Chapter 29

"How much deeper can this place be?" Frea asked, almost in complaint. "I heard that Miraak's power was great, but to have such a large temple…"

"I've seen bigger." Serana spoke out, earning a snort from Garen.

"Say it and you're dead." Serana warned and Garen only gave her an innocent smile.

"Shhh." Garen whispered, holding up his hand for silence. At the very edge of his senses, he could fell a word wall nearby.

"We don't have much left of this place. I can feel it coming to an end soon." Garen spoke. in the past, word walls were always at the end of a ruin, there was no reason to believe that this would be any different.

The three of them entered a small room lined in sarcophagi. At one end was the word wall that Garen had felt. Draped over the wall, as if it was a trophy, were the bones of a massive dragon.

"Miraak was almost as good at killing dovah as I am." Garen mumbled.

"Oh? Why's that?" Serana asked him, for once genuinely interested.

"I've counted the skeletons of at least fifty three dovah both outside and in. It's not as much as I've killed, but most of these were all in one battle." Garen replied and slowly approached the word wall.

"And how many have you killed?" Frea asked, looking at the sarcophagi with cautious looks.

"If I had to guess, not including Alduin, one hundred and four." Garen replied seriously.

"I don't believe that." Serana replied, giving the sarcophagi the same looks Frea was.

"Believe what you want, when Alduin first showed up there were dragons everywhere. I couldn't go two miles without needing to kill one." Garen shrugged and began reading the word wall.

With the knowledge of the wall absorbed, Garen heard several resounding cracks of the sarcophagi opening. Garen spun around and pulled his weapons out. Around the room, Deathguards stepped from the sarcophagi.

"Mul. DIIV!" Garen shouted. Around him the ethereal armor appeared, but this time the armor spread to his arms and legs. At his waist he felt something grow into life. When he looked, he found that he had an ethereal dragon tail.

"Let us destroy your foes Dovahkiin!" A man's voice laughed out in blood lust next to him. Garen looked to see a set of the same armor standing next to him.

Standing there next to him was a set of ethereal armor, in the same fashion as his, with a massive ethereal greataxe in its gauntlets. While there was no visible spirit in the armor, Garen could tell that whoever it was was grinning ear to ear at the battle to follow.

"Stay behind us." Garen spoke softly to Serana and Frea, who followed his advice immediately.

The Draugr, all grinning evilly at them, closed in on them slowly. Garen tightened his grip on his blades and readied to attack.

"Yol. Toor. SHUL!" Garen shouted out and a massive ball of fire raced into the Deathguards around him.

"Yol. Toor. SHUL!" The ethereal armor next to him mimicked his shout, causing its own ball of fire to race into the Deathguards.

In moments, every Draugr in the room was covered in flames. The stench of charred dead flesh filled the air, forcing him to keep down his lunch.

"Let us fight!" The armor called out.

Both Garen and the armor rushed towards the Deathguards. Garen's blades began cutting into the dead flesh of the Draugr with ease, while the axe of the armor hacked off limbs.

In a flurry of slashes, thrusts, dodges and shouts, Garen and the armor dealt with the Deathguards with ease. His blood pounded in his ears the entire time and he could hear nothing but the beat of his own heart. Garen thought he heard, at several points, Serana screaming out his name in warning.

To his surprise, his new tail was actually apart of him, almost as if it was a third arm. Garen made full use of his new limb to bat away foes at his flanks and pin down others with thrusts through their chests..

Only with all the Deathguards dead at his feat and his breathing heavy did he regain his hearing. His weapons were drenched in the icor that embalmed the Draugr and that now covered the floor.

"Well fought young one!" The armor spoke, and Garen could tell he spoke with pride.

"Thanks." Garen muttered out and turned to face Serana and Frea.

"I'm glad to see that I was not the last great hero from our clan." The armor spoke and Garen looked at it with confusion on his face.

"I am Garen Dragonsbane. As your mother has told me in Sovngarde, you have followed in my footsteps and even surpassed me." The armor spoke with pride.

"Wait what?" Serana asked, and stood in front of the two.

"Yes. I am the first Dragonsbane. And I must say, I couldn't be more proud of where our clan has gone." The armor mused. "Although, the Hero of Kvatch becoming Sheogorath was unexpected."

"Yeah, please don't remind me that I'm the direct descendant of a Daedra." Garen spoke pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What?!" Serana looked at him in astonishment.

"I'll tell you later lass." Garen waved Serana off.

"I shall return to Sovngarde until you have need of me again. Take care in the place, there is an evil in here that should not have been made." Dragonsbane spoke before fading from existence.

"Well, I've had weirder things happen." Garen shrugged before looking around.

"You mean to say that's normal for you?" Frea asked.

"I've seen nearly every god in one place just to talk to me. So in comparison, yes." Garen shrugged and spotted a door set in one of the sarcophagi.

Garen walked over to it and found it locked. He pulled out a couple lockpicks and some wax and in just seconds, had the door open and a wax copy of the key in his hands.

"Huh. Probably would've helped if I looked for a key first." Garen shrugged and pocketed the key.

Garen looked to the two women to find them staring at him, mouths slightly open.

