//------------------------------// // 38: The Ancestor Glade // Story: Sunset's Adventure in Skyrim // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// Sunset and her companions traversed the path they had taken through the Soul Cairn as quickly as they possibly could, as she didn't want to be in this terrible plane anymore. She was sure that Valerica, having spent an unknown number of years in the Soul Cairn, was just as eager to leave the Cairn as the rest of the group was, if not more so. Both Serana and Fiona also appeared to want out as well, so Sunset was more than happy to oblige them as they trekked towards the portal that they had taken to arrive in this realm. While they did so she also spotted that there were dozens of souls that were staring at them, watching them head right towards an exit to their prison. She suspected that the Ideal Masters wanted their souls trapped in this realm, which told her that they might close the portal the moment she and her friends were on the other side. Once they arrived at the stairs that led to the portal Sunset moved to the side and beckoned for the others to move on as she watched the wandering souls, wondering if they were going to charge at the portal. As her companions charged up the stairs, and the souls happened to remain where they were standing, Sunset took the opportunity to move up towards the portal. She ascended them as fast as she could, not wanting to remain in this realm any longer than she absolutely needed to, before she neared the bottom of the portal. She turned around once more, just to be sure that the souls were actually staying back to watch them, before heading into the portal and leaving the Soul Cairn behind. When she came to she found herself in the study that held the portal to the Soul Cairn, with the rest of her friends standing around and watching them return. Sunset smiled as the four of them walked up the stairs, touching the balcony and leaving the staircase behind, glad to be out of that nightmarish realm. Then, once they were all off the staircase, the broken stonework surged with gray energy and started to pull itself together, reversing the process they had seen when the portal had been opened. The group watched as the circular structure repaired itself before their eyes, sealing off the Soul Cairn until some poor soul managed to duplicate the formula that Valerica had created. "You could have told me that there were more than two strangers," Valerica commented, now noticing how many people stood around her, before turning back to Serana, "Are you sure that none of them are secretly working for one of our enemies?" "Yes mother," Serana answered, sighing before turning to Sunset, "So, we head back to your base and figure out where Auriel's Bow is located... before Tirek or Revan figure out what we're doing." Sunset nodded and beckoned to her friends, who immediately returned to where they had set their gear down and began collecting everything, while Sunset collected the gear she had chosen to leave behind before entering the portal. Once all of them had everything they needed, and Valerica had gathered the rest of the alchemy ingredients to use at a later date, they turned towards the door they had entered the chamber through and began the journey back to the entrance. Sunset knew that they would have to retrace their steps back to the entrance of the undercroft, but now that all of their enemies were dead it would make the journey much easier. As they walked through the corridors Valerica took the time to talk to Serana, catching up on whatever her daughter could tell her about, which wasn't too much seeing how she had been busy after being freed from her prison. Still, the two of them talked for the majority of their journey to the moondial, which brought a smile to Valerica's face when she spotted the contraption. Then, as they all got above ground, Sunset looked up at the sky and noticed something that was so strange that she refused to believe what she was seeing. Her friends noticed that she was looking at something and stared at the sky, looks of surprise and confusion crossing their faces as they noticed what she was seeing. The sun and two moons were in the sky, but what was odd was that the moons had aligned with the sun, with the larger one resting in front of the sun while the smaller one rested in front of it. Sunset noted that it was some sort of eclipse, one that created a strange dark violet colored sky that she assumed everyone in Nirn was now seeing. "Hey Sunset," Raja said, staring up at the sky for a moment, "is it possible that Tirek could gain enough power to tear the moons and sun out of a Prince's control? Could he have gained enough power to do something like this on his own, without draining the Prince associated with the sun and moons?" "I... I don't think he can do something like this without draining the associated Prince," Sunset replied, wondering if Tirek had, somehow, found her sealed chest, broken the seals that had been placed on it, and had gotten his hands on the artifacts, "I'd rather not think that all of our hard work gathering the Daedric Artifacts