Jul

Lucius

I could tell, as soon as Serana and I began to approach Ruunvald, that something was wrong. Vigilants of Stendarr were there, talking, happily conversing, though they all seemed... off. The Vigilants weren't exactly known for their sunny dispositions, true, but neither were they visibly hostile to anyone that was not running around worshiping Daedra or drinking blood. These Vigilants looked like they wanted to tear my throat out just for being there.

"What is it you want, Outsider?" a gruff, Norse voice asked as I neared the entrance of the ruins. I was cut off by a broad, armored shoulder. I glanced down, though only just, at the Nord man glaring into my eyes. "The Fane is under our guard until we have cleansed it of the undead."

I smiled disarmingly. "I mean no harm. I was sent here with a similar intent, though on a much larger scale."

The man grunted, "What?"

"There's someone here, and we need his help. We'd be glad to aid you in clearing the ruins if it means we can talk to him," Serana replied. She glanced up but was careful to keep her eyes covered by her hood. I inwardly laughed as it occurred to me just how opposite her actual personality Serana was around other mortals. She was proud, powerful, and sarcastic but forced to constantly look at the ground and give off the air, whether by design or accident, of a timid girl.

The man let his arm fall and smiled wide. "Of course, any help would be greatly appreciated!" he said, his teeth shining in the sun. He placed his hand on my shoulder, a stiff and inexact movement. It didn't feel right, none of it felt right. It felt like... "Who is it you're looking for?"

"Florentius Baenius," I replied. The man's eyes shifted to a dark rage. It was only for a moment, but it was more than long enough for me. Dawnbreaker hissed with warning at my side, and I drew the Magickal blade. I quickly jumped towards the tomb, putting distance between the man and me.

"What is the meaning of this?" the man asked, his hand drifting towards the greatsword on his back. I motioned for Serana to come towards me and she practically disappeared. The Nord Vigilant fell to his knees as Serana clipped his achilles tendons and appeared next to me.

"You aren't friends, I can tell that much," I snarled as the squad of Vigilants – around four other than the man screaming in pain at our feet – guarding the exterior of Ruunvald converged on Serana and me. I ducked under the first incoming blow and lifted the incoming fake over my shoulders, using the momentum to toss him into the stone wall behind me face first.

"You either get a warm reception," Serana shouted above the fray of battle as she deflected an ax blade and fired an ice spike into the skull of the one assaulting her, "or one where everyone tries to murder you!"

"I'm a polarizing figure," I responded before deftly grabbing the wrist of the last of the enemy and slamming my forehead into his temple. He dropped his sword and screamed in pain, clutching at his head. I quickly separated the man's head from his shoulders.

"Took you long enough," Serana said as the corpse hit the ground. She was already standing above the two bodies of her enemies.

I shook my head, invoking Talos inwardly for the souls of the recently departed. "I suppose I'm getting slow," I responded. Then I turned to the man screaming on the ground. I waved my hand, casting a healing spell and fixing his feet. "Now you are going to tell me what you are actually doing here."

The man screamed and drew his greatsword. He did not try to stand from his position kneeling on the ground, instead swinging his long blade at my legs. "For the Mistress!" he screamed as the sword came at me. I sighed and lowered Dawnbreaker, edge first. The Magickal weapon caused the simple iron of the warrior's blade to shatter against the superior worksmanship of a god. The Vigilant screamed in rage and quickly turned the jagged remains of his weapon on himself.

"NO!" I screamed, rushing forward to stop him. But it was too late. The remains of his greatsword plunged through his throat, causing a cascading fountain of blood to ooze onto the ground around his twitching body. I lowered my arm, stretched towards him, to my side and trembled in anger.

Serana and I were quiet. "What was that all about?" I finally asked. Serana frowned and didn't respond, instead crouching down towards the man. She reached out with one hand to touch the pool of blood and placed a droplet on her tongue; her face scrunched up in disgust and she spat the blood back onto the ground. By disgust, I don't mean "smelled a rotting corpse" disgust, I mean "expected really good mead and was given moonshine from the Ragged Flagon" disgust.

"This isn't good," she said, standing up and turning worriedly back towards the crypt. She nudged the dead man with her foot. "He was a thrall. They all were."

I growled and Dawnbreaker seemed to seethe with rage in my fist. "So they're slaves..." I snarled, drawing a look of alarm from Serana. "I don't know who is in there, but they are going to pay for treating anyone like this..."

Fahiil

Thera

Dead. All of them were dead. Truth be told, it was all rather disappointing. I had been hopeful that I would be given a chance to gauge my power once again upon the weaklings of the Dawnguard when I saw one of their corpses near a Vampire's on the road from Dragon's Bridge. It would seem someone kidnapped the Moth Priest, just as Harkon had ordered. Though the Dawnguard likely exterminated those that did if they had been this close to the fools.

