//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17: Fate of the Universe-Part 1: The Crazy Plan 
// Story: A Daedra's Heart 
// by Randablitz 
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(Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, Whitetail Woods, Kai’s P.O.V)

I awoke to the beautiful sight of my beloved mare still in her peaceful slumber. I smiled and gave her a loving peck on her cheek. “I love you.” I whisper in her ear. Her ear twitches and a smile spreads across her face, knowing that she heard what I said. I softly chuckle and lie back down and hug her tightly. Luna begins to stir from her slumber a bit. “What did I do to deserve this treatment?” She asked with a short yawn. “Simple, you agreed to marry me, so I must give you such treatment.” I reply with a smile. Luna giggles and cranes her neck towards me for a kiss. I lean down and kiss her lips. I feel the softness of her fur and deepen the kiss. After breaking our liplock, I sigh dejectedly. “What’s wrong?” Luna asked with a slight frown. “Today, we gather an army to decide the fate of two dimensions and all who live in them. I must tell you that I’m terrified of what may happen, because I don’t know if we can win against Jyggalag.” I say with tears welling up in my eyes. 

“Hey, it’s ok. You’re not alone in this fight, you have me, Tia, all of your followers, friends, the Aedra, and the Daedra.” Luna says with a smile, which reassures me. “You’re right, but still even with all of our allies, we can’t leave out the fact that Jyggalag will be expecting us.” I stated matter-of-factly. “True, but there’s one major difference between us and him.” Luna retorted. “And what would that be?” I asked curiously. “Courage, understanding, and above all, love.” Luna replies as she pecks my cheek. I chuckle at my mare’s statement. After I hug her tightly my thoughts began to drift back to my time in the Dawnguard. Luna noticed my silence. “What are you thinking about?” She asked. “I just remembered a place we could theoretically gather an army large enough to challenge Jyggalag.” I replied. “Really? Well what’s it called?” She asked with a smile, but when she noticed that I wasn’t smiling, she relaxed her face. “It’s called the Soul Cairn, and it’s a place I’m not to fond of.” I said with a sigh. “Why aren’t you fond of it love?” Luna asked with concern. “Ok, you remember what I told you and everyone else about enchanting, and soul gems?” I asked. Luna nodded in response. “Well what do you think happens to the soul that was trapped inside the soul gem?” I asked. “I, I don’t know.” Luna replied. “Well the poor soul ends up in the Soul Cairn, and let me tell you that it’s not really a positive place to be.” I said with a slight chuckle. “I feel sorry for all of those poor souls, but it still should prove useful.” Luna said. “Yeah, but now if we want to use this place as our recruiting ground we need to get there first and there are two methods. One is to become a vampire, since they’re not counted among the living, or…” I pause at the second option trying to figure out how to explain it. “Or what?” Luna asked curiously. “The second option is to become partially Soul Trapped, placing your essence in a Life Essence Gem as a payment to allow entry. You’ll still be alive, just slightly weaker than normal, and after we’re done we can retrieve the gem and use it to enter and exit the Soul Cairn as we please.” I reply with a smirk.

(Luna’s P.O.V)

I was shocked that a place like the Soul Cairn existed. In all honesty I’ve always wondered what happened to the souls trapped in soul gems, but now I wish I didn’t. After my beloved finished his explanation for our second method to enter the Soul Cairn, I was now deeply concerned for anyone who ended up there. “I hate to say this, but we have little, to no choice, we’ll need their help.” I said with a slightly stunned expression on my face. “Is there anypony there who could be of help to our cause?” I ask curiously. Kai becomes silent, but then smiles. “I know who to talk to; the Ideal Masters, maybe we could make a deal with them to get the help we need to take on Jyggalag!” He said with an enthusiastic smile on his face. I felt Kai pull me closer to him. “If you hadn’t asked that, things would’ve been much worse.” He said as he pecked my cheek. His gesture of affection makes me smile at him. After we go through our morning routines, we head into the dining hall of the Sanctuary to discuss our plans with the Dark Brotherhood. 

After explaining our; admittedly crazy; plan, Talia decided to break the silence. “So let me get this straight, you two came up with the idea to create a portal to a realm of existence, where the souls of the dead reside after being Soul Trapped, convince the leaders of said realm into helping us take back our home? Is there anything I’m missing?” Talia asked after finishing her summary. “Well you did leave out the part where only those who’ve been partially Soul Trapped, or are vampires can enter and exit without issue.” The little vampire girl, Babette stated. “Right, thank you Babette.” Talia said while Babette smiled and continued to eat her meal of raw fish. “So what’re we going to do?” Nazir asked. “Simple, we bring this to my sister’s attention, and then we ask Molag Bal if he has any vampires to spare so they can accompany Kai to the Soul Cairn.” I reply making the assassins look at me and nod in agreement. Kai lightly taps my shoulder and motions his head towards the main chamber of the Sanctuary to speak to me alone. I nod and follow him out. “So, are your new assassins coming with us, or are they staying here?” He asks with a mischievous smile. “I think it would be a welcome change for them.” I reply with a smile of my own.

We return to the group of assassins to give them their new instructions. Talia, Nazir, Babette, Shadowmere, and Cicero all look at us for confirmation. “We leave for Canterlot in five minutes. Gather your gear and then we’ll leave. Is that clear?” I ordered in an authoritative tone. “Yes, Night Mother.” The group replied as they got up from their seats to gather their weapons, poisons, etc. After they gathered their belongings, we all stood in the central chamber of the Sanctuary, Kai snapped his fingers and we found ourselves enveloped by the ethereal bluish-purple flames of his teleportation spell.

