In case anyone is interested, I've put a chapter summary up on page 1 of this thread.

It has Malan's plotline posted separate from Maxical's chapters - the Malan plotline one will keep up with his plots, how they are having to change each time he makes a mistake or Maxical messes one of his plots up.

That one will also tell why the nature is doing something.

I've marked the places on there where Malan made mistakes (and why), and the couple times Maxical or Janus have inadvertantly thwarted him so he had to change his plots and adjust them around the roadblock. (and told what his new course of action was due to the change in plans.

I just thought it would ease it some for you if you had a printout of his plotline to kind of keep an eye on what he is planning for Maxical and what she is doing to thwart him.

To be honest, I enjoyed writing it because (it is a way for me to keep up with Malan's plots, lol).

Too, it really put it in my face what all Maxical and Janus have put Malan through since Chapter 68 - without even realizing it most times.

Malan removing Amiela is where everything starts happening fast towards Maxical swearing war on Malan. Once she does that, all H is going to break out for Malan. She will hound him like a dog till he drops.

I really appreciate you all, and hope you all enjoy this story. It means a tremendous lot to me that you all said such wonderful things about Malan on the bad guy thread! Thank you all so much!

This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 24 2013, 04:21 PM

I am inclined to agree with King of Beasts. I may advocate tyranny in all of its many forms (in fiction), but I have a special distaste for things such as that. Not only is it unnecessary, but it also shows sadism which makes a character unlikable for me. Dagoth Malan, may your death be swift!

It's official.

I've had a nightmare about Malan.

What have you done to me, mALX?!?!

-sobs-

I just wanted to read a story!

:]

Watch, now that nightmares have been mentioned, I'm going to end up having bad dreams about him

Anyway,

What was the nightmare about...

If you actually had one...

I don't know! I was iceskating in a library (no joke) and Malan just popped up and said something like "Dagoth Malan eats the souls of children"

I don't know. And the chocolate pudding rained down... wait. I think I'm confusing my dreams.

Nevermind. XD

At least the dream isn't that scary. When I have nightmares they usually involve me being murdered. Watch. Im going to end up having a nightmare that Malan murdered me tonight

What did he look like?


Oh, And WTH were you doing ice-skating in a library?!

This post has been edited by King Of Beasts: Jan 27 2013, 05:52 AM

I DON'T KNOW! It seemed really normal at the time, lol.

He looked all pale and bulked out and bald.

That's so descriptive

I know what I'm going to do the next time I visit a library though

And we should take this conversation somewhere else so we don't clog mALX's thread

*

@ King of Beasts - Thank you so much KOB! Malan took Amiela and left Maxical. Now that his own nature is turning on him, and with both Janus and Maxical carrying it - if he wasn’t so close to taking over the Palace he’d be getting the H out of Dodge.

On your question - Amiela's evil surpasses Malan's. She is the driving force behind everything Malan has done since she died, including the attack on Janus Hassildor. Thank you so much again KOB!

*
@ Elisabeth Hollow - Thank you so much Elisabeth! ROFL! Eyja isn’t quiet in anything she does, lol. Your nightmare sounds like Pizza dreams, lol. Thanks again, Elisabeth!

*
@ McBadgere - Thank you so much for your kind words McB! It is so good to see you back on the boards!

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@ Acadian - Thank you so very much Acadian! I absolutely loved this comment, you captured everything Maxical was going through so well - and nailed the truth about Malan at every turn! Thank you so much again, Acadian!

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@ King Coin - Thank you so very much KC! Yes, the nature is definitely out of whack. It is see-sawing back and forth between trying to create the union that will stabilize it and acting like it belongs to Maxical. Don’t worry, when in doubt it will protect the sacred chosen first.

That was no dream, but the impressions of what was happening around Maxical. Thank you so much again, KC!

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@ Grits - Thank you so very much for your kind words Grits! That really made my day!

