Hasir saw his consciousness mold into various forms as his mind rattled off the frantic possibilities of his impending early dimise. An image formed in his mind window and widened. The argonian found the ground advancing fast. The next thing the argonian knew, he was staring at the same Hist tree that he had a few months ago.
A familiar cyan Argoian greeted at the young Argonian.
"Greetings, Hasir. May I ask why you've yet again graced this realm?"
Hasir shook his head to clear the murkiness of his water-logged mind.
"Nice to see you too, Teetaka. I, er, well... I..." He said, stammering until he found his voice. "I came to this realm by accident, actually, I was thinking about all the terrible things waiting for me, and I thought of this place, and-"
Teetaka strode over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Calm your waters, my son." She said gesturing to the Hist tree. "Come, embrace the bark and we will see why you are here."
Hasir nodded and placed his hands upon the bark. Instantly, he felt a warmth spreading through his body as well as images racing through his mind. All of them difficult to discern. He saw a hatching pool-which he thought was relattively normal-the only things wa the sky was the same ice cold blue as the realm he had 'left' not too long ago. He had the sstrongest urge to pull his hand from the bark, but something bade him continue.
The nervous Argonian, mind like a bouncy ball, sweat pouring down his face in small rivers, new he had to finish this vision, nerveracking as it may be. His mind ventured closer to the hatching pools when suddenly a column of bluish-black light shot from the sky and turned the pool into a bubbling sauna. Hasir gasped as out of the pool crawled-not hatchlings but deformed daedra spawn. Reptilian monstrosities with the heads and torsos of Argonian offspring but with the bottom sections of spider-like daedra.
The argonian screamed and scurried across the swamp to a nearby tree as the reptilian daedra closed in all about him. He gasped in horror as familar heads sprouted from the creatures' backsides. All was familiar except their eyes-red as the bloodmoon.
The heads began circling the cowering Argonian, all while laughing and taunting him for his imcompetence.
"You'll never make it in Hirccine's army because you are a plaything to be tossed aside once Hircine gets bored of you. "The head that looked like Inigo said. "No one wants a werewolf as pitiful as you." It said, sneering at Hasir. "You are a disgrace. He deserves better. You'd Better give up now and defect to the winning side. Molag Bal would be pleased to have you." The feline face said, licking it's lips.
An image formed in the hatching pond of a castle hidden deep in an icy volcano with a machine attached to a metal cilinder with five metal table extending from it attached by thin clear tubes. Four of the beds were occupied. The reflection seemed to zoom in on the fifth empty bed. It seemed to open its sinister metal 'arms' toward the frightened Argonian.
The head of Tigress appeared and gazed down at the reflection.
"Admit it, you've lost. Give up and become like us. That's right, we've tasted the machine's juices and are happier for it. Tosh Raka and Ryujin are much happier have drank the juices as well." She gazed towards the water where two figures rose still very draconian in appearance, but instead of differing body parts, fur pervaded their backsides and they had a multitude of claws. Their heads were no longer camel-like but twisted into horrific wolven masks.
The two figured smell one not yet assimilated on the air and flowed toward Hasir like a tsunami treatening to overturn a marshrunner. Hasir threw his arms up to shield himself but to now avail as the horrific draconic wolvess shallowed him hole like a tasty akaviri desert.
Hasir fell into a endless black hole culminating with a grotesque effigy of Molag Bal's head grinning at him like an owner who caught his dog doing something naughty. The Argonian screamed bloody murder as he saw a ruined Nirn reflected in Stonefire's evil eyes. He fear for the worst, thinking that this was how his life would end, failing his friends, family, all of Nirn but the nightmarish vision dissipated like steam on the wind. Hasir lay flat on his back staring up at not the dragonwolves but the long gone Argonian Histspeaker.
Hasir got to his feet and sheepishly grinned at her, eye narrowed.
"You saw that, didn't you?" He said, his tail thrashing nervously. What was that ruined place I saw?" He asked inquisitively.
Teetaka smiled sweetly at him and nodded. Though, Hasir saw something else in her eyes. In them, he saw a sadness for her people, for all who turned to dust.
"This is what will come to pass should you fail, for it has invaded my mind as well. A water jug would pour not water but boiling lava, engulfing all in its path." She shrugged as she pondered the next part. "That place was the future on Nirn if the seed should drop from an empty tree; a Hist without a vision. That vision of Stonefire was what will happen when the bloodsuckers drink the wolves dry, leaving them naught but skin and bone. You'd best be prepared for that day, for it comes if you like it or otherwise." She adviseed, wagging a finger at him.
