Arc 2—When Darkness Falls—Chapter 10:

"Are you getting anything?"

"Not really," I replied, trying to allow the dowsing sticks Valerica had given me to do their work without undue influence from my hands. "I've seen guys do this looking for water, but I think they know the signs of where water might be found better than they think, or will admit, and they cause them to move, even unintentionally. My soul isn't water, and I really have no idea where to look for it."

"Well don't give up," replied Serana as we both looked across the alien and seemingly endless landscape. "We've sure got plenty of places to look."

There is no sun, no moons or stars, and no clocks or dials in the Soul Cairn so I'm not sure if we walked for minutes or hours or days. Even most of the strange building-like structures and landscape features generally couldn't be seen from a distance. It was as if we were being lulled into a great sense of boredom and defeatism as the unmeasurable time passed. With my reduced soul and the amount of time we'd spent, my heart and body ached and I lost track of everything except my desire to find the missing piece of my soul and find my way home. Therefore, it was with great surprise when Valerica's silly sticks suddenly twitched in my hands and then started to swing to one side.

"Serana! Look!"

"Doubt my mother, will you?" She laughed. "Let's go get your soul."

~ESV~

The sticks were pointing to a strange-looking building ahead so we were moving forward quietly and using what cover we could find. We were just a few paces from an entrance when a voice called out to me, "Dragonborn! Welcome!"

I looked around trying to see where the voice was coming from but saw nothing and then noticed that Serana wasn't reacting to it.

"Your fame precedes you, Dragonborn! Many of the fallen have named you as he who sent them here."

"Serana! Serana? Do you see where it's coming from?"

She looked at me with a questioning look as the voice continued.

"Imagine my surprise, Dragonborn, when your name was engraved on this gem and you willingly placed yourself in my power!"

"What are you talking about?" she whispered.

"The voice, you—"

"Come, Dragonborn, meet me, for I, the Prime Keeper, desire the rest of the soul from one as you!"

"—don't hear it?"

"Aerik? What..."

Serana continued speaking but her voice faded from my ears and her body disappeared from my sight. I was suddenly alone except for the voice reverberating in my ears.

"Serana! Serana!" I shouted, reaching out where she had just been but grasped nothing as a result.

"She cannot hear or help you, Dragonborn, for your appointment is with me and me alone. Come and let us battle for your soul."

Not seeing Serana, I decided that I would have to move on alone to have any chance of saving her from wherever the being had taken her and saving myself. We'd already fought three beings who called themselves Keepers so I wondered if this was another of the same or someone possibly even more powerful considering how he termed himself. I moved toward the stair and felt each step upward drain my energy. Not wishing to let the Keeper see my weakness, I called out, "I'm coming, Keeper, coming to get my soul, for it is not yours to take. Or despite your name, to keep, either."

The being laughed. "Come, Dragonborn, and show me more than words."

"Don't worry, Keeper. I will," I replied as I climbed the seemingly unending steps. When I finally reached the top, I looked out on a wide expanse that appeared to be much larger than the footprint of the strange building I'd initially seen; there would be no using a shout to send this Keeper flying off the edge to fall to his death like one of the other Keepers I'd faced. Therefore, I swallowed a stamina potion. There was an immediate surge of energy unlike anything that I'd felt since entering the Cairn, leading me to call out, "And, Keeper, I warn you: if you've done anything to hurt or harm my friend, I will make you suffer ten times as much before I'm through with you."

I stepped out with my dragon blade at the ready in my right hand and my shield on the left. Our battlefield, flat and featureless, looked like the strange earth in the rest of the foresaken place, making me wonder if I'd been transported elsewhere in the long climb up the steps. Still, no one was visible; nothing appeared before me, yet I noticed a thin strand of what appeared to be light, leading away from me into the distance. I started to look ahead, to try to find where the light ended, but heard the twang of a powerful bow in the distance.

Using the shield had been a good choice in that I was able to block upward without ever seeing the arrow. There was a crashing noise as my shield deflected it away. A shimmer of movement from the direction of the arrow caused me to shift positions to avoid any follow up shots as I moved that way to see the being more clearly. Barely visible, I noticed that little thread of light continuing to trail off in that direction.

When the shimmer became the Keeper just a moment later, he was revealed to be about ten to twelve tall and was dressed in immense dragonbone armor similar to the others that I'd faced earlier. Huge, twin axeheads were visible just above his shoulders behind the black cloud that was his head. As we closed on each other, he grabbed the handle of each, just below the wide blade and practically threw them upward, revealing twin dragonbone battleaxes that he caught in the air with his arms almost fully extended.

