As the carn couldriage drew closer to Lukiul Uxith, the Argonia saw a mountain looming in the distance. He turned to Tigress,
"Erm... Tigress? What is that mountain spewing smoke as if it were a sleeping dragon?"
Tigress smiled at Hasir as she gestured to the mountain.
"That is the site where, I'm told, the mighty hero, Nerevar destroyed a gret evil long ago."
Hasir nodded enthusiastically nervously.
"I know, I was there." He mumbled. "I was the one who destoryed Dagoth Ur.
Tigress frowned; she had not seen Hasir as the heroic type. She always pictured heroes as being human with long flowing hair. She'd never heard of an Argonian who battles evil before. Hasir snarled defiantly as she pulled a disgusted face his words.
"Tigress, it's true!" Hasir said, a bit hurt. "I was there! I can tell you all about it!"
Tigress shook her head and nodded.
"You right, Hasir. Best to not talk about such things. I should stick to the present moment instead of chasing fanstasies like a chinese dragon chases its tail. Onward to Lukiul Uxith." As she said this, she spurred the horses to gallop towards their destination.
When they got to the Lukiul Uxith stables, everyone dismounted and walked to the city, which was nothing more than a wide open space with buildings scattered on the ground. As hasir and Inigo walked, they marvelled at the wondrous sight. Some buldings were nesting in tall, jagged peaks aas if they were waiting for a bird to nest in them. Some argonian farmers who were tending their lands walked as Hassed passed. Hasir, feeling a bit sheepish, waved back.
The argonian walked up to the farmer and smiled.
"Hi, my name is Hasir, I am looking for Elder Seven-Bellies."
The argonian nodded, ackoledging waht Hasir had said.
"I am Hoes-Many-Soils, nice to meet you eggkin. Elder Seven-Bellies reside in the large hut at the end of this pathway." He said, pointing to a building at the end of a long dirt path that winded thought the mountain like a zig-zagging snake behind his hut.
Hasir and Inigo thanked him and made the hike up the mountain that broke the sky like a tear in a seamstrees's sewing. Panting they ascending the remainig few feet. There stood the hut with its thahcted roof and mossy green walls. Inigo knocked on the door and glanced through the window adjacent to the door to see if he could catch a glimpse of the elder's seven bellies.
Hasir sniggered as he tapped Inigo's on the shoulder and gestured to a orangish glow emanating from the fireplace near the hut.
"He does not have 'seven bellies' Inigo, his name is Elder Seven-Bellies because of the number of tribal castaways gathered here, I think."
Inigo sighed and followed the Argonian as he walked to the fire and sat down by the Saxhleel outcast.
"Elder, I have been sent to see you, I understand you have a quest for me?" He asked
Elder Seven-Bellies did not see him but stared into the flames. Hasir thought he was attemtping to gain a shamanistic vision from the flames as Ceralyne had done back in Skyrim. Elder Seven-Bellies sensed a presence next to him and turned around.
"Ah! I thought I would see you Hasir. You are here about a mission, yes?" He asked, staring impolingly at the green Argonian
The green Argonian nodded,
"Yes I am. Erm... what am I supposed to do?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer.
The lukiul elder stood up and advanced on the Argonian.
"Hasir, I would like you to find out, what, if anything, is poisoning our fair village. Seven people had died at once, no idea why. The only clue we have is my agent, a female Argonian farmer named Nutum, told me of some Argonian getting poisoned near Chorrol. It's up to you to figure out why this is happening. Oh and also check on Paxh-Riha. I haven't seen my dear sister for six months. My hopes are that she did not run afoul of what happened here." Seven-Bellies said gravely.
Hasir and Inigo waved goodbye to Seven-Bellies and made their way down the mountain and made their way to the gate when one of the Argonian farmers ran up to them.
"Fellow argonian, khajiit, can I have a word?" Hasir and Inigo nodded and followed him.
