i'm being forced at gunpoint by @the-radic0le to post a new snippet from the foul murder fic so here we go
tagging: @akira-kelle @pestiset (this is an encouragement to write something so you have something to share) @sith-shenanigans @ipreferfiction and anyone else who wants to!
So write the truth. For yourself, the one and only time you've done it. For Nerevar. For the one who will walk the path to become him, and may be him in only that way, or in all ways, but will deserve an answer you will be unable to give. You have written him so many lessons, and taught him that the truth and the lie are the same in all ways but one. Your pen is heavy in your hand, and you are tired, tired, tired of your slow fall from stolen grace.
And thus here it is: the ending and the beginning, and the last will and testament of Vehk.
The battle had been a tiring thing. More tiring than it should've been; Vehk wrinkles his nose and adjusts his grip on Muatra as he picks his way through their scattered regiments to the Moon-and-Star banner where Ayem and Seht are waiting for him. By no means has he been inactive since they drove the Nords from Resdayn entirely - he trains, he hunts, he skirmishes with the minor Houses who need reminding of why Nerevar is Hortator and King - but it has been many years of peace, held together by Nerevar and Dumac's sheer determination, and the shattering of it has reminded him how little he has truly practiced war since.
(You were complacent. Despite counseling war, you were complacent. Was that your first mistake?)
But at least the fighting is over for now, or perhaps entirely. Admittedly, he isn't certain what happened, for all that he saw it with his own eyes; every single Dwemer they'd drawn out onto the battlefield had shimmered and vanished in the space it took him to inhale with a warning on his lips. He still isn't convinced it isn't some trick of their tonal magic or their new god, but he is less familiar with Dwemer magicks than Voryn, and Nerevar had been, if the timing was right, close to reaching the Heart Chamber Voryn's maps had shown them. This may have just been a result of his interference with Kagrenac's plans.
He hopes so. It would be nice to let this little failure of diplomacy end as a neat lesson to the supremacy of the Chimer and the foolishness of befriending other races, and perhaps something about Nerevar's greatness as well, if only to further dissuade the northmen from trying another invasion in the wake of this.
From my lips to Veloth's ears, and from the Prophet to the Queen of Fate, he thinks, pressing two fingers to his lips, and then sighs. Likely he's a fool. But it would be so nice to have a decisive victory. Nerevar has been so upset by the loss of his friendship with Dumac, understandably so, but the tension between him and the rest of the First Council lately has been nearly unbearable; he'd even snapped at Voryn during the planning stages of the assault, which had left Ayem looking unduly pleased and Voryn angry, not at Nerevar, but at her. Vehk has known for a long time that all he has of Nerevar - like all he has of everything else - is what Nerevar deigns to give him, but he is nearly ready to intervene and demand they all start speaking to each other like the storied rulers they are, if only to save himself the headache.
Speaking of Ayem. The Queen of Resdayn stands beneath her husband's banner in full battle-dress, Hopesfire sheathed on her belt. Blood is smeared across one of her high cheeks, and her red hair has fallen somewhat out of its ties, but she seems otherwise unharmed, speaking with one of her messengers, though she dismisses the mer as soon as she catches sight of him. The expression on her face is grim resignation. "Everywhere, then," she sighs, as soon as he comes close enough to hear, and he nods. "Seht called it magical in origin. He and I are both of the mind that it must have been their Numidium or the Heart of Lorkhan itself; no mortal mage could effect such a far-reaching disappearance."
Realising that Big Donovan in the new spidey show is FUCKING BEN DONOVAN FROM LUKE CAGE I SWEAR TO GOD IF THAT MAN SHOWS UP IN ONE MORE THING I WILL INVENT MULTIVERSAL TRAVEL AND END HIM MYSELF
