Cearbhail:

Ok guys. I did not really intend on this happening, but once again my famous fingers have decided to stray my path. But...I corrected it enough that it has a nice flow. And I think it works nicely with what I wanted. It will definitely move this story in the direction I've been wanting it to go towards. so... yay. Anyway, this story is about to speed up pretty quickly.

Oh...and enjoy. ^^


Diary of shadows,

Umm… what do say? I guess I'll start with what I know. My mother is now a prisoner of Rouse Redoran. So is my dad apparently. All because of what Mom did while she was crazy. And now it's up to me to save both of their lives, since Morrowind has some sort of law that forces children to take up their parent's failures, or something like that. First thing I have to do is meet with Captain Veleth and see what I need to do. What I do know is that someone is trying to kill Councilor Morvayn and I have 24 hours to find the killer. Shab… that's not easy. Oh well, guess I better get started.

Veselle Tenvanni

Do you know how long it took me to break out of my spasm? Let me tell you. By the time I was able to stand up, as well as my friends, the sun was close to setting. In fact, the sunset was just about upon us. I'd wager another few minutes and the sun would have gone completely down. And that means I have to look for a killer in the middle of the night when everyone is sleeping. Figures.

Raven Rock changed a lot while I was gone. It just seemed darker somehow. And there's this constant feeling that someone is out to get me. The market place seemed pretty empty too, so that was something else too. Can't say I've really stepped into the town since I came here with Talvas, and when I did I was in and out with new supplies. No reason to really be here, I guess. Not like I had any real friends here. But still, people here liked me. Seeing the people in town lock their eyes onto me as I walked through the downtown market place scared me. All conversation dried up and they just… watched me. It was like being in a nightmare where everyone it out to kill you. That's exactly what it felt like. Everyone watching me was waiting for something before they attacked me. Of course, I knew I was just being paranoid. There was no way these nice people would try to kill me. I'm just too cute.

Redoran guards paced around the town, muttering to themselves in the way I'd expect from someone berating themselves for losing their house keys in the ash or something.

One of the guards walked over to me, almost as if in a trance. "He grows ever near to us." He muttered to me, standing in front of me, looking down at me through his bug-created helmet with the small narrow visor. "Our eyes were once blinded…now through him do we see… Our hands were once idle… now through them does he speak…"

"What?" I asked the guard as he started to walk past me.

I watched as he and the other villagers dropped what they were doing and started heading towards the coast. The villagers all started looking like they were in a trance too. "And when the world shall listen…" Everyone around me started to speak in one massive monotone voice. I almost jumped as Zera and Seth started speaking the same line as everyone else. "And when the world shall see…" I watched as Zera and Seth both turned around and started walking over to the other villagers. What the heck was going on? I had no idea, but it was scaring the crap out of me. "And when the world remembers…" I heard Seth and Zera whisper as I ran up to them.

"Seth!" I said as I grabbed onto his shoulders, spinning him to look at me. His eyes were glazed over, much like what I remember seeing in Riften when someone took some skooma. It forced me to let go of him, but I quickly grabbed him again. "Seth! Snap out of it! What's going on?"

Seth and Zera turned to look at me. And they said, "That world shall cease to be…"

Seth snapped his hand out and blasted me back with a fireball strong enough to toss me halfway across the market place. I hadn't prepared for it and by the time I hit the ground, let alone roll up onto my feet, Seth was already on his way over to some giant glowing stone on the outskirts of town. What the heck was going on? I didn't know, but I had to find out. I stood up and quickly jogged to catch up to Seth and Zera. They acted like I wasn't even there.

"Hey, Seth…" I waved my hand in front of him. "Yo!" I snapped my fingers. He just ignored me.

"Here is his shrine…" Seth said as he shouldered past me, Zera right next to him.

"That we have forgotten…" Zera said in the same monotone voice.

I stopped as they silently marched away from me and over to the giant glowing stone. I looked at the stone to see that everyone I knew was starting to gather ebony and stuff. It looked like they were going to build something. The stone itself was glowing with a magicka pulse that I hadn't detected before. I had notice the thing before, and Dad once brought me here to meditate next to the thing, but it never did anything unusual. Honestly, I thought it was just a giant rock. And now…the giant rock was doing stuff.

I sighed as I walked up to the thing. People walked around like they didn't even see me. They started setting up boards of wood, hammering the planks into some sort of walkway or something. I don't know, I'm not a builder. I'm barely a farmer. But what I am is a Telvanni mage. And this is magicka control, I'm half certain of it. Too bad Dad wasn't here watching this. He'd probably be all over this thing with his attentive eyes. Mom too. She'd probably know what was going on here better than anyone else. Too bad they were currently locked up in the bulwark. I was on my own for this.

