prologue - five of pentacles


Sharenius was one of two identical twins born to Sulthasa Sarothren in Cheydinhal. They were nursed decently, but should have been fed more often. Sulthasa abandoned her children when they were barely six years old. The beggars of Cheydinhal took pity on them, and helped Sharenius and Lleatha by showing them “the ropes”. The twins grew up as urchins and relied on charity to live. The local temple provided them shelter and food when available.
Around their teenage years, the twins were introduced to a life of crime, being errand kids for a small gang, and starting to gain a bad reputation. Because of their criminal notoriety, the temple no longer aided them. When Sharenius was 16, he was overcome with a gruesome illness which caused part of his flesh to rot away. Afterward, it took much healing at the temple and two cure disease potions for it to be truly gone - and it still left very noticeable scars in the affected areas. At this age, Sharenius was heavily dysphoric and was self conscious about his appearance on many levels. After his illness, he stole an Alteration mage’s tomes and started to learn the craft by himself.
In their youth, the twins became actual members of the gang, in which they stayed in and honed their skills until they far surpassed them. At the age of 21 the twins left the gang, and after Sharenius chose his name, Lleatha chose the alias Liarana in solidarity. Afterwards, Lia joined the Thieves Guild, and moved to Kvatch, working as a fence. At the age of 25, Sharenius had fully transitioned with Alteration magic, and changed a great deal about his appearance, clearing his skin and changing the colos of his hair and one eye. Sharenius also made himself much taller, and did the same to his sister when she asked. Though Liarana remained only as a thief and fence, wishing not to become a murderer, Sharenius had much interest in becoming a real assassin, and started combat training, often in the local Fighters’ Guild, which he was, then, a member of.

chapter i - the hanged man


At the age of 27, Sharenius made his first real attempt at being an assassin for hire, but failed the job and was arrested for murder. However, due to chance, or perhaps fate, he escaped three weeks later along with Uriel Septim and his Blades, as they were making their own escape from assassins. The Emperor gave him Amulet of Kings, and he was soon ordered to go to Weynon Priory. Nevertheless, Sharenius is a thief and, as such, behaved like one, setting to Kvatch so his sister could help him fence the Amulet.

He arrived to find the city burning and a menacing portal towering over what remained. Sharenius searched for his sister at the refugee camp, and, upon not finding her, sought to enter the city. He crossed into the gate, slaying the Daedra within and closing it, and entered the city, desperate to find his Leayra. He searched inside the cathedral, as well as in most parts of the burnt town, only to be dragged along by the guards to help drive out the Daedra at the castle. Upon coming back to what once was Kvatch’s plaza, he cast his eyes to the fallen and burnt library, and saw his sister’s body laying lifeless and bloodied on the stone.
Stricken by grief, Sharenius drank as much as he could, and wandered into some ruins so he could kill some things in an attempt to numb his pain, and eventually ended up in Weynon Priory. After giving the Amulet of Kings to a skeptical Jauffre who looked his muddied and bloodied figure with distrust, he had to return to Kvatch to bring the Emperor’s last son left, Brother Martin, to the priory. After some arguing and a lot of rudeness from the dunmer, he managed to drag Martin along with him - only to find that the Amulet had been stolen in his absence. Jauffre then requested that he accompany him and Martin on their way to Cloud Ruler Temple, so he could aid them in the upcoming crisis. He accepted, partially so he could avenge his sister, and partially because as selfish as he could be, he still realized there would be many innocent lives lost in the chaos, and deep inside wished to help.
During the six months the Crisis lasted, Sharenius kept his word and aided the Blades and Martin. Baurus and Sharenius had an easygoing friendship, and Sharenius took to seeing Jauffree as a father figure after a while. Above all, Sharenius became quite close with the future Emperor, Martin, falling in love with him. To his surprise, Martin felt the same, and the two of them lived an intense romance, full of stolen moments of happiness amidst the chaos. The day before leaving for the Imperial City, Sharenius presented Martin with a silver ring of his own making, and Martin, then, offered a ring of his own: an Ayleid Ring of Promise. With that, they mutually decided to elope quickly before the Dragonfires were lit, and Sharenius took his last name.


