The first thing I do when I wake up is stretch extensively. I'm stiff, I'm cold, and I didn't even get as much sleep as I thought I would. Gathering up what had been my bed and stuffing it into my bag, I gaze around the room, not finding anything worth looting in it.
The next little area has a couple of wardrobes in it, so I empty them then lead Serana along the corridor and across a bridge over the room we'd spent the night in. Another shorter corridor leads us to a room dominated by a long table in the middle of the room with a skeleton lying on it. The corpse has no weapons, so I assume it isn't going to get up, so we round the table and head on through the next corridor, which is ended by a large wooden door. Pushing the door open I find the next room has several stationary gargoyles inside, a couple seemingly half-finished as the bottom half is still just a solid hunk of stone. Warily, I sneak inside.
I was right to be cautious – as we're halfway through the room three of the ugly things smash to life and try to surprise us. It probably would have worked if they hadn't screeched as they broke free of their stony coating. I shoot at one while Serana casts at another; I'm backing away as I shoot but have to stop when my back hits the wall – luckily at the same time my latest shot slays the gargoyle attacking me. I aim at the other as Serana finishes off hers and we work together to destroy the thing, which is standing, head swinging back and forth, still unable to decide which of us to attack. It never gets the chance to make its mind up.
With the awful things finally deceased, I have to bend over to catch my breath. It might have been because I was expecting it, but the things bursting to life had made me jump about two feet in the air! My heart's racing, and that little corner of me is rejoicing in how good the fighting – the killing – felt. Supressing the feeling again, I head towards a chain hanging next to a fireplace and give it a good tug, revealing a hidden staircase. The stairs go round and round, in a square spiral, until we find a door, beyond which is a large laboratory of some sort.
The room is lined with shelves and small chests meant for the end of beds, and in the middle is a large, indented circular pattern lit around the edge by candles, most of which went out when we pushed the door open.
"Look at this place. This has to be it!" Serana cries and pushes past me towards a table covered in bones. "I knew she was deep into necromancy. I mean, she taught me everything I know, but I had no idea she had a setup like this. Look at all this! She must have spent years collecting these components." She turns to the centrepiece of the room. "And what's this thing? I'm not sure about this circle, but it's obviously… something. Let's take a look around. There has to be something here that tells us where she's gone."
"What exactly are we looking for?" I ask, glancing around the room. Many of the ingredients are wilting. I think I should make use of them before they all go rotten – I can always gather or buy more to replenish her stock.
"My mother was meticulous about her research. If we can find her notes, there might be some hints in there. I remember she used to keep a small journal – see if you can dig it up."
As I roam the room, gathering the ingredients and readable books, Serana studies the circle. Among some of the ingredients, I find a couple of things that I don't quite recognise, so I leave them where they are and head towards the bookcases in an alcove near the door. There – this little book must be the journal we're looking for. I skim over the first couple of entries to make sure.
27th Last Seed. Harkon's short-sightedness is becoming a serious problem. I've warned him time and time again that his foolish prophecy would cast far too much light on our people and yet he refuses to so much as listen to a word I say. I've become less a wife and more of an annoyance in his eyes. Devoting attention to my work is the only solace I can find while enduring his ridiculous crusade.
28th Last Seed. I've had a breakthrough today. I was able to attune the portal vessel to the Soul Cairn properly by using a small sample of ingredients. Although the portal opened only for a few seconds, I'm confident that with the proper formula, it can be sustained indefinitely. I feel like I'm missing a key ingredient, something of sufficient potency that can resist the forces trying to prevent my intrusion. Communing with the Ideal Masters has proved worthless. They speak in riddles and offer no assistance whether I ensure them a steady supply of souls or not. If I'm to escape Harkon's clutches, I need to keep the portal open long enough to carry me away from here… forever if need be.
Yes, this is the diary I'm looking for! I take it to Serana, who is still studying the circle.
"Any luck yet?" She asks as I approach.
"I've found your mother's notes."
"You did? Let me see them" I give her the notebook, and she flips through it.
"What's this 'Soul Cairn' that she mentions?"
