AN: So hey all! Again the response to this story has been amazing, thanks again for that I really do appreciate it! With that in mind I managed to get the next chapter out, so I hope you all enjoy it and leave a review! Also again, feel free to PM me if you have any questions and what not, I am usually good at answer those.

Hope you enjoy the chapter, and thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Elder Scolls or Danmachi.

( - )

(Last Time)

This elf would be the prize jewel of her Familia, her collection. The single most valuable and priceless soul she would ever take, and who knows, maybe he might even be the one to truly steal her heart once and for all, just as she was going to steal his.

Freya's smile widened at that thought, her violet eyes practically glowing in the gloom of her room, even as she continued to stare hungrily down at the city below.

She couldn't wait to see that elf again, just so she could bask in the glorious, unnaturalness of his kaleidoscopic soul!

( - )

Chapter 6

( - )

(With Azoth)

The room at the back of the shop was large and dimly lit. The only light in the room seemed to come from a large forge at the far end of the room. With the deep red glow emanating from the forge casting ominous shadows on the walls.

Stepping inside, the door closing behind him with a dull thud, Azoth, couldn't help but look around the room in slight wonder. The walls of the room were covered in a multitude of wooden racks, some of which he could see held gleaming weapons of all shapes, sizes and styles. Azoth was even able to catch sight of a curved, single edged blade that looked startlingly similar to the Akaviri style swords the dragon slaying group, 'The Blades', traditionally wielded.

Looking around at the rest of the wall, Azoth, spied out several armour pieces; such as gauntlets, padrones, full suits and breastplate; both light and heavy, and of all different metals and styles.

Also, along another wall of the room, just next to the forge, he could entire an entire rack that was filled with the tools of the trade. Including, oddly enough, one hammer, that, instead of having a metal head like most hammers, instead had a head which seemed to be made of a single jagged purple crystal.

It was unusual, but considering that the goddess who used this forge was the, Goddess of Smith, he decided he would give her the benefit of the doubt. Considering she had an eternities worth of experience working a forge, she likely trumped his own five years of experience, even if he was, in his own, humble opinion, a prodigy.

"What is it? I thought I had said that I was not to be disturbed!" A strong, confident voice sounded out form the far end of the room, her voice audible over the crackle of the fire in the forge, and the occasional ringing sound of metal on metal.

Looking over to the forge, Azoth, quickly found the source of the voice.

It was a strikingly beautiful red haired woman, who at present was wearing a soot stained white shirt, a pair of tight black trouser, and a dark, leather apron.

Unfortunately though that was all he could see of them slim, redhead thus far, as currently the woman had her back to him, her attention instead on a glowing bar of metal in front of her, a large hammer in her hands as she struck the glowing metal again and again. The movements of her hammer causing the shadows on the wall all around her to shift and twist with her every strike.

"I was not aware, but still, I am sorry to have disturbed you." Azoth replied, stepping deeper into the room, his violet eyes still flicking this way and that as he eyed up the many finished weapons on the walls, and the occasional moulds of weapons that the goddess had yet to build.

They all looked pretty beautiful.

Hearing his voice, the red haired smith paused in her actions for a moment, before without a word she stood up, placing her hammer down on a nearby side table, as she instead thrust the glowing bar of metal into a bucket of water. The water instantly exploding with a loud hiss, and a number of wisps of steam.

"I don't recognise your voice." Hephaestus said softly, still not looking at Azoth as she instead brought the quenched bar of steel up to her face, no doubt inspecting it with her practiced gaze, no doubt looking to see if any weaknesses had formed in the metal. "Why are you here?"

"I want to join your Familia." Azoth said bluntly, waiting patiently as the tall, lithe redhead continued to inspect the metal bar, before, without a word she laid it down on the same table she had placed her hammer.

Tilting his head at this, Azoth watched the woman's profile, admiring the shape of her face and body.

She was gorgeous, almost inhumanly so, which was ironic considering she wore the form of a human, just like the rest of her kin.

Which, thinking back on it now, was something that he felt was a bit of an odd choice? Why did the gods choose to copy human form? Why not one of the fairer races, like the elves? Or the stronger, hardier races like the dwarfs or one of the animal people? Why humans?

