Dovahkiin's effect

Chapter 16: A Shadow Scale No More

After telling the other team about the mission with Grunt and Tali, the shuttle landed in the Normandy and they disembarked. Garrus went back to his "calibrations"; Tali waited for Malen in the shuttle bay, Grunt went back to his room on the fourth floor, Mordin went back to his lab, and Malen went to the Men's restroom to take a much needed shower.

Even though the water was stored on a space ship, Malen had to admit that the water felt nice and warm. While humans and other sentient creatures, except maybe the hanar, get a calming feeling from a shower, Argonians have a much deeper satisfaction and spiritual relaxation from it. Argonians can get anxious and even depressed when away from a source of water in which to submerge themselves in for too long: it's similar to how elcor feel when they space travel for too long.

Malen stepped out of the shower and dried himself off with a towel that he got for himself earlier. After drying off, Malen went back to his room in the shuttle bay. Malen was not expecting for Tali to still be in the bay, but he was glad he would have some company for a while at least.

Malen:" Need me for something? Or am I actually good company? I'm not much of a conversation starter."

Tali:" During Grunt's rite of passage my suit got damaged, could you repair it for me?"

Malen:" Sure I can, but do you have anything else to wear?"

Tali:" I don't. Could you let me borrow something of yours perhaps while I wait?"

Malen:" I don't have any female clothing I'm afraid."

Tali:" You're talking to someone who has lived in an environmental suit most of her life. I'm sure I can wear anything that you can spare."

Malen:" Ok then. Let's see what I have here"

Malen checks the magic satchel underneath his armor for something that would best fit Tali. Eventually he decides that his party cloths would best fit her without making her look to masculine. Malen pulls out his party cloths and shoes.

Malen:" Will these do?"

Tali:" So long as you weren't wearing them when you were in the thresher maw then they will do just fine."

Tali began stripped off her helmet and suit. Malen turned around as to give Tali some privacy.

Tali:" You can look if you want, I don't mind."

Malen's throat got a little dry and he shyly coughed.

Malen:" I'm fine thank you, but you are beautiful."

Tali:" then why don't you want to look?"

Malen:" it's not that I don't want to look it's that I don't want to do anything embarrassing."

Tali gently laughed at that. It seems that Malen was still a bit shy around her when it came to her being naked. After undressing herself, she then grabbed the cloths that Malen gave her and started to put them on. The cloths were a little heavy, but were comfortable and warm.

Tali:" How do I look?"

Malen turned around to look at Tali. Even though she was wearing his cloths, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Malen:" a lot of people from Nirn might mistake you for Dibella, including me."

Tali:" and who is she?" she asked curiously.

Malen:" Dibella is one of the nine divines. She is the goddess of beauty."

Tali blushed and shyly moved her feet and hands in a flattered and cute like fashion.

Tali:" Thanks. If I got any warmer inside I might need to step in a freezer to cool down." She said with a warm laugh.

Malen chuckled at her joke and took her environmental suit to a workbench.

Malen:" what materials is your suit made from?"

Tali:" It's mostly synthetic materials made inside a clean room, but thanks to you it does not need to be made in a clean room, though I will probably disinfect the outside of it anyway. There is actually some of that spare material in one of my suits pockets."

Tali reaches to the backside of her suit that is laying on the workbench and pulls out a bundle of synthetic material and hands them to Malen.

Tali:" Here. These should do."

Malen:" thanks. I'll get to work right away."

Malen beings to work with the synthetic material on the workbench. Malen looks back at Tali and notices the expressions on her face depict that she wants to talk about something else.

Malen:" Anything else you want to talk about?"

Tali:" Yes there is, but only if you want to talk about it."

Malen guesses that Tali wants to talk about something personal.

Malen:" What is it that you want to talk about? You can ask me anything you want Tali."

There is a long pause. Malen guesses that Tali is probably trying to figure out how to ask the question she wants to ask.

