[FKRK] This isn't Sovngarde...

[Skadi Lufthejt]

"LOSYAH-POGAAN-KREINNE!"

Each syllable shook Nirn down to its very bones, the cracked plates of parched grey soil crumbled beneath the force of the Dovahzul. The angry crimson skies began to swirl with heavy dark clouds, obscuring the empty black hole where the sun once resided. The winds picked up, howling past the figure on the balcony.

"HI FEN BOA ZU'U NIKRIIN!"

Still that guttural voice bellowed, as if it held the sole rights to be heard by all. The thick armored fingers curled around the black stone railing, grinding into the rock. Furious orange-red eyes narrowed, searching for their target like a hawk picks out its prey a kilometer away.

The gaping archway to the balcony allowed natural light to filter into the room beyond. The imposing black throne cast a jagged shadow on the floor that nearly stretched the length of the light itself.

The sound of a door creaking open echoed down the long throne room. The armored figure twisted sharply to glare at the uninvited newcomer. The golden skin of the high elf was muted by sickly grey undertones. Deep shadows pooled in the sunken in eye sockets and under the high cheekbones of the mer.

She stepped forward, unaverted by the pressing gaze of her superior. The otherworldly blue fire light danced across the features of her shrewd face as she made her rapid approach to the balcony. Soon enough she's standing next to the imposing figure with little care or reserve in her mannerisms.

“There have been no sightings of him recently, my Lord.” The mer’s nasally voice sounded. The Leader twitched sharply as those words ringed in their ears, their red eyes bored a hole into the subordinate.

“Then find him!” The voice seemed to reverberate down into her very bones.

“We cannot.” The elf replied. The weight of the gaze upon her made her shift uncomfortably. “We cannot. Not with the supplies you have given me.” Her tone softened at the end, curling up as if she were showing her underbelly.

“Not with the supplies I gave you?” Questioned the leader. “Why not with the supplies I gave your underlings?”

“Well, Sir, may I-”

The Lord cut her off, “Unless you’ve been taking their supplies, selling them for your own profit.”

“No, Sir-”

“Selling them to the enemy, the Aldmeri Dominion. I bet you’re just trying to undermine me!”

“My Lord please!”

“Haha, no. You won’t. You’re just waiting to lay a trap for me, but I’m too smart.” the Lord grabbed the mer by the front of her formal tunic and jerked her forward and up, bringing her face to face with them. A loud snarl followed, “I won’t fall for it!”

For a split second the mer whose name had never been important enough to remember focused on her Lord’s unholy red eyes and the crimson hair that hung in long strands around their effeminate face. The uneven and broken spikes on the Lord’s gauntlets dug into her tunic and scratched against her skin. Her own hands tightly clung to the fist that held her a foot in the air. She tried desperately to relieve the pressure of the collar on the back of her neck.

As she stared into those eyes she finally understood not just madness, but insanity itself. Something coiled in her gut, sending a panicked frenzy of energy into her limbs. She clawed at the hand holding her. Her short nails scraped against the thick metal plating before clipping into the carved symbols that line the edges of each piece of armor. Her eyes focus on the dried black blood caked to the collar of the armor and smeared across the snarling lips of her overlord. Taking a breath in she starts to cast a stream of fire into her Lord’s uncovered face.

An inhuman scream sounded as she was thrown to the ground. The air whooshed out of her lungs as she collided with the stone floor and bounced. Her vision flashed red- white- red- white- black- red- as her head impacted the floor twice in rapid succession. She wheezed, only able to gape like a fish on land as she tried to get her lungs to expand again. Hot blood ran from her split scalp and matted her dull hair down. Her head rang as if she were standing inside a giant church bell. The tension and pain coalesced behind her forehead and eyes.

She tried to pull herself off the ground- the air finally returning to her- but her head fell forward and her body followed suit. The mer crumpled to the floor, the cold stone rushing up to slam against her left cheek. Her eyes rolled back as she laid there for a moment, struggling to control her body again through the pounding rush in her skull.

She managed to prop herself up on her left arm and peel her face off the floor. With her right hand  reached out she pooled golden magicka in her palm and let the glow swirl around her battered body. As if a second wind had come over her, she managed to stagger to her feet. Her eyes darted around the expansive and dark throne room.

Auriel blasted- where is she?!

The slight wind died down completely.

The ghostly fires flickered. The smallest movement caused the mer to twitch and jump. After a few tense seconds had passed she began to back up towards the entry door.

CLANG-SHHHTING!!

The she-elf gasped sharply-

KLUNK-CLANK-SSHHHHHTITI The heavy metal armor slammed against the ground.

