35: Dexion Evicus
Sunset was somewhat pleased that Lord Harkon had dropped the notion of trying to turn her into a vampire like him, as Revan had interrupted the moment and had soured the man's mood. Her friends had been beckoned to join her, Serana, and Fiona, to which they immediately walked down the stairs and scattered about the castle, looking for anything else that might relate to Revan. They wanted to be completely sure that there was nothing else that might harm anyone in the castle, something that Revan might have left behind before he assaulted his former master and fled the castle. In the end her friends returned to the main hall and reported that nothing seemed out of place, to which Sunset sighed in relief and leaned back in the chair she had been sitting in.
She had been silently sitting there, reflecting on what she had seen when Revan appeared, and wondered what the vampire could be searching for at this point, as the Daedric Artifacts were safe.
"What could Revan be searching for?" Sunset absently asked, causing Fiona to look at her for a moment, "We recovered all the Daedric Artifacts, so what else could there be that Tirek might want to get his hands on? This doesn't make any sense at all."
"You're assuming that he's looking for something to being with," Fiona pointed out, having thought about the same thing since the evil vampire had left the castle, "but there must be something more than trying to kill our allies. Revan could have stumbled on something that Lord Harkon has been working on and decided that his new master would be pleased with whatever he found."
"I see the rumors were true," Lord Harkon said, walking up to them as if he was fine, despite the bandage wrapped around his right side, while pointing at the Elder Scroll that Sunset had on her back, "I had heard that an Elder Scroll had been recently discovered, but chose not to believe it until I saw the scroll for myself, to which I see that they were true. That means that the rumors of a Moth Priest leaving the Imperial City and coming to Skyrim to investigate are true as well... though now I wonder if Revan was behind this as well."
"Oh just them about the your obsession," Serana commented, taking a seat nearby before staring at the three of them, "You'll never get to the end if there's... competition... standing in your way."
Sunset didn't need to be told that there was some animosity between the two family members, she could see it as plain as day as the two stared at each other. She slightly wondered what obsession Lord Harkon could have, but considering that vampires liked blood and hated the sun she had the feeling she knew what it could be.
"The Tyranny of the Sun," Lord Harkon finally said, sighing as he admitted defeat to his daughter, "a time when vampires will no longer have to fear the power of the sun..."
"Ah, I remember a similar tale from my home world," Sunset commented, causing Harkon to raise an eyebrow at her, "Back in my home world of Equus there was a time where a group of vampires rose to power, which was roughly a hundred years after the defeat of Nightmare Moon. They hated the sun and Princess Celestia, who moved both the sun and the moon, and decided that they would take matters into their own hooves. They gathered together, harnessed the power of some ancient and powerful Black Magic, and sought to bring about the end of the world by darkening the very sun that kept the world alive.
Suffice to say that Princess Celestia discovered their plans to bring about the end of the sun and assaulted their hideout, ending their existence before they could enact their terrible plan. Completely obliterated them."
"Does your Princess ever let anyone live?" Serana asked, while her father almost looked uncertain about what he was going to tell her, "I mean besides slaughtering everyone who opposes her?"
"Sure she does, but they're either banished or turned to stone," Sunset replied, remembering everything she knew about the villains that threatened Equus, "Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon, Discord was turned to stone, Sombra was banished to the Frozen North, Chrysalis, from what I heard, was banished from Equestria with her Hive, the Sirens were sent to another world, where my friends and I stripped them of their powers, and Tirek was sealed away in Tartarus... or at least he should have been after Princess Twilight defeated him with the help of her friends."
"Then what is this 'demon' of yours doing on Nirn?" Serana asked, wondering how such a creature could have come to Nirn, "If he's supposed to be locked up in a prison, this Tartarus of yours, then how did he end up in our world?"
"That's the part I don't understand," Sunset answered, though she had an idea that she hadn't shared yet, "though I guess that its possible that he felt the power of the Daedric Princes before he reached his prison and, in a desperate attempt to prevent himself from being imprisoned once more, somehow changed the trajectory of his path. How he could do this, I have no idea, but he's here, on Nirn, and he's planning on destroying this world so he can return to Equus... where he's going to conquer everything and destroy anyone that dares to stand against him."
"So we find this Moth Priest, have him read my Elder Scroll, and then figure out what Revan is searching for," Serana stated, as if she was in charge of everyone else, to which Sunset's friends looked at her for a moment, "What? If I was Revan I'd be capturing the Moth Priest so that, when I got my hands on one of these two scrolls, I'd be able to read it without delay and discover what secrets its hiding. Its only logical that we'd be looking for him as well, so that we can get one step ahead of our enemy before he manages to outsmart us... or at least more than he might have already done."
