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Arc 8 Chapter LIX: Carve Thine Name Upon History
🕑 Added 2024-12-31 13:08:41 +0000 UTCA/n: An early happy new year to all of you!
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(General POV)
Dagoth Ulthis felt his eyes and skull throb in dull pain for probably the one hundredth time that day as he caught the slightest hint of the thing being constructed within the chamber.
There were far too many shapes for mortal eyes to comprehend, he concluded with a shiver.
"You alright?" The short Ashlander asks him with arms crossed "That is like the tenth time you hissed like an animal."
Holding back an instinctual retort at the elf's constant prodding, Ulthis slowly turns to look at him "I am trying to make heads or tails of what they are doing, and I am failing, miserably."
Both of them turned to the sole pale elf in their band, drawing the idle gazes of others with them. Only to be completely ignored as the Falmer stood perfectly still, staring at the sole secure approach to their position.
Dagoth Vemris cleared his throat "Sejro Anondor."
The snow elf finally deigned to acknowledge their presence "Yes?"
"Do you have any idea what they are doing in there?" He asks while pointing at the heart chamber behind him "They've shut themselves inside for what feels like a whole day by now."
"It is not my duty to question my lord's coming and goings" The pale elf responds after a moment "But" He adds before the rest can sigh in disappointment "If I were to guess they are preparing a grand act of magic to fulfill the pledge and no doubt extract some form of use from the ordeal as well."
Vemris turned to Ulthis and shrugged, likely guessing that that would be all he would get without more prodding.
Indoril Vayrin however, was far too used to such conversations by now, and so he pressed "So they seek to go beyond merely calming the mountain then?"
The snow elf takes a long breath before finally turning back from the approach "I have no true fact to base this on, but in my experience, my lord has a tendency towards doing ridiculous and unexpected things. Usually to the benefit of all, which is why I do not question him now."
"Well, whatever it is they are doing" Ulthis dares another glance within "It must truly be masterful."
(Reyvin's POV)
"Gods fucking dammit, gramps! I need to draw the power into the center and have it gently absorbed, not incinerate everything inside up to and including the fucking sun!"
Savos pauses his engravings, already bags hung from his eyes as he was forced to keep perfect focus for over thirty hours "We really should take a break."
"And as fun as that sounds" I pause my own very patient chiseling "We also need to not spend three weeks in here. The ritual needs to at least begin today for maximum effect." I summon a potion and toss it at him "Here, this should keep you going for a while."
He grumbles a bit but gets back to work, correcting the slight misalignment and allowing the future circle to properly circulate power "I still think you are taking too big a risk here. You could just do the bare minimum you promise-
"Gramps." I interrupt him "Three Daedra want me worse than dead."
His mouth clicks shut.
"And yes, before you say it" I sigh "I know I was the one to provoke literal forces of nature and it was probably incredibly stupid of me, but those are the facts of my life and I need to deal with them."
He looks at me as I get back to work and chuckles "This, Reyvin, is what you yourself once called a sunk cost fallacy."
I turn to him with a grin "Not if I win."
He stares for a moment before snorting and muttering "The fact I consider it an actual possibility is quite ridiculous." He shakes his head and quickly adds "Not that I want you to lose of course, it is just..."
"Yeah, yeah" I wave him off.
We continued our work in silence for a while longer, creating circles upon circles etched with numerous runes, the lines of such crossed at thousands of points at a complexity easily described as mindboggling.
The very air seemed to shimmer around the countless symbols, unpowered as they were right now.
The vast majority of the runes was arcane in origin, joined equally by Daedric and Aedric workings, even if the latter borrowed much from the works of Magnus himself, a fact I wasted no time in playfully bragging about.
Savos pretended to be jealous, and accepted the silent lesson eagerly.
As I was about to command Akulakhan to start pouring out the liquified heartstone he had been preparing a faint voice echoed throughout the chamber, coming out in a lazy self assured drawl "Your stabilizing circles are lacking."
Both of us frowned as I ever so slowly unbuckled the lantern hanging off my belt and rose it to meet the three embers within. I said nothing and merely stared at the awakened soul.
The embers, or eyes I suppose, flickered before turning slightly brighter "Am I wrong in my assessment, child?" Dagoth Ur asked and I could practically taste his amusement.
