The concoction tasted rather… funny.
It was odd. In a way like nothing they had tasted before but at the same time strangely familiar. Like a dream one couldn't quite recall properly. It was probably fitting.
Its effects started instantly though. The world around them began to swirl and cover with strange haziness. The colors seemed more vivid, but everything was much more blurry than before.
"Is it working? How do you feel?" The Dunmer's raspy voice came as if from a large distance, but it still echoed in their ears.
"I think it's working," Aeyrin answered uncertainly. "Can you hear me? Can you still see me?"
"Yes, of course," the man let out a soft chuckle. "You are still here as well after all. I can see you. But more importantly, can you enter the barrier now?"
Aeyrin looked at the nearby doorway with trepidation. The barrier seemed so much more vivid now. It was still there. She kind of hoped that it would disappear. But hopefully that wasn't actually an issue. She stepped forth, towards the barrier, and she tentatively touched it, pressing her hand against it.
It went right through. As if nothing was there. Good. That was a good sign, hopefully.
She stepped inside and Bishop followed suit instantly. They could see further ahead now, there were bodies there on the ground, but it was too hard to tell who they were from where they were standing.
The two of them continued forward together, towards the bodies. There weren't any side rooms in the hallway so their destination was clear for now.
"So… what do you think will happen if the potion stops working and we're still here. Inside this thing?" Bishop scowled. He hadn't thought about that until just now and it instantly made him wary. They had no idea what that magical field would do to anyone who was only there in the real world.
"Oh…" Aeyrin stopped in her tracks in realization. She hadn't thought about that either. "I… I don't know." It was a bit pointless to say that – how could she know?
"Well, we better fucking hurry then," Bishop growled. Erandur said that it would keep them in this state for at least six hours. It was plenty of time to get through this fort by the looks of the exterior, but they could never be sure, especially when they didn't know what they would be facing here.
They continued onwards until they could see the bodies. A few people dressed in violet robes, likely the cultists of Vaermina, and two Orcs. All of them dead. They looked just like Erandur had – blurry and hazy. But then again, everything looked like that.
"Look! Something's happening," Bishop stopped Aeyrin from going forward and pointed ahead. A strange light was swirling there, right by those corpses.
The light looked harmless for a second, but soon, it started to form figures right in front of their eyes. It didn't take long before those exact same Orcs and cultists appeared and began to battle each other viciously. They didn't look exactly like those bodies though – they weren't blurry, they looked as clear as anything in the real world had before they drank that potion.
"Huh, I guess these are those memories of the battle," Aeyrin noted. But just as her voice rang through the hallway, the apparitions stopped their fight and focused their attention on her.
"Uhh… I don't think they're just gonna be recreating memories," Bishop murmured as he reached for his sword. It was clear enough, those figures snarled and brandished their weapons, ready to take on the unexpected intruders.
Aeyrin unclasped her mace promptly. The figures were already rushing against them, ready for battle.
Just as the first Orc reached them, Bishop lunged forward and thrusted his sword into the man's exposed stomach. Idiot, he wasn't even wearing any proper armor to cover himself, letting his bulging muscles all exposed.
Bishop's sword ran through easily. Too easily. It was as if he had thrusted into thin air. And the Orc didn't even flinch. Nothing happened. Bishop's weapon did nothing to him and neither did the enchantment.
"What the fuck?!" Bishop exclaimed, but before he could do anything else, the Orc's axe slashed against his arm. At that very moment, he expected the same result, but he was sorely mistaken. A sharp pain spread across his forearm. There was no rip in his armor and it went through as easily as if he hadn't even been wearing any at all.
Bishop cried out in pain and his grip on his sword loosened instantly, letting it clank to the ground. Aeyrin watched the scene in horror and panic enveloped her instantly. These things couldn't be harmed by their weapons! And they were all already upon them. Six of them. She needed to act quickly and they needed to figure out what to do.
"YOL TOOR!"