(Canterlot Castle Throne Room, Celestia’s P.O.V)

I was sitting in my throne with my Prince of Madness sitting in Luna’s throne as we had the other Daedric Princes, with their respective champions, and the Aedra. We were all waiting for Luna and Kai to arrive since Trixie, Cheerilee, Haskill, and Garrin were already present. “Where is he?” Molag Bal asked in an impatient tone. I was about to answer, but then the familiar bluish-purple ethereal flames Kai always had when he teleported appeared. Once they died down we saw Kai, Luna, and a group of people dressed in black and red light armor with a handprint on the chestpiece. “Sorry we’re late, but we have a plan to get an edge over Jyggalag.” Kai said as he took his place next to his champions. “Is that so?” Arkay asked. “Yes, but you won’t like it because it involves the Soul Cairn.” Kai said with an exasperated sigh. The entire room became silent at the mention of the words “Soul Cairn”. I decided to lean over to Sheogorath to have him explain what this Soul Cairn was. “What is the Soul Cairn?” I whispered into Sheogorath’s ear. “You know how soul gems capture souls of living beings?” He asked in response and I nodded in return. “Well the Soul Cairn is where those poor souls go once the gem they were in gets used to empower the enchantment on a weapon, or armor piece.” He explained. I nodded in understanding allowing him to continue. “The only way to even be alive in that place is to be turned into a vampire, or be partially Soul Trapped. If the second option is chosen, then the person will still be alive, they’ll just be a bit weaker until their Life Essence Gem is retrieved.” He concluded. I was shocked to know that a place like that even existed, but the souls had to go somewhere I suppose.

“Have you lost your mind?!” Meridia shouted breaking me out of my trance. “Look I don’t like it either, but we need all the help we can get, plus if the Ideal Masters agree to help us, then Durnehviir will help provide air support with his kin.” Kai responded calmly. “What do the rest of you guys think?” Julianos asked after Meridia calmed down. “I think it makes logistical sense, it makes use of a resource that Jyggalag is most likely neglecting.” Talos said earning nods of agreement from everyone else in the room. “Excuse me, but I think we’re missing some ponies here.” Molag’s champion, Queen Chrysalis, stated when she didn’t see Shining Armor, or Princess Cadence in the room with the group. I saw that she was right, we would need my niece’s input on this, but seeing the Changeling Queen might make her very upset, but her discomfort is secondary at this point. “You’re right. Sheo, can you..” I was interrupted when Sheogorath disappeared then reappeared with Shining and Cadence beside him. “Thank you.” I said in a surprised tone. “No problem lass.” Sheogorath said as he took his seat next to me once again.

(Cadence’s P.O.V)

I know that I’ve had some odd things happen in my life, but this one takes the cake! I mean one minute Shining and I are just having a nice picnic in the Crystal Palace garden, then all of a sudden that crazy Daedra guy, Sheogorath, just appears, grabs me and Shining and now we’re in Canterlot sitting in the throne room with all of the Daedric Princes, the Aedra, and what I’m assuming are the Daedric Prince’s respective champions. One champion, however catches my attention. “What is she doing here?!” I ask Aunt Celestia with an angry glare. “Calm down Cadence, Chrysalis is Molag Bal’s champion, so she has a right to be here.” Aunt Celestia replied. “Fine, I’ll let it go for now.” I said with an exasperated sigh. “Alright now that we have awkward reunions out of the way, let’s bring our latecomers up to speed.” Malacath stated. “Agreed. Pay attention, because we’re only going to tell you this once.” Peryite said as Shining and I nodded in understanding.

After a semi-detailed explanation about the plan to take down Jyggalag by using a place known as the Soul Cairn, I had to agree with Kai’s train of thought, since Jyggalag would probably disregard the Soul Cairn as a useful resource because of the Ideal Masters always wanting a form of compensation. “So let me get this straight, we’re considering on entering a dimension where the souls of the dead reside after being Soul Trapped, just to persuade these Ideal Masters to help us and we get an army that has possibly billions of warriors just to defeat Jyggalag?” Shining asked making sure he was hearing this correctly. “Yes.” Everyone said simultaneously. “Well I think we could use as many allies as possible, since we will be facing hordes of Dremora, and all of Tamriel.” I said getting nods of agreement. “I find this plan very appealing, now we must put into action.” A unicorn named Starlight Glimmer said as everyone in the room decided to gather their respective cults to assist in constructing the portal, and craft the necessary ingredients to open it. Only Kai, Aunt Luna, Aunt Celestia, Sheogorath, Garrin, Haskill, the Dark Brotherhood, Cheerilee, and Trixie remained in the room and the silence was slightly unwelcome to us, but it gave us some time to collect ourselves. “Well that was interesting, but can we go back to the temple Kai? We need to inform the others of this development and hopefully, find a suitable location for the portal.” Cheerilee said with slight concern. “Yeah, you two head home, and see if you can find a place suitable for the portal, also if any of the other Daedric champions come knocking, let them in, we’re in this together until Jyggalag is defeated.” Kai said as he stood up to walk out to the castle gardens. Both mares nodded and with Garrin’s help they vanished in ethereal bluish-purple flames. “I hope we win Shiny.” I say to my husband as he nuzzles me. “I do too Cady, I do too.” He replied as we watched the sun setting and the moon rising.