Unease. That was what burned in the pit of her stomach.

"Quite the odd-looking place. Isn't it?" Sheogorath quipped. She stuck out a hand and helped Irina to her feet. The Bosmer nodded in response— it was all she could muster.

If Irina were to compare her current surroundings to anything, the closest thing would be the Soul Cairn. Same desolate desert surroundings with broken buildings reminiscent of past thriving civilizations. The same cloudy sky, but instead of lively purples and blues, the clouds appeared almost sickly with the pale green haze that covered the sky and earth.

The true difference between the Soul Cairn and here is what was above.

The clouds couldn't hide everything. Islands covered in black littered the world above. Chains that hunched under their own weight connected them as if to keep stable. They all led back to a much bigger island in the center. That bad feeling welled up even more in Irina as she gazed at it.

Despite being the centerpiece, nothing could be seen in the pitch of the void that covered it. Tall spires reached towards the sky, looking like knives determined to pierce it. It ruled over the world below like a tyrant. It gave off an inescapable feeling of foreboding.

Irina looked away not even a minute after laying eyes upon it.

"This is where Alduin is?"

"Nope. We're in the waiting room right now," Sheogorath said. "There is another place beyond here. One which no one has a clue in all of Mundus about how it looks feels, all that specific stuff," She looked at Irina. "That is where you'll be heading."

"How do you know Alduin isn't here?"

Sheogorath laughed. "Oh, believe me. Auri would've had him in a headlock on Morndas if he was straggling around here. He's deeper within. We're certain of that."

Irina took a breath. Of course, the fucker would disappear into a place no Divine and Daedra could reach. Of course.

A place Divine and Daedra couldn't reach

"Wait, why hasn't Auri found him?"

"Hm. I thought I explained that earlier."

"Yes, you said he disappeared, but I assumed he flew into here," Irina said. "If he's simply deeper in, why can't you all reach him?"

Sheogorath sighed. She seemed almost reluctant to speak. "Because the deeper parts of this realm don't take kindly to Aedra and Daedra," she said. "When this place was first discovered, we found another cut, this one not leading to Aetherius. Some tests and then it was decided that this didn't lead to anywhere in Aetherius, Oblivion, or Nirn. No, it led deeper into 'Somewhere.' An Aedra was chosen to go through, one Auri had personally plucked, but as soon as the fellow touches the cut, they… disperse. Not go through, not disappear, completely zapped from reality. An uproar. A daedra was sent in, one of Dagon's, and it was the same result. A lotta, lotta test later and no result."

"So you intend to send me to possible death."

"No, mortal. Nothing like that. During one of the tests, I was there. I fancy butterflies, pretty little things, and I had one on my shoulder. Suddenly, the gal flutters from its safe spot and flies headfirst into the cut. And she passes through. No disappearing."

"So you send another being from Nirn." Irina finished. Sheogorath smiled.

"Yep, that whole convoluted story tied nicely into a ribbon. Of course, much more happened, but that's boring, and who likes boring? Now let us get going."

Irina tensed. "Before we start our walk, may I ask how far this cut is?"

"I don't know."

Irina blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I don't know," Sheogorath repeated.

Irina was silent. With some small self-reassurance, she spoke. "You don't know where it is?"

"Oh, don't be so mad. I'm in the mood to cut off fingers," she hummed in displeasure. "Plus, it is very, very, very much not my fault. There was actually supposed to be one right over there." She pointed next to a tall rock.

"And what happened to it?"

The daedra clicked her tongue. "It probably moved again." Seeing the anxious stare Irina was giving her, she continued. "One closes up, and it opens somewhere else. It could be far, could be close, could be really close. Doesn't really matter."

The memory of the walk through the cave rang through Irina's soul. Her nerves shivered in pain.

"Lord Sheogorath, fleshy folk from Tamriel, such as myself, can't walk for hours on end without rest.

Sheogorath frowned. "Dragons can."

"Dragons on Nirn, stay on Akavir. That's why I made the distinction. And they're also fragments of Auri-el."

The Daedra scrunched up her nose in displeasure. She didn't try to hide her annoyance at Irina's limitations but didn't voice them either. She had come to a silent understanding, which was quite the feat for Lord Sheogorath.

"Okay, how about this." She snapped her fingers, and Irina soon could feel the Daedra's magic lifting her body. She stumbled a bit, startled by the sudden change. Her body soon found balance after her brain realized she wouldn't float away.

"Better?" Sheogorath asked.

"Yeah," Irina replied. A small question popped up in her head. "Could you always do this?"

The look on Sheogorath's face was all she needed as an answer, but Daedra never seemed to care about the emotions of others. "Is that skooma gem stuff still affecting you? Levitation is something even a wee little toddler can master."

