[center][h3]Via Purifico[/h3][/center] [hr] [indent]It looked like an endless corridor. A narrow passageway with cold stone walls that had a dampness to them, and a smell of rot lingered in the little air that was down there. The only illumination were the small sconces of ruby light set into the middle of the walls in a line - leading down the path, the only path. There was a grim tension and an ethereal quality. Each of her footsteps echoed and bounced off the walls in the confined tunnels that she found herself in. Nothing was strange, yet everything was. She walked in the only direction she was able - forwards. The heels of her sandals clacked on the stone floor steadily. One two. One two. One two. Only the string of red light, nothing at the end - if there was an end. It occurred to her that she hadn’t looked behind her, and now she was too fearful of it. It was like the moment that she realised she hadn’t, that she felt a foreboding presence behind her. A sudden chill shot up her spine and had the hairs on the back of her neck on end, and her footsteps hastened. Something spoke. An emotionless voice ringing through the darkness. [right][i]”Time.”[/i][/right] [i]How long have I been walking?[/i] Were the words that sounded in her mind. She had started to feel breathless and despite the feeling of a presence in the tunnel, she slowed back down and kept going until she finally came across a fork in the path which placed her before two tunnels now. Only one of them was lit up, the other was dark and a piercingly cold breeze blew at her from within, she felt it even dance around her before stopping. Curiously, she stepped into the dark tunnel and immediately it’s walls were illuminated by a single dim white light, and below was the slumped body of a Redguard soldier. “Casimir…?” Her voice was barely a whisper, but the soldier’s head turned and she could see that half of his face was bloodied. “You need help!” she said before moving swiftly to his side, upon closer inspection, she could see that his eye was gone. Obliterated. Parts of it splattered against his cheek. “Sit still, I can fix this for you…” Snapping into her precision mindset with urgency, she worked magicka into her palms, the light of it shone against his face as she held it to him. His right hand came up to meet hers. It felt like ice, and there was a stiffness to it. [i]I know what this is… Rigor Mortis.[/i] Casimir placed Raelynn’s hand into her lap, lingering on her touch for a second more. “It’s too late for me m’lady…” he groaned, a soft splutter at the end of his words. “You don’t have much time for the boy… You have to help the boy…” She brought her hand back to his cheek to at least offer him comfort. What a gruesome way to die. She moved back from him, bowing her head as he began to take his last laboured breaths, she observed the skin on his face to quickly become dry and tighten against his skull - he became gaunt in a matter of seconds. The singular light above him flickered violently, and from behind him a number of rotting skeletal hands burst from the wall and clutched at him. Raelynn gasped and stepped back in horror. There must have been twenty of them, clawing out around the shape of his body leaning against the stone wrenching him back into an abyssal void of swirling dark energy. Each one a different size, some with missing fingers, some had rings, and some were dressed in torn bandages. Each one had the same desperation to drag him wherever they were coming from. “GO!” he coughed out one last time, causing Raelynn to jump back further in shock before the wall closed back up. She could swear that she heard it murmur in agony. [i]The boy?[/i] [right][i]”The boy.”[/i][/right] The air began to grow thick as if a fog had formed - not that she could see it but the atmosphere changed, the air thick and damp and even more bitterly cold. She wrapped her arms around herself as she moved away from the wall. She didn’t want to touch it, scared of what might reach out from behind it, and yet she was still staring at it and wanting to move towards it. It was supposed to unnerve her and it did, and yet it did not. [right][i]”Touch it.”[/i][/right] As her fingertips touched the stone where Casimir had been taken, she felt an organic warmth emanate from it, and it didn’t feel like stone at all - but like flesh -- human skin. As if it were alive. She was immediately disturbed and pulled her hand back - she had to go to the boy. Her fingers were wet, and as she stepped back into the red light she could see that it was blood. The wall was bleeding, and as soon as she recognised it as such it was as if she heard the wall of flesh tear and begin to pour out and spill it’s contents onto the ground, another whimper of pain rang out. Everything was strange, and yet nothing was. She began to run down the path - feeling a sense of great urgency. There he was. A boy, lying at the end of the tunnel in a small circular room, in a pool of his own blood with a series of white lights circling him. They flickered in a fitful manner. As she examined him, she saw a gaping wound in the centre of his chest with blood oozing out rapidly. All that the boy could do was stare at it. His face, who was the boy? Had she met him before? She couldn’t see his face in the light. Or was it hidden. Each time she tried to look at it, it faded out of focus and her eyes were drawn back to the wound, spluttering blood out like a bodily geyser. Now that was something that she knew wasn’t right, and when she realised it she saw the wall crack - the same void that had devoured Casimir leaked through. [right][i]”It’s time…”[/i][/right] As she had done so with Casimir, Raelynn dove into action, golden light pouring from her palms as she applied pressure to the wound, straddling him with her eyes locked onto his. “Look at me,” she began, her energy streaming into the hole in his chest as blood continued to cascade out from it. [i]There was so much blood.