Without any good and safe ideas on how to mess with Ulfric and the spy, Bishop and Aeyrin set off on their journey towards Sky Haven Temple, hoping that Esbern would have some more answers for them.
Their travels were, fortunately, uneventful and they made their way to the Reach in only a little over three days. Yet as calm as the journey was, there was still that nagging feeling after the Brotherhood incident. They weren't safe anywhere. Not even on the road. Camping in the wilderness had suddenly become much more uncomfortable and filled with wake-up calls from every rustle of leaves and every night-time critter. They had to find something to make them feel at least a little more secure through the nights, even if it was unlikely that the Brotherhood would find Bishop again in the vastness of the Skyrim wilds, they needed to take precautions whenever they could. Karnwyr stayed with them in the darkness, but even his senses and alertness could be fooled by someone skilled and knowing enough.
They didn't even stop in any settlement and they headed straight towards the Temple once they entered the Reach's borders. To compensate for the boring watches he had to keep through the nights, they left Karnwyr outside to enjoy the wilderness to the fullest before they made their way into the cavern by the Karth River. Luckily, no other Forsworn clan had decided to make camp in the area. Maybe the Blades have been keeping them at bay.
Just as they entered the Temple proper, they were greeted by Delphine. Their steps must have carried through the stone walls – she had been there with her weapon drawn instantly, but when she noticed that it was them, she sheathed her sword with a relieved sigh.
"Ah. It's you… two," she scowled a bit when her eyes landed on Bishop. "We weren't expecting you. And I didn't think I'd see the both of you here. Erik mentioned that you two aren't… traveling together anymore," she scoffed.
Bishop only rolled his eyes at her in response. Yeah she'd like that. As if she wasn't all too eager to use his skills when she needed to despite the constant disparaging remarks and scowls. But… what was she actually talking about?
"'Erik'?" his confused expression turned towards Aeyrin. He had no idea what this was about.
"You remember him. He was that young adventurer from Rorikstead. He helped me kill a dragon once, with the caravans. And I… mentioned the Blades to him," Aeyrin beamed. Bishop did remember that guy. He had guts, even when he could barely swing his weapon. Hopefully Delphine's attitude wouldn't sour him on that enthusiasm. He did have the potential and drive to become a very capable fighter.
"He is quite… eager," Delphine smirked. "A promising recruit, I will give you that."
"You're welcome," Aeyrin retorted dryly. That was Delphine's gratitude alright.
"I… I am grateful. He is a good and adventurous young man. He fits in well," Delphine let out a brief sigh of resignation at Aeyrin's scowl.
"You have more of them?" Bishop raised his brow at her with curiosity. He did not expect that paranoid shut-in to actually start recruiting as she had planned.
"Yes. Four more. Some of my contacts and allies have agreed to join us fully. There are currently seven of us here," Delphine nodded. That wasn't half bad. Granted, they could use a whole army, but… it was something.
"Aeyrin!" a familiar voice echoed through the Temple suddenly, interrupting them. They all turned their heads instantly towards the excited young Nord who was already running towards them with eagerness.
He was dressed in full armor – the same set that Delphine was wearing. It looked oddly… outlandish. It was dark-grey and laced with golden engravings. The plates were ordered into thin stripes and placed one after another around the abdomen below the chest piece.
His armor clanked loudly against Aeyrin's when he enveloped her in a hug, but he quickly stepped away and a wry smile decorated his face instead.
"Sorry… I got excited," Erik chuckled. "It's good to see you too, Bishop," he nodded at him, earning a light smirk in return. "This place is just… amazing. I can't thank you enough! We've been studying dragons. We learn about their weaknesses, their attacks… or Shouts, I guess. We have been learning about their bones and scales and how they can be harvested to reinforce our armor and weapons. We're even scouting the wilderness and pinpointing their lairs."
That was useful. And impressive. Neither Bishop nor Aeyrin could really imagine what the Blades would be doing with the recruits, but this sounded really promising. With their research, it would be much easier to hunt down the dragons. And they could even help with fighting them.
