Creeping down the corridor, Nate stayed low and peeked around the corners. The dark fog hung in the air, but the way seemed to be lit with small white candles. Unlike his magic, the candles light hadn't been dimmed down. Picking up one of the candles off the iron stand, Nate looked it over for any runes. There was nothing on it. Which meant that it was just a normal candle with no enchantments. It was odd that a Necromancer would create darkness, just to light his way. Setting the candle down, he took a moment to think. They didn't teach necromancy in the Capitol. It was forbidden. Those that did were kicked out and eventually hunted down. However, Skyrim practiced it. Skyrim was one of the few places left in the world that believed that the dead still had a lot to teach us about history. They believed that to keep history from repeating, one simply just had to know the downfall of those before them. Skyrim was full of ghosts from ages past. Good Necromancers made it their job to help them pass on by finding out why they couldn't move on. Necromancers like his mother. Although, it was times like this that he wished he had listened more to her secret teachings on it. His mother had always kept that part of herself hidden from those around her. Including her husband.

Now that he thought about it though it made sense. She might have been trying to find a Necromantic way to deal with Vampires. Touching his mother's bracelet of protection, he whispered out. "Mother? I might need your help. I'm in trouble... again." Walking slowly down the tunnel, he listened to every sound and sniffed the foul air. His mother had said something about death having different smells. He'd never really learned how she told them apart, but he was up to trying anything right now. Moving down the steps into the large tomb like room, Nate watched the shadows for any sign of moment. In the center of the room, a bright divine light was shining down on a pedestal. The divine light broke through the spell of darkness making the center of the room brighter. Stepping quickly up to the pedestal, Nate saw a similar orb to the one he'd put up on the statue. This one was shoved down into a hole in the pedestal though, preventing it from shining anywhere but from within. There were no levelers or locks holding the orb down, but it was stuck enough that he couldn't just pull it out. Trying to think like a Necromancer, he put his hands on the sides of the pedestal and closed his eyes.

Feeling the magic within the pedestal, Nate concentrated on removing the magical locks within. As the last magical lock released, the pedestal shook. Nate stepped back watching the orb rise from the pedestal enough that it shot a beam of light toward another orb in the mouth of a dragon statue above another set of doors. The next doors burst open and light pulsed throughout the room to end the darkness spell in this room. Nate was slightly impressed with himself, but it faded as he looked around at all the fresh bodies that laid about the room. Most were soldiers and mages. Approaching the body of a dead Imperial solider, Nate tried to see how he died. The Nord looked terrified upon his death, but he had no visible markings to indicate what had killed him. Nate bit his lip, mumbling out to himself. "A ghost? They'd leave no trace... But they don't require a darkness spell..." Climbing to his feet, he checked a few more bodies to find the same. He was vexed. He couldn't even tell if the power he sensed in the air was the entity or the Necromancer. Continuing into the next tunnel, he tried to be as silent as possible. Peeking around the corner, Nate flinched and shoved himself back against the wall out of sight. This was bad. Cursing internally, he mumbled out under his breath. "Shades... Fuck."

Nate hated Shades. Shades were the corrupted and twisted souls of a human. Which explained all the dead soldiers and mages with no wounds. They'd had their souls ripped out and were now warriors in HIS army. Leaning back out to check again, he looked over their hovering black skeletal bodies. They had no legs and didn't need them. Their eyes glowed with a bright red fire and they moved like misty shadows. There was one with a bow and another with a one-handed war axe. He couldn't remember what killed these fuckers, until he backed up and his shoulder hit a torch holder. Looking at the unlit torch, Nate smirked to himself. He always did like playing with fire. Removing the torch, Nate lifted his wineskin from his belt to get a small mouthful. Spitting the wine on the end, he snapped his fingers close to the end to ignite it. With the end roaring to life in a powerful flame that cut the darkness, Nate inhaled and stepped out into view. The Shades flinched like they could feel the flames, turning slowly to face him. Raising his free hand, Nate called out to them. "Come and get me!" The Shades left out an inhuman screech, drawing their weapons. As the archer raised his bow, Nate stepped back behind the wall and waited. The war axe wielding Shade rushed up the tunnel after him, letting out a deep predatory purr.

