Yarwil arrived to a small clearing hidden in a thick patch of woods where he saw the robed Dunmer in a circle around Travius body. The body was loaded out on a stone bed with a statue of a serpent at the head. By all accounts his body seemed dead and lifeless but he wasn't going to accept that until he saw for himself.

He had become slightly concerned that he never saw Anaelle, M'Arques or the Redguard assassin he was told about. They left before him and were going to the same place. He knew assassins were stealthy but having no sign of them all seemed like a bad omen.

He placed a chameleon spell on himself and slowly moved towards the altar until a slow indistinguishable chant started from the Dunmer. He hid behind a tree and tried to see if he could make out what they were saying but he was not familiar enough with deadric worship language to distinguish anything.

The chants began to grow louder but he was distracted by a shimmer on the ground. He slowly crept over to the glowing light and found Morokei. He had given it to Travius before they left Whiterun and he had been hiding it in his bedroom to keep anyone or else from knowing they had a dragon priest mask. This let him know he wasn't alone and someone from his household had been here as well. Whether or not they were still here or what conditions they were in remained to be seen.

The dunmer were so pre occupied with what they were doing that he felt the confidence they didn't know of his presence to get closer and closer. He stopped in concern when he saw the altar they had him laying turn into a black liquid and his body began to slowly become absorbed and the chanting grew louder and louder. Until it suddenly all stopped and they all at once turned their heads in one synchronized movement and stared right at him.
…

The entire concept of time was lost in this mystical lake Travius was locked in. He couldn't have told you if he had been in here for days or mere minutes. No one else could either. He remained surrounded by spirits of Black and gold adorned knights. They all had a familiar aura to them as that of a spirit. Or a ghost. Something Travius had seen many times in his travels.

The fog finally returned and formed itself
Into Anaelle and the girls. They all three stood there and stared at him with no expression. Boethia stood behind him and began to speak.

"Everyone knows you'll take on any battle to a nameless almost faceless enemy. To reach your full destiny you may have to fight battles against those you believe to be your allies. Not just those you hate or those you don't care about. Maybe even those you love."

The moonlight now moved its beam to highlight Anaelle and the girls.

"Quite the love story you have now. The handsome triumphant hero and his beautiful Princess. But she's so much more than that isn't she? Beneath her hypnotic eyes and her youthful appearance, she is the monster you see in yourself.

You don't even realize how much of your bonding is because you both feel you have to constantly hide who you are. Who you really are.
She has to hide her curse and you hide your full abilities to fit in to this pathetic excuse of a society you cling to."

The mirage of the three began to move and shows a scene of the three of them giggling, laughing and playing together.

"She's grown quite fond of the children. For so long she lived in the shadows with her burden, a murderous pariah on your world. That was until
You came along. Now she's living the life she missed out on. A family she never thought she would have. Just like the rest of you. Unlike the rest of you though, she had to wait centuries.

And just like everyone else in her life, her loved ones will age and leave. These girls mean so much to her now. Maybe she won't want them to grow old and leave her. Maybe she'll want their tender lives forever."
Just as Boethia said this all three of them turned to look at him and hissed and retracted fangs.

"She's never turned anyone before. She wouldn't start with them." He said as they all surrounded him.

They all growled and hissed at him and developed animalistic movement to their bodies. They were acting much more like the unassimilated vampires he had encountered in his past travels. Dangerous, but nothing he couldn't handle.

"You make too many assumptions about people's goodwill. Her refusal to bring another soul to Molag Bal has nothing to do with any moral code. She has just simply never found anyone she wanted to keep.

She's told you some of her stories, you've seen how effortlessly and without hesitation she'll take a life. Even more so than you and your mountain of a friend. The life of a vampire is a lonely one. It's what drives them insane more than the curse itself. You've given her a taste of companship and she may not want to let that go."

All three of them attacked him. Deena and Astrid both grabbed him by his arms and he dug their teeth into his wrists. He sent a large cloak of flame around his body which quickly repelled them both with a pained wail. In front of him he saw Anaelle blow him a kiss and then disappear. Then as quickly as she dissapeared he felt a dagger into his back and then her fangs in his neck. He fell backwards into the water and they both landed in a top with a large splash but never fell below the surface.

