Apocrypha
The three adventurers left the city of Raven Rock up, following an ashen trail up alongside a disused mine. Lydia now wore a set of old goggles of Dwemer make she had procured from an ash yam farmer on the outskirts of town and she had a red scarf pulled up over her nose and mouth. Serana and Emily were wrapped up well too for though the ashes would not impede their breathing, it was nonetheless an irritant as it got into their eyes and their mouths when they spoke. The ash was deep in places and it made progress hard going. Serana spotted a cluster of purplish-red leaves covered in spikes similar to an aloe plant and stopped briefly to take a few cuttings.
"What are those?" Emily asked as she stowed the cuttings away.
"Scathecraw," Serana replied, "I was hoping we could cultivate them back home though I reckon they'll need an acidic soil to mimic the ash they've been growing in here."
"What's it good for?" Emily asked. Serana was about to reply when something caught her attention.
"Don't move," she said quietly. Lydia halted in her tracks. She looked over her shoulder and the frail wind blew the few strands of her hair poking out from between the swathes of fabric. It stirred the ash up at their feet, blowing the fine particles up around them. Then Emily spotted a patch of the ashen soil which was shifting as though being moved by some kind of subterranean animal. Then a hand emerged and she reached hastily for her dagger. The skin of the hand could hardly be called such for it was grey and cracked and in the cracks lurked a faint orange light.
The hand braced against the soil. Next to emerge was a head, misshapen and lumpy with eyes like hot coals. It hauled itself from the ash and opened its burning maw, releasing a guttural cry. At this they saw three other patches of ash begin to shift as more of its brethren started to emerge.
Wasting no time the three adventurers sprang upon the creature. It parried their blows with a weapon seemingly melded to its right arm with a red hot glowing centre and keen edges. Emily leapt to one side as another of the monsters emerged close to her feet. She clutched her dagger in both hands, bringing it down upon the ash spawn's head. The rock crumbled under her blade and the wretched being ceased to move.
The next second she was forced to roll to one side as another of the brutes brought down its keen edged weapon, plunging it into the ash where she had been mere moments before. It tried to pull it free of the ash but an icy shard interrupted this action and it fell face down, crumbling as it fell until it was nought but dust. Emily scrambled to her feet as she, Serana and Lydia faced down the remaining two. The first fell to a blow from Lydia's greatsword while the second's head was cleaved in two by another icy shard. It fell in a cloud of dust, back to the earth it had come from.
"What on Nirn was that?" asked Lydia.
"I have no idea," Serana replied, "Some kind of ghoul perhaps. These wastes are certainly a mournful enough place to house such creatures." The land seemed to echo this remark for in the silence that followed they could hear strange mournful wails coming up from the coast though Lydia was able to account for these at least. She told them they were netches, jellyfish-like creatures that live by the sea whose leather is used to make various kinds of armour.
They continued their climb up the ashen slopes. Far on the horizon Emily could see the volcano responsible for the land's current state, still billowing thick black smoke from its crater. She returned her attention to the stop of the slope and caught sight of a stone arch peeking over it.
"Look, up there," she said, pointing to the arch.
"That must be the temple," Lydia answered, wiping flecks of ash from her goggles.
As they neared the temple Emily stumbled. When she looked back over her shoulder at what had caused her to trip she let out a gasp. The ground was littered with bones, bones she recognised though she had seen them but once before. They were dragon bones, easily distinguishable by the great curving horns on the skulls and the long fragile-looking wing bones. The skeletons grew more numerous the higher they went until at last they reached a wooden walkway. It was here they picked up on the rhythmic sound of iron striking stone. At the top of the walkway Emily spotted a man chiselling away at the rock.
"Hey, is this the temple?" Emily asked as she reached him. The man did not so much as turn his head or acknowledge her presence in any way and when his lips parted and Emily hoped for some kind of response he only said, "And when the world shall listen."
"Hello?" said Emily, waving her hand before his face. He did not so much as flinch, "Hello." She turned to the others. "It's like he's in some sort of trance."
"This woman's the same," said Serana who had been trying to gain the attention of another. Then they both stopped as they picked up on another voice. While the voices of those toiling at the rocks sounded sleepy and wavering, this voice was strong.
"Oslaf, please, you must fight against whatever is controlling you!"
