The fire dies, and as the sun rises, no trace of their prey is found. Ri'Zakar turns on Xahrshi, eyes filled with rage. "They can HANDLE It?" he snarls.
The vampire's eyes narrow. "Escape was very much impossible," he answers. "Our night warps magic, my undead surrounded them."
"Our. Impossible!" Tervven snaps as he walks back from the battlefield, a cross look upon his face. "Next you will make up impossible lore for your creation, just as the tribal did. They thought themselves untouchable. But they are gone now, are they not?" A small smirk crosses his face as if he knows something he perhaps should not.
Ri'Zakar growls and stalks toward the Dunmer but stops when the vampire says, "Tearing him to pieces will not help. If he was a Khajjit or a were-creature still…," a menacing smile. "Perhaps." The Dragon Scourge growls and then turns and stalks away. Xahrshi turns back to Tervven searching the Dunmer's cunning eyes. "You see much. But I see as well. You may mock us in small ways, but I see the truth in your eyes. You covet what we have. You want more."
Tervven shrugs. "I never kept that a secret," he responds. "All the power I can grasp, I will. I will not be like my past self. To…," he trails off and crosses his arms as he changes the subject. "I keep my eyes on all of you. But for all I have found out, including that little incursion you think no one knows about, I still cannot find out how you went from… well like me, to like the tribunal. All I know is it had something to do with the dark moon," he pauses gathering his thoughts. The moons shatter had to have been the catalyst, but not enough to transform mortals into living gods. Something else had been required. Four something else, "How?" Not expecting an answer, but he was nothing if not bold when required.
"Curiosity killed the cat," Xahrshi says. "Or in your case, the Dummer."
Another shrug. "Perhaps. But did you ever ask yourself, if this was the result, why did your sponsor not ascend himself as well?" Tervven responds.
The vampire moves closer to him. "I warned you," he says, "I will do so again. Kinlord Vasuki may seem much like Mannimarco, Rilis, and others of their ilk but there is something…," he pauses as if unsure how to put it. "Something different about him," he finishes. "He gave us all we are, so we leave him be. Those that do not do not live long or well."
A small smile at this, "So you do not know his secrets," Tervven replies. "No one seems to, and,"
"Do you know Shimmershine?" the vampire interrupts.
The Dunmer stills as his mind goes over what he knows of Summerset City. It is not as protected as Alinor, but it is still protected… until it is not. Recently, the protection has been shattered, and there have been no reports of survivors. And the pieces come together. "He did that? Why?"
"Some Altmer tried to find out more about him. He thought to look there," Xahrshi tells him. "You understand now?"
A cross look falls on the Dunmer's face. "I would rather know more about someone who broke fate and gave four mortals enough power to break the gods above, for I DO want to live in his new world happily and knowledge is key to that and more powerful for myself," he pauses and then adds, "Not that I EVER intend to go up against him, or the Scourges, mind you. I want what I want, but I know my limits...and I am content in this new world, after all. It does suit me," he says and then turns and opens a portal. "This has gone so very badly. I need to rethink a few things for next time, if there is one." he steps through the portal and is gone.
Rel'ihala watches the last embers fade and then turns to stare at her unholy creations and her fist clenches as she lets out a hellish scream that shatters the undead cats scattering crackling energy and bone shards across the ground. "Why did I do this," she whispers. A few moments later Leap's scream shakes her out of her thoughts and she moves toward it.
When she reaches the Argonian she finds her in a rage screaming at the rising sun and things only she can see. "IWANTHERNOWNOWNOW," she screams and falls to the ground claws raking the dirt. "I want him deaddeaddead. But he keeps NOT DYING!" she flings blood into the air from her claws and screeches again.
Rel'ihala turns her gaze upon the assassin, body mangled and blood soaking into the ground and it is as Leaps said, the wounds are closing and he starts breathing once more, which causes Leaps to scream again.
Out of the morning mist and smoke Ri'Zakar appears stopping before the two women. "I should never trusted you with this," he growls as his wings flare in threat.
Leaps rises and hisses at him. "I HAD HER!" she yells. "hadhadhadhad! The bats scream at me, cannot cannot…," She throws her head back and screams and then throws herself at the Scourge fangs snapping.
