Chapter 8: Malen Katarn's Loyalty Mission.

Shepard went down to the 5th floor, which was the cargo bay. Shepard wanted to offer Malen a better place but he insisted so that he would not take anyone else's place when they were aboard, that and he did not mind the cargo bay ( ample room for storage and working on his weapons and armor, and no one around to get hurt). There were metal boxes stacked in various place and at the far end of the bay Shepard could see Malen leaning against a strong, sturdy table, along with a table that was glowing blue somehow with a skull on the back end of the flat surface of the table. Malen was still wearing his dragon scale armor.

There was a look of anxiety on his face, which worried Shepard a bit since he didn't know what was wrong, but he was going to help Malen if he had a problem. Shepard needed his team at the top of their game with they were going to pull this crazy shit off, and get out alive. Also Shepard didn't like seeing people suffer if he could help it. Shepard approached Malen who seemed to have not noticed him approaching.

Shepard:" hey, I came down here to see how you were fitting in to the Normandy. You look anxious about something, is there something wrong?" he asked with concern.

Malen, who was fidgeting his feet on the floor, brought his attention to Shepard.

Malen:" yes Commander, there is." He said with anxiety in his voice.

Shepard:" can you tell me? I can help you with what you need that I am able to help with." He said with a calm and reassuring voice.

Malen:" There is an asshole back from my home, or at least has dealings on my home world that still has strings attached to me. While he may not be here physically, it's almost as if I can still hear his terrible voice in my mind, trying to manipulate and mock me. I almost managed to kill the bastard, but somehow he still managed to cast me out of his realm in his body's weakened state." He said with anger rising in his voice.

Shepard:" who was he? I think you may have mentioned it before but it has slipped my mind."

Malen:" His name is Hermaeus Mora. I could have gone back to his realm and tried to kill him again, but Hermaeus is no fool, by a long shot. If he even catches a glimpse of just my tail alone, he will try to send me to another random place. If he does that then I may never find a way back here and help you with your overwhelming dilemma."

Shepard:" is there anything I can do to help you end him?"

Malen:" hmmmmm" he says, trying to figure out if Shepard could actually help him deal with Hermaeus.

Malen knew Shepard would not be beneficial as fire support since Hermaeus would just cast them both out, and that Shepard could not hurt him. So Malen tried to find an indirect weakness that Shepard could help him exploit. Malen could easily hide from Mora with his mastery of stealth and invisibility, but he would need a distraction since Hermaeus could at least sense presences in his realm, if he senses a presence in the realm but can't see anyone then he will assume it is Malen, and create a huge portal to draw everything in where he sensed the "invisible" presence.

If Shepard could draw him out and hold his attention long enough for Malen to sneak behind him and stab him, then he could destroy his physical body, which would then allow Malen to use the consume spirit shout to devour Hermaeus' soul to prevent him reconstituting in his own realm, thus ending his hold on Malen forever. Once Malen came up with that much, it didn't take Malen long for him to discover a way for Shepard to draw Hermaeus out and hold his attention.

Malen remembers how Hermaeus is ever so eager for new knowledge that was unknown to him. He remembers when Mora impaled the shaman in Solstiem in order to acquire information about his people he was unaware of, which killed the shaman instantly. With how things worked on Nirn compared to how things worked in this galaxy, then Malen was convinced that if Shepard could present himself as a dealer of information of sorts, to convince Mora that he would be willing to trade information about his galaxy for something from him, and to ask him to reveal a good portion of himself to Shepard that is close to ground level then Malen could get a good jab into Hermaeus.

Malen:" there is actually a way for you to help me, but you have to follow what I tell you to, to the letter. If you don't then there is a good chance he will just kill you, and cast me somewhere else." He said with a very serious tone.

Shepard:" Don't need to worry about that, I will hold up my end, so long as you tell me what that is."

