Chapter 7 – The Realms of Oblivion
Storm suddenly materialised in a world unlike any other he had seen. A completely flat bed of rock stretched off in all directions as far as the eye could see, completely devoid of any life. But, to the north, was what appeared to be a city. It was made up mostly of black towers, which had ziggurat-shaped bases from which towers made from a jet-black glass vaulted upwards towards wide, flat structures built on top of them, giving them a mushroom-like appearance. There were also several white spire-shaped towers which scaled to enormous heights, culminating in a sharp spike, whilst in the centre of the city was a circular dark red tower that seemed to be even higher than the others.
Storm looked around. Ciara had appeared next to him.
"Where are we?" she asked as she took in the surroundings.
"I wish I knew" Storm replied. "I can't even see the Mythic Dawn men…"
One by one, the rest of the group materialised. Out of all of them, it was Agam-Na who was most taken aback by their surroundings.
"No text refers to a place that looks anything like this…" he said in amazement.
"Where do you think we are, then?" Storm asked.
Agam-Na didn't reply. His eyes were focused on the enormous red tower in the centre of the city.
"We have to get to that tower" he said, turning to Marina. "Trust me. I'll explain on the way"
"I do trust you" Marina replied. "Alright, everyone, make for the red tower. Storm, you're on point. Watch out for the Mythic Dawn"
The group fell into a line formation and began running towards the city. Storm went in front, followed by Ciara, Agam-Na behind her, then Raminus and Arzel, then Marina and Ri'Azba, and Dramas at the back.
"Marina, who is in charge of this quest?" Dramas said as they ran. "You or the Argonian?"
Marina turned to face the Dunmer. "What do you mean?"
"You are following his instruction, yet you do not even know why he wants to get to this tower"
"Dramas, the reason Agam-Na is on this quest is because he knows a damn sight more about the Daedra than we do. If there wasn't an important reason why he wants to get to that tower, he wouldn't be leading us there"
At the front of the group, Ciara and Agam-Na were also talking about their purpose here.
"What do you think is in that tower, Agam-Na?" Ciara asked the scholar.
"I'm positive it will be the Sigil Stone"
"Sigil Stone?"
"Yes. I believe we're in a plane of Oblivion, as opposed to a realm. They're miniature worlds created by the Daedra, used as hiding places or as platforms to launch attacks into other realms. The Sigil Stone contains the essence of the Daedra who created the plane, and removing it will cause the plane to collapse, and anything left in the plane will re-appear in Nirn at the site of the portal they entered the realm through. If you think of the plane as an archway, the Sigil Stone is like the keystone…"
"Agam-Na, give me the lecture later…"
"Sorry. I believe the Mythic Dawn are using this plane as a holding camp. If we can reach the Sigil Stone and destroy the plane, Baran's body will re-appear right where it entered the plane from… right next to where we will re-appear"
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Around an hour later, the group reached the city and began running through its streets to reach the red tower. Enormous towers vaulted up to the skies all around them, but with no obvious means of entry.
"Where are the Mythic Dawn?" Ri'Azba asked Marina as they followed Storm through the city.
"I don't know" she replied. "Maybe they got enough of a headstart to reach wherever they were going before we saw them, maybe they used an invisibility spell to hide themselves from our eyes. In hindsight, maybe we should have done that as well"
Storm reached an enormous round door at the base of the red tower. With Marina's orders, he pushed on it and it gradually swung open.
"OK, let's just get ourselves organised" Marina said. "As soon as we go in, we might get ambushed by the Mythic Dawn. We might not have time to regroup, and it is imperative that we reach the top of this tower"
"Yes. Why exactly do we need to get to the top of the tower?" Dramas asked, looking at Agam-Na.
"Because that's where the Sigil Stone that holds this plane of Oblivion together is most likely to be found" Agam-Na replied. "Yes, I am taking an educated guess but if you have any better ideas as to where to go from here I'd love to hear them"
"Very well. What's the plan?"
"Agam-Na, you probably know more about this than the rest of us" Marina said. "What do you propose?"
Agam-Na peered in through the doorway. A thin but intensely glowing beam of what looked like fire was rising from a hole in the centre of the floor. Two doorways were visible beyond this.
"It looks like a standard Sigil keep layout" he said. "The same as all of the Champion of Cyrodiil's accounts describe. There's two ways up the tower, both running parallel to each other, so maybe we should split up again"
"Alright, then. Ri'Azba, Raminus, Arzel, you're with me. Dramas, Storm, Ciara, you're with Agam-Na. Let's go!"