He wraps his claws around her neck and lifts her in the air. "You DARE?" he rumbles. At this, she turns into bats and reforms and once more lunges at him, and this is enough to snap his patience as dragon fire erupts around him as he meets her lunge with a roar. The fight lasts mere seconds and when it is done the vampire is on the ground unconscious, armor shattered in places, scales leaking blood. "Our hunt is ENDED," Ri'Zakar snarls at the Imperial woman. "Tell her that if she ever regains her senses. I will find the fire mage myself," and with that, he turns and leaps into the air and is gone.
Rel'ihala stares at the two unconscious bodies and then tilts her head back and the song flows through her and through the smoke two Dro-m'Athra Khajiits come each picking one up as she turns and walks away. Thoughts still bother her. Why… she should return to Spiders. Lose herself in him and the song. That always made such troubling things fade away.
Xahrshi glances as Rel'ihala approaches. "Ri'Zakar is angry," he says. "I thought perhaps he may lose his head and kill you two. But seems he's smarter than that."
She looks at him. "I knew you before," she says. In all the years since the moons shattered, she has not crossed paths more than briefly with the Werewolf's Scourge.
At this, he fully turns to her. "Zen'la never should have sent you away," he growls. "And given that, you should have never refused to join my side when I asked."
A name that means nothing from a Khajiit she no longer remembers. All of that is lost to song, and yet she hears his tone of voice. As if he is…cross with her and her eyes narrow as bone blades flow into her hands, the song screaming in her head as parts of her long-forgotten clash with the melody. Why did she fight like that instead of with bone and blade and song? It is the song that keeps her steady. And yet there are rare moments in which something is undone within her. Something that sets her off. Is it his stare, Shade's refusal of song, or has she simply been away from Spiders too long? Regardless something in her briefly snaps and she lunges at Xahrshi with a bone-shattering cry.
The Scourge responds with a small smile as he takes out a mace as she comes at him. Unlike the bout between Leaps and Ri'Zakar, this lasts somewhat longer as if he is enjoying sparing with her, and when at last she calms and lowers her blades. "Why did I fight like that?" she whispers.
"You never did like to raise the dead," he answers her. "I taught you how, and you forged a different path with the necromantic magic," his eyes narrowed slightly. "Zen'la send you away. She saw the cracks in your armor. The weakness that would end you in Coldharbour. Perhaps she did it out of fondness. Perhaps to simply get rid of you," he pauses. "She sent me away too. So I might become more than Bal's lackey, more than his...puppy," he growls at the word then gives her a savage grin. "To think I broke my chains, and you found yours. Perhaps if you did not belong to the Song Scourge I would do something about it. Perhaps not."
"I want to belong to him," she answers.
"And I wanted to belong to my Prince, once," he responds.
Their conversation is interrupted by a portal and the stillness of the hunter comes over the Scourge as his eyes fall upon Kinlord Vasuki as the Altmer steps out and moves to them, hands held behind his back. "You seem to have failed," Kinlord Vasuki remarks. Not a question. "Then again it is hardly your fault. "Something interfered. Something I did not anticipate. All of the little insects did die. And then something changed it." A glimmer of rage behind his words.
"Even with that, they should not have escaped," Xahrshi growls low in his throat. "Perhaps we erred in letting the pets start things."
"No matter," the Kinlord responds the rage fading as quickly as it had appeared. "I would have lost something had events played out as they almost did. Something I really rather not lose," and with these words he walks past the Scourge to the Dro-m'Athra whom holds Leaps.
At his sharp glance at her, Rel'ihala responds, "She… was not making sense. Screaming, and she attacked the Dragon Scourge."
As a frown crosses the Kinlords face and Xahrshi adds, "I warned you."
"So you did," he responds his voice the edge of a knife. "And cleaving her from fate made it worse," he takes Leaps from the Dro-m'Athra.
The Imperial's eyes are upon the unconscious Argonian. Not a friend. She had no friends, and all she needed was Spiders. But still something within her stirs. Something that needed to be forgotten and would, soon enough. But enough that it has her asking, "Why did you...cleave her?" Not understanding what it means, not knowing why she asks.
"It was necessary, that is all you need to know," Kinlord says as he turns toward the portal. "No matter. I will take her to a prisoner I have in my dungeon. He will fix this. It is a temporary solution but I will find a more permanent fix once…," he trails off and starts to head toward the portal and then pauses. "Tell your cat to bring the assassin. Leaps could use a toy to play with once she's fixed."A small nod and the Dro-m'Athra follows after the Kinlord who looks back at the Werewolf Scourge. "I gather Ri'Zakar is very angry. Still, once he's had a chance to cool down inform him and the other Scourges the time for the favor you owe me draws near. I trust Lyssavi will have what I asked him to make ready, or nearly so."