But none of that mattered until they got rid of the beast that had been resurrecting them in the first place.
"I'm staying here, mostly. When I'm not scouting. But… I can still go back home often to see father," Erik smiled with palpable warmth in his expression.
Aeyrin returned his excited smile readily. She used to worry a little that she had sent this young adventurer to his eternal boredom. She really didn't know what the Blades would do aside from deciphering the wall. It was heartwarming to see him so happy.
"Those lizards do not seem so scary, all of the sudden," Erik chuckled. "I can't wait to kill another one!"
"That would be your third, huh? You're catching up," Bishop smirked at him.
"Hardly!" Erik laughed. "I wouldn't have killed either without you two… or… just Aeyrin…" he got nervous as he said the last part, but luckily, it didn't seem like he was waiting for an explanation on why he hadn't seen the two of them together the last time. Back then, Aeyrin had told him that she didn't know where Bishop was. That could have meant any number of things, but her forlorn expression must have given a lot away at that time.
"S-so… what brings you two here?" he stuttered a little to change the subject.
"We're here to talk to Esbern," Aeyrin smiled.
"Oh, good. He needs some human contact. He's been staring at that wall for months," Erik laughed heartily.
"Come on. The old man wanted to see you too," Delphine smirked before she ushered them further into the Temple towards the wall.
Esbern was crouched by the familiar wall, surrounded by tomes and papers all around him on the ground. There were some parchments with sketches too and on the large stone dining table nearby, there was an area there, away from the food and dishes, that seemed to be reserved for more of his research material.
"Esbern?" Aeyrin interrupted his studies.
He almost jumped up when he startled at the sound, but his scowl of concentration was instantly replaced by a warm smile.
"Dragonborn. I am so glad you are here." He slowly pulled himself up from his crouch as the crackle of his old joints echoed slightly through the hall. "Welcome back, you two," he smiled again to acknowledge Bishop's presence as well. "Did Delphine finally send for you?" he threw a contemplative look towards the woman standing nearby.
"What? Was she supposed to?" Aeyrin threw Delphine a questioning look.
"No. Esbern wanted me to, but we have no immediately useful information yet. We have agreed that it was too soon. We needed more research," Delphine scowled.
Aeyrin and Bishop weren't that busy. They could have stopped by earlier if Esbern had deciphered something at least. Delphine could have at least let them know that there was progress before making that decision for all of them.
With a scowl, Aeyrin turned back towards Esbern. There was probably no point in arguing with Delphine again.
"Yes… well… since you are here, I can tell you what I have learnt," Esbern matched her scowl, but his face turned back into excitement only a second later. "I have managed to decipher some parts of the wall. Some significant ones too. Come, take a look."
Esbern urged them to approach the wall. The tiny engravings were just as difficult to make sense of as they have ever been, but Esbern started to point out some of the images and interpret them.
There was a lot of talk about the dragons' reign and the war. It was all just history – and a very detailed history at that.
Esbern spun tales of war and rebellion, of enslavement and death. He was a good storyteller, but Bishop and Aeyrin were more eager to get to the present. He had already been rambling for at least fifteen minutes.
"Hey, how about you skip to the relevant parts for now?" Bishop chuckled at him a little. They had things to discuss with him too, but first, it would have been good to know whether Bishop's findings about the Scroll were even a little useful.
"But it is all relevant, my friend!" Esbern clasped his hands together. "The history is important. We need to know how it came to be so that we don't repeat the mistakes of the past. We need to know what is in store for us should we fail. We need to see all of it to know what we are fighting for."
It was a nice speech and an undoubtedly true one, but it was still a little… much.
But there was no stopping him, apparently. With resigned sighs, they settled themselves on the ground by the wall, determined to listen to Esbern's recountings.
…
"And here. Now we get to the important part. The final battle," Esbern's eyes gleamed with excitement.
Aeyrin and Bishop quickly sprung up from the ground and approached the wall closely. He had been at it for at least an hour! Or it felt like it at least… Delphine had already left long ago and so did Erik. They went towards the back garden perched atop a cliff to train with weapons. That sounded so tempting just then. But now, hopefully, Bishop and Aeyrin were finally getting somewhere with Esbern.
