Cearbhail:

New chapter. And it's great. I got myself into a nice flow with this one. It explains the fullness of this arc and what it's really about. I'm planning on three arcs to this story. This is the second arc. There will be a lot of side stories going on at the same time, so I'm expecting around 45 to 70 chapters for this arc. That's just an estimation. it might be shorter, it very well might become way longer. But overall, this is what the arc here will be mostly about. Enjoy. Oh..and I disclose what originally happened to the characters in Lilly's past, for those of you who like knowing about Lilly's past and all that.

[Nexa]

I couldn't help but wake up every several minutes all night long. I would drift off, and then snap my eyes open and scan the skies for Aedra, and then the ground for Thalmor. The entire region was on high alert for Thalmor. They had actually done it. They've taken over Tamriel, well Cyrodiil at least. Argonian troops and Thalmor took over the Imperial City, whatever was left of it. When we retreated to the Imperial City to rejoin the Resistance formed from Davilia's father and the Fighters Guild Master Vilena Donton, we found the city was already overtaken by Thalmor and Shadowscales and Towers. We had to retreat before we were found out. We don't know what happened to the Resistance, but we hoped they got out of the Imperial City just fine. They were in Black Marsh until the battle in Cheydinhal. Once they learned about the Aldmeri Dominion, they fled to the Imperial City. Once the Aldmeri Dominion moved in, I don't know what happened. We didn't dare expose ourselves to the Thalmor now that we were cloaked.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. Once we evacuated the battlefield, our resident shaman Brinsa activated a giant chuck of malachite to the point where it masks our entire existence from the prying eyes of any seers or seeing devices (like the world map). It was a temporary fix and we managed to collect some bracelets off of dead Thalmor mages from the battlefield. There were enough for us all to use so Brinsa programmed them all to mask our presence and return our magicka back to us. We had our magical abilities back now, but there was a problem. We could only control it for a limited range of 10 feet away from our bodies. Destruction magic was ok to use because the using Destruction is more about creating and throwing it or directing it, so it doesn't just dissolve once used or anything. But Illusion doesn't work outside the bubble. And you can't throw a Conjuration portal anymore. The giant Silence spell is actually blocking off the etheric planes. There were no more portal magics we can use. That being said…I can't Shadowport anymore. And Lilly can't teleport. And she can see again, but she can only see up to ten feet past her own nose, because it's kinda an Alteration/Illusion spell. So, she's near-sighted until we destroy the Silence Bubble covering all of Nirn. She also can't see into the future anymore, or the past. She's just like the rest of us.

Once we escaped the battlefield, and snuck past the Imperial City ruins, we retreated to old Kvatch, which was rebuilt after the Oblivion Crisis. Lilly told us that we couldn't stay here, not after what she read about what happened here in her time. When prompted to say what happened in her time, she reminded us that history changed when she directly intervolved herself into our past. It then changed again when Fiirnar actively killed the War Council and took over Argonia. In her time, once the Shadow Squad joined up with Erandur's battlemage troop, they started heading for Kvatch to rest up until they received orders on where the ruins in Elsweyr were. Kvatch had been modified into a massive battle city after it was completely decimated during the Oblivion Crisis and was one of the only untouched cities in the now destroyed Tamriel of the Aedra Wars. Once Erandur and his troops got there, it was besieged by Ogres that had moved in to escape slaughter. That drew the Aedra to the town and they just tore the place apart with everything they had.

Erandur and most of the battlemages managed to escape but with so many wounded left behind Primrose could barely keep up with healing. She was busy healing a battlemage when a building fell down on top of her. She had died healing a dying soldier. After Lilly told us this, she smiled up at Primrose and told her that the reason why she chose to reveal herself in Cheydinhal after the war had begun was so that Erandur and the others would not go to Kvatch and get attacked by Ogres. She had not known that a battle would commence outside Cheydinhal because of it until it had already begun. But she was glad that we had all escaped with little to no casualties.

I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about what Lilly said about her past. Primrose died…and Lilly changed that. She told me that Vatu fell in love with me, and had not mentioned at all what happened to Primrose. So…I wanted to know what would have happened to me if history hadn't changed like it did. Lilly was a time-traveler, and she seemed to do the things she did because she was trying to change it for the better. That's what she told me, at least. Her time was all sorts of messed up, and she had one change to make it right. So…why's she back here? I don't know, but I know that Fiirnar is involved somehow. And after seeing what he's capable of doing, I am sure that he'd be one hell of an enemy if he continued living for the next 200 years.