The flames of her Shout spread throughout the area and Bishop quickly jumped out of the way. He didn't really have to, her aim and range were getting better and better. The Shout enveloped all the assailants in the close quarters and their respective robes and furs caught on fire instantly. Their bodies started to writhe, they screamed and began falling to the ground, trying to roll to douse the flames, but it was no use.
"What the fuck was that?! Why don't our weapons work?!" Bishop growled as he bent down to pick up his sword. It was probably gonna be useless here, but he wasn't going to leave it.
Erandur had mentioned nothing of this! Maybe he didn't know, but still. It didn't make any fucking sense. Even ghosts could be harmed by enchantments at least.
"It came from here!" A voice suddenly echoed through the corridor, coming from behind the nearby corner. Before they could even react, another group of Orcs emerged, ready to attack.
This was going to be trouble.
Bishop stood still, uncertain what to do. The more she Shouted, the more attention it would clearly attract, but what else could they do? Yet even her Shouts weren't going to save them from a constant onslaught of enemies.
They needed a place to regroup.
"Just run. Through. Now," Bishop nodded. The close quarters wouldn't do them any favors.
"FUS RO DAH!"
She Shouted again, sending the Orcs flying, colliding with the walls roughly. It might not kill them all, but they just needed to get away. And she knew this would only attract more of them.
She didn't wait any longer before she broke into a run, rushing through the cleared hallway with Bishop at her heels. Everything became so chaotic in an instant. Just as they turned the corner, a large chamber spread out in front of them with countless other enemies. Some of them had already turned their attention to them, running towards them, but others were still caught in their own battles, Orc against cultist.
Another Shout would alert the whole room.
Luckily, the chamber had plenty of adjacent hallways. They just needed to run away.
Aeyrin rushed towards one of the corridors, dodging any assailants in the way, while Bishop followed. It was beginning to be increasingly difficult though. The attackers were slashing their weapons at Aeyrin, but right when they missed, they turned their attention to Bishop. Several of them almost hit him and his arms still kept throbbing painfully.
And just as Aeyrin disappeared into a hallway, a cultist blocked Bishop's path there. Her hands lit up with fiery magic, ready to act.
Fuck!
He couldn't follow. He barely managed to jump out of the way of the flames and he ran towards a different corridor, more remote from the battles.
He needed to find his way to Aeyrin somehow, but they couldn't traverse this chamber safely, it seemed.
Now he needed to run.
He made it to the hallway and he was met with an unpleasant sight. So many chambers, so many corridors spread out in front of him. Finding one's way here was going to be… challenging. And finding that Skull even more so.
But first, he needed to find Aeyrin.
He knew the general direction she was in.
He just hoped that there was a way to get to her from here.
He ran for a while longer, into some corridors, looking into a few rooms, but soon enough, he eased his pace. Nobody was following him. He couldn't hear anyone's footsteps but his own.
Huh… odd… he could hear his own footsteps. It seemed like his enchanted ring didn't work either.
This was so fucking weird. Why didn't their weapons work? Why did it feel like he had no armor on when the man slashed his axe into his arm. It still fucking hurt, but that was the least of his concerns right now.
Bishop continued onwards, into the direction where he was convinced Aeyrin would be. He walked through several hallways, turned several corners, all of them empty, before he heard something.
It sounded like… someone was humming.
It came from the next room.
He approached carefully, peeking behind the opened door to the room to see where the noise came from, but when he spotted the source, his eyes went wide.
There was a girl there, no older than ten, awfully familiar. He would have recognized the gold-blonde hair and pitch-black eyes anywhere.
"Oh!" The girl shot him an eager smile when she noticed him. In his shock, he didn't manage to remain very subtle. "Hi there," she waved at him. She looked awfully chipper, despite the battles raging nearby.
Bishop stepped inside and approached her, still a bit wary. Who knew what this meant? What if all the dream apparitions became hostile?
As he neared her though, her smile disappeared and instead it turned into an oddly pleading look.
"Do you have a few septims? My father's very sick and we haven't eaten for two days," she lowered her head. Fuck, he almost felt like giving her a few drakes. That was making him uncomfortable. What would an apparition do with money anyway?
