Sonata's Crazy and Wacky Adventure in Skyrim

by Sonata Blaze

37: Strange News and Stranger Allies

Sonata was exhausted, both mentally and physically, from her assault on Fellglow Keep, where she and her friends decimated the orcs that had been stationed there by her enemy. She had not been ready to assume her 'empowered' form, especially after the last time she had used it, and it drained her if she used it in rapid succession. As a result her body ached with pain, which she would have been able to endure had something else not happened during the assault. Lydia, one of her oldest friends, had been cut down by her opponents when the orcs loosed their terrible Dwarven construct, which had consumed Sonata's attention until she brought it down.

The loss of Lydia hurt Sonata more than she had expected it to, but it also came with the feeling that someone had betrayed her to get to her housecarl... and her prime suspect was Krovor. The orc claimed that one of Grul's followers had struck Lydia while the two of them were fleeing and killed her before he had a chance to save her, though she knew he had to be lying. Her time with Adagio and Aria gave her a better understanding of when someone was being truthful and when someone was lying, so while the orc appeared to have a great poker face, and was hiding his deed from everyone else, she knew the truth.

She could not strike him down, not with some many people standing around her, so she decided to wait for her chance to do so in the future... and pray that such a thing didn't happen to anyone else.

Shortly after they had finished off the orcs, and recovered anything of use, they had returned to Whiterun and announced their victory over the orcs, much to Jarl Balgruuf's joy. That was followed by a moment of silence for Lydia, which made the Jarl ensure that she would have a proper warrior's send off on a funeral pyre. The event was held not thirty minutes after Balgruuf had been informed of Lydia's passing, though Sonata barely paid attention to anything that had been said as she watched her friend's body be devoured by the flames. Even once the ceremony was over, and everyone else backed away from the flames, she stood there and watched the fire as it danced over the wood and across Lydia's body.

Her earlier anger returned and she felt like she was ready to snap, but before she did anything reckless she calmed down a bit and focused on the task at hand... figuring out what the Moth Priest knew about the Elder Scrolls and track down Harkon, before he could do more damage to Skyrim.

"Sonata, we've got company," Kree said, causing her friend to finally look away from the flames and turn towards her, before she pointed back at the person in question, "It seems that Cicero has something else he wishes to share with us."

Sonata looked back at the jester, who seemed to be smiling while he was carrying three unique looking items in his hands; one happened to be a sword that was glowing with a bright light, the second appeared to be a staff that was modeled after a rose, while the third was, strangely enough, a shield that looked like something one of the ancient Dwarves had made. That wasn't even the strangest part, because on Cicero's right arm was some strange lettering that appeared to have been burned into the fabric of his clothing, though he didn't seem to mind it at all. She had no idea what the lettering said, though she could have sworn that she could make out five letters, though she eventually shook the thought from her mind and turned her attention on the jester.

"Hello Cicero," Sonata said, somewhat thankful that they were outside the city and not inside, otherwise someone would no doubt be asking questions about what the man was carrying, "What news do you have for me today?"

"Sly Cicero has been following your enemy, lurking in the shadows and spying on his movements," Cicero replied, indicating that he was constantly watching Grul, "Last I saw he was trespassing in Dimhollow Crypt, where you found the vampire called Serana, where he stole the souls of the dead for his own schemes."

"Molag Bal won't like that one bit," Serana commented, as she had been interested in what the jester had to say and stood near the three of them, as Kree was standing by Sonata as well, "He's, well, got a thing for taking souls..."

"Yes, but it was what sly Cicero heard next that will interest you," Cicero said, drawing the attention back to himself, "I heard him mention that he's looking for the essences of the seventeen Daedric Princes, the powerful beings that control all the various realms of Oblivion."

"He must have misspoke," Serana stated, as if she didn't like the fact that Cicero had done something wrong, though it was clear that she sensed that something was amiss, "there are only sixteen Princes, not seventeen."

"No, he's right about the number," Kree commented, to which the assembled group turned towards her for a moment, "During the Oblivion Crisis, when Mehrunes Dagon tried to destroy the world, a door opened to the Shivering Isles and one of my ancestors, an argonian warrior named Dan-Ja Steelgrip, braved the call of the Prince of Madness. It is said that during that time the long forgotten Prince of Order, the dreaded Jyggalag, resurfaced for just a few moments to battle Sheogorath, but then he disappeared and was never heard from again. My ancestor never returned home, much to his wife's sorrow, but the line continued on until it came to me, along with the stories that they chose to tell me."

"How do you know what happened in the Shivering Isles if your ancestor never came back?" Serana asked, though even as the question was spoken Sonata had the feeling that Kree had an answer.

"A man by the name of Dyus, who happened to be dressed in black robes, came to my ancestor's home and told them what he knew," Kree answered, before letting out a sigh, "and then he disappeared, never to be seen again."

"Okay then, so there's a seventeenth Daedric Prince," Serana said, pinching the bridge of her nose for a moment, before turning back to Cicero, "and you said that Grul is looking for the 'essences' of the Princes?"

"Yes, though sly Cicero already figured that part out," Cicero replied, beckoning to the unusual items he was carrying, "The Dawnbreaker of the Prince known as Meridia, the Sanguine Rose from Lord Sanguine, and the Spellbreaker from Prince Peryite. All of these items, including the ones I have not yet obtained, contain a small portion of their respective Princes' powers, meaning that these are what our enemy seeks. I also stole the pieces of Mehrunes Razor from their respective owners, just so I could keep another item out of the warlocks hands."

