Jul
Lucius
When I made my way up the stairs, the battle was not going any better. Worse, one could say. Much worse. Both Serana and the Thalmor bitch had also shed their outer skins and taken on the gray form of the Molag Bal born beast within. It is terrifying to see one pureblood vampire. But Three? Divines, two of them were on my side and I still felt like running away from the three supernatural predators of all mortals. Instead, I marched forward and readied the Bow, trying to figure out which of the identical Vampires was Dwemer.
I got a momentary lock on her when two of the Vampires slammed their claws into the chest of the other. As the third Vampire stumbled backwards, bloody red marks on its chest already visibly sewing shut, I let one of the Sunhallowed arrows fly. The golden arrow, as soon as it left the Bow's grasp, seemed to glow, the metal exuding and creating light as bright as the Sun's while it rushed towards Dwemer. The Vampire shrieked, turning towards the whistling arrow and disappearing into a cloud of red mist. The arrow passed through the red smoke and, as it exited, the Vampire shrieked in rage and pain. Dwemer's entire body began to smoke as it fell to its knees, the arrow clattering, dull and unglowing, against the stone. The Sun Magick that the arrow had contained was drained, used up to injure and reconstitute the Vampire from the mist.
The Vampiric Dwemer floated upward as she recovered, rage filled eyes fixed on me. She quickly disappeared, a streak of gray moving unbelievably fast right at me. I saw the other two Vampires try to stand between us, but they were both quickly knocked aside by Dwemer. When she slammed into my body, it was like getting kicked in the chest by a horse. I barely even kept my grip on the Bow after that first contact, but it only became more difficult when a claw wrapped around my neck and began to strangle me. It got even worse as Dwemer began to slam me into the stone and ice as hard as she could, my head snapping around wildly and slamming into the solid walls. If it weren't for the Magick I was sending through my body even as it happened, I would have died. Instead, my vision just began to tunnel, the world fading away to blackness and my ears filling with the noise of rapids as I began to slip away to unconsciousness.
"Stop," I groaned, raising my hand up to rest against the sinewy gray one holding me in the air. Dwemer cocked her side to the head for a moment, her shark-like orbs of empty black glaring pitilessly into my own eyes. Then she brought her hand back again, ready to slam me into the wall. I wouldn't have been able to take another hit, so I was incredibly grateful when another flash of gray slammed into Dwemer from the side, causing her grip on my to disappear and the two Vampires to crash over the balcony.
"Get up. If you let her kill you, I won't get to," Thera snapped above me, flipping me over and pouring a red potion into my mouth. It burned as it went down, stitching back together any of the damage in my body that I hadn't yet fixed. I gasped in pain, pulling as much air into my lungs as I could. There was a sharp sting on my face as the elf slapped me across the face. "Get up, we have a vampire to kill."
I growled but did as she suggested – at least, I told myself it was a suggestion. I'm not sure I could listen to a 'command' from Thera. "So that was Serana and Dwemer?" I asked hurriedly, trying to shut out my panic while I rushed to the shattered stone where the two bat-like Vampiresses had tumbled over the edge. I looped Auri-El's bow over my shoulder and turned back to the bitch. "We have to get down there and help her."
The elf scoffed. "How do you plan on doing that?" she asked, arms crossed over her chest. "Because I'm not flying you down."
I narrowed my eyes. "Never expected you to," I murmured, turning around again and stepping up onto the ledge. "See you at the bottom. Feim!"
I took a step forward, my blue, ethereal body plummeting downward towards the crater where one Vampire – Dwemer, if her savagery was any indication – was atop the other, slamming claw after claw into her opponent's face. "Serana!" I cried out, looping the bow from my back so I could be ready to attack as soon as I hit the ground. Which I did not a moment too soon, even as I rolled back to my feet and pulled an arrow from the quiver, my body returned to its normal state. The arrow flew from Aure-El's bow, again glowing as it flew. The Vampire turned and seemed to grin, picking up Serana and placing her between the arrow and itself.
"NO!" I shouted, reaching out with Telekinetic Magick and pulling arrow back as sharply as I could. It reversed course on the spot and I breathed a sigh of relief. Until that same arrow pierced my shoulder. I screamed in pain as the Daedric armor was pierced and splinters of its ebony metal perforated my flesh. The bow dropped from my hand and I fell to my back, writhing and clutching at my shoulder.
I heard a thud as a heavy gray body crashed onto the ground beside me. I tried to turn to see Serana, but screamed in pain when my shoulder took any weight. From above came a low growl and the sound of blood rushing like a river. "Well, looks like I can control myself," Dwemer said, boots clacking against the stone as she returned to human form. She crouched down to sit on top of my chest, placing some of her weight onto my right shoulder with her hand. "You risked your life for this insect? Well, I guess you aren't Ayleid anymore, Luv."
"Ha! Been trying to tell you," I growled as I became accustomed to the fiery pain in my arm. I gasped when she dug her hand into the hole in my arm. I was thankful that the arrow had passed cleanly through, but it really hurt. "So why don't you leave. Me. Alone."
"Well, you may not be Ayleid, but I'm sure I can bring him back to life," Dwemer snarled, her other hand resting on my throat and gripping tight enough to make me gurgle painfully for a moment. Then her fingers loosened and she ran her hand up to my cheek. "Then everything will be okay again."
"Tanyin... it was never okay," I muttered, shaking my head to get her hand from my face. I shuddered as a wave of coldness began to rush through my arm and chest. I turned my head towards Serana, ignoring the pain of the muscles in my neck and shoulder as I did so. "Not with you."
