Chapter 4: On the Fringe of Madness
Hastily Siena fumbled at her chain-mailed chest, groping for the spectacles she had hung from the chain links and slipping them onto her face. The world took on a shaded hue, but it also took on a sharp clarity now. She was awestruck by what she saw.
The world was remarkably colorful and vibrant. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue, dotted with odd sparkling cloud formations. She could swear she heard birds chirping in the distance as she looked around.
Some distance to her left was a tall stone wall with sloped roofs, running parallel to the horizon. Looking back, the portal was still shimmering with life behind her. Mocking her with the option of return. Something told her returning to Tamriel was not an option any longer, and she then remembered she was in a Daedric Realm, which startled her into rising from her seat.
This looked nothing like any Daedric Realm she could have imaged, especially for a God of the Mad. It actually reminded her more of home than anything else. Five large trees grew around her plateau, but unlike trees they had no leaves. Their branches were bare, and cradled the underside of a mushroom as they grew before curling over the edge of the fungus and defying gravity, shooting upwards. It was very different from the mushrooms of home, true, but they struck a cord with Siena nonetheless. The fungal like pods growing at the base of one of the trees did not, though. They were like large Kwama eggs glowing a soft blue, and Siena found herself sickened by them. She half expected a Kwama forger to squirm out and spit acid at her.
But she wasn't here to sightsee. Snatching up the dagger from the table, she stopped when she saw out of the corner of her eye that the metronome had stopped. Curious, she tapped the stick with the dagger's tip. It began again, but then stopped. Frowning, Siena ignored it and went around the table, walking down the hilly slope. To each side of her were pillars of granite, or maybe marble, overgrown with vines and crumbling. More mushroom trees dotted the land around her in large and small sizes, demanding her attention but getting none of it. The path turned to her right, and the pillars followed suit, as if guiding her down this strange road.
There was a giant mushroom tree further down the path, by far the largest tree she had ever seen. Its trunk wasn't even a single body, but multiple root-like trunks that bended upwards from the ground to meet as one, and then rise into the air before blossoming into a mushroom umbrella. Siena gazed at it as she walked down the path, marveling at the sheer size.
But she stopped abruptly when she heard an unfamiliar sound. It was like a growling cat, but with a watery quality to it; like the cat in question was drowning or something. Crouching low, she carefully placed one bare foot in front of the other, flipping her dagger in her hand to hold it in reverse. Approaching a fallen section of pillar and peaking over, she narrowed her eyes through her shades.
It was a goblin. No, wait… What is that thing? It looked similar to a goblin, and yet was definitely not one. The creature's torso was too thick and flabby to be a goblin, and it stood on legs that were double-jointed like the beastfolk of home. And it had two rows of three spines growing progressively longer as they went up the back. The only real relation was the sickly green color of its skin, which was darker on the creature's back than the chest. She couldn't see the thing's face in detail from here, but she imagined it was hideous. Rough metal gleamed in its hand, and a body lay in the pool of water where the goblin-thing stood.
Dang it… If only I had my bow! I'll have to find a way around. Siena wasn't fond of close combat. She preferred archery, despite the protests of her teachers concerning her imperfect vision. It allowed her to fight her enemies from afar, get to know them better before she had to get up close and personal. Analyzing her options she saw an opening between a Mushroom trunk-root and a boulder. She could go through there, around the boulder ahead, and to the other side back onto the path. Should be simple, right?
Looking back over the pillar, the thing had its back to her. Taking her chance she dashed across the road, feet padding softly and chainmail clinking. It was likely the clinking that did her in, as a growl reminding her once more of a cat underwater rose behind her. Siena couldn't even bring herself to turn around and look. She just knew it was after her.
There was a gray vine growing around the tree trunk, and she grabbed it, jumping up and hanging onto that handhold. Knowing it wasn't going to get her onto the tree she had jumped sideways, her legs swinging towards the nearby boulder. Kicking off that and sending her upside down she flipped onto the tree trunk, stabbing the dagger into the wood to anchor herself in place.
Only then did she look back towards the beast, to see it at the base of the tree, growling at her. The thing had nightmarishly pale eyes that lacked any sort of pupil she could recognize. Rows of thin, sharp teeth with no lips to cover them snapped at Siena from that smooth face with only two hog-like nostrils for a nose.
Her mind uncontrollably envisioned a fat goblin body with a slaughterfish mouth and Orc's face, and it was the best comparison she could ever hope to create. The fish-man shook a rough iron dagger –which looked more like a toothed spear tip with a leather handle than any sort of smith-fashioned blade, and was etched with odd symbols on the sides- up at her, muttering in that strange noise it made. It took immense effort to draw her eyes away from the monster and to the surroundings, looking for escape.
