I cannot wait to get back to a town so I can sleep in a real bed. It seems so long since I was last able to do so. I gather my wits and head into the cool air outside the hut.
The rest of the Falmer village is empty, the last of its inhabitants killed by us last night, so I roam around the collection of huts gathering up the interesting things I find then drop through an upside-down hut onto a snowy rock-pile lit by a single brazier.
A gate bars our way up through a stone passage lined by far-spaced quicksilver veins and the occasional chitin platform from which I guess the Betrayed would stand guard. Luckily none are to be seen, and our only enemy we meet on our journey through the passage is a lone chaurus bug-thing.
About halfway up the passage, a tripwire spans the floor, and I break it and dodge out of the way of the rocks toppling our way. Serana, of course, doesn't, and is shoved to her knees by the force of the falling stone.
Emerging at the other end, we find what must be the last wayshrine, surrounded by chitin huts at various heights and a path leads down a slope and up to the base of a long bridge which must be part of the original construction of the Sanctum, with its white stone and fancy carving on the supports of the bannisters.
"You've found the Wayshrine of Radiance, Initiate. Are you prepared to honour the mantras of Auri-El, and fill your vessel with His enlightenment?" The Prelate recites on our approach.
"Yes." I respond, untying the now rather weighty jug from my belt.
"May the blessing of Auri-El protect you as you climb the road to the Inner Sanctum and final enlightenment."
Adding the last amount of water from the Wayshrine, I explore the huts around the shrine before heading across the bridge.
I stop about halfway across and peer over the edge of the stone railing to see down into the ravine. Below is the Betrayed's village, and I realise I probably could have climbed up and avoided quite a part of the journey, if I had been careful with the ewer. But then, I something would have gone wrong with that idea, knowing my luck, so I wave away any regrets and continue across the rest of the bridge.
The stone path leads to a small courtyard, dominated by a huge bronze statue.
"This is a statue of Auri-El, but it's using the older signs of his power." Serana explains as I gaze at the almost-golden figure. "This temple must be ancient. The bow has to be in here."
We climb the steps behind the statue, reaching a basin large enough to fit the contents of the jug. I empty the ewer into the basin and tuck it into my bag while watching the water drain out of the bottom of the basin, along three channels cut into the approach to the massive doors and fill a star impressed into the floor. Once all the water has reached the star, the water glows green and a similar star on the door rotates, unlocking them.
Inside, a beam of light in the middle of the large room casts bright white light onto a shrine to Auriel in the centre of the room, which is surrounded by frozen figures of Falmer and chaurus. Scattered around the room are skeletons buried by snow or rubble, crushed by an upturned stone table or draped across one.
"These Falmer are… they're frozen in the ice!" My vampire companion cries upon seeing the figures. "I wonder how long they've been like this. And I thought the Soul Cairn was creepy…"
Some of the frozen Falmer are clutching various valuables, so after leaving a short prayer at the shrine and retrieving the items around it, I prize from the clutches of a nearby Falmer a glittering necklace – and the creature bursts to life in front of me, along with several others and most of the chaurus too!
Slaying the first with a single swing of my sword, I realise that they are as weak as the ice they're encased in, so the fight doesn't go on for too long. We are soon surrounded by shards of ice in the shape of various body parts, so I carefully step over them and head towards one of the huge pairs of doors at the back of the room.
I find myself standing in a long room that acts almost like a passage to the next major room of the Sanctum – it spans the length of the room behind us, another door leading back there at the other end and an open doorway in the middle of the opposite wall. There are numerous frozen figures in the room, and several skeletons decorate the stone tables along the opposite wall.
On one of the tables is a spell book for a spell I don't yet know, so to save room in my almost-full bag, I read it there and then, learning the spell faster than I could snap my fingers.
Turning from the table, I spot that the passage-room has a small room at the end of it, so I head in that direction to find it contains nothing but a chest nearly buried in the snow that has fallen in through a hole in the ceiling. The chest has almost nothing inside, so I head back and into the second room, ignoring the items held by the Falmer we pass.
