Rastislav
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Arc 8 Chapter CIX: Stepping Into Tentacle Hell
🕑 Added 2025-04-01 23:57:27 +0000 UTC(Reyvin's POV)
The commonfolk of Tel Mithryn still felt quite miffed by my presence even days after the 'incident' but they went about their day after the novelty of my return wore off and the understanding of who exactly I was settled in their enraged little brains.
Not that I was too concerned as I sat my ass atop one of the emperor mushroom's roots, feet dangling off the edge and a steaming cup of coffee in my hand. Thus positioned, I was just about to begin delving into Ahzidaal's memories when I heard the sound of approaching metal boots.
"A fine day, oh Moon and Star, isn't it?" I greet without turning around.
Without immediately answering, he sits beside me and removes his helm, releasing his ridiculous hairstyle in the process "Ominously peaceful." Is all he says.
Ah "You have concerns." It was not a question.
"I do" He nods "You are risking far too much by throwing yourself into Mora's hands."
Taking a moment to consider, I eventually nod "You are not incorrect" I raise a finger "But."
He gives me a flat look.
"But" I repeat "No one can do what I can, and Mora is far too vindictive and stubborn to simply let me be. And I will not be dealing with the issue that is him for an eternity."
He sighs "I suppose there will be no convincing you, will there?"
"Doubtful." I snort.
A long silent moment passes before he offers "Let me go instead of you."
I turn to him with a look that might as well be screaming 'Are you fucking insane?'
He doesn't hesitate as he speaks "You know I have a way to surviv-"
"Oh do shut up" I cut him off harshly, surprising both him and myself "You may have a way of surviving but that does not mean you should be running at the first opportunity to become a martyr again."
He goes to argue but I raise a hand "Save it. You've already given enough to the world, don't be so quick to discard it all simply because that is all you know. I've considered bringing you with me already, and then I realized how utterly unfair that would be to you." Shaking my head I add "I am the one with the greatest ability to do what I plan on doing, and substituting myself would be both foolish and cowardly."
He narrows his eyes, even as I feel his surprise "And what if I wanted to go anyway?"
I merely smirk "You could certainly try."
Only after a good thirty seconds does the stare-off end and he sighs "Fine." He mutters "I will just sit and watch as the hope of my people goes into Oblivion and does the impossible. Why not?" The rant ends in a scoff.
"You've already seen me do it once before" I chuckle "So just sit and watch. The spectacle shall be... illuminating."
I could still feel his doubts but he had already backed down, so all he did was settle into his seat and join me in my people watching.
---
Hours later, having been left alone once more, I spotted a group marching in the distance, consisting of a few Nords from the eastern advance and Minthara's own small group that was joined by... a Dragon Priest?
Well, this ought to be interesting.
With but a thought I disappear from the shroom root and appear a few meters in front of the group, some of the less experienced tensing at my appearance while the priest was already halfway through what felt like a fucking spatial severance spell of some kind.
'Gotta get me one of those' I mentally noted before waving my hand and dispelling the magic, just as Minthara herself grabbed the staff.
"Do you have to do that every time?" She asks with an irritated pout.
"Yes." I answer with absolutely 0 hesitation and forcefully shift the topic "This fellow is Vahlok then?"
She grins "Yep! And he has agreed to serve me." Followed by a smug nod.
"The poor fucker" I can't help but snort.
"What is the elf saying, Great Dovahkiin?" Vahlok hisses in Dovahzul "The pity in his voice is insulting."
She goes to answer but I preempt her "Merely lamenting your future in her service."
"Only one may comment on my fate." He answers almost automatically before actually noticing I spoke in his language "Your voice... it is powerful."
Minthara palms her face as I raise my nose "The most powerful, save for the little monster beside you."
"A High Priest for the new goddess then?" He asks in 'understanding.'
I can't help but snort as Minthara gives me a considering look "Something like that."
-----
The greetings do not take much more after that and soon, after ensuring Minthara's two books were sealed in good order, we made our way to the fortified cave I had Savos prepare over the past few days.
No reason to fuck with Neloth's home, even if the chances of failure with so many masters of magic present were incredibly low.
Said cave was a veritable death trap, layers upon layers of defenses of both automaton and elite soldier standing ready at all times to stop any kind of interference, all of it to guard a single large chamber within.
