"Serana?"
"Who is Serana?"
"What is Serana?"
"Is that you? Where are you?"
"Who are you?"
"What are you?"
"Serana!"
Yet there was no answer other than the strangled voices that moaned questions on a breeze that didn't exist. Slowly, I limped down the steps, regretting leaving all my possessions behind. I carried only my sword, and it left me feeling only slightly better than naked. The air was no particular temperature and lay still like a dead body. The ground was no particular color, only a soft ashen sand that made no sound underfoot.
A thunderous crash made me jump and stumble, and I tumbled to the bottom. Spitting out bitter sand, I glanced behind me where a small hole in the sky reflected the room I just left. Thunder crashed in the distance, flickering light sending strobing shadows climbing across the ground like desperate fingers. I watched as Valindor thrashed about, destroying everything within reach, including a human skull that sailed toward the portal only to vanish in a flash of light. He paced around the balcony like a caged bear, drinking sloppily from a wine bottle before that, too, was thrown violently against the railing. He didn't leave?
Touching as it was, I remembered my purpose for being in this arid empty place, so I turned the other way and struck out in an arbitrary direction. Strange stone monoliths and towers melted across the landscape, their stone faces full of holes through which currents of energy flowed. The sky above was a clouded, malevolent purple--like the color of a soul gem. For a moment, I wondered if I was inside of one, though this didn't seem like the innards of a crystal.
There was nothing living here. The plants that dotted the soil were long dead, nothing more than husks of matter. No creature flew, nor did any spirit roam. The only real movement lie in the viscous globules of drifting magic and occasional flashes of lightning.
"Derkeethus!" I called, cupping my hands around my mouth.
"Keethus? Eethus? What do you see thus?"
"Derk? Is that you?"
"Erk? Why do you work?"
"That can't be him. What do you want! Why do you keep taunting me?" I shouted, deeply unnerved by the floating voices drifting around the tombstone-like monoliths, some passing just by my ear. When I felt something brush my shoulder, I spun, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever it was.
"Taunting you, haunting you? Always wanting you."
"Derkeethus! Where are you? Please, just say something..."
"Something? Why not say nothing?"
"Nothing is something; something is nothing."
The sounds whirled about my head faster and faster in an unending babble of nonsensical rhymes and lilting questions. I clapped my hands over my ears and walked faster, ignoring the sharp pain as the stitches in my leg pulled loose. A tickling trickle of blood oozed down my leg and into my boot, and I felt, more than heard, the forces around me shriek piercingly. Something shoved me from behind--something with claws. I broke into a run.
"Where are you running? What are you shunning?"
"Leave me be!" I swatted at nothing but air, clawing at it as if to tear it away. I tripped over a crevice seeping bright magicka like a volcanic vent. Faces formed and dissolved in the mist, their expressions that of a slow, exquisite agony. With a cry, I backed away, stumbling backward into the soft sand, gripping it tightly only to feel something moving under my fingers. Panting, I scrambled to my feet, staggering in a lazy circle as I tried to find something to ground me in my increasing panic. "Derkeethus, how could I let you become trapped here."
"Trapped? Or mismapped?"
"Or mishapped..."
My hair and clothing were tugged rudely, and cold fingers gripped my wounded leg, probing the wound. I drew my sword and slashed down by my side. The blade hit air. With an audible click, I swallowed my heart as it beat wildly in my throat. After a moment, the fingers returned, burrowing deeper. I bolted into a dead sprint. "Get off me! Get away from me!"
"Life! So rife with sorrow! Come with us on the morrow..."
Slashing wildly, I swung my sword all around me, never finding the force that I could feel trailing behind me like a hungry dog. Its voice whispered and moaned like the wind blowing across mountain peaks. I tried to summon the spriggan for help, but the moment the spell hit my hand, pain jolted up my arm and the magicka spiraled aimlessly into the ether. Nearby, something started laughing, a voice different from the rest. Its deep, undulating chortle reminded me of bones clacking hollowly together. Y'ffre, if you even see me anymore, help! Help me, please! I pleaded in prayer as I tried to swallow my panic. Instead, the laughter followed me, hounded at my heels, driving me towards wall that rose from the ashed waste as if it were materializing before my very eyes.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to turn another way. Every turn led me in a circle back toward the wall. Even when I marked the stones with my blade, the marks quickly faded and I found myself going in the wrong direction. My steps eventually began to falter and slow, my limbs aching with exhaustion.
I stumbled to my knees, and the fingers were back, picking and probing.
With a grunt, I lurched forward again, no longer bothering to call out or question the endless inane chatter that seemed ever closer no matter how far I ran. All the while, the wall loomed larger, seeming to grow at surprising speed, though I ran at barely more than a jog.
Suddenly, my foot twisted and the world tumbled in a wild arch. Sand crept into every crevice and fold of my clothing, coating me in a layer of irritating grey that I could feel grinding into the slash on my leg. I tried to rub the stuff out of my eyes, but I only rubbed more sand into them than out. They leaked thin tears as I lie there. My ankle throbbed dully, and I could see a greenish puss starting to ooze out of my leg. With a cough, I cleared my dry throat and licked my lips. I don't have any water. Why didn't I think to bring water?
The invisible entities that hounded me finally caught up, and I felt my body picked and plucked over. I squeezed my eyes shut. I was so tired and thirsty. Mercilessly, I was examined, poked, and prodded by things I couldn't see--things I couldn't put a form to. Eventually, my mind endured the same scrutiny, though I attempted to seal it against the onslaught. Valindor was right, this is hell. This was a stupid idea. Derkeethus isn't here. He was never here. Oh, Y'ffre, please, make it stop. Just make it stop. I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I'll do whatever you want, just make it stop!
But it didn't stop. Instead, my world was swallowed by darkness and endless chattering nonsense.
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