Jarl Balgruuf The Greatest

Reality is often disappointing, that's what I learned, but these last few days leading up to the march on the shielded city have really reinforced it.

 Let me catch you up to speed.

 That camp near the oasis has been taken and the fallout was massive for me, when the Redguards got there to see the Thalmor basically giving up, they had a lot of questions.

 And were surprised when the Thalmor said we were attacking them for days.

 It all traced back to me for sure, but they couldn't do anything without solid evidence.

 But I got kicked out, and I'm sure I burnt down the bridges there for years to come for myself but hey, nothing of value was lost. Another thing, those boats I sent to the shielded city?

 Well…

 The docks and the sea have been on fire for the last few days.

 How water catches on fire is none of my business, probably magic mumbo-jumbo but hey, it's completely stopped the Thalmor navy from getting reinforcements, as the current fleet is currently a nautical mile below.

 The cities' dock is still on fire and guess what? It's spread to the rest of the city to the point that the shield has gone down.

 Whatever was powering it burnt down.

 Thalmor worshipping Daedric God of Rape 0 Balgruuf The Ballin' 1

 Fuck you, Molag Bal.

 So let's talk about that city, it's currently half burnt down and the Alik'r warriors have finally arrived to assist us, apparently the Redguards we were with were just stand ins.

 Alik'r warriors are so much better than the nobles as well, when they got here, they immediately took control from them and left them with no choice but to smile and nod.

 I'm taking notes.

 The Alik'r commander that I'm now working with, yep with not for. Is an competent man, not baring his age which is older than me, but he actually listens to me, even if he mainly rejects my ideas, he allows me the outward appearance of 'thinking about it'

 I'm not upset by it, I'm thankful for it. Instead of being told to fuck off in fancy words I'm instead told that won't work and here's why, it's in my opinion how leaders should lead.

 Am I hyping him up?

 Probably.

 But I've a good reason for it! He stopped the nobles from accusing me of treason and wrestled control away from them completely, I've basically no choice but to side with him, it's simply a matter of debt.

 But let's get to the meat of this thought process of mine.

 Molag Bal.

 Daedric Prince? Check.

 Vampire? Check.

 Rape? Check.

 Dickhead? Check.

 Anger? Rising.

 Look, I hated Molag Bal in the games, but it's risen here even more when you look at him when, you know, he's real. Not to mention, if I got the power, I'd kick the eldritch rape demon in the balls and force him to suck his own tip, but hey, we'll leave that to Sheogorath.

 I liked the Dawnguard DLC and Serana enough to feel sympathy for the poor girl for her situation and the drama of her family was quite entertaining and sad to me.

 But now I CAN do something, but I ain't using the Daedric Price which currently laid claim on my soul, and since I got time, imma talk about her.

 Ithelia, the Daedric Prince of Fate.

 Yeah, you thought it's Hermaeus Mora.

 So what's the big deal? Well, the big deal is that apparently she's supposed to be sealed by the other Daedric princes' because of her ability to change reality.

 Powerful right?

 Wrong!

 She's still sealed, she's just…

 Using my soul to bridge the medium of Nirn and her plane of existence, which finest allow her to see all of Nirn nor any region, only the first 20 meters around me. She's seeing everything I see, hearing everything I see, and tasting everything I see.

 Best way to explain it is like having an AI that whines about the other Daedric princes' and Divines and tells you about gossip from so long ago it literally doesn't matter!

 Did you know that Sanguine and Dibella were once lovers?! It makes sense after you think about it, basically two party people if you ask me.

 But I didn't want to hear how Molag Bal basically had a hard on for corrupting the female members of Stendarr's faction.

 Okay, I'm getting sidetracked.

 Basically, I've an eldritch goddess Neet that hasn't seen the outside world in so long nor haven't talked to anyone in so long that she's using me and my soul to prattle my ear off.

 Don't get me started on when I sleep.

 It's basically a sleepover at that point…

 Anyways, she's been feeding information - little by little - about the man and guess what? Besides back

All that's completely outdated she's told me a whole load of nothing.

 But I've a plan.

 Don't get vampirism.

 Look, I have complete confidence that we can win especially with the priests and small statues of the divines with us, we can cure vampirism. However, that doesn't mean I still want it.

 Also, I'm completely convinced that the entire city is filled with vampires, and as much as I want Ithelia to use her powers to basically endgame them all she refused saying that she doesn't want to get sealed again.

