Sombra visits Skyrim

by Blackdrag-rose

36: The Undercroft

"Okay guys, where would we find a third Elder Scroll?"

Raika was beyond annoyed that they had to find yet another Elder Scroll, though finding the first Scroll, the one she carried, and the second Scroll, the one Serana carried, weren't easy tasks. To find even one of the ancient Scrolls she had to search through a library full of books, talk to one of the most insane people she's ever met, and dive into an ancient ruin. Serana's Scroll had been easier to acquire, but they had to fight a host of vampires and the undead so they could even get to her in the first place.

Now that she had exhausted almost all her resources to find the first Scroll she was sure that the third Scroll had been lost to time and sealed someplace she couldn't get to.

She, Serana, and Shadow sat at the table, going over several different ideas where the third Scroll could potentially be hidden, such as another dwarven ruin or a large nordic ruin. Trixie stood near them, discussing the Elder Scrolls with the Moth Priest, Dexion he was called, and trying to get ideas where the third one could be. Sombra sat near the group, trying to get a understanding of where they were looking, what had already been searched in the past, and what Serana could be repressing. Cadence, on the other hand, leaned against a nearby wall and watched Sombra, clearly concerned that he was only hiding his true nature and was waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"I know this isn't very helpful," Serana said, pulling back from the table for a moment, "but before I was put in that coffin my mother and I devised a plan to hide ourselves from my father. I was to be placed in Dimhollow Crypt, where you found and rescued me, but my mother never told me where she was going. She continued to tell me that she was taking an Elder Scroll with her as well, but she never showed me the Scroll, so I never believed that she was telling the truth."

"So your mother has the third Elder Scroll," Raika commented, knowing what had been said and only cared that they had some plan of action, "My guess is that, if she was hiding from Harkon, she'd go someplace that only you and her knew about. Someplace where she could conduct her experiments and eventually find a place to hide something as important as an Elder Scroll. Does Castle Volkihar have an undercroft or a place where Harkon wouldn't think to look?"

"Yes, there's an inlet that leads into the lower areas of the castle," Serana replied, recalling exactly where it was, "If we went through there we'd eventually come to a Moondial, where my mother planted her herb garden and could have hidden a clue for me. I think my father might have sealed the main entrance to that courtyard, so the inlet would be our only hope of getting there."

"So we need another Shadow Gate to Castle Volkihar," Raika said, casting a look over to Sombra, "Harkon would never suspect that we'd come back to the castle to look for something that we could use against him. We should be able to swoop in, get into the undercroft, and find our way to this Moondial before anyone realizes that we're even there. Sombra, if you could prep a gateway for us while I make sure that Isran doesn't do anything foolish while we're gone."

Sombra nodded to Raika and made his way to the front door of the fort, so he could head to the area that they had used his gateways several times and begin construction. A few of the warriors hailed him as he passed, telling him that their defenses were holding and that they hadn't seen any enemy movement lately. Sombra noted that the walls they had built so far were made of wood, but then he noticed several stone blocks that he suspected were for making a new stone wall. He moved into the area that he used his gates in and stopped, allowing the magic to gather around him as he focused on creating another gate.

"So, your married to Princess Celestia?"

Sombra turned around and found Princess Cadence staring right at him, a frown on her face as if she couldn't decide if he was trying to help the people of Skyrim or was biding his time before he enslaved them all. The question, on the other hand, was something that had caught him by surprise, as Celestia had told him that nopony but her and Luna knew that he was married to her. It made him wonder how she found out about it.

"Yes," Sombra answered, not even bothering to hide it, "How did you find out about that?"

"I found a marriage certificate hidden in my throne," Cadence replied, "at first I thought I had found a trove of your dark secrets that needed to be purged from Equestria, but my curiosity got the best of me and forced me to look. I found a couple of items, but that certificate caught my interest."

"So when we first met you thought I was a beast that was incapable of love?" Sombra asked, leaning against a wooden wall.

"Basically," Cadence replied, "You were a tyrant, a shadowy monster that was bent on returning to the Crystal Empire so you could enslave everypony and made the entire empire fear you. Being the Princess of Love I thought I couldn't feel anything in your cold heart, not even the smallest beat or even an ounce of love to speak of. Then the Crystal Heart destroyed you, making me believe that you had died in the explosion and that you wouldn't be returning to threaten us again. I thought I was rid of your evil, then I found that certificate and had to confront Celestia when she, well, returned from this plane of existence."

"So you learned of Tamriel and her experiences here," Sombra commented, "then, hearing that I was here and Celestia was going to give Luna a piece of her mind, you offered to come in her place. You came here to make sure that I'm not a threat to the people of this realm, the one of the reasons that dearest Celestia and Luna came to find me in the first place."