This caused her to let go and he pulled himself up as her teeth pulled a large chunk from his neck. He felt an intense cold run down his shoulder and put his hand in his blood to find it blue and cold to the point it hurt his touch.

He placed a flame spell in his hand and cauterized the open wound. He could hear the sounds of three people giggling but found all three had disappeared. He could only see the ripples in the water to track their movements which were creating sporadic patterns all around him.

"I won't do this. I won't let you place doubt on people I know to be better." He said to Boethia.

"You act as if you have a choice. You refuse without even knowing the consequences if you fail."

The fog surrounded him and laid out four visions around him. One showed Anaelle tied to a stake being burned alive. Another showed Aratore and Deena chained up and malnourished while Casix yelled at and struck them. The third vision showed Jorgensen's head as a taxidermy on a mantle while Thalmor dined around it. The fourth vision showed Vhornyak. He wasn't dead or imprisoned. His skin looked like it was in a late stage of decay and his eyes were black and empty, his mouth sewn shut. Much like Elenwen's Ghost.

"It all falls on you and your ability to complete my trial and accept your gifts, your real potential. The real you." Boethia said.

Travius then felt both girls biting into him again and felt repeated stab wounds into his side. He fell to the ground overwhelmed and weakening as his icy blood now spilled all over the black
water.

He cast another flame cloak spell but this time they were prepared and all let go of him. They were still invisible but he could see the ripples move around him, letting him know they were ready to pounce at any moment again.

"Stop using what others know and use what they don't know. " Boethia barked at him.

This gave him an idea. He laid on the ground allowed the to feed in his body. In their almost rabid state he could feel his blood being almost completely drained from his body. They were unaware of the effects his ice tainted blood would have.

Astrid was the first to be satiated and the joy on her face tuned into a wretched pain as she felt ice form in her stomach. She began to convulse as ice began seeping out of every orifice in her body until it shattered in an icy explosion. Deena's body began to do the same and Anaelle pulled off of him and began to choke and gag herself on the ice she had just ingested.

She saw the bodies of her girls lay shattered on the black water and let out a loud growl and seemingly flew at Travius. The quickness at which she moved caught him off guard and she was able to knock him over. She moved on top of him. His icy blood dripped from her mouth and stung his face.

He knew this wasn't real, or atleast he hoped, but in this moment he could see her in a way he hoped he never would. This version he saw of her is what could have been if she wasn't such a strong willed person. This version of her is what would happen if she succumbed to her curse.

She became still in place as Boethia began to speak again. Travius continued to look into her eyes and realized nothing that he knew to be her remained there.

"The Thalmor will out her. Her secret will be known and in her grief and her fear she'll become what she's always fought against. A feral monster. She'll fall into the shadows and never leave again. Such a smart and talented woman. She has so much love and knowledge that could have so much use to a leader. Don't let it become wasted on a wild animal."

Anaelle's illusion unfroze and immediately started to snap and bite at his neck. He himself was so weak from all of his bloodloss that he struggled to keep her vicious chomps away.
With every bit of energy he had he grabbed her by her throat and squeezed as hard he could . She began clawing and scratching at him. Her hands and fingers become bloodied by the frozen blood she was drawing from his body. He kept squeezing until he saw her eyes roll back and knew she was too incapacitated to defend herself and with his grip around her his hands sent forth a flame that consumed her whole body and she began to shriek like the jilted spirit she was and in one large pop her body disintegrated to ash that spread all over him and the black waters.

He stood up and his wounds began to heal itself as if no fight ever happened. He then saw the damage on his armor from his fight with Volonare starting to slowly repair itself. The plating in his chest began to reconnect itself and stopped as it moved down his arms

"This is a lot of dramatics just make me fight some illusions of children and vampires." He said

Boethia said nothing to him and scowled as a snake ran from its mouth into its nose. Then let out a small hiss as Travius felt an arrow shoot right into his back and come all the way through his stomach and out the front and then turn into a snake itself which slithered its way out of his body and disappeared into the waters. He turned around just to see an arrow come towards his face and strike him in his left eye and went through his head. Instead of instantly killing him as it should, it left a tunnel through his head which started to slowly fill itself in with ice. He fell to the ground and yelled in pain and in his head heard a satisfied laugh from Volonare.