Malen:" I need you to draw him out and distract him while I sneak up behind him and impale him with my sword. You are not going to be in combat for this, if you do try to attack Hermaeus, you will ruin the whole plan. I need you to play the part as a trader of information. Express to him that you are from a different universe entirely and that you would like to trade some of your universe secrets and knowledge with him, but you need to be careful, Hermaeus Mora is probably the greatest mind and manipulator you will ever meet. Try to show case a bit of your technology to him in order to prove to him that you are from a different universe. Try to be the one with the upper hand, more than likely he will tempt you with power or great knowledge of his own to get the upper hand in the deal. Before the two of you make this "deal" of yours, make sure you have the upper hand in the conversation when you demand that he bring himself to ground level, just keep him distracted as long as you can when you have him there. I should already be behind him when he appears. You should notice when I strike. Got all of that Shepard?"

Shepard:" So basically you want me to act like a seller of information to someone who seems like the "Shadow Broker" when it comes to information, and keep him interested and focused on me while you sneak behind and stab him in the back. Seems like a good plan to me, but one question. How would I get his attention?"

Malen:" just shout something like "Hermaeus Mora, master of Apocrypha, weilder of knowledge and fate, I come to you with a proposition for you. I come from an entirely different universe unknown to even one of greatness such as yourself, with knowledge you have never encountered. Will you make yourself present before me and hear what I offer?" Hermaeus will not be able to resist the chance for new information, and he does not really care if it is being falsified, for he has so much time that he can simply remove the nuisance with false information and simply wait for one of a more truthful nature."

Shepard:" Understood. I assume that Apocrypha is where he is now?"

Malen:" yes."

Shepard:" I have never heard of such a place, but that does not mean I doubt you that it exists, it's just that I don't know where it is. Do you know where it is and how to get there?"

Malen:" funny thing that, I don't know where it is, but I can take us there."

Shepard:" what do you mean by that? If you don't know where it is how do you plan to get us there?" he said with a very confused expression on his face.

Malen pulls out a black book that looked evil. Shepard could only look on in complete confusion that Malen is pulling out a book right now

Shepard:" perhaps it's a book that is a map of some kind." Shepard thought to himself.

Malen:" through this book. This book will take us directly into Apocrypha. Now I can guess that your think that this book is just some map of some kind, but you would be wrong. This black book is actually a kind of portal into Hermaeus' realm. All you need to do is read it. Before you read it I will turn invisible and grab the front of you so that the book will take us both at the same time. I'm sorry about that, but it's the only way for both of us to enter his realm without him knowing I'm in his realm. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about our "bonding time together"". He said with a chuckle.

Shepard was skeptical about this, but after seeing what Malen could do, it seemed something like this would not be impossible for him to have. Shepard was a bit uncomfortable with Malen piggy backing in the front, but he could see a reason why Malen needed to, if two people entered at different times then someone could determine that there were in fact two people entering. Shepard also chuckled at Malen's little joke. Malen hands Shepard the black book called "Waking Dreams".

Shepard:" is there a particular page I have to read?"

Malen:" no, just open the book to any page and start looking at it. Be prepared Shepard, what you are about to experience is FAR beyond anything you have experienced before." He said with a VERY SERIOUS tone of voice.

Malen then puts his arms around Shepard's neck and his feet around Shepard's waist (Malen is invisible at this point). Shepard believes Malen's, but before he opens the book, Shepard wants to know what to expect.

Shepard:" what should we expect to find there?"

Malen:" A vast ocean of green and black poison, with islands of library's with ghostly monsters guarding their secrets, and due expect large black and maybe green tenticles in a lot of places."

Shepard with sweat dripping from his forehead:" oo is that all?" he said with strong sarcasm.

Shepard:" btw, what does Hermaeus Mora look like? Would like to know who I will be distracting for you?"

Malen:" you will know when you see him, trust me!"

Shepard:" he's that noticeable?" he asked in order to in force the idea for Shepard to look for something out of the ordinary even in this place they were about to go to.

Malen:" Yep!"