Storm, Ciara and Dramas led the charge into the tower. As they suspected, there were many Mythic Dawn guards patrolling the ground floor. But now they had one advantage – the Mythic Dawn tended to wear robes as opposed to heavy armour, so Ciara and Ri'Azba's bows would now be effective against their enemies.
Two Mythic Dawn soldiers immediately summoned Daedric maces and charged at the three of them, but both had barely got five paces before Ciara had felled them with an arrow to the forehead. At that moment, four more burst out of side-passages towards them. Storm and Dramas drew their swords and charged to face them, as Ciara brought one down with her bow and Ri'Azba, running in from outside, took down another. Storm swung his sword at one of the Mythic Dawn guards, but the guard blocked it with his mace, causing Storm to recoil briefly. The guard swung his mace at Storm, but Storm managed to duck just in time, feeling the mace brush against his leather armour. He drove his sword into the Mythic Dawn man's chest and let the lifeless body fall to the ground. Dramas blocked a mace blow with his shield, then dropped his sword and held his hand to the Mythic Dawn man's face – a surge of electricity seemed to flow out of Dramas into the Mythic Dawn guard, who convulsed wildly before falling to the ground, dead.
"We need to move quickly!" Marina said. "We can't give them chance to organise a proper defense! Agam-Na, you take left, I'll see you at the top!"
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Storm led Agam-Na's group up a steep, winding corridor which seemed to be spiralling up around the outside of the tower. Occasionally a Mythic Dawn soldier would get in their way but Ciara would bring it down with her bow.
They reached the top of the corridor and emerged in a large chamber which spanned the entire width of the tower. An assortment of beds, chests and cupboards littered the room.
"We're in the guard quarters!" Dramas exclaimed. At that moment, three of the five Mythic Dawn soldiers in the room charged at them. The other two were enveloped in a yellow light, which subsided to reveal that they were both wearing full suits of conjured Daedric armour!
"Damnit, Argonian, look what you've got us into!" Dramas shouted as they began to retreat down the corridor.
"Shut up and fight!" Storm yelled at him. Dramas drew his bow and fired at one of the Mythic Dawn soldiers, hitting him in the thigh. As the soldier fell to the ground in pain, Dramas drew a second arrow and fired it into the soldier's scalp. Storm blocked a mace blow with his sword and returned the blow, taking down the soldier he was fighting, whilst Ciara skilfully took down the third unarmoured soldier with her bow. There were now two remaining Mythic Dawn agents in the room – the two with the bound Daedric armour.
Storm and Dramas charged at them and began fighting vainly against the heavily-armoured soldiers but soon found themselves forced into a corner. They both stood back-to-back, absorbing the recoil from the blows of each others' enemies, whilst they fought on with their swords. It was no use. Daedric armour was practically impenetrable. How were they supposed to kill the Mythic Dawn men?
Suddenly, Dramas' Elven shield disintegrated in his hands. At that moment he realised the man he was fighting was using some sort of enchantment to damage Dramas' armour. Dramas felt a searing pain as the Mythic Dawn soldier's sword sliced across his arm, leaving a deep gash which blood began to pour from. As he fell to his knees in pain he noticed something. A gap between the man's greaves and cuirass. Without missing a beat, he drove his sword upwards into it, pushing the sword gruesomely through the Mythic Dawn agent until it severed his spine and he fell to the ground.
Storm was having less luck. He was now separated from Dramas and pinned against a wall. The Mythic Dawn soldier brought his mace up above his head and swung down. Storm managed to block the blow with his sword but the impact knocked him to the ground.
Ciara watched in horror as the Mythic Dawn man went to smash his mace down on Storm's head. Thoughts rushed through her brain.
Why hadn't Storm been able to kill the man? Because he was wearing impenetrable armour. Armour which he had summoned. If only Storm could hold on until the spell wore off…
Then it hit her. She drew an arrow and dipped the arrowhead into an open glass bottle on her belt, nocked it in her bow and fired. The arrow sailed across the room and hit the Mythic Dawn man's back. Then, as the dispelling poison took effect, the man's armour simply vanished, leaving him wearing nothing but his red Mythic Dawn robe again. Storm reacted instantly, crash-tackling the man to the ground and ramming his sword into his chest.
"Good thinking, Ciara" Storm said, standing up. "You saved my hides there!"
"Just repay the favour at some point" Ciara replied, putting an arm on Storm's shoulder.
At that moment, from a corridor identical to the one they had emerged from, Marina's team, led by Ri'Azba, appeared.
"Nice of you to show up on time, Marina" Agam-Na said.
"We had a bit of a fight further down" Marina replied. "Are you all OK?"
Agam-Na turned to look at Dramas. He had ripped a strip from a Mythic Dawn robe and used it to bandage the wound inflicted on his arm.
