//------------------------------//
// War: The Ploy 
// Story: Skyrim: The Faces of Death 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Amaryllis kept a straight face as the Altmer guards followed her into Morral's chamber, after making sure that her blade was clean of blood so no one accused her of killing the leader of the Dominion, where they quickly confirmed her words, that their boss was dead and that she had killed herself. This was possibly the most risky assassination she had ever done, and might ever do when she considered the consequences if she failed, because if she pulled this off it would open the doors for her to end the war without any additional loss of life. The guards stepped forward as she thought about that, studying the body and everything that was inside the chamber, including the sack that contained Ulfric's head, just in case she brought in something that had been the cause of Morral killing herself, even though Amaryllis told them that she never opened it, since she found their leader like this. Fortunately it appeared that they didn't believe that she was responsible for what they were seeing, which was good for her as she stood there, as cool as she could be while mimicking Sylvanna's personality and all of her habits, before gathering herself the moment they found the suicide note.

This was it, either they would believe that the letter was genuine and look to her for leadership, which she was hoping for, or they would declare this a fake and the city of Alinor would tear itself apart as the warring parties fought each other to take over the Aldmeri Dominion.

"Lady Sylvanna... I'm not sure how to say this, but Lady Morral named you as her successor," one of the guards said, where Amaryllis remained still for a moment, doing her best to be surprised in the way that Sylvanna would have done in this sort of situation, and it was clear that the rest of the guards were unsure of what to make of this sudden event.

"I see. Did she write down her reasoning for this decision?" Amaryllis replied, where it looked like the guards were taken aback by Morral's 'decision', even though it did look like her ploy might be successful, that they were believing it and not questioning it at all.

"She wrote down some of her concerns, about an army she had seen, but nothing about her decision... I guess she felt you were befitting of taking her place." another guard said, which was what Amaryllis was hoping for when she wrote the short suicide note she had left behind after copying Morral's style, though this one, a mage, seemed worried about something, which was either good or bad for her, "She must have seen something in her crystal sphere, something that caused this decision, even though she seemed just fine earlier this morning... whatever she discovered must have spooked her, to the point where she'd take her life."

"Lady Morral, I bring news from the..." a voice said, where Amaryllis discovered another Altmer, a war general based on all the armor he was wearing, as he looked more like someone from the Imperial City, only his armor was molded to match all of the armor that the warrior Justicars wore during their time in Skyrim, before he stopped as he witnessed the scene that was in front of him, 'What in the...?"

"General Pellinar, sir." the guards stated, taking a moment to salute the figure that was in front of them, while Amaryllis just stood there and raised her eyebrow for a few seconds, as Sylvanna only followed her leader, Morral to be exact, and with that figure dead there was no one she needed to bow her head to, "We have terrible news: Lady Morral was found dead a few minutes ago, by Lady Sylvanna, and it looks like she took her own life, as we have found no signs of tampering that would suggest someone else did this. Also, we found a note telling anyone who found it that Lady Sylvanna was to take over as the Leader of the Dominion's forces... she must have seen something in her scrying sphere that shocked her enough to take her own life."

It was times like this that Amaryllis was glad for some of the stupid people she had encountered during her time in this world, as she had no idea that Morral had an orb that allowed her to see other things, even though it was possible that it had been blocked by Ma'jera some time ago, and that these morons were connecting dots that didn't exist.

"That is most troubling." the General, Pellinar, commented, showing that he was willing to listen to the information, since he stepped forward and studied the chamber as well, finding everything the guards had discovered over the last couple of minutes, even finding that the letter was written in Morral's penmanship, before he sighed and saluted Amaryllis, which the pair of guards mimicked, "I have found nothing that suggests that this was an assassination... Lady Morral committed suicide, that much I can confirm... all hail Lady Sylvanna Windrunner."

"Thank you, General. Now then, you said you had news from somewhere? The front, correct?" Amaryllis replied, where she honestly couldn't believe how easy it was to fool them into believing that their own leader had killed herself, in her very own chambers, and left a note saying that someone like her was her replacement, but she made sure to keep presenting herself in the way Sylvanna would.

"Yes, from the front. We've received word that the force we sent to the beach has been routed, and that the force capable of such a thing is on their way here." Pellinar stated, giving Amaryllis all the information she needed right now, because it meant that soon the city of Alinor, and the entirety of the Aldmeri Dominion, would soon witness the full power of the new Empress, witness all of the forces that she had gathered to stop them from destroying the world, the final key that might end this war, "What are your orders?"

"Recall the soldiers that have been sent out and regroup at the main gate... we'll observe their movements before making our move against them." Amaryllis said, as it seemed like she was making a defensive strategy, which was true since she knew that there were soldiers on the other side of the main gate, getting ready to leave for the beach, and if Pellinar was able to move fast he would save those lives, before she turned, made sure she had Ulfric's head, and walked out as she dismissed them to do their duties.

Amaryllis made her way back to the main gate as quickly as she could, finding that Pellinar completed his duties with ease, calling for everyone to regroup inside Alinor while those that were outside were recalled by the mages, no doubt using small communication crystals to update them on their orders. It was fascinating to find that none of their enemies had, in the time she had been fighting the Dominion, used them to inform the others about what was going on, once more maybe being blocked by Ma'jera's magic, but instead of worrying about that she stopped on the wall of the main gate and stood there for a time. Sure enough Pellinar joined her after some time, where Amaryllis was able to see that the soldiers that had been on the other side of the wall had reentered the city, allowing the soldiers to regroup and wonder what was going on, given the orders they had been given so far. This was for the best, as they needed to be worried about things so that the shock of what was coming their way would stop them from wanting to continue the war, or at least obey her orders to stand down in the face of the Empire's brand new power.

