The Accounts of Rayden Options

[redsrock]

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story takes place just nine days after Uriel Septim's assassination, with a unique twist. I am taking the Main Quest and I am remaking it with my own version. What would have happened if both the main-character and Uriel Septim died in the sewers, along with all of the Blades officers? What would have happened if the Amulet of Kings fell into the hand of an "innocent" but hidden bystander?


The Accounts of Rayden


CHAPTER ONE


I wouldn't even have been able to get into the sewers if it wasn't for that foolish Imperial Guard, who, after a few too many bottles of ale, carelessly dropped his heavy set of iron keys lying so temptingly upon the hard wood floor. I was sitting in the tavern, minding my own business. I had planned on settling in for the night, but when I saw that gleaming shine coming from the keys, I knew my night had only just begun.




My name is Rayden, Bosmer and freelance thief of the Imperial City. I am a mere twenty-seven years of age, yet I am capable of many things even veteran thieves cannot accomplish. What, do you think of me as a boastful young brat? I will not argue with you, I am indeed confident of my abilities, but I guess I'll have to prove that to you. Don't worry, you'll learn soon enough.




When I first saw the keys I assumed someone else would pick them up and hand them back to the officer as a sign of good will, possibly a way to kiss up to the Imperials, just like everyone seemed to be so keen of doing. But alas, my inner prayers were answered and nobody but I witnessed the keys fall to the floor. So I left my seat and walked out the door, slyly scooping down to pick the keys up on my way.

At first I wasn't sure what to do with them. There were so many keys hanging from the iron ring, more than fifteen in fact. There were hundreds of places I thought about going to in order to get my hands on whatever I wanted, but one place stood out more than any other: the sewers under the prison. I had heard many a story about how there was a secret passageway to hidden chambers, were rooms were filled with lost and hidden treasures. From my understanding the sewer was not guarded by one soul, meaning it was probably my safest option, as well as my most prosperous.

I left the tavern and headed straight for the sewers entrance, which was just a bit northeast from the city. There, I fumbled through the keys, and thankfully, just as I had originally hoped, one of them opened the large-barred gate that was standing between me and my soon to be treasures.

I stepped inside the damp sewers and walked around for a few minutes, trying to find my way to the secret chambers. The rats were making things difficult, not to mention the goblins. They were extremely difficult to sneak around. After not finding anything of interest for an hour I was beginning to think that the stories must have been false, but then I faintly heard a metal door opening to the west, and the sound seemed as if it was not too far from where I was standing.

I quietly ran to where I heard the sound, and sure enough a door had been opened, and you won't even begin to believe who I saw. The Emperor himself, Uriel Septim, was being led by a Redguard Blade, and some other person who looked to be an inmate of the prison itself. I made that assumption because he was wearing raggedy clothes, and his wrists had irons on them. But the inmate was too far in the back, making it impossible to see what race he was. Obviously the Emperor was an Imperial, everyone knows that. And the Redguard's race was certainly visible thanks to obvious circumstances. As for the inmate, I never did get a look at his face. What happened next went so fast I'm still a bit dazed...

No more than ten seconds after spotting the three, a rustled noise came from their right side. Suddenly men and women wearing scarlet red robes and hoods appeared almost out of nowhere, and for whatever reason a small battle immediately commenced.

It was all so confusing and wild. I didn't know what to do, so I simple hid around a corner, but carefully peeking my head out so that I could see all the action. The Redguard was taking on two opponents at once, and the inmate had already been slain by one of the red-robed.

Uriel Septim had attempted to run away but one of the robed shot a spell his way, hitting him square in the back. A humongous cloud of magic surfaced through the air, and somehow a necklace flew from the Emperor's body, hitting the wall right next my face. I assumed the necklace was a simple, but expensive, piece of jewelry. But, when I picked the item up, I realized it was none other than the Amulet of Kings, THE Amulet of Kings!

I looked back, expecting to see the robed men running towards me, but instead they were running towards the fallen body of the Emperor. The Redguard had taken down his own opponents, and was then rushing over to the Emperor to protect him from the two remaining opponents.

Without hesitating I picked up the necklace and ran away, but before I did that I took one last glance at the battle. The Redguard was on the ground with an axe sticking from the side of his head, and the Emperor was lying unprotected on the hard stoned floor, with both of his frail hands in the air, shielding himself from the two remaining robed men.

"Tell us where the Amulet is!" Yelled one of the robed men. When the Emperor did not respond to their commands they simply stuck a sword through his chest and into his heart, ending the long lived life of Cyrodiil's leader. I watched in horror as Uriel's hands fell to the ground and slammed against the floor. The robed men began searching the area, and that's when I finally left the place.

