//------------------------------// // 48: Ahzidal's Hatred // Story: Sunset's Adventure in Skyrim // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// When Sunset woke up she pulled herself out of her bed and stretched her arms as she walked out of the room that she had been assigned, which had been one of the first rooms restored when the fortress was being cleared of ash. After defeating her anger and doubt she had been escorted back to the fortress by Zahkriisos, Dukaan, and Miraak, including the draugr that accompanied the newly awoken Dragon Priest. The instant they arrived Zahkriisos and Dukaan went to Kolbjorn Barrow and continued to oversee the extraction of the ash that blocked the way into the depths, though Sunset had gone into the fort to get some well deserved sleep. Now that she was up she was ready to face whatever the day, and Hermaeus Mora, had to throw at her, though the instant she opened her door she found Delphine waiting outside, reading one of the various books that they had found throughout the fortress. The moment she opened the door her commander closed the book and got onto her feet, though Sunset could tell that something had happened while she had been sleeping. "Bjorn and the others were able to speak with the Wizard Neloth," Delphine told her, though they began the short walk towards the room that held the map of Solstheim, "but we've come across a problem." "And what would that be?" Sunset asked, though she sighed as she wondered what the wizard could want in exchange for her using his Black Book for a moment. "I'll let him tell you himself," Delphine replied, beckoning to the door that led to the chamber that held the map, "after all, he insisted on coming here with your friends. He wanted to negotiate the terms of using his Black Book with the person who was actually going to use the book... and not her, as he called them, 'subordinates'. None of them appreciated being called your subordinates, but they knew you needed his Black Book and decided to bring him here, so you two could talk it out." Sunset sighed and took a deep breath, bracing herself for whatever Neloth wanted from her before she threw the door open, where she found Orak, Miraak, Bjorn, and Neloth standing around the table. Zahkriisos and Dukaan would be at Kolbjorn Barrow, making sure that they cleared the way to Ahzidal, while the rest of her friends were likely training outside with the rest of the soldiers. Miraak and Bjorn noticed her the moment she entered the room, to which Orak and Neloth looked up from the map and turned towards her as she approached the table, where Delphine stood behind her and watched the wizard. "I was told that you wanted to see me," Sunset said, turning her eyes to Neloth, though she could tell that he hadn't brought anything with him, "something about negotiating the terms on allowing me to access the Black Book that you have in your tower." "Yes, I was told that you required my Black Book in overcoming a task that the Daedric Lord Hermaeus Mora gave you," Neloth replied, though Sunset could already tell that this might be trouble for her, "so I have a request; I'd like for you to hand over all the Black Books that you have collected. Its rather simply really, you just hand over the five your going to have soon, because I know your close to Ahzidal's chamber and the book he's guarding, and I will allow you to access the Black Book that I collected... and I'll even help you recover the last book that's locked away in Nchardak." "Look, I'd love to hand all of them over immediately, but that presents another problem," Sunset told the wizard, beckoning to Miraak for a moment, "Hermaeus Mora wants me to defeat the seven emotions that he gave life to, seven of my emotions that are apparently restricting my full power, and one of those emotions is locked inside the book that was in Miraak's temple." "Then why haven't you gone back inside and defeated that emotion?" Neloth asked, though Sunset could tell that he was eager to hear why she hadn't bested that emotion. "Because Pride is locked behind six locks," Miraak stated, causing the wizard to turn to him for a moment, "Lord Hermaeus Mora locked Pride in the Black Book that was in my temple and the only way for the Warlord to access her final emotion is for her to defeat the other six. This means that you'll have to settle for four of the books that you want, at least until she's done fighting her emotions, where she'd be able to hand off the last book you desire." "Hermaeus Mora has always been a fickle Daedric Prince," Neloth admitted, letting out a sigh as he glanced from Miraak to Sunset, where his eyes stayed for a moment, "I should have expected something like this from him, but instead I chose to believe that I could simply ask for the remaining Black Books that weren't in my possession. Fine, I guess that I'll have to continue to play by the rules that the Lord of Fate has set upon you... and I'll accept the four Black Books once you have awakened Ahzidal, though I'll be expecting the final book once you've dealt with Pride. Though at some