Chapter Forty-Six
Unlike the Soul Cairn portal, that of the wayshrine was pleasant to use. The pair of vampires found themselves filled with an undeniable bubbly warmth, soft and assuring unlike the heated power of drinking blood. Even as they found themselves in a near pitch black tunnel system they both seemed in a good mood, dark rocks pressing in from either side while a sole path lay before them. The wayshrine they emerged in looked worse than the other, whole portions of carefully carved rock fallen aside and forgotten about. Growing along the stone walls was a tube like plant of some kind with bulbous purple heads that shed a bit of light in the darkness. Glowing mushrooms also clung to the rock, casting dim blue and pinkish hues around them like torches. However, the pair might as well not have needed them thanks to their keen night vision.
They moved with cautious ease forward, feet sloshing through pools of water as the tight passage quickly led them to flooded chambers with exceptionally low ceilings, roots tickling their noses. Yosa'Min was quick to recognize the burrowed holes in the walls, and she gave a half sigh moments before something moved ahead of them. "I think what I hate more than falmer is their pet bugs," she drawled as a chaurus the size of a pup came to view, stalking through the only other exit from the flooded chamber towards them with a pair of falmer at its flanks.
Yosa'Min knocked an arrow with practiced ease, and sent it directly through one falmer's skull, Serana casting a trio of ice spikes that killed the other. The bug gave a shrieking noise, twisting its mandibles about and started fleeing back the way it came. Racing after it, the vampires tried to silence it before it could wake the whole hive. It rushed down a sloping path, a stone pillar in the center at the bottom, Yosa'Min lingering back to take aim when she noticed Serana, who quickly cast spells as she ran, was about to trigger a spike trap. "Watch out," she shouted in warning. Serana swerved around the trigger just in time.
Despite their unnatural speed, the insect knew well where to go, dodging their arrows and spells, and slipped between a crack in the rocks where they could not go. Its cries echoed throughout the cavern, and then they were answered. The stone around them vibrated as the warning went out, an earthquake of noise and and fury.
"You're kidding me," hissed Yosa'Min, "we just got made by a bug!"
A moment later there was a sharp twang and an arrow pierced the redguard's shoulder. She shouted in pain, Serana surging forward in a rush of bats and smoke to grapple with the falmer as it went to shoot again. With a furious cry Serana snapped its neck, holding the body in front of her as more arrows flew, shielding herself from them.
Pouring in from the entrance was a wave of falmer and their bug hounds, chaurus rushing forward with snapping mandibles that oozed ichor. Serana continued to use the corpse as a body shield as the blind elves fired arrows, hearing her hisses and magic as she retaliated. One falmer's head burst into a stream of blood as Yosa'Min shot it, panting in pain across the tunnel. Blood oozed from the arrow in her shoulder but she paid it little regard, shooting as fast as she could with an injured shoulder into the throng of falmer that was trying to trample Serana.
Gelebor had not been lying of their number.
Yosa'Min fired endlessly into the mass of loosely covered bodies, near starvation making their skin cling to their bones like fleshy skeletons. Serana was glad for the wide target as she gathered magic in one hand, and then sent bolts of lightning outwards that rushed through them each, falmer dropping like flies. One blind mer jumped over the smoking body of its fellow and got a good slash in Serana's flank, only to be rewarded with an ice spike through its chest. Despite how weak they appeared, the falmer attacked with a fervor that was nearly overwhelming, and their numbers seemed ceaseless. The vampires kicked and clawed at the hardy bugs, the cave floor a swimming mass of insects.
Finally Yosa'Min was at her wits end, and called for Serana to retreat behind her. As soon as the nord vampire was clear, the redguard sucked in a breath of air and shouted, "YOL TOOR SHUL!" A wave of fire exploded from her mouth, flames consuming anything in the way. Falmer shrieked in agony as the violent shout charred and burned them, many collapsing in smoking heaps over each other. The bugs curled in on themselves, limbs twitching in death. Yosa'Min coughed raggedly once the shout had run its course, having held it as long as she could, smoke escaping between her lips. For the moment they were alone, only bodies around them.
"Yosa?" Inquired Serana, brow knit with worry as she turned to her fledgling. Waving her concern off, Yosa'Min grasped the shaft of the arrow and prepared to remove it from her arm when Serana's hands carefully joined her's. "Let me help," she said as their eyes met, and with a bit of hesitance she conceded. Biting on a piece of her bracer, Yosa'Min hissed violently as the arrow was removed and swiftly Serana offered her a blood potion that was eagerly downed.
