Alex stands leaning against a building hood over his head, and a smirk on his muzzle as he looks up, then saying as he looks away,
“Shall I tell you a tale, from a land far away where men and beast and mer simply go about their days?”
Looking back down and lowering his hood he says as a flame forms in his hand,
“A land of magic, a land of pride, where blood is always spilled. Here begins the tale of a Cat who use to be alone, till one day waking from a trance to find his destiny tied to a little egg.”
An egg now in his hand he returns his hood atop his head, then says as he gently rubs it a little,
“more then just a little egg he would find on that night, in truth he would find his fate, A destiny long forgotten, long put off, long delayed.”
He smiles and walks over to then sits on a couch before going on,
“so sit on down, have a drink, and I will spin a tale, of the cat and the girl with the shiny green tail. we go on now, far a away, to a land covered in snow, but before we go, lets go back to find out how fate would unfold.”
He drinks then stops and sets down his cup then begins,
“Far away in a world where many Species and races roam, some for good, others ill, and some who just don’t know. In the land of Cyrodiil, the central province of the continent Tamriel, there sits a small farm, a few miles north of the city of Skingrad, where fate would stir, the farm would burn, this is where he would find her.”
He laughs as he snaps his fingers and a white mist sets over him till it was dark, resembling a night sky. It is silent till a man shouts after pounding on a wooden door,
“Open the door lizard, we won’t ask twice.”
Looking down at a small farmstead, a group of men stand with torches and swords in hand, the leader of whom was pounding on the wooden door. The leader an imperial wrapped in fresh leather armor shouts after pounding a third time,
“I’m trying to be nice here lizard, open the door or I’ll brake it down.”
Inside the house a pair of argonians, a male and female, The man went to the door looking back at his wife who was shoving something into a false bottom drawer of their dresser, then nodding to her husband. After opening the door, the man in the leather armor instantly shoves his way inside past the male Argonian, then saying,
“boss says its time to pay up, he wants five hundred gold or he will be most upset.”
Closing his hands tight, the male Argonian says then walking over to his wife,
“five hundred, that’s outright extortion, how do you expect us to pay that when you steal our crops? We hardly ever have enough coin for food and replacement seed, let alone to pay you bandits to leave us alone.”
The man scowls then says eying his wife for a moment,
“well if you are short on coin, we do have an . . . operation, an where woman are paid to, help men relax and relieve themselves from their special wants and needs, you let your wife work for us, she works off what you owe and maybe if she is good enough you‘ll even have a little for yourselves.”
The Argonian slams his fits into a nearby table, then saying as he has clearly had enough of the men and their corruption,
“month after month, you damn bandits come here demanding protection money to protect our farm from thieves and beast, but each time the price goes up till now we can’t even afford to eat, and now you want me to give you my wife so you can put her in your whore house! I say you can go to hell!!”
Gripping his blade the man says then motioning to his comrades,
“I’m sorry you feel that way, however I think you know what happens next.”
Darkness unfolds the clash of metal rings out for only a few seconds before the sounds of dieing screams fill the night sky. Walking outside, the man wipes blood off of his sword with a segment of the male argonian’s sleeve, then saying as his men follow after him,
“burn it down, let the flames cover our tracks.”
Leaving his men, they nod then a few of them toss their torches into the building which instantly fills with smoke and flames. Laughing, the men walk away leaving the two lifeless bodies of the Argonians to burn, unaware of the eggs stashed in the dresser. However at that moment on a hill not to far away there is a Khajiit looking similar to a lion with a much shorter mane and with facial features of a leopard, wearing a long black robe with matching hood the dark yellow-brown fur covering his body can just barely be made out. His eyes like a dull pair of ruby gems seem almost glazed over, just standing there looking over the farm, as if in a trance. He finally comes to, shaking his head then looking around to see where he was, upon seeing the farm in flames he says,
“so, I’ve wandered into a fire this time huh? Well I suppose I should see if anyone yet lives.”
Running down from the hill he hops over a fence then approaches the door, flames shooting from a portion of the roof making him recoil, a particularly long and shiny pair of canines jutting from his upper jaw. Shaking it off he wraps a long bit of cloth over his face then kicks in the door. Finally inside he sees the two Argonians, both very much dead; if the pools of blood under them wasn’t evidence enough, the deep gashes in their flesh told the story quite clearly. There was nothing he could do for them and as the roof started to creek he figured he should make a hasty retreat, however the sudden crash made him look back. From the bottom of the dresser the false bottom fell through and out popped out at least a dozen eggs. He looked at the roof them the eggs and grimaced, then leapt over to the eggs, most of whom were shattered either from the fall or the fire, only one was still in one piece. He grabbed and quickly pocketed the egg, but as the roof threatened to give away, he bolted, throwing himself through the nearby wall just as the roof caved in. He looked to his feet the lower portion of his robe having caught fire, he panicked but quickly put it out.
