Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20161214232614/@comment-24685738-20161227013457

Diana

Diana was only nineteen when her first baby died.

She was newly married to Levi, still under the influence of the charm and personality of the murderer without a conscience that she called her husband. Levi’s elderly maidservant, a woman by the name of Catt, had warned her that it was unlikely the baby would survive, given her youth.

But, she still hoped.

Hope had always been Diana’s downfall.

She remembered waking up in the middle of the night, three months pregnant, screaming the whole castle awake when she felt the blood that was pooling between her legs. She was young, but she instantly knew what that meant.

She blamed herself, crying as Catt came in to take the sheets to wash them. Catt had sat down with her, wrapping her in her arms, cooing in some strange language. Diana fell asleep on the floor, waiting for Levi to come home.

When he did, she instantly knew that she wasn’t the only one who blamed her.

It was the first time Levi had hit her. She was left with a black eye, but she desperately tried to explain away her husband’s behavior, saying that it was the grief, he had just lost a child, et cetera, et cetera.

The next time, she was only twenty-one.

This time around, the pregnancy had gone smoothly. She made it all the way up to childbirth without a single issue. She had been in labor for hours, bringing Levi’s child into the world. She fell unconscious immediately after the final push, too exhausted to even hold the child.

She knew something was wrong when she woke up. Catt sat down next to her, whispering that the child was born dead, a young girl, born with bright blonde hair and a hole where her heart should’ve been.

Diana had left the next night, too full of grief to even comprehend the idea of waiting for Levi to return. She had gone to the Imperial City and broken into the White-Gold Tower, coming close to stealing records of Tiber Septim’s ancestors.

And then, she had fallen in with Talin Warhaft and his band of merry adventurers, and everything changed for a while.

But now, there she was again, lying in the marriage bed she had so often defiled, about to bring forth into the world a child that most definitely was not Levi’s.

She, of course, knew that the baby was Talin’s, and she prayed that Levi did not. Who knew what he would do to her… or to the child…

She screamed, once, panting. The elderly handmaiden, Catt, held her hand and ordered her to push once more, and she did so. Quickly, she felt some sort of relief, as the pressure decreased and she fell back into her pillows.

There was a horrible silence, and Diana felt like she couldn’t breathed, worried for her child’s fate. And then, she heard the scream of an infant.

And she smiled, despite her tiredness.

Catt placed the baby in her arms, having hastily wiped most of the blood off of the child. Diana stared down at the little boy and laughed. There was a shock of honey-blonde hair on his head, and, although his eyes were mostly closed, Diana could see slivers of ice-blue eyes.

The baby was beautiful, and Levi almost instantly swooped him from Diana’s arms, picking him up and holding him out, examining him. He laughed. “You did this one right, Diana!” He chuckled, and Diana felt a pang of hatred wrench her heart.

Seeing her son held up by a psychopath, Diana made a silent vow deep in her heart to all the gods that would listen that her son would never have to grow up living under the shadow of oppression and fear that followed Levi like a shroud.

And then, from sheer exhaustion, she fell asleep, unable to do anything about her vow at the moment.

She woke up after a few hours, finding herself alone. Someone must have given her some form of healing potion while she was asleep, because she felt completely revitalized, ready to take on the world.

Or, of course, Levi.

She put on an extremely loose, flowy nightgown, so that she could hide weapons or armor underneath. She settled on her enchanted leather bodysuit, and strapped a silver dagger to her thigh underneath the dress.

She had heard that silver was the only way to kill a demon.

Diana strolled down to the dining room, her heart seizing up when she saw that her child was once again in the arms of the madman she hated.

“Good morning, Diana.” He said, without even looking up from the child. She returned his cordial greeting, moving over to take the child from him. Catt came in, without Diana even calling for her, and she took the baby from the room.

“We have much to discuss, you and I.” Diana stated, moving around the dining table so that she had at least one barrier between her and her husband.

“Oh?” Levi asked, sitting down and folding her arms. Diana felt like she was in a positing of power then, standing over him. “Before you begin, lovely Diana, I’ve decided that the child is to be named...”

Diana nodded, although she wasn’t exactly paying attention. She didn’t care what Levi named him. When we are free, my lovely son, I will ensure that you will not have such a name, a name that ties you forever to Levi Draci.

“Levi, my son…” Diana unconsciously took a step back, away from her husband, before she took a deep breath to steel her nerves. “The child is… he’s…”

“Spit it out, Diana, I don’t have all day.” Levi said, irritated by her hesitation. “Gods, I hope you haven’t become even more stupid than you already were.”

Those cruel words gave Diana the impetus she needed. “My son is not yours. His father is Talin Warhaft II.”

