Just as Sunset and her friends were preparing to begin the journey up to Miraak's Temple Sunset felt something that she had hoped that she would never feel while she was on Nirn. She looked up at the sky, passing the barrier that she had thrown up, and watched as the barrier that kept Nirn separated from Oblivion shattered before her very eyes. Everyone in the fortress, those attuned to the power of magic, also looked up at the sky along with her, though Sunset knew that many of them would be terrified of what the shattering of the barrier meant. It was quite possible that the forces of Oblivion might march on the rest of Nirn, but there was nothing she could do if the dremora decided to do so.
Though the only explanation she had for the barrier breaking like that was that Tirek was much closer to one hundred percent than she had originally thought, which told her that she needed to find Miraak, make an agreement with him, and then get back to Skyrim so they could fix what the demon had done.
"Sunset, does that mean what I think it means?" Delphine asked, her eyes widening as the barrier between worlds fell apart, "Does that mean that we have less time then we originally planned on?"
"Tirek's moving much faster than I thought he would," Sunset admitted, sweat rolling down her face for a moment, before she turned to the women, "We'll proceed with the original plan of whipping this fort into shape and finding Miraak, but the moment we're completed what we came to do then we need to go back and stop Tirek... before he does something to the rest of Nirn."
Delphine nodded her understanding and immediately shouted at the soldiers, who got underway in the task of shoveling out the ash and rebuilding any of the supports that might have been broken. Sunset sighed before heading out of the fortress, hoping that she could find Miraak swiftly so they could stop Tirek, though she had no idea how long Hermaeus Mora would be able to hold out if he was the last Prince left. She had to guess that Hermaeus was the last Prince left, as the shattering of the barrier would only happen when Tirek was close to max power, which would be when there was either one Prince left or none at all.
Sunset made sure to watch for any enemies that might be around them, but the few bandits that she noticed around their path glanced back at the fortress they came from and turned tail. She was pleased that the presence of her army deterred enemies from actually attacking her, as she was sure that the bandits were afraid that if they attacked the group they'd have an army running after them. When they finally reached the temple, which was an hour or two away from the fortress, Sunset found that it almost looked like it had been dragged out of the ash, like it had been swept clean by the bandits that happened to be roaming the entire place.
Even as the group approached the temple she could tell that the people that were working on the pillars were definitely brainwashed, as the moment Sunset approached one of them and tried to talk to them they completely ignored her.
"Oslaf, Ysra, please! You must fight against what is controlling you!" someone shouted, causing Sunset to run up to the top of the upper ring of the temple and find someone, another nord that was dressed in impressive looking armor, talking to two of the brainwashed builders, "You must leave this place! It is not safe here! We must go back to the village!"
"Is something the matter?" Sunset asked, wondering what the women was doing at the temple, though the women turned around the moment she spoke as if she was surprised.
"You there. What brings you to this place?" the women asked, completely ignoring her question as she decided to ask her own in return, "Why are you here?"
"I'm searching for Miraak," Sunset replied, though she had the feeling that the women was going to blame the supposed to be dead former Dragon Priest for all the brainwashed people around the temple, "There's a dangerous demon that just destroyed the barrier between Nirn and Oblivion, so we're here to find Miraak..."
"Something has taken control of most of the people of Solstheim." the women suddenly said, as if she had made a connection between what was happening around her and what Sunset had said, "It makes them forget themselves, and work on these horrible creations that corrupt the Stones, the very land itself. My father Storn, our shaman, says Miraak has returned to Solstheim, but that is impossible. Let us go. There is nothing more I can do here. The Tree Stone and my friends are beyond my help for now. We need to find a way into the temple below. Also, I am Frea of the Skaal."
Sunset heard what she believed was stone moving on stone, though when she turned to the left she noticed that a path had opened in the ground... one that appeared to head deeper into the ground. As she strode down the walkway she spotted several cultists, the same ones that had traveled to Skyrim so they could kill her, pull out their magic and shout at her. Lightning pulsed around her hand as she leveled her arm with one of the cultists, which crashed into the person and knocked them into the wall before his friends could even understand what happened. She then spun around and released two more bolts, which tore into the other two cultists and slew them where they stood, before she continued towards the door that would lead them into the actual temple.
