Karloh had been lucky... Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it, to be the younger brother of the mythical last Dragonborn.
While they both only found that out when they entered adulthood, Karloh always lived in his brother's shadow, more talented, taller, better looking, more everything really, and on top of that his brother turned out to be the mythical hero destined to save them all.
While Karloh was just that Khajiit Ohmes-raht who struggled to live up to his older brother.
But of course, none of that means he had a bad relationship with his brother, gods no, they loved each other as much as brothers can love each other, his brother never made him feel less and was always there to support him in everything, and when he was declared Dragonborn, Karloh was by his side from start to finish fighting side by side against everything and everyone.
But his brother was gone.
After they went to Solstheim and defeated Miraak his brother said he should go north to Atmora, as always Karloh was ready to follow him, but his brother asked him to stay, that Tamriel still needed a hero.
So his brother went and left him behind.
Karloh respected his brother's will and protected Tamriel, and the gods know that it was not an easy task, it seems that Tamriel cannot go a year without someone or something trying to cause some chaos, Karloh was not as powerful as his brother, but one does not become the Dragonborn's companion without being forced to become powerful on his own.
Karloh let out a heavy sigh of exasperation, this was not supposed to happen, not at all... But he had to have guessed, shadow magic is unstable and can turn against its user.
A few hours ago Karloh was studying shadow magic, more specifically the work of Azra Nightwielder. He wanted to study the possibilities of accessing other universes through the famous Shadow Gates, but something happened and a hole made of shadows appeared right in front of him and absorbed everything present, including him.
Now he finds himself in some forest that is definitely not in Nirn, at first glance one would not know that, since after all he is surrounded by a forest that would not be out of place in Cyrodiil, but for a wizard as experienced as Karloh it is easy to see the difference.
The main thing is magic, Nirn has magic everywhere and as an Archmage Karloh is able to feel it like someone feels the air brushing against their skin, and just as someone can feel if the air is dry, damp, cold or hot, with magic it is the same.
And the magic around him right now definitely doesn't feel like Nirn's, and in fact it doesn't feel like that of any Daedric plane he had previously visited, and Karloh is one of the few who can say he visited more than one Daedric plane in his life.
There is also the small problem with conjuration magic, at first Karloh simply tried to transport himself home, which was not possible, for some reason he was trying to cast the spell, but it never activated.
Wanting to see if it works, Karloh tried to teleport about only ten steps, which worked without a problem, then he tried to conjure some creature, and it was also impossible.
He can't conjure anything, conjuration magic became extremely limited, he can still use it to conjure himself at a distance, but only on this very plane and for some reason he can't conjure things from other planes to this one.
So, in short, he has no way to get back home by his own means, which forces him to look for some solution on this plane.
So he immediately did the logical thing, he used the levitation spell and rose into the air, Karloh had copiously ignored the Levitation Act and as soon as he learned to use this spell he didn't stop doing it no matter how much some people told him it was illegal, it's not like they could put him in jail for it, at most they fine him and most of the time they would turn a blind eye, after all no one would want to put the Dragonborn's brother in jail.
Karloh rose above enough trees to be able to see clearly for miles, impressed the khajiit realized that miles and miles of forest surrounded him, not as lush as Valenwood certainly, but impressive all the same.
He tried to see some trace of sentient life activity, at first it was hard to notice it, but after a few minutes he could see it in the form of paths created by years and beings passing through it.
The khajiit descended to one of those paths and with a calm step began to follow it hoping to be heading towards the nearest settlement, he could have continued using levitation, since it would be easier to move by air than by land, or even use some spell that allows him to move at dizzying speeds, but by doing that he would be risking to give a bad first impression to the inhabitants of this plane.
Liluth is lucky in life, she is a beautiful high elf just reaching her forty-seventh year, she has loving parents and a jovial and adorable younger sister.
Her village, despite being close to the border with the kingdom of Baristein was never touched by the war, she spends her day helping out at home and occasionally goes out into the forest to gather wild fruits and vegetables, as well as some mushrooms.