In this room there is nothing but a collapsed table atop a pair of unfortunate skeletons. Since skeletons never have anything of interest on them other than bonemeal, I continue on to the next room.
Here, there are more frozen figures, which I duck around to get to a passage through the ice. Upon entering this passage, I follow a shorter tunnel to my left to get to a chest which, of course, rewards my un-necessary exploration with almost nothing. Returning to the main passage, I follow it to the end, jumping down the ledge into a passageway made by the ice wall on one side and Snow Elf construction on the other.
At the end, we find the elf we were looking for, sat on a solid stone throne atop a plinth, overlooking a number of frozen Betrayed and chaurus.
"Did you really come here expecting to claim Auriel's Bow?" He says from beyond a shimmering magical barrier. "You've done exactly as I predicted and brought your fetching companion to me."
"Wait, is he talking about me?" Serana asks behind me.
"Which," Continues Vyrthur. "I'm sorry to say, means your usefulness is at an end!"
Behind us, a pair of the Falmer and all of the chaurus burst to life, and I draw my sword. They head straight for Serana, who seems unaware of them, somehow.
"Serana!" I warn her, and she starts, drawing her dagger and turning just as the first of our icy enemies reaches her. I Shout, carefully aiming so I miss Serana and shroud the frozen Betrayed in flame. They are soon dead, but others explode into action behind them, overwhelming my friend and heading towards me. I set to work, finding that these are a little sturdier than their deceased kin, taking two hits to kill.
"An impressive display, but a wasted effort." Vyrthur taunts. "You delay nothing but your own deaths!"
He casts some sort of spell, and a rumbling starts.
"Watch out! He's pulling down the ceiling!" Serana cries, and I dash towards the throne, with the idea that he wouldn't risk harming himself. Behind me, slabs of stonework slam to the ground, and I hear a grunt as Serana barely dodges one. I draw my bow, shooting the third wave of frozen creatures that somehow are unfazed by the masonry.
"This has gone on long enough." Vyrthur is starting to sound harried, and he conjures a huge Frost Atronach, which attacks us alongside the last of his frozen minions. I'm not entirely sure that the Betrayed are responsible for Vyrthur – I can sense some sort of kinship between him and Serana, though I can't afford to focus on that now; the Atronach is taking most of my attention.
"Your life ends here, Vyrthur!" Serana shouts over the smack of metal on ice.
"Child, my life ended long before you were born." The Snow Elf responds, watching as I destroy the Atronach and it vanishes in a swirl of purple light.
"No!" The Arch-Curate yells angrily as we finish off the last of his minions. "I won't let you ruin centuries of preparations!"
"Surrender and give us the bow!" Serana demands.
"Death first!" He stands, casts a strong looking spell, and with a huge crash, a massive shockwave blasts out, knocking me off of my feet and causing the remaining ceiling and most of the walls to blast up and out across the vale, over which the Sanctum looked.
I must have blacked out for a couple of seconds, because I look up to see that Vyrthur has vanished and Serana is bent over me.
"Are you alright?" She asks quietly. "Come on, we can do this. I know we can. He's up there, on the balcony. Come on!"
I push myself to my feet and follow the vampire as she trots across the stony floor and out onto a round-ended balcony overlooking the dragon's lake. In the middle of this area, a wayshrine sits in its closed position.
"Enough, Vyrthur." Serana says as we reach the harried elf. "Give us the bow."
"How dare you!" He cries, defiant still. "I was the Arch-Curate of Auri-El, girl. I had the ears of a god!"
"Until the Betrayed corrupted you, yes, yes. We've heard this sad story." Serana says dismissively.
"Gelebor and his kind are easily manipulated fools. Look into my eyes, Serana. You tell me what I am."
The realisation clicks at the same time as Serana takes a small step forward.
