Cearbhail:

Oh my gods. I'm so sorry everyone. It... I don't know what happened, where it all went wrong. I'm sorry, but I refuse to change it. I hope you can live with what I've done. Oh gods... what I have done..

[William Victorious]

In the ancient times from when I existed, we had limited experience with magicka. The Psijic monks had been the very first institution to study magicka, and the first institution to believe itself wholly pure enough to handle the destiny of Tamriel; to decide what was the right direction for the world to take, which paths should be ignored, which should be fought for. They believed themselves to be gods. They never helped out their common man, never helped them in their times of need, but only looked down from their astral realms from where they lived. And the only time the Psijics interfered with the flow of time was when the flow of time was interfered with.

I wondered if the Psijics could see what I was going to do. With the giant bubble of Silence coating the world in a non-magicka bubble, could the Psijics, who lived in a separate reality from our own, see the remainders of the Aedric army gathering on the edges of several Magicka Stabilization Centers. They stood motionless, spinning quietly. With the world's magicka thrown out of balance, forced to come to a halt, these majestic devices designed to regulate the world's magicka output stood silent and empty. I had wondered what jolting them would do. That was why I had the Aedric forces split up, and on the 6th hour of 21st day of Mid Year, use whatever means we had to force the Stabilization Centers to work again. We hoped that in doing so would force the planet's energy to spin enough that we could open a portal to the astral realms.

I was merely a human reborn as an Aedric commander. I could not activate this machine, but one of Stendarr's Crusaders could activate it. All it took was their holy screech of enlightenment. Standing here with some of the strongest seraphim from my army, I knew that we could do it. We had only a few minutes left before we either triumphed or failed. If we failed, we would not live to see the end of this war. We would probably die out before we could extinguish this planet. If we succeeded, we would very well have enough forces to do away with this planet.

The underground Ayleid city housed one of the Stabilization Centers for Cyrodiil. In the far west near Anvil, almost buried underwater. It was an interesting walk to be sure. We had to kill some rats but they were easy for us. We had to use mortal weapons, some discarded swords and bows, but we were able to handle any foes with little trouble. A group of bandits had made their home here, but they were nothing more than food for the slaughterfish now.

I felt a click in my mind and my Aedric guard started moving towards the fallen device. I took a step back and readied my ears for the mind-shattering screech that was about to come at me. The guards surrounded the non-moving device and they all took a deep breath. All at once, the four of them opened their mouths and started screeching at the top of their lungs. The entire place started shaking as their voiced became vibrational magicka. The magicka of the world may have been silenced, but magicka is energy transformed by vibrations. The Aedra can create their own magicka through their voices. While the Nords were able to copy this magicka and call it a Thu'um, based on what the dragons did, the Aedra had a similar concept, only they called it Screeching. And that's what it was, magicka screeching.

All four of them directed their full blast of screeches at the immobile device. Slowly it started to squeal as it started turning again. It was slow to jolt but once it started moving, the thing practically exploded with magicka that had been building there. I felt a pop of magicka in the air and I felt like all the magicka in our area had been switched back on. And then, I could feel more and more pops over all of Tamriel. We had done it, the Stabilization Centers had been knocked back on. And as long as we continually kept pushing them back, they would continue to supply us with the world's natural magicka. But our mission had only just begun.

My comrades were quick as they all took each other's hands. They made a circle link and screeched at the device. The device was created to serve as a portal if it needed to be. And when it slid open, I could see all the gods looking down at us through the portal. I didn't need to say anything; they knew what I wanted. Would they allow me this one chance to prove myself?

"War is coming." Talos called down to me through the portal. He unsheathed his longsword.

"Extinction is close at hand." Stendarr calmly stated, crossing his arms as he looked down at me.

"Nature is threatened." Kynareth shook her head as she looked through our portal.

"Time is threatened." Akatosh roared as he soared above the other gods. "You, General Victorious of Nirn, have opened the portal to Aetherius. You have unleashed Oblivion on the world, and now you must set it straight."

What? What had I done? "My gods, I have only sought to bring the humans in line and show them the error of their ways."