They progressed carefully, fully aware that the hornets' nest had been kicked. The tight passages soon took them to a large chamber where the ceiling was lost to the darkness. Before them was a few falmer huts, the carapaces of their insect companions fashioned into shelters, a trio of falmer resting inside. A lone elf stalked the perimeter towards them, and catching the thick scent of blood it raised its head and turned towards them. An arrow pierced its throat, and it gurgled helplessly before dying. Across the way the bioluminescent plants grew near a slope that seemed to go deeper into the cave system, bone fences lining the way and the sound of water roaring even from here.
Yosa'Min tensed at the noise.
They crept as quietly as possible, not worrying about being spotted but instead paying close attention to how much noise they made. Managing to make it to the slope, they were welcomed to the sight of a massive hut, adorned with bones and carapaces, and inside was a falmer. Behind the hut roared a waterfall, as wide as the chamber was, a damp stone bridge connecting to something on the other side.
Yosa'Min took careful aim, and killed that one as silently as the others. They crossed the bridge, getting drenched from the water and Yosa'Min scrunched her nose in disapproval. On the other side was a rocky ledge double backing the length of the waterfall into another tunnel system. That soon opened to another area the falmer had settled in, huts and pens scattered about the place. Fences blocked them from scaling up the path however a bridge connected to it on their side. Yosa'Min squinted skeptically at a chest beneath the bridge, a part of her itching to open it up, but it reeked of a trap.
Pressing on, they found themselves in a pen that held a rather shrine looking object in the center, huts lining it while a skeleton was propped up with hands above its cracked skull. Shuddering, the pair were relieved that the falmer had thinned out for now, and followed the path into a cave that had monstrous sized blue crystals which emanated a soft light, purple moss like plants clinging to it or the ground.
The fissure in the wall on the other side was their only hope to continue, and so they did. Nothing came across their way as they started to go uphill, both of them silent for fear of alerting any more falmer. Yosa'Min glanced at her sire once or twice, catching a mixture of concern and tiredness each time. When she thought about it, Yosa'Min couldn't recall the last time they had properly rested. Was it before finding the moth priest? The Ancestor Glade springs had been nice but it had also been extremely short, acting as a moment to catch their breath rather than rest their heads. She didn't even feel tired and they had been into Oblivion and back, though perhaps that short time had been enough to rejuvenate them.
Finding her mind suddenly derailed with the thoughts of their unnatural stamina, Yosa'Min nearly tripped over a crevice in the ground, narrowly catching herself in time. Serana gave her a quizzical look, but Yosa'Min waved her off with a flush of embarrassment. Refocused on the path ahead of them, Yosa'Min hurried up the steep incline.
At the top was another large chamber as before, a waterfall visible on the other side with falmer made bridges crossing into it. A pen filled with chaurus was directly before them, ambling about like cattle. They gave it a wide berth and approached the massive hut before the waterfall nestled between the bone lined bridges. Sitting in it was another falmer, only it looked much different from the rest, adorned with carapace armor and wearing a special helm. Sensing them somehow, it snapped its head towards them and rose to its full height rather than hunched over like most falmer, towering over them easily.
Before either of them could move the falmer screamed, gangly limbs holding a sword that swirled with magic. Yosa'Min fired an arrow at it, but it deflected it with its sword, fire bursting around it as soon as the arrow grew close enough. "Shit," uttered Yosa'Min before it charged, swifter than its kin and closing the distance in heartbeats.
The vampires moved swiftly to dodge its enchanted blade, feeling arcs of heat and flame with each narrow miss. Yosa'Min kept a greater distance, firing arrows at it in rapid succession but the thick carapace armor it wore either deflected or absorbed the arrows harmlessly for the wearer. Serana cast one spell after another, lightning and ice blasting against it but the falmer kept coming after them. There was a soft buzz in the air, and Yosa'Min jerked her head to the side in time to spot a chaurus hunter, the kind with wings, darting across the cave towards them with falmer in tow. She gathered up her magic, lowered her bow, and cast a thunderbolt that stopped them all in their tracks, charred bodies collapsing into the dusty ground.
"Yosa-" Serana's scream came too late, monstrous hands grasping the redguard's head and pulling her towards it. She tried to escape with her Thu'um but it moved too quickly. Pain exploded in her body as the massive falmer bashed the hilt of the sword into her skull, stars swirling in her vision and the word of power died in her throat. It kicked her back, slamming her into the ground with such force it further stunned her. With a dark laugh it rose the sword overhead to kill her, Yosa'Min's body unresponsive as she tasted blood in her mouth.