"He's not sick, princess, he's an addict," Bishop growled instead. He always hated when she called him 'sick'. That fucking wretch did that to himself.
"Hmm…" the girl shrugged noncommittally. "I don't know where he is anyways. I don't know this place. Why am I here?" she gave him that heart-wrenchingly pleading look again. Fuck, that really made him feel weird. He definitely didn't expect apparitions like these.
"Guess this must be from one of Aeyrin's dreams," he sighed, more to himself than anything. He wouldn't be able to dream about her at this age when he hadn't seen her like that, right?
"I'm Aeyrin," the girl looked at him in confusion.
"Yeah, I know," he chuckled a bit. That probably only baffled her more.
"They call me rabbit," she added.
"I know that too," Bishop sighed. Aeyrin always hated that nickname. Though maybe she hadn't when she was this young. When she didn't know any better, when she didn't resent her father and his supplier yet.
"Have you seen anyone else in here?" He asked after a while of silence. Maybe she had already seen the real Aeyrin. Maybe she could lead him to her.
"Yeah, he's always there somewhere. I can never run from him," the girl sighed somberly.
"Who?" Bishop cocked his head at her. Ri'zhassa? Or her father?
"The shadow," the girl's eyes went wide in fear, just as she had uttered that word.
"'Shadow'? What shadow?" he scowled at her. That didn't sound too good.
"I think it's nearby. Come," she rushed past him and into the hallway. He followed, uncertain what she meant, but as he stepped by her side and looked at the spot in the distance where she was looking, after a few seconds, a large shadow covered the ground there.
It was very quick and it disappeared again right after. He wasn't able to even tell the shape.
"You have to stay away. He'll come for me one day, but he can't come for you. I won't let him," the girl nodded stubbornly.
What? What did that even mean? She wasn't making any sense. Though whatever that shadow was, it may have been a good idea to avoid it regardless.
Still, he needed to move on. He needed to find Aeyrin. Or that fucking Skull.
"Have you seen Aeyrin?" he looked at the girl hopefully.
"I'm Aeyrin," she shook her head at him in palpable frustration, as if she was explaining it to someone truly daft. "I'm right here."
"Right. I mean another one. Older one," he sighed.
"I haven't seen anyone in this place, just the shadow," the girl looked at the ground sadly again.
Fuck, he almost felt like he should take her with him, to get her away from whatever that shadow was. But what was the point? There were only more dangers ahead for certain. And he needed to move fast to find Aeyrin.
And she wasn't even real! Why was he even thinking about this?
He needed to move on.
He needed to find the real Aeyrin.
…
Aeyrin ran as fast as her feet could carry her, through the confusing hallways.
It was almost like a maze. There were side rooms and other corridors everywhere – she couldn't make sense of it. But she had already turned several corners and now it didn't sound like anyone was following her anymore.
She quickly slipped around another corner and stopped to catch her breath. She was standing by one of the rooms, but she made sure that it was empty first. Now she had a moment to collect herself. She knew that she had lost Bishop somewhere along the way. She either needed to find him or the Skull first. Whatever worked. This was getting insane.
Suddenly, she could hear a door opening in the distance and some footsteps.
Was that Bishop? There was a figure at the very end of a long hallway outside of her side room, but she couldn't tell. It looked like him in stature, but she wasn't sure if it wore his black armor. It didn't look like it. The man was walking slowly, looking into the adjacent room. It didn't look like he noticed her yet.
Should she call out? She wasn't sure.
Though she did hear footsteps. Bishop's should be muffled, shouldn't they? She wasn't even sure. Did his ring work here? The enchantments on their weapons didn't.
She stood there, pressed against the corner, hoping that the man wouldn't see her and at the same time, wondering whether she should alert him.
But before she could make up her mind, suddenly a hand landed over her mouth and she was yanked back roughly, into someone's chest.
What? There was no one in that room!
