The Delves Saga: Volume 1: Book one:Rank
Author's Note :First time attempting a fanfic in a while. Advice appreciated. Simply telling me that you like this want me to to continue would mean the world to me.
Chapter 1: Underbarren
It was a dark and stormy night...on the surface anyways. Nanin however was on his way to the Underbarren, the Delven city, just one small part of the world of Nirn's largest underground dwemer country simply known as darkness.
He rode swiftly in the darkness that surrounded everything. Not a single candle was to be found in this part of the dwemer cave that that the dwemers had long since abandoned. Fortunately none were needed, as the Delve opposed an enhanced version of night eye that not even the Cat Race known as the Khajit could match known as Ultravison, letting them see perfectly outside the absolute darkest places in the Underbarren, allowing Nanin to half ride and half cling his Mount, not wanting to leave a trace of his visit.
Ironically enough he was riding the Delves choice of mount: an unnatural half-mole half-lizard abomination. He made his way along through a long tunnel, letting him know that he was close to the city.
A while back, Nanin had closed his eyes for a moment, imagining he knew exactly how to get to all of his destinations. His left hand then flared up, surrounded by magical energy. This cast a clairvoyance spell creating magical blue mist to appear, which only he was able to see and detect. Despite being a warrior, his bad sense of direction meant he had to take the time to learn how to make this spell undetectable, as it led him to the city's entrance. He felt nervous as this was the most guarded area of the Underbarren.
Nanin got off the mount. He took a deep breath, and stepped outside of the shadows. Spiders were leering down at him. he was a delve of the city, and regularly passed through many places here undetected, but he was at the Academy, and had heard that spiders here nowadays would attack for no real reason. For that he decided to disable the clairvoyance spell for now.
He made his way through the area, when a stranger whispered to him, asking if he was a student, or a master. Nanin told him that only a master is allowed around this time. The stranger drew closer, wearing a robe and a Daedric Mask. When he wore both, it provided him with complete immunity to fire.
He greeted the Masked One, and the Masked One greeted him by Secondborn Ma'Rahn, asking him for his payment. Nanin told him that he shall be compensated, daring him to doubt the promise of Mistress Ma'Rahn, of the 7th house of Underbarren.
The Masked One realized his error and apologized, bowing to him. He had recently failed a powerful spell, leaving his face horribly disfigured. His nose, his eyebrows, and one of his eyes burnt beyond recognition, hence the mask and robe, hence the named masked one. Mistress Ma'Rahn offered his a sliver of hope he could not turn down.
Nanin was without concern, but he needed the wizard. He told him that his face would be restored the second that he killed Malor Daville, and not a second sooner.
Nanin retrieved his mount, recast his clairvoyance spell, and made his way, passing by a few slave goblins, who knew their roles well, and dared not make eye contact. Nanin was feeling extra cruel that night, and so he let his mount eat one of them, making sure they continued to know their place, as the goblins cowered in fear. The Mole-Lizard spit the bones of the digested goblin at another goblin, killing it, causing the other goblins to scramble. This eased his mind a bit, as he was trying to keep his nerves in check. Feeling much better, he began his way back to House Ma'khan, secure than his Mistress would not figure out he had secret plans.
Dax, Nanin father, and Mistress Ma'Rahn husband knew that their child would come into existence soon, and that he would be male, and a sacrifice to the spider queen Malath, which Mistress hoped would grant House Ma'Rahn the needed favor to win against the coming battle against the Daville's. His emotions were hidden very well. The preparation for the sacrifice was interrupted by news from Nanin, but he was told to bite his tongue and wait for the preparations of the sacrifice. An hour passed, and Nanin was allowed to speak.
Nanin told Mistress that the preparations were complete, and that Malor would soon be no more. Mistress dismissed Dax, telling him that it was time to strike. Dax thought of how he looked forward to killing the Deville clerics, and he also thought about how much he would love to kill the Ma'Rahn clerics just as well. He really didn't care which Delves he killed.
He just wanted to kill Delves...
AN: Who is Malor, and why does Mistress Ma'Rahn want him dead? Who will win the upcoming war? What is Nanin's secret plan? And what is Masked ones real name? Some of of these questions will be answered in the next chapter, which should be out tomorrow. For a sneak peak ask for one in your review or send me a pm. Also, I'm looking for a proofreader, so if you're interested, send me a pm