Gregory Maric awoke from his dream slightly shaken. He had experienced the dream again, the one that had plagued him for months.

In it, he was a child again. He was outside, with his father, helping tend to the animals and raise the vegetables. Suddenly, he would hear a scream from the house. He would run inside, only to find his mother and younger brother were being attacking by a hideous creature that seemed to be made of shadows.

He would watch as his family were slain, and then his father would attempt to attack the thing, and fail. With all of his family dead, the creature would turn upon him. It would rear back to strike, and just as it touched him, he would awake, sometimes covered in sweat, yelling for his family.

Oddly, the Shadow never had a definite shape. It seemed humanoid, but it never stayed in the exact same form. Sometimes it would have horns; other times, it would have a tail; still others, it would have abnormalities such as four arms instead of two.

But it never had a mouth, and it never had eyes. Only two black ears that could hear his every hearbeat. Gregory was horrified of it. It was the most frightening thing he had ever seen.

Luckily, it wasn't real. He didn't even know where it would have come from. He had no trauma related to this sort of thing at all in his past. His parents had died natural deaths several years ago, and his brother lived in Chorrol, where he had married and had three children; two girls and one boy.

Gregory, while growing older, had never wed. He had always been to busy for it. For a long time, it was the fact that he had to work outside for long hours just to get enough food to survive for another day.

Luckily, he made a few lucky investments, and no longer had to work every day to live. But then, tragedy struck him. He was stricken with some strange, previously unheard-of disease. The local healers said that something was wrong with his heart, and that he had less than two years to live, less if he continued his strenous work days.

So he stopped. He started to save his money and only spend on food and small entertainments. He was determined to live as long as he could, even if it was a boring life.

He found that he had quite a knack for reading. He had never had much interest in books or scrolls before, but now, it was almost all he did. He possessed many rare books as well, ones that collectors would kill for.

Currently, he was reading a book called Wonders of the World, which detailed many rare and precious items scattered around Tamriel. So far, all had been spectacular, but nothing he needed, and none that would help him in his predicament.

But, as he read it in the early morning sun, one particular item caught his attention. It was called "The Stealer of Living" or, "The Life Thief". It was an ancient book written by the Ayleids, but also had passages in Dwemer writing.

What made it so appealing was the legend associated with it. It was said to have been written by an ancient Ayleid elder, and in it contained stories of old. It was legend that the author had poured his entire soul into the book.

And therein lay its wonder. Whoever read it was granted immortality, and all of their earthly illnesses were banished forever. Gregory was instantly obsessed with it.

With this book, he could heal himself. He wouldn't have to worry about his illness, or about ever working to keep himself alive. After he got the book, he would be able to do whatever he pleased, for the rest of eternity.

There was a small warning in the pages, however. It said that, though the book's power was great, the gods did not think kindly upon mortals attempting to reach godly stature, and so, in a way, it was cursed. Gregory paid the warning no mind. He had never believed in a god or gods anyway. It was all religious propaganda.

Unfortunately, Wonders of the World gave no location of where this book was, and said that it was supposedly unseen by any civilized eyes for centuries. That was unfortunate, but he was not going to be stopped that easily.

Gregory knew of a few wise men and monks that resided throughout Cyrodil. He would speak with them. Surely they would have ensight as to where the book was. As the day went on, he got more and more excited. He was going to do it, one way or another.

But he would need help. The monks were located in peaceful oases surrounded by danger. Luckily, he knew just who to go to. He could not be stopped now.

---

Thanks for your review. Nothing I like better. And I'm open to flaming, so insult me if you want, so long as its constructive, and not random crap.

I'll probably update once to twice a week, sometimes more if I get really into it. Expect lots of violence later on into the story. You know, people getting sliced up, impaled, and generally dismembered. May have to switch it to M later on, but I'll keep here for now.

Plural of "oasis". I didn't know what it was before I looked it up, so just putting it up there so you know what I'm referring to.