Cearbhail: This is becoming hard. Hmm. I think I need a few suggestions on how to make this better. Planting humor into this story is difficult. It's going to dry up unless I can think of something to lighten it up a bit.

[Nexa]

"Huir? Do you see any movement?" Erandur called through his transceiver.

We all sat quietly around Erandur was we patiently waited for Huir to give us a reply. Upon hearing that a wave of Aedra was coming in from around us, we sent Huir outside to scout for us. Since then, we've been waiting for him to respond back. Well, some of us were waiting patiently. Our new seer, Lilly, was sleeping against a wall, or at least I thought she was. I couldn't tell. She did have her eyes wrapped up under her white cloth. I wondered when she would lose it. Babette was playing with the other children. They didn't seem afraid of her even if she had wings and pointy teeth now. It just made her 'cooler'.

The only other person not interested in the comms was Oleeme. He was already levitating off the ground, probably not even mentally inside this room anymore. I wondered what he was thinking. I mean, I thought I'd get some time to figure him out but we'd been so busy that I hadn't had time to actually talk to him.

{Yes, the Aedra are not leaving. They are circling over the city.} I almost jumped at hearing Huir respond so quickly. He had taken his time so far with answering us. But I guess he had all his information now.

"How many of them?" He asked back.

{Oh, I don't know. 50, 60, 200… Shall I keep going higher? Or do you just like hearing impossible odds?} Huir's sarcasm was easily transferred over the comms.

Erandur cursed and slammed his fist into the ground. He looked back over to us and shrugged. "We can't leave. The Aedra are still swarming around the town." He brushed his long golden hair before leaning back. "Dammit. Just when I thought life would start going our way for once."

Lilly smiled as she sat up against a wall. I guess she wasn't asleep after all. "Hmm. We can either go out and try to sneak by them…or fight them…or just wait it out." She rested her hands behind her head and crossed one leg on top of the other while she continued to lay there. "Whatever you feel like, Eran."

I could see Erandur's ears twitch. He sighed as he looked back at her. "I'm sorry, but you do not know me well enough to call me by my nickname."

I could actually see Lilly frown. "I told you mine. Besides…the things you do…will do…amaze me. I was hoping we could be friends." I could hear the fake poutiness in her voice.

I suppressed a chuckle and backed away from Erandur, who was rolling his eyes. He turned away from us both and said, "My teammates are the only friends I need. I cannot extend that pleasure to anyone else. If I become too close to someone…and they die. I've been there before, I'm sorry, but I cannot handle any more friends."

Lilly smiled as she leaned forward. "Then we're friends. I'm on the team now, Eran." She leaned back and said, "Get used to it."

It was at times like this that I could see just how far Erandur could be pushed before snapping. He spun around, practically spitting out his response. "You're on this team? Then do something! You're a seer, right? Tell us what to do, where to go, SOMETHING!"

Babette, who was sitting silently beside me after talking to her friends, rushed behind my back, grabbing onto my scaly armor as she hid herself away from Erandur. Lilly did not seem affected in any way to Erandur's outburst. She only sat up and reached up for him. I thought she was going to smack him, but she tapped the transceiver on his chest. "Huir?"

{Yes, ma'am?} Huir answered.

"The southern side of town, there is a smaller outpost which leads to a lake. If you follow the hole in the wall, it will lead you right to the outpost. The Aedra will be watching but if you time it just right, you'll slip through the hole undetected. You remember that ring I gave you?"

{Yes, ma'am. And I see that hole you referred to.} Huir answered back.

"That ring is fueled with that 'Soul Separation' spell that I keep hearing about. Slip it on and race out to the lake. Rendezvous with your squadmates and drag them back here. We're going to punch a hole in this group. While we confront and disrupt the Aedra, the survivors will either stay here and live life as now dictates living, or they will risk moving out to Black Marsh…last safe place in Tamriel. We might as well get you started on this whole 'world war' thing before we get to Elsweyr."

Lilly finished and plucked her finger off the transceiver. She glared up at Erandur, well I thought she was. Her eyes were still wrapped with that white cloth so it was hard to tell what she was attempting to do. But with her body being stiff and a strong frown on her face, she didn't need her eyes to emphasize her hatred. "You know…I used to look up to you. Read books that spoke of you and how you led your army through the thick of the war. I thought meeting you would be exciting, uplifting. Maybe even…inspiring. You gave me hope, hope that I didn't believe existed in my time. But now, I can see now that I shouldn't believe in heroes like you."

Lilly shouldered past Erandur and walked up to me and Babette. Erandur didn't stop her. He just continued to glare at his spot on the wall as if he hadn't noticed that she moved a second ago. She smiled and nodded as she came up to me, patting Babette on the head as she did so. She stopped just past me and said, "You should get your friends prepared. We have a fight on our hands in a bit."

I nodded to her and grabbed her by the arm as she continued past. "May I talk to you out in the hall?" She nodded and we both quickly made our way into the hall. Once we had closed the door behind us, I sighed before looking at Lilly. "So, you're from the future then. That explains a lot, actually."

