here's chapter 8...a bit longer than the previous chapters...enjoy...


Chapter 8

When the odd trio reached the foot of the hill on which Kvatch was built, they found an encampment.

Coming closer, they saw that it was a refugee camp.

Many people sat outside their tents, huddled together or sitting alone staring off into space.

The trio could hear cries of despair, grief and anguish in the air.

They could see several children running around the camp, looking for their family, or adults walking around calling out the names of relative or friend.

Mothers were weeping, fathers grieving and children crying.

All in all, a heart wrenching scene.

As the three approached the road that led up to the city, they saw an Imperial clad in dark grey robes walking around up and down the path listlessly.

"You think that's him? Jauffre said that Martin is a priest," said M'raaj-Dar.

"Kind of old, don't you think?" said Arvina, gesturing at the man's bald head and the white hair that grew like a crown around the sides of his head.

"I'll ask," said Grun. "Oi! You!"

The Imperial turned to look at them.

"You the bastard?" asked the dwarf.

The man frowned.

"Idiot," hissed Arvina, knocking the dwarf on the head.

To the man, she asked: "Are you Martin?"

"No, I'm Ilav," answered the man in a blank voice. "I think Martin was inside the city. Might be dead."

"Damn it," grunted Grun. "Looks like we're goin' up."

As they passed Ilav, the man suddenly became deranged.

"The Nine have lost! The Enemy has won! Nirn is doomed; the Nine have forsaken us…"

Grun walked forward and landed a punch right into Ilav's gut.

The Imperial doubled over and fell unconscious.

"Why did you do that?" cried Arvina.

Grun snorted.

"Look, lass," he said. "If we let the man run down to the refugees' camp ranting the whole way, it's goin' to throw all those people into panic. That's the last thing they'll be needin'."

"I hate to say it, but he's right, Arvina," said M'raaj-Dar, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"You're damn right that I'm right, Whiskers," said the dwarf. "Glad to see that you could think of something other than chasing rats and strings."

"I'll knock some sense into you, you little rock-headed midget…" growled the Khajiit, rolling up his sleeves.

"That's enough you two!" cried Arvina. "Let's go and find Martin."

The dwarf and the Khajiit glared at each other a moment before moving to follow the Imperial woman.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In Aetherius, a man paced up and down agitatedly.

He was dressed up like a simple shopkeeper and held a book in his hands. He had dark brown hair and small goatee which he was now twisting in his agitation.

Light suddenly burst before him and from it a woman of stunning beauty emerged. She was scantily dressed, her long, beautiful legs bare for all to see, her gorgeous bare waist moving sensually as she walked, long dainty fingers played with the golden hair that flowed from her head, her lips red and full, eyes an azure blue and her barely covered breasts bobbed slightly as she walked.

"Arkay," she said to the man in a voice that would send men mad just to hear it say their names.

"Dibella," acknowledged the Divine of Life and Death. "Must you flaunt yourself before me every single time?"

"It is amusing to see you blush," answered the Divine of Beauty, twisting Arkay's goatee playfully.

Arkay merely huffed.

"How amusing," said a voice. "You flirt with Arkay and he only buries himself further in that book of his."

Arkay and Dibella turned to see another man. This one was dressed like a rich merchant and had black hair. He had a calculative on his face and a long nose as well.

"Zenithar," acknowledged Dibella. "You're not jealous, are you?"

"Hah!" said the Divine of Work and Commerce. "It's more interesting to watch a marketplace where you are appreciated, unlike here."

Dibella poked Zenithar's long nose playfully.

"Infusing lust into the hearts of others does not mean they love you, Dibella," came a voice that sounded like the voice of a loving mother.

A woman clad in a thin robe appeared before them. Her figure was outlined perfectly by thin garment and it was obvious that she rivaled Dibella in beauty. However, her hair was black and untouched by frost and her eyes glittered brown warmly.

Dibella merely pouted.

"Mara," she said. "Lust is more interesting than love."

The Divine of Love smiled and embraced Dibella.

"But love is purer and far more beautiful."

A strong wind suddenly blew around them.

It was stronger than a hurricane, yet the four Divines were unmoved by it.

Eventually, the wind changed into a small whirlwind and came to a stop before the other four.

At its center, a feminine figure could be seen; though details could not be sighted other than the fact that she was apparently nude and her hair blew in every direction.

"Where is Akatosh?" a voice that sounded like an impatient queen. "The Dragon God of Time certainly likes to take his time."

