Part 10 - The Greatest Sin

Chapter 170 - Civil War

For the next four days, Miles decided he'd try and take his suit apart in an attempt to add Dovahzul into its translator. He saw glimpses of Max, but those few seconds of sight seemed to burn his mind. After some fiddling in the suit's settings, accessed via the HUD, he found a way to add a new language. It was a long and tedious process of getting Paarthurnax to speak countless sentences, as it dictated, until in the past few hours before they departed it showed a green tick and said in a soothing but equally sickening voice:

"Language Dovahzul has been successfully added."

Miles took his mask and hood down and collapsed onto a bench.

"That was wild."

"Ni. It was tedious."

It didn't take Miles too long to work out how to ride a horse. He found the hardest part was actually getting up, since unlike Paarthurnax there weren't scales or spikes to put his feet on. The horse was well trained, so once he knew how to command it he was ready to go. Radnar pulled up beside him.

"I understand you speak Dovahzul now?"

"Kinda. It's complicated."

Both heard it in languages they understood.

"What is not complicated is that we now march to war. It is likely many of us will die, but death is not an ending to the Fanor."

"A lot of people don't think it's the end. I never decided, at least now Bastria is gone."

"Bastria?"

"Long story."

"It is your home?"

"No. That is…was…New York."

"I will not press. I see it pains you to speak of it."

"Is that considered dishonourable to the Fanor? You guys like to die in battle, apparently."

"To die in battle is as honourable as can be. But there is no dishonour in grief."

"Great. Maybe I'll die well for once."

Radnar laughed heartily.

"You are a warrior at heart after all. I had my doubts after the little spectacle in the hall."

As the army made its way south towards the Tuta border, more and more soldiers joined it. Miles looked back, wondering how many thousands of people would die because he'd involved the Fanor. Then again, Max did most of the work so it would have happened either way. Miles turned to look ahead again and spotted something rising high into the sky. It looked like another city just like Stan Konungens, the Fanor capital. However, as they came closer he realised it was a fortress. He didn't recognise the flag that flew from it, but it wasn't the Fanor's so it must be the Tuta's. He heard a horn echoing across the plain; it made him shiver as he thought about what atrocities he may end up committing by the end of the day.

The Fanor army pulled up on a hill just out of range of any archers. Radnar beckoned for Miles to approach him, and the spider directed his horse to do so.

"Now we give our ultimatum. If they refuse to surrender Fort Norrguard, many souls will be sent to be with the Gods."

"Is it OK to be scared?"

"If you were not scared, I would not allow you to fight beside the Konungs. Come, let us give our ultimatum."

Radnar, Miles, two of the other Konungs and a small detachment of soldiers approached the gate of Fort Norrguard. The fort's legate was already there.

"Speak, Fanor." He demanded in Dovahzul.

"I am Radnar Radnarson, Great Konung of the Fanor. We demand the surrender of Fort Norrguard, or the head of your emperor."

"The terms are unacceptable. Fort Norrguard is protected by the Treaty of Stan Konungens. Take your army home, Great Konung, or break them like the ocean on a rock."

Radnar and the other Konungs laughed.

"How long have you been here, legate?" Radnar asked with a bloodthirsty grin.

"Three years."

"Then you will be taught that when the Fanor go to war, the only things that break are the walls and shields of the Tuta."

The small group turned their horses and returned to the Fanor ranks. Radnar yelled something, in the Fanor language, at the top of his lungs and the army began to roar and cheer. The banging of weapons on shields was deafening as the warriors formed up in battle formations. Miles had an idea, which he presented to Radnar.

"You can turn invisible? Can't we all!" The Great Konung joked.

Miles turned invisible to prove the point. Radnar frowned, then the bloodthirsty grin returned.

"Very well, dragon rider: you will sneak behind the enemy and break them from inside. Take this; I refuse to believe you could slay the garrison of Fort Norrguard with your bare hands."

"It'd earn me a pretty good spot on the afterlife, right?" Miles replied with a half-grin as he took the dagger Radnar handed him.

"In our tradition, to give your weapon to an enemy is to give an ultimatum as we have just done with our words. To give your weapon to a friend, however, is a mark of trust. A Fanor's weapon is as much a part of them as their heart and mind."

"I'll make sure to bring it back. They'll never see me coming, at least until the wall's down."

"Good luck, Miles Morales. May the spirits of the High Elder Gods be with you."

"I get the feeling Dei Volente doesn't care much, but thanks. And with you."

