Cearbhail: A great chapter. Next chapter, well. I didn't plan on doing this, but I guess it has to be done sometime. I'll explain at the bottom. Anyway, this chapter's pretty standard. And I'm sure you've all noticed the relationship of the R&D game with the actual story. Last chapter "Rescue operation" and 11. Then there was the whole actual rescue plan that was going great until someone spotted him [Erandur/Crassi's attack force] and ruined it. Aka, her plan went well, but was totally ruined (11). I'm sure you all know what to expect from this and the following games for now on.

Enjoy.

[Nexa]

We were still waiting for Erandur to finish his part of the campaign so that we could stop at a comfortable place and leave. Everyone else was taking this time to assemble everything they had to leave. Well, the ones of us that were leaving at least. We did have some guards and Imperial Soldiers that were keeping people safe here and they insisted on staying here in case anything happened, but Lilly pointed it out to them that they were needed out helping the others that weren't living under a giant bubble of soul protection. All the guards agreed after a few minutes. Arguing with a seer is a stupid way to lose an argument.

As it was, most of the community felt that they were safer here and would just weather out the war. Heck, they lasted this long, why wouldn't it keep them safe longer? They were going to wait until they heard the all-clear. Or until it became impossible to live under these roofs anymore. They had plenty of water, food, and livestock. I'm sure they'll be just fine for a couple months at least.

I turned my attention back to Erandur and Lilly. Both of them were still rolling dice. The rest of us already had our dice and our papers collected. We were ditching as soon as Erandur finished.

{Erandur. City's all clear. Taking the shot now. We could use some help out here, they spotted our combat force. Taking heavy fire.} Huir's voice sounded loud and clear through my receiver. I looked over at Erandur.

He nodded to his receiver as well. "Ok, Lilly. Let's hurry this up."

Lilly smiled. "Your brilliant plan to jump out the window went well enough. Sure you were caught in the act of jumping out and a group of bandits managed to ruffle you up to the point of where you were almost caught in the fire, but you managed to escape. That part of the plan worked. Falling five stories to the ground, however…wasn't a part of the plan you had thought of. The good news is that you survived the fall. Because you landed on a giant pile of hay. Please roll for situational circumstance." Lilly said, looking up at Erandur.

Erandur smiled and rolled his dice. 5.

Lilly shook her head. "You really suck at this game. Whatever. When you sit up and look around, a powerful smell overcomes you. It's burning your eyes, stinging your nose. You look down to see that the rolled up wad of hay is in fact the hay that is pulled out of the horses' pen. You are lying in the sticky nasty crap-infested hay that the horses have rolled in for days before it was switched out with newer hay."

"Ah, crap!" Erandur said.

Lilly nodded. "That's exactly what's stuck up in your hair at the moment. Well, anyway. The Breton, while being completely disgusted by your attempt at rescuing her, is climbing out of the hay stock and attempting to walk a straight line. It's not going well because she still has too many injuries to be perceptive of her body and her environment. Overhead, you hear a giant explosion. The room you were just in is now nothing more than rubble and parts of the wall are starting to rain down on you. Roll evasion."

Erandur rolled. 16.

I suddenly felt the ground shake violently. Everyone around us started falling down due to surprise. Some of the lanterns fell off their hooks, smashing on the dirt floor. Dirt fell down off the somewhat dirt ceiling in small streams. It was just a little dirt so no one freaked out or anything. That's to be expected when something goes 'boom' and you're underneath an entire city. Well, that and cave-ins, where the whole ceiling just happens to shake loose and decides to fall and kill everyone. But hey, who am I to consider that to be something to worry about?

The room shook again harder than it did a second ago. I could hear and feel the rumble that was happening overhead us. Everyone paused for a second and looked up at the ceiling. I bet they were reconsidering staying here now. Another explosion like that and the whole place would cave in. The giant cracks in the 'ceiling' were starting to acknowledge that. There weren't any cracks when I first got down here, and now there were. That first explosion must have been the explosion trap for the Aedra. I sure hope it worked. The second rumble we heard and felt must have been the aftershock. You know, all the force that pushes away until it comes to a stop.

Lilly continued on like nothing happened. "You flawlessly evade damage and manage to squirm your way out of the poop hay while you are at it. As you rolled out of the hay a giant flaming brick lands where you laid, lighting the hay on fire." Lilly rolled a die. "The Breton on the other hand is throwing her wrapped arms above her head, screaming at the top of her lungs while flaming bricks land all around her. She is untouched, as if it were by a miracle. But if your rescue operation was not hard enough, it seems that the massive explosion only served cause to draw in a much larger crowd of bandits. Your friends are still far away and you are damaged and weak. The Breton is not a combatant and is of no use at all. The new enemies are rushing to get to you before you run away. Every second you waste is one more they have over you. What do you plan to do?" Lilly asked Erandur.