They left the wooden walkways behind and made their way down the stone steps into the main courtyard of the temple. They spotted a woman in full Nordic armour tugging at the arm of one of the workers. The man was dressed in heavy furs and did not cease from his toil. Then the woman caught sight of them.
"You, you are not affected as they are," she said, "Please, you have to help me."
"Who are you?" Emily asked.
"My name is Frea, my father Storn, our shaman, sent me here to try and free our people who were spirited away from our village," Frea explained, "Most of the people on Solstheim are like this. In a trance, working on these structures that corrupt the stones. My father says Miraak has returned and he is responsible but that is impossible."
"It's Miraak we're looking for now," Emily replied, "That's why we're here."
"Then it seems we both have reason to see what lies in this temple," said Frea, "If you will come with me, we can maybe find out what is controlling my people and put a stop to it. There must be a way in somewhere around here." As her words died away a rumbling sound came up from the ground below. Emily cocked her head to one side and listened.
"Avrusi, go and check on the prisoners working on the east side," said one, "I'm going down to Brodir Grove to see if I can expand our workforce."
"Why is it you always get that priviledge, Ulynna, is it not time I got the chance to spread our great lord's influence?" another voice asked.
"Quit your complaining or Veloroth will have you cleaning out the gibbets again," said the first, "Do you really want-?" The voice abruptly halted in its rebuke. Then they saw them exiting from a lower level. They had halted in their approach, flames leaping from their palms, their masks stony and impassive. Without waiting for another word Emily and Serana readied their wards while Lydia and Frea charged into the fray, dodging flames and lightning as they met their new foes. A blow from Lydia sent the first crumpling to the ground and she and Frea rounded on the second. She, too, fell a moment later, an icy shard blossoming from her chest.
They followed the gently sloping stone down and down to an iron door. Frea took an unlit torch from her belt and lit it with a few muttered words before pushing the heavy door open and ushering them all inside.
Inside the ruin was dimly lit. Frea led them through the long stone tunnel, past smaller antechambers which looked to have once been conference rooms and supply stores. Frea stopped at one of these chambers to gather a few dusty old restorative potions still lying on the shelves. The temple was in ruins and piles of rubbles lay here and there, forcing them to pick there way over it to progress. The deeper they went, the greater the state of disrepair.
At last the tunnel opened out into a small room. Frea pointed out a pressure plate to them in the centre of the floor and they sidestepped to avoid it. Beyond the room was another tunnel which brought them deeper into the temple. Through various small chambers and side corridors they trekked, avoiding the numerous traps set in place.
"These traps were set in place by Miraak," Frea explained, "When he was last here, he was trying to take power while protecting himself in the process. No doubt his followers have been keeping them maintained now that they have taken up residence."
"So, this place was empty for a long time before that then?" Emily asked.
"Indeed," Frea replied, "You see, the reason I did not believe my father at first was because Miraak lived during the time when dragons ruled Nirn. The temple stood empty from his disappearance until just under a year ago. That's when his followers started to move in."
They came to an iron portcullis and Emily spotted a pull chain off to the right. Upon pulling it the portcullis opened, allowing them through. They found themselves in a vast multileveled chamber. Iron gibbets hung from the ceiling, bones littering the bottom of the cages. Before them was a sacrificial altar where various instruments of torture lay scattered. After inspecting the upper levels they began to make their way down the stairs in the centre. At the bottom of the final set of stairs lay another sacrificial altar. This one was covered in congealed blood that looked as though it had stained the surface for centuries.
"Find them," a voice echoed from further along the hallway. They stopped in their tracks and at the far end of the corridor ahead where it sloped downwards she saw the searching lights of at least three mages. Emily took a step back and her gaze fell upon a lantern hanging above the corridor. She took her bow from her back and nocked an arrow. As the three cultists crowded into the corridor she loosed her arrow. At the same time as it sang from her bow one of the cultists loosed a bolt of fire which surged toward them. Emily cast her bow to one side, hurriedly conjuring a ward. The lantern fell from the ceiling and crashed down upon the cultists, exploding on impact and in the same instance the firebolt struck the unprepared ward. It shattered and Emily was thrown back against the wall from the force of the blast. She coughed out the dust of the old temple as it settled around her and looked dazedly along the corridor where the cultists had once stood.
"Are you alright?" Serana asked as she knelt down next to her.
"I think so," Emily replied, putting a hand to her head where there was an egg-sized bump.