Tali:" When you were covered in ashes and stared at me, it felt like I was looking at the heart of the void. The person in front of me was not Malen or even a sentient being, but just the void. For a moment I was a bit scared Malen, not for me, but for you. Can you tell me why you looked like that? Please?" she asks in a loving voice.

Malen's expression first turned into one similar to the one that she just described about, but then turned solemn.

Malen:" Do you really want to know? You may not like what you hear." He asks solemnly and a hint of fear of how Tali would take it.

Tali:" Yes I do. Please tell me."

Malen:" Very well."

Malen is the one telling this part of the chapter to Tali, but I will be narrating it since it's easier for me to tell it to you that way. Also the parts of the story that Malen probably didn't know about that he tells Tali like he does know is that he has the knowledge of the events from Hermaeus Mora's memories.

Malen's story starts like many argonians' lives begin; with their hatching in black marsh. Malen had the fortune/misfortune of being born under the sign of the shadow. Malen's parents' feelings about this were bitter sweet. Their son would be trained and grow up to serve the kingdom of argonian and bring honor to the family, but chances were that after the Dark Brotherhood took him on this day that they would never see him again. When things that are told to happen on one's birth can be exaggerations, but not so much in this case. To help prevent emotional attachment that could impede progress of the individual's training, the parents must drop off the child at a specified location where a Dark Brotherhood member would take the child to a sanctuary. While the child does get to keep the parents' family name, it is often the Dark Brotherhood that gives the child his/her first name, such as this case.

Unlike most newborns who cry on their hatching day, Malen was quiet even when his parents had dropped him off on a short pier and left.

(The reason why Malen did not cry is his dragon soul)

It did not take long for a member of the Brotherhood to arrive. The member is an argonian male with gray scales wearing black robes and a hood over his eyes.

The robed argonian, Malen Tarkier, noticed how silent the child was and the cold gleam in his white glowing eyes. As he picked up the child and held him just below his left shoulder.

Tarkier:" This child will become a great killer, perhaps the greatest in argonian and even the Dark Brotherhood has ever seen. I'll make sure of that!" he thought to himself.

After several hours of riding in a boat and traversing through dense swamp land, Tarkier and the child arrived to a lone island in the middle of a shallow lake. Not too far from the shore of the small island was a door built into the side of a rock face. The door was dark red and black with a skull and black hand adorning it. As Tarkier approached the door a cold whisper called out from the door.

Dark door:" What is the greatest gift of life?"

Tarkier:" Death my brother!"

Dark door:" Welcome home." It says as it opens inwards.

The door opened into a barely lit staircase and a dimly lit room of stone with a small desk in front of 3 archways leading to separate areas (Arena/ training grounds, living quarters, and master's room)

An argonian with a dark green complexion wearing red and black robes was sitting at the desk, filling out contracts. (This was the master of the sanctuary)

He looks up and notices Tarkier and the child.

?:" Another shadow scale Malen?"

Malen:" Yes Zerus I do. He comes from the Katarn family: their first son I do believe. This one has great potential!"

Zerus:" Indeed? To give such praise this early is unprecedented of you Malen."

Malen:" This one does not cry, and his gaze is cold. If he does not exceed my expectations then I will make him!"

Zerus:" No one here doubts your determination Malen. You are the best assassin here, I just happened to be here first and that's why I'm master. I hope you don't end up killing him before he has had the chance to prove himself by killing an unworthy brother or sister."

Malen:" I will not waste such a jewel of potential, but he will know pain and I will make him not care about it!"

Zerus:" We will just have to see won't we? He's all yours."

Malen:" I would have it no other way."

Malen takes Katarn down the middle archway that leads to a hallway that splits off to left and right directions with doors a few feet apart from each other taking up the wall. Malen walks to the middle door and opens it. It is a moderate sized room with a book shelf at the back corner of the room. The night stand next to the bed illuminates the only light in the room. The bed is a plain brown bed with 1 pillow and a dull wooden frame. A cup and iron dagger lay next to the candle on the night stand. The cup is filled with hist sap. Malen places the child next to the left foot of the bed and gets down to his knees with his head just over the side of the bed. He places his hands in front of his face in a praying posture and bows his head.

