THE PATH OF KNOWLEDGE

The Listener

Thank the gods we had a dragon escort us to Saering's Watch. Before we stepped foot on here, I had no idea it was a dragon lair. Wish we knew that beforehand.

"Go!" Teldryn shoves me. He's got a bow and arrow out to help support our side in the dragon fight up above us. The undead dragon and the still breathing one are mingling in flight. It's a strange and beautiful battle to behold as they swoop and glide and sometimes barrel roll. But Teldryn is right, I need to get to that Word.

"What do I do when I get there?" I yell back over the fierce wind brought up by the dragon wings.

"Just absorb it!" He yells back while drawing his bow.

The reiklings surround me and push me. "Duck! Duck! Duck!" They keep yelling. They want me up there somewhere. When I finally make it to the top of all the windy steps I find the Word Wall, centered to look out at the sea beyond it. I pause for a moment. This is something Mother clamors for on a daily basis. And I'm about to take one of the Words right out from under her nose.

I step in the half circle. I see it. In the center of this thing inscribed with all these words, there's the Word. The big one. It's glowing like it's waiting for someone.

I huff, "I'm here." I hold my arms out, try anything. Maybe its motion activated because nothing happens.

"Nikrent! Breathe it in! Your Voice will take care of the rest!" Durnehviir shouts down to me. Then he takes a good lick in the face from the other dragon's wing. He is certainly not happy.

Okay. Let's try this again. I stand there and breathe. In and out. Nothing changes. "It's not working." I grumble. The reiklings are dancing around me, no doubt trying valiantly to help the cause. But it's getting nowhere.

I stand in front of it. Put my hands on. Damn near almost lick it. Nothing comes back to me. It's just glowing. Taunting me. I grind my teeth in frustration. That is, until I remember.

When Mother was with me, stuck in my head, she always seemed to like powerful things. All the Daedric Artifacts were pretty and powerful to her. I remember how gleeful she would be when I found a new one to add to that supposed collection. I stand here now, thinking back on how it felt to hold something powerful for the fist time. It felt dangerous and strong.

"Duck!" they yell and instead of crouching to avoid some imaginary weapon hurling through the air, I watch as the Word unties itself to the wall. The blue light from it floats my way. At first, I want to move to avoid it. But I just stand there and let it settle around me like a warm, familiar cloak.

"Do you have it Nikrent?" Durnehviir shouts to me.

I give him the thumbs up. This gives him the window of opportunity. I watch as he barrels into the other dragon and starts tearing him apart. I wince as scales and blood fall down to rain on poor Teldryn. The reiklings are absolutely losing their mind with this. They keep jumping and cheering it on. When the dragon is dead on the ground Durnehviir turns his head to us, bloody teeth and all.

"Come to me and I will take you back to the Skaal." He states.

"Maybe take a bath first?" I shout and point to the ocean right next to him.

He gives me a look. It's strange on the dragon but I understand it. I'll just have to settle with sitting on some blood and gore while we hurl through the air at max speed. Not like I haven't done worse.

When we land, I see Frea is standing outside her village anxiously. She sighs, "It is only you. Good. I thought we'd have to fight a dragon now, to add to all our worries."

I grin at her as I saunter over. "I got the Word you wanted. What do we do with it now?"

She looks back to her village, some people mill about, openly gawking at the dragon. "Follow me. I'll take you to the Wind Stone."

It's back kind of near Thirsk Hall. I'm ready for some more mead but Teldryn just keeps me on the straight and narrow path. "Get the stone done with." He whispers in my ear.

I nod and keep going. Keep trudging through the snow. Frea sighs again when we see it. It's a stone about as large as the one Cicero and Bryn are at and there's more people surrounding it. Gathering supplies and building…things.

"What am I supposed to do?" I ask Frea.

"Shout!" Durnehviir yells from above. He's been trailing us this whole way, but it looks like no one down below has taken notice. They're definitely in a trance.

"As he said." She waves a hand for me to proceed.

Okay. I got this. I've shouted before to bring Durnehviir to life again in this world. This should be a piece of cake. I think back to how the word sounded in my head when I first got it. It has this weird lilt to it. A strange collection of sounds.

The Word bursts from me and sails across the way to land among the stone. Everyone stops for a minute and slowly, I see the cracks begin to form on the outside structure. I brace myself and I'm glad I did.