The pressure on Yosa'Min's back vanished as Serana's fierce scream filled with cavern, and she blinked up to see a half transformed Serana wrestling with the armored creature, wings still sprouting from her back and green chasing the paleness from her skin. Claws tore at the armor, finding grooves in the smooth surface and wrenched portions away. Magic swirled in her hands as she mauled it, sapping its life force swiftly. The falmer hissed in rage, and swung its sword awkwardly at her, flames catching still dark brown hair and the side of her face, setting her on fire. Serana pulled away in pain, and desperately rushed to the waterfall to put it out. In that time the falmer was back on its feet, blindly glaring at her.
The redguard lay on the ground, struggling to reach a blood potion in her pockets. The falmer debated her for all of a moment, before devoting itself to defeating the furious vampire lord that loomed across the chamber. Her bones popped into place, the transformation finished, and she rolled her shoulders slightly. One hand rose to feel her burned skin, the side of her face was damaged, monstrous and grotesque. Serana's maw opened in challenge, a low hiss escaping her as magic swirled around her. She hovered above the ground, wings flapping softly to keep her afloat while magic assisted her in gliding seamlessly across the ground. The armored falmer was smaller than her now, but not by much.
Wasting not another second, Serana surged forward in wisps of black, claws darting out to slash at its exposed neck. It parried with one arm, carapace armor taking the blow instead, and swung with its sword. Serana grasped the blade with both hands, ignoring how it cut into her skin or burned her flesh, and flapped her wings to assist in the effort as she pulled with all her might. The falmer snarled as it realized her strategy, and grasped the hilt with both hands, struggling against her. Smoke started to rise from her still burning hands, green flesh bubbling. With a great heave, she gave one more flap of her tattered, boney wings, and wrenched the blade from the falmer. Shouting, she threw it into the waterfall, and it was lost forever.
Disarmed, the falmer's confidence wavered, and Serana swiftly grasped it by the throat. Fangs glinted in the near pitch nothingness of the cavern, and the vampire bit down into its neck, and drained it only slightly of its blood. Instead of taking it for herself, Serana dragged the resisting falmer to where Yosa'Min had finally uncorked a blood potion. "Drink," she ordered in a hissing voice, pinning it with her weight and ripping its helmet off of it. Fists swung out in desperation, and Serana caught its wrist in her mouth, biting down with enough force to break it. Agonized cries filled the cavern, echoing off stone walls.
The redguard crawled close enough to reach its neck, Serana making sure it didn't bite her in a last ditch effort. Once it was drained, and Yosa'Min recovered from the blow, the redguard looked up at Serana who was twitching, unable to remain still. "Serana?" She asked softly, the throbbing in her head dissipating. "Are you okay?"
Gently, Yosa'Min took hold of her monstrous claws, forcing Serana to show her the burns. Her voice caught in her throat at the extreme damage, skin blackened or simply gone, cauterized flesh preventing her from bleeding but the stench was enough to make Yosa'Min feel like she was going to vomit. Serana jerked them away with a grimace. "Here," offered Yosa'Min, raising the blood potion she had been intending on using for herself to the vampire lord. There was a flash in glowing eyes, and she snatched it violently, downing the potion and shattering the glass.
"Let's go," she hissed once finished, her body healing before their eyes. Serana hovered over to the nearest bridge and glanced back at Yosa'Min who lingered in confusion. Something about her sire felt off, her inability to remain still, a wing or a finger twitching as her eyes snapped about wildly, setting off mental alarms to the redguard. "We don't have much time, hurry up."
Yosa'Min narrowed her eyes, and frowned. "Turn back," she ordered firmly, the vampire lord's bat like nose crinkling in distaste. "That form puts stress on you remember?"
"I am fine," snarled Serana, "I will stay like this until we reach the next wayshrine. No need to sneak when I can tear whatever gets in our way apart."
The redguard approached her slowly, head still woozy but nothing was preventing her from thinking straight, unlike what she suspected of her sire. "Serana," she spoke just as slowly as she walked, afraid of triggering some kind of violent reaction. "Listen to me, you're not thinking straight you need to turn back."