Not that he had anything against humans of course. No he had lain with human women, just like he had with elf women and even at one point a Khajiit woman. Suffice to say, that had been an unusual experience. Still he was not as prejudice as the other elves, his rough upbringing and his multitude of friends and companions of all races had assured that much.

That said though, if given the choice, he would say he preferred the more delicate, and fairer features of elves, more than he did the homely looks of humans. Though that was just in a physical sense. Azoth knew, just as most of the residents of Skyrim, that where elves were concern beauty was sometimes only skin deep. He had met the Thalmor after all.

Still, in spite of his personal, superficial preferences, a beautiful woman was a beautiful woman. It was an immutable fact, and the black leather eye patch she had covering her right eye and a part of her face, instead of taking away from her beauty it in fact added a bit of mystic to it.

Smiling slightly, Azoth, would say he was pretty interested, even if the goddess in question seemed oblivious to his inner thoughts.

"Oh do you?" Hephaestus said lightly, fully facing Azoth now, her single visible eye narrowing as she began to approach him, her gaze moving up and down his armour form, noticeably taking in the glowing hilt of the sword at his hip.

"Yes," Azoth nodded, pulling his mind back to the here and now. He was here to speak to his goddess and request a place in her Familia, he wasn't here just to admire her appearance, nor to attempt to bed her. "I recently arrived in the city, and have been looking for a Familia to join. After a bit of looking around and research, I came to the conclusion that your Familia, the Hephaestus Familia, would be the best fit for me!"

"Oh did you?" Hephaestus replied, her lips twitching upwards in amusement now, even as she walked over to a nearby wall, and with a bit of fiddling activated a magical lantern, brightening up the room, enough for the both of them to fully make out what the other looked like.

Narrowing her eye at the sight of him, Hephaestus crossed the distance between them in moments. The tall, yet still shorter than him, woman reaching out without a word as she began to inspect his armour, like an expert might appraise an item that had their momentary interest. Her hands lightly tracing the large rents in the breast plate and on the cauldrons, even as slight shimmer like film formed over the metal at her touch. Evidence of the enchantments that had been laid up on.

"This is odd, this armour has been enchanted, but in way I have never seen before." The redhead mused to herself, her hands continuing to examine the armour as she spoke, her every touch causing the minute runes inscribed on the armour plates to light up faintly. "The metals it is made up of too, some of them are unfamiliar, and the technique used to forge it… Again, from a first glance it doesn't seem like something that I have seen before, how odd..."

"I made it myself, and it has served me very well. Unfortunately though I picked a fight with a foe that was far stronger than I thought he was. The damage done to my armour is evidence enough of how close my foe came to killing me." Azoth said lightly, not stopping the inquisitive goddess as she continued to look at and examine his armour.

The scent coming off of her, of both fire, smoke and oddly cinnamon, filling his nose.

"You made this?" Hephaestus asked, stepping back now, her single eye locking with his own.

"Yes," Azoth nodded. "I finished it about three months ago, a replacement for an older set I had made previously, and one with more, and stronger enchantments, on it than my previous set."

Hephaestus nodded at that, seemingly taking him at his word. "What is your name?"

"The name's Azoth." Azoth replied with a slight grin. "And like I said, I am new to the city. I'm not new to Adventuring though, as you might have guessed. No, before coming here I was the Champion of another goddess, Meridia, and the only member of her… I guess you could say, Familia."

"Meridia, it's not a name I'm familiar with. Still, what did you mean when you said that you 'were' a member of her Familia?" Hephaestus asked.

"I meant it in the fact that I am a member no longer. Meridia is in the heavens, and I've have been cut loose." Azoth shrugged, telling a half-truth here, as despite requesting membership into this goddess's Familia, he didn't know her, or trust her enough, to tell her his entire life story.

"I see," Hephaestus said with a nod, her gaze shifting down to the sheathed sword at his side, and the axe on his back. "There is a strength to your presence, and, judging by what I have seen of the quality of you armour, and likely the quality of your weapons too…, well to me, all of these suggest that you are a First Class Adventurer."

"Most probably, I can't say I am aware of my current status though." Azoth shrugged.

"Hmm," Hephaestus hummed, stepping forward once more, only now she wasn't looking at his armour, but instead into his face. "An albino elf, wearing masterfully crafted enchanted armour and wielding magic weapons. I would have thought that an Adventurer of your strength and stature would be well known, even if you are new to Orario like you say."

