//------------------------------//
// The Cat Family 
// Story: Sanguinem 
// by BIGBLACKINTOSH 
//------------------------------//

Across the mountains, over the hills and through the forests of Skyrim, a herd deer roam. The life of a deer is a simple one; you graze, you run, you graze some more and then you sleep. A deer can always be sure that it will find something to eat, it can always be sure it’ll always be sure it’ll have somewhere to sleep. 

The deer can not however, be sure when a crossbow bolt is flying straight for its brainstem. 

The deer in question slumped down to the ground, scaring the rest of the herd. Over a hill to the east over a mile away, a crossbow is set down on a table next to a half eaten sweet-roll. “Ah, perfect shot,” said a raspy middle eastern voice. The owner of the voice reclined in his deck chair, folding his hands and resting them on his lap. The man sighed and tipped his straw hat over his eyes, sighing in pure relaxation. While wearing simple wool shirt, pants and barefoot, how could he not be.

“Jo!” shouted a feminine voice from inside the door behind him. “Jobesi, get in here please!” she ordered calmly.

Jobesi let out a lion-like growl and threw off his hat. “What is it woman?! Jobesi is hunting dinner!” He yelled back.

An arrow went straight through the wall and right between Jo’s feline ears. “And if husband doesn't get in here, Wife is going to make new holes in his head!” 

Jobesi groaned and got out of his chair, taking one more glance at the forest wilderness just beyond his deck. Jo opened the door, only for a hand to clamp over one of his ears. “Ah!” He hissed. “What did I do?!” He whined.

The woman holding Jobesi’s ear was a few inches shorter than him, barely reaching his chest. Caramel skin glistened with sweat. Dark brown hair fell down to her shoulders, framing her face perfectly. She looked like any regular elven wife, wearing a simple house dress covered by a red apron. Her  angry bright amber feline eyes said otherwise. “What is husband staring at?” She hissed, tilting her head.

Jobesi raised his hands defensively, not noticing how long he had been staring. “What is Darmia talking about? Jobesi is only admiring how... Angry she is,” he whimpered.

Darmia’s expression did not change. “Come with me,” she ordered, leading him down the stairs by his ear.

Jobesi’s house was like something out of a magazine. The wooden stairs and balcony they were on lead down to a grand dining hall. A long dinner table stretched in front of a fireplace, a deer’s stuffed head adorning the mantle. An identical staircase on the opposite side of the room stood above a set of doors that led to the kitchen Darmia was taking her husband to. 

Inside the room was a domed stone stove coming from the left wall next to a wide wooden cabinet. On the floor was a mess of flour, unevenly chopped vegetables and a clear liquid that Jobesi suspected was melted moon sugar. The mess encompassed most of the floor and at the center of the chaos was pair of feline ears jutting from a pile of flour. “Uh...Oops,” the pile said innocently. 

Darmia's grip loosened, allowing Jo to grab his own ears. "What happened?!"

The ears in the pile flattened, shifting away the mountain of flour to reveal the form of a little girl. To any human's eyes, she was about ten years old. Caramel skin like her mother's was covered in flour. Bright moon white eyes similar to her father's stared down at the mess. 

Jo was nearing his temper. "Little one," he said, trying as hard as he could to keep his voice level. "Please explain to Papa what happened here.”

Knowing how bad her father’s temper could get, the girl struggled to get her words out. "I-I was trying to m-make moon bread. I chopped up all the veggies a-and then I tried to get some flour from the top shelf. A-And then the whole bag fell and- and," she trailed off as her father got closer, menacing look in his eye. When he stopped in front of her, she closed her eyes tight, in fear of being yelled at but instead got a gentle pat on her head. 

Jobesi chuckled. "Help Papa clean this mess and you can go out and play," he said calmly. The little one smiled with relief but felt her father gently pinched her ear. "But if you ever try baking without Mama or Papa again Rinta, it'll be the training room for days," he warned.

Rinta smiled nervously and got to her feet, brushing the flour off her dress and immediately going for the broom behind her.