So, it was my growing curiosity that forced me to sit up, climb out of my very warm and furry sleeping bag, and walk over to Lilly, who was comfortably curled up in her own sleeping bag. She looked so peaceful that I thought that I had a chance to take her by surprise for once. But…what should I do? A prank would suffice. She was always saying about how nothing ever surprised her because she can see the future. And how it was distressing but exciting to not be able to do that now. She felt normal. Well, normal people get pranked on while they sleep. So, I was obliged to do just that. So, knowing what I know, I pulled out my tube of Cover Scale and squirted the slimy goo into Lilly's hands. Once I had that done, I checked her. She was still sound asleep. Good.

I reached for my long and flowing purple feathers growing out of my head, plucking one out. It hurt a little but I needed it for this to work. I started waving the tip of my feather in her nose. She started scrunching her nose, twisting her head away. I kept it up until Lilly finally started slapping her face with her gooey hands. It was an immediate wake-up call. She flipped out, screaming in surprise as she sat straight up, looking around for something horrendous attacking her. She looked up at me, then down at her hands covered in green goo. She looked up at me again, back down at her hands, and then at the feather in my hand. She finally cracked a smile, saying, "I've never been successfully pranked before. Well...not since I was eleven at least."

I nodded to her. "I thought you'd enjoy that." I kneeled down, tucking my legs underneath me as I sat down onto the ground. "I want to ask you something."

She yawned into her gooey hand, nodding. "Ok. You woke me up because you wanted to ask me something? Couldn't it have waited till morning?"

I shook my head. "I can't sleep. I can't stop thinking about it."

She nodded and starting stretching her arms. "And…I'm not allowed to sleep because you can't." She said more as a reply instead of a question. She yawned again and looked over at me. "Ok, then. What's your question?"

"You told me that the Primrose in your future died here in Kvatch." She nodded, I paused. She was waiting patiently for me to continue. How did I want to phrase this? Was I sure I even wanted to know. Yeah…I really did want to know. "And you told me that Vatu and I…ended up together. How did that happen?"

Lilly exhaled slowly, plopping her head back down onto her pillow. "Ok…that's a long story." She curled up into her sleeping bag, snuggling close to it. "Well, it started during the Aedra Wars. After the ambush at Kvatch, Primrose was killed. She wasn't the only one. The battlemage she was helping was Davilia. She was crushed with Primrose. That death is what drove Erandur to become the fearless perfect leader he was always meant to be. That's why I chose to come back at this moment, to prevent Primrose and Davilia from dying."

I stopped her. "I understand that. I just want to know what happened to Vatu and me."

Lilly closed her eyes, yawning. Dammit, Lilly. Don't fall asleep on me. I can't fall asleep now. "Ok…so towards the end of the war, after you guys found the giant dimensional device and activated it, your father acted. He poisoned the food in the War Council killing everyone involved excluding Fiirnar. They formed a partnership and Argonia became an asset to the Aldmeri Dominion in exchange for Argonia expanding its territory into lower Cyrodiil and eastern Elsweyr. Well, your father ordered the execution of Vatu, but Fiirnar had plans for him. So Fiirnar and your father had a fight about that. That led to Fiirnar killing your father and the queen, bribing a new royal into taking her role: Yuvenni. She thought it was the previous queen's order so she took the throne without thinking further about it. When you learned about your father's death, you started to rally whatever loyal shadowscales you had left and took the capital. You and Yuvenni fought and you managed to mortally wound her. She broke from the Illusion she was placed under and became your loyal shadowmaster after that."

I nodded. I looked over at Yuvenni. She was wrapped up in a sleeping bag right next to my uncle Julanza. She had her arms pulled tight around him, digging her face in his chest. For a husk, she seemed too emotional. "So, I became Queen of Argonia right after the war then." I looked over at her again. She was curled up in her bag. I almost thought she was asleep. Dammit! Now I'm too hooked on this story to go to bed now. What happened to Vatu? "Lilly. You mentioned Vatu. What happened to him?"

She didn't answer me so I readied my feather. Lilly waved her gooey had to dismiss the idea of me doing that to wake her up. "I can see you, you know. I'm not asleep yet. I'm just preparing myself so that the very second I'm done telling you, I will dose off and dream of seeing my mother again."

"How long has it been since you saw her?" I asked her.

