I grasped the door's handle, giving Farkas a look before shoving inside the lighthouse.

Inside was not much warmer than outside, though I barely noticed the chill past the sight of the dead body before us.

Whatever had happened must've been violent. Blood was sprayed all over the circular room, painting broken furniture and the walls with a mix of dark red and sickly green. Food from the table split in twain spilled across the floor, and dozens of empty bottles had been strewn about.

The corpse of a Redguard woman lay spread-eagle a few feet in front of the cold fireplace. A crude axe had been lodged in her chest, and her mouth hung open to let blood pour out. Her eyes were rolled back in her head, her dark hair was a mess, and her stomach had been covered my a small leather journal.

Nearby lay the body of an insectoid chaurus. Its chitin was slick with its own blood, and its massive pincers were coated in crimson. Like the woman, it also had an axe stuck inside its body, though this one was a simple woodcutter's tool. The people who lived here were no warriors, which made them perfect targets for creatures like this.

I stepped further into the room, ignoring a scratching noise I hadn't noticed until now, and knelt beside the woman's body. Up close, I noted the creases around her mouth and above her brow. Though it was dark inside, I could make out silver streaks in her coarse hair. This woman looked like she'd be old enough to be a grandmother.

What brought her all the way out here?

I turned my attention to the axe buried in his chest, and my nose curled as I noticed the rudimentary craftsmanship.

"You thinking Falmer?" asked Farkas behind me. I turned to watch as he used some flint to ignite a couple of the sconces on the wall.

"The chaurus pretty much gave that away," I replied as I used my thumb and forefinger to close the woman's eyes. I then eased the journal off her stomach. Someone had placed this journal on top of her after she'd died. Maybe the information inside would give us an idea of what happened here. I flipped it open to the first page and began to read aloud.

"After years of sailing from Hammerfell to Solstheim and back, Ramati and I have finally saved enough money to buy that old lighthouse we spotted on the coast and we are moving in next month.

"These Nords really know how to live. It may be cold, but you can't beat the tranquility of the watching icebergs to live out your silver years. Ramati loves the place too, despite the occasional leaky ceiling. Mani and Sudi, unfortunately, seem miserable here; I know the kids are old enough to strike out on their own, but I hope they'll grow to love the peace and quiet here as I have.

"Mani and Sudi continue to bicker and harass each other and they seem to have started in on their mother as well. Ramati keeps finding things missing from the cellar. Sudi said she heard a noise down there but Mani just thinks their mother is going mad from isolation. The very thought of it is ridiculous, she's always wanted to retire here!

"Sudi keeps saying that she hears scratching coming from the cellar at night. I think she's just trying to get her mother's goat, but I'd better head into town to get a few traps just in case it's skeevers. Should only take a couple days. I just hope those two go easy on Ramati while I'm gone.

"Oh gods. Oh gods why?

"I returned home to find my beautiful Ramati killed and this thing, this horrible bug-like creature ransacking our home. I managed to kill the damned thing, I think it might be a daedra! I've never seen anything like it! Oh gods poor Ramati.

"It must have come out of the cellar. I'm going down there and locking the door behind me to make sure they don't escape. I don't know if I'll make it out, but I have to save my family!

--Habd"

The entries had no days between them, but it seemed that the family had been here for at least a few weeks before all of this happened.

"All they wanted to do was retire here," remarked Farkas as he began to follow the edge of the room. "I don't see any other bodies here. You think that the Falmer took the rest of the family into the cellar?"

I nodded, then headed to the far side of the room to investigate the home further. I couldn't imagine living in a cold place like this. Sure, I lived in a warship that had been turned into a mead hall, and I slept in a room that had been carved into the earth, but at least my hole in the ground was warm, dry, and bright. All the way up north, with the Sea of Ghosts just a stone's throw away, the air tasted wrong, the cold rattled in my lungs, and I missed my temperate home even more.

I entered a small bedroom that was mostly occupied by a double bed in the middle of the room. These people had tried to make the damp stones look warm by decorating with fur rugs and warm wood furniture.

I spotted another journal on an end table, so I picked it up to read from it.

