Skyrim: The Faces of Death

by Blackdrag-rose

War: Preparations

As soon as Ma'jera was done with the Numidium, meaning she and the godly beings were done altering the material into the shape of a new Tower, she ceased channeling her power and allowed Amaryllis to watch as the gods returned to whatever they had been doing before this point, likely watching over them. With their work done the two magic users weaved their power around the small group and teleported them back to Torval, so they could drop Amaryllis and Sakaia off before returning to the Imperial City with Za'kera, so they could focus on the next stage of their plans. She was fine with this, as it meant that everyone could celebrate the downfall of the terrible Numidium and the fact that they had stopped the Dominion's plans, though they also had to inform her new allies about what had happened and see if the Mane would join the war against their enemies. Zoravoir, on the other hand, simply nodded her head as she joined the others and headed back to Cyrodiil, showing her that her friend had to have some things that needed to be done before worrying about what the future held for them, where Amaryllis nodded as the Cyrodiil group disappeared and the portal closed behind them.

Such a thing made her wonder if Ma'jera had known where the Numidium had been resting and simply waited for one of their allies, such as herself, to send word that it might have been discovered, but decided that it wasn't worth worrying about, as they had torn the machine down, repurposed it into a Tower, and used that Soulstone as the Stone that powered it, leaving some poetic justice behind when she considered it.

"So, the Numidium is taken care of... what do we do now?" Sakaia asked, because while she knew that the plan had been to free Elsweyr, which they had completed before Amaryllis sent the message to Cyrodiil, everything after that was truly up in the air, hence why she was asking the one who seemed to know exactly what the Empress had planned.

"Before my companions and I depart, so we can head back to Cyrodiil, I need to speak with the Mane, see if we can add the might of Elsweyr to our army," Amaryllis replied, though even as she considered that she knew that many would seek to join the army so they could repay the Dominion for tricking them for so many years, before taking a moment to glance in the direction of Valenwood, the last province that needed to be liberated, "After that it all depends on what I learn when we return to Cyrodiil, as I'll either be assigned to liberate Valenwood, I might be assigned to stand guard and make sure no foe comes at the Empress, or we might send the fleet to the Summerset Isles... no way to know until we make the journey back to the Imperial City."

Sakaia nodded, as it made sense when she thought about it, before they joined the rest of the group from Riverhold, as all of them were celebrating their victory and this was a well deserved break before worrying about what the Mane might say when Amaryllis went to talk with her. As it turned out they didn't have to get up and seek out the Leader that had been saved earlier, as the Mane showed up and personally thanked Amaryllis for revealing the truth behind the Dominion's foul actions, even though she had remained a prisoner in her own palace to protect her people. With the Altmer betraying the word they gave her, even though she had no reason to worry about them backstabbing her like this, there was no reason for them to stand down and let the Dominion do whatever they wanted, and she intended on making her way to Cyrodiil so she could speak with Za'kera, personally. It wasn't that she didn't trust the representative that was sent to save her and her province from the Dominion's dark plans, in fact many of her people trusted Amaryllis and she did as well, but there were some topics that needed to be discussed between rulers, something she understood and nodded her head to once she heard the Mane's reasoning.

When morning arrived Amaryllis found that her party was much larger than she expected it to be, as she was heavy those who had been ordered to follow her into Elsweyr, her liberation force to be exact, Sakaia and the representatives of the other types of Khajiit, the same group she had seen in Riverhold, and the Mane with her guards. Such a thing lead her to wonder how this had come about, more in the sense of her wondering how she had gone from a simple assassin to a tool of the Daedric Princes, before ending up as an envoy to the other provinces, resulting in her riding alongside so many of the leaders of Tamriel. It was funny when she considered it, as once upon a time she had worried how she was going to live or make a living with her powers, though now, after the time she spent with Za'kera, she was sure that she could retire from being an assassin and truly become the Empress' shadow, like a spymaster or something, which she would consider in the future, once they were done with the Dominion. Of course there was her Family to consider, as leaving them didn't sit well with her right now, especially since she was the Listener and the Night Mother had been quite since the list she had given her some time ago, but she had a feeling that once things had settled down, and the world was no longer in any danger, they would have new assassinations to carry out.