In response, the Scourge folds his arms over his chest. "Very well. But you have not told us what you need us to do, Vasuki."
"Nothing that is not within your realm of abilities," he says, and at the growl that follows this amorphous answer he laughs. "I will inform all of you on your tasks when the time is right. Be ready." with this, he enters the portal and it closes.
Silence for a moment and then a Dro-m'Athra Grievous Twilight lands and Rel'ihala moves to the Daedra and climbs on its back. "I will tell Spiders," she says as the twilight's wings flex. "Take me home," she says to it and it soars into the air taking off toward Cyrodiil.
-Kinlords Lair-
The portal opens in a place lit only by a few small candles, the shadows heavy and thick and in the Kinlord's arms Leaps is starting to stir and he sets her down and steps away. The vampire's eyes open and she bolts up and hisses, which quickly turn into screams which last for long moments before she falls to the ground claws pressed against her head. "Thebatsscreamingcannotthinkwantherdeadkillhimbuthewontdieallwrong," she whimpers.
Vasuki stands over her his eyes unreadable in the candlelight and then he turns to a cell darkened in sight and sound by magic. With a wave of his hand, the magic clears. "Fix her," he commands.
A huddled nearly nude figure in the corner of the cage stirs and uncurls from the ball they are in. Skin smeared with dirt, silver hair, and beard mattered and filthy, eyes lost to madness and he whimpers in response.
Anger flickers across the Kinlords face as he moves closer. "Fix her, Stratos." he once more commands.
The name causes the man to flinch in pain. "Notmynamenotmynamenotthenamethemadnessscreams."
"Then fix her, so I do not have to use it again,"
Stratos rises and limps to the cage bars and reaches toward Leaps. "Broken...she should not be broken."
"Then fix her. As you did before," he responds and then bends down grabs Leap's arm, and pushes her within reach.
The Breton's hand clasps onto the Argonian's scales and he closes his eyes. "Brokenbrokenbroken," he whispers as motes of light and madness rise from Leaps and enter him and he lets her go and stumbles backward till he hits the wall. His eyes stare at Kinlords and he screams. "Notrightnotrightnotright" he sobs as he falls to the ground and wraps himself in a ball once more.
Vasuki snaps his fingers and the magic reappears over the cage, silencing the noises from within he turns to Leaps who is standing quietly, claws wrapped around her arm blinking in the candlelight. "I will find a permanent solution to this," he tells her.
She looks at him. Her eyes still shimmer with shards of madness but are now mixed with some semblance of sanity. "The bats scream so much," she hisses. "But quiet now. So very quiet." she lowers her head. "I had her. And then she was gone. There are so very few who knew the wolf left."
"And soon, there will be none. In one way or the other," the Kinlord promises her. And when silence is his only answer he adds, "I am not angry with you. Something interfered. I will find out what and make sure they do not again," and as her eyes rise to meet his he smiles. "I brought the assassin for you to play with. I know you need something to eat and play with after all of this. Be strong. It is almost time. And then I'll fix this. And….so much more." his smile turns wicked. "All is almost within my grasp. And nothing will stop me. Now play, my little vampire. Play and make him scream, why I go find out who this new insect is I need to squash." and with that he turns and walks out.
Leaps stares at him as he walks away and then turns to a deeper area of the Dungeon. The Dro-m'Athra has hung Rufico upon the wall in enchanted chains and she moves toward him as she approaches he wakes and upon seeing her he lunges forward, the chains snapping him back. "Enchanted," she tells him. "Unbreakable. You see… before he found the nearly naked man, he kept me in them when the bats screamed too loudly. When I could not think, only rage and rage and rage, only claw and bite and scream."
Rufico stares at her with eyes seething with hate. "Is that your excuse?" he snarls.
In response, she shakes her head. "It is not the bats or the screaming that did it. I killed those who knew the wolf, so I did it." Not a hint of regret in her voice, her eyes only reflect ever-lasting darkness.
"I will be your END," Rufico promises. "For what you have done. Death has no hold over me until my blade ends your life."
She moves closer to him. "You kept me from her. Killed me before I ended the one who knew the wolf so very well," she pauses at his confused look. "I felt you kill me. And then felt it undone," she tilts her head. "The rest did not feel this. You did not feel this. Vasuki did. I did." A hiss. "The Dragon Scourge snapped your neck after. But all of that is gone. All of that happened, and then never happened."