Sunset's friends turned to her for a moment, clearly wondering what she wanted them to do, before she sighed and picked herself out of her chair, tapping the Staff of Magnus on the floor for a moment.
"Fine, we'll get one step ahead of Revan," Sunset said, turning to Serana and Lord Harkon for a moment, "If you're telling the truth about wanting to join our alliance, then meet us at Fellglow Hold... by the time you and some of your soldiers arrive we should have already rescued the Moth Priest and arrive seconds later. Just be warned, the Dawnguard will be at the keep when you arrive, but they hate Revan too, so think before you attack them and make sure they know what your intentions are. I don't want to arrive at my base of operations and find that both you and Isran killed each other, or any of my allies for that matter."
Harkon looked like he wanted to say something, but then he shook his head and beckoned for Sunset to begone from the castle, clearly telling her to get underway while he gathered the soldiers that he wanted to take with him. Sunset walked towards the front gate with her group of friends behind her, with Serana following up behind them, as she wanted to rescue the Moth Priest and see Sunset's base of operations for herself. Once the group was outside the castle Sunset pulled out her map and pointed at Dragon Bridge, where she figured that they could ask one of the people in the small village if they had seen the Moth Priest.
She knew that no one at her base would know, as she would have known shortly afterwords, so the nearby village was her best bet to find the mysterious Moth Priest.
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Reaching Dragon Bridge from Castle Volkihar was much easier than Sunset was originally expecting it to be, as all they have to do was find a worn out road not far from the boat they used and traverse the stone pathway that lead them near Meridia's temple. Once that had been done they found the signs that told them where they were and followed the path down the other side of the mountain, where they turned in the opposite direction of Solitude and continued walking. As they walked down the road Sunset noticed quite a lot of Imperial soldiers running around, hauling crates of lumber and supplies into the various wagons they had... with Stormcloak soldiers aiding them.
That was the beauty of the Fellglow Alliance, Sunset reflected as they passed by the soldiers and respectfully nodded their heads to them, old enemies were becoming friends with each other and they were slowly making their way to Fellglow Keep. There they would be assigned to their new stations somewhere throughout Skyrim, where they would join the search for the enemy of all of Nirn. When they reached their destination Sunset wasn't surprised to find a heavy military transport waiting to depart, though she was surprised to find General Tullius speaking with the transport leader.
"General Tullius, it is good to see you again," Sunset commented, causing the imperial to turn towards her for a moment, a light smile appearing on his face the instant he looked at her.
"Ah, Archmage, it is always good to see you," Tullius replied, bowing his head a little in respect, something that all the faction leaders of the Alliance had picked up from her, "I wish I had know that you were coming this way, because then I would have made sure the caravan was prepared for an inspection... if one happened to have occurred."
"I wasn't expecting to come this way until earlier today," Sunset told him, beckoning to Serana for a moment, "We came this way to look for information regarding a Moth Priest, to read one of the two Elder Scrolls that we're carrying at the moment. You wouldn't happen to know anything about the person we're looking for would you?"
"The locals have been telling me about such a scholar for the last half hour," Tullius answered, moving slightly so a soldier could get his container on the caravan, "He rode through with an escort earlier this morning, but according to everyone I've talked to they have noticed an overturned carriage on the other side of the bridge, maybe ten minutes from our current position. We're going to have to stop and clear the road anyway, so if you'd like we can ride out together and stop at the wreckage, where you can look for the Moth Priest and bring him back to us, once you've found and convinced him of our plight that is. Once he's with us we can all ride back to Fellglow Keep."
Sunset thought about it for a moment and, after a couple of seconds, decided that General Tullius made a good point, to which she offered her help in loading the caravan. Her friends noticed what she was doing and immediately sprung into action, moving to the various soldiers that were around them and lending their aid. Serana stared at them like they had lost their minds for a moment, but then realized that the two groups of soldiers were actually allies of Sunset and walked up to one of them, reluctantly lending her aid to the soldiers. After ten minutes of helping the two groups load their supplies onto the caravan General Tullius called for them to mount up, which lead to everyone either getting on a horse or climbing into an available seat on the caravan.
Not a few minutes later they were forced to stop by the wrecked caravan that the Moth Priest was supposed to be riding, to which Sunset and her friends climbed off the caravan and investigated the area. What Sunset found were a bunch of dead bodies, both the people she assumed were the guards that protected the Moth Priest and some vampires that had likely attacked the caravan. After a brief moment of searching Sunset found a note on one of the vampire's bodies, one that indicated that the leader of the vampire attack wanted to break the Moth Priest, to use his knowledge for whatever plan that the master was working on.