Once they were inside the temple Sunset immediately moved down the corridor, passing by two rooms that looked like they were almost wrecked beyond belief. Frea wanted to check them out for any provisions that would help them for the coming trial, so Sunset sighed and decided to give her five minutes to look around both rooms before moving on. It turned out that there was nothing for them to take with them, which told Sunset that the cultists had taken what they needed and had left nothing behind for anyone else to take. They reached an area with what looked like pressure plates scattered about, but Frea ran forward and swung her arms, her axes taking off the heads of two cultists before they had a chance to even see who was attacking them.
Before they moved deeper into the ruined temple the two coffins that rested beside the open path, which had remained closed as Frea killed the cultists, opened and two draugr, Deathlords Sunset noticed, pulled themselves out of their coffins. Frea, seeing them, readied her axes, fully prepared to deal with them if they turned on them, but after a few seconds the two Deathlords simply knelt before Sunset.
"The Warlord has come," one of the two Deathlords said, speaking in the Dragon Tongue, to which Frea raised an eyebrow as she tried to understand what was going on, "Have you come to see Miraak?"
"I have indeed," Sunset replied, somewhat surprised to find draugr, on Solstheim no less, that even knew about her taking on the title and armor of Konahrik, "I assume that you can lead me to him?"
"We can do that and so much more," the second Deathlord replied, getting onto his feet while pulling out an ebony battleaxe, while his buddy pulled out his ebony sword and shield, "We shall destroy the invaders and lead you to the one you seek."
Sunset nodded and followed the two Deathlords down the pathway that Frea had been so eager to travel down, though when they reached the next chamber they found that they had a great view of the open pit like area, one that had a couple of drawn up corpses. Based on everything that Sunset was learning about the mysterious Miraak it seemed like he had betrayed the Dragon Cult and, she suspected, drawn up his enemies to display his power. While they followed the draugr, who were waking their comrades from their slumber, Frea spotted a chest on a platform above them and pointed it out to Sunset, who noticed the large chest and flashed up to it.
She found a few ebony items, mainly weapons, and took them with her, to which she handed them to Lydia so she could determine who actually needed them.
"Death to the False Dragonborn!" one of the cultists at the bottom of the pit shouted, but as she did so one of the Deathlords shouted down at them and knocked them off their feet.
Sunset followed directly behind her growing collection of draugr, noting how many cultists there actually were in the temple, telling her that Miraak had definitely put some time into building his forces to protect his temple. She knew that the First Dragonborn wouldn't have expected the draugr in his temple to turn on his forces, so it was somewhat amusing to see the cultist getting wrecked by the undead. They continued deeper into the temple, finding a few more draugr that joined their growing force, which Frea continued to stare at every time a group joined the horde. They eventually reached a long tunnel that was full of swinging blades, but Sunset knew that, just by looking at all the blades, that Miraak had devised this part of the temple to kill anyone who wasn't an ally to his cause, like the cultists.
"I am not going down there." Frea immediately said the moment they reached the swinging blade tunnel, though as she did so she sat on the ground before the first swinging blade, "It would be foolish to attempt it. You have a much better chance than I to make it through these traps. I have no doubt that lever turns these blades off. I shall wait here for now."
Sunset sighed and beckoned for her friends, and the draugr that followed her, to remain where they were standing, before she gathered her magic and flashed all the way to the other side. It was a teleportation spell, one that she had assumed she would actually never use while she was in Nirn, but it served its purpose in getting her to her destination. She then flipped the switch and turned the blades off, to which the draugr advanced up the tunnel and caught up with her, before they continued along the path that would take them to wherever Miraak was waiting for them.
The next area they came to had several raised wooden bridges, though Sunset had the feeling that the moment they walked down their bridge the other three would open and they would find a group of enemies waiting for them. Frea walked down the wooden bridge and sure enough the other bridges opened up, two draugrs and a cultist walking down to greet all of them. The two draugr stared at the force of undead that were following Sunset for a moment, but then they turned their blades on the unsuspecting cultist and ended his life before he could defend himself.
"Okay, before we go any further you need to explain yourself," Frea said, pointing one of her axes at Sunset and caused all the draugr to point their weapons at her, before Sunset held up her hand and had them back off for the moment, "I need to know why the draugr are following you, when they've only ever served the Dragon Priests of old."
"I am Sunset Shimmer, the First Dragon Priestess is all of history," Sunset said, bowing a tiny bit as she replied, before she beckoned to the armor she wore, "I was honored by the Eight Priests of Skyrim when I completed by training, to which I was immediately known as Konahrik, or Warlord in the Dragon Language. The draugr you've been seeing this entire time still serve their dragon masters, so now that a living Dragon Priest has appeared before they're eager to serve once again. I'm also here to speak to Miraak and form some sort of alliance with him, so if you'd like to see him destroyed then you better hope that he doesn't care about Nirn and attacks me.
