WAKING NIGHTMARE

The Listener

An orc groans when he wakes up from his nightmare. All to find another one. I cleave the Ebony Blade right through his neck before going for the other followers. It was better to get the orcs first since they're the strongest.

This is by far one of the weirdest scenarios I've come across with a Daedric Prince. Here, I'll set the scene. So, Bryn, Gabriel, Hay, and I, and any and all Daedric Princes show up to Dawnstar. As usual, a priest for one of the divines' rants about how the town is going under and it just has to be a Daedric Prince behind all the madness.

We follow him to an undisclosed and highly abandoned location just to go diving in the ruins. And surprise! He was right. The Daedric Prince's artifact is locked up nice and tight down below. Sounds like Vaermina, the dreamweaver was having a rough time. Turns out her little temple here was raided by a band of orcs. Some fail safes were put in place and a portal is now keeping us from moving forwards.

This guy wanted me to take a drink of a potion to relive the past. But Bryn was having none of it. He said I put myself in danger far too often. So, he offered himself up as sacrificial lamb number one. Now that the sleeping lay dead, I can watch my lover walk through his own nightmare. His eyebrow twitches along with two of his fingers. I turn to see the portal when I miss it.

His body is there, then just gone. Like he was never there before. "By Arkay!" Gabriel yells. I wince at how close he is to me. Way too loud for someone very jumpy right now.

On the other side of the portal Bryn, all sweaty and shaky, pulls the soul gem keeping us out. "It worked!" The Priest yells. He's sweating more than Bryn about getting down to the depths of this place.

"Did what I had to." Bryn finds me and I grab his hand. Thankfully, he's solid now and that potion didn't have any lasting effects.

"That you did. Now let's get down to the Inner Sanctum."

"Finally! This is taking so long and is very boring." Clavicus Vile says. I glance back at the herd behind me. Well, the three of them. As usual, it's Clavicus, Nocturnal and Molag Bal. They follow the rest of us to the Inner Sanctum.

As if on cue, right when we enter the stone room two baddies pop out of the shadows. They look just like the Priest but they're wearing purple. "My, you're alive!" Priest comes to dead halt, says their names that I won't remember and continues to gawk when the two men move forwards with malice in their eyes.

I pull Ebony Blade out. Just in case. Clavicus Vile smirks, "What a surprise! This is awkward."

"Shh." Nocturnal chides him.

"Tear his flesh out." Molag Bal chuckles. Not sure who he's talking to, but we missed what the baddies said. And now they're ready for a fight.

Unluckily for me, they're mages, so they're flinging spark and fire spells left and right. I dive over them and snatch one with the Ebony Blade. The Priest and Bryn take down the last one.

Priest looks onto the dead bodies with sadness, "I knew them…is this punishment for my past?"

"You did what you had to do." I say. It's not much, but it should help.

The dark elf nods and continues up to the shrine. I follow with weary steps. This is where we meet the dreamweaver.

"Come, we must get to the skull and destroy it." He stalks up the steps. I follow and keep the others behind me. If I'm the first one she sees, then maybe she won't go completely batshit on us.

"I call upon you Lady Mara, the skull hungers. It yearns for memories and leaves nightmares in its wake. Grant me a way through this barrier and a way to send this skull into the depths of Oblivion!" He raises his hands in prayer.

He's deceiving you. When the ritual is complete, the skull will be free and then Erander will turn on you. Quickly! Kill him now! Kill him for the skull! Vaermina commands you!

So, that's her. I glance back at the others and find they haven't heard her. Do I kill this guy, or not? It's not like he would be a real threat if he was trying to deceive us. and if we're wrong, I would have an innocent dead at my hands. Unfortunately, it looks like all these Daedric Princes want are sacrifices. I turn and stalk down the steps. Defying her is so easy.

But on the other end is Molag Bal. He snarls at me and begins to walk up to decapitate this guy no doubt. "Weak. I knew you were weak, but I didn't know cowardly you were." He spits out as he's about to pass me.

