//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Beginning of the Quest // Story: Two Sisters and a Dragonborn // by Spettro138 //------------------------------// Luna found herself in a giant red rose garden that seemed to extend on and on for miles and miles all around with many paths constructed out of white marble leading through them. The bright twilight sun made the crimson petals seem to shine and shimmer as its light permeated through a sky completely covered in blurred red, orange, lavender, and pink swirling clouds that seemed to flow through the air like water. The garden more than surpassed the beauty of her castle's own hedge garden that awaited her back in Canterlot. The wind smelled of a strong perfume like that of what her sister put on every other day. It was a mild, but pleasant scent that relaxed her to her core. Beautiful trees of various shapes and sizes were dotted all over the landscapes like silent watchers protecting their environment, Not knowing which path to go down, she decided to take a chance and choose the path closer to her which seemed to have a stone marker of some sort with a peculiar symbol carved into it. When she reached out to touch it, the sigil seemed to glow a pale blue. “This world’s dream realm perhaps? Maybe I can speak to the one who watches over dreams in this world.” she concluded. She got up back on to her feet, brushed herself off and started gradually walking down the path, cautiously looking around her for any sign of this realm’s inhabitants. During her walk, the only sign of life she came across were various species of insects flying and crawling amongst the leaves and branches of the rose garden. More than a few colorful beetles crossed in front of her of various patterns and shades, scuttling across the path to their destinations on the other side. Honey bees buzzed around as they landed on each ruby red flower, carefully extracting the pollen before bringing it back to their hives. After two minutes, Luna came across a beetle that had accidentally flipped itself onto its back. Its legs relentlessly moved around trying to flip itself back up. She took pity on it and decided to take a moment of her time to help it. Placing her finger by the beetle’s legs, instinctively the beetle gripped on to her finger which allowed her to carefully rotate her hand and place the beetle back right side up. Giving a small smile, she watched as the beetle crawled off into the thick brush and thorns as it went about its way. As she walked off once again down the path, a presence observing her every action disappeared to a different location to await this purehearted new arrival. As Luna was beginning to grow tired of not finding anything, a wondrous, unreal sight appeared just on the horizon. A sight that gave her a pang of homesickness. A shining silver city sitting at the base of a large mountain with many small waterfalls flowing out of it. Sitting on top of the mountain's peak was a rose palace towered over everything. A giant gleaming blue waterfall flowed down and out of a vista from the palace's side like a watery banner decorating the whole structure. Its towers reflected the perpetual dusk’s sunlight back in a blinding light causing Luna to squint her eyes slightly. On the highest tower overlooking the whole rose garden, was a large balcony probably twice as big as the royal public speech balcony often used by herself and Celestia back in Canterlot. Focusing her gaze, for a moment, she could swear that she saw a feminine figure wearing a pale blue robe gazing down at her, and then all of a sudden, she could see the image of a beautiful set of probing eyes in her mind and hear the whispering voice of an equally beautiful woman. "Welcome to my plane of Oblivion Moonshadow Princess Luna of Equestria. One who has seen DARKNESS!" the whispering voice emphasized. “Who are you?” Luna simply asked. “Where am I and what do you want with me?” Then all of a sudden, the figure completely disappeared from the balcony, much to Luna’s confusion. “Those are a few complicated questions with complicated answers Princess.” she heard the voice reply out loud from behind her. Luna turned around to come face to face with the owner of the beautiful voice that was silky smooth. It was a gorgeous woman of ethereal stature with a pale complexion and piercing ice blue eyes that seemed to be gazing into her very soul. She wore a loose pale blue robe that barely concealed her bust as it reached all the way to the floor and split into two large strips, trailing down to the floor like two large fish tails. Her hair was in an unusual multiple bun style that circled her head like a crown and was kept all together by a single strip of snow white cloth that draped down past her pointed ears and down her sloping  pale shoulders like a veil. She gave Luna a kind and compassionate small smile to put her fears at ease. “Who are you? Are you the guardian of dreams in Nirn?” Luna asked. “Unfortunately, no. Until something is done, that title belongs to one of my more foul former sisters Vaemirna. I have long since forgotten my true name, but the mortals have taken to calling me many things. One of which is similar to your own title dear Princess. Mistress of the Dusk and Dawn, Mother of the