point you simply must let me hold one of those spheres you created so that I can study the magic you built into it... and maybe a blood sample or two so I can better understand what manner of creature you are." "I'd be glad to hand the Black books over when I'm done with them," Sunset told the wizard, as she had been collecting them for the exact purpose of handing them to Neloth the moment she didn't need them anymore, "but the manner of the spheres and my blood will have to wait until I'm done on Solstheim. That doesn't mean that the requests are being thrown away, they're merely being put at the end of my list so I can decide the answer for myself." True be told she wasn't going to let the wizard take any of her blood at all, though she was just as keen on making sure that he didn't get his hands on the spheres either. She was thankful that she could duplicate many of the runes that Princess Celestia had taught her, and the powers that each rune commanded, in a world that was different from what Equus was. She didn't want to leave any more knowledge of her world than she already was, which was why she was so knee on making sure the spheres stayed with her or under her control. There was no telling what Neloth could do with the knowledge that the spheres could give him, so she knew that she'd be taking them with her the moment it was time to return to Equus. Before Neloth could open his mouth to reply to her the door to the chamber opened and Fiona walked in, though Sunset noticed that she seemed eager to share her news. "I've got good news," Fiona said, coming to a stop by the table, "We've managed to breach the tomb of Ahzidal, so all that we need to do now is head in there and speak with him. Would there happen to be a fifth Dragon Priest on Solstheim? Because I heard Zahkriisos mention someone by the name of Vahlok as I was leaving, though I wasn't sure if it was a person or a place." "Vahlok the Jailer," Miraak replied, sounding as if he wanted to shatter the person to pieces, which told Sunset that it had to be the final Dragon Priest she was missing, "the man responsible for my defeat when I tried to take over Solstheim. He's strong in both the Thu'um and magic, so fighting him would actually be something you'd want to avoid... though if the other Priests are talking about him it is likely that he's in the process of waking up. Maybe the other three will pay their former leader a visit once you finish with the Black Book that Ahzidal is guarding, so they can explain the situation themselves." Sunset knew that the five Dragon Priests that inhabited Solstheim were likely the most powerful Priests that the dragons had trained, which was evident in the fact that ancient lore told that when Vahlok and Miraak fought that Solstheim became separated from Skyrim. She was now as powerful as the Priests that were scattered across Skyrim were, though she had no idea if she could actually best any of the five that she was currently recruiting. If she and Miraak had fought in Apocrypha she knew it was likely that the Summit would have been destroyed, though she was thankful that Hermaeus Mora gave her something else to focus on. "Then I shall head to Kolbjorn Barrow and speak with Ahzidal," Sunset told the people around her, though she took a moment to make sure that her weapons were ready for the coming conflict she was going to have with her next emotion, "Hopefully whatever emotion is waiting for me goes down quickly, because we're on the second day and there's still three more to fight after this one." She knew that Hatred, Violence, and Fear were the only things keeping her from attacking Pride, so as she walked out of the fortress, with Miraak following behind her, she had to wonder which of them she would find inside the barrow. As the duo approached the barrow, which was now cleared of all the ash that had invaded the place when Red Mountain had erupted, Sunset was pleased to discover that the draugr that had been sleeping inside the barrow had awoken and were standing around their comrades. She could tell that they had been helping the other draugr from inside their resting place, pushing against the ash as the others were pulling what they could out of the place. Many of the draugr bowed their heads to Sunset as she passed them, another reminder of her position as Konahrik, and she lightly repeated the gesture as she entered the barrow. Once they were inside Kolbjorn one of the Deathlords, the one carrying the Bloodskaal Blade, beckoned for them to follow him as he began to traverse the entirety of the ruin. He lead them down corridors, through chambers that clearly had puzzles to reveal ancient treasures, and down a winding staircase that eventually took them to a massive chamber. The chamber had at least ten coffins lining the walls, but in the middle of it all there was a ring that looked like it was surrounded by blood and the body of the dark elf that had come seeking a set of relics known as 'Ahzidal's Relics'. Floating around the circle were Zahkriisos and Dukaan, which told her that they were here to oversee what was