"I only know what she told me. She had a theory about soul gems – that the souls inside of them don't just vanish when they're used… they end up in the Soul Cairn."
"Why did she care where used souls went?"
"The Soul Cairn is home to very powerful beings. Necromancers send them souls, and receive powers of their own in return. My mother spent a lot of time trying to contact them directly, to travel to the Soul Cairn itself."
"If she made it there, we'll find her." I assure her.
"That circle in the centre of the room is definitely some kind of portal. If I'm reading this right, there's a formula here that should give us safe passage into the Soul Cairn."
"What do we need?"
Serana peers at the last page. "A handful of soul gem shards, some finely ground bonemeal, a good bit of purified void salts… oh… damn it!"
"What's wrong?"
"We're also going to need a sample of her blood… which, if we could get that, we wouldn't even be trying to do this in the first place."
"You share her blood." I point out.
"Hmm… Not bad. We'd better hope that's good enough. Mistakes with these kinds of portals can be… gruesome. Anyway, enough of that. Let's get started."
"Are all of those ingredients here?"
"Oh, definitely. Mother would have plenty of those ingredients in her laboratory. You just need to find them." Serana returns the journal to me and resumes her study of the circle. She's not going to help me look, then.
Remembering the odd items I'd seen in my previous search of the room, I gather them up and place them in the bowl at the top of the balcony over the circle.
"Then the rest is up to me." Serana says after climbing the stairs to the balcony behind me. "Are you ready to go? I'm not entirely sure what this thing is going to do when I add my blood."
"I'm ready." I brace myself.
"Okay, here goes." Serana bites deep into her own wrist and lets the blood drip into the bowl. With a roar, the circle opens up, the pattern swirling around to form a staircase into the purple portal beneath.
"By the blood of my ancestors…" Serana murmurs. "She actually did it… created a portal to the Soul Cairn. Incredible!"
I take a deep breath and descend the stairs… Ow! What in Oblivion? I can feel myself getting weaker as the purple clouds from the portal swirl around me, so I climb back up the stairs. Luckily, once I leave the cloud, the draining sensation dissipates.
"Are you alright? That looked painful." Serana asks, a worried frown marring her strong features.
"It was. What happened?"
"Now that I think about it… I should have expected that. Sorry." I shrug forgiveness, and Serana continues. "It's hard to describe. The Soul Cairn is… well, hungry, for lack of a better word. It's trying to take your life force as payment."
"So there's no way in then."
"There might be, but I don't think you're going to like it. Vampires aren't counted among the living. I could probably go through there without a problem." Is Serana saying what I think she's saying?
"Are you saying that I need to become a vampire?"
"Not your first choice, I'd guess." She was right. I don't like it.
"There has to be another way." I hope I don't offend her. Serana seems to enjoy being a vampire.
"Maybe. We could just 'pay the toll' another way. It wants a soul, so we give it a soul. Yours."
What? "Wouldn't that kill me?"
"My mother taught me a trick or two. I could partially soul trap you, and offer that gem to the Ideal Masters. It might be enough to satisfy them. It would make you a bit weaker when we travel through the Soul Cairn, but we might be able to fix that once we're inside. Maybe…"
"Those are my only options?" If we didn't absolutely have to do this…
"I'm sorry." Serana says again. "I wish I knew a better way, something that would be easier for you. Just know that… whatever path you choose, I won't think any less of you. Sometimes things just have to be done. I know that better than anybody."
I turn away to think about what I should do. The little corner of me that I wish I could be rid of is gleeful at the idea of the power brought with vampirism, urging me to take the plunge and accept the 'gift'. But I don't want that! An elf's lifespan is long enough – I don't want to live forever as a vampire. That does it – there's only one option left.
"Have you made up your mind?" Serana asks as I turn back.
"Soul trap me. No offence, but I won't feel right as a vampire."
"Are you sure? I'm willing to do it, but you need to think it through. You'll remain mortal, but you'll find yourself weakened in the Soul Cairn."
I'm far stronger than I was when I left Helgen. I can stand a little weakness. I think. "I'm ready."
"I know this is difficult for you. I hope you trust me. I'd never do anything that could hurt you."