"We finally did it. We bought the lighthouse. I thought Habd was just making idle promises all these years, what husband doesn't want to promise their wife the two moons from the sky, but I didn't think we'd actually manage to get it! Now if I could only find where we put everything

"I can't find my favorite cooking pot and it is slightly infuriating. Sudi and Mani seem unhappy, but they're still young and don't seem to understand that we just want to spend a few more years with them before they leave us to see the world. I know they think their father will live forever, but I see his age creeping into his eyes. He made me promise again that when he died I would put his bones in the lighthouse fire so he could look out over the ocean forever.

"Oooh, those two get to me sometimes! I went to unpack some of our keepsakes from the trading ships we used to sail but I can't find them!

"Sudi keeps saying she's hearing something in the basement at night and Mani suggested it was skeevers! They know I hate skeevers! Now I'm too scared to go down there at all. I'm glad I unpacked my favorite urn and put it safely on the mantle before those two started causing mischief. If they put a skeever in the basement I swear...."

Judging by the names used, this had been the mother's journal. The pages didn't hold much more information than the first journal, but I was still somewhat grateful that I had found it.

It was strange how much time I had spent on this trip reading personal journals.

"Find anything else?" I asked Farkas while I laid the journals on the end table. I didn't need anything else taking up space in my satchel.

"A key on the mantle," replied Farkas as he approached me with a brass key in hand. "Want to see what's down in the cellar?"

"Not really."

We headed to the cellar door, where Farkas inserted the key and gave it a turn. The lock clicked out of place, and we swung the door open.

The air that hit us in the face stank of death, and that incessant scratching sound grew louder instantly.

I held a hand over my nose for a moment, then turned to my brother and nodded at him. It was time to head into the cellar and find out what happened to the rest of this poor family.

We descended the stairs together, dodging bear traps that must've been set by the patriarch of the family. Painted between the traps were splotches of dried blood. Whatever had happened to the family happened less than a day before we arrived. Even so, I seriously doubted that anyone was still alive. I hoped, but judging by the carnage upstairs, things didn't look good.

The air grew colder as we came down the stairs, and we arrived in the cellar. Stores of food had been piled around the walls, bags and barrels organized neatly. A large pile of firewood had been stacked near the foot of the stairs. More blood spattered on the floor, and the scratching sound had only gotten louder.

The source of the sound soon rounded the corner. Farkas and I came face to face with two more chaurus. Their beady eyes fixed on us, and they skittered forward on far too many legs. Their mandibles were slick with venom, ready to spit.

Farkas and I drew our swords and charged into the fray. I spun to avoid a sickly green spray of poison from one, then slashed my sword in a wide arc to catch the monster in the face. I missed, but quickly dove to the side to use my momentum. I rolled out of the way of the chaurus's jaws, their pointy ends missing me by mere inches. Growling, I spun on one knee, raised my blade, and lopped clean through the creature's face. It squealed as greenish blood spilled from the wound, but I didn't give it a chance to recover before jamming my sword through the top of its chitinous head. The sick crunching noise that my sword made sent a shiver up my spine.

I yanked the sword out of the monster's head and leapt over the carcass to aid my brother in his fight. Venom had been sprayed across his chestplate, and an angry red wound had appeared on his face. His swings were slower than normal, too, more erratic.

Chaurus venom worked fast. I'd need to get him a potion as soon as we finished this fight.

I hacked at the monster's body, looking for a weak spot in its armor. Our swords were strong, but chaurus chitin was tough, too. There was a reason that the Falmer used the plates to make their weapons and armor.

Still, I kept going. I didn't stop slashing at the chaurus until I managed to chip through its armor. Blood sprayed freely, and I brought my weapon down one last time to cleave the chaurus in two.

With the fight over, I set my sword down on the floor before I helped my brother ease onto the cold ground. Fishing through my satchel, I retrieved two small vials. One would heal his wounds, while the other would eradicate any leftover poison in his system.

"I had it," he panted as he took the poison cure from me. He uncorked the vial with his teeth, spat the stopper out, then downed the potion in one gulp. "Gods, that's nasty."

"You sound like Ylva," I chuckled, trading him the empty bottle for the full one. Then, I threw him a rag to wipe the leftover venom off his chestplate before standing up to retrieve my weapon.

"You're lucky I remembered to pack those," I continued while I wiped my gloved hand over the flat of my blade.

"We'll have to get more if we pass through any cities." Farkas stowed the empty health bottle in his own bag, then he set about cleaning off his armor. "You feel that draft?"

I nodded, sheathing my sword before following the faint sound of wind to its source. There was a hole smashed through the wall of the cellar. This was probably how the chaurus had gotten inside.