Now come along and let the draugr clear out the cultists, because we are running out of time and I would like to make the most of what we have before we need to leave the island."
Frea stared at her for a moment, clearly debating on her chances to get at Sunset before the draugr had a chance to attack her, but sighed and nodded her understanding, though Sunset could tell that she wasn't happy about Miraak being let off like this. They passed though another iron doorway and came to yet another bridge, though this one was guarded by six skeletons, which they simply had to punch hard enough in the skull to make them fall apart. The ruined area that followed was easy for them to navigate, as they decided to walk over the wreckage and continue on their way, until Frea commented about there being a few spell tomes laying around a side area.
Sunset paid the spell tomes no mind, as she already had every spell she could ever know thanks to the training and knowledge she had received from the Dragon Priests.
They took the pathway down, even deeper into the island, causing Frea to comment on how powerful Miraak must have been to have such a large and terrible temple built for him. The small chamber they came to had a few coffins lining one wall, a coffin on the wall in front of them, a word wall to their immediate left, and the corpse of a dragon hung above their heads. Sunset barely paid the Word Wall any mind as the coffins around her opened up, to which the draugr Deathlords that emerged from it bowed to Sunset, while one of them turned to the iron door he had been guarding and opened it up.
They came to another chamber, though this one was filled with a bunch of stone tables, discarded food items, and a couple of mugs with empty bottles of ale scattered about the place. The draugr, having helped Miraak build the place when they were alive, immediately searched the chamber and found the lever that opened the hidden passage in the side of the wall. Sunset followed them even deeper into the ruin, where they came to another set of stairs that and followed the path even further down, turning around every now and then before they finally came to a lever sitting next to a bare stone wall, though one of the draugr pulled it down and the wall rose to reveal more stairs.
The next chamber they came to was massive, which made sense seeing how they had done quite a distance without coming to an area like the one they were standing in. At least twenty skeletons and ten draugr walked around the chamber, each of them looking like they were ready to deal with any intruders that might disturb them. That was, however, until the draugr noticed who was walking up the pathway and turned on the skeletons, shattering their bones before turning to the statue, one that Sunset noticed looked like a strange creature, at the top of the hill and opening another hidden passage for them to follow.
Sunset followed the group of draugr down the hidden tunnel until they came to a smaller room, one that had another statue of the strange creature in the center and had a large black book, a book that had black smoke rolling off of it, resting on a pedestal.
"There are dark magics at work here." Frea commented, staring at the black book as the draugr left the group in the chamber, "Ready yourself. This book... It seems wrong, somehow. Here, yet... not. It may be what we seek."
Sunset approached the black book and placed her hand on the cover, to which she closed her eyes and allowed herself to connect to whatever magic the book had. A moment passed before she felt the air around her change, not to mention that the book and the pedestal seemed to disappear completely, to which she opened her eyes and found herself in a strange realm. She found that the walls looked like they were made of books and scrolls, while there was an eerie black water surrounding the area that she didn't like the look of. Standing before her were four strange looking creatures that appeared like they were covered in large torn robes, though they looked nothing like the statue she had seen in Miraak's temple.
That was when she noticed the man standing in the center of all the creatures, wearing a dark green robe with gold pieces scattered about and a strange mask that looked nothing like the masks she had seen the Dragon Priests in Skyrim wearing. She knew who the man was without him having to even introduce himself, as there was no one else who could possibly be standing before her at the moment.
"Ahh... So you are the Dragonborn. I can feel it." the man said, turning to face her for a moment, before beckoning to the creatures and making them disappear completely, "As you no doubt have guessed I am Miraak, the one who betrayed the Dragon Cult so long ago. You are in the realm known as Apocrypha, the domain of the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora. When you recovered the Oghma Infinium my master began making preparations for your eventual arrival, though he never told me what he intended to do when you arrived. He's been most... eager... to have you visit his realm, so he can do whatever he has planned for you.
What he did not tell me was that you were to be named Konahrik, taking on the persona of the legend that the Dragon Priests had when we had first started out..."
"Ah, Miraak, I see you have met my latest Champion," a voice said, just as a cluster of eye balls appeared around them, though Sunset knew that Hermaeus Mora was now standing before them, "Sunset Shimmer, long have I been expecting your arrival in my realm. I have a test, of sorts, for you to pass if you wish to fight your enemy on equal footing. Long has your power been bound by seven emotions, each one weakening you in some way, ever since you first encountered your enemy and they have only increased in power ever since. Stand and witness what I am about to do to you."
