The end at the red mountain
Two figures moved at tremendous speed over the water. So fast that most people and creatures didn't notice them passing by. The two figures were messengers. Missionaries, they liked to call themselves, but there wasn't really anything holy about them. At least that's what a normal citizen of Vvardenvel would think. And of course they knew that, but they really didn't care what 'normal' citizens thought. They were themselves and what they did was their business. And most things they did were for their own amusement.
The oldest of the two was a male dunmer. He looked like a pretty ordinary young man, had messy, pitch-black hair that reached to right above his shoulders and the standard dunmer-red eyes. On the left side of his face was a black tattoo, the form of a dragon. The second person was a female. At first sight she looked like a bosmer, but if one looked better they'd notice her skin having a greyish colour and her eyes being red as well. Stone-elves weren't common and often rejected by dunmer, but they did exist. This girl was living proof of that. Her hair, about twice as long as the guy's, was dark-blond and pulled backwards in a messy ponytail.
These to people had a job to do. An important job in the large city of Vivec, where the man god lived.
As they passed Suran one of them started talking.
"Soo," said the dark-elf, "Why did we use this spell, which, if I remember correctly, we can use only once a day, again?" He turned his head slightly to look at his companion, but had to pay attention not to accidently bump into something.
The girl sighed, slightly annoyed. "Because YOU didn't want the journey to take too long," she answered, "and, as I recall, there aren't any public travel services near our place."
"I know. What is up with that? Can't they at least put a stilt rider near Ghostgate or something?"
"Yeah, like those idiots would even think of doing that." The Girl's voice still had an annoyed undertone."Why did we even get stuck with this job?"
The guy smirked. "So that's what's been bugging you," he said. "I think it's because we can leave the best impression on those guys. Sending a naked dreamer would only freak them out and an ascended one would be dead before reaching St. Olms. They're not very quick, you know and those guard-guys are more capable than you might think." They passed Ald Sotha.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but I still think it's stupid that we are the ones stuck with this job," said the stone-elf.
"I thought you liked to bully tribunal priests?"
"Yeah, I do but it's starting to get old, they always send those damned ordinators of theirs after me. Do you know how many indoril suits of armour I have back home? I just stopped looting their corpses."
"It makes you wish that Nerevarine bitch would hurry up and come to the red mountain already."
"Kinda."
Suddenly the Stone-elf saw something from the corner of her eye. She looked back at the Daedric ruin a few metres behind them and saw something come out of the shrine. Of course there were a lot of Daedra running around in there, but she still felt slightly unsettled around the daedric ruins. The dunmer noticed this. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Is it him?"
"Let's hope not." The girl answered. "Let's just get this job done."
"Yeah, let's." The guy answered. He knew what was bothering her. Even though they hadn't seen that person for quite some time, he noticed the grim look on her face whenever they passed Daedric ruins. He didn't ask much about it. He knew what was wrong. He only wished she would stop moping about it and kill the damned thing.
They finally reached the temple canton of Vivec. They jumped from the surface of the water on the platform between the high fane and the palace. The dunmer stretched out. "I can feel the spell is wearing of," he said.
"Yeah, did you bring the medicine?" the girl asked.
"Off course, here you go." He answered and gave her a small potion bottle.
"Thanks," she said. "Let's meet each other here when we're done?"
"Okay. Good luck!"
The stone-elf smirked."You too."
Both of them went another way. The guy walked up the stairs towards the palace entrance and the girl went through the tunnel to the entrance of the high fane. When the Dunmer was at the door of the palace, he noticed it was locked. At first he looked kind of frustrated, but then he grinned and kicked the door in. The poor wooden thing was smashed to pieces. One of the pieces was thrown against the head of the two-colored person inside. With a wide grin on his face the dunmer walked in. "Hey, Vivi," he said "What's up?"
Luckily for the stone-elf, the public door of the high fane wasn't locked. Quietly she opened the door, but as soon as she came in she started yelling: "Okay, everyone! Just lie down, shut up and let me take over! This is a sixth house raid and I need to talk to the archcanon!"
