Chapter 25: Preparations and Revelations
As the sun rose up over the horizon, Tali began to get sleepy as she slowly fell limp in Malen's after staying up all night long kissing him. Malen grabbed her as she fell asleep and held her bridal style. Malen used telekinesis to put the aetherium box, Tali's visor and headdress into his satchel. Malen turned towards the way they came and walked slowly so that he would not wake his love.
Malen stared at Tali as she slept peacefully in his arms and felt as though he was carrying Dibella herself in his arms. The longer he stared, the more thoughts and contemplations entered the front of his mind.
Malen:" Do you want to know why I asked for your hand in marriage so soon? Why I fell in love with you in just a few weeks? The trials of the soul that are endured through time can either make a broken man into a heavenly figure or make a warrior break into a shell of a sentient being. I was denied anything of warmth, love, or happiness for 36 years Tali: that would have destroyed a lesser man. The dreams that I had of warm fields of green, sea, and meadow helped me maintain my sanity, but I did not let myself get lost in them for they were not real. When I first met you, I wanted to help you for the sake of helping you since I wanted to deny the coldness and hunger of my soul. When you first thanked me with tears flowing down your face as you held me, I could feel your warm tears slowly melting away the ice that formed inside me. I was in awe at this new feeling I experienced and I didn't know what to make of it or react to it, but I didn't want it to stop. As I heard your voice filled with joy, I could do nothing but imagine what it would sound like if even more joy was within you. As we spent more time with each other, I wanted nothing more than to lift your burdens for you and see you in your greatest joy. I wanted you to experience a joy that I could never imagine so I could know what it looks like, sounds like, and maybe with some time being with you….. know what it feels like. I did not let my desire consume me into impulsive and rash action as that would have ruined everything. As I slowly built up your hopes and joy, I could feel the warmth of your serenity grow and radiate onto me. Last night when you said that "I will always be with you": it was the way that you said it that made me feel whole for the first time in my life. For the first time in my life I didn't feel cold, empty, hungry anymore. That was when that I knew that I had to be yours and you had to be mine."
Malen looks back up.
Malen:" I will always love you Tali Katarn."
As Malen walked closer to shore, the contemplations inside his mind began to drift on to not so pleasant things as small concerns and fears made themselves known.
Malen:" My power outside of Oblivion is limited. Can I protect them all when the time comes? Will I be able to protect Tali? Some of my siblings are not very kind at all and would try to exploit my connection with her….. especially…."
Malen stopped walking as he tried to calm the rage that was rising in him like magma in a volcano.
Malen:" Molag Bal…"
Uttering the very name made his rage burn brighter than a quasar, but he kept it inside as to not wake Tali or notify her that something was bothering him.
Malen:" I swear if you lay a single finger on her Molag, I will do to you what you do to mortals in Coldharbor for all eternity." He whispered in a quiet rage.
Malen looks back down at Tali as he tries to calm down and get rid of his repulsive thoughts.
Malen:" I won't let him or anyone else hurt you my love. I promise."
Malen continues to walk to the shore as he contemplates on how to protect Tali from his more malevolent siblings. The answer that came to him was a simple one, but one that would take some effort to accomplish. Malen stops his advance and opens a portal into Apocrypha and enters it.
He walks across his realm of Oblivion until he reaches an unpopulated grass land. Malen creates a wooden shack that would serve as a temporary place for Tali to sleep while he went away. He went inside the small shack and laid Tali down on the nice, silk sheets of the bed and pulled the sheets over her. Malen then conjures an illusionary copy of himself that he pours a large portion of his power into so that it could watch over and protect Tali. The illusion would also act as an instant teleportation system in case when one of his brothers or sisters decides to barge in.
Malen opens the door to walk out, but turns his head around before he leaves.
Malen:" Rest well. I will be back soon….. my beloved."
Malen left the shack and went a couple of clicks away before stopping and deciding his next course of action. Malen equipped his signature sword and examined it closely.
Malen:" I suppose one of the things I could do is empower this."
Malen took out Auriel's bow and held it up next to his sword. Using a very specific and unique spell, Malen began to merge the two weapons into one. Once the merging was complete, the new object still had the appearance of his sword, but now had the full power and effects of Auriel's bow, including its connection to Aetherius. Malen repeated this process for Auriel's shield and the Staff of Magnus (He also removed the limiting nature of the staff).
Malen summon a squad of Dremora and ordered them to search a specific plain of Oblivion for the Staff of Chaos. It only took them an hour to find the staff when they went to the plain that Malen specified and return with the staff. Malen knew that the staff's power was restored when it brought back the people it sent to Oblivion and sent itself to the same place that it sent them to. Malen morphed the Staff of Chaos to his sword.
