The Real Meaning of Life

In the distant lands of High Rock there once was a vampire, the most famous of his kin. He was considered to be the boldest, strongest, and most merciless of all vampires and inspired fear in every soul throughout the province. He was an Altmer who left his name the same moment he left his Altmeri nature to be swallowed by the lust for power and blood. He adopted the name "Emperor", as his ambition was to become the emperor of all his kin, and if not this, then destroy them all, for this would be his revenge for the misfortune they brought upon him.

Emperor easily rose to the throne of his clan, either by surpassing his rival's skills, or by destroying them with a swift, decisive blow; a blow always from behind. The more his power grew, the more his disease's name was justified, porphyry hemophilia, crimson bloodlust. The disease demanded greater amounts of blood day by day.

Preying on men and mer alike, night upon night, he ended up setting villages on fire in order to drive people out of their homes and then he openly attacked those who weren't lucky enough to hide. His name was whispered everywhere and brave warriors trembled in distress when venturing out in the wild, while the sun was resting.

Holding his throne and having his fame grow, the Emperor lived as a powerful undead monarch for decades (some claim more than a century). One night, like many before it, he went out in search of blood. Hidden in the shadows in the city of Shornhelm, he waited for the first victim to show. It was like none of the other times he had ambushed the prey. Though usually careful to grab every opportunity for feeding, that night it didn't seem important. He kept pondering the growing demands of his body, the loss of his sanity even as his power grew, and questioning himself about what the final outcome would be. What was the purpose of immortality?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of steps and laughter. Two children, brothers, were playing happily in the night before his very eyes. So cheerful and innocent, unaware of the dangers and madness that haunt the world they inhabit; playing; ignoring everything. If he showed himself they may have even called him to join them. He stood, hidden, struggling to believe he had forgotten such beautiful things. In that moment he damned his existence and the savage and gruesome being he had become. "So painful to know you represent the opposite side of these delicate creatures," he whispered to himself.

His thoughts were once more interrupted by the sound of footsteps and feeling respect for this miracle of life he got ready to leave, for he didn't mean to harm them, or even to scare them. The footsteps were soon followed by screams and cries and Emperor saw a dark figure holding the children tightly, demanding money while choking them to death.

He felt an unspeakable wrath, his thoughts burned with fury against this person that he no longer cared if he was detected and had a hundred guards after him. Rushing the murderer, he broke his skull with a single blow. When the man fell dead Emperor didn't even consider drinking his foul blood.

The children ran away in terror and Emperor wished they hadn't watched. The screams of the children brought almost a dozen guards, who surrounded Emperor with spears, aiming directly at his undead heart.

Before the fight started, Emperor whispered: "Now, I know what the meaning of life is."

"And what would that be?" asked a guard in an attempt to make light of his precarious situation, for he knew this joke would be his last. The vampire he faced possessed more than enough strength to kill them all.

Emperor looked in the direction the children had run and said: "To live!"

The next morning Emperor's head was being hanging over the city entrance. The tale of the previous evening had already reached the ears of everyone in Shornhelm, but none gave it a second thought and all said it was merely a child's fantasy. Only the guards knew the truth that Emperor saved the children from another type of monster, but they kept it as their secret that the fearsome undead had given his "life" as proof of his last words, words that very few of them understood.