"See this? This is the part that we have talked about already – the Shout. It is portrayed here and here and here," the old man systematically pointed towards three tiny images. "Notice how the depiction of Alduin gets larger and larger in each image, as if he was coming closer. That was my first impression, but then… see here? This one looks as if he is not flying any longer. The Shout has brought him down."
"So… got him to the ground or… killed him?" Bishop wondered. Paarthurnax said that the Shout had crippled Alduin and 'took away from his flight' in the final battle ages ago. That would suggest the first option, unfortunately, but maybe Paarthurnax was wrong.
"That part is not clear. It would certainly be helpful to know. In either case, we do need that Shout. I… I don't suppose that you have learnt anything about it from the Greybeards? You letter regarding Erik didn't mention anything about it, so I assumed that you had no luck?" Esbern looked at Aeyrin almost hopefully.
"Well… not really. We have learnt that the Shout was made by men, not by learning from the dragons. That's why the Greybeards don't know it. They… consider it… tainted, I guess. But they did say that it 'crippled' Alduin. That it 'took away from his flight'. I guess that it didn't kill him then," Aeyrin sighed. She refrained from mentioning Paarthurnax for now. There was no need to bring him into this, not when she had no idea how Esbern would react to them taking advice from a dragon.
"That is unfortunate, but it would explain this engraving right here. These are men writing words of power in tomes… it could be a depiction of the process of inventing the Shout," Esbern pointed towards a different part of the wall entirely.
"Are the symbols there?" Aeyrin looked at the picture eagerly. There didn't seem to be any actual dragon symbols there, only vague carvings that resembled some. It was all too small to be seen properly.
"Your eyes are probably better than mine," Esbern sighed. "As you can see, there is no way to decipher those symbols."
"Alright… get back to the final battle then. What have you learnt?" Bishop urged him to continue. Hopefully the old man would not go back to the other parts of the wall again.
"Right. The battle. See here? The Shout is used and the dragon is down, in whichever way. And now here – this depicts a man reading from a scroll. At first, I assumed that he was casting a spell from a scroll to battle the beast, but… there are no other depictions of this anywhere. The same figure is portrayed casting magic here and there, but never a scroll. So… I assume that this particular scroll had some significance here. And I had a thought. Perhaps it could be an…"
"An Elder Scroll," Aeyrin finished the sentence for him. So the Scrolls were involved somehow. She just didn't understand in what way. Paarthurnax had said that Alduin was sent adrift into the currents of time by using the Scroll. He was only crippled by the Shout. The images would make sense, but… the whole part about using the Scroll was not. Paarthurnax had said that they needed to learn more from the battle. But how? What more could they learn? This didn't really help them. They had no idea how to use that Scroll, if it came to that.
"Yes! Yes! Precisely!" Esbern beamed. "How did you know?!" he gaped at her in surprise.
"Well… one of the Greybeards told us that Alduin wasn't defeated. That he was… 'cast adrift on the currents of time' by the use of an Elder Scroll. He said that Alduin was bound to emerge. And… it looks like he did. Now," Aeyrin shook her head regretfully.
"But that is amazing! It explains so much! It explains the prophecy of his return. And it explains the use of the Scroll!" Esbern gasped. He peered at the wall again for some time, before he turned to them with a serious expression. "I had an idea," he nodded with determination. "While we do not know how this feat was achieved or whether it would be wise to attempt it again, we know one thing. The final battle holds the secrets of the act, as well as the Shout. We need to know both of these. We need to see that battle."
"You wanna travel back in time?" Bishop scoffed at him.
"Yes! Exactly! Now you get it!" Esbern beamed at him, eliciting a shocked stare from Bishop and Aeyrin both. Bishop certainly wasn't serious with that remark, but Esbern acted as if they were on the same wavelength here.
"What?! How?" Aeyrin gaped at him.