For the first time since she had known him, Levi looked dumbfounded. Diana could tell that his anger would soon come. After a few moments, he said, “I finally get an heir, and he’s not even mine. I always knew you were a slut, Diana, but I didn’t know how far you would go to get that boy to love you. Carrying his child, really Di?”

Diana opened her mouth to respond, confused by his calmness, but he cut her off, saying. “This is ridiculous. Why does the world see fit to be so cruel?”

“Because men like you exist, Levi.” Diana snapped, angrily. She just wanted him to react in the way she had thought he would, like in how he reacted in all the scenarios she had envisioned over the past few months.

Levi smiled at her, coldly.

Diana steeled herself for what was coming, getting her emotions under control. “Because men like you… men like you think that people are your playthings, toys in whatever sick, twisted games you’re playing at the moment.”

Levi laughed, this time, unimpressed by her small speech. “You know, of course, that I have to get rid of the child now, whether or not you agree with it. I can’t suffer a slut’s son to live in my home.”

Diana was the first to snap into action, it seemed, as she lunged across the table and drove her elbow into Levi’s throat. The pair tumbled to the ground, in an all-out brawl as they used fists, feet, elbows, anything to gain an advantage over the other.

Levi’s sheer size advantage over Diana eventually gave him the upper hand as he threw her across the room. She sent one of her trademark sonic screams his way, which he batted away with a wave of his hand.

And then, their baby’s cries caused them both to snap their heads towards the door, glancing at each other to see how the other reacted. Again, Diana moved first, sprinting out the door so that she could get to their son first.

Levi fired some spell after her, but it slammed into the wall beside her instead, cracking the stone. He fired again, and it caused the wall to crumble, one of the stones hitting her leg and causing her to tumble to the ground.

Levi nimbly leapt over his wife and ran down the hall towards their son. Diana jumped up and limped after him, sending a scream at his back. Because he wasn’t paying attention to her, the sonic blast caught him off guard and he tumbled to the ground.

This time, Diana leaped over him and continued sprinting, before she felt a heavy coldness seep into her bones. Then, not of her own volition, the Augment was slammed into the wall, taking her breath away.

Levi laughed and continued the spell that held her in place as he moved past her, entering the baby’s room.

She heard the crackling of fire, and then the spell wore off and she sprinted into the room, screaming in horror at the sight she saw.

Her husband stood over a crib on fire, glancing over to the doorway as their baby writhed in the flames. Diana’s hands flew to her face as she screamed in horror, accidentally sending a sonic blast towards her husband and the crib.

It didn’t matter. Levi blocked it, and the baby finally stopped screaming. Diana knew, with a sick sense of dread, what that meant.

She lunged at Levi and sent him sprawling, allowing herself one glance at the blackened husk that was her child before she felt a sharp, stinging pain in her head, and then everything went black…

She woke to find herself in a cell, chained to a wall with an Altmer smiling widely beside her, mumbling something about a dragon.

And then she heard the footsteps heading towards the cell door.

The days that followed, Diana was treated to immense physical torture: Levi withheld food from her, beat her with rods, cut her hair, forced himself on her until she could feel the blood pooling between her legs and she passed out.

Days turned into months.

And months to years.

And no one came to save her.

A few years later, 3E 398…

Diana was pregnant for the fourth time in her life, this time definitely with Levi’s child. Despite her captivity, she was determined not to let her child be born in this place, where Levi would be able to control him or her.

She was determined to save herself. And her kid.

The night the baby was due, she heard the midwives whispering about the terrible omen in the sky: a bright red comet, turning the night sky red as it passed over Tamriel. The oldest of the women claimed that it was a god returning to the earth, but the crazy Altmer giggled and simply said it was a dragon coming.

The birth was difficult for Diana, hours upon hours of intense pain as she tried to push the baby out of her. When she gave her final push, she didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried that the baby was alive.

And all across Tamriel, as the baby was born, Augments stood up and stared in the direction of Draci Castle, guided by some unknown force that told them that something was going to come for them. Whether it was their salvation or their destruction, they did not know. But they still felt dread in the pit of their stomachs…

Across Tamriel, even normal people were confused, as the comet disappeared almost the instant the baby was born.

Then, one of the midwives made the foolish mistake of unlocking Diana’s arms so that she could hold the baby.

Diana leapt into action, driving the palm of her fist up into the midwife’s nose, satisfied by the sharp crack as the bone broke. It wasn’t lethal, but Diana felt as if these women deserved punishment for working for Levi Draci, and not helping her earlier.

She jumped up and spun, felling another woman with her bare foot, before bringing down the final one with a punch to the stomach. She grabbed the keys off one of the women and quickly unlocked her Altmer cellmate, before picking up the baby.

