“Do you know why your blood is toxic to vampires?”
Agatha wasn’t paying attention to the question, too distracted by the fact that Tharn had just helped himself to a bit of the toxic blood, by cutting her hand over a bowl, she looked up at him, unable to hide her disapprove.
“My family are enemies of Molag Bal, for one of us to have the ‘Dark Gift’ would be abominable in his eyes.” She didn’t know if that was true, it was an educated guess at best.
“I’m sure Molag Bal would like nothing more than to corrupt a family line watched over by Meridia herself. Sadly, Meridia will not permit it…”
Agatha’s eyes narrowed as he lifted the small bowl up and began placing other materials in it.
“So… Meridia is responsible?” Agatha asked, seeming confused, though Tharn quickly met her gaze, with a rather bemused smirk.
“People like us do not let Gods dictate our lives…” He pointed out, continuing to do… something to her blood.
“No, I believe this is out of the hands of any God. People like you and I carve our own destinies, such things set us apart from other people, mark us so that the Gods themselves struggle against us.
Your ancestors were thrown into a great clash of several Gods, changes were brought upon by their unworldly feud, many of which still have a hold on our world... Our bloodlines are but a microcosm of this world, changed by an age long conflict without even knowing it.” Tharn paused, realising that he didn’t have a true answer.
“I think the change... Is due to the clash, nobody caused it, nobody could stop it. As I said, you’re a rogue element as far as the Gods are concerned.” He assured her, falling silent as he picked up the dish.
“What’re you doing with that?” She asked, glancing up to him, seemingly confused. Tharn was quick to lower it again.
“I have a contact, out west. He’s apparently doing research into creating effective ways to fight vampires, I... Was hoping to send him a sample to see if he could use it to create a poison.”
Agatha quickly shook her head, her eyes quickly fell on his.
“No, I... I don’t know if I trust that, no offense but I’m not entirely sure if I can trust you either at this point.” She was a little reluctant to say this, she quickly fell silent again as if she was expecting punishment for her defiance, instead she saw something a little more unsettling, a faint smile from the Half-Breed’s lips.
“Hmm... You are smart for your age.” He said, casting a touch flame spell on the dish and setting it alight.
“I wanted to test you, I... apologise for the deception but with age comes naivety and irrationality, I’m glad that you’ve over come those obstacles.” He said, giving her a faint smile.
“I have to admit though, I am enjoying our time together. You’re an enigma of sorts, like a puzzle that I’m still trying to figure out.”
This obviously didn’t make her feel at ease, he hadn’t tested her before this and somehow passing the test made things feel even more eerie, as if she was expecting a knife in the back, though that wasn’t really his style, it was more likely that she’d receive a lightning spell to the face.
“I need to know that you’re... a trustworthy consort, not so much with me but with yourself. That you won’t fall for such easy deceptions.” Tharn informed her, dusting the ash aside with his hand.
“I’m still looking for the key.”
“Key?” Agatha asked, curiously, sitting up straight again.
“A key to what?”
“Oblivion itself...” Tharn murmured, glancing up to her.
“On occasion, we have access to the realms of Oblivion but imagine if we had the means to access it whenever we want? Imagine if we had a way to create door ways to Oblivion, to take up arms against the Princes like we did centuries ago with Molag Bal, taking the fight to them whenever we must.
It’ll be important, in a few years, when Mehrune’s Dagon will have his chance, unlit Dragonfires will give him the chance to open Oblivion Gates all over Tamriel, I hope to take the fight to him first but I will need to the Key.”
Agatha furrowed her brow, glancing down to the bowl before looking back up to him.
“You mean... That’s what this is all about? You want to wage war with Oblivion?”
“Partly, the Emperor is safe, so the Dragon Fires will stay lit for at least one hundred and sixty years. By that point I can hopefully cripple the Daedra to the point that they cannot enact their plan for years to come. I wish to reverse the prophecy, for the world of man to march on Oblivion and reduce it to nothing, to build anew on it.
We could increase the Landmass of Tamriel, in the more... inhabitable lands, the Shivering Isles and ColdHarbour, maybe even the Deadlands. Land would never be an issue again, our soldiers could decimate them to the point that they wouldn’t be an issue again for hundreds of years.”
“How do you... know though? How do you know it’ll happen the way that you expect?”
“I don’t but I know what’ll happen if I do nothing, I’ve seen Alduin’s Wall Agatha, the events leading up to the return of the World Eater and I believe that he will truly destroy our world. The Dragonborn are becoming fewer and fewer, the Empire will be crippled by the aftermath of the Oblivion Crisis, a Divided Tamriel will not be able to stand against him and his Dragons.”
Agatha found herself somewhat confused, this was about... Dragons? The flying fire breathing lizards that once ruled our world? She felt somewhat conflicted as to whether or not she believed a word of this, it sounded like the ramblings of a madman but prophecies often had that effect, when spoken aloud.
“You... Really do believe that, don’t you?” She asked, somewhat unnerved, it wasn’t that she didn’t believe that he believed it but it was a lot to bank on a belief.
“Has it... Worked so far?” She asked, somewhat concerned.
“I... Don’t know.” Tharn then looked over to the door, leaning up a little.
“Lopious, could you get the rubbing of Alduin’s wall?” He asked, the guard nodded and stepped outside, his boots clattered along the ground as he marched towards some sort of storage room as Tharn leant forward, looking somewhat stern.
“You’ll need to prepare yourself for this... What I’m about to show you is... daunting to say the least.”
Agatha paused, hoping that she wouldn’t try this craziness in a few years time, the door quickly opened and Lopious stepped inside, holding a rolled up parchment under his arm. He approached the two of them and placed it down between then as Tharn quickly rolled it open and placed rocks on all four corners as he spread it out.
Another parchment was placed next to it and another next to that, all of them were weighed down by the rocks until a total of nine parchments lay side by side across the floor, to the point that the two of them had to stand up and stare down on it as Lopious stepped on over to the door.
“This was carved before recorded history.” He began, pacing around its base, pointing downwards towards the beginning.
“Here is the Staff of Chaos, it’s destruction, the distribution of the parts.” As he spoke Agatha saw it, it didn’t take any level of imagination to understand that she was looking at the staff of Chaos, she recognised its pieces, having spent many hours looking at them over the camp fire... She then looked over to the right, finding herself curious.
“What’s that... Bulky man?” She asked, pointing to a large metallic structure, underneath was scrawled the words ‘when the Brass Tower walks and time is reshaped...’
“I’m currently trying to figure that out but this here is the White Gold Tower, the symbol below it is O in the Daedric Language, some use it as the word Oblivion, Mehrune’s Dagon will come to Tamriel and the Septim Dynasty will come to an end...”
Tharn was quick to look to her before stepping on over to the end and pointing to a lone Warrior, shielding himself against a Dragon’s flame, the Last Dragonborn...
Agatha glanced over to him, seeing the grim nature that awaited the world, that awaited them both in the long run. She quickly found herself pacing around the rubbing, examining the strange swirls that sort of resembled Red Mountain.
“Do you understand what I saw? What I see now?”
“I’m starting to.” Agatha admitted, glancing up to him, she figured she’d be honesty. A dark, uncertain future awaited them and Tharn wished to fight it, any means necessary.
“Good.” Tharn replied, bluntly.
“My time is running out and when it does, I’ll need a contingency plan...” He began, looking over to her with a stern gaze.
“If I’m going to beat this future... I need a contingency plan, I need someone to fight the future for me.
I think... I hope that you will be able to carry this burden.”