Cearbhail:
Hi, guys! I leave for Japan in two days. So... I thought I'd give you something while you wait. Now, I'll be in Japan all of July, won't be back until August. Hopefully I have time while in Japan to write more chapters on my days off. I know, I know. You're in Japan, you should be sightseeing. And I will, but I can't be out there all day, can I? Well, anyway. This is a short chapter, but it's really, really important.
I understand that Fiirnar has always been this... bad guy. The guy that caused the whole story in the first place and made Cecilie go back in time to fix it. Well... you should know who he used to be. And who he is right now. The evil Fiirnar, the one that Cecilie hates ... he doesn't exist yet. He comes after the vampire bite. He's still mer right now. And you should know who he was before he becomes the most evil character I've ever devised... other than Riviella.
[Councilor Fiirnar]
Captain Log: Calendar date 4e003 20th Mid Year; 17:30H
Fiirnar's Account of the Aldmeri Dominion, volume one.
Lilmoth is finally under Dominion Control. What began as a partnership developed into a full-blown takeover. I wonder some days if my conquest is questionable. The world seems so driven to madness, so driven to destroy itself. I hoped to redeem our world. But… take it over? Where did it all go wrong? Why am I unable to see it end without more bloodshed? I only ever wanted a safe world for my future children; a safe world for my wife. I only wanted a safe world for everyone. That was the original goal. It started before the Oblivion Crisis, you know. We had this island in the west. It's a long tale, and to be honest, I think telling it would put some perspective into the man I had become and why the world has become the way it is; why I had to become the man I am today. So, today, in case I fade from history before I can set it all right… I want everyone to know the truth, not the way history reclaims it as me being the villain that conspired to own the world, but from the mouth of the man that lived through it all. My name is Fiirnar. I am the founder of the Aldmeri Dominion, and the savior of Summerset Isles.
In the final years of the third era, nearly 30 years before the Oblivion Crisis, there was this island, to the west of Summerset Isles. It was full of liches and necromancers that did experimentations on the dead. We had ignored it for the while, but once dead started climbing onto the shores of Summerset Isles and several children had been bitten to death by the monsters, the Alinor Institute of Magicka Development had decided to elect some of its newest members on an assignment to build a Magicka Cannon. It was an experimental thing at the time and it was thought that the young could benefit from the process of building a device. There were six of us being pulled in on the project, one from each set of classes. I was in the Illusion Major, Ocato was in the Destruction Major, Lucinda was in the Restoration Major, Nrillia in the Conjuration, Brasing in Alteration, and Requen in the Mysticism Major. We were the representatives of our respective classes; the best grades the best papers. And our job was to work with the Battlemage Corps of Alinor to create a functioning magicka cannon utilizing the River of Magicka that existed right outside the main city. The cannon was to be used as a last resort on the island of liches if we were unable to quell the attacks any other way.
It took us a couple months to create a generic design to where we could funnel out magicka from the River of Magicka and compress it into a beam capable enough of blowing down an entire mountain. It took us another couple months to actually create the thing. During that time, some of us had time to grow feelings for each other. Ocato fell in love with Lucinda and they had a son, Erandur. That happened later in life though, towards the Oblivion Crisis nearly 30 years later. I fell in love with Nrillia. During this whole experiment to create a functional cannon, more and more attacks involving undead coming from the ocean were increasing and more people not only dying but turning into the undead as well. We had to really buckle down and create our cannon. In the meantime, battlemages were sent in to find a quick solution. They just added to the massive army of liches. At the end of the experiment, we had a fully functional magicka cannon. And we tested it out on the island full of liches and necromancers. The explosion was mightier than we could have imagined and we had caused a tidal wave that threatened to wipe out half of Summerset Isles. We diverted the wave away from our island, saving millions of lives in Summerset Isles. Countless others were taken from High Rock, Valenwood, and Elsweyr.
