Death Incarnate

Leaves slowly fall from dying trees, rain lightly sprinkling down on the cobblestone beneath the branches. Two Oculatus Agents patrol a small portion of the road opening into a small hidden clearing. Two barrels, the size used for transporting small batches of mead, sit along the road next to the Agents. In the distance a woman pokes her head out of the bushes, just a little ways up the road.

Watching as the water falling from the sky comes to a complete stop, she quietly snaps her fingers. A small flame dances on her index finger and she lights the tip of her arrow, already nocked. Aiming at the barrels, she inhales as she draws the bowstring back and exhales as she releases it from her fingertips. The barrel explodes, igniting the other barrel and the officers. The two thrash around not understanding what's happening and just when things seem to be at their worst the second barrel explodes, catching them again.

Screams fill the air as the woman briskly walks past them into the small clearing. Once past the bushes hiding the area she stops in her tracks, eyes wide. An old man in dark robes hangs from a tree, pelted in arrows. It looks like some sick bastard strung him up after he was dead and used him for archery practice. Almost as if she's waiting for him to take the noose off and say it was a joke, she stares at him for a few moments longer before pushing the shrubbery aside and entering the Sanctuary through its open door.

There's more talking inside. Two voices. One brags about going down in History as part of the group that destroyed the Dark Brotherhood once and for all while the other laughs about how easy it's been. How they expected better defense.

Peeking her head around the end of the entrance hallway, she watches as the two Agents start for the stairs to the main area. She quietly walks toward them, careful to not step on any rubble. Placing a hand over the mouth of the Agent closest to her she stabs her small blade through the back of his neck. A desperate gurgle for breath emits from the man's mouth, reaching the ears of the man in front of him.

He turns around in time to see her make a dash for him, but not in time to stop her from running the dagger across his neck, his blood flying through the air and splattering droplets on the destroyed bookshelf to the girl's right.

Dashing down the stairway, a beast catches her eye. A large white wolf about twice her size towers over an Agent, its mouth caked and dripping blood as it bears its teeth and snarls. Arnbjorn. The Agent lifts their shield and the wolf smacks it out of their grip. His arm is grabbed and he feels himself being lifted into the air. Their eyes meet as Arnbjorn plunges his left arm through the man's torso. Blood spills from his mouth as the wolf tears its arm out of him and drops him to the floor.

The man-wolf turns its head and watches the girl who witnessed his fight. Black eyes stare into green ones. His head turns away after confirming that she's on his side. A rock rolls behind the woman who whirls around, throwing a small knife into the head of a man shooting a bow. An arrow whizzes by her head just barely missing her ear and lands in a chunk of flesh. She turns around to see Arnbjorn still in wolf form, holding his eye and shaking his head in pain. He staggers backwards, tripping over a charred Argonian and falling backwards into his forge. Attempting to pull himself out of it, the impact of his claws on the stone walls cause a fiery inferno to fall onto him, furthering the damage. A muffled and pained roar exits from the rubble and the woman steps forward to see if she can do anything when more large rocks fall, burying him further. Acknowledging that nothing can be done to help him, she presses forward.

An alchemy lab lies empty, except for the body of Lis and Gabriella. Scorch marks surround the overgrown arachnid and arrows rest in the dark elf's eye, throat and chest while a bottle of her latest concoction lies shattered in her hands. A twisted smile is spread across her paling face and the smell of gas lingers in the room. The living woman continues through the halls, hearing a struggle ahead.

Dashing through she spots a Redguard fighting two opponents, but he's only able to defend while the two swing their swords at him. She sprints forward and places a foot on the bench and the next on the table, giving her the height she needs to pounce on the one closest to her. Embedding her blade into the dead man's skull she can hear the Redguard finish off the other one.

"I'm glad to see you're doing well." The Redguard comments, sheathing his sword as the woman struggles to pull her dagger out of the man she killed.

"What's going on, Nazir?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing but it seems that we both don't have an answer." The two chuckle as the girl finally yanks the blade out of the head and sheathes it. "I'm guessing it's safe to say that you had nothing to do with this."