"I also came to see how much dark power you still had," Cadence replied, staring at him as if she was trying to find it, "and clearly you still have it inside you, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to summon one of those gates earlier. Just how much dark power do you still have inside of you?"

Sombra chuckled and let the magic surge around him, allowing the shadows to surround him before they began to seep out of his eyes like they had when his darker side had taken over. For a moment his armor darkened and he could feel the ground beneath him, waiting for him to summon a crystal pillar and impale whoever he desired. It had been a few days since his episode with Discord, but now that the darker half of his heart had been destroyed he could easily control the darkness again.

"All of it!" Sombra chuckled, his voice eerie again, "Dark Magic is my special talent and I was gifted with the ability to summon the crystals that came with it, as many people in Skyrim will tell you. I was a mage with an interesting ability, I could keep the Dark Magic at bay by allowing it to fill a part of me, resulting in the creation of a much darker version of myself. When Discord attacked it resulted in a mental switch, allowing the monster to run rampart and brought about the end of the Crystal Empire I knew about."

Before Cadence could reply Sombra cut the magic off, allowing the darkness to retreat and return him to the way he had looked before he considered answering her question.

"But it was due to the efforts of dearest Celestia and Luna that I was saved from myself," Sombra continued, his voice gentler again, "They came to Tamriel, seeking me across the vastness of space, to heal my wounded heart, restore my seemingly shattered memories, and make me who I once was. I was once Sombra, the Kind and Gentle King of the Crystal Empire, turned into the Tyrant that so many ponies have come to know, but now I am just a simple stallion whose purpose is to protect others and the empire I once called home is now in your hooves.

For what its worth Princess Cadence, I am truly sorry for everything that I put you and your husband through when the Empire returned to Equestria."

Cadence remained silent for a moment, as if she was collecting everything he had said and was making sure that he wasn't telling any lies to save himself. Eventually she sighed and relaxed, a hint of kindness returning to her eyes as she stared at him. He wasn't sure that Cadence would ever forgive him, and he certainly knew that her husband Shining Armor never would, but he was somewhat glad that she wasn't glaring him down.

"I shouldn't be so hard on you," Cadence said, lifting her head to the sky and staring at the clouds, "I mean, Celestia basically had to sit me down when I inquired about the certificate and told me everything that had happened between you two. Not many couples can withstand being targeted by Discord, so I can admire that you two are still in love after a thousand years. It also explained why Celestia never dated anypony else in the time I spent with her in Canterlot, she was waiting for your return for all those years."

"Mind if I ask you something?" Sombra asked, hoping to break away from his past.

"Sure, I don't see why not," Cadence replied, shifting her gaze back to him, "What's on your mind?"

"Why the bow?" Sombra asked, pointing to the strange greenish bow on her back, "Both Celestia and Luna are front line fighters, wielding either swords or a battleaxe to fight their foes. I'm just curious as to why you choose a long ranged weapon."

"That's because they're warrior princesses," Cadence laughed, surprised that this was what he wanted to know, "they lived during a time of war and death that was forever lost to time. Most ponies of the modern Equestria don't realize that when the Three Tribes were separate they waged total war on each other, until their leaders found a solution to save them all. Now, I'm not a hundred percent sure what Celestia and Luna were doing during that time, but it is said that something fought off the dragons and the griffins. Something beat those two races and signed a treaty with them, giving the ponies of Equestria the treaties they know to this day.

As for why I choose to wield a bow instead of charging into battle with a sword, I prefer to stay back and hit things from a distance. Princess Celestia tried to show me how to fight like a soldier, even going as far as to try and make a suit of armor for me, but she eventually found that I favored the bow as my weapon. So she taught me what she knew of the bow, allowing me to fire an arrow every now and then at some targets she had set up behind the palace. I figured that, since I was coming here, I'd get my old bow and see if I still know how to use it, though I guess I might have underestimated the power of Skyrim's arrows. I've got a glass bow and about eighty more arrows, though Celestia showed me how to make more of them before I came here."

"Hey Sombra," Raika called, peeking her head past the wooden wall, "How's the gateway coming?"

Sombra chuckled and tapped his foot against the ground, waking the magic up as the shadows sprung out of the ground, swirling around until the gateway was formed. Cadence stepped back for a moment, clearly shocked that he had actually created the gateway while he was talking to her, but then remembered that he had returned to who he had been a thousand years ago. It made Sombra happy that he had convinced her that he wasn't about to lead an army to conquer all of Skyrim, not that he wanted to do that. All he truly wanted was to help Raika with her problems and then go home to Equestria, where he could hang up his cape and retire with the mare of his dreams.

"It is ready," Sombra informed her, "Whenever you want to leave we can depart without trouble."

"Good, because I want to see if we can find that blasted Scroll," Raika said, stepping into the open as the rest of their team appeared behind her, "We'll head in as quick as possible and see if we can't reach that Moondial."

