~~~~~~~~~~

  The desert land of Hammerfell was a source of inspiration to many artists and poets in years. So to say, seeing the bright land that always bathed in sunlight covered under thick layers of gloom was very disturbing.

  It is as if the world has lost its colors and became paler and paler. Even the heat of the desert went away replaced by the cold winds carrying the stench of death.

  "Jon, have you found any survivors?" Mirren called.

  "No. Everyone was slaughtered way before I got here." Jon said as he checked with a [Detect] spell.

  "Fucking Oblivion! They didn’t even spare young kids." Mirren looked at child’s corpse with a grim face.

  Jon and Isha felt a mental strain from the scene. Such a crime can’t be forgiven. They know that because they bore such a crime before.

  "Disintegrate the Corpses." Priestess Aranea spoke from the back.

  "What?" Mirren retorted, "Disintegrate them? These were people. With just some magic spells, we can give them a proper burial in a minute. Ain’t I right, Jon?"

  Jon didn’t reply and looked away with a solemn face.

  "Burying the dead is no longer an option. The Soul Snare spell doesn’t just gloom the sky and disturb some magic, it makes the dead walk again." Aranea said.

  As it seemed, this spell is more sinister than it already is. Jon didn’t like disintegrating the dead but he just had to do it. Those who died would rather turn into white ash just like that and scatter with the wind instead of rising again in agony as zombies.

  The past five days caused the Redguard to start burning the fallen as Aranea mentioned. It wasn’t the way Redguards did things but it was the only choice.

  No one wanted to die under the effect of the Soul Snare.

  "What have you found from the prisoner you took?" Aranea asked Jon.

  "Not much. Most operatives of the Worm Cult were pulled from all the Worm Cells around Tamriel to join some important ritual. But the curious thing is that this Soul Snare matrix wasn’t their Plan A." Jon said.

  "What do you mean?" Isha asked.

  "From what I put together, their Plan A was to power up some sort of a Ritual by the Divine Fragment of Azura that I freed from the Ghost World. Now that I have disturbed Plan A, Plan B was put into action by gathering as many souls as they can. That’s why they used the Soul Snare." Jon said.

  "I sort of get it." Aranea said. "So, the Worm Cult lost their source of power and now are violently looking for a new one."

  "Yes. They always acted quietly but their impulsive actions only mean one thing." Jon remarked.

  "What is that?" Aranea seemed curious.

  The others fell into thoughts but Miranda spoke.

  "They are running low on time." She said.

  "Indeed." Jon agreed, "They have a certain time limit they are committed to. If we disturb them as fast as we can, we can foil their plans."

  The atmosphere started to become more serious by the second. Stros M’kai was just a small island but it was filled with Necromancers and undead. Foiling the Worm Cult plans is way easier said than done.

  ***

  A few hours passed after the slaughtered village events. Aranea led the team right towards Saintsport

  Saintsport is a small settlement located on the southern tip of Stros M’Kai. It contains a port, a lighthouse, and the Square of Leki, a large shrine dedicated to Makela Leki. The town was named in honor of Leki, Saintess of the Spirit Sword.

  The town was fortified by the local militia after the events of the undead outbreak. Thanks to the port this village has, they managed to provide themselves with food and water from the mainland and even received a merchant from Cyrodiil.

  Currently, the village chief was the one leading the defense but some days before the undead outbreak, a Child came to the village with some monks saying that they are here to warn the village from imminent danger.

  After the outbreak, those monks gained some popularity and even the village chief had to listen to them.

  The thing about those monks was a particular child leading them. She was an Imperial girl ten years of age with a bald head and a weird appearance. She had tattoos on every inch of her body. She wore bracelets and anklets of gold as well as a light robe of yellow, brown and red lehenga choli-like dress.

  That child let up a brazier of flame, fed it with her magic and kept dancing in front of the flame in a frenzied manner. She sang in incomprehensible words not from any language in the world but from words she alone made up and understood. The more she dances, the more frenzied the monks around her dance and the more they beat their drums and chant around the flame.

  The common people looking at them from afar didn’t approach or act hostile towards them. Those crazy monks and child have saved the village many times in those five days.

  Every time the undead showed up, the local militia was ready and that’s because of the child. She would always predict any undead raid.

  The refugees that came to the town were always suspicious of her and some even complained but the locals were really overprotective of the child that can be considered their lifeline now.

  At the end of the fifth day, that child started shouting and screaming again. She fell off and stood up in actions that defied physics and kept speaking.

  "The south! He comes from the south! He comes from the south! He is here! The south! Clear for him! Lead him here! He comes! She comes! It is beginning!"

  The child’s voice felt as if the devil was possessing her throat and speaking through it. The village chief who heard her ran to the south with his militia trying to understand what manner of "He" was the girl mentioning.

