3: Miraak's Temple
A long corridor awaited us after the entrance to the temple. Having been inside Nordic tombs before, I knew the dangers that waited. "Are you ready to help me now?" Frea asked as I passed an open room that looked like a small dining hall. "We should check these rooms for supplies before heading further into the temple."
I nodded and we set to work packing our bags with potions to take with us. The last room I checked had two burnt corpses in cages, hanging over a fire pit. I snorted in disgust, thanking the gods that I wasn't alive during the Dragon war. I wondered what kind of a cruel person Miraak was.
When I was ready, Frea and I walked through the temple slowly, and I pointed out a pressure plate in the first room. Once we avoided that, we were attacked by some more cultists whom we down with ease.
We got farther into the temple, avoiding pressure plates that triggered a battering ram. Frea pulled a lever that opened a gate to what appeared to be a torture showroom. "I do not wish to imagine the kinds of things that happen in this chamber." Frea said.
"Neither do I," I replied, looking around gingerly.
Before Frea could answer me, the sarcophagi started cracking open. The Draugr were waking up. I set myself up in a fire cloak, and drew my bow to attack. Thankfully, Frea was a skilled warrior herself, and we didn't have trouble dispatching them.
The throne at the top of the showroom seemed inaccessible, so we found a secondary set of stairs leading deeper underground. We were attacked by more of Miraak's cultists, before reaching the end of the stairs.
I pulled a handle that opened a gate, leading into a series of burial chambers. "We better be careful we don't wake up the Draugr," I whispered. Frea nodded. I liked her. She was quiet like I was and didn't feel the need for conversation at every second.
We snuck around the maze of chambers, but Frea wore heavy armour, which naturally woke up the Draugr.
Soon after, we ended up in front of one of the longest swinging blade traps I had ever seen. "I'll deal with this," I mumbled.
"You're Dragonborn, yes?" She said. It wasn't a question.
"How did you know?"
She shrugged and I sighed. "WULD…NAH KEST!" I Shouted, moving quickly through the blades, unharmed. I pulled the lever at the end of the passage and the blade trap stopped moving. When Frea caught up to me, we continued through a series of wooden bridges which fell down with a large bang. More cultists appeared then, and Frea and I took them out with our arrows. We walked up the stairs to a large door, and Frea spoke. "This looks like it's the temple's sanctum."
"Shall we?" I said, pulling the door open.
(~~)
The rest of the corridors were similar to most Nordic tombs. Eventually we came upon a room with a massive dragon skeleton hung as a trophy by Miraak. Beside it was a word wall. I had no idea Solstheim had word walls. The chanting filled my ears and I could hear the word strength ringing through my ears. As I approached it, the understanding of 'Mul' (strength) filled me. "Hmm."
"What Shout is it?" Frea asked.
"Only one way to find out…MUL!" I Shouted. I saw spectral armour appear around my arms. "I think it's some kind of dragon armour." I said in awe.
"No time to gawk," Frea shouted when Draugr started to attack. As I took on the over-powered Draugr, I noticed that I was a lot stronger with this shout activated. Like a dragon, I thought.
"How do we move on?" I asked when the Draugr were dead.
Frea frowned. "Let's search the bodies. Maybe there's a key?"
I found the ancient key on the leveled Draugr. "Where is the door?"
Frea looked around in confusion, but she settled her eyes on the dragon skeleton. "Maybe…Oh! Through that sarcophagus!" She exclaimed.
"Genius!" I grinned, putting the key in the locked door.
(~~)
Eventually we came upon this dining area that seemed like a dead end. Frea searched the dining room, while I found the handle to the secret passage. We went down numerous corridors underground until we came upon a large booby-trapped room with a lot of Draugr to deal with.
We let the boulder trap deal with the majority of enemies as we made our way to the top to fight the last powerful Draugr. Behind its sarcophagus, there was a pull lever that revealed a long serpentine chamber, hopefully leading to Miraak.