Raika walked forward and disappeared from the area, heading to the other side of the gateway before one of her friends followed right after her. Trixie and Shadow entered the gate next, though Serana looked back at the warriors before stepping into the mass of shadows. Cadence stared at the gate and then looked at Sombra, who nodded to her and beckoned for her to enter the mass, before she swallowed and followed the others. Sombra walked into the gateway and surged off to where the others were, allowing the entrance near the fort to close down.

------------------------------------

"So, why aren't we in front of the castle?" Raika asked, seeing the boat they had taken to the castle and the island off in the distance.

"Magical disturbance," Sombra replied, noticing a fort close to where they were standing, "I think one of the vampires might have taken over that fortress and turned everyone into their unwilling servants. Its either that or the Thalmor developed a barrier spell and somehow caught on to where we were heading next."

"Hold there heretics," an elf shouted, standing on top of a hill while a bunch more appeared on the fort's walls, "for your crimes against the Aldmeri Dominion Her Emissary has ordered your deaths. Drop your weapons and surrender to us before we're forced to get nasty."

"Sombra, show these elves the meaning of magic," Raika said, smiling as she realized that she had the perfect chance to show Cadence how powerful Sombra actually was.

Sombra stepped forward just a bit and placed his left hand on the ground, brushing the snow to the side and letting his magic flow into the ground. At first the elf thought that he was surrendering, but then the ground in front of Sombra began to buckle and crack, pieces of clear blue crystal rising out of the ground. Sombra brought himself back to his full height and threw one of the crystals forward, causing it to spin through the air before colliding with the elf's chest. The elf was dead before he even touched the ground, causing the other elves to prepare their spells to silence Sombra and his friends.

Before they had a chance to fire even one spell at him Sombra raised the remaining two crystals into the air and threw them into the fort, crushing some of the walls and scattering the elves against the ground. One elf got onto his feet and ran at him, his sword raised high in the intent to do harm to him, but then a spike shot out of the ground and impaled him. The remaining elves got onto the feet and readied their spells, but Sombra was ready and clapped his hands together, causing the ground to quake as spikes rose out of the earth. Several of the spikes tore into the elves, scattering them around the ruined fort while one managed to somehow avoid the carnage and ran right at him, though she didn't make it far as an arrow found its way to her heart.

Sombra cast a look back and found Cadence standing behind him, bow drawn and her hand near her quiver in the off chance that the elf survived the attack. She relaxed and moved forward, her eyes scanning each of the bodies as she picked up every arrow that she saw, stocking up on them so she didn't run out. Even as she walked around she surveyed the damage that Sombra had caused, as if she didn't believe that he was capable of such destruction. Eventually she got every arrow she could find and returned to the group, boarding the boat that was left there and heading across the water.

"Impressive," Raika commented, trying to pass the time, "I heard that Princess Celestia trained you to use that bow and all I can say is that I can tell that your very skilled with it. How far can you shoot it?"

Cadence, not being one to flaunt her skills in front of others, sighed for a moment and stared off at the island they were approaching, spotting a watchtower in the distance. She spotted someone standing at the top of the watchtower, dressed in the strange armor that most vampires wore, and selected one of her arrows. She silently nocked the arrow and pulled it back, allowing her breathing to slow for a moment as she readied herself for what she was about to do. Before the others could stop her she rose up, twisted towards the watchtower, raised her bow, and loosed the arrow hard enough for it to sling right into the vampire's chest. A few seconds passed before the body fell off the top of the tower, hitting the ground as she sat back down in her seat.

"I'd say pretty far," Sombra chuckled, knowing that if Cadence hadn't taken the vampire down he would have done it himself, "and I am so going to praise Celestia for teaching you how to use that bow."

Cadence blushed a little and readied herself as the boat came to a stop on the shore of the island, allowing her a view of the castle that housed an entire host of vampires. They silently climbed out of the boat and made their way to the left of the bridge, following Serana as she led them to the inlet that would bring them to the castle's secret entrance. When they arrived they found four skeletons walking around, but Trixie and Serana were fast to cast their lightning forward and blasted them against the walls.

Once inside the undercroft they were assaulted by a group of strange dog like creatures that were as cold as the grave itself, but Raika didn't care as she plunged her swords into one. Trixie, seeing how the area around them was shaped, blasted two of the hounds with the Staff of Magnus, throwing them into the stone pillars that she assumed held part of the castle up. Serana drew a black dagger and sliced one of the hounds in the back, severing its spine and killing it in one shoot, before they found a vampire staring at them. The vampire bared her fangs at them and lunged forward, but fell to the ground with two arrows sticking out of her chest.

