Prologue

The adept collapsed to the ground with a death rattle, his chest pierced by a finely crafted spear. With a practiced gesture, Razirr'Ri[1] withdrew his weapon from the lifeless body he was looking at with disdain.

He was a Cathay-Raht[2], that is to say a big and strong Khajiit. His fur and mane were white and he had the noble, proud and fierce features of a savannah lion. His leather armor struggled to contain his bulging muscles, which were now smeared with blood from the last few battles. His breathing was rapid and his eyes shone with a wild glow.

All around him, the corpses of daedric followers covered the floor of the unholy shrine, bathed in pools of their own blood. Raziir looked around for a new enemy to slay, but they were all dead and the room was silent. He looked at his brothers in arms and saw that all the men with him were dead, their weapons still clutched in their hands and their furs stained with blood. Only he and his childhood friend, Rasha'Do, were left, struggling to get to his feet and leaning on his sword.

- "Rasha. Are you okay, brother?" asked Razirr with concern.

- "I'm fine, brother," the khajiit replied defiantly. "He wasn't born the first adept to kill me with a rusty blade."

And to highlight his words, he spat on the nearest enemy body. This gesture made Razirr smile, as he recognized his blood brother. Like him, he remained proud and stubborn in the face of death.

The two khajiits had been friends since the cradle and had trained together despite their different status. Razirr was destined to be the khan[3] of his tribe while Rasha was the son of a simple servant. This had never hindered their friendship and Razirr had made his friend captain of his personal guard, recognizing in him the qualities of a great warrior. Lost in this dark and threatening sanctuary, he felt reassured by his presence and would have wanted no one else at his side on this bloody day.

- "We must move on," said Razirr. "The real enemy is waiting for us further on."

- "I'm with you, brother."

They left behind the room full of corpses and went deeper into the temple. Its walls were old, built by hands and mad spirits long dead. Insane glyphs, probably from Oblivion[4], were carved into the rock, giving anyone who stared too long a headache and nausea. Even after the passage of centuries, these inscriptions still retained some of their demonic power. Razirr ignored them, for he knew that fear was a weapon used by the servants of the daedra[5] as effectively as a blade. Neither he nor his blood brother were impressed by such subterfuge.

They finally arrived in the main chamber of the shrine. Torches on the walls struggled to dispel the darkness of the place, making shadows dance on the floor and walls. The atmosphere was heavy and eerie, and even Razirr's feline eyes had trouble piercing the darkness. But he could feel that someone or something was watching them insistently...

- "Show yourself, demon!" he roared defiantly.

The shadows began to dance more vividly as the flames of the torches flickered. As if coming to life, the darkness began to move slowly across the chamber and a huge mass emerged from the darkness as it approached the two khajiits. An inhuman, cruel voice echoed through the sanctuary.

- "Demon? How rude..." The voice hissed with feminine sensuality. "You break into my home, kill my servants and dare to defy me."

The voice sent a powerful shiver down Razirr's spine and he felt the hairs on his back stand on end. He squinted to try to make out the thing that was slowly approaching, undulating on the ground. Whoever this creature was, it couldn't be from this world.

The lower part of her body was that of a giant snake with dark purple scales, while the upper part ended in the body of a woman with pale, cadaverous skin. Her facial features were as seductive as they were terrifyingly cruel, her amethyst eyes staring with amusement at the two khajiits. The nakedness of her chest was hidden by a large gold pectoral covered with white gems that glowed in the torchlight. Her long, jet-black hair waved against her skin as if it were alive with a consciousness of its own. Razirr found this apparition both attractive and repulsive, but he knew that this impression was only the result of some demonic magic and his disgust was reinforced.

- "It's over, demon!" he shouted, brandishing his spear. "You will not torment my people again. By Jone and Jode[6], I swear it!"

- "What ardour! What courage! What audacity!" the daedra sneered, revealing razor-sharp teeth. "A little more and I would be afraid."

