As promised, the latest Oblivion Gate wasn't too far from the city gates. We made our stand, and Martin gave an impassioned speech, encouraging his men to have no fear, but to do battle as bravely as possible.

A number of cheers peppered Martin's speech. He was sounding like a true leader.

I wasn't concerned about the speech. I just hoped that my aim was true. My plan was to attempt to silence any creature coming through the Gate that could summon other creatures to their aid.

The gate just stood there, blazing away, like the usually do, as if the monsters on the other side were making some sort of plan as to who comes through first.

The Gate shimmered for a second, then suddenly a Dramora and a daedroth appeared.

The Dramora could summon creatures, so I shot an arrow off at him.

The soldiers closest to the intruders took over from there. The Dramora had a huge warhammer, but there were more than enough solders to take care of him.

Suddenly, an Xivilai appeared, running towards the battle. I shot one arrow at him but missed. I shot another arrow filled with a silence spell at him just as he was about to summon something. He shot a very angry look back at me, but he was attacked by several more soldiers.

Suddenly, there was a rumbling under the ground, and I saw a second oblivion gate rise from the dirt.

The new gate burst to live, and almost immediately, several Storm Atronachs came through. Capable of making deadly shock spells, they would pose a danger to the soldiers.

I had to act fast, since I didn't want to hurt any of the soldiers running to do battle with them.

I shot a ball of God's Fire at them. One took the full brunt of the spell and fell to pieces.

The other soldiers made short work of what was left of the second monster.

A third gate opened up between the first two. This is what the enemy wanted. I saw an Xivilai appear. I was about to switch back to my bow when I suddenly felt a pain in my right arm. I had taken a arrow to the shoulder.

I did a healing spell, then switched to the Bow of Silence. The Xivilai was heading right for me. I got one shot off, then another, but he wouldn't fall. The spell effects would only prevent him from summoning creatures to his aid. I believed it was a conscious effort to take my effects down.

I switched to my broadsward and waited for him to attack.

He lunged at me with a huge battleaxe. I dodged his swing and struck him directly across the chest with my sword. The effect stunned him long enough for the other soldiers to come to my aid.

I looked over to Martin. He had two arrows coming out of him. I ran over and did a healing spell on him. It took four shots, but he finally recovered.

"Thank you." he said.

"Try to stay out of trouble, your highness." I joked back.

Suddenly, the ground shook, as if there was a terrible quake. The ground felt like it was splitting apart, and there was a terrible smell, like brimstone mixed with rotting flesh permeating the air.

A huge structure started to rise out of the ground directly in front of us.

Within seconds, the structure burst to life.

From somewhere, I heard Martin call out to me.

"Go! Now! You have only 15 minutes before death comes through that gate!"

This is what we had planned for. We tempted them. They took the bait.

Now it was up to me. Martin and the others would have to do the best they could.

All I could do was hope that it wasn't too complicated a maze to make it to the Great Sigil Stone. And I had no idca what challenges were waiting for me on the other side.

I ran as fast as I could....

.....straight into the jaws of Oblivion.