Children of the Void, The sequel to The Story of the Listener Options

[Kayla]

Alright. I just finished writing and refining this to my satisfaction. I hope you all will enjoy this. This story takes place right after the last one ended. However, for awhile, it might be a few days between updates. I'm still trying to get some school things straightened out and I'm quite busy, but once things settle down at school, I'm sure I'll have more time to write. Enjoy what I have so far!

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My boots crunched softly in the snow as I weaved through the trees in the forested Jerall Mountains north of Bruma. The moonless night was cold and shadowy; just the way I liked it. The Night Mother’s words echoed in my head as I pulled my black robe tighter over my lightly armored body to fend off the biting cold.

“I know the Speakers usually go out to meet our clients, but this one is special. I want you to handle it personally, dear Listener.”

For the past six months, the Dark Brotherhood had been busy. Not only had we added on to the sanctuary, we had received a fair amount of new members. Though I enjoyed them, none of the newer members really shone through as Speaker material. Coventia, the only Speaker we had at the moment, and probably my oldest friend that was still alive in the sanctuary agreed with me. Therefore, it wasn’t unusual for the both of us to be very busy meeting clients. There was no shortage of people who wanted others dead. To add on to the situation, politics in Tamriel had become very rocky. And when politics became competitive, we were usually quite busy. I had also heard whispers in the underground of plots to assassinate the emperor…

I caught a glimpse of light through the veil of tree branches ahead. I was to meet an old Breton woman who lived in a small cabin in the forest. As I got closer to the light, I could make out the shape of a small cabin in a distant clearing. Warm light was shining through the windows. I stepped out of the forest and into the clearing, the surveyed the small structure.

“This must be the place.” I mumbled to myself.

I pulled my hood up over my head to hide my face, then moved to the front door and knocked quietly. I waited a few seconds and received no response. I knocked again, this time, louder. Still, there was no answer. I couldn’t even hear any noises from within the cabin. Cursing under my breath, I grabbed the doorknob with a gloved hand and pushed the door open, stepping inside the warmth of the cabin.

The place was empty. The fireplace on the opposite wall was lit, as were some candles that adorned tables in the room. Suddenly, I sensed a presence behind me. Turning around, I drew my shortsword and was greeted by a blinding flash of blue light. I felt an impact in my chest that knocked me to the wooden floor, and a sharp pain that was both burning and freezing.

“You won’t kill me, you psychopath!” a panicked female voice screamed.

I quickly sat up, pulling my hood off to reveal my face. I saw an aging Breton woman with her back against a wall, frantically edging toward the door of the cabin. As our eyes met, I watched her expression soften.

“Oh my…” she breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re not a murderer.”
“Technically, I am.” I replied, standing. She walked forward quickly and cast a healing spell on me, which made the pain my chest subside. “I’m from the Dark Brotherhood. Did you just hit me with a frost spell?” I asked. In my opinion, frost spells were much worse than fire spells. They had a different sort of pain that you could only feel on the business end of a magickal burst of ice.

The woman’s blue eyes looked me over nervously. “I’m terribly sorry…” she said.
“It’s alright.” I murmured, stepping toward the fireplace to warm myself. “Who is it that you want dead?” I asked.

The woman hesitated. I looked over my shoulder at her, waiting for a response. She shifted nervously, ran her hands through her short, graying hair, and finally, she spoke in an anxious tone. “There’s a murderer out here. He’s killed all my neighbors… I think I’m next…”

I turned my head and watched as the flames in the fireplace danced.

“Why did the Night Mother want me to take care of this?” I thought to myself.

Keeping my gaze fixated on the fire, I spoke. “Lady, we’re the Dark Brotherhood, not the Fighters Guild. Nor are we mercenaries-“ Before I could say another word, there was a loud crash. Shards of glass scattered across the floor and a black figure practically flew into the cabin through the broken window.

The figure stopped a few feet away from me, standing up straight. It was much taller than I was. It spoke in a deep, gruff, and obviously male voice.

“You’re in the Dark Brotherhood?” he half stated, half asked.
“Yes.” I answered, staring at him.

The tall, shadowy man was unlike anything I’d ever seen. He looked like a Dunmer, except his skin was much darker, almost black, and his long, black straight hair went down past his broad shoulders. When our eyes met, I was absolutely mesmerized. His eyes were a deep red, very similar to the color of blood. The more I looked, the more I was convinced that any moment, he would begin crying tears of thick, sanguine blood. Looking past the color of his eyes, it was easy to see that he was a murderer. The eyes are the windows to the soul and his soul was as black as the void.

“The assassin and the murderer… this should be quite fun.” He said, stepping forward and brandishing an ebony shortsword.

As I drew my Elven shortsword, I found myself wondering how I had gotten into this situation in the first place. The old Breton woman dashed away from us as he charged at me.