Just get on with it woman! "I trust you completely."
"Thank you. Let's not waste any more time then. I promise to make this as painless as possible. Hold still." Her spell casts a light as purple as the portal behind me briefly across my eye, and it feels like I'm wearing a full body suit that's two sizes too small, but I can cope.
I turn around, take a deep breath, and again descend the stairs.
This time, instead of pain, there is another purple flash, and once I can see again, I find myself peering across a rather disturbing vista.
The stairs lead down to a dusty track through a barren desert, punctuated by black ruins, gaseous fissures, and the ghostly figures of trapped souls. There are purple balls of light, like wisps, floating around the place, and there are tubular fungi growing scattered around. I look up – and immediately look down. I don't ever want to gaze into that empty hole in the sky ever again. I saw its like in Sovngarde, but somehow there, it felt warmer, more welcoming. This one scares me to my core.
Down the stairs I go, following the dusty path until, rising from the dirt ahead of us, two black skeleton-like things appear, waving swords and rushing towards us. I shoot back in self-defence – Serana was right, I am weaker; the bowstring is harder to pull back than I remember – and soon the skeletons are reduced to heaps of… goo is the only word I can find to describe the puddle before me.
Further down the path, we find a soul standing in the middle of the path, seemingly searching for something, or someone.
"You must help me find my Arvak!" He says when he spots us. "He doesn't deserve to be in a place like this!"
"Calm down. Who's Arvak?" I ask.
"Arvak, my horse. We came to this horrible place together. We were attacked by monsters, so I told him to run. Please, he's such a loyal creature, and he's been running for so long. You have to save him! A place like this will change you…"
"How can I help him?" I try to ask, but the soul has seemingly already forgotten about us.
"Arvak! Arvak, where are you? Arvak, please come back! Come back!" the soul takes a step towards the edge of the path, then fades away.
Unsure what to make of the encounter, I continue along the road, up and through a gap in a massive black-stone wall and along the next path. Suddenly, a skeletal horse gallops across the path in front of me and a little distance into the drab sand, before fading away like the soul before. That must have been Arvak! There was no way I could have caught the poor thing though. The soul was right – this place has done wonders, and not the good kind, for that unfortunate beast.
Only a little further on, we're attacked by four more of the black 'bonemen', as Serana named them for some reason, and it's only with some quick shooting that we manage to destroy them before they reach us. Following the path to its end, we come across a giant black building, the entrance to which is blocked by some sort of barrier. Beyond it, I can see a figure dressed in much the same attire as Serana, and with many of the same features too. This must be the famous Valerica.
"Mother? Mother!" Serana rushes up the steps towards the barrier, with me not far behind.
"Maker… it can't be. Serana?" Valerica, as I expected, is not too happy to see us.
"Is it really you? I can't believe it! How do we get inside? We have to talk."
"Serana! What are you doing here? Where's your father?" Valerica is about as harsh as the desert surrounding us, it seems.
"He doesn't know we're here. I don't have time to explain."
"I must have failed. Harkon's found a way to decipher the prophecy, hasn't he?" I don't think Valerica would give us time to explain even if we had any.
"No, you've got it all wrong." Serana tries to correct her. "We're here to stop him… to make everything right."
"Wait a moment… you've brought a stranger here? Have you lost your mind?"
"No, you don't –"
Valerica ignores her daughter, instead focussing on me. "You. Come forward. I would speak with you." I take a step closer. "So, how has it come to pass that a vampire hunter is in the company of my daughter? It pains me to think you'd travel with Serana under the guise of her protector in an effort to hunt me down." Wow – this woman is as out if it as her husband!
"There is no ruse. I want to keep her safe." I fold my arms against her golden glare.
"Coming from one who murders vampires as a trade, I find it hard to believe your intentions are noble. Serana has sacrificed everything to prevent Harkon from completing the prophecy. I would have expected her to explain that to you."
"That's why I'm here for the Elder Scroll."
"You think I'd have the audacity to place my own daughter in that tomb for the protection of her Elder Scroll alone? The scrolls are merely a means to an end. The key to the Tyranny of the Sun is Serana herself."