Seven podiums stood equidistantly, five of them already holding large black tomes atop them, while the remaining two still awaited. The podium was surrounded by tables and shelves, all of them containing ridiculously high quality enchantment and ritual supplies, alongside dozens of relevant tomes meant to discuss Mora and his little gates to reality.
Those within stopped what they were doing as we entered, Savos, Neloth, Marwyn, Serana, Nerevar and about a dozen Telvanni mages all perking up as they saw the final two pieces of the puzzle being brought in for the final moment.
Naturally they then spotted Vahlok and we had to waste ten entire minutes explaining that no, the usually rabid undead was not nearly quite as rabid as you may think.
Oddly enough said Dragon Priest seemed incredibly curious about Marwyn's state due to the obvious refinement of the lichdom process over the many millennia but sadly for the two of them, Vahlok could only speak in dragon and Marwyn was an uneducated little Breton corpse.
Serve as their translator you say? Ha! Should have spent more time learning a mildly useful dead language (to most mortals) instead of turning yourself into an undead at the first opportunity you little shit.
Well that and we had to actually silence Vahlok after a while as his voice kept trembling the damn ritual chamber and rattling the preparations. Not that the ancient mage complained of course, he was ignorant, not an idiot.
"For the sake of clarity, I shall reiterate the aim of this gathering." Neloth spoke, none of his usual vitriol present as the final book was laid onto its pedestal "The Black Books of Hermaeus Mora" No reaction came on the utterance for the place was immaculately warded "Are small windows, passages if you will, from the realm of Oblivion known as Apocrypha into the material plane, Nirn."
"This ritual" He points at the large grooved surface, filled to the brim with crushed and inert varla stones "Aims to use the collected Black Books to twist their separate holes within reality into one stable passage, allowing for unfettered entrance within the realm, and if necessary an undisturbed retreat."
"The books energies shall be directed into the arch to the chamber's north" He points at the stylized not-door "Using their conceptual owner's aura to find the destination and open a passage within a place that is as objectively as possible considered to be a safe entrance."
"However there is an issue." Savos cuts in, giving a quick nod to Neloth "The power required to safely penetrate into a realm of Oblivion is so immense that we do not see how to go about it without stuffing it with hundreds of black souls."
"And that I hear, is rather unacceptable under the current government." Neloth tacks on with a drawl.
Discussion spreads as anything between using a dragon soul to just turning me into a battery for a good few weeks is presented, it was entertaining for a short while but the lack of faith was frankly saddening.
I cleared my throat, and summoned the Mortal's Razor "Would the lifeforce of a good thirty or so thousand Argonians do?" Cursing the shit out of the Hist took surprisingly little after the spell started sustaining itself.
The room turns utterly silent as they process my statement, and Neloth, ever the fucking grouch, actually scans the knife before stilling for but a moment "Impressive" He forces out and gives a clipped nod "But yes, lifeforce is a primitive but potent medium of connecting to the Daedric realms, it will work."
"Most excellent" I grin "Now all that is left is to rework this entire thing to accept both the Amulet of Kings and my own aura without bursting and we are off!"
The stares I received at that statement would have incinerated a lesser elf.
-----
A full day is how long it took us to ensure we wouldn't simply be expunged from Oblivion for bringing what we did with us.
The Amulet of Kings was particularly resistant, to the point Minthara outright went and made a shrine to Akatosh (automatically sanctified by her mere touch of course) and proceeded to demand that daddy dearest let her bring her toys wherever she went.
Poor Vahlok looked like he had born witness to revelation itself at play when they returned.
Traumatized liches aside, the amulet now had the ability to adjust the force of the Pact and would in the worst case scenario disappear without trace.
My own problem turned out to be much less of one, quite the opposite in fact as my powers were far easier to control and belonged exclusively to myself. The mere fact I would participate in the ritual that aligned with my goals (which just so happened to align with my aspects) meant that it would be stabilized by the Aedric Magicka I used.
That also meant I would have to direct the entire thing without help but frankly that was par for the course at this point.
The new design was, after much grumbling, agreed upon, and I left the other mages to their work, finding a nice empty cave for myself as I proceeded to commune with every single Divine or Daedric power tied to me and ask for support.