Malen knew that he would have to enter different time periods of Nirn in order to retrieve some of the more powerful and unique artifacts of Aedra, Daedra, and other et'Adas.
Malen quickly decided that the first period of time he should go to is the Dawn Era where Akatosh still waged war with Lorkhan. Using powerful magic, Malen sent himself back into the Dawn era on Nirn. Malen had made calculations that would take him near the climax of the war where Trinimac and Lorkhan would do battle for the last time. The fields of once green grass land with trees and flowers blooming was reduced to fire and ashes as swords clashed and men fought mer.
Malen knew that he must not be seen or else he would cause a time wound, so he cast invisibility on himself and moved silently like smoke, and quickly like birds flying. Malen held a vile in his left hand as he quickly approached Trinimac as he fought furiously with Lorkhan. Malen cautiously approached Trinimac and held the vile up to his wounds where he bled profusely. More than once did Malen have to move out of the way quickly before someone touched him and discovered that someone else was among them. Stealing the still dripping blood of one of the most powerful et'Ada while he did battle with a rival in power without being noticed was no small feat for anyone, even for Malen.
After much elaborate foot work, dodging blows, and sweat dripping, Malen managed to fill the vile with Trinimac's life blood. Malen sneaked away from the battle field as quickly as he could. Once he was far enough away from the battle, Malen took the vile and inserted a part of his left pointer finger. His pointer finger turned into small black tentacles that drained the blood from the vile and incorporated it into his blood stream.
While this process might not give Malen Trinimac's full power, it will at least allow him to replicate the power of Trinimac's body into his own. As the blood of Anui-el's champion flowed in his body, Malen's left eye glowed brighter as he started to take on characteristics of Aedra.
Malen:" The next thing that I should acquire is the heart of Lorkhan, but I must wait for the war to end and Akatosh to become a different world." He thought to himself.
Malen hid under a living tree that he found a few miles away from the battle. Malen slowed time around himself so that it appeared that time was moving much faster around him. Centuries and millennia based in the span of a few minutes. Malen returned time to normal around himself as he saw that Masser and Secunda were in the sky.
Malen traveled to the north east edge of Cyrodiil to where Morrowind was supposed to border the province, but was still submerged under the ocean. Malen dived down into the ocean and swam to the ocean floor where he discerned from his archive of knowledge where Akatosh's arrow brought the heart of Lorkhan.
Malen found the heart impaled into the side of an ocean abyss. Malen knew that he couldn't just take the original heart, so when he reached where the heart was, He pulled the arrow from the heart and created an exact copy of it. Creating an exact copy of such a powerful artifact made the sea floor rise up at an alarming rate as magma could be seen rising from crevasses. Malen created a portal into Apocrypha in front of himself and left before he was caught up in magma and would had to have dug himself out.
Malen had un-wittedly created the province of Morrowind when he created an exact copy of the heart of Lorkahn.
Once Malen was back on dry land in Apocrypha, He took the heart of Lorkhan and slowly moved it towards his chest. Malen's chest cavity opens up as his heart was morphed out of his form as he placed the heart of Lorkhan where his "heart" was. Malen morphed all the tubes that attach to a heart and had them assimilate and incorporate the heart of Lorkhan into his body. Lorkhan's heart beats with life as it did when it was inside its original owner. Malen could feel the full power of the heart course through his body as he clenched his hands.
Malen:" Hmmmmm there were powerful artifacts in the third era. I should go to that period in time next. I think just as the events of the "Warp in the West" should do."
Malen used his power to send himself to the time of the dragon break called the "Warp in the West". Malen's first idea was to fuck with an asshole's plan to become a god by stealing the Mantella before "he" could get his ugly, shit covered fingers on it. Once Malen reached the place in the dragon break where the Mantella was, Malen took the massive soul gem and left a note where it was located that reads:
Dear Mannimarco:
Suck me off till I'm dry you dirty bitch.
From: Arkay
Malen incorporated the power within the soul gem into himself as the physical form of the gem dissipated. Malen then made his way to the Daggerfal treasury where he stole the tablet of Tiber Septim and incorporated the artifacts full power into himself while also destroying its physical form in the process.
Malen then traveled back in time to the period of extreme Alyeid influence. Malen hid himself in the arcane forge of Anumaril as he crafted the Staff of Towers. Once the Staff was completed, Malen slowed time in the room to a very slow crawl as he made his way to the staff. Malen attempted to create a copy of the staff, but once he had created an exact copy, the original staff was shattered into 8 pieces and scattered across Tamriel. Malen left that time period and traveled to the oblivion crisis in Cyrodiil.
