The twilight before dawn always held a special importance to Reman, but nothing philosophical or symbolic. Really, it just meant that he could start moving again, most of Nirn's predators were nocturnal. Well, the ones that could kill a lycan were, anyway. An internal clock told the Imperial to wake up, he had rested enough, despite having only received a few hours of sleep. It didn't matter the he actually felt well rested, Reman was having a very enjoyable dream.

There was no reasoning with his circadian rhythm, so Reman was left without any option but surrender, but upon sitting up, the Imperial was given a wonderful surprise. Summer Glade rested her sleeping head on his chest, her left legs squeezing him closer. The darkness made it difficult to see very far, and the fire did little to help, so it was unlikely that any of the others were able to see the lycans. It was easy to slip away from the mare's grasp, though she seemed thoroughly disheartened at Reman's actions, she stayed asleep.

As quietly as he could, the Imperial began to redress,however, putting on armor is hardly quiet. Despite the noise, the ponies stayed in blissful unconsciousness, dreaming about pony things, most likely. After donning the platemail, Reman stalked towards the fire, eager for more warmth. Only after reaching the dieing flame did he notice that Luna and Celestia were both awake and going about their morning routines. If they noticed him, the Princesses gave no indication, so Reman calmly sat on a log next to the fire.

For a few moments, all was silent, save for the crackling embers.

“So, today's the big day, huh?” Luna took a seat across from Reman. The Imperial wondered where she found an orange, and why she wasn't sharing. It wasn't that he was hungry, the lycan could easily go a week without eating before he felt anything negative, rather, he wanted a comfort from an earlier time. For a moment, Reman was back in Cyrodiil, on a trip through the forests of the Colovian Highlands.

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“Reman, remember to aim before you release the arrow.” That was the Imperial's grandfather, Marcus, a veteran of the Great War and member of the Elder Council. The two, along with Reman's brothers, Uriel and Cassius, and his father were hunting. The three boys were well on their way to continuing the family tradition of service in the Legion.

“Yes, sir.” The response was automatic and respectful, as children should be to their elders. The boy released his grip on the string, and tension sent the arrow flying to its mark. The tip embedded itself in the foreleg of a deer, it hadn't possessed enough force to pass through the limb and into the ribs, but it was an improvement over Reman's earlier attempts. The wounded buck shreiked in pain and bolted off, never to be seen again.

“Well, if you didn't kill it, the wolves will.” Looking back, Grandpa's statement could possibly be seen as ironic, all things considered. “But, you need something to eat, right?”

“What?” Reman hadn’t heard the man very well, his voice was distant, like an echo.

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“I asked if you wanted anything to eat.” Celestia, not Marcus, was standing next to Reman. “You know, food, something for breakfast to start your day. Want anything?”

“Maybe an orange or two, if that isn't too much.” That flashback was strange, Reman had never experienced anything like it. Well, not while he was awake, for his dreams plagued him with memories at nearly every opportunity. The man briefly wondered if the incident had been noticeable, had he just been staring into nothing for a few seconds? A few minutes? If he had, there was no doubt that Celestia had seen it, the Solar Princess was likely nervous for the lycan.

Apparently, the Imperial had been so wrapped in his mind that he hadn't noticed Luna leave for her bedroll. Apparently the Princess of Night was slightly nocturnal, and sleeping this early, she would be wide awake for the ritual later today. The sun still hadn't graced the sky with its light, in fact, this was the darkest Reman had seen Equestria.

“A bit gloomy, isn't it?” The Imperial jumped slightly at Celestia's voice. The Princess was referring to the sky, and perhaps Reman's current expression. Everfree was outside of the ponies' reach, so nature had a true hold on the land and sky, the lycan was reminded of home. “You don't mind if I take this seat, do you?”

“Of course not, you're in charge here, Princess.” Without taking offense at the obvious jab, Celestia sat down on the log, right next to the Imperial. Without a word, the Princess dropped two fat, ripe oranges in the man's lap, and Reman gave a slight vocalization of gratitude before he got to work peeling the first.

Nostalgia hits hard, and was of equal strength to the citrus fruit's smell. The tangy scent took Reman back to Anvil, a brief stop in his quest, just after he had traveled through Hammerfell. Harbor bells, the call of gulls, and the smell of the sea all seemed to tangible, so real. just as quickly as it had arrived, the memory faded.

“I've been meaning to ask you something.” Reman had a feeling that he knew what Celestia was talking about, it likely involved his intentions about Glade. Of course Celestia knew about it, she'd seen the two lycans kissing, and even without context, the gesture was hardly platonic in nature. Reman popped a piece of the fruit into his mouth as Celestia spoke. “It's about Glade.”

