//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: The Elder Scrolls: The Battle for Gryphus // by Urimas Ebonheart //------------------------------// The Elder Scrolls: The Battle for Gryphus Chapter 10 {100%} {100%} {100%} {100%} I slowly come too as I open my eyes, I try to sit up but something is holding me down. I glance down and feel restraints wrapped around my ankles, waist, wrists, and neck. Looking around, I notice I'm in the medical wing of the castle again. I try to remember how I got here and it all comes flooding back, I hold back from throwing up after remembering that unicorn I took a bite out of, but what shames me the most was the fact I almost killed Celestia. I lay there for an indeterminable amount of time remembering everything that happened, then my mind shows images of Luna looking at me with an expression of fear, a single tear slides down my left cheek. The door opens to reveal Luna and a maid, the moment I lock eyes with Luna, I turn away looking out the window. I hear footsteps approach the bed. After a few quiet seconds, I turn to face her and notice her looking at my hand, I look down as best as I can and see that it's still scaled, I clench it a few times and she flinches back slightly. Finally she speaks up. "H-How are you feeling?" she asks quietly. "Terrible," I reply. "What happened to you?" "I'm not sure, I used the Dragon Aspect thu'um to save Celestia and then some voice kept telling me to kill everyone, I just had this urge to kill all in my sight," I tell her. "That's never happened before right?" she asks in a worried tone. "No, I did feel more aggressive before but this was nothing like those times." 'I might have an answer to this,' Solnara says. 'And what would that be?' I ask her. 'Summon me so I can tell Luna as well.' I ask Luna to release my left hand to summon Solnara since I don't trust my right one at the moment. Once free, I grip the amulet and summon her. Once she was out, I ask Luna to retie my wrist. Solnara bows to Luna then speaks up. "After you activated the thu'um, another presence entered your mind, it cut me off and kept me out while it was manipulating you, I have a feeling it might have been Alduin." "How is that possible?" Luna asks Solnara. "I don't know, it might be due to Farengar having the soul of a dragon, in his aspect state a connection could be made, but it didn't seem to be that strong, this voice only managed to make suggestions. I noticed how Farengar only went for Razor Beak’s troops and ignored the others until there were no more targets for him." Solnara looks from Luna to me then back to Luna again. "By then the voice had a firm grip on his mind and he couldn't tell from friend or foe, but only one thing stopped him and cleared his mind... You," she says to Luna with a smile. "Your voice helped him to break free from the grip on him and gave him enough time to stop himself." That brought a smile to Luna's face as she nuzzles me. "How's Celestia doing?" I ask Luna. Luna pulls back with a sad expression. "She's fine, but I have never seen her so... Terrified before today, not even Discord scared her as much as the look on your face did," she tells me, my eyes widen then close in shame. The maid then speaks to Luna. "Shall I tell Princess Celestia that he's awake now?" "Yes, Dusty. That would be nice." The maid bows to Luna and leaves the room, Solnara sits down to my left while Luna lays her head on my chest. For five minutes it's a peaceful quiet atmosphere. After those five minutes the door opens to reveal Celestia with an apprehensive expression, I try to give her an apologetic look but she averts her gaze and looks at the floor. As she slowly steps up behind Luna I speak up. "I'm so sorry, Celestia," I say to her. She looks up from the floor to me. "I-It's alright... but tell me, what drove you to such... Madness?" The moment she said that my eyes flew wide open in shock. "Luna! I need you to check the Dreamscape quickly! See if Sheogorath's statue is still there!" I tell her with urgency in my tone. Her eyes also widen and she nodded, she closes her eyes and lays down. After a few agonizing minutes, her eyes open and she sits up. "He is still there, why? What happened?" she asks, and I sigh in relief. "I thought he might have broken free and that he was the one that was talking to me," I reply. "What are you talking about?" Celestia asks. Solnara tells her what she told Luna. "So Alduin might be able to start controlling you?" she asks with a bit of worry. Solnara replied. "I don't know, I felt no presence until he used his thu'um, I think he will be fine as long as he doesn't use it again." She's right, I can't risk going berserk again, if Luna wasn't there, Celestia or me might be dead right now. "You're right, I can't risk that again. Celestia, can you make me forget how to use that thu'um or place a seal or something to prevent me from using it again?" I ask her. She shakes her head. "No, magic like that is forbidden, you'll just have to live with it and just not use it." "I can seal it from him," Solnara says. I look to her. "You can?" She nodded her head. "Yes. Remember, I can access your memories and thoughts, I can just place a barrier on the door leading to the knowledge, place a lock on it if you will." "Then do it, until we find a way to keep whoever it was out I'll not risk it again." She nodded and fades back into the amulet. After a minute or two, I feel a slight tingle, I try to think about the thu'um but I just can't recall it. "Good, I can't remember it." I then turn my gaze to my new hand, good thing my enchanted ring was on my left hand and not my right. Celestia notices that I'm examining my new hand. "While you were out, we did a few tests on your hand, it's genetically identical to that of a dragon, right down to the bone," she tells me. "But how did I get it?" I ask. "Magic, it seems when you use that thu'um you absorb quite a bit of magic from around you, it must have regenerated your hand similar to how some dragons can, Paarthurnax seems to be slowly regenerating the arm he lost," she replies. I hum at the info. "Can you untie me now or am I still a risk?" I ask. Celestia looks uncertain. "To be honest, I'm not sure. Now that you've been exposed to whoever manipulated you, we don't know if you're still connected to whoever it is," she replies. 'Solnara, can you feel anyone running around in there with you?' I ask her. 