The Story of the Listener, My first fanfic. Options

[Kayla]

Ok. This is my first fanfic. I'm a tad nervous about it, but I'd like to see what everyone thinks.
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I sat quietly on a bench beside the pawnshop on the docks of Anvil, staring out over the dark Abecean Sea. Through the clouds in the sky, I could see that the sun was setting. A chilly wind blew my black robes and hood as though they were weightless, but the persistent breeze was unsuccessful in penetrating the black light armor I wore underneath my robes. I listened to the fragmented conversations of the dock workers, and watched as people hastily walked by, fearing that it would soon begin to storm.

Before I knew it, the sun had set completely. The Nord who owned the shop I was sitting in front of walked outside. He locked up his shop and began to make his way down the stone street toward the resident area of Anvil. He hadn’t even noticed that I’d been sitting just feet away from him. I heard the Nord loudly greet someone before he walked completely out of earshot. Soon after, an Orc walked by. I studied the Orc carefully as he passed. He walked with a slight limp and had a large scar on his left arm, and just as I expected, he opened the door to the dockside warehouse and went inside.

It was completely dark now. Neither sun nor moon shone through the twisting clouds in the sky. The wind picked up, carrying moisture in it.

I stood and made my way to the back door of the warehouse. I picked the lock and the door swung open. Quickly I slipped into the thick darkness inside. The warehouse was fairly big but, a few candles on a large table in the middle of the room revealed the Orc’s position. He was busily unpacking things from crates and setting them on shelves. He was completely unaware of my presence, and I preferred it that way. I slipped through the shadows toward him. In the darkness I felt strong, invincible, and incapable of fear. I observed his movements, the way his body flowed with each contraction and relaxation of each muscle. I watched every joint in his body, paying close attention to his spinal cord. The Orc was old, and moved as though he’d been doing hard labor his entire life. Almost every movement looked as though it pained him.

As soon as I was sure of his reactions, I silently unsheathed my ebony blade, a gift from a dear friend, and I closed in on the Orc. He was still unaware of my being there, even though I was soon right behind him, almost breathing down his neck. In one quick motion, I lunged out of the shadows, grabbed the Orc with my right arm, wrapping it around the front of his neck and shoulders, then I brought my left hand up and stabbed him right in the jugular vein. The poor old Orc didn’t even have a chance to yell. I let go of the body letting it fall limply onto the wooden floor of the warehouse. I waited for his gurgled breathing to stop, then I snuffed the candles out and exited the warehouse the same way I’d come in.

(Expect updates!)

[Kayla]

Finally! It's what you've all been waiting for! The fight with Vehk!
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Saprius and I exited the High Fane through one of the main doors. Again, we took a look around the canton, making sure it was empty. Once we had confirmed that we were the only ones on the Temple canton, we walked silently up to the Palace of Vivec.

As we climbed the stairs to get to the top where the entrance to the palace was, I looked over at Saprius. He kept his gaze trained at the door leading to Vivec’s temple. I wondered what he was thinking.

A cool breeze blew through my robe, and for some reason I thought back to the night I sat in Anvil, staring out over the Abecean Sea. That was before Lucien had warned me of impending betrayal, when I still thought that Arquen could be trusted. I realized I’d come a long way since then. Now, I couldn’t run from my fate. Either Saprius and I were going to make history, or we weren’t.

When we reached the top of the stone stairs, Saprius and I looked at each briefly before I put the key into the lock and twisted. The door swung open, and with me leading the way, we entered the Palace of Vivec, shutting the door behind us.

The palace was nothing but one large, well-lit room. In the center, the last remaining member of the Tribunal, Vivec was levitating in a sitting position above an altar. I’d never seen Vivec before and the sight of him was very intriguing. On one half of his body, his skin was a deep golden color. The other half was a bland grey color, just like the skin of the Dunmer people.

His golden eyes seemed to bear deep into my soul, as Saprius and I walked slowly toward him.
“I know who you are,” he said in a quiet, calm voice, “and I know what you have come to do.”
He didn’t move from his position, even as Saprius and I came nearer.
Vivec kept his eyes trained on me.
“Tell me, Listener, how will you make amends to those you’ve killed? How will you atone for your sins?” he asked, carefully following my movements.
I unsheathed my elven shortsword.
“I’ve nothing to atone for, especially when I do not see my actions as sinful. I answer to no gods. I make no amends, as I regret nothing. I answer to fate, just as you do.” I replied, slashing the god’s bare chest.

