Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20140602194217/@comment-3293219-20140605183356

(Okay, this took nearly a week to finish and I'm knackered. I'm sure that I've kind of over on the proof reading, so I'm sorry if there are any glaring errors but...

Urgh...

Anyway, I hope this brings joy...

Or disturbance. :P)

==Ten years earlier==

Nepht slowly stirred in her cell, kicking her legs slightly and groaning as her ankle dragged across a sharp stone. She hated it when that happened, because it was hard enough, sleeping on this stony floor, without constantly being awoken by the rocks.

The Dunmer sat up; her heavy eyelids were pried open as commanded by her reluctant brain. She looked up at the bars in front of her as everything blurred into focus and she remembered where she was. Nepht hung her head and sighed, realising that she was back in Edgar’s cage, her escape to the land of dreams was over and now she had to endure some more time in prison.

The terrifying novelty of the underground dungeon, owned by a psychopath had somewhat worn off after the first few weeks, Nepht had grown somewhat accustomed to it. Her main problem was, however, that this cage was just so…

''' Boring! '''

The Dunmer never played with toys as she was always too imaginative, she used to buy writing books and a quill, which she would use to paint pictures of the things that she’d like to see. Unicorns, Dragons, Minotaurs and other mythical beasts often made the page as she carefully copied every detail from her mind’s eye. She missed being able to draw or do anything really, running around the in the wilderness was a great deal of fun to her, venturing a little further out every day and with every step it became more tantalising and terrifying.

Still, none of that now… Her world was a 20X20 prison cell, to share with her Mother, Aunt and Grandfather. It was actually rather spacious for a prison cell, which was something to be thankful for but she wasn’t exactly happy in it as the jagged rocks in the floor dug into her bare feet and it made running about or even basic exploring near impossible. Besides, it was a square cage, she could see everything around her and nothing really drove her to get up and walk over to the far side of her cell as it would just be the same as the side that she was on.

Nepht gently pulled herself to her feet, cringing as her aching knees were straightened as she pulled herself up. The Dunmer looked around as her stomach tightened up; she was so bored that she almost wished that the door would open, just so that something would happen.

The child stopped and tried to think of something, to pass the time. Perhaps a story? She tried to recall the tales of the Dragonborn, who appeared in Skyrim, ten years ago and saved the world from Alduin and his dragons but she struggled to as she found him incredibly boring.

He was always portrayed as a ‘perfect’ nord man, who was a true patriot of Skyrim, whether this was true or not wasn’t known as both sides said that they received the Dragonborn’s support. Never the less, Nepht was disinterested in the ‘hero’ as she didn’t know anything about him…

Or her…

The young Dunmer found the flawless hero of Skyrim to be a little bit lacking, he failed to impress her and soon, she began to turn to other tales to find better, more interesting heroes or stories that didn’t even feature a hero at all.

Nepht approached the iron bars of her cell, all of this ‘talk’ about ‘heroism’ had made her a little adventurous. The Dunmer wrapped her hand around the iron railings of her jail and slid them up and down the bars, pressing her head against the middle bar as she sighed.

As she did, she noticed something, something that had escaped her attention as she’d never been close enough to the bars to notice before. But they were very wide…

The nine year old looked to the bars and tilted her head as she began to wonder how wide they actually were. The Dunmer decided to test it, by reaching her hand through the bars, until her shoulder had passed through and there was still a great deal of space.

She looked back, over her shoulder, to check on her sleeping family, who would probably scold her for trying something so reckless or even worse, encourage her, if it meant escape. Nepht just wanted to see if she could do it, if she could slip out and step outside of her cell.

<p class="Normal1">Maybe she could help her family?

<p class="Normal1">Nepht managed to squeeze her whole body through the bars of her cell, it was a very tight fit but she was able to manage it eventually. She cringed as she felt the metal bars crush her stomach as she slid through them, gasping every few steps as she found it difficult to breath, however, after a minute of squeezing herself through the bars, she had made it to the other side.

<p class="Normal1">The Dunmer turned around and looked back at her cell, her heart was pounding as she feared that someone would walk in and see her, outside of her cell. But nobody seemed to be coming to investigate; she appeared to be getting away with it…

<p class="Normal1">Nepht turned around and approached the door, logic and common sense had managed to slip through the bars in her head, leaving her to deal with this situation alone. The child felt somewhat confident or appeared to be confident, in reality, she was secretly terrified.

