My chance to retrieve the Amulet of Kings had slipped away, but another opportunity presented itself by way of the book Mysterium Xarxes. I would need to steal the book and bring it to the Blades. Yet, I could not leave the Argonian there, helpless. I took the blade from the first altar and made my way slowely to the other.

I still wasn't sure of what I was planning to do. I could escape easily, but not so the Argonian sacrifice.

Slowly, deliberately, I approached him while the other cult members cheered in an insane bloodlust. There were only two of us and many of them. Once freed, my true intentions would be exposed, and I knew a terrible battle would follow.

I could almost feel the eyes of the statue of Mehrunes Dagon watching me as I approached the sacrifice.

The Argonian was awake, fully aware of what was going on. I could see his eyes following me. As I drew closer, I could see a single strand of wire across his body. Enchanted to paralyze with constant effect, he was held there, unable to move.

"Please." he whispered. "Do not do this."

In the background, I could hear the other cult members shouting "Lord Dagon thirsts for red-drink! Sate him!"

I smiled back at him. "Listen carefully." I whispered. "I will free you and hand you this dagger. Fight. You may die in this place, but it will not be by my hand."

With that, I cut the wire holding him in place, handed him the dagger, and cast a new spell I had recently created - Cloak of Shadow, a Chameleon spell at 100% effectiveness. It uses a lot of magika, but it would allow me to go virtually invisible while still being able to fight, as well as retrieve that book.

Needless-to-say, the cult members were not happy about their joyous celebration being short-changed. There were more than a few calls for my death.

The Argonian swung his dagger at any cult member that came near him. They all cast a spell providing them with bound armor.

I decided to even the odds by summoning my own army. Other cult members summoned creatures of their own.

I saw the Argonian fighting off one of the cult members. Running behind a cultist, I hit him from behind, causing him turn whirl about to see who was attacking. My chameleon was still working, so he couldn't see me. The Argonian took adavantage of the distraction and killed the cultist. Suddenly, the Argonian froze, then fell, dead due to a sword in his back.

Recasting my chameleon spell, I then called forth more creatures to do battle for me, taking down the one who killed the Argonian. As my magika recharged, I hit several of them with yet two more spells I had recently created, God's Fire and God's Frost. Each took a huge toll on my magika, bbut they did their job, killing each member in one shot.

Still more heavy hitters were called forth, and one by one, each of the cult members fell.

All but one, that is. Harrow.

This one would be mine. And he had all my possessions.

Using yet more magika, I cast the Cloak of Shadow one more time. Sneaking up behind Harrow, I was able to retrieve my enchanted sword from him. Feeling the weight lifted, he shouted "Where are you? Show yourself!"

"I will." I said. "I promise that I will be the last thing you see, once this spell wears off."

"I am not afraid to die." he shouted.

The chameleon spell faided, and I revealed myself in front of him.

"Then let me help you achieve your wish." I replied, as I swung my sword right into him. The enchanted sword did it its work, drawing his life force into me.

He hit back, but I blocked his swing. He laughed. "You are a poor warrior." he said, "Perhaps I will toy with you a bit."

I wasn't in the mood for talk.

The sword had a full charge. Each time it struck him, it drew more of his life into me, healing any wounds his own sword might cause.

He hit back hard, knowing what was happening to him. He knew he had to finish me quickly with a fatal blow, or I would end up winning this battle.

I jumped away from him as he swung a powerful blow at me. As I backed away, I hit him with a spell of God's Fire. He screamed in anger, but before he could raise his sword at me again, the spell took the last of his life out of him. Spent, Harrow fell dead.

I checked the rest of the area, but it appeared that the rest of the cavern contained nothing but dead bodies.

Victorious, I retrieved my possessions from Harrow's corpse. "Enjoy your reward." I said, as I spat at him.

With the rest of the members of the Mythic Dawn either dead or in hiding in other areas of the caverns, I was at last free to grab the Mysterium Xarxes.

I look at it, seeing nothing but daedric writings, odd symbols, things that just made no sense to me at all.

Then I remembered Martin mentioning that he had studied this type of thing at an earlier stage of his life. My only hope was to take the book back to Cloud Ruler Temple and see if there was any way it could be used to help us retrieve the Amulet of Kings. I knew who had it, and what he looked like. I just needed a method of getting to him, and this book would be my best hope of doing that.

I found my way out of the maze of tunnels, finding a few more members of the Mythic Dawn in their sleeping quarters, killing them as I found them.

I ran back to Cheydinhal, finding my horse munching on a bunch of grass. "I hope you had a good meal," I said, patting him on the shoulder, "because we are about to gallop back to Cloud Ruler Temple."

The horse seemed to understand. I jumped on his back and we made haste for Martin and the headquarters of the Blades.