Lilly frowned. "Five years. Not since I was eleven. I left because I was too young to keep travelling with her. I was only going to get in the way. So, I thought I'd leave until I was older and stronger." She turned to look at me, even opening up her blind eyes to look at me. "Ok, so once you became Queen of Argonia, you broke your alliance with Fiirnar, declaring open war with the Dominion. Vatu had been missing for a couple weeks now, so you had Yuvenni search for him with your reclaimed World Map. She found Vatu in a stronghold in Summerset Isle with his sister. You and a taskforce of the strongest Shadowmasters and Lilmothiit Sparvia overtook the capital of Summerset Isle. You freed Vatu and his sister from the Dominion headquarters in Alinor. You fled with him, kissing him right before half of Alinor was blown up from your taskforce. This crippled the Aldmeri Dominion to the point where they stayed dormant for almost 200 years, resurfacing after you were long dead."

"What were they doing to Vatu?"

"They were drawing blood from him and his sister to unlock the blood-rager gene. They wanted to use it to create more Khajiit blood-ragers. You stopped them before they could unlock the formula. Well, they managed to keep a vial of Nisha's blood and carefully preserved it. They kept running tests on it, but couldn't unlock whatever the gene was necessary to have blood-raging Khajiits. Well, 200 years later, and just into my present, the Aldmeri Dominion created the Orc Inquisitors. They used dragonblood serum to give them Dragonborn abilities and Khajiit blood-rager genes to make them super crazy and invincible in battle. The Dominion plans to let these Orcs loose on my country, and I have to defend my country with all I have." Lilly shook her head. "I don't know much about these Orcs, though. They were only an experiment when I left home. But from what Quaranir told me, and from what I've seen in the future, the Dominion will strike hard and fast. That's why, when I go back, I plan on bringing an army with me to help me fight the Dominion." She looked over at me. "And I'm planning on bringing a few of my friends back with me."

I looked down for a second. So…the Dominion stole Vatu from me and ran tests on him. And…Lilly was dealing with the aftermath of that in her time. It was amazing how this place in time was so important to her. She came back to keep Primrose and Davilia alive. And I'm guessing she's going to keep Vatu from being used by Fiirnar. This must be where her interest in the past started. That and she was recruiting for her own war. It made sense now. I know why she was here. I looked at her and nodded. "You can count me in. I'm sure everyone else here would agree with me."

Lilly smiled and closed her eyes. "Did I answer your question?"

My mind kept racing. New questions were forming now. "Not exactly. Well, yes, kinda. But what happened to Vatu and me?"

"Lived happily ever after. Had three Ka'Po'Tun children named: Tsaia, Cerra, and Jun. Cerra was the only Khajiit name out of all three because she looked the most Khajiit out of the litter. Jun looked more like an Argonian, and Tsaia looked pure Ka'Po'Tun." She turned to face me. "You lived a good live with him, formed an alliance with Elsweyr and ended the racial war with Khajiits. But once you were dead, Fiirnar invaded Elsweyr again, reclaimed it, and then took over Black Marsh. Your children were full adults by then and had children of their own. They were all killed by Fiirnar. Well…killed is not the word. They were turned into vampires. They were used to take over Cyrodiil and force the Emperor to surrender. Your grandchildren were executed once they were no longer necessary for fighting."

Fiirnar was still alive that late in the future? I knew High Elves lived a long life, but even that didn't make much sense. He seemed pretty old right now, and High Elves only live about 300 years. "So…he's a vampire then? He turned my grandchildren?"

Lilly nodded. "Yup, he's a Vampire Lord. The entire Dominion Council is. Well, not yet at least. Fiirnar was turned by some vampire. But…I'm not sure by who or when. He might be one now, I guess." She looked up at me. "You've met him. Did he look pale and fangy?"

I tried to think back. Every time I saw him, he looked perfectly normal for a tall Altmer. Smug, elitist, and very golden in appearance. He didn't look pale and ashy at all. And he had perfect teeth, not sharp fangs. So, I shook my head. "No, he looked normal."

She sighed. "Fiirnar is the greatest threat to this world. He takes over all of Tamriel. I know from looking into the future and being told about it from Quaranir, the Psijic that taught me everything I know, that Fiirnar takes over all of Tamriel for 300 years almost. And then he's suddenly snuffed away by a Shoutman named Bloodstain." She smiled. "I thought I'd come here first and make friends. After I'm done here, I'm going to go find Bloodstain. From what I've seen, he is an amazing man." She looked up at me. "You'd like him. He's an awesome fighter, detective, and bit of a dark humored sarcastic lunatic." She chuckled to herself, pulling her bag over her head. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

I poked her side, making her squeak in surprise. "Not yet. I'm still not tired." She groaned and pulled her head further into her bag. "Where are we going now? What are doing next?"

