Cearbhail:

so, for this chapter, we are going to be having a lot of Esbern being Esbern.

=^^= Enjoy...


Log continuation: 14th Eveningstar

We reached the Skaal village, talked with their elder. The elder pointed us to a ruin that contained some kind of word. After a long and eventful march up a mountain, we made it up to the word wall that contained some kind of Shout word the High King can use to help release the mind curse infecting this island. The High King learned the new word, using whatever dragon soul he had fused with him to unlock his new Shout. He immediately knew what to do with it, as I guess it is with dragon Shouts. He just learns what the whole purpose behind the Shout, taking it into his being.

We just arrived back at the village, but before we go back inside the village, we're going to test out this new Shout on the Wind Stone, an old relic that was made to help the local Skaal worship the Maker, which is their god. Using this new Shout, we're supposedly going to be able to override Miraak's influence on the stone, and therefore, break his influence in this area. This should let the captured Skaal be free from Miraak and go back to their lives. Should… not saying it will work, but it should. Once we are done, and we know this works, the elder has promised to share with us a way to get to Miraak, so that we can end this once and for all. And after we learn of that, we're going back to Tel Mithryn and do the same for everyone else in our village. That should help Veselle as well as everyone else. And after that, Raven Rock gets the same treatment. We're going to cleanse this island, one corrupted rock at a time.

Battlemage Mirri Severin.

The walk back from the word wall was pretty quiet, with the exception of the High King and his usual way of mocking our situation. The sun set a long time ago, and we're probably already close to midnight. I'm dead tired. I want nothing more than to fall to the ground and sleep. I'm so cold though. These nights were not pleasant, and the ice forming underneath me kept forcing me to slide off my feet. I'm glad that Rynamel walked beside me. Every time I slipped, he stopped me from falling to the ground. I'm just so tired that I can barely keep my eyes together. I can't wait to get home, take a nice hot bath, and relax to a good book. We can only do that after we free Veselle from her coma, and we can only do that after we go home and unblock the stone outside Tel Mithryn.

While some of us were thinking of going to bed, or getting hot baths, the High King was distressed over the fact that he couldn't absorb dragon souls while here in Solstheim. The whole thought that Miraak would steal each one really seemed to bother him. And it has been bothering him since we got that new Shout of his. He had to use on of his reserve souls, the ones he keeps in case he needs to unlock new powerful Shouts, ones that are relevant to plots. Much like this, I guess.

The High King walked ahead of us, scratching at his growing nine o'clock shadow. "So… if he can travel to Solstheim already… if even for a second to absorb a dragon… why does he still reside in another dimension? The whole point of his rituals is to break the barriers keeping him locked away in Oblivion. So… if he is already able to do that, then… is it working? He manifested just long enough to steal my meal. I don't care if it was a spell, an allowance, some kind of mythical technique to allow temporary passage to this realm… something is going on here. These webbings on the rocks… this can't be right. If I travel back to Skyrim or Cyrodiil… would I be able to devour dragon souls there? Or would Miraak just appear over there? How far is his reach?"

Master Neloth pondered over much the same thought. "This is a delicate situation to be sure. One would wager that the spell being put under construction would allow some amount of safe passage between this realm and the next, but only in the thickest part of the webbing."

Frea groaned, looking up at the sky. "My father should be able to supply us with all the exposition we could need. But first, we must purify the Wind Stone, set my people free, and then Father should be able to tell us exactly what's going on."

The High King sighed, looking at the Wind Stone. The Wind Stone, much like the other five stones scattered around Solstheim, were somehow connected to the All-Maker, the god of the Skaal people. These stones were supposedly the link between our realm and his. "So, what makes these stones so important?" I couldn't help but ask Frea.

Frea glanced at the webbed stone, her hair blowing lightly in the wind. "The stones are relics of the All-Maker. He left us these to help connect with him. They are also written rules that the world has to run under. There are six stones: The Wind Stone, Earth Stone, Beast Stone, Sun Stone, Tree Stone, and Water Stone. These stones allow the will of the All-Maker to keep the island in a warm embrace of balance. They also remind the Skaal of our promise to the All-Maker and his land. Embrace the wind; for she fills your lungs with air. Protect the earth, for she keeps you firm on your feet. Respect the beasts, for they fill your stomach with nourishment and your soul with companionship. Embrace the sun, for she feeds the trees. Respect the trees, for they give Wind her breath. Respect the Water, for she is the blood of life, the blood of the earth. All of these work in unison to give us life, purpose, reason. The All-Maker is the unification of these stones, and all they have to teach us."