was wasted, but I have no idea what to make of what we're seeing right now. I have the uneasy feeling that we're going to figure out what's happening... and I don't think any of us are going to like the answer when we figure it out." They resumed their trek through the undercroft, pausing every now and then for Valerica to study the destruction they had inflicted on the guardians and pick up some of the nicer weapons that may be used later on. Once they were outside the castle again they retraced their steps towards the front of the castle, where they could board the boat and get back to the main land. When they returned to the fortress they had seen the Thalmor at, which was now vacant of people at the moment, they were assaulted by a large pack of wolves, to which Valerica and Serana attacked them in return. Just as the wolves fell down in defeat Sunset heard the roar of another wild beast and watched as two bears, followed by two saber cats, appeared out of the shadows and stared at them. She waited a moment, wondering if they were going to attack them as well, before one of the saber cats roared and the four of them charged right at the group. Sunset sighed as she tapped the Staff of Magnus on the ground, before summoning a fireball and slamming it into the face of one of the saber cats, blasting it backwards as her friends dealt with the rest of the animals. Once the animals were taken care of, and there was nothing more that wanted them dead, the group resumed their journey towards Fellglow Keep, where they could learn the location of Auriel's Bow. "I thought animals were leaving us alone because Hircine wanted us alive," Serana commented, having noticed how odd it was for the animals to attack them like that, "Does this meant that we've done something to displease Hircine and he wants all of us dead? Or does this mean that Hircine, like Azura might have been, has also been drained of his power and Tirek is using the beasts to hunt us down?" "Maybe Hircine wants to challenge us," Sunset replied, not liking the idea that one Daedric Prince, let alone two of them, could have been drained of their powers, when they had banished their artifacts to the bottom of Oblivion, "Maybe he retraced his protection now that we've proven that we can protect ourselves." "You don't think that the Daedric Princes are being drained as we speak?" Serana asked, somewhat confused by the Equestrian at times during their journey. "I'd rather not think about that until we figure out what's going on," Sunset told the vampire, sweat rolling down the side of her face for a moment, "Let's get back to the keep and plan out our next move." She had the feeling that Serana was going to continue to bring up the possibility that one or two of the Princes might have lost their powers to Tirek, but she wanted to remain calm before rushing to conclusions. ------------------------------------------ When Sunset and her friends returned to Fellglow Keep they found that there were many of their soldiers running around, gathering items and helping people settle into wherever they had been assigned. People from settlements all over Skyrim, those not yet threatened by Tirek and Revan, had come to the keep to train and fight the creature that wanted to end the world. Sunset was happy to see more people coming and joining the Alliance, though she wondered how many of her allies would be annoyed if even one of the Daedric Princes had been drained of their power. There was no telling what would happen at that point, and she couldn't prove that one of them had been drained yet, so there was no point in worrying people more than they were already. "Ah, you have returned," Harkon commented, seeing them coming and lowering his eyes on Valerica for a moment, "and I see you brought my wife with you." "I'm not here to fight with you Harkon," Valerica said, staring at her husband for a moment, before looking away, "We saw Revan in the Soul Cairn, and I've come to the conclusion that this Alliance is going to need every warrior, mage, and and soldier that it can get to combat whatever is coming. You may not like me for what I've gone Harkon, but right now my power would be an excellent addition to this army and, thanks to my time in the Cairn, I might be able to determine if someone's trying to resurrect the dead." "Very well," Harkon sighed, knowing that she was right in this regard, "I shall trust the Archmage's judgement on this matter." "So where is Dexion?" Sunset asked, having looked around and found that the Moth Priest was nowhere in sight, "Is he still in the library with Urag?" "He has not left since you departed for the castle," Harkon told her, seemingly glad for the distraction that she was giving him, "I do not know the specifics of what has happened to him, as I have been greeting my soldiers and distributing them across the fortress according to your Captain of the Guard, but something happened to the Moth Priest sometime after you departed." Sunset nodded and headed for the library, wondering what could have happened to the only person that could decipher the Elder Scrolls and, in the process, discover where Auriel's