CHAPTER FOUR

GRAPPLING WITH THE GUARDIAN

Taking up his pickaxe, Rojack ran towards the chain that rose out of the forest like an evil pillar, briefly trying and failing to get up the slope. After a few shocked seconds, the villagers nervously began to follow him.

After a few minutes, the villagers were huffing and puffing with the uphill effort needed to get to the chain, yet Rojack barely seemed bothered.

"No wonder he's able to work so fast" huffed Jan, one of the miners.

"Tell me about it" hissed Anders, panting and wheezing. "The guy never seems to tire."

Meanwhile, Rojack was powering up a flatter stretch of the forest, moving steadily towards the chain. As he came closer, the vibrations in the earth that he had felt before in the village were getting slightly stronger, and the crunch of pine needles under his feet became louder and louder.

Rojack stopped, looking around attentively. Yes, his suspicions were coming true – the trees appeared to be shedding their foliage frighteningly quickly. In fact, the trees themselves were beginning to look a bit worse for wear, almost as if they were dying-

And Rojack immediately ran ahead, cursing his slow idiocy. That chain, that hook, whatever it was, was poisoning the land, and quickly. It sure as Oblivion wasn't natural.

The vibrations in the ground were increasing to a steady thrum as the clearing where the hook had landed finally came into view. Using a rapid-to-slow breathing technique he'd been taught by another prisoner in exchange for a pipe full of weed while at the Daggerfall Covenant dissenter's camp, Rojack calmed his burning lungs and carried on.

The hook was a ghastly sight – a lethal-looking mass of spikes and barbs resembling a torture device, which dug into the earth almost gleefully. Actually, the more he looked at it, the more Rojack felt he understood. This hook wasn't just a device sent by some malevolent entity, it was a sentient, sadistic creature, brutalizing the ground and gaining a feeling of pleasure from it. The thrumming almost seemed like the tormented cries of the planet itself as it tried to force this abomination from its skin.

The rest of the villagers had begun to arrive, starting with Anders and Jan.

"What is that thing?" asked the fisherman, pointing at the hook, fear etched into the lines of his face.

"No idea" muttered Rojack, cautiously approaching the evil construct.

There were a few murmurs from the increasingly large crowd, and Rojack's heart sank when the accusations began to fly.

"It'll be his lot that sent it!"

"Send it back, you lousy Breton bastard!"

"Piss off, and take your bloody hook with you!"

Steeling himself, Rojack leant forward, and with just the tips of his fingers, touched the chain.

It was colder than the snows at the top of the mountains. It felt colder than space. Colder than the void. Rojack immediately lost circulation in his left hand for a few moments, after only the briefest touch.

"Get out of here!" bellowed Anders, angrily gesturing into the wilderness. "No-one wants you! Fuck off!"

Something was coming, Rojack could feel it. "Get back! Get back!" he bellowed, shooing the villagers away.

"And why should we-" began Anders, before he was cut short.

Something plummeted from the sky. Something big.

A man-sized figure crashed into the ground in front of Rojack, and before the Breton knew what was happening, he was sent hurling backwards by a fist that felt like it was made of boulders. However, as he landed heavily on the dirt ground, Rojack flipped, positioning himself onto his feet again.

The creature in front of him made him want to just lie down again. It was clad in huge plates of spiked black armour, with sinister glowing red lines running through it. It had a similar appearance to the chain that the creature stood in front of.

By far the most sinister, though, was the being inside the armour. Standing at 7 feet tall, its face shone with a bright red hue, small, wicked-looking horns jutted through its forehead, and its coal-black eyes glinted with murderous rage.

And to finish this vision of doom, it unsheathed a short blade from its back.

"Mortals!" it bellowed in a deep, guttural voice. "Who dares challenge me?!"

All in all, the villagers were doing a good job trying not to shout and scream in terror, but they were tipping that way. Gritting his teeth, Rojack stepped forward.

"Begone, beast!" he shouted, gesturing to the sky. "You have no place in Tamriel!"

The creature roared uproariously. "A challenger is near!"

And with those last four words, he charged at Rojack.

The boy just managed to dive sideways in time to avoid the single sweep that would have taken his head off, and retaliated with a swift kick. This was not the greatest ploy, as his ankle caught on one of the sharp edges, leaving a gory scratch up his leg. The monster, however, wasn't even phased.

"Give me a real fight!" it bellowed, raising the sword.

With lightning-fast reflexes, Rojack hurled his pickaxe at the creature, catching it above the eye. A growl of pain and a small flash of blood was what he'd hoped for, and that's what he got.

As the man-thing tried to straighten up, swiping at its cut forehead, Rojack employed an old schoolboy tactic he'd been quite fond of in his childhood. He rushed the creature, placing a hand on its shoulder and abdomen, and pushed hard. It wasn't much, but it sent the creature reeling backwards and down the forest slope, shrieking and cursing all the way.

