"And so your initiation is over, new-blood. Welcome to the clan." The ferocious Orc Moghakh said, after Levi stands up covered in blood. "You have done well, welcome to the cult of Molag Bal."
Two weeks pass, Levi has learned the inner workings of this cult and had made his plan to destroy it. They believed that their leader, Moghakh, was a direct incarnation of Molag Bal himself. This was obviously false, and so Levi must kill Moghakh. The problem was, not only is Moghakh a 7 ft beast of an Orc who wears his own crafted steel armour but the entire cult, of about 13-16 followers would brutally murder Levi if they found out. Chances were slim, what needed to happen was kill the Orc and get out as soon as possible.
Poisoning.
Didn't work. The Orc dismissed it as 'tasting funny' and smashed the glass on the ground, what was in that beast's stomach Levi did not know but his stomach acid destroyed a poison Levi had used before. He constructed a masterful plot that was sure to be the Orcs demise, but it would take effort.
The groups headquarters was in a barren cave, with a multitude of interconnecting tunnels. Banners raised with the face of Molag Bal on them, Moghakh was in the sacrificial chamber slaughtering innocents. They had hauled in 21 women and children, all to be murdered. This was during Levi's infiltration, and Levi had to participate. Levi would not harm them, but he knew they would be raped and murdered. Levi poisoned them all, and blamed it on the horrible conditions they faced. Moghakh dismissed them as weak, and brought in 3 men. Fewer people are out there, fewer people to sacrifice.
Levi finally thought the lack of population was beginning to become a good thing.
Moghakh would rape the men, beat them ruthlessly and leave their faces swollen so you couldn't see their eyes. The puffiness rose up so much their eyes were squinting almost, due to the huge lumps and puffy tender skin. Levi had a glace at them as he passed them via walking through a tunnel, he never wants to see them again. If they could walk they could easily get up and leave if they knew the way and there was no one else, they were not restrained.
The day had come, and Levi would exact his revenge. For all 9 of those children, for all 12 of those women. Those men who suffer at the hands of that twisted Orc, Moghakh, and for the countless souls already slain.
Levi made his way to the depths of the caverns, they all had their own sleeping areas seeing as how the caverns were massive but they ate in the same place nevertheless. This place was in the dead center of the cavern, and Levi was an entire hour below them. Most others were doing unpredictable things, this cult had no order. It was challenge Moghakh if you believe you can defeat him, and be named the new Moghakh, heir of Molag Bal. Molag Bal himself.
Levi didn't understand it, but he didn't have to. It sickened him, to think this man believed he was a reincarnation of Molag Bal and to revel in it. He rapes the cult members, and they willingly let him divest them. Levi has avoided it thus far, convincing Moghakh he would not survive the procedure. In any other instance someone might see humor in the situation, but Levi did not when it was literally his ass on the line.
Levi carefully created a rune, but not just any rune. It took him hours of preparation, ritualistic candles and ingredients the most skilled alchemist would take several lifetimes to get a hold of. It was all being used now, to destroy the cult once and for all.
Why waste such valuable resources on such a small band of savages? They were growing. Their seeds bare roots deep into the twisted hearts of those that dwell above, corrupting the minds of those they oppose.
6 of the current members were attacked by these 'cave dwellers', companions murdered, they were abused in all manners but in the end came to worship the Daedric prince of damnation, and in turn Moghakh. Levi had to stop this. The rune was not to just kill who stepped on it, it was to destroy the entire cave system and in turn all evidence this cult existed.
The cult had burrowed deep into the ground of an already large cavern, this dreadful place was nothing but a section of one of the very pits of hell itself. It takes 3 hours to reach the bottom.
Levi planned to destroy it all, starting at the bottom. This rune would be not one of fire, electricity or frost, but one of pure magic. He couldn't cast it, no one mortal could, he needed this hellish circle of rare and common ingredients refined specifically and precisely in the exact way that they were. It would be a devastating one time explosion, and that's all it is good for.
Moghakh had planned to use it on the city, after they had defeated everyone inside it, but that day would never come. Whether Levi destroyed them today or not, their numbers would never grow to such a sheer size. There just isn't enough people nowadays. But they still died today.
Levi was done, all he needed now was the blood of a mage, and Levi had just that. He took off his glove, putting it at his armpit and keeping his arm close to his chest so it didn't fall, while with the same hand digging his dagger into his flesh. He sliced his palm open, and let the blood drizzle all over the carvings Levi had taken so long to make. Nothing.
Until suddenly it started glow a bright whitish yellow, and a voice whispered throughout the room. He couldn't make out what is was saying, it sounded feminine and omniscient, it had worked. Levi hurried to the surface of this atrocious feral hell hole.
