Cearbhail:

This chapter is ... well... I think it's pretty funny at times, but for the most part, it's all just exposition. It will be the next chapter where everything gets explodey. I can't wait; I might just write it next, but I already know that I'm working on the next chapter of After Shoutmen. Other than all that, I'm having a lot of fun playing Elder Scrolls online on the xbox one. As much as I detest that system for being as crappy as it is, and as expensive as the online that it is, I really enjoy the ability to not have to play this game on my laptop.

=^^= Enjoy...


Dear diary of Shadows,

Ok, so… about the things going on. It's what? 17th Sun's Dusk or something like that? Still the same year and yadda, yadda, yadda. I know, I know… someone in the future might need my guidance on this one specific event and they'll need to know which day it happened on and what year. Fine! Today is what? 4e207, 17th Sun's Dusk. It's Middas evening, like near 7:00 P.M. or something. Now, if anyone for any reason needs this special event, they can look upon this page and know for a fact that I recorded it accurately. ;P

Ok, so back to what I was trying to say before my boyfriend tries to entice me to undo his belt again. Sigh… ok, fine. I'm the one trying to entice him. So, since the last time I wrote something down, a lot of stuff has happened. Last I checked, I was complaining about getting bored of sitting around Raven Rock and doing nothing. Well, as it turns out, that woman Thiah, who…I haven't quite introduced to my diary. Crap. Thiah is like this uber warrior woman that wants to fight me in the tournament. Oh yeah… there's a tournament in Lancelot… I mean Raven Rock this Loredas. I'm fighting in it, and so are Ruby, Seth, Mirri, and the woman Thiah. Anyway, she's like an old friend to my dad and she wanted us for a quest to go to some ruin and do something that wasn't really explained to me or anything like that.

Well, I wasn't feeling too well, and neither was Seth. So, we decided to hang back and make out with each other while everyone else went on the quest to fight the whatever it is we're here to fight. Well, during our make out session, all the torches and the mystical bridged went out. So, of course Seth would put off pulling down his pants to go find out if everyone was still alive. So, I begrudgingly decided to go help him. We found out the hard way that the bridges do a lot of crazy stuff to make sure we can't complete them. I don't even want to go into all the horrifying details that have been plagued upon us. But… but! BUT! We haven't fallen off the bridges yet. We're doing great. And we're on our last two bridges. It's Seth's turn so… yay!

Veselle Tenvanni!

I kissed Seth one last time as he walked over to the edge of the platform. A good twenty feet below him was a dark murky pool of what I assume is a thousand generations of water mixed with blood and who knows what else. "Good luck." I said to him, giving him a thumbs up.

Seth nodded to me as he looked back at the platform. "We watched this one… you know what will happen to me when I step out on it."

"And we both know that the next one with me will be doubly worse. It is the last one after all." I replied to him.

Seth sighed as he nodded to me, signaling me to push the button. So, I walked away over to the button. "Three…two…one!" I slammed my hand on the button and Seth took off like a firecracker… Well, a firecracker with severe muscular damage. Ok… it was more like watching a drunk guy try to walk downstairs. It was that epic of a fail. But… he managed to get on the first two steps before losing his balance. Which worked out in his favor. As he fell down, a giant magicka formed hand came out of nowhere to push him off the bridge piece. It just missed him by a few inches. Just as fast as that hand appeared, it vanished. Well, that was one disastrous obstacle avoided. Seth struggled to get up but decided to roll off to his left instead. He managed to roll himself onto the next piece of extending bridge before the last piece vanished. Seth had to hurry as he flipped himself around. He screamed in pain as he dashed to the next block, but then jumping back as all the tile pieces vanished but one. And this was it… the moment of truth.

A giant magicka boot appeared underneath Seth, slamming him right in between the belt. Seth groaned out in pain as he fell to his knees. "Not again…" His newly found falsetto voice squeaked out. The tile he was sitting on was already beginning to fade away.

"Seth! You need to move soon! Your tile is dramatically disappearing underneath you!" I screamed to him, hoping the power of my love would be more powerful than his hurting balls.