I walked up to the pillar and closed my eyes. I folded my legs underneath me as I sat down in seiza. I took a few deep breaths as I focused my mind on the giant rock. I could feel the silent pulses of energy. It felt familiar…like I'd felt it before. The pulse of energy made me feel tense, like someone was behind me with a knife and I knew it. An image of something with long tentacles formed in my mind, wrapped around the stone and grabbing people's heads. The thing brought the people here to work for it. As I pushed harder on my image, it started to change. It wasn't some sort of monster, but a man. He was tall, strong, and had a mask in the form of some type of squid. As soon as I saw him standing over the statue, he looked down at me. "Here is my shrine." His voice pulsed down at me. "That you have forgotten. Here do you toil, so that you may remember. By night you reclaim what by day was stolen far from yourselves." His form reached down for me and I tried to move, but my astral body was frozen in its place. The massive giant wrapped his fingers around me and picked me up, bringing me up to his eyes. "I grow ever near to you. Your eyes were once blinded, now through me do you see. Your hands were once idle, but through them do I speak. And when the world shall listen, and when the world shall see, and when the world remembers…." He squeezed me hard and my astral body exploded.

I jumped up from my seated position, falling forward and spitting up blood. Everyone had stopped working to look at me. Their glazed over eyes addressed me as they spoke as one. "That world shall cease to be." And that sent shivers down my spine.

I tried to pick myself up and defend myself, but I didn't need to. The workers ignored me further and just went back to work. I watched as Seth and Zera started gathering up a pile of heart stones. They went over to the rocks and ebony and started weaving magicka I'd never seen before. The metal started to change and morph into a twisted looking construct with Daedric runes built into it. This was insane. I couldn't do anything like that, and I was the genius of the new students.

I shook my head and pushed myself up on my feet. I had to tell Dad and Mom. We couldn't ignore this. I picked myself up and ran from the giant glowing rock. I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone would try to catch me, but they didn't even look in my direction. This was so weird. As I ran away from the rock, I started to remember when I felt that presence. I forgot a lot of things, but one thing I never quite forgot was how scared I felt when I was doing that one quest with Talvas. He had ignored my whining at the time, unable to feel what I felt. But when we found the Black Book, I'd known that the book was the cause of that evil feeling. It was also the same time I met my spirit Anari.

I came to a stop as I had a sudden realization. Anari! She would know what was going on. So, I turned around and brought a portal ball to my hand. "Anari!" I screamed and threw the orb to the ground. "I choose you!" The orb slammed into the ground and ripped open into a portal big enough for my bound spirit to come rolling out.

Anari was an interesting spirit. She's like this giant floating gasbag of knowledge. She has a squid-like face with tentacles that flow down her entire face like she has her own squid beard. She had arms longer than the rest of her body, both bony as heck. She also had two beady eyes that always looked bored somehow. But she had this heavenly soft voice and a love for knowledge. She loved to read books with me during the full moon. And that's Anari. Just a nice bookworm.

When Anari jumped out of her portal, she looked over at me, sighing. "Veselle, may I remind you that I do not like being compared to a pocket monster?"

I nodded. "Noted." I pointed to the giant rock. "What the heck is going on over there?"

She looked from me over to the obviously enslaved workers. "That we have forgotten…" They said for maybe the tenth time since I've been standing here.

Anari looked over at me. "It has begun." She announced.

"What has begun?"

Anari turned around and brought her fists up. Before I knew it, I was thrown off my feet as Anari started throwing wave after wave of Shock magicka at me. All my magicka vanished as she slammed with me over and over again with her version of Shock magicka. My arms spasmed as she launched another wave at me. I screamed for help from anybody, but when I managed to look up, the workers were ignoring me like I wasn't even there.

"I'm coming Veselle!" I heard Kyuu call as he charged up to me. Anari turned her attention off me to fight Kyuu. She held one hand over me and with a snap of her fingers another wave of Shock roared over my body, making me spasm. I think I vomited too, but I couldn't really tell.

Kyuu changed into his bigger version. "I should have guessed you'd turn against us one day!" Big Kyuu growled as he jumped through the air. Right before he made connection to Anari, she just vanished into thin air.

Kyuu landed right on top of me, well not on top of me. More like over top of me. He held a guarded position while standing over me, growing as he looked around for Anari. His nine tails flicked nervously around while blue flames poured through them. He was ready for a fight.

"I am merely doing as ordered by my Master." Anari announced. She appeared over top of us, floating in the sky.

"Kyuu!" I screamed and tried to move my arms, but they were pretty useless. By the time he looked up it was too late. A wave of Shock fell down on top of us.