It was surprisingly cool tempered at the depths for such a deep cavern and Levi didn't understand it, but as Levi neared the surface he heard the booming voice of the devil. Moghakh.
"Come, Levi Bal,for I have a proposition for you." The deep voice of the 7 foot monster boomed. He had horns where a human would have eyebrows, and his tusks were large and jagged. His muscles were big enough to crush a mans head with a flex, and he had an insatiable thirst for blood. Levi was filled with nausea, afraid of the horrors that await him. Levi follows Moghakh to the sacrificial chamber, and was surprised to see 13 other men standing in a semi circle in front of the shackles that usually hold the prisoners. They were in black robes ornamented with tiny human skulls, small enough to fit into your palm. Levi shuddered at the thought of how they were obtained.
Each of the clan members addresses each other with the last name 'Bal', it was their custom. Levi stood in the room, by the entrance. Moghakh eyed Levi to enter the room, so he did so. There was three lion pelts laid out on the floor, along with several black soul gems around them. Where they got the pelts from, Levi could only assume Moghakh traveled the breadth of Tamriel for them if need be. They were going to summon Molag Bal. "Molag Bal, come to us, for have brought you sacrifice." The men chanted, Moghakh stood by Levi as the men chanted, almost harmonized. "Molag Bal, come to us, for have brought you sacrifice." Levi began to sweat. He wasn't ready to die, and his ritual many feet under them right now was going to desecrate this entire place in little under a day.
"We are to murder them all, their blood splatter on the items we have to offer our dreaded lord." Moghakh's deep voice resonated. Levi looked to him with horror, anguish, fear, but the Orc was far too tall to notice. "Molag Bal, come to us, for have brought you sacrifice." They continued to chant. A huge shout was heard from their leader, as he pulled out a gigantic greatsword, and sliced a man dead down the center. His blood splatter over to the pelts, Levi, and the other men, but his body fall sideways. Both ways. The Orc let out another shout as he brought the sword down and to the left, cutting deep into the cultist furthest on the left. Levi raised his hands, engulfed them in flame, charged up his spell and showered them in fire.
An explosion of dark matter erupted from the center of the room, magical mist filling the air. A great cloud of darkness spoke to them from the room of horrors. "Moghakh," A voice even deeper than Moghakh's voice himself yelled with authority, "You were to be my champion."
Moghakh didn't look pleased, his face was too ragged and ugly to show positive emotion. "But you have disappointed me" The voice echoed. "I am not Mephala, the killing of my worshipers was not necessary!" The voice sounded angry, and Levi stood tall but his legs were shaking. He should have listened to Torlin, this is horrible, he wanted to go home. "You have enslaved hundreds, killed hundreds more, but you shall not receive my mace."
The atmosphere in the clouded room was uneasy, violent, yet unpredictable. Would Levi be the next victim of Moghakh's Daedric greatsword? Would the Daedric prince of damnation destroy Levi?
"Levi." The voice said, slowly, it sounded like one of a snake. The mood changed, the tone, this was not good. "My devout traitor." The voice said sarcastically. "Moghakh, your plans for Levi are not to take place. Kill him."
Levi ran so fast out of that room he crashed into the wall and fell over. He immediately picked himself back up and ran. He's never ran so hard in his life before, he was not going to let that man destroy him. He heard the clanking of Orcish armour, and the heavy footsteps that were to follow him.
As he ran out of the cavernous systems he felt the cold air hit his face like a brick wall, it was so sudden. He kept running, but the hill was too steep. He began to tumble down the 13 ft hill until his body smacked into a mini boulder. He picked himself up and dropped into a trench, about 3 meters. He had himself hang onto the top first, body in the trench before he let himself drop.
The trench led for about 15 minutes, and was divided further up by a 1 meter high wall, easy to climb over. The wall got higher and higher and peaked at 5 meters, it got wider too. The trench was roofless for now, but further toward his destination it submerged under the ground. Along the way there were many entrances into the caverns the cult made home. He still had an Orc chasing him after Molag Bal gave sanction to kill Levi, so he needed to run.
He ran for a solid 3 minutes before just as he passed the mark where the trench began to go underground none other than Moghakh appeared out from one of the numerous little caves that came from the root cavern. "Oh come on!" He shouted, sprinting down the tunnel.
For someone wielding an incredibly large sword and heavy armour he gave a good chase, chasing Levi for half an hour before both parties were wearing out. Levi had a stitch but the Orc didn't seem to be wearing down. Moghakh was sweating at a propulsive rate, but he would sooner die before he give up. Levi noticed in the wall dividing two parts of the tunnel there was a very small line, a small area in which led to the other side. It was about 3 inches thick, and it was just a gap that led to the other side.
