Cearbhail:

Ok everyone. I've graduated. And... just so you know: This chapter is all in Mirri's persepctive. OK? Every second of it. And, I know I've been keeping a lot of secrets, but now... SPOILERS so many fierfekla spoilers. If you still want to hide even a hint of what this entire Chronicles Series is about, don't read this chapter. I reveal everything, well mostly. It's still up in the air, but if you read this chapter, you'll start noticing little things that continuously happen. Remember that one chapter back in Chronicles of Lydia where Esbern makes a theory about dragons and dwemer? Well, take that theory and think of it as light bulb. And now... I created a giant lightning storm. Well, maybe. I was washing dishes when I thought of it and it all suddenly made sense... how everything had led to this moment, to this explanation. Everything I'd ever written for this series. I don't think I explained it thoroughly but it covers enough to remind me what I plan to unleash further on.

Oh... and Veselle's perspective next chapter.


Dear mother,

I have received your letter of summons, but I don't want to meet you in person. I feel like our family has dissolved ever since father stabbed me in the chest. And the more I think about our family, and how I was raised, I have figured out something important.

I don't know where or when we stopped being a family. All I've known my whole life was training with father and you to become an assassin. Every morning was meditation, training combat forms, learning mana strike-based martial arts, and weapon drills. But… that was my life, and that's what I knew. You tried your best to keep me away from other people so that I would never question the way I was treated. So…if I could meet you in person, I would ask you why I changed. Why… when the moment finally came to do everything I was prepared to do… did I suddenly decide to defy father? I have spent the last few days in quiet reflection to find out that answer, and I found it in an unlikely source… Veselle. She was my friend, one of my only friends. And… she, for the most part, showed me how to behave like a normal child. Of course, when I first met her, I thought she was too naïve, too happy to be a normal person. I thought she was the weird one, and that everyone else was raised more or less like me. But… I started going out of the house to hang out with other kids, even if there weren't many around, and the majority of them were in Tel Mithryn. While interacting with the residents of Raven Rock, I started noticing that I was the odd one. I was the one that acted cold and indifferent. Veselle helped show me that. I noticed it with how she interacted with her own parents. Even if she hated her father, she still treated him warmly, and her mother treated her with some amount of love and respect. I never got that kind of warmth from you, mother.

So, am I upset that you're going to prison to face the charges of treason? Yes. Am I unhappy that I will no longer live with you? Yes. Would I stick up for you at your hearing? No. You clearly broke the law and tried to kill the Councilor of Raven Rock. You even tried to use me to achieve those same ends. I would be with you in prison right now if I didn't stand up to father. You used your own daughter with the knowledge that I would be sentenced and judged. Was I born just to become one of your assassins in your plot to kill Councilor Morvayn? I wasn't sure if I was right, but once father tried to execute me for disobeying him, I started figuring out that I was never truly his daughter, nor yours for that matter. I'm both glad and sad that he's dead. I am glad I wasn't awake to watch it happen, and I'm sad that I didn't get to kill him myself. If I saw him attack Veselle, I might have killed him myself. Veselle's been kinder to me than you or father have ever been. So, I renounce the name Ulen, for I am no longer of your family. Just like I have severed myself from your name, I shall keep the name Severin as a final insult to your memory. May the Blacklight council find you guilty and sentence you to Oblivion.

Mirri Severin.

"Look, the astral bridges have already been activated." The strange woman Thiah called from the front. "We can't let them reach the last room." She was already running across a long bridge made up of some kind of glowing magical circles. Everyone was following behind her. I looked back at Veselle and Seth. They both were sticking back because they couldn't fight or summon any magicka to aid us. Just looking back, I could already see them making out. Well, I don't have to worry about them feeling left out. They looked just fine where they were.

I turned my way back to the bridge. I always had a fear of heights, and seeing this transparent bridge did not help at all. I watched as Thiah, Master Neloth, and Ruby all raced across the bridge without hesitating, so I pushed on ahead. My first step was hesitant but I felt it hit something as solid as ground, so that fear was quickly replaced with wanting to get the heck off the bridge as fast as possible. Looking over the bridge, I could see a pool of water filled with skeletons of people that apparently fell off the bridge some time ago. I forced myself to look away as I raced after Thiah.

"Who are 'they' and what are they trying to do?" The annoying Khajiit girl called from beside Thiah. I couldn't wait to face her in the tournament. I could tell she was strong, but that didn't matter to me. She intruded into my home and insulted me. She had to be punished for the things she said to me while being a guest in my house.