Lilly poked her eyes out of her bag, glaring at me. "Now…that can wait until morning." She pulled her head back in, sighing. "We can't keep hiding like we are now." She mumbled to me. "So, I have a plan." She opened her bag enough that she could look at me. "You and some of your friends are going to rally up Argonians and some Akaviri to take back Black Marsh. Overthrow Fiirnar and his fake version of your father and grandmother. So, you'll be starting a civil war in Black Marsh, just like it was recorded in my history." She looked up at the sky. "We'll have to deal with the Aedra during this period as well, so I will have some of our friends go find the ruin with the device. I'm guessing Vatu should head up that team." She looked at me. "And we can't let the Dominion have an edge on us anymore. So, we'll need a strike team to destroy the world maps. So, we need to infiltrate one of their bases and find out where the worldwide transmitter is. Erandur will take on that role." She pulled her head back in. "Go tell your shadowwraiths and shadowmasters to prepare for civil war. You start at dawn. You should get some sleep."

Lilly rolled away from me, telling me she was done talking. So, I walked back to my sleeping bag and pulled myself back into the nice warm embrace. I still couldn't sleep, though. Primrose was still alive, so there was still a chance Vatu could fall in love with her. With how close the two seem to be, and now that I had to go to Argonia to take it back from Fiirnar, things were only going to get more distant between us. I pulled my cover over my head, sighing. And I bet Primrose was going to join him in Elsweyr. Dammit.

…

"Nexa, wake up." A muffled voice called to me from outside my bag. I felt a heavy shove push on my shoulder, shaking me awake. My groggy mind was slow to start so I shrunk into my warm bag. No! I thought. I don't want to wake up. I've only just gone to bed! I thought sourly as my hand drifted over the fresh wrap where Vatu's claws had raked through my plates during his raging period. I still needed to rest so that these didn't become permanent scars. If I kept running around, my cells were never going to replace them.

"Vatu, just climb into her sleeping bag. That will wake her up." Some other muffled voice called out.

"Shut up, Travis." Vatu called from somewhere outside my bag. "We're not like that."

"Yes, we are!" I shouted through my bag. It made my ears ring, but it was worth it. Ha! Take that, Primrose. One point for me.

"We shared a tent." Primrose replied to me. Oh…damn you, Primrose. So, I pulled my head out of my bag looking at Lilly, who was sitting on top of me with her arms crossed.

"Good morning, Princess." Lilly said. Then she tapped her chin. "Wow…we're both Princesses. Weird." She looked down at me. "Want to have a royal double date? I'll bring my sort of boyfriend Vignar, you can bring Vatu." She smiled. "It's funny because they both begin with 'V'." She patted me on my shoulder. "Now, get up. We have some important strategizing we have to do."

I didn't wait a second. I wanted to put these teams together as quickly as I could. If I got to pick someone, I was going to pick Primrose before she could end up on Vatu's team. I may not like her, but I'd rather have her with me than with Vatu. Besides, if I'm lucky, she'll die in the marshlands. Everything in that marsh was deadly venomous to non-Argonians…and Lilmothiit now that I think of it.

As I joined everyone in the giant gaggle-fucked up circle around Lilly and Erandur, Crassi walked up to the front, holding a giant stack of paper. "Ok, everyone. One at a time. Come up here with a quill and some dice! We're filling out character sheets, and making rosters." She looked around. "Then program your crystal ball frequency to Amethyst Beryl Nubium eight eight zero." She walked around as people started taking sheets. What sheets? I walked up to her, grabbing one from the top of her comically large stack.

I pulled it in front of me. Ruins and Dwarves Character Sheet. Name: Race: Class: Age: Hair color: Weight: Size: Eye color: Fears: Preferred enemy: Religious Beliefs. I pulled it away. Underneath all that was a giant list of feats and skills with checkmark boxes and a tiny spot to fill in total number of points in the area. I get it…this was just a normal character sheet for the game. I looked up at Crassi. She really wanted to play this game. I shrugged. Why not? I filled in the same character I had when I was playing with Erandur down in Cheydinhal.

I walked over to Vatu with my sheet. He was with his younger sister, Primrose, Davilia, and Erandur. They were filling out their character sheets together. As I walked up to them, Erandur waved to me to come join him. When I got there, he looked over my character, nodding. "Ok." He looked up at me and then over to Oleeme. "Oleeme, you have your orders, right?"

Oleeme nodded. "I understand. I am to be the Ruin Master of Operation: Argonia Blind Spot." He looked over at me. "Princess, I will be your RM for the continuing operation."

What? I looked over at Erandur. "Don't I get to choose who's on my team?"