Dwemer's gaze followed mine. "But with her it is?" she asked. She scoffed and stood up, gracefully pulling my sword from its hilt and then slamming her foot into my arm as she did so. I screamed in paralyzing pain, unable to stop Tanyin from moving from me and over to Serana. "You know, I think that this is ideal. A sword of flames. Twice you'll be responsible for those you love burning."
"Don't you dare!" I screamed, somehow forcing myself to my feet. Dwemer laughed and backhanded me back to the ground. "Please."
"You know, I've always wanted to see you groveling," someone said before Dwemer could reply. Then her body jolted forward and she stumbled, a glowing, golden arrow tip protruding from her arm. Dwemer screamed in pain as a stream of golden flames began to stream up her arm and my sword clattered against the ground. "But only to me."
"Ah, Traitor! I was wondering where you were," Dwemer snapped as she ran tore the arrow from her arm and tossed it away.
"Oh, I wouldn't run from a fight like this," Thera replied, as she restrung Auri-El's bow. I noticed my quiver around her shoulders and realized it must have come off during the fight, somehow. "I wanted a chance to kill you, after all."
Fahiil
Thera
The Bow of Auri-El had a... peculiar weight to it. It pulled against my grip, as if it were trying to escape me. This mystical pull was bad enough that I wasn't able to hit Dwemer's heart, instead puncturing her arm at the wrist. Unlike most of her other wounds, this one hadn't yet healed, so I took it to mean that the bow's Magick was of the type from which Vampires had no defense. Expected, I suppose, and further implying its ability to kill even Lamae herself if I was lucky. "I doubt that this will be the chance you were searching for," Dwemer growled from above the battered forms of my temporary allies. "He is better a thousand times over, even as this insect Lucius."
I scoffed to hold in my indignant rage. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't blame a slave for being unable to see the facts of the matter. That said, which one of us hit you with the bow?"
Dwemer did not respond, instead rushing towards me with a fireball in either hand. I laughed and twisted between the attacks, pulling the bow close and slamming it into Dwemer's face as she came close. The bow, it would seem, had an added benefit. While it had only injured my opponent, that injury was just as Magickal as the weapon, slowing her while we fought.
Dwemer's head snapped back as my fist met it, blood streaming from her broken nose. She turned out of the blow and summoned a pair of daggers to her hands, slashing them at me. I blocked the attacks with the bow before pulling an arrow from its quiver and slamming it into Dwemer's shoulder. This arrow didn't have the same effect as the first, but I was able to bury it deep enough into her arm that it became useless. "What happened, you're moving like a human!" I mocked. I flipped backwards, kicking Dwemer in the face, and landed far enough away that the bow became a viable option for attack again.
I quickly nocked another arrow and aimed it once more, trying to compensate for the continual tug. I shot the arrow and it flew wide. "Dammit," I growled, pulling out another of the arrows. This one was on target, though it was knocked off course by the remaining dagger that Dwemer wielded.
"Fast enough to kill you!" Dwemer snapped, tossing the dagger at me. I shot another arrow, knocking her dagger off course before grabbing another from the quiver.
"Or perhaps not," I laughed, and the arrow met its mark. It flew through Dwemer's chest and she tumbled to the ground at my feet, the tip of the arrow protruding from her back. I smiled self-assuringly and began to walk past the corpse.
"I'll... kill you," she groaned, forcing herself to her knees. I froze and she grabbed my leg by the ankle. I looked down. She was barely capable of moving, but she still wasn't dead? I growled – the arrow had missed her heart, burying itself instead in her lung. It was like poison to her, the sun Magick coursing through her veins, but it wouldn't kill her.
"Let go," Lucius demanded. I looked up at him. The right arm of his armor was gone, on the ground, and he was using Magick to tear splinters of Ebony from his shoulder. Each shard shot from his body with the noise of metal dragging against bone and the squelch of a void being filled by blood. He grimaced in pain each time one escaped his arm. He was staring sadly at Dwemer. "Just let go, Tanyin. Stop holding on."
"Tanyin was an insect," Dwemer growled, her grip falling weakly from my ankle. "Tanyin is dead."
"I know," Lucius replied. He stumbled forward and stopped above her, now channeling Magick through his body to heal his significant wounds. "So stop holding on, Tanyin. You died a long time ago, but you held on anyways. That was my fault, I made that happen, so I'm sorry. But now you can let go. There's something after. Tanyin, I know you're still in there."
"That insect is dead!" Dwemer shouted again. I took a step back and watched in interest. "You killed her. You remade her into something better!"
"No. I killed you, I'll admit that," Lucius said, summoning a sword from oblivion into his good hand. "But you tried to hold on anyways. I'm telling you it's okay to let go. I've only ever given you pain. Sadness. This world hurts you, and it's time for you to rest."
"N...no," Dwemer said, eyes tearing up. "I... I won't."
"Tanyin... I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?" Lucius asked as he raised the summoned weapon above his head. I smiled, enjoying watching him forced to kill someone he loved so much. Oh, he did love her; that same look on his face that he got when looking at Serana was present as he looked down at the Redguard. "Please?"
"I..." Dwemer's head fell. "I do."
Then the blade rushed down and her head was separated from her body, the sun Magick present in the remains already causing the head and body to turn to ash. Lucius was silent for some time, unmoving. The summoned weapon faded away naturally, dying as its time ran out. As the last bits of Dwemer turned to ash, he whispered, "Su Dun." A breeze blew past us and carried the ashes away to spread across the world. Then he turned back to Serana's form on the ground. "Bring me some of Gelebor's blood – she needs some."
I frowned. "Do not order me," I hissed, though I would go to do as he asked anyways. I couldn't risk my only chance at taking the power of Auri-El falling away into death, even if it would just kill Lucius. "I will not take kindly to that if you try to do it again." I then looped the bow around my shoulders, taking what was rightfully mine, and walked to save my pawn from death.
