Over all Nightmare and her companions planned on spending an hour at the Priory, where they could regain the small amount of energy they had already expanded before they needed to get underway. During the time they were waiting Shadow knelt before an alter and preceded to start praying to one of the Nine Divines, who Nightmare had barely learned about in the last three weeks. Pandora stayed outside, her bow drawn and her eyes peeled as she looked out for any foes that might be coming to the Priory, though Nightmare knew she was being paranoid. Rend was speaking to Jauffre, no doubt learning what he could about the Emperor, the Blades that had guarded him, and their sense of honor and duty.
From what Nightmare could tell the Blades were an honorable group of warriors that protected the Emperor of all of Tamriel, the continent they lived on, and were well respected by the people that called the land home. She could tell that she was going to get along quite well with the Blades, that was if she went through the entire quest that the Emperor has assigned to Rend and his companions. Nightmare could get up from the table she was sitting at, wish the others farewell and good luck in their mission, and go out on an adventure that didn't require chasing a missing heir to the throne. Despite how easy it would be for her to do it she just couldn't bring herself to abandon Rend and his friends, not when there was a world that needed saving.
Her ponies may have abandoned her night for Celestia's day and forced her into her current form, but she wasn't about to leave the people of this realm to fend for themselves.
When the appointed hour was up Nightmare pulled herself out of the chair she was sitting in and walked up the stairs to the room that Rend and Jauffre were speaking in. The two of them were still speaking when she walked in, though Rend welcomed her presence while Jauffre made no movement towards her.
"Ah, Nightmare," Rend said, turning his gaze back to the map, "from what I can tell, and from what Jauffre can tell me, we're about two hours away from Kvatch. On that information it should take us about ten minutes to find Martin Septim, convince him that he's the last heir to the throne, and get him to safety before the enemy finds him. With another two hour trek back here we should arrive in time to get him safely inside and hidden before anyone sees us, giving us the night to rest before we deliver him to the true destination."
"It sounds easy now," Jauffre replied, casting a glance up to Rend while he spoke, "but there is no telling when the Mythic Dawn will strike next or where they will strike next. You and your companions should leave immediately, least the enemy find you."
"Aye, though I'd hate to think what would happen if they reached Kvatch already," Rend said, moving from the table and making his way to the door, "Grand Master Jauffre, we'll take our leave and return as swiftly as we possibly can."
Jauffre nodded and they left him to his duties, which no doubt included preparing for the lost heir's return to the Imperial City and taking on the role of Emperor. Nightmare didn't envy the poor dear that they would be forcing this destiny on, as she had experience as a Princess of Equestria and knew the hardships that came with it. They reached the first floor of the Priory and Rend tapped Shadow's shoulder, apparently telling him that it was time to go and the argonian was up in mere seconds. The three of them walked outside and Rend called for Pandora to come along, the breton appearing from behind the stables and falling in behind them.
Once they were a few minutes away from the Priory Rend had them come to a halt and turned to face Nightmare, though she had a feeling that she knew what was coming her way.
"Miss Moon..." Rend started, but then shook his head as he remembered something, "I mean, Nightmare Moon. You have already done more than enough to aid us in our mission, but I don't suppose you'll stay with us until we find our target?"
"Of course I will," NIghtmare said, not surprised that she'd be asked about continuing in the adventure, "I would like to stay on this path, with the three of you, until we can fulfill the Emperor's dying wish by stopping whatever threat this 'Oblivion' holds for us. If that means that we'll have to fight a deranged cult, slay some bandits, and rescue some fair townspeople from harm in the process, then so be it. I shall enjoy thwarting this 'Mehrunes Dagon'."
"I wish the Emperor had met you earlier," Rend chuckled, a smile appearing on his face as he beckoned for them to follow, "I would be a fool to turn you and your abilities away Nightmare. Come then, Kvatch and the quarry of our mission await."