He grunted with each swift swing of his sword. He was fast, but I was faster, dodging and parrying his blade, trying to get in a hit of my own. Though I had this man beat in a contest of speed, I was not about to challenge his strength.

After a few more minutes of dodging, and getting no hits of my own in, my back hit a wall. He smirked as he saw his opportunity. Quickly, he brought his sword down in a vertical slash. I managed to block it at the last second by holding up my sword. The ebony and Elven metal of the blades collided with a loud clash. He clenched his jaw as he used his strength to try and bring his sword down and break my defense. I was struggling just to keep his sword away from my body. I looked up at his face to see deep wrinkles and for a moment, I found myself wondering just how old he was.

In a sudden movement that surprised me, and pulled me from my thoughts, he drew a silver dagger from a sheath on his left leg. He brought the dagger up to stab me, but I thrust out my left hand and grabbed his arm. Now I was doing all I could to keep him from bringing two blades down on me.

Knowing I would surely die if my back stayed against the wall for too long, I used the last bit of my strength to push him away. Then, I grabbed his left hand and moved smoothly to the left, pulling his arm behind his back and simultaneously took his dagger from him. Wasting no time, I jabbed his own dagger into his neck. Oddly, he remained perfectly still, not even making a noise.

For a few moments, we stood there, frozen in absolute silence until I heard a dripping noise. I looked down to see a puddle of blood forming near my right foot… and a Daedric dagger lodged in my ribs.

“It’s over for you…” he said quietly.

I pulled the silver dagger out of his neck, scarlet blood flowing rapidly from the gash, and then I stepped back. Surprisingly, my wound wasn’t very painful. However, I knew that if the Daedric dagger were to be removed, it could be very serious. He turned to face me, laughing and clutching his wound, blood seeping through his fingers.

“What the hell is so funny?” I asked.
“That’s a bound dagger.” He replied.

For a moment I was quiet, then I looked up into his eyes.

“What is your name?” I asked him.
He seemed surprised by my question. “I am a monster. I have no name.” he replied.
“You are a man. You have a name. What is it?” I asked.

I felt the dagger in my ribs disappear. Warm blood was now flowing out of the wound at an alarming rate. For a moment, I thought I saw his eyes widen in a look of concern, but his gaze quickly intensified.

“My name is Verano, and you are going to die soon…” he said.
“How would you like to join the Dark Brotherhood, Verano?” I asked.
He grunted.
“You could prove to be quite useful.” I added.
“You’re going to bleed to death…” he said.
“So are you.” I said, meeting his gaze. I knew that the wound I’d inflicted on him was just as bad as the wound he’d inflicted on me.
We stood in silence for a moment.
“I’ll join…” he finally answered.
“Good.” I said, pulling two healing potions from my pocket. I began to drink one and tossed the other to him. My pain faded almost immediately.
I began to walk to the door. “Come, I’ll show you the sanctuary.” Apprehensively, he followed.

The Breton woman ran forward and grabbed my arm. “He’s a psychopathic killer! A monster! You’re going to let him join with you?!”
I looked at her. “Deep down inside, we’re all monsters.”
“You will receive no payment from me!” she shrieked.
“Whether or not you want to, you will pay my Lord. Sithis demands blood.” I said, slitting her throat before she even knew what was happening.

I looked into Verano’s blood red eyes. “My name is Sarelle. I am the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood. Welcome to our family.”

[Kayla]

Sorry the holidays were a bit more than I expected. But, I have given you guys the gift of a rather long update! Hope you are all doing well! And Revan: I know exactly how you feel. I too, have an insane English teacher.
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We fought our way through clusters of Daedra over the rough terrain, slowly but surely making our way toward the ebony towers. After killing a Dremora, I managed to find a beautiful Daedric dagger on its body. I had always admired the undeniable uniqueness of Daedric weapons.

Though I found the fighting rather easy, one of the guards with us was killed before we could even reach the towers, and I was positive the bloodshed wouldn’t stop there.

When we arrived at the towers, a quick scouting of the area revealed that only one of them had a ground entrance. The ebony towers were connected high above us by a long, thin bridge.

It took all of our combined strength to push open one of the massive doors at the tower’s entrance, and I was the first one to walk inside with Ro’Vir behind me. I was pleased that he hadn’t tried to kill me since our little talk. The guard captain had taken to helping the injured man walk, with the help of another guard. The other guard with them did whatever the captain told him to do. I was intrigued by his blind obedience.