Bow was located. When they entered the library they found Urag sitting at his desk, reading one of the books that he placed on the table before he noticed them and beckoned to them, welcoming them once more. They also found Dexion sitting at another table, though when Sunset spotted the bandage around his eyes she knew that something must have gone wrong when he had read the first scroll. "Dexion?" Sunset inquired, causing the man to turn to the sound of her voice, "Are you alright?" "Not really," the Moth Priest admitted, shaking his head slightly, "In my hurry to read the first scroll I neglected to make the proper precautions before beginning with the reading... now I am paying for it." "So there's no other way to read one of the scrolls?" Sunset said, though she was both disappointed and relieved at the same time. "There is one other way," Dexion replied, causing everyone to turn to him, where Urag pulled out a journal so he could record what was about to be said, "There is an ancient ritual you could perform, one that requires you to take a draw knife, found in Skyrim's Ancestor Glade near Falkreath, and gather some bark from a Canticle Tree. With the bark in hand you should be able to attract a swarm of Ancestor Moths that would allow you to read the Elder Scroll you just recovered, but sadly I have never had the opportunity to test it for myself. It should work, but its the only other method we have to reading the scroll." Sunset thanked the man for his services, to which Urag walked over and asked if he could write about what training the Moth Priests went through. With the information in hand Sunset walked outside and stared up at the sky, wondering if it was nighttime or still daytime, but finding it hard to tell with how the sky looked. "You still don't think Tirek managed to grab one of the Daedric Princes, do you?" Serana asked, causing Sunset to turn to her for a moment, though she was pleased that no one besides there friends were around. "I said that its possible and that I'd rather not think about it," Sunset told the vampire, wondering why she would continue to ask the same question over and over again, "For all we know Tirek may have forgotten about the Daedric Princes and is, instead, focusing on using whatever power he has already collected to create his portal home. If that were the case we'd be seeing more than the animals attacking us and the sun and moons forming an eclipse, we'd be seeing disasters left and right." "I heard what you did after collecting the fifteen artifacts," Serana said, staring at Sunset for a moment, "and just know that, if Tirek managed to get his hands on even one of those artifacts, then it will be all your fault. In fact I'm pretty sure that he's at least absorbed Azura and Hircine, but it wouldn't surprise me if he's also gotten to Nocturnal... based on the fact that none of us can sneak without being seen by someone anymore." "I'll keep that in mind," Sunset replied, wondering if the vampire was going to share her feelings with the rest of her commanders, which might actually ruin all the work she had done to assemble this army. "Good, I wouldn't want your pride to get in the way of defeating Tirek," Serana told her, before she beckoned to the open gate of the fort, "We had better get going before Revan figures out that we have a way to read the Elder Scrolls. I want to get to Auriel's Bow before he has a chance to do anything." Sunset sighed and nodded her understanding, knowing that they might actually have a head start on their enemy this time and that it would be foolish for them to waste it. They could easily travel to the Ancestor Glade, perform the ritual that Dexion told them about, and then, once they knew of the bow's location, they could rest for a few hours before continuing their adventure. She called to her friends and watched as they gathered around her, minus Valerica, so she could tell them what they were going to be doing next. They didn't seem to mind that they were leaving already, as the majority of them had already relaxed while they had been waiting outside the Soul Cairn. Once they had everything they needed once more they set out towards Falkreath, so they could find the Ancestor Glade and discover what wreckage Tirek had caused in the area. ------------------------------------------ It took them a few hours to reach their destination, as they had to contend with several packs of animals that suddenly wanted them dead and, surprisingly, a group of bandits that had somehow escaped Tirek's control. Sunset had to wonder if Revan knew what his foul master was doing, which led to the idea of them capturing the vampire so someone, namely Harkon, could torture the information out of him before they put an end to him. Her friends, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy the sport that the animals gave them, which told her that they had been disappointed when the animals never came near them. When they finally neared the town of Falkreath Sunset immediately spotted something that was out of place, something that could be linked to whatever had happened. She rushed ahead and stopped at an area where