And, in an ironic twist of fate, the cave that the Moth Priest was supposed to have been taken to was actually across the bridge they had stopped before, leading right to a hole in the wall that Sunset assumed was the cave in question.
"We'll be back with the Moth Priest in a half hour," Sunset told General Tullius, which resulting in some of the soldiers moving towards the wreckage.
"Take all the time you need Archmage," the General replied, nodding to his soldiers for a moment, "We'll be burying these soldiers while we remove this wreckage... just be sure to give the creatures that did this no mercy."
Sunset nodded and wasted no time in crossing the stone bridge, where she immediately headed towards the hole in the hillside and stopped just short of the entrance, allowing time for her friends to catch up. Once they were together Sunset walked into the cave, where she found what appeared to be an ancient ruin, created by vampires by the look of the gargoyles that lined the walls, that was being patrolled by vampires. They were all wearing the armor that Lord Harkon's followers had been wearing, but Sunset realized that it was a tactic to make people think that Harkon was plotting to attack and slaughter everyone.
Lightning flashed around Sunset's left hand, causing her friends to take a step backwards, as she calmly walked towards the entrance of the ruins. One of the vampires shouted at her, telling her to stop before they loosed the gargoyles on her, but she paid them no mind as she raised her hand up and struck the vampire in the chest. The impact of the attack launched the vampire into the air before slamming her into the back of the ruins, which caused her allies to draw their weapons, summon their magic, and loose the gargoyles. Sunset nodded her head and, just before the first vampire could even touch her, Bjorn's arrow flew through the air and struck the vampire in the chest.
Fiona, Cicero, and Raja appeared behind their enemies, but unlike the previous times that they had done the same move the vampires seemed to know that they were there and turned around, fully prepared to engage them. Sunset thought that it was odd that a thief, an assassin, and a vampire could be so easily found, which made her wonder if Nocturnal had taken her Key out of Nirn to protect herself, cutting off the abilities of thieves and those that chose to crouch in the shadows. As she thought about it one gargoyle came close to hitting her, but Lydia jumped in between the two of them and cut the gargoyle down before it could touch her, to which Sunset nodded her appreciation to the nord.
Serana, on the other hand, had to watch in awe as she observed the six of them laying waste to the vampires that stood against them, before she joined in and impaled one of them with her ice spikes. When the deed was done, and the head vampire was defeated, Sunset found what appeared to be a focusing stone and placed it into the pedestal that was overlooking the magical prison that was keeping the Moth Priest bound. The Moth Priest was dressed up in a simple grey robe and carried what appeared to be an akaviri blade, though the moment the barrier was down he tried to attack them, to which Sunset summoned her magic and bound his hands to his side. She knew that, until whatever spell Revan's lackey had inflicted on the Moth Priest had run its course, they would have to wait until the Priest was sane once more.
Not ten minutes later the Moth Priest moaned before standing up as straight as he possibly could, to which Sunset could tell that the Priest was in his own mind once more and released his arms.
"Thank you for breaking that foul vampire's hold over me," the Moth Priest said, rubbing his arms for a moment before looking at his saviors, spotting Serana almost immediately before turning back to Sunset, "I'm quite alright, thanks to you. Dexion Evicus is my name. I'm a Moth Priest of the White Gold Tower. These vampires claimed they had some purpose in store for me, but they wouldn't say what. Probably hoping to ransom me, the fools. Now tell me, whom do you represent, and what do you want with me?"
"We need you to read an Elder Scroll," Sunset told the Moth Priest, to which she noticed the man's eyes light up for a moment, "so that we can stop a vampire by the name of Revan from causing untold harm to all of Nirn. I am Sunset Shimmer, Archmage of the College of Winterhold and Leader of the Fellglow Alliance. These are my friends Bjorn Wyrmsblood, Fiona Nightblade, Raja, Lydia, Cicero, and Serana."
"You have an Elder Scroll?" the man replied, joy appearing on his face, "Remarkable! I'm sorry to say that my knowledge of the 'Fellglow Alliance' is lacking, but I do know some facts about Fellglow Keep. Is that where we are heading?"
"Yes," Sunset told the man, glad that he understood what was happening, "If you'll follow us we'll get to our caravan and resume the journey to our base."