"The ones I am referring to are the agents of…" Thiah was suddenly cut off as the astral bridge disappeared from under her feet. I felt the solid matter of the bridge vanish as well. Do you know that feeling where your stomach rushes to your throat because you know you're about to fall to your death? That's the last thing I felt before I crashed into the murky water below. It wasn't a soft landing either. I fell pretty fast, and I ended up slamming my back not only onto the water, but onto the stone three feet underneath. I honestly should have died, but for some reason the thick water really slowed me down enough to where I was just barely broken. The water was quick to surround me as my vision faded away.

I don't know how long I was stuck in that murky water, but as soon as that water flowed into my lungs, I was thrashing as hard as I could to push myself up. A hand grasped my collar and pulled me up. My head broke the surface and I was quick to clear my lungs. I coughed for a few seconds before groaning out, "Thanks."

"No problem." The annoying Khajiit replied. As I looked up at her, she smiled down at me. It pissed me off.

I knocked her hand away. "I didn't ask for your help."

The annoying Khajiit only smirked like she knew how I was going to react. She turned around and unsheathed her crystalline katana. "Regardless, we need yours. There are a lot of skeletons trying to kill us." She didn't wait for me as she charged her way over to the walking skeleton warriors. I pushed myself out of the slimy water, rising back onto my feet. The annoying Khajiit was already spinning around, slashing at several skeletons with some sort of magicka that rolled off her sword. I didn't know she could fight so elegantly. Perhaps I was mistaken about her character. Only a trained warrior could move with such elegance. Someone like me.

Just thinking about earlier today, I overheard Veselle and Ruby talking about their pasts. Ruby was a slave or something, so how did she become the fighter she was now? That was not something you just pick up along the way.

A hiss from a nearby skeleton broke my thoughts away from Ruby. I looked off to my right to see a black skeleton advancing towards me, his hands oozing with corrupted energy that felt malicious. I lowered myself into the fighting form of Fire Petal Dance, the mana striking form father forced me to master before my tenth birthday. It was my preferred striking art where I sacrificed punching for palm thrusts that allowed me to direct my spiritual energy into my opponent's aura. I could take down anyone as long as I made partial contact. And a skeleton was not a normal person, it was a spiritual construction. Hitting it with my energy would disrupt its connection to its holder. The skeleton would not last long against my martial arts.

I pushed forward, my legs knee deep in the murky brown water. The water was thick and sloshy but I still moved fast enough to create a wave behind me. By the time I was within striking distance from the skeleton I was already preparing my palm for my strike. I thrust my hand out, feeling my mana flow through my arm and out my palm, manifesting itself as a light blue flame. My energy struck out at the skeleton, which the skeleton reacted by having its face explode on contact with my energy. Next thing I knew, the body of the skeleton was evaporating into what looked like ectoplasm.

I took a second to catch my breath. Looking around, I didn't see any other skeletons heading my way, so I took the opportunity to look down at my clothes. They were completely soaked through. I looked up at the hundreds of skeletons sloshing their way up to Master Neloth and Ruby. I couldn't worry about my clothes right now. I was a battlemage for House Telvanni. I could not just sit here and watch as my Lord fought his own battles without my help. He was my family now, and I would not sit here and watch him do all the work. I shifted my stance from Fire Petal Dance to a distance form known as Ash Storm. I took a deep breath as I collected my energy into a ball in my hand. I screamed a kiai as I blasted my hand out, willing the energy collected within it to launch out as a wave of destruction. And my energy flew off as a blue wave of fire. It washed over several skeletons before dying off.

That drew the attention of nearby skeletons too. They started charging for me, and I readied myself for another round. I still had plenty of energy to spare, but I could already feel the pinched hole in my chest hurt. Kyuu did his best to heal my wounds, but they were still there. Father was good at killing. Kyuu saved me from death, but the damage was still there. I couldn't push myself too hard right now. I had to switch to a more defensive form: the Stoneflower Shuffle. It was a form made to use whatever energy I had to create a defensive barrier between me and my enemies. Since my feet barely left the floor, it also allowed me to plant 'roots' in my environment where I could draw in more mana to use with my Fire Petal Dance. I could actually use both forms at once, but it was strange to watch. Whenever I used them both I just called it the Gold Kanet Blossoms. It was the martial art I designed for myself, the one father could never teach me. It was an extension of myself. Fire Petal Dance called for fluidity of movement, the Stoneflower Shuffle was more rooted and about defense. My Gold Kanet Blossoms was both put into one. Fluid to the movement, but stone hard and stiff upon delivery. I am a master of it since I created it. And no other assassin in the Morag Tong could ever recreate it.