The lower floor of the tower was very dark. A few torches of blue flame stood in the far recesses of the room. They reminded me of the magicka torches at the Arcane University. The room itself was circular with a large fountain in the middle spewing red liquid.
“What do you think that is, Captain?” asked the guard that wasn’t encumbered by the injured man, as he walked forward to examine it.
I smirked. I could tell by the smell that it was blood. I glanced at Ro’Vir who was calmly inhaling the scent.
“I don’t know…” the captain said, “Why don’t you go inspect it?”
I watched the guard cautiously step forward, and dip a few fingers into the liquid. He rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger.
“It’s blood, sir!” he exclaimed, dumbfounded and repulsed.
“By the Nine…” the Captain muttered, shaking his head. “Imagine how many people it took to fill the fountain that full…”
I smiled when I found myself thinking that over.

We all examined the room. In the darkness, I managed to find two doors on the east and west walls, with the majority of us being closest to the western one. I walked closer to the door. It seemed to be made of stone and charred flesh. I was incredibly amazed, and wondered how the particles of stone and flesh were held together. Just as I reached out to touch the door, it split apart in the middle with a sickening ripping sound. There, standing in the doorway, was a Dremora. As soon as it saw me, it let out a roar and brandished an enchanted claymore.

I backed up, giving myself some room to attack. His claymore was much longer than my Elven shortsword, and he was quite the skilled fighter. I concluded that he was most likely a higher rank of Dremora than the ones we had fought outside the tower.

Immediately, Ro’Vir jumped to my aid as well as the captain, leaving the injured man to the other two guards. I lured the Dremora’s attacks. His claymore had a long and powerful reach, but because it was so heavy, he was slow swinging it. As I skillfully dodged his blade, Ro’Vir unleashed the fury of his claws upon the Daedra. I knew how painful those claws were and how quickly they could kill. Together, we felled the Dremora within a few minutes, with no real help from the captain.

As I sheathed my sword, I watched the captain walk through the still open door. I followed him quickly. Through the door, there was an inclined hallway, leading up until the hall turned sharply to the right.

As we walked up the incline, I could hear the sound of the wounded man’s leg dragging across the ebony floor. I highly doubted he would last much longer. He was foolish for staying here just to save his friend who was probably already dead. He would pay for his foolishness.

We turned the corner to the right and walked out into a large room adorned with stone benches and smaller fountains of blood. As the rest of the party caught up with us, I noticed a Dremora standing near a door on one of the walls. It was obvious that he hadn’t seen us yet.

Telling everyone to be quiet and still, I ducked into the shadows. Noiselessly, I crept up to the Daedra, focusing on its intense yellow eyes that seemed to burn with the fires of Oblivion. When I got close enough, I reached out, grabbed his neck just under the chin, and pushed my blade through his skull, and then with my left hand, I unsheathed my new Daedric dagger and severed the Dremora’s vocal cords before he could scream. I’d always hated the way they screamed. The Dremora crumpled to the floor the moment I pulled my blade from his head.

As it lay on the ground, a glint caught my eye. The Dremora was wearing a chain around his neck, and attached to the chain was a key. As Ro’Vir and the others advanced into the room, I pulled the chain from its neck and looked at the door. It was much larger than the other one I had seen, and I noticed a keyhole through the flickering light of the torches that burned in the room. I approached the door and put the key in the keyhole. Immediately, the flesh and stone door opened with the same wet ripping sound I’d heard when the other one opened on the first floor.

As the door opened, we stepped out onto a stone bridge. We were back outside and ahead of us was the tower we couldn’t find a ground entrance to. Arrogantly, the captain stepped ahead of us and began quickly walking across the bridge. I looked down at the almost blackened soil and lakes of lava far below.

“I could push him off the bridge… I could trip him and easily make it look like an accident…” I thought, remembering my contract.

I quickly hurried to catch up with him. Ro’Vir caught up to me, walking at my side.
“He’s your contract, isn’t he?” he whispered.
I nodded.
A sinister grin spread across his furry face. “Happy hunting.”

Ro’Vir hung back, letting me close in on the unsuspecting captain. Suddenly, he stopped and turned to face me.
“Be on your toes.” He said. “We don’t know how many Daedra will be in here.

I had come so close to killing the man, I could almost hear Sithis whispering to me.

The captain closed the distance between him and the door to the other tower. He drew his sword and disappeared inside.

I sighed and looked back at Ro’Vir. He shrugged. Unsheathing my sword, I walked inside, closely followed by Ro’Vir and the other three guards.

Upon entering the other ebony tower, I saw the guard captain locked in combat with two Dremoras. I rushed toward them, attacking one Dremora to help the captain. I thought about letting a swing of my sword miss my target, hitting the captain instead, but my battle was short with the help of Ro’Vir’s claws. The captain and his men managed to finish off the other one, then we set out to inspect the room.