"That means I can do it again," he says. "And next time, it will not be undone. I will send you to the Void."
She smiles at that. "Your friends abandoned you," she tells him. "Left him to our mercy, fled without you." A small giggle at the rage in his eyes. "You wanted the Scion to help you. She did, then she did not. She saved instead of killed. She betrayed you ever so sweetly."
"Shut up!" Rufico snarls. "I do not have friends. I have nothing but darkness because of you!"
"And you will have more. And screams," she hisses. "You kept me from her. So you will scream and scream."
He looks at her defiantly. "I will never scream for you. I know pain, and nothing you can inflict on me can cause me more."
Leaps tilts her head as she considers his response and then a strange look crosses her eyes. "I know, I know. Void screams in you. I could slice and slice, kill over and over, and you would not mind it. Rip your guts out and you'd laugh. Bite until your blood is all gone and you would smile. No pain will make you scream for me. No pain will make you suffer for me." her claws wrap around his throat and drops of blood flow down as he keeps staring at her with that defiant look filled with hate. "I will have to find another way to torture you," she whispers.
"There is nothing more you can do to me," he says. "And I will end you, no matter what."
She moves her claws away from his neck and licks the blood as she thinks and then a crafty smile crosses her face. "Want to test that," she says as she grasps his face in her clawed grip staring deep into the assassin's eyes before turning her attention to the blood dripping down his neck she leans in and starts to slowly lap it up with her tongue and as the assassin goes rigid she giggles. "This may not hurt as much, but you will suffer and scream all the same," she says and she wrenches his head back as she resumes licking, moving her tongue across his neck and once it reaches his face he struggles against his bonds. A few more licks and then she bites the side of his neck, the blood flowing over her fangs and tongue. Filled with hate and a tinge of fear. As she pulls back she looks into his eyes again. "I will bite and lick you all over," she promises. "Hopefully my pet will not mind, but it just cannot be helped, can it?"
"Ki...Kill you," Rufico swears.
She laughs again and bites once more. More blood flows and she laps it up again, and as it starts to flow into his armor she rips it to pieces with her claws and starts to follow the blood down with her tongue. And at this, she at last gets what she wants, for the Assassin starts screaming.
With the melody of screams echoing up, Kinlord Vasuki ascends up the stairs and heads to his room a small smile briefly on his face before it fades. Something was amiss, and he would find out what. And so his steps are sure as he moves to the bookcase and strokes a book and with his touch it vanishes revealing a small secret spot inside is a glowing thing that twits and distorts as if trying to right itself against the chaos it is formed into. His eyes reflect its nature, this thing that memorizes, and yet it remains untouched. Only twice did he dare touch it. It draws his thoughts backward.
~Darkness. A void of black that wraps around, smothers. That tricks you into thinking there is no way out. Until a brush against something for a moment. Something that should not be. An artifact like no other. Forgotten as its Prince is forgotten. It takes time and patience. And a single moment that may have never happened, but it did and the pieces start to fall in his favor.~
It had taken so many pieces falling in the right order. And that was before he even had THIS in his grasp. A mistake. Finding the book. Niryion's death. The despair that followed among them. He moves to his chair and sits, his thoughts once more moving backward. Before the moons shatter. Before the Thalmor came for him.
~He sits in his chair in the sitting room, the setting sun shimmering on his elegant Altmer features. The sun seems to darken as shadows gather and Shadow-Whiskers appears from them. She moves to him kneels at his feet and holds out a box made of strange metal. "This one found it. Stole it," she purrs. "I thought they would know. Would stop this one."
"Even a shadow can hide in the brightest light," Kinlord says as his eyes take in the box and what lies within, his fingers moving as if called to it. "It is why I made you."
"You must be shadows too," she says looking up at him reverently. "No one is seeing you coming. Not him, not anyone."
"If that were true, then I would not need this," he tells her as he takes the box, it seems to hum in his hands and then he laughs.
"What is it?" she asks. Not knowing what she took, only that her master commanded it.
"A way to break that which binds us, that which stops and entraps us," he responds and looks away from the box to her. "A way to ensure we WIN. I need you to find those of like minds for me. Guild them together, and then when the time is right, to me." he places the box on the table next to him and holds up his hand, a glowing orb of seeing appears as he shows her the targets. "A Khajiit who hates his own kind with a dragon's soul, a man driven by immoral curiosities and chosen of Peryite, a servant of Bal who craves werebeast's extinction, and one of Namira's who seeks the bent cat's song."