Shepard takes in a deep breath and sighs:" all right then, here goes nothing!" he says not knowing what to fully expect, but thanks to Malen's forewarning, he was bracing himself for the worst.

Side note: the reason why Shepard can manage Malen's weight is that Malen had cast a powerful spell of feather on himself when Shepard was not looking.

Shepard opens the black book to roughly the middle page and looked at it. He could not understand the words written in it. A couple of seconds had passed and nothing happened. Shepard was about to ask Malen if there was something he was doing wrong when suddenly 3 large tenticles that came out of the book itself, grabbed Shepard and pulled him in. Everything was black for what seemed like hours (but in fact it had only been about 3 minutes).

Shepard's awoke to find himself on top of some odd structure. Shepard first saw that the structure that he was on seemed to be made out of books whose age and content could not be determined. He got up and decided to look over the edge, while Shepard is not afraid of heights, when he saw that he was up what seemed like thousands of feet above the surface, he was a bit alarmed by the sheer height of this structure. Shepard also noticed when he looked down that there indeed seemed to be islands in a deep, dark green and black colored ocean. After having his fill of seeing what was below him Shepard looked up at the sky and noticed that it was a light green color with some areas being a deep green and black with what looked like long, black tenticles coming out of holes in the sky that were also black in color.

It was a good thing Malen had warned Shepard about what to expect or else he would not have been prepared enough to be in such a bizarre, creepy, and ominous place. That's when Shepard noticed that his front was not as heavy anymore which meant Malen was probably setting up position. Shepard knew he could not do anything to blow his teammates cover, so he decided to look around the top of the building of books he was on. He noticed that the building had four channels of the green and black water run down the middle of each side with an arch above each one. In the middle Shepard noticed large, curved spikes coming out a good 10 to 12 feet of the "ground" and the tips meeting above a small pool of the waters of this place. A little to the left Shepard saw a skeleton.

Shepard:" So that is what could happen to me if I fail my part." Shepard thought to himself.

Shepard had enough of his fill of this demented place and decides it was time to draw out Hermaeus Mora, both that standing around and doing nothing would look suspicious, and Shepard REALLY wanted out of this creepy place. (Shepard is currently standing 6 feet in front of the pool of water/poison)

Shepard takes a deep breath and says aloud:" Hermaeus Mora, master of Apocrypha, weilder of knowledge and fate, I come to you with a proposition for you. I come from an entirely different universe unknown to even one of greatness such as yourself, with knowledge you have never encountered. Will you make yourself present before me and hear what I offer?" he says in a humble, but not submissive tone of voice.

Shepard saw a mass of black tenticles accompanied by thousands of octopus eyes of varying size with one BIG eye in the middle of the tenticles and eyes stare at him from 10 feet off the ground. Shepard had a feeling this was the being Malen told Shepard to distract, Hermaeus Mora.

Shepard:" wow, Malen wasn't kidding when he said I would know when I see him" he thought to himself with sweat dripping in his mind.

Shepard then heard a voice that sounded monotone and low, but this voice gave off such an ominous and terrifying feeling. Shepard had faced down Sovereign, a reaper 2 kilometers, and even faced death without a whimper. But this being just above him felt like he could threaten his very soul, which he could. For one of the few moments in his life, though he did a good job at hiding it, he started to feel like a child. Shepard somehow managed to keep his cool and present himself as a business man of sorts.

Hermaeus:" oo did you now hmm? You look human, though I can sense the presence of death upon you, you have died before and now you seem to be back in the living by means I do not know. I know none of my brothers or the divines did this or else I would have known it. The mortals of Nirn have not learned how to truly bring back a soul from the dead yet, only the bodies with emanations of memories of the one who once possessed it. This means you are not from Nirn or any plane of Oblivion. You have machines in your body the likes of which I have never seen before, which means you are not from this universe at all. I also did get that sense when you arrived to my realm. So mortal, you speak the truth, which interests me greatly, for I am a devoted seeker and holder of all knowledge, and with that knowledge I spin and mold the destines of all those I see fit. So mortal, divulge to me what secrets of your universe you offer me and I will see what I am willing to give in return." He said in a low, monotone voice that sounds very ominous.