It took them some time to get close to Riverhold, given how far it was from Torval, though this allowed the others to see the large brass tower off in the distance, where many of the Khajiit were shocked and surprised by it's existence, since this was the first time they were laying eyes on it, leading Amaryllis to share the story with them, just so they knew that they had used the Dominion's weapon to stabilize Nirn once more. Sakaia and the others understood why no one had said a word about the existence of such a terrifying weapon, as the tales about it were bad and knew that if it was activated the Dominion would have wiped out everything in their path, no matter who stood in it's way. Their reasoning, Amaryllis found out, was quite reasonable, the staff that supposedly controlled the Numidium was either lost or had been destroyed, so it was hard to say what it's true fate might have been since it was lost during the Warp in the West, but knowing the group that rebuilt the Numidium she had to guess the Dominion had the staff. Of course whoever was in control of things must have been waiting until they knew that the machine had been awakened with the new Soulstone, before using the staff to control the terrifying weapon, but now none of that mattered, as the Numidium was no more and the staff was useless to them, which they wouldn't know about until it was far too late to stop them.

After that the group stopped in Riverhold for a time, mostly to spend the night and rest up for the next part of the journey to Cyrodiil, and when morning arrived they passed through the border and headed for the Imperial City, where Amaryllis found that all sorts of camps had been set up outside the Imperial City.

What she meant by that was that there were flags representing the Jarls of Skyrim, the Great Houses of Morrowind, the King of Black Marsh, the Kingdoms of High Rock and Hammerfell, not to mention the Warchief of Orcsinium, the flags of their allies from Akavir, and now the Mane of Elsweyr. A single glance at the city was more than enough to tell those that were seeing it for the first time that war was coming, a great battle that would decide the fate of this world was looming over their heads, and they could either stand on the sidelines or join them. Of course Amaryllis knew that there was more for the Khajiit to see, namely the army of dragons, the force of undead Draugr, several species of Daedra, and ever race that belonged to this world, especially since she spotted a flag that likely belonged to whoever ruled Valenwood, which she was pleased to see, as it meant she didn't have to head into the province to liberate it. With that piece of information in mind Amaryllis knew what was coming next, they would be speaking with the other rulers and getting ready for the next stage of their war, meaning they would be getting their ships ready to make for the Summerset Isles and liberate the last of the Towers from the Dominion's grasp.

As they entered the Imperial City, finding it was far busier than before, Amaryllis found that Za'kera was getting ready to speak to the leaders of the other provinces, as in most of Tamriel's rulers would be discussing how to deal with the threat that remained, before discovering that they were one ruler short.

"It seems Lady Seirhy is missing." Amaryllis commented, speaking once she separated from the people of Elsweyr, leaving the Mane and Sakaia to figure some things out before joining the table, though the one who heard her speak was Za'kera, as most of the others hadn't noticed her, given the fact that she could blend into the shadows.

"She and the Maormer are likely still somewhere near Anvil, keeping an eye on the Dominion's ships," Za'kera replied, as that was what the Sea Elves had been doing since the fleet from Akavir had arrived, none of the Maormer ships had come close to the continent, causing her to wonder if Lady Seirhy wanted nothing to do with politics and was trusting Tosh Raka with the proceedings, "however, given that we're going to be talking with every ruler, save for the Summerset Isles, she should be here as well, since her people were attacked by the Dominion... would you go find her and see if she's willing to join our discussion?"

Amaryllis lowered her head a little, showing that she acknowledged the request, before disappearing from the chamber the rulers would be chatting in and reappeared outside the building, taking a moment to make sure that no one noticed her before reverting to her true form and took off. What she found was that everyone was definitely getting ready for the journey that was ahead of them, blacksmiths were making weapons, armor, and whatever tools they might need during the battle for the Summerset Isles, citizens were preparing rations, alchemists were making potions, and everyone else in the city was hard at work. It was simply amazing when she glanced down at everyone, the races of Nrin were working with each other to save their world from the Dominion, instead of trying to tear each other apart, and it seemed like everyone in the Imperial City was doing the same thing, getting ready for when it was time to leave for the domain of their enemies and begin the final battle for this world. Anvil, from what she could see from a distance, was readying every ship that had been docked recently, filling them up as they waited for the departure order to be given at last, though right now it was easy for her to see that all sorts of races were working on them, especially the ones that had belonged to the Dominion, readying them to serve the Empress.