I waited as the horde of skeletons all wielding swords and whatnot rushed me. My father taught me a lot about the personal circle that one uses to determine if someone is within their striking range. My circle size depended on which style I was using, and my Gold Kanet Blossoms had a giant circle. It was too bad I was too injured to use it as effectively, so my circle was a lot smaller. As soon as the first skeleton stepped into my personal circle, I pushed off my feet and snapped out a foot at him. I can also manipulate the energy through my feet, which is possible because I had to learn how to root in the first place. My foot found a nice spot in the skeleton's jaw, and the skeleton let out a shriek as it crumbled to ectoplasm just like the last one.

Three more were already passing into my personal circle but I was ready. When I touched down, I summoned my mana to my hands. When I spun back around, I blasted my mana out like a wave. The wave washed over the advancing skeletons, evaporating them like they were nothing. I managed to plant my feet down and draw in some new energy as the rest of the wave rushed over to me. There were more than ten or so, but I didn't stop to count. I just started fighting. I stuck my palm out at one, blasting him before he could slash at me; twisted my head to the side barely evading an arrow as soon as I saw an arrow heading towards me; snapping my foot back to kick a skeleton coming up behind me; and finally punching two in the face on opposite sides of me. Those punches were a mistake though; one of the skeletons had found an opening and took it. He thrust a sword right at me. It never made it. I snapped my foot out, roundhouse kicking the sword tip away from me while blasting a wave of mana at him.

I tried to recover my footing but my clothes were heavier than I would have liked. My wound in my chest was starting to hurt too. My foot supporting me crumbled and I fell back into the sludgy water, the skeletons falling down on top of me as they clawed at me with their bony fingers. I tried to push them away, blasting them with raw mana, but that was never my strong suit. There was a large flash of light overhead and the skeletons were suddenly gone. I felt another hand clamp down on top of me and I swore to the gods that if Ruby pulled me up a second time, I would have some choice words for her.

I was suddenly pulled straight up to my feet by Thiah, the strange woman with the incredible aura. "Are you ok?" She looked slightly concerned. Her long daikatana glowed with whatever spell she launched at the skeletons.

I nodded. "I'm fine, thanks."

She let go of my blouse and looked at me. "You have no weapons, no armor… and yet you fought with the ferocity of a true warrior." She looked back at Master Neloth and Ruby. "I believe that is all of them. We should hurry to find back up."

"I will just levitate us." Master Neloth said as he walked over to us. He looked around for a second. "Where are Veselle and Seth?" I could see the worry already forming in his eyes. Did he think they were killed?

"Oh, they stayed back in the sacrifice room!" I shouted to him. "They both were starting to feel sore and they couldn't use magicka so… they thought they'd just be in the way."

Thiah sighed. "Oh well. I really wanted to see her in action too."

Master Neloth looked over at Thiah, even more worry showing on his face. "Do not worry, Thiah. There is still the tournament."

She scoffed. "I suppose." She looked over at me. "You, however, need some proper armor if you're going to continue with us." She snapped her fingers and a Conjuration portal ripped open in front of her hand. The portal cleared away and there was a suit of ebony armor resting in her hand. "Here, change into this armor. It's ebony mail." She handed the armor to me as if it meant nothing to her.

I looked at the armor for a second before nodding. "Thanks." I took the armor from her and looked for a dry place to change. When I didn't find one, Thiah snapped her fingers. The armor disappeared in a portal, but only for a second. Another portal ripped open right on top of me and I felt my wet clothes disappear. The feeling was replaced by the ebony mail armor, which felt it was made for me. When the portal disappeared, I looked down to see that I was head-to-toe in ebony mail armor. Even my gloves were changed to have sharp knuckles for punching. Wow… this armor felt amazing. I never felt this nice in any other armor.

"It is done then?" Master Neloth looked from me over to Thiah. "Are you sure about this?"

Thiah shrugged. "Sure about what? It's just armor." She said as she turned around. "Let us continue. We must get to the resting place before they do."

"I am sick of this pronoun game!" Ruby screamed. "Who are they?"

"We're wasting time." Thiah was still running down the corridor filled with knee deep brown water.

"We can talk and run at the same time!" Ruby screamed after her, taking off in a sprint. I started running to catch up to them, and it felt a lot easier in this armor than in anything I could have been wearing before this.

