Eighteen: Departure

I had to wait until evening to leave Holamayan. The protection of Azura prevents teleportation in or out, and Master Barelo demands certain precautions. Waiting until the twilight allowed a monk to come out and verify that I did indeed teleport away so that no backtrail would be left leading to the refuge. Since I had to teleport away I chose to use my recall spell and come home. I did not know where the nearest temple or Imperial fortress would be, and did not want an intervention spell to land me in an unknown city.

I was not sure that Master Barelo was going to let me leave at all. It weighs hard on him, being the leader of such a persecuted sect. The greatest weight being that he finds the prophecies hard to believe himself. While he clearly disagreed with the Temple's doctrines of persecution I don't know that he wouldn't describe the Ashlanders as superstitious rabble himself. Not justifying persecution, but certainly not worthy of actual belief. He could not ignore my experience with the corprus disease, and ultimately had to let me go to face further testing.

That testing looms more impossibly at every turn. While he was preparing to send me on my way Master Barelo sent Mehra Milo with another snippet of prophecy. These are, perhaps, the seven curses which must be countered. It looked bad enough when it was the seven ash vampires. The first two curses are fire and ash, obviously referring to the great volcano of Red Mountain itself. Am I expected to extinguish its mighty furnace? The curse of flesh is, of course, blight and corprus diseases that spread from the halls of Dagoth Ur. I am immune, but does countering the curse mean stopping their spread? Curing the afflicted? The final curse is the curse of dreams. The rising incidence of 'soul sickness', people driven mad by sleepless nights and tormented by dreams of Dagoth Ur's vengeance would suggest that this curse is at hand, and the time of the Nerevarine is as well. This more than anything else I believe led to my release. But there are three more curses; the curse of ghosts, the curse of seed, the curse of despair. I am expected to counter them, and I do not know what they are.

I say I am expected to counter them as if I were the Nerevarine. I would hope that I am not. The first two trials, and the prophecy of the Outlander Incarnate are compelling, but far from certain. My next task is clear; to present that case to Nibani Maesa so that she will confide the location of the Cavern of the Incarnate. There Azura herself will mark me as the Incarnate, or I expect that I will die. To die seems the easier path. The remaining trials seem impossible.

A stranger's voice unites the houses
Three halls call him Hortator.

Hortator; an office that has been vacant since Nerevar himself, a warlord who can command the united forces of the Great Houses of the Dunmer. The Great Houses could not unite behind their king in the face of Imperial expansion. They are locked in seemingly eternal strife, having replaced the devastating house wars with legalized assassinations and vendettas. For anyone to unite them seems impossible, but for me? The Redorans with their stiff codes of honor are staunch supporters of the Temple; the temple who would have me killed immediately at the first breath that I could be the Nerevarine. The Hlaalu are not so concerned with the affairs of the temple, but their council is under sway of Orvas Dren, who would have me slain out of hand if he ever traced responsibility for the setbacks his Cammona Tong have suffered. That trail of responsibility leads to the tip of my spear. Even further into the realm of impossibility is House Telvanni, sworn blood enemies of my guild. As the Archmage I am further down their list of prospective Hortators than Dagoth Ur himself would be.

A stranger's hand unites the Velothi
Four tribes call him Nerevarine.

The four clans of the Ashlanders; they are looking for Nerevar to return and sweep the land free of outlanders, Great House Dunmer, and the Tribunal Temple. A scrap of lost prophecy is not going to suddenly change their expectations and make a Breton acceptable, particularly if that Breton has somehow become the Hortator of the Great Houses. The fourth trial pushes the fifth even deeper into impossibility.

He honors blood of the tribe unmourned
He eats their sin and is reborn.

The tribe unmourned is no doubt House Dagoth, and to 'eat their sin' is to atone somehow, but after studying histories and prophecies and fantasies and fabrications I don't think anyone even knows what their sin actually was. What happened an age ago under Red Mountain? What is it that is to be atoned for?

His mercy frees the cursed false gods
Binds the broken, redeems the mad.

And that makes a clean sweep. The Great Houses, the Ashlanders, House Dagoth, and the Tribunal; all the Nerevarine has to do is make friends of every enemy, which is to say everybody. The only question, really, is who is going to hate me the most, they are all going to hate me.

The house is quiet. Ahnassi has not yet returned. I read, I write, I touch the armors and weapons of my collection. I look at my fate looming before me. I await the dawn.