Chapter Twenty-nine: Dagoth Ur
The door squeaked behind Merlac and Achen and became sealed again. They had had only little trouble levitating themselves down the Red Mountain's crater and finding the entrance, as the raging wind and flying sand didn't reach the bottom of the crater.
"Hmh.", Merlac sighed.
"Something wrong?", Achen asked worried.
"No, it's just... when I arrived to Vvardenfell long time ago, this was the last place on Tamriel I though I would end up in. I didn't know crap about the Sixth House or Dagoth Ur himself and now I'm supposed to kill him."
"Heh, I can imagine how you feel. When I saved you from those thugs in Vivec I couldn't imagine where it would eventually lead me."
"You saved me? You must mean that I saved YOU!", Merlac laughed.
"Let's just say we both had a great time beating those losers."
"Losers...yeah...", Merlac gave a laugh as he remembered how he had arrived to Vvardenfell; as a prisoner from an Imperial prison.
"So what are you going to do after kicking the crap out of uncle Dagoth?", Achen grinned.
"Maybe it's a bit early to think something like that just yet."
"Nothing is too early for anything, it's good to think about things before they have to be done, you know? Do you have a girl or something?"
"No, I just...well....ok, there is this one cute girl I met in Vivec some time ago..."
"Excellent!", Achen rejoiced. "So... what does she do?"
"Well, she's a librarian."
"A librarian? Sounds boring... anything else?"
"Umm... despite the fact that she is a dissident priest, I helped him to escape from the ministry of truth and she is hunted by the temple and ordinators, no, nothing else."
"Oh you mean her! I remember her, you are talking about that girl who hugged you in Holamayan, aren't you?"
Merlac just grinned.
"Lets drop the subject, ok? We have time for this later. I don't want to talk about something like this while an ash vampire can jump out of some dark shadow at any moment.", Merlac said and they both gave a laugh.
The companions were walking down along a quiet, stone corridor, lit by those strange dwemer lamps. Suddenly, few steps under Merlac collapsed and he almost fell into the hole.
"Whoa! Be careful man, if you fall down into a pit like that, it will be up to me to find Dagoth Ur, and I'm not sure if I'm up to it by myself."
"Yeah, right, let's just be careful. Watch where you step, ok?"
"Me? It was you who almost fell dow...aaaaggghh!!"
Achen had barely taken a step, when the whole his side of the corridor collapsed and rumbled into the darkness. Merlac jumped into safety at the last possible second and was left staring in the pitch black hole, hopelessly.
"Achen? Achen!!!", he yelled into the pit. No answer.
Merlac took a small rock from the ground and dropped it into the pit. After few seconds of waiting, there was a very quiet sound somewhere deep under the corridor. There was no way Merlac could climb down the hole to help Achen, if he was even alive anymore.
For few minutes Merlac just stared down the pit without being able to think straight. Achen...his good friend and a loyal companion, lost, maybe forever. They had come so far together just to be divided so near the end. Merlac shook his head. It wasn't time for desperation, he had a job to do. He would just have to swallow his sorrow and come back for Achen later.
---
Merlac didn't know how long he had been in the underground fortress. He had just kept walking forward, deeper and deeper inside the mountain. The air was getting hotter all the time and he occasionally engaged some dwemer guardian robots and even two ash vampires, but Merlac had taken care of them with little trouble. Suddenly, the air didn't feel as hot as it had been in the previous corridor, and Merlac noticed he hadn't seen anything moving or attacking him for few moments.
Along the way, there had been very few doors between the corridors and rooms, but now Merlac had another large, metallic doorway in front of him. Something in the door caught Merlac's attention, the walls around it weren't built like the rest of the fortress, they were solid rock, carved into the mountain itself. He had to be very, very deep under Red Mountain.
Merlac prepared his sword and carefully opened the door. There was no room or corridor behind the door, but a small cave, which had been carved into the mountain. In the middle of the cave stood a man, or more like an ash vampire, just standing there near nothing. The man had a large, round, golden helmet in his head, but besides that he had very few clothes on him.
"Welcome, Nerevar. I've been expecting you.", echoed a bombastic male voice in the cave.
"Dagoth Ur", Merlac repeated and stopped about twenty feet in front of the man.