"Don't you see? The Elder Scroll! Any Elder Scroll. They manipulate time itself. They recount history and future alike. If one was read at the place of the final battle, at the Throat of the World, it could show you the battle itself."
"Wait what? An Elder Scroll can do that?!" Bishop stared at him, still in shock.
"Yes. This is why they are studied, among other things. The Priests gaze into the Scrolls, take them to places of significant history and see it unfold. They take them around the world, into palaces and battlefields, to see the future of the realms. That is how this prophecy of the Last Dragonborn came to be known. The Moth Priests have seen the past of the Brass Tower, of the Red Mountain and the White-Gold Tower. Or… perhaps they have seen their future. I am not clear on when this prophecy came to be written. Time is a… funny concept when one studies the Scrolls," Esbern chuckled lightly.
"So… we need a Moth Priest and an Elder Scroll to see the battle at the Throat of the World?" Aeyrin looked at him hopefully. That actually sounded like a real plan.
"Well… I am uncertain whether having someone else read the Scroll would work. You are the one who needs to learn the Words of Power," Esbern gave Aeyrin a slightly concerned expression.
"Fuck no!" Bishop retorted instead. "We know what the Scrolls do. It will fucking blind her at best. It could kill her or drive her insane. That's not fucking happening!"
"Yes… I… I am aware of this," Esbern sighed. "Perhaps we will find another way. I can contact the Moth Priests discreetly and see if they have any other ideas that could help us. But… it is all in vain unless we actually have an Elder Scroll. And… if you've been studying them, you know that they are all lost and scattered," he sighed again, now much more forlornly.
"So any Scroll will do?" Bishop gave him a meaningful look.
"Yes. I believe so. Their time-altering properties are innate to all of them. I have no idea whether a specific one has been used in the final battle, but that information could be learnt from any Scroll. But the problem still remains," Esbern sighed forlornly yet again.
"Actually… Bishop?" Aeyrin nudged him a little, urging him to explain.
"Yeah… I have been studying the Scrolls," he smirked a little.
"You have?" Esbern raised his brows in surprise. "That is excellent, my friend. You show quite the inquisitive mind," he beamed.
"You wanna tell him how you did it?" Aeyrin chuckled quietly, mostly to herself.
"Well… I may have learnt about the location of one," Bishop nodded.
Esbern's eyes went wide instantly and his arms fell limply to his sides in shock. He looked at Bishop with intensity which they haven't seen in him even when he was recounting history to them.
"There's this… guy. An old hermit. He's supposed to be an expert on them. He told me that there is a Scroll in… a place called Blackreach."
"Blackreach? Yes! The legendary Dwemer underground complex! That is amazing news!" Esbern beamed.
"Well… he was kinda insane… so… who knows? But… Blackreach is supposed to be… locked. And we need to get a… key. The key is kind of locked in ice and it needs…" Bishop sighed. He always sounded insane when he was explaining this.
"Let me start again."
…
After Bishop's somewhat confusing explanation, Esbern nodded thoughtfully.
To his credit, the old man did seem to be catching on somewhat easily.
"The mysteries of Mundus are varied indeed," Esbern sighed wistfully. "But this is our one lead now. This is something that we could pursue. The goal is clear. Fill this… contraption and unlock the key to Blackreach. Then you can retrieve the Scroll."
"Right. It was our only lead, but we wanted to check in with you, in case… in case that it would be pointless," Aeyrin smiled wryly.
"And I am happy to say that I believe that it is not. You will undergo this then? You will attempt to access Blackreach?" Esbern beamed at them hopefully.
"Of course we will, Esbern. We have no other leads anyway," Aeyrin chuckled. Esbern still seemed beyond ecstatic at this development.
"Excellent. I will contact the Priests in Cyrodiil in the meantime and find out just how we can have you see the battle without risking your life and health," he gave her a reassuring smile.
"Yeah… and while we're at it," Bishop nudged his head to the side towards a tall stone wall in the back of the hall by the staircases leading outside towards the courtyard – there, at the ground, was an enchanting table. "Any chance that you can use that thing? We don't really know how else to trap people's souls."