'No, whoever it was is gone now, there's not even a trace left,' she replies, causing me to sigh. "Solnara says I'm fine," I tell Celestia. She still looks concerned but unties me. I sit up and stretch, popping my spine and shoulders. I'm sitting on the edge of the bed as I closely examine my hand, it's the same colour as my pony form's fur, the scales feel very hard but flexible and smooth, kind of looks like an argonian's hand, just with sharper nails. "So what's happening now and how long was I out for?" I ask. "You were out for just about three hours, the city is being cleaned up as we speak while the citizens are in the mines under the city taking refuge until it's safe and cleared," Celestia replies. I feel my teeth with my tongue and I'm glad that they're back to normal. "Well I feel fine now at least, I should head back to Gryphus and help prepare for the assault there." Before they could reply I remember something. "Oh, also be careful, they have changelings with them in Gryphus so I don't know if there are any here or not, I hope you have a spell to find them," I tell them. Celestia nodded. "Yes we do, we managed to take a few alive after their invasion and developed a ward that de-spells their guise, as for heading back to Gryphus, I can teleport you back, but what about your right gauntlet? The best you can do for now is use your old armour’s gauntlet." That's true, Luna summons the gauntlet and places it with the rest of my armour, I get up and stretch my legs. Once that's done, I walk over to my gear and check it out, the right dragon bone gauntlet is destroyed and the arm guard part is shattered while the hand part is missing completely. I put it all on and equip my weapons, but once it's all on my stomach growls, it has been awhile since I last ate and I'm feeling hungry. "Oh that's right, I haven't eaten in awhile, can I get a quick bite to eat before I head back?" I ask. "Of course, just head down to the kitchens and ask the staff for anything you'd like," Celestia says. I smile at her and say my thanks and head for the door, Luna also follows me out the room. "So how are you and our little one?" I ask her as we both head to the kitchens. "I'm fine, so is our foal, I was in the castle gardens having lunch with Dusty when the attack happened, I tried to fight back but my magic has been stunted since my pregnancy, I was hit by a few magical blasts to my right wing as I tried to fly to the castle, but I was shot down and injured my leg in the fall." I place my left hand on the back of her neck to comfort her. "I was dragged into the castle by Dusty and one of my guards, while three of my other guards gave their lives to ensure my safety." I can see her sad expression at the loss of her guards. "With each passing second I seemed to get weaker and weaker, whatever that magical blast was left a lingering hex that was draining my energy." She stops, sits down and looks me in the eyes while a hoof rested on her slightly swollen stomach. "You saved our lives when you healed me, the doctors say that if you didn't, I would have died from the hex before they could remove it." "Couldn't Celestia heal you?" I ask. She shakes her head. "No, the blow she took gave her a concussion, until she recovered, she could not cast magic without a large chance of a magical backlash, she was nearly healed when you showed up," she replies. "Then I'm just glad I managed to get here in time... Huh... I guess I have to thank that griffon traitor then, if he didn't gloat to me I would not have sent that letter." We both arrive at the kitchen, I remove my helmet and hook it to my left hip and get a bite to eat, we both get a salad with some scrambled eggs and a glass of water. Once that's done, I go to find Moonbeam and Tala. After searching, I find them in the safe room with Celestia and a unit of the guard. I arrive just in time to see a puff of green smoke form into a letter in front of Celestia, she takes it with her magic and reads it. Moonbeam spots me and runs over to me with a smile. "DADDY!" she says as I kneel down to her, Tala follows up behind her. I keep my right hand away from her, I'm not sure how sharp the nails are and I don't want to risk hurting her. She rears up and places her forelegs onto my knee. "Are you alright?" she asks. "I'm fine, just a few bumps," I reply. She notices my right hand behind my back. "Are you hiding something behind your back?" she asks. I look to Luna who just nodded to Moonbeam, I sigh and show her my hand, she gasps but doesn't flinch. She reaches out to touch, I keep the nails pointing to the floor. "W-What happened to your hand?" she asks. I decide to just tell the truth. "A dragon bit it off, so I grew a new one," I say jokingly. She looks up at me with wide eyes. "You grew it back?" she asks. I just nodded. "D-Does it hurt?" "Not any more... Moonbeam, I need to go back to Gryphus now to help them stop the same thing that happened here okay?" I tell her. She looks upset but doesn't argue, Tala barks and sits beside me. "Hello, Tala. You alright?" I ask the timberwolf pup while looking at her left ear. She yips and wags her tail, Moonbeam speaks up. "She saved me from one of the mean griffins, but got her ear hurt doing it." "Good girl, Tala. When I come back, I'll get you a nice big treat," I say and scratch her chin with my left hand. "Be careful, daddy," Moonbeam says to me with a worried expression. "I will." I give her one more hug before looking to Luna. "I'll see you tonight," I say with a smile. She returns the smile and nodded. I head over to Celestia who has just finished writing a letter, her horn glows and it's sent away with a flash. "You ready to go?" Celestia asks. I nodded. "Yes, we'll need to prepare to invade the Gryphus catacombs to get to Razor Beak," I reply as I put my helmet back on. "Alright then, I'll teleport you back to the ship, just relax." Before she could cast the spell Honour speaks up. "WAIT! Princess, I'd like to go with Farengar," he asks her, he's wearing a different set of armour than normal, it's heavily plated and only his face is showing, kind of looks like my last set of armour only ponyfied, his great sword is strapped to his back as well as a pair of saddlebags. "Armoured Honour, why do you wish to go?" Celestia asks him. "Because he's my friend and I owe him for the help with that minotaur," he says smirking at me, I can't help but smile as well. "Very well then, stand next to Farengar and relax." He does so and her horn glows its golden colour and with a blinding flash we're both sent back.