"Zun Haal!" I shouted sending one of the axes flying away and causing the Keeper to momentarily lose control of the other. It flipped around in the air as he tried to grab it, while I ran in and slid as I brought my sword around to connect right at the joint in his armor at the back of his knee.

Dragonbone met dragonbone in a great collision, but the sharp, solid sword was more than a match for the intersecting edges needed in the armor to allow one to walk. The Keeper screamed out as his leg collapsed and he lurched sideways and down onto the wounded knee.

The shout and the blow had both taken a great deal out of me so it was all I could do to wrench my sword away from its bite. As it came away, the Keeper tried a backward leg sweep with his good leg to take me down so he could face me again. I jammed the sword, blade forward, into the strange ground, and braced it just in time to let his leg crash into the sword. As it did and as the Keeper roared again in pain, I bashed forward with my shield, causing him to lose his balance and pitch forward.

I thought I was in an excellent position, having pulled my sword out out the ground and away from the small break it had created in the Keeper's armor when his leg crashed into it. A joint in his armor made a good target, but the big being rolled, causing me to miss and tossing me sideways. He followed with a backhanded arc with the battleaxe he'd switched to his right hand, cleaving into the ground where he'd just knocked me. That huge axe practically whistled by me as I started to roll away out of his reach.

Rolling three more times to have some distance between us, I tried to do my usual spring up to right myself, but that wasn't happening. Exhaustion had caught up with me again, so I had to push off the ground to make it up just in time to deflect another blow of the battleaxe. Unable to stand fully erect, the Keeper was standing on his knees, aiming to finish me off for good. The glancing blow sent me spinning around before I once again crashed into the ground with a grunt.

"Dragonborn! I hurt," called the Keeper, "but I dare say you hurt as much or more as your soul slowly leaches from your body! The gem with your name draws more from you by the second and soon you will be mine!" He reached into a pouch at his side and drew forth a lightly glowing soul gem that he held up and out toward me. It was then in that brief moment that I could see the little tendril of light going out from me appeared to be connected to the soul gem at the other end.

The gem was draining my soul and my strength! The little light was my soul and my energy literally being sucked out of my body.

The Prime Keeper laughed aloud as he saw me realize what was happening, but only for a moment. Imagine my disappointment as he stuffed the gem back in the pouch just as I felt my energy rebuild enough for another shout. If only I could have knocked it out of his hand like the other battleaxe!

He was now gripping that remaining battleaxe with both hands. With his size and double grip, I knew that my disarm shout would probably be ineffective, so I moved backward as he shuffled toward me on his knees. As he followed, I continued slinking ever backward.

"Afraid, are you, Dragonborn? You retreat and retreat—what forty—or is it fifty?—paces?. No, matter, I'm following you. At my height, I can still keep up with you, even on my knees!"

Only two stamina potions remained in the pouch, making me quite reluctant to quaff one, but having two gives one much better options than one and infinitely more than none. Tucking my sword in behind my shield so I wouldn't have to deal with the sheath, I pulled out one of the bottles and popped the cork as I continued backward. Figuring he was far enough away by this point, I finally replied, "Sounds about right. Further and further away from that second axe, where it will never again do you any good."

He roared at me in anger as he realized the truth and as I gulped the bottle. Surprising him, I went straight toward him at a run and gave a great shout, "Fus Ro Dah!" The Prime Keeper, despite his size, was sent flying backward several paces. Apparently dazed, he was starting to try to get up as my sword crashed down on him, ending our battle.

After making sure he was dead, I removed my gauntlet and opened his pouch. There, inside, was the gem, glowing brightly, though I noted that the tendril of light that I'd seen early was now missing. My name was written on the gemstone, as if engraved in crystal, so, hoping desperately that I was doing the right thing, I reached out and grasped it.

My body has absorbed many dragon souls over the years, with that rush that feels to me like wind and warmth, but none have been so welcome as when my hand touched that gemstone. It was as if a cleansing fire burned through me, racing throughout my body, invigorating me as no dragon soul, despite their effects, has ever done. It lasted for only moments, but when it was done, my strength returned in force and I knew that we would make it home. Looking down in my hand, I saw that the soul gem was now black and my name no longer graced it.

"Aerik!" shouted Serana as she ran toward me. She threw her arms around me and held me tight as I did the same to her. When we released each other moments later, she added, "It was as if he froze me in a different place, maybe a different plane. I could see you, dimly, as you moved away and then saw nothing more until...I guess until you killed him. Then I was free."