"That's why he's the Divine of Time," said another voice. This one came from a man clad in resplendent armour. His hair was white, so were his eyes.

"Talos," said the woman in the whirlwind.

"Kynareth," acknowledged Talos.

Greetings were exchanged between the Divines when another two figures appeared.

One of them was dressed like an elderly scholar, complete with a staff and a bald head. The other was a hooded figure whose face cannot be seen. He was robed all in grey.

The elderly one spoke..

He spoke in a voice that was too powerful for his frail physique.

"I assume the meeting has not started."

"As logical as ever, Julianos," said Arkay.

"It's good to see you again, Stendarr," said Mara to the hooded figure, who only nodded in acknowledgement but said nothing.

Suddenly, flames erupted before them and a gigantic dragon emerged from it. His scales were red and glittered like fiery rubies, his wings stretched out to the heavens, a long powerful tail flicked from left to right and eyes that blazed like fire looked down upon the other eight with authority.

"Akatosh," they said reverently.

"I thank you all for coming," said Akatosh in a majestic voice. "I am sorry to keep you waiting, but I must ask you to wait a little longer."

"Why?" asked Dibella.

Akatosh's eyes narrowed.

"The Tenth is coming."

Arkay visibly paled.

"After all this time?" he said. "He has never attended the past meetings and now…"

"It seems that there some matters that recently interest him," rumbled the Dragon God.

The Nine waited quietly.

Suddenly, the skies of Aetherius turned dark and lightning flashed across the skies.

"It's been a long time, brats," boomed a voice. "And you too, Akatosh."

Arkay had turned even paler.

"Sithis!" he said in a trembling voice.

There was no answer.

Suddenly, from the darkness the voice boomed again.

"Dibella the Whore. Zenithar the Miser. Kynareth the Breeze. Talos the Mortal. Julianos the Fool. Mara the Lover. Stendarr the Hypocrite."

The seven Divines merely cowered before the darkness.

"And of course, my personal favourite, Arkay the Usurper." Sithis concluded with dangerous hiss.

Arkay began to stutter.

"So, brat," hissed Sithis. "How does it feel to usurp the Serpent God of Entropy, the primordial state of chaos...the entity that was here long before you were?"

"I…I didn't usurp you," stuttered Arkay. "I was appointed to replace you, that was all that happened."

"True, true," chuckled Sithis. "But I didn't hear you complaining didn't I."

"Enough of this!" boomed Akatosh. "Sithis, take a solid form."

"As you wish, brother," answered Sithis.

The darkness swirled and gathered together.

It began to take a solid form. It took on the shape of a serpent that rivaled Akatosh in size.

"I hope that this is more to your liking?" said the serpent, a smirk forming on his face.

Akatosh chose to ignore the comment.

"As you all know by now, the forces of Mehrunes Dagon have invaded Nirn," began the Dragon God of Time. "One of the mortals' cities have fallen and more will surely follow."

"A comment, if I may," interrupted Sithis. "You know that you all are going to do nothing, so why bother holding this council?"

Akatosh sighed. "We do not directly interfere in the affairs if the mortal world. However, we may aid as little as we may."

Sithis cackled.

"Like the Amulet of Kings that you gave Alessia's bloodline? That was more of a direct involvement."

"Why are you here?" spoke out Stendarr suddenly, his voice loud and clear. "You have never taken any interest the mortal world since your priestess became the Night Mother."

"And you should know better than the others that she acted on her own," snapped Sithis. "But that is no longer relevant; she is no longer a problem."

"What did you do, Sithis?" asked Akatosh suspiciously.

"Come now, don't tell me that you alone are allowed to have champions?" said Sithis, laughing. "I have chosen two mortals as my champions to handle Dagon and…other affairs."

"You shouldn't have acted without consulting us…"

Sithis narrowed his eyes.

"…fine, you should have at least consulted me," amended Akatosh, sighing.

"Don't be a hypocrite, Akatosh," snarled the Serpent God. "You did not consult me or Lorkhan when you gave the Amulet to the mortal girl. You shouldn't be preaching to me when most of your own worshippers have lost their faith in you. Including the last of Alessia's bloodline I might add."

Akatosh was silent.

"Well, it's been nice chatting with you," said Sithis, as he began to turn into darkness again. "We should do this more often."

With that, he disappeared.

"Can't you do anything about him, Akatosh?" asked Mara.