With a frown I channeled scrying spell after scrying spell, checking the potential results over and over for a good ten minutes without saying a word and there at the edge just next to the fallen head of Akulakhan the Elder I noticed a potential breach.
One wrong spark of Magicka there and the whole thing would have exploded.
Ever so slowly my head turns back to the lantern "What are you doing?"
The eyes twinkle mockingly "You have captured my very being, child." He states "And I know you could rend my soul to energy and make of me a chamberpot should you have wished. I merely seek to prove myself useful so that my fate is less... disappointing."
"So what, you want to buy your freedom?" I raise an eyebrow, obviously about to reject him out of hand.
"Of course not, I am not a fool" Dagoth Ur scoffs "Simply do not seek to degrade me or torment me and I will provide what aid I can. As much as I would have preferred to be the one to lead our kin to glory your conviction has proven itself greater than mine, and I yet desire my people's prosperity."
Now how much of that was blatant asskissing? I am having actual trouble detecting the truth of his words which is a rather horrifying thought in and of itself.
"Very well" I say slowly "But all your suggestions will explain the entire process to me, I will take no whimsical modifications nor will I entertained arguments towards such."
"Of course" The soul emits a chuckle "Your skill at such an age is inspiring but time and mistakes make for great teachers indeed. Now, what you want to do to fix the edge there-"
---
Thirty eight hours of non-stop magical and material preparations, a mere two before the time to begin was up in this Ritual of Grand Rebirth I had been designing under the guidance of the Collected Works on Spirituality.
An unassuming name for such a grand tome but the Aldmer knew their shit and it showed, the author was so thorough I honestly thought he spent an immortality researching this one topic.
Admirable obsessions aside, the fact I turned twenty one years old in this world on this day was not an instrumental factor but it helped with the symbolism, and with something this ridiculous I needed all the help I could get.
With a fortifying breath, I tossed Dagoth Ur to Savos and signaled for him to leave, something he did after quietly wishing me luck. For a moment I contemplated contacting Minthara but decided against it, such distractions would be costly now.
'Now to go over everything one last time' I half prayed and opened my eyes. The first layer to draw the power, the second to draw the curse, the third to draw the calamity of nature, the fourth to converge it all within, the fifth to cleanse it all, the sixth to subsume it and consume what remains, and the final seventh layer to share the now blessed energy with the land.
My task would be to be the guide and conduit, ensuring the energy flowed as it should and the ritual did not collapse under its own weight. Theoretically I could have drawn everything into myself but that would have killed me near instantly.
I may be ambitious but I was most assuredly not suicidal.
'Well, at least I won't be alone in conducting' I added mentally as I placed the tiny tree sapling into the center of the massive overcomplicated ritual circle now brimming with power, power my blood begged for and I denied it still.
With a final prayer to the three that sent me here, to Dagon, and to Kyne, and to Auri-El/Akatosh, I took a deep breath, and unraveled.
(General POV)
Savos winced as he felt the power shake the mountain and turned to see if everything was fine, only to see Reyvin's body explode into so much ash, instantly obscuring what was happening within.
His hands shook but he kept himself from panicking 'This was always in the plan, Savos. He knews what he is doing.'
Even if he decided to rush back inside, he knew he would not be able to do it since Reyvin's automaton and his bodyguard stood at the entrance, both of them in battle ready stances and quite uncompromising as they stated they would kill anyone who approached now.
Savos believed them, and was frankly slightly relieved to have the choice taken from him.
He turned to the other elves that accompanied him, opening his mouth to annoy the kids and distract himself with some dumb humor...
...Only for his eyes to widen and his Magicka to surge within him as he saw something flash behind the larger Erabenimsun warrior.
He did not even get to finish summoning his first flaming atronachs as the strike reached its destination, the young warrior's head rolling of his shoulders without a sound and his body slumping forward with a thud.
The assailant was thus revealed, doubtless a Mer and clad in once resplendent moonstone armor now marred with centuries of use, and engraved with the unmistakable iconography of the Tribunal Temple.
Massanor was the first to react to the death of his brother as he threw himself at the assailant in a scream of rage, aiming to push the enemy off the precipice he stood atop with his shield only to get it grabbed and himself be thrown into the abyss.
Savos' summons finished their materialization and began pelting his foe with bolts of flame and lightning, forcing him to dodge with steps so fluid the archmage felt compelled to compare them to the flow of water. He grit his teeth and began casting destruction and alteration, both obstructing and attacking his target at he same time.