Shepard makes a respectful bow to Hermaeus to acknowledge that he was in his realm and ruled here. Shepard was trying to get an idea of what kind of personality Hermaeus had so that he could exploit it and use it to distract him long enough for Malen to stick a death blow to Hermaeus. What Shepard was getting at that Hermaeus Mora was a "person", if you can call him that at all, who thought of himself as much higher than other beings, which Shepard felt like Hermaeus could back up the claim. He also got the feeling that Hermaeus Mora was a being who liked to play writer in other people's lives. Now Shepard was beginning to understand why Malen wanted him dead. Hermaeus Mora was a manipulator of others, he twists and distorts their worlds and robs them of their free will by manipulating other peoples' lives to such a degree where they have to follow the path chosen by him. Shepard REALLY wants to kill this being above him, but he knew that based on what Malen told him that Malen was the only one who could actually kill "him".

Shepard:" how very astute of you Hermaeus, Indeed I am here from a different universe, just as I have stated. Though In return for the information I will divulge to you, I wish to meet someone such as you "Face to Face" if you get my meaning."

Hermaeus:" very well mortal, if that is what you wish."

Shepard was grinning with success on the inside. It would indeed appear that Hermaeus Mora's weakness was his lust for new knowledge and Shepard used that to keep an upper hand in the conversation with Mora. The hole that which held the tenticles and eyes appeared to move down a bit, then take a more oval shape in front of Shepard. The largest eye had been placed to Shepard's eye level, while the black tenticles and other eyes formed on the inside, around the largest eye, the portal. The portal itself was now to ground level about 2 feet away from Shepard. This was Malen's chance to strike and Malen did not hesitate to take it. Before Hermaeus Mora could speak again a sword was impaled through his biggest eye, which caused him unspeakable pain and, for the first time in his near eternity of existence, felt like he was going to die or at least his body was ( which it did). Hermaeus Mora's body of tenticles and eyes began to decay in a green and black light. When the decaying finally stopped, all that was left in front of Shepard looked like a floating, transparent form of the being that once stood in front of him.

Hermaeus:" YOU THINK THIS MAKES ANY DIFFERENCE MALEN? WHILE I do applaud you for doing something none of my other siblings have managed to do, you know as well as I that I'm immortal and cannot be slain!" he shouted with rage and annoyance.

Malen was grinning on the inside; Malen knew all too well the immortality of Daedric Princes; however, remembering what Sheogorath was like and knowing from history that the Champion of Kvatch became the Daedric Prince of Madness, especially by some of the conversations that Sheogorath had with Pelagius. Malen knew that it was their life force that was eternal, not necessarily their personality and free will, as depicted by what happened to Jiggalag when he became Sheogorath.

Malen thought that the only way to escape a Daedric prince was to, in a way, become "him". So Malen took in a deep breath and shouted "Zii-Los Dii Du" at Hermaeus Mora's spirit. Without the protection of his body, Mora was forcibly sucked into Malen's body and into his very soul. There were a few still moments after Mora's soul was assimilated. Shepard was about to give Malen a pat on the back for a job well done when suddenly he saw Malen collapse to the ground, holding his head and screaming in unimaginable pain.

It turns out that Hermaeus Mora's personality and free will was not dead yet, and tried to fight for control of Malen's body, mind, and soul, but he was having a very difficult time with it since Malen's dragon soul was putting up a very strong resistance that Mora started to think that he would never breach, but since he had nothing but time, he was willing to keep pushing until he either triumphs or loses to Malen.

Shepard notices that Malen's body is also being changed intensely and radically. He could see black tenticles and octopus eyes of varying sizes grow and shrink back into nothing appearing on Malen's entire body as a black haze formed around Malen. Shepard quickly knelt down beside Malen, who seemed to be writhing in agony.