After a few minutes of stretches, Miles double tapped the side of his head and set off towards the fort. It was only a few hundred metres away, so he was within shouting distance quite soon. One of the soldiers laughed at him, saying something in their native tongue that sounded like a taunt. Miles turned invisible and they stopped laughing, looking around in disbelief. A few seconds later, they found themselves thrown over the wall. The soldiers next to them made to stab at Miles, trying to guess where he'd be, but the spider moved too fast and they missed by well over a metre. He jumped down and slipped through a door into the main keep of the fortress. All the soldiers were up on the walls, so it was deserted inside. Now what he needed to find was a way under the walls to tear them down. He descended a staircase and followed the corridor in the direction he believed was out, although with the fort being circular technically going any direction for long enough would take him to the walls. He soon came to another corridor that seemed to curve round in both directions. This had to be the walls, so now the question was how to bring them down. Miles looked round to see what he could find: several barrels, some lit torches and some cloth sacks. When he looked inside them, he found food instead of the gunpowder he hoped for, but it made sense there wasn't any here. Still, starting a fire would do some pretty serious damage, right? The spider set to work stacking the barrels and throwing the sacks on top. When he'd piled them up almost to the roof, he pulled one of the flaming torches off the wall and threw it onto the sacks. The cloth caught fire, and that soon spread to the barrels. Within thirty seconds, the fire was burning nicely. Whether it would do the trick was another question altogether, but only time would tell. For now, Miles made his way back upstairs. A few soldiers were milling around now, clearly being given a break to rest before the fight began. He snuck past them, still invisible but conscious he still made noise. None of them were suspicious, nor did they even so much as look up when he quietly opened the door. He wondered how long this war could last if the enemy acted so stupidly. It was likely, however, that these soldiers had grown soft from not having seen much combat for years. The spider climbed up the back of the wall again, then leapt over the edge. He turned visible again and started running as the soldiers raised the alarm and arrows began to pelt the ground around him.

Miles skidded to a halt in front of Radnar who had dismounted his horse.

"The wall still stands."

"Yeah. Give it some time. I lit a fire under it. If it doesn't bring the thing down, it'll…"

He was interrupted as some of the Fanor soldiers began to laugh hysterically. He and Radnar looked to what they were pointing to: Tuta soldiers were running around like crazy as a column of smoke rose up.

"It'll bring them off the wall, was what I was gonna say."

Radnar grinned and turned to the army.

"Come on! Let's crush them!"

The Fanor began to charge, roaring jubilantly. As they charged a handful of ladders rose up from the ranks. The army came to the wall, having met little resistance due to the fire. The ladders went up onto the wall and warriors began scaling them. Miles leapt up the wall beside them, reaching the top as the first Fanor did. He charged a mega venom strike and punched the ground, blasting the approaching Tuta away. This action allowed two more Fanor time to scale each ladder before the Tuta could mount any form of defence. The Fanor locked their shields together, as did the Tuta, and soon it was just one big wrestling match which the tougher Fanor slowly began to win. Miles backed off a little. Suddenly, his spidey sense went off and he just had time to avoid an arrow that struck a Fanor at the top of the closest ladder. The spider looked to where it had been fired from and saw a group of Tuta on the ground shooting arrows up. He took a running jump at them, charging another mega venom strike which flattened them to the ground. His spidey sense, and an angry roar, alerted him to another soldier charging their their sword drawn. He fired a web at their feet and they face-planted. By now the Fanor had access to a staircase down from the wall. Very quickly, the ground turned red with blood and the Tuta were forced inside the main keep. The warriors tried ramming the sturdy wooden doors, but to no avail; they'd been barricaded from the other side. Miles returned to Radnar and the other Konungs. They were talking in their native tongue, but switched to Dovahzul when the spider approached.

"All we must do now is wait. They'll surrender or starve." One Konung said.

"We do not have the time for that. Dei Volente needs our support, and we could have taken every fort between here and the Imperial City before Norrguard has fallen in such a way." Replied another.

"We'll flush them out, then. Get Sir Invisible to light another fire."

"Nuh uh. That place is swarming with them. They'll catch me." Said Miles.

"We can set a fire against the doors. They're wooden; they'll burn down and the Tuta will be smoked out."

"A fine plan. Let's slaughter these scum!" Radnar exclaimed.

Within a few minutes, another fire was burning by the doors into the keep. Miles sat on the wall, wondering what the Tuta inside were thinking. He closed his eyes, trying to force the thought out his head. Suddenly, there was a flash and everything was completely dark.

Miles opened his eyes again, but he still couldn't see anything. He put his hands to his eyes, wondering if he was blind or dead. Suddenly, a voice spoke in the darkness:

"You've made a fine example of what you are capable of, Miles Gonzalo Morales." Said a female voice in English.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I am Dea Judicium, a High Elder God similar to your son Dei Volente."