Erandur groaned and looked around for suggestions. He looked down at the map. "How many?"

Lilly smiled. "Care to guess?"

…

[Crassi]

"How many?" I asked Huir through my transmitter.

I looked up at the giant mushroom cloud. The giant purple cloud made up of Daedric energy was still thick in the sky, towering over everything like the sky. You could see the magic still rolling upwards in a lazy manner now. The top of the mushroom was expanding out, while slowly dissipating. The shockwave that followed the explosion blew away every tree around, killing almost everyone in the blast. Well, should of. We mages threw up our shields and wards. We were protected. All the dead deer, rabbits, and birds told me what could have happened to us if we hadn't done something. The air was thick with Conjuration magicka as well as dirt and sawdust. My eyes stung with the foul presence of Daedric magic. The only thing I knew was what I heard a few seconds ago. We have company.

{I'd say thousands.} He replied back. I could barely hear him over the pounding in my ear. {That explosion did more harm than good. They're coming in at all sides now. We have to get our friends out now and make like ghosts.}

I groaned out loud, sitting up. My iron armor screeched with protest. My lungs cried out in pain as my armor continued to pinch against me. I groaned as I touched my own armor and started focusing my magic on it. I visualized the armor taking rust, growing old. I forced that visualization into action and fed that image into my will. I felt my energy take form and collect in my hand. As if on command, a yellow magic flowed through my fingers at the touch of my armor. My armor creaked but split apart. I lunged myself forward, happily taking in a large breath of air. The air still felt heavy with magic. Magic that made my head spin. This was not our magic; this was magic of the Daedra. It could kill us in overdose. We had to get out of here.

I looked at my fellow battlemages. We were still pretty banged up. Some were just now waking up, some were crying out in pain for a healer. Some were running around, well limping around, trying to assist in the Restoration arts that we needed so bad. Travis and Nisha were at the head of that charge. Nisha was doing all she could with herbs and potions, Travis was mostly attempting his best at Restoration. We all had our strong points and weak points. Self-Restoration was a simple matter of using your own magicka to speed up your own recovery. Healing someone else was an entirely different matter. You had to be able to sense other's energy, synch with it, visualize their pain, and will your own energy to swarm in and overtake it. If you did not know what you were doing, you would end up doing more harm than good. That's why I was glad we had Primrose, the natural healer. Too bad she volunteered to help evacuate the civilians. Might need a healer, she said.

I turned my attention to the growing cloud of orange figures. I tapped my transceiver and said, "Well, get them out now. How long until our guests are upon us?"

{10 minutes, tops. They are nothing but a giant cloud right now. If we hurry and you guys start spirit-weaving some Soul Separation bracelets…I'm sure we can get out of here in one piece.}

I nodded, looking at everyone. I had enough people starting to acting awake now. That was good. "Ok, Huir. Get them out. I'll get my guys started on those bracelets." I pushed myself off the ground, careful of my suddenly weak ankle. I rolled it and I fell to my knees, crying out in slight alarm.

Nisha, the ever vigilant Khajiit cub, came running up to me. "Careful!" She cried out in her high-pitched purr. She ran back to my knee and rubbed something on it. "Cinnabar polypore red and yellow caps." She said as she rubbed something on my ankle. "These can be used to restore endurance and even fortify it." She handed me something and said, "Eat this."

I took it and tossed it in my mouth. I didn't even bother chewing it. I just swallowed. A salty watery taste took my mouth for a second, making my face scrunch up. "What was that?" I gagged out.

"Crab meat. It can also restore endurance and it will also help resist shock. As in…the shock of a rolled ankle and flying through six trees." Nisha said, smiling up at me. I was still in shock, but I could swear that her bright orange fur was covered with red spots. I sure hope I was hallucinating because otherwise that would have meant that she was bleeding out her ears.

I nodded and waited for a few seconds; letting my head stop spinning all around me. I shook it a few times, forcing it to clear up. When I could finally find my voice, I screamed, "Huir is getting our friends out. Spirit-weave as much Soul Separation as we can get. Enchant your clothes, your armor; whatever you're wearing. And then check your weapons. Check their enchantments. Once you are done, report back to your team leaders for orders." I pushed myself up, looking at my broken iron chest plate. Oh well, it was getting old anyway.

…

[Nakuma]

I could see the mushroom cloud from here. I could taste the Daedric magic. It tasted like fire and melting flesh. It tasted like torture, seclusion, frustration, and failure. All that wrapped up in a massive cloud. A cloud that could kill any of us to breathe it in for too long. I felt sorry for Crassi's group. They were right under it. We were up the hill, away from it all. That didn't stop the aftershock. I had to throw up a protective ward just to keep us from being evaporated, like every other living thing around us. All the plants were dead, the animals as well. Everything south of Cheydinhal was nothing but a giant scar of dead plants.

