Guide:

Dwemeris

Thoughts

"Speech"

"Dovahzul"

Warnings/Disclaimer: see chapter 4

Chapter Warning(s): Crazy guy. Disappointments. My own headcanons.

A/N: Ever have those weeks where life sneaks up on you and pulls a fast one? Happened to me this time 'round – I haven't been able to as much as sit down in days! I'll probably be taking it a little easy with this story for a bit, hopefully I can finish the next chapter in time…That said, I still managed to get this chapter finished on time, so I hope you all enjoy!

Last time…

A shiver runs down my spine that has nothing to do with the cold. Ugh. I wonder why I'm having such a terrible feeling about this. My instincts never let me down before, so rather than wondering IF things will go sideways… I should probably wonder how badly.

Chapter 53 – Attunement is Key

After a journey that's as harrowing and dangerous as it is cold, we finally get to a small, insignificant seeming little door that, at first glance, seems more like a sewer gate with two extinguished torches above it.

The gales of wind that rage across the Sea of Ghosts shriek too loudly to hear any comments my companions might have made about the… charming entrance. The snow pierces the pieces uncovered by my armour as if I wasn't wearing anything, seeping underneath the seams like cold sweat. A glance to my right, carefully parting white-dusted eyelashes against the glare of the sun against the ice to see that Marcurio and Lydia are both shivering, glancing back at me.

Wind courses like a whirlwind around us, stirring up snow and nearly ripping off one of the torches. My stiff, frozen fingers find the edges of the hatch, trembling violently the second I put any force one the blueish-purple appendages.

We stumble inside a hallway of ice, the roar of the winds abruptly cut off as Lydia slams the grate back into place, leaving an unnerving silence only interrupted by the unsteady dripping of water somewhere ahead and our own, ragged breaths.

"If possible, never again." I croak hoarsely under my breath, glaring vehemently at the exit. "I'd rather not come all the way out here in no-one's land when at all possible. We might have frozen to death – and when the storm started, for a second I really thought we would." I let out a low string of curses, massaging some feeling back in my fingers as Marcurio casts a steady fire spell in his hands for us to huddle around.

"Do you really make it a habit of yours to drag your allies up to the coldest and most remote places in all of Tamriel?" Lydia bites after a few minutes of warming up. Marcurio shakes his head roughly, droplets of molten snow flying off in all directions from the tips of his hair.

"He does. Just be glad none of us fell into the water and call it a day. I think we're all a bit moody." The Imperial mage drawls slowly, putting out the spell as his magica reserves run low. He downs a blue potion as we descend carefully down the slippery passage, though I'm sure they're as happy to be out of the disastrous weather as I am.

When we come upon a small chamber, hewn out in the ice, I can feel my breathing stutter in absolute shock even as Lydia lets out a low, impressed whistle.

A Dwemer Lockbox.

A Dwemer Lockbox is here.

I thought we only used those to lock away any knowledge even the highest ranked Dwemer scholars deemed too high-risk to fully explore? The ones thrown into the depths of the sea to be forgotten? The ones that can never be opened by anyone not a Dwemer, as other races don't know of its significance?

A Dwemer Lockbox of Forbidden Knowledge. Here. In my path.

Why I find myself not as surprised as I should have been, I wonder?

I draw myself up to my full height – even though that isn't much – and make my way down the slope like a Sabercat stalking prey.

Inwardly, I'm really, really hoping that Signus is not attempting to do what I fear he is attempting. The man himself is pacing around in seemingly random patterns, stopping in the corners of the ice cavern before turning, muttering to himself all the way.

"Dig, Dwemer, in the beyond. I'll know your lost unknown and rise to your depths…"

I heave a small sigh. Aye, he's planning EXACTLY what I fear he is planning.

"I daresay that digging to rise to the understanding of my people is the most foolish things I can conceive for you to do, if you plan to do it through the means I see you attempt to employ."

Septimus Signus blinks at me, eyes glassy and wild, but I can still see the sharp awareness underneath, like a razor covered in a thin film of fabric.

"Who are you? The song that's being sang is no longer sung under the sun yet you sing to its tune. Tell Septimus, tell him!"

Ugh. This is going to be some Cicero-level bullshit isn't it?

"I sing?" I ask, not really knowing how to handle madmen just yet – that's supposed to be Marcurio's strong suit, being Champion of Sheogorath and all that. I give him a glance from the corner of my eye, twitching my head in the direction of the researcher under the ice in askance. The Imperial mage frowns, then shrugs before bringing the Wabbajack in front of him.