The deaths that had been caused by our tidal wave stirred an operation against us. It was years and years later when our doors were kicked in by Shadowmasters and Lilmothiit from Black Marsh. They trashed our research station, blew up our cannon, and caused a chain reaction that caused the River of Magicka to explode. We lost half the town of Alinor that day, and half of my team was incinerated. We would have been just fine if our Destruction battlemage Ocato hadn't moved to Cyrodiil with his wife and their son. We lost our cannon and half our battlemages were killed in action. The town of Alinor was under duress. And not even four years later, right when we were done rebuilding our capital city, Oblivion Gates opened up all over Summerset Isles. And our battlemages were incomplete, untrained, ill-prepared. It was again that we were gathered to fight this growing threat. My wife and I joined the Alinor Battlemage Corps and took the fight to the Daedra.
It was a long year and we lost a lot of people. In the middle of the war, we suffered so many wounded I went from town to town to recruit more and more people to join us. Our battlemages were slowly becoming little more than ash in the wind. Our dead doubled every week. My wife had started learning necromancy and started animating our dead, turning them into something like wraiths and sending them to the frontlines while I bought us time recruiting and teaching more soldiers. The Aldmeri Dominion was started as our new governmental army, run by me and a few survivors of the Magicka Cannon Incident. We joined with Valenwood and we took to fight the rising Daedra. We won. In the final battles, my wife and I split up, taking two massive gates. She didn't return in one piece. She returned a burnt corpse. Requen, who had come with me, was able to teleport my wife to the River of Magicka and build this thing that kept her alive. But I learned the truth… she wouldn't live for long. Five years at the longest. And where she existed, she was living in a personal hell. I couldn't touch her; otherwise I'd only bring her pain. There would be no life with her, no way that I'd get what I'd want. I'd never have her children or my life with her.
With the state of Summerset Isle in a crisis and the other provinces running on fumes from the Oblivion Crisis, I took my opportunity to rebuild the Aldmeri Dominion. For the future protection of my people, I took over Summerset Isles, me and the team that had created the magicka cannon. Well, whatever was left of the team it anyway. Just my wife Nrillia, myself, and Requen. We had been the ones to save Summerset Isles, not anyone else. And we did a great job. We actually bolstered our nation under the crisis, while Cyrodiil, the seat of a might empire, was but a shell of its former glory. They were a danger to themselves, but we gave them a chance to clean up their act. But Elsweyr was growing weak and we needed to assist them. Valenwood voted on the issue, so we agreed on it as a Dominion.
Because of the worldwide disasters we had to continually faced, we reasoned that it wouldn't be too long before some sort of aftershock hit us. Requen was the one that found a way to astral travel to the moon Masser. His knowledge of Mysticism was what we needed to teleport our team there. I had compiled some of the best Dwarven engineers, not real Dwemer though. They're extinct. We teleported to the moon after a few Alteration mages set up an air bubble for us. We built a simple base up there with a giant resonance crystal that could use the vibrations of several other crystal towers strategically placed around the way lines of Tamriel to create an astral image of the entire world. It took us months to get the station working. Meanwhile, we had the moon cloaked, and we pleaded our case to the Mane, a little boy, to let us continue our operations up there and that we'd bring his moon back soon. He agreed and joined our Dominion, but only if he could see the base for himself. I think the boy just wanted to stand on the moon. And he did. He loved every second of it.
When we had our tower operational, we designed in secret an experimental magicka cannon. It's non-functional since there is no source of magicka on Masser. But at least we had the capability to see any enemy nation, anything that could cause a problem for our Dominion, for the world itself. We would be the protectors the world would need. I needed to do something useful. My wife needed to see that when she left this world that I would take care of it for her. She needed some sort of closure, something that gave her life meaning; gave me meaning.