The High King smiled at hearing that. "And now, it all makes sense." He nodded, pulling out a crystal ball. "Give me a second." He turned back to the crystal ball, dialing in a frequency. A second later, I could see an old bald head poking up on the screen. "Hey, Esbern."

"Hello, Asger. What do you need?" The old man on the crystal ball said.

I heard a scream in the background. "What? You again?" Some woman screamed.

Esbern's eyes deadpanned. "Well, so much for my mission. Tell me, Dragonborn. Do you ever pick a worse time to call me?"

The High King chuckled. "That's not why I'm calling and you know it. I need to know about the All-Maker. More importantly, the All-Maker's Stones. I'm currently trying to stop the first Dragonborn, Miraak, from coming back to life, and his plan somehow involves the All-Maker Stones, and some kind of Daedric webbing stuff. Care to explain?"

The old man, Esbern, stood there for a few seconds. "Boy… do you think I just spend all of my time researching old lore and somehow bullshitting a reason for its existence?"

There was a longer pause between the two men. The High King nodded. "Yes."

An even longer pause. "Fair enough. Yes, I know of Miraak. His legend is written on Miraak's Wall, which is in an old derelict ruin guarded by skeletons up in Solstheim. Guarded by a promiscuous Gatekeeper. In the very same ruin is a small black book, said to have the secrets of Miraak and his ascension as an agent of Hermeaus Mora, a Daedric entity we have had dealings with in the past. And from Ruby's report of everything that happened in Solstheim, I would say we are on the brink of an all-out war between the Daedric forces and our own realm. Toss in the warning from Solomon about the Dwemer returning, then you can speculate this is all in part of the grand plan."

The High King nodded. "Ok, great. So, explain it to me. In small words… like to a reader or a small child that is not somehow linked everything together yet. So, in case there is ever a person reading this (a reader of the Elder Scrolls), they will know undoubtedly what transpired here and why."

The old man crossed his arms. "You bards… ok, here we go. As you all know, the universe was created by Anu and Padomay. Anu was a static entity made up of pure energy, and Padomay was made up of dark matter. One created energy, one consumed it. In their static natures, they began to converse themselves into consciousness. When they became conscious, they 'birthed' their souls. This term is often confusing, but it's better to say that they were born within the static energies. These birthed souls became the first gods: Anui-El and Sithis. We all know Sithis: the Void. The Nothing. The Destroyer. If you take this from the dark matter energy it was conceived from, Sithis is the harbinger of dark matter: a consuming consciousness that wants to extinguish all light in the universe. Why? I don't know; I'm not a god of destruction. While Sithis is the dark matter of creation, Anui-El was the creator of everything. The… All-Maker if you will.

"So, this All-Maker, or Anui-El, got in a fight with Sithis. That's according to our anuads, though. From what I can understand, the two conscious beings can't really fight. They were conscious energy clashing against each other's nature. One wanted to consume; one wanted to create. In the time these two conscious beings clashed, their energy began to clash against one another. This energy, energy of creation and destruction, began to take form. The first embodied off-spirits began to take consciousness. Auri-El, the first god. The God of Time. Akatosh was born. Many others sprang forth between the two opposing forces clashing against each other. More and more Et'Ada came from them. The beings we know as Aedra. And from the Padomay, the darkest of energies, sprang the Daedra: beings of chaos. They did not exist in the same manner that the Aedra existed, and as such, began fighting with the Aedra. This part of history and theory of creation is often confusing, and often overlooked. Many Daedra are in fact… not as destructive as their birth would suggest."