<p class="Normal1">Nepht stopped at the large wooden door, seeing that it had a ring of rope for a handle, which looked rather worn. She tilted her head as she saw that the battered wooden door had more than a few scratches, chips and dents in it, it must have been here long before her captor and his ilk had arrived…

<p class="Normal1">The nine year old reached up for the frizzy rope handle and wrapped her fingers around it; she began to pull on it, putting in a great deal of effort as the door slowly opened. The Dunmer moved back as she dragged the door, to open it as wide as possible before peering around it…

<p class="Normal1">Empty…

<p class="Normal1">Nobody was on watch; the entire cave was desolate…

<p class="Normal1">Nepht gazed around the living area in front of her, by her side, there was a pile of old rags, which used to be the clothes of captives that were less fortunate than herself. She saw a table, covered in dry blood and heavily stained from where someone had been butchered on it.

<p class="Normal1">The Dunmer winced and looked away as she slowly shuffled through the cave, holding herself to stop herself from shaking. The whole cave stank of death, the cave was cold and damp and there was little to no life here.

<p class="Normal1">That Breton had the cannibals living like vampires, secluded from the world; presumably to protect themselves as cannibals were more abominable than vampires as they willingly chose to consume the flesh of human beings.

<p class="Normal1">Nepht wandered out, seeing the door, in her line of sight, it was so close…

<p class="Normal1">She would have ran but she barely had the courage to walk in her current timid shuffle, even this pace was ‘too fast’ for her as she fought her own mind, which was telling her to go back and run to the safety of her family, back to her cage, where she was, relatively safe…

<p class="Normal1">Still, she pushed on, perhaps it was the boredom or thinking of heroes or maybe she just couldn’t take being underground in the dark anymore, either way? She was determined to leave this place and maybe find help…

<p class="Normal1">The Child stopped in front of the door, finding herself intimidated by it as she began to doubt herself. What about her family?

<p class="Normal1">I can get help for them…

<p class="Normal1">What about the dangers, in the wilderness?

<p class="Normal1">So long as I stick to the road, I should be okay…

<p class="Normal1">What if… he finds her?

<p class="Normal1">Nepht swallowed as she raised her trembling arms, hoping to reach up to the door handle and open it. Somehow, even though she had seen that the room behind her was empty, she felt like she was doing this in front of an audience, who were on the edge of their seats as they waited to see if she had the guts to defy them.

<p class="Normal1">The Dunmer felt the rough rope, which hung from the crevice in the door, slowly wrapping her fingers around it, like it was capable of bursting into flames. She grew heavily focussed on beating her instincts to just go back, while she could…

<p class="Normal1">“You’re out late…” A voice said, from behind. Nepht immediately recognised it, her hands dropped to her sides, her back straightened and she froze on the spot, like a soldier waiting to be put to ease by a commanding officer.

<p class="Normal1">She heard some heavy footsteps approach her, occasionally the chinks on his outfit would clink and clatter, just adding to her distress. Nepht closed her eyes and began to shake, she should feel sick but strangely, her stomach felt empty, hollow. Her heart was beating out of her chest; her little fists shook as she shivered in fear…

<p class="Normal1">The footsteps stopped, her captor gave her a second to reflect on what she had done or maybe to try and predict what was in store for her. Whatever she was supposed to be thinking about, her trail of thought was cut short as her captor snatched at her hair and yanked at it, causing her to cry out in pain as she grabbed at his hand, stumbling backwards, so that she was closer to him.

<p class="Normal1">“What are you doing out of your cage!?” He bawled in her ear, trying to be heard over her terrified sobbing and whining. The cannibal failed to get a response out of her, which was incredibly frustrating. After a few seconds of tolerating this insolence, he raised his hand and hit the child across the face, mostly to snap her out of it. Predictably, Nepht cried out and staggered. She’d never been hit before, not by another person and never that hard.

<p class="Normal1">Striking her didn’t seem to be working, which was fine with him as it just meant that he could punish her more. He snatched her hair again and dragged her along, causing her to cry out as she was yanked along by the wires on the top of her head, which was now throbbing from the beating and the constant tugging of her hair.