"The people we are after are the tools of Hermeaus Mora." Thiah announced as we raced through the knee deep water. The corridor seemed to continue going on without coming to an end. I didn't see any more skeletons popping up, which was nice.

"But why is Hermeaus Mora sending his agents here?" Ruby asked.

"This is the tomb of Vahlok. He was a dragon priest back in the mythic era. When Miraak started working for Hermeaus Mora and began learning how to dominate the minds of mortals with his Dragonborn ability, Vahlok was the one to confront him. The two fought and at the end, Vahlok was the one to beat him. Hermeaus Mora saved Miraak's life and kept him locked away in Apocrypha to serve him as one of his agents. The other dragon priests helped seal Vahlok here in this tomb where his presence would keep Miraak sealed away in Apocrypha. As long as Vahlok is alive, we do not have to worry about Miraak coming back." Thiah looked back at Master Neloth. "We need a jump up."

I looked up to see an open doorway hallway up the wall. Master Neloth nodded. "Right away." He stuck his hands out and a giant levitation circle appeared out of nowhere. It was the same one he used on us earlier to keep us from falling to our deaths.

Before Thiah could step into the circle, Ruby grabbed Thiah's arm. "I still don't understand something. How do you know all this?"

She smirked. "I'm Boethiah. I'm the god of deceit, conspiracy, treason, and secrecy. In times of war, I work with a couple other Daedra Lords: Mephala, Azura, and Nocturnal as a unit of sabotage, intelligence, and subterfuge."

Master Neloth looked over at us. "Their names are Spider, Dawn, and Shadow."

Boethiah nodded. "And my name is Assassin." She looked over at me. "And my role with my sisters is simple. We are the infiltrators, the ones that work in the shadows of the battlefield. I am the assassin… and I am here to kill the agents of Hermeaus Mora before they complete their objective. But… I need agents as well. I have chosen Mirri to act as my agent, my champion. To complete my objective here, Dawn wanted me to use her agents… Neloth and his daughters… as well as Ruby." She looked over at Ruby.

"What? I'm not an agent of Azura!" She protested.

Boethiah smirked. "You don't know it, but you are." She turned to walk into the circle. "No more questions. We must hurry."

"Just one last question." Ruby pulled back on Boethiah's arm. "You mentioned a war. What war?"

Boethiah smiled. "The war. The last war. The only war that matters. The war of our time. The Everything War. The Aedra, the Daedra, and everything you could ever believe… all fighting for the prize of Tamriel. You can sit here and think about it, but you won't understand it. I will try my best to explain it though. There are my brothers and sisters that are fighting each other for reign of this plane of Oblivion: Mundus. It started at the end of the mythic era with the act of Alduin, the rise of man. When they transported Alduin through time and space, they violated the agreement of the gods. Alduin's defeat had been delayed and because of this, the destruction of this planet only delayed until Alduin returned. Until that time, my brothers and sisters have done their part to prepare this world for what would come. Some are against us and plan to rule Mundus as their own. Mehrunes Dagon and Molag Bal are examples of this. There are other Daedra that assist them: Namira, Peryite, and sometimes Vaermina."

I had no idea what was going on, but Master Neloth seemed to understand. "And now Hermeaus Mora? What does he have to do with all of this?"

She looked over at him. "Everything. He was the one pulling the strings all along, but we never figured it out until it was too late. Alduin revolted because Miraak forced him too by using his Bend Will Shout, which he learned from Hermeaus Mora. The plan was to use Alduin to lay waste to the planet so that Hermeaus Mora could exact his plan to make a planet for the Dwemer. He was the one that taught the Dwemer how to achieve immortality, but when the Dwemer accidentally created a massive portal to Aetherius, a domain he had no reach in, Tentacle used Alduin create a portal to release the Dwemer. He was the one that forced Alduin to travel to our time by convincing a lone Nord to use an Elder Scroll to trap Alduin in the cracks of time."

Ruby scratched her head. "This is…ugh… my head."

Boethiah nodded. "This is my domain… conspiracy. I've spent a millennia searching for any evidence supporting my theories, and I know they're correct now." She started turning around towards the levitation circle. "And it doesn't end there. The Corpus virus, the Ash Spawn… they're the acts of Namira, Molag Bal, and Peryite, a form of disease that corrupts the forms and minds of people and animals alike. Molag Bal offers his assistance to dominate the minds of humans in the creation of the virus, Namira helps with the disfigurement portion, and Peryite creates the means for the virus to spread. They've been behind your Ash Spawn problem. They are working with Hermeaus Mora to complete his goal of ruling Tamriel. What they get out of ruling Tamriel is beyond me, but I am guessing it's to release them from the planes of Oblivion."