"What do you mean?"
Valerica enters the same manner which my tutor had used to explain things to me when I was younger – and just as stubbornly stupid as I am now! "When I fled Castle Volkihar, I fled with two Elder Scrolls. The scroll I presume you found with Serana speaks of Auriel and his arcane weapon, Auriel's Bow. The second scroll declares that 'the blood of Coldharbour's Daughter will blind the eye of the Dragon."
"How does Serana fit in?" I query, even though I think I see where this is going.
"Like myself, Serana was a human once. We were devout followers of Lord Molag Bal. Tradition dictates that females be offered to Molag Bal on his summoning day. Few survive the ordeal; those that do emerge as a pure-blooded vampire. We call such confluences 'Daughters of Coldharbour."
"The Tyranny of the Sun requires Serana's blood?"
"Now you're beginning to see why I wanted to protect Serana, and why I've kept the other Elder Scroll as far from her as possible."
"Are you saying that Harkon means to kill her?"
Valerica almost rolls her eyes at me. "If Harkon obtains Auriel's Bow and Serana's blood was used to taint the weapon, the Tyranny of the Sun would be complete. In his eyes, she'd be dying for the good of all vampires." Harsh.
"I would never allow that to happen."
"And how exactly do you plan on stopping him?"
"I'll kill Harkon."
"If you believe that, then you're a bigger fool than I originally suspected." Come on, woman, you're looking at the girl who killed Alduin here! Well, I had help, but that's beside the point… "Don't you think I weighed that option before I enacted my plans?"
"And Serana's opinion in this?"
"You care nothing for Serana or our plight." Says the woman who locked her daughter into a tomb for more than an age. "Whether or not you've become one of us in order to survive the Soul Cairn, you're still a vampire hunter at heart. You're here because we're abominations in your mind. Evil creatures that need to be destroyed."
Peeved is only the mildest word for what I feel right now. "Serana believes in me. Why won't you?"
"Serana?" Valerica returns her glare to her daughter. "This stranger aligns herself with those that would hunt you down and slay you like an animal, yet I should entrust you to her?"
"This 'stranger' has done more for me in the brief time I've known her than you've done in centuries!" Serana argues back.
"How dare you! I gave up everything I cared about to protect you from that fanatic you call a father!"
"Yes, he's a fanatic… he's changed; but he's still my father! Why can't you understand how that makes me feel?"
"Oh, Serana… If you'd only open your eyes. The moment your father discovers your role in the prophecy, that he needs your blood, you'd be in terrible danger."
"So to protect me you decided to shut me away from everything I cared about? You never asked me if hiding me in that tomb was the best course of action, you just expected me to follow you blindly." Serana grows more heated with every word. "Both of you were obsessed with your own paths! Your motivations might have been different, but in the end, I'm still just a pawn to you too. I want us to be a family again. But I don't know if we can ever have that. Maybe we don't deserve that kind of happiness; maybe it isn't for us. But we have to stop him, before he goes too far, and to do that we need the Elder Scroll." Serana wipes a tear from her eye, and Valerica seems taken aback.
"I'm sorry, Serana." She says. "I didn't know… I didn't see. I've allowed my hatred of your father to estrange us for too long. Forgive me. If you want the Elder Scroll, it's yours." She turns to me again. "Your intentions are still somewhat unclear to me… but for Serana's sake, I'll assist you in any way I can."
"Do you have the Elder Scroll with you?"
"Yes, I've kept it safely secured here ever since I was imprisoned. Fortunately, you're in a position to breach the barrier that surrounds these ruins."
"What do we need to do?" I brace myself for what must be a rough task ahead.
"You need to locate the tallest of the rocky spires that surround these ruins. At their bases the barrier's energy is being drawn from unfortunate souls that have been exiled here. Destroy the Keepers that are tending them, and it should bring the barrier down."
"We'll return soon." I go to turn away, but Valerica's voice stops me.
