As Valerica lead the way to the location of the third Elder Scroll, the one thing that would tell them how to find the ancient artifact known as Auriel's Bow, Sonata began to wonder if it wasn't time for her and her friends to play some tricks of their own with their enemy. The reason why she hadn't spoken of her long term plans was because she was certain that Krovor had been a spy for Grul the entire time, which had been proven to be correct when the forces of the Soul Cairn cornered him and killed him. Now that Krovor was gone, however, Grul would have no idea where she was and what she was doing at any given moment, which meant that they could plan the downfall of Harkon without fear of their enemy finding out.
"So Serana, whose your friend?" Valerica asked, apparently wanting to have some sort of conversation with her daughter before they reached the Elder Scroll, which was why she wasn't in too much of a hurry to get to their destination.
"I am Sonata Dusk," Sonata replied, wondering how many times she was going to have to say those words before everyone knew who she was, "most people know me as the Dragonborn, the fabled hero who destroyed Alduin the World-Eater, but in my home world I went by another title; the Siren Queen."
"Wait a second, your a Queen?" Valerica inquired, though at the same time Serana remained silent as they walked, as if she was studying the land they were in.
"No, there were only ever three Sirens in all of my home world's existence," Sonata stated, still saddened by the fact that there weren't more of her kind in Equestria, or anywhere in Equus for that matter, "There's my sisters, Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze, and then there's me, the strongest of the trio. I won't bore you on all the details, but the three of us were eventually banished to a world without magic, where we lived for quite a long time until our necklaces were shattered. Two weeks after that, and with my sisters suddenly disappearing, I entered the portal between two worlds and ended up in Skyrim, though I eventually learned that my sisters had ended up here as well.
One of Grul's Lieutenants informed me, sometime ago during a failed raid on the College of Winterhold, that Grul had already captured by sisters and was holding them hostage... to which I promptly destroyed my opponent."
"So if your necklace, and the powers tied to it, is shattered, then how can you get back to your full potential?" Valerica continued, though at that point they had reached a little room like area that happened to house the Elder Scroll, which she held in her hands as they started the trek to the portal's opening.
Sonata didn't reply for a moment, mainly because she was amazed that Valerica had made the connection between her powers and her necklace without her even saying anything about it, but she quickly decided that the vampire was much smarter than she was giving her credit for and had deduced the information on her own.
"Apparently my powers will only be restored when I end a specific threat to Skyrim," Sonata explained, holding up a hand with three fingers sticking out, while the other two were pointed down, "or more specifically three specific enemies; Alduin the World-Eater, your husband Harkon, and someone by the name of Miraak. Right now I am at half of my former power, but in order to reach my peak I need to end Harkon and find Miraak... and I think I have a way to draw one of them out of hiding."
"Oh? You have a plan to kill Harkon, one of the most powerful Vampire Lords in the history of Skyrim, if not the northern half of Tamriel?" Valerica asked, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing, but then she seemed eager to hear what the plan was, "Go on, I'm listening..."
"We're going to trick him into coming out of hiding with the one thing he wants; Auriel's Bow," Sonata replied, recalling that Gol and Mez had an ebony bow in one of their packs, "Here's what we'll do first..."
Harkon sat inside Movarth's old lair, sitting on his wooden throne and taking a sip from the goblet that he held, wondering how his life had gone from the livings of a Vampire Lord to the livings of a lesser vampire. Then he remembered that one of Grul's orcs had taken his place so he could find and obtain Auriel's Bow, a weapon that would allow him to block the sun and let vampires rule over everyone... until it came time for Grul to conquer everything. According to what he heard Grul was more than willing to hand him the keys to true immortality, where he wouldn't have to drink or eat ever again unless it was for the fun of it and where he could train his magic until he was on par with the strange warlock.
Unfortunately with none of the three Elder Scrolls in his hands anymore, as his wife had taken two of them before she and Serana had disappeared, that dream was so far off that he didn't even consider it a possibility anymore. Then there was the Dragonborn, who was supposed to have the third Scroll he needed, but his spies couldn't keep track of her at all... and the only person who gave him any good news was the orc that Grul had assigned to help him. He had never bothered to learn the orc's name, and the orc appeared to be fine with Harkon not knowing his name, but he couldn't deny how helpful the creature had been in disposing of the Council of Three.
His thoughts were interrupted as the orc stepped out of the shadows and approached the table that he was sitting at, stopping to bow when he reached the point that Harkon desired him to stand at.
"I take it that you have some news for me?" Harkon asked, wondering if this time he'd be able to find the Elder Scrolls and secure them or if Grul was demanding another update on his progress.
