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Arc 8 Chapter CXII: The Summit Of Apocrypha
🕑 Added 2025-04-07 01:08:19 +0000 UTCMinthara fully expected her supposed kinsman to use his advantaged position to attack her immediately, which is why his following actions took her a bit by surprise.
He rose his right hand and the pool of ink shuddered, a large staircase ascending from within, the stone it was made of still unnaturally clean and pale even after who knows how long it was submerged.
"Come, join me atop the summit of this place." Miraak's voice reached her again "I would have us speak before battle is joined." The two dragons begin flying further away, as if to emphasize his offer.
She frowned at the lack of immediate hostility 'A genuine wish for conversation, a delaying tactic, or an attempt at mind games?' She considered, even as she ascended to the temple 'Or a mix of all three?'
Valhok had been rather firm in his belief when he said that Miraak was a wordsmith and deceiver when he needed to be, but held his own arrogant sense of honor, even if he would play around it when useful.
Likely noticing her thoughts, or simply not being a complete idiot, Miraak's voice echoed from above once again "You need not fear my betrayal, even if you are wise enough to do so anyway."
She held back a scoff, fingers dancing along the handle of her hammer "We both know how this ends, Miraak."
"Do we?" He asked, voice free of thu'um as she finished her ascent "What heinous acts have I committed towards you and yours to deserve such lowly treatment?"
She stopped just at the edge of the circular platform, the supposed summit, leaned on her pole-hammer, and deadpanned "Really?"
"Don't tell me you are still furious over a few hundred thralls." Miraak scoffs "Were you in my position you would have seen their lives as worthless as they truly are. Mortals exist to serve after all."
"Maybe" She shrugs, feeling just a tad annoyed at how truthful her agreement felt "But unfortunately for you you simply drew the wrong eyes at the wrong time."
"Simple misfortune is it?" He asks, almost managing to keep his tone truly neutral as begins walking to the center of the temple, waving for her to follow him "What plans did I challenge by my attempt at freedom, I wonder... Or did you merely charge at the first sign of glorious battle, like most of our mortal kin do?"
"Implying dragons don't do the same?" She quips "How very bold of you."
His shoulders twitch ever so slightly, as if he was holding back a huff, and he turns back to her "A fair point, a good challenge is something to be gladly met, especially when one ascends beyond their origins."
"Boredom is quite terrible, yes" She drawls, pretending to clean her nails as she waited for him to get to the point.
"I see you are not as interested in speaking as I am" Miraak notices immediately "A shame. It has been a very long time since I spoke to someone worthy of my attention."
She immediately rolls her eyes "Paarthurnax pulls the 'lonely immortal' act much better than you ever will."
His hand twitches "So you have met the old fool. And yet you do not preach his idiocy of peace... How refreshing."
"Just because one talks to someone does not mean they must share their views" Minthara shrugs "A lesson you don't seem to have learned, judging by your 'worshippers'"
"Am I any different to a skilled illusionist for doing it?" He asks.
"No" She tilts her head "Not that it matters, they would die just the same."
"I see" He frowns beneath his mask "You seem so very sure that I-"
"Get to the point Miraak." She cuts him off, posture no longer lazy and hammer one twitch from a battle stance "Tell me what you want so I can refuse and cave your skull in. Your attempts at begging are getting tiresome."
"I do not beg!" The air shudders as he nearly roars at her, quickly calming himself down a moment later "I merely do not wish to do Mora's work for him."
She actually chuckles at this "How would me killing his favored pet be doing Mora's work?"
"Do not be so sure of victory." Miraak growls.
The magic in her blood begins surging "Make. Your. Offer."
His answer comes quickly "I want you to help me escape" Too quickly "Help me free myself from Mora and you will have my solemn oath that together we will bring the world to its knees!"
'Is this little shit implying what I think he is implying' She narrows her eyes "Choose your next words very carefully."