Malen:" Sithis. I have been a humble and faithful servant for as long as I can remember. I have asked for so little from you except to serve you and to please you. I pray to you for the only request that I desire to be fulfilled and my payment for this request is this sanctuary and everyone in it that I am aloud to give as an offering. My request, Sithis, Is to make this child into a legend beyond legends and for him to carry my name throughout time. I wish to be known as the one who trained and raised the greatest warrior, fighter, destroyer in all of Nirn's history and future. I ask only this my lord."

Sithis was pleased with this deal since it would make this ordinary sanctuary into a symbol of his will and he was planning on making the child into the listener anyway so why not make him into a great symbol of his strength.

A cold whisper:" Your prayer is answered my child."

It sounded like the door, but far colder and darker in nature. The room itself became covered in a thin layer of ice, but only for a moment. As soon as the echoes of the whisper to faded out, the room returned to normal.

Malen:"…. Thank you Sithis. I will not fail you!"

Malen was shocked beyond belief and hope. Did Sithis himself, the supposed creator of the mundus and the one who was before aedra or Daedra answer him? The cold that covered the room was not of magic, for it would have left some kind of residue when used, but this cold felt like the void itself. Tarkier thought for a moment that he was dead, but still managed to hear the whisper that answered him. No one but the Dread Father himself could make such a change to a place with merely his presence.

Malen got up from his kneeling position and picked up Katarn. He put him on the bed and set the cup that was on the night stand on the floor next to a skever hole to the left of the bed. Malen wanted the child to learn how to kill in order to acquire sustenance. While this may seem harsh, cruel, and a bit stupid if he wanted to keep the child alive, he was not going to just let the child die for no reason, but nor would he pass on a opportunity to train the child as soon as possible. Before Malen left the room he looked at the child.

Malen:" Fight, survive, learn, kill, and be strong… my legacy."

He shuts the bedroom door behind him. He then goes into the next door on his left and sits on his bed and waits for there to be noises from the other room.

Katarn still does not cry, but instead investigates his surroundings. While the room was completely dark now since the candle was blown out, Katarn was still able to see as if it was still light because of his inborn night vision. Katarn crawled off the side of the bed and landed on the stone floor. Katarn was not injured from the fall due to the spikes on his head being strong enough to take all of the force of the landing. Getting back upright, Katarn notices the cup next to the skever hole. The aroma from the cup was intoxicating to him and he slowly began to crawl towards it.

Before Katarn could get to the cup a skever had come out of the hole almost as if it was pushed out. The skever looked at Katarn and growled as menacingly as it could. Katarn was not deterred by this and growled back at the skever. While Katarn was being very serious about his growl as to say "get the hell away from my cup!" it would sound cute to anyone else who was watching.

The skever lunged at Katarn with killing intent, but before it made contact, Malen grabbed it by the neck with his right hand and slammed the skever backwards into the ground. The skever struggled to get free, but Katarn had crawled on top of the skever and applied pressure with both hands until the skever stopped moving.

While Katarn may have been able to kill the skever, he was far too young and uneducated to know what he just did to the skever. Noticing that the skever did not move when he crawled off, Katarn crawled to the cup uninterrupted and began to drink from the cup as best he could at the time, though some of it spilling on the floor.

In the skever hole an eye peered out of it and looked at Katarn. The face that the eye belongs to smiled deeply with satisfaction.

Tarkier:" yes he will be great!"

This routine followed every night. In the morning Tarkier would educate Katarn as best he could without being nurturing in anyway: using pain instead of a reward system to motivate him to learn and understand. When Katarn was tall enough to reach for the dagger on the night stand, Tarkier had let in a wild lion enter the room through a secret door that opened up into his room. Tarkier would interfere if he heard noises that sounded like that the lion was winning.