The things explodes! Sending everyone flying but unharmed. And near the stone is this gods awful creature about three times my height. It looks like a fish suddenly grew a human body and didn't get the good genes to keep from smelling and looking like a trash pit.

"Damn." I say as it barrels towards us.

"I think the word you are looking for is 'pity'." Teldryn says next to me, "The thing has good bone structure, now imagine if it had makeup and hair."

I laugh at that but have to go rolling when it tries to projectile vomit all over us. Teldryn has it pinned where it stands with the bow and arrows. I don't want to get close enough to it to use the Ebony Blade, so I snipe it with some ice spikes.

It goes down quickly. I thought it would be much stronger but now the decaying fish dumpster is out for the count.

"My people. They have been freed." Frea races up to me with a glowing smile on her face. "I'm going to help them." She nods to them as they get up, all disoriented after trying to build a temple then attacked by a walking fish. "Go tell Storn. I need some time here to get them ready for the trek home."

She lays a calming hand on my shoulder. I just nod and whistle so Durnehviir can land. All the reilkings are clinging to his back like monkeys. They can't get enough of him. I pull myself up and Teldryn goes behind me. "What now?" He asks.

"Let's go tell this Storm guy and then we go free Bryn and Cicero."

The flight down to Raven Rock was rough. There was some sort of ash storm coming through, so it made the trip pretty bumpy. I had Teldryn keep on the lookout for the reiklings so they wouldn't go over the edge. They didn't, but Durnehviir kept commenting on how his scales itched from how tightly they held on. Not that I blame them.

We went back to the Skaal village, and we got the usual pats on the back. Storn told me he was grateful we did that for them and that they are indebted to us. I waved it off. I was happy to help them and frankly, we needed some practice before we bring Bryn and Cicero back.

Durnehviir is about to land when Teldryn says something. "What was he saying about Miraak before we left?"

"Storm?" I yell over the wind, "You mean Storn? He said Miraak likes to show up after a dragon kill. But the thing didn't disintegrate so I'm guessing he didn't hear about it."

"I hear you loudly and clearly, but what are we supposed to do next?" Teldryn asks.

I shrug when Durnehviir is about to land. "Get Bryn and Cicero out then I guess we go talk with Nematode about this Black Book."

He laughs, "You mean Neloth? You know he was the one to watch over your friends at the Earth Stone?"

"Oh, maybe he'll still be there, and we don't have to go find him." I'd say more but I just got distracted. Over where the Earth Stone is, Cicero and Bryn are pounding away at another part of the temple and damn…they got far with it. More beams are set in place than there were with the Wind Stone and they even have more scaffolding going on.

As I race up to them, I see they look better too. No sunken eyes and skin. No blood crazed expressions. They look healthy and determined. "You're back." One of the guards comes over to me. "Neloth hoped it would be sooner. But I'll have you know nothing dangerous happened here. I gave them all the blood we could muster up as a crumbling town." He nods towards Raven Rock.

"Gee thanks." I hand him a hefty pouch for coin. He takes it gratefully.

"Thank you very much. They should be fine when you…take the curse away. I'm guessing you found that power?"

I nod. "Might want to back up, things could get hairy." The man moves so he's behind all of us but not that close to the dragon. The reiklings rally up next to me with spears ready.

I shout. Sending the stone into another frenzy. The beautiful structure Bryn and the others built now shatters in to a million pieces. The guard shields his eyes and damn good thing for that because the trash just kicked itself out again.

That snarling, fish like creature is back on the prowl. He yells out, sending gunk and shit from his mouth. Bryn and Cicero finally wake up. This is the part I was most nervous for, but instead of hounding the town for blood, they go straight for the fish man.

He's dead in minutes. Bryn and Cicero's assault combined with my ice spikes and Teldryn and the reiklings cover fire. We had this in the bag.

The thing is now dead on the ground. Before I can look over it further, Bryn has me scooped up in his arms.

"Lass, it's you! I had the strangest dream." He leans towards me.

I take the kiss and give one back. "I know. I saw it."

"It's gone?" He brushes some stray hair from my face with the other arm wrapped securely around me.