But this enemy was not solely a warrior and his free hand lashed out, forming the telltale runes of alteration magic with immense precision and rising the volcanic rock around them in the form of sharp spiked walls, sundering Savos' atronachs and impaling Dagoth Kralor who was on the other end of the passage.
The large warrior of Dagoth grunted in pain and slammed the rock with his balled fist, breaking it into pieces and immediately downing a potion even as Indoril Vayrin rushed to heal him.
A silence descended but Savos was not fooled by the lull and the instant he felt a shift in the air near Dagoth Vemris he cast one of the new additions to his repertoire, slowing the time around the elf just as the assailant appeared and nearly decapitated him.
Savos blasted the figure with a lightning beam, the spell moving through the slowed time at great speeds yet but not quickly enough to stop Vemris from losing his head as it tumbled down in slow motion.
The assailant did not escape unscathed though, as he was thrown against a wall and forced to cast a ward, stopping Savos' follow up firestorm.
On sheer instinct, recently resharpened, he summoned Spellbreaker just in time to block a bolt of fire powerful enough to crack a mountain peak and was thrown back himself, getting back just quickly enough to see the enemy rushing him with murder in his eyes.
He clutched at the Sanguine Rose hanging around his neck, carelessly expending all its petals even as the yet standing elves rushed to help him and in an instant, the assailant stood surrounded by Dremora who fell upon him with their oft ridiculous battle cries.
Savos felt a bit of sweat going down his brow as he saw them cut down by the dozens only to manage two glancing blows at the foe's arms, the girl Dagoth Azra clutched at her throat even as she bled from a dozen more wounds and Dagoth Ulthis fell unconscious as a pommel struck him in the forehead.
He had not been idle while this was happening, teleporting about and striking the enemy with magic from every angle possible, and some quite improbably, most were dodged, deflected or outright reflected back, but three struck home and singed the foe's limbs, slowing him down.
A burst of magic sent everyone tumbling away, forcing Savos to take a half second to reorient even as Vayrin and Kralor were knocked out against a wall, the force behind the slam potentially ending their lives.
The assailant moved to finish them but his blade was stopped by a blade of gleaming white coated in gold, the form of Anondor now standing between the enemy and his prize.
The unknown elf scoffed, moving to cut the Falmer down like he did so many others only to be blocked and countered, coming out of the blinding exchange with more wounds than his foe, and ending up forced to step back for a moment.
But he still did land a few blows, and as Anondor went to speak Savos felt his instincts screaming at him to move as two projection-like copies of the still unknown elf appeared next to him, aiming to skewer him while he was distracted.
Savos finally managed to get a moment of peace after twenty seconds of constant teleportation, the projections having followed him constantly, and he stopped just in time to see a stumbling Anondor be struck with an odd dust like substance that passed through his armor.
The Paladin struck back without hesitation, cutting into the assailant's helm and cracking it before doubling over and coughing out blood, blood that now flowed from both his eyes, ears, and mouth.
Savos finally managed to defeat the two projections by teleporting back to a place he had already tried escaping to and trapping them in rune traps. His faint sense of victory was short lived though, as he was once more forced to teleport away by the true form of the elf, his blood covered helmet now showing the tiniest hints of golden skin beneath.
With each moment Savos managed to waste, the assailant seemed to grow more and more panicked and frantic "Move fool!" He hissed in a voice both young and ancient and oddly androgynous "I did not come so far to be denied by some broken rat!"
Savos teleported once more, appearing just in front of the entrance to the Heart Chamber "This broken rat will shove that sword down your throat." He growled, his hands burning with chaotic flames as he slammed a sudden firestorm at his enemy.
The assailant looked just as nonchalant as before but failed to realize Savos had overcharged the spell while he spoke, spending the final dregs of his Magicka to make sure it stuck. He tried blocking it of course but his wards cracked under the pressure and in the next instant all Savos could hear was screaming.
Grinning to himself, he rose a potion of Magicka to his lips and took a gulp of victory.
Only to feel himself flying as he was slammed into a nearby wall.
Admittedly something that should have taken his attention but what his mind was truly taken by was the appearance of the burned elf, the faintest line separating gold and grey could now clearly be seen under the burns and broken armor.
'Vivec?!' Savos' eyes widened and he immediately injected one of Reyvin's emergency potions into his thigh, a heavily overcharged destruction spell forming in his free hand.
