As Tsunar approached the swirling portal, a thin, purple tendril of energy leaped from the swirling vortex and impaled him. He felt a searing pain surge through his chest. It felt as though some malevolent force had gripped his soul and tried to wrench it from within. He staggered backwards in pain, gritting his teeth. As he stumbled back up the stairs, the purple energy connecting him to the portal vanished. Serana and Borgakh rushed forward to check on his condition. Pulling Tsunar's armour aside, they saw no wounds, though the pain in Tsunar's chest lingered for a moment.
"Damn it." Serana muttered. "I should have thought of this." She stood up, a look of embarrassment on her face. "The Soul Cairn is… Well, hungry, for lack of a better word."
"Okay. So how do we feed it?" Tsunar asked, glaring at the purple light.
"It wants a payment for you entering. It wants your soul." Serana's eyes drifted to the gems not far away. "I could use a soul trap to give part of your soul, leaving you alive. We'd have to get it back once we're in there though."
"Tell me there's another way." Borgakh responded, more an order than anything else. Serana shook her head.
"I'd probably be fine on account of the whole undead thing. I guess… I guess I could bite you." Serana shook her head as she finished.
"No other way?" Tsunar asked, hoping for a third way but knowing he'd heard all Serana's ideas. The vampire shook her head slowly, a look of guilt faintly showing on her face. Tsunar looked at the portal again, then at the soul gems.
"Like I told Harkon," he said, turning back to Serana. "I've gotten used to lycanthropy. I'd rather not spend another year in fear of myself trying to deal with a whole new curse." Serana nodded.
"I understand." Serana looked to Borgakh. The Orc was looking at the door that lead into the room and the brazier they had placed the portal's ingredients into.
"I think I should stay behind." She said, turning back to the others. "Could fight off anything that comes by and close the portal if I can't."
"Do you even know how to close it?" Serana asked. Borgakh simply drew an axe.
"I get the feeling it closes when the bowl breaks." Serana smirked.
"Alright." Serana turned to Tsunar. "Hold still." A dark energy began to swirl in her palm. She extended her hand and Tsunar could feel the spell's effect as his vision darkened for a moment. He felt another pull at his spirit. Less painful that the Cairn's, and accompanied by a momentary numbness. As Tsunar's vision returned, he felt empty. Serana held a black crystal in her hand. She breathed deeply as she handed it to Tsunar.
"Find it in there, crush it and you'll get that part of your soul back." Tsunar nodded and approached the portal a second time, crystal gripped tightly.
As Tsunar stepped through the portal, his vision went black in an instant. He kept walking and felt the crystal disappear from his grip. One more step and Tsunar's vision returned. The sight was a depressing thing. Everything around him was black. The ground, the stones, even the sky was a dark, nearly black shade of purple. In the center of the sky was a large swirling maelstrom of energy that culminated in an enormous black circle, it looked almost like a titanic eye. The black soil was dotted with black stones. Looking around, Tsunar saw a number of twisted and crumbled ruins made from the dark rocks of the realm. Scattered around the landscape were piles of ancient, grayed bones. Mostly human, but there were bones from all manner of beasts littered among the piles. Some even looked draconic in nature. The occasional flash of purple lightning seemed like the only colour in this dreary place. In the center of Tsunar's chest, he could feel a faint sensation. Almost as if he was being compelled to walk towards something. Tsunar ignored the feeling as he turned to see Serana step out of the portal.
"Oh," Serana said as she looked around. "I don't know what I was expecting, but this is more depressing than I thought." Tsunar turned back to the landscape. An enormous wall seemed to stretch for infinite miles in either direction, but there was a gap, a few hundred feet from their current location. With nowhere else to go, Tsunar and Serana made their way towards it.
As they walked, they passed a number of translucent, purple spirits. Many of them muttered and whispered as they passed. Some seemed to speak as though they didn't know they where dead, others spoke of their regrets, some talked of how they ended up in the Soul Cairn. They all wore the same look of melancholy permanently etched onto their face.
"Let's not spend any more time here than we need to." Tsunar whispered. As they passed through the giant opening in the wall, they saw that the other side was just as drenched in shadow and despair as the one they came from. There were three enormous towers that seemed to break at their tops, the debris floating and twisting. Up the path from the wall was a large structure, surrounded by some kind of transparent energy. The pair made for the structure. As they approached, they saw a figure standing behind the energy wall. When they got closer, the figure's details became clearer. A woman with pale skin and orange eyes that seemed to glow faintly. When the woman saw them approach, she walked towards the barrier, mouth agape.
"Serana?" Valerica whispered in disbelief.