"Well that thing is." I nod to the fish guy. Bryn laughs at that. "But Miraak? Nope. We need to go find some wizard who will help us get to him. I tried to tell him why we need him but…"

"He needs to see Cicero." The jester comes up close to me and wraps his arms around my waist, kind of awkward being hugged by two people and they're not hugging each other.

"Thanks for the group hug." I pull away from them both so I don't start hurting feelings.

They have a bright look in their eye. I go from one to the other. Cicero used to have brown but now they're gold and Bryn…gone is the forest green I could see even in my sleep. Now I see the same golden glow I catch in the mirror when I'm unlucky enough to look in one. Or when I see the Night Mother.

"How do you feel?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "Good, better than ever. It sounds like the change went well."

My smile freezes, "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Cicero asks while surveying his knives. "All Cicero remembers is the fire…" His eyes go vacant.

Bad idea. I signal to Teldryn who enters the scene with a few bags of blood. "Here you two go. Drink sparingly and we'll find more on the road. I'll have to teach you all about the ethics of blood drinking."

They dig into the pouches without another word and without asking who the guy next to me is. I watch them for a moment before I remember. I let my feelings kind of seep out. That's the best way to describe it. I try to feel the moment around me.

They're content and a little confused. The truly don't know what happened to them in the first hours of undead life. That might be a good thing.

"By Nocturnal." Bryn smiles over his blood bag. Looks kind of creepy if I didn't know him myself. "This strength. I've never felt anything like it. Lass, now I know what you were capable of this whole time."

I grin. "Now you get to walk on the wild side."

"What about Mother? Have you heard from her?" Cicero demands.

I wince but amuse him. "Not a peep. I'm close to talking to Miraak though." I eye him, "I met a bunch of cultists and they didn't do anything other than outright attack me. And Miraak didn't know who the hell I was. Are you sure you gave him the right description?"

The jester's eyes fill with madness, he drops his blood bag in the murky water and stomps on it. "Cicero knew it was some sort of trick! Oh, I'll gut Miraak, the false Dragonborn, where he stands!"

Wow, I thought he'd be mad at me.

Teldryn clears his throat, "Tel Mithyrn is about a day away but foot and a few hours by flight." He nods to the dragon, "We might want to get going soon before dark. These parts have very dangerous creatures that like to come out at night."

Remember the ash spawn that nearly killed Bryn sends me into action. "Got it. Let's go." I round the group up.

"But Listener! More blood?"

"We'll get you more when we get there. Now come on! Get on the dragon!" I leap so I'm on Durnehviir. Bryn saddles up behind me, leaving Teldryn behind him and Cicero even further back. I have to suppress some laugher when the reiklings hiss at the jester's arrival.

"Listener? What are these…undesirable creatures? Should they be dealt with?"

"No. They're friends Cicero." I say, partially scared he'll kick them off. But that fear turns to laugher again when he starts squealing with our take off. He doesn't shut his mouth the whole way to the wizard's tower.

We land in a weird spot. Too close to the sea but it's the only place the dragon could go. The surrounding area is filled with giant sized mushrooms. They'd be really cute houses to live in if not for the snooty neighbors.

Dark Elves prowl us by and give us haughty looks. "Don't mind them." Teldryn chuckles, "They have a bit of an ego problem being a part of Tel Mithyrn."

"What exactly is this place?" I have to ask as we walk up one of the winding staircases lined with little lights to the largest mushroom of all.

"It's a Telvanni settlement. People came here mainly because of the Empire. It's not common knowledge but levitation magic was outlawed. And, you need some levitation to get to the tops of these things." Teldryn points to the mushroom before us.

Yeah right, like we'd actually fly through the air without a dragon.

A few minutes later I'm eating my words and squealing in fright. I didn't know it would feel so much like flying. When I get to the top, I grasp out for anything to hold me from falling back down. "Help." I squeal. Turns out the guy who's robes I'm tugging on is exactly the guy who helped us with the stone.

"It's you again. Looks like you made it back in one piece." He unlatches my hands from him, steadies me, then dusts his robes off.

"Not a slice off of me. We need to find these Black Books and I heard you know where they're located." I glance back to find Bryn, Cicero, Teldryn watching the reiklings come up one by one. They have to be plucked out of the levitation field because they keep spinning and doing flips.