 So fuck it, we'll seige the city normally, but the worst part is the fact that a single scratch can make someone contract vampirism, and if this is how our battles Nirn may go, injuries galore!

 We can't make our priestesses and priests overworked so what did I do? Well, it took awhile but I managed to get a lot of cure disease potions from our alchemists around the Empire.

 It's obvious that a few of us are going to become vampires so we contacted the Vigilants of Stendarr, and it has to be the limitations on the engine that Skyrim had because when the small army that arrived didn't do them justice.

 They matched both myself and the Alik'r commanders' men in numbers, basically doubling our forces; the Alik'r commander happily allowed them free reign due to being experts at Daedra and technically vampires ARE Daedra so…

 They've taken the liberty to bless most of not all of our weapons, even a few siege weapons have been blessed by them.

 I've severely underestimated The Divines.

 Then again, all I've got to go by is Skyrim and a little bit of Oblivion, due to that I can't really say I've a lot of experience on Daedra, since I was play as the Dragonborn and guess what? They're a 'little' lenient when it comes to him… them.

 But moving on, Molag Bal ain't ready, why?

 Magic bitch!

 But sad news apparently after the oblivion crisis a lot of the more powerful magic has been outlawed, which is stupid, I want my magic casters to fly, damn it! 

 But still sticking to the rules we've got, we've still got our magic casters at a strong number of over 5,000! A quarter of our forces!

 I foresee a rain of fire, and earth being upheaved. 

 Now that I've been put on just commanding my forces as I've a competent leader on all my sides I've been learning alteration, restoration, and destruction magic at the behest of Irileth.

 This is just to purely satiate my need for power, as much as it is to hack and slash through everything that comes my way, my arms are going to get too tired to lift my axe and my armor is going to get pierced by a stronger blade.

 As such my goal is currently to learn lightning bolt, frost bolt, fire bolt, and Oakflesh. It's a tedious and difficult process as well, as Irileth put it, I've no talent in the realm of magic.

 Like that wasn't a shit to the gut.

 But I can learn!

 "Tribune, the head Priest and Priestess of Mara are here" I nodded at the guard as I looked up from the war table.

Two elderly people, both wearing yellow robes that signify the alignment of the school of restoration, they both held their hands in front of them as they both nodded at me.

 ""Tribune"" they both greeted me in a way that your grandparents would, kinda made it awkward for a breath.

 "Healers" I nodded at them "are your brothers and sisters prepared?" They were our last faction in our forces that we needed in the war camp we've set outside of the shielded city.

 "Yes, Tribune, our… small area of Mara has been blessed and we're ready to receive any and all ailments that you or your men receive" the male spoke up as the female nodded with a small smile.

 "Good, thank you and Mara for helping us in this trying time" I spoke as I nodded.

 "Indeed" the female nodded.

 "Return and continue with preparations, we attack at noon" I spoke, glancing at the light on the ground and estimated about two hours before we assault the city's walls.

 They both quickly left with a nod as I picked up my battle axe from the war table as Irileth walked in "Tribune, we're starting to march into the city, are you prepared?"

 "No, but someone has to" for the first time in a long time I answered honestly, most of the time I lied through my teeth in order to give the outward appearance of a strong warrior and this time I think I'd get a pass if I say I'm scared.

 But I refused to be mocked here.

 Irileth nodded as I walked out of the war tent seeing races of all kinds except for Altmer come and go did feel like something important was happening, which there was but it's a bit different when you see it in person.

 People were praying to each individual gods for their blessing and some were downright scared, after all being told that you're going to assault an entire vampire city would give anyone fright.

 But be it honor or duty, we couldn't let the vampires live.

 Vampires in Nirn can't survive in sunlight unless their Coldharbor which can survive but with massive debuffs, this is no different in the game, as such we'll stack during the day.

 The magical shield protected them from the sun - that's a guess, and since it's down they had their thralls man the walls and douse the fires that are still raging on the coast line.

 Another thing to note was the fact that siege machines were massive, even built out of the scarce wood that Hammerfell had. As such it took a lot of man power to move them from one point to another, thankfully Skyrim horses have a lot of endurance.

 "Tribune Balgruuf" the Alik'r commander greeted me, his black skin was sweaty due to the heat, he wore a mix of leather and red cloth armor, he had an impressive goatee on him as well.

 "Commander Kummar" I nodded at him.

 "Tribune, are your warriors ready?" He asked as his gaze swept across my men.

 "Yes" I nodded as I kept it simple.

 "Very well, let us… bring heel these vampires." Kummar said as he mounted his horse with a grim look.