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@ Zalphon - Thank you so much Z! And thank both you and KOB for jumping to Maxical’s defense! She needs friends like that!

*
@ EVERYONE - It means a tremendous lot to me that you all said such wonderful things about Malan on the bad guy thread! Thank you all so much! I really appreciate you all!


I posted a chapter by chapter summary of Malan’s plot lines on page one (1) of this thread in case it can be helpful to anyone.








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This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 27 2013, 10:02 PM

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Chapter 192: Revelations



Malan was gone. It felt lonely and too quiet without his booming jovial presence. Time with Malan passed without notice, he was so entertaining that even the mundane seemed fun with him. I felt empty inside without him.

For the first time since I’d come to the Palace, no one was desiring company. Uriel and Eyja were both snoring so loudly they could be heard through my bedroom walls. Janus’s room door was open, he wasn’t in his room.

Hannibal’s sleeping form didn’t budge even after I called his name. He was probably dead from his night with Eyja, I seriously considered holding a looking glass below his nostrils to see if it fogged.

Instead I grabbed the tome on ancient vampires off his nightstand and brought it into my room to study it. It was marked at the chapter on chosen as if I was meant to flip it to that page. I scanned down the page till one passage caught my eye.

“The lairs belonged to both the chosen and the ancient. No women can enter a chosen’s lair without her permission.” I mouthed the words. “Hmph! Can’t do much about it if she’s inside you.”

The tome said that Malan was supposed to stay by my side while I slept, or leave his guard to watch over my sleep as a signal to other ancients. Wait, Malan left me while I was sleeping. Where was his guard?

Azura‘s seal wouldn’t be burning a hole through my tongue right now if they were in my room, even in vapor form. I twisted the Life Detect ring on my finger, glancing first to the doors, then up at the glass dome above me. There was no army guarding. Why was I sleeping unguarded?

The image of that night in the Temple of the One came hauntingly back. That bone-chilling sight, the pink outlines of thousands of giants reflected by my Life Detect ring. This ring.

Malan’s army stood guard all that night. Janus said that signaled other ancients that I belonged to him. He put his guard on me that night, why wouldn’t I have one now? And where was Malan?






***


Back then I thought that guard was for Amiela, but after seeing how happy Malan was last night, that vow…his emotions were real, unguarded and genuine for the first time since…

The memory flashed in my mind of that night Malan first raised Amiela inside me, that kiss. It felt like coming home from a long journey, he kissed Amiela with the hunger of centuries parted. His emotions were raw and genuine. I’ve never felt that from him again. Not till last night.





All along? My stomach lurched with sickening clarity. He was talking to Amiela. His vow to make me his chosen…lies, or I'd have a guard on me while I slept.

Amiela was in me that night at the Temple when I was guarded all night. That guard, Malan’s happiness and promises…all for Amiela. And she must be gone from me, or I’d have one now. That nightmarish dream…waking up in the bed. Malan performed necromancy on me while I slept.





An undercurrent of dread hung over me, realizing how naïve I’d been thinking any of it was for me. It had always been for her, all of it. Malan was romantic and intimate in every word, every touch. He never said he loved me outside of during our mating, but showed it in so many other ways…and I was the one feeling it. I believed it, wanted it to be for me. I felt everything he meant for her, and he knew it…manipulated me by exploiting that weakness in me.





Uriel said that. It shamed me that I hadn’t remembered that, or any of his warnings while I was with Malan. I’d failed Uriel, and with his worst enemy. He’d been right about everything.






***


What other vows had been lies? A sickening feeling twisted in my stomach. Fathis. All those times Malan said Fathis was dead he was in control of the situation. But that night in the Temple of the One Malan was backed in a corner when he said if I just waited, I’d be with Fathis.

And then I knew it was the truth. Fathis was alive, and Malan had him in that dungeon. But was Fathis a vampire? My breathing began to hyperventilate remembering Janus’s words that day. Malan had me in his lair three days before he took my virginity…my neck and wrist ravaged…tearing wounds like vampires new to feeding…





The fear in me boiled up into a keening that strangled against my throat, but with it came the memory of Uriel shaking me like a ragdoll and ordering me to suck it up.