Off course, no one did as she asked. They all just stared in surprise and the guards took a battle-ready position. Slightly pissed off, the girl walked towards the archcanon's office and knocked loudly on the door. "Yo, Toto! I bring you a message from master Ur! OPEN THE DAMNED DOOR!" she yelled. This both shocked and angered the ordinators and all four of them drew their weapons. "Who are you?"one of them demanded. She ignored the rude question and used a spell to open the wooden door. In the room behind is sat Tholer Saryoni, the archcanon, behind a desk. As the Stone-elf walked in he looked up from his paperwork and asked: "What do you want?"
This pissed the girl off even more. "Weren't you listening?" she said "I come here with a message from Dagoth Ur and I would like to talk to you in private." she turned to face the ordinators who were now ready to attack her at any moment. "I promise I won't harm him." she smiled as friendly as she could manage then closed the door in front of their faces.
Tholer had now risen from his chair. "Who are you?" he asked. The stone-elf put on a fake sad-face because of this. "It makes me sad to find out that Vivi hasn't told you about me. I guess you don't know about my brother either then? Oh, no matter. Just listen to what I have to say and everything will be all right. Okay, Toto?"
"What are you here for, Drakon?" the man-god asked as his visitor came in.
"Oh, come on. Don't get so suspicious. I'm just here to deliver a message from your old friend Ur." The dunmer said. He walked up to Vivec. Vivec just sat calmly in his meditation position and didn't do anything to stop him. "Make it quick, messenger boy." He said "I have another visitor this afternoon."
"So soon?" the dunmer looked surprised "well, I'd better cut to the chase immediately then. You see, Dagoth knows more than you think, Vivi. He has found out about the things your little Nerevarine bitch has been up to and he has given up on her. He wants you to tell her that. She can no longer ask for forgiveness, he no longer wants her to join him. Just tell her that and send her to the red mountain. There everything will end, one way or the other."
Both of them were silent after what the dunmer said, but after a short while the god spoke: "I can't guarantee you that I will give this message to her."
The dunmer shrugged "Meh, I don't really care either way. I was just ordered to give you the message. What you do with it is for you to decide."
After this he turned around and stated walking back to the door. When he was halfway there Vivec threw a spell at him, but he evaded it with no problem at all.
"Vivi," he said with fake disappointment in his voice, "I didn't come here to fight you."
Vivec stood up straight and took a few steps towards the dunmer. "Drakon," he said with even more seriousness in his voice than before, "Did Yume come with you?"
"Yes, she did," Drakon answered. "Why do you ask?"
Suddenly, loud noises were heard coming from outside the palace. Drakon ran towards the door (which was no longer there). And looked outside. Then he saw it. The beast, on top of the highfane. "Oh," he said "That's why."
"And that's four," the stone-elf said as the last ordinator fell to the ground. "I really love your law of 'don't attack unless attacked', it makes my job a lot easier." She sheathed her daedric sabre and turned back to the archcanon. "All right, I hope everything I said is clear and engraved inside your little priest brain. I'll be going now. Buh-bye." She walked back to the door but before she had put her hand on the clink, commotion was heard outside. People were screaming and loud BANGS were heard. The ground shook. Something was on top of the highfane. The Stone-elf cursed and hurried outside to see the cause of all this.
There it was. A monster. Most people were running away but some of them stared at the beast frozen in fear. It looked like a daedroth, but it was at least twice as big and, for some reason, his features were more human-like. It had now climbed on top of the middle tower of the highfane and was looking around as if it was looking for something.
"What in oblivion is that?" one of the priests yelled.
"That would be my ex." The Stone-elf answered. The priest looked at her with a mix of surprise, speechlessness and disgust.
She saw this, said: "Yeah, I get that reaction a lot." and started running towards the palace.
Drakon was already running down the stairs.
"Drakon!" she yelled. "I'm using recall!"
