Although nearly everyone’s attention was sole fixated upon the god standing over them, Sabine would find that her fearful show of reverence towards Hircine was not entirely ignored. She would feel a large hand upon her back, then Meesei beside her knelt down, but looking at her instead of Hircine. Even as a dragon-armored werewolf, she could still show a softness to her gaze. “Do not be intimidated. Their power is not dictated by how they [i]choose[/i] to appear.” She said calmly. Indeed, it was easy to forget with such an impossibly dominating sight before them, but a Daedric Prince could appear in whatever form they chose. Hircine could just as well approach them as a frail-looking rabbit, while still holding all the same power within.

After a moment, Hircine spoke, though it did not feel like his voice was actually coming from the massive being looming over them. It seemed more like he was speaking inside each and every one of their heads, even the non-lycans. “Go, my hounds. Claim glory in my name. The Great Hunt of an era begins, and my Champion shall slay the most deadly of prey.”

His words were short, simple, and puctuated by the activation of the great gate. Finally, they had broken through into Clavicus Vile’s realm. The war had been long and hard-fought, and now began the one battle that would decide it all. Meesei stood to her feet and stepped forward, up to the portal, which cast her in a fiery orange glow. Elite contingents of both Legionnaires and Dominion soldiers would be following them through, but it was her and her pack that would lead the way. Meesei took in a breath, reached back to check that the Rueful Axe was firmly secured to her back, then stepped through the portal. 

As planned, the other side of the portal rose up from the ground on a rocky plateau in the Fields of Regret. It was an elevated position, just over the valley they would need to cross to reach the source of power on their map. There was a large, steep cliff leading up the mountain just behind it that created a natural wall in that direction, so they only needed to worry about setting up defenses in the direction of the valley. 

It seemed that Meesei’s expectations of Vile’s realm were not inaccurate. It was not entirely dissimilar from parts of Tamriel, or even the Hunting Grounds, as the valley before her seemed to be mostly forested countryside. There were, of course, mountains on both sides of the valley, though the left side, from her perspective, of what would become their battlefield was also bounded by a wide, slow-moving river. The trees and other plant life felt familiar, but the landscape did have features that made it seem more bizarre, such as spirals of stone archways floating up into the air, and levitating chunks of what looked like metal ore dispersed among the trees, seemingly at random. 

However, it was their goal that stood out most prominently. On the far end of the valley, exactly in the place of the source of power Neesa’s machine had detected, was a massive tower reaching up nearly to the clouds. It had three pillars of brightly glowing, violet light spiraling upwards and meeting at the top. Meesei had wondered if they would need to scout ahead as they went to find Vile, but it seemed to her that their destination was fairly…obvious.