I looked around and saw that we were standing on the roof of the strange building we'd first entered. The expanse of the battlefield where we'd fought was no longer present, though the Prime Keeper's body lay at my feet.

"You recovered your soul?"

"Yes," I said. "I'm recovered. Fully. Now, let's go home and stop that prophecy."

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs causes me to look up. My beloved, eldest daughter Lucia is in the lead with Samovar, her dear husband, following behind her carrying a wooden crate. Poor Sam is huffing and immediately takes the opportunity to set it down on the steps as they stop in front of us.

"Pa," says Lucia, instead of the formal "Father" that she now usually uses when we're in public, "we have a surprise for you and the kids!"

Sam is using his knife to pry off the some of the slats on the top of the crate. When he gets one open far enough, Lucia pulls it off while he pries on another. When there's room, she shoves the packing off and pulls out a book, handing it to me, and then one to each of the children. My face registers surprise as I read the front cover and then open it up to read my own words inside.

"The children were reading it so much that Andres' letter was getting messed up so I borrowed it to get a copy made. The scribe started copying and then came to me to see about allowing him to publish it. We have one for each of the children, several more copies to give to friends, a copy for mom's new Solitude library, and one for the library in Winterhold. He's going to sell some, too!"

I get up to give her a hug and she kisses my cheek.

"I love you, Pa." She turns to the kids. "Children, it's stopped snowing, so Mom and I have agreed you can go out to play in the east courtyard for a little while before it gets dark. Ariana's getting her snow clothes on now, so come on down soon."

"But the story!" complain the children.

"Tell you what," I say to them. "Since it won't take long, I'll just read the end to you for now, and we'll save the rest for sometime soon."

They agree and I turn to near the end.

It was almost four weeks later when we stopped just outside the south Morthal gate. With both moons shining above, we'd traveled for most of the night for Serana's benefit, but now we were arriving on market day. A number of people from the Hjaalmarch and beyond stood in line at the gate, awaiting entry to make sales, purchases, or both.

I removed my helmet and took it in hand as I took another small step toward the guard station. My shield and a beautiful bow were strapped on my back, and those around us were staring at us intently. I smiled and largely ignored them since I had other things on my mind. Though I should have been feeling happy following our defeat of Lord Harkon and putting an end to the evil prophecy, I was in fact quite jittery about what I was about to do.

"Gods, Aerik, how do you stand this sunshine?" asked Serana as we shuffled forward another step. She had her hood up high, casting her face completely in shadow.

"Sorry, my friend," I said before adding in a whisper, "As cold as Skyrim is, I love my sunshine and what warmth it provides far too much to every consider being a vampire."

"So that's the reason!" she replied with a laugh. "Aerik, I don't know how this is going to go, so, in case I don't get to tell you again, thank you so much for going back to get my mother."

"Serana, the look on her face when we returned to get her and tell her that the prophecy was broken and she could go home was very much worth the effort. If there had only been crows in the Cairn, she would have more than had her fill."

She laughed. "Well, my mother is more than a little strange, but I know she appreciates it, too. I pray she can adjust to the new reality of her situation."

"Me, too," I agreed. "If the truce between her and the Dawnguard holds, it will be good for all of us. If not..."

"She's smart enough to know that it has to, for her sake. But I'll keep hoping and praying, just in case."

When we finally reached the guards to pay the entry tax, I saw one was the same guard I'd once sent tumbling during an earlier visit. I let someone pass us so I could approach him. His eyes grew wide as he recognized me, but I handed him the coin for me and one for Serana before politely asking, "How are you today? Can you tell me where I might find young Idgrod?"

"Ah, ahem, the Thaumaturgist's Hut?"

"I thank you, good sir. An extra coin for your efforts and assistance."

He looked dumbstruck as he took it and watched us go in the gate, but I thought I saw a nod and a hint of a smile as he tucked it into his coin purse.

"I thought you told me the guards here didn't like you?"

"They don't. Particularly him. But I'm working on turning that around."

The makeshift market being set up along the main street was beginning to get a little crowded by Morthal standards. Just as outside the gate, we received stares from a number of people. Several guards also looked at us as we passed, so I made it a point to nod politely to each. Serana was almost laughing as we reached our destination.

We entered the alchemy shop and there stood Idgrod working on a potion. I held one forefinger up to my lips toward Serana, who was busy letting down her hood and fixing her hair. Still, she nodded in reply, giving Idgrod time to finish and my heart enough time to get up to racing speed since I was worried about what Idgrod's reaction would be.