 I nodded as I turned to my own horse, I breathed in a bit as I mounted the bronze colored horse, grabbing the reins I followed after the commander as Irileth mounted her own.

 The city was noticeably in the distance, the black smog from the fire and the small lights from the ocean made me swallow, I had never been in a massive assault like this in my career. It felt like a lot of pressure on all of us.

 The city was massive had to be several miles of pure houses bar the burning ones, the walls were made out of sandstone which rose high almost to flip off both us and the sky; there were sandstone towers which the commander has let me know was used as magical wells, to aid in magicka gathering for their mages.

 The castle in the middle of the city was grandiose even from this distance, most likely taking up a whole mile in itself, its walls and towers were higher than the cities' due to it being on a taller dune.

 The hazy flames on the ocean danced lively as the flames in the city made it seem like the city was glowing but in reality all of us knew of the monsters within the city.

 Even as we got closer it made me swallow in anxiety, even if the enemies were normal people such a fight would be difficult, and as we got closer the full weight of the incoming battle washed over me.

 This wasn't an attempt to take back the city, it was to buy time!

 I should have known but the knowledge of vampires now being our enemies took front of my thought process but now that I'm here almost ready to siege the city.

 We are too small of a force to take over the city.

 Far too small.

 There had to be at least a hundred thousand vampires and thralls in the city, even if we just sent out arrows and magic spells they'd just easily attack at night to kill us.

 And Commander Kummar knew.

 Just looking at his grim face told me everything I needed to know, we were sacrifices so that the empire could develop a force large enough to take over the city.

 It made my mouth dry.

 I wonder, if I wasn't using modern strategies would I still be in Cyrodiil or in a different place? Fight Thalmor instead of vampires?

 I exhaled, the full weight of what's in front of me made itself known.

 We stopped, and we started to make the siege camp as I looked at the city's walls from my horse, it wouldn't be easy to break the walls to infiltrate but once we do it'll be greatly easier to rain hell from inside.

 "What's your thoughts Tribune?" Commander Kummar spoke from my right.

 "You want to hear my thoughts Commander?" I asked him.

 He nodded "yes, you… knowledge in fighting in a city to make Thalmor attacks difficult"

 "Aye, however, that's Thalmor, not Vampires"

 "Thalmor Vampires then" he gave me a cheeky smile.

 Huh, I guess he's right…

 "I think that once we get in, making chaos would be easy" I spoke as I pointed near a sandstone tower "I'm think if we take that tower down making a hole in the wall, we can easily lite fires and make ambushes within the city"

 I pointed at the other towers "there, we can capture the other towers, that way they won't have the magicka wells to send down volleys of magic."

 "It's an idea, but the sandstone walls are strong enough to withstand our catapults and trebuchets, it's a bet if we lose ammo first rather than breaking the wall" Commander Kummar spoke.

 "What about enchanting the stone?" I asked with a smirk.

 "You… wish to enchant the stone to better breach the wall?" He turned to me bewildered with raised eyebrow.

 "Aye, if I'm not mistaken most high levels walls and palaces are enchanted, is this no different?" I asked him.

 "It's been… so long that I believe the idea that if walls are enchanted are a gamble let alone on what the enchants are" he brought a hand to his goatee.

 "I can guess what the enchants are" I smirked.

 "…yes, that's the best way…" he nodded before letting his eye roam over the men before he raised his voice "GATHER THE MAGES, READY THE CATAPULTS, AND READY YOUR STEEL"

 He then immediately rode his horse deeper within the army glaring down th walls.

 I inhaled through my nose with an invisible weight on my shoulders settled itself on me as I noticed Irileth ride up next to me.

 "The plan?" She asked as her charcoal skin covered in sweat.

 I exhaled slowly "we suspect the walls to be enchanted; such enchantments lost to time and we can guess on the enchantments"

 "Will we win?" As always she got to the point as I grimaced.

 "We're sent here to die" I laid it out flat "the empire… doesn't care about the end result of this… war of ours, only so that their nobles can fatten their bellies and think with their cocks onto young maidens"

 She turned her head to me as she met my eyes "you… started to refer to them as if your not apart of them"

 "Aye. Aye I did, do you think less of me for it?" I asked her.

 "No" it was quick and in all honesty it was a bit too quick, as if she had her answer planned out "the empires even if we win this fight will collapse, everyone on the frontlines can see that"

 Her eyes slowly trailed to our men who're preparing "too many grudges and too many good men that the nobles are using as personal bodyguards."

