Tenaka Khan looked towards the cave to which he was heading. It would be a
simple matter, this one. Two days ago he had been asked to go and kill an
Ancient Vampire who was raising an army of undead. Certainly not a problem
for one such as he. He loosened his Daedric Dai-katana in its scabbard and
walked into the cave. As he entered he carefully anchored his 'Recall'
spell. All too often lately he had forgotten this simple step, making much
hard and useless work for himself.
It was a couple of hours later when he saw the Vampire before him. Already
he had earned enough from the denizens of this dungeon to summon Clavicus
Vile when he returned to Midbury, but here was a treasure surely work
taking. He was not sure, but he thought that the Ancient Vampire was
wearing the Necromancer's Amulet.
Slowly, oh so slowly, he slipped his weapon from its sheathe and quietly
muttered the words to a Soul Trap spell. Running in he loosed the spell
against the Vampire and attacked viciously, only stopping when the battle
was over. Within his cloak he could feel the Soul Gem quietly humming. He
bent down to relieve the corpse before him of its treasures and only then
felt it. He clasped a hand to his neck and felt the blood running down from
two small holes. He turned and attacked in one fluid motion, again casting
the Soul Trap spell, even though he knew that he had no empty Gems. He
wanted to make this particular Vampire suffer.

It was three days later that he finally realised what had been done to him.
Having gone without sleep in order to return to civilisation as quickly as
possible, he had not experienced the usual telltale dreams. But on this
day, he suddenly began to feel ill. He raised his hands to the scars on his
neck and felt them. They were pulsing, in a rhythm similar to that of the
Soul Gem in his cloak. Quickly, Tenaka drew a dagger – better to die than
to be cursed with unlife. But it was too late. As he was drawing, he fell
to the ground, convulsed and died.

Two weeks later he opened his eyes. It was dark still, in fact it was
darker than when he had his eyes closed. Pushing up, he tried to open the
coffin he knew he was in, but his death had left him too weak. Casting a
strength spell, he finally managed to lift the lid. Stepping out he saw
many other coffins. Inspecting them, he found that he was in his family
crypt. He tried the door but found that it had naturally been locked since
he was the last of the Khans. He attempted to recast the strength spell,
but he was exhausted. He fell to the ground and slept.
He awoke several hours later and opened the door. His strength was
returning and he found that the spell was unnecessary. Thankfully all of
the things he had had with him when he died where still in the room
somewhere, including his horse which had died sometime during the two
weeks. Gathering up his belongings, he walked out into the sun.
The pain was unbearable. For a few seconds he was fine, but then his skin
began to burn. Fearing for his life he returned to the crypt and hurriedly
slammed the door closed. He then settled down to await nightfall.

For a year and a day, Tenaka Khan lived as a Vampire. He hated his
existence, but he looked forward to the day when a solution would be
offered. That day came when a tall Redguard approached him in his crypt. He
wore fully Orcish armour (a rare sight) and darkness seemed to radiate from
him. Tenaka walked towards the man.
"What do you want of me?" asked Khan.
"Your services," replied the stranger.
"What do you want?"
"I want you to join my army."
"Why me?"
"Because, before you were afflicted with your, err, ailment, you were
reputedly one of the greatest Spellswords in Tamriel. I have need of the
services of great men and women."
"But with my ailment, as you put it, I cannot even leave this crypt in the
daylight."
"That is a matter that is easily fixed. Should you join our ranks, my
Master could remove your affliction as easily as you killed the Vampire
that gave it you."
"Very well. I accept your offer."
"Good."
The stranger swept back the dark cloak he wore and opened a strange window
in the air. This window grew and grew until it was large enough to walk
though. The stranger did so and beckoned Tenaka to follow him. He did so.
As he stepped through, the window closed behind him.
"What was that?" asked Tenaka. "Where are we?"
"That was a Window. A useful means of transportation and another benefit of
joining the Dreadarmies. As for our location – this is just outside my
Master's city. Look north." Tenaka did so and almost fainted at the sight
that met his eyes.
It was true that in the distance he could see a great city with a tower,
black as ebony in the dead centre of it. But it was what surrounded the
city that shocked him. A sprawling labyrinth.
"What is this?"
"This is your test. You are reputedly the finest Spellsword. We must make
sure that this is true. You should turn back. Turn back now, before it is
too late!"
"I can't. Don't you see that."
"Such a pity. Can you imagine how far it is?"
"It doesn't look that hard."
"It is farther and harder than you think. Time is short. You have thirteen
hours in which to solve the Labyrinth, or you shall be a Vampire for ever.
Such a pity." With these final words, the Redguard opened a new Window and
left.
"It cannot be that far," Tenaka said to himself as he walked towards the
Labyrinth, hardly noticing that the sun no longer burned…

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