CHAPTER FOUR:
PART ONE:
'Damn it!' The Dragonborn cursed silently after Hikari got kidnapped, all the while staring at the wall.
He would have gotten angry, but had to maintain his calm. A situation like that required careful thinking, not to flail angrily like a troll.
The girl could have been taken anywhere. Hopefully she was only taken further within the Barrow. And NOT to the planes of Oblivion.
If so, that meant only one of two things: that Gilligan wanted to make the Dovahkiin into a rescuer by having him charge into a trap, or that he was going to torture Hikari and do unspeakable things to her.
Actually, possibly both scenarios were in play.
Neither of these situations were good. But, his current priority should have been dispatching the three Daedra really quick. Then he could begin searching for the girl.
Turning around, his foes awaited. Why they hadn't tried attacking him while he had their back turned to them… Could have probably been explained by the previous attempt to do so, which for the record, ended in a failure.
A dense plate of bones covered every inch of the Dovahkiin's body. This fact troubled the Daedras because for them, there was truly no such thing as finding a bone which they could not break apart. Bare handedly even!
One of them used both his axes earlier, and their weapons were much better at maiming others than their fists, yet they did no damage! No damage!
This was what kept the three still. They finally met an unmovable object…
PART TWO:
The girl woke up. Hikari's eyes took in stone and grass, but the subterranean kind.
The arms instinctively moved to support her as she tried getting up, yet found that the lower half of her body was not responding.
It simply did not want to listen to the girl. Hikari's gaze went from the floor to the black sarcophagus before her, to see a pair of feet.
There was a woman sitting on the coffin. She was hard to identify really, even if her face was in clear view, looking down at Hikari.
This woman, she… It was very hard for oneself to take their eyes off of her. The unnatural skin color, an open orange towards pink, left questioned her intentions. Several red tattoos marked her neck, arms, abdomen and legs.
Her feet, from above the knees and heading down, became a fading shade of black running in a shape to indicate abnormal feet form. Ankles covered with red.
She most certainly did not wear shoes, but her feet did not need any as they looked like a pair of claws. But not like that of a Hagraven.
Her hands were similar, except colored in a much livelier orange, the kind that was akin to extremely heated up metal. The edges set her hands apart from the mere color white. Sharp ends at her fingers.
Her body looked very similar to a regular woman's body, but… Designed so as to incite as much of men's lust as possible. Her proportions seemed unreal…
Her head was adorned with two horns erupting from the sides of her face, leading up and out of harm's way... But her aspect!
It was like the clear blessing of a crystal diamond! Such unnatural beauty was superior to even the most wildest of fantasies! But… Saddened… As if burdened by something.
Her eyes were of two colors. Yellow on the outside and purple within. Both of which peered at Hikari, who in return, peered at them.
"Greetings." Her tone… A calm one. "How are you feeling?"
This was… Weird. Despite being unable to identify the race she even belonged to, those words of comfort were truly unexpected.
"I-I'm fine, I think."
"Good." The woman raised her right hand, small magical circles appearing near her fingers as they were pointed at the girl. "I have unshackled your legs."
"What…" Hikari had regained control over her full body and rose to her feet.
She looked at the woman with a glimmer of curiosity and innocence in her eyes.
"Who…"
"Call me Elianna. And you?"
"I am Hikari." The woman's head suddenly thrown back by laughter at the purity and naivety with which Hikari responded. Though not evilly.
"W-What?"
"You girl… You are yet untouched." Her head leaned in. "Haven't you figured it out? Haven't rather odd and inexplicable things happened in your life?"
"Well… No, I… don't know what you're referring to."
"You see… You are one of us."
PART THREE:
The Dovahkiin rushed through the corridors of Bleak Falls Barrow. His previous opponents laid in a pool of blood, with a great number of broken bones and shattered limbs. They could not impede the Nord any longer.
'Damn it, damn it, damn it! Where is she?! Where could Gilligan have taken her?'
No traps, nor waking Draugr could touch the warrior as he sprinted through the hallways at top speed. His concern for the girl was too great to stop for anything else.
He then reached the corridor leading to the puzzling stone door.
'Damn it! I left the Golden Claw back home!' There was no visible way of opening the door.
Whomever closed it must have been aware of how ancient Nordic puzzle workings functioned. The Dovahkiin threw an angry punch at its iron making, but to no avail.
'I don't have time to circle back home to pick up the claw. Nor am I guaranteed to find Hikari even if I open this door!' He opted for option number two.
"Feim! Zii Gron!" The man's entire appearance changed to that of a ghost, his intention clear.
But the Dragonborn had not the time to cross through the threshold of the door, for his shoulder was grabbed firmly.
GRABBED?
The warrior turned head to see a most unwelcome sight: "Gilligan?" Had not wasted a single moment and threw the Nord several meters away from the door.
