Cearbhail:

Ok, I'll leave this up to you readers. Since you have to read the story, I'll just ask you. Would you be interested in seeing what's going on in Akavir? I assure you it would be an interesting few chapters, and I plan on releasing the Snow Demons of Hamal. It will happen regardless and you'll see them in the story, but it's up to you if you wish to 'see' what happens in Akavir as opposed as reading it in journal entries like the one below. Either way, we're back and because it's such a special chapter (the 50th chapter), I planned something special. You'll see. Well anyway, let's hope for another 50. This war is only getting started after all, and I have a lot of battles and perspectives I have to share. I'll switch back to Jurard and Vatu next. Hell, the elven team isn't even in Alinar yet. Enjoy.

[Nexa]

Dear Princess Nexauvia Frazviani,

We are unhappy to announce that the Aldmeri Dominion has unleashed a full-scale war on our nation. We are unable to assist you in your invasion of your home marsh. We do not require reinforcements. The Sload have already come to our aid, as well as the Nords of Skyrim. Do not worry, we will secure our homes and come to assist you in Black Marsh. Watch for us Tsaesci by the ocean front, the Po'Tun from the north, and the Tang Mo from the south. We will move to assist once we are done. We do have some intelligence to share, however. The Aedra have ceased their war for now, it seems. The last bout we had with them made them all scurry off to hide and lick their wounds. And we have successfully recovered several of the Aldmeri controlled globe devices. We'll send a Sload with one once we have a second to breathe. The explosion rune has been deactivated so no worries about it exploding in your face. We'll coordinate with the other teams and give them their globes too…once we find them. Do not dare drop your Soul Separation; the Dominion is watching for your forces. If you drop it for even one second, you'll risk detection from all Aldmeri forces in Black Marsh.

As a note, we Tsaesci note that our King was killed. We felt his spirit depart this realm when he did. But his body has been giving us orders, ordering us to surrender to the Dominion. He seems alive, but we know better. We feel not his soul, and the Sload agree. He is nothing but a husk, a vessel for a necromancer. The elves are working as shady as possible. Do not be surprised if your own leader appears alive as well. Know that he has also departed this realm, even if his body still remains active.

Prince Xravrish, son of the late King Tsaevashi.

…

I scanned the note for a second before looking at the Lilmothiit scout that delivered it to me. It seemed like a normal recon note. So, we weren't going to get any help from the Akaviri Alliance then, not for a while at least. I wondered how their war was going right now. I felt bad that I wasn't going to go help them, but I was needed here. I was supposed to distract the Dominion by engaging them in guerilla warfare. And while I was at it, take my home back and take the mantle of Queen of Argonia. And it seemed like my grandmother and father both might be alive…well alive is not quite the word. I guess their bodies are probably being controlled by that necromancer we met in Cheydinhal: Nrillia, I think her name was.

I looked around the camp. It was a small island surrounded by the thick marshland that made up our homeland, about 100 yards west from the town Helstrom. We tried to stay out of the town's patrols, just in case their archers try to kill us. If a patrol came by, all my Argonians would just hide in the black water, while the Lilmothiit would vanish in the twisted vines in the trees. The water in was black as the void, but it only looked that way because of the algae living in it. It was actually some of the cleanest water you could ever drink. Heck, you could pick up the algae and just ring the water out. It comes out clean and pure clear. It's even healthy to drink. We have a company here that actually farms these algae with the intention of bottling the water and selling it across Tamriel. It's one of the several companies in Argonia that haven't tanked. And it's so respected in our nation that no raiders mess with it. If that company tanked, our economy might dry up, and even the bandits didn't want that. They want our money as bad as we do.