Hasir gulped and tried to calm his rather excitable tail.
"Well, I better not fail then." He said. He bade the cyan shade farewell and turned to leave.
Teetaka waved as Hasir started to fad away.
"See that you don't. Farewell."
Hasir opened his eyes and found that he was, once again, on the ship, bound and gaged. Inigo was also there in the same pitiful position that he was. He wriggled around like a trapped snake trying to free himself of his bindings. He managed to get a claw free, ripped the bag off his head and used the claw to cut his bindings. Once the bindings fell away like snakes devoid of nurishment, he got up and saw the horrible magnificence of the casstle that was alluded to multiple times in his dreams.
Hasir gasped as he beheld the gigantic towers emblazened with black crosses that he guessed acted as Molag Bal's coat of arms or a daedric cult marking of some kind. The argonian moved over as the ship docked at a dock not too far from the grey steps leading up to the castle and shook Inigo awake.
The blue khajiit's eyelids fluttered open and he looked about himself; his eyes resting on Hasir, fixed him with a confused expression.
"My friend, why did you wake me? I was having a wonderful dream about playing with a-"
Hasir shot his friend a 'hurry it up glance' as they had bigger mudcrabs to squash.
"I don't care about your dream, Inigo. I disliked waking you as you looked so peaceful, but we reached our destination. Before you say anything, I've only been here in dreams." The argonian pondered about their purpose this far down the rabbit hole.
The answer showed up behind him in the form of a green orc. The orc produced some collars attached to chains from a brown burlap he was holding and fastened them about the argonian's and khajiit's necks.
"What do you want me to do with them, Htenaryk? I don't think Molag Bal is expecting them." He said in a deep growl.
Hasir and Inigo could've shrieked had the collars not been nooselike around their throats. The being that had worn the khajiit's fursuit that Hasir'd seen in the cabin was standing before them, purple eyes aglow with deranged pleasure.
"Hircine's chosen." She said, with a merciless grin. "He and his friend will go to the soul extraction machine. Well, even though I've no personal need for the, er, furry nuisance." She gestured to a neary crypt with a dead tree in front of it. "I was going to throw him to the wolves but the furnaces are full so he'll just have to face the soul extractor as well."
The neon purple draugr-khajiit hybrid took the chains and forcibly led Hasir and Inigo off the ship, up some stairs to get a proper view of the castle. It's flaming cathedral entrance was visible just behind a dead tree with a hanged man depending from it. It seemed she thought of taking them though the crematorium but ultimately chose the colder route.
The prisoners followed her into a funeral parlor-type room that Hasir'd seen only once before, in one of his many dreamed excursions to the oblivionish castle. They were lead upstairs, through the upper part of the cathedral and into a tower outfitted with cages aligning the walls. Hasir was thrown into one cage and Inigo the other.
Htenaryk gazed maliciously at them. She seemed to revel in their amusement. She seemed, however, to be blissfully unaware of stonefire's plan for her.
"Meat like you isn't fit to become part of Bal's army." She shrugged. "What do I know? I'm just a servant. What I really should be doing is running this dump." She said, with a disapproving scowl.
Hasir hissed and clawed a the cage furiously like a prized dog fighter.
"Come closer and see what this 'meat' is capable of." He hissed
Htenaryk whipped him across the face with her spiky purple tail as he attempted to bite her.
"Listen up meat, if I have to roast you on a spit just to make you cooperate, I will. For now though," She said, leering through the bars at him. "be a good little dog and stay put." She said with a tinge of spice in her voice. I shouldn't be telling you this, what with you being my prisoner... but, this castle used to belong to the Underking. There is some speculation on wether he was one of Tiber Seeptims lackeys or if it was another idiot destined for the chopping block. One thing I do know, though, aside from who wore the title, is this was where he ruled over the whole of mankind. This... She said, gesturing to the castle at large, used to be his torture chamber."
Hasir shifted himself into a semblance of a sitting position; given the cramped space of the cage.
"So why did the 'underking' if that is what he is to be called, why Molag Bal take over this castle. I mean, Wolfthorn Castle, it can't posssibly be that named that? He asked, staring into those cold, uncaring eyes.
