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JASH
I opened my eyes and screamed.
For a moment I believed myself to have been taken to the wrong afterlife. Hircine's Hunting Grounds would never be civilized enough to have a bed and the sounds of a fireplace close by. So which Daedric Prince's plane of Oblivion was this?
Then it dawned on me that this 'plane of Oblivion' looked very similar to Bloodchill Manor. My property that was located close to Frostflow Lighthouse. I hadn't died, Serena had rescued me. If I had only waited inside of the lighthouse I wouldn't have been courting death by the time she came by my side.
I was alive!
The thought terrified me. Scouts-Many-Marshes had died but I had survived. He was gone and I was cursed to live without him.
What state had Serena found us in? If she had been fighting the vampires then it was possible Scouts' body hadn't been able to be recovered. Which meant he could never be placed in the ground and his soul would never find the Hist.
Long ago the Hist had covered nearly the entirety of Tamriel. While they were now physically limited to Argonia, their power still infused this land. So as long as a Saxhleel was buried on Tamriel, their soul could rejoin with the Hist. For the majority of my people, that was what they wanted to happen to their souls.
"Scouts!" I yelled as if he could still hear me.
I jumped out of bed and rushed through the manor. I rushed past the fireplace where there were two chairs. Chairs that Scouts and I had spent many a winter in. We had talked just to talk and we would never be able to do so again.
"Scouts!" I yelled as I ran down the stairs past the Arcane Enchanter.
I ran through every room, every bit of memory burning a hole through my heart, looking for my husband's corpse. Where was he!
Finally my panicked body found itself near the entrance of the cave. Bloodchill Manor had once been owned by a vampire and he had hidden himself away in a cave far from the prying eyes of other Men and Mer. Even if one knew where Bloodchill Manor was, they could still get lost as the cave's small entrance hardly indicated the gigantic structure inside.
I fell down beside the coffin that housed my love.
"Scouts." I cried as I looked at my husband who seemed disturbingly at peace.
That day on the docks he had looked just as peaceful. Though it had taken some time away from Windhelm for the hard edges of his personality to fade away. Even while a dock worker, though, Scouts had a kindness to him that was warmer than the weather.
I reached one of my hands to caress his face, but stopped inches from him. My scales had always had a bloody appearance to them. So even as a hatchling others knew that a life full of peace was never an option for me. Kysnier, the name I had been given as a hatchling, even had the word 'blood' in it.
Now, though, my scales were black. It was as if the night sky lost the stars and moons before landing on my scales.
Serena had found me...she had turned me! But why hadn't my scales lightened? Why had my scales become black?
I pulled out one of my feathers and sighed with relief. It was its usual pale white color! Yes! The Ring of Hircine was still on my finger!
"Jash!" Serena yelled with a happy voice and a worried expression.
Unlike me she showed the usual signs of being a vampire. Pale skin and eyes that were far from mortal. Though many could mistake the obvious signs. I was a vampire but my skin had become darker and a far different shade from my usual red.
I watched as her lips moved but my ears couldn't pick up any sounds. I found that hiding behind anger instead of fear felt better. It calmed my mind. Or at least it felt like it did. The truth didn't matter as Scouts was dead and my egg-sister had parted my soul from Hircine. What must he think of me now? Would he even bless me with his gift again?
I wanted nothing more than to rush to Aela and ask her to turn me once again.
Now somewhat calmed I saw that as my anger increased, my scales changed from a solid black to a sickly green. Was it really due to my anger or was this how my soul fell into Molag Bal's hands?
"Jash." Serena said, the only word I could hear from her.
"What the **** did you do?" I shouted and stood up.
My massive six foot seven inch frame, something that helped tell me apart from others of my kind, looked down seven inches at my egg-sister. Apart from stepping back quickly, she remained still. She should be shivering deep in her cold soul for what she had done. She had been violated in the worst way possible and never thought to give me a choice.
"Scouts-Many-Marshes is dead, Serena." I hissed, baring my teeth without any fangs revealing themselves. "Why do you think I care about this world anymore? If he is gone there is nothing worth fighting for."
With each word, with each flare of anger, the sickly green scales started outnumbering the black ones.
"It was ours to trust you when no one else did!" I yelled in Jel, the last of my black scales turning green. "Back then my strength was yours! I would have gladly met the hunt for you! Yet it is yours to betray me now?"
Suddenly I felt more pain than ever before. More pain than when I had nearly died. More pain than when the Dark Elves used their whips when I was a mere hatchling. It felt like my body, soul, and mind were being twisted apart by hands not Divine.
A cry that I hadn't uttered since taking the name Jash tore from my throat as I fell down. Serena tried to reach me before I reached the cave's floor but I knocked her away. I didn't see where she went and it wasn't ours to care.
I cried out for Scouts-Many-Marshes and Hircine before the pain became too great for me.
Black fur sprouted out of my scales like mold. As my limbs stretched the fur spread even further. My mouth grew vampire fangs as my skull seemed to melt into a werewolf's. Once my body become eight feet, vampire wings tore out of my back and sprayed the ground with blood.
I tried to stand up but couldn't. The fading pain was still too great to do anything. The only thing I could think about was my new form. I was a hybrid but still looked like a werewolf. My large wings and fangs were the only vampire features given to this form.
It gave me some comfort to know that my devotion to Hircine was so great that I couldn't be turned into a vampire.
Suddenly I was far from Bloodchill Manor and saw a plane of Oblivion. There was a large mountain that towered higher than the Throat of the World. Difficult to navigate paths existed so that one could spend an eternity reaching the summit. And the summit was a paradise of peace for all those that spent the effort.
Though one could also venture down again if they so wished.
Around the mountain were forests vast but empty of all life. There someone could camp before venturing up to the summit of the mountain.
I knew this place as I had seen it before. Not in this life but in others. This was my plane of Oblivion called the Mountain. It was as wild, untamed, and balanced as I was.
"Daedric Prince of Balance and Extremes." I breathed once there was no pain in my body and my mind had returned to Mundus. "I'm a Daedric Prince now."
Whenever I saw a shrine to Talos I always paid my respects. To me he wasn't just a Divine, he was a warning about where my path could go. Like my dragon cousins, the need to dominate and become the most powerful creature was in my blood. I wanted to remain a mortal to help combat that desire.
But now I was a Daedric Prince and had transcended mere mortality.
"I'm sorry, egg-sister." I apologized as I wearily stood up while transforming back to a Saxhleel. "You just wanted to save me. It was wrong of me to hurt you for just being a good friend."
"You were just supposed to be a vampire for a little while." Serena apologized as she went to my side. "Then, once you were fully recovered, I would take you to Morthal to be cured."
"And you thought Hircine would take me back?"
"You are not only a devout follower of his but the Last Dragonborn. He'd be a fool to reject you."
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