I never expected the Aedra to come to us though. It was unexpected. And they came fast and hard. Alinor was prepared though. We protected our people. The entire Dominion was able to able to defend ourselves since we could see the Aedra coming from anywhere on the planet. But we had to watch while Cyrodiil and the other nations burned to the ground. In our haste to find a solution we were contacted by the Warlord of Black Marsh. He wanted to form a war council and basically work together as a team to save our world. After what he did to my people in Alinor, after he allowed half my town to burn to the ground and blow up our cannon, I laughed at the idea. But then I thought of something. I could get my revenge for what he did. And Cyrodiil needed a savior; all of Tamriel needed a savior. They would fall without us. We're the strong army, we survived hell and back. It was our time to shine, our time to lead us from the darkness that threatened to take us. The Dominion stood ready to play her part in this crisis. And we still do to this day. We have secured the capital of Black Marsh, allied with it, making it part of our Dominion. And we have the Empire under our protection as well. Half of Tamriel has joined us… why the other half does not is beyond me. But they will join soon. The Dominion wishes for nothing more than the security of our world. And security can only come when we all wave the same flag.
…
I held a laugh as I pulled the quill away from my book. I tapped the quill in the inkwell; making sure most of the ink returned to its resting place before I dried the quill off and placed it back with my other quills. I sat there in silence as I stared at my book. Shadows on my table danced as the tiny candle's flame danced around. My room was dark; the candle was the only source for light at the given moment. Why had I done what I'd done? What had I created? This was a time of war, but the Argonian girl was right. If I wanted to take over Tamriel, now was the time to do it. I have the minds of all the leaders, except for the Mages Guild. If I give a word, I could own all of Tamriel. I own Summerset Isles, Valenwood, Elsweyr, Black Marsh now, and even Cyrodiil is under my Dominion. My empire is vast, but it's not enough. With High Rock, Skyrim, Morrowind, and Hammerfell to the north, and Akavir off in the northeast we still had many enemies. And war would come because they would fear their safety in the light of my armies. And they should. When two superpowers meet, only one walks away. Let this be the last war the world ever knows. We all deserve peace.
I pushed away from my desk, feeling my stomach churning. I needed some food. The War Council was on break at the moment. The Aedra had fallen back and to be honest, we're pretty busy trying to keep the Akaviri and Morrowind from invading us. Nrillia was doing her best to keep her creations going and keeping them at the borders. She was an amazing woman, but she only had a year left before she faded away. She tried to find ways to recreate her body, to transfer her soul. It never worked. Her soul would leave her body and then the body would start burning before she could finish the process. Soul jumping was the ultimate taboo… and the most impossible thing ever attempted. She couldn't do it. I had to face the fact. She was going to die, and loving her was the only thing I could do. Once she died… it was over. I'd at least have this world. I'd trade the love of my life for the security of future couples. They would grow up in a world where they wouldn't have to watch their loved ones die in front of them. I'd trade my life for that world.
As I exited my room, I heard the laughs of some Argonian teens as they strolled through the hallway towards the food court. I watched as they walked past. I remembered when I had been so carefree. I was 16 when I was put on the project to design the magicka cannon. We had been so young, so ready to show we were ready. And we did it. The six of us had successfully created a working magicka cannon. The only problem was that it could only be built in a source of incredible magicka, and the River of Magicka was the only viable source we knew of that we could utilize an amount of magicka great enough to destroy an entire island. It took us a year to create the thing, and we put so much work into designing the thing, creating ways for magicka to pour from the river into a condenser gem and then directed at a specific target in the form of all five elemental styles of Destruction magicka: fire, frost, shock, air, and nature.
The kids in front of me laughed as they gossiped about their classmates. It reminded me of the hours we'd finish up with our days of thinking of ways to create the design necessary to build the magicka cannon. After our work hours were done, we'd go out and have some fun on the town. We were so carefree back then. We grew close as a family. And then we actually built the cannon. When it worked and we saved Summerset Isles we celebrated like no one could have. Nrillia and I had kissed that night for the first time. It was a magical evening and we thought the happy days would never end.
