//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Chaos within the Order [remastered v2.0] // Story: Equestrian scrolls I : epic pony tales // by Sanguine Eyes //------------------------------// Chaos within the Order The sickly sound of a blade slicing through living flesh was to be expected, but what was not expected was the blast that interrupted the fluid like attack. Out from the smoke and fire, tumbling end over end out of the fire and smoke, Taara finally seemed to find her feet on flat ground. Ice and telekinetic power gripped her form supporting her and forcing her to remain upright despite the explosive force which threw her back. Finally coming to a stop 10 meters from where the blade made contact she grasped and the badly burned bloody stub that used to be her right arm. The severed limb landed a few feet from Twilight who could only stand and stare in horror. She had seen things this bad before but it was always to people who were far weaker and in general, enemies. This was not just her friend but a living legend who just lost her arm and nearly her life in a fraction of a second. She had to take a moment and remember that this elf before them was the hero of Kvatch, the hero of Cyradiil an immortal who literally became a god, this wasn't going to be like her old adventures where she only needed to get together with her friends and zap the enemy. Twilight quickly threw her hands out and released a torrent of elements, it was odd to attack or defend with her hands, but she learned quickly and while the form was odd, she had grown quite used to the human form. Hands were useful, and learning to use them was easier than learning magic. As odd as it was for her she still wielded magic in this form like a master. Ice and fire spewed from her finger tips. But the elf's wide eyes and almost vacant stare unfortunately was accompanied by lightning like reflexes. Ducking and weaving effortlessly through Twilight's magical onslaught. Twilight leaped back in with fright, dodging Umbra by mere inches. back pedaling, she released a mass of telekinetic energy to try and smash the her enemy, not kill, but certainly knock the fight out of her. The dark elf advanced rapidly leaping up above the blast of magical energies and with astounding grace, she landed inches from Twilight bringing Umbra down with a vicious overhand attack. The dark blade closed in rapidly, even as Twilight took in every detail, she was certain that the blow was going to take a little more than a few drops of blood. The blade had only just barely cut the first few purple hairs on Twilight's head when a staff of glowing green lightning smashed the elf in the side of the head sending her back. Umbra had still tasted Twilight's blood leaving a fine bloody line over Twilight's left eye. She remained quite thankful that she still had an eye at this point, but she preferred to focus than to worry about what ifs. Twilight focused and brought up a powerful conjured blade, but the same glowing staff moved in her field of vision. "Move back... take to the air and stay clear out of her reach... " Taara's bloody stump was half healed already, and in her other hand, the staff of Magnus twirled and gathered green energies. The Hero of Kvatch's fighting style was powerful, quick and acrobatic, but with what Taara had seen so far, if she remained on guard the dark elf was unlikely to land another blow. However, this woman was arch mage of Cyrodiil's mages guild 240 years previous. And that was just one of the great many accomplishments the woman had undertaken. Twilight hoped she was not thinking too high of her friend and mentor. Sure Taara hadn't ascended into godhood or anything, but she was still the legendary dragonborn, and the current arch mage. Twilight's mind went into a flurry with all the information but she nodded and quickly took her pony form, taking to the air with her wings flapping frantically. She wanted nothing to do with that brutal blade. This elf moved like Ra'shala but hit like Baldir, Twilight didn't want Taara to fight alone against this, but she wasn't going to ignore Taara's orders. Her horn let off a soft glow of her alicorn magic combined with restoration to quickly seal the cut over her eye. The blood was already blotting out her vision, but she knew it was just a flesh wound, by the end of the day it would be a scar, another few weeks and it would be gone. She took time to be thankful that the blade missed the optical organ, but her real concern was Taara. Focusing her magical energies through her horn she looked for any chance to turn the tide of the battle in Taara’s favor. Green lightning leaped from the tip of the staff and lashed out at the dark elf who ducked low enough to touch her nose to the ground before she leaped high, magic crackling in her hand, her image blurred and faded as her masterful illusion skill hid her from view. Taara however would have none of that. Dipping low as well, Taara stared hard and her mouth opened almost like a dragon in mid roar. “YOL!!!” Taara’s Thu’um was as