He watched the building continuing to burn but the sound of clattering mail caught his ears, imperial guards coming to investigate and put out the fire. He says picking himself up off of the ground,
“A Khajiit, two dead Argonians, and a fire, better make myself scarce lest they blame me.”
He take to the shadows getting away effortlessly as the guards and mages from the guild in the town tried to put out the fire.
~a short time later~
Under a tree, the Khajiit with hood lowered sits enjoying some dinner, some old pork and a few rolls with some jam. Taking a bite a roll he looks to the sky as he chews then swallows, then letting out a deep drawn out sigh as loneliness took to his eyes. Wiping some crumbs off of his hands he feels a lump under his robes, having forgotten the egg he had pocketed, then taking it out and looking it over a little. It was warm having been in his robes against his chest, clearly his body heat had done its job, and it seemed to be undamaged. He looked it over a little more almost hopefully, however after seconds of nothing he sighs saying,
“fire must have baked it.”
He was getting ready to toss it, however it shook a little in his hand, then with a curious look on his face he looks it over once again before saying,
“well now, did you survive after all?”
Gently running one of his claws over the shell of the egg it then trembles once again; A smile instantly fills his face. Sliding the egg back into his robes he then goes about finishing his meal, before leaning against the tree and falling asleep. Foot steps then heard as someone walks up, Alex who says,
“The Khajiit, and the Argonian, two species whom always seem to be angered at one another, now this lone Khajiit has saved an egg belonging to two now dead Argonians; what does this cat happen to have in mind with this little egg, well lets see where this goes.”
Snapping his fingers the white mist sets in once again, till it fades showing the inside of an inn. Stepping inside is the cat, before wiping some dirt off of his robes then lowering his hood before calling over the tavern keep, a nord woman who nods then walks over to him and asks as he takes a seat,
“what can I do for you tonight?”
He looks up at her then asks glancing over to the kitchen,
“I want a room for the night, and also what’s on the menu?”
She nods looking over to a boy who grabs up a book and brings it over to her, she then says as the boy hands it to her,
“we have some fresh mutton tonight with some locally grown vegetables, dinner also comes with your choice of a beverage, the total for dinner is ten Septims*.”
He nods then hands her some coins she smiles taking the coins then says as she closes the book,
“looks like we do have a room available for the night, it’s a fair room twenty five Septims, per night, is that ok?”
He nods then watches as she walks off toward the kitchen returning a few minutes later with a plate of mutton and vegetables on a pewter plate. She sets it down in front of him then giving him a pewter fork and spoon, which he uses to begin eating.
It doesn’t take long for the cat to finish his meal afterwards the boy shows him to his room on the second floor, where after giving the boy a gold coin for a tip he walks into to the room and shuts the door behind him. Once inside he takes off his robes showing his outfit, a pair of black pants and a dark blue shirt cotton maybe silk, and from a pocket on the inside of the robes he removes the egg. He cradles it a little before setting it in an article of clothing, something resembling a scarf before removing his shoes and making himself comfortable on the bed. He picks the egg up and sets in on his chest rubbing it a little as it shook a bit then saying with a chuckle,
“well now, someone is active tonight. Getting tired of being cooped up in that egg are you my little one?”
He looks up laying back on the pillows and then looking out the window where he notices something before idly saying,
“oh would you look at that, the shadow is out tonight.”
He closes his eyes for but a moment till the egg shaking catches him off guard. He jumps from the bed making sure not to throw the egg in the process then after setting it on the bed he watches as cracks form, the cat watches happily as the egg hatches, soon looking at a small reptilian hand forcing its way out. He watches for only a moment till he helps out a little by cracking the shell in a few places allowing the newborn to more easily brake free. With a yawn and a stretch the newborn Argonian opens its eyes and looks up at the cat who was almost beaming happiness before reaching up to him. He does pick the little lizard up holding it for a moment before grabbing his scarf and wrapping it around the little one. He watches the little Argonian nuzzle into the fabric before looking up at the cat once again who was almost jittering with joy, which he quickly brushed off before nuzzling the little one, but then curiosity got the best of him and he bluntly lifts its leg a little as it yawned discovering it was female. A smile grew across his face as she looked up at him before saying,
“what do you know, I’m a father, I never really thought I would have a daughter.”
