Well, unfortunately Taillus hasn't been about to consult on this battle, but I think I've written it fairly, which is to say that I've left a lot to the imagination. I'm hoping to leave this poll open for about a week, so please vote promptly. If after a week or so we have a tie, I will be the one to break it. I'd rather not do that, so please vote. Try not to let Taillus's absence skew your vote on the battle. With luck we may even be able to summon him (anyone know the summoning ritual for a fanfic writer?).

On to the battle!

Paz,

canis216

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Mehrunes Dagon, Lord of Destruction, scanned the mortal realms for its great champions, to be pawns for his amusement. He had witnessed many a great battle in his arena, yet even the goriest, most glorious contest could not slake his thirst for bloody combat. It seemed that with each fight his thirst grew more terrible and more difficult to satisfy. His mortal champions fought with desperation and fury, some with mad fury, and their battles were indeed diverting. Yet each battle, each drop of blood spilled, merely left the immortal Daedra longing for more, for what can truly slake the thirsts of the timeless Lords of Oblivion?

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Xander Morecroft awoke in a pitch dark corridor. Struggling to his feet, he could not recall precisely what he had been doing. Was I sleeping? Why am I wearing my armor? What is this place? He groped for the walls, and felt the unmistakable texture of daedric metal. No…

“Mortal! You have been chosen to fight for your Lord Dagon’s amusement! Please me, and you shall be rewarded!”

Xander cringed as the thunder that is the word of Mehrunes Dagon overwhelmed his senses—he felt vaguely nauseous, but the sensation soon passed. He opened his eyes, and looked into the terrible visage of the Lord of Destuction. Perhaps it was not appropriate to trifle with a Daedra Lord, yet Xander was tired and not one to be trifled with himself; the first words out of his mouth were spoken in a half-mocking manner.

“And what happens if I displease you?”

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“Ugh…” Serene Catasro felt terribly dizzy, not unlike when she used a scroll of Almsivi Intervention. But this felt stranger still; she felt a sense of foreboding. She certainly wasn’t in the Temple Courtyard—this place was cold, dark, and silent. Or so it seemed.

“Mehrunes Dagon commands you to fight for His pleasure! The blood of another mortal must be on your hands!”

“Blood?! No! I couldn’t possibly do such a thing!”

“You cannot fight? Of course, I understand perfectly. But first, you should see this.”

Mehrunes Dagon towered before the imperial lady in his many armed glory, wielding a great glowing sword. Before Serene could speak, the Daedra Lord swung his weapon in an arc of brilliant golden flame, slashing a fiery window out of the darkness.

And she saw Ald’ruhn burning, its people fleeing the smoldering ruins. Dremora strode purposefully through the city casting fireballs and swinging bloody black swords about, sending guardsmen sailing through the air. She saw the Skar in ashes, chunks of exoskeleton charred and burned and scattered about.

“Athyn!”

Dagon laughed cruelly, “My, you are sensitive, mortal! But I’m afraid your dear Athyn will be quite dead upon your return to the mortal realms. Along with everyone else! Unless you fight.”
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“Ahhhhh!” Sheets of flame and bolts of lightning consumed Xander, he looked down upon himself and saw/felt his own charred and peeling flesh… “Stop! I’ll fight!”

A moment and it was like nothing ever happened, save an odd tingling sensation at the back of his neck. He held his hands out before him, pink and supple and not burning, only feeling almost delightfully sensitive.

Dagon spoke again, his voice still resonating painfully in Xander’s head, “Sensible choice, mortal. Now, go and prove your worth to your Lord Mehrunes Dagon.”

The Lord of Destruction vanished, and Xander was alone in the dark corridor. A faint light glowed in the distance, perhaps 200 yards by the flight of a cliffracer, but obscured by the tortured geometry of Dagon’s house of horror. That’s where my opponent will be, he thought. But who could it be?

He drew his katana, quietly. The slightest sound was too much within this chamber of silence. But the katana was reassuring. Xander looked it over a moment, and let loose a little smile. The heft was comforting, in this least comfortable of places—something felt real, earthbound.

He began creeping along, quietly as he could.

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Serene was agitated, and nervous, but she wasn’t about to make a mistake. She kept to the shadows, fireball at the ready. Not that it was hard keeping to shadows—it was almost pitch black, save for that strange red light… and the corridor seemed to be bringing her inexorably closer. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

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At the center of the maze sat a clearing and a door, bathed in such a red glow that can only be found in the dead lands. Mehrunes Dagon sat high above, flanked by his honor guard, and watched as the two champions slowly groped their ways toward the center of his maze. The man was closer; he wore the armor of a Blade, silver-gray; tied his brown hair in the back, and wielded an elegant Akaviri katana. He moved easily to the edge of the clearing, then disappeared into a shadow that shouldn’t have been. Interesting, the Lord of Destruction thought.

The female, an imperial and beautiful (for a mortal), was almost to the clearing herself. She wore a light blue robe with a gold accent—magical perhaps? It seemed utterly improbable that she should fight in the same arena where Dagon’s greatest mortal champions had spilled their blood, yet the dai-katana slung across her back gave her an air of, if not menace, then at least competence. She too, moved to the clearing’s edge, then stopped. The woman was patient.

Too patient, both of them! The Lord of Destruction, eager for blood, suddenly bathed the entire maze in the full light of day, revealing all.