The Argonian farmer, who introduced himself as Meejapa, introduced his wife and showed them around his miniscule farm offering them each a wicker chairs which he placed around his small patch of Earth. Hasir looked at him imploring,
"Meejapa, Seven-Bellies has a mission for me to undertake. Do you have anyway for us to get to Chorrol?"
Meejapa gestured them to follow him to a small stable positioned conveniantly behind his house.
"I have two horses and two Welwa ravagers." He said as he unlocked the stable gate lock. What is your preferance?" He said
Inigo mounted one of the horse and Hasir, the welwa. They exited the main gate and headed for Chorrol. Hasir turned to the khajiit when they were outside the city.
"I was here a couple of years ago when I talked to Teinava, she is the head mage of the Chorrol branch of the mage's guild." He said as the blue khajiit shot him a confused glance. They didn't enter the town but went, instead, to an apple orchard a few feet from the town.
Hasir got off his steed and transformed. Twilight sniffed around the farm and growled when he smelled a pungent odor emamnating from one of the fallen apples. Twilght followed the scent to a building not too far away. Hasir let out a shrill howl and transformed back into his Argonian form. The Argonian worked his way around the reptilian form and knocked on the thatched-roof stone house door. No one answered. He tried again. Same result. Hasir strained his ears for any sound.
The argonian worked his way around the house silently as a shadow. A large black cauldron stood bubbling with what smelled like rotten eggs emanating from it. The argonian dug his claws into the stone to keep himself hidden. He saw a female Argonian wearing a dark blue robe with strange symbols etched on it. She grinned maliciously as apples dropped into the cauldron like rocks into an ocean.
"Why are you doing this? Do you take pleasure in praying on innocent people. Who are you?" Hasir spat
The woman ceased making ripples and turned to the Argonian.
"I have many names but most mortals call me Ithelia."
The Argonian screwed his face up in thought. Failing to grasp an inkling of understand, he shook his head.
"I have read the firmament, the doors to Oblivion and Varieties of daedra, specifically the bit about daedric princes and, sorry to tell you this, but you didn't make the cut. Seems the other daedric princes don't care about you."
Ithelia frowned at him. Hasir gasped as she removed her robes. her arms and legs were covered in strange blue rune-like tattos. His eyes finished combing her body and saw that she had a crown of night upon her head with strange writing upon it - Hasir thought they looked reminiscent of the cell in the Shivering Isles ruin.
"They? not care about me?" She asked in a voice that made Hasir's scales turn white. "Puny mortal, watch your tongue or else I will have it ripped from your head." Hasir looked taken aback. To prove her point, Ithelia's body glowed like a long forgotten soul gem. A glistening web blossomed into being between her and the argonian. "See this? She said, gesturing to the sticky circle. "This is my sphere of influence." Hasir told her it looked more like a web than a sphere. "Silence!" She spat. "I am the lesser known sister of Hermaues Mora and Mephala. Together we make up the triad of fate. Hermaues is the story weaver, Mephala is the webspinner of the threads of fate and I am the daedric prince of deciding whether or not mortals will fulfill their destiny or not. I also decide which paths mortals take, have had taken or will take in the tangled web they themselves weave."
Hasir started to speak and say that his destiny had already been decided but Ithelia silenced him.
"You will have your chance to talk, mortal but first first, I shall finish my train of thought before it crashes spectacularly. We three, Mephala, Hermaeus and I weave an even greater web of influence than you mere mortals can perceive. We hold the whole of Nirn in our hands and, like puppeteers, pull the strings of mortals, divines and, yes, even other Daedric princes so they can dance upon the stage to our liking. Now what is it your wanted to say?"
Hasir screwed his face up is disgust. He couldn't think of daedra doing such a dispicable thing; even to their own race.
"You can't control mortals as well as the divines. It's inhumane. This is low, even for you." He said, advancing on her, snarling. "Controlling the daedra's fate? that is utterly unfathomable."
Ithelia said some words, causing her tattoos to glow once more. Hasir felt like he was trapped in a storng gale force wind and collided with a mucus-like substance. asir stared, shocked as the web began unraveling itself thread by thread.
