Nagaiki to Han'ei
Puppeteer
"I don't want to be an angel. I want to be God!"
--Helloween; I Want to be God
Awake. Asleep. In between.
It didn't matter, somehow, that he couldn't figure it out. His body wasn't his own at this moment, moved and manipulated like a marionette upon strings. And somehow, he knew he could trust the hands at the end of those strings.
Those hands whispered to him, rumbling in distant thunder and touched as light as a feather. They soothed away memories as memories came, and they taught new ideas. They solidified him and moulded him. He was the possession of those hands to do with as those hands desired.
?You belong to us. We will not leave you.?
?Who are you??
?Teachers.?
?Mine??
?Your teachers. Listen to us. Trust us.?
?Khajiit cannot trust...?
?Zor-Sithis, you trust??
?Yes.?
?We bring a new voice. Trust him. He is with us.?
?Khajiit will try.?
?This is good. Now, let us teach. Do not think of the past. It is behind you.?
?Betrayal leaves its shadows...?
?They are irrelevant.?
?How??
?They made themselves irrelevant. The fault is theirs. Look forward.?
?Onward??
?Yes, onward. You grow stronger.?
?How? This one has changed...?
?You have changed for the better. Let us hold you...?
He drifted, exploring his newness. He explored the transformation slowly creeping through him as his beloved armour crawled across his body. The stone now affixed to him pulsed, sending tendrils of itself out across his flesh. It was strange, that the thing which kept him alive was now one with him, as if that demon Silver had never taken his tri-heart.
As if he had never been betrayed that first time.
As if he had never made that terrible first mistake.
And he wept for it, childishly wishing for that room in the abandoned castle in the middle of nowhere with his ever-burning candle. He wished foolishly for that broken place where he could be hidden. Before the Tavern. Before that living ship. Before the space-warship.
?I am here.?
Whispers came from the hands guiding him as he moved through Tamriel like the ghost many thought he was. Tamriel became not-Tamriel. The flora smelled not like itself and he felt the heaviness of going underground again.
He heard Falmer go silent and seemingly let him pass as one of them. Machinery began to hum and rumble around him. Steam hissed in his ears. Metal clanked below him.
He almost didn't feel himself gently lower to his knees as movement ceased. Before him, stood another group of individuals, one he had a strange pull toward.
Zor-Sithis stood encased in a column of glass and smoke.
A tall woman in black floated beside him on the left.
On the right, a tall, slender man with sleek black hair and pointed ears eyed him with a kind of detached compassion.
Behind them all, a creature of metal stood. This creature stood tall enough that its deep, resounding voice seemed to come from miles above.
?You are with us. Will you surrender to us??.
Puppeteer
"I don't want to be an angel. I want to be God!"
--Helloween; I Want to be God
Awake. Asleep. In between.
It didn't matter, somehow, that he couldn't figure it out. His body wasn't his own at this moment, moved and manipulated like a marionette upon strings. And somehow, he knew he could trust the hands at the end of those strings.
Those hands whispered to him, rumbling in distant thunder and touched as light as a feather. They soothed away memories as memories came, and they taught new ideas. They solidified him and moulded him. He was the possession of those hands to do with as those hands desired.
?You belong to us. We will not leave you.?
?Who are you??
?Teachers.?
?Mine??
?Your teachers. Listen to us. Trust us.?
?Khajiit cannot trust...?
?Zor-Sithis, you trust??
?Yes.?
?We bring a new voice. Trust him. He is with us.?
?Khajiit will try.?
?This is good. Now, let us teach. Do not think of the past. It is behind you.?
?Betrayal leaves its shadows...?
?They are irrelevant.?
?How??
?They made themselves irrelevant. The fault is theirs. Look forward.?
?Onward??
?Yes, onward. You grow stronger.?
?How? This one has changed...?
?You have changed for the better. Let us hold you...?
He drifted, exploring his newness. He explored the transformation slowly creeping through him as his beloved armour crawled across his body. The stone now affixed to him pulsed, sending tendrils of itself out across his flesh. It was strange, that the thing which kept him alive was now one with him, as if that demon Silver had never taken his tri-heart.
As if he had never been betrayed that first time.
As if he had never made that terrible first mistake.
And he wept for it, childishly wishing for that room in the abandoned castle in the middle of nowhere with his ever-burning candle. He wished foolishly for that broken place where he could be hidden. Before the Tavern. Before that living ship. Before the space-warship.
?I am here.?
Whispers came from the hands guiding him as he moved through Tamriel like the ghost many thought he was. Tamriel became not-Tamriel. The flora smelled not like itself and he felt the heaviness of going underground again.
He heard Falmer go silent and seemingly let him pass as one of them. Machinery began to hum and rumble around him. Steam hissed in his ears. Metal clanked below him.
He almost didn't feel himself gently lower to his knees as movement ceased. Before him, stood another group of individuals, one he had a strange pull toward.
Zor-Sithis stood encased in a column of glass and smoke.
A tall woman in black floated beside him on the left.
On the right, a tall, slender man with sleek black hair and pointed ears eyed him with a kind of detached compassion.
Behind them all, a creature of metal stood. This creature stood tall enough that its deep, resounding voice seemed to come from miles above.
?You are with us. Will you surrender to us??.