"One more word of warning. There's a dragon that calls itself Durnehviir roaming the Cairn. Be wary of him. The Ideal Masters have charged him with overseeing the Keepers, and will undoubtedly intervene if you're perceived as a threat." Valerica turns away, and I descend the stairs, Serana in tow, and head towards the first really tall tower I can see, somewhere east-north-east of the entrance to the ruins.
For a little way we're merely following the wall of the ruin, but soon we're running cross country. A pair of creatures that are like legless bonemen appear and try to attack us, but they last about as long as their legged brethren do. I may be weak, but the evil denizens of this place are too, it seems. We soon reach the base of the tower. What I'm looking for must be somewhere further up it, but can see no way of getting there.
I sit on the edge of a well-like structure in a room in the base, intending to contemplate what to do now. I wonder what the time is. I shift around, still a little stiff from my sleep. It feels like quite a bit of time has passed, but there doesn't seem to be day or night in this place – I fall in the well.
Instead of falling for some time then hitting the bottom, as I expected I would, my vision is instead clouded by an oily blackness, and when it clears I find myself lying next to another well. I seem to be on some sort of raised platform, so instead of getting up, I crawl over to the edge and peer over.
I am a very long way from the ground. Far beneath me I can see Serana trying to find where I'd got to, so I whistle down to her, catching her attention. She blinks, then looks back towards the well – the teleport – and jumps in, vanishing in another – well, puff isn't quite the word – blob of blackness and appearing next to my feet.
I edge away from the precipice and stand, taking my bow from her proffered hand. I must have dropped it when I slipped. Luckily, I didn't lose any of my arrows – the ones that slipped out of my quiver travelled up here with me – so I gather my arrows and my wits and start towards a set of nearby stairs.
We pass a group of dejected-looking souls and clamber up another set of stairs – to almost bump into a headless, armoured figure. Its bow seems to be very powerful, so I start shooting as fast as I can, trying to knock it back towards the edge of the tower. With the help of Serana's icy bolts, the Keeper is quickly defeated, having only loosed one arrow at me and missing my head by about a foot. Unluckily, the bow dissolves along with its corpse, so I don't get the chance of an upgrade.
Nearby is another teleport, so I hop into it and appear back at the bottom of the tower, where I turn in a circle until I see another tall tower to the south-south-west. As Serana appears behind me I head off in that direction.
Not far from the first tower, we come across a sort of tall stone pagoda, with four souls seemingly worshipping what is inside it. Peering in, I see on a pedestal sits a horse's skull. That can only be the unfortunate Arvak's, so I head into the pagoda and pick it up, intending to take it to his former owner. Hearing a growl behind me, I turn to see that the souls are now black skeletons, who seem to take offense at my retrieval of the skull. Drawing my sword, I turn the motion into a swift block as the closest of the bonemen attacks me. The area turns into a mess of bones and metal swinging and slashing as Serana and I fight back against the creatures, one by one reducing them to heaps of black goo at our feet. Sheathing my sword, I continue on our travels towards the next tower.
A little further on, we find a barren campsite, fire doused – or never lit in the first place – and standing near it, muttering, a soul who seems to me to be rather familiar, but I can't place just why.
"Huh? What do you want?" He asks when we come near.
"What exactly are you doing?" I ask him.
"How does anyone expect me to write my opus with all of these rude interruptions?"
"Opus? What do you mean?"
"'What do I mean', indeed!" The soul complains, his gravelly voice also very familiar. I swear I've heard it somewhere before, maybe when I was younger? "If I hadn't lost all of the pages, I wouldn't be in this predicament and we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"Let's just start at the beginning…" I suggest.
"Very well. I suppose a moment or two of my time couldn't hurt. I am Jiub. Some call me Saint Jiub. Others call me Jiub the Eradicator. Perhaps you've heard of me?" Wait, that Jiub? The one who slew all the cliff-racers that plagued Vvardenfell? What in Oblivion is he doing here?! I remember where I'd seen him before, now. Back in Balmora – I can't have been more than ten years old or so – and the whole town came to say farewell to Jiub as he passed through on his way to wherever it was he was off to. Somewhere off the island, that's for sure.
Before I can respond, however, Serana says: "Nope. Never heard of you."
