Ingo returned in the Elsweyrian forestt and saw Sa'chil body, lifeless as ever, laying on the forest floor. Inigo couldn't help but think about if this is how Hasir felt when his aunt passed away from the same or similar thing that had befallen the small khajiit. This was, of course, only in ttheory because he'd not seen it firsthand.
He said a somber farewell to the khajiit and walked to the cave situated between some moss-covered stairs. Inside the cave, Inigo found a mortar and petsle sitting on a shelf across from where Hasir lay, ground the ingrients up and down the whole thing. Feeling sleepy, he rested on a stone bed beside his reptilian friend and closed his eyes. He had followed Vaermina's instructions, why hadn't it worked?
He heard nothing for the longest time and the the sounds scream and laughter filled the silence. the khajiit opened his eyes and found himself in a room of Wolfthorn castle and saw metal tables with a machine situated in the middle with clear tubing spider-webbing outwards. Inigo looked around and saw Hasir laying on the ground, presumably trying to fight of whatever infection had taken a hold of him while a black khajiit watched.
Inigo spotted the black khajiit and snarled.
"What are doing to him? Do you get your kicks out of see mortals in distress? What exactly are you?"
The doomstrider raised an eyebrow.
"I already told you what I am. I am merely a servant of Molag Bal, that is all."
Frustrated, the blue khajiit shook his head and pointed to Hasir.
"No, don't feed me that bullshit. I was just in Quagmire. I saw a message." The doomstrider looked at him as if he were insane. "Don't pretend like you don't know. You transcribed that message, I can sense you hiding the truth. I smell deceit."
The doomstrider shook his head.
"I honestly don't know what you're talking about."
In his fury, Inigo grabbed the black khajiit and forced him to look at the broken Argonian laying a few inches away.
"Tell me that that is not your doing. Go on, say it." Inigo snarled.
The doomstrider broke free of the vice-like grip and struggled to his feet.
"Okay, you caught me. I am the chaos from which fate springs eternal. I am the blackness from which all things come and must return to it the end."
Inigo screwed his face up in thought. The doomstrider grabbed the unaware khajiit armor and threw him against the wall.
"You mortals are so stupid. No, I am not that which I said before. I serve no daedra, I mean, I do but those daedra are the Triad of Fate. They spun me into existence to end that which they had created. It is they who destroy anything that mess with their design. I am of course talking about Vampires and Werewolves. True Molag Bal thought I served him but, on the contrary, I am the shadow that lies behind every being. I report back to the Triad of Fate with how I think the world is going. If they see any imbalances, be it power or otherwise, they send me to restore the balance."
Inigo groaned as he got up, brushing dust from his armor.
"So, you aren't evil at all? You just... restore the balance of all living things? Ripping out diseased roots from the earth?"
The doomstrider nodded.
"You finally figured me out. Very good. I as well a and if neededs the Triad of Fate are not your enemy. We are just put here to weave life, trim the diseased parts of the tree away as needed and, precipitate any natural disasters to maintain the balance of life if the balance is interrupted." He looked at the Argonian. "Molag Bal wanted me to turn him in one of the hybrid abominations that he intends to use to win the war against werewolves." He stared at Inigo and shrugged, "Like I said, I and the Triad of Fate are merely observers, tasking with not interfering and olny do if we see inconsistancies with our plan. I was trying to study the hybrids to figure out how to disease work and how they weaken the body of which they forcefully inhabit. You friend... I admit, I did not intend for this to happen."
Inigo knelt behind his friend and ran his fingers along his scaly skin.
"Can you cure him?" He said, tears in his pumpkinish eyes.
The doomstrider looked mournfully at the unconscious Argonian.
"I'm sorry, I cannot. As I said, we only observe, we cannot intervene..."
Inigo looked up and grabbed the Doomstrider.
"You said you do. You have to help him." he said, his voice steady rising.
The doomstridder shrugged.
"I wish I could but... wait, if I had all of the threads of fate her, we could try and revive him together, but..." He saw Inigo's eyes. "Oh very well, I shall try, but, mind you, there may be disasterous events to follow because I helped you." Inigo nodded and white and blue fire erupted for the black khajiit's hands.