(~~)
The end of the chamber held a small circular room with a black book on a pedestal. The book was emanating a strong energy. "I have a feeling I'm supposed to read this," I mumbled.
Frea nodded. "Indeed."
When I opened the book I felt like I was suffocating. A mass of tentacles grabbed me by the neck and shoved me, literally through the pages. I couldn't breathe, even when I landed on my feet in a strange realm. I saw a man turned away from me, wearing elaborate robes. I didn't know how, but I knew that this was Miraak. My heart lurched fearfully.
"The time comes soon, when…" Miraak's deep, hollow voice said. I let out a small squeak when I saw these large, disgusting creatures that I had never seen before lurking around Miraak. I was not in Tamriel anymore. I was in an Oblivion Plane. I had a feeling, just by the look of it that I was in the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora's realm.
"What!?" Miraak reacted to my squeak of fear. I tried to cast a spell but it was already too late. He had cast a paralyzing spell that brought me to my knees.
This is it. I'm going to die. Oh gods! I shouted internally.
A strange looking dragon landed behind Miraak as he approached me. His mask was long, seemingly made of bone, structured to look like his masters tentacles. He seemed tall; I figured he was a Nord based on his accent.
"Who are you to dare set foot here?" He approached me and studied me. "Ahh, you are Dragonborn I can feel it. And yet…" He paused. "So you have slain Alduin…Well done. I could have slain him myself, back when I walked the earth, but I chose a different path." He said cockily. "You are not what I expected. Your name is Brii, as in beauty. But I wonder…That isn't your full name, is it?" He knelt down to where I was on my knees and stared at me. Through his mask, I got the faintest glimmer of ice blue eyes. He put a gloved hand on my face to grip my chin. "Speak," he commanded.
Suddenly, I could move. I shifted. "No that isn't my full name. It's Briivulkulaas."
"Briivulkulaas. Beauty, Dark, Princess. Yes, I see. You look the part. What would a Breton be doing with a name in Dovahzul?"
"Why should I divulge that?" I hissed.
He laughed a deep, hollow laugh. "You are righteous. I can see it. You've never done an evil thing in your life. You're near immortal, yet you choose to help the joorre, when they would as soon kill you for the power you have."
"You know nothing about me," I said.
"Perhaps not, but I do know, as any Dragonborn would, that you are struggling with anger."
"You're wrong," I stated.
He said nothing, but he closed the distance between us. "What lovely eyes you have Briivulkulaas. It has been some time since I have gazed upon the sea."
I flushed and I didn't know why. Why was he complimenting me and why hadn't he killed me yet?
"You could join me you know," he said quietly, brushing the back of his gloved hand against my inflamed cheek.
"Join you?" I said slowly, not getting it at first.
"Think of all we can do together. The joorre do not deserve you as a hero. You would do well to help me, brit gein."
"Join you?! You must be insane! I could never join you!" brit gein? Beautiful one. He called me 'beautiful one'. Despite my anger, my heart lurched.
He cocked his head. "Hmm…Shame." He shot me with the paralyzing spell and suddenly I couldn't move again. He stood up and stared down at me. "You are the Inferior Dragonborn. You have no idea of the true power a Dragonborn can wield!" He backed up from me and Shouted, "MUL…QAH DIIV!"
My eyes widened. It was the full Shout I had just learned. The armour extended to his chest and his head. Despite the evil nature to him, I was fascinated to meet another Dragonborn.
"This realm is beyond you," he continued. "You have no power here. And it is only a matter of time before Solstheim is also mine. I already control the minds of its people. Soon they will finish building my temple, and I can return home." He turned to the large, hulking creatures. "Send Briivulkulaas back where she came from. She can wait my arrival with the rest of Tamriel."
The creatures floated towards me and Miraak spoke one last time. "Farewell brit gein," he said as he approached a dragon and mounted it. He can ride dragons, I thought in awe.
My admiration was short lived as the creatures started showering me with magic. I screamed in searing pain that flooded through my veins. It went on for what seemed like minutes until I felt my eyes close finally.