Hearing the joy in Volonare's laughter gave him the motivation he needed to pull himself back up. He was struggling with his peripheral vision with only one eye now.

"Quite the burden isn't?", he heard Volonare's voice in his head again.

He ignored the taunting of the new parasite in his mind. Just as he stood up he saw with his right eye an image of Aratore with another arrow heading toward him. He quickly moved but wasn't fast enough as the arrow head grazed his face and sliced through his ear.

Before he even realized what hit him another arrow came at him and landed in his throat. Much like the first arrow this one turned into a snake and made panicked movements in his throat causing him to fall over again. He choked and gagged as the snake blocked his airflow and his icy blood again flowed his body as he lie on the water suffocating. He saw Aratore rush to him and Lean over him. He equipped his bow and pulled back. Pointing the arrow directly at his face.

Boethia snapped their fingers and the snake dissapeared and the illusion of Aratore became locked in time. His eyes focused right on Travius. He noticed Aratore was not wearing his usual armor or his pendant. He was filthy, wearing tattered armor that appeared to have put together from several different places. He had a hollow and mean emptiness to his eyes. He had the same look to him as Travius had seen through so many bandits and isolated wilderness dwellers during his travels.

"A frightened and hungry teenager walks into your tavern one night. The world he knew and his life inside of it was so small. His family and everything he knew taken from him twice by the Thalmor. He was now lost in this world that was much bigger than he ever knew. He came into that tavern looking only for a desperate meal and hoping he could find some where to blend in, he wanted to continue in the small world he knew.

Instead he found you. From the moment he met you he was shown more than he ever dreamed of, more than he ever knew was there. You showed him kindness, respect and camaraderie that he had never thought possible. It wasn't free though was it? The life you gave him came with a cost."

"I gave him a home and a purpose! He would have been wasted….." he tried to respond but was cut off by Boethia.

"You gave him bloodlust! You gave him weapons, armor and a banner to fly. You promised him a better life at the cost of shed blood. You gave him choices his young mind didn't fully understand. Just like your useless empire did to you.

You've said yourself, bringing him to that ruin and slaughtering those child defilers unlocked something in him. It broke free a part of him that can never be resealed.

Where would you have been had the dragon not of propped you up after the empire left you like a wounded animal? With no mentor, no one to guide you, no one to show you how to be the warrior you are today? You would be broke, alone and hiding from the Thalmor. A life and talent wasted to nothing. If you fail, that is the future that awaits him." As Boethia finished talking, Aratore unfroze and released his arrow right into Travius chest.

Travius pit both hands together and charged a massive fireball and shot it at Aratore, sending him flying into the air and pushing him back several yards away. He realized this mistake immediately as Aratore quickly got himself back up and sent another arrow, hitting him in his chest again. Just like the one through his eye it left an empty cavern in his body as the arrow went clean through him.

"Good tactic. Push the archer back to give him more range. Not our wisest decision now is it?" He heard Volonare say to him in his head.

He grunted at the annoyance of this parasite in his head but knew Volonare was right and got back up and yelled in frustration. He charged at Aratore and flung another fireball at him. Another arrow came right through the flames and hit him in his thigh, slowing him down as Aratore easily jumped out of the way of the encroaching blast .

Two more arrows came at him in quick succession and hit him in his chest again. These arrows did not go through him but turned into snakes trying to slither further into his body. He yanked them out only to be hit with two more.

"Stop using what they know and use what they don't!" Boethia said to him again for the second time.

Travius did his best to remain standing. His wounds may be healing on this black ocean but it damn sure hurt every time he got one. He had wounds that should have instantly killed anyone and it was creating a unique pain that he had never felt before and hoped to never feel again. He could feel himself becoming woozy and dizzy. He was sure quite sure he couldn't die in here but wasnt eager to find out if he was wrong.

"What they don't know" he said to himself as another arrow came at him.

The arrow was merely was close enough to him that only a hair could have fit between the arrow tip and his face when his hand created a green glow and he used telekinesis to grab it. He then l turned the arrow around and flung it back at Aratore with a much greater speed then it was sent to him and he heard Aratore yell and fall to the ground.

Aratore swiftly kicked himself back up and readied an arrow again when Travis used his spell to grab the bow and fling it from his hands and send it flying across the water. Aratore panicked as he knew his bow was his only way of protecting himself from someone like Travius.

