[C0DA-Apocrypha] The 1001 tales of the Shadowscales - Tale 01: Little Chana

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The short time of peace | The Nord-Mer War | Enlist Today! | The principles of legionaries | [The constitution of the Empire] (https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/6fkyb5/c0daapocrypha_the_constitution_of_the_empire/)

[Excerpt from the Book "1001 Tales of Shadowscales"]

The father, leaning against the bar, breathed heavily, as I entered the hall to the inn. His wet cheeks and ruffled hair witnessed the agony of the last weeks and months that he had to live through. He had lost a lot of weight and this day would be the climax of his odyssey.

The mother was sitting in an armchair in the corner, glancing at the entrance with the sight of a woman which had given up and hated herself for it. She stood up as I approached and the father turned to me, wiping his tears with his sleeve.

"Good, you managed it," he said in an unusually shaky voice. "We had the fear that you could have problems with the trip because of the war with the Mer."

I nodded to them. The mother looked at me and gave me a faked smile as she had turned to every guest for years. As the father stroked his hair, so as not to look completely desperate, I entered the entrance hall completely.

"I wanted to say good-bye to her," I explained. Closing her eyes, the mother sat back in the chair, letting the tears run wild. The father came to her and held a hand on her shoulder and the other before his mouth and I remained respectfully silence. The lost was too early for the two. Way too early.

I remembered the last meeting with Chana, the daughter. "Maybe I'll never see you again," she said as I finished with one of my stories from faraway countries.

Her face was at that time as pale and beautiful as the snow, which had laid upon the land of Bruma in the pre-night, but witnessed her growing weakness.

I grinned with fake self-confidence and said, "I'll be back. I promise you, my little princess!"

"And then you tell me why you are traveling so much, yes?"

"I promised you." I winked at her and her mother stepped into the room with a smile and a hot tea. It was the last time that the smile seemed honest to me.

She handed her daughter a cup. At that time, Chana could not get out of bed any more. There were a few weeks before the attack from Vivec to the Imperial-City.

On my first visit to the inn, near the hero statue at the east entrance of the city, the mother of Chana told me about the illness when I saw her play and noticed how fast she was exhausted. Magicka degeneration.

"Her soul is extinguished," she said. Her painful sighing still sounded in my ears. At that time the father was still heroic. "But she is strong!" He shouted, raising his arms to his waist, and looking at the playing Chana. "She's much stronger than any healer has diagnosed!"

Every healer who was examined her, told the parents that Chana would not grow up. She was weak from birth. Her immune system was weak, so she could rarely go outside. She knew nothing but the inn and the little garden with the oak, to which a swing had been attached. But she had been a curious little princess.

"Where are you going?" "Tell me about your journeys!" She sked every guest. And no one could refuse this little miracle in human form. Everyone who looked at her recognized that she had been sick. She was always too pale and leaned on her own weight as often as she could on a railing or whatever she could grab. She knew she was not going to live long, but she just did not want to be desperate and asked each guest about tales of places she would never visit. There were clearly older people, with a higher rank, who looked much more dignified to their death.

Now she was already thirteen years old and was a young woman, which was the beginning of her near end. It was a few weeks after the attack of the two-colored Mer. The city of Bruma was flooded with refugees from the capitol and the inn nevertheless closed its doors to be there for the daughter.

"Can I go to her?" I finally asked the father.

"For sure. But ... she has not opened her eyes since the day before."

When a soul goes out, the body began to adjust functions. At first, the legs became numb and could not be moved and the sitting caused pain. In the end, the senses followed. First, the ability to smell and taste was lost. Shortly before the inevitable end, the voice sank together with the light of the eye.

"We do not know if she is aware of anything," the mother explained. Again a tear ran down her face.

"I see. Stay", I said and the mother sat down again.

"We would offer you to relax from the travel stress ... but-" I interrupted the father's apology, for I have seen many people die and have also met many survivors. "No problem. I'll go to her immediately."

I climbed the dark wooden stairs, the parents close behind me, feeling the joy in my chest again.

When I came to the inn for the second time and visited Chana, I felt tired and indescribable lonely. My profession forced me to feel that way, and I hated it on such days. But visiting Chana was one of those moments that gave me strength again.

I did not fear death myself. I even studied it in the refuge and was instructed by a god himself, Sithisae, to bring it to people. Probably that is the reason why every face of men and women who died in agony had burnt into my mind.

But when I saw Chana's smile when she asked me for new tales, I felt such an intense warmth deep inside me that I even began to forget my profession, the reason why I had to travel so much and the reason I came to this Inn.

I told her about many wonderful things that our world had to offer. From fields full of colorful flowers in the hot summer, which shone so brightly, like a sun of pure color that they even dyed the surrounding trees. About the Flying Whales of Skyrim whom flew so majestically that the inhabitants of the icy desert had even pray them. From the glass trees of the Valenwood, whose leaves were sold here in Cyrodiil for decoration purposes. And from the jungle of Cyrod and his magically beautiful blue mist, which snaked through the narrow trees like a dancing princess.

Of course I did not conceal the inexpressible stupidity of the people who brought me my livelihood. I never told her about all the blood, the burning of the corpses, and the turning off of witnesses. I never told her I was a shadowscale. But this would change now.