"Why should I?" He spreads his arms "We are both Dragonborn, above the rest of the fools crawling through the mud of Nirn. Why settle yourself for dealing with fools, schemers, and sycophants when you could simply dominate their wills." He offers a hand "Join me, and I will teach you all I know. None will stand in your way ever again!"
'How very desperate' She smirks internally as she pretends to consider.
Seeing the 'opportunity' the fallen Dragon Priest goes on "Even now your allies abandon you at will. Accept my teachings and you will never fear such betrayal again."
She can't help it, the moment the words leave his mouth she laughs out loudly "Oh that is precious" Her hand moves to wipe pretend tears as she faces Miraak "Was that truly your plan? Make me doubt myself and talk me into an obvious trap?"
"Where is your pet elf then?" Miraak crosses his arms, completely ignoring the trap comment "You both entered Apocrypha to slay me but I've neither seen nor sensed his presence, and you still remain willfully blind to the betrayal?"
"You appear to be operating under a great misunderstanding, Miraak." She offers him a bloodthirsty smirk "You were never our true target to begin with."
The ancient Dragonborn is left momentarily speechless by the admission.
"See, my husband" She corrects gleefully "Has been planning to use your little escape attempt for years now, but not to hunt you down." Her smirk turns into a grin "Oh no, dear brother. Your little tantrum is but the opening he wanted to strike at much greater prey."
The words make Miraak shudder under a distinctly unfamiliar sensation.
"You are nothing but a stepping stone" He flinches "A pawn in the game of gods" A sword appears in his hand even as he steps back "But when I heard a cowardly worm like you struck at my territory, murdered my people, and challenged my authority as Dragonborn, I just couldn't help myself."
Her expression had shifted from merely bloodthirsty to outright manically murderous "You, a coward who ran from Alduin and fell to a mere priest of his, thought to equal me, his slayer?" The Amulet of Kings begins burning with power.
"And yet no matter you failures and cowardice" She steps towards him, causing him to take another step back "You remain a challenger..." The power of the Amulet enshrouds her entirely "And I will suffer no such attempts upon the dominion that I am owed."
Miraak finally catches himself, fear replaced at fury for his own reaction, and his shortsword begins emitting an aura o its own "Accursed child" He hisses.
"Tamriel is mine" Minthara goes on, eyes narrowed into draconic slits "And it has no place for a worm like you."
The sense of finality in those words and his sharpened instincts are the only thing that save Miraak from a rapid decapitation as a quartet of golden specters in Akaviri armor assail him from every direction with their thin one bladed longswords.
Wasting no time, he immediately shouts "WULD NAH KEST!" Throwing himself back a good fifty meters and buying a moment of breathing room.
That reassurance disappears near instantly as his opponent calls forth her own thu'um, one whose power and depth he rapidly notices is beyond his own "MUL KAH DOV!"
He narrows his eyes as he sees parts of her face be covered with genuine scales instead of the spectral ones he himself calls for but a moment later, and within the matter of a blink, he is forced to raise his blade and parry the hammer strike instead of deflecting it.
An act he swiftly regrets as he feels even his reinforced bones creaking under the pressure.
He evades once again, resorting to magic instead of the voice and mentally calling for his dragon thralls to aid him. He was fortunate that Mora had given him his tome on modern space magic in preparation or he would have been limited to avoiding each blow with whirlwind sprint.
The mere thought of being fortunate to be given something by Mora nearly made him retch.
That moment of thoughtful distraction was not without a price, as the mere second was all the time it took for him to be struck by a shout he had only heard once before "KREN SLEN SOS!"
The sheer trauma of that distant experience is all that saved him from being turned inside out as his response shout followed "SLEN GOLZ!" The two word retort allowing him to swiftly chain into a "GOL AHLOK!" Ruining his own home and turning half of its surface into needle sharp spikes, all of them aiming at his charging sibling.
They did not even slow her down.