"I can't use my left arm and my shield's been destroyed" he said. "But I can still use my sword, so I'm still of some use"
"Excellent" Agam-Na said. "It looks like there's only one way up from here"
Moonshadow, Palace of Azura
Three figures sat around the large table in the Great Hall of Moonshadow Palace. Three of the most powerful beings in existence. Azura, Hermaeus Mora and Meridia.
"I am aware why you have brought us here, Azura" Hermaeus said. "You believe that the mortals cannot stop the evil ones without our help"
"Yes, that is why I seek your counsel" Azura said. "Their success depends not just on knowledge, but also victory in combat against their many foes. And now that they have lost two of their most able warriors…"
"Plus, they are currently in a plane of Oblivion which we don't know who it belongs to" Meridia said. "And there is the issue of what they do next when they retrieve the Ring of Namira. If they retrieve it, that is…"
"What do you mean?"
"They will have the essence of Molag Bal and Namira. But what of the other Daedra? Peryite, Malacath, Vaermina and Jyggalag?"
"Jyggalag's essence will be easy to retrieve" Hermaeus said. "I know that the Sword of Jyggalag resides on display in New Sheoth Palace in Sheogorath's realm. I am sure that Sheogorath will gladly give up possession of the sword if it means the defeat of his oldest foe"
"But we still have the problem that the group are trapped in this plane of Oblivion"
"Then let us help them"
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The eight reached a large circular door, on a balcony overlooking an enormous pit in the centre of the tower.
"This must be the Sigil room" Agam-Na said. "It feels like we've been going up forever…"
Storm tried the door, and to his surprise it opened. With Ciara and Ri'Azba covering him he burst through the doorway… into a completely empty room.
The column of flame that had risen up the centre of the tower simply faded away and stopped in the centre of the chamber. Agam-Na stepped in, took in the surroundings and realised that he had made a terrible, terrible mistake.
"I don't understand…" he said. "This is a Sigil keep, but there's no stone. And if someone removed it, how can this plane still exist?"
"No wonder it was so lightly guarded!" Arzel said. "They've tricked us!"
Suddenly, a blinding white light flooded the room. A figure seemed to materialise in the room, and when the light subsided the figure was revealed to be a woman in flowing silk robes and golden hair.
"Who are you?" Raminus asked in awe.
"I am Meridia" she replied. "I have been sent here by Azura and Hermaeus Mora as they believe me to have the greatest affinity with living creatures"
"Meridia…" Marina said. "What have we done to earn the blessing of your presence?"
"I am here to help you" Marina said. "You are pursuing Mythic Dawn agents who hold the Ring of Namira. They are currently attempting to leave this plane of Oblivion via a portal to the south. They built this Sigil Keep as a decoy"
"We have to stop them!" Storm said. "But we'll never catch up with them in time!"
"That's where spellcraft comes in" Marina said. "I can make us all able to run faster than you can possibly imagine. Everyone stand in front of me – you are about to learn the meaning of haste. Meridia, what will you do?"
Meridia summoned a golden battle-axe, then in a flash of golden light, four Aurorans, the towering golden warrior servants of Meridia, materialised.
"Count me in" Meridia said.
New Sheoth Palace, The Shivering Isles
"We cannot hold them!" Commander Alzen said grimly, striding back into the palace. "The Forces of Order are too great! What shall we do?"
Sheogorath turned to the Golden Saint commander. "Look in the chest behind the throne. I have a stockpile of Hearts of Order. Order everyone to break out of the palace and destroy as many obelisks as you can! Spread the word of Madness!"
"What will you do, My Lord?"
"I will come out and fight alongside of you. My grasp over this realm is greater than Jyggalag knows"
"With respect, My Lord, is this not too great a risk?" Haskill said. "You will surely be killed!"
"They can kill me if they wish" Sheogorath said nonchalantly. "I've survived being killed before. Besides, they're not here for me. They're here for this"
Sheogorath strode over to an altar at the back of the throne room and picked up a bright silver, almost white sword from it. He handed it to Commander Alzen.
"Jyggalag wants his sword back" he said. "But he's not going to get it. Go into the Dementia throne room. There is a secret tunnel which leads out to the back of the palace, to the west. No pressure, but if Jyggalag gets this sword the world will end!"
Commander Alzen and two of her Golden Saint soldiers ran as fast as they could towards the Dementia throne room of New Sheoth palace. Sheogorath watched them run, then stepped outside.
The external area of the palace was a scene of utter chaos. The Golden Saints and Dark Seducers were vainly fighting off a horde of Knights of Order, who were constantly materialising from strange crystalline obelisks. And in the centre, an enormous metallic figure stood, striding towards the palace.
