23th Sun's Dusk… 1803…
Azriel rolled over in her sleep and her dream shifted…
The wails of thousands of souls mourning poured from the disembodied voices. Their screams drowned her. Souls lamented their misery and fate while the blood of innocence tainted her tongue. She couldn't tell where the nightmare stopped and reality began, if it even did. She was sick as her eyes opened, the cold black stone chilling her beyond words. The husks of so many burned out buildings stared back at her. She was incapable of reasonable thought in the empty city, but she knew wasn't alone. Her pounding heart filled her ears, but never covered the sounds of their voices. The frozen mud pulled her deeper, the chains on her wrists and feet bit and tore her flesh. Her own screams were lost with the others.
She fought against the shackles and against the unseen horror that ravaged her mind. Hands pulled from the ooze. Blood rained from the sky. The slithering voice was filled with putrid whispers of rape and strife. It haunted the cavities of the constant wails. Filled the caverns of emptiness left between screams of hoards of the damned. She tried so desperately to keep herself above the claiming sludge, the ever-gripping arms crushed her down, prying open her mouth, filling it with more blood.
'The taste of innocence tainted.' A dark voice filled the chasm of her mind.
They almost had her, but her claws raked against the blackened stone, shocking her with its cold and its heat. More hands pulled her back, snagging her hair and skin in unseen claws. They were trying to pin her, hold her, force her, but she wouldn't yield.
Serana fought Azriel's flailing arms and Aela grabbed her waist.
"Why isn't she waking up?" Aela growled, trying to avoid Azriel's claws as she swung at her.
Serana grabbed her wrist and got kneed in the stomach. "I don't know… she's never done this before."
Hands pried her jaw and Azriel gnashed her teeth at them. The cold calculated voice circled her like a shark. It whispered of punishment and submission, fueling her rage.
'You seek knowledge, but your fear hinders you. Submit and know the truth you seek…' Nails dug into her flesh, fingers twisted in her hair, slime coated her body. The fingers tugged and her head was pulled back, tearing her hair from the root. Pushing and pulling, they forced her in every direction, trying to undo her.
The invisible force pried at her locked jaw. 'Taste… just a drop. Knowledge is power…'
Her teeth felt like they were breaking from strain against it. The murmurs under the screams told her she would submit and she would break. Slowly, she felt her jaw being opened.
Serana's eyes grew wide at the sight of the froth forming on Azriel's lips.
Blood poured harder from the sky, the screams grew louder. Her skin was blistering from the chill surrounding her. Invisible hands pulled and pushed, slapping her chained hands down as she sank deeper into the frozen mud.
Azriel thrashed against the two women and the three crashed into the table.
Aela tried pinning her down. "For the love of Talos, wake up!"
Serana struggled with her arms, avoiding her claws.
Azriel screamed, but the blood filled her mouth and throat. She started choking. The vile murmuring told her to swallow it, to enjoy it. It whispered of dark seduction, death and power. Azriel thrashed against her chains as the blood clogged her throat. The taste of innocence blended with the poison of spite.
'Yes… little Dragon… feel their pain… their desires…'
"Serana, hold her down, she's convulsing!" Aela grabbed Azriel roughly, pressing her back down.
'A gift, tangible and real… understand it.'
The imperceptible force dragged her through the valley of despair, murmuring of past sacrifices, uttered under the screams from choir of damnation. At core sat an alter covered in blood… chained to it… a single, writhing, mortal soul.
Her raven hair was blown by the icy wind. Her red dress torn and bloodied. Her wrists and ankles shackled like Azriel's. The woman's flesh was tender and bruised from violent abuse.
Serana skid across the floor from Azriel's kick. Aela alone straddled her, trying to hold her down. She managed to pin her arms to the table, but Azriel's forceful bucking threw her off. The pair quickly recovered and launched themselves at her just as she sat up. Her eyes opened wide, filled with terror. But, she didn't see them, only the visions. Serana and Aela looked from her to each other, wondering if it was over.
Azriel's body slammed back down onto the table and her mouth opened.
Aela and Serana both dove at her.
"Don't let her shout! Every one of my father's vampires will hear her!"
Under the sky of fire and over the frozen sludge, the ritual of Molag Bal filled her mind.
The manifestation of it, the sensations, and the pain consumed her. Shock filled her being, her mind held only sensations of horror of that single soul. The Prince's laughter married to every one of her screams. He was drunk on pleasure from the young woman's pain, his malice infinite as he claimed her.