Dexion nodded and followed the group as they made their way out of the cave and retraced their steps to where the wreckage had been, arriving in time to see the end of the Imperials saying goodbye to the fallen soldiers. General Tullius spotted the group arriving as the soldiers climbed back on the caravan, to which he introduced himself to the Moth Priest as they joined the soldiers. Once everyone was ready they got underway to Fellglow Keep, where they would be able to figure out what Revan might be searching for.
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Sunset was expecting both Isran and Lord Harkon to have arrived long before she and her friends did, to which she wasn't surprised when she spotted the two factions standing on opposite ends of the courtyard. She had been expecting some kind of dispute that her soldiers had to take care of to be underway, but she had to admit that she was surprised to see both leaders, and their chosen soldiers, standing still as they waited for her arrival. Delphine, Elenwen, and Tolfdir, the leaders of the alliance while Sunset was away, seemed uneasy about having the two men so close to each other, but calmed down as Sunset approached them.
Dexion, on the other hand, continued to look around in amazement, commenting on how this place had been a ruin and was impressed by the transformation it had endured.
"Ah, Archmage, I see you found the Moth Priest," Lord Harkon commented, spotting the man as the group approached them, "I assume he's been brought up to speed on what's happening?"
"A dremora that wants the end of Nirn and a rogue vampire that's serving him," Dexion replied, condensing what he had been told on the way to the keep, "I am eager to read the Elder Scroll and see what our enemy is seeking."
"As are we old man," Isran said, placing his hand on the Moth Priest's shoulder as Serana handed over the scroll she was carrying, before backing up, "Okay, let's get the show on the road."
"Now, if everyone will please be quiet, I must concentrate," Dexion said, his voice echoing across the courtyard, to which everyone stopped what they were doing to listen to his words, "I see a vision before me, an image of a great bow. I know this weapon! It is Auriel's Bow! Now a voice whispers, saying "Among the night's children, a dread lord will rise." In an age of strife, when dragons return to the realm of men, darkness will mingle with light and the night and day will be as one. The voice fades and the words begin to shimmer and distort. But wait, there is more here. The secret of the bow's power is written elsewhere. I think there is more to the prophecy, recorded in other scrolls. Yes, I see them now... One contains the ancient secrets of the dragons, and the other speaks of the potency of ancient blood. My vision darkens, and I see no more. To know the complete prophecy, we must have the other two scrolls."
Sunset listened to Dexion's words, piecing together what he had been saying, before she decided on what they needed to do, something she was sure that Serana would want to come along for. They needed three Elder Scrolls, to which they had two of them, but while she wondered what secret her scroll held she also wondered where the third one was located. The prophecy itself, on the other hand, seemed to align with the lost prophecy line that she had been told when she recovered Azura's Star, but Sunset couldn't be sure. She knew a world of Twilight would eventually kill Nirn, which told her that she couldn't allow Auriel's Bow to fall into the hands of Revan, or worse Tirek.
Her path was clear, they needed to find the last Elder Scroll and recover the bow, so they could destroy whatever plan that Revan happened to be working on.
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Tirek grinned as he finished draining Azura of her power, to which he threw her into the same cell that he had thrown Meridia into, though he found that the Daedric Prince was awake enough to catch her fellow Prince. He cared not if they woke up to see him drain another Prince or permanently stayed asleep while he brought total ruin to the world that they all fought over. All he cared about was draining all of them dry, so he could break through the barrier that protected Nirn from Oblivion and travel through the space between worlds. Then he'd return to Equus with all of his terrible power once more, to which he would gladly imprison all four Princesses in Tartarus so he could burn the world to the ground.
"You... you'll never win," Meridia said, causing Tirek to turn around and look at her, "There are those that will feel what you are doing. They will not allow you to get away with stripping us of our power."
"Yes, your precious Sunset Shimmer," Tirek spat the name out, tired of hearing the Princes speak it every time they spoke to him, "I'll tell you what I told Nocturnal, before I drained her of her powers; Sunset Shimmer is scared of even considering the thought of me getting my full power. I will break this world, of that you can be sure of."
He closed the door and approached the chest once more, his magic wrapping around the next artifact and dragging it out, revealing a blackened staff with three faces at the top, each baring a different expression. Tirek repeated the summoning words he had spoken twice already, ripping the Prince known as Sheogorath from his realm of Oblivion and transporting him to the fortress. When the Prince emerged, however, he wasn't dazed like the other two and immediately sprung into action, magic becoming solid as the Madgod struck at Tirek with his power.
Tirek, on the other hand, caught the attack, threw it into the summoning circle, to which it would be disposed of in Sheogorath's realm, before his arm caught the Prince's neck and dragged him into the air.