"Hate this… hate this, and hate the person who designed this." Seth cried as he pushed himself up onto his hands. He managed to crawl, kinda, over to the next tile as it suddenly popped up. The tile he had been kneeling under vanished just as suddenly. I let go a breath I didn't know I was holding as Seth started pushing himself to continue the tortuous maze of appearing obstacles and bridge tiles.

Seth disappeared from my sight once he rounded a corner. The only thing I could hear were the new bridge pieces popping up and Seth screaming in either pain or surprise as he faced his new trials. We could only see parts of bridge popping up and some of the obstacles when we did our observation. Every time we started up a bridge, we did a few test activations to get used to where the pieces would move, how fast they would move, and to familiarize ourselves with the 'surprise' elements. Like the boot kicking Seth in the balls. He thought he could move out of the way, but his body must have faulted at some point. Or he just forgot, but I can't see a guy just randomly forgetting a trap that would create the most pain in their world. And this was a growing trend for Seth. Every trap we've faced, he's taken most of his face first, while I've managed to dodge most of mine. I had the last set of bridges to go across, and I'm guessing that I will be facing the hardest traps of all.

So, standing here, waiting for Seth to finish what this segment of the bridge, I started looking down to the murky blood water. Somehow, I just knew that I was going to end up down there. I have pretty bad luck when it comes to landing in disgusting stuff. Like when I was with Talvas in that underground adventure of ours. I didn't exactly stay clean during that. And various other assignments, I've ended up covered in ash and gods know what else. So, it wasn't a step off to think that I was going to end up down there somehow. The universe is not kind to me, and I'm already pretty immobile as it is.

As I was looking down at the distant water, I was welcomed to a loud explosion of sound as the bridge appeared in front of me. I almost shuffled back, but I've experienced it a few times already. I managed to exhale sharply as my body screamed in pain. I tensed up just a little too tightly and jerked just a little quickly and it made my already wrecked body more upset.

"Veselle! I made it!" I could hear Seth's slightly groggy voice scream over the distance.

"I know!" I screamed back as soon as my body spasms stopped. I groaned as I rushed over the bridge. It straightened itself out Seth made it across to the other side. I hated that we needed to do this stuff just to get to the other side of the chasm, but I didn't have time to complain. I needed to help my friends with whatever was going on. I could hear the moans of zombies and whatnot up ahead, even squeaks of skeevers. I don't really know what's going on, but it was clear that we were needed.

I made it across the bridge, stopping to check my hands. I squeezed my hands as much as I could as I tried to summon my magicka. I felt every spiritual muscle in my arms tense as I tried to summon something. All I got was a flicker of orange fire, but nothing that I could fight with. If my dad and closest friends, including Ruby… a strong and recognized hero, could not handle whatever was going on, how was I going to be able to help? I can't even move like my normal martial artist self, and I can't summon my normal destructive magicka? I better think of something, otherwise, I'm dead in the water.

You can summon me, partner! Kyuu called into the back of my head.

I shook my head to that idea. "I have no magicka left to summon you with." I wish I could summon him. He'd be a great help.

You could at least try. And I tried. I tried to call any magicka to my hand, but all I got was a magicka raspberry.

I sighed. "Sorry, Kyuu. I got nothing."

Seth walked up, throwing his arm over my shoulder, hugging me close to him. "You have me."

I kissed him really quick before rushing myself over to the next platform. "So… I need to do this."

"Should we give it a few test tries?" The distant screams of Mirri and Ruby called my attention away from the platforms. They were in trouble, and they were in pain. They needed immediate help.

I turned to look back at Seth. "No time. Push the button; I'll wing it."

Seth nodded and pushed the button. As soon as the first tile popped up, I ran out onto the rising bridge. And…I got slapped right in the face by an astral hand. And then the tile underneath me vanished. I felt my stomach fly up into my throat as I fell straight down into the murky water. I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the plunge I was about to take. I couldn't believe that I made it this far just to end up down here anyway. I wish I could somehow prevent falling into this water.

