The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into Iriisii's Gray Path

 The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into Iriisii's Gray Path

      They seem to fade and find themselves in what was once a cavern. But this one has been made habitable, with homes, trees, grass, streams, and she realizes where she is. With equal amounts of shock, rage, fear, she knows what is about to happen, but what she cannot figure out is why?

Dettlaff sees her reaction and for the life of him, he cannot understand what has his mate in such a grip.

     "Love, what is wrong, talk to me, tell me what is going on?"

     "This place..."

     "What about it, seems peaceful enough."

     "This is Jonestead!!"

     "I still do not understand what the problem is?"

     Just then they see a younger Iriisii and another young woman come out of an official-looking building and head over to a home next door.

     "Come, you need to see this or you will not understand! This is what began one of the most horrible chapters in my life!"

     Dettlaff and Iriisii quickly follow the other pair inside. The tableau they see before them hits Iriisii like a ton of stone boulders. They watch as behind an energy curtain stood two men, an Argonian, and another man tied and on his knees. The younger woman is very distressed, crying. The tied-up man is fearful and angry, not for his own life as the words flowing back and forth show, but for his daughter Kasia. 

     Dettlaff assumes the younger woman is Kasia. He looks at the younger Iriisii and he sees a resolute rage boiling just beneath the surface. Then he realizes with his senses that this Iriisii is mortal, this happened before she ascended. The Argonian, who has been referred to as Bosska, draws his sword and Dettlaff looks at it closely as Bosska draws particular attention to it. He then knows somehow this sword is not steel, but void metal.

     For the life of him, he can not recall anything being said of a sword being made of void metal, and so wonders at the significance of it. It is then he sees that is Bosska standing behind Kasia's father. He draws the sword and cuts her father down where he kneeled on the floor, turns, and leaves out the back while telling his two cohorts to kill Iriisii and take Kasia captive. Even though he knows she survived, still his beast rises to the front, raging and screaming its anger that someone would dare threaten his mate.

     Then the curtain drops and Iriisii goes into action, her blade exits its sheath and immediately cleaves head from its shoulders in a single slice, the other follows in less than a second as the blade slides down, going straight into his gut, and then she powers it up and out between shoulder and neck. 

     Before the bodies hit the floor, she is sprinting for the back to deliver justice to the Argonian, Bosska, Kasia is on the floor next to her father, cradling his head in her hands as her tears fall on his unmoving face. A few minutes later, Iriisii returns with a scowl on her face. He does not need to hear her say Bosska escaped to know he made it out.

     His Iriisii is standing still as a ghost, reliving the events in her mind. And then he remembers this is just the first to happen after she suffered through sending Rigmor home to Bruma. As he wraps his arms around her, he feels her own arms, like steel bands, encloses him. He just holds her, until the tremors stop and she can let him go. By this time they are just in time to see the two young women leave the house, with Kasia's belongings.

     "Where did you take her?"

     "Dragon's Keep, I could not think of a safer place for her to stay and try to come to terms with her loss."

     "I am sure the children helped."

     "Yes, they did. They fell in love with her from almost the second she walked in the door. If only I could have left her there. Why! WHY COULD I NOT LEAVE HER THERE! She would have been safe, she would still be alive!"

     A voice she remembers and knows all too well echoes in her mind. 'You know why. Sooner or later, she would have come. You know this. The die was cast when Bosska brought her into it, by trying to capture her.'

     "SALAQUINE!! WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

     "Because you are here. I pulled strings, manipulated fate, yes. But both of us have had our strings pulled, our fates manipulated, and it begins again once more."

     "I will ask you but one more time! Why are you here?"

     "To bargain for my services."

     "Why do I need anything you have to offer?"

     "Because I can go where you cannot, into the deep Void, into the heart of Sithis' Realm. You will have to face him before you are done, he knows another is seeking you and he has no intention of letting you go that easily. The Holy Matrons are doing as they always do in these times, spending their time fornicating and waiting for the 'end' to come. Everyone else is marshaling themselves, deciding where they will land and what side is going to win."

     "And you think I will win?"

     "I do not 'think' anything of the sort...I know you will win."