  He was not far away walking in full armor with a very long sword resting on his shoulder and a cloak not moving with the wind.

  The Dark Knight that marched towards Saintsport appeared with a woman riding a mule, another with a long spear and two tall girls with slim figures and fading presences. That group approached the town with another layer of gloom lurking above them making every single member of the local militia perspire beads of cold sweat.

  Those people were by no means ordinary. Beings like those are probably monsters who just walked out of a battlefield. The survival instincts of those militia members told them not to move, not to act, not to react.

  Jon walked in by lifting the barricade around the village entrance with Telekinesis and walking past simply.

  "Well met, Redguard. I trust the dead won’t give the living much trouble now that we cleared the area around. Rest well for the night."

  The man in Ebony said that he took care of the undead that were terrorizing Saintsport just like that. On any day, this man would be considered the hero of the village and they would throw him a celebration near the shrine of the saintess but the mood wasn’t right for any sort of celebration.

  "Th- Thank you, Sir." The Village Chief thanked him but the man didn’t ask for a reward and headed inside.

  In the village square, there were refugees and some locals minding their own business when all stopped to see what manner of strangers walked in the village. In times like these, people must be warier of other people more than monsters and threats. Thieves and Marauders thrive in times of need and the true metal of men shows its color during hardships.

  Thankfully, the band of warriors didn’t seem like a group of evildoers.

  Jon felt the unrest in the villagers’ eyes but his Aura was hard to suppress especially after killing those Necromancers. He had to calm down his mood first but the gloomy weather only made his mood murkier.

  It was then when he spotted the child covered in tattoos and dancing in front of the flame. The way the girl moved seemed comical and lifted his spirit a lot.

  "I know that dance." Jon said.

  "What is it?" Mirren asked.

  "In Skyrim, the druids would do some divination rituals like that to predict harvest and rain. Druidism is one thing but here in Hammerfell, they have a dance called Zar."

  "You are not much into Divination."

  "Yes, it is the only Archetype in Mysticism I couldn’t even comprehend, however, my wife is skilled in it. She would do Rituals like these all the time."

  Jon had a good memory of Alina who would always visit Kynesgrove for these kinds of things.

  Meanwhile, the girl dancing around the brazier stopped what she was doing as she felt Jon’s presence.

  "You have arrived." The girl turned around and looked at Jon with a bright face.

  She jumped off the platform she was dancing on and ran towards Jon. Once she arrived, she threw herself hugging him as if he was someone she missed for a long time.

  Jon was confused by the girl who barely reached his waist.

  "I missed you so much." She said. "I haven’t been able to look at you for the past seven days. They always tell me danger is coming and I need to protect this place. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t know you were coming."

  Jon blinked a few times.

  "Hm?"

  For a moment there, Jon was totally clueless about his situation. He looked around him to see Mirren and Miranda as clueless as he is, Aranea was acting naturally but there someone who didn’t.

  Isha was shocked as if she has seen a ghost. She grasped her spear and retreated carefully.

  "Jon, get away from her. Hurry!" She even shouted.

  To see someone as hardy as Isha feel this threatened, Jon put his trust in his companion and blinked away from his place by ten meters leaving the girl to hug air.

  Mirren and Miranda did the same and took distance. Only Aranea let out a heavy long sigh predicting the confusion that will happen next but she didn’t even bother to stop it.

  Meanwhile, Isha’s frustration seemed clear.

  "You! Who the fuck are you?" Isha asked letting out a heavy domineering wave of Aura.

  The abnormality seemed clear when the girl withstood Isha’s Aura like the breeze. She was by no means ordinary.

  At first, she was confused but then she smiled at Isha and the others, other than them, the whole village froze in terror.

  The little bald tattooed Imperial girl had a composed air around her, her tan Imperial skin and her colorful hazel eyes showed wisdom beyond her age. Once she spoke, no one managed to keep a composed head like her.

  "What is it, Silly? Do you want to kill me once again?"

  Kill her…… once again.

  The words made even Jon think and rethink the situation. However, seeing the shocked look on Isha’s eyes, he couldn’t help but believe what the girl said.

  The whole situation of Isha’s Labours was because she killed a child from Boethiah’s cult who was important to Boethiah. Now, this child admitted being the one Isha killed.

  Reviving the dead should be something easy for a Daedra like Boethiah but there was clearly more to it.

  "Hahaha!" The girl laughed in a victorious tone as if her mischief has worked.

  "What are you?" Jon spoke in an indifferent attitude.

  The girl turned to him with a natural smile.

  "I apologize. Since I know a lot about everyone I meet in advance before I meet them, I tend to act familiar around them. Let me introduce myself."

  She said then walked closer to Jon.

  "My name is Boethiah."

  ~~~~~~~~~~

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