Night-walkers
An Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Fanfiction
Disclaimer: the author claims no ownership for Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls, and pretty much anything you might recognize
Chapter One: Dawnguard
As soon as he walked inside the Crypt, Eradil Envyln knew he was dead.
This was supposed to be nothing more than a recon mission. A recon mission for a recruit no less.
It all began when he saw the Orc in Riften.
[Flashback sequence]
There he was, minding his own business, protecting his pocket from the probable thieves, when a pale nord in black robes entered the town, and yelled "Behold the power of night!" before drawing a sword and attacking the nearest citizen, a guard.
Eradil, who had an ounce of common sense in him, stayed out of the fight, running back to the local Tavern, Bee and the Barb.
His attempt failed miserably. The Pale Nord, who by her method of fighting and her appearance seemed to be a Vampire, noticed him, targeted him, and attacked.
Unfortunately, Eradil was not a fighter himself. In fact, not only didn't he know the sharp end of a blade, but also his knowledge of Magic was limited to nothing more than common healing and measly flames and sparks.
The Vampire did not care about such irrelevant details, and with a swipe of her legs, brought down the fleeing elf.
Eradil Already knew his fate was seated, the Vampire had he sword and a spell-ready hand aimed at his head. He was dead, it was just the question of which weapon to be his instrument of Death.
The Vampire grinned at the elf wickedly, screeching "Now your blood is mine!", and raised her sword, but then her face changed into one of a painful Cringe.
She fell off over him, blood flowing out of her body. A piece of wood was sticking out of her stomach.
Eradil looked above in front of him, and saw his savior.
An orc in dark grey chainmail armor without no helm was looking at him, a strange looking bow in his hand.
He said "hey, you there. You alright?"
Eradil nodded, and got up slowly, cringing as a jolt of pain hit his legs.
The orc said "the Dawnguard is looking for anyone willing to fight against the growing Vampire menace. What'd'ya say?"
Eradil wished he had the courage and spunk to say "Vampires? Sign me up!", but alas, his was not the path of courage. He said "vampires? They're growing?"
The Orc raised an eyebrow at him, "have you ever seen a vampire attack in day before?"
His point proven, he said "Alright. You might be a bit in shock right now. I'll just say the path to the old Fort is East of Riften. In the Dayspring Canyon. You can't miss it"
And left.
It was about two weeks later, when another vampire attack was stopped, when Eradil decided to join them.
The journey to the old Fort didn't take long. The dayspring canyon was on the path to Morrowind, and he simply joined a group of priest of Azura who were returning home after visiting the shrine in Skyrim.
"well, that is the Dayspring Canyon, Friend. That'd be your stop." Said one of the Mercenaries, wearing a set of the Chitin armors the Dunmer are so fond of.
"safe travels" called Eradil, before leaving them, entering the Cave.
A short distance down the path leading through the canyon, he encountered a young nord, visibly nervous and excited.
"Ah, hey there! You here to join the Dawnguard too?" he said. After that, Eradil merely ignored him. The boy was obviously no more of a warrior than Eradil himself was, their only difference the training the Nord had with his father's old axe.
Soon enough, he'd reached the old fort's front door. Another man in the same armor as the orc waiting by the door.
The new Warrior, presumably a Dawnguard, greeted Eradil and sent him in, telling him "Go on inside, Isran will want to see you"
Inside, a Redguard in the same armor as the Orc was arguing with a Nord in Apprentice robes.
"Why are you here, Tolan? The Vigilants and I were finished years ago!" asked the Redguard in a gruff voice, the other answered "you know why I'm here, Tolan. The Vigilants are under attack everywhere! The vampires are more dangerous than we first believed!"
The Redguard said "so that's it? A 'you were right', and now you're running to the safety of the Dawnguard? I remember keeper Carcette telling me, repeatedly, that Dawnguard is a crumbling ruin, not worth the expense and manpower to repair. And now that you've stirred up the vampires against you, you come begging for our protection?"
Tolan, the Vigilant in question, said in a solemn voice, "Isran, Carcette is dead. The hall of Vigilants…EVERYONE, they're all dead. You were right, and we wrong. Isn't that enough for you?"
Isran, the Redguard, and apparently the one I had to talk to, said "I never wanted any of this to happen, I tried to warn you. I am sorry, you know…"
At this point, the Redguard dismissed the vigilant and looked at Eradil, and said "well, who're you? What d'ya want?"