Well, that's a backup in case the crazy guy goes ballistic on us.

"Yes, yes. Sing, you do, subtle and low like the Dwemer do. But the Dwemer are dead and gone, leaving only their unknown for us to know! I am here to learn their knowings! To harness the bane of Kagrenac and Dagoth Ur!"

I don't know about any Dagoth Ur, but 'Kagrenac' sounds exceedingly familiar. A high priest and Tonal Architect, if I remember, widely acclaimed by Dwemer from all over Nirn for his research into… Into… Immortality? Was that what it was? Reaching godhood?

Aye. To finally draw that line we have sought to draw, to find if divinity meant true misunderstanding, to find if Dwemer could reach that through immortality. But… I do not know the details of his research, only that Lorkhan's Heart was involved. And rumour and hear-say, of course. It has been one of the best-kept secret from those outside Kagrenac's personal council.

"The ice, the ice, it entombs the heart. The fundaments. The Dwemer lockbox hides it from me."

Then the Heart of Lorkhan must have been deemed too dangerous and locked away.

Good. Ma never liked the thought of our kin toying with it. It might have even caused the disappearance of my people, had it been left to be experimented on. Not believing the gods have any worth or say in our culture is different from outright attempting to copy them.

"The Elder Scroll gives deeper insights than the deep ones, though. It can see through time's flow. To bring about the opening. It can show the secrets, see through the trickiest of Dwemer trickery!"

I almost want to groan out loud. This idiot child. This idiot child wants to use an Elder Scroll to bypass the lock and the strongest defences my kin could place on whatever is in the lockbox. The Heart of Lorkhan or not, whatever is in there is locked away for a reason.

"I take it you don't just happen to have a convenient scroll lying about here, do you?" I ask, aiming for humour in my voice though it falls a bit flat as my eyes inevitably fall back to the lockbox. The mere sight of it fills me with dread.

"I've seen enough to know their fabric. The warp of air, the weft of time. But no, I do not hold it. The secrets of the lockbox would have been unveiled, sublime, had I had one here."

"You know enough about the Elder Scrolls to have written a book on it." I prod firmly, spotting two copies on one of his shelves and grabbing one, leafing through it but not reading as I wait for the mad genius to talk.

"Elder Scrolls. Indeed. The Empire. They absconded with them. Or so they think. The ones they saw. The ones they thought they saw. I know of one. Forgotten. Sequestered. But I cannot go to it, not poor Septimus for I… I have arisen beyond its grasp."

Presumably, he walked into Fal Zhardum Din and saw it. More likely, he knows of it through an external source… But who, or what, would indulge him like that? Someone or something that has great amounts of knowledge, perhaps a divine..? But no, a divine would not have driven him mad. A… Daedra… Daedric Prince of Know…

Well then. Fuck me sideways with a fork, to adapt one of Marcurio's favourite phrases.

"But you do know its location, then."

"Of course, it's here!" For a millisecond, I am tempted to look around. Lydia looks around, and Marcurio makes an aborted head movement before scowling fiercely at the researcher in front of us. "Here. As in this place. Mundus. Tamriel. On the cosmological scale, it's all nearby." Septimus lets out a mad little giggle.

I resist the urge to facepalm as I realise my statement was entirely unnecessary as I know where the Elder Scroll is. I only need this guy for the key.

"Can you help me get to the Scroll?" Finally, we arrive at the crux of the matter.

Of course, the idiotic genius then goes to ask me for a favour. His patron either wants something, or Septimus wants it for himself and the Woodland Man is just patiently waiting for the knowledge to get to him.

Hermaeus Mora must be pissed off at something being so close within reach yet not in his knowing.

"You see this masterwork of the Dwemer? Septimus is clever among men, but he is but an idiot child compared to the dullest of Dwemer."

I make a small, derisive sound. "Tsk. You can say that again." I murmur low under my breath. Took the words right out of my mouth.

"Lucky then they left behind their own way of reading the Elder Scrolls. In the depths of Blackreach one yet lies. Have you heard of Blackreach? 'Cast upon where…"

"I know Blackreach." I cut him off sharply, eager to get things over with now that my suspicions have been all but confirmed. Called it.

"Only Septimus knows the hidden key to the loose the lock to jump beneath the deadly rock." The researches states smugly, and my eyes flash dangerously.

"Fine." I say icily, resisting the urge to grab my axe and loot the researcher for any notes or items of use. "How do I get in?"

"Two things Septimus has for you. Two shapes. One edged, one round. The round one, for tuning. Like Dwemer music, soft and subtle, needed to open their deepest gates for they only listen to one song. But ah, you must already know that, too. The edged lexicon then. Have you seen, clever one, one of these before?"