"Let me guess; you're gonna try and draft me in to fight on a fourth side in this war."

Dea laughed.

"No. You will continue to oppose Hermaeus Mora. Once you have slain him, I will take his throne as queen of the High Elder Gods."

"I always remember you as being the pain-in-the-ass God, not the power hungry one."

"No. I have always wanted that slimy sea creature's throne. You will kill him, and Dei Volente too."

"I won't kill Dei Volente; he's my son."

"It is my first decree as queen. You will kill Dei Volente, or I shall kill you."

"He's an a-hole sometimes, but he's my son and I love him. You might be cold and heartless and don't understand, but it doesn't change whether I'll kill him or not."

"You will."

"He will not harm Dei Volente as far as his own free will allows." Said a booming male voice which Miles recognised as the Watcher's.

"Then I will remove his free will."

"Thou shalt doeth no such thing." Said another male voice.

Miles began to get the feeling he was about to be trapped in the middle of a fight between High Elder Gods.

"He is mortal. His mind will break how I judge." Replied Dea Judicia.

"It is not your place to interfere." Said the Watcher.

"Silence, Watcher. Your policy of non-interference has cost billions of lives."

"She art right. Khnith-hgor may hath reacheth our plain had Dei Volente failed. Thou did'st not intefere."

"She asks for the death of one of our own. By his father's hands, no less." The Watcher replied.

"And that cannot be accepted. Thou shalt kneeleth to Hermaeus Mora, Dei Judicia."

"I will do no such thing. You are excuses for High Elder Gods if you think Dei Volente is worthy. He must lose his power, and death is the only way to accomplish that."

"No more. You are banished to the realm of mortals until you repent."

"No!"

The Watcher and the other High Elder God began muttering in a language that made Miles' mind ring. He covered his ears, trying to block it out before his head exploded. There was a massive explosion that lit up the Void showing the outline of the Watcher and the other High Elder God. The shockwave struck Miles, and he felt as though he was being torn apart from every direction. He cried out in agony, curling up in a ball. For a brief few seconds, when he opened his eyes, he was back in Fort Norrguard falling off the wall. Then everything was black again.

Max had been busy drawing up battle plans for the next Sunor assault. Suddenly, he stopped and dropped the piece of charcoal he was holding. Something had just happened, and the epicentre was Fort Norrguard.

"What is happening, Dei Volente?" Asked one of the Sunor in the room with him.

"I don't know. Give me a minute."

He snapped his fingers and went up in a puff of smoke.

Miles was sobbing now. He was more terrified than he'd ever been before, and was still stuck in the Void. His body still hurt too, but it had been reduced to a throbbing ache. Suddenly, he became aware of a presence.

"What the fuck happened here?" Dei Volente exclaimed.

"I…I don't know! Help me! Please!"

A light appeared in the dark, but this one was soft and stayed for longer than a few seconds. It illuminated a transparent humanoid outline. It approached Miles and knelt down.

"You aren't hurt. It'll go away by itself."

"W…what's happening?"

"I don't know. You were here, you tell me."

"There were…three High Elder Gods here: the Watcher, Dea Judicium and that one that talks weird. She brought me here and told me to kill you and Hermaeus Mora but I said no so she threatened to take away my free will then the other two arrived and they argued with her and then there was a massive explosion and I was back at Norrguard for a second then I was back here. I thought I was gonna be torn apart!"

Dei Volente nodded slowly, looking around.

"The explosion bit checks out. This place is a mess."

"Mess? I just see you, that light and then pitch blackness."

"Only HEGs can see it. You'll be OK."

"I want to go home. I want to wake up and find I'm home in Brooklyn, visiting Uncle Aaron or something. I don't want to be Spiderman anymore. I don't care if that means I don't meet Gwen, I just want out. I can't take this anymore."

Dei Volente frowned. His father had just said two things he thought he'd never say and it shocked him. But beyond that, something was happening. The very fabric of time seemed to be folding, tearing, mending itself and straightening itself again.

"Come on, Dad. Let's get you out here."

Miles and Max burst back into existence, only to have to jump to the side to avoid being hit by a semi-truck that thundered past. Hang on…a truck? The spider and God looked around, realising they were standing by the side of a highway.

"Err…Max? What's…happening?"

Max turned to his father.

"I think Dea Judicium just screwed time up in revenge for being banished."

"So…what's happening?"

"A civil war's about to start. A High Elder civil war."

Crossovers in this Chapter

- Skyrim
- Marvel Cinematic Universe