Aftermath.
It had been a long time since he had felt the push from the other side. The Aedric and Dedric princes had left him alone for the last 100 years but in these recent few weeks he had felt something pushing him towards Morrowind, towards the capital.
He knew better than to ignore these instructions, he had lost members of his chosen family when he ignored them last. He had arrived at the royal palace that evening but could smell the death and decay on the wind for miles.
A battle field greeted him at the main gates, yet no living soul to be seen. Bodies upon bodies of soldiers piled around the courtyard, why had they sent him here?
As he climbed the steps, decay filled his nose. Pain, anguish, death was all around him and he had missed it. He had heard rumours in the shadows that a Dedric lord was trying to enter the mortal plane after it had been locked by some of the followers of several Aedric princes, but he never thought those rumours would come true.
He walked the long corridors, the push becoming more of a pull now. Higher he must climb, further he must go. More bodies, less soldiers littered these areas but more commoners, workers and court members of the castle all butchered the same.
He had been trained in the highest order of assassins, but the scenes he witnessed were not caused by any warrior, assassin or not. This was the work of beasts, demonic creatures with no care of consequence just the blood lust to continue slaughtering.
As he reached the tallest tower, he then heard what he had been sent to find. He could hear the tiny heartbeat of a human, by the speed and the sound it sounded like a child. Using his senses he searched out the sound. More bodies, female now. The ladies of the court littered around, some torn to shreds, others slashed and thrown aside as if they were looking for something. The more he saw in the castle, the more he began to suspect that they were searching for the same thing he had been sent to find.
He reached what must have been the king and queens main living quarters, the sound was louder, the puller was greater and now the faint smell of living fear began to creep into his nostrils. The child was close.
As he moved quicker through the rooms he came upon the sight of an elegant lady, torn asunder, yet she looked like she had put up a fight. Creatures of demonic being were strewn through the room, a large sword was in one hand of the lady and an amulet in the other. He pulled the amulet and wiped away the blood. Azura, the lady must have called upon her to help, but it did her no joy as her lifeless body laid before him.
He pocketed the amulet and inspected the sword. Drenched in black demon blood, he could make out the faint marks of runes along the blade and set in the hilt was a dragon. He recognised this as a blade of Akatosh, the rumoured father of dragons and chief deity of the Nine Divines. The blade feels hot, like the sun in his cold, dead hands. He wraps the blade in a sheet from the bed and continues searching for the small human.
As he scours the room, the pulse of the pull takes him to the far back of the chamber near the fire place. A cupboard looks displaced to his keen eye sight and as he begins to pull on the handle, the push and pull vanishes.
The scent of a live human with warm blood fills all his senses. He opens the door and sees a tunnel stretching 10 feet. Huddled at the back is a small human girl, scared, only 3-4 years of age by the look of her face. He holds out his hand and smiles caringly, yet she does not budge. Getting on his knees, he begins to climb into the cupboard, her fear becomes overwhelming.
"My child, please do not worry. I am here now, nothing will hurt you again" He whispers, keeping his smile upon his face. "Vicente means you no harm, come" his hand still outstretched.
The girl stares at Vicente as if stewing on his words, taking them in as a child would and processing them slowly. She sniffles and shuffles forward and takes his hand. Vicente pulls her out the cupboard and swaddles her in his cloak, placing a barrier between her and what he assumes is her mother.
The pull and push return as he leaves the room, settling into more of a humming that centres around the girl. He takes her to a bathing chamber and wipes the blood and dirt from her. He realises where he is, this is no girl but the princess of Morrowind. The elegant lady was the recent Queen of Morrowind, known for her kindness and strength. The amulet of Azura signified that she took her duty of honoring the 3 good Daedra of Morrowind seriously. Vicente had had various dealings with Azura over the past few centuries and almost felt that this push was her presence. He owed the Daedric prince of Dawn and Dusk a debt of his life and if this was one step on the path to settling that debt he would take it.
Once the princess was clean and changed from her royal clothes into common travelling clothes, Vicente moved stealthily through the castle. No signs of the demons remained but you could never be too careful. Leaving the castle through a servant's door he searched for the stables, smelling horse on the wind he knew some were nearby.
Turning the corner he found a man dressed in gold armour, dragon symbols upon his breast and a crown upon his head. The man lay in a similar position to what he found the queen, an amulet in one hand and a greatsword in the other. Again only demons lay dead around this body. The amulet was that of Akatosh and it seemed to fit the hilt of the sword found with the queen. He stashed it in his pocket, found a horse and mounted it. Vicente began to feel more deities were involved then he liked to think. Gazing upon the king one last time, he bowed his head, turned his horse to the west and rode through the night with the girl in hand.