Our camp was so crowded that I thought we stuck out a little too much. Someone might notice. Of course, we had Lilmothiit archers and scouts lining the treetops, waiting for any signs of movement. I had what remained of my Shadow Squad sitting in a small camping area. Nakuma and Oleeme were sitting around a small campfire with the three new shadowscales. They were straight from the academy and their first battle had been Cheydinhal. They were in the first wave, the first ones to be wounded, and the first ones in the medical tents. Two were girls, no older than me; the other was a boy just a little older than me. One of the girls was a pale green-scale with darker green throat patches, and long black feathers with green tips pulled back in an Argonian braid. She looked cute, I'll give her that, but she's one of the only shadowscales I've seen that's obsessed with reading, other than myself. Her name was Deejena. She's really quiet and doesn't talk much, but I don't think it's because she's a bitch, just quiet. The other girl is almost a complete contrast. Dark brown scales, light blue feathers that had a yellow tip to them. Her name was Onastvee. She was kind of talkative and appeared to have a crush on the boy. The boy was weird. I couldn't figure him out. He wasn't quiet, he wasn't exactly talkative either. He just…he was bland. I had no better word for it. He had a normal personality; his name was Neetsa. That's a first for me.

I looked over to Oleeme, who only nodded to me. I looked around for a second. Brinsa was nearby, stalking a small iguana that had been resting on a nearby tree. He had his hunting spear ready to strike. I pulled out a throwing star and took aim. Right before he could finish his thrust, I snapped my shuriken out. The shuriken slammed into his hunting spear, which made him miss his strike. The sound caused the iguana to take off running, disappearing into the brush. Brinsa's face almost fell apart as he looked over at me. "What was that about?"

I placed my hands on my hips and scowled at him. "How would you feel if I killed a fox in front of you?"

He shrugged. "We eat foxes all the time."

That made my stomach turn over. I actually gagged on that before looking back at him. "Come over here, shaman. We're going to play our game now."

He sighed before he clipped his spear back into his back carrier. He jumped out of the tree, landing knee deep in spongy mud. He strolled out of it like it was dirt. That was impressive. Most humans died in the marshlands because the mud practically becomes tar. Living in the marshlands will do a lot for you once you learn about it. You learn to avoid anything that has any sort of dots, and any sort of abnormal coloration. You learn to be so light on your feet that mud has no hold on you, and you learn that the water you drink is healthiest when it comes from inside trees. We call it Hist sap. The Hist watch over us. They guide us. They're the closest things to gods in the Marshlands. And I haven't seen one in years.

I joined Brinsa and the others sitting around the campfire. Oleeme was waiting for us, his eyes glowing as white as ever. I looked around the small group. "Ok, guys. Let's start this campaign. Have the other players started?"

Oleeme nodded. "I can see the campaigns of the others have already begun, the world has been set, the enemy running. We are late, but it will not matter. Our mission has not yet been compromised. Our campaign links up with Cecilie's team. We shall review our characters to confirm all known data. Commence." He looked at me. "What is your character?" As he said it, a massive bubble clouded over us, taking away all sight of the outside world. Even I was invisible. Instead, my body was replaced by the Khajiit character I had created. My character sheet popped up and I could see everything I had written down three days ago.

"My character name is J'vasti. I'm a female Khajiit mage, 17 years old." I said to Oleeme.

Oleeme looked from me over to Nakuma. Nakuma nodded. "Um…I'm a…" Her eyes sharpened and she grabbed her head like she was in pain. Then she smiled wickedly. I could see her character appear. It was a tall proud elf with golden skin and glowing golden eyes, wearing a black robe. "I'm an Aldmer necromancer…the original. My name is Mannimarca, 21 years old." I could see just how wicked she looked. That Mannimarco imprint must be pushing really hard to control her. I just hoped she held out long enough to beat him. She had a hard battle ahead of her. Just losing some of her sanity in the Soul Chamber was hard enough; and then shoving an ancient shadow journal made by the original lich was even more painful to her already unsorted mind. I just hoped I didn't have to kill her.

I think Oleeme smiled a bit. "Interesting." He looked from her over to Deejena. "And you?"

She looked up from her book. She shrugged. Her character popped up on the map, right in front of her. "Bosmer archer, name is Greinla, 19 years old." She looked back at her book.

Oleeme looked from her over to Neetsa. "And you?"

He smiled and shrugged. He leaned forward, and his character popped up in front of him. It looked just like him. "Argonian shadowscale, Neetsa, 16 years old."