the rocks rose out above the ground, where she could get a better look at the town that had heard had been destroyed. What she found was a massive crater that almost looked like a sinkhole of some kind, as the houses that she could see pieces of had been swallowed when the earth had moved. The other odd thing she noticed was that all of the bodies that had been buried in the town, and even those around the town itself, were slowly rising from the dead, as if some foul creature was bringing them back to fulfill some goal. "My friends... their bodies are alive as well," Cicero sadly commented, pointing to an area where five skeletons were walking around, all of them dressed in ripped leather armor that resembled the type that he wore, "What foul necromancy is at work here?" "It has to be Revan," Serana answered, which wasn't what Sunset was thinking at the moment, "Think about it for a moment; he had enough power to build his own gateway into the Soul Cairn and run from Sunset before she could kill him. It would stand to reason that he might have the power to raise an army for whatever foul purpose he has in store for them... or for whatever action his foul master wants him to perform next." "You don't think he knows about the Ancestor Glade do you?" Raja commented, worried that they might have already been beaten to their destination, "Because that's a lot of dead bodies walking around down there... and none of them are the friendly draugr we've come into contact with in the last few barrows." Before Sunset could reply a roar ripped through the air as a group of dragons, four of them Sunset counted, appeared from the mountain and descended upon the ruined town. She raised up her hand to prevent her friends from getting caught in the crossfire, watching for any movement that might belong to their enemy. As the dragons rained fire, frost, and lightning on the skeletons, scattering many of them into pieces, Sunset had to wonder if Revan had truly been a part of this deed, or whether this had been the work of a Daedric Prince. That was before someone dressed in a black robe appeared near their location, shouting off insults towards the dragons as they prepared to launch spells at them. Sunset didn't need to wonder about Revan anymore, as she recognized that voice anywhere and immediately lowered herself onto the road so she could visit him once more. "I see you haven't gotten tired of the dead yet," Sunset commented, causing Revan to turn towards her for a moment, "Come on, you didn't honestly think I'd stay in the Soul Cairn any longer than what was absolutely necessary did you? You should really tell me where Tirek is hiding, so I can put an end to this nightmare he's causing." "Lord Tirek will be the end of you all," Revan shouted, raising his glass sword for a moment, "though it seems its falls to me to put an end to you first." Sunset sighed and extended her right hand, allowing a sphere of energy to form as she looked the vampire dead in the eye, looking for the signs of weakness she had seen earlier. He seemed to stare at her without a care for what she was doing, which made her wonder if he had actually been scared the moment she loosed it the first time. She waited a moment longer, making sure that the dragons were in the clear of the spell, before she sighed once more and held her hand parallel to Revan, fully intending not to miss as she loosed the spell. The beam of energy burst out of the sphere and rocketed towards the vampire, who barely had enough time to duck once more as he avoided the spell, sending the beam right into an abandoned ruin and tearing the entire structure to pieces. This time, before she even had the chance to charge another spell up, Revan disappeared into the wilderness, leaving his skeletal army to be dismantled by the dragons. "I wish he would just stay still," Sunset told her friends, once she had returned to them and they were underway once more, "I'd like to be rid of Tirek's last helper before we went to war with the demon." "We'll get him eventually," Fiona replied, a smile on her face as she patted the Elder Scroll she carried, "besides, we've got a scroll to read and a bow to locate. I'm sure that Revan can wait until another day... though I would have preferred that he stayed dead after all the times I've already killed him." They climbed up the mountain side, being completely aware of the danger one faced if they tumbled backwards, but they stayed safe the entire time. They eventually found a hole in the mountain side, one that Serana was completely convinced was the place they needed to go into, so Sunset took a few moments to prepare before they headed inside. They trekked through what seemed to be a seemingly empty cave before they found an opening that led to something that none of them were expecting; a massive cavern that was so beautiful with the different tress and running water. Sunset immediately spotted what appeared to be some sort of stone structure that looked oddly like an eye, with what appeared to be a knife of some kind floating in the center of the eye. She took a look around the cavern, to be sure that there weren't any