Mutants Misplaced

Chapter 43

Return to the Darkness

Tyroth awoke sometime between midday and afternoon, having slept from dawn to properly recover from the events he and the others had been through the previous day. Once they had managed to cure Sephie of her vampirism, they had headed to the inn of Morthal, the Moorside Inn, to eat, sleep and resupply.

Looking around, he found that he was alone in the room he and Sephie had rented, she must have woken up earlier than him, which was a bit strange as Tyroth had figured that she'd need a lot of sleep to regain her strength.

While getting dressed, he noticed that the inn was strangely quiet, and even though Morthal was a calm and quiet town, there should have been some form of sound from the great hall, his friends at the very least if they were awake.

Walking out of his room and into the hall, he became even more puzzled when he discovered that not only was all the torches and firepits unlit, but the inn seemed deserted, no one was in sight, no guests, no staff, not even his friends. Feeling very worried, Tyroth began checking the rooms the others were renting, but found nothing but empty rooms, and while they had been used, there were no signs of where his friends might have gone.

Hearing a soft thud from the far back of the inn, Tyroth left the room to investigate, but still saw nothing as he made his way to the counter. However, as he looked behind it, he was met by a horrific sight. Laying in a pile was the innkeeper, the staff and his friends, all in a small puddle of blood. Terrified, Tyroth quickly examined them all, but to no avail, they were all dead. Devina from a broken neck, and the rest seemed to have bled to death, through small holes in their necks.

Tyroth's stomach turned at the sight and he started to panic. What had happened? How could he not have noticed it? Then he saw that Sephie wasn't among the dead, and his world fell apart.

"...no… No. No! NO!" he cried out with tears in his eyes. "She can't have! We cured her!"

"You did… but it didn't last..." he heard Sephie's voice say from behind. Turning around, still with tears in his eyes, and saw Sephie walking out of the shadows with a slightly seductive walk. Her skin was once again grey and her eyes red, fangs could be seen as she spoke and her mouth was covered in blood.

"We are different from the others, you and I, because of the well that transformed us." she continued. "You did cure me, but that only purified me of the weaknesses of vampires, now I am something more, something superior to even vampire lords."

"Why? Why did you kill them? How could you kill our friends?!" Tyroth almost roared, furious and broken.

"I had to kill Devina, as she attacked me, but the others, I never wanted to kill them, they just weren't strong enough to receive the same gift as I have. And it felt soo good, feeding on them, and they tasted wonderful, especially Mona. So sweet." she said licking her lips seductively with a smile, the sight making Tyroth sick.

He didn't know what to do, every fibre in his body wanted to slay the one responsible for killing his friends, yet he couldn't even reach for his sword. It was Sephie, his mate and the girl he loved more than anything, he could never hurt her. He felt so torn and confused, what should he do?

"I know what you're thinking, love, and I am sorry for killing them. I only wanted to make them stronger, just like I want to do with you." Sephie said walking up to Tyroth, running her cold fingers over his chest, sending chills down his spine.

"Just think about it." she whispered softly. "Your power already rival that of a demigod. This gift would make you even more powerful, and immortal. You could rule this land, this world, as its king, and with me at your side as your queen, forever. And all it takes is one bite."

A part of Tyroth wanted what Sephie offered, he knew that it was wrong, but her words were so persuasive, so tempting. Sephie put her arms around his neck and rested her head against his shoulder, slowly nuzzling against his neck.

"Just... One... Tiny... Bite..."

With one quick motion, her fangs pierced his scales and flesh, striking the vein she felt was there, and letting her taste his purest essence.

Tyroth sat upright in the bed, breathing rapidly and sweating. Looking around, he saw that he was still in the rented room, and Sephie slept peacefully by his side in bed. Her scales were their normal green and she both breathed and was warm. Relieved that she seemed to be fine, he checked his neck for bite-marks and blood, but found none, not that that made him feel any better, considering his healing rate.

Wanting to be absolutely sure that what he had experienced was nothing but a nightmare, he checked Sephie's neck for a pulse, and peace started to return to him as he felt it. But his activities didn't go unnoticed as Sephie woke up from his touch.

"Hmm…? Tyroth? What are you doing, sweetheart?" Sephie asked, still half asleep.

"Sorry, honey, I didn't mean to wake you. I just wanted to be sure that you're well."

"Why now? Couldn't it have waited until we've slept properly?" she asked, yawning at the end. Tyroth took the opportunity to see if her fangs were truly gone, and they were. Her eyes were also normal.

"I was worried about you, had a nasty nightmare that woke me up."

"It was just a dream, nothing to be afraid of, love. Lie down and try to go back to sleep, I'm right here by your side."

Sighing slightly, Tyroth did as Sephie suggested and laid down again, while she comforting lulled him back to sleep.