Before he did anything else, Malen merged the Staff of Towers with his sword and was now very satisfied at the power it held within it. Malen then proceeded to the barn that Malen calculated that the amulet of kings was still being held. Malen traveled south from the city of Chorrol to the barn that the amulet was held. Malen stealthy entered the barn without anyone the wiser as he entered the secret room upstairs. He took the amulet from the desk that it was hidden in and created a copy of it and placed the original one back.
Malen teleported himself back into Apocrypha in the present time. Malen then summoned a platoon of his stealthiest servants.
Stealth Dremora Force:" What do you desire master?" Not really caring that Malen was now half Aedra in a way, but was still Daedra and was still their master so they did not care.
Malen:" Go to the Artaeum and retrieve the Eye of Magnus. I shall cast a powerful spell of concealment on you so that the psijics are not alerted to your presence."
Malen waves his hand over the platoon as a purple mist covers the area and renders the platoon undetectable except to Malen.
Malen:" If for some reason you are discovered, incapacitate the psijics, do not kill them for any circumstance. Once you have the eye of Magnus, leave a note to explain that it was taken with no ill intent to use its power. The psijics should be able to discern that it is the truth and will not pursue if you accomplish your task undetected. Is this understood?"
Platoon:" Yes master!"
Malen:" Then go and return to me once you have the Eye of Magnus."
The platoon took a portal that appeared from behind them and entered the Artaeum undetected. Malen sat in a meditative pose as he waited for his servants to return.
A few hours later:
The platoon return unharmed with no signs of battle present on them, much to Malen's relief. The last of the platoon was using telekinesis to carry the Eye of Magnus. A dremora stepped forward to Malen.
Dremora:" We have brought you the Eye as you requested master. We were undetected and uninterrupted."
Malen:" Very good my servants. You may go now."
Platoon:" Very well master." They said as the disappeared in red smoke.
Malen looked over the Eye of Magnus to make sure that it was not catatonic as it was when he last saw it. The glowing plates that floated around a bright blue core seemed to gently move apart and together as they did when he first saw them.
Malen stood a few feet from the Eye as he raised his sword to it and began to syphon the power of the Eye into himself. With the limitations of the Staff of Magnus gone when he merged it with his word, it now began to drain the Eye at a much faster rate.
Out of all the artifacts that Malen collected so far, the Eye of Magnus was one of the most powerful if not the most powerful one that he has ever encountered as the power that flowed out of the Eye and towards him was like a violent vortex of energy that could engulf continents if not worlds, though the energy was condensed into a beam between the Eye and Malen.
As time went on, the amount of energy that Malen syphoned did not seem to decrease, but instead increase.
Malen:" Was there really this much power in the Eye of Magnus?" He thought to himself.
Eventually the physical presence of the Eye of Magnus began to change into a bright blue light as the core and exterior of the Eye was syphoned and pulled into him. Malen looked at his sword as an idea popped into his mind.
Malen:" I guess I should make you into an official artifact of mine now, all things considered. I guess that means I should also rename you then."
Malen gave his sword the ability to shapeshift in a very similar way that the Daedric Lords do. His sword could now change into any weapon based on its master's power and will.
Malen:" Hmmmm I guess I will call you… Pah Zun. Yeah that sounds Perfect! You are now Pah Zun."
Malen placed his weapon in a sheath on his left side.
Malen:" This power should be more than adequate to deter any of my siblings from doing anything malevolent towards the ones I love and care about."
On thinking thinks over, Malen chuckles to himself.
Malen:" Mortals have become Daedra, mortals have become Aedra, and Aedra have become Daedra, but this is the first time that someone has become both Aedra and Daedra."
Malen sits on the grass lands near the shack that he left Tali to rest. His thoughts brought him back to the galaxy that he had been in for weeks now. He had dealt with the collectors easily enough, but there were still the Reapers to deal with.
Malen was not worried about having to destroy the Reapers, especially with all the power he now had at his disposal, but Malen did not want to quickly rush into actions without considering all the possibilities that there were and the consequences were for each possibility. Malen had plenty of time to contemplate since the Reapers would not be able to arrive to any populated planets or systems for at least a few weeks (Shepard's warning aloud the colony to escape the supposed doom.).
Malen:" I could simply destroy the Reapers before they got to any civilization.
Pros: No one dies in the war, longer generalized peace for the galaxy.