"It has been a long time since we last time met, general."
"I have never met you, Dagoth Ur.", Merlac replied defiantly.
"Ah, you mean this incarnation prophecy. We used to be friends, good friends, and it is not too late now. You have become strong, I can feel that. Join me, and we shall rule Morrowind together, as friends, as a God and his champion!"
"I will never join you!", Merlac spat.
"Hmh. Fool. How are you planning to stop me? With a pathetic sword?"
Merlac looked at this ebony broadsword and sheathed it.
"I thought as much", Dagoth Ur continued. "Though you were always a great fighter, you never had good abilities with magic. And even if you had... you cannot kill a GOD!"
"We will see.", Merlac said calmly.
"You don't even have a clue how powerful I am about to become! With the Hearth of Lorkhan, I will destroy the Tribunate and eventually continue towards Tamriel itself!"
"I know about the god you are building, Dagoth."
"A god? Hah! The dwemer machine is just a pawn of my might, Nerevar, it is I who is the real God! The people of Morrowind will fear both of us and feel my true might!"
"You are sick.", Merlac said with cold voice.
"It is you who is the sick one of us, as you do not see the truth! Release your anger then, you pathetic pawn of the Emperor, strike me down with everything you've got!", Dagoth Ur yelled.
Merlac did not hesitate, but indeed stroke the man with everything he had. Merlac pointed Dagoth Ur with his palms and conjured bright lightning from thing air, which burnt their way through his enemy's body. Enormous fireballs struck spell after spell Dagoth Ur's chest, throwing the entire body against the opposite wall of the cave.
After one minute of constant conjuring, Merlac finally stopped, completely exhausted. Merlac tried to catch his breath and stared at the burning remainings of Dagoth Ur's body.
Another minute passed and nothing happened. Merlac slowly walked to the smoking body and kicked its leg. The whole body vaporised into grey ash.
"Err... that was it?", Merlac wondered by himself.
Merlac looked around the small cave looking for something important. Where was the Heart of Lorkhan? Suddenly, Merlac noticed a second metal door he had not seen when he had entered the cave for the first time.
Merlac walked to the door and carefully opened it. As soon as it he felt the warm air flowing against his face, a bombastic, near-mad laughter echoed in the cave. Merlac walked through the doorway and found himself standing on a large cliff inside an incredibly large cave. Immediately after stepping through the door, Merlac was scared half to dead, as he saw the gigantic dwemer robot standing inanimate in the middle of the cave.
The cliff Merlac was standing on was near the chest of the mech and Merlac himself was barely as big as the nose of the human-formed robot. The entire enormous structure was surrounded with scaffoldings and suspended bridges. On the edge of the cliff stood Dagoth Ur himself, laughing like a madman.
"Did you really think you could kill a GOD just like that?", Dagoth Ur yelled.
Though Merlac was still a bit weak from the previous battle, he conjured a large fireball at the ash vampire. Dagoth Ur laughed even louder when the spell hit his chest and just vaporised into smoke. Spell after spell Dagoth Ur just absorbed into himself, without stopping laughing. It didn't take long before Merlac almost collapsed from weakness, but Dagoth Ur just kept standing.
"You are weaker than I predicted, Nerevar. Shame, I believed you would have more endurance. It's a pity I will have to kill you so soon. Oh well…",
Dagoth Ur pointed at Merlac with his palms, which started sparkling.
"Now you will feel the wrath of a GOD!", the ash vampire yelled and summoned a large fireball towards Merlac. However, Merlac reacted fast and conjured a strong magical shield around him which barely protected him from the strong spell.
"Oh? Very well then, it seems you are still willing to fight, yes? Let's have some fun then", Dagoth Ur gave a laugh and summoned two golden saints between himself and Merlac.
Merlac forced himself to stand up again and took out his ebony sword. He would now give Dagoth Ur the pleasure of him begging for Mercy.
Both the golden saints wielded long, glass swords and summoned shiny, dark green, glass shields from thin air, and charged towards Merlac. This wasn't the first time Merlac fought a daedric creature like these, but this time he was already very weak and there were two of them.
"Beg for your life!", Dagoth Ur yelled.
