End of the Cliffhanger and the start of a new one! Yeah, I'm getting good at these things. Feels like a soap series. Every episode ends with a frightened face looking at something unseen. Anway, sorry I'm late tonight. Arena is too damn addictive. Curse Bethesda!

Marsh laid on the floor, his head resting against the cold altar. His imminent death refused to come. Instead, he heard a cold voice filled with evil intent.
,,So this is where you dragged her corpse. An unpleasant fate, to be hidden in the sewers were an amateurish necromancer can call upon your spirit whenever he pleases. Oh, who would ever wish for such a fait? Ah, I forgot. It was the great Ria Silmane herself who made the request. To bad for her, but she’ll have to go back to Tharn. Or rather, her soul will have to go back and her body can rot wherever it pleases.” Whoever had attacked him said and chuckled. The voice sent shivers down the Argonian’s spine. Yet, with his fear came the determination to survive.
He formed his hands into a cup.
,,Ukil, ukil, ukil.” He chanted softly with his eyes closed, bringing his mind into a state of pure focus. The hidden man had stopped chuckling.
,,What is that, little mortal? Are you praying for your life? You should’ve stayed in the swamps were you were born.” He taunted. With his current state of mind, Marsh did not even hear it.
,,Groht Heyat!” A pale blue light shimmered in the Argonian’s hands. He opened his eyes, which had received the same blue colour as the light in his hands. In the light he saw the face of a mundane looking Imperial. However, due to the warped Magicka in the argonian’s hands, his face became distorted, turning into a pure nightmarish visage with a elongated snout that breathed flickering tongues of fire.
,,As I thought. Even the guards have been infiltrated.” Marsh spoke with an oddly echoing voice. He released the spell which pierced through the demon’s chest and then exploded. The light spread throughout the entire system of canals in the sewers, even lighting up the exits like a miniature sun. The Imperial city bathed in light as if it was day, only with the sun shining from under the ground rather than in the sky. The creature staggered forward but was death before it could reach the Argonian. The light faded from Marsh’s eyes and he dropped to his knees. He couldn’t see a thing though he wasn’t sure if it was because he was dying or if it was simply because there was no light.
,,Marsh, you must hurry. More demons are coming to this place. You can’t fight them, not yet. I’ll pay the price for the spell you just cast. You must survive. Farewell, Marsh.”He could hear his own strained breathing again. He could feel the stone under his body again. His body and spirit were drained and more tired than he’d ever considered possible. He realized that he should’ve died after casting the spell and he did. Yet somehow, he’d returned from the death. But someone else had been left behind. He remembered the voice that spoke to him during his death. This memory itself was nearly enough to make him die again.
,,Lady Silmane. No, Ria. I am sorry. While your spirit is now truly gone, your will is not. Farewell.” He whispered into the air. There was no response, no feeling of an ethereal presence nearby. There couldn’t be one, for Silmane’s spirit had been destroyed by the spell’s demands.
He forced himself to get up even though his legs could barely support the weight. He remembered the warning his friend had given. He had to leave, now. His hand wrapped itself around the key he’d been given.
,,We’ve gone too far to give up now. Tamriel must be saved at all costs.”Near the top of the Imperial palace, a lone man stood on his balcony and watched the city below.
,,Such a glorious yet ultimately wasted display of Magicka. Whoever cast this must be death by now. Nothing can use such power without succumbing to it. Fools, to think they can overthrow me. All they’ve so far managed to do was disturbing my sleep.” He spoke to himself with a smirk.
Marsh stumbled through the tunnels, willing himself to move on. He knew that if he ran into another of those demons, he would die. And this time, there would be no one willing to sacrifice herself for him. Footsteps met him from behind, and in front of him. He stopped, weighing his options. The maze made it hard to judge a sound’s origin. The footsteps sounded like they were approaching, but they might be moving away. It was a risk, but he had to be sure he wasn’t surrounded.
,,Heyat.”
The light in his hand weakened him even further. It flickered and nearly died a few times. His worst expectations were revealed as another of the demons blocked his path. This one had cast away its illusion of a mortal man and looked completely like the monster it was. Behind it, the grating of the exit gleamed in the moonlight. Just a hundred more steps, and he would’ve made it out of the sewer.
The demon approached him slowly. Its hooves carved into the stone and left fiery footprints behind. Marsh leaned against the wall. He was too tired to fight and even if he did, his only way to win was to kill himself by pouring all of his essence into a single spell like he’d done before. But how would he be able to explain his task to someone else so that the fight could be continued and ultimately won?
,,Good, good. Just stand still and it won’t be long.” The demon gloated, raising a barbed axe above its head. To the Argonian’s surprise, its movements stopped. Instead of striking down and finishing off its helpless victim, its bloodred eyes simply looked over Marsh’s head. If the Argonian didn’t knew better, he would’ve thought to see disbelief etched into its ugly head.
,,You, why don’t you run?!” It roared. Not at Marsh, who was too weak to run but at someone else.
,,You must think you’re brave, to kill a defenceless being. I don’t run away from cowards.” A gravely voice answered. Marsh turned his weary head to see a cloaked man stand behind him. A finely crafted spear was gripped with one hand while the other hung loosely at the man’s side.
,,I am Aran Geydar! I challenge you!” The man shouted and rushed forward. The demon couldn’t believe its eyes. Not only did the mortal refuse to flee, it actually dared to attack!
Note: Here's a pic of the demon I'm talking about. Much of thanks to the UESP.

This is actually one of the more powerful monsters, similar to a Dremora Lord in Morrowind or a high ranking Dremora in Oblivion. (Kylvan, Markynaz or something?)