With a nod to my brother, I headed through the hole first. I marched forward for about thirty paces before I came into a frozen underground cavern full of egg nests, glowing mushrooms, and the stench of decay. Boxes and barrels had been dragged from the cellar and left around the cavern. The Falmer must have been stealing from these people for a long time.

We made our way down a slope to see Falmer encampments positively crawling with chaurus and Falmer alike. The bugs chittered and spun around to face us, alerting their blind masters of our presence.

I ripped my bow off my back and began picking off the charging enemies one at a time. Farkas readied himself for a close fight, but by the time the Falmer had reached us, only a pair of them and a single chaurus remained.

These three were much easier to pick off, with Farkas taking care of the Falmer while I finished off the chaurus. As they lay dead at our feet, we progressed deeper into the cavern.

I had to keep my teeth from chattering as we moved onward. We came upon the first cluster of Falmer tents, examining the contents inside and looting what we thought would be useful. There were a handful of potions and gold, which we carefully tucked into our satchels. When we finished our examination, we followed a trail of blood on the ice to find the body of a young Redguard man speared clean through by a Falmer blade. Much like the woman upstairs, he lay spread out on top of a flat rock, head tilted back and eyes wide with surprise.

I shuddered to think of how panicked he must've been in his last moments. All his family had wanted was a quiet life. It hardly seemed fair that his parents' dream home had been built on top of a Falmer nest.

"We'll come back for him," said Farkas as we moved on toward the next part of the caverns. "It's the least we can do."

We moved through the next chamber with little difficulty. Any Falmer I saw, I picked off with my bow before any of the roaming chaurus could alert them, and then my brother and I would take down the bugs together. I retrieved what arrows I could from the bodies, but I lost a few in the process. Either the arrowheads snapped off, the shafts broke, or the feathers fell apart in my hands. I would have to restock soon, though I held hope that we wouldn't have to fight many more creatures from a distance.

We soon came into another chamber full of more Falmer tents and pens. We quickly did away with the creatures inside, then moved on to investigate the bloodstains left on the ground leading into one of the pens. Over the gate, we spotted the corpse of a young woman, bloody dagger clutched in one hand and a note stained with blood in the other. She had been left facedown in the ice, features screwed tight in pain.

Kneeling, I picked the notes out of her tight death grip, reading the first one aloud.

"I don't know how long we've been down here. Father came down to find us, but those things captured him as well. I asked him if he'd seen Mother or Mani, but I don't know if he could even hear me. One of those big bugs bit him when he tried to get free and now he's feverish."

"I've never known Falmer to keep their victims alive for long," said Farkas.

I shook my head, then read the next note.

"They took Father. There had been some others they brought down but they led them off and all we heard were the screams and now Father is gone too. Oh gods why didn't I listen to Mani? Father's fever was getting worse and kept mumbling about Daedra. I don't know where he was hiding it, but I think I know why he left me this dagger."

I swallowed before dropping the notes to the ground. That settled it. There was no way that any of the family had survived their encounter with the Falmer. This wasn't a rescue mission anymore.

It was a retrieval.

We pressed on, skirting past more egg nests and mushroom farms until we came to an opening that dropped into a water-filled chaurus nest. Below we spotted several chaurus, including one that was far bigger than any other chaurus I had ever seen. This had to be the last chamber. The last chaurus that we'd have to fight before we could set about laying this family to rest.

We hopped down into the chamber, startling the bugs as soon as we fell in. It would take everything that Farkas and I had to finish these monsters off, but we couldn't leave anything alive. This had to end.

We ducked underneath the spray of more venom, but we stuck close together. Unlike the fight in the cellar, we seemed to both decide that we needed to have each other's back in this situation.

While I kept one chaurus busy, Farkas ran around behind it and yanked it upwards by the tail. The creature screamed, tried to scurry away, but I planted my boot to its head until Farkas rammed his sword into its vulnerable underbelly. I stabbed the creature through the head, then we moved onto the next one.

We ignored the largest chaurus until we had dispatched the second small one, but once the smaller bug lay dead at our feet, we charged the final monster. Farkas ran and leaped off a clutch of chaurus eggs to land on top of the bug while I slid on my knees to slash through its legs on one side. The beast reared up on its remaining stumps, mandibles clicking as it kicked its pointed feet at me, but Farkas drove his blade through the monster's thick head while I cut a long gash all the way up its body. Its insides spilled out into the ankle-deep water around my feet, and out tumbled a pile of half-digested human bones and an iron key.

