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JASH
Alex and I stepped onto the beach mere moments after Saga and Alan appeared. I held back a hiss as the strong scent of Scratch assaulted my nose. It amazed me that Saga didn’t recoil in fear. Of course she was both mortal and didn’t know what to look out for.
A hatchling with a main part in a war.
I didn’t spend much time looking at Saga. I merely made sure she wasn’t close to death before turning my attention to the main threat: Scratch.
Alan’s soul and body were battered as if he had just traveled through a hurricane. That was close to the truth, though. He had seen that it was him who had lead to his wife’s death. At least that’s the lie he had believed as Alice had kept the truth of her survival hidden.
It was in that moment of utter despair that he allowed Scratch to fully possess him. From what Alan had said in Skyrim, his dark half had a bit of influence while in the Dark Place. Just not enough to fully possess him like it would later.
My gaze went through his eyes to his very soul. It was a pitiful broken thing. It cried out in pain and confusion. The Dark Presence had not been gentle with the bard. I wanted to heal him now but that would be more than dangerous.
Especially as I didn’t know enough about Scratch to banish him to another plane of existence.
The moment I noticed I had bared my teeth, I made sure that my dryskin illusion wouldn’t imitate that movement.
Alex began to open his mouth. I realized that Saga hadn’t seen through my illusion and so my husband was probably going to tell her the truth. I wouldn’t stop him. I didn’t want to keep up the façade with her anymore.
Especially as the hunt was about to begin.
Before Alex could form a sound, Alan pointed at me and let out one of the most pained screams I had ever heard.
Saga pointed her gun at me. By the surprised look in her eyes I could tell she had done so out of pure instinct. Most likely she didn’t remember taking it out. Since she wasn’t about to shoot me, I was able to take in the entire situation.
Scratch had forced Alan to see through my dryskin illusion. His fear was borne out of seeing a Saxhleel for the first time. Oblivion, he might even think he was still in the Dark Place.
It had been foolish to assume that the Dark Presence didn’t remember some of a previous cycle. It might not remember the entire series of events, but it remembered enough. Alex had been right about how much the Dark Presence feared me.
If he had been wrong Scratch would not have risked attacking me at this moment. It was a reaction born out of nothing but fear.
How would it attack me? I highly doubted it would risk attacking me personally as it was in a weakened state. But it could always use Alan. By the way the bard had described the entity, it couldn’t take control of him at the moment.
But it could easily manipulate his emotions. And what better way than to make Alan be more afraid than he had been in his entire life. A being, whether deity or mortal, would act irrationally once fear took hold.
Who knows what Alan would do if given the proper push?
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Saga begin to holster her gun. The action wasn’t finished by the time Scratch left its host.
Alan’s screams became louder and more frightened. He was experiencing one of the worst agonies a person could endure. An agony that I would soon bear.
On Earth I was nervous about using the full extent of my Daedric Prince powers. But to protect my egg-siblings I would have to risk it.
In my mind I focused on the void between realities. There were countless such voids. Some were out of my reach and others close by. Since any would do for my purposes, I focused on one such void that would be a short little hop to get to.
Then Alan’s agony became my own.
My screams were so great that Odahviing would’ve found himself in a coma if he had been here. The pain increased as Scratch continued to take hold. Even through the agony I managed to teleport us to the void.
Scratch was too powerful for the cage I had found. But, Hircine willing, the piece of Darkness would be held for just long enough.
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