Even Oleeme's eyes dead panned at that. "You could do better." He looked over at Onastvee, saying, "Do you have a real character?"

She nodded, and her character bounced out of nowhere, dressed in colorful robes and carrying a lute. "Yeah, her name is Samantha. She's totes a Breton with long golden-brown hair, about shoulder-length with a nice light cure in the left side, while the right side sports more of a side-ponytail, it's like totes cute, and she's totes a 15 year-old bard with dark blue pants, pink ruffle blouse, and matching bracelets and earrings totes made of silver and gold from the mines of Mordia located totes in the springs of…"

"Thanks." Oleeme interjected. He looked from her over to Brinsa. "I believe you are the last one."

Brinsa nodded. His character popped up in front of him. "To balance the team, I chose a Falmer Paladin: magic sword heavy-armor evil slayer. His name is Freidomvaer."

Oleeme nodded and his eyes lit up. "Let us begin." Just like that, all of us faded away, and all I could see was my character in front of me. When I thought it, my character moved just like I would if I were me, I guess is a good way of saying it. I must admit, I'm glad Cecilie taught this spell to everyone. This made game playing so easy for us all. Of course, it was a well-known spell, and Crassi knew it and helped Cecilie teach it to everyone, but still…this is advanced Illusion right here. And the beautiful thing is…this all exists in some distant plane that we created here on Nirn. We could actually communicate our battle plans on this plane, but instead we were using it to game play instead. I loved this.

Our team was standing on a distant farmland. We were all wrapped in chains, linked to each other as someone heavily armored pulled us. "Keep up, slaves!" He yanked on our chains. The bard in front of me tripped on her feet and she fell forward.

"Hey! That's not cool. If I weren't chained up, I'd so totes take my flute and shove it up your ass where I sign a lovely melody while you shit through the D note!" I heard Onastvee's character scream.

The slave driver looked back at us. "You shouldn't have rolled a 1, idiot." Oleeme's voice translated through him. He turned back around. "Look there, the volcano has erupted again. Oh no…" He turned around and let go of our chains. I looked up into the sky but couldn't see anything, but the other people I was chained to started running away. I followed their lead. I must have missed my sight roll. And then, I felt explosions all around me, strong enough to through dirt up into my face. I dove for cover and thought about any spells I might have. We started off as level five and I had a couple spells on me. I had a basic Shield spell, and so I let it spread out. I could see several large impacts on the shield and my comrades formed up behind me. Oh yeah! Khajiit mage is badass mage.

And that's when I saw the coming debris falling from the mountain. I pushed forward, hoping that I rolled somewhere in the high areas of my next spell. I summoned everything I had and launched it forward as a massive fireball. It roared from my hands in a massive maelstrom of fire; a torrent big enough to melt half a town without a single second. And that torrent was directed at the sky, where the falling rocks the size of buildings threatened to kill us. And those rocks met my flame. And just like that, we were safe from the falling rocks.

In the time it took me to blow up the sky, my comrades seemed to get their chains off. They were grabbing whatever they could to prepare themselves. And I could see what was coming next. It was a massive horde of corprus monsters. They were charging down to fight us. And I was all we had at the moment, except for Freidomvaer and Neetsa. We were all we had to stand a chance.

"Oh no…" Samantha said as she ran around in circles. "What to do, what to do?" She paused. "I will totes sing you all a song of Boisterous Battle Cry. It will totes increase your attack based on the concept that the more energy I totes put into my song the stronger your instincts and battle skills will totes become." And just like that, she started vocalizing as loudly and as energetically as she could. I really don't like this girl so much. She 'totes' annoys me.

I charged forward with Freidomvaer beside me. As the first corprus monster came up, I dodged an attack from him and my Burning Touch raked across his face. His face fell off in sections. Right beside me, Freidomvaer was manhandling two corprus monsters. He flipped one over, snapping his head off, and then kicking another one so hard that it exploded. I decided that my flames spell was a battle skill, and with the boisterous battle cry going on heavily in the background, I was certain that I could do this. I stuck my hand out and let the flames roar. It was even stronger this time and it rolled over the battlefield like a wave of lava, melting everything underneath it. I took care of half the battle before it even began.