Rose, and Queen of the Night Sky just to name a few. However, I have rather taken quite a liking to the name given to me by the dark elves: Azura.” “Azura? One of the benevolent Daedric princesses of the Oblivion realm if I am not mistaken?” Luna asked while eyeing the Daedra cautiously. “With all of the things that my race has done over the many eons, especially what we were responsible for a century ago, none of us deserve to be called good. Let alone benevolent. However, for me all changed three days ago when I sensed the presence of two new goddesses of the sky being thrust into Mundus by the dark powers of my insane brother Sheogorath. I simply could not stand by while two pure hearted innocents were used and violated by the more unscrupulous members of our dimension.” “If it is acceptable to ask again then Lady Azura, may I ask where I am?” Luna asked as she finally began to relax. “Physically, you are back at the inn of the Bannered Mare Princess Luna daughter of Faust. While the mighty Dragonborn is unconsciously wrapping you into an intimate embrace inside his rippling arms. It is quite romantic and amusing if I might say so myself. He's even trying to spoon you,” she said with a mischievous smile, enjoying an internal laugh while seeing Luna grow a deep blush. “However, your soul has been transported to my realm of Oblivion. The land of blurred colors, Moonshadow. Very few normal mortals have had the honor of entering my realm and even fewer immortals like yourself have entered with my permission.” “It reminds me much of my own dream realm back in Equestria,” she said as she continued to gaze at the beauty of the surrounding land. “I know, you care deeply for the dreams and mental well being of each of your subjects and valiantly fight off their nightmares. You love each and every one of them dearly as you put their fears to rest. A task my former sister abandoned a long time ago.” she said as she sounded distant. “What do you wish of me Lady Azura?” Luna respectfully asked as she gave a slight bow. “Only to simply assist you and the Dragonborn in your quest to defeat the World Eater and to free the fates of many from my wretched brothers and sisters, so they do not bring harm to your own. ” Luna raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms, unsure what to think of Azura, with many doubts and fears entering into her mind. Please, you have no need to fear me Princess Luna, Luna heard as Azura peered into her mind. My only desire is to help you reunite with your family and help you and the Dragonborn defeat Sheogorath before he destroys both our worlds. I assume you have met him already? “Yes, we have met.” Luna replied with noticeable venom in her voice. “My world’s own harbinger of madness and chaos forgot to mention he had an ally as foul as him.” Do not think badly of Discord. As… chaotic as he was and eccentric as he is now, he truly loves your realm and has a very deep love for your sister and one of the flying daughters of your land. Luna knew exactly who Azura was referring to as she momentarily put a smile of delight on her face. “But on to more pressing matters. You are about to awaken to rejoin your friend, but before you do, there are things you must know.” she said out loud again. “What is it?” “I know not the exact location of your sister, but I know that she is safe. The Divines are doing everything they can to assist the two of you in returning home. I also sense a feeling of longing in her heart. She is looking for you. I feel that you may reunite with her much sooner than you realize. You will also be contacted by one of my more pleasant sisters, your presence has gained her interest. The same goes for my other sister Meridia where Celestia is concerned. Azura lightly giggled as Luna raised her eyebrow. "Let's just say that my sister is similar in nature to you and her plane of Oblivion is one I believe you would find great delight in. She's a little stand-offish at times and doesn't like to reveal much about herself, but I do think she will come to like you and the Dragonborn," Azura concluded cryptically with a smile. "Though, I do know she has her own nefarious motives at times. If she attempts any evil upon you and your kin, I shall have harsh words for her." “T-thank you Lady Azura. At the very least, you have given me some semblance of hope that Celestia is alive and well.” Luna replied with a bow. “Farewell Princess Luna. You and I shall meet once again very soon,” she concluded as she bowed back to Luna. Luna’s sight was blinded by an ethereal light that seemed to erase Moonshadow completely from her reality. Then her sight slowly faded away back into the complete darkness of sleep. She once again found herself conscious as she felt herself in a soft bed. She felt something off though, like her whole body was being pushed down by some big animal. She also heard a very unusual growling sound coming from directly to the left of her head. Remembering what Lady Azura had said, she cautiously opened her eyes and found a shirtless Ky’ell lying on top of her with his head buried into the pillow to the left side of her head. She looked to the window, carefully moving her head and saw that it was still dark outside with a few drops of rain still impacting against the