The Dark Elf glares down at me. "You refer to the tomes of esoteric knowledge that old Hermaeus Mora has scattered throughout the world? Is this somehow connected to your search for Miraak?"

Wait. "These are Hermaeus Mora's? The Daedric Prince of Knowledge?"

"Yes…" He continues giving me the oddest of looks.

"He wasn't in there when I went in…" I mention. My heart sinks a little more. Sounds like the Night Mother did lock the Princes out and threw away the key.

"Ah of course, you read it didn't you? Don't try to deny it, you've got the look. I can see it now." He crosses his arms and looks down at me from his nose. "Dangerous knowledge is still knowledge and therefore useful. Usually turns out to be the most useful, in my experience."

"But can we talk to Miraak? I need to tell him something."

The guy lets out a breath through his nostrils. "Go back into the books? Find more knowledge. That is a dangerous path indeed. Hermaeus Mora gives nothing away for free."

"He's probably not there." I say softly, "Not sure if you heard but the Night Mother banished all of the Daedric Princes."

The guy watches me. "If he is gone then someone is parading around in that realm. I have not doubt it is Miraak then."

"Well. Do you know how to get another Black Book? I tried this one again." I hold up the book. "And no one is there."

"Oh yes. They're not hard to locate once you know how to look for them. I have one here that I've been using to locate more." He sees my expression, "I haven't been idle while this fascinating madness engulfed Solstheim. But my book isn't what you're looking for. I'm quite sure it is unconnected with this Miraak. But I do know where to find a Black Book that can help you."

I blink, "Okay cool, you know just where it is?"

"Yes, I do. I haven't been able to get it, though. But maybe together we can unlock the secrets the Dwemer left behind."

"Dwemer? What do they have to do with this?" Teldryn asks next to me.

"Forbidden knowledge was somewhat of a specialty to the dwarves, eh? You don't think they would just leave it alone, do you?" The wizard gives us a look of superiority. I'm getting tired of the ego trip already.

"Yes, it seems the ancient dwemer took this book to their ruins to study. Follow me, we have but an hour journey to get there." He glances at the reiklings who are now cheering and ready for battle. "Make that a few. Reiklings can be like dogs sometimes. Always so curious about the world." The wizard grumbles.

The bandits at the ruins were aggressive as hell. It didn't help that the towers were leaning and crumbling into the ocean. The others were off fighting gods knows how many bandits. I took down one chick with my Ebony Blade and now all that's left is the Reaver himself.

I don't know why these outlaws start power tripping and call them something as cool as the "reaver" then proceed to wear some goofy bear outfit but here he is. He bears down over me with a hatchet, but that's so last year.

I stab him straight through with the Ebony Blade, then pull and allow his guts to fall right out of him. One kick to the head and he's dead in seconds. In me experience, disembowelment took too long.

I stumble my way over to where the group is gathering by the large golden door. Bryn gives me a grateful hug. I lean into him as Nematode drones on with another history lesson no one asked for.

"The Dwemer of Nchardak appear to have been fond of these control pedestals. Luckily, I found a cube to operate it inside with my last visit. I sealed the door to keep out meddlers. Let me unlock it. The Book is just inside." He places this weird cube on the pedestal. The door unlatches and opens to show another door.

The reiklings all start cheering. I wade through them to push open the door. Inside, I find a marble plated room and a glass opening in the center of the floor. I stand right over it. The Book is down there. This shouldn't take too long. I just have to beat it down enough to get it out.

Nematode ghosts over to me. "So tantalizingly close. But trust me, no magic will open that. I've have had the book already if it could. I should also add, no amount of supernatural strength can bring it out."

I know he's watching my fists curl to pull the thing out just like he said it. But with Bryn right behind me I bite my tongue and listen to what he has to say. It has nothing to do with Neoloth. He seems like a nice guy. I just want Mother gone. So, she doesn't have the chance to take over more than what she already has. I can just imagine her now…I'm sure she's taken Solitude. Windhelm. Whiterun. The big names. She's prolly working on that southern part. I just pray she hasn't made it to Riften yet.

"And how to we handle this situation?" Teldryn asks the wizard.

"We have to do this the hard way. If we can restore the steam supply to this room, I'm certain I can open it." Neloth says with confidence. "As you'll see, that's easier said than done. This way to the boilers."