He cuddles with the little argonian girl before taking a look into her eyes discovering something he did not expect,
“blue??”
Carefully opening her left eye a little, it was clear she had bright blue eyes with the typical reptilian slit for an pupil, something not seen before. He smiles again almost feeling like he was about to make a habit of it before saying, gently rubbing her head,
“looks like someone is special, not only born under the shadow but those blue eyes, I’ve never seen them before on an argonian.”
The little lizard yawns then curls into the scarf falling asleep, most certainly tired from her escape from her egg. Sitting down on the bed he nuzzles her once again before quietly saying,
“Sleep tight my Ne’Ma.”
~eight years later~
It is a bright clear day in the province of Cyrodiil, the sun in the western half of the sky suggesting it was past noon. Running onto the top on a small hill comes a young argonian girl wearing a blue dress with little black shoes, which did look silly on an argonian truth be told but clearly she was found of them, and a longish bright green scaled tail flittering about in excitement under her dress. The plume of feathers on her head was carefully brushed back where in three rows the two outer most rows of her feathers a bright blue contrasted by the center row of dark red feathers, she calls back in a very pretty almost sing song voice at someone coming up the hill,
“Ushie Look!! The town is not much farther!”
Making his way up on the hill was the Cat still in his black robes which he strangely had pulled very tightly, panting he says rubbing his glove covered hand onto her feathers,
“Ne’Ma its Usshin, my name is Usshin sweetheart, not Usshie, you can also call me daddy, or papa, or even father, or dad, anything is better then Usshie.”
The little girl giggles a little bit before taking his hand and pulling him along. He clearly didn’t have the energy to keep going however the little argonian making him smile just kept pulling him along and he followed, and that’s the way they stayed till something caught his ears, he then grabbed Ne’Ma up and jumped away narrowly avoiding an attacking spider lunging at the young argonian, and a large one at that. Setting the young girl behind him, he turns to the spider who was skittering around trying to find a new opening to get at the girl clearly not wanting to deal with her father, Usshin baring his abnormally long fangs says as the Spider swipes at him a few times with its front most legs,
“you have made the mistake of attacking my Ne’Ma, for that you die!”
The spider jumps at the Cat only to meet with a large fireball blasting it back and incinerating it, and that was that, the fight was over in an instant. Covering her nasal holes on the topside of her muzzle she asks waving her clawed hand in front of her face,
“did you really have to set it on fire papa? You know how badly they smell when you do.”
He manages a chuckle but as his hand began to smoke and pain crept across his face he quickly slipped his glove back on his hand then slipping his arm into his sleeve. She then asks running around to the front of him,
“are you ok, did it hurt?”
He nods then says rubbing her head,
“yes it did, but I’d rather take a blade to the gut then my beloved Ne’Ma getting hurt.”
She smiles then takes his hand giving it a kiss, then saying as she once again led the way,
“well come on then papa, lets get to the inn, I’m thirsty, and we need to get you out of the sun.”
He nods, once again lifelessly trudging along as the girl held his hand pulling him along the road. It wasn’t to much longer till they made it to town, and the cat seemed worlds better once he stepped foot into the inn of the town of Bruma. The approaching breton smiles as he asks,
“what can I do for you two?”
The cat sets his purse on the table and says,
“I want a room and two plates of what ever it is you are serving for dinner, and make it fast, Usshin doesn’t have much patience left after today.”
The man nods and goes to fetch two plates of food, which turns out to be roast boar with baked potatoes and green beans, to which Ne’Ma happily and hungrily digs into. With a light chuckle he says to the man,
“would you happen to have something for my Ne’Ma to drink, perhaps a juice of some kind? And bring me an ice cold ale if you would.”
He nods and goes to fetch some drinks, once he is gone Usshin says patting Ne’Ma’s shoulder,
“Ne’Ma, slow down a little and remember your manners, you are a young girl not the boar on your plate.”
She giggles asking as she picks up her fork,
“so no being a piggy then huh?”
He laughs and nods then takes a mug of Ale and a glass of juice from the inn keeper who then leaves to take care of a new arrival. Taking a deep drink from his mug Usshin then sets it down saying as the inn keeper past by,
“it’s good ale, my thanks.”
He nods with a smile then showing a nord to a room. They both eat their dinners, Usshin having to remind Ne’Ma more then once to mind her manners, then afterwards he pays for the food then for a room which the breton shows then to, it is a comfortable room which they settle into to for the night. Ne’Ma skips over to the bed and kicks off her shoes, Usshin instantly scolding her and telling her to put them away properly, which she does then sees her father clutching his right arm clearly waves of pain rolling off of him. She walks over to him and rubbing his right arm asks,
“is it that time again Usshie?”