Several hours later, after finally getting some peaceful sleep, the team sat eating in the main hall of the inn, while discussing where to go with Falion, who knew the area quite well. The inn itself was rather empty, aside from the innkeeper and her staff of two, the only other person there at the moment was and orc bard, and his singing wasn't all that great.

"Dwarven ruins to the north of here, you say? Hmm." Falion said, thinking for a while before continuing. "The only place I can think of would be Kargchalft."

"Crag-what?" Mikey asked confused.

"Kargchalft. It's one of the Dwemers' elevator-towers that connects the surface to their cities, deep underground. It's only a half a day away from here, past the old abandoned shack. But no-one has been able to enter since the Dwemer all disappeared long ago. Unlike other Dwemer sites that either had multiple entrances or that have been exposed due to earthquakes, Kargchalft has only one known point of entry, and it's locked from the inside."

"We still have to check it out, it's not like we have any other options." said Leo.

"If you do find a way in, I recommend that you bring ample supplies with you, the cities can be huge, you might be there for days before you find what you are looking for. If it is even there."

"Then we have some work ahead of us. I'll go over our food and medicines, but I'm already pretty sure we need to buy more, so we got enough for at least a week." said Donnie.

"Seven days of food and water for eight people? Sounds like I'll have a lot to carry then." said Tyroth.

"I'm sure we can split it evenly. We all have to pull our own weight here."

It took a while, but eventually the group was ready to move out. In terms of money and gems, they were pretty much broke after buying all the food and drink, not to mention potions that would help them get through the final stretch of the swamp, working as a form of boosters for their immune-system and thus helping them ward off any forms of poisons and diseases.

And they needed it.

As they traversed the marsh, Devina had pointed out the various poisonous plants, and they were indeed plentiful, growing on the patches of lands, in the water and on the edge of both. Trying to avoid the water, as it could hold even more dangers, they had to do a lot of zigzagging, and not just because of the water. They just barely avoided a giant spider that stalked around the marsh, it was almost the size of a horse, and Raph especially was more than happy not to have to deal with it.

After several more hours, the group finally left the swamp behind them, but not before passing the abandoned shack that Falion talked about, signalling that they were on the right track. However, there was something about the shack that didn't sit right with the team. Even though the building seemed to be in rather good condition, there were no windows at all and the door was tightly locked. Growing on the premise were plenty of a purple flower called Deathbell, a much sought after plant by assassins for its very poisonous nature, and a nearly black flower called Nightshade, also poisonous and almost always found at graveyards, cemeteries and old battlefields.

As the shack wasn't of any importance to the group, and since it had such an unwelcoming feeling, they decided not to linger and continue.

The sun had long since set when the team finally arrived at the elevator to Kargchalft. Standing on a large rock, was a large but short tower of the same architectural style as the last dwarven city the reptiles had seen, with weathered runes and a large lattice door made from the same bronze-gold metal as the traps and machines in the city. Behind the door was a large empty room with a lever in the middle of a circular floor, and at each of the four corners of the room were broad metal rails, connecting to the floor via the large metal gears built into the floor. However, as the team examined the tower, they couldn't find any way to open the door.

"Any idea of how we get inside, or should we just let Tyroth make us a new door?" said Raph.

"I wouldn't recommend it. That could damage the machinery, and lock us out for good." said Donnie. "Have you seen these things before, Devina?"

"Many times, there are more scattered all over Skyrim. Like Falion said, they can only be opened from the inside, with a lever that is out of our view and reach, it's a security system. But I know a way around it, one minute if you please."

In a swirl of shadows, Devina shifted to her beast-form, only to instantly change again, this time into a swarm of bats, each followed by a string of black shadows. The bats flew through the bars and reformed into the bat-werewolf creature, and reverted back to Devina's human form again. Now inside, it didn't take long before she found and pulled the lever to the lattice door, lowering it for the mutants.

"A vampire-lord is very difficult to keep confined." she said with a smile as the mutants entered the elevator.

"That was awesome." Mikey complimented. "Creepy, but still awesome."

"Only one way to go then, I guess." said Mona.

"Yeah, down and back into the deeps. I had really hope that we were done with that kind of places." said Sephie.

"The feeling's mutual." said Leo as he placed his hand on the lever. "Okay, here we go."

As he pulled the lever, the room shook slightly and metal creaked as the platform slowly started descending down the dark shaft. What awaited them at the bottom, they could only guess, but they all prayed that the key for their return home would be there.

Okay, how many of you believed the first part, and be honest. Credit to Bloodrayne666 for the idea.

Skyrim players out there will most likely recognize the old shack, much death there.

Thanks to Devina, the team is now close to their goal, but will it be that easy? We shall see.

Note: the trick that Devina used to bypass the gate is a real ability in the game, used by the main character if he/she becomes a Vampire lord. It's used to dodge attacks, but I do not know if it can actually slip through the bars, even though it should.