Chapter 7
Ashes to Ashes
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3E 427
Red Mountain
It was unbelievably hot in Dagoth Ur's Citadel, almost too hot for Nevano to take. Each breath of heated air and ash seared his throat. He had been wandering around Red Mountain for days and already he barely recognized his own voice. Not that he heard it much. He was the only mostly sane creature in the entire area. Red Mountain was crawling with all sorts of deadra, corprus monsters and ash creatures. He didn't even bother to count the rats and cliff racers. Normally he hated and feared rats but after wading through a sea of corprus beasts and dodging the spells of ash monsters…they suddenly weren't scary anymore. But that was the effect Red Mountain had; you turned into a creature merely bent on survival. Things that used to scare you no longer did. He was numb to the part of his brain that gave him a sense of humanity.
He was coated in a thick layer of ash that mixed with his sweat and turned into a second skin of mud he was pretty certain would turn to concrete when it dried. Several injuries that were pretty serious lay hidden under the ash layer. He hadn't slept in days. He had already gone through Citadels Vemynal and Odrosal, already recovered Sunder and Keening. All that was left was to destroy the heart and destroy Dagoth Ur himself, all while being a bloody mess. Adding to the injuries and exhaustion was the constant taunting by Dagoth Ur, calling him Nerevar, inviting him as a friend. Nevano's head was swimming, his nerves completely shot. Nerevar, Nevano…he had no idea WHO he was anymore. He was merely a body that had been thrown onto the playing board by both the empire and false gods to see what would happen. They were merely curious at the outcome. They didn't care what happened to the pawn.
Nevano went through the halls almost in a trance. He could hear whispers and maniacal laughter hidden in the walls. Sometimes he caught himself muttering along with it. Was that laughter his? He could envision ash monsters materializing from the floors. Through the shimmering heat waves he had a hard time telling if the monsters he saw were real or not. Sometimes they weren't real. Sometimes they were merely images his brain had conjured. Sometimes it was some inanimate object, like the chairs there oddly stacked in the middle of a room. Sometimes they were real and launched themselves at him. He would avoid the over-grown slashing nails and the occasional destruction spell to bury his sword in a throat or chest. His bowstring had long since snapped thanks to a lucky strike from a cliff racer's claws. The arrows he had dumped a long time ago but the bow he kept with him. He just couldn't bring himself to dump Sul-Senipal's Bonebiter bow.
Dagoth Ur was…not what he expected. After all the twisted minions he had seen, the Dunmer with the missing crucial facial features, the horribly bloated and malformed bodies of corprus beasts and the deformed faces of the Ash Vampires, Dagoth Ur seemed almost…normal. Granted his nails were hugely, grossly, overgrown into talons and that mask was terrifying purely because Nevano had no idea what it was hiding. He also wasn't expecting the civil conversation they had. It was so normal it actually hurt his head. He didn't regain any mental footing when a single strike from his sword after their little talk made Dagoth Ur disappear. No body just...poof. The door opening to his left did nothing to reassure him. That door led to the heart chamber. He knew it did. He desperately didn't want to go through that door. Dagoth Ur had merely transported himself to the heart chamber. The false god was waiting for him before unleashing the full force of his power on the reluctant hero. But it had to be done. The heart had to be destroyed. Taking a deep breath, Nevano went through the door.
"What a fool you are. I'm a god, how can you kill a god?" Dagoth Ur charged Nevano, slashing at him with those grossly huge talons, "What a grand and intoxicating innocent. How can you be so naïve? There is no escape. No recall or intervention can work in this place. Come, lay down your weapons, it is not too late for my mercy!"
"NO!" Nevano screamed, raising his sword in defense to ward off the ash vampires that leaped in to attack along with their master, "I will NEVER surrender! I have had ENOUGH! You will DIE!"
Just behind Dagoth Ur Nevano could see a ledge with a pathway leading down. Towering above was a massive brass skeleton, the remains of Akulakhan, the brass god that Dagoth Ur had built to wipe Morrowind clean. The heart had to be at the base, powering the thing. He knew what he had to do.