<p class="Normal1">She noticed that the Breton was pulling her towards his office, the one room that nobody but him was allowed to go in, if you went in there, you weren’t likely to come back out alive…

<p class="Normal1">The first thing that Nepht noticed was the smell; it hit her like a horse’s kick, causing her stomach to churn in recognition as she began to gag. She could hear the flies, buzzing around, the only things on Nirn that weren’t repulsed by the office’s stench or the one who dwells inside…

<p class="Normal1">The Dunmer began to fight back, her body wanted to get away from this foul odor as she could no longer stand it. Her eyes were watering, it hurt to breath it in and she repeatedly gagged to the point that it looked like she was going to throw up or that she was hyperventilating. Her Breton captor paid no attention to this, rolling his eyes as he pulled her along, pushing her in front of him and eventually shoving her forward, causing her to stumble and fall to the floor.

<p class="Normal1">Nepht immediately groaned, her fingers curled up and her hands began to shake as she brought her knees to her chest and curled up into a ball, resting her nose against her thighs, so that she could block the smell out and the infernal buzzing of flies.

<p class="Normal1">The heavy footsteps approached her, prompting her to gasp as she heard her captor approach, though he didn’t seem like he was in a hurry this time as he had her where he wanted her and there wasn’t anywhere that she could run to…

<p class="Normal1">He stopped, looming over her and looking down, with a grin on his face, a crazed look in his eyes… Nepht slowly turned her head to face him, her eyes meeting his as she immediately noticed the scar on his face, cutting vertically from his forehead to his cheek, passing over his eye.

<p class="Normal1">He looked like one of the heroes from the books, how the warriors had really impressive scars on their faces and bodies…

<p class="Normal1">The Dunmer found herself forgetting about the smell, breathing in a little deeper and choking on the bad air as it stung the back of her throat. She choked, leaning forward and coughing up a lung in response as the retching odor was stronger here, to the point that it was overpowering. How was this Breton able to breathe so easily?

<p class="Normal1">“Wh… What is that sme-…” Nepht looked around and saw two pale feet, dangling by her head, her jaw dropped in terror as her eyes began to shimmer and dance from side to side as she slowly moved away from them, taking in what she was looking at.

<p class="Normal1">The child looked to her left and her right as she backed away, looking all around and quickly finding the source of the smell. The Breton had seen fit as to hang his victims, in the state that they were murdered in, leaving them to rot in his office.

<p class="Normal1">All of the bodied bore horrific scars across their stomachs, chests, backs, throats. Their clothes were heavily stained red and their flesh had gone a greenish colour, from the decay. Nearly all of the corpses had their mouth’s hung open and a look of terror or pain in their eyes, forever plastered to their faces, which was presumably why Nepht’s captor kept them as a trophy.

<p class="Normal1">Nepht’s eyes began to well up, from the distress of seeing the bodies but also due to the vile stench that they emitted. She stumbled back in horror before spinning around, to face the other bodies, occasionally squawking or gagging in response as she fell to her knees and began to heave. She shook in fear, too afraid to know whether or not she wanted to go back to her mother’s side, the young Dunmer would have settled for anything, so long as it wasn’t in this room…

<p class="Normal1">By now, her captor had pulled up a chair and placed it in front of her, a spectator to her suffering. He leant back, with a grin, placing one hand on his knee and resting his ankle on his other knee.

<p class="Normal1">“I’m going to ask you again…” He began, seeming a lot calmer, though his voice still shook with rage as he was still infuriated by her defiance.

<p class="Normal1">“Why are you out of your cage?”

<p class="Normal1">Nepht looked up at him, meeting his, slightly hazy, blue eyes. Hers shimmered in response, due to the tears and the fact that she was trembling.

<p class="Normal1">“I…” She began, desperately trying to get a word in, to avoid another slap.

<p class="Normal1">“I was trying to…” She choked, she couldn’t lie to him as he’d know and then he’d be even angrier, possibly picking up, where he left off on the beating.

<p class="Normal1">“I wanted to escape!”

<p class="Normal1">The Breton just stared at her, he was somewhat impressed with her courage to be honest with him, not that he’d admit that of course. He sighed, as if he was disappointed, like she had a reward waiting for her, if she had been a good little prisoner.

<p class="Normal1">“Look, little girl…”

<p class="Normal1">“No!” Nepht snapped at him, she couldn’t think of what had possessed her to do so. Despite being terrified, she found herself building up enough determination to defy him further…

<p class="Normal1">“No?”

<p class="Normal1">“I…” Nepht trembled, slowly pulling herself to her feet as she stood on legs of jelly.