He tries to scold her, but can only manages a nod, the bright red in his eyes almost glowing. She nods then takes a seat on the bed, to which he joins her forcing himself to move, then lowering her collar off of the right side of her shoulder; he stops and says,
“forgive me, my Ne’Ma.”
He quickly and in one fluid motion grabs her and sinks his fangs into her neck, the young Argonian gasping, trying to take in controlled breaths as the cat bit into her. Usshin held her very tightly clearly being very careful as he performed the deed; as the whole of his mouth completely encompassed her small neck, one false move from either of them and he’d snap it clean, but relief filled the young girls face as he removed his fangs from her flesh and began lapping up and sucking out blood from the fresh holes in her nape, almost like a starving animal who had been presented with fresh meat. She beings panting after a few minutes as the blood loss makes her dizzy, which gives him the sign to stop. He lifts his head, his jaw covered in blood and his fangs much noticeably smaller then before. He smiles at the young girl who weakly smiles back then watches as a warm glow fills the cats hand; at which point he presses his hand onto the still bleeding holes in her neck which close and heal with practiced ease then once finished he says holding her tight,
“I’m sorry my little one.”
She smiles and nods, holding no ill feeling or fear of the cat who had just fed on her and says,
“its ok papa, I don’t mind making you better.”
He nods then says once again checking over her neck where the holes once were,
“I really hate having to feed on you my Ne’Ma, but if I don’t I’ll lose control, if I could have found a willing person to take your place I would have, perhaps I should have paid that harlot we met on the road this morning, she didn’t seem to mind as long as I paid up.”
She shakes her head no which makes her adorably dizzy to which she ends up clinging to him as the room spun around her saying as she held on tight,
“no, its ok really, that woman wanted six hundred Septims, we didn’t even have that much.”
H nods picking up the light headed argonian then laying her in bed under the blankets, before saying,
“still, you are to young to have to lose this much blood every four days, just so I can feed; more now then ever I understand what monsters vampires are, I regret ever having allowed myself have become this”
She rubs his hand trying to comfort him saying,
“If you hadn’t I’d be alone right now plus vampire or not, I still love you.”
He smiles looking at the young lizard girl getting comfortable then saying as he stood,
“give me a minute Ne’Ma, I have to clean myself up otherwise I’ll smell of blood.”
She nods and watches him walk over to a table where a pitcher of water sat, which he used to dampen a bit of cloth then clean off his muzzle. He then removes his robes draping them over a chair and joining the young Argonian in the bed, who instantly cuddles onto his chest, asking as she yawned,
“so . Pa . . . papa, what . . What are we going to do tomorrow?”
He responds rubbing the feathers on her head,
“Well Ne’Ma, tomorrow we’ll get on a wagon and we’ll take a trip through the Jerall mountains then the day after that we’ll be in the province of Skyrim, there is plenty of work to be had and money to be made to those who have the skills to earn them in Skyrim.”
She nods and asks clearly nodding off,
“is . . . Is It . . .true that . . . The nords . . . All come . . . From . . . Skyrim?”
He smiles and nods saying as she started to fall asleep,
“yes most of them do, its sure to be fun my little Ne’Ma.”
A little snore emanates from the young argonian girl who has fallen asleep with a handful of his fur in her hand, he then says kissing her forehead,
“get some rest my precious little one, for tomorrow we begin a new journey, to the land of Skyrim, and we’re sure to need all the strength we can muster there.”
Watching the young lizard sleep blissfully he decides to follow suit and lays his head back on a pillow, closes his eyes and quickly falls asleep.
After this is done a shadow is cast over the two, following it back to its owner it belongs to none other then Alex watching over the two with a smile; he motions to follow him and walks out of the room then saying as the White Mist sets in,
“So there you have it A young Argonian girl and A Khajiit who was once nothing more then a lonely wandering Vampire who has now found friendship and love in this little girl; ironic isn’t it, An argonian and a khajiit, two races who normally can’t stand each other getting along just fine as father and daughter.”
Walking over to a window and looking out into the night sky he goes on to say,
“what lays in store for our two friends here? Well you’ll just have to listen on and witness,
The Tale of Two Souls.”
Alex then Vanishes into the white mist, watching as the door to the room the two now sleep in closed then latching itself.
~End of Prologue~
* author notes*
Septims- for those who don’t know a Septim is the main currency in the Elder Scrolls universe, named after Tiber Septim (aka Talos) the First Dragon Born Emperor who founded the empire in the beginning of the third era, it is a simple gold coin who’s worth is just that one coin.