chapter ii - the tower

Sharenius felt Martin's loss for years to come when he sacrificed himself to save Tamriel. As Baurus died in the Battle of Bruma, and Jauffre also died in the battle for the Imperial City, he was left alone. His only friends were his guildmates in the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild. As the former soon were sent to Sithis - most by Sharenius’s own hands - and he became a vampire, he was soon left with no one.
Feeling stricken with loss, Sharenius used a fake identity to enter the Arena, half in attempt to numb the pain through fighting, half in suicidality. For better or worse, he emerged Grand Champion, and continued to fight until rumors of his real identity as the Hero of Kvatch began to emerge.
He then used another fake identity to join the Mages Guild, thinking that if he joined a normal group for once, and focused on something less chaotic than thievery, assassination, and daedric enemies, he would fare better. Sharenius, as Endryen Mavaris, mtore his way through Mannimarco's Worm Cult and rose to Arch-Mage. As Mavaris, he stayed in the position until the Guild's disbanding.
The unrest during the aftermath of the Oblivion Crisis, as well as their own infighting, caused the Mages Guild to began to tear itself apart. Sharenius was unwilling to compromise his identity and reveal himself as Champion - that title was too sacred, the man he was as champion had died the moment Martin Spetim did - and unmotivated to side with either factions emerging from within the Guild. Before its inevitable disintegration, Sharenius decided to speed up the process by resigning as Arch-Mage, then faking his aliases' death, causing even more unrest within the Guild. Byt he time the Guild was disbanded, and their remains became the Synod and College of Whispers, Sharenius was long gone North, boarding a carriage to Skyrim.
There was nothing left for him in Cyrodiil anymore.

Prologue - The Moon

Every child deserves a parent, but not every parent deserves a child.
When asked about their parents, Lorelei will lie and tell tall tales for the amusement of the asker. Whether or not they believe her becomes secondary. It's for the sake of not giving a single shit about her bloodline.
From stories of a lost witch falling in love with a daedra (hence the horns!), to tales of a bandit battlemaiden seduced by a male siren in one of Skyrim's ponds, every fantasy is game. Anything to hide the fact that her bloodline was fucking bullshit.
Lorelei was born to a Breton farmer and a Nord fisherman in a small cabin near the outskirts of Bruma, Cyrodiil. An unwanted babe born during harsh times, where coin was needed more than anything else.
Northways, to passages that leave the Jerrals, lies a cavern called the Mouth of Morihaus. Home to a coven of warlocks and witches who keep to themselves, and don't bother civilized folk unless it's for trades and deals.
With his pregnant wife Fionna in toll, Heron Whitebeard approached the witches for a deal. "We hear you take children in exchange for coin."
The rest was history. Fionna gave birth, and sent Heron with the babe. He came back with full pockets, and they would want for nothing, and have no more extra mouths to feed. Who cared if the Hagravens roasted the babe for dinner? They were set. That's what mattered.
But the hags and warlocks did not roast any babies that night. Covens as small as Vargáhn do not have the ability to increase their numbers by themselves. Between the witches that die and the ones that leave, the ones that are left are far too few, and oftentimes related, and thus cannot bear children. A covenborn childe is indeed a rarity. As such, they take babes - or deal for them.
It is a rather nefarious thing, but in the eyes of Lorelei, the malice lies in the parents. The coven wanted her. Her parents did not.
Raised by the Hagraven Matriarch, Zeverra Tsashira Hagrunda Sillerius Vex (whom Lorelei just called 'Mama'), she took to pyromancy easily enough, but other magicks confounded her. She, in fact, preferred not to rely to heavily on magic - when it runs out, you can only count on what your physical form can do.
As such, Lorelei trained with bound weapons, first, and later moved to physical ones. Though come coven cousins mocked and jeered, most there respected her enough to leave her be. Her abilities as some sort of jack of all trades were useful enough that many coven cousins even admired her for it.
Lorelei was one of the coven's more outgoing witches, prone to going alone to Bruma to trade and gather supplies from the young age of fourteen. Innocent and full of wanderlust, and eager to learn what she could. She was also one of the few members who did not trade their physicality for power, earning her the title "Beladona". Both a compliment to her beauty, and a jeer towards her vanity and lack of ambition. Beladona di Vargáhn, far too vain or far too weak to trade ephemeral, fleeting beauty for power. That decision managed to be the only one that earned Mama's disapproval, but nothing came of it. Mama did as she always had done, gave Lorelei a lecture, an exasperated sigh that, from a Hagraven, ends up sounding like a shrill crow's caw.
But none of it mattered to Lorelei. Mama understood her well enough, and raised her well, but Lorelei would never succeed her, and they both knew it. Lorelei knew painfully well that she was a disappointment, even if Mama wouldn't bear to say it. Her consort, Zutra, was more honest with her own views. "Why aren't you the way you're meant to be? The way you're supposed to be, Lorelei? We didn't raise you to be a lousy footsoldier." Zutra said once, drunk in red wine and disapproval.
Lorelei knew well she wasn't who she'd been raised to be. She knew why, too. Though she was well in her few skills, it'd never be enough if it wasn't what Zutra had in mind for her. Not to mention it was harder for Lorelei - mind was touched by Sheogorath, she thought. Mood swings and depressive bursts that hindered her moves. And that curse only got worse.
Mama wanted her to broaden her knowledge, since she was easygoing with the world outside, and allowed her, at sixteen, to attend lectures from scholars in what had once been a Mages Guild hall. Somehow, Lorelei found herself drawn to a boy. One year older than her, and smarter than what she thought she was. And though he treated her poorly, eventually they became friends. Afterwards, some sort of entanglement. Lorelei refuses to call it love - she never loved him, and doesn't understand how on Nirn the things he did could ever be called love. The boy preyed on her vulnerability, and on her own inferiority complex. He wanted to feel large, so he made her even smaller than she already felt. Manipulative and egotistical, and eventually coercing her into sex when she wasn't sure. Manipulating her into sayign yes, because a no meant being treated like nothing.
Lorelei never understood quite why she allowed it. Perhaps she'd loathed herself so much that she viewed it as rightful punishment. Perhaps she just didn't care enough what happened to her. But for over a year she went through it with that boy, and then, suddenly, her eyes opened. A mood shift so sudden, that Lorelei, looking back, thinks perhaps Sheogorath was finally looking out for her, by having her curse favor herself for once.
In that sudden shift, Lorelei ended things, left him, and never returned to Bruma, or anywhere near that boy. But the damage was done.