enemies around that could discover the location of Auriel's Bow if they weren't careful, but found nothing out of the ordinary. With that deed done she approached the draw knife and withdrew it from the stone structure, where she turned to the nearby tree and withdrew some of the back from it. With the bark in hand, and the draw knife returned to its resting place, she walked around the cavern, approaching the moths that Dexion had mentioned and watched as several groups of them approached her. After a few minutes of making sure that she had as many moths as she needed and returned to the stone structure and watched a beam of light shine down on a round circle. Sunset took a deep breath before stepping into the light, where Fiona handed her the third Elder Scroll and nodded to her before making everyone back up, to which Sunset gripped the bottom of the scroll and unfurled it. She watched as the magic of the scroll and the moths revealed the western border of Skyrim, near Markarth and Solitude, before lines started to appear before her eyes. She watched as those very lines moved around the map, no doubt along the modern pathways she decided, before merging together at one point and heading off towards a cave. It was then that the location of Auriel's Bow was imparted to her, to which the scroll was snapped shut and she fell to her knees for a moment. "You okay?" Serana asked, just as she and the others began to tend to Sunset, "I thought we were going to lose you for a moment there. Did you uncover where the bow is located?" "Yes, and we'll head out after a rest," Sunset replied, sighing as she got herself back into working order, amazed that there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her at the moment, "We should make camp and prepare for a few hours worth of sleep. I have the feeling we'll run into more than animals when we reach Darkfall Cave." What she didn't say was that she expected Revan to somehow follow them to their destination, let them do all the hard work, and then expect to show up and snatch the bow. She was going to be expecting that to happen, so she could finally put an end to the foul vampire before he fed Tirek's seemingly growing power. She only wished that she had some idea of where he was in terms of his power now, as she had no idea how much time she had before they had to declare total war on the demon. ------------------------------------------ Tirek forcefully took the last bit of Hircine's powers, making sure that he got everything, before he approached the cell he had thrown Malacath into and tossed the Huntsman inside. He could feel his body becoming stronger with each Prince he absorbed, allowing him to draw closer and closer to his full might once again. He remembered the destruction he and Princess Twilight had caused in their duel, somewhat disappointed that he wouldn't be fighting an alicorn when he went to shatter the barrier between worlds. Sunset Shimmer was powerful, he had to admit that to himself, but as a unicorn she could only go so far and she was nowhere near the level of power that the Princess had been. An alicorn would have provided him with the perfect opportunity to try out his powers once more, but he decided that he could settle for a unicorn instead. After all, there were four Princesses waiting for his return in Equus, who he would crush the moment he arrived and make sure that they were sealed in Tartarus for the rest of their lives... just like he had been sentenced to do before his escape. "I will hunt you to the ends of Nirn!" Hircine shouted, his hands wrapping around the bars as he glared at their captor, who turned his head around and glared down at them. "And I would destroy you, if you were a mortal," Tirek fired back, not even bothering to turn completely around at this point, "Now be quite, I have another foolish Prince to summon and drain." "I wish he would summon Dagon already," Malacath commented, causing Hircine to look at him, "Yes, none of us see eye to eye with the Prince of Destruction, but if I could hurt that monster as much as I did then one can only imagine the damage Dagon will cause to him. He won't stand for someone like Tirek to come along and try to destroy Nirn." "I hate the thought of even wanting Dagon to come here," Hircine replied, sighing for a moment as he glanced at his cellmate for a moment, "but you are right. Dagon might be our only option we have left. I doubt Jyggalag is willing to assist us, not after what we did to him so many eras ago." "True, true," Malacath said, leaning his head against the wall of his cell and looking out at the other three Princes that were across from them, "One can only wonder what type of a world Nirn would have been if we hadn't turned on Jyggalag and turned him into Sheogorath... before that meddling champion took on the mantle of Madness and allowed him to go free." "No use thinking about that anymore," Hircine told him, dropping into a sitting position near the door so he could watch Tirek at all times, "What's done is done, but maybe I can figure out a weakness we can exploit when he finishes draining whoever is next." "I SAID SHUT UP