"Yes. My master's scouts have informed me that the Dragonborn and her allies left your castle some time ago," the orc replied, knowing how annoyed Harkon was with the fact that his enemies had marched through his old home, which he intended on reclaiming at some point in the future, "they lost our main spy inside the castle, which is a pity, but they managed to pick up another vampire, a lady that's older than your daughter, and some sort of jester."
"Valerica!" Harkon growled, enraged beyond belief that his traitorous wife had been hiding inside his castle the entire time, though he calmed himself when he noticed that the orc had more to tell him, "Was there something else you wished to tell me?"
"Yes. According to what our scouts have learned the Dragonborn intends on stopping at Fort Snowhawk for the night," the orc replied once more, though he smiled as he prepared to say the next bit, "and, if our information is to be believed, she has already obtained the artifact you are after; Auriel's Bow. The scouts indicate that the jester was 'holding a bow that shined like the sun itself'."
"Then it is as good as ours!" Harkon declared, rising from his seat and gathering his sword, while at the same time downing the rest of his goblet before tossing it to the side, "Tell your master to be expecting me soon... for I shall have the weapon that can blot out the sun in a matter of hours."
"As you wish." the orc said, slipping into the shadows and disappearing, leaving Harkon alone once more, though all that meant was that he was free to bring an end to this mission of his.
Harkon marched out of the cave he had been hiding in with a smile on his face, because now it appeared that his dreams were about to become a reality after all. He had no idea how Valerica had gotten her hands on Auriel's Bow, or how she managed to hid it and herself inside his own castle for so many years, but he decided to ignore the fact that pieces of this story didn't make sense. Once he was outside the cave he shifted into his Vampire Lord state and spread his wings, to which he flew in the direction of the ruined fort that the group would be staying at. He guessed that someone must have cleared out the fort since the last time he had been there, helping himself to the necromancers that called it home, but that fact also didn't matter at all.
It didn't take him long to reach his destination, though he landed in front of a nearby cave and shifted back to his normal form, as he intended on making sure that he hadn't been lied to... and his resting place was the best location to watch the front of the old fortress and determine what was actually going to happen. Not ten minutes after his arrival he noticed a small caravan pull up to the front of the ruined fort, though he immediately recognized both his daughter and his former wife sitting among the people around them. At the head of the group sat the girl he knew to be Sonata, the Dragonborn, though before he could find the bow the caravan stopped inside the fort and the entire group made their way inside.
Harkon waited for another hour or two, waiting for the sun to finally go down and for the moons to rise into the sky, before he finally emerged from his hiding spot and silently approached the front door of the fort. He was surprised to find that none of the people he had seen had bothered to post any guards for the night, to make sure someone didn't come in and slit their throats, but he wasn't about to argue with such easy prey. He mentally wondered how Grul was having such a hard time killing the Dragonborn, or capturing her if he had understood the orc, but then threw the thought aside as he checked the door in front of him.
The room he walked into had a number of shelves lining the walls, filled with everything a necromancer could ever want, before he found his prize in the middle of the room... an ebony bow that looked nothing like the description of Auriel's bow!
Before he could even consider the fact that someone had lied to him, and properly process how angry he was going to be, the ground shook for a moment, as if something was happening outside. Harkon then carefully made his way outside the fortress, making sure not to fall over or anything, before he emerged and found the night sky staring back at him. As the ground became calm once more he spotted something odd, as standing direction in front of the fort's entrance was what appeared to be a knight in some sort of crystalline armor. The knight was also carrying a crystalline greatsword, which was currently embedded in the ground, though as he walked forward he also noticed that the carriage he had seen earlier was missing.
As he walked out of the fortress he found that there were more knights standing in what appeared to be a perfect circle around the fort... though when he tried to pass by them he was pushed back by some sort of barrier, one that phased into existence for a few seconds before disappearing completely.
"What in the name of Oblivion is going on?" Harkon said, glaring at the knights that were apparently powering the barrier, wishing that he could get at them and strike them down so he could leave.
"I asked Jyggalag for a few of his knights so I could trap you inside this area with me." a voice said, to which he turned around and found Sonata standing behind him, though while her left hand had lightning gathering around it she was also carrying a shining sword that reminded Harkon of the Dawnbreaker he had read about in the various tomes that were back at his castle.
"So you sealed the two of us in here?" Harkon asked, though at the same time he carefully drew his own sword as he stared at his opponent, wondering what she was going to do next.
"The barrier is designed to keep you in here until I'm done with you," Sonata replied, keeping her eyes on Harkon as the vampire moved a tiny bit, while at the same time she made sure that she was ready to release her power, "I planned on drawing you in, getting everyone else out before you showed up, and then setting this all in motion the moment you opened that door. Its actually surprising that you fell for my trick, especially when I wasn't even trying that hard."