Jo let out a sigh as he went back to his wife. "Is this normal for all Ohme children? Doing whatever the hell they want and screwing the consequences?" He asked his wife.

Darmia glared at her husband. "This is how all khajiit children act. Haven't you ever been to the homelands?" She asked.

Jo bent backward and cracked his back.  "Jobesi wouldn't know, he was born in Cyrodiil and you know that," he reminded. Jo smacked his gums. "Jobesi needs a drink," he announced going out the door and to the right.

Darmia sped after him. "Why is it that ever since you went into that retirement, all you do is shoot deer and drink all day?" She asked harshly as Jo opened a small door in the floor. 

Jo stared at her and put his hand on his chest as if she had insulted him. “Jobesi does not shoot deer all day!” He retorted, insulted. Jo sometimes take our daughter horse riding, training and I also invent things, thank you very much," he said matter of factly, continuing his descent into the basement. 

Darmia shook her head. "Oh you mean the same experiments I keep seeing around the house?" She hissed down the hole, picking up a stray potion bottle. 

"Okay so you want me to pick up more, is that what Wife wants?" He asked carrying up a pair of blue bottles.

Darmia shook her head again. “Thats not at all what I’m saying,” she whined, blocking Jo’s way, glaring into his eyes angrily.

Jo’s eyebrow immediately went up. “Then what does Darmia want?” He asked glaring back.

Rinta skipped out the kitchen just in time to see her parents in the glaring contest. “Uh... Mama Papa, Rinta has cleaned up her mess!” she announced, hoping to get her parent’s attention. They continued glaring at each other a few more seconds before turning away with a huff. Jo looked back to his daughter, spotting her uneasiness about him and her mother. Jo looked down to his pair of wine bottles he was going to share and thought of a remedy for the situation.

With a grin, he shoved the bottles playfully into Darmia's arms. "Hold these," he said as he rush at his daughter with amazing speed. Rinta thought he was going to collide with her and shut her eyes tight, but instead he scooped her up by her legs. "Come family, Papa demands we all go to the deck!" He shouted jogging up the stairs. Watching her husband and daughter go up the stairs both in giggling fit, she frowned and set down a bottle before joining them.

Jo set Rinta on his former hunting chair and waited on Darmia. Shoving off the crossbow, Darmia took a seat across the small table from her daughter and set the bottles down. “What are we doing out here Jo?” She asked, annoyed.

Jo smiled and snapped his fingers. “First give Husband bottle,” he demanded.

With roll of her eye, Darmia lazily tossed him a single bottle. Jo caught it and used a claw to pop the cork. Excitement shown in his eyes, an excitement Darmia only saw went Jo was about to do magic. Darmia sighed. “Husband come now, is this another magic show? Lets go back inside, we’ve seen all your tricks,” she whined.

Jo shook his head as if he was disappointed. “Really now? You expect so little of the Dragon Born? Rinta, your mother is not to first to doubt me and sure won't be the last,” he quipped, opening the bottle. In a showfull swig, Jo filled his cheeks with his homemade drink. He held up his right hand and concentrated a bit of his will into his palm. His hand lit ablaze, the flame curling up into a ball.

Any normal person would either run in fear or stare in wonderment at this feat, but as this was Tamriel and Darmia’s hundredth time seeing the spell, she sat still with her arms crossed. Rinta however sat forward in interest. Jo held the flame close to his face, almost an inch away before letting loose the alcohol in his cheeks. The alcoholic drink combined with the magical flames and flowed into a liquid-like geyser of fire. 

Rinta clapped in delight but Darmia’s attention was grabbed when fire started to curve like a stream of water into the air.

As the last of the drink came out of his mouth, Jobesi waved his hands above his head in continuous, fluid motion, moving the stream of fire with them. He smiled smugly at his wife. “Papa bets you’ve never seen anything like this before?” 

Darmia’s jaw wanted to hit the ground. “Jobesi...How did you learn to do this?!” She yelled, waving at the flames flowing like water. 