The large boulder! I can't go around it now, but maybe I can go over it and find a path. She prayed to Azura that her hopes would be true. She would have prayed to Vivec, or maybe Almalexia; but in the waxing years of the Third Era their religious prominence had died in Morrowind, replaced by the worship of the Ancestor Daedra. The Good ones.
And if Sheogorath had spawned this hideousness, she had one more reason to agree with the Temple placing him in the House of Troubles. Because he was giving her a crap load of trouble to deal with now. Ripping the iron dagger from the tree, she braced herself as she slid down towards the eagerly awaiting beast.
It wouldn't get its meal just yet, though, as she leaned forward and kicked off the tree, rolling atop the boulder to a chorus of unintelligible beast-curses. Smirking, she proceeded to run across the stone.
Only to have something bang into her leg, knocking her off balance. Crashing into the pool of clear water, she tightened her grip on the dagger and fumbled to get onto her hands and knees.
Yet again, her glasses were wet. There are times where I wished I didn't need these. The creature was blotchy and bulbous in her vision, but as a badly aimed stone splashed into the water close to her head, the answer to what knocked her off the boulder came; a primitive beast's lucky shot.
Snarling, the green-hide charged at her, growing larger in her water-distorted field of view. She reflexively thrust out her left arm, grabbing the oncoming arm holding the spear-point dagger. The strength of the beast forced her down from her awkward kneeling posture and her head went under water as it overshadowed her.
Panicking, she stabbed at the thing's side, feeling her dagger slip between ribs and enter flesh. The monster weakened and she rolled atop it quickly, gasping for air as she submerged it in the pool and held it down with her weight. She still gripped the arm holding the dagger, keeping it away from her. The beast stilled.
That's when she noticed the wound in its side had stopped bleeding, the cloud of blood in the water having dissipated. The fish-man gurgled under the water, its large nostrils flaring. The thing was breathing!
Crying out in a mixture of frustration, fear, and instinctive panic Siena began to stab wildly at the wrestling monster, even forcing it to stab itself with her iron grip on its arm. She was no longer caring where she stabbed, or how bad the wound became, she was just stabbing and slashing and stabbing. Finally the beast fell still once more, and Siena quit her efforts, panting.
Its own dagger jutted from the hideous skull, the three fingers still wrapped around the hilt. Hers was dripping blood into the pond as she held it pulled back, ready to stab again. The bleeding didn't stop, the creature didn't move, and after a few minutes of holding this position, Siena rose from the corpse, shaking the blood off her dagger in the water first. She didn't even look at the other body, but did note it had the underbelly of a slaughterfish; with four legs.
"This is ridiculous." She muttered in exhaustion, shaking her head sharply. Water droplets rained around her, getting at least some off her glasses so she could see better. If this was going to be a regular occurrence, she'd have to find a handkerchief somewhere. If there even was a 'somewhere' that would have handkerchiefs in this deranged landscape of freakish beauty, of course.
She found out a small while later, though, that there was indeed a civilization in this Realm. She passed ruins that reminded her of those Ayleid structures she had seen on the shore when they were nearing Leyawiin's waters. These weren't quite the same, though they were equally overgrown by plant life. One was a square tomb-like building, and had a statue of a creature she had never seen before on one side. It resembled a Daedroth, one of Molag Bal's servants, and yet it did not, lacking that long and toothy snout. She shuddered as she realized it was more closely related to the beast she had just wrestled and moved on.
The other was a tall tower of stone with no discernable entrance or real décor, so she ignored it as well. But when she saw the stone archway in the distance with a wooden stairwell running up the side, she grinned widely and raced towards it. As she passed under it she made out two figures, one of them Redguard and the other Dunmer. All too eager, she rushed over to them. When she was next to them she stopped, resting her hands on her knees and panting.
"Hello!" The Redguard spoke up. The sound of his voice made Siena jolt her head up in surprise, and her eyes widened.
"Sheldon!" Hope radiating from her face she turned to the dunmer, her joy only rising. "Felas!" She pressed her left hand to her chest and exhaled, regaining control of her over-excited state. "Oh I am so glad to see you two. We have to find the others and leave here."
"Leave? Are you kidding? I've been here the longest! That's why I'm mayor of Passwall. That, and because I am the best at being in charge." He spread his hands towards the measly assemblage of three stone shacks. "Welcome to my town!"
Siena was stunned into silence, and looked over to Felas pleadingly, her mouth agape as if about to argue. Felas stared at her for a moment and then stepped back, holding up his hands to protect himself. "Don't breathe on me."
It was then that she noticed their new apparel. They both wore a thick cloth vest over their chests with a feathery shirt underneath. Studs dotted the suit nearly everywhere and straps held a waistcoat tightly around them. It looked almost like a pathetic attempt at armor.
Couple the attire with their responses, and Siena knew deep in her heart it was hopeless, sinking to her knees and silently sobbing.