A Devilish Beginning

I died.

As far as deaths go it was a rather uneventful one as well. I didn't die at the behest of some magical truck on my way home from saving some child barreling towards the middle of the highway chasing a soccer ball or some unaware highschooler on his/her phone.

I died the same way I lived most of my adult life. It was while putting ungodly(unhealthy) amounts of time into playing heavily modded Skyrim.

I was roleplaying as a chaotic neutral vampire lord/werewolf hybrid who just like his fellow nordic deity Talos was able to ascend to the status of godhood after realizing what the title of last dragonborn truly meant.

It was one of my most meta characters so far.

What differentiated this character from the rest was that he was supposed to be someone from our world. A man who knew the the lore of the elder scrolls. In knowing so was keenly aware that the last dragonborn and Alduin were just split aspects of Akatosh. He knew that to fulfill his destiny meant to essentially bring forth the destruction of his new "immortal" life, the realm of skyrim as a whole and quite possibly all he'd ever known by bringing forth the end of his kalpa.

The man rebelled against such a reality. After finally taking Alduin down he devised a way to use his talents over the thu'um given to him by Akatosh.

He created a method to not only absorb the souls of felled dragons to increase into his power but the souls of all his enemies.

The man cut down every manner foe that stood in his path and used their souls as fuel in his quest for survival until he ascended to the status of what could be considered a semi-diety.

He would have become an Aedra if not for his doubt about what would happen to him due to his deep intrinsic connection to Akatosh and his relationship to Serena the daughter of coldharbour. Because of her, he was reminded that due to his vampiric nature Molag Bal would eventually attempt to lay claim to his undying divine soul a truth that proved true in fact leading to a battle between the two beings.

After a long drawn out exchange he was was able to defeat Molag Bal. He then proceeded to absorb the daedric lords essence and in doing so he became the youngest daedric prince to grace the aurbis since Malacath in the merethic era.

Although you could also make a case that there's an slightly older yet still relatively young one in the form of the hero of kvatch after the oblivion crisis or as he's now commonly known nowadays Sheogorath.

Yet after absorbing his first daedric lord he grew drunk on the power the corrupt soul offered and planned to hunt them all in his quest for more power. Alas... even consumed by a primal hunger for power he knew the story and folly of Jyggalag another daedric prince with a quest similar to his who had faced a united front of multiple daedric lords and was promptly disposed of.

So he retreated into his realm of oblivion to plan for the future.

As a daedric prince he initially drew his power from the arcane, corruption, secrets, oaths, order, victory and deceit.

At the time some of the concepts from which he derived his divinity overlapped with other daedric princess temporarily putting him on a disadvantage in regards to his influence over them due to him being a new god.

Yet he found it was necessary nonetheless. Even if he had to place himself at a temporary disadvantage every single one of his aspects were carefully chosen and set in place with purpose due to the endeavor ahead of him. Even the daedric lords had a certain amount of duty to upkeep the universe and he traded less initial influence for more time to plot and grow his strengths.

Even his madness addled self at that time knew he posed no real threat against the collective front of the daedric lords if they joined together were they to see him as a possible threat. He had to plan his next steps carefully and precisely. So he started by targeting the more antagonistic few of the lot.

He focused his sight on Mehrunes Dagon who sought to battle him due to his deep

seated hatred of Akatosh and him by extension; as he had previously been an aspect and dragonborn of the insane and splintered god. He was then promptly defeated without much fanfare as the former dragonborn already possessed the power of multiple daedric lords at his finger tips. After him Clavicus Vile was next on the chopping block and Sanguine eventually followed after him in turn. All of the harvested lords the former dragonborn had faced in the past.

The aggresive nature of the new daedric prince and his victories obviously did not elude the notice of the rest.

Many daedric princes came forward to strike deals with the purpose of keeping he who hungers at bay. He was willing to make non agression pacts with both Nocturnal, Azura and Meridia due to their previous dealings with him during his mortal days. After them followed Malacath, Peryite and surprisingly even Boethiah all of whom apparently had the most common sense and agreeableness out of the male daedric princess's.

Almost everyone else had decided to remain neutral except those who didn't come forward at all.

All of whom were promptly deemed as acceptable targets in the eyes of anyone that mattered.

Yet his hunt of the old gods surprisingly ceased under peculiar circumstances. After almost being manipulated by Mephala who rightfully viewed him as an extreme treat to their existence as a whole into killing and absorbing Malacath. One of the few daedric princess he genuinely respected.

After that he realized how consumed he had really become in his thirst for power.

He had long since achieved his goal of becoming a being that could truly survive the end of a kalpa.

He had unknowingly become fully consumed and addicted to the corrupted power gained by hunting his fellow daedric lords. It was to the point of considering actions he would've otherwise found previously crossed his bottom line and thus utterly unacceptable. For the first time in a long time he felt conflicted.

He decided to cease his hunt of daedric lords an set his sight on other ways to gain power. One less reliant on feasting on their tainted souls and the essence of other beings.

The knowledge gained through his previous life immediately granted him an answer.

The Godhead.

Or... more precisely the state of Zero Sum, CHIM, Amaranth and the information regarding said state that lied behind the truth regarding the now forgotten Alissian order stored within his mind. If there is anyone capable of achieving CHIM within the TES universe it was him.