Vatu was pacing back and forth, trying to keep himself calm. Primrose and Davilia were both trying their best to keep him that way. He was pacing about, calling Nisha's name. She was back at that attack. I could understand his worry. I think we all could. Well, everyone but Meesei. She was quietly pulling out a vial of poison and covering her throwing knives with it.

Meesei's eyes met mine and she managed to smile a little before bringing one of her talons up to her lips, making a 'shush' motion. She slid her knives back into their pouches and leaned back, keeping her hands right where her knives were. I could see just how she watched Vatu. She wanted him to turn blood-rager and hurt someone. She wanted to kill him.

For all intents and purposes, I did not like Vatu that well. That being said, I'm not one of the two girls fighting over him to keep him calm. I'm not the Bosmer with her calming voice. I'm not the Dunmer who has a strong connection with him. They can keep him calm. If I just walked up and attempted to do something, it would end with my stomach being raked. I just knew it.

So, I glanced up at Huir. He was sitting atop the wall, glaring at the approaching enemy. I crossed my arms and looked around. What on Nirn was taking them so long?

{Ok, I've got my story on hold now.} Erandur's voice sounded through my receiver. It was enough to make me jump out of my robes.

{ABOUT TIME!} Crassi yelled. {No offense, but we're: heavily wounded, people are getting Daedric magicka poisoning, and we have three massive waves of Daedra bearing down on us.}

I allowed my breath to escape. Good, we were finally going to finish up here. I looked at the approaching orange cloud. Another six minutes and we would have not been able to escape.

"Hear that, Vatu? You'll see your sister soon." I heard Davilia say calmly to Vatu, squeezing both of his shoulders. She tried her best to look reassuring. I could still see Vatu's tail flick. He wasn't any calmer.

"She should not even be here." His voice called out. "She should have stayed at Cloud Ruler Temple."

Huir chuckled from atop his little wall. He had one leg casually hanging off and he was resting against a pillar. "You didn't hear, did you? Cloud Ruler Temple is gone. Aedra blew that place up two months ago."

"What?" Vatu asked. "How would you know?"

Huir placed a small blade of grass in his mouth. He sighed heavily. "I was there." He sat forward, giving Vatu a stare comparable to death. "I watched a lot of people die there, little cat. A lot of good people. In fact, I was there when Hans lost his wife. It was almost me. I was there when a man protected his wife as she gave birth. I helped usher the newborn girl out. That base was our last safe-haven…and it was destroyed in less than an hour." He finished by taking his straw hat off his head, rubbing his greasy hair. "I…wasn't even a soldier then…just a prisoner. But…I signed up afterwards. I had to get them back for what they did to everyone. It's just not right. All that death."

Just as Huir finished his speech, I could see Erandur poking his head out the hole in the wall to the city. We had set our rescue operation outside the wall Huir found. It was mostly because we knew that was the only way anyone was going to leave. But we were planning on using the vegetation as a cover. Not that it would matter with Aedra.

Erandur looked up at the cloud and nodded to us. "Ok, we have our seer. Everyone else is staying here. But…we have gained our ranks by another as well." He turned his head around and smiled. "It's ok. They're nice."

A small girl maybe ten or eleven walked out beside Erandur. She smiled thinly and said, "Hi…I'm Babette Traven. I'm a vampire."

Vatu, Primrose, and Davilia all jumped back. "VAMPIRE?!" They all screamed in unison.

Babette scrunched up at their verbal unison and jumped back behind Erandur. "Please don't hurt me!" She screamed out.

Erandur protectively stepped forward, saying, "I know you three had some…vampire issues in Vatu's head. But that's over. She's one of us."

Meesei only chuckled before shaking her head. "A vampire? One of us? I thought you mages hated vampires."

Erandur rounded on her. "Your brotherhood accepted them, so did we. As it turns out, the Mages Guild has protected powerful vampires that ally with us. It's always nice to have friends of all kinds, even liches."

Meesei only shook her head in slight amusement. "I guess you guys can break your own rules if it benefits you."

"That's enough, Meesei." Nexa called as she stepped out with a slightly taller Nord beside her. "Now, this is our new teammate. Her name is Lilly; she's the seer we were sent to find. So, new mission directives. Keep her alive at all costs, even your life."