Shadow studies each in turn. Trying and failing to see how they are like-minded. "They seem…," she trails off.
"Villains, or potential villains, who under normal circumstances would never get along much less work together" he answers. "And yet their goals have something in common. Something that can make it work, something that can make them more. You know of the Third Moon."
The dark moon, the body of Lorkhaj. Shade knew of it from stories her mom told her. And so Shadow knows it too and she nods.
"All their desires circle around the moons in one way or another. Even the Nords. I have a book that will...do certain things. Once I use what you stole for me, you can gather them. And one day soon, I will gift them a book, in return for a favor owed in the future. It will give them what they need to change the world forevermore."
Shadow's whiskers twitch. "Why do you want to give them this power?" she says. "Why not have it for yourself?" she asks puzzled.
A small frown crosses his face. "What I want, need, the book cannot give me. There is only one path to what I want, and I will need...very powerful allies to claim it."
She stares up at him. Remembering when he created her. Remembering the first...days? Weeks? She was never sure. "He will stop you," she says.
"You see why I need the ones of like-minds," he answers. "As they are they cannot help me. But the book can grant them more than the breaking of the world. It can ascend them. And once they come into their power, they will be able to help me and I will have all I desire. Find them and guide them to me."
Shadow nods and runs a paw down his arm, silk finery, and his warm hand. "This one will make sure it is done," she promises as she rises and moves to the shadows, vanishing within.
He watches her go and then turns to the box, rising with it in hand he slowly opens it. Inside is an object that defies reality, glowing as it bends and shapes itself without end, orderly in its design, even as there is an element of chaos about it. A piece of a forgotten Prince, a way to alter fate...but altering it was not enough. Like a river, it would seek its original course. And the rules of the universe would still be. Fate would seek the heroes, fate would stop him. A savage smile crosses his face. He will not change it, he will BREAK it, even if it damages him, for this was not meant for mortal hands, and he, for now, was still that. The box drops to the floor as he uses magic to keep it floating above his hands, not yet daring to touch it. With it, one could alter a piece of it and change a small slice of fate, but of course, that is not what he desired and he closes his hand over it crushing it. It fights back, the glow growing brighter as it writhes in his hand but he continues. A strange jumble of words from a forgotten language spills from his tongue as his magic swirls in the air. A final word and his fist clenches over it. A bright flash of light and the shockwave throws him against the wall as he screams his body lighting up from the inside out for a moment it seems as if he will be undone as his body starts to unravel but with a mighty savage cry he wills himself to hold on and at last the glow fades and he falls to his knees breathing hard, black veins shooting across his skin briefly before vanishing. When he at last catches his breath he rises and the artifact floats in midair, changed irrectivaly. Now it is twisted and distorted, chaos without purpose, and it would spread to all of Nirn and beyond, and the Kinlord throws his head back and laughs.~
The memories fade as he stares at the artifact in all its chaos. It was true it had granted him what he needed to enact his plans. But the cost… a small frown crosses his face as he rolls up his sleeve. Scarred flesh, veins ebony black and it was spreading. What he had wrought was not for mortal flesh. He should have had near-infinite time to wait. Altmers were very long-lived and there were things that could be done to extend it even further. But the cost of breaking fate had been heavier than anticipated, and each time he touched it his time was shortened. But he had to know one more thing, and so his finger moves over the chaos. The pain shoots through his veins and yet a smile crosses his lips as he withdraws his hand as the bookcase appears once more. "Shadow-Whiskers," he says, and moments later she appears and moves to him. "Someone interfered," he tells her. "Someone whom still has a connection to Oblivion. To Azura. Find them and report back to me." A wicked smile. "I know you are so good at tracking down pests."
"It will be done," she purrs and turns to go. "My Lord are you…," she trails off, worry in her tone.
"It is almost time," he responds. "So this weakness is temporary. It will be undone, and all will be right. All will be mine."
She is still for a moment and then moves to the shadows to find this person. To enact his will, so nothing may stop her master.
Once she is gone he turns and then flinches a hand moves to his head and a dark look crosses his face. "Who would dare," he says. Yet another thing getting in his way, but he would make THIS right too and he moves to the bed and lies down. Anyone who stood in his way… oh the fun he would have with them. Blood and pain and they would rue the day in their final moments. And with those thoughts his eyes close as he falls into dreams.