Chapter I - The Star

Aged twenty-six, and feeling like she's done nothing with her life, Lorelei is mellowed out from her years of rage and trauma. She accepts, somewhat, that she won't amount to anything. Accepts that she is still worth something even if, to her own eyes, what she's done with life has been worthless.
The coven is tense, those days. Their supplies dwindle faster, and their numbers aren't what they used to be. Zutra wants to start protecting themselves instead of hiding, but Mama doesn't want attention drawn to Vargáhn. When adventurers or bandits stumble into the cave, the instruction has always been to hide. Let them take whatever they want. No material wealth is worth their life.
But long gone are their days of actually having any wealth, and with the aftermath of a war in the countryside, everything si harder for everyone. Bruma crawls with High Elven mages, and Zutra fears their days are numbered if they do not establish a strong, secure foothold in their own territory. But Mama believes any offensive tactics will do the opposite; they'll draw attention to themselves and make a target out of the coven. Zutra and Mama argue for hours, cawing and screeching, until, one day, Mama coughs out blood in an argument.
The next week, a group of adventurers wanders into the cave, looking for a place to settle or to steal from. The coven hides, begrudingly, but Zutra and a few of her own grow tense, and enraged, as they take the coven's supplies for themselves. Finally, Zutra and a few warlocks descend upon the adventurers. They attack, and though Mama tries to stop the fight, once it's going, it is nothing but a flurry of spells. Lorelei s at a distance, never one to fight head on, and showers the intruders with fireballs and arrows, until they all lie dead by the hands of the coven.
But they did not go down without taking a life. Mama's body lies still, pale, and bleeding from her mouth. Zutra tries to calm Lorelei, it was inevitble, Mama was old, we'll give her a proper cremation- Nothing matters to Lorelei. Mama is dead, and what will stop her from taking her own life now? She lived for Mama, the only thing that stopped her own hand from dragging a dagger across her own throat was the thought of Mama. And now, Mama's dead.
Lorelei does not go through with any suicidality. If she were younger, she thinks, then she would have been angry and melancholy enough to do it. But she is older now, more mature, and she does, in fact, value her life. It's not what Mama would want.
With Mama's death, the coven is divided. Zutra and some warlocks want to be on the offensive, but a handful, including Lorelei, still believe in what Mama used to say.
In a dark and rainy Sundas, the coven is split. Lorelei leaves with four coven cousins, headed to orphan Rock, in Skyrim, where they'd be more isolated from the perils that lie south of the Jerralls.
But they're caught. An Imperial ambush ahead, and the only way they could make it is if someone distracted them - takes one for the team. Lorelei knows what she has to do. The cousins are young, full of life. Lorelei is mroe experienced as a fighter. She will give herself to the Imperials for crossing the border, and the cousins can make their way. And, so, she stumbles with purpose on the ambush, while her cousins, with sad teary eyes, run away to Orphan Rock.
First, she's being stripped of her belongings, then knocked out for her fuss - a necessary fuss, how else can she keep their attention away from her cousins long enough? - and then, she's waking up near three Nords, one of them gagged for whatever reason. They make it to the chopping block, and even thoughshe's not on the Imperials' precious list, their captain wants her head along with these "Stormcloaks" she just met. Lorelei focuses her Magicka, and when she's lying still on the block, she will unleash her terrible fury even if it burns her to a crisp, so long as she can cloak herself in massive flames. They've bound her hands with a Paladin's bindings, as to prevent her from casting spells, but she knows the old Magick well, and these Imperials will pay the price.
Except, wheh the fire storm comes, it does not come from lorelei. It comes from the shadow of a massive beast in the sky, it comes from its maw, its very breath is fire, and the outpost is soon in shambles. Lorelei stares at the monster, even as her fellow prisoner beckons her inside a tower. The gods won't give us another chance!. She stares at the winged death's red eyes, stares for what feels like eternity, like time itself is distorted by that being's very presence. The red of its eyes fill her mind, and she hears it, clear as day, inside her head:
"ZU'U ALDUIN, TIID AHST OBLAAN!"
A song unsong, a world undone. Lorelei runs into the tower, and time flows again. But for how long?