A/N: And here Khanna's adventure in the lost temple continues! Thanks for all the support, and I really hope I'll manage to live up to your expectations… Let's get to the next chapter then!

~khatariah

2.

The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth and she finally released her lip. It was a bad habit, but seeing that she was on the brink of death, it didn't seem to matter. The torches around the room were now lit and gave an eerie impression to the room. A soft chill went down her spine as she heard the Khajiit speaking.

Her hands were tied as she rested there helplessly. She was going to get sacrificed to the freaking daedras. What an irony. Searching for a way out she glanced over the room. She had no intentions dying without resistance. Mingling on the cold ebony she could clearly see a spiral staircase on her right that led to a higher platform that overlooked the large room.

"Stop it." The Khajiit's voice interrupted her. He took a lock of her hair with a smirk. It was ruby red and vivid as it shimmered on the light of the nearby fire. "You are not getting out of here alive… But you should be proud that you will be sacrificed to the masters. You are a gift they won't refuse."

Khanna resisted the urge of saying something rash. Things like that could get her to her death much faster than planned. The Khajiit opened his sack and reached for something that looked like an organ… A heart. Khanna doubted it came from an animal. He placed it on the altar above her head. Then he took a large vial of a dark red liquid and splattered it all over her. Blood filled her mouth once again.

As he finished the chanting and the first half of the ritual he closed his eyes and raised his hands above his head, a blissful expression on his face. It didn't take long for her to feel a strange shift in the room. It wasn't pleasant and she felt like her blood was boiling in her veins, wanting to escape. A shuddering sigh came from her mouth. It felt wrong.

"You feel it, don't you? The all-consuming power pressing you, devouring pieces of you." The Khajiit lowered his arms slowly and opened his eyes. "Imagine how will it be when they arrive!" he happily chuckled.

"Stop this until it's too late." Khanna mingled on the altar "You are dealing with forces no one should! Why do you think this temple has been abandoned for such a long time? This is too much for anyone to bear."

"Stupid humans are guilty for everything." A dark tone came from Khajiit's voice "Weak. Unable to bear the glory and power given to them by the masters. But, once I unleash the gifts from my masters, this temple will once again rise, and the world will tremble before the power!"

"You are crazy." She said under her breath as she looked over him, her eyes wide in terror. How did she get herself so tangled in this. She was a scholar, not someone to be sacrificed to monsters from Oblivion. Hell, she barely ever dealt with religious matters and here she was now.

As the Khajiit raised the beautifully crafted dagger above her chest, she could feel her heatbeat fasten. That was it. She will never uncover anything important. She will never get to make things right with her family, with the friends she left… With Him. They will all think she abandoned them, while her corpse rots in a god forsaken temple in the middle of snowy Skyrim.

As the dagger slammed downwards towards her chest, Khanna turned her head away and shut her eyes with all the force left in her body. Pain, blood and adrenaline. That was sure to come, Khanna expected to feel it any moment.

Gone, gone, gone…

It's over… I'm over…

Complete silence.

Was this how death felt like? She didn't expect it to be so… Calm, dark and soothing. She had expected pain but she felt completely normal. Except, there was an itch around her wrists. Were dead people supposed to feel itchy? Khanna didn't think so, but then again she never met anyone who died to test that out.

Her eyes were still close, she realized with a frown. Was she ready to open them? Will Sovngarde expect her on the other side, or will it be the damned Oblivion? Her eyelids slowly opening, she glanced over a dark room, only illuminated by few torches. Her frown deepened. It was the room in the temple. Was she supposed to haunt the halls of this damned place forever?

She turned her head upwards only to face a dagger, half an inch away from her throat. It was frozen in place, and so was the Khajiit holding it with a hysterical expression on his face. The flames around the room were also frozen in place. Khanna wasn't dead and her heart beating hard on her rib cage proved that theory.

Rolling over, carefully, off the altar Khanna managed to get on her feet. Her wrists were reddened from the rope and she needed to find a way to cut her hands loose. On the other hand, she didn't know how much time she had before everything comes back to life. She had no intentions of getting back on that altar.

"Sharp… Something sharp." she chanted out loud as she looked around. Looking at the Khajiit and his blade that was threatening the altar she pulled her wrists as far apart as she could and put the rope to the blade. The rope was thinning as she rubbed it up and down the sharp blade, until it finally tore and her hands were free.

Khanna ravaged through the sack on the ground and took her dagger back. She looked over to the large ebony door she first came through. It was closed and locked, as she realized when she yanked it. Who closed the door behind us? she wondered. There was no way out through there.

Having no other option she turned away and started climbing up the spiral staircase up to the higher platform.

'Not even a thank you?' a voice echoed in her mind.

Khanna turned her head towards the platform down. She could see the Khajiit, still unmoving, the altar and the large table with thrones, but no one else. It was her brain playing games with her, she tought. Turning away she was disappointed to find only more stone, and no way out. There were no levers or hidden buttons she could see.

'Like an animal in a cage, isn't she?' another voice slammed through her mind. Khanna looked around again, unable to determine where the voices are coming from.

'Ah, it seems she noticed us.' the third voice claimed 'Shall we make our appearance?'

'But it's much more fun this way!' yet another voice said.

'No need to be rude to our guest.' the third voice appeared once more.

All this was awfully confusing to Khanna. Her daggers were now out and ready. One near-death experience was enough for a day. She had no intentions of doing all that again.

'You. Girl!' a dark voice commanded her 'If you wish to live, you need to leave us something in return.'

She might as well respond, since there was none to witness it. Now seemed the right time to question her sanity.

"I had no intentions of dying in the first place." she firmly said. Her words were met with a chuckle.

'I'm telling you. I like this one.' the first of the voices said once more.

'A life for a life then, mortal.' the commanding voice returned 'Kill the Khjaiit and you are free to leave.'

"All the ways out are locked." she said.

'Locked for a mortal like you, but wide open for us.' one of the voices said 'Kill him, and we will show you.'

The voice faded as she felt some of the pressure fall of her shoulders. What the hell was that? Was it a vision, was she going mad? The cracking of fire made her jump a little. It was back to life, as it vividly painted the walls with shadows. And with the fire the Khajiit's dagger hit the ebony altar and smashed into hundreds of little pieces. His fiery gaze found Khanna once again.

"I will carve you until there is nothing left of your body." his tone was full of hatred as he reached the spiral staircase and Khanna. She had no other options but to fight the madman and get out of the place alive. Throwing curses and words that would shame anyone, the Khajiit proved to be quite a challenge for Khanna. She wielded her daggers as fast as she could, but his rage was hard to miss. A scratch on her cheek, on her forearm, on her neck... They were all surface wounds but they still were painful as she moved around.

Seeing an opportunity she couldn't miss, an opening on his left side, Khanna stuck her dagger as deep as she could into his chest. She didn't stop pushing until the dagger reached the other side of his body.

As the Khajiit slipped on the floor there was a blissful expression in his eyes. The door opened with a screetch and Khanna turned her head towards it. When she turned back to face the body of her enemy, it was gone...

We will be watching.

Khanna left the damned place with a shudder. Somehow she felt like she brought something out to the surface with her.