"You have only opened the door for the elves to take over Tamriel." Akatosh screamed down at me. "And now… the Dwemer are on their way as well. They would enslave all of Tamriel and then destroy Aetherius." The Dwemer? I remembered them. They were scholars on the mines. They were not threats to anyone. "Do not underestimate the Dwemer. They number in the thousands; fully armored soldiers, stronger than any Nord, smarter than any Altmer. And they have machines bigger than any town, stronger than any device you know of. Their machines number in the hundreds, each of which powerful enough to destroy any army with one breath. You, General Victorious, will lead the full Aedric army against the Dwemer and their army. You will fight with the blessings of the gods, and you will be victorious. For it has been spoken, so it shall be."

"This sounds too stupendous." I found myself chuckling. "You wish me to believe the Dwemer could be so strong?"

Akatosh's eyes started glowing and suddenly I was pulled from my body. I found myself standing over the planet, looking down at it. "You doubt my ability to see through the cloak of time? You doubt the mastermind behind the Elder Scrolls? See for yourself the mastery of the Dwemer. See their army for yourself."

The land burned with fire, the air thick with streaks of burning oil. Half of Tamriel was a giant scorch of magma and machines. I could see mountainous creatures crawling on all fours as they marched through Tamriel. Waves and waves of Altmer and Orcs rushed to fight one of the monstrous machines. The machine opened its mouth, spraying magma down on the rushing army. There was nothing left of the advancing army, nothing left of the fort surrounding it, and nothing left of the town connecting to it. Behind the one machine were hundreds more, all just as strong, all just as big. Behind those machines was an army of strong golden warriors: the Dwemer. Akatosh was right. If this came to pass, there would be no planet left to save. All would be destroyed. And so would the gods.

I found myself in my body. My arms were shaking in fear of what I had just seen. I found myself kneeling down at the gods. "I will serve as best I can. Must I end my war with the humans?"

"Yes." All the gods announced. "The real threats are the Dwemer. When they arrive, make it swift. Make them quit before they begin."

"I understand." I bowed deeply. There was a loud ripping sound as several portals opened up around me. Nine for each of the gods. Humans dressed in old Nordic armor hopped out of Talos' portal. They were old war heroes that fought in the elven war. Animal and elemental spirits hopped out of Kynareth's portal. They looked more than ready to fight for the planet. Dark-robed spirits carrying long scythes with skulls for heads dropped out of Arkay's portal. They were the spirits of death. They came when it was time for a soul to pass over. Beings of pure light came out of Dibella's portal. They looked feminine in form but made up pure shifting light. Julianos had sent goblins with glasses and magic textbooks. They were smart but preferred to research things than fight. But they still had respectable skill in magicka. Mara's spirits were tiny babies wearing diapers and carrying bows around. She was the goddess of love and mothers so it only make since she'd have cupids. They were powerful though, and they never missed with their bows. Stendarr sent more seraphim and cherubim warriors that I had gotten to know in our little bubble portal. The last group to arrive was giant dogs, fully laden with armor and war tusks. They were war hounds bred to protect merchants and bards.

I looked around the massive room that surrounded the now fully spinning Stabilization Center. It felt nice to have my magicka turned back on. My earlier soldiers were happy now that they could cover their eyes and use their own magicka to see. I could feel the magicka of the world still spinning like it's supposed to. But I could also feel that massive bubble of Silence lingering above us. How was that thing going to Silence the world if the magicka was freely able to flow now? I could tap into my magicka, so that Silence bubble was useless. What purpose did the giant bubble surrounding our world serve now?

…

[Vatu]

The town of Rimmen was in full alert. People were screaming in the streets, running in circles like they didn't know where to go or where to hide. At first it was just the Crushers. Once we ran out of the warehouse to find the woman that tried to kill the Mane, the Crushers had been waiting for us. They started shooting bolts at us, arrows too. Street fighters were everywhere, and we fought them. We had limited usage of magicka and we used it to clear the streets of everyone fighting us. People pretty much hid in the alleys to stay clear of the Crusher wrath. But then fire started falling from the sky; buildings started going up in flames. I thought it was the beginning of the Aedra destruction wave, but then I noticed that the fire was coming from catapults. Khajiit soldiers dressed in leather armor started running through the streets. They attacked the Crushers and that's when the old man told us that the Royal Army had arrived. The town was at war with Elsweyr. With all the commotion, the residents that lived here peacefully didn't know where to go so they ran around in circles. Most ended up in custody of the Royal Army.