For a second, she got hopeful again. This was exactly how Bishop would have grabbed her and dragged her into safety from whatever was lurking around the corner, but she was so sure that the room had been empty. She would have surely seen him there.
"Shh, shh," someone whispered in her ear. She didn't recognize that voice at all. "Stop squirming, I'm on your side." The man continued to whisper.
She didn't stop squirming. She couldn't help the panic enveloping her. She could probably still make a sound, still Shout, but she wasn't sure if she should. The man didn't get deterred by her struggling though and he roughly yanked her back again, into the room.
He dragged her into a corner, hiding them both from view a bit as he pressed himself against the wall with her in his arms.
"Just, please, please, stop. Be quiet," the voice whispered into her ear again as she struggled against the man, only halfheartedly. She was so uncertain. But if he wanted to slit her throat, he would have probably done so by now, right? Who was this? Was he hiding her from that man skulking the hallway?
Her arms flexed in his tight grip almost subconsciously again as she could hear the footsteps in the hallway again, closer now. Then the man whispered once more. It was much more quiet now, almost desperate. He did want to hide from that man.
"Just trust me."
She got a strange feeling in her gut at those words and she relaxed in his grip. She wasn't even sure why. She suddenly felt like she did trust him. Why would he hide her like this if he wished her harm?
The footsteps got closer and she could hear some murmurs now, coming from the man in the hallway. That was definitely not Bishop. His voice was unfamiliar and it sounded very angry.
"…that fucking whelp… gotta find…"
She could only make out some of the words, but even the voice alone made shivers crawl down her spine. She wasn't sure why.
The footsteps stopped for a second, right by the room Aeyrin and the man were in, but when the steps started again, they began to get more distant. The man didn't come into the room. He likely only looked inside briefly, like he had inside the others. He clearly didn't find whatever 'whelp' he had been looking for.
She was so confused.
The two of them stayed like that for a while, pressed against the wall. But when the footsteps were finally far enough so that they couldn't hear them, the man at her back released her at last.
She took a deep breath and stepped away from him. She wasn't even sure why. She could breathe fine, but it felt automatic. And as she collected herself from it all, the man stepped away as well and positioned himself in front of her, finally letting her see him.
He was a young man, probably in his early twenties. A Nord, with dark messy hair, unkempt stubble, and deep blue eyes. His features looked oddly familiar, but she knew that she had never seen him before. It was not the usual recognition of someone long forgotten, it was something else, but she couldn't quite put a finger on it.
He shot her a crooked smile as she scrutinized him. He didn't seem even a little bit caught off guard by her blatant stares, but she couldn't help it. Why did something about him strike her as familiar?
"Sorry about that ambush," he grinned. "But you don't wanna meet that asshole. Trust me."
There it was again. Whenever he said that, she felt strange. She couldn't really identify that feeling either. All this vague familiarity was making her nervous.
"Who was that?" she scowled. And who was he looking for?
But before she could hear the answer, a distant sound interrupted them again. Footsteps.
There was someone else coming down the hallway.
Both of them tensed up and she almost expected the man to pin her against the wall again, but he didn't. He just listened, very intently. As if he was capable of recognizing someone by the sound of their footsteps. Or maybe he was listening to the pattern of the walking.
But as the sounds got nearer and nearer, the man… relaxed. There was no more panic, no more hiding. He only gave her a wry smile. He wasn't even concerned about whispering anymore as he spoke again.
"That was papa dearest. You best avoid him. He's in a mood," he smirked, but there was palpable disdain in his voice.
'Papa dearest'? That man was his father? So…
Oh!
"You're…" Aeyrin gasped in realization, but before she could finish, the footsteps stopped dead and, this time, a very familiar voice rang through the room.
"Jules?!"
Bishop stood in the open doorway, slack-jawed with his eyes wide. He looked like he couldn't believe what he was seeing just then.
"Hey, Bishop," Jules smiled at him warmly. He looked… just like Bishop had remembered him. Not even like when his disease had progressed too much. Bishop never thought that he would ever see him like this again. Healthy. Alive.
