all. "I love you too. Even with all that happened, this, us, makes it all worth it. We will find our after. We will move through the silence until it breaks, and claim it."
"Yes," Theodyn breaths and falls silent for long moments. "I still feel broken, Rufico. Your shadows slowly are healing the cracks, but I fear part of me always will be broken. Broken by Meridia's light and hate."
"Theo, we are all broken. It makes us who we are," Rufico says.
"Once, we were so different," Theodyn says. "I could not imagine hurting anyone. And yet, I felt the call of the warrior so clearly. Even when I tried to ignore it."
"And I could not think of killing anyone. Not even an Imp. Now... well." Rufico says with a shrug. "Who we used to be never could have dealt with all of this. We became who we had to be. Just as Softly-Speckled-Crab told us... we had to become."
Theodyn laughs softly and then closes his eyes. "I know we have to get up soon. We have to try and find out if something else is going on. But...for now...do we have to, Rufico?"
Rufico, too, laughs. "Scoundrel. I have taught you well. But your right. Let us stay this way, just a little longer."
-Theodyn - Light -
Theodyn and Rufico eventually rose and left the warmth of the carpet and the fire. Theodyn had felt the need to be alone and he soon finds himself sitting on one of the great tree's branches high above the ground, the very spot he last spoke to Sheogorath. Thoughts of Daedric Princes dance in his mind and Theodyn leans back and closes his eyes, and it is Meridia that his thoughts turn to, but not her Prince state of being, but the young Imperial girl that appeared to him, the very first time he met the Lady of Light. She had misled him on that day, and it was the first but not the last for on that day that seemed a very long time ago indeed, she spoke of avoiding the path of revenge, but the truth of it was she wanted revenge on Jeziasi and tried to make him do it. Theodyn sighs as his eyes open. "Sheogorath... where are you? You may be a Daedric Prince...but at least you never lied to me as Meridia did. Never tried to use me as she did. Theodyn stands, balancing precariously on the branch as his hand moves to Dawnbreaker, his hand gripping it tightly. He should renounce Meridia, renounce being her champion now that the war was over. But... something stayed his hand, and Theodyn slowly stills. "Light...," he softy says and withdraws Dawnbreaker, its light glimmering in the shadows cast by the leaves. "I am not hatred. I am not revenge. I am light. And it was Azura's words that all of us are needed to end this." Theodyn turns toward the window he crawled through as realization courses through him. Iveryni had destroyed them alone. But by Azura's words and prophecy, that was an impossibility. "Damn it. The silence, the silence is unnatural," Theodyn swears and bolts for the window to find his friends.
-Iveryni - Darkness-
Iveryni sits cross-legged on a rock. Trying to remember what it was to feel. Once, when all this started she was so composed, nothing seemed to shake her, despite the horrors they saw. But on Craglorn when Viperish Night's claws ripped her throat out, Iveryni was consumed by fear deeper than she had ever known. Fear that came to her long after in the depths of sleep, when she gazed upon Viperish Night. She had mastered it, but it still existed. And now? Iveryni searches for that fear, but it seems as lost as hate and love. "What have I wrot," Iveryni softly says to herself, "I not only destroyed my enemies, but I have destroyed myself. Why darkness, when it is destruction I have become?" As the words leave her lips, Iveryni suddenly freezes. Darkness... slowly Iveryni rises from the walk and nearly falls as realization hits her. Darkness alone should not have been enough to end this. Iveryni destroyed, but did she? She felt them die, each one of them. And yet... a tremor hits Iveryni and the faintest emotions pierce her. Fear. Viperish Night's eerie blue eyes shimmer as the world goes dark and Iveryni stumbles to the ground. When at last light returns Iveryni finds herself in the dirt. "I am a fool. Such a fool..." Iveryni says softly. "How could I let myself be lead so astray?" Iveryni stands and her eyes flare with determination as more faint threads of emotions return to her. "I need my friends. This is not...this cannot be over." Iveryni turns and dashes for the great tree.
-Rufico - Death-
Rufico leans against the tree, just outside of Elden Root. As much as he wanted to stay curled up with Theo, thoughts kept racing through his mind, and from Theodyn's expression, the very same thing was happening to him. They parted, to do what they needed to do to calm their thoughts. Rufico takes out his dagger and idly starts to flip it. Rufico had first sought out Razum-dar. Razum-dar hid his grief well, but his eyes told a different story. Razum-dar had told Rufico what he asked, by all reports the undead armies were gone, and not a single skeleton or bone dust was left behind. Should there have been something left, or did they just sink back into the earth returning to their eternal rest? After, Rufico had tried to return to his sanctuary. The Brotherhood, like the Daedric Princes, was nowhere in sight...but Rufico found his path blocked to his sanctuary. Efforts to contact his brothers and sisters had also failed. Rufico scowls and grips the daggers hilt tightly. The silence was all-consuming and utterly unnatural. Without even thinking about it Rufico finds himself on the move and as he stills, he knows where he is. Before the small rental house, where he had committed his first murder. Because he had to become because Death was his path. Rufico had seen so much of that so early in his life. The Imperial City under siege by the Daedra, the horrors of the sewers. Death was the only path he could have followed. And then Rufico stills utterly. The day seems to vanish and shadows move all around him. The Blade of Woe appears in his hand and Rufico swears softly. "My path is death, I am the assassin in the night, and I was not there when Iveryni killed Viperish Night. But by Azura's words, I had to be there. We all had to be there." Rufico spins around the blade vanishing as he races back to the tree. Oblivion is about to break loose and they lost sight of the prophecy, of essential truth, and it may very well cost them everything.