And just she was doing just that, carelessly picking what she came for without worrying about encountering any danger, after all no dangerous animals dwell so close to the village.
Sadly, Liluth had to have worried about more than a wild animal, she stopped for a few minutes to urinate, and that act attracted the attention of a small patrol of goblins moving around, quickly the three small creatures surrounded Liluth and knocked her to the ground.
Liluth screamed for help and begged them to stop, knowing what these monsters would do to her, she had heard stories of how monsters treat women they manage to capture.
Sadly, though relatively close to her village, Liluth was too far away for anyone to hear her pleas for help.
One of the goblins reached down toward her crotch and nearly stuck its disgustingly long tongue inside her vagina, while another tried to stick its tongue inside her mouth and the third tore her dress to expose her breasts.
Liluth pleaded for them to stop and as if by magic the three goblins obeyed, surprised by this she looked at them noticing how the three seemed to look behind her, she followed their gazes until she came across what had made them stop.
Standing there with a furious expression is a dark skinned man, tall, very tall, taller than anyone Liluth had ever seen before, he also looks muscular, something that can be seen even when he is dressed in a robe.
His skin is brown a bit like teak, his eyes are amber and make her think of the eyes of a cat, his hair is long and black and styled in thick, strange braids that Liluth has never seen in her life.
The three goblins shouted at him in a threatening manner, but all they got in response was the man raising his hand in the direction of the green creatures, all three were lifted into the air by an invisible force, the monsters began to panic and tried to wriggle away from whatever was lifting them.
The still furious man spoke, and Liluth understood absolutely nothing of what he said, his language was strange, very strange, almost alien, unlike anything she had heard before.
The goblins did not know how to respond to whatever he had said, and only continued to writhe in the air trying futilely to escape, the man lost patience and in a quick flick of the wrist, Liluth heard the ominous sound of the monsters' necks being broken.
The three corpses were thrown to the side, falling to the floor like puppets whose strings were cut, done that the man approached Liluth who, still surprised by everything that had just happened, stood paralyzed watching him approach, he bent down so that their faces were at the same level and smiled at her.
It wasn't a depraved smile far from it, it was a soft smile that made Liluth slightly lower her guard, he spoke again with a calmer tone of voice, but Liluth couldn't understand him, she dared to answer "I... I'm sorry... I don't understand" Pronounced the elf.
The man looked confused by Liluth's words, making the girl think that maybe he doesn't understand what she says either.
Having him closer, Liluth can better appreciate his features, he has the features of a human or at least according to the description, as Liluth had never seen one, the elves have soft and elegant features, almost androgynous, if not directly androgynous, instead, the features of this man are more marked.
I also notice that when he opens his mouth he has quite prominent fangs, also his ears are pointed, not as much as the elves nor as long, but definitely not human, also in his hands he has sharp claws instead of nails.
Being the daughter of one of the most influential people in her village, as is the blacksmith, Liluth was able to benefit from a more consistent upbringing than most others in her village, from what she had read of the many races that populate the continent, and the man before her looks like a beast man, especially considering the tail wagging on his back.
The man pointed to himself "Karloh" he pronounced, then pointed towards her and stood waiting.
It took Liluth a few seconds to realize he is introducing himself "... Liluth" She pronounced, which caused the man's smile to grow a little bigger, he nodded and stood up, he moved his hand forward towards her to help her stand, still hesitant Liluth took it and stood up.
She covered her chest now revealed by her dress torn by the goblins, she noticed that Karloh was doing his best to avoid looking at her anywhere but her eyes, which she appreciated.
The man pointed to a tree and said a word in his strange language, then looked at her waiting for her to say something, again it took a few seconds for the girl to realize that he wanted her to say it in her language "Tree" Liluth pronounced.
"Tree" Karloh repeated with a heavy accent, Liluth nodded, as despite his accent the word was understandable, he smiled satisfied with that progress.