The moment the Shade stepped around the corner; Nate shoved the torch into its face. The Shade dropped his war axe with an agonized screech, his hands going up to try grabbing the torch. Nate watched the Shade's hand go through his to grab the torch, forcing Nate to remember that he couldn't touch them... but they could touch him if they wanted to. Raising his free hand, he shot out a stream of rippling flames over the Shade. The Shade thrashed as his body caught fire, then in a puff of black smoke and dust, he was gone. Feeling a bit more confident, Nate spun the torch to get a better grip on it. As powerful as Shades were. Everything had a weakness. Even if he wasn't very skilled in necromancy, he knew enough. The Archer took a shot at Nate that missed when Nate jumped to the side. Throwing out his hand, he yelled out. "Come forth!" Beside him a large ghostly wolf materialized in a blue light before its body rippled into flames. The wolf let out a haunting howl, before Nate pointed toward the archer and yelled out. "Get him!" The flaming familiar snarled, dashing off toward the archer. The archer tried to shoot the familiar, but it moved too fast. The Flaming familiar leapt up at the archer, who tried to turn and run, but the wolf exploded into a powerful burst of flames. Incinerating the archer and an approaching Shade that Nate hadn't seen.

Rushing into the room, Nate ran up the steps in the center to activate another pedestal the same way. Guiding the light through the ruins took forever and had Nate practically exhausted. He was able to defeat the Shades just fine. It was just the endless amount of them in every room that was taking its toll. His magic wouldn't hold out for much longer. Unlocking the last pedestal, Nate dropped down to sit beside it. He was beginning to wonder if he had died and this was his eternal hell, when the doors burst open from the beam of light to reveal a large throne looking room. On a raised platform at the end held the last pedestal, but there was something different about this one. It was thinner and from what he could see, the light didn't go into an orb... but something else. That wasn't the part that unnerved him though. Standing before the pedestal stood a hooded man in long black robes with a skull on the chest. The mark of a Necromancer. The hooded man turned his head slightly to look at the opened door and Nate went invisible. The hooded man's voice bellowed out from the room in a calm but menacing tone. "So, she finally managed to find someone worthy to bring her home. Well, now. Don't keep me waiting. Show yourself." Nate leaned back against the pedestal, shaking his head in defeat. He was too weak to take this guy on.

The hooded man chuckled softly, asking as he moved down the steps toward Nate's room. "You must be a mage. No one else has ever made it this far. You relied on your magic... but how is that helping you now? Not well, I'd imagine." Nate swallowed, trying to calm his racing heart and heavy panting. The man's voice was closer now as he asked aloud. "Your invisibility spell will not last forever. Your fear only tells me that you know who I am. What I am capable of. Yet you still came?" Nate saw him walk by the pedestal, prompting him to scoot around to the other side of the pedestal. He was too afraid to answer him. The man chuckled sinisterly, reaching up to push his hood back off his head. Nate saw the rune tattoos up the sides of his neck and across his cheeks, confirming what his body already knew. This man was Malkoran. Malkoran brushed his long bangs away from his grey eyes, asking more seriously. "I really have no patience for the living. So... You either come out, little mouse. Or I'll drag you out by your little tail to cut off your head." Nate rose to his feet in a crouch, taking the risk as he answered softly. "I was technically forced in here. I don't want anything to do with you."

Malkoran turned in Nate's direction, smiling as he replied coolly. "Is that right? And yet... you're helping her take back her temple. Wiping out my friends. Instead of just coming directly to me. What did she promise you, little mouse?" Nate backed down from the pedestal as Malkoran moved up to it. When he had some distance between them, Nate told him a bit guarded. "An exit for one thing." Malkoran traced a finger along the pedestal, still heading directly toward Nate. Nate backed up into the next room, feeling his magical strength weaken. He wouldn't be able to hold his invisibility for much longer. Glancing around for something to help him, Nate's heart sank. The new room had over thirty bodies laying around. Stumbling, Nate fell to a knee and ended his spell before he passed out. In front of him, Malkoran raised an eyebrow before cooing out. "You're a young one. Don't get many of those." Malkoran raised his hands and the large heavy doors behind him slammed shut. Nate swallowed, slowly rising to his feet. Malkoran pulled his long robe sleeves up to reveal his rune tattooed arms, while telling him. "I know why she sent you. You want the sword. But you will not be leaving here with it. I haven't spent months of my life trying to remove it, just for some snot-nosed mage to waltz in here and take it!"

Nate tensed, listening to the bodies around him make soft cracking noises. Malkoran raised his hands palm up, chuckling out. "Submit mage!" Nate started to shake as the bodies around him rose to their feet, brandishing their weapons. Unlike the Shades, the people had flesh... but he was outnumbered. It was then that his wrist began itch. Grabbing his bracer, he loosened it to find out what was happening to him. He had thought that Malkoran was doing something to him, until he saw the Sanguine Rose tattoo writhe on his arm. Calming down, Nate slid his hand across his wrist causing a long staff to materialize in his hand. The staff looked like a massive red rose with sharp black thorns down the stem. Malkoran laughed, asking him curiously. "That won't help you, Mage!" Nate didn't listen to him. Hefting up the staff, Nate pointed it toward the closest undead and channeled it to fire. From the center of the rose on the end, a ball of light struck the ground and the light swirled up into a six-foot tall Dremora in sharp thick Daedric armor. The Dremora looked like a dark elf with red face paint and long horns. Nate gawked at it. To summon a Daedric Lord required a lot of training and control. Otherwise, it would kill the mage that summoned it. Nate gripped the staff tighter, watching the Daedric Lord remove two menacing looking blades as it belted out in a deep growling voice. "My victory is assured!"