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Rend was correct in his guess that it would take them at least two hours to reach the hill that led up to Kvatch, though while they walked Nightmare continued to observe the area around them. For the most part it was the same trees and dirt path that she could see, but the moment they got within range of the cliffs that Kvatch was built on she noticed something strange. The trees around the immediate arae of the walled city were charred to a crisp, so much that Nightmare knew it would take a touch for them to be destroyed. The ground looked as if it had been ruined as well, but with the sky fiery red and the scent of recent fires filling the air Nightmare knew that something must have happened to the city.
When they started walking up the hill they came across a group of people who were camping, but with the people outweighing the number of bedrolls they had it was clear that they had been forced into this position.
"You there," Rend said, speaking to an altmer that happened to be walking in their direction, "what happened here?"
"God's blood, you don't know do you?" the altmer replied, looking as if he was almost mad from whatever happened, "The Daedra summoned glowing portals, Gates to Oblivion itself, right outside the city and swarmed the guards, killing everyone they could get their hands on. There was also a huge creature, something out of a nightmare I tell you, that came up to the walls and blasted fire down upon everyone and everything. It was the acting Captain of the Kvatch guard, Savlian Matius, and some of his men that lead us down here, to safety, but it is only a matter of time before they are overwhelmed. RUN WHILE YOU CAN MAN!"
The altmer took another look at them before running down the path they had just walked up, screaming about the end of the world and the Daedra he had seen.
"I like him already," Pandora commented, a smile appearing on her face, "he's got the air of madness surrounding him."
As they walked through the refugee camp Nightmare gazed upon the poor people who had lost their homes and, possibly, even a loved one or two when disaster hit the city. She would never be able to feel for those that had lost someone that they cared for, but she could, somewhat, relate to those that had lost their homes, as she had lost hers a long time ago. Seeing these people, trampled by the Daedra that had attacked their home, look so defeated just made Nightmare madder than she already was. She gripped her battleaxe and began the march to the top of the hill, where she expected to find some enemies for her to cut apart with her weapon.
The moment she reached the top of the hill, where she found a bunch of soldiers loosing arrows at a flaming gateway that was producing enemies, trying to hit whatever enemy came their way, an Imperial Solider spotted her and came her way.
"Stand back civilian, this is no place for you," the captain shouted at her, though she kept on walking until she passed him completely, "Get back to the encampment at ONCE!"
"I wouldn't try that sir," Rend said, causing the captain to turn around and stare at him and his companions, "the Queen of Knights isn't used to others trying to command her like she's their puppets."
"The Queen of Knights?!" the captain whispered, almost paling as he realized who he had shouted at, "What's she doing here, in Kvatch? Shouldn't she be in the Imperial City, fighting against whatever gets sent her way?"
"SIR!" a guard shouted, pointing out at something in front of them, "LOOK OUT!"
The captain turned around and spotted the Daedra that the guard was referring to, though it had an arrow nocked in its flaming bow and was pointed in his direction. For a moment he had no idea where Nightmare Moon, the Queen of Knights, had disappeared to, but with the threat of falling to the ground in defeat he didn't have the time to worry about her. That was before Nightmare descended from the sky, picked up the daedric warrior like he was nothing, and crashed it into the barricade next to Rend and the captain. Before the warrior had time to realize that he was so close to his target Nightmare landed behind it, produced her battleaxe, and then swung it right at the warrior's neck, slicing its head clean off.
"That was awesome," Pandora said, drawing her bow and loosing an arrow into another daedra.
"Yes, indeed," Rend commented, turning to the surprised captain, "Tell me, did someone named Martin survive the assault on Kvatch?"
"Brother Martin and the rest of the survivors that didn't make it out of the city are in the chapel," the captain replied, not really sure what to think at the moment, "but in order to get through the main gate we'd have to somehow close that Oblivion Gate. I know its possible, as the enemy summoned more of them during their siege and also closed them, but how I do not know."
"Onward my brave companions," Rend loudly said, drawing his swords as he marched up to Nightmare, "Let's close this Oblivion Gate and save whoever is still inside the city."
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Nightmare Moon had no idea what to expect the moment they entered the Oblivion Gate, but the moment they crossed over to the other side and took in what they saw around them she had to agree with the name of the realm; it was definitely in a state of Oblivion. As far as she could see there was a sea of lava, with large islands and tall dark towers looming everywhere, and strange plants growing out of the ground with odd shapes to them. Nightmare was sure that several of the plants were designed to hurt whoever was foolish to cross their paths, but she would not be swayed from the path.