<p class="Normal1">“I can’t take it anymore! It’s dark and I can’t sleep on the floor and… and… I…”

<p class="Normal1">The Breton just raised his hand, cutting her whining short as he was too busy to deal with it… He exhaled, heavily, in her face, relieving some of the tension inside.

<p class="Normal1">“What is your name?” He asked, sternly, giving her a murderous glare, with his crazed eyes. Though he seemed to be in control, his own insane nature was a rabid dog and he held its leash, ready to set it on anyone foolish enough to defy him.

<p class="Normal1">“N-Nepht…”

<p class="Normal1">“Nepht? Okay, ‘Nepht’…” The Breton got up and began to pace around the room, seemingly unphased by the fact that he occasionally bumped into his ‘décor’ and caused it to swing from side to side. He put his hands around his back and slowly paced around her, glaring at her, the entire time, like a hawk.

<p class="Normal1">“This place is mine… Everyone in it? They’re mine to…” The Breton stopped as he made his way behind her back, Nepht didn’t look as she didn’t want to look at the corpses again. She knelt down, cringing and occasionally sniffling as her captor aced around her…

<p class="Normal1">The Breton grabbed her by the hair again, only this time; it was a little softer as he slowly coaxed her head and prompted it to lean back. Nepht found herself obeying as he would just jerk her head back, if she tried to resist.

<p class="Normal1">“I don’t like it when my property wanders off…” He whispered in her ear, putting his hand under her chin and taking a tight grip of her face, digging his fingers under her ears.

<p class="Normal1">“Most of the prisoners that do… ‘wander off’ often end up dead.” He whispered, pulling her head back a little more, so that his mouth was just hovering over her ear.

<p class="Normal1">“Maybe you should think about that… The next time you ‘want to escape’…” He finished by giving her a tap on the cheek, with his hand, though it was quite hard and the last of the taps felt like a light slap. There was little force in the strikes but it was enough to force Nepht to have to shuffle, to get upright as it nearly knocked her off balance.

<p class="Normal1">The Dunmer wanted to whisper ‘yes sir’ or not say anything at all, she wasn’t sure what made her want to, whether it was the defiant nature of her father, her aunt, her grandfather or maybe all three. Maybe it was neither and she was just going crazy, from being underground…

<p class="Normal1">“T-T-This isn’t much different to b-b-being dead…” She replied, instantly getting a smile from her captor as he was sort of enjoying her rebellious stints…

<p class="Normal1">“Oh? You don’t think so?” He asked, slowly rising to his feet and causing Nepht to cringe as she found herself cursing her own stupidity.

<p class="Normal1">She shook, fear stopping her from thinking clearly, the stench and the fact that all of her energy was being used to suppress her emotions. She found herself even more distressed as the Breton walked away, approaching something on the far side of the room. What was she trying to prove? Antagonising this mad man? She wanted to say something, beg, clear the air between them, so that she could go back to her cell and suffer in silence.

<p class="Normal1">But he had other plans…

<p class="Normal1">She hadn’t been paying attention but he was walking back over to her, approaching her from behind and bending down slightly to grab her, by her long hair again, pulling her back. Nepht cried out and screamed, suddenly bursting into tears as she felt her hands go cold and she began to claw at his, to force him to let go, even for a second and relieve her of the pain. Her Captor turned her around and dragged her over to a coffin, holding her up to face it.

<p class="Normal1">“Let’s see how it compares…”

<p class="Normal1">He opening the door and revealing the rotting corpse of a fallen cannibal. The cannibal was a Bosmer man, who wore green, sack like clothes. Most of his hair had fallen out and his skin had gone a greenish colour, due to the decay.

<p class="Normal1">   His head titled to the side as his neck was no longer supporting it and his eyelids had long gone, along with most of his facial details. He looked like an inactive zombie, staring at them, with his mouth agape. The smell was repulsive, which burst out in their faces, the stink of the rotting body and the gangrene like infection in his leg hit the two of them like a battering ram.

<p class="Normal1">Nepht immediately screamed in response, pulling herself back and finding the back of her skull touching her captor’s hand. The Breton showed no remorse or hesitation as he slowly pushed her towards the open casket, she began to cry out in fear and disgust as she was shoved closer and closer to the rotting corpse. She began gasp, cry and splutter incoherent pleas as she was brought inches away from the body in front of her. The Dunmer looked back, meeting her captor’s eyes, who just seemed to nod, telling her to give in and do as she was told.