I stop and raise my Blade, "Back off. If we need this Artifact so badly then she shouldn't be so butthurt when I don't want to kill someone. She'll get another sacrifice eventually. But banishing her from Mundus is all eternity."

He growls, he's a foot lower than me right now but he's menacing as all hell. The others stand still as statues behind him. Tense.

"I would gut you. But you're 'too precious'." His eyes have that terrifyingly dead look in them again. He smiles, making it worse. And before I can blink, his talons sink into the stone ground below. He pulls up a big freaking rock and throws it. I'm too far to stop it. It goes sailing up to where the Priest is, incanting something with a red glow around him. He screams when it hits him, but he still ends up dead at the altar.

I just stare at his form and turn to see Molag Bal sitting near the others cross legged. He gives a dark chuckle at my expression then points. I turn to find the Daedric Prince herself, decked out in armor that looks like scales running down her body. Her face is humanoid but closer to a snake's if I had to guess. Her eyes are a glowing sky blue.

"You dropped this." She holds out her staff to me.

I swallow my complaints and take it. "The Blood Flower will be tainted, yes? Make sure it happens." She glances over at the others then dismisses me. She's gone in an instant.

I try very hard to shake off the feelings of betrayal and resentment. Even as I fall into the fold of congratulations. Bryn hugs me, a little too tightly. So does Gabriel. Barbas is by my side, loyal as ever. And Nocturnal smiles on me.

"Another one down. How many more to go? What number are we at?" Clavicus glances around for an answer he won't receive.

Molag Bal's large taloned hand, as large as my face, falls on my shoulder. "You did the right thing." He says slowly. But the undertones are as mocking as ever.

I spin, holding the staff out as if to defend myself. "No! How about you fuck off? Every quest we go on, they ask for a sacrifice of an innocent. When I don't comply, you take the reigns when I didn't give you permission to."

"And since when are you my keeper?" His growl is low and so deadly. Bryn moves to get between us and Barbas pushes my legs. Molag Bal tilts his head down to watch me with those dead eyes, his arms crossed showing all the muscle he has. Strong arms to crush us with.

"Since I am the only one to defeat her." I get out. I shouldn't have said it. Oh, no, but I did. And that tends to piss him off more than anything.

Molag Bal lunges across the way but Bryn is there to shove me, he takes the brunt of a claw slash. Now I realize all the Princes present are showing themselves to all the mortals. Clavicus leaps in the way and stops Molag Bal, with one hand to the chest. "Hey, big guy. How about not killing our only hope?"

"She isn't the only one and you know it! I could have the Blood Flower dead by sunrise if you would allow me!" He yells into Clavicus Vile's face. The shorter Prince only shrinks back.

"Molag." Nocturnal commands, "Step down. You and I both know any of us could kill her vampire body. But once that is dead, her soul remains. She would still find a way to banish us."

"And what would you have her do about it? What does she have that we don't? How is she going to defeat her? She couldn't when she was stuck in her head."

Bryn's grip on me tightens but I take no offense to that. He had a point. "I am still deliberating. But we are a team, and you cannot kill a team member." Nocturnal calmly replies.

"Oh, but he can the kill the innocent bystanders who are unlucky enough to tag along?" I shoot back. Bryn clamps his hand over my mouth to keep me from saying stupid things again. To which I only shake off.

Nocturnal's sorrowful eyes meet mine, "We are Daedra, to you it is unfortunate, but to us a mortal life is a drop in the passing century. He is going to a better place if you wish. If he was a true follower of Mara."

Memories of how nice the guy was and his voice, all filled with hope over ratting this place out, come seeping back in. Nocturnal sees the pain in my eyes, "We cannot be judge and jury, Eve, some people have to be sacrificed."

And just like that, I'm back in another time.

"What did he do?" I have to ask. I lean against a nearby tree, far enough away so he can't see me but close enough that I can watch his every move. My first contract with the Dark Brotherhood.

She speaks in my mind, "Nothing. He's insane after his sister left him. Her corpse sits downstream in the river, yet, he has no idea. One of the citizens of Ivarstead performed the Black Sacrament because Narfi was stealing food."

I close my eyes, "So? I've done the same."