Tarkier could hear the lion growl softly but menacingly. It never raised its voice any louder as Tarkier could hear the sounds of slicing and a liquid falling to the floor. Tarkier decided to investigate and found Katarn sitting on top of the dead lion with the dagger in his right hand. Katarn looked up at his master with a cold, emotionless gleam in his eyes. Tarkier pleased with the unexpected amount of success with the test, Malen decided that Katarn was old enough to be taught techniques and styles of one handed combat (Malen's favored form of combat)

Along with the sword training that he received, Malen's education in language and stealth was also furthered. The tests that were done at night were also Katarn's food that he received since Malen wanted him to be completely self-sufficient.

14 years later:

14 years of pain, of killing, of learning, surviving, fighting, and becoming stronger and deadlier. Katarn had not only exceeded Malen's expectations, but running ahead of them at ludicrous speeds but the success came with a price. As the days turned into years, a cold darkness was gripping Katarn's heart, preventing him from being satisfied with anything that he did. Malen thought that now was the best time to truly test Katarn's abilities. He could feel that this was the day that his prayer would truly begin to take shape.

A knock came at the door of Katarn's bedroom.

Katarn:" Yes? Come in."

The door opens revealing Tarkier.

Katarn:" O it's you master! What do you need of me?"

Tarkier:" It's time for you to truly prove yourself to me. Follow."

Tarkier motions with his right hand for Katarn to follow him. Katarn follows him out of the living quarters and into the arena. The room is dark except for torches lighting up the audience area. In the audience stood at least 20 masters and their students. At the other end of the circled arena (try to think of it as the arena from the imperial city if that helps you visualize the arena, except it being indoors and much darker of course.) was a vibrant green skinned argonian in assassin armor with a steel short sword just like Katarn had.

While the audience area was lit up, it didn't do much at all to light up the actual arena.

Tarkier:" This match is between Katarn and Veezara. The winner of this match is the one that is still alive. The winner will be officially recognized as a Dark Brotherhood member. The loser will be fed to the beasts in storage. You may begin when ready!"

While Veezara was no slouch with the blade, he unfortunately didn't hold a candle to Katarn's skills in swordsmanship. Being almost completely in the dark did not help his case either, though he could see Katarn's glowing eyes piercing the darkness. Katarn quickly dashed forward towards Veezara. Without being able to see the rest of Katarn's body, Veezara only had the option of swinging at where he saw Katarn's eyes.

While Veezara was having trouble seeing Katarn, Katarn had no trouble seeing Veezara. Katarn gracefully dodged Veezara's swing and grabbed the offending limb. With a simple slice of his sword, Katarn cut the tendons in Veezara's right wrist, making the hand useless to use. Veezara grunted in pain, but did not scream out. With another quick slash Katarn cut Veezara's other wrist in the same way. Katarn then closed his eyes and rolled silently around Veezara.

Not being able to see Katarn's glowing eyes and not being able to hear his silent roll put Veezara in a very bad situation. Veezara began to panic and did his best to make a guard stance. Katarn got behind Veezara and slashed the tendons just above the heels of Veezara's feet. Struggling to not scream in pain, Veezara feel to the floor and soon felt the tip of a blade on his throat.

There was strong clapping in the audience.

Tarkier:" Very good my student. Now finish him!"

As Katarn looked down at his opponent he saw emotions he never saw before: fear, disappointment, shame, and a little bit of despair. Katarn tried to force his hand to kill his opponent, but the cold darkness in his heart gripped him so much that he began to feel absolutely nothing. While Katarn wanted to do what he was trained all of his life to do, but this nothingness inside his heart was too much to bear. Even though Katarn was raised in a place of killers and assassins, he was still a social creature. Katarn needed more than nothingness to live on.

The harder Katarn pressed the blade to Veezara's throat, the more this nothingness consumed him.

Tarkier:" What are you waiting for?! FINISH HIM!"