"Ah. Alas, I do not. That table is here as a hopeful reminder that we could use more mages in the Blades," Esbern chuckled. "My specializations were conjuration and destruction magics, I'm afraid. But… you do have access to the College of Winterhold, do you not?"
"That we do. We can head over there tomorrow," Aeyrin smiled. This felt good – a solid and doable plan. It made her feel much more at ease. But there was still a query that had been plaguing her ever since their encounter with Alduin.
"I… I have a question, Esbern. We… we ran into Alduin on our travels and we… battled, kind of," she shook her head with the memory of their dismal defeat.
"You have? And… well… you survived. What happened?" Esbern gaped at her.
"We managed to hide in a cave where he couldn't get to us. But, Esbern, he was unstoppable. My Shouts didn't even affect him and I don't know why. I can slow down time now and he… while the time slowed the weather and magic, it didn't slow him. We couldn't harm him at all and he's decimated the road where we fought," she sighed somberly.
"Ah… I… I am glad that you have managed to escape him, my friends," Esbern gave them a sympathetic look. "I have no explanations on the lack of effects of your Shouts on him, unfortunately, but I can attempt to find out more."
"But… he can do all that," Aeyrin continued. "He leveled Helgen in less than an hour. Why… why doesn't he do that? Why doesn't he just wipe down cities and settlements?" she gave him a desperate questioning look.
"Because, right now, you are alone," Esbern nodded at her knowingly. "He was defeated the last time and now he is cautious. There are no armies against him, no nation united to figure out a way to bring him down. The Nords war amongst themselves and it leaves him the time to resurrect all his brethren, time for them to grow strong by picking off lone travelers and having him feed off their souls. I have no doubt that he is planning to strike eventually, but dragons are eternal creatures. He is nothing if not patient. And as far as he knows, the only thorn in his side is you. And fortunately for us, he barely considers you worth his notice. He could have waited for you to leave your hiding, but he did not, I assume, since you are here right now. It leaves us time to do the same as he does," he gave Aeyrin a reassuring smile.
"But… if he's biding his time, why attack Helgen?" Aeyrin looked at him in confusion. Alduin had risked so much, revealing himself as he did.
Esbern pondered the question for a while before he spoke again: "My theory? He did that to save Ulfric Stormcloak from the headsman's axe."
"What?!" Aeyrin gaped at him in shock. What did Ulfric have to do with this? "But… they aren't allies!"
"No, but if Ulfric was killed, it may have just ended the civil war," Esbern gave her a meaningful look.
"The fuck does Alduin care about a civil war?" Bishop piped up. None of this made sense to him.
"Alduin feeds off souls of the departed," Esbern explained. "And war creates souls. Scores of them. It is as the prophecy says: 'when the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding'. Alduin wants to fulfill this prophecy because he believes that it speaks of his victory. He needs the war, he needs the death to grow in power and he needs Skyrim to bleed."
That was certainly concerning. When would the war kill enough for Alduin to get the power that he wanted? And those fools from the rebellion and the Empire were only making him stronger.
"Take heart, my friends. Alduin could be feeding from Skyrim for a long time yet. It could be centuries, they mean nothing to him. But… that gives us an opportunity," Esbern smiled.
"We have one weapon against the World-Eater. One thing that even an eternal being cannot evade forever. Time."
…
Esbern had excitedly recounted their current plan to the rest of the Blades during dinner. Delphine and the recruits have been hanging on his every word.
It was surprising how much that plan had lifted the spirits even more for those excited warriors. Even Delphine looked content.
And for Bishop and Aeyrin, it was comforting to have a tangible plan that they could execute.
They have retreated into the sleeping area right after to get some proper rest before their journey.
Their destination was clear now – they needed the soul trapping enchantment to capture the souls of mer, along with their blood. They would feed Septimus's contraption and help him uncover his… 'heart', whatever that meant, and, more importantly, the key to Blackreach.
After that, it was only a matter of making their way through another Dwemer city and then to explore the large complex of Blackreach to the fullest.
There they would hopefully locate the Elder Scroll.
Easy, right?