"Don't worry. We'll help." I heard a Khajiit call. When I looked over, I could see someone that I could picture Vatu choosing as his character: a Khajiit ranger, and he was carrying a short sword, wearing a regular leather tunic and dark green traveling cloak. He ran up next to me, slashing with his short sword as a corprus monster ran up to kill me. The monster died underneath me. And that's when I decided that I should make my move.

"Oh…thank you, fellow Khajiit of the opposite sex. How could I ever repay you?" I asked him.

He looked at me and his tail flicked in annoyance. "I don't know…just save me once I guess?"

"Make out with you? What a bold request, I guess I could, even though I don't normally do this stuff…being a firedrake and all that." I said to him, grabbed him by the waist, and started making out with him. Even in our virtual reality, it was still just as satisfying.

"Hey, that's not fair!" I heard an Argonian white-robe scream as she ran up. She was dressed in the white dress-robes of our healers. It had to be Primrose. "I wanted to kiss him!"

That's when a small dwarf dressed in heavy armor jumped in. "No one is making out with my brother!" She screamed. We all looked down at her for a second before she cleared her throat. "I mean…no one is making out with my teammate…except for me…cause I'm a dwarf and we do that kind of thing…yeah.." She sounded uncertain of her own answer, looking down and rubbing her own arm in uncertainty.

We all were cut off by a well-dressed Telvanni wizard. "I am Master Neloth. Welcome to Morrowind. As you can see, we're in bit of a bind. Red Mountain is unstable and corprus monsters threaten to destroy our way of life. I requested the aid of the prisoners from around Tamriel to assist us in our struggle. That would be the four teams of you that were brought in. Welcome to Morrowind. If you will follow me, we'll get you all dressed up, armed, and ready for your missions, some of which will force you to work alone, with different teams, or with your own team. It might be a very long campaign before we're free, so don't get complacent. Danger may strike at any moment."

And just like that, the entire world froze and we all transformed from our character back into who we actually were. I could see Primrose and Vatu. Vatu looked like he was living in hell, but he smiled at me and then at Primrose. Ha, Primrose! He smiled at me first! "Hi, guys." He said to us. "I'm glad we can still hang out like this."

"Just kiss me!" Primrose said as she glided up to him. She paused right before she got too close. "Can I?" Vatu did that choking purr thing that he did where he didn't want to say yes, but he also didn't want to say no.

Vatu's shrug didn't really help his image of being against it. But luckily, his sister was up in her face. "No! My brother is not ready for your kisses yet, even if I do like you more than spike-face."

Lilly looked over at me and smiled. "I liked how you did that, Nexa. Nice use of flames. I'll remember that for one day." Then she looked over at her frozen image of Neloth. "Can you believe that this Neloth is the same one that taught me how to use most of my magicka? He's the only surviving Telvanni wizard in my time…well original Telvanni wizard at least. He started up a whole new settlement in Solstiem right before I was born, and he had two full wizards by the time my friend Ruby started up her guild. He was my idol…kinda like Hans, only meaner and less patient…smelled more like tea, less like mead." She shrugged. "Did you know he had a great-grandparent in Morrowind? He was also named Neloth. He was a Telvanni wizard, one of the strongest ever known. He also lived the longest. But he died when the Nerevarine killed him in some Mages Guild quest." She shrugged. "Well, not that it matters, but I like to think they were the same guy. At least in spirit, so I used him to play the actual Neloth of this campaign. He'll serve as your…quest master, I guess. Just follow what he says and you'll be just fine. He might even join in. He is my character after all…and I feel like playing just as much as you do." She waved goodbye to us. "That's all for tonight. I need to rest this spell. We'll continue in three days. Your RMs will tell you when it's time."

The entire gaming realm dissolved around us until we were back in our little swampy marshland. I could still feel Vatu's lips on mine, and it made me feel so warm. I just wanted to wrap up in his arms and feel comforted in his fur. Why did Primrose get to spend all that time with him, and all I got was one kiss and a backlash from her? It wasn't right that she got all of Vatu's attention and warmth while I had to sit on the sidelines and watch as Vatu slowly started loving her instead of me.