She also noticed that there happened to be three towers, across three separate islands, with three bridges that were the only thing that connected them.
"So this is the realm of Oblivion," Shadow commented, a chuckle escaping from him, "I am so glad that I prayed for the Divines Blessings before we left the Priory."
"The residents of this realm must be mad to continue living here," Pandora chuckled, looking around for something to hit with her arrows, "but not as mad as that altmer we met."
"Focus team," Rend said, spotting an Imperial guard running from something, "Here comes some action at last."
Rend dashed to the guard and his swords were already in motion, sweeping over the guard's head and hitting the creature, what he assumed was an imp of some kind, square in the chest. The imp staggered backwards for a moment before shrieking at Rend, but before it had time to move away Shadow appeared next to it and slammed his shield into its face. The moment it was dazed Shadow pierced the imp's heart and slew it where it stood, but before he released it Shadow caused the body to burn by dropping it in the lava.
"Thank you strangers," the guard said, huffing as he glanced up at the portal they had come out of, "Savlian sent my squad into the Oblivion Gate, to see if we could close it ourselves, but most of us were slain before we even knew what hit us and Menien was captured. I assume they took him to the central tower, but if you find him he might be able to tell you how to close the gate."
"You had best get out of here," Rend said, staring past the guard as he waited for something else to show up, "the captain is still defending the barricade and could use every able body he can. We'll do what we can in here."
As the guard ran to the Oblivion Gate, praising them for their heroics the entire time, Rend beckoned for the others to follow him as he headed down the path the guard came from. They came to an open area with another opening, but there were several creatures, at least three imps and two bull like creatures, coming their way. Pandora pulled four arrows out of her quiver and loosed them at the bulls, knocking them down for Rend, as the moment he passed them his blades found their hearts instantly. Shadow, on the other hand, smashed his shield into one of the imps before severing its head, allowing the body to crumple to the ground while the head rolled away.
Nightmare landed between the remaining imps and swung her battleaxe around, cutting off one of their heads almost immediately before spinning it around and repeating the process, allowing the two bodies to hit the ground at the same time.
"Where did you learn those moves?" Rend asked, curious as to how Nightmare could pull off those moves.
"From some of my friends in another kingdom," Nightmare replied, speaking part of the truth while hiding the most of it, "I'd love to teach each of you something like this, but your kind of lacking one of the key components to learning them."
She was, of course, referring to her wings, which were a crucial piece to each of the moves she had learned from her friends in the Griffin Kingdom. The Griffin King, an old griffin by the name of Raketalon, his son, Blackwing, and his two most trusted advisers had been her only friends in the Griffin Kingdom. They had taught her some of the more brutal moves that she had stored in her arsenal, moves that had required the use of her wings to some extremes and moves that her sister had never seen before. If she hadn't been an alicorn she was pretty sure that she would have damaged her wings at some point, but her form allowed her to bend the rules a bit.
Rend sighed and beckoned for them to continue, heading down the other opening, across a twisting pathway that eventually brought them to a broken bridge. The only thing guarding the bridge was a daedric warrior, but as Rend blocked the attack he was forced to roll backwards as his swords snapped under the pressure. Shadow, seeing his comrade in danger, jumped forward and impaled the warrior with his sword, running through a crack in the armor and right into the heart. Once the warrior was dealt with Rend noticed the wicked blades the warrior had been carrying and picked the two swords up, spinning them around before grinning.
"The blades of a dremora warrior," Rend said, looking up at the path they needed to take still, "it seems appropriate to use such weapons against our enemies..."
Another daedric warrior, this one baring a bow, appeared overhead, but before Nightmare could get behind it and cut its head clean off an arrow pierced its chest, causing the archer to fall onto the bridge in a heap.
"And that bow is mine," Pandora chuckled, picking up a bow that looked like the swords that Rend held, "I shall slay many a foe with this weapon, before they can do the same to us."