Shepard:" Malen? MALEN!? What's wrong?! Tell me please if you can?!" he shouted desperately to Malen, not sure what was happening to him or what to do.

All that Malen could say while yelling in agony was:" hhhee's fighting me, ttrrying TO MMMAINTAIN CCCONTROL OF MYSELF!" he said with excruciating pain.

-To help get a better feel for what is going on, try to imagine, or just play the song from your computer, the song " Birth of the twins and Padme's destiny", conducted by John Williams for the movie " Star wars episode 3, Revenge of The Sith".

Shepard:" THEN FIGHT HIM, I NEED YOU TO HELP SAVE TRILLIONS OF LIVES. DON'T LET HIM TAKE CONTROL OF YOU. DON'T LET HIM TAKE AWAY YOUR JOY, HOPE, LOVE, AND LIFE. DON'T GIVE HIM THE CHANCE TO KILL SO MANY INICENT LIVES!" he shouted in a pleading and encouraging tone.

Malen started to slowly pick himself off the ground and stand up, still fighting Mora and still randomly mutating.

Malen:" I won't let you win Mora!" he said in a soft but exponentially rising tone of voice.

Malen:" I AM NOT YOUR SLAVE ANY MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" he shouted with a voice that could shatter the earth and the heavens.

Malen was looking up at the green sky when he shouted aloud so loudly that Shepard had to cover his ears, but that didn't do much for him, but did prevent him from going deaf. Malen shouted for 5 long minutes until he suddenly stopped shouting and collapsed on the floor again on his left side. Unlike before, Malen was unconscious this time. The random mutations of his body had stopped and he looked like he was back to normal, the black mist that had surrounded Malen was gone.

Shepard was not sure what was happening to Malen now, but seeing that the mutations and mist was gone, he thought that Malen had won his inner struggle. Shepard breathed a sigh of relief when he thought that and felt a pulse and steady breathing from Malen when he knelt down and checked his pulse on his neck.

Malen's eyes were closed and he looked like he was having an intense dream by the way his eye lids were moving. Shepard hoisted Malen onto his back and pulled out the black book he was given.

Shepard:" if this book was able to bring us here, then it would make sense that it could bring us back." He thought to himself.

And sure enough when Shepard opened the book, large green tenticles came out of the book and pulled in both Shepard and Malen. When Shepard's vision returned to normal he was relieved that they were back on the Normandy.

Joker over the Normandy intercom:" Shepard, where the hell did you go!? I saw you open up that creepy book that kind of reminds me of that tale about the necronamacan. Then I watched you get pulled into that book by green tenticles that looked like they should be in a hentai and disappear into a green and black portal of some kind. Then about 20 minutes later, here you are coming back out of that green and black portal with Malen on your back. Btw, is he going to be alright Commander, please say yes, I don't want to watch him get buried like I did my pet snake Roger?" he said with surprise and tried an attempt at a joke.

Shepard:" I will explain later, but right now I need to bring him to Chakwas ASAP."

With that Shepard carried Malen into the elevator, set it to floor 3, and walked over to Chakwas' lab.

Chakwas:" Hello Shepard what can I.." she started to say with a pleasant tone.

She then notices Malen on Shepard's back and quickly guesses that Shepard was in here for Chakwas to examine Malen and see if he was all right.

Chakwas:" lay him on the table." She said with calm domineer.

Shepard:" I think he is going to be ok Chakwas, but I don't for sure what kind of state he is in." he says with a bit of concern.

Chakwas firsts examines Malen's face for any signs as to what may be happening to him, that's when she notices Malen's rapid eye movement behind his eye lids. She then scans Malen's brain wave activity with her Omni tool on a hunch that Malen could be experiencing something similar to what Shepard did from the beacon on Eden Prime. When her scans were done she looked at the results on her Omni tool and was amazed at how high Malen's brain wave activity was, it was going off the charts.