"I see your eager to begin the process," Tirek commented, slowly taking the Madgod's power into his body, strengthening himself as he got closer to full power, "Thank you, Sheogorath, for allowing me to become one step closer to my full power."
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"Come on Jyggalag, you have to stop him," Nocturnal nearly shouted at the Prince of Order, something she would never dream of doing unless it was absolutely necessary.
When she had come to she found that she was no longer in her temple, but rather in a seemingly endless castle that appeared to be made of grey crystals. Where they were in Oblivion, she had no idea, but she knew that it had to be the beginnings of Jyggalag's new Plane of Oblivion, which was much smaller than the Shivering Isles at this point. She was allowed to watch the monster that had taken her power, though she was powerless to do anything to save the other Princes before the monster summoned them to his lair. All the while Jyggalag sat in a throne in the middle of the same chamber that Nocturnal was kept in, ignoring her every time she suggested that he return to Nirn and destroy the monster before he destroyed Nirn.
And, true to his nature, the Prince seemed to be as still as a statue, but, unlike all the other times she had asked, Jyggalag snapped his fingers and summoned a chessboard.
"Illogical," Jyggalag replied, removing four pieces from the board, ones that Nocturnal was sure resembled herself, Meridia, Azura, and Sheogorath, "This event must progress without my interference."
"He's going to slaughter everyone and burn Nirn to the ground," Nocturnal countered, not believing that the Prince of Order was about to let everyone on Nirn die, without trying to stop the creature at all, "He's causing chaos and disrupting your notion of predetermined fate. Seriously, that alone has to annoy you enough to want to erase Tirek from existence."
"Illogical," Jyggalag replied, staring up into Nocturnal's eyes and forcing her to back up just a bit, "Tirek and Sunset Shimmer must play out this war of theirs... and bring about whatever ending the have been working towards. I will make a move when they are finished, but not before that point. You had best remember that fact, Nocturnal."
Nocturnal gulped before backing away from the throne, returning to her chamber as she hoped that she was right in placing her trust in Jyggalag and his mysterious plan. She only hoped that the other Princes would catch on to what was happening before they were drained as well, though all she could really do was pray to the Divines for some form of assistance.
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So Jyggalag is just going to sit on his rear and do nothing until Sunset and Tirek's battle is over... and then take out the winner? This guy is like a twisted version of Dr. Fate.
And the effects of Nocturnal being drained are being felt already. Not good.
7034459 Yeah, that's not a good thing. If the thieves and assassins are feeling the effects of Nocturnal being drained, maybe two to three days after it happening, then its only a matter of time before Nirn feels the effects of Meridia losing her power... followed shortly by Azura, Sheogorath, and whoever follows them.
And Jyggalag is being a jerk... I don't care if he's the Daedric Prince of Order, its not okay to let all of Nirn burn to the ground because 'Logic' demands it.
Well, so much for "Balance". Looks like Logic is going to doom us all.
It's confirmed, Jyggalag's true identity is the author
God dammit Jyggalag... he can hurt Tirek, maybe even kill him before he reaches full power, but all he cares about is seeing the barrier between worlds fall, so he can use his full power once more.
And the effects of Nocturnal being drained are beginning to be felt... this couldn't get any worse.
7034893 Why would you say that?
7035476 He's practically saying "I won't judge them for what they are doing now but for all that they've done"
Like an author deciding the ultimate fate of every character, to end things abruptly will leave things unfinished and more disorderly than letting things settle into place. If Jyggalag attacks, Tirek's abrupt end means the end of the alliance, while Sunset may have set the rallying call, it's Tirek that's the sole motivation of its existence. While those displaced from their destroyed Holds would stay, it doesn't give much reason for the Legion, Stormcloaks, Dawnguard, Vampires to really stick around, and most importantly the Dragons, whose power base has grown from all of the undead and reborn dragons to continue their wars. Things need to get dire, like literally everyone dropping left and right, getting stuck in a fight that they all know they could die in to really cement a lasting unity born of camaraderie and friendship. So when things come to an end, Jyggalag can start his "Epilogue".
I bet when Tirek gets to Mora, he's be able to stall him by using his words. If he is as he seems, I'm sure Mora knows that he'll be in this position eventually. While I doubt that he'll try to bargain his way out of things, since helping him will hasten the destruction of everything, I'm sure he'll try to throw Tirek off kilter.
7035635 Oh, I see what your saying. Though it seems that Tirek is absorbing the Princes in the order that Sunset recovered their artifacts, excluding Nocturnal of course.