Well… he wasn't really alive, was he? Bishop wasn't sure how to even feel about this, but a strange feeling of warmth and relief flooded him at the sight.
"Long time no see," Jules chuckled and he approached Bishop, arms spread wide in an amicable gesture.
Bishop didn't even hesitate. Maybe he should have. Maybe none of this could be trusted. But he couldn't help it. He accepted the hug readily and enveloped his arms around Jules without a second thought. It felt so… real. He felt so real.
That was kind of confusing. He wanted to remind himself that this was all just some weird apparition, conjured in his unconsciousness and 'stolen' by a Daedric Prince, but… fuck, he wanted this to be real. He just wanted to feel for a second like he had him back. Like this was really him. He wanted to tell him so much. He had so much to apologize for. So much to make up for.
"Jules, fuck," Bishop shook his head against his brother's shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I don't…"
"Stop," Jules chuckled at him. He pulled himself from Bishop's embrace, though he had to force the movement a bit – Bishop was very unwilling to let go. He still kept his hands on Bishop's shoulders though, giving him a warm smile. "I know. You don't need to tell me. You don't need to be sorry. I know and I understand."
Bishop wasn't sure what to concentrate on. The feeling of relief at Jules's understanding and forgiveness or the bitter feeling constantly wrenching his gut that kept reminding him that this wasn't real. This Jules wasn't real. The real one hadn't actually forgiven him. But the moment still got him so hopeful. This apparition looked just like him, acted just like him, talked just like him. Maybe, if Bishop ever got to see Jules again, maybe he would react like this too.
Bishop had never gotten the point of looking forward to the afterlife. Some people devoted their whole lives depriving themselves of the pleasures on Nirn, just so they were extra sure that they would end up where they wanted to after. It was fucking idiotic and there was no certainty in death. But there were still some things he couldn't help but hope for after he died. To end up wherever Aeyrin would and to see Jules again.
And his words now made him surprisingly hopeful, as naïve as that was. He wasn't sure why the real Jules would ever forgive him. He sure as fuck didn't deserve it. But he still couldn't help but hope.
Jules gave him one more reassuring squeeze of his shoulders before he turned his eyes back to Aeyrin. She was still standing there in the corner of the room, clearly uncertain on how to act, but she was smiling at the heartwarming reunion.
"And it's nice to finally meet you, Aeyrin," he grinned at her.
"You know who I am?" she raised her brow at him in surprise. Strange, she hadn't expected that. Then again, he did protect her from their father. Why would he have done that if he didn't know who she was?
"I do," Jules smiled again. "I was created in Bishop's dreams. From his mind and memories. I know what he knows." He briefly looked back at Bishop who only stared at him, still partially in shock and partially just confused about this whole thing. "I also know things that I've learned here. In the dreams. But that's nothing new. I always knew more than Bishop. I was always smarter," he smirked teasingly.
Bishop seemed to rile himself up from his daze and he threw a scowl at Jules. Well… he wasn't wrong. He was always too smart for his own good. Still… the teasing felt kinda… nice. Like he was really back. And back to his cheery, snarky self.
"So you know who you are?" Bishop pondered after a while. It was somewhat surprising. Did Aeyrin's apparition know who she was too? Maybe she did. She didn't really say anything to dispute that. Anything that would suggest that she was convinced she was real. She was confused about where she was though. Jules looked much more at ease.
"Yeah. I know what you know, remember? I just said it," Jules chuckled at him. "And I've been scouting. There are places where battles rage on and on, never stopping. They keep repeating the same assaults, same fights. But you can't let them see you. If you want to know about this place, you need to watch them."
They've already figured as much. The cultists and Orcs were apparently all too eager to put aside their differences to deal with the strangers in their midst. They needed to be subtle here. Stealthy. There was no other way. They couldn't just attract the attention of every apparition and rely on Aeyrin's Shouts. That was too risky.