<p class="Normal1">“P-Please!”

<p class="Normal1">The Breton found some more strength or maybe he was saving it for this moment, either way, he managed to overpower her and force her up against the dead body, crushing Nepht against its chest before slamming the wooden lid shut.

<p class="Normal1">He then tipped the coffin forward, causing it to fall on the lid, trapping her inside, with the rotting body lay on top of her. The entire time, Nepht screamed her lungs out, crying and wailing as the weight of the corps pinned her down. She felt its flaky skin brush against her cheek as she thrashed, kicked and screamed. The thin, weakening hairs brushed against her closed eyelids, her tears clung to it.

<p class="Normal1">The Dunmer could feel the corpse’s bare teeth and the rotting skin around it, which was still decaying press against her shoulder, which was exposed as her dress was too big for her. The corpse was somewhat light, so it wasn’t difficult to breath but she found herself unable to move as the corpse’s limbs pinned her to the ‘ground.’

<p class="Normal1">“No, g-get it off!” Nepht pleaded, screaming her lungs out for her captor’s attention. The Dunmer’s throat had been hurting for some time and her voice went raspy as she strained her vocal chords. The Breton found himself amused by her distress, placing his boot on the casket and pinning the lid to the floor, his weight wasn’t needed as the casket weighed a ton and the rotting corpse did a good job of pinning Nepht down on its own.

<p class="Normal1">“Now do you think that being dead is worse?” Her captor mocked, walking away and taking a seat on the chair as he watched her, placing his feet on the casket.

<p class="Normal1">“I’m sorry, j-just… '''Please! '''Get it off!” Nepht’s voice was broken from all of the screaming but she choked on her words, due to the fear of being trapped, in a box, with a rotting corpse. Her plea was met with silence as the Breton just watched intently, almost mesmerised by the beauty of it all. He leant back in his chair and placed his foot on his knee and smiled as he enjoyed ‘the show.’

<p class="Normal1">The Dunmer, getting no answer, assumed that he had left, she began to shiver as she tried to think of something to say, something that would appease him but there were no words in the common tongue that would appease the wrath of her captor. Having exhausted all of her options, she began to cry, sniffing and letting the tears run down her temples and fill her hair and ears.

<p class="Normal1">She wept, softly to herself as she lost control of her nerves, she began to shake, unable to think or feel anything but fear. She began to sob to herself, closing her eyes and sniffing as she faced her problems alone…

<p class="Normal1">

<p class="Normal1">Over the next few hours, Nepht went through several cycles of stress as she found herself overcome by the smell and the fear. The feeling of the corpse’s exposed ribcage jutting out, into her stomach kept her awake as did the smell and the fear that the corpse would come to life or even break on her.

<p class="Normal1">She closed her eyes as more tears built up, finding herself overwhelmed by her inability to move. How long would she stay like this? An hour? Two hours? A night? A whole day? A week?

<p class="Normal1">…

<p class="Normal1">Forever?

<p class="Normal1">Mum… Tabith… Grandad… 

<p class="Normal1">H-Help… P-Please!

<p class="Normal1">More distress caught up with her as she began to dwell on her previous thought, how long had she been in here. An hour to a child was an eternity and when she couldn’t see the passage of time, unable to occupy herself with anything as she was pressed against the floor by the rotting Bosmer on top of her and her mind was overwhelmed by its foul odor…

<p class="Normal1">Dad? She decided to ask, as if he was in her head, waiting to respond.

<p class="Normal1">Where are you!?

<p class="Normal1">She continued to shake, whining and mumbling all sorts of mad ramblings as she found herself unable to construct a sentence out loud. She started to gasp, breathing heavily as she found herself growing desperate again. Nepht began to howl and scream, hoping to be heard, if not by the Breton, by one of his people, surely one of them must have had a heart.

<p class="Normal1">…

<p class="Normal1">Right?

<p class="Normal1">-

<p class="Normal1">Nepht went through the same cycle, over and over, multiple times over the course of the night. She’d panic, cry, scream until her throat hurt and she began to cough and then go back to crying… The Dunmer had been in there so long, she wasn’t sure how long but it must have been hours at least, it felt like an eternity but it had probably only been fifteen minutes or something small like that. She could feel her stomach gnawing away at her, from the heaving but mostly from boredom or maybe it was disgust, either way she had finally broken her cycle, lying there, staring into the pitch black void above her as she wondered when her Breton captor would come back.