 "No" I spoke up as she turned to me "I'd say we've good men and women here with us right now… it's just that with our leadership and ignorance they die young, too quick to make changes"

 She fell silent her lips moved to the side as she thought over my words "I… believe that the empire's nobles are too far from their great ancestors that they forgot what makes great leaders"

 I quirked up an eyebrow from a second "and that is?"

 "Being with them, in the midst of a battlefield a leader needs to be there to understand the situation, hiding in your tent miles away will do you no good" she snorted and I couldn't help but agree.

 "Sadly, I'll be with them" I sighed.

 "What do you mean?" She spoke.

 "I'm… currently a strong believer that after this a noble will give me the 'privilege' to guard him, and as such… I'll never see a blood drop again during this war" I spoke, it was obvious that it'll happen too.

 Irileth didn't respond and instead met my eyes with narrowed ones.

 "Don't worry, I'm sure they don't want to touch a 'dirty dark elf' like you" she rolled her eyes with a frown, but I knew it wasn't in anger.

 "Lord!" A imperial rushed up "we're ready" the weight on my shoulders felt like it easily tripled as I inhaled before I moved towards Commander Kummar.

 "Are you ready?" Kummar's eyes faced me.

 "No"

 "Sounds about right, there's no one here looking down onto you for telling the truth" Kummar smirked before he held up his hand palm open and facing the walls of the city.

 The barks of orders, the clanking of armor, and the movement of the siege machines stopped as I slowly breathed out, but it did nothing against the invisible weight on my body.

 Then he forced his hands down.

 The trebuchets and catapults immediately fired, flaming rocks flew the flames spun in the air as the black smoke followed after like a child after their parents, the stone sounded like a whistle as it reached its apex in the air then it happened.

 The stones multiplied as lightning filled the sky, as the sky seemed to scream in pain due to being lit aflame as mere tens became hundreds of stone flying into the air and I couldn't help but to feel awe.

 Multiplying stones…

 Cool.

 Then the stones slammed into the walls, my vision flashed in a bright orange light as a massive invisible heat wave came over me almost a second after the stones hit.

 Looking closer the walls cracked and opened up as a tower crumbled to the ground the wall opened up in a cascade of falling rocks as flames and lightning sparked out as I swallowed my saliva.

 I glanced at Kummar who gave me a nod as I inhaled.

 "Calvary! To me, infantry, follow!" I barked out the order with a empty conviction as my horsed snorted out before I was lurched forwards as a cascade of hoofs slammed on the ground.

 War cries followed after.

————————

 The sounds of rumbling entered his ears as the ground shook, he took a deep inhale of cold air as his eyes rolled over the ritual chamber that used to be the palaces' ball room.

 The green glow of alteration flowed from his left hand as the bodies around him as the blood flowed freely from the surrounding dead bodies before the blood made a floating orb that slowly rose up to the middle of the room, ever so slowly getting larger.

 "Oh woe be the empire, dying, and sending their sacrifices to me. I'll only grow stronger" he chuckled to himself as the blood slowly trailed towards his body.

 "Soon… soon I shall be a Coldharbor… I'll be the strongest, no mortal will ever-" his words were stopped by another round of rumbling and flashes of light from outside causing him to growl.

 "What Is the meaning of this?!" He stormed out onto a nearby balcony as he looked out in the distance and a smile formed on his face.

 Humans sending themselves to him, and more then enough to make him into a coldharbor, oh he'd have to thank the empire for this, they might've gained a asset after this…

 And an asset with conditions.

————————

 Fire washed over me and the horse as he cleared a patch of ruble and somehow landed its front two hoots into the chest of a thrall, going straight through and trining it's body into a glowing pile of dust.

 It looked strange seeing it with your two eyes.

 I swallowed the invisible lump down my throat as I took out my battle axe, the loud slamming of my horses hoofs hitting the cobblestone was as satisfying as in the game, sadly I couldn't think on it.

 Swinging my axe into the chest of another vampire thrall I couldn't help but notice their faces of shock, guess they weren't ready for the wall to fall. Stopping my advance the calvary shot past me with a war cry.

 I turned towards the incoming infantry "MEN, SCALE THE WALLS AND DESTROY THE WELLS!" Shouting over thousands of men is hard, extremely hard if not close to impossible. War cries sounded out as the infantry came within the walls as another round of stoke went flying overhead.

 "Shooting stone while we're in?" Irileth found herself back by my side.