An iron tinge filled Irina's mouth. She probably wouldn't be able to taste correctly for a week.

"Yes. A stupid question, sorry."

"There is a quicker way to get there," Sheogorath said. "Well, I suppose it depends on your definition of quicker. It could take hours, months, years-"

"Please, just hurry up and do it."

"How rude," Sheogorath murmured but obliged.

A small purple puff of smoke sprung out from between her fingers with a snap of her nails. Purple shifted and shaped into a solid object, one which Sheogorath blew on gently to reveal as a butterfly. Its gold wings flapped wildly.

The daedra pushed the butterfly forward, and with all the speed it could muster, it flew off.

"It's a pretty butterfly," Irina commented.

"It's a gift from a long time ago, long before you were even a wee little blip on Nirn." The butterfly perched itself on a fallen tower, waiting for the Mad God to begin following.

"A friend?"

"No," Sheogorath said. "A confidant."

Sheogorath began walking. Noticing this, the butterfly started flapping its wings and flying forward. It moved like a dog on a trail, stopping momentarily to regain the 'scent' of a nearby portal whisking off in the direction it perceived to be the right way. Irina was a bit marveled. It didn't take any rest, even as a couple of minutes turned into an hour. Instead, it relentlessly pushed forward as if it were a creation of the Dwemer.

Irina looked at the area around her. It had no defiant pattern. Things from all across were strewn together in one confusing mess. The best way to put it would be like a fever dream. Nothing made sense.

Irina laughed at her train of thought. Nothing's made sense since I stepped foot into Skyrim. She could faintly hear the humming of Sheogorath in front of her.

The memories of the cave played back in her mind like a broken tune. She'd never thought she'd hear Pholeri's voice again. And the first time she ever did, it wasn't from her own throat. It was from a monster's voice in her head. A mimicry.

"You hate the prospect." Irina shivered.

She didn't. She couldn't. Certainly, she wasn't that cruel.

She'd make it up to her. Yeah, she'd do that; she was doing that, and Pholeri would be happy. She'd be grateful.

Irina would be forgiven.

She wasn't selfish.

That feeling crept up on her like a garden snake. It was no foreign feeling. It'd followed her from Valenwood to Cyrodiiil, to the white tundras of Skyrim. It was her most loyal companion. Even more so than Edelweiss.

Edelweiss. Home.

She'd be fine. She was a strong Altmer, quick with her tongue and even faster with a blade. Reckless. Always so goddamn reckless, but she was witty. Wittier than Irina gave her credit for.

The thieves guild had Brynjolf as their leader, and no matter how much the man denied it, he was the best choice between the two of them. He had deeper roots in the guild and a better understanding of how things worked.

She bit her cheek. She should've left them a letter; they didn't deserve to be left in the dark. The last time she'd disappeared, the guild put down all its remaining coins searching for her. Maybe she could get Sheogorath to pass on the news? Make it seem better than what it actually was— maybe say she'd journeyed to Akavir for a bit. But Bryn was smart. All of them were smart. They wouldn't buy that.

She gripped the straps of her knapsack tighter.

Doom-driven

Whisking around, it flies. To and fro, back and there. "Where do they go?" It wonders. It hears thoughts of pain and sadness.

Bad men. Very, very bad men walk around in a circle and throw insults around the shorter, floaty one. She's quiet, a bit bland, to be honest. But how her eyes exude a certain life that it hadn't yet seen.

"How brave not to indulge!" it notes.

The bigger one is quiet, silent. So eerie is she non-speaking with coal eyes with a pinprick of yellow dotted in the center.

"But how she sings!" it thinks.

It hides behind everything it can see, for it morphs and shifts into rock and stone. Tall towers, a forgotten teddy bear left to decay, even the little specks of dust that float into the air as the white-haired woman walks along the gray stone.

"How I fly!" it exclaims to its heart, in a seize of worry.

It can't be found because it does not wish for it. Small, it is. So tinsy, tiny that even a mere mouse could run it over. Usually, it skitters away at the slightest activity.

"The Fade is such a dangerous place!" was its heartfelt motto.

But today was the day when it felt that this rule must be broken.

"Such strange things." It said as it looked on with awe as the two stepped foot into its barren but filled home. "What a strange magic they bring!"

There had been strange things there before. Giant creatures with thousands of eyes mistaking it for a meal. A bear with a thousand furs, which wasn't much for such a creature, had indulged it in a small conversation about gnawing on someone's cousin. It stumbled across a ruin and peered into the past, where it witnessed kingdoms that once burst with life crackling to dust as it saw thousands of people with pointy ears scream in horror. Oh, how its heart burst at that.

But this was different. It was very much so scared out of its wits, but it also felt the gripe of curiosity in its heart. As one to fall into indulgence, it followed the pair as it pleased.