"Maybe get someone to cover you next time you want to pull a stunt like that," she said fondly before helping Emily to her feet.
Down the steps the cultists had come up by they went and this brought them to the temple catacombs.
"You think his past followers were buried here?" Emily asked as she looked around at the crumbling alcoves where the dead rested.
"Either that or these are the bodies of those he deemed to be traitors," Frea replied, "Forced to serve him in death as punishment for their treachery. From what I've read about him that doesn't sound hard to believe."
The catacombs were in an even worse state of repair and whole sections had fallen in, victims of subsidence and the ages. Several times they feared they had come to an impassible area and it was only when they spotted a path half hidden in the gloom of the shadows that they were able to continue on.
At the far end of the catacombs they came to a long corridor. It resembled, in architecture, the hall of stories they had seen in Bleak Falls Barrow but unlike the barrow it was home to innumerable traps. Axes swung out across the tunnel from their recesses and at the far end of the room stood an iron portcullis blocking their way. A lever at the side of the door seemed the likeliest candidate for allowing them passage.
"Damn," said Emily, "Mission Impossible hasn't got anything on this."
"I'll take this one, Em," said Serana, "You just look after that head of yours."
"And you just be careful of yours," said Emily, eyeing the swinging blades. She watched as Serana ran towards the swinging axes, one moment darting forward and the next standing her ground, waiting for an opening. From side to side she ran and at the last axe she dropped and rolled, fetching up next to the lever. She pulled it and with a grin of triumph aimed at her companion, she saw the axes cease their swinging and the portcullis at her side grind open. Emily, Lydia and Frea joined her at the open portcullis and they continued on.
Each new room they came to came with its own puzzles to solve and its own enemies to fight. They faced cultists of Miraak and draugr in equal measure. Emily wondered at how deep below Nirn's surface they must be by now and why any temple had to be so truly massive. At last they came to a section that Frea reckoned to be the temple's inner sanctum. Beyond the doors they were met by a gruesome sight. Before them lay a long stone walkway, surrounded on all sides by metal bars. Skewered on these bars were skeletons in various grotesque poses. Some had the bars thrust between their open jaws while others looked as though their arms and legs had been skewered onto the them. Not wishing to hang around they hurried onward from the grisly spectacle.
Beyond this point the ruins became a mixture between the traditional Nordic architecture and natural caverns. Water could be heard dripping in the darkest recesses and braziers burned dully on the platforms. Emily stopped as a faint sound reached her ears.
"Do you hear that?" she asked of her companions. They all shook their heads. As they went deeper she recognized the sound. It was the chanting that accompanied a word wall. They found the source in the next room. There was a word wall surrounded by iron sarcophagi.
"I wonder what kind of word would be hidden down here," Lydia mused.
"Word?" said Frea, looking at the vampiress and the housecarl.
"My companion here can use these word walls to learn words of power and unlock their meaning," Serana explained.
"Do you mean to say she's-?" asked Frea. Serana nodded.
Emily strode up to the word wall and stood before it. She felt the meaning flow from the wall to her and for a moment she felt as though she heard a distant roar. It grew in intensity until it shook the room around them. Small rocks fell from the ceiling. A small pebble landed on the top of her head and she looked up. It was then she realised it was not a roar but a rumble and as it began to recede several of the sarcophagi fell open. Some of the draugr fell prone to the stone, unmoving, while others stepped forth, wielding ancient Nordic weaponry. Their leader was a hulking great draugr who stepped from the centremost sarcophagus. She wielded a battleaxe and wore a tall horned helmet. The four adventurers threw themselves into the fray. All in all there were five of them. Emily and Serana tackled the leader and one who was evidently her second-in-command while Frea and Lydia turned on two of the others. The fifth draugr hung back, loosing icy spikes from its palms, turning the field of battle to chaos.
Emily dodged to one side as the draugr deathlord brought down her battleaxe, missing her by mere inches. She rolled and brought up her dagger to meet with the draugr, tearing a gash across undead flesh. Serana parried the blow of the second and loosed a bolt of lightning which rippled across the raddled armour. The draugr recoiled with a snarl and Serana took the opportunity to plunge her dagger into his neck. The light died in his eyes and he fell forward onto the stonework. Serana rushed to help Lydia and Frea as Lydia ran another of the draugr through with her greatsword. As the combined efforts of Frea, Lydia and Serana brought down the lesser draugr, Emily closed with their leader.