"What?" Garen asked. "I'm the best thief in Skyrim for a reason."

Garen stepped through the now open door into a small meeting room. In the chairs ,that were arranged in a circle, all save one were occupied by a robed skeleton. By the robes on the bones, they looked to be priests to the temple, likely some of the higher ups. By the stab wounds and blood on each of their robes, clearly they had not been well liked.

The three of them passed by the skeletons and into the next room. They all stopped at seeing a large dining hall, filled with the burnt and charred remains of cultists. From the looks of them, they had been here when the temple was leveled and not just recently.

"What could do this?" Frea asked in a hushed voice.

"Dragons." Garen replied coldly. He knew better than anyone that a dragon was a powerful force even when it wasn't enraged at betrayal.

"Come on. We can do nothing for them, their spirits have long ago moved on." Garen spoke coldly looked around.

It looked as if it was a dead end, but Garen knew better. On one wall, he picked out the faint outline of a hidden passage. Garen walked to it and found a stone that was the release for the door. The door slid into the floor, revealing a passage leading even farther into the earth.

The passage lead into a small circular room with three outward facing statues. At seeing the statues, Garen were the exact representations of the massive tentacle creature Garen had fought in Mora's realm.

"These look ancient." Serana mused.

"And disturbing." Frea remarked.

"FUS. ROH. DAH!" Garen shouted in anger at the statues. The force of his shout shattered the statues into rubble.

"Garen?" Serana asked and placed a soothing hand on his shoulder. "What's... What's wrong?"

"Miraak." Garen hissed out, unable to rein in his anger. "That traitor cheated his fate and his death. I will kill him with my bare hands when I find him."

Garen looked down at the floor to see a grate in the floor had pulled back to reveal a staircase leading downwards. Garen, without a word, stormed down the stairs.


"This place." Frea spoke when they entered an odd inky room with a tentacle motif. "It feels… Wrong."

"What you're about to see will be even more wrong." Garen grit out.

Sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room was another black book.

"Garen what are you…" Serana began, but the look Garen gave her told her everything. "Just be careful."

"I always am." Garen smirked before walking up to the book and pulling the cover open.

"All-Maker protect us!" Frea gasped when the pages of the book pulsed a green light.

"I'm coming traitor." Garen mumbled when the book wrapped its tentacles around him and pulled him in.

For several moments, Garen had the sensation of falling. It lasted until he was dropped into Mara's plane. Unlike the last time, he was ready for the landing and landed solidly on his feet.

Unlike in the last book, there were several tall towers around him. In front of him was his goal. Standing amongst a group of the smaller creatures of Mora's realm, was a single man. His sickly green robes and dragon priest mask left no doubt as to who it was.

"Who are you to dare set foot here?" The man spoke, turning to Garen.

Before he could react, massive arms found their way to Garen's shoulders and forced him to his knees. Garen looked to see two of the larger creatures towering over him.

"Impossible… I was told that Alduin killed you." Miraak whispered and strode up to just out of arm's reach of Garen.

"And I was told you were slain millennia ago. Yet you cheated the fate you were given." Garen snarled back.

"No. You're not him. Unlike him, you have the soul of a dragon." Miraak snarled out.

"As you can see, I am very much alive, unlike that coward whose likeness you bear." Miraak smirked out.

"And unlike him, I will do what the dovah started and kill you!" Garen barked out.

"Such fire." Miraak chuckled. "Though you will need to wait for your chance to die at my blade."

"You may have slain Alduin, but you do not know of the true power a dragonborn can wield." Miraak stepped back and Garen could feel the man's thu'um building.

"Mul. Qah. DIIV!" Miraak shouted.

Garen watched the man be encased in his own ethereal armor, much like he had been, however Miraak's was not like his. Unlike his, Miraak's armor only covered small portions of his chest and forearms. From his head, the spikes and horns of a dragon sprouted out.

"Send him back to Nirn. Let him await my return like the rest of the world." Miraak spoke smugly before turning away.

Garen felt himself being pulled upwards and soon, he was shrouded in inky darkness.


Serana felt the black book in her arms pulse with power. Knowing what would happen, she set it down on the snow covered ground.

The cover to the book opened, and Garen was thrown out of it. The cover shut, and to her small disappointment, Garen landed on his feet.

"That was quick." She spoke and Garen looked at her. She could see the fury in his eyes and his anger radiating off his body.

"This isn't over." Garen spoke out, reining in his anger.

"What happened?" Serana asked and placed a soothing hand on his arm.

"I spoke with Miraak." Garen grit out. "He's planning to return to Nirn."

"Then I was right for us to head to my village." Frea spoke next to her.

As if noticing it for the first time, Garen looked around them. They were outside as opposed to in the temple.

"Where are we?" Garen asked, looking at their snowy surroundings.

"We were on our way to my village to the north. My father is our shaman and might be able to help us. If what you say is true, then we sorely need it." Frea spoke and Garen nodded.

"From the way he spoke, it seemed like Miraak was planning to return sooner rather than later." Garen spoke calmly, but Serana could still see the fire burning in him.

"Then we have no time to lose." Frea spoke somberly.

Garen picked the book up off the ground and slipped it into one of his pouches. The three set off towards Frea's village.