Cons: The inner conflicts in the galaxy would still progress and the galaxy would see no need to end them without a strong enough reason: The Geth and Quarians would still be isolated, The krogans will either die out or be cured and be forced to live in Apocrypha and away from the rest of the galaxy, and the council races will still have a superiority complex. And the galaxy could tear itself apart due to unrest.
Hmmmm there must be a better way than that!" He contemplates.
Malen:" I could destroy the Reapers before they arrive and manipulate the memories and souls of everyone in the galaxy so that the inner conflicts end peacefully.
Pros: No one dies in the war, and peace is brought to all races in the galaxy.
Cons: The free will of the galaxy is hampered, I lose a part of my position as just a man and become more of a god to the galaxy or at least to myself as I lose resemblance of myself, and I would be living in a lie.
That won't work either damnit!"
Malen starts to slowly rock back and forth on the ground as he discerns more possible actions he could take and their outcomes.
Malen:" The most useless plan would be to do nothing.
Pros: Nothing
Cons: Everyone but me dies, including Tali.
So I can't simply do nothing. Then what? What is it? What is it that I have to do?"
Malen:" If I do too much, then the galaxy won't see a need to unite and species in the galaxy will either die out or become isolated. If I do too little then the galaxy will have no hope and will not see the point in uniting. If that is the case, then what I must do is…"
Malen trails off as he does not want to finish that thought as he knows what it is.
The song "How it Ends" by Devotchka plays
Malen:" If I am to save them, then I must use the Reapers as a means to unite the galaxy against a common enemy. I must give them hope and make them feel the need to unite to win. That means that I will have to let people die: Thousands…. maybe millions if old hatreds are to be put aside."
Malen's mind is assault with visions of the catastrophes that will come to pass if this course of action is taken. He hears screams of mothers crying over their dead children, fathers needlessly and pointlessly sacrificing themselves for their loved ones as their sacrifice is in vain. He hears people of older generations say that "everything is going to be alright" when everyone knew that it wasn't. People praying for salvation from their horrifying plight going unanswered as they are drowned a sea of dead flesh and blood. Worst of all, Malen knew that he could save them: he could save them all, but his best course of action would have him ignore the cries of so many who wish to escape the war that is to come.
"Why didn't you save me? Why didn't you save us? Why didn't you save my family? Why didn't you save my friends? Why didn't you save my mom and dad? Why didn't you save my children?"
These words repeated in Malen's mind over and over that came from millions of voices.
Malen's head sank as he placed his hands on the sides of his head. Malen began to visibly shake as he fought the voices inside his own mind that threaten to destroy his very sanity. Tears streamed down his face as the cries of so many that would come to be wounded his very soul. Malen knew that reviving the flesh would not be enough since the trauma and horrors that one experiences before death can remain after death and prevent a soul to live in flesh as it once did unless given a reason to let go of their terror.
Malen's mouth opened and closed with no words or breath being released.
Malen:" Even with all of this power, even I cannot destroy their sins without destroying who they are. Damnit….. Damnit! * Cries profusely but quietly*"
Song ends
Malen eventually digs deep into himself and finds the will to stand up.
Malen:" I can't do this without someone there with me. I can't be alone and do this. I need….. help."
Malen slowly made his way back to the shack where Tali was slowly waking up. Malen entered the shack and dispelled the illusion and taking back the power he gave it. Tali gets out of the bed and turns around to find that Malen was standing a foot away from the door.
Tali:" Hello love! Last night was….."
Tali stopped mid-sentence when she looked closely at Malen's face. Tears were pouring from both eyes as he looked at her like he was in need. Parts of his body were still shaking from the despair he feels.
Tali quickly approached Malen and held his face up to her eyes.
Tali:" Malen. What's wrong?" She asked worriedly.
Malen quickly embraces Tali in his arms. He clenched his fingered tightly into her back, and buried his eyes into her left shoulder. He fell on his knees as he still held Tali in his arms. Malen's arms were shacking and quivering. His breath was quiet and hoarse.
Tali could feel Malen's whole body tremble as if under a great weight. Tali became scared for her love.
Tali:" Malen! What's wrong!?" She asked frantically and scared.
Malen:" *softly crying* I… need your help Tali….. I need you." He says as he places his right thumb on Tali's forehead.
Visions flooded Tali's mind as she saw what caused her husband to tremble with despair and fear. Tali so desperately wanted to cry as hard as Malen was, but Malen needed her to be there for him and with him. He knows that he can't carry this alone.
Tali embraces Malen with her arms and rubs the back of his head and his back.
Tali:" It's ok… It's ok I'm here now. I'm not going anywhere my love. I'm here for you. I will always be here for you. I will never let you feel lonely." She says in the most comforting and loving voice she could must as she fought back her tears.
