Revelations (Pt1|Ch2)
Chapter Two: Revelations
What in the unholy name of Sithis? I wondered through my pain, staring into the teal eyes of the creature.
It appears to be a pegasus, My mind stated.
Obviously! But...they are creatures of legend! Of myth!
So were dragons nigh on fifteen years ago.
But...
“A-are you alright?” The creature that was the topic of our mental debate inquired, bringing me back to the physical world. The pegasus quickly trotted up to me, being careful not to lose control of the bandages or bowl of broth.
Her face bore a worried expression and it struck me that I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen someone worried, worried about my well-being anyways. As I realized this, it dredged up an old memory, something stowed away in the back of my mind. A memory of a time when someone was worried about my well-being...
0 . o . 0
There was a smell in the air...It was a smell of comfort and warmth, safety and respite, a smell that was a blatant opposite of the the cold wastes of Eastmarch that lay just outside. Despite the fact that I hadn’t been around this smell in a long, long time, it was as ingrained into my memory as if I were still in the early days of my childhood.
It was the smell of home.
There was pain as well, but, as with the setting of the memory, it was distorted. I knew that there was pain, yet where or why had been muddled by the years that had passed. The young Aram Falíe, the young me, looked up from the wound with teary eyes and found worried set of caring eyes staring comfortingly down into his.
The eyes of...a mother...
0 . o . 0
“Can...can you talk?” The pegasus asked, sending the memory to Oblivion.
I blinked several times, clearing my head, before meeting the creature’s eyes again. Echoes of the memories reverberated in my head as I searched those eyes for any form of deception. The pegasus seemed to grow uncomfortable under my scrutinizing gaze, but I could not find any form of deceit in her eyes...at least for now.
“Yes,” I replied hoarsely, my throat dry as a bone.
The pegasus shied away at the sound of my voice, but didn’t break into an all-out retreat.
“So, um, are...are you okay?” She asked again, “It sounded like you hit the floor pretty hard when you fell out of bed.”
“I’m fine,” I lied with a short groan. I planted my left hand firmly on the ground and pushed up, aiming to get back on my feet without hurting myself too badly.
“Oh, here. Let me...” the pegasus began, stepping in to help.
“No,” I growled, causing her to shy away again, this time looking frightened, “I don’t need your help.”
“Okay,” she mumbled back.
Continuing, I bent my left knee, careful to try and not to lose my balance. I couldn’t use either of my right limbs as one was injured and the other immobile, and this made it much harder to get up. The fact that I was tired didn’t help either.
I was perhaps a foot off the ground when my balance began to falter. Seeing this and against my reassurance of not needing it, the pegasus hopped to my right side to give me support. As much as I wanted to refuse it, I bit back my retorts and accepted the help, soon ending back up on my feet.
Without her help, I hobbled back to the bed and took a seat on the edge, facing the pegasus again.
“Here,” She offered the bowl of broth, using her wings to lift it from her back, “This has plenty of herbal ingredients that should help you get better faster.”
I looked to the bowl, then the creature wielding it. The smell of the steaming concoction reached my nostrils and my stomach petitioned for me to take the bowl, letting me know how very hungry I was with a loud retort.
“Thank you,” I thanked flatly, taking the offered food.
“You're welcome,” the pegasus replied, smiling.
Out of habit, I waved my left hand over the steaming bowl, watching the ring on my...
Damnit, where’s my ring? I growled mentally, a scowl crossing my face.
Probably with the rest of your belongings...or did you not notice that the rest of your armor and weapons were missing? My mind replied.
“Is...is something wrong?” The pegasus asked, looking as if whatever was wrong were her fault.
“Yes,” I replied, “Where’s my weapons and armor?"
This was apparently not a good question to ask.
“W-w-weapons?” She asked, eyes growing wide and pupils shrinking as she moved a few steps away, “W-w-why would you need...need your w-weapons? You wouldn’t h-hurt anypony...r-right?”
I frowned at her use of the word ‘anypony’, but made no comment on it.
