On Oblivion

Nobody Important: Listener
Chapter 21: A Gate to Oblivion

The Oblivion Gate was massive, standing even taller than the walls around it.

It towered where the entrance to Kvatch used to be, a doorway into Oblivion itself, swirling with ominous, reddish light and scribed with runes of power. What Lyssi could make out of the land beyond it didn't really look habitable. If there was any way to avoid walking into the depths of Hell itself, she would have taken it.

She didn't have much choice though.

As it stood, she had a list of goals and a time limit.

She had to get out of the city to make her way to Anvil. That was where the next Dead Drop would be, that was where she'd intercept the traitor. She'd catch him red-handed, and then kill him. That took precedence, was what made the other goals so pressing: she just didn't have time for an apocalypse.

In order to get out of the city, she needed to bring down this Gate. Once the Gate was down, Martin Septim could go with his Blades, and the fate of the Empire would rest in their capable hands, not hers. The less the heir had to interact with a murderer like her, the better for everyone.

His blood had been so rich, so powerful.

She knew she couldn't resist it, even if she hadn't been starved and injured.

Next time she might not be able to stop at just a taste.

Taking in a breath she didn't really need, she reached out to hold her hand in the center of the swirling vortex.

There came a sick, wrenching sensation.

And then … nothing.