"I can't say that I'm surprised by your answer. Until I get my second volume finished, no-one will ever know my achievements."
"You're talking about a book?" I ask.
"A book?!" Jiub splutters. "I'd hardly call a twenty-six volume epic simply a 'book'! Surely you've heard of 'The Rise and Fall of Saint Jiub the Eradicator: Hero of Morrowind and Saviour of the Dunmer'?"
I'm pretty sure the title of 'Hero of Morrowind and Saviour of the Dunmer' belongs to the Nerevarine, but I'll let him have his little 'thing'.
"How is your work going so far?" I question him. None too well, from what I gather.
"Terrible, simply terrible." He replies. I was in the midst of writing the second volume and they just threw me into the prison. It's unfair!"
"Who threw you in here?"
"That damn Dremora and his minions. They didn't even give me a chance to explain who I was."
"A Dremora captured you?" Strange. I don't remember any recent cases of rampant Dremora.
"Well, I assume so." Jiub growls. "It cast a spell at me from some kind of strange black crystal. Next thing I knew, I arrived here."
"Your soul was trapped." I mournfully inform him.
"My what? Wait… that means…"
"You're dead."
"No! All these wasted months… or has it been years? I don't even remember how much time has passed. Now my work will never see the light of day. My name will be forgotten!" "I guess he doesn't know about the statue of him that stood in Vivec until Baar Dau finished its fall onto the city, causing the cataclysm that named the Red Year. I'm sure they still remember him, even almost 200 years since then.
"Could I help?"
"Perhaps. Do you have a way out of here?"
"I do, but you can't leave that way."
"Maybe I can't leave, but my writings can. In order to write the second volume of my opus, I need the notes from my first volume. Otherwise, I need to do all of this from memory."
"How many pages did you lose?" I hope it's not too many, or I'd be here forever. I already want to leave – this will probably have to be one of those things I come back to.
"When I was tossed in here, I felt myself falling… and I dropped the pages I had been holding. There were ten of them in all. Find them for me, please, I beg you!"
"Why would a Dremora attack you?" I want to know more.
"Well, that's a ridiculous question. Everyone travelling through here has said that the Oblivion Gates have been opening all over Tamriel." Wait, that long ago?! By the Nine, that wasn't that long after he left Morrowind!
"That was… a bit before my time." I do remember it, though vaguely.
"Has it been that long? Oh my. Well, it started with the followers of Mehrunes Dagon having Emperor Uriel Septim VII assassinated. Without a Septim on the throne of the Empire, Dagon was able to leave Oblivion through the gates and attack."
"Why was Dagon able to do this?" Serana asks behind me.
"All I heard is that without a Septim sitting on the throne of the Empire, the Dragonfires in a place called the Temple of the One were no longer lit. This meant that we were all vulnerable to the forces of Oblivion."
"What ended up happening?" Serana continues her questions.
"Well, I don't know. Everything seemed fine until that Dremora attacked me. I only heard later about the gates from the other souls. I can only assume the gates have been closed by now."
"Where were you captured?" I interrupt Serana – I'll explain what happened as we travel. My family got quite a detailed account of what happened in Cyrodiil during the Oblivion Crisis from Cousin.
"I had just moved from my ancestral home in Morrowind to the continent, to Cyrodiil. I settled in the city of Kvatch to write my memoirs and to find some peace and quiet."
Ah. Oh dear. "Is that where you were attacked?"
"Indeed! One moment I was writing diligently, and the next my door bursts open. It was a cadre of Dremora. The city was under attack. I took it upon myself to join the cause and fight the Dremora, thinking this would simply be another feather in my cap."
"Didn't work out that way, I assume."
"The reason I'm standing in front of you as only a whisper of my former self should tell you that. I never knew what became of Kvatch. I wonder if they were triumphant without me…" Well, yes, they were… eventually. Not before the whole city was destroyed and the Count killed though.
I'm starting to feel tired now, and despite not wanting to camp here, I think we have to. I need to sleep to keep up my strength, even if Serana doesn't. Informing the vampire that I'll explain everything tomorrow, I settle down as best I can at Jiub's campsite.