I looked around the group to see everyone looking at me. Brinsa smiled as he looked over at me. "I'm guessing this is going to be a constant theme with you? Kissing every Khajiit boy you run into?"

I glanced over at him. "Just the one. His name is Vatu. I love him." There, let there be no confusion among my group now, even the new ones that just joined last month.

Brinsa leaned forward, something close to curiosity growing on his face. "Oh? So, what's he like? Why'd you fall for him?"

Why? That wasn't hard. "He stuck up for me when it was clear he was scared out of his mind. We had this sadistic teacher that threatened to stab both him and me almost to death just because I wanted out of her class. Well, I wanted to see if she'd try to kill me, because I was going to kill her. And he waited for me, keeping his eye on me the whole time. I tried to wait him out, to see if he'd leave first and give me an opportunity to kill the old bag…but he wouldn't leave, even though he clearly wanted nothing more than to leave. So, I left, and he followed. And then I totally pinned him to a wall and forced him to confess his reasons for stalking me. And it turned out that he was worried the woman was going to kill me, so he waited to see if I needed help leaving. I thanked him for that, and I kissed him. I kept watching him after that. He was a recluse, but he seemed to want friends. And that only drew me more in. And then he got kidnapped, and I heard the horror story he had to live through. I wish I had known; I would have gone and freed him myself."

I wish I had known Vatu was going through hell those four days he was missing. I thought it was weird that he was missing, and once I heard about it after the weekend was over, I had packed up to find him. And then I found out he was already found. That was a letdown, but I was happy that he was safe. When he returned, he looked so…distant. That was the only word I could use to explain it. He'd seen the worst of the world and it just told him everything he needed to know about it.

I looked back up at Brinsa, who still looked like he wanted an answer. "Vatu is special to me. He knows what the world is like; he's seen through the darker windows that people tend to ignore. But he doesn't let it change him, even if he does push others away. I know what that world is like because I was born into it as well. I understand that pain, and that Bosmer does not, as far as I can tell. She cannot understand Vatu as she is right now, not to the extent that I can. And that's why I'll never stop fighting for him; because we are both fighters, while she is a healer. She'll do what is right for him, and I will never stop fighting for him. In the end, she'll give up, because I'm stronger than her. This is a fight that she won't win, not with me in the game."

Brinsa sighed as he leaned back on his arms. "All this commotion over one Khajiit." He looked over at me. "Perhaps you should just find someone else to focus on?"

I shook my head. "That's impossible. There is no one that I can love more than Vatu."

Brinsa smiled. "We'll see about that. As a shaman, it's my job to preserve the balance. I will find someone else for you to focus on, so that the Khajiit maintains the love triangle balance. Between his sister's love and the wood elf…I don't think he can take a third one pushing as well. And since you're with me…I'll just have to change you instead of the other two."

"Good luck with that." I said to him before looking away. "You'll lose this fight just as badly as Primrose."

"Lilmothiit never lose." He stated proudly. "And I can't of a better person to make you fall in love with than myself. You're pretty, so why not?"

I was about to correct him on what he said, but I heard the trees around us move. It drew everyone else's attention as well. The rest of Shadow Squad was up on their feet, and the Lilmothiit moved just as fast. They had their bows up, scanning the woods for whoever was moving. I looked around for any signs of shadowscales or Dominion agents. I didn't see anyone. We were surrounded by Hist trees, that was it.

I looked from me over to Brinsa. "We'll have a talk about this later, but there is no way I'm falling for you. I already have plans to have three children with Vatu. They existed in the future and I want them in my present. Those children won't exist with someone like you. At least…they won't be the same."

He nodded. "Ok, I understand where you are coming from. Allow me to change my statement, then. In order to preserve the balance of time and space…I will see to it that you win your little fight." He went back to scanning the trees. "Any idea what made those noises?"

I shook my head. "None. But…" I looked into the trees. They looked like they were swaying, like they were slowly moving through the marshy mud. "Is it just me, or are the trees moving?"