It took every bit of strength and willpower I had, and I was shaking from the strain it took…but I smothered the keening back, choking it down into a horrible groaning inside me.

Uriel had ordered me to bury pain and fear inside me, turn it into rage and use it for thought and action. He was right, I needed to think about everything Malan said that night in the Temple.

Malan said to wait, his plan was for me to be with Fathis. Since Amiela was inside me, that must mean Malan planned to use Fathis’s body for himself. He wanted Amiela immortal…wait. He’d want to be immortal too. That means he’d make Fathis immortal, if he hasn’t already. But Fathis knows all the high security access codes, doesn’t that mean Malan would have to keep Fathis’s soul intact? I breathed in relief.






***


Malan was too close to realizing his dream of the throne, he won’t leave this Palace. But what was holding him back? He could have moved on it all this time…

And then it hit me, Malan’s own words that day he raised up Amiela inside me.





You’re almost back, we’re almost there. Malan promised Amiela she’d be by his side when he reached the throne. That had to be the promise he was talking about. He really was trying to raise Amiela up inside me last night.

Malan’s own nature saved the throne and upset his plots by defending me. He was one step from the throne when he had to remove Amiela from me. I’d bet that’s why his eyes were gleaming in excitement last night, he thought it was a done deal.

I tucked the tome under my arm and hurried to Uriel’s chambers, he needed to be warned. His chambers door was bolted, but Janus opened it at my scratch. The burning of Azura’s seal on my tongue was immediately gone as I stepped in, and I sighed in relief.

Janus glared through painful-looking red rimmed eyes before averting his face, and all but growling out the words, “Uriel is sleeping, and doesn’t want to be disturbed.”

“Oh.”

It was all I could do to attempt pleasant conversation with him after learning what he did to Fathis and me. I buried my rage with a strenuous effort and said nothing about it, reminding myself that Uriel needed Janus’s help rescuing Fathis and taking down Malan. I needed him right now too, standing near him brought the only relief available from the burning pain of Aura’s seal on my tongue.

“Good morning, Janus. I hope you slept well.” I forced out.

“Is that some kind of joke?”

Janus’s tone grated on my temper, I forcibly bit back the retort that sprang into my mind and sought a pleasant tone.

“Well, I see someone woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning.”

“Oh, I guess you think that’s funny, rubbing my nose in it?”

Stunned, I gaped at him. “Huh?“

“How could anyone sleep with all that racket?“

My temper fizzled out and I breathed relief. Janus‘s surly temper was not directed at me, but lack of sleep.

“Oh, you mean Eyja? I know, I thought a village was being slaughtered. I plan to write instructions on sword-polishing on this card and give it to her as a joke.”

“It wasn’t her noise that bothered me, I’ve used her services enough that I’ve become used to it.”

Dear gods, was this over his burned eyes? I dared not bring them up.

“Oh…er…haha. You must be deaf then, I‘m pretty sure I am now.”

“If you are deaf, you have only yourself to blame.”

“Me? What did I do?”

“He poached you by fraud, his heart will never turn. You said you had no intention of sleeping with him again, there was no need because your blood had changed. What was all that racket then? Were his eyes burning?“






***


Janus blew his temper on me, after all the holding of my own I had done. Obviously the presence of his worst enemy mating loudly in the next room was a huge source of agitation to Janus. It was all I could do to keep from spitting in his face.

“They probably were, he likes it. Instead of pleasure seeking and eavesdropping on our passion, why didn’t you rescue Fathis like you vowed? You knew Malan was occupied here, and have access to his the lair.”

Janus looked like he may turn giant and go on a rampage through the Palace. I tried to put a calming hand on his arm. He jerked it away.