Travius then quickly charged after him. He was not in a rage of anger but he just wanted this to end and he knew this was the only way to make that happen. As Travius got closer Aratore tried to run but Travius again used Telekinesis to trip him and make him fall to the ground. Travius then used his still unfamiliar frost spells to freeze the water around him and trap his legs.

Aratore fought him to break free but was no use as his knight approached him. Travius cast his bound sword but instead of the sword appearing in his hand, both of his arms became consumed in a purple glow and a purple narrow triangular magical blades extended from wrist nearly a foot and a half long.

"What?" He said as he looked at his arms.

He was confused but was just accepting things as they come now. He approached Aratore and swing his left fist at him and pulled the blade through his chest and held him in place.

He looked into his eyes just as he did with Anaelle and saw no indication of the person he knew. He didn't see the scared young boy that walked into the tavern that night and he didn't see the brave young man he had become in such a short amount of time. He saw a man consumed with hate, anger and vengeance. He saw someone lost to the pain their world can cause if you let it take over you. He saw who he would have been had Jorgensen not showed up and pushed him into a better path.

"I'm sorry buddy, I won't fail you like this." He said to him and then swung his right hand at him and in one swift motion sliced off his head.

Travius retracted his blades and the body fell to the ground. Just as before his wounds all started to heal themselves and his armor had continued to repair itself. This time moving down his cuirass. He could feel a magical energy from his armor now even greater than when the college enchanted it for him years ago.

He looked around him and saw the spirits in black and gold armor were growing in numbers and all started to lessen the space between him and themselves. He was frustrated he still couldn't figure out who they were. He had spent years under Jorgensen insistence learning of all the armor of the various armies and militias throughout Tamriel but all he could tell is that these appeared to be Breton.

He also became concerned about what came next. He could tell there was a pattern here and had an idea of who might be next. His fears were soon justified and he learned he was right as he could feel a large body appear behind him. He turned around and was met with a large fist that met his chin with an uppercut, breaking his jaw loose and sent him flying back to the water.

He painfully popped his jaw back in place and stood back up. Fighting a vampire and a Bosmer teenager were one thing. Fighting Vhornyak was a whole different level. Fighting a mindless illusion of Vhornyak who didn't seem to care who Travius was, was even more daunting.

This version of Vhornyak was different just as the other two were. His skin was decayed but somehow still attached to him. Pieces sewn together all over his body. His eyes were black and lifeless. His bottom fangs had been removed and his mouth sewn shut, the threading just loose enough to allow his mouth to open enough to breathe. His left arm was cut off in the middle of his forearm and a hammer was sewn onto the stump. Is his remaining right hand he wielded a large axe. An axe much too large for most to even begin to swing with one arm.

Travius thought he could use the same tricks with Vhorynak he used an Atatore and cast to use telekinesis to rip the axe from his hand. He was able to slip it from his grasp but as it begin to float through the air, Vhornyak was able to grab it again and break the spell.

Vhornyak now stood in front of him and grabbed him by his chest plate and lifted him off the ground. Travius grabbed his arm and was disgusted by the feel of his rotting flesh. His palms pulled off a large piece of Vhornyak skin as it was as if he didn't even feel it. He was so distracted with the disgusting feel of Vhornyaks decay that he didn't see his left arm swing the hammerhead into his ribs. He could feel the bones crack and puncture his intestines. He needed to be released before he swung again and cast his new unique bound sword and the purple spikes again protruded from his wrist and he jammed both of them into Vhornyak's head.

Vhornyak grunted and let go of Travius and pulled himself back and the blades of out of his head. He showed no signs of pain but more that of annoyance. Travius pulled the blades back to him and looked at them and found no blood. Only a black horrific smelling goop that fell onto the water and burned a hole through the surface like acid. The first time anything has pierced the surface of the water.

Vhornyak began to pound the hammer attached to his forearm against his own chest and attempted to let out a loud war cry but was muffled under his sewn up mouth. He started to run at Travius when he froze in place and Boethia came back into sight.

"Your oldest friend, your most trusted companion, your brother. You two have a bond that most could never achieve with anyone. You've seen each other's darkest hours and your brightest moments.