The hallway emptied out into the dining hall. Tables of all the Argonian birthsigns dictated where Argonians were supposed to sit. No one really paid attention to it though. Sure, some signs stuck like glue to it. The Shadowscales especially, and the Shadowwraiths. They never ventured out and talked to anyone else. I guess they just didn't belong in society anymore. I felt like I belonged in that category. The war I had seen; the death I had brought to my fellow Altmer. Seeing the love of my life burn to a crisp and scream in bloody murder while she slowly withered away until she was a husk of her old self. You can't go back to what you were when your hands are drenched in blood. War stains one's soul. I was pure once, but now I'm just a bloody soul with one intention: end all wars for now on.
I looked around the room. No one even knew that the Queen of Black Marsh was an animated body, or that their Warlord was a dead body as well. All they knew was that they were in the Aldmeri Dominion now, and that they belonged to me now. They were anxious about it, but they didn't try to throw me out. If their Queen allowed me, then I was good enough for them. Seeing all the families going about their normal routines, I was suddenly driven to do everything I could do to keep them safe. That's why I was doing this. I wanted this world to be united. I had only killed the War Council because I couldn't trust the current leaders. They all conspired to kill each other; that's all they ever did. The Khajiit wanted to keep his little blood letter alive so that he could use him in future wars. The Warlord wanted only to rule us all, kill us and take our lands. I knew exactly what his map was for when I saw it. All those shadowmasters throughout Tamriel. Once he gave the word, he could use them to kill any leader; destroy any city. I couldn't let him do it. I've worked too hard to get this far to see the peace I offer be destroyed.
"Councilor Fiirnar, this is Shadowmaster Riviella."
I reached down into my pocket and pulled out my crystal ball. When I looked down at it, I could see her dark purple scales and her short pink feathers on her head reflecting inside the ball. "What is it, Shadowmaster? Don't you normally take orders from your Warlord?"
She nodded. "Yes, and that's why I'm calling you." What? Did she know the truth then? Would she try to kill me in the name of the Princess that I was trying to have killed? "The Warlord needed me to call you. There's something going with the Aedra."
"What?" The Aedra? They were pretty much extinct. We were so close to finishing this war, and now they were up to something? "What's going on?"
"I can't explain it; I'm not even in Lilmoth. I'm busy tracking my beloved husband through Cyrodiil." She smiled. "I'm so close to him that I can taste his blood. And I will… once I have him, I will cut his head off and force his new girlfriend to watch as I make out with him one last time before killing her as well. Painfully… slowly… one scale at a time. I'll force her to eat Julanza's head and heart while I slowly whittle away her toes and tail. Since they regenerate, it will take a long time to die."
"Yes, thank you for the image." I sarcastically called to her, rolling my eyes to show my disdain for her visual art of making me sick to my stomach. "I'll go talk to the Warlord; you go… just go." I ended the conversation and slipped my crystal ball back in its pouch. I hungered and wished to eat, but the thought that the Aedra were doing something bothered me. And he was probably hoping I'd send my reserves out to hunt them instead of the Princess, the blood-rager Khajiit, and the blind girl that knew so much about the future. I wanted her more than anyone else. She knew what the future held, and from what she had said, I was the enemy. I wanted to set the record straight. I wanted her to know that I was the savior. She needed to know my side of the story. If there is a villain, it was the Mythic Dawn. They allowed for all this to happen three years ago. I'm just cleaning it up.
I quickly strolled through the hallway, hoping to find out what the problem was and resolve it quickly. The sooner I got it figured out, the sooner I could have lunch. People strolling in the hallway cleared for me as soon as they saw I was in a hurry. I made it to the war room with little trouble. Slamming the door open and shut again, I looked around at the animated zombies that filled the room. And unless you had a Master's Degree in Necromancy you'd never know that these corpses weren't living. They were a piece of Nrillia's spirit. An echo of who she was. If she died… they would too. Just another reminder that there was no replacing her body with another one.
