"And so, as they kept coming together in greater numbers into one place, finding themselves naturally gifted beyond the other animals in not being obliged to walk with faces to the ground, but upright and gazing upon the splendor of the starry firmament, and also in being able to do with ease whatever they chose with their hands and fingers, they began... to construct shelters."
Vitruvius, De Architectura (ca. 20 BC) Bk.2, Chp.1, Sec.2, p.38
During the journey the Champion found his thoughts blissful, in the sense that he was not bored, but also disconcerting. He pondered why he had dreams about Sheogorath and Jyggalag, and also he was not aware who that other Adventurer was. He seemed very familiar, but also distant in the past. Was this revelation a prophecy that had already unfolded, or was this simply the workings of an idle mind, burdened with recent trials?
The Champion shook his head and decided to try to ignore such thoughts for the rest of the journey. The Champion found himself observing the surrounding area, which had changed from the lowland landscape of the Heartlands to the woodland biome of the Great Forest.
They appeared to be very close to their destination, and, as if to confirm the Champion's suspicions, the Knight proclaimed that, "We are very close to where the Jerall Mountains meets the Great Forest. When we arrive there we will go about constructing Jyggalag's shrine."
The Champion nodded and picked up the pace, as he was eager to break the current tension. Finally, the duo stopped at the foot of the Jerall Mountains and set about constructing the shrine. This was done with absolute silence, only broken by an occasional demand. The Knight took strength-based roles, like chopping down the trees and moving the quarried stone, whereas the Champion went about constructing the altar itself.
These were no small tasks, and the pedestal alone took until twilight. The Knight required no sleep, however the Champion was not imbued with such immunity and thus had to sate his sleep depravation. The Knight had little to no ability when it came to the intricate details in sculpture-making, and had to stop working while the Champion slept.
The Champion was not blessed with blissful dreams this night and found himself in a extravagant courtyard with two opposing flames or cyan and orange. There seemed to be a duel going on between the Adventurer, that he had seen before, and Sheogorath-turned-Jyggalag.
Jyggalag shouted such things as, "Another of Sheogorath's foolish schemes,", "Are you the best the Madgod could muster?", and "This is what the Madgod sends against me?"
The Adventurer on the other hand stayed eerily silent, as if he was detached from the world, but still he fought with great ferocity. After a great deal of swordsmanship, the Adventurer slew Jyggalag and Jyggalag's spirit left his body and his disembodied, phantasmal head departed with many words: "Enough! I am beaten. The Greymarch is ended. For millennia this drama has unfolded, and each time, I have conquered this land, only to be transformed back into that gibbering fool, Sheogorath. It was not always so. Once, I ruled this Realm, a world of perfect Order. My dominion expanded across the seas of Oblivion with each passing era. The other Princes, fearful of my power, cursed me with Madness, doomed me to live as Sheogorath, a broken soul reigning in a broken land. Once each era, I was allowed my true form, conquering this world anew. And each time I did, the curse was renewed, damning me to exist as Sheogorath. Now, though, you have ended the cycle. You now hold the mantle of madness, and Jyggalag is free to roam the voids of Oblivion once more. I will take my leave, and you will remain here, mortal. Mortal...? King? God? It seems uncertain. This Realm is yours. Perhaps you will grow to your station. Fare thee well, Sheogorath, Prince of Madness. "
After the fight the Adventurer seemed even more detached and sported a wide grin and seemed to be in a Schadenfreude mood. After standing still for a while, the Adventurer turned to the Champion and stared at him.
The Champion awoke with a start and shook his head. These dreams were definitely not natural, and seemed to be artificially placed...
The Champion went out into the Great Forest to hunt some game and brooded over his recent dream. That Adventurer's grin eerily resembled the grin that Sheogorath had sported in the Champion's first dream, as well as the grin that Sheogorath's statue had...This couldn't possibly mean that the Adventurer had turned into Sheogorath...could it?
The Champion ate the meat of the deer he hunted and pondered this question, but couldn't come to a decisive answer. Thus he kept his mind busy by making Jyggalag's statue by memory and by using the Knight as a model. He knew he didn't have to make the sculpture perfect, in fact many of the faults would probably be rectified when it was activated, however the Champion wished to make it as best he could in the limited time provided.
After many grueling hours and one short meal, the Champion found himself standing in front of a rough model of Jyggalag, complete with a Heart of Order in its torso. The Champion wiped his brow and looked admirably upon his work, but then remembered the plan.
The Champion placed his Imperial Sword upon the shrine, kneeled down, and put his two palms upon the altar. For a few tenuous moments, this did nothing. However the Champion was suddenly filled with conviction and recited the following verse:
"O Jyggalag, the Daedric Prince whose wisdom begotten not from Hermaeus Mora, but from Order itself, we pray to thee. O Jyggalag, whose brothers did betrayeth thee and condemn thee to the foulest of role, we pray to thee. O Prince of Order, who had to destroy thine creation repeatedly until the Adventurer did usurpeth your shackles, we pray to thee! Prince of Order, lendeth this altar your power, so I can createth your conduit of Order! O Jyggalag, we pray to thee!"
After such a lengthy request, Jyggalag finally activated the shrine and proclaimed, "My Champion, you have fulfilled your first task. Now you are to build an Obelisk of Order next to this shrine, made of the Heart of Order who have and my own Knight's healthy Heart. Do not worry, he will easily be recreated by the Obelisk. Now go and don't disappoint me, My Champion..."
The Champion whispered a simple, "Yes my lord," and turned to the still stoic Knight. With absolutely no hesitation the Champion took the Imperial Sword, which oddly had not disappeared, and grabbed the Knight's back with his free hand, and viciously drove his sword right next to the Heart. The Champion then used the hole to take the still semi-healthy Heart.
The Champion stood there in shock and was visibly shaken by his sudden action. He felt as if he lost control of his movements all of a sudden, and was doing that involuntarily. The Champion suddenly deflated and collapsed into a sitting position upon the ground.
The Champion brooded over what he had just done, but realised that he must continue on. With slow movements the Champion began to pile the Hearts of Order in front of the Shrine, with the Knight's Heart in the center. Upon making a sufficiently high obelisk-like pile, the Champion chanted the verse from before, voluntarily now, and jabbed the Imperial Sword through the pile.
Immediately the sword felt very cold to the touch, and it seemed that within two second the cold had stuck the Champion's hand to the handle. After the Champion had shaken off his surprise at the sudden change, he tried prying his hands off of the handle, but to no use. After several moments of nothing happening, the cold sword started to freeze the rest of the pile.
Soon enough the pile froze into one sculpture and then the sculpture seemed to be suddenly imbued with energy. Finally the Champion was able to pry his hands off of the frostbite-inducing handle, but upon witnessing symbols upon his palms, he blacked out.
Well there's another day's worth of story for the lot. I was looking back at the pre-hiatus chapters, and I tried making the best balance I could between the organic attitude of Chapter 2, and the formality of Chapter 5. This is what came about that, and I think I'm pretty confident in this. I'm going to admit right now, even though I have some of the ending planned out...much of this is simply improvisation. That "improvisation" was what made Ch. 4 pretty disorganized, but its also what made these two recent chapters great, in my opinion. I'm going to take after David Lynch and his Twin Peak and keep going with Improvisation...Besides, I get way too burdened with details if I go to much into planning.