Now, nine days later, I stand here in an old worn-out cabin, deep in the woods west of Cheydinhal. I sit here with the Amulet of Kings in hand, and I'm trying to figure out what to do. It only took one day for a total transformation of the Empire to take place. After what took place in the sewers, thousands of red-robed figures showed up in the Imperial City, led by an Altmer who called himself "Mankar Camoran". He claimed to be the leader of the cult he called "The Mythic Dawn".

I was in that same tavern where I found the keys when Mankar and his cultists arrived. The death of the Emperor had not yet been spread, since I was the only witness to the deaths, and I surely was too afraid to tell anyone. I was trying to keep myself out of trouble, but then again that would impossible as long as I had the Amulet of Kings still in my possession.

A fight broke out in the city. The guards and citizens banded together to fight the Mythic Dawn, but it was of no use. Apparently Mankar had several men inside the Imperial City who were working for him. That and the fact that the Imperial Legion was greatly outnumbered benefited to the Mythic Dawn's easy victory. Since then Mankar has taken the throne, and his men are looking for the Amulet, which I of course have in hand.

I had left the city before I was rounded up by Mankar's men, and like I told you before, I am now residing in my hidden cabin. It is not hidden by magical powers, but the trees certainly provide help in hiding from the outside world.

I was looking at the amulet closely, examining every last detail of the famed jewel. It was rather heavy for a piece of jewelry, seemingly a little over 1 pound in weight. The gold chain was supposed to wrap around the wearer's neck, and in the middle of the amulet itself was a gigantic, red, ruby-like gem, which was absolutely stunning. Around that gem were eight smaller jewels, all different colors. The amulet was truly a magnificent item, but unfortunately it had some magical powers conjured in it as well.

I say this because when I tried to put the amulet on my own neck, it simply fell off. It never would stay on and I was getting quite furious about the whole situation. That's when I paid a "visit" to the bookstore in the Imperial City, after-hours if you know what I mean. While there I discovered a book about the Amulet of Kings, and in its contents I learned that only a legitimate heir to the Septim bloodline may wear the amulet.

And now, again I say for the third time, here I am sitting in my cabin trying to figure out what to do with my new found treasure. For a while I had thought about giving the jewel to Mankar, for I had foolishly thought he might have given me a hundred heaps of gold for it. But after thinking a bit more clearly, I came to my senses and realized the elf was way too cunning. He would never have given me anything in return; he would have simply tricked me somehow. I do not know the man personally, but I could just tell what kind of man he was by looking at the way he talked.

Ever since the Mythic Dawn's battle was won in the Imperial City, I've been here in my cabin, for fear of my life. I do not want to give the amulet up anymore, I've made that decision. To be honest with you I don't really care about anyone else, but I do not want to see Cyrodiil run by a bunch of cult members and their fanatic leader. Obviously they want the amulet for something, but I'm just not sure what. Right now I'm trying to think of who might be able to help me. Perhaps there is someone who can help me destroy the gem, or perhaps destroying the item isn't what I should do. Back in the bookstore, I read something about that the Amulet of Kings light the Dragonfires, whatever that meant. I don't know what to make of all this, but surely there is someone in this land that can help me; someone who is wiser that I in that sort of business.

At that moment I remembered hearing about an old Breton who lived in a priory south of Chorrol. I knew not his occupation, but only that he had something to do with the Empire. His identity was supposed to have been kept a secret from all, but thankfully for me I was a nosey little thief. I decided that paying this man a visit would definitely help my cause, but of course I really didn't what my cause was at the moment...

This post has been edited by redsrock: Dec 5 2007, 08:23 PM

[redsrock]

I really, really messed up. At the end of the last chapter I talked about heading over to Rayden's mother's home. Well, I skipped that by accident and I just now noticed it. Please, just try to ignore that. I am terribly sorry.


CHAPTER FOUR


“Just how old are you, Rayden?”

We were walking down a paved road, just after exiting the city. The weather was absolutely amazing, with a nice cool breeze coming in from the northeast. If the situation wasn’t as bad as it was, things would be perfect right now. But then again if things weren’t as they were I probably wouldn’t even be up here in the first place.

“Twenty-nine, but that doesn’t mean I’m not worthy. Don’t think I can’t do anything just because I’m still young.”

I didn’t mean to, but I got a little defensive. Even though I am not even thirty years of age, I can still do things most veterans cannot.

“Whoa, calm down, Rayden, I didn’t mean to show any disrespect. So should I be paying close attention to the pockets of my robe, ha ha ha!”

I know he is only joking, but on the other hand perhaps he isn’t. I mean, I’m a total strange to him and I just admitted that I am a thief. To be honest I guess I would have to be surprised if he wasn’t afraid. But I really didn’t feel like talking to him about that. I’d just have to earn my trust.