I closed my eyes as I got within splashing range. This was going to hurt so bad… and taste even worse, I just knew it. I came a sudden halt, but I didn't feel that nasty water envelope me. No… but I felt like I was being held in someone's arms. I opened my eyes slowly, hoping that I didn't get surprised with a sudden splash of something. And I wasn't in the water. Obvious at this point, but I couldn't be too sure. When I looked to the person holding me, I could see that it was Sanguine. He had popped up just to save me. What a proper guardian spirit.

"Um…hi, Sanguine." I said as he continued to hold me up. "Thanks for saving me."

He smirked at me with his stupid suave smile. "I'm always here for my cutie." He said as he started sloshing through the sludgy water. "Couldn't let my little cutie ruin her favorite dress, now could I?"

I shook my head. "Since you're like really perverted and stuff, I thought you'd enjoy this kind of stuff."

He laughed. "Manners maketh man." He winked at me.

"But… you're not a man.." I started to say.

"Besides," He interrupted me as loudly as he could, "I know your heart pretty well, and I know that you would not enjoy ruining your mother's dress, and this…" He sloshed his feet around in the murky water, "will not come out even with the harshest of washing." He started heading for the end of the passage way. "Now… I do believe more cuties are in danger. And I have to meet this one girl that Sheo just loves."

"Sheo?" Who was Sheo? Wait… if I'm guessing correctly, Sheo was probably Sheogorath, the Daedric god of chaos and madness. "You mean Sheogorath?"

Sanguine nodded. "Yup, that's the one. You saw him that one night we were both drunk. The night I gave you my rose. He was the drunk one next to me. Sheo's got this little crush on this girl named after a crystal. He thinks she's so special or something. And apparently in a week or two he's going to have a lot of fun with her for a month's time. Something about a bet with Azura that he won during the Khajiit adult passage trials or something like that." He shrugged. "I don't really remember. I was totally sloshed that night."

"You're always sloshed." I responded, rolling my eyes.

He shrugged. "That is true. But you know what else is true?" When I shrugged, he sighed. "I was hoping you could tell me. I'm so sloshed, I can't remember what's true and what's fun."

"Manners maketh man, I guess." That's when I shrugged. You know, even if Sanguine is a perverted man servant to me… I kinda like being carried by him. I wish Seth would try to carry me, but I probably have bigger muscles than him. Although… he does work in the fields a lot. He's probably pretty lean. If only I could get past that shirt and belt, I could find out exactly what he's like underneath. I've seen his flat stomach and what looks like the beginnings of abs.

"Hey, Vess!" Seth called from the upper floor. "You ok?" He was looking right down at me.

I nodded as I hugged Sanguine. "Yup, Sanny saved me."

"Sanny?" Sanguine looked over at me. "Hey now, I'm a Daedra Lord. More specifically, I'm the Daedra Lord of Debauchery and all things pleasantly sinful. Do you really think I'll accept a nickname like Sanny?"

I nodded. "Horrible nicknames are sinfully sweet." I stuck my tongue out at him.

Sanny shrugged at this. "The girl makes good points." He nodded approvingly. He looked up at Seth. "You just stay up there for a few seconds. Once I get to the other side, I'll make the bridge appear." The bridge was still going through its normal confusing pattern of trying to knock someone off. I'm glad I fell off when I did. I could see a bucket of goat's blood appearing the only tile and just draining down onto the tile. There was no way I could have escaped that. The next tile seemed to throw glitter and feathers everywhere. I would have loved to see Seth go through this one, but for me… that would have been awful. The humiliation of it all would have brought my magicka back though. And I probably would have blown up the whole underground ruin.

Sanny didn't waste any time as he sped with Daedric speed to the other side. The bridge above us continued to flash on as it raced across the skyline, trying so hard to beat us to the finish line. I could see a shining levitation circle, like the one in the main tower in Tel Mithryn. So, that's how Dad and everyone got up to the second level. They used a levitation circle to get out of this muck. I urged Sanny to the portal. "Use that portal. We'll float right up."

"Got it." He said as he made waves behind us. He moved so quickly so effortlessly. Next thing I knew, we were at the portal and already floating up. The wave Sanny made behind us finally crashed into the wall by the time we reached the top. Sanny gently set me down to my feet before turning to face the bridge. It was just reaching us. Sanny stepped out, landing one foot on the last block and then taking it off. The bridge vanished for a second before popping back up, all in a straight line. He did it! He actually did it!