And yet, every corpse I passed was wearing Dawnguard colors. "What could have happened here?" I pondered silently as I stepped over the body of an Orc that had been torn in half, seemingly by some force from within. Another was completely dry, as if exsanguinated. None of Harkon's men had this power, but...

I shuddered as the cold realization hit me. I could only think of one Vampire, save myself, capable of such terrible feats. The Blood Matron herself, it appeared, had found her way onto my path once again. I could not flee, not with this chance to observe her and to steal the Prophet away. Perhaps the Elder Scrolls held some secret to doing away with the woman; if so, I had to find them and I had to end her. She was the greatest threat to my plans...

So, it was incredibly surprising to me that, when I ascended the staircase as silently as my considerable skills could allow me, I was not greeted by the terrifying, god-like force of nature known as the Blood Matron and mother of Vampires. Instead I saw a woman in a cloak, humming manically to herself in high pitched notes as she tossed a skull between her hands. There was a wild, insane jitter to every movement.

I turned my gaze across the entire room, smirking as I realized I was only to be faced by this new player. And even better, the Moth Priest himself was held captive within a huge, swirling cage of Magicka. I was not sure how to free him, but it would be a simple thing to find out once I dealt with... whoever this woman was. I chuckled softly to myself.

Then froze as the woman's voice rang out. "Oh, I was wondering when you'd get here, luv," she said with a laugh, turning towards me with the first smooth motion I had seen. She was a Redguard woman with incredibly attractive features. Her smooth skin was marred by red, crisscrossing burns that crisscrossed her throat. Her manic gaze settled on me as she opened her eyes, twin blood red orbs. She smiled widely, then that quickly turned to a frown. "You aren't who I expected. Hm..."

"And you are not whom I expected," I responded, recognizing that my hopes for a stealthy kill had been dashed. I walked into the firelight and drew my swords, sneering at the human. "What are you doing here?"

The woman sighed. "Well, when I heard that a Moth Priest had been sent here, I knew that he would come for it. Or, at least I thought he would," the woman replied, not even answering my questions. She whined like a child and stomped her foot on the ground. "No, it was only his Dawnguard buddies. The Insects weren't even worth my time." She hugged and crossed her arms over her black robes.

I frowned, disarmed by how... odd this woman seemed. She glanced up at me, bloodthirst in her red eyes. "Your turn..."

I frowned. "I was sent here for the Moth Priest," I responded, not sure what to do with the woman in front of me. There was a dangerous terror in how she moved, unbalanced and energetic like a child, yet with the deadly, fluid grace of a snake. Her fangs flashed menacingly in the fire light. "And to exterminate any Dawnguard I came across."

"Hm... that's not why you were sent here!" the woman replied, giggling. She growled and was suddenly next to me, her hand on my throat. "You're here because you failed. A genetic mistake, worse than the Insects themselves."

I gasped in fear. "Thalmor..."

"Yes... now, why do you, former Lady, smell like Lucius?"

Jul

Lucius

I shivered as we entered the final rooms of the crypt. It was freezing, well below any temperature that would be comfortable, even in Skyrim. And, given my prior experiences with crypts in the province, far below what it should be. My breath frosted in the air before me, a cloud of ice. "Luc..." Serana whispered. She pulled closer to me, checking our backs. She was shivering as well, though she did not feel the cold the same as I did. No, she was shivering out of something else entirely, something far more primordial than mere discomfort. Fear.

"I know," I told her as we continued further.

"... and I told you, Arkay says he is very sorry about that!" a high pitched, though intelligent, voice whined from the next room. I raised a single, Daedric-clawed finger to my lips, earning a dry eye roll from Serana. I lowered it and grinned sheepishly – she obviously knew to be quiet. "What was that? Yes, I'm telling her now! He says that he is fulfilling your wish, there was just no way to do it!"

"Enough with the lies!" a woman screamed in response. Serana gasped in terror as she heard the voice and I turned, surprised. "Ah... it would appear we have visitors. A Vampire and a mortal... though not a Thrall. How interesting. Come in, please."

I furrowed my brow and marched proudly into the room. A beautiful woman, almost my height, stood in the center of the room. She wore a gown of velvet, a bloody red that matched her glowing, evil eyes. Surrounding her were the kneeling forms of almost a half-dozen former Vigilants, all of whom glared at Serana and me with palpable venom. Thralls, forever incapable of free will. Essentially, already dead on the inside, though that made it no less easy. "Interesting... you aren't afraid," the woman said. She glanced past me and smiled. "Though she can't even move."

I turned and felt my eyes widen in surprise. Serana was shivering, clutching at herself. She was hiding behind the edge of the door. "I can't help it," she told me. "I can't go in."