"According to the one who performed the Black Sacrament, you should be dead too." The Night Mother says.

"If he's innocent, just insane, does he have to die?" I whisper, maybe I can get out of this.

"You have no choice. You are one with the Dark Brotherhood now, Eve." It's the first time she's addressed me by name. "The Dark Brotherhood follows those who have performed the Sacrament. It doesn't matter if you believe them to be innocent, the caller did not. You are not meant to determine justice."

I wake up gasping on the ground. Barbas is licking my face and Bryn is trying to get some blood in me from his wrist. I push them both away. Molag Bal is still looking down on me with newly amused eyes.

"Are you alright, Eve?" Nocturnal asks from the side.

"Good. You just sounded like someone I used to know for a minute."

The towering beast before me laughs, "Fine. I'll throw you a bone little Nightingale. How is this? The reason I am pushing us along so hard. Killing the innocents as you would say, is because it only wastes time not to. My brothers and sisters are not the noble people you think we are. We need to be fed in some way and that is the payment we seek for our Artifacts. If you won't do it, then I will step in."

His eyes turn hollow again. I shiver against Bryn who is now helping me up. "We need to kill the Blood Flower. Be done with her. I don't want to end up like Mehrunes Dagon. My poor excuse of a brother is rotting away being locked up from the plane of Mundus." He rakes my body with his gaze, "And if you are the one thing keeping me from that fate, I'll do damn well as I please to get us to our goals. Remember that."

Nothing happens, no breeze or light. He's just gone.

"What a prick!" Clavicus Vile kicks a stone, "I wouldn't worry about him too much, he's too dramatic and I thought Sheogorath was bad…"

"Eve, if you are alright, we need to get to Peryite." Nocturnal holds her hand out to me. I glance over and am surprised to find Gabriel sleeping, or passed out. Bryn moves to carry him out of this dungeon. "I'm fine. Might need a drink or two when he's not looking."

The carriage rocks with all our weight. All the humans, inhumans and bear combined. I take another swig of bottled ale but keep it out of sight for Gabriel. I don't want him getting any ideas, no matter how much he needs it. Nope, he gets sugar now. And it is definitely not enough to keep him sane.

The whole way to Peryite's shrine he goes on about Daedra worship and how the Divines are needed to truly defeat the Night Mother. He touches on a few famous conspiracy theories involving the Night Mother being connected to the banning of Talos worship, but we tune him out. Maybe I shouldn't have brought him. Scratch that, maybe I shouldn't be bringing him into the Daedra temples. I need him to stay safe but also sane.

Nocturnal brushes the hair out of my face. My head is resting in her lap. She keeps an eye on the horizon for dragons. There's been more recently. "We are almost there." She whispers, but I can hear her over Gabriel's lamenting. Clavicus brought Sanguine back and they're trying to rope the former carriage driver into a card game now. Bryn is at the helm to give him a break.

"What do we do for him?" I whisper.

She keeps the details minimal, "Take some deathbell, a flawless ruby, a silver ingot, and some vampire dust."

"Huh, what does he do?"

She laughs, "He is the Prince of pestilence and disease. Even though that sounds terrifying, rest assured that he is the weakest of us all."

"Interesting. Maybe he won't ask for a human sacrifice, considering he can do that you know, whenever."

She just strokes my hair, "All dependent on his temperament. We will see."

The shrine sits on a vast hill that overlooks the Reach. It would be pretty here if it wasn't so out in the open. I spy with my little eye a dragon soaring over the western mountains. Thankfully, he's too far to be a problem.

There are standing stones surrounding the little clearing, and in it, a Khajit is making some sort of concoction.

"Ah, wanderer. Welcome! Kesh the Clean bids you a fair greeting." He purrs. I glance at his eyes then away. These Khajit always freaked me out with the snake like eyes.

"We're here to see Peryite." I wave my hand back at the gang crowding around my back.

Kesh looks over them before answering, "Ah yes, he, the pus in the wound. Proper ones curl their noses, but it's the pus that drinks foul humors and restores the blood."