Large sounds of trees creaking shifted around us, and for a second, I was lost in the past when a giant branch snaked out and flung Jurard around when we were initially escaping from my home. The tree had moved back then as well. Were the stories true? Could Hist actually move? They were sentient, I knew that, but they never moved, never acted, never spoke. Could it be that they were truly alive? What was this then? I could only get my answer one way.

"Great Hist trees of Argonia!" I screamed out. "I am Princess Nexauvia Frazviani, and I am the next in line for the throne of Lilmoth. I understand from the ancient tales that the Hist used to interact with the Argonians and the Bosmer, giving us home above the poisonous lands, and giving us antidotal water that genetically made the two races immune to the poisons of the planet. Am I to guess that you know what is happening to the world? The mass extinction of the Aedra? Are you aware of the Aldmeri Dominion, and their plot to take over the other races and become the owners of Tamriel? Do you know what they would do to the Hist if they knew you existed in a way that you do? The experiments they might do to you if they found out you would walk or even speak?"

I glanced around the trees. They shifted in the mud, their roots climbing through the mud. But they didn't answer me. Perhaps they were just normal trees after all. I had heard tales that they were superiorly intelligent to the other races, even offering wisdom in times of need, and armies when it came to war. I stood there for a second but I didn't expect anything to happen. I didn't know what to expect to happen. What, a giant tree just grows a face and eyeballs and then talks to me in common? How would that work? I looked over at Brinsa. "You, shaman. Do you talking to plants thing."

He chuckled to himself before looking from me over to the moving trees. He took a knee and then pulled out a crystal. He looked like he offered it before chanting in his language and then stabbing the crystal into the ground. The trees stopped moving and I could suddenly feel the attention of the marsh on us. It was that feeling that gods were watching us; judging us. It felt like all of Nirn was watching us. "Great guardians of the marshlands, I am but a shaman in the service of our Princess. She struggles to free her homeland from elven invaders, and we ask that you offer us your protection, if you can do so." He looked over to me. "That is what you wanted right?"

I looked from him back to the now not moving trees. "I don't really want anything. It's just…talking to a Hist, that's just something an Argonian only ever wishes of doing. The Hist were like gods to us at one point, and now we just revere them because their sap gives us so much strength. Just talking to one of these trees, finding out that it can speak…would change my life."

That's when I felt the wind blow on the back of my neck. It felt warm and welcoming. The wind continued to build until the leaves in the Hist started whistling. And that's when I heard children-like voices coming from the winds blowing in the leaves. "We thank you for your words, Princess." The wind blew around us. "We have awoken for it is time the scrolls decreed. The Hist will march onto the Princess's orders, for war has come to all of Nirn. If the Hist do not act, the world will cease to bring beauty. Pollution, oil, and Dwarven devices will overrun the land, the beauty that is Kynareth's nature will die from poisons unnatural to the planet, the Hist will be no different. The Aldmeri descendants and the ones that dwell deep must not be allowed to throw the balance of the world off scales. It is for this reason the Hist will walk again, will talk again. It is time that nature corrects itself."

I stood there as the wind in the trees died down. There was more creaking and the trees started splitting open. While the trees stood there, small glowing green things started pulling out of the trees. It took me a few seconds before I realized what was going on. Spriggans were pulling out of the tree, thousands of glowing insects flying through the enchanted wood. Ten or so Spriggans walked up to us, looking at us with hollow eyes. One of them bowed to me, and the insects started buzzing words. "We are ready for war, Princess. We shall fight on behalf of the Hist. Spriggans shall rise in the thousands if needed."

Holy crap…I just raised an entire army. Dominion be damned, I have walking trees on my side. And in a land filled with nothing but moving trees…they were so screwed.

Cearbhail:

Would have you believed that I planned on bringing the Hist into the war? I had for a while now, just didn't know how to write this chapter. It's an important chapter to be damned. The trees of Valenwood and Argonia have decided to fight back. Mother Nature is pissed and she's going to be damned if she'll be polluted without a fight.