[/i] “You are going to be fine, keep looking at me, don’t look down there. Look at me.” Her voice was serious and authoritative but there was no vicious bite to it, a comforting warmth lay on her tone. She turned her face to look back down the tunnel, and she could see each of the lights that had led her here were extinguishing one by one. [i]Running out of time[/i]. Raelynn had both hands against the wound now, focusing her light into him, she could feel it bringing everything inside back together again bit by bit. This was not the wound of a blade or of magicka, this was something else. The entrance of the wound was right between his ribs - she suspected that they too would be damaged. As she let her fingers press against them, she felt that at least one was broken which only made the situation become more urgent for them both. As his face twisted in pain and his body began to writhe and contort against her, she placed a hand on his forehead - bathing him in the stream of her restorative magic. “Be calm…” The serene sensation of it would offer him a wash of relief, at least momentarily. From inside of the crack in the wall, hands erupted forth - their fingers twitching. Not just the wall, as she brought her attention away from the boy and to the room, she watched as the edges where the walls met the ground formed the same dark energy and more of the undead hands rose up. She was surrounded. [i]They were surrounded.[/i] It would not deter her from this, the feeling in her chest that this was something she had to do outweighed the feeling of horror as she watched the army of hands begin to slowly drag themselves towards she and the boy in the centre. “I have no time for you,” she spoke out against them, as if to make them stop. By now, both of her hands were covered in the boy’s blood, her magical stamina was dwindling and she began to feel light-headed - but now was not the time to let up. If she stopped now, he would die. [i]Both of them would die.[/i] The hemorrhage was too severe, the wound too deep and foreign even to her. [i]Unfortunate positioning for this, it’s so close to his heart - his lungs…[/i] Whatever else was happening around her was unimportant. This was her priority now. As the wound began to close she stopped - sliding in her fingers carefully between the two ribs - she curled her finger against the broken rib, projecting the magicka against it. It wasn’t an instant cure but it would start off a natural healing process at least. Somewhere in the distance, she heard the sound of thunder - of a storm, or of magic. The sound of weapons and armour, incoherent shouting. The ground rumbling beneath her - beneath them. The foreboding presence growing larger - large enough to panic her With her fingers in the wound, she felt something small, hard, and warm. It was a piece of metal, a bullet? It had been what had broken the rib, and it must have been a ranged shot, or else it would have gone right through him. She couldn’t decide if that was better or not. Regardless, she pulled it out as she removed her fingers. The wound was smaller and bleeding less - but she didn’t have enough left in her to finish the job. [i]What happened to you?[/i] “This isn't right. It wasn’t this easy. The wound is not the same, it was in his chest but different - he jumped." It was coming back in waves, and as she listed off aloud what she knew, it finally clicked "this is just a drea--” Once more, the realisation caused the walls of the room to burst with an almighty crashing sound followed by a deafening and petrifying shriek that caused Raelynn to instinctively clasp her hands to cover her ears and cower, her body pressed against the boy. Blood poured out from the stone - washing the hands away and drowning them, but behind the walls now was light - real light. And then nothing.[/indent] [hr] [indent]Her eyes opened and she sat up violently, panting hard with an intensely dry sensation plaguing her mouth as beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Her face was flushed and red. [b]It was a dream.[/b] She was back in reality, in Gilane, and she was out of the tunnel and with that jolt of awareness the events of the mission flooded back to her and she [b]remembered[/b]. It had all gone [i]so wrong.[/i] She let her eyes adjust to the light and looked at her hands, they had been cleaned by someone, but not fully. There was still a slight stain to her skin, and next to the bed was a bowl of bloody water and cloth. She was dressed differently, they had relieved her of the bloodied and torn clothing. [i]Bandages.[/i] She had made bandages for Calen from her clothing. Had it been Gregor who had brought her here? Latro perhaps? Had she seen any of the others from the other missions when they each made it back? It was more likely to have been one of the handmaidens who had brought her here. She recalled the feeling of being completely devitalised and passing out as soon as they had gotten Calen to safety and handed him over. It was one of the Poncy Man’s men who caught her. How ironic that Raelynn should have such a moment after the events of the mission, if she had been in better spirits then it may well have made her laugh. [i]How long have I been out? What happened to Calen? There was so much blood [/i] A sense of time evaded her. She could have been unconscious for hours, or even days. Until she met with one of the others, she wouldn’t know. It wasn’t her concern. She knew that Calen would be alright, she wouldn’t have fainted if there was anything else she needed to do for him. She wouldn’t have allowed it. She had to trust that the healers knew what they were doing. She wanted to rush to seek him out, but her body wouldn’t let her. She had spent too much of herself during the mission, on keeping him alive long enough to make it back, on carrying him, and on keeping him calm. All she could do was sit and feel the aching pain of each muscle of her body and the swelling intensity of a headache behind her eyes. She took several deep breaths, the horrors of her nightmare scared her now. The images that her mind had conjured up -- they were ghastly and twisted, never before had she suffered such a nightmare. She felt pangs of great agitation hit her in the stomach and bubble in there when she thought of it again. She was alone in the room, and was thankful for it. She needed time to process the events of the mission and mull over everything. It wasn’t the only thing she was left to consider, there had been the meeting with the Dwemer Governor, and the shocking confessions of her Father. Wrought with disquietude, she moved herself to her lockbox and pulled out her journal. This was a day she had to record while it was fresh, and it was all she could think to do in her current state of fatigue. Besides, soon there would be questions. She needed her mind to be clear of clutter, and her story to be straight.[/indent]