<p class="Normal1">Why did he have to do this to her? Nobody saw her try to escape, he could have just took her back to her cell, maybe hit her once, if he really had to. Why did she have to see that… tomb? Why was she in here!?

<p class="Normal1">Nepht closed her eyes and looked over to the corpse, seeing the broken skin, behind its ear and noticing that his ear must have been cut in half at some point in his life. That would have been an interesting story to hear; maybe he was a pirate or something. Nepht lost herself in trying to figure out this man’s past, what would he think of this? If he was… alive right now, what would his reaction have been? Well, probably not as bad as hers, she didn’t smell anywhere near as bad, though she probably does now…

<p class="Normal1">He probably would have gotten mad at her for screaming blood murder, right next to his ear but then again he wouldn’t be in here, if he was alive, would he? Nepht sighed at her own stupidity as she began to cast the thought out of her head, though thinking was good as it stopped her from focussing on the smell or the feeing of his teeth and the flesh around them pressing into her shoulder.

<p class="Normal1">I shouldn’t have talked back to him… She thought, glumly.

<p class="Normal1">I shouldn’t have made him mad…

<p class="Normal1">Nepht closed her eyes and began to think about other things, anything that made her happy… The young Dunmer tried to recall some of her grandfather’s war stories, it was rare that she heard them as he only told them after drinking a lot of ale and if mum was in the room, she’d always shut him up.

<p class="Normal1">In his youth, he fought in the Imperial Legion, taking up his sword and marching into battle in Morrowind, Skyrim, north east Cyrodiil… Apparently, he met Nepht’s grandmother on tour and returned to the small village, where they met to marry her, several months later. Nepht was never fortunate enough to remember her grandmother, though this was possibly a good thing as she didn’t want her anyway…

<p class="Normal1">Kind of like her father, though it was his fault that she didn’t want her. Her grandmother saw her as a burden and scolded Laalia for being so stupid as to let some grubby sailor knock her up and leave her with nothing. According to Tabith, it was her grandfather who stepped in and demanded that she backed off as he was overjoyed with the news.

<p class="Normal1">Nepht continued to stare upward at the ceiling, sighing heavily as she lingered on this thought… A thought that often came to her, when she was alone or felt lonely or afraid. No, thinking was only making things worse, perhaps a less sensitive topic… like home?

<p class="Normal1">Her true home, a small fishing village that most map makers would roll their eyes, if they had to make the effort of putting a small dot on the paper and write its name under it. It was okay as a home, living by the sea had its plusses and the other children were pleasant but not many people spoke to her or her family. Nepht liked to keep to herself, turning to her own thoughts for company but she didn’t despise the company of others, in fact, she often longed for it, especially in moments like this one…

<p class="Normal1">-

<p class="Normal1">Nepht heard a creaking sound in the darkness, prompting her to wake up as she felt the box move around her. It rocked from side to side, causing her to wince and moan in disgust as the corpse rocked from side to side on top of her. Then, without warning, she felt herself roll over, the corpse’s burden finally lifted off of her as the box was tipped, right side up. Nepht raised her head, panting heavily as she tried to push herself up but the lid stopped her.

<p class="Normal1">She heard it scuff as her captor unfastened it and tore it off, throwing it to the side before snatching at her hair again, dragging her out of the box. Nepht shrieked, not just, because of her hair but because her whole body was aching… Her right wrist, left hand, her shins and ankles, not to mention her hips, her eyes and her throat. The Breton pulled her out and dragged her along; she clutched his hands and kicked, half heartedly as she was too exhausted to put up a struggle…

<p class="Normal1">The Dunmer was eventually dropped to her hands and knees as the Breton pulled the chair closer to her, obviously getting frustrated with the tedium of bringing her to the chair. Nepht’s arms buckled as she put some weight under her arms, forcing her to let go and bring herself back up to her knees.

<p class="Normal1">He placed it in front of her and gestured to it, looking a lot calmer than he was last night, though a little tired. It was obvious now that he had been in the room with her, all night, watching her go through her cycles, unable to break eye contact with the coffin.