Eyes watched, laughing cruelly as the vision played out, waiting for their lord's demands to be filled. The unyielding agony of degradation was echoed by the mourning voices. The river of emotions and the flood of trepidation flowed over her, carrying her away in the night. A single night of surreal torment flashed through her mind, forcing her to find the ever sickening truth of her nightmare. The woman's existence twisted into a crippling series of visions, knowledge of too many atrocities carried out and played in Azriel's mind.
Azriel fell off the table, crawling blindly until she hit the wall. Two voices pierced the chaos, but their words were jumbled, lost to the tumultuous sea of anguish. Her nails dug into the stone as she wretched uncontrollably. Tears flowed from her exhausted and unseeing eyes as the pool of bile grew under her. Azriel wasn't awake, she was still captivated by the dreadfulness of her dream word.
The woman's pleads and cries fell onto deaf ears as Molag Bal enjoyed the young girl's form. Azriel wailed for her, the woman's emerald green eyes held only desolation. Her pallid skin was covered in her own blood.
A second scream pierced the sea of chaos around her. An older woman, with the same raven hair and emerald eyes, was begging for salvation. The man overshadowing her tore into her in cruelty. His eyes filled only with lust, drunk on the other woman's pain. His degradation of her through her own defilement, warped Azriel's thoughts.
'Do you see only their plight, or do you see their desires?'
The visions swirled in her mind, movement quicken and time in the place changed.
'Truth is a matter of perspective…'
The two women edged closer, wary of her sudden calm. Both quit speaking, only watching Azriel as they moved indecisively.
Azriel covered her ears, her own whimpers too loud for her. Her body ached, her mind blazed, and her soul filled with hate. Her entire body shook. She could feel the waking and dream worlds around her.
The Prince's pleasure at the woman's pain revolted her. But, she understood it and too many things about his power. The draw, the desire, the want of it, she had found more than she cared to know about her own self in those moments. For that, she would find a way to destroy him at the seat of his power.
'The temptation of my power… The dark seductress before you… Sweet was their misery, their will bent to my purpose.'
She also understood the roles that the raven haired woman's parents had played. They would die as well… their greed, lust, and hunger for power would undo them. She felt it and didn't care. He had given them everything they wanted at a price that should have been too high. They had sacrificed her to him… and she had cried out for them to end her pain and her suffering. In their own way, they had all enjoyed it and that sickened Azriel further.
'They enjoyed it… enjoyed submitting to me… You know it to be true. Don't you…?'
She jumped when the static charge touched her. The soft, caring touch of the slim hand belonging to the vampire she watched, inhumanly tortured.
Serana watched as Azriel pulled herself into a shivering tight ball. "Have you ever seen a nightmare this bad?" She whispered to Aela.
Azriel vomited again.
Aela swallowed and nodded. "Only once… It was the night before she trapped Odahviing and went to Sovngarde."
Azriel stared blankly at the vomit in front of her. The sweat and the cold terror that caused it made her body tremor violently. She crushed her eyelids closed, willing the voices and screams from her mind. She forced her rage and her bile back down her throat. She could feel the werewolf's closeness and her concern. But, she refused to acknowledge them. She refused to open her eyes, feeling hollow and putrid.
Aela knelt next to her, moving her wet hair from her face. "Talk to me…" Aela's soft voice was like a lullaby, pulling her from the dark despair.
Azriel's entire body shook and she pushed herself away from the wall. She stumbled trying to right herself, tripping over the ladder and falling into the corner.
"Azriel, please…" Serana whispered as gently as she could.
Azriel began to laugh wildly.
Aela and Serana glanced at one another.
"What's so funny?" Aela wiped her wet hair from her face.
"I must be mad…"
Serana tenderly stroked her cheek. "Tell us why you think that."
"Well, I find it kind of funny… and kind of sad..."
The two looked at each other again, but Azriel continued. "The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I ever have." Azriel took a deep calming breath and rested her head against the stone.
Aela pulled her face from the wall it rested on. "How can dreaming of death be a good dream?"
"I didn't say it was good. I said they were the best I have. Besides, how can I just tell you something like that when I find it kind of hard to take?"
Aela shared another worried look with Serana and Azriel pushed herself from the floor. She didn't look at them as she turned to the far wall that held the fireplace.
She stood in front of the fireplace staring at it for a short time, oblivious to the two women behind her.
"Maybe Sheogorath was right…" She mumbled to no one in particular.
Serana stepped towards her trembling body, but stopped short of touching her. "About what, Azriel?"
Azriel didn't bother to look at her. "I'm just as insane as he is."
Serana let her fingertips graze Azriel's arm. "You're not insane…"
Azriel flinched away from her and didn't respond. Instead, she reached out and twisted the candlestick. The wall lifted, revealing a door and Azriel felt like vomiting again.