Moghakh was slowly catching up as Levi's speed began to dwindle, his adrenaline beginning to fail him. Levi made a 3 second decision on what he was about to do. He stopped, faced Moghakh, and shouted. "STOP!" He yelled, "Lets do this fairly."
Moghakh continued to approach, but began to walk toward him. "Wise that you stop, to get this over with. But how can we fight fair when you do not have a sword?" He asked in that menacing voice of his. "I wield the powers of magic, take your best swing Moghakh." Levi was sending out a silent prayer to any god that would listen, to give Levi the reflexes he would need.
Moghakh swung at Levi, to cut him in half horizontally, but Levi ducked, but the Orc seen it coming. As Levi began to duck the blade began to drop, but it didn't drop enough to hit Levi. Levi was on his ass now, the sword having just smashed into the wall. It ripped a gaping hole into it, surprising seeing as it was suppose to be three meters thick. It was near hollow on the inside, explaining the line that led to the other side. This line was not on the other half of the wall however, so now there was 3 'tunnels." Levi got up, and ran inside the newly made hole. Now there were walls on each side of him, albeit thin ones.
It was a much more narrow run but Levi was sure he would be able to evade Moghakh now, but he was wrong. The Orc sent a bolt of electricity into Levi's back as he smacked into the walls, cutting his face on the hard surface and bruising his chest at the intense force. Moghakh devastated the area by swinging his sword furiously at the walls on both sides to cut his way to Levi, even though the Orc could have managed to walk through.
As the Orc was 5 meters away he began to lift his sword, until he was engulfed in fire. He had set off a rune Levi had placed while Moghakh was destroying the walls. Now was his chance. Levi continued to run away from Moghakh, running as fast as he could. He stopped briefly to lay a rune of fire again, then continued running. Moments later it set off, and Levi was far ahead of it. He now knew where the enemy was. Levi had about thirty six seconds before the Orc caught up, he stopped, charged up a fire ball combining it with two hands and destroyed the wall on the left side. He had previously been running in the right before he got into the middle. The sheer force brought down the wall easily, but it also destroyed the right wall which was now behind Levi. Levi was flung to the ground as dirt and rock fell from the tunnels roof.
Moghakh won't know which way Levi ran. Levi got up and ran, as fast as his damaged body would allow him. His legs ached, he felt like he was on fire, but he ran.
A few hours later....
Levi woke up, having passed out in the forest outside of Stormhold. He was covered in dirt, his face had dried blood and mud on it, he was filthy. His hair was dirtier than it had ever been, and he smelled like blood and BO. He had hit his head hard when he destroyed that wall, and he had given himself a nasty set of cuts. He was currently wearing leather armour, rather than his normal unique robes. This was due to the fact that he was out adventuring and knew he would be trekking dangerous environments, and would have needed to run the way he had.
He could still do these in robes, but not nearly as well.
He followed around Stormhold's walls, and was granted entry. Home sweet home, but it never felt so. He hauled his body to his mothers house, who wasn't home. The door was unlocked, and he threw himself onto his bed face first and passed out again. Half an hour later, he awoke. He had nightmares of his chase, it was much more terrifying now that it was over. It was scarring. He had nightmares of the sacrificial chamber, killing those men, the voice of Molag Bal. He would never be the same.
He heard his mother cooking in the kitchen and made his way out, "Mother?" He called out, she turned to face the corridor that led to Levi's room and saw him emerge in the condition he was in. "Levi?" She called out questioningly, "Oh Levi." She pulled him in for a hug, then bombarded him with questions.
Where did he go, why did he go, the why the who what the when where and the how. Levi couldn't answer all of her questions, and instead his mother ordered him to go wash himself clean after Levi gave a satisfactory answer of 'Killing bad guys and hurting himself on the way back'. Before went to wash, rest and recuperate he had people to visit.
He looked for Torlin, he needed Torlin. He knew the Redguard would be very angry but he had to be glad his younger brotherly figure was home safe, right? Doubt flooded his mind. Torlin wasn't in shop, and he wasn't at the forge. He made his way to the keep, where Torlin was likely to be and was not gained entry. Levi was not angry at this, he was anxious about the confrontation with Torlin, and so he waited outside the structure.
It was slightly cold, but Levi's temperature was up like a furnace. He didn't feel it, he was exhausted despite sleeping, and he wanted to see his 'brother.' He wanted to see Illia too, he missed her childish behavior. He needed to see them both, to let them know he's okay. Or more like, to make him okay, because he didn't feel it.
A darkness had crept its way into Levi's heart, and he was now on the same path as his father. 'Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it,' or so they say. Levi leaned against the wall, left of the door, looked up at the pale blue sky and breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive, he was safe within Stormhold's walls, he made it.