"I have not." As much as I loathe to admit it to this man.

Septimus cackles, spinning the key to entering Fal Zhardum Din in his hand as if it were a toy ball, making my heart hammer in my throat because I'm not certain of how fragile the thing is, and I need it to be whole and in my grasp, desperately. Preferably I would have had it five minutes ago.

"The edged lexicon, for inscribing. To those on the surface, but a hunk of metal. To the Dwemer, a library full of the deepest knowings. But… empty."

It does look a little… dull to be a library. I would have expected it to glow blue if there was more to it than the eye can see.

For perhaps the first time since I stepped out of the ruins of my home, over a year ago, I feel a stab of irritation at my own people, for making this quest to defeat Alduin even more difficult by indirectly bringing a Dwemer Lockbox into it.

On the other hand, I might just be irritated in general. This meeting so far has been nothing but a disappointment – finally having the Key to Fal Zhardum Din notwithstanding.

Septimus stares at me, unblinkingly. "Find Mzark and its sky-dome. The machinations there will read the Scroll and lay the lore upon the cube. Trust Septimus. He knows you can know."

I don't trust him as far as I can Shout him… Err, I mean, as far as I can throw a dragon with my bare hands. I could Shout him pretty far.

There's no denying that his advice may prove useful though.

I take both items with some hesitation, before handing the lexicon to Marcurio to hold on to. I keep my eyes on the mage for a moment.

Do we trust him?

Do we have a choice? His eyes ask me in return, marred by the deep frown on his face as he turns to the researcher. "What do you expect to gain from the Elder Scroll?"

I sigh and cut Septimus off before the madman can formulate an answer. "He wants to open the Dwemer Lockbox. With the Elder Scroll he can find a way past the lock. It holds a hart, according to him. The Heart of Lorkhan, if I know my lore. My… The Dwemer must have locked it away."

Septimus stares blankly at me for a few moments, before cackling, loud and grating and working on my nerves.

"Yes, yes, all right, very right, of course… Almost, that is. Your friend, the observant one, so clever to ask. And you almost figured out Septimus and got the answer, but no, not entirely! This Dwemer lockbox, truly a wonder. The heart, yes, it was hidden. Not by Dwarves, however. They were already gone. Someone else. Unseen Unknown. They found the heart, and with a flair for the ironical, used Dwarven trickery to lock it away. In that you were most wrong!"

A brief pause. "But yes. Yes, Septimus wishes to use the Scroll to find the Heart within."

I exchange looks with Marcurio. "Right then." The Imperial mage mutters, briskly moving back up the ramp clutching the empty lexicon. "We'll just… Go then."

Lydia and I walk after the man without complaint, leaving Septimus Signus to his mad ramblings.

"I didn't like the guy. Gave me the chills." Marcurio growls the moment we're outside. I take a moment to stare at the blindingly blue sky, bare of clouds as the unpredictable weather of the Sea of Ghosts changes almost by the minute, before letting out a scoff.

"He is an idiot child." I begin heatedly, clenching my fists violently before kicking the icy rock just behind me as a way to vent off my anger.

"He has no idea – absolutely no idea – I mean." I run a hand through my hair, sighing heavily.

"There… A Dwemer lockbox is a bitch, and a difficult and complex object to create even for my people. One is only made in the direst of situations, when an artefact deemed too dangerous to examine needs to be locked away. Even if Septimus gets his hand on the Elder Scroll, only a Dwemer could open it… At least that's how I remember they were designed."

I let out a mirthless chuckle. "Considering that my kin even experimented with an Elder Scroll, I fear what may lie within. If Septimus is right, it's the Heart of a God. If he's not… I shudder to even consider it, if even Hermaeus Mora took an interest."

Marcurio lets out a rough sigh, even as Lydia runs a tired hand through her unruly hair. "I thought I sensed something off about the guy." The wizard grunts, sitting down on a nearby ice bank, pulling out a drink and taking a long swig, presumably to calm his nerves.

"…So, what do we do next?" My Housecarl asks after a few moments of uneasy silence.

I'm about to reply when the Attunement Sphere, still firmly in my grasp, starts humming, low and deep and rumbling through my body, rattling my bones and pounding through my head, singing and aching and…

My vision blackens, spins, and then the ground comes up to meet me in spurts, as my legs give out and I collapse onto my knees, catching myself with my hands before the ice comes up to meet me and the world fades out.

A/N: In happier news, this story will apparently NOT be taken down! Hell yeah!