While Seth struggled across the bridge to catch up to us, I finally got to see what was going on. It was an all-out war. The first thing I saw was Ruby sitting over a collapsed Mirri. Mirri I guess reopened her wounds because she was bleeding from the chest. Ruby was doing all she could to help Mirri recover. There was this lovely angelic Dunmer wearing a dress that glowed like the entire cosmos fighting a horde of skeevers with a shining orb of light that resembled sunset. Huh… I wonder who she is. Off to my left was Thiah. She was slashing away with her naginata at Hermeaus Mora and his many Daedra. Off in the distance, I could see my own bondmate Anari. She was hovering in the air, blasting her unique Shock magicka at Thiah. Thiah was doing her best to dance/dodge her way around the shockwaves (get it?) while fighting off several massive bulky things that spewed oily stuff from their mouths. Gee… wonder what I'll get to fight in the future… knowing my luck.

Off to the right was my dad. He was fighting some mage. They both went back and forth as they blasted every bit of magicka they had at each other. It didn't help that he was also fighting off what looked like zombies trying to flank him. I think it was more the mage than the zombies though. Dad had a protection circle set up to keep them out. I think it was keeping out the majority of the other mage's attacks too. I'm unsure though. He had his own circle set up and it seemed like the two of them were counteracting each other's attempts to bring down their shields. Mage battles are weird. It's like watching two wrestlers trying to push each other out of the ring without trying to actually touch each other.

Towards the end of the large pit of what looked like firetraps was a giant centipede with an old crone's head slithering back and forth. And standing over what looked like a giant dragon priest coffin was some Nord guy. He was chanting some old song of some sort. I'm guessing that's not good.

"Wow… looks like we have quite the band put together." Sanny said as he looked around. He nudged me in the shoulder. "Ok, cutie. I'm going to introduce you to my family." He pointed to the beautiful blue Dunmer. "That's Azura. She's the doting younger sister; loves her crystals and her Khajiits." He pointed to Thiah. Why Thiah? "That's Boethiah." Figures. "She's that sister that you have that used to beat you up for no reason at all. You know that bitch in the cafeteria that's always dressed in black and chewing bubble gum. The general person that hates the universe and would fight anyone that gets in her way, or out of her way, or even exists somewhere near her way." Sounds like Gwen, actually. Sanny pointed to the giant blob of Hermeaus Mora. "I think you know Hermeaus Mora. He's the know it all. Always reading books and stuff."

"Yeah. I know him. He mind-fucked me once." I could not wait to kill him.

Sanny laughed. "Awe… Hermy lost his mind virginity?" He clapped his hands. "Can I mind-fuck you now?" I shook my head. Sanny shrugged it off before pointing to the giant centipede. "That's Namira. You ever meet that one person that says that they like things 'ironically'? Well, that's Namira. She embraces all things weird and ugly to normal person's standards. Just imagine any hipster and you will probably find someone in league with Namira." He pointed at the massive thing of skeevers. "Believe it or not, that's my older brother Peryite. He's… um…" Sanny started scratching his horns. "He has a personality trait, I'm sure of it." He finally shrugged it off. "Whatever. He's petty. He really likes his diseases and poisons and… that's it. He's a chemistry buff." He shrugged it away.

I nodded to Sanny. "Thanks for explaining all that to me, but… any idea what's going on in here?"

He shook his head. "No idea, but everything is just so… fuzzy. I think I need a drink." I bottle of wine appeared in his hands. "You want a drink?" When I shook my head, Sanny shrugged and started drinking from the bottle. "Your loss." He said as he guzzled the wine.

"Vess!" Seth called as he limped right next to me. "Wait… what's going on?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea. But from what Sanguine tells me…" I pointed over to everyone. "There are Daedric Lords everywhere in this room… and they're all fighting."

"Why does this seem so familiar?" Sanguine asked as he scratched his head. "It's like I'm supposed to remember something… something important. Like I was told something and told to do something or talk to someone." He tapped his head, trying to figure it out. "Why won't I just remember?"