     "What is the price you ask for your help?"

     "What I have always wanted and forever was denied, join my physical body with my spirit once more, allow me to be whole again. You need not fear me or my actions afterward, all I did before was to rejoin my two halves."

     "I know I do not have to fear you, my power has grown far beyond yours, and I command an army greater than any seen in all of the Realms. So no, I do not fear you. If you leave my children be, take your schemes, your plots, your machinations far enough away that I will never hear of you again, then, I will accept your offer. Betray me or any of mine, and I will hunt you with every resource at my disposal. There is nowhere in space, time, or the dimensions that you can hide from me."

     "What about..?"

     "Keep 'Sky's Divide', I have no need of it, besides, it cannot compare to what I have acquired."

     "Very well, I accept your terms."

     "Now are you going to cease with these visions of torture!"

     "That I cannot do, as I am not the one putting you through them. I do not know the purpose for them or what the one doing this hopes to achieve. But I can offer you this much, the one behind this has acquired Freya's particular talents. This has her markers all over it. When you get her into your reach, do with her as you will, I will not intercede."

     "I will hold you to that."

     "I know you will."

     "Freya is a Daedric Seducer, how did she come to be here? And you as well?"

     "When we met before, there was a barrier around Mundus that kept us from leaving. Who put it there, and why, I did not know. I had my suspicions but nothing solid. Now, you have shattered that barrier, and you did it with such ease, you did not even realize that you did it."

     "Just who did this barrier hold against?"

     "Everyone, Aedra, Daedra, all others who lived in the Void within Mundus."

     "Hmmm, that leaves out a few."

     "Perhaps they were not thought strong enough to find a way through."

     "Perhaps you are right. Now leave, I still have work to do here."

     And as soon as she could be felt she is gone.

     "Is this wise, dealing with 'her'?"

     "Probably not, but an old saying rises into my mind, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

     "That I can understand. Just keep watch for the hidden blade."

     "Always, besides that is why I have you and the others around me, to warn me when I expose myself too far."

     "But you never listen to us when we say so!"

     "True, but I know to keep watch when you tell me."

     "Well, that is something at least."

     "Come on, there is more ahead. I know you have heard about some of it, but actually seeing it happen is something entirely different."

     As they exit the home, their surroundings change. They are standing in front of the 'Nightgate Inn' in Skyrim.

     "Shit, this just keeps getting worse."

     "What happened here?"

     "It is not what happened here, but what comes later. Here just sets the stage for the debacle later, might as well get it over with, come on."

     They walk on inside the Inn. Looking around, they see Iriisii talking to a man in ebony armor sitting at a table. They cannot hear what is being said over the truly horrible singing of the woman 'murdering' the name of the Bard's College by her attempt at singing.

     "They are talking about the Ashen that these mercenaries are meeting up with to 'take care of'. 'I' am trying to see if they can be easily infiltrated. Watch what is going to happen, not one of my finer hours, to say the least, but he was a particularly obnoxious asshole."

     As they wait, Iriisii steps away from the merc and goes to the bar to purchase a bottle of mead. 

     "He wants a bottle of mead before he will talk anymore. 'I' have had enough of his 'mouth' and intend to shut it permanently, although my method here is being determined by the location."

     They continue watching as Iriisii takes the bottle to Alarei, who doses it with a poison that Iriisii supplied. She then goes over and takes it to the merc, who downs it in a single gulp. He begins to talk once more then grabs his stomach as Iriisii calmly watches him fold over and die. Then she moves over to one of the side rooms where the second merc is sitting. She takes a slim blade out of an arm sheath and coming up behind him, slides it up into the back of his neck and into his 'waste' of a brain. At least this way there is minimal blood to clean from the armor after she and Alarei, drag the 'dead' drunk one from the table to the side room.

     The bartender shouts over the 'bard', "no fornicating in my Inn." 

     Iriisii replies, "just getting him out of the way, in case he decides to throw up."

     After in the room, they strip the armor off of the corpses and equip it along with their swords.

     Alarei comments, "good thing you did not get blood over everything, kinda hard to clean it up while throwing up."