Cadence walked forward, yanked her arrows free for a brief moment, before nocking one of them and loosing the arrow as she rounded the corner, pinning a vampire to the wall with ease. Another one dropped to the floor and charged at her, but she ducked behind it, turned around, and loosed the second arrow right into its back. One of the hounds growled at her and lunged forward, though Cadence rolled backwards, pulled out an arrow, and loosed it right into its throat. Once the beast was dead she got up, brushed off the dust that got on her robe, and walked up to the bodies she had put down, yanking all her arrows out.

Raika would have been surprised by Cadence's performance, but after watching what Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight Sparkle were capable of she wasn't even surprised anymore. She was, however, impressed that Cadence was able to shoot something from long distances, from what she had seen when they were on the boat. She was more than willing to follow Serana, who was letting Cadence and Trixie shoot or blast down whatever was standing in their way until they came to an open area. Raika looked around for a moment and then spotted a golden dial resting in the center of the ruined area, a dial that she assumed was the one they were looking for.

"Wow, this place is dead," Serana said, as if she was mourning the loss of all the flowers and herbs, "and I see that I was right, my father broke the door and sealed the way between here and the main hall. Now, if we can find the missing moon plates, that I'm sure my mother might have torn out of their slots, then I'm positive we can get further with our search."

Sombra stepped up to the moondial and pressed his hand against it, allowing his magic to surge forward and sink into the ground. He wasn't going to summon any crystals or destroy something, but he was searching the immediate area for the plates that had been discarded some time ago. As he searched he could feel everyone else's footsteps, knowing where they were walking while he was standing in the same spot for a few moments. Then, where he felt the tug of the plates, he allowed his magic to sink them into the ground, forcing them to shift in place and appear on the slots they had been taken from. Once the plates were back in place he separated himself from the dial and backed up, watching the dial turn around and buckle, revealing a hidden staircase.

They followed the hidden path into the deepest reaches of the castle, but as they followed the path they came across dozens of skeletons and a few gargoyles. Raika had expected some monsters to be lurking along the way, though she wasn't expecting all the gargoyles to suddenly wake up and strike out at them. Sombra, sensing them as they woke up, was able to pin several of them with his dark magic, resorting to not using his crystals in the off chance that one of the vampires heard him. Eventually they smashed their way through all the enemies, traps, and puzzles that stood in their way, coming to a hidden alchemy chamber with a strange circular design on the floor.

Raika stared at the design on the floor and wondered where she had seen it before, but then remembered seeing one of them right before they had opened the portal to Sovngarde.

"Dear sweet Talos," Raika said, realizing what was sitting in front of them, "Serana, I think your mother may be hiding in one of the Oblivion Realms."

Comments

[HB_DS2013]

Cadence as an archer? Y'know... I'm sensing a pattern here.

[Sonata Blaze]

5813774 A pattern? How so?

[HB_DS2013]

5814481 By all accounts, Celestia and Luna are warriors, Sombra's a crystalmancer, Trixie's an illusionist, Twilight's... Twilight and Cadence's an archer. And they can overpower Raika in a fight.

[Sonata Blaze]

5814489 Well, Celestia and Luna have been at this game much longer than everyone else. But yeah, Raika really doesn't have much of a chance if one of them wanted to fight her for some reason.

[HB_DS2013]

5814560 Technically, Celestia's on the same boat with everyone else. Luna's the most experienced with Tamriel because of the Oblivion Crisis. It would be nice if the sequel was about Luna's adventures during the Oblivion Crisis. The problem is that I don't know anything about Oblivion because I never played it. I was planning to get it once I have the money and finished Skyrim.

[Sonata Blaze]

5814567 Your right, forgot that Celestia only came to Tamriel during the current crisis. At least Cadence is helping out, though it seems the whole killing thing is still fairely new to her. Oblivion is a decent game, though I haven't played it as much as Skyrim. I would love to see a sequel to this that is the Oblivion Crisis.

[HB_DS2013]

5814591 Nope. Celestia missed the Oblivion Crisis.

[Sonata Blaze]

5814594 I remember Celestia telling Raika that she had wanted to be in Tamriel during that time. She was jealous that Luna, or rather Nightmare Moon, got to have so much fun while she had to deal with the nobles. Or whatever she was doing at the time.

[HB_DS2013]

5814603 I always thought that Celestia was really fond of paperwork, but her love of interdimensional adventure proves otherwise. I'm guessing that Equestria was born during the Oblivion Crisis?

[Sonata Blaze]

5814665 From the sound of how things are going the two worlds may have existed separately until Luna became Nightmare Moon and was banished. I'm guessing that when she was banished it might have created a connection between the two worlds, seeing how Sombra managed to find his way there when he was thrown out of Equestria. I don't know, but maybe the author has his own idea about this.

[Vigilant of Stendarr]

Ah yes, its time to visit the Soul Cairn... one of my least favorite places to visit in Skyrim.

[kingmoonwar85]

6999126 yah I got lost in a tunal one time ... therns out I was literly running in curcols ... ps Trixie is the new Gandalf now