AN:
Finally! This is a big chapter and finally realizes fully the hint I gave back during my hiatus, as you can tell from the chapter's title!
To UndeadMonkey8: Yes, you are correct. Lucius did not absorb any of Alduin's power, which he's still quite happy about. He was just lying to try and scare Miraak, which obviously did not work. It did leave a mark on him, as is canon when Miraak and Durnehviir remark they can 'feel' it on him.
Jul
Lucius
I walked in step with Frea down the path towards the Skaal village. Our journey since leaving the Temple of Miraak had been relatively quiet, aside from Durnehviir flying overhead belting out the 'Age of Aggression.' Trying to explain that one to her was... difficult. Can't really blame her, though, given that dragons had been attacking her tiny village for years. "And... he's always singing like that?"
I sighed. "Oh yes. It's... It's far too much," I groaned until the undead dragon finally soared far enough away we could no longer hear him. I gripped the crossguard of Dragonbane and it clinked under the movement. "He's gotten a bit better, at least." I looked down slowly and caught sight of a glowing henge shooting a similar green energy into the air as Miraak's temple itself.
"That is where my people are held hostage by Miraak," Frea explained as soon as she traced where I was looking. "One of the All Maker Stones." She looked over at me when I didn't respond and explained. "I have heard your lands have similar stones blessed by the All Maker's power."
"Standing Stones. Yes," I replied quietly. I kept my eyes locked on the obelisk for another minute or two. Something was there, something incredibly powerful and oddly familiar. It must have been Miraak's energy, that of Daedra and Dragonborn spilling over into the Plane, that I felt. It was the only explanation I could come up with at that moment. I tore my gaze from the stones and looked over to where another massive source of energy was emanating. "What kind of Magick are you using to protect your village?"
"Secrets of the Ancient Skaal," Frea stated as if that explained everything. She walked past me and led me further towards her home village, which was swirling with a magicka shield that would have made Magnus god of Magicka himself proud. Frea walked through the clear energy on the path up the hill without any effort whatsoever. I, however, slammed right into a clear wall. Frea just turned around and glared questioningly at me. "Are you coming?"
I gestured at the wall. "I'm just playing chicken with this invisible person," I said dryly. "What do you think I'm doing? This wall must keep Dragonborn out – any Dragonborn."
Frea chuckled. "Well, I suppose this strengthens the veracity of your story, doesn't it?" she asked. She looked up the hill and then back down at me. "Then perhaps..." she muttered under her breath. She smiled and nodded at me before continuing with, "Father will be able to fix this, just give me a few minutes." She turned around and jogged up the pathway and disappeared over the crest. I drew Dragonbane and turned around to battle in case anything – like an angry Blade – showed up on the path behind me.
"Who are you?" a young, squeaky voice asked.
I turned towards the invisible wall again and my gaze met the golden brown eyes of a boy dressed in the clothing of the Skaal. He had dark black hair that split down the middle of his forehead in a cowlick that outlined his incredibly face. He was very tall for how young the rest of his features made him look, so I was unsure if he was old enough to be as tall as he was or young enough to look like he did. "Why do you ask?" I inquired of the boy. I buried the tip of my blade in the ground and knelt down to stare the boy in the eye.
"Because I smelled you coming," the boy responded simply. He looked left then right before matching my gaze again. "You can't pass the barrier either?"
That raised my eyebrows. A Dragonborn child? "No. I take it that means it stops you as well?" The boy nodded. I frowned and thought about the young man for a while, studying him intently as I did. I turned my attention silently to the flow of Magicka around him and was unsurprised by the sheer energy coagulating around his young form. "I'll let you in on a secret then... you are meant for great things. What's your name, Skaal boy?"
"I'm not Skaal," he responded simply. "And Mother told me not to trust strangers."
"Then she's a smart woman, but Frea brought me here." That seemed to calm the boy down to an extent and he bit his lip nervously. I laughed at his caution, wishing I had behaved the same way when I had been a child. "Tell you what, I'll introduce myself first." I smiled at the boy and bowed my head. "I am Lucius Atmoran. I'm here to defeat Miraak."
"I hope you kill him," the boy growled. I raised an eyebrow in question and he explained a moment later. "Miraak took my mother from the village."
"My apologies," I muttered. "I know how it feels to lose someone important because of evil."
The boy cocked his head to the side and studied me. Finally: "My name is Octavian."
I smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Octavian." I noticed a slight shimmer as the shield changed, and I stood up. I sheathed Dragonbane and walked through the wall. "I'll save your mother. I promise."