"Never!", Merlac yelled back and charged against the golden saints. Though he was able to duel with the saints, he knew this would get him nowhere. As soon as he killed the daedric creatures, Dagoth Ur would just summon more of them. Merlac had to fight the ash vampire himself, but he without a doubt had superior powers when compared to Merlac. Merlac had to find another way.
Merlac hit one of the golden saints directly into her chest, vaporising the daedra into thin air. Using the short moment of surprise, Merlac ran to the edge of the cliff and jumped down on a scaffold.
"Where are you going now?", Dagoth Ur laughed behind Merlac but Merlac ignored him.
Merlac was puzzled. Though his thoughts were disturbed by Achen's death, he knew he had to think straight.
"Come on, come on!", Merlac yelled to himself while running towards the gigantic robot. "Ok, Dagoth Ur gets his powers from the Heart of Lorkhan, which is also used to give the same powers to that robot he is building. That means…err…what does it mean? Ah yes, it means the Heart must be close to the robot!", Merlac grinned to himself and evaded a small spell the golden saint and conjured after him.
Like as an answer, Merlac saw it. About five meters above him, near the chest of the robot, was a large scaffold with decorated rock stage on it. Above the stage was something glowing brightly. Merlac turned around, killed the golden saint with a fireball and then levitated to the upper scaffold.
"What are you doing now?", Dagoth Ur's bored voice echoed around the cave, as he lazily walked along the scaffolds towards Merlac.
Merlac didn't bother to answer as he softly landed on the upper scaffold in front of the stage. There it was indeed; a powerful, magical heart of a strong daedra, floating above a stand. Thin, sparkling veins of some kind connected the heart to the metal of the robot. These were the lines Merlac had to cut.
As there was some kind of magical shield around the heart, Merlac decided not to even try normal weapons, so he sheathed his ebony broadsword. Merlac looked behind him to make sure Dagoth Ur was still in the midway of the scaffold, and took out the Sunder from his belt.
As soon as Merlac held the hammer in his hand, Dagoth Ur stopped walking and laughing. Merlac turned around again to see the expression on the ash vampire's face; it was almost scared.
"Where…how… you have the Sunder! What are you going to with THAT?!", Dagoth Ur yelled and Merlac could hear the fear in his voice for the first time.
Controlled by more instinct than brains, Merlac rose up the holy hammer and struck the hearth with all his strength. Merlac startled a bit as a some kind of shock wave was emitted from the heart and spreading around the cave. The heart itself was not damaged, but the veins didn't sparkle anymore.
"Stop that!", Dagoth Ur yelled behind him and Merlac could hear the ash vampire running towards him.
Merlac put the hammer back into his belt and took out the small crystal sword of Keening. Strike after strike, Merlac cut the veins connecting the heart to the robot. When there was only one more vein left, Merlac turned around and stared at Dagoth Ur.
"If you cut that vein, you will suffer longer than a God lives!", the ash vampire spat.
"Oh, really? That can't be very long then, because you are about to get your ass kicked!", Merlac yelled and swung the Keening towards the Heart of Lorkhan.
"NO!", Dagoth Ur screamed as the crystal sword cut the last remaining vein. The Heart of Lorkhan started smoking and melted away. Dagoth Ur himself was screaming in pain and holding his head.
"You're a god? Well I have to say you don't look like one, not anymore!", Merlac yelled at the screaming ash vampire.
Just when Merlac thought Dagoth Ur would die and collapse on the scaffold, he stopped screaming and stood up again. Merlac startled and wielded his ebony sword again.
"You…cannot…kill a GOD!", Dagoth Ur said, but his voice sounded weak.
"Well I have to admit I believed destroying the Heart would kill you.", Merlac said defiantly.
"You fool! You took away my powers, but I'm still stronger than you! You will pay for your mistake!", Dagoth Ur yelled and conjured a large fireball towards Merlac again.
Merlac barely evaded the spell and the rock stage exploded into pieces as the fireball struck it.
"Now, you will die!", the ash vampire roared and pointed at Merlac with his sparkling palms. Merlac was laying on the scaffold helplessly, with his sword only a meter away from his hand, but still too far away.
Just when Dagoth Ur was about to conjure another spell, a group of arrows flew through the air and stuck the ash vampire into his chest. Dagoth Ur yelled in pain and he and Merlac turned around to see the shooter.