When I finally entered her room for the last time, Chana was lying in her bed with a painted Crown at the foot of the bed, nothing that would be worthy a princess of her caliber, and she did not move. I turned on the light and saw that her eyes were closed. I sat down beside the bed in the chair. Her mother was at the other end of the bed, holding Chana's hand, the father right behind her.

"Well, Princess? Here I am, once again" I said with my deep, vibrating voice, and could swear that she was breathing deeply. She had understood me. "I was back in the BlackMarsh, in the south."

Whenever I told her about my travels, it felt like a small salvation for me. Like a confession. The visits became something important for me. They were the most important point in my travel plans. I only accepted orders which led me to the inn, even though it was a detour. Almost five months I was now on my current order. For five months my friendship with the little princess lasted.

"But this time I have nothing to tell you about the trip." The Father looked at me, frowning.

I took Chana's cold, bale hand, and she pressed. Overpowered by her last approach of life, I could no longer hold onto myself. Tears fell to the ground and Chana's grip grew even stronger. Her will power was overwhelming. "I can not tell you about the trip because you'll soon be making a much bigger trip!" I shouted to her in a trembling voice. "You will experience the greatest journey of all. You will leave your body and be free. A soul in the stars."

In Chana's breathing, longer and longer pauses crept in.

"Then you can see everything. Really everything! From there, you have the perfect view." Her white cheeks firnes the last laugh-lines of her life. "Then you will see more than I do." I tried everything to make her realize that death was not evil, but a tear-impregnated joy. A salvation for her. Salvation to all who were so much deserted by fate and their bodies become a prison.

"You're just waiting, okay? Travel the world as a soul and wait until I and your parents come to you. You can ask the other deceased for tales. They will love to tell you some, I am sure."

I took her hand and kissed it. "But now to my promise. Why I travel so much ..." And I told her everything, in which I leaned against her ear and whispered. The parents looked at me but did not understand anything.

After a few moments, I sighed. "Do you hate me? Because of your father?" The Father frowned again.

She used her last Remaining power and shook barely noticeably the head, the eyes always closed. I cried again. "I thank you!"

I gave her a last kiss on the forehead and said, "See you again!" As I took my lips from her cold forehead, I looked into her eyes just opened. But her eyes were empty. Her mouth was open and she was no longer breathing. The handle loosened from my hand and she was gone.

I let go of my hand and fell into the chair. The woman rushed weeping out of the room and the man followed her. Never before in my life has the death of a person moved me this much. With Chana died something inside me dies as well, the tiny remainder of compassion with humanity. She was the only person I could feel good about, because she was not as corrupt as humanity or me. I did not want to be a shadowscale anymore. I only had one last order and my victims deserved me, then I would do something new. Something I did not need to be ashamed of after my death.

As I stepped down the stairs, the parents seemed as if they had not moved. Immediately both of them looked at me.

"It's finally over," said the woman and I nodded. She dropped into her chair and sighed. She was no longer crying. She seemed almost liberated.

"I told Chana why I travel so much and I want to tell you too."

The man cleared his throat. "Let me hear what my daughter has heard for the last time in her life, please."

I stood in front of the bar, blocked the only escape route and looked around. There were, as for months, no guests there.

"I am a shadowscale, and I have been instructed to look for and kill the informers of Mer."

The father almost fell asleep and the mother jumped up. "You want me? Kill me?" The man asked horrified and I nodded.

"You and your comrades. Only you are left. You took the Mer to the Imperial-City." I pulled my small deadly pistol and hit my horned tail on the ground. Again tears flowed down the woman's face. Her suffering was the greatest.

"But ... but why? Why now? You've been coming here for months!" The husband yelled, hit the bar and stepped forward. "Why now?!"

The wife reached for her husband's arm and looked at him. He looked into her eyes and then to me, holding his hand to his mouth. "Because of my daughter? You ... gave me the last time with her."

"Your daughter gave me so much. I ... wanted to give her something back but can not let you go."

"I needed the knowledge of Mer ... for her! For the cure! Do you know that?" He breathed in tense.

"And what did it changed for you? She still died!" I said, "And if it is a comfort to you, you are my last victim."

After a few moments, I took a step closer.

"I know there's no escape. I have ... we've lost everything. Will you take me with you?" Asked the wife and the husband turned around.

"Honey, no! Not you. You can live. "

She smiled and shook her head, clinging firmly to his arm. "No. I lost everything. You and Her. Let's be a family together in Aetherius, right?"

The husband hesitated and turned to me. "Would you ... would you do this favor to us, my friend?"

His words ached because, over time, I became really a family friend. I nodd ed and put the gun on the Husbands's skull, while the mother pressed her forehead against it so that one particle would kill both. "Short and painless. I'm sorry," I said.

"If it means you, Ah-Geellah, I think I can look into your eyes again, in spite of the present hatred now, if you follow us into the heavenly Aetherius. But right now, I feel nothing less than disgust. But I'm not angry with you, I'm just disappointed in you and my stupidity. I'm waiting for you with Chana." And I pulled the trigger.

Order completed.