strong as ever and with one word fire kicked up in a thick blanket and swashed over the floor quickly outlining an invisible figure that blasted its way through the flames. Waving her hand in the general direction of the void of space within the flames. Instantly, a vast layer of ice shot out to entangle but mostly to block the assault, thick enough to keep the elf from breaking through instantly, but thin enough to convince her it was possible, and easier than going around. It worked, the wall was quickly tested as Umbra was thrusted into the ice, the action was so fast and so direct it nearly took the arch mage’s eye out. The noticeable dark purple glow of conjuration magic flared after Taara poured more ice into a protective shell to further prevent the elf’s blade and to keep her focused on trying to get in. But she needed time and the shell would only keep from reaching Taara for a few precious seconds. The conjuration spell worked as a dazed Dremora hobbled on unsteady feet within the shell with Taara. “What… wh…what in …why did you summon me this way wretch!” the heavy set Dremora staggered more in the small space as Taara’s left hand quickly grasped the Daedra by the right arm Twilight had only met Taara's personal Daedra once before, she didn't like summoning him simply because he never shut up and was always very critical of her choices. “Terribly sorry but I need this…I promise it’s the last thing I will ever need from you…” She planted a foot firmly against the Dremora’s chest and again her magic flared. With a grunt and a flash she tore off the Dremora’s arm and quickly pressed it against her stump and fused the two body parts together at the same time as banishing the very very angry Daedra who left the material world screaming in anger and pain. The two vastly different bloodlines disagreed right away. Bubbling and swelling the flesh looked to already be rotting away but Daedra flesh was ungodly powerful. Taara flexed the new limb watching the digits spasm and twitch as her power manually connected all the bits. And just like that, she grabbed the staff of Magnus with the new hand. Viciously lashing out, back through the ice. Taara began her onslaught. Magic and staff clashed violently against the legendary blade Umbra and the Hero of Kvatch. Clanging, clashing and blasting the two roughed each other up in a long series of very close calls and glancing blows. Magica slowly being exhausted Taara lobbed spells at the dark elf who in turn, both getting sapped by the staff of Magnus and blocking the blasts with hefty wards or misguiding their intended path with powerful illusion magic. The result was both combatants quickly running low on magical power. As such Taara resorted to her staff as her main means of combat, though even that was running frightfully low on enchanted power. The Hero of Kvatch was already out of magica and running low on steam for her physical attacks. As the right raged on, Twilight stared, looking and waiting desperately for a chance to jump in and get a certain blow that would put no one in danger. For Twilight the fight had felt like mere seconds, each blow flowing into the next in a blazing flurry of attacks, though in reality they had been duking it out for a good fifteen minutes, all of it so fast Twilight couldn’t even follow it. Ducking and weaving the old woman seemed to be on her last legs. Breathing heavily, her new arm was now sluggish, her hair was a mess, and her staff sagged in her hands. The elf on the other hand, though she seemed a shade slower than previous still maintained her steady breathing. But as it would be, Twilight's steady watch finally payed off. The very second the elf came to a rest and raised her hand for a magical attack with what little magica she could scrounge up, a heavy magical blast shot out from a dull purple alicorn horn. Very unlike the known magics of Nirn this particular piece of Equestrian magic she had come up with from watching Discord. The elf’s tired and spooky vacant expression betrayed a hint of panic as suddenly she was thrown back, not by the impact of the spell but simply put, gravity was pulling her in that direction. Not even a second later it pulled her to the left and upward at a soft angle. At random points between 0.5 and 3 seconds the gravity that surrounded and affected her person would change to an utterly random direction. Taara slowed and panted, letting out an explosive sigh of relief. “You could not do that sooner?” “No, I couldn’t, she was moving too fast. That was literally the ONLY chance I had and didn't you want me to stay out? I could have helped sooner, but I wanted to be absolutely certain that my interference would not get either of us hurt., That, and that spell has to be very accurate or it wont work at all, I literally threw a chaos spell matrix gravity spell at her.” The Hero of Kvatch tumbled through the air unamused, bouncing off of walls and the floor as she was thrown left and right. But Umbra turned about in the dark elf’s hands and plunged into the wall where the elf