I cringe at the mental image. I hear Gabriel sigh, getting more irritable but it's the other voice that really drives the nail in.

"Such a strange brother, he always fusses and furies over the fact that he could never get a good plague going here." I turn to see Sheogorath leaning over his decorative cane. A huge smile on his face, "It will be interesting to see what he wants."

"How's Molag taking the loss?" Clavicus sips from one of the various teacups the Prince of Madness is now passing out. A large tray had just appeared in his right hand instead of the cane.

"Fine, fine, he's talking to Dagon. Going over things. We better watch his movements Nocturnal, never know if he's trying to bring Dagon back to Mundus or not. How mad!" He laughs, "One for you, one for you, one for you," He counts off each Prince present, "Oh! And the carriage driver! Would you like a taste?"

I open my mouth, ready to tell him to keep that tea to himself. I'm a vampire so I can take drinking some daedric tea but I'm not sure how well Gabriel would fare.

"Miss, something wrong?" I find the Khajit staring at my confused companions.

"Uh, no just seeing things again. Let's get down to it, I need to commune with Peryite."

His furry eyebrows raise, "Not everyone has the stomach required to entreat my Lord. But Kesh likes you, friend. There is a way Peryite may speak to us who will take Him in. If you wish to commune with Him, we'll need the incense."

I pull out all four of the ingredients Nocturnal gave me. "Here, this is what you need right?"

He smiles showing his toothy fangs. "Good, good, let Kesh have them."

I hand them over then glance back to find Gabriel drinking the tea Sheogorath gave. He still seems irritated, "More sugar?" He asks the Prince of Madness.

"Oh, how sad. Fresh out. Blame Jyggalag for it, he's been keen to going through my things when I'm not looking. I think it's payback for that little tiff we had back in Oblivion." Sheogorath leans on his heels and looks around the crowd, "When does the party start? I thought this would be more interesting than watching paint dry and how wrong I am!"

"Friend, would you like to take this in? It seems you are in need." The Khajit literally purrs. Gabriel steps out of the crowd, "What's in it?"

"No." I get closer to the green concoction, "I do this, I need to speak with him."

"Come friend, just a taste." The Khajit smiles and waves over the carriage driver. I ponder tackling him but settle for talking to my friend.

"Gabriel, stay back, I know it's rough, but we'll get you something sugar loaded soon enough."

"Girl, this might help me, even if I start seeing the daedra." He walks forwards, sure and steady instead of his usual swaying and tripping.

I give Bryn a frustrated glance, "Can you help?"

"I'm not a child, Eve." Gabriel snaps. I recoil, he's never talked to me harshly before. He has no look of remorse as he steps right up and inhales whatever the hell is in that pot.

We all stand, tense. "My turn." I say. I step up too, the Khajit gives me a glance, something unreadable in his eyes but then I inhale…and just like that the world is brighter than before.

"Breathe deeply. I would have you hear me well, so let these vapors fill your lungs." Right next to the cauldron stands a small, slim green dragon. He's no taller than Barbas, dare I say he's cute. His little paws are hovering over the cauldron, his slim face turns to witness Gabriel then me.

"Peryite." I say, "We need your Artifact."

"I knew I recognized you." He tilts his graceful head to the side, "How powerful you are. It is nice to see you unafflicted by the Old Soul."

"Feels nice." I say, wanting to get the show on the road.

"I have watched you for some time. Especially when taken to the Shivering Isles. The decisions you've made intrigue me, and I wonder if you are the proper agent for a task of mine."

I suppress a sigh, "What is it you need?"

"I sent a blessing to Mundus, a wasting plague that infected a scattering of Brenton villages. One of the monks, the elf Orchendor, was sent to gather these Afflicted. He shepherded them into Bthardamz for me but has since lost his way. I will not stand for betrayal. I want you to go to Bthardamz and kill Orchendor, in my name."

I take in the information. This guy does not sound innocent, plaguing other people with a disease and waiting for the orders to send it out to all of Skryim? Gross.

"You got it, dude. Let me free and I'll go."

"Good. Go now, Nightingale. Kill Orchendor." The small dragon turns his gaze to Gabriel, "And you, will you be my next of kin? The next Afflicted?"

