Hasir opened his eyes and found himself laying on a grassy field with his back against a rock. He got up and gasped in awe as he
looked around, noticing he was in a cavern with the sound of water coming from his right. He saw a large tree at the other end of a
field of grass.
The Argonian found a path that wound its way through roots that seemed to have grown over the path to the tree. Hasir's eyes went
wide as he saw something rather odd; a shadow seemed to rise from the earth and fly straight a tree that stood on top of a nearby
hill.
He walked along the path, trying to keep the shadow in sight as he stepped over branches two times the width of a man's thigh so
he could see it was not merely a shapeless mist, rather a transparent form of bluish-purple vapor as Hasir had to run to keep up
with it. Hasir gasped in awe and he saw that tree at the end of the corridor of branches was not a hist tree, but a huge tree with a
trunk four times the width of a man's thigh out of which sprouted six branches that twisted upwards to the sky.
Hasir gasped as he saw the shadow he had seen earlier drift towards the tree and envelope it. The Argonian ran nearer the tree,
leaping over roots as he went, hands outstreched as if to grasp the shadow and forccefully pull in out of the tree. His hands closed
on thin air and slammed into the trunk, hissing in pain, rubbing his bruised muzzle in frustration.
The tree's wood darkened as Hasir's heart sank; he saw the flowers that adorned the crown of the tree began to shrivel up and the
wood began oozing red liquid. Hasir started wide-eyed at this while he gaped in horror as the area closest to the tree filled with not
only the tree's blood but, Hasir had to cover his ears as he heard a blood-curtling shriek reverberated around the cavern, He knew
that scream; Kynareth's scream threatened to make his ears rupture. He looked with horror at the the greenery that surrounded the
tree as well as the grassy field below begin to turn brown and die. Hasir looked in the sky and saw, to his horror, a bluish purple swirl
that spun faster and faster like a fan, sucking the Argonian into it.
Hasir oopened his eyes and found that he was on the ship again with his uncle looking concernedly at the frantic Argonian,
"Hey, sleepyhead, have a good nap?" Juleen asked, smirking at his nephew
Hasir hissed a reply that his uncle ignored and turned his mind to another topic altogether,
"So, ermmm... have you had a chance to consider my proposal?"
Hasir looked at him perplexedly,
"What proposal?" He asked, dumbstruck
Juleen groaned and told the young Argonian that he already told Hasir about the group and their purpose. Hasir groaned and said,
stupidly, that he must've been asleep. Juleen whacked him on the head, forcing him to hiss with pain,
"I was just kidding, Juleen, Of course I remember." He said laughing slightly
Hasir looked sidelong at Juleen as something had occured to him,
"Juleen... speaking of being asleep," He said looking at his uncle thoughtfully, "I, had a, er, dream last night about the shadow of
which Molag Bal spoke of." Juleen did not understnnd so he asked his nephew to explain further.
Hasir nodded as he happily obliged,
"I woke up in some wierd cavern where nature prevailed completely cut off from the rest of the world." He looked at Juleen to see if
he was still listening, he was just sitting there, hanging on Hasir's every word. Hasir smiled and continued, I saw a tree on a hill,
when I approached it, a shadow rushed past me like it was being borne aloft by the wind of Kynareth herself." Hasir paused to see if
his uncle was getting all of this but Juleen urged him to continue.
Hasir's tail danced behind him as he told his uncle the rest of the tale. After he finished, Juleen leant against the bars of his cage
and eyed Haisr with horror, his mouth agape,
"Hasir, erm.... one question, who in Oblivion is this shadow?" He asked
Hasir opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by loud footfalls, along with voices, he could not make out what was said. It
was only when they got within earshot did the young Argonian finally discern their words,
"Nerethi wants these slaves topside and ready to move once we reach Caldera. He has a surprise in store for them." Hasir heard
the dunmer snigger as if he was in on a joke that the Argonian did not get.
Nerethi and the other dunmer descended the stairs and went to the seperate cages, unlocking them and placing the inhabitants in
rope shackles which depended from a thcik rope that Nerethi and the dunmer held in their hands. Nerethi took particular pleasure in
knocking Hasir to the ground before forcibly fitting his restraint. He kicked out at the Argonian who hissed in annoyance as he and
the other slaves were told to come with them topside as they were nearing Caldera.