going to happen when their ally rose from the dead. Sunset didn't need to be told that the blood and dead body were key ingredients in bringing the Dragon Priest back, so she patiently watched as Ahzidal rose from the stone seal he had been locked behind. He floated in the air for a moment, turning his head towards the two Priests he had known before his death, before he locked his gaze on Miraak and readied his staff, to which both Zahkriisos and Dukaan approached him and started speaking in the Dragon Language. Sunset didn't bother deciphering most of what they said, as she could tell that they were calming the Priest down and briefly explaining why Miraak was standing next to her. Once Ahzidal was calmed down he nodded his head and bowed before Sunset, something that she had been expecting as the other two Priests had done the same thing when she woke them up. "I still hate you Miraak," Ahzidal growled, before turning his full attention to Sunset, "I take it that you are here to recover my Black Book and have the three of us speak to Vahlok on your behalf?" She considered telling the Priest that Vahlok hadn't been on her mind until Miraak had brought him up earlier, but then decided that saying that might land her in hot water with the three Priests she had awakened. She knew that there was nothing else for her to say besides the fact that she came for the Black Book and to awaken him, so she simply nodded her head. "That is correct," Sunset told the Priests, though she noticed that both Zahkriisos and Dukaan floated eagerly nearby, "I assume that the three of you are eager to begin your journey to Vahlok's tomb and speak with him, so that he is up to date on what is happening on Solstheim at the moment?" "We are Warlord," Zahkriisos replied, though he pointed at the door that rested at the opposite end of the chamber, "That will take you to the book that you seek, though we shall be heading outside so that we can begin the trek to Vahlok's tomb. We shall return when we have convinced him of what's going on and how you managed to team up with his sworn enemy." Sunset nodded her understanding and ventured towards the door that Zahkriisos had pointed to, to which she walked along a tunnel that eventually deposited her in a room with the Black Book she had been searching for... and a statue of Hermaeus Mora that appeared to be overlooking the book. She stared at the statue for a moment, still wondering what game the Daedric Prince was playing, before she sighed and approached the Black Book, to which she placed her hand on it and allowed the magic to take over. A few seconds later her connection to Solstheim was gone and she knew that she was heading for Apocrypha, where her next emotion would be waiting for her arrival and their coming fight. -------------------------------------------- When Sunset opened her eyes she wasn't surprised to find that she was in another area of Apocrypha, nor was she surprised to find another Seeker, or the same one as it was impossible to tell the difference between them, waiting for her. This part of Apocrypha seemed to be partially covered in darkness, but as the Seeker beckoned her forward she noticed that it cast a light that allowed them to traverse the area without any of the nasty effects that were lurking in the shadows. She followed after it and kept her eyes peeled for whatever emotion that called this book home, giving her time to wonder what abilities this one had to throw at her. She was fortunate that Miraak was willing to explain what the creatures she had been seeing were called, which gave her the ability to name the floating creature now that she knew what it was. It didn't take them long to reach the end of the Black Book, something she had come to recognize by the larger versions of the Black Books sitting on a pedestal, though when the Seeker stopped moving Sunset immediately knew that her emotion was somewhere around them. As she started to look around a mass of shadows opened before the Black Book, to which a dark green version of herself stepped out of the darkness and stared down at her. It was then that Sunset noticed that her eyes were deep red colored and were surrounded by a light green color, though there were purple wisps of magic rolling off of her eyes... something she had briefly heard about from Princess Celestia. This emotion was using Dark Magic, something that she had only used after tainting the Element of Magic, though it was the specialty of King Sombra, the Tyrant of the Crystal Empire. "You finally decided to show yourself," the other Sunset said, though Sunset could tell that her emotion's voice was as cold as ice, almost as if there was nothing inside of her, "I don't know why you'd give up on your dream of ruling Equestria as suddenly as you did... it makes me hate who you've become and gives me the desire to CRUSH YOU!" The moment that the emotion, Hatred Sunset determined, snapped those last two words out she pressed her hand against the wall she had come out of and activated her magic. The floor shook and Sunset rolled to her right, turning around in