An hour later she found what she was expecting to find, Za'kera riding towards Alinor with the full force of Tamriel behind her, with the surviving Stormcloaks having fallen in with them after the fall of their leaders, and that was only the start of a scene that freaked out the soldiers around her. It wasn't long before Ma'jera and the other Demigods and Demiprinces, along with the forces of Oblivion, appeared nearby and marched alongside the main force, which really worried the Altmer that were near her, especially when they struggled to understand what they were seeing. In addition to that they found all of their allies, such as Tosh Raka and the Maormer, marching towards Alinor as well, where Amaryllis heard the sound of a few soldiers wishing that this was a nightmare and that they should wake up soon, refusing to believe what was coming towards the city. Amaryllis felt sorry for those individuals, as not a few moments later she heard a number of weapons fall to the ground as the Dominion's soldiers found that the Daedric Princes, at least Dagon and Molag, were present, and the mere appearance of those figures crushed the fighting spirit of the soldiers that were observing this scene.

This was all she needed to cement Za'kera's victory over the Dominion, the more intelligent members of the faction were seeing just how hopeless this war was and knew that nothing they did would stop the force in front of them, in fact while it was easy to take out the mortal soldiers they still had to deal with the Daedra, dragons, and everything else, to which she sighed for a moment.

"General, fly the white flag as soon as you can." Amaryllis said, keeping her voice calm and collected, as Sylvanna never let anything get the better of her, based on what she had discovered so far, though without turning her head she could tell that the soldiers were surprised by her words.

"Lady Sylvanna... you can't be serious!" Pellinar replied, as he knew that Lady Morral would have forced them to change out and do battle with the army that was marching on Alinor, so his words were due to the difference in how their leaders worked, due to the fact that she seemed to be giving up in the face of this disaster.

"Tell me, General, are you seeing what we're seeing?" Amaryllis asked, where she raised her hand and gestured to Za'kera and her massive army, allowing her to fully see just how many soldiers they had gathered before coming here, too much in her opinion, and she could see that he was slowly understanding what she wasn't saying, "If it were just the Empire we would have had a good chance at beating them into submission, but they have dragons, soldiers from every province of Tamriel, Daedra from every plane of Oblivion, and the Princes themselves as back up... in the face of this force we would be better off surrendering, instead of being utterly wiped out."

Pellinar said nothing as he nodded his head and called for one of the soldiers to find a white flag, where he and Amaryllis walked back down to the main gate so they could leave Alinor, and once the flag was brought to them the General held it as they headed outside. This was the final part of Amaryllis' plan, the most important step in her mind, and the only way Za'kera would know it was her, and go along with this, was her unique eye color, the one thing most people ignored and she, of all people, recognized no matter what form she was in. She had thought about it for some time and discovered the key to how she got away with that part of her disguises breaking, most people inserted the eye color of whoever she was presenting herself as, so the Dominion saw Sylvanna's eye color and not her own dual colored eyes. Za'kera was special, as she was the only one who could see past what was blocking the others and see her true eye color, no matter the guise she wore, and she was counting on that aspect to shine through so she would understand what she was doing, instead of seeing her as an enemy.

Of course the only flaw was that Pellinar brought a company of soldiers and mages with him, high ranking members of the Dominion she guessed, but she paid them no mind as they departed from the city and approached the army, where she found Za'kera, Ma'jera, and Zoravoir walking up to where her group was standing, and, sure enough, Za'kera recognized her eye color without revealing too much.

"I see, we were wrong to assume that the Emperor was behind this attack... we're dealing with an Empress," Amaryllis said, because if she spoke to Za'kera, in a way that made the others realize she had known about her, it would ruin the entire plan, but for now it looked like they understood that this was her first time seeing the figures in front of them.

"That's right. I am Za'kera Saratamil, the new Empress that leads the Empire," Za'kera replied, where she took a moment to glance at the group that was standing near Amaryllis, finding that they were important members of the Dominion, likely the ones directly under the main commander, before focusing on them, "I see you're flying the white flag... does this mean?"

"We are surrendering. I mean, not even we, the great Aldmeri Dominion, can stand against the powers of the Princes of Oblivion or their children," Amaryllis stated, which was the truth of the matter and the soldiers around her understood it without her having to say too much on the matter, before she gestured to the other figures that were behind her, making it look like she was understanding what was in front of them, "If you had brought an army of soldiers from the provinces of Tamriel, and just them alone, I would have considered having the army march out to fight you... however, with the force you have mustered, flying the white flag is the only path forward."

"You should be happy we're even talking... we found your Numidium earlier." Ma'jera commented, acting as if she really didn't care about them, which Amaryllis was used to after spending so much time in her presence and the other children of the Daedric Princes.

"Numidium?" Amaryllis asked, making it seem like she had no idea that a new Brass God had been created, which she was sure had been created by Morral and was unknown to most of the Dominion, before she chuckled for a moment, as if she found something amusing, "Oh Lady Morral... you sneaky Altmer... plotting the end of the world in such a dangerous way, with an entity that could easily backfire."

"Yes, it could have, but we carefully tore it apart." Zoravoir said, which was all Amaryllis needed to spread fear among the group that was standing behind her, as now they knew that the Empire's forces had the power to bring down a Numidium, even if their thoughts were incorrect in some manner.

Za'kera, however, accepted their surrender and beckoned for Amaryllis' group to follow them, which she did so without any delay, as this would allow her and her allies to actually end this war, and with the Dominion realizing that Morral was planning on destroying everything, without telling anyone, they seemed broken, meaning this might be the end of their war and the start of a new era.