Inigo stared down at the Argonian unconnscious form and saw a ttiny flick of his tail. He gave a sigh of relief as Hasir opened his eyes. The Argonian sat up and looked around. Feeling overwhelmed with joy, he hugged him. Hasir pulled out of the embrace; somewhat confused.
"Inigo, what am I do here? The last I knew, an undead werewolf's fang peirced my shoulder. By hircines, it hurts." He tried move right aarm but he felt a sharp pain as he did so. "That werewolf, vampire thing... is my arm broken? My shoulder fells like a skeever that has been gnawed in half by a Wamasu."
He turned around, letting his arm dangle like a dead fish.
"What in Oblivion is HE doing here!?" Hasir said, shocked, "I expect he is here to finish wwhat he's started. Go back to Coldharbour, you bastard!"
Inigo shook his head while inspecting Hasir's shoulder.
"Such cruel words! My friend, he healed you, well, revived you is more what he did. Stop looking a gift horse in the mouth and give respect where it is do for gods' sake.
The Argonian glanced at the Doomstrider and nodded rather coldly. Inigo saw this, grabbed Hasir's head and fforced him to look the Doomstrider in the eye.
"Hasir, stop being a stubborn hatchling. He explained to me that he was being used by Molag Bal and that he is instead aligned with the Triad of Fate."
The argonian's hands struggled to rip Inigo's away from his head as he tried to avert his eyes.
"Those assholes... he's allied with them? Inigo, forgive me but one of their number poisoned the farm near Chorrol, or have you forgotten that fact?"
Inigo shook his head as Hasir managed to shake him off. He had no idea how to make the stubbornly hard-headed lizard listen.
"No, of course I haven't. Yes, he is allied with 'them' but they are not the ones that poisoned the farm, you moron." Hasir narrowed his eyes dangerously, Inigo beckoned the Doomstrider to come close. "Now, kiss and make up and..." His voice trailed away as his scaly friend snarled and attempted to bite the black khajiit's tail.
Inigo whacked the insolent Argonian's nose with the blunt end of his ebony sword.
"Now, now, be nice. Be a good lizard and let me finish my thought, will you? Hasir closed his mouth and sat still. "Good, now as I was saying, the Doomstrider is a part of the Triad of Fate. You have Hermaeus Mora, the scrib and seer of the unknown, Mephala, the webspinner, Ithelia, the measurer of fate and finally, the Doomstrider. He is the... erm, searcher of sorts."
Hasir's face screwed up as he tried his hardest to comprehend all the arrows of information flying at him.
"Wait... what? Seacher? What in Oblivion is a searcher? Don't you mean seeker or destroyer?"
The blue khajiit shook his head but the Doomstrider intervened and picked Hasir up by the collar of his dragonbone armor.
"Nope. He was correct. I am the searcher. If you want I can... provide a demonstration." He said, eyes narrowed and teeth bared. Hasir rapidly shook his head. "Okay then." He said, setting the Argonian on his feet again. "It is my job to find those who shirk or outright shun the ever fluctuating rope of fate and threaten or kill them to restore the balance on Nirn."
Hasir thanked the Doomstrider and they and Inigo walked through a portal that the black khajiit conjured. Once back in the forest, Hasir's spirit and physical body rejoined. The Argonian sat up, eyeing the onlookers.
"If you hadn't freed me, I fear I would've been done for."
Inigo looked toward his reptilian friend, smiled and remarked about the curious lack of sweat on his forehead.Hasir laughed, got up and stretched.
"With that done, we can now find a khajiit caravan who will aid us in the battle against Molag Bal and the Doomstrider."
Inigo looked ashamedly at the Doomstrider.
"Erm, about that..."
Hasir looked where Inigo was looking and his scales turned white.
"Great white stag! I thought you were a figment of my imagination." He cowered on the cold, stone bed, "Please don't kill me."
The doomstrider marvelled at the natural beauty of the cave he found himself in; admiring the finer details. While walking, he ran his hands over every nook and cranny.
"What you witnessed in your befuddled mind forest was true, and yes, I am not allied with Molag Bal. I never was. I am, as I said before, part of the Triad, I guess you can call them the Quad now." True to his form, Inigo mispronounced the word while Hasir hastened to correct him. The doomstrider sighed in annoyance. "As I was saying, I am part of The Quad. They are tasked with creating, shaping, ending and, in my case, destroying any interloper that dares defy, fate."