"Where's Astrid?"

"I have no idea, I assumed she was dead."

"We've been betrayed, dear Brother." She walks up the ramp into the bunk room and Nazir follows her. "I don't know by who yet but if they make it out of this alive they'll wish they hadn't." The Redguard shakes his head.

"We should find Astrid, tell her about this if she still lives." He smiles. "She'd find a punishment for them that everyone remaining can partake in."

The woman stops in her tracks and stares blankly for a couple seconds before making a break for the room with the black steel doors.

"Wait, where are you going?" Nazir calls out. "Ghel!"

He chases after her, keeping up with her as best as he can. Catching a glimpse of her bursting through the doors and taking a few steps inside he watches as the ceiling over the door caves in, locking her inside.

"Dammit!" His yell and the sound of his fist slamming against the rubble barely make it through the new wall. "You'll have to find cover, the fire's growing here and I'm not going to be able to help you!"

A muffled cough comes from the other side of the rubble and the woman can barely make out his retreating footsteps. She turns her head towards a tall iron coffin, the mummified body of a woman propped up inside of it. Smiling, she walks toward it and closes the doors as she hugs the centuries old corpse. An explosion erupts from outside the coffin, where she had been standing just moments ago. It impacts the coffin and she listens to glass shattering as she and her Mother are propelled through the Sanctuary window. Hitting her head on the inside of the coffin, she blacks out.

Everything's blurry. And my head hurts. I lift my hand and rub my forehead. I didn't think anything could be worse than a Firebrand Wine induced hangover..

I drop my hand and lift myself up, waiting for my vision to clear. The face of the Night Mother stares at me. I'm not surprised she's still intact.

'Speak to Astrid.' A whisper floats through her ears and I watch as her body darkens. She's alive?

Something scratches the doors behind me, making me look up and hit my head on iron. Ack! My hand flies up and covers the back of my head. This is a little irritating.

Voices sound from above me, along with my scratching.

"I'm going. As fast. As I can!" Nazir sounds about as irritated as me. I wonder who he's talking to.

"Well work faster! That's the only place she could've gone and we need to make sure she isn't dead." Ah. Babette. I too dislike monsters masquerading as humans.

I position my back against the small space between the two doors, slowly pushing my body upwards. Specks of dirt make their way through the crack between the doors and I continue to push. I can feel fingers slide between them and pull one of the doors off of my back, so I let the other one back down and help open the halfway one the rest of the way.

I stand and step out of the coffin, making sure to wait until after I'm not hovering over the Night Mother before brushing the dirt off of my body and clothes. Glancing up, I make eye contact with Babette first.

"Where's Astrid?" I run my fingers through my hair, shaking away any dirt that may have gotten in it.

"You really are all business, aren't you?" I watch as she crosses her arms, a grin making its way across her face.

"No." I hate it when she shows her teeth. It only reminds me of what she is and what her kind does. "I've been told to speak with Astrid. Do either of you know where she is?"

"So she is alive." Nazir laughs. "This should make rebuilding easier... and we can figure out how this happened."

"I didn't see her during the attack, she might not have been here." Babette places a finger to her chin, tapping it. "We could search her quarters to see if she left anything that'll tell us where she is. I'm sure she'll be forgiving, given the current situation."

I turn and face the stairs leading up to the entry room. And up we go. I lead the group up the stairs and past the bodies of the Penitus Oculatus Agents I left behind. Turning into the bedroom behind Astrid's map table, the three of us look around at the mess our guests left for us. I sigh and bend down to pick up a book. 'Sithis' is sewn in large red letters on the cover, the ends of its pages singed.

"That's new." Nazir speaks up. I place the book on a nightstand and look toward him. A bookshelf is turned away from the wall, revealing a hidden room. I saunter over to him and peek inside. A Black Sacrament took place here. Looks recent. The flower hasn't wilted, and the body seems to be near fresh, save for some serious burns. I can't even tell if it was male or female. Leaning onto my knees I inspect their face when it's head turns.