Lilly nodded. "Yes, that is correct. Far enough to know what's going to happen to you all if I don't help you out."

"And far enough to know where this ruin is…" I started to ask her. When she nodded, I allowed a quiet sigh out of my lungs. Good, this was helpful, really helpful. Probably the best news this world has had in a long time. Especially since there is a future now. She couldn't come back if she was never alive in the first place. That was something I was hopeful to. Not to mention that she knew where to find our ruin as well. This was really good. This war would be over soon. "So, what's with the whole…act?"

Lilly smiled. "What act? You mean how I can be relaxed and carefree? Well, I can see into the future. When you know everything that's going to happen, you tend to…live as you see. Flow through the actions, the words, everything that you know you're going to say. It's gets boring." Then she smiled. "But there was a time when I was involved in this hectic quest, just completely random and stupid. So many things happened, so many people were involved." She shook her head and nodded to me. "But, I guess that doesn't matter right now. You want to find this device that will end this war."

I nodded. "Yes, we do. It's why we were sent to find you. So, it's in Elsweyr?" She nodded. "And you're going to take us there?" She nodded. I smiled.
I liked it when things started going our way. "So, when are we going to leave?"

…

[Warlord Zeelius]

I watched with growing interest at the scene unfolding. Yes, my daughter was doing great. Not only did her plan work, but she got everyone inside, and kept everyone alive so far. Now, she has found the seer and discovered that the seer does know the artifact that we're looking for. That and she knows how to get us there. This is good. Very good.

I looked around the table. Fiirnar for the most part was leaning back, rubbing his chin in thought. Some wheels were turning back there, I could tell. He was contemplating. This girl was from the future. I wondered what type of future she came from. How far from now, who ruled the world; stuff like that. My entire ambition was to use my troops to enslave the world after this crisis. We had just begun to recover from the Oblivion crisis when the Aedra started wiping us out. Not any quicker than the Daedra were but it was still bad. Cities were leveled, countries evacuated. It was bad. But if this girl was from the future, it couldn't be too bad.

Sosia looked fanatic. She was smiling from ear-to-ear, glaring up at the virtual image like she wanted to reach out and talk to the girl. She achieved time-travel. That was a Psijic type of spell; of course the Mages Guild leader would be interested in a magic-to-magic talk. We all wanted something from her. Information, secrets. It's normal to want to know things. I just wondered what Fiirnar wanted to know.

I allowed a silent breath escape me as I leaned back, carefully studying the look on the seer's face. The way she looked around like she wasn't blind. The way she talked, the accent. She was a Nord, I knew that much now. So, Skyrim still exists then. It is true that most of the Aedra had left Skyrim alone because of the frigid temperatures. Maybe they are the only ones to survive? No, I refused to believe that.

"So, what's your time like anyway?" My daughter had asked the seer through the screen. That's right, daughter. Keep pushing for information. I had to be careful with what I learned though. If she said that Argonians take over Tamriel, I was pretty much screwed unless I killed everyone inside this room now. I hoped the seer didn't ruin the surprise.

The seer shrugged. "Well, there's not much waiting for me at home. Not unless I change it." Then she smiled and grabbed my daughter's shoulder. "You'll help me with that later."

My hand curled up into a ball. I wanted to shout through my daughter's ear piece, make her ask more questions. But, I couldn't do that without becoming too suspicious. If that seer leaked too much information, it would become a bad thing. So, I tried a different approach. I tapped the speaker and said, "Shadowblade. Is she a Psijic? Where did she learn to teleport?"

"So, question. You're from the future?" The seer nodded, this time a little annoyed at the repeated question. Careful, daughter. Get her too annoyed and she won't answer your questions anymore. "So, how'd you learn to do that? Travel through time?"

Both Sosia and I leaned forward. Fiirnar scratched his nose like he didn't care, but I could see the glint in his eyes. Those Altmer let too much out through their emotions.

The seer smiled and looked right at the small crystal that allowed us to see her. She nodded at us and said, "Warlord Zeelius. I know you. You want to know my secrets? Then I'll tell you. I was trained by the Psijic monks. And yes…the world's just fine. We'll live through this."

A cold chill went down my spine. She spoke to me. To me! She was that powerful? That was dangerous. I wanted to warn my daughter, tell her to take caution. This seer needed to die. But, I saw how well she could fight. Giving such an order would be the end of her, of me. Of all that I fought for. But…keeping her alive was just as dangerous.

I grabbed my head in frustration. First a Khajiit blood-rager, now a seer who 'knows' me? No, this was getting too much for me now. I exhaled and caught my breath. No, I could do this. I was in control. I was the military leader of Argonia. I was the calm, collected, strong, leader. If I broke, so would my troops.

Sosia burst out into laughter and reached out to grab my arm. "Did you see that? Did you…" She pulled on my arm in excitement. "She just spoke to us. She can see us! Quick…ask her something. Make her talk to us again."