"Go! GO!" shouted Rojack to the villagers, who were still clustered around the edge of the clearing. That monster would be back quickly, and they needed to be out of harm's way.
The creature struggled back into the clearing, watching Rojack with pure hatred. "You dare wound a Daedra?!" it bellowed.

And again, Rojack cursed himself for not understanding. The darkened sky, the chains, the creature sent to guard them… It could only have been Daedric in nature.

This time, the guardian lunged for him, sword extended, and Rojack couldn't dive out of the way fast enough. The sword just nicked the back of his calf, but the pain was extraordinary. He dreaded to think what a proper wound from that thing would feel like.

The guardian lifted his blooded blade to his nose and sniffed, savouring the stench of iron and oxygen coming from Rojack's red life force. And with an angry howl, it launched itself at him again.

Ignoring the pain in his calf, Rojack rolled backwards and lashed out himself, punching the creature hard in the face. Without even being phased, it grabbed him by the front of his mining shirt and threw him, tearing the garment from the Breton's back.

Rojack landed on his feet on the other side of the clearing, exposing his muscular physique. Cracking his fingers, he beckoned the Daedra over to him.

"You dare try to lead me?!" bellowed the guardian, lunging for him again. This time, Rojack sidestepped and seized its arm and the collar of its armour, hoisted it into the air, and with a shout of effort, hurled it across the clearing in return. It crashed into the chain and roared, standing up immediately, eyes darting across the sky for a few moments.

"Well, you're a tough bastard, I'll give you that" muttered Rojack, picking up his pickaxe again. "I can't say I'm enjoying this, but you are interesting. Irritating, but interesting."

"Bah. Mortals" hissed the guardian, standing up with his blade in the air. "When my task is complete, my master will reward me richly. And you will be trapped forever."

"Who's your master?" asked Rojack, a small smile emerging on his face.

"AAARRGHH!" screamed the Daedra, realising he'd said too much. He lunged for Rojack a third time, and the Breton jumped, kicking off a tree and landing behind him. Seizing hold of both pauldrons on the armour, Rojack jerked the Daedra sideways again and threw him into the forest.

"Stop fighting the inevitable!" bellowed the guardian, almost frantically swiping at the air with his sword. He made one last lunging strike, holding the sword point-first like a rapier, and Rojack seized his chance, spinning around the weapon, grabbing the handle and backslamming the Daedra into a tree. Rojack jerked his head back once, viciously head-butting the guardian in the face, and finally wrestled the sword from his grip.

It was slightly heavier that he was expecting, but it would perform magnificently as Rojack slashed at the guardian's stomach area. There was a lot of resistance, but the blade actually began to pass through the armour, cutting the flesh underneath.

The Daedra screeched in agony, ramming his shoulder into Rojack and sending him flying backwards. The sword fell to the ground, and the guardian wasted no time in retrieving it.

"I will feast on your heart" it hissed, advancing on the boy.

Rojack shuffled backwards and stood up, rooting around for his pickaxe. The guardian ran at him, sword raised, and Rojack reacted with little grace – dropping to the floor and knocking the knees out from under it. The Daedra fell forward, banging its sword against the anchor.

"I don't care where you came from" began Rojack, grabbing the guardian by the ankle and twisting it, "but I'm sending you back there!"

With an almighty SNAP, the ankle broke, and the Daedric Guardian screamed in pain. He lashed out, catching Rojack in the chest again, and tried to stand up.

Grappling with the creature and yanking his sword arm around, Rojack punched him viciously in the slash he'd created on the stomach armour. The guardian fell back, slightly winded, and Rojack pressed on, backhanding him viciously across the face.

The Daedra roared, and Rojack took his last chance. Seizing the sword that hung limply in the exhausted guardian's hand, Rojack span around and cleft its head from its shoulders.

The head of the creature clattered to the floor, but Rojack wasted no time – his calf was throbbing and his strength was beginning to ebb. With one last cry of anger, he leapt forward and scythed through the chain holding the hook to the ground.

The chain instantly retracted and the hook in the ground crumbled to dust as deep, guttural laughing echoed from nowhere.

"Oh mortal, your battles do entertain me."

"Who are you?" asked Rojack, brandishing the sword and looking around.

"Do not think you can harm me, mortal, just because you have destroyed one of my anchors. I am Molag Bal, the Lord of Domination, and I invite you to bend your knee."

"Piss off."

"Submit to me, and I will make you the greatest warrior this pitiful world has ever known. Entire continents will bow before you. Anything you wish for will be fulfilled. All you have to do, is bow before me."

"I stand by my first answer. Piss off, Molag."

"Very well, you fool. Know that I shall enjoy crushing you. Keep the sword. You will need it."

And with that, the voice fell silent and the dark shroud over the sun vanished.