"Did you see a staff?" Aeyrin asked Jules eagerly. She wasn't sure how much time he had to explore. After all, he could only appear here after they drank the potion and entered the barrier, right? It made sense, based on what Erandur had said. Otherwise they would have to contend themselves with the figments that the entire city conjured up in the span of two years. That was… an unimaginable thought. No… the figments only appeared once they entered this field.
"No," Jules shook his head regretfully. "But I know that this area is mostly empty. At least from the Orcs and cultists. These look like the living quarters and it seems like they all moved to the main chambers when the Orcs came." He scratched the stubble on one of his cheeks absentmindedly for a bit in a very familiar gesture. Bishop still couldn't stop thinking about all that, how real he felt and acted. "A staff?" Jules pondered. "Is that what you're here for?"
Wait. Why did he just ask that?
"I thought you knew what I know," Bishop scowled at him with suspicion in his eyes. That was weird, wasn't it?
"Alright, cut it out with those looks," Jules rolled his eyes at him. "I know what you knew when you created me."
Bishop's very first instinct was to feel guilty about ever suspecting Jules. Fuck, was he still doing the same fucking thing? Had he learned nothing? Then again, it kept nagging at him that this wasn't really Jules. Was it weird to be suspicious, even a little? It still made him feel crappy for treating him like that though. He was clearly just trying to help them. And he was making sense. Why would he know what happened in their waking world after he had already been… did Jules just say 'created'? That sounded so weird and creepy.
"Ugh, don't say it like that," Bishop cringed.
"Fine, grumpy," Jules smirked back at him. "No matter what I am, I'm still glad to see you here. I was worried when I found myself in this place. Nothing here is familiar. Not like in the dreams. But at least I managed to look around a bit."
"How long have you been here that you managed to explore?" Aeyrin looked at him curiously. They couldn't have been here for longer than an hour, right?
"Hours. A day?" Jules didn't sound certain himself, but when he noticed Aeyrin's shocked expression, he shrugged his shoulders noncommittally. "Time's strange in dreams."
"Oh… I guess that's true," Aeyrin nodded. She wondered for a brief while how could Jules even know that time was different in dreams when it was all he knew, but then she remembered what he had said about knowing what Bishop knew. He had the knowledge of the real world. It was all just kind of.. confusing.
She couldn't help but look around the room again, around everything swirling and hazy. This place still made little sense to her and while it was fortunate that Jules managed to scout around, they still had no idea where the Skull was. And they had limited time.
That wasn't the only issue now though. Having limited time here now felt even worse than before. And that was all because she saw the look on Bishop's face when he saw Jules. Maybe he wasn't real, but did that even matter? Bishop got to see him again and, no matter the fronts he tried to put up with the occasional suspicion, he couldn't hide how happy he was. Not from her.
But soon he would have to say goodbye again.
Lost in her thoughts, she nervously brushed her hair behind her hale ear, staring into nothing in particular in the room. She had barely registered that Jules's eyes had still been on her.
"She's so pretty, Bishop," he let out a sigh suddenly, making her meet his eyes as she blushed in reflex. But it was instantly clear that he didn't really say that to compliment her. Not really. He had a sly smile on his face and he quickly looked at Bishop, as if to gauge his reaction. It reminded her so much of Raven's similar quips, trying to get rise out of Bishop at any cost. Well… sometimes it was funny. And Jules's grin now suggested that was the intention.
"Stop. Don't even start," Bishop growled at Jules. He should have known that even an imitation of his brother would never pass up the opportunity to mess with him and tease him about something. And he always knew how. Back at Lost Knife, Jules's favorite pastime was actually talking to Neeshka about how much Bishop really liked her. That he was just unwilling to admit it.
It… may have contributed to her erratic behavior. But Jules had his fun.
To be fair, Bishop never really blamed him for his games. Unlike Raven and his double-crossing and schemes, Jules only ever did these things to mess with Bishop. And mostly because he found it funny. Sometimes it just misfired. But what in life didn't have unforeseen consequences?
"What? I was giving you a compliment!" Jules pouted at him, as if he had just been insulted.