Sunset moaned as she felt something inside of her shift, but as that happened she had to wonder what the Daedric Prince had in store for her and what he could have meant by her emotions were restricting her magic. A moment passed before seven streams of magic, each of them having their own different color, erupted from her horn and burst into the air, where they swirled around the walkway behind Miraak. A few seconds passed before six of the seven colors descended towards the walkway, where they formed into solid bodies that looked exactly like Sunset, though they each bore different expressions on their faces. One of them looked like they were mad at the world, another seemed to have complete despair written on their face, while a third had a hint of violence in their eye.
The seventh strand of magic, however, burst into flames as it neared the ground, but as it took shape Sunset's eyes widened in surprise as the She-Demon, in all her glory, landed in the middle of the six Sunset's.
"It is so good to be back," the She-Demon said, standing at her full height as she brought her wings back in, before she locked her eyes with Sunset's, "don't look so surprised, you knew that this day was coming. Behold, your Anger, Despair, Doubt, Fear, Hatred, and Violence stand beside me, while I represent your Pride."
"I got rid of you a long time ago," Sunset snapped, still not understanding how her pride could still exist, when she had gotten rid of it all after her defeat.
"And how we shall fight one last time," the She-Demon, Pride, replied, beckoning to the six behind her for a moment, "Lord Hermaeus Mora knew that you needed to defeat the emotions that were keeping you back, so he made this spell that allowed us to separate from you until we're defeated. Now you're likely thinking that you can simply run through this one Black Book and defeat all seven of us, but that is where you would be mistaken, as there are seven Black Books and seven of us. You must find each book and defeat the emotion that resides within, otherwise you'll never have the power to defeat your enemy... but let's face it, we both know that you'll never be able to defeat Tirek.
I am the better of the two of us, so when you fall to the ground in defeat you'll remember what it was like when you put the crown on and remember that only your own darkness can save you now."
Before Sunset could reply the seven emotions burst into the sky and separated into seven different directions, disappearing into the depths of the remaining six Black Books.
"Pride will be protected by six locks that will prevent you from attacking her first," Hermaeus Mora suddenly said, causing Sunset to turn to him for a moment, "so you must find the other Black Books and defeat the emotion that calls that book home, thus unlocking your full power. When the other six are defeated you will need to read this book again and face Pride at the summit of Apocrypha. Miraak, you will undo the spell that you placed on Solstheim and assist the Dragonborn in whatever way she needs... otherwise I might be forced to take drastic measures. This means that you will be returning to Solstheim with her, now that her enemy has broken the barrier between Nirn and Oblivion... though I will force your return if you don't follow Sunset's orders and assist her."
"As you wish, Lord Hermaeus Mora," Miraak sighed, though all that told Sunset was that the former Dragon Priest had been expecting a fight of some kind, yet that had been taken away from him and his assistance had been given to Sunset without his consent.
"Indeed," Hermaeus told Miraak, before turning to Sunset so he could finish whatever he had set in motion, "Dragonborn, starting tomorrow you will have three days to conquer seven emotions, to obtain your true power. I suggest that you get started, otherwise Tirek will open the way to your home world and burn your home to the ground before you have a chance to save it."
Sunset sighed and pulled out what she assumed was this realm's version of the Black Book she had found in Miraak's Temple, something that connected with the magic around her and ripped her out of Apocrypha. When she opened her eyes she found herself in the same location where she had found the book, with her friends and draugr army still standing around her, though the only difference was that Miraak had followed her. Frea, seeing the man that had brainwashed her people standing behind Sunset, immediately drew her axes, but Lydia stopped her before she could even reach either of them.
"You must let me put him down!" Frea nearly shouted, squirming against Lydia's iron hold, "He's brainwashed the majority of Solstheim and is making the people work on corrupting the Stones!"
"Then you'll be relieved to hear that my Master told me to return the land to what it once was," Miraak replied, crossing his arms as he stared at the warrior, "I am merely here to give my 'aid' to the Dragonborn, so she can save the world before its destroyed by her enemy."
"We don't have time for you two to argue and bicker," Sunset told them, sighing for a moment before turning to those around her, "Apparently we've got a few days for me to find all seven Black Books that are scattered throughout Solstheim, three of which I'm sure are buried with three of the Dragon Priests. So we're going to get out of here and search for those books... though I'll explain why we need them as quickly as I can while we travel."