I shook my head, but even as I looked to the screen, I could see the seer looking at us again. She grinned lopsidedly and shook her head in disappointment. Sosia almost had a heart-attack, and so did I. I don't think the two of us were having heart-attacks for the same reason, however. Sosia was elevated at the idea of this mage, while I…I needed to change my pants. Something fouler than my thoughts were brewing down there.

Finally, Fiirnar let out a chuckle and leaned forward. "Glorious. This is…amazing. The Aldmeri Dominion must know about her. Study her, learn from her. If we can replicate this…technique we could do so much for this world. Imagine, a living Psijic monk that is actually interfering with our lives. The very thing that they won't do. Amazing." His chuckle broke into a laugh and he stood up, brushing off his long black leather coat. He started for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked, rising from my seat as well.

Fiirnar turned to glance at me. "Well, to go collect this girl. She is in the interest of the Aldmeri Dominion, after all."

I pointed to his seat and said, "We'll deal with her later. Right now, we have to coordinate our forces and if you leave, we'll have no one to move the coordinated elf movement."

Fiirnar looked like he was going to challenge me, but he instead cleared his throat and elegantly returned to his seat. "But of course, Warlord. We'll play it by your rules…for now." He smirked at me and I could tell that he wasn't planning on listening to my rules for much longer. Oh gods…I couldn't wait until this war was over.

I went to the map display and pulled the image away from my daughter. I wanted to see this swarm for myself. As I pulled the map back and displayed the full city of Cheydinhal, I could see the giant swarm of red blips. I wondered why they were there suddenly. Then I could see a few red blips down by the dead bodies. Ah, they were there because of the vampires. That made sense. They were fallen angels. Their mission was to end all sin and vampires was bad as Daedra or liches. That didn't make them harmless to anyone else, though. They were corrupted Aedra, killing everyone because humans are born and die in sin. Therefore, we are sin and…we needed cleansed. The priests of the Aedra were martyred and the rest of us…demons to be killed. But I'll be damned to Oblivion if I let some misguided angels kill me.

I pulled the map further back and looked around. This cloud had dispersed from the Imperial City. I looked at Sosia and said, "Imperial City is clear. You should set that out for the resistance via crystal ball. We can take it back now and get supplies for the various camps."

Sosia nodded. "Right. And…what's going on south of Cheydinhal?"

I enhanced the image. It looked like Huir had made it back to the battlemage camp. Good. Maybe we could sit here and watch everyone evacuate and give out our information while we still had eyes from all angles.

…

[Nexa]

I stood there, shocked that Lilly had just spoken directly to my father. What was he going to do about that? I hadn't heard any orders. He was likely plotting something now. She knew who he was, what we were. There was no way he'd let her live now. But…was I even able to kill her? Someone who could see the future had to know what was coming, but she said it herself…she just…went with it. So, why was she back here anyway? Wasn't thing against her 'flow' theory? I was no scholar…oh wait…I kinda was. Still, this was a debate on actively changing the world and just doing it because you saw that you did it. Two completely different styles to the same approach. Which was it, though? Was she doing it to do it, or doing it because she wanted to do it and change something? I don't know but I wanted to find out.

As we walked back into the room, the first thing I saw was Erandur. He was inches away from me. I was well trained, so I didn't just back or anything. I did, however, reach for my dagger. Something that I needed to work on. Erandur didn't react to me, though. His bright eyes were stuck on Lilly. He bowed to her and said, "I'm sorry, for earlier. I…I watched a couple of my friends die a few days ago. It was my fault. I didn't lead them correctly. I…I hesitated." He pushed in for a hug, which Lilly seemed ready for. "I'm sorry for the things I said."

Lilly patted him, smiling. "It's ok, Eran. If we do this right…not many of us will have to die anymore."

He pulled away. "Not many of us? Why can't you say 'any of us'?"

She smiled thinly. "You know why. War…no matter what happens. We will lose someone. You can lead perfectly and someone will still die. There is something good, though. Your leading will save a lot of lives. I, however…just get everyone killed." She patted Erandur on the shoulder. "That's why I look up to you. I want to learn how to lead like you. Save lives."

Erandur actually looked shocked. "Where are you from anyway?"

She shrugged. "Won't matter unless I change. Everyone I know will die and I'm the only one who can make a difference."

We both stood there for a second. He nodded to himself. "Fair enough. So, what's our next move?"

Lilly sat down against the wall. "Wait. Anyone have any cards?"

Both Erandur and I sighed as we sat down next to her. Well, it's not like we had anything better going on. Now, we just had to wait this out until our rescue party came to find us. Yeah…this was going to end in blood. I already knew it.

Cearbhail: Ok, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know what I can do to correct this and make it something above standard. something perfect, worth reading. I'll be meditating and contemplating. I think I know the answer, but if someone reinforces it, I will be more than happy to change this story's way of telling.