As the group slept they dreamt, events from the past came to haunt them as the life they'd try to leave behind caught up.
***********
Nigel was locked in a closet somewhere in the Institute. It had all the basic amenities but it was too tiny, he’d been there for a few days now and sleeping on a mattress on the floor was starting to get annoying. But then Conrad Kellogg entered. Nigel immediately stood up and walked towards him, barely containing his anger.
“Why did you do it, Conrad? We were friends!”
“We weren’t friends Nigel, we were colleagues – and I obey my boss”
“I’ve saved your life, you’ve saved mine! We worked on so many missions together!”
“And? I work for my employer, friendship doesn’t come into it”
“You’re a cold, heartless murderer – you know that?”
“Of course”
Nigel raised a gun, it was a powerful institute pistol, and Conrad did the same, his trusty revolver
“I will kill you, Conrad – just like you killed them”
“No, you won’t”
‘I will!’
‘No, because I can’t fight you – as much as I hate to admit it, your body is too augmented for me to handle’
Nigel lowered the gun in confusion, ‘So what are you going to do?’
‘Stall you until now, when we can remotely relay you away – goodbye Nigel, I hope you perish in the wastes’
‘What? No!’ Nigel raised his gun and shot blindly a few times, but in an instant, he was shooting at a dead tree in the wastes of The Commonwealth.
“NO!” Nigel roared at the air around him. “I will find you, Conrad Kellogg! I’ll shoot you dead and then I’ll kill that heartless boss of yours!”
Then Nigel awoke in the Bannered Mare, it was morning, the sun shone through his window and the desire to go back to the Wastes was stronger than ever.
***********
Lucy was crouching by her mother as her world burnt around her, the farm she’d spent her life working on was going down in flames and all because the Raiders came and they said no. She was inside the main house, a crooked old building hastily constructed by her Grandfather.
A piece of burning timber fell nearby and she screamed, but then snapped her focus back to her mother,
She was dying.
“Go, Lucy…”
“I’m not leaving you!” She cried between sobs
“If you don’t burn to death the Raiders will kill you, go out the back while you can!”
“I’m staying”
It was at that moment that half the house collapsed, they could hear the jeers of the raiders outside. But then Nigel arrived, Lucy didn’t know what it was at the time but she heard the dying groans of a dozen raiders as a man she’d never seen before took them down effortlessly.
He ran into the burning building at an impossible speed and before she knew it she was in his arms and being carried away from the wreckage that was her house, the building soon collapsed behind her and soon was a pile of rubble going up in flames. She writhed and screamed against his strong grip – “My mother’s in there!”
Nigel set her down and said as gently as he could, “I’m sorry; there was no way your mother made that”
At this Lucy broke down into tears, Nigel attempted to comfort her, it was not his strong suit but he tried his best – “You can come with me if you want, I could do with some company”
Lucy looked up and nodded.
Then she woke up in the Bannered Mare, she looked around briefly and then collapsed in tears. Normally she could fight them back and carry on with life, but after that dream, she couldn’t stop thinking about her mother. She wanted more than ever to stay here; the wastes were just reminders of the filth that killed her mother.
***********
The bloodlust was too strong, the urge to kill, he had to.
Bjorn threw his head back and howled, then charged down the steps of Jorrvaskr – he was a Companion, a member of the circle.
A werewolf
His morals went out the window as he gave in to his primal urges, one by one people fell under his claws, and he tore them to shreds without a thought.
He was a werewolf,
He was the most powerful of them all!
And so he carried on, killing and killing and killing.
But then the world changed around him and he wasn’t a Wolf anymore, he looked around him as sense returned to him and the realisation of what he’d done came to him – “What have I done? Oh, Talos…”
Then the guards were on him and his life changed…
Bjorn awoke in the tent outside, he was cold but he didn’t care. He just sat there, staring at the plains of Whiterun, thinking about what he’d done.
***********
San-Kai looked around him, he recognised the swirling green libraries and toxic seas of Apocrypha, he knew he was asleep yet he felt so awake – this was not the first time he’d been here and it wouldn’t be the last. Then the swirling mass of tentacles appeared nearby,
“Ah, hello Hermaeus"
“Ah, my faithful servant – I have a task for you…” His slow and crooning voice always gave him Goosebumps
“Forget it Herma – I don’t work for you, not anymore - find another faithful servant”
“Oh, but you do work for me”
“I did your bidding once in return for knowledge, it was a mistake,” San-Kai said in defiance
“Yes, thank you for giving me the knowledge of the School of Julianos – you are still exiled, no?
“It was necessary –I needed that power” His voice wavered slightly
“You do feel guilty, don’t you? I can take that away if you do my bidding”
“No”
“Mark my words San-Kai, if you don’t do my bidding one day you will regret your actions– what of your brother?”
“Veezara’s alive?”
“Alive and well, I can tell you where to find him – if you do my bidding” He emphasised the last few words. “Think about it, now wake…”
As Hermaeus Mora commanded San-Kai woke, he got dressed and sat on the end of his bed, pondering Hema-Mora’s proposition.
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