“I’m sorry for losing my temper Janus, but best you look at yourself to blame for all of this, including this war. Fathis would have ended my virginity anytime, but YOUR spells kept him from it. YOUR spells are why Fathis confronted you at the Arena, and that brought Malan and started this war.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re sleeping with him now!”

“I have to! Malan is the Arbiter of Dunmer law, he holds my life in his hands because of my marriage to Gils. By law, he has to kill me unless he takes me for himself. Fathis married me to protect me from the law, but YOUR spells kept him from his duties as husband.. That I’m with Malan is YOUR fault!”

“Those lucky bastards! How do they come up with this stuff?” Janus stomped off fuming.

Janus ignored the accusations of his responsibility in all this, but I noticed he hadn’t denied putting that spell on Fathis. He had to have done it.










***


Uriel’s bedchamber door was bolted so I couldn‘t spill my ire to him, and Janus leaving meant Uriel would be unguarded if I left too. I slid the bolt locked and slumped down into the chair Janus had warmed, pulling a quill from the jar to start my card for Eyja.

Why had Malan told me the truth about Janus putting that spell on Fathis? It was probably the only time Malan’s mouth was open that a lie didn’t come out. Malan never does anything without a reason. It must avail him somehow that I hate Janus, but how? What reason would he have to want me hating Janus? I’d bet it had something to do with Janus being his split-apart, sharing one nature…

The quill ground to a halt, leaving an ink blotch on the card.

The same nature that was inside of me. The same nature that turned on Malan last night and protected me against him. I wonder if Janus and I formed an alliance and turned on Malan as a pair…maybe that is what Malan is afraid of. Maybe the same thought occurred to him.

Malan removing Amiela from me after all this time must mean I’m free from his plotting now. Threatening Amiela must have really upset his plans, at least temporarily. Uriel said Malan never gives up his plans, he just adjusts them…

The tip of the quill snapped off. I jammed it back into the jar holder, frowning.

Malan never discards a plan, he’s been working on the same plots for centuries. That makes him predictable, and makes it easier to anticipate his next move.

He was a hairsbreadth from his dream of the throne, he wasn‘t going searching for another body to put Amiela in. Malan would find someone in this Palace. But who? Eyja? I’d have to know who Amiela was inside to stop them.

According to Hannibal’s tome; this Palace might be my lair, or at least the Royal Quarters were. No other woman could enter it without my permission, but Eyja was already here.

I pulled a different quill out to finish the last lines on Eyja’s card, then signed it, “A concerned citizen” and dropped it into the incoming mail basket.

Malan was moving on his plots to take over the Palace. I needed to find him and stop him. Wherever Amiela was now, there was no doubt in my mind that was where I would find Malan. Malan underestimated me.



*

This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 31 2013, 05:28 AM

So, Malan packed up his dead wife and left Maxical? I'm sorry, but its kind if funny when you think about it


Someone REALLY needs to tase Malan though.

It's nice to see Maxical finally realized Malan doesn't care.

Malan is bad to the bone though. I should make a deal with him. If I bring his wife back he has to make me emperor

My best guess is Malan is going to stuff Amiela into Malvulis next. Isn't she part if his plots in case Maxical doesnt work out? How do I still remember that (if I'm correct about Malvulis being part of Malan's plans)



Well good morning to you to Mr. Sunshine, I see you've slept well

This post has been edited by King Of Beasts: Jan 27 2013, 10:42 PM

Malan is a no good, dirty, rotten... GUHH.

Amelia too!

As a wise man once said, I've got a bad feeling about this... ...

Yay!!...Bye bye Malan...(Even if it is only for a while)... ...

A fantastic chapter...Excellently done...

I love all the internalising Maxical is doing...Joining the dots and all that...

Love this story... ...

Nice one!!...

*Applauds heartily*...