Eradil answered "I'm here to join the Dawnguard"
The Redguard looked at the elf, raised an eyebrow and said "you want to join the Dawnguard?" he chuckled, "have you ever fought?"
As Eradil shook his head meekly, Isran grumbled "Stendarr, I don't know why do I even bother with guards!"
Eradil sighed, and said "look, I've seen the state of this place. Are you sure you don't need the help of a non-warrior?" Isran said "alright, look around. See I you can find anything worth keeping here. By the time you're back, I've found something for you to do"
Half an hour later, Isran told Eradil his mission.
He had to go to the Hall of the Vigilant, and see if there were any survivors.
Three days later, he finally reached the Hall of Vigilant, the Headquarters of the most violent group of Daedra-haters.
There was no headquarters. No watchtowers, or even outposts, or guards.
In the place of the hall, stood the burnt body of a building. Trying to not pay the smell any mind, he walked towards the 'hall'. In its remains there were the corpses of many a vigilant. A few bodies of Vampires as well. But no sign as to any survivors.
Then he remembered something Tolan has said, he'd said one of the Vigilants, Adavald if Eradil's memory could be trusted, had been taken when the hall was attacked.
Eradil couldn't do anything. After twenty minutes of fruitless search, he gave up, and followed the trail of blood.
Hopefully that would take him to his destination.
[Flashback Over]
It hadn't.
What it had done, though, was to take him to a Crypt, and inside it, he was crouching, hiding behind a boulder as two vampires were talking to each other.
A damned Vigilant had fell before them, of course by the things he saw, the Vigilant had taken two of the vampires with him as well.
Eradil sighed, and Loaded his Crossbow, aiming at the head of the closest Vampire.
Fortunately, firing a crossbow just needed a straight hand and a firm grip, and both of which were things one could achieve in a few days of extreme practice.
The first vampire, a male nord, fell with a groan.
That got the attention of the second, who was near him. She began investigating, looking for the source of the bolt.
Eradil crouched and slowly sneaked to the next boulder, praying to every god he knew that the vampire wouldn't hear him.
When the vampire reached the boulder Eradil was hiding at, he raised the crossbow once more, and this time, and fired.
The vampire, once again, fell with a thud.
Eradil released a breath he didn't know he was holding.
That, he came to regret a second later, when a black dog with strange canine teeth barked loudly and began attacking him.
Cursing at his stupidity, Eradil gave up, threw the Crossbow to the ground, and summoned the aura of Fire magic, releasing two Turrets of Fire upon the beast, killing it as fast as possible.
Turns out, the Hound was vampiric, and weak to fire.
Walking with caution, he went to an outpost nearby, and flipped the lever inside, after picking up all the potions he could find.
A gate near the dead vigilant opened.
Walking back to the main area, Eradil flipped the Vigilant over, and sighed loudly, there goes the great Dawnguard, it was Tolan.
Walking deeper into the Crypt, he faced another Vampire, and silently raised his crossbow, aiming it at his pale head, that was when another voice said "Master, there's someone behind you!"
A hunter, by what he was wearing. And probably a Thrall.
Darn.
The creature turned around, and noticed him, "ah, free food! Excellent!", right before Eradil's Bolt hit him straight in the heart.
With a thud, the vampire fell, his thrall crying in pain as the Vampire's influence left him.
"where-where in Oblivion am I?" he asked.
Really? That is what you ask first? Eradil answered "a Crypt near the hall of the Vigilant. Do you know why you're here?"
The hunter shook his head, "all I remember was tailing an elk, when the weird guy attacked me…" then he looked at the dead vampire by his feet, "NO! a vampire attacked me? Am I going to be a vampire?"
I said "I don't know, but I recommend going to a priest, or praying at a shrine, I'll have to go further inside"
The hunter said "alright. I'm ever in debt of you for saving me from that vampire. Thank you" and left the crypt.
Eradil walked deeper into the crypt, walking past a fallen vampire, with a large spider dead near it. Was I lucky, he thought, as he entered the next hall.
Killing two more vampires, he noticed the sudden change in architecture. The structure in front of him was in no way Nordic. Not even Atmoran, like the things he'd seen in the Crypt by far. This was something different, and possibly older.
But alas, he'd yet to see the last of the survivors, and he couldn't return now, he was too curious.
He opened the door, to see a Cavern. No doubt the main hall of the crypt once.