Akatosh sighed. "He is as powerful as me and Lorkhan. And he is certainly more powerful than the eight of you put together. I say we have no choice but to let his champions do the work."

"But surely you can't just forsake the mortals," said Talos.

"I didn't," said Akatosh. "I sent my own champion. I picked him from a race little known to the other mortals."

"Is he dependable?" asked Zenithar.

Akatosh smiled slightly.

"Well, he is certainly interesting. Exceptionally interesting."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Arvina, M'raaj-Dar and Grun came up to the barricade where Savlian Matius and his men where fighting off the Daedra.

Savlian frowned when he saw them.

"Clear off! No civilians here!" he shouted.

"What's going on here?" asked M'raaj-Dar.

"The damn Daedra are holding the city," said Savlian. "And they've put the damn portal in front of the city gates to stop us from retaking it."

"Is the bastard in the city?" asked Grun.

Savlian frowned.

"He means Martin," said Arvina, knocking the dwarf on the head.

"The priest?" said Savlian. "He was in the chapel when they attacked, he could still be in there."

A thoughtful look cross the trio's faces.

"Look, I don't have time for this," said Savlian. "I sent some men into the portal, and none of them have come out, so…"

"Why don't we help you then?" asked Arvina.

Savlian blinked.

"Are you serious?" he asked. "Well, for starters, you could find a way to close the portal and save any of my men in there."

Grun groaned. "Guess we have no choice if we want to find the bastard."

M'raaj-Dar nodded.

"Do you have a sword I can borrow?" the Khajiit asked. "It's going to take more than my magic and claws to handle Daedra, so…"

Savlian pulled out a steel short sword hanging from his waist and handed it to the Khajiit.

"…this will do nicely." he finished.

"The least we could is charge to the portal with you and draw some attention and you lot can go in and do whatever you can." Savlian said.

He began to shout out orders.

"Life is never dull for us, isn't it, Dar?" said Arvina while Savlian began to gather men.

"Nope," admitted the Khajiit. "Two years ago we had to bring down a guild of assassins and now we have to rescue the late Emperor's bas…I mean the Emperor's illegitimate son who could potentially save all of Nirn."

Grun snorted.

"How the hell did I get involved in all of this?" he said.

Just then, Savlian and a group of big soldiers came up to them.

"All right, we're going to break through for you; you just stay behind us until we get to the portal, all right?"

Arvina drew out Sufferthorn and Grun his axe.

"Let's go," said Arvina.

The guards and Savlian formed up and charged at the Daedra with the trio hot on their heels.

The guards behind the barricades fired arrows into the Deadra to support the charge.

Daedra fell left and right as the group charged.

Once they were near the portal, they broke formation and Savlian and his soldiers began to fight their way back out.

"Good luck!" he shouted as he cut down a Scamp. "Go!"

Grun chopped down a Clannfear and cried out to M'raaj-Dar and Arvina: "Let's go!"

M'raaj-Dar hurled an ice bolt at a charging Daedroth, stopping it in its tracks and moved to follow.

Arvina stabbed a Daedra Spider and followed.

The trio jumped through the portal.

The sensation as they traveled through the portal was unpleasant to say the least.

They fell out on the other side.

"By the Fifty Kings…" said Grun, his mouth dropping open in shock.

"By Sithis…" whispered Arvina and M'raaj-Dar silently.

The sight before them was unbelievable.

The ground was ash, it's foliage as deadly-looking as the creatures that reside in the land, its river was molten lava and the sky was red, yet the stars could still be seen.

Upon the land, black, towering structures rose from the land, some ruined and some whole.

It was a hellish sight.

It sent chills down their spines, including Grun.

It was Oblivion.

After awhile, Grun said. "No sense sittin' around here gawpin' at the scenery. Let's get movin'."

Arvina and M'raaj-Dar nodded and followed the dwarf.

As they went down the hill, they could see Daedra roaming the area.

"Never a dull moment, eh?" said the dwarf, tightening his grip on his axe. "Can't believe I'm goin' through all of this for a bastard."

Arvina and M'raaj-Dar agreed with him silently.


so what do you think?? liked that??

hope you did...

anyway...updating might slow down a bit from now on...since i'm starting college...but i'll do my best...

special thanks to 99luftbalons, Vampirika and Gold Ranger for giving me advise and support the whole time...love you guys...thanks a lot!!

chapter 9...coming soon...