     "I know, I am sorry you had to come along. I tried to get you out of it but Freya insisted and no one is going to go against her. Matari has not given me any authority over her so we are stuck. However, once we get back I will speak to Matari about letting you go. I have a letter for you to take to the College of Magic, asking that you be admitted. They may not take just anyone, but they will not question the 'Dragonborn' asking on your behalf."

     "I do not know how to thank you for this. I know now, joining the Sirens was such a mistake. I almost thought I would never find a way to get out."

     "Just learn to be the best mage you can be. One day I may ask you to join me on a task that the Gods will have for me."

     "It would be an honor."

     "Good, that is settled then. Let us get this over with."

     They walk out of the room, Iriisii throwing some gold to the bartender, who nods his head as they leave.

     As they go through the door, Alarei asks about the gold.

     "Do not worry about what they think, it will be good cover for now, and will not think to check the room and find the bodies until we are long gone."

     They meet up with four other mercs waiting outside. After a check to confirm their unit designation, they take off at a brisk march to where they are to meet up with Commander Bosska and the rest of the men he was bringing with him.

     Dettlaff asks Iriisii, "What was the purpose of this?"

     "We were told it was to cut into the numbers of the mercenaries being transported into Skyrim. To cause so much trouble and a bad reputation, that Bosska would be hobbled by no one wanting to sign on with him. This would also remove support from 'Project Purity' that they are using his mercenaries for. Why they have not moved on from having to use mercs, I do not know. They have had long enough to develop their own, and they can control loyalty much better with their own people than by using mercs. One thing I definitely learned from this though was that nothing ever makes sense when you can only see one side of whatever is going on."

     "What brought you to that conclusion?"

     "A few things I learned later. We are here, things are about to really get bloody."

     They watch once more as Bosska comes up to meet with the new arrivals. Once the unit check is done, he casts some type of paralysis spell on Iriisii and Alarei. Unsheathing his sword, he cuts Alarei down. Saying that Sapphire Unit does not have any female members. He then turns to Iriisii.

     As he sniffs the air to confirm a scent he has caught, he removes Iriisii's helm.

     "You! I thought I caught your scent." Their conversation moves back and forth, Iriisii wanting to know why he killed Alarei. His answer was that once they became Sirens, there was no hope for them, they were Matari's creatures.

     "The damn fool, if he really thought she was that powerful, why was he being allowed to act as he was."

     "You mean she was not that powerful?"

     "Her Avatar was not, this one was near the end of its usefulness. You must understand that no one really knew what she was, what she was capable of. Yes, she could turn one into her willing slave, but depending on their strength of will, it would sometimes be a battle better not engaged in. Her access to her power was not fully open, she was a split entity.

Her physical form and her spirit form were somehow separate, and no, I do not believe it happened naturally. Someone did it to her, for what reason, who knows for sure.

     She was far more comfortable and effective as a puppeteer, pulling the strings while remaining in the shadows. Her Avatars dying or being killed while another was born somewhere else, ready to take up where the other left off unless too many mistakes were made and then another path was embarked upon. But wait, this is going to get messy, now."

     As Bosska turns to walk away from Iriisii, he is heard to say how he had hoped she would join him. Now he cannot allow her to live, but since he had not the wish to do it himself, he would allow his men to do it for him.

     "A merc leader who is that much a coward? How did he get so many to sign?"

     "Gold can cause just about anyone to overlook just about anything if there is enough of it."

     "True."

     Bosska disappears down at the shore, while his mercs start running toward her. The paralysis spell wears off and the massacre begins. With blade, spell, shout, the mercs are sliced, fried, thrown into the ice walls of the crevasse, some impaled on spikes of ice protruding from the walls, others, their bodies broken inside their armor as they are dropped on the rocks scattered across the bottom of the crevasse.

     As Bosska had no mercy within him as he killed Alarei, Iriisii had none with the men he sent to kill her. In the end, thirty-six ebony-clad mercs lay dead, their blood forming a small stream as it wound its way down the inclined floor to the waiting sea. The crevasse walls shake as Iriisii unleashes her Thu'um.