"You're… you're a vampire?" She stutters. "But Auriel should have protected you…"
"The moment I was infected by one of my own Initiates, Auri-El turned his back on me. I swore I'd have my revenge, no matter what the cost."
"You want to take revenge… on a god?"
"Auri-El himself may have been beyond my reach, but his influence on our world wasn't. All I needed was the blood of a vampire and his own weapon, Auriel's Bow."
"The blood of a vampire…" Serana seethes. "Auriel's Bow… It… it was you? You created that prophecy?"
"A prophecy that lacked a single, final ingredient." Vyrthur smirks. "The blood of a pure vampire. The blood of a Daughter of Coldharbour."
Serana takes another step forward and, grasping the Arch-Curate by the arm-holes of his breastplate, raises him up to hold him at arm's length in the air, his feet dangling about a foot off the floor.
"You were waiting…"She hisses. "all this time for someone with my blood to come along. Well, too bad for you, I intend on keeping it. Let's see if your blood has any power to it!" With a blast of golden light, Vyrthur kicks himself free of Serana's grip and gently lands a couple feet away, just out of reach of any blade. But not too far for a bow.
I follow up my first shot with a Shout, knocking him back against the railing, and he takes a step towards us as I loose my second. He turns his head at just the wrong moment, and the arrow sails past his face just close enough to take his sharp nose clean off. Serana is running around behind me, unsure which side of me to cast her ice spell from, basically leaving the fight to me, and my last shot is enough to slay him, his face now forever locked in an angry, blood-covered sneer.
As I sheathe my bow, the wayshrine rises, and Gelebor steps out.
"So, the deed has been done." He says as I approach from the nearest steps from the balcony. "The restoration of this wayshrine means that Vyrthur must be dead, and the Betrayed no longer have control over him."
"The Betrayed weren't to blame." I inform him.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"He was a vampire." Serana says grumpily.
"He controlled them." I finish explaining.
"A vampire? I see…" Gelebor says with an arch of a snow-coloured eyebrow. "That would explain much. Deep inside, it brings me joy that the Betrayed weren't to blame for what happened here."
"Why?"
"Because that means there's still hope that they might one day shed their hatred and learn to believe in Auri-El once again. It's been a long time since I felt that way, and it's been long overdue. My thanks, to both of you."
"You're welcome."
"You risked everything to get Auriel's bow, and in turn, you've restored the Chantry. I can't think of a more deserving champion to carry it than you. If you wish to learn more about the bow or obtain Sunhallowed Arrows for it, I'd be more than happy to help. You've but to ask."
I pass the tall elf to retrieve the glittering white bow from behind him, taking in a whiff of ash yam as I do. A wave of nostalgia and homesickness hits me, and I have to pause a little to stop myself from crying. I tuck the bow into my bag and return to the white elf.
"What can you tell me about Auriel's Bow?" I ask.
"The bow was said to be carried by Auri-El himself into battle against the forces of Lorkhan in ancient and mythic times. Its craftsmanship has no equal anywhere within Tamriel, and possibly beyond."
"What can it do?" There are hundreds of stories of the various amazing things that the weapons of gods – and daedra – can do.
"The bow draws its power from Aetherius itself, channelling it through the sun. Therefore, when an arrow is loosed from the bow, it produces a magical effect very similar to being burned by fire."
"Sounds powerful." Serana comments from where she lurks nearby.
"That's actually only a fraction of its potential. With Sunhallowed Arrows, you would be able to produce a much more spectacular effect… causing bursts of sunlight to envelop your foes. The sunbursts would certainly hurt anything, but is especially devastating to the undead."
"Vyrthur said something about using blood…"
"Well, using an arrow with the bow that's dipped in blood may cause it to function differently… corrupting its purpose. That's, of course, if you're foolish enough to try it."
"How do I obtain Sunhallowed Arrows?" I only found twelve with the bow, and I don't think that'll be enough.
"I can actually assist you in that regard. If you were to bring me some good quality elven arrows, I could imbue them with the proper incantations and rituals."
"Can you make me some?" I ask.