“You don’t have to worry, Martin, you can trust me. I know that doesn’t mean much coming from a thief, but you’ll just have to take my word for,” and I left it at that.

We began walking towards the east when I spied the city stables lying restfully, with its owner nowhere to be seen. I’m sure you can already guess what I’m thinking, and so did Martin, most likely based on the probing look upon my face.

“Rayden, don’t tell me you want to steal two of those horses,” he said seriously.

Without responding to his comment I quietly snuck over to the house and peeked through the stained window. Just as I had hoped, the owner, who was a tall Dunmer, lay sound asleep in his cot. This was the perfect chance to help lesson the difficulty of our travels.

I turned around and started to walk towards the horses when Martin grabbed me by the shoulders. “Rayden, will you listen to me? Don’t even think about it. I’m not about to help you steal those horses.”

“Well, I don’t recall asking for any help, but thanks for the input,” I said sarcastically.

“Don’t you have any conscious whatsoever? We don’t have to do this, we can easily walk. I don’t mind it a bit!”

“But I do. Just pipe down and let me take care of things, Martin. Believe me, I don’t get caught. Now which horse is supposed to be faster, the white or the black? I always forget…”

“The black,” Martin sighed.

While Martin watched from a distance I slowly crept up to the horses, not wanting to panic them. Horses were delicate creatures and it didn’t take much to rile them up. As I inched closer and closer one of the two black horses started to neigh softly and I thought the owner was going to wake up, but as swiftly as possible and softly grasped the horse’s snout and began to rub it gently in an attempt to calm him down. The trick proved to be a success and soon I was working on the other horse. After a few minutes I brought the two horses on my side and they willingly followed me to where Martin was standing, and all the while I was smiling from ear to ear.

“Okay, I’ll admit, you’re good, Rayden. Let’s just leave before any guards show up.”

That reminded me of how lucky we were in the first place. Adamus and his men had apparently settled in for the night, which if you ask me is extremely foolish. I wondered why he didn’t leave any men to stand guard outside the city walls, but then my question was quickly answered.

“Hey, you two! What do you think you’re doing with those horses?”

A lone guard on foot was running towards us from the city gates. I felt very stupid at that moment. How in the world was I not able to see the man when we came out of city? Oh well, it was time to leave.

“Come on, Martin, hop on!”

I pointed to his horse and he immediately obeyed my request. Then the two of us rode out into the night, leaving the screaming guard to his hopeless pleas. Looking back I could see the lights of the owner’s house come on. Somebody was going to be sincerely pissed.




The two of us arrived at Weynon Priory sometime around noon the following day. Martin spoke not a word the entire time and I assumed he was angry at me. It didn’t really matter, he’d get over it soon enough, or at least I hoped he would.

After we saddled our horses in the nearby stable, which thankfully had not been touched by the Mythic Dawn, we started up the dirt path that led to the house. Even before entering we could smell the foul stench coming from the dead corpses. It was truly disgusting and Martin vomited there on the spot, into a small bush. The stench of the vomit greatly overtook the smell of the bodies, and by no means do I mean in a pleasant way.

“We’ll have to remove these bodies before we do anything,” Martin said.

Now, I took the statement to be a rather obvious, and I am not one to let such apparent comments go unnoticed.

“Oh, you think so? I wonder why?” I said, again sarcastically, which apparently proved to be in bad timing. Martin simply grumbled something and continued on into the house.

In an attempt to try and lighten things up a bit I commented, “So you’re talking to me now, heh?”

“You know Rayden, I realize it’s going to take while in getting used to your…umm…”habits”, but I must say I am appalled by your actions last night.”

He talked as if I actually gave a rat’s behind what he thought. The truth was I stopped worrying about what others thought about me long ago, before I left home even. The fact that he was treating me like a child wasn’t boding well with me either. I’d have to put a stop to that.

“No offence to you or anything Martin, but I don’t particularly care what you think of me. And I’m not a child; I’m a full grown man. I’d appreciate it if you treat me like one.”

“Well, the grown men I know don’t carelessly steal things from other people.”

He was making me madder and madder by the second. Unfortunately that anger swayed me to say something I’d soon regret.

“Are those “grown men” the same men you practiced Daedric magic with? I’m assuming that’s what you were talking about back at Kvatch. Huh, am I right, “Brother” Martin?”

He turned around faster than I would ever have given him credit for, and immediately confronted me, nose to nose. I could easily smell the horrible stench coming from his mouth, leftovers from the vomit. But I wasn’t about to crack anymore jokes. I had seriously angered him.