Sonata was beginning to understand what Cicero was saying, because as she understood what was going on Grul wanted the artifacts of the known sixteen Daedric Princes, not counting the mysterious Jyggalag. Seeing how Grul had a crystal that could absorb energy, which must have been how he was ripping out the souls from everything he killed, she figured that he was going to subject any artifact he came across to the crystal and absorb its powers. She could tell that her enemy was trying to weaken the Princes, no doubt because the arrival of his own master would shatter whatever barrier was keeping the daedra from invading this world again.

Once again Sonata found herself wondered who Grul's master really was, because all she had seen in her visions was a colossal creature that was surrounded by smoke. The being had to be incredibly powerful, so much so to have enticed the orc warlock into serving him with the promise being more power for every world he conquered. She was sure that Grul's master was a god, one that wasn't native to this world at all, but she had no idea what the god actually commanded and didn't like that she knew so little about him or her.

"I also come as a messenger for someone else," Cicero said, putting away all three artifacts, which seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye, before beckoning to the writing on his arm, "Can you read this?"

"I can," Serana stated, stepping forward to see what was on the man's arm, before pulling back with a look of shock on her face, "Cicero, these letters are in the Daedric Language, which I spent some time studying and memorizing before becoming a vampire... and they spell out the word 'Order'. Does that mean what I think it means?"

Instead of answering the question Cicero turned to the ground for a moment and pressed his hand against the earth, though that was rapidly followed by a dull grey crystal pillar ripping through the ground and stopping at about twice the height of Sonata. The group waited for a moment, to see what happened next, though that was before a humanoid creature, wearing a complete set of crystalline armor that covered its entire body and carrying a crystal sword, stepped out of the crystal pillar and stared at them. Sonata's friends immediately stepped away from the figure, leaving it and Sonata alone at the moment, though all Sonata did was stare at the creature in wonder.

That was eventually followed by the creature dropping to one knee, how Sonata had no idea, and taking up the position of a knight that was kneeling in front of their master.

"Siren Queen, I bring an issue from my master, the Prince of Order," the knight stated, though its voice sounded like a cross between something human and something inhuman, "the Knights of Order are being dispatched to Skyrim to hunt down and kill the orc warlock called Grul."

"And Akatosh is fine with that?" Serana asked, causing the knight to turn its head in her direction for a moment, "The Chief of the Nine Divines is okay with an army of Daedra marching through Nirn and doing battle with someone that's as powerful as Grul is?"

"The barrier between worlds is already weakening," the knight replied, though it returned to looking at Sonata while it spoke, "the gateway is slowly tearing a hole through the barrier, so the warlock's terrible master can enter this world. At the same time the opening can allow any Prince to do the same thing, though my master as contacted the other Princes and decreed that none shall act without the permission of Akatosh and the other Divines. Only my master has bothered to receive permission, which is why we are starting to assemble in this world."

"This cannot be happening," Kree commented, shaking her head as she finally realized what could possibly happen next, "this is going to be a second Oblivion Crisis if we're not careful... and this time it will be centered in Skyrim and not in Cyrodiil. Jyggalag just gave the other Princes their way into Nirn... and all they have to do is try and trick the Chief of the Divines and we'll be finished. If the armies of the Deadlands or Coldharbour were to attack while dealing with Grul and his army... we'd never be able to standing against three opposing enemies."

"So the legendary Prince of Order is our ally," Serana said, looking up at the sky for a moment, as if she could believe her ears, "Well, I guess that means that Grul's screwed no matter what we do... because if we fail then Jyggalag will just carve the warlock to pieces, and then I guess move on with his life."

Sonata had the feeling that it wouldn't be that simple, regardless of how powerful the seventeenth Prince was, so she decided to stick to her original plan and hunt down Harkon.

"Very well, I shall accept Jyggalag's support in this war," Sonata finally said, knowing that having the Prince as an ally would be better than having him as an enemy, "How much time do we have before the barrier completely fails."

The knight, instead of replying with words, merely shook his head, indicating that he had no idea when it would happen, before picking himself up and disappearing into the crystal behind him. Sonata let out a sigh as the crystal pillar dimmed and went dark, because now she had to plan for the eventual arrival of Jyggalag and his army if she failed to stop Grul. Sometimes she wished that she had just chosen to stay back on Earth and try and make friends with the girls that had beaten her and her sisters, but now she guessed that she would have entered the portal anyway.

Her life was getting more difficult before it was getting any easier... and for some reason she sensed that things were going to continue to go downhill for a while before they got better.

Comments

[Aria Blitz]

So Jyggalag is going to make an appearance in this story as well?
Sounds like someone must have enjoyed Black's story more than we thought.

[Crescent Glaive]

Interesting

[Blackdrag-rose]

8011226 Indeed. Grul is starting to sound familiar to my version of Tirek, though I am curious as to where the author will go with this story now that this knowledge has been given to us.

[Crescent Glaive]

8011423 and what i am wondering even more, is that who the hell even is this so called Master that Grul answers to?

[Blackdrag-rose]

8011528 Apparently a creature that's equal in power to a Daedric Prince, or at least that's what Sonata (the character) thinks.

[HB_DS2013]

I'll bet twenty bits Grul's boss is Tirek. I'm not surprised that he's already a threat to the multiverse.

[Vigilant of Stendarr]

So this story will also include Jyggalag... interesting.

[Adagio Shimmer]

Oh hello Jyggalag... I'm going to have to research you to figure out what's so special about you.
Seriously, I must have missed a game or something... because I don't recall there being a seventeenth prince.