"The world is a big place." Azoth shrugged easily. "And I always liked roaming around."

"But not anymore?" Hephaestus asked lightly.

"No, not for the moment." Azoth confirmed before he paused and gave Hephaestus a speculative look. "I have a goal at the moment. I want to forge myself a new set of armour, better than my current one. On top of that I want to get stronger than I am at the moment. For that reason I want to join your Familia, so I can work and experiment with material in a forge and have access to the equipment and tools I want, and also so I can join the other members of your Familia in supporting the Freya and Loki Familia's when they go down to the deeper floors of the Dungeon."

Hephaestus nodded in response to this, her expression curious and not at all offended as he explained quite bluntly his reason for wanting to join her Familia. Making it clear that her Familia was a means to an end, or at least for the moment.

Then again Hephaestus was probably used to selfish mortals by this point, and probably knew that everyone that had joined her Familia had had a reason for doing so, a reason beyond just becoming a member of her family.

"You're blunt, and pretty upfront, I like that. On top of that you've not lied to me once during this conversation. Half-truths yes, but you've not lied to me." Hephaestus finally said after a few moments of contemplation.

Azoth cocked an eyebrow as he heard that, a surprised and curious expression on his face.

"You clearly don't know, but gods can tell when mortals are lying to them." Hephaestus said in answer to his unasked question.

"Useful skill," Azoth said dryly.

"I know," the redhead smiled, before with a slight hum she brought her hand up to her mouth and continued to eye Azoth speculatively. "Now tell me, Azoth, you mentioned wanting to get stronger and wanting to forge a new set of armour. That is something I can understand, and can respect, and support you on. But you never told me why?"

"To challenge the bastard that did this to me, and kill him." Azoth said bluntly, gesturing to the mangled remains of his armour as he did so.

"And who is this 'bastard'? I hope it is a monster and not another Adventurer, because I will tell you right here and now; I will not allow you into this Familia if you are planning on challenging and killing a member of another Familia and starting a war!" Hephaestus replied, her tone turning firmer and sharper as she did so.

"You don't have to worry about that." Azoth replied, waving her concerns away. "My foe is indeed a monster, a giant, One-Eyed Black Dragon, I believe you should know his name?"

"Alduin…" Hephaestus whispered, her face suddenly going taught, even as her now folded arms visibly tightened. "The last of the Three Great Beasts, and the most powerful!"

"Indeed," Azoth nodded curtly, locking eyes with her now. "I fought Alduin not to long ago, and I wounded him. But alas, despite that I was not able to beat him. Instead he beat me, and then flung me away into the ether and disappeared to who knows where. When I awoke, injured and broken, I was only a few miles from Orario."

Hephaestus opened her mouth at that, but no sound came out, instead she just gazed at him with a mixture of shock, awe and was that possibly concern?

"If you can tell when mortals are lying like you say, then you should know that everything I told you just now, was the truth." Azoth said bluntly.

Hephaestus closed her mouth and nodded.

"So that is my goal, I want to get stronger, strong enough to hunt down and kill Alduin the World Eater once and for all!" Azoth stated, standing taller as he did so. A sudden fire burning through his veins as he vocalised his goal. "So what do you say, will you let me join your Familia?"

Noticeably, Hephaestus, didn't reply at first, instead she continued to give him a sharp, analysing look. Her gaze roving over his armour and weapons, and then back to his face. There was an inscrutable gleam in her eye as she did this, a look that left Azoth uncomfortable.

He honestly didn't know what this goddess was thinking.

As the seconds stretched on and nearly a minute passed though, Hephaestus, finally spoke up.

"I will allow you to become a member of my Familia, Azoth." The red head said slowly and carefully.

Azoth grinned as he heard that, already he could feel his mind racing as he thought about what he wanted to do first.

"But first I want to see an example of your work. Your armour, although probably once magnificent, is too damaged for me to properly examine and fairly judge." Hephaestus said lightly, cutting off any celebration on Azoth's part. "It is the way I do things. Regardless of what I have seen and heard from you, and the feats you might have accomplished. A person can only become a member of my Familia if they can impress me with their craft!"

Azoth, instead of being offended or irritated, just shrugged and grinned. After talking with Mia he had expected this much.