Her eyes frantically leap from shadow to shadow trying to find the daedric whore. A soft whistle broke the air a split second before she found her left hand pinned to the wooden door behind her. Her right hand followed soon after, as did both calves. Blood pushed up from the pierced flesh as if her limbs were weeping with pain.

“If I had pinned you by the shoulders, you would probably end up killing yourself in the struggle-” A slightly raspy female voice echoed.

“What- I can’t- I can’t move! I- What are you doing??-” She looked over at her right arm and attempted to pull against the ghostly blue arrow shaft that pinned her down.

“ -But now you’ll get to suffer.”

“ -What are you going to do to me??!” The pinned mer strained against each daedric arrow. Her wounded flesh began to tear, allowing more blood to leak. Tears welled up in her large green eyes as she let out soft cries. Within seconds she found her struggle too tiring to continue. Her teeth started to clack together as she shivered; her limbs tried in vain to pull closer to her torso.

She blinked a few times in an attempt to stay conscious through the freezing pain. The shadows morphed in front of her and melted away into a large muscular figure. A pale and somewhat slender hand ran through long crimson hair. It closed in and became easy to distinguish the person not as a man, but as a massive woman with large shoulders and thick legs.

The overlord’s heavy boots clacked loudly against the masonry. Her face was twisted into a cocksure and amused smirk and free from any burns. Her red eyes sent pricks of pain down the mer’s spine.

She leaned down and whispered, “for the pleasure of my Dread Father I will bathe in your blood. I will not allow you to betray me. Not now. ... Let me enjoy this, Iriea~”

The woman flexed her hand, curling her fingers into a ball. Iriea let out whines of discomfort as her limbs contorted into unnatural positions. The cold helped only to numb the panicked signals her nerves sent.

“Oh? I don’t think that this is painful enough for you. Maybe I should twist you this way.” Her voice carried a giddy excitement as her other hand moved. The mer woman only threw her eyes open as a scream howled out from somewhere deep and primal inside her. The muscles of her calves were ripped apart- they hung loosely from the bone and left chunks of gore and blood to stain the floor. Her legs continued to pull up, disregarding the arrows that carved ragged paths through her.

The pops, cracks and grinding of her bones was a disgusting symphony to the Listener. Her pelvis was twisted sideways and crammed up into her ribcage. She felt her heart hitting against her left hip bone with each beat. Jagged bones rolled beneath the skin and muscle and poked through in some places, exposing the gory red and yellow insides of the skeleton.

“This one thought you were better than playing with your food.”

The crimson haired woman’s neck almost snapped with how fast she turned to look at the man. She curled her hands into tight fists and the mer woman exploded into a paste-like soup of eviscerated entrails and bone with little more than a sharp gasp and widened eyes as final words.

“Seeks. I thought you’d never come.”

“You called for this one all day long, landstrider. I was bound to appear eventually.”

They stood in deathly silence for several minutes. Each pair of eyes scraped over the opponent’s body, analyzing and searching out changes or possible weaknesses. She gave a whisper, “traitor.”

A bolt of vicious blue lightning crackled through the air and in instant response a thick wall of ice was pulled up from the ground to absorb it. With little more than a hand motion the woman sent the ice wall sliding towards the her scaly skinned target.

He stepped forward and tapped the wall with the claw of his index finger, cracking it in two. He walked through the gap and flung another bolt of lightning at the woman. This time it was deflected off her leather bracers. “TRAITOR SEEKS.” She screamed as she ran to him with a clenched fist.

But just as her fist was about to make contact with the lizard faced betrayer, he sank into the floor and vanished. Her vision flickered white and red as his elbow rammed into the back of her skull. She twisted around as she staggered, nearly falling on top of Seeks; she latched her fingers into his cloth robes and used her weight to drag him down to the floor with her.

Desperately she took a few swipes at his neck as she grasped his collar like a lifeline. “Traitor,” she growled once more as he pinned her arms down with his knees.

“I am not a traitor!”

“LIES. FO KRAH DIIN!” Her voice boomed out, frost blooming on his robes- yet his flesh remained unscathed in the slightest.

“You want to learn the truth Skadi?! This one will show you the truth!” He grasped the sides of her face.

Her vision went black.

She felt as if she was spun around before facing a featureless yet somehow grinning white figure that sat hunched in the void. In a way it’s juvenile body seemed to radiate both light and darkness into the void.

“I am Omni...” He went on to define some things to her and ended his speech with “I’ll be watching... and waiting.”

---

The black faded through grayscale and into white. Slowly her eyes adjusted and a white fountain came into focus. It’s frame was twisted and curled into elegant alien shapes. She stared at the sculpted architecture and her eyes narrowed into slits. “Where the everloving fuck am I?”