-Softly-Speckled-Crab - Life-
The Valenwood is more than just a forest. It is alive in ways that would be impossible to describe and Softly-Speckled-Crab's spirit is a part of the living woods. One moment she's a tree towering high into the sky, the next a small flower reaching out for the sun, ferns, and so very much more. She is more than Softly-Speckled-Crab in this moment and to stay this way forever would be a form of peace. But as her spirit dances between the living woods, her mind grasps the truth. She is Life, the very representation of it. And even though her body lay grievously injured as her spirit flew, she heard her friend's words. And slowly she gathers the truth to her. Iveryni was one aspect. Azura had told her that all four would be needed. It was not over. Softly-Speckled-Crab hesitates briefly. To go back now... would be to leave this peaceful existence of being more than she was. And her body was still healing. She could wait and it would be fully healed...but she knows they are out of time and so she soars back to her body and trails down the ferns into it.
~Are you sure? The scars can be healed, given more time~
The voice of the Wyrd? The Woods? It has spoken to Softly-Speckled-Crab a few times, and still, she does not know. But she already knows her answer to its question. "Scars do not matter. If I can rise, I must."
With that Softly-Speckled-Crab's spirit once more bonds with her body and the ferns and leaves retreat as she slowly rises the sun glittering from her scales. The undamaged ones are her normal rosy brown with soft sea-green speckles, but the ones that have grown back are pale tan with a hint of moss green and healed claw marks from the torture cover them. Softly-Speckled-Crab raises her head to the sun, eyes closing as she baths in it. "I wish it was over," she whispers, "But the suffering will begin anew." Softly-Speckled-Crab lowers her head and opens her eyes, the depths of sadness in them enough to drown in as she starts toward the great tree. She needs to tell her friends, though she suspects they already came into their realization of the truth.
All four heroes reach the meeting room at the same time. Silently they enter and sit around the table. Iveryni briefly looks at her friends, then folds her hands and looks down at them. "These hands alone, I thought was enough to end this. So blind in my rage and pain I forgot Azura's words. I alone cannot end this." Iveryni closes her eyes. "Even now my emotions are the faintest glimmer of what they were. Most of me...wants to become what Dagon wants me to be. But that...does not matter. What matters is..." Iveryni slowly opens her eyes to regard the others.
"We are out of time," Rufico finishes for her. "All of us somehow lost sight of Azura's words. This war has made us into altogether different creatures. It has...broke most of us as well." Rufico's hand moves to Theodyn's and Theodyn takes it and holds tight.
"We wanted our after so much..." Theodyn says and glances around. "This is not over. I do not know the shape and form of the darkness now before us. If Viperish Night can return from death, or if it's something else. We need to find the darkness and banish it once and for all. All of us."
Softly-Speckled-Crab is the last to speak. Slowly as if she has almost forgotten how, being so entwined with the woods as it healed her. "Despair and darkness cover our senses. Rage and pain consume our emotions. We must move beyond this. Or it will be over for all of us...all of Nirn." Softly-Speckled-Crab slowly looks up to regard her friends, suppressing a tremor. Her grievous injuries healed, save for the scars left behind. But what would take far longer to heal, was deep inside. Softly-Speckled-Crab was very afraid. The pain had been nearly unendurable and she almost lost hope of her friends finding her in time. Softly-Speckled-Crab's claws move to her arm, glancing off the scales. "We... have all suffered... shattered... despaired... we must find the strength to finish this." Theodyn's free hand reaches for Softly-Speckled-Crab and she takes it, closing her eyes as she feels his warmth. Iveryni takes her other hand, and Rufico's.
"Where do we even begin looking?" Theodyn says.
"That part, is simple," Softly-Speckled-Crab says and they all look at her. "Back to the beginning. Back to where all this started. Viperish Night will return to what should have been his home, the Marsh. Out of all that hurt him, The Hist, and the Argonian's were the first he was aware of that did so. The first that showed him loneliness, and despair. It may have been Keerasi-Zish at the moment, but Death and Daedric were under the surface as well."
"Then we go now," Theodyn declares.
Rufico shakes his head. "No. We need to be prepared. We need to bring in the Alliance's armies, the Wyrd, everything we have. Viperish Night... however he is returning to Nirn from death will need time as well." Rufico's eyes darken. "We take our time, but it ends at the Marsh."
-?-
Sheogorath sits on a rock a light wind blowing his fur, and he stares intently into a pond of water. "Now that is a twist I did not see coming! Or did I? Did I see anything at all?" Sheogorath growls. "I do not like being blind! YOU..." Sheogorath trails off having reached a yell he tones it back down. "You did this," Sheogorath says as his eyes move to Sotha Sil who stands as still as a statue, head cocked as he stares at things only he can see.
"I did nothing," Sotha Sil says. At Sheogorath's cough Sotha Sil turns toward him. "All I did was to ensure that the compact remains intact...these shadows that cover even my sight are not my doing." A troubled look crosses his face.
Sheogorath is silent at that. What could blind one who could tame even the Daedric Princes? A slight bristling of Sheogorath's fur and he stands. "Is that damn lizard alive? I still do not like him! He wanted to end the madness."
"In time the shadows will clear and all answers will be seen," is Sotha Sil's vague answer. At Sheogorath's hiss, Sotha Sil raises one eyebrow. "Still in such a simple form. Is future amusement worth it?"
"I could turn into cheese if I wanted! Or my favorite form. I JUST DO NOT WANT TO," Sheogorath hisses before turning his eyes back to the pool, filled with so very many shadows, and yet they show the truth. One way or another, the war was entering its final phase.