Tulen approached the statue which loomed like an angel of death over the six Argonians. At once, the statue came alive,
"Ah, good to see you all here good, I have something to tel--" He stopped and looked around, "Wait, I sense two of you are not of
my kin; if you are not one of my children, step forward if you please."
Tulen and Drujeeta stepped forward. Stone fire smiled and a electrified cage fell from the heavens. An invisible hand lifted Drujeeta
and Tulen up off their feet and threw them into the cage and slammed the door shut behind them. Immediately, the electricity
seemed to come alive; it made them scream as if their whole bodies were on fire.
Juleen broke down as he saw his wife getting tortured,
"Molag Bal, stop this, please take me instead." He pleaded, eyes streaked with tears
Molag Bal smiled and gestured toward the cage. For a moment Juleen thought he was going to let his wife go, but with almost all
daedra, Bal had an alterior motive. An invisible force lifted Juleen up and skewered him on the end of the statue's spiky tail. Juleen
screamed as his life flickered before his eyes and then all went black as his limp body flopped off of the tail and onto the floor.
Drujeeta screamed in protest, but the daedric prince had not hear her in his mirth,
"Stupid Argonian, I am the great deceiver, do not think for a second that you can outwit me!"
He opened the cage door and let Drujeeta out. She knelt beside Juleen's body and sobbed uncontrollably,
"Stone Fire, you bastard, why did you have to kill him? He was only offering to take my place out of love." She said, glaring at the
statue with her eyes streaked with tears.
The statue scoffed in indifference,
"True love, don't make me laugh. Foolish lizard, I have just started the great shadow's noble work."
Drujeeta did not know how to respond to this because one she did not know who the great shadow was, and she also did not know
about what his noble work was. Milsha, Neesh and the other Argonians, minus Tulen, sat around the statue as it told them of the
great shadow and his revenge plot. every Argonian, except Drujeeta seemed onboard with this plan.
Drujeeta stood up, went over to the cage door and muttered a spell to try and freed Tulen from the cage; she even tried
transforming into her wolf form and bashing it with her head; all that did was give her a pounding headache. In the end, the cage
door stood resolute and unopened. She rounded on the statue,
"Let Tulen out, damn you! I will never help you in some stupid plot to help some shadow gain power," She turned away from the
daedra and beckoned to her offspring,
"Come on kids, We're leaving." As she went to grab her kids' arms, however, she saw that they became ethereal, causing her hand
to pass right through them.
Molag Bal's eyes narrowed with a mix of hatred and contempt at the Argonian,
"You fool, don't you see you've lost, your beloved's soul as well as the children belong to me." Drujeeta gasped as a blue daedroth
looking creature stepped forth from its stone tomb, "You might as well give up now."
Drujeeta inquired as to what this great shadow's plan was and, more to the point, who he was. Molag Bal's mouth curved into a
malicous grin as he walked towards her,
"My most faithful servant has many names, most of which are unpronouncible to most races of Tamriel, Most people just call him the
Doomstrider." The daedric lord encircled her while his tail coiled like a snake around its victim, "His proper name, though, is unknown
to me."
Drujeeta's brow furrowed at this. Molag Bal eyed her with both concern and shock,
"The Doomstrider? I have never heard of the name nor have I read it in the many Blackmarsh lorebooks in Tamrielian libraries."
Molag Bal laughed again and said she would not read about him in any book, lorebook or otherwise, because many books like to
gloss over that dark time in their history because the servant of the undead werewolf wanted to strike that whole period from their
memories; however, like that nagging voice in the back of your head, it never goes away. Drujeeta glowered at the daedric lord
refering to her race as 'stupid lizards.'
The daedric lord strode over to the cage, grasped the bars with his clawed hands and peered through them with his blue eyes.
He grinned while he watched Tulen twitch uncontrollably,
"Are you having fun in there little insect?" He laughed which echoed throughout the cavern, "I trust you know how to make this stop,
just confess." He said showing the writhing Argonian his yellowing teeth.
Tulen looked up at him as the electricity burned his insides,
"Yes I do, I will not, however, give you the satisfaction." He growled through gritted teeth
The daedrc lord glanced over his shoulder at the stunned Argonian and flashed her a sly smile,
"Well, I guess a few more minutes torture will do him good." Drujeeta screamed for him to let the suffering Argonian out of the cage
because she could smell his lifeforce slipping away. The lord of domination laughed and said only if he denounces Hircine. Drujeeta
said he would never do that. She transformed into her silver werewolf form and rushed head down at the cage again. She bounced
harmlessly off of the iron bars; Molag Bal stood there, grinning to himself as if he did not know anyone could be so stupid as to try
the same thing twice, especially if the first attempt did not work.
The werewolf named silver rounded on him and growled a warning. The daedric lord did not flinch; he just advanced on the manic
werewolf and swung his tail at her, the werewolf predicted the attack and dodged out of the way. Silver walked over to the writhing
Argonian and looked at him with unmistakable pity on her wolfish face. She turned and looked at the daedric prince with the same
expression; as if out of pity or wanting to shut the wolf up, he did not know; he walked over to the cage, deactivated the electrified
warding he placed on it and opened the cage door,
"Fine, take the wretched filth, I can always find worthier pray in my realm, so take the filthy lizard and leave my sight." He said
indignantly, waving his hand dismissively, "Go back to your 'wolflord' and tell him I am a glorified torturer of wolves, go ahead and
tell him." He said as he turned his back on them.
Drujeeta and Tulen turned and walked out of the cavern when Drujeeta glanced over her shoulder wanting to thank Molag Bal for his
understanding but she only found the statue; the daedric prince had gone. Was the conversation I had had with him real or did I
imagine it? She thought as she walked over and, seeing Neesh and Milsha not trapped under the daedra's spell, grabbed their hands
and yanked them over to where Tulen stood looking especially sour. Drujeeta hissed a curse in Jel and turned on the scene. She, her
kids and Tulen, who she was looking after for Itansehk and Kassamae, followed her.
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