I begin to interject when the potion wears off. I'm now standing there with the muted colors of the real world. The whole gang is looking on me with curiosity. But Kesh and Gabriel are the ones I'm waiting for, Gabriel has his eyes transfixed on the place where I know Peryite is. And Kesh is grinning at them.

"He will be a good vessel for the new disease, will he not?"

Before I can really think about it, I pull my arm back and cock the guy good in the face. "Aaugh!" He yells when he falls to the ground, "Whatever did Kesh do?!"

Some of the Princes begin to laugh but I stare them down. "He's trying to get Gabriel as another follower. We can't have that! Can you reason with him?"

Sheogorath bursts into full on belly laughs. "What a change! How hilarious! The weakest of us all has you quivering in your boots. Ah, I'll have to congratulate him on that triumph!"

I look to Nocturnal who only has a small smile on her face. What the hell is going on?

"Now tell her you feel quite ill, sit in the back of the carriage and when you say you're about to throw up, ask for a little bit of that good stuff. What was it you said you liked? Mead? Say that is the cure." The dragon purrs from the cauldron but his little scaly self freezes when he sees the bitch glare I'm giving him.

"Or not, we are found out. Carry on." He disappears with the wind.

"Coward." I mumble. Gabriel looks sheepish. "What was that about?"

"Just a prank, girl. Don't worry I'm not a new Afflicted. He's been having too much trouble with the current ones." He grumbles but won't meet my eyes.

"Sure doesn't sound like a prank, sounds like a ploy for more alcohol." I rest my hands on my hips.

Kesh raises himself up on the cauldron, "By the gods that hurts! Next time you have a problem, please, settle for a bit of verbal lashing and not violence! Ugh." He presses his paw against his face.

"Sorry," I say then form a small ice ball in the palm of my hands. He takes it in his weary ones.

"I don't want to discuss this right now. I know you're getting sober and I know it's rough. Just hold on a little longer before you cave?" I plead to Gabriel.

"Yes girl, just take it as a joke." He tries to laugh it off but walks to the carriage in defeat.

"Serious topic, serious conversation, and serious consequences. What a life this is!" Sheogorath pats me on the back.

"Can you be useful and go get some sugar or something else if you're out?" I ask him.

"Yes mother." He smiles and fades out.

Oh, "Where is this place? Where we have to kill Winchester?"

Nocturnal still understands. She points to the west. "There. Not but a twenty-minute carriage ride away."

We all hop in when Kesh yells out, "More ice when you return fair maiden? And no more punches?"

I grumble the interaction away. How awkward and strange. Bryn just chuckles and rubs my back. Lucky guy, he was never in the crossfire with all these personalities.

I scream when the woman stops fighting and fricken throws up all this green liquid on me. It starts to burn. I'm worried it will eat through my armor, so I leap across the way and plunge the Ebony Blade through her skull before more damage can be done. There we go, no more plague.

"More of them." Bryn taps me on the shoulder, and I look up to see eight of the afflicted emerging from the depths of the ruins.

I sigh, "Molag Bal! Now's a good time for your defiant mass killings."

Sheogorath smirks, "Lass, I don't think he'll be coming around again for a little while. Quite peeved him off you did. Wish I could have done that for years though. To see the look on his face! So, now you have me. Consider yours truly the stand in for the Prince of Enslavement." He raises his arms out, presenting himself.

"Can you help us fight them?" I plead. They're starting to race down the numerous stairways and begin blocking our path to the main guy in the back.

"Sure, why not use that Artifact I was so nice to give you?" He nods to the Wabbajack, now held in my left hand. I test it, I certainly did not have this five seconds ago.

"Do as you wish." He smiles then disappears.

"He'll be back." Nocturnal, engulfed in shadow, peers down at us from her perch on one of the tall rocks.

I groan but fling the Wabbajack. An orange orb floats across the way and turns one of the Afflicted into a goat. Good. Only thing is it's still vomiting green liquid.

"Go again." Sheogorath appears behind me with a teacup and teapot in the other hand.