When he near the Argonian, Hasir scurried against the flat, slight inclined rock he'd been using as a makeshift bed.
"Ssstay back, you fiend." He said as he scurried around the rock to avoid the 'glare' of the Doomstrider.
The black khajiit snarled and disappeared in a puff of black smoke. It flew towards Hasir and held him fast against the rock wall.
"Listen herr, you cheap pair of boots." He snarled, crimson eyes glinting like rubies in the darkness. " am not your enemy. The true enemy is Molag Bal. While, I may have acted as his lackey, his stooge, whatever you want to call it, it's inconsequential. I merely had to gain his trust to report back to the Quad about his misdeeds. Stealing souls, pitting mortals against one another for sport, even his sick methods of forced labor, all of it goes against the grander designs of fate. I was only standing in his shadow, quite literally, because I had to read his movements and assess any errors his was making to the design of fate."
Hassir took a deep breath and ssoon the Doomstrider felt like he was in a gale force wind.
"Fus Ro."
The doomstrider flew through the air like a leaf carried on the wind and slammed into the bookshelf, smashing it to bits. The argonian unleashed his flame whip and ran at the black khajiit. He would not believe the the khajiit who so quickly have a change of heart. He certainly didn't believe him bing a part of the Traid of Fate.
He pinned the Doomstrider against the wall and transformed. The khajiit struggled against Twilight's massive paw. Inigo's eyes went wide as they darted from the mouth of the cave, where Atala stood and the massive werewolf. He told Atala to flee what would surely become a bloodbath but the female khajiit refused. Her eyes were fixed on the monstrous werewolf holding the unknown 'intruder.'
"Inigo, who is that? The... werewolf and the midnight khajiit?"
No sooner did Inigo introduce his mom to the warring party did the werewolf turned its head in her direction. Seeing this Inigo shrieked.
"Oh gods, he's got your scent, mom RUN!"
Twilight gave the Doomstrider a warning growl and ran after the brown khajiit. Trees, rocks and brushes were nothing to the bichromatic werewolf as it tore after its next meal. wilight slash through a tree where Atala was hiding behind. She shrieked and ran to another hiding spot. This game of 'whack a khajiit' continued until the poor khajiit was skewers by Twilight's sharp claws and rapidly disemboweled.
Inigo heard his mother's scream and ran to her side. He gave Twilight a venomous glance and tried stemming the flow of blood from the furry fountain. Atala looked up weakly and held her son's furry cheek.
"Your...father...would be proud...of you....Inigo." Inigo could feel her hand go limp and her head stiffen. He held her head while he sobbed into her unmoving chest.
He glared at the werewolf and shoook his head. He had no idea a creature of Hircine could be fueled by such a strong emotion. Twilight looked, almost sorrowfully at the blue khajiit and went back inside the cave. Upon entry, he saw the Doomstrider and, quite literally, tried to bite his head off. The black khajiit evaded this attack as Twilight went to a corner of the cave and curled up.
The Doomstrider solidified, went over to the werewolf, produced a dagger black as night and stabbed the werewolf in the back, literally.
"Fate can be a real bitch. I thought you might enjoy playing 'the hare' for a change." He sighed, "I tried telling you that I was not 'evil' per se but a force of nature." The doomstrider cast Hasir the fleetest of concerned glances before turning into smoke and disappearing.
The next morning Hasir woke up, have no idea how he'd transformed from his wolf form. Inigo came in and saw Hasir curled up in the corner of the cave. Inigo yelled out as the Argonian's body started shinking and sprouted brown fur our his now scalless body. His legs had likewise sprouted brown hair and elongated to a certain degree. His face shrank until it resembled that of a rabbit.
Without thinking, the khajiit took the hare into his arms and unconsciously started stroking it. Immediately, the rabbit managed to struggle free of the khajiit's arms and hopped toward the mouth of the cave. The khajiit ran after it, chuckling.
"Well, at least you'll fit in more with the denizens of Elsweyr. Seriously, though, you shouldn't have tested the hands of fate. Fate is a fickle mistress you know."
The rabbit glanceed back at him in a 'I know that' sort of way. The khajiit rolled his eyes, picked up the rabbit and headed for Senchal. He hoped there would be someone there, perhaps a shaman or healer, who can reverse the spell.
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