Kyuu was my first spirit, and he was there when we fought an Ash Guardian. That was our first fight together. Ever since then, Kyuu has been my partner when it came to fights. Anari was more a spirit I read books with, not fight alongside. So, when Anari launched a wave of Shock at us, I was not surprised when Kyuu brought up a Shield over us. The Shield took the wave of Shock and dispersed it. "You can't beat me with such lame attacks!" Kyuu growled. "But I will beat you." With a deep bark from Kyuu, a large white/light blue circle formed around us. "Heal Beam!" There was a large flash of white energy that embraced us.

Life flew into my limbs and I felt good as new. I whipped myself up and climbed out from underneath Kyuu. "Thanks, Kyuu." I said to him as I reached for my training staff. "Let's take her down."

Anari vanished again into thin air. I looked around with my staff. "Kyuu, I'm setting up a protection circle. Ok?"

"No." He said, looking back at me. "She'll just wait and hide until you get bored."

"Not if I cut my bond with her." I replied back. "She won't be able to feed off my energy."

He smirked. "I like you plan. Cut her bond, and then we'll kill her."

I sighed as I dismissed Anari's summon. There was a snap like a tiny cord connecting me to Anari and I felt her cry out in alarm. Just as soon as I did that, I felt her appear behind me. She wrapped me up in her arms. "You're coming with me." She said. And as soon as she did that, I felt a portal open up around me.

Kyuu snapped around. "Veselle!" He cried before I disappeared into the portal.

The ride to Oblivion was not a fun one. It was like I was being dragged down a murky pool into a place without air. As soon as the portal around us opened up, I felt like I could breathe again. I was about to fry Anari before I felt another jolt of Shock pass through my body. She ran it through me long enough to knock me out. My body pretty much fell lifeless in her arms. When she was done, she dropped me on the floor. "My Master will wish to speak with you." She said as she floated away.

I was totally unable to move. My brain was still trying to figure out how to send electrical signals to my muscles. At least I could breathe. That was a plus. And I was lying on my stomach. If I vomited, it would just come pouring out, not gathering in my mouth like it did earlier.

I looked around as best I could. I remembered being here once before. I was on some sort of mesh webbing that looked like a spider web. Directly underneath me was some sort of bubbling pool of tar acid, or something like that. Above me was a large purple skyline with books flying around everywhere. Any other day of the year, I'd love to be here and read these books. I doubt I was here for a social visit though.

Right as I started getting feeling in my body I felt a tentacle wrap around my legs. I sighed as I was suddenly lifted off the ground while these black tentacles wrapped around my legs and arms. I hovered there in the sky while a black mass of bubbling eyes and tar formed in front of me. "Welcome to Apocrypha." A deep shadowy voice whispered to me as the tentacles continued to climb over my arms and legs, constricting me lightly.

"You again…" I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Can I go home yet?"

"And what makes you think you may go home at all?" He announced. "You are in my realm, little one. You play by my rules."

He had me there. It wasn't like I could do anything at all. I could summon Kyuu, but what good would that do? Could he even fight something like this? I had to find out why I was even here. "Ok, whoever you are. You obviously want something from me. What is it?"

A tentacle started wrapping lightly over my neck, slithering up to my mouth. "You speak to me in such an insolent tone again, and you'll choke on my arm." He whispered to me as his bulgy eyes all focused on me, narrowing to slits. "You will speak when asked to, understood?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I understand." Jeez…these stupid Daedric gods and their stupid rules. I hate Daedric Lords.

"Good." He replied. "People who come to my realm only come when they wish to know something. They are only able to leave when they exchange my knowledge for something they have. What is it you wish to know, and what are you willing to give for the knowledge of which you seek? Do you wish to know your fate? Do you wish to know what the flow of the universe has decided for you? To foresee your reason for existing?"

"No, not really." I shook my head. "I just want to go home."

"Perhaps you wish to know something else then?" He mused as his tentacle danced on face, slapping me in the cheek. "Perhaps a question of love? Do you wish to know if the boy will ever love you? How you could win him over?" I couldn't help but feel intrigued. Making Talvas fall in love with me? That sounded interesting. The mass of eyes widened at my thought. "I see I now have your attention." He resounded through the whole room. "Would you wish to know how to make the boy Talvas fall in love with you? To make him give up Gwen and come running to you, to take you as you are? To become one with you?"

I swallowed as I thought about that. Talvas taking me back to his room and doing to me what he does to Gwen. It was a hard image to fight. "And what would I have to give up for that knowledge?" I found myself asking him.

He seemed eager to push up to me. "I only ask a favor, little plaything. When you get back to Mundus…you must tell your precious Master Neloth…Miraak is coming. Tell your Master that he must speak to the Skald Village to the north. Their shaman will know what it means. Everything. Understand? And for this favor, I will tell you how to make the boy elf Talvas wrap you up in his arms forever. The secret knowledge of the boy's heart. The one thing that Gwen can never do that will force him to treat you as an equal…to love you as you love him."