     "BOSSKA! HEAR ME, BOSSKA! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS! WATCH OVER YOUR SHOULDER AT EVERY SHADOW, START AT EVERY SHARP SOUND, ONE OF THOSE TIMES IT WILL BE ME, I WILL AVENGE ALARIE, I WILL AVENGE MARCUS, I VOW BEFORE ALL THE GODS, LIGHT AND DARK, YOUR LIFE WILL BE MINE!"

     After the last of the bodies falls from the walls to the floor, from the shaking of the ice. Iriisii moves each body, all thirty-six of them, and arranges them around Alarei's body. Such that anyone that happens by will see the honor guard of the dead, placed around to protect Alarei. Iriisii stands next to her body, gazing down at her.

     "I am sorry that I failed you. You would have been a fine mage, a credit to your family, the College, and to me. I will see to Bosska's death. I will not rest until he lies dead and broken at my feet. May the spirits of these I have placed around you, protect you on your last journey. Go to Atherius, Alarei, leave the pain and the turmoil behind, go and find peace at last. Lord Arkay, accept her into your care, end her suffering, and I will see to this world being a better place for her being here."

     As Iriisii turns and walks back out, on her way back to the Euphoria Palace.

     "You loved her in your own way, did you not?"

     "She was a gentle soul, not cut out for the things expected of her as a Siren. They should have just let her go."

     "I know. I am sorry, for both of you."

     "Thank you. But the worst is yet to come, two more if I do not miss my guess. Then the one doing this had better have one damn good reason for it."

     The scene fades out and once it fades back in they are inside a Dwemer research facility. There is Iriisii, Kasia, Lillith, and one more Dettlaff does not recognize. When he asks about her, Iriisii says her name is Tricia.

     "She spent time in the Imperial Legion but was kicked out for 'disobedience of a lawful order', which was a load of horseshit. I got her to tell me the whole story, later after I became Empress, I checked her story out in the 'official' records, then had Blackwell investigate to find the truth. The particular General involved did indeed file a false accusation against her. When I privately called him into the throne room for a conference and told him of what I had found out. He dared me to make it public, said the people would never believe me over him.

     So I had Lord Blackwell come in and give me his report on what he had unearthed in his investigation to add to what I had told him from my previous conversation with Tricia. Seeing as she had no reason to lie to me about it, he went along with trying to find the truth. After he finished, I looked to the General, who was red as a lump of hot coal in his face, at what I had done. I gave the General a choice, he could retire and retain his 'good name' or I would see all that we had dug up was leaked out to the soldiers and the public. Then we would see how long he lasted after everything came crashing down upon him. I asked him, how long before I would be asked to put him on trial for treason, and what would his punishment do to his family.

     Lord Blackwell had kindly already had his 'Letter of Resignation' drafted, waiting for his signature. Once it was signed, Lord Blackwell suggested a change in scenery might be good for his digestion, somewhere far away from the Imperial City. The last thing I heard was, he disappeared somewhere in the depths of Argonia, his family is still in the Imperial City. They had no active part in any of it, and so I felt they did not need to share his fate."

     This is when the alarm went out across the installation and the animunculi woke up. We watched while the group cleared the animunculi from the room, then saw the gates had been barred to the outside. It was Tricia who directed everyone to the maintenance level to find the release mechanism.

     We watched as they found the corridor leading to the switch, and as Tricia stepped across the threshold, bars raised from the floor, separating her from the rest. She started to walk on to the far end, as Lillith called out for her to be careful, as she was not sure which of the switches that could be seen was the right one. As Tricia threw one of them, the corridor filled with steam. Everyone's heart dropped at what that could mean, then we saw a figure walking through the steam as the bars dropped. What the steam did to her body in the armor she was wearing! It literally cooked her, I..."

     "Shhh, it is done and past now. There was nothing you could have done. None of you knew of the traps the Dwemer laid in there."

     "I know, but the things I saw when looking for the lexicons to open the door to the Overseer's office. There were things I saw when I was transported to Pandemoniun Fortress at the end of the Fifth Era. I could not believe what they had done fusing the dead into armor and animating it. Watching them move about, almost like they were truly alive. I wondered how it all began, where did the idea come from. Now I know, for I saw the prototypes in that installation, the first ones experimented on, to fuse metal skins on the dead, then animate them.

