So last night I earned the Ebony Blade after doing some Dragonreach quest revolving one of the Jarl's kids. The daedric voice told me that in order to unlock its full potential, I had to betray those close to me. This is where my game got dark for my character.
I thought hard about what the voice had told me. I didn't think I was close to many people, so this was proving a bit hard. I had figured I would go to Whiterun and see if I can hire a mercenary. The dark elf looked promising, and the 500 gold I paid her seemed to encourage her to trust me. We trekked to the most northern reaches of the map, onto an ice shelf. I told her to wait, planning to unsheathe my sword and strike her down with the oversized katana, until she opened up to me. "I am glad I met you," the mercenary said. I hesitated. I thought of Lydia. I remembered how it was to have someone at my back. I thought it would be cool to have another experience like that. Then I thought of the untapped power of the sword. I had made my decision. In two strikes, the mercenary was dead on the ice. Then a moment of "oh no, what did I do," I tried to cover up my tracks. No one saw me do it, but I knew - and that was enough. I didn't know how to get rid of bodies in Skyrim, so I improvised. I dragged the body into the Arctic waters, swam under the ice shelf, and let the body go. She floated for a bit, then gradually rose up and the iced ceiling of the ice shelfed waters.
A game session later, the murder was still on my mind. The blade was still in my inventory, taunting me. I decided to do one more, thinking that the first merc's death may not have been registered by the game or something. I went to Winterhelm and hired another mercenary and went to the same grounds. Only when I struck him down, the daedric voice congratulated me on making it stronger, but said it needed more. It was just the right amount of feedback that made me decide to go all in and seek the full potential of the sword. After a few other mercenaries murdered and floating beneath the ice shelf, it still was not enough. I needed the ultimate betrayal. I needed to find a person who would be closer to me than any one of the mercenaries. I needed to get married.
Remembering that the Amulet of Mara signifies availability, I began to hit on NPC's, seeing if any of them are interested in marrying me. The blacksmith in Riften, a person who I helped on a firesalt fetch quest, asked if I wanted to marry him. After arranging the marriage at the Temple of Mara, he and I were wed. As the wedding guests were going out of the Temple, one of the female Companions walked up to me and told me she was happy for me. The blacksmith asked me if I wished to stay with him in Riften or go somewhere else. I decided on my penthouse in Markarth. Upon settling in, the blacksmith had told me that he was glad that we had moved and that he was planning to open up a small business in Markarth. He was preparing to make dinner as I stabbed him with the blade. It was then that the blade was complete - but at that moment I no longer wanted it. I was a one-handed thief, I told myself. There was no real reason to pursue the ebony blade. I had killed so many people in cold blood for a sword I never really was going to use. In a moment of a Lady Macbeth-like "out damned spot," I tried to resurrect the blacksmith. It was the first time I had casted that particular spell, so I didn't know what to expect. Once he was back, he asked "why did you do that?" I freaked out. "He knows of my evil," I thought. I redrew the ebony blade and killed him again. Only this time, his remains were a pile of ashes. I couldn't move ashes. I couldn't hide what I did. I dropped the blade onto the floor, collected my prized possessions of the house, and left Markarth forever.
SKYRIM
