VI
The aftermath of our recent combat was nigh unbearable. The two of us were littered with small cuts and bruises. Moreover, we were covered in bits of flesh, bones and other bodily substances, completely drenched from the surrounding sanguine fluids. Nephethys looked extraordinarily bad, her long white hair now a deep wine red, sticky with coagulations.
When my senses properly returned to me, I instantly felt dizzy. I couldn't help but vomit, spewing out what I had eaten earlier. This endeavour became much more strenuous than I had ever expected it to be. Even the Dark Brotherhood assassin admitted that the adversities were way more grim than she could've fathomed on her own.
Both of us took a moment to recover, regain some strength. When we finally did get back up on our feet, we decided it was high time we left this traumatizing place.
To our misfortune, the book our most recent adversary had carried fell into the sludge of meat and organs, unable to be read. Its pages soaked and the ink blurred beyond recognition.
So with only the lingering death on our clothes as evidence, we left the ossuary through yet another archway at the far end of the hall. It led us into a corridor which connected to a set of smaller chambers adjacent to each other.
Our legs were still sort of shaky as we trod the filthy path in hopes of more lenient scenery and lifeforms. I in particular had trouble breathing, the handprint on my throat still burning unrelentingly. It felt as though it singed my larynx every now and then, pulsating agonizingly in my flesh. The fact that I recently expectorated acidic stomach contents only served to amplify this weakening effect. It was like a curse I didn't know how to break.
Nevertheless, we pressed on. While she and I had been mentally shaken to the very brink of destruction, we knew we had to move if we ever hoped to get out of here.
And there it was again. That creeping terror of being trapped interminably. Deeply rooted fears started to resurface when hurtful childhood memories began to blind my inner eye with fright.
I held my forehead for just a second when a high pitched tone began to confuse my sense of hearing. Reeling, I closed my eyes breathing heavily. When I opened them again I suddenly found myself in my old cellar. A place I've come to fear when I was but a toddler. I heard my father's voice shouting.
"And you'll stay in there 'til mornin'! Repent fer yer misdeeds!".
I had been locked in like so many times before, for my father's strictness was unparalleled. But all I did was to run into the table while playing. I didn't intend to shatter the plate! But there I was, a small boy again with no way out. The only candle that meekly illuminated the basement was both boon and curse, as it provided light but also weirdly winding shadows that seemed to come alive and close in.
I ran up the stairs banging against the door. My plea for release was ignored. In silence, the moving shades drew nearer. One of them reached out and touched my face. Suddenly a stinging pain spread across my cheek. I closed my eyes and shrieked when another hand hit my head.
Then I heard a voice call to me.
"Thorus!" It yelled. "Snap out of it! Thorus!".
I opened my eyes again. I observed Nephethys readying herself to slap me. Her look told of worry but also of a slight annoyance.
"Stop! I'm fine! Nephethys! Halt!" I begged. She lowered her hand and inquired about my state of mind.
"It's nothin', really", I said. "This place just gettin' to me a lil' bit is all. Not used'ta seein' so much blood in one place".
I tried playing it off with a laugh, though I don't know if she bought it. I never explained to her that enclosed underground spaces without any graspable exit frighten me. But maybe, I thought, this experience can purge my childhood fears. And while I can now say that it did, during the oncoming journey new phobias seem to have developed that limit my professional judgement.
Nephethys let out a mocking "Hmph!" and shot me somewhat of a disappointed glare. Then we continued moving through the dank hallway towards new horrors.
VII
Our only solace in this godforsaken sewer was that after the alleged ossuary, the tunnels and chambers appeared to at least have some kind of luminescence to light our path. While treading in darkness awarded us blissful ignorance, navigating now was much less difficult.
We walked for some time, exploring the next few chambers that were akin to some twisted slaughterhouse.
One was littered with stakes, impaled on which were an assortment of humans and elves, both with and without skin. One was even still alive visibly begging for help. Though there was nothing we could do, for removal from the pole meant death, as did all other options, so we let him be.
Another room had multiple bodies chained to the walls and ceiling in salient patterns similar to runes or other letters. They had long since bled out due to horrible dismemberment. At this point we asked ourselves just how insane one had to be to commit such atrocities. At least it was now evident that whoever was responsible for the disappearances must be here somewhere. Just for what purpose did all these people get sacrificed? In that almost mindless kind if way no less? I noticed that the manner in which the murders had been done radiated a religious quality.
And as I have come to know during this case, a religion based on the gruesome foundation of blood magic is not to be trifled with.
After a good while of wandering about the Tamrielic equivalent of Oblivion, Nephethys and I were awestruck when we beheld a piece of architecture that was impossibly off. At the far end of a nauseating hallway, lined with grates on either side presenting to us mutilated, partly decayed corpses that appeared to be walled-in for what I fathomed to be some kind of morbid accessory, was a peculiar door of curious origin.
Its existence down here alone might tell of the reason why the construction of this sewage compartment had been abandoned.