To Merlac's surprise, standing on the edge of the cliff, were Sul-Matuul, Achen and two Urshilaku warriors, pointing at Dagoth Ur with their bows.
"Achen!", Merlac yelled and felt the warm feeling fill his body: his friend was alive!
Dagoth Ur roared and fired the spell towards the intruders instead of Merlac. The fireball struck the cliff harmlessly, without hitting Merlac's friends.
Merlac used the opportunity to his advantage, conjured a fireball and struck the bridge under Dagoth Ur with it. The wooden scaffold burnt into pieces and the ash vampire fell down screaming. Merlac stared down as Dagoth Ur's body hit the burning lava far away below them. Dagoth Ur was finally dead.
Achen and Sul-Matuul rejoiced on the cliff, but before Merlac was able to stand up, the entire cave started shaking. Enormous pieces of rock started falling down from the cave's roof and scaffolds broke apart.
"Quickly, get the hell out of there!", Achen yelled.
Merlac didn't waste a second, but grabbed his sword from the ground and levitated towards the cliff just before the stage collapsed to the lava as well.
Few seconds later Merlac landed on the cliff and ran after the others. Sul-Matuul and his warriors had already escaped through the doorway, but Merlac and Achen stopped for a second and stared around the huge cave, as the gigantic robot rumbled and collapsed slowly into the endless lake of lava at the bottom of the cave. Merlac and Achen turned around and ran after the others.
"How did you get here? I thought you would be dead!", Merlac yelled as they ran together.
"I thought that as well, until the Urshilaku warriors found me and healed my leg", Achen grinned and pointed at the small wound in his leg.
"But how did they…"
"They had found a some kind of secret entrance to the fortress outside the crater, they followed the caves and were rather surprised as they found me laying unconscious only few meters from a river of lava."
"Somebody might call that luck", Merlac grinned. "Anyway, I'm glad you didn't die and came after me. I would be dead right now without you."
"I'm glad as well that I didn't die", Achen grinned and they both gave a laugh.
As they reached the smaller cave where Merlac had first fought Dagoth Ur, they stopped and stared at a strange light blocking their way from the next doorway.
"What is that?", Achen gasped.
Merlac and the others stared in astonishment as the light began to have a recognisable shape, and finally a beautiful woman walked out of it.
"Azura!", Merlac breathed.
The Goddess smiled and walked towards the companions.
"Welcome, Nerevarine. You no longer bear the burden of prophecy. You have achieved your destiny, you are free. The doomed dwemer's folly, Lord Dagoth's temptation, the Tribunal seduction, the God's heart freed, the prophecy fulfilled. All hope sealed and sins redeemed. If you have pity, mourn the lost. But let the weeping cease. The blight is gone and the sun's golden honey gilds the land. Hail saviour, Hortator and Nerevarine, your people look for you for protection. Monster and villains great and small still threaten the people of Vvardenfell. Enemies and evils abound, yet indomitable will might rid Morrowind of all its ills. For you, our thanks and blessing. Our gift and token given, come, take this thing from the hand of God."
The Goddess handed Merlac a small golden ring, similar to the Moon-and-Star, and Merlac accepted it. The ring of Azura. Merlac took one more look at the woman, before she disappeared into thin air again. A great relief filled Merlac's body, as he finally felt free from his burden.
Half an hour later, the small group of companions reached the surface of the mountain again, and stepped into sunlight. The ash storm was gone, and the sky was clear. Merlac and Achen stared around them and saw the ground glittering in sunlight. Around the hills were standing hundreds of Hlaalu and Redoran soldiers, as well as Telvanni wizards. As they saw Merlac exit the fortress, they all rose their weapons and cheered. The rejoicing echoed around the barren hills of Red Mountain and warm wind fondled Merlac's hair.
"This ended up rather well after all, didn't it?", Achen grinned.
"Yeah… indeed it did. And I thank you for that, my friend.", Merlac smiled and tapped Achen into his back.
The sun shone from a cloudless sky, spreading light and warmth over Vvardenfell. The blight was gone and the people of Morrowind safe. Merlac knew what he had done, but something in his mind told him this might not be the last time. Merlac closed his eyes and enjoyed the warm sunshine…