MAGGOTS!" Tirek nearly roared, keeping his anger in check so his voice didn't echo across the valley and give away his position, "I have work to do." Tirek turned to the chest and watched as his magic tore out the next artifact, which happened to be some sort of strange iron mask of some kind, but he knew which Prince it belonged to. His magic latched onto the mask and directed his spell out into Oblivion, where he knew he'd catch his next target and pull him in before he could stop the spell. Moments later the portal opened and a gray dog leapt out into the open area, though it took one look at Tirek before immediately bolting for the stairs. Tirek, on the other hand, caught the mutt with his magic and pinned him to the wall, before turning back in time to see a man, wearing a robe that covered half of his chest and horns coming out of the sides of his head, emerge from the portal. "So your the one they call Tirek," Clavicus Vile said, immediately spotting Barbas pinned against the wall, "I see you have already taken care of Barbas, so how about I... END YOU NOW!" Magic formed around Clavicus' right hand as the Rueful Axe appeared in his hand, which he immediately brought down on Tirek before he could move. A long gash was cut into his chest, going from his left shoulder down to his waist, before the Prince spun around and planted his bare foot in his chest, kicking him backwards. Tirek's anger flared as he reached for the Prince, who ducked under the spell and cut another gash into his chest, mimicking the previous wound he had delivered as he pushed the demon backwards. Another blow was delivered to his chest, cutting a third gash into him, before his anger flared and he slammed his fist into Clavicus' wrist, shattering the hold he hand on the axe and dropping it to the ground. Then, before the Prince would regain himself, Tirek grabbed his neck and held him up, approaching the bound dog and placing his other hand on the dogs head. "I shall have all of your power," Tirek growled, allowing his magic to close his wounds as he began the process, "along with the power that rests in this stupid mutt." ------------------------------------------ "You must let me out of this place, Jyggalag," Nocturnal said, increasingly getting tired of staying in this castle, with nothing to do besides watch as her fellow Princes were drained of their power, "She's not going to figure out that Tirek is draining the power of the other Princes before he literally shatters the barrier between worlds. Let me return to Skyrim and warn our champion of the danger she faces!" Jyggalag, having remained in his chair the entire time she had been in his palace, raised his hand and removed the pieces that represented Malacath and Hircine. Nocturnal sighed and leaned against the wall, watching the silent Prince as she waited for him to either chew her out for wanting to go back to Skyrim, as he had done the last time she requested it, or completely ignore her. She wanted to help the champion of the Fellglow Alliance, a name she really hated with a passion, but she couldn't leave without Jyggalag's approval. She had next to no power at the moment, so she really had to make the Prince of Order believe that she could be of some aid to Sunset, otherwise she could never leave until the end had arrived. She wanted as the pieces were levitated into a box and locked away, determining that Jyggalag was counting down how many more enemies he had before he could return to Nirn. She did note, however, that there was one piece that occasional grew, which she assumed was Tirek's piece, and another that had two colors and represented a sun, which had to be Sunset's piece. "Illogical," Jyggalag replied at last, though his answer only served to annoy Nocturnal, "She must discover the truth for herself. I cannot interfere with their war." "But your planning on waging a war against whoever wins," Nocturnal stated, causing the seemingly still Prince to turn his head towards her for a moment, "aren't you?" "Illogical," Jyggalag told her, staring at her while he spoke, "So long as the barrier between Nirn and Oblivion stays up I cannot wage war on whoever wins..." "But Tirek is gaining enough power to do that anyway," Nocturnal pointed out, having figured something out, "so your content to let him take the power of the other Princes, where he'll shatter the barrier protecting Nirn from Oblivion. Thus he gives you the ability to summon both your army and your full power into Nirn, where you'll wage war on whoever happens to be the victor." "Your deduction is... accurate," Jyggalag replied, turning back to his game board for a moment, "but the point stands, Sunset must figure this out on her own." "So I cannot leave to deliver the message that the Princes are under attack?" Nocturnal tried, hoping that she could get somewhere with the Prince of Order, but he remained silent for some time and she eventually admitted defeat, "Fine, I shall wait for her to figure it out." She only prayed that Sunset Shimmer figured out what was happening to Nirn quickly, otherwise she would be too late to stop Tirek before he shattered the barrier between worlds.