Though what cogitation had worried me most were the implications it had on this investigation taking into account the fact that not only nobody knew about this place, but also as to why it was kept a secret. Why mages and scholars weren't allowed entrance. Because what the two of us now gazed at was a white, marble Ayleid door, eras old but still preserved perfectly.
We both gasped in awe at the ancient gateway. Designed with traditional Ayleid principles in mind, it was a single stone door, rectangular in appearance. In its center sat a chiseled circle, as was customary for the architectural grandeur at the time. To think that after we had witnessed this hell, we would step inside such a ruin!
Though worrisome it was that the red ghost that emerged from the Bloodmaiden's body had not showed up yet. Since we saw no other exits or entrances, I suspected the ghastly apparition his within the antediluvian halls ahead. Furthermore I feared that the remainder of corpses and cultists could be found beyond that entryway as well, leading us right into the lion's mouth. As I basked in concern, my throat burned again, almost bringing me to my knees provoking a vigorous coughing fit.
Usually, one would send at least a hundred men to clean these vaults and mazes, if not to arrest the perpetrators. However, Nephethys and I were on our own. Thus, we could only pray to survive whatever ordeals we may face.
I observed the Dunmer killer's hitherto outstanding combat abilities. She and I made a great team. Was it enough, though, to win against the looming evil ahead?
In light of all that had heretofore transpired, she didn't even ask about my Cloudbreaker anymore.
"I just want to punish the guy responsible and get out of here" is all she told me when I requested she tell me about her status.
"Let's open this gate then.", I replied. She acquiesced in silence.
I slowly approached the remarkably old stonework and pressed my hands against it. In doing so I noticed it consisted of two halves, meant to open up simultaneously. The Dunmer came to my aid. Together, we shoved it open, a sight of pure elven antiquity revealing itself to us. But our time for admiration of this serenity was short lived. A vile shambling was birthed from the corridors behind us.
We turned around and peered into the latent malignity of the aqueducts in front of us. It became abundantly clear what this noisome shuffling heralded when the first few of many resurrected cadavers came into view.
After some paralyzing moments have passed, an army of queerly contorted, skinned and partly decomposed things charged at us from within the insane bowels of the defiled sewers.
An obscene amount of blood marked their noxious path. They were on the hunt. And we were their prey.
Countless enemies closed in swiftly, their daemoniac stench gripping us before even the first of these nature defying miscreants came into reach. The fastest of them we could fend off with relative ease. Four or five were felled by our combined efforts to buy some time.
As the lifeless beings lay limp to our feet, a small army just over yonder, we realized that even with our commendable combat prowess this was a battle we could not win.
Quickly and with utmost haste we assumed our positions behind the heavy masonry on the other side, forcibly pushing against it to shut out the imminent threat.
With all of our strength, driven by our unbreakable will to survive, the weighty stone portal slid coarsely over the rocky floor, leaving an onerous trail of white dust in its wake.
The red mass of malicious entities drew closer. As it did, I espied the bloodied likeness of that detestable wraith materialize from within their ranks. The gate started to close. The animate corpses moving forward at a steady pace. Just a few pushes for us now. For them, only a few steps.
As the rough sound of stone chafing stone reverberated through my head, we managed to shut the gate at the last second. Just as one of the repulsively processed bodies tried to stick their arm through the slim opening in an effort to slice us. Just as the bloody ghost raced towards the almost sealed entrance. Both arm of the corpse and skull of the wraith were crushed by the solid rock betwixt the two compartments we so recently reunited in defense.
Aforementioned arm fell to the gritty floor and we beheld its runes still emanating a forbidden energy. On the other hand, the tenebrous print on my throat faded into nothingness with the death of that floating monstrosity.
Nephethys produced her dagger from her hip sheath and cut the flesh off the bone with surgical precision. Its joint served as a preliminary hilt.
"Now I'm murdering them with their own weapons", she enunciated.
Meanwhile we took a second to assess the situation, observing a stream of red run down the perpendicular indentation in the door, creating a crimson puddle.
Out of breath, I aspirated: "That was too close".
The assassin only looked at me with an emotion I could not decode, but I swear to have seen a hint of compassion in her eyes.
I exhaled deeply when I noticed I had been trapped yet again. If we went back we'd get killed. But venturing forward didn't look too promising either. Suffice it to say I had severe trouble keeping my sanity in check.
I felt my courage faltering, threatening to abandon me to leave me to the deathly currents of doubt and despondence.
But my will to live was still strong. I brushed away my fears before my mind could get the chance to lapse and create the elaborate mirage of that old cellar. I repeatedly told myself that this house didn't exist anymore. For I burned it down so long ago, unheeding towards the fact that it was still inhabited. Back then I thought I could erase my fear by destroying it. Little did I know the guilt from having immolated my parents and my only sibling would stick with me for a lifetime, amplifying my phobia.
I have committed an unspeakable crime. Notwithstanding my guilt I shall absolve myself of that sin. I began viewing my present journey as a test of faith and resolve, at the end of which awaited absolution. I was sunken in thought when Nephethys spoke to me, asking me if I was yet ready to head even deeper into the vaults. I replied positively, shaking off my past memories for the time being. I had a mission now.