As he entered the cavern, he could easily deduce he was on a balcony of some sorts, in front of him were two of the creepiest statues he'd ever seen. Like grotesque monsters right out of the nightmares of a Daedric lord, with sharp-looking talons in hand and wings on their backs.
As he was about to approach the balcony and descend to the lower level, he heard a clear voice saying "I'll never tell you anything, Vampire! My Oath to Stendarr is stronger that whatever suffering you can inflict on me!"
The surviving Vigilant, the one he'd been trying to find. And the vampires had him.
One of the vampires, presumably the one he'd been talking to, said "I believe you vigilant. I don't think you even know what treasure have you found here. Go, meet your beloved god" there was an audible snap, a low grunt, and a body falling into the ground.
That last vigilant was dead. Damn.
"are you sure that was wise, Lokir?" asked a woman, presumably another vampire, "he still might've told us something. We have no idea on…" the other vampire quickly interrupted him, "please be kind enough not to undermine me in my own mission. If you want to, we can talk after I've… "
Eradil had heard enough. Aiming his crossbow at the male vampire, presumably Lokir, and squeezed the trigger.
He failed.
His bolt hit the master vampire in the shoulder, and made him fall with a thud, but didn't kill him. The vampire cried "UGH!"
The other vampire looked at him, "darn. Someone's here!"
Casting a spell at the fallen vigilant, she ran to the place Lokir had fallen and said "you'll owe me for this,"
The fallen vigilant rose with a groan. Darn, she's a necromancer!
The vampire raised her hand, a red aura surrounding it, and aimed it at Eradil. A jet of red light began hitting him. Eradil could see why a vampire would use that spell. The spell was slowly draining him of life, if it went on for another minute, there would be no Eradil Envyln.
Therefore, he aimed the crossbow at her heart, and fired.
As soon as the Vampire was dead, so was her Dead thrall.
Not willing to take any chances, he unleashed a turret of Flame upon Lokir, burning him, and finally killing him.
Then, he looked at the dead vigilant's body, in his hands was a book, one he'd written, anyway.
Eradil opened the book, after a bit of reading, he chuckled. This 'crypt' was actually called DIMHOLLOW crypt. By the name alone, it could be easily deduced it belonged to the Vampires. No wonder it looked nothing like the Nordic ruins he'd seen until then.
Apparently, that was as far as Adavald had discovered about the crypt. Nothing more. Well, time for Eradil to continue the research!
He stepped forward, a bridge connected the mainland to an island inside the crypt.
The place was pretty much proof of the efficiency of the Ancients in building. In the island was A dome as high as six men, in the middle of it a ring of columns that supported stone archs. Of course some of those had fallen apart, after being there for so long a time.
In the center of the island, there was a stone pedestal, about half as tall as him, made of a strange purplish marble, with a sort of stone mushroom on the top. He walked towards it. The 'stone mushroom' was a button.
Well, whatever's that hidden beneath the island will not show itself until I've touched the button, so what the hell. And touched it.
And cursed a second later. A Thorn Flashed upwards and down again, pretty much tearing his hand apart. Pain jolted in his hand, he yelped and drew his hand back, cursing "who in oblivion puts a trap inside a button?"
He almost collapsed, but managed to pull himself back on his feet before he'd fell, and waited for something to happen. A door to open, or anything.
He was disappointed, but not for long. As soon as the Thorn retracted, the lines carved into stone around him lit up to something that seemed like violet flames, but wasn't really hurting.
Blood magic, he thought, and then, was he was healing his hand with the spell he knew, he noticed that a line of flame broke off from the circle and moved outwards. Following the line of flame, Eradil saw that there were even more lines carved in the stone beneath him. The line of flame moved, until it reached the first brazier. Then it stopped.
Eradil walked to the brazier, and found out it could be moved, he moved it to where the line of flames ended, and it began moving again.
Doing the same for the next four braziers, he finished with the last. Then he noticed the center of the structure started sinking right under him. Revealing more and more of the pillar.
When the shaking stopped, he approached the pillar in the center, there was a cylinder in the middle of the pillar, almost the same as his height.
He found another button, and said "what the hell. Whatever's in the cylinder had better be worth it!" and touched it.
Wait. That wasn't a cylinder. It was a sarcophagus. Someone was inside.
As the door of the sarcophagus swung open, Eradil was almost ready to puke.
But there was no need.
There was a body inside, but she sure as hell wasn't a corpse.
The mysterious woman opened her eyes, "ugh…where is…who sent you here?"
End of Chapter One