"How was that a compliment to me?" Bishop gave him an exasperated look, though he could already see it coming from miles away.
"The compliment is that you actually got a girl this pretty to even consider touching you, you broody horker-face," Jules laughed.
Yeah, there it was. Not even a little surprising. Aeyrin tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress a giggle and Bishop promptly punched Jules in his bicep. He was very careful to barely graze him. It was like a reflex. As Jules got more and more sick, Bishop had learned to adjust their regular interactions so that he wouldn't hurt him in any way in his weakened state. Jules used to hate that fact, but it was for his own good. Bishop didn't even realize that he didn't need to worry about any of that right now.
He gave Jules a smirk and his brother only responded with a wry grin. He wasn't ever even sure if he got annoyed by Jules getting a rise out of him. Sure, whatever he decided would be most amusing, it always pissed Bishop off, but unlike with anyone else, the anger always waned in an instant. It was weird. Jules always had that effect on him. Like he was still just a kid that didn't know any better and it wasn't right to be angry at him. Even though Jules knew the weight of his words full well. A little too well sometimes. He used them often to just tease his friends amicably but he did know exactly how to provoke and attack with surprising grace and subtlety. Then again, maybe it wasn't so surprising – he was never much for physical confrontations, even before his condition had worsened. And Bishop had always believed that Jules was even better at playing people than Raven.
"As fun as it is to tease Bishop," Aeyrin chuckled lightly before she continued, "Should we really linger here? Even if there are no cultists and Orcs, other… figments can be here, right? Like your father. He might still be prowling around," she looked around the room nervously, although she knew that nothing was there. There would probably be that light again to alert them before something formed out of thin air. Or maybe all the figments were here already.
Bishop got a bit caught off-guard at the mention of their father. He did hear Jules's voice mentioning him when he was approaching this room before. But he was so preoccupied by the fact that he recognized Jules's voice that he didn't even think about what it was saying.
"Fuck," he mumbled mostly to himself. "Can't say I wasn't expecting him to show up." It was definitely one of the first things he thought about. Torban, Thorn and Mercer, he was pretty sure that they were the fodder for his nightmares.
"Yeah, he's pissed. But what else is new?" Jules scoffed disdainfully.
"We need to avoid him," Bishop nodded resolutely. He really had no desire to see that face ever again, but it wasn't the only reason. "And… probably everything else," he sighed. "Why the fuck aren't our weapons working? Our enchantments?"
"Because they're not here," Jules gave him a look that suggested the answer was plain to see. It was just getting more confusing. "Your weapons and your trinkets aren't really here. What did you do to get here anyway?"
Bishop was tempted to question his lack of knowledge on the subject again, but he remembered quickly that Jules had no idea about their mission here. This Jules. And neither did the real one, but that wasn't important right then.
"We drank a potion," Aeyrin explained. "It was supposed to put us 'on the verge of dream realm'… or something. Both in dreams and reality."
"That makes sense," Jules nodded at her.
"Does it?" Bishop scoffed. It sure as fuck sounded insane to him.
"Well yeah," Jules chuckled. "You drank a potion that lets you be here and there both. But unless the potion is powerful enough, it doesn't really affect your stuff. Just your bodies. Right?"
That did kind of make sense. Kind of. Bishop still wasn't sure he understood. So they were both in the dream realm and in reality, but Jules was not. He was just in the dreams. Could he not see reality then? Could they?
"Wait… you can't see our stuff?" Bishop mostly wondered how to make sense of things at last, but Jules's instant mischievous grin made him realize what he actually just asked. Wait… could he really not see any of their stuff? Like their armors and clothes?
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Jules laughed and his eyes quickly darted towards Aeyrin. She almost got the urge to cover herself as the topic began to confuse her about this whole 'here and there' stuff, but before she could, Bishop shoved Jules roughly. Well… it looked rough, but Jules hardly even moved.
"Stop that!" Bishop growled.
"Relax," Jules only laughed in response. Aeyrin kind of expected Bishop to grumble about the constant quips and teasing, but he was hardly ever far from smiling again. It was kind of heartwarming, really.
