"Life there was both luxurious and primitive, compared even to modern times. There, our lives were far better than anything we had back at our original birth town...." the vampire continued once again, the evening night wind howling as muffled noises came from within the Sleeping Giant Inn.
The vampire suddenly smiled and looked off into the distance, recalling a pleasant memory...
"We even had a harp. In the summer evenings, my sister would sit on the porch while playing the most beautiful piece of music I'd ever heard. Till this day I've heard nothing that can compare..."
A minute of silence fell, and just as Igrid was about to reignite the interview, the vampire continued once again after shaking himself from his thoughts.
"I truly believed we loved it. All except my brother..."
"I knew how he felt. Our parents had died by then and I was now head of the family, I had to defend him constantly from my sister. She wanted to take him to the nearby town for exploring and adventure, to hang around her friends and have fun.."
The vampire's tone became melancholic as he continued numbly...
"I had to defend him because he hated these things. I think he stopped going off the farmstead altogether by the time he was twelve, prayer was the only thing that mattered to him. Prayer and his dedication to the Nine Divines...."
"Finally I built him an oratory attached to our simple house and he began to spend every single day there from morning till evening. It was ironic really, he was so different from the two of us...and I in particular was so regular, there was nothing interesting about me whatsoever..."
The vampire rubbed the wooden table gently, thoughtfully...
"Often times I would go out in the evening and find him in the garden near the oratory sitting still as a statue. I would relay to him my ailments, my troubles with the farm and livestock, the weather, or merchants. For every problem that I encountered in my simple life, he would sit there and listen kindly..."
"He was always empathetic my brother, understanding and helpful. I didn't think I could deny him anything, and I promised him that no matter how much it would pain me to see him leave I would ensure he reaches the temple of the divines when the time came so that he can become a servant of the gods. An apostle..."
"Of course, I was wrong..." the vampire's tone softened.
Igrid was enraptured by the tale so much so that he didn't realize the vampire had paused. He quickly recovered and asked...
"He didn't want to be an apostle in the end?..."
*depressed chuckle*
"I mean that I was wrong about my words when I said I couldn't deny him anything..."
The vampire's head lowered...
"My brother began to see visions..."
Igrid was surprised that such abilities could exist in this world..."real visions? Like prophecy?..."
"Well, I didn't think so. It happened the first time when he was fourteen...he only hinted at this in the beginning, and stopped eating altogether. He spent every second of his day in the oratory and at any moment in time, I could find him there kneeling at the altar he crafter in honor of his devotion. He even stopped cleaning his prayer space, letting snow lay on the floor and leaves gather..."
"One night I became truly worried when I watched him for three solid hours during which he never moved a muscle. Always kneeling on the flagstones with hands together and head bowed. My sister thought he was mad..."
Igrid interrupted..."did YOU think he was going insane?"
"Well, I thought he was only...overzealous. In his love for the Divines, he had perhaps gone too far..."
The vampire's expression turned serious as he continued...
"Eventually though he told me about his visions. Both Dibella and the Goddess Mara had come to him in the oratory and told him that we should sell our land and everything else we owned and move to the temple and devote ourselves fully to the gods..." a sneer was on the elder's lips as he spoke with venom.
"To work towards bringing Skyrim's faith and fervor back. Of course, he had no money of his own, I was to sell everything and give it all to the 'gods'..."
Again the vampire stopped with a scowl on his face. He tried many times to regain his bearings but the destain for those divines never left his expression.
Igrid was slightly confused and asked..."so did you end up selling the farmstead?"
"No..." answered the vampire calmly.
"I laughed at him..."
"....and he, he became irate. He insisted his command came to from the goddesses themselves, who was I to disregard it? Who indeed...and the more he tried to convince me, the more I laughed. It was disgusting I told him, the result of a deranged and even morbid mind. The oratory was a mistake I said, I should've never humored his overzealous attitude...I don't remember all that I said."
"But I remember the feeling when I looked into his eyes after I spoke my final words. Underneath my contempt was unquenchable anger, I was disappointed to the extreme.....I never believed him at all."
"Well, that's reasonable..." Igrid continued.
"If anyone told me they saw visions and asked me to donate everything I had to 'the cause', it would certainly put me off...your attitude was understandable."
The vampire scowled slightly again before looking deeply at Igrid as if he was a fool...
"Is it so understandable? I think perhaps it was blatant egotism. Let me tell you why...I loved my brother as I told you and I believed him to be a true embodiment of the divine will on Tamriel..."
"...and if someone were to have told me that there was a devout believer of the divines who had the ability of prophecy I would have believed it. I too was a devoted believer at that time. But simply because he was my brother, I didn't...couldn't entertain the notion for a moment. A devoted believer sure, a holy man who deserved to be an apostle most definitely, but a prophet? No. No brother of mine could be such, that is egotism."