Octavian looked up at me as if unsure that I could, but eventually nodded and walked up beside me to the town. "Ah, I was just about to come and get you!" Frea said as we met at the crest of the hill. She looked down at Octavian. "Were you bothering our guest, Octavian?"
"Young man kept me company," I said. I reached out on a whim and ruffled his hair. He did not seem to appreciate that. I looked back up at Frea and nodded towards the village. "Let's go speak to your father."
Frea nodded and led me through the Skaal village. It was not a small village, and it seemed even larger given the lack of population within its borders. Aside from Frea and Octavian, there were two humans milling about, a couple children, and a single dog whining for its master at the center of the village. Near the north end was a trio of individuals chanting to release a powerful Magickal ward. One was an old man who seemed to be the leader of the group – Frea's father, I guessed. Upon seeing me, he looked to the others. "Continue without me," he muttered, standing up and walking towards Frea, Octavian, and I. He raised one hand in front of him. "Hail, stranger. I am Storn Crag-Strider, Shaman of this village."
"Hail," I muttered with a bow. "Lucius Atmoran, Dragonborn."
"Aye, that much I know," the Shaman responded. He looked down at Octavian. "Go play with the other children." Octavian nodded and ran off waving to me as he did. I laughed and waved back at him. "You opened the Book?"
I snapped back to the issues at hand. "Yes," I told the Shaman. "And more, I believe I know how Miraak is controlling the people of this island."
"Indeed? How, then? It may hold the key to cleansing our people of his oppression," Storn said with a relieved smile reaching his eyes.
"An ancient Shout of Dragons, one capable of... altering the souls of beings. These stones of which he has taken control likely are being used as conduits to spread the range and effectiveness of his Thu'um." I sighed and shook my head. "However, as of now, I know not of a way to counteract that control. Not when it can even alter the Soul of a Dragon to do his bidding."
Storn nodded slowly, taking in this information. Frea was the first to reach a solution, however. "Father, do not the legends say that a similar power rests on the Walls?"
"Word Walls?" I inquired. I smacked my forehead when I realized my stupidity. "Of course! If two opposing but at least nearly equivalent wills were to use the Shout at the same time, the Magickal snap back would cause the Aedric Magicka in the souls of the affected to return to its normal state. Of course!" I looked up at Storn. "The Word Wall!? Where is it?"
"In the mountain there is a small Cairn of undead." He pointed towards the distance. "If you head in that direction you will -"
"Oh, no! No, you are not running off again!"
I palled and turned slowly around. "You promised you wouldn't do anything stupid!" Dorthe shouted as Arvak cantered up the hill.
"Who are you, intruder?" Frea snapped. She drew her axes and leveled them at the Blade.
"Do I look like I am talking to you?" Dorthe snapped. She jumped off of Arvak and stomped up to me, waving her fist in my face before the ghost horse even managed to disappear. "You said you wouldn't go to that damn temple by yourself!"
"Now, to be fair, Dorthe, I went with Durnehviir and then Frea. I wasn't alone at all," I responded with a nervous smile. "I'm perfectly fine." That didn't stop her from slapping me across the face. I held up my hand when Frea moved to attack the young woman. "Dorthe, you're my bodyguard. I know your duty is to protect me. But you are my family as well. I was not going to risk your life if I could defeat this enemy on my own."
"And?" she asked angrily. "Well, I'm waiting for your answer Emp – Sir."
"They know," I said quietly. Dorthe's eyes widened with rage and I shrugged. "The Skaal care little for our war, and they are good people regardless."
Dorthe was quiet for some time. Finally: "You endangered the entire Empire."
"I know," I muttered quietly.
"For... For a thrill. Right? That's it," she growled.
"Probably," I agreed sadly. I furrowed my brow and clenched my fists at my side. "But also because I am being called. You don't understand, Dorthe, because you have never felt it nor have you ever seen its effects. Lydia, she knew. Even Delphine has seen it. The gods are lighting my path on this war, guiding me to something. And they owe me something light for once." I pushed the woman out of my path and walked past her. "Thank you Storn. I'll try to clear this up as soon as I can."
I stopped a moment later and glared at my bodyguard. "Are you coming?"
Fahiil
Thera
Neloth had indeed led me to Miraak's temple, just as he had promised. Unfortunately, it had already been ransacked by the time I got there. Pretty recently, too, if the corpses and cleanly cut Draugr were any indication. And yet it seemed that none of the defenders had been successful in spilling the blood of their attackers. None of the blood was of the correct splatter pattern on the walls, and there was no trail of dripping blood to follow between the small arenas of battle. No, whoever did this was incredibly skilled. I looked down at the bloody footprints – the two who did this were incredibly skilled.