time to see a large grey crystal pillar erupt from the floor, though by the points she saw on the pillar she knew that her emotion wasn't messing around. She summoned her magic and charged out into the open, where she turned and fired a fireball right at Hatred, so merely caught it with her shadows and turned it into a chunk of angry red crystals. Sunset knew that she should have seen something like that coming, as she had read up on a few of Sombra's combat abilities, the few that Princess Celestia bothered to record from her and Luna's fight with the deranged stallion. The problem was that she had no idea what else there might be besides summoning crystal pillars, turning her own magic into crystals, and using the shadows to inflict pain on those that challenged the user. Dark Magic was something that she didn't know too much about, but she knew that her emotion would either be making this all up as she went or she had a deeper understanding than Sunset did. She took a deep breath and gathered more of her magic, as she didn't want to resort to the Staff of Magnus unless it was absolutely necessary, before she locked on to Hatred once more. She was surprised to find that the emotion hadn't moved an inch yet, which meant that she was either planning something or that she was overconfident in her abilities. Once she locked onto the emotion Sunset brought her arm back and released a volley of fireballs towards her, but then ducked behind a pillar the moment they were out of her hands. She stood there for a moment before she heard the thump of several large crystals hitting the floor, telling her that even a volley was no match for the darkness inside her emotion. "Is this really the best you can do?!" Hatred shouted, darkness swirling off of her as she flicked her right hand towards the wall opposite of where Sunset was hiding, making a large crystal wall erupt from the darkness, "Are you really telling me that the reason you beat your Despair, your Doubt, and your Anger is because your a coward that cannot face reality without hiding behind something? Your just like the shy one now, hiding behind others while they pick your fights for you... I always hated her for always relying on others like that. Come on out Sunset, we both know how much you hate the school that shunned you after everything they did to you, even after you and your 'friends' saved them from the Sirens. Don't you hate how both versions of Twilight Sparkle think that they're better than you, how they think that they're much smarter than you and act like you know NOTHING?!" When that word left her mouth Hatred turned towards the path Sunset had walked up and slammed her hand against the floor, causing a cluster of crystal pillars to erupt from the darkness and shatter the walkway into a thousand pieces. "Or how about Miss 'I'm definitely better than everyone' Rainbow Dash?" Hatred continued, picking on the next friend that Sunset had, "Don't you hate how every time you try to come up with a plan of attack, be it in school or in any of the games she plays, that she constantly ignores you and makes it sound like whatever you were going to say was worthless? Or Rarity, who always says that she'll be able to lend a helping hand, yet either comes along with a line about how she needs to take care of her sister or never shows up at all? And what about Applejack, whose always fighting the lies and half truths that people tell all day, while always having something of her own to lie... Okay, that's it, quit IGNORING ME OR I WILL REDUCE THIS ENTIRE BLACK BOOK TO ASH AND PERSONALLY DESTROY WHOEVER STANDS BETWEEN ME AND MY RETURN TO EQUUS!" Sunset sighed and drew her ebony sword, to which she allowed her magic to wrap around the blade as she prepared the wave version of her condensed magic, but as she did so she got a better idea on how to best this emotion. She drew her right hand back and etched a rune on the handle, something that she would be able to attach to the moment that she hit her target. Then, once the blade was ready, she silently allowed more magic to gather around her as she stood up, as she prepared to end this fight once and for all. She stepped out of her hiding spot and locked her eyes with Hatred's eyes, before she pulled her arm back and threw her sword right at her emotion, as if it was a spear. Hatred laughed as the sword met her shadows, which cooled the blade down and surrounded it with a chunk of crystals, but Sunset had been expecting that. The moment her sword was encased in crystal she flashed to it, using the rune she had drawn as a base for the spell, much to the surprise of her emotion. Before Hatred had a chance to defend herself Sunset brought her right hand back, allowed the energy to form a sphere for a moment, before she pressed the energy against her emotion's chest and allowed the beam of energy to tear through her. Hatred, now actually lacking her heart, crumpled to the ground, where Sunset sighed and watched the crystals shatter around all them, giving some normalcy back to the Black Book. Sunset then knelt beside her emotion and