 "Aye, we need them to think that we're more than what we look like" I spoke my voice slightly strained.

 "A devious tactic" Irileth smirked.

 "First rule of war, learn your enemy completely" I spoke.

 "These are not Altmer, they're vampires" she spoke.

 "Aye, but they think the same no?" I asked.

 "I don't think so" she said.

 I smirked as I rode forth, not willing to continue on with the talk with her. Not that I disliked Irileth, but now is not the time for idle chat.

 I swung my battle axe down onto the head of a Vampire Thrall that the calvary missed, its head got caught on my blade, easily ripping its head off which swiftly turned into dust.

 The cobblestone easily had been covered by the blue dust as it was being whipped up by the winds, war cries echoed out all around us as we I heard the sounds of explosions of the enchanted stones hitting the buildings beyond the wall.

 "They're planning to raise the city" Irileth spoke.

 "Aye, can't trust anything tainted with Molag Bal's disgusting hands"

 "Me and you both agree on that" Irileth spoke as we rode past a collapsing house the heat easily washing over us.

 "We need to create chaos" Irileth yelled over the roaring flames as the car cries only increased in volume.

 "Are we not?" I yelled back as I ducked underneath a arrow that tried for my head.

 "Above! The house!" I pointed up as the red eyes of a vampire glowed as they prepared another arrow.

"…it's daytime… how's it-" I interrupted.

 "Magic, look up" I spoke as I narrowly shifted all my weight to the left of my horse dodging an arrow meant for my chest.

 "The moon?"

 "Magic is altering the time within the city! It's the shield" I spoke as we finally took cover behind a nonflamming house.

 "So there was a purpose for it besides protecting the city" Irileth spoke slowly as we dismounted.

 "Obviously, it's either a powerful magic, or Daedric intervention" I spoke as I slapped my horses ass sending it off.

 "…will you find it?" She asked watching my horse go.

 "Probably, better than tying it to a potiental death sentence" Irileth stopped in her tracks as she react her to tie her horse to the home, before she let her horse run free.

 "Now, we've vampires to slay" I spoke as I walked out of the house's protection.

 Immediately an arrow met my axe as a few sparks flew out from the two meeting, I grunted as I sidestepped the next"

 "Irileth" that's all that was needed as Irileth shot an arrow at the vampire casuing it to side step it as Irileth jumped up onto a rooftop.

 I grunted as a shadow came out from behind the houses, I only tightened my grip on my wooden handle as the flames danced around us showing glimpses of the person standing in front of me.

 "An Orc Vampire, I should feel fear, instead I only feel pity" I spoke as I started to walk in circles.

 "You've a lot of nerve coming into our city flesh-bag"

 "Oooo~ scary" I taunted "I wonder, how'd your Daedric father will think of this" this got a growl from him.

 An actual growl…

 I smirked "don't worry, I'll send you straight to him so he can let you know what he thinks" I stopped as I faced him.

 He let out a war cry as h ran towards me and that's when the flames revealed he was holding two orc axes.

 A berserker.

 I frowned as I barely sidestepped his downwards swing only for him to immediately try a side swipe which met my widen handle, stopping the axes he has.

 "Temper temper" this tease wasn't well received.

 Getting a kick to the chest for my efforts I fell to my back with a grunt, a war cry stopped me from just laying there as I instinctively raised my axe which gave me a thunk as the two orc axes got about halfway through my wooden handle.

 It's only a matter of time before he gets all the way through and gores me.

 I smirked as I twisted my axe forcing the orcs arms to follow his axes making his arms into a slanted 'X' and with a smirk I brought a leg to my chest and slammed it into his gut forcing him to let go of his axes and back a bit.

 I immediately got to my feet as the orc snarled "I expected more" his hands lit up with green and red.

 Foot meets mouth.

 I immediately rolled to the side as I attempted to dodge the 'drain life' spell from the vampire but my breath hitched as a coldness infiltrated my very being.

 I hissed as I ripped the orcs' axes out of my handle and threw it at him, it gave me a momentarily stillness in my body as he dodged them. I couldn't give him a moment to breathe as I immediately ran towards him with a hiss of cold air entering my body.

 The orc turned to me just in time to back step the axe swing but twisting my hips to take a step further into the orcs guard I slammed the pommel of my axe directly into th jaw of the orc which gave me a yell of pain as he stepped back.

 I smirked as turned to face him as he shook his head as I went for a downwards swing which he sidestepped and attempted to punch my side only for an arrow to hit his shoulder casuing him to stumble with a yell.