glass. Ky’ell appeared to be sleeping soundly as his chest gradually pushed down against her with every breath. The mortifying nature of the situation made her deeply blush turning her fur as purple as Twilight’s for a brief moment before getting a grip on herself. At the very least he isn’t forcing himself on me. He was probably exhausted and just fell on to the bed without seeing where I was she thought to herself. I suppose it would be rude of me to awaken him now, with him in this deep of a sleep. Besides....this isn’t a...bad way to sleep. Unexpected, but not bad, she thought as she smiled and wrapped her arms around her new friend and drifted back to sleep. Her own dreams consisted of pleasant images, one of which included herself back in Equestria looking up at the stars in her own personal waterfall grotto filled with umbrella mushrooms, fireflies and glowing moon lilies.... The next morning, she began to stir and woke up to find that her steel gripped partner had disappeared. She looked left and right, but couldn't find him. Then, she heard the ghastly sound of nasal snoring coming from off to the right of her bed. She turned to look over the edge and found Ky'ell laying full spread eagle on the cold floor. He had somehow gotten back into his Iron armor without disturbing her. She giggled as she saw his tongue hanging out of his mouth with a strand of saliva reaching all the way to the floor. His throat and nostrils vibrated in unison with each breath to make an awful growling sound that sounded more appropriate out of a Sabre Cat than a man. She carefully maneuvered off of the bed and hopped over towards the chest by the bed. Carefully opening the chest, she found her Elven Gilded armor lying at the bottom of the chest with her bow. She then proceeded to carefully slip back into her hide under suit and then her armor without waking him. As she slipped her right hoof back into her plated feather tunic, her other hoof caught on the sheath of Ky’ell’s sword causing her to slip backwards on to Ky’ell with a shriek. The man in question awoke to an unpleasant feeling as he groaned in pain. “My ancestors felt that,” Ky’ell groaned in pain with noticeable spirals in his eyes. “My apologies Sir Ky’ell,” Luna consoled as she pushed herself back up on to her hooves. She helped Ky’ell back on to his feet as the two of them struggled to regain their balance. “How did you get back into your armor? Weren’t you sleeping with?...” she started as she tried to create a proper phrasing for her next words. “Was I what?” he asked curious as he strung his sheath back on to his belt. She looked him for a few before deciding to drop it. She decided to save the questioning about his borderline...intimate behavior for a more convenient time. “Thou know what? Nevermind, we shall discuss this subject with thou later,” she said sheepishly. “Now, shall we gather our belongings and begin working our way around the mountain?” “Yeah, let’s get a move on.” he replied. The duo gathered the rest of their belongings and weapons and began making their way out of the inn and back on to the street. The first floor had been completely vacated of most of its occupants from the previous night except for Hulda and two other armored warriors having drinks. Even the tan skinned assistant to Hulda had completely disappeared. The princess however wished to thank the woman for her exceptional service. When Luna asked, Hulda told them that she had to go out of town for the day, but would be back later in the evening. She just decided to allow Hulda to carry the words of thanks to her and continue onwards. Luna and Ky’ell came outside to find that the sky had been given a momentary reprieve from its gloomy weather for a beautiful day of blu skies and warm sunshine. The air was also noticeably more crisp and clean from the previous day’s smell of smoke, grime, and blood. The marketplace seemed to still be bustling with merchants, traders, travelers, and local residents still noticeably shaken up from the traumatic events of the previous day. Ysolda who had tended to their clothing and their service at the inn waved to them from her vendor covered with unique and exotic looking items. Two of which included a shining butterfly in a jar and an entire bee hive twice the size of a human head. “Yssy-face!”, Ky’ell happily exclaimed to the merchant as they ran up to her. “I can see thou’s inventory has increased,” Luna said as she looked at the various unusual items. “And indirectly thanks to you two. I suppose being the friend, or at least a perceived friend of two honored members of Jarl Balgruf’s court has its benefits.” “I am glad we could be of some service.” she replied. “I’m assuming the two of you are gonna be heading out soon?” “Yeah, soon as we make sure we got all the goodies we need- HEY WHAT’S THAT?” Ky’ell abruptly exclaimed as he pointed to one of the shops “Oh! That’s Arcadia’s Cauldron. Nice lady, great with potion making, has a complete alchemy lab, and she has helped me with some alchemical trading, but she’s a little too forward with people she...admires,” Ysolda not so subtly inferred with specific hand gestures. "Oh, I guess we should try to avoid her then. She sounds like a harlot," Luna replied. "I don't know if I would go that