Up steps, down steps, through towering arches that completely eclipsed them (to which the taller one made some small comment and the shorter didn't speak), in the darkest of caverns, which made the little one shrivel into herself, and out of them into the bright green light, it trailed behind like a lost puppy.

They were 'searchers,' searching for a way out into the bright blue world. At least that's what it heard from the few spirits that would talk to it. But usually, they gave that name to the bad guys that walked around there. Guys much like the thousand-eyed fellow she'd encountered earlier.

Finally, they had stopped. At that time, it had taken the shape of a small pebble not too far off onto their right. Fear welled up in its heart. Their destination was a rift out to the world of humans. A place where it couldn't go.

"How horrid!" It thought. Such weird creatures were leaving it so soon, too soon. It wished it hadn't gotten attached, but no matter how much it could peer into the past, changing it was another story entirely.

Its sorrow welled up even more when the small one's feet had met the earth.

The butterfly had stopped moving and began hovering mid-air. What lay behind it was a cut similar to the one that allowed them passage to 'Somewhere.' The spell wore off, and Irina's feet soon touched the floor. She shifted her back and took a deep breath.

"Here is your stop," Sheogorath said. "This is where we part ways."

"I suppose it is," Irina said. Her very hands felt tingly.

"You know what you must do?"

"Find Alduin and get him home." she shifted the gloves on her hands. "And find 'something interesting.'"

"Good, then you are prepared."

She nodded. Tentatively she took a step towards the cut.

A piece of her had returned to the ruins of Skuldafn, where she stood upon the stone steps in the bitter chill of the mountains looking down into Sovngarde— a place where good and wise Mer didn't dare set foot. Had she gone so far to lose that piece of herself too?

Could she turn back now?

Life moves at an arrow's pace.

"Dragonborn," Sheogorath coaxed. "The minutes changed."

It was clear.

She gave a look to Sheogorath. She took another breath, and then she ran towards her portal, eyes closed, headfirst, muscles tight. And finally, she had left the familiar plane of Nirn.

Somewhere, a spirit cried.

"Lady Sheogorath," said Jygglag. They weren't in the Unknown or the cave, but rather just outside of it in the light of Auri-El. "You return."

"Oh no, Jyggalag, I think you mistake me for a phantom." Sheogorath clicked her tongue and faced him, annoyance written over her face.

"There is no time for your horrid talk. It comes to be noon. The meeting shall start soon, and we must both be in attendance."

"Oh, how I love these meetings. Do you think Malacath will finally get his chance to maul me? Or perhaps he'll go after Boethia?"

"With all hope, he will try to steal your tongue."

"How I love our civil chats Jyggalag."

A roar in the distance meant that their separation would come soon. They were giddy in their own way to finally be rid of the other.

"I suppose that the whole meeting will be consumed by the fever of conquest again." Sheogorath sighed. "My brain is infested with the echoes of Dagon and Bal."

"Be gracious that there is nothing to conquer yet."

"Oh, I truly am." Something ate away in her mind. The corners of her mouth creased. "Jyggalag?"

"Yes."

"That creature back there— will you talk at noon?"

Jygglag was silent for a moment. "I will keep quiet so long as you do the same."

"Good. As much as I love our dear friends, I feel that that won't go over well. You know politics and all." She said aloud.

Most certainly, for me.

She had thought hearing his voice would bring her the greatest happiness she had experienced in centuries. Instead, she felt she should've pulled him apart limb by limb.

How distasteful. She thought. The puncture of nails into her skin brought her down to reality. She looked at the sleeves of her dress and sighed loudly.

"Tattered," she lamented.

Gaafthu'umgraag landed right in front of the pair. He looked at them with inquisitive eyes. "Los nii dreh?"

"Yes," Sheogorath said. "Dragon girl lies happily in a land none of us know, completely left wild to run around with the skeevers."

"Bormahu will be pleased." replied Gaafthu'umgraag. The dragon crouched down and craned his long neck forward. "Mu fent bo nu."

"Well, Jyggalag, one more flight, and we have an hour to ourselves before we tear at each other's throats again."

"How pleasant," He replied.

"Oh, Jyggalag, was that a mimicry of me!" A smile, bright and flowery, came to her face. "How very sly of you." She giggled as she boarded the dragon. She gave one last look at the cavern. A dreadful and drab place, filled to the brim with equally annoying creatures.

Come back quick, Dragonborn. She brushed a small hair out of her face. This is truly a mess.

Jyggalag boarded soon after, making sure to sit at least a couple of inches apart from Sheogorath. Feeling the weight, Gaafthu'umgraag gave a mighty flap of his wings, and slowly the trio rose into the air.

They flew off, leaving the cave behind.