These states of being are achieved through facing the ultimate truth or the realization that the entire elder scrolls universe is nothing but the dream of a true higher being... in other words The Godhead. That is to say that once you realize this insurmountable truth a being has to paths before them.

When confronted with the mindboggling realization that that you are truly and undeniably not real you can for example choose to rationalize, accept and manifest the fact that you don't exist in which case you would Zero Sum.

The dwemer serve as a prime example of this who as a scientific race couldn't justify their existence and Zero Sum'd thus erasing themselves from Mundus and existence as a whole by manifesting that realization into the world.

The other option is CHIM or dream shaping.

This is where a particularly strong willed entity faces this truth head on and is able to say with certainty that they are in fact real despite what the reality of the situation might say.

The simultaneous and contradictory understanding that while you're within a dream and also a part of a dream you exist. Simply put it's the unshakable belief that you're in fact your own separate entity. This leads the entity to become what is essentially a lucid dreamer or as it's more colloquially known as... a being on the level of a reality warper.

Beyond that level is Amaranth where an entity that has achieved CHIM leaves the dream and decides to become a new dreamer or Godhead creating their own universe.

Upon remembering that fact it happened immediately. An epiphany had struck him and he had almost instantly achieved CHIM.

This cathartic development brought him joy but eventually with time his new unmatched power came apathy and boredom.

He realized that he could achieve anything he could ever set his sights upon in the elder scrolls universe. So he decided to seek out entertainment by venturing out of the Godhead's dream.

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Now, you might be asking yourself why I'm boring you with the lore/head cannon details of my new RP character that don't matter in the grand scheme anything?

Well, It's because I currently find myself in the middle of an island seemingly nowhere near where I was at the time of my supposed death. All while inhabiting a body scarily similar to the one I spent a handful of hours meticulously crafting for my previous playthrough.

The body swap was immediately noticable.

I had always been a frequent gym goer and the stretch marks that were there due to the loss of muscle mass thanks to the handful of years I had grown obsessed with excessive bulking were glaringly gone but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Most notably even without that I now stood a handful of inches taller at about 6'8.

My tanned skin and scars gained through a rambunctious childhood were also replaced by fair unblemished skin. A chiselled cut physique with perfectly symmetrical yet hefty and aggressive looking muscles adorned my body like a regalia dedicated to gains that were noticeable over the thick fine nordic clothes I seem to be wearing. My short curly brown hair was also replaced by natural long platinum blonde locks of straight hair.

'At least I can be thankful that I didn't get stuck with a shitty "swimmer's build" that martial arts novel fans seem to be obsessed about. As if the build of your physique made a difference or mattered in a world where people can move at lightspeed and demolish entire buildings a single puch. Everyone knows that if you are in a world where practicality doesn't matter then an Adonis like chiselled yet massive physique would be king you pussies. Golden ratio for the win!!!' I thought to myself slightly disassociating from the situation.

'Where the fuck am I anyway?' I think to myself while looking out into the horizon.

All of a sudden I get a head splitting headache and fall to my knees. Under normal isekai rules I should have been inheriting the memories of the original bodies owner.

I on the other hand begin to experience something way too different.

There's no way to put what I'm experiencing into proper coherent words.

I begin to see sounds, taste colors and hear the emotional spectrum in all it's glory. The fabric of reality melting away in a second stretched out over eons. I feel enlightened yet at the same time sick to my stomach. I somehow instinctively know that I'm experiencing something that an untrained mortal psyche is not built to experience yet my mind somehow endures, no it strangely feels perfectly at home. But still-

"It's too much, somebody make it STOP!!!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs but suddenly it all goes quite. Almost as if the previous feeling was nothing but an illusion.

All thoughts ceased as I proceeded to lose consciousness. Which apparently prompted whatever powers that be to finally begin the process of showing the memories inhabiting this vessel.

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"Quick, search his body and take anything of value. We have to leave quickly in case whatever manner of guard this nordling has for an escort show up. The poor fool definitely looks like he could've afforded that type of service." I hear the voice of a man say close to me.

"We can start with his boots. Those by themselves seem like they could sell for a crown or two." Says another.

"Why the hell would you start with the boots when the bastard is clearly wearing expensive jewelry you bloody idiot." The first man counters.

"My grandfather always used to say to us growing up if "if you hold anything in your possession that you're wholly unwilling to part with whilst traveling, store it in your boots not your coin purse." The second one quotes.

"Anyways, you're the one that's not willing to risk the wrath of the "gods" by desecrating a random corpse whom might I add is of our own making you hypocrite. So, unless you're willing to stop the nagging and join me to help hurry up the process then be quite!!!" He follows up with irritation lacing his tone.

"He's not one of your family members you dunce but if you want to waste time then suit yourself. Just hurry the hell up." Adds the first man.

I stir fully a wake after after feeling my body jostling from side to side. As I open my eyes I notice what seems to be a sword protruding from my chest and some random man holding my foot or more precisely my boot alongside it in his hands. Instantly a wave of realization pours over me as to what just happened and I grow immediately incensed.

"BO WAH KRII HI FIROK!!!" I screamed lost in my anger and am surprised not only by what came out of my mouth but what happened next.

As the shout comes out of my mouth everything around us begins to tremble and the two men infront of me tumble back and begin to bleed profusely out of every orifice visible to the naked eye and instantly drop to the ground to that far from where they previously stood.

As I lay there surprised by what just happened whisps of light begin emanating from their bodies and into mine and I started seeing fragments of their memories.