With that in mind he placed his Ebony Helmet under one of his arms, and then unsheathed the Daedric Dagger from his belt, once again twirling it through his fingers with ease before he offered it to the redhead handle first.

"This is a dagger I forged for myself a few weeks ago. It's got two enchantments on it, one which allows it to absorb magic, and another that will cause temporary paralysis." Azoth said, giving a brief description of the enchantments on the blade, even as Hephaestus took it from him, and began to examine it closely.

"The metal this is made of, what ore is it?" She asked, carefully running a finger down the blade, testing the edge, after which she brought it up to her eye and sighted down the edge, testing for any rolls, nicks, notches or bends in the blade.

"It's made of ebony ore, the same metal that my armour is made out of." Azoth replied easily, watching the goddess marvel over the construction of the dagger. It was indeed a pretty nice piece of work, not his best of course, but still excellent.

"It's surprisingly light, but has a formidable edge to it. The durability of it too, it's not indestructible like a Durandal blade but it is still remarkable strong. But there is something more to this, this isn't like a normal magic blade, the way it has been enchanted is different, and the method of its construction…" Hephaestus trailed off here, her brow furrowed in consternation. "It's like nothing I've seen before."

"The materials I used for it are pretty rare. The ore that went into it, and the powerful monster heart that was used in its crafting. A monster whose blood was used to quench the blade, and whose flesh was cast into the coals during the heating process and whose strength and power was imbued into the blade." Azoth said, a slight smile playing about his face as he remembered fighting the Dremora whose heart he had harvested for this blade.

It was a hard won fight against a fully armoured foe, a foe that had also been wielding a giant flaming great sword at the time, and who he had met on the peak of a mountain. The Dremora in question having been one of the ones used by the Daedric Prince, Mehrunes Dagon, to guard his shrine in the northwest of Skyrim.

Hephaestus's single eye flickered up to gaze at Azoth intently as she heard his words. "That's certainly a unique way to use monster parts in the forging process. Still, it's not the weirdest I've heard, over the years many of the smiths in my Familia have experimented and tested out a multitude of different techniques; from the odd to the downright bizarre."

"That's how our craft progresses; through trial and error. If you don't dare to test the limits or try something new, then you'll never improve, and will instead remain stagnant." Azoth shrugged.

"Well said," Hephaestus said lightly, before with a smile she handed the blade back to Azoth. "The dagger is flawless. If you still wish to, I would be happy to have you as a member of my Familia!"

"Brilliant!" Azoth grinned, his violet eyes gleaming with anticipation as he sheathed his dagger.

"Okay, well get out of that armour then and take your shit off," Hephaestus continued, a slight smirk on her face as she sure the bemused expression on Azoth's face. "I'll need to give you my Falna."

( - )

(Sometime later)

Entering the Hephaestus Familia's manor, Forgefire, the home of all of its thirty seven members, including the goddess herself, Azoth had to admit he was impressed.

The manor how was large, and incredibly grand, certainly worthy of a Familia that was apparently as wealthy and influential as the Hephaestus Familia was. With the manor house noticeably having a set of bronze gated, stone wall surrounding the manor's gardens. The Familia's emblem, of two hammers crossed over a volcano, proudly displayed over both the gates to the compound and over the front door of the manor itself.

Using the bronze key Hephaestus had given him, and her instructions for where their home was, Azoth, unlocked the gate and entered the compound. His gaze moving this way and that as he walked through the immaculately kept gardens, and the beautiful fountains and statues that decorated it, even as he followed the main pathway up to where the manor's front doors were.

Usually, according to Hephaestus, a member of a new Familia would be shown around by another member of the Familia, or by the goddess herself. Unfortunately though for Azoth, the Hephaestus Familia was a bit different than most.

Most of the Familia at present were either working in their own individual forges and workshops, and wasn't that a massive, and unexpected, boon, he now had his own private workshop/ forge. That or they were working in one of the shops that the Familia owned, either on the fourth or eighth floor of the Tower of Babel. Or finally, they were in the Dungeon, either in groups or as members of other parties; searching around for more materials or to grind Extalia to increase their 'levels'; and wasn't that a weird concept that did not quite understand yet.

Shaking his head at that, Azoth, continued up to the front doors and opened them, a smile on his face as he looked around. The place was probably larger than, Dragonreach, the Hold's keep back in Whiterun.