She scrutinized him for a minute, thoroughly impressed by his inquisitiveness.
"You're not like the brainless meat that frequents this castle, are you? Very well, I'll answer, but not because I like or respect you, mind you. The underking was a high king by the name of Ysmir Wulfharth. He ruled Windhelm long before Ulfric, his steward Yngol and he desagreed on a duty that he, the steward, was meant to perform. Furious, the steward stormed from the blue palace. Ysmir knew he had to do something, so he forsook the steward and undertook the task himself. Time marched on and fueled with rage of finding out his steward met an untimely demise, ultimately left Skyrim for this plane of which we stand and worked on a machine that'll supply himself with an endless undead army with which he can exact his revenge."
Hasir 'frowned' as he thought this over. Near his cage was a lever that, when pulled by the purple draugr entity, widened a bit of floor, much like the floor of a launchbay loosing a flurry of shooting stars. He gazed through the cruel, silver bars at the majesty of an underground lab of sorts. He beheld multiple metal tables encased in a room with stone walls that matched the room he was imprisoned in.
The next thing Hasir knew, he and his feline friend fell the couple of feet to the devilishly cold stone floor far beneath them. The Argonian got up, somewhat slowly and saw that cruel smile plastered upon the khajiit turned draugr far above him.
He let his gaze drift over the resstraints laced to metal tables attached to the central mechanism like the laces of a giant metal shoe. He gasped as he saw, as in his dream, Khash, his parents and, although not of his dream, he saw a familiar altmer, similarly in suspended animation.
Hasir's gaze shot back at Htenaryk as he hissed a warning.
"If you hurt her, I'll cut you apart, roast your bones over a spit and bury them as such so that Bal himself won't be able to ressurect you again, either that or I'll turn down the heat on the valves of deception on your birth pyre." He said, eyeing her with such intensity that he could've cut her in half.
Htenaryk said nothing but looked at him with those black holes sucking all the light from the room and the being inhabiting it. Hasir, again, looked up at her.
"Fine, keep your silence... hssss! At least tell me this: why did you kidnap my parents? You know you cannot reawaken the dead? My dad and Khash being prime examples."
Htenaryk eyed him maliciously; finally, like a puddle disturbed by a drop of water, breaking her silence.
"Molag Bal bestowed me with the means to resurrect them for his pleasure." She said, smiling maliciously. "Don't worry, you will be the main prize to these tarnished sliver and bronze medals." She taunted.
Hasir ran toward the Altmer like a bat out of Oblivion as the sky seemed to shower sparks all about him. He darted between the metal tables with restraints wound tightly about them like silver knives cutting into a dormant werewolf's spine. Htenaryk screwed her face up in rage as she hunted her prey as he used metal surfaces as reflective shields.
With some effort, the Argonian reached the Altmer's restraints; using his tail as a lockpick. Hasir flung his arms wide to shield the altmer as he took a deep breath.
FUS RO!
The shout rang through the tower like a horse leading a charge. The force of the shout made Htenaryk unbalance and slip over the edge. Hasir heard the collision of the draugr's body with solid rock and knew she'd met her justified end. Much to his shagrin, however, that was not to be. She staggered toward Hasir, all the while, lifting he barbed tail, preparing, like a poisonous snake, to strike.
Hasir's eyes narrowed as an idea navigated the cloudy swamps of his mind. Thinking quickly, he baited Htenaryk by jumping onto one of the metal tables and pinned her with one clawed hand while he lowered the metal restraints into place; ignoring the purple soulshriven's struggles. He leapt off and activated the central console.
While the console was powering up, the purple draugr forced the restraints open like giant metal teeth, grabbed the Argonian by his tail and flung him into it. The device sparked and steam issued from the fissure created in its otherwise pristine surface.
The Argonian narrowed his eyes at the laughing soul shriven, swung his tail about himself, knocking the draugr off her feet. In response, she got up and conjured a portal showing Mola Bal's castle.
"We will meet again, of that there is no doubt. Molag will reward me handsomely for your defeat." Her face fell, "Sadly, this time, I was not able to facilitate that request, but someday, the stars will align in my favor, farewell."
She vanished into the cyan portal. Feeling scared and a bit relieved, the argonian and khajiit went over to Ceralyne, using his tail as a makeshift lockpick. Ceralyne thanked him and they clambered up and out of the tower.
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