I raised a hand, assuring her it was fine, and turned to the other woman. "What do you want?"

"Me?" she asked. She laughed and gestured at the wooden cage to her right. It was then that I noticed an Imperial man in monk robes sitting and looking rather unamused with the nonsense going on around him. He was in the cage, holding the keys; a glimmer ran across the wood – an enchantment, likely keeping the Vampire and her Thralls out... and the Imperial in. The woman laughed for a moment. "I'm trying to have a conversation with Arkay."

The man in the cage piped up, angry. "A conversation implies that you were listening!" he snapped, drawing an iresome look from the Vampire. He immediately quieted down, trying to hide his terror.

"Hm... it is not often I meet even one who is unfazed by my presence," the Vampire told me, running her eyes up and down my body. It felt like she was stripping me down as she licked her lips.

"Thanks, but, no," I told her. Dawnbreaker hissed at my side... in fear. Worrisome.

"Yes, he's already taken," the priest in the cage said. "What!? By a Vampire!?"

That one surprised me. "So you really do hear Arkay," I mumbled. I turned back to the Vampire woman, who looked down at me with no small amount of annoyance. I glowered at her with as much hate as I could muster – it was a lot. "Let him go. Maybe I'll even kill you quickly."

The woman laughed in derisive amusement, doubling over and holding up a hand as she tried to steady herself. "Oh, you think you can kill me?" she asked, the usual haughtiness of a Vampire in her voice. She sighed as she regained her composure and gestured at my side. "Not even with that, admittedly annoying, toothpick."

I tried not to show my fear as I let my hand drift from Dawnbreaker. For some reason, I couldn't help but believe her. She wasn't even fazed by a weapon designed to exterminate her kind. Dawnbreaker seemed to hiss in relief as I considered not using it. "Who are you?" I asked as I summoned powerful flames to my hands. It felt vain, but I had to do something. Anything. If I couldn't kill her, what could?

"Oh, no," the woman said with a grin simultaneously skin crawling and disarming. "The gentleman always introduces himself first."

I snarled. "I'm the Dragonborn that's going to kill you," I snapped, unleashing a huge explosion of flame around the woman. The Vigilants in the room screamed as they were reduced to ash; the enchantment on the cage protected Baenius. I continued the burning of the flames until the light began to become unbearable even to me, then let them drift away to nothingness.

"Cute," a woman's voice said, drifting with condescension, respect, and desire out of the fires.

The Vampire woman's dress was singed, burning slightly at the edges. The jewelry that had been built into the hem had melted from the intense heat. Otherwise she – her skin, her hair, most of the dress even – was completely fine. She sashayed slightly over the burning bodies of her former Thralls – Talos guide them – and walked up to me. It was in that moment, as her hand gripped my face and she stared, maliciously entertained, into my eyes, that I knew I was horribly outclassed. "Who are you?" I finally managed to squeak fearfully.

"Don't worry, that almost hurt, darling" the woman whispered, leaning in towards my ear. "But nothing can kill Lamae Bal..."

I screamed in pain as her fangs pierced my neck. My airway became constricted and I felt blood rush down my throat; it was like I was drowning in my own body. "Then I guess..." I grunted as I struggled to concentrate as much Magicka in one hand as I could, "I should try harder."

I unleashed a beam of pure Lightning, blasting a circular hole in the woman's chest. "That won't do anything!" she snapped, pulling away from my throat. Her face was covered in blood. My, now infected, blood.

"Not the endgame," I tried to growl threateningly, though I'm sure it came out much less so than I aimed for. Probably a gurgle. Magicka flashed from my hand again just as I hit the ground. "Serana..." And then I blacked out.

Fahiil

Thera

I dodged beneath the Magickal assault of the Redguard, barely holding my own against the monster. I had never fought a warrior that so outclassed me, not even Lucius. He and I were on a level, the same; a battle between my Jokaar and I could go, conceivably, either way. I would win of course, but theoretically. My battle with this... creature. It was not one that I even could dream to win. Her Magickal prowess was beyond my imagination, with blasts of energy that melted through stone in but a few moments. Even still it seemed she was... toying with me.

Her spells were cast with a lazy air. She was putting virtually nothing into this fight, but was still keeping me on the strict defensive. "Honestly, I expected better from one that the Lords considered their best agent," the woman sneered from across the room. I rolled behind the Magickal wall containing the raving Moth Priest – he was begging for his "master" to save him. The woman's spell glanced off of the spinning green wall and she laughed in excitement as a wall of the cavern split open. Sunlight poured in around us. "Ooh, but you're smart. That's good."

"How do you know Lucius?!" I snapped, trying to come up with a plan. I circled the Magickal containment in time with the Redguard, always staying opposite her on the circle's edge.