“I’ll have you know that those men were my friends; friends that were killed because of my carelessness and foolish youth. So the next time you want to make a smart comment, keep it to yourself.”

He turned around and walked up the stairs, leaving me alone downstairs. I suddenly felt very small at that moment. For a long time now I haven’t cared about anyone’s feelings or thoughts, but seeing the look in Martin’s eyes, I have to admit I was a bit taken back by what I did. I actually felt sorry for what I had said, which is something that hasn’t happened to me in a long time. Now I’d have to apologize.

I followed Martin up the stairs and into the room where Jauffre lay on the floor motionless. I allowed Martin to have a bit of time to his self for a few minutes while he stood next to a window right behind the desk; not because he was mourning over the loss of Jauffre, but rather he was still angry from what happened downstairs. I could plainly see that the rage was still present and I didn’t really feel like angering him anymore that I already had.

So rather than interrupt the quietness I instead began to clean the room. This daunting task proved more difficult than I had originally imagined, as there were many pieces of junk lying around. Books, scrolls, weapons, clothes, you name it. Not to mention Jauffre and the Mythic Dawn bodies. The room was an absolute mess, and I then realized it was going to take more than a mere day to tidy everything up.

I had been cleaning for nearly an hour and still Martin stood by the window, staring out into who knows what. Obviously I had touched upon something personal, and now I couldn’t help but wonder what it could be. Well, I know what it is in general, but what I do not know is any of the specifics. He said his friends died because of his foolishness. I wonder what that means.

At last the unhappy Imperial turned around to face me. For a moment there I thought he was going to attack me again with harsh words, but to my surprise he did not. Instead he just started talking. At first I didn’t know what he was talking about, but then I soon caught on.

“It all happened twenty years ago, almost to this day. I was young then, way over my head. We all were...”

He paused for a second, looked out the window once more, then looked back and then continued on.

“There were twelve of us in all, apprentices to the Mages Guild in Kvatch. Our instructor marveled at the attendance, a record according to him. He said we would do the guild proud. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

“Just two months into our studies a small group of us were starting to get anxious. Through some of the basic training we were given just a small glimpse of Daedric magic. Our instructor said it was an evil force bred for just that, evil. He told us that we were not to get involved with any of that or else we would be banned, and if the severity of our involvement was high enough, we could also see punishment from the Empire itself. Such warnings meant nothing to me and my group, which happened to be five people. We still wanted to know more; to learn what was forbidden; to seek out what was being held from us. Like I said before, we were young and foolish. We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into.

“One night my friends and I decided to start exploring the forbidden powers. For a while it was only reading, and to be honest with you, that’s all I wanted anyway. I never really had the desire to seek out the powers; I just wanted to read about it. Granted there were definitely times where I was tempted to practice the use of Daedra magic, but I held my tongue, literally in fact.

“But unfortunately one of my friends, Ishmier, went beyond what we originally set out to do. We had all agreed that none of us would ever practice the use of this sinister magic, and all of us also agreed only to read once a week, at a small uninhabited cabin he found in the forest. Everything was going according to plan, until one day I happened to walk past Ishmier’s house in Kvatch. I could hear strange sounds coming from inside, but when I knocked on the door I received no response. I soon became terrified something dreadful was happening to Ishmier, so I found my friends and brought them to the house, so they too could hear the noises. Soon after that we busted the door open and realized the noises were coming from the basement. We scurried down the stairs and found Ishmier reading aloud from a large book; one that was very old and tattered.

“When he saw us standing there he called for us to join him in what he called “destiny”. He claimed to have found the way to eternal life, and eternal greatness. He then began chanting words and I knew we had lost him.

“One of my friends tried to get Ishmier to stop what he was doing, but Ishmier simply grunted a couple of words and blasted my friend with a fiery ball of flame…killed him right in front of me. The other three tried to stop Ishmier as well but they too fell by the powers of Ishmier. Through all this time I simply stood in my place, painfully mesmerized by everything. I really couldn’t believe what was going on around me. Four of my friends were dead and another had gone insane. I truly thought I was dead where I stood, until from upstairs came the running of feet…many feet.

“My instructor appeared, along with several battlemages. Ishmier was no match for them and was quickly silenced forever. I was banished from the guild, just I knew I would, but for some reason the Empire did not take action on me. They must have had pity for me. I suppose I will never know. But what pained me the most was that I began that horrendous nightmare. If it wasn’t for my constant nagging my friends would never have discovered the evil ways of magic. It was I pressed their interests and it was I who led them to an early death. And for that I will forever be shamed and forever I will walk this land…a murderer. You may not see it that way but that is what I am. I killed my friends...”

This post has been edited by redsrock: Dec 12 2007, 05:14 AM