He was completely ignored as he did it as well, as the once god rushed to the Heart Chamber, aiming to do something inside.
Savos openly cackled as he was bowled over by a sudden punch of the now visible automaton, the massive creation glaring down at the false god with hateful purple eyes.
But even now he refused to leave his post.
Even as Vivec attacked him and threw magic at him, the automaton took not a single step forward or backward, staying firmly planted in the place he was commanded to guard and deflecting all attacks without concerning himself with damage.
Vivec grew more frantic, screaming "A curse upon you Azura!" As he stabbed his sword into one of Akulakhan's eyes, getting thrown back and his neck nearly broken by the countering punch and earning a large gash in his chest from the automaton's massive glaive.
Savos grinned as his spell completed and the final third of the Tribunal barely had the time to dodge to the side as a horizontal storm of bluish purple flames passed him by, leaving him one arm and one foot lighter.
With a snarl on his lips, the false prophet stabbed his sword into the dirt and spoke "Heed our pact, Mola-"
His words were cut off by a loud thud as his brain was crushed by a one handed hammer slamming into it from behind, the sound ringing out with an odd finality.
Savos rapidly blinked the stars from his eyes as he looked up at the newcomer, the tall and well built by even human standards elf armored in Dwemer armor and holding a hammer of similar make grinned down at the now very dead Vivec "Finally got the bastard."
Now that he had a moment to truly observe him, Savos could make out numerous scars on his body that itself looked like it had been carved from stone, though the oddest part of it all was the haircut which belonged in the merethic era, a singular narrow line of hair grown tall like a plume.
The newcomer secured the burned form of Massanor atop his shoulder and sheathed his hammer before looking down at Savos "I am not too late, am I?"
Before Savos could answer, both of them tensed as the entire mountain shuddered once more.
-----
Varan Sarano, Archmaster of the Redoran paced impatiently within the chamber given to him by his Dres hosts in Old Ebonheart, all of the house heads save for the Indoril who were yet to elect their own were present in the island city as the grand army of Morrowind assembled.
Future military operations were not the cause of his nervous movements however, but the shuddering mountaintop in the distance. He knew all he could do now was have faith, and the thought of not relying on himself terrified the old warrior.
Rapid knocking drew him from his thoughts and the doors were opened without waiting for his leave, revealing Archmagister Baladas Demnevanni "Sarano, come with me quickly, something is happening."
The Archmaster frowned but still followed his peer and soon all four of them were gathered atop a northern balcony, staring straight at Red Mountin with their guts in their throats.
"I feel it" Demnevanni muttered "The culmination approaches."
No one felt like correcting the archmage so all they did was watch patiently.
And then it happened.
The top of the mountain spewed red energy that was not fire, rapidly consuming the entirety of Vvardenfell before stopping at the edges of the Inner Sea and retreating to the mountaintop, quickly followed by an unnatural slurping noise in the back of everyone's head as before their very eyes all the ash they could see covering the island was dragged back into the mountain, soon followed by the smoke above.
Aneris Dres openly gaped "What the f-"
Once more the mountain shuddered, and once more it belched out power. All of the lords and ladies tensed but what came out was neither destruction nor another wave of consumption but a wave of faint vibrant green.
A wave of green that went beyond the Inner Sea and soon reached their little unassuming balcony.
Varan Sarano had never tasted air so majestically pure in his life, not even in the lands of the Nords that were famous for it.
He could hear the Dres finish her curse, he could hear Demnevanni muttering about 'Absolute impossibilities and ridiculous monsters.'
And he could both hear and see as Sadras Sindrel, the oldest non-Telvanni elf present, knelt on the ground and wept.
The Archmaster understood the implications of what just happened, and the inevitable loss of absolute influence now awaiting his house. He found that he did not mind all that much, it was almost... relieving.
-----
Back within what was once the Heart Chamber of the Heart of Lorkhan the infinitely compressed cleansed ashes now congealed into one point, causing a much smaller shudder of power to pass through the vast cave.
In the next instant a tree sprouted, its bark a flowing grey and its leaves a bright fiery red.
And at the base of this bark was an opening, like a door leading into a small room.
Within was only darkness, and swirling shadow, and silence.
The shadows stilled, and two red eyes aglow with power snapped open, soon followed by a bout of deep ecstatic laughter that echoed throughout the mountain and beyond.