With a long hiss, Serana gave an unceremonious flap of her wings and hovered through the waterfall, Yosa'Min muttering in frustration and following after her. Serana was racing on ahead, taking half the time to cover a distance unless Yosa'Min ran. The path took them to the left this time, still moving upwards, making the redguard wonder just how far underground they were, or if they were inside the mountains themselves.
Serana brushed past bone charms hanging from the ceiling, and a sharp crack echoed in the cave. "Move!" Shouted Yosa'Min, Serana looking back to see the large rocks rolling down towards them. In a blur of motion the vampire lord grabbed Yosa'Min and pulled her close, dashing away in shadows and unnatural speed to outrun the boulders eager to crush them. They pulled tight around a corner, the rocks smashing into the wall and making an ill way back if they had ever wanted to.
Serana did not release her until they reached a dead end, a maw of chaurus mandibles fashioned into a claw like gate blocking a stone wall. Glowing eyes roamed the redguard for any injuries, and once satisfied Serana turned to the obstruction. "What are they keeping out I wonder," she hissed, one hand reaching for the first of sticks that hung from some kind of bug head mounted to the stone.
"Please turn back," Yosa'Min begged softly, catching Serana off-guard. Her monstrous head turned almost like an owl to look at her, anger swirling in her visible eye. "You shouldn't exhaust yourself before we're even at the next shrine, there's no need for that."
Serana twitched violently, her fangs bared as she loomed over Yosa'Min. "I have been able to do this for centuries, a few minutes will not hurt me. I will keep us safe like this."
"You said transformations usually don't last longer than an hour," countered Yosa'Min, standing as tall as she could.
"Like you know anything," spat Serana, yanking the first pulley that made the mandible barrier raise high, poisoned darts shooting across where someone would have passed through. The second caused the stone slab to move away, revealing the path to them. It also revealed a massive sabre cat with short, purplish brown fur and wild pale violet spots and stripes.
It lunged before the rock had even finished clearing away, biting Serana's leg and piercing her skin with its two massive fangs. The vampire lord shrieked in fury, and brought her claws down to wrench its mouth open. The sabre struggled violently, its own massive paws raking her legs and torso. With a bloody shriek Serana broke its jaw with her hands, and then sent one ice spike after another into its exotic pelt, killing it. She hissed lowly at its corpse, before turning her attention to a stunned Yosa'Min.
"Are you okay?"
"Am I okay?" Yosa'Min balked, gesturing at the bleeding sire, long ribbons of flesh hanging from her legs that had been almost entirely clawed off. "Serana look at yourself! You need to drink and heal and turn back!"
"I will be fine," vowed Serana tightly, hovering once more to avoid having to use her legs in order to move.
"No you won't, not if you don't stop and heal!" Snapped Yosa'Min.
"Your transformation is nothing like this so you cannot understand me, not truly," retorted Serana, taking Yosa'Min by surprise by the sheer venom in her words. She had never thought of it that way, that she really was different. Serana's support, comfort and assurance that it was nothing to be ashamed of having kept such thoughts away. Even as a vampire she was different; the only one of Serana's line, the only one with dragon blood, turning her into that hybrid abomination. The only one she trusted was Serana, all alone at her sire's side.
That sensation of isolation consumed her, a familiar darkness rising up inside of her, choking the hope and joy she had been carrying in her heart for the first time in months. For a second she wasn't in the cave with Serana, she was standing over Orthjolf, disappointing her sire and making sure the rest of the clan hated and feared her. She was in the wild, bloodthirsty and savage, hurting her best friend and wounding a good one. Lydia was a weight she kept at the bottom of her heart, shoving Lydia into a mental hole to protect herself. If she didn't think about it then it didn't hurt, at least for a little while. It was so much easier to forget, to pretend none of it ever happened, a twisting sensation filling her and eagerly took ahold of those painful memories.
Failure upon failure flashed through her mind; nearly biting Mjoll, having no control when they met, snapping at Vex. Injuring Iona, possibly killing Lydia, and not just writing them to leave her alone weigh upon her. She had burned those bridges violently, and found hardly sticks left to build new ones. Then a name whispered in her mind, disappointed blue eyes staring at her and she gritted her fangs as that too was sent into the mental pit.
She was tired of feeling like this, as if she had no worth, as if she had been nothing but one screw up after another until she'd ultimately mess up so grand that was all she would be known for, not slaying the World Eater Alduin himself. As she prepared to lock away that disappointment, the sorrow in eyes that had meant the world to her, Yosa'Min faintly recalled what else had been spoken to her in that plane of Oblivion.