<p class="Normal1">The Breton picked her up and placed her in the chair, prompting the nine year old to scream, whenever he touched her. She sat there shivering as it was early in the morning and the cave was cold as it was, not to mention her nerves…

<p class="Normal1">Her captor stood over her, relishing ever moment that he was intimidating her. He stood in silence, letting the lack of atmosphere sink in as Nepht brought her hands up to her arms, feeling clammy and cold as the corpse’s effect rubbed off on her…

<p class="Normal1">“So… Was that better than your little cage?” Her captor asked, giving her a smile, like he was expecting her to have enjoyed that.

<p class="Normal1">Nepht just shook her head, her bloodshot eyes filling up with tears as she found herself too scared to speak.

<p class="Normal1">“Well… If you try to escape again, you’ll go back in a box like that…” Her captor whispered, leaning forward and hovering his face a few inches away from hers, so that she felt his breath hit her face as he spoke.

<p class="Normal1">“Only this time? It’ll be your box…”

<p class="Normal1">Nepht stared at him, her shoulders sunk, like her ribcage had vanished and her torso was caving in on itself. She shrank before him as she looked up at him, eyes wide with terror…

<p class="Normal1">“You can’t escape me… Even if you get through that door, I will find you and drag you back to your little box and you can spend some more quality time with Tadell over there…” He gestured back to the open coffin before looking back to the Dunmer, whose knees trembled and her little fingers curled around and interlocked, almost like she was praying.

<p class="Normal1">The Breton wasn’t satisfied with this, so he grabbed her face and forced her head up, so that she’d meet his eye, staring into hers…

<p class="Normal1">“And then?” He began bringing his hand up to her ear and taking a tight grip of it as he pulled her face closer to his, pressing his forehead against hers as he stared into her eyes.

<p class="Normal1">“I will drag a carpenter’s knife across your throat as slowly as I can and watch you drown in your own blood…”

<p class="Normal1">He pulled away as he finished, slowly resting his back against the back of his chair as he kept his gaze fixed on the Dunmer girl as he watched her reaction, which was somewhat predictable. She choked and sniffed, her hands shook a little but he couldn’t tell what was going on inside her head.

<p class="Normal1">“C-C-C-C-Can I g-g-g-go now?” Nepht pleaded, the first thing that she had said all morning, the one thing on her mind. She looked up at him, with big, round, shiny eyes, which were full of tears; it would have melted her captor’s heart, if he had one.

<p class="Normal1">“Soon…” He began before getting up and kneeling down besides her, sighing heavily, like he didn’t want to do this but in truth, he was enjoying every moment of it.

<p class="Normal1">“But… Y’see? I’ve wasted my whole evening because of you.” He began, though this was an outright lie as again, he had enjoyed every moment of it.

<p class="Normal1">“I’ve given up a lot of time to teach you this lesson of humility; don’t you think that I should get something in return?” He asked as he got up, standing over her and taking a tight grip on her shoulders.

<p class="Normal1">“Wh-What do you mean?” Nepht asked, voice filled with dread as she looked to him as his face approached hers.

<p class="Normal1">“Well…” He whispered, she could feel his breath on her neck and began to feel uncomfortable, prompting her to pull away, enraging him further. The Breton snatched her ear and hair again, pulling her back and hitting her across the face again, causing her to cry out in pain and fall off of her chair. She was grabbed by the hair and pulled back up, forced to sit on the chair as she felt him get closer to her neck again, to terrified to notice the door creak behind her.

<p class="Normal1">“Edgar!”

<p class="Normal1">The Breton pulled away, looking incredibly frustrated at the intruder, an Imperial woman, in white robes, who stood timidly in the doorway, despite the confidence in her voice.

<p class="Normal1">“That’s… Enough!” She added, her hands shaking from rage or fear or possibly both.

<p class="Normal1">Edgar frowned and looked back to Nepht, suddenly growing disinterested in her. The Dunmer hung her head and snivelled, waiting for a thrashing or… worse…

<p class="Normal1">“Nepht? Go to your room… ‘Mummy’ and I have some things to discuss…” Edgar said, getting Nepht’s attention as she looked up to meet his gaze.

<p class="Normal1">The Dunmer didn’t need to be told twice, she hopped off of her chair and quickly got out of ‘Edgar’s’ sight, stopping at the door as she turned to the kind Imperial woman.

<p class="Normal1">“Th-Thank you…”

<p class="Normal1">“Go!” Edgar’s bawled at her, his voice echoing around the cave.

<p class="Normal1">“Now!”