I looked at the giant illusionary eerily blue globe that slowly rotated on a small projection unit centered in the middle of the room, surrounded by a U-shaped table that we all sat around when discussing our current objectives. The world looked more or less the way it should have been. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, except for the Aedra. They were all spread out at several key points. What was there? I looked at the Warlord. "You called?"
He nodded. "The Aedra are trying to do something."
I nodded. "I see that. What are they doing though?"
He sighed. He started pacing around the room with his arms clasped behind the small of his back. He nodded to the globe. "My shadowmasters have located all the sights of these round things made up of metal, weird symbols, and magicka. They were at the locational points that connected to the lay lines that ran with magicka. These things seem to keep the balance of our planet in check. But we had to shut them down to summon that Shield spell over the entire world. We believe the Aedra may be trying to turn these circular devices back on."
"Is that even possible?" I asked him. No, no that couldn't be possible. Only I knew how to bring the Shield down. And making some piece of metal and magicka spin wasn't going to do it.
The Warlord shook his head. "We do not know what it might do, or if they are capable to do it. But…for the Aedra to even attempt this, which is a theory that that's what they're doing, they must be desperate." He looked at me. "We should finish them off while they're out in the open and spread out."
I nodded. Time to end this war. "Let's do it. One last fight. And then…" Alarms started shouting in the room. It was an Illusionary spell that only went off when one of my towns was under attack. "What's going on?" I screamed to everyone. Some of my Thalmor analysts opened up their Illusion keyboards connected to the World Globe and started tying in queries.
"Sir!" One of the analysts said. "It would appear that Rimmen is under attack!"
"What?" I screamed.
"The entire Khajiit army has rallied at Rimmen and is bombing it to the ground." She replied.
"Sir!" The other one screamed. "Towns in Valenwood and Black Marsh are under attack!"
"By what?" I turned to look at the map. I didn't see any offensive dots in either of the locations.
"Trees, sir!" He screamed. "Not sure what kind, but our soldiers are being tossed around like ants.. Sir! More towns outside Valenwood and Black Marsh are being attacked by Spriggans!"
"Spriggans?" What the oblivion was going on?
"Sir!" The girl screamed. "The Imperial City has just been bombed."
"Bombed? Who? How? When?"
"Two shadowmasters: Julanza and Yuvenni. They blew up a part of the Imperial City. Now the remainders of the Mages Guild and the Fighters Guild have stormed the city." She repeated.
"Well, send in some reinforcements! We can't lose that…"
"Sir!" The man screamed.
"WHAT? What is it this time?" I rounded on him.
He looked up at me and swallowed hard. "It's Summerset Isles. It's under attack."
"WHAT?" I brought the world up on view. It was true. Sload were climbing out of the water onto the beaches, an army of undead following behind them. Liches walked beside them carrying old swords and bows. They ignored the civilians, but started their march up to Alinor. Like oblivion they would. I brought up my crystal ball. "Nrillia!" I screamed into it. Her charcoaled face appeared. "Rimmen, Valenwood, Elsweyr, Imperial City, and Alinor are all under attack. Fix it!" I screamed into the ball.
"I WILL DO AS ORDERED." Her mechanical voice roared from the box beside her.
I brought the map away from Alinor and focused on the Aedra. Whatever they were planning … if it involved bringing the magicka back… it couldn't come back at a worse time. All hell was breaking loose.
Cearbhail:
So, all the attacks have happened all at once. And next chapter, I will show you what's going on with General Victorious and how he will reshape this whole war. Fiirnar is right... shit's about to hit the fan, in more ways than just one. The Battle for Rimmen will begin. The battle of nature vs. Valenwood and Black Marsh will begin as well. Julanza fighting with Yuvenni in the Imperial City. Erandur with his army in Alinor. It's all getting real. and soon House Redoran and House Telvanni will join the fight as well. just in time for Changing Fates to start. I know where I'll end this story. So... we're getting pretty close now. The final battles will begin. and it will end with well, I really shouldn't say, now should I? But I will. It will end with Queen Nexauvia and the discovery of the temple that holds the means to the ends of the war.