"Absolutely." Gelebor replies. "I can only do twenty at a time, so if you want the rest of your arrows blessed, let me know." I hand over some of my elf-crafted arrows, and after about ten minutes or so of chanting various things over them, he returns them, white as the bow, and I tuck them in my bag with the others.
"What will happen to the Chantry now?" I ask, gazing around at the destruction that Vyrthur had wrought. I can't see any way it can recover now that Gelebor is the only one left.
"While it would fill me with joy to see the Chantry back to its former glory, that time has long since passed." Gelebor seemingly feels the same. "Now that my brother's dead, it's quite possible I'm the last of our kind."
"Then I've contributed to your kind's extinction."
"There's no need for that kind of talk. I said it was possible. It's also quite possible that there are some other isolated conclaves of Snow Elves nestled elsewhere on Nirn." I hope so. "I'll also assume Vyrthur didn't exactly give you the option to stay your hand."
"What will you do then?"
"For the time being, I will remain here, on the overlook and continue trying to keep the Sanctum free of the Betrayed. You're always welcome to return here at any time, of course."
"Can the Betrayed ever be cured?"
"I feel nothing but sympathy for the Betrayed, despite my actions against them." Gelebor sighs sadly. "But I'm afraid that they're way beyond a cure at this point."
"Why?" I query, trying not to let my eyes tear up, mainly from the ash yam smell that still coats my hands after handling Auriel's Bow. I hate stories of extinction like this, because it reminds me that I'm the only one left of my family that I know of.
"The twisted forms you've seen didn't occur overnight; it isn't a plague or a disease that ravaged our species. The dwarves may have stolen their sight, but it took many generations for them to become what they are today."
"Then there's no hope for them."
"Perhaps they'll never return to their former appearance, but over the centuries I've noticed a rise in their intellect. If a line of communication could be established with them, maybe they can find peace. It's the only way they'll discover that they weren't always malignant… they were once a proud and prosperous race."
"Good luck." I say to him, noticing Serana getting impatient.
"Farewell, friend. May the glow of Auri-El shield you from your enemies." Gelebor turns to look over the vale, and Serana and I head through the wayshrine's portal back to Darkfall Cave.
As we wander through the passages of the cave, I get Auriel's Bow back out of my bag to examine it properly.
"It's… not as shiny as I was expecting." Serana comments. "Still, it is beautiful."
"What do we do now?" I ask her.
"I think we both know… it's time to face my father. If we don't, he'll keep chasing us for the rest of our lives."
"If we do, he'll have to die."
Serana sighs deeply. "I've been thinking about this for a long time. It's… it's not easy, but I don't think we have much of a choice. No; this has to end, here and now."
"Then let's face him together." I smile at her, and the corners of her mouth twitch upwards.
"If we head back to the castle and kick the front door in, we're going to be knee-deep in his friends. Let's head back to Isran and let him see what we've got first. Maybe he'll lend is a sword or two."
We reach the devastated camp and, not really taking much notice of where I am going, I head up a slope into a tallish cave with a ramp spiralling up the wall. Climbing up, I find it leads to a short passage that ends in a flat wall. Experimentally tugging a chain nearby opens the wall, and we find ourselves in an even shorter passage that leads to the first 'room' of the cave, the one with the waterfall.
A little way below, a pathway slopes out of the pool, so we jump down onto that and head up and out of the cave.
It's been so long since I was last here, I've almost forgotten what Skyrim actually looks like. I head eastwards, encountering a sabre cat a short distance away, and we deal with it as quickly as the smaller ones that inhabit the vale. Amongst a small cluster of ruined stonework – a small henge, I think – a pair of vampires are struggling to defend themselves from an angry pair of sabre cats, so Serana and I wait it out and fight the weakened survivors.
A small pack of wolves and a bear later, we're wading across the river into Dragon Bridge, and I am so eager to get to sleep in a real bed I hardly wait for Serana to catch up as I head into the Four Shields and rent a room.