far, but yeah, that's actually pretty much accurate." Ysolda chuckled. "She has an Alchemy Lab? I can make us fizzy drinks, potions that do funny things to us, and funny looking poisons Loony!" Ky'ell exclaimed with delight. "I gotta go try it out!" Ky'ell ran up to the door of the shop and bolted inside to explore around. Luna followed him to bring him back. She found him jumping from one side of the room to the other, fiddling with and playing around with many of the various ingredients on the shelves Arcadia herself was stunned, unable to process what was going on as Luna tried to catch and grab Ky'ell then pull him back outside. Luna put on a humorously terrified face as Ky'ell picked up a large jar that contained a giant beehive, complete with a fully occupied colony of bees. He chucked it at Luna through the air without warning which barely gave her enough time to dive and catch the dangerous container. Ky'ell then proceeded to buy a few seemingly useless potions that he chucked into his bag as he threw each of them over his shoulder. One of them he overshot which cause Luna to catch this giant flask of gooey purple liquid. He then moved on to play with the alchemy lab, where he giggled like a madman as he pulled out random things out of his bag like a small flask filled with an ooze-like swamp green liquid, strange mushrooms, a piece of a bug, a piece of a giant insect, and a slice of cheese. He mixed all of the strange ingredients together and placed them into a fresh flask found in the cupboard of the lab table. As he began to work on another flask, Luna stomped up to him, fully intending to give him his just desserts. With an unamused frown on her face, Luna grabbed him by his ear and dragged him back outside to where they were standing in front of Ysolda's vendor. “Nay Ky’ell, we do not have time for shop going. We need to proceed on our mission.” Luna snapped. “Aw, no fair,” he pouted. “Oh well, I guess we can find fun along the way,” “I hope for the best for you two,” Ysolda replied. “Oh, and if it isn’t any trouble, could you take the time to look for a mammoth tusk for me? The ones at the General Goods shop are absurdly expensive.” The duo made their way back out of the city as they prepared for whatever trials the frostbitten tundras of Skyrim had in store for them. The guards recognizing the new heroes of Whiterun gave their wishes of farewell to the two of them until their safe return back to the city. Luna bowed to them and offered the guards kind words in return while Ky'ell just looked bored and played with a moth that had crawled onto one of the bricks of the castle wall. They walked back out on to the road leading out of Whiterun. The walk from the city to the crossroads at the White River was mostly silent, save for the occasional butterfly that Ky'ell had found himself distracted by. All of a sudden, they heard a thunderous sound that shook the earth where they stood. They looked around and found a giant attacking a group of warriors with its massive club made out of petrified wood and bone. The warriors seemed to be struggling with killing the giant as their attacks on it barely seemed to even hurt it. Luna wanted to end this quickly so they could continue onwards, so she looked around and found a stone to sling at the giant. When the stone impacted against its head, it rubbed its temple in pain and then looked at Luna with a look of pure rage. It thundered toward her with incredible speed with a killer intent. As it came within striking distance of her, it raised its club and Luna rapidly strung her bow, ignited her horn and shot an arrow right through the giant’s throat. For a moment, it appeared to stumble, but it raised its club again like it was never hurt as it prepared to strike Luna again. Then she heard the sickening sound of metal crunching bone as the giant fell backwards and impacted against the ground dead. She saw Ky’ell standing there wiping his sword off with the grass as he kept a small smile on his face. “That was fun,” he said calmly and nonchalantly. A woman with grimy red hair wearing an elaborate suit of hide armor and a large bow across her back ran up to greet them. Luna saw that her face was covered in some kind of war paint. “That was amazing! I can see that Harbinger Kodlak’s words about you two were more than true. You really can handle yourselves well. You two could make for a decent Shield-Brother and Shield-Sister” the woman complimented. “We thank thee. Thou looked as if you were in need of some assistance”. “I heard the two of you were leaving the city. Why don’t you come back to Jorvasskr when you return? Perhaps you could join our ranks if you’ve got the mettle. We can give you a more effective means to earn coin for your journeys across the land Dragonborn warriors.” “Perhaps we will once we come back down the mountain.” Luna replied. “If you do, then I wish you good luck,” she simply said before walking off with the rest of her group back towards Whiterun. “She seems alright,” Ky’ell said. “Very, but there’s something...off about her. I don’t know what it is though,” Luna thought out loud. Luna and Ky’ell continued onwards, past Honningbrew Meadry and across the fields over to the road on the other side of the river to bypass the long way