"What do you mean I 'fell for your trick'? You haven't..." Harkon started to say, but then when he remembered why he was so eager to come here he realized what she was talking about, "Auriel's Bow... I should have seen that one coming."
"Ding ding, it looks like we have a winner!" Sonata declared, as if there were actually people around them, before appearing to think about something, "Actually, its more like we have a loser instead of a winner. Though let me tell you the real kicker... we never bothered to actually collect the bow."
Harkon growled for a moment, because he realized that he, and the orc that had been his messenger, had been fooled into believing that Sonata's group had acquired the legendary bow, which no one knew the location of. It made sense now that he thought about it, because the light coming off of the Dawnbreaker, which had no doubt been behind the ebony bow he had noticed a few minutes ago, would have fooled anyone looking at them from afar. Harkon then smiled as he unleashed his full power and transformed into his Vampire Lord form, to which he took to the air and stared down at his would be opponent, who merely stared up at him in return.
"So what if you tricked me?" Harkon shouted, though at the same time he gathered his magic in his hands, thankful that this place had been a necromancer's lair until some time ago, "I have the high ground... and all the servants I could ask for!"
Sonata watched as Harkon's magic summoned the dead from their rest, which was mostly skeletons pulling themselves from the ground and pointing all of their weapons at her. She chuckled as she simply swung the Dawnbreaker at one of the undead skeletons and cut off its head, which released a wave of light that burned all of the skeletons until they were nothing more than piles of ash. With the skeletons taken care of Sonata engaged her magic and floated into the sky, to which she rose until she was parallel with the beast that Harkon had become.
"So you can kill my servants," Harkon spat, not sounding impressed at all, though he made no move to change positions, "that doesn't mean you have the power to kill me."
"Maybe normal Sonata can't kill you," Sonata replied, to which she accessed her power and let her hair flare upwards, taking on its new color when she used this form in combat, "but I bet I can do it in my Super Siren form."
"So you changed your hair," Harkon said, shocked that his opponent was playing around at a time like this, "that has got to be one of the worst transformations I have ever seen."
"That is where you would be wrong, my dear Harkon," Sonata replied, just as the sky above them flashed with a bit of lightning, "this form increases my speed and power, both physical and magical, by twenty-five times what my original power was to begin with. That may not seem like a lot to you, but it allowed me to be on par with Alduin the World-Eater... and right now I've been trying to access a higher level, one beyond what I am currently capable of using."
Harkon's blood went cold for a moment, because he could deal with someone whose power was below his own, but what Sonata had just told him shocked him a little bit. He knew that Alduin was the one dragon that could bring an end to this world, but if Sonata had used this exact form, and its power boost, to defeat the World-Eater... Harkon could only wonder what would happen to him if she managed to obtain a level beyond what she was using.
"I see your wondering how I could possibly obtain a more powerful form," Sonata stated, snapping Harkon out of his thoughts and drawing his attention back to her, "Let me tell you something; the rage I felt when I learned by sisters had been kidnapped is more than enough to push me all the way through the first stage of this form, well passed the second stage, and arrive at the third with enough rage left over for me to attempt something far greater. I chose not to use my rage for that purpose, not when I'm waiting for my necklace to be restored to its former glory... but the loss of Lydia should be sufficient for my purposes."
"What are you..." Harkon started to say, but as he watched his opponent he noticed that the wind shifted all around them as several bits of lightning tore out of the sky, though at the same time he noticed several blue streaks of lightning began to appear in the red aura that was surrounding Sonata.
He watched as Sonata's hair, which had spiked upwards when she took on this form, became even longer and more rigid than it had been mere seconds ago, while at the same time one of the strands seemed to fall out of alignment as it rested in front of Sonata's right eye. Sonata's flowing aura took a drastic turn as it changed from a flowing liquid like form and morphed into something that almost looked like moving fire. Harkon was sure that this was what his opponent was after, but as he thought about what was happening Sonata turned towards him again and stared at him, though he could have sworn her expression was much colder.
"There... Super Siren 2," Sonata said, the sky lighting up once more as she spoke, though she assumed a certain Divine was doing it on purpose at this point, "I must apologize if you find this form to be much colder than my normal self... I am drawing even more of my true power, that of the Siren Queen, and as such I start to care less about being merciful. This form increases my power by a multiple of fifty, twice what the first form does... so that means your done for before this fight even started."