The dunmer tried to protest but his sister had already cast the spell on both of them.
"Damn it, Yume!" he cursed as they appeared in the old dwemer ruins. "This was the last time! Next time we see that thing, kill it! Or I will!"
The stone-elf pretended not to hear him and walked through the doors in front of them to report to Dagoth Odros. Drakon sighed and followed her.
Meanwhile the Nerevarine was on her way to the Vivec temple canton to meet with the archcanon. (this time) She was a nord with bright-blonde hair which she wore in a braid that reached to her waist. She was wearing a full ebony suit of armour but without a helmet and on her back she was carrying a backpack and a daedric dai-katana. She was walking over the city cantons in a very relaxed way, but as soon as she heard the noises and saw what was going on at the temple canton, she started running. She saw the monster on top of the high fane. It had taken a young dunmer priestess as his captive. It roared. For some reason this scene looked strangely familiar to the nord. She stared at what was happening for a few seconds, then she quickly threw a nicely aimed frost spell at the creature's arm. The pain caused him to drop the priestess. One of the ordinators caught her and brought her to safety while the Nerevarine drew her sword and prepared for battle. The interference had angered the beast and it jumped down in front of the young nord. They looked at each other for a moment. There was no fear in the nord girl's eyes, but she did see something in the beast's eyes. They were brown, human eyes! And they looked more sad than angry. "Maybe there is more about you than meets the eye," the Nerevarine said. She put her dai-katana away and muttered an incantation.
The monster was to slow to realize what was happening. In a few seconds his rage was gone and he was paralyzed. The nord smiled at the success of her spell. "Who would have thought saving that old telvanni wizard would come in handy one day," she said. "Now, please stay here for a few minutes while I go talk to the one in charge here." Before she finished talking she noticed the archcanon walking towards her. "Miss Valga," he said, "I thank you for stopping this vile beast. I would like to talk to you further in my office, but to my greatest regret has it been destroyed by the monsters rampaging, so we are forced to discuss our business here. I understand that you have been named Nerevarine of all the ashlander tribes and Hortator of all three great houses?"
"This is true, lord archcanon," the nord answered. "And as one of the redoran councillors has told me, you wanted to speak with me once this was so?"
"I was supposed to give you this key to the palace where our lord Vivec resides. But since the door to the palace has also been destroyed, you will have no need for it. Please proceed to the palace. I will make sure this monster will be finished off."
"Please, sir. I'd rather have you let him live," Valga said. "I may have some use for him. Please chain him up for soon my spell will wear off."
"Very well, I will do as you ask. Speak with Vivec."
Valga greeted the Archcanon and walked to the palace.
Yume was standing guard right outside the large doors of Dagoth Ur together with a female dark elf. The dark elf's name was Helvane. She had been a servant of house Dagoth from the day she was born. Her mother had been one of the higher ranking dreamers who served Dagoth Hlevul in Assemanu. In reality that just meant that she was some dreamer slut who Hlevul had raped when she was high and drunk on moon sugar and ancient Dagoth brandy. Helvane hated talking about her origins. She was just happy that she looked like a normal dunmer woman. She herself suspected Hlevul wasn't really her father, but some other dreamer guy from Assemanu. She didn't share this with anyone though, because the thought of her having ascended sleeper blood was the only thing that had kept the ash creatures from giving her 'the divine disease'. So she had become a 'high priestess'. In general that meant she was an ascended sleeper without the appearance of one. She and Yume had been friends for a few years and right now Helvane saw that there was something was bothering the stone-elf. "You've been quiet for over two hours," she said. "What's wrong?"
Yume didn't answer immediately, but stared at the magma in the pit below them and poked the ground with her sword. After a while she sighed and broke the silence. "Drakon is right, isn't he?"
Helvane frowned in confusion at this remark. "Of course he is right!" she said sarcastically. "He's your big brother. He's always right! About what is he right this time?"