Nevano dove through the mass of ash vampires, acquiring new gouges from talons, and ran straight for the ledge, holding tightly onto the amulet he had gotten from Tel Vos. He leaped off the ledge and, as he plummeted down towards the pool of lava at the bottom, he activated the amulet. Air suddenly became as solid as the earth beneath his feet, halting his fall. He scrambled, clawing his way through the air towards the heart. He could see it, pulsing hotly, surrounded by tubes and wires as it fed Akulakhan. The very air around it shimmered with untold power, calling to him, trying to tempt him. He wanted nothing to do with it. Power was as unappealing to him as rotten fruit. As he got closer he kept repeating to himself, "Once with Sunder, then with Keening, once with Sunder, then with Keening." Over and over again. He shoved his right hand into Wraithguard where it hung on his belt, reaching for Sunder where it hung heavy on his back. "Once with Sunder…"
He expected the heart to be soft. He expected it to squish beneath the powerful strike from Sunder but the hammer instead vibrated like it had struck stone, nearly causing him to drop the dwarven tool. He heard howls and shrieks behind him and knew the ash vampires were running down the path towards him. He had no time to lose. Switching the hammer out for Keening he struck.
"What are you doing?"
When earth is sundered, and skies chocked black, and sleepers serve the seven curses, to the hearth there comes a stranger, journeyed far 'neath moon and star.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Though stark-born to sire uncertain, his aspect marks his certain fate. Wicked stalk him, righteous curse him. Prophets speak, but all deny.
"FOOL!"
Many trials make manifest the stranger's fate, the curses' bane. Many touchstones try the stranger. Many fall, but one remains.
"STOP!"
As the final hit struck the heart, Nevano was knocked back as an explosion of energy made the entire cavern shake. He had done it. The heart was destroyed.
"What have you done?" Dagoth Ur had materialized right behind Nevano, watching as the cavern shook and trembled, the tubes and wires that fed Akulakhan exploding off the giant brass frame. Centuries and centuries of plotting and planning and building were falling down around him in a matter of seconds.
Nevano turned to try to run. All around him, the cavern was collapsing. Giant pieces of the ceiling were falling down, taking everything in their path down into the lava pool below. He needed to get off this rock bridge and to the safety of the ledge, away from the falling rocks. Survival instincts took over everything. But Dagoth Ur had other ideas. Driven mad by the sudden loss of divinity, by the sudden failure of thousands of years of planning and plotting, there was no survival instinct. There was only rage, a primal raw rage that was focused on the scared young mer in front of him. Like a wild animal, Dagoth Ur descended on Nevano and bit down. The young mer screamed as ragged teeth sank into his shoulder right next to his neck. Like a dog with a rat, he was shook until the entire chunk of his flesh was worried free. He fell back against the heart pedestal, grabbing at the gaping wound, blood spurting between his fingers. He looked up and saw a rock falling right to Dagoth Ur.
"This is the end. The bitter, bitter end."
Nevano turned away as the rock crushed Dagoth Ur to death. He didn't need to watch. There had been enough death and destruction that he didn't want to see the final act that would end it all. He just wanted to get out. That amulet of levitation once again earned its keep, getting him out of the way of the still falling rocks and up onto the ledge. The ash vampires had already fled, screeching and screaming and alerting every monster left within the citadel.
Nevano lay on the ledge, shaking and panting, one hand clamped to his shoulder. He could feel blood running out under his fingers from the crater in his flesh but it was no longer spurting in tandem with his heartbeat. As his adrenaline faded the pain started to make itself known in short sudden bursts. Soon he knew it wouldn't fade. The little lightning bolts that jerked through his arms were just the beginning of the hell that awaited him. He needed to go now before the pain made it impossible to get up and leave. He needed to get to Ghost Gate.
"Let's go lad." Nevano was positive there was no one else in the cavern with him other than very angry ash beasts. But that voice didn't echo through the cavern…it echoed only in his head. It was also distinctly a language he had never heard before but somehow he could understand every word perfectly, "You did good. Let's get you home."
Strength not his pulled him to his feet. It was the strangest feeling, like he was not in control of his body, like someone else was pulling him up and supporting him, despite the fact that no one was there. But the voice said one thing that he had been desperate to hear since he first arrived in Morrowind; "Let's get you home".
Many fall, but one remains.