The room had a floor that was made completely of cloudy, thin glass. In the middle of the room, there was a cage that was hanging from the high ceiling by a chain. Inside was the wilted, dead body of an Imperial man. He was dressed in the Kvatch guard uniform. The wounded guard hobbled forward and leaned on the bars of the cage.
“I couldn’t save Claudius… I couldn’t save my family… I couldn’t save Kvatch…”

I sighed, examining the body of one of the fallen Dremoras.

“We came all this way for a dead man.”

Suddenly, the Dremora’s eyes opened. He grasped his battleaxe, raised it, and then slammed it into the thin glass floor. Cursing out loud, I slashed his throat with my sword, but it was too late. I watched as the cracks in the glass spread, radiating out from the area where the axe struck. The room went dead silent; everyone stood perfectly still, their eyes wide with fear. All that could be heard was the splitting and cracking of the glass.

I could feel sweat beading on my forehead as I looked up, calculating how many steps I was from the door. I sighed as I realized that I was probably the furthest one from the door. As I watched the cracks weave under my black boots, I realized that I would have to do something soon to survive. I didn’t know what was beneath the floor of glass, and something told me I didn’t want to find out.

The captain let out a loud cry as he and his men made a dash toward the door. Already, I could feel the floor giving out from under me. As I looked around frantically, I realized that I was very close to the cage holding the dead guard, and it was securely attached to a chain that was attached to the ceiling.

Just as the floor fell out from under me, I leapt toward the cage, grabbing the bars and pulling myself up on top of the rectangular shape.
“Listener!” I heard Ro’Vir’s voice to my left.
Grabbing the chain that connected the cage to the ceiling with my right hand, I turned to face him and stretched my left hand toward him.

Ro’Vir half ran, half stumbled toward me over the floor that was steadily falling into the darkness below him. Just as he got within reach, he took a wrong step and began to fall. Straining, I quickly reached down and grabbed his hand. I heard screams and turned my head just in time to see the guard captain and his men fall into the blackness.

“Listener… oh thank Sithis you caught me…” Ro’Vir said breathlessly. “When we get out of here, I promise you a painless death.”
I let my grip on his hand slip a bit. “What was that, Ro’Vir?” I asked.
He looked down, gulped, then managed a toothy grin. “I mean I’ll never try to kill you again!” he said.
“That’s good.” I replied, pulling him up on top of the structure with me. “Looks like I’ve succeeded in my contract…” I said, looking down into the darkness.
Ro’Vir laughed. “Congratulations. Now, how are we going to get out of here?” his tail twitched as he looked around.

I felt hopeless looking around the room. Almost all of the glass floor was gone, save for some jagged pieces that were at areas where the floor connected to the wall. We were ten feet or more from the door, which had a small stone ledge in front of it.

I pointed to the dead man in the cage below us, his arms hanging limply between the bars.
“Get him out of there. He’s dead weight. We’re going to see if we can swing over to the ledge in front of the door.”
Ro’Vir climbed down the bars to the side of the cage, broke the lock on the door, then dragged the corpse out, letting it fall into the pit below. It was a long time until I heard the body hit the bottom.
“Stay there on the side. If we manage to swing close enough to the ledge, jump over.” He looked up and nodded at me.

I stood up and began to shift my weight, holding onto the chain with my left hand. Slowly, the cage began to swing back and forth. As I looked down, I realized how much I didn’t want to fall. I’d always been nervous around heights. Even scaling high walls in past contracts had always bothered me. I shivered and shook the fear from my mind. I didn’t have time to be scared.

The cage began to swing faster, covering a larger area with each swing.
“We’re getting closer to the ledge, Ro’Vir! Get ready to jump!” I yelled. The air rushed past my face, blowing my hair behind my head, then in front.
“I’m going to jump!” Ro’Vir yelled, then he jumped toward the stone ledge. He sailed through the air and hit the side of the ledge. Brandishing his claws, he dug his elbows into the stone, and pulled himself up. Once he found his feet, he leaned back against the door behind him, breathing heavily with a wide-eyed expression of fear on his face.
“Come on, Listener! You’re next!” he called, outstretching a furry hand.

“Why did I let him jump first?” I asked myself, going over all the ways he could let me die here. I could envision him catching my hand and letting go, or just simply knocking me out of the air. The only thing he had done to show me he could be trusted was not attempting to kill me since I held him over the lava pit when we first arrived here.

As the cage swung through the air, I sighed and tried not to look down.

“Lucien… I really hope you’re watching over me…”

As the cage neared the ledge, I let go of the chain, and jumped with all the strength I could muster, toward the door and Ro’Vir. I could feel the air hitting my face and blowing my hair and robe, but time seemed to stand still as I seemed to inch my way toward Ro’Vir. Finally, I felt our hands touch, and he quickly pulled me up.
“I’m glad you could join me.” he said, smiling.
“Trust me, Ro’Vir, I’ve never been so happy to join you in my entire life.” I answered.