It was Xander who acted first, not out of any desire to kill but out of habit—he had battled the evil Taillus too many times. His bolt of lightning filled the arena with piercing white light—and a piercing scream—while he dashed in to close the distance before the woman could see him again. He raced across—and she was gone. “Damn”, he thought—he felt the fireball before it arrived…

I voted for Serene, she's willy, resourceful, and quite nasty at times. I'll admit I'm less familiar with Xander, but anything can happen as long as it isn't unbelievable.

I had to vote for Xander (though I was tempted to vote Serene since Taillus hasn't been around lately). I just feel that given Serene's non-violent ways, even under the circumstances, she'll hesitate long enough for Xander to take advantage of it and finish the duel. Xander is crafty, even moreso than Serene, not to mention resourceful.

Excellent build up so far canis!

Voted for Serene, though it was a hard choice. No I am not being biased I simply KNOW that Oblivion hath no fury like a women pissed....dang women....Though I think that Xander could pull this one off too....

Hmm, the woman who is aided by Azura or the man who has faced a godlike opponent multiple times and survived (while dishing out a beating from time to time.)

Well, Xander is mostly a well of unknown potential. Take his duel with Taillus in that cave for example where he suddenly began to pummel the madman like crazy and blasting some seriously powerful spells.

Serene on the other hand, does not have an immense repertoire of powerful spells, nor does she swing that Dai-katana regularly. Indeed, Serene usually manages to get by without fighting, which keep her true limits mostly hidden.

So who to vote?


Serene. Yes, Xander is a veteran of many hard battles but Serene just has one really nasty trick up her sleeves which work wonders during a close-range engagement. The unstoppable Vomica Cruor spell. In fact, I only remember one time that the Vomica Cruor spell didn't kill its victim. It was Veric in To Heir is Human 1. Though in that case it has to be said that he still nearly died and it was Telina who used the spell without actually being familiar with it. So the VC that time was likely a bit weaker than usual.

To make matters short, Serene only needs to lay a hand on Xander and he'll burn to a crisp. She's also a good healer so she'll probably be able to deal with light injuries. Finally, her skill with a Dai-Katana isn't that bad for someone who never uses it.

Alright, it's been a week, so this poll is now closed. I'll be posting the finale tonight sometime, I think.

Awesome! This is going to be good.

Xander rolled out of the way, best as he could, but could not help but be struck, on his legs. He screamed in pain, but he scrambled to his feet and screamed again, until he could pull out a healing potion and down it. The world seemed to him burned, ash and smoke seemed to fly by his eyes, for he could scarcely see. Was it the pain, or some other magic? He did not know. He could walk now, and think—he picked up his katana and cast another shock spell out into the clearing, which blinded him some more but must also have hurt the woman, he thought.

But suddenly, terribly soon, he saw her in front of him, dai-katana drawn. Her robe bore scorch marks and her face was a bit flushed, but she appeared uninjured. So far as Xander could tell at least—his vision was still obscured, blurry and ashen. He could see her, yet he could not focus upon her. Was she beautiful, or terrifying? He couldn’t say—nothing was clear.

But she raised her mighty sword, and Xander was compelled to sidestep the blow and thrust forward, to the heart. She twisted away, and quickly—impossibly fast, to Xander’s mind—had raised the dai-katana once more, was bring it back down already. He tried to block it and did but was thrown back against the wall. He scrambled to rise, but was too late—she was ready, sword high.

Xander’s vision cleared. He finally saw his foe—really saw her—and was struck harder than any blow ever before; the evil Taillus could not do so much. Her robe glowed with magicka, her dark hair with sweat, and her eyes with tears. Even as she was trying to kill him she was crying.

Xander held out his hand.

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Serene stopped. Now he was holding out a hand! This was terrible, all of it. She did not want to kill this man, this young beautiful man with his shiny armor and his soft brown hair and that heroic face. Heroic, yes—she saw the goodness of his heart, the horrific battles with marauding daedra and the mad monstrous Taillus, all that Xander had done and all that he could be.

Then she had another vision… smoke and ash flew through the air, and sparks and flames, bolts and arrows… Salyn Sarethi was fighting a pair of dremora bearing their own dai-katanas; Enamor shone like a beacon of light that was all the brighter because the moons and the starts were obscured by the blackest of clouds. Varvur held a bow—he was standing in the hallway of Sarethi Manor desperately trying to aid his brother… more dremora burst through the door… where was Athyn?

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Xander saw a wild, and yet sorrowful and beautiful and terrifying look spring up in the woman’s eyes. Red then electric blue then red again. The tears, which had been flowing freely, suddenly dried up.

Wow, an excellent expression of both characters in this conclusion(?), you really understand them well from what I'm reading. Great job!

Yeah, it's a conclusion. I'll leave a little to the imagination. I think it ends better this way.

Excellent conclusion Canis! Well-Written indeed.

Such a fascinating description of the character's feelings and in Xander's case his confused senses. Well done.

Oh dear.....a mysterty, how did it really end? Canis, you´ve made a wonderful story here, so well you know Serene to interpret her like this.....woah, I´m impressed really I am!


You won´t tell how it ended will you? Ehhh....

Well, I was thinking something along the lines of Serene raising that big sword of hers and bringing it down upon Xander... or cutting his throat with it or something. But that would have been inelegant, or so I thought. I could have made it elegant, I suppose, but I think it ends nice as is.

Oh yes! She doesn´t actually like killing anyone so....let it be like it is! It´s just great...