"I can warp reality to my liking. Mephala and Hermaues Mora thought me a threat so I plan to turn the world on its head, so to speak." She strode to the web and examined it. "They'll think twice about kickcing me out." She said, smiling maliciously. "My plan is multifaceted. First, I will poison all the people as I have done with the pathetic Argonians. Then, I will make the Red Mountain erupt prematurely." Hasir looked at her and snarled. "Stop snarling, you rabid dog. I knew that in one hundred years, or more... the specifics on that are quite hazy; even for my sister, brother and I. That event of which I spoke of will blot out the sun of an indetermanite amount of time, causing the mortals to fear for their lives and finally, I will sew discord among the Divines and Daedra so they riped each other throats out like wild animals."
Hasir looked up at her and made a low growling sound in his throat while shooting daggers at her.
"You would be working for Molag Bal then? Don't you think he has enough servants? The silver hand, the silver dawn and his 'children'." He said. "Why in Tamhis scaly features.riel's name would he need you? One hole I sense in your query... which is very good, by the way, is... if all the daedra and divines are wiped out, how are you going to find Molag Bal, revive him and regain his trust because he will not take kindly to you killing him. Oh and another thing, you will have killed Mephala and Hermaeus too, didn't think of that, did you?" He said, a sly smile being etched into his scaly features.
Ithelia's mouth curled into something of a smile.
"Precisely, you stupid reptile. As for the deaths of the daedra, they are beneath me. Haven't you guessed yet that when they, along with the stupid mortals, die, I won't be affected?" Hasir looked at her nonplused. She laughed and looked at the cauldron. "You mortals don't get it, perhaps you never will. I am outside the realm of influence for most daedric princes. As I said before, you insolent lizard, Hermaues Mora, Mephala and I control the threads of fate. We cannot be bound by physical means."
She turned to the dark blue web and Hasir saw it had ceased deteriorating. He could now see all sixteen princes faces appear in a hierarchy of sorts upon the gossimer strands. Below that, he saw the faces of Kynareth and finally, the mortals she despised. Around the edges of the web, a green hexagon fixed itself around the faces complete with dark green writhing tentacles that seemed to be slowly swallowing the web. Hasir also saw, amidst all of this, three symbols surrounding the web: a spider, a great eye and a glass mirror seemingly broken into countless fragments.
Hasir looked on shocked as the symbols rotated around the web as if some unseen wheel turning by an unseen hand. The symbols began eating the web, phazing the faces out of existence and transporting them to Hircine alone knew where. Ithelia glanced at the Argonian and smiled darkly.
"Did you like my little demonstration of power. Do you dare doubt me? I can make it happen in actuality... in fact, it is already happening; the threads of reality are unraveling."
Hasir looked at her and snarled.
One last question... what have you done with Paxh Riiha?
Ithelia grinned maliciously and shrugged.
You think I have her? Little mortal have you not been listening? I care not for the troubles of lowly insects."
She conjured a bluish portal to another realm and was about to step through it when Hasir called out to her. Groaning, she turned to face him.
"What now? Can't you see I have people's destinies to ruin?"
Hasir eyed her darkly and nodded.
"I would hate to keep you from your duties." He said sarcastically, "Something just occured to me, well, actually, it has been knocking at my brain's door for some time. Did you write the book of fate?" SHe looked at him blankly. Hasir cleared his throat. "You know, the book that..."
Ithelia eyed him warily as if she was getting tired of this conversation.
"I know what it is!" She snapped
The Argonian poked her in the chest with a clawed finger.
"Is it true that you wrote it? My question is, though, why?"
Ithelia, infuriated by having to start a verbal sparring match with a mortal, merely nodded and, without a backwards glance, strode toward the portal near were she had consjured the web.
"Well, It's been fun, but I really must scurry back to my hollow. So much to do and so little time." She said. and vanished.
Hasir turned away from the cauldron, disgust etched all over his face and started thinking about where Seven Bellie's daughter Paxh Riha might be.
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