Katarn knew that the closer the blade was to achieving his goal, the greater the darkness spread in him.

Katarn:" I….need more than this….. I want something more. No more darkness. No more hunger. If this is what it means to be a shadow scale then no more."

Katarn slowly rose up to his feet and stood in front of his vulnerable opponent.

Katarn:" I am a shadow scale no more!"

This has never happened in the sanctuary's history before. The audience and Tarkier were flabbergasted by this, but Tarkier was not has dismayed as you may think he was.

Tarkier:" perhaps this will lead into something else that will still fulfill my prayer."

Katarn went up to the nearest weapon rack and pulled out a bow and some arrows. With almost pinpoint accuracy Katarn shot the bow at each of the torches and snuffed out all the light in the room. What happened next can only be described as a massacre or a unfair game of blind man's buff.

There were no screams, no cries for help: there was only the sound of metal entering and leaving flesh followed by the splashes of blood hitting the floor.

The last one left alive, besides Veezara and Katarn, was Tarkier. Tarkier brought out a lit torch and raised his sword in defense. Katarn was facing away from Tarkier and seemed to pick up some dirt from the ground with his left hand in a quick motion. With lighting fast action time, Katarn spun around and flung the dirt at Tarkier's eyes and swung his sword on the same spin. With the dirt obscuring his vision, Tarkier was unable to defend against the slash that cut a deep gash on the right side of his throat. With a second strike, Katarn impaled his sword through Tarkier's sternum.

Tarkier fell to the ground and was bleeding out, but before he dead he spoke to Katarn.

Tarkier:" At last it is done. My legacy has been set into motion. You are the culmination of a lifetime of searching. Go and make your legend be known, I hold no anger towards you, for how can I? You have become everything I hoped you would be. I name you Malen Katarn, My legacy….." he said with his last breath.

Nothing. Malen felt nothing over his master's death and he didn't understand why. This confusion drove him a little mad as he ran out of the sanctuary to get away from the place that caused him so much emptiness.

Malen kept running and running. Past bog, swamp, forest, and hills until he found an abandoned shack on the shore of a small river just on the edge of Cyrodiil. Malen was very tired now since he had been running for almost an entire day. He went into the shack and noticed while there was no structural damage to it, there was only a bed and bookshelf in it. He went in and rested his head and fell asleep.

Days after days pasted. The harsh training Tarkier put him through had helped him to hunt and survive by himself. Since he was away from the Dark Brotherhood, the coldness on his heart went away, giving way to just how much his spirit was really starving. Desire of understanding others and companionship filled every empty corner of his being, but he didn't have a home or money so where else could he live?

20 years later:

His skills in combat, hunting, killing have increased greatly over the years, but so has his desire for companionship. It eventually reach the tipping point and Malen decide to explore the world. So he left the shack that was his shelter for 20 years.

He tried to find friends in the imperial city, but his ragged appearance prevented him from entering the city walls. Dismayed, Malen continued to move on.

Eventually he came upon a land that felt familiar to him. It was cold, like the sanctuary, but this time he could feel the cold. An imperial patrol had appeared behind him and captured him for entering illegally into Skyrim.

This is the part where Malen tells of his time and adventures in Skyrim to Tali that we both know of. He continues this until he reaches his current situation.

Malen:" and that's pretty much my life story."

Tali's eyes were red with salty tears as she waited for him to complete the story. She grabbed him rapped her arms over his and squeezed. Malen could hear her sobbing.

Tali:" I… I didn't know."

Malen:" You couldn't have known. It's all right."

Tali:" No! It's not alright Malen! You have been struggling by yourself since you were born!"

Malen:" I have Tali… I really have."

Malen rests his head on Tali's left shoulder and begins to cry on it.

I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter! It depicts Malen's origin story and how he had to struggle since birth to get to where he is now. PM me what you think of the chapter if you want to, and leave a review please: It really helps motivate me to write more.