watched as she broke up into bits of magic, swirling around Sunset for a moment before they settled into the place that she had been ripped from by Hermaeus Mora. She collected her sword a moment later, before she sheathed the blade and turned to the undamaged book, where she pressed her hand against it and allowed herself to travel back to Solstheim. Once she arrived she found Miraak standing beside the opening, telling her that he had been standing there the entire time that she had been gone. "I take it that the fourth emotion has been dealt with?" Miraak asked, as he was curious as to whether she had succeeded or had escaped to rest before trying again. "Hatred had been put back where she belongs," Sunset replied, picking up the Black Book before turning towards the exit, as she remembered that Neloth wanted all of them before giving her access to his book, "We had better get to Neloth and figure out which of the remaining emotions is hiding in his Black Book... then once that's done we'll need to recover the one from Nchardak and release the sixth lock. Then, and only then, will I have the ability to fight Pride." As the two of them left Kolbjorn Sunset knew that things were heating up with her emotions, though it left her to wonder what Violence and Fear had in store for her the moment she discovered them. Neloth would be happy to have all seven of the Black Books once she was done with her emotions, though she really didn't care for them now that she had bested the emotion trapped inside of them. She hoped that Vahlok was willing to trust her enough so he could become an ally, because she knew that she wouldn't have enough time to fight a Dragon Priest along side her emotions. And while she thought about this she had to wonder what Tirek was doing in Skyrim, with only Alduin and his brother to watch over their forces until they returned. She had the feeling that he was destroying something, but what she had no idea on and knew that she wouldn't figure it out until they returned to Skyrim. -------------------------------------------- Due to complete boredom while waiting to see if he could summon the Daedric Prince know as Hermaeus Mora, something that wasn't possible until he was done 'training' Sunset Shimmer, Tirek decided to visit the home of one of her allies. it would be time consuming, he knew that, but in the end it would allow him to relieve some of his anger and allow him to get closer to the time when he could summon the final Prince. As such he was walking through the Rift, looking for the opening that Revan had reported to him that would allow him to head to where Fort Dawnguard was located. The wildlife, likely still attuned to Hircine and knowing full well what he did to the Prince, would not stand to let him simply walk anywhere and lashed out at him every chance they got. It was amusing that mere animals believed that they stood a chance against his power, but overtime it quickly lost its humor and he began to grow tired of the beasts. One wolf leapt at him and tired to bite his face, but he pulled back and slammed his fist into the beast's head, cracking the skull and killing the beast in an instant. Many more animals came at him, to which he used his magic to cut them into pieces, discarding them like the pieces of trash that they were. When he finally found the cave that Revan had mentioned he allowed his magic to pool around his right hand, preparing an attack that he would use to destroy the base of one of Sunset's allies. It didn't take long for him to find Fort Dawnguard, though he took a moment to look around and found that someone had been inside recently, as in the last hour he reckoned. He missing Sunset's allies as they fled their base, but he would give them a taste of the power that they, and the rest of their pathetic allies, faced if they sided with Sunset Shimmer. He approached the main gate and slammed his fist into the door, shattering the wood upon impact as the earth reacted to his touch once more. The structures around him cracked under the weight of the shifting earth, though as Tirek walked backwards to admire his work he watched as the entire fortress developed a massive crack. The fracture happened next, as the ground around him sunk into the ground and took some of the supporting walls with them, adding to the destruction that he had brought to the Rift. As the ground began to swallow the fortress the mountain it rested near fractured, the pieces of earth raining down onto whatever remained of the Dawnguard's base. Tirek made sure that every wall had been torn down and that the place had been buried beneath a massive rockslide, so when he was pleased with his work he turned around and began the journey back to his hidden base. This would serve as a message to Sunset's allies, that if they allied with Sunset and fought against him, then he would shatter their homes and bring them the end that they craved. Then, when her allies were scattered to the four winds, he would turn his power on Sunset Shimmer and destroy her, as he had promised her, before he brought ruin to Equus once more.