 With a glance I looked up to the building's roof with Irileth knocking another arrow, her face was covered with blood and her usual frown adorned her face.

 I smirked at this as I went back to the Orc who recovered just in time for my axe to bury itself firmly between his between his jaw and upper top part of his mouth, the only reason my blade stopped was because my axe handle broke.

 His eyes widened as his hands went up to his mouth as his red blood flowed freely from his mouth as the only sounds that came from him was just gurgles, he blinked as he looked around as his despair slowly enveloped him, his red eyes shined with fear.

 Fear of death.

 As his eyes went to mine his face was met with another axe blade this time from one of his axes that buried itself into his skull and head. He went limp as he fell to his knees and his eyes went up to mine. Ripping the axe out of his head, blood spurred out before his body slowly fell to blue dust.

 "My lord. Are you alright?" Irileth fell into her spot beside me.

 "No" I breathed slowly.

 Her eyes narrowed "are you hit?"

 "My fathers' going to kill me for my axe breaking" I spoke slowly as Irileth rolled her eyes.

 "He'll be happy that you came back after word goes around" Irileth spoke.

 "It won't" I spoke "any information that comes from this siege will be denied by both Thalmor and the Empire" I spoke as I rolled my shoulders.

 "Why?" She asked.

 Yes, why?

 "Because it showed that they're both weak to each other, to have a Daedric Prince medle in their affairs showed that the Thalmor is weak to Daedric influence and the Empire will be equally weak to it due to the fact in most places we're losing" I spoke as I pulled the axe handle out of the dust.

 Irileth narrowed her eyes "wouldn't the Empire jump on the fact that we're dealing with deadra as well as the Thalmor?" She asked.

 "Maybe, but in the end most people are afraid of daedra let alone Molag Bal, even then Thalmor can easily distance and back away from this easier than you think" I spoke.

 "I still fail to see why the empire wouldn't parade around saying they're fighting Daedra worshipping High Elves." Irileth spoke.

 "Going for the race angle hrn?" I smirked only to get an eye roll in response.

 "But fine, let's delve into this topic, the last large Daedric force on Nirn was the Oblivion Crisis; two hundred years ago - that's good, less Daedric involvement the better" I huffed as another round of stone flew over us.

 "But people forget, the only reason we pushed them back was the fact that the emperor at the time - a Dragonborn - became the avatar of Akatosh, while the Hero of Kvatch-"

 "Hero of Kvatch?" Irileth question.

 "A great hero of the empire, forgotten due to Thalmor meddling" I clarified, but I'm obviously going to leave out his - or her - ascension to Daedric power.

 "Anyways, we only pushed them back because we had a god and a great magician - or warrior - on our side. As such, whoever is in charge of this is more than happy to sweep it away, even the empire, because after all, the chances of any god intervening is low" I spoke before I looked around.

 "It's hard to explain Irileth… the best way to say is the fact that no one wants to claim responsibility nod causing it nor solving it, as it'll cause the ire of both sides to increase and help the more religious folks to flock to the side that says they solved it, but at the cost of Molag Bal's ire"

 I let out a low sigh "it's a shitshow for us both"

 "I… kinda get it" she slowly spoke "but it's still slightly confusing" I only gave her a shrug in response before I continued on with Irileth following after me.

 I blinked before I glanced up to the walls and I surprisingly saw no one on them, it either meant that they all died or we succeeded and they're now invading further inside the city.

 I shook my head. The thought of burning an entire city to the ground left a bad taste in my mouth mainly from the history standpoint, this was probably a jewel of trade and such in the past.

 Now?

 It has become a playhouse for Molag bal and his sick games.

The war cries have fully enveloped our location, do doubt there was small skirmishes and battles happening all over the city, I could have both myself and Irileth immediately rush over to the palace to start fighting the big bad.

 But vampires work extremely differently compared to the game.

 One scratch? Infected.

 A bite? Infected.

 Too many of them around

 Guess what?

 Infected.

 They're basically a walking, talking, undead biological weapon.

 But on a brighter note, a massive bright light has slammed into the middle of the city.

 What?

 I blinked several times as I trailed my eyes slowly over to the massive light, it had small sparks of light around itself as it looked like a beam coming down from the sky itself, folding and head butting the ground into oblivion.

 "The Sun of Stendarr" Irileth spoke shocked.

 What?