Almost immediately, Vivec snapped into a battle stance. Behind him, I saw Saprius unsheath his large silver claymore. Vivec had no weapons on him, nor did he wear armor, but he was fast and I could sense the magicka flowing throughout his body, influencing all of his movements.

I was barely fast enough to keep up with the god, and knowing that Saprius was slower than I was, I quickly realized that in order for Saprius to get a hit in, I would most likely have to distract Vivec, and try to keep him pinned to one spot for a suitable amount of time.

Quickly, I was pulled from my thoughts when I saw Vivec hurl a large fireball at me. Instinctively, I hit the stone floor, feeling the intense heat as the sphere of burning magicka passed over my body. I jumped up and quickly closed the gap between Vivec and me before he could start to cast another spell.

Rapidly, I stabbed and slashed at the god, but he managed to dodge my attacks. As he did, I watched his movements.

Vivec cast another fiery destructive spell like an explosion. I jumped out of the blast radius and then leapt at the god with all the speed I could muster. I obviously took him by surprise, because he didn’t have the time to dodge. I planted my shortsword into his left shoulder, and kicked off his body, withdrawing the bloody weapon.

He cried out in pain and stumbled a bit, but recovered quickly and charged at me. I didn’t have time to move. Vivec grabbed my throat and we flew across the room. I let out a pained cry as my back hit the stone wall of the temple. His grip around my neck tightened as his golden eyes looked deeply and angrily into mine. He was much stronger than anyone I’d ever fought and I felt as though he was going to crush my windpipe. He pushed my back harder into the wall, then he spoke.
“Listener, do you like to kill innocent people?” he asked.
“N-no one is innocent.” I choked.
His grip tightened and I could feel myself getting light-headed. I clutched my sword tightly and lifted it up, slashing him across his hip.
His eyes burned with extreme anger.
“You know, you will not kill me.” he said, sending a fire spell coursing through my body.
I screamed in pain, feeling as though my blood was boiling.
Suddenly, Saprius ran up behind Vivec, stabbing him with his claymore.

Vivec let go of my neck, and I crashed to the floor, gasping for air.
“Thank Sithis for Saprius…” I thought, clutching the amulet Lucien had given me.

I stumbled up to find Vivec with his back turned to me, dealing a number of nasty looking spells to Saprius. I raised my sword over my head and brought it down, slashing his back. He spun around quickly, kicking me in my side. I heard and felt my ribs give way, then felt the sting of the stone cold stone floor on my shoulder.

I rolled over, finishing up one of my healing potions, feeling the pain in my side fade away. Then, I jumped up and leapt at Vivec again.

Vivec had just knocked Saprius onto the floor when I stabbed him through the back of his shoulder blade. He turned around, and a frost spell practically blinded me. The frost was so cold; it burned, stinging my skin. I stumbled backward, and Vivec, still levitating, came forward. I found my balance, squared my shoulders, and leapt at him, my sword thirsty for his blood. I connected with his neck, just below his jaw. He tried to use the back of his arm to hit me and knock me away, but I was faster than he was, and placing my hand on his shoulder to use for leverage, I nimbly jumped over him. When I landed on the ground, I quickly slashed his back and got out of range of his arms and feet.

As I backed up, I felt sweet satisfaction. Finally, I had a beat on his movements. This would make him much easier to predict.

While Vivec made his way toward me, Saprius charged at him, swinging his mighty claymore, leaving a large gash on the god’s arm. When Vivec turned to face Saprius, I seized my opportunity.

Sheathing my shortsword, I grabbed my bow and began to shoot glass arrows into Vivec’s body. With my bow, and Saprius staying out of the range of Vivec’s physical attacks due to the length of his claymore, we managed to wear the god down a bit.

Suddenly, Vivec stopped moving. His sudden lack of movement and energy was so surprising that Saprius and I momentarily stopped attacking him. Vivec clenched his fists, closed his eyes and began to breathe heavily. The blood flowing from his wounds seemed to increase, and began to drip onto the floor.