This post has been edited by McBadgere: Jan 27 2013, 07:42 PM

Thank you for the superb ‘Last Chapters Update’. Very helpful! And who will be the next ‘Amelia Receptacle’ indeed? I’m gonna make some guesses. Ey yi yi yi yi yi ja? Hmm, just can’t see stuffing my dead wife into her – too many visitors. Nisaba? I’m thinking probably not; that cat’s already indentured onto Malan's vampire juice payroll. Evangeline? Yup, that’s my bet; her mouse nurturing has well prepared her for the task and there's plenty of unused space inside her head.


It is heartbreakingly fascinating to peer in as readers – knowing we’re a half step of ahead of poor Maxical as she struggles to catch up to what we know. By Akatosh’s fiery wings though, she is catching up and sorting things out.

‘Janus’s tone grated on my temper, I forcibly bit back the retort that sprang into my mind and sought a pleasant tone.’
Gosh, just look how far our little kit’s come? (Even if her resolve only lasted a moment or two.)

‘...pulling a quill from the jar to start my card for Eyja.’
Oh my! She’s really going to do it? I can’t wait to see Maxical’s tips on sword polishing for Eyja! Didn’t Eyja write the book on it? Oh, broken quill tips, is she giving up? Oh. She draws another quill from the ink quiver and completes the task! Lol. This was actually a wonderful task you crafted to keep her hands busy as she pondered the puzzle.

And we still have to wait to learn the answer to the missing Amelia puzzle.

Well, if Traven wasn't impressed with Eyja, who is supposed to do this for a LIVING, then-

Waaait. Is Maxical ALLOWED to give tips out?

Malan’s nature’s been hard at work with Maxical, she’s really fallen for him. No guards though, I can’t help but feel more comfortable there isn’t a vampire standing over her as she sleeps!

Centering Maxical’s thoughts and giving them lots of space gave them a lot of extra weight that they might not have had otherwise. Good style.

Malan’s tricks with his nature are showing, Maxical’s realizing what’s happening, had he done it right, I don’t know if Maxical would have been able to do it on her own.

So what did Maxical write to Eyja? “Keep it down, you sound like a village being slaughtered?” But seriously, can Eyja be there because Maxical isn’t Malan’s chosen, or is there something different about Eyja?

*Smashes through the computer screen and crashes the party*

AH!!! So I had my back teeth smashed into four pieces and ripped out of my gums. All four of them! And I got three more to go, so I haven't been able to truly dedicate my time in the forums, since I've been sleeping and playing video-games like a bum. Anyways, I am here and let the reading begin.

Chapter 191: Nightmare.
I had to reread this chapter twice because I was mind raped by Malan and Janus' nature and how it affects Maxical, ehe, but I got it.

Malan is so damn confusing . .. to Maxical, that is. He now makes her think that he cares for her when in reality we all know what he wants, and that's Amiela. Conniving sob! My hero! And now she wants him! After all that he's done.

Let's sing-a-long: "Nice guys finish laaaaast! Bad guys have a blaaaaast! Take his money, snatch his honey . . .let's kick his @SS!"



Yeah . .. right . . .hard to believe, but it might just be believable.



Silly King of Beasts. Evil is an illusion!

Thank you so much for the plotline summaries. I am intrigue-impaired, and I really appreciate being able to go back and check my memory!!

It was wonderful to watch Maxical putting the pieces together and using the advice that Uriel gave her, even though her revelations had her in an emotional upheaval. Yay Maxical!!

I also wonder where Malan has taken Amiela. Eyja is well-known to the palace crew. It will be interesting to see if her braying laughs and blood-curdling shrieks of passion continue. I wonder if Janus will go sniffing after Amiela in her new receptacle, too. Hmm, much to think about!

Blimey...You as well...What are the chances, both you and Darkness Eternal having all four wisdom teeth and needing three more removed?...Hope it's not a contagious thing...I got the dentist meself tomorrow... ...

This post has been edited by McBadgere: Jan 29 2013, 06:12 AM

Lycanthropic Legend and Darkness Eternal are same people Didn't you know that? I thought everyone knew.