 "It's a legendary spell" oh did I say that outloud "said only used once every thousand years, as if a finger from the god himself came down to purify the land of corruption and filth, the last time it was used… was far before the empire"

 "How do you know this?" I asked her slightly breathlessly.

 "I wanted to be a part of their order" ah, that'll do it.

 "So… what's happening?" I spoke slightly at a loss.

 "To keep it short most of the vigilants gave up a lot of magicka to create that spell, most likely all of them did this" she spoke as she narrowed her eyes.

 Oh…

 "But it's going to bring a lot of eyes here" she muttered.

 I blinked as the light slowly expanded out and then transformed into a mist that slowly approached us, or rather - expanded out.

 "A holy healing mist? Impressive" Irileth noticed my gaze "it'll heal mortals and cure them of all inflictions immediately, and kill any and all undead"

 "Powerful" I nodded.

 "Extremely, I'd bet Merida helped a little too" this brought a small smirk to my face, say what you will about the loud woman. But when it comes to undead she can talk as loud as she wants to in my opinion.

 New hand my ass…

 Breathing out I flicked a little blood off the orcish axe as I walked forwards "to the central plaza, let us gain a foothold inside"

 "Very well, let us sow chaos within their new home" Irileth followed after me, guess she's learning a little from me.

———————

 Commander Kummar watched on as the last volley of enchanted stone slammed down onto the flaming city with a vengeance only thought the gods could have, yet such a thing is in mortal hands.

 Tribune Balgruuf…

 His first impression of the man was to say the least a bit disappointed, one look and he could tell what he hid. A man outside of his comfort zone, he was without a proper systematic mind needed to lead.

 Yet.

 Yet he was nearly revered by his men, he was able to easily gather the men within the camp of foolish nobles to do a skirmish behind their backs without their knowledge.

 Balgruuf, is just a young man, not even in his twentieth summer and yet he's looked up to by not only the men in his legion but by his own.

 A great man.

 Great men are cut off faster than good men in war especially with power hungry and lustful nobles.

 And this, he fears, sets not only the nail in the coffin for Balgruuf but sets him down into his hole. The pathetic nobles in the empire will call him to their side, for the 'privilege' to guard him, as such, the frontlines lose a valuable member and a key to win the war.

 All in all, the way to stay in the fight is to do mediocre, not outstanding.

 Kummar frowned as he raised his hand "archers, SEND!" He brought his hand down like a gavel sentencing a criminal to death as the archers shot off flaming arrows that dotted the skies like comets coming down to send a civilization it's visions.

 The massive volley of thousands of arrows fell within the city, he can only hope that no friendly fire happened, but he crushed that hope as soon as it invaded his mind. He needed not sympathy even for his own allies, only coldness, for it's a shield against enemies attempts at despair.

 He raised his hand again to prepare for another volley, but before he could move his hand, he hesitated, he had a bad feeling, and he frowned deeply.

 "THALMOR! BEHIND US!!!!" A soldier screamed out as almost immediately swords became unsheathed as Kummar immediately turned his horse to face behind him to see a small army of Thalmor coming at them.

 Their black legions nearly shimmered with the haze of the heat, his eyes bore down onto them with unhidden dist

 He scowled, most of the forces he had was archers, sorcerers, and healers, not swordsmen. He breathed in as he narrowed his eyes he had to make a decision, if he fought here in the open it'll be a massacre as the Thalmor cut them down like unwanted weeds in a yard.

 But within the flaming vampire ridden city?

 He'll need to rendezvous with Balgruuf, and fight on two fronts, but if it's anything Balgruuf shines greatly when he's the underdog.

 "RETREAT INTO THE CITY!" He gave his command as a torrent of dust was kicked up as they rushed towards the hole in the city, thousands upon thousand ran, he tried to keep it organized but with so many going into one place at once.

 You can't really criticize him if it got a bit chaotic.

——————————

 I swallowed a bit of saliva as both Irileth and I took cover from a volley of flaming arrows. Commander Kummar is not a foolish man but rather a risky man, is there's someone who'd bet it all on black it'll be him. Either way, this was bad, purely on the fact that if I didn't see it, me and Irlieth would've been hit.

 "Balgruuf, this tactic is…"

 "Not good for anyone involved, I don't know what he was thinking but what's done is done, let's get to the plaza" I spoke as he got out of the burning building.

 Oh, I didn't mention that, did I? Yes, the building we were hiding in was on fire, fighting fire with fire?

 Either way, it was a short walk to the central plaza, and guess what? 

 If you guess a empty chaotic mess you'd be right!