ZUN HAAL VIIK
The blue energy ripped the battleaxe from the draugr's grasp. It skittered into the dark and Emily seized the chance to drive her dagger home. The draugr general collapsed to the stonework, the blue light in her eyes fading and dying.
For a moment they stood, looking down at the prone forms. Emily stooped and picked up a key from the ground next to the fallen general. They soon found that the key fit the door revealed when the ancient Nordic general stepped from her sarcophagus.
Through two sets of iron doors they went until they came to a large room. Here they were confronted by grotesque stone statues leaning out from the walls. They had large bug eyes and a mouth full of jagged teeth.
"What are those things?" Emily asked.
"Lurkers," Serana replied, "They're Hermaeus Mora's minions. They serve him in his realm of Oblivion, acting as his military forces."
"I hope we don't meet any of them down here," said Emily.
"Unlikely," Serana replied, "They don't often leave Apocrypha, his realm of Oblivion."
For a time they wandered around in circles. There seemed to be no way forward.
"There has to be a secret passageway around here somewhere," said Frea, "I can't believe this could possibly be all those cultists and draugr were guarding." The main area looked to be a dining area of sorts while the back rooms looked to have been used as a kitchen and for storage. If these rooms and this temple as a whole were anything to go by, Emily surmised that Miraak's army of followers must have once been massive.
At last Frea found what they were looking for, a small pull handle set into one of the alcoves overlooking the dining room. When pulled this opened a concealed tunnel which they made for, trekking along the cramped tunnel. Here and there the stone was held up by wooden beams. The weight of the stone pressing down on them made them uneasy and so they were glad when the tunnel opened out onto a small chamber with an iron grid at its heart. Through this they could see the floor below.
"How much deeper do you think we have to go?" Emily asked Lydia.
"We must be deeper than even most of the ancient Dwemer cities go by now, my Thane," Lydia replied.
In the adjoining room they found another grating. This one could be opened by use of a pull switch and allowed them to make their way down yet again. And still further the stairs and corridors led them down, fires burning in the braziers at the base of the spiral stairs. They passed several shaped into the forms of lurkers, the flames burning in their open mouths.
They came to what looked to be a dead end but a pullchain caused the once inert stone to move downwards, exposing another set of stairs. Emily felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle as they took their first steps down that forbidding stairway. Something lay ahead. She wasn't sure what but it filled her with a deep sense of unease. She felt Serana's hand take hers and her grip told her she felt something similar.
Beyond the stairs they came to a large chamber decorated with the bones of dragons arranged into intricate shapes. From what little Emily had gleaned about dragon's and the worship surrounding them in days gone by this act would have been seen by the dragon cult as one of the utmost blasphemy. The chamber was choked with freshly stirred dust and Emily pulled the fabric of her hooded jacket up around her nose and mouth.
At the far end lay a pull chain which revealed a hidden passageway. This stone tunnel was longer than any of the others previous and brought them still deeper. At times it was so steep it was all they could do to stop themselves from skidding down to its end.
At last it did come to an end and what lay before them looked like some kind of ceremonial reading room. A black book lay on a pedestal. It was thicker than any book Emily had ever seen and at the sight of it that prickling sensation on the back of her neck returned. She rubbed absentmindedly at her neck as the four of them looked upon the book.
"Is that it?" asked Lydia, "An old book."
"That's no ordinary book," Frea replied, "I'm not familiar with the power it holds but it is great. Greater than all of us put together." Lydia folded her arms sceptically but said no more.
"It's not of this plane," said Serana.
"What should we do?" Emily asked, meeting Serana's gaze.
"I don't know," she replied, "But whatever we do, we should be cautious."
Emily took a hesitant step forward. The fire flickered on the wispy looking meshwork that made up much of the walls and floor. It flickered on the slick black surface of the book, glistening like wet ink. Serana looked like she wanted to draw her back but seemed unable to move. Frea and Lydia, likewise were frozen.
"Should we open it?" Emily asked, looking over her shoulder.