The Daedra were salivating at the idea of getting one over one their own, as was their want. While the Aedra were politely told by Akatosh to not let his brightest child get slapped about by Mora so even if they did not agree with my disturbing of the world order like this they still would provide support.
It wasn't truly a conversation I had with the latter, more of a rapid exchange of ideas and sensations made possible only by my divinity, but the results remained the same.
The ritual's foundations felt firmer, its artistry and workmanship more perfect, and its result secure from any potential timeflow fuckery on the other end.
That last detail scared the absolute shit out of me, I admitted privately. For all my power, if I just happened to enter a place with a different timeflow, the world I left behind would be lost to me with but the slightest application of bad luck.
"All the more reason to grow beyond such things, no?" I mutter to myself as all the other mages step away and into the corners of the ritual chamber.
I raise my hand, Mortal's Razor held firmly within, and begin.
The room shudders violently as the energy is released within mere seconds, the blood-red power of lives taken subsuming the empty energy sources with no resistance and surrounding the rattling books with swirls of power.
The blessings of the Aedra made controlling the power incredibly easy, and Mora's realization and ensuing resistance was made trivial to beat back as my allied Daedra fell upon his efforts like hungering wolves.
I think that for a moment I felt genuine surprise once 'Uncle Sheo' got involved, the old champion far too eager to jump into the fray once more, even if she kept pretending to be an old man for some bloody reason.
Throwing the useless thoughts away, I begin channeling my divinity into the violent swirl of energy, carefully guiding it all as to not make the Black Books utterly inert while still using them for the intended goal.
For a moment I felt a massive buildup of power on the other end but then suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, I felt Mora suddenly pull himself back, nearly making me fumble as I was forced to pull back a large chunk of my own power that nearly extinguished his artifacts.
A cheap attempt but it cost him nothing.
Narrowing my eyes, I kept my attention trained on the ever distant gaze of my enemy, but he did not try retaliating again, and before long the raging forces calmed before finally clicking into place, shoving the blackish-green aura of the books into the arch upon the wall and creating an ominous portal.
Though I will admit a bit of arrogant smugness at seeing the edges of it swirling with grey flames.
A quick look also confirmed that the books had been rendered utterly powerless, the creation of a permanent portal taking every single sliver of their energies and rendering them into mere pieces of parchment.
Scorch, the little bastard, materialized atop one to no doubt make a snide comment, and the damn thing promptly turned into ash under him. He looked down below him, met my eyes "Oops" And hurriedly unsummoned himself.
Palming my face, ostensibly to hide my sigh but in truth to hide my amused grin, I turned to the others who were only now getting out of their stupor "Didn't sprain anything did you?" I asked sarcastically.
They grumbled and complained but wondrously took only a minute before running all the necessary scans and tests.
Before too much time had passed, the portal was confirmed as safe as reasonably possible, and so after graciously accepting the others' well wishes and demands to return whole, Minthara and I stepped forward.
"Here we are" She spoke while looking up at the four or so meter tall passage.
I gave her a sidelong glance "Afraid?"
"Terrified." She snorts "This isn't anything like Sovengarde."
"You could st-" I begin.
But am promptly interrupted "Don't you dare." Her finger nearly pokes my eye out.
"Just pointing at the possibility" I raise my hands in surrender.
She lowers the tactical weapon "And I know you aren't doing it to mock me" False alarm, she is aiming at us once more "But. I will not be treated like some weakling when we've already agreed to do this."
"If that is what the lady wishes" I smirk and poke her in the nose, earning myself a quick swat "Though do try not to cry at me when the spooky library becomes too bothersome."
She huffs and smirks "How are you so sure you won't be the one that won't be crying?"
"Because" I grin and lean forward "I am not going for a read, but for a book burning."
She gives me a dubious look at that.
"After looting what I want of course" I concede.
"There it is" She grins and offers her hand "Now let's go and get the bastards."
Smirking, I take her hand and we both walk forward "Just make sure not to fall for any provocations once we inevitably get separated."
"That sounds quite ominous" She mutters before her eyes widen "Wait a moment-"
We enter the portal and the her protests are lost forever.
Comments
Hakkira
Thank you kindly for the chapter 😁
Speide Hardy
Thank for the chapter