Of course, our little group was busy running through the streets, dodging falling flaming boulders, the Royal Army, and the Crushers. We were trying to catch up with that woman that I hadn't seen yet. The Khajiit Leos leading us seemed to know where they were going, so we just followed right behind them. I could see the Khajiits leading us separating as they started calling combat orders. I could ahead of us a massive blockade of Crushers with crossbows aimed at us.

"Take cover!" Crassi called back at us as she raised a Shield spell over her. I grabbed Prashin and my sister and dove the three of us to the ground. Just in time too. Bolts and arrows whizzed right over us. I looked at my finger to see that I still had my blocking ring on. Good…I don't think Rimmen should experience a blood-rager. At least not in the middle of a civil war.

"Catapult strike, ley line coordinates R1122L5530!" The old Khajiit called into a crystal ball.

Crassi continued to hold the Shield spell as the Crushers continued shooting arrows at us. I kept pushing my sister's head down into the pavement, while fighting to keep Prashin's head down as well. A few boulders started raining down on the building in front of us. I held my breath as I felt the ground around us shake. Buildings and boulders fell down all around us, and I was pretty sure we were all going to die. A few lucky boulders landed right in the middle of the Crushers, creating a massive open line for us to force our way through. It was quickly filled with Crushers shooting more arrows at us.

"What are we going to do?" Crassi called. "These bracelets do a lot to give us magicka, but… I'm still borrowing energy from a rock, and it's almost depleted."

I was about to suggest I blood-rage when I felt a massive wave of energy wash over me. It was like the life in the planet was turned back on, and all my magicka was back with it.

"Hey!" Lilly called from her hiding spot. "I can see again! Oh…" She looked over at me. "It's ok, Vatu. I forgive you."

"For what?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Don't worry, I forgive you. It hasn't happened yet." She smiled thickly. "Yep, I can see the future again. Well… kinda." She shrugged and ducked her head as an arrow flew past her. "See that? That would have killed me a second ago. But I can only see a few minutes since the flow of time was already interrupted."

I wondered what I could have done that would have made her forgive me but I didn't have time to focus on that. A section of the building was falling down towards me and the two Khajiit pre-teens in my arms. I picked them up off the ground and turned to run. I looked up to see a boulder falling down right on top of us. Thinking fast, I jumped as far as I could. The flaming boulder exploded behind me and I used the heat of the explosion to throw me faster into the air. I hugged Prashin and Nisha to me tightly as we were carried away by the explosion. I managed to summon a Shield behind me to protect us from anything that would have killed us. The next thing I saw I was flying right into Lilly. I closed my eyes and hugged the two kids close to me as I braced for impact.

Next thing I knew, Lilly was holding onto me. She had stopped us from crashing into the wall beside her. I opened my eyes and exhaled my relief as I looked down at my sister and Prashin. "Well, we made it."

"Vatu?" Lilly cooed to me.

"Yeah?" I looked back up at her.

"You can let go of me now." She looked down at her chest and I saw that I was holding onto her breasts.

I sighed as I took my hands off. "Let me guess… I'm sorry?"

"I already forgave you." She replied, laughing as she turned her attention to the battle. "Let's see." She closed her eyes in concentration. She snapped her eyes open, looking at the squad. "We should hurry to the port! The Ya'Tirrje is climbing onboard her private yacht. If we don't hurry, she'll get away!"

The older Khajiit nodded. "Ok, guys. Let's go finish this." He looked back at Lilly. "I'm guessing the magicka of the world is kicked back on?"

She nodded. "Yes, we can use magicka freely now. But…for some reason I still can't summon a portal to leave. I guess with the Silence bubble still surrounding us we're still unable to rip portals to other dimensions…other than Aetherius maybe."

"What makes you think we can get through to Aetherius?" My sister called from my arm.

She shrugged. "Um…you know, Aedra and stuff. They have this giant army now. They actually have an army made up of every kind of Aedra we know. All given freely by the Nine Divines. This new army is actually bigger than the army they started with. At least three times bigger." What? There were more of those things now? And the Divines were blessing their cause? Curse them. Curse them all.

My squad looked just as crushed as I felt. Crassi looked from Lilly over to Travis and then over to me. She looked so beaten that she could barely function. She shrugged and slid her sword into her scabbard. "We're fucked. We're so fucked."