Malen cried for a full day as he wept for those who would suffer greatly in the months ahead. Malen finally found his voice as he asked Tali a very serious question.
Malen:" You said that you would never leave me?"
Tali:" I did and I meant every word of it."
Malen:" Will you go somewhere where I can't follow? Where I can't be with you?"
Tali:" Never! I would never do that to you."
Malen:" Tali: What I'm about to ask may or may not be difficult to decide but I must ask this anyway. You are still Joor, mortal, but I am not mortal Tali. I will never know death but you can still die. What I ask of you Tali is that will you let go of mortality and stay with me as long as we love each other so?"
Tali:" You were worried that I would say no to that?! * Softly giggles to try to change the mood* Yes Malen I will. Make me immortal."
Malen dries any tears that still remained on his face as he let go of Tali and stood up.
Malen:" Place your hand on my chest."
Tali:" Wait what?"
Malen grabs Tali's left hand and holds it over his bare chest, just above the sternum.
Malen:" Place your hand on my chest." He repeats.
Tali puts her left hand on Malen's chest. Malen closes his eyes as he let his power begin to flow from him and into Tali.
Tali's body suddenly began to tingle all over as she felt lighter than air. As more power flowed into her, she felt like she was shot out of a cannon into the air as the power made her body feel transcendent. Tali fell to her knees as the power coursed into and through her. Malen held Tali up with the hand he was holding hers with. Tali's body glowed white with red lightning coursing over her.
After a few minutes of this, Malen finally let go of Tali's left hand as the aura around her subsided.
Tali:" *breathes heavily* Keelah! *breathes heavily* What was that!"
Malen:" I poured my heart into you Tali *warmly smiles*. You are no longer Joor, mortal, Tali. I have also given you unimaginable, to mortals and some immortals, power, and as I grow in power, so will you Tali Katarn * warmly smiles again*.
Tali gets up and looks at her hands in curiosity.
Tali:" sooo you're basically saying that I'm a….."
Malen:" A god? I suppose that most other gods in Oblivion and Aetherius would see you as one of their own, so yes Tali… you are a god, or goddess in your case."
Tali looked back at her hands as she marveled and contemplated the thought that she was now a god. Malen smiles at Tali as he turns around and leaves the shack. Tali looks back at Malen as he leaves.
Tali:" Where are you going?"
Malen:" I need to do somethings before the Reapers arrive. Set up safety nets and fail safes and the like. There is a portal that will take you back to Rannoch on the back side of the shack. I will be back when I'm done."
Tali:" Ok. Just remember that you don't have to do this alone."
Malen:" I will Tali. I will." He said as he teleported himself out of Apocrypha.
Malen reappeared in space, away from any populated systems since what he was about to do could destroy systems just by the presence of it alone.
Malen glowed a brilliant green as he begins to cast a powerful spell that he has never used before that will be the most powerful spell he has ever cast.
Malen:" I do not expect any of you to forgive me once this is all over. All that I ask is that you understand why." He motioned with his mouth.
Malen released the spell that he was casting as a massive green ball of energy left the galaxy and stopped a few hundred light years away from it. The ball expanded into a massive vortex like structure that spanned across the entire galaxy (Malen made sure that no but him could see the structure that stretched across the galaxy).
The vortex looks like the sky from Soverngarde.
Malen:" I may not be able to protect them from the weight of sin, but I can at least protect them from Satakal with this Soul Net that leads to Apocrypha."
Malen summons a Dremora to him.
Dremora:" You summoned me master?" He motioned with his mouth.
Malen:" Yes. Tell the rest of my servants that the souls that will be entering Apocrypha are to be treated with the greatest care. Make them feel at ease and happy with their stay in my realm." He telepathically told the Dremora.
The Dremora bowed its head and returned to Apocrypha.
Malen:" Perhaps I can at least have a wonderful wedding before the storm."
Malen teleported himself to Rannoch and meet back up with Tali. He thought of arrangements for the wedding and planned out a guest list in his head.
Author's Notes: Wasn't this an excellent chapter? I know that it was at least for me. I should probably explain a few things here. While Malen was a Daedric Lord during the time that he traveled into Nirn, there were points in Nirn's history that a Daedric Lord could enter the mortal plane. It is not unfeasible for a Daedric Lord to enter during a dragon break since space time is in a chaotic state. It is also not unfeasible for a Daedric Lord to control time to a certain extent even when outside his realm of Oblivion. I hope that cleared up a few things. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Leave a review of what you thought about it. The next chapter will be called " Love and War"