Blood of the Void. ((Oblivion story))

Chapter 3: Welcome To The Family.

Now if Altaïr had been scared before, that was nothing compared to what he'd seen as soon as he entered the obsidian colored door. Right smack dab in the center of the room was a figure, dressed in full battle armor and wielding an iron axe in his hand, now Altaïr had seen plenty of people like this, but the thing that set him off with this individual was his lack of skin and glowing blue eyes.

The fully armored warrior was clearly a skeleton, it's body from the neck down was covered completely in iron armor that was blackened with what appeared to be soot and with a blood red handprint right in the middle of its chest. A small whisper exited the young boy "Gods blood..." He exhaled gently staring in terror at the skeleton whom slowly began to walk towards him, it's boots clanging against the ground with metallic clanks whilst it walked. Altaïr backed up, putting his back against the door which had shut on its own as he stared in horror at his apparent assailer, the skeleton's glowing eyes were locked straight onto him and the axe in its hand gleamed menacingly in the torch light. "HELP!!!" The young boy screamed out in terror, forgetting to do anything else and doing the first thing to come to his young mind, find someone big enough to handle the problem.

Almost as soon as the word escaped his list the skeleton stopped dead, almost like a statue, the menacing axe in its hand seemed to flicker once, and then became transparent before vanishing entirely. Before the young boy could express confusion a calming voice spoke out to him, one that sounded motherly, but at the same time sound very different than any other voice he had heard in his life "Be calm my child. The threat is gone." And out from the shadows stepped a woman, draped in robes as black as obsidian with a silver buckle wrapped around her waist that had a menacing looking dagger sheathed at the hip side of the belt.

Altaïr could barely refrain from gasping, standing before him was a woman. That wasn't the shocking part however, the shocking part was that this woman had a tail, and not just a tail but she also had scales on her face, and a lizard like head that made her look half human and half reptilian, the stunned look on the young boys face was enough to make the lips of the lizard woman curl up in a 'smile' as she stepped forward "My name is Ocheeva. I am the mother of this sanctuary, you are the child Lucian spoke of." The sentence wasn't a question at all, it was a pure statement and even Altaïr could tell by the tone of her voice.

"Y-Y-Yes ma'am." Altaïr replied in a voice that held a mixture of fear and respect, if this woman knew Lucian she couldn't be a bad person, right? Ocheeva crouched down a bit with her lips still curled up in a smile "Relax little one. You are with family here." This seemed to confuse the small child further as he squinted a bit, almost like he was trying to see any similarities between himself and the woman standing before him causing her to chuckle.

"We are not related by blood young blade." Ocheeva reached out, using a clawed hand to brush some long hair behind the ear of Altaïr who flinched upon contact making the smile on the argonian's face falter. Upon closer inspection she could see many bruises and blemishes on the boy, one was right on his collarbone that looked similar to a scar from a knife and she could see very clearly that he had a bruise on his stomach, visible through his very hole filled shirt. "Blood is not the only thing that makes you family young blade." Ocheeva continued, she would inquire about the scars later, after the young boy met the other members of the brotherhood.

"Would you like to meet your family Young Blade?" Ocheeva asked with a smile, her voice calming and motherly again as she gently rubbed the top of Altaïr's head with her hand. Surprisingly this time the boy didn't flinch, instead he smiled happily, like she had offered him something amazing before he nodded eagerly "Yes! Yes I do!" He said practically bouncing in sheer joy. Ocheeva almost couldn't believe how eager he was, 'Childhood innocence i suppose' was the only thought as to why Ocheeva could manage.

The Argonian woman stood, and held her hand out for the younger boy, who eagerly took it in his own and smiled up at her with a smile that radiated innocence and pure joy. Ocheeva was almost sad to know that soon this child would be changed. Almost being the key word. She could feel the same power radiating from Altaïr as Lucian did, and she was even admittedly scared. The boy was young, far too young to have drawn blood for the first time, and was far too innocent to have murdered beforehand. She couldn't explain it however.

The boy's mere presence seemed to radiate with the power of the void, she couldn't comprehend it, no human being radiated power like this it was almost.... Unnatural. 'When has our family ever been natural?' Ocheeva thought to herself, her scaly lips splitting into a small grin.

The argonian's held her hand out and smiled sweetly at Altaïr, almost in a motherly way "Come dear. Let me introduce you to the rest of our family." Altaïr seemed hesitant, but with a determined look on his face, he took Ocheeva's hand. The motherly Argonian smiled again and turned "Come." She began to walk, Altaïr dragging behind her, leading the imperial child into the darkness of the Brotherhood sanctuary.... Where his new life would begin.