Chakwas:" it seems Malen is having an intense dream of some sort. His brain wave activity is off the chart, and his rapid eye movement is about 3 times faster than yours was when you activated that prothean beacon on Eden Prime."

Shepard is relieved to hear that Malen is only dreaming, but wonders how long it will last.

Shepard:" How long will he be out?" he asks with concern.

Chakwas:" I'm not quite sure, but I would expect him to be up in about 6 hours or so."

Shepard:" good, call me when he wakes up."

Chakwas:" Will do Commander."

Malen had managed to destroy Hermaeus Mora's identity and prevent it from ever taking control of his forever, but Malen's mind was flooded with memories and knowledge that Mora possessed, it was too much for Malen to handle while conscious, so his body forced him into an intense REM sleep in order to file out all of the information that Malen had received from Hermaeus Mora's mind.

While Malen's mind was still that of an argonians, plus the VAST amounts of knowledge Mora knew, his soul and body; however, have been altered. Malen's soul was still that primarily that of a dragon, but now has grown with the added addition of Mora's life force, minus his identity that would try to take over Malen (the reason why it would never regenerate back is that Malen's own soul filled in the broken part of Mora's soul, making it whole and therefore making it unnecessary for it to regenerate). Because Mora's soul would try to regenerate its body back, usually taking a century or more to do but since Malen had attached Mora's soul to his own, it evolved Malen's own body to the point where Malen's body would be no longer considered that of a argonian, even though he currently looks like one, but that of a Daedric prince. This transformation of Malen's body allows him to shape shift into whatever form he wishes (just like what the other princes do), in this case being his original argonian body.

-Side note: to better depict what has happened to Malen, try to remember, if you ever played it, elder scrolls 4 oblivion when the Champion of Kvatch defeated Jiggalag and released his soul into oblivion. At that point he technically is Sheogorath and claims the thrown of madness, but he does not actually transform into Sheogorath himself but retains his identity for at least a century or so. This is similar to what has happened to Malen except that Malen defeated and consumed the soul of a Daedric Prince, he would never become like the being he consumed in terms of identity, but still has his body changed into that of a Daedric Prince. So in short Malen now has the body of Hermaeus Mora, but without losing the permanent enchants Malen put on himself, (which he can change the shape of to the point where Malen can still have a body that completely resembles his original one), The mind of a argonian male with the memories and knowledge of Hermaeus Mora, and the soul of both a dragon and a Daedric prince joined into 1 spirit, 1 will, Malen's. Hermaeus Mora is not truly dead (Daedric Princes can't die. They are immortal spirits), he has become Malen Katarn and Malen Katarn had become Hermaeus Mora (without the desire to be an asshole manipulator though).

While Malen was in deep sleep, Shepard decided it was a good time to go to the citadel and take care of some business concerning a master thief, registering in C- SEC database that he was alive, speak with Anderson, get crap loads of discounts from different stores, usually by saying "I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite store on the citadel", reinstate himself as a council specter, buying food for the Normandy that didn't taste like shit, and perhaps finding some cloths that would fit Malen, but he thought that he would probably need to cut a hole in the pants for Malen's tail.

It took 2 hours for Joker to fly the Normandy into a mass relay that took the Normandy to the citadel and make port. It took Shepard 4 hours to have C-SEC officer Baily to reinstate him as being alive, recruit the master thief Kasumi Goto, get better tasting food, get discounts from multiple stores, purchase custom clothing for Malen, catch up with Anderson, and bitch at the council for "white washing" him after he saved their asses only to repay him back by reinstating his specter status, which was better than nothing Shepard thought. It took Shepard another 45 minutes for him to board the Normandy and leave port. Before Shepard reached the galaxy map to plot his next course, EDI spoke over the intercom to Shepard.

EDI:" Shepard, Dr. Chakwas would like to inform you that Malen is starting to wake up and would like you to go down to the med bay."

Shepard:" thanks EDI, I'm on my way down there." He said with relief that Malen was waking up.

Malen started to feel his own body move again. He tried to open his eye, though could only open them very slowly as he started to sit up from the table he was lying on.