Cicero gives me a pained look when I pass him to follow Neloth. "Can we not just carve it out?" He pleads to me. I notice a little extra blood on his mouth. Looks like he got the food he needed.

"Nope. We gotta do this the hard way like he said." I remind him.

"Follow me." The great wizard proclaims when we step on one of the elevators. I just hope this goes well.

The place smells like mold and looks like it's been sunken for years, but it doesn't stop Neloth from spouting out trivia. "Nchardak. The 'City of a Hunted Towers'. In its day, it was the largest of the great Dwemer Archives, and perhaps the most advanced. In the old stories, when the Nords come to conquer it, it's said the Dwemer submerged the entire city beneath the sea until the invaders gave up." He continues to drone on.

I just watch the room. It's big. Cavernous. We make our way to the center, and I spy a few pedestals with Neloth's cube's name on it. "I have my doubts. But the city was a marvel of the Dwemer engineering. Now…reduced to this." Neloth looks around the room. "As you can see. Most of the lower levels of the city are flooded. But it isn't hopeless, the old Dwemer pumps still seem to work. Watch." He places the cube on one of the pedestals.

The ground shakes, sending the reiklings for cover. Cicero grasps my forearm in a death grip. Bryn holds onto me and Teldryn just laughs.

"But the pumps only operate when a cube is in the pedestal. And unfortunately, I only have one cube."

"That's going to be a problem." I mention while watching the water level lower itself.

"Of course." He continues, "These four boilers provide steam to the room upstairs. They're shut down, but they still respond to the control cubes. So, if we can find four more cubes, we can turn these boilers back on and restore steam power to the room upstairs. Then I should be able to open the book's protective case. Bring that cube. We'll need it." He spins on his heel to go back to the other room.

"Get any of that?" I whisper to Bryn.

He smiles, "Not a word, I was too distracted by the water falling."

I watch Teldryn remove the cube and follow us to the other room. "Here we are." Neloth bends over one of the Dwemer contraptions with all its wheels spinning. "This device shows the location of four more cubes in this section of the city. It looks like most of the cubes were moved to the lower levels, perhaps to try to control the flooding before the city was abandoned. Interesting. That would suggest that the city must have originally sunk during the first cataclysm of Red Mountain. Or, the Dwemer's servitors continued to try and preserve the city after their creators' disappearance."

He finally stops droning when we reach another door. "Three of the cubes are through here. This seems like a sensible place to start."

I forge ahead, ready to go get them. In my way is one of those icky metal spiders. It throws electricity at me, but I just stomp on it. So much for that. The reiklings race around me to go find others to kill. I grab one of the cubes.

"In the city's days of glory, it was reputed to be able to assemble a complete automaton in a single day." Neloth says behind me. "Much of the Dwemer army at the Battle of Red Mountain must have come from here." He looks down to see all that water. I keep forging ahead.

"It looks like we'll need to lower the water level to make anymore progress." He says behind me.

"On it." I place the cube in another pedestal and watch as the water lowers slowly.

"Good! Now let's see if we can find a way to get the next cube." The man does a running leap off the bridge into the water below.

"Cannon." One of the reiklings yells and bounces into the water. The rest follow suit. I'm trying not to laugh. I watch as Teldryn shrugs then does a swan dive into the water. Bryn grabs my hand. "Ready?" He asks.

I shove him playfully, expecting him to go flying into the water first but I forgot how quick his reflexes are. He just grabs my waist and pulls me down with him. I gasp when we come up for air and have to gasp again after another kiss from him.

The water keeps plummeting until I can feel my feet touch the bottom. "Listener. Cicero will stay up her and make sure no one…tampers with the book." He's on his hands and knees, looking over the edge.

"It feels good down here!" I splash some water next to me, "Are you sure you don't want to come down?"

He shakes his head.

"Let him be." Bryn whispers in my ear.

"You sure he won't take the cubes and run?" I whisper back. Crazier things have happened.

"I don't know why he would." Bryn pulls me to the side right as an automated spider comes flying at us.

We get lost in the battle. Killing whatever the dwarves left for us to come across. Honestly, it was kind of fun just running around, slicing these machine baddies, and gathering cubes. It became even more interesting when the water level rose again and we had to get out quick.