"Jyggalag!" Sheogorath shouted. "Good to see you again!"
"Where is my sword?" Jyggalag bellowed.
"I couldn't possibly tell you that, could I?" Sheogorath called back. "Where would the fun be in that?"
Jyggalag hurled a colossal bolt of lightning at Sheogorath, but Sheogorath raised his staff, causing the lightning bolt to seemingly bend around him and collide harmlessly with the walls of New Sheoth Palace.
"Now, now, if you want the sword, which I clearly don't have, why are you trying to kill me?"
"Because I already have the sword! Commander Alzen and her guard are dead, and my Priests of Order bringing the sword to me as I speak!"
"What?" Sheogorath said in shock.
"I built this realm, you demented fool!" Jyggalag boomed. "Of course I know about your little secret escape route! I laid a little ambush in there for your Aureal!"
"Kill him!" Sheogorath shouted at the top of his voice. "Kill Jyggalag! Kill him now!"
Several miles west, in the wastelands of Dementia on the shores of a small lake, Commander Alzen and one other Golden Saint, Guardian Iria, emerged from an ancient stone door and collapsed onto the grass on the sloping shoreline. It had been a tough battle, but they had fought off the ambush from the Forces of Order. And they still had the Sword of Jyggalag with them.
"Now what?" Iria asked.
"I don't know" Alzen replied. "Sheogorath merely told me to keep the sword safe"
"Commander Alzen" Alzen heard a voice inside her head. It was Sheogorath. She looked at Iria, who was still lying on the grass, recuperating. Had she heard the voice?
"You must listen carefully. It is vital that Jyggalag does not get his sword back. You must travel to the Realm of Order and close all means of travel between there and here. Make your way back to New Sheoth Palace, and I will give you further instruction. Do not worry, nobody will attack you"
"Iria, we must return to the Palace" Alzen said. "As stereotypical as it sounds, the voices in my head are telling me to"
"You're mad"
"I may be. Let's hope this time that I'm not"
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Eleven invisible figures ran at blinding speed south of the mysterious empty city, pursuing three Mythic Dawn agents who were still blissfully unaware of their pursuers. Meridia and her Aurorans ran alongside six members of the group. Two were absent – Storm and Ciara. They had gone to find the Sigil Stone.
As they got nearer, Ri'Azba drew his bow and took down one of the Mythic Dawn agents. The invisibility spell was broken as he did so, but as soon as the Mythic Dawn realised what was going on, the four Aurorans charged at them and cut them down with their Elven battle axes.
"Meridia, I have a question" Agam-Na said as the group began searching the bodies. for the Ring of Namira.
"What is it, Argonian?" Meridia replied.
"Your followers, the Aurorans. I thought they betrayed you and joined forces with Umaril the Unfeathered"
"Not all of them did. Some remained loyal to me"
"You did not have to power to prevent the betrayal?"
"Agam-Na, my position as a Daedric Princess has always been tentative at best" Meridia said. "I'm sure you are aware of how Tiber Septim was transformed into Talos, one of the Nine Divines. It is a similar history to mine. I was once merely an Aldmer, and in essence I still am"
"How did you become a Daedric Princess?"
"I do not know" Meridia replied. "One day, in the First Age, I fell asleep, into a deep sleep for thousands of years. When I awoke I had become Meridia"
"I've found it!" Arzel called. He removed the Ring of Namira from the finger of one of the dead Mythic Dawn agents, and handed it to Marina.
"Give it to Agam-Na" she said. "I trust him with it more than I trust myself"
Agam-Na took the ring and placed it over his finger, next to his emerald Guild of Mages ring.
"Now what?" Raminus asked. "Into the portal?" He pointed to the portal that the Mythic Dawn agents were heading towards before they were killed.
"No. There is no telling where it might emerge" Marina said. "We were lucky this time. We have two options. We can journey north to where we entered the realm, or we can rest and wait for Storm and Ciara to find the Sigil Stone.
"You need to rest" Meridia said. She turned and faced the heavens. "Azura, anything to report?"
Azura's voice boomed down from the pitch-black sky.
"I have word from Hermaeus. The Sword of Jyggalag is in the Realm of Order, but Jyggalag is not"
"Who is up for an expedition to the Realms of Order, then?" Marina said, looking at the group.
"Should we not wait for Storm and Ciara first?" Raminus said.
Another voice thundered down from the sky. "Don't worry, I'll get you all there"
"Hermaeus Mora" Meridia explained to the group. "He controls the very fabric of reality. He can make it so that when Storm and Ciara find the stone, the plane will collapse into the Realm of Order"
"We should take a rest, then" Marina said. "I think we've earned it"