She still had no idea what Hermaeus Mora hoped to accomplish by tearing the She-Demon out of her and telling her that she needed to defeat it, but she knew that she'd discover why when she beat the other emotions. What worried her was the time limit that she had been told about, something that told her that she was running out of time if her quest to save Nirn from Tirek. Hermaeus knew something about the demon that was ruining Skyrim, something that he apparently wanted to keep secret until the time was right to reveal what that was.
She didn't like whatever game the Prince of Fate and Knowledge was playing with her, but she knew that she'd have to play it if she wanted to ensure Miraak's help, despite the fact that the former Priest hated every moment of this.
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Tirek grinned as he finished draining the Daedric Prince of Destruction, discarding him like a piece of trash in the wreckage of the tower he had been using as a base. Once Mehrunes Dagon was discarded he returned to where the portal to Oblivion had been, to which he removed the Skeleton Key, closed the chest, and banished the portal. There was one other place he could travel to so he could drain the final Prince, another place that his enemy would never expect him to visit. He turned to the path to the right of his former tower and followed it into the mountain side, where he traveled to one of the dwarven ruins that dotted Skyrim's landscape.
Thanks to Ancano's spies following Sunset he knew that his enemy had come here at one point, which led her to eventually discover the Staff of Magnus, but there was a storeroom he could use for his purposes.
Once he had entered the storeroom he turned to the door and used his magic to seal the door tight, allowing him the privacy he needed to finish his goal. He turned to the open room and summoned the now almost empty chest into the middle of the chamber, where he pulled out the Oghma Infinium and prepare to summon the portal to Oblivion once more. He worked his magic into the entirety of the chamber, building a prison that would allow him to keep the Prince in this area, but would also prevent the final Prince from attacking him. If Sunset had still been in Skyrim he would have had to summon the Prince without these safeties in place, but now that she was somewhere else he could do what he needed this time.
When he was ready he allowed the Oghma Infinium to float into the air before him and connect his magic to the portal, to which he could finally summon the last Prince of Oblivion.
"Hermaeus Mora, Daedric Prince of Fate and Forbidden Knowledge, I summon you," Tirek called out, letting his spell echo throughout Oblivion as it sought the Prince he was trying to summon, "Hear my call and appear before me."
He waited a few seconds, which was the normal amount of time it took for his spell to work, but when a few minutes had passed he turned towards the portal in confusion. The spell had never failed to summon the Prince the artifact was connected to, yet for some reason he could not summon the final Daedric Prince. He then spent the next hour repeating the summoning spell, trying to figure out why he was failing to call Hermaeus Mora into Nirn, especially when the barrier was broken. He growled and turned towards the door, magic swirling around his hand as he considered shattering the entire ruin and the area around it, but then he heard the sound of his spell working.
When he turned around, however, he found some strange creature, one that was a grotesque tentacled looking creature, had appeared in the summoning circle, though he could tell that it wasn't Hermaeus Mora.
"What are you?" Tirek asked, allowing the magic he had gathered to remain, just in the off chance that this was the Prince's way to attacking him so he could crush it instantly.
The creature approached him for a moment, apparently studying him for a few seconds, before it held out one of its hands, what Tirek assumed were its hands, and revealed a scroll. It floated there for a moment, but when it didn't leave that told Tirek that he was supposed to take it, so he did and looked at it for a few seconds, before he unrolled it.
"Let's see here," Tirek grumpled, staring at the words while he wonder why he couldn't summon Hermaeus Mora, "Ah, here we go; To the demon known as Tirek, I regret to inform you that, while Sunset Shimmer is being trained by the Daedric Prince known as Hermaeus Mora, the Prince will be unavailable for some time. In a few days, when her training is over, you may attempt to call on the Prince of Knowledge once more. Sincerely, the High Seeker of Lord Hermaeus Mora. Why you son of a..."
Once he realized that he had, somehow, been blocked from summoning the final Prince he turned towards the creature so he could kill it where it stood, only to find that it was also gone. The sixteenth and final Prince was unavailable at the moment, so he cooled his anger down and decided that while he waited he could focus on the spell that would take him back to Equus. He was preparing for when he broke Sunset Shimmer and her pitiful Alliance, where she could watch him open the portal to her home world and deliver total ruin to it. He could wait for a few days, but after that he would begin the summoning ritual many more times until the Prince graced him with his presence.
He was angry, but he knew that he could use that anger to destroy whatever he wanted... which he would store until it was time to break his enemy.