"Oh, we go way back!" the woman said, laughing maniacally. She stopped suddenly. "I knew him before he tried to mask what he actually is with this new, slave persona. Not Lucius, I knew – in every sense – Ayleid."

My eyes widened. Ayleid, that had been his name in the documents sent by the Aldmeri Council to Elenwen. He had never had a partner, well, except on one mission. More an apprentice, really. But then... "You are Dwemer," I shouted to the woman, earning another bout of insane laughter and a nod.

"Right again!" she said, pointlessly firing another spell at the wall. She giggled like a child as the Magick blew apart another section of the cavern's roof. She sighed. "Oh, you're no fun, and you're not who I came for. Hm... Well, I suppose you aren't worth killing. The Council hasn't sent me for that, yet. Though when I have Ayleid leading me again, then I have no doubts they'll want you."

"You're a Vampire now!" I shouted. "Why serve them?"

"Because I am still an Insect, worm," the woman replied, her voice deadly serious. She laughed manically again after a moment. "Toodloo! I'm sure we'll meet again, Thera!" And she was gone.

I waited, still as a statue, for a long moment. I was terrified to give up the fight, lest she return and end my life. As the minutes dragged on, however, I finally fell to my knees and dropped my swords. That was... I surveyed, blankly, the damage that this woman had caused. Without even trying, her spells had blown apart the walls of the cavern and tons of rock and soil above to cause sunlight to stream in from every angle. I looked at the Magick wall and gasped. She had even broken one of the stones causing the wall to exist. The Magickal barrier was slowly dissipating as the towering rock fell to the ground.

What kind of monster was this Dwemer?

Jul

Lucius

I awoke, some time later, with an empty cure disease potion by my side. I groaned in pain as I sat up. Pain shot through my throat and I nearly fell again. I let out a shout that only caused more pain. "He's awake!" I heard Serana shout, relief flooding through her voice. I hissed in pain as her arms wrapped around my throat, pressing against the new scars I had received. I felt warm tears streaming down my cheek and I, painfully, hugged her back. "I was so worried..."

"Ah, good. It would seem the potion was not too late," Florentius said from above us. He leaned down and examined my eyes while Serana held me tighter. Florentius smiled. "Yes, still human!"

I sighed as Serana let go of me. "Good thing I got into the habit of carrying those potions ever since starting this whole adventure," I croaked, half-smiling.

"Indeed," the priest agreed. He looked up. "Hm? Ah, yes." He looked back down at me. "Arkay says you were very clever indeed. The way you placed fire runes within her chest... well, it was enough to get her to run away at the very least. Arkay says it has been a very long time since anyone – mortal or god – did such a thing."

"Still hard to believe Lamae Bal is still alive," Serana whispered. She looked at me, then glanced away. She looked like she thought she was guilty of some great sin. "I thought for sure someone would have killed her since I've been gone."

"Well, it was thought by many that she was dead," Florentius explained. He sighed. "Arkay says that the Ancient Dawnguard near the end of the Second era and the start of the Third – just before they fell into disgrace from their many wrongs – waged a huge battle with her, an army against a single woman that ended with a mere five survivors. Her body was torn apart and separated across Skyrim to be guarded."

"Then how is she alive?" I asked hoarsely. I pulled my water pouch from my belt and took a long swig – it didn't help.

"Because she couldn't die," Florentius explained hollowly. Fear ran through his eyes. "They tried to burn her pieces with fire, to melt them down in lava, or to cast them away with the most powerful Magicks on Nirn. Nothing did the trick, so they separated the pieces when it became clear she could perhaps return. Some poor fool must have decided to bring the pieces together. Most likely a Vampire who quickly fell prey to her ability to cow any creature into submission to her will."

"Any?" I asked. "I mean she was scary, on a different level than most things I've fought, but..."

"Yes, you do seem to possess a singular, impossible talent to resist her. I was only able to do so because of Arkay's aid, but you did it alone... Even for a Dragonborn that is unheard of," Florentius muttered excitedly.

"Great, as if one psychotic Daughter of Coldharbour wasn't enough," Serana hissed. She kicked the wall, shattering the stone and sending debris flying. She leaned against the wall, facing away from me. I frowned, worried for her.

"Yes, Arkay says he is not as happy with how your... Can you pronounce that again? Joker?" Florentius began to argue with the sky. "Jaka?"

"Jokaar," I said, drawing a nod from Florentius. I smiled, some hope on the horizon. "So, the gods prefer me?"

"Well... Arkay won't vouch for the rest, but he tends not to like Vampires," Baenius replied with a shrug. I laughed dryly. Florentius laughed and leaned towards me. Whispering, he gave a caveat. "Though he says you should hold onto that one. If you know what I mean."

Serana's ears blushed, turning a shade of red I thought only fire Magick could get. "Yeah. She's a keeper," I muttered with a smile.