Quickly entering the manor's majestic entrance hall, Azoth, continued to look around in wonder, eyeing up the many weapons and examples of the different members skills that had been placed on the walls as decoration as he did so.

Personally speaking, he didn't like the idea of the weapons he had crafted being left to gather dust.

That said though, he would admit that he could at least understand the desire to display an example of your work for all to see, even if the things he crafted he either used until they were destroyed, or sold on. It was a point of pride.

As he thought that, Azoth, paused and began to inspect some of the weapons on the walls. Deep down he knew he was being a little bit hypocritical in his thinking. After all back in his room in Jorrvaskr, and in his house, Breezehome, he had a multitude of weapons, armour and different books and knickknacks he had picked up during the course of his adventuring, all of which was gathering dust. On top of that he had a place in Riften and in Windhelm too, both of which were also filled with clutter.

Shaking his head at that, Azoth, tore his gaze away from a massive, and impressively crafted, double bladed battle-axe, one which had apparently been crafted by someone called, Tsubaki Collbrande, and instead began to ascend the grand staircase. It was time to find his room, get off his armour and settle in.

Hephaestus, after giving him his Falna, and giving him the key and instructions to where the manor was, had then just told him to take any of the un-used rooms, all of which would be unlocked, and just make himself comfortable until she returned.

After that, and later in the evening after the stores had been closed, she had said that she would call for a feast and have all of the available members of the Familia gather so they could meet him and welcome him properly into the Familia

On top of that she had also said that she would show him to his personal forge, and introduce him to the member of the Familia that would be showing him the ropes of Orario, and who would take him to the Guild to get him both register, a Guild advisor, so that he could start venturing down into the depths of the Dungeon. A necessary bit of bureaucracy that he would have to bear with.

Azoth smiled at that. He suspected that there was a lot more that Hephaestus wanted to say to him, after all he had seen the look on her face after she had given him her Falna, and read his 'status'.

She had pretty much said as much after reading it, her one visible eye having gone wide and her mouth slack as she had done so.

In fact she had said that she would discuss his status with him after the feast tonight, and would talk with him about the duties, responsibilities and perks he would have now that he was a member of her Familia.

Azoth let out a light chuckle at that, ascending the staircase as he did so. This was certainly going to be a new and novel experience, and one he was very much looking forward too.

( - )

(Back in the Tower of Babel, with Hephaestus)

Sitting down beside her forge her previous work completely forgotten for the moment, Hephaestus, the Goddess of Smithing, couldn't help but stare down at the piece of paper in front of her in both shock and wonder/ Her hands shaking slightly as she ran her eye over what was written on the piece of paper in front of her.

She had known that Azoth was strong. The elf had just had that kind of aura, and judging by what little she had seen of his weapons, and the remnants of his armour, she had also known he was both a skilled blacksmith and an experienced warrior. That much had all been obvious from a glance, any god or goddess worth their salt would have been able to tell.

Plus, the mere fact that he had managed to not only fight the last of the Great Beasts, the One-Eyed Black Dragon, Alduin, and survived, was evidence enough of his strength! Though she had to admit that even now she still had trouble believing him, such was the enormity of the feat, even though she had both heard and felt the truth in his words.

Still, despite all of that she had never expected his status or Level to be this high.

Reaching up, she absentmindedly scratched at the skin under her eyepatch, even as she read Azoth's status off of the page once again.

( - )

Azoth

[Level Six]

Strength: B707

Endurance: S999

Dexterity: C615

Agility: C632

Magic: E467

Skills:

Champion of Meridia: All stats are doubled when fighting against undead.

Chosen of Akotosh: Can speak in the ancient language of the dragons, and is capable of absorbing the souls of any dragons he slays, and using the power and knowledge he receives from these devoured souls to wield the power of the dragon language, the Thu'um.

Werewolf: Is immune to all diseases, and has enhanced strength, speed, durability and regeneration, especially at night. Can take on a bestial form at will.

Development Abilities:

High Enchanter (B)

Master Blacksmith (B)

Abnormal Resistance (D)

Magic Resistance (H)

Spirit Healing (H)

Swordsman (I)

Magic:

Tamrielic Magic

( - )

Staring again at the words and numbers on the piece of parchment in front of her, Hephaestus, couldn't help but shake her head at her good fortune.

