Morrowind, A fanfic Options

[Alexander]

Another fanfic about Morrowind you must be asking yourself? Do we really need yet another one? I've asked myself the same question
As some of you might know I tried a hand at writing some two+ years back, resulting in two chapters of something I didn't really like looking back. Though even back then, I'd had the idea for another, a different fanfiction.

For some reason despite the fact that I was very much convinced I was not a good writer, this idea stayed with me through all this time and kept nagging at me. Then early this year I decided to simply give it a go again, and the result is something I'm actually quite fond of. This is the result.

It's a fan fiction about Morrowind, set in the time after the events in the game Morrowind but before the events in Oblivion. It's told from the perspective of three people who play a large part in Morrowind's future, at least the future I've created with some parts told by other characters.

As you'll notice, some events in chapters start a little while before the end of the past chapters, just a heads up there.

And lastly, before I bore you all to death with my rants I'd just like to extend a very large thank you, firstly to everyone who ever read "Alexander in Morrowind" and told me it was good (whether they meant it or not ) and second a very special thank you to Treydog who sacrificed quite a bit of his spare time in order to proof read this story, and who played the role of Editor for me. I'm very grateful for that.

Now, on to the story.







The year is 3E 432 many things have changed since the return of the lord Nerevar, and even more things are changing. Four Great Houses have a new head. The Tribunal gods are slain. Temple doctrine is falling and failing rapidly. Oppression of other faiths has been removed. Many rumours float around, rumours of things unheard of in the very near past; The lord Nerevar wants to abolish slavery, Indoril generals are taking bribes and forsaking their honour, some or all of the Tribunal gods were killed by the lord Nerevar, the lord Nerevar used the powers of the heart of Lorkhan to make himself immortal and godlike, secret cults are rising in Cyrodiil, Imperial legions are being recalled to Cyrodiil to quell the unrest, king Helseth poisoned the last king, Mehrunes Dagon has come to earth in the guise of queen Barenziah, Sheogorath has started a love affair with Azura, Bosmer everywhere are planning the end of the world, Orcs have taken to worshiping Khajiit instead of Malacath.

Some rumours are a bit wilder then others of course, but if only half of them are true the future promises to be spectacular.

This story starts in Ebonheart, in the Grand Council chambers where the lord Nerevar is preparing for what could be the most important council meeting in many years.

[Alexander]

Chapter 12. Unlikely choice.

Varvur was banging his cup against the bars of his cell and shouting for a guard to come. He’d been in the cell for a day and a night already and knew time was creeping up on him. He didn’t expect a guard to come, though; he’d been banging his cup against the bars for over an hour now, and no one had so much as checked on them. Yes, them. There was one other prisoner on this cellblock. It was obviously used for only the worst criminals. The man across from him appeared to be scum of the worst kind, dirty, with unkempt hair. And ironically enough, he was a fellow Dunmer, but from the threats and curses he threw at Varvur, one couldn’t tell. Looking around the cell, Varvur saw what he’d seen several times before already, that there was nothing that would help him escape. Naught but a few bones and a skull, a small table and a bucket to use as a privy. And his bed of course with the thin blanket. Nothing. Varvur sat down and put his head in his hands. It seemed hopeless.

A noise woke him from his ponderings, a loud noise. Someone was coming down the stairs, and from what he could hear there were several people.

“Come quickly, your highness, this way.”

“Hey,” a guard spoke to Varvur, “What are you doing here? There wasn’t supposed to be anyone here.”

“I’m sorry captain, I’d be happy to leave if I could.”

Then the man who had been called your highness came into view. Varvur had seen his picture of course, but still, seeing the man in front of him proved to be quite another experience. It was Uriel Septim, Emperor of Tamriel.

“You!” the emperor exclaimed in a voice that told of visiting many different lands, and even worlds, that had gone where few men had gone before.

“I’ve seen you in my dreams. What is your name?”

Varvur replied quietly, all the while keeping his eyes down. There was something strange happening here- he could read it in the tension of the guards posture, the way they held their swords. It would not do to have the guards decide it would be better to butcher him then leave a witness. One of them spoke,

“You prisoner, stand back.”

Varvur stood back as one of the guards opened the door to his cell. He considered rushing them and fighting his way out, but at that moment he noticed the blade hanging from the hip of the emperor. It was the blade of lord Nerevar; even if he could get past the guards, which he doubted, how could he leave the blade here? The guards were entering his cell, there were four of them, and the emperor. One of the guards pulled an innocent-looking chain, and to Varvur’s surprise, part of the wall moved out of the way.