"Then why aren't you helping them?" Ruby asked. "Wouldn't you like to be released from your own plane?"

She motioned to her form. "Do I look trapped to you? No, we can come and go as we please, but some want more than just freedom, they want domination. I did not help the Dunmer in their time of need to sit back and watch the Dwemer destroy all that we have created. The Dwemer are a blight on our life, and if they get the chance to create their god killer machines… no Daedra Lord will stand a chance. Hermeaus Mora will be the last one standing… while the rest of us burn in the outer planes of nonexistence. I will not tolerate such treachery. That is my domain… not his."

"So… how am I an agent of Azura?" Ruby asked.

Boethiah smirked. "You are a Khajiit, the race she protects as well as Dunmer. Not to mention your connection to crystals and the moons… You act on Azura's influence even if you don't acknowledge it. You learned the ancient shaman art from an Ashlander, a witch that learned her art from Azura herself. Your art form was devised by Azura. And she chose you as her champion long ago… and here you are. She will call upon you when she needs you… but she tends to use her crystal spirits to do it for her."

Ruby stood there stunned for a second. "Um… wow."

Boethiah cursed as she jumped into the portal. "Oh no… I've wasted too much time. They've released the seal. Vahlok is awakened."

I was still standing there, trying to process everything I had just heard. I was chosen by Boethiah to be one of her agents? I looked down at the armor she had given me. I'd heard about the Ebony Mail… a Daedric artifact given by Boethiah to her champions, her agents of assassination. Was I now in her service? My head spun as I watched Ruby and Master Neloth head up the portal. What was going on? I just wanted to live a normal life with everyone in Tel Mithryn. What was going to happen to me now? I took a deep breath as I looked down at the levitation spell. I stepped onto the spell and felt it launch me up. I watched as I floated up to the doorway. The spell stopped pushing and I drifted over to the floor, safely letting me touch down before the spell let go of me.

Ruby was waiting for me. "Glad you joined us. Come on… Boethiah and Neloth are already confronting the agents." She didn't wait for me as she spun on her heel and flashed down the walkway. I followed right behind her, almost moving as fast as she did. I followed behind Ruby into a larger room. Master Neloth and Boethiah were standing near the entrance with Ruby. When I walked into the room, I could already see two people inside waiting for us. Both were human, something I did not expect. I expected Dunmer like me but one was clearly a nicely dressed Nord, and one looked like a half-crazed Imperial mage.

"Oh, how nice. Another guest." The Nord said.

Master Neloth's hands started to glow. "I remember you. You were the scholar living with the Skaal. You mentioned something about an expedition."

The Nord nodded. "Indeed, you are correct. This is the expedition. Just imagine… Vahlok the Jailor… slain. And with his demise, Miraak the True Dragonborn will live again. He will enslave the world for Hermeaus Mora, and those who worship Hermeaus Mora will live like gods among men."

"Septimus merely wishes to meet the Dwemer. The mystery of the box… of the heart of Lorkhan… Septimus must know what lies beneath the heart. Hermeaus Mora promises Septimus the heart, but without the key, Septimus cannot unlock the lock. And the key can only found when the Dwemer return. So, Septimus needs the Dwemer to find the key to unlock the heart that lies underneath Mundus." The half-crazed Imperial said as fire magicka started flowing off his fingers. "Septimus will do whatever is needed to unlock the heart. Hermeaus Mora commands Septimus, and Septimus will obey."

I brought up my own fists. Ok… I had to do this. Time to fight.


Cearbhail:

So, Boethiah is the secret character I've been referring to. And the war that occurs in Changing Fates. The God of Fate, Hermeaus Mora... will lead a war of Dwemer with the help of Peryite, Molag Bol, Jyggalag, Mehrunes Dagon, and Namira. While Sanguine, Sheogorath, Malacath, Meridia, and Hircine all do their thing, while Boethiah, Nocturnal, Azura, and Mephala do theirs. Oh... not to mention all the Aedra doing their stuff as well. Changing Fates might be broken up into three separate stories or just a really confusing single story. Eh... I'd figure it out. Kind of like how it is now with the gods involving themselves so... yeah, I can do it all in one story. I cannot wait. The end is coming. And the Chronicles of Ruby and Veselle will be the gateways to its beginning.