He was about to point out something else when they both heard the bushes nearby, being moved, when they looked in the direction where the noise came from, Liluth felt her blood freeze as she observed an orc, the hideous creature towered even above Karloh in size and musculature.
And the creature looked at her with a morbid desire "Liluth" Karloh pronounced standing in front of the girl protectively.
Liluth watched all terrified, Karloh had killed the goblin with strange magic, but would that magic be enough for an orc? It's a much bigger, stronger and tougher creature than three measly goblins.
"Liluth" Karloh uttered again looking at her, and shaking his head back, she understood at once that he was signaling her to flee.
"I-I'll get help!" Liluth shouted before running off in the direction of the village, as she fled she prayed to the Goddess that Karloh could hold out until she returned with help.
Karloh watched the hideous creature in front of him, at least Liluth had understood that she had to flee, it's easier to fight when you don't have to worry about protecting someone.
The archmage prepared two spells "I guess you don't understand what I'm saying either" Karloh uttered, all he got was a furious glare from the being.
The creature looked like an orsimer, taller and more muscular, but also more primitive.
Immediately the monster rushed at him, preparing its first to strike him, the creature was slow, which allowed Karloh to dodge it with relative ease.
After all, as an Archmage he has to react to attacks with lightning speed constantly, it's not a poorly thrown punch from a creature that has more muscle than brains that will touch him, he raised his right hand and released an ice stake which pierced the creature's chest, making it let out a roar of pain.
The ice stake remained sunk in its chest, piercing it wide open and chilling its blood, slowing it down, although to Karloh's surprise the creature did not die instantly from such a wound, on the contrary, Karloh noticed how it seemed to be regenerating although the ice stake still sunk in its chest made regeneration impossible.
Something that the creature noticed so it took the stake and removed it, not without roaring again in pain, surprised Karloh watched as the hole closed in less than a second.
That was interesting to the Khajiit, this creature like the trolls seems to have a great regenerative ability, too bad for the creature Karloh is used to dealing with things that regenerate.
The creature ran with all its might towards Karloh trying to lunge with its body, again it was easy for Karloh to dodge it, just jumping to the side at the right moment.
And then it launched a fireball at the creature burning the skin on its back to a third degree, Karloh waited to see how it would regenerate from such a wound, the regeneration was definitely slower, though it was still present, instead of regenerating in about a second or so it would probably take about five or six.
"Fire it will be then" Karloh uttered, and immediately launched back to back three more fireballs at the same spot as the first, eventually burning down to the bone, again wanting to see how effective the regeneration was.
He watched as the creature seems to be able to regenerate skin, flesh, muscle, even some bone.
"Impressive... Well let's end your torment" Karloh launched a fireball again, this one much bigger and more powerful than the previous ones, the creature tried to move towards him to attack, but Karloh released the fireball and it impacted directly against the being causing a loud explosion that shook the ground and sent a shockwave that made leaves and bushes move.
When the smoke dissipated, only the bones of the creature remained, it didn't even have time to scream in pain, the khajiit watched interested, waiting to see if it would regenerate only with its bones... It wasn't the case.
The archmage approached the skeleton and began to analyze it, looking at its bone structure, he realized that it is more similar to that of a troll than that of an orsimer, at least in the body, in the skull it is definitely similar to that of the orsimer.
"Interesting creature, I can see that you would be a threat to any unprepared novice... But any decent warrior or mage would kill you with relative ease, even a well informed and prepared novice can manage to kill you with moderate difficulty" Karloh spoke to himself, doing his analysis in whispers as he has a habit... A habit passed down to him by his master Tolfdir.
He continued to analyze the creature until he heard footsteps nearby, he turned around to where they came from noticing a group of people armed with tools of all kinds, behind several men is a restless Liluth who looked at him and looked relieved, Karloh smiled at her raised his hand in greeting to her "Liluth"
"Karloh" She replied with relief.