     I remember Salaquine saying that such would be needed in the future, but I passed it off, not being able to accept it. Now I wonder what is it that is going to come about that those things will be needed to combat."

     "We will deal with whatever comes on our terms, not on its. I promise you that."

     "I know, but it is just not right, the dead should be left in peace. And if I have a say in the matter, they will be. Only one more left, the worst one of them all."

     One more time, the scene around them fades, when it returns to clarity, they are outside Jonestead once more. Iriisii is trembling, as Dettlaff holds her close. Now the bits and pieces he has heard, the story is filling out, how in the name of all of the Gods did she bear this, what kept her going.

     Iriisii and the Cyrodiil Sirens go through the door back into Jonestead. Following them, they watch as they go through, seeing the bodies of the people, men, women, children, all killed. They go to the town hall, they had previously seen, but this time there is something new. A wooden wall was erected across where the central guard tower sat. An open gate on either side. This screams of a trap and Iriisii knows it, but there is nothing left to do but spring it and hope for the best.

     They rush into the Town Hall, still more bodies inside. They turn around and go back outside, three figures are standing at the top of the guard tower. One dressed in White Robes, another Iriisii recognizes as Bosska, and Kasia, bound, gagged, and blindfolded.

     The White Robed man calls out for everyone to drop their weapons and surrender themselves. Iriisii knows what is going to happen regardless, no one is walking out alive from this. She looks at the two targets, can she get both with an arrow in each? If not which one to kill first. The one in White seems to be high in Project Purity, making him her first target. As her arrow flies and strikes him in the forehead, some kind of spell goes off. Kasia goes down, Bosska drops below the railing and disappears, the gates open and some kind of animunculi, made of something other than Dwemer Metal roll out. And a small device on the ground in front of the guard tower lifts its top and sprays a green gas that quickly fills the area.

     She goes for the animunculi, dropping them in quick succession until they are all down. But as she tries to go through the gate to get Kasia and get out, Iriisii falls to her knees, unable to gather the strength to go on. Then she falls over to her side, and everything goes dark, just as she hears Matari's voice in her head, "No, not yet, you still have work to do."

     Dettlaff and Iriisii watch as two figures wearing some kind of mask over their faces come through checking on everybody. Iriisii knows it is Lillith and Freya. They hear Lillith comment that everyone is dead, to which Freya replies no, the Commander is still alive, but barely hanging on. The two of them grab Iriisii under her arms and quickly get her outside into the fresh air. They only have to wait a few minutes before Iriisii begins to come around.

     She staggers at first, Lillith going to her to steady her, Freya passes close by on her way back to Euphoria Palace, telling Iriisii that Matari will want a full report on her return. As Iriisii begins to realize she is still alive, she asks about other survivors. Lillith says Iriisii was the only one they pulled out alive, everyone else was dead. Then she hands Iriisii, Kasia's journal, she opens it and reads. Its effect on her is profound, something within awakens, something dark and truly terrible to witness.

     Iriisii walks out into the open road, casts her eyes to the heavens, and speaks.

     "AKATOSH!! WHY?! WHY DID SHE HAVE TO DIE?! IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? DID YOU INTEND FOR THE SLEEPER TO AWAKEN? I KILLED ALDUIN, SO NOW IS IT MY TASK TO DO WHAT HE WAS TO DO? TO CONSUME THIS KALPA AND GUIDE THE CREATION OF THE NEXT ONE? IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?! TELL ME NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR SILENCE!!

     Lillith is stunned by what she has just heard, she cannot fathom that maybe just maybe the Nine Divines were in fact real. She cannot open her own mouth and speak for she knows not what to say.

     Then Iriisii screams out a 'word' and a whirlwind begins blowing and circling Iriisii. Slowly it grows in power, drawing leaves, twigs, whatever it can grab and draws it into the whirling funnel, with Iriisii at its center. As it grows stronger, tree limbs are being bent toward it, more wind is gathered, Lillith feels its power. She wonders if she should stay, or go back into Jonestead and die from the poison rather than witness what may be the death of this world.