“I’d never hurt anyone,” I half-lied reassuringly, unless they do something to warrant it, I didn’t say, “The reason that I want my weapons and armor back is because I don’t like it when people take my belongings.”
“Well...o-okay,” She replied, mostly reassured, “But let me clean your bandages first...and finish your broth, okay?”
I weighed my choices for a moment. If there was one thing I hated, it was people...or creatures...that I didn’t know or trust touching me, doing medicinal work especially. Then again, this creature didn’t look threatening, and I hadn’t spotted deceit in those eyes.
“Fine,” I growled, “But be quick...what’s the nearest settlement?”
I raised the bowl to my lips and swirled some of the broth in my mouth before swallowing. As far as I could tell, there were no poisons in it.
The pegasus’ hooves were gentle as they worked the bandages on my chest, matching her voice as she answered my question, “Ponyville is closest...but you should probably rest up and get better before you go anywhere.”
Ponyville? I wondered, eyeing suspiciously over my bowl.
We can find out more once she gives you your weapons and armor back.
Fine, I conceded unhappily, being careful to keep an eye on my...savior? Captor?
How about helper, you ungrateful bastard.
No matter the title, I kept a watchful eye on the pegasus as I finished the broth. It was good and although it wasn’t much, it did take a bite out of my hunger.
I remembered back over everything I knew about the fauna of Skyrim and Tamriel. Certainly we had horses and other equines, but pegasi were completely unheard of outside of old story books. There were rumors of unicorns down in Cyrodiil, but I had my doubts about them. Still though...dragons had been nothing but legend until a while back, perhaps pegasi were as well..?
“There, all done,” The pegasus said with a kind smile, taking a step back.
Bringing myself out of my thoughts, I looked at her, then to my chest where a new set of bandages were now in place.
“Hm,” I commented, then returned my gaze to her, “So where are my weapons and armor?”
She flinched at the word ‘weapon,’ but my reassurance of peacefulness kept her from reacting as she had the first time I had used the word.
“Th-they’re downstairs. You should get some rest and I’ll go get them for you, okay?”
Again I looked over my choices before bartering with the deal, “I’ll rest after you bring them up.”
“But...you really need to rest, mister...” She trailed off, unsure as how to address me. She looked at me as if I might offer her my name, I wouldn’t.
“My name isn’t important, get me my weapons back and I’ll get more rest,” I said rather harshly.
“Okay,” She mumbled, cringing at my words and trotting off towards the door.
Quite a timid creature, isn’t she.
That or good at hiding her deception until the last second, I replied.
You’re just paranoid, you idiot. This creature means you no harm, yet you treat her as you would any potential threat, My mind chastised.
You're not paranoid enough! And I’m not to be blamed, look at that she-demon Babette for Sithis’ sake! I snapped back, mentally shuddering at the thought of the deceptive creature of the night.
Ah, Babette, My mind teased, I thought that you’d miss her the most.
A growl was all I replied with.
The sound of hoofall, not bootfall I now realized, came back up the stairs. As I listened, my years of sneaking around and relying on my ears as much as my eyes told me that there was more than one creature coming back up. Normally, I had experience with only two-legged creatures and the two additional legs added threw me off. From what I could guess, there were anywhere from two to three creatures returning.
My heartbeat quickened and thoughts of betrayal were not absent from my mind, but I held my ground, watching the door with an intense gaze.
It opened and the yellow pegasus trotted in, looking uneasy when I glared at her from my seat on the bed. I grew suspicious when I noted that she had none of my belongings with her and grew startled when I saw that they were floating up the stairs behind her, encased in a magenta glow.
What in the unholy name of Sithis..? I wondered for the second time that day.
The second set of hoofsteps ended as my floating belongings found their way into the room. They moved to my right, the opposite direction as the pegasus, and revealed a creature that froze me in place.
A purple unicorn.
Adrenaline numbing the pain, I hopped to my feet, taking a defensive position next to the bed, baring my teeth at the threat. My eyes snapped from the unicorn to the pegasus, who appeared to be alarmed. They locked back onto the unicorn, who had fixed me with a confused and...slightly frightened look?