As Farkas hopped off the carcass, I scooped up the skull and key. This had to be the last remaining member of the family, a man named Habd. A man who had moved his family out here to enjoy his retirement, only for things to end in tragedy.

I couldn't fault the man for wanting something more out of his last years. He'd made his dream come true. Skyrim was just notorious for twisting our dreams and hurting us in the process.

"What are you going to do with that?" asked Farkas as he took the key from me so I could scoop up the rest of the bones.

"His wife wrote about his last wishes in her journal," I explained as I carefully wrapped the remains in a cloth. "She wrote that her husband wanted his remains to be cast into the lighthouse fire so he could see the ocean."

"I'll move the rest of the bodies outside while you do that, then. We can work on giving them their last rites together."

Once we made it back into the first chamber of the caverns, Farkas and I went our separate ways once he gave me the key back. He split off the retrieve the bodies of the two children while I climbed the stairs in the cellar.

I shoved the door open, walked across the threshold, then unlocked the door adjacent to the cellar. I climbed to the top of the tower, feeling the cool night air play with the ends of my hair. The salt from the nearby sea burned my nostrils with every breath, and it seemed to crystalize inside my lungs.

But I could see why these people wanted to settle here once I saw the view.

From the top of the lighthouse, I could see for miles across the Sea of Ghosts. The stars twinkled in their fullest glory, and the northern lights stretched as far as I could see. The wind was gentle and fragrant, the moons were bright, and everything was calm.

In a word, this place was serene.

Carefully, I set Habd's remains on the floor in order to add more logs to the lighthouse fire. Once the blaze was roaring, I scooped up the pile of bones, extricated them from the wrappings, and gently deposited them onto the fire. I took a step back from the signal fire to pay my respects, even though I knew next to nothing about this man or his family.

"I hope you find your rest, Habd," I murmured, head bowed. "I'm sorry that we couldn't save you or your family, but I promise that every one of you will be put to rest. I hope that you've already found one another in the afterlife."

I climbed down from the top of the lighthouse and reunited with my brother in front of the doors. He had already retrieved both bodies from the caverns and laid all three of the remaining family members on top of a separate rug. Together, we worked to move each of them outside one at a time, before we realized that the ground was far too frozen for us to dig any sort of suitable grave.

With what wood we could carry from the cellar, and a barrel of oil for the lighthouse fire, we assembled a low pyre just outside the front door. It had taken us a long time to put everything together, and once we had finished, the sun had already started to come up. But we worked on, until we were satisfied with our work. Then, we gently laid the bodies on top of the pyre, covered them with the rugs, and doused the wood in oil. It only took a quick strike of flint to ignite the blaze.

The pair us stood back and watched as the fire burned higher to compete with the dawning sun. At least they had been laid to rest.

"What were their names again?" asked Farkas, rubbing the heel of his hand into his eye. I imagined that the dark circles present over his cheekbones were mirrored on my own face.

"The father was Habd," I said, "the mother was Ramati, the son was Mani, and the daughter was Sudi."

"Ramati, Mani, Sudi, we commit you to Aetherius." He nodded to himself. "May you find eternal rest."

"Well said."

With the sun still rising, Farkas and I headed back into the lighthouse. Ignoring the carnage around us, we headed into the bedroom on the left, a place we had passed over when we first arrived. This must've been the children's room, based on the two single beds on opposite sides of the room. Farkas and I sat down on each of the beds, and I picked up the knapsack resting near mine to investigate the contents. Nothing much caught my eye, but a folded piece of paper piqued my interest. I unfolded the letter and began to silently read it.

"Sudi,

I know you've been making up that stuff about the noises in the basement to try to get me to stay, but I'm only waiting till Father gets home so you and Mother are safe. You could always come meet up with me before I head back to Hammerfell.

Take care of yourself, little sister

-Mani"

I sighed. If only they'd all been able to escape back to Hammerfell.

I glanced over to my brother after returning the letter to the knapsack, chuckling under my breath as I heard him snoring already. No matter where we were, he was always quick to sleep.

Given how hard we'd fought, and how long we had been awake now, I couldn't blame him. Even as I watched him twitch in his sleep, I felt myself falling backwards onto the bed, eyes closing and breath slowing.

Without even taking off my armor, I fell asleep.