"I was just joking," Jules snorted. "I can see your stuff. It's weird though. Swirly. Blurry. So are the corpses on the ground. And this whole place, actually. And look!" He started to march toward a nearby wardrobe and when he reached it, he outstretched his hand to touch it. Except he didn't. His hand went right through.
Bishop quickly followed suit and touched the same wardrobe, but his hand pressed against it firmly. Strange.
"How does that work?" he scowled at the wardrobe.
"Well, you're here and you're there," Jules tried to explain again. He seemed to have a better grasp of all of this, though that may have been due to the fact that he had been in the dream realm for all this time. Possibly. They had only learned about it. "I'm just here. This wardrobe's just there. So is your stuff. Get it?" He gave them both a meaningful look. By 'here' he probably meant the dream realm. And by 'there' the reality?
"I can't touch stuff there because I'm not there," he continued. "But it didn't used to be like this. I was someplace else. I saw you there sometimes," he looked at Bishop, though with odd somberness in his eyes. "It was never exactly… pleasant. But everything looked normal. No blurry and swirly shit. And then I got pulled to… this place." His eyes darted around the room in clear discomfort.
"Have you seen anyone else?" Aeyrin wondered. It would help them to know what they were up against here. Or… there. Whatever.
"I saw you," Bishop answered instead as he turned towards Aeyrin again.
"Me?" she looked at him curiously. What did that mean?
"Yeah. Little you. When you were a kid," Bishop explained, then his face turned deadpan. "You tried to beg me for money."
Aeyrin's face flushed in embarrassment. Of course she did – getting money was practically the only thing she had cared about before she was saved by Master Therien. That and how to avoid Ri'zhassa and how to placate her father.
"Aaaw. That must have been cute," Jules grinned.
"It was… unnerving," Bishop shook his head. She was kind of cute, but he was all too aware of her circumstances back then to think of her as some cute, carefree, chipper girl. And he had been too confused by this place when he saw her. There was also that other unnerving thing. "There was this… shadow too. You… she… warned me about it. That I have to stay away from it. I don't know what it was though."
"I've seen it," Jules piped up and his face twisted into a strange grimace. "Yeah, you need to stay away."
"What is it?" Aeyrin's eyes went wide at him.
"I never saw it properly," he shook his head regretfully. "But I also saw a man and a woman, not cultists or Orcs. The woman was dressed in tight dark armor. That's all I saw. And the man… I think he was on the ground. I don't know if he was dead or not. But he wasn't swirly like the corpses."
That… didn't give them much to go on. All the information was too vague. Jules was probably too careful to catch a proper glimpse of anyone. That was likely for the best though.
They couldn't get much more information from standing around the room though. They needed to find the Skull and as quickly as they could.
The nightmares needed to be stopped.
"We should go," Jules nodded at them resolutely. "I know how to get further into the inner chambers, but I haven't gone past them. Together we might have more luck."
"We'll just have to avoid battles, I guess," Bishop nodded. "The Shouts attract too much attention."
"Don't worry, you can still punch everything," Jules chuckled a bit. "And I actually have this." He pulled out a sleek dagger from a sheath on his belt. It looked simple enough, but if he could touch it, it would hurt the figments, right?
Jules looked at the dagger for a spell, before his eyes rested on Bishop. He gave him a warm smile once more and he suddenly offered the dagger to him
"You were always better with these," he smirked wryly.
"You're… giving me your only weapon?" Bishop's eyes widened at him. He wasn't sure why he was so surprised. Jules was the one who always trusted him. Bishop was the one that broke that trust. But this figment knew all that. He knew what happened, he knew that Bishop had betrayed Jules. And he still offered him the weapon.
Once again, a strange feeling of hope enveloped Bishop.
Fuck, how he wished this was real.
But it was something at least. Real or not, it still made him feel a little better.
Though despite what he knew, what he knew to be right and what had to be done, it made him resentful of the fact that this dream had to end.
And soon.