 "This place…" Irileth was lost for words which in all honesty was accurate.

 "It looks like the attack was sudden" I spoke as I looked around slowly, my eyes roamed over rotten blood covered fruit, eached smashed like a Warhammer to a head.

 And the famed silks Hammerfell was known for was ripped in places, dirtied up, covered in blood, and ash. Even if it was the Thalmor it wouldn't be so hard to point this towards an entire vampire take over.

 The wooden stalls that held such goods were burnt in places, bent in awkward places and only still stood do rebell the beings that caused them such damages. The limestone that made the buildings cracked and a few crumblier forcing a few rooftops to collapse down and sprawl themselves out into the ground.

 "Either way, this is where I'll be commanding our inside forces" I spoke.

 "Wouldn't it be obvious?" Irileth asked.

 "Wouldn't obvious be something they'd immediately rule out?" I smirked, say what you will but the tactics that this world has aren't as good as the tactics that we had on earth, as such I could be considered a tactical genius.

 But I wouldn't due to the fact that nearly all of the medieval tactics have been found by the empire as such my tactics would involve guns.

 Something we don't have.

 As such I have to play with the strategic minds that rule over the battlefield, and surprisingly they rule out the most obvious places due to the fact that 'it's too obvious'

 This is the part he says 'fools'

 But he'll save it for a rainy day instead.

 The groud was covered in both black and white ash as the smell of fire and burnt wood filled my nose, it's just simply something I cannot get rid of here, and that's alright.

 A well in the middle has collapsed in on itself looking like a dent in a metal pan, the scattered limestone on the pathways made tripping an actual hazard, with fallen objects of houses, taverns, guilds, and even stores scattered it's hard to not look ahead and not see a maze of scattered objects.

 Stepping over a brick of limestone then a guild's sign, I grabbed a couple of stone on the wel and dusted a bit off before I sat down on it, making it a makeshift - broken, throne.

 "Anyways, the men were good to meet here before we attacked and not meeting them here is-" I was going to continue but the sounds of footsteps and moving meteal made me smirk.

 I turned behind me as my smirk turned into a full smile "Harbinger"

 The companions have arrived first, as expected, they crave battle and Sonvengarde more than most, but when it comes to Vampires, they'll actually follow the plan.

 "I expected the Orcs to be here" Kodlak spoke as he walked forwards flanked by his men and women.

 "They're most likely killing vampires to their heart's content" I spoke.

 "Aye" Kodlak chuckled "what's the plan?" He asked.

 "Chaotic guerrilla warfare" I kept it short as Kodlak nodded.

 "Ah, what you did during that one coastal town" Kodlak family smiled "I never had such fun in years, and we'll be doing it again"

 "Yes" I nodded "have you fought any?" 

 "Aye, nearly a hundred thralls and only one vampire, she talked of a master" Kodlak spoke.

 "Ok, I can only hope it's only one master vampire" I said.

 "Aye, multiple is too many, and if we meet a Pureblood I can only hope it's not a Coldharbour" I nodded at Kodlak's words.

 "Alright, Kodlak I need you and your men to take care of the west and North side of the city, mainly to check up on our orcs" I said as I got a nod in return from Kodlak.

 "I agree, if they're in trouble they'd appreciate being saved from becoming Molag's thralls" Kodlak spoke.

 "You're only saying that because they called you a Milk drinker" I smirked as Kodlak grumbled, guess the man's pride is more sensitive than I thought!

 "Irileth and I will make up a small camp here-" I was stopped by the increasing sound of hoofs hitting the ground as an Alik'r warrior rushed up to me.

 "Soldier, what's the issue?" I asked him as he looked worried.

 "Tribune… The Thalmor has flanked us, Commander Kummar has retreated into the city and brings everyone with him, he's coming to the central plaza."

 "…shit" I cussed.

 "Aye" Kodlak agreed with no weight.

 "Change of plans, Kodlak, I need you to start making defenses, even weak we need something to halt anyone that'll harm the healers" Kodlak nodded at the Companions started to get to work with the ruins around us.

 "Soldier stay, and help the companions, you must have knowledge on the material and know of their best usages" I spoke as he nodded and dismounted his horse.

 "This is shaping up to be a problem" Irileth spoke.

 "Aye… we're sounded by vampires and Thalmor" I sighed "were going to be in for a long fight"

A/N: I'm sorry that this took so long, I had life come by and smack me in the face with responsibilities and well… simply didn't have the time…

 Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this!