Jo held up a single hand and somehow kept the stream of fire stable and in the air. He cupped his ear as if he was hard of hearing. “Jobesi is sorry, what was that? He thinks it was the sound of Wife who had “seen all of Jobesi’s tricks” being amazed,” he quipped as continued the flow of fire above him. 

Rinta giggled even harder as the fire danced. “Where did you learn to do that Papa?” 

Jo stretch out his other hand, focusing more will into it to create a ball of lightning. He grinned and thrusted the lightning into the air, it collided with the flow of fire, creating a lighting funnel over the flames. “Same place I learn to do that my dear, in a book,” he hinted, winking. Jo was going to tell the whole story, but he caught himself. Something was in the air. A familiar smell. Sulfur, bile, and weird enough, sadness. 

Rinta sniffed at the air. “Bleh. What's that smell papa?”

Jo tried to keep the spell going but was quickly losing focus. He stared up at the sky and snarled. “Trouble.”

Suddenly all the happiness from the show drained from the deck. The formerly clear sky above turned cloudy. The clouds themselves twisted into a dark purple. Jo stopped what he doing and stared up into the blackening clouds. The storm of magic that Jo was making quickly lost control and spinned out of control into a nearby tree, turning the whole pine tree to ash. A small hole appeared in the sky, quickly spreading into a gaping wound in the horizon.

“Darmia, get Rinta in the house,” Jo ordered sternly. 

“But Jo-,” Darmia tried to argue but Jo abruptly pointed a finger to the door.

 “I said get her in the house!” He snarled. Darmia wanted to argue but quickly grabbed her scared child by her waist and carried her inside. Jobesi stared up into the sky, waiting for whatever monster to appear. He might be only dressed in cotton clothing, but he absolutely ready for anything to come his way. 

The hole in the sky peered into a blackened land full of burned trees and people of all races constantly being whipped by horned humanoid beasts. Finally, a face appeared in the opening of the portal, Jo recognizing it quickly. “Ah, lord Molag Bal,” he snarled into the sky, spitting the deadric lord’s name. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Due to him having no lips, Molag Bal could not smile, but if he could, he would have.“Dragonborn Jobesi Rhaja,” his deep terrifying voice thundered. Jobesi didn't even flinch. “Champion of my court, I call upon you for a service,” the daedric lord demanded.

Jo casually grabbed the remaining bottle off the table and popped it open. “Now there is where Jobesi needs to stop you lord Molag Bal,” Jo interrupted, taking a swig from bottle. “I already told you and the rest of the princes or princesses or whatever, that I was retired. And you all agreed to leave me be!”

The sky rumble, signaling Molag’s anger. “That agreement was with the rest of the lords who foolishly took that deal. I am the lord of domination and your soul belongs me!” He growled, pointing a gnarled hand out of the portal. “You are my property and you have the privilege of being called a “champion”!”

Jobesi’s ears flattened against his head. Not in fear, but in anger. Ever since declaring his retirement from action of any kind, everyone; from guild leaders he left in charge to daedric lords had never stopped asking for his help. Every single time they would get the same answer. “Well then. let me be very clear Molag; I don't care what dirty work you have for me and I’m not coming out of retirement for an old god like you!” He shouted into the sky. Jobesi focused his will into making the bottle float ing his hand. With the strength of a hundred men, he propelled the bottle straight into Molag Bag’s face.

Molag barely felt the bottle shatter against his face, but still, his anger flourished. Molag Bal roared into the ground below, his voice itself creating a tornado of pure magic at that tore straight into the ground, drilling into the earth. Jobesi wondered where it went but Molag Bal called his attention again.

“Find the source of my gift in the land of peace foolish cat and see to it that this mess is cleaned!” Molag Bal roared, holding his hand over Jo’s house. 

 Jo stared at the prince in confusion, but felt a rumbling below him. He looked over the deck railing. “WHAT IN THE GREAT MOONS?!” He shouted as he stared at the ground under his house was lifted up. The tornado that Molag Bal had released had torn its way under Jo’s house, carrying it into the newly opened portal to an unknown, yet colorful world.