Helva's sarcastic humour cheered the stone-elf up a little. "Stefán," she answered. The dunmer woman sighed as soon as she had said that. Yume understood this, but ignored it. "He attacked the temple in Vivec a week ago when we were there on assignment. I fled and forced Drakon with me, so now he's pissed at me. He says I should stop running away from 'that thing' as he calls him. But I-"
"Yep, he's right."
"Helva!"
"Yume, you know this has gone on for too long! Stop saying you're over him and start showing it. It's been almost five years; he's not turning back to normal!"
"I...," Yume hesitated. "You're right, off course. About everything. But I just can't help but feel sorry for him. Especially since it's my fault he's like that."
"You owe him nothing, Yume!" Helvane snapped.
"Yes I do, Helvane." Yume calmly said. "I owe him a good death and I intend on giving him one. Next time we meet it'll be either him or me. He did that to himself to get stronger and I will see if it worked."
Helvane looked surprised for a bit, but then she smiled. "Don't tell me that," She said. "Go and tell your brother. I'll stay here guarding against the intruders that never come here."
"Thanks, Helva." Yume said and she walked towards the dwarven crank to open the doors. A few moments later she had disappeared trough the large dwemer gates and Helvane stood there. Outside the dwemer ruin. Alone.
Meanwhile Drakon was sitting in the lower facility of Dagoth Ur poking some dead intruder with his own daedric short sword and talking to Dagoth Gilvoth and some ash ghoul whose name he had forgotten. Mutt-something.
"...I mean, I know she has some dark angsty past with this guy, but why can't she just get over it? He affects all of us as long as she doesn't kill it and even keeps defending it from time to time! Seriously, I have no idea why I keep tolerating her actions. I should just kill it myself. In fact, that's what I'll do! Next time I see it I'll kill it myself no matter what Yume says! But maybe she'll get angry and try to stop me. Perhaps she should just do it herself. It's her responsibility after all. I shouldn't have to do it. But if this keeps going on like this I won't have a choice. I'll do it. I'll definitely do it." At that moment, Gilvoth had had enough. "Drakon!" He shouted. "Will you please shut up! You've been ranting about this for almost TWO HOURS! You're driving me insane!"
Drakon pouted. Too late, he thought. "Fine then," he said. "I'll stay quiet."
Both Gilvoth and the ash ghoul sighed with relief and it was finally quiet except for the constant noises the dwemer machines made. After about a minute the ash ghoul returned to his duties.
A few minutes later Yume entered the room they were in. When Gilvoth saw this he immediately left the room, but not before saying: "Great now you two can talk this out and I can finally have some peace in here again."
After that they were alone in the room.
"So," Yume said. "What's up?"
"Oh, not much," Drakon answered. "Just annoying our superiors half to death with your relationship issues." He smirked.
Yume laughed. "Your way with words has always been one of the best."
"Says you."
"Says me."
Both were silent for a little while. Then the stone-elf spoke again. "What has happened to us?"she said. "We used to be the carefree fearless duo and now we're almost falling apart because I can't handle one crazy ex maturely."
"Yep, you totally suck." Drakon taunted.
Surprisingly, Yume didn't get angry. "Yeah, right as if your relationship went so well." She said. The dunmer tried to defend himself.
"Hey, at least my ex was dead before I met you!"
"In the end, curiosity killed the khajit."
"That's not funny."
"I know."
"..."
"I want closure, Drakon." Yume finally said. "I know Stefán isn't going to leave me alone anytime soon, now that he's lost his mind. So I'll kill him. I promise."
Drakon looked up at his little sister and smiled. "Good." He said.
"Aw, what a heart warming moment." A voice was coming from the entrance of the room. It was the Nerevarine. Now she was wearing the dragonbone cuirass, the left fist of Randagulf, Wraithguard, a pair of ebony boots, ebony greaves and daedric pauldrons. In her right hand she held a daedric claymore. She looked a little tired and very wounded, but also very certain of herself. She took a pink bottle from her backpack and drank from it. Her wounds started to heal. They didn't close completely, but it was still enough to stop the pain and keep her going for a little while longer. She wiped her mouth. "That's just what I needed. Now, which one of you wants to fight me and which one will settle for my new friend over here?"