VIII
Both of us looked ahead. To find an Ayleid ruin here, of all places, was most intriguing. Its secretive and quite elusive nature dissuaded us somewhat. If any such place was deliberately hidden, we inferred, it must spell danger.
Our glances inspected the presently vacant corridor of light stonework and faintly glowing crystals giving off a pale, teal luminescence lighting our path.
"Careful now", Nephethys whispered. "These elder tombs are usually riddled with traps. One wrong step could mean instant death".
As discouraging as this statement was, I couldn't deny how it showed a hint of some professional affection from my shadowy associate.
We marched forward, barely noticing the scarlet traces on the walks, floor and ceiling. One could almost declare us accustomed to this kind of vile environment. A strange sentiment considering my urge to regurgitate digested food not too long ago.
The Dunmer and I were sure that the bulk of those devious cultists would reside here somewhere and by proxy the last bit of the missing citizens. Maybe, I told my companion, some of them could be saved, still. She didn't believe in that however, shaking her head with a furious expression. I was unsure at the time but now I am fairly certain that she was more agitated towards the prospect of so many Brotherhood contracts being lost than she was concerned about the well-being of the captives.
At length and with cautious steps we reached the end of the dim passage and walked through a rusty, florally adorned gate into a bigger chamber.
I surveyed the room.
The entrance was lined with one pillar on either side, perched on which was one welkynd stone each. The chamber was cubical, about 20 by 20 meters. Every wall sported another rusty Ayleid gate, adjacent to which were also white pillars of the same workmanship.
In the center stood a circular stone bowl not unlike a well. From its inside peeked out a sort of iron mask, featureless, its scalp lined with small spikes connected to each other by some kind of metal wiring.
The rest of the suspected well appeared to be filled with the same sludge that we had encountered earlier.
Our attempts to move further into the room were put to an abrupt halt when we both saw said mask, that was more akin to a full helmet, move on its own, the black metal writhing. We his behind the two pillars and watched another for to rise up from within the pits.
At once, two arms, one of which outfitted with a heavy steel blade bolted to its flesh, stretched out of the slimy mound. The thing pushed itself up with both limbs and alighted from the grim aperture. It now stood there, oozing, in all its terrible glory.
Plastered on its entire body were thick metal plates, fastened to it with rather big nails and bolts that had been driven into its bones. The creature's naked flesh was almost completely covered in armor. One of the legs was replaced from the knee plate downwards with a strange steel cylinder as a lower leg substitute.
Viscous fluids of all kinds leaked from in between its nailed-on armour.
The head was completely obscured by that helmet without holes for either nose, eyes or mouth.
This 'Guardian', as I shall henceforth call it, should pose a serious threat to us.
I was stumped on what to do when I heard its extremely heavy, although slightly limping, steps. It probably awoke as a response to our unauthorized presence.
I could hear it meander around, most likely in search of intruders like us. Though, if we couldn't sneak past it, how would we go about dispatching this enemy? I still had one shot in my Cloudbreaker. But the noise might attract unwanted attention.
Other than that we could only look for weak spots in the thing's armour. It surely was only roughly attached to that being, but they were stout plates of iron and steel, making it rather difficult to cut the actual flesh.
While I occupied myself with devising a strategy with which we could take that thing down, Nephethys hesitated not and threw her dagger right into its back, precisely in between its metal plating.
A bestial howl echoed across the vaults and the newfound for turned around. Blind as it was, it still knew where to go. I was baffled at the elf's boldness but equally stunned at the premise of this hulking creature rushing towards me on the now trembling floor. The Guardian already held its bolted-on blade high in the air and would have split me in half if not for Nephethys who pushed me out of harm's way and slyly evaded the peril that thundered towards the ground.
A noisome whack prompted the ground to quake and crack under its sheer might.
As I got up and recovered my senses, I slid out my gladius from its scabbard.
I attacked it from behind. My slashing attempts proved futile against the protective covering but I managed to stab it once in the back.
As the monster let out another cry, Nephethys came cartwheeling towards it, impaling its throat with a finalizing somersault.
The attempted wail broke up into a gurgling cacophony. As I pulled out my sword, the assassin swung hers sideways to behead the armoured thing. A faint stream of green magic engulfed her for a second and she felt weirdly rejuvenated.
Then we watched the limp body fall over with a powerful thunk. Nephethys then retrieved her dagger from the Guardian's backside.
My hands were still shaking with nervousness. And as I tried to reclaim my composure I heard steps coming in from all directions.
Out of the three doorways poured several faceless, robed figures. They quickly readied various spells and before Nephethys and I could even fight back, we watched as our bodies weakened by the second. Now, devoid of stamina and with a minimum of life force left, we lay there. Barely able to move even so much as our lips.
The abominable cultists grabbed us to carry us away, deep into their domain.
Then, my vision went black and darkness held dominion.
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