Clinging onto Vastin's vow that she was no mistake, that she wasn't what her mind screamed she was, Yosa'Min began to climb back up, banishing the agonies and sorrow from her chest. Different or not, she was not alone, and right then her friend needed her help whether she realized it or not.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Yosa'Min braced herself before she he stared into violently glowing orbs. "You're not in control right now… are you? You weren't even done transforming when you attacked the falmer."
Serana gave a dark laugh, and shook her head. "I am not senselessly attacking you am I? Besides a second later and we would not be having this conversation. Be grateful fledgling."
"You've never been so cruel before," calmly countered Yosa'Min.
"Perhaps you should toughen up some," snapped Serana, "This is not some Morndas brunch. My father will not wait for you to start acting like more is going on than your own problems."
"You're the one that brought me into all of this."
"Maybe I chose the wrong fledgling then."
Wincing, Yosa'Min refused to listen to the vampire lord pretending to be Serana. "What happened to being equals? You promised me you would stop treating me as just a fledgling or someone you have to look out for. We're in this together as equals… or not at all."
Serana glared at her, something rising up in her that struck doubt into Yosa'Min. With a violent snarl, the vampire lord raised her claws overhead, Yosa'Min glaring up at her fearlessly. As her claws came down Serana twisted to the side and raked her claws into the stone, her chest heaving. "I'm so sorry," she uttered as darkness began to swirl around her body, wings twitching and contorting into her back. "I'm so sorry Yosa."
The fledgling watched her sire transform back to normal, a rather painful one as she returned to her regular body that was just as damaged as the other. Her legs gave out beneath her, unable to support herself, and Yosa'Min rushed to catch her. "It's okay," assured the redguard as she pulled two blood potions out for her sire, grimacing at the fact that they were down to one last bottle.
Serana downed them desperately almost, Yosa'Min having to focus on her face and not think about the thick scent of blood in the air. "No it's not, I nearly struck you!" Her legs were slowly mending themselves, Serana grimacing in pain but all her attention was devoted on her friend, a hand reaching forward to touch her cheek. "I didn't mean anything I said, none of it."
"So you remember?"
"Somewhat, its fuzzy… I haven't lost control in years, I'm so sorry. I'm supposed to guide you, I can't be losing my head."
"Why did you?"
Serana averted her gaze, ashamed, and gave a heavy sigh. "That falmer… all I saw was him about to kill you, about to run you through, and then everything turned red. I've… never transformed like that, so swiftly, so angrily. Yosa I don't know what I'd do if you died." She looked back into Yosa'Min's eyes, the redguard's face flushing.
Coughing slightly, Yosa'Min gave a weak smile. "Neither do I, who knows where I'd end up."
Serana laughed softly, shaking her head. "Are you okay?" She asked more seriously, staring deep into the young vampire's eyes. "Did I… upset you?"
Yosa'Min gave her a long smile, and shook her head, lying through her teeth. "No," before adding more truthfully, "I could tell it wasn't really you… It was the beast, the monster in us all." It felt weird giving it such a name, as if something lay dormant inside of them, waiting for just enough fire to awaken it. Serana had described transforming as wrestling with that inner demon before, and Yosa'Min could vaguely recall the sensation of facing something inside of her but only once had she transformed without rage. That one she'd been so focused on getting them away from Harkon she hadn't truly thought of what she was facing inside.
Perhaps it came differently to her with her unique form, the thought making her heart ache. Doubt nibbled it's way through her mind, casting actions committed in either form into question. When there was time she would have to discuss more about transforming with Serana, but the redguard knew now was not the time for a lesson.
"I would never say those things to you or be so cruel," Serana said, drawing Yosa'Min out of her thoughts, "I… care about you too much to ever do that to you."
"Serana… even without real control you wouldn't hit me… I know."
Serana swallowed whatever else she wanted to say, and nodded her head slowly. "I'm so proud of you, for realizing and getting me to turn back," Serana praised, "that could have gotten bad."
Smiling gingerly, Yosa'Min shrugged. "I had a good teacher."
Serana blushed fiercely, and at last they got to their feet. She looked at the gouges her claws had left in the rock, legs still tingly as they finished mending themselves. Turning to Yosa'Min, she put on a brave smile. "Ready?"
"Let's get that bow."
AN: Major apologies for the delay here guys. As you may have noticed from the bit I put on my profile, my house was damaged by lightning and I've been having to write via phone/tablet. Plus this chapter was being difficult to write. So again, sorry for the delay, thanks for reading!