There were only a dozen Level Six Adventurers in Orario, and probably only a score or so in the entire world, and her Familia now had one, and probably one of the strongest ones at that.

Without a doubt the Snow Elf; and honestly she didn't even know there was such a race, and she was a god, was the strongest member in their Familia. Hell, he was probably one of the strongest Adventurers in Orario at the moment, and he was a member of her Familia.

Hephaestus couldn't help but smile at that thought, even as she imagined how her friends, Loki, Hestia and Freya, would react to the news that she had a Level Six of her own. She could just imagine Loki and Hestia throwing a tantrum at her good fortune, and Freya's bemusement at missing out on such a powerful child.

That said, despite being glad to have him, she knew that his presence did present a few issues.

Hephaestus frowned at that thought.

Previously, before Azoth had joined, the half-dwarf and Captain of the Familia, Tsubaki Collbrande, at Level Five had been the most powerful member of the Familia.

All the other members of her Familia had been lower ranked. In fact she had had; one Level Five, three Level Fours, five Level Threes, ten Level Twos and twenty six Level Ones.

Her Familia was maybe not as strong or as big as either Freya's, Loki's Ganesha's or even Ishtar's Familia. But had still be one of the stronger ones in the city.

On top of which there had been a hierarchy in her Familia, with her, and her Captain, Tsubaki, at the top and the rest below them.

Now that Azoth had joined though, the newest member of the Familia was also the strongest in the Familia, and probably one of the best Smiths too judging by his skills and the examples of his craft she had seen thus far.

A person didn't get Development Abilities like; High Enchanter and Master Blacksmith, for no reason after all, in fact, Hephaestus, had never even seen those two particular abilities before. Which meant that they may in fact be unique to him, and that was not counting the whole host of other skills, Azoth, possessed.

That said though, from what she could infer, she suspected that, judging by these two skills, Azoth might be capable of making magic weapons on a par with the Crozzo Magic Swords, if not stronger than the originals.

Again, she couldn't believe her good fortune!

Hephaestus shook her head at that. She was still at a bit of a loss for what to do.

With such a powerful person now in her Familia, she knew she would need to be careful in how she approached things. She didn't want to alienate the other members by just giving him the perks his level and skills deserved, despite him having just joined. At the same time though she didn't want to disadvantage Azoth by not giving him these perks. No, she wanted to help him grow, and to achieve his goal.

It was complicated, and thinking on it now, she knew it wasn't something that she felt she could deal with on her own.

'I'll ask her about it,' Hephaestus thought to herself, folding the sheet with Azoth's status on it up as she did so and sticking it in the pocket of her trousers, even as she started putting away her tools. 'Hopefully she'll be able to give me some advice on what I should do!'

( - )

AN: So there we go, Azoth has now joined a Familia. I decided to devote an entire chapter to this as I think its quite important. That said I will be putting in some more stuff in the following chapters which will reveal how he fits in with the Familia, and introduce a few more members about this otherwise undeveloped or unexplored Familia.

Plus we will get to go the Guild and there will be some more interaction with the main cast, and such. Should be good fun to write as we start getting into the real meat of the story, and as the plot begins to speed up and things start to go off. Plus I am looking forward to writing a bit more about the gods, and about exploring their personalities and existences, and how they relate to mortals. Something which I think is only touched on in canon so far.

That said, I am curious what people think about the stats sheet so far. Not about the stats or Level so much as I have already decided and finalised that, basing it off a crude decision to compare ten levels in Skyrim to one level in Danmachi, which going off of the fact that the character I am thinking of is Level Six Four, means that he is a Level Six point Four in Danmachi. Again this is crude and is just in my own mind as I work things out, but is what I've decided on as it makes sense to me. Especially as it fits his strength, but leaves room for development and progression.

No, the thing I am curious about is his skills, and whether the descriptions I've given are suitable, or whether I could beef them up a bit.

Additionally for those tuning In, being a Champion if Meridia, means that he did indeed have a godly blessing, even if it is not a falna. So like I said last chapter, that means he doesn't start as a level 1 with 0 on all if his stats.

Other than that thanks a lot for reading, I really do appreciate the support and I hope you continue to enjoy my story. Also please do check out some of my other stories if you have the time.

Thanks for reading, reviewing and supporting the story.

Catch you all later.

Greed720.