I nodded. "I understand what you're trying to say." I paused. "But that's not what I want to know." I did want to know how to make Talvas grab me and treat me like he treated Gwen, but it wasn't that important to me. I have Seth, and I'm more than happy to have him do the same things to me when he's ready. There was something more important right now, and I needed to know what I could do to help my mother.

The eyes widened. "Oh, then what is it you wish to know? What are you seeking to know to sign yourself over to me… to my favor?" He whispered as he floated up to me. Tentacles started pulling on my twintails.

"I want to know who is trying to kill Councilor Morvayn." I said to him. There, my quest would be done after this. I could go back to Councilor Adril and tell him what I knew and that would be the end of all that. "And I want to know how to prove it." The tentacles started to loosen from me. "Answer this for me and I will tell my Master everything you have told me to say."

I looked down at Anari. She pretended to be reading a book, only looking up at me on occasion as if to see if I was still in the library. I cannot believe she brought me here. I know she was only doing what her Lord told her to do, but to attack me like that. That was unforgiveable to me. As far as I am concerned, I'm done with Anari.

"Councilor Morvayn has been targeted by the survivors of House Ulen. Morvayn personally ordered the deaths of their ancestor and they are seeking revenge for what he has done to them. But you wish to know more…and I will give you more. The Ulen family has a tomb in Raven Rock. If you travel to this tomb and wait, you will find someone leaving an offering to the family. This is the clue you need. The person leaving an offering is part of the Ulen family. Follow up from that. You have all you need. Now go…and give your Master my message as soon as he is free from his shackles."

I felt a portal wrap around me and I held my breath as I was suddenly trapped inside a bubble of magicka. I felt that pull of murky energy as I was pulled through dimensions again. There was a flash of light and I was suddenly floating several feet above the ground. I had just enough time to scream as I feel straight down into a pile of ash, which created a small explosion of ash all around me as I landed.

"Veselle!" Kyuu called as he ran up to me. He was back in his tiny form. "I was almost out of magicka. How did you escape?"

I looked up from my pile of dust. The sun was starting to rise over the eastern side of the sea. Rising? Last I checked, the sun was setting. I sat up, brushing ash off my robes. I looked up at Kyuu. "How long was I gone?"

"12 hours." Kyuu said. "Veselle, it's 07:32 currently. You vanished somewhere around 18:43."

I shook my head. "Not good, not good. I only less than 12 hours to find the killer and prove their guilt before Councilor Morvayn kills my mother."

I looked over at the giant stone. It was no longer glowing with strange magicka. There was no one around it but Seth and Zera. They were passed out in the ash. I stood myself up and ran over to them. "Seth!" I screamed as I ran over to him. When I was over top of him, I kneeled down and gave his shoulder a good shake. "Seth! Wake up!"

He shifted and his eyes opened. "Vess?" He asked groggily. He groaned as he reached up at his head. "What happened last night? I feel like someone got inside me and gave me a good test ride."

"Things got pretty scary last night. Some spirit controlled you and made you work on building this…" I motioned to the massive structure of ebony and heart stone pillars surrounding the massive rock. "thing." I shrugged. Heck, I didn't know what to call it.

He looked up at the rock. "Odd…I can remember it… but like it was a dream, ya know?" He looked at me. "And you were trying to wake me up. I remember that." He grabbed me and pulled me in for a kiss. Next thing I knew we were making out in the ash for a few minutes. When we were finally done, he nodded his thanks to me. "Thanks, Vess. You…well…I don't know what you did, but thanks." He was on top of me by now and I thought that we might go somewhere new with this, but he groaned as he started to push himself up onto his feet. He reached down to help me up. "Did you by any chance find out who the killer is?"

I shook my head. "No. I was being held captive by a Daedric Lord. But…he did tell me where to find the traitor. I have to go find the Ulen Family Tomb."

He smirked. "Oh, I know where that is." He looked away from me over to the still sleeping Zera. I bent down and nudged her awake. "Zera. Come on, time to wake up."

She groaned as she stood up. "0100101001010011." She said automatically. Then she shook her head. "Wait…what?" She tilted her head to the side. "What did I just say?"

Seth shrugged. "No idea, I don't speak binary." He looked at me. "Did you understand her?"

I shook my head. "Nope, not a clue." That was trippy. I wonder what she said. Too bad I don't know anything about binary though. I looked up at Seth and then down to Zera. "Ok, let's go to this Ulen Tomb."

Zera smiled. "Oh, I know where that is. Our great uncle was buried there." Wait… what?


Cearbhail:

So, for anyone that knows binary, please let me know what I said. I'm curious if it actually means anything, or if I just threw out a string of numbers. It would be pretty funny to hear "You said 'Bunny hop bacon" or something like that. Anyway, have a nice day.