Nisha curled into my arms and started crying. "But… we tried so hard! We can't fight more of those things! Not with this stupid war with the Aldmeri Dominion…"

I nodded. I looked at Lilly. "Will that temple?"

She nodded. "Make all the bad guys disappear? I don't see why not." She smiled. "I'm guessing it's the only way we'll make it through this whole mess."

Well, that was something at least. I looked from Lilly over to Crassi and Travis. They seemed to be a little uplifted by the news. "So, we go find this temple, like we were going to before, and then turn it on. All the Aedra get sucked in, locked away, and we all live happily ever after." Crassi and Travis started looking more lively. Even Babette was crawling out of her little hole that she had been hiding in when the fighting started.

"This is bothersome, though." Lilly said, rubbing her chin in thought. "This army never existed to start with…not in the past. Why would the Divines suddenly support this war? I couldn't see the event; it's still pretty masked to me." She looked at me. "I don't think the Aedra will be a problem. They have a huge army now…but they're just standing around. They aren't even regrouping. It's like they're waiting."

"Waiting for what?" Crassi asked as she walked up.

"Um… guys?" The black-furred Khajiit called from his squad. "We have a gang leader to go kill…"

Crassi waved to him. "Yeah, go do that. We're strategizing right now. We'll regroup at the port, ok?" They nodded and took off in a flash. They moved so quickly I didn't even see them leave.

Lilly shrugged at Crassi's question. "I really don't know. But…let me check really hard."

…

[William Victorious]

My army stood ready for me, all standing at attention. They should know what we were up against, but I felt it necessary to make sure everyone knew exactly what we were up against. I had seen the visions, I had seen what was to become of this planet if we failed. This was our chance to change fate. To make it what we wanted it to be. The Aedra would not be destroyers or enslavers anymore. We would not be crusaders taking back our land. We would be saviors.

"Let it be known to all who listen to me that the war with men and mer has ended. Akatosh has spoken to me; he has told me of why we were assembled here on this day. The Dwemer will soon arrive on this plane. And they will bring with them machines the size of mountains; each as strong as a god. We must not let them prevail! We are the saviors of Nirn! We are the Aedric Army! We are the guardians of this planet and we will not let it fall to this invading force. If we fail… the gods will be damned! This world will burn! The humans and the elves will die! All will be lost! We must not fail! We must prevail!"

The Aedric army assembled behind me all raised their hands in ritualistic worship to the gods. They all let out their cries of joy, their song of worship. I nodded as I looked to the sky. I know Akatosh was watching. I would not let him down. The Aedra would be ready for this war. And we alone would stand against this Dwemer threat. Who else even knew what was going on? I guess I could tell the elven armies. But would they truly understand what was about to happen? Would they even know how to proceed? No. These creatures only knew how to fight each other. And they would kill each other off well before teaming up to protect their world. Or would they? They did a great number on my forces. If we teamed up, we might stand a chance. Well, that was it then. I had to get this planet to rise up to the occasion and ban together. Together we'll all stand, or together… we'll all fall.

…

[Vatu]

"Oh…" Lilly said as she slid down into a fetal position. She looked up at me. "Um, Vatu?"

I nodded. "Yeah?"

"Don't hate me for this." She said. She reached up for her malachite bracelet and started pulling it off.

"What are you doing?" Crassi started yelling at Lilly. "If you pull that off, that guy in the Aldmeri Dominion will be able to find you."

"I know." She said. "But… this had to be said. Trust me." She ripped the malachite from her arm and tossed it to me. She cleared her throat as she stood up and strolled right to the middle of the street. She looked right up into the sky and screamed. "Hey, Fiirnar! I know you can see me so listen up!"

…

[Fiirnar]

"Sir, reports from Alinor." Huniir, one of my analysts, looked back at me. "The Sload have taken the beaches, sir. Advancing up to Alinor itself. The battlemage team has already breeched the academy's walls."

"Reports from the Imperial City." Rascia, the other analyst I had in the war room with me, looked back at me. "Riviella has encountered the Shadowmasters. She is fighting them now."

"Good." I said to Rascia. I looked at Huniir. "Tell Nrillia to send more troops to Alinor to see that…"

"Sir, emergency beacon." Rascia called. "The Seer has been located."

"Quick, give me her image." I looked to the map. The map pulled away from Alinor and quickly pulled over to Rimmen. I could see the whole war from my little seat. It looked like the whole army of Rimmen had come out to play. The image zoomed in until I could see the blind teenager staring right up at the moon which housed the giant focusing crystal.