Harkon barely had time to raise his magical blood shield, which formed a perfect sphere around him, before Sonata charged at him, though in the brief seconds that followed he was sure that he had made it in time as his opponent appeared behind him... which was followed by a cut appearing on his chest as the shield shattered. At first he had to wonder how she could have harmed him, especially when there was no sun out and his shield was designed to protect him against all sorts of magical attacks, but then he remembered that Sonata was carrying Dawnbreaker with her. Meridia, the Daedric Prince that had made the weapon, hated both the undead and vampires, making her weapon the perfect tool to damage him in place of Auriel's Bow.
"Its a good thing you raised your shield on instinct, otherwise your head would be rolling on the ground right now," Sonata commented, turning around so she could face Harkon, who was staring back at her, "I know that you have allied yourself with Grul, which means that he has to have given you some new power in case you ever fought me... so show me your true power."
Harkon looked at his opponent for a moment, wondering how she knew about his new partner granting him even stronger abilities, but decided that now wasn't the time for questions as he touched the second necklace he was wearing, the one that had a sinister looking emerald in the center of it. His arms and legs caught on fire, but unlike the normal red fire that hurt him, and weakened him, the sinister nature of the green fel fire inflicted no pain on his body... and instead hurt whoever he was fighting. Grul had told him that this power would protect him against Sonata's abilities, but after seeing how easily she shattered his shield, which had been designed to protect him, he wasn't too faithful in the warlock's promises.
He threw his hands at Sonata and released his new fire at her, but she disappeared seconds before the flames could touch her, to which Harkon felt another gash being cut into his body as his foe appeared behind him. Harkon tried to follow his opponent's movements, throwing his fire at her while trying to raise more undead to fire arrows at her, but every time a skeleton rose from the ground Sonata shattered them before moving on. He quickly found that Sonata's speed was much faster than what he had been expecting, because every time he thought he caught up with her, and could hit her, she picked up the pace and escaped his grasp... until the one time she swung back around and knocked him into the side of the tower they were fighting near.
It continued like that for some time, with Sonata purposely inflicting more wounds on her opponent instead of outright ending the fight in a single go, making Harkon wonder if this new version of the Dragonborn was slightly enjoying the torture she was inflicting on him. She had already torn off one of his wings, cut a large number of gashes into his body with the Dawnbreaker, which refused to heal, shattered his shield every time he tried to summon it, and he was sure that she had even cracked several of his ribs with her power. That eventually came to an end when she thrust the tip of the Dawnbreaker through his chest, or more accurately his heart, and knocked him into the side of the tower they were near... though to his surprise he was still alive.
"So... your going to torture me until I die," Harkon coughed out, glaring at Sonata as she floated parallel to where he was resting, "I should warn you, I won't scream or cry for you."
"Oh, you'll be dead in a minute or two," Sonata replied, lightning gathering around her left hand, which she raised into the air until her palm was facing the sky, "I just thought I would end this fight with one of my stronger abilities."
Harkon watched as the sky opened up and a serpent like creature, completely made out of dark blue colored lightning, lowered itself until it was completely wrapped around Sonata, who smiled at her creation for a moment. Harkon had heard of fire, frost, and storm atronachs before, but this was the first time he had seen one of those creatures that was on the level that Sonata was controlling.
"I call this technique 'Kirin'," Sonata commented, to which the creature raised itself back into the clouds it had spawned itself from, "Begone with the thunderclap!"
The moment Sonata swung her hand downwards, leveling her palm with the Dawnbreaker, Harkon watched as the massive creature tore itself from the sky once more and raced down towards where he was resting... though the last thing he knew was the searing pain that coursed through his body before it completely consumed him.
Grul had known that it was only a matter of time until Sonata had found Harkon's hiding spot or lured him out with a trick, though when his spy indicated that Harkon was on the move he made sure to position himself for the fireworks. He had expected there to be more than a one sided fight, as he was sure that Sonata would have started out in her ordinary form before jumping into what she called her 'Super Siren' form, but instead she jumped to what he could only assume was the Super Siren 2 stage. He had watched Harkon get pushed around like a doll, taking every hit that Sonata could throw at him while never actually hitting her in return, leaving him to wonder if he should have bothered with allying himself with the useless Vampire Lord.
That was followed by Harkon getting pinned to the wall of the tower and Sonata summoning an elemental creature that rivaled the ones Grul had seen in the realm of his master... though when the creature struck Harkon, and obliterated him, Grul heard the metal effigy he had created for the Vampire Lord shatter into a thousand pieces.
"She is coming along nicely," Grul commented, a grin appearing on his face as he looked at the Siren Queen for a moment, imagining what her power would feel like once she overcame her last opponent and unlocked her full potential, "Two down, one to go."