…

[Warlord Zeelius]

I looked around the table. Sosia was back from her little journey. Even if she wanted to stay with her newborn girl, she still wanted to meet the mysterious Akaviri more. After all, her daughter was well protected, she wasn't going anywhere. Sosia was doing a good job of attempting to look in control while acting like a school girl. She would not leave any of the other races alone. Question after question. Even if they answered (which most questions were asked too fast to be answered), Sosia would come out with another question. It was beginning to try their patience. Of that much, I could understand if they all just gave us the dragon talon and left the room without another word.

Sosia wasn't the only one curious about the Akaviri. Ri'Saddo was taking to Vi'uranka. He was the Ka'Po'Tun war leader sent here to see about combining our military operations here in Tamriel. The two were talking about their cultures and just how much the two really had in common. The only real difference I could see in the two was their fur. The Ka'Po'Tun had darker orange fur, almost brown. That and they were covered with black stripes that covered their whole bodies. Well, that and they had some Argonian features. A pronounced beak, slight gills at the neck that were not mandatory, lizard eyes, and feathers growing out the top of his head instead of a mane. He was still covered in fur though. It was just weird. Having fur and feathers. I can see why we refused to keep breeding with Khajiits. Our offspring just looked…wrong.

I was very anxious to meet my brother-in-blood: Tsaevashi. He was the vampiric lord of the Tsaesci. He stood over 10 feet long, if he pushed his tail straight up. But no, he was happy just making himself slightly taller than everyone else in the room. He had no ill feelings about having his very long vampiric fangs out. He seemed to proudly allow them to hang out of his mouth. His fangs traveled all the way down to his chin. I bet he couldn't place his teeth inside his mouth at all. But there were tales of the Tsaesci and how they can stretch their mouths out and eat humans whole. They were known for doing so.

My eyes finally darted to the map. I could see my daughter reuniting with the extraction squad. Good, we could finally move on. I looked at the map and I could see half of the world's population of Aedra were suddenly converging all around the town.

My blood turned cold. It was like a giant cloud of red dots surrounded the whole area around Cheydinhal and my small band of teams were nothing in comparison. Likewise, this was a double-edged sword. We could thin the herd a little right in this town. If only we could get them to stay isolated long enough.

"Everyone…look at this." I called everyone lightly. Even if everyone was immersed in their little 'conversations', they could not ignore my command. One-by-one they all looked at the screen. "We have almost half the Aedra all around Cheydinhal. This could be our chance to take them out in a collected spot."

Jauffre stood up. "We do not have the resources to commit such an attack. Smaller waves have ravished our communities, have destroyed our armies. Now, you want to attack half of them in one go? It would be suicide."

Sosia nodded. "It would be. Remember Cloud Ruler Temple? A wave much smaller than this ruined what was left of the Imperial Battlemages, Imperial Legion, The Blades, and the Citizen Guard. We don't have those types of forces anymore."

I hissed at her. "You don't!" I pointed to Fiirnar. "He does." I pointed to myself. "I do." I pointed over to Ri'Saddo. "And he does." I waved my hands over everyone else here. "And they are committed as well. We all came here to combine our war efforts. So, here's our first real test to see if we can pull off a world war against this threat. Can we do the impossible and fight this enemy?"

Everyone around me became silent. I studied their eyes, hoping to make someone blink before I did. I did not want to lose this war. I did not want to lose this seer before she could find the ruin. As it was going, even with Soul Separation covering every single last one of them, it would take only one blast from each Aedra to render that whole area destroyed.

I pointed back up at the screen. "We just pulled resources to rescue a girl vampire from being taken prisoner. We just pulled resources to collect a seer. And we just confirmed that an entire village of people are still alive. We've all seen what Aedra can do when they know someone is there, Soul Separation or not. They will level that place even if everyone's behind a bubble. It won't stop the rain any more than it will protect them from barrages. If we just sit here and ignore this…they will all die."

Finally, Fiirnar smirked. "I offer the support of the Aldmeri Dominion and all her forces to protect Cheydinhal from her imminent doom." He leaned forward. "Expect them within the hour. We do know how to teleport after all." He gestured around the room. "I'm sure we can assist in teleporting whole armies if you wish us to."

Tsaevashi smiled. "Let it be known that the Tsaesci helped the Empire when it would not help us."

Ri'Saddo stood up. "Elsweyr will not back down with its tail between its legs."

I smiled and looked up at Sosia. "Well, if you task the rest of the battlemages and the Fighters Guild…I'm sure we all survive this day."

Sosia nodded. "Yes, we stand united." And just like that, everyone started coordinating our war effort. Attacks from the west, north, south, and east. It was going to be a bloodbath. One I wished I could see for myself.

Cearbhail: Ok, so for the next chapter. It will be titled Three months ago. The following one: Two months ago. Just going over the past for a few chapters. So we all know what's already happened in between the Khajiit Battlemage and this one. (Mostly it's for me so I have a solid past to refer upon)