“Um...hi?” The unicorn said.
Of everything that the unicorn could have done, of the countless things that I had counted on it doing, greeting me was the last thing I expected.
From what I knew, unicorns were vicious creatures, whose hides were resistant to both magic and mundane weapons. They were quick as lightning and openly hostile to all creatures, attacking even if unprovoked and unmolested. The creature could have chosen to charge me, could have chosen to attack and that I was prepared for. But talking? Much less a greeting? It did not compute.
“Um...th-this is my friend,” the pegasus stuttered, drawing my attention away for a moment.
“Yes,” the unicorn said, glancing at her friend for a moment, she cleared her throat, “My name is Twilight Sparkle,” she said in a friendly tone, taking a step forwards before rethinking the decision.
I answered with silence, mind still trying to reboot after the confusion of the situation.
“Uhh,” She replied to my silence, glancing to her friend as if for support, “So...what’s your name?” She prompted.
“That...” I shook my head to clear it, lowering my defenses only slightly as the adrenaline left me shaky and with a dull ache, “That isn’t important. Not your concern.”
Bummed that she hadn’t gotten an answer, but happy to have gotten a reply, the unicorn said, “Oh...well, then what should I call you? I mean I have to call you something, right?”
“Whatever you want,” I spared my belongings, which were still floating off to the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle’s, side, a glance, “Just give me my belongings back.”
Twilight looked at her friend once before looking back to me.
“Well, okay,” She said. The objects began floating towards me and my gaze flickered from them to the unicorn. With what I assumed was some form of magic, Twilight placed my belongings on the bed.
Keeping her in my peripheral vision, I limped over and sorted through what she had placed on the bed. I picked up my armor and examined it for damage, surprised when I found that it looked as good as new.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of having my friend Rarity fix up your clothes,” Twilight commented happily.
Damnit, I cursed. Any time that my armor got damaged, I either had one of my family fix it up or just made the repairs myself. I did this for the sole reason that it was free, having someone else offer a service always cost something.
“What do I owe her?” I grumbled annoyedly, looking back at Twilight.
The purple pony frowned in confusion, “You don’t owe her anything, Rarity fixed it up for you free of charge...though she did ask me to find out what they were made from, she’s never worked with cloth like that before.”
Free of charge?
There might be a concealed motive, and what kind of name is Rarity?
I don’t know, I replied, “It’s leather, enchanted.”
“L-leather...as...as in...” Twilight took a step back, “...m-made from...”
They must not like the idea of species like them being used to make your armor, My mind observed with a chuckle of dark humor.
“Yes,” I replied bluntly, “From the hides of other animals.”
“Oh...my...” The pegasus mumbled, staring at the armor as if it was going to jump from my grasp and eat her. Twilight looked a little bit green in the face.
I looked back to my belongings, setting the armor back down. The leggings would never fit me with the damned cast on my leg, but the rest might.
“I...think I’ll be going now,” Twilight said before trotting down the stairs.
“I’ll come with you...if you don’t mind, that is,” the pegasus added, following after her friend.
Sparing them a final glance, I sifted through the pile on the bed, procuring my gloves and sliding both on. A tingling sensation ran through my hands as the enchantment took effect. After these, I slipped my ring onto a finger on my left hand, flexing my fingers.
From here I pulled my ebony bow from the pile, taking a stance and experimentally pulling back the bowstring.
Pain cut into my right arm and my fingers released the string, dry-firing the weapon.
“Fornication,” I grumbled, setting the bow down and rubbing my arm, I wouldn’t be shooting anyone with my bow any time soon, a pity.
After recovering, I checked the rest of my gear. My boots were in fine condition and my twin daedric knives were flawless as the day I had finished forging them. My matching ebony arrows, thirty in all, were all fine.
I took a bunch of the black arrows and waved my left hand over them, noting that the green gemstone on my ring didn’t react.
Fornication, the poison got washed off!
So make more, my mind replied.