The guards moved swiftly past him, but the last one, a Redguard, stopped for a moment to look at him.

“If you must, you can follow us, and you will be able to leave. But make sure to stay out of our way or I will kill you myself.”

Varvur nodded, indicating that he understood. The Redguard moved to follow the emperor and Varvur went into the tunnel after him.

It appeared to be a very old system of corridors, barely lit, and crumbling. It must have been the oldest part of the city. Luckily some of the guards were carrying torches, else they might not have been able to see anything. In front of them the corridor suddenly went to the right, and Varvur and the others found themselves in a small antechamber. One of the guards called a halt, claiming that he heard something. He slowly moved forward, carefully listening to the surroundings. Varvur heard the blade before he saw it, and cried out a warning but it was too late; the head of the front guard was already rolling away as his body crumpled to the floor. A number of men dressed in red cloaks came at them then. Several engaged the emperor and his guards, but one came at Varvur. The man swung his mace downward and Varvur moved out of the way just a in time. The mace now moved sideways, again straight for Varvur, but he was able to grab the arm of the man before it could connect. A swift tug on the arm had the man overbalanced and spinning to the floor, and it also left Varvur with the mace in his own hands. A swift blow to the head made sure the man would not get a second chance.

Varvur looked around, expecting to see more men, but the emperor’s guards had dealt with the other assailants. The emperor turned to look at him and said,

“Well now, I am glad to have you along. If it had not been for you, we might have been attacked from both sides. As you can see, my guards are already injured and we still have quite a ways to go. But tell me, I saw you looking at this blade; is it familiar to you?”

Varvur quickly explained to whom the blade had belonged and how he came to have it.

“Really, lord Nerevar is dead? These are troubled times indeed. Why I remember it as if it were yesterday when he was in the exact same cell as you just now. I had dreamt about him as well, so I let him go. Pardoned him of the crimes he probably never committed. Well, young Mer, I will tell you what we will do. If you help me get out of these Talos-forsaken tunnels, I will give you back the blade.”

He must have caught Varvur’s questioning look because he added,
“Well, I realise the blade is not mine to give away, but consider this- if we don’t get out of these tunnels, it will do no one any good, now will it?”

Varvur could not disagree with that logic, so he promised to help them. He did catch a mistrusting look from the Redguard, but then he’d made the agreement with the emperor, not the Redguard.

Before exiting the room after the guards, Varvur stopped to pick up the blade of the fallen guard. A katana, not very common in Morrowind, but his father had insisted he train with weapons even from outside the province. He admired the weight and balance for a second, finding that this was truly a magnificent weapon. As he considered everything that had occurred, he realised something he had been thinking of for a while now- the guards must be Blades. No normal guard would be able to afford such a fine blade. Hurrying along, he saw the guards had moved with haste to a door. The last guard to enter was the Redguard, though just before he entered, he turned back to face Varvur.

“This is where we part, Dunmer. We can’t have you trailing along, so you’d better find your own way out.”

And with that he closed the door on Varvur. And locked it. Judging from the thickness he’d seen when the door was open, there was no way Varvur could break through it. Looking over the walls of the room, he noticed a small opening on the right side.

Going down to his hands and knees, he crawled through the opening into the room beyond. It appeared to be part of a cave, the only finished wall on the side where he had come through and the rest naught but sand and roots. Quickly disposing of a few rats that came at him, and a zombie a small ways down, he tried to follow alongside the route the guards and emperor appeared to be taking. There really wasn’t much there, though he did find himself face to face with three goblins at one time. Morrowind wasn’t home to many of the creatures, especially not since an entire army of them, hiding in the sewers of Mournhold, had been destroyed by lord Nerevar, but their crude weapons and tactics proved no match for Varvur’s honed skills.

The sound of weapons clashing reached him, and hurrying on, he was just in time to see another Blade fall to an assassin. He also saw the remaining Blades were hard pressed, each fighting off two or even three assassins, he overlooked the scene from a ledge, and without hesitating, jumped down, taking down two of the Redguard’s assailants as he landed. He quickly got back up, and slashed with his blade, finishing one of the assassins. The other assassin tried to bash him with his mace, but Varvur simply jumped back and used the katana’s longer reach to slash the assassin’s midsection. It’s never a good idea to get involved with a weapon that has a longer range, not unless you’re either very fast, or very heavily armoured. By that time the other Blade had disposed of his attackers as well and came towards Varvur threateningly.

“No, stop it,” the emperor called. “You will not harm him. Can’t you see, he just saved the life of Baurus and you would repay him by taking his life?”

The Blade looked just a bit embarrassed at that and lowered his blade.