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4E 211
Raven Rock
Councilor Lleril Morvayn read over the letter from the mainland. It had come along with the last ship but was heavily encrypted, taking him the better part of the last few days to decipher the letter. It was definitely highly unusual for the other councilors of House Redoran to be requesting his presence and even more unusual for them to request every councilor to be present. The letter was horribly vague but he had heard enough over the past year that he had a pretty good idea what was going to happen. None of it boded well.
Captain Veleth walked in, brushing ash off his armor. Perfect, just the mer he wanted to see.
"My influence doesn't reach that far beyond Solstheim, especially with the ebony mines the way they are." Councilor Morvayn spoke frankly. It was no huge secret that with the ebony mines closed they were in dire straights but it still rankled him that their lives suddenly meant so much less because of it, especially in the eyes of their own kin. "So when I get a letter requesting my presence in Blacklight by the rest of the councilors of House Redoran, I know it's something of grave importance. Only once before has House Redoran requested all its councilors together and that was during the Argonian invasion."
Captain Veleth stayed standing at attention and silent. He was very well aware of all this.
"I'm requesting you accompany me to Blacklight."
"I beg your pardon?" Veleth was not the most demonstrative mer but the councilor could easily read the surprise and shock in his ruby eyes.
"Veleth you are the only one here with an idea of what's going on and not just on Raven Rock." The Redoran councilor gave him a small smile, "I'm well aware that your father keeps you updated. As… interesting as your father is, I respect his intuition. He came from a time where having a good sense of which way the wind blew was vital to survival. I know he's passing that on to you and that is the reason I wish for you to go with me to Blacklight."
"I'm not sure leaving Raven Rock is…"
"You've been training those men for years." The councilor intercepted him, "I know you well enough to know you've trained up a few to act in your place in case multiple points of the village had to be protected at once. I'm positive they can keep Raven Rock safe for a while without you here."
Captain Veleth nodded, "I will make the arrangements then. Blacklight is a dangerous city anyway."
"Good."
As Veleth left, Morvayn glanced at the letter once more. He was not asking Veleth to go with him as a bodyguard as Second Councilor Arano had requested and no doubt as Veleth himself believed. No, he wanted Veleth to listen in, to know exactly what was going on. The captain came from a family who had a history of running into the right people at the right time and doing the right thing during moments of great crisis. For that reason he knew that Veleth was going to play a major part in all this before all was said and done.
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Skyrim
Nevano didn't go back to the Bannered Mare that night. His shoulder was still extremely painful and swollen, especially around the jagged scar next to his neck, but a restlessness had set in. He knew who had his swords and it was time to go after them. As was his custom, he simply left in the middle of the night. It used to infuriate his guild brothers and sisters but there wasn't anyone here to upset. Maybe that's why he wanted to leave so badly; he was so lonely in the middle of a city. It was much easier to be lonely in the middle of the wilderness than it was to be lonely surrounded by people.
His destination was Solitude, clear across the continent. If there was any city in Tamriel he wanted to visit, it was Solitude. He had learned to read common by reading the Wolf Queen books. The War of the Red Diamond had completely fascinated him and now he was in the land where it all took place. He was half expecting skeletal servants to still be wandering around the city and for once he wouldn't be bothered by that one bit. However he was pretty certain the Nords had done everything in their power to erase all evidence of Potema from the city. They highly revered powerful warriors and strong leaders but anything they considered dishonorable they were quick to bury in the snow. A treacherous bid for the crown and a war that brought the wrath of the empire on their heads qualified. The more he thought about it the more he wished he had a copy of the book to read.
The sun was just beginning to rise, lightening up the sky to a pale purple with the twinkle of the stars still visible. He loved watching the dawn bloom in the sky. It was just magical. Suddenly he felt a twitch on his chest. He frowned. That was highly unusual. He usually felt twinges like this right before a panic attack but he hadn't had one in days and his heart rate was still steady and not racing. The next twinge was no longer a twinge; it was like a knife to the chest. Searing pain shot through his chest like a lightning bolt, dropping him to his knees right there on the road. He screamed, clawing at his chest, writhing on the round as round after round of agonizing pain shook him to his very core. Blackness ringed the red haze of his vision. He didn't care anymore, he just wanted the merciful release of unconsciousness to claim him and relieve the pain.
The last thing he saw before he finally passed out was feet running towards him.
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A/N: When you have characters you love, you put them through hell.