How? I grumbled back, I didn’t memorize every aspect of every damned plant and bug and my journal was ruined by the water! Angry, I got to my feet and turned, eyes finding a small bookshelf, Damnit, those were poisoned with one of my best batches! Now all ruined!
Perhaps our caretaker has something on the local plants. It would make sense for a healer to have such things.
Hmm, I silently agreed, still fuming a bit, before heading towards the bookshelf.
Annoyingly, there weren’t any chairs around the room so I would either have to make my way back and forth from the bookshelf to the bed or stand to read.
I’ve spent Sithis knows how long laying down sleeping, standing a while won’t be the death of me, I reasoned as I reached for the first book on the shelf. The spine beheld no title and neither did the cover.
I flipped to the first page and grumbled a curse, the writing was in another language. From what I could tell, not even the letters matched up with anything I knew.
Looking through a few other books yielded similar results, nothing was in any dialect I knew.
As I set the final book back on the shelf, there was the sound of a magical discharge behind me.
I whirled around, dropping to a fighting stance again as my eyes sought out an attacker.
Yet there wasn’t one.
There was, however, a book laying on the bed.
I scanned over the room again before approaching the bed, keeping my head on a swivel in case this was some sort of trap.
When I reached my destination unscathed and unmolested, I only slightly let my guard down and took a closer look at the book. The cover was black leather and worn to a great degree. The paper pages looked in similar bad shape.
Who summoned this? I wondered.
Who? ‘Why’ is a more suitable question, I think. Better to know your enemy’s intentions than his face, My mind commented.
Then you can’t kill him...if you don’t know his face, I argued.
True, but do we know that an enemy sent this?
I considered that for a moment, wondering whether or not I should take the book and open it. I had been searching for a book when this one was summoned, so perhaps whatever had sent it had sent it to help me?
Reaching out, I took the book in my hands, examining it. My ring didn’t light up, confirming that there was no form of poison on the book.
My examinations showed no discernible form of evil intent and I, carefully, opened it.
And the world dropped away before me...
0 . o . 0
...Standing in a featureless abyss of darkness and clothed in robes of shadow, I looked around. Being in a featureless abyss, I could discern nothing specific. Everything was uniform, everything was the same, nothing was unique.
My pain and my wounds were gone, but I cursed the fact that I had no weapons at my disposal. I was already dropping into a fighting stance for what felt like the hundredth time today as whatever was happening begun. My head was on a swivel as I tried to look everywhere at once, making sure that any attacker didn’t get me with my back turned.
Could one of my former family members have discovered my location? Sent some sort of summoning spell in that book to bring me here...wherever this was?
It took no longer to get my answer.
“My...child...” A powerful voice spoke. It was the voice of a being that had all the time in the world, if not more. It was a voice that I somehow knew was never asked to repeat itself as it made itself perfectly clear the first time. It was a voice that was dark, yet it felt as if the speaker was smiling.
I startled, turning round to face where the voice had come from, yet saw nothing but more of the nothingness.
Staring and not speaking, I squinted against the darkness, my eyes trying to find purchase on something and failing. The voice said nothing more, for now, and silence bombarded my ears for a time. I began to consider calling out after a while, but the voice began again.
“You...do...not...greet...your...father..?” The voice asked, its tone showing a hint of bitter disappointment.
“You are he?” I asked, unsure, “My father?”
There was another long bout of silence.
“I...am...” The voice replied, “...not...of...your...blood,...but...of...the...blood...of...the... innocent...”
“Sithis,” I breathed, eyes growing wide.
The realization of who I was speaking to hit me harder than a giant could, fear filled my veins with ice as the next words spilled across the void.
“And...you...show...DISRESPECT..!” The void rumbled as if a massive creature had shaken it, forcing me to my knees.
Remaining at my knees, but keeping my body upright, I pleaded for his pardon, “Apologies, dread father. I mean no disrespect...I simply didn’t know!”
Silence reigned once more, longer this time than the last. Longer and longer, silence remained until it infected me to speak so as not to lose my sanity.
“S-so you have seen fit to let me enter...your void?” I asked, hope brightening my voice.