You've been through things that would
destroy most mortals. Yet, you two came out of them stronger, or atleast that's what people think. You were able to handle the atrocities and handle the weight your experiences have made you carry. You know that's not the truth for
Him though is it?

His physical strength may for surpass yours or anyone else but his mind does not keep up. Ever since he was left as a bodyguard for the Inqusitor he's been plagued by the images and the sounds of the horrors he was forced to watch.

You are the only one left in this world that knows his true self. For years now you have ignored his sleepless nights, his haunting dreams of his memories. You've stood by and patted him on the back as he dealt with his trauma by finding the bottom of bottles and reveling with other lushes. You turned a blind eye as he dealt with it by using brutal and demeaning tactics against your foes. Not a word from you as he is constantly spending emotionally devoid nights in brothels.

You know what he did at Cloud Ruler Temple, you be seen what he does to forsworn and bandits, how many bribes have you had to pay because he got too drunk on a bad day or he got just a little too rough with a prostitute?

Yet, You continue in the charade of touting him around as a noble hero. He puts on a big smile and brings gifts to children to make people blind to who he really is. You have allowed this facade to continue because you are afraid of what his mental anguish means about you. You've been through just as much as he has. Why aren't you plagued by the nightmares? Why don't you have to hide your self in a constant drunken stupor? Why don't you have shield stress yourself?"

"He's always drank, he doesn't have shield stress. Let us finish this fight and move on with this." Travius angrily retorted.

Boethia smirked before continuing.
"Do you not suffer like him because you're stronger or is it's because you're devoid of the emotions or empathy required to suffer in that way?"

"I know which one." Travius heard Volonare say in his head.

"Shut up" he responded under his breath. Travius was becoming less and less enthusiastic about his slain enemy still chiming in on his predicaments. He was hoping it had to be just be part of this trial Boethia was putting him through.

Boethia then moved next to Travius, as started at Vhornyak along with him.
"You ignored his obvious suffering because it made him more powerful. It made him a better weapon. You knew that, The Dragon knew that and The Empire knew that. If you all knew that l, then The Thalmor do as well. Unlike the rest of you, they see no reason to use him as anything else.

I know you've heard the rumors of their ghosts. They use old Magic to turn people into mindless thralls to spy and infiltrate their adversaries. They turn him into everything he has to fight his mind from becoming. He becomes their instrument of death and fear." Boethia said

Travius had heard the rumors, although he believed them to be just that. Looking at Vhornyak, his empty eyes and the lack of reaction to the injuries showed him he was foolish to underestimate how far the Thalmor would go, as they've always done to him.

Vhornyak unfroze and immediately ran at Travius. Travius cast a rune spell in his path. As he stepped on it he become engulfed in explosion of flame. The impact did not knock him off his feet as it should and Vhornyak just continued to move forward. The flames burning and melting his necrotic flesh and he paid no mind and continued on as if the flames weren't there.

He had attempted to burn him and he put a blade through his skull and neither had any effect on him. As he walked another large drop of the acidic material inside his body fell to the ground from the stab wounds in his head and again burned through the surface of the water.

"Do I need to say it or shall we wait for the prince to state the obvious again." Volonare said to
Him.

"I know, I know. Stop using what they knew and use what they don't." Travius responded.

Travius did know something no one else knew and that Vhornyak had probably forgotten in his enthralled state before him. Vhornyak had no knowledge of how or a desire to learn to swim.

He readied his blades and ran at Vhornyak. Vhornyak mindlessly reached out to grab him and Travius ducked and then slammed both the blades into Vhornyaks stomach. He then pulled down and created a large slit in Vhornyaks stomach. The acidic blood came rushing out along with his now useless intestines and dropped to the surface of the water. Just as Travius had hoped it started to eat through the surface. He repeatedly stabbed him over and over again to draw as much out of him as possible until the water surface finally gave way and both of them fell into the black water.

Unlike most water, Travius could see nothing in the pitch black ocean. His armor was heavy and was causing him to sink as he fought to pull himself back up. He had finally reached the surface again and started to pull himself out of the water when he felt a large hand grab his foot and pull him back down before he ever had a chance to get a breath.