I fling the staff again and find the goat is now a wolf. Another time and it's a daedra. All vomiting still.

I give the Prince of Madness a worried look. He just sighs, "Trade with me." He hands me his teacup and pushes me to the rock he was sitting on.

Now he has the Wabbajack and the Ebony Blade. I take a hesitant sip of the tea. Stronger than I prefer it.

"Ah! Back you mangy beasts! This is for the good of all of Tamriel! No plague shall destroy it!" He slices the Ebony Blade with precision and two heads go rolling. The Wabbajack moves in his right hand and multiple Afflicted turn into chickens. He slices each one up.

"Watch it, you might get some nasty villagers on your bad side." I grumble.

He laughs and looks back at me with a wild expression on his face, "Why? They'd be having a poultry feast for the night!"

I smile up to Nocturnal who just rolls her eyes, "This room is done. Let us go to the next one. It is just like Peyrite to make this more complicated than it should be."

The final room. Nocturnal had enough of all the "distractions" so I actually saw her in action fighting. Turns out she uses claws and fangs a lot like me. But she usually just sent her ravens to do her bidding. Sheogorath kept the Wabbajack and had a little too much fun with it. Especially when we got to the rooms with all the dwarven mechanical beasts.

Poor Bryn was clueless to the whole thing. But good warrior he is, he kept fighting. For once, I longed for my electric power I lost when the Night Mother left me. If I had that everyone would go frying to the ground in an instant!

A few times in the past few weeks I toyed with opening a Spark spell book. But I never had the stomach for it. I'm not sure if I would feel empowered or drowned in memories I hope to never have access to again.

My inner ramblings are cut short when Winchester shows himself. He's dressed in a dark mage robe, a close-cut haircut and fire in his eyes. He raises his hands for some spell that is sure to knock me on my ass when his head explodes.

Behind him stands Molag Bal, "This is taking too long." He growls.

Sheogorath laughs, "What an entrance! And a good one! Did Dagon tell you to do that?"

"He doesn't tell me anything." His eyes assess the room, "Sounds like Eve has found what little courage she has just in time. Let's get back to Peryite before I ring his neck for dragging this out so long."

"Wait till you hear the prank he almost pulled…" Sheogorath begins but I tune him out. I tune all of them out. Instead, I reunite with Bryn, heal a few cuts he has. Then we hold hands the whole way out of the ruins.

Back in the clearing I race ahead of the others to get a whiff of those fumes. Kesh gives me a simmering look but I throw him another ball of ice. When I breathe deeply the dragon is across from me. He gives a shy smile, if one would call it that.

"Well done, Eve. All things are in their order, and Orchendor rooms the Pits. His betrayal will be punished, and your obedience is rewarded. Take my Artifact and use it as your aid. The Old Soul will soon perish under your will. Embrace order and hard truth, mortal." He moves forwards, his lanky body swaying, "A word of wisdom, my brothers and sisters are…tense. This situation is making them more temperamental than they normally would be." His yellow eyes blink.

Huh, okay, so Molag Bal can tear through anyone he wants just because he's "temperamental".

Peryite grins, his little razor teeth peek out. "Yes, precisely. Use our items wisely."

And I wake back up laying on the ground and staring up at the night sky. In my hands lays a strange looking shield, it's white and domes before flaring out. At first, I would mistake it for a dwarven artifact, but the power is still there. Five Daedric Princes stare down at me along with Bryn and Gabriel. I catch Nocturnal's eye, "It's done."

She holds out a delicate hand to help me up. "Good. Now we move to Markarth. We need to seek out Namira and she has been quite the headache to find recently."

I think back on the ancient dwarven city and grin, "Alright, as long as we make a trip to the Silver-Blood Inn." Maybe I'll see an old friend there once again.

Cicero's Journal Entry

9th of Sun's Height, 4E 202

The carriage rolls, it creaks over the landscape, calling the dragons to it. Mother killed three on the way. The Innkeeper wasn't there to see what true power was…but she is certain a new dragon will be resurrected soon. We are almost there and if this is some sort of trick…oh what a waste of time!