Malen:" uuuggg, I got a horrible migraine" he said with grogginess in his voice and putting his right hand over his forehead.

Chakwas:" aw good you're awake. Shepard will be here soon to see how you are doing."

Malen:" how long was I out?"

Chakwas:" about 6 and half hours."

Malen:" well at least I was not out for long."

Malen now had his eyes fully open. When he turned his head to look at Chakwas, he saw her flinch, and her eyes looked like they were filled with fear, but only for a moment or 2. Apparently something about his appearance scared her a bit.

Malen:" Is there something wrong with my face Chakwas? If so I would like to see a mirror." He said with concern.

Chakwas gets a mirror and hands it to Malen.

Chakwas:" you may not like what you see." She said with concern about how Malen would react to his reflection.

Malen held the mirror in front of his face.

Malen:" hmm, skin color is the same. Nothing wrong with my spikes. Left eye is the same white glowing ocular organ I remember it to be, now for the right.."

This is when Malen noticed what caused Chakwas to react with fear. Malen saw that his right eye had changed significantly. His right eye had become the same as Hermaeus Mora's. It was that of an octopus eye tilted to the side. It was a light shade of green for the retina and a color that looked like dark blue for the pupil. Coming out of Malen's right eye were centimeter long, black tenticles that seemed to be made of pure darkness, but still had a look to them that made it seem they were still tangible, which they were not.

Malen:" so I really have become like this." He said with a depressed tone of voice.

Just then Shepard had entered the med bay and looked at Malen. He was a bit startled at first to see the same eye that he had stared into in Apocrypha, but reassured himself that the person in front of him was Malen. He slowly walked over to Malen who now had his feet dangling off the side of the patient table.

Shepard:" how you holding up Malen?" he said with a bit of concern.

Malen:" I've felt better, though my migraine is going away. Don't worry Commander I'm fit for duty as soon as my head stops throbbing. I take it you noticed my right eye?" he said with the occasional moan and groan.

Shepard:" yes I did, though I'm glad you are the one in control now, though I would still like to know what caused your eye to be like that. I thought that when you gained control that you stopped the mutations."

Malen:" it's because this is not my original body anymore. I chose to keep my original form for familiarity and sentimentality. I was not apparently able to completely reshape my body back to the way it was, probably due to the vast size and properties of Hermaeus Mora's life force. Speaking of which, could I ask for an eye patch for my right eye? I don't think women will find my right eye sexy." He said with a chuckle.

Shepard chuckling to:" well you don't look to worse for wear than Garrus."

Malen:" maybe I will have a joke about that with him on our next mission together. Now then, to answer a question you may have in the future, or to further elaborate on the answer I gave you earlier."

Malen steps off the table and takes a polite, greeting bow towards Shepard.

Malen:" you know my name as Malen Katarn, but I can also be called Hermaeus Mora: the Daedric Prince of knowledge and fate. I will use what powers I possess to help you defeat the collectors and reapers."

Shepard was confused by this at first, but as he slowly started to put the pieces together, his next feeling was that of fear.

Shepard:" Shit! Did Mora actually win control of Malen?" he thought with a panicked voice.

But Shepard recognized the kind of person Mora was, and based on what he was feeling from the person in front of him that this was not Hermaeus in terms of personality at all. It was 100% Malen's. Shepard was relieved that Malen was relatively back to normal, but Shepard was not thinking of, or could not figure out what he just acquired here. What stood in front of Shepard was nothing less than a deity, a god (not an omnipotent, omniscience (in terms of all things, but could learn in an instant and knew everything about his home universe) or omnipresent (outside Apocrypha, inside his realm he is omnipresent), but a god none the less).

Shepard notices that Malen isn't groaning anymore and his hands were at his sides.

Shepard:" you ready for another mission?"

Malen:" hell yes!" he says with confidence.

Shepard:" good, get ready for the next mission, meet me in the airlock in 2 hours."