around. When they got close to getting back on to the road, Luna looked up to find a dirt path on the other side branching off of the main road and up the mountain. It seemed to lead to a ridge that seemed to be used as some kind of vantage point. Before she could think any further, a man wearing grimy leather armor came into view that seemed to be scanning the terrain. From instinct, Luna pulled  Ky’ell behind a nearby rock before the man’s gaze landed upon the two of them. “What’s up Loon?” Ky’ell whispered. “And why did you cause me to want to whisper? “We didst not “cause” thee to want to whisper. Thou didst that on thine’s own,” she replied in a hushed tone. “Yeah, but pulling people behind rocks like you don’t want a pretty girl at a party to notice you sure gives cause to want to whisper.” “We assure thee Sir Ky’ell, our intentions were noble. A bandit is up on that ridge surveying the landscape,” Luna explained. “We feared that we would be spot and caught in a battle that we can’t exactly take part in presently, as we are pressed for time.” “Aw, that’s easy,” he boasted. “Watch this.” He then crouched down and slowly stepped forward and back out to the road with Luna whispering to him more frantically to get back behind the rock. Then to her surprise, when the bandit’s eyes passed over the road, he didn’t seem to see Ky’ell, despite being out in the open where presumably everyone could see. He then pulled out his own bow, strung an arrow and shot it at the bandit. Even when it impacted on the bandit’s body, Luna looked on with brain hurting confusion as the bandit simply looked around his post for a minute, looking for the shooter, before going back to his post like nothing ever happened. Watching Ky’ell urge her to do the same with a gesture, Luna gave in to her curiosity and stepped over to the road in a crouching position just like he was. She followed Ky’ell a hundred feet down the road and stood back up when Ky’ell seemed to think that the coast was clear. “How in Tartartus did thou do that?” Luna exclaimed. “I’unno. I’ve always been able to do that. Me and anyone following me has had the weird ability to scuttle around like a little mudcrab without getting caught, even if I’m out in the open. I just need to be slow enough depending on my skill level so I stay hidden.I guess  that’s what happens when the player takes hours and in Riverwood pick pocketing keys. Oooh! Maybe I can take a while to level up when we get back to Whiterun.” Earlier that same day right after Luna and Ky’ell left Dragonsreach to go to Silent Moons Camp… The castle had been getting back into its daily routine. Jarl Bagruf had been working with Proventus and Irileth to properly work on an effective way to distribute their limited amount of guards in the hold to combat the many growing threats in recent days. The entire castle was in so much of a frenzy doing their daily tasks in tangent with the accelerated war efforts, that they did not notice a small figure weaving throughout the castle. After what he had heard about where this foreign princess origins lie earlier, he had to bring the information to a close friend that he made recently. The figure weaved his way through the palace kitchen without any of the chefs and servants noticing and slipped into an abandoned back room, where he huddled up to a lock door and pressed his ear up against the lock. A whispering seductive feminine voice began to speak to him. "I'm here again Lady" the figure said. "Were you seen or followed?" the voice asked. "No my Lady, father and his boot-lickers are far too busy with their so-called duties to see anything". “What do you wish to speak about today with me my lovely little prince?” the voice asked. “Something interesting just happened this morning Lady”. the figure said. “Oh? And what might that be sweetie?” “The foreign princess that’s been living with us apparently is not even from this world. And she is traveling with someone called the Dragonborn.” the figure replied. “Very interesting...thank you sweetie. I shall think upon this. Come back in a few hours if you want to talk again.” the whispering voice said as it slinked away back to where it came from. The voice slinked back into a sticky dark place far away from Skyrim and far away from Nirn. It walked across a black bridge that lead into a shadowy black room. It crawled up the stairs to its altar in the middle and stared into an oozing pool on top where an image of Ky'ell and Luna appeared. She looked on in sinister fascination at both Ky'ell and Luna as she contemplated what her companion had said. “Very interesting indeed”. Next time.... Chapter 10: The Kat and The Witch Celestia finds herself in a fight with her first magical opponent in Skyrim, and their fight will end in Celestia gaining a new friend and a new student from the recent past of Nirn. "You took quite a nasty fall there. Are you all right?" "Yeah, I'll be fine. I've been abused by much worse..." the newcomer replies. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Celestia. Princess Celestia." "Y-y-y-you're a r-royal? the newcomer asks in a terrified tone and then faints dead away as her eyes roll back. "Well, this is a fine CAT-tastrophe," Celestia puns. "Wait, did a spark of flame just pop on to her head?"