The old man waved his hand around. "And you know the story behind the creation of Nirn, Mundus, and all that mumbo jumbo. Lorkhan, the son of Sithis, a pure being made from Sithis himself, convinced the other beings made from Anui-El to help create a world. A world made for them. These spirits existed as energy at the time; limitless in their potential. And Sithis wanted to consume it all. The best way to do that… is to get rid of the limitless potential of pure energy. Humanity, Mortality. Limits. Mundus was created as such, and Magnus being the genius he was created a network of devices that helped keep the world connected to the limitless potential of Aetherius… the world of the Et'Ada. These devices are simply called the Magicka Stabilization Centers, although they were called a much older name at the time: Aetherius Centralization Stabilizers. These old orbs allowed the Et'Ada to keep their limitless potential, to allow them to have some connection to Aetherius while working on the world they were creating. They allowed those in connection to the orbs to keep their immortality, their pure essence… the thing that made them godly. These machines, while intended for connecting the physical realm with the etherical realms, also helps maintain the very thin veil between the two realms. If the machines were to ever fail for whatever reason, the thinly protected veil separating the two worlds would come crashing apart. The Dragonfires and the All-Maker Stones were brought in to help assist the physical nature of this world remain stable, but we'll get more onto that as we go further along in our story.

"As you can imagine, Lorkhan, the being that wanted limitations, took issue with these Centralization Stabilizers, and as such, created his own counteraction. While the ACS worked as a way to help the flow of divine energy from Aetherius spread continuously through Mundus, Lorkhan built his own devices that helped keep the mortality grounded to the planet. Keep the physical… physical. I really can't explain it better than… it made a checks and balances. This needs that for this… and that needs the other to keep running. If one thing were to extinguish… the whole network would fall apart. And it used the very same energy the ASCs used. If the Stones stopped working, the ASCs would fall apart too, and everyone knew this. The Dragonfires were designed to help take the edge off of the ASCs, turning them into the MSCs instead. Without the need of the stabilization of Aetherius, it stabilized the magick in the world instead. And the Stones maintained the physical balance of the world, while the MSCs balanced the magick. The Dragonfires protected the plane from other dimensions. If any of these three were to vanish, the world would be put in danger of tearing asunder its own shitty construction.

Lorkhan is known as the hero of mankind, and for good reason. The Skaal, a race of man that worship nature, are the only source of mankind that still serve the original source: Creation, or… Anui-El. Perhaps even Anu. It does not matter who the All-Maker is; it could even be Lorkhan, or Magnus. The details are confusing even for me, for history of that time is recorded only in the Elder Scrolls. And… the Chronicles of Aurbis. Coming soon." The old man winked. "But what is known is the webbing designs used by Lorkhan to cut off divine energy. A way of stopping Magnus's energy networks spread out across the land. The Et'Ada, after they were tricked by Lorkhan to give up their divinity, created many ways of connecting with Aetherius. The Stabilization Centers were the main force for this creation. And as such, Lorkhan designed the All-Maker Stones. I know, you would think they were designed by Anui-El. But… here's where it gets fun.

"Lorkhan betrayed the Et'Ada when they created Mundus. When they created our planet, he installed these Stones, called the All-Maker Stones. They cut the planet off from Aetherius. Located on a small island, away from the main coast. Six stones… with all the ability of cutting the world off from Aetherius. There are similar stones of similar makes throughout the world, each one limiting one thing after another. Birthsigns, blessings, anything you can imagine. These Stones were made to limit the amount of magicka that can flow through the world; the amount of blessings too. Magnus, in response to this, created the Aetherius Centralization Stabilizers. A way of keeping the world connected to Aetherius… at least its soul anyway. So, here's why this is important to your question. The webbing you described to me, sounds like a webbing that could be used to negate the limitation stones. Redirect the limiting energy to somewhere else. Weaken the barrier and… well… Aetherius can merge with our realm as well."

My brain was fried. I don't even know where to begin with this. Master Neloth seemed to know though. "So, what you're suggesting is that the webbing being used is made of dark matter, and its purpose is to block the effects of the balancing grounding stones?"

Esbern nodded. "Indeed. Whomever is blocking these Stones, whether it is Miraak or someone else, is trying to weaken the veil around Solstheim… perhaps even the world. Why… it's a good thing nothing is happening to the MSCs at this very second… or has happened at all in the past few months, perhaps even years. Sure, the Dragonfires are silent, but that would assume that the Stones and MSCs are back to doing their original function: balance of etherical and physical. If there is something happening with the Stones though… you can expect there to be some physical effects. Nature would become imbalanced and the Daedra would be able to push their influence on the land once again. Even if temporarily."

The High King scratched at his head. "Esbern… I told you to explain it to me like a child! I don't even know where to begin with this!"