"You!" a raspy voice calls out to me and I fall backward onto my butt in shock. "You're alive!" I sit back up, wondering how this corpse could know me.

"And it seems you're close to death, Astrid." Babette pipes up. "What happened?"

Of course she'd be able to tell... Vampires have some uses I suppose.

"I was caught in the first explosion." she whispers. "And I couldn't put myself out so I came here and hid, hoping that maybe someone would find me and be able to help."

So she was one of the first ones to be attacked. If I had moved just a bit faster I may have been able to save everyone.

"Who did this?" I wave my hand at the mess strewn about her; the nightshade, human heart and human flesh as well as the blade lying next to her. A ritual I am all too familiar with. I rest my right hand under my chin with my left arm laying across my legs.

"I performed the Black Sacrament, hoping that the Night Mother would listen and send you to me." She's staggering over her words. Talking might be too painful for her. Or maybe she inhaled a lot of smoke.

"We would have come here looking for you regardless- why would you do this to yourself..?" She must have known that someone would survive this and look for her. Surely she has faith in us.

She goes silent, a hint of regret in her eyes. "Because I'm the one who sold you.."

I drop my hand from under my chin and to my side. Hah.

"You did what?!" "What made you think that-!?" I raise my hand back up to silence them. I know how they feel, and I suppose it's wrong to feel that I am more betrayed than them. This affected the Brotherhood as a whole, even if she had gotten away with it.

"I should have known that they would come for us anyway."

"What you should have known was trusting me to complete this task without the use of 'bribery' would have worked. None of us would have died. The Sanctuary wouldn't be in shambles."

"I don't expect you to forgi-"

"Good. I don't. You not only sold me to the Emperor's Agents, you endangered the entire family. You're the reason there's only three of us that are still alive. You've broken at least two of the tenets." I stop and then lean toward her, just inches away from her face. "Did you ever have any faith in my capabilities?"

Was she sending me on these missions because she hoped I would die? Because I happened to be chosen by the Night Mother? Was she scared she would be forced to follow the Tenets again? Is that the real reason she wanted Cicero dead?

Silence. Not even a blink.

"Why would you even try to sell her to anyone?" Nazir's voice sounds from a few feet behind me. "You must have known that she would succeed without inside help, you've given her more contracts than you've given anyone else. She's done nothing but benefit the Brotherhood."

"I regret what I've done, and I know now that I should have done things differently." Should have known before she went through with it. "That's why I've performed the Black Sacrament. I'm the mark. Kill me."

The room is filled with silence but I just can't take it anymore. Laughter escapes from my throat as I push myself away from her. I can feel the eyes of Nazir and she-demon on my back.

"So you're taking the easy way out? You're not even really sorry about what you did, only sorry that it didn't work." I stand, brushing the dirt from my boots off of my bottom. "Sure, I'll complete this contract. You don't need to worry yourself about payment."

"Use my blade.." her voice is weak.

"Gladly." The smile from my laughter earlier still sits on my face, I can feel it. I bend down and lift the Blade of Woe off the ground. "Any preferences on how this is done?" I turn to look into her eyes and watch as she gently shakes her head no, the burns tearing with each movement.

I grab her by the shoulders and drag her over to the wall closest to her, propping her up against it as best as I can. Her quiet winces from pain mean nothing to me. I sit on her lap face to face with her and bring the blade to her stomach, making the tip slide gently up her body and to her neck. Looking into her eyes, I drive the point slightly into her skin.

"May you reach Sithis swiftly."

I plunge the blade into her neck point first, then crush the blade to the right leaving a large gash in her throat. Pulling the crimson-covered blade out of her, I pull away and stand. Her head falls to the side, the cut opening more and a scarlet stream trickling out and down her body.

"..nasty..." Nazir's voice is quiet. He's not wrong but I can't help shaking my head.

"Necessary." I look up and spot Babette staring at Astrid's dead body. "I'm going to pay a visit to Motierre, see if he also had anything to do with this."

I can't tell if that look in her eyes is pity or if she's hungry. Either way, I don't want to be here to see which it turns out to be.