     Small trees begin to be pulled out of the ground and into the whirling winds. Lillith hears a second 'word' shouted and a stream of power shoots from Iriisii up into the sky. She feels the ground shaking, cracks starting to open up, she hears Iriisii scream her unbridled rage, her grief adding a counterpoint to the song of destruction. The sky grows dark as a storm of untold might forms above them, lightning bolts as thick as tree trunks striking down to the ground.

     And then a mighty dark shadow moves over them and the ground rumbles as something truly huge drops from the sky to land close to them. A dragon, bigger than any she has seen before, and black in color. He looks around and sees the pair, she draws her blades and prepares to defend Iriisii.

     "There is no need for that, young Ashen, there is need of my intervention in what is occurring with the Dragonborn before it progresses. If she utters the third word, before I can stop her, all of Nirn and Mundas will be destroyed."

     Lillith looks at the strengthening storm, makes a decision, and steps out of the way.

     The dragon walks up to Iriisii and speaks a 'word' in Dovahzul. The whirlwind fades into nothing, the storm clouds begin to break apart, everything carried aloft by the winds, either falls or floats back down to the ground. 

     "Thank you, young Ashen, this world may never know the debt it owes you."

     "That may very well be but it is not out of the woods yet. Two other groups vie to do what she would have done, and honestly, I would have preferred it be her who did it. I trust what would come after to be better than if either of the others succeeds."

     "Will you please tell me of what you speak?"

     "Inside the mountain, is the village of Jonestead, what is left of it. They died when poison was introduced into the air, this was a test of what a group called Project Purity created, with the intent it be spread across the world."

     The dragon sniffs the air, its head pointed toward the door. It then proceeds to do what a human would call a sneeze.

     "Bein, what foul concoction...this is from a Hist tree! An aberration of one if I am correct. May I ask as to the other trying to bring about the destruction of the Kalpa?"

     "I know her as 'Salaquine'."

     "Ahh, the 'void child'."

     "You know her?"

     "I know of her. A great difference in circumstance."

     "How did they manage to induce this into the Dragonborn?"

     "Someone she has come to care about greatly was to be used as hostage and leverage inside. To force her to surrender and cease her efforts to stop both groups. Her grief overwhelmed her."

     "Daan, she is one fated to suffer loss, in order to be Deinmar, Guardian. Although her spirit is strong, even the strongest can be hurt if struck enough blows. Would that I could help, but I am forbidden to interfere with the one you call Salaquine."

     "Why is that?"

     "That task falls to the Dovahkiin, it is one of many she has been called to undertake. Only some of which she has resolved. Take care of her, young Ashen, she is more important than many, than even the Gods beyond Mundus know."

     "Wait! There are Gods beyond the Nine?"

     "Child, there is far more that exists outside of Mundus. The Nine are held here as it was they who created it out of themselves, giving up their immortality for it. The Daedra can go beyond, but what lies out there they fear and so they stay. Only a very few have that strength to look beyond."

     "I will do as I am able to help her then. I owe her that much."

     "If this should happen again, and I am not able to return, it will be up to you to stop her."

     "And how would I do that?"

     "Use your blades, it must be done before the third word is uttered. Where she came into the knowledge of the Words of Creation, that is something I must look into. Wait!"

     The dragon walks around her, sniffing the air.

     "This should not be! Yet it is! High powers are at work here, move her just a bit if you please."

     "What do you think has happened?"

     "We will know in a second, move her please."

     As Lillith moves Iriisii, she sees a glint of the palest violet.

     "Gather what you see and show it to me."

     Lillith gathers an oversized egg and extends it to the dragon.

     "Be careful with that please, you hold a treasure beyond imagination. It must be safeguarded, were it to fall into the wrong hands, all dragons might fall under the sway of the holder. Place it carefully under my tongue, I must take it to a place of safety."

     "What is it?"

     "An impossibility, but very real for that. Tell her that when the time comes, she will feel it call to her. When she feels the call, follow it as soon as she can. It will be waiting for her to claim."

     The dragon turns and flies off to the west-northwest. Once it is out of sight, Iriisii starts to stir.

     "Come on Commander, let me get you back to Euphoria Palace. On the way, we have a lot to talk about."