"It may be the only way of discovering if this is truly the source of Miraak's power," said Frea. Emily gulped and turned back to the book. Slowly, hesitantly, she reached forward. Her fingers grazed the surface of the book's cover. Though it glistened like it was wet the book was as dry as any of mortal make. But unlike mortal books this one pulsed with energy though it did not actually moved. It was something that could be felt more than seen. She pulled back the cover, shielding her gaze from whatever she expected to ooze forth. Cautiously she peered over the arm shielding her. The book lay inert on the table as might be expected of any book. But then green light spilled forth. Emily watched, transfixed, as the book levitated above the lectern on which it had been placed. She did not seem to have the presence of mind to run. All thoughts were numbed by the green light filling her eyes and ears. Then slick black shapes emerged. They wound and writhed in the air like the hypnotizing dance of the snake. Then they wrapped themselves around Emily, around her arms, draping across her shoulders and around her waist. Only then did she get the urge to run but by then it was too late. Her vision went black and she felt as though she was falling through a sticky black void. The world around her bubbled and oozed.
She felt her feet touch solid ground and the oozing mass around her begin to recede. But still she could not see.
"Welcome, mortal," said a slow oozing voice she recognized. Slowly her vision cleared and she found herself standing on a floating island high above a sea of swirling blackness. The sky above her was dominated by a colossal tower-like structure which looked like it was built from black slabs. Beyond it the sky itself was a sickly green, swirling with wispy vapours culminating in black voids from which slick black tentacles stretched. Hovering before her was the bilious black form of Hermaeus Mora, eyes blossoming on every inch of his countenance and tentacles swaying around him slowly and ponderously.
"Hermaeus Mora," Emily replied.
"My follower's children found you, just as I said they would," oozed the Daedric Prince of Fate, "And now you are here, at the seat of Miraak's power."
"Why have you brought me here?" Emily asked.
"I?" said Hermaeus Mora, "You are mistaken Dragonborn. It was not I who brought you here. You did that when you opened my book."
"I didn't know it would bring me here," Emily protested.
"It alone did not," Hermaeus Mora responded, "You wanted answers. You wanted to know more of Miraak. So your wish to learn brought you here."
"How do I get back?" Emily asked, looking around.
"All in good time, immortal," Hermaeus Mora bubbled, "All in good time. You have come this far, your journey has brought you here to my realm so I believe it is fitting you should be given another hint, another clue in your search for Miraak." Emily waited as another eye blossomed, regarding her before disappearing.
"He has travelled far, to a place beyond even my far reaching grasp, familiar to you but not to your friends," Hermaeus Mora continued. Here his voice changed from its usual calm oozing to an angry bubbling, "I want you to go there and I want you to destroy him. He seeks to return to Tamriel by means of this place as a waypoint. He has grown treacherous. I want him crushed, disintegrated." Emily gulped.
"Will you go there and complete this task in my name, mortal?" asked the demon of fate.
"How can I if I don't even know what it's called?" Emily asked.
"You will in time, immortal, simply heed my words and you will know in time," said Hermaeus Mora, "My seekers, come, send the Dragonborn back to her realm."
Then the air around Emily shook and Emily felt the presence of several creatures on all sides. Although she could not see them she felt their warm breath on her. Then all turned a sickly green as she was buffeted on all sides. This green turned to white and she found herself rising up from the ground. She closed her eyes, shielding her face with her arms but the white light persisted. It cleared only when her boots touched solid ground and she slowly opened her eyes. She stood frozen for a moment, looking at her friends who stared back at her as though she were a ghost. Slowly she brought her arms back down by her sides. Serana was the first to move.
"What happened?" she asked, "You vanished when that book started to glow. I knew it was evil. I knew."
"It took me to Oblivion, to Aprocrypha," Emily said hoarsely, "It must have. Hermaeus Mora was there." Frea clapped a hand to her mouth, her eyes widening.
"He told me Miraak had gone beyond his reach," she said, trying to remember all he had said, "He wants me to destroy him. He means to return to Tamriel from where he is, using it as a waypoint."
"This is grave news indeed," said Frea, "We need to talk to my father. He's still at the village, helping protect those who remain unaffected by Miraak's control. Come on, we haven't much time." Then she hurried on ahead through another tunnel which led away from the reading room. Lydia followed her, carrying a torch.
"Sera, he asked me to serve him," she said, "I didn't say yes but I didn't say no. I was afraid if I refused he wouldn't send me back. But Sera, I don't want to serve him, I don't."
Serana put her arms around her as she shuddered.
"Nothing on Nirn can make you," she said, pushing a strand of hair from her face, "Not him, not anyone if you truly don't want to. We'll get through this, together, I promise."