Behind her the daedroth-monster Stefán appeared. Yume was shocked, but at the same time curious as to how the nord was able to control him.
"Valga!" Drakon said a little surprised. "Here so soon? We weren't expecting you for at least another month."
"Ha ha, very funny, Drakon." The Nerevarine replied sarcastically.
"Just making conversation." Drakon said. "I doubt Gilvoth was very talkative."
"He wasn't very hospitable." Valga answered. "So are we gonna fight or what?"
"Fine, let's go." Drakon drew the daedric short sword he had been playing with."Yume, you take on Stefán."
Yume, who had already gotten ready for battle, looked at her brother. He smiled at her as if to say 'good luck' and she nodded back, before charging at the monster.
She tried to hit the Stefán with her sword, but he was able to block it with just one claw. He tossed her aside and started preparing for a poison spell. Yume felt nauseous as the green cloud hit her. Luckily she had known what Stefán was capable of and she quickly used a spell scroll to counter the poisonous effects. However this had given her less time to recollect herself and she was thrown across the room by a roaring Stefán. She crashed with her shoulder into an iron dwemer pipe. It didn't wound her but her pauldron was heavily damaged by the crash. She shook her head while she attempted to stand up, but saw Stefán running towards her for another attack. She quickly rolled out of the way, making him miss his target. She took the small chance she'd gotten to slice the arm with which he had tried to attack. He roared and tried to hit her again, but she stood steadily against the force with her sword, which made the blade sink deeper into his flesh. This increased the creature's pain and he roared even louder than before.
Drakon had just blocked an attack from Valga with his shield. It was a nice shield he took from an intruder he killed a few months ago. When he heard the terrible cry from his sister's opponent, he got distracted for a few seconds. This was enough for the Nerevarine to attack again and she aimed for his face leaving a deep wound in his left cheek. Then she hit him on the head with the hilt of the claymore. "Don't get distracted pretty boy." She warned the dunmer, who wiped the blood from his cheek and rubbed his head. "Sorry." he said, before attacking with the short sword.
Yume tried to remain unmoved by Stefán's cry and kept pushing against his arm with the daedric sabre. Some of his arteries had already been severed and she was being showered with dark blood. She screamed to add more force and it didn't take long before she heard a CRACK. The bone had broken. That was when she finally let go and stepped back a little to prepare for the creature's wrath. His arm hadn't come off, but it was hanging from a strand of flesh in an unnatural and painful looking angle. Stefán realised the arm wouldn't be of use to him in this fight and with another cry he tore the severed arm of with his good arm.
The remaining part of the upper right arm was bleeding heavily, but it didn't seem to affect him much. He used his severed arm to hit the stone-elf, who grabbed it by the wrist, took the arm from him and threw it into a lava pit.
"So, that's one piece," she panted, "Now the rest." She grabbed her weapon tightly with two hands and attacked.
Drakon wasn't having a much easier time. Valga was extremely skilled with a long sword and her Nordic strength made it easy for her to lift the heavy daedric claymore. Concerning that, Drakon was at a major disadvantage with his short sword. But he wasn't through yet. He had some tricks left. He evaded an attack from above and was able to grab the left side of her neck. He called upon the power of his shield. Valga felt a sting as some of her wounds reopened, while the dunmer's wounds were healing. It only took a few seconds until the spell had worn out, and the Nerevarine wasn't planning on letting her opponent cast the incantation a second time. She hit him over the head with the claymore again. This time on the left side of his head and with more force than before. This knocked him back a few metres and he almost fell into the lava pit. He regained his balance just in time and jumped away from the deadly pool. With no time to be relieved he blocked another attack from the nord girl, aimed at his right side.
