I could smell it long before I saw it.

Acrid, harsh and suffocating – the smell of smoke, of destruction. At sunset, after days of exhausting travel, a boiling sky and blackened trees greeted me. The smell grew stronger, Vicente's poor mare giving worried whickers and whines as we grew closer. I ran my hand down her heaving flank, wet with sweat, almost trembling with exertion. We were both sore, exhausted, but pressing on. I whispered to her as blackened towers and billowing clouds of smoke grew on the horizon. "Almost there." Did I comfort her, or myself? I grimaced, trying to keep the caustic smoke from my nostrils, eyes stinging. Her hooves clattered on cobblestone as we reached the main road to Kvatch. To mother.

Almost there.

Tents – I dismounted, leaving her with a haggard looking woman who tended to the legion mounts already there, restless and pawing at the earth. How long would they have to wait for their masters to return?

I coughed and began my way up the trail.

People sat together in scattered groups, whispering, sobbing, silent. Dull, pale faces drawn with exhaustion. I should have thought to bring more potions. I bit my lip, guilt swelling in me. If I had time, I would stop and help – if only I had time. But mum was waiting, if she wasn't already -

"Come to gawk at our tragedy?" A harsh voice startled me – I followed it to an Altmer, glaring at me with yellow eyes. "As if we don't have enough mouths to feed, enough problems."

"Maybe she has family here, Hirtel." A Bosmer, cross-legged on a tattered mat beside him, sighed.

"I – I do." A momentary spark of hope grew in me. "My mother – she lives here. Breton, black hair, my height?"

The Bosmer shook his head. "Haven't seen her."

"She's dead." The High Elf muttered, wringing his hands, eyes flickering around him. "They all are, trapped in the city. The Daedra – that portal – all of them are dead."

Another voice – this one from within, close to me. "He may be right." They didn't seem to hear it but I did, snarling in response.

"Shut UP!"

Eyes on me. I stiffened, cheeks flushing, hands clenching as the two mer gazed at me, as others followed suit. I drew in a deep breath, swallowing it down my tightened throat. "I-I'm sorry." I reached into my bag, bringing out potions – what little I had thought to bring in my rush. "Here. These should help."

I fled from them, then, up the hillside.

The earth itself had changed as I drew closer to the top, becoming blackened and cracked, volcanic. Noise – the sound of clattering blades, of shouts, of a terrible hissing. One hand was on my blade, the other tingling with magick, but my mind was blank. Whatever was up there, it seemed far beyond any hope of me slaying it.

Mother was up there.

I cursed and ran faster. A battle was already taking place at the peak – soldiers, guards of the city, distracted battling creatures – Scamps, Clannfears, Spiders - from Oblivion. From – the Altmer's words sent a chill through me even in the heat as I moved towards it. The portal.

Huge, shimmering, crimson. Like a gaping maw that had broken through the earth, spitting out daedra. Trapping those beyond the gates behind.

"Citizen!"

I turned, eyes widening. A guard marching towards me, red-faced and shouting. "Are you insane, woman? Get back to the encampment, now!"

"My mother is – " I never got the chance to finish. Something, something huge but moving impossibly quickly leapt through the gate upon him. Claws shredding, teeth snapping, scaled tale dragging behind it. He was dead. Shouts from beyond us, screams, but I was frozen in place. The beast turned towards me slowly, eyes glinting, jaws smeared with gore.

My hand moved to my blade, slowly. Too slowly.

It fell on me without warning, giving an unearthly roar that seemed to echo endlessly in my head. OhgodsohgodsI'mgoingtodiehereI'mgoingtodielikethis mumisnononono –

I braced myself for claws, teeth, for my throat to be ripped away. But it never came.

It lay on me heavily, making it impossible to breathe. Dead weight. I gasped for air beneath it, choking on the sickly, overpowering scent of meat from its open mouth. Its tongue pooled beside me in the dirt. I struggled to pull myself out, latching on as a hand grasped my own and pulled me roughly to my feet, the corpse dragged away with a deep wound in the back of its neck.

Black eyes, blade dripping with blood, a satisfied smirk. "Lucien."

"And that, pet," he began conversationally, "Is why you are a fool. And why I am no coward."

"Bastard," I hissed, and held him tight. He grunted, raising a brow when I spoke. "Bastard. I thought you weren't coming. I thought – "

He scoffed. "As though you could do this alone."

I snarled, and kissed him.

"Both of you!" A guard, panting beside the corpse of the beast, hissed. "Idiots! Rilian –" His voice broke, harsh and splintering. "Dead because of you! If you had stayed in the camp where you belonged – "

I tore myself away, guilt ripping through me. "I'm sorry," I whispered. I didn't dare look at him – at Rilian. Or what was left of him. Bile rose in my throat – I choked it back. "I didn't – I just need to find my mo – "

"We don't have time for them." Lucien cut me off, glaring at the guards before pulling me close. They turned their backs, growling, furious. If we died, it was our own damned faults. My fault the man had died. His voice cut through the shame engulfing me. "I questioned others – no one else has seen her. She would be in the sanctuary, or – "

"Through there."

Bellamont. His voice was calmer than I'd ever heard it, but his words – I gazed back at the portal, shuddering. Lucien frowned, taking my chin and roughly forcing me to face him. "What?"

"The traitor." I dragged a hand down my face. "He says she's through that – that gate. The portal."

Lucien's eyes narrowed. He let me go, growling softly to himself. Thinking. "And you intend to trust it, do you?"

"Yes." I didn't hesitate. He was right – as much as I hated it, he was right. I could feel it. Is this what the Night Mother had given him to me for? Was this a gift, after all?

Lucien seemed to be thinking the same. He bowed his head, brow raised. "Then lead the way."

I nodded and turned, facing the portal, half-expecting another beast to come lunging through it onto me. It seemed to emanate heat, ringing with an ominous and strange energy. I slipped a hand into the pocket of my robe, gripping the gem.

"You had better be right," I hissed, knowing he was even as I prayed he was wrong.

And I stepped into hell.