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The Elder Scrolls Online: The Tale of Avarain Hlel, Hero of the Ebonheart Pact



Part 2



Ian S. McClure







Avarain Hlel was, by all accounts, a rather unique Dunmer. The Hlel family was once a major player in the noble Great House Dres of the land of Morrowind, which is historically known to have been highly involved in the slave trade throughout said province. Indeed, both official records from the Era and Avarain's own journals reveal the Hlel family was responsible for managing the slaves in the entire Stonefalls region, and were therefore quite high in the Dres hierarchy. They were opposed to the Ebonheart Pact freeing the Argonians for this reason. However, despite this, and despite his own admitted dislike of the reptilian beastfolk, Avarain himself was a defender of their right to freedom. He wrote in his journal: “Though the lizard-men of the swamps are brutish, and honestly alien to most civilized races, it is obvious through their service to the Pact that they know loyalty and bravery. To continue enslaving our stalwart allies is clearly a mistake; they have more than earned to be free from our bonds.”



In all likelihood, it was for this reason that he got on rather poorly with his parents. This dislike, combined with a surprising prowess for offensive magic, led him to abandon the family home some years after the formation of the Pact, at the age of eighteen, to study at the newly-formed academy known as Shad Astula. According to his journals, Avarain desired to help the Dark Elven people take the Ruby Throne, and guide the other races of Tamriel, who he considered short-sighted at best, barbaric at worst, to a new era of prosperity for all involved. However, multiple other sources, as well as his own later account, tell that he also aspired for personal fame and glory—a way, perhaps, to separate himself further from his family and its' past, though this is of course pure conjecture.



His logs then go into detail on his journey from the city of Kragenmoor to the capital of Mournhold. The journey is largely uneventful, though at one point he writes of “a sense of doom, vague images of terrible things, and a rather bad headache”. It has been confirmed that this entry is concurrent with the events of a mysterious “Planemeld” reported by many texts from the time period. Though the details are lost, it seems that Molag Bal, Daedric Prince of Brutality and Domination, orchestrated an invasion of our world; something that defies Saint Alessia's holy covenant with the god Akatosh. Perhaps related to this defiance, many mages apparently went insane or even died during the start of the event—Avarain was lucky to have suffered little.



But his fate was intertwined with this invasion, though he did not of course realize it at the time. After a few days spent in Mournhold, Avarain embarked on a ship with various other hopefuls wishing to enter the academy. This ship, unfortunately, was attacked by a squad of Daedric cultists, who overpowered all aboard and sacrificed them to fuel Molag Bal's dark designs. The last entry recorded for a long while merely states: “They're coming. Too many to fight off. Going down fighting.”. Reportedly, he attempted to light the ship on fire, but was restrained and subsequently (if the reports and logs are correct) killed.



As aforementioned, this was the final entry recorded for some time. Indeed, the next entry, which a footnote dates a full four years later, is written as though the original journal had been lost—Divines only know how it was recovered for this archive. Here, Avarain seems confused—he believes it has only been three weeks since the attack—but he is certain that he is no longer whole, so to speak. He claims to have freshly escaped from Coldharbour, Molag Bal's realm of Oblivion, and his description of a ruined, defiled version of Tamriel matches common reports of the realm by Daedrologists. Moreover, his surroundings, though recognizably in our world, were wholly unfamiliar to him, though he recognized certain elements of Nordic architecture. He procured a sketch of his surroundings, which is attached to the end of this text. Accompanying documents reveal he had actually washed up from the sea on a small Skyrim settlement, Bleakrock Isle.



Curiously, practically nothing remains of this settlement by the Third Era, though there is a substantial ruined town to be found on the island. Though largely reduced to charred husks of buildings and rusted metal weapons beneath the snow, a personal voyage there was quite fruitful. In the large building, which was once a garrison apparently, I discovered a largely-intact journal from a Nord soldier called Mathor, who claims to have discovered various corpses dressed strangely, and one survivor, who he found unconscious along with the town smith. Considering this journal's date roughly corresponds to the footnote in Avarain's logs, it is clear that, whatever happened to him, he had traveled from a lake in central Morrowind to a small island off the coast of northern Skyrim—no small distance, to say the least.



Avarain's journals do not detail what he endured in Coldharbour—he actually writes “I can't and won't speak of Oblivion—I can't, if I wish to remain sane.”. But, whatever he endured, he was thankful it had ended. This entry ends with him deciding to find whoever was in charge, and procure some answers as to his situation—where he was, what had happened in his absence, and other such matters. I believe I will leave it there, for now—surely the next entries will be lengthy, and I must rest. Until then, may the Divines keep whoever reads this safe.