The Maormer, on the other hand, were definitely out at sea, some distance from Anvil while in range so they could send a rowboat or something back to the city to tell their allies what was going on or attend the meetings, the latter they seemed to be avoiding so far, and from what she could see they seemed interested in a Dominion ship that was getting close to their blockade. Such a thing made her wonder what in the world this race did to deal with their terrible enemies, despite seeing a few of Abiru's Argonians standing on the deck with the Sea Elves, the latter dressed in attire suited for the seas, but as far as she could see it didn't look like Lady Seirhy was present. As she looked down at the Maormer she found that many of them had an interesting skin color, all sorts of whites and blues that could be seen in the sea, and their ears, from what she could see, looked almost like fins, making her wonder if they spent some time underwater, another reason that all the races called them 'Sea' Elves. A few seconds later a new figure stepped out of the ship, a slender lady who wore a light blue skirt and a light blue cloth cover around her breasts and chest, though it was open in the back for some reason, and while she seemed rather beautiful, with her sapphire blue skin and her pearl white hair, Amaryllis could tell that there was something different about her.

Lady Seirhy, as she was sure that was who she was looking at, barely glanced in her direction before beckoning for her to come down to the ship, which she did so without delay and shifted into an Imperial form, since some people didn't feel safe seeing her new true form.

"I take it the Empress wants to speak with me?" Seirhy inquired, though Amaryllis could tell that she was focused on what she and her forces were doing right now, the ship that was some distance from where they were resting, the last one as it looked like there were no other Dominion ships in the area.

"Yes, because the other rulers are there as well." Amaryllis replied, something that caused the crew to glance at each other for a moment, as they likely didn't believe her and even if they did it seemed unreal anyway, though it caught Seirhy's eye, as she turned her head back a little so she could focus on her, "We're planning what our next move is, and we thought you would want to be there as well."

Seirhy said nothing as she focused on the ship they were currently targeting, where Amaryllis watched as a ripple moved through her body as scales formed over her arms and legs, shark scales to be exact, before her face pushed out into what looked like a shark muzzle, a fin grew out of her back, explaining the opening, and she grew a shark tail which emerged from her skirt. In that moment Amaryllis realized that the Maormer ruler was a wereshark, or maybe she had the power to take on a form like this and such a thing caused the rumors of the beast to spread, before Seirhy dived into the water with the grace of someone who did this for a living. She watched as the transformed Sea Elf stayed underwater for a time, likely due to the gills that she was now seeing, before Seirhy turned and sped off towards the Dominion ship, at a speed that, if her estimates were right, could rival her flying speed, before she focused on what the ruler was doing. In that moment she watched as the shark lady jumped out of the water and landed on the ship without her foes hearing her movements, how she had no idea, and it wasn't long before she started knocking out everyone that was around her, eventually leading to her signaling for her ship to come in.

It was amazing, she had taken care of a ship that had about twenty crew members, even if most had been sleeping while the rest worked to get to their destination, and it wasn't long before the Argonians moved forward to slip some sap into the mouths of the unconscious Altmer.

"There, now my preparations are complete." Seirhy said, though she remained in her transformed state, while giving the order for them to return to Cyrodiil so they could see what Za'kera and the other rulers had to say, surprising Amaryllis since she previously seemed like someone who didn't want to worry about the meetings.

Amaryllis nodded as they headed back to Cyrodiil and the Imperial City, as she knew that there weren't much else for her and the others to do but wait and see what sort of plan would be created for the war against the Dominion, though she knew that soon they would be heading for the Summerset Isles and begin the battle for the fate of this world, she just had to be patient and wait for it to happen.

Comments

[badninja]

And now we are setting up the final pieces and soon this world will be saved.

[Blackdrag-rose]

11174180 Indeed. We're in the final stretch of the story... the long awaited ending is near.