The mere brush against her scales and armor had the tonally reinforced stone breaking into tiny glass-like shards, the sheer momentum and focus of her movement refusing to be slowed down by something as petty as terrain.
Still, the stone barred her vision and he wasn't foolish enough to miss his chance as he shouted "GOL HAH DOV!" The sickly yellow of the bend will shout rushing out of him with the force of his most practiced and understood power.
It struck its target, causing her to slow and the battlefield to fall into a hush, but only for a moment. Even before the stones fell, Miraak could feel the fury in the air, swiftly joined by something far greater than even Alduin himself, as a bright golden aura rushed out of his fellow Dragonborn.
A furious roar sent the stones hurtling in every direction and revealed an apoplectic Minthara. Her eyes met those of Miraak and she grinned with power hazed hunger in her eyes "I am going to break you, and then I am going to consume your pitiful little soul."
There was no uncertainty in that promise, a fact that nearly made Miraak flinch, but only for a moment as he rose his hands and activated the trap he had spent the last day preparing, bursting the second layer of his temple, transmuting it into blades of obsidian, and calling them forth in a deadly storm.
Thus having distracted his foe, Miraak rose his hand and commanded his dragons.
With a second roar of fury, Minthara blasted the sea of blades apart, bleeding profusely but nowhere near defeated, and seeing this Miraak waited not second longer and just as his two puppet dragons arrived he shouted "KRII LUN AUS!" His two servants joining in with their own "RII VAAZ AL!" and "YOL TOOR SHUUUL!"
The mark of death, soul rend, and fire breath all converged upon her at blinding speeds and yet... And yet all Miraak could see on her face was that same Mora damned bloodthristy grin.
The hairs on his hands stood up as he realized what she would do and he immediately began shouting his own counter even as he knew well it would be far too late.
Halfway through Miraak's stilted response, Minthara bellowed into the green heavens "TIID KLO UL!"
Only a blink passed as Miraak spoke the same words and time slowed down to a crawl.
The fallen Dragon Priest's eyes widened at what awaited beyond, as he saw the servant to his right be cut to ribbons by the golden specters while the one to his left just had his jaw removed from his face, and promptly had his head forced down atop the spiked hammer jammed into the stone, destroying his brain utterly in the process.
He did not hesitate, and immediately shouted "ZII LOS DI DU!" Tugging at the souls of his puppets and hoping to use the rampant power of the consumption to gain an advantage, even if a temporary one.
Cold eyes turn to meet his own and instead of shouting to counter him, his sibling merely spoke "Zu'u Dovahthur." It was not a true shout, and the power of the thu'um channeled with the words was barely that of a pitiful mortal.
And yet those two mere words, nay that declaration, was all it took.
The two enslaved dragon souls stopped in midair, and swiftly moved before Minthara, their ethereal forms seemingly bowing before her as they were subsumed within the blink of an eye, none of the violence of consumption showing itself as Miraak's enemy instantly incorporated their power and experiences.
Miraak understood then that he was facing no mere Dragonborn, but a yet to be born Dragon God.
Even under the power of the slow time shout, Miraak felt his perception of it slowing down, the movement of his sibling blurring in his eyes even as she simply walked up to him with no rush in her steps.
All he managed to do before he was thrown back to the proper time flow was raise his hands, protecting his face from the ensuing gauntleted punch and paying with numerous shattered bones for the privilege.
He barely had time to grunt in pain before he looked up to see Minthara, Dovakren already mid-swing and aiming straight for his spine.
In the blink of an eye, Miraak's body is launched away with a loud crunch.
And yet before she can make good on her promise, Minthara's instincts scream at her and she jumps back, evading a massive spear-like tentacle as it was pushed away by the aura of the Amulet of Kings, saving her from a distinctly unpleasant experience.
One look upwards confirmed her suspicion.
Hermaeus Mora had arrived.
Comments
Hakkira
Thank you kindly for the chapter 😁
Speide Hardy
Thanks for the chapter