When the Dovahkiin landed on the stone floor, his immaterial form dissipated. The man was back to being flesh and bone once more.
He had gotten up rather angered and drew his sword. The Nord charged the Dremora lord, his blow landing perfectly on the foe's head, but before it cut into flesh, a resonating light was produced from the impact point.
Closing his eyes so as to not be blinded, the Dragonborn found himself suddenly falling. He was no longer in the Barrow. He was instead extremely high above ground, approaching terrain very quickly…
PART FOUR:
Hikari stood gazing at Elianna. Her mouth slightly open, almost wishing to catch a fly. There were countless words flowing through her mind at that time, but none reached her mouth to be voiced.
"Are you done gawking?" The girl had tried to respond, but failed. "Shall I sate your curiosity a bit? We are Succubi. We are the female inhabitants of the Daedric planes of Oblivion, created by lord Molag Bal some centuries ago."
The girl's head seemed to indicate a disagreement, but was still lacking enough information to actually hold an argument.
She only responded with: "Tell me more."
"Oh? Very well. We are those who have the purpose of satisfying our lord's lust and that of every Daedra who points a meat stick at us." Hikari almost got sick at the sound of that. "Sometimes our kind travel to the world of mortals, to copulate with others. Doing so drains them of life force and sends them back to our realm of Oblivion. There, our Daedra masters torture them for the remainder of their life. It's quite the sick job if you ask me."
The girl was once more quite speechless. To think that she herself was one such instrument… She could not accept it.
"Sometimes, it just so happens to be that the men we pick have a very rare magical affiliation within them and won't die immediately after fornicating with our kin. The seed of these special men can grant us the burden of bearing new life. The children who result from such activity are neither Dremora nor mortals, but something in between. The rules of our race don't apply to these Halflings. I suspect you are one such creation. Rejoice, for you have the opportunity to enjoy a man for more than one round."
She could not possibly be happy and cheerful after such horrid information was revealed to her. She was one such abomination?!
"Lord Gilligan told me you traveled to this tomb with an old acquaintance of my liege's. Shall I ask my lord to spare enough flesh and bones of him for you to enjoy?" That assumed that she was going to be taken back to their realm and turned into one of these sex slaves.
"I- U… N-No, wait-" Hikari could almost feel a spike of pain in her chest." Driving her hand just above the stomach, she closed her eyes and tried to look deep within herself.
Elliana stepped off the coffin and walked behind the girl, without her noticing. She then brushed aside some hair for a tattoo to come into view.
And it was not just any kind of marking, but an eight headed star one placed in the middle of her back. It was utterly and completely white in color and nature.
"Ah hah. You are quite pure indeed."
PART FIVE:
Holding his hands so as to protect his face, the Dragonborn had not noticed when he stopped.
"Wake up!" After being snapped back to reality, the only course of action left was to crash land to the ground from one meter altitude.
The collision left him breathless for a second. Whilst he regained his vitality, Gilligan had taken a few steps back.
The Dremora lord raised his arms so as to show the scenery behind himself: "Welcome! To Oblivion!"
The sight had instilled fear unto the Dovahkiin, for now his eyes gazed upon that which they never hoped to see ever again.
Scorched earth, pits of lava, black iron spikes, the shrieking of countless suffering slaves… It all came together to form the one thing he had never wished to revisit.
"Korr Khaal! Home!"
That was the plane of Oblivion that went by the name of 'Korr Khaal', one of the most wretched and vile realms of suffering.
The screaming of mortals could be heard all around. Be it the cause of countless beatings, of repeated deaths, or merely the satisfaction of lust upon them.
Blood flowed like a river alongside lava. The two melded and formed into one single stream of Daedric steel, continuously mined by tortured souls and forged into ebony weapons and armor.
There were four Black Towers in the distance, spiked cages hanged around them. They held husks of once living people, dried and left out for the blow of wind to carry around their yet putrid stench.
All of that suffering… It killed the Dovahkiin just to look at it all once more.
"Are you that afraid of home? YOU BELONG HERE!" His voice went into a maddening shout as the Dremora's body became larger.
Gilligan had increased his size to at least twice his initial stature. This woke up the Dragonborn and forced him back to reality. He had prepared for the coming of Gilligan by getting up on his feet and grasping firmly onto his weapon, whatever good that was going to do…
There appeared a steel whip in Gilligan's right hand, one that looked more like the unification of the ends of a multitude of swords rather than a proper whip.
The Dremora lord raised this weapon and hit the ground with it, causing the Nord to be thrown on his back and the earth at his feet to splinter.
"Come on, where is your vigor?!"
The Dovahkiin had gotten back up and once more prepared for combat. But his back shivered with fear. It was unstable.
The raising of the Daedra's hand and inevitably whip, once more put the warrior on heels and spikes to avoid the thing coming down on him.