Erandur looked over at me, questioning me with his eyes. "Lilly and I came up with it last night while you guys were sleeping. We both concluded that taking away the World Map is the most important thing we can do. But in order to do that without being noticed is to distract the Dominion. Two invasions are needed for that. An invasion for Cyrodiil, and an invasion for Argonia. In the heat of all that, one small team will be able to infiltrate a local base in Valenwood and learn what they can about the main transmitter."

"It's on the moon." I said. Everyone looked over at me, and I shrugged in reply. "Yeah, I head my father and Fiirnar talking. My father knew I was behind the door and he started talking about the World Map to Fiirnar, and asking how it was created. I could hear Fiirnar say how the Dominion used advanced Illusion magic to make the moon disappear while they put up a giant transmitter device that uses giant focusing crystals all around Tamriel to project the image of the entire world to every installed map. It taps into the very magicka of our world and uses its echo and soulic imprint to distinguish and show us." I looked at my malachite bracelet. "That's why these bracelets hide us, because it disrupts the magicka and soulic imprint around us, making us invisible."

Erandur nodded. "Ok, so we know where it is. Now we just need to learn how to get there." He sighed. "With portal magic gone, we can't reach it."

Oleeme looked over at Erandur. "That is not entirely true. There are protected rooms that can create pockets of astral realms. In the Shadowwraith Academy there is one such astral realm: The Soul Chamber. If you were to program that room to encase the space around the moon and then program a breathable atmosphere with gravity, you very well could walk upon the surface of the room and then begin disrupting the transmitter device."

Erandur nodded. "And I bet the Aldmeri Dominion has one such room in Summerset Isles." He nodded. "I'm an Altmer, so that will be my mission." He looked around. "Davilia already knows she's coming with me, along with Primrose." I found myself smiling. Yes! Primrose is not going with Vatu! Erandur was nodding. "Too bad we can't afford anyone else. We might get caught if we did. Which is why we need an invasion force hammering Summerset Isles." He closed his eyes in thought and then smiled. "The Sload. They hate Summerset Isles. I bet they'd love to ransack it for a while." He turned to Davilia. "Give them a call real quick and coordinate that." She nodded and turned to her crystal ball.

Lilly walked up, smiling. "Eran, you're just one of the best strategists I've ever met."

Davilia glanced up at Lilly while in the middle of her call. She eyed Lilly with what I assume was supposed to be threatening look. "My man, don't touch."

Lilly smiled at Davilia. "I have one myself, a Nord, so don't worry."

I sat down with everyone. "So, who's on my team?"

Oleeme pointed to himself. "All shadowscales and shadowwraiths. The shadowmasters will be on their own assignment, however. That does not matter in amount of strength because the Sparvia are coming with us, along with Brinsa." Oleeme's face cracked into a tiny smile. "It would seem that Shadow Squad is still operational, Princess."

And then I looked over at Vatu. "And you, Vatu?"

He shook his head. "I'm heading into Elsweyr with my sister, Crassi, Travis, and J'skar. In the town of Rimmen, there is a squad of Khajiit scouts that we're linking up with. They're waiting for us."

I nodded. "That makes sense." I looked around. "So, who is Lilly going with?"

Lilly smiled. "I'm going with Vatu, and so is Babette. They are going to need me when they find the device. I know enough about it to know how it works." She waved to me. "This is goodbye for now."

Nakuma, who had been walking up with her character sheet, overhead us. "What? But…all my research on the BSG Capacitor?"

Lilly pulled out an old and tattered journal from the backpack slung around her shoulder. "I have it right here. And don't worry, I've read the whole thing inside and out. And…" She walked up to Nakuma and whispered something to her. Nakuma seemed to smile.

"You see him too?"

Lilly nodded. "At first. But he dissipates after a few weeks."

Nakuma collapsed onto her knees. "Oh thank the gods."

I turned back to Erandur, saying, "Ok, so why were you all here? That's why I originally came here. To find out."

Everyone showed me their character cards. "We were organizing our team leaders." Erandur said. "We were also coordinating our RMs. Oleeme is your group's RM, Lilly is Vatu's, and Hans is going to be my group's RM."

"Hans?" I asked. "Battle-Born Hans?"

Erandur nodded. "Yup, he's coming with me to find the kill switch to the transmitter and hopefully this Silence bubble."

I found myself nodding. "You know, this is quite the operation. You think we can pull it off?"

Lilly flashed me a wide smile that just looked weird on her face. "You're talking about Erandur Ocato, greatest strategist the battlemages have ever had! Of course this plan will work."

Cearbhail:

so, what do you guys think? I think it's a great way to split up the massive army and hit the Dominion while the Aedra are away. They'll start popping back into the story soon enough. And you'll find out why they were missing for so long as well.