Yume was wounded. She might be in better shape than Stefán, but his daedric half, his rage and insanity gave him a certain resistance to the pain. He also didn't seem to get tired at all, but kept attacking the stone-elf, forcing her to evade and block, which exhausted her tremendously.
I need to find an opening, she thought desperately, I need to end this before I don't have any strength left. There! She took the chance when she got it. The power of the creature's last attack had slowed him down - if only a little - and she took the small moment she had to jam her sword in the back of his hand. She then drew her dagger and tried jam it in his throat. This failed, however, because he had taken his chance to bite her in the shoulder. The pain of the sharp daedroth fangs piercing through her armour and skin made Yume drop her dagger and cry out loudly. With the pain she felt a strange fear come over her. For a second just for one second the thought went through her mind. I'm going to die. But right after this fear, she felt an angry kind of confidence which somehow gave her the strength to grab her sword, which she had been holding to loosely for comfort, and pulled it out of her opponent's hand. This hurt for Stefán and he let go of Yume's shoulder. She quickly jumped away from him. He called upon the little restoration knowledge he possessed to let the wound in his hand close itself.
He growled. He was getting just as fed up with this fight as Yume was. He was angry and getting angrier every second the fight continued.
Yume had also used a little magic to heal herself. It hadn't closed the wound in her shoulder completely, but it did make the damage less serious. The fighting spirit she had felt a few moments earlier had now cooled down. She tried to feel calm, collect and strong enough to handle the next charge. This proved extremely difficult, because Stefán was now more eager to attack than ever. He ran head first into her, pushing her with her back against the wall. Then he formed a fist and punched her in the stomach, making her gasp for air.
After this he punched her in the face, then he grabbed her by the throat to strangle her. This made her gasp even more. The fear from earlier returned and without thinking she looked into Stefán's eyes. And he looked back. He saw it. There was nothing. She felt nothing. Maybe she never had felt anything. It awakened a blind rage inside him. He let go of her neck and punched her again, causing her head to turn with the right side turned towards him. He pushed his hand against her head, over her right eye and stuck his claws inside her skin. She needed to suffer. He let a poisonous liquid run through his fingers and onto her skin, as he slowly let his claws run across the side of her face, scratching out her eye in the process. She screamed.
It burned. It hurt. She screamed in agony. It was over. There was no more escaping. She would die here.
No, she wouldn't. Would she? Maybe, but she would keep fighting. She still had her sword. She grabbed it tightly one more time. Trying not to faint because of the pain, she struck the blade in his side. Screaming, she was able to fight her head free. She pushed Stefán back. He was surprised by her ability to keep fighting, but also was he still angry. He almost immediately charged in to attack again. Yume felt that she had the strength left for one final blow. She also noticed that his rage had blinded him. In one quick movement, she stabbed him through the chest, through the heart. His body froze with his arm hanging above her shoulder, having missed his target.
Yume put her left hand on his right shoulder and whispered in his ear: "I'm sorry." Then she pulled out her sword and he fell to the ground.
The stone-elf was exhausted. For a second she thought she would lose consciousness. She leaned against the wall and held her hand over her right eye (or what was left of it). The poisonous liquid had lost its effect, but the wound was still bleeding. Her eye was completely severed. There was no way for it to recover. She used a healing spell to stop her eyelid from bleeding. She had to cast the spell twice to let the bleeding stop. She had no more magicka left to heal the scratch marks.
Drakon hadn't seen much of his sister's battle, but he did notice the monster falling to the ground. However, he didn't have the time to congratulate Yume. Valga was rushing him and he barely got the time to attack himself between blocking and evading her attacks. His shield and armour was full of scratches and dents. His right pauldron had been shattered and he was bleeding from the upper arm. He had the upper hand in defensive manoeuvres because of his better agility, but it wouldn't be of any use to him if he was too exhausted to use his abilities. Another attack, another block. The nerevarine's sword hit the blood feast shield right in the middle, creating a crack. But the success of her attack made Valga carelessly loosen the hold on her claymore and Drakon was able to push her back and almost disarmed her. Drakon had no time to think. Only to act. As fast as he could he spoke an incantation to paralyze his opponent. For a short moment, this seemed to work. Valga felt he limbs petrify. Shit, she thought. And she tried to resist with all her might. Then she remembered the amulet she was wearing. The magical resistance it gave her wasn't much, but it was enough for her to break free from the spell. The dunmer had not foreseen this and was taken by surprise when the nord attacked again. He couldn't evade this time...