"Very good. By my count, we've found a total of four cubes. Assuming you haven't dropped any anywhere." Neloth helps pull up some of the reiklings from the water and onto the nearby bridge we met on. I didn't know the little guys weren't that strong of swimmers, so they needed some guidance.

With all the cubes in place, Neloth takes us into another room with two bridges, one raised, and a shit ton of water falling down around us. "I'd guess that must be the pump activator up there." He points to a far away spot. "But how to reach it?"

"Up here!" I look up over my head to see Teldryn at this control switch area. He starts fiddling with the cube. I see Neloth give him a look of astonishment and he has the desire to go up and stop the madness. But then the bridges start falling.

I race over the area with Bryn and the reiklings in tow with Neloth far behind us. We slash and bash all the dwemer bad guys coming our way. When I reach the top of one of the great heights, I hear the wizard yell up to me.

"I have an idea. I'll wait here and retrieve this cube once you find the last one we need. Good luck!"

I nod in acknowledgement and go through another room filled with the hovering spikes the dwemer liked to use. We bust our way through some other areas, killing as we go to find the remaining cube.

When we all reemerge up in the main control room. Neloth turns to us, "I'm going to head back upstairs and see if the reading room has steam. If so, it should be a simple matter to release the book."

I nod and wave him off while trying to catch my breath. That was a lot to deal with. Cicero crouches next to me. "Is Listener okay? Does Listener want some blood?" I turn to find him holding a squealing and flailing skeever.

"What the hell?" I back away quickly.

"It's fresh." He chomps down on it and sucks the thing dry.

Teldryn looks sick and Bryn just sits next to me. "Okay. Time for some lessons." I tell them both. "Animals aren't the best source of food." I glare at Cicero who only grins with a crimson painted face. "When you feed, you need to do so carefully. Lull the person into complacency then drink from them. Not…that." I wave to the skeever still barely clinging to life in Cicero's hands.

"But it tastes good." He says.

He's either really, really hungry. Or he's the weirdest vampire I've met. And that's saying something.

"It's done!" We hear Neloth yell from above. Well, I don't really want to sit here and watch Cicero go skeever hunting, so I'm the first to jump up and head on out of there.

Neloth is positively giddy as we enter the marble and turquoise stoned room. "Yes, it worked! The steam is flowing. Now it should be as simple as…" He pokes one of the buttons and I hear the sound of something unlatching. "That should do it." He gives me a smile.

The glass moves and a pedestal rises, holding that Book on it. "At last. I hope it was worth it. Please…be my guest. You deserve the first look." The man smiles to me again and waves to the Book.

I look to Bryn and Cicero. "This might get weird. Just don't panic, okay?"

They nod and soon I am on the other side of the room, just opening the pages.

"Those books can be rather dangerous…it has been known to drive people insane." Neloth mentions at the last moment.

But I've opened the book and I get that familiar light going on, then suddenly the tentacles come out to grab me. I hear Bryn yell and Cicero squeal but that's all I get before my world fades to nothing.

Same vomit colored sky. Same splashing tentacle creatures. Same disgusting water. The only thing that's different is the person in front of me.

I choke back a scream. Instead of the guy in purple robes and the ever still octopus mask on his face, there's an inky blot in the sky. Darkness swirls around every corner, one great eye opens, and a deep laughter begins around me.

"So. It is you. I had wondered when you come to find me." He purrs. It's a deep voice. Hard to hear. But I know who this is.

"Hermaeus Mora." I breathe.

"Yes. Quite the perceptive child, aren't you? Are you not shocked to see me?"

"How…how are you here? She cast you all out." I take a step forward after making sure I wouldn't face plant in the filthy water below.

He laughs again, all deep bass before his melodic voice starts, "That, is quite the tale… I am willing to tell you. Afterall, we have a deal to make young Nightingale."

Cicero's Journal Entry

15th of Hearthfire, 4E 202

So many days lost! And the journal has been tampered with, pages have been torn out! But the entries are all here! Oh, when I find who did this…I'll tear their throats out! Drink their blood! Yes. A fitting punishment.

For the moment, there is a problem. Listener is entranced by this book. She's in the hold of a great octopus. The lover is trying to cut her free of it, but the snobby wizard just keeps telling him it won't work. We'll see about that. Cicero hasn't tried his knives yet.