He wildly kicked with his other foot to try and loosen the grip on his ankle but without being able to see he couldn't land on any targets. Not that it would of mattered with the inability to feel
pain Vhonkyak seemed to have. He was questioning if he could even succumb to drowning in the enthralled state he was in.

His lungs become full of water as the heavy orc dragged them further and further down in the water. He frantically tried to swim away until
He just stopped moving and focused his mind. He cast a telekenisis spell and felt it grab a hold of something. He then pointed his hands towards the surface as both of them began to rapidly be pulled back up to the surface.

Travius head was finally out of the water and he took the most relieving breath he had ever taken. He quickly pulled himself out of the water and laid on the surface as he tried to catch his breath. He wasn't sure what had happened to Vhornyak until he saw his head and torso pop out of the water and cough up a large amount of the strange acidic goo.

He didn't make any effort to get out of the water, he only sat there giving Travius a cold stare with his empty eyes. Travius then saw that large pieces of his skin and chunks of decaying flesh were peeling and falling off of him. He couldn't drown him but his body was so decayed that the water was slowly deteriorating him to the point it was washing away in the water.

Travius stood back up and approached him. Vhornyak still never moved and just kept his eyes focused on Travius. He just stayed there as the water washed away more and more
of skin. It was as if he had given up.

Travius intended to shove him under the water and freeze up the whole to let him continue to dissipate in the water. He couldn't bring himself to do it though. He hated admitting it, but Boethia was right. He had been a bad friend and protecting himself by letting Vhorynyak fall deeper and deeper into his obvious symptoms. Even though he knew this was an illusion and not the real Vhornyak, he wasn't going to allow to him to just wither away any longer.

He knew from the earlier fight that stopping his brain meant nothing, he obviously couldn't drown and he's bled out all he can. He knew there had to be something still working to make a body function. He could only think of other place to check.

Vhornyak still made no effort to do anything other than look at Travius so he placed his left hand on his shoulders and rubbed it in a comforting way as Vhornyak turned his head to continue looking at him. Travius quickly jammed his right fist into his chest, his hand moved easily and freely in the water softened decrepit body and he found where a heart should be but found a long heavy hard object instead.
He yanked it out of the chest and Vhornyak body immediately dissolved with a ghastly smell. His liquified body floated underneath the surface of the water.

Travius looked at his hand and out found a black soul gem. It turned to dust as Travius had been looking at it and blew away into the water.

Volonare again spoke in Travius head,
"I guess I have no interest in keeping their secrets now. The Thalmor's wizards have filled
Black soul gems with volunteers within our ranks and found a way to use them to take over deceased bodies. What you see there is your friends body and talents being controlled by a Thalmor agent.

The colleges temperature control crates will be quite useful in helping stave off rot in these bodies. Imagine a whole army of loyal soldiers who feel no pain and no sense of self preservation. You move the soul gem into another body when it falls. The next Great War will have a never ending supply of soldiers. It's quite brilliant."

Travius didn't have much time to dwell on the information he just received as his body was force to stand up and began to slightly levitate as his arms and legs were forced open, leaving him in a vulnerable position to pretty much anything. He felt a surge of magical energy rush over him as his wounds healed and his armor repaired itself as it had done after everyone one of these Illusion battles but this time he felt the armor not just repair but change its very properties.

It remained ebony but felt lighter, his cuirass developed etchings of Daedric symbols, he felt more flexibility between the plating and could see a glisten as if it was wet. The left arm had a slight glow to it that of the color of his flames. His right arm took on a tone to that of ice. The purple glow in his cuirass that was before created by soul gems took on a darker glow without the need of the long destroyed gems.

"You'll discover all kinds of gifts that armor allows you. Consider it my blessing to you. You'll certainly need it.", Boethia said to him

He then fell back to the water and was given control of his body again. The army of spirits had now all completely surrounded him, leaving him in a circle of roughly thirty feet around and then pulled their swords and pointed them to the ground and began tapping them on the surface of the water. The noise caught him off guard as what he that were dozens sounded like hundreds as it grew louder and louder. They began to move to allow a pathway and he could see a a figure moving towards him.

He protracted his magical blades and readied himself for whoever or whatever was next. As it got closer the beam of moonlight moved to illuminate the approaching enemy.

"Of course that's who it is…..shit." Travius said to himself.

"We're going to have fun with this one" Volonare said in his head