Esbern sighed. "Such a child." He cleared this throat. "So, once again… there are three main ways of protecting our sensitive realm from going… I don't know… boom. We have the All-Maker Stones, the MSCs, and the Dragonfires. One of which is gone… never to be returned. The Stones keep the world in natural balance. If a Stone is tampered with… the natural laws it uses magick to sustain are… ignored, forgotten. If the Wind Stone becomes tainted, the winds of Nirn might stop blowing. Our air stale, sickening to breathe. I don't know the ramifications."

Master Neloth's eyebrows shot up. "Disease. The Disease…"

The Disease? That's when it hit me. Boethiah mentioned the Corpus Disease and how the Daedra Lords designed it. The evil ones we fought in the temple when we killed Vahlok. "Oh…" I muttered. "It's all coming to light then?" I looked up at Master Neloth.

He nodded. "It would seem so, Apprentice. The Corpus Virus. If the Wind Stone was corrupted, the disease would easily spread across Solstheim, consume everyone. It would seem this Stone is being prepared to be corrupted. And if it stays this way, the Ash Spawn virus will… overtake more than just Solstheim."

Esbern nodded. "And it will not be curable. It will be a Blight the likes this world has never seen. Millions will perish to this one act. And if all six Stones were webbed in similar ways… the damage to the physical world would be catastrophic. Not to mention the stress the MSCs would have maintaining the connection between this realm and the others as well. This world could very well be on its last legs."

The High King sighed. "Wow… this beats beating Alduin. I thought I had faced the most dangerous thing in this world. I killed a vampire lord trying to Silence the sun; I killed a devouring god; and now… I have to cleanse a rock. A giant rock. Otherwise… world destroyed."

He looked back at us. "We know what's at stake. The literal world is at stake. If I screw this up… the world as we know it might come to an end. Miraak was a nascence before… a slight annoyance at best. A pretender for my claim as bestest most awesomest Dragonborn ever. And now… the world could be undone by his very actions. Some Dragonborn." He sighed. "Time to be serious." He looked back down at Esbern. "Take care of Ruby and Cecilie for me, buddy. I think I'm going to be busy for a couple of days."

Master Neloth pulled off his staff. "Dragonborn, I do believe we have all the information we need. We can fill in the blanks later."

The High King glanced down. "This always happens though. We get a small piece of information… while there is a lot more going on in the background we're missing. The Dragonfires are gone… and they wouldn't have been if people had been paying attention to the Mythic Dawn. What if these… MScs are being messed with. What are they anyway?"

"Giant round orbs of Aedric design. Should be one in Saarthal." Esbern said.

The High King's face flushed of all color. "Wait… um… exactly how big are these orb thingies?"

Esbern rubbed at his chin. "I'd wager about the size of Magnus's Eye… if Magnus was a beast of a giant."

The High King stumbled back. "Oh no… oh no, no, no!" He shook his head. "Um… buddy. I kind of… I kind of fucked up. The Eye of Magnus… if that's a MSC… it's gone. Like, 'unstable, ready to explode, Psijic Monks had to come and take it away' gone."

Esbern coughed into his hands. "Well… I shall go prepare some tea. And maybe to throw my face into Delphine's chest one last time. I doubt I'll get the chance later on today."

The image blinked away, leaving the High King standing in the same spot for a few minutes, glancing at the empty crystal ball. He finally sighed, stuffing the ball back into his side pouch. "Well, this is fucked up before this even became a problem. Might as well try to contain it as much as possible." He stepped up to the Wind Stone. "We let these Daedra and their minions do whatever they want for far too long. I say… it's time we have our turn to screw with them!" He took in a deep breath, aiming himself at the Wind Stone. "Gol!" He Shouted to the Stone.

A giant green wave of energy flew from his mouth, flying through the air in a round beam. It slammed into the Wind Stone, and… I felt the ground underneath us shake. All the Skaal villagers working on the Stone dropped their tools, all looking at each other like they had just woken up from a bad dream.

"Hey…" One of the Skaal said. "Is it just me or did we just…"

He never got to finish his thought. The webbing they were building over the Stone was beginning to glow and it exploded into magicka dust. The ground underneath the Stone burst open and a giant monster oozing with black tar came crawling out. All the Skaal screamed as they raced for the protection of their village.

