Stepping through the membrane of the portal, there was a kind of brutal, yet majestic beauty in the land that lay before them. The ash swirled at each step on the cracked, steaming ground, catching in the noses and throats of any mortal being foolish to wander there. Eyes watered in the dry heat of the air, pupils wanting to dilate through sheer terror of the landscape, but the harsh lights from the flickering fires and bleeding sky forcing them to narrow pinpricks. It was truly an awesome, ungodly horror to behold - and that was not where it ended. Massive towers; constructs made of an unwelcoming stone and jagged red spikes stood ominously in the distance; the bridges that allowed safe passage across the rivers of lava still remained foreboding, flanked by charred corpses curled in on themselves, and bloodied pikes adorned with heads, faces pulled into grotesque expressions of agony. While no carrion birds could have possibly existed in this world before being consumed by heat or something worse, some heads were missing eyes, ears, noses - all weeping blood after [i]something[/i] pecked away at them. Even Naenya - while enraptured at actually standing in a realm of Daedra, couldn't help but shudder at the concept of bird-like Daedra. Silently thanking herself for leaving Bobo back in the chapel, she followed on with the group, taking in everything with eager eyes, but trying to avoid looking at the heads for too long. She could only hope such torture occurred after death, but judging by the haunted expression on those dead, pale faces, it was very unlikely the poor souls had passed away peacefully.

In contrast, their Imperial Leader looked ten times as unhappy as she stared around her; her eyes were actually twitching in fear. She looked about five seconds from sprinting back towards the gate; in fact, those twitching eyes kept darting back to the curtain of fire that had brought them there, as if worried it would close behind them. However, her attention - and the attention of everyone else - was caught by inhuman screeches, and the clash of steel. In the near distance, there was a guard in familiar Kvatch armour, frantically battling against a few scamps. The group surged forward, glad to have something to do other than simply gawp at the wonder of this strange new realm; the scamps did not last long among them, and the panting guard gave them his heartfelt thanks.

"We were sent in to close the gate... we were ambushed... trapped... they killed my friends!" His eyes were wild with fear and grief - across the lava, the sight of slain guards could be seen on the bridge. Niko made his way to the front of the group, taking the guard by the shoulder and offering up what he hoped was a calming smile; he had known this man from when he had lived in Kvatch.

"Ilend - we're here to try and close the gate too. There's more of us here, and I'd say more than a few have experience with Daedra. We'll be able to do-" Niko's voice was cut off by the Imperial woman, who had grabbed Ilend far more roughly to get his attention.

"Never mind that - do you know how to close this thing? There must be a switch, or spell or something?!" Her voice seemed as desperate as Ilend's, but Niko's old comrade didn't have the answer she looked for. As she stormed away, muttering "Useless guards" under her breath, Niko stopped himself from scowling at her before turning back to Ilend.

"They... they took Menien to the tower. You must rescue him Nikolaus!" Ilend's eyes turned to the Gate, and Niko knew it was pointless to have him here. He was too distraught and already injured to aid in the fight.

"Go and find the Captain - there must be a barricade or something outside of the City. Tell him what we're trying to do, and that there are still survivors in the Chapel. If we fail... he may be able to do something." The thought of failing was a chilling one, but Niko knew it mustn't be ignored. The shaken guard left with more thanks, and Niko's eyes turned back towards their not-so-fearless leader. She was pacing the rocky ground, looking even more skittish than before. Sighing quietly, he turned to the remainder of the group with a shrug.

"To the tower, I suppose. If there's anything worth finding, it'll be in those things."

[hr]

For a while, traversing the Deadlands was surprisingly... quiet. Yes, the lack of noise was disconcerting in that there was no rush of wind through leaves, no singing of birds or buzzing of crickets. Just the quiet yet endless bubbling of the lava below their feet, and the occasional hiss of hot air escaping the earth in the distance. The lack of foes was more concerning; all they ran into was a scamp here and there, dispatched too easily by just a small amount of the group. It was almost like the landscape was lulling them into a false sense of security; either that, or they just got lucky. Luck, however, swiftly shrivelled up as they approached the towers.

The sneak-thief Glenndus was leading the group; he was the best to scout the area, what with being quick, quiet, and able to hear and see a lot of things others wouldn't. Already he'd aided them in avoiding rockfalls, unknown and potentially deadly fauna, and even landmines. Niko could hardly believe all of the things that were able to kill or maim in this land; you didn't even have to stand on the mines, simply going near them would cause them to rise from the air and spin ominously before blowing into a cloud of fire. Glenn was doing well in keeping them alive; but even he didn't see the spikes coming.

They were about half-way to the towers, walking along a trail that could barely pass as a road; the group had just killed off another scamp that had snuck up behind them before their attention was drawn by a strange noise. Turning back towards the front of the group, they were met with a very dead Glenndus. Even his quick eyes didn't see the spike trap buried in the dusty ground; they had impaled him so forcefully he was dangling from the ground, spikes going through his stomach, chest, and right through his head. Any expression that could be gauged from around the bloodied piece of metal protruding from his face was a slack jaw and open mouth of surprise; his arms were still twitching from the spike embedded in his central nervous system, and an eye dangled down his torn-apart cheek. Most looked away in disgust or horror, but something seemed to snap inside the Imperial Woman. She drew her sword, pushing away from the group and spitting on the ground. 

"Curse this damned place! I did not wish for this; all I had to do was rescue that stupid priest!" She snapped at nobody in particular, still backing away from the stunned group and back towards the gate. "You lot can stay here and die for all I care; And the Gods can get fucked. None of this is my fate, and I'm doing as I please from here on out. Going into Oblivion... who's bright idea was that?!" Her stream of complaints and profanities grew quieter as she went further from the group, but nobody went to stop her. She'd been disgruntled and unwanted from the start, and for Niko, all he could think was that he couldn't exactly blame her... but what was all that talk about the Gods and fate? Was there something that bound her to this mission, this quest.. and to Martin as well? Perhaps she was meant to lead this group, no matter what.

This train of thought came to a distinct end at what occurred next; not ten meters away from the group, her ranting came to a sudden stop as something hidden behind the rock slammed into her. The crunching of bones echoed all the way up to the rest of them, and they watched on as she was suddenly lifted from the ground. A Dremora stepped out; having hit the woman so hard in the abdomen with his huge mace, she remained stuck to it as it lifted the weapon above his head, blood trickling down onto it's grotesque, smiling face. Seeing the others watching on in shock, the Dremora's pointed tongue flicked out and caught a few crimson droplets, before hefting the mace towards the lava. The woman's body remained in the air a few moments before landing with a light splash atop the molten rock. She didn't sink as though it were water. Instead, her body ignited in flames atop it, limbs flailing in a silent agony before falling limp, everything swiftly reduced to flaky ash.

Looking back towards the Dremora, more foes spilled out around him. Several other daedra carrying wicked looking maces, flanked by scamps, clannfear and mages who then summoned more beasts to join them in battle. After walking through half of the Deadlands without coming across anything, it seemed Oblivion was finally fighting back against it's invaders; starting with their supposed leader. 

"I suppose even in the land of the Daedra, blaspheming is taken seriously." Thought Naenya, shuddering lightly as she recalled the Imperial woman's last moments. Only then did she realise the dead woman hadn't introduced herself or told anyone of her name. If history books in the future were to write about what happened here, they would have no name for her... except perhaps "The Coward of Kvatch." However, deciding that this could wait until later, Naenya readied her staff, already thinking of which spells would be the most effective against the beasts before them.