"And done!" said Idgrod, putting the stopper in the bottle. She saw Serana first when she looked up. "Oh, hi. I didn't hear you come in. Lami's upstairs and will be down in a moment. Is there anything—Aerik!"

She almost flew into my arms as she wrapped her own about me. "You're okay! And you're here!"

"Just got to town. Sorry I didn't have time to send a note. The young lady you just forgot all about is my friend, Serana."

"Sorry," said Idgrod, sheepishly looking over at her. "It's nice to meet you, Serana. It's just I think this galoot may be my boyfriend and I haven't seen him in a while. Please forgive me."

"Good to meet you, too," said Serana with a smile. "You and Lucia are all he's talked about for the past few days since we took care of a problem together. He's told me all about you. It's very nice to finally have a face to put with your name. Now, if you don't mind, I'll step over here and use this lab and give the two of you some much-needed privacy."

"Feel free," agreed Idgrod. Taking my arm, she took me out the door and out toward the bridge, away from the market crowd. She stopped in the middle and put her arms around me again.

"Aerik, I'm so glad you're safe. So you took care of the vampire problem?"

"With Serana's help. I couldn't have done it without her.

"She's a friend?"

"A very good one."

"Vampire?"

"You could tell? Her eyes?"

"Yes, but if she's a friend of yours, she's a friend of mine."

"Good. She was very worried about that."

"I'll talk to her and try to put her at ease."

A change came over Idgrod's face as she paused. "Aerik, I want to apologize about our last meeting, and everything that led up to it. After you left, I confronted my father about what he'd done and he denied everything. I guess I should tell you that my mother is a strong, smart woman, the smartest I know, but Father has had to put up with her and her moods for many years. I think he's built up a certain ability to ignore her more irritating issues, which leads him to sometimes do things that he thinks best without speaking to her about them, particularly in matters not related to governing Morthal. This was one of those times, so he felt he was doing it for what's best. Father is slowly learning that I'm an adult now and that I can be quite persistent and very persuasive when I need to be. He kept denying it but I stayed after him a little at a time until he finally slipped up and had to admit that he'd removed my letters from the post bag. Unfortunately, he burned them."

"I hate to say it but your dad really is a pretty good liar. He had me completely convinced that you never wanted to see me again. I'm glad you could see through it."

She shook her head and sighed. "I love my father, but that's a father who thinks he knows best as well as a government official for you. They think they know better than anyone else what is best for everyone else and they can convince people of almost anything with a straight face. I hope I'll always listen and never get to be that way when I become jarl someday."

She was looking down at her feet, embarrassed, so I gently raised her chin with a finger so we were once again looking each other in the eyes. "Idgrod, I think you'll always do what's best for your people. I think your mother tries, too, but pardon me if I don't allow your father into my confidence anytime soon."

She nodded with a grin. "I understand and don't blame you a bit. He's not in my good graces right now, either. After telling him how hurt and incredibly disappointed I was in him, I haven't spoken with him since."

Surprised she'd let him off so easily, I gave her a confused look. "You didn't even yell at him? If he were my dad and had done that, I'd have chewed him out so bad they'd have probably heard me on the planes of Oblivion."

"No, dear. I didn't yell at him. Mother taught me long ago that one must tailor responses to the recipient to achieve maximum effectiveness. Yelling would have made my father feel justified in what he'd done." She smiled. "Believe me, he feels lower than a skeever's belly now, so I may have to let him off the hook soon. Maybe day after tomorrow?"

I laughed. "Remind me to never get on your bad side."

"You'll never be on my bad side, Aerik. Oh, and you should be receiving another letter in Whiterun sometime soon. It went out day before yesterday. I'm sorry if it's too forward of me but I asked if I could come see you and Lucia in Whiterun."

"So I guess that means I can see you again?"

"Oh, you silly man. Any time." She leaned up and kissed me on the lips for the first time. "All of the time." Another kiss. "Anywhere."

"When would you like to come to Whiterun to see us? I think I may have an opening...tomorrow?"

The End of Arc 2—When Darkness Falls

Author's Note:

Thanks so much for reading! If you've enjoyed this story arc, please let me know. Your feedback really helps me know if I'm on the right track, so your comments, reviews, follows, and favorites are greatly appreciated.

Arc 3—Uncivil War is currently in development, following up on some of the hints left in Arcs 1 and 2. In the meantime, I invite you to check out "For Want of a B," another completely unconnected Skyrim story (Chapter 3 coming soon!) or any of my other stories in other fandoms.