Frea screamed a challenge as she charged the beast. Right as the beast turned to fight the villagers, summoning a whip of bubbling tar to its hands, Frea jumped in the way, slashing at the monster with her sword. "You will not face them, monster. You will face my blade, and my blade alone."

Master Neloth stuck out his hand, sighing. "No need." He waved his hand, and just like that, the monster exploded from an invisible force. Master Neloth wiped his hand off, checking his nails as he did so. "Now, I believe we were going to head back to the village, talk to the shaman about reaching Miraak, and then… go save my daughter's life. Correct?" He faced the High King. "We know your Shout works on the Stones, and we know they free those imprisoned by their effect. You should be able to cleanse the disease surrounding this island. You should be able to cleanse the Daedric presence attempting to kill my family. And once she's free, we're going after Miraak, Hermeaus Mora, and whomever thinks themselves mighty enough to challenge House Telvanni in such a cowardly way." He turned on his heel, snapping his cape as he turned to walk back to the village.

Frea lowered her sword, bringing a hand to her face to whip off the Daedra black tar. "That seemed highly unnecessary. I would have been able to subdue the beast in minutes."

Master Neloth glanced over his shoulder. "Veselle does not have many minutes left, Frea. The quicker we deal with this information, the quicker we proceed in our quest. The quicker we save my daughter. The quicker we save the world. No time for detours; no time for distractions. No time for canis root tea."

No time for canis root tea? That's not like Master Neloth at all. This must be very serious for him.

I looked back at Rynamel. "I guess we should go with him." He said to me.

I nodded. "Master Neloth seems to want to get this over with."

High King glanced back at me. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I can't wait to get this over with either. I thought it was going to be a simple thing, but… it's just getting more and more convoluted. I mean… MSCs, Dragonfires, Daedra Lords, Dwemer, and now All-Maker and his Stones… where does it all end? I mean… we're talking about the very gods of creation! Sithis and the All-Maker. They're involved now too? I miss the old days when I was hanging out with my daughter from the future before I knew she was my daughter, laughing at something Lydia said without knowing that she and I would one day create a child that would grow up to resent me for becoming a soulless piece of crap."

I…

I have no idea what on nirn he just said. My mind pretty much shut down trying to process that information. So, I grabbed Rynamel's arm, hugging it close to me. I didn't say anything, or really think anything. I think I just needed something to remind me that I'm still on this planet… or real.

"Well, it's getting late." The High King glanced up at the sky. "I think we should head back to the town. We'll get some rest, talk to the shaman, and then in the morning, we'll head back and heal Veselle."

I was so tired… I think that was the best idea in the world right now. I wonder how Master Neloth is going to handle it. He wants so badly to finish this off and get Veselle back on her feet. Not going to lie, I'm ready to get back to my regular duties that include not being the main character.

We started heading back to the village. If Rynamel was bothered by me holding onto his arm, he didn't say anything. At first, I did it out of unconscious thought. The High King mentioned a daughter that resented her father… and that made me think of my father. And in that sad thought, I reached for the nearest arm to hug. And then I didn't let go because… well… I liked it. It felt nice to hold onto. And I stayed wrapped around his arm until we made it back to the village. The barrier that pushed me out last time was completely dropped. That meant that the presence trying to take over this island was weaker in this area now. That was good news at least. If tomorrow we can take back Tel Mithryn, and then Raven Rock, we can slowly take back the whole island.

"I will let my father know we were successful." Frea smiled, racing ahead. "We will prepare some beds for you all, and tomorrow we will enjoy a peaceful feast."

The High King smiled, nodding. "That sounds fantastic."

It did sound pretty nice, but I wonder if Master Neloth will allow us a few extra minutes to enjoy a small feast. At any rate, I'm just ready to go to bed and continue this tomorrow. I'm not even hungry right now, and I should be. The last time I ate was before I passed out in Veselle's room. I'm sure that as soon as I lay down to sleep, my stomach will decide it wants to eat. Even as I thought it, I heard my stomach growl.

Frea took notice to it. "Or we can feast tonight as well."

The High King smiled. "Now, that's a plot point I can get behind."


Cearbhail:

Um... just to let you know... I am revising the Khajiit battlemage. Nothing too bad, i'm just taking the earlier chapters and making them not embarrassing three=page long mind sores. Not to mention... i'm showing off some of the other characters, like Pra'ja.