This temple was a huge treasure trove, at least before these mysterious attackers had arrived. It even contained one of the most rare and powerful treasures of all – a Word capable of increasing my strength as well as that of my Thu'um. That would be an incredibly useful skill to have in my future battles. Unfortunately, it seemed to be the only thing that remained. Even after walking through long, narrow hallways and between disturbing Daedric imagery, there was nothing. Nothing but an empty pedestal and the smell of him. "Ayleid. It seems Miraak was not lying when he said he was waiting for the both of us." Whatever had been here was long gone, which meant he too had survived his encounter with the ancient Dragonborn.
I sighed in a combination of relief and anger. It would be nice if he would just keel over and die, but I would still rather enjoy gutting him myself. Of course, given Miraak's strength and how easily he had slapped – likely – both of us away, and going off of our prior... misadventures, it was likely we would find ourselves allied for a short while yet again. I walked past the pedestal and out the back door of the temple.
The sun hit my face as soon as I exited, and I covered my face until my hypersensitive eyes could adjust. The downsides to being a Vampire. Until I had the Bow, of course.
It was at this moment that I saw something moving in the distance. I slowly lowered my hand and squinted at the two short lines hiking across the landscape. While they slowly came into focus, I pulled up a hood over my head to shield my eyes from the sun's glaring light. I smiled at the perfection of this when I finally recognized one of the figures, not by who he was. No, it was because he was so stupid that he had an Aedric weapon looped around his shoulder. The Bow. "Lucius! Speak of the fool and he shall appear." I wrapped my cloak around to obscure my armor and began to silently run after the figures, ignoring everything as I went. Even a smell that was... familiar when I passed another one of those odd, glowing standing stones, this one surrounded by a large group of humans chanting the same inane poem as I had when I was under Miraak's control.
I looked past Lucius and his current traveling companion to try and see where they were going. I noticed a few things of note in the face of the mountain as my sight locked in, but they were so far away that its features were blurry and obscured. A dragon roar rang out from that direction, however, so I could guess what waited for us there.
We walked for many hours towards the mountain, and I soon saw that my guess had been correct. Yet another Word Wall, this one emanating an incredibly powerful aura nearly identical to the one that smothered the island.
Lucius and his pet sprang into action immediately upon seeing the Draugr that had awoken. They attacked with the trust and silent communication that came with time and experience, every move they made completely complemented by their partner's. She was a Blade, then. The katana had become much more popular as a weapon since the rise of Lucius' Empire, with the blades being forged in multiple materials for the officers of his army. Sadly, the art of making these weapons seemed to reside with the Blades themselves and as such could not be copied by my smiths. For now.
I crept towards the shadows and silently made my way to a high spot of the cairn. I stared down at the carnage as it approached the Wall and frowned. Lucius had grown far more than I had anticipated in the past years. He unleashed a beam of Lightning from his left hand the size of a Bosmer warrior that turned an entire regiment of Draugr to ash. My fears were slightly alleviated, however, when he stumbled after cutting off the flow of energy. Despite his strength, it appeared he could not engage in certain feats for too long. His recovery was still impossibly fast, however. It was barely a moment later that he bisected a Deathlord with a single swipe of his blade. Killing him would require outsmarting him, not facing him down in a battle of power.
I looked up upon hearing a shriek and saw another of those smooth, serpentine dragons shooting towards the two humans on the ground. They looked up and Lucius raised a huge Ward to deflect the inevitable incoming flames. The dragon passed my perch, and I made my move. I jumped out and dug my blade into the base of the dragon's neck. There was a loud crunch as the blade sliced through bone and into the creature's spine. It shrieked in pain and its wings flapped uselessly.. The sudden movement sent it tumbling to the left and it crashed in front of the Wall. "Unfortunately, Scaley, he's mine to devour," I said, pulling my blade from its back and stumbling to its skull. The dragon growled weakly at me and tried to move its body, but it seemed its last spasm was all it had before becoming truly paralyzed. I smiled darkly down at the creature and stabbed my blade forward through its eye before turning to absorb the knowledge from the Wall.
I laughed when the Word entered my mind and slowly began to clap. This would be nice, quite nice indeed! "I have to say, I like this one, Lucius," I said as the footsteps behind me came to a stop, replaced by the singing of metal. I turned around slowly and smiled at the weapons pointed at me. "Oh, come now, if had wanted to kill you know, I would have just thrown a blade through your eye while you were concentrated on the Draugr. We both know there's something much, much more pressing than each other that we have to deal with at the moment."
He glared at me and kept his katana leveled at me. A moment later, he growled and sheathed the blade before ordering his underling to do the same. "Miraak."
I smiled. "Miraak."