As she gazed into the baby’s large, emerald-green eyes, Diana too felt the sense of dread and the sense of longing that so many other Augments were feeling. “Arik…” She whispered, settling on a name as she felt the baby’s black hair.

“C’mon, Kirana, we need to go.” She said, looking to the Altmer. The woman was very focused on staring at the baby, but she nodded and followed Diana out.

By the time they got into the main body of the castle, it seemed as if Levi had heard about their escape. Hung, for all to see, in the courtyard was the gutted body of Catt, Diana’s former handmaiden who had been the only one to be nice to her in all of her years at Draci Castle.

Diana felt a hideous rage build in her heart, something she hadn’t felt in a long time. And then she heard Levi’s voice, as he yelled,

“Diana!”

She whipped around, and, without giving him another instant to speak, sent a sonic scream flying at him. The shockwave was so powerful that it sent him flying into the tower behind him, which promptly crumbled on top of Lord Draci.

Diana knew that he wasn’t dead. Demons didn’t die.

So, she ran from the castle, Kirana in tow.

Diana briefly considered heading to Cyrodiil and finding Talin for help, but she knew that that would be the first place that Levi would look for her and Arik.

She did head into Cyrodiil, but it wasn’t to find Talin. Instead, it was to find Catt’s youngest son, a peasant man by the name of James.

He had loved her for the longest time, as he worked as a servant at the Draci castle as well. She married him, knowing that he would drop everything to protect her, and they fled into the wilderness of Cyrodiil together.

They survived, evading Levi’s attempts at murder for ten years.

And then, on the anniversary of her escape, Levi found her, and they met for the final time.

Ten years later, 3E 408

Diana, James, and Arik all shared one tent. It was easier that way, easier to pack up quickly and escape in case Levi came knocking. They usually had warning when he was getting near, due to some wards Diana had stolen from the Mages Guild.

That was how Diana was forced to make a living these days. Stealing from anyone, stealing from anywhere, stealing anything just to make sure that her son had enough clothes, had enough protection, had enough joy.

It was a tough life. James took work where he could, but Levi always came to find them, so she always had to run.

Diana was a little worried about Arik, of course. After his birth, he seemed to fade into… normality. They had briefly spent time in Kvatch, and Diana had seen that Juliette’s and Adder’s daughter, Cora, had shown powers very early on in life.

Arik showed no such signs of power. He was… normal. Sure, he was light on his feet and stronger than most ten year-olds, but that was typical of Augment bloodlines. Maybe he was a… fluke.

Diana had briefly considered allowing him to enter the Mages Guild when he got older, but she had quickly discarded the thought when she realized that Levi would find him and enthrall him, or something, no matter how old he was.

Diana was blasted out of her thoughts by the crackling of leaves and branches as someone-or something-got closer and closer to their tent. It was at least midnight, so most animals should have been asleep.

Diana hastily searched through the wards, wondering why they hadn’t detected anything. They were still totally intact, but they should have detected even a bird coming towards their tent.

She shook James awake, and he rolled over to look at her, frowning. “What is it?” He asked. Diana hesitated, watching him. She felt none of the butterflies that she had felt when she looked at Talin, or even Levi in the beginnings of their relationship.

James was just… there.

“Something’s… something’s outside.” She whispered, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear. James frowned and nodded, grabbing a hatchet from a nearby bedroll. He stood up and stretched, going outside to check on the wards and hopefully bludgeon whatever had invaded.

There was a few moments of tense silence, as Diana grabbed her silver dagger from beneath her pillow, standing up quietly so as to not wake up Arik and worry him.

And then came the savage snarls, and James’ scream.

A body thudded down in front of the entrance to the tent, and Diana could see that it was James, with his throat torn out. “Arik!” She shrieked, waking her young son up. “Run!”

Arik had long known not to disobey his mother when she got shrill, and he burst out of the opposite entrance to the tent, sprinting into the trees that surrounded their little clearing. Diana moved out of the tent, brandishing her dagger.

Giant, savage, spectral dogs moved around the clearing, and they dutifully sat back on their haunches when another figure moved into the clearing.

Levi was a little bit more haggard than he was since she had last seen him, ten years ago, with silver streaks running through what had used to be glossy black hair. His beard was unkempt, and his clothes were a bit ragged.

“Levi.” She growled

“Diana.” He retorted, returning her snarl. “I’ve finally caught you, you damn bitch.” He snapped his fingers, and the dogs instantly stood up and ran past Diana, sprinting through the forest towards where Arik was.

Diana took one of them down as they passed, but she couldn’t get them all. She whipped around to chase after them, but that was her fatal mistake. Never turn your back on Levi Draci.