The ground started to shake. The Nord shouted something in some weird obscure language and the coffin began to shift. The lid popped open and all the fighting stopped. There was a growing silence as the coffin opened up and a dragon priest began to float out into the room. And just like that… all oblivion broke loose. The Nord that woke the dragon priest up started stabbing him with a knife. The dragon priest grabbed the Nord by the face. One second, the Nord had a head; the next second, he did not. With the headless Nord falling to the ground, it was up to Namira to attack the dragon priest.

"Do not let her consume Vahlok!" Boethiah screamed as she sprinted away from Hermeaus Mora's army over to Namira. I still had no idea what was going on.

I looked over to Sanguine. "Any idea what's going on yet?"

He scratched at his head some more. His eyes were glazed over, like how Talvas's were whenever he's underground. "Vahlok. I remember that name, but why?" He started pounding on his head before he suddenly jolted. "Oh… that's right. Mephala mentioned him at the party."

"Who?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Mephala. She's like that noisy little sister that always looks through your stuff. You know the type. She's always getting you in trouble with your other siblings and parents by saying you did this, or you did that. Even if it's not true, she's able to spin any tale that will get you in trouble."

"Why does that sound familiar?" I scratched my head as I tried to think of anyone that did that to me previously. I couldn't bring anyone to mind so I dropped it immediately.

Sanguine waved my thoughts away. "Anyway, she told me that Vahlok some really strong dragon priest. Killed another dragon priest a long time ago. This matters because…um… something about killing him will do something. Something about Miraak."

"Miraak?" I started thinking about that vision I had of that guy wearing that really odd mask. "That's the name of the guy that works for Hermeaus Mora. He wants to take over Tamriel, or something lame like that."

Sanguine nodded. "Yup. He's working with Hermeaus Mora to take over Tamriel, that's right." Sanguine turned to pat me on the head. "Good job, cutie. I'll let you kiss me on the cheek as a reward." When I stepped away from him, Sanguine sighed and looked over at Boethiah as she started fighting Namira. Hermeaus Mora and his army were advancing to fight her. "I can't remember what she said about Vahlok though. I can't remember what our mission was. I was so sloshed that night." He closed his eyes in thought.

"I remember!" A loud screechy voice came from behind me. Out of nowhere, that sharply dressed old man with the weird cane appeared behind me. I quickly stepped away from him; the last time I saw him he turned me into an Altmer.

"Sheogorath?" I squeaked.

He looked at me with curious eyes. "I thought I turned you into an Altmer. Didn't like it? Perhaps something a little more… fishy?" I had no idea what that meant, but I knew that I didn't like it. "Maybe a tail, some gills, black soulless eyes, and blue scales?" Oh gods no. I can't get in Seth's pants if I don't have the part that complements his. And I don't want to swim the rest of my life.

Sanguine got in the way of course. "She's my cutie, not yours." He stepped in front of Sheogorath, pushing him away from me. "If you want to torment someone, go pick on your…that girl you're always talking about."

Sheogorath smiled as he pointed over to Ruby. "I'm counting down the days as we speak. The 8th of Evening Star…. Oh, what a wonderful month it will be. I'll have extra fun with her on the last day, on the 7th of Morningstar. Oh… I can't wait." He had this really sick smile on his face, one that made me cringe. He was going to torment Ruby for a whole month? I suddenly felt very sorry for her. Sheo sighed with a heavenly gaze at Ruby as he pulled out a picture of her from nowhere. "She's been quite a handful for me lately. Not doing anything heroic, or random. Or even crazy. She's become quite sane. I can't wait to make her furless. So many things to do, so little health." Ok, I'm officially scared for her.

I looked around for the others. Ruby was still trying to heal Mirri. Father was trying very hard to help Boethiah fight Namira, but that mage was drawing him back to his battle. I couldn't help but feel lost. "So…what should we do?" I looked over at Seth and then at Sheogorath and Sanguine. "Are you two going to help us?"

Sheogorath brushed his beard. "I hear no reason worthy enough to get myself involved."

I pointed to Ruby. "You want to torment her, right? In like a week from now. You can't do that if she's dead, which she might if we don't help them fight the Daedric Lords running all around the inside of that room."