“No...” Came the reply, rather shortly compared to previous times, “This...is...but...a...purgatory...” The dread lord continued, “...a...plane...of...existence... between...this...one...and...the...next...”
My face fell slightly at this.
“You...have...disappointed...me...my...child...You...have...silenced...my...listener...and...a...fellow...brother...You...have...broken...my...fifth...tenet..!”
“What would you have of me...dread father?” I asked, again to fill an over-encumbering silence. I knew to dare not talk back or defend my actions against him, lest I invoke his wrath.
More of said silence followed, yet I dared not speak, for I knew that the dread father was thinking, considering what to do with me.
“I...have...plans...for...you,...my...little...argonian...” His voice eventually rumbled. “...as...of...now...your...soul...is...unworthy...of...the...void...” The smile seemed to return to the voice as he continued, “…But…fulfill…my…wishes,…my…plan,…and…you…will…be…rewarded...” The smile deepened further, “...with...the...love...of...your...family...”
I frowned at this, confused and even suspicious.
“But I broke the fifth tenet, they’d have my head on a platter...”
“You...shall...see...”
Silence took over once more as I waited for the dread father to detail his plans to me, a seemingly innumerable amount of time passed before I dared voice my question.
“So what are your plans, my father?”
“I...would...see...my...unholy...light...extended...to...this...land,..Equestria...” Came a rather quick reply, “...when...soon...you...sleep...again...a...visitor...shall...enter...your...dreams...to... provide...more...details...”
“But...Equestria? What’s Equestria, is...is this land not Skyrim?” I asked.
If the dread lord laughed, I felt as if he would have at that point in time, yet a being as he did not laugh, ever, I got a reply that was filled with a sort of malicious pleasure.
“You...are...slow...to...see,...my...child...For...your...actions...in...the...plane...of...Mundus...I...have...banished...you...to...another...To...this...plane...”
“W-what?!” I exclaimed. No reply came as I felt myself being dragged downwards.
“Do...not...fail...me...again...my...child...” Was the last thing I heard before my entire body was engulfed in darkness.
0 . o . 0
I found myself falling and I hit the floor with a loud thud and an equally loud curse.
By this rate, your new friends might think that you’re a glutton for pain, My mind observed, hitting the ground so many times and all.
Growling back as pain coursed through me again, I heard hurried hoofsteps coming back up the stairs before the door opened.
“Are you okay?” The yellow pegasus asked worriedly, rushing over, “Did you fall over again?”
“I’m fine,” I lied for a second time that day, rubbing the back of my head.
Trying to sit up was painful, so I decided to relax on the floor a while while the pegasus hovered over me. My quick escape to Sithis’ purgatory replayed in my head and I turned towards the pegasus, the rare emotion of trepidation barely touching my words.
“What...what do you call this land?”
“Well...Equestria,” she replied, somewhat puzzled.
Starting to regret killing the listener yet, Aram? My mind asked.
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Before I read this, is the fifth tenet the one that says not to kill another member of the brotherhood? Its been a while since I played any ES games so...
Why does this story say its on hiatus? Especially when it is just getting interesting...
1576886 Yes, the fifth is not to kill a dark brother or sister.
1577062 My mistake
should be on incomplete, I forgot to change it last night.
I never play ES dark brotherhood are bad guys?
1578959 Not necessarily. They're a guild of hired assassins who traditionally do their killing for their deity, Sithis. I suppose that for the most part they are badguys, but it's all relative.
Moar infoz > Dark Brotherhood
1579520 thanks for info
1582101 You're welcome
1578959 no thats alduin
Wait, I thought
*spoilers for whomever has somehow not played skyrim yet*
That you were the listener for the DB... How could you have killed yourself?
Also, isnt Veezara also an argonian?
7508871 I think this is meant to be 15 years after the events of the game, so Aram would not be the dragon born and he killed the next listener after the dragon born, if that dragon born was a member of the DB in that universe in the first place. Also if this is 15 years after the game Veezara would be long dead at this point.