"Hey, Fiirnar! I know you can see me so listen up!" She screamed right into my face. Wow, always charming to see her staring right at me. Wait…if she could see again, that would mean.

"What's the situation on the world Silence Spell?" I asked my analysts.

"It's still active, sir." Huniir said back to me. "But the Stabilization Centers around Tamriel have been reactivated. The Aedra, sir. Whatever they were doing at those sites has caused the flow of magicka to resume. Astral travel and teleportation is still restricted due to the bubble though."

"Huh…" I looked up at the image of the girl staring right at me. I shifted my body to the left and her eyes tracked me as I moved. I shifted to the right and her eyes followed me over to the right. That was just amazing how she did that. "Ok, girl. You have my attention. What is it you want?"

"A truce." She said. "With the Aedra, with you, with everyone on this planet."

A truce? An end to all the fighting? A union to all the world leaders? The very thing I wanted so long ago but gave it up for world control for the very same reason? "Interesting. And what makes you think you will have your truce?"

She smiled. "Zoom in on William Victorious. Listen to him. I'll wait."

"Ok." I looked to my team. "Find this … William Victorious and bring him up."

"Roger, sir." My twin analysts called out as they started typing away.

"Sir, he's one of the Aedra. The General it seems." Huniir turned to look at me.

"Zooming in on him now, sir." Rascia called out. The world pulled away from the blind seer. She crossed her arms and smirked, waving goodbye as the map pulled away from her. It soared over to Cyrodiil, zooming in on a sunken Ayleid village. And it zoomed in right to an Imperial guy dressed in heavenly robes. He looked elvish almost, like an Aedra. "Found him, sir."

So, I stood there and watched the pacing man. Why was I doing this again? "So, to repeat what I've just said for anyone just now paying attention to me. The gods have told me that our war with the men and mer is over. They have given us a stronger army so that we may fight against the threat of the Dwemer. Here, let me show you exactly what Akatosh showed me. In exact detail."

The image around the world globe shifted. "Sir!" Rascia screamed. "He's controlling the main screen."

"I see that." I managed to say to her. It was an image of the whole world, only it was red with ash and magma. Giant machines were crawling along the ashen molten land, spewing more lava onto towns as they marched through Tamriel. "This is the threat we will face. The Dwemer are coming, there is no stopping them. It is because of this that I will seek out the armies of this world. We will band together or we will fall. And together, Akatosh says that we will come out alive."

I found myself nodding. "Put the seer back on."

The world pulled away from the ranting Imperial and zoomed in on the waiting seer. She smiled as she looked up at me. "Ok, Fiirnar. Ready to put the future behind us and work together?"

"There is so much wrong with that statement." I mumbled to myself. "But…yes. Let us call a truce. We will need all fighting to cease immediately."

"I will need to go back to my timeline. I have friends I want to bring along." She said.

"That's a problem." I said to her. "I don't know if I can shut down the bubble. If I drop it, the Dwemer will come faster. We need to prepare first."

"True." She rubbed her chin. "Right. Let's start with this. You let Nexa become Queen of Argonia."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Then what?"

"Then I get to go home and get my friends." She screamed.

I rolled my eyes. I looked at my analysts. "Can the bubble be shut down?"

They started typing away. "We do not know, sir." Huniir said. "The active flowing of the Stabilization Centers was not intended with this type of Silence. If we drop it, the magicka might unbalance and cause rifts that we cannot control. It might quicken the destruction of the world and lead to the release of the Dwemer."

I shrugged and looked up at the blind girl. "You heard the man. We can't do it."

She smirked. "I think I have a plan. The temple's energy should be able to counter-balance it. We can use it to absorb the extra magicka and help stabilize the environment."

I nodded and looked at the twin analysts. "Think it would work?"

They were already typing away on their keyboards. "Calculations agree with the seer. It would help balance the aftereffects." Rascia announced.

So, we had a plan. I couldn't believe this war was coming to a close. Looking at the war spilling out all over the place, could I get it to end before it was too late? I sure hoped so.

Cearbhail:

All those long epic battles... wasted! They're all becoming partners? No! I did not want this, but it's so much better than I had hoped for. It's coming together. Changing Fates. it's real, it's almost here. I'm so excited!