Sheogorath's eyes widened out. "That… that is very true. Can't celebrate a sweet 16 if someone's not alive for it." He snapped his fingers in anger. "Oh, fishstick. I guess I'll have to help the Chimer." When I looked down at my hands, I could see that my skin was golden. Dammit!

I looked back up at Sanguine. "Sanny?"

He nodded. He picked up my hand, kissing it gently. Wow… wish Seth would kiss me like that. "You'll always be my lovely ashling." Just like that, I was turning back into a Dunmer. I watched as a wave of my light charcoal skin washed over the golden skin. I was so relieved to be a Dunmer again. I hate that Sheogorath keeps trying to change me.

Seth smiled as he watched me change back. "Why, you look just like the depictions of old Lord Vivec." That didn't last long as my other hand started turning gray too. I was so happy to be back to normal. Not that being Chimer would be a bad thing, but… I'd be the only one in existence. And that would draw more attention than I could ever want.

Once I was back to normal, I looked at the two weird Daedric Lords. "Ok, so… exactly what are we doing?"

Ruby finally looked over at me. "Veselle, you're here!" She screamed to me. Ruby's eyes widened as she saw Sheogorath. "Sheo? What? Why?"

"You forgot when, who, and sometimes where." Sheogorath added. He looked over at me. "Oh… and you say anything to Ruby about her birthday, and I'll rip out your intestines and feed them to your boyfriend." Wow… that seemed very harsh.

I found myself nodding. "Um… I promise not to say anything."

"Wonderful. To celebrate, I will pluck out your eyeballs and replace them with something sharp and pointy." Um…

I started to slide myself behind Sanguine. "I already have a Daedra Lord that likes to cause me pain and misfortune."

Sanguine smiled. "Can I , can I really?" He looked back at me, giving me what looked like a puppy dog pout.

"If it keeps Sheogorath away…" I mumbled. He says some of the most disgusting and disturbing things. Tear out my intestines? Replace my eyeballs? Who says stuff like that?

Seth nudged me. "Um, Vess." He pointed to the giant war going on inside the room. "What are we going to do?"

I looked around for any indication of what we should be doing. I figured it was best to start with helping those who knew what was going on. "Ok… So… Sanguine, I want you to go back up Boethiah. Just get a good idea of how you can help and then do something. Sheogorath, just…" Could I even order the mad god around? I looked at Sanguine. "Um… can you ask him to do something?"

Sanguine nodded. He looked at Sheogorath, patting him on the shoulder. He pointed over to Azura. "Hey, Sheo. Remember Azura?" Sheogorath nodded. "Remember that night she helped you bake that perfect pie?" Sheogorath nodded again. "And remember how you said that you'd always look after her, even if she ended up on your bad side?" And once again Sheogorath nodded. "Well, she needs help fighting Peryite. Think you can help her?"

Sheogorath smiled. "I'll just feed those nasty skeevers some of my moldy boot cheese!" He raced off to go help Azura. Ok, so… that took care of Sanguine and Sheogorath.

I nodded to Sanguine. "You can go help Boethiah now, if you want." Sanguine nodded and raced off to help Boethiah.

I looked over at Seth. There were only two other fights going on right now, one with Dad and one with Ruby sitting over Ruby. I knew who I wanted to be next to. "Ok, Seth. Go help Dad out, and I'll go help out Ruby."

Seth gave me a weird look but nodded. "Ok, Vess. Just be careful, ok?"

I nodded to him. "I will, Seth. You just take care too." Looking at the massive room exploding with all sorts of Daedric magicka, coming from the strongest beings in our world, I could only guess that we shouldn't be anywhere near this fight. We had no ability to move efficiently, no magicka at all, and we're still just students. I can't summon my partners and I don't have any of my staves on me. Talk about mission impossible. I looked over at Ruby, seeing her watch as Mirri cried in pain, clawing at her chest. I had to go help Mirri and Ruby.


Cearbhail:

Boy... this chapter just went on, and on, and on, and on ... and blah blah blah. At least we got some fun little comparisons out of Sanguine on this thoughts about his Daedra brothers and sisters.