Then, before I even knew what was going on, the whole room seemed to go up in flames. I watched as the force of the explosion sent Saprius flying into a wall. I managed to cast a shield spell a split second before it hit me.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion as I was lifted off my feet. Anticipating the impact with the wall just made the sensation of pain worse when I did hit the stone wall. After that, the slow motion effect stopped and I fell very quickly to the floor, landing flat on my stomach.
“Note to self: Don’t let him do that again.” I thought, as I winced in pain.

Then, the god was standing over me. He looked down as I lay on the floor, brought his foot back and kicked me right in the face. The force from the kick was enough to make me flip, and momentarily blind me. Now I was lying on my back. I tasted blood from a nosebleed, and weakly coughed as it slid slowly down my throat.

I rolled out of the way, dodging another kick and stumbled up, drinking an entire healing potion in hopes of suppressing the pain in my head. I backed up some more, trying to get as much distance as possible between the god and I.
“Oh damn…” I said aloud.
I had spotted Saprius. His body crumpled against a wall, his claymore lying next to him.
He hadn’t moved since that explosion attack.

I didn’t know whether he was alive or dead, and there was no way to tell from the distance I was from him. I had a feeling that Vivec wouldn’t let me go near him as well. I racked my mind for solutions, as I watched Vivec’s movements.

A wave of rage washed over me and I had no idea how long I’d been fighting the god, but I was more than ready to finish the fight. My friend was either dead or dying, and with Vivec alive, there was nothing I could do for him.

I charged at Vivec, unsheathing my sword. When I was within striking range, I slashed him as many times as I could before he slapped me away with a blow from his arm. He ran after me and punched me in the side. Again, I felt my ribs being broken, and the air rushed out of my lungs. He punched me again, and again, and again in the same place. I fell to my knees clutching the left side of my ribcage. I noticed that Vivec had slowed considerably, and I unsheathed the Blade of Woe, stabbing him in his calf muscle, allowing the deadly enchantment to take effect.

He let out a scream of agony and anger, and kicked me hard on my left side. The pain this time brought tears to my eyes, and the force sent me flying across the room. When I landed, I skidded on the stone, and hit the wall.

I looked up to see Saprius’s body. By pure luck, Vivec had kicked me near Saprius.
“Saprius!” I yelled, shaking him.
His breathing was very shallow, and I figured it was going to stop soon.

My ears were ringing, my head hurt, and my ribs were in unbelievable pain. I looked up to see Vivec, breathing heavily, and bleeding profusely. We were both almost finished, and he was slowly making his way toward me.

Though it hurt, I stumbled to my feet and looked down at Saprius. I remembered all that Lucien and the Night Mother had told me about destiny.
“Lucien… Fate moves my body now… Perhaps, we’ll see each other again soon.” I said aloud.

I reached down and picked up Saprius’s claymore, and mustering the last of my strength, I threw the claymore at Vivec, aiming at his heart.

I smiled as the sword hit its mark. The god’s golden, fiery eyes turned wide and dull, and he fell, no longer levitating, to the floor.

The moment he hit the floor, I ran to him.
“And how will you atone for your sins?” I asked the god before I embedded the Blade of Woe into his skull.

I smiled as I withdrew the ebony blade, shining with Vivec’s blood, momentarily entranced by it.

Remembering Saprius, I stood and walked over to him, ignoring my pain. I crouched down beside him and felt his pulse. It was faint at best.
“Damn it, Saprius… don’t die on me now.” I said, removing the last of my healing potions from my pocket.
I put the vial up to his lips and titled it, until I was sure he was drinking.

Slowly, he finished off the potion and I only had to wait a few moments until he opened his eyes.
“Sarelle… what the hell’s going on?” he asked, the color returning to his once pale face.
His eyes widened as he looked over my shoulder.
“Is that my claymore?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I answered, painfully standing.

I clutched my ribs as Saprius stood and walked over to the corpse of Vivec, lying in a puddle of his own blood. He pulled the sword out of Vivec’s heart, and I watched as the puddle of blood grew. He walked back over to me.
“Are you ready to get out of here?” he asked.

The moment he finished his question, the door of the Temple was thrown open.
A silhouette stood in the doorway, and a frantic male voice spoke.
“Lord Vivec! Everyone in the Temple canton is dead! The gondoliers reported hearing some strange noises coming from here and—“
He stopped upon seeing the corpse of his god lying on the floor.
“Guards!!!” he shrieked.