"Drakon!" Yume yelled. She tried to run to her brother's aid, but she was too tired and hurt. She lost her balance and fell on her knees. There was nothing she could do but watch as her brother fell lifeless to the floor. "Drakon." She repeated softly.
Valga was disappointed. She knew Drakon was able to give her a better fight. He had been both unprepared and overconfident. And because he had underestimated her, he had lost. The Nerevarine sheathed her sword and sighed. "Moron." She mumbled. She took another healing potion. She needed to rest. Dagoth Ur would have to wait a little longer.
Valga sat down. Just a few minutes, she thought, feeling unprepared to take the enemy waiting on the other side of the door just a few metres from her. She rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes, trying to empty her mind.
Life is unfair for heroes. Valga's eyes snapped open, as she remembered the stone-elf was still there. She looked at Yume, but saw that the half-blood had lost her will to fight. She was just sitting there on her knees. Her remaining eye was closed tightly and tears where rolling down her cheek. It took awhile for her to realize that the Nerevarine was looking at her. "You're just a weak little girl, aren't you?" the nord girl said.
The stone elf did not reply. She wiped her face, but was careful not to touch the still bleeding wounds across her right eyelid. Valga stood up and slowly walked towards her, drawing her sword. Yume didn't have the strength to stand up. Closing her eye, she listened to the footsteps of the nord's heavy boots and waited for the merciful blow.
Valga grabbed the stone-elf by her ponytail, which was wet with stains of blood, and pulled it up. She raised her sword and with one clean cut she cut the girl's hair by half. As the strands of hair fell down, Yume's eye widened with surprise. She was still alive. Carefully she turned her head towards the Nerevarine. She looked at her without any emotion. "My business is with Dagoth." She said. "I refuse to attack a defenceless person. I'm not like you. Go. Leave this place while I go and deal with your boss."
After this the Nerevarine went through the cavern door to meet her destiny. Yume just sat on the floor for a few minutes. She heard Dagoth Ur's voice in the distance. Slowly, yet surely the meaning of Valga's words started to reach her. She collected herself and managed to stand up. She took up her sword and, after looking at it once more, she threw it into the lava pit before her. She took of her pauldrons and cuirass. Under it she wore a light brown common shirt. She looked around the room and eventually found a piece of cloth, which she used to bandage her head. One more time she looked around at the bodies of Stefán and Drakon. And then she left, not knowing where she would go or what the future had in store for her. She fled away from the red mountain and travelled west.
About five hours after Yume had left Dagoth Ur, Valga emerged from the cavern holding keening in her right hand and a small, shiny ring in her left. It was done. Dagoth Ur was defeated. She had saved Morrowind. Everything that had happened in the cavern and the hearth chamber behind her felt somewhat unreal to the nord girl. She wanted to rest and let her wounds heal before returning to the civilised world and was about to sit down when she noticed another presence in the room. A dunmer woman in her mid-thirties was tending Drakon's wounds. She was wearing a dark red and black robe with the symbols of the sixth house on them.
"Who're you?" Valga asked. She staggered, feeling the toll of battle and leaned against the wall.
"The name's Helvane." The Dunmer woman replied. "And don't worry. I won't try to hurt you. I never was very loyal to Dagoth. I'm just here to help my friend recover."
"Oh," said Valga. "so he wasn't dead."
"Nope." Helvane said unusually cheerful. "By the way have you seen Yume?"
Valga breathed heavily. "Not since I went in there." She nodded towards the wooden cavern door, "She probably ran off."