They continued across the bridge, hacking any enemy, be they imp or daedric warrior, apart before they were forced to make a turn that lead them closer to one of the towers. They crossed through another twisting path, with Pandora piercing whatever enemies dared to show their faces, before they found a doorway with some stairs in front of it. Once they were inside the tower they came across more of the daedric warriors, who were caught by surprise as the group tore into their ranks and tossed their bodies against the walls. Nightmare noticed many of their enemies dropped weapons similar to the ones Rend picked up, but Shadow, the only one still carrying the weapon he had at the beginning, never picked a new one up.
"Wouldn't you like a new weapon Shadow?" Nightmare asked, crossing into a seemingly deserted hallway, "I only ask because you haven't replaced your worn out sword and shield yet."
"I am a sworn priest of the Nine Divines," Shadow answered, following Rend up a ramp as he slew another warrior, "and as such I am more compelled to stop these Daedra in their tracks and destroy whatever weapons I can get my hands on. I will let Rend hold onto his weapons, as they are the only swords he has, until the time comes for him to replace them. I shall replace my weapon and armor as I see fit, but not with the weapons of my enemies."
"Fair enough," Nightmare replied, following her companions out of the hallway and into the central part of the tower.
The ramps seemed vacant of enemies, so they charged up the ramp, through the door they came to, up the ramp they found right next to them, and through another door that was left unguarded. This time they exited out on one of the bridges they had spotted from the Oblivion Gate, suspended between two towers, so they immediately began their journey across to the next door. Once inside the second tower they moved towards the top, where they found a distracted daedric warrior and snuck up on it, tossing it into the wall the moment it died. Rend looked up at the guard that was in the cage beside them, but all the guard could do was point at the warrior they had killed and whispered something about a key before dying.
Nightmare ransacked the warrior's body and found what the guard had pointed to, the key that she assumed was for another door in the central tower.
They returned to the door they had entered through and crossed the bridge once more, only this time they turned to the left, unlocked the door they stopped in front of, and ran up the new ramp until they found two more warriors guarding a door. Nightmare dashed forward and swung her battleaxe, crushing through one of the warrior's guard nearly immediately, forcing its comrade to back up before it got hit. It was then that Nightmare grinned, leapt over the body of the fallen warrior she had killed, and yanked her weapon out before driving it down on the second target, cutting through the shoulder completely. With the two of them dead they passed through the now unguarded door and entered another area of the tower with two more ramps, where they chose to head up the one on their right.
They found a circular rune unguarded, so they activated whatever magic was in it and appeared even further up in the tower, though they had to hack through the two warriors that had been standing guard over the receiving rune. They continued to their right and ran up another ramp, Nightmare hacking the head off of another warrior while Pandora spun around and slew one that was following them. They looked around for a moment before opening the locked door the lone warrior had been guarding, finding a pathway that lead them to a large chamber with two ramps, a second level with another set of ramps, and a third level that had a glowing sphere that the beam of energy in the center of the room connected to.
Nightmare knew that the sphere had to be involved with the Oblivion Gate, so she suspected that they only needed to move it before the gate did the job for them.
They moved up the two ramps, hacking at the warriors that were still standing guard and tossing their bodies around like they were nothing, before they stood before the sphere. Nightmare, not wanting to waste anymore time than necessary, spun her battleaxe around and hit the sphere square in the center, splitting the item in half and ruining the connection. The moment the sphere was in pieces the entire area around them started going up in flames, but then she felt a touch of magic that was unlike what was around them. Before she could say anything to the others the magic wrapped around them and yanked them out of the Oblivion tower.
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The next instant Nightmare remembered they were standing outside the city of Kvatch, only now the fiery red sky was cleared up and the Oblivion Gate was shut down, opening the way into the city. Rend, his companions, and the captain of the guard immediately got into a conversation with each other, but Nightmare stayed where she was standing, her mind working to uncover what had happened. She knew so many spells like the one that had been used on the four of them the moment the Oblivion Gate prepared to shut down, but she was the only one of the group that could have pulled such a spell off.
She knew that one thing was certain; the four of them had received assistance from one of the Nine Divines, but which one of them she had absolutely no idea.