Razirr snarled as he bared his fangs, angered by his opponent's taunts. His blood boiled in his veins and he leapt to his feet to plunge his spear into the creature's belly. The daedra swept the khajiit away with a simple backhand as if it had been a common rag doll and the khan violently hit one of the walls of the cave before collapsing to the ground in a cloud of dust.

Razirr immediately realized that he was facing an enemy far more powerful than anything he had ever faced before.

- "Tired already?" the snake woman continued to taunt as she meandered toward the injured khajiit. "How disappointing... I was just starting to enjoy myself."

- "You will not touch him!", Rasha'Do immediately scolded.

Razirr's blood brother leapt towards the demon, his blade raised and ready to strike. The snake woman turned in a flash to face him and Rasha rained down blows on her opponent. The daedra parried the sword blows with its long claws in sprays of sparks. The khajiit was an outstanding swordsman and Razirr had not appointed him captain of his guard without reason. He threw a series of blows with lightning speed and the demon was forced to back away from the fury of his assault. For a moment, Razirr believed that victory was at hand.

Rasha'Do took advantage of a gap in his opponent's defense to deliver a precise stab... but the blade never reached the demon's white skin. The khajiit lay motionless, his muscles stretched to the limit but unable to move.

The daedra's long hair was wrapped around his limbs to immobilize them, rippling like black snakes and holding her prey captive in their embrace. Rasha grunted as he tried to free himself but to no avail. He finally dropped his sword as he was lifted into the air and brought to the demon's face. The daedra smiled at him, her face showing an unhealthy pleasure.

- "This was already more entertaining." She licked her lips with her long snake-like tongue. "You'll be a great addition to my collection."

Chanting an incantation in an ancient language, the daedra's eyes glowed in the darkness as she raised a hand to the khajiit's face. The khajiit screamed as she cast her spell, and Razirr watched helplessly as the soul of his blood brother was torn from his body. Moments later, Rasha stopped screaming and his head fell limply against his chest. The demon chuckled as she caressed the jewel on her chest and the cathay-raht could see that a new pearl had appeared on her chest, shining more brightly than the others. With a dismissive gesture, the snake woman tossed aside the inanimate body of the brave Rasha'Do and turned her gaze to her necklace, which she caressed sensually.

- "Oh yes." she whispered. "A wonderful pearl for a precious soul."

Razirr got to his feet with a grunt despite the stabbing pain in his ribs. He was furious at the fate of his lifelong friend and companion, his eyes burning with uncontrolled fury. Slowly, the daedra turned her gaze to the last khajiit standing.

- "Don't worry, pretty one. You'll join him soon... very soon. But..." She gave a little disappointed pout. "I think you'll make a much less pretty pearl."

This was enough to anger Razirr who rushed back to attack the demon, blinded by his pain and rage. He tried to thrust his spear into his enemy several times but the snake woman dodged each blow, her body undulating in a sensual dance as if to mock her opponent. She seemed to be enjoying this unequal fight a lot before finally getting tired of it.

Her hair stood up to grab the khajiit by the wrists and waist. Razirr was quickly immobilized as Rasha had been before him. He struggled with all his strength before realizing that he had been foolish to blindly throw himself at the daedra.

- "There, there..." the demon chanted as she slammed the khajiit hard against a wall. "How cute you are. You struggle like a little kitten. But don't worry, I'll take a little more time with you. After all, I rarely get visitors..."

Despite the situation, Razirr continued to glare at his enemy, his fangs and jaw clenched with anger. Would he end up like his friend, Rasha'Do? Killed and his soul captured forever? The snake woman slowly raised her clawed hand and the khajiit frantically searched for a way out.

It was then that he felt the heat scorching the fur on his right hand. Turning his head with difficulty, he noticed the torch fixed to the wall a few inches away from his hand. Drawing on his last bit of strength, he reached out to pull it from its holder before striking the daedra's hair with it. The dark hair immediately burst into flames like straw and the demon let out a howl of mixed rage and fright. Razirr felt the grip on his limbs loosen and he landed on the ground before rushing to his spear.

- "My hair ! My so beautiful hair !!!" the snake woman hissed while trying to smother the flames with her hands. "How dare you ?!"