The Daedric Lord lunged into the group of undead, slashing his blades around with precision like he lived to kill those before him. His Daedric blades not just cutting through the bodies of the undead but drawing their very souls from their bodies to be absorbed into the staff. Nate yelped as the staff pulsed with every soul it absorbed. Nate then ducked as an Undead soldier tried to take his head off. Striking the soldier in the chest with the staff, the soldier's body fell limply to the ground as something was knocked clear out of him. Nate caught a brief glimpse of a soul disappearing before he had to block a swing from another soldier. Malkoran yelled in frustration as his undead were cut down. Even as Malkoran pulled the souls from the bodies and twisted them into Shades, they didn't stand a chance. The Daedric Lord's blades were cutting down Shades as easily as before. As a Shade came toward Nate, he wildly swung at it and was surprised the Staff hit the Shade. Blocking blows from the Shade, Nate managed to strike it in the chest, turning it to ghostly ash. Twirling the staff, Nate chuckled out as the last Shade died. "Ooo, I like this."

Pointing the staff at Malkoran, Nate belted out smugly. "Surrender, Malkoran! I have the power of blind luck and Daedra on my side!" Malkoran rolled his eyes, before his eyes casually went to the Daedric Lord. Nate reluctantly looked and whined as the Daedric Lord vanished. Malkoran turned his grey emotionless eyes on Nate then, stating out confidently. "Temporarily. Apparently." Nate tried to summon the Daedric Lord again, but Malkoran snapped his own fingers to dispel the Daedric Lord before it even formed. Locking eyes with Malkoran, Malkoran told him with a smirk. "It's been a while since I've been surprised. You got me. But you're going to need more than Daedra, boy." Malkoran crossed his arms over his chest, his arms starting to spark with lightning. Nate cursed, quickly putting up his hand to summon a protective ward with as much energy as he could muster. Malkoran threw his arms down, leashing a ripple of lightning across the floor in all directions. The lightning shot up from the floor to strike his ward, sending Nate clear off the ground and into the wall. Hitting the stone wall, Nate fell to the floor with a loud cough. That had hurt enough that he was moving slower. Noticing that he had dropped the staff, he panicked a little bit. The last thing he wanted was for Malkoran to get that.

Fortunately, as he sat up to find it, the staff vanished from the floor. Malkoran started walking up the steps toward him, informing him coldly. "Still alive? That's fine. I've got more. How would you like to die, little mouse?" Nate noticed that a bow and a single arrow had been knocked up from the force the lightning storm spell caused. Snatching them, Nate notched the arrow and laid back across the floor to avoid hitting the pedestal in front of him as he released the arrow and yelled out. "My name is Nathan!" The arrow whizzed through the air, surprising Malkoran again as the arrow impaled itself between his eyes. Malkoran missed the last step to reach him, falling back with a loud thud. Setting the bow down, Nate panted out. "That's right, bitch. I don't JUST use magic... I'm pretty decent in combat too." Rolling up to his feet with a groan, Nate limped up to the last pedestal. Instead of an orb, it looked to be a tiny sun contained inside a golden ring with a handle sticking up. Reaching out, Nate curled his fingers around the handle. Slowly pulling it up, Nate's eyes widened as it came free from the pedestal with ease. It was a sword made of stunning gold with a soft black and gold handle. It was pretty light for a one-handed sword, but beautiful. The tiny piece of sun in the hilt shined brightly with a comforting warm light. Lowering the sword, Nate stated aloud. "Alright! I won! Let me OUT!"

When there was no response, Nate snapped out. "HEY?! Are you listening?! He's dead! Let me out!" When another minute of silence past, Nate moved down toward the door he'd come in from. Pointing the sword up at the orb that was reflecting light into the room, he opened his mouth to say something foul. Until a dark wispy voice bellowed out from behind him. "MY FACE! You shot me in the face, asshole!" Nate slowly lowered the sword, carefully turning around to see a large Shade standing by the body of Malkoran. Malkoran's Shade turned his black skeletal face toward him, his eyes rippling with literal flames as he glared at him. Feeling a cold chill run down his back, Nate meekly uttered out. "Did I do that...? I think you might be mistaken." The Shade's hands began to spark with lightning, prompting Nate to rush out. "Look. No harm done. Just yank that out and I'm sure you can slither back up your ass... Or however you go back. How do you go back?" Malkoran's Shade let out a yell and Nate screamed as he ran. To Be Continued...