landed next, anchoring her there. Holding on tight she tensed, looking at Twilight and Taara, but she appeared to make no further attempts at combat. “It matters not any longer if you are madness or not, you have proved worthy enough. Speak your request then leave me, I have madness to fend off.” Only now, as the elf woman tensed and refused to go with the flow of the random gravity did Twilight make the realization that the elf was not wearing an emotionless mask. The way she refused to give in to the flow of gravity was nearly identical to the way she spoke, the way she breathed, the way she did everything. Her stoic mask of near empty facial features spelled it out plainly to her. The elf's soul, her very existence had been violated some how, when she became the mad god, she wasn't becoming her own version of it, her physical form was becoming Sheogorath, this woman that remained was the order, the sanity, the control and temperament that was left. She wasn't emotionless, she was simply in utter command and control. Her 'not actually' vacant glare continued, despite her realization Twilight could not help but feel that the elf had failed to fend off all the madness she was so desperate to escape centuries ago. Reguardless to her mental state the elf was sitting very still and an easy target for her or the now recuperating arch mage to take down in case of a renewed attempt at resistance. Twilight quickly spouted out the demand. “We need the Sigil stone from the Oblivion gate you took from where you found me.” The elf looked over the pony and almost seemed to consider the request for a moment before she focused and reached out towards Twilight. Her palm swelled and seemed to spew a thick meaty hunk of flesh off which formed a perfect sphere. Dark red and black the sphere clanged to the floor and rolled gently across towards Twilight. Quickly Taara picked it up grunting at the painful junction of Daedra and Breton flesh. The junction was clearly at its limit. As such she grimaced and tore it off once again tossing it to the side. Her magic tended to the once again bloody stump. Though this time she seemed more at peace with the missing limb. “Come on…we have what we came for….lets g-“ The ground surged with energy and Twilight’s magic was forcefully shut off before the two were ejected from the odd pocket dimension. The Hero of Kvatch watched with a cold unrelenting controlled gaze before returning to her overturned pillow, righting it and grasping the empty book to once again begin flipping through its pages with intense focus. Both Twilight and Taara hit the ground at the same time. However unlike Twilight, Taara had firmly decided to not get up. She was in a bit too much pain and decided she would rather just lay where she was pondering the implications of the loss of her right arm. “Taara! Please tell me you are ok, please.” Twilight’s human form was near instantly at the arch mage’s side along with the other mages in the area. Most dumbstruck to see the legendary warrior so gravely injured. “I am fine Twilight, I'm just old. I need a moment to rest, the rest of you... go find that idot lizard. Do NOT let him leave." The mages quickly took off after Geel as Twilight worried over her friend. Spike too sat next to her. “As much as I love seeing you two make progress, can you guys please be careful?" The little dragon looked over Taara and shook his head. "Before now, I wasn't even sure you could bleed, I guess we are all a little more mortal than we like to think.” Twilight nodded but didn't want to speak on the subject, she simply looked over the healed over stub before looking into Taara’s eyes. “What do we need Geel for? We have the Sigil stone, I can go home now.” “We aren't getting Geel for you Twilight, its for me. His last book vaguely mentioned the Dwemer being able to make artificial limbs. If he can, then hes going to make one for me... or I will melt his face off.” “um…isn’t that a little harsh?” Twilight snatched a pillow off one of the seats and scooted it under Taara's head. Taara smirked and let out a pained chuckle. “No… this situation clearly calls for at LEAST this much. Now do me a favor and get me some wine. I need a moment alone with my drinks.” Twilight nodded bringing a bottle to her friend who eagerly took to the drink trying to ease the pain of having her arm removed, getting a new one attached and then getting it ripped off again. Twilight simply sat back with spike who looked between the two, eager for details but not yet willing to bug them for just yet. He had not seen anything since Sheogorath had swallowed them both and simply vanished. He wanted to ask and to hear it all but he could read the situation and wisely decided to wait for the story to come out on its own when they were ready. Twilight however was torn between her injured friend and the shock that after so long she would finally be able to go home. As much as she tried, she could not quite stop the tears of fear, joy, and sorrow all at once streaking down her cheeks. Finally, it was almost time.