She finally managed to extinguish the flames, but her hair was now giving off a dark smoke and the room was filled with a pungent, foul smell. The daedra furiously turned back to the khajiit and an unnamed hatred could be seen in her eyes.

- "You will pay for it, you miserable cat!!! You're going to..."

She did not finish her sentence and the anger on her face gave way to surprise and disbelief. The demon lowered her gaze to her belly to stare with incomprehension at the spear that was now piercing her pale flesh. Razirr had taken advantage of the fact that she was extinguishing the flames in her hair to strike a deadly blow with his weapon. The wound was deep and the spear was imbued with old but powerful magic. Not even a daedra could hope to survive such a wound.

The snake woman put her hands on the spear in an attempt to remove it, but her strength was already beginning to fail her. She spat out a stream of black, sticky blood that stained Razirr's mane. The khajiit held his weapon firmly in the demon's body, impatient to see his foe succumb.

The creature had a coughing fit before the khajiit realized it was giggling.

- "It was a nice move... really." she murmured, a wide smile on her lips. "But you know it's not over... quite the contrary."

Razirr frowned at these words as she found it increasingly difficult to breathe.

- "We daedra cannot be killed like the vulgar beings of flesh and blood that you are. I will return to Oblivion to recover my strength and replenish myself... but I will not forget." She brought her face close to whisper in the khajiit's face. "I will give you a gift though... to reward your courage and skill. When Jone and Jode will meet in the eyes of your offspring... you will know that I am back. And on that day... I will add two souls to my collection!"

She laughed out loud and her laughter echoed through the sanctuary chamber before Razirr decided to put an end to it by pushing further on his spear. The weapon sank even deeper into the flesh of the daedra who finally collapsed to the ground. Despite the agony of her body, she watched the khajiit with amusement as her body began to disappear. Her skin fell away in pieces and vanished into the air like the ashes of a burning scroll.

- "See you soon... little kitten," she whispered one last time.

The last pieces of her body disintegrated and finally disappeared. Only Razirr's wheezing and gasping for air was now disturbing the silence of the sanctuary. That's it. The daedra was defeated and sent back to Oblivion. She and her followers would no longer kill or steal the souls of his people. He had obtained vengeance for all those unfortunate people... but he could not rejoice.

The khajiit looked down at Rasha'Do's lifeless body and knelt beside him to close his eyes. He hadn't even managed to free his soul from the demon's grip.

- "Forgive me brother... your soul will not be able to leap on the sand behind the stars[7]."

He placed his sword in the hands of the dead khajiit before praying to Alkosh[8] to save his soul from Oblivion. A simple prayer was a pittance... but it was all he could do. Razirr took his friend's body in his arms and left the shrine. If he could not save his soul, he could still give it a proper burial and funeral rites.

But his thoughts were consumed by the daedra's last words. "When Jone and Jode will meet in the eyes of your offspring..." Was this a curse, a prophecy, or the vile lie of a dying enemy? Razzir couldn't tell.

He did not know yet that this feeling would follow him for many years...

Notes:

[1] In the Khajiit language, the suffix or prefix of a name refers to a particular characteristic or status of the individual. In this case, Ri is a rare title associated with nobility or royalty.

[2] Cathay-Raht are one of the largest khajiit species. Measuring about two meters, they are gifted with great physical strength and most often take on the appearance of a large cat (lion, tiger or jaguar).

[3] Title equivalent to tribal or clan chief in Khajiit society.

[4] A parallel plane from which demons originate, often considered as an equivalent of hell.

[5] Originating from the plane of Oblivion, daedras are immortal, ancient and mostly demonic creatures. The term daedra comes from the ancient language ehlnofex and means, roughly, "not our ancestors."

[6] Names given by the Khajiits to the two moons of Nirn, Masser and Secunda. They are associated with deities in the Khajiit religion.

[7] Equivalent of paradise in the Khajiit culture, also known as Llesw'er.

[8] Khajiit pronunciation of the name Akatosh, first among the gods and master of time. He is oftenly represented in the form of a large dragon.