“What about her?” It really could have been anything. Reman swallowed the chewed slice and replaced it with another, it had been quite some time since his last citrus fruit.

“What's your opinion of her?” Celestia, the maternal monarch, she truly cared for her subjects. However, she sounded more like a tutor or parent asking a child about a crush. Perhaps this conversation's purpose was to inform Reman about things, rather than Celestia.

“If you have a point, I suggest you get to it before the others wake.” Perhaps this would be some great exchange of culture and ideas. It was more likely, however, to be glaring reminder of the differences between the two worlds.

“I can tell that the two of you are, um, involved.” That wasn't really a secret, if anything, it was blatantly obvious to a few of the ponies in the camp. It seemed that the Princess may have had an ulterior motive for talking to the Imperial. “I'm asking you to be safe, that's it, I'm not going to intrude on your private lives.”

“Be safe?” What was she talking about? Sex between two beings that couldn't contract diseases was about as safe as one could get. Illnesses transmitted by bodily fluids was the main reason prostitutes were rarely visited these days. Even if someone purchased a harlot for the night, or whatever time struck their fancy, it only took a quick trip to an alchemist for potion, and poof, healthy again.

“You know, contraception, birth control, things like that.” This conversation was out of Celestia's comfort zone, despite having had this same talk a number of times in the past. But the Solar Princess never thought she'd be discussing this with an adult, much less one from another plane.

“Excuse me?” What was Celestia talking about? Contraception sounded like conception, so Celestia wanted him to impregnate Glade? Well, they were both adults, and it was common for a man of Reman's age to have a kid by now, but the two had just met.

“Please tell me you two are taking some measures to prevent pregnancy!” It was odd, yelling in a whisper, but Celestia had to get her point across that she was very emotional about this. It was possible that, while the Empire that Reman spoke of was advanced in some ways, its citizens were ignorant of many things essential for Equestrian society.

“I'm fairly certain equines go through estrus in spring.” That was a valid point, estrus was the only time a female animal could get pregnant, so Reman was in the clear.

“On Nirn, then, because we don't.” That statement made the Imperial forget all about his orange, Celestia now had his full attention. “We can reproduce at any time.”

This conversation was about to take a turn for the worse, Reman could just feel it.

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It was just before noon, and all preparations were complete. Reman stood at the edge of the circle, covered in magical runes, with Glade by his side. Behind the two lycans, Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were ready to funnel energy into the man. The sun's rays barely peaked through the dark, imposing clouds, a peal of thunder signaled the beginning.

Reman's hands began to glow, as did the markings along his arms, the heat of the spell causing some irritation beneath the ink. Through a series of motions, almost like a dance, the glow spread to more of the many symbols and glyphs covering the Imperial's skin. Just as light began to emit from his eye and mouth, the first set of magicka stores opened. A dull column of light shot into the sky, illuminating the dusky overcast in a pale, blue glow.

That was the signal to begin funneling energy into the Imperial. Four beams of flickering, waving magic shot towards Reman, and the four ponies began fueling the casting. The second store broke, its glow joining the first, turning twilight into day, even though the sun was blotted by the clouds. The lycan put his hands forward, the collected energy fired into the circle's center, filling it with energy as a waterfall fill a lake, slowly but surely. The third store released, turning the day glaringly bright, the ponies in the bunker had to cover their eyes.

That was when the noises started. Sickening, howling screams and shrieks filled the air, emanating from the circle. There was no doubt the cause of them: the tortured souls floating in Oblivion, and they would persist until a connection to the Hunting Grounds was established. There were no Dragonfires warding Equestria from the Daedra, no magical defense preventing communion between the worlds. Here they were, opening the gates to madness and death.

The final store broke, but no glow entered the sky. A void had been created in the circle's center, and was rapidly filling, only time would tell if the ritual was a success. There was emptiness, then nothing, the sensation of a vacuum ended abruptly. They had summoned something, but until the glowing magicka faded, they could not know what, exactly, it was.

There was a lot of dust thrown into the air, and lent no aid to the clearing magics. It took ten minutes, ten long, nervous minutes to even have a blurry outline of the creature they'd summoned. Glade gulped audibly at what she saw, and Reman's response wasn't much better.

A biped, roughly the Imperial's height, stood in the central nexus. A staff or spear was held in one hand, with the other being empty. It was wearing an odd headdress, like a deer or goat head, or maybe that was its head. The figure stepped from the massive, glowing pillar of light, and revealed itself. Reman had never seen something so inconspicuous, but so terrifying.

For there stood Hircine's Aspect of Guile.

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I'll be spending the next week away from home, so I won't be able to work on anything until next Saturday.

You guys can just enjoy waiting until then.