She felt a searing pain hit her in the back of her legs, and she crumbled to the ground. She tried to get up, but found herself unable. She slowly used her hands to turn herself around, and saw Levi striding towards her, a strangely shaped blade in his hand.

She was powerless to stop him as he drove his boot into her side, before plunging the dagger down, down, down…

It felt like it took forever, as she watched the knife get closer and closer, before finally shrieking in pain as it plunged into her stomach. However, the pain cleared her head, and she finally felt able to move again.

She grabbed Levi’s leg and pulled him down on top of her. Although it plunged the knife further into her stomach, she got her chance. Diana grabbed his head and pulled it closer to her own, before opening her mouth and screaming in his ear.

The Great Lord Draci struggled against her, but she felt strength flood into her arms as she held him in place, screaming with the most force she ever had.

First, blood began to leak from his ears. Then, Levi began to shiver and quake. Finally, he stopped altogether and slumped down on top of her.

It took her a few moments before she finally shoved him off of her, shoving the corpse of her ex-husband away. She took a deep breath and looked to the forest, watching as a bright light emanated from where her son had ran off to.

She gasped again, watching as her own blood pooled around her. Diana Draci truly hoped that that was her son, being safe.

For the first time in a long time, Diana felt a strange sense of calm. Finally, after years and years, Levi was dead. She knew that she was going to be, too, but she felt… happiness.

Her last image before she died was of a wild-haired witch running towards her, as if to help, but it was too late...

Juliette

Juliette had left the group before they had made it to Cyrodiil, finding herself missing Crimson too much to be apart from him for so long. Thus, she found herself heading back to Taneth, for her Prince.

Although she was a bit sad that she wasn’t there to see the light leave her Uncle’s eyes, she didn’t regret her decision.

When her first child with him was born, she couldn’t have been happier. She and Crimson were soon married and, although she never became Empress like her father wanted, she did become a Queen.

She and Crimson only planned to have two kids, but Crimson had this way of getting her to cave, and do what he wanted (at least, in her private life. Otherwise, she was more of a monarch than him). They kept having more and more kids, until…

Well, they had twelve children. All of them were born under a different starsign, and all of them had different Augment powers. Thus, they were called the ‘Twelve Stars of Taneth.’

Each one went on to do great acts, or terrible evils, although their names were lost to history. They were mages, warriors, thieves, leaders, et cetera, et cetera.

However, Juliette always regretted that she never got to raise her first daughter, Adder’s daughter.

It was 3E 433 when she finally found out where her daughter was living. Kvatch. She sent her a long-winded letter, explaining who she was, where she was, and how she wanted to meet her. She quickly received a message back, saying that Cora would agree to meet her for lunch.

Juliette said goodbye to her husband and children and left them, heading off on a trek for many miles so that she could finally meet her daughter.

She sat down at an outdoor restaurant and waited, waited for her daughter to show up.

Juliette had no idea why the temperature around her seemed to be raising so quickly. She felt like her skin would be singed off if she stayed where she was, so she stood up and moved away, only turning around to look at what was going on.

Only a few feet away from where she had been sitting, a shimmering, bright red portal had opened in the air, giving the barest glimpse into what appeared to be hell. Given that she thought it was a portal to hell, she wasn’t exactly shocked when Dremora in black and red armor stepped out of the portal.

“Toss me a weapon!” Juliette, the fifty year-old Queen who was out of practice, yelled to one of her guardsman. He was quaking in his boots, but he nodded and threw her his spear.

She charged in, towards the portal, determined to at least protect some of the civilians who were already fleeing to Kvatch’s gates to escape. She drove the spear forwards into one of the dremora, catching him in the space between his chestplate and his helmet. He faded to ashes, as the other Dremora charged at her.

One of them wielded a daedric blade that took the spearhead off of her weapon, leaving her with only a wooden shaft to deal with forces of Oblivion.

She used it like a club, breaking it in two over the head of one Dremora, felling him, and then using the two pieces as two separate weapons.

Of course, wood weapons cannot compare to the weapons of the Princes, and she was being pushed back. Her guardsmen had all fallen quickly, and-

-She was interrupted from her thoughts by a blast of fire being slammed into her chest, sending her flying backwards into a pillar. She gasped for breath, but she knew it was over.

Juliette saw her daughter fleeing into one of the Daedric Portals with some black-haired alchemist, but then she lost sight of her as two crossbow bolts thudded into her chest.

As her vision started to fade, Juliette realized with a horrible sense of dread that the prophecy delivered to her all those years ago in the Summerset Isles was correct:

She never got to truly love her daughter.

Hawke

(I’m not doing Hawke. Read mine and Shilly’s blog story about hers and Scire’s future if you ever care to do so (or if it ever picks up again))