<p class="Normal1">Nepht jumped out of her skin and ran back to her cell, the Imperial woman stepped in, she knew what to expect, she knew what was in store for her and yet, she was still shaking. The wooden door shut behind her, like the cave was being controlled by Edgar and it wanted to seal her in with the Brute.

<p class="Normal1">The sound of his hand, striking his healer echoed throughout the caves, filling Nepht’s ears as she shuffled to her cage, whimpering and sobbing. The Dunmer stepped back inside and approached the cage, greeted by the confused eyes of her family, who stood staring at her, confused to see her on the other side of the cage but relieved to see that she was alright.

<p class="Normal1">Nepht stumbled towards them; her legs were shaky as she approached them, finding themselves excited at the thought of giving way, even though she hadn’t used them for hours. She approached the cell and gently leant against the space between the bars, slowly stepping inside. She slipped through the bars and approached her family, almost immediately breaking and running over to them for support, throwing herself into her grandfather’s arms and sobbing loudly against his shoulder.

<p class="Normal1">Tabith and Laalia looked to each other before placing their hands on Nepht’s shoulders as Helseth shushed her, softly and cradled her, side to side. As he closed his eyes and wrapped his bear-like hands around the small Dunmer’s head as she shook in his arms, crying into his shirt collar.

<p class="Normal1">“It’s okay…” Helseth whispered, slowly lifting her off and getting a look at her face. She looked at him with bright, glistening eyes before lunging forward and embracing him again sobbing into his shirt.

<p class="Normal1">

<p class="Normal1">“It’s okay…” Veneficus whispered, letting her weep into his robes.

<p class="Normal1">-

<p class="Normal1">Nepht’s eyes slowly opened as she awoke in Grandma Chloe’s house, she blinked, rapidly as everything blurred into focus, like she was recovering from a hangover. She had no idea where she was or what she was doing there…

<p class="Normal1">The Dunmer sat up and looked around, noticing that somebody was sat opposite her, in an arm chair. The person blurred into focus and Nepht recognised her, almost immediately…

<p class="Normal1">Manja?

<p class="Normal1">The Nord hadn’t spotted her, until she had fully blurred into focus, she put her book to one side and sat up as Nepht awoke.

<p class="Normal1">“You’re awake!”

<p class="Normal1">“Wh-Where… Am I?” Nepht slurred, she felt like she had been kicked by a horse a few times. Manja ran over to her and sat on a wooden stool beside her as the armchair was too big to move.

<p class="Normal1">Nepht’s last memory of Manja was at lake Arrius, more than six months ago, of course to Nepht it felt like a few days ago. The Nord looked at Nepht differently than she did then, more concerned, like she was a close friend.

<p class="Normal1">“You’re…” Manja paused, knowing that she wouldn’t know who ‘Grandma Chloe’ was.

<p class="Normal1">“You’re safe… That’s all that matters.”

<p class="Normal1">Nepht looked at her, somewhat bothered by this as the last thing that she could remember was Lucian going on his errand. She was sat around, waiting for him to come back and… she couldn’t remember. Did she fall asleep? Might have but why was she in this house? It clearly wasn’t in Riften or the Rift; in fact she wasn’t entirely sure that she was in Skyrim.

<p class="Normal1">“Was I in danger?” Nepht asked, looking to Manja as her eyes widened.

<p class="Normal1">“Am I in danger now?”

<p class="Normal1">Manja smiled and shook her head, taking a seat on Nepht’s bed, sinking into the mattress as she took the Dunmer’s hand to calm her down.

<p class="Normal1">“No, you aren’t…” She smiled; patting her hand before pulling hers away, it must feel awkward, considering that she won’t remember anything about their time together. The Nord sighed as she came to terms with it, glancing away before resting her face in her hands.

<p class="Normal1">“Manja… What happened? Where’s Lucian?” Nepht asked, sitting up and shaking her head, looking Manja in the eyes.

<p class="Normal1">The Nord looked away, finding it difficult to look Nepht in the eye, knowing what she knew… She had to tell her, she promised that she’d tell her…

<p class="Normal1">“Nepht… What I’m about to tell you will not be easy to hear.” Manja whispered, sighing heavily as their eyes finally met.

<p class="Normal1">“But you have to know…” The Nord took hold of Nepht’s shoulders, building up an account in her head, based on the stories that they had exchanged and what she knew of Nepht’s experience. Manja got to work, telling Nepht about everything but this time she had a hand to hold…